each the shore. The remainder--at least two
hundred--were drowned in the hold. Will Wallace was among the saved,
but was taken to Leith and transferred to another vessel. After several
months of tossings on the deep he reached his destination and was sold
into slavery.

Many months--even years--passed away, but no news reached Candlemaker
Row regarding the fate of the banished people. As to Andrew Black, the
only change that took place in his condition during his long captivity
was his transference--unknown to his kindred--from the gloomy prison of
the Bass Rock to the still gloomier cells of Dunnottar Castle.

During all this time, and for some years after, the persecutions were
continued with ever-increasing severity: it seemed as if nothing short
of the extirpation of the Covenanters altogether was contemplated. In
short, the two parties presented at this period an aspect of human
affairs which may well be styled monstrous. On the one hand a people
suffering and fighting to the death to uphold law, and on the other a
tyrant king and arrogant ecclesiastics and nobles, with their paid
slaves and sycophants, deliberately violating the same!

Quentin Dick and Ramblin' Peter had been drawn closer together by
powerful sympathy after the imprisonment of Black and the banishment of
Will Wallace. They were like-minded in their aspirations, though very
dissimilar in physical and mental endowment. Feeling that Edinburgh was
not a safe place in which to hide after his recent escape, Quentin
resolved to return to Dumfries to inquire after, and if possible to aid,
his friends there.

Peter determined to cast in his lot with him. In size he was still a
boy though he had reached manhood.

"We maun dae our best to help the wanderers," said the shepherd, as they
started on their journey.

"Ay," assented Peter.

Arrived in Galloway they were passing over a wide moorland region one
afternoon when a man suddenly appeared before them, as if he had dropped
from the clouds, and held out his hand.

"What! McCubine, can that be you?" exclaimed Quentin, grasping the
proffered hand. "Man, I _am_ glad to see ye. What brings ye here?"

McCubine explained that he and his friend Gordon, with four comrades,
were hiding in the Moss to avoid a party of dragoons who were pursuing
them. "Grierson of Lagg is with them, and Captain Bruce is in command,"
he said, "so we may expect no mercy if they catch us. Only the other
day Bruce