k's cottage, and it
failed entirely, for Ramblin' Peter was staunch, and, although inhumanly
thrashed and probed with sword-points, the poor lad remained dumb,
insomuch that the soldiers at length set him down as an idiot, for he
did not even cry out in his agonies--excepting in a curious,
half-stifled manner--because he knew well that if his master were made
aware by his cries of what was going on he would be sure to hasten to
the rescue at the risk of his life.

Having devoured the porridge, drunk the rum, and destroyed a
considerable amount of the farmer's produce, the lawless troopers, who
seemed to be hurried in their proceedings at that time, finally left the
place.

About the time that these events were taking place in and around Black's
cottage, bands of armed men with women and even children were hastening
towards the same locality to attend the great "conventicle," for which
the preparations already described were being made.

The immediate occasion of the meeting was the desire of the parishioners
of the Reverend John Welsh, a great-grandson of John Knox, to make
public avowal, at the Communion Table, of their fidelity to Christ and
their attachment to the minister who had been expelled from the church
of Irongray; but strong sympathy induced many others to attend, not only
from all parts of Galloway and Nithsdale, but from the distant Clyde,
the shores of the Forth, and elsewhere; so that the roads were crowded
with people making for the rendezvous--some on foot, others on
horseback. Many of the latter were gentlemen of means and position,
who, as well as their retainers, were more or less well armed and
mounted. The Reverend John Blackadder, the "auld" minister of
Troqueer--a noted hero of the Covenant, who afterwards died a prisoner
on the Bass Rock--travelled with his party all the way from Edinburgh,
and a company of eighty horse proceeded to the meeting from Clydesdale.

Preliminary services, conducted by Mr. Blackadder and Mr. Welsh, were
held near Dumfries on the Saturday, but at these the place of meeting on
the Sabbath was only vaguely announced as "a hillside in Irongray," so
anxious were they to escape being disturbed by their enemies, and the
secret was kept so well that when the Sabbath arrived a congregation of
above three thousand had assembled round the Communion stones in the
hollow of Skeoch Hill.

Sentinels were posted on all the surrounding heights. One of these
sentinels was the