"Woman!" he shouted after her, but she only waved her arms scornfully. The people followed her, many of the men still grasping their weapons, but all in disorder. Within a minute after Gavin saw the gleam of the ring on her finger, as she waved her hands, he and Dow were alone in the square. "She's an awfu' woman that," Rob said." I saw her lauching." Gavin ground his teeth. "Rob Dow," he said, slowly, "if I had not found Christ I would have throttled that woman. You saw how she flouted me?" CHAPTER VI. 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.