and, lo! we have found also
that your house is used as a conventicle. We have caught you in the act,
and we shall take every soul of you as evidence against yourselves. So
come along, old boy--I should only be doing my duty by blowing your
brains against the wall; but that is a ceremony which our commander may
wish to see performed in his own presence!"

"Sir," said John, "I neither fear ye nor your armed men. Tak me to the
bloody Claverhouse, if you will, and at the day o' judgment it shall be
said--'_Let the murderers o' John Brydone stand forth!_'"

"Let us despatch them at once," said one of the troopers.

"Nay," said the sergeant; "bind them together, and drive them before us
to the captain: I don't know but he may wish to _do justice_ to them
with his own hand."

"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," groaned Mr. Duncan.

Mary wrung her hands--"Oh, spare my father!" she cried.

"Wheesht, Mary!" said the old man; "as soon wad a camel pass through the
eye o' a needle, as ye wad find compassion in the hands o' these men!"

"Bind the girl and the preacher together," said the sergeant.

"Nay, by your leave, sergeant," interrupted one of the troopers, "I
wouldn't be the man to lift a hand against a pretty girl like that, if
you would give me a regiment for it."

"Ay, ay, Macdonald," replied the sergeant--"this comes of your serving
under that canting fellow, Lieutenant Mowbray--he has no love for the
service; and confound me if I don't believe he is half a Roundhead in
his heart. Tie the hands of the girl, I command you."

"I will not!" returned Macdonald; "and hang me if any one else shall!"
And, with his sword in his hand, he placed himself between Mary and his
comrades.

"If you do not bind her hands, I shall cause others to bind yours," said
the sergeant.

"They may try that who dare!" returned the soldier, who was the most
powerful man of the party; "but what I've said I'll stand to."

"You shall answer for this to-morrow," said the sergeant, sullenly, who
feared to provoke a quarrel with the trooper.

"I will answer it," replied the other.

John Brydone, his son Daniel, and the Rev. Mr. Duncan, were bound
together with strong cords, and driven from the house. They were
fastened, also, to the horses of the troopers. As they were dragged
along, the cries and the lamentations of Mary followed them; and the
troopers laughed at her wailing, or answered her cries with mockery,
till the sound of