"What think ye noo?" asked Andrew Black, turning to Wallace with a quiet
but stern look, after old Mrs. Mitchell had been carried in, "what think
ye _noo_, lad, o' us Covenanters an' oor lack o' lang-sufferin' an' oor
defyin' the laws? Aren't these laws we _ought_ to defy, but havena
properly defied yet, laws illegally made by a perjured King and an
upstart Cooncil?"

"Mr. Black," said the ex-trooper, seizing his companion's hand with an
iron grip, "from this day forward I am with you--heart and soul."

Little did Wallace think, when he came to this decision, that he had
still stronger reason for his course of action than he was aware of at
the moment.

It was night when Mrs. Mitchell was brought into the farm-house, and
preparations were being made for a hasty meal, when Ramblin' Peter came
in with the news that a number of people in the Lanarkshire district had
been intercommuned and driven from their homes--amongst others David
Spence, Will Wallace's uncle, with whom his mother had taken up her
abode.

The distracted looks of poor Wallace on hearing this showed the powerful
effect the news had upon him.

"Keep yersel' quiet, noo," said Black in an encouraging tone, as he took
the youth's arm and led him out of the house. "These are no' times to
let our hearts rin awa wi' oor heids. Yer mither must be looked after;
but i' the meantime let me tell ye that yer uncle Daavid is a douce,
cliver felly, an' fears naething i' this warld. If he did, he wadna be
amang the intercommuned. Be sure he's no' the man to leave his sister
Maggie in trouble. Of course ye'll be wantin' to be aff to look after
her."

"Of course--instantly," said Wallace.

"Na. Ye'll hae yer supper first--an' a guid ain--for ye'll need it.
Have patience, noo, an' listen to me, for I'll do the very best I can
for ye in this strait--an' it's no muckle ye can do for yersel' withoot
help."

There was something so decided yet kindly and reassuring in the farmer's
tone and manner that Wallace felt relieved in spite of his anxieties,
and submitted to his guidance in all things. Black then explained that
he had a friend in Lanark who owed him money on lambs sold to him the
previous year; that he meant to send his man Quentin Dick first to
collect that money, and then proceed to Edinburgh, for the purpose of
making further arrangements there about cattle.

"Noo," continued Black, "I've gotten a mither as weel as you, an' she
lives in the Can'