a leave you here alone," remonstrated Jean with an
anxious look.

"An' I can fecht!" remarked Peter in a low voice, that betrayed neither
fear nor excitement.

"The sodgers can do nae harm to _me_," returned the old woman firmly.
"Do my bidding, bairns. Be aff, I say!"

There was no resisting Mrs. Mitchell's word of command. Hastening out
by the back door just as the troopers came in sight, Peter and his
companions, diving into the shrubbery of the neighbouring streamlet,
made their way to Black's farm by a circuitous route. There the girls
took shelter in the house, locking the door and barring the windows,
while Peter, diverging to the left, made for the hills like a hunted
hare.

Andrew was standing alone at his post when the lithe runner came in
sight. Will Wallace had left him by that time, and was listening
entranced to the fervid exhortations of Dickson of Rutherglen.

"The sodgers!" gasped Peter, as he flung himself down to rest.

"Comin' this way, lad?"

"Na. They're at the Mitchells."

"A' safe at the ferm?" asked Andrew quickly.

"Ay, I saw the lasses into the hoose."

"Rin to the meetin' an' gie the alarm. Tell them to send Wallace an'
Quentin here wi' sax stoot men--weel airmed--an' anither sentry, for I'm
gaun awa'."

Almost before the sentence was finished Ramblin' Peter was up and away,
and soon the alarming cry arose from the assembly, "The dragoons are
upon us!"

Instantly the Clydesdale men mounted and formed to meet the expected
onset. The men of Nithsdale were not slow to follow their example, and
Gordon of Earlstoun, a tried and skilful soldier, put himself at the
head of a large troop of Galloway horse. Four or five companies of
foot, also well armed, got ready for action, and videttes and single
horsemen were sent out to reconnoitre. Thus, in a moment, was this
assembly of worshippers transformed into a band of Christian warriors,
ready to fight and die for their families and liberties.

But the alarm, as it turned out, was a false one. Glendinning, informed
by spies of the nature of the gathering, was much too sagacious a
warrior to oppose his small force to such overwhelming odds. He
contented himself for the present with smaller game.

After continuing in the posture of defence for a considerable time, the
assembly dispersed, those who were defenceless being escorted by armed
parties to the barns and cottages around. As they retired from the
scene the windows of