TRADITIONS OF THE COVENANTERS

CHAPTER XIII.

Hugh Hutchison—further particulars.

In the last chapter we left Hugh Hutchison in a cave near Dalmellington, in which he had taken refuge from his pursuers, and in which he continued till the danger was past. These men did not rush on martyrdom, nor needlessly expose their lives, for the honor of having it said that they died as witnesses in the cause of truth. They sought to preserve their lives by all honorable means as long as they could; thus proving that they were not actuated by a blind enthusiasm, but by an enlightened zeal. Life was as sweet to them as it was to other men, and therefore it was their care to preserve it; but then, sweet as it was, they were prepared to yield it up at the bidding of Him from whom they received it. In the neighborhood of his retreat, Hutchison had the happiness to meet with a fellow-sufferer, with whom he lived in concealment for a season. The name of his new associate was John Paterson. This man occupied the farm of Penyvenie, at the bottom of Benbeach, and the ruins of his dwellinghouse are still to be seen on the right hand of the road from Cumnock to Dalmellington. These walls are the venerable remains of a cottage, which, in the suffering period, was a sanctuary to many of the people of God, and a temple consecrated to his worship. Owing to the severity of the times, however, Paterson durst not occupy his dwelling as formerly, but was obliged to seek a hiding-place in the fields. To his retreat in the “Tod Fauld,” then, he conducted Hutchison, and here for a considerable time they continued in seclusion and security. Their intercourse in the day of common peril was doubtless such as became witnesses and sufferers in the same cause. Many a sweet hour did the worthies of those times enjoy with God and with one another, in the dreary caves and solitudes of the mountains, when their enemies foolishly imagined that they had despoiled them of all comfort and enjoyment whatever. Their foes might indeed expel them from their homes, and drive them afar to the lonely deserts, but they could not expel them from their rest in God, nor interrupt that spiritual intercourse with Heaven which to them was sweeter far than all earthly comforts, or than even life itself. “Thy loving-kindness is better than life.”

From their place of concealment out two worthies descended, as frequently and regularly as circumstances permitted, to the farm-house, by turns, to their meals. One morning, when Paterson had stolen cautiously from his retreat to go to his house to breakfast, leaving his companion in the hiding-place till his return, a circumstance occurred which wellnigh proved fatal to them both. It had been agreed on between Paterson and his friends, that when danger was apprehended, they should cry in his hearing, “The nowt’s i’ the corn.” This watchword was unknown to Hutchison. It happened, on the morning alluded to, when Paterson was in his house at breakfast, that an individual at some distance who saw three dragoons approaching, hastened to the lurking-place to give the pre-concerted warning, not knowing that Paterson was at the moment in the cottage. Hutchison heard the cry, and not being aware that the words implied a sense different from their literal import, sprang from his concealment to drive the cattle from the corn-field. He no sooner issued into the open field than he discovered his mistake, for he saw three troopers marching with all speed towards the dwelling-house. He ran forward, with the intention, no doubt, of giving warning to his friend within, but durst not enter as the party was close at hand; and going past the end of the house, which intercepted him from the view of the horsemen, he plunged into the heart of a large willow bush, and there secreted himself.

Meanwhile the soldiers drew near, and John Paterson, who was at breakfast, observed their approach. He instantly rose from the table, and grasping his trusty sword, presented himself in the attitude of self-defence at the door. His affectionate wife, whom solicitude for her husband’s welfare prompted to expose herself to danger, followed close at his back. The soldiers, in order to overpower their victim, made a simultaneous onset; but Paterson with undaunted breast and powerful arm, brandished his glittering glaive above his head, and dealt his blows so lustily that he disabled two of his opponents, and laid them stunned, but not dead at his feet. The third, a stalwart dragoon, yet unscathed, approached the valiant Covenanter, who so bravely maintained his position before the door, with a view to cut him down, and the more easily, as he was already exhausted by the stiffness of the conflict; but his wife, who, like a guardian angel, was hovering near him, hastily untied her apron, and flung it over the soldier’s sword-arm, by means of which the weapon was entangled, so that Paterson made his escape without injury to himself. It was sometime before the prostrate soldiers recovered themselves, and by this time the fugitive was beyond their reach. Meanwhile Hutchison was ensconced in the bush, to which the soldiers as they retired approached, and went round it beating it with their swords, as if they expected to start the timid hare from its lair in the interior, or to rouse from their nests the domestic fowls, which in their raids among the peasantry they sometimes did not scruple to destroy or carry off. Hutchison lay trembling and perspiring, expecting every moment to be dragged from his retreat, and murdered by the infuriated soldiers on the spot. No incident, however, occurred; they left the place, and Hutchison remained undiscovered. When they were gone, and no further danger was apprehended, Paterson left his hiding-place, and returned with a throbbing heart to inquire after the state of his household; and having satisfied himself on this point, his next care was to search for Hutchison, whom he found in the heart of the bush. In this seclusion Hutchison chose to remain the whole day, and it was not till evening began to close in that he would consent to leave the covert. This caution, on the part of Hutchison was not without its reason, for the troopers sometimes returned when least expected. It was his intention now to return to Daljig in the evening, considering that his danger with Paterson appeared to be as great as it could be at home. At the earnest entreaty of his friends, however, he remained with them during that night; and on the morrow, as no apprehensions of the speedy return of their enemies were entertained, he agreed to assist his friend in the operations of haymaking. With buoyant spirits, while they inhaled the balmy breath of June, and with arms strong for labor, each with his scythe cleared with ample sweep the space around him, leaving the dewy grass with its “fresh meadow blooms,” in long files or swaithes of sweetly scented hay behind them. Shortly after high noon, Hutchison had retired to the house to dinner, while Paterson, in case of danger, kept his place in the meadow, mowing down the soft grass close by the side of a field of tall standing corn that waved on the margin of a purling brook, at whose limpid waters the haymakers frequently slaked their thirst.

(To be continued)

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