far and wide among the friends, that any party, when attacked by this commander, might know to exhibit the flag, and thereby escape the threatened mischief. This circumstance, however, was not contemplated by Dalyell at the time; he imagined that this Covenanter only was likely to employ the signal agreed on, and that he, in all likelihood, would be rarely met with. The plan, however, was turned to a general use, and was found productive of much good.

The success of the scheme was soon tested. A conventicle was held at Mitchelslacks, in Closeburn, at which our heroic Covenanter happened to be present. A detachment of soldiers was sent to surprise the meeting, and the commander of the party happened to be Dalyell himself. When the troopers were in sight, a white handkerchief tied to the end of a shepherd's crook was seen streaming in the wind. The signal was presented at a peradventure, for the worshippers did not know whether Dalyell might be with the soldiers or not; but the attempt was made to prove the matter, and the result was favourable; for the commander, when he saw the meeting disperse, withheld his men from running on the people, and marched off in another direction. It is not likely that the secret of the signal was ever made known by Dalyell to any of his own party, as this might have been detrimental to him, and the circumstances in which the agreement was made would not have excused him in the jealous eyes of the faction to which he belonged; nor is it likely that the matter was ever divulged by the Covenanter, beyond the circle of friends who lived within the locality over which Dalyell's power extended. Things in those days were worked with great caution, because much, either for good or ill, depended on judicious management.

Often was this commander defeated in his designs by the display of the white flag; for though the individual to whom the promise was made did not happen to be present, others instructed in the secret did it for him. So frequently was Dalyell encountered with the handkerchief, that, in the irritation of his spirit, he bitterly expressed his disappointment, and declared that the Covenanter to whom he plighted his faith was like the devil, so fleet and variable in his movements, that he was to be found in every place where a conventicle was kept-not knowing that the secret was communicated to others whose interests it equally served. It is affirmed that in no one instance did Dalyell ever infringe his promise, but kept it most religiously in every case. Though he was a persecutor, he was honourable in this matter, and

imitated the conduct of the man who had his life completely in his power, but spared him with a generous clemency. It was never the intention of the Covenanters to shed blood, nor to lift the arm of resistance against the righteously constituted authorities of the land-they were men driven to desperation by a wicked misrule; and if, on any occasion, blood was shed by them in self-defence, are they, therefore, to be stigmatized as rebels ?

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Roger Gordon of Largmore.

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ROGER GORDON of Largmore, in the parish of Kells in Galloway, was probably the son of John Gordon of the same place, who died of his wounds after the battle of Pentland. "John Gordon (of Largmore)," says Wodrow, was very sore wounded, and lost much blood, through this and his lying in the fields some nights after the engagement. When he came home to his own house, after a few days he died, and escaped the fury of his persecutors, who were resolved to carry him to Edinburgh in a litter."

Roger Gordon, it would appear, was at the battle of Bothwell Bridge, from which he escaped unhurt. He proceeded in company with a few others southward, travelling by night and hiding by day. In their cautious progress they reached the village of Minihive, where they were kindly entertained and kept in concealment till the dusk of the evening, when they departed. On leaving the village, they went in the direction of Castlefairn Water. It was a beautiful moonlight night, by which means their way was made almost as plain as if it had been noonday. They moved on in silence, each occupied with his own reflections, and all deeply impressed with a sense of the kindness of Providence in preserving them from the dangers to which, in those perilous times, they were constantly exposed. In their track they were frequently startled by the sudden rising of the coveys of wild-fowl which had cowered down in the lonely heath to doze till the dawn of day, but whose repose had been interrupted by the feet of wanderers. Many a time were their breasts, by this means, filled with alarm; for being accustomed to hasty sur prisals from the enemy, even the timid fowls of the desert, rising on their whirring wings, stunned them for a moment. As they were moving on in friendly communings, the

trampling of horses' feet was heard in the distance, and a company of troopers was seen advancing at a hasty pace. They had not come in quest of the wanderers, of whom they knew nothing they were on a different errand. A conventicle had, on that night, convened at a place called Craggy Mains, and the troopers, having received information of the circumstance, were on their way to disperse it. The friends instantly betook themselves to flight, upon which, when the soldiers observed it, they pursued. The ruggedness of the ground, however, and the partial obscurity of the bewildering mist which now and then enveloped them, as it came trailing along the moor, prevented their enemies from following them with sufficient speed to overtake them. When the fugitives perceived that the horsemen were losing ground they took courage, and wended their way through moss and moor with all celerity, with the view of reaching the house of Knockalloch, on Craigdarrach Water. At this place there dwelt a friend whose door was always open to the wanderers who were forced to seek in the desert a hiding-place from their enemies. When they reached the house they were received with a cordial welcome, and were hospitably entertained by the kind inmates. In this abode they fondly hoped that they had got beyond the reach of their pursuers, who they did not think would follow them so far, traversing a path that was so uncertain and dangerous. They were soon seated at the comfortable board near a blazing fire of peats, and thankfully enjoyed their meal after much fasting and fatigue. They recounted the perils of their flight, and the disasters of the conflict of Bothwell, to the sympathizing inhabitants of the cottage of Knockalloch, who listened with the deepest interest to the minutest incidents of the recital. When they had satisfied the inquiries of their friends, and were about to retire to rest, the thundering of the feet of a number of horses was heard in the immediate vicinity of the house. It was the arrival of the troopers, who had pertinaciously followed their prey through the trackless wild, and had actually reached Knockalloch. The unsuspecting party within were thrown into consternation at the unlooked-for incident, and the poor wanderers now concluded that they were fully in the hands of their enemies.

There was in the house of Knockalloch a dairy of a rather peculiar construction; it was a small apartment behind a bed toward the back part of the house, and regularly furnished with wooden shelves for the reception of the clean milk boyns, and the lusty cheeses with which the gudewife stored the re

ceptacles. Beneath the floor of this little chamber was a cellar of some depth, dark and damp, the descent into which was through a small trap-door on the floor. This underground apartment was peculiarly adapted to the purposes of concealment, for when the trap-door was closed, and any article of furniture placed upon it, no stranger was likely to suspect that there was any cavity below.

When the dragoons rode hastily into the close or space before the house, the mistress hastened to the dairy with the fugitives, while the husband met the soldiers at the door. The bustling troopers speedily dismounted, and entered the dwelling in the eager hope of instantly finding the objects of their pursuit. Contrary to their expectations, however, no person was to be seen within; but, as usual, they proceeded to examine every corner. In their careful search they stumbled into the dairy, to see what might perchance be found behind the bed. Here, also, they were disappointednobody was to be seen-and they had no suspicion that there was another apartment below their feet. But though they were unsuccessful in their main object, they were in no small degree gratified with the sight of the creamy milk and sleek cheeses which were so invitingly placed before them, and they commanded the mistress to furnish them with a repast of the best fare which her house could afford. With this the good woman gladly complied, from the thankful consideration that the friends were undiscovered, and in safe keeping in the cellar. When the party had refreshed themselves to their satisfaction they left the place; but not without expressing pretty loudly their disappointment at losing the fugitives, and at being led away from the conventicle.

On another occasion Roger Gordon made a narrow escape from the devouring sword of a leader of a party of dragoons, when in the wilds. He was proceeding, with a number of others, men and women, among whom was his own wife, to a conventicle which was to be held in a desert place in the neighbourhood of Minigaff. The little company, in pursuing the most secluded route to the place of meeting, passed along the bottom of a narrow and deep ravine, whose precipitous sides were rough with bold and projecting rocks, half buried among the trees and shrubs, that were calculated to afford a secure retreat to the wanderers who sought a hiding-place from their persecutors. In a retirement of this description the sufferers could have kept themselves hid for days and weeks in spite of the most vigilant search, did not spies, who knew almost every lurking-place, conduct their enemies to