BOOK IV.

I.--Treason in the Camp 263
II.--Visions of the Night 284
III.--Faithful Unto Death 303

[Illustration: (FACSIMILE PAGE OF MANUSCRIPT FROM BESIDE THE BONNIE
BRIAR BUSH)]

GRAHAM OF CLAVERHOUSE

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

BY THE CAMP-FIRE

That afternoon a strange thing had happened to the camp of the Prince
of Orange, which was pitched near Nivelle in Brabant, for the Prince
was then challenging Conde, who stuck behind his trenches at Charleroi
and would not come out to fight. A dusty-colored cloud came racing
along the sky so swiftly--yet there was no wind to be felt--that it
was above the camp almost as soon as it was seen. When the fringes of
the cloud encompassed the place, there burst forth as from its belly a
whirlwind and wrought sudden devastation in a fashion none had ever
seen before or could afterwards forget. With one long and fierce gust
it tore up trees by the roots, unroofed the barns where the Prince's
headquarters were, sucked up tents into the air, and carried soldiers'
caps in flocks, as if they were flocks of rooks. This commotion went
on for half an hour, then ceased as instantly as it began; there was
calm again and the evening ended in peace, while the cloud of fury
went on its way into the west, and afterwards we heard that a very
grand and strong church at Utrecht had suffered greatly. As the camp
was in vast disorder, both officers and men bivouacked in the open
that night, and as it was inclined to chill in those autumn evenings,
fires had been lit not only for the cooking of food, but for the
comfort of their heat. Round one fire a group of English gentlemen had
gathered, who had joined the Prince's forces, partly because, like
other men of their breed, they had an insatiable love of fighting, and
partly to push their fortunes, for Englishmen in those days, and still
more Scotsmen were willing to serve on any side where the pay and the
risks together were certain, and under any commander who was a man of
his head and hands. Europe swarmed with soldiers of fortune from Great
Britain, hard bitten and fearless men, some of whom fell far from
home, and were buried in unknown graves, others of whom returned to
take their share in any fighting that turned up in their own country.
So it came to pass that many of our Islanders had fought impar