heaven were opened, and the rain, which had been
restrained all day, came down in torrents, and sent the Cairn and Cluden
red and roaring to the sea.

But long before this dispersion took place, Andrew Black, with Quentin
Dick, Will Wallace, Ramblin' Peter, and six sturdy young men, armed with
sword, gun, and pistol, had hurried down the hill to succour the
Mitchells, if need be, and see to the welfare of those who had been left
behind in the farm.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE HUNTING AND HARRYING DISPLAYED.

Being ignorant, as we have said, of the cruel murder of old Mitchell,
Ramblin' Peter's report had not seriously alarmed Black. He concluded
that the worst the troopers would do would be to rob the poor old couple
of what money they found in their possession, oblige them to take the
Oath of Supremacy, drink the health of King and bishops, and otherwise
insult and plunder them. Knowing the Mitchells intimately, he had no
fear that their opposition would invite severity. Being very fond of
them, however, he resolved, at the risk of his life, to prevent as far
as possible the threatened indignity and plunder.

"They're a douce auld pair," he remarked to Will Wallace as they strode
down the hillside together, "quiet an' peaceable, wi' naething to speak
o' in the way of opeenions--somethin' like mysel'--an' willin' to let-be
for let-be. But since the country has been ower-run by thae Hielanders
an' sodgers, they've had little peace, and the auld man has gie'n them a
heap o' trouble, for he's as deaf as a post. Peter says the pairty o'
dragoons is a sma' ane, so I expect the sight o' us'll scare them away
an' prevent fechtin'."

"It may be so," said Wallace, "and of course I shall not fail you in
this attempt to protect your old friends; but, to tell you the truth, I
don't quite like this readiness on the part of you Covenanters to defy
the laws, however bad they may be, and to attack the King's troops. The
Bible, which you so often quote, inculcates longsuffering and patience."

"Hm! there speaks yer ignorance," returned the farmer with a dash of
cynicism in his tone. "Hoo mony years, think ye, are folk to submit to
tyranny an' wrang an' fierce oppression for nae sin whatever against the
laws o' God or the land? Are twunty, thretty, or forty years no' enough
to warrant oor claim to lang-sufferin'? Does submission to law-brekin'
on the pairt o' Government, an' lang-continued, high-handed oppression
frae King, cour