"Ye speak truly, worthy friend," said the officer; "we rejoice in such devotedness towards our glorious purpose. It is a volunteer cause, and Heaven affords us assurance of victory. Yonder, see ye, is the general riding round the tents on the black horse; go to him before he take up his quarters in the castle for the night. He will give ye a gracious welcome." "Weel, that is very odd," said the senior Alexander Cockburn, gazing upon the general with a look o' surprise. "He is a wee, auld-looking body. My opinion o' him was, that he would be something like what we understand Sir William Wallace to have been--a man before whom his enemies fled, at the shaking o' his spear." "O Alexander!" said Alice, "hae ye forgot yoursel athegither, or rather hae ye forgot your Bible? Do ye no remember the purposes for which the weak things o' this earth were chosen?" "True, Alice," said he; "I stand corrected." And the father, the mother, their armed sons, and the sheep and provisions which they brought with them, were placed before General Leslie. "Well, good folk," inquired the general, "what would ye wi' me?" "We come, sir," said the elder Cockburn, lifting his bonnet, "to offer you our best services o' heart and hand, and to--to----" Here old Alexander, who, though one o' the most rigid and unbending men o' the Covenant, was withal a man o' singular modesty, and, in some respects, o' bashfulness, began to falter; on which Alice, taking upon herself the office o' speaker, began to say--"Yes, your excellency--that is, your generalship--we are come----" But her husband gently pulled her by the sleeve, whispering, "Haud sae, Alice, just let me gang on--ye ken it behoves a woman to be silent, and in an assembly to open not her mouth." Though an obedient and an affectionate wife, this was a point which she probably would have been disposed to argue with him; but the general, interfering, said, "Wi' your good leave, sir, I shall hear your wife. Scotland owes a debt to its wives and mothers, which, as a nation, they should be proud to acknowledge; they are manifesting a godly enthusiasm, which is far, far beyond the boasted virtue o' the mothers and maidens o' Rome, when they saved their city from destruction. Speak on, good woman." Alice, thus emboldened, proceeded--"Weel, sir, as my husband has said, he and our sons have come to offer you their best services o' heart and hand; and o' the little we can spare, we hae brought ye six sheep, six firlots o' wheat, and six measures o' meal. The latter is but a poor offering; but when, as a wife, I present to ye my husband, and as a mother, my five sons, I trust that what we bring will not be altogether unacceptable; while it shall be my care to provide means at least for their support; so that, if they be not of assistance to ye, they at least shall not be a burden."