"And, wi' that, I began to lay about me on every side; but, before I had brought the whip half-a-dozen o' times round my head, I found that the horse was out from under me; and there was I wi' my back upon the ground, while, on the one side, was a heavy foot upon my breast, and, on the other, Kirsty threatening ony ane that would injure a hair o' her husband's head; and my son David and James Patrick rushing forward, seized the man by the throat that had his foot upon my breast, and, in an instant, they had him lying where I had lain; for they were stout, powerfu' lads.
"But when I got upon my feet, and began to recover from the surprise that I had met wi', there did I see the laird himsel, standing trembling like an ash leaf in the middle o' the unruly mob—and, as ringleader o' the whole, my wife Kirsty shaking her hand in his face, and endeavouring to extort from him a promise, that there never should be another toll-bar erected upon his grounds, while he was laird!
"'Kirsty!'I exclaimed, 'what are ye after? Are ye mad?'
"'No, William!' cried she, ' I am not mad, but I am standing out for our rights against injustice; and sorry am I to perceive that, at a time when everybody is crying out and raising their hand against the oppression that is attempted to be practised upon them, my guidman should be the only coward in the countryside.'
"'William Wastle!' said the terrified laird, whom some o' them were handling very roughly, (and principally, I must confess, at the instigation o' Kirsty,) 'I am glad to see that I have one tenant upon my estate who is a true man; and I ask your protection.'
"'Such protection as I can afford, sir,' said I, 'ye shall have; but, after the rough handling winch I have experienced this very moment, I dout it is not much that is in my power to afford ye.'
"'Get yer faither awa to his bed, bairns!' cried my wife, as I was driving my way through the crowd to the assistance o' the laird; and I'll declare, if my son David, and James Patrick, didna actually come behind me, and, lifting me aff my feet, carried me shouther-high a' the way to my bedroom; and, in spite o' my threats, expostulations, and commands, locked me into it.
"Weel, thought I, as I threw myself down upon the bed, without taking aff my claes, (partly because I found my head wanted ballast to tak them aff,) I said unto mysel—'This comes o' having a wise and headstrong wife, and bairns o' her way o' bringing up. But if ever I marry again and hae a family, I shall ken better how to act.'
"Notwithstanding all that I had undergone and witnessed, in the space o' ten minutes, I fell fast asleep; and the first thing that I awoke to recollect—that is, to be conscious o'—was my daughter Janet rushing to my bedside, and crying—'Faither! faither! my mother is a prisoner!—my poor dear mother, and James Patrick also!—and I heard the laird saying that they would baith be transported, as the very least that could happen them for last night's work, which I understand will be punished more severely than even highway robbery!'
"I awoke like a man born to a consciousness o' horror, and o' naething but horror. All that I had seen and heard and encountered on the night before, was just as a dream to me, but a dismal dream I trow.