The way to this moss was by a very steep ground, and at the edge of the moss there was a morass about seven or eight yards broad, and altogether the place was well adapted for concealment, as well as for protection from military on horseback. Here, however, Peden and his companions were discovered. James, the son of John Nisbet, a young man about sixteen years of age, had been with the servants in the field when the troop of dragoons came up, and in his flight, being chased by some of the party, made his way accidentally to where Peden and about twenty more were lurking, which occasioned their being discovered. The whole party of dragoons were quickly informed of the prize within their reach, and about three hours after, they were joined by another party who aided them in the pursuit. Peden and his friends, observing the enemy dismounting their horses to take the moss on their feet, for the purpose of securing them, after some firing on both sides without effect, drew off, and kept in the midst of the moss. When the dragoons, on seeing this, mounted their horses again, and pursued by the side of the moss, the Covenanters always kept themselves on such ground as the horses could not approach. They were pursued during the whole of that day, and ran about thirty miles without receiving any refreshment but moss-water till night, when they got a little milk. Peden then left his friends, and went away by himself. During this year, and especially the first part of it, great numbers of the persecuted witnesses were murdered in the fields. Peden, therefore, to escape the hands of the military, after this wandered from one lurking-place to another; and from his minute acquaintance with all the tracts and haunts of the desert, of which he may be said for years to have been an inhabitant, he succeeded in eluding the enemy. In such circumstances, we need not wonder that he was sometimes weary of life, and envied his fellow-sufferers who had gone to death before him, and were eternally at rest. At length, Peden's bodily infirmities increasing so much as to render him unable to travel, being almost worn out with fatigue, and suffering from the many hardships he had undergone, he arrived at his native parish of Sorn. He came to his brother's house, in the neighbourhood of which he caused a cave to be dug, with a willow bush covering its mouth. His persecutors getting information where he was, searched every part of the house on many occasions. At last, one day, early in the morning, leaving the cave, he came to the door of the house. His brother's wife warned him of his danger, advising him to return to his place of concealment. He told her it was needless to do that, since it was discovered. "But," said he, "there is no matter, for within forty-eight hours I will be beyond the reach of all the devil's temptations, and his instruments in hell and on earth, and they shall trouble me no more."