by dispatching an envoy to his army.

"And who will undertake the task?" said Burley, evading a proposal too
reasonable to be openly resisted--"Who will go up to their camp, knowing
that John Grahame of Claverhouse hath sworn to hang up whomsoever we
shall dispatch towards them, in revenge of the death of the young man his
nephew?"

"Let that be no obstacle," said Morton; "I will with pleasure encounter
any risk attached to the bearer of your errand."

"Let him go," said Balfour, apart to Macbriar; "our councils will be well
rid of his presence."

The motion, therefore, received no contradiction even from those who were
expected to have been most active in opposing it; and it was agreed that
Henry Morton should go to the camp of the Duke of Monmouth, in order to
discover upon what terms the insurgents would be admitted to treat with
him. As soon as his errand was made known, several of the more moderate
party joined in requesting him to make terms upon the footing of the
petition intrusted to Lord Evandale's hands; for the approach of the
King's army spread a general trepidation, by no means allayed by the high
tone assumed by the Cameronians, which had so little to support it,
excepting their own headlong zeal. With these instructions, and with
Cuddie as his attendant, Morton set forth towards the royal camp, at all
the risks which attend those who assume the office of mediator during the
heat of civil discord.

Morton had not proceeded six or seven miles, before he perceived that he
was on the point of falling in with the van of the royal forces; and, as
he ascended a height, saw all the roads in the neighbourhood occupied by
armed men marching in great order towards Bothwell-muir, an open common,
on which they proposed to encamp for that evening, at the distance of
scarcely two miles from the Clyde, on the farther side of which river the
army of the insurgents was encamped. He gave himself up to the first
advanced-guard of cavalry which he met, as bearer of a flag of truce, and
communicated his desire to obtain access to the Duke of Monmouth. The
non-commissioned officer who commanded the party made his report to his
superior, and he again to another in still higher command, and both
immediately rode to the spot where Morton was detained.

"You are but losing your time, my friend, and risking your life," said
one of them, addressing Morton; "the Duke of Monmouth will receive no
terms from traitors with arms i