Steenie afterwards told Robert McDougal, who also escaped, that he was so thoroughly weary of life under the tyranny of the oppressor that nothing but thoughts of the grief his death would cause our mother made him avail himself of the mercy shown by the two humane soldiers. "But," added he, "what, after all, signifies an escape that must eventually end in torture or death?" He knew that for those who would not renounce the Covenant life could be but a weary waiting and lurking in wild moors and caves.
From this time Steenie and Robert were inseparable. I scarcely could see one without the other. The truth came slowly to me that Robert was especially interested in me, and that Steenie was glad it was so. I never could see why he was glad, since in those troublous times no tie could be so binding as to secure to us the companionship of our friends.
My nephew Jamie was spared to us. A serious and lingering illness had suddenly prostrated him and prevented him from joining the Covenanters' army, according to his intention; and when news of his father's death and of our crushing defeat came, his mother was still watching by his bedside. As his strength slowly returned, she blessed God for the sickness that for the time had so increased her sorrow and her cares, but in which she now saw the divine hand in mercy holding her son back from death or capture on the field. And truly she needed Jamie, her other bairns being much younger than he, and all lasses but the youngest.
Richie's return was a source of thankfulness; yet Steenie would never have accepted liberty on such conditions. Ellen was overjoyed; she had no regrets that he was never again to fight for liberty of conscience. But his health was never again robust; he had suffered too much from exposure in his confinement at Edinburgh.
Margaret welcomed Richie with tears.
"I rejoice with you, dear Ellen, at the return of your husband," she said. "Mine will never come back to me. I do not even know where his body lies. But the trump of God will wake him; and we shall meet again in a better world, where are no wars nor rumors of wars, no more crushing by a tyrant's heel, no more heart-achings or heart-breakings. There the great King himself will bid his subjects be glad for evermore."
CHAPTER IX. THE SHEPHERD SMITTEN.
The state of the country was daily becoming more terrible. No one felt safe at any time.