Crime & punishment > Times of Claverhouse, or, Sketches of the persecution

THE TIMES OF CLAVERHOUSE.
very hard, but spying another man following me,
, him they pursued off at the right hand of my way.
; They fired at him, but it pleased the Lord he escaped •
at that time. Other two of them came in chase of me.
I was sore put to it for my life. The day was very
hot, the sun bright in my face, and the way moun¬
tainous ; yet the Lord was very kind unto me, and
; enabled me to run. At the edge of the moss there
was a bog or morass, and here the Lord was a pre¬
sent help in time of need to me; for just as I was
| got through the bog, and drawing myself out of it
by the heather of the moss, the two dragoons came
to the other side; but seeing they could not get
throughtomewiththeirhorses,theybademe, ‘Stand,
dog, and be shot.’ They fired upon me, but God
directed the ball by my left ear. I, finding that I
| had escaped the shot, ran further into the moss.
Kind Providence led me just where my persecuted
; friends were lurking in a moss-hag,—about twenty
■ in number. We stayed there for some time, till a
, second troop joined the first troop, and seeing them
dismount their horses to take the moss on their foot
? to search us out, after some firing on both sides,
i without any execution done, we drew off and tra-
| veiled the midst of the moss. They seeing this,
k horsed again, and pursued us by the edges of the
j moss; but we always kept ourselves on such ground
• where horses could not come. We ran that day
! hither and thither, forward and backward, about
( thirty miles. We got no manner of refreshment
, all that day but moss water to drink, till night, that
‘ each of us got a drink of milk. Mr Peden left
! those that were with him, and went one way, and I
| left them and went another. I lay all night far from