And in 1680, hearing of the return
from Holland of the outlawed Hall of Haughhead, he speedily joined that
noted Covenanter, hiding with him, "lurking as privily as they could
about Borrowstounness and other places on both sides of the Firth of
Forth"; and he was with Hall and "worthy Mr. Cargill" when "these two
bloody hounds, the curates of Borrowstounness and Carriden, smelled out
Mr. Cargill and his companion," and sent to the Governor of
Borrowstounness that information which led to the death of one of the
three Covenanters. Mr. Cargill and Ringan Oliver got clear away from the
house at Queensferry where Colonel Middleton, single-handed, tried to
arrest them, but Hall, severely wounded in the head, was taken, and died
before he could be carried even so far as Edinburgh.
For some years after this we have no record of Ringan's doings; possibly
part of the time he spent on his farm at Smailcleuchfoot. In 1689,
however, he was with General Mackay at Killiecrankie. And again, as at
Bothwell Bridge, sorely against his inclination he experienced the
horrors of headlong flight in company of a broken rabble. Reaching
Dunkeld in an exhausted condition early in the following morning, he and
a few comrades found shelter in the house of a friend.
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