ch his companion bestowed on his narrative, "just as I was
wearying for the tail of the preaching, cam word that the dragoons were
upon us.--Some ran, and some cried, Stand! and some cried, Down wi' the
Philistines!--I was at my mither to get her awa sting and ling or the
red-coats cam up, but I might as weel hae tried to drive our auld
fore-a-hand ox without the goad--deil a step wad she budge.--Weel, after
a', the cleugh we were in was strait, and the mist cam thick, and there
was good hope the dragoons wad hae missed us if we could hae held our
tongues; but, as if auld Kettledrummle himsell hadna made din eneugh to
waken the very dead, they behoved a' to skirl up a psalm that ye wad hae
heard as far as Lanrick!--Aweel, to mak a lang tale short, up cam my
young Lord Evandale, skelping as fast as his horse could trot, and twenty
red-coats at his back. Twa or three chields wad needs fight, wi' the
pistol and the whinger in the tae hand, and the Bible in the tother, and
they got their crouns weel cloured; but there wasna muckle skaith dune,
for Evandale aye cried to scatter us, but to spare life."

"And did you not resist?" said Morton, who probably felt, that, at that
moment, he himself would have encountered Lord Evandale on much slighter
grounds.

"Na, truly," answered Cuddie, "I keepit aye before the auld woman, and
cried for mercy to life and limb; but twa o' the red-coats cam up, and
ane o' them was gaun to strike my mither wi' the side o' his
broadsword--So I got up my kebbie at them, and said I wad gie them as
gude. Weel, they turned on me, and clinked at me wi' their swords, and I
garr'd my hand keep my head as weel as I could till Lord Evandale came
up, and then I cried out I was a servant at Tillietudlem--ye ken
yoursell he was aye judged to hae a look after the young leddy--and he
bade me fling down my kent, and sae me and my mither yielded oursells
prisoners. I'm thinking we wad hae been letten slip awa, but
Kettledrummle was taen near us--for Andrew Wilson's naig that he was
riding on had been a dragooner lang syne, and the sairer Kettledrummle
spurred to win awa, the readier the dour beast ran to the dragoons when
he saw them draw up.--Aweel, when my mother and him forgathered, they
set till the sodgers, and I think they gae them their kale through the
reek! Bastards o' the hure o' Babylon was the best words in their wame.
Sae then the kiln was in a bleeze again, and they brought us a' three on
wi' them t