An hour or two later he came in again, greeting outright. "Wee Watch is deid, Aunt Effie; wee Watch is deid!" and he sobbed as if his heart would break.
It seems a small thing to write, but to the bairn it was a great sorrow; he had lost his only companion. We had been so much occupied with our own troubles that we scarcely gave him a thought beyond seeing that he was well clothed and fed; but I can feel a pang even now for the grief of the poor bairn on account of the death of his playmate.
We succeeded in keeping Steenie safely through the winter, though there were times when our hearts quaked with fear. In spring-time, as the weather grew milder, he went back to his old retreats.
CHAPTER VIII. VICTORY OF DRUMCLOG AND DEFEAT AT BOTHWELL BRIDGE.
I pass over in silence ten or a dozen years of continued oppression, which brought us little change save that our hearts grew ever sadder.
It had been declared a treasonable act to attend a conventicle, and troops were sent through the country with orders to suppress them at the point of the sword; therefore we no longer met in small bodies.
In May, 1679, a great conventicle was appointed to be held on a moor near Lanark. Steenie went up in company with many others from among us. No secret was made of the meeting, and most of the men went armed. Claverhouse with his dragoons was then in Glasgow. He marched directly to Loudoun Hill, or Drumclog, the place where our people had assembled for worship. He seized some who were on the way to the meeting and drove them before him. The service was scarcely commenced when the alarm was given. Our people flew to arms to defend themselves, and in the battle that ensued they were the victors. Elated with hope, the people flocked to our standard, and a large force was soon in the field.
My two older brothers and my nephew Jamie, now a grown man, thought of joining the army. They were weary of fines, robberies, and all the oppressions which they suffered. They felt that they could no longer submit to these things and lift up their heads as free-born Scots should do.