cries for vengeance over an open
grave in which a slain man lies.

"Ye think that there hath been bloodshed in Scotland, and so there
hath--dear and precious--but I tell you that that which hath been, is
but as the dropping of the morning cloud ere the sun rises in his
strength, to the mid-noon thunder plump that is yet to come.

"Not since the black day of Bothwell have I slept in a bed! I have been
Nazarite for the vow that was upon me. Have any of you that are here
seen me in New Luce? Not even Ritchie here could have overcrowed me
then, for strength and stature. I stood as a young tree by the river of
waters. Look upon me now--so crooked by the caves and the moss-hags that
I could not go upright to the scaffold. The sword handle is fit for your
hands, and the Lord of Battles give you long arms when you measure
swords with Charles Stuart. But old Sandy is good for nothing now but
the praying. He can only bide in his hole like a toothless tyke, lame
and blind; and girn his gums at the robbers that spoil his master's
house.

"'Crook-back, crab-heart,' sayeth the proverb," Peden cried, "but I
think not so, for my heart is warm this day toward you that sit here,
for but few of you shall win through the day of wrath that is to come in
Scotland."

He turned towards the place where we sat together, the maids, my cousin
and I. A great fear in my heart chilled me like ice. Was he to denounce
us as traitors? But he only said slowly these words in a soft and moving
voice, as one that hath the tears close behind.

"And there are some of you, young maids and weak, here present, that
shall make a name in Scotland, a name that shall never die!"

With that he made an end and sat down.

Then came one, white-face and panting from the hill on the east.

"The riders are upon us--flee quickly!" he cried.

Then, indeed, there was great confusion and deray. Some rose up in act
to flee. But Anton Lennox, who had the heart of a soldier in him and the
wit of a general, commanded the men to stand to their arms, putting the
women behind them. And through the confusion I could see stern-faced men
moving to the front with guns and swords in their hands. These, as I
learned, were the disciplined members of the Praying Societies, whom
Cameron and afterwards Renwick, drew together into one military bond of
defence and fellowship.

For me I stood where I was, the maids only being with me; and I felt
that, come what might, it was my duty