Chapter 6

IN WHICH THE SOLDIERS MEET THE AMAZONS OF THRUMS.

Dow looked shamefacedly at the minister, and then set off up the
square.

"Where are you going, Rob?"

"To gie myself up. I maun do something to let you see there's one
man in Thrums that has mair faith in you than in a fliskmahoy."

"And only one, Rob. But I don't know that they want to arrest
you."

"Ay, I had a hand in tying the polissman to the--"

"I want to hear nothing about that," Gavin said, quickly.

"Will I hide, then?"

"I dare not advise you to do that. It would be wrong."

Half a score of fugitives tore past the town-house, and were out
of sight without a cry. There was a tread of heavier feet, and a
dozen soldiers, with several policemen and two prisoners, appeared
suddenly on the north side of the square.

"Rob," cried the minister in desperation, "run!"

When the soldiers reached the town-house, where they locked up
their prisoners, Dow was skulking east-ward, and Gavin running
down the brae.

"They're fechting," he was told, "they're fechting on the brae,
the sojers is firing, a man's killed!"

But this was an exaggeration.

The brae, though short, is very steep. There is a hedge on one
side of it, from which the land falls away, and on the other side
a hillock. Gavin reached the scene to see the soldiers marching
down the brae, guarding a small body of policemen. The armed
weavers were retreating before them. A hundred women or more were
on the hillock, shrieking and gesticulating. Gavin joined them,
calling on them not to fling the stones they had begun to gather.

The armed men broke into a rabble, flung down their weapons, and
fled back towards the town-house. Here they almost ran against the
soldiers in the square, who again forced them into the brae.
Finding themselves about to be wedged between the two forces, some
crawled through the hedge, where they were instantly seized by
policemen. Others sought to climb up the hillock and then escape
into the country. The policemen clambered after them. The men were
too frightened to fight, but a woman seized a policeman by the
waist and flung him head foremost among the soldiers. One of these
shouted "Fire!" but the captain cried "No." Then came showers of
missiles from the women. They stood their ground and defended the
retreat of the scared men.

Who flung the first stone is not known, but it is believed to have
been the Egyptian. The policemen were recalled, and the whole body
ordered to advance down the brae. Thus the weavers who had not
escaped at once were driven