Happily for the well-being of future generations, our covenanting forefathers stood their ground with Christian heroism, for both civil and religious liberty were involved in the struggle. Their so-called fanaticism consisted in a refusal to give up the worship of God after the manner dictated by conscience and practised by their forefathers; in declining to attend the ministry of the ignorant, and too often vicious, curates forced upon them; and in refusing to take the oath of allegiance just referred to by Will Wallace.
Conventicles, as they were calledor the gathering together of Christians in houses and barns, or on the hillsides, to worship Godwere illegally pronounced illegal by the King and Council; and disobedience to the tyrannous law was punished with imprisonment, torture, confiscation of property, and death. To enforce these penalties the greater part of Scotlandespecially the south and westwas overrun by troops, and treated as if it were a conquered country. The peopleholding that in some matters it is incumbent to obey God rather than man, and that they were bound not to forsake the assembling of themselves togetherresolved to set the intolerable law at defiance, and went armed to the hill-meetings.
They took up arms at first, however, chiefly, if not solely, to protect themselves from a licentious soldiery, who went about devastating the land, not scrupling to rob and insult helpless women and children, and to shed innocent blood. Our Scottish forefathers, believingin common with the lower animals and lowest savagesthat it was a duty to defend their females and little ones, naturally availed themselves of the best means of doing so.
About this time a meeting, or conventicle, of considerable importance was appointed to be held among the secluded hills in the neighbourhood of Irongray; and Andrew Black, the farmer, was chosen to select the particular spot, and make the preliminary arrangements.
Now this man Black is not easily described, for his was a curiously compound character. To a heart saturated with the milk of human kindness was united a will more inflexible, if possible, than that of a Mexican mule; a frame of Herculean mould, and a spirit in which profound gravity and reverence waged incessant warfare with a keen appreciation of the ludicrous. Peacefully inclined in disposition, with a tendency to believe well of all men, and somewhat free and easy in the formation of his opinions, he was very unwilling to resist authority; but the love of truth and justice was stronger within him than the love of peace.
In company with his shepherd, Quentin Dicka man of nearly his own size and buildAndrew Black proceeded to a secluded hollow in Skeoch Hill to gather and place in order the masses of rock which were to form the seats of the communicants at the contemplated religious gatheringwhich seats remain to this day in the position they occupied at that time, and are familiarly known in the district as the Communion stones of Irongray.
Chapter Two.
The Fanatic and the Spy.
The night was dark and threatening when Andrew Black and his shepherd left their cottage, and quickly but quietly made for the neighbouring hill. The weather was well suited for deeds of secrecy, for gusts of wind, with an occasional spattering of rain, swept along the hill-face, and driving clouds obscured the moon, which was then in its first quarter.
At first the two men were obliged to walk with care, for the light was barely sufficient to enable them to distinguish the sheep-track which they followed, and the few words they found it necessary to speak were uttered in subdued tones. Jean Black and her cousin Aggie Wilson had reported their rencontre with the two dragoons, and Quentin Dick had himself seen the main body of the troops from behind a heather bush on his way back to the farm, therefore caution was advisable. But as they climbed Skeoch Hill, and the moon shed a few feeble rays on their path, they began to converse more freely. For a few minutes their intercourse related chiefly to sheep and the work of the farm, for both Andrew and his man were of that sedate, imperturbable nature which is not easily thrown off its balance by excitement or danger. Then their thoughts turned to the business in hand.
Nae fear o the sodgers comin here on a nicht like this, remarked Andrew, as a squall nearly swept the blue bonnet off his head.
Maybe no, growled Quentin Dick sternly, but Ive heard frae Tam Chanter that servants o that Papist Earl o Nithsdale, an o the scoondrel Sir Robert Dalziel, hae been seen pokin their noses aboot at Irongray. If they git wund o the place, were no likely to hae a quiet time ot. Did ye say that the sodgers ill-used the bairns?
Na!ane o them was inclined to be impident, but the ither, a guid-lookin young felly, accordin to Jean, took their pairt an quarrelled wi his comrade, sae that they cam to loggerheeds at last, but what was the upshot naebody kens, for the bairns took to their heels an left them fechtin.
An what if they sud fin yer hoose an the bairns unproteckit? asked the shepherd.
Theyre no likely to fin the hoose in a nicht like this, man; an if they do, theyll fin naebody but Ramblin Peter there, for I gied the lassies an the women strick orders to tak to the hidy-hole at the first soond o horses feet.
By this time the men had reached a secluded hollow in the hill, so completely enclosed as to be screened from observation on all sides. They halted here a few moments, for two dark forms were seen in the uncertain light to be moving about just in front of them.
Its them, whispered Andrew.
Whae? asked the shepherd.
Alexander McCubine an Edward Gordon.
Guid an safe men baith, responded Quentin; ye better gie them a cry.
Andrew did so by imitating the cry of a plover. It was replied to at once.
The stanes are big, ye see, explained Andrew, while the two men were approaching. Itll tak the strength o the fowr o us to lift some o them.
Weve got the cairn aboot finished, said McCubine as he came up. He spoke in a low voice, for although there was no probability of any one being near, they were so accustomed to expect danger because of the innumerable enemies who swarmed about the country, that caution had almost become a second nature.
Without further converse the four men set to work in silence. They completed a circular heap, or cairn, of stones three or four feet high, and levelled the top thereof to serve as a table or a pulpit at the approaching assembly. In front of this, and stretching towards a sloping brae, they arranged four rows of very large stones to serve as seats for the communicants, with a few larger stones between them, as if for the support of rude tables of plank. It took several hours to complete the work. When it was done Andrew Black surveyed it with complacency, and gave it as his opinion that it was a braw kirk, capable o accommodatin a congregation o some thoosands, mair or less. Then the two men, Gordon and McCubine, bidding him and the shepherd good-night, went away into the darkness from which they had emerged.
Wharll they be sleepin the nicht? asked the shepherd, as he and Andrew turned homeward.
I the peat-bog, I doot, for I daurna tak them hame whan the dragoons is likely to gie us a ca; besides, the hidy-hole wull be ower fu soon. Noo, lad, he added, as they surmounted a hillock, from which they had a dim view of the surrounding country, gang ye doon an see if ye can fin oot onything mair aboot thae sodgers. Ill awa hame an see that as right there.