“Oh, Thou who art the Lord of hosts,” Gavin prayed, “we are in Thy hands this night.  These are Thy people, and they have sinned; but Thou art a merciful God, and they were sore tried, and knew not what they did.  To Thee, our God, we turn for deliverance, for without Thee we are lost.”

The little minister’s prayer was heard all round the square, and many weapons were dropped as an Amen to it.

“If you fight,” cried Gavin, brightening as he heard the clatter of the iron on the stones, “your wives and children may be shot in the streets.  These soldiers have come for a dozen of you; will you be benefited if they take away a hundred?”

“Oh, hearken to him,” cried many women.

“I winna,” answered a man, “for I’m ane o’ the dozen.  Whaur’s the Egyptian?”

“Here.”

Gavin saw the crowd open, and the woman of Windy ghoul come out of it, and, while he should have denounced her, he only blinked, for once more her loveliness struck him full in the eyes.  She was beside him on the stair before he became a minister again.

“How dare you, woman?” he cried; but she flung a rowan berry at him.

“If I were a man,” she exclaimed, addressing the people, “I wouldna let myself be catched like a mouse in a trap.”

“We winna,” some answered.

“What kind o’ women are you,” cried the Egyptian, her face gleaming as she turned to her own sex, “that bid your men folk gang to gaol when a bold front would lead them to safety?  Do you want to be husbandless and hameless?”

“Disperse, I command you!” cried Gavin.  “This abandoned woman is inciting you to riot.”

“Dinna heed this little man,” the Egyptian retorted.

It is curious to know that even at that anxious moment Gavin winced because she called him little.

“She has the face of a mischief-maker,” he shouted, “and her words are evil.”

“You men and women o’ Thrums,” she responded, “ken that I wish you weel by the service I hae done you this nicht.  Wha telled you the sojers was coming?”

“It was you; it was you!”

“Ay, and mony a mile I ran to bring the news, Listen, and I’ll tell you mair.”

“She has a false tongue,” Gavin cried; “listen not to the brazen woman.”

“What I have to tell,” she said, “is as true as what I’ve telled already, and how true that is you a’ ken.  You’re wondering how the sojers has come to a stop at the tap o’ the brae instead o’ marching on the town.  Here’s the reason.  They agreed to march straucht to the square if the alarm wasna given, but if it was they were to break into small bodies and surround the town so that you couldna get out.  That’s what they’re doing now.”

At this the screams were redoubled, and many men lifted the weapons they had dropped.

“Believe her not,” cried Gavin.  “How could a wandering gypsy know all this?”

“Ay, how can you ken?” some demanded.