y in this frame of dubiety, lying in the bed, and my son
sitting at my pillow, I said to him, "Get THE BOOK and open, and read,"
which he accordingly did; and the first verse that he cast his eye upon
was the twenty-fourth of the seventh chapter of Isaiah, "With arrows and
with bows shall men come."

"Stop" said I, "and go to the window and see who are coming;" but when
he went thither and looked out he could see no one far nor near. Yet
still I heard the tramp of many feet, and I said to him, "Assuredly,
Joseph, there are many persons coming towards this house, and I think
they are not men of war, for their steps are loose, and they march not
in the order of battle."

This I have thought was a wonderful sharpness of hearing with which I
was for a season then gifted; for soon after a crowd of persons were
discovered coming over the moor towards the house, and it proved to be
Mr Cargill, with about some sixty of the Cameronians, who had been
hunted from out their hiding-places in the south.

CHAPTER LXXIX

It is surely a most strange matter, that whenever I come to think and to
write of the events of that period, and of my sickness at Kingswell, my
thoughts relapse into infirmity, and all which then passed move, as it
were, before me in mist, disorderly and fantastical. But wherefore need
I thus descant of my own estate, when so many things of the highest
concernment are pressing upon my tablets for registration? Be it
therefore enough that I mention here how much I was refreshed by the
prayers of Mr Cargill, who was brought into my sick-chamber, where he
wrestled with great efficacy for my recovery; and that after he had made
an end, I felt so much strengthened that I caused myself to be raised
from my bed and placed in a chair at the open window, that I might see
the men who had been heartened from on high by the sense of their
sufferings, to proclaim war against the man-sworn King, our common foe.

They were scattered before the house, to the number of more than fifty,
some sitting on stones, others stretched on the heather, and a few
walking about by themselves, ruminating on mournful fancies. Their
appearance was a thought wild and raised,--their beards had not been
shaven for many a day,--their apparel was also much rent, and they had
all endured great misfortunes in their families and substance. Their
homes had been made desolate; some had seen their sons put to death, and
not a few the ruin of their