Fortunately the pursuit had slackened, or it might have gone ill with
the garrison in Glasgow. Claverhouse's men had no doubt fine tales to
tell of the fury of the Whig devils behind them; and had Hamilton been
strong enough in cavalry to enter the town at the heels of the flying
troopers it is not likely that he would have met with much opposition.
The pursuit, however, did not follow far. Thanksgivings had to be made
for the victory, and the prisoners to be looked to. All these, according
to Wodrow, were let go after being disarmed; but Hamilton himself tells
a very different tale. His orders had been strict that there should be
no quarter that day; but on his return from the pursuit he found that
his orders had been disobeyed. Five prisoners had been dismissed, and
were already out of his reach: two others were waiting while their
captors debated on their fate. Then Hamilton, furious that any of
"Babel's brats" should be let go, slew one of these with his own hand,
to stay any such unreasonable spirit of mercy, "lest the Lord would not
honour us to do much more for him."[28]
That night the Covenanting captains stayed at Lord Loudon's house,
where, though the master had deemed it prudent to keep out of the way,
they were hospitably entertained by her ladyship. The next morning they
continued their march to Glasgow.
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