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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +KIDNAPPED +BEING +MEMOIRS OF THE ADVENTURES OF +DAVID BALFOUR +IN THE YEAR 1751 + + + +HOW HE WAS KIDNAPPED AND CAST AWAY; HIS SUFFERINGS IN + A DESERT ISLE; HIS JOURNEY IN THE WILD HIGHLANDS; + HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH ALAN BRECK STEWART + AND OTHER NOTORIOUS HIGHLAND JACOBITES; + WITH ALL THAT HE SUFFERED AT THE + HANDS OF HIS UNCLE, EBENEZER + BALFOUR OF SHAWS, FALSELY + SO CALLED + + WRITTEN BY HIMSELF AND NOW SET FORTH BY + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + WITH A PREFACE BY MRS. STEVENSON + + + + +PREFACE +TO +THE BIOGRAPHICAL EDITION + +While my husband and Mr. Henley were engaged in writing plays in +Bournemouth they made a number of titles, hoping to use them in +the future. Dramatic composition was not what my husband +preferred, but the torrent of Mr. Henley's enthusiasm swept him +off his feet. However, after several plays had been finished, +and his health seriously impaired by his endeavours to keep up +with Mr. Henley, play writing was abandoned forever, and my +husband returned to his legitimate vocation. Having added one of +the titles, The Hanging Judge, to the list of projected plays, +now thrown aside, and emboldened by my husband's offer to give me +any help needed, I concluded to try and write it myself. + +As I wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the period +of 1700 for my purpose; but being shamefully ignorant of my +subject, and my husband confessing to little more knowledge than +I possessed, a London bookseller was commissioned to send us +everything he could procure bearing on Old Bailey trials. A +great package came in response to our order, and very soon we +were both absorbed, not so much in the trials as in following the +brilliant career of a Mr. Garrow, who appeared as counsel in many +of the cases. We sent for more books, and yet more, still intent +on Mr. Garrow, whose subtle cross-examination of witnesses and +masterly, if sometimes startling, methods of arriving at the +truth seemed more thrilling to us than any novel. + +Occasionally other trials than those of the Old Bailey would be +included in the package of books we received from London; among +these my husband found and read with avidity:-- + + +THE +TRIAL +OF +JAMES STEWART +in Aucharn in Duror of Appin +FOR THE +Murder of COLIN CAMPBELL of Glenure, Efq; +Factor for His Majefty on the forfeited +Estate of Ardfhiel. + + +My husband was always interested in this period of his country's +history, and had already the intention of writing a story that +should turn on the Appin murder. The tale was to be of a boy, +David Balfour, supposed to belong to my husband's own family, who +should travel in Scotland as though it were a foreign country, +meeting with various adventures and misadventures by the way. +From the trial of James Stewart my husband gleaned much valuable +material for his novel, the most important being the character of +Alan Breck. Aside from having described him as "smallish in +stature," my husband seems to have taken Alan Breck's personal +appearance, even to his clothing, from the book. + +A letter from James Stewart to Mr. John Macfarlane, introduced as +evidence in the trial, says: "There is one Alan Stewart, a +distant friend of the late Ardshiel's, who is in the French +service, and came over in March last, as he said to some, in +order to settle at home; to others, that he was to go soon back; +and was, as I hear, the day that the murder was committed, seen +not far from the place where it happened, and is not now to be +seen; by which it is believed he was the actor. He is a +desperate foolish fellow; and if he is guilty, came to the +country for that very purpose. He is a tall, pock-pitted lad, +very black hair, and wore a blue coat and metal buttons, an old +red vest, and breeches of the same colour." A second witness +testified to having seen him wearing "a blue coat with silver +buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breeches, tartan hose, and a +feathered hat, with a big coat, dun coloured," a costume referred +to by one of the counsel as "French cloathes which were +remarkable." + +There are many incidents given in the trial that point to Alan's +fiery spirit and Highland quickness to take offence. One witness +"declared also That the said Alan Breck threatened that he would +challenge Ballieveolan and his sons to fight because of his +removing the declarant last year from Glenduror." On another +page: "Duncan Campbell, change-keeper at Annat, aged thirty-five +years, married, witness cited, sworn, purged and examined ut +supra, depones, That, in the month of April last, the deponent +met with Alan Breck Stewart, with whom he was not acquainted, and +John Stewart, in Auchnacoan, in the house of the walk miller of +Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house: Alan Breck +Stewart said, that he hated all the name of Campbell; and the +deponent said, he had no reason for doing so: But Alan said, he +had very good reason for it: that thereafter they left that +house; and, after drinking a dram at another house, came to the +deponent's house, where they went in, and drunk some drams, and +Alan Breck renewed the former Conversation; and the deponent, +making the same answer, Alan said, that, if the deponent had any +respect for his friends, he would tell them, that if they offered +to turn out the possessors of Ardshiel's estate, he would make +black cocks of them, before they entered into possession by which +the deponent understood shooting them, it being a common phrase +in the country." + +Some time after the publication of Kidnapped we stopped for a +short while in the Appin country, where we were surprised and +interested to discover that the feeling concerning the murder of +Glenure (the "Red Fox," also called "Colin Roy") was almost as +keen as though the tragedy had taken place the day before. For +several years my husband received letters of expostulation or +commendation from members of the Campbell and Stewart clans. I +have in my possession a paper, yellow with age, that was sent +soon after the novel appeared, containing "The Pedigree of the +Family of Appine," wherein it is said that "Alan 3rd Baron of +Appine was not killed at Flowdoun, tho there, but lived to a +great old age. He married Cameron Daughter to Ewen Cameron of +Lochiel." Following this is a paragraph stating that "John +Stewart 1st of Ardsheall of his descendants Alan Breck had better +be omitted. Duncan Baan Stewart in Achindarroch his father was a +Bastard." + +One day, while my husband was busily at work, I sat beside him +reading an old cookery book called The Compleat Housewife: or +Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion. In the midst of receipts +for "Rabbits, and Chickens mumbled, Pickled Samphire, Skirret +Pye, Baked Tansy," and other forgotten delicacies, there were +directions for the preparation of several lotions for the +preservation of beauty. One of these was so charming that I +interrupted my husband to read it aloud. "Just what I wanted!" +he exclaimed; and the receipt for the "Lily of the Valley Water" +was instantly incorporated into Kidnapped. + +F. V. DE G. S. + + + + +DEDICATION + +MY DEAR CHARLES BAXTER: + + +If you ever read this tale, you will likely ask yourself more +questions than I should care to answer: as for instance how the +Appin murder has come to fall in the year 1751, how the Torran +rocks have crept so near to Earraid, or why the printed trial is +silent as to all that touches David Balfour. These are nuts +beyond my ability to crack. But if you tried me on the point of +Alan's guilt or innocence, I think I could defend the reading of +the text. To this day you will find the tradition of Appin clear +in Alan's favour. If you inquire, you may even hear that the +descendants of "the other man" who fired the shot are in the +country to this day. But that other man's name, inquire as you +please, you shall not hear; for the Highlander values a secret +for itself and for the congenial exercise of keeping it I might +go on for long to justify one point and own another indefensible; +it is more honest to confess at once how little I am touched by +the desire of accuracy. This is no furniture for the scholar's +library, but a book for the winter evening school-room when the +tasks are over and the hour for bed draws near; and honest Alan, +who was a grim old fire-eater in his day has in this new avatar +no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's +attention from his Ovid, carry him awhile into the Highlands and +the last century, and pack him to bed with some engaging images +to mingle with his dreams. + +As for you, my dear Charles, I do not even ask you to like this +tale. But perhaps when he is older, your son will; he may then +be pleased to find his father's name on the fly-leaf; and in the +meanwhile it pleases me to set it there, in memory of many days +that were happy and some (now perhaps as pleasant to remember) +that were sad. If it is strange for me to look back from a +distance both in time and space on these bygone adventures of our +youth, it must be stranger for you who tread the same +streets--who may to-morrow open the door of the old Speculative, +where we begin to rank with Scott and Robert Emmet and the +beloved and inglorious Macbean--or may pass the corner of the +close where that great society, the L. J. R., held its meetings +and drank its beer, sitting in the seats of Burns and his +companions. I think I see you, moving there by plain daylight, +beholding with your natural eyes those places that have now +become for your companion a part of the scenery of dreams. How, +in the intervals of present business, the past must echo in your +memory! Let it not echo often without some kind thoughts of your +friend, + +R.L.S. +SKERRYVORE, +BOURNEMOUTH. + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS +II I COME TO MY JOURNEY'S END +III I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE +IV I RUN A GREAT DANGER IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS +V I GO TO THE QUEEN'S FERRY +VI WHAT BEFELL AT THE QUEEN'S FERRY +VII I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG "COVENANT" OF DYSART +VIII THE ROUND-HOUSE +IX THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD +X THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE +XI THE CAPTAIN KNUCKLES UNDER +XII I HEAR OF THE "RED FOX" +XIII THE LOSS OF THE BRIG +XIV THE ISLET +XV THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: THROUGH THE ISLE OF MULL +XVI THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN +XVII THE DEATH OF THE RED FOX +XVIIII TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE +XIX THE HOUSE OF FEAR +XX THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS +XXI THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH +XXII THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR +XXIII CLUNY'S CAGE +XXIV THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE QUARREL IN BALQUHIDDER +XXVI END OF THE FLIGHT: WE PASS THE FORTH +XXVII I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR +XXVIII I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE +XXIX I COME INTO MY KINGDOM +XXX GOOD-BYE + + + +CHAPTER I + +I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS + +I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning +early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took +the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house. +The sun began to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went +down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, +the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist +that hung around the valley in the time of the dawn was beginning +to arise and die away. + +Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by +the garden gate, good man! He asked me if I had breakfasted; and +hearing that I lacked for nothing, he took my hand in both of his +and clapped it kindly under his arm. + +"Well, Davie, lad," said he, "I will go with you as far as the +ford, to set you on the way." And we began to walk forward in +silence. + +"Are ye sorry to leave Essendean?" said he, after awhile. + +"Why, sir," said I, "if I knew where I was going, or what was +likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly. Essendean is +a good place indeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I +have never been anywhere else. My father and mother, since they +are both dead, I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in the +Kingdom of Hungary, and, to speak truth, if I thought I had a +chance to better myself where I was going I would go with a good +will." + +"Ay?" said Mr. Campbell. "Very well, Davie. Then it behoves me +to tell your fortune; or so far as I may. When your mother was +gone, and your father (the worthy, Christian man) began to sicken +for his end, he gave me in charge a certain letter, which he said +was your inheritance. 'So soon,' says he, 'as I am gone, and the +house is redd up and the gear disposed of' (all which, Davie, +hath been done), 'give my boy this letter into his hand, and +start him off to the house of Shaws, not far from Cramond. That +is the place I came from,' he said, 'and it's where it befits +that my boy should return. He is a steady lad,' your father +said, 'and a canny goer; and I doubt not he will come safe, and +be well lived where he goes.'" + +"The house of Shaws!" I cried. "What had my poor father to do +with the house of Shaws?" + +"Nay," said Mr. Campbell, "who can tell that for a surety? But +the name of that family, Davie, boy, is the name you bear -- +Balfours of Shaws: an ancient, honest, reputable house, +peradventure in these latter days decayed. Your father, too, was +a man of learning as befitted his position; no man more plausibly +conducted school; nor had he the manner or the speech of a common +dominie; but (as ye will yourself remember) I took aye a pleasure +to have him to the manse to meet the gentry; and those of my own +house, Campbell of Kilrennet, Campbell of Dunswire, Campbell of +Minch, and others, all well-kenned gentlemen, had pleasure in his +society. Lastly, to put all the elements of this affair before +you, here is the testamentary letter itself, superscrived by the +own hand of our departed brother." + +He gave me the letter, which was addressed in these words: "To +the hands of Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire, of Shaws, in his house of +Shaws, these will be delivered by my son, David Balfour." My +heart was beating hard at this great prospect now suddenly +opening before a lad of seventeen years of age, the son of a poor +country dominie in the Forest of Ettrick. + +"Mr. Campbell," I stammered, "and if you were in my shoes, would +you go?" + +"Of a surety," said the minister, "that would I, and without +pause. A pretty lad like you should get to Cramond (which is +near in by Edinburgh) in two days of walk. If the worst came to +the worst, and your high relations (as I cannot but suppose them +to be somewhat of your blood) should put you to the door, ye can +but walk the two days back again and risp at the manse door. But +I would rather hope that ye shall be well received, as your poor +father forecast for you, and for anything that I ken come to be a +great man in time. And here, Davie, laddie," he resumed, "it +lies near upon my conscience to improve this parting, and set you +on the right guard against the dangers of the world." + +Here he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a big +boulder under a birch by the trackside, sate down upon it with a +very long, serious upper lip, and the sun now shining in upon us +between two peaks, put his pocket-handkerchief over his cocked +hat to shelter him. There, then, with uplifted forefinger, he +first put me on my guard against a considerable number of +heresies, to which I had no temptation, and urged upon me to be +instant in my prayers and reading of the Bible. That done, he +drew a picture of the great house that I was bound to, and how I +should conduct myself with its inhabitants. + +"Be soople, Davie, in things immaterial," said he. "Bear ye this +in mind, that, though gentle born, ye have had a country rearing. +Dinnae shame us, Davie, dinnae shame us! In yon great, muckle +house, with all these domestics, upper and under, show yourself +as nice, as circumspect, as quick at the conception, and as slow +of speech as any. As for the laird -- remember he's the laird; I +say no more: honour to whom honour. It's a pleasure to obey a +laird; or should be, to the young." + +"Well, sir," said I, "it may be; and I'll promise you I'll try to +make it so." + +"Why, very well said," replied Mr. Campbell, heartily. "And now +to come to the material, or (to make a quibble) to the +immaterial. I have here a little packet which contains four +things." He tugged it, as he spoke, and with some great +difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. "Of these four +things, the first is your legal due: the little pickle money for +your father's books and plenishing, which I have bought (as I +have explained from the first) in the design of re-selling at a +profit to the incoming dominie. The other three are gifties that +Mrs. Campbell and myself would be blithe of your acceptance. The +first, which is round, will likely please ye best at the first +off-go; but, O Davie, laddie, it's but a drop of water in the +sea; it'll help you but a step, and vanish like the morning. The +second, which is flat and square and written upon, will stand by +you through life, like a good staff for the road, and a good +pillow to your head in sickness. And as for the last, which is +cubical, that'll see you, it's my prayerful wish, into a better +land." + +With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a +little while aloud, and in affecting terms, for a young man +setting out into the world; then suddenly took me in his arms and +embraced me very hard; then held me at arm's length, looking at +me with his face all working with sorrow; and then whipped about, +and crying good-bye to me, set off backward by the way that we +had come at a sort of jogging run. It might have been laughable +to another; but I was in no mind to laugh. I watched him as long +as he was in sight; and he never stopped hurrying, nor once +looked back. Then it came in upon my mind that this was all his +sorrow at my departure; and my conscience smote me hard and fast, +because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that +quiet country-side, and go to a great, busy house, among rich and +respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood. + +"Davie, Davie," I thought, "was ever seen such black ingratitude? +Can you forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of +a name? Fie, fie; think shame." + +And I sat down on the boulder the good man had just left, and +opened the parcel to see the nature of my gifts. That which he +had called cubical, I had never had much doubt of; sure enough it +was a little Bible, to carry in a plaid-neuk. That which he had +called round, I found to be a shilling piece; and the third, +which was to help me so wonderfully both in health and sickness +all the days of my life, was a little piece of coarse yellow +paper, written upon thus in red ink: + + +"TO MAKE LILLY OF THE VALLEY WATER.--Take the flowers of lilly of +the valley and distil them in sack, and drink a spooneful or two +as there is occasion. It restores speech to those that have the +dumb palsey. It is good against the Gout; it comforts the heart +and strengthens the memory; and the flowers, put into a Glasse, +close stopt, and set into ane hill of ants for a month, then take +it out, and you will find a liquor which comes from the flowers, +which keep in a vial; it is good, ill or well, and whether man or +woman." + + + +And then, in the minister's own hand, was added: + +"Likewise for sprains, rub it in; and for the cholic, a great +spooneful in the hour." + + +To be sure, I laughed over this; but it was rather tremulous +laughter; and I was glad to get my bundle on my staff's end and +set out over the ford and up the hill upon the farther side; +till, just as I came on the green drove-road running wide through +the heather, I took my last look of Kirk Essendean, the trees +about the manse, and the big rowans in the kirkyard where my +father and my mother lay. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +I COME TO MY JOURNEY'S END + +On the forenoon of the second day, coming to the top of a hill, I +saw all the country fall away before me down to the sea; and in +the midst of this descent, on a long ridge, the city of Edinburgh +smoking like a kiln. There was a flag upon the castle, and ships +moving or lying anchored in the firth; both of which, for as far +away as they were, I could distinguish clearly; and both brought +my country heart into my mouth. + +Presently after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived, and +got a rough direction for the neighbourhood of Cramond; and so, +from one to another, worked my way to the westward of the capital +by Colinton, till I came out upon the Glasgow road. And there, +to my great pleasure and wonder, I beheld a regiment marching to +the fifes, every foot in time; an old red-faced general on a grey +horse at the one end, and at the other the company of Grenadiers, +with their Pope's-hats. The pride of life seemed to mount into +my brain at the sight of the red coats and the hearing of that +merry music. + +A little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond parish, and +began to substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of +Shaws. It was a word that seemed to surprise those of whom I +sought my way. At first I thought the plainness of my +appearance, in my country habit, and that all dusty from the +road, consorted ill with the greatness of the place to which I +was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had given me the same +look and the same answer, I began to take it in my head there was +something strange about the Shaws itself. + +The better to set this fear at rest, I changed the form of my +inquiries; and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the +shaft of his cart, I asked him if he had ever heard tell of a +house they called the house of Shaws. + +He stopped his cart and looked at me, like the others. + +"Ay" said he. "What for?" + +"It's a great house?" I asked. + +"Doubtless," says he. "The house is a big, muckle house." + +"Ay," said I, "but the folk that are in it?" + +"Folk?" cried he. "Are ye daft? There's nae folk there -- to +call folk." + +"What?" say I; "not Mr. Ebenezer?" + +"Ou, ay" says the man; "there's the laird, to be sure, if it's +him you're wanting. What'll like be your business, mannie?" + +"I was led to think that I would get a situation," I said, +looking as modest as I could. + +"What?" cries the carter, in so sharp a note that his very horse +started; and then, "Well, mannie," he added, "it's nane of my +affairs; but ye seem a decent-spoken lad; and if ye'll take a +word from me, ye'll keep clear of the Shaws." + +The next person I came across was a dapper little man in a +beautiful white wig, whom I saw to be a barber on his rounds; and +knowing well that barbers were great gossips, I asked him plainly +what sort of a man was Mr. Balfour of the Shaws. + +"Hoot, hoot, hoot," said the barber, "nae kind of a man, nae kind +of a man at all;" and began to ask me very shrewdly what my +business was; but I was more than a match for him at that, and he +went on to his next customer no wiser than he came. + +I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions. The +more indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them, for +they left the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house +was this, that all the parish should start and stare to be asked +the way to it? or what sort of a gentleman, that his ill-fame +should be thus current on the wayside? If an hour's walking would +have brought me back to Essendean, had left my adventure then and +there, and returned to Mr. Campbell's. But when I had come so +far a way already, mere shame would not suffer me to desist till +I had put the matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of +mere self-respect, to carry it through; and little as I liked the +sound of what I heard, and slow as I began to travel, I still +kept asking my way and still kept advancing. + +It was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout, dark, +sour-looking woman coming trudging down a hill; and she, when I +had put my usual question, turned sharp about, accompanied me +back to the summit she had just left, and pointed to a great bulk +of building standing very bare upon a green in the bottom of the +next valley. The country was pleasant round about, running in +low hills, pleasantly watered and wooded, and the crops, to my +eyes, wonderfully good; but the house itself appeared to be a +kind of ruin; no road led up to it; no smoke arose from any of +the chimneys; nor was there any semblance of a garden. My heart +sank. "That!" I cried. + +The woman's face lit up with a malignant anger. "That is the +house of Shaws!" she cried. "Blood built it; blood stopped the +building of it; blood shall bring it down. See here!" she cried +again -- "I spit upon the ground, and crack my thumb at it! Black +be its fall! If ye see the laird, tell him what ye hear; tell him +this makes the twelve hunner and nineteen time that Jennet +Clouston has called down the curse on him and his house, byre and +stable, man, guest, and master, wife, miss, or bairn -- black, +black be their fall!" + +And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch +sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone. I stood where she +left me, with my hair on end. In those days folk still believed +in witches and trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, +like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, +took the pith out of my legs. + +I sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws. The more I +looked, the pleasanter that country-side appeared; being all set +with hawthorn bushes full of flowers; the fields dotted with +sheep; a fine flight of rooks in the sky; and every sign of a +kind soil and climate; and yet the barrack in the midst of it +went sore against my fancy. + +Country folk went by from the fields as I sat there on the side +of the ditch, but I lacked the spirit to give them a good-e'en. +At last the sun went down, and then, right up against the yellow +sky, I saw a scroll of smoke go mounting, not much thicker, as it +seemed to me, than the smoke of a candle; but still there it was, +and meant a fire, and warmth, and cookery, and some living +inhabitant that must have lit it; and this comforted my heart. + +So I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that led in +my direction. It was very faint indeed to be the only way to a +place of habitation; yet I saw no other. Presently it brought me +to stone uprights, with an unroofed lodge beside them, and coats +of arms upon the top. A main entrance it was plainly meant to +be, but never finished; instead of gates of wrought iron, a pair +of hurdles were tied across with a straw rope; and as there were +no park walls, nor any sign of avenue, the track that I was +following passed on the right hand of the pillars, and went +wandering on toward the house. + +The nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It seemed +like the one wing of a house that had never been finished. What +should have been the inner end stood open on the upper floors, +and showed against the sky with steps and stairs of uncompleted +masonry. Many of the windows were unglazed, and bats flew in and +out like doves out of a dove-cote. + +The night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of the +lower windows, which were very high up and narrow, and well +barred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer. +Was this the palace I had been coming to? Was it within these +walls that I was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes? +Why, in my father's house on Essen-Waterside, the fire and the +bright lights would show a mile away, and the door open to a +beggar's knock! + +I came forward cautiously, and giving ear as I came, heard some +one rattling with dishes, and a little dry, eager cough that came +in fits; but there was no sound of speech, and not a dog barked. + +The door, as well as I could see it in the dim light, was a great +piece of wood all studded with nails; and I lifted my hand with a +faint heart under my jacket, and knocked once. Then I stood and +waited. The house had fallen into a dead silence; a whole minute +passed away, and nothing stirred but the bats overhead. I +knocked again, and hearkened again. By this time my ears had +grown so accustomed to the quiet, that I could hear the ticking +of the clock inside as it slowly counted out the seconds; but +whoever was in that house kept deadly still, and must have held +his breath. + +I was in two minds whether to run away; but anger got the upper +hand, and I began instead to rain kicks and buffets on the door, +and to shout out aloud for Mr. Balfour. I was in full career, +when I heard the cough right overhead, and jumping back and +looking up, beheld a man's head in a tall nightcap, and the bell +mouth of a blunderbuss, at one of the first-storey windows. + +"It's loaded," said a voice. + +"I have come here with a letter," I said, "to Mr. Ebenezer +Balfour of Shaws. Is he here?" + +"From whom is it?" asked the man with the blunderbuss. + +"That is neither here nor there," said I, for I was growing very +wroth. + +"Well," was the reply, "ye can put it down upon the doorstep, and +be off with ye." + +"I will do no such thing," I cried. "I will deliver it into Mr. +Balfour's hands, as it was meant I should. It is a letter of +introduction." + +"A what?" cried the voice, sharply. + +I repeated what I had said. + +"Who are ye, yourself?" was the next question, after a +considerable pause. + +"I am not ashamed of my name," said I. "They call me David +Balfour." + +At that, I made sure the man started, for I heard the blunderbuss +rattle on the window-sill; and it was after quite a long pause, +and with a curious change of voice, that the next question +followed: + +"Is your father dead?" + + I was so much surprised at this, that I could find no voice to +answer, but stood staring. + +"Ay" the man resumed, "he'll be dead, no doubt; and that'll be +what brings ye chapping to my door." Another pause, and then +defiantly, "Well, man," he said, "I'll let ye in;" and he +disappeared from the window. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE + +Presently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts, and +the door was cautiously opened and shut to again behind me as +soon as I had passed. + +"Go into the kitchen and touch naething," said the voice; and +while the person of the house set himself to replacing the +defences of the door, I groped my way forward and entered the +kitchen. + +The fire had burned up fairly bright, and showed me the barest +room I think I ever put my eyes on. Half-a-dozen dishes stood +upon the shelves; the table was laid for supper with a bowl of +porridge, a horn spoon, and a cup of small beer. Besides what I +have named, there was not another thing in that great, +stone-vaulted, empty chamber but lockfast chests arranged along +the wall and a corner cupboard with a padlock. + +As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. He was a +mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature; and his +age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His +nightcap was of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, +instead of coat and waistcoat, over his ragged shirt. He was +long unshaved; but what most distressed and even daunted me, he +would neither take his eyes away from me nor look me fairly in +the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than +I could fathom; but he seemed most like an old, unprofitable +serving-man, who should have been left in charge of that big +house upon board wages. + +"Are ye sharp-set?" he asked, glancing at about the level of my +knee. "Ye can eat that drop parritch?" + +I said I feared it was his own supper. + +"O," said he, "I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, +though, for it slockens[1] my cough." He drank the cup about +half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank; and then +suddenly held out his hand. "Let's see the letter," said he. + +[1] Moistens. + + +I told him the letter was for Mr. Balfour; not for him. + +"And who do ye think I am?" says he. "Give me Alexander's +letter." + +"You know my father's name?" + +"It would be strange if I didnae," he returned, "for he was my +born brother; and little as ye seem to like either me or my +house, or my good parritch, I'm your born uncle, Davie, my man, +and you my born nephew. So give us the letter, and sit down and +fill your kyte." + +If I had been some years younger, what with shame, weariness, and +disappointment, I believe I had burst into tears. As it was, I +could find no words, neither black nor white, but handed him +the letter, and sat down to the porridge with as little appetite +for meat as ever a young man had. + +Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the letter +over and over in his hands. + +"Do ye ken what's in it?" he asked, suddenly. + +"You see for yourself, sir," said I, "that the seal has not been +broken." + +"Ay," said he, "but what brought you here?" + +"To give the letter," said I. + +"No," says he, cunningly, "but ye'll have had some hopes, nae +doubt?" + +"I confess, sir," said I, "when I was told that I had kinsfolk +well-to-do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me +in my life. But I am no beggar; I look for no favours at your +hands, and I want none that are not freely given. For as poor as +I appear, I have friends of my own that will be blithe to help +me." + +"Hoot-toot!" said Uncle Ebenezer, "dinnae fly up in the snuff at +me. We'll agree fine yet. And, Davie, my man, if you're done +with that bit parritch, I could just take a sup of it myself. +Ay," he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and +spoon, "they're fine, halesome food -- they're grand food, +parritch." He murmured a little grace to himself and fell to. +"Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind; he was a hearty, +if not a great eater; but as for me, I could never do mair than +pyke at food." He took a pull at the small beer, which probably +reminded him of hospitable duties, for his next speech ran thus: +"If ye're dry ye'll find water behind the door." + +To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet, +and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart. He, on +his part, continued to eat like a man under some pressure of +time, and to throw out little darting glances now at my shoes and +now at my home-spun stockings. Once only, when he had ventured +to look a little higher, our eyes met; and no thief taken with a +hand in a man's pocket could have shown more lively signals of +distress. This set me in a muse, whether his timidity arose from +too long a disuse of any human company; and whether perhaps, upon +a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle change into an +altogether different man. From this I was awakened by his sharp +voice. + +"Your father's been long dead?" he asked. + +"Three weeks, sir," said I. + +"He was a secret man, Alexander -- a secret, silent man," he +continued. "He never said muckle when he was young. He'll never +have spoken muckle of me?" + +"I never knew, sir, till you told it me yourself, that he had any +brother." + +"Dear me, dear me!" said Ebenezer. "Nor yet of Shaws, I dare +say?" + +"Not so much as the name, sir," said I. + +"To think o' that!" said he. "A strange nature of a man!" For +all that, he seemed singularly satisfied, but whether with +himself, or me, or with this conduct of my father's, was more +than I could read. Certainly, however, he seemed to be +outgrowing that distaste, or ill-will, that he had conceived at +first against my person; for presently he jumped up, came across +the room behind me, and hit me a smack upon the shoulder. "We'll +agree fine yet!" he cried. "I'm just as glad I let you in. And +now come awa' to your bed." + +To my surprise, he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth into the +dark passage, groped his way, breathing deeply, up a flight of +steps, and paused before a door, which he unlocked. I was close +upon his heels, having stumbled after him as best I might; and +then he bade me go in, for that was my chamber. I did as he bid, +but paused after a few steps, and begged a light to go to bed +with. + +"Hoot-toot!" said Uncle Ebenezer, "there's a fine moon." + +"Neither moon nor star, sir, and pit-mirk,"[2] said I. "I cannae +see the bed." + +[2] Dark as the pit. + + +"Hoot-toot, hoot-toot!" said he. "Lights in a house is a thing I +dinnae agree with. I'm unco feared of fires. Good-night to ye, +Davie, my man." And before I had time to add a further protest, +he pulled the door to, and I heard him lock me in from the +outside. + +I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as cold as +a well, and the bed, when I had found my way to it, as damp as a +peat-hag; but by good fortune I had caught up my bundle and my +plaid, and rolling myself in the latter, I lay down upon the +floor under lee of the big bedstead, and fell speedily asleep. + +With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself in a +great chamber, hung with stamped leather, furnished with fine +embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years +ago, or perhaps twenty, it must have been as pleasant a room to +lie down or to awake in as a man could wish; but damp, dirt, +disuse, and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then. +Many of the window-panes, besides, were broken; and indeed this +was so common a feature in that house, that I believe my uncle +must at some time have stood a siege from his indignant +neighbours -- perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their head. + +Meanwhile the sun was shining outside; and being very cold in +that miserable room, I knocked and shouted till my gaoler came +and let me out. He carried me to the back of the house, where +was a draw-well, and told me to "wash my face there, if I +wanted;" and when that was done, I made the best of my own way +back to the kitchen, where he had lit the fire and was making the +porridge. The table was laid with two bowls and two horn spoons, +but the same single measure of small beer. Perhaps my eye rested +on this particular with some surprise, and perhaps my uncle +observed it; for he spoke up as if in answer to my thought, +asking me if I would like to drink ale -- for so he called it. + +I told him such was my habit, but not to put himself about. + +"Na, na," said he; "I'll deny you nothing in reason." + +He fetched another cup from the shelf; and then, to my great +surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he poured an accurate +half from one cup to the other. There was a kind of nobleness in +this that took my breath away; if my uncle was certainly a miser, +he was one of that thorough breed that goes near to make the vice +respectable. + +When we had made an end of our meal, my uncle Ebenezer unlocked a +drawer, and drew out of it a clay pipe and a lump of tobacco, +from which he cut one fill before he locked it up again. Then he +sat down in the sun at one of the windows and silently smoked. +From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me, and he shot +out one of his questions. Once it was, "And your mother?" and +when I had told him that she, too, was dead, "Ay, she was a +bonnie lassie!" Then, after another long pause, "Whae were these +friends o' yours?" + +I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell; +though, indeed, there was only one, and that the minister, that +had ever taken the least note of me; but I began to think my +uncle made too light of my position, and finding myself all alone +with him, I did not wish him to suppose me helpless. + +He seemed to turn this over in his mind; and then, "Davie, my +man," said he, "ye've come to the right bit when ye came to your +uncle Ebenezer. I've a great notion of the family, and I mean to +do the right by you; but while I'm taking a bit think to mysel' +of what's the best thing to put you to -- whether the law, or the +meenistry, or maybe the army, whilk is what boys are fondest of +-- I wouldnae like the Balfours to be humbled before a wheen +Hieland Campbells, and I'll ask you to keep your tongue within +your teeth. Nae letters; nae messages; no kind of word to +onybody; or else -- there's my door." + +"Uncle Ebenezer," said I, "I've no manner of reason to suppose +you mean anything but well by me. For all that, I would have you +to know that I have a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine +that I came seeking you; and if you show me your door again, I'll +take you at the word." + +He seemed grievously put out. "Hoots-toots," said he, "ca' +cannie, man -- ca' cannie! Bide a day or two. I'm nae warlock, +to find a fortune for you in the bottom of a parritch bowl; but +just you give me a day or two, and say naething to naebody, and +as sure as sure, I'll do the right by you." + +"Very well," said I, "enough said. If you want to help me, +there's no doubt but I'll be glad of it, and none but I'll be +grateful." + +It seemed to me (too soon, I dare say) that I was getting the +upper hand of my uncle; and I began next to say that I must have +the bed and bedclothes aired and put to sun-dry; for nothing +would make me sleep in such a pickle. + +"Is this my house or yours?" said he, in his keen voice, and then +all of a sudden broke off. "Na, na," said he, "I didnae mean +that. What's mine is yours, Davie, my man, and what's yours is +mine. Blood's thicker than water; and there's naebody but you +and me that ought the name." And then on he rambled about the +family, and its ancient greatness, and his father that began to +enlarge the house, and himself that stopped the building as a +sinful waste; and this put it in my head to give him Jennet +Clouston's message. + +"The limmer!" he cried. "Twelve hunner and fifteen -- that's +every day since I had the limmer rowpit![3] Dod, David, I'll have +her roasted on red peats before I'm by with it! A witch -- a +proclaimed witch! I'll aff and see the session clerk." + +[3] Sold up. + + +And with that he opened a chest, and got out a very old and +well-preserved blue coat and waistcoat, and a good enough beaver +hat, both without lace. These he threw on any way, and taking a +staff from the cupboard, locked all up again, and was for setting +out, when a thought arrested him. + +"I cannae leave you by yoursel' in the house," said he. "I'll +have to lock you out." + +The blood came to my face. "If you lock me out," I said, "it'll +be the last you'll see of me in friendship." + +He turned very pale, and sucked his mouth in. + +"This is no the way" he said, looking wickedly at a corner of the +floor -- "this is no the way to win my favour, David." + +"Sir," says I, "with a proper reverence for your age and our +common blood, I do not value your favour at a boddle's purchase. +I was brought up to have a good conceit of myself; and if you +were all the uncle, and all the family, I had in the world ten +times over, I wouldn't buy your liking at such prices." + +Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for awhile. I +could see him all trembling and twitching, like a man with palsy. +But when he turned round, he had a smile upon his face. + +"Well, well," said he, "we must bear and forbear. I'll no go; +that's all that's to be said of it." + +"Uncle Ebenezer," I said, "I can make nothing out of this. You +use me like a thief; you hate to have me in this house; you let +me see it, every word and every minute: it's not possible that +you can like me; and as for me, I've spoken to you as I never +thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to keep me, then? +Let me gang back -- let me gang back to the friends I have, and +that like me!" + +"Na, na; na, na," he said, very earnestly. "I like you fine; +we'll agree fine yet; and for the honour of the house I couldnae +let you leave the way ye came. Bide here quiet, there's a good +lad; just you bide here quiet a bittie, and ye'll find that we +agree." + +"Well, sir," said I, after I had thought the matter out in +silence, "I'll stay awhile. It's more just I should be helped by +my own blood than strangers; and if we don't agree, I'll do my +best it shall be through no fault of mine." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +I RUN A GREAT DANGER IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS + +For a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly well. We +had the porridge cold again at noon, and hot porridge at night; +porridge and small beer was my uncle's diet. He spoke but +little, and that in the same way as before, shooting a question +at me after a long silence; and when I sought to lead him to talk +about my future, slipped out of it again. In a room next door to +the kitchen, where he suffered me to go, I found a great number +of books, both Latin and English, in which I took great pleasure +all the afternoon. Indeed, the time passed so lightly in this +good company, that I began to be almost reconciled to my +residence at Shaws; and nothing but the sight of my uncle, and +his eyes playing hide and seek with mine, revived the force of my +distrust. + +One thing I discovered, which put me in some doubt. This was an +entry on the fly-leaf of a chap-book (one of Patrick Walker's) +plainly written by my father's hand and thus conceived: "To my +brother Ebenezer on his fifth birthday" Now, what puzzled me was +this: That, as my father was of course the younger brother, he +must either have made some strange error, or he must have +written, before he was yet five, an excellent, clear manly hand +of writing. + +I tried to get this out of my head; but though I took down many +interesting authors, old and new, history, poetry, and +story-book, this notion of my father's hand of writing stuck to +me; and when at length I went back into the kitchen, and sat down +once more to porridge and small beer, the first thing I said to +Uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if my father had not been very +quick at his book. + +"Alexander? No him!" was the reply. "I was far quicker mysel'; I +was a clever chappie when I was young. Why, I could read as soon +as he could." + +This puzzled me yet more; and a thought coming into my head, I +asked if he and my father had been twins. + +He jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out of his hand +upon the floor. "What gars ye ask that?" he said, and he caught +me by the breast of the jacket, and looked this time straight +into my eyes: his own were little and light, and bright like a +bird's, blinking and winking strangely. + +"What do you mean?" I asked, very calmly, for I was far stronger +than he, and not easily frightened. "Take your hand from my +jacket. This is no way to behave." + +My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself. "Dod man, +David," he said, "ye should-nae speak to me about your father. +That's where the mistake is." He sat awhile and shook, blinking +in his plate: "He was all the brother that ever I had," he added, +but with no heart in his voice; and then he caught up his spoon +and fell to supper again, but still shaking. + +Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person and +sudden profession of love for my dead father, went so clean +beyond my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. +On the one hand, I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and +might be dangerous; on the other, there came up into my mind +(quite unbidden by me and even discouraged) a story like some +ballad I had heard folk singing, of a poor lad that was a +rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that tried to keep him from +his own. For why should my uncle play a part with a relative +that came, almost a beggar, to his door, unless in his heart he +had some cause to fear him? + +With this notion, all unacknowledged, but nevertheless getting +firmly settled in my head, I now began to imitate his covert +looks; so that we sat at table like a cat and a mouse, each +stealthily observing the other. Not another word had he to say +to me, black or white, but was busy turning something secretly +over in his mind; and the longer we sat and the more I looked at +him, the more certain I became that the something was unfriendly +to myself. + +When he had cleared the platter, he got out a single pipeful of +tobacco, just as in the morning, turned round a stool into the +chimney corner, and sat awhile smoking, with his back to me. + +"Davie," he said, at length, "I've been thinking;" then he +paused, and said it again. "There's a wee bit siller that I half +promised ye before ye were born," he continued; "promised it to +your father. O, naething legal, ye understand; just gentlemen +daffing at their wine. Well, I keepit that bit money separate -- +it was a great expense, but a promise is a promise -- and it has +grown by now to be a matter of just precisely -- just exactly" -- +and here he paused and stumbled -- "of just exactly forty +pounds!" This last he rapped out with a sidelong glance over his +shoulder; and the next moment added, almost with a scream, +"Scots!" + +The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling, the +difference made by this second thought was considerable; I could +see, besides, that the whole story was a lie, invented with some +end which it puzzled me to guess; and I made no attempt to +conceal the tone of raillery in which I answered -- + +"O, think again, sir! Pounds sterling, I believe!" + +"That's what I said," returned my uncle: "pounds sterling! And if +you'll step out-by to the door a minute, just to see what kind of +a night it is, I'll get it out to ye and call ye in again." + +I did his will, smiling to myself in my contempt that he should +think I was so easily to be deceived. It was a dark night, with +a few stars low down; and as I stood just outside the door, I +heard a hollow moaning of wind far off among the hills. I said +to myself there was something thundery and changeful in the +weather, and little knew of what a vast importance that should +prove to me before the evening passed. + +When I was called in again, my uncle counted out into my hand +seven and thirty golden guinea pieces; the rest was in his hand, +in small gold and silver; but his heart failed him there, and he +crammed the change into his pocket. + +"There," said he, "that'll show you! I'm a queer man, and strange +wi' strangers; but my word is my bond, and there's the proof of +it." + +Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this +sudden generosity, and could find no words in which to thank him. + +"No a word!" said he. "Nae thanks; I want nae thanks. I do my +duty. I'm no saying that everybody would have, done it; but for +my part (though I'm a careful body, too) it's a pleasure to me to +do the right by my brother's son; and it's a pleasure to me to +think that now we'll agree as such near friends should." + +I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able; but all the +while I was wondering what would come next, and why he had parted +with his precious guineas; for as to the reason he had given, a +baby would have refused it. + +Presently he looked towards me sideways. + +"And see here," says he, "tit for tat." + +I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any reasonable +degree, and then waited, looking for some monstrous demand. And +yet, when at last he plucked up courage to speak, it was only to +tell me (very properly, as I thought) that he was growing old and +a little broken, and that he would expect me to help him with the +house and the bit garden. + +I answered, and expressed my readiness to serve. + +"Well," he said, "let's begin." He pulled out of his pocket a +rusty key. "There," says he, "there's the key of the stair-tower +at the far end of the house. Ye can only win into it from the +outside, for that part of the house is no finished. Gang ye in +there, and up the stairs, and bring me down the chest that's at +the top. There's papers in't," he added. + +"Can I have a light, sir?" said I. + +"Na," said he, very cunningly. "Nae lights in my house." + +"Very well, sir," said I. "Are the stairs good?" + +"They're grand," said he; and then, as I was going, "Keep to the +wall," he added; "there's nae bannisters. But the stairs are +grand underfoot." + +Out I went into the night. The wind was still moaning in the +distance, though never a breath of it came near the house of +Shaws. It had fallen blacker than ever; and I was glad to feel +along the wall, till I came the length of the stairtower door at +the far end of the unfinished wing. I had got the key into the +keyhole and had just turned it, when all upon a sudden, without +sound of wind or thunder, the whole sky lighted up with wild fire +and went black again. I had to put my hand over my eyes to get +back to the colour of the darkness; and indeed I was already half +blinded when I stepped into the tower. + +It was so dark inside, it seemed a body could scarce breathe; but +I pushed out with foot and hand, and presently struck the wall +with the one, and the lowermost round of the stair with the +other. The wall, by the touch, was of fine hewn stone; the steps +too, though somewhat steep and narrow, were of polished +masonwork, and regular and solid underfoot. Minding my uncle's +word about the bannisters, I kept close to the tower side, and +felt my way in the pitch darkness with a beating heart. + +The house of Shaws stood some five full storeys high, not +counting lofts. Well, as I advanced, it seemed to me the stair +grew airier and a thought more lightsome; and I was wondering +what might be the cause of this change, when a second blink of +the summer lightning came and went. If I did not cry out, it was +because fear had me by the throat; and if I did not fall, it was +more by Heaven's mercy than my own strength. It was not only +that the flash shone in on every side through breaches in the +wall, so that I seemed to be clambering aloft upon an open +scaffold, but the same passing brightness showed me the steps +were of unequal length, and that one of my feet rested that +moment within two inches of the well. + +This was the grand stair! I thought; and with the thought, a gust +of a kind of angry courage came into my heart. My uncle had sent +me here, certainly to run great risks, perhaps to die. I swore I +would settle that "perhaps," if I should break my neck for it; +got me down upon my hands and knees; and as slowly as a snail, +feeling before me every inch, and testing the solidity of every +stone, I continued to ascend the stair. The darkness, by +contrast with the flash, appeared to have redoubled; nor was that +all, for my ears were now troubled and my mind confounded by a +great stir of bats in the top part of the tower, and the foul +beasts, flying downwards, sometimes beat about my face and body. + +The tower, I should have said, was square; and in every corner +the step was made of a great stone of a different shape to join +the flights. Well, I had come close to one of these turns, when, +feeling forward as usual, my hand slipped upon an edge and found +nothing but emptiness beyond it. The stair had been carried no +higher; to set a stranger mounting it in the darkness was to send +him straight to his death; and (although, thanks to the lightning +and my own precautions, I was safe enough) the mere thought of +the peril in which I might have stood, and the dreadful height I +might have fallen from, brought out the sweat upon my body and +relaxed my joints. + +But I knew what I wanted now, and turned and groped my way down +again, with a wonderful anger in my heart. About half-way down, +the wind sprang up in a clap and shook the tower, and died again; +the rain followed; and before I had reached the ground level it +fell in buckets. I put out my head into the storm, and looked +along towards the kitchen. The door, which I had shut behind me +when I left, now stood open, and shed a little glimmer of light; +and I thought I could see a figure standing in the rain, quite +still, like a man hearkening. And then there came a blinding +flash, which showed me my uncle plainly, just where I had fancied +him to stand; and hard upon the heels of it, a great tow-row of +thunder. + +Now, whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my +fall, or whether he heard in it God's voice denouncing murder, I +will leave you to guess. Certain it is, at least, that he was +seized on by a kind of panic fear, and that he ran into the house +and left the door open behind him. I followed as softly as I +could, and, coming unheard into the kitchen, stood and watched +him. + +He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a +great case bottle of aqua vitae, and now sat with his back +towards me at the table. Ever and again he would be seized with +a fit of deadly shuddering and groan aloud, and carrying the +bottle to his lips, drink down the raw spirits by the mouthful. + +I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat, and +suddenly clapping my two hands down upon his shoulders -- "Ah!" +cried I. + +My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep's bleat, flung up +his arms, and tumbled to the floor like a dead man. I was +somewhat shocked at this; but I had myself to look to first of +all, and did not hesitate to let him lie as he had fallen. The +keys were hanging in the cupboard; and it was my design to +furnish myself with arms before my uncle should come again to his +senses and the power of devising evil. In the cupboard were a +few bottles, some apparently of medicine; a great many bills and +other papers, which I should willingly enough have rummaged, had +I had the time; and a few necessaries that were nothing to my +purpose. Thence I turned to the chests. The first was full of +meal; the second of moneybags and papers tied into sheaves; in +the third, with many other things (and these for the most part +clothes) I found a rusty, ugly-looking Highland dirk without the +scabbard. This, then, I concealed inside my waistcoat, and +turned to my uncle. + +He lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee up and one +arm sprawling abroad; his face had a strange colour of blue, and +he seemed to have ceased breathing. Fear came on me that he was +dead; then I got water and dashed it in his face; and with that +he seemed to come a little to himself, working his mouth and +fluttering his eyelids. At last he looked up and saw me, and +there came into his eyes a terror that was not of this world. + +"Come, come," said I; "sit up." + +"Are ye alive?" he sobbed. "O man, are ye alive?" + +"That am I," said I. "Small thanks to you!" + +He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. "The blue +phial," said he -- "in the aumry -- the blue phial." His breath +came slower still. + +I ran to the cupboard, and, sure enough, found there a blue phial +of medicine, with the dose written on it on a paper, and this I +administered to him with what speed I might. + +"It's the trouble," said he, reviving a little; "I have a +trouble, Davie. It's the heart." + +I set him on a chair and looked at him. It is true I felt some +pity for a man that looked so sick, but I was full besides of +righteous anger; and I numbered over before him the points on +which I wanted explanation: why he lied to me at every word; why +he feared that I should leave him; why he disliked it to be +hinted that he and my father were twins -- "Is that because it is +true?" I asked; why he had given me money to which I was +convinced I had no claim; and, last of all, why he had tried to +kill me. He heard me all through in silence; and then, in a +broken voice, begged me to let him go to bed. + +"I'll tell ye the morn," he said; "as sure as death I will." + +And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent. I locked +him into his room, however, and pocketed the, key, and then +returning to the kitchen, made up such a blaze as had not shone +there for many a long year, and wrapping myself in my plaid, lay +down upon the chests and fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +I GO TO THE QUEEN'S FERRY + +Much rain fell in the night; and the next morning there blew a +bitter wintry wind out of the north-west, driving scattered +clouds. For all that, and before the sun began to peep or the +last of the stars had vanished, I made my way to the side of the +burn, and had a plunge in a deep whirling pool. All aglow from +my bath, I sat down once more beside the fire, which I +replenished, and began gravely to consider my position. + +There was now no doubt about my uncle's enmity; there was no +doubt I carried my life in my hand, and he would leave no stone +unturned that he might compass my destruction. But I was young +and spirited, and like most lads that have been country-bred, I +had a great opinion of my shrewdness. I had come to his door no +better than a beggar and little more than a child; he had met me +with treachery and violence; it would be a fine consummation to +take the upper hand, and drive him like a herd of sheep. + +I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire; and I saw +myself in fancy smell out his secrets one after another, and grow +to be that man's king and ruler. The warlock of Essendean, they +say, had made a mirror in which men could read the future; it +must have been of other stuff than burning coal; for in all the +shapes and pictures that I sat and gazed at, there was never a +ship, never a seaman with a hairy cap, never a big bludgeon for +my silly head, or the least sign of all those tribulations that +were ripe to fall on me. + +Presently, all swollen with conceit, I went up-stairs and gave my +prisoner his liberty. He gave me good-morning civilly; and I +gave the same to him, smiling down upon him, from the heights of +my sufficiency. Soon we were set to breakfast, as it might have +been the day before. + +"Well, sir," said I, with a jeering tone, "have you nothing more +to say to me?" And then, as he made no articulate reply, "It will +be time, I think, to understand each other," I continued. "You +took me for a country Johnnie Raw, with no more mother-wit or +courage than a porridge-stick. I took you for a good man, or no +worse than others at the least. It seems we were both wrong. +What cause you have to fear me, to cheat me, and to attempt my +life--" + +He murmured something about a jest, and that he liked a bit of +fun; and then, seeing me smile, changed his tone, and assured me +he would make all clear as soon as we had breakfasted. I saw by +his face that he had no lie ready for me, though he was hard at +work preparing one; and I think I was about to tell him so, when +we were interrupted by a knocking at the door. + +Bidding my uncle sit where he was, I went to open it, and found +on the doorstep a half-grown boy in sea-clothes. He had no +sooner seen me than he began to dance some steps of the +sea-hornpipe (which I had never before heard of far less seen), +snapping his fingers in the air and footing it right cleverly. +For all that, he was blue with the cold; and there was something +in his face, a look between tears and laughter, that was highly +pathetic and consisted ill with this gaiety of manner. + +"What cheer, mate?" says he, with a cracked voice. + +I asked him soberly to name his pleasure. + +"O, pleasure!" says he; and then began to sing: + + "For it's my delight, of a shiny night, + In the season of the year." + +"Well," said I, "if you have no business at all, I will even be +so unmannerly as to shut you out." + +"Stay, brother!" he cried. "Have you no fun about you? or do you +want to get me thrashed? I've brought a letter from old Heasyoasy +to Mr. Belflower." He showed me a letter as he spoke. "And I +say, mate," he added, "I'm mortal hungry." + +"Well," said I, "come into the house, and you shall have a bite +if I go empty for it." + +With that I brought him in and set him down to my own place, +where he fell-to greedily on the remains of breakfast, winking to +me between whiles, and making many faces, which I think the poor +soul considered manly. Meanwhile, my uncle had read the letter +and sat thinking; then, suddenly, he got to his feet with a great +air of liveliness, and pulled me apart into the farthest corner +of the room. + +"Read that," said he, and put the letter in my hand. + +Here it is, lying before me as I write: + + "The Hawes Inn, at the Queen's Ferry. + +"Sir, -- I lie here with my hawser up and down, and send my +cabin-boy to informe. If you have any further commands for +over-seas, to-day will be the last occasion, as the wind will +serve us well out of the firth. I will not seek to deny that I +have had crosses with your doer,[4] Mr. Rankeillor; of which, if +not speedily redd up, you may looke to see some losses follow. I +have drawn a bill upon you, as per margin, and am, sir, your most +obedt., humble servant, + "ELIAS HOSEASON." + +[4] Agent. + + +"You see, Davie," resumed my uncle, as soon as he saw that I had +done, "I have a venture with this man Hoseason, the captain of a +trading brig, the Covenant, of Dysart. Now, if you and me was to +walk over with yon lad, I could see the captain at the Hawes, or +maybe on board the Covenant if there was papers to be signed; and +so far from a loss of time, we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. +Rankeillor's. After a' that's come and gone, ye would be +swier[5] to believe me upon my naked word; but ye'll believe +Rankeillor. He's factor to half the gentry in these parts; an +auld man, forby: highly respeckit, and he kenned your father." + +[5] Unwilling. + + +I stood awhile and thought. I was going to some place of +shipping, which was doubtless populous, and where my uncle durst +attempt no violence, and, indeed, even the society of the +cabin-boy so far protected me. Once there, I believed I could +force on the visit to the lawyer, even if my uncle were now +insincere in proposing it; and, perhaps, in the bottom of my +heart, I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You are to +remember I had lived all my life in the inland hills, and just +two days before had my first sight of the firth lying like a blue +floor, and the sailed ships moving on the face of it, no bigger +than toys. One thing with another, I made up my mind. + +"Very well," says I, "let us go to the Ferry." + +My uncle got into his hat and coat, and buckled an old rusty +cutlass on; and then we trod the fire out, locked the door, and +set forth upon our walk. + +The wind, being in that cold quarter the north-west, blew nearly +in our faces as we went. It was the month of June; the grass was +all white with daisies, and the trees with blossom; but, to judge +by our blue nails and aching wrists, the time might have been +winter and the whiteness a December frost. + +Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side to side +like an old ploughman coming home from work. He never said a +word the whole way; and I was thrown for talk on the cabin-boy. +He told me his name was Ransome, and that he had followed the sea +since he was nine, but could not say how old he was, as he had +lost his reckoning. He showed me tattoo marks, baring his breast +in the teeth of the wind and in spite of my remonstrances, for I +thought it was enough to kill him; he swore horribly whenever he +remembered, but more like a silly schoolboy than a man; and +boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done: stealthy +thefts, false accusations, ay, and even murder; but all with such +a dearth of likelihood in the details, and such a weak and crazy +swagger in the delivery, as disposed me rather to pity than to +believe him. + +I asked him of the brig (which he declared was the finest ship +that sailed) and of Captain Hoseason, in whose praises he was +equally loud. Heasyoasy (for so he still named the skipper) was +a man, by his account, that minded for nothing either in heaven +or earth; one that, as people said, would "crack on all sail into +the day of judgment;" rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal; +and all this my poor cabin-boy had taught himself to admire as +something seamanlike and manly. He would only admit one flaw in +his idol. "He ain't no seaman," he admitted. "That's Mr. Shuan +that navigates the brig; he's the finest seaman in the trade, +only for drink; and I tell you I believe it! Why, look'ere;" and +turning down his stocking he showed me a great, raw, red wound +that made my blood run cold. "He done that -- Mr. Shuan done +it," he said, with an air of pride. + +"What!" I cried, "do you take such savage usage at his hands? +Why, you are no slave, to be so handled!" + +"No," said the poor moon-calf, changing his tune at once, "and so +he'll find. See'ere;" and he showed me a great case-knife, which +he told me was stolen. "O," says he, "let me see him, try; I +dare him to; I'll do for him! O, he ain't the first!" And he +confirmed it with a poor, silly, ugly oath. + +I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I +felt for that half-witted creature, and it began to come over me +that the brig Covenant (for all her pious name) was little better +than a hell upon the seas. + +"Have you no friends?" said I. + +He said he had a father in some English seaport, I forget which. + +"He was a fine man, too," he said, "but he's dead." + +"In Heaven's name," cried I, "can you find no reputable life on +shore?" + +"O, no," says he, winking and looking very sly, "they would put +me to a trade. I know a trick worth two of that, I do!" + +I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he +followed, where he ran the continual peril of his life, not alone +from wind and sea, but by the horrid cruelty of those who were +his masters. He said it was very true; and then began to praise +the life, and tell what a pleasure it was to get on shore with +money in his pocket, and spend it like a man, and buy apples, and +swagger, and surprise what he called stick-in-the-mud boys. "And +then it's not all as bad as that," says he; "there's worse off +than me: there's the twenty-pounders. O, laws! you should see +them taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old as you, I dessay" -- +(to him I seemed old)-- "ah, and he had a beard, too -- well, and +as soon as we cleared out of the river, and he had the drug out +of his head -- my! how he cried and carried on! I made a fine +fool of him, I tell you! And then there's little uns, too: oh, +little by me! I tell you, I keep them in order. When we carry +little uns, I have a rope's end of my own to wollop'em." And so +he ran on, until it came in on me what he meant by +twenty-pounders were those unhappy criminals who were sent +over-seas to slavery in North America, or the still more unhappy +innocents who were kidnapped or trepanned (as the word went) for +private interest or vengeance. + +Just then we came to the top of the hill, and looked down on the +Ferry and the Hope. The Firth of Forth (as is very well known) +narrows at this point to the width of a good-sized river, which +makes a convenient ferry going north, and turns the upper reach +into a landlocked haven for all manner of ships. Right in the +midst of the narrows lies an islet with some ruins; on the south +shore they have built a pier for the service of the Ferry; and at +the end of the pier, on the other side of the road, and backed +against a pretty garden of holly-trees and hawthorns, I could see +the building which they called the Hawes Inn. + +The town of Queensferry lies farther west, and the neighbourhood +of the inn looked pretty lonely at that time of day, for the boat +had just gone north with passengers. A skiff, however, lay +beside the pier, with some seamen sleeping on the thwarts; this, +as Ransome told me, was the brig's boat waiting for the captain; +and about half a mile off, and all alone in the anchorage, he +showed me the Covenant herself. There was a sea-going bustle on +board; yards were swinging into place; and as the wind blew from +that quarter, I could hear the song of the sailors as they pulled +upon the ropes. After all I had listened to upon the way, I +looked at that ship with an extreme abhorrence; and from the +bottom of my heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to +sail in her. + +We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill; and now I +marched across the road and addressed my uncle. "I think it +right to tell you, sir." says I, "there's nothing that will +bring me on board that Covenant." + +He seemed to waken from a dream. "Eh?" he said. "What's that?" + +I told him over again. + +"Well, well," he said, "we'll have to please ye, I suppose. But +what are we standing here for? It's perishing cold; and if I'm no +mistaken, they're busking the Covenant for sea." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHAT BEFELL AT THE QUEEN'S FERRY + +As soon as we came to the inn, Ransome led us up the stair to a +small room, with a bed in it, and heated like an oven by a great +fire of coal. At a table hard by the chimney, a tall, dark, +sober-looking man sat writing. In spite of the heat of the room, +he wore a thick sea-jacket, buttoned to the neck, and a tall +hairy cap drawn down over his ears; yet I never saw any man, not +even a judge upon the bench, look cooler, or more studious and +self-possessed, than this ship-captain. + +He got to his feet at once, and coming forward, offered his large +hand to Ebenezer. "I am proud to see you, Mr. Balfour," said he, +in a fine deep voice, "and glad that ye are here in time. The +wind's fair, and the tide upon the turn; we'll see the old +coal-bucket burning on the Isle of May before to-night." + +"Captain Hoseason," returned my uncle, "you keep your room unco +hot." + +"It's a habit I have, Mr. Balfour," said the skipper. "I'm a +cold-rife man by my nature; I have a cold blood, sir. There's +neither fur, nor flannel -- no, sir, nor hot rum, will warm up +what they call the temperature. Sir, it's the same with most men +that have been carbonadoed, as they call it, in the tropic seas." + +"Well, well, captain," replied my uncle, "we must all be the way +we're made." + +But it chanced that this fancy of the captain's had a great share +in my misfortunes. For though I had promised myself not to let +my kinsman out of sight, I was both so impatient for a nearer +look of the sea, and so sickened by the closeness of the room, +that when he told me to "run down-stairs and play myself awhile," +I was fool enough to take him at his word. + +Away I went, therefore, leaving the two men sitting down to a +bottle and a great mass of papers; and crossing the road in front +of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With the wind in that +quarter, only little wavelets, not much bigger than I had seen +upon a lake, beat upon the shore. But the weeds were new to me +-- some green, some brown and long, and some with little bladders +that crackled between my fingers. Even so far up the firth, the +smell of the sea-water was exceedingly salt and stirring; the +Covenant, besides, was beginning to shake out her sails, which +hung upon the yards in clusters; and the spirit of all that I +beheld put me in thoughts of far voyages and foreign places. + +I looked, too, at the seamen with the skiff -- big brown fellows, +some in shirts, some with jackets, some with coloured +handkerchiefs about their throats, one with a brace of pistols +stuck into his pockets, two or three with knotty bludgeons, and +all with their case-knives. I passed the time of day with one +that looked less desperate than his fellows, and asked him of the +sailing of the brig. He said they would get under way as soon as +the ebb set, and expressed his gladness to be out of a port where +there were no taverns and fiddlers; but all with such horrifying +oaths, that I made haste to get away from him. + +This threw me back on Ransome, who seemed the least wicked of +that gang, and who soon came out of the inn and ran to me, crying +for a bowl of punch. I told him I would give him no such thing, +for neither he nor I was of an age for such indulgences. "But a +glass of ale you may have, and welcome," said I. He mopped and +mowed at me, and called me names; but he was glad to get the ale, +for all that; and presently we were set down at a table in the +front room of the inn, and both eating and drinking with a good +appetite. + +Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man of that +county, I might do well to make a friend of him. I offered him a +share, as was much the custom in those days; but he was far too +great a man to sit with such poor customers as Ransome and +myself, and he was leaving the room, when I called him back to +ask if he knew Mr. Rankeillor. + +"Hoot, ay," says he, "and a very honest man. And, O, by-the-by," +says he, "was it you that came in with Ebenezer?" And when I had +told him yes, "Ye'll be no friend of his?" he asked, meaning, in +the Scottish way, that I would be no relative. + +I told him no, none. + +"I thought not," said he, "and yet ye have a kind of gliff[6] of +Mr. Alexander." + +[6]Look. + + +I said it seemed that Ebenezer was ill-seen in the country. + +"Nae doubt," said the landlord. "He's a wicked auld man, and +there's many would like to see him girning in the tow[7]. Jennet +Clouston and mony mair that he has harried out of house and hame. +And yet he was ance a fine young fellow, too. But that was +before the sough[8] gaed abroad about Mr. Alexander, that was +like the death of him." + +[7]Rope. +[8]Report. + + +"And what was it?" I asked. + +"Ou, just that he had killed him," said the landlord. "Did ye +never hear that?" + +"And what would he kill him for?" said I. + +"And what for, but just to get the place," said he. + +"The place?" said I. "The Shaws?" + +"Nae other place that I ken," said he. + +"Ay, man?" said I. "Is that so? Was my -- was Alexander the +eldest son?" + +"'Deed was he," said the landlord. "What else would he have +killed him for?" + +And with that he went away, as he had been impatient to do from +the beginning. + +Of course, I had guessed it a long while ago; but it is one thing +to guess, another to know; and I sat stunned with my good +fortune, and could scarce grow to believe that the same poor lad +who had trudged in the dust from Ettrick Forest not two days ago, +was now one of the rich of the earth, and had a house and broad +lands, and might mount his horse tomorrow. All these pleasant +things, and a thousand others, crowded into my mind, as I sat +staring before me out of the inn window, and paying no heed to +what I saw; only I remember that my eye lighted on Captain +Hoseason down on the pier among his seamen, and speaking with +some authority. And presently he came marching back towards the +house, with no mark of a sailor's clumsiness, but carrying his +fine, tall figure with a manly bearing, and still with the same +sober, grave expression on his face. I wondered if it was +possible that Ransome's stories could be true, and half +disbelieved them; they fitted so ill with the man's looks. But +indeed, he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quite so +bad as Ransome did; for, in fact, he was two men, and left the +better one behind as soon as he set foot on board his vessel. + +The next thing, I heard my uncle calling me, and found the pair +in the road together. It was the captain who addressed me, and +that with an air (very flattering to a young lad) of grave +equality. + +"Sir," said he, "Mr. Balfour tells me great things of you; and +for my own part, I like your looks. I wish I was for longer +here, that we might make the better friends; but we'll make the +most of what we have. Ye shall come on board my brig for half an +hour, till the ebb sets, and drink a bowl with me." + +Now, I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can +tell; but I was not going to put myself in jeopardy, and I told +him my uncle and I had an appointment with a lawyer. + +"Ay, ay," said he, "he passed me word of that. But, ye see, the +boat'll set ye ashore at the town pier, and that's but a penny +stonecast from Rankeillor's house." And here he suddenly leaned +down and whispered in my ear: "Take care of the old tod;[9] he +means mischief. Come aboard till I can get a word with ye." And +then, passing his arm through mine, he continued aloud, as he set +off towards his boat: "But, come, what can I bring ye from the +Carolinas? Any friend of Mr. Balfour's can command. A roll of +tobacco? Indian feather-work? a skin of a wild beast? a stone +pipe? the mocking-bird that mews for all the world like a cat? +the cardinal bird that is as red as blood? -- take your pick and +say your pleasure." + +[9] Fox. + + +By this time we were at the boat-side, and he was handing me in. +I did not dream of hanging back; I thought (the poor fool!) that +I had found a good friend and helper, and I was rejoiced to see +the ship. As soon as we were all set in our places, the boat was +thrust off from the pier and began to move over the waters: and +what with my pleasure in this new movement and my surprise at our +low position, and the appearance of the shores, and the growing +bigness of the brig as we drew near to it, I could hardly +understand what the captain said, and must have answered him at +random. + +As soon as we were alongside (where I sat fairly gaping at the +ship's height, the strong humming of the tide against its sides, +and the pleasant cries of the seamen at their work) Hoseason, +declaring that he and I must be the first aboard, ordered a +tackle to be sent down from the main-yard. In this I was whipped +into the air and set down again on the deck, where the captain +stood ready waiting for me, and instantly slipped back his arm +under mine. There I stood some while, a little dizzy with the +unsteadiness of all around me, perhaps a little afraid, and yet +vastly pleased with these strange sights; the captain meanwhile +pointing out the strangest, and telling me their names and uses. + +"But where is my uncle?" said I suddenly. + +"Ay," said Hoseason, with a sudden grimness, "that's the point." + +I felt I was lost. With all my strength, I plucked myself clear +of him and ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough, there was the boat +pulling for the town, with my uncle sitting in the stern. I gave +a piercing cry -- "Help, help! Murder!" -- so that both sides of +the anchorage rang with it, and my uncle turned round where he +was sitting, and showed me a face full of cruelty and terror. + +It was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been plucking me +back from the ship's side; and now a thunderbolt seemed to strike +me; I saw a great flash of fire, and fell senseless. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG "COVENANT" OF DYSART + +I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot, +and deafened by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears +a roaring of water as of a huge mill-dam, the thrashing of heavy +sprays, the thundering of the sails, and the shrill cries of +seamen. The whole world now heaved giddily up, and now rushed +giddily downward; and so sick and hurt was I in body, and my mind +so much confounded, that it took me a long while, chasing my +thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of +pain, to realise that I must be lying somewhere bound in the +belly of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have +strengthened to a gale. With the clear perception of my plight, +there fell upon me a blackness of despair, a horror of remorse at +my own folly, and a passion of anger at my uncle, that once more +bereft me of my senses. + +When I returned again to life, the same uproar, the same confused +and violent movements, shook and deafened me; and presently, to +my other pains and distresses, there was added the sickness of an +unused landsman on the sea. In that time of my adventurous +youth, I suffered many hardships; but none that was so crushing +to my mind and body, or lit by so few hopes, as these first hours +aboard the brig. + +I heard a gun fire, and supposed the storm had proved too strong +for us, and we were firing signals of distress. The thought of +deliverance, even by death in the deep sea, was welcome to me. +Yet it was no such matter; but (as I was afterwards told) a +common habit of the captain's, which I here set down to show that +even the worst man may have his kindlier side. We were then +passing, it appeared, within some miles of Dysart, where the brig +was built, and where old Mrs. Hoseason, the captain's mother, had +come some years before to live; and whether outward or inward +bound, the Covenant was never suffered to go by that place by +day, without a gun fired and colours shown. + +I had no measure of time; day and night were alike in that +ill-smelling cavern of the ship's bowels where, I lay; and the +misery of my situation drew out the hours to double. How long, +therefore, I lay waiting to hear the ship split upon some rock, +or to feel her reel head foremost into the depths of the sea, I +have not the means of computation. But sleep at length stole +from me the consciousness of sorrow. + +I was awakened by the light of a hand-lantern shining in my face. +A small man of about thirty, with green eyes and a tangle of fair +hair, stood looking down at me. + +"Well," said he, "how goes it?" + +I answered by a sob; and my visitor then felt my pulse and +temples, and set himself to wash and dress the wound upon my +scalp. + +"Ay," said he, "a sore dunt[10]. What, man? Cheer up! The +world's no done; you've made a bad start of it but you'll make a +better. Have you had any meat?" + +[10] Stroke. + + +I said I could not look at it: and thereupon he gave me some +brandy and water in a tin pannikin, and left me once more to +myself. + +The next time he came to see me, I was lying betwixt sleep and +waking, my eyes wide open in the darkness, the sickness quite +departed, but succeeded by a horrid giddiness and swimming that +was almost worse to bear. I ached, besides, in every limb, and +the cords that bound me seemed to be of fire. The smell of the +hole in which I lay seemed to have become a part of me; and +during the long interval since his last visit I had suffered +tortures of fear, now from the scurrying of the ship's rats, that +sometimes pattered on my very face, and now from the dismal +imaginings that haunt the bed of fever. + +The glimmer of the lantern, as a trap opened, shone in like the +heaven's sunlight; and though it only showed me the strong, dark +beams of the ship that was my prison, I could have cried aloud +for gladness. The man with the green eyes was the first to +descend the ladder, and I noticed that he came somewhat +unsteadily. He was followed by the captain. Neither said a +word; but the first set to and examined me, and dressed my wound +as before, while Hoseason looked me in my face with an odd, black +look. + +"Now, sir, you see for yourself," said the first: "a high fever, +no appetite, no light, no meat: you see for yourself what that +means." + +"I am no conjurer, Mr. Riach," said the captain. + +"Give me leave, sir" said Riach; "you've a good head upon your +shoulders, and a good Scotch tongue to ask with; but I will leave +you no manner of excuse; I want that boy taken out of this hole +and put in the forecastle." + +"What ye may want, sir, is a matter of concern to nobody but +yoursel'," returned the captain; "but I can tell ye that which is +to be. Here he is; here he shall bide." + +"Admitting that you have been paid in a proportion," said the +other, "I will crave leave humbly to say that I have not. Paid I +am, and none too much, to be the second officer of this old tub, +and you ken very well if I do my best to earn it. But I was paid +for nothing more." + +"If ye could hold back your hand from the tin-pan, Mr. Riach, I +would have no complaint to make of ye," returned the skipper; +"and instead of asking riddles, I make bold to say that ye would +keep your breath to cool your porridge. We'll be required on +deck," he added, in a sharper note, and set one foot upon the +ladder. + +But Mr. Riach caught him by the sleeve. + +"Admitting that you have been paid to do a murder ----" he began. + +Hoseason turned upon him with a flash. + +"What's that?" he cried. "What kind of talk is that?" + +"It seems it is the talk that you can understand," said Mr. +Riach, looking him steadily in the face. + +"Mr. Riach, I have sailed with ye three cruises," replied the +captain. "In all that time, sir, ye should have learned to know +me: I'm a stiff man, and a dour man; but for what ye say the now +-- fie, fie! -- it comes from a bad heart and a black conscience. +If ye say the lad will die----" + +"Ay, will he!" said Mr. Riach. + +"Well, sir, is not that enough?" said Hoseason. "Flit him where +ye please!" + +Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder; and I, who had lain +silent throughout this strange conversation, beheld Mr. Riach +turn after him and bow as low as to his knees in what was plainly +a spirit of derision. Even in my then state of sickness, I +perceived two things: that the mate was touched with liquor, as +the captain hinted, and that (drunk or sober) he was like to +prove a valuable friend. + +Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut, I was hoisted on a +man's back, carried up to the forecastle, and laid in a bunk on +some sea-blankets; where the first thing that I did was to lose +my senses. + +It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon the +daylight, and to find myself in the society of men. The +forecastle was a roomy place enough, set all about with berths, +in which the men of the watch below were seated smoking, or lying +down asleep. The day being calm and the wind fair, the scuttle +was open, and not only the good daylight, but from time to time +(as the ship rolled) a dusty beam of sunlight shone in, and +dazzled and delighted me. I had no sooner moved, moreover, than +one of the men brought me a drink of something healing which Mr. +Riach had prepared, and bade me lie still and I should soon be +well again. There were no bones broken, he explained: "A +clour[11] on the head was naething. Man," said he, "it was me +that gave it ye!" + +[11] Blow. + + +Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner, and not +only got my health again, but came to know my companions. They +were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted +out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss +together on the rough seas, with masters no less cruel. There +were some among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen +things it would be a shame even to speak of; some were men that +had run from the king's ships, and went with a halter round their +necks, of which they made no secret; and all, as the saying goes, +were "at a word and a blow" with their best friends. Yet I had +not been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed +of my first judgment, when I had drawn away from them at the +Ferry pier, as though they had been unclean beasts. No class of +man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; +and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough +they were, sure enough; and bad, I suppose; but they had many +virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them, simple even +beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, and had some +glimmerings of honesty. + +There was one man, of maybe forty, that would sit on my berthside +for hours and tell me of his wife and child. He was a fisher +that had lost his boat, and thus been driven to the deep-sea +voyaging. Well, it is years ago now: but I have never forgotten +him. His wife (who was "young by him," as he often told me) +waited in vain to see her man return; he would never again make +the fire for her in the morning, nor yet keep the bairn when she +was sick. Indeed, many of these poor fellows (as the event +proved) were upon their last cruise; the deep seas and cannibal +fish received them; and it is a thankless business to speak ill +of the dead. + +Among other good deeds that they did, they returned my money, +which had been shared among them; and though it was about a third +short, I was very glad to get it, and hoped great good from it in +the land I was going to. The ship was bound for the Carolinas; +and you must not suppose that I was going to that place merely as +an exile. The trade was even then much depressed; since that, +and with the rebellion of the colonies and the formation of the +United States, it has, of course, come to an end; but in those +days of my youth, white men were still sold into slavery on the +plantations, and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle +had condemned me. + +The cabin-boy Ransome (from whom I had first heard of these +atrocities) came in at times from the round-house, where he +berthed and served, now nursing a bruised limb in silent agony, +now raving against the cruelty of Mr. Shuan. It made my heart +bleed; but the men had a great respect for the chief mate, who +was, as they said, "the only seaman of the whole jing-bang, and +none such a bad man when he was sober." Indeed, I found there +was a strange peculiarity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach was +sullen, unkind, and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would +not hurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the +captain; but I was told drink made no difference upon that man of +iron. + +I did my best in the small time allowed me to make some thing +like a man, or rather I should say something like a boy, of the +poor creature, Ransome. But his mind was scarce truly human. He +could remember nothing of the time before he came to sea; only +that his father had made clocks, and had a starling in the +parlour, which could whistle "The North Countrie;" all else had +been blotted out in these years of hardship and cruelties. He +had a strange notion of the dry land, picked up from sailor's +stories: that it was a place where lads were put to some kind of +slavery called a trade, and where apprentices were continually +lashed and clapped into foul prisons. In a town, he thought +every second person a decoy, and every third house a place in +which seamen would be drugged and murdered. To be sure, I would +tell him how kindly I had myself been used upon that dry land he +was so much afraid of, and how well fed and carefully taught both +by my friends and my parents: and if he had been recently hurt, +he would weep bitterly and swear to run away; but if he was in +his usual crackbrain humour, or (still more) if he had had a +glass of spirits in the roundhouse, he would deride the notion. + +It was Mr. Riach (Heaven forgive him!) who gave the boy drink; +and it was, doubtless, kindly meant; but besides that it was ruin +to his health, it was the pitifullest thing in life to see this +unhappy, unfriended creature staggering, and dancing, and talking +he knew not what. Some of the men laughed, but not all; others +would grow as black as thunder (thinking, perhaps, of their own +childhood or their own children) and bid him stop that nonsense, +and think what he was doing. As for me, I felt ashamed to look +at him, and the poor child still comes about me in my dreams. + +All this time, you should know, the Covenant was meeting +continual head-winds and tumbling up and down against head-seas, +so that the scuttle was almost constantly shut, and the +forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern on a beam. There +was constant labour for all hands; the sails had to be made and +shortened every hour; the strain told on the men's temper; there +was a growl of quarrelling all day, long from berth to berth; and +as I was never allowed to set my foot on deck, you can picture to +yourselves how weary of my life I grew to be, and how impatient +for a change. + +And a change I was to get, as you shall hear; but I must first +tell of a conversation I had with Mr. Riach, which put a little +heart in me to bear my troubles. Getting him in a favourable +stage of drink (for indeed he never looked near me when he was +sober), I pledged him to secrecy, and told him my whole story. + +He declared it was like a ballad; that he would do his best to +help me; that I should have paper, pen, and ink, and write one +line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankeillor; and that if I +had told the truth, ten to one he would be able (with their help) +to pull me through and set me in my rights. + +"And in the meantime," says he, "keep your heart up. You're not +the only one, I'll tell you that. There's many a man hoeing +tobacco over-seas that should be mounting his horse at his own +door at home; many and many! And life is all a variorum, at the +best. Look at me: I'm a laird's son and more than half a doctor, +and here I am, man-Jack to Hoseason!" + +I thought it would be civil to ask him for his story. + +He whistled loud. + +"Never had one," said he. "I like fun, that's all." And he +skipped out of the forecastle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ROUND-HOUSE + +One night, about eleven o'clock, a man of Mr. Riach's watch +(which was on deck) came below for his jacket; and instantly +there began to go a whisper about the forecastle that "Shuan had +done for him at last." There was no need of a name; we all knew +who was meant; but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly in +our heads, far less to speak of it, when the scuttle was again +flung open, and Captain Hoseason came down the ladder. He looked +sharply round the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern; and +then, walking straight up to me, he addressed me, to my surprise, +in tones of kindness. + +"My man," said he, "we want ye to serve in the round-house. You +and Ransome are to change berths. Run away aft with ye." + +Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carrying +Ransome in their arms; and the ship at that moment giving a great +sheer into the sea, and the lantern swinging, the light fell +direct on the boy's face. It was as white as wax, and had a look +upon it like a dreadful smile. The blood in me ran cold, and I +drew in my breath as if I had been struck. + +"Run away aft; run away aft with ye!" cried Hoseason. + +And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy (who neither +spoke nor moved), and ran up the ladder on deck. + +The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, +cresting swell. She was on the starboard tack, and on the left +hand, under the arched foot of the foresail, I could see the +sunset still quite bright. This, at such an hour of the night, +surprised me greatly; but I was too ignorant to draw the true +conclusion -- that we were going north-about round Scotland, and +were now on the high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands, +having avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth. For +my part, who had been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing +of head-winds, I thought we might be half-way or more across the +Atlantic. And indeed (beyond that I wondered a little at the +lateness of the sunset light) I gave no heed to it, and pushed on +across the decks, running between the seas, catching at ropes, +and only saved from going overboard by one of the hands on deck, +who had been always kind to me. + +The round-house, for which I was bound, and where I was now to +sleep and serve, stood some six feet above the decks, and +considering the size of the brig, was of good dimensions. Inside +were a fixed table and bench, and two berths, one for the captain +and the other for the two mates, turn and turn about. It was all +fitted with lockers from top to bottom, so as to stow away the +officers' belongings and a part of the ship's stores; there was a +second store-room underneath, which you entered by a hatchway in +the middle of the deck; indeed, all the best of the meat and +drink and the whole of the powder were collected in this place; +and all the firearms, except the two pieces of brass ordnance, +were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the round-house. The +most of the cutlasses were in another place. + +A small window with a shutter on each side, and a skylight in the +roof, gave it light by, day; and after dark there was a lamp +always burning. It was burning when I entered, not brightly, but +enough to show Mr. Shuan sitting at the table, with the brandy +bottle and a tin pannikin in front of him. He was a tall man, +strongly made and very black; and he stared before him on the +table like one stupid. + +He took no notice of my coming in; nor did he move when the +captain followed and leant on the berth beside me, looking darkly +at the mate. I stood in great fear of Hoseason, and had my +reasons for it; but something told me I need not be afraid of him +just then; and I whispered in his ear: "How is he?" He shook his +head like one that does not know and does not wish to think, and +his face was very stern. + +Presently Mr. Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance that +meant the boy was dead as plain as speaking, and took his place +like the rest of us; so that we all three stood without a word, +staring down at Mr. Shuan, and Mr. Shuan (on his side) sat +without a word, looking hard upon the table. + +All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle; and at +that Mr. Riach started forward and caught it away from him, +rather by surprise than violence, crying out, with an oath, that +there had been too much of this work altogether, and that a +judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke (the weather +sliding-doors standing open) he tossed the bottle into the sea. + +Mr. Shuan was on his feet in a trice; he still looked dazed, but +he meant murder, ay, and would have done it, for the second time +that night, had not the captain stepped in between him and his +victim. + +"Sit down!" roars the captain. "Ye sot and swine, do ye know +what ye've done? Ye've murdered the boy!" + +Mr. Shuan seemed to understand; for he sat down again, and put up +his hand to his brow. + +"Well," he said, "he brought me a dirty pannikin!" + +At that word, the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked at each +other for a second with a kind of frightened look; and then +Hoseason walked up to his chief officer, took him by the +shoulder, led him across to his bunk, and bade him lie down and +go to sleep, as you might speak to a bad child. The murderer +cried a little, but he took off his sea-boots and obeyed. + +"Ah!" cried Mr. Riach, with a dreadful voice, "ye should have +interfered long syne. It's too late now." + +"Mr. Riach," said the captain, "this night's work must never be +kennt in Dysart. The boy went overboard, sir; that's what the +story is; and I would give five pounds out of my pocket it was +true!" He turned to the table. "What made ye throw the good +bottle away?" he added. "There was nae sense in that, sir. +Here, David, draw me another. They're in the bottom locker;" and +he tossed me a key. "Ye'll need a glass yourself, sir," he added +to Riach. "Yon was an ugly thing to see." + +So the pair sat down and hob-a-nobbed; and while they did so, the +murderer, who had been lying and whimpering in his berth, raised +himself upon his elbow and looked at them and at me. + +That was the first night of my new duties; and in the course of +the next day I had got well into the run of them. I had to serve +at the meals, which the captain took at regular hours, sitting +down with the officer who was off duty; all the day through I +would be running with a dram to one or other of my three masters; +and at night I slept on a blanket thrown on the deck boards at +the aftermost end of the round-house, and right in the draught of +the two doors. It was a hard and a cold bed; nor was I suffered +to sleep without interruption; for some one would be always +coming in from deck to get a dram, and when a fresh watch was to +be set, two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew a +bowl together. How they kept their health, I know not, any more +than how I kept my own. + +And yet in other ways it was an easy service. There was no cloth +to lay; the meals were either of oatmeal porridge or salt junk, +except twice a week, when there was duff: and though I was clumsy +enough and (not being firm on my sealegs) sometimes fell with +what I was bringing them, both Mr. Riach and the captain were +singularly patient. I could not but fancy they were making up +lee-way with their consciences, and that they would scarce have +been so good with me if they had not been worse with Ransome. + +As for Mr. Shuan, the drink or his crime, or the two together, +had certainly troubled his mind. I cannot say I ever saw him in +his proper wits. He never grew used to my being there, stared at +me continually (sometimes, I could have thought, with terror), +and more than once drew back from my hand when I was serving him. +I was pretty sure from the first that he had no clear mind of +what he had done, and on my second day in the round-house I had +the proof of it. We were alone, and he had been staring at me a +long time, when all at once, up he got, as pale as death, and +came close up to me, to my great terror. But I had no cause to +be afraid of him. + +"You were not here before?" he asked. + +"No, sir," said I." + +"There was another boy?" he asked again; and when I had answered +him, "Ah!" says he, "I thought that," and went and sat down, +without another word, except to call for brandy. + +You may think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I was +still sorry for him. He was a married man, with a wife in Leith; +but whether or no he had a family, I have now forgotten; I hope +not. + +Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted, which +(as you are to hear) was not long. I was as well fed as the best +of them; even their pickles, which were the great dainty, I was +allowed my share of; and had I liked I might have been drunk from +morning to night, like Mr. Shuan. I had company, too, and good +company of its sort. Mr. Riach, who had been to the college, +spoke to me like a friend when he was not sulking, and told me +many curious things, and some that were informing; and even the +captain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most part of +the time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit, and tell me of the fine +countries he had visited. + +The shadow of poor Ransome, to be sure, lay on all four of us, +and on me and Mr. Shuan in particular, most heavily. And then I +had another trouble of my own. Here I was, doing dirty work for +three men that I looked down upon, and one of whom, at least, +should have hung upon a gallows; that was for the present; and as +for the future, I could only see myself slaving alongside of +negroes in the tobacco fields. Mr. Riach, perhaps from caution, +would never suffer me to say another word about my story; the +captain, whom I tried to approach, rebuffed me like a dog and +would not hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heart +sank lower and lower, till I was even glad of the work which kept +me from thinking. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD + +More than a week went by, in which the ill-luck that had hitherto +pursued the Covenant upon this voyage grew yet more strongly +marked. Some days she made a little way; others, she was driven +actually back. At last we were beaten so far to the south that +we tossed and tacked to and fro the whole of the ninth day, +within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild, rocky coast on either +hand of it. There followed on that a council of the officers, +and some decision which I did not rightly understand, seeing only +the result: that we had made a fair wind of a foul one and were +running south. + +The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet, +white fog that hid one end of the brig from the other. All +afternoon, when I went on deck, I saw men and officers listening +hard over the bulwarks -- "for breakers," they said; and though I +did not so much as understand the word, I felt danger in the air, +and was excited. + +Maybe about ten at night, I was serving Mr. Riach and the captain +at their supper, when the ship struck something with a great +sound, and we heard voices singing out. My two masters leaped to +their feet. + +"She's struck!" said Mr. Riach. + +"No, sir," said the captain. "We've only run a boat down." + +And they hurried out. + +The captain was in the right of it. We had run down a boat in +the fog, and she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom +with all her crew but one. This man (as I heard afterwards) had +been sitting in the stern as a passenger, while the rest were on +the benches rowing. At the moment of the blow, the stern had +been thrown into the air, and the man (having his hands free, and +for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoat that came below +his knees) had leaped up and caught hold of the brig's bowsprit. +It showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength, that +he should have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet, +when the captain brought him into the round-house, and I set eyes +on him for the first time, he looked as cool as I did. + +He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat; +his face was of a good open expression, but sunburnt very dark, +and heavily freckled and pitted with the small-pox; his eyes were +unusually light and had a kind of dancing madness in them, that +was both engaging and alarming; and when he took off his +great-coat, he laid a pair of fine silver-mounted pistols on the +table, and I saw that he was belted with a great sword. His +manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the captain +handsomely. Altogether I thought of him, at the first sight, +that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy. + +The captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather of the +man's clothes than his person. And to be sure, as soon as he had +taken off the great-coat, he showed forth mighty fine for the +round-house of a merchant brig: having a hat with feathers, a red +waistcoat, breeches of black plush, and a blue coat with silver +buttons and handsome silver lace; costly clothes, though somewhat +spoiled with the fog and being slept in. + +"I'm vexed, sir, about the boat," says the captain. + +"There are some pretty men gone to the bottom," said the +stranger, "that I would rather see on the dry land again than +half a score of boats." + +"Friends of yours?" said Hoseason. + +"You have none such friends in your country," was the reply. +"They would have died for me like dogs." + +"Well, sir," said the captain, still watching him, "there are +more men in the world than boats to put them in." + +"And that's true, too," cried the other, "and ye seem to be a +gentleman of great penetration." + +"I have been in France, sir," says the captain, so that it was +plain he meant more by the words than showed upon the face of +them. + +"Well, sir," says the other, "and so has many a pretty man, for +the matter of that." + +"No doubt, sir" says the captain, "and fine coats." + +"Oho!" says the stranger, "is that how the wind sets?" And he +laid his hand quickly on his pistols. + +"Don't be hasty," said the captain. "Don't do a mischief before +ye see the need of it. Ye've a French soldier's coat upon your +back and a Scotch tongue in your head, to be sure; but so has +many an honest fellow in these days, and I dare say none the +worse of it." + +"So?" said the gentleman in the fine coat: "are ye of the honest +party?" (meaning, Was he a Jacobite? for each side, in these sort +of civil broils, takes the name of honesty for its own). + +"Why, sir," replied the captain, "I am a true-blue Protestant, +and I thank God for it." (It was the first word of any religion +I had ever heard from him, but I learnt afterwards he was a great +church-goer while on shore.) "But, for all that," says he, "I +can be sorry to see another man with his back to the wall." + +"Can ye so, indeed?" asked the Jacobite. "Well, sir, to be quite +plain with ye, I am one of those honest gentlemen that were in +trouble about the years forty-five and six; and (to be still +quite plain with ye) if I got into the hands of any of the +red-coated gentry, it's like it would go hard with me. Now, sir, +I was for France; and there was a French ship cruising here to +pick me up; but she gave us the go-by in the fog -- as I wish +from the heart that ye had done yoursel'! And the best that I can +say is this: If ye can set me ashore where I was going, I have +that upon me will reward you highly for your trouble." + +"In France?" says the captain. "No, sir; that I cannot do. But +where ye come from -- we might talk of that." + +And then, unhappily, he observed me standing in my corner, and +packed me off to the galley to get supper for the gentleman. I +lost no time, I promise you; and when I came back into the +round-house, I found the gentleman had taken a money-belt from +about his waist, and poured out a guinea or two upon the table. +The captain was looking at the guineas, and then at the belt, and +then at the gentleman's face; and I thought he seemed excited. + +"Half of it," he cried, "and I'm your man!" + +The other swept back the guineas into the belt, and put it on +again under his waistcoat. "I have told ye" sir" said he, "that +not one doit of it belongs to me. It belongs to my chieftain," +and here he touched his hat, "and while I would be but a silly +messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come safe, I +should show myself a hound indeed if I bought my own carcase any +too dear. Thirty guineas on the sea-side, or sixty if ye set me +on the Linnhe Loch. Take it, if ye will; if not, ye can do your +worst." + +"Ay," said Hoseason. "And if I give ye over to the soldiers?" + +"Ye would make a fool's bargain," said the other. "My chief, let +me tell you, sir, is forfeited, like every honest man in +Scotland. His estate is in the hands of the man they call King +George; and it is his officers that collect the rents, or try to +collect them. But for the honour of Scotland, the poor tenant +bodies take a thought upon their chief lying in exile; and this +money is a part of that very rent for which King George is +looking. Now, sir, ye seem to me to be a man that understands +things: bring this money within the reach of Government, and how +much of it'll come to you?" + +"Little enough, to be sure," said Hoseason; and then, "if they, +knew" he added, drily. "But I think, if I was to try, that I +could hold my tongue about it." + +"Ah, but I'll begowk[12] ye there!" cried the gentleman. "Play +me false, and I'll play you cunning. If a hand is laid upon me, +they shall ken what money it is." + +[12]Befool. + + +"Well," returned the captain, "what must be must. Sixty guineas, +and done. Here's my hand upon it." + +"And here's mine," said the other. + +And thereupon the captain went out (rather hurriedly, I thought), +and left me alone in the round-house with the stranger. + +At that period (so soon after the forty-five) there were many +exiled gentlemen coming back at the peril of their lives, either +to see their friends or to collect a little money; and as for the +Highland chiefs that had been forfeited, it was a common matter +of talk how their tenants would stint themselves to send them +money, and their clansmen outface the soldiery to get it in, and +run the gauntlet of our great navy to carry it across. All this +I had, of course, heard tell of; and now I had a man under my +eyes whose life was forfeit on all these counts and upon one +more, for he was not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but +had taken service with King Louis of France. And as if all this +were not enough, he had a belt full of golden guineas round his +loins. Whatever my opinions, I could not look on such a man +without a lively interest. + +"And so you're a Jacobite?" said I, as I set meat before him. + +"Ay," said he, beginning to eat. "And you, by your long face, +should be a Whig?"[13] + +[13] Whig or Whigamore was the cant name for those who were loyal +to King George. + + +"Betwixt and between," said I, not to annoy him; for indeed I was +as good a Whig as Mr. Campbell could make me. + +"And that's naething," said he. "But I'm saying, Mr. +Betwixt-and-Between," he added, "this bottle of yours is dry; and +it's hard if I'm to pay sixty guineas and be grudged a dram upon +the back of it." + +"I'll go and ask for the key," said I, and stepped on deck. + +The fog was as close as ever, but the swell almost down. They +had laid the brig to, not knowing precisely where they were, and +the wind (what little there was of it) not serving well for their +true course. Some of the hands were still hearkening for +breakers; but the captain and the two officers were in the waist +with their heads together. It struck me (I don't know why) that +they were after no good; and the first word I heard, as I drew +softly near, more than confirmed me. + +It was Mr. Riach, crying out as if upon a sudden thought: +"Couldn't we wile him out of the round-house?" + +"He's better where he is," returned Hoseason; "he hasn't room to +use his sword." + +"Well, that's true," said Riach; "but he's hard to come at." + +"Hut!" said Hoseason. "We can get the man in talk, one upon each +side, and pin him by the two arms; or if that'll not hold, sir, +we can make a run by both the doors and get him under hand before +he has the time to draw" + +At this hearing, I was seized with both fear and anger at these +treacherous, greedy, bloody men that I sailed with. My first +mind was to run away; my second was bolder. + +"Captain," said I, "the gentleman is seeking a dram, and the +bottle's out. Will you give me the key?" + +They all started and turned about. + +"Why, here's our chance to get the firearms!" + +Riach cried; and then to me: "Hark ye, David," he said, "do ye +ken where the pistols are?" + +"Ay, ay," put in Hoseason. "David kens; David's a good lad. Ye +see, David my man, yon wild Hielandman is a danger to the ship, +besides being a rank foe to King George, God bless him!" + +I had never been so be-Davided since I came on board: but I said +Yes, as if all I heard were quite natural. + +"The trouble is," resumed the captain, "that all our firelocks, +great and little, are in the round-house under this man's nose; +likewise the powder. Now, if I, or one of the officers, was to +go in and take them, he would fall to thinking. But a lad like +you, David, might snap up a horn and a pistol or two without +remark. And if ye can do it cleverly, I'll bear it in mind when +it'll be good for you to have friends; and that's when we come to +Carolina." + +Here Mr. Riach whispered him a little. + +"Very right, sir," said the captain; and then to myself: "And see +here, David, yon man has a beltful of gold, and I give you my +word that you shall have your fingers in it." + +I told him I would do as he wished, though indeed I had scarce +breath to speak with; and upon that he gave me the key of the +spirit locker, and I began to go slowly back to the round-house. +What was I to do? They were dogs and thieves; they had stolen me +from my own country; they had killed poor Ransome; and was I to +hold the candle to another murder? But then, upon the other hand, +there was the fear of death very plain before me; for what could +a boy and a man, if they were as brave as lions, against a whole +ship's company? + +I was still arguing it back and forth, and getting no great +clearness, when I came into the round-house and saw the Jacobite +eating his supper under the lamp; and at that my mind was made up +all in a moment. I have no credit by it; it was by no choice of +mine, but as if by compulsion, that I walked right up to the +table and put my hand on his shoulder. + +"Do ye want to be killed?" said I. He sprang to his feet, and +looked a question at me as clear as if he had spoken. + +"O!" cried I, "they're all murderers here; it's a ship full of +them! They've murdered a boy already. Now it's you." + +"Ay, ay" said he; "but they have n't got me yet." And then +looking at me curiously, "Will ye stand with me?" + +"That will I!" said I. "I am no thief, nor yet murderer. I'll +stand by you." + +"Why, then," said he, "what's your name?" + +"David Balfour," said I; and then, thinking that a man with so +fine a coat must like fine people, I added for the first time, +"of Shaws." + +It never occurred to him to doubt me, for a Highlander is used to +see great gentlefolk in great poverty; but as he had no estate of +his own, my words nettled a very childish vanity he had. + +"My name is Stewart," he said, drawing himself up. "Alan Breck, +they call me. A king's name is good enough for me, though I bear +it plain and have the name of no farm-midden to clap to the +hind-end of it." + +And having administered this rebuke, as though it were something +of a chief importance, he turned to examine our defences. + +The round-house was built very strong, to support the breaching +of the seas. Of its five apertures, only the skylight and the +two doors were large enough for the passage of a man. The doors, +besides, could be drawn close: they were of stout oak, and ran in +grooves, and were fitted with hooks to keep them either shut or +open, as the need arose. The one that was already shut I secured +in this fashion; but when I was proceeding to slide to the other, +Alan stopped me. + +"David," said he -- "for I cannae bring to mind the name of your +landed estate, and so will make so bold as to call you David -- +that door, being open, is the best part of my defences." + +"It would be yet better shut," says I. + +"Not so, David," says he. "Ye see, I have but one face; but so +long as that door is open and my face to it, the best part of my +enemies will be in front of me, where I would aye wish to find +them." + +Then he gave me from the rack a cutlass (of which there were a +few besides the firearms), choosing it with great care, shaking +his head and saying he had never in all his life seen poorer +weapons; and next he set me down to the table with a powder-horn, +a bag of bullets and all the pistols, which he bade me charge. + +"And that will be better work, let me tell you," said he, "for a +gentleman of decent birth, than scraping plates and raxing[14] +drams to a wheen tarry sailors." + +[14]Reaching. + + +Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the door, and +drawing his great sword, made trial of the room he had to wield +it in. + +"I must stick to the point," he said, shaking his head; "and +that's a pity, too. It doesn't set my genius, which is all for +the upper guard. And, now" said he, "do you keep on charging the +pistols, and give heed to me." + +I told him I would listen closely. My chest was tight, my mouth +dry, the light dark to my eyes; the thought of the numbers that +were soon to leap in upon us kept my heart in a flutter: and the +sea, which I heard washing round the brig, and where I thought my +dead body would be cast ere morning, ran in my mind strangely. + +"First of all," said he, "how many are against us?" + +I reckoned them up; and such was the hurry of my mind, I had to +cast the numbers twice. "Fifteen," said I. + +Alan whistled. "Well," said he, "that can't be cured. And now +follow me. It is my part to keep this door, where I look for the +main battle. In that, ye have no hand. And mind and dinnae fire +to this side unless they get me down; for I would rather have ten +foes in front of me than one friend like you cracking pistols at +my back." + +I told him, indeed I was no great shot. + +"And that, s very bravely said," he cried, in a great admiration +of my candour. "There's many a pretty gentleman that wouldnae +dare to say it." + +"But then, sir" said I, "there is the door behind you" which they +may perhaps break in." + +"Ay," said he, "and that is a part of your work. No sooner the +pistols charged, than ye must climb up into yon bed where ye're +handy at the window; and if they lift hand, against the door, +ye're to shoot. But that's not all. Let's make a bit of a +soldier of ye, David. What else have ye to guard?" + +"There's the skylight," said I. "But indeed, Mr. Stewart, I +would need to have eyes upon both sides to keep the two of them; +for when my face is at the one, my back is to the other." + +"And that's very true," said Alan. "But have ye no ears to your +head?" + +"To be sure!" cried I. "I must hear the bursting of the glass!" + +"Ye have some rudiments of sense," said Alan, grimly. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE + +But now our time of truce was come to an end. Those on deck had +waited for my coming till they grew impatient; and scarce had +Alan spoken, when the captain showed face in the open door. + +"Stand!" cried Alan, and pointed his sword at him. The captain +stood, indeed; but he neither winced nor drew back a foot. + +"A naked sword?" says he. "This is a strange return for +hospitality." + +"Do ye see me?" said Alan. "I am come of kings; I bear a king's +name. My badge is the oak. Do ye see my sword? It has slashed +the heads off mair Whigamores than you have toes upon your feet. +Call up your vermin to your back, sir, and fall on! The sooner +the clash begins, the sooner ye'll taste this steel throughout +your vitals." + +The captain said nothing to Alan, but he looked over at me with +an ugly look. "David," said he, "I'll mind this;" and the sound +of his voice went through me with a jar. + +Next moment he was gone. + +"And now," said Alan, "let your hand keep your head, for the grip +is coming." + +Alan drew a dirk, which he held in his left hand in case they +should run in under his sword. I, on my part, clambered up into +the berth with an armful of pistols and something of a heavy +heart, and set open the window where I was to watch. It was a +small part of the deck that I could overlook, but enough for our +purpose. The sea had gone down, and the wind was steady and kept +the sails quiet; so that there was a great stillness in the ship, +in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices. A +little after, and there came a clash of steel upon the deck, by +which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses and one had been +let fall; and after that, silence again. + +I do not know if I was what you call afraid; but my heart beat +like a bird's, both quick and little; and there was a dimness +came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away, and which +continually returned. As for hope, I had none; but only a +darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world +that made me long to sell my life as dear as I was able. I tried +to pray, I remember, but that same hurry of my mind, like a man +running, would not suffer me to think upon the words; and my +chief wish was to have the thing begin and be done with it. + +It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a +roar, and then a shout from Alan, and a sound of blows and some +one crying out as if hurt. I looked back over my shoulder, and +saw Mr. Shuan in the doorway, crossing blades with Alan. + +"That's him that killed the boy!" I cried. + +"Look to your window!" said Alan; and as I turned back to my +place, I saw him pass his sword through the mate's body. + +It was none too soon for me to look to my own part; for my head +was scarce back at the window, before five men, carrying a spare +yard for a battering-ram, ran past me and took post to drive the +door in. I had never fired with a pistol in my life, and not +often with a gun; far less against a fellow-creature. But it was +now or never; and just as they swang the yard, I cried out: "Take +that!" and shot into their midst. + +I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a +step, and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted. Before +they had time to recover, I sent another ball over their heads; +and at my third shot (which went as wide as the second) the whole +party threw down the yard and ran for it. + +Then I looked round again into the deck-house. The whole place +was full of the smoke of my own firing, just as my ears seemed to +be burst with the noise of the shots. But there was Alan, +standing as before; only now his sword was running blood to the +hilt, and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine +an attitude, that he looked to be invincible. Right before him +on the floor was Mr. Shuan, on his hands and knees; the blood was +pouring from his mouth, and he was sinking slowly lower, with a +terrible, white face; and just as I looked, some of those from +behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out +of the round-house. I believe he died as they were doing it. + +"There's one of your Whigs for ye!" cried Alan; and then turning +to me, he asked if I had done much execution. + +I told him I had winged one, and thought it was the captain. + +"And I've settled two," says he. "No, there's not enough blood +let; they'll be back again. To your watch, David. This was but +a dram before meat." + +I settled back to my place, re-charging the three pistols I had +fired, and keeping watch with both eye and ear. + +Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck, and that so +loudly that I could hear a word or two above the washing of the +seas. + +"It was Shuan bauchled[15] it," I heard one say. + +[15]Bungled. + + +And another answered him with a "Wheesht, man! He's paid the +piper." + +After that the voices fell again into the same muttering as +before. Only now, one person spoke most of the time, as though +laying down a plan, and first one and then another answered him +briefly, like men taking orders. By this, I made sure they were +coming on again, and told Alan. + +"It's what we have to pray for," said he. "Unless we can give +them a good distaste of us, and done with it, there'll be nae +sleep for either you or me. But this time, mind, they'll be in +earnest." + +By this, my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to do but +listen and wait. While the brush lasted, I had not the time to +think if I was frighted; but now, when all was still again, my +mind ran upon nothing else. The thought of the sharp swords and +the cold steel was strong in me; and presently, when I began to +hear stealthy steps and a brushing of men's clothes against the +round-house wall, and knew they were taking their places in the +dark, I could have found it in my mind to cry out aloud. + +All this was upon Alan's side; and I had begun to think my share +of the fight was at an end, when I heard some one drop softly on +the roof above me. + +Then there came a single call on the sea-pipe, and that was the +signal. A knot of them made one rush of it, cutlass in hand, +against the door; and at the same moment, the glass of the +skylight was dashed in a thousand pieces, and a man leaped +through and landed on the floor. Before he got his feet, I had +clapped a pistol to his back, and might have shot him, too; only +at the touch of him (and him alive) my whole flesh misgave me, +and I could no more pull the trigger than I could have flown. + +He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he felt the +pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of me, roaring out +an oath; and at that either my courage came again, or I grew so +much afraid as came to the same thing; for I gave a shriek and +shot him in the midst of the body. He gave the most horrible, +ugly groan and fell to the floor. The foot of a second fellow, +whose legs were dangling through the skylight, struck me at the +same time upon the head; and at that I snatched another pistol +and shot this one through the thigh, so that he slipped through +and tumbled in a lump on his companion's body. There was no talk +of missing, any more than there was time to aim; I clapped the +muzzle to the very place and fired. + +I might have stood and stared at them for long, but I heard Alan +shout as if for help, and that brought me to my senses. + +He had kept the door so long; but one of the seamen, while he was +engaged with others, had run in under his guard and caught him +about the body. Alan was dirking him with his left hand, but the +fellow clung like a leech. Another had broken in and had his +cutlass raised. The door was thronged with their faces. I +thought we were lost, and catching up my cutlass, fell on them in +flank. + +But I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped at last; +and Alan, leaping back to get his distance, ran upon the others +like a bull, roaring as he went. They broke before him like +water, turning, and running, and falling one against another in +their haste. The sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver +into the huddle of our fleeing enemies; and at every flash there +came the scream of a man hurt. I was still thinking we were +lost, when lo! they were all gone, and Alan was driving them +along the deck as a sheep-dog chases sheep. + +Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again, being as +cautious as he was brave; and meanwhile the seamen continued +running and crying out as if he was still behind them; and we +heard them tumble one upon another into the forecastle, and +clap-to the hatch upon the top. + +The round-house was like a shambles; three were dead inside, +another lay in his death agony across the threshold; and there +were Alan and I victorious and unhurt. + +He came up to me with open arms. "Come to my arms!" he cried, +and embraced and kissed me hard upon both cheek. "David," said +he, "I love you like a brother. And O, man," he cried in a kind +of ecstasy, "am I no a bonny fighter?" + +Thereupon he turned to the four enemies, passed his sword clean +through each of them, and tumbled them out of doors one after the +other. As he did so, he kept humming and singing and whistling +to himself, like a man trying to recall an air; only what HE was +trying was to make one. All the while, the flush was in his +face, and his eyes were as bright as a five-year-old child's with +a new toy. And presently he sat down upon the table, sword in +hand; the air that he was making all the time began to run a +little clearer, and then clearer still; and then out he burst +with a great voice into a Gaelic song. + +I have translated it here, not in verse (of which I have no +skill) but at least in the king's English. + +He sang it often afterwards, and the thing became popular; so +that I have, heard it, and had it explained to me, many's the +time. + + +"This is the song of the sword of Alan; + The smith made it, + The fire set it; + Now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck. + +"Their eyes were many and bright, + Swift were they to behold, + Many the hands they guided: + The sword was alone. + +"The dun deer troop over the hill, + They are many, the hill is one; + The dun deer vanish, + The hill remains. + +"Come to me from the hills of heather, + Come from the isles of the sea. + O far-beholding eagles, + Here is your meat." + + +Now this song which he made (both words and music) in the hour of +our victory, is something less than just to me, who stood beside +him in the tussle. Mr. Shuan and five more were either killed +outright or thoroughly disabled; but of these, two fell by my +hand, the two that came by the skylight. Four more were hurt, +and of that number, one (and he not the least important) got his +hurt from me. So that, altogether, I did my fair share both of +the killing and the wounding, and might have claimed a place in +Alan's verses. But poets have to think upon their rhymes; and in +good prose talk, Alan always did me more than justice. + +In the meanwhile, I was innocent of any wrong being done me. For +not only I knew no word of the Gaelic; but what with the long +suspense of the waiting, and the scurry and strain of our two +spirts of fighting, and more than all, the horror I had of some +of my own share in it, the thing was no sooner over than I was +glad to stagger to a seat. There was that tightness on my chest +that I could hardly breathe; the thought of the two men I had +shot sat upon me like a nightmare; and all upon a sudden, and +before I had a guess of what was coming, I began to sob and cry +like any child. + +Alan clapped my shoulder, and said I was a brave lad and wanted +nothing but a sleep. + +"I'll take the first watch," said he. "Ye've done well by me, +David, first and last; and I wouldn't lose you for all Appin -- +no, nor for Breadalbane." + +So I made up my bed on the floor; and he took the first spell, +pistol in hand and sword on knee, three hours by the captain's +watch upon the wall. Then he roused me up, and I took my turn of +three hours; before the end of which it was broad day, and a very +quiet morning, with a smooth, rolling sea that tossed the ship +and made the blood run to and fro on the round-house floor, and a +heavy rain that drummed upon the roof. All my watch there was +nothing stirring; and by the banging of the helm, I knew they had +even no one at the tiller. Indeed (as I learned afterwards) +there were so many of them hurt or dead, and the rest in so ill a +temper, that Mr. Riach and the captain had to take turn and turn +like Alan and me, or the brig might have gone ashore and nobody +the wiser. It was a mercy the night had fallen so still, for the +wind had gone down as soon as the rain began. Even as it was, I +judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls that went crying +and fishing round the ship, that she must have drifted pretty +near the coast or one of the islands of the Hebrides; and at +last, looking out of the door of the round-house, I saw the great +stone hills of Skye on the right hand, and, a little more astern, +the strange isle of Rum. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAPTAIN KNUCKLES UNDER + +Alan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the clock. The +floor was covered with broken glass and in a horrid mess of +blood, which took away my hunger. In all other ways we were in a +situation not only agreeable but merry; having ousted the +officers from their own cabin, and having at command all the +drink in the ship -- both wine and spirits -- and all the dainty +part of what was eatable, such as the pickles and the fine sort +of bread. This, of itself, was enough to set us in good humour, +but the richest part of it was this, that the two thirstiest men +that ever came out of Scotland (Mr. Shuan being dead) were now +shut in the fore-part of the ship and condemned to what they +hated most -- cold water. + +"And depend upon it," Alan said, "we shall hear more of them ere +long. Ye may keep a man from the fighting, but never from his +bottle." + +We made good company for each other. Alan, indeed, expressed +himself most lovingly; and taking a knife from the table, cut me +off one of the silver buttons from his coat. + +"I had them," says he, "from my father, Duncan Stewart; and now +give ye one of them to be a keepsake for last night's work. And +wherever ye go and show that button, the friends of Alan Breck +will come around you." + +He said this as if he had been Charlemagne, and commanded armies; +and indeed, much as I admired his courage, I was always in danger +of smiling at his vanity: in danger, I say, for had I not kept my +countenance, I would be afraid to think what a quarrel might have +followed. + +As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the +captain's locker till he found a clothes-brush; and then taking +off his coat, began to visit his suit and brush away the stains, +with such care and labour as I supposed to have been only usual +with women. To be sure, he had no other; and, besides (as he +said), it belonged to a king and so behoved to be royally looked +after. + +For all that, when I saw what care he took to pluck out the +threads where the button had been cut away, I put a higher value +on his gift. + +He was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr. Riach from the +deck, asking for a parley; and I, climbing through the skylight +and sitting on the edge of it, pistol in hand and with a bold +front, though inwardly in fear of broken glass, hailed him back +again and bade him speak out. He came to the edge of the +round-house, and stood on a coil of rope, so that his chin was on +a level with the roof; and we looked at each other awhile in +silence. Mr. Riach, as I do not think he had been very forward +in the battle, so he had got off with nothing worse than a blow +upon the cheek: but he looked out of heart and very weary, having +been all night afoot, either standing watch or doctoring the +wounded. + +"This is a bad job," said he at last, shaking his head. + +"It was none of our choosing," said I. + +"The captain," says he, "would like to speak with your friend. +They might speak at the window." + +"And how do we know what treachery he means?" cried I. + +"He means none, David," returned Mr. Riach, "and if he did, I'll +tell ye the honest truth, we couldnae get the men to follow." + +"Is that so?" said I. + +"I'll tell ye more than that," said he. "It's not only the men; +it's me. I'm frich'ened, Davie." And he smiled across at me. +"No," he continued, "what we want is to be shut of him." + +Thereupon I consulted with Alan, and the parley was agreed to and +parole given upon either side; but this was not the whole of Mr. +Riach's business, and he now begged me for a dram with such +instancy and such reminders of his former kindness, that at last +I handed him a pannikin with about a gill of brandy. He drank a +part, and then carried the rest down upon the deck, to share it +(I suppose) with his superior. + +A little after, the captain came (as was agreed) to one of the +windows, and stood there in the rain, with his arm in a sling, +and looking stern and pale, and so old that my heart smote me for +having fired upon him. + +Alan at once held a pistol in his face. + +"Put that thing up!" said the captain. "Have I not passed my +word, sir? or do ye seek to affront me?" + +"Captain," says Alan, "I doubt your word is a breakable. Last +night ye haggled and argle-bargled like an apple-wife; and then +passed me your word, and gave me your hand to back it; and ye ken +very well what was the upshot. Be damned to your word!" says he. + +"Well, well, sir," said the captain, "ye'll get little good by +swearing." (And truly that was a fault of which the captain was +quite free.) "But we have other things to speak," he continued, +bitterly. "Ye've made a sore hash of my brig; I haven't hands +enough left to work her; and my first officer (whom I could ill +spare) has got your sword throughout his vitals, and passed +without speech. There is nothing left me, sir, but to put back +into the port of Glasgow after hands; and there (by your leave) +ye will find them that are better able to talk to you." + +"Ay?" said Alan; "and faith, I'll have a talk with them mysel'! +Unless there's naebody speaks English in that town, I have a +bonny tale for them. Fifteen tarry sailors upon the one side, +and a man and a halfling boy upon the other! O, man, it's +peetiful!" + +Hoseason flushed red. + +"No," continued Alan, "that'll no do. Ye'll just have to set me +ashore as we agreed." + +"Ay," said Hoseason, "but my first officer is dead -- ye ken best +how. There's none of the rest of us acquaint with this coast, +sir; and it's one very dangerous to ships." + +"I give ye your choice," says Alan. "Set me on dry ground in +Appin, or Ardgour, or in Morven, or Arisaig, or Morar; or, in +brief, where ye please, within thirty miles of my own country; +except in a country of the Campbells. That's a broad target. If +ye miss that, ye must be as feckless at the sailoring as I have +found ye at the fighting. Why, my poor country people in their +bit cobles[16] pass from island to island in all weathers, ay, +and by night too, for the matter of that." + +[16]Coble: a small boat used in fishing. + + +"A coble's not a ship" sir" said the captain. "It has nae +draught of water." + +"Well, then, to Glasgow if ye list!" says Alan. "We'll have the +laugh of ye at the least." + +"My mind runs little upon laughing," said the captain. "But all +this will cost money, sir." + +"Well, sir" says Alan, "I am nae weathercock. Thirty guineas, if +ye land me on the sea-side; and sixty, if ye put me in the Linnhe +Loch." + +"But see, sir, where we lie, we are but a few hours' sail from +Ardnamurchan," said Hoseason. "Give me sixty, and I'll set ye +there." + +" And I'm to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the red-coats to +please you?" cries Alan. "No, sir; if ye want sixty guineas earn +them, and set me in my own country." + +"It's to risk the brig, sir," said the captain, "and your own +lives along with her." + +"Take it or want it," says Alan. + +"Could ye pilot us at all?" asked the captain, who was frowning +to himself. + +"Well, it's doubtful," said Alan. "I'm more of a fighting man +(as ye have seen for yoursel') than a sailor-man. But I have +been often enough picked up and set down upon this coast, and +should ken something of the lie of it." + +The captain shook his head, still frowning. + +"If I had lost less money on this unchancy cruise," says he, "I +would see you in a rope's end before I risked my brig, sir. But +be it as ye will. As soon as I get a slant of wind (and there's +some coming, or I'm the more mistaken) I'll put it in hand. But +there's one thing more. We may meet in with a king's ship and +she may lay us aboard, sir, with no blame of mine: they keep the +cruisers thick upon this coast, ye ken who for. Now, sir, if +that was to befall, ye might leave the money." + +"Captain," says Alan, "if ye see a pennant, it shall be your part +to run away. And now, as I hear you're a little short of brandy +in the fore-part, I'll offer ye a change: a bottle of brandy +against two buckets of water." + +That was the last clause of the treaty, and was duly executed on +both sides; so that Alan and I could at last wash out the +round-house and be quit of the memorials of those whom we had +slain, and the captain and Mr. Riach could be happy again in +their own way, the name of which was drink. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +I HEAR OF THE "RED FOX" + +Before we had done cleaning out the round-house, a breeze sprang +up from a little to the east of north. This blew off the rain +and brought out the sun. + +And here I must explain; and the reader would do well to look at +a map. On the day when the fog fell and we ran down Alan's boat, +we had been running through the Little Minch. At dawn after the +battle, we lay becalmed to the east of the Isle of Canna or +between that and Isle Eriska in the chain of the Long Island. +Now to get from there to the Linnhe Loch, the straight course was +through the narrows of the Sound of Mull. But the captain had no +chart; he was afraid to trust his brig so deep among the islands; +and the wind serving well, he preferred to go by west of Tiree +and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull. + +All day the breeze held in the same point, and rather freshened +than died down; and towards afternoon, a swell began to set in +from round the outer Hebrides. Our course, to go round about the +inner isles, was to the west of south, so that at first we had +this swell upon our beam, and were much rolled about. But after +nightfall, when we had turned the end of Tiree and began to head +more to the east, the sea came right astern. + +Meanwhile, the early part of the day, before the swell came up, +was very pleasant; sailing, as we were, in a bright sunshine and +with many mountainous islands upon different sides. Alan and I +sat in the round-house with the doors open on each side (the wind +being straight astern), and smoked a pipe or two of the captain's +fine tobacco. It was at this time we heard each other's stories, +which was the more important to me, as I gained some knowledge of +that wild Highland country on which I was so soon to land. In +those days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was +needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the +heather. + +It was I that showed the example, telling him all my misfortune; +which he heard with great good-nature. Only, when I came to +mention that good friend of mine, Mr. Campbell the minister, Alan +fired up and cried out that he hated all that were of that name. + +"Why," said I, "he is a man you should be proud to give your hand +to." + +"I know nothing I would help a Campbell to," says he, "unless it +was a leaden bullet. I would hunt all of that name like +blackcocks. If I lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to my +chamber window for a shot at one." + +"Why, Alan," I cried, "what ails ye at the Campbells?" + +"Well," says he, "ye ken very well that I am an Appin Stewart, +and the Campbells have long harried and wasted those of my name; +ay, and got lands of us by treachery--but never with the sword," +he cried loudly, and with the word brought down his fist upon the +table. But I paid the less attention to this, for I knew it was +usually said by those who have the underhand. "There's more than +that," he continued, "and all in the same story: lying words, +lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler, and the show of what's +legal over all, to make a man the more angry." + +"You that are so wasteful of your buttons," said I, "I can hardly +think you would be a good judge of business." + +"Ah!" says he, falling again to smiling, "I got my wastefulness +from the same man I got the buttons from; and that was my poor +father, Duncan Stewart, grace be to him! He was the prettiest man +of his kindred; and the best swordsman in the Hielands, David, +and that is the same as to say, in all the world, I should ken, +for it was him that taught me. He was in the Black Watch, when +first it was mustered; and, like other gentlemen privates, had a +gillie at his back to carry his firelock for him on the march. +Well, the King, it appears, was wishful to see Hieland +swordsmanship; and my father and three more were chosen out and +sent to London town, to let him see it at the best. So they were +had into the palace and showed the whole art of the sword for two +hours at a stretch, before King George and Queen Carline, and the +Butcher Cumberland, and many more of whom I havenae mind. And +when they were through, the King (for all he was a rank usurper) +spoke them fair and gave each man three guineas in his hand. +Now, as they were going out of the palace, they had a porter's +lodge to go, by; and it came in on my father, as he was perhaps +the first private Hieland gentleman that had ever gone by that +door, it was right he should give the poor porter a proper notion +of their quality. So he gives the King's three guineas into the +man's hand, as if it was his common custom; the three others that +came behind him did the same; and there they were on the street, +never a penny the better for their pains. Some say it was one, +that was the first to fee the King's porter; and some say it was +another; but the truth of it is, that it was Duncan Stewart, as I +am willing to prove with either sword or pistol. And that was +the father that I had, God rest him!" + +"I think he was not the man to leave you rich," said I. + +"And that's true," said Alan. "He left me my breeks to cover me, +and little besides. And that was how I came to enlist, which was +a black spot upon my character at the best of times, and would +still be a sore job for me if I fell among the red-coats." + +"What," cried I, "were you in the English army?" + +"That was I," said Alan. "But I deserted to the right side at +Preston Pans -- and that's some comfort." + +I could scarcely share this view: holding desertion under arms +for an unpardonable fault in honour. But for all I was so young, +I was wiser than say my thought. "Dear, dear," says I, "the +punishment is death." + +"Ay" said he, "if they got hands on me, it would be a short +shrift and a lang tow for Alan! But I have the King of France's +commission in my pocket, which would aye be some protection." + +"I misdoubt it much," said I. + +"I have doubts mysel'," said Alan drily. + +"And, good heaven, man," cried I, "you that are a condemned +rebel, and a deserter, and a man of the French King's -- what +tempts ye back into this country? It's a braving of Providence." + +"Tut!" says Alan, "I have been back every year since forty-six!" + +"And what brings ye, man?" cried I. + +"Well, ye see, I weary for my friends and country," said he. +"France is a braw place, nae doubt; but I weary for the heather +and the deer. And then I have bit things that I attend to. +Whiles I pick up a few lads to serve the King of France: +recruits, ye see; and that's aye a little money. But the heart +of the matter is the business of my chief, Ardshiel." + +"I thought they called your chief Appin," said I. + +"Ay, but Ardshiel is the captain of the clan," said he, which +scarcely cleared my mind. "Ye see, David, he that was all his +life so great a man, and come of the blood and bearing the name +of kings, is now brought down to live in a French town like a +poor and private person. He that had four hundred swords at his +whistle, I have seen, with these eyes of mine, buying butter in +the market-place, and taking it home in a kale-leaf. This is not +only a pain but a disgrace to us of his family and clan. There +are the bairns forby, the children and the hope of Appin, that +must be learned their letters and how to hold a sword, in that +far country. Now, the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent to +King George; but their hearts are staunch, they are true to their +chief; and what with love and a bit of pressure, and maybe a +threat or two, the poor folk scrape up a second rent for +Ardshiel. Well, David, I'm the hand that carries it." And he +struck the belt about his body, so that the guineas rang. + +"Do they pay both?" cried I. + +"Ay, David, both," says he. + +"What! two rents?" I repeated. + +"Ay, David," said he. "I told a different tale to yon captain +man; but this is the truth of it. And it's wonderful to me how +little pressure is needed. But that's the handiwork of my good +kinsman and my father's friend, James of the Glens: James +Stewart, that is: Ardshiel's half-brother. He it is that gets +the money in, and does the management." + +This was the first time I heard the name of that James Stewart, +who was afterwards so famous at the time of his hanging. But I +took little heed at the moment, for all my mind was occupied with +the generosity of these poor Highlanders. + +"I call it noble," I cried. "I'm a Whig, or little better; but I +call it noble." + +"Ay" said he, "ye're a Whig, but ye're a gentleman; and that's +what does it. Now, if ye were one of the cursed race of +Campbell, ye would gnash your teeth to hear tell of it. If ye +were the Red Fox..." And at that name, his teeth shut together, +and he ceased speaking. I have seen many a grim face, but never +a grimmer than Alan's when he had named the Red Fox. + +"And who is the Red Fox?" I asked, daunted, but still curious. + +"Who is he?" cried Alan. "Well, and I'll tell you that. When +the men of the clans were broken at Culloden, and the good cause +went down, and the horses rode over the fetlocks in the best +blood of the north, Ardshiel had to flee like a poor deer upon +the mountains -- he and his lady and his bairns. A sair job we +had of it before we got him shipped; and while he still lay in +the heather, the English rogues, that couldnae come at his life, +were striking at his rights. They stripped him of his powers; +they stripped him of his lands; they plucked the weapons from the +hands of his clansmen, that had borne arms for thirty centuries; +ay, and the very clothes off their backs -- so that it's now a +sin to wear a tartan plaid, and a man may be cast into a gaol if +he has but a kilt about his legs. One thing they couldnae kill. +That was the love the clansmen bore their chief. These guineas +are the proof of it. And now, in there steps a man, a Campbell, +red-headed Colin of Glenure ----" + +"Is that him you call the Red Fox?" said I. + +"Will ye bring me his brush?" cries Alan, fiercely. "Ay, that's +the man. In he steps, and gets papers from King George, to be +so-called King's factor on the lands of Appin. And at first he +sings small, and is hail-fellow-well-met with Sheamus -- that's +James of the Glens, my chieftain's agent. But by-and-by, that +came to his ears that I have just told you; how the poor commons +of Appin, the farmers and the crofters and the boumen, were +wringing their very plaids to get a second rent, and send it +over-seas for Ardshiel and his poor bairns. What was it ye +called it, when I told ye?" + +"I called it noble, Alan," said I. + +"And you little better than a common Whig!" cries Alan. "But +when it came to Colin Roy, the black Campbell blood in him ran +wild. He sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table. What! should +a Stewart get a bite of bread, and him not be able to prevent it? +Ah! Red Fox, if ever I hold you at a gun's end, the Lord have +pity upon ye!" (Alan stopped to swallow down his anger.) "Well, +David, what does he do? He declares all the farms to let. And, +thinks he, in his black heart, 'I'll soon get other tenants +that'll overbid these Stewarts, and Maccolls, and Macrobs' (for +these are all names in my clan, David); 'and then,' thinks he, +'Ardshiel will have to hold his bonnet on a French roadside.'" + +"Well," said I, "what followed?" + +Alan laid down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to go +out, and set his two hands upon his knees. + +"Ay," said he, "ye'll never guess that! For these same Stewarts, +and Maccolls, and Macrobs (that had two rents to pay, one to King +George by stark force, and one to Ardshiel by natural kindness) +offered him a better price than any Campbell in all broad +Scotland; and far he sent seeking them -- as far as to the sides +of Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh -- seeking, and fleeching, +and begging them to come, where there was a Stewart to be starved +and a red-headed hound of a Campbell to be pleasured!" + +"Well, Alan," said I, "that is a strange story, and a fine one, +too. And Whig as I may be, I am glad the man was beaten." + +"Him beaten?" echoed Alan. "It's little ye ken of Campbells, and +less of the Red Fox. Him beaten? No: nor will be, till his +blood's on the hillside! But if the day comes, David man, that I +can find time and leisure for a bit of hunting, there grows not +enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance!" + +"Man Alan," said I, "ye are neither very wise nor very Christian +to blow off so many words of anger. They will do the man ye call +the Fox no harm, and yourself no good. Tell me your tale plainly +out. What did he next?" + +"And that's a good observe, David," said Alan. "Troth and +indeed, they will do him no harm; the more's the pity! And +barring that about Christianity (of which my opinion is quite +otherwise, or I would be nae Christian), I am much of your mind." + +"Opinion here or opinion there," said I, "it's a kent thing that +Christianity forbids revenge." + +"Ay" said he, "it's well seen it was a Campbell taught ye! It +would be a convenient world for them and their sort, if there was +no such a thing as a lad and a gun behind a heather bush! But +that's nothing to the point. This is what he did." + +"Ay" said I, "come to that." + +"Well, David," said he, "since he couldnae be rid of the loyal +commons by fair means, he swore he would be rid of them by foul. +Ardshiel was to starve: that was the thing he aimed at. And +since them that fed him in his exile wouldnae be bought out -- +right or wrong, he would drive them out. Therefore he sent for +lawyers, and papers, and red-coats to stand at his back. And the +kindly folk of that country must all pack and tramp, every +father's son out of his father's house, and out of the place +where he was bred and fed, and played when he was a callant. And +who are to succeed them? Bare-leggit beggars! King George is to +whistle for his rents; he maun dow with less; he can spread his +butter thinner: what cares Red Colin? If he can hurt Ardshiel, he +has his wish; if he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table, +and the bit toys out of his children's hands, he will gang hame +singing to Glenure!" + +"Let me have a word," said I. "Be sure, if they take less rents, +be sure Government has a finger in the pie. It's not this +Campbell's fault, man -- it's his orders. And if ye killed this +Colin to-morrow, what better would ye be? There would be another +factor in his shoes, as fast as spur can drive." + +"Ye're a good lad in a fight," said Alan; "but, man! ye have Whig +blood in ye!" + +He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger under his +contempt that I thought it was wise to change the conversation. +I expressed my wonder how, with the Highlands covered with +troops, and guarded like a city in a siege, a man in his +situation could come and go without arrest. + +"It's easier than ye would think," said Alan. "A bare hillside +(ye see) is like all one road; if there's a sentry at one place, +ye just go by another. And then the heather's a great help. And +everywhere there are friends' houses and friends' byres and +haystacks. And besides, when folk talk of a country covered with +troops, it's but a kind of a byword at the best. A soldier +covers nae mair of it than his boot-soles. I have fished a water +with a sentry on the other side of the brae, and killed a fine +trout; and I have sat in a heather bush within six feet of +another, and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling. This +was it," said he, and whistled me the air. + +"And then, besides," he continued, "it's no sae bad now as it was +in forty-six. The Hielands are what they call pacified. Small +wonder, with never a gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape +Wrath, but what tenty[17] folk have hidden in their thatch! But +what I would like to ken, David, is just how long? Not long, ye +would think, with men like Ardshiel in exile and men like the Red +Fox sitting birling the wine and oppressing the poor at home. +But it's a kittle thing to decide what folk'll bear, and what +they will not. Or why would Red Colin be riding his horse all +over my poor country of Appin, and never a pretty lad to put a +bullet in him?" + +[17] Careful. + + +And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for a long time sate +very sad and silent. + +I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend, that +he was skilled in all kinds of music, but principally pipe-music; +was a well-considered poet in his own tongue; had read several +books both in French and English; was a dead shot, a good angler, +and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his +own particular weapon. For his faults, they were on his face, +and I now knew them all. But the worst of them, his childish +propensity to take offence and to pick quarrels, he greatly laid +aside in my case, out of regard for the battle of the +round-house. But whether it was because I had done well myself, +or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess, +is more than I can tell. For though he had a great taste for +courage in other men, yet he admired it most in Alan Breck. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LOSS OF THE BRIG + +It was already late at night, and as dark as it ever would be at +that season of the year (and that is to say, it was still pretty +bright), when Hoseason clapped his head into the round-house +door. + +"Here," said he, "come out and see if ye can pilot." + +"Is this one of your tricks?" asked Alan. + +"Do I look like tricks?" cries the captain. "I have other things +to think of -- my brig's in danger!" + +By the concerned look of his face, and, above all, by the sharp +tones in which he spoke of his brig, it was plain to both of us +he was in deadly earnest; and so Alan and I, with no great fear +of treachery, stepped on deck. + +The sky was clear; it blew hard, and was bitter cold; a great +deal of daylight lingered; and the moon, which was nearly full, +shone brightly. The brig was close hauled, so as to round the +southwest corner of the Island of Mull, the hills of which (and +Ben More above them all, with a wisp of mist upon the top of it) +lay full upon the lar-board bow. Though it was no good point of +sailing for the Covenant, she tore through the seas at a great +rate, pitching and straining, and pursued by the westerly swell. + +Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in; and I +had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the +captain, when the brig rising suddenly on the top of a high +swell, he pointed and cried to us to look. Away on the lee bow, +a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea, and +immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring. + +"What do ye call that?" asked the captain, gloomily. + +"The sea breaking on a reef," said Alan. "And now ye ken where +it is; and what better would ye have?" + +"Ay," said Hoseason, "if it was the only one." + +And sure enough, just as he spoke there came a second fountain +farther to the south. + +"There!" said Hoseason. "Ye see for yourself. If I had kent of +these reefs, if I had had a chart, or if Shuan had been spared, +it's not sixty guineas, no, nor six hundred, would have made me +risk my brig in sic a stoneyard! But you, sir, that was to pilot +us, have ye never a word?" + +"I'm thinking," said Alan, "these'll be what they call the Torran +Rocks." + +"Are there many of them?" says the captain. + +"Truly, sir, I am nae pilot," said Alan; "but it sticks in my +mind there are ten miles of them." + +Mr. Riach and the captain looked at each other. + +"There's a way through them, I suppose?" said the captain. + +"Doubtless," said Alan, "but where? But it somehow runs in my +mind once more that it is clearer under the land." + +"So?" said Hoseason. "We'll have to haul our wind then, Mr. +Riach; we'll have to come as near in about the end of Mull as we +can take her, sir; and even then we'll have the land to kep the +wind off us, and that stoneyard on our lee. Well, we're in for +it now, and may as well crack on." + +With that he gave an order to the steersman, and sent Riach to +the foretop. There were only five men on deck, counting the +officers; these being all that were fit (or, at least, both fit +and willing) for their work. So, as I say, it fell to Mr. Riach +to go aloft, and he sat there looking out and hailing the deck +with news of all he saw. + +"The sea to the south is thick," he cried; and then, after a +while, "it does seem clearer in by the land." + +"Well, sir," said Hoseason to Alan, "we'll try your way of it. +But I think I might as well trust to a blind fiddler. Pray God +you're right." + +"Pray God I am!" says Alan to me. "But where did I hear it? +Well, well, it will be as it must." + +As we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began to be +sown here and there on our very path; and Mr. Riach sometimes +cried down to us to change the course. Sometimes, indeed, none +too soon; for one reef was so close on the brig's weather board +that when a sea burst upon it the lighter sprays fell upon her +deck and wetted us like rain. + +The brightness of the night showed us these perils as clearly as +by day, which was, perhaps, the more alarming. It showed me, +too, the face of the captain as he stood by the steersman, now on +one foot, now on the other, and sometimes blowing in his hands, +but still listening and looking and as steady as steel. Neither +he nor Mr. Riach had shown well in the fighting; but I saw they +were brave in their own trade, and admired them all the more +because I found Alan very white. + +"Ochone, David," says he, "this is no the kind of death I fancy!" + +"What, Alan!" I cried, "you're not afraid?" + +"No," said he, wetting his lips, "but you'll allow, yourself, +it's a cold ending." + +By this time, now and then sheering to one side or the other to +avoid a reef, but still hugging the wind and the land, we had got +round Iona and begun to come alongside Mull. The tide at the +tail of the land ran very strong, and threw the brig about. Two +hands were put to the helm, and Hoseason himself would sometimes +lend a help; and it was strange to see three strong men throw +their weight upon the tiller, and it (like a living thing) +struggle against and drive them back. This would have been the +greater danger had not the sea been for some while free of +obstacles. Mr. Riach, besides, announced from the top that he +saw clear water ahead. + +"Ye were right," said Hoseason to Alan. "Ye have saved the brig, +sir. I'll mind that when we come to clear accounts." And I +believe he not only meant what he said, but would have done it; +so high a place did the Covenant hold in his affections. + +But this is matter only for conjecture, things having gone +otherwise than he forecast. + +"Keep her away a point," sings out Mr. Riach. "Reef to +windward!" + +And just at the same time the tide caught the brig, and threw the +wind out of her sails. She came round into the wind like a top, +and the next moment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us +all flat upon the deck, and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his +place upon the mast. + +I was on my feet in a minute. The reef on which we had struck +was close in under the southwest end of Mull, off a little isle +they call Earraid, which lay low and black upon the larboard. +Sometimes the swell broke clean over us; sometimes it only ground +the poor brig upon the reef, so that we could hear her beat +herself to pieces; and what with the great noise of the sails, +and the singing of the wind, and the flying of the spray in the +moonlight, and the sense of danger, I think my head must have +been partly turned, for I could scarcely understand the things I +saw. + +Presently I observed Mr. Riach and the seamen busy round the +skiff, and, still in the same blank, ran over to assist them; and +as soon as I set my hand to work, my mind came clear again. It +was no very easy task, for the skiff lay amidships and was full +of hamper, and the breaking of the heavier seas continually +forced us to give over and hold on; but we all wrought like +horses while we could. + +Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came clambering out +of the fore-scuttle and began to help; while the rest that lay +helpless in their bunks harrowed me with screaming and begging to +be saved. + +The captain took no part. It seemed he was struck stupid. He +stood holding by the shrouds, talking to himself and groaning out +aloud whenever the ship hammered on the rock. His brig was like +wife and child to him; he had looked on, day by day, at the +mishandling of poor Ransome; but when it came to the brig, he +seemed to suffer along with her. + +All the time of our working at the boat, I remember only one +other thing: that I asked Alan, looking across at the shore, what +country it was; and he answered, it was the worst possible for +him, for it was a land of the Campbells. + +We had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch upon the +seas and cry us warning. Well, we had the boat about ready to be +launched, when this man sang out pretty shrill: "For God's sake, +hold on!" We knew by his tone that it was something more than +ordinary; and sure enough, there followed a sea so huge that it +lifted the brig right up and canted her over on her beam. +Whether the cry came too late, or my hold was too weak, I know +not; but at the sudden tilting of the ship I was cast clean over +the bulwarks into the sea. + +I went down, and drank my fill, and then came up, and got a blink +of the moon, and then down again. They say a man sinks a third +time for good. I cannot be made like other folk, then; for I +would not like to write how often I went down, or how often I +came up again. All the while, I was being hurled along, and +beaten upon and choked, and then swallowed whole; and the thing +was so distracting to my wits, that I was neither sorry nor +afraid. + +Presently, I found I was holding to a spar, which helped me +somewhat. And then all of a sudden I was in quiet water, and +began to come to myself. + +It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed to see +how far I had travelled from the brig. I hailed her, indeed; but +it was plain she was already out of cry. She was still holding +together; but whether or not they had yet launched the boat, I +was too far off and too low down to see. + +While I was hailing the brig, I spied a tract of water lying +between us where no great waves came, but which yet boiled white +all over and bristled in the moon with rings and bubbles. +Sometimes the whole tract swung to one side, like the tail of a +live serpent; sometimes, for a glimpse, it would all disappear +and then boil up again. What it was I had no guess, which for +the time increased my fear of it; but I now know it must have +been the roost or tide race, which had carried me away so fast +and tumbled me about so cruelly, and at last, as if tired of that +play, had flung out me and the spare yard upon its landward +margin. + +I now lay quite becalmed, and began to feel that a man can die of +cold as well as of drowning. The shores of Earraid were close +in; I could see in the moonlight the dots of heather and the +sparkling of the mica in the rocks. + +"Well," thought I to myself, "if I cannot get as far as that, +it's strange!" + +I had no skill of swimming, Essen Water being small in our +neighbourhood; but when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms, +and kicked out with both feet, I soon begun to find that I was +moving. Hard work it was, and mortally slow; but in about an +hour of kicking and splashing, I had got well in between the +points of a sandy bay surrounded by low hills. + +The sea was here quite quiet; there was no sound of any surf; the +moon shone clear; and I thought in my heart I had never seen a +place so desert and desolate. But it was dry land; and when at +last it grew so shallow that I could leave the yard and wade +ashore upon my feet, I cannot tell if I was more tired or more +grateful. Both, at least, I was: tired as I never was before +that night; and grateful to God as I trust I have been often, +though never with more cause. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE ISLET + +With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my +adventures. It was half-past twelve in the morning, and though +the wind was broken by the land, it was a cold night. I dared +not sit down (for I thought I should have frozen), but took off +my shoes and walked to and fro upon the sand, bare-foot, and +beating my breast with infinite weariness. There was no sound of +man or cattle; not a cock crew, though it was about the hour of +their first waking; only the surf broke outside in the distance, +which put me in mind of my perils and those of my friend. To +walk by the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place so +desert-like and lonesome, struck me with a kind of fear. + +As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed a +hill -- the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook-- falling, the +whole way, between big blocks of granite, or leaping from one to +another. When I got to the top the dawn was come. There was no +sign of the brig, which must have lifted from the reef and sunk. +The boat, too, was nowhere to be seen. There was never a sail +upon the ocean; and in what I could see of the land was neither +house nor man. + +I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates, and afraid +to look longer at so empty a scene. What with my wet clothes and +weariness, and my belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had +enough to trouble me without that. So I set off eastward along +the south coast, hoping to find a house where I might warm +myself, and perhaps get news of those I had lost. And at the +worst, I considered the sun would soon rise and dry my clothes. + +After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the +sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the land; and as I had +no means to get across, I must needs change my direction to go +about the end of it. It was still the roughest kind of walking; +indeed the whole, not only of Earraid, but of the neighbouring +part of Mull (which they call the Ross) is nothing but a jumble +of granite rocks with heather in among. At first the creek kept +narrowing as I had looked to see; but presently to my surprise it +began to widen out again. At this I scratched my head, but had +still no notion of the truth: until at last I came to a rising +ground, and it burst upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon +a little barren isle, and cut off on every side by the salt seas. + +Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain, with a +thick mist; so that my case was lamentable. + +I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered what to do, till +it occurred to me that perhaps the creek was fordable. Back I +went to the narrowest point and waded in. But not three yards +from shore, I plumped in head over ears; and if ever I was heard +of more, it was rather by God's grace than my own prudence. I +was no wetter (for that could hardly be), but I was all the +colder for this mishap; and having lost another hope was the more +unhappy. + +And now, all at once, the yard came in my head. What had carried +me through the roost would surely serve me to cross this little +quiet creek in safety. With that I set off, undaunted, across +the top of the isle, to fetch and carry it back. It was a weary +tramp in all ways, and if hope had not buoyed me up, I must have +cast myself down and given up. Whether with the sea salt, or +because I was growing fevered, I was distressed with thirst, and +had to stop, as I went, and drink the peaty water out of the +hags. + +I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive; and at the first +glance, I thought the yard was something farther out than when I +left it. In I went, for the third time, into the sea. The sand +was smooth and firm, and shelved gradually down, so that I could +wade out till the water was almost to my neck and the little +waves splashed into my face. But at that depth my feet began to +leave me, and I durst venture in no farther. As for the yard, I +saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feet beyond. + +I had borne up well until this last disappointment; but at that I +came ashore, and flung myself down upon the sands and wept. + +The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought +to me, that I must pass it lightly over. In all the books I have +read of people cast away, they had either their pockets full of +tools, or a chest of things would be thrown upon the beach along +with them, as if on purpose. My case was very different. I had +nothing in my pockets but money and Alan's silver button; and +being inland bred, I was as much short of knowledge as of means. + +I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat; and among +the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at +first I could scarcely strike from their places, not knowing +quickness to be needful. There were, besides, some of the little +shells that we call buckies; I think periwinkle is the English +name. Of these two I made my whole diet, devouring them cold and +raw as I found them; and so hungry was I, that at first they +seemed to me delicious. + +Perhaps they were out of season, or perhaps there was something +wrong in the sea about my island. But at least I had no sooner +eaten my first meal than I was seized with giddiness and +retching, and lay for a long time no better than dead. A second +trial of the same food (indeed I had no other) did better with +me, and revived my strength. But as long as I was on the island, +I never knew what to expect when I had eaten; sometimes all was +well, and sometimes I was thrown into a miserable sickness; nor +could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was that hurt +me. + +All day it streamed rain; the island ran like a sop, there was no +dry spot to be found; and when I lay down that night, between two +boulders that made a kind of roof, my feet were in a bog. + +The second day I crossed the island to all sides. There was no +one part of it better than another; it was all desolate and +rocky; nothing living on it but game birds which I lacked the +means to kill, and the gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in +a prodigious number. But the creek, or strait, that cut off the +isle from the main-land of the Ross, opened out on the north into +a bay, and the bay again opened into the Sound of Iona; and it +was the neighbourhood of this place that I chose to be my home; +though if I had thought upon the very name of home in such a +spot, I must have burst out weeping. + +I had good reasons for my choice. There was in this part of the +isle a little hut of a house like a pig's hut, where fishers used +to sleep when they came there upon their business; but the turf +roof of it had fallen entirely in; so that the hut was of no use +to me, and gave me less shelter than my rocks. What was more +important, the shell-fish on which I lived grew there in great +plenty; when the tide was out I could gather a peck at a time: +and this was doubtless a convenience. But the other reason went +deeper. I had become in no way used to the horrid solitude of +the isle, but still looked round me on all sides (like a man that +was hunted), between fear and hope that I might see some human +creature coming. Now, from a little up the hillside over the +bay, I could catch a sight of the great, ancient church and the +roofs of the people's houses in Iona. And on the other hand, +over the low country of the Ross, I saw smoke go up, morning and +evening, as if from a homestead in a hollow of the land. + +I used to watch this smoke, when I was wet and cold, and had my +head half turned with loneliness; and think of the fireside and +the company, till my heart burned. It was the same with the +roofs of Iona. Altogether, this sight I had of men's homes and +comfortable lives, although it put a point on my own sufferings, +yet it kept hope alive, and helped me to eat my raw shell-fish +(which had soon grown to be a disgust), and saved me from the +sense of horror I had whenever I was quite alone with dead rocks, +and fowls, and the rain, and the cold sea. + +I say it kept hope alive; and indeed it seemed impossible that I +should be left to die on the shores of my own country, and within +view of a church-tower and the smoke of men's houses. But the +second day passed; and though as long as the light lasted I kept +a bright look-out for boats on the Sound or men passing on the +Ross, no help came near me. It still rained, and I turned in to +sleep, as wet as ever, and with a cruel sore throat, but a little +comforted, perhaps, by having said good-night to my next +neighbours, the people of Iona. + +Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days +in the year in the climate of England than in any other. This +was very like a king, with a palace at his back and changes of +dry clothes. But he must have had better luck on his flight from +Worcester than I had on that miserable isle. It was the height +of the summer; yet it rained for more than twenty-four hours, and +did not clear until the afternoon of the third day. + +This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red deer, +a buck with a fine spread of antlers, standing in the rain on the +top of the island; but he had scarce seen me rise from under my +rock, before he trotted off upon the other side. I supposed he +must have swum the strait; though what should bring any creature +to Earraid, was more than I could fancy. + +A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I was +startled by a guinea-piece, which fell upon a rock in front of me +and glanced off into the sea. When the sailors gave me my money +again, they kept back not only about a third of the whole sum, +but my father's leather purse; so that from that day out, I +carried my gold loose in a pocket with a button. I now saw there +must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place in a great +hurry. But this was to lock the stable door after the steed was +stolen. I had left the shore at Queensferry with near on fifty +pounds; now I found no more than two guinea-pieces and a silver +shilling. + +It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it +lay shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three +pounds and four shillings, English money, for a lad, the rightful +heir of an estate, and now starving on an isle at the extreme end +of the wild Highlands. + +This state of my affairs dashed me still further; and, indeed my +plight on that third morning was truly pitiful. My clothes were +beginning to rot; my stockings in particular were quite worn +through, so that my shanks went naked; my hands had grown quite +soft with the continual soaking; my throat was very sore, my +strength had much abated, and my heart so turned against the +horrid stuff I was condemned to eat, that the very sight of it +came near to sicken me. + +And yet the worst was not yet come. + +There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid, which +(because it had a flat top and overlooked the Sound) I was much +in the habit of frequenting; not that ever I stayed in one place, +save when asleep, my misery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore +myself down with continual and aimless goings and comings in the +rain. + +As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of +that rock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine is a thing +I cannot tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, +of which I had begun to despair; and I scanned the sea and the +Ross with a fresh interest. On the south of my rock, a part of +the island jutted out and hid the open ocean, so that a boat +could thus come quite near me upon that side, and I be none the +wiser. + +Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a pair of +fishers aboard of it, came flying round that corner of the isle, +bound for Iona. I shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the +rock and reached up my hands and prayed to them. They were near +enough to hear -- I could even see the colour of their hair; and +there was no doubt but they observed me, for they cried out in +the Gaelic tongue, and laughed. But the boat never turned aside, +and flew on, right before my eyes, for Iona. + +I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from +rock to rock, crying on them piteously. even after they were out +of reach of my voice, I still cried and waved to them; and when +they were quite gone, I thought my heart would have burst. All +the time of my troubles I wept only twice. Once, when I could +not reach the yard, and now, the second time, when these fishers +turned a deaf ear to my cries. But this time I wept and roared +like a wicked child, tearing up the turf with my nails, and +grinding my face in the earth. If a wish would kill men, those +two fishers would never have seen morning, and I should likely +have died upon my island. + +When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but with +such loathing of the mess as I could now scarce control. Sure +enough, I should have done as well to fast, for my fishes +poisoned me again. I had all my first pains; my throat was so +sore I could scarce swallow; I had a fit of strong shuddering, +which clucked my teeth together; and there came on me that +dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name for either in +Scotch or English. I thought I should have died, and made my +peace with God, forgiving all men, even my uncle and the fishers; +and as soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst, clearness +came upon me; I observed the night was falling dry; my clothes +were dried a good deal; truly, I was in a better case than ever +before, since I had landed on the isle; and so I got to sleep at +last, with a thought of gratitude. + +The next day (which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine) +I found my bodily strength run very low. But the sun shone, the +air was sweet, and what I managed to eat of the shell-fish agreed +well with me and revived my courage. + +I was scarce back on my rock (where I went always the first thing +after I had eaten) before I observed a boat coming down the +Sound, and with her head, as I thought, in my direction. + +I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly; for I thought these +men might have thought better of their cruelty and be coming back +to my assistance. But another disappointment, such as +yesterday's, was more than I could bear. I turned my back, +accordingly, upon the sea, and did not look again till I had +counted many hundreds. The boat was still heading for the +island. The next time I counted the full thousand, as slowly as +I could, my heart beating so as to hurt me. And then it was out +of all question. She was coming straight to Earraid! + +I could no longer hold myself back, but ran to the seaside and +out, from one rock to another, as far as I could go. It is a +marvel I was not drowned; for when I was brought to a stand at +last, my legs shook under me, and my mouth was so dry, I must wet +it with the sea-water before I was able to shout. + +All this time the boat was coming on; and now I was able to +perceive it was the same boat and the same two men as yesterday. +This I knew by their hair, which the one had of a bright yellow +and the other black. But now there was a third man along with +them, who looked to be of a better class. + +As soon as they were come within easy speech, they let down their +sail and lay quiet. In spite of my supplications, they drew no +nearer in, and what frightened me most of all, the new man +tee-hee'd with laughter as he talked and looked at me. + +Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while, +speaking fast and with many wavings of his hand. I told him I had +no Gaelic; and at this he became very angry, and I began to +suspect he thought he was talking English. Listening very close, +I caught the word "whateffer" several times; but all the rest was +Gaelic and might have been Greek and Hebrew for me. + +"Whatever," said I, to show him I had caught a word. + +"Yes, yes -- yes, yes," says he, and then he looked at the other +men, as much as to say, "I told you I spoke English," and began +again as hard as ever in the Gaelic. + +This time I picked out another word, "tide." Then I had a flash +of hope. I remembered he was always waving his hand towards the +mainland of the Ross. + +"Do you mean when the tide is out --?" I cried, and could not +finish. + +"Yes, yes," said he. "Tide." + +At that I turned tail upon their boat (where my adviser had once +more begun to tee-hee with laughter), leaped back the way I had +come, from one stone to another, and set off running across the +isle as I had never run before. In about half an hour I came out +upon the shores of the creek; and, sure enough, it was shrunk +into a little trickle of water, through which I dashed, not above +my knees, and landed with a shout on the main island. + +A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is +only what they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of +the neaps, can be entered and left twice in every twenty-four +hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by wading. Even I, who +had the tide going out and in before me in the bay, and even +watched for the ebbs, the better to get my shellfish -- even I (I +say) if I had sat down to think, instead of raging at my fate, +must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. It was no +wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder was rather +that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the +trouble to come back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that +island for close upon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I +might have left my bones there, in pure folly. And even as it +was, I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, +but in my present case; being clothed like a beggar-man, scarce +able to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat. + +I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I +believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: THROUGH THE ISLE OF MULL + +The Ross of Mull, which I had now got upon, was rugged and +trackless, like the isle I had just left; being all bog, and +brier, and big stone. There may be roads for them that know that +country well; but for my part I had no better guide than my own +nose, and no other landmark than Ben More. + +I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so often from +the island; and with all my great weariness and the difficulty of +the way came upon the house in the bottom of a little hollow +about five or six at night. It was low and longish, roofed with +turf and built of unmortared stones; and on a mound in front of +it, an old gentleman sat smoking his pipe in the sun. + +With what little English he had, he gave me to understand that my +shipmates had got safe ashore, and had broken bread in that very +house on the day after. + +"Was there one," I asked, "dressed like a gentleman?" + +He said they all wore rough great-coats; but to be sure, the +first of them, the one that came alone, wore breeches and +stockings, while the rest had sailors' trousers. + +"Ah," said I, "and he would have a feathered hat?" + +He told me, no, that he was bareheaded like myself. + +At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat; and then the +rain came in my mind, and I judged it more likely he had it out +of harm's way under his great-coat. This set me smiling, partly +because my friend was safe, partly to think of his vanity in +dress. + +And then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow, and +cried out that I must be the lad with the silver button. + +"Why, yes!" said I, in some wonder. + +"Well, then," said the old gentleman, "I have a word for you, +that you are to follow your friend to his country, by Torosay." + +He then asked me how I had fared, and I told him my tale. A +south-country man would certainly have laughed; but this old +gentleman (I call him so because of his manners, for his clothes +were dropping off his back) heard me all through with nothing but +gravity and pity. When I had done, he took me by the hand, led +me into his hut (it was no better) and presented me before his +wife, as if she had been the Queen and I a duke. + +The good woman set oat-bread before me and a cold grouse, patting +my shoulder and smiling to me all the time, for she had no +English; and the old gentleman (not to be behind) brewed me a +strong punch out of their country spirit. All the while I was +eating, and after that when I was drinking the punch, I could +scarce come to believe in my good fortune; and the house, though +it was thick with the peat-smoke and as full of holes as a +colander, seemed like a palace. + +The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slumber; the good +people let me lie; and it was near noon of the next day before I +took the road, my throat already easier and my spirits quite +restored by good fare and good news. The old gentleman, although +I pressed him hard, would take no money, and gave me an old +bonnet for my head; though I am free to own I was no sooner out +of view of the house than I very jealously washed this gift of +his in a wayside fountain. + +Thought I to myself: "If these are the wild Highlanders, I could +wish my own folk wilder." + +I not only started late, but I must have wandered nearly half the +time. True, I met plenty of people, grubbing in little miserable +fields that would not keep a cat, or herding little kine about +the bigness of asses. The Highland dress being forbidden by law +since the rebellion, and the people condemned to the Lowland +habit, which they much disliked, it was strange to see the +variety of their array. Some went bare, only for a hanging cloak +or great-coat, and carried their trousers on their backs like a +useless burthen: some had made an imitation of the tartan with +little parti-coloured stripes patched together like an old wife's +quilt; others, again, still wore the Highland philabeg, but by +putting a few stitches between the legs transformed it into a +pair of trousers like a Dutchman's. All those makeshifts were +condemned and punished, for the law was harshly applied, in hopes +to break up the clan spirit; but in that out-of-the-way, +sea-bound isle, there were few to make remarks and fewer to tell +tales. + +They seemed in great poverty; which was no doubt natural, now +that rapine was put down, and the chiefs kept no longer an open +house; and the roads (even such a wandering, country by--track as +the one I followed) were infested with beggars. And here again I +marked a difference from my own part of the country. For our +Lowland beggars -- even the gownsmen themselves, who beg by +patent -- had a louting, flattering way with them, and if you +gave them a plaek and asked change, would very civilly return you +a boddle. But these Highland beggars stood on their dignity, +asked alms only to buy snuff (by their account) and would give no +change. + +To be sure, this was no concern of mine, except in so far as it +entertained me by the way. What was much more to the purpose, +few had any English, and these few (unless they were of the +brotherhood of beggars) not very anxious to place it at my +service. I knew Torosay to be my destination, and repeated the +name to them and pointed; but instead of simply pointing in +reply, they would give me a screed of the Gaelic that set me +foolish; so it was small wonder if I went out of my road as often +as I stayed in it. + +At last, about eight at night, and already very weary, I came to +a lone house, where I asked admittance, and was refused, until I +bethought me of the power of money in so poor a country, and held +up one of my guineas in my finger and thumb. Thereupon, the man +of the house, who had hitherto pretended to have no English, and +driven me from his door by signals, suddenly began to speak as +clearly as was needful, and agreed for five shillings to give me +a night's lodging and guide me the next day to Torosay. + +I slept uneasily that night, fearing I should be robbed; but I +might have spared myself the pain; for my host was no robber, +only miserably poor and a great cheat. He was not alone in his +poverty; for the next morning, we must go five miles about to the +house of what he called a rich man to have one of my guineas +changed. This was perhaps a rich man for Mull; he would have +scarce been thought so in the south; for it took all he had -- +the whole house was turned upside down, and a neighbour brought +under contribution, before he could scrape together twenty +shillings in silver. The odd shilling he kept for himself, +protesting he could ill afford to have so great a sum of money +lying "locked up." For all that he was very courteous and well +spoken, made us both sit down with his family to dinner, and +brewed punch in a fine china bowl, over which my rascal guide +grew so merry that he refused to start. + +I was for getting angry, and appealed to the rich man (Hector +Maclean was his name), who had been a witness to our bargain and +to my payment of the five shillings. But Maclean had taken his +share of the punch, and vowed that no gentleman should leave his +table after the bowl was brewed; so there was nothing for it but +to sit and hear Jacobite toasts and Gaelic songs, till all were +tipsy and staggered off to the bed or the barn for their night's +rest. + +Next day (the fourth of my travels) we were up before five upon +the clock; but my rascal guide got to the bottle at once, and it +was three hours before I had him clear of the house, and then (as +you shall hear) only for a worse disappointment. + +As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay before Mr. +Maclean's house, all went well; only my guide looked constantly +over his shoulder, and when I asked him the cause, only grinned +at me. No sooner, however, had we crossed the back of a hill, +and got out of sight of the house windows, than he told me +Torosay lay right in front, and that a hill-top (which he pointed +out) was my best landmark. + +"I care very little for that," said I, "since you are going with +me." + +The impudent cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he had no +English. + +"My fine fellow," I said, "I know very well your English comes +and goes. Tell me what will bring it back? Is it more money you +wish?" + +"Five shillings mair," said he, "and hersel' will bring ye +there." + +I reflected awhile and then offered him two, which he accepted +greedily, and insisted on having in his hands at once "for luck," +as he said, but I think it was rather for my misfortune. + +The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles; at the end +of which distance, he sat down upon the wayside and took off his +brogues from his feet, like a man about to rest. + +I was now red-hot. "Ha!" said I, "have you no more English?" + +He said impudently, "No." + +At that I boiled over, and lifted my hand to strike him; and he, +drawing a knife from his rags, squatted back and grinned at me +like a wildcat. At that, forgetting everything but my anger, I +ran in upon him, put aside his knife with my left, and struck him +in the mouth with the right. I was a strong lad and very angry, +and he but a little man; and he went down before me heavily. By +good luck, his knife flew out of his hand as he fell. + +I picked up both that and his brogues, wished him a good morning, +and set off upon my way, leaving him barefoot and disarmed. I +chuckled to myself as I went, being sure I was done with that +rogue, for a variety of reasons. First, he knew he could have no +more of my money; next, the brogues were worth in that country +only a few pence; and, lastly, the knife, which was really a +dagger, it was against the law for him to carry. + +In about half an hour of walk, I overtook a great, ragged man, +moving pretty fast but feeling before him with a staff. He was +quite blind, and told me he was a catechist, which should have +put me at my ease. But his face went against me; it seemed dark +and dangerous and secret; and presently, as we began to go on +alongside, I saw the steel butt of a pistol sticking from under +the flap of his coat-pocket. To carry such a thing meant a fine +of fifteen pounds sterling upon a first offence, and +transportation to the colonies upon a second. Nor could I quite +see why a religious teacher should go armed, or what a blind man +could be doing with a pistol. + +I told him about my guide, for I was proud of what I had done, +and my vanity for once got the heels of my prudence. At the +mention of the five shillings he cried out so loud that I made up +my mind I should say nothing of the other two, and was glad he +could not see my blushes. + +"Was it too much?" I asked, a little faltering. + +"Too much!" cries he. "Why, I will guide you to Torosay myself +for a dram of brandy. And give you the great pleasure of my +company (me that is a man of some learning) in the bargain." + +I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide; but at +that he laughed aloud, and said his stick was eyes enough for an +eagle. + +"In the Isle of Mull, at least," says he, "where I know every +stone and heather-bush by mark of head. See, now," he said, +striking right and left, as if to make sure, "down there a burn +is running; and at the head of it there stands a bit of a small +hill with a stone cocked upon the top of that; and it's hard at +the foot of the hill, that the way runs by to Torosay; and the +way here, being for droves, is plainly trodden, and will show +grassy through the heather." + +I had to own he was right in every feature, and told my wonder. + +"Ha!" says he, "that's nothing. Would ye believe me now, that +before the Act came out, and when there were weepons in this +country, I could shoot? Ay, could I!" cries he, and then with a +leer: "If ye had such a thing as a pistol here to try with, I +would show ye how it's done." + +I told him I had nothing of the sort, and gave him a wider berth. +If he had known, his pistol stuck at that time quite plainly out +of his pocket, and I could see the sun twinkle on the steel of +the butt. But by the better luck for me, he knew nothing, +thought all was covered, and lied on in the dark. + +He then began to question me cunningly, where I came from, +whether I was rich, whether I could change a five-shilling piece +for him (which he declared he had that moment in his sporran), +and all the time he kept edging up to me and I avoiding him. We +were now upon a sort of green cattle-track which crossed the +hills towards Torosay, and we kept changing sides upon that like + ancers in a reel. I had so plainly the upper-hand that my +spirits rose, and indeed I took a pleasure in this game of +blindman's buff; but the catechist grew angrier and angrier, and +at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with +his staff. + +Then I told him that, sure enough, I had a pistol in my pocket as +well as he, and if he did not strike across the hill due south I +would even blow his brains out. + +He became at once very polite, and after trying to soften me for +some time, but quite in vain, he cursed me once more in Gaelic +and took himself off. I watched him striding along, through bog +and brier, tapping with his stick, until he turned the end of a +hill and disappeared in the next hollow. Then I struck on again +for Torosay, much better pleased to be alone than to travel with +that man of learning. This was an unlucky day; and these two, of +whom I had just rid myself, one after the other, were the two +worst men I met with in the Highlands. + +At Torosay, on the Sound of Mull and looking over to the mainland +of Morven, there was an inn with an innkeeper, who was a Maclean, +it appeared, of a very high family; for to keep an inn is thought +even more genteel in the Highlands than it is with us, perhaps as +partaking of hospitality, or perhaps because the trade is idle +and drunken. He spoke good English, and finding me to be +something of a scholar, tried me first in French, where he easily +beat me, and then in the Latin, in which I don't know which of us +did best. This pleasant rivalry put us at once upon friendly +terms; and I sat up and drank punch with him (or to be more +correct, sat up and watched him drink it), until he was so tipsy +that he wept upon my shoulder. + +I tried him, as if by accident, with a sight of Alan's button; +but it was plain he had never seen or heard of it. Indeed, he +bore some grudge against the family and friends of Ardshiel, and +before he was drunk he read me a lampoon, in very good Latin, but +with a very ill meaning, which he had made in elegiac verses upon +a person of that house. + +When I told him of my catechist, he shook his head, and said I +was lucky to have got clear off. "That is a very dangerous man," +he said; "Duncan Mackiegh is his name; he can shoot by the ear at +several yards, and has been often accused of highway robberies, +and once of murder." + +"The cream of it is," says I, "that he called himself a +catechist." + +"And why should he not?" says he, "when that is what he is. It +was Maclean of Duart gave it to him because he was blind. But +perhaps it was a peety," says my host, "for he is always on the +road, going from one place to another to hear the young folk say +their religion; and, doubtless, that is a great temptation to the +poor man." + +At last, when my landlord could drink no more, he showed me to a +bed, and I lay down in very good spirits; having travelled the +greater part of that big and crooked Island of Mull, from Earraid +to Torosay, fifty miles as the crow flies, and (with my +wanderings) much nearer a hundred, in four days and with little +fatigue. Indeed I was by far in better heart and health of body +at the end of that long tramp than I had been at the beginning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN + +There is a regular ferry from Torosay to Kinlochaline on the +mainland. Both shores of the Sound are in the country of the +strong clan of the Macleans, and the people that passed the ferry +with me were almost all of that clan. The skipper of the boat, +on the other hand, was called Neil Roy Macrob; and since Macrob +was one of the names of Alan's clansmen, and Alan himself had +sent me to that ferry, I was eager to come to private speech of +Neil Roy. + +In the crowded boat this was of course impossible, and the +passage was a very slow affair. There was no wind, and as the +boat was wretchedly equipped, we could pull but two oars on one +side, and one on the other. The men gave way, however, with a +good will, the passengers taking spells to help them, and the +whole company giving the time in Gaelic boat-songs. And what +with the songs, and the sea-air, and the good-nature and spirit +of all concerned, and the bright weather, the passage was a +pretty thing to have seen. + +But there was one melancholy part. In the mouth of Loch Aline we +found a great sea-going ship at anchor; and this I supposed at +first to be one of the King's cruisers which were kept along that +coast, both summer and winter, to prevent communication with the +French. As we got a little nearer, it became plain she was a +ship of merchandise; and what still more puzzled me, not only her +decks, but the sea-beach also, were quite black with people, and +skiffs were continually plying to and fro between them. Yet +nearer, and there began to come to our ears a great sound of +mourning, the people on board and those on the shore crying and +lamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart. + +Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for the +American colonies. + +We put the ferry-boat alongside, and the exiles leaned over the +bulwarks, weeping and reaching out their hands to my +fellow-passengers, among whom they counted some near friends. +How long this might have gone on I do not know, for they seemed +to have no sense of time: but at last the captain of the ship, +who seemed near beside himself (and no great wonder) in the midst +of this crying and confusion, came to the side and begged us to +depart. + +Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the chief singer in our boat +struck into a melancholy air, which was presently taken up both +by the emigrants and their friends upon the beach, so that it +sounded from all sides like a lament for the dying. I saw the +tears run down the cheeks of the men and women in the boat, even +as they bent at the oars; and the circumstances and the music of +the song (which is one called "Lochaber no more") were highly +affecting even to myself. + +At Kinlochaline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the beach, and +said I made sure he was one of Appin's men. + +"And what for no?" said he. + +"I am seeking somebody," said I; "and it comes in my mind that +you will have news of him. Alan Breck Stewart is his name." And +very foolishly, instead of showing him the button, I sought to +pass a shilling in his hand. + +At this he drew back. "I am very much affronted," he said; "and +this is not the way that one shentleman should behave to another +at all. The man you ask for is in France; but if he was in my +sporran," says he, "and your belly full of shillings, I would not +hurt a hair upon his body." + +I saw I had gone the wrong way to work, and without wasting time +upon apologies, showed him the button lying in the hollow of my +palm. + +"Aweel, aweel," said Neil; "and I think ye might have begun with +that end of the stick, whatever! But if ye are the lad with the +silver button, all is well, and I have the word to see that ye +come safe. But if ye will pardon me to speak plainly," says he, +"there is a name that you should never take into your mouth, and +that is the name of Alan Breck; and there is a thing that ye +would never do, and that is to offer your dirty money to a +Hieland shentleman." + +It was not very easy to apologise; for I could scarce tell him +(what was the truth) that I had never dreamed he would set up to +be a gentleman until he told me so. Neil on his part had no wish +to prolong his dealings with me, only to fulfil his orders and be +done with it; and he made haste to give me my route. This was to +lie the night in Kinlochaline in the public inn; to cross Morven +the next day to Ardgour, and lie the night in the house of one +John of the Claymore, who was warned that I might come; the third +day, to be set across one loch at Corran and another at +Balachulish, and then ask my way to the house of James of the +Glens, at Aucharn in Duror of Appin. There was a good deal of +ferrying, as you hear; the sea in all this part running deep into +the mountains and winding about their roots. It makes the +country strong to hold and difficult to travel, but full of +prodigious wild and dreadful prospects. + +I had some other advice from Neil: to speak with no one by the +way, to avoid Whigs, Campbells, and the "red-soldiers;" to leave +the road and lie in a bush if I saw any of the latter coming, +"for it was never chancy to meet in with them;" and in brief, to +conduct myself like a robber or a Jacobite agent, as perhaps Neil +thought me. + +The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place that +ever pigs were styed in, full of smoke, vermin, and silent +Highlanders. I was not only discontented with my lodging, but +with myself for my mismanagement of Neil, and thought I could +hardly be worse off. But very wrongly, as I was soon to see; for +I had not been half an hour at the inn (standing in the door most +of the time, to ease my eyes from the peat smoke) when a +thunderstorm came close by, the springs broke in a little hill on +which the inn stood, and one end of the house became a running +water. Places of public entertainment were bad enough all over +Scotland in those days; yet it was a wonder to myself, when I had +to go from the fireside to the bed in which I slept, wading over +the shoes. + +Early in my next day's journey I overtook a little, stout, solemn +man, walking very slowly with his toes turned out, sometimes +reading in a book and sometimes marking the place with his +finger, and dressed decently and plainly in something of a +clerical style. + +This I found to be another catechist, but of a different order +from the blind man of Mull: being indeed one of those sent out by +the Edinburgh Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, to +evangelise the more savage places of the Highlands. His name was +Henderland; he spoke with the broad south-country tongue, which I +was beginning to weary for the sound of; and besides common +countryship, we soon found we had a more particular bond of +interest. For my good friend, the minister of Essendean, had +translated into the Gaelic in his by-time a number of hymns and +pious books which Henderland used in his work, and held in great +esteem. Indeed, it was one of these he was carrying and reading +when we met. + +We fell in company at once, our ways lying together as far as to +Kingairloch. As we went, he stopped and spoke with all the +wayfarers and workers that we met or passed; and though of course +I could not tell what they discoursed about, yet I judged Mr. +Henderland must be well liked in the countryside, for I observed +many of them to bring out their mulls and share a pinch of snuff +with him. + +I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise; as far, that +is, as they were none of Alan's; and gave Balachulish as the +place I was travelling to, to meet a friend; for I thought +Aucharn, or even Duror, would be too particular, and might put +him on the scent. + +On his part, he told me much of his work and the people he worked +among, the hiding priests and Jacobites, the Disarming Act, the +dress, and many other curiosities of the time and place. He +seemed moderate; blaming Parliament in several points, and +especially because they had framed the Act more severely against +those who wore the dress than against those who carried weapons. + +This moderation put it in my mind to question him of the Red Fox +and the Appin tenants; questions which, I thought, would seem +natural enough in the mouth of one travelling to that country. + + + +He said it was a bad business. "It's wonderful," said he, "where +the tenants find the money, for their life is mere starvation. +(Ye don't carry such a thing as snuff, do ye, Mr. Balfour? No. +Well, I'm better wanting it.) But these tenants (as I was +saying) are doubtless partly driven to it. James Stewart in +Duror (that's him they call James of the Glens) is half-brother +to Ardshiel, the captain of the clan; and he is a man much looked +up to, and drives very hard. And then there's one they call Alan +Breck--" + +"Ah!" I cried, "what of him?" + +"What of the wind that bloweth where it listeth?" said +Henderland. "He's here and awa; here to-day and gone to-morrow: +a fair heather-cat. He might be glowering at the two of us out +of yon whin-bush, and I wouldnae wonder! Ye'll no carry such a +thing as snuff, will ye?" + +I told him no, and that he had asked the same thing more than +once. + +"It's highly possible," said he, sighing. "But it seems strange +ye shouldnae carry it. However, as I was saying, this Alan Breck +is a bold, desperate customer, and well kent to be James's right +hand. His life is forfeit already; he would boggle at naething; +and maybe, if a tenant-body was to hang back he would get a dirk +in his wame." + +"You make a poor story of it all, Mr. Henderland," said I. "If +it is all fear upon both sides, I care to hear no more of it." + +"Na," said Mr. Henderland, "but there's love too, and self-denial +that should put the like of you and me to shame. There's +something fine about it; no perhaps Christian, but humanly fine. +Even Alan Breck, by all that I hear, is a chield to be respected. +There's many a lying sneck-draw sits close in kirk in our own +part of the country, and stands well in the world's eye, and +maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yon misguided shedder +of man's blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson by them. -- Ye'll +perhaps think I've been too long in the Hielands?" he added, +smiling to me. + +I told him not at all; that I had seen much to admire among the +Highlanders; and if he came to that, Mr. Campbell himself was a +Highlander. + +"Ay," said he, "that's true. It's a fine blood." + +"And what is the King's agent about?" I asked. + +"Colin Campbell?" says Henderland. "Putting his head in a bees' +byke!" + +"He is to turn the tenants out by force, I hear?" said I. + +"Yes," says he, "but the business has gone back and forth, as +folk say. First, James of the Glens rode to Edinburgh, and got +some lawyer (a Stewart, nae doubt -- they all hing together like +bats in a steeple) and had the proceedings stayed. And then +Colin Campbell cam' in again, and had the upper-hand before the +Barons of Exchequer. And now they tell me the first of the +tenants are to flit to-morrow. It's to begin at Duror under +James's very windows, which doesnae seem wise by my humble way of +it." + +"Do you think they'll fight?" I asked. + +"Well," says Henderland, "they're disarmed -- or supposed to be +-- for there's still a good deal of cold iron lying by in quiet +places. And then Colin Campbell has the sogers coming. But for +all that, if I was his lady wife, I wouldnae be well pleased till +I got him home again. They're queer customers, the Appin +Stewarts." + +I asked if they were worse than their neighbours. + +"No they," said he. "And that's the worst part of it. For if +Colin Roy can get his business done in Appin, he has it all to +begin again in the next country, which they call Mamore, and +which is one of the countries of the Camerons. He's King's +Factor upon both, and from both he has to drive out the tenants; +and indeed, Mr. Balfour (to be open with ye), it's my belief that +if he escapes the one lot, he'll get his death by the other." + +So we continued talking and walking the great part of the, day; +until at last, Mr. Henderland after expressing his delight in my +company, and satisfaction at meeting with a friend of Mr. +Campbell's ("whom," says he, "I will make bold to call that sweet +singer of our covenanted Zion"), proposed that I should make a +short stage, and lie the night in his house a little beyond +Kingairloch. To say truth, I was overjoyed; for I had no great +desire for John of the Claymore, and since my double +misadventure, first with the guide and next with the gentleman +skipper, I stood in some fear of any Highland stranger. +Accordingly we shook hands upon the bargain, and came in the +afternoon to a small house, standing alone by the shore of the +Linnhe Loch. The sun was already gone from the desert mountains +of Ardgour upon the hither side, but shone on those of Appin on +the farther; the loch lay as still as a lake, only the gulls were +crying round the sides of it; and the whole place seemed solemn +and uncouth. + +We had no sooner come to the door of Mr. Henderland's dwelling, +than to my great surprise (for I was now used to the politeness +of Highlanders) he burst rudely past me, dashed into the room, +caught up a jar and a small horn-spoon, and began ladling snuff +into his nose in most excessive quantities. Then he had a hearty +fit of sneezing, and looked round upon me with a rather silly +smile. + +"It's a vow I took," says he. "I took a vow upon me that I +wouldnae carry it. Doubtless it's a great privation; but when I +think upon the martyrs, not only to the Scottish Covenant but to +other points of Christianity, I think shame to mind it." + +As soon as we had eaten (and porridge and whey was the best of +the good man's diet) he took a grave face and said he had a duty +to perform by Mr. Campbell, and that was to inquire into my state +of mind towards God. I was inclined to smile at him since the +business of the snuff; but he had not spoken long before he +brought the tears into my eyes. There are two things that men +should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too +much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people; but +Mr. Henderland had their very speech upon his tongue. And though +I was a good deal puffed up with my adventures and with having +come off, as the saying is, with flying colours; yet he soon had +me on my knees beside a simple, poor old man, and both proud and +glad to be there. + +Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my +way, out of a scanty store he kept in the turf wall of his house; +at which excess of goodness I knew not what to do. But at last +he was so earnest with me that I thought it the more mannerly +part to let him have his way, and so left him poorer than myself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE DEATH OF THE RED FOX + +The next day Mr. Henderland found for me a man who had a boat of +his own and was to cross the Linnhe Loch that afternoon into +Appin, fishing. Him he prevailed on to take me, for he was one +of his flock; and in this way I saved a long day's travel and the +price of the two public ferries I must otherwise have passed. + +It was near noon before we set out; a dark day with clouds, and +the sun shining upon little patches. The sea was here very deep +and still, and had scarce a wave upon it; so that I must put the +water to my lips before I could believe it to be truly salt. The +mountains on either side were high, rough and barren, very black +and gloomy in the shadow of the clouds, but all silver-laced with +little watercourses where the sun shone upon them. It seemed a +hard country, this of Appin, for people to care as much about as +Alan did. + +There was but one thing to mention. A little after we had +started, the sun shone upon a little moving clump of scarlet +close in along the water-side to the north. It was much of the +same red as soldiers' coats; every now and then, too, there came +little sparks and lightnings, as though the sun had struck upon +bright steel. + +I asked my boatman what it should be, and he answered he supposed +it was some of the red soldiers coming from Fort William into +Appin, against the poor tenantry of the country. Well, it was a +sad sight to me; and whether it was because of my thoughts of +Alan, or from something prophetic in my bosom, although this was +but the second time I had seen King George's troops, I had no +good will to them. + +At last we came so near the point of land at the entering in of +Loch Leven that I begged to be set on shore. My boatman (who was +an honest fellow and mindful of his promise to the catechist) +would fain have carried me on to Balachulish; but as this was to +take me farther from my secret destination, I insisted, and was +set on shore at last under the wood of Lettermore (or Lettervore, +for I have heard it both ways) in Alan's country of Appin. + +This was a wood of birches, growing on a steep, craggy side of a +mountain that overhung the loch. It had many openings and ferny +howes; and a road or bridle track ran north and south through the +midst of it, by the edge of which, where was a spring, I sat down +to eat some oat-bread of Mr. Henderland's and think upon my +situation. + +Here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges, but +far more by the doubts of my mind. What I ought to do, why I was +going to join myself with an outlaw and a would-be murderer like +Alan, whether I should not be acting more like a man of sense to +tramp back to the south country direct, by my own guidance and at +my own charges, and what Mr. Campbell or even Mr. Henderland +would think of me if they should ever learn my folly and +presumption: these were the doubts that now began to come in on +me stronger than ever. + +As I was so sitting and thinking, a sound of men and horses came +to me through the wood; and presently after, at a turning of the +road, I saw four travellers come into view. The way was in this +part so rough and narrow that they came single and led their +horses by the reins. The first was a great, red-headed +gentleman, of an imperious and flushed face, who carried his hat +in his hand and fanned himself, for he was in a breathing heat. +The second, by his decent black garb and white wig, I correctly +took to be a lawyer. The third was a servant, and wore some part +of his clothes in tartan, which showed that his master was of a +Highland family, and either an outlaw or else in singular good +odour with the Government, since the wearing of tartan was +against the Act. If I had been better versed in these things, I +would have known the tartan to be of the Argyle (or Campbell) +colours. This servant had a good-sized portmanteau strapped on +his horse, and a net of lemons (to brew punch with) hanging at +the saddle-bow; as was often enough the custom with luxurious +travellers in that part of the country. + +As for the fourth, who brought up the tail, I had seen his like +before, and knew him at once to be a sheriff's officer. + +I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up my mind +(for no reason that I can tell) to go through with my adventure; +and when the first came alongside of me, I rose up from the +bracken and asked him the way to Aucharn. + +He stopped and looked at me, as I thought, a little oddly; and +then, turning to the lawyer, "Mungo," said he, "there's many a +man would think this more of a warning than two pyats. Here am I +on my road to Duror on the job ye ken; and here is a young lad +starts up out of the bracken, and speers if I am on the way to +Aucharn." + +"Glenure," said the other, "this is an ill subject for jesting." + +These two had now drawn close up and were gazing at me, while the +two followers had halted about a stone-cast in the rear. + +"And what seek ye in Aucharn?" said Colin Roy Campbell of +Glenure, him they called the Red Fox; for he it was that I had +stopped. + +"The man that lives there," said I. + +"James of the Glens," says Glenure, musingly; and then to the +lawyer: "Is he gathering his people, think ye?" + +"Anyway," says the lawyer, "we shall do better to bide where we +are, and let the soldiers rally us." + +"If you are concerned for me," said I, "I am neither of his +people nor yours, but an honest subject of King George, owing no +man and fearing no man." + +"Why, very well said," replies the Factor. "But if I may make so +bold as ask, what does this honest man so far from his country? +and why does he come seeking the brother of Ardshiel? I have +power here, I must tell you. I am King's Factor upon several of +these estates, and have twelve files of soldiers at my back." + +"I have heard a waif word in the country," said I, a little +nettled, "that you were a hard man to drive." + +He still kept looking at me, as if in doubt. + +"Well," said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no +unfriend to plainness. If ye had asked me the way to the door of +James Stewart on any other day but this, I would have set ye +right and bidden ye God speed. But to-day -- eh, Mungo?" And he +turned again to look at the lawyer. + +But just as he turned there came the shot of a firelock from +higher up the hill; and with the very sound of it Glenure fell +upon the road. + +"O, I am dead!" he cried, several times over. + +The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms, the +servant standing over and clasping his hands. And now the +wounded man looked from one to another with scared eyes, and +there was a change in his voice, that went to the heart. + +"Take care of yourselves," says he. "I am dead." + +He tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound, but his +fingers slipped on the buttons. With that he gave a great sigh, +his head rolled on his shoulder, and he passed away. + +The lawyer said never a word, but his face was as sharp as a pen +and as white as the dead man's; the servant broke out into a +great noise of crying and weeping, like a child; and I, on my +side, stood staring at them in a kind of horror. The sheriff's +officer had run back at the first sound of the shot, to hasten +the coming of the soldiers. + +At last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood upon the +road, and got to his own feet with a kind of stagger. + +I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses; for +he had no sooner done so than I began to scramble up the hill, +crying out, "The murderer! the murderer!" + +So little a time had elapsed, that when I got to the top of the +first steepness, and could see some part of the open mountain, +the murderer was still moving away at no great distance. He was +a big man, in a black coat, with metal buttons, and carried a +long fowling-piece. + +"Here!" I cried. "I see him!" + +At that the murderer gave a little, quick look over his shoulder, +and began to run. The next moment he was lost in a fringe of +birches; then he came out again on the upper side, where I could +see him climbing like a jackanapes, for that part was again very +steep; and then he dipped behind a shoulder, and I saw him no +more. + +All this time I had been running on my side, and had got a good +way up, when a voice cried upon me to stand. + +I was at the edge of the upper wood, and so now, when I halted +and looked back, I saw all the open part of the hill below me. + +The lawyer and the sheriff's officer were standing just above the +road, crying and waving on me to come back; and on their left, +the red-coats, musket in hand, were beginning to struggle singly +out of the lower wood. + +"Why should I come back?" I cried. "Come you on!" + +"Ten pounds if ye take that lad!" cried the lawyer. "He's an +accomplice. He was posted here to hold us in talk." + +At that word (which I could hear quite plainly, though it was to +the soldiers and not to me that he was crying it) my heart came +in my mouth with quite a new kind of terror. Indeed, it is one +thing to stand the danger of your life, and quite another to run +the peril of both life and character. The thing, besides, had +come so suddenly, like thunder out of a clear sky, that I was all +amazed and helpless. + +The soldiers began to spread, some of them to run, and others to +put up their pieces and cover me; and still I stood. + +"Jock[18] in here among the trees," said a voice close by. + +[18]Duck. + + +Indeed, I scarce knew what I was doing, but I obeyed; and as I +did so, I heard the firelocks bang and the balls whistle in the +birches. + +Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing, +with a fishing-rod. He gave me no salutation; indeed it was no +time for civilities; only "Come!" says he, and set off running +along the side of the mountain towards Balaehulish; and I, like a +sheep, to follow him. + +Now we ran among the birches; now stooping behind low humps upon +the mountain-side; now crawling on all fours among the heather. +The pace was deadly: my heart seemed bursting against my ribs; +and I had neither time to think nor breath to speak with. Only I +remember seeing with wonder, that Alan every now and then would +straighten himself to his full height and look back; and every +time he did so, there came a great far-away cheering and crying +of the soldiers. + +Quarter of an hour later, Alan stopped, clapped down flat in the +heather, and turned to me. + +"Now," said he, "it's earnest. Do as I do, for your life." + +And at the same speed, but now with infinitely more precaution, +we traced back again across the mountain-side by the same way +that we had come, only perhaps higher; till at last Alan threw +himself down in the upper wood of Lettermore, where I had found +him at the first, and lay, with his face in the bracken, panting +like a dog. + +My own sides so ached, my head so swam, my tongue so hung out of +my mouth with heat and dryness, that I lay beside him like one +dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE + +Alan was the first to come round. He rose, went to the border of +the wood, peered out a little, and then returned and sat down. + +"Well," said he, "yon was a hot burst, David." + +I said nothing, nor so much as lifted my face. I had seen murder +done, and a great, ruddy, jovial gentleman struck out of life in +a moment; the pity of that sight was still sore within me, and +yet that was but a part of my concern. Here was murder done upon +the man Alan hated; here was Alan skulking in the trees and +running from the troops; and whether his was the hand that fired +or only the head that ordered, signified but little. By my way +of it, my only friend in that wild country was blood-guilty in +the first degree; I held him in horror; I could not look upon his +face; I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle, +than in that warm wood beside a murderer. + +"Are ye still wearied?" he asked again. + +"No," said I, still with my face in the bracken; "no, I am not +wearied now, and I can speak. You and me must twine,"[19] I said. +"I liked you very well, Alan, but your ways are not mine, and +they're not God's: and the short and the long of it is just that +we must twine." + +[19] Part. + + +"I will hardly twine from ye, David, without some kind of reason +for the same," said Alan, mighty gravely. "If ye ken anything +against my reputation, it's the least thing that ye should do, +for old acquaintance' sake, to let me hear the name of it; and if +ye have only taken a distaste to my society, it will be proper +for me to judge if I'm insulted." + +"Alan," said I, "what is the sense of this? Ye ken very well yon +Campbell-man lies in his blood upon the road." + +He was silent for a little; then says he, "Did ever ye hear tell +of the story of the Man and the Good People?" -- by which he +meant the fairies. + +"No," said I, "nor do I want to hear it." + +"With your permission, Mr. Balfour, I will tell it you, +whatever," says Alan. "The man, ye should ken, was cast upon a +rock in the sea, where it appears the Good People were in use to +come and rest as they went through to Ireland. The name of this +rock is called the Skerryvore, and it's not far from where we +suffered ship-wreck. Well, it seems the man cried so sore, if he +could just see his little bairn before he died! that at last the +king of the Good People took peety upon him, and sent one flying +that brought back the bairn in a poke[20] and laid it down beside +the man where he lay sleeping. So when the man woke, there was a +poke beside him and something into the inside of it that moved. +Well, it seems he was one of these gentry that think aye the +worst of things; and for greater security, he stuck his dirk +throughout that poke before he opened it, and there was his bairn +dead. I am thinking to myself, Mr. Balfour, that you and the man +are very much alike." + +[20] Bag. + + +"Do you mean you had no hand in it?" cried I, sitting up. + +"I will tell you first of all, Mr. Balfour of Shaws, as one +friend to another," said Alan, "that if I were going to kill a +gentleman, it would not be in my own country, to bring trouble on +my clan; and I would not go wanting sword and gun, and with a +long fishing-rod upon my back." + +"Well," said I, "that's true!" + +"And now," continued Alan, taking out his dirk and laying his +hand upon it in a certain manner, "I swear upon the Holy Iron I +had neither art nor part, act nor thought in it." + +"I thank God for that!" cried I, and offered him my hand. + +He did not appear to see it. + +"And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell!" said he. +"They are not so scarce, that I ken!" + +"At least," said I, "you cannot justly blame me, for you know +very well what you told me in the brig. But the temptation and +the act are different, I thank God again for that. We may all be +tempted; but to take a life in cold blood, Alan!" And I could +say no more for the moment. "And do you know who did it?" I +added. "Do you know that man in the black coat?" + +"I have nae clear mind about his coat," said Alan cunningly, "but +it sticks in my head that it was blue." + +"Blue or black, did ye know him?" said I. + +"I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him," says Alan. "He +gaed very close by me, to be sure, but it's a strange thing that +I should just have been tying my brogues." + +"Can you swear that you don't know him, Alan?" I cried, half +angered, half in a mind to laugh at his evasions. + +"Not yet," says he; "but I've a grand memory for forgetting, +David." + +"And yet there was one thing I saw clearly," said I; "and that +was, that you exposed yourself and me to draw the soldiers." + +"It's very likely," said Alan; "and so would any gentleman. You +and me were innocent of that transaction." + +"The better reason, since we were falsely suspected, that we +should get clear," I cried. "The innocent should surely come +before the guilty." + +"Why, David," said he, "the innocent have aye a chance to get +assoiled in court; but for the lad that shot the bullet, I think +the best place for him will be the heather. Them that havenae +dipped their hands in any little difficulty, should be very +mindful of the case of them that have. And that is the good +Christianity. For if it was the other way round about, and the +lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in our shoes, and +we in his (as might very well have been), I think we would be a +good deal obliged to him oursel's if he would draw the soldiers." + +When it came to this, I gave Alan up. But he looked so innocent +all the time, and was in such clear good faith in what he said, +and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty, +that my mouth was closed. Mr. Henderland's words came back to +me: that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild +Highlanders. Well, here I had taken mine. Alan's morals were +all tail-first; but he was ready to give his life for them, such +as they were. + +"Alan," said I, "I'll not say it's the good Christianity as I +understand it, but it's good enough. And here I offer ye my hand +for the second time." + +Whereupon he gave me both of his, saying surely I had cast a +spell upon him, for he could forgive me anything. Then he grew +very grave, and said we had not much time to throw away, but must +both flee that country: he, because he was a deserter, and the +whole of Appin would now be searched like a chamber, and every +one obliged to give a good account of himself; and I, because I +was certainly involved in the murder. + +"O!" says I, willing to give him a little lesson, "I have no fear +of the justice of my country." + +"As if this was your country!" said he. "Or as if ye would be +tried here, in a country of Stewarts!" + +"It's all Scotland," said I. + +"Man, I whiles wonder at ye," said Alan. "This is a Campbell +that's been killed. Well, it'll be tried in Inverara, the +Campbells' head place; with fifteen Campbells in the jury-box and +the biggest Campbell of all (and that's the Duke) sitting cocking +on the bench. Justice, David? The same justice, by all the +world, as Glenure found awhile ago at the roadside." + +This frightened me a little, I confess, and would have frightened +me more if I had known how nearly exact were Alan's predictions; +indeed it was but in one point that he exaggerated, there being +but eleven Campbells on the jury; though as the other four were +equally in the Duke's dependence, it mattered less than might +appear. Still, I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of +Argyle, who (for all he was a Whig) was yet a wise and honest +nobleman. + +"Hoot!" said Alan, "the man's a Whig, nae doubt; but I would +never deny he was a good chieftain to his clan. And what would +the clan think if there was a Campbell shot, and naebody hanged, +and their own chief the Justice General? But I have often +observed," says Alan, "that you Low-country bodies have no clear +idea of what's right and wrong." + +At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to my surprise, Alan +joined in, and laughed as merrily as myself. + +"Na, na," said he, "we're in the Hielands, David; and when I tell +ye to run, take my word and run. Nae doubt it's a hard thing to +skulk and starve in the Heather, but it's harder yet to lie +shackled in a red-coat prison." + +I asked him whither we should flee; and as he told me "to the +Lowlands," I was a little better inclined to go with him; for, +indeed, I was growing impatient to get back and have the +upper-hand of my uncle. Besides, Alan made so sure there would +be no question of justice in the matter, that I began to be +afraid he might be right. Of all deaths, I would truly like +least to die by the gallows; and the picture of that uncanny +instrument came into my head with extraordinary clearness (as I +had once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlar's ballad) and +took away my appetite for courts of justice. + +"I'll chance it, Alan," said I. "I'll go with you." + +"But mind you," said Alan, "it's no small thing. Ye maun lie +bare and hard, and brook many an empty belly. Your bed shall be +the moorcock's, and your life shall be like the hunted deer's, +and ye shall sleep with your hand upon your weapons. Ay, man, ye +shall taigle many a weary foot, or we get clear! I tell ye this +at the start, for it's a life that I ken well. But if ye ask +what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Either take to the +heather with me, or else hang." + +"And that's a choice very easily made," said I; and we shook +hands upon it. + +"And now let's take another keek at the red-coats," says Alan, +and he led me to the north-eastern fringe of the wood. + +Looking out between the trees, we could see a great side of +mountain, running down exceeding steep into the waters of the +loch. It was a rough part, all hanging stone, and heather, and +big scrogs of birchwood; and away at the far end towards +Balachulish, little wee red soldiers were dipping up and down +over hill and howe, and growing smaller every minute. There was +no cheering now, for I think they had other uses for what breath +was left them; but they still stuck to the trail, and doubtless +thought that we were close in front of them. + +Alan watched them, smiling to himself. + +"Ay," said he, "they'll be gey weary before they've got to the +end of that employ! And so you and me, David, can sit down and +eat a bite, and breathe a bit longer, and take a dram from my +bottle. Then we'll strike for Aucharn, the house of my kinsman, +James of the Glens, where I must get my clothes, and my arms, and +money to carry us along; and then, David, we'll cry, 'Forth, +Fortune!' and take a cast among the heather." + +So we sat again and ate and drank, in a place whence we could see +the sun going down into a field of great, wild, and houseless +mountains, such as I was now condemned to wander in with my +companion. Partly as we so sat, and partly afterwards, on the +way to Aucharn, each of us narrated his adventures; and I shall +here set down so much of Alan's as seems either curious or +needful. + +It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was passed; +saw me, and lost me, and saw me again, as I tumbled in the roost; +and at last had one glimpse of me clinging on the yard. It was +this that put him in some hope I would maybe get to land after +all, and made him leave those clues and messages which had +brought me (for my sins) to that unlucky country of Appin. + +In the meanwhile, those still on the brig had got the skiff +launched, and one or two were on board of her already, when there +came a second wave greater than the first, and heaved the brig +out of her place, and would certainly have sent her to the +bottom, had she not struck and caught on some projection of the +reef. When she had struck first, it had been bows-on, so that +the stern had hitherto been lowest. But now her stern was thrown +in the air, and the bows plunged under the sea; and with that, +the water began to pour into the fore-scuttle like the pouring of +a mill-dam. + +It took the colour out of Alan's face, even to tell what +followed. For there were still two men lying impotent in their +bunks; and these, seeing the water pour in and thinking the ship +had foundered, began to cry out aloud, and that with such +harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after +another into the skiff and fell to their oars. They were not two +hundred yards away, when there came a third great sea; and at +that the brig lifted clean over the reef; her canvas filled for a +moment, and she seemed to sail in chase of them, but settling all +the while; and presently she drew down and down, as if a hand was +drawing her; and the sea closed over the Covenant of Dysart. + +Never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore, being stunned with +the horror of that screaming; but they had scarce set foot upon +the beach when Hoseason woke up, as if out of a muse, and bade +them lay hands upon Alan. They hung back indeed, having little +taste for the employment; but Hoseason was like a fiend, crying +that Alan was alone, that he had a great sum about him, that he +had been the means of losing the brig and drowning all their +comrades, and that here was both revenge and wealth upon a single +cast. It was seven against one; in that part of the shore there +was no rock that Alan could set his back to; and the sailors +began to spread out and come behind him. + +"And then," said Alan, "the little man with the red head -- I +havenae mind of the name that he is called." + +"Riach," said I. + +"Ay" said Alan, "Riach! Well, it was him that took up the clubs +for me, asked the men if they werenae feared of a judgment, and, +says he 'Dod, I'll put my back to the Hielandman's mysel'.' +That's none such an entirely bad little man, yon little man with +the red head," said Alan. "He has some spunks of decency." + +"Well," said I, "he was kind to me in his way." + +"And so he was to Alan," said he; "and by my troth, I found his +way a very good one! But ye see, David, the loss of the ship and +the cries of these poor lads sat very ill upon the man; and I'm +thinking that would be the cause of it." + +"Well, I would think so," says I; "for he was as keen as any of +the rest at the beginning. But how did Hoseason take it?" + +"It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill," says Alan. +"But the little man cried to me to run, and indeed I thought it +was a good observe, and ran. The last that I saw they were all +in a knot upon the beach, like folk that were not agreeing very +well together." + +"What do you mean by that?" said I. + +"Well, the fists were going," said Alan; "and I saw one man go +down like a pair of breeks. But I thought it would be better no +to wait. Ye see there's a strip of Campbells in that end of +Mull, which is no good company for a gentleman like me. If it +hadnae been for that I would have waited and looked for ye +mysel', let alone giving a hand to the little man." (It was +droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach's stature, for, to say the +truth, the one was not much smaller than the other.) "So," says +he, continuing, "I set my best foot forward, and whenever I met +in with any one I cried out there was a wreck ashore. Man, they +didnae sto p to fash with me! Ye should have seen them linking +for the beach! And when they got there they found they had had +the pleasure of a run, which is aye good for a Campbell. I'm +thinking it was a judgment on the clan that the brig went down in +the lump and didnae break. But it was a very unlucky thing for +you, that same; for if any wreck had come ashore they would have +hunted high and low, and would soon have found ye." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE HOUSE OF FEAR + +Night fell as we were walking, and the clouds, which had broken +up in the afternoon, settled in and thickened, so that it fell, +for the season of the year, extremely dark. The way we went was +over rough mountainsides; and though Alan pushed on with an +assured manner, I could by no means see how he directed himself. + +At last, about half-past ten of the clock, we came to the top of +a brae, and saw lights below us. It seemed a house door stood +open and let out a beam of fire and candle-light; and all round +the house and steading five or six persons were moving hurriedly +about, each carrying a lighted brand. + +"James must have tint his wits," said Alan. "If this was the +soldiers instead of you and me, he would be in a bonny mess. But +I dare say he'll have a sentry on the road, and he would ken well +enough no soldiers would find the way that we came." + +Hereupon he whistled three times, in a particular manner. It was +strange to see how, at the first sound of it, all the moving +torches came to a stand, as if the bearers were affrighted; and +how, at the third, the bustle began again as before. + +Having thus set folks' minds at rest, we came down the brae, and +were met at the yard gate (for this place was like a well-doing +farm) by a tall, handsome man of more than fifty, who cried out +to Alan in the Gaelic. + +"James Stewart," said Alan, "I will ask ye to speak in Scotch, +for here is a young gentleman with me that has nane of the other. +This is him," he added, putting his arm through mine, "a young +gentleman of the Lowlands, and a laird in his country too, but I +am thinking it will be the better for his health if we give his +name the go-by." + +James of the Glens turned to me for a moment, and greeted me +courteously enough; the next he had turned to Alan. + +"This has been a dreadful accident," he cried. "It will bring +trouble on the country." And he wrung his hands. + +"Hoots!" said Alan, "ye must take the sour with the sweet, man. +Colin Roy is dead, and be thankful for that!" + +"Ay" said James, "and by my troth, I wish he was alive again! +It's all very fine to blow and boast beforehand; but now it's +done, Alan; and who's to bear the wyte[21] of it? The accident +fell out in Appin -- mind ye that, Alan; it's Appin that must +pay; and I am a man that has a family." + +[21]Blame. + + +While this was going on I looked about me at the servants. Some +were on ladders, digging in the thatch of the house or the farm +buildings, from which they brought out guns, swords, and +different weapons of war; others carried them away; and by the +sound of mattock blows from somewhere farther down the brae, I +suppose they buried them. Though they were all so busy, there +prevailed no kind of order in their efforts; men struggled +together for the same gun and ran into each other with their +burning torches; and James was continually turning about from his +talk with Alan, to cry out orders which were apparently never +understood. The faces in the torchlight were like those of +people overborne with hurry and panic; and though none spoke +above his breath, their speech sounded both anxious and angry. + +It was about this time that a lassie came out of the house +carrying a pack or bundle; and it has often made me smile to +think how Alan's instinct awoke at the mere sight of it. + +"What's that the lassie has?" he asked. + +"We're just setting the house in order, Alan," said James, in his +frightened and somewhat fawning way. "They'll search Appin with +candles, and we must have all things straight. We're digging the +bit guns and swords into the moss, ye see; and these, I am +thinking, will be your ain French clothes. We'll be to bury +them, I believe." + +"Bury my French clothes!" cried Alan. "Troth, no!" And he laid +hold upon the packet and retired into the barn to shift himself, +recommending me in the meanwhile to his kinsman. + +James carried me accordingly into the kitchen, and sat down with +me at table, smiling and talking at first in a very hospitable +manner. But presently the gloom returned upon him; he sat +frowning and biting his fingers; only remembered me from time to +time; and then gave me but a word or two and a poor smile, and +back into his private terrors. His wife sat by the fire and +wept, with her face in her hands; his eldest son was crouched +upon the floor, running over a great mass of papers and now and +again setting one alight and burning it to the bitter end; all +the while a servant lass with a red face was rummaging about the +room, in a blind hurry of fear, and whimpering as she went; and +every now and again one of the men would thrust in his face from +the yard, and cry for orders. + +At last James could keep his seat no longer, and begged my +permission to be so unmannerly as walk about. "I am but poor +company altogether, sir," says he, "but I can think of nothing +but this dreadful accident, and the trouble it is like to bring +upon quite innocent persons." + +A little after he observed his son burning a paper which he +thought should have been kept; and at that his excitement burst +out so that it was painful to witness. He struck the lad +repeatedly. + +"Are you gone gyte?"[22] he cried. "Do you wish to hang your +father?" and forgetful of my presence, carried on at him a long +time together in the Gaelic, the young man answering nothing; +only the wife, at the name of hanging, throwing her apron over +her face and sobbing out louder than before. + +[22] Mad. + + +This was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear and see; +and I was right glad when Alan returned, looking like himself in +his fine French clothes, though (to be sure) they were now grown +almost too battered and withered to deserve the name of fine. I +was then taken out in my turn by another of the sons, and given +that change of clothing of which I had stood so long in need, and +a pair of Highland brogues made of deer-leather, rather strange +at first, but after a little practice very easy to the feet. + +By the time I came back Alan must have told his story; for it +seemed understood that I was to fly with him, and they were all +busy upon our equipment. They gave us each a sword and pistols, +though I professed my inability to use the former; and with +these, and some ammunition, a bag of oatmeal, an iron pan, and a +bottle of right French brandy, we were ready for the heather. +Money, indeed, was lacking. I had about two guineas left; Alan's +belt having been despatched by another hand, that trusty +messenger had no more than seventeen-pence to his whole fortune; +and as for James, it appears he had brought himself so low with +journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the +tenants, that he could only scrape together +three-and-five-pence-halfpenny, the most of it in coppers. + +"This'll no do," said Alan. + +"Ye must find a safe bit somewhere near by," said James, "and get +word sent to me. Ye see, ye'll have to get this business +prettily off, Alan. This is no time to be stayed for a guinea or +two. They're sure to get wind of ye, sure to seek ye, and by my +way of it, sure to lay on ye the wyte of this day's accident. If +it falls on you, it falls on me that am your near kinsman and +harboured ye while ye were in the country. And if it comes on +me----" he paused, and bit his fingers, with a white face. "It +would be a painful thing for our friends if I was to hang," said +he. + +"It would be an ill day for Appin," says Alan. + +"It's a day that sticks in my throat," said James. "O man, man, +man--man Alan! you and me have spoken like two fools!" he cried, +striking his hand upon the wall so that the house rang again. + +"Well, and that's true, too," said Alan; "and my friend from the +Lowlands here" (nodding at me) "gave me a good word upon that +head, if I would only have listened to him." + +"But see here," said James, returning to his former manner, "if +they lay me by the heels, Alan, it's then that you'll be needing +the money. For with all that I have said and that you have said, +it will look very black against the two of us; do ye mark that? +Well, follow me out, and ye'll, I'll see that I'll have to get a +paper out against ye mysel'; have to offer a reward for ye; ay, +will I! It's a sore thing to do between such near friends; but +if I get the dirdum[23] of this dreadful accident, I'll have to +fend for myself, man. Do ye see that?" + +[23] Blame. + + +He spoke with a pleading earnestness, taking Alan by the breast +of the coat. + +"Ay" said Alan, "I see that." + +"And ye'll have to be clear of the country, Alan -- ay, and clear +of Scotland -- you and your friend from the Lowlands, too. For +I'll have to paper your friend from the Lowlands. Ye see that, +Alan -- say that ye see that!" + +I thought Alan flushed a bit. "This is unco hard on me that +brought him here, James," said he, throwing his head back. "It's +like making me a traitor!" + +"Now, Alan, man!" cried James. "Look things in the face! He'll +be papered anyway; Mungo Campbell'll be sure to paper him; what +matters if I paper him too? And then, Alan, I am a man that has +a family." And then, after a little pause on both sides, "And, +Alan, it'll be a jury of Campbells," said he. + +"There's one thing," said Alan, musingly, "that naebody kens his +name." + +"Nor yet they shallnae, Alan! There's my hand on that," cried +James, for all the world as if he had really known my name and +was foregoing some advantage. "But just the habit he was in, and +what he looked like, and his age, and the like? I couldnae well +do less." + +"I wonder at your father's son," cried Alan, sternly. "Would ye +sell the lad with a gift? Would ye change his clothes and then +betray him?" + +"No, no, Alan," said James. "No, no: the habit he took off -- the +habit Mungo saw him in." But I thought he seemed crestfallen; +indeed, he was clutching at every straw, and all the time, I dare +say, saw the faces of his hereditary foes on the bench, and in +the jury-box, and the gallows in the background. + +"Well, sir" says Alan, turning to me, "what say ye to, that? Ye +are here under the safeguard of my honour; and it's my part to +see nothing done but what shall please you." + +"I have but one word to say," said I; "for to all this dispute I +am a perfect stranger. But the plain common-sense is to set the +blame where it belongs, and that is on the man who fired the +shot. Paper him, as ye call it, set the hunt on him; and let +honest, innocent folk show their faces in safety." But at this +both Alan and James cried out in horror; bidding me hold my +tongue, for that was not to be thought of; and asking me what the +Camerons would think? (which confirmed me, it must have been a +Cameron from Mamore that did the act) and if I did not see that +the lad might be caught? "Ye havenae surely thought of that?" +said they, with such innocent earnestness, that my hands dropped +at my side and I despaired of argument. + +"Very well, then," said I, "paper me, if you please, paper Alan, +paper King George! We're all three innocent, and that seems to +be what's wanted. But at least, sir," said I to James, +recovering from my little fit of annoyance, "I am Alan's friend, +and if I can be helpful to friends of his, I will not stumble at +the risk." + +I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent, for I saw +Alan troubled; and, besides (thinks I to myself), as soon as my +back is turned, they will paper me, as they call it, whether I +consent or not. But in this I saw I was wrong; for I had no +sooner said the words, than Mrs. Stewart leaped out of her chair, +came running over to us, and wept first upon my neck and then on +Alan's, blessing God for our goodness to her family. + +"As for you, Alan, it was no more than your bounden duty," she +said. "But for this lad that has come here and seen us at our +worst, and seen the goodman fleeching like a suitor, him that by +rights should give his commands like any king -- as for you, my +lad," she says, "my heart is wae not to have your name, but I +have your face; and as long as my heart beats under my bosom, I +will keep it, and think of it, and bless it." And with that she +kissed me, and burst once more into such sobbing, that I stood +abashed. + +"Hoot, hoot," said Alan, looking mighty silly. "The day comes +unco soon in this month of July; and to-morrow there'll be a fine +to-do in Appin, a fine riding of dragoons, and crying of +'Cruachan!'[24] and running of red-coats; and it behoves you and +me to the sooner be gone." + +[24] The rallying-word of the Campbells. + + +Thereupon we said farewell, and set out again, bending somewhat +eastwards, in a fine mild dark night, and over much the same +broken country as before. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS + +Sometimes we walked, sometimes ran; and as it drew on to morning, +walked ever the less and ran the more. Though, upon its face, +that country appeared to be a desert, yet there were huts and +houses of the people, of which we must have passed more than +twenty, hidden in quiet places of the hills. When we came to one +of these, Alan would leave me in the way, and go himself and rap +upon the side of the house and speak awhile at the window with +some sleeper awakened. This was to pass the news; which, in that +country, was so much of a duty that Alan must pause to attend to +it even while fleeing for his life; and so well attended to by +others, that in more than half of the houses where we called they +had heard already of the murder. In the others, as well as I +could make out (standing back at a distance and hearing a strange +tongue), the news was received with more of consternation than +surprise. + +For all our hurry, day began to come in while we were still far +from any shelter. It found us in a prodigious valley, strewn +with rocks and where ran a foaming river. Wild mountains stood +around it; there grew there neither grass nor trees; and I have +sometimes thought since then, that it may have been the valley +called Glencoe, where the massacre was in the time of King +William. But for the details of our itinerary, I am all to seek; +our way lying now by short cuts, now by great detours; our pace +being so hurried, our time of journeying usually by night; and +the names of such places as I asked and heard being in the Gaelic +tongue and the more easily forgotten. + +The first peep of morning, then, showed us this horrible place, +and I could see Alan knit his brow. + +"This is no fit place for you and me," he said. "This is a place +they're bound to watch." + +And with that he ran harder than ever down to the water-side, in +a part where the river was split in two among three rocks. It +went through with a horrid thundering that made my belly quake; +and there hung over the lynn a little mist of spray. Alan looked +neither to the right nor to the left, but jumped clean upon the +middle rock and fell there on his hands and knees to check +himself, for that rock was small and he might have pitched over +on the far side. I had scarce time to measure the distance or to +understand the peril before I had followed him, and he had caught +and stopped me. + +So there we stood, side by side upon a small rock slippery with +spray, a far broader leap in front of us, and the river dinning +upon all sides. When I saw where I was, there came on me a deadly +sickness of fear, and I put my hand over my eyes. Alan took me +and shook me; I saw he was speaking, but the roaring of the falls +and the trouble of my mind prevented me from hearing; only I saw +his face was red with anger, and that he stamped upon the rock. +The same look showed me the water raging by, and the mist hanging +in the air: and with that I covered my eyes again and shuddered. + +The next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips, and +forced me to drink about a gill, which sent the blood into my +head again. Then, putting his hands to his mouth, and his mouth +to my ear, he shouted, "Hang or drown!" and turning his back upon +me, leaped over the farther branch of the stream, and landed +safe. + +I was now alone upon the rock, which gave me the more room; the +brandy was singing in my ears; I had this good example fresh +before me, and just wit enough to see that if I did not leap at +once, I should never leap at all. I bent low on my knees and +flung myself forth, with that kind of anger of despair that has +sometimes stood me in stead of courage. Sure enough, it was but +my hands that reached the full length; these slipped, caught +again, slipped again; and I was sliddering back into the lynn, +when Alan seized me, first by the hair, then by the collar, and +with a great strain dragged me into safety. + +Never a word he said, but set off running again for his life, and +I must stagger to my feet and run after him. I had been weary +before, but now I was sick and bruised, and partly drunken with +the brandy; I kept stumbling as I ran, I had a stitch that came +near to overmaster me; and when at last Alan paused under a great +rock that stood there among a number of others, it was none too +soon for David Balfour. + +A great rock I have said; but by rights it was two rocks leaning +together at the top, both some twenty feet high, and at the first +sight inaccessible. Even Alan (though you may say he had as good +as four hands) failed twice in an attempt to climb them; and it +was only at the third trial, and then by standing on my shoulders +and leaping up with such force as I thought must have broken my +collar-bone, that he secured a lodgment. Once there, he let down +his leathern girdle; and with the aid of that and a pair of +shallow footholds in the rock, I scrambled up beside him. + +Then I saw why we had come there; for the two rocks, being both +somewhat hollow on the top and sloping one to the other, made a +kind of dish or saucer, where as many as three or four men might +have lain hidden. + +All this while Alan had not said a word, and had run and climbed +with such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry, that I knew that he +was in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even now we were on the +rock he said nothing, nor so much as relaxed the frowning look +upon his face; but clapped flat down, and keeping only one eye +above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the +compass. The dawn had come quite, clear; we could see the stony +sides of the valley, and its bottom, which was bestrewed with +rocks, and the river, which went from one side to another, and +made white falls; but nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any +living creature but some eagles screaming round a cliff. + +Then at last Alan smiled. + +"Ay" said he, "now we have a chance;" and then looking at me with +some amusement. "Ye're no very gleg[25] at the jumping," said he. + +[25]Brisk. + + +At this I suppose I coloured with mortification, for he added at +once, "Hoots! small blame to ye! To be feared of a thing and yet +to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a man. And then +there was water there, and water's a thing that dauntons even me. +No, no," said Alan, "it's no you that's to blame, it's me." + +I asked him why. + +"Why," said he, "I have proved myself a gomeral this night. For +first of all I take a wrong road, and that in my own country of +Appin; so that the day has caught us where we should never have +been; and thanks to that, we lie here in some danger and mair +discomfort. And next (which is the worst of the two, for a man +that has been so much among the heather as myself) I have come +wanting a water-bottle, and here we lie for a long summer's day +with naething but neat spirit. Ye may think that a small matter; +but before it comes night, David, ye'll give me news of it." + +I was anxious to redeem my character, and offered, if he would +pour out the brandy, to run down and fill the bottle at the +river. + +"I wouldnae waste the good spirit either," says he. "It's been a +good friend to you this night; or in my poor opinion, ye would +still be cocking on yon stone. And what's mair," says he, "ye +may have observed (you that's a man of so much penetration) that +Alan Breck Stewart was perhaps walking quicker than his +ordinar'." + +"You!" I cried, "you were running fit to burst." + +"Was I so?" said he. "Well, then, ye may depend upon it, there +was nae time to be lost. And now here is enough said; gang you +to your sleep, lad, and I'll watch." + +Accordingly, I lay down to sleep; a little peaty earth had +drifted in between the top of the two rocks, and some bracken +grew there, to be a bed to me; the last thing I heard was still +the crying of the eagles. + +I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was roughly +awakened, and found Alan's hand pressed upon my mouth. + +"Wheesht!" he whispered. "Ye were snoring." + +"Well," said I, surprised at his anxious and dark face, "and why +not?" + +He peered over the edge of the rock, and signed to me to do the +like. + +It was now high day, cloudless, and very hot. The valley was as +clear as in a picture. About half a mile up the water was a camp +of red-coats; a big fire blazed in their midst, at which some +were cooking; and near by, on the top of a rock about as high as +ours, there stood a sentry, with the sun sparkling on his arms. +All the way down along the river-side were posted other sentries; +here near together, there widelier scattered; some planted like +the first, on places of command, some on the ground level and +marching and counter-marching, so as to meet half-way. Higher up +the glen, where the ground was more open, the chain of posts was +continued by horse-soldiers, whom we could see in the distance +riding to and fro. Lower down, the infantry continued; but as +the stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a +considerable burn, they were more widely set, and only watched +the fords and stepping-stones. + +I took but one look at them, and ducked again into my place. It +was strange indeed to see this valley, which had lain so solitary +in the hour of dawn, bristling with arms and dotted with the red +coats and breeches. + +"Ye see," said Alan, "this was what I was afraid of, Davie: that +they would watch the burn-side. They began to come in about two +hours ago, and, man! but ye're a grand hand at the sleeping! +We're in a narrow place. If they get up the sides of the hill, +they could easy spy us with a glass; but if they'll only keep in +the foot of the valley, we'll do yet. The posts are thinner down +the water; and, come night, we'll try our hand at getting by +them." + +"And what are we to do till night?" I asked. + +"Lie here," says he, "and birstle." + +That one good Scotch word, "birstle," was indeed the most of the +story of the day that we had now to pass. You are to remember +that we lay on the bare top of a rock, like scones upon a girdle; +the sun beat upon us cruelly; the rock grew so heated, a man +could scarce endure the touch of it; and the little patch of +earth and fern, which kept cooler, was only large enough for one +at a time. We took turn about to lie on the naked rock, which +was indeed like the position of that saint that was martyred on a +gridiron; and it ran in my mind how strange it was, that in the +same climate and at only a few days' distance, I should have +suffered so cruelly, first from cold upon my island and now from +heat upon this rock. + +All the while we had no water, only raw brandy for a drink, which +was worse than nothing; but we kept the bottle as cool as we +could, burying it in the earth, and got some relief by bathing +our breasts and temples. + +The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley, +now changing guard, now in patrolling parties hunting among the +rocks. These lay round in so great a number, that to look for +men among them was like looking for a needle in a bottle of hay; +and being so hopeless a task, it was gone about with the less +care. Yet we could see the soldiers pike their bayonets among +the heather, which sent a cold thrill into my vitals; and they +would sometimes hang about our rock, so that we scarce dared to +breathe. + +It was in this way that I first heard the right English speech; +one fellow as he went by actually clapping his hand upon the +sunny face of the rock on which we lay, and plucking it off again +with an oath. "I tell you it's 'ot," says he; and I was amazed at +the clipping tones and the odd sing-song in which he spoke, and +no less at that strange trick of dropping out the letter "h." To +be sure, I had heard Ransome; but he had taken his ways from all +sorts of people, and spoke so imperfectly at the best, that I set +down the most of it to childishness. My surprise was all the +greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown +man; and indeed I have never grown used to it; nor yet altogether +with the English grammar, as perhaps a very critical eye might +here and there spy out even in these memoirs. + +The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only +the greater as the day went on; the rock getting still the hotter +and the sun fiercer. There were giddiness, and sickness, and +sharp pangs like rheumatism, to be supported. I minded then, and +have often minded since, on the lines in our Scotch psalm: -- + + "The moon by night thee shall not smite, + Nor yet the sun by day;" + +and indeed it was only by God's blessing that we were neither of +us sun-smitten. + +At last, about two, it was beyond men's bearing, and there was +now temptation to resist, as well as pain to thole. For the sun +being now got a little into the west, there came a patch of shade +on the east side of our rock, which was the side sheltered from +the soldiers. + +"As well one death as another," said Alan, and slipped over the +edge and dropped on the ground on the shadowy side. + +I followed him at once, and instantly fell all my length, so weak +was I and so giddy with that long exposure. Here, then, we lay +for an hour or two, aching from head to foot, as weak as water, +and lying quite naked to the eye of any soldier who should have +strolled that way. None came, however, all passing by on the +other side; so that our rock continued to be our shield even in +this new position. + +Presently we began again to get a little strength; and as the +soldiers were now lying closer along the river-side, Alan +proposed that we should try a start. I was by this time afraid +of but one thing in the world; and that was to be set back upon +the rock; anything else was welcome to me; so we got ourselves at +once in marching order, and began to slip from rock to rock one +after the other, now crawling flat on our bellies in the shade, +now making a run for it, heart in mouth. + +The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley after a +fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of +the afternoon, had now laid by much of their vigilance, and stood +dozing at their posts or only kept a look-out along the banks of +the river; so that in this way, keeping down the valley and at +the same time towards the mountains, we drew steadily away from +their neighbourhood. But the business was the most wearing I had +ever taken part in. A man had need of a hundred eyes in every +part of him, to keep concealed in that uneven country and within +cry of so many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an open +place, quickness was not all, but a swift judgment not only of +the lie of the whole country, but of the solidity of every stone +on which we must set foot; for the afternoon was now fallen so +breathless that the rolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a +pistol shot, and would start the echo calling among the hills and +cliffs. + +By sundown we had made some distance, even by our slow rate of +progress, though to be sure the sentry on the rock was still +plainly in our view. But now we came on something that put all +fears out of season; and that was a deep rushing burn, that tore +down, in that part, to join the glen river. At the sight of this +we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in +the water; and I cannot tell which was the more pleasant, the +great shock as the cool stream went over us, or the greed with +which we drank of it. + +We lay there (for the banks hid us), drank again and again, +bathed our chests, let our wrists trail in the running water till +they ached with the chill; and at last, being wonderfullv +renewed, we got out the meal-bag and made drammach in the iron +pan. This, though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal, yet +makes a good enough dish for a hungry man; and where there are no +means of making fire, or (as in our case) good reason for not +making one, it is the chief stand-by of those who have taken to +the heather. + +As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set forth +again, at first with the same caution, but presently with more +boldness, standing our full height and stepping out at a good +pace of walking. The way was very intricate, lying up the steep +sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs; clouds had come +in with the sunset, and the night was dark and cool; so that I +walked without much fatigue, but in continual fear of falling and +rolling down the mountains, and with no guess at our direction. + +The moon rose at last and found us still on the road; it was in +its last quarter, and was long beset with clouds; but after +awhile shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains, and +was reflected far underneath us on the narrow arm of a sea-loch. + +At this sight we both paused: I struck with wonder to find myself +so high and walking (as it seemed to me) upon clouds; Alan to +make sure of his direction. + +Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly have judged +us out of ear-shot of all our enemies; for throughout the rest of +our night-march he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes, +warlike, merry, plaintive; reel tunes that made the foot go +faster; tunes of my own south country that made me fain to be +home from my adventures; and all these, on the great, dark, +desert mountains, making company upon the way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH + +Early as day comes in the beginning of July, it was still dark +when we reached our destination, a cleft in the head of a great +mountain, with a water running through the midst, and upon the +one hand a shallow cave in a rock. Birches grew there in a thin, +pretty wood, which a little farther on was changed into a wood of +pines. The burn was full of trout; the wood of cushat-doves; on +the open side of the mountain beyond, whaups would be always +whistling, and cuckoos were plentiful. From the mouth of the +cleft we looked down upon a part of Mamore, and on the sea-loch +that divides that country from Appin; and this from so great a +height as made it my continual wonder and pleasure to sit and +behold them. + +The name of the cleft was the Heugh of Corrynakiegh; and although +from its height and being so near upon the sea, it was often +beset with clouds, yet it was on the whole a pleasant place, and +the five days we lived in it went happily. + +We slept in the cave, making our bed of heather bushes which we +cut for that purpose, and covering ourselves with Alan's +great-coat. There was a low concealed place, in a turning of the +glen, where we were so bold as to make fire: so that we could +warm ourselves when the clouds set in, and cook hot porridge, and +grill the little trouts that we caught with our hands under the +stones and overhanging banks of the burn. This was indeed our +chief pleasure and business; and not only to save our meal +against worse times, but with a rivalry that much amused us, we +spent a great part of our days at the water-side, stripped to the +waist and groping about or (as they say) guddling for these fish. +The largest we got might have been a quarter of a pound; but they +were of good flesh and flavour, and when broiled upon the coals, +lacked only a little salt to be delicious. + +In any by-time Alan must teach me to use my sword, for my +ignorance had much distressed him; and I think besides, as I had +sometimes the upper-hand of him in the fishing, he was not sorry +to turn to an exercise where he had so much the upper-hand of me. +He made it somewhat more of a pain than need have been, for he +stormed at me all through the lessons in a very violent manner of +scolding, and would push me so close that I made sure he must run +me through the body. I was often tempted to turn tail, but held +my ground for all that, and got some profit of my lessons; if it +was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance, which is +often all that is required. So, though I could never in the +least please my master, I was not altogether displeased with +myself. + +In the meanwhile, you are not to suppose that we neglected our +chief business, which was to get away. + +"It will be many a long day," Alan said to me on our first +morning, "before the red-coats think upon seeking Corrynakiegh; +so now we must get word sent to James, and he must find the +siller for us." + +"And how shall we send that word?" says I. "We are here in a +desert place, which yet we dare not leave; and unless ye get the +fowls of the air to be your messengers, I see not what we shall +be able to do." + +"Ay?" said Alan. "Ye're a man of small contrivance, David." + +Thereupon he fell in a muse, looking in the embers of the fire; +and presently, getting a piece of wood, he fashioned it in a +cross, the four ends of which he blackened on the coals. Then he +looked at me a little shyly. + +"Could ye lend me my button?" says he. "It seems a strange thing +to ask a gift again, but I own I am laith to cut another." + +I gave him the button; whereupon he strung it on a strip of his +great-coat which he had used to bind the cross; and tying in a +little sprig of birch and another of fir, he looked upon his work +with satisfaction. + +"Now," said he, "there is a little clachan" (what is called a +hamlet in the English) "not very far from Corrynakiegh, and it +has the name of Koalisnacoan. There there are living many +friends of mine whom I could trust with my life, and some that I +am no just so sure of. Ye see, David, there will be money set +upon our heads; James himsel' is to set money on them; and as for +the Campbells, they would never spare siller where there was a +Stewart to be hurt. If it was otherwise, I would go down to +Koalisnacoan whatever, and trust my life into these people's +hands as lightly as I would trust another with my glove." + +"But being so?" said I. + +"Being so," said he, "I would as lief they didnae see me. +There's bad folk everywhere, and what's far worse, weak ones. So +when it comes dark again, I will steal down into that clachan, +and set this that I have been making in the window of a good +friend of mine, John Breck Maccoll, a bouman[26] of Appin's." + +[26]A bouman is a tenant who takes stock from the landlord and +shares with him the increase. + + +"With all my heart," says I; "and if he finds it, what is he to +think?" + +"Well," says Alan, "I wish he was a man of more penetration, for +by my troth I am afraid he will make little enough of it! But +this is what I have in my mind. This cross is something in the +nature of the crosstarrie, or fiery cross, which is the signal of +gathering in our clans; yet he will know well enough the clan is +not to rise, for there it is standing in his window, and no word +with it. So he will say to himsel', THE CLAN IS NOT TO RISE, BUT +THERE IS SOMETHING. Then he will see my button, and that was +Duncan Stewart's. And then he will say to himsel', THE SON OF +DUNCAN IS IN THE HEATHER, AND HAS NEED OF ME." + +"Well," said I, "it may be. But even supposing so, there is a +good deal of heather between here and the Forth." + +"And that is a very true word," says Alan. "But then John Breck +will see the sprig of birch and the sprig of pine; and he will +say to himsel' (if he is a man of any penetration at all, which I +misdoubt), ALAN WILL BE LYING IN A WOOD WHICH IS BOTH OF PINES +AND BIRCHES. Then he will think to himsel', THAT IS NOT SO VERY +RIFE HEREABOUT; and then he will come and give us a look up in +Corrynakiegh. And if he does not, David, the devil may fly away +with him, for what I care; for he will no be worth the salt to +his porridge." + +"Eh, man," said I, drolling with him a little, "you're very +ingenious! But would it not be simpler for you to write him a few +words in black and white?" + +"And that is an excellent observe, Mr. Balfour of Shaws," says +Alan, drolling with me; "and it would certainly be much simpler +for me to write to him, but it would be a sore job for John Breck +to read it. He would have to go to the school for two-three +years; and it's possible we might be wearied waiting on him." + +So that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and set it in the +bouman's window. He was troubled when he came back; for the dogs +had barked and the folk run out from their houses; and he thought +he had heard a clatter of arms and seen a red-coat come to one of +the doors. On all accounts we lay the next day in the borders of +the wood and kept a close look-out, so that if it was John Breck +that came we might be ready to guide him, and if it was the +red-coats we should have time to get away. + +About noon a man was to be spied, straggling up the open side of +the mountain in the sun, and looking round him as he came, from +under his hand. No sooner had Alan seen him than he whistled; +the man turned and came a little towards us: then Alan would give +another "peep!" and the man would come still nearer; and so by +the sound of whistling, he was guided to the spot where we lay. + +He was a ragged, wild, bearded man, about forty, grossly +disfigured with the small pox, and looked both dull and savage. +Although his English was very bad and broken, yet Alan (according +to his very handsome use, whenever I was by) would suffer him to +speak no Gaelic. Perhaps the strange language made him appear +more backward than he really was; but I thought he had little +good-will to serve us, and what he had was the child of terror. + +Alan would have had him carry a message to James; but the bouman +would hear of no message. "She was forget it," he said in his +screaming voice; and would either have a letter or wash his hands +of us. + +I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked the +means of writing in that desert. + +But he was a man of more resources than I knew; searched the wood +until he found the quill of a cushat-dove, which he shaped into a +pen; made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and +water from the running stream; and tearing a corner from his +French military commission (which he carried in his pocket, like +a talisman to keep him from the gallows), he sat down and wrote +as follows: + + +"DEAR KINSMAN, -- Please send the money by the bearer to the +place he kens of. + "Your affectionate cousin, + "A. S." + + +This he intrusted to the bouman, who promised to make what manner +of speed he best could, and carried it off with him down the +hill. + +He was three full days gone, but about five in the evening of the +third, we heard a whistling in the wood, which Alan answered; and +presently the bouman came up the water-side, looking for us, +right and left. He seemed less sulky than before, and indeed he +was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of such a +dangerous commission. + +He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive with +red-coats; that arms were being found, and poor folk brought in +trouble daily; and that James and some of his servants were +already clapped in prison at Fort William, under strong suspicion +of complicity. It seemed it was noised on all sides that Alan +Breck had fired the shot; and there was a bill issued for both +him and me, with one hundred pounds reward. + +This was all as bad as could be; and the little note the bouman +had carried us from Mrs. Stewart was of a miserable sadness. In +it she besought Alan not to let himself be captured, assuring +him, if he fell in the hands of the troops, both he and James +were no better than dead men. The money she had sent was all +that she could beg or borrow, and she prayed heaven we could be +doing with it. Lastly, she said, she enclosed us one of the +bills in which we were described. + +This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear, +partly as a man may look in a mirror, partly as he might look +into the barrel of an enemy's gun to judge if it be truly aimed. +Alan was advertised as "a small, pock-marked, active man of +thirty-five or thereby, dressed in a feathered hat, a French +side-coat of blue with silver buttons, and lace a great deal +tarnished, a red waistcoat and breeches of black, shag;" and I as +"a tall strong lad of about eighteen, wearing an old blue coat, +very ragged, an old Highland bonnet, a long homespun waistcoat, +blue breeches; his legs bare, low-country shoes, wanting the +toes; speaks like a Lowlander, and has no beard." + +Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully +remembered and set down; only when he came to the word tarnish, +he looked upon his lace like one a little mortified. As for +myself, I thought I cut a miserable figure in the bill; and yet +was well enough pleased too, for since I had changed these rags, +the description had ceased to be a danger and become a source of +safety. + +"Alan," said I, "you should change your clothes." + +"Na, troth!" said Alan, "I have nae others. A fine sight I would +be, if I went back to France in a bonnet!" + +This put a second reflection in my mind: that if I were to +separate from Alan and his tell-tale clothes I should be safe +against arrest, and might go openly about my business. Nor was +this all; for suppose I was arrested when I was alone, there was +little against me; but suppose I was taken in company with the +reputed murderer, my case would begin to be grave. For +generosity's sake I dare not speak my mind upon this head; but I +thought of it none the less. + +I thought of it all the more, too, when the bouman brought out a +green purse with four guineas in gold, and the best part of +another in small change. True, it was more than I had. But then +Alan, with less than five guineas, had to get as far as France; +I, with my less than two, not beyond Queensferry; so that taking +things in their proportion, Alan's society was not only a peril +to my life, but a burden on my purse. + +But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my +companion. He believed he was serving, helping, and protecting +me. And what could I do but hold my peace, and chafe, and take +my chance of it? + +"It's little enough," said Alan, putting the purse in his pocket, +"but it'll do my business. And now, John Breck, if ye will hand +me over my button, this gentleman and me will be for taking the +road." + +But the bouman, after feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in +front of him in the Highland manner (though he wore otherwise the +Lowland habit, with sea-trousers), began to roll his eyes +strangely, and at last said, "Her nainsel will loss it," meaning +he thought he had lost it. + +"What!" cried Alan, "you will lose my button, that was my +father's before me? Now I will tell you what is in my mind, John +Breck: it is in my mind this is the worst day's work that ever ye +did since ye was born." + +And as Alan spoke, he set his hands on his knees and looked at +the bouman with a smiling mouth, and that dancing light in his +eyes that meant mischief to his enemies. + +Perhaps the bouman was honest enough; perhaps he had meant to +cheat and then, finding himself alone with two of us in a desert +place, cast back to honesty as being safer; at least, and all at +once, he seemed to find that button and handed it to Alan. + +"Well, and it is a good thing for the honour of the Maccolls," +said Alan, and then to me, "Here is my button back again, and I +thank you for parting with it, which is of a piece with all your +friendships to me." Then he took the warmest parting of the +bouman. "For," says he, "ye have done very well by me, and set +your neck at a venture, and I will always give you the name of a +good man." + +Lastly, the bouman took himself off by one way; and Alan I +(getting our chattels together) struck into another to resume our +flight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR + +Some seven hours' incessant, hard travelling brought us early in +the morning to the end of a range of mountains. In front of us +there lay a piece of low, broken, desert land, which we must now +cross. The sun was not long up, and shone straight in our eyes; +a little, thin mist went up from the face of the moorland like a +smoke; so that (as Alan said) there might have been twenty +squadron of dragoons there and we none the wiser. + +We sat down, therefore, in a howe of the hill-side till the mist +should have risen, and made ourselves a dish of drammach, and +held a council of war. + +"David," said Alan, "this is the kittle bit. Shall we lie here +till it comes night, or shall we risk it, and stave on ahead?" + +"Well," said I, "I am tired indeed, but I could walk as far +again, if that was all." + +"Ay, but it isnae," said Alan, "nor yet the half. This is how we +stand: Appin's fair death to us. To the south it's all +Campbells, and no to be thought of. To the north; well, there's +no muckle to be gained by going north; neither for you, that +wants to get to Queensferry, nor yet for me, that wants to get to +France. Well, then, we'll can strike east." + +"East be it!" says I, quite cheerily; but I was thinking" in to +myself: "O, man, if you would only take one point of the compass +and let me take any other, it would be the best for both of us." + +"Well, then, east, ye see, we have the muirs," said Alan. "Once +there, David, it's mere pitch-and-toss. Out on yon bald, naked, +flat place, where can a body turn to? Let the red-coats come over +a hill, they can spy you miles away; and the sorrow's in their +horses' heels, they would soon ride you down. It's no good +place, David; and I'm free to say, it's worse by daylight than by +dark." + +"Alan," said I, "hear my way of it. Appin's death for us; we +have none too much money, nor yet meal; the longer they seek, the +nearer they may guess where we are; it's all a risk; and I give +my word to go ahead until we drop." + +Alan was delighted. "There are whiles," said he, "when ye are +altogether too canny and Whiggish to be company for a gentleman +like me; but there come other whiles when ye show yoursel' a +mettle spark; and it's then, David, that I love ye like a +brother." + +The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country lying as +waste as the sea; only the moorfowl and the pewees crying upon +it, and far over to the east, a herd of deer, moving like dots. +Much of it was red with heather; much of the rest broken up with +bogs and hags and peaty pools; some had been burnt black in a +heath fire; and in another place there was quite a forest of dead +firs, standing like skeletons. A wearier-looking desert man +never saw; but at least it was clear of troops, which was our +point. + +We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our +toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge. There +were the tops of mountains all round (you are to remember) from +whence we might be spied at any moment; so it behoved us to keep +in the hollow parts of the moor, and when these turned aside from +our direction to move upon its naked face with infinite care. +Sometimes, for half an hour together, we must crawl from one +heather bush to another, as hunters do when they are hard upon +the deer. It was a clear day again, with a blazing sun; the +water in the brandy bottle was soon gone; and altogether, if I +had guessed what it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly +and to walk much of the rest stooping nearly to the knees, I +should certainly have held back from such a killing enterprise. + +Toiling and resting and toiling again, we wore away the morning; +and about noon lay down in a thick bush of heather to sleep. +Alan took the first watch; and it seemed to me I had scarce +closed my eyes before I was shaken up to take the second. We had +no clock to go by; and Alan stuck a sprig of heath in the ground +to serve instead; so that as soon as the shadow of the bush +should fall so far to the east, I might know to rouse him. But I +was by this time so weary that I could have slept twelve hours at +a stretch; I had the taste of sleep in my throat; my joints slept +even when my mind was waking; the hot smell of the heather, and +the drone of the wild bees, were like possets to me; and every +now and again I would give a jump and find I had been dozing. + +The last time I woke I seemed to come back from farther away, and +thought the sun had taken a great start in the heavens. I looked +at the sprig of heath, and at that I could have cried aloud: for +I saw I had betrayed my trust. My head was nearly turned with +fear and shame; and at what I saw, when I looked out around me on +the moor, my heart was like dying in my body. For sure enough, a +body of horse-soldiers had come down during my sleep, and were +drawing near to us from the south-east, spread out in the shape +of a fan and riding their horses to and fro in the deep parts of +the heather. + +When I waked Alan, he glanced first at the soldiers, then at the +mark and the position of the sun, and knitted his brows with a +sudden, quick look, both ugly and anxious, which was all the +reproach I had of him. + +"What are we to do now?" I asked. + +"We'll have to play at being hares," said he. "Do ye see yon +mountain?" pointing to one on the north-eastern sky. + +"Ay," said I. + +"Well, then," says he, "let us strike for that. Its name is Ben +Alder. it is a wild, desert mountain full of hills and hollows, +and if we can win to it before the morn, we may do yet." + +"But, Alan," cried I, "that will take us across the very coming +of the soldiers!" + +"I ken that fine," said he; "but if we are driven back on Appin, +we are two dead men. So now, David man, be brisk!" + +With that he began to run forward on his hands and knees with an +incredible quickness, as though it were his natural way of going. +All the time, too, he kept winding in and out in the lower parts +of the moorland where we were the best concealed. Some of these +had been burned or at least scathed with fire; and there rose in +our faces (which were close to the ground) a blinding, choking +dust as fine as smoke. The water was long out; and this posture +of running on the hands and knees brings an overmastering +weakness and weariness, so that the joints ache and the wrists +faint under your weight. + +Now and then, indeed, where was a big bush of heather, we lay +awhile, and panted, and putting aside the leaves, looked back at +the dragoons. They had not spied us, for they held straight on; +a half-troop, I think, covering about two miles of ground, and +beating it mighty thoroughly as they went. I had awakened just +in time; a little later, and we must have fled in front of them, +instead of escaping on one side. Even as it was, the least +misfortune might betray us; and now and again, when a grouse rose +out of the heather with a clap of wings, we lay as still as the +dead and were afraid to breathe. + +The aching and faintness of my body, the labouring of my heart, +the soreness of my hands, and the smarting of my throat and eyes +in the continual smoke of dust and ashes, had soon grown to be so +unbearable that I would gladly have given up. Nothing but the +fear of Alan lent me enough of a false kind of courage to +continue. As for himself (and you are to bear in mind that he +was cumbered with a great-coat) he had first turned crimson, but +as time went on the redness began to be mingled with patches of +white; his breath cried and whistled as it came; and his voice, +when he whispered his observations in my ear during our halts, +sounded like nothing human. Yet he seemed in no way dashed in +spirits, nor did he at all abate in his activity, so that I was +driven, to marvel at the man's endurance. + +At length, in the first gloaming of the night, we heard a trumpet +sound, and looking back from among the heather, saw the troop +beginning to collect. A little after, they had built a fire and +camped for the night, about the middle of the waste. + +At this I begged and besought that we might lie down and sleep. + +"There shall be no sleep the night!" said Alan. "From now on, +these weary dragoons of yours will keep the crown of the +muirland, and none will get out of Appin but winged fowls. We +got through in the nick of time, and shall we jeopard what we've +gained? Na, na, when the day comes, it shall find you and me in +a fast place on Ben Alder." + +"Alan," I said, "it's not the want of will: it's the strength +that I want. If I could, I would; but as sure as I'm alive I +cannot." + +"Very well, then," said Alan. "I'll carry ye." + +I looked to see if he were jesting; but no, the little man was in +dead earnest; and the sight of so much resolution shamed me. + +"Lead away!" said I. "I'll follow." + +He gave me one look as much as to say, "Well done, David!" and +off he set again at his top speed. + +It grew cooler and even a little darker (but not much) with the +coming of the night. The sky was cloudless; it was still early +in July, and pretty far north; in the darkest part of that night, +you would have needed pretty good eyes to read, but for all that, +I have often seen it darker in a winter mid-day. Heavy dew fell +and drenched the moor like rain; and this refreshed me for a +while. When we stopped to breathe, and I had time to see all +about me, the clearness and sweetness of the night, the shapes of +the hills like things asleep, and the fire dwindling away behind +us, like a bright spot in the midst of the moor, anger would come +upon me in a clap that I must still drag myself in agony and eat +the dust like a worm. + +By what I have read in books, I think few that have held a pen +were ever really wearied, or they would write of it more +strongly. I had no care of my life, neither past nor future, and +I scarce remembered there was such a lad as David Balfour. I did +not think of myself, but just of each fresh step which I was sure +would be my last, with despair -- and of Alan, who was the cause +of it, with hatred. Alan was in the right trade as a soldier; +this is the officer's part to make men continue to do things, +they know not wherefore, and when, if the choice was offered, +they would lie down where they were and be killed. And I dare +say I would have made a good enough private; for in these last +hours it never occurred to me that I had any choice but just to +obey as long as I was able, and die obeying. + +Day began to come in, after years, I thought; and by that time we +were past the greatest danger, and could walk upon our feet like +men, instead of crawling like brutes. But, dear heart have +mercy! what a pair we must have made, going double like old +grandfathers, stumbling like babes, and as white as dead folk. +Never a word passed between us; each set his mouth and kept his +eyes in front of him, and lifted up his foot and set it down +again, like people lifting weights at a country play;[27] all the +while, with the moorfowl crying "peep!" in the heather, and the +light coming slowly clearer in the east. + +[27] Village fair. + + +I say Alan did as I did. Not that ever I looked at him, for I +had enough ado to keep my feet; but because it is plain he must +have been as stupid with weariness as myself, and looked as +little where we were going, or we should not have walked into an +ambush like blind men. + +It fell in this way. We were going down a heathery brae, Alan +leading and I following a pace or two behind, like a fiddler and +his wife; when upon a sudden the heather gave a rustle, three or +four ragged men leaped out, and the next moment we were lying on +our backs, each with a dirk at his throat. + +I don't think I cared; the pain of this rough handling was quite +swallowed up by the pains of which I was already full; and I was +too glad to have stopped walking to mind about a dirk. I lay +looking up in the face of the man that held me; and I mind his +face was black with the sun, and his eyes very light, but I was +not afraid of him. I heard Alan and another whispering in the +Gaelic; and what they said was all one to me. + +Then the dirks were put up, our weapons were taken away, and we +were set face to face, sitting in the heather. + +"They are Cluny's men," said Alan. "We couldnae have fallen +better. We're just to bide here with these, which are his +out-sentries, till they can get word to the chief of my arrival." + +Now Cluny Macpherson, the chief of the clan Vourich, had been one +of the leaders of the great rebellion six years before; there was +a price on his life; and I had supposed him long ago in France, +with the rest of the heads of that desperate party. Even tired +as I was, the surprise of what I heard half wakened me. + +"What," I cried, "is Cluny still here?" + +"Ay, is he so!" said Alan. "Still in his own country and kept by +his own clan. King George can do no more." + +I think I would have asked farther, but Alan gave me the put-off. +"I am rather wearied," he said, "and I would like fine to get a +sleep." And without more words, he rolled on his face in a deep +heather bush, and seemed to sleep at once. + +There was no such thing possible for me. You have heard +grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer time? Well, I +had no sooner closed my eyes, than my body, and above all my +head, belly, and wrists, seemed to be filled with whirring +grasshoppers; and I must open my eyes again at once, and tumble +and toss, and sit up and lie down; and look at the sky which +dazzled me, or at Cluny's wild and dirty sentries, peering out +over the top of the brae and chattering to each other in the +Gaelic. + +That was all the rest I had, until the messenger returned; when, +as it appeared that Cluny would be glad to receive us, we must +get once more upon our feet and set forward. Alan was in +excellent good spirits, much refreshed by his sleep, very hungry, +and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and a dish of hot +collops, of which, it seems, the messenger had brought him word. +For my part, it made me sick to hear of eating. I had been +dead-heavy before, and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightness, +which would not suffer me to walk. I drifted like a gossamer; +the ground seemed to me a cloud, the hills a feather-weight, the +air to have a current, like a running burn, which carried me to +and fro. With all that, a sort of horror of despair sat on my +mind, so that I could have wept at my own helplessness. + +I saw Alan knitting his brows at me, and supposed it was in +anger; and that gave me a pang of light-headed fear, like what a +child may have. I remember, too, that I was smiling, and could +not stop smiling, hard as I tried; for I thought it was out of +place at such a time. But my good companion had nothing in his +mind but kindness; and the next moment, two of the gillies had me +by the arms, and I began to be carried forward with great +swiftness (or so it appeared to me, although I dare say it was +slowly enough in truth), through a labyrinth of dreary glens and +hollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CLUNY'S CAGE + +We came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood, which +scrambled up a craggy hillside, and was crowned by a naked +precipice. + +"It's here," said one of the guides, and we struck up hill. + +The trees clung upon the slope, like sailors on the shrouds of a +ship, and their trunks were like the rounds of a ladder, by which +we mounted. + +Quite at the top, and just before the rocky face of the cliff +sprang above the foliage, we found that strange house which was +known in the country as "Cluny's Cage." The trunks of several +trees had been wattled across, the intervals strengthened with +stakes, and the ground behind this barricade levelled up with +earth to make the floor. A tree, which grew out from the +hillside, was the living centre-beam of the roof. The walls were +of wattle and covered with moss. The whole house had something +of an egg shape; and it half hung, half stood in that steep, +hillside thicket, like a wasp's nest in a green hawthorn. + +Within, it was large enough to shelter five or six persons with +some comfort. A projection of the cliff had been cunningly +employed to be the fireplace; and the smoke rising against the +face of the rock, and being not dissimilar in colour, readily +escaped notice from below. + +This was but one of Cluny's hiding-places; he had caves, besides, +and underground chambers in several parts of his country; and +following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another +as the soldiers drew near or moved away. By this manner of +living, and thanks to the affection of his clan, he had not only +stayed all this time in safety, while so many others had fled or +been taken and slain: but stayed four or five years longer, and +only went to France at last by the express command of his master. +There he soon died; and it is strange to reflect that he may have +regretted his Cage upon Ben Alder. + +When we came to the door he was seated by his rock chimney, +watching a gillie about some cookery. He was mighty plainly +habited, with a knitted nightcap drawn over his ears, and smoked +a foul cutty pipe. For all that he had the manners of a king, +and it was quite a sight to see him rise out of his place to +welcome us. + +"Well, Mr. Stewart, come awa', sir!" said he, "and bring in your +friend that as yet I dinna ken the name of." + +"And how is yourself, Cluny?" said Alan. "I hope ye do brawly, +sir. And I am proud to see ye, and to present to ye my friend +the Laird of Shaws, Mr. David Balfour." + +Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer, when +we were alone; but with strangers, he rang the words out like a +herald. + +"Step in by, the both of ye, gentlemen," says Cluny. "I make ye +welcome to my house, which is a queer, rude place for certain, +but one where I have entertained a royal personage, Mr. Stewart +-- ye doubtless ken the personage I have in my eye. We'll take a +dram for luck, and as soon as this handless man of mine has the +collops ready, we'll dine and take a hand at the cartes as +gentlemen should. My life is a bit driegh," says he, pouring out +the brandy;" I see little company, and sit and twirl my thumbs, +and mind upon a great day that is gone by, and weary for another +great day that we all hope will be upon the road. And so here's +a toast to ye: The Restoration!" + +Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank. I am sure I wished +no ill to King George; and if he had been there himself in proper +person, it's like he would have done as I did. No sooner had I +taken out the drain than I felt hugely better, and could look on +and listen, still a little mistily perhaps, but no longer with +the same groundless horror and distress of mind. + +It was certainly a strange place, and we had a strange host. In +his long hiding, Cluny had grown to have all manner of precise +habits, like those of an old maid. He had a particular place, +where no one else must sit; the Cage was arranged in a particular +way, which none must disturb; cookery was one of his chief +fancies, and even while he was greeting us in, he kept an eye to +the collops. + +It appears, he sometimes visited or received visits from his wife +and one or two of his nearest friends, under the cover of night; +but for the more part lived quite alone, and communicated only +with his sentinels and the gillies that waited on him in the +Cage. The first thing in the morning, one of them, who was a +barber, came and shaved him, and gave him the news of the +country, of which he was immoderately greedy. There was no end +to his questions; he put them as earnestly as a child; and at +some of the answers, laughed out of all bounds of reason, and +would break out again laughing at the mere memory, hours after +the barber was gone. + +To be sure, there might have been a purpose in his questions; for +though he was thus sequestered, and like the other landed +gentlemen of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament of +legal powers, he still exercised a patriarchal justice in his +clan. Disputes were brought to him in his hiding-hole to be +decided; and the men of his country, who would have snapped their +fingers at the Court of Session, laid aside revenge and paid down +money at the bare word of this forfeited and hunted outlaw. When +he was angered, which was often enough, he gave his commands and +breathed threats of punishment like any, king; and his gillies +trembled and crouched away from him like children before a hasty +father. With each of them, as he entered, he ceremoniously shook +hands, both parties touching their bonnets at the same time in a +military manner. Altogether, I had a fair chance to see some of +the inner workings of a Highland clan; and this with a +proscribed, fugitive chief; his country conquered; the troops +riding upon all sides in quest of him, sometimes within a mile of +where he lay; and when the least of the ragged fellows whom he +rated and threatened, could have made a fortune by betraying him. + +On that first day, as soon as the collops were ready, Cluny gave +them with his own hand a squeeze of a lemon (for he was well +supplied with luxuries) and bade us draw in to our meal. + +"They," said he, meaning the collops, "are such as I gave his +Royal Highness in this very house; bating the lemon juice, for at +that time we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for +kitchen.[28] Indeed, there were mair dragoons than lemons in my +country in the year forty-six." + +[28]Condiment. + + +I do not know if the collops were truly very good, but my heart +rose against the sight of them, and I could eat but little. All +the while Cluny entertained us with stories of Prince Charlie's +stay in the Cage, giving us the very words of the speakers, and +rising from his place to show us where they stood. By these, I +gathered the Prince was a gracious, spirited boy, like the son of +a race of polite kings, but not so wise as Solomon. I gathered, +too, that while he was in the Cage, he was often drunk; so the +fault that has since, by all accounts, made such a wreck of him, +had even then begun to show itself. + +We were no sooner done eating than Cluny brought out an old, +thumbed, greasy pack of cards, such as you may find in a mean +inn; and his eyes brightened in his face as he proposed that we +should fall to playing. + +Now this was one of the things I had been brought up to eschew +like disgrace; it being held by my father neither the part of a +Christian nor yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and +fish for that of others, on the cast of painted pasteboard. To +be sure, I might have pleaded my fatigue, which was excuse +enough; but I thought it behoved that I should bear a testimony. +I must have got very red in the face, but I spoke steadily, and +told them I had no call to be a judge of others, but for my own +part, it was a matter in which I had no clearness. + +Cluny stopped mingling the cards. "What in deil's name is this?" +says he. "What kind of Whiggish, canting talk is this, for the +house of Cluny Macpherson?" + +"I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour," says Alan. "He +is an honest and a mettle gentleman, and I would have ye bear in +mind who says it. I bear a king's name," says he, cocking his +hat; "and I and any that I call friend are company for the best. +But the gentleman is tired, and should sleep; if he has no mind +to the cartes, it will never hinder you and me. And I'm fit and +willing, sir, to play ye any game that ye can name." + +"Sir," says Cluny, "in this poor house of mine I would have you +to ken that any gentleman may follow his pleasure. If your +friend would like to stand on his head, he is welcome. And if +either he, or you, or any other man, is not preceesely satisfied, +I will be proud to step outside with him." + +I had no will that these two friends should cut their throats for +my sake. + +"Sir," said I, "I am very wearied, as Alan says; and what's more, +as you are a man that likely has sons of your own, I may tell you +it was a promise to my father." + +"Say nae mair, say nae mair," said Cluny, and pointed me to a bed +of heather in a corner of the Cage. For all that he was +displeased enough, looked at me askance, and grumbled when he +looked. And indeed it must be owned that both my scruples and +the words in which I declared them, smacked somewhat of the +Covenanter, and were little in their place among wild Highland +Jacobites. + +What with the brandy and the venison, a strange heaviness had +come over me; and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I +fell into a kind of trance, in which I continued almost the whole +time of our stay in the Cage. Sometimes I was broad awake and +understood what passed; sometimes I only heard voices, or men +snoring, like the voice of a silly river; and the plaids upon the +wall dwindled down and swelled out again, like firelight shadows +on the roof. I must sometimes have spoken or cried out, for I +remember I was now and then amazed at being answered; yet I was +conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, +abiding horror -- a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I +lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and the fire, +and myself. + +The barber-gillie, who was a doctor too, was called in to +prescribe for me; but as he spoke in the Gaelic, I understood not +a word of his opinion, and was too sick even to ask for a +translation. I knew well enough I was ill, and that was all I +cared about. + +I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass. But Alan and +Cluny were most of the time at the cards, and I am clear that +Alan must have begun by winning; for I remember sitting up, and +seeing them hard at it, and a great glittering pile of as much as +sixty or a hundred guineas on the table. It looked strange +enough, to see all this wealth in a nest upon a cliff-side, +wattled about growing trees. And even then, I thought it seemed +deep water for Alan to be riding, who had no better battle-horse +than a green purse and a matter of five pounds. + +The luck, it seems, changed on the second day. About noon I was +wakened as usual for dinner, and as usual refused to eat, and was +given a dram with some bitter infusion which the barber had +prescribed. The sun was shining in at the open door of the Cage, +and this dazzled and offended me. Cluny sat at the table, biting +the pack of cards. Alan had stooped over the bed, and had his +face close to my eyes; to which, troubled as they were with the +fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness. + +He asked me for a loan of my money. + +"What for?" said I. + +"O, just for a loan," said he. + +"But why?" I repeated. "I don't see." + +"Hut, David!" said Alan, "ye wouldnae grudge me a loan?" + +I would, though, if I had had my senses! But all I thought of +then was to get his face away, and I handed him my money. + +On the morning of the third day, when we had been forty-eight +hours in the Cage, I awoke with a great relief of spirits, very +weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of the right size and +with their honest, everyday appearance. I had a mind to eat, +moreover, rose from bed of my own movement, and as soon as we had +breakfasted, stepped to the entry of the Cage and sat down +outside in the top of the wood. It was a grey day with a cool, +mild air: and I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbed by the +passing by of Cluny's scouts and servants coming with provisions +and reports; for as the coast was at that time clear, you might +almost say he held court openly. + +When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside, and were +questioning a gillie; and the chief turned about and spoke to me +in the Gaelic. + +"I have no Gaelic, sir," said I. + +Now since the card question, everything I said or did had the +power of annoying Cluny. "Your name has more sense than +yourself, then," said he angrily. "for it's good Gaelic. But the +point is this. My scout reports all clear in the south, and the +question is, have ye the strength to go?" + +I saw cards on the table, but no gold; only a heap of little +written papers, and these all on Cluny's side. Alan, besides, +had an odd look, like a man not very well content; and I began to +have a strong misgiving. + +"I do not know if I am as well as I should be," said I, looking +at Alan; "but the little money we have has a long way to carry +us." + +Alan took his under-lip into his mouth, and looked upon the +ground. + +"David," says he at last, "I've lost it; there's the naked +truth." + +"My money too?" said I. + +"Your money too," says Alan, with a groan. "Ye shouldnae have +given it me. I'm daft when I get to the cartes." + +"Hoot-toot! hoot-toot!" said Cluny. "It was all daffing; it's all +nonsense. Of course you'll have your money back again, and the +double of it, if ye'll make so free with me. It would be a +singular thing for me to keep it. It's not to be supposed that I +would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situation; that would +be a singular thing!" cries he, and began to pull gold out of his +pocket with a mighty red face. + +Alan said nothing, only looked on the ground. + +"Will you step to the door with me, sir?" said I. + +Cluny said he would be very glad, and followed me readily enough, +but he looked flustered and put out. + +"And now, sir," says I, "I must first acknowledge your +generosity." + +"Nonsensical nonsense!" cries Cluny. "Where's the generosity? +This is just a most unfortunate affair; but what would ye have me +do -- boxed up in this bee-skep of a cage of mine -- but just set +my friends to the cartes, when I can get them? And if they lose, +of course, it's not to be supposed ----" And here he came to a +pause. + +"Yes," said I, "if they lose, you give them back their money; and +if they win, they carry away yours in their pouches! I have said +before that I grant your generosity; but to me, sir, it's a very +painful thing to be placed in this position." + +There was a little silence, in which Cluny seemed always as if he +was about to speak, but said nothing. All the time he grew +redder and redder in the face. + +"I am a young man," said I, "and I ask your advice. Advise me +as you would your son. My friend fairly lost his money, after +having fairly gained a far greater sum of yours; can I accept it +back again? Would that be the right part for me to play? +Whatever I do, you can see for yourself it must be hard upon a +man of any pride." + +"It's rather hard on me, too, Mr. Balfour," said Cluny, "and ye +give me very much the look of a man that has entrapped poor +people to their hurt. I wouldnae have my friends come to any +house of mine to accept affronts; no," he cried, with a sudden +heat of anger, "nor yet to give them!" + +"And so you see, sir," said I, "there is something to be said +upon my side; and this gambling is a very poor employ for +gentlefolks. But I am still waiting your opinion." + +I am sure if ever Cluny hated any man it was David Balfour. He +looked me all over with a warlike eye, and I saw the challenge at +his lips. But either my youth disarmed him, or perhaps his own +sense of justice. Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all +concerned, and not least Cluny; the more credit that he took it +as he did. + +"Mr. Balfour," said he, "I think you are too nice and +covenanting, but for all that you have the spirit of a very +pretty gentleman. Upon my honest word, ye may take this money -- +it's what I would tell my son -- and here's my hand along with +it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE QUARREL + +Alan and I were put across Loch Errocht under cloud of night, and +went down its eastern shore to another hiding-place near the head +of Loch Rannoch, whither we were led by one of the gillies from +the Cage. This fellow carried all our luggage and Alan's +great-coat in the bargain, trotting along under the burthen, far +less than the half of which used to weigh me to the ground, like +a stout hill pony with a feather; yet he was a man that, in plain +contest, I could have broken on my knee. + +Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered; and +perhaps without that relief, and the consequent sense of liberty +and lightness, I could not have walked at all. I was but new +risen from a bed of sickness; and there was nothing in the state +of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion; travelling, as we +did, over the most dismal deserts in Scotland, under a cloudy +heaven, and with divided hearts among the travellers. + +For long, we said nothing; marching alongside or one behind the +other, each with a set countenance: I, angry and proud, and +drawing what strength I had from these two violent and sinful +feelings; Alan angry and ashamed, ashamed that he had lost my +money, angry that I should take it so ill. + +The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in my mind; +and the more I approved of it, the more ashamed I grew of my +approval. It would be a fine, handsome, generous thing, indeed, +for Alan to turn round and say to me: "Go, I am in the most +danger, and my company only increases yours." But for me to turn +to the friend who certainly loved me, and say to him: "You are in +great danger, I am in but little; your friendship is a burden; +go, take your risks and bear your hardships alone ----" no, that +was impossible; and even to think of it privily to myself, made +my cheeks to burn. + +And yet Alan had behaved like a child, and (what is worse) a +treacherous child. Wheedling my money from me while I lay +half-conscious was scarce better than theft; and yet here he was +trudging by my side, without a penny to his name, and by what I +could see, quite blithe to sponge upon the money he had driven me +to beg. True, I was ready to share it with him; but it made me +rage to see him count upon my readiness. + +These were the two things uppermost in my mind; and I could open +my mouth upon neither without black ungenerosity. So I did the +next worst, and said nothing, nor so much as looked once at my +companion, save with the tail of my eye. + +At last, upon the other side of Loch Errocht, going over a +smooth, rushy place, where the walking was easy, he could bear it +no longer, and came close to me. + +"David," says he, "this is no way for two friends to take a small +accident. I have to say that I'm sorry; and so that's said. And +now if you have anything, ye'd better say it." + +"O," says I, "I have nothing." + +He seemed disconcerted; at which I was meanly pleased. + +"No," said he, with rather a trembling voice, "but when I say I +was to blame?" + +"Why, of course, ye were to blame," said I, coolly; "and you will +bear me out that I have never reproached you." + +"Never," says he; "but ye ken very well that ye've done worse. +Are we to part? Ye said so once before. Are ye to say it again? +There's hills and heather enough between here and the two seas, +David; and I will own I'm no very keen to stay where I'm no +wanted." + +This pierced me like a sword, and seemed to lay bare my private +disloyalty. + +"Alan Breck!" I cried; and then: "Do you think I am one to turn +my back on you in your chief need? You dursn't say it to my +face. My whole conduct's there to give the lie to it. It's +true, I fell asleep upon the muir; but that was from weariness, +and you do wrong to cast it up to me----" + +"Which is what I never did," said Alan. + +"But aside from that," I continued, "what have I done that you +should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed +a friend, and it's not likely I'll begin with you. There are +things between us that I can never forget, even if you can." + +"I will only say this to ye, David," said Alan, very quietly, +"that I have long been owing ye my life, and now I owe ye money. +Ye should try to make that burden light for me." + +This ought to have touched me, and in a manner it did, but the +wrong manner. I felt I was behaving, badly; and was now not only +angry with Alan, but angry with myself in the bargain; and it +made me the more cruel. + +"You asked me to speak," said I. "Well, then, I will. You own +yourself that you have done me a disservice; I have had to +swallow an affront: I have never reproached you, I never named +the thing till you did. And now you blame me," cried I, "because +I cannae laugh and sing as if I was glad to be affronted. The +next thing will be that I'm to go down upon my knees and thank +you for it! Ye should think more of others, Alan Breck. If ye +thought more of others, ye would perhaps speak less about +yourself; and when a friend that likes you very well has passed +over an offence without a word, you would be blithe to let it +lie, instead of making it a stick to break his back with. By +your own way of it, it was you that was to blame; then it +shouldnae be you to seek the quarrel." + +"Aweel," said Alan, "say nae mair." + +And we fell back into our former silence; and came to our +journey's end, and supped, and lay down to sleep, without another +word. + +The gillie put us across Loch Rannoch in the dusk of the next +day, and gave us his opinion as to our best route. This was to +get us up at once into the tops of the mountains: to go round by +a circuit, turning the heads of Glen Lyon, Glen Lochay, and Glen +Dochart, and come down upon the lowlands by Kippen and the upper +waters of the Forth. Alan was little pleased with a route which +led us through the country of his blood-foes, the Glenorchy +Campbells. He objected that by turning to the east, we should +come almost at once among the Athole Stewarts, a race of his own +name and lineage, although following a different chief, and come +besides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we +were bound. But the gillie, who was indeed the chief man of +Cluny's scouts, had good reasons to give him on all hands, naming +the force of troops in every district, and alleging finally (as +well as I could understand) that we should nowhere be so little +troubled as in a country of the Campbells. + +Alan gave way at last, but with only half a heart. "It's one of +the dowiest countries in Scotland," said he. "There's naething +there that I ken, but heath, and crows, and Campbells. But I see +that ye're a man of some penetration; and be it as ye please!" + +We set forth accordingly by this itinerary; and for the best part +of three nights travelled on eerie mountains and among the +well-heads of wild rivers; often buried in mist, almost +continually blown and rained upon, and not once cheered by any +glimpse of sunshine. By day, we lay and slept in the drenching +heather; by night, incessantly clambered upon break-neck hills +and among rude crags. We often wandered; we were often so +involved in fog, that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A +fire was never to be thought of. Our only food was drammach and +a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the Cage; and as +for drink, Heaven knows we had no want of water. + +This was a dreadful time, rendered the more dreadful by the gloom +of the weather and the country. I was never warm; my teeth +chattered in my head; I was troubled with a very sore throat, +such as I had on the isle; I had a painful stitch in my side, +which never left me; and when I slept in my wet bed, with the +rain beating above and the mud oozing below me, it was to live +over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures -- to see the +tower of Shaws lit by lightning, Ransome carried below on the +men's backs, Shuan dying on the round-house floor, or Colin +Campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat. From such broken +slumbers, I would be aroused in the gloaming, to sit up in the +same puddle where I had slept, and sup cold drammach; the rain +driving sharp in my face or running down my back in icy trickles; +the mist enfolding us like as in a gloomy chamber -- or, perhaps, +if the wind blew, falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf +of some dark valley where the streams were crying aloud. + +The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all round. +In this steady rain the springs of the mountain were broken up; +every glen gushed water like a cistern; every stream was in high +spate, and had filled and overflowed its channel. During our +night tramps, it was solemn to hear the voice of them below in +the valleys, now booming like thunder, now with an angry cry. I +could well understand the story of the Water Kelpie, that demon +of the streams, who is fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the +ford until the coming of the doomed traveller. Alan I saw +believed it, or half believed it; and when the cry of the river +rose more than usually sharp, I was little surprised (though, of +course, I would still be shocked) to see him cross himself in the +manner of the Catholics. + +During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity, +scarcely even that of speech. The truth is that I was sickening +for my grave, which is my best excuse. But besides that I was of +an unforgiving disposition from my birth, slow to take offence, +slower to forget it, and now incensed both against my companion +and myself. For the best part of two days he was unweariedly +kind; silent, indeed, but always ready to help, and always hoping +(as I could very well see) that my displeasure would blow by. +For the same length of time I stayed in myself, nursing my anger, +roughly refusing his services, and passing him over with my eyes +as if he had been a bush or a stone. + +The second night, or rather the peep of the third day, found us +upon a very open hill, so that we could not follow our usual plan +and lie down immediately to eat and sleep. Before we had reached +a place of shelter, the grey had come pretty clear, for though it +still rained, the clouds ran higher; and Alan, looking in my +face, showed some marks of concern. + +"Ye had better let me take your pack," said he, for perhaps the +ninth time since we had parted from the scout beside Loch +Rannoch. + +"I do very well, I thank you," said I, as cold as ice. + +Alan flushed darkly. "I'll not offer it again," he said. "I'm +not a patient man, David." + +"I never said you were," said I, which was exactly the rude, +silly speech of a boy of ten. + +Alan made no answer at the time, but his conduct answered for +him. Henceforth, it is to be thought, he quite forgave himself +for the affair at Cluny's; cocked his hat again, walked jauntily, +whistled airs, and looked at me upon one side with a provoking +smile. + +The third night we were to pass through the western end of the +country of Balquhidder. It came clear and cold, with a touch in +the air like frost, and a northerly wind that blew the clouds +away and made the stars bright. The streams were full, of +course, and still made a great noise among the hills; but I +observed that Alan thought no more upon the Kelpie, and was in +high good spirits. As for me, the change of weather came too +late; I had lain in the mire so long that (as the Bible has it) +my very clothes "abhorred me." I was dead weary, deadly sick and +full of pains and shiverings; the chill of the wind went through +me, and the sound of it confused my ears. In this poor state I +had to bear from my companion something in the nature of a +persecution. He spoke a good deal, and never without a taunt. +"Whig" was the best name he had to give me. "Here," he would +say, "here's a dub for ye to jump, my Whiggie! I ken you're a +fine jumper!" And so on; all the time with a gibing voice and +face. + +I knew it was my own doing, and no one else's; but I was too +miserable to repent. I felt I could drag myself but little +farther; pretty soon, I must lie down and die on these wet +mountains like a sheep or a fox, and my bones must whiten there +like the bones of a beast. My head was light perhaps; but I +began to love the prospect, I began to glory in the thought of +such a death, alone in the desert, with the wild eagles besieging +my last moments. Alan would repent then, I thought; he would +remember, when I was dead, how much he owed me, and the +remembrance would be torture. So I went like a sick, silly, and +bad-hearted schoolboy, feeding my anger against a fellow-man, +when I would have been better on my knees, crying on God for +mercy. And at each of Alan's taunts, I hugged myself. "Ah!" +thinks I to myself, "I have a better taunt in readiness; when I +lie down and die, you will feel it like a buffet in your face; +ah, what a revenge! ah, how you will regret your ingratitude and +cruelty!" + +All the while, I was growing worse and worse. Once I had fallen, +my leg simply doubling under me, and this had struck Alan for the +moment; but I was afoot so briskly, and set off again with such a +natural manner, that he soon forgot the incident. Flushes of +heat went over me, and then spasms of shuddering. The stitch in +my side was hardly bearable. At last I began to feel that I +could trail myself no farther: and with that, there came on me +all at once the wish to have it out with Alan, let my anger +blaze, and be done with my life in a more sudden manner. He had +just called me "Whig." I stopped. + +"Mr. Stewart," said I, in a voice that quivered like a +fiddle-string, "you are older than I am, and should know your +manners. Do you think it either very wise or very witty to cast +my politics in my teeth? I thought, where folk differed, it was +the part of gentlemen to differ civilly; and if I did not, I may +tell you I could find a better taunt than some of yours." + +Alan had stopped opposite to me, his hat cocked, his hands in his +breeches pockets, his head a little on one side. He listened, +smiling evilly, as I could see by the starlight; and when I had +done he began to whistle a Jacobite air. It was the air made in +mockery of General Cope's defeat at Preston Pans: + + "Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin' yet? + And are your drums a-beatin' yet?" + + +And it came in my mind that Alan, on the day of that battle, had +been engaged upon the royal side. + +"Why do ye take that air, Mr. Stewart?" said I. "Is that to +remind me you have been beaten on both sides?" + +The air stopped on Alan's lips. "David!" said he. + +"But it's time these manners ceased," I continued; "and I mean +you shall henceforth speak civilly of my King and my good friends +the Campbells." + +"I am a Stewart --" began Alan. + +"O!" says I, "I ken ye bear a king's name. But you are to +remember, since I have been in the Highlands, I have seen a good +many of those that bear it; and the best I can say of them is +this, that they would be none the worse of washing." + +"Do you know that you insult me?" said Alan, very low. + +"I am sorry for that," said I, "for I am not done; and if you +distaste the sermon, I doubt the pirliecue[29] will please you as +little. You have been chased in the field by the grown men of my +party; it seems a poor kind of pleasure to out-face a boy. Both +the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten you; you have run before +them like a hare. It behoves you to speak of them as of your +betters." + +[29] A second sermon. + + +Alan stood quite still, the tails of his great-coat clapping +behind him in the wind. + +"This is a pity" he said at last. "There are things said that +cannot be passed over." + +"I never asked you to," said I. "I am as ready as yourself." + +"Ready?" said he. + +"Ready," I repeated. "I am no blower and boaster like some that +I could name. Come on!" And drawing my sword, I fell on guard +as Alan himself had taught me. + +"David!" he cried . "Are ye daft? I cannae draw upon ye, David. +It's fair murder." + +"That was your look-out when you insulted me," said I. + +"It's the truth!" cried Alan, and he stood for a moment, wringing +his mouth in his hand like a man in sore perplexity. "It's the +bare truth," he said, and drew his sword. But before I could +touch his blade with mine, he had thrown it from him and fallen +to the ground. "Na, na," he kept saying, "na, na -- I cannae, I +cannae." + +At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me; and I found +myself only sick, and sorry, and blank, and wondering at myself. +I would have given the world to take back what I had said; but a +word once spoken, who can recapture it? I minded me of all +Alan's kindness and courage in the past, how he had helped and +cheered and borne with me in our evil days; and then recalled my +own insults, and saw that I had lost for ever that doughty +friend. At the same time, the sickness that hung upon me seemed +to redouble, and the pang in my side was like a sword for +sharpness. I thought I must have swooned where I stood. + +This it was that gave me a thought. No apology could blot out +what I had said; it was needless to think of one, none could +cover the offence; but where an apology was vain, a mere cry for +help might bring Alan back to my side. I put my pride away from +me. "Alan!" I said; "if ye cannae help me, I must just die +here." + +He started up sitting, and looked at me. + +"It's true," said I. "I'm by with it. O, let me get into the +bield of a house -- I'll can die there easier." I had no need to +pretend; whether I chose or not, I spoke in a weeping voice that +would have melted a heart of stone. + +"Can ye walk?" asked Alan. + +"No," said I, "not without help. This last hour my legs have +been fainting under me; I've a stitch in my side like a red-hot +iron; I cannae breathe right. If I die, ye'll can forgive me, +Alan? In my heart, I liked ye fine -- even when I was the +angriest." + +"Wheesht, wheesht!" cried Alan. "Dinna say that! David man, ye +ken --" He shut his mouth upon a sob. "Let me get my arm about +ye," he continued; "that's the way! Now lean upon me hard. Gude +kens where there's a house! We're in Balwhidder, too; there +should be no want of houses, no, nor friends' houses here. Do ye +gang easier so, Davie?" + +"Ay" said I, "I can be doing this way;" and I pressed his arm +with my hand. + +Again he came near sobbing. "Davie," said he, "I'm no a right +man at all; I have neither sense nor kindness; I could nae +remember ye were just a bairn, I couldnae see ye were dying on +your feet; Davie, ye'll have to try and forgive me." + +"O man, let's say no more about it!" said I. "We're neither one +of us to mend the other -- that's the truth! We must just bear +and forbear, man Alan. O, but my stitch is sore! Is there nae +house?" + +"I'll find a house to ye, David," he said, stoutly. "We'll +follow down the burn, where there's bound to be houses. My poor +man, will ye no be better on my back?" + +"O, Alan," says I, "and me a good twelve inches taller?" + +"Ye're no such a thing," cried Alan, with a start. "There may be +a trifling matter of an inch or two; I'm no saying I'm just +exactly what ye would call a tall man, whatever; and I dare say," +he added, his voice tailing off in a laughable manner, "now when +I come to think of it, I dare say ye'll be just about right. Ay, +it'll be a foot, or near hand; or may be even mair!" + +It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the +fear of some fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, had not my +stitch caught me so hard; but if I had laughed, I think I must +have wept too. + +"Alan," cried I, "what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye +care for such a thankless fellow?" + +"'Deed, and I don't, know" said Alan. "For just precisely what I +thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled: -- and +now I like ye better!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN BALQUHIDDER + +At the door of the first house we came to, Alan knocked, which +was of no very safe enterprise in such a part of the Highlands as +the Braes of Balquhidder. No great clan held rule there; it was +filled and disputed by small septs, and broken remnants, and what +they call "chiefless folk," driven into the wild country about +the springs of Forth and Teith by the advance of the Campbells. +Here were Stewarts and Maclarens, which came to the same thing, +for the Maclarens followed Alan's chief in war, and made but one +clan with Appin. Here, too, were many of that old, proscribed, +nameless, red-handed clan of the Macgregors. They had always +been ill-considered, and now worse than ever, having credit with +no side or party in the whole country of Scotland. Their chief, +Macgregor of Macgregor, was in exile; the more immediate leader +of that part of them about Balquhidder, James More, Rob Roy's +eldest son, lay waiting his trial in Edinburgh Castle; they were +in ill-blood with Highlander and Lowlander, with the Grahames, +the Maclarens, and the Stewarts; and Alan, who took up the +quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremely wishful to +avoid them. + +Chance served us very well; for it was a household of Maclarens +that we found, where Alan was not only welcome for his name's +sake but known by reputation. Here then I was got to bed without +delay, and a doctor fetched, who found me in a sorry plight. But +whether because he was a very good doctor, or I a very young, +strong man, I lay bedridden for no more than a week, and before a +month I was able to take the road again with a good heart. + +All this time Alan would not leave me though I often pressed him, +and indeed his foolhardiness in staying was a common subject of +outcry with the two or three friends that were let into the +secret. He hid by day in a hole of the braes under a little +wood; and at night, when the coast was clear, would come into the +house to visit me. I need not say if I was pleased to see him; +Mrs. Maclaren, our hostess, thought nothing good enough for such +a guest; and as Duncan Dhu (which was the name of our host) had a +pair of pipes in his house, and was much of a lover of music, +this time of my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly +turned night into day. + +The soldiers let us be; although once a party of two companies +and some dragoons went by in the bottom of the valley, where I +could see them through the window as I lay in bed. What was much +more astonishing, no magistrate came near me, and there was no +question put of whence I came or whither I was going; and in that +time of excitement, I was as free of all inquiry as though I had +lain in a desert. Yet my presence was known before I left to all +the people in Balquhidder and the adjacent parts; many coming +about the house on visits and these (after the custom of the +country) spreading the news among their neighbours. The bills, +too, had now been printed. There was one pinned near the foot of +my bed, where I could read my own not very flattering portrait +and, in larger characters, the amount of the blood money that had +been set upon my life. Duncan Dhu and the rest that knew that I +had come there in Alan's company, could have entertained no doubt +of who I was; and many others must have had their guess. For +though I had changed my clothes, I could not change my age or +person; and Lowland boys of eighteen were not so rife in these +parts of the world, and above all about that time, that they +could fail to put one thing with another, and connect me with the +bill. So it was, at least. Other folk keep a secret among two +or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out; but among these +clansmen, it is told to a whole countryside, and they will keep +it for a century. + +There was but one thing happened worth narrating; and that is the +visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of the notorious Rob +Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge of carrying a +young woman from Balfron and marrying her (as was alleged) by +force; yet he stepped about Balquhidder like a gentleman in his +own walled policy. It was he who had shot James Maclaren at the +plough stilts, a quarrel never satisfied; yet he walked into the +house of his blood enemies as a rider[30] might into a public +inn. + +[30]Commercial traveller. + + +Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was; and we looked at +one another in concern. You should understand, it was then close +upon the time of Alan's coming; the two were little likely to +agree; and yet if we sent word or sought to make a signal, it was +sure to arouse suspicion in a man under so dark a cloud as the +Macgregor. + +He came in with a great show of civility, but like a man among +inferiors; took off his bonnet to Mrs. Maclaren, but clapped it +on his head again to speak to Duncan; and leaving thus set +himself (as he would have thought) in a proper light, came to my +bedside and bowed. + +"I am given to know, sir," says he, "that your name is Balfour." + +"They call me David Balfour," said I, "at your service." + +"I would give ye my name in return, sir" he replied, "but it's +one somewhat blown upon of late days; and it'll perhaps suffice +if I tell ye that I am own brother to James More Drummond or +Macgregor, of whom ye will scarce have failed to hear." + +"No, sir," said I, a little alarmed; "nor yet of your father, +Macgregor-Campbell." And I sat up and bowed in bed; for I +thought best to compliment him, in case he was proud of having +had an outlaw to his father. + +He bowed in return. "But what I am come to say, sir," he went +on, "is this. In the year '45, my brother raised a part of the +'Gregara' and marched six companies to strike a stroke for the +good side; and the surgeon that marched with our clan and cured +my brother's leg when it was broken in the brush at Preston Pans, +was a gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself. He was +brother to Balfour of Baith; and if you are in any reasonable +degree of nearness one of that gentleman's kin, I have come to +put myself and my people at your command." + +You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent than any +cadger's dog; my uncle, to be sure, had prated of some of our +high connections, but nothing to the present purpose; and there +was nothing left me but that bitter disgrace of owning that I +could not tell. + +Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself about, +turned his back upon me without a sign of salutation, and as he +went towards the door, I could hear him telling Duncan that I was +"only some kinless loon that didn't know his own father." Angry +as I was at these words, and ashamed of my own ignorance, I could +scarce keep from smiling that a man who was under the lash of the +law (and was indeed hanged some three years later) should be so +nice as to the descent of his acquaintances. + +Just in the door, he met Alan coming in; and the two drew back +and looked at each other like strange dogs. They were neither of +them big men, but they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. +Each wore a sword, and by a movement of his haunch, thrust clear +the hilt of it, so that it might be the more readily grasped and +the blade drawn. + +"Mr. Stewart, I am thinking," says Robin. + +"Troth, Mr. Macgregor, it's not a name to be ashamed of," +answered Alan. + +"I did not know ye were in my country, sir," says Robin. + +"It sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my friends the +Maclarens," says Alan. + +"That's a kittle point," returned the other. "There may be two +words to say to that. But I think I will have heard that you are +a man of your sword?" + +"Unless ye were born deaf, Mr. Macgregor, ye will have heard a +good deal more than that," says Alan. "I am not the only man +that can draw steel in Appin; and when my kinsman and captain, +Ardshiel, had a talk with a gentleman of your name, not so many +years back, I could never hear that the Macgregor had the best of +it." + +"Do ye mean my father, sir?" says Robin. + +"Well, I wouldnae wonder," said Alan. "The gentleman I have in +my mind had the ill-taste to clap Campbell to his name." + +"My father was an old man," returned Robin. + +"The match was unequal. You and me would make a better pair, +sir." + +"I was thinking that," said Alan. + +I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at the elbow +of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene upon the least +occasion. But when that word was uttered, it was a case of now +or never; and Duncan, with something of a white face to be sure, +thrust himself between. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I will have been thinking of a very +different matter, whateffer. Here are my pipes, and here are you +two gentlemen who are baith acclaimed pipers. It's an auld +dispute which one of ye's the best. Here will be a braw chance +to settle it." + +"Why, sir," said Alan, still addressing Robin, from whom indeed +he had not so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Robin from him, +"why, sir," says Alan, "I think I will have heard some sough[31] +of the sort. Have ye music, as folk say? Are ye a bit of a +piper?" + +[31]Rumour. + + +"I can pipe like a Macrimmon!" cries Robin. + +"And that is a very bold word," quoth Alan. + +"I have made bolder words good before now," returned Robin, "and +that against better adversaries." + +"It is easy to try that," says Alan. + +Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was his +principal possession, and to set before his guests a mutton-ham +and a bottle of that drink which they call Athole brose, and +which is made of old whiskey, strained honey and sweet cream, +slowly beaten together in the right order and proportion. The +two enemies were still on the very breach of a quarrel; but down +they sat, one upon each side of the peat fire, with a mighty show +of politeness. Maclaren pressed them to taste his mutton-ham and +"the wife's brose," reminding them the wife was out of Athole and +had a name far and wide for her skill in that confection. But +Robin put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath. + +"I would have ye to remark, sir," said Alan, "that I havenae +broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will be worse for the +breath than any brose in Scotland." + +"I will take no advantages, Mr. Stewart," replied Robin. "Eat +and drink; I'll follow you." + +Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of the +brose to Mrs. Maclaren; and then after a great number of +civilities, Robin took the pipes and played a little spring in a +very ranting manner. + +"Ay, ye can, blow" said Alan; and taking the instrument from his +rival, he first played the same spring in a manner identical with +Robin's; and then wandered into variations, which, as he went on, +he decorated with a perfect flight of grace-notes, such as pipers +love, and call the "warblers." + +I had been pleased with Robin's playing, Alan's ravished me. + +"That's no very bad, Mr. Stewart," said the rival, "but ye show a +poor device in your warblers." + +"Me!" cried Alan, the blood starting to his face. "I give ye the +lie." + +"Do ye own yourself beaten at the pipes, then," said Robin, "that +ye seek to change them for the sword?" + +"And that's very well said, Mr. Macgregor," returned Alan; "and +in the meantime" (laying a strong accent on the word) "I take +back the lie. I appeal to Duncan." + +"Indeed, ye need appeal to naebody," said Robin. "Ye're a far +better judge than any Maclaren in Balquhidder: for it's a God's +truth that you're a very creditable piper for a Stewart. Hand me +the pipes." Alan did as he asked; and Robin proceeded to imitate +and correct some part of Alan's variations, which it seemed that +he remembered perfectly. + +"Ay, ye have music," said Alan, gloomily. + +"And now be the judge yourself, Mr. Stewart," said Robin; and +taking up the variations from the beginning, he worked them +throughout to so new a purpose, with such ingenuity and +sentiment, and with so odd a fancy and so quick a knack in the +grace-notes, that I was amazed to hear him. + +As for Alan, his face grew dark and hot, and he sat and gnawed +his fingers, like a man under some deep affront. "Enough!" he +cried. "Ye can blow the pipes -- make the most of that." And he +made as if to rise. + +But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence, and +struck into the slow measure of a pibroch. It was a fine piece of +music in itself, and nobly played; but it seems, besides, it was +a piece peculiar to the Appin Stewarts and a chief favourite with +Alan. The first notes were scarce out, before there came a +change in his face; when the time quickened, he seemed to grow +restless in his seat; and long before that piece was at an end, +the last signs of his anger died from him, and he had no thought +but for the music. + +"Robin Oig," he said, when it was done, "ye are a great piper. I +am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with ye. Body of me! ye +have mair music in your sporran than I have in my head! And +though it still sticks in my mind that I could maybe show ye +another of it with the cold steel, I warn ye beforehand -- it'll +no be fair! It would go against my heart to haggle a man that +can blow the pipes as you can!" + +Thereupon that quarrel was made up; all night long the brose was +going and the pipes changing hands; and the day had come pretty +bright, and the three men were none the better for what they had +been taking, before Robin as much as thought upon the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +END OF THE FLIGHT: WE PASS THE FORTH + +The month, as I have said, was not yet out, but it was already +far through August, and beautiful warm weather, with every sign +of an early and great harvest, when I was pronounced able for my +journey. Our money was now run to so low an ebb that we must +think first of all on speed; for if we came not soon to Mr. +Rankeillor's, or if when we came there he should fail to help me, +we must surely starve. In Alan's view, besides, the hunt must +have now greatly slackened; and the line of the Forth and even +Stirling Bridge, which is the main pass over that river, would be +watched with little interest. + +"It's a chief principle in military affairs," said he, "to go +where ye are least expected. Forth is our trouble; ye ken the +saying, 'Forth bridles the wild Hielandman.' Well, if we seek to +creep round about the head of that river and come down by Kippen +or Balfron, it's just precisely there that they'll be looking to +lay hands on us. But if we stave on straight to the auld Brig of +Stirling, I'll lay my sword they let us pass unchallenged." + +The first night, accordingly, we pushed to the house of a +Maclaren in Strathire, a friend of Duncan's, where we slept the +twenty-first of the month, and whence we set forth again about +the fall of night to make another easy stage. The twenty-second +we lay in a heather bush on the hillside in Uam Var, within view +of a herd of deer, the happiest ten hours of sleep in a fine, +breathing sunshine and on bone-dry ground, that I have ever +tasted. That night we struck Allan Water, and followed it down; +and coming to the edge of the hills saw the whole Carse of +Stirling underfoot, as flat as a pancake, with the town and +castle on a hill in the midst of it, and the moon shining on the +Links of Forth. + +"Now," said Alan, "I kenna if ye care, but ye're in your own land +again. We passed the Hieland Line in the first hour; and now if +we could but pass yon crooked water, we might cast our bonnets in +the air." + +In Allan Water, near by where it falls into the Forth, we found a +little sandy islet, overgrown with burdock, butterbur and the +like low plants, that would just cover us if we lay flat. Here +it was we made our camp, within plain view of Stirling Castle, +whence we could hear the drums beat as some part of the garrison +paraded. Shearers worked all day in a field on one side of the +river, and we could hear the stones going on the hooks and the +voices and even the words of the men talking. It behoved to lie +close and keep silent. But the sand of the little isle was +sun-warm, the green plants gave us shelter for our heads, we had +food and drink in plenty; and to crown all, we were within sight +of safety. + +As soon as the shearers quit their work and the dusk began to +fall, we waded ashore and struck for the Bridge of Stirling, +keeping to the fields and under the field fences. + +The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old, high, narrow +bridge with pinnacles along the parapet; and you may conceive +with how much interest I looked upon it, not only as a place +famous in history, but as the very doors of salvation to Alan and +myself. The moon was not yet up when we came there; a few lights +shone along the front of the fortress, and lower down a few +lighted windows in the town; but it was all mighty still, and +there seemed to be no guard upon the passage. + +I was for pushing straight across; but Alan was more wary. + +"It looks unco' quiet," said he; "but for all that we'll lie down +here cannily behind a dyke, and make sure." + +So we lay for about a quarter of an hour, whiles whispering, +whiles lying still and hearing nothing earthly but the washing of +the water on the piers. At last there came by an old, hobbling +woman with a crutch stick; who first stopped a little, close to +where we lay, and bemoaned herself and the long way she had +travelled; and then set forth again up the steep spring of the +bridge. The woman was so little, and the night still so dark, +that we soon lost sight of her; only heard the sound of her +steps, and her stick, and a cough that she had by fits, draw +slowly farther away. + +"She's bound to be across now," I whispered. + +"Na," said Alan, "her foot still sounds boss[32] upon the +bridge." + +[32]Hollow. + + +And just then -- "Who goes?" cried a voice, and we heard the butt +of a musket rattle on the stones. I must suppose the sentry had +been sleeping, so that had we tried, we might have passed unseen; +but he was awake now, and the chance forfeited. + +"This'll never do," said Alan. "This'll never, never do for us, +David." + +And without another word, he began to crawl away through the +fields; and a little after, being well out of eye-shot, got to +his feet again, and struck along a road that led to the eastward. +I could not conceive what he was doing; and indeed I was so +sharply cut by the disappointment, that I was little likely to be +pleased with anything. A moment back and I had seen myself +knocking at Mr. Rankeillor's door to claim my inheritance, like a +hero in a ballad; and here was I back again, a wandering, hunted +blackguard, on the wrong side of Forth. + +"Well?" said I. + +"Well," said Alan, "what would ye have? They're none such fools +as I took them for. We have still the Forth to pass, Davie -- +weary fall the rains that fed and the hillsides that guided it!" + +"And why go east?" said I. + +"Ou, just upon the chance!" said he. "If we cannae pass the +river, we'll have to see what we can do for the firth." + +"There are fords upon the river, and none upon the firth," said +I. + +"To be sure there are fords, and a bridge forbye," quoth Alan; +"and of what service, when they are watched?" + +"Well," said I, "but a river can be swum." + +"By them that have the skill of it," returned he; "but I have yet +to hear that either you or me is much of a hand at that exercise; +and for my own part, I swim like a stone." + +"I'm not up to you in talking back, Alan," I said; "but I can see +we're making bad worse. If it's hard to pass a river, it stands +to reason it must be worse to pass a sea." + +"But there's such a thing as a boat," says Alan, "or I'm the more +deceived." + +"Ay, and such a thing as money," says I. "But for us that have +neither one nor other, they might just as well not have been +invented." + +"Ye think so?" said Alan. + +"I do that," said I. + +"David," says he, "ye're a man of small invention and less faith. +But let me set my wits upon the hone, and if I cannae beg, +borrow, nor yet steal a boat, I'll make one!" + +"I think I see ye!" said I. "And what's more than all that: if +ye pass a bridge, it can tell no tales; but if we pass the firth, +there's the boat on the wrong side -- somebody must have brought +it -- the country-side will all be in a bizz ---" + +"Man!" cried Alan, "if I make a boat, I'll make a body to take it +back again! So deave me with no more of your nonsense, but walk +(for that's what you've got to do) --and let Alan think for ye." + +All night, then, we walked through the north side of the Carse +under the high line of the Ochil mountains; and by Alloa and +Clackmannan and Culross, all of which we avoided: and about ten +in the morning, mighty hungry and tired, came to the little +clachan of Limekilns. This is a place that sits near in by the +water-side, and looks across the Hope to the town of the +Queensferry. Smoke went up from both of these, and from other +villages and farms upon all hands. The fields were being reaped; +two ships lay anchored, and boats were coming and going on the +Hope. It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me; and I +could not take my fill of gazing at these comfortable, green, +cultivated hills and the busy people both of the field and sea. + +For all that, there was Mr. Rankeillor's house on the south +shore, where I had no doubt wealth awaited me; and here was I +upon the north, clad in poor enough attire of an outlandish +fashion, with three silver shillings left to me of all my +fortune, a price set upon my head, and an outlawed man for my +sole company. + +"O, Alan!" said I, "to think of it! Over there, there's all that +heart could want waiting me; and the birds go over, and the boats +go over -- all that please can go, but just me only! O, man, but +it's a heart-break!" + +In Limekilns we entered a small change-house, which we only knew +to be a public by the wand over the door, and bought some bread +and cheese from a good-looking lass that was the servant. This +we carried with us in a bundle, meaning to sit and eat it in a +bush of wood on the sea-shore, that we saw some third part of a +mile in front. As we went, I kept looking across the water and +sighing to myself; and though I took no heed of it, Alan had +fallen into a muse. At last he stopped in the way. + +"Did ye take heed of the lass we bought this of?" says he, +tapping on the bread and cheese. + +"To be sure," said I, "and a bonny lass she was." + +"Ye thought that?" cries he. "Man, David, that's good news." + +"In the name of all that's wonderful, why so?" says I. "What +good can that do?" + +"Well," said Alan, with one of his droll looks, "I was rather in +hopes it would maybe get us that boat." + +"If it were the other way about, it would be liker it," said I. + +"That's all that you ken, ye see," said Alan. "I don't want the +lass to fall in love with ye, I want her to be sorry for ye, +David; to which end there is no manner of need that she should +take you for a beauty. Let me see" (looking me curiously over). +"I wish ye were a wee thing paler; but apart from that ye'll do +fine for my purpose -- ye have a fine, hang-dog, rag-and-tatter, +clappermaclaw kind of a look to ye, as if ye had stolen the coat +from a potato-bogle. Come; right about, and back to the +change-house for that boat of ours." + +I followed him, laughing. + +"David Balfour," said he, "ye're a very funny gentleman by your +way of it, and this is a very funny employ for ye, no doubt. For +all that, if ye have any affection for my neck (to say nothing of +your own) ye will perhaps be kind enough to take this matter +responsibly. I am going to do a bit of play-acting, the bottom +ground of which is just exactly as serious as the gallows for the +pair of us. So bear it, if ye please, in mind, and conduct +yourself according." + +"Well, well," said I, "have it as you will." + +As we got near the clachan, he made me take his arm and hang upon +it like one almost helpless with weariness; and by the time he +pushed open the change-house door, he seemed to be half carrying +me. The maid appeared surprised (as well she might be) at our +speedy return; but Alan had no words to spare for her in +explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a tass of brandy +with which he fed me in little sips, and then breaking up the +bread and cheese helped me to eat it like a nursery-lass; the +whole with that grave, concerned, affectionate countenance, that +might have imposed upon a judge. It was small wonder if the maid +were taken with the picture we presented, of a poor, sick, +overwrought lad and his most tender comrade. She drew quite +near, and stood leaning with her back on the next table. + +"What's like wrong with him?" said she at last. + +Alan turned upon her, to my great wonder, with a kind of fury. +"Wrong?" cries he. "He's walked more hundreds of miles than he +has hairs upon his chin, and slept oftener in wet heather than +dry sheets. Wrong, quo' she! Wrong enough, I would think! +Wrong, indeed!" and he kept grumbling to himself as he fed me, +like a man ill-pleased. + +"He's young for the like of that," said the maid. + +"Ower young," said Alan, with his back to her. + +"He would be better riding," says she. + +"And where could I get a horse to him?" cried Alan, turning on +her with the same appearance of fury. "Would ye have me steal?" + +I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon, as +indeed it closed her mouth for the time. But my companion knew +very well what he was doing; and for as simple as he was in some +things of life, had a great fund of roguishness in such affairs +as these. + +"Ye neednae tell me," she said at last -- "ye're gentry." + +"Well," said Alan, softened a little (I believe against his will) +by this artless comment, "and suppose we were? Did ever you hear +that gentrice put money in folk's pockets?" + +She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinherited +great lady. "No," says she, "that's true indeed." + +I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting +tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I +could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was +better already. My voice stuck in my throat, for I ever hated to +take part in lies; but my very embarrassment helped on the plot, +for the lass no doubt set down my husky voice to sickness and +fatigue. + +"Has he nae friends?" said she, in a tearful voice. + +"That has he so!" cried Alan, "if we could but win to them! -- +friends and rich friends, beds to lie in, food to eat, doctors to +see to him -- and here he must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the +heather like a beggarman." + +"And why that?" says the lass. + +"My dear," said Alan, "I cannae very safely say; but I'll tell ye +what I'll do instead," says he, "I'll whistle ye a bit tune." +And with that he leaned pretty far over the table, and in a mere +breath of a whistle, but with a wonderful pretty sentiment, gave +her a few bars of "Charlie is my darling." + +"Wheesht," says she, and looked over her shoulder to the door. + +"That's it," said Alan. + +"And him so young!" cries the lass. + +"He's old enough to----" and Alan struck his forefinger on the +back part of his neck, meaning that I was old enough to lose my +head. + +"It would be a black shame," she cried, flushing high. + +"It's what will be, though," said Alan, "unless we manage the +better." + +At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the house, +leaving us alone together. Alan in high good humour at the +furthering of his schemes, and I in bitter dudgeon at being +called a Jacobite and treated like a child. + +"Alan," I cried, "I can stand no more of this." + +"Ye'll have to sit it then, Davie," said he. "For if ye upset +the pot now, ye may scrape your own life out of the fire, but +Alan Breck is a dead man." + +This was so true that I could only groan; and even my groan +served Alan's purpose, for it was overheard by the lass as she +came flying in again with a dish of white puddings and a bottle +of strong ale. + +"Poor lamb!" says she, and had no sooner set the meat before us, +than she touched me on the shoulder with a little friendly touch, +as much as to bid me cheer up. Then she told us to fall to, and +there would be no more to pay; for the inn was her own, or at +least her father's, and he was gone for the day to Pittencrieff. +We waited for no second bidding, for bread and cheese is but cold +comfort and the puddings smelt excellently well; and while we sat +and ate, she took up that same place by the next table, looking +on, and thinking, and frowning to herself, and drawing the string +of her apron through her hand. + +"I'm thinking ye have rather a long tongue," she said at last to +Alan. + +"Ay" said Alan; "but ye see I ken the folk I speak to." + +"I would never betray ye," said she, "if ye mean that." + +"No," said he, "ye're not that kind. But I'll tell ye what ye +would do, ye would help." + +"I couldnae," said she, shaking her head. "Na, I couldnae." + +"No," said he, "but if ye could?" + +She answered him nothing. + +"Look here, my lass," said Alan, "there are boats in the Kingdom +of Fife, for I saw two (no less) upon the beach, as I came in by +your town's end. Now if we could have the use of a boat to pass +under cloud of night into Lothian, and some secret, decent kind +of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his counsel, +there would be two souls saved -- mine to all likelihood -- his +to a dead surety. If we lack that boat, we have but three +shillings left in this wide world; and where to go, and how to +do, and what other place there is for us except the chains of a +gibbet -- I give you my naked word, I kenna! Shall we go +wanting, lassie? Are ye to lie in your warm bed and think upon +us, when the wind gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the +roof? Are ye to eat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire, and +think upon this poor sick lad of mine, biting his finger ends on +a blae muir for cauld and hunger? Sick or sound, he must aye be +moving; with the death grapple at his throat he must aye be +trailing in the rain on the lang roads; and when he gants his +last on a rickle of cauld stanes, there will be nae friends near +him but only me and God." + +At this appeal, I could see the lass was in great trouble of +mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in some fear she might be +helping malefactors; and so now I determined to step in myself +and to allay her scruples with a portion of the truth. + +"Did ever you, hear" said I, "of Mr. Rankeillor of the Ferry?" + +"Rankeillor the writer?" said she. "I daur say that!" + +"Well," said I, "it's to his door that I am bound, so you may +judge by that if I am an ill-doer; and I will tell you more, that +though I am indeed, by a dreadful error, in some peril of my +life, King George has no truer friend in all Scotland than +myself." + +Her face cleared up mightily at this, although Alan's darkened. + +"That's more than I would ask," said she. "Mr. Rankeillor is a +kennt man." And she bade us finish our meat, get clear of the +clachan as soon as might be, and lie close in the bit wood on the +sea-beach. "And ye can trust me," says she, "I'll find some +means to put you over." + +At this we waited for no more, but shook hands with her upon the +bargain, made short work of the puddings, and set forth again +from Limekilns as far as to the wood. It was a small piece of +perhaps a score of elders and hawthorns and a few young ashes, +not thick enough to veil us from passersby upon the road or +beach. Here we must lie, however, making the best of the brave +warm weather and the good hopes we now had of a deliverance, and +planing more particularly what remained for us to do. + +We had but one trouble all day; when a strolling piper came and +sat in the same wood with us; a red-nosed, bleareyed, drunken +dog, with a great bottle of whisky in his pocket, and a long +story of wrongs that had been done him by all sorts of persons, +from the Lord President of the Court of Session, who had denied +him justice, down to the Bailies of Inverkeithing who had given +him more of it than he desired. It was impossible but he should +conceive some suspicion of two men lying all day concealed in a +thicket and having no business to allege. As long as he stayed +there he kept us in hot water with prying questions; and after he +was gone, as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue, we +were in the greater impatience to be gone ourselves. + +The day came to an end with the same brightness; the night fell +quiet and clear; lights came out in houses and hamlets and then, +one after another, began to be put out; but it was past eleven, +and we were long since strangely tortured with anxieties, before +we heard the grinding of oars upon the rowing-pins. At that, we +looked out and saw the lass herself coming rowing to us in a +boat. She had trusted no one with our affairs, not even her +sweetheart, if she had one; but as soon as her father was asleep, +had left the house by a window, stolen a neighbour's boat, and +come to our assistance single-handed. + +I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks; but she was +no less abashed at the thought of hearing them; begged us to lose +no time and to hold our peace, saying (very properly) that the +heart of our matter was in haste and silence; and so, what with +one thing and another, she had set us on the Lothian shore not +far from Carriden, had shaken hands with us, and was out again at +sea and rowing for Limekilns, before there was one word said +either of her service or our gratitude. + +Even after she was gone, we had nothing to say, as indeed nothing +was enough for such a kindness. Only Alan stood a great while +upon the shore shaking his head. + +"It is a very fine lass," he said at last. "David, it is a very +fine lass." And a matter of an hour later, as we were lying in a +den on the sea-shore and I had been already dozing, he broke out +again in commendations of her character. For my part, I could +say nothing, she was so simple a creature that my heart smote me +both with remorse and fear: remorse because we had traded upon +her ignorance; and fear lest we should have anyway involved her +in the dangers of our situation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR + +The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself till +sunset; but as soon as it began to grow dark, he should lie in +the fields by the roadside near to Newhalls, and stir for naught +until he heard me whistling. At first I proposed I should give +him for a signal the "Bonnie House of Airlie," which was a +favourite of mine; but he objected that as the piece was very +commonly known, any ploughman might whistle it by accident; and +taught me instead a little fragment of a Highland air, which has +run in my head from that day to this, and will likely run in my +head when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me, it takes me off +to that last day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up in the +bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a +finger, and the grey of the dawn coming on his face. + +I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up. It +was a fairly built burgh, the houses of good stone, many slated; +the town-hall not so fine, I thought, as that of Peebles, nor yet +the street so noble; but take it altogether, it put me to shame +for my foul tatters. + + + +As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled, and +the windows to open, and the people to appear out of the houses, +my concern and despondency grew ever the blacker. I saw now that +I had no grounds to stand upon; and no clear proof of my rights, +nor so much as of my own identity. If it was all a bubble, I was +indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass. Even if things +were as I conceived, it would in all likelihood take time to +establish my contentions; and what time had I to spare with less +than three shillings in my pocket, and a condemned, hunted man +upon my hands to ship out of the country? Truly, if my hope +broke with me, it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. +And as I continued to walk up and down, and saw people looking +askance at me upon the street or out of windows, and nudging or +speaking one to another with smiles, I began to take a fresh +apprehension: that it might be no easy matter even to come to +speech of the lawyer, far less to convince him of my story. + +For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address +any of these reputable burghers; I thought shame even to speak +with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt; and if I had asked +for the house of such a man as Mr. Rankeillor, I suppose they +would have burst out laughing in my face. So I went up and down, +and through the street, and down to the harbour-side, like a dog +that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in my inwards, +and every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be high +day at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon; and I was worn with +these wanderings, and chanced to have stopped in front of a very +good house on the landward side, a house with beautiful, clear +glass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the walls +new-harled[33] and a chase-dog sitting yawning on the step like +one that was at home. Well, I was even envying this dumb brute, +when the door fell open and there issued forth a shrewd, ruddy, +kindly, consequential man in a well-powdered wig and spectacles. +I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once, but he +looked at me again; and this gentleman, as it proved, was so much +struck with my poor appearance that he came straight up to me and +asked me what I did. + +[33]Newly rough-cast. + + +I told him I was come to the Queensferry on business, and taking +heart of grace, asked him to direct me to the house of Mr. +Rankeillor. + +"Why," said he, "that is his house that I have just come out of; +and for a rather singular chance, I am that very man." + +"Then, sir," said I, "I have to beg the favour of an interview." + +"I do not know your name," said he, "nor yet your face." + +"My name is David Balfour," said I. + +"David Balfour?" he repeated, in rather a high tone, like one +surprised. "And where have you come from, Mr. David Balfour?" he +asked, looking me pretty drily in the face. + +"I have come from a great many strange places, sir," said I; "but +I think it would be as well to tell you where and how in a more +private manner." + +He seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand, and +looking now at me and now upon the causeway of the street. + +"Yes," says he, "that will be the best, no doubt." And he led me +back with him into his house, cried out to some one whom I could +not see that he would be engaged all morning, and brought me into +a little dusty chamber full of books and documents. Here he sate +down, and bade me be seated; though I thought he looked a little +ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags. "And now," says +he, "if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to +the point. Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo --do you +understand that?" says he, with a keen look. + +"I will even do as Horace says, sir," I answered, smiling, "and +carry you in medias res." He nodded as if he was well pleased, +and indeed his scrap of Latin had been set to test me. For all +that, and though I was somewhat encouraged, the blood came in my +face when I added: "I have reason to believe myself some rights +on the estate of Shaws." + +He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open. +"Well?" said he. + +But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. + +"Come, come, Mr. Balfour," said he, "you must continue. Where +were you born?" + +"In Essendean, sir," said I, "the year 1733, the 12th of March." + +He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book; but what +that meant I knew not. "Your father and mother?" said he. + +"My father was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place," +said I, "and my mother Grace Pitarrow; I think her people were +from Angus." + +"Have you any papers proving your identity?" asked Mr. +Rankeillor. + +"No, sir," said I, "but they are in the hands of Mr. Campbell, +the minister, and could be readily produced. Mr. Campbell, too, +would give me his word; and for that matter, I do not think my +uncle would deny me." + +"Meaning Mr. Ebenezer Balfour?" says he. + +"The same," said I. + +"Whom you have seen?" he asked. + +"By whom I was received into his own house," I answered. + +"Did you ever meet a man of the name of Hoseason?" asked Mr. +Rankeillor. + +"I did so, sir, for my sins," said I; "for it was by his means +and the procurement of my uncle, that I was kidnapped within +sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck and a +hundred other hardships, and stand before you to-day in this poor +accoutrement." + +"You say you were shipwrecked," said Rankeillor; "where was +that?" + +"Off the south end of the Isle of Mull," said I. "The name of the +isle on which I was cast up is the Island Earraid." + +"Ah!" says he, smiling, "you are deeper than me in the geography. +But so far, I may tell you, this agrees pretty exactly with other +informations that I hold. But you say you were kidnapped; in what +sense?" + +"In the plain meaning of the word, sir," said I. "I was on my way +to your house, when I was trepanned on board the brig, cruelly +struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of anything till we +were far at sea. I was destined for the plantations; a fate that, +in God's providence, I have escaped." + +"The brig was lost on June the 27th," says he, looking in his +book," and we are now at August the 24th. Here is a considerable +hiatus, Mr. Balfour, of near upon two months. It has already +caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends; and I own I +shall not be very well contented until it is set right." + +"Indeed, sir," said I, "these months are very easily filled up; +but yet before I told my story, I would be glad to know that I +was talking to a friend." + +"This is to argue in a circle," said the lawyer. "I cannot be +convinced till I have heard you. I cannot be your friend till I +am properly informed. If you were more trustful, it would better +befit your time of life. And you know, Mr. Balfour, we have a +proverb in the country that evil-doers are aye evil-dreaders." + +"You are not to forget, sir," said I, "that I have already +suffered by my trustfulness; and was shipped off to be a slave by +the very man that (if I rightly understand) is your employer?" + +All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr. Rankeillor, and +in proportion as I gained ground, gaining confidence. But at +this sally, which I made with something of a smile myself, he +fairly laughed aloud. + +"No, no," said he, "it is not so bad as that. Fui, non sum. I +was indeed your uncle's man of business; but while you (imberbis +juvenis custode remoto) were gallivanting in the west, a good +deal of water has run under the bridges; and if your ears did not +sing, it was not for lack of being talked about. On the very day +of your sea disaster, Mr. Campbell stalked into my office, +demanding you from all the winds. I had never heard of your +existence; but I had known your father; and from matters in my +competence (to be touched upon hereafter) I was disposed to fear +the worst. Mr. Ebenezer admitted having seen you; declared (what +seemed improbable) that he had given you considerable sums; and +that you had started for the continent of Europe, intending to +fulfil your education, which was probable and praiseworthy. +Interrogated how you had come to send no word to Mr. Campbell, he +deponed that you had expressed a great desire to break with your +past life. Further interrogated where you now were, protested +ignorance, but believed you were in Leyden. That is a close sum +of his replies. I am not exactly sure that any one believed +him," continued Mr. Rankeillor with a smile; "and in particular +he so much disrelished me expressions of mine that (in a word) he +showed me to the door. We were then at a full stand; for +whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow +of probation. In the very article, comes Captain Hoseason with +the story of your drowning; whereupon all fell through; with no +consequences but concern to Mr. Campbell, injury to my pocket, +and another blot upon your uncle's character, which could very +ill afford it. And now, Mr. Balfour," said he, "you understand +the whole process of these matters, and can judge for yourself to +what extent I may be trusted." + +Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him, and placed +more scraps of Latin in his speech; but it was all uttered with a +fine geniality of eye and manner which went far to conquer my +distrust. Moreover, I could see he now treated me as if I was +myself beyond a doubt; so that first point of my identity seemed +fully granted. + +"Sir," said I, "if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend's +life to your discretion. Pass me your word it shall be sacred; +and for what touches myself, I will ask no better guarantee than +just your face." + +He passed me his word very seriously. "But," said he, "these are +rather alarming prolocutions; and if there are in your story any +little jostles to the law, I would beg you to bear in mind that I +am a lawyer, and pass lightly." + +Thereupon I told him my story from the first, he listening with +his spectacles thrust up and his eyes closed, so that I sometimes +feared he was asleep. But no such matter! he heard every word +(as I found afterward) with such quickness of hearing and +precision of memory as often surprised me. Even strange +outlandish Gaelic names, heard for that time only, he remembered +and would remind me of, years after. Yet when I called Alan +Breck in full, we had an odd scene. The name of Alan had of +course rung through Scotland, with the news of the Appin murder +and the offer of the reward; and it had no sooner escaped me than +the lawyer moved in his seat and opened his eyes. + +"I would name no unnecessary names, Mr. Balfour," said he; "above +all of Highlanders, many of whom are obnoxious to the law." + +"Well, it might have been better not," said I, "but since I have +let it slip, I may as well continue." + +"Not at all," said Mr. Rankeillor. "I am somewhat dull of +hearing, as you may have remarked; and I am far from sure I +caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if you +please, Mr. Thomson -- that there may be no reflections. And in +future, I would take some such way with any Highlander that you +may have to mention -- dead or alive." + +By this, I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly, and +had already guessed I might be coming to the murder. If he chose +to play this part of ignorance, it was no matter of mine; so I +smiled, said it was no very Highland-sounding name, and +consented. Through all the rest of my story Alan was Mr. +Thomson; which amused me the more, as it was a piece of policy +after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner, was +mentioned under the style of Mr. Thomson's kinsman; Colin +Campbell passed as a Mr. Glen; and to Cluny, when I came to that +part of my tale, I gave the name of "Mr. Jameson, a Highland +chief." It was truly the most open farce, and I wondered that +the lawyer should care to keep it up; but, after all, it was +quite in the taste of that age, when there were two parties in +the state, and quiet persons, with no very high opinions of their +own, sought out every cranny to avoid offence to either. + +"Well, well," said the lawyer, when I had quite done, "this is a +great epic, a great Odyssey of yours. You must tell it, sir, in +a sound Latinity when your scholarship is riper; or in English if +you please, though for my part I prefer the stronger tongue. You +have rolled much; quae regio in terris -- what parish in Scotland +(to make a homely translation) has not been filled with your +wanderings? You have shown, besides, a singular aptitude for +getting into false positions; and, yes, upon the whole, for +behaving well in them. This Mr. Thomson seems to me a gentleman +of some choice qualities, though perhaps a trifle bloody-minded. +It would please me none the worse, if (with all his merits) he +were soused in the North Sea, for the man, Mr. David, is a sore +embarrassment. But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to +him; indubitably, he adhered to you. It comes -- we may say -- +he was your true companion; nor less paribus curis vestigia +figit, for I dare say you would both take an orra thought upon +the gallows. Well, well, these days are fortunately, by; and I +think (speaking humanly) that you are near the end of your +troubles." + +As he thus moralised on my adventures, he looked upon me with so +much humour and benignity that I could scarce contain my +satisfaction. I had been so long wandering with lawless people, +and making my bed upon the hills and under the bare sky, that to +sit once more in a clean, covered house, and to talk amicably +with a gentleman in broadcloth, seemed mighty elevations. Even +as I thought so, my eye fell on my unseemly tatters, and I was +once more plunged in confusion. But the lawyer saw and +understood me. He rose, called over the stair to lay another +plate, for Mr. Balfour would stay to dinner, and led me into a +bedroom in the upper part of the house. Here he set before me +water and soap, and a comb; and laid out some clothes that +belonged to his son; and here, with another apposite tag, he left +me to my toilet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE + +I made what change I could in my appearance; and blithe was I to +look in the glass and find the beggarman a thing of the past, and +David Balfour come to life again. And yet I was ashamed of the +change too, and, above all, of the borrowed clothes. When I had +done, Mr. Rankeillor caught me on the stair, made me his +compliments, and had me again into the cabinet. + +"Sit ye down, Mr. David," said he, "and now that you are looking +a little more like yourself, let me see if I can find you any +news. You will be wondering, no doubt, about your father and +your uncle? To be sure it is a singular tale; and the +explanation is one that I blush to have to offer you. For," says +he, really with embarrassment, "the matter hinges on a love +affair." + +"Truly," said I, "I cannot very well join that notion with my +uncle." + +"But your uncle, Mr. David, was not always old," replied the +lawyer, "and what may perhaps surprise you more, not always ugly. +He had a fine, gallant air; people stood in their doors to look +after him, as he went by upon a mettle horse. I have seen it with +these eyes, and I ingenuously confess, not altogether without +envy; for I was a plain lad myself and a plain man's son; and in +those days it was a case of Odi te, qui bellus es, Sabelle." + +"It sounds like a dream," said I. + +"Ay, ay," said the lawyer, "that is how it is with youth and age. +Nor was that all, but he had a spirit of his own that seemed to +promise great things in the future. In 1715, what must he do but +run away to join the rebels? It was your father that pursued +him, found him in a ditch, and brought him back multum gementem; +to the mirth of the whole country. However, majora canamus -- +the two lads fell in love, and that with the same lady. Mr. +Ebenezer, who was the admired and the beloved, and the spoiled +one, made, no doubt, mighty certain of the victory; and when he +found he had deceived himself, screamed like a peacock. The +whole country heard of it; now he lay sick at home, with his +silly family standing round the bed in tears; now he rode from +public-house to public-house, and shouted his sorrows into the +lug of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Your father, Mr. David, was a kind +gentleman; but he was weak, dolefully weak; took all this folly +with a long countenance; and one day -- by your leave! -- +resigned the lady. She was no such fool, however; it's from her +you must inherit your excellent good sense; and she refused to be +bandied from one to another. Both got upon their knees to her; +and the upshot of the matter for that while was that she showed +both of them the door. That was in August; dear me! the same +year I came from college. The scene must have been highly +farcical." + +I thought myself it was a silly business, but I could not forget +my father had a hand in it. "Surely, sir, it had some note of +tragedy," said I. + +"Why, no, sir, not at all," returned the lawyer. "For tragedy +implies some ponderable matter in dispute, some dignus vindice +nodus; and this piece of work was all about the petulance of a +young ass that had been spoiled, and wanted nothing so much as to +be tied up and soundly belted. However, that was not your +father's view; and the end of it was, that from concession to +concession on your father's part, and from one height to another +of squalling, sentimental selfishness upon your uncle's, they +came at last to drive a sort of bargain, from whose ill results +you have recently been smarting. The one man took the lady, the +other the estate. Now, Mr. David, they talk a great deal of +charity and generosity; but in this disputable state of life, I +often think the happiest consequences seem to flow when a +gentleman consults his lawyer, and takes all the law allows him. +Anyhow, this piece of Quixotry on your father's part, as it was +unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family of +injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk; you +were poorly reared; and in the meanwhile, what a time it has been +for the tenants on the estate of Shaws! And I might add (if it +was a matter I cared much about) what a time for Mr. Ebenezer!" + +"And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all," said I, +"that a man's nature should thus change." + +"True," said Mr. Rankeillor. "And yet I imagine it was natural +enough. He could not think that he had played a handsome part. +Those who knew the story gave him the cold shoulder; those who +knew it not, seeing one brother disappear, and the other succeed +in the estate, raised a cry of murder; so that upon all sides he +found himself evited. Money was all he got by his bargain; well, +he came to think the more of money. He was selfish when he was +young, he is selfish now that he is old; and the latter end of +all these pretty manners and fine feelings you have seen for +yourself." + +"Well, sir," said I, "and in all this, what is my position?" + +"The estate is yours beyond a doubt," replied the lawyer. "It +matters nothing what your father signed, you are the heir of +entail. But your uncle is a man to fight the indefensible; and +it would be likely your identity that he would call in question. +A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family lawsuit always +scandalous; besides which, if any of your doings with your friend +Mr. Thomson were to come out, we might find that we had burned +our fingers. The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a court card +upon our side, if we could only prove it. But it may be difficult +to prove; and my advice (upon the whole) is to make a very easy +bargain with your uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaws where +he has taken root for a quarter of a century, and contenting +yourself in the meanwhile with a fair provision." + +I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry +family concerns before the public was a step from which I was +naturally much averse. In the meantime (thinking to myself) I +began to see the outlines of that scheme on which we afterwards +acted. + +"The great affair," I asked, "is to bring home to him the +kidnapping?" + +"Surely," said Mr. Rankeillor, "and if possible, out of court. +For mark you here, Mr. David: we could no doubt find some men of +the Covenant who would swear to your reclusion; but once they +were in the box, we could no longer check their testimony, and +some word of your friend Mr. Thomson must certainly crop out. +Which (from what you have let fall) I cannot think to be +desirable." + +"Well, sir," said I, "here is my way of it." And I opened my +plot to him. + +"But this would seem to involve my meeting the man Thomson?" +says he, when I had done. + +"I think so, indeed, sir," said I. + +"Dear doctor!" cries he, rubbing his brow. "Dear doctor! No, +Mr. David, I am afraid your scheme is inadmissible. I say +nothing against your friend, Mr. Thomson: I know nothing against +him; and if I did -- mark this, Mr. David! -- it would be my duty +to lay hands on him. Now I put it to you: is it wise to meet? +He may have matters to his charge. He may not have told you all. +His name may not be even Thomson!" cries the lawyer, twinkling; +"for some of these fellows will pick up names by the roadside as +another would gather haws." + +"You must be the judge, sir," said I. + +But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy, for he +kept musing to himself till we were called to dinner and the +company of Mrs. Rankeillor; and that lady had scarce left us +again to ourselves and a bottle of wine, ere he was back harping +on my proposal. When and where was I to meet my friend Mr. +Thomson; was I sure of Mr. T.'s discretion; supposing we could +catch the old fox tripping, would I consent to such and such a +term of an agreement -- these and the like questions he kept +asking at long intervals, while he thoughtfully rolled his wine +upon his tongue. When I had answered all of them, seemingly to +his contentment, he fell into a still deeper muse, even the +claret being now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper and a +pencil, and set to work writing and weighing every word; and at +last touched a bell and had his clerk into the chamber. + +"Torrance," said he, "I must have this written out fair against +to-night; and when it is done, you will be so kind as put on your +hat and be ready to come along with this gentleman and me, for +you will probably be wanted as a witness." + +"What, sir," cried I, as soon as the clerk was gone, "are you to +venture it?" + +"Why, so it would appear," says he, filling his glass. "But let +us speak no more of business. The very sight of Torrance brings +in my head a little droll matter of some years ago, when I had +made a tryst with the poor oaf at the cross of Edinburgh. Each +had gone his proper errand; and when it came four o'clock, +Torrance had been taking a glass and did not know his master, and +I, who had forgot my spectacles, was so blind without them, that +I give you my word I did not know my own clerk." And thereupon +he laughed heartily. + +I said it was an odd chance, and smiled out of politeness; but +what held me all the afternoon in wonder, he kept returning and +dwelling on this story, and telling it again with fresh details +and laughter; so that I began at last to be quite put out of +countenance and feel ashamed for my friend's folly. + +Towards the time I had appointed with Alan, we set out from the +house, Mr. Rankeillor and I arm in arm, and Torrance following +behind with the deed in his pocket and a covered basket in his +hand. All through the town, the lawyer was bowing right and +left, and continually being button-holed by gentlemen on matters +of burgh or private business; and I could see he was one greatly +looked up to in the county. At last we were clear of the houses, +and began to go along the side of the haven and towards the Hawes +Inn and the Ferry pier, the scene of my misfortune. I could not +look upon the place without emotion, recalling how many that had +been there with me that day were now no more: Ransome taken, I +could hope, from the evil to come; Shuan passed where I dared not +follow him; and the poor souls that had gone down with the brig +in her last plunge. All these, and the brig herself, I had +outlived; and come through these hardships and fearful perils +without scath. My only thought should have been of gratitude; +and yet I could not behold the place without sorrow for others +and a chill of recollected fear. + +I was so thinking when, upon a sudden, Mr. Rankeillor cried out, +clapped his hand to his pockets, and began to laugh. + +"Why," he cries, "if this be not a farcical adventure! After all +that I said, I have forgot my glasses!" + +At that, of course, I understood the purpose of his anecdote, and +knew that if he had left his spectacles at home, it had been done +on purpose, so that he might have the benefit of Alan's help +without the awkwardness of recognising him. And indeed it was +well thought upon; for now (suppose things to go the very worst) +how could Rankeillor swear to my friend's identity, or how be +made to bear damaging evidence against myself? For all that, he +had been a long while of finding out his want, and had spoken to +and recognised a good few persons as we came through the town; +and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well. + +As soon as we were past the Hawes (where I recognised the +landlord smoking his pipe in the door, and was amazed to see him +look no older) Mr. Rankeillor changed the order of march, walking +behind with Torrance and sending me forward in the manner of a +scout. I went up the hill, whistling from time to time my Gaelic +air; and at length I had the pleasure to hear it answered and to +see Alan rise from behind a bush. He was somewhat dashed in +spirits, having passed a long day alone skulking in the county, +and made but a poor meal in an alehouse near Dundas. But at the +mere sight of my clothes, he began to brighten up; and as soon as +I had told him in what a forward state our matters were and the +part I looked to him to play in what remained, he sprang into a +new man. + +"And that is a very good notion of yours," says he; "and I dare +to say that you could lay your hands upon no better man to put it +through than Alan Breck. It is not a thing (mark ye) that any +one could do, but takes a gentleman of penetration. But it +sticks in my head your lawyer-man will be somewhat wearying to +see me," says Alan. + +Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr. Rankeillor, who came up +alone and was presented to my friend, Mr. Thomson. + +"Mr. Thomson, I am pleased to meet you," said he. "But I have +forgotten my glasses; and our friend, Mr. David here" (clapping +me on the shoulder), "will tell you that I am little better than +blind, and that you must not be surprised if I pass you by +to-morrow." + +This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but the +Highlandman's vanity was ready to startle at a less matter than +that. + +"Why, sir," says he, stiffly, "I would say it mattered the less +as we are met here for a particular end, to see justice done to +Mr. Balfour; and by what I can see, not very likely to have much +else in common. But I accept your apology, which was a very +proper one to make." + +"And that is more than I could look for, Mr. Thomson," said +Rankeillor, heartily. "And now as you and I are the chief actors +in this enterprise, I think we should come into a nice agreement; +to which end, I propose that you should lend me your arm, for +(what with the dusk and the want of my glasses) I am not very +clear as to the path; and as for you, Mr. David, you will find +Torrance a pleasant kind of body to speak with. Only let me +remind you, it's quite needless he should hear more of your +adventures or those of -- ahem -- Mr. Thomson." + +Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk, and +Torrance and I brought up the rear. + +Night was quite come when we came in view of the house of Shaws. +Ten had been gone some time; it was dark and mild, with a +pleasant, rustling wind in the south-west that covered the sound +of our approach; and as we drew near we saw no glimmer of light +in any portion of the building. It seemed my uncle was Already +in bed, which was indeed the best thing for our arrangements. We +made our last whispered consultations some fifty yards away; and +then the lawyer and Torrance and I crept quietly up and crouched +down beside the corner of the house; and as soon as we were in +our places, Alan strode to the door without concealment and began +to knock. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +I COME INTO MY KINGDOM + +For some time Alan volleyed upon the door, and his knocking only +roused the echoes of the house and neighbourhood. At last, +however, I could hear the noise of a window gently thrust up, and +knew that my uncle had come to his observatory. By what light +there was, he would see Alan standing, like a dark shadow, on the +steps; the three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view; so +that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house. +For all that, he studied his visitor awhile in silence, and when +he spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving. + +"What's this?" says he. "This is nae kind of time of night for +decent folk; and I hae nae trokings[34] wi' night-hawks. What +brings ye here? I have a blunderbush." + +[34]Dealings. + + +"Is that yoursel', Mr. Balfour?" returned Alan, stepping back and +looking up into the darkness. "Have a care of that blunderbuss; +they're nasty things to burst." + +"What brings ye here? and whae are ye?" says my uncle, angrily. + +"I have no manner of inclination to rowt out my name to the +country-side," said Alan; "but what brings me here is another +story, being more of your affair than mine; and if ye're sure +it's what ye would like, I'll set it to a tune and sing it to +you." + +"And what is't?" asked my uncle. + +"David," says Alan. + +"What was that?" cried my uncle, in a mighty changed voice. + +"Shall I give ye the rest of the name, then?" said Alan. + +There was a pause; and then, "I'm thinking I'll better let ye +in," says my uncle, doubtfully. + +"I dare say that," said Alan; "but the point is, Would I go? Now +I will tell you what I am thinking. I am thinking that it is +here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this business; +and it shall be here or nowhere at all whatever; for I would have +you to understand that I am as stiffnecked as yoursel', and a +gentleman of better family." + +This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer; he was a little while +digesting it, and then says he, "Weel, weel, what must be must," +and shut the window. But it took him a long time to get +down-stairs, and a still longer to undo the fastenings, repenting +(I dare say) and taken with fresh claps of fear at every second +step and every bolt and bar. At last, however, we heard the +creak of the hinges, and it seems my uncle slipped gingerly out +and (seeing that Alan had stepped back a pace or two) sate him +down on the top doorstep with the blunderbuss ready in his hands. + +"And, now" says he, "mind I have my blunderbush, and if ye take a +step nearer ye're as good as deid." + +"And a very civil speech," says Alan, "to be sure." + +"Na," says my uncle, "but this is no a very chanty kind of a +proceeding, and I'm bound to be prepared. And now that we +understand each other, ye'll can name your business." + +"Why," says Alan, "you that are a man of so much understanding, +will doubtless have perceived that I am a Hieland gentleman. My +name has nae business in my story; but the county of my friends +is no very far from the Isle of Mull, of which ye will have +heard. It seems there was a ship lost in those parts; and the +next day a gentleman of my family was seeking wreck-wood for his +fire along the sands, when he came upon a lad that was half +drowned. Well, he brought him to; and he and some other +gentleman took and clapped him in an auld, ruined castle, where +from that day to this he has been a great expense to my friends. +My friends are a wee wild-like, and not so particular about the +law as some that I could name; and finding that the lad owned +some decent folk, and was your born nephew, Mr. Balfour, they +asked me to give ye a bit call and confer upon the matter. And I +may tell ye at the off-go, unless we can agree upon some terms, +ye are little likely to set eyes upon him. For my friends," +added Alan, simply, "are no very well off." + +My uncle cleared his throat. "I'm no very caring," says he. "He +wasnae a good lad at the best of it, and I've nae call to +interfere." + +"Ay, ay," said Alan, "I see what ye would be at: pretending ye +don't care, to make the ransom smaller." + +"Na," said my uncle, "it's the mere truth. I take nae manner of +interest in the lad, and I'll pay nae ransome, and ye can make a +kirk and a mill of him for what I care." + +"Hoot, sir," says Alan. "Blood's thicker than water, in the +deil's name! Ye cannae desert your brother's son for the fair +shame of it; and if ye did, and it came to be kennt, ye wouldnae +be very popular in your country-side, or I'm the more deceived." + +"I'm no just very popular the way it is," returned Ebenezer; "and +I dinnae see how it would come to be kennt. No by me, onyway; +nor yet by you or your friends. So that's idle talk, my buckie," +says he. + +"Then it'll have to be David that tells it," said Alan. + +"How that?" says my uncle, sharply." + +"Ou, just this, way" says Alan. "My friends would doubtless keep +your nephew as long as there was any likelihood of siller to be +made of it, but if there was nane, I am clearly of opinion they +would let him gang where he pleased, and be damned to him!" + +"Ay, but I'm no very caring about that either," said my uncle. +"I wouldnae be muckle made up with that." + +"I was thinking that," said Alan. + +"And what for why?" asked Ebenezer. + +"Why, Mr. Balfour," replied Alan, "by all that I could hear, +there were two ways of it: either ye liked David and would pay to +get him back; or else ye had very good reasons for not wanting +him, and would pay for us to keep him. It seems it's not the +first; well then, it's the second; and blythe am I to ken it, for +it should be a pretty penny in my pocket and the pockets of my +friends." + +"I dinnae follow ye there," said my uncle. + +"No?" said Alan. "Well, see here: you dinnae want the lad back; +well, what do ye want done with him, and how much will ye pay?" + +My uncle made no answer, but shifted uneasily on his seat. + +"Come, sir," cried Alan. "I would have you to ken that I am a +gentleman; I bear a king's name; I am nae rider to kick my shanks +at your hall door. Either give me an answer in civility, and +that out of hand; or by the top of Glencoe, I will ram three feet +of iron through your vitals." + +"Eh, man," cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet, "give me a +meenit! What's like wrong with ye? I'm just a plain man and nae +dancing master; and I'm tryin to be as ceevil as it's morally +possible. As for that wild talk, it's fair disrepitable. +Vitals, says you! And where would I be with my blunderbush?" he +snarled. + +"Powder and your auld hands are but as the snail to the swallow +against the bright steel in the hands of Alan," said the other. +"Before your jottering finger could find the trigger, the hilt +would dirl on your breast-bane." + +"Eh, man, whae's denying it?" said my uncle. "Pit it as ye +please, hae't your ain way; I'll do naething to cross ye. Just +tell me what like ye'll be wanting, and ye'll see that we'll can +agree fine." + +"Troth, sir," said Alan, "I ask for nothing but plain dealing. +In two words: do ye want the lad killed or kept?" + +"O, sirs!" cried Ebenezer. "O, sirs, me! that's no kind of +language!" + +"Killed or kept!" repeated Alan. + +"O, keepit, keepit!" wailed my uncle. "We'll have nae bloodshed, +if you please." + +"Well," says Alan, "as ye please; that'll be the dearer." + +"The dearer?" cries Ebenezer. "Would ye fyle your hands wi' +crime?" + +"Hoot!" said Alan, "they're baith crime, whatever! And the +killing's easier, and quicker, and surer. Keeping the lad'll be +a fashious[35] job, a fashious, kittle business." + +[35]Troublesome. + + +"I'll have him keepit, though," returned my uncle. "I never had +naething to do with onything morally wrong; and I'm no gaun to +begin to pleasure a wild Hielandman." + +"Ye're unco scrupulous," sneered Alan. + +"I'm a man o' principle," said Ebenezer, simply; "and if I have +to pay for it, I'll have to pay for it. And besides," says he, +"ye forget the lad's my brother's son." + +"Well, well," said Alan, "and now about the price. It's no very +easy for me to set a name upon it; I would first have to ken some +small matters. I would have to ken, for instance, what ye gave +Hoseason at the first off-go?" + +"Hoseason!" cries my uncle, struck aback. "What for?" + +"For kidnapping David," says Alan. + +"It's a lee, it's a black lee!" cried my uncle. "He was never +kidnapped. He leed in his throat that tauld ye that. Kidnapped? +He never was!" + +"That's no fault of mine nor yet of yours," said Alan; "nor yet +of Hoseason's, if he's a man that can be trusted." + +"What do ye mean?" cried Ebenezer. "Did Hoseason tell ye?" + +"Why, ye donnered auld runt, how else would I ken?" cried Alan. +"Hoseason and me are partners; we gang shares; so ye can see for +yoursel' what good ye can do leeing. And I must plainly say ye +drove a fool's bargain when ye let a man like the sailor-man so +far forward in your private matters. But that's past praying +for; and ye must lie on your bed the way ye made it. And the +point in hand is just this: what did ye pay him?" + +"Has he tauld ye himsel'?" asked my uncle. + +"That's my concern," said Alan. + +"Weel," said my uncle, "I dinnae care what he said, he leed, and +the solemn God's truth is this, that I gave him twenty pound. +But I'll be perfec'ly honest with ye: forby that, he was to have +the selling of the lad in Caroliny, whilk would be as muckle +mair, but no from my pocket, ye see." + +"Thank you, Mr. Thomson. That will do excellently well," said +the lawyer, stepping forward; and then mighty civilly, +"Good-evening, Mr. Balfour," said he. + +And, "Good-evening, Uncle Ebenezer," said I. + +And, "It's a braw nicht, Mr. Balfour" added Torrance. + +Never a word said my uncle, neither black nor white; but just sat +where he was on the top door-step and stared upon us like a man +turned to stone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss; and the +lawyer, taking him by the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, +led him into the kitchen, whither we all followed, and set him +down in a chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out and +only a rush-light burning. + +There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly in our +success, but yet with a sort of pity for the man's shame. + +"Come, come, Mr. Ebenezer," said the lawyer, "you must not be +down-hearted, for I promise you we shall make easy terms. In the +meanwhile give us the cellar key, and Torrance shall draw us a +bottle of your father's wine in honour of the event." Then, +turning to me and taking me by the hand, "Mr. David," says he, "I +wish you all joy in your good fortune, which I believe to be +deserved." And then to Alan, with a spice of drollery, "Mr. +Thomson, I pay you my compliment; it was most artfully conducted; +but in one point you somewhat outran my comprehension. Do I +understand your name to be James? or Charles? or is it George, +perhaps?" + +"And why should it be any of the three, sir?" quoth Alan, drawing +himself up, like one who smelt an offence. + +"Only, sir, that you mentioned a king's name," replied +Rankeillor; "and as there has never yet been a King Thomson, or +his fame at least has never come my way, I judged you must refer +to that you had in baptism." + +This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest, and I am +free to confess he took it very ill. Not a word would he answer, +but stepped off to the far end of the kitchen, and sat down and +sulked; and it was not till I stepped after him, and gave him my +hand, and thanked him by title as the chief spring of my success, +that he began to smile a bit, and was at last prevailed upon to +join our party. + +By that time we had the fire lighted, and a bottle of wine +uncorked; a good supper came out of the basket, to which Torrance +and I and Alan set ourselves down; while the lawyer and my uncle +passed into the next chamber to consult. They stayed there +closeted about an hour; at the end of which period they had come +to a good understanding, and my uncle and I set our hands to the +agreement in a formal manner. By the terms of this, my uncle +bound himself to satisfy Rankeillor as to his intromissions, and +to pay me two clear thirds of the yearly income of Shaws. + +So the beggar in the ballad had come home; and when I lay down +that night on the kitchen chests, I was a man of means and had a +name in the country. Alan and Torrance and Rankeillor slept and +snored on their hard beds; but for me who had lain out under +heaven and upon dirt and stones, so many days and nights, and +often with an empty belly, and in fear of death, this good change +in my case unmanned me more than any of the former evil ones; and +I lay till dawn, looking at the fire on the roof and planning the +future. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +GOOD-BYE + +So far as I was concerned myself, I had come to port; but I had +still Alan, to whom I was so much beholden, on my hands; and I +felt besides a heavy charge in the matter of the murder and James +of the Glens. On both these heads I unbosomed to Rankeillor the +next morning, walking to and fro about six of the clock before +the house of Shaws, and with nothing in view but the fields and +woods that had been my ancestors' and were now mine. Even as I +spoke on these grave subjects, my eye would take a glad bit of a +run over the prospect, and my heart jump with pride. + +About my clear duty to my friend, the lawyer had no doubt. I +must help him out of the county at whatever risk; but in the case +of James, he was of a different mind. + +"Mr. Thomson," says he, "is one thing, Mr. Thomson's kinsman +quite another. I know little of the facts, but I gather that a +great noble (whom we will call, if you like, the D. of A.)[36] +has some concern and is even supposed to feel some animosity in +the matter. The D. of A. is doubtless an excellent nobleman; +but, Mr. David, timeo qui nocuere deos. If you interfere to balk +his vengeance, you should remember there is one way to shut your +testimony out; and that is to put you in the dock. There, you +would be in the same pickle as Mr. Thomson's kinsman. You will +object that you are innocent; well, but so is he. And to be +tried for your life before a Highland jury, on a Highland quarrel +and with a Highland Judge upon the bench, would be a brief +transition to the gallows." + +[36]The Duke of Argyle. + + +Now I had made all these reasonings before and found no very good +reply to them; so I put on all the simplicity I could. "In that +case, sir," said I, "I would just have to be hanged -- would I +not?" + +"My dear boy," cries he, "go in God's name, and do what you think +is right. It is a poor thought that at my time of life I should +be advising you to choose the safe and shameful; and I take it +back with an apology. Go and do your duty; and be hanged, if you +must, like a gentleman. There are worse things in the world than +to be hanged." + +"Not many, sir," said I, smiling. + +"Why, yes, sir," he cried, "very many. And it would be ten times +better for your uncle (to go no farther afield) if he were +dangling decently upon a gibbet." + +Thereupon he turned into the house (still in a great fervour of +mind, so that I saw I had pleased him heartily) and there he +wrote me two letters, making his comments on them as he wrote. + +"This," says he, "is to my bankers, the British Linen Company, +placing a credit to your name. Consult Mr. Thomson, he will know +of ways; and you, with this credit, can supply the means. I +trust you will be a good husband of your money; but in the affair +of a friend like Mr. Thompson, I would be even prodigal. Then +for his kinsman, there is no better way than that you should seek +the Advocate, tell him your tale, and offer testimony; whether he +may take it or not, is quite another matter, and will turn on the +D. of A. Now, that you may reach the Lord Advocate well +recommended, I give you here a letter to a namesake of your own, +the learned Mr. Balfour of Pilrig, a man whom I esteem. It will +look better that you should be presented by one of your own name; +and the laird of Pilrig is much looked up to in the Faculty and +stands well with Lord Advocate Grant. I would not trouble him, +if I were you, with any particulars; and (do you know?) I think +it would be needless to refer to Mr. Thomson. Form yourself upon +the laird, he is a good model; when you deal with the Advocate, +be discreet; and in all these matters, may the Lord guide you, +Mr. David!" + +Thereupon he took his farewell, and set out with Torrance for the +Ferry, while Alan and I turned our faces for the city of +Edinburgh. As we went by the footpath and beside the gateposts +and the unfinished lodge, we kept looking back at the house of my +fathers. It stood there, bare and great and smokeless, like a +place not lived in; only in one of the top windows, there was the +peak of a nightcap bobbing up and down and back and forward, like +the head of a rabbit from a burrow. I had little welcome when I +came, and less kindness while I stayed; but at least I was +watched as I went away. + +Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way, having little heart +either to walk or speak. The same thought was uppermost in both, +that we were near the time of our parting; and remembrance of all +the bygone days sate upon us sorely. We talked indeed of what +should be done; and it was resolved that Alan should keep to the +county, biding now here, now there, but coming once in the day to +a particular place where I might be able to communicate with him, +either in my own person or by messenger. In the meanwhile, I was +to seek out a lawyer, who was an Appin Stewart, and a man +therefore to be wholly trusted; and it should be his part to find +a ship and to arrange for Alan's safe embarkation. No sooner was +this business done, than the words seemed to leave us; and though +I would seek to jest with Alan under the name of Mr. Thomson, and +he with me on my new clothes and my estate, you could feel very +well that we were nearer tears than laughter. + +We came the by-way over the hill of Corstorphine; and when we got +near to the place called Rest-and-be-Thankful, and looked down on +Corstorphine bogs and over to the city and the castle on the +hill, we both stopped, for we both knew without a word said that +we had come to where our ways parted. Here he repeated to me +once again what had been agreed upon between us: the address of +the lawyer, the daily hour at which Alan might be found, and the +signals that were to be made by any that came seeking him. Then +I gave what money I had (a guinea or two of Rankeillor's) so that +he should not starve in the meanwhile; and then we stood a space, +and looked over at Edinburgh in silence. + +"Well, good-bye," said Alan, and held out his left hand. + +"Good-bye," said I, and gave the hand a little grasp, and went +off down hill. + +Neither one of us looked the other in the face, nor so long as he +was in my view did I take one back glance at the friend I was +leaving. But as I went on my way to the city, I felt so lost and +lonesome, that I could have found it in my heart to sit down by +the dyke, and cry and weep like any baby. + +It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West Kirk and the +Grassmarket into the streets of the capital. The huge height of +the buildings, running up to ten and fifteen storeys, the narrow +arched entries that continually vomited passengers, the wares of +the merchants in their windows, the hubbub and endless stir, the +foul smells and the fine clothes, and a hundred other particulars +too small to mention, struck me into a kind of stupor of +surprise, so that I let the crowd carry me to and fro; and yet +all the time what I was thinking of was Alan at +Rest-and-be-Thankful; and all the time (although you would think +I would not choose but be delighted with these braws and +novelties) there was a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse +for something wrong. + +The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the very +doors of the British Linen Company's bank. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Kidnapped by R. L. Stevenson + |