He reached the house of a friend, but he no sooner entered than he threw himself on a bed, being feverish and exhausted. Captain Bruce, who commanded the party, arrived at the house, and made M'Haffie an easy prey. He ordered his men to drag him from his couch, which they instantly did, and having led him out to the field, they, without ceremony, shot him dead on the spot. This murder was committed in the depth of winter 1685. A rude stone on the farm of Linfairn marks the identical spot where he fell. He was interred in the churchyard of Straiton, and the following is part of the inscription on his tombstone: "Though I was sick, and like to die, Wodrow notices the death of this worthy man in the fol lowing words: "Sometime in this month (January), Thomas M'Hassie (M'Haffie), son to John M'Hassie, in the Largs, in the parish of Straiton, in Carrick, was despatched quickly. This good man was lying in his house very ill of a fever. Captain Bruce and a party of soldiers coming into the house, put questions to him, which he refusing to answer, and declining to take the abjuration oath, they took him out of his bed to the high road near by, and without any further process, or any crimes I can hear of laid to his charge, shot him immediately." The following detached anecdotes may here find a place. The first relates to Clark of Brandleys, who is, doubtless, of the family of Auchengrouch. Brandleys is situated in the moor to the east of Sanquhar Town Common, and not far from the mouth of the wild Glendyne. It is in the heart of a pastoral district, which stretches along the base of the brown hills on the north, and is sweetly retired in the bosom of the moorland. The Clarks had spread themselves widely over this locality; for besides the original family in Auchengrouch, there was a branch in Glenim, a branch in Leadhills, and one in Brandleys. The Clark who resided in this latter place occupied the farm after the Revolution. It was when times of turbulence were reduced to quietness, and when men enjoyed once more the blessings of civil and religious liberty, that Clark of Brandleys was driving northward a flock of lambs for sale. The shepherds in those days were provided with a tall crook or kent, as it was called, which they used in assisting them to overleap the ditches on the moss, and the torrents on the mountain-side, and which was also occasionally needed to drag from the lairy moors a helpless sheep which was unable to extricate itself. With this patriarchal implement in his hand, Clark was slowly driving before him his bleating charge. The roads in those days were miserably bad, and, owing to this circumstance, he was much retarded in his progress, and in order to reach the market in time, was obliged to proceed on the Lord's-day. When he had advanced to the neighbourhood of Carnwath, and was passing, in the stillness of the Sabbath, a farm residence, the master of the dwelling, who happened at the time to be in the field, observed the man driving the flock of lambs, and in his zeal against this act of Sabbath desecration, accosted Clark in a style of the bitterest reproof. Clark eyed his man for a moment, and recognised him. He knew him to be a disbanded trooper, and one of the party who had been engaged in the slaughter of Daniel M'Michael at Dalveen. The remembrance of the circumstance, connected with this hypocritical display of affected zeal for the sanctity of the Sabbath, roused his manly indignation. He left his flock for a moment, and stepping forward, looked sternly in the man's face, and exclaimed: "You ruthless villain, was it not you who, with the rest of your companions, poured the murderous shot into the body of the good Daniel M'Michael, when the green heights of Dalveen reproved, in startling echoes, the wicked deed, and with a voice of thunder spoke back to your guilty conscience? Do you, who shed without remorse, on the moors and mountains, the best blood of Scotland's sons, now take upon you the saintly task of reproving me for what you conceive to be the sin of Sabbath-breaking?" With this Clark seized with both hands the ponderous crook, and laid on the person of his assailant a lusty stroke, which brought him to the ground. Our hero then moved on with his charge, leaving the prostrate farmer to rise at his leisure. CHAPTER XLVI. Luke Fraser and his Companions-Incidents. GLENMEAD is a very wild locality in the mountainous parts of Closeburn, in Nithsdale. It was, in the days of persecution, tenanted by Luke Fraser, a man of great worth, and of unbounded hospitality to the suffering party, who resorted to his house as a hiding-place. Its situation among the hills rendered it an eligible retreat to those who sought a refuge from their raging persecutors; but Luke's house was not only a mansion of hospitality, it was also a place of worship, for many a little conventicle was held within its walls. The ejected preachers and the intercommuned wanderers soon became acquainted with such a place as Glenmead, where they found a shelter and a friendly welcome. Luke Fraser sometimes entertained a goodly number of persons at once in his house; for he never thought it a hardship to share his substance with those who were driven to the wilderness as outcasts for Christ's sake. There was, on his grounds, a cave in a solitary and secret place, to which, in seasons of more than ordinary peril, he conducted the persons of whom the persecutors were in quest. Among the numerous wanderers who occasionally resorted to Fraser's house, the following are particularly mentioned: John Fraser, his brother; John Clark of Glenhead, in Carsphairn; and John Panter of Ballagan, in Durisdeer. The story of John Fraser has already been given in a former chapter, so that it is unnecessary to state any thing further concerning him here. John Clark of Carsphairn is mentioned by Wodrow as a sufferer in connection with John Fraser. It is probable that he is the John Clark who was a frequent companion of Mr Peden, in his wanderings in the wilds of Galloway. He is mentioned by Patrick Walker in the following passage: "About this time he (Mr Peden) and John Clark, who ordinarily was called 'Little John,' were in a cave in Galloway, and had wanted meet and drink for a long time. He said: 'John, better be thrust through with the sword, than pine away with hunger. The earth, and the fulness thereof, belongs to my Master, and I have a right to as much of it as will keep me from fainting in his service. Go to such a house, and tell them plainly that I have wanted meat so long, and they will give it willingly.' John did as he was desired, and the people readily supplied him with food." This John Clark was narrowly watched by Canning of Muirdrogat, the informer, who was at all due pains to lodge information against the honest man, which caused him much distress, and obliged him to wander many a weary foot in the desert wilds. In his wanderings he attached himself to Mr Peden and the few that occasionally consorted with him, and met, no doubt, with many an incident and many a wonderful preservation in company with this devoted servant of Christ. Clark, and his friend John Fraser, frequently took refuge in Straquhanah Cave, in the upper part of the valley of the Ken. In this romantic locality, the grandeur of whose scenery is the admiration and delight of the few travellers who occasionally pass that way, did our two worthies conceal themselves, that they might be near their families. Towards the source of the Ken there is a hollow place called the "Whig Holes," a secure retreat on the side of the mountain of Altry, where, in the covenanting times, the assemblies of God's people frequently convened for divine worship. The place is far up on the breast of the hill, and affords a seclusion so perfect, that no company of troopers travelling in the plains below could even see the place, far less discern who were in it. A rising ground, like a green wall, stands in front, concealing immediately behind it a deep basin, while the mountain shoots aloft to a great height, and beneath descends precipitously to the brink of the Ken. It is said, that when a conventicle happened to be held here, a warder was placed on each side of the basin, where an extensive view is obtained in the direction of Carsphairn on the one hand, and on the other, a full prospect toward the source of the river. The line along this sweetly secluded stream was the route of the military between Sanquhar and Carsphairn; and hence, more than ordinary precautions were required on the part of the Covenanters, when at any time they happened to meet on the hill. The "Whig Holes" was selected not only as a place of security, but also as a centrical spot for the people of the upper parts of Nithsdale and the higher parts of Galloway; and many a time has the hallowed sound of praise ascended from the steep sides of the lofty Altry, heaven being witness to the sufferings and the constancy of that remnant, who held fast their testimony and their faith in the dark day of defection and relentless persecution. The shepherds in the vicinity of this place are proud to point out the spot to the passing traveller, where the people of the desert congregated, at the risk of their lives, to maintain the standard of the Gospel among the lonely mountains. On one occasion, when John Fraser and John Clark were in concealment in the cave, information was conveyed, by means of a spy, to Lagg in Carsphairn, who instantly sent a company of troopers to apprehend them. The approach of the soldiers, however, was observed, and the two friends fled for their lives. They escaped in the following way: As they were hastening over moor and meadow, they crossed a field in which a man was mowing, and laying in lusty swathes the dewy grass, and as their pursuers were not immediately in sight, they hid themselves beneath the long rows of the newly cut grass, and waited the result. The horsemen came on apace and entered the field, and not dreaming that the fugitives were cowering so near them, they passed on without even speaking to the mower, in hasty pursuit of those who, they thought, were still in flight before them. They remained in concealment till the danger was over, and they left the neighbourhood, changing their place of retreat to the wilds of Closeburn, and sought refuge in the house of Luke Fraser of Glenmead. The third of the individuals already mentioned, was John Panter of Ballagan. Ballagan is in the parish of Durisdeer, on the south side of the Nith, and situated at the head of the valley of Marburn. This vale stretches southward to the woods of Drumlanrig, where it terminates in a lovely basin clothed with trees, and intersected by the mountain streamlets. Ballagan, it would appear, was anciently a feudal strength. The name signifies the "hamlet in the hollow." Part of the old stronghold was in existence within the memory of the elder people living, but is now entirely demolished. Panter of Ballagan was either tenant or proprietor of the place in the persecuting times; and a detachment of dragoons was occasionally stationed at his house, on account of his nonconformity. The wife of John Panter |