A Warlike Chapter 55

day is to keep your blinds down; but the town-
house itself, round and red, still makes exit to
the south troublesome. Wherever streets meet
the square there is a house in the centre of them,
and thus the heart of Thrums is a box, in which
the stranger finds himself suddenly, wondering at
first how he is to get out, and presently how he
got in.

To Gavin, who never before had seen a score
of people in the square at once, here was a sight
strange and terrible. Andrew Struthers, an old
soldier, stood on the outside stair of the town-
house, shouting words of command to some
fifty weavers, many of them scantily clad, but
all armed with pikes and poles. Most were
known to the little minister, but they wore
faces that were new to him. Newcomers joined
the body every moment. If the drill was clumsy
the men were fierce. Hundreds of people gath-
ered round, some screaming, some shaking their
fists at the old soldier, many trying to pluck
their relatives out of danger. Gavin could not
see the Egyptian. Women and old men, fighting
for the possession of his ear, implored him to
disperse the armed band. He ran up the town-
house stair, and in a moment it had become a
pulpit.

“Dinna dare to interfere, Mr. Dishart,”
Struthers said, savagely.

“ Andrew Struthers,’ said Gavin, solemnly,
“in the name of God I order you to leave
me alone. If you don’t,” he added, ferociously,
“T’ll fling you over the stair.”

“Dinna heed him, Andrew,” some one shouted,