*CHAPTER XXXVII*
*"OUT OF THE SNARE OF THE FOWLERS"*
A blaze of light as though the sun had sprung full armoured to theheight of heaven smote upon my eyes. I opened them, but in thatbrilliant glare I could see nothing, though I heard voices about me:
"Wha' think ye he can be?"
"He hasna got a kent face," a woman's voice replied. "Some puir gangrelbody nae doot. But what can he be daein' off the high road?"
I let the light filter through a chink between my eyelids, and when Icould bear its full brightness I opened them and looked around me. Alittle group of five people bent over me--an old man, holding a lantern,an old woman, and three young men whom I took to be their sons.
As I looked round there came to me out of the depths some memory of thehappenings of the night. I wondered dimly if the tragedy of which I hadbeen witness were reality, or dream. Who could these people be? Werethey some chance Samaritans who had come upon me bound hand and foot,and delivered me from the hands of the persecutors? As I wondered Iheard the old woman say to her husband:
"Think ye he can be a hill-man? sic another as we found in the laighfield after Rullion Green."
Hill-man! hill-man! the words burned themselves into my torpid brain. Igathered all my strength, and raising myself so suddenly that they fellaway from me startled, I cried, "For the love of God, tell me, are youhill-folks?"
"What o' that, what o' that?" asked the old man cautiously.
Then I threw discretion to the winds. "Tell me," I cried, my voicebreaking, "are you hill-men, for I bring tidings that will brook nodelay."
They gathered round me again and looked at me with anxious eyes.
"Got wi' it, lad," cried the old man, almost as excited as myself, andwith what speed I could I told them all. Breathlessly they listened."God in heaven, save us," groaned the old man as I finished, and then,turning to his sons he cried: "Boys, it's yours to carry the messagethrough. Awa' wi' ye! Post men at the cross-roads, scatter the news farand wide, and the Cause may yet be saved."
Like hounds from the leash the lads sprang away into the darkness. Withfailing sight I saw them go, then I sank back again wearily and knew nomore.
Long afterwards I was conscious in a dim kind of way of being liftedfrom the ground and borne gently over what seemed to be an interminabledistance; but I was too drowsy and fatigued to care what was happeningto me. When I opened my eyes I found myself lying on a soft bed in asmall farm kitchen. A glowing fire was on the hearth and its pleasantwarmth pervaded the room. The good man of the house brought me a drinkof something hot, which put new life in my veins and I was my own managain.
I would fain have talked to my rescuers, but they forbade me, and I sankonce more into a drowse, but ere I slept I heard, as I had heard sooften in the old house at Daldowie, the good man opening the Book andsaying, "Let us worship God by singing to His praise a part of the 124thPsalm."
I slept deeply, and when I awoke it was late in the Sabbath afternoon.When they heard me stir the kindly folk showed themselves assiduous inthose little courtesies which mean so much to a weary man. When Iessayed to rise the old man was at my bedside to lend me aid, and when Ihad risen he brought me water wherewith to wash myself. The cool liquidtook the stains of travel from my face and hands, and at the same timepurged me of weariness. On my left arm, where the torture had beenapplied, was an ugly red sore all blisters at its edges. I looked at itwith a kind of pride. It was the brand of the Covenant upon me. Theold man bound it with a buttered cloth, to my great comfort.
The blind was drawn down over the window so that the light within wasrestful. I took my seat upon the settle and the farmer's wife spread ameal before me, and as I ate they questioned me. From them I gatheredthat when they came upon me lying in a stupor in the fields, they werethemselves upon their way to the hill-meeting. They had some ten milesto travel, and as they had to measure their speed by the speed of thegood-wife, they had set out soon after midnight. I asked anxiouslywhether they had news of what had taken place, and whether their sonshad succeeded in spreading the alarm sufficiently widely to prevent theCovenanters assembling. To this the old man replied:
"I dinna ken for certain, but ye may tak' it frae me that the troopersfound naething but an empty nest. We'll be hearin' later on, for thelads will be back ere long." He stirred the peats with a stick, andcontinued: "Man, it's wonderfu', wonderfu'; a' foreordained. If I werea meenister what a graun' sermon I could mak' o't!"
By and by night fell. The good-wife lighted the candles, and whenanother hour had elapsed the three lads returned. There was joy ontheir faces; and there was joy in every heart in that little house whenthey told us how their mission had sped. With the help of many othersthey had spread a warning so far afield that no Covenanter came within amile of the assembly place. Then they told us how, when their task wasfulfilled, they had watched unseen the cavalcades of the dragoonsinvading from every point of the compass the quiet sanctuary among thehills. And they told too, with some glee, of the wrath of the soldierywhen after riding like hell-hounds full tilt from every side theyplunged into the hollow only to find that their prey had escaped them.
Early next morning I arose, and would have taken my departure, but thegood man forbade me.
"If ye maun go, ye maun," he said, "but it will be kittle worktravellin' by day. The dragoons are like to be sair upset after thebotchery o' yesterday and nae doot they'll be scourin' the countrylusting for bluid. So, ye'd better bide here till nicht comes and thehawks are a' sleepin', and ye'll win through to yer journey's end insafety."
His words were wise, and, though I knew that my continued absence mightcause Mr. Corsane anxiety, I decided to take his advice. When the nightfell and the moment of farewell came, the old man took me by the hand:
"God keep ye," he said. "Ye ha'e done a great thing for the Covenant.Years hence, when these troublous days are a' by, the story will be toldroond mony a fireside o' the great race ye ran and the deliverance yebrocht to the persecuted."
With the sound of kindly blessings following me through the darkness, Iset out and, long ere the dawn, was safely concealed once more in thecave above the Linn.
Mr. Corsane gave me a hearty welcome. I assured him that I haddelivered his message in good time, and then told him of all the eventswhich had followed. My story filled him with astonishment. He himselfhad been warned by Covenanting sentries who challenged him as he wasstealing in the early dawn towards the trysting-place, and he hadreturned to the cave and waited in a tumult of anxiety. But little hadhe imagined that I had brought the news.
"I never doubted your loyalty," he said, "but this deed of yours hasthirled you to the Covenant for ever," and he laid his hands upon myshoulders and let them rest there for a little space.