At the other rinks, meanwhile, subsidiary contests were in full progress, and the scene was a very animated one. It was, however, very cold work for bystanders, and Cameron, as he saw that his companion was shivering in spite of her winter clothing, proposed to Alec that Margaret and himself should set out at once for the farm, leaving Mr. Lindsay to overtake them when he returned. To this arrangement Alec of course assented, and Margaret and Cameron set off together.
Most young men would have been glad to be in Cameron’s place; but the Highlander felt very ill at ease. He began to seek for a subject which might be supposed to be interesting to a girl, and dismissed one after another as totally unsuitable. The silence continued, and the young man was nearly in despair, when Margaret, totally unconscious of any embarrassment, came to his assistance.
‘That is the way to Drumclog,’ she said, pointing to a moorland road which crossed their path; ‘Alec and you ought to walk over some day.’
‘Is there anything to see there?’ inquired her companion.
‘Have you never heard of the Battle of Drumclog?’ asked the girl in surprise.
The Highlander was obliged to confess that he had not.
‘Have you never read of the persecutions of the Covenanters, and Graham of Claverhouse, and the martyrs?’ asked Margaret again, with wonder in her eyes.
‘Oh yes, of course; but I didn’t know that these things happened in this part of the country.’
‘Yes,’ said Margaret. ‘The Martyrs’ Cairn is only a little way beyond Blackwater. You know the Covenanters were not allowed to worship in their own way, and they used to meet in hollows of the hills and on the open moors. The country was full of soldiers, sent to keep down the people; and when the Covenanters went to the preaching, they used to take arms with them. One Sabbath morning a large number of them were attending a service on the lonely moor at Drumclog when the English soldiers, who had somehow heard of the gathering, bore down upon them. They were dragoons, led by “the bloody Claverhouse,” as they call him to this day. Providentially there was a bog in front of the Covenanters. The horses of the dragoons could not cross it; and those soldiers who did cross at last were beaten off by the Covenanters, and many of them were killed.’
‘I remember it now,’ said Cameron; ‘I have read about it in “Old Mortality.”’