rder of the covenanters.

Owing to the special desire of the Scottish rulers every possible
degradation was heaped on the imprisoned nobles, and it was a rare
favour indeed when they were suffered to die on the block, and not by
the common hangman. Lord Ogilvy was saved by his sister, who, like lady
Nithsdale sixty years later, forced him to exchange his clothes for
hers, and remained in his cell, ready to take the consequences.

Then came the rumour that the king, with cropped hair like a Puritan and
wearing a disguise, had ridden over Magdalen bridge at Oxford, attended
by lord Ashburnham and Hudson, his chaplain, and entered the Scottish
camp in the hope of softening his foes by submission. He was soon
undeceived as to the way in which they regarded him, for before he had
even eaten or rested he was begged--or bidden--to order the surrender of
Newark, which still held out, and to command Montrose to lay down his
sword. Charles, whose manhood returned to him in these hours of
darkness, positively refused; but at Newcastle he found he was powerless
to resist, and wrote to his faithful servant to disband his army and to
go himself to France.

In the letter which the marquis sent in reply he asks nothing for
himself, but entreats the king to obtain the best terms possible for
those that had fought for him, and the conditions arranged by Middleton
were certainly better than either king or general expected. The men who
had served in Montrose's wars were given their lives and liberty, and
also were allowed to retain whatever lands had not been already handed
over to other people. As to Montrose himself, he, with Crawford and
Hurry the general, was to leave Scotland before September 1 in a ship
belonging to the Committee of Estates. Should they be found in the
country after that date death would be the penalty.

* * * * *

After disbanding his army--or what was left of it--in the king's name,
and thanking them for their services, Montrose went to Forfarshire to
await the ship which was to convey him to France. But day after day
passed without a sign of it, and the marquis soon became convinced that
treachery was intended, and took measures to prevent it. Leaving old
Montrose, he went to Stonehaven, another little town on the coast, and
settled with a Norwegian captain to lie off Montrose on a certain day.
So when, on August 31, the covenanting captain at last appeared, and
declared his shi