ngs in
their hearts. Kid was a witty man, usually overflowing with innocent
mirth; even in sight of the gallows his humor was insuppressible.
Looking into King's face he made a pun on their own names, saying, "I
have often heard and read of a kid sacrificed, but I seldom or never
heard of a king made a sacrifice."

Four hundred of these Covenanters remained unmoved by threats, promises,
sufferings, or protracted hardships. The painful weeks and months might
wear them out, but they continued firm in the faith and testimony,
resolved to honor their Lord and His Covenant while they had breath.
They remembered the promise, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of life." They were of the unbending type.

The king's council, hopeless in attempting to bring them to terms,
resolved to finish the irksome task by shipping all to distant lands.
They placed 243 on a small sail-ship, which was tossed on the Atlantic
ocean until engulfed amidst the waves. The remainder were never
transported.

Many Covenanters were confined in places even more intolerable than
this. Dunnottar Castle became one of these notable spots. The castle
stands on a rock that projects into the sea. Here still exists a deep
dark room, called the "Whigs' Vault," where 167 Covenanters were crowded
together. Forty-five of these were women. The room is 56 feet long, 16
wide, and 12 high, having two small windows. This outrageous disregard
for sex, decency, health, and every natural right, aroused even the
indignation of the governor's wife, at whose request the women, after
some days, were removed to another vault. The prisoners suffered the
horrors of these dark foul pits three months. But the Lord Jesus Christ
did not forsake them; they were sustained by His abundant grace. He
heard their mournful cries and upheld their faith. Some breathed out
their lives on the hard stone floor, with no pillow on which to rest
their aching heads. Blessed termination of the horrid cruelty! Even
there the "pearl gate" opened wide, and the ransomed soul arose in
power, and walked forth into the marvelous light of the world above.
They who survived death were offered liberty on condition of taking the
king's oath, and acknowledging his supremacy over Church and conscience.
They persistently refused to do this. How great the loyalty of these men
and women to the Lord Jesus Christ! Imprisonment with all its bitterness
was sweeter to them than liberty with a de