Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/58

6 who had found favour in the eyes of Sir Andrew's young officers while they resorted there, and who naturally thought that they would not allow her to be harmed. She approached the garrison, taking care to avoid being shot, by waving the paper over her head like a flag of truce. When she delivered her credentials, she earnestly entreated the officers to surrender, assuring them that the Highlanders were a thousand strong, and would ding the castle about their ears; but this friendly warning they only received with peals of laughter, telling her that they would soon set these Highlanders a scampering, and visit her at the inn as before. No one, however, would deliver the summons to Sir Andrew, except a timid lieutenant of the company, whose nerves were further unstrung by the use of strong waters; but no sooner did the old knight hear the first sentence read, than he burst forth into such a storm of wrath, and uttered such fearful threats of shooting the next messenger through the head who dared to propose a surrender, that the lieutenant took to his heels, while Molly, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, and heard the whole, fled across the fields like a startled hare. She told her employers, waiting in the churchyard of Blair, the result of her mission, who laughed heartily at the rage of Sir Andrew. Still further to provoke him, and perhaps tempt him to a rash sally, they threw large stones at the walls, accompanied with biting jokes at his expense; but fiery though his temper was, and impatient of ridicule, he was too wary a soldier to afford them such an advantage. In the mean time, the more serious work of the siege went on with vigour, and, though the walls of Blair Castle were of great thickness, the assailants not only used common, but also hot shot, in the hope of setting the building on fire. The wood being luckily not very combustible, only smouldered as it received the balls. But the chief confidence of the rebels was to starve the garrison out, knowing how scantily it was supplied; and for this purpose they strictly blockaded the place, while their best marksmen were ordered to keep up a close fire wherever a man showed himself. This last incident suggested to the officers of the castle a practical joke at the expense of their worthy commander, whom they loved, feared, and laughed at when they dared. They therefore got one of his old uniforms; and having stuffed it with straw, and furnished the figure with a spy glass, they placed it at a small turret window, where it looked like no other than Sir Andrew himself reconnoitring the enemy below. The rifles of the assailants were all brought to bear upon it, and the best marksmen of the Highlands continued to riddle this deceptive wisp, until Sir Andrew himself, wondering why this point should have been selected for such a hot attack, ascended the turret, and there he saw this other identity standing under fire, as stiff, fearless, and imperturbable as himself! He was in a towering rage at the irreverent deception, and resolved that the perpetrator should not escape a share of his own joke. The wag was ordered to go to this spot so full of risk, and carry the puppet away, Sir Andrew gruffly pronouncing this retributive sentence: "Let the loon that set it up, just gang up himsel' and tak' it down again."

Beyond all military calculation, Sir Andrew Agnew, with miserably scanty means, had made good his position from the 17th of March to the end of the month. Longer than this, however, it was impossible to hold out, as the provisions of the garrison were exhausted, so that nothing seemed to be left them but a desperate sally, or immediate surrender. A faint chance indeed there might be of some messenger stealing through the leaguer, and carrying tidings of their condition to the Earl of Crawford, who was then at Dunkeld with a strong force