open day. One
shepherd would call to another, in the note of the curlew or the miresnipe,
and without exciting suspicion, convey from the corner of his plaid the
necessary refreshments, even down to a bottle of Nantz. The cave was never
entered on such occasions; but the provisions were dropped amidst the rank
heather; and a particular whistle immediately secured their disappearance.
Night after night, therefore, were these prowlers disappointed of their
object, till at last, despairing of success, or thinking, probably, that
the birds had escaped, they betook themselves, for the time, elsewhere, and
the cairn was relieved from siege. Clavers, in fact, had retired to
Galloway, along with Grierson and Johnstone, and the coast was clear, at
least for the present.

It was about the latter end of October, when Mr Lawson was preaching and
dispensing the Sacrament to upwards of a hundred followers, in the hollow
where stood the King's Chair. This locality was wonderfully well suited for
the purpose--it was, in fact, a kind of amphitheatre, surrounded on all
sides by rising ground, and in the centre of which three large stones
constituted a chair, and several seats of the same material were ranged in
a circular form around. The stones remain to this hour, and the truth of
this description can be verified by any one who crosses Gavin Muir. It was
a moonlight night--a harvest moon--and Mr Lawson, having handed the
Sacramental cup around, was in the act of concluding with prayer, when the
note of a bird, seemingly a plover, was heard at a great distance. It was
responded to by a similar call, somewhat nearer; and, in an instant, a
messenger rushed in upon their retreat, out of breath, and exclaiming, "You
are lost!--you are all dead men!--Clavers is within sight, and at full
gallop, with all his troop at his back."

One advantage which the poor persecuted had over their persecutors, was a
superior knowledge of localities. In an instant the hollow was tenantless;
for the inmates had fled in all directions, and to various coverts and
outlets into the vale of Annan. The minister alone remained at his post
continuing in ejaculatory prayer, and resisting all persuasion even to take
advantage of the adjoining cairny cave. In vain did Walter Gibson delay
till the last moment, and talk of his farther usefulness. Mr Lawson's only
answer was--"I am in the hands of a merciful Master, and, if he has more
service for me, he himself will provi