Hill.
Sentinels were posted on all the surrounding heights. One of thesesentinels was the farmer Andrew Black, with a cavalry sword belted tohis waist, and a rusty musket on his shoulder. Beside him stood a tallstalwart youth in shepherd's costume.
"Yer ain mother wadna ken ye," remarked Andrew with a twinkle in hiseyes.
"I doubt that," replied the youth; "a mother's eyes are keen. I shouldnot like to encounter even Glendinning in my present guise."
As he spoke the rich melody of the opening psalm burst from the greatcongregation and rolled in softened cadence towards the sentinels.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE TRUE AND THE FALSE AT WORK.
The face of nature did not seem propitious to the great gathering onSkeoch Hill. Inky clouds rolled athwart the leaden sky, threatening adeluge of rain, and fitful gusts of wind seemed to indicate the approachof a tempest. Nevertheless the elements were held in check by the Godof nature, so that the solemn services of the day were conducted to aclose without discomfort, though not altogether without interruption.
Several of the most eminent ministers, who had been expelled from theircharges, were present on this occasion. Besides John Welsh of Irongray,there were Arnot of Tongland, Blackadder of Troqueer, and Dickson ofRutherglen--godly men who had for many years suffered persecution andimprisonment, and were ready to lay down their lives in defence ofreligious liberty. The price set upon the head of that "notour traitor,Mr. John Welsh," dead or alive, was 9000 merks. Mr. Arnot was valued at3000!
These preached and assisted at different parts of the services, whilethe vast multitude sat on the sloping hillside, and the mounted men drewup on the outskirts of the congregation, so as to be within sound of thepreachers' voices, and, at the same time, be ready for action on thedefensive if enemies should appear.
Andrew Black and his companion stood for some time listening, with bowedheads, to the slow sweet music that floated towards them. They were toofar distant to hear the words of prayer that followed, yet theycontinued to stand in reverent silence for some time, listening to thesound--Black with his eyes closed, his young companion gazing wistfullyat the distant landscape, which, from the elevated position on whichthey stood, lay like a magnificent panorama spread out before them. Onthe left the level lands bordering the rivers Cairn and Nith stretchedaway to the Solway, with the Cumberland mountains in the extremedistance; in front and on the right lay the wild, romantic hill-countryof which, in after years, it was so beautifully written:--
"O bonnie hills of Galloway oft have I stood to see, At sunset hour, your shadows fall, all darkening on the lea; While visions of the buried years came o'er me in their might-- As phantoms of the sepulchre--instinct with inward light! The years, the years when Scotland groaned beneath her tyrant's hand! And 'twas not for the heather she was called `the purple land.' And 'twas not for her _loveliness_ her children blessed their God-- _But for secret places of the hills, and the mountain heights_ _untrod_."
"Who was the old man I found in what you call your hidy-hole?" askedWallace, turning suddenly to his companion.
"I'm no' sure that I have a right to answer that," said Black, regardingWill with a half-serious, half-amused look. "Hooever, noo that ye'veta'en service wi' me, and ken about my hidy-hole, I suppose I may trustye wi' a' my secrets."
"I would not press you to reveal any secrets, Mr. Black, yet I think youare safe to trust me, seeing that you know enough about my own secretsto bring me to the gallows if so disposed."
"Ay, I hae ye there, lad! But I'll trust ye on better grunds than that.I believe ye to be an honest man, and that's enough for me. Weel, yemaun ken, it's saxteen year since I howkit the hidy-hole below my hoose,an' wad ye believe it?--they've no fund it oot yet! Not even had asuspeecion o't, though the sodgers hae been sair puzzled, mony a time,aboot hoo I managed to gie them the slip. An' mony's the puir body,baith gentle and simple, that I've gien food an' shelter to whae wasvery likely to hae perished o' cauld an' hunger, but for the hidy-hole.Among ithers I've often had the persecuited ministers doon there,readin' their Bibles or sleepin' as comfortable as ye like when thedragoons was drinkin', roarin', an' singin' like deevils ower theirheids. My certies! if Clavers, or Sherp, or Lauderdale had an inklin'o' the hunderd pairt o' the law-brekin' that I've done, it's a gallowsin the Gressmarkit as high as Haman's wad be ereckit for me, an' my heedan' hauns, may be, would be bleachin' on the Nether Bow. Humph! butthey've no' gotten me yet!"
"And I sincerely hope they never will," remarked Wallace; "but you havenot yet told me the name of the old man."
"I was comin' to him," continued Black; "but wheniver I wander to thedoin's o' that black-hearted Cooncil, I'm like to lose the threed o' mydiscoorse. Yon is a great man i' the Kirk o' Scotland. They ca' himDonald Cargill. The adventures that puir man has had in the coorse o'mair nor quarter o' a century wad mak' a grand story-buik. He has nofear o' man, an' he's an awfu' stickler for justice. I'se warrant hegied ye some strang condemnations o' the poors that be."
"Indeed he did not," said Wallace. "Surely you misjudge his character.His converse with me was entirely religious, and his chief anxietyseemed to be to impress on me the love of God in sending Jesus Christ toredeem a wicked world from sin. I tried to turn the conversation on thestate of the times, but he gently turned it round again to theimportance of being at peace with God, and giving heed to the conditionof my own soul. He became at last so personal that I did not quite likeit. Yet he was so earnest and kind that I could not take offence."
"Ay, ay," said Black in a musing tone, "I see. He clearly thinks thatyer he'rt needs mair instruction than yer heed. Hm! maybe he's right.Hooever, he's a wonderfu' man; gangs aboot the country preachin'everywhere altho' he kens that the sodgers are aye on the look-oot forhim, an' that if they catch him it's certain death. He wad have been atthis communion nae doot, if he hadna engaged to preach somewhere nearSanquhar this vera day."
"Then he has left the hidy-hole by this time, I suppose?"
"Ye may be sure o' that, for when there is work to be done for theMaster, Donal' Cargill doesna let the gress grow under his feet."
"I'm sorry that I shall not see him again," returned the ex-trooper in atone of regret, "for I like him much."
Now, while this conversation was going on, a portion of the troop ofdragoons which had been out in search of Andrew Black was sent underGlendinning (now a sergeant) in quest of an aged couple named Mitchell,who were reported to have entertained intercommuned, iueu outlawed,persons; attended conventicles in the fields; ventured to have familyworship in their cottages while a few neighbours were present, and tohave otherwise broken the laws of the Secret Council.
This Council, which was ruled by two monsters in human form, namely,Archbishop Sharp of Saint Andrews and the Duke of Lauderdale, havingobtained full powers from King Charles the Second to put downconventicles and enforce the laws against the fanatics with the utmostpossible rigour, had proceeded to carry out their mission by inviting ahost of half, if not quite, savage Highlanders to assist them inquelling the people. This host, numbering, with 2000 regulars andmilitia, about 10,000 men, eagerly accepted the invitation, and was letloose on the south and western districts of Scotland about the beginningof the year, and for some time ravaged and pillaged the land as if ithad been an enemy's country. They were thanked by the King for soreadily agreeing to assist in reducing the Covenanters to obedience to"Us and Our laws," and were told to take up free quarters among thedisaffected, to disarm such persons as they should suspect, to carrywith them instruments of torture wherewith to subdue the refractory, andin short to act very much in accordance with the promptings of their owndesires. Evidently the mission suited these men admirably, for theytreated all parties as disaffected, with great impartiality, andplundered, tortured, and insulted to such an extent that after aboutthree months of unresisted depredation, the shame of the thing became soobvious that Government was compelled to send them home again. They hadaccomplished no
thing in the way of bringing the Covenanters to reason;but they had desolated a fair region of Scotland, spilt much innocentblood, ruined many families, and returned to their native hills heavilyladen with booty of every kind like a victorious army. It is said thatthe losses caused by them in the county of Ayr alone amounted to over11,000 pounds sterling.
The failure of this horde did not in the least check the proceedings ofSharp or Lauderdale or their like-minded colleagues. They kept theregular troops and militia