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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Pirate, by Sir Walter Scott
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-
-
-
-Title: The Pirate
-       Andrew Lang Edition
-
-
-Author: Sir Walter Scott
-
-
-
-Release Date: March 23, 2013  [eBook #42389]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIRATE***
-
-
-E-text prepared by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
-(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
-Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
-      file which includes the original illustrations.
-      See 42389-h.htm or 42389-h.zip:
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-      or
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-
-
-      Images of the original pages are available through
-      Internet Archive. See
-      https://archive.org/details/thepirate00scotuoft
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-      [oe] represents the oe-ligature.
-
-
-
-
-
-THE PIRATE.
-
-
-        Nothing in him----
-        But doth suffer a sea-change.
-
-                                        _Tempest._
-
-
-Bibliophile Edition
-
-  This Edition of the Works of Sir Walter Scott,
-  Bart, is limited to One Thousand Numbered and
-  Signed Sets, of which this is
-
-              Number ...
-
-                    University Library Association
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-Bibliophile Edition
-
-The Waverley Novels
-
-With New Introductions, Notes and Glossaries by Andrew Lang
-
-THE PIRATE
-
-by
-
-SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart.
-
-Illustrated
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-University Library Association
-Philadelphia
-
-Copyright, 1893
-By Estes & Lauriat
-
-Andrew Lang Edition.
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
-THE PIRATE.
-
-
-  VOLUME I.
-                                                          PAGE
-    MORDAUNT IN YELLOWLEY'S COTTAGE.            _Frontispiece_
-    THE SWORD DANCE                                        234
-
-
-  VOLUME II.
-
-    MINNA ON THE CLIFF                                     103
-    THE PIRATE'S COUNCIL                                   208
-    MINNA TAKING THE PISTOL                                250
-
-
-
-
-EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE.
-
-
-The circumstances in which "The Pirate" was composed have for the Editor
-a peculiar interest. He has many times scribbled at the old bureau in
-Chiefswood whereon Sir Walter worked at his novel, and sat in summer
-weather beneath the great tree on the lawn where Erskine used to read
-the fresh chapters to Lockhart and his wife, while the burn murmured by
-from the Rhymer's Glen. So little altered is the cottage of Chiefswood
-by the addition of a gabled wing in the same red stone as the older
-portion, so charmed a quiet has the place, in the shelter of Eildon
-Hill, that there one can readily beget the golden time again, and think
-oneself back into the day when Mustard and Spice, running down the shady
-glen, might herald the coming of the Sheriff himself. Happy hours and
-gone: like that summer of 1821, whereof Lockhart speaks with an emotion
-the more touching because it is so rare,--
-
-    the first of several seasons, which will ever dwell on my memory
-    as the happiest of my life. We were near enough Abbotsford to
-    partake as often as we liked of its brilliant society; yet could
-    do so without being exposed to the worry and exhaustion of spirit
-    which the daily reception of new visitors entailed upon all the
-    society except Sir Walter himself. But, in truth, even he was not
-    always proof against the annoyances connected with such a style of
-    open-house-keeping. Even his temper sank sometimes under the
-    solemn applause of learned dulness, the vapid raptures of painted
-    and periwigged dowagers the horse-leech avidity with which
-    underbred foreigners urged their questions, and the pompous
-    simpers of condescending magnates. When sore beset in this way, he
-    would every now and then discover that he had some very particular
-    business to attend to on an outlying part of his estate, and,
-    craving the indulgence of his guests overnight, appear at the
-    cabin in the glen before its inhabitants were astir in the
-    morning. The clatter of Sibyl Grey's hoofs, the yelping of Mustard
-    and Spice, and his own joyous shout of _reveillée_ under our
-    window, were the signal that he had burst his bonds, and meant for
-    that day to take his ease in his inn.... After breakfast he would
-    take possession of a dressing-room upstairs, and write a chapter
-    of "The Pirate"; and then, having made up and dispatched his
-    parcel for Mr. Ballantyne, away to join Purdie where the foresters
-    were at work....
-
-    The constant and eager delight with which Erskine watched the
-    progress of the tale has left a deep impression on my memory: and
-    indeed I heard so many of its chapters first read from the MS. by
-    him, that I can never open the book now without thinking I hear
-    his voice. Sir Walter used to give him at breakfast the pages he
-    had written that morning, and very commonly, while he was again at
-    work in his study, Erskine would walk over to Chiefswood, that he
-    might have the pleasure of reading them aloud to my wife and me
-    under our favourite tree.[1]
-
-"The tree is living yet!" This long quotation from a book but too little
-read in general may be excused for its interest, as bearing on the
-composition of "The Pirate," in the early autumn of 1821. In "The
-Pirate" Scott fell back on his recollections of the Orcades, as seen by
-him in a tour with the Commissioners of Light Houses, in August 1814,
-immediately after the publication of "Waverley." They were accompanied
-by Mr. Stevenson, the celebrated engineer, "a most gentlemanlike and
-modest man, and well known by his scientific skill."[2] It is understood
-that Mr. Stevenson also kept a diary, and that it is to be published by
-the care of his distinguished grandson, Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson,
-author of "Kidnapped," "The Master of Ballantrae," and other novels in
-which Scott would have recognised a not alien genius.
-
-Sir Walter's Diary, read in company with "The Pirate," offers a most
-curious study of his art in composition. It may be said that he scarcely
-noted a natural feature, a monument, a custom, a superstition, or a
-legend in Zetland and Orkney which he did not weave into the magic web
-of his romance. In the Diary all those matters appear as very ordinary;
-in "The Pirate" they are transfigured in the light of fancy. History
-gives Scott the career of Gow and his betrothal to an island lady:
-observation gives him a few headlands, Picts' houses, ruined towers, and
-old stone monuments, and his characters gather about these, in rhythmic
-array, like the dancers in the sword-dance. We may conceive that
-Cleveland, like Gow, was originally meant to die, and that Minna, like
-Margaret in the ballad of Clerk Saunders, was to recover her troth from
-the hand of her dead lover. But, if Scott intended this, he was
-good-natured, and relented.
-
-Taking the incidents in the Diary in company with the novel, we find, in
-the very first page of "The Pirate," mention of the roost, or rost, of
-Sumburgh, the running current of tidal water, which he hated so, because
-it made him so sea-sick. "All the landsmen sicker than sick, and our
-Viceroy, Stevenson, qualmish. It is proposed to have a light on Sumburgh
-Head. Fitful Head is higher, but is to the west, from which quarter few
-vessels come." As for Sumburgh Head, Scott climbed it, rolled down a
-rock from the summit, and found it "a fine situation to compose an ode
-to the Genius of Sumburgh Head, or an Elegy upon a Cormorant--or to have
-written or spoken madness of any kind in prose or poetry. But I gave
-vent to my excited feelings in a more simple way, and, sitting gently
-down on the steep green slope which led to the beach, I e'en slid down a
-few hundred feet, and found the exercise quite an adequate vent to my
-enthusiasm."
-
-Sir Walter was certainly not what he found Mrs. Hemans, "too poetical."
-
-In the first chapter, his Giffords, Scotts (of Scotstarvet, the
-Fifeshire house, not of the Border clan), and Mouats are the very gentry
-who entertained him on his tour. His "plantie cruives," in the novel,
-had been noted in the Diary (Lockhart, iv. 193). "Pate Stewart," the
-oppressive Earl, is chronicled at length in "the Diary." "His huge tower
-remains wild and desolate--its chambers filled with sand, and its rifted
-walls and dismantled battlements giving unrestrained access to the
-roaring sea-blast." So Scott wrote in his last review for the
-"Quarterly," a criticism of Pitcairn's "Scotch Criminal Trials" (1831).
-The Trows, or Drows, the fairy dwarfs he studied on the spot, and
-connects the name with Dwerg, though _Trolls_ seem rather to be their
-spiritual and linguistic ancestors. The affair of the clergyman who was
-taken for a Pecht, or Pict, actually occurred during the tour, and Mr.
-Stevenson, who had met the poor Pecht before, was able to clear his
-character.[3] In the same place the Kraken is mentioned: he had been
-visible for nearly a fortnight, but no sailor dared go near him.
-
-  He lay in the offing a fortnight or more,
-  But the devil a Zetlander put from the shore.
-  If your Grace thinks I'm writing the thing that is not,
-  You may ask at a namesake of ours, Mr. Scott,
-
-Sir Walter wrote to the Duke of Buccleugh. He paid a visit to an old
-lady, who, like Norna, and Æolus in the Odyssey, kept the winds in a
-bag, and could sell a fair breeze. "She was a miserable figure, upwards
-of ninety, she told me, and dried up like a mummy. A sort of
-clay-coloured cloak, folded over her head, corresponded in colour to her
-corpse-like complexion. Fine light-blue eyes, and nose and chin that
-almost met, and a ghastly expression of cunning gave her quite the
-effect of Hecate. She told us she remembered _Gow the Pirate_, betrothed
-to a Miss Gordon,"--so here are the germs of Norna, Cleveland, and
-Minna, all sown in good ground, to bear fruit in seven years
-(1814-1821). Triptolemus Yellowley is entirely derived from the Diary,
-and is an anachronism. The Lowland Scots factors and ploughs were only
-coming in while Scott was in the isles. He himself saw the absurd little
-mills (vol. i. ch. xi.), and the one stilted plough which needed two
-women to open the furrows, a feebler plough than the Virgilian specimens
-which one still remarks in Tuscany. "When this precious machine was in
-motion, it was dragged by four little bullocks, yoked abreast, and as
-many ponies harnessed, or rather strung, to the plough by ropes and
-thongs of raw hide.... An antiquary might be of opinion that this was
-the very model of the original plough invented by Triptolemus," son of
-the Eleusinian king, who sheltered Demeter in her wanderings. The
-sword-dance was not danced for Scott's entertainment, but he heard of
-the Pupa dancers, and got a copy of the accompanying chant, and was
-presented with examples of the flint and bronze Celts which Norna
-treasured. All over the world, as in Zetland, they were regarded as
-"thunder stones." (Diary; Lockhart, iv. 220.) The bridal of Norna, by
-clasping of hands through Odin's stone ring, was still practised as a
-form of betrothal. (Lockhart, iv. 252.) Some island people were
-despised, as by Magnus Troil, as "poor sneaks" who ate limpets, "the
-last of human meannesses." The "wells," or smooth wave-currents, were
-also noted, and the _Garland_ of the whalers often alluded to in the
-tale. The Stones of Stennis were visited, and the Dwarfie Stone of Hoy,
-where Norna, like some Eskimo Angekok, met her familiar demon. Scott
-held that the stone "probably was meant as the temple of some northern
-edition of the _dii Manes_. They conceive that the dwarf may be seen
-sometimes sitting at the door of his abode, but he vanishes on a nearer
-approach." The dwelling of Norna, a Pict's house, with an overhanging
-story, "shaped like a dice-box," is the ancient Castle of Mousa.[4] The
-strange incantation of Norna, the dropping of molten lead into water, is
-also described. Usually the lead was poured through the wards of a key.
-In affections of the heart, like Minna's, a triangular stone, probably a
-neolithic arrow-head, was usually employed as an amulet. (Lockhart, iv.
-208.) Even the story of the pirate's insolent answer to the Provost is
-adapted from a recent occurrence. Two whalers were accused of stealing a
-sheep. The first denied the charge, but said he had seen the animal
-carried off by "a fellow with a red nose and a black wig. Don't you
-think he was like his honour, Tom?" "By God, Jack, I believe it was the
-very man." (Diary; Lockhart, iv. 222; "The Pirate," vol. ii. ch. xiv.)
-The goldless Northern Ophir was also visited--in brief, Scott scarcely
-made a remark on his tour which he did not manage to transmute into the
-rare metal of his romance. It is no wonder that the Orcadians at once
-detected his authorship. A trifling anecdote of the cruise has recently
-been published. Scott presented a lady in the isles with a piano, which,
-it seems, is still capable of producing a melancholy jingling tune.[5]
-
-Lockhart says, as to the reception of "The Pirate" (Dec. 1821): "The
-wild freshness of the atmosphere of this splendid romance, the beautiful
-contrast of Minna and Brenda, and the exquisitely drawn character of
-Captain Cleveland, found the reception which they deserved." "The wild
-freshness of the atmosphere" is indeed magically transfused, and
-breathes across the pages as it blows over the Fitful Head, the
-skerries, the desolate moors, the plain of the Standing Stones of
-Stennis. The air is keen and salt and fragrant of the sea. Yet Sydney
-Smith was greatly disappointed. "I am afraid this novel will depend upon
-the former reputation of the author, and will add nothing to it. It may
-sell, and another may half sell, but that is all, unless he comes out
-with something vigorous, and redeems himself. I do not blame him for
-writing himself out, if he knows he is doing so, and has done his
-_best_, and his _all_. If the native land of Scotland will supply no
-more scenes and characters, for he is always best in Scotland, though he
-was very good in England the (time) he was there; but pray, wherever the
-scene is laid, no more Meg Merrilies and Dominie Sampsons--very good the
-first and second times, but now quite worn out, and always recurring."
-("Archibald Constable," iii. 69.)
-
-It was Smith's grammar that gave out, and produced no apodosis to his
-phrase. Scott could not write himself out, before his brain was affected
-by disease. Had his age been miraculously prolonged, with health, it
-could never be said that "all the stories have been told," and he would
-have delighted mankind unceasingly.
-
-Scott himself was a little nettled by the criticisms of Norna as a
-replica of Meg Merrilies. She is, indeed, "something distinct from the
-Dumfriesshire gipsy"--in truth, she rather resembles the Ulrica of
-"Ivanhoe." Like her, she is haunted by the memory of an awful crime, an
-insane version of a mere accident; like her, she is a votaress of the
-dead gods of the older world, Thor and Odin, and the spirits of the
-tempest. Scott's imagination lived so much in the past that the ancient
-creeds never ceased to allure him: like Heine, he felt the fascination
-of the banished deities, not of Greece, but of the North. Thus Norna,
-crazed by her terrible mischance, dwells among them, worships the Red
-Beard, as outlying descendants of the Aztecs yet retain some faith in
-their old monstrous Pantheon. Even Minna keeps, in her girlish
-enthusiasm, some touch of Freydis in the saga of Eric the Red: for her
-the old gods and the old years are not wholly exiled and impotent. All
-this is most characteristic of the antiquary and the poet in Scott, who
-lingers fondly over what has been, and stirs the last faint embers of
-fallen fires. It is of a piece with the harmless Jacobitism of his
-festivals, when they sang
-
-  Here's to the King, boys!
-  Ye ken wha I mean, boys.
-
-In the singularly feeble and provincial vulgarities which Borrow
-launches, in the appendix to "Lavengro," against the memory of Scott,
-the charge of reviving Catholicism is the most bitter. That rowdy
-evangelist might as well have charged Scott with a desire to restore the
-worship of Odin, and to sacrifice human victims on the stone altar of
-Stennis. He saw in Orkney the ruined fanes of the Norse deities, as at
-Melrose of the Virgin, and his loyal heart could feel for all that was
-old and lost, for all into which men had put their hearts and faiths,
-had made, and had unmade, in the secular quest for the divine. Like a
-later poet, he might have said:--
-
-  Not as their friend or child I speak,
-    But as on some far Northern strand,
-  Thinking of his own gods, a Greek
-    In pity and mournful awe might stand
-  Beside some fallen Runic stone,
-    For both were gods, and both are gone.
-
-And surely no creed is more savage, cruel, and worthy of death than
-Borrow's belief in a God who "knew where to strike," and deliberately
-struck Scott by inducing Robinson to speculate in hops, and so bring
-down his Edinburgh associate, Constable, and with him Sir Walter! Such
-was the religion which Borrow expressed in the style of a writer in a
-fourth-rate country newspaper. We might prefer the frank Heathenism of
-the Red Beard to the religion of the author of "The Bible in Spain."
-
-There is no denying that Scott had in his imagination a certain mould of
-romance, into which his ideas, when he wrote most naturally, and most
-for his own pleasure, were apt to run. It is one of the charms of "The
-Pirate" that here he is manifestly writing for his own pleasure, with a
-certain boyish eagerness. Had we but the plot of one of the tales which
-he told, as a lad, to his friend Irving, we might find that it turned on
-a romantic mystery, a clue in the hands of some witch or wise woman, of
-some one who was always appearing in the nick of time, was always round
-the corner when anything was to be heard. This is a standing
-characteristic of the tales: now it is Edie Ochiltree, now
-Flibbertigibbet, now Meg Merrilies, now Norna, who holds the thread of
-the plot, but these characters are all well differentiated. Again, he
-had types, especially the pedantic type, which attracted him, but they
-vary as much as Yellowley and Dugald Dalgetty, the Antiquary, and
-Dominie Sampson. Yellowley is rather more repressed than some of Scott's
-bores; but then he is not the only bore, for Claud Halcro, with all his
-merits, is a professed proser. Swift had exactly described the
-character, the episodical narrator, in a passage parallel to one in
-Theophrastus. In writing to Morritt, Scott says (November 1818): "I
-sympathise with you for the _dole_ you are _dreeing_ under the
-inflictions of your honest proser. Of all the boring machines ever
-devised, your regular and determined story-teller is the most peremptory
-and powerful in his operations."
-
-"With what perfect placidity he submitted to be bored even by bores of
-the first water!" says Lockhart. The species is one which we all have
-many opportunities of studying, but it may be admitted that Scott
-produced his studies of bores with a certain complacency. Yet they are
-all different bores, and the gay, kind _scald_ Halcro is very unlike
-Master Mumblasen or Dominie Sampson.
-
-For a hero Mordaunt may be called almost sprightly and individual. His
-mysterious father occasionally suggests the influence of Byron,
-occasionally of Mrs. Radcliffe. The Udaller is as individual and genial
-as Dandie Dinmont himself; or, again, he is the Cedric of Thule, though
-much more sympathetic than Cedric to most readers. His affection for his
-daughters is characteristic and deserved. Many a pair of sisters, blonde
-and brune, have we met in fiction since Minna and Brenda, but none have
-been their peers, and, like Mordaunt in early years, we know not to
-which of them our hearts are given. They are "L'Allegro" and "Il
-Penseroso" of the North, and it is probable that all men would fall in
-love with Minna if they had the chance, and marry Brenda, if they could.
-Minna is, indeed, the ideal youth of poetry, and Brenda of the practical
-life. The innocent illusions of Minna, her love of all that is old, her
-championship of the forlorn cause, her beauty, her tenderness, her
-truth, her passionate waywardness of sorrow, make her one of Scott's
-most original and delightful heroines. She believes and trembles not,
-like Bertram in "Rokeby." Brenda trembles, but does not believe in
-Norna's magic, and in the spirits of ancient saga. As for Cleveland,
-Scott managed to avoid Byron's Lara-like pirates, and produced a
-freebooter as sympathetic as any _hostis humani generis_ can be, while
-"Frederick Altamont" (Thackeray borrowed the name for his romantic
-crossing-sweeper) has a place among the Marischals and Bucklaws of
-romance. Scott's minute studies in Dryden come to the aid of his local
-observations, and so, out of not very promising materials, and out of
-the contrast of Lowland Scot and Orcadian, the romance is spun. Probably
-the "psychological analysis" which most interested the author is the
-double consciousness of Norna, the occasional intrusions of the rational
-self on her dreams of supernatural powers. That double consciousness,
-indeed, exists in all of us: occasionally the self in which we believe
-has a vision of the real underlying self, and shudders from the sight,
-like the pair "who met themselves" in the celebrated drawing.
-
-"The Pirate" can scarcely be placed in the front rank of Scott's novels,
-but it has a high and peculiar place in the second, and probably will
-always be among the special favourites of those who, being young, are
-fortunate enough not to be critical.
-
-Scott's novels at this time came forth so frequently that the lumbering
-"Quarterlies" toiled after them in vain. They adopted the plan of
-reviewing them in batches, and the "Quarterly" may be said to have
-omitted "The Pirate" altogether. About this time Gifford began to find
-that the person who spoke of a "dark dialect of Anglified Erse" was not
-a competent critic, and Mr. Senior noticed several of the tales in a
-more judicious manner. As to "The Pirate," the "Edinburgh Review"
-found "the character and story of Mertoun at once commonplace and
-extravagant." Cleveland disappoints "by turning out so much better
-than we had expected, and yet substantially so ill." "Nothing can
-be more beautiful than the description of the sisters." "Norna is
-a new incarnation of Meg Merrilies, and palpably the same in the
-spirit ... but far above the rank of a mere imitated or borrowed
-character." "The work, on the whole, opens up a new world to our
-curiosity, and affords another proof of the extreme pliability,
-as well as vigour, of the author's genius."
-
-                                                          ANDREW LANG.
-  _August 1893._
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Lockhart, vi. 388-393. Erskine died before Scott, slain by a silly
-piece of gossip, and Mr. Skene says: "I never saw Sir Walter so much
-affected by any event, and at the funeral, which he attended, he was
-quite unable to suppress his feelings, but wept like a child." His
-correspondence with Scott fell into the hands of a lady, who, seeing
-that it revealed the secret of Scott's authorship, most unfortunately
-burned all the letters. (Journal, i. 416.)
-
-[2] Scott's Diary, July 29, 1814. Lockhart, vi. 183.
-
-[3] See Author's Note No. I.
-
-[4] Diary; Lockhart, iv. 223.
-
-[5] "Atalanta," December 1892.
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATE.
-
-  "Quoth he, there was a ship."
-
-
-This brief preface may begin like the tale of the Ancient Mariner, since
-it was on shipboard that the author acquired the very moderate degree of
-local knowledge and information, both of people and scenery, which he
-has endeavoured to embody in the romance of the Pirate.
-
-In the summer and autumn of 1814, the author was invited to join a party
-of Commissioners for the Northern Light-House Service, who proposed
-making a voyage round the coast of Scotland, and through its various
-groups of islands, chiefly for the purpose of seeing the condition of
-the many lighthouses under their direction,--edifices so important,
-whether regarding them as benevolent or political institutions. Among
-the commissioners who manage this important public concern, the sheriff
-of each county of Scotland which borders on the sea, holds ex-officio a
-place at the Board. These gentlemen act in every respect gratuitously,
-but have the use of an armed yacht, well found and fitted up, when they
-choose to visit the lighthouses. An excellent engineer, Mr. Robert
-Stevenson, is attached to the Board, to afford the benefit of his
-professional advice. The author accompanied this expedition as a guest;
-for Selkirkshire, though it calls him Sheriff, has not, like the kingdom
-of Bohemia in Corporal Trim's story, a seaport in its circuit, nor its
-magistrate, of course, any place at the Board of Commissioners,--a
-circumstance of little consequence where all were old and intimate
-friends, bred to the same profession, and disposed to accommodate each
-other in every possible manner.
-
-The nature of the important business which was the principal purpose of
-the voyage, was connected with the amusement of visiting the leading
-objects of a traveller's curiosity; for the wild cape, or formidable
-shelve, which requires to be marked out by a lighthouse, is generally at
-no great distance from the most magnificent scenery of rocks, caves, and
-billows. Our time, too, was at our own disposal, and, as most of us were
-freshwater sailors, we could at any time make a fair wind out of a foul
-one, and run before the gale in quest of some object of curiosity which
-lay under our lee.
-
-With these purposes of public utility and some personal amusement in
-view, we left the port of Leith on the 26th July, 1814, ran along the
-east coast of Scotland, viewing its different curiosities, stood over to
-Zetland and Orkney, where we were some time detained by the wonders of a
-country which displayed so much that was new to us; and having seen what
-was curious in the Ultima Thule of the ancients, where the sun hardly
-thought it worth while to go to bed, since his rising was at this season
-so early, we doubled the extreme northern termination of Scotland, and
-took a rapid survey of the Hebrides, where we found many kind friends.
-There, that our little expedition might not want the dignity of danger,
-we were favoured with a distant glimpse of what was said to be an
-American cruiser, and had opportunity to consider what a pretty figure
-we should have made had the voyage ended in our being carried captive
-to the United States. After visiting the romantic shores of Morven, and
-the vicinity of Oban, we made a run to the coast of Ireland, and visited
-the Giant's Causeway, that we might compare it with Staffa, which we had
-surveyed in our course. At length, about the middle of September, we
-ended our voyage in the Clyde, at the port of Greenock.
-
-And thus terminated our pleasant tour, to which our equipment gave
-unusual facilities, as the ship's company could form a strong boat's
-crew, independent of those who might be left on board the vessel, which
-permitted us the freedom to land wherever our curiosity carried us. Let
-me add, while reviewing for a moment a sunny portion of my life, that
-among the six or seven friends who performed this voyage together, some
-of them doubtless of different tastes and pursuits, and remaining for
-several weeks on board a small vessel, there never occurred the
-slightest dispute or disagreement, each seeming anxious to submit his
-own particular wishes to those of his friends. By this mutual
-accommodation all the purposes of our little expedition were obtained,
-while for a time we might have adopted the lines of Allan Cunningham's
-fine sea-song,
-
-  "The world of waters was our home,
-  And merry men were we!"
-
-But sorrow mixes her memorials with the purest remembrances of pleasure.
-On returning from the voyage which had proved so satisfactory, I found
-that fate had deprived her country most unexpectedly of a lady,
-qualified to adorn the high rank which she held, and who had long
-admitted me to a share of her friendship. The subsequent loss of one of
-those comrades who made up the party, and he the most intimate friend I
-had in the world, casts also its shade on recollections which, but for
-these embitterments, would be otherwise so pleasing.
-
-I may here briefly observe, that my business in this voyage, so far as I
-could be said to have any, was to endeavour to discover some localities
-which might be useful in the "Lord of the Isles," a poem with which I
-was then threatening the public, and was afterwards printed without
-attaining remarkable success. But as at the same time the anonymous
-novel of "Waverley" was making its way to popularity, I already augured
-the possibility of a second effort in this department of literature, and
-I saw much in the wild islands of the Orkneys and Zetland, which I
-judged might be made in the highest degree interesting, should these
-isles ever become the scene of a narrative of fictitious events. I
-learned the history of Gow the pirate from an old sibyl, (the subject of
-a note, p. 326 of this volume,) whose principal subsistence was by a
-trade in favourable winds, which she sold to mariners at Stromness.
-Nothing could be more interesting than the kindness and hospitality of
-the gentlemen of Zetland, which was to me the more affecting, as several
-of them had been friends and correspondents of my father.
-
-I was induced to go a generation or two farther back, to find materials
-from which I might trace the features of the old Norwegian Udaller, the
-Scottish gentry having in general occupied the place of that primitive
-race, and their language and peculiarities of manner having entirely
-disappeared. The only difference now to be observed betwixt the gentry
-of these islands, and those of Scotland in general, is, that the wealth
-and property is more equally divided among our more northern countrymen,
-and that there exists among the resident proprietors no men of very
-great wealth, whose display of its luxuries might render the others
-discontented with their own lot. From the same cause of general
-equality of fortunes, and the cheapness of living, which is its natural
-consequence, I found the officers of a veteran regiment who had
-maintained the garrison at Fort Charlotte, in Lerwick, discomposed at
-the idea of being recalled from a country where their pay, however
-inadequate to the expenses of a capital, was fully adequate to their
-wants, and it was singular to hear natives of merry England herself
-regretting their approaching departure from the melancholy isles of the
-Ultima Thule.
-
-Such are the trivial particulars attending the origin of that
-publication, which took place several years later than the agreeable
-journey from which it took its rise.
-
-The state of manners which I have introduced in the romance, was
-necessarily in a great degree imaginary, though founded in some measure
-on slight hints, which, showing what was, seemed to give reasonable
-indication of what must once have been, the tone of the society in these
-sequestered but interesting islands.
-
-In one respect I was judged somewhat hastily, perhaps, when the
-character of Norna was pronounced by the critics a mere copy of Meg
-Merrilees. That I had fallen short of what I wished and desired to
-express is unquestionable, otherwise my object could not have been so
-widely mistaken; nor can I yet think that any person who will take the
-trouble of reading the Pirate with some attention, can fail to trace in
-Norna,--the victim of remorse and insanity, and the dupe of her own
-imposture, her mind, too, flooded with all the wild literature and
-extravagant superstitions of the north,--something distinct from the
-Dumfries-shire gipsy, whose pretensions to supernatural powers are not
-beyond those of a Norwood prophetess. The foundations of such a
-character may be perhaps traced, though it be too true that the
-necessary superstructure cannot have been raised upon them, otherwise
-these remarks would have been unnecessary. There is also great
-improbability in the statement of Norna's possessing power and
-opportunity to impress on others that belief in her supernatural gifts
-which distracted her own mind. Yet, amid a very credulous and ignorant
-population, it is astonishing what success may be attained by an
-impostor, who is, at the same time, an enthusiast. It is such as to
-remind us of the couplet which assures us that
-
-  "The pleasure is as great
-  In being cheated as to cheat."
-
-Indeed, as I have observed elsewhere, the professed explanation of a
-tale, where appearances or incidents of a supernatural character are
-referred to natural causes, has often, in the winding up of the story, a
-degree of improbability almost equal to an absolute goblin narrative.
-Even the genius of Mrs. Radcliffe could not always surmount this
-difficulty.
-
-  ABBOTSFORD,
-    _1st May, 1831._
-
-
-
-
-ADVERTISEMENT.
-
-
-The purpose of the following Narrative is to give a detailed and
-accurate account of certain remarkable incidents which took place in the
-Orkney Islands, concerning which the more imperfect traditions and
-mutilated records of the country only tell us the following erroneous
-particulars:--
-
-In the month of January, 1724-5, a vessel, called the Revenge, bearing
-twenty large guns, and six smaller, commanded by JOHN GOW, or GOFFE, or
-SMITH, came to the Orkney Islands, and was discovered to be a pirate, by
-various acts of insolence and villainy committed by the crew. These were
-for some time submitted to, the inhabitants of these remote islands not
-possessing arms nor means of resistance; and so bold was the Captain of
-these banditti, that he not only came ashore, and gave dancing parties
-in the village of Stromness, but before his real character was
-discovered, engaged the affections, and received the troth-plight, of a
-young lady possessed of some property. A patriotic individual, JAMES
-FEA, younger of Clestron, formed the plan of securing the buccanier,
-which he effected by a mixture of courage and address, in consequence
-chiefly of Gow's vessel having gone on shore near the harbour of
-Calfsound, on the Island of Eda, not far distant from a house then
-inhabited by Mr. FEA. In the various stratagems by which Mr. FEA
-contrived finally, at the peril of his life, (they being well armed and
-desperate,) to make the whole pirates his prisoners, he was much aided
-by Mr. JAMES LAING, the grandfather of the late MALCOLM LAING, Esq., the
-acute and ingenious historian of Scotland during the 17th century.
-
-Gow, and others of his crew, suffered, by sentence of the High Court of
-Admiralty, the punishment their crimes had long deserved. He conducted
-himself with great audacity when before the Court; and, from an account
-of the matter by an eye-witness, seems to have been subjected to some
-unusual severities, in order to compel him to plead. The words are
-these: "JOHN GOW would not plead, for which he was brought to the bar,
-and the Judge ordered that his thumbs should be squeezed by two men,
-with a whip-cord, till it did break; and then it should be doubled, till
-it did again break, and then laid threefold, and that the executioners
-should pull with their whole strength; which sentence Gow endured with a
-great deal of boldness." The next morning, (27th May, 1725,) when he had
-seen the terrible preparations for pressing him to death, his courage
-gave way, and he told the Marshal of Court, that he would not have given
-so much trouble, had he been assured of not being hanged in chains. He
-was then tried, condemned, and executed, with others of his crew.
-
-It is said, that the lady whose affections GOW had engaged, went up to
-London to see him before his death, and that, arriving too late, she had
-the courage to request a sight of his dead body; and then, touching the
-hand of the corpse, she formally resumed the troth-plight which she had
-bestowed. Without going through this ceremony, she could not, according
-to the superstition of the country, have escaped a visit from the ghost
-of her departed lover, in the event of her bestowing upon any living
-suitor the faith which she had plighted to the dead. This part of the
-legend may serve as a curious commentary on the fine Scottish ballad,
-which begins,
-
-  "There came a ghost to Margaret's door," &c.(_a_)[6]
-
-The common account of this incident farther bears, that Mr. FEA, the
-spirited individual by whose exertions GOW'S career of iniquity was cut
-short, was so far from receiving any reward from Government, that he
-could not obtain even countenance enough to protect him against a
-variety of sham suits, raised against him by Newgate solicitors, who
-acted in the name of GOW, and others of the pirate crew; and the various
-expenses, vexatious prosecutions, and other legal consequences, in which
-his gallant exploit involved him, utterly ruined his fortune, and his
-family; making his memory a notable example to all who shall in future
-take pirates on their own authority.
-
-It is to be supposed, for the honour of GEORGE the First's Government,
-that the last circumstance, as well as the dates, and other particulars
-of the commonly received story, are inaccurate, since they will be found
-totally irreconcilable with the following veracious narrative, compiled
-from materials to which he himself alone has had access, by
-
-                                               THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[6] See Editor's Notes at the end of the Volume. Wherever a similar
-reference occurs, the reader will understand that the same direction
-applies.
-
-
-
-
-THE PIRATE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-  The storm had ceased its wintry roar,
-    Hoarse dash the billows of the sea;
-  But who on Thule's desert shore,
-    Cries, Have I burnt my harp for thee?
-
-                                                    MACNIEL.
-
-
-That long, narrow, and irregular island, usually called the mainland of
-Zetland, because it is by far the largest of that Archipelago,
-terminates, as is well known to the mariners who navigate the stormy
-seas which surround the Thule of the ancients, in a cliff of immense
-height, entitled Sumburgh-Head, which presents its bare scalp and naked
-sides to the weight of a tremendous surge, forming the extreme point of
-the isle to the south-east. This lofty promontory is constantly exposed
-to the current of a strong and furious tide, which, setting in betwixt
-the Orkney and Zetland Islands, and running with force only inferior to
-that of the Pentland Frith, takes its name from the headland we have
-mentioned, and is called the Roost of Sumburgh; _roost_ being the phrase
-assigned in those isles to currents of this description.
-
-On the land side, the promontory is covered with short grass, and slopes
-steeply down to a little isthmus, upon which the sea has encroached in
-creeks, which, advancing from either side of the island, gradually work
-their way forward, and seem as if in a short time they would form a
-junction, and altogether insulate Sumburgh-Head, when what is now a
-cape, will become a lonely mountain islet, severed from the mainland, of
-which it is at present the terminating extremity.
-
-Man, however, had in former days considered this as a remote or unlikely
-event; for a Norwegian chief of other times, or, as other accounts said,
-and as the name of Jarlshof seemed to imply, an ancient Earl of the
-Orkneys had selected this neck of land as the place for establishing a
-mansion-house. It has been long entirely deserted, and the vestiges only
-can be discerned with difficulty; for the loose sand, borne on the
-tempestuous gales of those stormy regions, has overblown, and almost
-buried, the ruins of the buildings; but in the end of the seventeenth
-century, a part of the Earl's mansion was still entire and habitable. It
-was a rude building of rough stone, with nothing about it to gratify the
-eye, or to excite the imagination; a large old-fashioned narrow house,
-with a very steep roof, covered with flags composed of grey sandstone,
-would perhaps convey the best idea of the place to a modern reader. The
-windows were few, very small in size, and distributed up and down the
-building with utter contempt of regularity. Against the main structure
-had rested, in former times, certain smaller co-partments of the
-mansion-house, containing offices, or subordinate apartments, necessary
-for the accommodation of the Earl's retainers and menials. But these had
-become ruinous; and the rafters had been taken down for fire-wood, or
-for other purposes; the walls had given way in many places; and, to
-complete the devastation, the sand had already drifted amongst the
-ruins, and filled up what had been once the chambers they contained, to
-the depth of two or three feet.
-
-Amid this desolation, the inhabitants of Jarlshof had contrived, by
-constant labour and attention, to keep in order a few roods of land,
-which had been enclosed as a garden, and which, sheltered by the walls
-of the house itself, from the relentless sea-blast, produced such
-vegetables as the climate could bring forth, or rather as the sea-gale
-would permit to grow; for these islands experience even less of the
-rigour of cold than is encountered on the mainland of Scotland; but,
-unsheltered by a wall of some sort or other, it is scarce possible to
-raise even the most ordinary culinary vegetables; and as for shrubs or
-trees, they are entirely out of the question, such is the force of the
-sweeping sea-blast.
-
-At a short distance from the mansion, and near to the sea-beach, just
-where the creek forms a sort of imperfect harbour, in which lay three or
-four fishing-boats, there were a few most wretched cottages for the
-inhabitants and tenants of the township of Jarlshof, who held the whole
-district of the landlord upon such terms as were in those days usually
-granted to persons of this description, and which, of course, were hard
-enough. The landlord himself resided upon an estate which he possessed
-in a more eligible situation, in a different part of the island, and
-seldom visited his possessions at Sumburgh-Head. He was an honest, plain
-Zetland gentleman, somewhat passionate, the necessary result of being
-surrounded by dependents; and somewhat over-convivial in his habits, the
-consequence, perhaps, of having too much time at his disposal; but
-frank-tempered and generous to his people, and kind and hospitable to
-strangers. He was descended also of an old and noble Norwegian family; a
-circumstance which rendered him dearer to the lower orders, most of whom
-are of the same race; while the lairds, or proprietors, are generally of
-Scottish extraction, who, at that early period, were still considered as
-strangers and intruders. Magnus Troil, who deduced his descent from the
-very Earl who was supposed to have founded Jarlshof, was peculiarly of
-this opinion.
-
-The present inhabitants of Jarlshof had experienced, on several
-occasions, the kindness and good will of the proprietor of the
-territory. When Mr. Mertoun--such was the name of the present inhabitant
-of the old mansion--first arrived in Zetland, some years before the
-story commences, he had been received at the house of Mr. Troil with
-that warm and cordial hospitality for which the islands are
-distinguished. No one asked him whence he came, where he was going, what
-was his purpose in visiting so remote a corner of the empire, or what
-was likely to be the term of his stay. He arrived a perfect stranger,
-yet was instantly overpowered by a succession of invitations; and in
-each house which he visited, he found a home as long as he chose to
-accept it, and lived as one of the family, unnoticed and unnoticing,
-until he thought proper to remove to some other dwelling. This apparent
-indifference to the rank, character, and qualities of their guest, did
-not arise from apathy on the part of his kind hosts, for the islanders
-had their full share of natural curiosity; but their delicacy deemed it
-would be an infringement upon the laws of hospitality, to ask questions
-which their guest might have found it difficult or unpleasing to answer;
-and instead of endeavouring, as is usual in other countries, to wring
-out of Mr. Mertoun such communications as he might find it agreeable to
-withhold, the considerate Zetlanders contented themselves with eagerly
-gathering up such scraps of information as could be collected in the
-course of conversation.
-
-But the rock in an Arabian desert is not more reluctant to afford water,
-than Mr. Basil Mertoun was niggard in imparting his confidence, even
-incidentally; and certainly the politeness of the gentry of Thule was
-never put to a more severe test than when they felt that good-breeding
-enjoined them to abstain from enquiring into the situation of so
-mysterious a personage.
-
-All that was actually known of him was easily summed up. Mr. Mertoun had
-come to Lerwick, then rising into some importance, but not yet
-acknowledged as the principal town of the island, in a Dutch vessel,
-accompanied only by his son, a handsome boy of about fourteen years old.
-His own age might exceed forty. The Dutch skipper introduced him to some
-of the very good friends with whom he used to barter gin and gingerbread
-for little Zetland bullocks, smoked geese, and stockings of lambs-wool;
-and although Meinheer could only say, that "Meinheer Mertoun hab bay his
-bassage like one gentlemans, and hab given a Kreitz-dollar beside to the
-crew," this introduction served to establish the Dutchman's passenger in
-a respectable circle of acquaintances, which gradually enlarged, as it
-appeared that the stranger was a man of considerable acquirements.
-
-This discovery was made almost _per force_; for Mertoun was as unwilling
-to speak upon general subjects, as upon his own affairs. But he was
-sometimes led into discussions, which showed, as it were in spite of
-himself, the scholar and the man of the world; and, at other times, as
-if in requital of the hospitality which he experienced, he seemed to
-compel himself, against his fixed nature, to enter into the society of
-those around him, especially when it assumed the grave, melancholy, or
-satirical cast, which best suited the temper of his own mind. Upon such
-occasions, the Zetlanders were universally of opinion that he must have
-had an excellent education, neglected only in one striking particular,
-namely, that Mr. Mertoun scarce knew the stem of a ship from the stern;
-and in the management of a boat, a cow could not be more ignorant. It
-seemed astonishing such gross ignorance of the most necessary art of
-life (in the Zetland Isles at least) should subsist along with his
-accomplishments in other respects; but so it was.
-
-Unless called forth in the manner we have mentioned, the habits of Basil
-Mertoun were retired and gloomy. From loud mirth he instantly fled; and
-even the moderated cheerfulness of a friendly party, had the invariable
-effect of throwing him into deeper dejection than even his usual
-demeanour indicated.
-
-Women are always particularly desirous of investigating mystery, and of
-alleviating melancholy, especially when these circumstances are united
-in a handsome man about the prime of life. It is possible, therefore,
-that amongst the fair-haired and blue-eyed daughters of Thule, this
-mysterious and pensive stranger might have found some one to take upon
-herself the task of consolation, had he shown any willingness to accept
-such kindly offices; but, far from doing so, he seemed even to shun the
-presence of the sex, to which in our distresses, whether of mind or
-body, we generally apply for pity and comfort.
-
-To these peculiarities Mr. Mertoun added another, which was particularly
-disagreeable to his host and principal patron, Magnus Troil. This
-magnate of Zetland, descended by the father's side, as we have already
-said, from an ancient Norwegian family, by the marriage of its
-representative with a Danish lady, held the devout opinion that a cup of
-Geneva or Nantz was specific against all cares and afflictions whatever.
-These were remedies to which Mr. Mertoun never applied; his drink was
-water, and water alone, and no persuasion or entreaties could induce him
-to taste any stronger beverage than was afforded by the pure spring. Now
-this Magnus Troil could not tolerate; it was a defiance to the ancient
-northern laws of conviviality, which, for his own part, he had so
-rigidly observed, that although he was wont to assert that he had never
-in his life gone to bed drunk, (that is, in his own sense of the word,)
-it would have been impossible to prove that he had ever resigned himself
-to slumber in a state of actual and absolute sobriety. It may be
-therefore asked, What did this stranger bring into society to compensate
-the displeasure given by his austere and abstemious habits? He had, in
-the first place, that manner and self-importance which mark a person of
-some consequence: and although it was conjectured that he could not be
-rich, yet it was certainly known by his expenditure that neither was he
-absolutely poor. He had, besides, some powers of conversation, when, as
-we have already hinted, he chose to exert them, and his misanthropy or
-aversion to the business and intercourse of ordinary life, was often
-expressed in an antithetical manner, which passed for wit, when better
-was not to be had. Above all, Mr. Mertoun's secret seemed impenetrable,
-and his presence had all the interest of a riddle, which men love to
-read over and over, because they cannot find out the meaning of it.
-
-Notwithstanding these recommendations, Mertoun differed in so many
-material points from his host, that after he had been for some time a
-guest at his principal residence, Magnus Troil was agreeably surprised
-when, one evening after they had sat two hours in absolute silence,
-drinking brandy and water,--that is, Magnus drinking the alcohol, and
-Mertoun the element,--the guest asked his host's permission to occupy,
-as his tenant, this deserted mansion of Jarlshof, at the extremity of
-the territory called Dunrossness, and situated just beneath
-Sumburgh-Head. "I shall be handsomely rid of him," quoth Magnus to
-himself, "and his kill-joy visage will never again stop the bottle in
-its round. His departure will ruin me in lemons, however, for his mere
-look was quite sufficient to sour a whole ocean of punch."
-
-Yet the kind-hearted Zetlander generously and disinterestedly
-remonstrated with Mr. Mertoun on the solitude and inconveniences to
-which he was about to subject himself. "There were scarcely," he said,
-"even the most necessary articles of furniture in the old house--there
-was no society within many miles--for provisions, the principal article
-of food would be sour sillocks, and his only company gulls and
-gannets."
-
-"My good friend," replied Mertoun, "if you could have named a
-circumstance which would render the residence more eligible to me than
-any other, it is that there would be neither human luxury nor human
-society near the place of my retreat; a shelter from the weather for my
-own head, and for the boy's, is all I seek for. So name your rent, Mr.
-Troil, and let me be your tenant at Jarlshof."
-
-"Rent?" answered the Zetlander; "why, no great rent for an old house
-which no one has lived in since my mother's time--God rest her!--and as
-for shelter, the old walls are thick enough, and will bear many a bang
-yet. But, Heaven love you, Mr. Mertoun, think what you are purposing.
-For one of us to live at Jarlshof, were a wild scheme enough; but you,
-who are from another country, whether English, Scotch, or Irish, no one
-can tell"----
-
-"Nor does it greatly matter," said Mertoun, somewhat abruptly.
-
-"Not a herring's scale," answered the Laird; "only that I like you the
-better for being no Scot, as I trust you are not one. Hither they have
-come like the clack-geese--every chamberlain has brought over a flock of
-his own name, and his own hatching, for what I know, and here they roost
-for ever--catch them returning to their own barren Highlands or
-Lowlands, when once they have tasted our Zetland beef, and seen our
-bonny _voes_ and lochs. No, sir," (here Magnus proceeded with great
-animation, sipping from time to time the half-diluted spirit, which at
-the same time animated his resentment against the intruders, and enabled
-him to endure the mortifying reflection which it suggested,)--"No, sir,
-the ancient days and the genuine manners of these Islands are no more;
-for our ancient possessors,--our Patersons, our Feas, our
-Schlagbrenners, our Thorbiorns, have given place to Giffords, Scotts,
-Mouats, men whose names bespeak them or their ancestors strangers to the
-soil which we the Troils have inhabited long before the days of
-Turf-Einar, who first taught these Isles the mystery of burning peat for
-fuel, and who has been handed down to a grateful posterity by a name
-which records the discovery."
-
-This was a subject upon which the potentate of Jarlshof was usually very
-diffuse, and Mertoun saw him enter upon it with pleasure, because he
-knew he should not be called upon to contribute any aid to the
-conversation, and might therefore indulge his own saturnine humour while
-the Norwegian Zetlander declaimed on the change of times and
-inhabitants. But just as Magnus had arrived at the melancholy
-conclusion, "how probable it was, that in another century scarce a
-_merk_--scarce even an _ure_ of land, would be in the possession of the
-Norse inhabitants, the true Udallers[7] of Zetland," he recollected the
-circumstances of his guest, and stopped suddenly short. "I do not say
-all this," he added, interrupting himself, "as if I were unwilling that
-you should settle on my estate, Mr. Mertoun--But for Jarlshof--the place
-is a wild one--Come from where you will, I warrant you will say, like
-other travellers, you came from a better climate than ours, for so say
-you all. And yet you think of a retreat, which the very natives run away
-from. Will you not take your glass?"--(This was to be considered as
-interjectional,)--"then here's to you."
-
-"My good sir," answered Mertoun, "I am indifferent to climate; if there
-is but air enough to fill my lungs, I care not if it be the breath of
-Arabia or of Lapland."
-
-"Air enough you may have," answered Magnus, "no lack of that--somewhat
-damp, strangers allege it to be, but we know a corrective for
-that--Here's to you, Mr. Mertoun--You must learn to _do so_, and to
-smoke a pipe; and then, as you say, you will find the air of Zetland
-equal to that of Arabia. But have you seen Jarlshof?"
-
-The stranger intimated that he had not.
-
-"Then," replied Magnus, "you have no idea of your undertaking. If you
-think it a comfortable roadstead like this, with the house situated on
-the side of an inland voe,[8] that brings the herrings up to your door,
-you are mistaken, my heart. At Jarlshof you will see nought but the wild
-waves tumbling on the bare rocks, and the Roost of Sumburgh running at
-the rate of fifteen knots an-hour."
-
-"I shall see nothing at least of the current of human passions," replied
-Mertoun.
-
-"You will hear nothing but the clanging and screaming of scarts,
-sheer-waters, and seagulls, from daybreak till sunset."
-
-"I will compound, my friend," replied the stranger, "so that I do not
-hear the chattering of women's tongues."
-
-"Ah," said the Norman, "that is because you hear just now my little
-Minna and Brenda singing in the garden with your Mordaunt. Now, I would
-rather listen to their little voices, than the skylark which I once
-heard in Caithness, or the nightingale that I have read of.--What will
-the girls do for want of their playmate Mordaunt?"
-
-"They will shift for themselves," answered Mertoun; "younger or elder
-they will find playmates or dupes.--But the question is, Mr. Troil, will
-you let to me, as your tenant, this old mansion of Jarlshof?"
-
-"Gladly, since you make it your option to live in a spot so desolate."
-
-"And as for the rent?" continued Mertoun.
-
-"The rent?" replied Magnus; "hum--why, you must have the bit of _plantie
-cruive_,[9] which they once called a garden, and a right in the
-_scathold_, and a sixpenny merk of land, that the tenants may fish for
-you;--eight _lispunds_[10] of butter, and eight shillings sterling
-yearly, is not too much?"
-
-Mr. Mertoun agreed to terms so moderate, and from thenceforward resided
-chiefly at the solitary mansion which we have described in the beginning
-of this chapter, conforming not only without complaint, but, as it
-seemed, with a sullen pleasure, to all the privations which so wild and
-desolate a situation necessarily imposed on its inhabitant.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[7] The Udallers are the _allodial_ possessors of Zetland, who hold
-their possessions under the old Norwegian law, instead of the feudal
-tenures introduced among them from Scotland.
-
-[8] Salt-water lake.
-
-[9] Patch of ground for vegetables. The liberal custom of the country
-permits any person, who has occasion for such a convenience, to select
-out of the unenclosed moorland a small patch, which he surrounds with a
-drystone wall, and cultivates as a kailyard, till he exhausts the soil
-with cropping, and then he deserts it, and encloses another. This
-liberty is so far from inferring an invasion of the right of proprietor
-and tenant, that the last degree of contempt is inferred of an
-avaricious man, when a Zetlander says he would not hold a _plantie
-cruive_ of him.
-
-[10] A lispund is about thirty pounds English, and the value is averaged
-by Dr. Edmonston at ten shillings sterling.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-  'Tis not alone the scene--the man, Anselmo,
-  The man finds sympathies in these wild wastes,
-  And roughly tumbling seas, which fairer views
-  And smoother waves deny him.
-
-                                            _Ancient Arama._
-
-
-The few inhabitants of the township of Jarlshof had at first heard with
-alarm, that a person of rank superior to their own was come to reside in
-the ruinous tenement, which they still called the Castle. In those days
-(for the present times are greatly altered for the better) the presence
-of a superior, in such a situation, was almost certain to be attended
-with additional burdens and exactions, for which, under one pretext or
-another, feudal customs furnished a thousand apologies. By each of
-these, a part of the tenants' hard-won and precarious profits was
-diverted for the use of their powerful neighbour and superior, the
-tacksman, as he was called. But the sub-tenants speedily found that no
-oppression of this kind was to be apprehended at the hands of Basil
-Mertoun. His own means, whether large or small, were at least fully
-adequate to his expenses, which, so far as regarded his habits of life,
-were of the most frugal description. The luxuries of a few books, and
-some philosophical instruments, with which he was supplied from London
-as occasion offered, seemed to indicate a degree of wealth unusual in
-those islands; but, on the other hand, the table and the accommodations
-at Jarlshof, did not exceed what was maintained by a Zetland proprietor
-of the most inferior description.
-
-The tenants of the hamlet troubled themselves very little about the
-quality of their superior, as soon as they found that their situation
-was rather to be mended than rendered worse by his presence; and, once
-relieved from the apprehension of his tyrannizing over them, they laid
-their heads together to make the most of him by various petty tricks of
-overcharge and extortion, which for a while the stranger submitted to
-with the most philosophic indifference. An incident, however, occurred,
-which put his character in a new light, and effectually checked all
-future efforts at extravagant imposition.
-
-A dispute arose in the kitchen of the Castle betwixt an old governante,
-who acted as housekeeper to Mr. Mertoun, and Sweyn Erickson, as good a
-Zetlander as ever rowed a boat to the _haaf_ fishing;[11] which dispute,
-as is usual in such cases, was maintained with such increasing heat and
-vociferation as to reach the ears of the master, (as he was called,)
-who, secluded in a solitary turret, was deeply employed in examining the
-contents of a new package of books from London, which, after long
-expectation, had found its way to Hull, from thence by a whaling vessel
-to Lerwick, and so to Jarlshof. With more than the usual thrill of
-indignation which indolent people always feel when roused into action on
-some unpleasant occasion, Mertoun descended to the scene of contest, and
-so suddenly, peremptorily, and strictly, enquired into the cause of
-dispute, that the parties, notwithstanding every evasion which they
-attempted, became unable to disguise from him, that their difference
-respected the several interests to which the honest governante, and no
-less honest fisherman, were respectively entitled, in an overcharge of
-about one hundred per cent on a bargain of rock-cod, purchased by the
-former from the latter, for the use of the family at Jarlshof.
-
-When this was fairly ascertained and confessed, Mr. Mertoun stood
-looking upon the culprits with eyes in which the utmost scorn seemed to
-contend with awakening passion. "Hark you, ye old hag," said he at
-length to the housekeeper, "avoid my house this instant! and know that I
-dismiss you, not for being a liar, a thief, and an ungrateful
-quean,--for these are qualities as proper to you as your name of
-woman,--but for daring, in my house, to scold above your breath.--And
-for you, you rascal, who suppose you may cheat a stranger as you would
-_flinch_[12] a whale, know that I am well acquainted with the rights
-which, by delegation from your master, Magnus Troil, I can exercise over
-you, if I will. Provoke me to a certain pitch, and you shall learn, to
-your cost, I can break your rest as easily as you can interrupt my
-leisure. I know the meaning of _scat_, and _wattle_, and _hawkhen_, and
-_hagalef_,(_b_) and every other exaction, by which your lords, in
-ancient and modern days, have wrung your withers; nor is there one of
-you that shall not rue the day that you could not be content with
-robbing me of my money, but must also break in on my leisure with your
-atrocious northern clamour, that rivals in discord the screaming of a
-flight of Arctic gulls."
-
-Nothing better occurred to Sweyn, in answer to this objurgation, than
-the preferring a humble request that his honour would be pleased to
-keep the cod-fish without payment, and say no more about the matter; but
-by this time Mr. Mertoun had worked up his passions into an ungovernable
-rage, and with one hand he threw the money at the fisherman's head,
-while with the other he pelted him out of the apartment with his own
-fish, which he finally flung out of doors after him.
-
-There was so much of appalling and tyrannic fury in the stranger's
-manner on this occasion, that Sweyn neither stopped to collect the money
-nor take back his commodity, but fled at a precipitate rate to the small
-hamlet, to tell his comrades that if they provoked Master Mertoun any
-farther, he would turn an absolute Pate Stewart[13] on their hand, and
-head and hang without either judgment or mercy.
-
-Hither also came the discarded housekeeper, to consult with her
-neighbours and kindred (for she too was a native of the village) what
-she should do to regain the desirable situation from which she had been
-so suddenly expelled. The old Ranzellaar of the village, who had the
-voice most potential in the deliberations of the township, after hearing
-what had happened, pronounced that Sweyn Erickson had gone too far in
-raising the market upon Mr. Mertoun; and that whatever pretext the
-tacksman might assume for thus giving way to his anger, the real
-grievance must have been the charging the rock cod-fish at a penny
-instead of a half-penny a-pound; he therefore exhorted all the community
-never to raise their exactions in future beyond the proportion of
-threepence upon the shilling, at which rate their master at the Castle
-could not reasonably be expected to grumble, since, as he was disposed
-to do them no harm, it was reasonable to think that, in a moderate way,
-he had no objection to do them good. "And three upon twelve," said the
-experienced Ranzellaar, "is a decent and moderate profit, and will bring
-with it God's blessing and Saint Ronald's."
-
-Proceeding upon the tariff thus judiciously recommended to them, the
-inhabitants of Jarlshof cheated Mertoun in future only to the moderate
-extent of twenty-five per cent; a rate to which all nabobs,
-army-contractors, speculators in the funds, and others, whom recent and
-rapid success has enabled to settle in the country upon a great scale,
-ought to submit, as very reasonable treatment at the hand of their
-rustic neighbours. Mertoun at least seemed of that opinion, for he gave
-himself no farther trouble upon the subject of his household expenses.
-
-The conscript fathers of Jarlshof, having settled their own matters,
-took next under their consideration the case of Swertha, the banished
-matron who had been expelled from the Castle, whom, as an experienced
-and useful ally, they were highly desirous to restore to her office of
-housekeeper, should that be found possible. But as their wisdom here
-failed them, Swertha, in despair, had recourse to the good offices of
-Mordaunt Mertoun, with whom she had acquired some favour by her
-knowledge in old Norwegian ballads, and dismal tales concerning the
-Trows or Drows, (the dwarfs of the Scalds,) with whom superstitious eld
-had peopled many a lonely cavern and brown dale in Dunrossness, as in
-every other district of Zetland. "Swertha," said the youth, "I can do
-but little for you, but you may do something for yourself. My father's
-passion resembles the fury of those ancient champions, those Berserkars,
-you sing songs about."
-
-"Ay, ay, fish of my heart," replied the old woman, with a pathetic
-whine; "the Berserkars(_c_) were champions who lived before the blessed
-days of Saint Olave, and who used to run like madmen on swords, and
-spears, and harpoons, and muskets, and snap them all into pieces, as a
-finner[14] would go through a herring-net, and then, when the fury went
-off, they were as weak and unstable as water."[15]
-
-"That's the very thing, Swertha," said Mordaunt. "Now, my father never
-likes to think of his passion after it is over, and is so much of a
-Berserkar, that, let him be desperate as he will to-day, he will not
-care about it to-morrow. Therefore, he has not filled up your place in
-the household at the Castle, and not a mouthful of warm food has been
-dressed there since you went away, and not a morsel of bread baked, but
-we have lived just upon whatever cold thing came to hand. Now, Swertha,
-I will be your warrant, that if you go boldly up to the Castle, and
-enter upon the discharge of your duties as usual, you will never hear a
-single word from him."
-
-Swertha hesitated at first to obey this bold counsel. She said, "to her
-thinking, Mr. Mertoun, when he was angry, looked more like a fiend than
-any Berserkar of them all; that the fire flashed from his eyes, and the
-foam flew from his lips; and that it would be a plain tempting of
-Providence to put herself again in such a venture."
-
-But, on the encouragement which she received from the son, she
-determined at length once more to face the parent; and, dressing herself
-in her ordinary household attire, for so Mordaunt particularly
-recommended, she slipped into the Castle, and presently resuming the
-various and numerous occupations which devolved on her, seemed as deeply
-engaged in household cares as if she had never been out of office.
-
-The first day of her return to her duty, Swertha made no appearance in
-presence of her master, but trusted that after his three days' diet on
-cold meat, a hot dish, dressed with the best of her simple skill, might
-introduce her favourably to his recollection. When Mordaunt had reported
-that his father had taken no notice of this change of diet, and when she
-herself observed that in passing and repassing him occasionally, her
-appearance produced no effect upon her singular master, she began to
-imagine that the whole affair had escaped Mr. Mertoun's memory, and was
-active in her duty as usual. Neither was she convinced of the contrary
-until one day, when, happening somewhat to elevate her tone in a dispute
-with the other maid-servant, her master, who at that time passed the
-place of contest, eyed her with a strong glance, and pronounced the
-single word, _Remember!_ in a tone which taught Swertha the government
-of her tongue for many weeks after.
-
-If Mertoun was whimsical in his mode of governing his household, he
-seemed no less so in his plan of educating his son. He showed the youth
-but few symptoms of parental affection; yet, in his ordinary state of
-mind, the improvement of Mordaunt's education seemed to be the utmost
-object of his life. He had both books and information sufficient to
-discharge the task of tutor in the ordinary branches of knowledge; and
-in this capacity was regular, calm, and strict, not to say severe, in
-exacting from his pupil the attention necessary for his profiting. But
-in the perusal of history, to which their attention was frequently
-turned, as well as in the study of classic authors, there often occurred
-facts or sentiments which produced an instant effect upon Mertoun's
-mind, and brought on him suddenly what Swertha, Sweyn, and even
-Mordaunt, came to distinguish by the name of his dark hour. He was
-aware, in the usual case, of its approach, and retreated to an inner
-apartment, into which he never permitted even Mordaunt to enter. Here he
-would abide in seclusion for days, and even weeks, only coming out at
-uncertain times, to take such food as they had taken care to leave
-within his reach, which he used in wonderfully small quantities. At
-other times, and especially during the winter solstice, when almost
-every person spends the gloomy time within doors in feasting and
-merriment, this unhappy man would wrap himself in a dark-coloured
-sea-cloak, and wander out along the stormy beach, or upon the desolate
-heath, indulging his own gloomy and wayward reveries under the inclement
-sky, the rather that he was then most sure to wander unencountered and
-unobserved.
-
-As Mordaunt grew older, he learned to note the particular signs which
-preceded these fits of gloomy despondency, and to direct such
-precautions as might ensure his unfortunate parent from ill-timed
-interruption, (which had always the effect of driving him to fury,)
-while, at the same time, full provision was made for his subsistence.
-Mordaunt perceived that at such periods the melancholy fit of his father
-was greatly prolonged, if he chanced to present himself to his eyes
-while the dark hour was upon him. Out of respect, therefore, to his
-parent, as well as to indulge the love of active exercise and of
-amusement natural to his period of life, Mordaunt used often to absent
-himself altogether from the mansion of Jarlshof, and even from the
-district, secure that his father, if the dark hour passed away in his
-absence, would be little inclined to enquire how his son had disposed of
-his leisure, so that he was sure he had not watched his own weak
-moments; that being the subject on which he entertained the utmost
-jealousy.
-
-At such times, therefore, all the sources of amusement which the country
-afforded, were open to the younger Mertoun, who, in these intervals of
-his education, had an opportunity to give full scope to the energies of
-a bold, active, and daring character. He was often engaged with the
-youth of the hamlet in those desperate sports, to which the "dreadful
-trade of the samphire-gatherer" is like a walk upon level ground--often
-joined those midnight excursions upon the face of the giddy cliffs, to
-secure the eggs or the young of the sea-fowl; and in these daring
-adventures displayed an address, presence of mind, and activity, which,
-in one so young, and not a native of the country, astonished the oldest
-fowlers.[16]
-
-At other times, Mordaunt accompanied Sweyn and other fishermen in their
-long and perilous expeditions to the distant and deep sea, learning
-under their direction the management of the boat, in which they equal,
-or exceed, perhaps, any natives of the British empire. This exercise had
-charms for Mordaunt, independently of the fishing alone.
-
-At this time, the old Norwegian sagas were much remembered, and often
-rehearsed, by the fishermen, who still preserved among themselves the
-ancient Norse tongue, which was the speech of their forefathers. In the
-dark romance of those Scandinavian tales, lay much that was captivating
-to a youthful ear; and the classic fables of antiquity were rivalled at
-least, if not excelled, in Mordaunt's opinion, by the strange legends of
-Berserkars, of Sea-kings, of dwarfs, giants, and sorcerers, which he
-heard from the native Zetlanders. Often the scenes around him were
-assigned as the localities of the wild poems, which, half recited, half
-chanted by voices as hoarse, if not so loud, as the waves over which
-they floated, pointed out the very bay on which they sailed as the scene
-of a bloody sea-fight; the scarce-seen heap of stones that bristled over
-the projecting cape, as the dun, or castle, of some potent earl or noted
-pirate; the distant and solitary grey stone on the lonely moor, as
-marking the grave of a hero; the wild cavern, up which the sea rolled in
-heavy, broad, and unbroken billows, as the dwelling of some noted
-sorceress.[17]
-
-The ocean also had its mysteries, the effect of which was aided by the
-dim twilight, through which it was imperfectly seen for more than half
-the year. Its bottomless depths and secret caves contained, according to
-the account of Sweyn and others, skilled in legendary lore, such wonders
-as modern navigators reject with disdain. In the quiet moonlight bay,
-where the waves came rippling to the shore, upon a bed of smooth sand
-intermingled with shells, the mermaid was still seen to glide along the
-waters, and, mingling her voice with the sighing breeze, was often heard
-to sing of subterranean wonders, or to chant prophecies of future
-events. The kraken, that hugest of living things, was still supposed to
-cumber the recesses of the Northern Ocean; and often, when some fog-bank
-covered the sea at a distance, the eye of the experienced boatman saw
-the horns of the monstrous leviathan welking and waving amidst the
-wreaths of mist, and bore away with all press of oar and sail, lest the
-sudden suction, occasioned by the sinking of the monstrous mass to the
-bottom, should drag within the grasp of its multifarious feelers his own
-frail skiff. The sea-snake was also known, which, arising out of the
-depths of ocean, stretches to the skies his enormous neck, covered with
-a mane like that of a war-horse, and with its broad glittering eyes,
-raised mast-head high, looks out, as it seems, for plunder or for
-victims.
-
-Many prodigious stories of these marine monsters, and of many others
-less known, were then universally received among the Zetlanders, whose
-descendants have not as yet by any means abandoned faith in them.[18]
-
-Such legends are, indeed, everywhere current amongst the vulgar; but
-the imagination is far more powerfully affected by them on the deep and
-dangerous seas of the north, amidst precipices and headlands, many
-hundred feet in height,--amid perilous straits, and currents, and
-eddies,--long sunken reefs of rock, over which the vivid ocean foams and
-boils,--dark caverns, to whose extremities neither man nor skiff has
-ever ventured,--lonely, and often uninhabited isles,--and occasionally
-the ruins of ancient northern fastnesses, dimly seen by the feeble light
-of the Arctic winter. To Mordaunt, who had much of romance in his
-disposition, these superstitions formed a pleasing and interesting
-exercise of the imagination, while, half doubting, half inclined to
-believe, he listened to the tales chanted concerning these wonders of
-nature, and creatures of credulous belief, told in the rude but
-energetic language of the ancient Scalds.
-
-But there wanted not softer and lighter amusement, that might seem
-better suited to Mordaunt's age, than the wild tales and rude exercises
-which we have already mentioned. The season of winter, when, from the
-shortness of the daylight, labour becomes impossible, is in Zetland the
-time of revel, feasting, and merriment. Whatever the fisherman has been
-able to acquire during summer, was expended, and often wasted, in
-maintaining the mirth and hospitality of his hearth during this period;
-while the landholders and gentlemen of the island gave double loose to
-their convivial and hospitable dispositions, thronged their houses with
-guests, and drove away the rigour of the season with jest, glee, and
-song, the dance, and the wine-cup.
-
-Amid the revels of this merry, though rigorous season, no youth added
-more spirit to the dance, or glee to the revel, than the young stranger,
-Mordaunt Mertoun. When his father's state of mind permitted, or indeed
-required, his absence, he wandered from house to house a welcome guest
-whereever he came, and lent his willing voice to the song, and his foot
-to the dance. A boat, or, if the weather, as was often the case,
-permitted not that convenience, one of the numerous ponies, which,
-straying in hordes about the extensive moors, may be said to be at any
-man's command who can catch them, conveyed him from the mansion of one
-hospitable Zetlander to that of another. None excelled him in performing
-the warlike sword-dance, a species of amusement which had been derived
-from the habits of the ancient Norsemen. He could play upon the _gue_,
-and upon the common violin, the melancholy and pathetic tunes peculiar
-to the country; and with great spirit and execution could relieve their
-monotony with the livelier airs of the North of Scotland. When a party
-set forth as maskers, or, as they are called in Scotland, _guizards_, to
-visit some neighbouring Laird, or rich Udaller, it augured well of the
-expedition if Mordaunt Mertoun could be prevailed upon to undertake the
-office of _skudler_, or leader of the band. Upon these occasions, full
-of fun and frolic, he led his retinue from house to house, bringing
-mirth where he went, and leaving regret when he departed. Mordaunt
-became thus generally known and beloved as generally, through most of
-the houses composing the patriarchal community of the Main Isle; but his
-visits were most frequently and most willingly paid at the mansion of
-his father's landlord and protector, Magnus Troil.
-
-It was not entirely the hearty and sincere welcome of the worthy old
-Magnate, nor the sense that he was in effect his father's patron, which
-occasioned these frequent visits. The hand of welcome was indeed
-received as eagerly as it was sincerely given, while the ancient
-Udaller, raising himself in his huge chair, whereof the inside was lined
-with well-dressed sealskins, and the outside composed of massive oak,
-carved by the rude graving-tool of some Hamburgh carpenter, shouted
-forth his welcome in a tone, which might, in ancient times, have hailed
-the return of _Ioul_, the highest festival of the Goths. There was metal
-yet more attractive, and younger hearts, whose welcome, if less loud,
-was as sincere as that of the jolly Udaller. But this is matter which
-ought not to be discussed at the conclusion of a chapter.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[11] _i. e._ The deep-sea fishing, in distinction to that which is
-practised along shore.
-
-[12] The operation of slicing the blubber from the bones of the whale,
-is called, technically, _flinching_.
-
-[13] Meaning, probably, Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, executed for
-tyranny and oppression practised on the inhabitants of those remote
-islands, in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
-
-[14] _Finner_, small whale.
-
-[15] The sagas of the Scalds are full of descriptions of these
-champions, and do not permit us to doubt that the Berserkars, so called
-from fighting without armour, used some physical means of working
-themselves into a frenzy, during which they possessed the strength and
-energy of madness. The Indian warriors are well known to do the same by
-dint of opium and bang.
-
-[16] Fatal accidents, however, sometimes occur. When I visited the Fair
-Isle in 1814, a poor lad of fourteen had been killed by a fall from the
-rocks about a fortnight before our arrival. The accident happened almost
-within sight of his mother, who was casting peats at no great distance.
-The body fell into the sea, and was seen no more. But the islanders
-account this an honourable mode of death; and as the children begin the
-practice of climbing very early, fewer accidents occur than might be
-expected.
-
-[17] Note I.--Norse Fragments.
-
-[18] Note II.--Monsters of the Northern Seas.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-  "O, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,
-    They were twa bonnie lasses;
-  They biggit a house on yon burn-brae,
-    And theekit it ower wi' rashes.
-
-  Fair Bessy Bell I looed yestreen,
-    And thought I ne'er could alter;
-  But Mary Gray's twa pawky een
-    Have garr'd my fancy falter."(_d_)
-
-                                               _Scots Song._
-
-
-We have already mentioned Minna and Brenda, the daughters of Magnus
-Troil. Their mother had been dead for many years, and they were now two
-beautiful girls, the eldest only eighteen, which might be a year or two
-younger than Mordaunt Mertoun, the second about seventeen.--They were
-the joy of their father's heart, and the light of his old eyes; and
-although indulged to a degree which might have endangered his comfort
-and their own, they repaid his affection with a love, into which even
-blind indulgence had not introduced slight regard, or feminine caprice.
-The difference of their tempers and of their complexions was singularly
-striking, although combined, as is usual, with a certain degree of
-family resemblance.
-
-The mother of these maidens had been a Scottish lady from the Highlands
-of Sutherland, the orphan of a noble chief, who, driven from his own
-country during the feuds of the seventeenth century, had found shelter
-in those peaceful islands, which, amidst poverty and seclusion, were
-thus far happy, that they remained unvexed by discord, and unstained by
-civil broil. The father (his name was Saint Clair) pined for his native
-glen, his feudal tower, his clansmen, and his fallen authority, and died
-not long after his arrival in Zetland. The beauty of his orphan
-daughter, despite her Scottish lineage, melted the stout heart of Magnus
-Troil. He sued and was listened to, and she became his bride; but dying
-in the fifth year of their union, left him to mourn his brief period of
-domestic happiness.
-
-From her mother, Minna inherited the stately form and dark eyes, the
-raven locks and finely-pencilled brows, which showed she was, on one
-side at least, a stranger to the blood of Thule. Her cheek,--
-
-  "O call it fair, not pale!"
-
-was so slightly and delicately tinged with the rose, that many thought
-the lily had an undue proportion in her complexion. But in that
-predominance of the paler flower, there was nothing sickly or languid;
-it was the true natural colour of health, and corresponded in a peculiar
-degree with features, which seemed calculated to express a contemplative
-and high-minded character. When Minna Troil heard a tale of woe or of
-injustice, it was then her blood rushed to her cheeks, and showed
-plainly how warm it beat, notwithstanding the generally serious,
-composed, and retiring disposition, which her countenance and demeanour
-seemed to exhibit. If strangers sometimes conceived that these fine
-features were clouded by melancholy, for which her age and situation
-could scarce have given occasion, they were soon satisfied, upon
-further acquaintance, that the placid, mild quietude of her disposition,
-and the mental energy of a character which was but little interested in
-ordinary and trivial occurrences, was the real cause of her gravity; and
-most men, when they knew that her melancholy had no ground in real
-sorrow, and was only the aspiration of a soul bent on more important
-objects than those by which she was surrounded, might have wished her
-whatever could add to her happiness, but could scarce have desired that,
-graceful as she was in her natural and unaffected seriousness, she
-should change that deportment for one more gay. In short,
-notwithstanding our wish to have avoided that hackneyed simile of an
-angel, we cannot avoid saying there was something in the serious beauty
-of her aspect, in the measured, yet graceful ease of her motions, in the
-music of her voice, and the serene purity of her eye, that seemed as if
-Minna Troil belonged naturally to some higher and better sphere, and was
-only the chance visitant of a world that was not worthy of her.
-
-The scarcely less beautiful, equally lovely, and equally innocent
-Brenda, was of a complexion as differing from her sister, as they
-differed in character, taste, and expression. Her profuse locks were of
-that paly brown which receives from the passing sunbeam a tinge of gold,
-but darkens again when the ray has passed from it. Her eye, her mouth,
-the beautiful row of teeth, which in her innocent vivacity were
-frequently disclosed; the fresh, yet not too bright glow of a healthy
-complexion, tinging a skin like the drifted snow, spoke her genuine
-Scandinavian descent. A fairy form, less tall than that of Minna, but
-still more finely moulded into symmetry--a careless, and almost
-childish lightness of step--an eye that seemed to look on every object
-with pleasure, from a natural and serene cheerfulness of disposition,
-attracted even more general admiration than the charms of her sister,
-though perhaps that which Minna did excite might be of a more intense as
-well as more reverential character.
-
-The dispositions of these lovely sisters were not less different than
-their complexions. In the kindly affections, neither could be said to
-excel the other, so much were they attached to their father and to each
-other. But the cheerfulness of Brenda mixed itself with the every-day
-business of life, and seemed inexhaustible in its profusion. The less
-buoyant spirit of her sister appeared to bring to society a contented
-wish to be interested and pleased with what was going forward, but was
-rather placidly carried along with the stream of mirth and pleasure,
-than disposed to aid its progress by any efforts of her own. She endured
-mirth, rather than enjoyed it; and the pleasures in which she most
-delighted, were those of a graver and more solitary cast. The knowledge
-which is derived from books was beyond her reach. Zetland afforded few
-opportunities, in those days, of studying the lessons, bequeathed
-
-  "By dead men to their kind;"
-
-and Magnus Troil, such as we have described him, was not a person within
-whose mansion the means of such knowledge were to be acquired. But the
-book of nature was before Minna, that noblest of volumes, where we are
-ever called to wonder and to admire, even when we cannot understand.
-The plants of those wild regions, the shells on the shores, and the
-long list of feathered clans which haunt their cliffs and eyries, were
-as well known to Minna Troil as to the most experienced fowlers. Her
-powers of observation were wonderful, and little interrupted by other
-tones of feeling. The information which she acquired by habits of
-patient attention, was indelibly riveted in a naturally powerful memory.
-She had also a high feeling for the solitary and melancholy grandeur of
-the scenes in which she was placed. The ocean, in all its varied forms
-of sublimity and terror--the tremendous cliffs that resound to the
-ceaseless roar of the billows, and the clang of the sea-fowl, had for
-Minna a charm in almost every state in which the changing seasons
-exhibited them. With the enthusiastic feelings proper to the romantic
-race from which her mother descended, the love of natural objects was to
-her a passion capable not only of occupying, but at times of agitating,
-her mind. Scenes upon which her sister looked with a sense of transient
-awe or emotion, which vanished on her return from witnessing them,
-continued long to fill Minna's imagination, not only in solitude, and in
-the silence of the night, but in the hours of society. So that sometimes
-when she sat like a beautiful statue, a present member of the domestic
-circle, her thoughts were far absent, wandering on the wild sea-shore,
-and among the yet wilder mountains of her native isles. And yet, when
-recalled to conversation, and mingling in it with interest, there were
-few to whom her friends were more indebted for enhancing its enjoyments;
-and although something in her manners claimed deference (notwithstanding
-her early youth) as well as affection, even her gay, lovely, and
-amiable sister was not more generally beloved than the more retired and
-pensive Minna.
-
-Indeed, the two lovely sisters were not only the delight of their
-friends, but the pride of those islands, where the inhabitants of a
-certain rank were blended, by the remoteness of their situation and the
-general hospitality of their habits, into one friendly community. A
-wandering poet and parcel-musician, who, after going through various
-fortunes, had returned to end his days as he could in his native
-islands, had celebrated the daughters of Magnus in a poem, which he
-entitled Night and Day; and in his description of Minna, might almost be
-thought to have anticipated, though only in a rude outline, the
-exquisite lines of Lord Byron,--
-
-  "She walks in beauty, like the night
-    Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
-  And all that's best of dark and bright
-    Meet in her aspect, and her eyes:
-  Thus mellow'd to that tender light
-    Which heaven to gaudy day denies."
-
-Their father loved the maidens both so well, that it might be difficult
-to say which he loved best; saving that, perchance, he liked his graver
-damsel better in the walk without doors, and his merry maiden better by
-the fireside; that he more desired the society of Minna when he was sad,
-and that of Brenda when he was mirthful; and, what was nearly the same
-thing, preferred Minna before noon, and Brenda after the glass had
-circulated in the evening.
-
-But it was still more extraordinary, that the affections of Mordaunt
-Mertoun seemed to hover with the same impartiality as those of their
-father betwixt the two lovely sisters. From his boyhood, as we have
-noticed, he had been a frequent inmate of the residence of Magnus at
-Burgh-Westra, although it lay nearly twenty miles distant from Jarlshof.
-The impassable character of the country betwixt these places, extending
-over hills covered with loose and quaking bog, and frequently
-intersected by the creeks or arms of the sea, which indent the island on
-either side, as well as by fresh-water streams and lakes, rendered the
-journey difficult, and even dangerous, in the dark season; yet, as soon
-as the state of his father's mind warned him to absent himself,
-Mordaunt, at every risk, and under every difficulty, was pretty sure to
-be found the next day at Burgh-Westra, having achieved his journey in
-less time than would have been employed perhaps by the most active
-native.
-
-He was of course set down as a wooer of one of the daughters of Magnus,
-by the public of Zetland; and when the old Udaller's great partiality to
-the youth was considered, nobody doubted that he might aspire to the
-hand of either of those distinguished beauties, with as large a share of
-islets, rocky moorland, and shore-fishings, as might be the fitting
-portion of a favoured child, and with the presumptive prospect of
-possessing half the domains of the ancient house of Troil, when their
-present owner should be no more. This seemed all a reasonable
-speculation, and, in theory at least, better constructed than many that
-are current through the world as unquestionable facts. But, alas! all
-that sharpness of observation which could be applied to the conduct of
-the parties, failed to determine the main point, to which of the young
-persons, namely, the attentions of Mordaunt were peculiarly devoted. He
-seemed, in general, to treat them as an affectionate and attached
-brother might have treated two sisters, so equally dear to him that a
-breath would have turned the scale of affection. Or if at any time,
-which often happened, the one maiden appeared the more especial object
-of his attention, it seemed only to be because circumstances called her
-peculiar talents and disposition into more particular and immediate
-exercise.
-
-Both the sisters were accomplished in the simple music of the north, and
-Mordaunt, who was their assistant, and sometimes their preceptor, when
-they were practising this delightful art, might be now seen assisting
-Minna in the acquisition of those wild, solemn, and simple airs, to
-which scalds and harpers sung of old the deeds of heroes, and presently
-found equally active in teaching Brenda the more lively and complicated
-music, which their father's affection caused to be brought from the
-English or Scottish capital for the use of his daughters. And while
-conversing with them, Mordaunt, who mingled a strain of deep and ardent
-enthusiasm with the gay and ungovernable spirits of youth, was equally
-ready to enter into the wild and poetical visions of Minna, or into the
-lively and often humorous chat of her gayer sister. In short, so little
-did he seem to attach himself to either damsel exclusively, that he was
-sometimes heard to say, that Minna never looked so lovely, as when her
-lighthearted sister had induced her, for the time, to forget her
-habitual gravity; or Brenda so interesting, as when she sat listening, a
-subdued and affected partaker of the deep pathos of her sister Minna.
-
-The public of the mainland were, therefore, to use the hunter's phrase,
-at fault in their farther conclusions, and could but determine, after
-long vacillating betwixt the maidens, that the young man was positively
-to marry one of them, but which of the two could only be determined when
-his approaching manhood, or the interference of stout old Magnus, the
-father, should teach Master Mordaunt Mertoun to know his own mind. "It
-was a pretty thing, indeed," they usually concluded, "that he, no native
-born, and possessed of no visible means of subsistence that is known to
-any one, should presume to hesitate, or affect to have the power of
-selection and choice, betwixt the two most distinguished beauties of
-Zetland. If they were Magnus Troil, they would soon be at the bottom of
-the matter"--and so forth. All which remarks were only whispered, for
-the hasty disposition of the Udaller had too much of the old Norse fire
-about it to render it safe for any one to become an unauthorized
-intermeddler with his family affairs; and thus stood the relation of
-Mordaunt Mertoun to the family of Mr. Troil of Burgh-Westra, when the
-following incidents took place.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-  This is no pilgrim's morning--yon grey mist
-  Lies upon hill, and dale, and field, and forest,
-  Like the dun wimple of a new-made widow;
-  And, by my faith, although my heart be soft,
-  I'd rather hear that widow weep and sigh,
-  And tell the virtues of the dear departed,
-  Than, when the tempest sends his voice abroad,
-  Be subject to its fury.
-
-                                      _The Double Nuptials._
-
-
-The spring was far advanced, when, after a week spent in sport and
-festivity at Burgh-Westra, Mordaunt Mertoun bade adieu to the family,
-pleading the necessity of his return to Jarlshof. The proposal was
-combated by the maidens, and more decidedly by Magnus himself: He saw no
-occasion whatever for Mordaunt returning to Jarlshof. If his father
-desired to see him, which, by the way, Magnus did not believe, Mr.
-Mertoun had only to throw himself into the stern of Sweyn's boat, or
-betake himself to a pony, if he liked a land journey better, and he
-would see not only his son, but twenty folk besides, who would be most
-happy to find that he had not lost the use of his tongue entirely during
-his long solitude; "although I must own," added the worthy Udaller,
-"that when he lived among us, nobody ever made less use of it."
-
-Mordaunt acquiesced both in what respected his father's taciturnity, and
-his dislike to general society; but suggested, at the same time, that
-the first circumstance rendered his own immediate return more
-necessary, as he was the usual channel of communication betwixt his
-father and others; and that the second corroborated the same necessity,
-since Mr. Mertoun's having no other society whatever seemed a weighty
-reason why his son's should be restored to him without loss of time. As
-to his father's coming to Burgh-Westra, "they might as well," he said,
-"expect to see Sumburgh Cape come thither."
-
-"And that would be a cumbrous guest," said Magnus. "But you will stop
-for our dinner to-day? There are the families of Muness, Quendale,
-Thorslivoe, and I know not who else, are expected; and, besides the
-thirty that were in house this blessed night, we shall have as many more
-as chamber and bower, and barn and boat-house, can furnish with beds, or
-with barley-straw,--and you will leave all this behind you!"
-
-"And the blithe dance at night," added Brenda, in a tone betwixt
-reproach and vexation; "and the young men from the Isle of Paba that are
-to dance the sword-dance, whom shall we find to match them, for the
-honour of the Main?"
-
-"There is many a merry dancer on the mainland, Brenda," replied
-Mordaunt, "even if I should never rise on tiptoe again. And where good
-dancers are found, Brenda Troil will always find the best partner. I
-must trip it to-night through the Wastes of Dunrossness."
-
-"Do not say so, Mordaunt," said Minna, who, during this conversation,
-had been looking from the window something anxiously; "go not, to-day at
-least, through the Wastes of Dunrossness."
-
-"And why not to-day, Minna," said Mordaunt, laughing, "any more than
-to-morrow?"
-
-"O, the morning mist lies heavy upon yonder chain of isles, nor has it
-permitted us since daybreak even a single glimpse of Fitful-head, the
-lofty cape that concludes yon splendid range of mountains. The fowl are
-winging their way to the shore, and the shelldrake seems, through the
-mist, as large as the scart.[19] See, the very sheerwaters and bonxies
-are making to the cliffs for shelter."
-
-"And they will ride out a gale against a king's frigate," said her
-father; "there is foul weather when they cut and run."
-
-"Stay, then, with us," said Minna to her friend; "the storm will be
-dreadful, yet it will be grand to see it from Burgh-Westra, if we have
-no friend exposed to its fury. See, the air is close and sultry, though
-the season is yet so early, and the day so calm, that not a windlestraw
-moves on the heath. Stay with us, Mordaunt; the storm which these signs
-announce will be a dreadful one."
-
-"I must be gone the sooner," was the conclusion of Mordaunt, who could
-not deny the signs, which had not escaped his own quick observation. "If
-the storm be too fierce, I will abide for the night at Stourburgh."
-
-"What!" said Magnus; "will you leave us for the new chamberlain's new
-Scotch tacksman, who is to teach all us Zetland savages new ways? Take
-your own gate, my lad, if that is the song you sing."
-
-"Nay," said Mordaunt; "I had only some curiosity to see the new
-implements he has brought."
-
-"Ay, ay, ferlies make fools fain. I would like to know if his new plough
-will bear against a Zetland rock?" answered Magnus.
-
-"I must not pass Stourburgh on the journey," said the youth, deferring
-to his patron's prejudice against innovation, "if this boding weather
-bring on tempest; but if it only break in rain, as is most probable, I
-am not likely to be melted in the wetting."
-
-"It will not soften into rain alone," said Minna; "see how much heavier
-the clouds fall every moment, and see these weather-gaws that streak the
-lead-coloured mass with partial gleams of faded red and purple."
-
-"I see them all," said Mordaunt; "but they only tell me I have no time
-to tarry here. Adieu, Minna; I will send you the eagle's feathers, if an
-eagle can be found on Fair-isle or Foulah. And fare thee well, my pretty
-Brenda, and keep a thought for me, should the Paba men dance ever so
-well."
-
-"Take care of yourself, since go you will," said both sisters, together.
-
-Old Magnus scolded them formally for supposing there was any danger to
-an active young fellow from a spring gale, whether by sea or land; yet
-ended by giving his own caution also to Mordaunt, advising him seriously
-to delay his journey, or at least to stop at Stourburgh. "For," said he,
-"second thoughts are best; and as this Scottishman's howf lies right
-under your lee, why, take any port in a storm. But do not be assured to
-find the door on latch, let the storm blow ever so hard; there are such
-matters as bolts and bars in Scotland,(_e_) though, thanks to Saint
-Ronald, they are unknown here, save that great lock on the old Castle
-of Scalloway, that all men run to see--may be they make part of this
-man's improvements. But go, Mordaunt, since go you will. You should
-drink a stirrup-cup now, were you three years older, but boys should
-never drink, excepting after dinner; I will drink it for you, that good
-customs may not be broken, or bad luck come of it. Here is your bonally,
-my lad." And so saying, he quaffed a rummer glass of brandy with as much
-impunity as if it had been spring-water. Thus regretted and cautioned on
-all hands, Mordaunt took leave of the hospitable household, and looking
-back at the comforts with which it was surrounded, and the dense smoke
-that rolled upwards from its chimneys, he first recollected the
-guestless and solitary desolation of Jarlshof, then compared with the
-sullen and moody melancholy of his father's temper the warm kindness of
-those whom he was leaving, and could not refrain from a sigh at the
-thoughts which forced themselves on his imagination.
-
-The signs of the tempest did not dishonour the predictions of Minna.
-Mordaunt had not advanced three hours on his journey, before the wind,
-which had been so deadly still in the morning, began at first to wail
-and sigh, as if bemoaning beforehand the evils which it might perpetrate
-in its fury, like a madman in the gloomy state of dejection which
-precedes his fit of violence; then gradually increasing, the gale
-howled, raged, and roared, with the full fury of a northern storm. It
-was accompanied by showers of rain mixed with hail, that dashed with the
-most unrelenting rage against the hills and rocks with which the
-traveller was surrounded, distracting his attention, in spite of his
-utmost exertions, and rendering it very difficult for him to keep the
-direction of his journey in a country where there is neither road, nor
-even the slightest track to direct the steps of the wanderer, and where
-he is often interrupted by brooks as well as large pools of water,
-lakes, and lagoons. All these inland waters were now lashed into sheets
-of tumbling foam, much of which, carried off by the fury of the
-whirlwind, was mingled with the gale, and transported far from the waves
-of which it had lately made a part; while the salt relish of the drift
-which was pelted against his face, showed Mordaunt that the spray of the
-more distant ocean, disturbed to frenzy by the storm, was mingled with
-that of the inland lakes and streams.
-
-Amidst this hideous combustion of the elements, Mordaunt Mertoun
-struggled forward as one to whom such elemental war was familiar, and
-who regarded the exertions which it required to withstand its fury, but
-as a mark of resolution and manhood. He felt even, as happens usually to
-those who endure great hardships, that the exertion necessary to subdue
-them, is in itself a kind of elevating triumph. To see and distinguish
-his path when the cattle were driven from the hill, and the very fowls
-from the firmament, was but the stronger proof of his own superiority.
-"They shall not hear of me at Burgh-Westra," said he to himself, "as
-they heard of old doited Ringan Ewenson's boat, that foundered betwixt
-roadstead and key. I am more of a cragsman than to mind fire or water,
-wave by sea, or quagmire by land." Thus he struggled on, buffeting with
-the storm, supplying the want of the usual signs by which travellers
-directed their progress, (for rock, mountain, and headland, were
-shrouded in mist and darkness,) by the instinctive sagacity with which
-long acquaintance with these wilds had taught him to mark every minute
-object, which could serve in such circumstances to regulate his course.
-Thus, we repeat, he struggled onward, occasionally standing still, or
-even lying down, when the gust was most impetuous; making way against it
-when it was somewhat lulled, by a rapid and bold advance even in its
-very current; or, when this was impossible, by a movement resembling
-that of a vessel working to windward by short tacks, but never yielding
-one inch of the way which he had fought so hard to gain.
-
-Yet, notwithstanding Mordaunt's experience and resolution, his situation
-was sufficiently uncomfortable, and even precarious; not because his
-sailor's jacket and trowsers, the common dress of young men through
-these isles when on a journey, were thoroughly wet, for that might have
-taken place within the same brief time, in any ordinary day, in this
-watery climate; but the real danger was, that, notwithstanding his
-utmost exertions, he made very slow way through brooks that were sending
-their waters all abroad, through morasses drowned in double deluges of
-moisture, which rendered all the ordinary passes more than usually
-dangerous, and repeatedly obliged the traveller to perform a
-considerable circuit, which in the usual case was unnecessary. Thus
-repeatedly baffled, notwithstanding his youth and strength, Mordaunt,
-after maintaining a dogged conflict with wind, rain, and the fatigue of
-a prolonged journey, was truly happy, when, not without having been more
-than once mistaken in his road, he at length found himself within sight
-of the house of Stourburgh, or Harfra; for the names were indifferently
-given to the residence of Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who was the chosen
-missionary of the Chamberlain of Orkney and Zetland, a speculative
-person, who designed, through the medium of Triptolemus, to introduce
-into the _Ultima Thule_ of the Romans, a spirit of improvement, which at
-that early period was scarce known to exist in Scotland itself.
-
-At length, and with much difficulty, Mordaunt reached the house of this
-worthy agriculturist, the only refuge from the relentless storm which he
-could hope to meet with for several miles; and going straight to the
-door, with the most undoubting confidence of instant admission, he was
-not a little surprised to find it not merely latched, which the weather
-might excuse, but even bolted, a thing which, as Magnus Troil has
-already intimated, was almost unknown in the Archipelago. To knock, to
-call, and finally to batter the door with staff and stones, were the
-natural resources of the youth, who was rendered alike impatient by the
-pelting of the storm, and by encountering such most unexpected and
-unusual obstacles to instant admission. As he was suffered, however, for
-many minutes to exhaust his impatience in noise and clamour, without
-receiving any reply, we will employ them in informing the reader who
-Triptolemus Yellowley was, and how he came by a name so singular.
-
-Old Jasper Yellowley, the father of Triptolemus, (though born at the
-foot of Roseberry-Topping,) had been _come over_ by a certain noble
-Scottish Earl, who, proving too far north for canny Yorkshire, had
-persuaded him to accept of a farm in the Mearns, where, it is
-unnecessary to add, he found matters very different from what he had
-expected. It was in vain that the stout farmer set manfully to work, to
-counterbalance, by superior skill, the inconveniences arising from a
-cold soil and a weeping climate. These might have been probably
-overcome; but his neighbourhood to the Grampians exposed him eternally
-to that species of visitation from the plaided gentry, who dwelt within
-their skirts, which made young Norval a warrior and a hero, but only
-converted Jasper Yellowley into a poor man. This was, indeed, balanced
-in some sort by the impression which his ruddy cheek and robust form had
-the fortune to make upon Miss Barbara Clinkscale, daughter to the
-umquhile, and sister to the then existing, Clinkscale of that ilk.
-
-This was thought a horrid and unnatural union in the neighbourhood,
-considering that the house of Clinkscale had at least as great a share
-of Scottish pride as of Scottish parsimony, and was amply endowed with
-both. But Miss Babie had her handsome fortune of two thousand marks at
-her own disposal, was a woman of spirit who had been _major_ and _sui
-juris_, (as the writer who drew the contract assured her,) for full
-twenty years; so she set consequences and commentaries alike at
-defiance, and wedded the hearty Yorkshire yeoman. Her brother and her
-more wealthy kinsmen drew off in disgust, and almost disowned their
-degraded relative. But the house of Clinkscale was allied (like every
-other family in Scotland at the time) to a set of relations who were not
-so nice--tenth and sixteenth cousins, who not only acknowledged their
-kinswoman Babie after her marriage with Yellowley but even condescended
-to eat beans and bacon (though the latter was then the abomination of
-the Scotch as much as of the Jews) with her husband, and would
-willingly have cemented the friendship by borrowing a little cash from
-him, had not his good lady (who understood trap as well as any woman in
-the Mearns) put a negative on this advance to intimacy. Indeed she knew
-how to make young Deilbelicket,(_f_) old Dougald Baresword, the Laird of
-Bandybrawl, and others, pay for the hospitality which she did not think
-proper to deny them, by rendering them useful in her negotiations with
-the lighthanded lads beyond the Cairn, who, finding their late object of
-plunder was now allied to "kend folks, and owned by them at kirk and
-market," became satisfied, on a moderate yearly composition, to desist
-from their depredations.
-
-This eminent success reconciled Jasper to the dominion which his wife
-began to assume over him; and which was much confirmed by her proving to
-be--let me see--what is the prettiest mode of expressing it?--in the
-family way. On this occasion, Mrs. Yellowley had a remarkable dream, as
-is the usual practice of teeming mothers previous to the birth of an
-illustrious offspring. She "was a-dreamed," as her husband expressed it,
-that she was safely delivered of a plough, drawn by three yoke of
-Angus-shire oxen; and being a mighty investigator into such portents,
-she sat herself down with her gossips, to consider what the thing might
-mean. Honest Jasper ventured, with much hesitation, to intimate his own
-opinion, that the vision had reference rather to things past than things
-future, and might have been occasioned by his wife's nerves having been
-a little startled by meeting in the loan above the house his own great
-plough with the six oxen, which were the pride of his heart. But the
-good _cummers_[20] raised such a hue and cry against this exposition,
-that Jasper was fain to put his fingers in his ears, and to run out of
-the apartment.
-
-"Hear to him," said an old whigamore carline--"hear to him, wi' his
-owsen, that are as an idol to him, even as the calf of Bethel! Na,
-na--it's nae pleugh of the flesh that the bonny lad-bairn--for a lad it
-sall be--sall e'er striddle between the stilts o'--it's the pleugh of
-the spirit--and I trust mysell to see him wag the head o' him in a
-pu'pit; or, what's better, on a hill-side."
-
-"Now the deil's in your whiggery," said the old Lady Glenprosing; "wad
-ye hae our cummer's bonny lad-bairn wag the head aff his shouthers like
-your godly Mess James Guthrie,(_g_) that ye hald such a clavering
-about?--Na, na, he sall walk a mair siccar path, and be a dainty
-curate--and say he should live to be a bishop, what the waur wad he be?"
-
-The gauntlet thus fairly flung down by one sibyl, was caught up by
-another, and the controversy between presbytery and episcopacy raged,
-roared, or rather screamed, a round of cinnamon-water serving only like
-oil to the flame, till Jasper entered with the plough-staff; and by the
-awe of his presence, and the shame of misbehaving "before the stranger
-man," imposed some conditions of silence upon the disputants.
-
-I do not know whether it was impatience to give to the light a being
-destined to such high and doubtful fates, or whether poor Dame Yellowley
-was rather frightened at the hurly-burly which had taken place in her
-presence, but she was taken suddenly ill; and, contrary to the formula
-in such cases used and provided, was soon reported to be "a good deal
-worse than was to be expected." She took the opportunity (having still
-all her wits about her) to extract from her sympathetic husband two
-promises; first, that he would christen the child, whose birth was like
-to cost her so dear, by a name indicative of the vision with which she
-had been favoured; and next, that he would educate him for the ministry.
-The canny Yorkshireman, thinking she had a good title at present to
-dictate in such matters, subscribed to all she required. A man-child was
-accordingly born under these conditions, but the state of the mother did
-not permit her for many days to enquire how far they had been complied
-with. When she was in some degree convalescent, she was informed, that
-as it was thought fit the child should be immediately christened, it had
-received the name of Triptolemus; the Curate, who was a man of some
-classical skill, conceiving that this epithet contained a handsome and
-classical allusion to the visionary plough, with its triple yoke of
-oxen. Mrs. Yellowley was not much delighted with the manner in which her
-request had been complied with; but grumbling being to as little purpose
-as in the celebrated case of Tristram Shandy, she e'en sat down
-contented with the heathenish name, and endeavoured to counteract the
-effects it might produce upon the taste and feelings of the nominee, by
-such an education as might put him above the slightest thought of sacks,
-coulters, stilts, mould-boards, or any thing connected with the servile
-drudgery of the plough.
-
-Jasper, sage Yorkshireman, smiled slyly in his sleeve, conceiving that
-young Trippie was likely to prove a chip of the old block, and would
-rather take after the jolly Yorkshire yeoman, than the gentle but
-somewhat _aigre_ blood of the house of Clinkscale. He remarked, with
-suppressed glee, that the tune which best answered the purpose of a
-lullaby was the "Ploughman's Whistle," and the first words the infant
-learned to stammer were the names of the oxen; moreover, that the "bern"
-preferred home-brewed ale to Scotch twopenny, and never quitted hold of
-the tankard with so much reluctance as when there had been, by some
-manoeuvre of Jasper's own device, a double straik of malt allowed to the
-brewing, above that which was sanctioned by the most liberal recipe, of
-which his dame's household thrift admitted. Besides this, when no other
-means could be fallen upon to divert an occasional fit of squalling, his
-father observed that Trip could be always silenced by jingling a bridle
-at his ear. From all which symptoms he used to swear in private, that
-the boy would prove true Yorkshire, and mother and mother's kin would
-have small share of him.
-
-Meanwhile, and within a year after the birth of Triptolemus, Mrs.
-Yellowley bore a daughter, named after herself Barbara, who, even in
-earliest infancy, exhibited the pinched nose and thin lips by which the
-Clinkscale family were distinguished amongst the inhabitants of the
-Mearns; and as her childhood advanced, the readiness with which she
-seized, and the tenacity wherewith she detained, the playthings of
-Triptolemus, besides a desire to bite, pinch, and scratch, on slight, or
-no provocation, were all considered by attentive observers as proofs,
-that Miss Babie would prove "her mother over again." Malicious people
-did not stick to say, that the acrimony of the Clinkscale blood had not,
-on this occasion, been cooled and sweetened by that of Old England;
-that young Deilbelicket was much about the house, and they could not but
-think it odd that Mrs. Yellowley, who, as the whole world knew, gave
-nothing for nothing, should be so uncommonly attentive to heap the
-trencher, and to fill the caup, of an idle blackguard ne'er-do-weel. But
-when folk had once looked upon the austere and awfully virtuous
-countenance of Mrs. Yellowley, they did full justice to her propriety of
-conduct, and Deilbelicket's delicacy of taste.
-
-Meantime young Triptolemus, having received such instructions as the
-Curate could give him, (for though Dame Yellowley adhered to the
-persecuted remnant, her jolly husband, edified by the black gown and
-prayer-book, still conformed to the church as by law established,) was,
-in due process of time, sent to Saint Andrews to prosecute his studies.
-He went, it is true; but with an eye turned back with sad remembrances
-on his father's plough, his father's pancakes, and his father's ale, for
-which the small-beer of the college, commonly there termed
-"thorough-go-nimble," furnished a poor substitute. Yet he advanced in
-his learning, being found, however, to show a particular favour to such
-authors of antiquity as had made the improvement of the soil the object
-of their researches. He endured the Bucolics of Virgil--the Georgics he
-had by heart--but the Æneid he could not away with; and he was
-particularly severe upon the celebrated line expressing a charge of
-cavalry, because, as he understood the word _putrem_,[21] he opined that
-the combatants, in their inconsiderate ardour, galloped over a
-new-manured ploughed field. Cato, the Roman Censor was his favourite
-among classical heroes and philosophers, not on account of the
-strictness of his morals, but because of his treatise, _de Re Rustica_.
-He had ever in his mouth the phrase of Cicero, _Jam neminem antepones
-Catoni_. He thought well of Palladius, and of Terentius Varro, but
-Columella was his pocket-companion. To these ancient worthies, he added
-the more modern Tusser, Hartlib, and other writers on rural economics,
-not forgetting the lucubrations of the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, and
-such of the better-informed Philomaths, who, instead of loading their
-almanacks with vain predictions of political events, pretended to see
-what seeds would grow and what would not, and direct the attention of
-their readers to that course of cultivation from which the production of
-good crops may be safely predicted; modest sages, in fine, who, careless
-of the rise and downfall of empires, content themselves with pointing
-out the fit seasons to reap and sow, with a fair guess at the weather
-which each month will be likely to present; as, for example, that if
-Heaven pleases, we shall have snow in January, and the author will stake
-his reputation that July proves, on the whole, a month of sunshine. Now,
-although the Rector of Saint Leonard's was greatly pleased, in general,
-with the quiet, laborious, and studious bent of Triptolemus Yellowley,
-and deemed him, in so far, worthy of a name of four syllables having a
-Latin termination, yet he relished not, by any means, his exclusive
-attention to his favourite authors. It savoured of the earth, he said,
-if not of something worse, to have a man's mind always grovelling in
-mould, stercorated or unstercorated; and he pointed out, but in vain,
-history, and poetry, and divinity, as more elevating subjects of
-occupation. Triptolemus Yellowley was obstinate in his own course: Of
-the battle of Pharsalia, he thought not as it affected the freedom of
-the world, but dwelt on the rich crop which the Emathian fields were
-likely to produce the next season. In vernacular poetry, Triptolemus
-could scarce be prevailed upon to read a single couplet, excepting old
-Tusser, as aforesaid, whose Hundred Points of Good Husbandry he had got
-by heart; and excepting also Piers Ploughman's Vision, which, charmed
-with the title, he bought with avidity from a packman, but after reading
-the two first pages, flung it into the fire as an impudent and misnamed
-political libel. As to divinity, he summed that matter up by reminding
-his instructors, that to labour the earth and win his bread with the
-toil of his body and sweat of his brow, was the lot imposed upon fallen
-man; and, for his part, he was resolved to discharge, to the best of his
-abilities, a task so obviously necessary to existence, leaving others to
-speculate as much as they would, upon the more recondite mysteries of
-theology.
-
-With a spirit so much narrowed and limited to the concerns of rural
-life, it may be doubted whether the proficiency of Triptolemus in
-learning, or the use he was like to make of his acquisitions, would have
-much gratified the ambitious hope of his affectionate mother. It is
-true, he expressed no reluctance to embrace the profession of a
-clergyman, which suited well enough with the habitual personal indolence
-which sometimes attaches to speculative dispositions. He had views, to
-speak plainly, (I wish they were peculiar to himself,) of cultivating
-the _glebe_ six days in the week, preaching on the seventh with due
-regularity, and dining with some fat franklin or country laird, with
-whom he could smoke a pipe and drink a tankard after dinner, and mix in
-secret conference on the exhaustless subject,
-
-  Quid faciat lætas segetes.
-
-Now, this plan, besides that it indicated nothing of what was then
-called the root of the matter, implied necessarily the possession of a
-manse; and the possession of a manse inferred compliance with the
-doctrines of prelacy, and other enormities of the time. There was some
-question how far manse and glebe, stipend, both victual and money, might
-have outbalanced the good lady's predisposition towards Presbytery; but
-her zeal was not put to so severe a trial. She died before her son had
-completed his studies, leaving her afflicted spouse just as disconsolate
-as was to be expected. The first act of old Jasper's undivided
-administration was to recall his son from Saint Andrews, in order to
-obtain his assistance in his domestic labours. And here it might have
-been supposed that our Triptolemus, summoned to carry into practice what
-he had so fondly studied in theory, must have been, to use a simile
-which _he_ would have thought lively, like a cow entering upon a clover
-park. Alas, mistaken thoughts, and deceitful hopes of mankind!
-
-A laughing philosopher, the Democritus of our day, once, in a moral
-lecture, compared human life to a table pierced with a number of holes,
-each of which has a pin made exactly to fit it, but which pins being
-stuck in hastily, and without selection, chance leads inevitably to the
-most awkward mistakes. "For how often do we see," the orator
-pathetically concluded,--"how often, I say, do we see the round man
-stuck into the three-cornered hole!" This new illustration of the
-vagaries of fortune set every one present into convulsions of laughter,
-excepting one fat alderman, who seemed to make the case his own, and
-insisted that it was no jesting matter. To take up the simile, however,
-which is an excellent one, it is plain that Triptolemus Yellowley had
-been shaken out of the bag at least a hundred years too soon. If he had
-come on the stage in our own time, that is, if he had flourished at any
-time within these thirty or forty years, he could not have missed to
-have held the office of vice-president of some eminent agricultural
-society, and to have transacted all the business thereof under the
-auspices of some noble duke or lord, who, as the matter might happen,
-either knew, or did not know, the difference betwixt a horse and a cart,
-and a cart-horse. He could not have missed such preferment, for he was
-exceedingly learned in all those particulars, which, being of no
-consequence in actual practice, go, of course, a great way to constitute
-the character of a connoisseur in any art, and especially in
-agriculture. But, alas! Triptolemus Yellowley had, as we already have
-hinted, come into the world at least a century too soon; for, instead of
-sitting in an arm-chair, with a hammer in his hand, and a bumper of port
-before him, giving forth the toast,--"To breeding, in all its branches,"
-his father planted him betwixt the stilts of a plough, and invited him
-to guide the oxen, on whose beauties he would, in our day, have
-descanted, and whose rumps he would not have goaded, but have carved.
-Old Jasper complained, that although no one talked so well of common and
-several, wheat and rape, fallow and lea, as his learned son, (whom he
-always called Tolimus,) yet, "dang it," added the Seneca, "nought
-thrives wi' un--nought thrives wi' un!" It was still worse, when Jasper,
-becoming frail and ancient, was obliged, as happened in the course of a
-few years, gradually to yield up the reins of government to the
-academical neophyte.
-
-As if Nature had meant him a spite, he had got one of the _dourest_ and
-most intractable farms in the Mearns, to try conclusions withal, a place
-which seemed to yield every thing but what the agriculturist wanted; for
-there were plenty of thistles, which indicates dry land; and store of
-fern, which is said to intimate deep land; and nettles, which show where
-lime hath been applied; and deep furrows in the most unlikely spots,
-which intimated that it had been cultivated in former days by the
-Peghts, as popular tradition bore. There was also enough of stones to
-keep the ground warm, according to the creed of some farmers, and great
-abundance of springs to render it cool and sappy, according to the
-theory of others. It was in vain that, acting alternately on these
-opinions, poor Triptolemus endeavoured to avail himself of the supposed
-capabilities of the soil. No kind of butter that might be churned could
-be made to stick upon his own bread, any more than on that of poor
-Tusser, whose Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, so useful to others of
-his day, were never to himself worth as many pennies.[22]
-
-In fact, excepting an hundred acres of infield, to which old Jasper had
-early seen the necessity of limiting his labours, there was not a
-corner of the farm fit for any thing but to break plough-graith, and
-kill cattle. And then, as for the part which was really tilled with some
-profit, the expense of the farming establishment of Triptolemus, and his
-disposition to experiment, soon got rid of any good arising from the
-cultivation of it. "The carles and the cart-avers," he confessed, with a
-sigh, speaking of his farm-servants and horses, "make it all, and the
-carles and cart-avers eat it all;" a conclusion which might sum up the
-year-book of many a gentleman farmer.
-
-Matters would have soon been brought to a close with Triptolemus in the
-present day. He would have got a bank-credit, manoeuvred with
-wind-bills, dashed out upon a large scale, and soon have seen his crop
-and stock sequestered by the Sheriff; but in those days a man could not
-ruin himself so easily. The whole Scottish tenantry stood upon the same
-level flat of poverty, so that it was extremely difficult to find any
-vantage ground, by climbing up to which a man might have an opportunity
-of actually breaking his neck with some eclat. They were pretty much in
-the situation of people, who, being totally without credit, may indeed
-suffer from indigence, but cannot possibly become bankrupt. Besides,
-notwithstanding the failure of Triptolemus's projects, there was to be
-balanced against the expenditure which they occasioned, all the savings
-which the extreme economy of his sister Barbara could effect; and in
-truth her exertions were wonderful. She might have realized, if any one
-could, the idea of the learned philosopher, who pronounced that sleeping
-was a fancy, and eating but a habit, and who appeared to the world to
-have renounced both, until it was unhappily discovered that he had an
-intrigue with the cook-maid of the family, who indemnified him for his
-privations by giving him private entrée to the pantry, and to a share of
-her own couch. But no such deceptions were practised by Barbara
-Yellowley. She was up early, and down late, and seemed, to her
-over-watched and over-tasked maidens, to be as _wakerife_ as the cat
-herself. Then, for eating, it appeared that the air was a banquet to
-her, and she would fain have made it so to her retinue. Her brother,
-who, besides being lazy in his person, was somewhat luxurious in his
-appetite, would willingly now and then have tasted a mouthful of animal
-food, were it but to know how his sheep were fed off; but a proposal to
-eat a child could not have startled Mistress Barbara more; and, being of
-a compliant and easy disposition, Triptolemus reconciled himself to the
-necessity of a perpetual Lent, too happy when he could get a scrap of
-butter to his oaten cake, or (as they lived on the banks of the Esk)
-escape the daily necessity of eating salmon, whether in or out of
-season, six days out of the seven.
-
-But although Mrs. Barbara brought faithfully to the joint stock all
-savings which her awful powers of economy accomplished to scrape
-together, and although the dower of their mother was by degrees
-expended, or nearly so, in aiding them upon extreme occasions, the term
-at length approached when it seemed impossible that they could sustain
-the conflict any longer against the evil star of Triptolemus, as he
-called it himself, or the natural result of his absurd speculations, as
-it was termed by others. Luckily at this sad crisis, a god jumped down
-to their relief out of a machine. In plain English, the noble lord, who
-owned their farm, arrived at his mansion-house in their neighbourhood,
-with his coach and six and his running footmen, in the full splendour
-of the seventeenth century.
-
-This person of quality was the son of the nobleman who had brought the
-ancient Jasper into the country from Yorkshire, and he was, like his
-father, a fanciful and scheming man.[23] He had schemed well for
-himself, however, amid the mutations of the time, having obtained, for a
-certain period of years, the administration of the remote islands of
-Orkney and Zetland, for payment of a certain rent, with the right of
-making the most of whatever was the property or revenue of the crown in
-these districts, under the title of Lord Chamberlain. Now, his lordship
-had become possessed with a notion, in itself a very true one, that much
-might be done to render this grant available, by improving the culture
-of the crown lands, both in Orkney and Zetland; and then having some
-acquaintance with our friend Triptolemus, he thought (rather less
-happily) that he might prove a person capable of furthering his schemes.
-He sent for him to the great Hallhouse, and was so much edified by the
-way in which our friend laid down the law upon every given subject
-relating to rural economy, that he lost no time in securing the
-co-operation of so valuable an assistant, the first step being to
-release him from his present unprofitable farm.
-
-The terms were arranged much to the mind of Triptolemus, who had already
-been taught, by many years' experience, a dark sort of notion, that
-without undervaluing or doubting for a moment his own skill, it would be
-quite as well that almost all the trouble and risk should be at the
-expense of his employer. Indeed, the hopes of advantage which he held
-out to his patron were so considerable, that the Lord Chamberlain
-dropped every idea of admitting his dependent into any share of the
-expected profits; for, rude as the arts of agriculture were in Scotland,
-they were far superior to those known and practised in the regions of
-Thule, and Triptolemus Yellowley conceived himself to be possessed of a
-degree of insight into these mysteries, far superior to what was
-possessed or practised even in the Mearns. The improvement, therefore,
-which was to be expected, would bear a double proportion, and the Lord
-Chamberlain was to reap all the profit, deducting a handsome salary for
-his steward Yellowley, together with the accommodation of a house and
-domestic farm, for the support of his family. Joy seized the heart of
-Mistress Barbara, at hearing this happy termination of what threatened
-to be so very bad an affair as the lease of Cauldacres.
-
-"If we cannot," she said, "provide for our own house, when all is coming
-in, and nothing going out, surely we must be worse than infidels!"
-
-Triptolemus was a busy man for some time, huffing and puffing, and
-eating and drinking in every changehouse, while he ordered and collected
-together proper implements of agriculture, to be used by the natives of
-these devoted islands, whose destinies were menaced with this formidable
-change. Singular tools these would seem, if presented before a modern
-agricultural society; but every thing is relative, nor could the heavy
-cartload of timber, called the old Scots plough, seem less strange to a
-Scottish farmer of this present day, than the corslets and casques of
-the soldiers of Cortes might seem to a regiment of our own army. Yet the
-latter conquered Mexico, and undoubtedly the former would have been a
-splendid improvement on the state of agriculture in Thule.
-
-We have never been able to learn why Triptolemus preferred fixing his
-residence in Zetland, to becoming an inhabitant of the Orkneys. Perhaps
-he thought the inhabitants of the latter Archipelago the more simple and
-docile of the two kindred tribes; or perhaps he considered the situation
-of the house and farm he himself was to occupy, (which was indeed a
-tolerable one,) as preferable to that which he had it in his power to
-have obtained upon Pomona (so the main island of the Orkneys is
-entitled). At Harfra, or, as it was sometimes called, Stourburgh, from
-the remains of a Pictish fort, which was almost close to the
-mansion-house, the factor settled himself, in the plenitude of his
-authority; determined to honour the name he bore by his exertions, in
-precept and example, to civilize the Zetlanders, and improve their very
-confined knowledge in the primary arts of human life.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[19] The cormorant; which may be seen frequently dashing in wild flight
-along the roosts and tides of Zetland, and yet more often drawn up in
-ranks on some ledge of rock, like a body of the Black Brunswickers in
-181.
-
-[20] _i. e._ Gossips.
-
-[21] Quadrupedumque putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.
-
-[22] This is admitted by the English agriculturist:--
-
-  "My music since has been the plough,
-    Entangled with some care among;
-  The gain not great, the pain enough,
-    Hath made me sing another song."
-
-[23] GOVERNMENT OF ZETLAND.--At the period supposed, the Earls of Morton
-held the islands of Orkney and Zetland, originally granted in 1643,
-confirmed in 1707, and rendered absolute in 1742. This gave the family
-much property and influence, which they usually exercised by factors,
-named chamberlains. In 1766 this property was sold by the then Earl of
-Morton to Sir Lawrence Dundas, by whose son, Lord Dundas, it is now
-held.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-  The wind blew keen frae north and east;
-    It blew upon the floor.
-  Quo' our goodman to our goodwife,
-    "Get up and bar the door."
-
-  "My hand is in my housewife-skep,
-    Goodman, as ye may see;
-  If it shouldna be barr'd this hundred years,
-    It's no be barr'd for me!"
-
-                                                 _Old Song._
-
-
-We can only hope that the gentle reader has not found the latter part of
-the last chapter extremely tedious; but, at any rate, his impatience
-will scarce equal that of young Mordaunt Mertoun, who, while the
-lightning came flash after flash, while the wind, veering and shifting
-from point to point, blew with all the fury of a hurricane, and while
-the rain was dashed against him in deluges, stood hammering, calling,
-and roaring at the door of the old Place of Harfra, impatient for
-admittance, and at a loss to conceive any position of existing
-circumstances, which could occasion the exclusion of a stranger,
-especially during such horrible weather. At length, finding his noise
-and vociferation were equally in vain, he fell back so far from the
-front of the house, as was necessary to enable him to reconnoitre the
-chimneys; and amidst "storm and shade," could discover, to the increase
-of his dismay, that though noon, then the dinner hour of these islands,
-was now nearly arrived, there was no smoke proceeding from the tunnels
-of the vents to give any note of preparation within.
-
-Mordaunt's wrathful impatience was now changed into sympathy and alarm;
-for, so long accustomed to the exuberant hospitality of the Zetland
-islands, he was immediately induced to suppose some strange and
-unaccountable disaster had befallen the family; and forthwith set
-himself to discover some place at which he could make forcible entry, in
-order to ascertain the situation of the inmates, as much as to obtain
-shelter from the still increasing storm. His present anxiety was,
-however, as much thrown away as his late clamorous importunities for
-admittance had been. Triptolemus and his sister had heard the whole
-alarm without, and had already had a sharp dispute on the propriety of
-opening the door.
-
-Mrs. Baby, as we have described her, was no willing renderer of the
-rites of hospitality. In their farm of Cauldacres, in the Mearns, she
-had been the dread and abhorrence of all gaberlunzie men, and travelling
-packmen, gipsies, long remembered beggars, and so forth; nor was there
-one of them so wily, as she used to boast, as could ever say they had
-heard the clink of her sneck. In Zetland, where the new settlers were
-yet strangers to the extreme honesty and simplicity of all classes,
-suspicion and fear joined with frugality in her desire to exclude all
-wandering guests of uncertain character; and the second of these motives
-had its effect on Triptolemus himself, who, though neither suspicious
-nor penurious, knew good people were scarce, good farmers scarcer, and
-had a reasonable share of that wisdom which looks towards
-self-preservation as the first law of nature. These hints may serve as
-a commentary on the following dialogue which took place betwixt the
-brother and sister.
-
-"Now, good be gracious to us," said Triptolemus, as he sat thumbing his
-old school-copy of Virgil, "here is a pure day, for the bear seed!--Well
-spoke the wise Mantuan--_ventis surgentibus_--and then the groans of the
-mountains, and the long-resounding shores--but where's the woods, Baby?
-tell me, I say, where we shall find the _nemorum murmur_, sister Baby,
-in these new seats of ours?"
-
-"What's your foolish will?" said Baby, popping her head from out of a
-dark recess in the kitchen, where she was busy about some nameless deed
-of housewifery.
-
-Her brother, who had addressed himself to her more from habit than
-intention, no sooner saw her bleak red nose, keen grey eyes, with the
-sharp features thereunto conforming, shaded by the flaps of the loose
-_toy_ which depended on each side of her eager face, than he bethought
-himself that his query was likely to find little acceptation from her,
-and therefore stood another volley before he would resume the topic.
-
-"I say, Mr. Yellowley," said sister Baby, coming into the middle of the
-room, "what for are ye crying on me, and me in the midst of my
-housewifeskep?"
-
-"Nay, for nothing at all, Baby," answered Triptolemus, "saving that I
-was saying to myself, that here we had the sea, and the wind, and the
-rain, sufficient enough, but where's the wood? where's the wood, Baby,
-answer me that?"
-
-"The wood?" replied Baby--"Were I no to take better care of the wood
-than you, brother, there would soon be no more wood about the town than
-the barber's block that's on your own shoulders, Triptolemus. If ye be
-thinking of the wreck-wood that the callants brought in yesterday, there
-was six ounces of it gaed to boil your parritch this morning; though, I
-trow, a carefu' man wad have ta'en drammock, if breakfast he behoved to
-have, rather than waste baith meltith and fuel in the same morning."
-
-"That is to say, Baby," replied Triptolemus, who was somewhat of a dry
-joker in his way, "that when we have fire we are not to have food, and
-when we have food we are not to have fire, these being too great
-blessings to enjoy both in the same day! Good luck, you do not propose
-we should starve with cold and starve with hunger _unico contextu_. But,
-to tell you the truth, I could never away with raw oatmeal, slockened
-with water, in all my life. Call it drammock, or crowdie, or just what
-ye list, my vivers must thole fire and water."
-
-"The mair gowk you," said Baby; "can ye not make your brose on the
-Sunday, and sup them cauld on the Monday, since ye're sae dainty? Mony
-is the fairer face than yours that has licked the lip after such a
-cogfu'."
-
-"Mercy on us, sister!" said Triptolemus; "at this rate, it's a finished
-field with me--I must unyoke the pleugh, and lie down to wait for the
-dead-thraw. Here is that in this house wad hold all Zetland in meal for
-a twelvemonth, and ye grudge a cogfu' of warm parritch to me, that has
-sic a charge!"
-
-"Whisht--haud your silly clavering tongue!" said Baby, looking round
-with apprehension--"ye are a wise man to speak of what is in the house,
-and a fitting man to have the charge of it!--Hark, as I live by bread,
-I hear a tapping at the outer yett!"
-
-"Go and open it then, Baby," said her brother, glad at any thing that
-promised to interrupt the dispute.
-
-"Go and open it, said he!" echoed Baby, half angry, half frightened, and
-half triumphant at the superiority of her understanding over that of her
-brother--"Go and open it, said he, indeed!--is it to lend robbers a
-chance to take all that is in the house?"
-
-"Robbers!" echoed Triptolemus, in his turn; "there are no more robbers
-in this country than there are lambs at Yule. I tell you, as I have told
-you an hundred times, there are no Highlandmen to harry us here. This is
-a land of quiet and honesty. _O fortunati nimium!_"
-
-"And what good is Saint Rinian to do ye, Tolimus?" said his sister,
-mistaking the quotation for a Catholic invocation. "Besides, if there be
-no Highlandmen, there may be as bad. I saw sax or seven as ill-looking
-chields gang past the Place yesterday, as ever came frae beyont
-Clochna-ben; ill-fa'red tools they had in their hands, whaaling knives
-they ca'ed them, but they looked as like dirks and whingers as ae bit
-airn can look like anither. There is nae honest men carry siccan tools."
-
-Here the knocking and shouts of Mordaunt were very audible betwixt every
-swell of the horrible blast which was careering without. The brother and
-sister looked at each other in real perplexity and fear. "If they have
-heard of the siller," said Baby, her very nose changing with terror from
-red to blue, "we are but gane folk!"
-
-"Who speaks now, when they should hold their tongue?" said Triptolemus.
-"Go to the shot-window instantly, and see how many there are of them,
-while I load the old Spanish-barrelled duck-gun--go as if you were
-stepping on new-laid eggs."
-
-Baby crept to the window, and reported that she saw only "one young
-chield, clattering and roaring as gin he were daft. How many there might
-be out of sight, she could not say."
-
-"Out of sight!--nonsense," said Triptolemus, laying aside the ramrod
-with which he was loading the piece, with a trembling hand. "I will
-warrant them out of sight and hearing both--this is some poor fellow
-catched in the tempest, wants the shelter of our roof, and a little
-refreshment. Open the door, Baby, it's a Christian deed."
-
-"But is it a Christian deed of him to come in at the window, then?" said
-Baby, setting up a most doleful shriek, as Mordaunt Mertoun, who had
-forced open one of the windows, leaped down into the apartment, dripping
-with water like a river god. Triptolemus, in great tribulation,
-presented the gun which he had not yet loaded, while the intruder
-exclaimed, "Hold, hold--what the devil mean you by keeping your doors
-bolted in weather like this, and levelling your gun at folk's heads as
-you would at a sealgh's?"
-
-"And who are you, friend, and what want you?" said Triptolemus, lowering
-the but of his gun to the floor as he spoke, and so recovering his arms.
-
-"What do I want!" said Mordaunt; "I want every thing--I want meat,
-drink, and fire, a bed for the night, and a sheltie for to-morrow
-morning to carry me to Jarlshof."
-
-"And ye said there were nae caterans or sorners here?" said Baby to the
-agriculturist, reproachfully. "Heard ye ever a breekless loon frae
-Lochaber tell his mind and his errand mair deftly?--Come, come, friend,"
-she added, addressing herself to Mordaunt, "put up your pipes and gang
-your gate; this is the house of his lordship's factor, and no place of
-reset for thiggers or sorners."
-
-Mordaunt laughed in her face at the simplicity of the request. "Leave
-built walls," he said, "and in such a tempest as this? What take you me
-for?--a gannet or a scart do you think I am, that your clapping your
-hands and skirling at me like a madwoman, should drive me from the
-shelter into the storm?"
-
-"And so you propose, young man," said Triptolemus, gravely, "to stay in
-my house, _volens nolens_--that is, whether we will or no?"
-
-"Will!" said Mordaunt; "what right have you to will any thing about it?
-Do you not hear the thunder? Do you not hear the rain? Do you not see
-the lightning? And do you not know this is the only house within I wot
-not how many miles? Come, my good master and dame, this may be Scottish
-jesting, but it sounds strange in Zetland ears. You have let out the
-fire, too, and my teeth are dancing a jig in my head with cold; but I'll
-soon put that to rights."
-
-He seized the fire-tongs, raked together the embers upon the hearth,
-broke up into life the gathering-peat, which the hostess had calculated
-should have preserved the seeds of fire, without giving them forth, for
-many hours; then casting his eye round, saw in a corner the stock of
-drift-wood, which Mistress Baby had served forth by ounces, and
-transferred two or three logs of it at once to the hearth, which,
-conscious of such unwonted supply, began to transmit to the chimney
-such a smoke as had not issued from the Place of Harfra for many a day.
-
-While their uninvited guest was thus making himself at home, Baby kept
-edging and jogging the factor to turn out the intruder. But for this
-undertaking, Triptolemus Yellowley felt neither courage nor zeal, nor
-did circumstances seem at all to warrant the favourable conclusion of
-any fray into which he might enter with the young stranger. The sinewy
-limbs and graceful form of Mordaunt Mertoun were seen to great advantage
-in his simple sea-dress; and with his dark sparkling eye, finely formed
-head, animated features, close curled dark hair, and bold, free looks,
-the stranger formed a very strong contrast with the host on whom he had
-intruded himself. Triptolemus was a short, clumsy, duck-legged disciple
-of Ceres, whose bottle-nose, turned up and handsomely coppered at the
-extremity, seemed to intimate something of an occasional treaty with
-Bacchus. It was like to be no equal mellay betwixt persons of such
-unequal form and strength; and the difference betwixt twenty and fifty
-years was nothing in favour of the weaker party. Besides, the factor was
-an honest good-natured fellow at bottom, and being soon satisfied that
-his guest had no other views than those of obtaining refuge from the
-storm, it would, despite his sister's instigations, have been his last
-act to deny a boon so reasonable and necessary to a youth whose exterior
-was so prepossessing. He stood, therefore, considering how he could most
-gracefully glide into the character of the hospitable landlord, out of
-that of the churlish defender of his domestic castle, against an
-unauthorized intrusion, when Baby, who had stood appalled at the extreme
-familiarity of the stranger's address and demeanour, now spoke up for
-herself.
-
-"My troth, lad," said she to Mordaunt, "ye are no blate, to light on at
-that rate, and the best of wood, too--nane of your sharney peats, but
-good aik timber, nae less maun serve ye!"
-
-"You come lightly by it, dame," said Mordaunt, carelessly; "and you
-should not grudge to the fire what the sea gives you for nothing. These
-good ribs of oak did their last duty upon earth and ocean, when they
-could hold no longer together under the brave hearts that manned the
-bark."
-
-"And that's true, too," said the old woman, softening--"this maun be
-awsome weather by sea. Sit down and warm ye, since the sticks are
-a-low."
-
-"Ay, ay," said Triptolemus, "it is a pleasure to see siccan a bonny
-bleeze. I havena seen the like o't since I left Cauldacres."
-
-"And shallna see the like o't again in a hurry," said Baby, "unless the
-house take fire, or there suld be a coal-heugh found out."
-
-"And wherefore should not there be a coal-heugh found out?" said the
-factor, triumphantly--"I say, wherefore should not a coal-heugh be found
-out in Zetland as well as in Fife, now that the Chamberlain has a
-far-sighted and discreet man upon the spot to make the necessary
-perquisitions? They are baith fishing-stations, I trow?"
-
-"I tell you what it is, Tolemus Yellowley," answered his sister, who had
-practical reasons to fear her brother's opening upon any false scent,
-"if you promise my Lord sae mony of these bonnie-wallies, we'll no be
-weel hafted here before we are found out and set a-trotting again. If
-ane was to speak to ye about a gold mine, I ken weel wha would promise
-he suld have Portugal pieces clinking in his pouch before the year gaed
-by."
-
-"And why suld I not?" said Triptolemus--"maybe your head does not know
-there is a land in Orkney called Ophir, or something very like it; and
-wherefore might not Solomon, the wise King of the Jews, have sent
-thither his ships and his servants for four hundred and fifty talents? I
-trow he knew best where to go or send, and I hope you believe in your
-Bible, Baby?"
-
-Baby was silenced by an appeal to Scripture, however _mal à propos_, and
-only answered by an inarticulate _humph_ of incredulity or scorn, while
-her brother went on addressing Mordaunt.--"Yes, you shall all of you see
-what a change shall coin introduce, even into such an unpropitious
-country as yours. Ye have not heard of copper, I warrant, nor of
-iron-stone, in these islands, neither?" Mordaunt said he had heard there
-was copper near the Cliffs of Konigsburgh. "Ay, and a copper scum is
-found on the Loch of Swana, too, young man. But the youngest of you,
-doubtless, thinks himself a match for such as I am!"
-
-Baby, who during all this while had been closely and accurately
-reconnoitring the youth's person, now interposed in a manner by her
-brother totally unexpected. "Ye had mair need, Mr. Yellowley, to give
-the young man some dry clothes, and to see about getting something for
-him to eat, than to sit there bleezing away with your lang tales, as if
-the weather were not windy enow without your help; and maybe the lad
-would drink some _bland_, or sic-like, if ye had the grace to ask him."
-
-While Triptolemus looked astonished at such a proposal, considering the
-quarter it came from, Mordaunt answered, he "should be very glad to
-have dry clothes, but begged to be excused from drinking until he had
-eaten somewhat."
-
-Triptolemus accordingly conducted him into another apartment, and
-accommodating him with a change of dress, left him to his arrangements,
-while he himself returned to the kitchen, much puzzled to account for
-his sister's unusual fit of hospitality. "She must be _fey_,"[24] he
-said, "and in that case has not long to live, and though I fall heir to
-her tocher-good, I am sorry for it; for she has held the house-gear well
-together--drawn the girth over tight it may be now and then, but the
-saddle sits the better."
-
-When Triptolemus returned to the kitchen, he found his suspicions
-confirmed; for his sister was in the desperate act of consigning to the
-pot a smoked goose, which, with others of the same tribe, had long hung
-in the large chimney, muttering to herself at the same time,--"It maun
-be eaten sune or syne, and what for no by the puir callant?"
-
-"What is this of it, sister?" said Triptolemus. "You have on the girdle
-and the pot at ance. What day is this wi' you?"
-
-"E'en such a day as the Israelites had beside the flesh-pots of Egypt,
-billie Triptolemus; but ye little ken wha ye have in your house this
-blessed day."
-
-"Troth, and little do I ken," said Triptolemus, "as little as I would
-ken the naig I never saw before. I would take the lad for a jagger,[25]
-but he has rather ower good havings, and he has no pack."
-
-"Ye ken as little as ane of your ain bits o' nowt, man," retorted sister
-Baby; "if ye ken na him, do ye ken Tronda Dronsdaughter?"
-
-"Tronda Dronsdaughter!" echoed Triptolemus--"how should I but ken her,
-when I pay her twal pennies Scots by the day, for working in the house
-here? I trow she works as if the things burned her fingers. I had better
-give a Scots lass a groat of English siller."
-
-"And that's the maist sensible word ye have said this blessed
-morning.--Weel, but Tronda kens this lad weel, and she has often spoke
-to me about him. They call his father the Silent Man of Sumburgh, and
-they say he's uncanny."
-
-"Hout, hout--nonsense, nonsense--they are aye at sic trash as that,"
-said the brother, "when you want a day's wark out of them--they have
-stepped ower the tangs, or they have met an uncanny body, or they have
-turned about the boat against the sun, and then there's nought to be
-done that day."
-
-"Weel, weel, brother, ye are so wise," said Baby, "because ye knapped
-Latin at Saint Andrews; and can your lair tell me, then, what the lad
-has round his halse?"
-
-"A Barcelona napkin, as wet as a dishclout, and I have just lent him one
-of my own overlays," said Triptolemus.
-
-"A Barcelona napkin!" said Baby, elevating her voice, and then suddenly
-lowering it, as from apprehension of being overheard--"I say a gold
-chain!"
-
-"A gold chain!" said Triptolemus.
-
-"In troth is it, hinny; and how like you that? The folk say here, as
-Tronda tells me, that the King of the Drows gave it to his father, the
-Silent Man of Sumburgh."
-
-"I wish you would speak sense, or be the silent woman," said
-Triptolemus. "The upshot of it all is, then, that this lad is the rich
-stranger's son, and that you are giving him the goose you were to keep
-till Michaelmas!"
-
-"Troth, brother, we maun do something for God's sake, and to make
-friends; and the lad," added Baby, (for even she was not altogether
-above the prejudices of her sex in favour of outward form,) "the lad has
-a fair face of his ain."
-
-"Ye would have let mony a fair face," said Triptolemus, "pass the door
-pining, if it had not been for the gold chain."
-
-"Nae doubt, nae doubt," replied Barbara; "ye wadna have me waste our
-substance on every thigger or sorner that has the luck to come by the
-door in a wet day? But this lad has a fair and a wide name in the
-country, and Tronda says he is to be married to a daughter of the rich
-Udaller, Magnus Troil, and the marriage-day is to be fixed whenever he
-makes choice (set him up) between the twa lasses; and so it wad be as
-much as our good name is worth, and our quiet forby, to let him sit
-unserved, although he does come unsent for."
-
-"The best reason in life," said Triptolemus, "for letting a man into a
-house is, that you dare not bid him go by. However, since there is a man
-of quality amongst them, I will let him know whom he has to do with, in
-my person." Then advancing to the door, he exclaimed, "_Heus tibi,
-Dave!_"
-
-"_Adsum_," answered the youth, entering the apartment.
-
-"Hem!" said the erudite Triptolemus, "not altogether deficient in his
-humanities, I see. I will try him further.--Canst thou aught of
-husbandry, young gentleman?"
-
-"Troth, sir, not I," answered Mordaunt; "I have been trained to plough
-upon the sea, and to reap upon the crag."
-
-"Plough the sea!" said Triptolemus; "that's a furrow requires small
-harrowing; and for your harvest on the crag, I suppose you mean these
-_scowries_, or whatever you call them. It is a sort of ingathering which
-the Ranzelman should stop by the law; nothing more likely to break an
-honest man's bones. I profess I cannot see the pleasure men propose by
-dangling in a rope's-end betwixt earth and heaven. In my case, I had as
-lief the other end of the rope were fastened to the gibbet; I should be
-sure of not falling, at least."
-
-"Now, I would only advise you to try it," replied Mordaunt. "Trust me,
-the world has few grander sensations than when one is perched in midair
-between a high-browed cliff and a roaring ocean, the rope by which you
-are sustained seeming scarce stronger than a silken thread, and the
-stone on which you have one foot steadied, affording such a breadth as
-the kittywake might rest upon--to feel and know all this, with the full
-confidence that your own agility of limb, and strength of head, can
-bring you as safe off as if you had the wing of the gosshawk--this is
-indeed being almost independent of the earth you tread on!"
-
-Triptolemus stared at this enthusiastic description of an amusement
-which had so few charms for him; and his sister, looking at the glancing
-eye and elevated bearing of the young adventurer, answered, by
-ejaculating, "My certie, lad, but ye are a brave chield!"
-
-"A brave chield?" returned Yellowley,--"I say a brave goose, to be
-flichtering and fleeing in the wind when he might abide upon _terra
-firma_! But come, here's a goose that is more to the purpose, when once
-it is well boiled. Get us trenchers and salt, Baby--but in truth it will
-prove salt enough--a tasty morsel it is; but I think the Zetlanders be
-the only folk in the world that think of running such risks to catch
-geese, and then boiling them when they have done."
-
-"To be sure," replied his sister, (it was the only word they had agreed
-in that day,) "it would be an unco thing to bid ony gudewife in Angus or
-a' the Mearns boil a goose, while there was sic things as spits in the
-warld.--But wha's this neist!" she added, looking towards the entrance
-with great indignation. "My certie, open doors, and dogs come in--and
-wha opened the door to him?"
-
-"I did, to be sure," replied Mordaunt; "you would not have a poor devil
-stand beating your deaf door-cheeks in weather like this?--Here goes
-something, though, to help the fire," he added, drawing out the sliding
-bar of oak with which the door had been secured, and throwing it on the
-hearth, whence it was snatched by Dame Baby in great wrath, she
-exclaiming at the same time,--
-
-"It's sea-borne timber, as there's little else here, and he dings it
-about as if it were a fir-clog!--And who be you, an it please you?" she
-added, turning to the stranger,--"a very hallanshaker loon, as ever
-crossed my twa een!"
-
-"I am a jagger, if it like your ladyship," replied the uninvited guest,
-a stout vulgar, little man, who had indeed the humble appearance of a
-pedlar, called _jagger_ in these islands--"never travelled in a waur
-day, or was more willing to get to harbourage.--Heaven be praised for
-fire and house-room!"
-
-So saying, he drew a stool to the fire, and sat down without further
-ceremony. Dame Baby stared "wild as grey gosshawk," and was meditating
-how to express her indignation in something warmer than words, for which
-the boiling pot seemed to offer a convenient hint, when an old
-half-starved serving-woman--the Tronda already mentioned--the sharer of
-Barbara's domestic cares, who had been as yet in some remote corner of
-the mansion, now hobbled into the room, and broke out into exclamations
-which indicated some new cause of alarm.
-
-"O master!" and "O mistress!" were the only sounds she could for some
-time articulate, and then followed them up with, "The best in the
-house--the best in the house--set a' on the board, and a' will be little
-aneugh--There is auld Norna of Fitful-head, the most fearful woman in
-all the isles!"
-
-"Where can she have been wandering?" said Mordaunt, not without some
-apparent sympathy with the surprise, if not with the alarm, of the old
-domestic; "but it is needless to ask--the worse the weather, the more
-likely is she to be a traveller."
-
-"What new tramper is this?" echoed the distracted Baby, whom the quick
-succession of guests had driven wellnigh crazy with vexation. "I'll soon
-settle her wandering, I sall warrant, if my brother has but the saul of
-a man in him, or if there be a pair of jougs at Scalloway!"
-
-"The iron was never forged on stithy that would hauld her," said the old
-maid-servant. "She comes--she comes--God's sake speak her fair and
-canny, or we will have a ravelled hasp on the yarn-windles!"
-
-As she spoke, a woman, tall enough almost to touch the top of the door
-with her cap, stepped into the room, signing the cross as she entered,
-and pronouncing, with a solemn voice, "The blessing of God and Saint
-Ronald on the open door, and their broad malison and mine upon
-close-handed churls!"
-
-"And wha are ye, that are sae bauld wi' your blessing and banning in
-other folk's houses? What kind of country is this, that folk cannot sit
-quiet for an hour, and serve Heaven, and keep their bit gear thegither,
-without gangrel men and women coming thigging and sorning ane after
-another, like a string of wild-geese?"
-
-This speech, the understanding reader will easily saddle on Mistress
-Baby, and what effects it might have produced on the last stranger, can
-only be matter of conjecture; for the old servant and Mordaunt applied
-themselves at once to the party addressed, in order to deprecate her
-resentment; the former speaking to her some words of Norse, in a tone of
-intercession, and Mordaunt saying in English, "They are strangers,
-Norna, and know not your name or qualities; they are unacquainted, too,
-with the ways of this country, and therefore we must hold them excused
-for their lack of hospitality."
-
-"I lack no hospitality, young man," said Triptolemus, "_miseris
-succurrere disco_--the goose that was destined to roost in the chimney
-till Michaelmas, is boiling in the pot for you; but if we had twenty
-geese, I see we are like to find mouths to eat them every feather--this
-must be amended."
-
-"What must be amended, sordid slave?" said the stranger Norna, turning
-at once upon him with an emphasis that made him start--"_What_ must be
-amended? Bring hither, if thou wilt, thy new-fangled coulters, spades,
-and harrows, alter the implements of our fathers from the ploughshare to
-the mouse-trap; but know thou art in the land that was won of old by the
-flaxen-haired Kempions of the North, and leave us their hospitality at
-least, to show we come of what was once noble and generous. I say to you
-beware--while Norna looks forth at the measureless waters, from the
-crest of Fitful-head, something is yet left that resembles power of
-defence. If the men of Thule have ceased to be champions, and to spread
-the banquet for the raven, the women have not forgotten the arts that
-lifted them of yore into queens and prophetesses."
-
-The woman who pronounced this singular tirade, was as striking in
-appearance as extravagantly lofty in her pretensions and in her
-language. She might well have represented on the stage, so far as
-features, voice, and stature, were concerned, the Bonduca or Boadicea of
-the Britons, or the sage Velleda, Aurinia, or any other fated Pythoness,
-who ever led to battle a tribe of the ancient Goths. Her features were
-high and well formed, and would have been handsome, but for the ravages
-of time and the effects of exposure to the severe weather of her
-country. Age, and perhaps sorrow, had quenched, in some degree, the fire
-of a dark-blue eye, whose hue almost approached to black, and had
-sprinkled snow on such parts of her tresses as had escaped from under
-her cap, and were dishevelled by the rigour of the storm. Her upper
-garment, which dropped with water, was of a coarse dark-coloured stuff,
-called wadmaal, then much used in the Zetland islands, as also in
-Iceland and Norway. But as she threw this cloak back from her
-shoulders, a short jacket, of dark-blue velvet, stamped with figures,
-became visible, and the vest, which corresponded to it, was of crimson
-colour, and embroidered with tarnished silver. Her girdle was plated
-with silver ornaments, cut into the shape of planetary signs--her blue
-apron was embroidered with similar devices, and covered a petticoat of
-crimson cloth. Strong thick enduring shoes, of the half-dressed leather
-of the country, were tied with straps like those of the Roman buskins,
-over her scarlet stockings. She wore in her belt an ambiguous-looking
-weapon, which might pass for a sacrificing knife, or dagger, as the
-imagination of the spectator chose to assign to the wearer the character
-of a priestess or of a sorceress. In her hand she held a staff, squared
-on all sides, and engraved with Runic characters and figures, forming
-one of those portable and perpetual calendars which were used among the
-ancient natives of Scandinavia, and which, to a superstitious eye, might
-have passed for a divining rod.
-
-Such were the appearance, features, and attire, of Norna of the
-Fitful-head, upon whom many of the inhabitants of the island looked with
-observance, many with fear, and almost all with a sort of veneration.
-Less pregnant circumstances of suspicion would, in any other part of
-Scotland, have exposed her to the investigation of those cruel
-inquisitors, who were then often invested with the delegated authority
-of the Privy Council, for the purpose of persecuting, torturing, and
-finally consigning to the flames, those who were accused of witchcraft
-or sorcery. But superstitions of this nature pass through two stages ere
-they become entirely obsolete. Those supposed to be possessed of
-supernatural powers, are venerated in the earlier stages of society. As
-religion and knowledge increase, they are first held in hatred and
-horror, and are finally regarded as impostors. Scotland was in the
-second state--the fear of witchcraft was great, and the hatred against
-those suspected of it intense. Zetland was as yet a little world by
-itself, where, among the lower and ruder classes, so much of the ancient
-northern superstition remained, as cherished the original veneration for
-those affecting supernatural knowledge, and power over the elements,
-which made a constituent part of the ancient Scandinavian creed. At
-least if the natives of Thule admitted that one class of magicians
-performed their feats by their alliance with Satan, they devoutly
-believed that others dealt with spirits of a different and less odious
-class--the ancient Dwarfs, called, in Zetland, Trows, or Drows, the
-modern fairies, and so forth.
-
-Among those who were supposed to be in league with disembodied spirits,
-this Norna, descended from, and representative of, a family, which had
-long pretended to such gifts, was so eminent, that the name assigned to
-her, which signifies one of those fatal sisters who weave the web of
-human fate, had been conferred in honour of her supernatural powers. The
-name by which she had been actually christened was carefully concealed
-by herself and her parents; for to its discovery they superstitiously
-annexed some fatal consequences. In those times, the doubt only
-occurred, whether her supposed powers were acquired by lawful means. In
-our days, it would have been questioned whether she was an impostor, or
-whether her imagination was so deeply impressed with the mysteries of
-her supposed art, that she might be in some degree a believer in her
-own pretensions to supernatural knowledge. Certain it is, that she
-performed her part with such undoubting confidence, and such striking
-dignity of look and action, and evinced, at the same time, such strength
-of language, and energy of purpose, that it would have been difficult
-for the greatest sceptic to have doubted the reality of her enthusiasm,
-though he might smile at the pretensions to which it gave rise.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[24] When a person changes his condition suddenly, as when a miser
-becomes liberal, or a churl good-humoured, he is said, in Scotch, to be
-_fey_; that is, predestined to speedy death, of which such mutations of
-humour are received as a sure indication.
-
-[25] A pedlar.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-      ----If, by your art, you have
-  Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
-
-                                                  _Tempest._
-
-
-The storm had somewhat relaxed its rigour just before the entrance of
-Norna, otherwise she must have found it impossible to travel during the
-extremity of its fury. But she had hardly added herself so unexpectedly
-to the party whom chance had assembled at the dwelling of Triptolemus
-Yellowley, when the tempest suddenly resumed its former vehemence, and
-raged around the building with a fury which made the inmates insensible
-to any thing except the risk that the old mansion was about to fall
-above their heads.
-
-Mistress Baby gave vent to her fears in loud exclamations of "The Lord
-guide us--this is surely the last day--what kind of a country of
-guisards and gyre-carlines is this!--and you, ye fool carle," she added,
-turning on her brother, (for all her passions had a touch of acidity in
-them,) "to quit the bonny Mearns land to come here, where there is
-naething but sturdy beggars and gaberlunzies within ane's house, and
-Heaven's anger on the outside on't!"
-
-"I tell you, sister Baby," answered the insulted agriculturist, "that
-all shall be reformed and amended,--excepting," he added, betwixt his
-teeth, "the scaulding humours of an ill-natured jaud, that can add
-bitterness to the very storm!"
-
-The old domestic and the pedlar meanwhile exhausted themselves in
-entreaties to Norna, of which, as they were couched in the Norse
-language, the master of the house understood nothing.
-
-She listened to them with a haughty and unmoved air, and replied at
-length aloud, and in English--"I will not. What if this house be strewed
-in ruins before morning--where would be the world's want in the crazed
-projector, and the niggardly pinch-commons, by which it is inhabited?
-They will needs come to reform Zetland customs, let them try how they
-like a Zetland storm.--You that would not perish, quit this house!"
-
-The pedlar seized on his little knapsack, and began hastily to brace it
-on his back; the old maid-servant cast her cloak about her shoulders,
-and both seemed to be in the act of leaving the house as fast as they
-could.
-
-Triptolemus Yellowley, somewhat commoved by these appearances, asked
-Mordaunt, with a voice which faltered with apprehension, whether he
-thought there was any, that is, so very much danger?
-
-"I cannot tell," answered the youth, "I have scarce ever seen such a
-storm. Norna can tell us better than any one when it will abate; for no
-one in these islands can judge of the weather like her."
-
-"And is that all thou thinkest Norna can do?" said the sibyl; "thou
-shalt know her powers are not bounded within such a narrow space. Hear
-me, Mordaunt, youth of a foreign land, but of a friendly heart--Dost
-thou quit this doomed mansion with those who now prepare to leave it?"
-
-"I do not--I will not, Norna," replied Mordaunt; "I know not your motive
-for desiring me to remove, and I will not leave, upon these dark
-threats, the house in which I have been kindly received in such a
-tempest as this. If the owners are unaccustomed to our practice of
-unlimited hospitality, I am the more obliged to them that they have
-relaxed their usages, and opened their doors in my behalf."
-
-"He is a brave lad," said Mistress Baby, whose superstitious feelings
-had been daunted by the threats of the supposed sorceress, and who,
-amidst her eager, narrow, and repining disposition, had, like all who
-possess marked character, some sparks of higher feeling, which made her
-sympathize with generous sentiments, though she thought it too expensive
-to entertain them at her own cost--"He is a brave lad," she again
-repeated, "and worthy of ten geese, if I had them to boil for him, or
-roast either. I'll warrant him a gentleman's son, and no churl's blood."
-
-"Hear me, young Mordaunt," said Norna, "and depart from this house. Fate
-has high views on you--you shall not remain in this hovel to be crushed
-amid its worthless ruins, with the relics of its more worthless
-inhabitants, whose life is as little to the world as the vegetation of
-the house-leek, which now grows on their thatch, and which shall soon be
-crushed amongst their mangled limbs."
-
-"I--I--I will go forth," said Yellowley, who, despite of his bearing
-himself scholarly and wisely, was beginning to be terrified for the
-issue of the adventure; for the house was old, and the walls rocked
-formidably to the blast.
-
-"To what purpose?" said his sister. "I trust the Prince of the power of
-the air has not yet such-like power over those that are made in God's
-image, that a good house should fall about our heads, because a randy
-quean" (here she darted a fierce glance at the Pythoness) "should boast
-us with her glamour, as if we were sae mony dogs to crouch at her
-bidding!"
-
-"I was only wanting," said Triptolemus, ashamed of his motion, "to look
-at the bear-braird, which must be sair laid wi' this tempest; but if
-this honest woman like to bide wi' us, I think it were best to let us a'
-sit doun canny thegither, till it's working weather again."
-
-"Honest woman!" echoed Baby--"Foul warlock thief!--Aroint ye, ye
-limmer!" she added, addressing Norna directly; "out of an honest house,
-or, shame fa' me, but I'll take the bittle[26] to you!"
-
-Norna cast on her a look of supreme contempt; then, stepping to the
-window, seemed engaged in deep contemplation of the heavens, while the
-old maid-servant, Tronda, drawing close to her mistress, implored, for
-the sake of all that was dear to man or woman, "Do not provoke Norna of
-Fitful-head! You have no sic woman on the mainland of Scotland--she can
-ride on one of these clouds as easily as man ever rode on a sheltie."
-
-"I shall live to see her ride on the reek of a fat tar-barrel," said
-Mistress Baby; "and that will be a fit pacing palfrey for her."
-
-Again Norna regarded the enraged Mrs. Baby Yellowley with a look of that
-unutterable scorn which her haughty features could so well express, and
-moving to the window which looked to the north-west, from which quarter
-the gale seemed at present to blow, she stood for some time with her
-arms crossed, looking out upon the leaden-coloured sky, obscured as it
-was by the thick drift, which, coming on in successive gusts of tempest,
-left ever and anon sad and dreary intervals of expectation betwixt the
-dying and the reviving blast.
-
-Norna regarded this war of the elements as one to whom their strife was
-familiar; yet the stern serenity of her features had in it a cast of
-awe, and at the same time of authority, as the cabalist may be supposed
-to look upon the spirit he has evoked, and which, though he knows how to
-subject him to his spell, bears still an aspect appalling to flesh and
-blood. The attendants stood by in different attitudes, expressive of
-their various feelings. Mordaunt, though not indifferent to the risk in
-which they stood, was more curious than alarmed. He had heard of Norna's
-alleged power over the elements, and now expected an opportunity of
-judging for himself of its reality. Triptolemus Yellowley was confounded
-at what seemed to be far beyond the bounds of his philosophy; and, if
-the truth must be spoken, the worthy agriculturist was greatly more
-frightened than inquisitive. His sister was not in the least curious on
-the subject; but it was difficult to say whether anger or fear
-predominated in her sharp eyes and thin compressed lips. The pedlar and
-old Tronda, confident that the house would never fall while the
-redoubted Norna was beneath its roof, held themselves ready for a start
-the instant she should take her departure.
-
-Having looked on the sky for some time in a fixed attitude, and with the
-most profound silence, Norna at once, yet with a slow and elevated
-gesture, extended her staff of black oak towards that part of the
-heavens from which the blast came hardest, and in the midst of its fury
-chanted a Norwegian invocation, still preserved in the Island of Uist,
-under the name of the Song of the Reimkennar, though some call it the
-Song of the Tempest. The following is a free translation, it being
-impossible to render literally many of the elliptical and metaphorical
-terms of expression, peculiar to the ancient Northern poetry:--
-
-
-1.
-
-  "Stern eagle of the far north-west,
-  Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt,
-  Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness,
-  Thou the destroyer of herds, thou the scatterer of navies,
-  Thou the breaker down of towers,
-  Amidst the scream of thy rage,
-  Amidst the rushing of thy onward wings,
-  Though thy scream be loud as the cry of a perishing nation,
-  Though the rushing of thy wings be like the roar of ten thousand waves,
-  Yet hear, in thine ire and thy haste,
-  Hear thou the voice of the Reim-kennar.
-
-
-2.
-
-  "Thou hast met the pine-trees of Drontheim,
-  Their dark-green heads lie prostrate beside their uprooted stems;
-  Thou hast met the rider of the ocean,
-  The tall, the strong bark of the fearless rover,
-  And she has struck to thee the topsail
-  That she had not veiled to a royal armada;
-  Thou hast met the tower that hears its crest among the clouds,
-  The battled massive tower of the Jarl of former days,
-  And the cope-stone of the turret
-  Is lying upon its hospitable hearth;
-  But thou too shalt stoop, proud compeller of clouds,
-  When thou hearest the voice of the Reim-kennar.
-
-
-3.
-
-  "There are verses that can stop the stag in the forest,
-  Ay, and when the dark-coloured dog is opening on his track;
-  There are verses can make the wild hawk pause on the wing,
-  Like the falcon that wears the hood and the jesses,
-  And who knows the shrill whistle of the fowler.
-  Thou who canst mock at the scream of the drowning mariner,
-  And the crash of the ravaged forest,
-  And the groan of the overwhelmed crowds,
-  When the church hath fallen in the moment of prayer,
-  There are sounds which thou also must list,
-  When they are chanted by the voice of the Reim-kennar.
-
-
-4.
-
-  "Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the ocean,
-  The widows wring their hands on the beach;
-  Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the land,
-  The husbandman folds his arms in despair;
-  Cease thou the waving of thy pinions,
-  Let the ocean repose in her dark strength;
-  Cease thou the flashing of thine eye.
-  Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armoury of Odin;
-  Be thou still at my bidding, viewless racer of the north-western heaven,
-  Sleep thou at the voice of Norna the Reim-kennar!"
-
-We have said that Mordaunt was naturally fond of romantic poetry and
-romantic situation; it is not therefore surprising that he listened with
-interest to the wild address thus uttered to the wildest wind of the
-compass, in a tone of such dauntless enthusiasm. But though he had heard
-so much of the Runic rhyme and of the northern spell, in the country
-where he had so long dwelt, he was not on this occasion so credulous as
-to believe that the tempest, which had raged so lately, and which was
-now beginning to decline, was subdued before the charmed verse of Norna.
-Certain it was, that the blast seemed passing away, and the apprehended
-danger was already over; but it was not improbable that this issue had
-been for some time foreseen by the Pythoness, through signs of the
-weather imperceptible to those who had not dwelt long in the country, or
-had not bestowed on the meteorological phenomena the attention of a
-strict and close observer. Of Norna's experience he had no doubt, and
-that went a far way to explain what seemed supernatural in her
-demeanour. Yet still the noble countenance, half-shaded by dishevelled
-tresses, the air of majesty with which, in a tone of menace as well as
-of command, she addressed the viewless spirit of the tempest, gave him a
-strong inclination to believe in the ascendency of the occult arts over
-the powers of nature; for, if a woman ever moved on earth to whom such
-authority over the ordinary laws of the universe could belong, Norna of
-Fitful-head, judging from bearing, figure, and face, was born to that
-high destiny.
-
-The rest of the company were less slow in receiving conviction. To
-Tronda and the jagger none was necessary; they had long believed in the
-full extent of Norna's authority over the elements. But Triptolemus and
-his sister gazed at each other with wondering and alarmed looks,
-especially when the wind began perceptibly to decline, as was remarkably
-visible during the pauses which Norna made betwixt the strophes of her
-incantation. A long silence followed the last verse, until Norna
-resumed her chant, but with a changed and more soothing modulation of
-voice and tune.
-
-  "Eagle of the far north-western waters,
-  Thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar,
-  Thou hast closed thy wide sails at her bidding,
-  And folded them in peace by thy side.
-  My blessing be on thy retiring path!
-  When thou stoopest from thy place on high,
-  Soft be thy slumbers in the caverns of the unknown ocean,
-  Rest till destiny shall again awaken thee;
-  Eagle of the north-west, thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar!"
-
-"A pretty sang that would be to keep the corn from shaking in har'st,"
-whispered the agriculturist to his sister; "we must speak her fair,
-Baby--she will maybe part with the secret for a hundred pund Scots."
-
-"An hundred fules' heads!" replied Baby--"bid her five merks of ready
-siller. I never knew a witch in my life but she was as poor as Job."
-
-Norna turned towards them as if she had guessed their thoughts; it may
-be that she did so. She passed them with a look of the most sovereign
-contempt, and walking to the table on which the preparations for Mrs.
-Barbara's frugal meal were already disposed, she filled a small wooden
-quaigh from an earthen pitcher which contained bland, a subacid liquor
-made out of the serous part of the milk. She broke a single morsel from
-a barley-cake, and having eaten and drunk, returned towards the churlish
-hosts. "I give you no thanks," she said, "for my refreshment, for you
-bid me not welcome to it; and thanks bestowed on a churl are like the
-dew of heaven on the cliffs of Foulah, where it finds nought that can
-be refreshed by its influences. I give you no thanks," she said again,
-but drawing from her pocket a leathern purse that seemed large and
-heavy, she added, "I pay you with what you will value more than the
-gratitude of the whole inhabitants of Hialtland. Say not that Norna of
-Fitful-head hath eaten of your bread and drunk of your cup, and left you
-sorrowing for the charge to which she hath put your house." So saying,
-she laid on the table a small piece of antique gold coin, bearing the
-rude and half-defaced effigies of some ancient northern king.
-
-Triptolemus and his sister exclaimed against this liberality with
-vehemence; the first protesting that he kept no public, and the other
-exclaiming, "Is the carline mad? Heard ye ever of ony of the gentle
-house of Clinkscale that gave meat for siller?"
-
-"Or for love either?" muttered her brother; "haud to that, tittie."
-
-"What are ye whittie-whattieing about, ye gowk?" said his gentle sister,
-who suspected the tenor of his murmurs; "gie the ladie back her
-bonnie-die there, and be blithe to be sae rid on't--it will be a
-sclate-stane the morn, if not something worse."
-
-The honest factor lifted the money to return it, yet could not help
-being struck when he saw the impression, and his hand trembled as he
-handed it to his sister.
-
-"Yes," said the Pythoness again, as if she read the thoughts of the
-astonished pair, "you have seen that coin before--beware how you use it!
-It thrives not with the sordid or the mean-souled--it was won with
-honourable danger, and must be expended with honourable liberality. The
-treasure which lies under a cold hearth will one day, like the hidden
-talent, bear witness against its avaricious possessors."
-
-This last obscure intimation seemed to raise the alarm and the wonder of
-Mrs. Baby and her brother to the uttermost. The latter tried to stammer
-out something like an invitation to Norna to tarry with them all night,
-or at least to take share of the "dinner," so he at first called it; but
-looking at the company, and remembering the limited contents of the pot,
-he corrected the phrase, and hoped she would take some part of the
-"snack, which would be on the table ere a man could loose a pleugh."
-
-"I eat not here--I sleep not here," replied Norna--"nay, I relieve you
-not only of my own presence, but I will dismiss your unwelcome
-guests.--Mordaunt," she added, addressing young Mertoun, "the dark fit
-is past, and your father looks for you this evening."
-
-"Do you return in that direction?" said Mordaunt. "I will but eat a
-morsel, and give you my aid, good mother, on the road. The brooks must
-be out, and the journey perilous."
-
-"Our roads lie different," answered the Sibyl, "and Norna needs not
-mortal arm to aid her on the way. I am summoned far to the east, by
-those who know well how to smooth my passage.--For thee, Bryce
-Snailsfoot," she continued, speaking to the pedlar, "speed thee on to
-Sumburgh--the Roost will afford thee a gallant harvest, and worthy the
-gathering in. Much goodly ware will ere now be seeking a new owner, and
-the careful skipper will sleep still enough in the deep haaf, and care
-not that bale and chest are dashing against the shores."
-
-"Na, na, good mother," answered Snailsfoot, "I desire no man's life for
-my private advantage, and am just grateful for the blessing of
-Providence on my sma' trade. But doubtless one man's loss is another's
-gain; and as these storms destroy a' thing on land, it is but fair they
-suld send us something by sea. Sae, taking the freedom, like yoursell,
-mother, to borrow a lump of barley-bread, and a draught of bland, I will
-bid good-day, and thank you, to this good gentleman and lady, and e'en
-go on my way to Jarlshof, as you advise."
-
-"Ay," replied the Pythoness, "where the slaughter is, the eagles will be
-gathered; and where the wreck is on the shore, the jagger is as busy to
-purchase spoil as the shark to gorge upon the dead."
-
-This rebuke, if it was intended for such, seemed above the comprehension
-of the travelling merchant, who, bent upon gain, assumed the knapsack
-and ellwand, and asked Mordaunt, with the familiarity permitted in a
-wild country, whether he would not take company along with him?
-
-"I wait to eat some dinner with Mr. Yellowley and Mrs. Baby," answered
-the youth, "and will set forward in half an hour."
-
-"Then I'll just take my piece in my hand," said the pedlar. Accordingly
-he muttered a benediction, and, without more ceremony, helped himself to
-what, in Mrs. Baby's covetous eyes, appeared to be two-thirds of the
-bread, took a long pull at the jug of bland, seized on a handful of the
-small fish called sillocks, which the domestic was just placing on the
-board, and left the room without farther ceremony.
-
-"My certie," said the despoiled Mrs. Baby, "there is the chapman's
-drouth[27] and his hunger baith, as folk say! If the laws against
-vagrants be executed this gate--It's no that I wad shut the door against
-decent folk," she said, looking to Mordaunt, "more especially in such
-judgment-weather. But I see the goose is dished, poor thing."
-
-This she spoke in a tone of affection for the smoked goose, which,
-though it had long been an inanimate inhabitant of her chimney, was far
-more interesting to Mrs. Baby in that state, than when it screamed
-amongst the clouds. Mordaunt laughed and took his seat, then turned to
-look for Norna; but she had glided from the apartment during the
-discussion with the pedlar.
-
-"I am glad she is gane, the dour carline," said Mrs. Baby, "though she
-has left that piece of gowd to be an everlasting shame to us."
-
-"Whisht, mistress, for the love of heaven!" said Tronda Dronsdaughter;
-"wha kens where she may be this moment?--we are no sure but she may hear
-us, though we cannot see her."
-
-Mistress Baby cast a startled eye around, and instantly recovering
-herself, for she was naturally courageous as well as violent, said, "I
-bade her aroint before, and I bid her aroint again, whether she sees me
-or hears me, or whether she's ower the cairn and awa.--And you, ye silly
-sumph," she said to poor Yellowley, "what do ye stand glowering there
-for?--_You_ a Saunt Andrew's student!--_you_ studied lair and Latin
-humanities, as ye ca' them, and daunted wi' the clavers of an auld
-randie wife! Say your best college grace, man, and witch, or nae witch,
-we'll eat our dinner, and defy her. And for the value of the gowden
-piece, it shall never be said I pouched her siller. I will gie it to
-some poor body--that is, I will test[28] upon it at my death, and keep
-it for a purse-penny till that day comes, and that's no using it in the
-way of spending siller. Say your best college grace, man, and let us eat
-and drink in the meantime."
-
-"Ye had muckle better say an _oraamus_ to Saint Ronald, and fling a
-saxpence ower your left shouther, master," said Tronda.[29]
-
-"That ye may pick it up, ye jaud," said the implacable Mistress Baby;
-"it will be lang or ye win the worth of it ony other gate.--Sit down,
-Triptolemus, and mindna the words of a daft wife."
-
-"Daft or wise," replied Yellowley, very much disconcerted, "she kens
-more than I would wish she kend. It was awfu' to see sic a wind fa' at
-the voice of flesh and blood like oursells--and then yon about the
-hearth-stane--I cannot but think"----
-
-"If ye cannot but think," said Mrs. Baby, very sharply, "at least ye can
-haud your tongue?"
-
-The agriculturist made no reply, but sate down to their scanty meal, and
-did the honours of it with unusual heartiness to his new guest, the
-first of the intruders who had arrived, and the last who left them. The
-sillocks speedily disappeared, and the smoked goose, with its
-appendages, took wing so effectually, that Tronda, to whom the polishing
-of the bones had been destined, found the task accomplished, or nearly
-so, to her hand. After dinner, the host produced his bottle of brandy;
-but Mordaunt, whose general habits were as abstinent almost as those of
-his father, laid a very light tax upon this unusual exertion of
-hospitality.
-
-During the meal, they learned so much of young Mordaunt, and of his
-father, that even Baby resisted his wish to reassume his wet garments,
-and pressed him (at the risk of an expensive supper being added to the
-charges of the day) to tarry with them till the next morning. But what
-Norna had said excited the youth's wish to reach home, nor, however far
-the hospitality of Stourburgh was extended in his behalf, did the house
-present any particular temptations to induce him to remain there longer.
-He therefore accepted the loan of the factor's clothes, promising to
-return them, and send for his own; and took a civil leave of his host
-and Mistress Baby, the latter of whom, however affected by the loss of
-her goose, could not but think the cost well bestowed (since it was to
-be expended at all) upon so handsome and cheerful a youth.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[26] The beetle with which the Scottish housewives used to perform the
-office of the modern mangle, by beating newly-washed linen on a smooth
-stone for the purpose, called the beetling-stone.
-
-[27] The chapman's drouth, that is, the pedlar's thirst, is proverbial
-in Scotland, because these pedestrian traders were in the use of
-modestly asking only for a drink of water, when, in fact, they were
-desirous of food.
-
-[28] Test upon it, _i. e._, leave it in my will; a mode of bestowing
-charity, to which many are partial as well as the good dame in the text.
-
-[29] Although the Zetlanders were early reconciled to the reformed
-faith, some ancient practices of Catholic superstition survived long
-among them. In very stormy weather a fisher would vow an _oramus_ to
-Saint Ronald, and acquitted himself of the obligation by throwing a
-small piece of money in at the window of a ruinous chapel.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-  She does no work by halves, yon raving ocean;
-  Engulfing those she strangles, her wild womb
-  Affords the mariners whom she hath dealt on,
-  Their death at once, and sepulchre.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-There were ten "lang Scots miles" betwixt Stourburgh and Jarlshof; and
-though the pedestrian did not number all the impediments which crossed
-Tam o' Shanter's path,--for in a country where there are neither hedges
-nor stone enclosures, there can be neither "slaps nor stiles,"--yet the
-number and nature of the "mosses and waters" which he had to cross in
-his peregrination, was fully sufficient to balance the account, and to
-render his journey as toilsome and dangerous as Tam o' Shanter's
-celebrated retreat from Ayr. Neither witch nor warlock crossed
-Mordaunt's path, however. The length of the day was already
-considerable, and he arrived safe at Jarlshof by eleven o'clock at
-night. All was still and dark round the mansion, and it was not till he
-had whistled twice or thrice beneath Swertha's window, that she replied
-to the signal.
-
-At the first sound, Swertha fell into an agreeable dream of a young
-whale-fisher, who some forty years before used to make such a signal
-beneath the window of her hut; at the second, she waked to remember that
-Johnnie Fea had slept sound among the frozen waves of Greenland for this
-many a year, and that she was Mr. Mertoun's governante at Jarlshof; at
-the third, she arose and opened the window.
-
-"Whae is that," she demanded, "at sic an hour of the night?"
-
-"It is I," said the youth.
-
-"And what for comena ye in? The door's on the latch, and there is a
-gathering peat on the kitchen fire, and a spunk beside it--ye can light
-your ain candle."
-
-"All well," replied Mordaunt; "but I want to know how my father is?"
-
-"Just in his ordinary, gude gentleman--asking for you, Maister Mordaunt;
-ye are ower far and ower late in your walks, young gentleman."
-
-"Then the dark hour has passed, Swertha?"
-
-"In troth has it, Maister Mordaunt," answered the governante; "and your
-father is very reasonably good-natured for him, poor gentleman. I spake
-to him twice yesterday without his speaking first; and the first time he
-answered me as civil as you could do, and the neist time he bade me no
-plague him; and then, thought I, three times were aye canny, so I spake
-to him again for luck's-sake, and he called me a chattering old devil;
-but it was quite and clean in a civil sort of way."
-
-"Enough, enough, Swertha," answered Mordaunt; "and now get up, and find
-me something to eat, for I have dined but poorly."
-
-"Then you have been at the new folk's at Stourburgh; for there is no
-another house in a' the Isles but they wad hae gi'en ye the best share
-of the best they had. Saw ye aught of Norna of the Fitful-head? She went
-to Stourburgh this morning, and returned to the town at night."
-
-"Returned!--then she is here? How could she travel three leagues and
-better in so short a time?"
-
-"Wha kens how she travels?" replied Swertha; "but I heard her tell the
-Ranzelman wi' my ain lugs, that she intended that day to have gone on to
-Burgh-Westra, to speak with Minna Troil, but she had seen that at
-Stourburgh, (indeed she said at Harfra, for she never calls it by the
-other name of Stourburgh,) that sent her back to our town. But gang your
-ways round, and ye shall have plenty of supper--ours is nae toom pantry,
-and still less a locked ane, though my master be a stranger, and no just
-that tight in the upper rigging, as the Ranzelman says."
-
-Mordaunt walked round to the kitchen accordingly, where Swertha's care
-speedily accommodated him with a plentiful, though coarse meal, which
-indemnified him for the scanty hospitality he had experienced at
-Stourburgh.
-
-In the morning, some feelings of fatigue made young Mertoun later than
-usual in leaving his bed; so that, contrary to what was the ordinary
-case, he found his father in the apartment where they eat, and which
-served them indeed for every common purpose, save that of a bedchamber
-or of a kitchen. The son greeted the father in mute reverence, and
-waited until he should address him.
-
-"You were absent yesterday, Mordaunt?" said his father. Mordaunt's
-absence had lasted a week and more; but he had often observed that his
-father never seemed to notice how time passed during the period when he
-was affected with his sullen vapours. He assented to what the elder Mr.
-Mertoun had said.
-
-"And you were at Burgh-Westra, as I think?" continued his father.
-
-"Yes, sir," replied Mordaunt.
-
-The elder Mertoun was then silent for some time, and paced the floor in
-deep silence, with an air of sombre reflection, which seemed as if he
-were about to relapse into his moody fit. Suddenly turning to his son,
-however, he observed, in the tone of a query, "Magnus Troil has two
-daughters--they must be now young women; they are thought handsome, of
-course?"
-
-"Very generally, sir," answered Mordaunt, rather surprised to hear his
-father making any enquiries about the individuals of a sex which he
-usually thought so light of, a surprise which was much increased by the
-next question, put as abruptly as the former.
-
-"Which think you the handsomest?"
-
-"I, sir?" replied his son with some wonder, but without
-embarrassment--"I really am no judge--I never considered which was
-absolutely the handsomest. They are both very pretty young women."
-
-"You evade my question, Mordaunt; perhaps I have some very particular
-reason for my wish to be acquainted with your taste in this matter. I am
-not used to waste words for no purpose. I ask you again, which of Magnus
-Troil's daughters you think most handsome?"
-
-"Really, sir," replied Mordaunt--"but you only jest in asking me such a
-question."
-
-"Young man," replied Mertoun, with eyes which began to roll and sparkle
-with impatience, "I _never_ jest. I desire an answer to my question."
-
-"Then, upon my word, sir," said Mordaunt, "it is not in my power to form
-a judgment betwixt the young ladies--they are both very pretty, but by
-no means like each other. Minna is dark-haired, and more grave than her
-sister--more serious, but by no means either dull or sullen."
-
-"Um," replied his father; "you have been gravely brought up, and this
-Minna, I suppose, pleases you most?"
-
-"No, sir, really I can give her no preference over her sister Brenda,
-who is as gay as a lamb in a spring morning--less tall than her sister,
-but so well formed, and so excellent a dancer"----
-
-"That she is best qualified to amuse the young man, who has a dull home
-and a moody father?" said Mr. Mertoun.
-
-Nothing in his father's conduct had ever surprised Mordaunt so much as
-the obstinacy with which he seemed to pursue a theme so foreign to his
-general train of thought, and habits of conversation; but he contented
-himself with answering once more, "that both the young ladies were
-highly admirable, but he had never thought of them with the wish to do
-either injustice, by ranking her lower than her sister--that others
-would probably decide between them, as they happened to be partial to a
-grave or a gay disposition, or to a dark or fair complexion; but that he
-could see no excellent quality in the one that was not balanced by
-something equally captivating in the other."
-
-It is possible that even the coolness with which Mordaunt made this
-explanation might not have satisfied his father concerning the subject
-of investigation; but Swertha at this moment entered with breakfast, and
-the youth, notwithstanding his late supper, engaged in that meal with an
-air which satisfied Mertoun that he held it matter of more grave
-importance than the conversation which they had just had, and that he
-had nothing more to say upon the subject explanatory of the answers he
-had already given. He shaded his brow with his hand, and looked long
-fixedly upon the young man as he was busied with his morning meal. There
-was neither abstraction nor a sense of being observed in any of his
-motions; all was frank, natural, and open.
-
-"He is fancy-free," muttered Mertoun to himself--"so young, so lively,
-and so imaginative, so handsome and so attractive in face and person,
-strange, that at his age, and in his circumstances, he should have
-avoided the meshes which catch all the world beside!"
-
-When the breakfast was over, the elder Mertoun, instead of proposing, as
-usual, that his son, who awaited his commands, should betake himself to
-one branch or other of his studies, assumed his hat and staff, and
-desired that Mordaunt should accompany him to the top of the cliff,
-called Sumburgh-head, and from thence look out upon the state of the
-ocean, agitated as it must still be by the tempest of the preceding day.
-Mordaunt was at the age when young men willingly exchange sedentary
-pursuits for active exercise, and started up with alacrity to comply
-with his father's desire; and in the course of a few minutes they were
-mounting together the hill, which, ascending from the land side in a
-long, steep, and grassy slope, sinks at once from the summit to the sea
-in an abrupt and tremendous precipice.
-
-The day was delightful; there was just so much motion in the air as to
-disturb the little fleecy clouds which were scattered on the horizon,
-and by floating them occasionally over the sun, to chequer the landscape
-with that variety of light and shade which often gives to a bare and
-unenclosed scene, for the time at least, a species of charm approaching
-to the varieties of a cultivated and planted country. A thousand
-flitting hues of light and shade played over the expanse of wild moor,
-rocks, and inlets, which, as they climbed higher and higher, spread in
-wide and wider circuit around them.
-
-The elder Mertoun often paused and looked round upon the scene, and for
-some time his son supposed that he halted to enjoy its beauties; but as
-they ascended still higher up the hill, he remarked his shortened breath
-and his uncertain and toilsome step, and became assured, with some
-feelings of alarm, that his father's strength was, for the moment,
-exhausted, and that he found the ascent more toilsome and fatiguing than
-usual. To draw close to his side, and offer him in silence the
-assistance of his arm, was an act of youthful deference to advanced age,
-as well as of filial reverence; and Mertoun seemed at first so to
-receive it, for he took in silence the advantage of the aid thus
-afforded him.
-
-It was but for two or three minutes, however, that the father availed
-himself of his son's support. They had not ascended fifty yards farther,
-ere he pushed Mordaunt suddenly, if not rudely, from him; and, as if
-stung into exertion by some sudden recollection, began to mount the
-acclivity with such long and quick steps, that Mordaunt, in his turn,
-was obliged to exert himself to keep pace with him. He knew his father's
-peculiarity of disposition; he was aware from many slight circumstances,
-that he loved him not even while he took much pains with his education,
-and while he seemed to be the sole object of his care upon earth. But
-the conviction had never been more strongly or more powerfully forced
-upon him than by the hasty churlishness with which Mertoun rejected from
-a son that assistance, which most elderly men are willing to receive
-from youths with whom they are but slightly connected, as a tribute
-which it is alike graceful to yield and pleasing to receive. Mertoun,
-however, did not seem to perceive the effect which his unkindness had
-produced upon his son's feelings. He paused upon a sort of level terrace
-which they had now attained, and addressed his son with an indifferent
-tone, which seemed in some degree affected.
-
-"Since you have so few inducements, Mordaunt, to remain in these wild
-islands, I suppose you sometimes wish to look a little more abroad into
-the world?"
-
-"By my word, sir," replied Mordaunt, "I cannot say I ever have a thought
-on such a subject."
-
-"And why not, young man?" demanded his father; "it were but natural, I
-think, at your age. At your age, the fair and varied breadth of Britain
-could not gratify me, much less the compass of a sea-girdled peat-moss."
-
-"I have never thought of leaving Zetland, sir," replied the son. "I am
-happy here, and have friends. You yourself, sir, would miss me, unless
-indeed"----
-
-"Why, thou wouldst not persuade me," said his father, somewhat hastily,
-"that you stay here, or desire to stay here, for the love of me?"
-
-"Why should I not, sir?" answered Mordaunt, mildly; "it is my duty, and
-I hope I have hitherto performed it."
-
-"O ay," repeated Mertoun, in the same tone--"your duty--your duty. So it
-is the duty of the dog to follow the groom that feeds him."
-
-"And does he not do so, sir?" said Mordaunt.
-
-"Ay," said his father, turning his head aside: "but he fawns only on
-those who caress him."
-
-"I hope, sir," replied Mordaunt, "I have not been found deficient?"
-
-"Say no more on't--say no more on't," said Mertoun, abruptly, "we have
-both done enough by each other--we must soon part--Let that be our
-comfort--if our separation should require comfort."
-
-"I shall be ready to obey your wishes," said Mordaunt, not altogether
-displeased at what promised him an opportunity of looking farther abroad
-into the world. "I presume it will be your pleasure that I commence my
-travels with a season at the whale-fishing."
-
-"Whale-fishing!" replied Mertoun; "that were a mode indeed of seeing the
-world! but thou speakest but as thou hast learned. Enough of this for
-the present. Tell me where you had shelter from the storm yesterday?"
-
-"At Stourburgh, the house of the new factor from Scotland."
-
-"A pedantic, fantastic, visionary schemer," said Mertoun--"and whom saw
-you there?"
-
-"His sister, sir," replied Mordaunt, "and old Norna of the Fitful-head."
-
-"What! the mistress of the potent spell," answered Mertoun, with a
-sneer--"she who can change the wind by pulling her curch on one side, as
-King Erick used to do by turning his cap? The dame journeys far from
-home--how fares she? Does she get rich by selling favourable winds to
-those who are port-bound?"[30]
-
-"I really do not know, sir," said Mordaunt, whom certain recollections
-prevented from freely entering into his father's humour.
-
-"You think the matter too serious to be jested with, or perhaps esteem
-her merchandise too light to be cared after," continued Mertoun, in the
-same sarcastic tone, which was the nearest approach he ever made to
-cheerfulness; "but consider it more deeply. Every thing in the universe
-is bought and sold, and why not wind, if the merchant can find
-purchasers? The earth is rented, from its surface down to its most
-central mines;--the fire, and the means of feeding it, are currently
-bought and sold;--the wretches that sweep the boisterous ocean with
-their nets, pay ransom for the privilege of being drowned in it. What
-title has the air to be exempted from the universal course of traffic?
-All above the earth, under the earth, and around the earth, has its
-price, its sellers, and its purchasers. In many countries the priests
-will sell you a portion of heaven--in all countries men are willing to
-buy, in exchange for health, wealth, and peace of conscience, a full
-allowance of hell. Why should not Norna pursue her traffic?"
-
-"Nay, I know no reason against it," replied Mordaunt; "only I wish she
-would part with the commodity in smaller quantities. Yesterday she was a
-wholesale dealer--whoever treated with her had too good a pennyworth."
-
-"It is even so," said his father, pausing on the verge of the wild
-promontory which they had attained, where the huge precipice sinks
-abruptly down on the wide and tempestuous ocean, "and the effects are
-still visible."
-
-The face of that lofty cape is composed of the soft and crumbling stone
-called sand-flag, which gradually becomes decomposed, and yields to the
-action of the atmosphere, and is split into large masses, that hang
-loose upon the verge of the precipice, and, detached from it by the
-violence of the tempests, often descend with great fury into the vexed
-abyss which lashes the foot of the rock. Numbers of these huge fragments
-lie strewed beneath the rocks from which they have fallen, and amongst
-these the tide foams and rages with a fury peculiar to those latitudes.
-
-At the period when Mertoun and his son looked from the verge of the
-precipice, the wide sea still heaved and swelled with the agitation of
-yesterday's storm, which had been far too violent in its effects on the
-ocean to subside speedily. The tide therefore poured on the headland
-with a fury deafening to the ear, and dizzying to the eye, threatening
-instant destruction to whatever might be at the time involved in its
-current. The sight of Nature, in her magnificence, or in her beauty, or
-in her terrors, has at all times an overpowering interest, which even
-habit cannot greatly weaken; and both father and son sat themselves down
-on the cliff to look out upon that unbounded war of waters, which rolled
-in their wrath to the foot of the precipice.
-
-At once Mordaunt, whose eyes were sharper, and probably his attention
-more alert, than that of his father, started up, and exclaimed, "God in
-Heaven! there is a vessel in the Roost!"
-
-Mertoun looked to the north-westward, and an object was visible amid the
-rolling tide. "She shows no sail," he observed; and immediately added,
-after looking at the object through his spy-glass, "She is dismasted,
-and lies a sheer hulk upon the water."
-
-"And is drifting on the Sumburgh-head," exclaimed Mordaunt, struck with
-horror, "without the slightest means of weathering the cape!"
-
-"She makes no effort," answered his father; "she is probably deserted by
-her crew."
-
-"And in such a day as yesterday," replied Mordaunt, "when no open boat
-could live were she manned with the best men ever handled an oar--all
-must have perished."
-
-"It is most probable," said his father, with stern composure; "and one
-day, sooner or later, all must have perished. What signifies whether the
-fowler, whom nothing escapes, caught them up at one swoop from yonder
-shattered deck, or whether he clutched them individually, as chance gave
-them to his grasp? What signifies it?--the deck, the battlefield, are
-scarce more fatal to us than our table and our bed; and we are saved
-from the one, merely to drag out a heartless and wearisome existence,
-till we perish at the other. Would the hour were come--that hour which
-reason would teach us to wish for, were it not that nature has implanted
-the fear of it so strongly within us! You wonder at such a reflection,
-because life is yet new to you. Ere you have attained my age, it will be
-the familiar companion of your thoughts."
-
-"Surely, sir," replied Mordaunt, "such distaste to life is not the
-necessary consequence of advanced age?"
-
-"To all who have sense to estimate that which it is really worth," said
-Mertoun. "Those who, like Magnus Troil, possess so much of the animal
-impulses about them, as to derive pleasure from sensual gratification,
-may perhaps, like the animals, feel pleasure in mere existence."
-
-Mordaunt liked neither the doctrine nor the example. He thought a man
-who discharged his duties towards others as well as the good old
-Udaller, had a better right to have the sun shine fair on his setting,
-than that which he might derive from mere insensibility. But he let the
-subject drop; for to dispute with his father, had always the effect of
-irritating him; and again he adverted to the condition of the wreck.
-
-The hulk, for it was little better, was now in the very midst of the
-current, and drifting at a great rate towards the foot of the precipice,
-upon whose verge they were placed. Yet it was a long while ere they had
-a distinct view of the object which they had at first seen as a black
-speck amongst the waters, and then, at a nearer distance, like a whale,
-which now scarce shows its back-fin above the waves, now throws to view
-its large black side. Now, however, they could more distinctly observe
-the appearance of the ship, for the huge swelling waves which bore her
-forward to the shore, heaved her alternately high upon the surface, and
-then plunged her into the trough or furrow of the sea. She seemed a
-vessel of two or three hundred tons, fitted up for defence, for they
-could see her port-holes. She had been dismasted probably in the gale of
-the preceding day, and lay water-logged on the waves, a prey to their
-violence. It appeared certain, that the crew, finding themselves unable
-either to direct the vessel's course, or to relieve her by pumping, had
-taken to their boats, and left her to her fate. All apprehensions were
-therefore unnecessary, so far as the immediate loss of human lives was
-concerned; and yet it was not without a feeling of breathless awe that
-Mordaunt and his father beheld the vessel--that rare masterpiece by
-which human genius aspires to surmount the waves, and contend with the
-winds, upon the point of falling a prey to them.
-
-Onward she came, the large black hulk seeming larger at every fathom's
-length. She came nearer, until she bestrode the summit of one tremendous
-billow, which rolled on with her unbroken, till the wave and its burden
-were precipitated against the rock, and then the triumph of the elements
-over the work of human hands was at once completed. One wave, we have
-said, made the wrecked vessel completely manifest in her whole bulk, as
-it raised her, and bore her onward against the face of the precipice.
-But when that wave receded from the foot of the rock, the ship had
-ceased to exist; and the retiring billow only bore back a quantity of
-beams, planks, casks, and similar objects, which swept out to the
-offing, to be brought in again by the next wave, and again precipitated
-upon the face of the rock.
-
-It was at this moment that Mordaunt conceived he saw a man floating on a
-plank or water-cask, which, drifting away from the main current, seemed
-about to go ashore upon a small spot of sand, where the water was
-shallow, and the waves broke more smoothly. To see the danger, and to
-exclaim, "He lives, and may yet be saved!" was the first impulse of the
-fearless Mordaunt. The next was, after one rapid glance at the front of
-the cliff, to precipitate himself--such seemed the rapidity of his
-movement--from the verge, and to commence, by means of slight fissures,
-projections, and crevices in the rock, a descent, which, to a spectator,
-appeared little else than an act of absolute insanity.
-
-"Stop, I command you, rash boy!" said his father; "the attempt is death.
-Stop, and take the safer path to the left." But Mordaunt was already
-completely engaged in his perilous enterprise.
-
-"Why should I prevent him?" said his father, checking his anxiety with
-the stern and unfeeling philosophy whose principles he had adopted.
-"Should he die now, full of generous and high feeling, eager in the
-cause of humanity, happy in the exertion of his own conscious activity,
-and youthful strength--should he die now, will he not escape
-misanthropy, and remorse, and age, and the consciousness of decaying
-powers, both of body and mind?--I will not look upon it however--I will
-not--I cannot behold his young light so suddenly quenched."
-
-He turned from the precipice accordingly, and hastening to the left for
-more than a quarter of a mile, he proceeded towards a _riva_, or cleft
-in the rock, containing a path, called Erick's Steps, neither safe,
-indeed, nor easy, but the only one by which the inhabitants of Jarlshof
-were wont, for any purpose, to seek access to the foot of the precipice.
-
-But long ere Mertoun had reached even the upper end of the pass, his
-adventurous and active son had accomplished his more desperate
-enterprise. He had been in vain turned aside from the direct line of
-descent, by the intervention of difficulties which he had not seen from
-above--his route became only more circuitous, but could not be
-interrupted. More than once, large fragments to which he was about to
-intrust his weight, gave way before him, and thundered down into the
-tormented ocean; and in one or two instances, such detached pieces of
-rock rushed after him, as if to bear him headlong in their course. A
-courageous heart, a steady eye, a tenacious hand, and a firm foot,
-carried him through his desperate attempt; and in the space of seven
-minutes, he stood at the bottom of the cliff, from the verge of which
-he had achieved his perilous descent.
-
-The place which he now occupied was the small projecting spot of stones,
-sand, and gravel, that extended a little way into the sea, which on the
-right hand lashed the very bottom of the precipice, and on the left, was
-scarce divided from it by a small wave-worn portion of beach that
-extended as far as the foot of the rent in the rocks called Erick's
-Steps, by which Mordaunt's father proposed to descend.
-
-When the vessel split and went to pieces, all was swallowed up in the
-ocean, which had, after the first shock, been seen to float upon the
-waves, excepting only a few pieces of wreck, casks, chests, and the
-like, which a strong eddy, formed by the reflux of the waves, had
-landed, or at least grounded, upon the shallow where Mordaunt now stood.
-Amongst these, his eager eye discovered the object that had at first
-engaged his attention, and which now, seen at nigher distance, proved to
-be in truth a man, and in a most precarious state. His arms were still
-wrapt with a close and convulsive grasp round the plank to which he had
-clung in the moment of the shock, but sense and the power of motion were
-fled; and, from the situation in which the plank lay, partly grounded
-upon the beach, partly floating in the sea, there was every chance that
-it might be again washed off shore, in which case death was inevitable.
-Just as he had made himself aware of these circumstances, Mordaunt
-beheld a huge wave advancing, and hastened to interpose his aid ere it
-burst, aware that the reflux might probably sweep away the sufferer.
-
-He rushed into the surf, and fastened on the body, with the same
-tenacity, though under a different impulse, with that wherewith the
-hound seizes his prey. The strength of the retiring wave proved even
-greater than he had expected, and it was not without a struggle for his
-own life, as well as for that of the stranger, that Mordaunt resisted
-being swept off with the receding billow, when, though an adroit
-swimmer, the strength of the tide must either have dashed him against
-the rocks, or hurried him out to sea. He stood his ground, however, and
-ere another such billow had returned, he drew up, upon the small slip of
-dry sand, both the body of the stranger, and the plank to which he
-continued firmly attached. But how to save and to recall the means of
-ebbing life and strength, and how to remove into a place of greater
-safety the sufferer, who was incapable of giving any assistance towards
-his own preservation, were questions which Mordaunt asked himself
-eagerly, but in vain.
-
-He looked to the summit of the cliff on which he had left his father,
-and shouted to him for his assistance; but his eye could not distinguish
-his form, and his voice was only answered by the scream of the
-sea-birds. He gazed again on the sufferer. A dress richly laced,
-according to the fashion of the times, fine linen, and rings upon his
-fingers, evinced he was a man of superior rank; and his features showed
-youth and comeliness, notwithstanding they were pallid and disfigured.
-He still breathed, but so feebly, that his respiration was almost
-imperceptible, and life seemed to keep such slight hold of his frame,
-that there was every reason to fear it would become altogether
-extinguished, unless it were speedily reinforced. To loosen the
-handkerchief from his neck, to raise him with his face towards the
-breeze, to support him with his arms, was all that Mordaunt could do for
-his assistance, whilst he anxiously looked for some one who might lend
-his aid in dragging the unfortunate to a more safe situation.
-
-At this moment he beheld a man advancing slowly and cautiously along the
-beach. He was in hopes, at first, it was his father, but instantly
-recollected that he had not had time to come round by the circuitous
-descent, to which he must necessarily have recourse, and besides, he saw
-that the man who approached him was shorter in stature.
-
-As he came nearer, Mordaunt was at no loss to recognise the pedlar whom
-the day before he had met with at Harfra, and who was known to him
-before upon many occasions. He shouted as loud as he could, "Bryce,
-hollo! Bryce, come hither!" But the merchant, intent upon picking up
-some of the spoils of the wreck, and upon dragging them out of reach of
-the tide, paid for some time little attention to his shouts.
-
-When he did at length approach Mordaunt, it was not to lend him his aid,
-but to remonstrate with him on his rashness in undertaking the
-charitable office. "Are you mad?" said he; "you that have lived sae lang
-in Zetland, to risk the saving of a drowning man? Wot ye not, if you
-bring him to life again, he will be sure to do you some capital
-injury?[31]--Come, Master Mordaunt, bear a hand to what's mair to the
-purpose. Help me to get ane or twa of these kists ashore before any body
-else comes, and we shall share, like good Christians, what God sends us,
-and be thankful."
-
-Mordaunt was indeed no stranger to this inhuman superstition, current at
-a former period among the lower orders of the Zetlanders, and the more
-generally adopted, perhaps, that it served as an apology for refusing
-assistance to the unfortunate victims of shipwreck, while they made
-plunder of their goods. At any rate, the opinion, that to save a
-drowning man was to run the risk of future injury from him, formed a
-strange contradiction in the character of these islanders; who,
-hospitable, generous, and disinterested, on all other occasions, were
-sometimes, nevertheless, induced by this superstition, to refuse their
-aid in those mortal emergencies, which were so common upon their rocky
-and stormy coasts. We are happy to add, that the exhortation and example
-of the proprietors have eradicated even the traces of this inhuman
-belief, of which there might be some observed within the memory of those
-now alive. It is strange that the minds of men should have ever been
-hardened towards those involved in a distress to which they themselves
-were so constantly exposed; but perhaps the frequent sight and
-consciousness of such danger tends to blunt the feelings to its
-consequences, whether affecting ourselves or others.
-
-Bryce was remarkably tenacious of this ancient belief; the more so,
-perhaps, that the mounting of his pack depended less upon the warehouses
-of Lerwick or Kirkwall, than on the consequences of such a north-western
-gale as that of the day preceding; for which (being a man who, in his
-own way, professed great devotion) he seldom failed to express his
-grateful thanks to Heaven. It was indeed said of him, that if he had
-spent the same time in assisting the wrecked seamen, which he had
-employed in rifling their bales and boxes, he would have saved many
-lives, and lost much linen. He paid no sort of attention to the
-repeated entreaties of Mordaunt, although he was now upon the same slip
-of sand with him. It was well known to Bryce as a place on which the
-eddy was likely to land such spoils as the ocean disgorged; and to
-improve the favourable moment, he occupied himself exclusively in
-securing and appropriating whatever seemed most portable and of greatest
-value. At length Mordaunt saw the honest pedlar fix his views upon a
-strong sea-chest, framed of some Indian wood, well secured by brass
-plates, and seeming to be of a foreign construction. The stout lock
-resisted all Bryce's efforts to open it, until, with great composure, he
-plucked from his pocket a very neat hammer and chisel, and began forcing
-the hinges.
-
-Incensed beyond patience at his assurance, Mordaunt caught up a wooden
-stretcher which lay near him, and laying his charge softly on the sand,
-approached Bryce with a menacing gesture, and exclaimed, "You
-cold-blooded, inhuman rascal! either get up instantly and lend me your
-assistance to recover this man, and bear him out of danger from the
-surf, or I will not only beat you to a mummy on the spot, but inform
-Magnus Troil of your thievery, that he may have you flogged till your
-bones are bare, and then banish you from the Mainland!"
-
-The lid of the chest had just sprung open as this rough address saluted
-Bryce's ears, and the inside presented a tempting view of wearing
-apparel for sea and land; shirts, plain and with lace ruffles, a silver
-compass, a silver-hilted sword, and other valuable articles, which the
-pedlar well knew to be such as stir in the trade. He was half-disposed
-to start up, draw the sword, which was a cut-and-thrust, and "darraign
-battaile," as Spenser says, rather than quit his prize, or brook
-interruption. Being, though short, a stout square-made personage, and
-not much past the prime of life, having besides the better weapon, he
-might have given Mordaunt more trouble than his benevolent
-knight-errantry deserved.
-
-Already, as with vehemence he repeated his injunctions that Bryce should
-forbear his plunder, and come to the assistance of the dying man, the
-pedlar retorted with a voice of defiance, "Dinna swear, sir; dinna
-swear, sir--I will endure no swearing in my presence; and if you lay a
-finger on me, that am taking the lawful spoil of the Egyptians, I will
-give ye a lesson ye shall remember from this day to Yule!"
-
-Mordaunt would speedily have put the pedlar's courage to the test, but a
-voice behind him suddenly said, "Forbear!" It was the voice of Norna of
-the Fitful-head, who, during the heat of their altercation, had
-approached them unobserved. "Forbear!" she repeated; "and, Bryce, do
-thou render Mordaunt the assistance he requires. It shall avail thee
-more, and it is I who say the word, than all that you could earn to-day
-besides."
-
-"It is se'enteen hundred linen," said the pedlar, giving a tweak to one
-of the shirts, in that knowing manner with which matrons and judges
-ascertain the texture of the loom;--"it's se'enteen hundred linen, and
-as strong as an it were dowlas. Nevertheless, mother, your bidding is to
-be done; and I would have done Mr. Mordaunt's bidding too," he added,
-relaxing from his note of defiance into the deferential whining tone
-with which he cajoled his customers, "if he hadna made use of profane
-oaths, which made my very flesh grew, and caused me, in some sort, to
-forget myself." He then took a flask from his pocket, and approached
-the shipwrecked man. "It's the best of brandy," he said; "and if that
-doesna cure him, I ken nought that will." So saying, he took a
-preliminary gulp himself, as if to show the quality of the liquor, and
-was about to put it to the man's mouth, when, suddenly withholding his
-hand, he looked at Norna--"You ensure me against all risk of evil from
-him, if I am to render him my help?--Ye ken yoursell what folk say,
-mother."
-
-For all other answer, Norna took the bottle from the pedlar's hand, and
-began to chafe the temples and throat of the shipwrecked man; directing
-Mordaunt how to hold his head, so as to afford him the means of
-disgorging the sea-water which he had swallowed during his immersion.
-
-The pedlar looked on inactive for a moment, and then said, "To be sure,
-there is not the same risk in helping him, now he is out of the water,
-and lying high and dry on the beach; and, to be sure, the principal
-danger is to those that first touch him; and, to be sure, it is a
-world's pity to see how these rings are pinching the puir creature's
-swalled fingers--they make his hand as blue as a partan's back before
-boiling." So saying, he seized one of the man's cold hands, which had
-just, by a tremulous motion, indicated the return of life, and began his
-charitable work of removing the rings, which seemed to be of some value.
-
-"As you love your life, forbear," said Norna, sternly, "or I will lay
-that on you which shall spoil your travels through the isles."
-
-"Now, for mercy's sake, mother, say nae mair about it," said the pedlar,
-"and I'll e'en do your pleasure in your ain way! I _did_ feel a
-rheumatize in my back-spauld yestreen; and it wad be a sair thing for
-the like of me to be debarred my quiet walk round the country, in the
-way of trade--making the honest penny, and helping myself with what
-Providence sends on our coasts."
-
-"Peace, then," said the woman--"Peace, as thou wouldst not rue it; and
-take this man on thy broad shoulders. His life is of value, and you will
-be rewarded."
-
-"I had muckle need," said the pedlar, pensively looking at the lidless
-chest, and the other matters which strewed the sand; "for he has come
-between me and as muckle spreacherie as wad hae made a man of me for the
-rest of my life; and now it maun lie here till the next tide sweep it a'
-doun the Roost, after them that aught it yesterday morning."
-
-"Fear not," said Norna, "it will come to man's use. See, there come
-carrion-crows, of scent as keen as thine own."
-
-She spoke truly; for several of the people from the hamlet of Jarlshof
-were now hastening along the beach, to have their share in the spoil.
-The pedlar beheld them approach with a deep groan. "Ay, ay," he said,
-"the folk of Jarlshof, they will make clean wark; they are kend for that
-far and wide; they winna leave the value of a rotten ratlin; and what's
-waur, there isna ane o' them has mense or sense eneugh to give thanks
-for the mercies when they have gotten them. There is the auld Ranzelman,
-Neil Ronaldson, that canna walk a mile to hear the minister, but he will
-hirple ten if he hears of a ship embayed."
-
-Norna, however, seemed to possess over him so complete an ascendency,
-that he no longer hesitated to take the man, who now gave strong
-symptoms of reviving existence, upon his shoulders; and, assisted by
-Mordaunt, trudged along the sea-beach with his burden, without farther
-remonstrance. Ere he was borne off, the stranger pointed to the chest,
-and attempted to mutter something, to which Norna replied, "Enough. It
-shall be secured."
-
-Advancing towards the passage called Erick's Steps, by which they were
-to ascend the cliffs, they met the people from Jarlshof hastening in the
-opposite direction. Man and woman, as they passed, reverently made room
-for Norna, and saluted her--not without an expression of fear upon some
-of their faces. She passed them a few paces, and then turning back,
-called aloud to the Ranzelman, who (though the practice was more common
-than legal) was attending the rest of the hamlet upon this plundering
-expedition. "Neil Ronaldson," she said, "mark my words. There stands
-yonder a chest, from which the lid has been just prized off. Look it be
-brought down to your own house at Jarlshof, just as it now is. Beware of
-moving or touching the slightest article. He were better in his grave
-that so much as looks at the contents. I speak not for nought, nor in
-aught will I be disobeyed."
-
-"Your pleasure shall be done, mother," said Ronaldson. "I warrant we
-will not break bulk, since sic is your bidding."
-
-Far behind the rest of the villagers, followed an old woman, talking to
-herself, and cursing her own decrepitude, which kept her the last of the
-party, yet pressing forward with all her might to get her share of the
-spoil.
-
-When they met her, Mordaunt was astonished to recognise his father's old
-housekeeper. "How now," he said, "Swertha, what make you so far from
-home?"
-
-"Just e'en daikering out to look after my auld master and your honour,"
-replied Swertha, who felt like a criminal caught in the manner; for on
-more occasions than one, Mr. Mertoun had intimated his high
-disapprobation of such excursions as she was at present engaged in.
-
-But Mordaunt was too much engaged with his own thoughts to take much
-notice of her delinquency. "Have you seen my father?" he said.
-
-"And that I have," replied Swertha--"The gude gentleman was ganging to
-hirsel himsell doun Erick's Steps, whilk would have been the ending of
-him, that is in no way a cragsman. Sae I e'en gat him wiled away
-hame--and I was just seeking you that you may gang after him to the
-hall-house, for to my thought he is far frae weel."
-
-"My father unwell?" said Mordaunt, remembering the faintness he had
-exhibited at the commencement of that morning's walk.
-
-"Far frae weel--far frae weel," groaned out Swertha, with a piteous
-shake of the head--"white o' the gills--white o' the gills--and him to
-think of coming down the riva!"
-
-"Return home, Mordaunt," said Norna, who was listening to what had
-passed. "I will see all that is necessary done for this man's relief,
-and you will find him at the Ranzelman's, when you list to enquire. You
-cannot help him more than you already have done."
-
-Mordaunt felt this was true, and, commanding Swertha to follow him
-instantly, betook himself to the path homeward.
-
-Swertha hobbled reluctantly after her young master in the same
-direction, until she lost sight of him on his entering the cleft of the
-rock; then instantly turned about, muttering to herself, "Haste home, in
-good sooth?--haste home, and lose the best chance of getting a new
-rokelay and owerlay that I have had these ten years? by my certie,
-na--It's seldom sic rich godsends come on our shore--no since the Jenny
-and James came ashore in King Charlie's time."
-
-So saying, she mended her pace as well as she could, and, a willing mind
-making amends for frail limbs, posted on with wonderful dispatch to put
-in for her share of the spoil. She soon reached the beach, where the
-Ranzelman, stuffing his own pouches all the while, was exhorting the
-rest to part things fair, and be neighbourly, and to give to the auld
-and helpless a share of what was going, which, he charitably remarked,
-would bring a blessing on the shore, and send them "mair wrecks ere
-winter."[32]
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[30] Note III.--Sale of Winds.
-
-[31] Note IV.--Reluctance to Save Drowning Men.
-
-[32] Note V.--Mair Wrecks ere Winter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-  He was a lovely youth, I guess;
-  The panther in the wilderness
-    Was not so fair as he;
-  And when he chose to sport and play,
-  No dolphin ever was so gay,
-    Upon the tropic sea.
-
-                                                 WORDSWORTH.
-
-
-The light foot of Mordaunt Mertoun was not long of bearing him to
-Jarlshof. He entered the house hastily, for what he himself had observed
-that morning, corresponded in some degree with the ideas which Swertha's
-tale was calculated to excite. He found his father, however, in the
-inner apartment, reposing himself after his fatigue; and his first
-question satisfied him that the good dame had practised a little
-imposition to get rid of them both.
-
-"Where is this dying man, whom you have so wisely ventured your own neck
-to relieve?" said the elder Mertoun to the younger.
-
-"Norna, sir," replied Mordaunt, "has taken him under her charge; she
-understands such matters."
-
-"And is quack as well as witch?" said the elder Mertoun. "With all my
-heart--it is a trouble saved. But I hasted home, on Swertha's hint, to
-look out for lint and bandages; for her speech was of broken bones."
-
-Mordaunt kept silence, well knowing his father would not persevere in
-his enquiries upon such a matter, and not willing either to prejudice
-the old governante, or to excite his father to one of those excesses of
-passion into which he was apt to burst, when, contrary to his wont, he
-thought proper to correct the conduct of his domestic.
-
-It was late in the day ere old Swertha returned from her expedition,
-heartily fatigued, and bearing with her a bundle of some bulk,
-containing, it would seem, her share of the spoil. Mordaunt instantly
-sought her out, to charge her with the deceits she had practised on both
-his father and himself; but the accused matron lacked not her reply.
-
-"By her troth;" she said, "she thought it was time to bid Mr. Mertoun
-gang hame and get bandages, when she had seen, with her ain twa een,
-Mordaunt ganging down the cliff like a wild-cat--it was to be thought
-broken bones would be the end, and lucky if bandages wad do any
-good;--and, by her troth, she might weel tell Mordaunt his father was
-puirly, and him looking sae white in the gills, (whilk, she wad die upon
-it, was the very word she used,) and it was a thing that couldna be
-denied by man at this very moment."
-
-"But, Swertha," said Mordaunt, as soon as her clamorous defence gave him
-time to speak in reply, "how came you, that should have been busy with
-your housewifery and your spinning, to be out this morning at Erick's
-Steps, in order to take all this unnecessary care of my father and
-me?--And what is in that bundle, Swertha? for I fear, Swertha, you have
-been transgressing the law, and have been out upon the wrecking system."
-
-"Fair fa' your sonsy face, and the blessing of Saint Ronald upon you!"
-said Swertha, in a tone betwixt coaxing and jesting; "would you keep a
-puir body frae mending hersell, and sae muckle gear lying on the loose
-sand for the lifting?--Hout, Maister Mordaunt, a ship ashore is a sight
-to wile the minister out of his very pu'pit in the middle of his
-preaching, muckle mair a puir auld ignorant wife frae her rock and her
-tow. And little did I get for my day's wark--just some rags o' cambric
-things, and a bit or twa of coorse claith, and sic like--the strong and
-the hearty get a' thing in this warld."
-
-"Yes, Swertha," replied Mordaunt, "and that is rather hard, as you must
-have your share of punishment in this world and the next, for robbing
-the poor mariners."
-
-"Hout, callant, wha wad punish an auld wife like me for a wheen
-duds?--Folk speak muckle black ill of Earl Patrick; but he was a freend
-to the shore, and made wise laws against ony body helping vessels that
-were like to gang on the breakers.[33]--And the mariners, I have heard
-Bryce Jagger say, lose their right frae the time keel touches sand; and,
-moreover, they are dead and gane, poor souls--dead and gane, and care
-little about warld's wealth now--Nay, nae mair than the great Jarls and
-Sea-kings, in the Norse days, did about the treasures that they buried
-in the tombs and sepulchres auld langsyne. Did I ever tell you the sang,
-Maister Mordaunt, how Olaf Tryguarson garr'd hide five gold crowns in
-the same grave with him?"
-
-"No, Swertha," said Mordaunt, who took pleasure in tormenting the
-cunning old plunderer--"you never told me that; but I tell you, that the
-stranger whom Norna has taken down to the town, will be well enough
-to-morrow, to ask where you have hidden the goods that you have stolen
-from the wreck."
-
-"But wha will tell him a word about it, hinnie?" said Swertha, looking
-slyly up in her young master's face--"The mair by token, since I maun
-tell ye, that I have a bonny remnant of silk amang the lave, that will
-make a dainty waistcoat to yoursell, the first merry-making ye gang to."
-
-Mordaunt could no longer forbear laughing at the cunning with which the
-old dame proposed to bribe off his evidence by imparting a portion of
-her plunder; and, desiring her to get ready what provision she had made
-for dinner, he returned to his father, whom he found still sitting in
-the same place, and nearly in the same posture, in which he had left
-him.
-
-When their hasty and frugal meal was finished, Mordaunt announced to his
-father his purpose of going down to the town, or hamlet, to look after
-the shipwrecked sailor.
-
-The elder Mertoun assented with a nod.
-
-"He must be ill accommodated there, sir," added his son,--a hint which
-only produced another nod of assent. "He seemed, from his appearance,"
-pursued Mordaunt, "to be of very good rank--and admitting these poor
-people do their best to receive him, in his present weak state, yet"----
-
-"I know what you would say," said his father, interrupting him; "we, you
-think, ought to do something towards assisting him. Go to him, then--if
-he lacks money, let him name the sum, and he shall have it; but, for
-lodging the stranger here, and holding intercourse with him, I neither
-can, nor will do so. I have retired to this farthest extremity of the
-British isles, to avoid new friends, and new faces, and none such shall
-intrude on me either their happiness or their misery. When you have
-known the world half a score of years longer, your early friends will
-have given you reason to remember them, and to avoid new ones for the
-rest of your life. Go then--why do you stop?--rid the country of the
-man--let me see no one about me but those vulgar countenances, the
-extent and character of whose petty knavery I know, and can submit to,
-as to an evil too trifling to cause irritation." He then threw his purse
-to his son, and signed to him to depart with all speed.
-
-Mordaunt was not long before he reached the village. In the dark abode
-of Neil Ronaldson, the Ranzelman, he found the stranger seated by the
-peat-fire, upon the very chest which had excited the cupidity of the
-devout Bryce Snailsfoot, the pedlar. The Ranzelman himself was absent,
-dividing, with all due impartiality, the spoils of the wrecked vessel
-amongst the natives of the community; listening to and redressing their
-complaints of inequality; and (if the matter in hand had not been, from
-beginning to end, utterly unjust and indefensible) discharging the part
-of a wise and prudent magistrate, in all the details. For at this time,
-and probably until a much later period, the lower orders of the
-islanders entertained an opinion, common to barbarians also in the same
-situation, that whatever was cast on their shores, became their
-indisputable property.
-
-Margery Bimbister, the worthy spouse of the Ranzelman, was in the charge
-of the house, and introduced Mordaunt to her guest, saying, with no
-great ceremony, "This is the young tacksman--You will maybe tell him
-your name, though you will not tell it to us. If it had not been for
-his four quarters, it's but little you would have said to any body, sae
-lang as life lasted."
-
-The stranger arose, and shook Mordaunt by the hand; observing, he
-understood that he had been the means of saving his life and his chest.
-"The rest of the property," he said, "is, I see, walking the plank; for
-they are as busy as the devil in a gale of wind."
-
-"And what was the use of your seamanship, then," said Margery, "that you
-couldna keep off the Sumburgh-head? It would have been lang ere
-Sumburgh-head had come to you."
-
-"Leave us for a moment, good Margery Bimbister," said Mordaunt; "I wish
-to have some private conversation with this gentleman."
-
-"Gentleman!" said Margery, with an emphasis; "not but the man is well
-enough to look at," she added, again surveying him, "but I doubt if
-there is muckle of the gentleman about him."
-
-Mordaunt looked at the stranger, and was of a different opinion. He was
-rather above the middle size, and formed handsomely as well as strongly.
-Mordaunt's intercourse with society was not extensive; but he thought
-his new acquaintance, to a bold sunburnt handsome countenance, which
-seemed to have faced various climates, added the frank and open manners
-of a sailor. He answered cheerfully the enquiries which Mordaunt made
-after his health; and maintained that one night's rest would relieve him
-from all the effects of the disaster he had sustained. But he spoke with
-bitterness of the avarice and curiosity of the Ranzelman and his spouse.
-
-"That chattering old woman," said the stranger, "has persecuted me the
-whole day for the name of the ship. I think she might be contented with
-the share she has had of it. I was the principal owner of the vessel
-that was lost yonder, and they have left me nothing but my wearing
-apparel. Is there no magistrate, or justice of the peace, in this wild
-country, that would lend a hand to help one when he is among the
-breakers?"
-
-Mordaunt mentioned Magnus Troil, the principal proprietor, as well as
-the Fowd, or provincial judge, of the district, as the person from whom
-he was most likely to obtain redress; and regretted that his own youth,
-and his father's situation as a retired stranger, should put it out of
-their power to afford him the protection he required.
-
-"Nay, for your part, you have done enough," said the sailor; "but if I
-had five out of the forty brave fellows that are fishes' food by this
-time, the devil a man would I ask to do me the right that I could do for
-myself!"
-
-"Forty hands!" said Mordaunt; "you were well manned for the size of the
-ship."
-
-"Not so well as we needed to be. We mounted ten guns, besides chasers;
-but our cruise on the main had thinned us of men, and lumbered us up
-with goods. Six of our guns were in ballast--Hands! if I had had enough
-of hands, we would never have miscarried so infernally. The people were
-knocked up with working the pumps, and so took to their boats, and left
-me with the vessel, to sink or swim. But the dogs had their pay, and I
-can afford to pardon them--The boat swamped in the current--all were
-lost--and here am I."
-
-"You had come north about then, from the West Indies?" said Mordaunt.
-
-"Ay, ay; the vessel was the Good Hope of Bristol, a letter of marque.
-She had fine luck down on the Spanish main, both with commerce and
-privateering, but the luck's ended with her now. My name is Clement
-Cleveland, captain, and part owner, as I said before--I am a Bristol man
-born--my father was well known on the Tollsell--old Clem Cleveland of
-the College-green."
-
-Mordaunt had no right to enquire farther, and yet it seemed to him as if
-his own mind was but half satisfied. There was an affectation of
-bluntness, a sort of defiance, in the manner of the stranger, for which
-circumstances afforded no occasion. Captain Cleveland had suffered
-injustice from the islanders, but from Mordaunt he had only received
-kindness and protection; yet he seemed as if he involved all the
-neighbourhood in the wrongs he complained of. Mordaunt looked down and
-was silent, doubting whether it would be better to take his leave, or to
-proceed farther in his offers of assistance. Cleveland seemed to guess
-at his thoughts, for he immediately added, in a conciliating manner,--"I
-am a plain man, Master Mertoun, for that I understand is your name; and
-I am a ruined man to boot, and that does not mend one's good manners.
-But you have done a kind and friendly part by me, and it may be I think
-as much of it as if I thanked you more. And so before I leave this
-place, I'll give you my fowlingpiece; she will put a hundred swan-shot
-through a Dutchman's cap at eighty paces--she will carry ball too--I
-have hit a wild bull within a hundred-and-fifty yards--but I have two
-pieces that are as good, or better, so you may keep this for my sake."
-
-"That would be to take my share of the wreck," answered Mordaunt,
-laughing.
-
-"No such matter," said Cleveland, undoing a case which contained several
-guns and pistols,--"you see I have saved my private arm-chest, as well
-as my clothes--_that_ the tall old woman in the dark rigging managed for
-me. And, between ourselves, it is worth all I have lost; for," he added,
-lowering his voice, and looking round, "when I speak of being ruined in
-the hearing of these landsharks, I do not mean ruined stock and block.
-No, here is something will do more than shoot sea-fowl." So saying, he
-pulled out a great ammunition-pouch marked swan-shot, and showed
-Mordaunt, hastily, that it was full of Spanish pistoles and Portagues
-(as the broad Portugal pieces were then called.) "No, no," he added,
-with a smile, "I have ballast enough to trim the vessel again; and now,
-will you take the piece?"
-
-"Since you are willing to give it me," said Mordaunt, laughing, "with
-all my heart. I was just going to ask you in my father's name," he
-added, showing his purse, "whether you wanted any of that same ballast."
-
-"Thanks, but you see I am provided--take my old acquaintance, and may
-she serve you as well as she has served me; but you will never make so
-good a voyage with her. You can shoot, I suppose?"
-
-"Tolerably well," said Mordaunt, admiring the piece, which was a
-beautiful Spanish-barrelled gun, inlaid with gold, small in the bore,
-and of unusual length, such as is chiefly used for shooting sea-fowl,
-and for ball-practice.
-
-"With slugs," continued the donor, "never gun shot closer; and with
-single ball, you may kill a seal two hundred yards at sea from the top
-of the highest peak of this iron-bound coast of yours. But I tell you
-again, that the old rattler will never do you the service she has done
-me."
-
-"I shall not use her so dexterously, perhaps," said Mordaunt.
-
-"Umph!--perhaps not," replied Cleveland; "but that is not the question.
-What say you to shooting the man at the wheel, just as we run aboard of
-a Spaniard? So the Don was taken aback, and we laid him athwart the
-hawse, and carried her cutlass in hand; and worth the while she
-was--stout brigantine--El Santo Francisco--bound for Porto Bello, with
-gold and negroes. That little bit of lead was worth twenty thousand
-pistoles."
-
-"I have shot at no such game as yet," said Mordaunt.
-
-"Well, all in good time; we cannot weigh till the tide makes. But you
-are a tight, handsome, active young man. What is to ail you to take a
-trip after some of this stuff?" laying his hand on the bag of gold.
-
-"My father talks of my travelling soon," replied Mordaunt, who, born to
-hold men-of-wars-men in great respect, felt flattered by this invitation
-from one who appeared a thorough-bred seaman.
-
-"I respect him for the thought," said the Captain; "and I will visit him
-before I weigh anchor. I have a consort off these islands, and be cursed
-to her. She'll find me out somewhere, though she parted company in the
-bit of a squall, unless she is gone to Davy Jones too.--Well, she was
-better found than we, and not so deep loaded--she must have weathered
-it. We'll have a hammock slung for you aboard, and make a sailor and a
-man of you in the same trip."
-
-"I should like it well enough," said Mordaunt, who eagerly longed to
-see more of the world than his lonely situation had hitherto permitted;
-"but then my father must decide."
-
-"Your father? pooh!" said Captain Cleveland;--"but you are very right,"
-he added, checking himself; "Gad, I have lived so long at sea, that I
-cannot imagine any body has a right to think except the captain and the
-master. But you are very right. I will go up to the old gentleman this
-instant, and speak to him myself. He lives in that handsome,
-modern-looking building, I suppose, that I see a quarter of a mile off?"
-
-"In that old half-ruined house," said Mordaunt, "he does indeed live;
-but he will see no visitors."
-
-"Then you must drive the point yourself, for I can't stay in this
-latitude. Since your father is no magistrate, I must go to see this same
-Magnus--how call you him?--who is not justice of peace, but something
-else that will do the turn as well. These fellows have got two or three
-things that I must and will have back--let them keep the rest and be
-d----d to them. Will you give me a letter to him, just by way of
-commission?"
-
-"It is scarce needful," said Mordaunt. "It is enough that you are
-shipwrecked, and need his help;--but yet I may as well furnish you with
-a letter of introduction."
-
-"There," said the sailor, producing a writing-case from his chest, "are
-your writing-tools.--Meantime, since bulk has been broken, I will nail
-down the hatches, and make sure of the cargo."
-
-While Mordaunt, accordingly, was engaged in writing to Magnus Troil a
-letter, setting forth the circumstances in which Captain Cleveland had
-been thrown upon their coast, the Captain, having first selected and
-laid aside some wearing apparel and necessaries enough to fill a
-knapsack, took in hand hammer and nails, employed himself in securing
-the lid of his sea-chest, by fastening it down in a workmanlike manner,
-and then added the corroborating security of a cord, twisted and knotted
-with nautical dexterity. "I leave this in your charge," he said, "all
-except this," showing the bag of gold, "and these," pointing to a
-cutlass and pistols, "which may prevent all further risk of my parting
-company with my Portagues."
-
-"You will find no occasion for weapons in this country, Captain
-Cleveland," replied Mordaunt; "a child might travel with a purse of gold
-from Sumburgh-head to the Scaw of Unst, and no soul would injure him."
-
-"And that's pretty boldly said, young gentleman, considering what is
-going on without doors at this moment."
-
-"O," replied Mordaunt, a little confused, "what comes on land with the
-tide, they reckon their lawful property. One would think they had
-studied under Sir Arthegal, who pronounces--
-
-  'For equal right in equal things doth stand,
-    And what the mighty sea hath once possess'd,
-  And plucked quite from all possessors' hands,
-    Or else by wrecks that wretches have distress'd,
-  He may dispose, by his resistless might,
-    As things at random left, to whom he list.'"
-
-"I shall think the better of plays and ballads as long as I live, for
-these very words," said Captain Cleveland; "and yet I have loved them
-well enough in my day. But this is good doctrine, and more men than one
-may trim their sails to such a breeze. What the sea sends is ours,
-that's sure enough. However, in case that your good folks should think
-the land as well as the sea may present them with waiffs and strays, I
-will make bold to take my cutlass and pistols.--Will you cause my chest
-to be secured in your own house till you hear from me, and use your
-influence to procure me a guide to show me the way, and to carry my
-kit?"
-
-"Will you go by sea or land?" said Mordaunt, in reply.
-
-"By sea!" exclaimed Cleveland. "What--in one of these cockleshells, and
-a cracked cockleshell, to boot? No, no--land, land, unless I knew my
-crew, my vessel, and my voyage."
-
-They parted accordingly, Captain Cleveland being supplied with a guide
-to conduct him to Burgh-Westra, and his chest being carefully removed to
-the mansion-house at Jarlshof.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[33] This was literally true.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-  This is a gentle trader, and a prudent.
-  He's no Autolycus, to blear your eye,
-  With quips of worldly gauds and gamesomeness;
-  But seasons all his glittering merchandise
-  With wholesome doctrines, suited to the use,
-  As men sauce goose with sage and rosemary.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-On the subsequent morning, Mordaunt, in answer to his father's
-enquiries, began to give him some account of the shipwrecked mariner,
-whom he had rescued from the waves. But he had not proceeded far in
-recapitulating the particulars which Cleveland had communicated, when
-Mr. Mertoun's looks became disturbed--he arose hastily, and, after
-pacing twice or thrice across the room, he retired into the inner
-chamber, to which he usually confined himself, while under the influence
-of his mental malady. In the evening he re-appeared, without any traces
-of his disorder; but it may be easily supposed that his son avoided
-recurring to the subject which had affected him.
-
-Mordaunt Mertoun was thus left without assistance, to form at his
-leisure his own opinion respecting the new acquaintance which the sea
-had sent him; and, upon the whole, he was himself surprised to find the
-result less favourable to the stranger than he could well account for.
-There seemed to Mordaunt to be a sort of repelling influence about the
-man. True, he was a handsome man, of a frank and prepossessing manner,
-but there was an assumption of superiority about him, which Mordaunt did
-not quite so much like. Although he was so keen a sportsman as to be
-delighted with his acquisition of the Spanish-barrelled gun, and
-accordingly mounted and dismounted it with great interest, paying the
-utmost attention to the most minute parts about the lock and ornaments,
-yet he was, upon the whole, inclined to have some scruples about the
-mode in which he had acquired it.
-
-"I should not have accepted it," he thought; "perhaps Captain Cleveland
-might give it me as a sort of payment for the trifling service I did
-him; and yet it would have been churlish to refuse it in the way it was
-offered. I wish he had looked more like a man whom one would have chosen
-to be obliged to."
-
-But a successful day's shooting reconciled him to his gun, and he became
-assured, like most young sportsmen in similar circumstances, that all
-other pieces were but pop-guns in comparison. But then, to be doomed to
-shoot gulls and seals, when there were Frenchmen and Spaniards to be
-come at--when there were ships to be boarded, and steersmen to be marked
-off, seemed but a dull and contemptible destiny. His father had
-mentioned his leaving these islands, and no other mode of occupation
-occurred to his inexperience, save that of the sea, with which he had
-been conversant from his infancy. His ambition had formerly aimed no
-higher than at sharing the fatigues and dangers of a Greenland fishing
-expedition; for it was in that scene that the Zetlanders laid most of
-their perilous adventures. But war was again raging, the history of Sir
-Francis Drake, Captain Morgan, and other bold adventurers, an account of
-whose exploits he had purchased from Bryce Snailsfoot, had made much
-impression on his mind, and the offer of Captain Cleveland to take him
-to sea, frequently recurred to him, although the pleasure of such a
-project was somewhat damped by a doubt, whether, in the long run, he
-should not find many objections to his proposed commander. Thus much he
-already saw, that he was opinionative, and might probably prove
-arbitrary; and that, since even his kindness was mingled with an
-assumption of superiority, his occasional displeasure might contain a
-great deal more of that disagreeable ingredient than could be palatable
-to those who sailed under him. And yet, after counting all risks, could
-his father's consent be obtained, with what pleasure, he thought, would
-he embark in quest of new scenes and strange adventures, in which he
-proposed to himself to achieve such deeds as should be the theme of many
-a tale to the lovely sisters of Burgh-Westra--tales at which Minna
-should weep, and Brenda should smile, and both should marvel! And this
-was to be the reward of his labours and his dangers; for the hearth of
-Magnus Troil had a magnetic influence over his thoughts, and however
-they might traverse amid his day-dreams, it was the point where they
-finally settled.
-
-There were times when Mordaunt thought of mentioning to his father the
-conversation he had held with Captain Cleveland, and the seaman's
-proposal to him; but the very short and general account which he had
-given of that person's history, upon the morning after his departure
-from the hamlet, had produced a sinister effect on Mr. Mertoun's mind,
-and discouraged him from speaking farther on any subject connected with
-it. It would be time enough, he thought, to mention Captain Cleveland's
-proposal, when his consort should arrive, and when he should repeat his
-offer in a more formal manner; and these he supposed events likely very
-soon to happen.
-
-But days grew to weeks, and weeks were numbered into months, and he
-heard nothing from Cleveland; and only learned by an occasional visit
-from Bryce Snailsfoot, that the Captain was residing at Burgh-Westra, as
-one of the family. Mordaunt was somewhat surprised at this, although the
-unlimited hospitality of the islands, which Magnus Troil, both from
-fortune and disposition, carried to the utmost extent, made it almost a
-matter of course that he should remain in the family until he disposed
-of himself otherwise. Still it seemed strange he had not gone to some of
-the northern isles to enquire after his consort; or that he did not
-rather choose to make Lerwick his residence, where fishing vessels often
-brought news from the coasts and ports of Scotland and Holland. Again,
-why did he not send for the chest he had deposited at Jarlshof? and
-still farther, Mordaunt thought it would have been but polite if the
-stranger had sent him some sort of message in token of remembrance.
-
-These subjects of reflection were connected with another still more
-unpleasant, and more difficult to account for. Until the arrival of this
-person, scarce a week had passed without bringing him some kind
-greeting, or token of recollection, from Burgh-Westra; and pretences
-were scarce ever wanting for maintaining a constant intercourse. Minna
-wanted the words of a Norse ballad; or desired to have, for her various
-collections, feathers, or eggs, or shells, or specimens of the rarer
-sea-weeds; or Brenda sent a riddle to be resolved, or a song to be
-learned; or the honest old Udaller,--in a rude manuscript, which might
-have passed for an ancient Runic inscription,--sent his hearty greetings
-to his good young friend, with a present of something to make good
-cheer, and an earnest request he would come to Burgh-Westra as soon, and
-stay there as long, as possible. These kindly tokens of remembrance were
-often sent by special message; besides which, there was never a
-passenger or a traveller, who crossed from the one mansion to the other,
-who did not bring to Mordaunt some friendly greeting from the Udaller
-and his family. Of late, this intercourse had become more and more
-infrequent; and no messenger from Burgh-Westra had visited Jarlshof for
-several weeks. Mordaunt both observed and felt this alteration, and it
-dwelt on his mind, while he questioned Bryce as closely as pride and
-prudence would permit, to ascertain, if possible, the cause of the
-change. Yet he endeavoured to assume an indifferent air while he asked
-the jagger whether there were no news in the country.
-
-"Great news," the jagger replied; "and a gay mony of them. That
-crackbrained carle, the new factor, is for making a change in the
-_bismars_ and the _lispunds_;[34] and our worthy Fowd, Magnus Troil, has
-sworn, that, sooner than change them for the still-yard, or aught else,
-he'll fling Factor Yellowley from Brassa-craig."
-
-"Is that all?" said Mordaunt, very little interested.
-
-"All? and eneugh, I think," replied the pedlar. "How are folks to buy
-and sell, if the weights are changed on them?"
-
-"Very true," replied Mordaunt; "but have you heard of no strange vessels
-on the coast?"
-
-"Six Dutch doggers off Brassa; and, as I hear, a high-quartered galliot
-thing, with a gaff mainsail, lying in Scalloway Bay. She will be from
-Norway."
-
-"No ships of war, or sloops?"
-
-"None," replied the pedlar, "since the Kite Tender sailed with the
-impress men. If it was His will, and our men were out of her, I wish the
-deep sea had her!"
-
-"Were there no news at Burgh-Westra?--Were the family all well?"
-
-"A' weel, and weel to do--out-taken, it may be, something ower muckle
-daffing and laughing--dancing ilk night, they say, wi' the stranger
-captain that's living there--him that was ashore on Sumburgh-head the
-tother day,--less daffing served him then."
-
-"Daffing! dancing every night!" said Mordaunt, not particularly well
-satisfied--"Whom does Captain Cleveland dance with?"
-
-"Ony body he likes, I fancy," said the jagger; "at ony rate, he gars a'
-body yonder dance after his fiddle. But I ken little about it, for I am
-no free in conscience to look upon thae flinging fancies. Folk should
-mind that life is made but of rotten yarn."
-
-"I fancy that it is to keep them in mind of that wholesome truth, that
-you deal in such tender wares, Bryce," replied Mordaunt, dissatisfied as
-well with the tenor of the reply, as with the affected scruples of the
-respondent.
-
-"That's as muckle as to say, that I suld hae minded you was a flinger
-and a fiddler yoursell, Maister Mordaunt; but I am an auld man, and maun
-unburden my conscience. But ye will be for the dance, I sall warrant,
-that's to be at Burgh-Westra, on John's Even, (_Saunt_ John's, as the
-blinded creatures ca' him,) and nae doubt ye will be for some warldly
-braws--hose, waistcoats, or sic like? I hae pieces frae Flanders."--With
-that he placed his movable warehouse on the table, and began to unlock
-it.
-
-"Dance!" repeated Mordaunt--"Dance on St. John's Even?--Were you desired
-to bid me to it, Bryce?"
-
-"Na--but ye ken weel eneugh ye wad be welcome, bidden or no bidden. This
-captain--how ca' ye him?--is to be skudler, as they ca't--the first of
-the gang, like."
-
-"The devil take him!" said Mordaunt, in impatient surprise.
-
-"A' in gude time," replied the jagger; "hurry no man's cattle--the devil
-will hae his due, I warrant ye, or it winna be for lack of seeking. But
-it's true I'm telling you, for a' ye stare like a wild-cat; and this
-same captain,--I watna his name,--bought ane of the very waistcoats that
-I am ganging to show ye--purple, wi' a gowd binding, and bonnily
-broidered; and I have a piece for you, the neighbour of it, wi' a green
-grund; and if ye mean to streek yoursell up beside him, ye maun e'en buy
-it, for it's gowd that glances in the lasses' een now-a-days. See--look
-till't," he added, displaying the pattern in various points of view;
-"look till _it_ through the light, and till the light through
-_it_--_wi'_ the grain, and _against_ the grain--it shows ony gate--cam
-frae Antwerp a' the gate--four dollars is the price; and yon captain was
-sae weel pleased that he flang down a twenty shilling Jacobus, and bade
-me keep the change and be d----d!--poor silly profane creature, I pity
-him."
-
-Without enquiring whether the pedlar bestowed his compassion on the
-worldly imprudence or the religious deficiencies of Captain Cleveland,
-Mordaunt turned from him, folded his arms, and paced the apartment,
-muttering to himself, "Not asked--A stranger to be king of the
-feast!"--Words which he repeated so earnestly, that Bryce caught a part
-of their import.
-
-"As for asking, I am almaist bauld to say, that ye will be asked,
-Maister Mordaunt."
-
-"Did they mention my name, then?" said Mordaunt.
-
-"I canna preceesely say that," said Bryce Snailsfoot;--"but ye needna
-turn away your head sae sourly, like a sealgh when he leaves the shore;
-for, do you see, I heard distinctly that a' the revellers about are to
-be there; and is't to be thought they would leave out you, an auld kend
-freend, and the lightest foot at sic frolics (Heaven send you a better
-praise in His ain gude time!) that ever flang at a fiddle-squeak,
-between this and Unst? Sae I consider ye altogether the same as
-invited--and ye had best provide yourself wi' a waistcoat, for brave and
-brisk will every man be that's there--the Lord pity them!"
-
-He thus continued to follow with his green glazen eyes the motions of
-young Mordaunt Mertoun, who was pacing the room in a very pensive
-manner, which the jagger probably misinterpreted, as he thought, like
-Claudio, that if a man is sad, it must needs be because he lacks money.
-Bryce, therefore, after another pause, thus accosted him. "Ye needna be
-sad about the matter, Maister Mordaunt; for although I got the just
-price of the article from the captain-man, yet I maun deal freendly wi'
-you, as a kend freend and customer, and bring the price, as they say,
-within your purse-mouth--or it's the same to me to let it lie ower till
-Martinmas, or e'en to Candlemas. I am decent in the warld, Maister
-Mordaunt--forbid that I should hurry ony body, far mair a freend that
-has paid me siller afore now. Or I wad be content to swap the garment
-for the value in feathers or sea-otters' skins, or ony kind of
-peltrie--nane kens better than yoursell how to come by sic ware--and I
-am sure I hae furnished you wi' the primest o' powder. I dinna ken if I
-tell'd ye it was out o' the kist of Captain Plunket, that perished on
-the Scaw of Unst, wi' the armed brig Mary, sax years syne. He was a
-prime fowler himself, and luck it was that the kist came ashore dry. I
-sell that to nane but gude marksmen. And so, I was saying, if ye had ony
-wares ye liked to coup[35] for the waistcoat, I wad be ready to trock
-wi' you, for assuredly ye will be wanted at Burgh-Westra, on Saint
-John's Even; and ye wadna like to look waur than the Captain--that wadna
-be setting."
-
-"I will be there at least, whether wanted or not," said Mordaunt,
-stopping short in his walk, and taking the waistcoat-piece hastily out
-of the pedlar's hand; "and, as you say, will not disgrace them."
-
-"Haud a care--haud a care, Maister Mordaunt," exclaimed the pedlar; "ye
-handle it as it were a bale of coarse wadmaal--ye'll fray't to bits--ye
-might weel say my ware is tender--and ye'll mind the price is four
-dollars--Sall I put ye in my book for it?"
-
-"No," said Mordaunt, hastily; and, taking out his purse, he flung down
-the money.
-
-"Grace to ye to wear the garment," said the joyous pedlar, "and to me
-to guide the siller; and protect us from earthly vanities, and earthly
-covetousness; and send you the white linen raiment, whilk is mair to be
-desired than the muslins, and cambrics, and lawns, and silks of this
-world; and send me the talents which avail more than much fine Spanish
-gold, or Dutch dollars either--and--but God guide the callant, what for
-is he wrapping the silk up that gate, like a wisp of hay?"
-
-At this moment, old Swertha the housekeeper entered, to whom, as if
-eager to get rid of the subject, Mordaunt threw his purchase, with
-something like careless disdain; and, telling her to put it aside,
-snatched his gun, which stood in the corner, threw his shooting
-accoutrements about him, and, without noticing Bryce's attempt to enter
-into conversation upon the "braw seal-skin, as saft as doe-leather,"
-which made the sling and cover of his fowlingpiece, he left the
-apartment abruptly.
-
-The jagger, with those green, goggling, and gain-descrying kind of
-optics, which we have already described, continued gazing for an instant
-after the customer, who treated his wares with such irreverence.
-
-Swertha also looked after him with some surprise. "The callant's in a
-creel," quoth she.
-
-"In a creel!" echoed the pedlar; "he will be as wowf as ever his father
-was. To guide in that gate a bargain that cost him four dollars!--very,
-very Fifish, as the east-country fisher-folk say."
-
-"Four dollars for that green rag!" said Swertha, catching at the words
-which the jagger had unwarily suffered to escape--"that was a bargain
-indeed! I wonder whether he is the greater fule, or you the mair rogue,
-Bryce Snailsfoot."
-
-"I didna say it cost him preceesely four dollars," said Snailsfoot; "but
-if it had, the lad's siller's his ain, I hope; and he is auld eneugh to
-make his ain bargains. Mair by token the gudes are weel worth the money,
-and mair."
-
-"Mair by token," said Swertha, coolly, "I will see what his father
-thinks about it."
-
-"Ye'll no be sae ill-natured, Mrs. Swertha," said the jagger; "that will
-be but cauld thanks for the bonny owerlay that I hae brought you a' the
-way frae Lerwick."
-
-"And a bonny price ye'll be setting on't," said Swertha; "for that's the
-gate your good deeds end."
-
-"Ye sall hae the fixing of the price yoursell; or it may lie ower till
-ye're buying something for the house, or for your master, and it can
-make a' ae count."
-
-"Troth, and that's true, Bryce Snailsfoot, I am thinking we'll want some
-napery sune--for it's no to be thought we can spin, and the like, as if
-there was a mistress in the house; and sae we make nane at hame."
-
-"And that's what I ca' walking by the word," said the jagger. "'Go unto
-those that buy and sell;' there's muckle profit in that text."
-
-"There is a pleasure in dealing wi' a discreet man, that can make profit
-of ony thing," said Swertha; "and now that I take another look at that
-daft callant's waistcoat piece, I think it _is_ honestly worth four
-dollars."
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[34] These are weights of Norwegian origin, still used in Zetland.
-
-[35] Barter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-    I have possessed the regulation of the weather and the
-    distribution of the seasons. The sun has listened to my
-    dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction;
-    the clouds, at my command, have poured forth their waters.
-
-                                                   RASSELAS.
-
-
-Any sudden cause for anxious and mortifying reflection, which, in
-advanced age, occasions sullen and pensive inactivity, stimulates youth
-to eager and active exertion; as if, like the hurt deer, they
-endeavoured to drown the pain of the shaft by the rapidity of motion.
-When Mordaunt caught up his gun, and rushed out of the house of
-Jarlshof, he walked on with great activity over waste and wild, without
-any determined purpose, except that of escaping, if possible, from the
-smart of his own irritation. His pride was effectually mortified by the
-report of the jagger, which coincided exactly with some doubts he had
-been led to entertain, by the long and unkind silence of his friends at
-Burgh-Westra.
-
-If the fortunes of Cæsar had doomed him, as the poet suggests, to have
-been
-
-  "But the best wrestler on the green,"
-
-it is nevertheless to be presumed, that a foil from a rival, in that
-rustic exercise, would have mortified him as much as a defeat from a
-competitor, when he was struggling for the empery of the world. And even
-so Mordaunt Mertoun, degraded in his own eyes from the height which he
-had occupied as the chief amongst the youth of the island, felt vexed
-and irritated, as well as humbled. The two beautiful sisters, also,
-whose smiles all were so desirous of acquiring, with whom he had lived
-on terms of such familiar affection, that, with the same ease and
-innocence, there was unconsciously mixed a shade of deeper though
-undefined tenderness than characterises fraternal love,--they also
-seemed to have forgotten him. He could not be ignorant, that, in the
-universal opinion of all Dunrossness, nay, of the whole Mainland, he
-might have had every chance of being the favoured lover of either; and
-now at once, and without any failure on his part, he was become so
-little to them, that he had lost even the consequence of an ordinary
-acquaintance. The old Udaller, too, whose hearty and sincere character
-should have made him more constant in his friendships, seemed to have
-been as fickle as his daughters, and poor Mordaunt had at once lost the
-smiles of the fair, and the favour of the powerful. These were
-uncomfortable reflections, and he doubled his pace, that he might
-outstrip them if possible.
-
-Without exactly reflecting upon the route which he pursued, Mordaunt
-walked briskly on through a country where neither hedge, wall, nor
-enclosure of any kind, interrupts the steps of the wanderer, until he
-reached a very solitary spot, where, embosomed among steep heathy hills,
-which sunk suddenly down on the verge of the water, lay one of those
-small fresh-water lakes which are common in the Zetland isles, whose
-outlets form the sources of the small brooks and rivulets by which the
-country is watered, and serve to drive the little mills which
-manufacture their grain.
-
-It was a mild summer day; the beams of the sun, as is not uncommon in
-Zetland, were moderated and shaded by a silvery haze, which filled the
-atmosphere, and destroying the strong contrast of light and shade, gave
-even to noon the sober livery of the evening twilight. The little lake,
-not three-quarters of a mile in circuit, lay in profound quiet; its
-surface undimpled, save when one of the numerous water-fowl, which
-glided on its surface, dived for an instant under it. The depth of the
-water gave the whole that cerulean tint of bluish green, which
-occasioned its being called the Green Loch; and at present, it formed so
-perfect a mirror to the bleak hills by which it was surrounded, and
-which lay reflected on its bosom, that it was difficult to distinguish
-the water from the land; nay, in the shadowy uncertainty occasioned by
-the thin haze, a stranger could scarce have been sensible that a sheet
-of water lay before him. A scene of more complete solitude, having all
-its peculiarities heightened by the extreme serenity of the weather, the
-quiet grey composed tone of the atmosphere, and the perfect silence of
-the elements, could hardly be imagined. The very aquatic birds, who
-frequented the spot in great numbers, forbore their usual flight and
-screams, and floated in profound tranquillity upon the silent water.
-
-Without taking any determined aim--without having any determined
-purpose--without almost thinking what he was about, Mordaunt presented
-his fowlingpiece, and fired across the lake. The large swan shot dimpled
-its surface like a partial shower of hail--the hills took up the noise
-of the report, and repeated it again, and again, and again, to all their
-echoes; the water-fowl took to wing in eddying and confused wheel,
-answering the echoes with a thousand varying screams, from the deep note
-of the swabie, or swartback, to the querulous cry of the tirracke and
-kittiewake.
-
-Mordaunt looked for a moment on the clamorous crowd with a feeling of
-resentment, which he felt disposed at the moment to apply to all nature,
-and all her objects, animate or inanimate, however little concerned with
-the cause of his internal mortification.
-
-"Ay, ay," he said, "wheel, dive, scream, and clamour as you will, and
-all because you have seen a strange sight, and heard an unusual sound.
-There is many a one like you in this round world. But you, at least,
-shall learn," he added, as he reloaded his gun, "that strange sights and
-strange sounds, ay, and strange acquaintances to boot, have sometimes a
-little shade of danger connected with them.--But why should I wreak my
-own vexation on these harmless sea-gulls?" he subjoined, after a
-moment's pause; "they have nothing to do with the friends that have
-forgotten me.--I loved them all so well,--and to be so soon given up for
-the first stranger whom chance threw on the coast!"
-
-As he stood resting upon his gun, and abandoning his mind to the course
-of these unpleasant reflections, his meditations were unexpectedly
-interrupted by some one touching his shoulder. He looked around, and saw
-Norna of the Fitful-head, wrapped in her dark and ample mantle. She had
-seen him from the brow of the hill, and had descended to the lake,
-through a small ravine which concealed her, until she came with
-noiseless step so close to him that he turned round at her touch.
-
-Mordaunt Mertoun was by nature neither timorous nor credulous, and a
-course of reading more extensive than usual had, in some degree,
-fortified his mind against the attacks of superstition; but he would
-have been an actual prodigy, if, living in Zetland in the end of the
-seventeenth century, he had possessed the philosophy which did not exist
-in Scotland generally, until at least two generations later. He doubted
-in his own mind the extent, nay, the very existence, of Norna's
-supernatural attributes, which was a high flight of incredulity in the
-country where they were universally received; but still his incredulity
-went no farther than doubts. She was unquestionably an extraordinary
-woman, gifted with an energy above others, acting upon motives peculiar
-to herself, and apparently independent of mere earthly considerations.
-Impressed with these ideas, which he had imbibed from his youth, it was
-not without something like alarm, that he beheld this mysterious female
-standing on a sudden so close beside him, and looking upon him with such
-sad and severe eyes, as those with which the Fatal Virgins, who,
-according to northern mythology, were called the _Valkyriur_, or
-"Choosers of the Slain," were supposed to regard the young champions
-whom they selected to share the banquet of Odin.
-
-It was, indeed, reckoned unlucky, to say the least, to meet with Norna
-suddenly alone, and in a place remote from witnesses; and she was
-supposed, on such occasions, to have been usually a prophetess of evil,
-as well as an omen of misfortune, to those who had such a rencontre.
-There were few or none of the islanders, however familiarized with her
-occasional appearance in society, that would not have trembled to meet
-her on the solitary banks of the Green Loch.
-
-"I bring you no evil, Mordaunt Mertoun," she said, reading perhaps
-something of this superstitious feeling in the looks of the young man.
-"Evil from me you never felt, and never will."
-
-"Nor do I fear any," said Mordaunt, exerting himself to throw aside an
-apprehension which he felt to be unmanly. "Why should I, mother? You
-have been ever my friend."
-
-"Yet, Mordaunt, thou art not of our region; but to none of Zetland
-blood, no, not even to those who sit around the hearth-stone of Magnus
-Troil, the noble descendants of the ancient Jarls of Orkney, am I more a
-well-wisher, than I am to thee, thou kind and brave-hearted boy. When I
-hung around thy neck that gifted chain, which all in our isles know was
-wrought by no earthly artist, but by the Drows,[36] in the secret
-recesses of their caverns, thou wert then but fifteen years old; yet thy
-foot had been on the Maiden-skerrie of Northmaven, known before but to
-the webbed sole of the swartback, and thy skiff had been in the deepest
-cavern of Brinnastir, where the _haaf-fish_[37] had before slumbered in
-dark obscurity. Therefore I gave thee that noble gift; and well thou
-knowest, that since that day, every eye in these isles has looked on
-thee as a son, or as a brother, endowed beyond other youths, and the
-favoured of those whose hour of power is when the night meets with the
-day."
-
-"Alas! mother," said Mordaunt, "your kind gift may have given me favour,
-but it has not been able to keep it for me, or I have not been able to
-keep it for myself.--What matters it? I shall learn to set as little by
-others as they do by me. My father says that I shall soon leave these
-islands, and therefore, Mother Norna, I will return to you your fairy
-gift, that it may bring more lasting luck to some other than it has done
-to me."
-
-"Despise not the gift of the nameless race," said Norna, frowning; then
-suddenly changing her tone of displeasure to that of mournful solemnity,
-she added,--"Despise them not, but, O Mordaunt, court them not! Sit down
-on that grey stone--thou art the son of my adoption, and I will doff, as
-far as I may, those attributes that sever me from the common mass of
-humanity, and speak with you as a parent with a child."
-
-There was a tremulous tone of grief which mingled with the loftiness of
-her language and carriage, and was calculated to excite sympathy, as
-well as to attract attention. Mordaunt sat down on the rock which she
-pointed out, a fragment which, with many others that lay scattered
-around, had been torn by some winter storm from the precipice at the
-foot of which it lay, upon the very verge of the water. Norna took her
-own seat on a stone at about three feet distance, adjusted her mantle so
-that little more than her forehead, her eyes, and a single lock of her
-grey hair, were seen from beneath the shade of her dark wadmaal cloak,
-and then proceeded in a tone in which the imaginary consequence and
-importance so often assumed by lunacy, seemed to contend against the
-deep workings of some extraordinary and deeply-rooted mental affliction.
-
-"I was not always," she said, "that which I now am. I was not always the
-wise, the powerful, the commanding, before whom the young stand abashed,
-and the old uncover their grey heads. There was a time when my
-appearance did not silence mirth, when I sympathized with human passion,
-and had my own share in human joy or sorrow. It was a time of
-helplessness--it was a time of folly--it was a time of idle and
-unfruitful laughter--it was a time of causeless and senseless
-tears;--and yet, with its follies, and its sorrows, and its weaknesses,
-what would Norna of Fitful-head give to be again the unmarked and happy
-maiden that she was in her early days! Hear me, Mordaunt, and bear with
-me; for you hear me utter complaints which have never sounded in mortal
-ears, and which in mortal ears shall never sound again. I will be what I
-ought," she continued, starting up and extending her lean and withered
-arm, "the queen and protectress of these wild and neglected isles,--I
-will be her whose foot the wave wets not, save by her permission; ay,
-even though its rage be at its wildest madness--whose robe the whirlwind
-respects, when it rends the house-rigging from the roof-tree. Bear me
-witness, Mordaunt Mertoun,--you heard my words at Harfra--you saw the
-tempest sink before them--Speak, bear me witness!"
-
-To have contradicted her in this strain of high-toned enthusiasm, would
-have been cruel and unavailing, even had Mordaunt been more decidedly
-convinced than he was, that an insane woman, not one of supernatural
-power, stood before him.
-
-"I heard you sing," he replied, "and I saw the tempest abate."
-
-"Abate?" exclaimed Norna, striking the ground impatiently with her staff
-of black oak; "thou speakest it but half--it sunk at once--sunk in
-shorter space than the child that is hushed to silence by the
-nurse.--Enough, you know my power--but you know not--mortal man knows
-not, and never shall know, the price which I paid to attain it. No,
-Mordaunt, never for the widest sway that the ancient Norsemen boasted,
-when their banners waved victorious from Bergen to Palestine--never, for
-all that the round world contains, do thou barter thy peace of mind for
-such greatness as Norna's." She resumed her seat upon the rock, drew the
-mantle over her face, rested her head upon her hands, and by the
-convulsive motion which agitated her bosom, appeared to be weeping
-bitterly.
-
-"Good Norna," said Mordaunt, and paused, scarce knowing what to say that
-might console the unhappy woman--"Good Norna," he again resumed, "if
-there be aught in your mind that troubles it, were you not best to go to
-the worthy minister at Dunrossness? Men say you have not for many years
-been in a Christian congregation--that cannot be well, or right. You are
-yourself well known as a healer of bodily disease; but when the mind is
-sick, we should draw to the Physician of our souls."
-
-Norna had raised her person slowly from the stooping posture in which
-she sat; but at length she started up on her feet, threw back her
-mantle, extended her arm, and while her lip foamed, and her eye
-sparkled, exclaimed in a tone resembling a scream,--"Me did you
-speak--me did you bid seek out a priest!--would you kill the good man
-with horror?--Me in a Christian congregation!--Would you have the roof
-to fall on the sackless assembly, and mingle their blood with their
-worship? I--I seek to the good Physician!--Would you have the fiend
-claim his prey openly before God and man?"
-
-The extreme agitation of the unhappy speaker naturally led Mordaunt to
-the conclusion, which was generally adopted and accredited in that
-superstitious country and period. "Wretched woman," he said, "if indeed
-thou hast leagued thyself with the Powers of Evil, why should you not
-seek even yet for repentance? But do as thou wilt, I cannot, dare not,
-as a Christian, abide longer with you; and take again your gift," he
-said, offering back the chain. "Good can never come of it, if indeed
-evil hath not come already."
-
-"Be still and hear me, thou foolish boy," said Norna, calmly, as if she
-had been restored to reason by the alarm and horror which she perceived
-in Mordaunt's countenance;--"hear me, I say. I am not of those who have
-leagued themselves with the Enemy of Mankind, or derive skill or power
-from his ministry. And although the unearthly powers _were_ propitiated
-by a sacrifice which human tongue can never utter, yet, God knows, my
-guilt in that offering was no more than that of the blind man who falls
-from the precipice which he could neither see nor shun. O, leave me
-not--shun me not--in this hour of weakness! Remain with me till the
-temptation be passed, or I will plunge myself into that lake, and rid
-myself at once of my power and my wretchedness!"
-
-Mordaunt, who had always looked up to this singular woman with a sort of
-affection, occasioned no doubt by the early kindness and distinction
-which she had shown to him, was readily induced to reassume his seat,
-and listen to what she had further to say, in hopes that she would
-gradually overcome the violence of her agitation. It was not long ere
-she seemed to have gained the victory her companion expected, for she
-addressed him in her usual steady and authoritative manner.
-
-"It was not of myself, Mordaunt, that I purposed to speak, when I beheld
-you from the summit of yonder grey rock, and came down the path to meet
-with you. My fortunes are fixed beyond change, be it for weal or for
-woe. For myself I have ceased to feel much; but for those whom she
-loves, Norna of the Fitful-head has still those feelings which link her
-to her kind. Mark me. There is an eagle, the noblest that builds in
-these airy precipices, and into that eagle's nest there has crept an
-adder--wilt thou lend thy aid to crush the reptile, and to save the
-noble brood of the lord of the north sky?"
-
-"You must speak more plainly, Norna," said Mordaunt, "if you would have
-me understand or answer you. I am no guesser of riddles."
-
-"In plain language, then, you know well the family of Burgh-Westra--the
-lovely daughters of the generous old Udaller, Magnus Troil,--Minna and
-Brenda, I mean? You know them, and you love them?"
-
-"I have known them, mother," replied Mordaunt, "and I have loved
-them--none knows it better than yourself."
-
-"To know them once," said Norna, emphatically, "is to know them always.
-To love them once, is to love them for ever."
-
-"To have loved them once, is to wish them well for ever," replied the
-youth; "but it is nothing more. To be plain with you, Norna, the family
-at Burgh-Westra have of late totally neglected me. But show me the means
-of serving them, I will convince you how much I have remembered old
-kindness, how little I resent late coldness."
-
-"It is well spoken, and I will put your purpose to the proof," replied
-Norna. "Magnus Troil has taken a serpent into his bosom--his lovely
-daughters are delivered up to the machinations of a villain."
-
-"You mean the stranger, Cleveland?" said Mordaunt.
-
-"The stranger who so calls himself," replied Norna--"the same whom we
-found flung ashore, like a waste heap of sea-weed, at the foot of the
-Sumburgh-cape. I felt that within me, that would have prompted me to let
-him lie till the tide floated him off, as it had floated him on shore. I
-repent me I gave not way to it."
-
-"But," said Mordaunt, "I cannot repent that I did my duty as a Christian
-man. And what right have I to wish otherwise? If Minna, Brenda, Magnus,
-and the rest, like that stranger better than me, I have no title to be
-offended; nay, I might well be laughed at for bringing myself into
-comparison."
-
-"It is well, and I trust they merit thy unselfish friendship."
-
-"But I cannot perceive," said Mordaunt, "in what you can propose that I
-should serve them. I have but just learned by Bryce the jagger, that
-this Captain Cleveland is all in all with the ladies at Burgh-Westra,
-and with the Udaller himself. I would like ill to intrude myself where I
-am not welcome, or to place my home-bred merit in comparison with
-Captain Cleveland's. He can tell them of battles, when I can only speak
-of birds' nests--can speak of shooting Frenchmen, when I can only tell
-of shooting seals--he wears gay clothes, and bears a brave countenance;
-I am plainly dressed, and plainly nurtured. Such gay gallants as he can
-noose the hearts of those he lives with, as the fowler nooses the
-guillemot with his rod and line."
-
-"You do wrong to yourself," replied Norna, "wrong to yourself, and
-greater wrong to Minna and Brenda. And trust not the reports of
-Bryce--he is like the greedy chaffer-whale, that will change his course
-and dive for the most petty coin which a fisher can cast at him. Certain
-it is, that if you have been lessened in the opinion of Magnus Troil,
-that sordid fellow hath had some share in it. But let him count his
-vantage, for my eye is upon him."
-
-"And why, mother," said Mordaunt, "do you not tell to Magnus what you
-have told to me?"
-
-"Because," replied Norna, "they who wax wise in their own conceit must
-be taught a bitter lesson by experience. It was but yesterday that I
-spoke with Magnus, and what was his reply?--'Good Norna, you grow old.'
-And this was spoken by one bounden to me by so many and such close
-ties--by the descendant of the ancient Norse earls--this was from Magnus
-Troil to me; and it was said in behalf of one, whom the sea flung forth
-as wreck-weed! Since he despises the counsel of the aged, he shall be
-taught by that of the young; and well that he is not left to his own
-folly. Go, therefore, to Burgh-Westra, as usual, upon the Baptist's
-festival."
-
-"I have had no invitation," said Mordaunt; "I am not wanted, not wished
-for, not thought of--perhaps I shall not be acknowledged if I go
-thither; and yet, mother, to confess the truth, thither I had thought to
-go."
-
-"It was a good thought, and to be cherished," replied Norna; "we seek
-our friends when they are sick in health, why not when they are sick in
-mind, and surfeited with prosperity? Do not fail to go--it may be, we
-shall meet there. Meanwhile our roads lie different. Farewell, and speak
-not of this meeting."
-
-They parted, and Mordaunt remained standing by the lake, with his eyes
-fixed on Norna, until her tall dark form became invisible among the
-windings of the valley down which she wandered, and Mordaunt returned to
-his father's mansion, determined to follow counsel which coincided so
-well with his own wishes.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[36] The Drows, or Trows, the legitimate successors of the northern
-_duergar_, and somewhat allied to the fairies, reside, like them, in the
-interior of green hills and caverns, and are most powerful at midnight.
-They are curious artificers in iron, as well as in the precious metals,
-and are sometimes propitious to mortals, but more frequently capricious
-and malevolent. Among the common people of Zetland, their existence
-still forms an article of universal belief. In the neighbouring isles of
-Feroe, they are called Foddenskencand, or subterranean people; and Lucas
-Jacobson Debes,(_h_) well acquainted with their nature, assures us that
-they inhabit those places which are polluted with the effusion of blood,
-or the practice of any crying sin. They have a government, which seems
-to be monarchical.
-
-[37] The larger seal, or sea-calf, which seeks the most solitary
-recesses for its abode. See Dr. EDMONSTONE'S _Zetland_, vol. ii., p.
-294.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-          ----All your ancient customs,
-  And long-descended usages, I'll change.
-  Ye shall not eat, nor drink, nor speak, nor move,
-  Think, look, or walk, as ye were wont to do.
-  Even your marriage-beds shall know mutation;
-  The bride shall have the stock, the groom the wall;
-  For all old practice will I turn and change,
-  And call it reformation--marry will I!
-
-                             _'Tis Even that we're at Odds._
-
-
-The festal day approached, and still no invitation arrived for that
-guest, without whom, but a little space since, no feast could have been
-held in the island; while, on the other hand, such reports as reached
-them on every side spoke highly of the favour which Captain Cleveland
-enjoyed in the good graces of the old Udaller of Burgh-Westra. Swertha
-and the Ranzelman shook their heads at these mutations, and reminded
-Mordaunt, by many a half-hint and innuendo, that he had incurred this
-eclipse by being so imprudently active to secure the safety of the
-stranger, when he lay at the mercy of the next wave beneath the cliffs
-of Sumburgh-head. "It is best to let saut water take its gate," said
-Swertha; "luck never came of crossing it."
-
-"In troth," said the Ranzelman, "they are wise folks that let wave and
-withy haud their ain--luck never came of a half-drowned man, or a
-half-hanged ane either. Who was't shot Will Paterson off the Noss?--the
-Dutchman that he saved from sinking, I trow. To fling a drowning man a
-plank or a tow, may be the part of a Christian; but I say, keep hands
-aff him, if ye wad live and thrive free frae his danger."
-
-"Ye are a wise man, Ranzelman, and a worthy," echoed Swertha, with a
-groan, "and ken how and whan to help a neighbour, as well as ony man
-that ever drew a net."
-
-"In troth, I have seen length of days," answered the Ranzelman, "and I
-have heard what the auld folk said to each other anent sic matters; and
-nae man in Zetland shall go farther than I will in any Christian service
-to a man on firm land; but if he cry 'Help!' out of the saut waves,
-that's another story."
-
-"And yet, to think of this lad Cleveland standing in our Maister
-Mordaunt's light," said Swertha, "and with Magnus Troil, that thought
-him the flower of the island but on Whitsunday last, and Magnus, too,
-that's both held (when he's fresh, honest man) the wisest and wealthiest
-of Zetland!"
-
-"He canna win by it," said the Ranzelman, with a look of the deepest
-sagacity. "There's whiles, Swertha, that the wisest of us (as I am sure
-I humbly confess mysell not to be) may be little better than gulls, and
-can no more win by doing deeds of folly than I can step over
-Sumburgh-head. It has been my own case once or twice in my life. But we
-shall see soon what ill is to come of all this, for good there cannot
-come."
-
-And Swertha answered, with the same tone of prophetic wisdom, "Na, na,
-gude can never come on it, and that is ower truly said."
-
-These doleful predictions, repeated from time to time, had some effect
-upon Mordaunt. He did not indeed suppose, that the charitable action of
-relieving a drowning man had subjected him, as a necessary and fatal
-consequence, to the unpleasant circumstances in which he was placed; yet
-he felt as if a sort of spell were drawn around him, of which he neither
-understood the nature nor the extent;--that some power, in short, beyond
-his own control, was acting upon his destiny, and, as it seemed, with no
-friendly influence. His curiosity, as well as his anxiety, was highly
-excited, and he continued determined, at all events, to make his
-appearance at the approaching festival, when he was impressed with the
-belief that something uncommon was necessarily to take place, which
-should determine his future views and prospects in life.
-
-As the elder Mertoun was at this time in his ordinary state of health,
-it became necessary that his son should intimate to him his intended
-visit to Burgh-Westra. He did so; and his father desired to know the
-especial reason of his going thither at this particular time.
-
-"It is a time of merry-making," replied the youth, "and all the country
-are assembled."
-
-"And you are doubtless impatient to add another fool to the
-number.--Go--but beware how you walk in the path which you are about to
-tread--a fall from the cliffs of Foulah were not more fatal."
-
-"May I ask the reason of your caution, sir?" replied Mordaunt, breaking
-through the reserve which ordinarily subsisted betwixt him and his
-singular parent.
-
-"Magnus Troil," said the elder Mertoun, "has two daughters--you are of
-the age when men look upon such gauds with eyes of affection, that they
-may afterwards learn to curse the day that first opened their eyes upon
-heaven! I bid you beware of them; for, as sure as that death and sin
-came into the world by woman, so sure are their soft words, and softer
-looks, the utter destruction and ruin of all who put faith in them."
-
-Mordaunt had sometimes observed his father's marked dislike to the
-female sex, but had never before heard him give vent to it in terms so
-determined and precise. He replied, that the daughters of Magnus Troil
-were no more to him than any other females in the islands; "they were
-even of less importance," he said, "for they had broken off their
-friendship with him, without assigning any cause."
-
-"And you go to seek the renewal of it?" answered his father. "Silly
-moth, that hast once escaped the taper without singeing thy wings, are
-you not contented with the safe obscurity of these wilds, but must
-hasten back to the flame, which is sure at length to consume thee? But
-why should I waste arguments in deterring thee from thy inevitable
-fate?--Go where thy destiny calls thee."
-
-On the succeeding day, which was the eve of the great festival, Mordaunt
-set forth on his road to Burgh-Westra, pondering alternately on the
-injunctions of Norna--on the ominous words of his father--on the
-inauspicious auguries of Swertha and the Ranzelman of Jarlshof--and not
-without experiencing that gloom with which so many concurring
-circumstances of ill omen combined to oppress his mind.
-
-"It bodes me but a cold reception at Burgh-Westra," said he; "but my
-stay shall be the shorter. I will but find out whether they have been
-deceived by this seafaring stranger, or whether they have acted out of
-pure caprice of temper, and love of change of company. If the first be
-the case, I will vindicate my character, and let Captain Cleveland look
-to himself;--if the latter, why, then, good-night to Burgh-Westra and
-all its inmates."
-
-As he mentally meditated this last alternative, hurt pride, and a return
-of fondness for those to whom he supposed he was bidding farewell for
-ever, brought a tear into his eye, which he dashed off hastily and
-indignantly, as, mending his pace, he continued on his journey.
-
-The weather being now serene and undisturbed, Mordaunt made his way with
-an ease that formed a striking contrast to the difficulties which he had
-encountered when he last travelled the same route; yet there was a less
-pleasing subject for comparison, within his own mind.
-
-"My breast," he said to himself, "was then against the wind, but my
-heart within was serene and happy. I would I had now the same careless
-feelings, were they to be bought by battling with the severest storm
-that ever blew across these lonely hills!"
-
-With such thoughts, he arrived about noon at Harfra, the habitation, as
-the reader may remember, of the ingenious Mr. Yellowley. Our traveller
-had, upon the present occasion, taken care to be quite independent of
-the niggardly hospitality of this mansion, which was now become infamous
-on that account through the whole island, by bringing with him, in his
-small knapsack, such provisions as might have sufficed for a longer
-journey. In courtesy, however, or rather, perhaps, to get rid of his own
-disquieting thoughts, Mordaunt did not fail to call at the mansion,
-which he found in singular commotion. Triptolemus himself, invested
-with a pair of large jack-boots, went clattering up and down stairs,
-screaming out questions to his sister and his serving-woman Tronda, who
-replied with shriller and more complicated screeches. At length, Mrs.
-Baby herself made her appearance, her venerable person endued with what
-was then called a joseph, an ample garment, which had once been green,
-but now, betwixt stains and patches, had become like the vesture of the
-patriarch whose name it bore--a garment of divers colours. A
-steeple-crowned hat, the purchase of some long-past moment, in which
-vanity had got the better of avarice, with a feather which had stood as
-much wind and rain as if it had been part of a seamew's wing, made up
-her equipment, save that in her hand she held a silver-mounted whip of
-antique fashion. This attire, as well as an air of determined bustle in
-the gait and appearance of Mrs. Barbara Yellowley, seemed to bespeak
-that she was prepared to take a journey, and cared not, as the saying
-goes, who knew that such was her determination.
-
-She was the first that observed Mordaunt on his arrival, and she greeted
-him with a degree of mingled emotion. "Be good to us!" she exclaimed,
-"if here is not the canty callant that wears yon thing about his neck,
-and that snapped up our goose as light as if it had been a
-sandie-lavrock!" The admiration of the gold chain, which had formerly
-made so deep an impression on her mind, was marked in the first part of
-her speech, the recollection of the untimely fate of the smoked goose
-was commemorated in the second clause. "I will lay the burden of my
-life," she instantly added, "that he is ganging our gate."
-
-"I am bound for Burgh-Westra, Mrs. Yellowley," said Mordaunt.
-
-"And blithe will we be of your company," she added--"it's early day to
-eat; but if you liked a barley scone and a drink of bland--natheless, it
-is ill travelling on a full stomach, besides quelling your appetite for
-the feast that is biding you this day; for all sort of prodigality there
-will doubtless be."
-
-Mordaunt produced his own stores, and, explaining that he did not love
-to be burdensome to them on this second occasion, invited them to
-partake of the provisions he had to offer. Poor Triptolemus, who seldom
-saw half so good a dinner as his guest's luncheon, threw himself upon
-the good cheer, like Sancho on the scum of Camacho's kettle, and even
-the lady herself could not resist the temptation, though she gave way to
-it with more moderation, and with something like a sense of shame. "She
-had let the fire out," she said, "for it was a pity wasting fuel in so
-cold a country, and so she had not thought of getting any thing ready,
-as they were to set out so soon; and so she could not but say, that the
-young gentleman's _nacket_ looked very good; and besides, she had some
-curiosity to see whether the folks in that country cured their beef in
-the same way they did in the north of Scotland." Under which combined
-considerations, Dame Baby made a hearty experiment on the refreshments
-which thus unexpectedly presented themselves.
-
-When their extemporary repast was finished, the factor became solicitous
-to take the road; and now Mordaunt discovered, that the alacrity with
-which he had been received by Mistress Baby was not altogether
-disinterested. Neither she nor the learned Triptolemus felt much
-disposed to commit themselves to the wilds of Zetland, without the
-assistance of a guide; and although they could have commanded the aid of
-one of their own labouring folks, yet the cautious agriculturist
-observed, that it would be losing at least one day's work; and his
-sister multiplied his apprehensions by echoing back, "One day's
-work?--ye may weel say twenty--for, set ane of their noses within the
-smell of a kail-pot, and their lugs within the sound of a fiddle, and
-whistle them back if ye can!"
-
-Now the fortunate arrival of Mordaunt, in the very nick of time, not to
-mention the good cheer which he brought with him, made him as welcome as
-any one could possibly be to a threshold, which, on all ordinary
-occasions, abhorred the passage of a guest; nor was Mr. Yellowley
-altogether insensible of the pleasure he promised himself in detailing
-his plans of improvement to his young companion, and enjoying what his
-fate seldom assigned him--the company of a patient and admiring
-listener.
-
-As the factor and his sister were to prosecute their journey on
-horseback, it only remained to mount their guide and companion; a thing
-easily accomplished, where there are such numbers of shaggy,
-long-backed, short-legged ponies, running wild upon the extensive moors,
-which are the common pasturage for the cattle of every township, where
-shelties, geese, swine, goats, sheep, and little Zetland cows, are
-turned out promiscuously, and often in numbers which can obtain but
-precarious subsistence from the niggard vegetation. There is, indeed, a
-right of individual property in all these animals, which are branded or
-tattooed by each owner with his own peculiar mark; but when any
-passenger has occasional use for a pony, he never scruples to lay hold
-of the first which he can catch, puts on a halter, and, having rode him
-as far as he finds convenient, turns the animal loose to find his way
-back again as he best can--a matter in which the ponies are sufficiently
-sagacious.
-
-Although this general exercise of property was one of the enormities
-which in due time the factor intended to abolish, yet, like a wise man,
-he scrupled not, in the meantime, to avail himself of so general a
-practice, which, he condescended to allow, was particularly convenient
-for those who (as chanced to be his own present case) had no ponies of
-their own on which their neighbours could retaliate. Three shelties,
-therefore, were procured from the hill--little shagged animals, more
-resembling wild bears than any thing of the horse tribe, yet possessed
-of no small degree of strength and spirit, and able to endure as much
-fatigue and indifferent usage as any creatures in the world.
-
-Two of these horses were already provided and fully accoutred for the
-journey. One of them, destined to bear the fair person of Mistress Baby,
-was decorated with a huge side-saddle of venerable antiquity--a mass, as
-it were, of cushion and padding, from which depended, on all sides, a
-housing of ancient tapestry, which, having been originally intended for
-a horse of ordinary size, covered up the diminutive palfrey over which
-it was spread, from the ears to the tail, and from the shoulder to the
-fetlock, leaving nothing visible but its head, which looked fiercely out
-from these enfoldments, like the heraldic representation of a lion
-looking out of a bush. Mordaunt gallantly lifted up the fair Mistress
-Yellowley, and at the expense of very slight exertion, placed her upon
-the summit of her mountainous saddle. It is probable, that, on feeling
-herself thus squired and attended upon, and experiencing the long
-unwonted consciousness that she was attired in her best array, some
-thoughts dawned upon Mistress Baby's mind, which checkered, for an
-instant, those habitual ideas about thrift, that formed the daily and
-all-engrossing occupation of her soul. She glanced her eye upon her
-faded joseph, and on the long housings of her saddle, as she observed,
-with a smile, to Mordaunt, that "travelling was a pleasant thing in fine
-weather and agreeable company, if," she added, glancing a look at a
-place where the embroidery was somewhat frayed and tattered, "it was not
-sae wasteful to ane's horse-furniture."
-
-Meanwhile, her brother stepped stoutly to his steed; and as he chose,
-notwithstanding the serenity of the weather, to throw a long red cloak
-over his other garments, his pony was even more completely enveloped in
-drapery than that of his sister. It happened, moreover, to be an animal
-of an high and contumacious spirit, bouncing and curvetting occasionally
-under the weight of Triptolemus, with a vivacity which, notwithstanding
-his Yorkshire descent, rather deranged him in the saddle; gambols which,
-as the palfrey itself was not visible, except upon the strictest
-inspection, had, at a little distance, an effect as if they were the
-voluntary movements of the cloaked cavalier, without the assistance of
-any other legs than those with which nature had provided him; and, to
-any who had viewed Triptolemus under such a persuasion, the gravity, and
-even distress, announced in his countenance, must have made a ridiculous
-contrast to the vivacious caprioles with which he piaffed along the
-moor.
-
-Mordaunt kept up with this worthy couple, mounted, according to the
-simplicity of the time and country, on the first and readiest pony which
-they had been able to press into the service, with no other accoutrement
-of any kind than the halter which served to guide him; while Mr.
-Yellowley, seeing with pleasure his guide thus readily provided with a
-steed, privately resolved, that this rude custom of helping travellers
-to horses, without leave of the proprietor, should not be abated in
-Zetland, until he came to possess a herd of ponies belonging in property
-to himself, and exposed to suffer in the way of retaliation.
-
-But to other uses or abuses of the country, Triptolemus Yellowley showed
-himself less tolerant. Long and wearisome were the discourses he held
-with Mordaunt, or (to speak much more correctly) the harangues which he
-inflicted upon him, concerning the changes which his own advent in these
-isles was about to occasion. Unskilled as he was in the modern arts by
-which an estate may be improved to such a high degree that it shall
-altogether slip through the proprietor's fingers, Triptolemus had at
-least the zeal, if not the knowledge, of a whole agricultural society in
-his own person; nor was he surpassed by any who has followed him, in
-that noble spirit which scorns to balance profit against outlay, but
-holds the glory of effecting a great change on the face of the land, to
-be, like virtue, in a great degree its own reward.
-
-No part of the wild and mountainous region over which Mordaunt guided
-him, but what suggested to his active imagination some scheme of
-improvement and alteration. He would make a road through yon scarce
-passable glen, where at present nothing but the sure-footed creatures on
-which they were mounted could tread with any safety. He would substitute
-better houses for the skeoes, or sheds built of dry stones, in which the
-inhabitants cured or manufactured their fish--they should brew good ale
-instead of bland--they should plant forests where tree never grew, and
-find mines of treasure where a Danish skilling was accounted a coin of a
-most respectable denomination. All these mutations, with many others,
-did the worthy factor resolve upon, speaking at the same time with the
-utmost confidence of the countenance and assistance which he was to
-receive from the higher classes, and especially from Magnus Troil.
-
-"I will impart some of my ideas to the poor man," he said, "before we
-are both many hours older; and you will mark how grateful he will be to
-the instructor who brings him knowledge, which is better than wealth."
-
-"I would not have you build too strongly on that," said Mordaunt, by way
-of caution; "Magnus Troil's boat is kittle to trim--he likes his own
-ways, and his country-ways, and you will as soon teach your sheltie to
-dive like a sealgh, as bring Magnus to take a Scottish fashion in the
-place of a Norse one; and yet, if he is steady to his old customs, he
-may perhaps be as changeable as another in his old friendships."
-
-"_Heus, tu inepte!_" said the scholar of Saint Andrews, "steady or
-unsteady, what can it matter?--am not I here in point of trust, and in
-point of power? and shall a Fowd, by which barbarous appellative this
-Magnus Troil still calls himself, presume to measure judgment and weigh
-reasons with me, who represent the full dignity of the Chamberlain of
-the islands of Orkney and Zetland?"
-
-"Still," said Mordaunt, "I would advise you not to advance too rashly
-upon his prejudices. Magnus Troil, from the hour of his birth to this
-day, never saw a greater man than himself, and it is difficult to bridle
-an old horse for the first time. Besides, he has at no time in his life
-been a patient listener to long explanations, so it is possible that he
-may quarrel with your purposed reformation, before you can convince him
-of its advantages."
-
-"How mean you, young man?" said the factor. "Is there one who dwells in
-these islands, who is so wretchedly blind as not to be sensible of their
-deplorable defects? Can a man," he added, rising into enthusiasm as he
-spoke, "or even a beast, look at that thing there, which they have the
-impudence to call a corn-mill,[38] without trembling to think that corn
-should be intrusted to such a miserable molendinary? The wretches are
-obliged to have at least fifty in each parish, each trundling away upon
-its paltry mill-stone, under the thatch of a roof no bigger than a
-bee-skep, instead of a noble and seemly baron's mill, of which you would
-hear the clack through the haill country, and that casts the meal
-through the mill-eye by forpits at a time!"
-
-"Ay, ay, brother," said his sister, "that's spoken like your wise sell.
-The mair cost the mair honour--that's your word ever mair. Can it no
-creep into your wise head, man, that ilka body grinds their ain nievefu'
-of meal in this country, without plaguing themsells about barons' mills,
-and thirls, and sucken, and the like trade? How mony a time have I
-heard you bell-the-cat with auld Edie Netherstane, the miller at
-Grindleburn, and wi' his very knave too, about in-town and out-town
-multures--lock, gowpen, and knaveship,(_i_) and a' the lave o't; and now
-naething less will serve you than to bring in the very same fashery on a
-wheen puir bodies, that big ilk ane a mill for themselves, sic as it
-is?"
-
-"Dinna tell me of gowpen and knaveship!" exclaimed the indignant
-agriculturist; "better pay the half of the grist to the miller, to have
-the rest grund in a Christian manner, than put good grain into a bairn's
-whirligig. Look at it for a moment, Baby--Bide still, ye cursed imp!"
-This interjection was applied to his pony, which began to be extremely
-impatient, while its rider interrupted his journey, to point out
-all the weak points of the Zetland mill--"Look at it, I say--it's
-just one degree better than a hand-quern--it has neither wheel nor
-trindle--neither cog nor happer--Bide still, there's a canny
-beast--it canna grind a bickerfu' of meal in a quarter of an hour,
-and that will be mair like a mash for horse than a meltith for man's
-use--Wherefore--Bide still, I say--wherefore--wherefore--The deil's in
-the beast, and nae good, I think!"
-
-As he uttered the last words, the shelty, which had pranced and
-curvetted for some time with much impatience, at length got its head
-betwixt its legs, and at once canted its rider into the little rivulet,
-which served to drive the depreciated engine he was surveying; then
-emancipating itself from the folds of the cloak, fled back towards its
-own wilderness, neighing in scorn, and flinging out its heels at every
-five yards.
-
-Laughing heartily at his disaster, Mordaunt helped the old man to arise;
-while his sister sarcastically congratulated him on having fallen rather
-into the shallows of a Zetland rivulet than the depths of a Scottish
-mill-pond. Disdaining to reply to this sarcasm, Triptolemus, so soon as
-he had recovered his legs, shaken his ears, and found that the folds of
-his cloak had saved him from being much wet in the scanty streamlet,
-exclaimed aloud, "I will have cussers from Lanarkshire--brood mares from
-Ayrshire--I will not have one of these cursed abortions left on the
-islands, to break honest folk's necks--I say, Baby, I will rid the land
-of them."
-
-"Ye had better wring your ain cloak, Triptolemus," answered Baby.
-
-Mordaunt meanwhile was employed in catching another pony, from a herd
-which strayed at some distance; and, having made a halter out of twisted
-rushes, he seated the dismayed agriculturist in safety upon a more
-quiet, though less active steed, than that which he had at first
-bestrode.
-
-But Mr. Yellowley's fall had operated as a considerable sedative upon
-his spirits, and, for the full space of five miles' travel, he said
-scarce a word, leaving full course to the melancholy aspirations and
-lamentations which his sister Baby bestowed on the old bridle, which the
-pony had carried off in its flight, and which, she observed, after
-having lasted for eighteen years come Martinmas, might now be considered
-as a castaway thing. Finding she had thus the field to herself, the old
-lady launched forth into a lecture upon economy, according to her own
-idea of that virtue, which seemed to include a system of privations,
-which, though observed with the sole purpose of saving money, might, if
-undertaken upon other principles, have ranked high in the history of a
-religious ascetic.
-
-She was but little interrupted by Mordaunt, who, conscious he was now on
-the eve of approaching Burgh-Westra, employed himself rather in the task
-of anticipating the nature of the reception he was about to meet with
-there from two beautiful young women, than with the prosing of an old
-one, however wisely she might prove that small-beer was more wholesome
-than strong ale, and that if her brother had bruised his ankle bone in
-his tumble, cumfrey and butter was better to bring him round again, than
-all the doctor's drugs in the world.
-
-But now the dreary moorlands, over which their path had hitherto lain,
-were exchanged for a more pleasant prospect, opening on a salt-water
-lake, or arm of the sea, which ran up far inland, and was surrounded by
-flat and fertile ground, producing crops better than the experienced eye
-of Triptolemus Yellowley had as yet witnessed in Zetland. In the midst
-of this Goshen stood the mansion of Burgh-Westra, screened from the
-north and east by a ridge of heathy hills which lay behind it, and
-commanding an interesting prospect of the lake and its parent ocean, as
-well as the islands, and more distant mountains. From the mansion
-itself, as well as from almost every cottage in the adjacent hamlet,
-arose such a rich cloud of vapoury smoke, as showed, that the
-preparations for the festival were not confined to the principal
-residence of Magnus himself, but extended through the whole vicinage.
-
-"My certie," said Mrs. Baby Yellowley, "ane wad think the haill town was
-on fire! The very hill-side smells of their wastefulness, and a hungry
-heart wad scarce seek better kitchen[39] to a barley scone, than just
-to waft it in the reek that's rising out of yon lums."
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[38] Note VI.--Zetland Corn-mills.
-
-[39] What is eat by way of relish to dry bread is called _kitchen_ in
-Scotland, as cheese, dried fish, or the like relishing morsels.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-            ----Thou hast described
-  A hot friend cooling. Ever note, Lucilius,
-  When love begins to sicken and decay,
-  It useth an enforced ceremony.
-  There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.
-
-                                             _Julius Cæsar._
-
-
-If the smell which was wafted from the chimneys of Burgh-Westra up to
-the barren hills by which the mansion was surrounded, could, as Mistress
-Barbara opined, have refreshed the hungry, the noise which proceeded
-from thence might have given hearing to the deaf. It was a medley of all
-sounds, and all connected with jollity and kind welcome. Nor were the
-sights associated with them less animating.
-
-Troops of friends were seen in the act of arriving--their dispersed
-ponies flying to the moors in every direction, to recover their own
-pastures in the best way they could;--such, as we have already said,
-being the usual mode of discharging the cavalry which had been levied
-for a day's service. At a small but commodious harbour, connected with
-the house and hamlet, those visitors were landing from their boats, who,
-living in distant islands, and along the coast, had preferred making
-their journey by sea. Mordaunt and his companions might see each party
-pausing frequently to greet each other, and strolling on successively to
-the house, whose ever open gate received them alternately in such
-numbers, that it seemed the extent of the mansion, though suited to the
-opulence and hospitality of the owner, was scarce, on this occasion,
-sufficient for the guests.
-
-Among the confused sounds of mirth and welcome which arose at the
-entrance of each new company, Mordaunt thought he could distinguish the
-loud laugh and hearty salutation of the Sire of the mansion, and began
-to feel more deeply than before, the anxious doubt, whether that cordial
-reception, which was distributed so freely to all others, would be on
-this occasion extended to him. As they came on, they heard the voluntary
-scrapings and bravura effusions of the gallant fiddlers, who impatiently
-flung already from their bows those sounds with which they were to
-animate the evening. The clamour of the cook's assistants, and the loud
-scolding tones of the cook himself, were also to be heard--sounds of
-dissonance at any other time, but which, subdued with others, and by
-certain happy associations, form no disagreeable part of the full chorus
-which always precedes a rural feast.
-
-Meanwhile, the guests advanced, each full of their own thoughts.
-Mordaunt's we have already noticed. Baby was wrapt up in the melancholy
-grief and surprise excited by the positive conviction, that so much
-victuals had been cooked at once as were necessary to feed all the
-mouths which were clamouring around her--an enormity of expense, which,
-though she was no way concerned in bearing it, affected her nerves, as
-the beholding a massacre would touch those of the most indifferent
-spectator, however well assured of his own personal safety. She
-sickened, in short, at the sight of so much extravagance, like
-Abyssinian Bruce, when he saw the luckless minstrels of Gondar hacked to
-pieces by the order of Ras Michael. As for her brother, they being now
-arrived where the rude and antique instruments of Zetland agriculture
-lay scattered in the usual confusion of a Scottish barn-yard, his
-thoughts were at once engrossed in the deficiencies of the one-stilted
-plough--of the _twiscar_, with which they dig peats--of the sledges, on
-which they transport commodities--of all and every thing, in short, in
-which the usages of the islands differed from those of the mainland of
-Scotland. The sight of these imperfect instruments stirred the blood of
-Triptolemus Yellowley, as that of the bold warrior rises at seeing the
-arms and insignia of the enemy he is about to combat; and, faithful to
-his high emprise, he thought less of the hunger which his journey had
-occasioned, although about to be satisfied by such a dinner as rarely
-fell to his lot, than upon the task which he had undertaken, of
-civilizing the manners, and improving the cultivation, of Zetland.
-
-"_Jacta est alea_," he muttered to himself; "this very day shall prove
-whether the Zetlanders are worthy of our labours, or whether their minds
-are as incapable of cultivation as their peat-mosses. Yet let us be
-cautious, and watch the soft time of speech. I feel, by my own
-experience, that it were best to let the body, in its present state,
-take the place of the mind. A mouthful of that same roast-beef, which
-smells so delicately, will form an apt introduction to my grand plan for
-improving the breed of stock."
-
-By this time the visitors had reached the low but ample front of Magnus
-Troil's residence, which seemed of various dates, with large and
-ill-imagined additions, hastily adapted to the original building, as the
-increasing estate, or enlarged family, of successive proprietors,
-appeared to each to demand. Beneath a low, broad, and large porch,
-supported by two huge carved posts, once the head-ornaments of vessels
-which had found shipwreck upon the coast, stood Magnus himself, intent
-on the hospitable toil of receiving and welcoming the numerous guests
-who successively approached. His strong portly figure was well adapted
-to the dress which he wore--a blue coat of an antique cut, lined with
-scarlet, and laced and looped with gold down the seams and button-holes,
-and along the ample cuffs. Strong and masculine features, rendered ruddy
-and brown by frequent exposure to severe weather--a quantity of most
-venerable silver hair, which fell in unshorn profusion from under his
-gold-laced hat, and was carelessly tied with a ribbon behind, expressed
-at once his advanced age, his hasty, yet well-conditioned temper, and
-his robust constitution. As our travellers approached him, a shade of
-displeasure seemed to cross his brow, and to interrupt for an instant
-the honest and hearty burst of hilarity with which he had been in the
-act of greeting all prior arrivals. When he approached Triptolemus
-Yellowley, he drew himself up, so as to mix, as it were, some share of
-the stately importance of the opulent Udaller with the welcome afforded
-by the frank and hospitable landlord.
-
-"You are welcome, Mr. Yellowley," was his address to the factor; "you
-are welcome to Westra--the wind has blown you on a rough coast, and we
-that are the natives must be kind to you as we can. This, I believe, is
-your sister--Mistress Barbara Yellowley, permit me the honour of a
-neighbourly salute."--And so saying, with a daring and self-devoted
-courtesy, which would find no equal in our degenerate days, he actually
-ventured to salute the withered cheek of the spinster, who relaxed so
-much of her usual peevishness of expression, as to receive the courtesy
-with something which approached to a smile. He then looked full at
-Mordaunt Mertoun, and without offering his hand, said, in a tone
-somewhat broken by suppressed agitation, "You too are welcome, Master
-Mordaunt."
-
-"Did I not think so," said Mordaunt, naturally offended by the coldness
-of his host's manner, "I had not been here--and it is not yet too late
-to turn back."
-
-"Young man," replied Magnus, "you know better than most, that from these
-doors no man can turn, without an offence to their owner. I pray you,
-disturb not my guests by your ill-timed scruples. When Magnus Troil says
-welcome, all are welcome who are within hearing of his voice, and it is
-an indifferent loud one.--Walk on, my worthy guests, and let us see what
-cheer my lasses can make you within doors."
-
-So saying, and taking care to make his manner so general to the whole
-party, that Mordaunt should not be able to appropriate any particular
-portion of the welcome to himself, nor yet to complain of being excluded
-from all share in it, the Udaller ushered the guests into his house,
-where two large outer rooms, which, on the present occasion, served the
-purpose of a modern saloon, were already crowded with guests of every
-description.
-
-The furniture was sufficiently simple, and had a character peculiar to
-the situation of those stormy islands. Magnus Troil was, indeed, like
-most of the higher class of Zetland proprietors, a friend to the
-distressed traveller, whether by sea or land, and had repeatedly exerted
-his whole authority in protecting the property and persons of
-shipwrecked mariners; yet so frequent were wrecks upon that tremendous
-coast, and so many unappropriated articles were constantly flung ashore,
-that the interior of the house bore sufficient witness to the ravages of
-the ocean, and to the exercise of those rights which the lawyers term
-_Flotsome and Jetsome_. The chairs, which were arranged around the
-walls, were such as are used in cabins, and many of them were of foreign
-construction; the mirrors and cabinets, which were placed against the
-walls for ornament or convenience, had, it was plain from their form,
-been constructed for ship-board, and one or two of the latter were of
-strange and unknown wood. Even the partition which separated the two
-apartments, seemed constructed out of the bulkhead of some large vessel,
-clumsily adapted to the service which it at present performed, by the
-labour of some native joiner. To a stranger, these evident marks and
-tokens of human misery might, at the first glance, form a contrast with
-the scene of mirth with which they were now associated; but the
-association was so familiar to the natives, that it did not for a moment
-interrupt the course of their glee.
-
-To the younger part of these revellers the presence of Mordaunt was like
-a fresh charm of enjoyment. All came around him to marvel at his
-absence, and all, by their repeated enquiries, plainly showed that they
-conceived it had been entirely voluntary on his side. The youth felt
-that this general acceptation relieved his anxiety on one painful point.
-Whatever prejudice the family of Burgh-Westra might have adopted
-respecting him, it must be of a private nature; and at least he had not
-the additional pain of finding that he was depreciated in the eyes of
-society at large; and his vindication, when he found opportunity to make
-one, would not require to be extended beyond the circle of a single
-family. This was consoling; though his heart still throbbed with anxiety
-at the thought of meeting with his estranged, but still beloved friends.
-Laying the excuse of his absence on his father's state of health, he
-made his way through the various groups of friends and guests, each of
-whom seemed willing to detain him as long as possible, and having, by
-presenting them to one or two families of consequence, got rid of his
-travelling companions, who at first stuck fast as burs, he reached at
-length the door of a small apartment, which, opening from one of the
-large exterior rooms we have mentioned, Minna and Brenda had been
-permitted to fit up after their own taste, and to call their peculiar
-property.
-
-Mordaunt had contributed no small share of the invention and mechanical
-execution employed in fitting up this favourite apartment, and in
-disposing its ornaments. It was, indeed, during his last residence at
-Burgh-Westra, as free to his entrance and occupation, as to its proper
-mistresses. But now, so much were times altered, that he remained with
-his finger on the latch, uncertain whether he should take the freedom to
-draw it, until Brenda's voice pronounced the words, "Come in, then," in
-the tone of one who is interrupted by an unwelcome disturber, who is to
-be heard and dispatched with all the speed possible.
-
-At this signal Mertoun entered the fanciful cabinet of the sisters,
-which by the addition of many ornaments, including some articles of
-considerable value, had been fitted up for the approaching festival. The
-daughters of Magnus, at the moment of Mordaunt's entrance, were seated
-in deep consultation with the stranger Cleveland, and with a little
-slight-made old man, whose eye retained all the vivacity of spirit,
-which had supported him under the thousand vicissitudes of a changeful
-and precarious life, and which, accompanying him in his old age,
-rendered his grey hairs less awfully reverend perhaps, but not less
-beloved, than would a more grave and less imaginative expression of
-countenance and character. There was even a penetrating shrewdness
-mingled in the look of curiosity, with which, as he stepped for an
-instant aside, he seemed to watch the meeting of Mordaunt with the two
-lovely sisters.
-
-The reception the youth met with resembled, in general character, that
-which he had experienced from Magnus himself; but the maidens could not
-so well cover their sense of the change of circumstances under which
-they met. Both blushed, as, rising, and without extending the hand, far
-less offering the cheek, as the fashion of the times permitted, and
-almost exacted, they paid to Mordaunt the salutation due to an ordinary
-acquaintance. But the blush of the elder was one of those transient
-evidences of flitting emotion, that vanish as fast as the passing
-thought which excites them. In an instant she stood before the youth
-calm and cold, returning, with guarded and cautious courtesy, the usual
-civilities, which, with a faltering voice, Mordaunt endeavoured to
-present to her. The emotion of Brenda bore, externally at least, a
-deeper and more agitating character. Her blush extended over every part
-of her beautiful skin which her dress permitted to be visible, including
-her slender neck, and the upper region of a finely formed bosom.
-Neither did she even attempt to reply to what share of his confused
-compliment Mordaunt addressed to her in particular, but regarded him
-with eyes, in which displeasure was evidently mingled with feelings of
-regret, and recollections of former times. Mordaunt felt, as it were,
-assured upon the instant, that the regard of Minna was extinguished, but
-that it might be yet possible to recover that of the milder Brenda; and
-such is the waywardness of human fancy, that though he had never
-hitherto made any distinct difference betwixt these two beautiful and
-interesting girls, the favour of her, which seemed most absolutely
-withdrawn, became at the moment the most interesting in his eyes.
-
-He was disturbed in these hasty reflections by Cleveland, who advanced,
-with military frankness, to pay his compliments to his preserver, having
-only delayed long enough to permit the exchange of the ordinary
-salutation betwixt the visitor and the ladies of the family. He made his
-approach with so good a grace, that it was impossible for Mordaunt,
-although he dated his loss of favour at Burgh-Westra from this
-stranger's appearance on the coast, and domestication in the family, to
-do less than return his advances as courtesy demanded, accept his thanks
-with an appearance of satisfaction, and hope that his time had past
-pleasantly since their last meeting.
-
-Cleveland was about to answer, when he was anticipated by the little old
-man, formerly noticed, who now thrusting himself forward, and seizing
-Mordaunt's hand, kissed him on the forehead; and then at the same time
-echoed and answered his question--"How passes time at Burgh-Westra? Was
-it you that asked it, my prince of the cliff and of the scaur? How
-should it pass, but with all the wings that beauty and joy can add to
-help its flight!"
-
-"And wit and song, too, my good old friend," said Mordaunt,
-half-serious, half-jesting, as he shook the old man cordially by the
-hand.--"These cannot be wanting, where Claud Halcro comes!"
-
-"Jeer me not, Mordaunt, my good lad," replied the old man; "When your
-foot is as slow as mine, your wit frozen, and your song out of tune"----
-
-"How can you belie yourself, my good master?" answered Mordaunt, who was
-not unwilling to avail himself of his old friend's peculiarities to
-introduce something like conversation, break the awkwardness of this
-singular meeting, and gain time for observation, ere requiring an
-explanation of the change of conduct which the family seemed to have
-adopted towards him. "Say not so," he continued. "Time, my old friend,
-lays his hand lightly on the bard. Have I not heard you say, the poet
-partakes the immortality of his song? and surely the great English poet,
-you used to tell us of, was elder than yourself when he pulled the
-bow-oar among all the wits of London."
-
-This alluded to a story which was, as the French term it, Halcro's
-_cheval de bataille_, and any allusion to which was certain at once to
-place him in the saddle, and to push his hobby-horse into full career.
-
-His laughing eye kindled with a sort of enthusiasm, which the ordinary
-folk of this world might have called crazed, while he dashed into the
-subject which he best loved to talk upon. "Alas, alas, my dear Mordaunt
-Mertoun--silver is silver, and waxes not dim by use--and pewter is
-pewter, and grows the longer the duller. It is not for poor Claud Halcro
-to name himself in the same twelvemonth with the immortal John Dryden.
-True it is, as I may have told you before, that I have seen that great
-man, nay I have been in the Wits' Coffeehouse, as it was then called,
-and had once a pinch out of his own very snuff-box. I must have told you
-all how it happened, but here is Captain Cleveland who never heard
-it.--I lodged, you must know, in Russel Street--I question not but you
-know Russel Street, Covent Garden, Captain Cleveland?"
-
-"I should know its latitude pretty well, Mr. Halcro," said the Captain,
-smiling; "but I believe you mentioned the circumstance yesterday, and
-besides we have the day's duty in hand--you must play us this song which
-we are to study."
-
-"It will not serve the turn now," said Halcro, "we must think of
-something that will take in our dear Mordaunt, the first voice in the
-island, whether for a part or solo. I will never be he will touch a
-string to you, unless Mordaunt Mertoun is to help us out.--What say you,
-my fairest Night?--what think you, my sweet Dawn of Day?" he added,
-addressing the young women, upon whom, as we have said elsewhere, he had
-long before bestowed these allegorical names.
-
-"Mr. Mordaunt Mertoun," said Minna, "has come too late to be of our band
-on this occasion--it is our misfortune, but it cannot be helped."
-
-"How? what?" said Halcro, hastily--"too late--and you have practised
-together all your lives? take my word, my bonny lasses, that old tunes
-are sweetest, and old friends surest. Mr. Cleveland has a fine bass,
-that must be allowed; but I would have you trust for the first effect to
-one of the twenty fine airs you can sing where Mordaunt's tenor joins so
-well with your own witchery--here is my lovely Day approves of the
-change in her heart."
-
-"You were never in your life more mistaken, father Halcro," said Brenda,
-her cheeks again reddening, more with displeasure, it seemed, than with
-shame.
-
-"Nay, but how is this?" said the old man, pausing, and looking at them
-alternately. "What have we got here?--a cloudy night and a red
-morning?--that betokens rough weather.--What means all this, young
-women?--where lies the offence?--In me, I fear; for the blame is always
-laid upon the oldest when young folk like you go by the ears."
-
-"The blame is not with you, father Halcro," said Minna, rising, and
-taking her sister by the arm, "if indeed there be blame anywhere."
-
-"I should fear then, Minna," said Mordaunt, endeavouring to soften his
-tone into one of indifferent pleasantry, "that the new comer has brought
-the offence along with him."
-
-"When no offence is taken," replied Minna, with her usual gravity, "it
-matters not by whom such may have been offered."
-
-"Is it possible, Minna!" exclaimed Mordaunt, "and is it you who speak
-thus to me?--And you too, Brenda, can you too judge so hardly of me, yet
-without permitting me one moment of honest and frank explanation?"
-
-"Those who should know best," answered Brenda, in a low but decisive
-tone of voice, "have told us their pleasure, and it must be
-done.--Sister, I think we have staid too long here, and shall be wanted
-elsewhere--Mr. Mertoun will excuse us on so busy a day."
-
-The sisters linked their arms together. Halcro in vain endeavoured to
-stop them, making, at the same time, a theatrical gesture, and
-exclaiming,
-
-  "Now, Day and Night, but this is wondrous strange!"
-
-Then turned to Mordaunt Mertoun, and added--"The girls are possessed
-with the spirit of mutability, showing, as our master Spenser well
-saith, that
-
-  'Among all living creatures, more or lesse,
-  Change still doth reign, and keep the greater sway.'
-
-Captain Cleveland," he continued, "know you any thing that has happened
-to put these two juvenile Graces out of tune?"
-
-"He will lose his reckoning," answered Cleveland, "that spends time in
-enquiring why the wind shifts a point, or why a woman changes her mind.
-Were I Mr. Mordaunt, I would not ask the proud wenches another question
-on such a subject."
-
-"It is a friendly advice, Captain Cleveland," replied Mordaunt, "and I
-will not hold it the less so that it has been given unasked. Allow me to
-enquire if you are yourself as indifferent to the opinion of your female
-friends, as it seems you would have me to be?"
-
-"Who, I?" said the Captain, with an air of frank indifference, "I never
-thought twice upon such a subject. I never saw a woman worth thinking
-twice about after the anchor was a-peak--on shore it is another thing;
-and I will laugh, sing, dance, and make love, if they like it, with
-twenty girls, were they but half so pretty as those who have left us,
-and make them heartily welcome to change their course in the sound of a
-boatswain's whistle. It will be odds but I wear as fast as they can."
-
-A patient is seldom pleased with that sort of consolation which is
-founded on holding light the malady of which he complains; and Mordaunt
-felt disposed to be offended with Captain Cleveland, both for taking
-notice of his embarrassment, and intruding upon him his own opinion; and
-he replied, therefore, somewhat sharply, "that Captain Cleveland's
-sentiments were only suited to such as had the art to become universal
-favourites wherever chance happened to throw them, and who could not
-lose in one place more than their merit was sure to gain for them in
-another."
-
-This was spoken ironically; but there was, to confess the truth, a
-superior knowledge of the world, and a consciousness of external merit
-at least, about the man, which rendered his interference doubly
-disagreeable. As Sir Lucius O'Trigger says, there was an air of success
-about Captain Cleveland which was mighty provoking. Young, handsome, and
-well assured, his air of nautical bluntness sat naturally and easily
-upon him, and was perhaps particularly well fitted to the simple manners
-of the remote country in which he found himself; and where, even in the
-best families, a greater degree of refinement might have rendered his
-conversation rather less acceptable. He was contented, in the present
-instance, to smile good-humouredly at the obvious discontent of Mordaunt
-Mertoun, and replied, "You are angry with me, my good friend, but you
-cannot make me angry with you. The fair hands of all the pretty women I
-ever saw in my life would never have fished me up out of the Roost of
-Sumburgh. So, pray, do not quarrel with me; for here is Mr. Halcro
-witness that I have struck both jack and topsail, and should you fire a
-broadside into me, cannot return a single shot."
-
-"Ay, ay," said Halcro, "you must be friends with Captain Cleveland,
-Mordaunt. Never quarrel with your friend, because a woman is whimsical.
-Why, man, if they kept one humour, how the devil could we make so many
-songs on them as we do? Even old Dryden himself, glorious old John,
-could have said little about a girl that was always of one mind--as well
-write verses upon a mill-pond. It is your tides and your roosts, and
-your currents and eddies, that come and go, and ebb and flow, (by
-Heaven! I run into rhyme when I so much as think upon them,) that smile
-one day, rage the next, flatter and devour, delight and ruin us, and so
-forth--it is these that give the real soul of poetry. Did you never hear
-my Adieu to the Lass of Northmaven--that was poor Bet Stimbister, whom I
-call Mary for the sound's sake, as I call myself Hacon after my great
-ancestor Hacon Goldemund, or Haco with the golden mouth, who came to the
-island with Harold Harfager, and was his chief Scald?--Well, but where
-was I?--O ay--poor Bet Stimbister, she (and partly some debt) was the
-cause of my leaving the isles of Hialtland, (better so called than
-Shetland, or Zetland even,) and taking to the broad world. I have had a
-tramp of it since that time--I have battled my way through the world,
-Captain, as a man of mold may, that has a light head, a light purse, and
-a heart as light as them both--fought my way, and paid my way--that is,
-either with money or wit--have seen kings changed and deposed as you
-would turn a tenant out of a scathold--knew all the wits of the age, and
-especially the glorious John Dryden--what man in the islands can say as
-much, barring lying?--I had a pinch out of his own snuff-box--I will
-tell you how I came by such promotion."
-
-"But the song, Mr. Halcro," said Captain Cleveland.
-
-"The song?" answered Halcro, seizing the Captain by the button,--for he
-was too much accustomed to have his audience escape from him during
-recitation, not to put in practice all the usual means of
-prevention,--"The song? Why I gave a copy of it, with fifteen others, to
-the immortal John. You shall hear it--you shall hear them all, if you
-will but stand still a moment; and you too, my dear boy, Mordaunt
-Mertoun, I have scarce heard a word from your mouth these six months,
-and now you are running away from me." So saying, he secured him with
-his other hand.
-
-"Nay, now he has got us both in tow," said the seaman, "there is nothing
-for it but hearing him out, though he spins as tough a yarn as ever an
-old man-of-war's-man twisted on the watch at midnight."
-
-"Nay, now, be silent, be silent, and let one of us speak at once," said
-the poet, imperatively; while Cleveland and Mordaunt, looking at each
-other with a ludicrous expression of resignation to their fate, waited
-in submission for the well-known and inevitable tale. "I will tell you
-all about it," continued Halcro. "I was knocked about the world like
-other young fellows, doing this, that, and t'other for a livelihood;
-for, thank God, I could turn my hand to any thing--but loving still the
-Muses as much as if the ungrateful jades had found me, like so many
-blockheads, in my own coach and six. However, I held out till my cousin,
-old Lawrence Linkletter, died, and left me the bit of an island yonder;
-although, by the way, Cultmalindie was as near to him as I was; but
-Lawrence loved wit, though he had little of his own. Well, he left me
-the wee bit island--it is as barren as Parnassus itself. What then?--I
-have a penny to spend, a penny to keep my purse, a penny to give to the
-poor--ay, and a bed and a bottle for a friend, as you shall know, boys,
-if you will go back with me when this merriment is over.--But where was
-I in my story?"
-
-"Near port, I hope," answered Cleveland; but Halcro was too determined a
-narrator to be interrupted by the broadest hint.
-
-"O ay," he resumed, with the self-satisfied air of one who has recovered
-the thread of a story, "I was in my old lodgings in Russel Street, with
-old Timothy Thimblethwaite, the Master Fashioner, then the best-known
-man about town. He made for all the wits, and for the dull boobies of
-fortune besides, and made the one pay for the other. He never denied a
-wit credit save in jest, or for the sake of getting a repartee; and he
-was in correspondence with all that was worth knowing about town. He had
-letters from Crowne, and Tate, and Prior, and Tom Brown, and all the
-famous fellows of the time, with such pellets of wit, that there was no
-reading them without laughing ready to die, and all ending with craving
-a further term for payment."
-
-"I should have thought the tailor would have found that jest rather
-serious," said Mordaunt.
-
-"Not a bit--not a bit," replied his eulogist, "Tim Thimblethwaite (he
-was a Cumberland-man by birth) had the soul of a prince--ay, and died
-with the fortune of one; for woe betide the custard-gorged alderman that
-came under Tim's goose, after he had got one of those letters--egad, he
-was sure to pay the kain! Why, Thimblethwaite was thought to be the
-original of little Tom Bibber, in glorious John's comedy of the Wild
-Gallant; and I know that he has trusted, ay, and lent John money to boot
-out of his own pocket, at a time when all his fine court friends blew
-cold enough. He trusted me too, and I have been two months on the score
-at a time for my upper room. To be sure, I was obliging in his way--not
-that I exactly could shape or sew, nor would that have been decorous for
-a gentleman of good descent; but I--eh, eh--I drew bills--summed up the
-books"----
-
-"Carried home the clothes of the wits and aldermen, and got lodging for
-your labour?" interrupted Cleveland.
-
-"No, no--damn it, no," replied Halcro; "no such thing--you put me out in
-my story--where was I?"
-
-"Nay, the devil help you to the latitude," said the Captain, extricating
-his button from the gripe of the unmerciful bard's finger and thumb,
-"for I have no time to take an observation." So saying, he bolted from
-the room.
-
-"A silly, ill-bred, conceited fool," said Halcro, looking after him;
-"with as little manners as wit in his empty coxcomb. I wonder what
-Magnus and these silly wenches can see in him--he tells such damnable
-long-winded stories, too, about his adventures and sea-fights--every
-second word a lie, I doubt not. Mordaunt, my dear boy, take example by
-that man--that is, take warning by him--never tell long stories about
-yourself. You are sometimes given to talk too much about your own
-exploits on crags and skerries, and the like, which only breaks
-conversation, and prevents other folk from being heard. Now I see you
-are impatient to hear out what I was saying--Stop, whereabouts was I?"
-
-"I fear we must put it off, Mr. Halcro, until after dinner," said
-Mordaunt, who also meditated his escape, though desirous of effecting it
-with more delicacy towards his old acquaintance than Captain Cleveland
-had thought it necessary to use.
-
-"Nay, my dear boy," said Halcro, seeing himself about to be utterly
-deserted, "do not you leave me too--never take so bad an example as to
-set light by old acquaintance, Mordaunt. I have wandered many a weary
-step in my day; but they were always lightened when I could get hold of
-the arm of an old friend like yourself."
-
-So saying, he quitted the youth's coat, and sliding his hand gently
-under his arm, grappled him more effectually; to which Mordaunt
-submitted, a little moved by the poet's observation upon the unkindness
-of old acquaintances, under which he himself was an immediate sufferer.
-But when Halcro renewed his formidable question, "Whereabouts was I?"
-Mordaunt, preferring his poetry to his prose, reminded him of the song
-which he said he had written upon his first leaving Zetland,--a song to
-which, indeed, the enquirer was no stranger, but which, as it must be
-new to the reader, we shall here insert as a favourable specimen of the
-poetical powers of this tuneful descendant of Haco the Golden-mouthed;
-for, in the opinion of many tolerable judges, he held a respectable rank
-among the inditers of madrigals of the period, and was as well qualified
-to give immortality to his Nancies of the hills or dales, as many a
-gentle sonnetteer of wit and pleasure about town. He was something of a
-musician also, and on the present occasion seized upon a sort of lute,
-and, quitting his victim, prepared the instrument for an accompaniment,
-speaking all the while that he might lose no time.
-
-"I learned the lute," he said, "from the same man who taught honest
-Shadwell--plump Tom, as they used to call him--somewhat roughly treated
-by the glorious John, you remember--Mordaunt, you remember--
-
-  'Methinks I see the new Arion sail,
-  The lute still trembling underneath thy nail;
-  At thy well sharpen'd thumb, from shore to shore,
-  The trebles squeak for fear, the basses roar.'
-
-Come, I am indifferently in tune now--what was it to be?--ay, I
-remember--nay, The Lass of Northmaven is the ditty--poor Bet Stimbister!
-I have called her Mary in the verses. Betsy does well for an English
-song; but Mary is more natural here." So saying, after a short prelude,
-he sung, with a tolerable voice and some taste, the following verses:
-
-
-MARY.
-
-  Farewell to Northmaven,
-    Grey Hillswicke, farewell!
-  To the calms of thy haven,
-    The storms on thy fell--
-  To each breeze that can vary
-    The mood of thy main,
-  And to thee, bonny Mary!
-    We meet not again.
-
-  Farewell the wild ferry,
-    Which Hacon could brave,
-  When the peaks of the Skerry
-    Were white in the wave.
-  There's a maid may look over
-    These wild waves in vain--
-  For the skiff of her lover--
-    He comes not again.
-
-  The vows thou hast broke,
-    On the wild currents fling them;
-  On the quicksand and rock
-    Let the mermaidens sing them.
-  New sweetness they'll give her
-    Bewildering strain;
-  But there's one who will never
-    Believe them again.
-
-  O were there an island,
-    Though ever so wild,
-  Where woman could smile, and
-    No man be beguiled--
-  Too tempting a snare
-    To poor mortals were given,
-  And the hope would fix there,
-    That should anchor on heaven!
-
-"I see you are softened, my young friend," said Halcro, when he had
-finished his song; "so are most who hear that same ditty. Words and
-music both mine own; and, without saying much of the wit of it, there is
-a sort of eh--eh--simplicity and truth about it, which gets its way to
-most folk's heart. Even your father cannot resist it--and he has a heart
-as impenetrable to poetry and song as Apollo himself could draw an arrow
-against. But then he has had some ill luck in his time with the
-women-folk, as is plain from his owing them such a grudge--Ay, ay, there
-the charm lies--none of us but has felt the same sore in our day. But
-come, my dear boy, they are mustering in the hall, men and women
-both--plagues as they are, we should get on ill without them--but
-before we go, only mark the last turn--
-
-  'And the hope would fix there,'--
-
-that is, in the supposed island--a place which neither was nor will be--
-
-  'That should anchor on heaven.'
-
-Now you see, my good young man, there are here none of your heathenish
-rants, which Rochester, Etheridge, and these wild fellows, used to
-string together. A parson might sing the song, and his clerk bear the
-burden--but there is the confounded bell--we must go now--but never
-mind--we'll get into a quiet corner at night, and I'll tell you all
-about it."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-  Full in the midst the polish'd table shines,
-  And the bright goblets, rich with generous wines;
-  Now each partakes the feast, the wine prepares,
-  Portions the food, and each the portion shares;
-  Nor till the rage of thirst and hunger ceased,
-  To the high host approach'd the sagacious guest.
-
-                                                  _Odyssey._
-
-
-The hospitable profusion of Magnus Troil's board, the number of guests
-who feasted in the hall, the much greater number of retainers,
-attendants, humble friends, and domestics of every possible description,
-who revelled without, with the multitude of the still poorer, and less
-honoured assistants, who came from every hamlet or township within
-twenty miles round, to share the bounty of the munificent Udaller, were
-such as altogether astonished Triptolemus Yellowley, and made him
-internally doubt whether it would be prudent in him at this time, and
-amid the full glow of his hospitality, to propose to the host who
-presided over such a splendid banquet, a radical change in the whole
-customs and usages of his country.
-
-True, the sagacious Triptolemus felt conscious that he possessed in his
-own person wisdom far superior to that of all the assembled feasters, to
-say nothing of the landlord, against whose prudence the very extent of
-his hospitality formed, in Yellowley's opinion, sufficient evidence. But
-yet the Amphitryon with whom one dines, holds, for the time at least,
-an influence over the minds of his most distinguished guests; and if the
-dinner be in good style and the wines of the right quality, it is
-humbling to see that neither art nor wisdom, scarce external rank
-itself, can assume their natural and wonted superiority over the
-distributor of these good things, until coffee has been brought in.
-Triptolemus felt the full weight of this temporary superiority, yet he
-was desirous to do something that might vindicate the vaunts he had made
-to his sister and his fellow-traveller, and he stole a look at them from
-time to time, to mark whether he was not sinking in their esteem from
-postponing his promised lecture on the enormities of Zetland.
-
-But Mrs. Barbara was busily engaged in noting and registering the waste
-incurred in such an entertainment as she had probably never before
-looked upon, and in admiring the host's indifference to, and the guests'
-absolute negligence of, those rules of civility in which her youth had
-been brought up. The feasters desired to be helped from a dish which was
-unbroken, and might have figured at supper, with as much freedom as if
-it had undergone the ravages of half-a-dozen guests; and no one seemed
-to care--the landlord himself least of all--whether those dishes only
-were consumed, which, from their nature, were incapable of
-re-appearance, or whether the assault was extended to the substantial
-rounds of beef, pasties, and so forth, which, by the rules of good
-housewifery, were destined to stand two attacks, and which, therefore,
-according to Mrs. Barbara's ideas of politeness, ought not to have been
-annihilated by the guests upon the first onset, but spared, like Outis
-in the cave of Polyphemus, to be devoured the last. Lost in the
-meditations to which these breaches of convivial discipline gave rise,
-and in the contemplation of an ideal larder of cold meat which she could
-have saved out of the wreck of roast, boiled, and baked, sufficient to
-have supplied her cupboard for at least a twelvemonth, Mrs. Barbara
-cared very little whether or not her brother supported in its extent the
-character which he had calculated upon assuming.
-
-Mordaunt Mertoun also was conversant with far other thoughts, than those
-which regarded the proposed reformer of Zetland enormities. His seat was
-betwixt two blithe maidens of Thule, who, not taking scorn that he had
-upon other occasions given preference to the daughters of the Udaller,
-were glad of the chance which assigned to them the attentions of so
-distinguished a gallant, who, as being their squire at the feast, might
-in all probability become their partner in the subsequent dance. But,
-whilst rendering to his fair neighbours all the usual attentions which
-society required, Mordaunt kept up a covert, but accurate and close
-observation, upon his estranged friends, Minna and Brenda. The Udaller
-himself had a share of his attention; but in him he could remark
-nothing, except the usual tone of hearty and somewhat boisterous
-hospitality, with which he was accustomed to animate the banquet upon
-all such occasions of general festivity. But in the differing mien of
-the two maidens there was much more room for painful remark.
-
-Captain Cleveland sat betwixt the sisters, was sedulous in his
-attentions to both, and Mordaunt was so placed, that he could observe
-all, and hear a great deal, of what passed between them. But Cleveland's
-peculiar regard seemed devoted to the elder sister. Of this the younger
-was perhaps conscious, for more than once her eye glanced towards
-Mordaunt, and, as he thought, with something in it which resembled
-regret for the interruption of their intercourse, and a sad remembrance
-of former and more friendly times; while Minna was exclusively engrossed
-by the attentions of her neighbour; and that it should be so, filled
-Mordaunt with surprise and resentment.
-
-Minna, the serious, the prudent, the reserved, whose countenance and
-manners indicated so much elevation of character--Minna, the lover of
-solitude, and of those paths of knowledge in which men walk best without
-company--the enemy of light mirth, the friend of musing melancholy, and
-the frequenter of fountain-heads and pathless glens--she whose character
-seemed, in short, the very reverse of that which might be captivated by
-the bold, coarse, and daring gallantry of such a man as this Captain
-Cleveland, gave, nevertheless, her eye and ear to him, as he sat beside
-her at table, with an interest and a graciousness of attention, which,
-to Mordaunt, who well knew how to judge of her feelings by her manner,
-intimated a degree of the highest favour. He observed this, and his
-heart rose against the favourite by whom he had been thus superseded, as
-well as against Minna's indiscreet departure from her own character.
-
-"What is there about the man," he said within himself, "more than the
-bold and daring assumption of importance which is derived from success
-in petty enterprises, and the exercise of petty despotism over a ship's
-crew?--His very language is more professional than is used by the
-superior officers of the British navy; and the wit which has excited so
-many smiles, seems to me such as Minna would not formerly have endured
-for an instant. Even Brenda seems less taken with his gallantry than
-Minna, whom it should have suited so little."
-
-Mordaunt was doubly mistaken in these his angry speculations. In the
-first place, with an eye which was, in some respects, that of a rival,
-he criticised far too severely the manners and behaviour of Captain
-Cleveland. They were unpolished, certainly; which was of the less
-consequence in a country inhabited by so plain and simple a race as the
-ancient Zetlanders. On the other hand, there was an open, naval
-frankness in Cleveland's bearing--much natural shrewdness--some
-appropriate humour--an undoubting confidence in himself--and that
-enterprising hardihood of disposition, which, without any other
-recommendable quality, very often leads to success with the fair sex.
-But Mordaunt was farther mistaken, in supposing that Cleveland was
-likely to be disagreeable to Minna Troil, on account of the opposition
-of their characters in so many material particulars. Had his knowledge
-of the world been a little more extensive, he might have observed, that
-as unions are often formed betwixt couples differing in complexion and
-stature, they take place still more frequently betwixt persons totally
-differing in feelings, in taste, in pursuits, and in understanding; and
-it would not be saying, perhaps, too much, to aver, that two-thirds of
-the marriages around us have been contracted betwixt persons, who,
-judging _a priori_, we should have thought had scarce any charms for
-each other.
-
-A moral and primary cause might be easily assigned for these anomalies,
-in the wise dispensations of Providence, that the general balance of
-wit, wisdom, and amiable qualities of all kinds, should be kept up
-through society at large. For, what a world were it, if the wise were to
-intermarry only with the wise, the learned with the learned, the amiable
-with the amiable, nay, even the handsome with the handsome? and, is it
-not evident, that the degraded castes of the foolish, the ignorant, the
-brutal, and the deformed, (comprehending, by the way, far the greater
-portion of mankind,) must, when condemned to exclusive intercourse with
-each other, become gradually as much brutalized in person and
-disposition as so many ourang-outangs? When, therefore, we see the
-"gentle joined to the rude," we may lament the fate of the suffering
-individual, but we must not the less admire the mysterious disposition
-of that wise Providence which thus balances the moral good and evil of
-life;--which secures for a family, unhappy in the dispositions of one
-parent, a share of better and sweeter blood, transmitted from the other,
-and preserves to the offspring the affectionate care and protection of
-at least one of those from whom it is naturally due. Without the
-frequent occurrence of such alliances and unions--mis-sorted as they
-seem at first sight--the world could not be that for which Eternal
-Wisdom has designed it--a place of mixed good and evil--a place of trial
-at once, and of suffering, where even the worst ills are checkered with
-something that renders them tolerable to humble and patient minds, and
-where the best blessings carry with them a necessary alloy of
-embittering depreciation.
-
-When, indeed, we look a little closer on the causes of those unexpected
-and ill-suited attachments, we have occasion to acknowledge, that the
-means by which they are produced do not infer that complete departure
-from, or inconsistency with, the character of the parties, which we
-might expect when the result alone is contemplated. The wise purposes
-which Providence appears to have had in view, by permitting such
-intermixture of dispositions, tempers, and understandings, in the
-married state, are not accomplished by any mysterious impulse by which,
-in contradiction to the ordinary laws of nature, men or women are urged
-to an union with those whom the world see to be unsuitable to them. The
-freedom of will is permitted to us in the occurrences of ordinary life,
-as in our moral conduct; and in the former as well as the latter case,
-is often the means of misguiding those who possess it. Thus it usually
-happens, more especially to the enthusiastic and imaginative, that,
-having formed a picture of admiration in their own mind, they too often
-deceive themselves by some faint resemblance in some existing being,
-whom their fancy, as speedily as gratuitously, invests with all the
-attributes necessary to complete the _beau ideal_ of mental perfection.
-No one, perhaps, even in the happiest marriage, with an object really
-beloved, ever discovered by experience all the qualities he expected to
-possess; but in far too many cases, he finds he has practised a much
-higher degree of mental deception, and has erected his airy castle of
-felicity upon some rainbow, which owed its very existence only to the
-peculiar state of the atmosphere.
-
-Thus, Mordaunt, if better acquainted with life, and with the course of
-human things, would have been little surprised that such a man as
-Cleveland, handsome, bold, and animated,--a man who had obviously lived
-in danger, and who spoke of it as sport, should have been invested, by a
-girl of Minna's fanciful disposition, with an extensive share of those
-qualities, which, in her active imagination, were held to fill up the
-accomplishments of a heroic character. The plain bluntness of his
-manner, if remote from courtesy, appeared at least as widely different
-from deceit; and, unfashioned as he seemed by forms, he had enough both
-of natural sense, and natural good-breeding, to support the delusion he
-had created, at least as far as externals were concerned. It is scarce
-necessary to add, that these observations apply exclusively to what are
-called love-matches; for when either party fix their attachment upon the
-substantial comforts of a rental, or a jointure, they cannot be
-disappointed in the acquisition, although they may be cruelly so in
-their over-estimation of the happiness it was to afford, or in having
-too slightly anticipated the disadvantages with which it was to be
-attended.
-
-Having a certain partiality for the dark Beauty whom we have described,
-we have willingly dedicated this digression, in order to account for a
-line of conduct which we allow to seem absolutely unnatural in such a
-narrative as the present, though the most common event in ordinary life;
-namely, in Minna's appearing to have over-estimated the taste, talent,
-and ability of a handsome young man, who was dedicating to her his whole
-time and attention, and whose homage rendered her the envy of almost all
-the other young women of that numerous party. Perhaps, if our fair
-readers will take the trouble to consult their own bosoms, they will be
-disposed to allow, that the distinguished good taste exhibited by any
-individual, who, when his attentions would be agreeable to a whole
-circle of rivals, selects _one_ as their individual object, entitles
-him, on the footing of reciprocity, if on no other, to a large share of
-that individual's favourable, and even partial, esteem. At any rate, if
-the character shall, after all, be deemed inconsistent and unnatural, it
-concerns not us, who record the facts as we find them, and pretend no
-privilege for bringing closer to nature those incidents which may seem
-to diverge from it; or for reducing to consistence that most
-inconsistent of all created things--the heart of a beautiful and admired
-female.
-
-Necessity, which teaches all the liberal arts, can render us also adepts
-in dissimulation; and Mordaunt, though a novice, failed not to profit in
-her school. It was manifest, that, in order to observe the demeanour of
-those on whom his attention was fixed, he must needs put constraint on
-his own, and appear, at least, so much engaged with the damsels betwixt
-whom he sat, that Minna and Brenda should suppose him indifferent to
-what was passing around him. The ready cheerfulness of Maddie and Clara
-Groatsettars, who were esteemed considerable fortunes in the island, and
-were at this moment too happy in feeling themselves seated somewhat
-beyond the sphere of vigilance influenced by their aunt, the good old
-Lady Glowrowrum, met and requited the attempts which Mordaunt made to be
-lively and entertaining; and they were soon engaged in a gay
-conversation, to which, as usual on such occasions, the gentleman
-contributed wit, or what passes for such, and the ladies their prompt
-laughter and liberal applause. But, amidst this seeming mirth, Mordaunt
-failed not, from time to time, as covertly as he might, to observe the
-conduct of the two daughters of Magnus; and still it appeared as if the
-elder, wrapt up in the conversation of Cleveland, did not cast away a
-thought on the rest of the company; and as if Brenda, more openly as she
-conceived his attention withdrawn from her, looked with an expression
-both anxious and melancholy towards the group of which he himself formed
-a part. He was much moved by the diffidence, as well as the trouble,
-which her looks seemed to convey, and tacitly formed the resolution of
-seeking a more full explanation with her in the course of the evening.
-Norna, he remembered, had stated that these two amiable young women were
-in danger, the nature of which she left unexplained, but which he
-suspected to arise out of their mistaking the character of this daring
-and all-engrossing stranger; and he secretly resolved, that, if
-possible, he would be the means of detecting Cleveland, and of saving
-his early friends.
-
-As he revolved these thoughts, his attention to the Miss Groatsettars
-gradually diminished, and perhaps he might altogether have forgotten the
-necessity of his appearing an uninterested spectator of what was
-passing, had not the signal been given for the ladies retiring from
-table. Minna, with a native grace, and somewhat of stateliness in her
-manner, bent her head to the company in general, with a kinder and more
-particular expression as her eye reached Cleveland. Brenda, with the
-blush which attended her slightest personal exertion when exposed to the
-eyes of others, hurried through the same departing salutation with an
-embarrassment which almost amounted to awkwardness, but which her youth
-and timidity rendered at once natural and interesting. Again Mordaunt
-thought that her eye distinguished him amidst the numerous company. For
-the first time he ventured to encounter and to return the glance; and
-the consciousness that he had done so doubled the glow of Brenda's
-countenance, while something resembling displeasure was blended with her
-emotion.
-
-When the ladies had retired, the men betook themselves to the deep and
-serious drinking, which, according to the fashion of the times, preceded
-the evening exercise of the dance. Old Magnus himself, by precept and
-example, exhorted them "to make the best use of their time, since the
-ladies would soon summon them to shake their feet." At the same time
-giving the signal to a grey-headed domestic, who stood behind him in the
-dress of a Dantzic skipper, and who added to many other occupations that
-of butler, "Eric Scambester," he said, "has the good ship the Jolly
-Mariner of Canton, got her cargo on board?"
-
-"Chokeful loaded," answered the Ganymede of Burgh-Westra, "with good
-Nantz, Jamaica sugar, Portugal lemons, not to mention nutmeg and toast,
-and water taken in from the Shellicoat spring."
-
-Loud and long laughed the guests at this stated and regular jest betwixt
-the Udaller and his butler, which always served as a preface to the
-introduction of a punch-bowl of enormous size, the gift of the captain
-of one of the Honourable East India Company's vessels, which, bound from
-China homeward, had been driven north-about by stress of weather into
-Lerwick-bay, and had there contrived to get rid of part of the cargo,
-without very scrupulously reckoning for the King's duties.
-
-Magnus Troil, having been a large customer, besides otherwise obliging
-Captain Coolie, had been remunerated, on the departure of the ship, with
-this splendid vehicle of conviviality, at the very sight of which, as
-old Eric Scambester bent under its weight, a murmur of applause ran
-through the company. The good old toasts dedicated to the prosperity of
-Zetland, were then honoured with flowing bumpers. "Death to the head
-that never wears hair!" was a sentiment quaffed to the success of the
-fishing, as proposed by the sonorous voice of the Udaller. Claud Halcro
-proposed with general applause, "The health of their worthy landmaster,
-the sweet sister meat-mistresses; health to man, death to fish, and
-growth to the produce of the ground." The same recurring sentiment was
-proposed more concisely by a whiteheaded compeer of Magnus Troil, in the
-words, "God open the mouth of the grey fish, and keep his hand about the
-corn!"[40]
-
-Full opportunity was afforded to all to honour these interesting toasts.
-Those nearest the capacious Mediterranean of punch, were accommodated by
-the Udaller with their portions, dispensed in huge rummer glasses by his
-own hospitable hand, whilst they who sat at a greater distance
-replenished their cups by means of a rich silver flagon, facetiously
-called the Pinnace; which, filled occasionally at the bowl, served to
-dispense its liquid treasures to the more remote parts of the table, and
-occasioned many right merry jests on its frequent voyages. The commerce
-of the Zetlanders with foreign vessels, and homeward-bound West
-Indiamen, had early served to introduce among them the general use of
-the generous beverage, with which the Jolly Mariner of Canton was
-loaded; nor was there a man in the archipelago of Thule more skilled in
-combining its rich ingredients, than old Eric Scambester, who indeed was
-known far and wide through the isles by the name of the Punch-maker,
-after the fashion of the ancient Norwegians, who conferred on Rollo the
-Walker, and other heroes of their strain, epithets expressive of the
-feats of strength or dexterity in which they excelled all other men.
-
-The good liquor was not slow in performing its office of exhilaration,
-and, as the revel advanced, some ancient Norse drinking-songs were sung
-with great effect by the guests, tending to show, that if, from want of
-exercise, the martial virtues of their ancestors had decayed among the
-Zetlanders, they could still actively and intensely enjoy so much of the
-pleasures of Valhalla as consisted in quaffing the oceans of mead and
-brown ale, which were promised by Odin to those who should share his
-Scandinavian paradise. At length, excited by the cup and song, the
-diffident grew bold, and the modest loquacious--all became desirous of
-talking, and none were willing to listen--each man mounted his own
-special hobby-horse, and began eagerly to call on his neighbours to
-witness his agility. Amongst others, the little bard, who had now got
-next to our friend Mordaunt Mertoun, evinced a positive determination to
-commence and conclude, in all its longitude and latitude, the story of
-his introduction to glorious John Dryden; and Triptolemus Yellowley, as
-his spirits arose, shaking off a feeling of involuntary awe, with which
-he was impressed by the opulence indicated in all he saw around him, as
-well as by the respect paid to Magnus Troil by the assembled guests,
-began to broach, to the astonished and somewhat offended Udaller, some
-of those projects for ameliorating the islands, which he had boasted of
-to his fellow-travellers upon their journey of the morning.
-
-But the innovations which he suggested, and the reception which they met
-with at the hand of Magnus Troil, must be told in the next Chapter.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[40] See Hibbert's Description of the Zetland Islands, p. 470.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-  We'll keep our customs--what is law itself,
-  But old establish'd custom? What religion,
-  (I mean, with one-half of the men that use it,)
-  Save the good use and wont that carries them
-  To worship how and where their fathers worshipp'd?
-  All things resolve in custom--we'll keep ours.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-We left the company of Magnus Troil engaged in high wassail and revelry.
-Mordaunt, who, like his father, shunned the festive cup, did not partake
-in the cheerfulness which the ship diffused among the guests as they
-unloaded it, and the pinnace, as it circumnavigated the table. But, in
-low spirits as he seemed, he was the more meet prey for the
-story-telling Halcro, who had fixed upon him, as in a favourable state
-to play the part of listener, with something of the same instinct that
-directs the hooded crow to the sick sheep among the flock, which will
-most patiently suffer itself to be made a prey of. Joyfully did the poet
-avail himself of the advantages afforded by Mordaunt's absence of mind,
-and unwillingness to exert himself in measures of active defence. With
-the unfailing dexterity peculiar to prosers, he contrived to dribble out
-his tale to double its usual length, by the exercise of the privilege of
-unlimited digressions; so that the story, like a horse on the _grand
-pas_, seemed to be advancing with rapidity, while, in reality, it scarce
-was progressive at the rate of a yard in the quarter of an hour. At
-length, however, he had discussed, in all its various bearings and
-relations, the history of his friendly landlord, the master fashioner in
-Russel Street, including a short sketch of five of his relations, and
-anecdotes of three of his principal rivals, together with some general
-observations upon the dress and fashion of the period; and having
-marched thus far through the environs and outworks of his story, he
-arrived at the body of the place, for so the Wits' Coffeehouse might be
-termed. He paused on the threshold, however, to explain the nature of
-his landlord's right occasionally to intrude himself into this
-well-known temple of the Muses.
-
-"It consisted," said Halcro, "in the two principal points, of bearing
-and forbearing; for my friend Thimblethwaite was a person of wit
-himself, and never quarrelled with any jest which the wags who
-frequented that house were flinging about, like squibs and crackers on a
-rejoicing night; and then, though some of the wits--ay, and I daresay
-the greater number, might have had some dealings with him in the way of
-trade, he never was the person to put any man of genius in unpleasant
-remembrance of such trifles. And though, my dear young Master Mordaunt,
-you may think this is but ordinary civility, because in this country it
-happens seldom that there is either much borrowing or lending, and
-because, praised be Heaven, there are neither bailiffs nor
-sheriff-officers to take a poor fellow by the neck, and because there
-are no prisons to put him into when they have done so, yet, let me tell
-you, that such a lamblike forbearance as that of my poor, dear, deceased
-landlord, Thimblethwaite, is truly uncommon within the London bills of
-mortality. I could tell you of such things that have happened even to
-myself, as well as others, with these cursed London tradesmen, as would
-make your hair stand on end.--But what the devil has put old Magnus into
-such note? he shouts as if he were trying his voice against a north-west
-gale of wind."
-
-Loud indeed was the roar of the old Udaller, as, worn out of patience by
-the schemes of improvement which the factor was now undauntedly pressing
-upon his consideration, he answered him, (to use an Ossianic phrase,)
-like a wave upon a rock,
-
-"Trees, Sir Factor--talk not to me of trees! I care not though there
-never be one on the island, tall enough to hang a coxcomb upon. We will
-have no trees but those that rise in our havens--the good trees that
-have yards for boughs, and standing-rigging for leaves."
-
-"But touching the draining of the lake of Braebaster, whereof I spoke to
-you, Master Magnus Troil," said the persevering agriculturist, "whilk I
-opine would be of so much consequence, there are two ways--down the
-Linklater glen, or by the Scalmester burn. Now, having taken the level
-of both"----
-
-"There is a third way, Master Yellowley," answered the landlord.
-
-"I profess I can see none," replied Triptolemus, with as much good faith
-as a joker could desire in the subject of his wit, "in respect that the
-hill called Braebaster on the south, and ane high bank on the north, of
-whilk I cannot carry the name rightly in my head"----
-
-"Do not tell us of hills and banks, Master Yellowley--there is a third
-way of draining the loch, and it is the only way that shall be tried in
-my day. You say my Lord Chamberlain and I are the joint proprietors--so
-be it--let each of us start an equal proportion of brandy, lime-juice,
-and sugar, into the loch--a ship's cargo or two will do the job--let us
-assemble all the jolly Udallers of the country, and in twenty-four hours
-you shall see dry ground where the loch of Braebaster now is."
-
-A loud laugh of applause, which for a time actually silenced
-Triptolemus, attended a jest so very well suited to time and place--a
-jolly toast was given--a merry song was sung--the ship unloaded her
-sweets--the pinnace made its genial rounds--the duet betwixt Magnus and
-Triptolemus, which had attracted the attention of the whole company from
-its superior vehemence, now once more sunk, and merged into the general
-hum of the convivial table, and the poet Halcro again resumed his
-usurped possession of the ear of Mordaunt Mertoun.
-
-"Whereabouts was I?" he said, with a tone which expressed to his weary
-listener more plainly than words could, how much of his desultory tale
-yet remained to be told. "O, I remember--we were just at the door of the
-Wits' Coffeehouse--it was set up by one"----
-
-"Nay, but, my dear Master Halcro," said his hearer, somewhat
-impatiently, "I am desirous to hear of your meeting with Dryden."
-
-"What, with glorious John?--true--ay--where was I? At the Wits'
-Coffeehouse--Well, in at the door we got--the waiters, and so forth,
-staring at me; for as to Thimblethwaite, honest fellow, his was a
-well-known face.--I can tell you a story about that"----
-
-"Nay, but John Dryden?" said Mordaunt, in a tone which deprecated
-further digression.
-
-"Ay, ay, glorious John--where was I?--Well, as we stood close by the
-bar, where one fellow sat grinding of coffee, and another putting up
-tobacco into penny parcels--a pipe and a dish cost just a penny--then
-and there it was that I had the first peep of him. One Dennis sat near
-him, who"----
-
-"Nay, but John Dryden--what like was he?" demanded Mordaunt.
-
-"Like a little fat old man, with his own grey hair, and in a
-full-trimmed black suit, that sat close as a glove. Honest
-Thimblethwaite let no one but himself shape for glorious John, and he
-had a slashing hand at a sleeve, I promise you--But there is no getting
-a mouthful of common sense spoken here--d----n that Scotchman, he and
-old Magnus are at it again!"
-
-It was very true; and although the interruption did not resemble a
-thunder-clap, to which the former stentorian exclamation of the Udaller
-might have been likened, it was a close and clamorous dispute,
-maintained by question, answer, retort, and repartee, as closely huddled
-upon each other as the sounds which announce from a distance a close and
-sustained fire of musketry.
-
-"Hear reason, sir?" said the Udaller; "we will hear reason, and speak
-reason too; and if reason fall short, you shall have rhyme to boot.--Ha,
-my little friend Halcro!"
-
-Though cut off in the middle of his best story, (if that could be said
-to have a middle, which had neither beginning nor end,) the bard
-bristled up at the summons, like a corps of light infantry when ordered
-up to the support of the grenadiers, looked smart, slapped the table
-with his hand, and denoted his becoming readiness to back his hospitable
-landlord, as becomes a well-entertained guest. Triptolemus was a little
-daunted at this reinforcement of his adversary; he paused, like a
-cautious general, in the sweeping attack which he had commenced on the
-peculiar usages of Zetland, and spoke not again until the Udaller poked
-him with the insulting query, "Where is your reason now, Master
-Yellowley, that you were deafening me with a moment since?"
-
-"Be but patient, worthy sir," replied the agriculturist; "what on earth
-can you or any other man say in defence of that thing you call a plough,
-in this blinded country? Why, even the savage Highlandmen, in Caithness
-and Sutherland, can make more work, and better, with their gascromh, or
-whatever they call it."
-
-"But what ails you at it, sir?" said the Udaller; "let me hear your
-objections to it. It tills our land, and what would ye more?"
-
-"It hath but one handle or stilt," replied Triptolemus.
-
-"And who the devil," said the poet, aiming at something smart, "would
-wish to need a pair of stilts, if he can manage to walk with a single
-one?"
-
-"Or tell me," said Magnus Troil, "how it were possible for Neil of
-Lupness, that lost one arm by his fall from the crag of Nekbreckan, to
-manage a plough with two handles?"
-
-"The harness is of raw seal-skin," said Triptolemus.
-
-"It will save dressed leather," answered Magnus Troil.
-
-"It is drawn by four wretched bullocks," said the agriculturist, "that
-are yoked breast-fashion; and two women must follow this unhappy
-instrument, and complete the furrows with a couple of shovels."
-
-"Drink about, Master Yellowley," said the Udaller; "and, as you say in
-Scotland, 'never fash your thumb.' Our cattle are too high-spirited to
-let one go before the other; our men are too gentle and well-nurtured to
-take the working-field without the women's company; our ploughs till our
-land--our land bears us barley; we brew our ale, eat our bread, and make
-strangers welcome to their share of it. Here's to you, Master
-Yellowley."
-
-This was said in a tone meant to be decisive of the question; and,
-accordingly, Halcro whispered to Mordaunt, "That has settled the matter,
-and now we will get on with glorious John.--There he sat in his suit of
-full-trimmed black; two years due was the bill, as mine honest landlord
-afterwards told me,--and such an eye in his head!--none of your burning,
-blighting, falcon eyes, which we poets are apt to make a rout
-about,--but a soft, full, thoughtful, yet penetrating glance--never saw
-the like of it in my life, unless it were little Stephen Kleancogg's,
-the fiddler, at Papastow, who"----
-
-"Nay, but John Dryden?" said Mordaunt, who, for want of better
-amusement, had begun to take a sort of pleasure in keeping the old
-gentleman to his narrative, as men herd in a restiff sheep, when they
-wish to catch him. He returned to his theme, with his usual phrase of
-"Ay, true--glorious John--Well, sir, he cast his eye, such as I have
-described it, on mine landlord, and 'Honest Tim,' said he, 'what hast
-thou got here?' and all the wits, and lords, and gentlemen, that used to
-crowd round him, like the wenches round a pedlar at a fair, they made
-way for us, and up we came to the fireside, where he had his own
-established chair,--I have heard it was carried to the balcony in
-summer, but it was by the fireside when I saw it,--so up came Tim
-Thimblethwaite, through the midst of them, as bold as a lion, and I
-followed with a small parcel under my arm, which I had taken up partly
-to oblige my landlord, as the shop porter was not in the way, and partly
-that I might be thought to have something to do there, for you are to
-think there was no admittance at the Wits' for strangers who had no
-business there.--I have heard that Sir Charles Sedley said a good thing
-about that"----
-
-"Nay, but you forget glorious John," said Mordaunt.
-
-"Ay, glorious you may well call him. They talk of their Blackmore, and
-Shadwell, and such like,--not fit to tie the latchets of John's
-shoes--'Well,' he said to my landlord, 'what have you got there?' and
-he, bowing, I warrant, lower than he would to a duke, said he had made
-bold to come and show him the stuff which Lady Elizabeth had chose for
-her nightgown.--'And which of your geese is that, Tim, who has got it
-tucked under his wing?'--'He is an Orkney goose, if it please you, Mr.
-Dryden,' said Tim, who had wit at will, 'and he hath brought you a copy
-of verses for your honour to look at.'--'Is he amphibious?' said
-glorious John, taking the paper,--and methought I could rather have
-faced a battery of cannon than the crackle it gave as it opened, though
-he did not speak in a way to dash one neither;--and then he looked at
-the verses, and he was pleased to say, in a very encouraging way indeed,
-with a sort of good-humoured smile on his face, and certainly for a fat
-elderly gentleman,--for I would not compare it to Minna's smile, or
-Brenda's,--he had the pleasantest smile I ever saw,--'Why, Tim,' he
-said, 'this goose of yours will prove a swan on your hands.' With that
-he smiled a little, and they all laughed, and none louder than those who
-stood too far off to hear the jest; for every one knew when he smiled
-there was something worth laughing at, and so took it upon trust; and
-the word passed through among the young Templars, and the wits, and the
-smarts, and there was nothing but question on question who we were; and
-one French fellow was trying to tell them it was only Monsieur Tim
-Thimblethwaite; but he made such work with his Dumbletate and
-Timbletate, that I thought his explanation would have lasted"----
-
-"As long as your own story," thought Mordaunt; but the narrative was at
-length finally cut short, by the strong and decided voice of the
-Udaller.
-
-"I will hear no more on it, Mr. Factor!" he exclaimed.
-
-"At least let me say something about the breed of horses," said
-Yellowley, in rather a cry-mercy tone of voice. "Your horses, my dear
-sir, resemble cats in size, and tigers in devilry!"
-
-"For their size," said Magnus, "they are the easier for us to get off
-and on them--[as Triptolemus experienced this morning, thought Mordaunt
-to himself]--and, as for their devilry, let no one mount them that
-cannot manage them."
-
-A twinge of self-conviction, on the part of the agriculturist, prevented
-him from reply. He darted a deprecatory glance at Mordaunt, as if for
-the purpose of imploring secrecy respecting his tumble; and the Udaller,
-who saw his advantage, although he was not aware of the cause, pursued
-it with the high and stern tone proper to one who had all his life been
-unaccustomed to meet with, and unapt to endure, opposition.
-
-"By the blood of Saint Magnus the Martyr," he said, "but you are a fine
-fellow, Master Factor Yellowley! You come to us from a strange land,
-understanding neither our laws, nor our manners, nor our language, and
-you propose to become governor of the country, and that we should all be
-your slaves!"
-
-"My pupils, worthy sir, my pupils!" said Yellowley, "and that only for
-your own proper advantage."
-
-"We are too old to go to school," said the Zetlander. "I tell you once
-more, we will sow and reap our grain as our fathers did--we will eat
-what God sends us, with our doors open to the stranger, even as theirs
-were open. If there is aught imperfect in our practice, we will amend it
-in time and season; but the blessed Baptist's holyday was made for light
-hearts and quick heels. He that speaks a word more of reason, as you
-call it, or any thing that looks like it, shall swallow a pint of
-sea-water--he shall, by this hand!--and so fill up the good ship, the
-Jolly Mariner of Canton, once more, for the benefit of those that will
-stick by her; and let the rest have a fling with the fiddlers, who have
-been summoning us this hour. I will warrant every wench is on tiptoe by
-this time. Come, Mr. Yellowley, no unkindness, man--why, man, thou
-feelest the rolling of the Jolly Mariner still"--(for, in truth, honest
-Triptolemus showed a little unsteadiness of motion, as he rose to attend
-his host)--"but never mind, we shall have thee find thy land-legs to
-reel it with yonder bonny belles. Come along, Triptolemus--let me
-grapple thee fast, lest thou _trip_, old Triptolemus--ha, ha, ha!"
-
-So saying, the portly though weatherbeaten hulk of the Udaller sailed
-off like a man-of-war that had braved a hundred gales, having his guest
-in tow like a recent prize. The greater part of the revellers followed
-their leader with loud jubilee, although there were several stanch
-topers, who, taking the option left them by the Udaller, remained behind
-to relieve the Jolly Mariner of a fresh cargo, amidst many a pledge to
-the health of their absent landlord, and to the prosperity of his
-roof-tree, with whatsoever other wishes of kindness could be devised, as
-an apology for another pint-bumper of noble punch.
-
-The rest soon thronged the dancing-room, an apartment which partook of
-the simplicity of the time and of the country. Drawing-rooms and saloons
-were then unknown in Scotland, save in the houses of the nobility, and
-of course absolutely so in Zetland; but a long, low, anomalous
-store-room, sometimes used for the depositation of merchandise,
-sometimes for putting aside lumber, and a thousand other purposes, was
-well known to all the youth of Dunrossness, and of many a district
-besides, as the scene of the merry dance, which was sustained with so
-much glee when Magnus Troil gave his frequent feasts.
-
-The first appearance of this ball-room might have shocked a fashionable
-party, assembled for the quadrille or the waltz. Low as we have stated
-the apartment to be, it was but imperfectly illuminated by lamps,
-candles, ship-lanterns, and a variety of other _candelabra_, which
-served to throw a dusky light upon the floor, and upon the heaps of
-merchandise and miscellaneous articles which were piled around; some of
-them stores for the winter; some, goods destined for exportation; some,
-the tribute of Neptune, paid at the expense of shipwrecked vessels,
-whose owners were unknown; some, articles of barter received by the
-proprietor, who, like most others at the period, was somewhat of a
-merchant as well as a landholder, in exchange for the fish, and other
-articles, the produce of his estate. All these, with the chests, boxes,
-casks, &c., which contained them, had been drawn aside, and piled one
-above the other, in order to give room for the dancers, who, light and
-lively as if they had occupied the most splendid saloon in the parish of
-St. James's, executed their national dances with equal grace and
-activity.
-
-The group of old men who looked on, bore no inconsiderable resemblance
-to a party of aged tritons, engaged in beholding the sports of the
-sea-nymphs; so hard a look had most of them acquired by contending with
-the elements, and so much did the shaggy hair and beards, which many of
-them cultivated after the ancient Norwegian fashion, give their heads
-the character of these supposed natives of the deep. The young people,
-on the other hand, were uncommonly handsome, tall, well-made, and
-shapely; the men with long fair hair, and, until broken by the weather,
-a fresh ruddy complexion, which, in the females, was softened into a
-bloom of infinite delicacy. Their natural good ear for music qualified
-them to second to the utmost the exertions of a band, whose strains were
-by no means contemptible; while the elders, who stood around or sat
-quiet upon the old sea-chests, which served for chairs, criticised the
-dancers, as they compared their execution with their own exertions in
-former days; or, warmed by the cup and flagon, which continued to
-circulate among them, snapped their fingers, and beat time with their
-feet to the music.
-
-Mordaunt looked upon this scene of universal mirth with the painful
-recollection, that he, thrust aside from his pre-eminence, no longer
-exercised the important duties of chief of the dancers, or office of
-leader of the revels, which had been assigned to the stranger Cleveland.
-Anxious, however, to suppress the feelings of his own disappointment,
-which he felt it was neither wise to entertain nor manly to display, he
-approached his fair neighbours, to whom he had been so acceptable at
-table, with the purpose of inviting one of them to become his partner in
-the dance. But the awfully ancient old lady, even the Lady Glowrowrum,
-who had only tolerated the exuberance of her nieces' mirth during the
-time of dinner, because her situation rendered it then impossible for
-her to interfere, was not disposed to permit the apprehended renewal of
-the intimacy implied in Mertoun's invitation. She therefore took upon
-herself, in the name of her two nieces, who sat pouting beside her in
-displeased silence, to inform Mordaunt, after thanking him for his
-civility, that the hands of her nieces were engaged for that evening;
-and, as he continued to watch the party at a little distance, he had an
-opportunity of being convinced that the alleged engagement was a mere
-apology to get rid of him, when he saw the two good-humoured sisters
-join the dance, under the auspices of the next young men who asked their
-hands. Incensed at so marked a slight, and unwilling to expose himself
-to another, Mordaunt Mertoun drew back from the circle of dancers,
-shrouded himself amongst the mass of inferior persons who crowded into
-the bottom of the room as spectators, and there, concealed from the
-observation of others, digested his own mortification as well as he
-could--that is to say, very ill--and with all the philosophy of his
-age--that is to say, with none at all.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-  A torch for me--let wantons, light of heart,
-  Tickle the useless rushes with their heels:
-  For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase--
-  I'll be a candle-holder, and look on.
-
-                                         _Romeo and Juliet._
-
-
-The youth, says the moralist Johnson, cares not for the boy's
-hobbyhorse, nor the man for the youth's mistress; and therefore the
-distress of Mordaunt Mertoun, when excluded from the merry dance, may
-seem trifling to many of my readers, who would, nevertheless, think they
-did well to be angry if deposed from their usual place in an assembly of
-a different kind. There lacked not amusement, however, for those whom
-the dance did not suit, or who were not happy enough to find partners to
-their liking. Halcro, now completely in his element, had assembled round
-him an audience, to whom he was declaiming his poetry with all the
-enthusiasm of glorious John himself, and receiving in return the usual
-degree of applause allowed to minstrels who recite their own rhymes--so
-long at least as the author is within hearing of the criticism. Halcro's
-poetry might indeed have interested the antiquary as well as the admirer
-of the Muses, for several of his pieces were translations or imitations
-from the Scaldic sagas, which continued to be sung by the fishermen of
-those islands even until a very late period; insomuch, that when Gray's
-poems first found their way to Orkney, the old people recognised at
-once, in the ode of the "Fatal Sisters," the Runic rhymes which had
-amused or terrified their infancy under the title of the "Magicians,"
-and which the fishers of North Ronaldshaw, and other remote isles, used
-still to sing when asked for a Norse ditty.[41]
-
-Half listening, half lost in his own reflections, Mordaunt Mertoun stood
-near the door of the apartment, and in the outer ring of the little
-circle formed around old Halcro, while the bard chanted to a low, wild,
-monotonous air, varied only by the efforts of the singer to give
-interest and emphasis to particular passages, the following imitation of
-a Northern war-song:
-
-
-THE SONG OF HAROLD HARFAGER.
-
-  The sun is rising dimly red,
-  The wind is wailing low and dread;
-  From his cliff the eagle sallies,
-  Leaves the wolf his darksome valleys;
-  In the midst the ravens hover,
-  Peep the wild-dogs from the cover,
-  Screaming, croaking, baying, yelling,
-  Each in his wild accents telling,
-  "Soon we feast on dead and dying,
-  Fair-hair'd Harold's flag is flying."
-
-  Many a crest in air is streaming,
-  Many a helmet darkly gleaming,
-  Many an arm the axe uprears,
-  Doom'd to hew the wood of spears.
-  All along the crowded ranks,
-  Horses neigh and armour clanks;
-  Chiefs are shouting, clarions ringing,
-  Louder still the bard is singing,
-  "Gather, footmen,--gather, horsemen,
-  To the field, ye valiant Norsemen!
-
-  "Halt ye not for food or slumber,
-  View not vantage, count not number;
-  Jolly reapers, forward still;
-  Grow the crop on vale or hill,
-  Thick or scatter'd, stiff or lithe,
-  It shall down before the scythe.
-  Forward with your sickles bright,
-  Reap the harvest of the fight--
-  Onward, footmen,--onward, horsemen,
-  To the charge, ye gallant Norsemen!
-
-  "Fatal Choosers of the Slaughter,
-  O'er you hovers Odin's daughter;
-  Hear the voice she spreads before ye,--
-  Victory, and wealth, and glory;
-  Or old Valhalla's roaring hail,
-  Her ever-circling mead and ale,
-  Where for eternity unite
-  The joys of wassail and of fight.
-  Headlong forward, foot and horsemen,
-  Charge and fight, and die like Norsemen!"
-
-"The poor unhappy blinded heathens!" said Triptolemus, with a sigh deep
-enough for a groan; "they speak of their eternal cups of ale, and I
-question if they kend how to manage a croft land of grain!"
-
-"The cleverer fellows they, neighbour Yellowley," answered the poet, "if
-they made ale without barley."
-
-"Barley!--alack-a-day!" replied the more accurate agriculturist, "who
-ever heard of barley in these parts? Bear, my dearest friend, bear is
-all they have, and wonderment it is to me that they ever see an awn of
-it. Ye scart the land with a bit thing ye ca' a pleugh--ye might as weel
-give it a ritt with the teeth of a redding-kame. O, to see the sock, and
-the heel, and the sole-clout of a real steady Scottish pleugh, with a
-chield like a Samson between the stilts, laying a weight on them would
-keep down a mountain; twa stately owsen, and as many broad-breasted
-horse in the traces, going through soil and till, and leaving a fur in
-the ground would carry off water like a causeyed syver! They that have
-seen a sight like that, have seen something to crack about in another
-sort, than those unhappy auld-warld stories of war and slaughter, of
-which the land has seen even but too mickle, for a' your singing and
-soughing awa in praise of such bloodthirsty doings, Master Claud
-Halcro."
-
-"It is a heresy," said the animated little poet, bridling and drawing
-himself up, as if the whole defence of the Orcadian Archipelago rested
-on his single arm--"It is a heresy so much as to name one's native
-country, if a man is not prepared when and how to defend himself--ay,
-and to annoy another. The time has been, that if we made not good ale
-and aquavitæ, we knew well enough where to find that which was ready
-made to our hand; but now the descendants of Sea-kings, and Champions,
-and Berserkars, are become as incapable of using their swords, as if
-they were so many women. Ye may praise them for a strong pull on an oar,
-or a sure foot on a skerry; but what else could glorious John himself
-say of ye, my good Hialtlanders, that any man would listen to?"
-
-"Spoken like an angel, most noble poet," said Cleveland, who, during an
-interval of the dance, stood near the party in which this conversation
-was held. "The old champions you talked to us about yesternight, were
-the men to make a harp ring--gallant fellows, that were friends to the
-sea, and enemies to all that sailed on it. Their ships, I suppose, were
-clumsy enough; but if it is true that they went upon the account as far
-as the Levant, I scarce believe that ever better fellows unloosed a
-topsail."
-
-"Ay," replied Halcro, "there you spoke them right. In those days none
-could call their life and means of living their own, unless they dwelt
-twenty miles out of sight of the blue sea. Why, they had public prayers
-put up in every church in Europe, for deliverance from the ire of the
-Northmen. In France and England, ay, and in Scotland too, for as high as
-they hold their head now-a-days, there was not a bay or a haven, but it
-was freer to our forefathers than to the poor devils of natives; and now
-we cannot, forsooth, so much as grow our own barley without Scottish
-help"--(here he darted a sarcastic glance at the factor)--"I would I saw
-the time we were to measure arms with them again!"
-
-"Spoken like a hero once more," said Cleveland.
-
-"Ah!" continued the little bard, "I would it were possible to see our
-barks, once the water-dragons of the world, swimming with the black
-raven standard waving at the topmast, and their decks glimmering with
-arms, instead of being heaped up with stockfish--winning with our
-fearless hands what the niggard soil denies--paying back all old scorn
-and modern injury--reaping where we never sowed, and felling what we
-never planted--living and laughing through the world, and smiling when
-we were summoned to quit it!"
-
-So spoke Claud Halcro, in no serious, or at least most certainly in no
-sober mood, his brain (never the most stable) whizzing under the
-influence of fifty well-remembered sagas, besides five bumpers of
-usquebaugh and brandy; and Cleveland, between jest and earnest, clapped
-him on the shoulder, and again repeated, "Spoken like a hero!"
-
-"Spoken like a fool, I think," said Magnus Troil, whose attention had
-been also attracted by the vehemence of the little bard--"where would
-you cruize upon, or against whom?--we are all subjects of one realm, I
-trow, and I would have you to remember, that your voyage may bring up at
-Execution-dock.--I like not the Scots--no offence, Mr. Yellowley--that
-is, I would like them well enough if they would stay quiet in their own
-land, and leave us at peace with our own people, and manners, and
-fashions; and if they would but abide there till I went to harry them
-like a mad old Berserkar, I would leave them in peace till the day of
-judgment. With what the sea sends us, and the land lends us, as the
-proverb says, and a set of honest neighbourly folks to help us to
-consume it, so help me, Saint Magnus, as I think we are even but too
-happy!"
-
-"I know what war is," said an old man, "and I would as soon sail through
-Sumburgh-roost in a cockle-shell, or in a worse loom, as I would venture
-there again."
-
-"And, pray, what wars knew your valour?" said Halcro, who, though
-forbearing to contradict his landlord from a sense of respect, was not a
-whit inclined to abandon his argument to any meaner authority.
-
-"I was pressed," answered the old Triton, "to serve under Montrose, when
-he came here about the sixteen hundred and fifty-one, and carried a sort
-of us off, will ye nill ye, to get our throats cut in the wilds of
-Strathnavern[42](_k_)--I shall never forget it--we had been hard put to
-it for victuals--what would I have given for a luncheon of Burgh-Westra
-beef--ay, or a mess of sour sillocks?--When our Highlandmen brought in a
-dainty drove of kyloes, much ceremony there was not, for we shot and
-felled, and flayed, and roasted, and broiled, as it came to every man's
-hand; till, just as our beards were at the greasiest, we heard--God
-preserve us--a tramp of horse, then twa or three drapping shots,--then
-came a full salvo,--and then, when the officers were crying on us to
-stand, and maist of us looking which way we might run away, down they
-broke, horse and foot, with old John Urry, or Hurry,[43] or whatever
-they called him--he hurried us that day, and worried us to boot--and we
-began to fall as thick as the stots that we were felling five minutes
-before."
-
-"And Montrose," said the soft voice of the graceful Minna; "what became
-of Montrose, or how looked he?"
-
-"Like a lion with the hunters before him," answered the old gentleman;
-"but I looked not twice his way, for my own lay right over the hill."
-
-"And so you left him?" said Minna, in a tone of the deepest contempt.
-
-"It was no fault of mine, Mistress Minna," answered the old man,
-somewhat out of countenance; "but I was there with no choice of my own;
-and, besides, what good could I have done?--all the rest were running
-like sheep, and why should I have staid?"
-
-"You might have died with him," said Minna.
-
-"And lived with him to all eternity, in immortal verse!" added Claud
-Halcro.
-
-"I thank you, Mistress Minna," replied the plain-dealing Zetlander; "and
-I thank you, my old friend Claud;--but I would rather drink both your
-healths in this good bicker of ale, like a living man as I am, than that
-you should be making songs in my honour, for having died forty or fifty
-years agone. But what signified it,--run or fight, 'twas all one;--they
-took Montrose, poor fellow, for all his doughty deeds, and they took me
-that did no doughty deeds at all; and they hanged him, poor man, and as
-for me"----
-
-"I trust in Heaven they flogged and pickled you," said Cleveland, worn
-out of patience with the dull narrative of the peaceful Zetlander's
-poltroonery, of which he seemed so wondrous little ashamed.
-
-"Flog horses, and pickle beef," said Magnus; "Why, you have not the
-vanity to think, that, with all your quarterdeck airs, you will make
-poor old neighbour Haagen ashamed that he was not killed some scores of
-years since? You have looked on death yourself, my doughty young friend,
-but it was with the eyes of a young man who wishes to be thought of; but
-we are a peaceful people,--peaceful, that is, as long as any one should
-be peaceful, and that is till some one has the impudence to wrong us, or
-our neighbours; and then, perhaps, they may not find our northern blood
-much cooler in our veins than was that of the old Scandinavians that
-gave us our names and lineage.--Get ye along, get ye along to the
-sword-dance,[44] that the strangers that are amongst us may see that our
-hands and our weapons are not altogether unacquainted even yet."
-
-A dozen cutlasses, selected hastily from an old arm-chest, and whose
-rusted hue bespoke how seldom they left the sheath, armed the same
-number of young Zetlanders, with whom mingled six maidens, led by Minna
-Troil; and the minstrelsy instantly commenced a tune appropriate to the
-ancient Norwegian war-dance, the evolutions of which are perhaps still
-practised in those remote islands.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The first movement was graceful and majestic, the youths holding their
-swords erect, and without much gesture; but the tune, and the
-corresponding motions of the dancers, became gradually more and more
-rapid,--they clashed their swords together, in measured time, with a
-spirit which gave the exercise a dangerous appearance in the eye of the
-spectator, though the firmness, justice, and accuracy, with which the
-dancers kept time with the stroke of their weapons, did, in truth,
-ensure its safety. The most singular part of the exhibition was the
-courage exhibited by the female performers, who now, surrounded by the
-swordsmen, seemed like the Sabine maidens in the hands of their Roman
-lovers; now, moving under the arch of steel which the young men had
-formed, by crossing their weapons over the heads of their fair partners,
-resembled the band of Amazons when they first joined in the Pyrrhic
-dance with the followers of Theseus. But by far the most striking and
-appropriate figure was that of Minna Troil, whom Halcro had long
-since entitled the Queen of Swords, and who, indeed, moved amidst the
-swordsmen with an air, which seemed to hold all the drawn blades as the
-proper accompaniments of her person, and the implements of her pleasure.
-And when the mazes of the dance became more intricate, when the close
-and continuous clash of the weapons made some of her companions shrink,
-and show signs of fear, her cheek, her lip, and her eye, seemed rather
-to announce, that, at the moment when the weapons flashed fastest, and
-rung sharpest around her, she was most completely self-possessed, and in
-her own element. Last of all, when the music had ceased, and she
-remained for an instant upon the floor by herself, as the rule of the
-dance required, the swordsmen and maidens, who departed from around her,
-seemed the guards and the train of some princess, who, dismissed by her
-signal, were leaving her for a time to solitude. Her own look and
-attitude, wrapped, as she probably was, in some vision of the
-imagination, corresponded admirably with the ideal dignity which the
-spectators ascribed to her; but, almost immediately recollecting
-herself, she blushed, as if conscious she had been, though but for an
-instant, the object of undivided attention, and gave her hand gracefully
-to Cleveland, who, though he had not joined in the dance, assumed the
-duty of conducting her to her seat.
-
-As they passed, Mordaunt Mertoun might observe that Cleveland whispered
-into Minna's ear, and that her brief reply was accompanied with even
-more discomposure of countenance than she had manifested when
-encountering the gaze of the whole assembly. Mordaunt's suspicions were
-strongly awakened by what he observed, for he knew Minna's character
-well, and with what equanimity and indifference she was in the custom of
-receiving the usual compliments and gallantries with which her beauty
-and her situation rendered her sufficiently familiar.
-
-"Can it be possible she really loves this stranger?" was the unpleasant
-thought that instantly shot across Mordaunt's mind;--"And if she does,
-what is my interest in the matter?" was the second; and which was
-quickly followed by the reflection, that though he claimed no interest
-at any time but as a friend, and though that interest was now withdrawn,
-he was still, in consideration of their former intimacy, entitled both
-to be sorry and angry at her for throwing away her affections on one he
-judged unworthy of her. In this process of reasoning, it is probable
-that a little mortified vanity, or some indescribable shade of selfish
-regret, might be endeavouring to assume the disguise of disinterested
-generosity; but there is so much of base alloy in our very best
-(unassisted) thoughts, that it is melancholy work to criticise too
-closely the motives of our most worthy actions; at least we would
-recommend to every one to let those of his neighbours pass current,
-however narrowly he may examine the purity of his own.
-
-The sword-dance was succeeded by various other specimens of the same
-exercise, and by songs, to which the singers lent their whole soul,
-while the audience were sure, as occasion offered, to unite in some
-favourite chorus. It is upon such occasions that music, though of a
-simple and even rude character, finds its natural empire over the
-generous bosom, and produces that strong excitement which cannot be
-attained by the most learned compositions of the first masters, which
-are caviare to the common ear, although, doubtless, they afford a
-delight, exquisite in its kind, to those whose natural capacity and
-education have enabled them to comprehend and relish those difficult and
-complicated combinations of harmony.
-
-It was about midnight when a knocking at the door of the mansion, with
-the sound of the _Gue_ and the _Langspiel_, announced, by their tinkling
-chime, the arrival of fresh revellers, to whom, according to the
-hospitable custom of the country, the apartments were instantly thrown
-open.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[41] See Note I.--Norse Fragments.
-
-[42] Montrose, in his last and ill-advised attempt to invade Scotland,
-augmented his small army of Danes and Scottish Royalists, by some bands
-of raw troops, hastily levied, or rather pressed into his service, in
-the Orkney and Zetland Isles, who, having little heart either to the
-cause or manner of service, behaved but indifferently when they came
-into action.
-
-[43] Here, as afterwards remarked in the text, the Zetlander's memory
-deceived him grossly. Sir John Urry, a brave soldier of fortune, was at
-that time in Montrose's army, and made prisoner along with him. He had
-changed so often that the mistake is pardonable. After the action, he
-was executed by the Covenanters; and
-
-  "Wind-changing Warwick then could change no more"
-
-Strachan commanded the body by which Montrose was routed.
-
-[44] Note VII.--The Sword-Dance.(_l_)
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-  --------My mind misgives,
-  Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
-  Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
-  With this night's revels.
-
-                                         _Romeo and Juliet._
-
-
-The new-comers were, according to the frequent custom of such frolickers
-all over the world, disguised in a sort of masquing habits, and designed
-to represent the Tritons and Mermaids, with whom ancient tradition and
-popular belief have peopled the northern seas. The former, called by
-Zetlanders of that time, Shoupeltins, were represented by young men
-grotesquely habited, with false hair, and beards made of flax, and
-chaplets composed of sea-ware interwoven with shells, and other marine
-productions, with which also were decorated their light-blue or greenish
-mantles of wadmaal, repeatedly before-mentioned. They had fish-spears,
-and other emblems of their assumed quality, amongst which the classical
-taste of Claud Halcro, by whom the masque was arranged, had not
-forgotten the conch-shells, which were stoutly and hoarsely winded, from
-time to time, by one or two of the aquatic deities, to the great
-annoyance of all who stood near them.
-
-The Nereids and Water-nymphs who attended on this occasion, displayed,
-as usual, a little more taste and ornament than was to be seen amongst
-their male attendants. Fantastic garments of green silk, and other
-materials of superior cost and fashion, had been contrived, so as to
-imitate their idea of the inhabitants of the waters, and, at the same
-time, to show the shape and features of the fair wearers to the best
-advantage. The bracelets and shells, which adorned the neck, arms, and
-ankles of the pretty Mermaidens, were, in some cases, intermixed with
-real pearls; and the appearance, upon the whole, was such as might have
-done no discredit to the court of Amphitrite, especially when the long
-bright locks, blue eyes, fair complexions, and pleasing features of the
-maidens of Thule, were taken into consideration. We do not indeed
-pretend to aver, that any of these seeming Mermaids had so accurately
-imitated the real siren, as commentators have supposed those attendant
-on Cleopatra did, who, adopting the fish's train of their original, were
-able, nevertheless, to make their "bends," or "ends," (said commentators
-cannot tell which,) "adornings."[45] Indeed, had they not left their
-extremities in their natural state, it would have been impossible for
-the Zetland sirens to have executed the very pretty dance, with which
-they rewarded the company for the ready admission which had been granted
-to them.
-
-It was soon discovered that these masquers were no strangers, but a part
-of the guests, who, stealing out a little time before, had thus
-disguised themselves, in order to give variety to the mirth of the
-evening. The muse of Claud Halcro, always active on such occasions, had
-supplied them with an appropriate song, of which we may give the
-following specimen. The song was alternate betwixt a Nereid or Mermaid,
-and a Merman or Triton--the males and females on either part forming a
-semi-chorus, which accompanied and bore burden to the principal singer.
-
-
-I.
-
-MERMAID.
-
-  Fathoms deep beneath the wave,
-    Stringing beads of glistering pearl,
-  Singing the achievements brave
-    Of many an old Norwegian earl;
-  Dwelling where the tempest's raving
-    Falls as light upon our ear,
-  As the sigh of lover, craving
-    Pity from his lady dear,
-  Children of wild Thule, we,
-  From the deep caves of the sea,
-  As the lark springs from the lea,
-  Hither come, to share your glee.
-
-
-II.
-
-MERMAN.
-
-  From reining of the water-horse,
-    That bounded till the waves were foaming,
-  Watching the infant tempest's course,
-    Chasing the sea-snake in his roaming;
-  From winding charge-notes on the shell,
-    When the huge whale and sword-fish duel,
-  Or tolling shroudless seamen's knell,
-    When the winds and waves are cruel;
-  Children of wild Thule, we
-  Have plough'd such furrows on the sea
-  As the steer draws on the lea,
-  And hither we come to share your glee.
-
-
-III.
-
-MERMAIDS AND MERMEN.
-
-  We heard you in our twilight caves,
-    A hundred fathom deep below,
-  For notes of joy can pierce the waves,
-    That drown each sound of war and woe.
-  Those who dwell beneath the sea
-    Love the sons of Thule well;
-  Thus, to aid your mirth, bring we
-    Dance, and song, and sounding shell.
-  Children of dark Thule, know,
-  Those who dwell by haaf and voe,
-  Where your daring shallops row,
-  Come to share the festal show.
-
-The final chorus was borne by the whole voices, excepting those carrying
-the conch-shells, who had been trained to blow them in a sort of rude
-accompaniment, which had a good effect. The poetry, as well as the
-performance of the masquers, received great applause from all who
-pretended to be judges of such matters; but above all, from Triptolemus
-Yellowley, who, his ear having caught the agricultural sounds of plough
-and furrow, and his brain being so well drenched that it could only
-construe the words in their most literal acceptation, declared roundly,
-and called Mordaunt to bear witness, that, though it was a shame to
-waste so much good lint as went to form the Tritons' beards and
-periwigs, the song contained the only words of common sense which he had
-heard all that long day.
-
-But Mordaunt had no time to answer the appeal, being engaged in
-attending with the utmost vigilance to the motions of one of the female
-masquers, who had given him a private signal as they entered, which
-induced him, though uncertain who she might prove to be, to expect some
-communication from her of importance. The siren who had so boldly
-touched his arm, and had accompanied the gesture with an expression of
-eye which bespoke his attention, was disguised with a good deal more
-care than her sister-masquers, her mantle being loose, and wide enough
-to conceal her shape completely, and her face hidden beneath a silk
-mask. He observed that she gradually detached herself from the rest of
-the masquers, and at length placed herself, as if for the advantage of
-the air, near the door of a chamber which remained open, looked
-earnestly at him again, and then taking an opportunity, when the
-attention of the company was fixed upon the rest of her party, she left
-the apartment.
-
-Mordaunt did not hesitate instantly to follow his mysterious guide, for
-such we may term the masquer, as she paused to let him see the direction
-she was about to take, and then walked swiftly towards the shore of the
-voe, or salt-water lake, now lying full before them, its small
-summer-waves glistening and rippling under the influence of a broad
-moonlight, which, added to the strong twilight of those regions during
-the summer solstice, left no reason to regret the absence of the sun,
-the path of whose setting was still visible on the waves of the west,
-while the horizon on the east side was already beginning to glimmer with
-the lights of dawn.
-
-Mordaunt had therefore no difficulty in keeping sight of his disguised
-guide, as she tripped it over height and hollow to the sea-side, and,
-winding among the rocks, led the way to the spot where his own labours,
-during the time of his former intimacy at Burgh-Westra, had constructed
-a sheltered and solitary seat, where the daughters of Magnus were
-accustomed to spend, when the weather was suitable, a good deal of their
-time. Here, then, was to be the place of explanation; for the masquer
-stopped, and, after a moment's hesitation, sat down on the rustic
-settle. But, from the lips of whom was he to receive it? Norna had first
-occurred to him; but her tall figure and slow majestic step were
-entirely different from the size and gait of the more fairy-formed
-siren, who had preceded him with as light a trip as if she had been a
-real Nereid, who, having remained too late upon the shore, was, under
-the dread of Amphitrite's displeasure, hastening to regain her native
-element. Since it was not Norna, it could be only, he thought, Brenda,
-who thus singled him out; and when she had seated herself upon the
-bench, and taken the mask from her face, Brenda it accordingly proved to
-be. Mordaunt had certainly done nothing to make him dread her presence;
-and yet, such is the influence of bashfulness over the ingenuous youth
-of both sexes, that he experienced all the embarrassment of one who
-finds himself unexpectedly placed before a person who is justly offended
-with him. Brenda felt no less embarrassment; but as she had sought this
-interview, and was sensible it must be a brief one, she was compelled,
-in spite of herself, to begin the conversation.
-
-"Mordaunt," she said, with a hesitating voice; then correcting herself,
-she proceeded--"You must be surprised, Mr. Mertoun, that I should have
-taken this uncommon freedom."
-
-"It was not till this morning, Brenda," replied Mordaunt, "that any mark
-of friendship or intimacy from you or from your sister could have
-surprised me. I am far more astonished that you should shun me without
-reason for so many hours, than that you should now allow me an
-interview. In the name of Heaven, Brenda, in what have I offended you?
-or why are we on these unusual terms?"
-
-"May it not be enough to say," replied Brenda, looking downward, "that
-it is my father's pleasure?"
-
-"No, it is not enough," returned Mertoun. "Your father cannot have so
-suddenly altered his whole thoughts of me, and his whole actions towards
-me, without acting under the influence of some strong delusion. I ask
-you but to explain of what nature it is; for I will be contented to be
-lower in your esteem than the meanest hind in these islands, if I cannot
-show that his change of opinion is only grounded upon some infamous
-deception, or some extraordinary mistake."
-
-"It may be so," said Brenda--"I hope it is so--that I do hope it is so,
-my desire to see you thus in private may well prove to you. But it is
-difficult--in short, it is impossible for me to explain to you the cause
-of my father's resentment. Norna has spoken with him concerning it
-boldly, and I fear they parted in displeasure; and you well know no
-light matter could cause that."
-
-"I have observed," said Mordaunt, "that your father is most attentive to
-Norna's counsel, and more complaisant to her peculiarities than to those
-of others--this I have observed, though he is no willing believer in the
-supernatural qualities to which she lays claim."
-
-"They are related distantly," answered Brenda, "and were friends in
-youth--nay, as I have heard, it was once supposed they would have been
-married; but Norna's peculiarities showed themselves immediately on her
-father's death, and there was an end of that matter, if ever there was
-any thing in it. But it is certain my father regards her with much
-interest; and it is, I fear, a sign how deeply his prejudices respecting
-you must be rooted, since they have in some degree quarrelled on your
-account."
-
-"Now, blessings upon you, Brenda, that you have called them prejudices,"
-said Mertoun, warmly and hastily--"a thousand blessings on you! You were
-ever gentle-hearted--you could not have maintained even the show of
-unkindness long."
-
-"It was indeed but a show," said Brenda, softening gradually into the
-familiar tone in which they had conversed from infancy; "I could never
-think, Mordaunt,--never, that is, seriously believe, that you could say
-aught unkind of Minna or of me."
-
-"And who dares to say I have?" said Mordaunt, giving way to the natural
-impetuosity of his disposition--"Who dares to say that I have, and
-ventures at the same time to hope that I will suffer his tongue to
-remain in safety betwixt his jaws? By Saint Magnus the Martyr, I will
-feed the hawks with it!"
-
-"Nay, now," said Brenda, "your anger only terrifies me, and will force
-me to leave you."
-
-"Leave me," said he, "without telling me either the calumny, or the name
-of the villainous calumniator!"
-
-"O, there are more than one," answered Brenda, "that have possessed my
-father with an opinion--which I cannot myself tell you--but there are
-more than one who say"----
-
-"Were they hundreds, Brenda, I will do no less to them than I have
-said--Sacred Martyr!--to accuse me of speaking unkindly of those whom I
-most respected and valued under Heaven--I will back to the apartment
-this instant, and your father shall do me right before all the world."
-
-"Do not go, for the love of Heaven!" said Brenda; "do not go, as you
-would not render me the most unhappy wretch in existence!"
-
-"Tell me then, at least, if I guess aright," said Mordaunt, "when I name
-this Cleveland for one of those who have slandered me?"
-
-"No, no," said Brenda, vehemently, "you run from one error into another
-more dangerous. You say you are my friend:--I am willing to be
-yours:--be but still for a moment, and hear what I have to say;--our
-interview has lasted but too long already, and every additional moment
-brings additional danger with it."
-
-"Tell me, then," said Mertoun, much softened by the poor girl's extreme
-apprehension and distress, "what it is that you require of me; and
-believe me, it is impossible for you to ask aught that I will not do my
-very uttermost to comply with."
-
-"Well, then--this Captain," said Brenda, "this Cleveland"----
-
-"I knew it, by Heaven!" said Mordaunt; "my mind assured me that that
-fellow was, in one way or other, at the bottom of all this mischief and
-misunderstanding!"
-
-"If you cannot be silent, and patient, for an instant," replied Brenda,
-"I must instantly quit you: what I meant to say had no relation to you,
-but to another,--in one word, to my sister Minna. I have nothing to say
-concerning her dislike to you, but an anxious tale to tell concerning
-his attention to her."
-
-"It is obvious, striking, and marked," said Mordaunt; "and, unless my
-eyes deceive me, it is received as welcome, if, indeed, it is not
-returned."
-
-"That is the very cause of my fear," said Brenda. "I, too, was struck
-with the external appearance, frank manners, and romantic conversation
-of this man."
-
-"His appearance!" said Mordaunt; "he is stout and well-featured enough,
-to be sure; but, as old Sinclair of Quendale said to the Spanish
-admiral, 'Farcie on his face! I have seen many a fairer hang on the
-Borough-moor.'--From his manners, he might be captain of a privateer;
-and by his conversation, the trumpeter to his own puppetshow; for he
-speaks of little else than his own exploits."
-
-"You are mistaken," answered Brenda; "he speaks but too well on all that
-he has seen and learned; besides, he has really been in many distant
-countries, and in many gallant actions, and he can tell them with as
-much spirit as modesty. You would think you saw the flash and heard the
-report of the guns. And he has other tones of talking too--about the
-delightful trees and fruits of distant climates; and how the people wear
-no dress, through the whole year, half so warm as our summer gowns, and,
-indeed, put on little except cambric and muslin."
-
-"Upon my word, Brenda, he does seem to understand the business of
-amusing young ladies," replied Mordaunt.
-
-"He does, indeed," said Brenda, with great simplicity. "I assure you
-that, at first, I liked him better than Minna did; and yet, though she
-is so much cleverer than I am, I know more of the world than she does;
-for I have seen more of cities, having been once at Kirkwall; besides
-that I was thrice at Lerwick, when the Dutch ships were there, and so I
-should not be very easily deceived in people."
-
-"And pray, Brenda," said Mertoun, "what was it that made you think less
-favourably of this young fellow, who seems to be so captivating?"
-
-"Why," said Brenda, after a moment's reflection, "at first he was much
-livelier; and the stories he told were not quite so melancholy, or so
-terrible; and he laughed and danced more."
-
-"And, perhaps, at that time, danced oftener with Brenda than with her
-sister?" added Mordaunt.
-
-"No--I am not sure of that," said Brenda; "and yet, to speak plain, I
-could have no suspicion of him at all while he was attending quite
-equally to us both; for you know that then he could have been no more to
-us than yourself, Mordaunt Mertoun, or young Swaraster, or any other
-young man in the islands."
-
-"But, why then," said Mordaunt, "should you not see him, with patience,
-become acquainted with your sister?--He is wealthy, or seems to be so at
-least. You say he is accomplished and pleasant;--what else would you
-desire in a lover for Minna?"
-
-"Mordaunt, you forget who we are," said the maiden, assuming an air of
-consequence, which sat as gracefully upon her simplicity, as did the
-different tone in which she had spoken hitherto. "This is a little world
-of ours, this Zetland, inferior, perhaps, in soil and climate to other
-parts of the earth, at least so strangers say; but it is our own little
-world, and we, the daughters of Magnus Troil, hold a first rank in it.
-It would I think, little become us, who are descended from Sea-kings
-and Jarls, to throw ourselves away upon a stranger, who comes to our
-coast, like the eider-duck in spring, from we know not whence, and may
-leave it in autumn, to go we know not where."
-
-"And who may yet entice a Zetland golden-eye to accompany his
-migration," said Mertoun.
-
-"I will hear nothing light on such a subject," replied Brenda,
-indignantly; "Minna, like myself, is the daughter of Magnus Troil, the
-friend of strangers, but the Father of Hialtland. He gives them the
-hospitality they need; but let not the proudest of them think that they
-can, at their pleasure, ally with his house."
-
-She said this in a tone of considerable warmth, which she instantly
-softened, as she added, "No, Mordaunt, do not suppose that Minna Troil
-is capable of so far forgetting what she owes to her father and her
-father's blood, as to think of marrying this Cleveland; but she may lend
-an ear to him so long as to destroy her future happiness. She has that
-sort of mind, into which some feelings sink deeply;--you remember how
-Ulla Storlson used to go, day by day, to the top of Vossdale-head, to
-look for her lover's ship that was never to return? When I think of her
-slow step, her pale cheek, her eye, that grew dimmer and dimmer, like
-the lamp that is half extinguished for lack of oil,--when I remember the
-fluttered look, of something like hope, with which she ascended the
-cliff at morning, and the deep dead despair which sat on her forehead
-when she returned,--when I think on all this, can you wonder that I fear
-for Minna, whose heart is formed to entertain, with such deep-rooted
-fidelity, any affection that may be implanted in it?"
-
-"I do not wonder," said Mordaunt, eagerly sympathizing with the poor
-girl; for, besides the tremulous expression of her voice, the light
-could almost show him the tear which trembled in her eye, as she drew
-the picture to which her fancy had assimilated her sister,--"I do not
-wonder that you should feel and fear whatever the purest affection can
-dictate; and if you can but point out to me in what I can serve your
-sisterly love, you shall find me as ready to venture my life, if
-necessary, as I have been to go out on the crag to get you the eggs of
-the guillemot; and, believe me, that whatever has been told to your
-father or yourself, of my entertaining the slightest thoughts of
-disrespect or unkindness, is as false as a fiend could devise."
-
-"I believe it," said Brenda, giving him her hand; "I believe it, and my
-bosom is lighter, now I have renewed my confidence in so old a friend.
-How you can aid us, I know not; but it was by the advice, I may say by
-the commands, of Norna, that I have ventured to make this communication;
-and I almost wonder," she added, as she looked around her, "that I have
-had courage to carry me through it. At present you know all that I can
-tell you of the risk in which my sister stands. Look after this
-Cleveland--beware how you quarrel with him, since you must so surely
-come by the worst with an experienced soldier."
-
-"I do not exactly understand," said the youth, "how that should so
-surely be. This I know, that with the good limbs and good heart that God
-hath given me, ay, and with a good cause to boot--I am little afraid of
-any quarrel which Cleveland can fix upon me."
-
-"Then, if not for your own sake, for Minna's sake," said Brenda--"for
-my father's--for mine--for all our sakes, avoid any strife with him, but
-be contented to watch him, and, if possible, to discover who he is, and
-what are his intentions towards us. He has talked of going to Orkney, to
-enquire after the consort with whom he sailed; but day after day, and
-week after week passes, and he goes not; and while he keeps my father
-company over the bottle, and tells Minna romantic stories of foreign
-people, and distant wars, in wild and unknown regions, the time glides
-on, and the stranger, of whom we know nothing except that he is one,
-becomes gradually closer and more inseparably intimate in our
-society.--And now, farewell. Norna hopes to make your peace with my
-father, and entreats you not to leave Burgh-Westra to-morrow, however
-cold he and my sister may appear towards you. I too," she said,
-stretching her hand towards him, "must wear a face of cold friendship as
-towards an unwelcome visitor, but at heart we are still Brenda and
-Mordaunt. And now separate quickly, for we must not be seen together."
-
-She stretched her hand to him, but withdrew it in some slight confusion,
-laughing and blushing, when, by a natural impulse, he was about to press
-it to his lips. He endeavoured for a moment to detain her, for the
-interview had for him a degree of fascination, which, as often as he had
-before been alone with Brenda, he had never experienced. But she
-extricated herself from him, and again signing an adieu, and pointing
-out to him a path different from that which she was herself about to
-take, tripped towards the house, and was soon hidden from his view by
-the acclivity.
-
-Mordaunt stood gazing after her in a state of mind, to which, as yet,
-he had been a stranger. The dubious neutral ground between love and
-friendship may be long and safely trodden, until he who stands upon it
-is suddenly called upon to recognise the authority of the one or the
-other power; and then it most frequently happens, that the party who for
-years supposed himself only a friend, finds himself at once transformed
-into a lover. That such a change in Mordaunt's feelings should take
-place from this date, although he himself was unable exactly to
-distinguish its nature, was to be expected. He found himself at once
-received, with the most unsuspicious frankness, into the confidence of a
-beautiful and fascinating young woman, by whom he had, so short a time
-before, imagined himself despised and disliked; and, if any thing could
-make a change, in itself so surprising and so pleasing, yet more
-intoxicating, it was the guileless and open-hearted simplicity of
-Brenda, that cast an enchantment over every thing which she did or said.
-The scene, too, might have had its effect, though there was little
-occasion for its aid. But a fair face looks yet fairer under the light
-of the moon, and a sweet voice sounds yet sweeter among the whispering
-sounds of a summer night. Mordaunt, therefore, who had by this time
-returned to the house, was disposed to listen with unusual patience and
-complacency to the enthusiastic declamation pronounced upon moonlight by
-Claud Halcro, whose ecstasies had been awakened on the subject by a
-short turn in the open air, undertaken to qualify the vapours of the
-good liquor, which he had not spared during the festival.
-
-"The sun, my boy," he said, "is every wretched labourer's
-day-lantern--it comes glaring yonder out of the east, to summon up a
-whole world to labour and to misery; whereas the merry moon lights all
-of us to mirth and to love."
-
-"And to madness, or she is much belied," said Mordaunt, by way of saying
-something.
-
-"Let it be so," answered Halcro, "so she does not turn us
-melancholy-mad.--My dear young friend, the folks of this painstaking
-world are far too anxious about possessing all their wits, or having
-them, as they say, about them. At least I know I have been often called
-half-witted, and I am sure I have gone through the world as well as if I
-had double the quantity. But stop--where was I? O, touching and
-concerning the moon--why, man, she is the very soul of love and poetry.
-I question if there was ever a true lover in existence who had not got
-at least as far as 'O thou,' in a sonnet in her praise."
-
-"The moon," said the factor, who was now beginning to speak very thick,
-"ripens corn, at least the old folk said so--and she fills nuts also,
-whilk is of less matter--_sparge nuces, pueri_."
-
-"A fine, a fine," said the Udaller, who was now in his altitudes; "the
-factor speaks Greek--by the bones of my holy namesake, Saint Magnus, he
-shall drink off the yawl full of punch, unless he gives us a song on the
-spot!"
-
-"Too much water drowned the miller," answered Triptolemus. "My brain has
-more need of draining than of being drenched with more liquor."
-
-"Sing, then," said the despotic landlord, "for no one shall speak any
-other language here, save honest Norse, jolly Dutch, or Danske, or broad
-Scots, at the least of it. So, Eric Scambester, produce the yawl, and
-fill it to the brim, as a charge for demurrage."
-
-Ere the vessel could reach the agriculturist, he, seeing it under way,
-and steering towards him by short tacks, (for Scambester himself was by
-this time not over steady in his course,) made a desperate effort, and
-began to sing, or rather to croak forth, a Yorkshire harvest-home
-ballad, which his father used to sing when he was a little mellow, and
-which went to the tune of "Hey Dobbin, away with the waggon." The rueful
-aspect of the singer, and the desperately discordant tones of his voice,
-formed so delightful a contrast with the jollity of the words and tune,
-that honest Triptolemus afforded the same sort of amusement which a
-reveller might give, by appearing on a festival-day in the holyday-coat
-of his grandfather. The jest concluded the evening, for even the mighty
-and strong-headed Magnus himself had confessed the influence of the
-sleepy god. The guests went off as they best might, each to his separate
-crib and resting place, and in a short time the mansion, which was of
-late so noisy, was hushed into perfect silence.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[45] See some admirable discussion on this passage, in the Variorum
-Shakspeare.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-  They man their boats, and all the young men arm,
-  With whatsoever might the monsters harm;
-  Pikes, halberds, spits, and darts, that wound afar,
-  The tools of peace, and implements of war.
-  Now was the time for vigorous lads to show
-  What love or honour could incite them to;--
-  A goodly theatre, where rocks are round
-  With reverend age and lovely lasses crown'd.
-
-                             _Battle of the Summer Islands._
-
-
-The morning which succeeds such a feast as that of Magnus Troil, usually
-lacks a little of the zest which seasoned the revels of the preceding
-day, as the fashionable reader may have observed at a public breakfast
-during the race-week in a country town; for, in what is called the best
-society, these lingering moments are usually spent by the company, each
-apart in their own dressing-rooms. At Burgh-Westra, it will readily be
-believed, no such space for retirement was afforded; and the lasses,
-with their paler cheeks, the elder dames, with many a wink and yawn,
-were compelled to meet with their male companions (headaches and all)
-just three hours after they had parted from each other.
-
-Eric Scambester had done all that man could do to supply the full means
-of diverting the ennui of the morning meal. The board groaned with
-rounds of hung beef, made after the fashion of Zetland--with
-pasties--with baked meats--with fish, dressed and cured in every
-possible manner; nay, with the foreign delicacies of tea, coffee, and
-chocolate; for, as we have already had occasion to remark, the situation
-of these islands made them early acquainted with various articles of
-foreign luxury, which were, as yet, but little known in Scotland, where,
-at a much later period than that we write of, one pound of green tea was
-dressed like cabbage, and another converted into a vegetable sauce for
-salt beef, by the ignorance of the good housewives to whom they had been
-sent as rare presents.
-
-Besides these preparations, the table exhibited whatever mighty potions
-are resorted to by _bons vivans_, under the facetious name of a "hair of
-the dog that bit you." There was the potent Irish Usquebaugh--right
-Nantz--genuine Schiedamm--Aquavitæ from Caithness--and Golden Wasser
-from Hamburgh; there was rum of formidable antiquity, and cordials from
-the Leeward Islands. After these details, it were needless to mention
-the stout home-brewed ale--the German mum, and Schwartz beer--and still
-more would it be beneath our dignity to dwell upon the innumerable sorts
-of pottage and flummery, together with the bland, and various
-preparations of milk, for those who preferred thinner potations.
-
-No wonder that the sight of so much good cheer awakened the appetite and
-raised the spirits of the fatigued revellers. The young men began
-immediately to seek out their partners of the preceding evening, and to
-renew the small talk which had driven the night so merrily away; while
-Magnus, with his stout old Norse kindred, encouraged, by precept and
-example, those of elder days and graver mood, to a substantial
-flirtation with the good things before them. Still, however, there was
-a long period to be filled up before dinner; for the most protracted
-breakfast cannot well last above an hour; and it was to be feared that
-Claud Halcro meditated the occupation of this vacant morning with a
-formidable recitation of his own verses, besides telling, at its full
-length, the whole history of his introduction to glorious John Dryden.
-But fortune relieved the guests of Burgh-Westra from this threatened
-infliction, by sending them means of amusement peculiarly suited to
-their taste and habits.
-
-Most of the guests were using their toothpicks, some were beginning to
-talk of what was to be done next, when, with haste in his step, fire in
-his eye, and a harpoon in his hand, Eric Scambester came to announce to
-the company, that there was a whale on shore, or nearly so, at the
-throat of the voe! Then you might have seen such a joyous, boisterous,
-and universal bustle, as only the love of sport, so deeply implanted in
-our nature, can possibly inspire. A set of country squires, about to
-beat for the first woodcocks of the season, were a comparison as petty,
-in respect to the glee, as in regard to the importance of the object;
-the battue, upon a strong cover in Ettrick Forest, for the destruction
-of the foxes;(_m_) the insurrection of the sportsmen of the Lennox, when
-one of the Duke's deer gets out from Inch-Mirran; nay, the joyous rally
-of the fox-chase itself, with all its blithe accompaniments of hound and
-horn, fall infinitely short of the animation with which the gallant sons
-of Thule set off to encounter the monster, whom the sea had sent for
-their amusement at so opportune a conjuncture.
-
-The multifarious stores of Burgh-Westra were rummaged hastily for all
-sorts of arms, which could be used on such an occasion. Harpoons,
-swords, pikes, and halberds, fell to the lot of some; others contented
-themselves with hay-forks, spits, and whatever else could be found, that
-was at once long and sharp. Thus hastily equipped, one division, under
-the command of Captain Cleveland, hastened to man the boats which lay in
-the little haven, while the rest of the party hurried by land to the
-scene of action.
-
-Poor Triptolemus was interrupted in a plan, which he, too, had formed
-against the patience of the Zetlanders, and which was to have consisted
-in a lecture upon the agriculture, and the capabilities of the country,
-by this sudden hubbub, which put an end at once to Halcro's poetry, and
-to his no less formidable prose. It may be easily imagined, that he took
-very little interest in the sport which was so suddenly substituted for
-his lucubrations, and he would not even have deigned to have looked upon
-the active scene which was about to take place, had he not been
-stimulated thereunto by the exhortations of Mistress Baby. "Pit yoursell
-forward, man," said that provident person, "pit yoursell forward--wha
-kens whare a blessing may light?--they say that a' men share and share
-equals-aquals in the creature's ulzie, and a pint o't wad be worth
-siller, to light the cruise in the lang dark nights that they speak of.
-Pit yoursell forward, man--there's a graip to ye--faint heart never wan
-fair lady--wha kens but what, when it's fresh, it may eat weel eneugh,
-and spare butter?"
-
-What zeal was added to Triptolemus's motions, by the prospect of eating
-fresh train-oil, instead of butter, we know not; but, as better might
-not be, he brandished the rural implement (a stable-fork) with which he
-was armed, and went down to wage battle with the whale.
-
-The situation in which the enemy's ill fate had placed him, was
-particularly favourable to the enterprise of the islanders. A tide of
-unusual height had carried the animal over a large bar of sand, into the
-voe or creek in which he was now lying. So soon as he found the water
-ebbing, he became sensible of his danger, and had made desperate efforts
-to get over the shallow water, where the waves broke on the bar; but
-hitherto he had rather injured than mended his condition, having got
-himself partly aground, and lying therefore particularly exposed to the
-meditated attack. At this moment the enemy came down upon him. The front
-ranks consisted of the young and hardy, armed in the miscellaneous
-manner we have described; while, to witness and animate their efforts,
-the young women, and the elderly persons of both sexes, took their place
-among the rocks, which overhung the scene of action.
-
-As the boats had to double a little headland, ere they opened the mouth
-of the voe, those who came by land to the shores of the inlet, had time
-to make the necessary reconnoissances upon the force and situation of
-the enemy, on whom they were about to commence a simultaneous attack by
-land and sea.
-
-This duty, the stout-hearted and experienced general, for so the Udaller
-might be termed, would intrust to no eyes but his own; and, indeed, his
-external appearance, and his sage conduct, rendered him alike qualified
-for the command which he enjoyed. His gold-laced hat was exchanged for a
-bearskin cap, his suit of blue broadcloth, with its scarlet lining, and
-loops, and frogs of bullion, had given place to a red flannel jacket,
-with buttons of black horn, over which he wore a seal-skin shirt
-curiously seamed and plaited on the bosom, such as are used by the
-Esquimaux, and sometimes by the Greenland whale-fishers. Sea-boots of a
-formidable size completed his dress, and in his hand he held a large
-whaling-knife, which he brandished, as if impatient to employ it in the
-operation of _flinching_ the huge animal which lay before them,--that
-is, the act of separating its flesh from its bones. Upon closer
-examination, however, he was obliged to confess, that the sport to which
-he had conducted his friends, however much it corresponded with the
-magnificent scale of his hospitality, was likely to be attended with its
-own peculiar dangers and difficulties.
-
-The animal, upwards of sixty feet in length, was lying perfectly still,
-in a deep part of the voe into which it had weltered, and where it
-seemed to await the return of tide, of which it was probably assured by
-instinct. A council of experienced harpooners was instantly called, and
-it was agreed that an effort should be made to noose the tail of this
-torpid leviathan, by casting a cable around it, to be made fast by
-anchors to the shore, and thus to secure against his escape, in case the
-tide should make before they were able to dispatch him. Three boats were
-destined to this delicate piece of service, one of which the Udaller
-himself proposed to command, while Cleveland and Mertoun were to direct
-the two others. This being decided, they sat down on the strand, waiting
-with impatience until the naval part of the force should arrive in the
-voe. It was during this interval, that Triptolemus Yellowley, after
-measuring with his eyes the extraordinary size of the whale, observed,
-that in his poor mind, "A wain with six owsen, or with sixty owsen
-either, if they were the owsen of the country, could not drag siccan a
-huge creature from the water, where it was now lying, to the sea-beach."
-
-Trifling as this remark may seem to the reader, it was connected with a
-subject which always fired the blood of the old Udaller, who, glancing
-upon Triptolemus a quick and stern look, asked him what the devil it
-signified, supposing a hundred oxen could not drag the whale upon the
-beach? Mr. Yellowley, though not much liking the tone with which the
-question was put, felt that his dignity and his profit compelled him to
-answer as follows:--"Nay, sir--you know yoursell, Master Magnus Troil,
-and every one knows that knows any thing, that whales of siccan size as
-may not be masterfully dragged on shore by the instrumentality of one
-wain with six owsen, are the right and property of the Admiral, who is
-at this time the same noble lord who is, moreover, Chamberlain of these
-isles."
-
-"And I tell you, Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley," said the Udaller, "as I
-would tell your master if he were here, that every man who risks his
-life to bring that fish ashore, shall have an equal share and partition,
-according to our ancient and loveable Norse custom and wont; nay, if
-there is so much as a woman looking on, that will but touch the cable,
-she will be partner with us; ay, and more than all that, if she will but
-say there is a reason for it, we will assign a portion to the babe that
-is unborn."(_n_)
-
-The strict principle of equity, which dictated this last arrangement,
-occasioned laughter among the men, and some slight confusion among the
-women. The factor, however, thought it shame to be so easily daunted.
-"_Suum cuique tribuito_," said he; "I will stand for my lord's right and
-my own."
-
-"Will you?" replied Magnus; "then, by the Martyr's bones, you shall have
-no law of partition but that of God and Saint Olave, which we had before
-either factor, or treasurer, or chamberlain were heard of!--All shall
-share that lend a hand, and never a one else. So you, Master Factor,
-shall be busy as well as other folk, and think yourself lucky to share
-like other folk. Jump into that boat," (for the boats had by this time
-pulled round the headland,) "and you, my lads, make way for the factor
-in the stern-sheets--he shall be the first man this blessed day that
-shall strike the fish."
-
-The loud authoritative voice, and the habit of absolute command inferred
-in the Udaller's whole manner, together with the conscious want of
-favourers and backers amongst the rest of the company, rendered it
-difficult for Triptolemus to evade compliance, although he was thus
-about to be placed in a situation equally novel and perilous. He was
-still, however, hesitating, and attempting an explanation, with a voice
-in which anger was qualified by fear, and both thinly disguised under an
-attempt to be jocular, and to represent the whole as a jest, when he
-heard the voice of Baby maundering in his ear,--"Wad he lose his share
-of the ulzie, and the lang Zetland winter coming on, when the lightest
-day in December is not so clear as a moonless night in the Mearns?"
-
-This domestic instigation, in addition to those of fear of the Udaller,
-and shame to seem less courageous than others, so inflamed the
-agriculturist's spirits, that he shook his _graip_ aloft, and entered
-the boat with the air of Neptune himself, carrying on high his trident.
-
-The three boats destined for this perilous service, now approached the
-dark mass, which lay like an islet in the deepest part of the voe, and
-suffered them to approach without showing any sign of animation.
-Silently, and with such precaution as the extreme delicacy of the
-operation required, the intrepid adventurers, after the failure of their
-first attempt, and the expenditure of considerable time, succeeded in
-casting a cable around the body of the torpid monster, and in carrying
-the ends of it ashore, when an hundred hands were instantly employed in
-securing them. But ere this was accomplished, the tide began to make
-fast, and the Udaller informed his assistants, that either the fish must
-be killed, or at least greatly wounded, ere the depth of water on the
-bar was sufficient to float him; or that he was not unlikely to escape
-from their joint prowess.
-
-"Wherefore," said he, "we must set to work, and the factor shall have
-the honour to make the first throw."
-
-The valiant Triptolemus caught the word; and it is necessary to say that
-the patience of the whale, in suffering himself to be noosed without
-resistance, had abated his terrors, and very much lowered the creature
-in his opinion. He protested the fish had no more wit, and scarcely more
-activity, than a black snail; and, influenced by this undue contempt of
-the adversary, he waited neither for a further signal, nor a better
-weapon, nor a more suitable position, but, rising in his energy, hurled
-his graip with all his force against the unfortunate monster. The boats
-had not yet retreated from him to the distance necessary to ensure
-safety, when this injudicious commencement of the war took place.
-
-Magnus Troil, who had only jested with the factor, and had reserved the
-launching the first spear against the whale to some much more skilful
-hand, had just time to exclaim, "Mind yourselves, lads, or we are all
-swamped!" when the monster, roused at once from inactivity by the blow
-of the factor's missile, blew, with a noise resembling the explosion of
-a steam-engine, a huge shower of water into the air, and at the same
-time began to lash the waves with his tail in every direction. The boat
-in which Magnus presided received the shower of brine which the animal
-spouted aloft; and the adventurous Triptolemus, who had a full share of
-the immersion, was so much astonished and terrified by the consequences
-of his own valorous deed, that he tumbled backwards amongst the feet of
-the people, who, too busy to attend to him, were actively engaged in
-getting the boat into shoal water, out of the whale's reach. Here he lay
-for some minutes, trampled on by the feet of the boatmen, until they lay
-on their oars to bale, when the Udaller ordered them to pull to shore,
-and land this spare hand, who had commenced the fishing so
-inauspiciously.
-
-While this was doing, the other boats had also pulled off to safer
-distance, and now, from these as well as from the shore, the unfortunate
-native of the deep was overwhelmed by all kinds of missiles,--harpoons
-and spears flew against him on all sides--guns were fired, and each
-various means of annoyance plied which could excite him to exhaust his
-strength in useless rage. When the animal found that he was locked in by
-shallows on all sides, and became sensible, at the same time, of the
-strain of the cable on his body, the convulsive efforts which he made to
-escape, accompanied with sounds resembling deep and loud groans, would
-have moved the compassion of all but a practised whale-fisher. The
-repeated showers which he spouted into the air began now to be mingled
-with blood, and the waves which surrounded him assumed the same crimson
-appearance. Meantime the attempts of the assailants were redoubled; but
-Mordaunt Mertoun and Cleveland, in particular, exerted themselves to the
-uttermost, contending who should display most courage in approaching the
-monster, so tremendous in its agonies, and should inflict the most deep
-and deadly wounds upon its huge bulk.
-
-The contest seemed at last pretty well over; for although the animal
-continued from time to time to make frantic exertions for liberty, yet
-its strength appeared so much exhausted, that, even with the assistance
-of the tide, which had now risen considerably, it was thought it could
-scarcely extricate itself.
-
-Magnus gave the signal to venture nearer to the whale, calling out at
-the same time, "Close in, lads, he is not half so mad now--The Factor
-may look for a winter's oil for the two lamps at Harfra--Pull close in,
-lads."
-
-Ere his orders could be obeyed, the other two boats had anticipated his
-purpose; and Mordaunt Mertoun, eager to distinguish himself above
-Cleveland, had, with the whole strength he possessed, plunged a
-half-pike into the body of the animal. But the leviathan, like a nation
-whose resources appear totally exhausted by previous losses and
-calamities, collected his whole remaining force for an effort, which
-proved at once desperate and successful. The wound, last received, had
-probably reached through his external defences of blubber, and attained
-some very sensitive part of the system; for he roared aloud, as he sent
-to the sky a mingled sheet of brine and blood, and snapping the strong
-cable like a twig, overset Mertoun's boat with a blow of his tail, shot
-himself, by a mighty effort, over the bar, upon which the tide had now
-risen considerably, and made out to sea, carrying with him a whole grove
-of the implements which had been planted in his body, and leaving behind
-him, on the waters, a dark red trace of his course.
-
-"There goes to sea your cruise of oil, Master Yellowley," said Magnus,
-"and you must consume mutton suet, or go to bed in the dark."
-
-"_Operam et oleum perdidi_," muttered Triptolemus; "but if they catch me
-whale-fishing again, I will consent that the fish shall swallow me as he
-did Jonah."
-
-"But where is Mordaunt Mertoun all this while?" exclaimed Claud Halcro;
-and it was instantly perceived that the youth, who had been stunned when
-his boat was stove, was unable to swim to shore as the other sailors
-did, and now floated senseless upon the waves.
-
-We have noticed the strange and inhuman prejudice, which rendered the
-Zetlanders of that period unwilling to assist those whom they saw in the
-act of drowning, though that is the calamity to which the islanders are
-most frequently exposed. Three men, however, soared above this
-superstition. The first was Claud Halcro, who threw himself from a small
-rock headlong into the waves, forgetting, as he himself afterwards
-stated, that he could not swim, and, if possessed of the harp of Arion,
-had no dolphins in attendance. The first plunge which the poet made in
-deep water, reminding him of these deficiencies, he was fain to cling to
-the rock from which he had dived, and was at length glad to regain the
-shore, at the expense of a ducking.
-
-Magnus Troil, whose honest heart forgot his late coolness towards
-Mordaunt, when he saw the youth's danger, would instantly have brought
-him more effectual aid, but Eric Scambester held him fast.
-
-"Hout, sir--hout," exclaimed that faithful attendant--"Captain Cleveland
-has a grip of Mr. Mordaunt--just let the twa strangers help ilk other,
-and stand by the upshot. The light of the country is not to be quenched
-for the like of them. Bide still, sir, I say--Bredness Voe is not a bowl
-of punch, that a man can be fished out of like a toast with a long
-spoon."
-
-This sage remonstrance would have been altogether lost upon Magnus, had
-he not observed that Cleveland had in fact jumped out of the boat, and
-swum to Mertoun's assistance, and was keeping him afloat till the boat
-came to the aid of both. As soon as the immediate danger which called so
-loudly for assistance was thus ended, the honest Udaller's desire to
-render aid terminated also; and recollecting the cause of offence which
-he had, or thought he had, against Mordaunt Mertoun, he shook off his
-butler's hold, and turning round scornfully from the beach, called Eric
-an old fool for supposing that he cared whether the young fellow sank or
-swam.
-
-Still, however, amid his assumed indifference, Magnus could not help
-peeping over the heads of the circle, which, surrounding Mordaunt as
-soon as he was brought on shore, were charitably employed in
-endeavouring to recall him to life; and he was not able to attain the
-appearance of absolute unconcern, until the young man sat up on the
-beach, and showed plainly that the accident had been attended with no
-material consequences. It was then first that, cursing the assistants
-for not giving the lad a glass of brandy, he walked sullenly away, as
-if totally unconcerned in his fate.
-
-The women, always accurate in observing the telltale emotions of each
-other, failed not to remark, that when the sisters of Burgh-Westra saw
-Mordaunt immersed in the waves, Minna grew as pale as death, while
-Brenda uttered successive shrieks of terror. But though there were some
-nods, winks, and hints that auld acquaintance were not easily forgot, it
-was, on the whole, candidly admitted, that less than such marks of
-interest could scarce have been expected, when they saw the companion of
-their early youth in the act of perishing before their eyes.
-
-Whatever interest Mordaunt's condition excited while it seemed perilous,
-began to abate as he recovered himself; and when his senses were fully
-restored, only Claud Halcro, with two or three others, were standing by
-him. About ten paces off stood Cleveland--his hair and clothes dropping
-water, and his features wearing so peculiar an expression, as
-immediately to arrest the attention of Mordaunt. There was a suppressed
-smile on his cheek, and a look of pride in his eye, that implied
-liberation from a painful restraint, and something resembling gratified
-scorn. Claud Halcro hastened to intimate to Mordaunt, that he owed his
-life to Cleveland; and the youth, rising from the ground, and losing all
-other feelings in those of gratitude, stepped forward with his hand
-stretched out, to offer his warmest thanks to his preserver. But he
-stopped short in surprise, as Cleveland, retreating a pace or two,
-folded his arms on his breast, and declined to accept his proffered
-hand. He drew back in turn, and gazed with astonishment at the
-ungracious manner, and almost insulting look, with which Cleveland, who
-had formerly rather expressed a frank cordiality, or at least openness
-of bearing, now, after having thus rendered him a most important
-service, chose to receive his thanks.
-
-"It is enough," said Cleveland, observing his surprise, "and it is
-unnecessary to say more about it. I have paid back my debt, and we are
-now equal."
-
-"You are more than equal with me, Captain Cleveland," answered Mertoun,
-"because you endangered your life to do for me what I did for you
-without the slightest risk;--besides," he added, trying to give the
-discourse a more pleasant turn, "I have your rifle-gun to boot."
-
-"Cowards only count danger for any point of the game," said Cleveland.
-"Danger has been my consort for life, and sailed with me on a thousand
-worse voyages;--and for rifles, I have enough of my own, and you may
-see, when you will, which can use them best."
-
-There was something in the tone with which this was said, that struck
-Mordaunt strongly; it was miching malicho, as Hamlet says, and meant
-mischief. Cleveland saw his surprise, came close up to him, and spoke in
-a low tone of voice:--"Hark ye, my young brother. There is a custom
-among us gentlemen of fortune, that when we follow the same chase, and
-take the wind out of each other's sails, we think sixty yards of the
-sea-beach, and a brace of rifles, are no bad way of making our odds
-even."
-
-"I do not understand you, Captain Cleveland," said Mordaunt.
-
-"I do not suppose you do,--I did not suppose you would," said the
-Captain; and, turning on his heel, with a smile that resembled a sneer,
-Mordaunt saw him mingle with the guests, and very soon beheld him at
-the side of Minna, who was talking to him with animated features, that
-seemed to thank him for his gallant and generous conduct.
-
-"If it were not for Brenda," thought Mordaunt, "I almost wish he had
-left me in the voe, for no one seems to care whether I am alive or
-dead.--Two rifles and sixty yards of sea-beach--is that what he points
-at?--It may come,--but not on the day he has saved my life with risk of
-his own."
-
-While he was thus musing, Eric Scambester was whispering to Halcro, "If
-these two lads do not do each other a mischief, there is no faith in
-freits. Master Mordaunt saves Cleveland,--well.--Cleveland, in requital,
-has turned all the sunshine of Burgh-Westra to his own side of the
-house; and think what it is to lose favour in such a house as this,
-where the punch-kettle is never allowed to cool! Well, now that
-Cleveland in his turn has been such a fool as to fish Mordaunt out of
-the voe, see if he does not give him sour sillocks for stock-fish."
-
-"Pshaw, pshaw!" replied the poet, "that is all old women's fancies, my
-friend Eric; for what says glorious Dryden--sainted John,--
-
-  'The yellow gall that in your bosom floats,
-  Engenders all these melancholy thoughts.'"
-
-"Saint John, or Saint James either, may be mistaken in the matter," said
-Eric; "for I think neither of them lived in Zetland. I only say, that if
-there is faith in old saws, these two lads will do each other a
-mischief; and if they do, I trust it will light on Mordaunt Mertoun."
-
-"And why, Eric Scambester," said Halcro, hastily and angrily, "should
-you wish ill to that poor young man, that is worth fifty of the other?"
-
-"Let every one roose the ford as he finds it," replied Eric; "Master
-Mordaunt is all for wan water, like his old dog-fish of a father; now
-Captain Cleveland, d'ye see, takes his glass, like an honest fellow and
-a gentleman."
-
-"Rightly reasoned, and in thine own division," said Halcro; and breaking
-off their conversation, took his way back to Burgh-Westra, to which the
-guests of Magnus were now returning, discussing as they went, with much
-animation, the various incidents of their attack upon the whale, and not
-a little scandalized that it should have baffled all their exertions.
-
-"I hope Captain Donderdrecht of the Eintracht of Rotterdam will never
-hear of it," said Magnus; "he would swear, donner and blitzen, we were
-only fit to fish flounders."[46]
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[46] The contest about the whale will remind the poetical reader of
-Waller's Battle of the Summer Islands.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-  And helter-skelter have I rode to thee,
-  And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
-  And golden times, and happy news of price.
-
-                                           _Ancient Pistol._
-
-
-Fortune, who seems at times to bear a conscience, owed the hospitable
-Udaller some amends, and accordingly repaid to Burgh-Westra the
-disappointment occasioned by the unsuccessful whale-fishing, by sending
-thither, on the evening of the day in which that incident happened, no
-less a person than the jagger, or travelling merchant, as he styled
-himself, Bryce Snailsfoot, who arrived in great pomp, himself on one
-pony, and his pack of goods, swelled to nearly double its usual size,
-forming the burden of another, which was led by a bare-headed
-bare-legged boy.
-
-As Bryce announced himself the bearer of important news, he was
-introduced to the dining apartment, where (for that primitive age was no
-respecter of persons) he was permitted to sit down at a side-table, and
-amply supplied with provisions and good liquor; while the attentive
-hospitality of Magnus permitted no questions to be put to him, until,
-his hunger and thirst appeased, he announced, with the sense of
-importance attached to distant travels, that he had just yesterday
-arrived at Lerwick from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, and would have
-been here yesterday, but it blew hard off the Fitful-head.
-
-"We had no wind here," said Magnus.
-
-"There is somebody has not been sleeping, then," said the pedlar, "and
-her name begins with N; but Heaven is above all."
-
-"But the news from Orkney, Bryce, instead of croaking about a capful of
-wind?"
-
-"Such news," replied Bryce, "as has not been heard this thirty
-years--not since Cromwell's time."
-
-"There is not another Revolution, is there?" said Halcro; "King James
-has not come back, as blithe as King Charlie did, has he?"
-
-"It's news," replied the pedlar, "that are worth twenty kings, and
-kingdoms to boot of them; for what good did the evolutions ever do us?
-and I dare say we have seen a dozen, great and sma'."
-
-"Are any Indiamen come north about?" said Magnus Troil.
-
-"Ye are nearer the mark, Fowd," said the jagger; "but it is nae
-Indiaman, but a gallant armed vessel, chokeful of merchandise, that they
-part with so easy that a decent man like my sell can afford to give the
-country the best pennyworths you ever saw; and that you will say, when I
-open that pack, for I count to carry it back another sort lighter than
-when I brought it here."
-
-"Ay, ay, Bryce," said the Udaller, "you must have had good bargains if
-you sell cheap; but what ship was it?"
-
-"Cannot justly say--I spoke to nobody but the captain, who was a
-discreet man; but she had been down on the Spanish Main, for she has
-silks and satins, and tobacco, I warrant you, and wine, and no lack of
-sugar, and bonny-wallies baith of silver and gowd, and a bonnie
-dredging of gold dust into the bargain."
-
-"What like was she?" said Cleveland, who seemed to give much attention.
-
-"A stout ship," said the itinerant merchant, "schooner-rigged, sails
-like a dolphin, they say, carries twelve guns, and is pierced for
-twenty."
-
-"Did you hear the captain's name?" said Cleveland, speaking rather lower
-than his usual tone.
-
-"I just ca'd him the Captain," replied Bryce Snailsfoot; "for I make it
-a rule never to ask questions of them I deal with in the way of trade;
-for there is many an honest captain, begging your pardon, Captain
-Cleveland, that does not care to have his name tacked to his title; and
-as lang as we ken what bargains we are making, what signifies it wha we
-are making them wi', ye ken?"
-
-"Bryce Snailsfoot is a cautious man," said the Udaller, laughing; "he
-knows a fool may ask more questions than a wise man cares to answer."
-
-"I have dealt with the fair traders in my day," replied Snailsfoot, "and
-I ken nae use in blurting braid out with a man's name at every moment;
-but I will uphold this gentleman to be a gallant commander--ay, and a
-kind one too; for every one of his crew is as brave in apparel as
-himself nearly--the very foremast-men have their silken scarfs; I have
-seen many a lady wear a warse, and think hersell nae sma' drink--and for
-siller buttons, and buckles, and the lave of sic vanities, there is nae
-end of them."
-
-"Idiots!" muttered Cleveland between his teeth; and then added, "I
-suppose they are often ashore, to show all their bravery to the lasses
-of Kirkwall?"
-
-"Ne'er a bit of that are they. The Captain will scarce let them stir
-ashore without the boatswain go in the boat--as rough a tarpaulin as
-ever swabb'd a deck--and you may as weel catch a cat without her claws,
-as him without his cutlass and his double brace of pistols about him;
-every man stands as much in awe of him as of the commander himsell."
-
-"That must be Hawkins, or the devil," said Cleveland.
-
-"Aweel, Captain," replied the jagger, "be he the tane or the tither, or
-a wee bit o' baith, mind it is you that give him these names, and not
-I."
-
-"Why, Captain Cleveland," said the Udaller, "this may prove the very
-consort you spoke of."
-
-"They must have had some good luck, then," said Cleveland, "to put them
-in better plight than when I left them.--Did they speak of having lost
-their consort, pedlar?"
-
-"In troth did they," said Bryce; "that is, they said something about a
-partner that had gone down to Davie Jones in these seas."
-
-"And did you tell them what you knew of her?" said the Udaller.
-
-"And wha the deevil wad hae been the fule, then," said the pedlar, "that
-I suld say sae? When they kend what came of the ship, the next question
-wad have been about the cargo,--and ye wad not have had me bring down an
-armed vessel on the coast, to harrie the poor folk about a wheen rags of
-duds that the sea flung upon their shores?"
-
-"Besides, what might have been found in your own pack, you scoundrel!"
-said Magnus Troil; an observation which produced a loud laugh. The
-Udaller could not help joining in the hilarity which applauded his jest;
-but instantly composing his countenance, he said, in an unusually grave
-tone, "You may laugh, my friends; but this is a matter which brings both
-a curse and a shame on the country; and till we learn to regard the
-rights of them that suffer by the winds and waves, we shall deserve to
-be oppressed and hag-ridden, as we have been and are, by the superior
-strength of the strangers who rule us."
-
-The company hung their heads at the rebuke of Magnus Troil. Perhaps
-some, even of the better class, might be conscience-struck on their own
-account; and all of them were sensible that the appetite for plunder, on
-the part of the tenants and inferiors, was not at all times restrained
-with sufficient strictness. But Cleveland made answer gaily, "If these
-honest fellows be my comrades, I will answer for them that they will
-never trouble the country about a parcel of chests, hammocks, and such
-trumpery, that the Roost may have washed ashore out of my poor sloop.
-What signifies to them whether the trash went to Bryce Snailsfoot, or to
-the bottom, or to the devil? So unbuckle thy pack, Bryce, and show the
-ladies thy cargo, and perhaps we may see something that will please
-them."
-
-"It cannot be his consort," said Brenda, in a whisper to her sister; "he
-would have shown more joy at her appearance."
-
-"It must be the vessel," answered Minna; "I saw his eye glisten at the
-thought of being again united to the partner of his dangers."
-
-"Perhaps it glistened," said her sister, still apart, "at the thought of
-leaving Zetland; it is difficult to guess the thought of the heart from
-the glance of the eye."
-
-"Judge not, at least, unkindly of a friend's thought," said Minna; "and
-then, Brenda, if you are mistaken, the fault rests not with you."
-
-During this dialogue, Bryce Snailsfoot was busied in uncoiling the
-carefully arranged cordage of his pack, which amounted to six good yards
-of dressed seal-skin, curiously complicated and secured by all manner of
-knots and buckles. He was considerably interrupted in the task by the
-Udaller and others, who pressed him with questions respecting the
-stranger vessel.
-
-"Were the officers often ashore? and how were they received by the
-people of Kirkwall?" said Magnus Troil.
-
-"Excellently well," answered Bryce Snailsfoot; "and the Captain and one
-or two of his men had been at some of the vanities and dances which went
-forward in the town; but there had been some word about customs, or
-king's duties, or the like, and some of the higher folk, that took upon
-them as magistrates, or the like, had had words with the Captain, and he
-refused to satisfy them; and then it is like he was more coldly looked
-on, and he spoke of carrying the ship round to Stromness, or the
-Langhope, for she lay under the guns of the battery at Kirkwall. But he"
-(Bryce) "thought she wad bide at Kirkwall till the summer-fair was over,
-for all that."
-
-"The Orkney gentry," said Magnus Troil, "are always in a hurry to draw
-the Scotch collar tighter round their own necks. Is it not enough that
-we must pay _scat_ and _wattle,_ which were all the public dues under
-our old Norse government; but must they come over us with king's dues
-and customs besides? It is the part of an honest man to resist these
-things. I have done so all my life, and will do so to the end of it."
-
-There was a loud jubilee and shout of applause among the guests, who
-were (some of them at least) better pleased with Magnus Troil's
-latitudinarian principles with respect to the public revenue, (which
-were extremely natural to those living in so secluded a situation, and
-subjected to many additional exactions,) than they had been with the
-rigour of his judgment on the subject of wrecked goods. But Minna's
-inexperienced feelings carried her farther than her father, while she
-whispered to Brenda, not unheard by Cleveland, that the tame spirit of
-the Orcadians had missed every chance which late incidents had given
-them to emancipate these islands from the Scottish yoke.
-
-"Why," she said, "should we not, under so many changes as late times
-have introduced, have seized the opportunity to shake off an allegiance
-which is not justly due from us, and to return to the protection of
-Denmark, our parent country? Why should we yet hesitate to do this, but
-that the gentry of Orkney have mixed families and friendship so much
-with our invaders, that they have become dead to the throb of the heroic
-Norse blood, which they derived from their ancestors?"
-
-The latter part of this patriotic speech happened to reach the
-astonished ears of our friend Triptolemus, who, having a sincere
-devotion for the Protestant succession, and the Revolution as
-established, was surprised into the ejaculation, "As the old cock crows
-the young cock learns--hen I should say, mistress, and I crave your
-pardon if I say any thing amiss in either gender. But it is a happy
-country where the father declares against the king's customs, and the
-daughter against the king's crown! and, in my judgment, it can end in
-naething but trees and tows."
-
-"Trees are scarce among us," said Magnus; "and for ropes, we need them
-for our rigging, and cannot spare them to be shirt-collars."
-
-"And whoever," said the Captain, "takes umbrage at what this young lady
-says, had better keep his ears and tongue for a safer employment than
-such an adventure."
-
-"Ay, ay," said Triptolemus, "it helps the matter much to speak truths,
-whilk are as unwelcome to a proud stomach as wet clover to a cow's, in a
-land where lads are ready to draw the whittle if a lassie but looks
-awry. But what manners are to be expected in a country where folk call a
-pleugh-sock a markal?"
-
-"Hark ye, Master Yellowley," said the Captain, smiling, "I hope my
-manners are not among those abuses which you come hither to reform; any
-experiment on them may be dangerous."
-
-"As well as difficult," said Triptolemus, dryly; "but fear nothing,
-Captain Cleveland, from my remonstrances. My labours regard the men and
-things of the earth, and not the men and things of the sea,--you are not
-of my element."
-
-"Let us be friends, then, old clod-compeller," said the Captain.
-
-"Clod-compeller!" said the agriculturist, bethinking himself of the
-lore of his earlier days; "Clod-compeller _pro_ cloud-compeller,
-[Greek: Nephelêgeréta Zeus](_o_)--_Græcum est_,--in which voyage came
-you by that phrase?"
-
-"I have travelled books as well as seas in my day," said the Captain;
-"but my last voyages have been of a sort to make me forget my early
-cruizes through classic knowledge.--But come here, Bryce,--hast cast off
-the lashing?--Come all hands, and let us see if he has aught in his
-cargo that is worth looking upon."
-
-With a proud, and, at the same time, a wily smile, did the crafty pedlar
-display a collection of wares far superior to those which usually filled
-his packages, and, in particular, some stuffs and embroideries, of such
-beauty and curiosity, fringed, flowered, and worked, with such art and
-magnificence, upon foreign and arabesque patterns, that the sight might
-have dazzled a far more brilliant company than the simple race of Thule.
-All beheld and admired, while Mistress Baby Yellowley, holding up her
-hands, protested it was a sin even to look upon such extravagance, and
-worse than murder so much as to ask the price of them.
-
-Others, however, were more courageous; and the prices demanded by the
-merchant, if they were not, as he himself declared, something just more
-than nothing--short only of an absolute free gift of his wares, were
-nevertheless so moderate, as to show that he himself must have made an
-easy acquisition of the goods, judging by the rate at which he offered
-to part with them. Accordingly, the cheapness of the articles created a
-rapid sale; for in Zetland, as well as elsewhere, wise folk buy more
-from the prudential desire to secure a good bargain, than from any real
-occasion for the purchase. The Lady Glowrowrum bought seven petticoats
-and twelve stomachers on this sole principle, and other matrons present
-rivalled her in this sagacious species of economy. The Udaller was also
-a considerable purchaser; but the principal customer for whatever could
-please the eye of beauty, was the gallant Captain Cleveland, who
-rummaged the jagger's stores in selecting presents for the ladies of the
-party, in which Minna and Brenda Troil were especially remembered.
-
-"I fear," said Magnus Troil, "that the young women are to consider these
-pretty presents as keepsakes, and that all this liberality is only a
-sure sign we are soon to lose you?"
-
-This question seemed to embarrass him to whom it was put.
-
-"I scarce know," he said with some hesitation, "whether this vessel is
-my consort or no--I must take a trip to Kirkwall to make sure of that
-matter, and then I hope to return to Dunrossness to bid you all
-farewell."
-
-"In that case," said the Udaller, after a moment's pause, "I think I may
-carry you thither. I should be at the Kirkwall fair, to settle with the
-merchants I have consigned my fish to, and I have often promised Minna
-and Brenda that they should see the fair. Perhaps also your consort, or
-these strangers, whoever they be, may have some merchandise that will
-suit me. I love to see my rigging-loft well stocked with goods, almost
-as much as to see it full of dancers. We will go to Orkney in my own
-brig, and I can offer you a hammock, if you will."
-
-The offer seemed so acceptable to Cleveland, that, after pouring himself
-forth in thanks, he seemed determined to mark his joy by exhausting
-Bryce Snailsfoot's treasures in liberality to the company. The contents
-of a purse of gold were transferred to the jagger, with a facility and
-indifference on the part of its former owner which argued either the
-greatest profusion, or consciousness of superior and inexhaustible
-wealth; so that Baby whispered to her brother, that, "if he could afford
-to fling away money at this rate, the lad had made a better voyage in a
-broken ship, than all the skippers of Dundee had made in their haill
-anes for a twelvemonth past."
-
-But the angry feeling in which she made this remark was much mollified,
-when Cleveland, whose object it seemed that evening to be, to buy golden
-opinions of all sorts of men, approached her with a garment somewhat
-resembling in shape the Scottish plaid, but woven of a sort of wool so
-soft, that it felt to the touch as if it were composed of eider-down.
-"This," he said, "was a part of a Spanish lady's dress, called a
-_mantilla_; as it would exactly fit the size of Mrs. Baby Yellowley, and
-was very well suited for the fogs of the climate of Zetland, he
-entreated her to wear it for his sake." The lady, with as much
-condescending sweetness as her countenance was able to express, not only
-consented to receive this mark of gallantry, but permitted the donor to
-arrange the mantilla upon her projecting and bony shoulder-blades,
-where, said Claud Halcro, "it hung, for all the world, as if it had been
-stretched betwixt a couple of cloak-pins."
-
-While the Captain was performing this piece of courtesy, much to the
-entertainment of the company, which, it may be presumed, was his
-principal object from the beginning, Mordaunt Mertoun made purchase of a
-small golden chaplet, with the private intention of presenting it to
-Brenda, when he should find an opportunity. The price was fixed, and the
-article laid aside. Claud Halcro also showed some desire of possessing a
-silver box of antique shape, for depositing tobacco, which he was in the
-habit of using in considerable quantity. But the bard seldom had current
-coin in promptitude, and, indeed, in his wandering way of life, had
-little occasion for any; and Bryce, on the other hand, his having been
-hitherto a ready-money trade, protested, that his very moderate profits
-upon such rare and choice articles, would not allow of his affording
-credit to the purchaser. Mordaunt gathered the import of this
-conversation from the mode in which they whispered together, while the
-bard seemed to advance a wishful finger towards the box in question, and
-the cautious pedlar detained it with the weight of his whole hand, as if
-he had been afraid it would literally make itself wings, and fly into
-Claud Halcro's pocket. Mordaunt Mertoun at this moment, desirous to
-gratify an old acquaintance, laid the price of the box on the table, and
-said he would not permit Master Halcro to purchase that box, as he had
-settled in his own mind to make him a present of it.
-
-"I cannot think of robbing you, my dear young friend," said the poet;
-"but the truth is, that that same box does remind me strangely of
-glorious John's, out of which I had the honour to take a pinch at the
-Wits' Coffeehouse, for which I think more highly of my right-hand finger
-and thumb than any other part of my body; only you must allow me to pay
-you back the price when my Urkaster stock-fish come to market."
-
-"Settle that as you like betwixt you," said the jagger, taking up
-Mordaunt's money; "the box is bought and sold."
-
-"And how dare you sell over again," said Captain Cleveland, suddenly
-interfering, "what you already have sold to me?"
-
-All were surprised at this interjection, which was hastily made, as
-Cleveland, having turned from Mistress Baby, had become suddenly, and,
-as it seemed, not without emotion, aware what articles Bryce Snailsfoot
-was now disposing of. To this short and fierce question, the jagger,
-afraid to contradict a customer of his description, answered only by
-stammering, that the "Lord knew he meant nae offence."
-
-"How, sir! no offence!" said the seaman, "and dispose of my property?"
-extending his hand at the same time to the box and chaplet; "restore the
-young gentleman's money, and learn to keep your course on the meridian
-of honesty."
-
-The jagger, confused and reluctant, pulled out his leathern pouch to
-repay to Mordaunt the money he had just deposited in it; but the youth
-was not to be so satisfied.
-
-"The articles," he said, "were bought and sold--these were your own
-words, Bryce Snailsfoot, in Master Halcro's hearing; and I will suffer
-neither you nor any other to deprive me of my property."
-
-"_Your_ property, young man?" said Cleveland; "It is mine,--I spoke to
-Bryce respecting them an instant before I turned from the table."
-
-"I--I--I had not just heard distinctly," said Bryce, evidently unwilling
-to offend either party.
-
-"Come, come," said the Udaller, "we will have no quarrelling about
-baubles; we shall be summoned presently to the rigging-loft,"--so he
-used to call the apartment used as a ball-room,--"and we must all go in
-good-humour. The things shall remain with Bryce for to-night, and
-to-morrow I will myself settle whom they shall belong to."
-
-The laws of the Udaller in his own house were absolute as those of the
-Medes. The two young men, regarding each other with looks of sullen
-displeasure, drew off in different directions.
-
-It is seldom that the second day of a prolonged festival equals the
-first. The spirits, as well as the limbs, are jaded, and unequal to the
-renewed expenditure of animation and exertion; and the dance at
-Burgh-Westra was sustained with much less mirth than on the preceding
-evening. It was yet an hour from midnight, when even the reluctant
-Magnus Troil, after regretting the degeneracy of the times, and wishing
-he could transfuse into the modern Hialtlanders some of the vigour which
-still animated his own frame, found himself compelled to give the signal
-for general retreat.
-
-Just as this took place, Halcro, leading Mordaunt Mertoun a little
-aside, said he had a message to him from Captain Cleveland.
-
-"A message!" said Mordaunt, his heart beating somewhat thick as he
-spoke--"A challenge, I suppose?"
-
-"A challenge!" repeated Halcro; "who ever heard of a challenge in our
-quiet islands? Do you think that I look like a carrier of challenges,
-and to you of all men living?--I am none of those fighting fools, as
-glorious John calls them; and it was not quite a message I had to
-deliver--only thus far--this Captain Cleveland, I find, hath set his
-heart upon having these articles you looked at."
-
-"He shall not have them, I swear to you," replied Mordaunt Mertoun.
-
-"Nay, but hear me," said Halcro; "it seems that, by the marks or arms
-that are upon them, he knows that they were formerly his property. Now,
-were you to give me the box, as you promised, I fairly tell you, I
-should give the man back his own."
-
-"And Brenda might do the like," thought Mordaunt to himself, and
-instantly replied aloud, "I have thought better of it, my friend.
-Captain Cleveland shall have the toys he sets such store by, but it is
-on one sole condition."
-
-"Nay, you will spoil all with your conditions," said Halcro; "for, as
-glorious John says, conditions are but"----
-
-"Hear me, I say, with patience.--My condition is, that he keeps the toys
-in exchange for the rifle-gun I accepted from him, which will leave no
-obligation between us on either side."
-
-"I see where you would be--this is Sebastian and Dorax all over. Well,
-you may let the jagger know he is to deliver the things to Cleveland--I
-think he is mad to have them--and I will let Cleveland know the
-conditions annexed, otherwise honest Bryce might come by two payments
-instead of one; and I believe his conscience would not choke upon it."
-
-With these words, Halcro went to seek out Cleveland, while Mordaunt,
-observing Snailsfoot, who, as a sort of privileged person, had thrust
-himself into the crowd at the bottom of the dancing-room, went up to
-him, and gave him directions to deliver the disputed articles to
-Cleveland as soon as he had an opportunity.
-
-"Ye are in the right, Maister Mordaunt," said the jagger; "ye are a
-prudent and a sensible lad--a calm answer turneth away wrath--and
-mysell, I sall be willing to please you in ony trifling matters in my
-sma' way; for, between the Udaller of Burgh-Westra and Captain
-Cleveland, a man is, as it were, atween the deil and the deep sea; and
-it was like that the Udaller, in the end, would have taken your part in
-the dispute, for he is a man that loves justice."
-
-"Which apparently you care very little about, Master Snailsfoot," said
-Mordaunt, "otherwise there could have been no dispute whatever, the
-right being so clearly on my side, if you had pleased to bear witness
-according to the dictates of truth."
-
-"Maister Mordaunt," said the jagger, "I must own there was, as it were,
-a colouring or shadow of justice on your side; but then, the justice
-that I meddle with, is only justice in the way of trade, to have an
-ellwand of due length, if it be not something worn out with leaning on
-it in my lang and painful journeys, and to buy and sell by just weight
-and measure, twenty-four merks to the lispund; but I have nothing to do,
-to do justice betwixt man and man, like a Fowd or a Lawright-man at a
-lawting lang syne."
-
-"No one asked you to do so, but only to give evidence according to your
-conscience," replied Mordaunt, not greatly pleased either with the part
-the jagger had acted during the dispute, or the construction which he
-seemed to put on his own motives for yielding up the point.
-
-But Bryce Snailsfoot wanted not his answer; "My conscience," he said,
-"Maister Mordaunt, is as tender as ony man's in my degree; but she is
-something of a timorsome nature, cannot abide angry folk, and can never
-speak above her breath, when there is aught of a fray going forward.
-Indeed, she hath at all times a small and low voice."
-
-"Which you are not much in the habit of listening to," said Mordaunt.
-
-"There is that on your ain breast that proves the contrary," said Bryce,
-resolutely.
-
-"In my breast?" said Mordaunt, somewhat angrily,--"what know I of you?"
-
-"I said _on_ your breast, Maister Mordaunt, and not _in_ it. I am sure
-nae eye that looks on that waistcoat upon your own gallant brisket, but
-will say, that the merchant who sold such a piece for four dollars had
-justice and conscience, and a kind heart to a customer to the boot of a'
-that; sae ye shouldna be sae thrawart wi' me for having spared the
-breath of my mouth in a fool's quarrel."
-
-"I thrawart!" said Mordaunt; "pooh, you silly man! I have no quarrel
-with you."
-
-"I am glad of it," said the travelling merchant; "I will quarrel with no
-man, with my will--least of all with an old customer; and if you will
-walk by my advice, you will quarrel nane with Captain Cleveland. He is
-like one of yon cutters and slashers that have come into Kirkwall, that
-think as little of slicing a man, as we do of flinching a whale--it's
-their trade to fight, and they live by it; and they have the advantage
-of the like of you, that only take it up at your own hand, and in the
-way of pastime, when you hae nothing better to do."
-
-The company had now almost all dispersed; and Mordaunt, laughing at the
-jagger's caution, bade him good-night, and went to his own place of
-repose, which had been assigned to him by Eric Scambester, (who acted
-the part of chamberlain as well as butler,) in a small room, or rather
-closet, in one of the outhouses, furnished for the occasion with the
-hammock of a sailor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-  I pass like night from land to land,
-    I have strange power of speech;
-  So soon as e'er his face I see,
-  I know the man that must hear me,
-    To him my tale I teach.
-
-                  COLERIDGE'S _Rime of the Ancient Mariner_.
-
-
-The daughters of Magnus Troil shared the same bed, in a chamber which
-had been that of their parents before the death of their mother. Magnus,
-who suffered grievously under that dispensation of Providence, had
-become disgusted with the apartment. The nuptial chamber was abandoned
-to the pledges of his bereaved affection, of whom the eldest was at that
-period only four years old, or thereabouts; and, having been their
-nursery in infancy, continued, though now tricked and adorned according
-to the best fashion of the islands, and the taste of the lovely sisters
-themselves, to be their sleeping-room, or, in the old Norse dialect,
-their bower.
-
-It had been for many years the scene of the most intimate confidence, if
-that could be called confidence, where, in truth, there was nothing to
-be confided; where neither sister had a secret; and where every thought
-that had birth in the bosom of the one, was, without either hesitation
-or doubt, confided to the other as spontaneously as it had arisen. But,
-since Cleveland abode in the mansion of Burgh-Westra, each of the lovely
-sisters had entertained thoughts which are not lightly or easily
-communicated, unless she who listens to them has previously assured
-herself that the confidence will be kindly received. Minna had noticed
-what other and less interested observers had been unable to perceive,
-that Cleveland, namely, held a lower rank in Brenda's opinion than in
-her own; and Brenda, on her side, thought that Minna had hastily and
-unjustly joined in the prejudices which had been excited against
-Mordaunt Mertoun in the mind of their father. Each was sensible that she
-was no longer the same to her sister; and this conviction was a painful
-addition to other painful apprehensions which they supposed they had to
-struggle with. Their manner towards each other was, in outward
-appearances, and in all the little cares by which affection can be
-expressed, even more assiduously kind than before, as if both, conscious
-that their internal reserve was a breach of their sisterly union, strove
-to atone for it by double assiduity in those external marks of
-affection, which, at other times, when there was nothing to hide, might
-be omitted without inferring any consequences.
-
-On the night referred to in particular, the sisters felt more especially
-the decay of the confidence which used to exist betwixt them. The
-proposed voyage to Kirkwall, and that at the time of the fair, when
-persons of every degree in these islands repair thither, either for
-business or amusement, was likely to be an important incident in lives
-usually so simple and uniform as theirs; and, a few months ago, Minna
-and Brenda would have been awake half the night, anticipating, in their
-talk with each other, all that was likely to happen on so momentous an
-occasion. But now the subject was just mentioned, and suffered to drop,
-as if the topic was likely to produce a difference betwixt them, or to
-call forth a more open display of their several opinions than either was
-willing to make to the other.
-
-Yet such was their natural openness and gentleness of disposition, that
-each sister imputed to herself the fault that there was aught like
-estrangement existing between them; and when, having finished their
-devotions, and betaken themselves to their common couch, they folded
-each other in their arms, and exchanged a sisterly kiss, and a sisterly
-good-night, they seemed mutually to ask pardon, and to exchange
-forgiveness, although neither said a word of offence, either offered or
-received; and both were soon plunged in that light and yet profound
-repose, which is only enjoyed when sleep sinks down on the eyes of youth
-and innocence.
-
-On the night to which the story relates, both sisters were visited by
-dreams, which, though varied by the moods and habits of the sleepers,
-bore yet a strange general resemblance to each other.
-
-Minna dreamed that she was in one of the most lonely recesses of the
-beach, called Swartaster, where the incessant operation of the waves,
-indenting a calcarious rock, has formed a deep _halier_, which, in the
-language of the island, means a subterranean cavern, into which the tide
-ebbs and flows. Many of these run to an extraordinary and unascertained
-depth under ground, and are the secure retreat of cormorants and seals,
-which it is neither easy nor safe to pursue to their extreme recesses.
-Amongst these, this halier of Swartaster was accounted peculiarly
-inaccessible, and shunned both by fowlers and by seamen, on account of
-sharp angles and turnings in the cave itself, as well as the sunken
-rocks which rendered it very dangerous for skiffs or boats to advance
-far into it, especially if there was the usual swell of an island tide.
-From the dark-browed mouth of this cavern, it seemed to Minna, in her
-dream, that she beheld a mermaid issue, not in the classical dress of a
-Nereid, as in Claud Halcro's mask of the preceding evening, but with
-comb and glass in hand, according to popular belief, and lashing the
-waves with that long scaly train, which, in the traditions of the
-country, forms so frightful a contrast with the fair face, long tresses,
-and displayed bosom, of a human and earthly female, of surpassing
-beauty. She seemed to beckon to Minna, while her wild notes rang sadly
-in her ear, and denounced, in prophetic sounds, calamity and woe.
-
-The vision of Brenda was of a different description, yet equally
-melancholy. She sat, as she thought, in her favourite bower, surrounded
-by her father and a party of his most beloved friends, amongst whom
-Mordaunt Mertoun was not forgotten. She was required to sing; and she
-strove to entertain them with a lively ditty, in which she was accounted
-eminently successful, and which she sung with such simple, yet natural
-humour, as seldom failed to produce shouts of laughter and applause,
-while all who could, or who could not sing, were irresistibly compelled
-to lend their voices to the chorus. But, on this occasion, it seemed as
-if her own voice refused all its usual duty, and as if, while she felt
-herself unable to express the words of the well-known air, it assumed,
-in her own despite, the deep tones and wild and melancholy notes of
-Norna of Fitful-head, for the purpose of chanting some wild Runic rhyme,
-resembling those sung by the heathen priests of old, when the victim
-(too often human) was bound to the fatal altar of Odin or of Thor.
-
-At length the two sisters at once started from sleep, and, uttering a
-low scream of fear, clasped themselves in each other's arms. For their
-fancy had not altogether played them false; the sounds, which had
-suggested their dreams, were real, and sung within their apartment. They
-knew the voice well, indeed, and yet, knowing to whom it belonged, their
-surprise and fear were scarce the less, when they saw the well-known
-Norna of Fitful-head, seated by the chimney of the apartment, which,
-during the summer season, contained an iron lamp well trimmed, and, in
-winter, a fire of wood or of turf.
-
-She was wrapped in her long and ample garment of wadmaal, and moved her
-body slowly to and fro over the pale flame of the lamp, as she sung
-lines to the following purport, in a slow, sad, and almost an unearthly
-accent:
-
-  "For leagues along the watery way,
-    Through gulf and stream my course has been;
-  The billows know my Runic lay,
-    And smooth their crests to silent green.
-
-  "The billows know my Runic lay,--
-    The gulf grows smooth, the stream is still;
-  But human hearts, more wild than they,
-    Know but the rule of wayward will.
-
-  "One hour is mine, in all the year,
-    To tell my woes,--and one alone;
-  When gleams this magic lamp, 'tis here,--
-    When dies the mystic light, 'tis gone.
-
-  "Daughters of northern Magnus, hail!
-    The lamp is lit, the flame is clear,--
-  To you I come to tell my tale,
-    Awake, arise, my tale to hear!"
-
-Norna was well known to the daughters of Troil, but it was not without
-emotion, although varied by their respective dispositions, that they
-beheld her so unexpectedly, and at such an hour. Their opinions with
-respect to the supernatural attributes to which she pretended, were
-extremely different.
-
-Minna, with an unusual intensity of imagination, although superior in
-talent to her sister, was more apt to listen to, and delight in, every
-tale of wonder, and was at all times more willing to admit impressions
-which gave her fancy scope and exercise, without minutely examining
-their reality. Brenda, on the other hand, had, in her gaiety, a slight
-propensity to satire, and was often tempted to laugh at the very
-circumstances upon which Minna founded her imaginative dreams; and, like
-all who love the ludicrous, she did not readily suffer herself to be
-imposed upon, or overawed, by pompous pretensions of any kind whatever.
-But, as her nerves were weaker and more irritable than those of her
-sister, she often paid involuntary homage, by her fears, to ideas which
-her reason disowned; and hence, Claud Halcro used to say, in reference
-to many of the traditionary superstitions around Burgh-Westra, that
-Minna believed them without trembling, and that Brenda trembled without
-believing them. In our own more enlightened days, there are few whose
-undoubting mind and native courage have not felt Minna's high wrought
-tone of enthusiasm; and perhaps still fewer, who have not, at one time
-or other, felt, like Brenda, their nerves confess the influence of
-terrors which their reason disowned and despised.
-
-Under the power of such different feelings, Minna, when the first moment
-of surprise was over, prepared to spring from her bed, and go to greet
-Norna, who, she doubted not, had come on some errand fraught with fate;
-while Brenda, who only beheld in her a woman partially deranged in her
-understanding, and who yet, from the extravagance of her claims,
-regarded her as an undefined object of awe, or rather terror, detained
-her sister by an eager and terrified grasp, while she whispered in her
-ear an anxious entreaty that she would call for assistance. But the soul
-of Minna was too highly wrought up by the crisis at which her fate
-seemed to have arrived, to permit her to follow the dictates of her
-sister's fears; and, extricating herself from Brenda's hold, she hastily
-threw on a loose nightgown, and, stepping boldly across the apartment,
-while her heart throbbed rather with high excitement than with fear, she
-thus addressed her singular visitor:
-
-"Norna, if your mission regards us, as your words seem to express, there
-is one of us, at least, who will receive its import with reverence, but
-without fear."
-
-"Norna, dear Norna," said the tremulous voice of Brenda,--who, feeling
-no safety in the bed after Minna quitted it, had followed her, as
-fugitives crowd into the rear of an advancing army, because they dare
-not remain behind, and who now stood half concealed by her sister, and
-holding fast by the skirts of her gown,--"Norna, dear Norna," said she,
-"whatever you are to say, let it be to-morrow. I will call Euphane Fea,
-the housekeeper, and she will find you a bed for the night."
-
-"No bed for me!" said their nocturnal visitor; "no closing of the eyes
-for me! They have watched as shelf and stack appeared and disappeared
-betwixt Burgh-Westra and Orkney--they have seen the Man of Hoy sink
-into the sea, and the Peak of Hengcliff arise from it, and yet they have
-not tasted of slumber; nor must they slumber now till my task is ended.
-Sit down, then, Minna, and thou, silly trembler, sit down, while I trim
-my lamp--Don your clothes, for the tale is long, and ere 'tis done, ye
-will shiver with worse than cold."
-
-"For Heaven's sake, then, put it off till daylight, dear Norna!" said
-Brenda; "the dawn cannot be far distant; and if you are to tell us of
-any thing frightful, let it be by daylight, and not by the dim glimmer
-of that blue lamp!"
-
-"Patience, fool!" said their uninvited guest. "Not by daylight should
-Norna tell a tale that might blot the sun out of heaven, and blight the
-hopes of the hundred boats that will leave this shore ere noon, to
-commence their deep-sea fishing,--ay, and of the hundred families that
-will await their return. The demon, whom the sounds will not fail to
-awaken, must shake his dark wings over a shipless and a boatless sea, as
-he rushes from his mountain to drink the accents of horror he loves so
-well to listen to."
-
-"Have pity on Brenda's fears, good Norna," said the elder sister, "and
-at least postpone this frightful communication to another place and
-hour."
-
-"Maiden, no!" replied Norna, sternly; "it must be told while that lamp
-yet burns. Mine is no daylight tale--by that lamp it must be told, which
-is framed out of the gibbet-irons of the cruel Lord of Wodensvoe, who
-murdered his brother; and has for its nourishment--but be that
-nameless--enough that its food never came either from the fish or from
-the fruit!--See, it waxes dim and dimmer, nor must my tale last longer
-than its flame endureth. Sit ye down there, while I sit here opposite
-to you, and place the lamp betwixt us; for within the sphere of its
-light the demon dares not venture."
-
-The sisters obeyed, Minna casting a slow awestruck, yet determined look
-all around, as if to see the Being, who, according to the doubtful words
-of Norna, hovered in their neighbourhood; while Brenda's fears were
-mingled with some share both of anger and of impatience. Norna paid no
-attention to either, but began her story in the following words:--
-
-"Ye know, my daughters, that your blood is allied to mine, but in what
-degree ye know not; for there was early hostility betwixt your grandsire
-and him who had the misfortune to call me daughter.--Let me term him by
-his Christian name of Erland, for that which marks our relation I dare
-not bestow. Your grandsire Olave, was the brother of Erland. But when
-the wide Udal possessions of their father Rolfe Troil, the most rich and
-well estated of any who descended from the old Norse stock, were divided
-betwixt the brothers, the Fowd gave to Erland his father's lands in
-Orkney, and reserved for Olave those of Hialtland. Discord arose between
-the brethren; for Erland held that he was wronged; and when the
-Lawting,[47] with the Raddmen and Lawright-men, confirmed the
-division, he went in wrath to Orkney, cursing Hialtland and its
-inhabitants--cursing his brother and his blood.
-
-"But the love of the rock and of the mountain still wrought on Erland's
-mind, and he fixed his dwelling not on the soft hills of Ophir, or the
-green plains of Gramesey, but in the wild and mountainous Isle of Hoy,
-whose summit rises to the sky like the cliffs of Foulah and of
-Feroe.[48] He knew,--that unhappy Erland,--whatever of legendary lore
-Scald and Bard had left behind them; and to teach me that knowledge,
-which was to cost us both so dear, was the chief occupation of his old
-age. I learned to visit each lonely barrow--each lofty cairn--to tell
-its appropriate tale, and to soothe with rhymes in his praise the spirit
-of the stern warrior who dwelt within. I knew where the sacrifices were
-made of yore to Thor and to Odin, on what stones the blood of the
-victims flowed--where stood the dark-browed priest--where the crested
-chiefs, who consulted the will of the idol--where the more distant crowd
-of inferior worshippers, who looked on in awe or in terror. The places
-most shunned by the timid peasants had no terrors for me; I dared walk
-in the fairy circle, and sleep by the magic spring.
-
-"But, for my misfortune, I was chiefly fond to linger about the Dwarfie
-Stone, as it is called, a relic of antiquity, which strangers look on
-with curiosity, and the natives with awe. It is a huge fragment of rock,
-which lies in a broken and rude valley, full of stones and precipices,
-in the recesses of the Ward-hill of Hoy. The inside of the rock has two
-couches, hewn by no earthly hand, and having a small passage between
-them. The doorway is now open to the weather; but beside it lies a
-large stone, which, adapted to grooves still visible in the entrance,
-once had served to open and to close this extraordinary dwelling, which
-Trolld, a dwarf famous in the northern Sagas, is said to have framed for
-his own favourite residence. The lonely shepherd avoids the place; for
-at sunrise, high noon, or sunset, the misshapen form of the necromantic
-owner may sometimes still be seen sitting by the Dwarfie Stone.[49] I
-feared not the apparition, for, Minna, my heart was as bold, and my hand
-was as innocent, as yours. In my childish courage, I was even but too
-presumptuous, and the thirst after things unattainable led me, like our
-primitive mother, to desire increase of knowledge, even by prohibited
-means. I longed to possess the power of the Voluspæ and divining women
-of our ancient race; to wield, like them, command over the elements; and
-to summon the ghosts of deceased heroes from their caverns, that they
-might recite their daring deeds, and impart to me their hidden
-treasures. Often when watching by the Dwarfie Stone, with mine eyes
-fixed on the Ward-hill, which rises above that gloomy valley, I have
-distinguished, among the dark rocks, that wonderful carbuncle,[50](_p_)
-which gleams ruddy as a furnace to them who view it from beneath, but
-has ever become invisible to him whose daring foot has scaled the
-precipices from which it darts its splendour. My vain and youthful bosom
-burned to investigate these and an hundred other mysteries, which the
-Sagas that I perused, or learned from Erland, rather indicated than
-explained; and in my daring mood, I called on the Lord of the Dwarfie
-Stone to aid me in attaining knowledge inaccessible to mere mortals."
-
-"And the evil spirit heard your summons?" said Minna, her blood curdling
-as she listened.
-
-"Hush," said Norna, lowering her voice, "vex him not with reproach--he
-is with us--he hears us even now."
-
-Brenda started from her seat.--"I will to Euphane Fea's chamber," she
-said, "and leave you, Minna and Norna, to finish your stories of
-hobgoblins and of dwarfs at your own leisure; I care not for them at any
-time, but I will not endure them at midnight, and by this pale
-lamplight."
-
-She was accordingly in the act of leaving the room, when her sister
-detained her.
-
-"Is this the courage," she said, "of her, that disbelieves whatever the
-history of our fathers tells us of supernatural prodigy? What Norna has
-to tell concerns the fate, perhaps, of our father and his house;--if I
-can listen to it, trusting that God and my innocence will protect me
-from all that is malignant, you, Brenda, who believe not in such
-influence, have surely no cause to tremble. Credit me, that for the
-guiltless there is no fear."
-
-"There may be no danger," said Brenda, unable to suppress her natural
-turn for humour, "but, as the old jest book says, there is much fear.
-However, Minna, I will stay with you;--the rather," she added, in a
-whisper, "that I am loath to leave you alone with this frightful woman,
-and that I have a dark staircase and long passage betwixt and Euphane
-Fea, else I would have her here ere I were five minutes older."
-
-"Call no one hither, maiden, upon peril of thy life," said Norna, "and
-interrupt not my tale again; for it cannot and must not be told after
-that charmed light has ceased to burn."
-
-"And I thank heaven," said Brenda to herself, "that the oil burns low in
-the cruize! I am sorely tempted to lend it a puff, but then Norna would
-be alone with us in the dark, and that would be worse."
-
-So saying, she submitted to her fate, and sat down, determined to listen
-with all the equanimity which she could command to the remaining part of
-Norna's tale, which went on as follows:--
-
-"It happened on a hot summer day, and just about the hour of noon,"
-continued Norna, "as I sat by the Dwarfie Stone, with my eyes fixed on
-the Ward-hill, whence the mysterious and ever-burning carbuncle shed its
-rays more brightly than usual, and repined in my heart at the restricted
-bounds of human knowledge, that at length I could not help exclaiming,
-in the words of an ancient Saga,
-
-  'Dwellers of the mountain, rise,
-  Trolld the powerful, Haims the wise!
-  Ye who taught weak woman's tongue
-  Words that sway the wise and strong,--
-  Ye who taught weak woman's hand
-  How to wield the magic wand,
-  And wake the gales on Foulah's steep,
-  Or lull wild Sumburgh's waves to sleep!--
-  Still are ye yet?--Not yours the power
-  Ye knew in Odin's mightier hour.
-  What are ye now but empty names,
-  Powerful Trolld, sagacious Haims,
-  That, lightly spoken, lightly heard,
-  Float on the air like thistle's beard?'
-
-"I had scarce uttered these words," proceeded Norna, "ere the sky, which
-had been till then unusually clear, grew so suddenly dark around me,
-that it seemed more like midnight than noon. A single flash of
-lightning showed me at once the desolate landscape of heath, morass,
-mountain, and precipice, which lay around; a single clap of thunder
-wakened all the echoes of the Ward-hill, which continued so long to
-repeat the sound, that it seemed some rock, rent by the thunderbolt from
-the summit, was rolling over cliff and precipice into the valley.
-Immediately after, fell a burst of rain so violent, that I was fain to
-shun its pelting, by creeping into the interior of the mysterious stone.
-
-"I seated myself on the larger stone couch, which is cut at the farther
-end of the cavity, and, with my eyes fixed on the smaller bed, wearied
-myself with conjectures respecting the origin and purpose of my singular
-place of refuge. Had it been really the work of that powerful Trolld, to
-whom the poetry of the Scalds referred it? Or was it the tomb of some
-Scandinavian chief, interred with his arms and his wealth, perhaps also
-with his immolated wife, that what he loved best in life might not in
-death be divided from him? Or was it the abode of penance, chosen by
-some devoted anchorite of later days? Or the idle work of some wandering
-mechanic, whom chance, and whim, and leisure, had thrust upon such an
-undertaking? I tell you the thoughts that then floated through my brain,
-that ye may know that what ensued was not the vision of a prejudiced or
-prepossessed imagination, but an apparition, as certain as it was awful.
-
-"Sleep had gradually crept on me, amidst my lucubrations, when I was
-startled from my slumbers by a second clap of thunder; and, when I
-awoke, I saw, through the dim light which the upper aperture admitted,
-the unshapely and indistinct form of Trolld the dwarf, seated opposite
-to me on the lesser couch, which his square and misshapen bulk seemed
-absolutely to fill up. I was startled, but not affrighted; for the blood
-of the ancient race of Lochlin was warm in my veins. He spoke; and his
-words were of Norse, so old, that few, save my father, or I myself,
-could have comprehended their import,--such language as was spoken in
-these islands ere Olave planted the cross on the ruins of heathenism.
-His meaning was dark also and obscure, like that which the Pagan priests
-were wont to deliver, in the name of their idols, to the tribes that
-assembled at the _Helgafels_.[51] This was the import,--
-
-          'A thousand winters dark have flown,
-          Since o'er the threshold of my Stone
-          A votaress pass'd, my power to own.
-                Visitor bold
-                Of the mansion of Trolld,
-                    Maiden haughty of heart,
-                Who hast hither presumed,--
-                Ungifted, undoom'd,
-                    Thou shalt not depart;
-                The power thou dost covet
-                    O'er tempest and wave,
-                Shall be thine, thou proud maiden,
-                    By beach and by cave,--
-  By stack[52] and by skerry,[53] by noup[54] and by voe,[55]
-  By air[56] and by wick,[57] and by helyer[58] and gio,[59]
-  And by every wild shore which the northern winds know,
-          And the northern tides lave.
-  But though this shall be given thee, thou desperately brave,
-  I doom thee that never the gift thou shalt have,
-          Till thou reave thy life's giver
-          Of the gift which he gave.'
-
-"I answered him in nearly the same strain; for the spirit of the ancient
-Scalds of our race was upon me, and, far from fearing the phantom, with
-whom I sat cooped within so narrow a space, I felt the impulse of that
-high courage which thrust the ancient Champions and Druidesses upon
-contests with the invisible world, when they thought that the earth no
-longer contained enemies worthy to be subdued by them. Therefore did I
-answer him thus:--
-
-  'Dark are thy words, and severe,
-    Thou dweller in the stone;
-  But trembling and fear
-    To her are unknown,
-  Who hath sought thee here,
-    In thy dwelling lone.
-  Come what comes soever,
-    The worst I can endure;
-  Life is but a short fever,
-    And Death is the cure.'
-
-"The Demon scowled at me, as if at once incensed and overawed; and then
-coiling himself up in a thick and sulphureous vapour, he disappeared
-from his place. I did not, till that moment, feel the influence of
-fright, but then it seized me. I rushed into the open air, where the
-tempest had passed away, and all was pure and serene. After a moment's
-breathless pause, I hasted home, musing by the way on the words of the
-phantom, which I could not, as often happens, recall so distinctly to
-memory at the time, as I have been able to do since.
-
-"It may seem strange that such an apparition should, in time, have
-glided from my mind, like a vision of the night--but so it was. I
-brought myself to believe it the work of fancy--I thought I had lived
-too much in solitude, and had given way too much to the feelings
-inspired by my favourite studies. I abandoned them for a time, and I
-mixed with the youth of my age. I was upon a visit at Kirkwall when I
-learned to know your father, whom business had brought thither. He
-easily found access to the relation with whom I lived, who was anxious
-to compose, if possible, the feud which divided our families. Your
-father, maidens, has been rather hardened than changed by years--he had
-the same manly form, the same old Norse frankness of manner and of
-heart, the same upright courage and honesty of disposition, with more of
-the gentle ingenuousness of youth, an eager desire to please, a
-willingness to be pleased, and a vivacity of spirits which survives not
-our early years. But though he was thus worthy of love, and though
-Erland wrote to me, authorizing his attachment, there was another--a
-stranger, Minna, a fatal stranger--full of arts unknown to us, and
-graces which to the plain manners of your father were unknown. Yes, he
-walked, indeed, among us like a being of another and of a superior
-race.--Ye look on me as if it were strange that I should have had
-attractions for such a lover; but I present nothing that can remind you
-that Norna of the Fitful-head was once admired and loved as Ulla
-Troil--the change betwixt the animated body and the corpse after
-disease, is scarce more awful and absolute than I have sustained, while
-I yet linger on earth. Look on me, maidens--look on me by this
-glimmering light--Can ye believe that these haggard and weather-wasted
-features--these eyes, which have been almost converted to stone, by
-looking upon sights of terror--these locks, that, mingled with grey, now
-stream out, the shattered pennons of a sinking vessel--that these, and
-she to whom they belong, could once be the objects of fond
-affection?--But the waning lamp sinks fast, and let it sink while I tell
-my infamy.--We loved in secret, we met in secret, till I gave the last
-proof of fatal and of guilty passion!--And now beam out, thou magic
-glimmer--shine out a little space, thou flame so powerful even in thy
-feebleness--bid him who hovers near us, keep his dark pinions aloof from
-the circle thou dost illuminate--live but a little till the worst be
-told, and then sink when thou wilt into darkness, as black as my guilt
-and sorrow!"
-
-While she spoke thus, she drew together the remaining nutriment of the
-lamp, and trimmed its decaying flame; then again, with a hollow voice,
-and in broken sentences, pursued her narrative.
-
-"I must waste little time in words. My love was discovered, but not my
-guilt. Erland came to Pomona in anger, and transported me to our
-solitary dwelling in Hoy. He commanded me to see my lover no more, and
-to receive Magnus, in whom he was willing to forgive the offences of his
-father, as my future husband. Alas, I no longer deserved his
-attachment--my only wish was to escape from my father's dwelling, to
-conceal my shame in my lover's arms. Let me do him justice--he was
-faithful--too, too faithful--his perfidy would have bereft me of my
-senses; but the fatal consequences of his fidelity have done me a
-tenfold injury."
-
-She paused, and then resumed, with the wild tone of insanity, "It has
-made me the powerful and the despairing Sovereign of the Seas and
-Winds!"
-
-She paused a second time after this wild exclamation, and resumed her
-narrative in a more composed manner.
-
-"My lover came in secret to Hoy, to concert measures for my flight, and
-I agreed to meet him, that we might fix the time when his vessel should
-come into the Sound. I left the house at midnight."
-
-Here she appeared to gasp with agony, and went on with her tale by
-broken and interrupted sentences. "I left the house at midnight--I had
-to pass my father's door, and I perceived it was open--I thought he
-watched us; and, that the sound of my steps might not break his
-slumbers, I closed the fatal door--a light and trivial action--but, God
-in Heaven! what were the consequences!--At morn, the room was full of
-suffocating vapour--my father was dead--dead through my act--dead
-through my disobedience--dead through my infamy! All that follows is
-mist and darkness--a choking, suffocating, stifling mist envelopes all
-that I said and did, all that was said and done, until I became assured
-that my doom was accomplished, and walked forth the calm and terrible
-being you now behold me--the Queen of the Elements--the sharer in the
-power of those beings to whom man and his passions give such sport as
-the tortures of the dog-fish afford the fisherman, when he pierces his
-eyes with thorns, and turns him once more into his native element, to
-traverse the waves in blindness and agony.[60] No, maidens, she whom you
-see before you is impassive to the follies of which your minds are the
-sport. I am she that have made the offering--I am she that bereaved the
-giver of the gift of life which he gave me--the dark saying has been
-interpreted by my deed, and I am taken from humanity, to be something
-pre-eminently powerful, pre-eminently wretched!"
-
-As she spoke thus, the light, which had been long quivering, leaped high
-for an instant, and seemed about to expire, when Norna, interrupting
-herself, said hastily, "No more now--he comes--he comes--Enough that ye
-know me, and the right I have to advise and command you.--Approach now,
-proud Spirit! if thou wilt."
-
-So saying, she extinguished the lamp, and passed out of the apartment
-with her usual loftiness of step, as Minna could observe from its
-measured cadence.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[47] The Lawting was the Comitia, or Supreme Court, of the country,
-being retained both in Orkney and Zetland, and presenting, in its
-constitution, the rude origin of a parliament.
-
-[48] And from which hill of Hoy, at midsummer, the sun may be seen, it
-is said, at midnight. So says the geographer Bleau, although, according
-to Dr. Wallace, it cannot be the true body of the sun which is visible,
-but only its image refracted through some watery cloud upon the horizon.
-
-[49] Note VIII.--The Dwarfie Stone.
-
-[50] Note IX.--Carbuncle on the Ward-hill.
-
-[51] Or consecrated mountain, used by the Scandinavian priests for the
-purposes of their idol-worship.
-
-[52] _Stack._ A precipitous rock, rising out of the sea.
-
-[53] _Skerry._ A flat insulated rock, not subject to the overflowing of
-the sea.
-
-[54] _Noup._ A round-headed eminence.
-
-[55] _Voe._ A creek, or inlet of the sea.
-
-[56] _Air._ An open sea-beach.
-
-[57] _Wick._ An open bay.
-
-[58] _Helyer._ A cavern into which the tide flows.
-
-[59] _Gio._ A deep ravine which admits the sea.
-
-[60] This cruelty is practised by some fishers, out of a vindictive
-hatred to these ravenous fishes.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-  Is all the counsel that we two have shared--
-  The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
-  When we have chid the hasty-footed time
-  For parting us--O, and is all forgot?
-
-                                  _Midsummer-Night's Dream._
-
-
-The attention of Minna was powerfully arrested by this tale of terror,
-which accorded with and explained many broken hints respecting Norna,
-which she had heard from her father and other near relations, and she
-was for a time so lost in surprise, not unmingled with horror, that she
-did not even attempt to speak to her sister Brenda. When, at length, she
-called her by her name, she received no answer, and, on touching her
-hand, she found it cold as ice. Alarmed to the uttermost, she threw open
-the lattice and the window-shutters, and admitted at once the free air
-and the pale glimmer of the hyperborean summer night. She then became
-sensible that her sister was in a swoon. All thoughts concerning Norna,
-her frightful tale, and her mysterious connexion with the invisible
-world, at once vanished from Minna's thoughts, and she hastily ran to
-the apartment of the old housekeeper, to summon her aid, without
-reflecting for a moment what sights she might encounter in the long dark
-passages which she had to traverse.
-
-The old woman hastened to Brenda's assistance, and instantly applied
-such remedies as her experience suggested; but the poor girl's nervous
-system had been so much agitated by the horrible tale she had just
-heard, that, when recovered from her swoon, her utmost endeavours to
-compose her mind could not prevent her falling into a hysterical fit of
-some duration. This also was subdued by the experience of old Euphane
-Fea, who was well versed in all the simple pharmacy used by the natives
-of Zetland, and who, after administering a composing draught, distilled
-from simples and wild flowers, at length saw her patient resigned to
-sleep. Minna stretched herself beside her sister, kissed her cheek, and
-courted slumber in her turn; but the more she invoked it, the farther it
-seemed to fly from her eyelids; and if at times she was disposed to sink
-into repose, the voice of the involuntary parricide seemed again to
-sound in her ears, and startled her into consciousness.
-
-The early morning hour at which they were accustomed to rise, found the
-state of the sisters different from what might have been expected. A
-sound sleep had restored the spirit of Brenda's lightsome eye, and the
-rose on her laughing cheek; the transient indisposition of the preceding
-night having left as little trouble on her look, as the fantastic
-terrors of Norna's tale had been able to impress on her imagination. The
-looks of Minna, on the contrary, were melancholy, downcast, and
-apparently exhausted by watching and anxiety. They said at first little
-to each other, as if afraid of touching a subject so fraught with
-emotion as the scene of the preceding night. It was not until they had
-performed together their devotions, as usual, that Brenda, while lacing
-Minna's boddice, (for they rendered the services of the toilet to each
-other reciprocally,) became aware of the paleness of her sister's
-looks; and having ascertained, by a glance at the mirror, that her own
-did not wear the same dejection, she kissed Minna's cheek, and said
-affectionately, "Claud Halcro was right, my dearest sister, when his
-poetical folly gave us these names of Night and Day."
-
-"And wherefore should you say so now?" said Minna.
-
-"Because we each are bravest in the season that we take our name from: I
-was frightened wellnigh to death, by hearing those things last night,
-which you endured with courageous firmness; and now, when it is broad
-light, I can think of them with composure, while you look as pale as a
-spirit who is surprised by sunrise."
-
-"You are lucky, Brenda," said her sister, gravely, "who can so soon
-forget such a tale of wonder and horror."
-
-"The horror," said Brenda, "is never to be forgotten, unless one could
-hope that the unfortunate woman's excited imagination, which shows
-itself so active in conjuring up apparitions, may have fixed on her an
-imaginary crime."
-
-"You believe nothing, then," said Minna, "of her interview at the
-Dwarfie Stone, that wondrous place, of which so many tales are told, and
-which, for so many centuries, has been reverenced as the work of a
-demon, and as his abode?"
-
-"I believe," said Brenda, "that our unhappy relative is no
-impostor,--and therefore I believe that she was at the Dwarfie Stone
-during a thunderstorm, that she sought shelter in it, and that, during a
-swoon, or during sleep perhaps, some dream visited her, concerned with
-the popular traditions with which she was so conversant; but I cannot
-easily believe more."
-
-"And yet the event," said Minna, "corresponded to the dark intimations
-of the vision."
-
-"Pardon me," said Brenda, "I rather think the dream would never have
-been put into shape, or perhaps remembered at all, but for the event.
-She told us herself she had nearly forgot the vision, till after her
-father's dreadful death,--and who shall warrant how much of what she
-then supposed herself to remember was not the creation of her own fancy,
-disordered as it naturally was by the horrid accident? Had she really
-seen and conversed with a necromantic dwarf, she was likely to remember
-the conversation long enough--at least I am sure I should."
-
-"Brenda," replied Minna, "you have heard the good minister of the
-Cross-Kirk say, that human wisdom was worse than folly, when it was
-applied to mysteries beyond its comprehension; and that, if we believed
-no more than we could understand, we should resist the evidence of our
-senses, which presented us, at every turn, circumstances as certain as
-they were unintelligible."
-
-"You are too learned yourself, sister," answered Brenda, "to need the
-assistance of the good minister of Cross-Kirk; but I think his doctrine
-only related to the mysteries of our religion, which it is our duty to
-receive without investigation or doubt--but in things occurring in
-common life, as God has bestowed reason upon us, we cannot act wrong in
-employing it. But you, my dear Minna, have a warmer fancy than mine, and
-are willing to receive all those wonderful stories for truth, because
-you love to think of sorcerers, and dwarfs, and water-spirits, and
-would like much to have a little trow, or fairy, as the Scotch call
-them, with a green coat, and a pair of wings as brilliant as the hues of
-the starling's neck, specially to attend on you."
-
-"It would spare you at least the trouble of lacing my boddice," said
-Minna, "and of lacing it wrong, too; for in the heat of your argument
-you have missed two eyelet-holes."
-
-"That error shall be presently mended," said Brenda; "and then, as one
-of our friends might say, I will haul tight and belay--but you draw your
-breath so deeply, that it will be a difficult matter."
-
-"I only sighed," said Minna, in some confusion, "to think how soon you
-can trifle with and ridicule the misfortunes of this extraordinary
-woman."
-
-"I do not ridicule them, God knows!" replied Brenda, somewhat angrily;
-"it is you, Minna, who turn all I say in truth and kindness, to
-something harsh or wicked. I look on Norna as a woman of very
-extraordinary abilities, which are very often united with a strong cast
-of insanity; and I consider her as better skilled in the signs of the
-weather than any woman in Zetland. But that she has any power over the
-elements, I no more believe, than I do in the nursery stories of King
-Erick, who could make the wind blow from the point he set his cap to."
-
-Minna, somewhat nettled with the obstinate incredulity of her sister,
-replied sharply, "And yet, Brenda, this woman--half-mad woman, and the
-veriest impostor--is the person by whom you choose to be advised in the
-matter next your own heart at this moment!"
-
-"I do not know what you mean," said Brenda, colouring deeply, and
-shifting to get away from her sister. But as she was now undergoing the
-ceremony of being laced in her turn, her sister had the means of holding
-her fast by the silken string with which she was fastening the boddice,
-and, tapping her on the neck, which expressed, by its sudden writhe, and
-sudden change to a scarlet hue, as much pettish confusion as she had
-desired to provoke, she added, more mildly, "Is it not strange, Brenda,
-that, used as we have been by the stranger Mordaunt Mertoun, whose
-assurance has brought him uninvited to a house where his presence is so
-unacceptable, you should still look or think of him with favour? Surely,
-that you do so should be a proof to you, that there are such things as
-spells in the country, and that you yourself labour under them. It is
-not for nought that Mordaunt wears a chain of elfin gold--look to it,
-Brenda, and be wise in time."
-
-"I have nothing to do with Mordaunt Mertoun," answered Brenda, hastily,
-"nor do I know or care what he or any other young man wears about his
-neck. I could see all the gold chains of all the bailies of Edinburgh,
-that Lady Glowrowrum speaks so much of, without falling in fancy with
-one of the wearers." And, having thus complied with the female rule of
-pleading not guilty in general to such an indictment, she immediately
-resumed, in a different tone, "But, to say the truth, Minna, I think
-you, and all of you, have judged far too hastily about this young friend
-of ours, who has been so long our most intimate companion. Mind,
-Mordaunt Mertoun is no more to me than he is to you--who best know how
-little difference he made betwixt us; and that, chain or no chain, he
-lived with us like a brother with two sisters; and yet you can turn him
-off at once, because a wandering seaman, of whom we know nothing, and a
-peddling jagger, whom we do know to be a thief, a cheat, and a liar,
-speak words and carry tales in his disfavour! I do not believe he ever
-said he could have his choice of either of us, and only waited to see
-which was to have Burgh-Westra and Bredness Voe--I do not believe he
-ever spoke such a word, or harboured such a thought, as that of making a
-choice between us."
-
-"Perhaps," said Minna, coldly, "you may have had reason to know that his
-choice was already determined."
-
-"I will not endure this!" said Brenda, giving way to her natural
-vivacity, and springing from between her sister's hands; then turning
-round and facing her, while her glowing cheek was rivalled in the
-deepness of its crimson, by as much of her neck and bosom as the upper
-part of the half-laced boddice permitted to be visible,--"Even from you,
-Minna," she said, "I will not endure this! You know that all my life I
-have spoken the truth, and that I love the truth; and I tell you, that
-Mordaunt Mertoun never in his life made distinction betwixt you and me,
-until"----
-
-Here some feeling of consciousness stopped her short, and her sister
-replied, with a smile, "Until _when_, Brenda? Methinks, your love of
-truth seems choked with the sentence you were bringing out."
-
-"Until you ceased to do him the justice he deserves," said Brenda,
-firmly, "since I must speak out. I have little doubt that he will not
-long throw away his friendship on you, who hold it so lightly."
-
-"Be it so," said Minna; "you are secure from my rivalry, either in his
-friendship or love. But bethink you better, Brenda--this is no scandal
-of Cleveland's--Cleveland is incapable of slander--no falsehood of Bryce
-Snailsfoot--not one of our friends or acquaintance but says it has been
-the common talk of the island, that the daughters of Magnus Troil were
-patiently awaiting the choice of the nameless and birthless stranger,
-Mordaunt Mertoun. Is it fitting that this should be said of us, the
-descendants of a Norwegian Jarl, and the daughters of the first Udaller
-in Zetland? or, would it be modest or maidenly to submit to it
-unresented, were we the meanest lasses that ever lifted a milk-pail?"
-
-"The tongues of fools are no reproach," replied Brenda, warmly; "I will
-never quit my own thoughts of an innocent friend for the gossip of the
-island, which can put the worst meaning on the most innocent actions."
-
-"Hear but what our friends say," repeated Minna; "hear but the Lady
-Glowrowrum; hear but Maddie and Clara Groatsettar."
-
-"If I were to hear Lady Glowrowrum," said Brenda, steadily, "I should
-listen to the worst tongue in Zetland; and as for Maddie and Clara
-Groatsettar, they were both blithe enough to get Mordaunt to sit betwixt
-them at dinner the day before yesterday, as you might have observed
-yourself, but that your ear was better engaged."
-
-"Your eyes, at least, have been but indifferently engaged, Brenda,"
-retorted the elder sister, "since they were fixed on a young man, whom
-all the world but yourself believes to have talked of us with the most
-insolent presumption; and even if he be innocently charged, Lady
-Glowrowrum says it is unmaidenly and bold of you even to look in the
-direction where he sits, knowing it must confirm such reports."
-
-"I will look which way I please," said Brenda, growing still warmer;
-"Lady Glowrowrum shall neither rule my thoughts, nor my words, nor my
-eyes. I hold Mordaunt Mertoun to be innocent,--I will look at him as
-such,--I will speak of him as such; and if I did not speak to him also,
-and behave to him as usual, it is in obedience to my father, and not for
-what Lady Glowrowrum, and all her nieces, had she twenty instead of two,
-could think, wink, nod, or tattle, about the matter that concerns them
-not."
-
-"Alas! Brenda," answered Minna, with calmness, "this vivacity is more
-than is required for the defence of the character of a mere
-friend!--Beware--He who ruined Norna's peace for ever, was a stranger,
-admitted to her affections against the will of her family."
-
-"He was a stranger," replied Brenda, with emphasis, "not only in birth,
-but in manners. She had not been bred up with him from her youth,--she
-had not known the gentleness, the frankness, of his disposition, by an
-intimacy of many years. He was indeed a stranger, in character, temper,
-birth, manners, and morals,--some wandering adventurer, perhaps, whom
-chance or tempest had thrown upon the islands, and who knew how to mask
-a false heart with a frank brow. My good sister, take home your own
-warning. There are other strangers at Burgh-Westra besides this poor
-Mordaunt Mertoun."
-
-Minna seemed for a moment overwhelmed with the rapidity with which her
-sister retorted her suspicion and her caution. But her natural
-loftiness of disposition enabled her to reply with assumed composure.
-
-"Were I to treat you, Brenda, with the want of confidence you show
-towards me, I might reply that Cleveland is no more to me than Mordaunt
-was; or than young Swartaster, or Lawrence Ericson, or any other
-favourite guest of my father's, now is. But I scorn to deceive you, or
-to disguise my thoughts.--I love Clement Cleveland."
-
-"Do not say so, my dearest sister," said Brenda, abandoning at once the
-air of acrimony with which the conversation had been latterly conducted,
-and throwing her arms round her sister's neck, with looks, and with a
-tone, of the most earnest affection,--"do not say so, I implore you! I
-will renounce Mordaunt Mertoun,--I will swear never to speak to him
-again; but do not repeat that you love this Cleveland!"
-
-"And why should I not repeat," said Minna, disengaging herself gently
-from her sister's grasp, "a sentiment in which I glory? The boldness,
-the strength and energy, of his character, to which command is natural,
-and fear unknown,--these very properties, which alarm you for my
-happiness, are the qualities which ensure it. Remember, Brenda, that
-when your foot loved the calm smooth sea-beach of the summer sea, mine
-ever delighted in the summit of the precipice, when the waves are in
-fury."
-
-"And it is even that which I dread," said Brenda; "it is even that
-adventurous disposition which now is urging you to the brink of a
-precipice more dangerous than ever was washed by a spring-tide. This
-man,--do not frown, I will say no slander of him,--but is he not, even
-in your own partial judgment, stern and overbearing? accustomed, as you
-say, to command; but, for that very reason, commanding where he has no
-right to do so, and leading whom it would most become him to follow?
-rushing on danger, rather for its own sake, than for any other object?
-And can you think of being yoked with a spirit so unsettled and stormy,
-whose life has hitherto been led in scenes of death and peril, and who,
-even while sitting by your side, cannot disguise his impatience again to
-engage in them? A lover, methinks, should love his mistress better than
-his own life; but yours, my dear Minna, loves her less than the pleasure
-of inflicting death on others."
-
-"And it is even for that I love him," said Minna. "I am a daughter of
-the old dames of Norway, who could send their lovers to battle with a
-smile, and slay them, with their own hands, if they returned with
-dishonour. My lover must scorn the mockeries by which our degraded race
-strive for distinction, or must practise them only in sport, and in
-earnest of nobler dangers. No whale-striking, bird-nesting favourite for
-me; my lover must be a Sea-king, or what else modern times may give that
-draws near to that lofty character."
-
-"Alas, my sister!" said Brenda, "it is now that I must in earnest begin
-to believe the force of spells and of charms. You remember the Spanish
-story which you took from me long since, because I said, in your
-admiration of the chivalry of the olden times of Scandinavia, you
-rivalled the extravagance of the hero.--Ah, Minna, your colour shows
-that your conscience checks you, and reminds you of the book I mean;--is
-it more wise, think you, to mistake a windmill for a giant, or the
-commander of a paltry corsair for a Kiempe, or a Vi-king?"
-
-Minna did indeed colour with anger at this insinuation, of which,
-perhaps, she felt in some degree the truth.
-
-"You have a right," she said, "to insult me, because you are possessed
-of my secret."
-
-Brenda's soft heart could not resist this charge of unkindness; she
-adjured her sister to pardon her, and the natural gentleness of Minna's
-feelings could not resist her entreaties.
-
-"We are unhappy," she said, as she dried her sister's tears, "that we
-cannot see with the same eyes--let us not make each other more so by
-mutual insult and unkindness. You have my secret--it will not, perhaps,
-long be one, for my father shall have the confidence to which he is
-entitled, so soon as certain circumstances will permit me to offer it.
-Meantime, I repeat, you have my secret, and I more than suspect that I
-have yours in exchange, though you refuse to own it."
-
-"How, Minna!" said Brenda; "would you have me acknowledge for any one
-such feelings as you allude to, ere he has said the least word that
-could justify such a confession?"
-
-"Surely not; but a hidden fire may be distinguished by heat as well as
-flame."
-
-"You understand these signs, Minna," said Brenda, hanging down her head,
-and in vain endeavouring to suppress the temptation to repartee which
-her sister's remark offered; "but I can only say, that, if ever I love
-at all, it shall not be until I have been asked to do so once or twice
-at least, which has not yet chanced to me. But do not let us renew our
-quarrel, and rather let us think why Norna should have told us that
-horrible tale, and to what she expects it should lead."
-
-"It must have been as a caution," replied Minna--"a caution which our
-situation, and, I will not deny it, which mine in particular, might seem
-to her to call for;--but I am alike strong in my own innocence, and in
-the honour of Cleveland."
-
-Brenda would fain have replied, that she did not confide so absolutely
-in the latter security as in the first; but she was prudent, and,
-forbearing to awaken the former painful discussion, only replied, "It is
-strange that Norna should have said nothing more of her lover. Surely he
-could not desert her in the extremity of misery to which he had reduced
-her?"
-
-"There may be agonies of distress," said Minna, after a pause, "in which
-the mind is so much jarred, that it ceases to be responsive even to the
-feelings which have most engrossed it;--her sorrow for her lover may
-have been swallowed up in horror and despair."
-
-"Or he might have fled from the islands, in fear of our father's
-vengeance," replied Brenda.
-
-"If for fear, or faintness of heart," said Minna, looking upwards, "he
-was capable of flying from the ruin which he had occasioned, I trust he
-has long ere this sustained the punishment which Heaven reserves for the
-most base and dastardly of traitors and of cowards.--Come, sister, we
-are ere this expected at the breakfast board."
-
-And they went thither, arm in arm, with much more of confidence than had
-lately subsisted between them; the little quarrel which had taken place
-having served the purpose of a _bourasque_, or sudden squall, which
-dispels mists and vapours, and leaves fair weather behind it.
-
-On their way to the breakfast apartment, they agreed that it was
-unnecessary, and might be imprudent, to communicate to their father the
-circumstance of the nocturnal visit, or to let him observe that they now
-knew more than formerly of the melancholy history of Norna.
-
-
-
-
-AUTHOR'S NOTES.
-
-
-Note I., p. 22.--NORSE FRAGMENTS.
-
-Near the conclusion of Chapter II, it is noticed that the old Norwegian
-sagas were preserved and often repeated by the fishermen of Orkney and
-Zetland, while that language was not yet quite forgotten. Mr. Baikie of
-Tankerness, a most respectable inhabitant of Kirkwall, and an Orkney
-proprietor, assured me of the following curious fact.
-
-A clergyman, who was not long deceased, remembered well when some
-remnants of the Norse were still spoken in the island called North
-Ronaldshaw. When Gray's Ode, entitled the "Fatal Sisters," was first
-published, or at least first reached that remote island, the reverend
-gentleman had the well-judged curiosity to read it to some of the old
-persons of the isle, as a poem which regarded the history of their own
-country. They listened with great attention to the preliminary
-stanzas:--
-
-  "Now the storm begins to lour,
-    Haste the loom of hell prepare,
-  Iron sleet of arrowry shower
-    Hurtles in the darken'd air."
-
-But when they had heard a verse or two more, they interrupted the
-reader, telling him they knew the song well in the Norse language, and
-had often sung it to him when he asked them for an old song. They called
-it the Magicians, or the Enchantresses. It would have been singular news
-to the elegant translator, when executing his version from the text of
-Bartholine, to have learned that the Norse original was still preserved
-by tradition in a remote corner of the British dominions. The
-circumstances will probably justify what is said in the text concerning
-the traditions of the inhabitants of those remote isles, at the
-beginning of the eighteenth century.
-
-Even yet, though the Norse language is entirely disused, except in so
-far as particular words and phrases are still retained, these fishers of
-the Ultima Thule are a generation much attached to these ancient
-legends. Of this the author learned a singular instance.
-
-About twenty years ago, a missionary clergyman had taken the resolution
-of traversing those wild islands, where he supposed there might be a
-lack of religious instruction, which he believed himself capable of
-supplying. After being some days at sea in an open boat, he arrived at
-North Ronaldshaw, where his appearance excited great speculation. He was
-a very little man, dark-complexioned, and from the fatigue he had
-sustained in removing from one island to another, appeared before them
-ill-dressed and unshaved; so that the inhabitants set him down as one of
-the Ancient Picts, or, as they call them with the usual strong guttural,
-Peghts. How they might have received the poor preacher in this
-character, was at least dubious; and the schoolmaster of the parish, who
-had given quarters to the fatigued traveller, set off to consult with
-Mr. S----, the able and ingenious engineer of the Scottish Light-House
-Service, who chanced to be on the island. As his skill and knowledge
-were in the highest repute, it was conceived that Mr. S---- could decide
-at once whether the stranger was a Peght, or ought to be treated as
-such. Mr. S---- was so good-natured as to attend the summons, with the
-view of rendering the preacher some service. The poor missionary, who
-had watched for three nights, was now fast asleep, little dreaming what
-odious suspicions were current respecting him. The inhabitants were
-assembled round the door. Mr. S----, understanding the traveller's
-condition, declined disturbing him, upon which the islanders produced a
-pair of very little uncouth-looking boots, with prodigiously thick
-soles, and appealed to him whether it was possible such articles of
-raiment could belong to any one but a Peght. Mr. S----, finding the
-prejudices of the natives so strong, was induced to enter the sleeping
-apartment of the traveller, and was surprised to recognise in the
-supposed Peght a person whom he had known in his worldly profession of
-an Edinburgh shopkeeper, before he had assumed his present vocation. Of
-course he was enabled to refute all suspicions of Peghtism.
-
-
-Note II., p. 23.--MONSTERS OF THE NORTHERN SEAS.
-
-I have said, in the text, that the wondrous tales told by Pontoppidan,
-the Archbishop of Upsal, still find believers in the Northern
-Archipelago. It is in vain they are cancelled even in the later editions
-of Guthrie's Grammar, of which instructive work they used to form the
-chapter far most attractive to juvenile readers. But the same causes
-which probably gave birth to the legends concerning mermaids,
-sea-snakes, krakens, and other marvellous inhabitants of the Northern
-Ocean, are still afloat in those climates where they took their rise.
-They had their origin probably from the eagerness of curiosity
-manifested by our elegant poetess, Mrs. Hemans:
-
-  "What hidest thou in thy treasure-caves and cells,
-  Thou ever-sounding and mysterious Sea?"
-
-The additional mystic gloom which rests on these northern billows for
-half the year, joined to the imperfect glance obtained of occasional
-objects, encourage the timid or the fanciful to give way to imagination,
-and frequently to shape out a distinct story from some object half seen
-and imperfectly examined. Thus, some years since, a large object was
-observed in the beautiful Bay of Scalloway in Zetland, so much in vulgar
-opinion resembling the kraken, that though it might be distinguished for
-several days, if the exchange of darkness to twilight can be termed so,
-yet the hardy boatmen shuddered to approach it, for fear of being drawn
-down by the suction supposed to attend its sinking. It was probably the
-hull of some vessel which had foundered at sea.
-
-The belief in mermaids, so fanciful and pleasing in itself, is ever and
-anon refreshed by a strange tale from the remote shores of some solitary
-islet.
-
-The author heard a mariner of some reputation in his class vouch for
-having seen the celebrated sea-serpent. It appeared, so far as could be
-guessed, to be about a hundred feet long, with the wild mane and fiery
-eyes which old writers ascribe to the monster; but it is not unlikely
-the spectator might, in the doubtful light, be deceived by the
-appearance of a good Norway log floating on the waves. I have only to
-add, that the remains of an animal, supposed to belong to this latter
-species, were driven on shore in the Zetland Isles, within the
-recollection of man. Part of the bones were sent to London, and
-pronounced by Sir Joseph Banks to be those of a basking shark; yet it
-would seem that an animal so well known, ought to have been immediately
-distinguished by the northern fishermen.
-
-
-Note III., p. 104.--SALE OF WINDS.
-
-The King of Sweden, the same Eric quoted by Mordaunt, "was," says Olaus
-Magnus, "in his time held second to none in the magical art; and he was
-so familiar with the evil spirits whom he worshipped, that what way
-soever he turned his cap, the wind would presently blow that way. For
-this he was called Windycap." _Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus.
-Romæ, 1555._ It is well known that the Laplanders derive a profitable
-trade in selling _winds_, but it is perhaps less notorious, that within
-these few years such a commodity might be purchased on British ground,
-where it was likely to be in great request. At the village of Stromness,
-on the Orkney main island, called Pomona, lived, in 1814, an aged dame,
-called Bessie Millie, who helped out her subsistence by selling
-favourable winds to mariners. He was a venturous master of a vessel who
-left the roadstead of Stromness without paying his offering to
-propitiate Bessie Millie; her fee was extremely moderate, being exactly
-sixpence, for which, as she explained herself, she boiled her kettle and
-gave the bark advantage of her prayers, for she disclaimed all unlawful
-arts. The wind thus petitioned for was sure, she said, to arrive, though
-occasionally the mariners had to wait some time for it. The woman's
-dwelling and appearance were not unbecoming her pretensions; her house,
-which was on the brow of the steep hill on which Stromness is founded,
-was only accessible by a series of dirty and precipitous lanes, and for
-exposure might have been the abode of Eolus himself, in whose
-commodities the inhabitant dealt. She herself was, as she told us,
-nearly one hundred years old, withered and dried up like a mummy. A
-clay-coloured kerchief, folded round her head, corresponded in colour to
-her corpse-like complexion. Two light-blue eyes that gleamed with a
-lustre like that of insanity, an utterance of astonishing rapidity, a
-nose and chin that almost met together, and a ghastly expression of
-cunning, gave her the effect of Hecaté. She remembered Gow the pirate,
-who had been a native of these islands, in which he closed his career,
-as mentioned in the preface. Such was Bessie Millie, to whom the
-mariners paid a sort of tribute, with a feeling betwixt jest and
-earnest.
-
-
-Note IV., p. 113.--RELUCTANCE TO SAVE A DROWNING MAN.
-
-It is remarkable, that in an archipelago where so many persons must be
-necessarily endangered by the waves, so strange and inhuman a maxim
-should have ingrafted itself upon the minds of a people otherwise kind,
-moral, and hospitable. But all with whom I have spoken agree, that it
-was almost general in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and was
-with difficulty weeded out by the sedulous instructions of the clergy,
-and the rigorous injunctions of the proprietors. There is little doubt
-it had been originally introduced as an excuse for suffering those who
-attempted to escape from the wreck to perish unassisted, so that, there
-being no survivor, she might be considered as lawful plunder. A story
-was told me, I hope an untrue one, that a vessel having got ashore among
-the breakers on one of the remote Zetland islands, five or six men, the
-whole or greater part of the unfortunate crew, endeavoured to land by
-assistance of a hawser, which they had secured to a rock; the
-inhabitants were assembled, and looked on with some uncertainty, till an
-old man said, "Sirs, if these men come ashore, the additional mouths
-will eat all the meal we have in store for winter; and how are we to get
-more?" A young fellow, moved with this argument, struck the rope asunder
-with his axe, and all the poor wretches were immersed among the
-breakers, and perished.
-
-
-Note V., p. 121.--MAIR WRECKS ERE WINTER.
-
-The ancient Zetlander looked upon the sea as the provider of his living,
-not only by the plenty produced by the fishings, but by the spoil of
-wrecks. Some particular islands have fallen off very considerably in
-their rent, since the commissioners of the lighthouses have ordered
-lights on the Isle of Sanda and the Pentland Skerries. A gentleman,
-familiar with those seas, expressed surprise at seeing the farmer of one
-of the isles in a boat with a very old pair of sails. "Had it been His
-will"--said the man, with an affected deference to Providence, very
-inconsistent with the sentiment of his speech--"Had it been _His_ will
-that light had not been placed yonder, I would have had enough of new
-sails last winter."
-
-
-Note VI., p. 172.--ZETLAND CORN-MILLS.
-
-There is certainly something very extraordinary to a stranger in Zetland
-corn-mills. They are of the smallest possible size; the wheel which
-drives them is horizontal, and the cogs are turned diagonally to the
-water. The beam itself stands upright, and is inserted in a stone quern
-of the old-fashioned construction, which it turns round, and thus
-performs its duty. Had Robinson Crusoe ever been in Zetland, he would
-have had no difficulty in contriving a machine for grinding corn in his
-desert island. These mills are thatched over in a little hovel, which
-has much the air of a pig-sty. There may be five hundred such mills on
-one island, not capable any one of them of grinding above a sackful of
-corn at a time.
-
-
-Note VII., p. 234.--THE SWORD-DANCE.
-
-The Sword-Dance is celebrated in general terms by Olaus Magnus. He seems
-to have considered it as peculiar to the Norwegians, from whom it may
-have passed to the Orkneymen and Zetlanders, with other northern
-customs.
-
-"OF THEIR DANCING IN ARMS.
-
-"Moreover, the northern Goths and Swedes had another sport to exercise
-youth withall, that they will dance and skip amongst naked swords and
-dangerous weapons. And this they do after the manner of masters of
-defence, as they are taught from their youth by skilful teachers, that
-dance before them, and sing to it. And this play is showed especially
-about Shrovetide, called in Italian _Macchararum_. For, before
-carnivals, all the youth dance for eight days together, holding their
-swords up, but within the scabbards, for three times turning about; and
-then they do it with their naked swords lifted up. After this, turning
-more moderately, taking the points and pummels one of the other, they
-change ranks, and place themselves in an triagonal figure, and this they
-call _Rosam_; and presently they dissolve it by drawing back their
-swords and lifting them up, that upon every one's head there may be made
-a square Rosa, and then by a most nimbly whisking their swords about
-collaterally, they quickly leap back, and end the sport, which they
-guide with pipes or songs, or both together; first by a more heavy, then
-by a more vehement, and lastly, by a most vehement dancing. But this
-speculation is scarce to be understood but by those who look on, how
-comely and decent it is, when at one word, or one commanding, the whole
-armed multitude is directed to fall to fight, and clergymen may exercise
-themselves, and mingle themselves amongst others at this sport, because
-it is all guided by most wise reason."
-
-To the Primate's account of the sword-dance, I am able to add the words
-sung or chanted, on occasion of this dance, as it is still performed in
-Papa Stour, a remote island of Zetland, where alone the custom keeps its
-ground. It is, it will be observed by antiquaries, a species of play or
-mystery, in which the Seven Champions of Christendom make their
-appearance, as in the interlude presented in "All's Well that Ends
-Well." This dramatic curiosity was most kindly procured for my use by
-Dr. Scott of Hazlar Hospital, son of my friend Mr. Scott of Mewbie,
-Zetland. Mr. Hibbert has, in his Description of the Zetland Islands,
-given an account of the sword-dance, but somewhat less full than the
-following:
-
-"WORDS USED AS A PRELUDE TO THE SWORD-DANCE, A DANISH OR NORWEGIAN
-BALLET, COMPOSED SOME CENTURIES AGO, AND PRESERVED IN PAPA STOUR,
-ZETLAND.
-
-PERSONÆ DRAMATIS.[61]
-
-(_Enter_ MASTER, _in the character of_ ST. GEORGE.)
-
-  Brave gentles all within this boor,[62]
-  If ye delight in any sport,
-  Come see me dance upon this floor,
-  Which to you all shall yield comfort.
-  Then shall I dance in such a sort,
-  As possible I may or can;
-  You, minstrel man, play me a Porte,[63]
-  That I on this floor may prove a man.
-
-(_He bows, and dances in a line._)
-
-  Now have I danced with heart and hand,
-  Brave gentles all, as you may see,
-  For I have been tried in many a land,
-  As yet the truth can testify;
-  In England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain,
-  Have I been tried with that good sword of steel.
-
-(_Draws, and flourishes._)
-
-  Yet, I deny that ever a man did make me yield;
-  For in my body there is strength,
-  As by my manhood may be seen;
-  And I, with that good sword of length,
-  Have oftentimes in perils been,
-  And over champions I was king.
-  And by the strength of this right hand,
-  Once on a day I kill'd fifteen,
-  And left them dead upon the land.
-  Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care,
-  But play to me a Porte most light,
-  That I no longer do forbear,
-  But dance in all these gentles' sight;
-  Although my strength makes you abased,
-  Brave gentles all, be not afraid,
-  For here are six champions, with me, staid,
-  All by my manhood I have raised.
-
-(_He dances._)
-
-  Since I have danced, I think it best
-  To call my brethren in your sight,
-  That I may have a little rest,
-  And they may dance with all their might;
-  With heart and hand as they are knights,
-  And shake their swords of steel so bright,
-  And show their main strength on this floor,
-  For we shall have another bout
-  Before we pass out of this boor.
-  Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care
-  To play to me a Porte most light,
-  That I no longer do forbear,
-  But dance in all these gentles' sight.
-
-(_He dances, and then introduces his knights, as under._)
-
-  Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour,[64]
-  Thine acts are known full well indeed;
-  And champion Dennis, a French knight,
-  Who stout and bold is to be seen;
-  And David, a Welshman born,
-  Who is come of noble blood;
-  And Patrick also, who blew the horn,
-  An Irish knight, amongst the wood.
-  Of Italy, brave Anthony the good,
-  And Andrew of Scotland King;
-  St. George of England, brave indeed,
-  Who to the Jews wrought muckle tinte.[65]
-  Away with this!--Let us come to sport,
-  Since that ye have a mind to war,
-  Since that ye have this bargain sought,
-  Come let us fight and do not fear.
-  Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care
-  To play to me a Porte most light,
-  That I no longer do forbear,
-  But dance in all these gentles' sight.
-
-(_He dances, and advances to JAMES of Spain._)
-
-  Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour,
-  Thine acts are known full well indeed,
-  Present thyself within our sight,
-  Without either fear or dread.
-  Count not for favour or for feid,
-  Since of thy acts thou hast been sure;
-  Brave James of Spain, I will thee lead,
-  To prove thy manhood on this floor.
-
-(JAMES _dances_.)
-
-  Brave champion Dennis, a French knight,
-  Who stout and bold is to be seen,
-  Present thyself here in our sight,
-  Thou brave French knight,
-  Who bold hast been;
-  Since thou such valiant acts hast done,
-  Come let us see some of them now
-  With courtesy, thou brave French knight,
-  Draw out thy sword of noble hue.
-
-(DENNIS _dances, while the others retire to a side_.)
-
-  Brave David a bow must string, and with awe
-  Set up a wand upon a stand,
-  And that brave David will cleave in twa.[66]
-  (DAVID _dances solus._)
-  Here is, I think, an Irish knight,
-  Who does not fear, or does not fright,
-  To prove thyself a valiant man,
-  As thou hast done full often bright;
-  Brave Patrick, dance, if that thou can.
-
-(_He dances._)
-
-  Thou stout Italian, come thou here;
-  Thy name is Anthony, most stout;
-  Draw out thy sword that is most clear,
-  And do thou fight without any doubt;
-  Thy leg thou shake, thy neck thou lout,[67]
-  And show some courtesy on this floor,
-  For we shall have another bout,
-  Before we pass out of this boor.
-  Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here;
-  Thy name is Andrew of Fair Scotland;
-  Draw out thy sword that is most clear,
-  Fight for thy king with thy right hand;
-  And aye as long as thou canst stand,
-  Fight for thy king with all thy heart;
-  And then, for to confirm his band,
-  Make all his enemies for to smart.--(_He dances._)
-
-(_Music begins._)
-
-FIGUIR.[68]
-
-"The six stand in rank with their swords reclining on their shoulders.
-The Master (St. George) dances, and then strikes the sword of James of
-Spain, who follows George, then dances, strikes the sword of Dennis, who
-follows behind James. In like manner the rest--the music playing--swords
-as before. After the six are brought out of rank, they and the master
-form a circle, and hold the swords point and hilt. This circle is danced
-round twice. The whole, headed by the master, pass under the swords held
-in a vaulted manner. They jump over the swords. This naturally places
-the swords across, which they disentangle by passing under their right
-sword. They take up the seven swords, and form a circle, in which they
-dance round.
-
-"The master runs under the sword opposite, which he jumps over
-backwards. The others do the same. He then passes under the right-hand
-sword, which the others follow, in which position they dance, until
-commanded by the master, when they form into a circle, and dance round
-as before. They then jump over the right-hand sword, by which means
-their backs are to the circle, and their hands across their backs. They
-dance round in that form until the master calls 'Loose,' when they pass
-under the right sword, and are in a perfect circle.
-
-"The master lays down his sword, and lays hold of the point of James's
-sword. He then turns himself, James, and the others, into a clew. When
-so formed, he passes under out of the midst of the circle; the others
-follow; they vault as before. After several other evolutions, they throw
-themselves into a circle, with their arms across the breast. They
-afterwards form such figures as to form a shield of their swords, and
-the shield is so compact that the master and his knights dance
-alternately with this shield upon their heads. It is then laid down upon
-the floor. Each knight lays hold of their former points and hilts with
-their hands across, which disentangle by figuirs directly contrary to
-those that formed the shield. This finishes the Ballet.
-
-"EPILOGUE.
-
-  Mars does rule, he bends his brows,
-  He makes us all agast;[69]
-  After the few hours that we stay here,
-  Venus will rule at last.
-
-  Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all,
-  That herein do remain,
-  I wish you health and happiness
-  Till we return again.                          [_Exeunt._"
-
-The manuscript from which the above was copied was transcribed from _a
-very old one_, by Mr. William Henderson, Jun., of Papa Stour, in
-Zetland. Mr. Henderson's copy is not dated, but bears his own signature,
-and, from various circumstances, it is known to have been written about
-the year 1788.
-
-
-Note VIII., p. 299--THE DWARFIE STONE.
-
-This is one of the wonders of the Orkney Islands, though it has been
-rather undervalued by their late historian, Mr. Barry. The island of Hoy
-rises abruptly, starting as it were out of the sea, which is contrary to
-the gentle and flat character of the other Isles of Orkney. It consists
-of a mountain, having different eminences or peaks. It is very steep,
-furrowed with ravines, and placed so as to catch the mists of the
-Western Ocean, and has a noble and picturesque effect from all points of
-view. The highest peak is divided from another eminence, called the
-Ward-hill, by a long swampy valley full of peat-bogs. Upon the slope of
-this last hill, and just where the principal mountain of Hoy opens in a
-hollow swamp, or corrie, lies what is called the Dwarfie Stone. It is a
-great fragment of sandstone, composing one solid mass, which has long
-since been detached from a belt of the same materials, cresting the
-eminence above the spot where it now lies, and which has slid down till
-it reached its present situation. The rock is about seven feet high,
-twenty-two feet long, and seventeen feet broad. The upper end of it is
-hollowed by iron tools, of which the marks are evident, into a sort of
-apartment, containing two beds of stone, with a passage between them.
-The uppermost and largest bed is five feet eight inches long, by two
-feet broad, which was supposed to be used by the dwarf himself; the
-lower couch is shorter, and rounded off, instead of being squared at the
-corners. There is an entrance of about three feet and a half square, and
-a stone lies before it calculated to fit the opening. A sort of skylight
-window gives light to the apartment. We can only guess at the purpose of
-this monument, and different ideas have been suggested. Some have
-supposed it the work of some travelling mason; but the _cui bono_ would
-remain to be accounted for. The Rev. Mr. Barry conjectures it to be a
-hermit's cell; but it displays no symbol of Christianity, and the door
-opens to the westward. The Orcadian traditions allege the work to be
-that of a dwarf, to whom they ascribe supernatural powers, and a
-malevolent disposition, the attributes of that race in Norse mythology.
-Whoever inhabited this singular den certainly enjoyed
-
-  "Pillow cold, and sheets not warm."
-
-I observed, that commencing just opposite to the Dwarfie Stone, and
-extending in a line to the sea-beach, there are a number of small
-barrows, or cairns, which seem to connect the stone with a very large
-cairn where we landed. This curious monument may therefore have been
-intended as a temple of some kind to the Northern Dii Manes, to which
-the cairns might direct worshippers.
-
-
-Note IX., p. 299.--CARBUNCLE ON THE WARD-HILL.
-
-"At the west end of this stone, (_i. e._ the Dwarfie Stone,) stands an
-exceeding high mountain of a steep ascent, called the Ward-hill of Hoy,
-near the top of which, in the months of May, June, and July, about
-midnight, is seen something that shines and sparkles admirably, and
-which is often seen a great way off. It hath shined more brightly
-before than it does now, and though many have climbed up the hill, and
-attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. The vulgar
-talk of it as some enchanted carbuncle, but I take it rather to be some
-water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun,
-at such a time, shines upon, the reflection causeth that admirable
-splendour."--DR. WALLACE'S _Description of the Islands of Orkney_,
-12mo, 1700, p. 52.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[61] So placed in the old MS.
-
-[62] _Boor_--so spelt, to accord with the vulgar pronunciation of the
-word _bower_.
-
-[63] _Porte_--so spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating
-a piece of music on the bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is
-of Scandinavian origin, the sword-dance may have been originally
-composed.
-
-[64] _Stour_, great.
-
-[65] _Muckle tinte_, much loss or harm; so in MS.
-
-[66] Something is evidently amiss or omitted here. David probably
-exhibited some feat of archery.
-
-[67] _Lout_--to bend or bow down, pronounced _loot_, as _doubt_ is
-_doot_ in Scotland.
-
-[68] _Figuir_--so spelt in MS.
-
-[69] _Agast_--so spelt in MS.
-
-
-
-
-EDITOR'S NOTES.
-
-
-(_a_) p. xxix. "There came a ghost to Margaret's door." In some versions
-of "Clerk Saunders" the lady's troth is "streeked" on a rod of glass,
-and so she and the ghost are freed from their plighted love.
-
-(_b_) p. 15. "Scat, wattle, hawkhen, hagalef." Different kinds of duties
-exacted in Zetland.
-
-(_c_) p. 18. "Berserkars." Apparently there was a time when these
-formidable persons were merely champion warriors, a kind of professional
-soldiery. In the "Raven Song," an old Norse lay, the Valkyrie asks the
-Raven about Harold Fair Hair's Bearsarks. "Wolfcoats they call them,
-that bear bloody targets in battle, that redden their spear heads when
-they come into fight, when they are at work together. The wise king, I
-trow, will only reward men of high renown among them that smite on the
-shield." Later, perhaps, the Bearsarks won their evil reputation, as
-ravening maniacs of battle, given to biting their shields and behaving
-in an hysterical manner. In such sagas as that of Grettir they are
-violent bullies, sometimes selling their services. (See Powell and
-Vigfussen's "Corpus Boreale," i. 257.)
-
-(_d_) p. 27. Motto. The second verse is not part of the original ballad,
-which was altered by Allan Ramsay.
-
-(_e_) p. 39. "Bolts and bars in Scotland." There are still places so
-innocent--in Galloway, at least--that doors and windows may be, and are,
-left open all night.
-
-(_f_) p. 45. "Deilbelicket." This is the name of an old Scotch dish, of
-which goose and gooseberries are component parts. The recipe occurs in
-Gait's "Ayrshire Legatees."
-
-(_g_) p. 46. "James Guthrie." An account of this martyr of the Covenant
-will be found in the Editor's Notes to "Old Mortality."
-
-(_h_) p. 151. "Lucas Jacobson Debes." "Foeroae et Foeroa Reserata. A
-description of the Isles and inhabitants of Faeroe, Englished by John
-Sterpin," 12mo, London 1676, Abbotsford Library.
-
-(_i_) p. 173. "Multures--lock, gowpen, and knaveship." Feudal and other
-dues on corn ground at the laird's mill.
-
-(_k_) p. 231. "The wilds of Strathnavern." Montrose met his final defeat
-at Strathoykel, at a steep rounded hill, still called the Rock of
-Lament. His men were driven into the Kyle, which there is deep and wide.
-Montrose fled up the Oykel, into Assynt. The Naver flows due north, the
-Oykel from west to east.
-
-(_l_) p. 234. Sword Dance. Scott can hardly have escaped being familiar
-with the degradation of this dance as played at Christmas by the
-Guizards. They are lads who go round acting and dancing in kitchens.
-Their songs may be found in Chambers's "Popular Rhymes of Scotland."
-Guizards performed at the Folk-Lore Congress in London 1891.
-
-(_m_) p. 257. "The battue in Ettrick Forest, for the destruction of the
-foxes." This ceased when the Duke of Buccleugh hunted the district, but
-foxes are still shot in the inaccessible heights of Meggat Water.
-
-(_n_) p. 261. Sharing the whale. An account of a battle for a stranded
-whale may be read in the Saga of Grettir, translated by Mr. Morris and
-Mr. Magnussen.
-
-(_o_) p. 279. For [Greek: Nephelêgeréta Zeus] read [Greek: Nephelêgeréta
-Zeús].
-
-(_p_) p. 299. "That wonderful carbuncle." This must be the origin of
-Hawthorne's tale "The Great Carbuncle."
-
-                                                          ANDREW LANG.
-  _August 1893._
-
-
-
-
-GLOSSARY.
-
-
-  A', all.
-
-  Ae, one.
-
-  Aff, off.
-
-  Afore, before.
-
-  Aigre, sour.
-
-  Aik, the oak.
-
-  Ain, own.
-
-  Air, an open sea-beach.
-
-  Airn, iron.
-
-  A-low, ablaze.
-
-  Amang, among.
-
-  An, if.
-
-  Ance, once.
-
-  Ane, one.
-
-  Anent, regarding.
-
-  Aneugh, eneugh, enow, enough.
-
-  Angus, Forfarshire.
-
-  Aroint, avaunt.
-
-  Aught, to possess or belong to.
-
-  Auld, old.
-
-  Auld-world, ancient, old-fashioned.
-
-  Aver, a cart-horse.
-
-  Awa, away.
-
-  Awmous, alms.
-
-  Awn, a beard (of grain).
-
-  Awsome, fearful.
-
-
-  Back-spauld, the back of the shoulder.
-
-  Bailie, a magistrate.
-
-  Bairn, a child.
-
-  Baith, both.
-
-  Banning, cursing.
-
-  Bauld, bold.
-
-  Bear, a kind of barley.
-
-  Bear-braird, barley-sprouting.
-
-  Bee-skep, a bee-hive.
-
-  Bell-the-cat, to contend with.
-
-  Bern, a child.
-
-  Bicker, a wooden dish.
-
-  Bide, to stay.
-
-  Big, to build.
-
-  Biggin, a building.
-
-  Biggit, built.
-
-  Billie, brother.
-
-  Bittle, a wooden bat for the beating of linen.
-
-  Bland, a drink made from butter-milk.
-
-  Bleeze, blaze.
-
-  Blithe, glad.
-
-  Blurt, to burst out speaking.
-
-  Bonally, a parting drink.
-
-  Bonnie, pretty.
-
-  Bonnie-die, a toy, a trinket.
-
-  Bonnie-wallies, good things, gewgaws.
-
-  Bourasque, a sudden squall.
-
-  Braid, broad.
-
-  Braws, fine clothes.
-
-  Breekless, trouserless.
-
-  Burn-brae, the acclivity at the bottom of which a rivulet runs.
-
-
-  Callant, a lad.
-
-  Canna, cannot.
-
-  Canny, prudent.
-
-  Canty, lively and cheerful.
-
-  Carles, farm servants.
-
-  Carline, a witch.
-
-  Cart-avers, cart-horses.
-
-  Cateran, a Highland robber.
-
-  Cauld, cold.
-
-  Caup, a cup.
-
-  "Causeyed syver," a cause-wayed sewer.
-
-  Certie--"my certie!" my faith!
-
-  Change-house, an inn.
-
-  Chapman, a small merchant or pedlar.
-
-  Chield, a fellow.
-
-  Claith, cloth.
-
-  Clatter, to tattle.
-
-  Claver, to chatter.
-
-  Clavers, idle talk.
-
-  Clog, a small short log, a billet of wood.
-
-  Coal-heugh, a coal-pit.
-
-  Coble, a small boat.
-
-  Cog, a wooden bowl.
-
-  Cogfu', the full of a wooden bowl.
-
-  Coorse, coarse.
-
-  Coup, to exchange.
-
-  Crack, to boast.
-
-  Creel, a basket. "In a creel," foolish.
-
-  Croft-land, land of superior quality, which was still cropped.
-
-  Crowdie, meal and water stirred up together.
-
-  Cummer, a gossip.
-
-  Curch, a kerchief for covering the head.
-
-  Cusser, a stallion.
-
-
-  Daffing, larking.
-
-  Daft, crazy.
-
-  Daikering, sauntering.
-
-  Dead-thraw, the death-throes.
-
-  Deftly, handsomely.
-
-  Deil, the devil.
-
-  Ding, to knock.
-
-  Dinna, do not.
-
-  Dirk, a dagger.
-
-  Doited, stupid.
-
-  Doun, down.
-
-  Dour, sullen, hard, stubborn.
-
-  Dowlas, a strong linen cloth.
-
-  Drammock, raw meal and water.
-
-  Drouth, thirst.
-
-  Duds, clothes.
-
-
-  Een, eyes.
-
-  Embaye, to enclose.
-
-  Equals-aquals, in the way of division strictly equal.
-
-
-  Fa', fall.
-
-  Factor, a land steward.
-
-  "Farcie on his face!" a malediction.
-
-  Fash, fashery, trouble.
-
-  Ferlies, unusual events or things.
-
-  "Ferlies make fools fain," wonders make fools eager.
-
-  Fey, fated, or predestined to speedy death.
-
-  Fifish, crazy, eccentric.
-
-  Fir-clog, a small log of fir.
-
-  Flang, flung.
-
-  Flichter, to flutter or tremble.
-
-  "Flinching a whale," slicing the blubber from the bones.
-
-  "Floatsome and jetsome," articles floated or cast away on the sea.
-
-  "Fool carle," a clown, a stupid fellow.
-
-  Forby, besides.
-
-  Forpit, a measure = the fourth part of a peck.
-
-  Fowd, the chief judge or magistrate.
-
-  Frae, from.
-
-  Freit, a charm or superstition.
-
-  Fule, a fool.
-
-
-  Gaberlunzie, a tinker or beggar.
-
-  Gaed, went.
-
-  Gait, gate, way, direction.
-
-  Gane, gone.
-
-  Gang, go.
-
-  Ganging, going.
-
-  Gangrel, vagrant.
-
-  Gar, to oblige, to force.
-
-  Gascromh, an instrument for trenching ground, shaped like a currier's
-  knife with a crooked handle.
-
-  "Gay mony," a good many.
-
-  Gear, property.
-
-  Gie, give.
-
-  Gills, the jaws.
-
-  Gin, if.
-
-  Gio, a deep ravine which admits the sea.
-
-  Girdle, an iron plate on which to fire cakes.
-
-  Glamour, a fascination or charm.
-
-  Glebe, land belonging to the parish minister in right of his office.
-
-  Glower, to gaze.
-
-  Gowd, gold.
-
-  Gowk, a fool.
-
-  Gowpen, the full of both hands.
-
-  Graip, a three-pronged pitch-fork.
-
-  Graith, furniture.
-
-  Grew, to shiver. The flesh is said to _grew_ when a chilly sensation
-  passes over the surface of the body.
-
-  Grist, a mill fee payable in kind.
-
-  Gude, good.
-
-  Gudeman, gudewife, the heads of the house.
-
-  Gue, a two-stringed violin.
-
-  Guide, to treat, to take care of.
-
-  Guizards, maskers or mummers.
-
-  Gyre-carline, a hag.
-
-
-  Haaf, deep-sea fishing.
-
-  Haaf-fish, a large kind of seal.
-
-  Hae, have.
-
-  Haft, to fix, to settle.
-
-  Hagalef, payment for liberty to cast peats.
-
-  Haill, whole.
-
-  Hald, hold.
-
-  Halier, a cavern into which the tide flows.
-
-  Hallanshaker, a vagabond, a beggar.
-
-  Halse, the throat.
-
-  Hand-quern, a hand-mill.
-
-  Happer, the hopper of a mill.
-
-  Harry, to plunder.
-
-  Har'st, harvest.
-
-  Hasp, a hank of yarn. "Ravelled hasp," everything in confusion.
-
-  Haud, hauld, hold.
-
-  Havings, behaviour.
-
-  Hawkhen, hens exacted by the royal falconer on his visits to the islands.
-
-  Helyer, a cavern into which the tide flows.
-
-  Hialtland, the old name for Shetland.
-
-  Hinny, a term of endearment=honey.
-
-  Hirple, to halt, to limp.
-
-  Hirsel, to move or slide down.
-
-  Housewife-skep, housewifery.
-
-  Hout! tut!
-
-  Howf, a haunt, a haven.
-
-
-  Ilk, of the same name.
-
-  Ilk, ilka, each, every.
-
-  Ill-fa'red, ill-favoured.
-
-  "In a creel," foolish.
-
-  Infield, land continually cropped.
-
-  In-town, land adjacent to the farmhouse.
-
-  Isna, is not.
-
-
-  Jagger, a pedlar.
-
-  Jaud, a jade.
-
-  Jougs, the pillory.
-
-
-  Kail-pot, a large pot for boiling broth.
-
-  Kain--"to pay the kain," to suffer severely.
-
-  Ken, to know.
-
-  "Ken'dfolks," "ken'dfreend," well-known people, a well-known friend.
-
-  Kiempe, a Norse champion.
-
-  Kist, a chest.
-
-  Kittle, difficult, ticklish.
-
-  Kittywake, a kind of sea-gull.
-
-  "Knapped Latin," spoke Latin.
-
-  Knave, a miller's boy.
-
-  Knaveship, a small due of meal paid to the miller.
-
-  Kraken, a fabulous sea-monster.
-
-  Kyloes, small black cattle.
-
-
-  Lad-bairn, a male child.
-
-  Lair, learning.
-
-  Lang, long.
-
-  Langspiel, an obsolete musical instrument.
-
-  Lave, the rest.
-
-  Lawright-man, an officer whose chief duty was the regulation of
-  weights and measures.
-
-  _Lawting_, a court of law.
-
-  _Limmer_, a woman of loose character.
-
-  Lispund, the fifteenth part of a barrel, a weight used in Orkney
-  and Shetland.
-
-  List, to wish, to choose.
-
-  Loan, a lane, an enclosed road.
-
-  Lock, a handful.
-
-  Loo'ed, loved.
-
-  Loom, a vessel.
-
-  Loon, a lad, a fellow.
-
-  Lowe, a flame.
-
-  Lug, the ear.
-
-  Lum, a chimney.
-
-
-  Mair, more.
-
-  "Mair by token," moreover, especially.
-
-  Maist, most.
-
-  Markal, the head of the plough.
-
-  Maun, must.
-
-  Mearns, Kincardineshire.
-
-  Meltith, food, a meal.
-
-  Mense, manners.
-
-  "Merk of land," originally equal to 1600 square fathoms.
-
-  "Miching malicho," lurking mischief.
-
-  Mickle, much.
-
-  Mill-eye, the eye or opening in the _hupes_ or cases of a mill at
-  which the meal is let out.
-
-  Mind, to remember.
-
-  Mony, many.
-
-  "Morn, the," to-morrow.
-
-  "Mould board," the wooden board of the plough which turns over the
-  ground.
-
-  Muckle, much, big.
-
-  Multures, dues paid for grinding corn.
-
-  "My certie!" my faith!
-
-
-  Na, nae, no, not.
-
-  Nacket, a portable refreshment or luncheon.
-
-  Naig, a nag.
-
-  Nane, none.
-
-  Napery, household linen.
-
-  Natheless, nevertheless.
-
-  Neist, next.
-
-  Nievefu', a handful.
-
-  Noup, a headland precipitous to the sea and sloping inland.
-
-  Nowt, black cattle.
-
-
-  Ony, any.
-
-  Or, before.
-
-  O't, of it.
-
-  Out-taken, except.
-
-  Out-town, land at a distance from the farmhouse.
-
-  Ower, over.
-
-  Owerlay, a cravat.
-
-  Owsen, oxen.
-
-
-  Parritch, porridge.
-
-  Partan, a crab.
-
-  Pawky, wily, slyly.
-
-  Peat-moss, the place whence peats are dug.
-
-  Peltrie, trash.
-
-  Pit, put.
-
-  "Plantie cruive," a kail-yard.
-
-  Pleugh, a plough.
-
-  Pouch, a pocket.
-
-  Puir, poor.
-
-  Pund Scots = 1_s._ 8_d._ sterling.
-
-
-  Quaigh, a small wooden cup.
-
-  Quean, a disrespectful term for a woman.
-
-  Quern, a hand-mill.
-
-
-  Raddman, a councillor.
-
-  Randy, riotous, disorderly.
-
-  Ranzelman, a constable.
-
-  Redding-kaim, a wide-toothed comb for the hair.
-
-  Reek, smoke.
-
-  Reimkennar, one who knows mystic rhyme.
-
-  Reset, a place of shelter.
-
-  Rigging, a ridge, a roof.
-
-  Ritt, a scratch or incision.
-
-  Riva, a cleft in a rock.
-
-  Rock, a distaff.
-
-  Rokelay, a short cloak.
-
-  "Roose the ford," judge of the ford.
-
-  Roost, a strong and boisterous current.
-
-  Rotton, a rat.
-
-
-  Sackless, innocent.
-
-  Sae, so.
-
-  Sain, to bless.
-
-  Sair, sore.
-
-  Sall, shall.
-
-  Sandie-lavrock, a sand-lark.
-
-  Sang, a song.
-
-  Saul, the soul.
-
-  Saunt, a saint.
-
-  Saut, salt.
-
-  Sax, six.
-
-  Scald, a bard or minstrel.
-
-  Scart, a cormorant.
-
-  Scart, to scratch.
-
-  Scat, a land-tax paid to the Crown.
-
-  Scathold, a common.
-
-  Scaur, a cliff.
-
-  "Sclate stane," slate stone.
-
-  Scowrie, shabby, mean.
-
-  Scowries, young sea-gulls.
-
-  Sealgh, sealchie, a seal.
-
-  Setting, fitting, becoming.
-
-  "Sharney peat," fuel made of cow's dung.
-
-  Sheltie, a Shetland pony.
-
-  Shouldna, should not.
-
-  Shouthers, the shoulders.
-
-  Sic, siccan, such.
-
-  Siccar, sure.
-
-  Siever, a sewer.
-
-  Siller, money.
-
-  Sillocks, the fry of the coal-fish.
-
-  Skeoe, a stone hut for drying fish.
-
-  Skerry, a flat insulated rock.
-
-  Skirl, to scream.
-
-  Skudler, the leader of a band of mummers.
-
-  Slap, a gap or pass.
-
-  Slocken, to quench.
-
-  Sneck, the latch of the door.
-
-  Sock, a ploughshare.
-
-  Sole-clout, a thick plate of cast metal attached to that part of the
-  plough which runs on the ground, for saving the wooden heel from
-  being worn.
-
-  Sorner, a sturdy beggar, an obtrusive guest.
-
-  Sorning, masterful begging.
-
-  Sort, a small number.
-
-  Sough, a sigh;
-    to emit a rushing or whistling sound.
-
-  Spreacherie, movables.
-
-  Spunk, a match.
-
-  Stack, an insulated precipitous rock.
-
-  "Stilts of plough," handles.
-
-  Stithy, an anvil.
-
-  Stot, a bullock.
-
-  Streek, to stretch.
-
-  Striddle, to straddle.
-
-  Sucken, mill dues.
-
-  Suld, should.
-
-  Sumph, a lubberly fellow.
-
-  Sune, soon.
-
-  Swalled, swollen.
-
-  Swap, to exchange.
-
-  Syne, since, ago.
-
-  Syver, a sewer.
-
-
-  Tacksman, a tenant of the higher class.
-
-  Taen, taken.
-
-  Tane, the one.
-
-  Tangs, tongs.
-
-  Thae, these, those.
-
-  Theekit, thatched.
-
-  Thegither, together.
-
-  Thigger, a beggar.
-
-  Thigging, begging.
-
-  Thirl, the obligation on a tenant to have his flour ground at a
-  certain mill.
-
-  Thirled, bound to.
-
-  Thole, to endure.
-
-  Thrawart, forward, perverse.
-
-  Tither, the other.
-
-  Tittie, a little sister.
-
-  Tocher, dowry, estate.
-
-  Toom, empty.
-
-  Tows, ropes.
-
-  Toy, a linen or woollen headdress hanging down over the shoulders.
-
-  "Tree and tow," the gallows.
-
-  Trindle, to trundle.
-
-  Trock, to barter.
-
-  Trow, to believe, to think, to guess.
-
-  Trow or Drow, a spirit or elf believed in by the Norse.
-
-  Twa, two.
-
-  Twal, twelve.
-
-  Twiscar, tuskar, a spade for cutting peats.
-
-
-  Udaller, a freehold proprietor.
-
-  Ultima Thule, farthest Thule.
-
-  Ulzie, oil.
-
-  Umquhile, the late.
-
-  Uncanny, dangerous; supposed to possess supernatural powers.
-
-  Unce, ounce.
-
-  Unco, very, strange, great, particularly.
-
-  Ure, the eighth part of a merk of land.
-
-  Usquebaugh, whisky.
-
-
-  Vivers, victuals.
-
-  Voe, an inlet of the sea.
-
-
-  Wad, would.
-
-  Wadmaal, homespun woollen cloth.
-
-  Wakerife, watchful, wakeful.
-
-  Wan, won, got.
-
-  Warlock, a wizard.
-
-  Watna, know not.
-
-  Wattle, an assessment for the salary of the magistrate.
-
-  Waur, worse.
-
-  Wee, small, little.
-
-  Weel, well.
-
-  Well, a whirlpool.
-
-  Wha, who.
-
-  Whan, when.
-
-  "What for," why.
-
-  Wheen, a few.
-
-  Whigamore, a term of the same meaning with _Whig_, applied to
-  Presbyterians, but more contemptuous.
-
-  Whiles, sometimes.
-
-  Whilk, which.
-
-  Whingers, hangers, knives.
-
-  Whittie-whattieing, shuffling or wheedling.
-
-  Whittle, a knife.
-
-  Wi', with.
-
-  Wick, an open bay.
-
-  Win, to get.
-
-  Withy, a rope of twisted wands.
-
-  Wot, to know.
-
-  Wowf, crazy.
-
-
-  Yarn-windle, a yarn-winder.
-
-  Yestreen, yesterday.
-
-  Yett, a gate.
-
-
-
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-THE PIRATE.
-
-
-        Nothing in him----
-        But doth suffer a sea-change.
-
-                                        _Tempest._
-
-
-
-
-THE PIRATE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-  But lost to me, for ever lost those joys,
-  Which reason scatters, and which time destroys.
-  No more the midnight fairy-train I view,
-  All in the merry moonlight tippling dew.
-  Even the last lingering fiction of the brain,
-  The churchyard ghost, is now at rest again.
-
-                                              _The Library._
-
-
-The moral bard, from whom we borrow the motto of this chapter, has
-touched a theme with which most readers have some feelings that vibrate
-unconsciously. Superstition, when not arrayed in her full horrors, but
-laying a gentle hand only on her suppliant's head, had charms which we
-fail not to regret, even in those stages of society from which her
-influence is wellnigh banished by the light of reason and general
-education. At least, in more ignorant periods, her system of ideal
-terrors had something in them interesting to minds which had few means
-of excitement. This is more especially true of those lighter
-modifications of superstitious feelings and practices which mingle in
-the amusements of the ruder ages, and are, like the auguries of
-Hallow-e'en in Scotland, considered partly as matter of merriment,
-partly as sad and prophetic earnest. And, with similar feelings, people
-even of tolerable education have, in our times, sought the cell of a
-fortune-teller, upon a frolic, as it is termed, and yet not always in a
-disposition absolutely sceptical towards the responses they receive.
-
-When the sisters of Burgh-Westra arrived in the apartment destined for a
-breakfast, as ample as that which we have described on the preceding
-morning, and had undergone a jocular rebuke from the Udaller for their
-late attendance, they found the company, most of whom had already
-breakfasted, engaged in an ancient Norwegian custom, of the character
-which we have just described.
-
-It seems to have been borrowed from those poems of the Scalds, in which
-champions and heroines are so often represented as seeking to know their
-destiny from some sorceress or prophetess, who, as in the legend called
-by Gray the Descent of Odin, awakens by the force of Runic rhyme the
-unwilling revealer of the doom of fate, and compels from her answers,
-often of dubious import, but which were then believed to express some
-shadow of the events of futurity.
-
-An old sibyl, Euphane Fea, the housekeeper we have already mentioned,
-was installed in the recess of a large window, studiously darkened by
-bear-skins and other miscellaneous drapery, so as to give it something
-the appearance of a Laplander's hut, and accommodated, like a
-confessional chair, with an aperture, which permitted the person within
-to hear with ease whatever questions should be put, though not to see
-the querist. Here seated, the voluspa, or sibyl, was to listen to the
-rhythmical enquiries which should be made to her, and return an
-extemporaneous answer. The drapery was supposed to prevent her from
-seeing by what individuals she was consulted, and the intended or
-accidental reference which the answer given under such circumstances
-bore to the situation of the person by whom the question was asked,
-often furnished food for laughter, and sometimes, as it happened, for
-more serious reflection. The sibyl was usually chosen from her
-possessing the talent of improvisation in the Norse poetry; no unusual
-accomplishment, where the minds of many were stored with old verses, and
-where the rules of metrical composition are uncommonly simple. The
-questions were also put in verse; but as this power of extemporaneous
-composition, though common, could not be supposed universal, the medium
-of an interpreter might be used by any querist, which interpreter,
-holding the consulter of the oracle by the hand, and standing by the
-place from which the oracles were issued, had the task of rendering into
-verse the subject of enquiry.
-
-On the present occasion, Claud Halcro was summoned, by the universal
-voice, to perform the part of interpreter; and, after shaking his head,
-and muttering some apology for decay of memory and poetical powers,
-contradicted at once by his own conscious smile of confidence and by the
-general shout of the company, the lighthearted old man came forward to
-play his part in the proposed entertainment.
-
-But just as it was about to commence, the arrangement of parts was
-singularly altered. Norna of the Fitful-head, whom every one excepting
-the two sisters believed to be at the distance of many miles, suddenly,
-and without greeting, entered the apartment, walked majestically up to
-the bearskin tabernacle, and signed to the female who was there seated
-to abdicate her sanctuary. The old woman came forth, shaking her head,
-and looking like one overwhelmed with fear; nor, indeed, were there many
-in the company who saw with absolute composure the sudden appearance of
-a person, so well known and so generally dreaded as Norna.
-
-She paused a moment at the entrance of the tent; and, as she raised the
-skin which formed the entrance, she looked up to the north, as if
-imploring from that quarter a strain of inspiration; then signing to the
-surprised guests that they might approach in succession the shrine in
-which she was about to install herself, she entered the tent, and was
-shrouded from their sight.
-
-But this was a different sport from what the company had meditated, and
-to most of them seemed to present so much more of earnest than of game,
-that there was no alacrity shown to consult the oracle. The character
-and pretensions of Norna seemed, to almost all present, too serious for
-the part which she had assumed; the men whispered to each other, and the
-women, according to Claud Halcro, realized the description of glorious
-John Dryden,--
-
-  "With horror shuddering, in a heap they ran."
-
-The pause was interrupted by the loud manly voice of the Udaller. "Why
-does the game stand still, my masters? Are you afraid because my
-kinswoman is to play our voluspa? It is kindly done in her, to do for us
-what none in the isles can do so well; and we will not baulk our sport
-for it, but rather go on the merrier."
-
-There was still a pause in the company, and Magnus Troil added, "It
-shall never be said that my kinswoman sat in her bower unhalsed, as if
-she were some of the old mountain-giantesses, and all from faint heart.
-I will speak first myself; but the rhyme comes worse from my tongue than
-when I was a score of years younger.--Claud Halcro, you must stand by
-me."
-
-Hand in hand they approached the shrine of the supposed sibyl, and after
-a moment's consultation together, Halcro thus expressed the query of his
-friend and patron. Now, the Udaller, like many persons of consequence in
-Zetland, who, as Sir Robert Sibbald has testified for them, had begun
-thus early to apply both to commerce and navigation, was concerned to
-some extent in the whale-fishery of the season, and the bard had been
-directed to put into his halting verse an enquiry concerning its
-success.
-
-CLAUD HALCRO.
-
-  "Mother darksome, Mother dread--
-  Dweller on the Fitful-head,
-  Thou canst see what deeds are done
-  Under the never-setting sun.
-  Look through sleet, and look through frost,
-  Look to Greenland's caves and coast,--
-  By the iceberg is a sail
-  Chasing of the swarthy whale;
-  Mother doubtful, Mother dread,
-  Tell us, has the good ship sped?"
-
-The jest seemed to turn to earnest, as all, bending their heads around,
-listened to the voice of Norna, who, without a moment's hesitation,
-answered from the recesses of the tent in which she was enclosed:--
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "The thought of the aged is ever on gear,--
-  On his fishing, his furrow, his flock, and his steer;
-  But thrive may his fishing, flock, furrow, and herd,
-  While the aged for anguish shall tear his grey beard."
-
-There was a momentary pause, during which Triptolemus had time to
-whisper, "If ten witches and as many warlocks were to swear it, I will
-never believe that a decent man will either fash his beard or himself
-about any thing, so long as stock and crop goes as it should do."
-
-But the voice from within the tent resumed its low monotonous tone of
-recitation, and, interrupting farther commentary, proceeded as
-follows:--
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "The ship, well-laden as bark need be,
-  Lies deep in the furrow of the Iceland sea;--
-  The breeze for Zetland blows fair and soft,
-  And gaily the garland[1] is fluttering aloft:
-  Seven good fishes have spouted their last,
-  And their jaw-bones are hanging to yard and mast;[2]
-  Two are for Lerwick, and two for Kirkwall,--
-  And three for Burgh-Westra, the choicest of all."
-
-"Now the powers above look down and protect us!" said Bryce Snailsfoot;
-"for it is mair than woman's wit that has spaed out that ferly. I saw
-them at North Ronaldshaw, that had seen the good bark, the Olave of
-Lerwick, that our worthy patron has such a great share in that she may
-be called his own in a manner, and they had broomed[3] the ship, and, as
-sure as there are stars in heaven, she answered them for seven fish,
-exact as Norna has telled us in her rhyme!"
-
-"Umph--seven fish exactly? and you heard it at North Ronaldshaw?" said
-Captain Cleveland, "and I suppose told it as a good piece of news when
-you came hither?"
-
-"It never crossed my tongue, Captain," answered the pedlar; "I have kend
-mony chapmen, travelling merchants, and such like, neglect their goods
-to carry clashes and clavers up and down, from one countryside to
-another; but that is no traffic of mine. I dinna believe I have
-mentioned the Olave's having made up her cargo to three folks since I
-crossed to Dunrossness."
-
-"But if one of those three had spoken the news over again, and it is two
-to one that such a thing happened, the old lady prophesies upon velvet."
-
-Such was the speech of Cleveland, addressed to Magnus Troil, and heard
-without any applause. The Udaller's respect for his country extended to
-its superstitions, and so did the interest which he took in his
-unfortunate kinswoman. If he never rendered a precise assent to her high
-supernatural pretensions, he was not at least desirous of hearing them
-disputed by others.
-
-"Norna," he said, "his cousin," (an emphasis on the word,) "held no
-communication with Bryce Snailsfoot, or his acquaintances. He did not
-pretend to explain how she came by her information; but he had always
-remarked that Scotsmen, and indeed strangers in general, when they came
-to Zetland, were ready to find reasons for things which remained
-sufficiently obscure to those whose ancestors had dwelt there for ages."
-
-Captain Cleveland took the hint, and bowed, without attempting to defend
-his own scepticism.
-
-"And now forward, my brave hearts," said the Udaller; "and may all have
-as good tidings as I have! Three whales cannot but yield--let me think
-how many hogsheads"----
-
-There was an obvious reluctance on the part of the guests to be the next
-in consulting the oracle of the tent.
-
-"Gude news are welcome to some folks, if they came frae the deil
-himsell," said Mistress Baby Yellowley, addressing the Lady
-Glowrowrum,--for a similarity of disposition in some respects had made a
-sort of intimacy betwixt them--"but I think, my leddy, that this has
-ower mickle of rank witchcraft in it to have the countenance of douce
-Christian folks like you and me, my leddy."
-
-"There may be something in what you say, my dame," replied the good Lady
-Glowrowrum; "but we Hialtlanders are no just like other folks; and this
-woman, if she be a witch, being the Fowd's friend and near kinswoman, it
-will be ill taen if we haena our fortunes spaed like a' the rest of
-them; and sae my nieces may e'en step forward in their turn, and nae
-harm dune. They will hae time to repent, ye ken, in the course of
-nature, if there be ony thing wrang in it, Mistress Yellowley."
-
-While others remained under similar uncertainty and apprehension,
-Halcro, who saw by the knitting of the old Udaller's brows, and by a
-certain impatient shuffle of his right foot, like the motion of a man
-who with difficulty refrains from stamping, that his patience began to
-wax rather thin, gallantly declared, that he himself would, in his own
-person, and not as a procurator for others, put the next query to the
-Pythoness. He paused a minute--collected his rhymes, and thus addressed
-her:
-
-CLAUD HALCRO.
-
-  "Mother doubtful, Mother dread,
-  Dweller of the Fitful-head,
-  Thou hast conn'd full many a rhyme,
-  That lives upon the surge of time:
-  Tell me, shall my lays be sung,
-  Like Hacon's of the golden tongue,
-  Long after Halcro's dead and gone?
-  Or, shall Hialtland's minstrel own
-  One note to rival glorious John?"
-
-The voice of the sibyl immediately replied, from her sanctuary,
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "The infant loves the rattle's noise;
-  Age, double childhood, hath its toys;
-  But different far the descant rings,
-  As strikes a different hand the strings.
-  The Eagle mounts the polar sky--
-  The Imber-goose, unskill'd to fly,
-  Must be content to glide along,
-  Where seal and sea-dog list his song."
-
-Halcro bit his lip, shrugged his shoulders, and then, instantly
-recovering his good-humour, and the ready, though slovenly power of
-extemporaneous composition, with which long habit had invested him, he
-gallantly rejoined,
-
-CLAUD HALCRO.
-
-  "Be mine the Imber-goose to play,
-  And haunt lone cave and silent bay:--
-  The archer's aim so shall I shun--
-  So shall I 'scape the levell'd gun--
-  Content my verse's tuneless jingle,
-  With Thule's sounding tides to mingle,
-  While, to the ear of wandering wight,
-  Upon the distant headland's height,
-  Soften'd by murmur of the sea,
-  The rude sounds seem like harmony!"
-
-As the little bard stepped back, with an alert gait, and satisfied air,
-general applause followed the spirited manner in which he had acquiesced
-in the doom which levelled him with an Imber-goose. But his resigned and
-courageous submission did not even yet encourage any other person to
-consult the redoubted Norna.
-
-"The coward fools!" said the Udaller. "Are you too afraid, Captain
-Cleveland, to speak to an old woman?--Ask her any thing--ask her whether
-the twelve-gun sloop at Kirkwall be your consort or no."
-
-Cleveland looked at Minna, and probably conceiving that she watched with
-anxiety his answer to her father's question, he collected himself, after
-a moment's hesitation.
-
-"I never was afraid of man or woman.--Master Halcro, you have heard the
-question which our host desires me to ask--put it in my name, and in
-your own way--I pretend to as little skill in poetry as I do in
-witchcraft."
-
-Halcro did not wait to be invited twice, but, grasping Captain
-Cleveland's hand in his, according to the form which the game
-prescribed, he put the query which the Udaller had dictated to the
-stranger, in the following words:--
-
-CLAUD HALCRO.
-
-  "Mother doubtful, Mother dread,
-  Dweller of the Fitful-head,
-  A gallant bark from far abroad,
-  Saint Magnus hath her in his road,
-  With guns and firelocks not a few--
-  A silken and a scarlet crew,
-  Deep stored with precious merchandise,
-  Of gold, and goods of rare device--
-  What interest hath our comrade bold
-  In bark and crew, in goods and gold?"
-
-There was a pause of unusual duration ere the oracle would return any
-answer; and when she replied, it was in a lower, though an equally
-decided tone, with that which she had hitherto employed:--
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "Gold is ruddy, fair, and free,
-  Blood is crimson, and dark to see;--
-  I look'd out on Saint Magnus Bay,
-  And I saw a falcon that struck her prey,--
-  A gobbet of flesh in her beak she bore,
-  And talons and singles are dripping with gore;
-  Let him that asks after them look on his hand,
-  And if there is blood on't, he's one of their band."
-
-Cleveland smiled scornfully, and held out his hand,--"Few men have been
-on the Spanish main as often as I have, without having had to do with
-the _Guarda Costas_ once and again; but there never was aught like a
-stain on my hand that a wet towel would not wipe away."
-
-The Udaller added his voice potential--"There is never peace with
-Spaniards beyond the Line,--I have heard Captain Tragendeck and honest
-old Commodore Rummelaer say so an hundred times, and they have both been
-down in the Bay of Honduras, and all thereabouts.--I hate all Spaniards,
-since they came here and reft the Fair Isle men of their vivers in
-1558.[4] I have heard my grandfather speak of it; and there is an old
-Dutch history somewhere about the house, that shows what work they made
-in the Low Countries long since. There is neither mercy nor faith in
-them."
-
-"True--true, my old friend," said Cleveland; "they are as jealous of
-their Indian possessions as an old man of his young bride; and if they
-can catch you at disadvantage, the mines for your life is the word,--and
-so we fight them with our colours nailed to the mast."
-
-"That is the way," shouted the Udaller; "the old British jack should
-never down! When I think of the wooden walls, I almost think myself an
-Englishman, only it would be becoming too like my Scottish
-neighbours;--but come, no offence to any here, gentlemen--all are
-friends, and all are welcome.--Come, Brenda, go on with the play--do you
-speak next, you have Norse rhymes enough, we all know."
-
-"But none that suit the game we play at, father," said Brenda, drawing
-back.
-
-"Nonsense!" said her father, pushing her onward, while Halcro seized on
-her reluctant hand; "never let mistimed modesty mar honest mirth--Speak
-for Brenda, Halcro--it is your trade to interpret maidens' thoughts."
-
-The poet bowed to the beautiful young woman, with the devotion of a poet
-and the gallantry of a traveller, and having, in a whisper, reminded her
-that she was in no way responsible for the nonsense he was about to
-speak, he paused, looked upward, simpered as if he had caught a sudden
-idea, and at length set off in the following verses:
-
-CLAUD HALCRO.
-
-  "Mother doubtful, Mother dread--
-  Dweller of the Fitful-head,
-  Well thou know'st it is thy task
-  To tell what beauty will not ask;--
-  Then steep thy words in wine and milk,
-  And weave a doom of gold and silk,--
-  For we would know, shall Brenda prove
-  In love, and happy in her love?"
-
-The prophetess replied almost immediately from behind her curtain:--
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "Untouched by love, the maiden's breast
-  Is like the snow on Rona's crest,
-  High seated in the middle sky,
-  In bright and barren purity;
-  But by the sunbeam gently kiss'd,
-  Scarce by the gazing eye 'tis miss'd,
-  Ere down the lonely valley stealing,
-  Fresh grass and growth its course revealing,
-  It cheers the flock, revives the flower,
-  And decks some happy shepherd's bower."
-
-"A comfortable doctrine, and most justly spoken," said the Udaller,
-seizing the blushing Brenda, as she was endeavouring to escape--"Never
-think shame for the matter, my girl. To be the mistress of some honest
-man's house, and the means of maintaining some old Norse name, making
-neighbours happy, the poor easy, and relieving strangers, is the most
-creditable lot a young woman can look to, and I heartily wish it to all
-here.--Come, who speaks next?--good husbands are going--Maddie
-Groatsettar--my pretty Clara, come and have your share."
-
-The Lady Glowrowrum shook her head, and "could not," she said,
-"altogether approve"----
-
-"Enough said--enough said," replied Magnus; "no compulsion; but the play
-shall go on till we are tired of it. Here, Minna--I have got you at
-command. Stand forth, my girl--there are plenty of things to be ashamed
-of besides old-fashioned and innocent pleasantry.--Come, I will speak
-for you myself--though I am not sure I can remember rhyme enough for
-it."
-
-There was a slight colour which passed rapidly over Minna's face, but
-she instantly regained her composure, and stood erect by her father, as
-one superior to any little jest to which her situation might give rise.
-
-Her father, after some rubbing of his brow, and other mechanical efforts
-to assist his memory, at length recovered verse sufficient to put the
-following query, though in less gallant strains than those of Halcro:--
-
-MAGNUS TROIL.
-
-  "Mother, speak, and do not tarry,
-  Here's a maiden fain would marry.
-  Shall she marry, ay or not?
-  If she marry, what's her lot?"
-
-A deep sigh was uttered within the tabernacle of the soothsayer, as if
-she compassionated the subject of the doom which she was obliged to
-pronounce. She then, as usual, returned her response:--
-
-NORNA.
-
-  "Untouch'd by love, the maiden's breast
-  Is like the snow on Rona's crest;
-  So pure, so free from earthly dye,
-  It seems, whilst leaning on the sky,
-  Part of the heaven to which 'tis nigh;
-  But passion, like the wild March rain,
-  May soil the wreath with many a stain.
-  We gaze--the lovely vision's gone--
-  A torrent fills the bed of stone,
-  That, hurrying to destruction's shock,
-  Leaps headlong from the lofty rock."
-
-The Udaller heard this reply with high resentment. "By the bones of the
-Martyr," he said, his bold visage becoming suddenly ruddy, "this is an
-abuse of courtesy! and, were it any but yourself that had classed my
-daughter's name and the word destruction together, they had better have
-left the word unspoken. But come forth of the tent, thou old
-galdragon,"[5] he added, with a smile--"I should have known that thou
-canst not long joy in any thing that smacks of mirth, God help thee!"
-His summons received no answer; and, after waiting a moment, he again
-addressed her--"Nay, never be sullen with me, kinswoman, though I did
-speak a hasty word--thou knowest I bear malice to no one, least of all
-to thee--so come forth, and let us shake hands.--Thou mightst have
-foretold the wreck of my ship and boats, or a bad herring-fishery, and I
-should have said never a word; but Minna or Brenda, you know, are things
-which touch me nearer. But come out, shake hands, and there let there be
-an end on't."
-
-Norna returned no answer whatever to his repeated invocations, and the
-company began to look upon each other with some surprise, when the
-Udaller, raising the skin which covered the entrance of the tent,
-discovered that the interior was empty. The wonder was now general, and
-not unmixed with fear; for it seemed impossible that Norna could have,
-in any manner, escaped from the tabernacle in which she was enclosed,
-without having been discovered by the company. Gone, however, she was,
-and the Udaller, after a moment's consideration, dropt the skin-curtain
-again over the entrance of the tent.
-
-"My friends," he said, with a cheerful countenance, "we have long known
-my kinswoman, and that her ways are not like those of the ordinary folks
-of this world. But she means well by Hialtland, and hath the love of a
-sister for me, and for my house; and no guest of mine needs either to
-fear evil, or to take offence, at her hand. I have little doubt she will
-be with us at dinner-time."
-
-"Now, Heaven forbid!" said Mrs. Baby Yellowley--"for, my gude Leddy
-Glowrowrum, to tell your leddyship the truth, I likena cummers that can
-come and gae like a glance of the sun, or the whisk of a whirlwind."
-
-"Speak lower, speak lower," said the Lady Glowrowrum, "and be thankful
-that yon carlin hasna ta'en the house-side away wi' her. The like of her
-have played warse pranks, and so has she hersell, unless she is the
-sairer lied on."
-
-Similar murmurs ran through the rest of the company, until the Udaller
-uplifted his stentorian and imperative voice to put them to silence, and
-invited, or rather commanded, the attendance of his guests to behold the
-boats set off for the _haaf_ or deep-sea fishing.
-
-"The wind has been high since sunrise," he said, "and had kept the boats
-in the bay; but now it was favourable, and they would sail
-immediately."
-
-This sudden alteration of the weather occasioned sundry nods and winks
-amongst the guests, who were not indisposed to connect it with Norna's
-sudden disappearance; but without giving vent to observations which
-could not but be disagreeable to their host, they followed his stately
-step to the shore, as the herd of deer follows the leading stag, with
-all manner of respectful observance.[6](_a_)[7]
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] The garland is an artificial coronet, composed of ribbons by those
-young women who take an interest in a whaling vessel or her crew: it is
-always displayed from the rigging, and preserved with great care during
-the voyage.
-
-[2] The best oil exudes from the jaw-bones of the whale, which, for the
-purpose of collecting it, are suspended to the masts of the vessel.
-
-[3] There is established among whalers a sort of telegraphic signal, in
-which a certain number of motions, made with a broom, express to any
-other vessel the number of fish which they have caught.
-
-[4] The Admiral of the Spanish Armada was wrecked on the Fair Isle,
-half-way betwixt the Orkney and Zetland Archipelago. The Duke of Medina
-Sidonia landed, with some of his people, and pillaged the islanders of
-their winter stores. These strangers are remembered as having remained
-on the island by force, and on bad terms with the inhabitants, till
-spring returned, when they effected their escape.
-
-[5] _Galdra-Kinna_--the Norse for a sorceress.
-
-[6] Note I.--Fortune-telling Rhymes.
-
-[7] See Editor's Notes at the end of the Volume. Wherever a similar
-reference occurs, the reader will understand that the same direction
-applies.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-  There was a laughing devil in his sneer,
-  That raised emotions both of rage and fear;
-  And where his frown of hatred darkly fell,
-  Hope withering fled--and Mercy sigh'd farewell.
-
-                                     _The Corsair, Canto I._
-
-
-The ling or white fishery is the principal employment of the natives of
-Zetland, and was formerly that upon which the gentry chiefly depended
-for their income, and the poor for their subsistence. The fishing season
-is therefore, like the harvest of an agricultural country, the busiest
-and most important, as well as the most animating, period of the year.
-
-The fishermen of each district assemble at particular stations, with
-their boats and crews, and erect upon the shore small huts, composed of
-shingle and covered with turf, for their temporary lodging, and skeos,
-or drying-houses, for the fish; so that the lonely beach at once assumes
-the appearance of an Indian town. The banks to which they repair for the
-Haaf fishing, are often many miles distant from the station where the
-fish is dried; so that they are always twenty or thirty hours absent,
-frequently longer; and under unfavourable circumstances of wind and
-tide, they remain at sea, with a very small stock of provisions, and in
-a boat of a construction which seems extremely slender, for two or three
-days, and are sometimes heard of no more. The departure of the fishers,
-therefore, on this occupation, has in it a character of danger and of
-suffering, which renders it dignified, and the anxiety of the females
-who remain on the beach, watching the departure of the lessening boat,
-or anxiously looking out for its return, gives pathos to the scene.[8]
-
-The scene, therefore, was in busy and anxious animation, when the
-Udaller and his friends appeared on the beach. The various crews of
-about thirty boats, amounting each to from three to five or six men,
-were taking leave of their wives and female relatives, and jumping on
-board their long Norway skiffs, where their lines and tackle lay ready
-stowed. Magnus was not an idle spectator of the scene; he went from one
-place to another, enquiring into the state of their provisions for the
-voyage, and their preparations for the fishing--now and then, with a
-rough Dutch or Norse oath, abusing them for blockheads, for going to sea
-with their boats indifferently found, but always ending by ordering
-from his own stores a gallon of gin, a lispund of meal, or some similar
-essential addition to their sea-stores. The hardy sailors, on receiving
-such favours, expressed their thanks in the brief gruff manner which
-their landlord best approved; but the women were more clamorous in their
-gratitude, which Magnus was often obliged to silence by cursing all
-female tongues from Eve's downwards.
-
-At length all were on board and ready, the sails were hoisted, the
-signal for departure given, the rowers began to pull, and all started
-from the shore, in strong emulation to get first to the fishing ground,
-and to have their lines set before the rest; an exploit to which no
-little consequence was attached by the boat's crew who should be happy
-enough to perform it.
-
-While they were yet within hearing of the shore, they chanted an ancient
-Norse ditty, appropriate to the occasion, of which Claud Halcro had
-executed the following literal translation:--
-
-  "Farewell, merry maidens, to song, and to laugh,
-  For the brave lads of Westra are bound to the Haaf;
-  And we must have labour, and hunger, and pain,
-  Ere we dance with the maids of Dunrossness again.
-
-  "For now, in our trim boats of Noroway deal,
-  We must dance on the waves, with the porpoise and seal;
-  The breeze it shall pipe, so it pipe not too high,
-  And the gull be our songstress whene'er she flits by.
-
-  "Sing on, my brave bird, while we follow, like thee,
-  By bank, shoal, and quicksand, the swarms of the sea;
-  And when twenty-score fishes are straining our line,
-  Sing louder, brave bird, for their spoils shall be thine.
-
-  "We'll sing while we bait, and we'll sing when we haul,
-  For the deeps of the Haaf have enough for us all:
-  There is torsk for the gentle, and skate for the carle,
-  And there's wealth for bold Magnus, the son of the earl.
-
-  "Huzza! my brave comrades, give way for the Haaf,
-  We shall sooner come back to the dance and the laugh;
-  For life without mirth is a lamp without oil;
-  Then, mirth and long life to the bold Magnus Troil!"
-
-The rude words of the song were soon drowned in the ripple of the waves,
-but the tune continued long to mingle with the sound of wind and sea,
-and the boats were like so many black specks on the surface of the
-ocean, diminishing by degrees as they bore far and farther seaward;
-while the ear could distinguish touches of the human voice, almost
-drowned amid that of the elements.
-
-The fishermen's wives looked their last after the parting sails, and
-were now departing slowly, with downcast and anxious looks, towards the
-huts in which they were to make arrangements for preparing and drying
-the fish, with which they hoped to see their husbands and friends return
-deeply laden. Here and there an old sibyl displayed the superior
-importance of her experience, by predicting, from the appearance of the
-atmosphere, that the wind would be fair or foul, while others
-recommended a vow to the Kirk of St. Ninian's for the safety of their
-men and boats, (an ancient Catholic superstition, not yet wholly
-abolished,) and others, but in a low and timorous tone, regretted to
-their companions, that Norna of Fitful-head had been suffered to depart
-in discontent that morning from Burgh-Westra, "and, of all days in the
-year, that they suld have contrived to give her displeasure on the first
-day of the white fishing!"
-
-The gentry, guests of Magnus Troil, having whiled away as much time as
-could be so disposed of, in viewing the little armament set sail, and in
-conversing with the poor women who had seen their friends embark in it,
-began now to separate into various groups and parties, which strolled in
-different directions, as fancy led them, to enjoy what may be called the
-clair-obscure of a Zetland summer day, which, though without the
-brilliant sunshine that cheers other countries during the fine season,
-has a mild and pleasing character of its own, that softens while it
-saddens landscapes, which, in their own lonely, bare, and monotonous
-tone, have something in them stern as well as barren.
-
-In one of the loneliest recesses of the coast, where a deep indenture of
-the rocks gave the tide access to the cavern, or, as it is called, the
-_Helyer_, of Swartaster, Minna Troil was walking with Captain Cleveland.
-They had probably chosen that walk, as being little liable to
-interruption from others; for, as the force of the tide rendered the
-place unfit either for fishing or sailing, so it was not the ordinary
-resort of walkers, on account of its being the supposed habitation of a
-Mermaid, a race which Norwegian superstition invests with magical, as
-well as mischievous qualities. Here, therefore, Minna wandered with her
-lover.
-
-A small spot of milk-white sand, that stretched beneath one of the
-precipices which walled in the creek on either side, afforded them space
-for a dry, firm, and pleasant walk of about an hundred yards, terminated
-at one extremity by a dark stretch of the bay, which, scarce touched by
-the wind, seemed almost as smooth as glass, and which was seen from
-between two lofty rocks, the jaws of the creek, or indenture, that
-approached each other above, as if they wished to meet over the dark
-tide that separated them. The other end of their promenade was closed by
-a lofty and almost unscaleable precipice, the abode of hundreds of
-sea-fowl of different kinds, in the bottom of which the huge helyer, or
-sea-cave, itself yawned, as if for the purpose of swallowing up the
-advancing tide, which it seemed to receive into an abyss of immeasurable
-depth and extent. The entrance to this dismal cavern consisted not in a
-single arch, as usual, but was divided into two, by a huge pillar of
-natural rock, which, rising out of the sea, and extending to the top of
-the cavern, seemed to lend its support to the roof, and thus formed a
-double portal to the helyer, on which the fishermen and peasants had
-bestowed the rude name of the Devil's Nostrils. In this wild scene,
-lonely and undisturbed but by the clang of the sea-fowl, Cleveland had
-already met with Minna Troil more than once; for with her it was a
-favourite walk, as the objects which it presented agreed peculiarly with
-the love of the wild, the melancholy, and the wonderful. But now the
-conversation in which she was earnestly engaged, was such as entirely to
-withdraw her attention, as well as that of her companion, from the
-scenery around them.
-
-"You cannot deny it," she said; "you have given way to feelings
-respecting this young man, which indicate prejudice and violence,--the
-prejudice unmerited, as far as you are concerned at least, and the
-violence equally imprudent and unjustifiable."
-
-"I should have thought," replied Cleveland, "that the service I rendered
-him yesterday might have freed me from such a charge. I do not talk of
-my own risk, for I have lived in danger, and love it; it is not every
-one, however, would have ventured so near the furious animal to save one
-with whom they had no connexion."
-
-"It is not every one, indeed, who could have saved him," answered
-Minna, gravely; "but every one who has courage and generosity would have
-attempted it. The giddy-brained Claud Halcro would have done as much as
-you, had his strength been equal to his courage,--my father would have
-done as much, though having such just cause of resentment against the
-young man, for his vain and braggart abuse of our hospitality. Do not,
-therefore, boast of your exploit too much, my good friend, lest you
-should make me think that it required too great an effort. I know you
-love not Mordaunt Mertoun, though you exposed your own life to save
-his."
-
-"Will you allow nothing, then," said Cleveland, "for the long misery I
-was made to endure from the common and prevailing report, that this
-beardless bird-hunter stood betwixt me and what I on earth coveted
-most--the affections of Minna Troil?"
-
-He spoke in a tone at once impassioned and insinuating, and his whole
-language and manner seemed to express a grace and elegance, which formed
-the most striking contrast with the speech and gesture of the unpolished
-seaman, which he usually affected or exhibited. But his apology was
-unsatisfactory to Minna.
-
-"You have known," she said, "perhaps too soon, and too well, how little
-you had to fear,--if you indeed feared,--that Mertoun, or any other, had
-interest with Minna Troil.--Nay, truce to thanks and protestations; I
-would accept it as the best proof of gratitude, that you would be
-reconciled with this youth, or at least avoid every quarrel with him."
-
-"That we should be friends, Minna, is impossible," replied Cleveland;
-"even the love I bear you, the most powerful emotion that my heart ever
-knew, cannot work that miracle."
-
-"And why, I pray you?" said Minna; "there have been no evil offences
-between you, but rather an exchange of mutual services; why can you not
-be friends?--I have many reasons to wish it."
-
-"And can you, then, forget the slights which he has cast upon Brenda,
-and on yourself, and on your father's house?"
-
-"I can forgive them all," said Minna;--"can you not say so much, who
-have in truth received no offence?"
-
-Cleveland looked down, and paused for an instant; then raised his head,
-and replied, "I might easily deceive you, Minna, and promise you what my
-soul tells me is an impossibility; but I am forced to use too much
-deceit with others, and with you I will use none. I cannot be friend to
-this young man;--there is a natural dislike--an instinctive
-aversion--something like a principle of repulsion in our mutual nature,
-which makes us odious to each other. Ask himself--he will tell you he
-has the same antipathy against me. The obligation he conferred on me was
-a bridle to my resentment; but I was so galled by the restraint, that I
-could have gnawed the curb till my lips were bloody."
-
-"You have worn what you are wont to call your iron mask so long, that
-your features," replied Minna, "retain the impression of its rigidity
-even when it is removed."
-
-"You do me injustice, Minna," replied her lover, "and you are angry with
-me because I deal with you plainly and honestly. Plainly and honestly,
-however, will I say, that I cannot be Mertoun's friend, but it shall be
-his own fault, not mine, if I am ever his enemy. I seek not to injure
-him; but do not ask me to love him. And of this remain satisfied, that
-it would be vain even if I could do so; for as sure as I attempted any
-advances towards his confidence, so sure would I be to awaken his
-disgust and suspicion. Leave us to the exercise of our natural feelings,
-which, as they will unquestionably keep us as far separate as possible,
-are most likely to prevent any possible interference with each
-other.--Does this satisfy you?"
-
-"It must," said Minna, "since you tell me there is no remedy.--And now
-tell me why you looked so grave when you heard of your consort's
-arrival,--for that it is her I have no doubt,--in the port of Kirkwall?"
-
-"I fear," replied Cleveland, "the consequences of that vessel's arrival
-with her crew, as comprehending the ruin of my fondest hopes. I had made
-some progress in your father's favour, and, with time, might have made
-more, when hither come Hawkins and the rest to blight my prospects for
-ever. I told you on what terms we parted. I then commanded a vessel
-braver and better found than their own, with a crew who, at my slightest
-nod, would have faced fiends armed with their own fiery element; but I
-now stand alone, a single man, destitute of all means to overawe or to
-restrain them; and they will soon show so plainly the ungovernable
-license of their habits and dispositions, that ruin to themselves and to
-me will in all probability be the consequence."
-
-"Do not fear it," said Minna; "my father can never be so unjust as to
-hold you liable for the offences of others."
-
-"But what will Magnus Troil say to my own demerits, fair Minna?" said
-Cleveland, smiling.
-
-"My father is a Zetlander, or rather a Norwegian," said Minna, "one of
-an oppressed race, who will not care whether you fought against the
-Spaniards, who are the tyrants of the New World, or against the Dutch
-and English, who have succeeded to their usurped dominions. His own
-ancestors supported and exercised the freedom of the seas in those
-gallant barks, whose pennons were the dread of all Europe."
-
-"I fear, nevertheless," said Cleveland, "that the descendant of an
-ancient Sea-King will scarce acknowledge a fitting acquaintance in a
-modern rover. I have not disguised from you that I have reason to dread
-the English laws; and Magnus, though a great enemy to taxes, imposts,
-scat, wattle, and so forth, has no idea of latitude upon points of a
-more general character;--he would willingly reeve a rope to the yard-arm
-for the benefit of an unfortunate buccanier."
-
-"Do not suppose so," said Minna; "he himself suffers too much oppression
-from the tyrannical laws of our proud neighbours of Scotland. I trust he
-will soon be able to rise in resistance against them. The enemy--such I
-will call them--are now divided amongst themselves, and every vessel
-from their coast brings intelligence of fresh commotions--the Highlands
-against the Lowlands--the Williamites against the Jacobites--the Whigs
-against the Tories, and, to sum the whole, the kingdom of England
-against that of Scotland. What is there, as Claud Halcro well hinted, to
-prevent our availing ourselves of the quarrels of these robbers, to
-assert the independence of which we are deprived?"
-
-"To hoist the raven standard on the Castle of Scalloway," said
-Cleveland, in imitation of her tone and manner, "and proclaim your
-father Earl Magnus the First!"
-
-"Earl Magnus the Seventh, if it please you," answered Minna; "for six of
-his ancestors have worn, or were entitled to wear, the coronet before
-him.--You laugh at my ardour,--but what _is_ there to prevent all this?"
-
-"Nothing _will_ prevent it," replied Cleveland, "because it will never
-be attempted--Any thing _might_ prevent it, that is equal in strength to
-the long-boat of a British man-of-war."
-
-"You treat us with scorn, sir," said Minna; "yet yourself should know
-what a few resolved men may perform."
-
-"But they must be armed, Minna," replied Cleveland, "and willing to
-place their lives upon each desperate adventure.--Think not of such
-visions. Denmark has been cut down into a second-rate kingdom, incapable
-of exchanging a single broadside with England; Norway is a starving
-wilderness; and, in these islands, the love of independence has been
-suppressed by a long term of subjection, or shows itself but in a few
-muttered growls over the bowl and bottle. And, were your men as willing
-warriors as their ancestors, what could the unarmed crews of a few
-fishing-boats do against the British navy?--Think no more of it, sweet
-Minna--it is a dream, and I must term it so, though it makes your eye so
-bright, and your step so noble."
-
-"It is indeed a dream!" said Minna, looking down, "and it ill becomes a
-daughter of Hialtland to look or to move like a freewoman--Our eye
-should be on the ground, and our step slow and reluctant, as that of one
-who obeys a taskmaster."
-
-"There are lands," said Cleveland, "in which the eye may look bright
-upon groves of the palm and the cocoa, and where the foot may move
-light as a galley under sail, over fields carpeted with flowers, and
-savannahs surrounded by aromatic thickets, and where subjection is
-unknown, except that of the brave to the bravest, and of all to the most
-beautiful."
-
-Minna paused a moment ere she spoke, and then answered, "No, Cleveland.
-My own rude country has charms for me, even desolate as you think it,
-and depressed as it surely is, which no other land on earth can offer to
-me. I endeavour in vain to represent to myself those visions of trees,
-and of groves, which my eye never saw; but my imagination can conceive
-no sight in nature more sublime than these waves, when agitated by a
-storm, or more beautiful, than when they come, as they now do, rolling
-in calm tranquillity to the shore. Not the fairest scene in a foreign
-land,--not the brightest sunbeam that ever shone upon the richest
-landscape, would win my thoughts for a moment from that lofty rock,
-misty hill, and wide-rolling ocean. Hialtland is the land of my deceased
-ancestors, and of my living father; and in Hialtland will I live and
-die."
-
-"Then in Hialtland," answered Cleveland, "will I too live and die. I
-will not go to Kirkwall,--I will not make my existence known to my
-comrades, from whom it were else hard for me to escape. Your father
-loves me, Minna; who knows whether long attention, anxious care, might
-not bring him to receive me into his family? Who would regard the length
-of a voyage that was certain to terminate in happiness?"
-
-"Dream not of such an issue," said Minna; "it is impossible. While you
-live in my father's house,--while you receive his assistance, and share
-his table, you will find him the generous friend, and the hearty host;
-but touch him on what concerns his name and family, and the
-frank-hearted Udaller will start up before you the haughty and proud
-descendant of a Norwegian Jarl. See you,--a moment's suspicion has
-fallen on Mordaunt Mertoun, and he has banished from his favour the
-youth whom he so lately loved as a son. No one must ally with his house
-that is not of untainted northern descent."
-
-"And mine may be so, for aught that is known to me upon the subject,"
-said Cleveland.
-
-"How!" said Minna; "have you any reason to believe yourself of Norse
-descent?"
-
-"I have told you before," replied Cleveland, "that my family is totally
-unknown to me. I spent my earliest days upon a solitary plantation in
-the little island of Tortuga, under the charge of my father, then a
-different person from what he afterwards became. We were plundered by
-the Spaniards, and reduced to such extremity of poverty, that my father,
-in desperation, and in thirst of revenge, took up arms, and having
-become chief of a little band, who were in the same circumstances,
-became a buccanier, as it is called, and cruized against Spain, with
-various vicissitudes of good and bad fortune, until, while he interfered
-to check some violence of his companions, he fell by their hands--no
-uncommon fate among the captains of these rovers. But whence my father
-came, or what was the place of his birth, I know not, fair Minna, nor
-have I ever had a curious thought on the subject."
-
-"He was a Briton, at least, your unfortunate father?" said Minna.
-
-"I have no doubt of it," said Cleveland; "his name, which I have
-rendered too formidable to be openly spoken, is an English one; and his
-acquaintance with the English language, and even with English
-literature, together with the pains which he took, in better days, to
-teach me both, plainly spoke him to be an Englishman. If the rude
-bearing which I display towards others is not the genuine character of
-my mind and manners, it is to my father, Minna, that I owe any share of
-better thoughts and principles, which may render me worthy, in some
-small degree, of your notice and approbation. And yet it sometimes seems
-to me, that I have two different characters; for I cannot bring myself
-to believe, that I, who now walk this lone beach with the lovely Minna
-Troil, and am permitted to speak to her of the passion which I have
-cherished, have ever been the daring leader of the bold band whose name
-was as terrible as a tornado."
-
-"You had not been permitted," said Minna, "to use that bold language
-towards the daughter of Magnus Troil, had you _not_ been the brave and
-undaunted leader, who, with so small means, has made his name so
-formidable. My heart is like that of a maiden of the ancient days, and
-is to be won, not by fair words, but by gallant deeds."
-
-"Alas! that heart," said Cleveland; "and what is it that I may do--what
-is it that man can do, to win in it the interest which I desire?"
-
-"Rejoin your friends--pursue your fortunes--leave the rest to destiny,"
-said Minna. "Should you return, the leader of a gallant fleet, who can
-tell what may befall?"
-
-"And what shall assure me, that, when I return--if return I ever
-shall--I may not find Minna Troil a bride or a spouse?--No, Minna, I
-will not trust to destiny the only object worth attaining, which my
-stormy voyage in life has yet offered me."
-
-"Hear me," said Minna. "I will bind myself to you, if you dare accept
-such an engagement, by the promise of Odin,[9] the most sacred of our
-northern rites which are yet practised among us, that I will never
-favour another, until you resign the pretensions which I have given to
-you.--Will that satisfy you?--for more I cannot--more I will not give."
-
-"Then with that," said Cleveland, after a moment's pause, "I must
-perforce be satisfied;--but remember, it is yourself that throw me back
-upon a mode of life which the laws of Britain denounce as criminal, and
-which the violent passions of the daring men by whom it is pursued, have
-rendered infamous."
-
-"But I," said Minna, "am superior to such prejudices. In warring with
-England, I see their laws in no other light than as if you were engaged
-with an enemy, who, in fulness of pride and power, has declared he will
-give his antagonist no quarter. A brave man will not fight the worse for
-this;--and, for the manners of your comrades, so that they do not infect
-your own, why should their evil report attach to you?"
-
-Cleveland gazed at her as she spoke, with a degree of wondering
-admiration, in which, at the same time, there lurked a smile at her
-simplicity.
-
-"I could not," he said, "have believed, that such high courage could
-have been found united with such ignorance of the world, as the world is
-now wielded. For my manners, they who best know me will readily allow,
-that I have done my best, at the risk of my popularity, and of my life
-itself, to mitigate the ferocity of my mates; but how can you teach
-humanity to men burning with vengeance against the world by whom they
-are proscribed, or teach them temperance and moderation in enjoying the
-pleasures which chance throws in their way, to vary a life which would
-be otherwise one constant scene of peril and hardship?--But this
-promise, Minna--this promise, which is all I am to receive in guerdon
-for my faithful attachment--let me at least lose no time in claiming
-that."
-
-"It must not be rendered here, but in Kirkwall.--We must invoke, to
-witness the engagement, the Spirit which presides over the ancient
-Circle of Stennis. But perhaps you fear to name the ancient Father of
-the Slain too, the Severe, the Terrible?"
-
-Cleveland smiled.
-
-"Do me the justice to think, lovely Minna, that I am little subject to
-fear real causes of terror; and for those which are visionary, I have no
-sympathy whatever."
-
-"You believe not in them, then?" said Minna, "and are so far better
-suited to be Brenda's lover than mine."
-
-"I will believe," replied Cleveland, "in whatever you believe. The whole
-inhabitants of that Valhalla, about which you converse so much with that
-fiddling, rhyming fool, Claud Halcro--all these shall become living and
-existing things to my credulity. But, Minna, do not ask me to fear any
-of them."
-
-"Fear! no--not to _fear_ them, surely," replied the maiden; "for, not
-before Thor or Odin, when they approached in the fulness of their
-terrors, did the heroes of my dauntless race yield one foot in retreat.
-Nor do I own them as Deities--a better faith prevents so foul an error.
-But, in our own conception, they are powerful spirits for good or evil.
-And when you boast not to fear them, bethink you that you defy an enemy
-of a kind you have never yet encountered."
-
-"Not in these northern latitudes," said the lover, with a smile, "where
-hitherto I have seen but angels; but I have faced, in my time, the
-demons of the Equinoctial Line, which we rovers suppose to be as
-powerful, and as malignant, as those of the North."
-
-"Have you, then, witnessed those wonders that are beyond the visible
-world?" said Minna, with some degree of awe.
-
-Cleveland composed his countenance, and replied,--"A short while before
-my father's death, I came, though then very young, into the command of a
-sloop, manned with thirty as desperate fellows as ever handled a musket.
-We cruized for a long while with bad success, taking nothing but
-wretched small-craft, which were destined to catch turtle, or otherwise
-loaded with coarse and worthless trumpery. I had much ado to prevent my
-comrades from avenging upon the crews of those baubling shallops the
-disappointment which they had occasioned to us. At length, we grew
-desperate, and made a descent on a village, where we were told we should
-intercept the mules of a certain Spanish governor, laden with treasure.
-We succeeded in carrying the place; but while I endeavoured to save the
-inhabitants from the fury of my followers, the muleteers, with their
-precious cargo, escaped into the neighbouring woods. This filled up the
-measure of my unpopularity. My people, who had been long discontented,
-became openly mutinous. I was deposed from my command in solemn council,
-and condemned, as having too little luck and too much humanity for the
-profession I had undertaken, to be marooned,[10] as the phrase goes, on
-one of those little sandy, bushy islets, which are called, in the West
-Indies, keys, and which are frequented only by turtle and by sea-fowl.
-Many of them are supposed to be haunted(_b_)--some by the demons
-worshipped by the old inhabitants--some by Caciques and others, whom the
-Spaniards had put to death by torture, to compel them to discover their
-hidden treasures, and others by the various spectres in which sailors of
-all nations have implicit faith.[11] My place of banishment, called
-Coffin-key, about two leagues and a half to the south-east of Bermudas,
-was so infamous as the resort of these supernatural inhabitants, that I
-believe the wealth of Mexico would not have persuaded the bravest of the
-scoundrels who put me ashore there, to have spent an hour on the islet
-alone, even in broad daylight; and when they rowed off, they pulled for
-the sloop like men that dared not cast their eyes behind them. And there
-they left me, to subsist as I might, on a speck of unproductive sand,
-surrounded by the boundless Atlantic, and haunted, as they supposed, by
-malignant demons."
-
-"And what was the consequence?" said Minna, eagerly.
-
-"I supported life," said the adventurer, "at the expense of such
-sea-fowl, aptly called boobies, as were silly enough to let me approach
-so near as to knock them down with a stick; and by means of turtle-eggs,
-when these complaisant birds became better acquainted with the
-mischievous disposition of the human species, and more shy of course of
-my advances."
-
-"And the demons of whom you spoke?"--continued Minna.
-
-"I had my secret apprehensions upon their account," said Cleveland: "In
-open daylight, or in absolute darkness, I did not greatly apprehend
-their approach; but in the misty dawn of the morning, or when evening
-was about to fall, I saw, for the first week of my abode on the key,
-many a dim and undefined spectre, now resembling a Spaniard, with his
-capa wrapped around him, and his huge sombrero, as large as an umbrella,
-upon his head,--now a Dutch sailor, with his rough cap and
-trunk-hose,--and now an Indian Cacique, with his feathery crown and long
-lance of cane."
-
-"Did you not approach and address them?" said Minna.
-
-"I always approached them," replied the seaman; "but,--I grieve to
-disappoint your expectations, my fair friend,--whenever I drew near
-them, the phantom changed into a bush, or a piece of drift-wood, or a
-wreath of mist, or some such cause of deception, until at last I was
-taught by experience to cheat myself no longer with such visions, and
-continued a solitary inhabitant of Coffin-key, as little alarmed by
-visionary terrors, as I ever was in the great cabin of a stout vessel,
-with a score of companions around me."
-
-"You have cheated me into listening to a tale of nothing," said Minna;
-"but how long did you continue on the island?"
-
-"Four weeks of wretched existence," said Cleveland, "when I was relieved
-by the crew of a vessel which came thither a-turtling. Yet my miserable
-seclusion was not entirely useless to me; for on that spot of barren
-sand I found, or rather forged, the iron mask, which has since been my
-chief security against treason, or mutiny of my followers. It was there
-I formed the resolution to seem no softer hearted, nor better
-instructed--no more humane, and no more scrupulous, than those with whom
-fortune had leagued me. I thought over my former story, and saw that
-seeming more brave, skilful, and enterprising than others, had gained me
-command and respect, and that seeming more gently nurtured, and more
-civilized than they, had made them envy and hate me as a being of
-another species. I bargained with myself, then, that since I could not
-lay aside my superiority of intellect and education, I would do my best
-to disguise, and to sink in the rude seaman, all appearance of better
-feeling and better accomplishments. I foresaw then what has since
-happened, that, under the appearance of daring obduracy, I should
-acquire such a habitual command over my followers, that I might use it
-for the insurance of discipline, and for relieving the distresses of the
-wretches who fell under our power. I saw, in short, that to attain
-authority, I must assume the external semblance, at least, of those over
-whom it was to be exercised. The tidings of my father's fate, while it
-excited me to wrath and to revenge, confirmed the resolution I had
-adopted. He also had fallen a victim to his superiority of mind, morals,
-and manners, above those whom he commanded. They were wont to call him
-the Gentleman; and, unquestionably, they thought he waited some
-favourable opportunity to reconcile himself, perhaps at their expense,
-to those existing forms of society his habits seemed best to suit with,
-and, even therefore, they murdered him. Nature and justice alike called
-on me for revenge. I was soon at the head of a new body of the
-adventurers, who are so numerous in those islands. I sought not after
-those by whom I had been myself marooned, but after the wretches who had
-betrayed my father; and on them I took a revenge so severe, that it was
-of itself sufficient to stamp me with the character of that inexorable
-ferocity which I was desirous to be thought to possess, and which,
-perhaps, was gradually creeping on my natural disposition in actual
-earnest. My manner, speech, and conduct, seemed so totally changed, that
-those who formerly knew me were disposed to ascribe the alteration to my
-intercourse with the demons who haunted the sands of Coffin-key; nay,
-there were some superstitious enough to believe, that I had actually
-formed a league with them."
-
-"I tremble to hear the rest!" said Minna; "did you not become the
-monster of courage and cruelty whose character you assumed?"
-
-"If I have escaped being so, it is to you, Minna," replied Cleveland,
-"that the wonder must be ascribed. It is true, I have always endeavoured
-to distinguish myself rather by acts of adventurous valour, than by
-schemes of revenge or of plunder, and that at length I could save lives
-by a rude jest, and sometimes, by the excess of the measures which I
-myself proposed, could induce those under me to intercede in favour of
-prisoners; so that the seeming severity of my character has better
-served the cause of humanity, than had I appeared directly devoted to
-it."
-
-He ceased, and, as Minna replied not a word, both remained silent for a
-little space, when Cleveland again resumed the discourse:--
-
-"You are silent," he said, "Miss Troil, and I have injured myself in
-your opinion by the frankness with which I have laid my character before
-you. I may truly say that my natural disposition has been controlled,
-but not altered, by the untoward circumstances in which I am placed."
-
-"I am uncertain," said Minna, after a moment's consideration, "whether
-you had been thus candid, had you not known I should soon see your
-comrades, and discover, from their conversation and their manners, what
-you would otherwise gladly have concealed."
-
-"You do me injustice, Minna, cruel injustice. From the instant that you
-knew me to be a sailor of fortune, an adventurer, a buccanier, or, if
-you will have the broad word, a PIRATE, what had you to expect less than
-what I have told you?"
-
-"You speak too truly," said Minna--"all this I might have anticipated,
-and I know not how I should have expected it otherwise. But it seemed to
-me that a war on the cruel and superstitious Spaniards had in it
-something ennobling--something that refined the fierce employment to
-which you have just now given its true and dreaded name. I thought that
-the independent warriors of the Western Ocean, raised up, as it were, to
-punish the wrongs of so many murdered and plundered tribes must have
-had something of gallant elevation, like that of the Sons of the North,
-whose long galleys avenged on so many coasts the oppressions of
-degenerate Rome. This I thought, and this I dreamed--I grieve that I am
-awakened and undeceived. Yet I blame you not for the erring of my own
-fancy.--Farewell; we must now part."
-
-"Say at least," said Cleveland, "that you do not hold me in horror for
-having told you the truth."
-
-"I must have time for reflection," said Minna, "time to weigh what you
-have said, ere I can fully understand my own feelings. Thus much,
-however, I can say even now, that he who pursues the wicked purpose of
-plunder, by means of blood and cruelty, and who must veil his remains of
-natural remorse under an affectation of superior profligacy, is not, and
-cannot be, the lover whom Minna Troil expected to find in Cleveland; and
-if she still love him, it must be as a penitent, and not as a hero."
-
-So saying, she extricated herself from his grasp, (for he still
-endeavoured to detain her,) making an imperative sign to him to forbear
-from following her.--"She is gone," said Cleveland, looking after her;
-"wild and fanciful as she is, I expected not this.--She startled not at
-the name of my perilous course of life, yet seems totally unprepared for
-the evil which must necessarily attend it; and so all the merit I have
-gained by my resemblance to a Norse Champion, or King of the Sea, is to
-be lost at once, because a gang of pirates do not prove to be a choir of
-saints. I would that Rackam, Hawkins, and the rest, had been at the
-bottom of the Race of Portland--I would the Pentland Frith had swept
-them to hell rather than to Orkney! I will not, however, quit the chase
-of this angel for all that these fiends can do. I will--I must to Orkney
-before the Udaller makes his voyage thither--our meeting might alarm
-even his blunt understanding, although, thank Heaven, in this wild
-country, men know the nature of our trade only by hearsay, through our
-honest friends the Dutch, who take care never to speak very ill of those
-they make money by.--Well, if fortune would but stand my friend with
-this beautiful enthusiast, I would pursue her wheel no farther at sea,
-but set myself down amongst these rocks, as happy as if they were so
-many groves of bananas and palmettoes."
-
-With these, and such thoughts, half rolling in his bosom, half expressed
-in indistinct hints and murmurs, the pirate Cleveland returned to the
-mansion of Burgh-Westra.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[8] Dr. Edmonston, the ingenious author of a View of the Ancient and
-Present State of the Zetland Islands, has placed this part of the
-subject in an interesting light. "It is truly painful to witness the
-anxiety and distress which the wives of these poor men suffer on the
-approach of a storm. Regardless of fatigue, they leave their homes, and
-fly to the spot where they expect their husbands to land, or ascend the
-summit of a rock, to look out for them on the bosom of the deep. Should
-they get the glimpse of a sail, they watch, with trembling solicitude,
-its alternate rise and disappearance on the waves; and though often
-tranquillized by the safe arrival of the objects of their search, yet it
-sometimes is their lot 'to hail the bark that never can return.' Subject
-to the influence of a variable climate, and engaged on a sea naturally
-tempestuous, with rapid currents, scarcely a season passes over without
-the occurrence of some fatal accident or hairbreadth escape."--_View,
-&c. of the Zetland Islands_, vol. i. p. 238. Many interesting
-particulars respecting the fisheries and agriculture of Zetland, as well
-as its antiquities, may be found in the work we have quoted.
-
-[9] Note II.--Promise of Odin.
-
-[10] To _maroon_ a seaman, signified to abandon him on a desolate coast
-or island--a piece of cruelty often practised by Pirates and Buccaniers.
-
-[11] An elder brother, now no more, who was educated in the navy, and
-had been a midshipman in Rodney's squadron in the West Indies, used to
-astonish the author's boyhood with tales of those haunted islets. On one
-of them, called, I believe, Coffin-key, the seamen positively refused to
-pass the night, and came off every evening while they were engaged in
-completing the watering of the vessel, returning the following sunrise.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-  There was shaking of hands, and sorrow of heart,
-  For the hour was approaching when merry folks must part;
-  So we call'd for our horses, and ask'd for our way,
-  While the jolly old landlord said, "Nothing's to pay."
-
-                                         _Lilliput, a Poem._
-
-
-We do not dwell upon the festivities of the day, which had nothing in
-them to interest the reader particularly. The table groaned under the
-usual plenty, which was disposed of by the guests with the usual
-appetite--the bowl of punch was filled and emptied with the same
-celerity as usual--the men quaffed, and the women laughed--Claud Halcro
-rhymed, punned, and praised John Dryden--the Udaller bumpered and sung
-choruses--and the evening concluded, as usual, in the Rigging-loft, as
-it was Magnus Troil's pleasure to term the dancing apartment.
-
-It was then and there that Cleveland, approaching Magnus, where he sat
-betwixt his two daughters, intimated his intention of going to Kirkwall
-in a small brig, which Bryce Snailsfoot, who had disposed of his goods
-with unprecedented celerity, had freighted thither, to procure a supply.
-
-Magnus heard the sudden proposal of his guest with surprise, not
-unmingled with displeasure, and demanded sharply of Cleveland, how long
-it was since he had learned to prefer Bryce Snailsfoot's company to his
-own? Cleveland answered, with his usual bluntness of manner, that time
-and tide tarried for no one, and that he had his own particular reasons
-for making his trip to Kirkwall sooner than the Udaller proposed to set
-sail--that he hoped to meet with him and his daughters at the great fair
-which was now closely approaching, and might perhaps find it possible to
-return to Zetland along with them.
-
-While he spoke this, Brenda kept her eye as much upon her sister as it
-was possible to do, without exciting general observation. She remarked,
-that Minna's pale cheek became yet paler while Cleveland spoke, and that
-she seemed, by compressing her lips, and slightly knitting her brows, to
-be in the act of repressing the effects of strong interior emotion. But
-she spoke not; and when Cleveland, having bidden adieu to the Udaller,
-approached to salute her, as was then the custom, she received his
-farewell without trusting herself to attempt a reply.
-
-Brenda had her own trial approaching; for Mordaunt Mertoun, once so much
-loved by her father, was now in the act of making his cold parting from
-him, without receiving a single look of friendly regard. There was,
-indeed, sarcasm in the tone with which Magnus wished the youth a good
-journey, and recommended to him, if he met a bonny lass by the way, not
-to dream that she was in love, because she chanced to jest with him.
-Mertoun coloured at what he felt as an insult, though it was but half
-intelligible to him; but he remembered Brenda, and suppressed every
-feeling of resentment. He proceeded to take his leave of the sisters.
-Minna, whose heart was considerably softened towards him, received his
-farewell with some degree of interest; but Brenda's grief was so visible
-in the kindness of her manner, and the moisture which gathered in her
-eye, that it was noticed even by the Udaller, who exclaimed, half
-angrily, "Why, ay, lass, that may be right enough, for he was an old
-acquaintance; but mind! I have no will that he remain one."
-
-Mertoun, who was slowly leaving the apartment, half overheard this
-disparaging observation, and half turned round to resent it. But his
-purpose failed him when he saw that Brenda had been obliged to have
-recourse to her handkerchief to hide her emotion, and the sense that it
-was excited by his departure, obliterated every thought of her father's
-unkindness. He retired--the other guests followed his example; and many
-of them, like Cleveland and himself, took their leave over-night, with
-the intention of commencing their homeward journey on the succeeding
-morning.
-
-That night, the mutual sorrow of Minna and Brenda, if it could not
-wholly remove the reserve which had estranged the sisters from each
-other, at least melted all its frozen and unkindly symptoms. They wept
-in each other's arms; and though neither spoke, yet each became dearer
-to the other; because they felt that the grief which called forth these
-drops, had a source common to them both.
-
-It is probable, that though Brenda's tears were most abundant, the grief
-of Minna was most deeply seated; for, long after the younger had sobbed
-herself asleep, like a child, upon her sister's bosom, Minna lay awake,
-watching the dubious twilight, while tear after tear slowly gathered in
-her eye, and found a current down her cheek, as soon as it became too
-heavy to be supported by her long black silken eyelashes. As she lay,
-bewildered among the sorrowful thoughts which supplied these tears, she
-was surprised to distinguish, beneath the window, the sounds of music.
-At first she supposed it was some freak of Claud Halcro, whose fantastic
-humour sometimes indulged itself in such serenades. But it was not the
-_gue_ of the old minstrel, but the guitar, that she heard; an instrument
-which none in the island knew how to touch except Cleveland, who had
-learned, in his intercourse with the South-American Spaniards, to play
-on it with superior execution. Perhaps it was in those climates also
-that he had learned the song, which, though he now sung it under the
-window of a maiden of Thule, had certainly never been composed for the
-native of a climate so northerly and so severe, since it spoke of
-productions of the earth and skies which are there unknown.
-
-1.
-
-        "Love wakes and weeps
-        While Beauty sleeps:
-  O for Music's softest numbers,
-        To prompt a theme,
-        For Beauty's dream,
-  Soft as the pillow of her slumbers!
-
-2.
-
-        "Through groves of palm
-        Sigh gales of balm,
-  Fire-flies on the air are wheeling;
-        While through the gloom
-        Comes soft perfume,
-  The distant beds of flowers revealing.
-
-
-3.
-
-        "O wake and live,
-        No dream can give
-  A shadow'd bliss, the real excelling;
-        No longer sleep,
-        From lattice peep,
-  And list the tale that Love is telling!"
-
-The voice of Cleveland was deep, rich, and manly, and accorded well with
-the Spanish air, to which the words, probably a translation from the
-same language, had been adapted. His invocation would not probably have
-been fruitless, could Minna have arisen without awaking her sister. But
-that was impossible; for Brenda, who, as we have already mentioned, had
-wept bitterly before she had sunk into repose, now lay with her face on
-her sister's neck, and one arm stretched around her, in the attitude of
-a child which has cried itself asleep in the arms of its nurse. It was
-impossible for Minna to extricate herself from her grasp without awaking
-her; and she could not, therefore, execute her hasty purpose, of donning
-her gown, and approaching the window to speak with Cleveland, who, she
-had no doubt, had resorted to this contrivance to procure an interview.
-The restraint was sufficiently provoking, for it was more than probable
-that her lover came to take his last farewell; but that Brenda, inimical
-as she seemed to be of late towards Cleveland, should awake and witness
-it, was a thought not to be endured.
-
-There was a short pause, in which Minna endeavoured more than once, with
-as much gentleness as possible, to unclasp Brenda's arm from her neck;
-but whenever she attempted it, the slumberer muttered some little
-pettish sound, like a child disturbed in its sleep, which sufficiently
-showed that perseverance in the attempt would awaken her fully.
-
-To her great vexation, therefore, Minna was compelled to remain still
-and silent; when her lover, as if determined upon gaining her ear by
-music of another strain, sung the following fragment of a sea-ditty:--
-
-  "Farewell! Farewell! the voice you hear,
-    Has left its last soft tone with you,--
-  Its next must join the seaward cheer,
-    And shout among the shouting crew.
-
-  "The accents which I scarce could form
-    Beneath your frown's controlling check,
-  Must give the word, above the storm,
-    To cut the mast, and clear the wreck.
-
-  "The timid eye I dared not raise,--
-    The hand that shook when press'd to thine,
-  Must point the guns upon the chase,--
-    Must bid the deadly cutlass shine.
-
-  "To all I love, or hope, or fear,--
-    Honour, or own, a long adieu!
-  To all that life has soft and dear,
-    Farewell! save memory of you!"[12](_c_)
-
-He was again silent; and again she, to whom the serenade was addressed,
-strove in vain to arise without rousing her sister. It was impossible;
-and she had nothing before her but the unhappy thought that Cleveland
-was taking leave in his desolation, without a single glance, or a single
-word. He, too, whose temper was so fiery, yet who subjected his violent
-mood with such sedulous attention to her will--could she but have stolen
-a moment to say adieu--to caution him against new quarrels with
-Mertoun--to implore him to detach himself from such comrades as he had
-described--could she but have done this, who could say what effect such
-parting admonitions might have had upon his character--nay, upon the
-future events of his life?
-
-Tantalized by such thoughts, Minna was about to make another and
-decisive effort, when she heard voices beneath the window, and thought
-she could distinguish that they were those of Cleveland and Mertoun,
-speaking in a sharp tone, which, at the same time, seemed cautiously
-suppressed, as if the speakers feared being overheard. Alarm now mingled
-with her former desire to rise from bed, and she accomplished at once
-the purpose which she had so often attempted in vain. Brenda's arm was
-unloosed from her sister's neck, without the sleeper receiving more
-alarm than provoked two or three unintelligible murmurs; while, with
-equal speed and silence, Minna put on some part of her dress, with the
-intention to steal to the window. But, ere she could accomplish this,
-the sound of the voices without was exchanged for that of blows and
-struggling, which terminated suddenly by a deep groan.
-
-Terrified at this last signal of mischief, Minna sprung to the window,
-and endeavoured to open it, for the persons were so close under the
-walls of the house that she could not see them, save by putting her head
-out of the casement. The iron hasp was stiff and rusted, and, as
-generally happens, the haste with which she laboured to undo it only
-rendered the task more difficult. When it was accomplished, and Minna
-had eagerly thrust her body half out at the casement, those who had
-created the sounds which alarmed her were become invisible, excepting
-that she saw a shadow cross the moonlight, the substance of which must
-have been in the act of turning a corner, which concealed it from her
-sight. The shadow moved slowly, and seemed that of a man who supported
-another upon his shoulders; an indication which put the climax to
-Minna's agony of mind. The window was not above eight feet from the
-ground, and she hesitated not to throw herself from it hastily, and to
-pursue the object which had excited her terror.
-
-But when she came to the corner of the buildings from which the shadow
-seemed to have been projected, she discovered nothing which could point
-out the way that the figure had gone; and, after a moment's
-consideration, became sensible that all attempts at pursuit would be
-alike wild and fruitless. Besides all the projections and recesses of
-the many-angled mansion, and its numerous offices--besides the various
-cellars, store-houses, stables, and so forth, which defied her solitary
-search, there was a range of low rocks, stretching down to the haven,
-and which were, in fact, a continuation of the ridge which formed its
-pier. These rocks had many indentures, hollows, and caverns, into any
-one of which the figure to which the shadow belonged might have retired
-with his fatal burden; for fatal, she feared, it was most likely to
-prove.
-
-A moment's reflection, as we have said, convinced Minna of the folly of
-further pursuit. Her next thought was to alarm the family; but what tale
-had she to tell, and of whom was that tale to be told?--On the other
-hand, the wounded man--if indeed he were wounded--alas, if indeed he
-were not mortally wounded!--might not be past the reach of assistance;
-and, with this idea, she was about to raise her voice, when she was
-interrupted by that of Claud Halcro, who was returning apparently from
-the haven, and singing, in his manner, a scrap of an old Norse ditty,
-which might run thus in English:--
-
-  "And you shall deal the funeral dole;
-    Ay, deal it, mother mine,
-  To weary body, and to heavy soul,
-    The white bread and the wine.
-
-  "And you shall deal my horses of pride;
-    Ay, deal them, mother mine;
-  And you shall deal my lands so wide,
-    And deal my castles nine.
-
-  "But deal not vengeance for the deed,
-    And deal not for the crime;
-  The body to its place, and the soul to Heaven's grace,
-    And the rest in God's own time."
-
-The singular adaptation of these rhymes to the situation in which she
-found herself, seemed to Minna like a warning from Heaven. We are
-speaking of a land of omens and superstitions, and perhaps will scarce
-be understood by those whose limited imagination cannot conceive how
-strongly these operate upon the human mind during a certain progress of
-society. A line of Virgil, turned up casually, was received in the
-seventeenth century, and in the court of England,[13] as an intimation
-of future events; and no wonder that a maiden of the distant and wild
-isles of Zetland should have considered as an injunction from Heaven,
-verses which happened to convey a sense analogous to her present
-situation.
-
-"I will be silent," she muttered,--"I will seal my lips--
-
-  'The body to its place, and the soul to Heaven's grace,
-  And the rest in God's own time.'"
-
-"Who speaks there?" said Claud Halcro, in some alarm; for he had not, in
-his travels in foreign parts, been able by any means to rid himself of
-his native superstitions. In the condition to which fear and horror had
-reduced her, Minna was at first unable to reply; and Halcro, fixing his
-eyes upon the female white figure, which he saw indistinctly, (for she
-stood in the shadow of the house, and the morning was thick and misty,)
-began to conjure her in an ancient rhyme which occurred to him as suited
-for the occasion, and which had in its gibberish a wild and unearthly
-sound, which may be lost in the ensuing translation:--
-
-  "Saint Magnus control thee, that martyr of treason;
-  Saint Ronan rebuke thee, with rhyme and with reason;
-  By the mass of Saint Martin, the might of Saint Mary,
-  Be thou gone, or thy weird shall be worse if thou tarry!
-    If of good, go hence and hallow thee,--
-    If of ill, let the earth swallow thee,--
-    If thou'rt of air, let the grey mist fold thee,--
-    If of earth, let the swart mine hold thee,--
-    If a Pixie, seek thy ring,--
-    If a Nixie, seek thy spring;--
-    If on middle earth thou'st been
-    Slave of sorrow, shame, and sin,
-    Hast eat the bread of toil and strife,
-    And dree'd the lot which men call life,
-  Begone to thy stone! for thy coffin is scant of thee,
-  The worm, thy playfellow, wails for the want of thee;--
-  Hence, houseless ghost! let the earth hide thee,
-  Till Michael shall blow the blast, see that there thou bide thee!--
-  Phantom, fly hence! take the Cross for a token,
-  Hence pass till Hallowmass!--my spell is spoken."
-
-"It is I, Halcro," muttered Minna, in a tone so thin and low, that it
-might have passed for the faint reply of the conjured phantom.
-
-"You!--you!" said Halcro, his tone of alarm changing to one of extreme
-surprise; "by this moonlight, which is waning, and so it is!--Who could
-have thought to find you, my most lovely Night, wandering abroad in your
-own element!--But you saw them, I reckon, as well as I?--bold enough in
-you to follow them, though."
-
-"Saw whom?--follow whom?" said Minna, hoping to gain some information on
-the subject of her fears and anxiety.
-
-"The corpse-lights which danced at the haven," replied Halcro; "they
-bode no good, I promise you--you wot well what the old rhyme says--
-
-  'Where corpse-light
-  Dances bright,
-  Be it day or night,
-  Be it by light or dark,
-  There shall corpse lie stiff and stark.'
-
-I went half as far as the haven to look after them, but they had
-vanished. I think I saw a boat put off, however,--some one bound for the
-Haaf, I suppose.--I would we had good news of this fishing--there was
-Norna left us in anger,--and then these corpse-lights!--Well, God help
-the while! I am an old man, and can but wish that all were well
-over.--But how now, my pretty Minna? tears in your eyes!--And now that I
-see you in the fair moonlight, barefooted, too, by Saint Magnus!--Were
-there no stockings of Zetland wool soft enough for these pretty feet and
-ankles, that glance so white in the moonbeam?--What, silent!--angry,
-perhaps," he added, in a more serious tone, "at my nonsense? For shame,
-silly maiden!--Remember I am old enough to be your father, and have
-always loved you as my child."
-
-"I am not angry," said Minna, constraining herself to speak--"but heard
-you nothing?--saw you nothing?--They must have passed you."
-
-"They?" said Claud Halcro; "what mean you by they?--is it the
-corpse-lights?--No, they did not pass by me, but I think they have
-passed by you, and blighted you with their influence, for you are as
-pale as a spectre.--Come, come, Minna," he added, opening a side-door of
-the dwelling, "these moonlight walks are fitter for old poets than for
-young maidens--And so lightly clad as you are! Maiden, you should take
-care how you give yourself to the breezes of a Zetland night, for they
-bring more sleet than odours upon their wings.--But, maiden, go in; for,
-as glorious John says--or, as he does not say--for I cannot remember how
-his verse chimes--but, as I say myself, in a pretty poem, written when
-my muse was in her teens,--
-
-  Menseful maiden ne'er should rise,
-  Till the first beam tinge the skies;
-  Silk-fringed eyelids still should close,
-  Till the sun has kiss'd the rose;
-  Maiden's foot we should not view,
-  Mark'd with tiny print on dew,
-  Till the opening flowerets spread
-  Carpet meet for beauty's tread--
-
-Stay, what comes next?--let me see."
-
-When the spirit of recitation seized on Claud Halcro, he forgot time and
-place, and might have kept his companion in the cold air for half an
-hour, giving poetical reasons why she ought to have been in bed. But she
-interrupted him by the question, earnestly pronounced, yet in a voice
-which was scarcely articulate, holding Halcro, at the same time, with a
-trembling and convulsive grasp, as if to support herself from
-falling,--"Saw you no one in the boat which put to sea but now?"
-
-"Nonsense," replied Halcro; "how could I see any one, when light and
-distance only enabled me to know that it was a boat, and not a grampus?"
-
-"But there must have been some one in the boat?" repeated Minna, scarce
-conscious of what she said.
-
-"Certainly," answered the poet; "boats seldom work to windward of their
-own accord.--But come, this is all folly; and so, as the Queen says, in
-an old play, which was revived for the stage by rare Will D'Avenant, 'To
-bed--to bed--to bed!'"
-
-They separated, and Minna's limbs conveyed her with difficulty, through
-several devious passages, to her own chamber, where she stretched
-herself cautiously beside her still sleeping sister, with a mind
-harassed with the most agonizing apprehensions. That she had heard
-Cleveland, she was positive--the tenor of the songs left her no doubt on
-that subject. If not equally certain that she had heard young Mertoun's
-voice in hot quarrel with her lover, the impression to that effect was
-strong on her mind. The groan, with which the struggle seemed to
-terminate--the fearful indication from which it seemed that the
-conqueror had borne off the lifeless body of his victim--all tended to
-prove that some fatal event had concluded the contest. And which of the
-unhappy men had fallen?--which had met a bloody death?--which had
-achieved a fatal and a bloody victory?--These were questions to which
-the still small voice of interior conviction answered, that her lover
-Cleveland, from character, temper, and habits, was most likely to have
-been the survivor of the fray. She received from the reflection an
-involuntary consolation which she almost detested herself for admitting,
-when she recollected that it was at once darkened with her lover's
-guilt, and embittered with the destruction of Brenda's happiness for
-ever.
-
-"Innocent, unhappy sister!" such were her reflections; "thou that art
-ten times better than I, because so unpretending--so unassuming in thine
-excellence! How is it possible that I should cease to feel a pang, which
-is only transferred from my bosom to thine?"
-
-As these cruel thoughts crossed her mind, she could not refrain from
-straining her sister so close to her bosom, that, after a heavy sigh,
-Brenda awoke.
-
-"Sister," she said, "is it you?--I dreamed I lay on one of those
-monuments which Claud Halcro described to us, where the effigy of the
-inhabitant beneath lies carved in stone upon the sepulchre. I dreamed
-such a marble form lay by my side, and that it suddenly acquired enough
-of life and animation to fold me to its cold, moist bosom--and it is
-yours, Minna, that is indeed so chilly.--You are ill, my dearest Minna!
-for God's sake, let me rise and call Euphane Fea.--What ails you? has
-Norna been here again?"
-
-"Call no one hither," said Minna, detaining her; "nothing ails me for
-which any one has a remedy--nothing but apprehensions of evil worse than
-even Norna could prophesy. But God is above all, my dear Brenda; and let
-us pray to him to turn, as he only can, our evil into good."
-
-They did jointly repeat their usual prayer for strength and protection
-from on high, and again composed themselves to sleep, suffering no word
-save "God bless you," to pass betwixt them, when their devotions were
-finished; thus scrupulously dedicating to Heaven their last waking
-words, if human frailty prevented them from commanding their last waking
-thoughts. Brenda slept first, and Minna, strongly resisting the dark and
-evil presentiments which again began to crowd themselves upon her
-imagination, was at last so fortunate as to slumber also.
-
-The storm which Halcro had expected began about daybreak,--a squall,
-heavy with wind and rain, such as is often felt, even during the finest
-part of the season, in these latitudes. At the whistle of the wind, and
-the clatter of the rain on the shingle-roofing of the fishers' huts,
-many a poor woman was awakened, and called on her children to hold up
-their little hands, and join in prayer for the safety of the dear
-husband and father, who was even then at the mercy of the disturbed
-elements. Around the house of Burgh-Westra, chimneys howled, and windows
-clashed. The props and rafters of the higher parts of the building, most
-of them formed out of wreck-wood, groaned and quivered, as fearing to be
-again dispersed by the tempest. But the daughters of Magnus Troil
-continued to sleep as softly and as sweetly as if the hand of Chantrey
-had formed them out of statuary-marble. The squall had passed away, and
-the sunbeams, dispersing the clouds which drifted to leeward, shone full
-through the lattice, when Minna first started from the profound sleep
-into which fatigue and mental exhaustion had lulled her, and, raising
-herself on her arm, began to recall events, which, after this interval
-of profound repose, seemed almost to resemble the baseless visions of
-the night. She almost doubted if what she recalled of horror, previous
-to her starting from her bed, was not indeed the fiction of a dream,
-suggested, perhaps, by some external sounds.
-
-"I will see Claud Halcro instantly," she said; "he may know something of
-these strange noises, as he was stirring at the time."
-
-With that she sprung from bed, but hardly stood upright on the floor,
-ere her sister exclaimed, "Gracious Heaven! Minna, what ails your
-foot--your ankle?"
-
-She looked down, and saw with surprise, which amounted to agony, that
-both her feet, but particularly one of them, was stained with dark
-crimson, resembling the colour of dried blood.
-
-Without attempting to answer Brenda, she rushed to the window, and cast
-a desperate look on the grass beneath, for there she knew she must have
-contracted the fatal stain. But the rain, which had fallen there in
-treble quantity, as well from the heavens, as from the eaves of the
-house, had washed away that guilty witness, if indeed such had ever
-existed. All was fresh and fair, and the blades of grass, overcharged
-and bent with rain-drops, glittered like diamonds in the bright morning
-sun.
-
-While Minna stared upon the spangled verdure, with her full dark eyes
-fixed and enlarged to circles by the intensity of her terror, Brenda was
-hanging about her, and with many an eager enquiry, pressed to know
-whether or how she had hurt herself?
-
-"A piece of glass cut through my shoe," said Minna, bethinking herself
-that some excuse was necessary to her sister; "I scarce felt it at the
-time."
-
-"And yet see how it has bled," said her sister. "Sweet Minna," she
-added, approaching her with a wetted towel, "let me wipe the blood
-off--the hurt may be worse than you think of."
-
-But as she approached, Minna, who saw no other way of preventing
-discovery that the blood with which she was stained had never flowed in
-her own veins, harshly and hastily repelled the proffered kindness. Poor
-Brenda, unconscious of any offence which she had given to her sister,
-drew back two or three paces on finding her service thus unkindly
-refused, and stood gazing at Minna with looks in which there was more of
-surprise and mortified affection than of resentment, but which had yet
-something also of natural displeasure.
-
-"Sister," said she, "I thought we had agreed but last night, that,
-happen to us what might, we would at least love each other."
-
-"Much may happen betwixt night and morning!" answered Minna, in words
-rather wrenched from her by her situation, than flowing forth the
-voluntary interpreters of her thoughts.
-
-"Much may indeed have happened in a night so stormy," answered Brenda;
-"for see where the very wall around Euphane's plant-a-cruive has been
-blown down; but neither wind nor rain, nor aught else, can cool our
-affection, Minna."
-
-"But that may chance," replied Minna, "which may convert it into"----
-
-The rest of the sentence she muttered in a tone so indistinct, that it
-could not be apprehended; while, at the same time, she washed the
-blood-stains from her feet and left ankle. Brenda, who still remained
-looking on at some distance, endeavoured in vain to assume some tone
-which might re-establish kindness and confidence betwixt them.
-
-"You were right," she said, "Minna, to suffer no one to help you to
-dress so simple a scratch--standing where I do, it is scarce visible."
-
-"The most cruel wounds," replied Minna, "are those which make no outward
-show--Are you sure you see it at all?"
-
-"O, yes!" replied Brenda, framing her answer as she thought would best
-please her sister; "I see a very slight scratch; nay, now you draw on
-the stocking, I can see nothing."
-
-"You do indeed see nothing," answered Minna, somewhat wildly; "but the
-time will soon come that all--ay, all--will be seen and known."
-
-So saying, she hastily completed her dress, and led the way to
-breakfast, where she assumed her place amongst the guests; but with a
-countenance so pale and haggard, and manners and speech so altered and
-so bewildered, that it excited the attention of the whole company, and
-the utmost anxiety on the part of her father Magnus Troil. Many and
-various were the conjectures of the guests, concerning a distemperature
-which seemed rather mental than corporeal. Some hinted that the maiden
-had been struck with an evil eye, and something they muttered about
-Norna of the Fitful-head; some talked of the departure of Captain
-Cleveland, and murmured, "it was a shame for a young lady to take on so
-after a landlouper, of whom no one knew any thing;" and this
-contemptuous epithet was in particular bestowed on the Captain by
-Mistress Baby Yellowley, while she was in the act of wrapping round her
-old skinny neck the very handsome owerlay (as she called it) wherewith
-the said Captain had presented her. The old Lady Glowrowrum had a system
-of her own, which she hinted to Mistress Yellowley, after thanking God
-that her own connexion with the Burgh-Westra family was by the lass's
-mother, who was a canny Scotswoman, like herself.
-
-"For, as to these Troils, you see, Dame Yellowley, for as high as they
-hold their heads, they say that ken," (winking sagaciously,) "that there
-is a bee in their bonnet;--that Norna, as they call her, for it's not
-her right name neither, is at whiles far beside her right mind,--and
-they that ken the cause, say the Fowd was some gate or other linked in
-with it, for he will never hear an ill word of her. But I was in
-Scotland then, or I might have kend the real cause, as weel as other
-folk. At ony rate there is a kind of wildness in the blood. Ye ken very
-weel daft folk dinna bide to be contradicted; and I'll say that for the
-Fowd--he likes to be contradicted as ill as ony man in Zetland. But it
-shall never be said that I said ony ill of the house that I am sae
-nearly connected wi'. Only ye will mind, dame, it is through the
-Sinclairs that we are akin, not through the Troils,--and the Sinclairs
-are kend far and wide for a wise generation, dame.--But I see there is
-the stirrup-cup coming round."
-
-"I wonder," said Mistress Baby to her brother, as soon as the Lady
-Glowrowrum turned from her, "what gars that muckle wife dame, dame,
-dame, that gate at me? She might ken the blude of the Clinkscales is as
-gude as ony Glowrowrum's amang them."
-
-The guests, meanwhile, were fast taking their departure, scarcely
-noticed by Magnus, who was so much engrossed with Minna's indisposition,
-that, contrary to his hospitable wont, he suffered them to go away
-unsaluted. And thus concluded, amidst anxiety and illness, the festival
-of Saint John, as celebrated on that season at the house of
-Burgh-Westra; adding another caution to that of the Emperor of
-Ethiopia,--with how little security man can reckon upon the days which
-he destines to happiness.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[12] I cannot suppress the pride of saying, that these lines have been
-beautifully set to original music, by Mrs. Arkwright, of Derbyshire.
-
-[13] The celebrated Sortes Virgilianæ were resorted to by Charles I. and
-his courtiers, as a mode of prying into futurity.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-    But this sad evil which doth her infest,
-    Doth course of natural cause far exceed,
-    And housed is within her hollow breast,
-    That either seems some cursed witch's deed,
-  Or evill spright that in her doth such torment breed.
-
-                        _Fairy Queen, Book III., Canto III._
-
-
-The term had now elapsed, by several days, when Mordaunt Mertoun, as he
-had promised at his departure, should have returned to his father's
-abode at Jarlshof, but there were no tidings of his arrival. Such delay
-might, at another time, have excited little curiosity, and no anxiety;
-for old Swertha, who took upon her the office of thinking and
-conjecturing for the little household, would have concluded that he had
-remained behind the other guests upon some party of sport or pleasure.
-But she knew that Mordaunt had not been lately in favour with Magnus
-Troil; she knew that he proposed his stay at Burgh-Westra should be a
-short one, upon account of his father's health, to whom, notwithstanding
-the little encouragement which his filial piety received, he paid
-uniform attention. Swertha knew all this, and she became anxious. She
-watched the looks of her master, the elder Mertoun; but, wrapt in dark
-and stern uniformity of composure, his countenance, like the surface of
-a midnight lake, enabled no one to penetrate into what was beneath. His
-studies, his solitary meals, his lonely walks, succeeded each other in
-unvaried rotation, and seemed undisturbed by the least thought about
-Mordaunt's absence.
-
-At length such reports reached Swertha's ear, from various quarters,
-that she became totally unable to conceal her anxiety, and resolved, at
-the risk of provoking her master into fury, or perhaps that of losing
-her place in his household, to force upon his notice the doubts which
-afflicted her own mind. Mordaunt's good-humour and goodly person must
-indeed have made no small impression on the withered and selfish heart
-of the poor old woman, to induce her to take a course so desperate, and
-from which her friend the Ranzelman endeavoured in vain to deter her.
-Still, however, conscious that a miscarriage in the matter, would, like
-the loss of Trinculo's bottle in the horse-pool, be attended not only
-with dishonour, but with infinite loss, she determined to proceed on her
-high emprize with as much caution as was consistent with the attempt.
-
-We have already mentioned, that it seemed a part of the very nature of
-this reserved and unsocial being, at least since his retreat into the
-utter solitude of Jarlshof, to endure no one to start a subject of
-conversation, or to put any question to him, that did not arise out of
-urgent and pressing emergency. Swertha was sensible, therefore, that, in
-order to open the discourse favourably which she proposed to hold with
-her master, she must contrive that it should originate with himself.
-
-To accomplish this purpose, while busied in preparing the table for Mr.
-Mertoun's simple and solitary dinner-meal, she formally adorned the
-table with two covers instead of one, and made all her other
-preparations as if he was to have a guest or companion at dinner.
-
-The artifice succeeded; for Mertoun, on coming from his study, no sooner
-saw the table thus arranged, than he asked Swertha, who, waiting the
-effect of her stratagem as a fisher watches his ground-baits, was
-fiddling up and down the room, "Whether Mordaunt was returned from
-Burgh-Westra?"
-
-
-This question was the cue for Swertha, and she answered in a voice of
-sorrowful anxiety, half real, half affected, "Na, na!--nae sic divot had
-dunted at their door. It wad be blithe news indeed, to ken that young
-Maister Mordaunt, puir dear bairn, were safe at hame."
-
-"And if he be not at home, why should you lay a cover for him, you
-doting fool?" replied Mertoun, in a tone well calculated to stop the old
-woman's proceedings. But she replied, boldly, "that, indeed, somebody
-should take thought about Maister Mordaunt; a' that she could do was to
-have seat and plate ready for him when he came. But she thought the dear
-bairn had been ower lang awa; and, if she maun speak out, she had her
-ain fears when and whether he might ever come hame."
-
-"_Your_ fears!" said Mertoun, his eyes flashing as they usually did when
-his hour of ungovernable passion approached; "do you speak of your idle
-fears to me, who know that all of your sex, that is not fickleness, and
-folly, and self-conceit, and self-will, is a bundle of idiotical fears,
-vapours, and tremors? What are your fears to me, you foolish old hag?"
-
-It is an admirable quality in womankind, that, when a breach of the laws
-of natural affection comes under their observation, the whole sex is in
-arms. Let a rumour arise in the street of a parent that has misused a
-child, or a child that has insulted a parent,--I say nothing of the
-case of husband and wife, where the interest may be accounted for in
-sympathy,--and all the women within hearing will take animated and
-decided part with the sufferer. Swertha, notwithstanding her greed and
-avarice, had her share of the generous feeling which does so much honour
-to her sex, and was, on this occasion, so much carried on by its
-impulse, that she confronted her master, and upbraided him with his
-hard-hearted indifference, with a boldness at which she herself was
-astonished.
-
-"To be sure it wasna her that suld be fearing for her young maister,
-Maister Mordaunt, even although he was, as she might weel say, the very
-sea-calf of her heart; but ony other father, but his honour himsell, wad
-have had speerings made after the poor lad, and him gane this eight-days
-from Burgh-Westra, and naebody kend when or where he had gane. There
-wasna a bairn in the howff but was maining for him; for he made all
-their bits of boats with his knife; there wadna be a dry eye in the
-parish, if aught worse than weal should befall him,--na, no ane, unless
-it might be his honour's ain."
-
-Mertoun had been much struck, and even silenced, by the insolent
-volubility of his insurgent housekeeper; but, at the last sarcasm, he
-imposed on her silence in her turn with an audible voice, accompanied
-with one of the most terrific glances which his dark eye and stern
-features could express. But Swertha, who, as she afterwards acquainted
-the Ranzelman, was wonderfully supported during the whole scene, would
-not be controlled by the loud voice and ferocious look of her master,
-but proceeded in the same tone as before.
-
-"His honour," she said, "had made an unco wark because a wheen bits of
-kists and duds, that naebody had use for, had been gathered on the beach
-by the poor bodies of the township; and here was the bravest lad in the
-country lost, and cast away, as it were, before his een, and nae are
-asking what was come o' him."
-
-"What should come of him but good, you old fool," answered Mr. Mertoun,
-"as far, at least, as there can be good in any of the follies he spends
-his time in?"
-
-This was spoken rather in a scornful than an angry tone, and Swertha,
-who had got into the spirit of the dialogue, was resolved not to let it
-drop, now that the fire of her opponent seemed to slacken.
-
-"O ay, to be sure I am an auld fule,--but if Maister Mordaunt should
-have settled down in the Roost, as mair than ae boat had been lost in
-that wearifu' squall the other morning--by good luck it was short as it
-was sharp, or naething could have lived in it--or if he were drowned in
-a loch coming hame on foot, or if he were killed by miss of footing on a
-craig--the haill island kend how venturesome he was--who," said Swertha,
-"will be the auld fule then?" And she added a pathetic ejaculation, that
-"God would protect the poor motherless bairn! for if he had had a
-mother, there would have been search made after him before now."
-
-This last sarcasm affected Mertoun powerfully,--his jaw quivered, his
-face grew pale, and he muttered to Swertha to go into his study, (where
-she was scarcely ever permitted to enter,) and fetch him a bottle which
-stood there.
-
-"O ho!" quoth Swertha to herself, as she hastened on the commission, "my
-master knows where to find a cup of comfort to qualify his water with
-upon fitting occasions."
-
-There was indeed a case of such bottles as were usually employed to hold
-strong waters, but the dust and cobwebs in which they were enveloped
-showed that they had not been touched for many years. With some
-difficulty Swertha extracted the cork of one of them, by the help of a
-fork--for corkscrew was there none at Jarlshof--and having ascertained
-by smell, and, in case of any mistake, by a moderate mouthful, that it
-contained wholesome Barbadoes-waters, she carried it into the room,
-where her master still continued to struggle with his faintness. She
-then began to pour a small quantity into the nearest cup that she could
-find, wisely judging, that, upon a person so much unaccustomed to the
-use of spirituous liquors, a little might produce a strong effect. But
-the patient signed to her impatiently to fill the cup, which might hold
-more than the third of an English pint measure, up to the very brim, and
-swallowed it down without hesitation.
-
-"Now the saunts above have a care on us!" said Swertha; "he will be
-drunk as weel as mad, and wha is to guide him then, I wonder?"
-
-But Mertoun's breath and colour returned, without the slightest symptom
-of intoxication; on the contrary, Swertha afterwards reported, that,
-"although she had always had a firm opinion in favour of a dram, yet she
-never saw one work such miracles--he spoke mair like a man of the middle
-world, than she had ever heard him since she had entered his service."
-
-"Swertha," he said, "you are right in this matter, and I was wrong.--Go
-down to the Ranzelman directly, tell him to come and speak with me,
-without an instant's delay, and bring me special word what boats and
-people he can command; I will employ them all in the search, and they
-shall be plentifully rewarded."
-
-Stimulated by the spur which maketh the old woman proverbially to trot,
-Swertha posted down to the hamlet, with all the speed of threescore,
-rejoicing that her sympathetic feelings were likely to achieve their own
-reward, having given rise to a quest which promised to be so lucrative,
-and in the profits whereof she was determined to have her share,
-shouting out as she went, and long before she got within hearing, the
-names of Niel Ronaldson, Sweyn Erickson, and the other friends and
-confederates who were interested in her mission. To say the truth,
-notwithstanding that the good dame really felt a deep interest in
-Mordaunt Mertoun, and was mentally troubled on account of his absence,
-perhaps few things would have disappointed her more than if he had at
-this moment started up in her path safe and sound, and rendered
-unnecessary, by his appearance, the expense and the bustle of searching
-after him.
-
-Soon did Swertha accomplish her business in the village, and adjust with
-the senators of the township her own little share of per centage upon
-the profits likely to accrue on her mission; and speedily did she return
-to Jarlshof, with Niel Ronaldson by her side, schooling him to the best
-of her skill in all the peculiarities of her master.
-
-"Aboon a' things," she said, "never make him wait for an answer; and
-speak loud and distinct, as if you were hailing a boat,--for he downa
-bide to say the same thing twice over; and if he asks about distance,
-ye may make leagues for miles, for he kens naething about the face of
-the earth that he lives upon; and if he speak of siller, ye may ask
-dollars for shillings, for he minds them nae mair than sclate-stanes."
-
-Thus tutored, Niel Ronaldson was introduced into the presence of
-Mertoun, but was utterly confounded to find that he could not act upon
-the system of deception which had been projected. When he attempted, by
-some exaggeration of distance and peril, to enhance the hire of the
-boats, and of the men, (for the search was to be by sea and land,) he
-found himself at once cut short by Mertoun, who showed not only the most
-perfect knowledge of the country, but of distances, tides, currents, and
-all belonging to the navigation of those seas, although these were
-topics with which he had hitherto appeared to be totally unacquainted.
-The Ranzelman, therefore, trembled when they came to speak of the
-recompense to be afforded for their exertions in the search; for it was
-not more unlikely that Mertoun should be well informed of what was just
-and proper upon this head than upon others; and Niel remembered the
-storm of his fury, when, at an early period after he had settled at
-Jarlshof, he drove Swertha and Sweyn Erickson from his presence. As,
-however, he stood hesitating betwixt the opposite fears of asking too
-much or too little, Mertoun stopped his mouth, and ended his
-uncertainty, by promising him a recompense beyond what he dared have
-ventured to ask, with an additional gratuity, in case they returned with
-the pleasing intelligence that his son was safe.
-
-When this great point was settled, Niel Ronaldson, like a man of
-conscience, began to consider earnestly the various places where search
-should be made after the young man; and having undertaken faithfully
-that the enquiry should be prosecuted at all the houses of the gentry,
-both in this and the neighbouring islands, he added, that, "after all,
-if his honour would not be angry, there was ane not far off, that, if
-any body dared speer her a question, and if she liked to answer it,
-could tell more about Maister Mordaunt than any body else could.--Ye
-will ken wha I mean, Swertha? Her that was down at the haven this
-morning." Thus he concluded, addressing himself with a mysterious look
-to the housekeeper, which she answered with a nod and a wink.
-
-"How mean you?" said Mertoun; "speak out, short and open--whom do you
-speak of?"
-
-"It is Norna of the Fitful-head," said Swertha, "that the Ranzelman is
-thinking about; for she has gone up to Saint Ringan's Kirk this morning
-on business of her own."
-
-"And what can this person know of my son?" said Mertoun; "she is, I
-believe, a wandering madwoman, or impostor."
-
-"If she wanders," said Swertha, "it is for nae lack of means at hame,
-and that is weel known--plenty of a' thing has she of her ain, forby
-that the Fowd himsell would let her want naething."
-
-"But what is that to my son?" said Mertoun, impatiently.
-
-"I dinna ken--she took unco pleasure in Maister Mordaunt from the time
-she first saw him, and mony a braw thing she gave him at ae time or
-another, forby the gowd chain that hangs about his bonny craig--folk say
-it is of fairy gold--I kenna what gold it is, but Bryce Snailsfoot says,
-that the value will mount to an hundred pounds English, and that is nae
-deaf nuts."
-
-"Go, Ronaldson," said Mertoun, "or else send some one, to seek this
-woman out--if you think there be a chance of her knowing any thing of my
-son."
-
-"She kens a' thing that happens in thae islands," said Niel Ronaldson,
-"muckle sooner than other folk, and that is Heaven's truth. But as to
-going to the kirk, or the kirkyard, to speer after her, there is not a
-man in Zetland will do it, for meed or for money--and that's Heaven's
-truth as weel as the other."
-
-"Cowardly, superstitious fools!" said Mertoun.--"But give me my cloak,
-Swertha.--This woman has been at Burgh-Westra--she is related to Troil's
-family--she may know something of Mordaunt's absence, and its cause--I
-will seek her myself--She is at the Cross-kirk, you say?"
-
-"No, not at the Cross-kirk, but at the auld Kirk of Saint Ringan's--it's
-a dowie bit, and far frae being canny; and if your honour," added
-Swertha, "wad walk by my rule, I wad wait until she came back, and no
-trouble her when she may be mair busied wi' the dead, for ony thing that
-we ken, than she is wi' the living. The like of her carena to have other
-folk's een on them when they are, gude sain us! doing their ain
-particular turns."
-
-Mertoun made no answer, but throwing his cloak loosely around him, (for
-the day was misty, with passing showers,) and leaving the decayed
-mansion of Jarlshof, he walked at a pace much faster than was usual with
-him, taking the direction of the ruinous church, which stood, as he well
-knew, within three or four miles of his dwelling.
-
-The Ranzelman and Swertha stood gazing after him in silence, until he
-was fairly out of ear-shot, when, looking seriously on each other, and
-shaking their sagacious heads in the same boding degree of vibration,
-they uttered their remarks in the same breath.
-
-"Fools are aye fleet and fain," said Swertha.
-
-"Fey folk run fast," added the Ranzelman; "and the thing that we are
-born to, we cannot win by.--I have known them that tried to stop folk
-that were fey. You have heard of Helen Emberson of Camsey, how she
-stopped all the boles and windows about the house, that her gudeman
-might not see daylight, and rise to the Haaf-fishing, because she feared
-foul weather; and how the boat he should have sailed in was lost in the
-Roost; and how she came back, rejoicing in her gudeman's safety--but
-ne'er may care, for there she found him drowned in his own masking-fat,
-within the wa's of his ain biggin; and moreover"----
-
-But here Swertha reminded the Ranzelman that he must go down to the
-haven to get off the fishing-boats; "for both that my heart is sair for
-the bonny lad, and that I am fear'd he cast up of his ain accord before
-you are at sea; and, as I have often told ye, my master may lead, but he
-winna drive; and if ye do not his bidding, and get out to sea, the never
-a bodle of boat-hire will ye see."
-
-"Weel, weel, good dame," said the Ranzelman, "we will launch as fast as
-we can; and by good luck, neither Clawson's boat, nor Peter Grot's, is
-out to the Haaf this morning, for a rabbit ran across the path as they
-were going on board, and they came back like wise men, kenning they wad
-be called to other wark this day. And a marvel it is to think, Swertha,
-how few real judicious men are left in this land. There is our great
-Udaller is weel eneugh when he is fresh, but he makes ower mony voyages
-in his ship and his yawl to be lang sae; and now, they say, his
-daughter, Mistress Minna, is sair out of sorts.--Then there is Norna
-kens muckle mair than other folk, but wise woman ye cannot call her. Our
-tacksman here, Maister Mertoun, his wit is sprung in the bowsprit, I
-doubt--his son is a daft gowk; and I ken few of consequence
-hereabouts--excepting always myself, and maybe you, Swertha--but what
-may, in some sense or other, be called fules."
-
-"That may be, Niel Ronaldson," said the dame; "but if you do not hasten
-the faster to the shore, you will lose tide; and, as I said to my master
-some short time syne, wha will be the fule then?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-        I do love these ancient ruins--
-  We never tread upon them but we set
-  Our foot upon some reverend history;
-  And, questionless, here, in this open court,
-  (Which now lies naked to the injuries
-  Of stormy weather,) some men lie interr'd,
-  Loved the Church so well, and gave so largely to it,
-  They thought it should have canopied their bones
-  Till doomsday;--but all things have their end--
-  Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men,
-  Must have like death which we have.
-
-                                         _Duchess of Malfy._
-
-
-The ruinous church of Saint Ninian had, in its time, enjoyed great
-celebrity; for that mighty system of Roman superstition, which spread
-its roots over all Europe, had not failed to extend them even to this
-remote archipelago, and Zetland had, in the Catholic times, her saints,
-her shrines, and her relics, which, though little known elsewhere,
-attracted the homage, and commanded the observance, of the simple
-inhabitants of Thule. Their devotion to this church of Saint Ninian, or,
-as he was provincially termed, Saint Ringan, situated, as the edifice
-was, close to the sea-beach, and serving, in many points, as a landmark
-to their boats, was particularly obstinate, and was connected with so
-much superstitious ceremonial and credulity, that the reformed clergy
-thought it best, by an order of the Church Courts, to prohibit all
-spiritual service within its walls, as tending to foster the rooted
-faith of the simple and rude people around in saint-worship, and other
-erroneous doctrines of the Romish Church.
-
-After the Church of Saint Ninian had been thus denounced as a seat of
-idolatry, and desecrated of course, the public worship was transferred
-to another church; and the roof, with its lead and its rafters, having
-been stripped from the little rude old Gothic building, it was left in
-the wilderness to the mercy of the elements. The fury of the
-uncontrolled winds, which howled along an exposed space, resembling that
-which we have described at Jarlshof, very soon choked up nave and aisle,
-and, on the north-west side, which was chiefly exposed to the wind, hid
-the outside walls more than half way up with mounds of drifted sand,
-over which the gable-ends of the building, with the little belfry, which
-was built above its eastern angle, arose in ragged and shattered
-nakedness of ruin.
-
-Yet, deserted as it was, the Kirk of Saint Ringan still retained some
-semblance of the ancient homage formerly rendered there. The rude and
-ignorant fishermen of Dunrossness observed a practice, of which they
-themselves had wellnigh forgotten the origin, and from which the
-Protestant Clergy in vain endeavoured to deter them. When their boats
-were in extreme peril, it was common amongst them to propose to vow an
-_awmous_, as they termed it, that is, an alms, to Saint Ringan; and when
-the danger was over, they never failed to absolve themselves of their
-vow, by coming singly and secretly to the old church, and putting off
-their shoes and stockings at the entrance of the churchyard, walking
-thrice around the ruins, observing that they did so in the course of the
-sun. When the circuit was accomplished for the third time, the votary
-dropped his offering, usually a small silver coin, through the mullions
-of a lanceolated window, which opened into a side aisle, and then
-retired, avoiding carefully to look behind him till he was beyond the
-precincts which had once been hallowed ground; for it was believed that
-the skeleton of the saint received the offering in his bony hand, and
-showed his ghastly death's-head at the window into which it was thrown.
-
-Indeed, the scene was rendered more appalling to weak and ignorant
-minds, because the same stormy and eddying winds, which, on the one side
-of the church, threatened to bury the ruins with sand, and had, in fact,
-heaped it up in huge quantities, so as almost to hide the side-wall with
-its buttresses, seemed in other places bent on uncovering the graves of
-those who had been laid to their long rest on the south-eastern quarter;
-and, after an unusually hard gale, the coffins, and sometimes the very
-corpses, of those who had been interred without the usual cerements,
-were discovered, in a ghastly manner, to the eyes of the living.
-
-It was to this desolated place of worship that the elder Mertoun now
-proceeded, though without any of those religious or superstitious
-purposes with which the church of Saint Ringan was usually approached.
-He was totally without the superstitious fears of the country,--nay,
-from the sequestered and sullen manner in which he lived, withdrawing
-himself from human society even when assembled for worship, it was the
-general opinion that he erred on the more fatal side, and believed
-rather too little than too much of that which the Church receives and
-enjoins to Christians.
-
-As he entered the little bay, on the shore, and almost on the beach of
-which the ruins are situated, he could not help pausing for an instant,
-and becoming sensible that the scene, as calculated to operate on human
-feelings, had been selected with much judgment as the site of a
-religious house. In front lay the sea, into which two headlands, which
-formed the extremities of the bay, projected their gigantic causeways of
-dark and sable rocks, on the ledges of which the gulls, scouries, and
-other sea-fowl, appeared like flakes of snow; while, upon the lower
-ranges of the cliff, stood whole lines of cormorants, drawn up alongside
-of each other, like soldiers in their battle array, and other living
-thing was there none to see. The sea, although not in a tempestuous
-state, was disturbed enough to rush on these capes with a sound like
-distant thunder, and the billows, which rose in sheets of foam half way
-up these sable rocks, formed a contrast of colouring equally striking
-and awful.
-
-Betwixt the extremities, or capes, of these projecting headlands, there
-rolled, on the day when Mertoun visited the scene, a deep and dense
-aggregation of clouds, through which no human eye could penetrate, and
-which, bounding the vision, and excluding all view of the distant ocean,
-rendered it no unapt representation of the sea in the Vision of Mirza
-whose extent was concealed by vapours, and clouds, and storms. The
-ground rising steeply from the sea-beach, permitting no view into the
-interior of the country, appeared a scene of irretrievable barrenness,
-where scrubby and stunted heath, intermixed with the long bent, or
-coarse grass, which first covers sandy soils, were the only vegetables
-that could be seen. Upon a natural elevation, which rose above the beach
-in the very bottom of the bay, and receded a little from the sea, so as
-to be without reach of the waves, arose the half-buried ruin which we
-have already described, surrounded by a wasted, half-ruinous, and
-mouldering wall, which, breached in several places, served still to
-divide the precincts of the cemetery. The mariners who were driven by
-accident into this solitary bay, pretended that the church was
-occasionally observed to be full of lights, and, from that circumstance,
-were used to prophesy shipwrecks and deaths by sea.
-
-As Mertoun approached near to the chapel, he adopted, insensibly, and
-perhaps without much premeditation, measures to avoid being himself
-seen, until he came close under the walls of the burial-ground, which he
-approached, as it chanced, on that side where the sand was blowing from
-the graves, in the manner we have described.
-
-Here, looking through one of the gaps in the wall which time had made,
-he beheld the person whom he sought, occupied in a manner which assorted
-well with the ideas popularly entertained of her character, but which
-was otherwise sufficiently extraordinary.
-
-She was employed beside a rude monument, on one side of which was
-represented the rough outline of a cavalier, or knight, on horseback,
-while, on the other, appeared a shield, with the armorial bearings so
-defaced as not to be intelligible; which escutcheon was suspended by one
-angle, contrary to the modern custom, which usually places them straight
-and upright. At the foot of this pillar was believed to repose, as
-Mertoun had formerly heard, the bones of Ribolt Troil, one of the remote
-ancestors of Magnus, and a man renowned for deeds of valorous emprize in
-the fifteenth century. From the grave of this warrior Norna of the
-Fitful-head seemed busied in shovelling the sand, an easy task where it
-was so light and loose; so that it seemed plain that she would shortly
-complete what the rude winds had begun, and make bare the bones which
-lay there interred. As she laboured, she muttered her magic song; for
-without the Runic rhyme no form of northern superstition was ever
-performed. We have perhaps preserved too many examples of these
-incantations; but we cannot help attempting to translate that which
-follows:--
-
-  "Champion, famed for warlike toil,
-  Art thou silent, Ribolt Troil?
-  Sand, and dust, and pebbly stones,
-  Are leaving bare thy giant bones.
-  Who dared touch the wild-bear's skin
-  Ye slumber'd on while life was in?--
-  A woman now, or babe, may come,
-  And cast the covering from thy tomb.
-
-  "Yet be not wrathful, Chief, nor blight
-  Mine eyes or ears with sound or sight!
-  I come not, with unhallow'd tread,
-  To wake the slumbers of the dead,
-  Or lay thy giant relics bare;
-  But what I seek thou well canst spare.
-  Be it to my hand allow'd
-  To shear a merk's weight from thy shroud;
-  Yet leave thee sheeted lead enough
-  To shield thy bones from weather rough.
-
-  "See, I draw my magic knife--
-  Never while thou wert in life
-  Laid'st thou still for sloth or fear,
-  When point and edge were glittering near;
-  See, the cerements now I sever--
-  Waken now, or sleep for ever!
-  Thou wilt not wake? the deed is done!--
-  The prize I sought is fairly won.
-
-  "Thanks, Ribolt, thanks,--for this the sea
-  Shall smooth its ruffled crest for thee,--
-  And while afar its billows foam,
-  Subside to peace near Ribolt's tomb.
-  Thanks, Ribolt, thanks--for this the might
-  Of wild winds raging at their height,
-  When to thy place of slumber nigh,
-  Shall soften to a lullaby.
-
-  "She, the dame of doubt and dread,
-  Norna of the Fitful-head,
-  Mighty in her own despite--
-  Miserable in her might;
-  In despair and frenzy great,--
-  In her greatness desolate;
-  Wisest, wickedest who lives,
-  Well can keep the word she gives."
-
-While Norna chanted the first part of this rhyme, she completed the task
-of laying bare a part of the leaden coffin of the ancient warrior, and
-severed from it, with much caution and apparent awe, a portion of the
-metal. She then reverentially threw back the sand upon the coffin; and
-by the time she had finished her song, no trace remained that the
-secrets of the sepulchre had been violated.
-
-Mertoun remained gazing on her from behind the churchyard wall during
-the whole ceremony, not from any impression of veneration for her or her
-employment, but because he conceived that to interrupt a madwoman in her
-act of madness, was not the best way to obtain from her such
-intelligence as she might have to impart. Meanwhile he had full time to
-consider her figure, although her face was obscured by her dishevelled
-hair, and by the hood of her dark mantle, which permitted no more to be
-visible than a Druidess would probably have exhibited at the celebration
-of her mystical rites. Mertoun had often heard of Norna before; nay, it
-is most probable that he might have seen her repeatedly, for she had
-been in the vicinity of Jarlshof more than once since his residence
-there. But the absurd stories which were in circulation respecting her,
-prevented his paying any attention to a person whom he regarded as
-either an impostor or a madwoman, or a compound of both. Yet, now that
-his attention was, by circumstances, involuntarily fixed upon her person
-and deportment, he could not help acknowledging to himself that she was
-either a complete enthusiast, or rehearsed her part so admirably, that
-no Pythoness of ancient times could have excelled her. The dignity and
-solemnity of her gesture,--the sonorous, yet impressive tone of voice
-with which she addressed the departed spirit whose mortal relics she
-ventured to disturb, were such as failed not to make an impression upon
-him, careless and indifferent as he generally appeared to all that went
-on around him. But no sooner was her singular occupation terminated,
-than, entering the churchyard with some difficulty, by clambering over
-the disjointed ruins of the wall, he made Norna aware of his presence.
-Far from starting, or expressing the least surprise at his appearance in
-a place so solitary, she said, in a tone that seemed to intimate that he
-had been expected, "So,--you have sought me at last?"
-
-"And found you," replied Mertoun, judging he would best introduce the
-enquiries he had to make, by assuming a tone which corresponded to her
-own.
-
-"Yes!" she replied, "found me you have, and in the place where all men
-must meet--amid the tabernacles of the dead."
-
-"Here we must, indeed, meet at last," replied Mertoun, glancing his
-eyes on the desolate scene around, where headstones, half covered in
-sand, and others, from which the same wind had stripped the soil on
-which they rested, covered with inscriptions, and sculptured with the
-emblems of mortality, were the most conspicuous objects,--"here, as in
-the house of death, all men must meet at length; and happy those that
-come soonest to the quiet haven."
-
-"He that dares desire this haven," said Norna, "must have steered a
-steady course in the voyage of life. _I_ dare not hope for such quiet
-harbour. Darest _thou_ expect it? or has the course thou hast kept
-deserved it?"
-
-"It matters not to my present purpose," replied Mertoun; "I have to ask
-you what tidings you know of my son Mordaunt Mertoun?"
-
-"A father," replied the sibyl, "asks of a stranger what tidings she has
-of his son! How should I know aught of him? the cormorant says not to
-the mallard, where is my brood?"
-
-"Lay aside this useless affectation of mystery," said Mertoun; "with the
-vulgar and ignorant it has its effect, but upon me it is thrown away.
-The people of Jarlshof have told me that you do know, or may know,
-something of Mordaunt Mertoun, who has not returned home after the
-festival of Saint John's, held in the house of your relative, Magnus
-Troil. Give me such information, if indeed ye have it to give; and it
-shall be recompensed, if the means of recompense are in my power."
-
-"The wide round of earth," replied Norna, "holds nothing that I would
-call a recompense for the slightest word that I throw away upon a living
-ear. But for thy son, if thou wouldst see him in life, repair to the
-approaching Fair of Kirkwall, in Orkney."
-
-"And wherefore thither?" said Mertoun; "I know he had no purpose in that
-direction."
-
-"We drive on the stream of fate," answered Norna, "without oar or
-rudder. You had no purpose this morning of visiting the Kirk of Saint
-Ringan, yet you are here;--you had no purpose but a minute hence of
-being at Kirkwall, and yet you will go thither."
-
-"Not unless the cause is more distinctly explained to me. I am no
-believer, dame, in those who assert your supernatural powers."
-
-"You shall believe in them ere we part," said Norna. "As yet you know
-but little of me, nor shall you know more. But I know enough of you, and
-could convince you with one word that I do so."
-
-"Convince me, then," said Mertoun; "for unless I am so convinced, there
-is little chance of my following your counsel."
-
-"Mark, then," said Norna, "what I have to say on your son's score, else
-what I shall say to you on your own will banish every other thought from
-your memory. You shall go to the approaching Fair at Kirkwall; and, on
-the fifth day of the Fair, you shall walk, at the hour of noon, in the
-outer aisle of the Cathedral of Saint Magnus, and there you shall meet a
-person who will give you tidings of your son."
-
-"You must speak more distinctly, dame," returned Mertoun, scornfully,
-"if you hope that I should follow your counsel. I have been fooled in my
-time by women, but never so grossly as you seem willing to gull me."
-
-"Hearken, then!" said the old woman. "The word which I speak shall touch
-the nearest secret of thy life, and thrill thee through nerve and bone."
-
-So saying, she whispered a word into Mertoun's ear, the effect of which
-seemed almost magical. He remained fixed and motionless with surprise,
-as, waving her arm slowly aloft, with an air of superiority and triumph,
-Norna glided from him, turned round a corner of the ruins, and was soon
-out of sight.
-
-Mertoun offered not to follow, or to trace her. "We fly from our fate in
-vain!" he said, as he began to recover himself; and turning, he left
-behind him the desolate ruins with their cemetery. As he looked back
-from the very last point at which the church was visible, he saw the
-figure of Norna, muffled in her mantle, standing on the very summit of
-the ruined tower, and stretching out in the sea-breeze something which
-resembled a white pennon, or flag. A feeling of horror, similar to that
-excited by her last words, again thrilled through his bosom, and he
-hastened onwards with unwonted speed, until he had left the church of
-Saint Ninian, with its bay of sand, far behind him.
-
-Upon his arrival at Jarlshof, the alteration in his countenance was so
-great, that Swertha conjectured he was about to fall into one of those
-fits of deep melancholy which she termed his dark hour.
-
-"And what better could be expected," thought Swertha, "when he must
-needs go visit Norna of the Fitful-head, when she was in the haunted
-Kirk of Saint Ringan's?"
-
-But without testifying any other symptoms of an alienated mind, than
-that of deep and sullen dejection, her master acquainted her with his
-intention to go to the Fair of Kirkwall,--a thing so contrary to his
-usual habits, that the housekeeper wellnigh refused to credit her ears.
-Shortly after, he heard, with apparent indifference, the accounts
-returned by the different persons who had been sent out in quest of
-Mordaunt, by sea and land, who all of them returned without any tidings.
-The equanimity with which Mertoun heard the report of their bad success,
-convinced Swertha still more firmly, that, in his interview with Norna,
-that issue had been predicted to him by the sibyl whom he had consulted.
-
-The township were yet more surprised, when their tacksman, Mr. Mertoun,
-as if on some sudden resolution, made preparations to visit Kirkwall
-during the Fair, although he had hitherto avoided sedulously all such
-places of public resort. Swertha puzzled herself a good deal, without
-being able to penetrate this mystery; and vexed herself still more
-concerning the fate of her young master. But her concern was much
-softened by the deposit of a sum of money, seeming, however moderate in
-itself, a treasure in her eyes, which her master put into her hands,
-acquainting her at the same time, that he had taken his passage for
-Kirkwall, in a small bark belonging to the proprietor of the island of
-Mousa.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-  Nae langer she wept,--her tears were a' spent,--
-  Despair it was come, and she thought it content;
-  She thought it content, but her cheek it grew pale,
-  And she droop'd, like a lily broke down by the hail.
-
-                 _Continuation of Auld Robin Gray_.[14](_d_)
-
-
-The condition of Minna much resembled that of the village heroine in
-Lady Ann Lindsay's beautiful ballad. Her natural firmness of mind
-prevented her from sinking under the pressure of the horrible secret,
-which haunted her while awake, and was yet more tormenting during her
-broken and hurried slumbers. There is no grief so dreadful as that which
-we dare not communicate, and in which we can neither ask nor desire
-sympathy; and when to this is added the burden of a guilty mystery to an
-innocent bosom, there is little wonder that Minna's health should have
-sunk under the burden.
-
-To the friends around, her habits and manners, nay, her temper, seemed
-altered to such an extraordinary degree, that it is no wonder that some
-should have ascribed the change to witchcraft, and some to incipient
-madness. She became unable to bear the solitude in which she formerly
-delighted to spend her time; yet when she hurried into society, it was
-without either joining in, or attending to, what passed. Generally she
-appeared wrapped in sad, and even sullen abstraction, until her
-attention was suddenly roused by some casual mention of the name of
-Cleveland, or of Mordaunt Mertoun, at which she started, with the horror
-of one who sees the lighted match applied to a charged mine, and expects
-to be instantly involved in the effects of the explosion. And when she
-observed that the discovery was not yet made, it was so far from being a
-consolation, that she almost wished the worst were known, rather than
-endure the continued agonies of suspense.
-
-Her conduct towards her sister was so variable, yet uniformly so painful
-to the kind-hearted Brenda, that it seemed to all around, one of the
-strongest features of her malady. Sometimes Minna was impelled to seek
-her sister's company, as if by the consciousness that they were common
-sufferers by a misfortune of which she herself alone could grasp the
-extent; and then suddenly the feeling of the injury which Brenda had
-received through the supposed agency of Cleveland, made her unable to
-bear her presence, and still less to endure the consolation which her
-sister, mistaking the nature of her malady, vainly endeavoured to
-administer. Frequently, also, did it happen, that, while Brenda was
-imploring her sister to take comfort, she incautiously touched upon some
-subject which thrilled to the very centre of her soul; so that, unable
-to conceal her agony, Minna would rush hastily from the apartment. All
-these different moods, though they too much resembled, to one who knew
-not their real source, the caprices of unkind estrangement, Brenda
-endured with such prevailing and unruffled gentleness of disposition,
-that Minna was frequently moved to shed floods of tears upon her neck;
-and, perhaps, the moments in which she did so, though embittered by the
-recollection that her fatal secret concerned the destruction of Brenda's
-happiness as well as her own, were still, softened as they were by
-sisterly affection, the most endurable moments of this most miserable
-period of her life.
-
-The effects of the alternations of moping melancholy, fearful agitation,
-and bursts of nervous feeling, were soon visible on the poor young
-woman's face and person. She became pale and emaciated; her eye lost the
-steady quiet look of happiness and innocence, and was alternately dim
-and wild, as she was acted upon by a general feeling of her own
-distressful condition, or by some quicker and more poignant sense of
-agony. Her very features seemed to change, and become sharp and eager,
-and her voice, which, in its ordinary tones, was low and placid, now
-sometimes sunk in indistinct mutterings, and sometimes was raised beyond
-the natural key, in hasty and abrupt exclamations. When in company with
-others, she was sullenly silent, and, when she ventured into solitude,
-was observed (for it was now thought very proper to watch her on such
-occasions) to speak much to herself.
-
-The pharmacy of the islands was in vain resorted to by Minna's anxious
-father. Sages of both sexes, who knew the virtues of every herb which
-drinks the dew, and augmented those virtues by words of might, used
-while they prepared and applied the medicines, were attended with no
-benefit; and Magnus, in the utmost anxiety, was at last induced to have
-recourse to the advice of his kinswoman, Norna of the Fitful-head,
-although, owing to circumstances noticed in the course of the story,
-there was at this time some estrangement between them. His first
-application was in vain. Norna was then at her usual place of residence,
-upon the sea-coast, near the headland from which she usually took her
-designation; but, although Eric Scambester himself brought the message,
-she refused positively to see him, or to return any answer.
-
-Magnus was angry at the slight put upon his messenger and message, but
-his anxiety on Minna's account, as well as the respect which he had for
-Norna's real misfortunes and imputed wisdom and power, prevented him
-from indulging, on the present occasion, his usual irritability of
-disposition. On the contrary, he determined to make an application to
-his kinswoman in his own person. He kept his purpose, however, to
-himself, and only desired his daughters to be in readiness to attend him
-upon a visit to a relation whom he had not seen for some time, and
-directed them, at the same time, to carry some provisions along with
-them, as the journey was distant, and they might perhaps find their
-friend unprovided.
-
-Unaccustomed to ask explanations of his pleasure, and hoping that
-exercise and the amusement of such an excursion might be of service to
-her sister, Brenda, upon whom all household and family charges now
-devolved, caused the necessary preparations to be made for the
-expedition; and, on the next morning, they were engaged in tracing the
-long and tedious course of beach and of moorland, which, only varied by
-occasional patches of oats and barley, where a little ground had been
-selected for cultivation, divided Burgh-Westra from the north-western
-extremity of the Mainland, (as the principal island is called,) which
-terminates in the cape called Fitful-head, as the south-western point
-ends in the cape of Sumburgh.
-
-On they went, through wild and over wold, the Udaller bestriding a
-strong, square-made, well-barrelled palfrey, of Norwegian breed,
-somewhat taller, and yet as stout, as the ordinary ponies of the
-country; while Minna and Brenda, famed, amongst other accomplishments,
-for their horsemanship, rode two of those hardy animals, which, bred and
-reared with more pains than is usually bestowed, showed, both by the
-neatness of their form and their activity, that the race, so much and so
-carelessly neglected, is capable of being improved into beauty without
-losing any thing of its spirit or vigour. They were attended by two
-servants on horseback, and two on foot, secure that the last
-circumstance would be no delay to their journey, because a great part of
-the way was so rugged, or so marshy, that the horses could only move at
-a foot pace; and that, whenever they met with any considerable tract of
-hard and even ground, they had only to borrow from the nearest herd of
-ponies the use of a couple for the accommodation of these pedestrians.
-
-The journey was a melancholy one, and little conversation passed, except
-when the Udaller, pressed by impatience and vexation, urged his pony to
-a quick pace, and again, recollecting Minna's weak state of health,
-slackened to a walk, and reiterated enquiries how she felt herself, and
-whether the fatigue was not too much for her. At noon the party halted,
-and partook of some refreshment, for which they had made ample
-provision, beside a pleasant spring, the pureness of whose waters,
-however, did not suit the Udaller's palate, until qualified by a
-liberal addition of right Nantz. After he had a second, yea and a third
-time, filled a large silver travelling-cup, embossed with a German Cupid
-smoking a pipe, and a German Bacchus emptying his flask down the throat
-of a bear, he began to become more talkative than vexation had permitted
-him to be during the early part of their journey, and thus addressed his
-daughters:--
-
-"Well, children, we are within a league or two of Norna's dwelling, and
-we shall soon see how the old spell-mutterer will receive us."
-
-Minna interrupted her father with a faint exclamation, while Brenda,
-surprised to a great degree, exclaimed, "Is it then to Norna that we are
-to make this visit?--Heaven forbid!"
-
-"And wherefore should Heaven forbid?" said the Udaller, knitting his
-brows; "wherefore, I would gladly know, should Heaven forbid me to visit
-my kinswoman, whose skill may be of use to your sister, if any woman in
-Zetland, or man either, can be of service to her?--You are a fool,
-Brenda,--your sister has more sense.--Cheer up, Minna!--thou wert ever
-wont to like her songs and stories, and used to hang about her neck,
-when little Brenda cried and ran from her like a Spanish merchantman
-from a Dutch caper."[15]
-
-"I wish she may not frighten me as much to-day, father," replied Brenda,
-desirous of indulging Minna in her taciturnity, and at the same time to
-amuse her father by sustaining the conversation; "I have heard so much
-of her dwelling, that I am rather alarmed at the thought of going there
-uninvited."
-
-"Thou art a fool," said Magnus, "to think that a visit from her
-kinsfolks can ever come amiss to a kind, hearty, Hialtland heart, like
-my cousin Norna's.--And, now I think on't, I will be sworn that is the
-reason why she would not receive Eric Scambester!--It is many a long day
-since I have seen her chimney smoke, and I have never carried you
-thither--She hath indeed some right to call me unkind. But I will tell
-her the truth--and that is, that though such be the fashion, I do not
-think it is fair or honest to eat up the substance of lone women-folks,
-as we do that of our brother Udallers, when we roll about from house to
-house in the winter season, until we gather like a snowball, and eat up
-all wherever we come."
-
-"There is no fear of our putting Norna to any distress just now,"
-replied Brenda, "for I have ample provision of every thing that we can
-possibly need--fish, and bacon, and salted mutton, and dried geese--more
-than we could eat in a week, besides enough of liquor for you, father."
-
-"Right, right, my girl!" said the Udaller; "a well-found ship makes a
-merry voyage--so we shall only want the kindness of Norna's roof, and a
-little bedding for you; for, as to myself, my sea-cloak, and honest dry
-boards of Norway deal, suit me better than your eider-down cushions and
-mattresses. So that Norna will have the pleasure of seeing us without
-having a stiver's worth of trouble."
-
-"I wish she may think it a pleasure, sir," replied Brenda.
-
-"Why, what does the girl mean, in the name of the Martyr?" replied
-Magnus Troil; "dost thou think my kinswoman is a heathen, who will not
-rejoice to see her own flesh and blood?--I would I were as sure of a
-good year's fishing!--No, no! I only fear we may find her from home at
-present, for she is often a wanderer, and all with thinking over much on
-what can never be helped."
-
-Minna sighed deeply as her father spoke, and the Udaller went on:--
-
-"Dost thou sigh at that, my girl?--why, 'tis the fault of half the
-world--let it never be thine own, Minna."
-
-Another suppressed sigh intimated that the caution came too late.
-
-"I believe you are afraid of my cousin as well as Brenda is," said the
-Udaller, gazing on her pale countenance; "if so, speak the word, and we
-will return back again as if we had the wind on our quarter, and were
-running fifteen knots by the line."
-
-"Do, for Heaven's sake, sister, let us return!" said Brenda,
-imploringly; "you know--you remember--you must be well aware that Norna
-can do nought to help you."
-
-"It is but too true," said Minna, in a subdued voice; "but I know
-not--she may answer a question--a question that only the miserable dare
-ask of the miserable."
-
-"Nay, my kinswoman is no miser," answered the Udaller, who only heard
-the beginning of the word; "a good income she has, both in Orkney and
-here, and many a fair lispund of butter is paid to her. But the poor
-have the best share of it, and shame fall the Zetlander who begrudges
-them; the rest she spends, I wot not how, in her journeys through the
-islands. But you will laugh to see her house, and Nick Strumpfer, whom
-she calls Pacolet--many folks think Nick is the devil; but he is flesh
-and blood, like any of us--his father lived in Græmsay--I shall be glad
-to see Nick again."
-
-While the Udaller thus ran on, Brenda, who, in recompense for a less
-portion of imagination than her sister, was gifted with sound common
-sense, was debating with herself the probable effect of this visit on
-her sister's health. She came finally to the resolution of speaking with
-her father aside, upon the first occasion which their journey should
-afford. To him she determined to communicate the whole particulars of
-their nocturnal interview with Norna,--to which, among other agitating
-causes, she attributed the depression of Minna's spirits,--and then make
-himself the judge whether he ought to persist in his visit to a person
-so singular, and expose his daughter to all the shock which her nerves
-might possibly receive from the interview.
-
-Just as she had arrived at this conclusion, her father, dashing the
-crumbs from his laced waistcoat with one hand, and receiving with the
-other a fourth cup of brandy and water, drank devoutly to the success of
-their voyage, and ordered all to be in readiness to set forward. Whilst
-they were saddling their ponies, Brenda, with some difficulty, contrived
-to make her father understand she wished to speak with him in
-private--no small surprise to the honest Udaller, who, though secret as
-the grave in the very few things where he considered secrecy as of
-importance, was so far from practising mystery in general, that his most
-important affairs were often discussed by him openly in presence of his
-whole family, servants included.
-
-But far greater was his astonishment, when, remaining purposely with his
-daughter Brenda, a little in the wake, as he termed it, of the other
-riders, he heard the whole account of Norna's visit to Burgh-Westra, and
-of the communication with which she had then astounded his daughters.
-For a long time he could utter nothing but interjections, and ended with
-a thousand curses on his kinswoman's folly in telling his daughters such
-a history of horror.
-
-"I have often heard," said the Udaller, "that she was quite mad, with
-all her wisdom, and all her knowledge of the seasons; and, by the bones
-of my namesake, the Martyr, I begin now to believe it most assuredly! I
-know no more how to steer than if I had lost my compass. Had I known
-this before we set out, I think I had remained at home; but now that we
-have come so far, and that Norna expects us"----
-
-"Expects us, father!" said Brenda; "how can that be possible?"
-
-"Why, that I know not--but she that can tell how the wind is to blow,
-can tell which way we are designing to ride. She must not be
-provoked;--perhaps she has done my family this ill for the words I had
-with her about that lad Mordaunt Mertoun, and if so, she can undo it
-again;--and so she shall, or I will know the cause wherefore. But I will
-try fair words first."
-
-Finding it thus settled that they were to go forward, Brenda endeavoured
-next to learn from her father whether Norna's tale was founded in
-reality. He shook his head, groaned bitterly, and, in a few words,
-acknowledged that the whole, so far as concerned her intrigue with a
-stranger, and her father's death, of which she became the accidental and
-most innocent cause, was a matter of sad and indisputable truth. "For
-her infant," he said, "he could never, by any means, learn what became
-of it."
-
-"Her infant!" exclaimed Brenda; "she spoke not a word of her infant!"
-
-"Then I wish my tongue had been blistered," said the Udaller, "when I
-told you of it!--I see that, young and old, a man has no better chance
-of keeping a secret from you women, than an eel to keep himself in his
-hold when he is sniggled with a loop of horse-hair--sooner or later the
-fisher teazes him out of his hole, when he has once the noose round his
-neck."
-
-"But the infant, my father," said Brenda, still insisting on the
-particulars of this extraordinary story, "what became of it?"
-
-"Carried off, I fancy, by the blackguard Vaughan," answered the Udaller,
-with a gruff accent, which plainly betokened how weary he was of the
-subject.
-
-"By Vaughan?" said Brenda, "the lover of poor Norna, doubtless!--what
-sort of man was he, father?"
-
-"Why, much like other men, I fancy," answered the Udaller; "I never saw
-him in my life.--He kept company with the Scottish families at Kirkwall;
-and I with the good old Norse folk--Ah! if Norna had dwelt always
-amongst her own kin, and not kept company with her Scottish
-acquaintance, she would have known nothing of Vaughan, and things might
-have been otherwise--But then I should have known nothing of your
-blessed mother, Brenda--and that," he said, his large blue eyes shining
-with a tear, "would have saved me a short joy and a long sorrow."
-
-"Norna could but ill have supplied my mother's place to you, father, as
-a companion and a friend--that is, judging from all I have heard," said
-Brenda, with some hesitation. But Magnus, softened by recollections of
-his beloved wife, answered her with more indulgence than she expected.
-
-"I would have been content," he said, "to have wedded Norna at that
-time. It would have been the soldering of an old quarrel--the healing of
-an old sore. All our blood relations wished it, and, situated as I was,
-especially not having seen your blessed mother, I had little will to
-oppose their counsels. You must not judge of Norna or of me by such an
-appearance as we now present to you--She was young and beautiful, and I
-gamesome as a Highland buck, and little caring what haven I made for,
-having, as I thought, more than one under my lee. But Norna preferred
-this man Vaughan, and, as I told you before, it was, perhaps, the best
-kindness she could have done to me."
-
-"Ah, poor kinswoman!" said Brenda. "But believe you, father, in the high
-powers which she claims--in the mysterious vision of the dwarf--in
-the"----
-
-She was interrupted in these questions by Magnus, to whom they were
-obviously displeasing.
-
-"I believe, Brenda," he said, "according to the belief of my
-forefathers--I pretend not to be a wiser man than they were in their
-time,--and they all believed that, in cases of great worldly distress,
-Providence opened the eyes of the mind, and afforded the sufferers a
-vision of futurity. It was but a trimming of the boat, with
-reverence,"--here he touched his hat reverentially; "and, after all the
-shifting of ballast, poor Norna is as heavily loaded in the bows as ever
-was an Orkneyman's yawl at the dog-fishing--she has more than affliction
-enough on board to balance whatever gifts she may have had in the midst
-of her calamity. They are as painful to her, poor soul, as a crown of
-thorns would be to her brows, though it were the badge of the empire of
-Denmark. And do not you, Brenda, seek to be wiser than your fathers.
-Your sister Minna, before she was so ill, had as much reverence for
-whatever was produced in Norse, as if it had been in the Pope's bull,
-which is all written in pure Latin."
-
-"Poor Norna!" repeated Brenda; "and her child--was it never recovered?"
-
-"What do I know of her child," said the Udaller, more gruffly than
-before, "except that she was very ill, both before and after the birth,
-though we kept her as merry as we could with pipe and harp, and so
-forth;--the child had come before its time into this bustling world, so
-it is likely it has been long dead.--But you know nothing of all these
-matters, Brenda; so get along for a foolish girl, and ask no more
-questions about what it does not become you to enquire into."
-
-So saying, the Udaller gave his sturdy little palfrey the spur, and
-cantering forward over rough and smooth, while the pony's accuracy and
-firmness of step put all difficulties of the path at secure defiance, he
-placed himself soon by the side of the melancholy Minna, and permitted
-her sister to have no farther share in his conversation than as it was
-addressed to them jointly. She could but comfort herself with the hope,
-that, as Minna's disease appeared to have its seat in the imagination,
-the remedies recommended by Norna might have some chance of being
-effectual, since, in all probability, they would be addressed to the
-same faculty.
-
-Their way had hitherto held chiefly over moss and moor, varied
-occasionally by the necessity of making a circuit around the heads of
-those long lagoons, called voes, which run up into and indent the
-country in such a manner, that, though the Mainland of Zetland may be
-thirty miles or more in length, there is, perhaps, no part of it which
-is more than three miles distant from the salt water. But they had now
-approached the north-western extremity of the isle, and travelled along
-the top of an immense ridge of rocks, which had for ages withstood the
-rage of the Northern Ocean, and of all the winds by which it is
-buffeted.
-
-At length exclaimed Magnus to his daughters, "There is Norna's
-dwelling!--Look up, Minna, my love; for if this does not make you laugh,
-nothing will.--Saw you ever any thing but an osprey that would have made
-such a nest for herself as that is?--By my namesake's bones, there is
-not the like of it that living thing ever dwelt in, (having no wings and
-the use of reason,) unless it chanced to be the Frawa-Stack off Papa,
-where the King's daughter of Norway was shut up to keep her from her
-lovers--and all to little purpose, if the tale be true;[16] for,
-maidens, I would have you to wot that it is hard to keep flax from the
-lowe."[17]
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[14] It is worth while saying, that this motto, and the ascription of
-the beautiful ballad from which it is taken to the Right Honourable Lady
-Ann Lindsay, occasioned the ingenious authoress's acknowledgment of the
-ballad, of which the Editor, by her permission, published a small
-impression, inscribed to the Bannatyne Club.
-
-[15] A light-armed vessel of the seventeenth century, adapted for
-privateering, and much used by the Dutch.
-
-[16] The _Frawa-Stack_ or Maiden-Rock, an inaccessible cliff, divided by
-a narrow gulf from the Island of Papa, has on the summit some ruins,
-concerning which there is a legend similar to that of Danaë.
-
-[17] _Lowe_, flame.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-  Thrice from the cavern's darksome womb
-    Her groaning voice arose;
-  And come, my daughter, fearless come,
-    And fearless tell thy woes!
-
-                                                     MEIKLE.
-
-
-The dwelling of Norna, though none but a native of Zetland, familiar,
-during his whole life, with every variety of rock-scenery, could have
-seen any thing ludicrous in this situation, was not unaptly compared by
-Magnus Troil to the eyry of the osprey, or sea-eagle. It was very small,
-and had been fabricated out of one of those dens which are called Burghs
-and Picts-houses in Zetland, and Duns on the mainland of Scotland and
-the Hebrides, and which seem to be the first effort at architecture--the
-connecting link betwixt a fox's hole in a cairn of loose stones, and an
-attempt to construct a human habitation out of the same materials,
-without the use of lime or cement of any kind,--without any timber, so
-far as can be seen from their remains,--without any knowledge of the
-arch or of the stair. Such as they are, however, the numerous remains of
-these dwellings--for there is one found on every headland, islet, or
-point of vantage, which could afford the inhabitants additional means of
-defence--tend to prove that the remote people by whom these Burghs were
-constructed, were a numerous race, and that the islands had then a much
-greater population, than, from other circumstances, we might have been
-led to anticipate.
-
-The Burgh of which we at present speak had been altered and repaired at
-a later period, probably by some petty despot, or sea-rover, who,
-tempted by the security of the situation, which occupied the whole of a
-projecting point of rock, and was divided from the mainland by a rent or
-chasm of some depth, had built some additions to it in the rudest style
-of Gothic defensive architecture;--had plastered the inside with lime
-and clay, and broken out windows for the admission of light and air;
-and, finally, by roofing it over, and dividing it into stories, by means
-of beams of wreck-wood, had converted the whole into a tower, resembling
-a pyramidical dovecot, formed by a double wall, still containing within
-its thickness that set of circular galleries, or concentric rings, which
-is proper to all the forts of this primitive construction, and which
-seem to have constituted the only shelter which they were originally
-qualified to afford to their shivering inhabitants.[18]
-
-This singular habitation, built out of the loose stones which lay
-scattered around, and exposed for ages to the vicissitudes of the
-elements, was as grey, weatherbeaten, and wasted, as the rock on which
-it was founded, and from which it could not easily be distinguished, so
-completely did it resemble in colour, and so little did it differ in
-regularity of shape, from a pinnacle or fragment of the cliff.
-
-Minna's habitual indifference to all that of late had passed around her,
-was for a moment suspended by the sight of an abode, which, at another
-and happier period of her life, would have attracted at once her
-curiosity and her wonder. Even now she seemed to feel interest as she
-gazed upon this singular retreat, and recollected it was that of certain
-misery and probable insanity, connected, as its inhabitant asserted, and
-Minna's faith admitted, with power over the elements, and the capacity
-of intercourse with the invisible world.
-
-"Our kinswoman," she muttered, "has chosen her dwelling well, with no
-more of earth than a sea-fowl might rest upon, and all around sightless
-tempests and raging waves. Despair and magical power could not have a
-fitter residence."
-
-Brenda, on the other hand, shuddered when she looked on the dwelling to
-which they were advancing, by a difficult, dangerous, and precarious
-path, which sometimes, to her great terror, approached to the verge of
-the precipice; so that, Zetlander as she was, and confident as she had
-reason to be, in the steadiness and sagacity of the sure-footed pony,
-she could scarce suppress an inclination to giddiness, especially at one
-point, when, being foremost of the party, and turning a sharp angle of
-the rock, her feet, as they projected from the side of the pony, hung
-for an instant sheer over the ledge of the precipice, so that there was
-nothing save empty space betwixt the sole of her shoe and the white foam
-of the vexed ocean, which dashed, howled, and foamed, five hundred feet
-below. What would have driven a maiden of another country into delirium,
-gave her but a momentary uneasiness, which was instantly lost in the
-hope that the impression which the scene appeared to make on her
-sister's imagination might be favourable to her cure.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-She could not help looking back to see how Minna should pass the point
-of peril, which she herself had just rounded; and could hear the
-strong voice of the Udaller, though to him such rough paths were
-familiar as the smooth sea-beach, call, in a tone of some anxiety, "Take
-heed, jarto,"[19] as Minna, with an eager look, dropped her bridle, and
-stretched forward her arms, and even her body, over the precipice, in
-the attitude of the wild swan, when balancing itself, and spreading its
-broad pinions, it prepares to launch from the cliff upon the bosom of
-the winds. Brenda felt, at that instant, a pang of unutterable terror,
-which left a strong impression on her nerves, even when relieved, as it
-instantly was, by her sister recovering herself and sitting upright on
-her saddle, the opportunity and temptation (if she felt it) passing
-away, as the quiet steady animal which supported her rounded the
-projecting angle, and turned its patient and firm step from the verge of
-the precipice.
-
-They now attained a more level and open space of ground, being the flat
-top of an isthmus of projecting rock, narrowing again towards a point
-where it was terminated by the chasm which separated the small peak, or
-_stack_, occupied by Norna's habitation, from the main ridge of cliff
-and precipice. This natural fosse, which seemed to have been the work of
-some convulsion of nature, was deep, dark, and irregular, narrower
-towards the bottom, which could not be distinctly seen, and widest at
-top, having the appearance as if that part of the cliff occupied by the
-building had been half rent away from the isthmus which it
-terminated,--an idea favoured by the angle at which it seemed to recede
-from the land, and lean towards the sea, with the building which crowned
-it.
-
-This angle of projection was so considerable, that it required
-recollection to dispel the idea that the rock, so much removed from the
-perpendicular, was about to precipitate itself seaward, with its old
-tower: and a timorous person would have been afraid to put foot upon it,
-lest an addition of weight, so inconsiderable as that of the human body,
-should hasten a catastrophe which seemed at every instant impending.
-
-Without troubling himself about such fantasies, the Udaller rode towards
-the tower, and there dismounting along with his daughters, gave the
-ponies in charge to one of their domestics, with directions to
-disencumber them of their burdens, and turn them out for rest and
-refreshment upon the nearest heath. This done, they approached the gate,
-which seemed formerly to have been connected with the land by a rude
-drawbridge, some of the apparatus of which was still visible. But the
-rest had been long demolished, and was replaced by a stationary
-footbridge, formed of barrel-staves covered with turf, very narrow and
-ledgeless, and supported by a sort of arch, constructed out of the
-jaw-bones of the whale. Along this "brigg of dread" the Udaller stepped
-with his usual portly majesty of stride, which threatened its demolition
-and his own at the same time; his daughters trode more lightly and more
-safely after him, and the whole party stood before the low and rugged
-portal of Norna's habitation.
-
-"If she should be abroad after all," said Magnus, as he plied the black
-oaken door with repeated blows;--"but if so, we will at least lie by a
-day for her return, and make Nick Strumpfer pay the demurrage in bland
-and brandy."
-
-As he spoke, the door opened, and displayed, to the alarm of Brenda,
-and the surprise of Minna herself, a square-made dwarf, about four feet
-five inches high, with a head of most portentous size, and features
-correspondent--namely, a huge mouth, a tremendous nose, with large black
-nostrils, which seemed to have been slit upwards, blubber lips of an
-unconscionable size, and huge wall-eyes, with which he leared, sneered,
-grinned, and goggled on the Udaller as an old acquaintance, without
-uttering a single word. The young women could hardly persuade themselves
-that they did not see before their eyes the very demon Trolld, who made
-such a distinguished figure in Norna's legend. Their father went on
-addressing this uncouth apparition in terms of such condescending
-friendship as the better sort apply to their inferiors, when they wish,
-for any immediate purpose, to conciliate or coax them,--a tone, by the
-by, which generally contains, in its very familiarity, as much offence
-as the more direct assumption of distance and superiority.
-
-"Ha, Nick! honest Nick!" said the Udaller, "here you are, lively and
-lovely as Saint Nicholas your namesake, when he is carved with an axe
-for the headpiece of a Dutch dogger. How dost thou do, Nick, or Pacolet,
-if you like that better? Nicholas, here are my two daughters, nearly as
-handsome as thyself thou seest."
-
-Nick grinned, and did a clumsy obeisance by way of courtesy, but kept
-his broad misshapen person firmly placed in the doorway.
-
-"Daughters," continued the Udaller, who seemed to have his reasons for
-speaking this Cerberus fair, at least according to his own notions of
-propitiation,--"this is Nick Strumpfer, maidens, whom his mistress calls
-Pacolet, being a light-limbed dwarf, as you see, like him that wont to
-fly about, like a _Scourie_, on his wooden hobbyhorse, in the old
-storybook of Valentine and Orson, that you, Minna, used to read whilst
-you were a child. I assure you he can keep his mistress's counsel, and
-never told one of her secrets in his life--ha, ha, ha!"
-
-The ugly dwarf grinned ten times wider than before, and showed the
-meaning of the Udaller's jest, by opening his immense jaws, and throwing
-back his head, so as to discover, that, in the immense cavity of his
-mouth, there only remained the small shrivelled remnant of a tongue,
-capable, perhaps, of assisting him in swallowing his food, but unequal
-to the formation of articulate sounds. Whether this organ had been
-curtailed by cruelty, or injured by disease, it was impossible to guess;
-but that the unfortunate being had not been originally dumb, was evident
-from his retaining the sense of hearing. Having made this horrible
-exhibition, he repaid the Udaller's mirth with a loud, horrid, and
-discordant laugh, which had something in it the more hideous that his
-mirth seemed to be excited by his own misery. The sisters looked on each
-other in silence and fear, and even the Udaller appeared disconcerted.
-
-"And how now?" he proceeded, after a minute's pause. "When didst thou
-wash that throat of thine, that is about the width of the Pentland
-Frith, with a cup of brandy? Ha, Nick! I have that with me which is
-sound stuff, boy, ha!"
-
-The dwarf bent his beetle-brows, shook his misshapen head, and made a
-quick sharp indication, throwing his right hand up to his shoulder with
-the thumb pointed backwards.
-
-"What! my kinswoman," said the Udaller, comprehending the signal, "will
-be angry? Well, shalt have a flask to carouse when she is from home,
-old acquaintance;--lips and throats may swallow though they cannot
-speak."
-
-Pacolet grinned a grim assent.
-
-"And now," said the Udaller, "stand out of the way, Pacolet, and let me
-carry my daughters to see their kinswoman. By the bones of Saint Magnus,
-it shall be a good turn in thy way!--nay, never shake thy head, man; for
-if thy mistress be at home, see her we will."
-
-The dwarf again intimated the impossibility of their being admitted,
-partly by signs, partly by mumbling some uncouth and most disagreeable
-sounds, and the Udaller's mood began to arise.
-
-"Tittle tattle, man!" said he; "trouble not me with thy gibberish, but
-stand out of the way, and the blame, if there be any, shall rest with
-me."
-
-So saying, Magnus Troil laid his sturdy hand upon the collar of the
-recusant dwarf's jacket of blue wadmaal, and, with a strong, but not a
-violent grasp, removed him from the doorway, pushed him gently aside,
-and entered, followed by his two daughters, whom a sense of
-apprehension, arising out of all which they saw and heard, kept very
-close to him. A crooked and dusky passage through which Magnus led the
-way, was dimly enlightened by a shot-hole, communicating with the
-interior of the building, and originally intended, doubtless, to command
-the entrance by a hagbut or culverin. As they approached nearer, for
-they walked slowly and with hesitation, the light, imperfect as it was,
-was suddenly obscured; and, on looking upward to discern the cause,
-Brenda was startled to observe the pale and obscurely-seen countenance
-of Norna gazing downward upon them, without speaking a word. There was
-nothing extraordinary in this, as the mistress of the mansion might be
-naturally enough looking out to see what guests were thus suddenly and
-unceremoniously intruding themselves on her presence. Still, however,
-the natural paleness of her features, exaggerated by the light in which
-they were at present exhibited,--the immovable sternness of her look,
-which showed neither kindness nor courtesy of civil reception,--her dead
-silence, and the singular appearance of every thing about her dwelling,
-augmented the dismay which Brenda had already conceived. Magnus Troil
-and Minna had walked slowly forward, without observing the apparition of
-their singular hostess.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[18] Note III.--The Pictish Burgh.
-
-[19] _Jarto_, my dear.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-  The witch then raised her wither'd arm,
-    And waved her wand on high,
-  And, while she spoke the mutter'd charm,
-    Dark lightning fill'd her eye.
-
-                                                     MEIKLE.
-
-
-"This should be the stair," said the Udaller, blundering in the dark
-against some steps of irregular ascent--"This should be the stair,
-unless my memory greatly fail me; ay, and there she sits," he added,
-pausing at a half-open door, "with all her tackle about her as usual,
-and as busy, doubtless, as the devil in a gale of wind."
-
-As he made this irreverent comparison, he entered, followed by his
-daughters, the darkened apartment in which Norna was seated, amidst a
-confused collection of books of various languages, parchment scrolls,
-tablets and stones inscribed with the straight and angular characters of
-the Runic alphabet, and similar articles, which the vulgar might have
-connected with the exercise of the forbidden arts. There were also lying
-in the chamber, or hung over the rude and ill-contrived chimney, an old
-shirt of mail, with the headpiece, battle-axe, and lance, which had once
-belonged to it; and on a shelf were disposed, in great order, several of
-those curious stone-axes, formed of green granite, which are often found
-in those islands, where they are called thunderbolts by the common
-people, who usually preserve them as a charm of security against the
-effects of lightning. There was, moreover, to be seen amid the strange
-collection, a stone sacrificial knife, used perhaps for immolating human
-victims, and one or two of the brazen implements called Celts, the
-purpose of which has troubled the repose of so many antiquaries. A
-variety of other articles, some of which had neither name nor were
-capable of description, lay in confusion about the apartment; and in one
-corner, on a quantity of withered sea-weed, reposed what seemed, at
-first view, to be a large unshapely dog, but, when seen more closely,
-proved to be a tame seal, which it had been Norna's amusement to
-domesticate.
-
-This uncouth favourite bristled up in its corner, upon the arrival of so
-many strangers, with an alertness similar to that which a terrestrial
-dog would have displayed on a similar occasion; but Norna remained
-motionless, seated behind a table of rough granite, propped up by
-misshapen feet of the same material, which, besides the old book with
-which she seemed to be busied, sustained a cake of the coarse unleavened
-bread, three parts oatmeal, and one the sawdust of fir, which is used by
-the poor peasants of Norway, beside which stood a jar of water.
-
-Magnus Troil remained a minute in silence gazing upon his kinswoman,
-while the singularity of her mansion inspired Brenda with much fear, and
-changed, though but for a moment, the melancholy and abstracted mood of
-Minna, into a feeling of interest not unmixed with awe. The silence was
-interrupted by the Udaller, who, unwilling on the one hand to give his
-kinswoman offence, and desirous on the other to show that he was not
-daunted by a reception so singular, opened the conversation thus:--
-
-"I give you good e'en, cousin Norna--my daughters and I have come far to
-see you."
-
-Norna raised her eyes from her volume, looked full at her visitors, then
-let them quietly sit down on the leaf with which she seemed to be
-engaged.
-
-"Nay, cousin," said Magnus, "take your own time--our business with you
-can wait your leisure.--See here, Minna, what a fair prospect here is of
-the cape, scarce a quarter of a mile off! you may see the billows
-breaking on it topmast high. Our kinswoman has got a pretty seal,
-too--Here, sealchie, my man, whew, whew!"
-
-The seal took no further notice of the Udaller's advances to
-acquaintance, than by uttering a low growl.
-
-"He is not so well trained," continued the Udaller, affecting an air of
-ease and unconcern, "as Peter MacRaw's, the old piper of Stornoway, who
-had a seal that flapped its tail to the tune of _Caberfae_, and
-acknowledged no other whatever.[20]--Well, cousin," he concluded,
-observing that Norna closed her book, "are you going to give us a
-welcome at last, or must we go farther than our blood-relation's house
-to seek one, and that when the evening is wearing late apace?"
-
-"Ye dull and hard-hearted generation, as deaf as the adder to the voice
-of the charmer," answered Norna, addressing them, "why come ye to me?
-You have slighted every warning I could give of the coming harm, and
-now that it hath come upon you, ye seek my counsel when it can avail you
-nothing."
-
-"Look you, kinswoman," said the Udaller, with his usual frankness, and
-boldness of manner and accent, "I must needs tell you that your courtesy
-is something of the coarsest and the coldest. I cannot say that I ever
-saw an adder, in regard there are none in these parts; but touching my
-own thoughts of what such a thing may be, it cannot be termed a suitable
-comparison to me or to my daughters, and that I would have you to know.
-For old acquaintance, and certain other reasons, I do not leave your
-house upon the instant; but as I came hither in all kindness and
-civility, so I pray you to receive me with the like, otherwise we will
-depart, and leave shame on your inhospitable threshold."
-
-"How," said Norna, "dare you use such bold language in the house of one
-from whom all men, from whom you yourself, come to solicit counsel and
-aid? They who speak to the Reimkennar, must lower their voice to her
-before whom winds and waves hush both blast and billow."
-
-"Blast and billow may hush themselves if they will," replied the
-peremptory Udaller, "but that will not I. I speak in the house of my
-friend as in my own, and strike sail to none."
-
-"And hope ye," said Norna, "by this rudeness to compel me to answer to
-your interrogatories?"
-
-"Kinswoman," replied Magnus Troil, "I know not so much as you of the old
-Norse sagas; but this I know, that when kempies were wont, long since,
-to seek the habitations of the gall-dragons and spae-women, they came
-with their axes on their shoulders, and their good swords drawn in their
-hands, and compelled the power whom they invoked to listen to and to
-answer them, ay were it Odin himself."
-
-"Kinsman," said Norna, arising from her seat, and coming forward, "thou
-hast spoken well, and in good time for thyself and thy daughters; for
-hadst thou turned from my threshold without extorting an answer,
-morning's sun had never again shone upon you. The spirits who serve me
-are jealous, and will not be employed in aught that may benefit
-humanity, unless their service is commanded by the undaunted importunity
-of the brave and the free. And now speak, what wouldst thou have of me?"
-
-"My daughter's health," replied Magnus, "which no remedies have been
-able to restore."
-
-"Thy daughter's health?" answered Norna; "and what is the maiden's
-ailment?"
-
-"The physician," said Troil, "must name the disease. All that I can tell
-thee of it is"----
-
-"Be silent," said Norna, interrupting him, "I know all thou canst tell
-me, and more than thou thyself knowest. Sit down, all of you--and thou,
-maiden," she said, addressing Minna, "sit thou in that chair," pointing
-to the place she had just left, "once the seat of Giervada, at whose
-voice the stars hid their beams, and the moon herself grew pale."
-
-Minna moved with slow and tremulous step towards the rude seat thus
-indicated to her. It was composed of stone, formed into some semblance
-of a chair by the rough and unskilful hand of some ancient Gothic
-artist.
-
-Brenda, creeping as close as possible to her father, seated herself
-along with him upon a bench at some distance from Minna, and kept her
-eyes, with a mixture of fear, pity, and anxiety, closely fixed upon
-her. It would be difficult altogether to decipher the emotions by which
-this amiable and affectionate girl was agitated at the moment. Deficient
-in her sister's predominating quality of high imagination, and little
-credulous, of course, to the marvellous, she could not but entertain
-some vague and indefinite fears on her own account, concerning the
-nature of the scene which was soon to take place. But these were in a
-manner swallowed up in her apprehensions on the score of her sister,
-who, with a frame so much weakened, spirits so much exhausted, and a
-mind so susceptible of the impressions which all around her was
-calculated to excite, now sat pensively resigned to the agency of one,
-whose treatment might produce the most baneful effects upon such a
-subject.
-
-Brenda gazed at Minna, who sat in that rude chair of dark stone, her
-finely formed shape and limbs making the strongest contrast with its
-ponderous and irregular angles, her cheek and lips as pale as clay, and
-her eyes turned upward, and lighted with the mixture of resignation and
-excited enthusiasm, which belonged to her disease and her character. The
-younger sister then looked on Norna, who muttered to herself in a low
-monotonous manner, as, gliding from one place to another, she collected
-different articles, which she placed one by one on the table. And
-lastly, Brenda looked anxiously to her father, to gather, if possible,
-from his countenance, whether he entertained any part of her own fears
-for the consequences of the scene which was to ensue, considering the
-state of Minna's health and spirits. But Magnus Troil seemed to have no
-such apprehensions; he viewed with stern composure Norna's
-preparations, and appeared to wait the event with the composure of one,
-who, confiding in the skill of a medical artist, sees him preparing to
-enter upon some important and painful operation, in the issue of which
-he is interested by friendship or by affection.
-
-Norna, meanwhile, went onward with her preparations, until she had
-placed on the stone table a variety of miscellaneous articles, and among
-the rest, a small chafing-dish full of charcoal, a crucible, and a piece
-of thin sheet-lead. She then spoke aloud--"It is well that I was aware
-of your coming hither--ay, long before you yourself had resolved it--how
-should I else have been prepared for that which is now to be
-done?--Maiden," she continued, addressing Minna, "where lies thy pain?"
-
-The patient answered, by pressing her hand to the left side of her
-bosom.
-
-"Even so," replied Norna, "even so--'tis the site of weal or woe.--And
-you, her father and her sister, think not this the idle speech of one
-who talks by guess--if I can tell thee ill, it may be that I shall be
-able to render that less severe, which may not, by any aid, be wholly
-amended.--The heart--ay, the heart--touch that, and the eye grows dim,
-the pulse fails, the wholesome stream of our blood is choked and
-troubled, our limbs decay like sapless sea-weed in a summer's sun; our
-better views of existence are past and gone; what remains is the dream
-of lost happiness, or the fear of inevitable evil. But the Reimkennar
-must to her work--well it is that I have prepared the means."
-
-She threw off her long dark-coloured mantle, and stood before them in
-her short jacket of light-blue wadmaal, with its skirt of the same
-stuff, fancifully embroidered with black velvet, and bound at the waist
-with a chain or girdle of silver, formed into singular devices. Norna
-next undid the fillet which bound her grizzled hair, and shaking her
-head wildly, caused it to fall in dishevelled abundance over her face
-and around her shoulders, so as almost entirely to hide her features.
-She then placed a small crucible on the chafing-dish already
-mentioned,--dropped a few drops from a vial on the charcoal
-below,--pointed towards it her wrinkled forefinger, which she had
-previously moistened with liquid from another small bottle, and said
-with a deep voice, "Fire, do thy duty;"--and the words were no sooner
-spoken, than, probably by some chemical combination of which the
-spectators were not aware, the charcoal which was under the crucible
-became slowly ignited; while Norna, as if impatient of the delay, threw
-hastily back her disordered tresses, and, while her features reflected
-the sparkles and red light of the fire, and her eyes flashed from
-amongst her hair like those of a wild animal from its cover, blew
-fiercely till the whole was in an intense glow. She paused a moment from
-her toil, and muttering that the elemental spirit must be thanked,
-recited, in her usual monotonous, yet wild mode of chanting, the
-following verses:--
-
-  "Thou so needful, yet so dread,
-  With cloudy crest, and wing of red;
-  Thou, without whose genial breath
-  The North would sleep the sleep of death;
-  Who deign'st to warm the cottage hearth,
-  Yet hurl'st proud palaces to earth,--
-  Brightest, keenest of the Powers,
-  Which form and rule this world of ours,
-  With my rhyme of Runic, I
-  Thank thee for thy agency."
-
-She then severed a portion from the small mass of sheet-lead which lay
-upon the table, and, placing it in the crucible, subjected it to the
-action of the lighted charcoal, and, as it melted, she sung,--
-
-  "Old Reimkennar, to thy art
-  Mother Hertha sends her part;
-  She, whose gracious bounty gives
-  Needful food for all that lives.
-  From the deep mine of the North,
-  Came the mystic metal forth,
-  Doom'd, amidst disjointed stones,
-  Long to cere a champion's bones,
-  Disinhumed my charms to aid--
-  Mother Earth, my thanks are paid."
-
-She then poured out some water from the jar into a large cup, or goblet,
-and sung once more, as she slowly stirred it round with the end of her
-staff:--
-
-  "Girdle of our islands dear,
-  Element of Water, hear
-  Thou whose power can overwhelm
-  Broken mounds and ruin'd realm
-      On the lowly Belgian strand;
-  All thy fiercest rage can never
-  Of our soil a furlong sever
-      From our rock-defended land;
-  Play then gently thou thy part,
-  To assist old Norna's art."
-
-She then, with a pair of pincers, removed the crucible from the
-chafing-dish, and poured the lead, now entirely melted, into the bowl of
-water, repeating at the same time,--
-
-  "Elements, each other greeting,
-  Gifts and powers attend your meeting!"
-
-The melted lead, spattering as it fell into the water, formed, of
-course, the usual combination of irregular forms which is familiar to
-all who in childhood have made the experiment, and from which, according
-to our childish fancy, we may have selected portions bearing some
-resemblance to domestic articles--the tools of mechanics, or the like.
-Norna seemed to busy herself in some such researches, for she examined
-the mass of lead with scrupulous attention, and detached it into
-different portions, without apparently being able to find a fragment in
-the form which she desired.
-
-At length she again muttered, rather as speaking to herself than to her
-guests, "He, the Viewless, will not be omitted,--he will have his
-tribute even in the work to which he gives nothing.--Stern compeller of
-the clouds, thou also shalt hear the voice of the Reimkennar."
-
-Thus speaking, Norna once more threw the lead into the crucible, where,
-hissing and spattering as the wet metal touched the sides of the red-hot
-vessel, it was soon again reduced into a state of fusion. The sibyl
-meantime turned to a corner of the apartment, and opening suddenly a
-window which looked to the north-west, let in the fitful radiance of the
-sun, now lying almost level upon a great mass of red clouds, which,
-boding future tempest, occupied the edge of the horizon, and seemed to
-brood over the billows of the boundless sea. Turning to this quarter,
-from which a low hollow moaning breeze then blew, Norna addressed the
-Spirit of the Winds, in tones which seemed to resemble his own:--
-
-  "Thou, that over billows dark
-  Safely send'st the fisher's bark,--
-  Giving him a path and motion
-  Through the wilderness of ocean;
-  Thou, that when the billows brave ye,
-  O'er the shelves canst drive the navy,--
-  Did'st thou chafe as one neglected,
-  While thy brethren were respected?
-  To appease thee, see, I tear
-  This full grasp of grizzled hair;
-  Oft thy breath hath through it sung,
-  Softening to my magic tongue,--
-  Now, 'tis thine to bid it fly
-  Through the wide expanse of sky,
-  'Mid the countless swarms to sail
-  Of wild-fowl wheeling on thy gale;
-  Take thy portion and rejoice,--
-  Spirit, thou hast heard my voice!"
-
-Norna accompanied these words with the action which they described,
-tearing a handful of hair with vehemence from her head, and strewing it
-upon the wind as she continued her recitation. She then shut the
-casement, and again involved the chamber in the dubious twilight, which
-best suited her character and occupation. The melted lead was once more
-emptied into the water, and the various whimsical conformations which it
-received from the operation were examined with great care by the sibyl,
-who at length seemed to intimate, by voice and gesture, that her spell
-had been successful. She selected from the fused metal a piece about the
-size of a small nut, bearing in shape a close resemblance to that of the
-human heart, and, approaching Minna, again spoke in song:--
-
-  "She who sits by haunted well,
-  Is subject to the Nixie's spell;
-  She who walks on lonely beach
-  To the Mermaid's charmed speech;
-  She who walks round ring of green,
-  Offends the peevish Fairy Queen;
-  And she who takes rest in the Dwarfie's cave,
-  A weary weird of woe shall have.
-
-  "By ring, by spring, by cave, by shore,
-  Minna Troil has braved all this and more:
-  And yet hath the root of her sorrow and ill
-  A source that's more deep and more mystical still."
-
-Minna, whose attention had been latterly something disturbed by
-reflections on her own secret sorrow, now suddenly recalled it, and
-looked eagerly on Norna as if she expected to learn from her rhymes
-something of deep interest. The northern sibyl, meanwhile, proceeded to
-pierce the piece of lead, which bore the form of a heart, and to fix in
-it a piece of gold wire, by which it might be attached to a chain or
-necklace. She then proceeded in her rhyme,--
-
-  "Thou art within a demon's hold,
-  More wise than Heims, more strong than Trolld;
-  No siren sings so sweet as he,--
-  No fay springs lighter on the lea;
-  No elfin power hath half the art
-  To soothe, to move, to wring the heart,--
-  Life-blood from the cheek to drain,
-  Drench the eye, and dry the vein.
-  Maiden, ere we farther go,
-  Dost thou note me, ay or no?"
-
-Minna replied in the same rhythmical manner, which, in jest and earnest,
-was frequently used by the ancient Scandinavians,--
-
-  "I mark thee, my mother, both word, look, and sign;
-  Speak on with the riddle--to read it be mine."
-
-"Now, Heaven and every saint be praised!" said Magnus; "they are the
-first words to the purpose which she hath spoken these many days."
-
-"And they are the last which she shall speak for many a month," said
-Norna, incensed at the interruption, "if you again break the progress of
-my spell. Turn your faces to the wall, and look not hitherward again,
-under penalty of my severe displeasure. You, Magnus Troil, from
-hard-hearted audacity of spirit, and you, Brenda, from wanton and idle
-disbelief in that which is beyond your bounded comprehension, are
-unworthy to look on this mystic work; and the glance of your eyes
-mingles with, and weakens, the spell; for the powers cannot brook
-distrust."
-
-Unaccustomed to be addressed in a tone so peremptory, Magnus would have
-made some angry reply; but reflecting that the health of Minna was at
-stake, and considering that she who spoke was a woman of many sorrows,
-he suppressed his anger, bowed his head, shrugged his shoulders, assumed
-the prescribed posture, averting his head from the table, and turning
-towards the wall. Brenda did the same, on receiving a sign from her
-father, and both remained profoundly silent.
-
-Norna then addressed Minna once more,--
-
-  "Mark me! for the word I speak
-  Shall bring the colour to thy cheek.
-  This leaden heart, so light of cost,
-  The symbol of a treasure lost,
-  Thou shalt wear in hope and in peace,
-  That the cause of your sickness and sorrow may cease,
-  When crimson foot meets crimson hand
-  In the Martyrs' Aisle, and in Orkney-land."
-
-Minna coloured deeply at the last couplet, intimating, as she failed not
-to interpret it, that Norna was completely acquainted with the secret
-cause of her sorrow. The same conviction led the maiden to hope in the
-favourable issue, which the sibyl seemed to prophesy; and not venturing
-to express her feelings in any manner more intelligible, she pressed
-Norna's withered hand with all the warmth of affection, first to her
-breast and then to her bosom, bedewing it at the same time with her
-tears.
-
-With more of human feeling than she usually exhibited, Norna extricated
-her hand from the grasp of the poor girl, whose tears now flowed freely,
-and then, with more tenderness of manner than she had yet shown, she
-knotted the leaden heart to a chain of gold, and hung it around Minna's
-neck, singing, as she performed that last branch of the spell,--
-
-  "Be patient, be patient, for Patience hath power
-  To ward us in danger, like mantle in shower;
-  A fairy gift you best may hold
-  In a chain of fairy gold;
-  The chain and the gift are each a true token,
-  That not without warrant old Norna has spoken;
-  But thy nearest and dearest must never behold them,
-  Till time shall accomplish the truths I have told them."
-
-The verses being concluded, Norna carefully arranged the chain around
-her patient's neck so as to hide it in her bosom, and thus ended the
-spell--a spell which, at the moment I record these incidents, it is
-known, has been lately practised in Zetland, where any decline of
-health, without apparent cause, is imputed by the lower orders to a
-demon having stolen the heart from the body of the patient, and where
-the experiment of supplying the deprivation by a leaden one, prepared in
-the manner described, has been resorted to within these few years. In a
-metaphorical sense, the disease may be considered as a general one in
-all parts of the world; but, as this simple and original remedy is
-peculiar to the isles of Thule, it were unpardonable not to preserve it
-at length, in a narrative connected with Scottish antiquities.[21]
-
-A second time Norna reminded her patient, that if she showed, or spoke
-of, the fairy gifts, their virtue would be lost--a belief so common as
-to be received into the superstitions of all nations. Lastly,
-unbuttoning the collar which she had just fastened, she showed her a
-link of the gold chain, which Minna instantly recognised as that
-formerly given by Norna to Mordaunt Mertoun. This seemed to intimate he
-was yet alive, and under Norna's protection; and she gazed on her with
-the most eager curiosity. But the sibyl imposed her finger on her lips
-in token of silence, and a second time involved the chain in those folds
-which modestly and closely veiled one of the most beautiful, as well as
-one of the kindest, bosoms in the world.
-
-Norna then extinguished the lighted charcoal, and, as the water hissed
-upon the glowing embers, commanded Magnus and Brenda to look around, and
-behold her task accomplished.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[20] The MacRaws were followers of the MacKenzies, whose chief has the
-name of Caberfae, or Buckshead, from the cognisance borne on his
-standards. Unquestionably the worthy piper trained the seal on the same
-principle of respect to the clan-term which I have heard has been taught
-to dogs, who, unused to any other air, dance after their fashion to the
-tune of Caberfae.
-
-[21] The spells described in this chapter are not altogether imaginary.
-By this mode of pouring lead into water, and selecting the part which
-chances to assume a resemblance to the human heart, which must be worn
-by the patient around her or his neck, the sage persons of Zetland
-pretend to cure the fatal disorder called the loss of a heart.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-  See yonder woman, whom our swains revere,
-  And dread in secret, while they take her counsel
-  When sweetheart shall be kind, or when cross dame shall die;
-  Where lurks the thief who stole the silver tankard,
-  And how the pestilent murrain may be cured.--
-  This sage adviser's mad, stark mad, my friend;
-  Yet, in her madness, hath the art and cunning
-  To wring fools' secrets from their inmost bosoms,
-  And pay enquirers with the coin they gave her.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-It seemed as if Norna had indeed full right to claim the gratitude of
-the Udaller for the improved condition of his daughter's health. She
-once more threw open the window, and Minna, drying her eyes and
-advancing with affectionate confidence, threw herself on her father's
-neck, and asked his forgiveness for the trouble she had of late
-occasioned to him. It is unnecessary to add, that this was at once
-granted, with a full, though rough burst of parental tenderness, and as
-many close embraces as if his child had been just rescued from the jaws
-of death. When Magnus had dismissed Minna from his arms, to throw
-herself into those of her sister, and express to her, rather by kisses
-and tears than in words, the regret she entertained for her late wayward
-conduct, the Udaller thought proper, in the meantime, to pay his thanks
-to their hostess, whose skill had proved so efficacious. But scarce had
-he come out with, "Much respected kinswoman, I am but a plain old
-Norseman,"--when she interrupted him, by pressing her finger on her
-lips.
-
-"There are those around us," she said, "who must hear no mortal voice,
-witness no sacrifice to mortal feelings--there are times when they
-mutiny even against me, their sovereign mistress, because I am still
-shrouded in the flesh of humanity. Fear, therefore, and be silent. I,
-whose deeds have raised me from the low-sheltered valley of life, where
-dwell its social wants and common charities;--I, who have bereft the
-Giver of the Gift which he gave, and stand alone on a cliff of
-immeasurable height, detached from earth, save from the small portion
-that supports my miserable tread--I alone am fit to cope with those
-sullen mates. Fear not, therefore, but yet be not too bold, and let this
-night to you be one of fasting and of prayer."
-
-If the Udaller had not, before the commencement of the operation, been
-disposed to dispute the commands of the sibyl, it may be well believed
-he was less so now, that it had terminated to all appearance so
-fortunately. So he sat down in silence, and seized upon a volume which
-lay near him as a sort of desperate effort to divert ennui, for on no
-other occasion had Magnus been known to have recourse to a book for that
-purpose. It chanced to be a book much to his mind, being the well-known
-work of Olaus Magnus, upon the manners of the ancient Northern nations.
-The book is unluckily in the Latin language, and the Danske or Dutch
-were, either of them, much more familiar to the Udaller. But then it was
-the fine edition published in 1555, which contains representations of
-the war-chariots, fishing exploits, warlike exercises, and domestic
-employments of the Scandinavians, executed on copper-plates; and thus
-the information which the work refused to the understanding, was
-addressed to the eye, which, as is well known both to old and young,
-answers the purpose of amusement as well, if not better.
-
-Meanwhile the two sisters, pressed as close to each other as two flowers
-on the same stalk, sat with their arms reciprocally passed over each
-other's shoulder, as if they feared some new and unforeseen cause of
-coldness was about to separate them, and interrupt the sister-like
-harmony which had been but just restored. Norna sat opposite to them,
-sometimes revolving the large parchment volume with which they had found
-her employed at their entrance, and sometimes gazing on the sisters with
-a fixed look, in which an interest of a kind unusually tender, seemed
-occasionally to disturb the stern and rigorous solemnity of her
-countenance. All was still and silent as death, and the subsiding
-emotions of Brenda had not yet permitted her to wonder whether the
-remaining hours of the evening were to be passed in the same manner,
-when the scene of tranquillity was suddenly interrupted by the entrance
-of the dwarf Pacolet, or, as the Udaller called him, Nicholas Strumpfer.
-
-Norna darted an angry glance on the intruder, who seemed to deprecate
-her resentment by holding up his hands and uttering a babbling sound;
-then, instantly resorting to his usual mode of conversation, he
-expressed himself by a variety of signs made rapidly upon his fingers,
-and as rapidly answered by his mistress, so that the young women, who
-had never heard of such an art, and now saw it practised by two beings
-so singular, almost conceived their mutual intelligence the work of
-enchantment. When they had ceased their intercourse, Norna turned to
-Magnus Troil with much haughtiness, and said, "How, my kinsman? have you
-so far forgot yourself, as to bring earthly food into the house of the
-Reimkennar, and make preparations in the dwelling of Power and of
-Despair, for refection, and wassail, and revelry?--Speak not--answer
-not," she said; "the duration of the cure which was wrought even now,
-depends on your silence and obedience--bandy but a single look or word
-with me, and the latter condition of that maiden shall be worse than the
-first!"
-
-This threat was an effectual charm upon the tongue of the Udaller,
-though he longed to indulge it in vindication of his conduct.
-
-"Follow me, all of you," said Norna, striding to the door of the
-apartment, "and see that no one looks backwards--we leave not this
-apartment empty, though we, the children of mortality, be removed from
-it."
-
-She went out, and the Udaller signed to his daughters to follow, and to
-obey her injunctions. The sibyl moved swifter than her guests down the
-rude descent, (such it might rather be termed, than a proper staircase,)
-which led to the lower apartment. Magnus and his daughters, when they
-entered the chamber, found their own attendants aghast at the presence
-and proceedings of Norna of the Fitful-head.
-
-They had been previously employed in arranging the provisions which they
-had brought along with them, so as to present a comfortable cold meal,
-as soon as the appetite of the Udaller, which was as regular as the
-return of tide, should induce him to desire some refreshment; and now
-they stood staring in fear and surprise, while Norna, seizing upon one
-article after another, and well supported by the zealous activity of
-Pacolet, flung their whole preparations out of the rude aperture which
-served for a window, and over the cliff, from which the ancient Burgh
-arose, into the ocean, which raged and foamed beneath. _Vifda_, (dried
-beef,) hams, and pickled pork, flew after each other into empty space,
-smoked geese were restored to the air, and cured fish to the sea, their
-native elements indeed, but which they were no longer capable of
-traversing; and the devastation proceeded so rapidly, that the Udaller
-could scarce secure from the wreck his silver drinking cup; while the
-large leathern flask of brandy, which was destined to supply his
-favourite beverage, was sent to follow the rest of the supper, by the
-hands of Pacolet, who regarded, at the same time, the disappointed
-Udaller with a malicious grin, as if, notwithstanding his own natural
-taste for the liquor, he enjoyed the disappointment and surprise of
-Magnus Troil still more than he would have relished sharing his
-enjoyment.
-
-The destruction of the brandy flask exhausted the patience of Magnus,
-who roared out, in a tone of no small displeasure, "Why, kinswoman, this
-is wasteful madness--where, and on what, would you have us sup?"
-
-"Where you will," answered Norna, "and on what you will--but not in my
-dwelling, and not on the food with which you have profaned it. Vex my
-spirit no more, but begone every one of you! You have been here too long
-for my good, perhaps for your own."
-
-"How, kinswoman," said Magnus, "would you make outcasts of us at this
-time of night, when even a Scotchman would not turn a stranger from the
-door?--Bethink you, dame, it is shame on our lineage for ever, if this
-squall of yours should force us to slip cables, and go to sea so
-scantily provided."
-
-"Be silent, and depart," said Norna; "let it suffice you have got that
-for which you came. I have no harbourage for mortal guests, no provision
-to relieve human wants. There is beneath the cliff, a beach of the
-finest sand, a stream of water as pure as the well of Kildinguie, and
-the rocks bear dulse as wholesome as that of Guiodin; and well you wot,
-that the well of Kildinguie and the dulse of Guiodin will cure all
-maladies save Black Death."[22]
-
-"And well I wot," said the Udaller, "that I would eat corrupted
-sea-weeds like a starling, or salted seal's flesh like the men of
-Burraforth, or wilks, buckies, and lampits, like the poor sneaks of
-Stroma, rather than break wheat bread and drink red wine in a house
-where it is begrudged me.--And yet," he said, checking himself, "I am
-wrong, very wrong, my cousin, to speak thus to you, and I should rather
-thank you for what you have done, than upbraid you for following your
-own ways. But I see you are impatient--we will be all under way
-presently.--And you, ye knaves," addressing his servants, "that were in
-such hurry with your service before it was lacked, get out of doors with
-you presently, and manage to catch the ponies; for I see we must make
-for another harbour to-night, if we would not sleep with an empty
-stomach, and on a hard bed."
-
-The domestics of Magnus, already sufficiently alarmed at the violence of
-Norna's conduct, scarce waited the imperious command of their master to
-evacuate her dwelling with all dispatch; and the Udaller, with a
-daughter on each arm, was in the act of following them, when Norna said
-emphatically, "Stop!" They obeyed, and again turned towards her. She
-held out her hand to Magnus, which the placable Udaller instantly folded
-in his own ample palm.
-
-"Magnus," she said, "we part by necessity, but, I trust, not in anger?"
-
-"Surely not, cousin," said the warm-hearted Udaller, wellnigh stammering
-in his hasty disclamation of all unkindness,--"most assuredly not. I
-never bear ill-will to any one, much less to one of my own blood, and
-who has piloted me with her advice through many a rough tide, as I would
-pilot a boat betwixt Swona and Stroma, through all the waws, wells, and
-swelchies of the Pentland Frith."
-
-"Enough," said Norna, "and now farewell, with such a blessing as I dare
-bestow--not a word more!--Maidens," she added, "draw near, and let me
-kiss your brows."
-
-The sibyl was obeyed by Minna with awe, and by Brenda with fear; the one
-overmastered by the warmth of her imagination, the other by the natural
-timidity of her constitution. Norna then dismissed them, and in two
-minutes afterwards they found themselves beyond the bridge, and standing
-upon the rocky platform in front of the ancient Pictish Burgh, which it
-was the pleasure of this sequestered female to inhabit. The night, for
-it was now fallen, was unusually serene. A bright twilight, which
-glimmered far over the surface of the sea, supplied the brief absence of
-the summer's sun; and the waves seemed to sleep under its influence, so
-faint and slumberous was the sound with which one after another rolled
-on and burst against the foot of the cliff on which they stood. In front
-of them stood the rugged fortress, seeming, in the uniform greyness of
-the atmosphere, as aged, as shapeless, and as massive, as the rock on
-which it was founded. There was neither sight nor sound that indicated
-human habitation, save that from one rude shot-hole glimmered the flame
-of the feeble lamp by which the sibyl was probably pursuing her mystical
-and nocturnal studies, shooting upon the twilight, in which it was soon
-lost and confounded, a single line of tiny light; bearing the same
-proportion to that of the atmosphere, as the aged woman and her serf,
-the sole inhabitants of that desert, did to the solitude with which they
-were surrounded.
-
-For several minutes, the party, thus suddenly and unexpectedly expelled
-from the shelter where they had reckoned upon spending the night, stood
-in silence, each wrapt in their own separate reflections. Minna, her
-thoughts fixed on the mystical consolation which she had received, in
-vain endeavoured to extract from the words of Norna a more distinct and
-intelligible meaning; and the Udaller had not yet recovered his surprise
-at the extrusion to which he had been thus whimsically subjected, under
-circumstances that prohibited him from resenting as an insult,
-treatment, which, in all other respects, was so shocking to the genial
-hospitality of his nature, that he still felt like one disposed to be
-angry, if he but knew how to set about it. Brenda was the first who
-brought matters to a point, by asking whither they were to go, and how
-they were to spend the night? The question, which was asked in a tone,
-that, amidst its simplicity, had something dolorous in it, entirely
-changed the train of her father's ideas; and the unexpected perplexity
-of their situation now striking him in a comic point of view, he laughed
-till his very eyes ran over, while every rock around him rang, and the
-sleeping sea-fowl were startled from their repose, by the loud, hearty
-explosions of his obstreperous hilarity.
-
-The Udaller's daughters, eagerly representing to their father the risk
-of displeasing Norna by this unlimited indulgence of his mirth, united
-their efforts to drag him to a farther distance from her dwelling.
-Magnus, yielding to their strength, which, feeble as it was, his own fit
-of laughter rendered him incapable of resisting, suffered himself to be
-pulled to a considerable distance from the Burgh, and then escaping from
-their hands, and sitting down, or rather suffering himself to drop, upon
-a large stone which lay conveniently by the wayside, he again laughed so
-long and lustily, that his vexed and anxious daughters became afraid
-that there was something more than natural in these repeated
-convulsions.
-
-At length his mirth exhausted both itself and the Udaller's strength. He
-groaned heavily, wiped his eyes, and said, not without feeling some
-desire to renew his obstreperous cachinnation, "Now, by the bones of
-Saint Magnus, my ancestor and namesake, one would imagine that being
-turned out of doors, at this time of night, was nothing short of an
-absolutely exquisite jest; for I have shaken my sides at it till they
-ache. There we sat, made snug for the night, and I made as sure of a
-good supper and a can as ever I had been of either,--and here we are all
-taken aback! and then poor Brenda's doleful voice, and melancholy
-question, of 'What is to be done, and where are we to sleep?' In good
-faith, unless one of those knaves, who must needs torment the poor woman
-by their trencher-work before it was wanted, can make amends by telling
-us of some snug port under our lee, we have no other course for it but
-to steer through the twilight on the bearing of Burgh-Westra, and rough
-it out as well as we can by the way. I am sorry but for you, girls; for
-many a cruize have I been upon when we were on shorter allowance than we
-are like to have now.--I would I had but secured a morsel for you, and a
-drop for myself; and then there had been but little to complain of."
-
-Both sisters hastened to assure the Udaller that they felt not the least
-occasion for food.
-
-"Why, that is well," said Magnus: "and so being the case, I will not
-complain of my own appetite, though it is sharper than convenient. And
-the rascal, Nicholas Strumpfer,--what a leer the villain gave me as he
-started the good Nantz into the salt-water! He grinned, the knave, like
-a seal on a skerry.--Had it not been for vexing my poor kinswoman Norna,
-I would have sent his misbegotten body, and misshapen jolterhead, after
-my bonny flask, as sure as Saint Magnus lies at Kirkwall!"
-
-By this time the servants returned with the ponies, which they had very
-soon caught--these sensible animals finding nothing so captivating in
-the pastures where they had been suffered to stray, as inclined them to
-resist the invitation again to subject themselves to saddle and bridle.
-The prospects of the party were also considerably improved by learning
-that the contents of their sumpter-pony's burden had not been entirely
-exhausted,--a small basket having fortunately escaped the rage of Norna
-and Pacolet, by the rapidity with which one of the servants had caught
-up and removed it. The same domestic, an alert and ready-witted fellow,
-had observed upon the beach, not above three miles distant from the
-Burgh, and about a quarter of a mile off their straight path, a deserted
-_Skio_, or fisherman's hut, and suggested that they should occupy it for
-the rest of the night, in order that the ponies might be refreshed, and
-the young ladies spend the night under cover from the raw evening air.
-
-When we are delivered from great and serious dangers, our mood is, or
-ought to be, grave, in proportion to the peril we have escaped, and the
-gratitude due to protecting Providence. But few things raise the spirits
-more naturally, or more harmlessly, than when means of extrication from
-any of the lesser embarrassments of life are suddenly presented to us;
-and such was the case in the present instance. The Udaller, relieved
-from the apprehensions for his daughters suffering from fatigue, and
-himself from too much appetite and too little food, carolled Norse
-ditties, as he spurred Bergen through the twilight, with as much glee
-and gallantry as if the night-ride had been entirely a matter of his own
-free choice. Brenda lent her voice to some of his choruses, which were
-echoed in ruder notes by the servants, who, in that simple state of
-society, were not considered as guilty of any breach of respect by
-mingling their voices with the song. Minna, indeed, was as yet unequal
-to such an effort; but she compelled herself to assume some share in the
-general hilarity of the meeting; and, contrary to her conduct since the
-fatal morning which concluded the Festival of Saint John, she seemed to
-take her usual interest in what was going on around her, and answered
-with kindness and readiness the repeated enquiries concerning her
-health, with which the Udaller every now and then interrupted his carol.
-And thus they proceeded by night, a happier party by far than they had
-been when they traced the same route on the preceding morning, making
-light of the difficulties of the way, and promising themselves shelter
-and a comfortable night's rest in the deserted hut which they were now
-about to approach, and which they expected to find in a state of
-darkness and solitude.
-
-But it was the lot of the Udaller that day to be deceived more than once
-in his calculations.
-
-"And which way lies this cabin of yours, Laurie?" said the Udaller,
-addressing the intelligent domestic of whom we just spoke.
-
-"Yonder it should be," said Laurence Scholey, "at the head of the
-voe--but, by my faith, if it be the place, there are folk there before
-us--God and Saint Ronan send that they be canny company!"
-
-In truth there was a light in the deserted hut, strong enough to glimmer
-through every chink of the shingles and wreck-wood of which it was
-constructed, and to give the whole cabin the appearance of a smithy seen
-by night. The universal superstition of the Zetlanders seized upon
-Magnus and his escort.
-
-"They are trows," said one voice.
-
-"They are witches," murmured another.
-
-"They are mermaids," muttered a third; "only hear their wild singing!"
-
-All stopped; and, in effect, some notes of music were audible, which
-Brenda, with a voice that quivered a little, but yet had a turn of arch
-ridicule in its tone, pronounced to be the sound of a fiddle.
-
-"Fiddle or fiend," said the Udaller, who, if he believed in such nightly
-apparitions as had struck terror into his retinue, certainly feared them
-not--"fiddle or fiend, may the devil fetch me if a witch cheats me out
-of supper to-night, for the second time!"
-
-So saying, he dismounted, clenched his trusty truncheon in his hand, and
-advanced towards the hut, followed by Laurence alone; the rest of his
-retinue continuing stationary on the beach beside his daughters and the
-ponies.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[22] So at least says an Orkney proverb.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-  What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it
-  Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine,
-  Seen by the curtal friar, who, from some christening
-  Or some blithe bridal, hies belated cell-ward--
-  He starts, and changes his bold bottle swagger
-  To churchman's pace professional, and, ransacking
-  His treacherous memory for some holy hymn,
-  Finds but the roundel of the midnight catch.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-The stride of the Udaller relaxed nothing of its length or of its
-firmness as he approached the glimmering cabin, from which he now heard
-distinctly the sound of the fiddle. But, if still long and firm, his
-steps succeeded each other rather more slowly than usual; for, like a
-cautious, though a brave general, Magnus was willing to reconnoitre his
-enemy before assailing him. The trusty Laurence Scholey, who kept close
-behind his master, now whispered into his ear, "So help me, sir, as I
-believe that the ghaist, if ghaist it be, that plays so bravely on the
-fiddle, must be the ghaist of Maister Claud Halcro, or his wraith at
-least; for never was bow drawn across thairm which brought out the gude
-auld spring of 'Fair and Lucky,' so like his ain."
-
-Magnus was himself much of the same opinion; for he knew the blithe
-minstrelsy of the spirited little old man, and hailed the hut with a
-hearty hilloah, which was immediately replied to by the cheery note of
-his ancient messmate, and Halcro himself presently made his appearance
-on the beach.
-
-The Udaller now signed to his retinue to come up, while he asked his
-friend, after a kind greeting and much shaking of hands, "How the devil
-he came to sit there, playing old tunes in so desolate a place, like an
-owl whooping to the moon?"
-
-"And tell me rather, Fowd," said Claud Halcro, "how you came to be
-within hearing of me? ay, by my word, and with your bonny daughters,
-too?--Jarto Minna and Jarto Brenda, I bid you welcome to these yellow
-sands--and there shake hands, as glorious John, or some other body,
-says, upon the same occasion. And how came you here like two fair swans,
-making day out of twilight, and turning all you step upon to silver?"
-
-"You shall know all about them presently," answered Magnus; "but what
-messmates have you got in the hut with you? I think I hear some one
-speaking."
-
-"None," replied Claud Halcro, "but that poor creature, the Factor, and
-my imp of a boy Giles. I--but come in--come in--here you will find us
-starving in comfort--not so much as a mouthful of sour sillocks to be
-had for love or money."
-
-"That may be in a small part helped," said the Udaller; "for though the
-best of our supper is gone over the Fitful Crags to the sealchies and
-the dog-fish, yet we have got something in the kit still.--Here, Laurie,
-bring up the _vifda_."
-
-"_Jokul, jokul!_"[23] was Laurence's joyful answer; and he hastened for
-the basket.
-
-"By the bicker of Saint Magnus,"[24] said Halcro, "and the burliest
-bishop that ever quaffed it for luck's sake, there is no finding your
-locker empty, Magnus! I believe sincerely that ere a friend wanted, you
-could, like old Luggie the warlock, fish up boiled and roasted out of
-the pool of Kibster."[25]
-
-"You are wrong there, Jarto Claud," said Magnus Troil, "for far from
-helping me to a supper, the foul fiend, I believe, has carried off great
-part of mine this blessed evening; but you are welcome to share and
-share of what is left." This was said while the party entered the hut.
-
-Here, in a cabin which smelled strongly of dried fish, and whose sides
-and roof were jet-black with smoke, they found the unhappy Triptolemus
-Yellowley seated beside a fire made of dried sea-weed, mingled with some
-peats and wreck-wood; his sole companion a barefooted, yellow-haired
-Zetland boy, who acted occasionally as a kind of page to Claud Halcro,
-bearing his fiddle on his shoulder, saddling his pony, and rendering him
-similar duties of kindly observance. The disconsolate agriculturist, for
-such his visage betokened him, displayed little surprise, and less
-animation, at the arrival of the Udaller and his companions, until,
-after the party had drawn close to the fire, (a neighbourhood which the
-dampness of the night air rendered far from disagreeable,) the pannier
-was opened, and a tolerable supply of barley-bread and hung beef,
-besides a flask of brandy, (no doubt smaller than that which the
-relentless hand of Pacolet had emptied into the ocean,) gave assurances
-of a tolerable supper. Then, indeed, the worthy Factor grinned,
-chuckled, rubbed his hands, and enquired after all friends at
-Burgh-Westra.
-
-When they had all partaken of this needful refreshment, the Udaller
-repeated his enquiries of Halcro, and more particularly of the Factor,
-how they came to be nestled in such a remote corner at such an hour of
-night.
-
-"Maister Magnus Troil," said Triptolemus, when a second cup had given
-him spirits to tell his tale of woe, "I would not have you think that it
-is a little thing that disturbs me. I came of that grain that takes a
-sair wind to shake it. I have seen many a Martinmas and many a
-Whitsunday in my day, whilk are the times peculiarly grievous to those
-of my craft, and I could aye bide the bang; but I think I am like to be
-dung ower a'thegither in this damned country of yours--Gude forgie me
-for swearing--but evil communication corrupteth good manners."
-
-"Now, Heaven guide us," said the Udaller, "what is the matter with the
-man? Why, man, if you will put your plough into new land, you must look
-to have it hank on a stone now and then--You must set us an example of
-patience, seeing you come here for our improvement."
-
-"And the deil was in my feet when I did so," said the Factor; "I had
-better have set myself to improve the cairn on Clochnaben."
-
-"But what is it, after all," said the Udaller, "that has befallen
-you?--what is it that you complain of?"
-
-"Of every thing that has chanced to me since I landed on this island,
-which I believe was accursed at the very creation," said the
-agriculturist, "and assigned as a fitting station for sorners, thieves,
-whores, (I beg the ladies' pardon,) witches, bitches, and all evil
-spirits!"
-
-"By my faith, a goodly catalogue!" said Magnus; "and there has been the
-day, that if I had heard you give out the half of it, I should have
-turned improver myself, and have tried to amend your manners with a
-cudgel."
-
-"Bear with me," said the Factor, "Maister Fowd, or Maister Udaller, or
-whatever else they may call you, and as you are strong be pitiful, and
-consider the luckless lot of any inexperienced person who lights upon
-this earthly paradise of yours. He asks for drink, they bring him sour
-whey--no disparagement to your brandy, Fowd, which is excellent--You ask
-for meat, and they bring you sour sillocks that Satan might choke
-upon--You call your labourers together, and bid them work; it proves
-Saint Magnus's day, or Saint Ronan's day, or some infernal saint or
-other's--or else, perhaps, they have come out of bed with the wrong foot
-foremost, or they have seen an owl, or a rabbit has crossed their path,
-or they have dreamed of a roasted horse--in short, nothing is to be
-done--Give them a spade, and they work as if it burned their fingers;
-but set them to dancing, and see when they will tire of funking and
-flinging!"
-
-"And why should they, poor bodies," said Claud Halcro, "as long as there
-are good fiddlers to play to them?"
-
-"Ay, ay," said Triptolemus, shaking his head, "you are a proper person
-to uphold them in such a humour. Well, to proceed:--I till a piece of
-my best ground; down comes a sturdy beggar that wants a kailyard, or a
-plant-a-cruive, as you call it, and he claps down an enclosure in the
-middle of my bit shot of corn, as lightly as if he was baith laird and
-tenant; and gainsay him wha likes, there he dibbles in his kail-plants!
-I sit down to my sorrowful dinner, thinking to have peace and quietness
-there at least; when in comes one, two, three, four, or half-a-dozen of
-skelping long lads, from some foolery or anither, misca' me for barring
-my ain door against them, and eat up the best half of what my sister's
-providence--and she is not over bountiful--has allotted for my dinner!
-Then enters a witch, with an ellwand in her hand, and she raises the
-wind or lays it, whichever she likes, majors up and down my house as if
-she was mistress of it, and I am bounden to thank Heaven if she carries
-not the broadside of it away with her!"
-
-"Still," said the Fowd, "this is no answer to my question--how the foul
-fiend I come to find you at moorings here?"
-
-"Have patience, worthy sir," replied the afflicted Factor, "and listen
-to what I have to say, for I fancy it will be as well to tell you the
-whole matter. You must know, I once thought that I had gotten a small
-godsend, that might have made all these matters easier."
-
-"How! a godsend! Do you mean a wreck, Master Factor?" exclaimed Magnus;
-"shame upon you, that should have set example to others!"
-
-"It was no wreck," said the Factor; "but, if you must needs know, it
-chanced that as I raised an hearthstane in one of the old chambers at
-Stourburgh, (for my sister is minded that there is little use in mair
-fire-places about a house than one, and I wanted the stane to knock bear
-upon,) when, what should I light on but a horn full of old coins, silver
-the maist feck of them, but wi' a bit sprinkling of gold amang them
-too.[26] Weel, I thought this was a dainty windfa', and so thought Baby,
-and we were the mair willing to put up with a place where there were
-siccan braw nest-eggs--and we slade down the stane cannily over the
-horn, which seemed to me to be the very cornucopia, or horn of
-abundance; and for further security, Baby wad visit the room maybe
-twenty times in the day, and mysell at an orra time, to the boot of a'
-that."
-
-"On my word, and a very pretty amusement," said Claud Halcro, "to look
-over a horn of one's own siller. I question if glorious John Dryden ever
-enjoyed such a pastime in his life--I am very sure I never did."
-
-"Yes, but you forget, Jarto Claud," said the Udaller, "that the Factor
-was only counting over the money for my Lord the Chamberlain. As he is
-so keen for his Lordship's rights in whales and wrecks, he would not
-surely forget him in treasure-trove."
-
-"A-hem! a-hem! a-he--he--hem!" ejaculated Triptolemus, seized at the
-moment with an awkward fit of coughing,--"no doubt, my Lord's right in
-the matter would have been considered, being in the hand of one, though
-I say it, as just as can be found in Angus-shire, let alone the Mearns.
-But mark what happened of late! One day, as I went up to see that all
-was safe and snug, and just to count out the share that should have been
-his Lordship's--for surely the labourer, as one may call the finder, is
-worthy of his hire--nay, some learned men say, that when the finder, in
-point of trust and in point of power, representeth the _dominus_, or
-lord superior, he taketh the whole; but let that pass, as a kittle
-question _in apicibus juris_, as we wont to say at Saint Andrews--Well,
-sir and ladies, when I went to the upper chamber, what should I see but
-an ugsome, ill-shaped, and most uncouth dwarf, that wanted but hoofs and
-horns to have made an utter devil of him, counting over the very hornful
-of siller! I am no timorous man, Master Fowd, but, judging that I should
-proceed with caution in such a matter--for I had reason to believe that
-there was devilry in it--I accosted him in Latin, (whilk it is maist
-becoming to speak to aught whilk taketh upon it as a goblin,) and
-conjured him _in nomine_, and so forth, with such words as my poor
-learning could furnish of a suddenty, whilk, to say truth, were not so
-many, nor altogether so purely latineezed as might have been, had I not
-been few years at college, and many at the pleugh. Well, sirs, he
-started at first, as one that heareth that which he expects not; but
-presently recovering himself, he wawls on me with his grey een, like a
-wild-cat, and opens his mouth, whilk resembled the mouth of an oven, for
-the deil a tongue he had in it, that I could spy, and took upon his ugly
-self, altogether the air and bearing of a bull-dog, whilk I have seen
-loosed at a fair upon a mad staig;[27] whereupon I was something
-daunted, and withdrew myself to call upon sister Baby, who fears neither
-dog nor devil, when there is in question the little penny siller. And
-truly she raise to the fray as I hae seen the Lindsays and Ogilvies
-bristle up, when Donald MacDonnoch, or the like, made a start down frae
-the Highlands on the braes of Islay. But an auld useless carline, called
-Tronda Dronsdaughter, (they might call her Drone the sell of her,
-without farther addition,) flung herself right in my sister's gate, and
-yelloched and skirled, that you would have thought her a whole
-generation of hounds; whereupon I judged it best to make ae yoking of
-it, and stop the pleugh until I got my sister's assistance. Whilk when I
-had done, and we mounted the stair to the apartment in which the said
-dwarf, devil, or other apparition, was to be seen, dwarf, horn, and
-siller, were as clean gane as if the cat had lickit the place where I
-saw them."
-
-Here Triptolemus paused in his extraordinary narration, while the rest
-of the party looked upon each other in surprise, and the Udaller
-muttered to Claud Halcro--"By all tokens, this must have been either the
-devil or Nicholas Strumpfer; and if it were him, he is more of a goblin
-than e'er I gave him credit for, and shall be apt to rate him as such in
-future." Then, addressing the Factor, he enquired--"Saw ye nought how
-this dwarf of yours parted company?"
-
-"As I shall answer it, no," replied Triptolemus, with a cautious look
-around him, as if daunted by the recollection; "neither I, nor Baby, who
-had her wits more about her, not having seen this unseemly vision, could
-perceive any way by whilk he made evasion. Only Tronda said she saw him
-flee forth of the window of the west roundel of the auld house, upon a
-dragon, as she averred. But, as the dragon is held a fabulous animal, I
-suld pronounce her averment to rest upon _deceptio visus_."
-
-"But, may we not ask farther," said Brenda, stimulated by curiosity to
-know as much of her cousin Norna's family as was possible, "how all this
-operated upon Master Yellowley, so as to occasion his being in this
-place at so unseasonable an hour?"
-
-"Seasonable it must be, Mistress Brenda, since it brought us into your
-sweet company," answered Claud Halcro, whose mercurial brain far
-outstripped the slow conceptions of the agriculturist, and who became
-impatient of being so long silent. "To say the truth, it was I, Mistress
-Brenda, who recommended to our friend the Factor, whose house I chanced
-to call at just after this mischance, (and where, by the way, owing
-doubtless to the hurry of their spirits, I was but poorly received,) to
-make a visit to our other friend at Fitful-head, well judging from
-certain points of the story, at which my other and more particular
-friend than either" (looking at Magnus) "may chance to form a guess,
-that they who break a head are the best to find a plaster. And as our
-friend the Factor scrupled travelling on horseback, in respect of some
-tumbles from our ponies"----
-
-"Which are incarnate devils," said Triptolemus, aloud, muttering under
-his breath, "like every live thing that I have found in Zetland."
-
-"Well, Fowd," continued Halcro, "I undertook to carry him to Fitful-head
-in my little boat, which Giles and I can manage as if it were an
-Admiral's barge full manned; and Master Triptolemus Yellowley will tell
-you how seaman-like I piloted him to the little haven, within a quarter
-of a mile of Norna's dwelling."
-
-"I wish to Heaven you had brought me as safe back again," said the
-Factor.
-
-"Why, to be sure," replied the minstrel, "I am, as glorious John says,--
-
-  'A daring pilot in extremity,
-  Pleased with the danger when the waves go high,
-  I seek the storm--but, for a calm unfit,
-  Will steer too near the sands, to show my wit.'"
-
-"I showed little wit in intrusting myself to your charge," said
-Triptolemus; "and you still less when you upset the boat at the throat
-of the voe, as you call it, when even the poor bairn, that was mair than
-half drowned, told you that you were carrying too much sail; and then ye
-wad fasten the rape to the bit stick on the boat-side, that ye might
-have time to play on the fiddle."
-
-"What!" said the Udaller, "make fast the sheets to the thwart? a most
-unseasonable practice, Claud Halcro."
-
-"And sae came of it," replied the agriculturist; "for the neist blast
-(and we are never lang without ane in these parts) whomled us as a
-gudewife would whomle a bowie, and ne'er a thing wad Maister Halcro save
-but his fiddle. The puir bairn swam out like a water-spaniel, and I
-swattered hard for my life, wi' the help of ane of the oars; and here we
-are, comfortless creatures, that, till a good wind blew you here, had
-naething to eat but a mouthful of Norway rusk, that has mair sawdust
-than rye-meal in it, and tastes liker turpentine than any thing else."
-
-"I thought we heard you very merry," said Brenda, "as we came along the
-beach."
-
-"Ye heard a fiddle, Mistress Brenda," said the Factor; "and maybe ye may
-think there can be nae dearth, miss, where that is skirling. But then
-it was Maister Claud Halcro's fiddle, whilk, I am apt to think, wad
-skirl at his father's deathbed, or at his ain, sae lang as his fingers
-could pinch the thairm. And it was nae sma' aggravation to my misfortune
-to have him bumming a' sorts of springs,--Norse and Scots, Highland and
-Lawland, English and Italian, in my lug, as if nothing had happened that
-was amiss, and we all in such stress and perplexity."
-
-"Why, I told you sorrow would never right the boat, Factor," said the
-thoughtless minstrel, "and I did my best to make you merry; if I failed,
-it was neither my fault nor my fiddle's. I have drawn the bow across it
-before glorious John Dryden himself."
-
-"I will hear no stories about glorious John Dryden," answered the
-Udaller, who dreaded Halcro's narratives as much as Triptolemus did his
-music,--"I will hear nought of him, but one story to every three bowls
-of punch,--it is our old paction, you know. But tell me, instead, what
-said Norna to you about your errand?"
-
-"Ay, there was anither fine upshot," said Master Yellowley. "She wadna
-look at us, or listen to us; only she bothered our acquaintance, Master
-Halcro here, who thought he could have sae much to say wi' her, with
-about a score of questions about your family and household estate,
-Master Magnus Troil; and when she had gotten a' she wanted out of him, I
-thought she wad hae dung him ower the craig, like an empty peacod."
-
-"And for yourself?" said the Udaller.
-
-"She wadna listen to my story, nor hear sae much as a word that I had to
-say," answered Triptolemus; "and sae much for them that seek to witches
-and familiar spirits!"
-
-"You needed not to have had recourse to Norna's wisdom, Master Factor,"
-said Minna, not unwilling, perhaps, to stop his railing against the
-friend who had so lately rendered her service; "the youngest child in
-Orkney could have told you, that fairy treasures, if they are not wisely
-employed for the good of others, as well as of those to whom they are
-imparted, do not dwell long with their possessors."
-
-"Your humble servant to command, Mistress Minnie," said Triptolemus; "I
-thank ye for the hint,--and I am blithe that you have gotten your
-wits--I beg pardon, I meant your health--into the barn-yard again. For
-the treasure, I neither used nor abused it,--they that live in the house
-with my sister Baby wad find it hard to do either!--and as for speaking
-of it, whilk they say muckle offends them whom we in Scotland call Good
-Neighbours, and you call Drows, the face of the auld Norse kings on the
-coins themselves, might have spoken as much about it as ever I did."
-
-"The Factor," said Claud Halcro, not unwilling to seize the opportunity
-of revenging himself on Triptolemus, for disgracing his seamanship and
-disparaging his music,--"The Factor was so scrupulous, as to keep the
-thing quiet even from his master, the Lord Chamberlain; but, now that
-the matter has ta'en wind, he is likely to have to account to his master
-for that which is no longer in his possession; for the Lord Chamberlain
-will be in no hurry, I think, to believe the story of the dwarf. Neither
-do I think" (winking to the Udaller) "that Norna gave credit to a word
-of so odd a story; and I dare say that was the reason that she received
-us, I must needs say, in a very dry manner. I rather think she knew that
-Triptolemus, our friend here, had found some other hiding-hole for the
-money, and that the story of the goblin was all his own invention. For
-my part, I will never believe there was such a dwarf to be seen as the
-creature Master Yellowley describes, until I set my own eyes on him."
-
-"Then you may do so at this moment," said the Factor; "for, by ----,"
-(he muttered a deep asseveration as he sprung on his feet in great
-horror,) "there the creature is!"
-
-All turned their eyes in the direction in which he pointed, and saw the
-hideous misshapen figure of Pacolet, with his eyes fixed and glaring at
-them through the smoke. He had stolen upon their conversation
-unperceived, until the Factor's eye lighted upon him in the manner we
-have described. There was something so ghastly in his sudden and
-unexpected appearance, that even the Udaller, to whom his form was
-familiar, could not help starting. Neither pleased with himself for
-having testified this degree of emotion, however slight, nor with the
-dwarf who had given cause to it, Magnus asked him sharply, what was his
-business there? Pacolet replied by producing a letter, which he gave to
-the Udaller, uttering a sound resembling the word _Shogh_.[28]
-
-"That is the Highlandman's language," said the Udaller--"didst thou
-learn that, Nicholas, when you lost your own?"
-
-Pacolet nodded, and signed to him to read his letter.
-
-"That is no such easy matter by fire-light, my good friend," replied the
-Udaller; "but it may concern Minna, and we must try."
-
-Brenda offered her assistance, but the Udaller answered, "No, no, my
-girl,--Norna's letters must be read by those they are written to. Give
-the knave, Strumpfer, a drop of brandy the while, though he little
-deserves it at my hands, considering the grin with which he sent the
-good Nantz down the crag this morning, as if it had been as much
-ditch-water."
-
-"Will you be this honest gentleman's cup-bearer--his Ganymede, friend
-Yellowley, or shall I?" said Claud Halcro aside to the Factor; while
-Magnus Troil, having carefully wiped his spectacles, which he produced
-from a large copper case, had disposed them on his nose, and was
-studying the epistle of Norna.
-
-"I would not touch him, or go near him, for all the Carse of Gowrie,"
-said the Factor, whose fears were by no means entirely removed, though
-he saw that the dwarf was received as a creature of flesh and blood by
-the rest of the company; "but I pray you to ask him what he has done
-with my horn of coins?"
-
-The dwarf, who heard the question, threw back his head, and displayed
-his enormous throat, pointing to it with his finger.
-
-"Nay, if he has swallowed them, there is no more to be said," replied
-the Factor; "only I hope he will thrive on them as a cow on wet clover.
-He is dame Norna's servant it's like,--such man, such mistress! But if
-theft and witchcraft are to go unpunished in this land, my lord must
-find another factor; for I have been used to live in a country where
-men's worldly gear was keepit from infang and outfang thief, as well as
-their immortal souls from the claws of the deil and his cummers,--sain
-and save us!"
-
-The agriculturist was perhaps the less reserved in expressing his
-complaints, that the Udaller was for the present out of hearing, having
-drawn Claud Halcro apart into another corner of the hut.
-
-"And tell me," said he, "friend Halcro, what errand took thee to
-Sumburgh, since I reckon it was scarce the mere pleasure of sailing in
-partnership with yonder barnacle?"
-
-"In faith, Fowd," said the bard, "and if you will have the truth, I went
-to speak to Norna on your affairs."
-
-"On my affairs?" replied the Udaller; "on what affairs of mine?"
-
-"Just touching your daughter's health. I heard that Norna refused your
-message, and would not see Eric Scambester. Now, said I to myself, I
-have scarce joyed in meat, or drink, or music, or aught else, since
-Jarto Minna has been so ill; and I may say, literally as well as
-figuratively, that my day and night have been made sorrowful to me. In
-short, I thought I might have some more interest with old Norna than
-another, as scalds and wise women were always accounted something akin;
-and I undertook the journey with the hope to be of some use to my old
-friend and his lovely daughter."
-
-"And it was most kindly done of you, good warm-hearted Claud," said the
-Udaller, shaking him warmly by the hand,--"I ever said you showed the
-good old Norse heart amongst all thy fiddling and thy folly.--Tut, man,
-never wince for the matter, but be blithe that thy heart is better than
-thy head. Well,--and I warrant you got no answer from Norna?"
-
-"None to purpose," replied Claud Halcro; "but she held me close to
-question about Minna's illness, too,--and I told her how I had met her
-abroad the other morning in no very good weather, and how her sister
-Brenda said she had hurt her foot;--in short, I told her all and every
-thing I knew."
-
-"And something more besides, it would seem," said the Udaller; "for I,
-at least, never heard before that Minna had hurt herself."
-
-"O, a scratch! a mere scratch!" said the old man; "but I was startled
-about it--terrified lest it had been the bite of a dog, or some hurt
-from a venomous thing. I told all to Norna, however."
-
-"And what," answered the Udaller, "did she say, in the way of reply?"
-
-"She bade me begone about my business, and told me that the issue would
-be known at the Kirkwall Fair; and said just the like to this noodle of
-a Factor--it was all that either of us got for our labour," said Halcro.
-
-"That is strange," said Magnus. "My kinswoman writes me in this letter
-not to fail going thither with my daughters. This Fair runs strongly in
-her head;--one would think she intended to lead the market, and yet she
-has nothing to buy or to sell there that I know of. And so you came away
-as wise as you went, and swamped your boat at the mouth of the voe?"
-
-"Why, how could I help it?" said the poet. "I had set the boy to steer,
-and as the flaw came suddenly off shore, I could not let go the
-tack and play on the fiddle at the same time. But it is all well
-enough,--salt-water never harmed Zetlander, so as he could get out of
-it; and, as Heaven would have it, we were within man's depth of the
-shore, and chancing to find this skio, we should have done well enough,
-with shelter and fire, and are much better than well with your good
-cheer and good company. But it wears late, and Night and Day must be
-both as sleepy as old Midnight can make them. There is an inner crib
-here, where the fishers slept,--somewhat fragrant with the smell of
-their fish, but that is wholesome. They shall bestow themselves there,
-with the help of what cloaks you have, and then we will have one cup of
-brandy, and one stave of glorious John, or some little trifle of my own,
-and so sleep as sound as cobblers."
-
-"Two glasses of brandy, if you please," said the Udaller, "if our stores
-do not run dry; but not a single stave of glorious John, or of any one
-else to-night."
-
-And this being arranged and executed agreeably to the peremptory
-pleasure of the Udaller, the whole party consigned themselves to slumber
-for the night, and on the next day departed for their several
-habitations, Claud Halcro having previously arranged with the Udaller
-that he would accompany him and his daughters on their proposed visit to
-Kirkwall.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[23] _Jokul_, yes, sir; a Norse expression, still in common use.
-
-[24] The Bicker of Saint Magnus, a vessel of enormous dimensions, was
-preserved at Kirkwall, and presented to each bishop of the Orkneys. If
-the new incumbent was able to quaff it out at one draught, which was a
-task for Hercules or Rorie Mhor of Dunvegan, the omen boded a crop of
-unusual fertility.
-
-[25] Luggie, a famous conjurer, was wont, when storms prevented him from
-going to his usual employment of fishing, to angle over a steep rock, at
-the place called, from his name, Luggie's Knoll. At other times he drew
-up dressed food while they were out at sea, of which his comrades
-partook boldly from natural courage, without caring who stood cook. The
-poor man was finally condemned and burnt at Scalloway.
-
-[26] Note IV.--Antique Coins found in Zetland.
-
-[27] Young unbroke horse.
-
-[28] In Gaelic, _there_.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-    "By this hand, thou think'st me as far in the devil's
-    book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency.
-    Let the end try the man.... Albeit I could tell to thee,
-    (as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to
-    call my friend,) I could be sad, and sad indeed too."
-
-                                       _Henry IV., Part 2d._
-
-
-We must now change the scene from Zetland to Orkney, and request our
-readers to accompany us to the ruins of an elegant, though ancient
-structure, called the Earl's Palace. These remains, though much
-dilapidated, still exist in the neighbourhood of the massive and
-venerable pile, which Norwegian devotion dedicated to Saint Magnus the
-Martyr, and, being contiguous to the Bishop's Palace, which is also
-ruinous, the place is impressive, as exhibiting vestiges of the
-mutations both in Church and State which have affected Orkney, as well
-as countries more exposed to such convulsions. Several parts of these
-ruinous buildings might be selected (under suitable modifications) as
-the model of a Gothic mansion, provided architects would be contented
-rather to imitate what is really beautiful in that species of building,
-than to make a medley of the caprices of the order, confounding the
-military, ecclesiastical, and domestic styles of all ages at random,
-with additional fantasies and combinations of their own device, "all
-formed out of the builder's brain."
-
-The Earl's Palace forms three sides of an oblong square, and has, even
-in its ruins, the air of an elegant yet massive structure, uniting, as
-was usual in the residence of feudal princes, the character of a palace
-and of a castle. A great banqueting-hall, communicating with several
-large rounds, or projecting turret-rooms, and having at either end an
-immense chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the Earls
-of Orkney, and communicates, almost in the modern fashion, with a
-gallery, or withdrawing-room, of corresponding dimensions, and having,
-like the hall, its projecting turrets. The lordly hall itself is lighted
-by a fine Gothic window of shafted stone at one end, and is entered by a
-spacious and elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stone
-steps. The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient building
-are also very handsome; but, being totally unprotected, this remnant of
-the pomp and grandeur of Earls, who assumed the license as well as the
-dignity of petty sovereigns, is now fast crumbling to decay, and has
-suffered considerably since the date of our story.
-
-With folded arms and downcast looks the pirate Cleveland was pacing
-slowly the ruined hall which we have just described; a place of
-retirement which he had probably chosen because it was distant from
-public resort. His dress was considerably altered from that which he
-usually wore in Zetland, and seemed a sort of uniform, richly laced, and
-exhibiting no small quantity of embroidery: a hat with a plume, and a
-small sword very handsomely mounted, then the constant companion of
-every one who assumed the rank of a gentleman, showed his pretensions to
-that character. But if his exterior was so far improved, it seemed to be
-otherwise with his health and spirits. He was pale, and had lost both
-the fire of his eye and the vivacity of his step, and his whole
-appearance indicated melancholy of mind, or suffering of body, or a
-combination of both evils.
-
-As Cleveland thus paced these ancient ruins, a young man, of a light and
-slender form, whose showy dress seemed to have been studied with care,
-yet exhibited more extravagance than judgment or taste, whose manner was
-a janty affectation of the free and easy rake of the period, and the
-expression of whose countenance was lively, with a cast of effrontery,
-tripped up the staircase, entered the hall, and presented himself to
-Cleveland, who merely nodded to him, and pulling his hat deeper over his
-brows, resumed his solitary and discontented promenade.
-
-The stranger adjusted his own hat, nodded in return, took snuff, with
-the air of a _petit maitre_, from a richly chased gold box, offered it
-to Cleveland as he passed, and being repulsed rather coldly, replaced
-the box in his pocket, folded his arms in his turn, and stood looking
-with fixed attention on his motions whose solitude he had interrupted.
-At length Cleveland stopped short, as if impatient of being longer the
-subject of his observation, and said abruptly, "Why can I not be left
-alone for half an hour, and what the devil is it that you want?"
-
-"I am glad you spoke first," answered the stranger, carelessly; "I was
-determined to know whether you were Clement Cleveland, or Cleveland's
-ghost, and they say ghosts never take the first word, so I now set it
-down for yourself in life and limb; and here is a fine old hurly-house
-you have found out for an owl to hide himself in at mid-day, or a ghost
-to revisit the pale glimpses of the moon, as the divine Shakspeare
-says."
-
-"Well, well," answered Cleveland, abruptly, "your jest is made, and now
-let us have your earnest."
-
-"In earnest, then, Captain Cleveland," replied his companion, "I think
-you know me for your friend."
-
-"I am content to suppose so," said Cleveland.
-
-"It is more than supposition," replied the young man; "I have proved
-it--proved it both here and elsewhere."
-
-"Well, well," answered Cleveland, "I admit you have been always a
-friendly fellow--and what then?"
-
-"Well, well--and what then?" replied the other; "this is but a brief way
-of thanking folk. Look you, Captain, here is Benson, Barlowe, Dick
-Fletcher, and a few others of us who wished you well, have kept your old
-comrade Captain Goffe in these seas upon the look-out for you, when he
-and Hawkins, and the greater part of the ship's company, would fain have
-been down on the Spanish Main, and at the old trade."
-
-"And I wish to God that you had all gone about your business," said
-Cleveland, "and left me to my fate."
-
-"Which would have been to be informed against and hanged, Captain, the
-first time that any of these Dutch or English rascals, whom you have
-lightened of their cargoes, came to set their eyes upon you; and no
-place more likely to meet with seafaring men, than in these Islands. And
-here, to screen you from such a risk, we have been wasting our precious
-time, till folk are grown very peery; and when we have no more goods or
-money to spend amongst them, the fellows will be for grabbing the ship."
-
-"Well, then, why do you not sail off without me?" said Cleveland--"there
-has been fair partition, and all have had their share--let all do as
-they like. I have lost my ship, and having been once a Captain, I will
-not go to sea under command of Goffe or any other man. Besides, you know
-well enough that both Hawkins and he bear me ill-will for keeping them
-from sinking the Spanish brig, with the poor devils of negroes on
-board."
-
-"Why, what the foul fiend is the matter with thee?" said his companion;
-"are you Clement Cleveland, our own old true-hearted Clem of the Cleugh,
-and do you talk of being afraid of Hawkins and Goffe, and a score of
-such fellows, when you have myself, and Barlowe, and Dick Fletcher at
-your back? When was it we deserted you, either in council or in fight,
-that you should be afraid of our flinching now? And as for serving under
-Goffe, I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are going
-on the account, to change a Captain now and then? Let us alone for
-that,--Captain you shall be; for death rock me asleep if I serve under
-that fellow Goffe, who is as very a bloodhound as ever sucked
-bitch!--No, no, I thank you--my Captain must have a little of the
-gentleman about him, howsoever. Besides, you know, it was you who first
-dipped my hands in the dirty water, and turned me from a stroller by
-land, to a rover by sea."
-
-"Alas, poor Bunce!" said Cleveland, "you owe me little thanks for that
-service."
-
-"That is as you take it," replied Bunce; "for my part, I see no harm in
-levying contributions on the public either one way or t'other. But I
-wish you would forget that name of Bunce, and call me Altamont, as I
-have often desired you to do. I hope a gentleman of the roving trade has
-as good a right to have an alias as a stroller, and I never stepped on
-the boards but what I was Altamont at the least."
-
-"Well, then, Jack Altamont," replied Cleveland, "since Altamont is the
-word"----
-
-"Yes, but, Captain, _Jack_ is not the word, though Altamont be so. Jack
-Altamont?--why, 'tis a velvet coat with paper lace--Let it be Frederick,
-Captain; Frederick Altamont is all of a piece."
-
-"Frederick be it, then, with all my heart," said Cleveland; "and pray
-tell me, which of your names will sound best at the head of the Last
-Speech, Confession, and Dying Words of John Bunce, _alias_ Frederick
-Altamont, who was this morning hanged at Execution-dock, for the crime
-of Piracy upon the High Seas?"
-
-"Faith, I cannot answer that question, without another can of grog,
-Captain; so if you will go down with me to Bet Haldane's on the quay, I
-will bestow some thought on the matter, with the help of a right pipe of
-Trinidado. We will have the gallon bowl filled with the best stuff you
-ever tasted, and I know some smart wenches who will help us to drain it.
-But you shake your head--you're not i' the vein?--Well, then, I will
-stay with you; for by this hand, Clem, you shift me not off. Only I will
-ferret you out of this burrow of old stones, and carry you into sunshine
-and fair air.--Where shall we go?"
-
-"Where you will," said Cleveland, "so that you keep out of the way of
-our own rascals, and all others."
-
-"Why, then," replied Bunce, "you and I will go up to the Hill of
-Whitford, which overlooks the town, and walk together as gravely and
-honestly as a pair of well-employed attorneys."
-
-As they proceeded to leave the ruinous castle, Bunce, turning back to
-look at it, thus addressed his companion:
-
-"Hark ye, Captain, dost thou know who last inhabited this old cockloft?"
-
-"An Earl of the Orkneys, they say," replied Cleveland.
-
-"And are you avised what death he died of?" said Bunce; "for I have
-heard that it was of a tight neck-collar--a hempen fever, or the like."
-
-"The people here do say," replied Cleveland, "that his Lordship, some
-hundred years ago, had the mishap to become acquainted with the nature
-of a loop and a leap in the air."
-
-"Why, la ye there now!" said Bunce; "there was some credit in being
-hanged in those days, and in such worshipful company. And what might his
-lordship have done to deserve such promotion?"
-
-"Plundered the liege subjects, they say," replied Cleveland; "slain and
-wounded them, fired upon his Majesty's flag, and so forth."
-
-"Near akin to a gentleman rover, then," said Bunce, making a theatrical
-bow towards the old building; "and, therefore, my most potent, grave,
-and reverend Signior Earl, I crave leave to call you my loving cousin,
-and bid you most heartily adieu. I leave you in the good company of rats
-and mice, and so forth, and I carry with me an honest gentleman, who,
-having of late had no more heart than a mouse, is now desirous to run
-away from his profession and friends like a rat, and would therefore be
-a most fitting denizen of your Earlship's palace."
-
-"I would advise you not to speak so loud, my good friend Frederick
-Altamont, or John Bunce," said Cleveland; "when you were on the stage,
-you might safely rant as loud as you listed; but, in your present
-profession, of which you are so fond, every man speaks under correction
-of the yard-arm, and a running noose."
-
-The comrades left the little town of Kirkwall in silence, and ascended
-the Hill of Whitford, which raises its brow of dark heath, uninterrupted
-by enclosures or cultivation of any kind, to the northward of the
-ancient Burgh of Saint Magnus. The plain at the foot of the hill was
-already occupied by numbers of persons who were engaged in making
-preparations for the Fair of Saint Olla, to be held upon the ensuing
-day, and which forms a general rendezvous to all the neighbouring
-islands of Orkney, and is even frequented by many persons from the more
-distant archipelago of Zetland. It is, in the words of the Proclamation,
-"a free Mercat and Fair, holden at the good Burgh of Kirkwall on the
-third of August, being Saint Olla's day," and continuing for an
-indefinite space thereafter, extending from three days to a week, and
-upwards. The fair is of great antiquity, and derives its name from
-Olaus, Olave, Ollaw, the celebrated Monarch of Norway, who, rather by
-the edge of his sword than any milder argument, introduced Christianity
-into those isles, and was respected as the patron of Kirkwall some time
-before he shared that honour with Saint Magnus the Martyr.
-
-It was no part of Cleveland's purpose to mingle in the busy scene which
-was here going on; and, turning their route to the left, they soon
-ascended into undisturbed solitude, save where the grouse, more
-plentiful in Orkney, perhaps, than in any other part of the British
-dominions, rose in covey, and went off before them.[29] Having continued
-to ascend till they had wellnigh reached the summit of the conical
-hill, both turned round, as with one consent, to look at and admire the
-prospect beneath.
-
-The lively bustle which extended between the foot of the hill and the
-town, gave life and variety to that part of the scene; then was seen the
-town itself, out of which arose, like a great mass, superior in
-proportion as it seemed to the whole burgh, the ancient Cathedral of
-Saint Magnus, of the heaviest order of Gothic architecture, but grand,
-solemn, and stately, the work of a distant age, and of a powerful hand.
-The quay, with the shipping, lent additional vivacity to the scene; and
-not only the whole beautiful bay, which lies betwixt the promontories of
-Inganess and Quanterness, at the bottom of which Kirkwall is situated,
-but all the sea, so far as visible, and in particular the whole strait
-betwixt the island of Shapinsha and that called Pomona, or the Mainland,
-was covered and enlivened by a variety of boats and small vessels,
-freighted from distant islands to convey passengers or merchandise to
-the Fair of Saint Olla.
-
-Having attained the point by which this fair and busy prospect was most
-completely commanded, each of the strangers, in seaman fashion, had
-recourse to his spy-glass, to assist the naked eye in considering the
-bay of Kirkwall, and the numerous vessels by which it was traversed. But
-the attention of the two companions seemed to be arrested by different
-objects. That of Bunce, or Altamont, as he chose to call himself, was
-riveted to the armed sloop, where, conspicuous by her square rigging and
-length of beam, with the English jack and pennon, which they had the
-precaution to keep flying, she lay among the merchant vessels, as
-distinguished from them by the trim neatness of her appearance, as a
-trained soldier amongst a crowd of clowns.
-
-"Yonder she lies," said Bunce; "I wish to God she was in the bay of
-Honduras--you Captain, on the quarter-deck, I your lieutenant, and
-Fletcher quarter-master, and fifty stout fellows under us--I should not
-wish to see these blasted heaths and rocks again for a while!--And
-Captain you shall soon be. The old brute Goffe gets drunk as a lord
-every day, swaggers, and shoots, and cuts, among the crew; and, besides,
-he has quarrelled with the people here so damnably, that they will
-scarce let water or provisions go on board of us, and we expect an open
-breach every day."
-
-As Bunce received no answer, he turned short round on his companion,
-and, perceiving his attention otherwise engaged, exclaimed,--"What the
-devil is the matter with you? or what can you see in all that trumpery
-small-craft, which is only loaded with stock-fish, and ling, and smoked
-geese, and tubs of butter that is worse than tallow?--the cargoes of the
-whole lumped together would not be worth the flash of a pistol.--No, no,
-give me such a chase as we might see from the mast-head off the island
-of Trinidado. Your Don, rolling as deep in the water as a grampus,
-deep-loaden with rum, sugar, and bales of tobacco, and all the rest
-ingots, moidores, and gold dust; then set all sail, clear the deck,
-stand to quarters, up with the Jolly Roger[30]--we near her--we make
-her out to be well manned and armed"----
-
-"Twenty guns on her lower deck," said Cleveland.
-
-"Forty, if you will," retorted Bunce, "and we have but ten
-mounted--never mind. The Don blazes away--never mind yet, my brave
-lads--run her alongside, and on board with you--to work, with your
-grenadoes, your cutlasses, pole-axes, and pistols--The Don cries
-Misericordia, and we share the cargo without _co licencio, Seignior_!"
-
-"By my faith," said Cleveland, "thou takest so kindly to the trade, that
-all the world may see that no honest man was spoiled when you were made
-a pirate. But you shall not prevail on me to go farther in the devil's
-road with you; for you know yourself that what is got over his back is
-spent--you wot how. In a week, or a month at most, the rum and the sugar
-are out, the bales of tobacco have become smoke, the moidores, ingots,
-and gold dust, have got out of our hands, into those of the quiet,
-honest, conscientious folks, who dwell at Port Royal and elsewhere--wink
-hard on our trade as long as we have money, but not a jot beyond. Then
-we have cold looks, and it may be a hint is given to the Judge Marshal;
-for, when our pockets are worth nothing, our honest friends, rather than
-want, will make money upon our heads. Then comes a high gallows and a
-short halter, and so dies the Gentleman Rover. I tell thee, I will leave
-this trade; and, when I turn my glass from one of these barks and boats
-to another, there is not the worst of them which I would not row for
-life, rather than continue to be what I have been. These poor men make
-the sea a means of honest livelihood and friendly communication between
-shore and shore, for the mutual benefit of the inhabitants; but we have
-made it a road to the ruin of others, and to our own destruction here
-and in eternity.--I am determined to turn honest man, and use this life
-no longer!"
-
-"And where will your honesty take up its abode, if it please you?" said
-Bunce.--"You have broken the laws of every nation, and the hand of the
-law will detect and crush you wherever you may take refuge.--Cleveland,
-I speak to you more seriously than I am wont to do. I have had my
-reflections, too; and they have been bad enough, though they lasted but
-a few minutes, to spoil me weeks of joviality. But here is the
-matter,--what can we do but go on as we have done, unless we have a
-direct purpose of adorning the yard-arm?"
-
-"We may claim the benefit of the proclamation to those of our sort who
-come in and surrender," said Cleveland.
-
-"Umph!" answered his companion, dryly; "the date of that day of grace
-has been for some time over, and they may take the penalty or grant the
-pardon at their pleasure. Were I you, I would not put my neck in such a
-venture."
-
-"Why, others have been admitted but lately to favour, and why should not
-I?" said Cleveland.
-
-"Ay," replied his associate, "Harry Glasby and some others have been
-spared; but Glasby did what was called good service, in betraying his
-comrades, and retaking the Jolly Fortune; and that I think you would
-scorn, even to be revenged of the brute Goffe yonder."
-
-"I would die a thousand times sooner," said Cleveland.
-
-"I will be sworn for it," said Bunce; "and the others were forecastle
-fellows--petty larceny rogues, scarce worth the hemp it would have cost
-to hang them. But your name has stood too high amongst the gentlemen of
-fortune for you to get off so easily. You are the prime buck of the
-herd, and will be marked accordingly."
-
-"And why so, I pray you?" said Cleveland; "you know well enough my aim,
-Jack."
-
-"Frederick, if you please," said Bunce.
-
-"The devil take your folly!--Prithee keep thy wit, and let us be grave
-for a moment."
-
-"For a moment--be it so," said Bunce; "but I feel the spirit of Altamont
-coming fast upon me,--I have been a grave man for ten minutes already."
-
-"Be so then for a little longer," said Cleveland; "I know, Jack, that
-you really love me; and, since we have come thus far in this talk, I
-will trust you entirely. Now tell me, why should I be refused the
-benefit of this gracious proclamation? I have borne a rough outside, as
-thou knowest; but, in time of need, I can show the numbers of lives
-which I have been the means of saving, the property which I have
-restored to those who owned it, when, without my intercession, it would
-have been wantonly destroyed. In short, Bunce, I can show"----
-
-"That you were as gentle a thief as Robin Hood himself," said Bunce;
-"and, for that reason, I, Fletcher, and the better sort among us, love
-you, as one who saves the character of us Gentlemen Rovers from utter
-reprobation.--Well, suppose your pardon made out, what are you to do
-next?--what class in society will receive you?--with whom will you
-associate? Old Drake, in Queen Bess's time, could plunder Peru and
-Mexico without a line of commission to show for it, and, blessed be her
-memory! he was knighted for it on his return. And there was Hal Morgan,
-the Welshman, nearer our time, in the days of merry King Charles,
-brought all his gettings home, had his estate and his country-house, and
-who but he? But that is all ended now--once a pirate, and an outcast for
-ever. The poor devil may go and live, shunned and despised by every one,
-in some obscure seaport, with such part of his guilty earnings as
-courtiers and clerks leave him--for pardons do not pass the seals for
-nothing;--and, when he takes his walk along the pier, if a stranger
-asks, who is the down-looking, swarthy, melancholy man, for whom all
-make way, as if he brought the plague in his person, the answer shall
-be, that is such a one, the pardoned pirate!--No honest man will speak
-to him, no woman of repute will give him her hand."
-
-"Your picture is too highly coloured, Jack," said Cleveland, suddenly
-interrupting his friend; "there are women--there is one at least, that
-would be true to her lover, even if he were what you have described."
-
-Bunce was silent for a space, and looked fixedly at his friend. "By my
-soul!" he said, at length, "I begin to think myself a conjurer. Unlikely
-as it all was, I could not help suspecting from the beginning that there
-was a girl in the case. Why, this is worse than Prince Volscius in love,
-ha! ha! ha!"
-
-"Laugh as you will," said Cleveland, "it is true;--there is a maiden who
-is contented to love me, pirate as I am; and I will fairly own to you,
-Jack, that, though I have often at times detested our roving life, and
-myself for following it, yet I doubt if I could have found resolution to
-make the break which I have now resolved on, but for her sake."
-
-"Why, then, God-a-mercy!" replied Bunce, "there is no speaking sense to
-a madman; and love in one of our trade, Captain, is little better than
-lunacy. The girl must be a rare creature, for a wise man to risk hanging
-for her. But, harkye, may she not be a little touched, as well as
-yourself?--and is it not sympathy that has done it? She cannot be one of
-our ordinary cockatrices, but a girl of conduct and character."
-
-"Both are as undoubted as that she is the most beautiful and bewitching
-creature whom the eye ever opened upon," answered Cleveland.
-
-"And she loves thee, knowing thee, most noble Captain, to be a commander
-among those gentlemen of fortune, whom the vulgar call pirates?"
-
-"Even so--I am assured of it," said Cleveland.
-
-"Why, then," answered Bunce, "she is either mad in good earnest, as I
-said before, or she does not know what a pirate is."
-
-"You are right in the last point," replied Cleveland. "She has been bred
-in such remote simplicity, and utter ignorance of what is evil, that she
-compares our occupation with that of the old Norsemen, who swept sea and
-haven with their victorious galleys, established colonies, conquered
-countries, and took the name of Sea-Kings."
-
-"And a better one it is than that of pirate, and comes much to the same
-purpose, I dare say," said Bunce. "But this must be a mettled
-wench!--why did you not bring her aboard? methinks it was pity to baulk
-her fancy."
-
-"And do you think," said Cleveland, "that I could so utterly play the
-part of a fallen spirit as to avail myself of her enthusiastic error,
-and bring an angel of beauty and innocence acquainted with such a hell
-as exists on board of yonder infernal ship of ours?--I tell you, my
-friend, that, were all my former sins doubled in weight and in dye, such
-a villainy would have outglared and outweighed them all."
-
-"Why, then, Captain Cleveland," said his confident, "methinks it was but
-a fool's part to come hither at all. The news must one day have gone
-abroad, that the celebrated pirate Captain Cleveland, with his good
-sloop the Revenge, had been lost on the Mainland of Zetland, and all
-hands perished; so you would have remained hid both from friend and
-enemy, and might have married your pretty Zetlander, and converted your
-sash and scarf into fishing-nets, and your cutlass into a harpoon, and
-swept the seas for fish instead of florins."
-
-"And so I had determined," said the Captain; "but a Jagger, as they call
-them here, like a meddling, peddling thief as he is, brought down
-intelligence to Zetland of your lying here, and I was fain to set off,
-to see if you were the consort of whom I had told them, long before I
-thought of leaving the roving trade."
-
-"Ay," said Bunce, "and so far you judged well. For, as you had heard of
-our being at Kirkwall, so we should have soon learned that you were at
-Zetland; and some of us for friendship, some for hatred, and some for
-fear of your playing Harry Glasby upon us, would have come down for the
-purpose of getting you into our company again."
-
-"I suspected as much," said the Captain, "and therefore was fain to
-decline the courteous offer of a friend, who proposed to bring me here
-about this time. Besides, Jack, I recollected, that, as you say, my
-pardon will not pass the seals without money, my own was waxing low--no
-wonder, thou knowest I was never a churl of it--And so"----
-
-"And so you came for your share of the cobs?" replied his friend--"It
-was wisely done; and we shared honourably--so far Goffe has acted up to
-articles, it must be allowed. But keep your purpose of leaving him close
-in your breast, for I dread his playing you some dog's trick or other;
-for he certainly thought himself sure of your share, and will hardly
-forgive your coming alive to disappoint him."
-
-"I fear him not," said Cleveland, "and he knows that well. I would I
-were as well clear of the consequences of having been his comrade, as I
-hold myself to be of all those which may attend his ill-will. Another
-unhappy job I may be troubled with--I hurt a young fellow, who has been
-my plague for some time, in an unhappy brawl that chanced the morning I
-left Zetland."
-
-"Is he dead?" asked Bunce: "It is a more serious question here, than it
-would be on the Grand Caimains or the Bahama Isles, where a brace or two
-of fellows may be shot in a morning, and no more heard of, or asked
-about them, than if they were so many wood-pigeons. But here it may be
-otherwise; so I hope you have not made your friend immortal."
-
-"I hope not," said the Captain, "though my anger has been fatal to those
-who have given me less provocation. To say the truth, I was sorry for
-the lad notwithstanding, and especially as I was forced to leave him in
-mad keeping."
-
-"In mad keeping?" said Bunce; "why, what means that?"
-
-"You shall hear," replied his friend. "In the first place, you are to
-know, this young man came suddenly on me while I was trying to gain
-Minna's ear for a private interview before I set sail, that I might
-explain my purpose to her. Now, to be broken in on by the accursed
-rudeness of this young fellow at such a moment"----
-
-"The interruption deserved death," said Bunce, "by all the laws of love
-and honour!"
-
-"A truce with your ends of plays, Jack, and listen one moment.--The
-brisk youth thought proper to retort, when I commanded him to be gone. I
-am not, thou knowest, very patient, and enforced my commands with a
-blow, which he returned as roundly. We struggled, till I became desirous
-that we should part at any rate, which I could only effect by a stroke
-of my poniard, which, according to old use, I have, thou knowest, always
-about me. I had scarce done this when I repented; but there was no time
-to think of any thing save escape and concealment, for, if the house
-rose on me, I was lost; as the fiery old man, who is head of the family,
-would have done justice on me had I been his brother. I took the body
-hastily on my shoulders to carry it down to the sea-shore, with the
-purpose of throwing it into a _riva_, as they call them, or chasm of
-great depth, where it would have been long enough in being discovered.
-This done, I intended to jump into the boat which I had lying ready, and
-set sail for Kirkwall. But, as I was walking hastily towards the beach
-with my burden, the poor young fellow groaned, and so apprized me that
-the wound had not been instantly fatal. I was by this time well
-concealed amongst the rocks, and, far from desiring to complete my
-crime, I laid the young man on the ground, and was doing what I could to
-stanch the blood, when suddenly an old woman stood before me. She was a
-person whom I had frequently seen while in Zetland, and to whom they
-ascribe the character of a sorceress, or, as the negroes say, an Obi
-woman. She demanded the wounded man of me, and I was too much pressed
-for time to hesitate in complying with her request. More she was about
-to say to me, when we heard the voice of a silly old man, belonging to
-the family, singing at some distance. She then pressed her finger on her
-lip as a sign of secrecy, whistled very low, and a shapeless, deformed
-brute of a dwarf coming to her assistance, they carried the wounded man
-into one of the caverns with which the place abounds, and I got to my
-boat and to sea with all expedition. If that old hag be, as they say,
-connected with the King of the Air, she favoured me that morning with a
-turn of her calling; for not even the West Indian tornadoes, which we
-have weathered together, made a wilder racket than the squall that drove
-me so far out of our course, that, without a pocket-compass, which I
-chanced to have about me, I should never have recovered the Fair Isle,
-for which we run, and where I found a brig which brought me to this
-place. But, whether the old woman meant me weal or woe, here we came at
-length in safety from the sea, and here I remain in doubts and
-difficulties of more kinds than one."
-
-"O, the devil take the Sumburgh-head," said Bunce, "or whatever they
-call the rock that you knocked our clever little Revenge against!"
-
-"Do not say _I_ knocked her on the rock," said Cleveland; "have I not
-told you fifty times, if the cowards had not taken to their boat, though
-I showed them the danger, and told them they would all be swamped, which
-happened the instant they cast off the painter, she would have been
-afloat at this moment? Had they stood by me and the ship, their lives
-would have been saved; had I gone with them, mine would have been lost;
-who can say which is for the best?"
-
-"Well," replied his friend, "I know your case now, and can the better
-help and advise. I will be true to you, Clement, as the blade to the
-hilt; but I cannot think that you should leave us. As the old Scottish
-song says, 'Wae's my heart that we should sunder!'--But come, you will
-aboard with us to-day, at any rate?"
-
-"I have no other place of refuge," said Cleveland, with a sigh.
-
-He then once more ran his eyes over the bay, directing his spy-glass
-upon several of the vessels which traversed its surface, in hopes,
-doubtless, of discerning the vessel of Magnus Troil, and then followed
-his companion down the hill in silence.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[29] It is very curious that the grouse, plenty in Orkney as the text
-declares, should be totally unknown in the neighbouring archipelago of
-Zetland, which is only about sixty miles distance, with the Fair Isle as
-a step between.
-
-[30] The pirates gave this name to the black flag, which, with many
-horrible devices to enhance its terrors, was their favourite ensign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-  I strive like to the vessel in the tide-way,
-  Which, lacking favouring breeze, hath not the power
-  To stem the powerful current.--Even so,
-  Resolving daily to forsake my vices,
-  Habits, strong circumstance, renew'd temptation,
-  Sweep me to sea again.--O heavenly breath,
-  Fill thou my sails, and aid the feeble vessel,
-  Which ne'er can reach the blessed port without thee!
-
-                                _'Tis Odds when Evens meet._
-
-
-Cleveland, with his friend Bunce, descended the hill for a time in
-silence, until at length the latter renewed their conversation.
-
-"You have taken this fellow's wound more on your conscience than you
-need, Captain--I have known you do more, and think less on't."
-
-"Not on such slight provocation, Jack," replied Cleveland. "Besides, the
-lad saved my life; and, say that I requited him the favour, still we
-should not have met on such evil terms; but I trust that he may receive
-aid from that woman, who has certainly strange skill in simples."
-
-"And over simpletons, Captain," said his friend, "in which class I must
-e'en put you down, if you think more on this subject. That you should be
-made a fool of by a young woman, why it is many an honest man's
-case;--but to puzzle your pate about the mummeries of an old one, is far
-too great a folly to indulge a friend in. Talk to me of your Minna,
-since you so call her, as much as you will; but you have no title to
-trouble your faithful squire-errant with your old mumping magician. And
-now here we are once more amongst the booths and tents, which these good
-folk are pitching--let us look, and see whether we may not find some fun
-and frolic amongst them. In merry England, now, you would have seen, on
-such an occasion, two or three bands of strollers, as many fire-eaters
-and conjurers, as many shows of wild beasts; but, amongst these grave
-folk, there is nothing but what savours of business and of
-commodity--no, not so much as a single squall from my merry gossip Punch
-and his rib Joan."
-
-As Bunce thus spoke, Cleveland cast his eyes on some very gay clothes,
-which, with other articles, hung out upon one of the booths, that had a
-good deal more of ornament and exterior decoration than the rest. There
-was in front a small sign of canvass painted, announcing the variety of
-goods which the owner of the booth, Bryce Snailsfoot, had on sale, and
-the reasonable prices at which he proposed to offer them to the public.
-For the further gratification of the spectator, the sign bore on the
-opposite side an emblematic device, resembling our first parents in
-their vegetable garments, with this legend--
-
-  "Poor sinners whom the snake deceives,
-  Are fain to cover them with leaves.
-  Zetland hath no leaves, 'tis true,
-  Because that trees are none, or few;
-  But we have flax and taits of woo',
-  For linen cloth and wadmaal blue;
-  And we have many of foreign knacks
-  Of finer waft, than woo' or flax.
-  Ye gallanty Lambmas lads,[31] appear,
-  And bring your Lambmas sisters here;
-  Bryce Snailsfoot spares not cost or care,
-  To pleasure every gentle pair."
-
-While Cleveland was perusing these goodly rhymes, which brought to his
-mind Claud Halcro, to whom, as the poet laureate of the island, ready
-with his talent alike in the service of the great and small, they
-probably owed their origin, the worthy proprietor of the booth, having
-cast his eye upon him, began with hasty and trembling hand to remove
-some of the garments, which, as the sale did not commence till the
-ensuing day, he had exposed either for the purpose of airing them, or to
-excite the admiration of the spectators.
-
-"By my word, Captain," whispered Bunce to Cleveland, "you must have had
-that fellow under your clutches one day, and he remembers one gripe of
-your talons, and fears another. See how fast he is packing his wares out
-of sight, so soon as he set eyes on you!"
-
-"_His_ wares!" said Cleveland, on looking more attentively at his
-proceedings; "By Heaven, they are my clothes which I left in a chest at
-Jarlshof when the Revenge was lost there--Why, Bryce Snailsfoot, thou
-thief, dog, and villain, what means this? Have you not made enough of us
-by cheap buying and dear selling, that you have seized on my trunk and
-wearing apparel?"
-
-Bryce Snailsfoot, who probably would otherwise not have been willing to
-_see_ his friend the Captain, was now by the vivacity of his attack
-obliged to pay attention to him. He first whispered to his little
-foot-page, by whom, as we have already noticed, he was usually attended,
-"Run to the town-council-house, jarto, and tell the provost and bailies
-they maun send some of their officers speedily, for here is like to be
-wild wark in the fair."
-
-So having said, and having seconded his commands by a push on the
-shoulder of his messenger, which sent him spinning out of the shop as
-fast as heels could carry him, Bryce Snailsfoot turned to his old
-acquaintance, and, with that amplification of words and exaggeration of
-manner, which in Scotland is called "making a phrase," he
-ejaculated--"The Lord be gude to us! the worthy Captain Cleveland, that
-we were all sae grieved about, returned to relieve our hearts again! Wat
-have my cheeks been for you," (here Bryce wiped his eyes,) "and blithe
-am I now to see you restored to your sorrowing friends!"
-
-"My sorrowing friends, you rascal!" said Cleveland; "I will give you
-better cause for sorrow than ever you had on my account, if you do not
-tell me instantly where you stole all my clothes."
-
-"Stole!" ejaculated Bryce, casting up his eyes; "now the Powers be gude
-to us!--the poor gentleman has lost his reason in that weary gale of
-wind."
-
-"Why, you insolent rascal!" said Cleveland, grasping the cane which he
-carried, "do you think to bamboozle me with your impudence? As you would
-have a whole head on your shoulders, and your bones in a whole skin, one
-minute longer, tell me where the devil you stole my wearing apparel?"
-
-Bryce Snailsfoot ejaculated once more a repetition of the word "Stole!
-Now Heaven be gude to us!" but at the same time, conscious that the
-Captain was likely to be sudden in execution, cast an anxious look to
-the town, to see the loitering aid of the civil power advance to his
-rescue.
-
-"I insist on an instant answer," said the Captain, with upraised weapon,
-"or else I will beat you to a mummy, and throw out all your frippery
-upon the common!"
-
-Meanwhile, Master John Bunce, who considered the whole affair as an
-excellent good jest, and not the worse one that it made Cleveland very
-angry, seized hold of the Captain's arm, and, without any idea of
-ultimately preventing him from executing his threats, interfered just so
-much as was necessary to protract a discussion so amusing.
-
-"Nay, let the honest man speak," he said, "messmate; he has as fine a
-cozening face as ever stood on a knavish pair of shoulders, and his are
-the true flourishes of eloquence, in the course of which men snip the
-cloth an inch too short. Now, I wish you to consider that you are both
-of a trade,--he measures bales by the yard, and you by the sword,--and
-so I will not have him chopped up till he has had a fair chase."
-
-"You are a fool!" said Cleveland, endeavouring to shake his friend
-off.--"Let me go! for, by Heaven, I will be foul of him!"
-
-"Hold him fast," said the pedlar, "good dear merry gentleman, hold him
-fast!"
-
-"Then say something for yourself," said Bunce; "use your gob-box, man;
-patter away, or, by my soul, I will let him loose on you!"
-
-"He says I stole these goods," said Bryce, who now saw himself run so
-close, that pleading to the charge became inevitable. "Now, how could I
-steal them, when they are mine by fair and lawful purchase?"
-
-"Purchase! you beggarly vagrant!" said Cleveland; "from whom did you
-dare to buy my clothes? or who had the impudence to sell them?"
-
-"Just that worthy professor Mrs. Swertha, the housekeeper at Jarlshof,
-who acted as your executor," said the pedlar; "and a grieved heart she
-had."
-
-"And so she was resolved to make a heavy pocket of it, I suppose," said
-the Captain; "but how did she dare to sell the things left in her
-charge?"
-
-"Why, she acted all for the best, good woman!" said the pedlar, anxious
-to protract the discussion until the arrival of succours; "and, if you
-will but hear reason, I am ready to account with you for the chest and
-all that it holds."
-
-"Speak out, then, and let us have none of thy damnable evasions," said
-Captain Cleveland; "if you show ever so little purpose of being somewhat
-honest for once in thy life, I will not beat thee."
-
-"Why, you see, noble Captain," said the pedlar,--and then muttered to
-himself, "plague on Pate Paterson's cripple knee, they will be waiting
-for him, hirpling useless body!" then resumed aloud--"The country, you
-see, is in great perplexity,--great perplexity, indeed,--much
-perplexity, truly. There was your honour missing, that was loved by
-great and small--clean missing--nowhere to be heard of--a lost
-man--umquhile--dead--defunct!"
-
-"You shall find me alive to your cost, you scoundrel!" said the
-irritated Captain.
-
-"Weel, but take patience,--ye will not hear a body speak," said the
-Jagger.--"Then there was the lad Mordaunt Mertoun"----
-
-"Ha!" said the Captain, "what of him?"
-
-"Cannot be heard of," said the pedlar; "clean and clear tint,--a gone
-youth;--fallen, it is thought, from the craig into the sea--he was aye
-venturous. I have had dealings with him for furs and feathers, whilk he
-swapped against powder and shot, and the like; and now he has worn out
-from among us--clean retired--utterly vanished, like the last puff of an
-auld wife's tobacco pipe."
-
-"But what is all this to the Captain's clothes, my dear friend?" said
-Bunce; "I must presently beat you myself unless you come to the point."
-
-"Weel, weel,--patience, patience," said Bryce, waving his hand; "you
-will get all time enough. Weel, there are two folks gane, as I said,
-forbye the distress at Burgh-Westra about Mistress Minna's sad
-ailment"----
-
-"Bring not _her_ into your buffoonery, sirrah," said Cleveland, in a
-tone of anger, not so loud, but far deeper and more concentrated than he
-had hitherto used; "for, if you name her with less than reverence, I
-will crop the ears out of your head, and make you swallow them on the
-spot!"
-
-"He, he, he!" faintly laughed the Jagger; "that were a pleasant jest!
-you are pleased to be witty. But, to say naething of Burgh-Westra, there
-is the carle at Jarlshof, he that was the auld Mertoun, Mordaunt's
-father, whom men thought as fast bound to the place he dwelt in as the
-Sumburgh-head itsell, naething maun serve him but he is lost as weel as
-the lave about whom I have spoken. And there's Magnus Troil (wi' favour
-be he named) taking horse; and there is pleasant Maister Claud Halcro
-taking boat, whilk he steers worst of any man in Zetland, his head
-running on rambling rhymes; and the Factor body is on the stir--the
-Scots Factor,--him that is aye speaking of dikes and delving, and such
-unprofitable wark, which has naething of merchandise in it, and he is on
-the lang trot, too; so that ye might say, upon a manner, the tae half of
-the Mainland of Zetland is lost, and the other is running to and fro
-seeking it--awfu' times!"
-
-Captain Cleveland had subdued his passion, and listened to this tirade
-of the worthy man of merchandise, with impatience indeed, yet not
-without the hope of hearing something that might concern him. But his
-companion was now become impatient in his turn:--"The clothes!" he
-exclaimed, "the clothes, the clothes, the clothes!" accompanying each
-repetition of the words with a flourish of his cane, the dexterity of
-which consisted in coming mighty near the Jagger's ears without actually
-touching them.
-
-The Jagger, shrinking from each of these demonstrations, continued to
-exclaim, "Nay, sir--good sir--worthy sir--for the clothes--I found the
-worthy dame in great distress on account of her old maister, and on
-account of her young maister, and on account of worthy Captain
-Cleveland; and because of the distress of the worthy Fowd's family, and
-the trouble of the great Fowd himself,--and because of the Factor, and
-in respect of Claud Halcro, and on other accounts and respects. Also we
-mingled our sorrows and our tears with a bottle, as the holy text hath
-it, and called in the Ranzelman to our council, a worthy man, Niel
-Ronaldson by name, who hath a good reputation."
-
-Here another flourish of the cane came so very near that it partly
-touched his ear. The Jagger started back, and the truth, or that which
-he desired should be considered as such, bolted from him without more
-circumlocution; as a cork, after much unnecessary buzzing and fizzing,
-springs forth from a bottle of spruce beer.
-
-"In brief, what the deil mair would you have of it?--the woman sold me
-the kist of clothes--they are mine by purchase, and that is what I will
-live and die upon."
-
-"In other words," said Cleveland, "this greedy old hag had the impudence
-to sell what was none of hers; and you, honest Bryce Snailsfoot, had the
-assurance to be the purchaser?"
-
-"Ou dear, Captain," said the conscientious pedlar, "what wad ye hae had
-twa poor folk to do? There was yoursell gane that aught the things, and
-Maister Mordaunt was gane that had them in keeping, and the things were
-but damply put up, where they were rotting with moth and mould, and"----
-
-"And so this old thief sold them, and you bought them, I suppose, just
-to keep them from spoiling?" said Cleveland.
-
-"Weel then," said the merchant, "I'm thinking, noble Captain, that wad
-be just the gate of it."
-
-"Well then, hark ye, you impudent scoundrel," said the Captain. "I do
-not wish to dirty my fingers with you, or to make any disturbance in
-this place"----
-
-"Good reason for that, Captain--aha!" said the Jagger, slyly.
-
-"I will break your bones if you speak another word," replied Cleveland.
-"Take notice--I offer you fair terms--give me back the black leathern
-pocket-book with the lock upon it, and the purse with the doubloons,
-with some few of the clothes I want, and keep the rest in the devil's
-name!"
-
-"Doubloons!!!"--exclaimed the Jagger, with an exaltation of voice
-intended to indicate the utmost extremity of surprise,--"What do I ken
-of doubloons? my dealing was for doublets, and not for doubloons--If
-there were doubloons in the kist, doubtless Swertha will have them in
-safe keeping for your honour--the damp wouldna harm the gold, ye ken."
-
-"Give me back my pocket-book and my goods, you rascally thief," said
-Cleveland, "or without a word more I will beat your brains out!"
-
-The wily Jagger, casting eye around him, saw that succour was near, in
-the shape of a party of officers, six in number; for several rencontres
-with the crew of the pirate had taught the magistrates of Kirkwall to
-strengthen their police parties when these strangers were in question.
-
-"Ye had better keep the _thief_ to suit yoursell, honoured Captain,"
-said the Jagger, emboldened by the approach of the civil power; "for wha
-kens how a' these fine goods and bonny-dies were come by?"
-
-This was uttered with such provoking slyness of look and tone, that
-Cleveland made no further delay, but, seizing upon the Jagger by the
-collar, dragged him over his temporary counter, which was, with all the
-goods displayed thereon, overset in the scuffle; and, holding him with
-one hand, inflicted on him with the other a severe beating with his
-cane. All this was done so suddenly and with such energy, that Bryce
-Snailsfoot, though rather a stout man, was totally surprised by the
-vivacity of the attack, and made scarce any other effort at extricating
-himself than by roaring for assistance like a bull-calf. The "loitering
-aid" having at length come up, the officers made an effort to seize on
-Cleveland, and by their united exertions succeeded in compelling him to
-quit hold of the pedlar, in order to defend himself from their assault.
-This he did with infinite strength, resolution, and dexterity, being at
-the same time well seconded by his friend Jack Bunce, who had seen with
-glee the drubbing sustained by the pedlar, and now combated tightly to
-save his companion from the consequences. But, as there had been for
-some time a growing feud between the townspeople and the crew of the
-Rover, the former, provoked by the insolent deportment of the seamen,
-had resolved to stand by each other, and to aid the civil power upon
-such occasions of riot as should occur in future; and so many assistants
-came up to the rescue of the constables, that Cleveland, after fighting
-most manfully, was at length brought to the ground and made prisoner.
-His more fortunate companion had escaped by speed of foot, as soon as he
-saw that the day must needs be determined against them.
-
-The proud heart of Cleveland, which, even in its perversion, had in its
-feelings something of original nobleness, was like to burst, when he
-felt himself borne down in this unworthy brawl--dragged into the town as
-a prisoner, and hurried through the streets towards the Council-house,
-where the magistrates of the burgh were then seated in council. The
-probability of imprisonment, with all its consequences, rushed also upon
-his mind, and he cursed an hundred times the folly which had not rather
-submitted to the pedlar's knavery, than involved him in so perilous an
-embarrassment.
-
-But just as they approached the door of the Council-house, which is
-situated in the middle of the little town, the face of matters was
-suddenly changed by a new and unexpected incident.
-
-Bunce, who had designed, by his precipitate retreat, to serve as well
-his friend as himself, had hied him to the haven, where the boat of the
-Rover was then lying, and called the cockswain and boat's crew to the
-assistance of Cleveland. They now appeared on the scene--fierce
-desperadoes, as became their calling, with features bronzed by the
-tropical sun under which they had pursued it. They rushed at once
-amongst the crowd, laying about them with their stretchers; and, forcing
-their way up to Cleveland, speedily delivered him from the hands of the
-officers, who were totally unprepared to resist an attack so furious and
-so sudden, and carried him off in triumph towards the quay,--two or
-three of their number facing about from time to time to keep back the
-crowd, whose efforts to recover the prisoner were the less violent, that
-most of the seamen were armed with pistols and cutlasses, as well as
-with the less lethal weapons which alone they had as yet made use of.
-
-They gained their boat in safety, and jumped into it, carrying along
-with them Cleveland, to whom circumstances seemed to offer no other
-refuge, and pushed off for their vessel, singing in chorus to their oars
-an old ditty, of which the natives of Kirkwall could only hear the first
-stanza:
-
-  "Robin Rover
-    Said to his crew,
-  'Up with the black flag,
-    Down with the blue!--
-  Fire on the main-top,
-    Fire on the bow,
-  Fire on the gun-deck,
-    Fire down below!'"
-
-The wild chorus of their voices was heard long after the words ceased to
-be intelligible.--And thus was the pirate Cleveland again thrown almost
-involuntarily amongst those desperate associates, from whom he had so
-often resolved to detach himself.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[31] It was anciently a custom at Saint Olla's Fair at Kirkwall, that
-the young people of the lower class, and of either sex, associated in
-pairs for the period of the Fair, during which the couple were termed
-Lambmas brother and sister. It is easy to conceive that the exclusive
-familiarity arising out of this custom was liable to abuse, the rather
-that it is said little scandal was attached to the indiscretions which
-it occasioned.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-  Parental love, my friend, has power o'er wisdom,
-  And is the charm, which, like the falconer's lure,
-  Can bring from heaven the highest soaring spirits.--
-  So, when famed Prosper doff'd his magic robe,
-  It was Miranda pluck'd it from his shoulders.
-
-                                                 _Old Play._
-
-
-Our wandering narrative must now return to Mordaunt Mertoun.--We left
-him in the perilous condition of one who has received a severe wound,
-and we now find him in the condition of a convalescent--pale, indeed,
-and feeble from the loss of much blood, and the effects of a fever which
-had followed the injury, but so far fortunate, that the weapon, having
-glanced on the ribs, had only occasioned a great effusion of blood,
-without touching any vital part, and was now wellnigh healed; so
-efficacious were the vulnerary plants and salves with which it had been
-treated by the sage Norna of Fitful-head.
-
-The matron and her patient now sat together in a dwelling in a remote
-island. He had been transported, during his illness, and ere he had
-perfect consciousness, first to her singular habitation near
-Fitful-head, and thence to her present abode, by one of the
-fishing-boats on the station of Burgh-Westra. For such was the command
-possessed by Norna over the superstitious character of her countrymen,
-that she never failed to find faithful agents to execute her commands,
-whatever these happened to be; and, as her orders were generally given
-under injunctions of the strictest secrecy, men reciprocally wondered at
-occurrences, which had in fact been produced by their own agency, and
-that of their neighbours, and in which, had they communicated freely
-with each other, no shadow of the marvellous would have remained.
-
-Mordaunt was now seated by the fire, in an apartment indifferently well
-furnished, having a book in his hand, which he looked upon from time to
-time with signs of ennui and impatience; feelings which at length so far
-overcame him, that, flinging the volume on the table, he fixed his eyes
-on the fire, and assumed the attitude of one who is engaged in
-unpleasant meditation.
-
-Norna, who sat opposite to him, and appeared busy in the composition of
-some drug or unguent, anxiously left her seat, and, approaching
-Mordaunt, felt his pulse, making at the same time the most affectionate
-enquiries whether he felt any sudden pain, and where it was seated. The
-manner in which Mordaunt replied to these earnest enquiries, although
-worded so as to express gratitude for her kindness, while he disclaimed
-any feeling of indisposition, did not seem to give satisfaction to the
-Pythoness.
-
-"Ungrateful boy!" she said, "for whom I have done so much; you whom I
-have rescued, by my power and skill, from the very gates of death,--are
-you already so weary of me, that you cannot refrain from showing how
-desirous you are to spend, at a distance from me, the very first
-intelligent days of the life which I have restored you?"
-
-"You do me injustice, my kind preserver," replied Mordaunt; "I am not
-tired of your society; but I have duties which recall me to ordinary
-life."
-
-"Duties!" repeated Norna; "and what duties can or ought to interfere
-with the gratitude which you owe to me?--Duties! Your thoughts are on
-the use of your gun, or on clambering among the rocks in quest of
-sea-fowl. For these exercises your strength doth not yet fit you; and
-yet these are the duties to which you are so anxious to return!"
-
-"Not so, my good and kind mistress," said Mordaunt.--"To name one duty,
-out of many, which makes me seek to leave you, now that my strength
-permits, let me mention that of a son to his father."
-
-"To your father!" said Norna, with a laugh that had something in it
-almost frantic. "O! you know not how we can, in these islands, at once
-cancel such duties! And, for your father," she added, proceeding more
-calmly, "what has he done for you, to deserve the regard and duty you
-speak of?--Is he not the same, who, as you have long since told me, left
-you for so many years poorly nourished among strangers, without
-enquiring whether you were alive or dead, and only sending, from time to
-time, supplies in such fashion, as men relieve the leprous wretch to
-whom they fling alms from a distance? And, in these later years, when he
-had made you the companion of his misery, he has been, by starts your
-pedagogue, by starts your tormentor, but never, Mordaunt, never your
-father."
-
-"Something of truth there is in what you say," replied Mordaunt: "My
-father is not fond; but he is, and has ever been, effectively kind. Men
-have not their affections in their power; and it is a child's duty to be
-grateful for the benefits which he receives, even when coldly bestowed.
-My father has conferred instruction on me, and I am convinced he loves
-me. He is unfortunate; and, even if he loved me not"----
-
-"And he does _not_ love you," said Norna, hastily; "he never loved any
-thing, or any one, save himself. He is unfortunate, but well are his
-misfortunes deserved.--O Mordaunt, you have one parent only,--one
-parent, who loves you as the drops of the heart-blood!"
-
-"I know I have but one parent," replied Mordaunt; "my mother has been
-long dead.--But your words contradict each other."
-
-"They do not--they do not," said Norna, in a paroxysm of the deepest
-feeling; "you have but one parent. Your unhappy mother is not dead--I
-would to God that she were!--but she is not dead. Thy mother is the only
-parent that loves thee; and I--I, Mordaunt," throwing herself on his
-neck, "am that most unhappy--yet most happy mother."
-
-She closed him in a strict and convulsive embrace; and tears, the first,
-perhaps, which she had shed for many years, burst in torrents as she
-sobbed on his neck. Astonished at what he heard, felt, and saw,--moved
-by the excess of her agitation, yet disposed to ascribe this burst of
-passion to insanity,--Mordaunt vainly endeavoured to tranquillize the
-mind of this extraordinary person.
-
-"Ungrateful boy!" she said, "who but a mother would have watched over
-thee as I have watched? From the instant I saw thy father, when he
-little thought by whom he was observed, a space now many years back, I
-knew him well; and, under his charge, I saw you, then a
-stripling,--while Nature, speaking loud in my bosom, assured me, thou
-wert blood of my blood, and bone of my bone. Think how often you have
-wondered to see me, when least expected, in your places of pastime and
-resort! Think how often my eye has watched you on the giddy precipices,
-and muttered those charms which subdue the evil demons, who show
-themselves to the climber on the giddiest point of his path, and force
-him to quit his hold! Did I not hang around thy neck, in pledge of thy
-safety, that chain of gold, which an Elfin King gave to the founder of
-our race? Would I have given that dear gift to any but to the son of my
-bosom?--Mordaunt, my power has done that for thee that a mere mortal
-mother would dread to think of. I have conjured the Mermaid at midnight,
-that thy bark might be prosperous on the Haaf! I have hushed the winds,
-and navies have flapped their empty sails against the mast in
-inactivity, that you might safely indulge your sport upon the crags!"
-
-Mordaunt, perceiving that she was growing yet wilder in her talk,
-endeavoured to frame an answer which should be at once indulgent,
-soothing, and calculated to allay the rising warmth of her imagination.
-
-"Dear Norna," he said, "I have indeed many reasons to call you mother,
-who have bestowed so many benefits upon me; and from me you shall ever
-receive the affection and duty of a child. But the chain you mentioned,
-it has vanished from my neck--I have not seen it since the ruffian
-stabbed me."
-
-"Alas! and can you think of it at this moment?" said Norna, in a
-sorrowful accent.--"But be it so;--and know, it was I took it from thy
-neck, and tied it around the neck of her who is dearest to you; in token
-that the union betwixt you, which has been the only earthly wish which
-I have had the power to form, shall yet, even yet, be accomplished--ay,
-although hell should open to forbid the bans!"
-
-"Alas!" said Mordaunt, with a sigh, "you remember not the difference
-betwixt our situation--her father is wealthy, and of ancient birth."
-
-"Not more wealthy than will be the heir of Norna of Fitful-head,"
-answered the Pythoness--"not of better or more ancient blood than that
-which flows in thy veins, derived from thy mother, the descendant of the
-same Jarls and Sea-Kings from whom Magnus boasts his origin.--Or dost
-thou think, like the pedant and fanatic strangers who have come amongst
-us, that thy blood is dishonoured because my union with thy father did
-not receive the sanction of a priest?--Know, that we were wedded after
-the ancient manner of the Norse--our hands were clasped within the
-circle of Odin,[32] with such deep vows of eternal fidelity, as even the
-laws of these usurping Scots would have sanctioned as equivalent to a
-blessing before the altar. To the offspring of such a union, Magnus has
-nought to object. It was weak--it was criminal, on my part, but it
-conveyed no infamy to the birth of my son."
-
-The composed and collected manner in which Norna argued these points
-began to impose upon Mordaunt an incipient belief in the truth of what
-she said; and, indeed, she added so many circumstances, satisfactorily
-and rationally connected with each other, as seemed to confute the
-notion that her story was altogether the delusion of that insanity which
-sometimes showed itself in her speech and actions. A thousand confused
-ideas rushed upon him, when he supposed it possible that the unhappy
-person before him might actually have a right to claim from him the
-respect and affection due to a parent from a son. He could only surmount
-them by turning his mind to a different, and scarce less interesting
-topic, resolving within himself to take time for farther enquiry and
-mature consideration, ere he either rejected or admitted the claim which
-Norna preferred upon his affection and duty. His benefactress, at least,
-she undoubtedly was, and he could not err in paying her, as such, the
-respect and attention due from a son to a mother; and so far, therefore,
-he might gratify Norna without otherwise standing committed.
-
-"And do you then really think, my mother,--since so you bid me term
-you,"--said Mordaunt, "that the proud Magnus Troil may, by any
-inducement, be prevailed upon to relinquish the angry feelings which he
-has of late adopted towards me, and to permit my addresses to his
-daughter Brenda?"
-
-"Brenda?" repeated Norna--"who talks of Brenda?--it was of Minna that I
-spoke to you."
-
-"But it was of Brenda that I thought," replied Mordaunt, "of her that I
-now think, and of her alone that I will ever think."
-
-"Impossible, my son!" replied Norna. "You cannot be so dull of heart, so
-poor of spirit, as to prefer the idle mirth and housewife simplicity of
-the younger sister, to the deep feeling and high mind of the
-noble-spirited Minna? Who would stoop to gather the lowly violet, that
-might have the rose for stretching out his hand?"
-
-"Some think the lowliest flowers are the sweetest," replied Mordaunt,
-"and in that faith will I live and die."
-
-"You dare not tell me so!" answered Norna, fiercely; then, instantly
-changing her tone, and taking his hand in the most affectionate manner,
-she proceeded:--"You must not--you will not tell me so, my dear son--you
-will not break a mother's heart in the very first hour in which she has
-embraced her child!--Nay, do not answer, but hear me. You must wed
-Minna--I have bound around her neck a fatal amulet, on which the
-happiness of both depends. The labours of my life have for years had
-this direction. Thus it must be, and not otherwise--Minna must be the
-bride of my son!"
-
-"But is not Brenda equally near, equally dear to you?" replied Mordaunt.
-
-"As near in blood," said Norna, "but not so dear, no not half so dear,
-in affection. Minna's mild, yet high and contemplative spirit, renders
-her a companion meet for one, whose ways, like mine, are beyond the
-ordinary paths of this world. Brenda is a thing of common and ordinary
-life, an idle laugher and scoffer, who would level art with ignorance,
-and reduce power to weakness, by disbelieving and turning into ridicule
-whatever is beyond the grasp of her own shallow intellect."
-
-"She is, indeed," answered Mordaunt, "neither superstitious nor
-enthusiastic, and I love her the better for it. Remember also, my
-mother, that she returns my affection, and that Minna, if she loves any
-one, loves the stranger Cleveland."
-
-"She does not--she dares not," answered Norna, "nor dares he pursue her
-farther. I told him, when first he came to Burgh-Westra, that I destined
-her for you."
-
-"And to that rash annunciation," said Mordaunt, "I owe this man's
-persevering enmity--my wound, and wellnigh the loss of my life. See, my
-mother, to what point your intrigues have already conducted us, and, in
-Heaven's name, prosecute them no farther!"
-
-It seemed as if this reproach struck Norna with the force, at once, and
-vivacity of lightning; for she struck her forehead with her hand, and
-seemed about to drop from her seat. Mordaunt, greatly shocked, hastened
-to catch her in his arms, and, though scarce knowing what to say,
-attempted to utter some incoherent expressions.
-
-"Spare me, Heaven, spare me!" were the first words which she muttered;
-"do not let my crime be avenged by his means!--Yes, young man," she
-said, after a pause, "you have dared to tell what I dared not tell
-myself. You have pressed that upon me, which, if it be truth, I cannot
-believe, and yet continue to live!"
-
-Mordaunt in vain endeavoured to interrupt her with protestations of his
-ignorance how he had offended or grieved her, and of his extreme regret
-that he had unintentionally done either. She proceeded, while her voice
-trembled wildly, with vehemence.
-
-"Yes! you have touched on that dark suspicion which poisons the
-consciousness of my power,--the sole boon which was given me in exchange
-for innocence and for peace of mind! Your voice joins that of the demon
-which, even while the elements confess me their mistress, whispers to
-me, 'Norna, this is but delusion--your power rests but in the idle
-belief of the ignorant, supported by a thousand petty artifices of your
-own.'--This is what Brenda says--this is what you would say; and false,
-scandalously false, as it is, there are rebellious thoughts in this wild
-brain of mine," (touching her forehead with her finger as she spoke,)
-"that, like an insurrection in an invaded country, arise to take part
-against their distressed sovereign.--Spare me, my son!" she continued in
-a voice of supplication, "spare me!--the sovereignty of which your words
-would deprive me, is no enviable exaltation. Few would covet to rule
-over gibbering ghosts, and howling winds, and raging currents. My throne
-is a cloud, my sceptre a meteor, my realm is only peopled with
-fantasies; but I must either cease to be, or continue to be the
-mightiest as well as the most miserable of beings!"[33]
-
-"Do not speak thus mournfully, my dear and unhappy benefactress," said
-Mordaunt, much affected; "I will think of your power whatever you would
-have me believe. But, for your own sake, view the matter otherwise. Turn
-your thoughts from such agitating and mystical studies--from such wild
-subjects of contemplation, into another and a better channel. Life will
-again have charms, and religion will have comforts, for you."
-
-She listened to him with some composure, as if she weighed his counsel,
-and desired to be guided by it; but, as he ended, she shook her head and
-exclaimed--
-
-"It cannot be. I must remain the dreaded--the mystical--the
-Reimkennar--the controller of the elements, or I must be no more! I have
-no alternative, no middle station. My post must be high on yon lofty
-headland, where never stood human foot save mine--or I must sleep at the
-bottom of the unfathomable ocean, its white billows booming over my
-senseless corpse. The parricide shall never also be denounced as the
-impostor!"
-
-"The parricide!" echoed Mordaunt, stepping back in horror.
-
-"Yes, my son!" answered Norna, with a stern composure, even more
-frightful than her former impetuosity, "within these fatal walls my
-father met his death by my means. In yonder chamber was he found a livid
-and lifeless corpse. Beware of filial disobedience, for such are its
-fruits!"
-
-So saying, she arose and left the apartment, where Mordaunt remained
-alone to meditate at leisure upon the extraordinary communication which
-he had received. He himself had been taught by his father a disbelief in
-the ordinary superstitions of Zetland; and he now saw that Norna,
-however ingenious in duping others, could not altogether impose on
-herself. This was a strong circumstance in favour of her sanity of
-intellect; but, on the other hand, her imputing to herself the guilt of
-parricide seemed so wild and improbable, as, in Mordaunt's opinion, to
-throw much doubt upon her other assertions.
-
-He had leisure enough to make up his mind on these particulars, for no
-one approached the solitary dwelling, of which Norna, her dwarf, and he
-himself, were the sole inhabitants. The Hoy island in which it stood is
-rude, bold, and lofty, consisting entirely of three hills--or rather one
-huge mountain divided into three summits, with the chasms, rents, and
-valleys, which descend from its summit to the sea, while its crest,
-rising to great height, and shivered into rocks which seem almost
-inaccessible, intercepts the mists as they drive from the Atlantic,
-and, often obscured from the human eye, forms the dark and unmolested
-retreat of hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey.[34]
-
-The soil of the island is wet, mossy, cold, and unproductive, presenting
-a sterile and desolate appearance, excepting where the sides of small
-rivulets, or mountain ravines, are fringed with dwarf bushes of birch,
-hazel, and wild currant, some of them so tall as to be denominated
-trees, in that bleak and bare country.
-
-But the view of the sea-beach, which was Mordaunt's favourite walk, when
-his convalescent state began to permit him to take exercise, had charms
-which compensated the wild appearance of the interior. A broad and
-beautiful sound, or strait, divides this lonely and mountainous island
-from Pomona, and in the centre of that sound lies, like a tablet
-composed of emerald, the beautiful and verdant little island of Græmsay.
-On the distant Mainland is seen the town or village of Stromness, the
-excellence of whose haven is generally evinced by a considerable number
-of shipping in the roadstead, and, from the bay growing narrower, and
-lessening as it recedes, runs inland into Pomona, where its tide fills
-the fine sheet of water called the Loch of Stennis.
-
-On this beach Mordaunt was wont to wander for hours, with an eye not
-insensible to the beauties of the view, though his thoughts were
-agitated with the most embarrassing meditations on his own situation. He
-was resolved to leave the island as soon as the establishment of his
-health should permit him to travel; yet gratitude to Norna, of whom he
-was at least the adopted, if not the real son, would not allow him to
-depart without her permission, even if he could obtain means of
-conveyance, of which he saw little possibility. It was only by
-importunity that he extorted from his hostess a promise, that, if he
-would consent to regulate his motions according to her directions, she
-would herself convey him to the capital of the Orkney Islands, when the
-approaching Fair of Saint Olla should take place there.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[32] See an explanation of this promise, Note II. of this volume.
-
-[33] Note V.--Character of Norna.
-
-[34] Note VI.--Birds of Prey.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-  Hark to the insult loud, the bitter sneer,
-  The fierce threat answering to the brutal jeer;
-  Oaths fly like pistol-shots, and vengeful words
-  Clash with each other like conflicting swords--
-  The robber's quarrel by such sounds is shown,
-  And true men have some chance to gain their own.
-
-                                        _Captivity, a Poem._
-
-
-When Cleveland, borne off in triumph from his assailants in Kirkwall,
-found himself once more on board the pirate-vessel, his arrival was
-hailed with hearty cheers by a considerable part of the crew, who rushed
-to shake hands with him, and offer their congratulations on his return;
-for the situation of a Buccanier Captain raised him very little above
-the level of the lowest of his crew, who, in all social intercourse,
-claimed the privilege of being his equal.
-
-When his faction, for so these clamorous friends might be termed, had
-expressed their own greetings, they hurried Cleveland forward to the
-stern, where Goffe, their present commander, was seated on a gun,
-listening in a sullen and discontented mood to the shout which announced
-Cleveland's welcome. He was a man betwixt forty and fifty, rather under
-the middle size, but so very strongly made, that his crew used to
-compare him to a sixty-four cut down. Black-haired, bull-necked, and
-beetle-browed, his clumsy strength and ferocious countenance contrasted
-strongly with the manly figure and open countenance of Cleveland, in
-which even the practice of his atrocious profession had not been able to
-eradicate a natural grace of motion and generosity of expression. The
-two piratical Captains looked upon each other for some time in silence,
-while the partisans of each gathered around him. The elder part of the
-crew were the principal adherents of Goffe, while the young fellows,
-among whom Jack Bunce was a principal leader and agitator, were in
-general attached to Cleveland.
-
-At length Goffe broke silence.--"You are welcome aboard, Captain
-Cleveland.--Smash my taffrail! I suppose you think yourself commodore
-yet! but that was over, by G--, when you lost your ship, and be
-d----d!"
-
-And here, once for all, we may take notice, that it was the gracious
-custom of this commander to mix his words and oaths in nearly equal
-proportions, which he was wont to call _shotting_ his discourse. As we
-delight not, however, in the discharge of such artillery, we shall only
-indicate by a space like this ---- the places in which these expletives
-occurred; and thus, if the reader will pardon a very poor pun, we will
-reduce Captain Goffe's volley of sharp-shot into an explosion of blank
-cartridges. To his insinuations that he was come on board to assume the
-chief command, Cleveland replied, that he neither desired, nor would
-accept, any such promotion, but would only ask Captain Goffe for a cast
-of the boat, to put him ashore in one of the other islands, as he had no
-wish either to command Goffe, or to remain in a vessel under his orders.
-
-"And why not under my orders, brother?" demanded Goffe, very austerely;
-"-- -- -- are you too good a man, -- -- -- with your cheese-toaster and
-your jib there, -- -- to serve under my orders, and be d----d to you,
-where there are so many gentlemen that are elder and better seamen than
-yourself?"
-
-"I wonder which of these capital seamen it was," said Cleveland, coolly,
-"that laid the ship under the fire of yon six-gun battery, that could
-blow her out of the water, if they had a mind, before you could either
-cut or slip? Elder and better sailors than I may like to serve under
-such a lubber, but I beg to be excused for my own share, Captain--that's
-all I have got to tell you."
-
-"By G--, I think you are both mad!" said Hawkins the boatswain--"a
-meeting with sword and pistol may be devilish good fun in its way, when
-no better is to be had; but who the devil that had common sense, amongst
-a set of gentlemen in our condition, would fall a quarrelling with each
-other, to let these duck-winged, web-footed islanders have a chance of
-knocking us all upon the head?"
-
-"Well said, old Hawkins!" observed Derrick the quarter-master, who was
-an officer of very considerable importance among these rovers; "I say,
-if the two captains won't agree to live together quietly, and club both
-heart and head to defend the vessel, why, d----n me, depose them both,
-say I, and choose another in their stead!"
-
-"Meaning yourself, I suppose, Master Quarter-Master!" said Jack Bunce;
-"but that cock won't fight. He that is to command gentlemen, should be a
-gentleman himself, I think; and I give my vote for Captain Cleveland, as
-spirited and as gentleman-like a man as ever daffed the world aside, and
-bid it pass!"
-
-"What! _you_ call yourself a gentleman, I warrant!" retorted Derrick;
-"why, ---- your eyes! a tailor would make a better out of the worst suit
-of rags in your strolling wardrobe!--It is a shame for men of spirit to
-have such a Jack-a-dandy scarecrow on board!"
-
-Jack Bunce was so incensed at these base comparisons, that without more
-ado, he laid his hand on his sword. The carpenter, however, and
-boatswain, interfered, the former brandishing his broad axe, and
-swearing he would put the skull of the first who should strike a blow
-past clouting, and the latter reminding them, that, by their articles,
-all quarrelling, striking, or more especially fighting, on board, was
-strictly prohibited; and that, if any gentleman had a quarrel to settle,
-they were to go ashore, and decide it with cutlass and pistol in
-presence of two of their messmates.
-
-"I have no quarrel with any one, -- -- --!" said Goffe, sullenly;
-"Captain Cleveland has wandered about among the islands here, amusing
-himself, -- -- --! and we have wasted our time and property in waiting
-for him, when we might have been adding twenty or thirty thousand
-dollars to the stock-purse. However, if it pleases the rest of the
-gentlemen-adventurers, -- -- --! why, I shall not grumble about it."
-
-"I propose," said the boatswain, "that there should be a general council
-called in the great cabin, according to our articles, that we may
-consider what course we are to hold in this matter."
-
-A general assent followed the boatswain's proposal; for every one found
-his own account in these general councils, in which each of the rovers
-had a free vote. By far the greater part of the crew only valued this
-franchise, as it allowed them, upon such solemn occasions, an unlimited
-quantity of liquor--a right which they failed not to exercise to the
-uttermost, by way of aiding their deliberations. But a few amongst the
-adventurers, who united some degree of judgment with the daring and
-profligate character of their profession, were wont, at such periods, to
-limit themselves within the bounds of comparative sobriety, and by
-these, under the apparent form of a vote of the general council, all
-things of moment relating to the voyage and undertakings of the pirates
-were in fact determined. The rest of the crew, when they recovered from
-their intoxication, were easily persuaded that the resolution adopted
-had been the legitimate effort of the combined wisdom of the whole
-senate.
-
-Upon the present occasion the debauch had proceeded until the greater
-part of the crew were, as usual, displaying inebriation in all its most
-brutal and disgraceful shapes--swearing empty and unmeaning
-oaths--venting the most horrid imprecations in the mere gaiety of their
-heart--singing songs, the ribaldry of which was only equalled by their
-profaneness; and, from the middle of this earthly hell, the two
-captains, together with one or two of their principal adherents, as also
-the carpenter and boatswain, who always took a lead on such occasions,
-had drawn together into a pandemonium, or privy council of their own, to
-consider what was to be done; for, as the boatswain metaphorically
-observed, they were in a narrow channel, and behoved to keep sounding
-the tide-way.
-
-When they began their consultations, the friends of Goffe remarked, to
-their great displeasure, that he had not observed the wholesome rule to
-which we have just alluded; but that, in endeavouring to drown his
-mortification at the sudden appearance of Cleveland, and the reception
-he met with from the crew, the elder Captain had not been able to do so
-without overflowing his reason at the same time. His natural sullen
-taciturnity had prevented this from being observed until the council
-began its deliberations, when it proved impossible to hide it.
-
-The first person who spoke was Cleveland, who said, that, so far from
-wishing the command of the vessel, he desired no favour at any one's
-hand, except to land him upon some island or holm at a distance from
-Kirkwall, and leave him to shift for himself.
-
-The boatswain remonstrated strongly against this resolution. "The lads,"
-he said, "all knew Cleveland, and could trust his seamanship, as well as
-his courage; besides, he never let the grog get quite uppermost, and was
-always in proper trim, either to sail the ship, or to fight the ship,
-whereby she was never without some one to keep her course when he was on
-board.--And as for the noble Captain Goffe," continued the mediator, "he
-is as stout a heart as ever broke biscuit, and that I will uphold him;
-but then, when he has his grog aboard--I speak to his face--he is so
-d----d funny with his cranks and his jests, that there is no living with
-him. You all remember how nigh he had run the ship on that cursed Horse
-of Copinsha, as they call it, just by way of frolic; and then you know
-how he fired off his pistol under the table, when we were at the great
-council, and shot Jack Jenkins in the knee, and cost the poor devil his
-leg, with his pleasantry."[35]
-
-"Jack Jenkins was not a chip the worse," said the carpenter; "I took the
-leg off with my saw as well as any loblolly-boy in the land could have
-done--heated my broad axe, and seared the stump--ay, by ----! and made a
-jury-leg that he shambles about with as well as ever he did--for Jack
-could never cut a feather."[36]
-
-"You are a clever fellow, carpenter," replied the boatswain, "a d----d
-clever fellow! but I had rather you tried your saw and red-hot axe upon
-the ship's knee-timbers than on mine, sink me!--But that here is not the
-case--The question is, if we shall part with Captain Cleveland here, who
-is a man of thought and action, whereby it is my belief it would be
-heaving the pilot overboard when the gale is blowing on a lee-shore.
-And, I must say, it is not the part of a true heart to leave his mates,
-who have been here waiting for him till they have missed stays. Our
-water is wellnigh out, and we have junketed till provisions are low with
-us. We cannot sail without provisions--we cannot get provisions without
-the good-will of the Kirkwall folks. If we remain here longer, the
-Halcyon frigate will be down upon us--she was seen off Peterhead two
-days since,--and we shall hang up at the yard-arm to be sun-dried. Now,
-Captain Cleveland will get us out of the hobble, if any can. He can play
-the gentleman with these Kirkwall folks, and knows how to deal with them
-on fair terms, and foul, too, if there be occasion for it."
-
-"And so you would turn honest Captain Goffe a-grazing, would ye?" said
-an old weatherbeaten pirate, who had but one eye; "what though he has
-his humours, and made my eye dowse the glim in his fancies and frolics,
-he is as honest a man as ever walked a quarter-deck, for all that; and
-d----n me but I stand by him so long as t'other lantern is lit!"
-
-"Why, you would not hear me out," said Hawkins; "a man might as well
-talk to so many negers!--I tell you, I propose that Cleveland shall only
-be Captain from one, _post meridiem_, to five _a. m._, during which time
-Goffe is always drunk."
-
-The Captain of whom he last spoke gave sufficient proof of the truth of
-his words, by uttering an inarticulate growl, and attempting to present
-a pistol at the mediator Hawkins.
-
-"Why, look ye now!" said Derrick, "there is all the sense he has, to get
-drunk on council-day, like one of these poor silly fellows!"
-
-"Ay," said Bunce, "drunk as Davy's sow, in the face of the field, the
-fray, and the senate!"
-
-"But, nevertheless," continued Derrick, "it will never do to have two
-captains in the same day. I think week about might suit better--and let
-Cleveland take the first turn."
-
-"There are as good here as any of them," said Hawkins; "howsomdever, I
-object nothing to Captain Cleveland, and I think he may help us into
-deep water as well as another."
-
-"Ay," exclaimed Bunce, "and a better figure he will make at bringing
-these Kirkwallers to order than his sober predecessor!--So Captain
-Cleveland for ever!"
-
-[Illustration]
-
-"Stop, gentlemen," said Cleveland, who had hitherto been silent; "I
-hope you will not choose me Captain without my own consent?"
-
-"Ay, by the blue vault of heaven will we," said Bunce, "if it be _pro
-bono publico_!"
-
-"But hear me, at least," said Cleveland--"I do consent to take command
-of the vessel, since you wish it, and because I see you will ill get out
-of the scrape without me."
-
-"Why, then, I say, Cleveland for ever, again!" shouted Bunce.
-
-"Be quiet, prithee, dear Bunce!--honest Altamont!" said Cleveland.--"I
-undertake the business on this condition; that, when I have got the ship
-cleared for her voyage, with provisions, and so forth, you will be
-content to restore Captain Goffe to the command, as I said before, and
-put me ashore somewhere, to shift for myself--You will then be sure it
-is impossible I can betray you, since I will remain with you to the last
-moment."
-
-"Ay, and after the last moment, too, by the blue vault! or I mistake the
-matter," muttered Bunce to himself.
-
-The matter was now put to the vote; and so confident were the crew in
-Cleveland's superior address and management, that the temporary
-deposition of Goffe found little resistance even among his own
-partisans, who reasonably enough observed, "he might at least have kept
-sober to look after his own business--E'en let him put it to rights
-again himself next morning, if he will."
-
-But when the next morning came, the drunken part of the crew, being
-informed of the issue of the deliberations of the council, to which they
-were virtually held to have assented, showed such a superior sense of
-Cleveland's merits, that Goffe, sulky and malecontent as he was, judged
-it wisest for the present to suppress his feelings of resentment, until
-a safer opportunity for suffering them to explode, and to submit to the
-degradation which so frequently took place among a piratical crew.
-
-Cleveland, on his part, resolved to take upon him, with spirit and
-without loss of time, the task of extricating his ship's company from
-their perilous situation. For this purpose, he ordered the boat, with
-the purpose of going ashore in person, carrying with him twelve of the
-stoutest and best men of the crew, all very handsomely appointed, (for
-the success of their nefarious profession had enabled the pirates to
-assume nearly as gay dresses as their officers,) and above all, each man
-being sufficiently armed with cutlass and pistols, and several having
-pole-axes and poniards.
-
-Cleveland himself was gallantly attired in a blue coat, lined with
-crimson silk, and laced with gold very richly, crimson damask waistcoat
-and breeches, a velvet cap, richly embroidered, with a white feather,
-white silk stockings, and red-heeled shoes, which were the extremity of
-finery among the gallants of the day. He had a gold chain several times
-folded round his neck, which sustained a whistle of the same metal, the
-ensign of his authority. Above all, he wore a decoration peculiar to
-those daring depredators, who, besides one, or perhaps two brace of
-pistols at their belt, had usually two additional brace, of the finest
-mounting and workmanship, suspended over their shoulders in a sort of
-sling or scarf of crimson ribbon. The hilt and mounting of the Captain's
-sword corresponded in value to the rest of his appointments, and his
-natural good mien was so well adapted to the whole equipment, that,
-when he appeared on deck, he was received with a general shout by the
-crew, who, as in other popular societies, judged a great deal by the
-eye.
-
-Cleveland took with him in the boat, amongst others, his predecessor in
-office, Goffe, who was also very richly dressed, but who, not having the
-advantage of such an exterior as Cleveland's, looked like a boorish
-clown in the dress of a courtier, or rather like a vulgar-faced footpad
-decked in the spoils of some one whom he has murdered, and whose claim
-to the property of his garments is rendered doubtful in the eyes of all
-who look upon him, by the mixture of awkwardness, remorse, cruelty, and
-insolence, which clouds his countenance. Cleveland probably chose to
-take Goffe ashore with him, to prevent his having any opportunity,
-during his absence, to debauch the crew from their allegiance. In this
-guise they left the ship, and, singing to their oars, while the water
-foamed higher at the chorus, soon reached the quay of Kirkwall.
-
-The command of the vessel was in the meantime intrusted to Bunce, upon
-whose allegiance Cleveland knew that he might perfectly depend, and, in
-a private conversation with him of some length, he gave him directions
-how to act in such emergencies as might occur.
-
-These arrangements being made, and Bunce having been repeatedly charged
-to stand upon his guard alike against the adherents of Goffe and any
-attempt from the shore, the boat put off. As she approached the harbour,
-Cleveland displayed a white flag, and could observe that their
-appearance seemed to occasion a good deal of bustle and alarm. People
-were seen running to and fro, and some of them appeared to be getting
-under arms. The battery was manned hastily, and the English colours
-displayed. These were alarming symptoms, the rather that Cleveland knew,
-that, though there were no artillerymen in Kirkwall, yet there were many
-sailors perfectly competent to the management of great guns, and willing
-enough to undertake such service in case of need.
-
-Noting these hostile preparations with a heedful eye, but suffering
-nothing like doubt or anxiety to appear on his countenance, Cleveland
-ran the boat right for the quay, on which several people, armed with
-muskets, rifles, and fowlingpieces, and others with half-pikes and
-whaling-knives, were now assembled, as if to oppose his landing.
-Apparently, however, they had not positively determined what measures
-they were to pursue; for, when the boat reached the quay, those
-immediately opposite bore back, and suffered Cleveland and his party to
-leap ashore without hinderance. They immediately drew up on the quay,
-except two, who, as their Captain had commanded, remained in the boat,
-which they put off to a little distance; a man[oe]uvre which, while it
-placed the boat (the only one belonging to the sloop) out of danger of
-being seized, indicated a sort of careless confidence in Cleveland and
-his party, which was calculated to intimidate their opponents.
-
-The Kirkwallers, however, showed the old Northern blood, put a manly
-face upon the matter, and stood upon the quay, with their arms
-shouldered, directly opposite to the rovers, and blocking up against
-them the street which leads to the town.
-
-Cleveland was the first who spoke, as the parties stood thus looking
-upon each other.--"How is this, gentlemen burghers?" he said; "are you
-Orkney folks turned Highlandmen, that you are all under arms so early
-this morning; or have you manned the quay to give me the honour of a
-salute, upon taking the command of my ship?"
-
-The burghers looked on each other, and one of them replied to
-Cleveland--"We do not know who you are; it was that other man," pointing
-to Goffe, "who used to come ashore as Captain."
-
-"That other gentleman is my mate, and commands in my absence," said
-Cleveland;--"but what is that to the purpose? I wish to speak with your
-Lord Mayor, or whatever you call him."
-
-"The Provost is sitting in council with the Magistrates," answered the
-spokesman.
-
-"So much the better," replied Cleveland.--"Where do their Worships
-meet?"
-
-"In the Council-house," answered the other.
-
-"Then make way for us, gentlemen, if you please, for my people and I are
-going there."
-
-There was a whisper among the townspeople; but several were unresolved
-upon engaging in a desperate, and perhaps an unnecessary conflict, with
-desperate men; and the more determined citizens formed the hasty
-reflection that the strangers might be more easily mastered in the
-house, or perhaps in the narrow streets which they had to traverse, than
-when they stood drawn up and prepared for battle upon the quay. They
-suffered them, therefore, to proceed unmolested; and Cleveland, moving
-very slowly, keeping his people close together, suffering no one to
-press upon the flanks of his little detachment, and making four men, who
-constituted his rear-guard, turn round and face to the rear from time to
-time, rendered it, by his caution, a very dangerous task to make any
-attempt upon them.
-
-In this manner they ascended the narrow street and reached the
-Council-house, where the Magistrates were actually sitting, as the
-citizen had informed Cleveland. Here the inhabitants began to press
-forward, with the purpose of mingling with the pirates, and availing
-themselves of the crowd in the narrow entrance, to secure as many as
-they could, without allowing them room for the free use of their
-weapons. But this also had Cleveland foreseen, and, ere entering the
-council-room, he caused the entrance to be cleared and secured,
-commanding four of his men to face down the street, and as many to
-confront the crowd who were thrusting each other from above. The
-burghers recoiled back from the ferocious, swarthy, and sunburnt
-countenances, as well as the levelled arms of these desperadoes, and
-Cleveland, with the rest of his party, entered the council-room, where
-the Magistrates were sitting in council, with very little attendance.
-These gentlemen were thus separated effectually from the citizens, who
-looked to them for orders, and were perhaps more completely at the mercy
-of Cleveland, than he, with his little handful of men, could be said to
-be at that of the multitude by whom they were surrounded.
-
-The Magistrates seemed sensible of their danger; for they looked upon
-each other in some confusion, when Cleveland thus addressed them:--
-
-"Good morrow, gentlemen,--I hope there is no unkindness betwixt us. I am
-come to talk with you about getting supplies for my ship yonder in the
-roadstead--we cannot sail without them."
-
-"Your ship, sir?" said the Provost, who was a man of sense and
-spirit,--"how do we know that you are her Captain?"
-
-"Look at me," said Cleveland, "and you will, I think, scarce ask the
-question again."
-
-The Magistrate looked at Kim, and accordingly did not think proper to
-pursue that part of the enquiry, but proceeded to say--"And if you are
-her Captain, whence comes she, and where is she bound for? You look too
-much like a man-of-war's man to be master of a trader, and we know that
-you do not belong to the British navy."
-
-"There are more men-of-war on the sea than sail under the British flag,"
-replied Cleveland; "but say that I were commander of a free-trader here,
-willing to exchange tobacco, brandy, gin, and such like, for cured fish
-and hides, why, I do not think I deserve so very bad usage from the
-merchants of Kirkwall as to deny me provisions for my money?"
-
-"Look you, Captain," said the Town-clerk, "it is not that we are so very
-strait-laced neither--for, when gentlemen of your cloth come this way,
-it is as weel, as I tauld the Provost, just to do as the collier did
-when he met the devil,--and that is, to have naething to say to them, if
-they have naething to say to us;--and there is the gentleman," pointing
-to Goffe, "that was Captain before you, and may be Captain after
-you,"--("The cuckold speaks truth in that," muttered Goffe,)--"he knows
-well how handsomely we entertained him, till he and his men took upon
-them to run through the town like hellicat devils.--I see one of them
-there!--that was the very fellow that stopped my servant-wench on the
-street, as she carried the lantern home before me, and insulted her
-before my face!"
-
-"If it please your noble Mayorship's honour and glory," said Derrick,
-the fellow at whom the Town-clerk pointed, "it was not I that brought
-to the bit of a tender that carried the lantern in the poop--it was
-quite a different sort of a person."
-
-"Who was it, then, sir?" said the Provost.
-
-"Why, please your majesty's worship," said Derrick, making several sea
-bows, and describing as nearly as he could, the exterior of the worthy
-Magistrate himself, "he was an elderly gentleman,--Dutch-built, round in
-the stern, with a white wig and a red nose--very like your majesty, I
-think;" then, turning to a comrade, he added, "Jack, don't you think the
-fellow that wanted to kiss the pretty girl with the lantern t'other
-night, was very like his worship?"
-
-"By G--, Tom Derrick," answered the party appealed to, "I believe it is
-the very man!"
-
-"This is insolence which we can make you repent of, gentlemen!" said the
-Magistrate, justly irritated at their effrontery; "you have behaved in
-this town, as if you were in an Indian village at Madagascar. You
-yourself, Captain, if captain you be, were at the head of another riot,
-no longer since than yesterday. We will give you no provisions till we
-know better whom we are supplying. And do not think to bully us; when I
-shake this handkerchief out at the window, which is at my elbow, your
-ship goes to the bottom. Remember she lies under the guns of our
-battery."
-
-"And how many of these guns are honeycombed, Mr. Mayor?" said Cleveland.
-He put the question by chance; but instantly perceived, from a sort of
-confusion which the Provost in vain endeavoured to hide, that the
-artillery of Kirkwall was not in the best order. "Come, come, Mr.
-Mayor," he said, "bullying will go down with us as little as with you.
-Your guns yonder will do more harm to the poor old sailors who are to
-work them than to our sloop; and if we bring a broadside to bear on the
-town, why, your wives' crockery will be in some danger. And then to talk
-to us of seamen being a little frolicsome ashore, why, when are they
-otherwise? You have the Greenland whalers playing the devil among you
-every now and then; and the very Dutchmen cut capers in the streets of
-Kirkwall, like porpoises before a gale of wind. I am told you are a man
-of sense, and I am sure you and I could settle this matter in the course
-of a five-minutes' palaver."
-
-"Well, sir," said the Provost, "I will hear what you have to say, if you
-will walk this way."
-
-Cleveland accordingly followed him into a small interior apartment, and,
-when there, addressed the Provost thus: "I will lay aside my pistols,
-sir, if you are afraid of them."
-
-"D----n your pistols!" answered the Provost, "I have served the King,
-and fear the smell of powder as little as you do!"
-
-"So much the better," said Cleveland, "for you will hear me the more
-coolly.--Now, sir, let us be what perhaps you suspect us, or let us be
-any thing else, what, in the name of Heaven, can you get by keeping us
-here, but blows and bloodshed? For which, believe me, we are much better
-provided than you can pretend to be. The point is a plain one--you are
-desirous to be rid of us--we are desirous to be gone. Let us have the
-means of departure, and we leave you instantly."
-
-"Look ye, Captain," said the Provost, "I thirst for no man's blood. You
-are a pretty fellow, as there were many among the buccaniers in my
-time--but there is no harm in wishing you a better trade. You should
-have the stores and welcome, for your money, so you would make these
-seas clear of you. But then, here lies the rub. The Halcyon frigate is
-expected here in these parts immediately; when she hears of you she will
-be at you; for there is nothing the white lapelle loves better than a
-rover--you are seldom without a cargo of dollars. Well, he comes down,
-gets you under his stern"----
-
-"Blows us into the air, if you please," said Cleveland.
-
-"Nay, that must be as _you_ please, Captain," said the Provost; "but
-then, what is to come of the good town of Kirkwall, that has been
-packing and peeling with the King's enemies? The burgh will be laid
-under a round fine, and it may be that the Provost may not come off so
-easily."
-
-"Well, then," said Cleveland, "I see where your pinch lies. Now, suppose
-that I run round this island of yours, and get into the roadstead at
-Stromness? We could get what we want put on board there, without
-Kirkwall or the Provost seeming to have any hand in it; or, if it should
-be ever questioned, your want of force, and our superior strength, will
-make a sufficient apology."
-
-"That may be," said the Provost; "but if I suffer you to leave your
-present station, and go elsewhere, I must have some security that you
-will not do harm to the country."
-
-"And we," said Cleveland, "must have some security on our side, that you
-will not detain us, by dribbling out our time till the Halcyon is on the
-coast. Now, I am myself perfectly willing to continue on shore as a
-hostage, on the one side, provided you will give me your word not to
-betray me, and send some magistrate, or person of consequence, aboard
-the sloop, where his safety will be a guarantee for mine."
-
-The Provost shook his head, and intimated it would be difficult to find
-a person willing to place himself as hostage in such a perilous
-condition; but said he would propose the arrangement to such of the
-council as were fit to be trusted with a matter of such weight.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[35] This was really an exploit of the celebrated Avery the pirate, who
-suddenly, and without provocation, fired his pistols under the table
-where he sat drinking with his messmates, wounded one man severely, and
-thought the matter a good jest. What is still more extraordinary, his
-crew regarded it in the same light.
-
-[36] A ship going fast through the sea is said to cut a feather,
-alluding to the ripple which she throws off from her bows.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-  "I left my poor plough to go ploughing the deep!"
-
-                                                     DIBDIN.
-
-
-When the Provost and Cleveland had returned into the public
-council-room, the former retired a second time with such of his brethren
-as he thought proper to advise with; and, while they were engaged in
-discussing Cleveland's proposal, refreshments were offered to him and
-his party. These the Captain permitted his people to partake of, but
-with the greatest precaution against surprisal, one party relieving the
-guard, whilst the others were at their food.
-
-He himself, in the meanwhile, walked up and down the apartment, and
-conversed upon indifferent subjects with those present, like a person
-quite at his ease.
-
-Amongst these individuals he saw, somewhat to his surprise, Triptolemus
-Yellowley, who, chancing to be at Kirkwall, had been summoned by the
-Magistrates, as representative, in a certain degree, of the Lord
-Chamberlain, to attend council on this occasion. Cleveland immediately
-renewed the acquaintance which he had formed with the agriculturist at
-Burgh-Westra, and asked him his present business in Orkney.
-
-"Just to look after some of my little plans, Captain Cleveland. I am
-weary of fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus yonder, and I just cam
-ower to see how my orchard was thriving, whilk I had planted four or
-five miles from Kirkwall, it may be a year bygane, and how the bees were
-thriving, whereof I had imported nine skeps, for the improvement of the
-country, and for the turning of the heather-bloom into wax and honey."
-
-"And they thrive, I hope?" said Cleveland, who, however little
-interested in the matter, sustained the conversation, as if to break the
-chilly and embarrassed silence which hung upon the company assembled.
-
-"Thrive!" replied Triptolemus; "they thrive like every thing else in
-this country, and that is the backward way."
-
-"Want of care, I suppose?" said Cleveland.
-
-"The contrary, sir, quite and clean the contrary," replied the Factor;
-"they died of ower muckle care, like Lucky Christie's chickens.--I asked
-to see the skeps, and cunning and joyful did the fallow look who was to
-have taken care of them--'Had there been ony body in charge but mysell,'
-he said, 'ye might have seen the skeps, or whatever you ca' them; but
-there wad hae been as mony solan-geese as flees in them, if it hadna
-been for my four quarters; for I watched them so closely, that I saw
-them a' creeping out at the little holes one sunny morning, and if I had
-not stopped the leak on the instant with a bit clay, the deil a bee, or
-flee, or whatever they are, would have been left in the skeps, as ye ca'
-them!'--In a word, sir, he had clagged up the hives, as if the puir
-things had had the pestilence, and my bees were as dead as if they had
-been smeaked--and so ends my hope, _generandi gloria mellis_, as
-Virgilius hath it."
-
-"There is an end of your mead, then," replied Cleveland; "but what is
-your chance of cider?--How does the orchard thrive?"
-
-"O Captain! this same Solomon of the Orcadian Ophir--I am sure no man
-need to send thither to fetch either talents of gold or talents of
-sense!--I say, this wise man had watered the young apple-trees, in his
-great tenderness, with hot water, and they are perished, root and
-branch! But what avails grieving?--And I wish you would tell me,
-instead, what is all the din that these good folks are making about
-pirates? and what for all these ill-looking men, that are armed like so
-mony Highlandmen, assembled in the judgment-chamber?--for I am just come
-from the other side of the island, and I have heard nothing distinct
-about it.--And, now I look at you yoursell, Captain, I think you have
-mair of these foolish pistolets about you than should suffice an honest
-man in quiet times?"
-
-"And so I think, too," said the pacific Triton, old Haagen, who had been
-an unwilling follower of the daring Montrose; "if you had been in the
-Glen of Edderachyllis, when we were sae sair worried by Sir John
-Worry"----
-
-"You have forgot the whole matter, neighbour Haagen," said the Factor;
-"Sir John Urry was on your side, and was ta'en with Montrose; by the
-same token, he lost his head."
-
-"Did he?" said the Triton.--"I believe you may be right; for he changed
-sides mair than anes, and wha kens whilk he died for?--But always he was
-there, and so was I;--a fight there was, and I never wish to see
-another!"
-
-The entrance of the Provost here interrupted their desultory
-conversation.--"We have determined," he said, "Captain, that your ship
-shall go round to Stromness, or Scalpa-flow, to take in stores, in order
-that there may be no more quarrels between the Fair folks and your
-seamen. And as you wish to stay on shore to see the Fair, we intend to
-send a respectable gentleman on board your vessel to pilot her round the
-Mainland, as the navigation is but ticklish."
-
-"Spoken like a quiet and sensible magistrate, Mr. Mayor," said
-Cleveland, "and no otherwise than as I expected.--And what gentleman is
-to honour our quarter-deck during my absence?"
-
-"We have fixed that, too, Captain Cleveland," said the Provost; "you may
-be sure we were each more desirous than another to go upon so pleasant a
-voyage, and in such good company; but being Fair time, most of us have
-some affairs in hand--I myself, in respect of my office, cannot be well
-spared--the eldest Bailie's wife is lying-in--the Treasurer does not
-agree with the sea--two Bailies have the gout--the other two are absent
-from town--and the other fifteen members of council are all engaged on
-particular business."
-
-"All that I can tell you, Mr. Mayor," said Cleveland, raising his voice,
-"is, that I expect"----
-
-"A moment's patience, if you please, Captain," said the Provost,
-interrupting him--"So that we have come to the resolution that our
-worthy Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who is Factor to the Lord Chamberlain
-of these islands, shall, in respect of his official situation, be
-preferred to the honour and pleasure of accompanying you."
-
-"Me!" said the astonished Triptolemus; "what the devil should I do going
-on your voyages?--my business is on dry land!"
-
-"The gentlemen want a pilot," said the Provost, whispering to him, "and
-there is no eviting to give them one."
-
-"Do they want to go bump on shore, then?" said the Factor--"how the
-devil should I pilot them, that never touched rudder in my life?"
-
-"Hush!--hush!--be silent!" said the Provost; "if the people of this town
-heard ye say such a word, your utility, and respect, and rank, and every
-thing else, is clean gone!--No man is any thing with us island folks,
-unless he can hand, reef, and steer.--Besides, it is but a mere form;
-and we will send old Pate Sinclair to help you. You will have nothing to
-do but to eat, drink, and be merry all day."
-
-"Eat and drink!" said the Factor, not able to comprehend exactly why
-this piece of duty was pressed upon him so hastily, and yet not very
-capable of resisting or extricating himself from the toils of the more
-knowing Provost--"Eat and drink?--that is all very well; but, to speak
-truth, the sea does not agree with me any more than with the Treasurer;
-and I have always a better appetite for eating and drinking ashore."
-
-"Hush! hush! hush!" again said the Provost, in an under tone of earnest
-expostulation; "would you actually ruin your character out and out?--A
-Factor of the High Chamberlain of the Isles of Orkney and Zetland, and
-not like the sea!--you might as well say you are a Highlander, and do
-not like whisky!"
-
-"You must settle it somehow, gentlemen," said Captain Cleveland; "it is
-time we were under weigh.--Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, are we to be
-honoured with your company?"
-
-"I am sure, Captain Cleveland," stammered the Factor, "I would have no
-objection to go anywhere with you--only"----
-
-"He has no objection," said the Provost, catching at the first limb of
-the sentence, without awaiting the conclusion.
-
-"He has no objection," cried the Treasurer.
-
-"He has no objection," sung out the whole four Bailies together;
-and the fifteen Councillors, all catching up the same phrase of
-assent, repeated it in chorus, with the additions of--"good
-man"--"public-spirited"--"honourable gentleman"--"burgh eternally
-obliged"--"where will you find such a worthy Factor?" and so forth.
-
-Astonished and confused at the praises with which he was overwhelmed on
-all sides, and in no shape understanding the nature of the transaction
-that was going forward, the astounded and overwhelmed agriculturist
-became incapable of resisting the part of the Kirkwall Curtius thus
-insidiously forced upon him, and was delivered up by Captain Cleveland
-to his party, with the strictest injunctions to treat him with honour
-and attention. Goffe and his companions began now to lead him off, amid
-the applauses of the whole meeting, after the manner in which the victim
-of ancient days was garlanded and greeted by shouts, when consigned to
-the priests, for the purpose of being led to the altar, and knocked on
-the head, a sacrifice for the commonweal. It was while they thus
-conducted, and in a manner forced him out of the Council-chamber, that
-poor Triptolemus, much alarmed at finding that Cleveland, in whom he had
-some confidence, was to remain behind the party, tried, when just going
-out at the door, the effect of one remonstrating bellow.--"Nay, but,
-Provost!--Captain!--Bailies!--Treasurer! Councillors!--if Captain
-Cleveland does not go aboard to protect me, it is nae bargain, and go I
-will not, unless I am trailed with cart-ropes!"
-
-His protest was, however, drowned in the unanimous chorus of the
-Magistrates and Councillors, returning him thanks for his public
-spirit--wishing him a good voyage--and praying to Heaven for his happy
-and speedy return. Stunned and overwhelmed, and thinking, if he had any
-distinct thoughts at all, that remonstrance was vain, where friends and
-strangers seemed alike determined to carry the point against him,
-Triptolemus, without farther resistance, suffered himself to be
-conducted into the street, where the pirate's boat's-crew, assembling
-around him, began to move slowly towards the quay, many of the townsfolk
-following out of curiosity, but without any attempt at interference or
-annoyance; for the pacific compromise which the dexterity of the first
-Magistrate had achieved, was unanimously approved of as a much better
-settlement of the disputes betwixt them and the strangers, than might
-have been attained by the dubious issue of an appeal to arms.
-
-Meanwhile, as they went slowly along, Triptolemus had time to study the
-appearance, countenance, and dress, of those into whose hands he had
-been thus delivered, and began to imagine that he read in their looks,
-not only the general expression of a desperate character, but some
-sinister intentions directed particularly towards himself. He was
-alarmed by the truculent looks of Goffe, in particular, who, holding his
-arm with a gripe which resembled in delicacy of touch the compression of
-a smith's vice, cast on him from the outer corner of his eye oblique
-glances, like those which the eagle throws upon the prey which she has
-clutched, ere yet she proceeds, as it is technically called, to plume
-it. At length Yellowley's fears got so far the better of his prudence,
-that he fairly asked his terrible conductor, in a sort of crying
-whisper, "Are you going to murder me, Captain, in the face of the laws
-baith of God and man?"
-
-"Hold your peace, if you are wise," said Goffe, who had his own reasons
-for desiring to increase the panic of his captive; "we have not murdered
-a man these three months, and why should you put us in mind of it?"
-
-"You are but joking, I hope, good worthy Captain!" replied Triptolemus.
-"This is worse than witches, dwarfs, dirking of whales, and cowping of
-cobles, put all together!--this is an away-ganging crop, with a
-vengeance!--What good, in Heaven's name, would murdering me do to you?"
-
-"We might have some pleasure in it, at least," said Goffe.--"Look these
-fellows in the face, and see if you see one among them that would not
-rather kill a man than let it alone?--But we will speak more of that
-when you have first had a taste of the bilboes--unless, indeed, you come
-down with a handsome round handful of Chili boards[37] for your ransom."
-
-"As I shall live by bread, Captain," answered the Factor, "that
-misbegotten dwarf has carried off the whole hornful of silver!"
-
-"A cat-and-nine-tails will make you find it again," said Goffe, gruffly;
-"flogging and pickling is an excellent receipt to bring a man's wealth
-into his mind--twisting a bowstring round his skull till the eyes start
-a little, is a very good remembrancer too."
-
-"Captain," replied Yellowley, stoutly, "I have no money--seldom can
-improvers have. We turn pasture to tillage, and barley into aits, and
-heather into greensward, and the poor _yarpha_, as the benighted
-creatures here call their peat-bogs, into baittle grass-land; but we
-seldom make any thing of it that comes back to our ain pouch. The carles
-and the cart-avers make it all, and the carles and the cart-avers eat it
-all, and the deil clink doun with it!"
-
-"Well, well," said Goffe, "if you be really a poor fellow, as you
-pretend, I'll stand your friend;" then, inclining his head so as to
-reach the ear of the Factor, who stood on tiptoe with anxiety, he said,
-"If you love your life, do not enter the boat with us."
-
-"But how am I to get away from you, while you hold me so fast by the
-arm, that I could not get off if the whole year's crop of Scotland
-depended on it?"
-
-"Hark ye, you gudgeon," said Goffe, "just when you come to the water's
-edge, and when the fellows are jumping in and taking their oars, slue
-yourself round suddenly to the larboard--I will let go your arm--and
-then cut and run for your life!"
-
-Triptolemus did as he was desired, Goffe's willing hand relaxed the
-grasp as he had promised, the agriculturist trundled off like a football
-that has just received a strong impulse from the foot of one of the
-players, and, with celerity which surprised himself as well as all
-beholders, fled through the town of Kirkwall. Nay, such was the impetus
-of his retreat, that, as if the grasp of the pirate was still open to
-pounce upon him, he never stopped till he had traversed the whole town,
-and attained the open country on the other side. They who had seen him
-that day--his hat and wig lost in the sudden effort he had made to bolt
-forward, his cravat awry, and his waistcoat unbuttoned,--and who had an
-opportunity of comparing his round spherical form and short legs with
-the portentous speed at which he scoured through the street, might well
-say, that if Fury ministers arms, Fear confers wings. His very mode of
-running seemed to be that peculiar to his fleecy care, for, like a ram
-in the midst of his race, he ever and anon encouraged himself by a great
-bouncing attempt at a leap, though there were no obstacles in his way.
-
-There was no pursuit after the agriculturist; and though a musket or two
-were presented, for the purpose of sending a leaden messenger after him,
-yet Goffe, turning peace-maker for once in his life, so exaggerated the
-dangers that would attend a breach of the truce with the people of
-Kirkwall, that he prevailed upon the boat's crew to forbear any active
-hostilities, and to pull off for their vessel with all dispatch.
-
-The burghers, who regarded the escape of Triptolemus as a triumph on
-their side, gave the boat three cheers, by way of an insulting farewell;
-while the Magistrates, on the other hand, entertained great anxiety
-respecting the probable consequences of this breach of articles between
-them and the pirates; and, could they have seized upon the fugitive very
-privately, instead of complimenting him with a civic feast in honour of
-the agility which he displayed, it is likely they might have delivered
-the runaway hostage once more into the hands of his foemen. But it was
-impossible to set their face publicly to such an act of violence, and
-therefore they contented themselves with closely watching Cleveland,
-whom they determined to make responsible for any aggression which might
-be attempted by the pirates. Cleveland, on his part, easily conjectured
-that the motive which Goffe had for suffering the hostage to escape, was
-to leave him answerable for all consequences, and, relying more on the
-attachment and intelligence of his friend and adherent, Frederick
-Altamont, alias Jack Bunce, than on any thing else, expected the result
-with considerable anxiety, since the Magistrates, though they continued
-to treat him with civility, plainly intimated they would regulate his
-treatment by the behaviour of the crew, though he no longer commanded
-them.
-
-It was not, however, without some reason that he reckoned on the devoted
-fidelity of Bunce; for no sooner did that trusty adherent receive from
-Goffe, and the boat's crew, the news of the escape of Triptolemus, than
-he immediately concluded it had been favoured by the late Captain, in
-order that, Cleveland being either put to death or consigned to hopeless
-imprisonment, Goffe might be called upon to resume the command of the
-vessel.
-
-"But the drunken old boatswain shall miss his mark," said Bunce to his
-confederate Fletcher; "or else I am contented to quit the name of
-Altamont, and be called Jack Bunce, or Jack Dunce, if you like it
-better, to the end of the chapter."
-
-Availing himself accordingly of a sort of nautical eloquence, which his
-enemies termed slack-jaw, Bunce set before the crew, in a most animated
-manner, the disgrace which they all sustained, by their Captain
-remaining, as he was pleased to term it, in the bilboes, without any
-hostage to answer for his safety; and succeeded so far, that, besides
-exciting a good deal of discontent against Goffe, he brought the crew to
-the resolution of seizing the first vessel of a tolerable appearance,
-and declaring that the ship, crew, and cargo, should be dealt with
-according to the usage which Cleveland should receive on shore. It was
-judged at the same time proper to try the faith of the Orcadians, by
-removing from the roadstead of Kirkwall, and going round to that of
-Stromness, where, according to the treaty betwixt Provost Torfe and
-Captain Cleveland, they were to victual their sloop. They resolved, in
-the meantime, to intrust the command of the vessel to a council,
-consisting of Goffe, the boatswain, and Bunce himself, until Cleveland
-should be in a situation to resume his command.
-
-These resolutions having been proposed and acceded to, they weighed
-anchor, and got their sloop under sail, without experiencing any
-opposition or annoyance from the battery, which relieved them of one
-important apprehension incidental to their situation.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[37] Commonly called by landsmen, Spanish dollars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-  Clap on more sail, pursue, up with your fights,
-  Give fire--she is my prize, or ocean whelm them all!
-
-                                                 SHAKSPEARE.
-
-
-A very handsome brig, which, with several other vessels, was the
-property of Magnus Troil, the great Zetland Udaller, had received on
-board that Magnate himself, his two lovely daughters, and the facetious
-Claud Halcro, who, for friendship's sake chiefly, and the love of beauty
-proper to his poetical calling, attended them on their journey from
-Zetland to the capital of Orkney, to which Norna had referred them, as
-the place where her mystical oracles should at length receive a
-satisfactory explanation.
-
-They passed, at a distance, the tremendous cliffs of the lonely spot of
-earth called the Fair Isle, which, at an equal distance from either
-archipelago, lies in the sea which divides Orkney from Zetland; and at
-length, after some baffling winds, made the Start of Sanda. Off the
-headland so named, they became involved in a strong current, well known,
-by those who frequent these seas, as the Roost of the Start, which
-carried them considerably out of their course, and, joined to an adverse
-wind, forced them to keep on the east side of the island of Stronsa,
-and, finally compelled them to lie by for the night in Papa Sound, since
-the navigation in dark or thick weather, amongst so many low islands, is
-neither pleasant nor safe.
-
-On the ensuing morning they resumed their voyage under more favourable
-auspices; and, coasting along the island of Stronsa, whose flat,
-verdant, and comparatively fertile shores, formed a strong contrast to
-the dun hills and dark cliffs of their own islands, they doubled the
-cape called the Lambhead, and stood away for Kirkwall.
-
-They had scarce opened the beautiful bay betwixt Pomona and Shapinsha,
-and the sisters were admiring the massive church of Saint Magnus, as it
-was first seen to rise from amongst the inferior buildings of Kirkwall,
-when the eyes of Magnus, and of Claud Halcro, were attracted by an
-object which they thought more interesting. This was an armed sloop,
-with her sails set, which had just left the anchorage in the bay, and
-was running before the wind by which the brig of the Udaller was beating
-in.
-
-"A tight thing that, by my ancestors' bones!" said the old Udaller; "but
-I cannot make out of what country, as she shows no colours. Spanish
-built, I should think her."
-
-"Ay, ay," said Claud Halcro, "she has all the look of it. She runs
-before the wind that we must battle with, which is the wonted way of the
-world. As glorious John says,--
-
-  'With roomy deck, and guns of mighty strength
-    Whose low-laid mouths each mounting billow laves,
-  Deep in her draught, and warlike in her length,
-    She seems a sea-wasp flying on the waves.'"
-
-Brenda could not help telling Halcro, when he had spouted this stanza
-with great enthusiasm, "that though the description was more like a
-first-rate than a sloop, yet the simile of the sea-wasp served but
-indifferently for either."
-
-"A sea-wasp?" said Magnus, looking with some surprise, as the sloop,
-shifting her course, suddenly bore down on them: "Egad, I wish she may
-not show us presently that she has a sting!"
-
-What the Udaller said in jest, was fulfilled in earnest; for, without
-hoisting colours, or hailing, two shots were discharged from the sloop,
-one of which ran dipping and dancing upon the water, just ahead of the
-Zetlander's bows, while the other went through his main-sail.
-
-Magnus caught up a speaking-trumpet, and hailed the sloop, to demand
-what she was, and what was the meaning of this unprovoked aggression. He
-was only answered by the stern command,--"Down top-sails instantly, and
-lay your main-sail to the mast--you shall see who we are presently."
-
-There were no means within the reach of possibility by which obedience
-could be evaded, where it would instantly have been enforced by a
-broadside; and, with much fear on the part of the sisters and Claud
-Halcro, mixed with anger and astonishment on that of the Udaller, the
-brig lay-to to await the commands of the captors.
-
-The sloop immediately lowered a boat, with six armed hands, commanded by
-Jack Bunce, which rowed directly for their prize. As they approached
-her, Claud Halcro whispered to the Udaller,--"If what we hear of
-buccaniers be true, these men, with their silk scarfs and vests, have
-the very cut of them."
-
-"My daughters! my daughters!" muttered Magnus to himself, with such an
-agony as only a father could feel,--"Go down below, and hide yourselves,
-girls, while I"----
-
-He threw down his speaking-trumpet, and seized on a handspike, while his
-daughters, more afraid of the consequences of his fiery temper to
-himself than of any thing else, hung round him, and begged him to make
-no resistance. Claud Halcro united his entreaties, adding, "It were best
-pacify the fellows with fair words. They might," he said, "be
-Dunkirkers, or insolent man-of-war's men on a frolic."
-
-"No, no," answered Magnus, "it is the sloop which the Jagger told us of.
-But I will take your advice--I will have patience for these girls'
-sakes; yet"----
-
-He had no time to conclude the sentence, for Bunce jumped on board with
-his party, and drawing his cutlass, struck it upon the companion-ladder,
-and declared the ship was theirs.
-
-"By what warrant or authority do you stop us on the high seas?" said
-Magnus.
-
-"Here are half a dozen of warrants," said Bunce, showing the pistols
-which were hung round him, according to a pirate-fashion already
-mentioned, "choose which you like, old gentleman, and you shall have the
-perusal of it presently."
-
-"That is to say, you intend to rob us?" said Magnus.--"So be it--we have
-no means to help it--only be civil to the women, and take what you
-please from the vessel. There is not much, but I will and can make it
-worth more, if you use us well."
-
-"Civil to the women!" said Fletcher, who had also come on board with the
-gang--"when were we else than civil to them? ay, and kind to boot?--Look
-here, Jack Bunce!--what a trim-going little thing here is!--By G--, she
-shall make a cruize with us, come of old Squaretoes what will!"
-
-He seized upon the terrified Brenda with one hand, and insolently
-pulled back with the other the hood of the mantle in which she had
-muffled herself.
-
-"Help, father!--help, Minna!" exclaimed the affrighted girl;
-unconscious, at the moment, that they were unable to render her
-assistance.
-
-Magnus again uplifted the handspike, but Bunce stopped his
-hand.--"Avast, father!" he said, "or you will make a bad voyage of it
-presently--And you, Fletcher, let go the girl!"
-
-"And, d----n me! why should I let her go?" said Fletcher.
-
-"Because I command you, Dick," said the other, "and because I'll make it
-a quarrel else.--And now let me know, beauties, is there one of you
-bears that queer heathen name of Minna, for which I have a certain sort
-of regard?"
-
-"Gallant sir!" said Halcro, "unquestionably it is because you have some
-poetry in your heart."
-
-"I have had enough of it in my mouth in my time," answered Bunce; "but
-that day is by, old gentleman--however, I shall soon find out which of
-these girls is Minna.--Throw back your mufflings from your faces, and
-don't be afraid, my Lindamiras; no one here shall meddle with you to do
-you wrong. On my soul, two pretty wenches!--I wish I were at sea in an
-egg-shell, and a rock under my lee-bow, if I would wish a better
-leaguer-lass than the worst of them!--Hark you, my girls; which of you
-would like to swing in a rover's hammock?--you should have gold for the
-gathering!"
-
-The terrified maidens clung close together, and grew pale at the bold
-and familiar language of the desperate libertine.
-
-"Nay, don't be frightened," said he; "no one shall serve under the
-noble Altamont but by her own free choice--there is no pressing amongst
-gentlemen of fortune. And do not look so shy upon me neither, as if I
-spoke of what you never thought of before. One of you, at least, has
-heard of Captain Cleveland, the Rover."
-
-Brenda grew still paler, but the blood mounted at once in Minna's
-cheeks, on hearing the name of her lover thus unexpectedly introduced;
-for the scene was in itself so confounding, that the idea of the
-vessel's being the consort of which Cleveland had spoken at
-Burgh-Westra, had occurred to no one save the Udaller.
-
-"I see how it is," said Bunce, with a familiar nod, "and I will hold my
-course accordingly.--You need not be afraid of any injury, father," he
-added, addressing Magnus familiarly; "and though I have made many a
-pretty girl pay tribute in my time, yet yours shall go ashore without
-either wrong or ransom."
-
-"If you will assure me of that," said Magnus; "you are as welcome to the
-brig and cargo, as ever I made man welcome to a can of punch."
-
-"And it is no bad thing that same can of punch," said Bunce, "if we had
-any one here that could mix it well."
-
-"I will do it," said Claud Halcro, "with any man that ever squeezed
-lemon--Eric Scambester, the punch-maker of Burgh-Westra, being alone
-excepted."
-
-"And you are within a grapnel's length of him, too," said the
-Udaller.--"Go down below, my girls," he added, "and send up the rare old
-man, and the punch-bowl."
-
-"The punch-bowl!" said Fletcher; "I say, the bucket, d----n me!--Talk
-of bowls in the cabin of a paltry merchantman, but not to
-gentlemen-strollers--rovers, I would say," correcting himself, as he
-observed that Bunce looked sour at the mistake.
-
-"And I say, these two pretty girls shall stay on deck, and fill my can,"
-said Bunce; "I deserve some attendance, at least, for all my
-generosity."
-
-"And they shall fill mine, too," said Fletcher--"they shall fill it to
-the brim!--and I will have a kiss for every drop they spill--broil me if
-I won't!"
-
-"Why, then, I tell you, you shan't!" said Bunce; "for I'll be d----d if
-any one shall kiss Minna but one, and that's neither you nor I; and her
-other little bit of a consort shall 'scape for company;--there are
-plenty of willing wenches in Orkney.--And so, now I think on it, these
-girls shall go down below, and bolt themselves into the cabin; and we
-shall have the punch up here on deck, _al fresco_, as the old gentleman
-proposes."
-
-"Why, Jack, I wish you knew your own mind," said Fletcher; "I have been
-your messmate these two years, and I love you; and yet flay me like a
-wild bullock, if you have not as many humours as a monkey!--And what
-shall we have to make a little fun of, since you have sent the girls
-down below?"
-
-"Why, we will have Master Punch-maker here," answered Bunce, "to give us
-toasts, and sing us songs.--And, in the meantime, you there, stand by
-sheets and tacks, and get her under way!--and you, steersman, as you
-would keep your brains in your skull, keep her under the stern of the
-sloop.--If you attempt to play us any trick, I will scuttle your sconce
-as if it were an old calabash!"
-
-The vessel was accordingly got under way, and moved slowly on in the
-wake of the sloop, which, as had been previously agreed upon, held her
-course, not to return to the Bay of Kirkwall, but for an excellent
-roadstead called Inganess Bay, formed by a promontory which extends to
-the eastward two or three miles from the Orcadian metropolis, and where
-the vessels might conveniently lie at anchor, while the rovers
-maintained any communication with the Magistrates which the new state of
-things seemed to require.
-
-Meantime Claud Halcro had exerted his utmost talents in compounding a
-bucketful of punch for the use of the pirates, which they drank out of
-large cans; the ordinary seamen, as well as Bunce and Fletcher, who
-acted as officers, dipping them into the bucket with very little
-ceremony, as they came and went upon their duty. Magnus, who was
-particularly apprehensive that liquor might awaken the brutal passions
-of these desperadoes, was yet so much astonished at the quantities which
-he saw them drink, without producing any visible effect upon their
-reason, that he could not help expressing his surprise to Bunce himself,
-who, wild as he was, yet appeared by far the most civil and conversable
-of his party, and whom he was, perhaps, desirous to conciliate, by a
-compliment of which all boon topers know the value.
-
-"Bones of Saint Magnus!" said the Udaller, "I used to think I took off
-my can like a gentleman; but to see your men swallow, Captain, one would
-think their stomachs were as bottomless as the hole of Laifell in Foula,
-which I have sounded myself with a line of an hundred fathoms. By my
-soul, the Bicker of Saint Magnus were but a sip to them!"
-
-"In our way of life, sir," answered Bunce, "there is no stint till duty
-calls, or the puncheon is drunk out."
-
-"By my word, sir," said Claud Halcro, "I believe there is not one of
-your people but could drink out the mickle bicker of Scarpa, which was
-always offered to the Bishop of Orkney brimful of the best bummock that
-ever was brewed."[38]
-
-"If drinking could make them bishops," said Bunce, "I should have a
-reverend crew of them; but as they have no other clerical qualities
-about them, I do not propose that they shall get drunk to-day; so we
-will cut our drink with a song."
-
-"And I'll sing it, by ----!" said or swore Dick Fletcher, and instantly
-struck up the old ditty--
-
-  "It was a ship, and a ship of fame,
-  Launch'd off the stocks, bound for the main,
-  With an hundred and fifty brisk young men,
-  All pick'd and chosen every one."
-
-"I would sooner be keel-hauled than hear that song over again," said
-Bunce; "and confound your lantern jaws, you can squeeze nothing else out
-of them!"
-
-"By ----," said Fletcher, "I will sing my song, whether you like it or
-no;" and again he sung, with the doleful tone of a north-easter
-whistling through sheet and shrouds,--
-
-  "Captain Glen was our captain's name;
-  A very gallant and brisk young man;
-  As bold a sailor as e'er went to sea,
-  And we were bound for High Barbary."
-
-"I tell you again," said Bunce, "we will have none of your screech-owl
-music here; and I'll be d----d if you shall sit here and make that
-infernal noise!"
-
-"Why, then, I'll tell you what," said Fletcher, getting up, "I'll sing
-when I walk about, and I hope there is no harm in that, Jack Bunce." And
-so, getting up from his seat, he began to walk up and down the sloop,
-croaking out his long and disastrous ballad.
-
-"You see how I manage them," said Bunce, with a smile of
-self-applause--"allow that fellow two strides on his own way, and you
-make a mutineer of him for life. But I tie him strict up, and he follows
-me as kindly as a fowler's spaniel after he has got a good beating.--And
-now your toast and your song, sir," addressing Halcro; "or rather your
-song without your toast. I have got a toast for myself. Here is success
-to all roving blades, and confusion to all honest men!"
-
-"I should be sorry to drink that toast, if I could help it," said Magnus
-Troil.
-
-"What! you reckon yourself one of the honest folks, I warrant?" said
-Bunce.--"Tell me your trade, and I'll tell you what I think of it. As
-for the punch-maker here, I knew him at first glance to be a tailor, who
-has, therefore, no more pretensions to be honest, than he has not to be
-mangy. But you are some High-Dutch skipper, I warrant me, that tramples
-on the cross when he is in Japan, and denies his religion for a day's
-gain."
-
-"No," replied the Udaller, "I am a gentleman of Zetland."
-
-"O, what!" retorted the satirical Mr. Bunce, "you are come from the
-happy climate where gin is a groat a-bottle, and where there is daylight
-for ever?"
-
-"At your service, Captain," said the Udaller, suppressing with much
-pain some disposition to resent these jests on his country, although
-under every risk, and at all disadvantage.
-
-"At _my_ service!" said Bunce--"Ay, if there was a rope stretched from
-the wreck to the beach, you would be at my service to cut the hawser,
-make _floatsome_ and _jetsome_ of ship and cargo, and well if you did
-not give me a rap on the head with the back of the cutty-axe; and you
-call yourself honest? But never mind--here goes the aforesaid toast--and
-do you sing me a song, Mr. Fashioner; and look it be as good as your
-punch."
-
-Halcro, internally praying for the powers of a new Timotheus, to turn
-his strain and check his auditor's pride, as glorious John had it, began
-a heart-soothing ditty with the following lines:--
-
-  "Maidens fresh as fairest rose,
-  Listen to this lay of mine."
-
-"I will hear nothing of maidens or roses," said Bunce; "it puts me in
-mind what sort of a cargo we have got on board; and, by ----, I will be
-true to my messmate and my captain as long as I can!--And now I think
-on't, I'll have no more punch either--that last cup made innovation, and
-I am not to play Cassio to-night--and if I drink not, nobody else
-shall."
-
-So saying, he manfully kicked over the bucket, which, notwithstanding
-the repeated applications made to it, was still half full, got up from
-his seat, shook himself a little to rights, as he expressed it, cocked
-his hat, and, walking the quarter-deck with an air of dignity, gave, by
-word and signal, the orders for bringing the ships to anchor, which
-were readily obeyed by both, Goffe being then, in all probability, past
-any rational state of interference.
-
-The Udaller, in the meantime, condoled with Halcro on their situation.
-"It is bad enough," said the tough old Norseman; "for these are rank
-rogues--and yet, were it not for the girls, I should not fear them. That
-young vapouring fellow, who seems to command, is not such a born devil
-as he might have been."
-
-"He has queer humours, though," said Halcro; "and I wish we were loose
-from him. To kick down a bucket half full of the best punch ever was
-made, and to cut me short in the sweetest song I ever wrote,--I promise
-you, I do not know what he may do next--it is next door to madness."
-
-Meanwhile, the ships being brought to anchor, the valiant Lieutenant
-Bunce called upon Fletcher, and, resuming his seat by his unwilling
-passengers, he told them they should see what message he was about to
-send to the wittols of Kirkwall, as they were something concerned in it.
-"It shall run in Dick's name," he said, "as well as in mine. I love to
-give the poor young fellow a little countenance now and then--don't I,
-Dick, you d----d stupid ass?"
-
-"Why, yes, Jack Bunce," said Dick, "I can't say but as you do--only you
-are always bullocking one about something or other, too--but,
-howsomdever, d'ye see"----
-
-"Enough said--belay your jaw, Dick," said Bunce, and proceeded to write
-his epistle, which, being read aloud, proved to be of the following
-tenor:
-
-    "For the Mayor and Aldermen of Kirkwall--Gentlemen, As, contrary
-    to your good faith given, you have not sent us on board a hostage
-    for the safety of our Captain, remaining on shore at your
-    request, these come to tell you, we are not thus to be trifled
-    with. We have already in our possession, a brig, with a family of
-    distinction, its owners and passengers; and as you deal with our
-    Captain, so will we deal with them in every respect. And as this
-    is the first, so assure yourselves it shall not be the last damage
-    which we will do to your town and trade, if you do not send on
-    board our Captain, and supply us with stores according to treaty.
-
-    "Given on board the brig Mergoose of Burgh-Westra, lying in
-    Inganess Bay. Witness our hands, commanders of the Fortune's
-    Favourite, and gentlemen adventurers."
-
-He then subscribed himself Frederick Altamont, and handed the letter to
-Fletcher, who read the said subscription with much difficulty; and,
-admiring the sound of it very much, swore he would have a new name
-himself, and the rather that Fletcher was the most crabbed word to spell
-and conster, he believed, in the whole dictionary. He subscribed himself
-accordingly, Timothy Tugmutton.
-
-"Will you not add a few lines to the coxcombs?" said Bunce, addressing
-Magnus.
-
-"Not I," returned the Udaller, stubborn in his ideas of right and wrong,
-even in so formidable an emergency. "The Magistrates of Kirkwall know
-their duty, and were I they"----But here the recollection that his
-daughters were at the mercy of these ruffians, blanked the bold visage
-of Magnus Troil, and checked the defiance which was just about to issue
-from his lips.
-
-"D----n me," said Bunce, who easily conjectured what was passing in the
-mind of his prisoner--"that pause would have told well on the stage--it
-would have brought down pit, box, and gallery, egad, as Bayes has it."
-
-"I will hear nothing of Bayes," said Claud Halcro, (himself a little
-elevated,) "it is an impudent satire on glorious John; but he tickled
-Buckingham off for it--
-
-  'In the first rank of these did Zimri stand;
-  A man so various'"----
-
-"Hold your peace!" said Bunce, drowning the voice of the admirer of
-Dryden in louder and more vehement asseveration, "the Rehearsal is the
-best farce ever was written--and I'll make him kiss the gunner's
-daughter that denies it. D----n me, I was the best Prince Prettyman
-ever walked the boards--
-
-  'Sometimes a fisher's son, sometimes a prince.'
-
-But let us to business.--Hark ye, old gentleman," (to Magnus,) "you have
-a sort of sulkiness about you, for which some of my profession would cut
-your ears out of your head, and broil them for your dinner with red
-pepper. I have known Goffe do so to a poor devil, for looking sour and
-dangerous when he saw his sloop go to Davy Jones's locker with his only
-son on board. But I'm a spirit of another sort; and if you or the ladies
-are ill used, it shall be the Kirkwall people's fault, and not mine, and
-that's fair; and so you had better let them know your condition, and
-your circumstances, and so forth,--and that's fair, too."
-
-Magnus, thus exhorted, took up the pen, and attempted to write; but his
-high spirit so struggled with his paternal anxiety, that his hand
-refused its office. "I cannot help it," he said, after one or two
-illegible attempts to write--"I cannot form a letter, if all our lives
-depended upon it."
-
-And he could not, with his utmost efforts, so suppress the convulsive
-emotions which he experienced, but that they agitated his whole frame.
-The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak
-which resists it; and so, in great calamities, it sometimes happens,
-that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence
-of mind sooner than those of a loftier character. In the present case,
-Claud Halcro was fortunately able to perform the task which the deeper
-feelings of his friend and patron refused. He took the pen, and, in as
-few words as possible, explained the situation in which they were
-placed, and the cruel risks to which they were exposed, insinuating at
-the same time, as delicately as he could express it, that, to the
-magistrates of the country, the life and honour of its citizens should
-be a dearer object than even the apprehension or punishment of the
-guilty; taking care, however, to qualify the last expression as much as
-possible, for fear of giving umbrage to the pirates.
-
-Bunce read over the letter, which fortunately met his approbation; and,
-on seeing the name of Claud Halcro at the bottom, he exclaimed, in great
-surprise, and with more energetic expressions of asseveration than we
-choose to record--"Why, you are the little fellow that played the fiddle
-to old Manager Gadabout's company, at Hogs Norton, the first season I
-came out there! I thought I knew your catchword of glorious John."
-
-At another time this recognition might not have been very grateful to
-Halcro's minstrel pride; but, as matters stood with him, the discovery
-of a golden mine could not have made him more happy. He instantly
-remembered the very hopeful young performer who came out in Don
-Sebastian, and judiciously added, that the muse of glorious John had
-never received such excellent support during the time that he was first
-(he might have added, and only) violin to Mr. Gadabout's company.
-
-"Why, yes," said Bunce, "I believe you are right--I think I might have
-shaken the scene as well as Booth or Betterton either. But I was
-destined to figure on other boards," (striking his foot upon the deck,)
-"and I believe I must stick by them, till I find no board at all to
-support me. But now, old acquaintance, I will do something for you--slue
-yourself this way a bit--I would have you solus." They leaned over the
-taffrail, while Bunce whispered with more seriousness than he usually
-showed, "I am sorry for this honest old heart of Norway pine--blight me
-if I am not--and for the daughters too--besides, I have my own reasons
-for befriending one of them. I can be a wild fellow with a willing lass
-of the game; but to such decent and innocent creatures--d----n me, I am
-Scipio at Numantia, and Alexander in the tent of Darius. You remember
-how I touch off Alexander?" (here he started into heroics.)
-
-  "'Thus from the grave I rise to save my love;
-  All draw your swords, with wings of lightning move.
-  When I rush on, sure none will dare to stay--
-  'Tis beauty calls, and glory shows the way.'"
-
-Claud Halcro failed not to bestow the necessary commendations on his
-declamation, declaring, that, in his opinion as an honest man, he had
-always thought Mr. Altamont's giving that speech far superior in tone
-and energy to Betterton.
-
-Bunce, or Altamont, wrung his hand tenderly. "Ah, you flatter me, my
-dear friend," he said; "yet, why had not the public some of your
-judgment!--I should not then have been at this pass. Heaven knows, my
-dear Mr. Halcro--Heaven knows with what pleasure I could keep you on
-board with me, just that I might have one friend who loves as much to
-hear, as I do to recite, the choicest pieces of our finest dramatic
-authors. The most of us are beasts--and, for the Kirkwall hostage
-yonder, he uses me, egad, as I use Fletcher, I think, and huffs me the
-more, the more I do for him. But how delightful it would be in a tropic
-night, when the ship was hanging on the breeze, with a broad and steady
-sail, for me to rehearse Alexander, with you for my pit, box, and
-gallery! Nay, (for you are a follower of the muses, as I remember,) who
-knows but you and I might be the means of inspiring, like Orpheus and
-Eurydice, a pure taste into our companions, and softening their manners,
-while we excited their better feelings?"
-
-This was spoken with so much unction, that Claud Halcro began to be
-afraid he had both made the actual punch over potent, and mixed too many
-bewitching ingredients in the cup of flattery which he had administered;
-and that, under the influence of both potions, the sentimental pirate
-might detain him by force, merely to realize the scenes which his
-imagination presented. The conjuncture was, however, too delicate to
-admit of any active effort, on Halcro's part, to redeem his blunder, and
-therefore he only returned the tender pressure of his friend's hand, and
-uttered the interjection "alas!" in as pathetic a tone as he could.
-
-Bunce immediately resumed: "You are right, my friend, these are but
-vain visions of felicity, and it remains but for the unhappy Altamont to
-serve the friend to whom he is now to bid farewell. I have determined to
-put you and the two girls ashore, with Fletcher for your protection; and
-so call up the young women, and let them begone before the devil get
-aboard of me, or of some one else. You will carry my letter to the
-magistrates, and second it with your own eloquence, and assure them,
-that if they hurt but one hair of Cleveland's head, there will be the
-devil to pay, and no pitch hot."
-
-Relieved at heart by this unexpected termination of Bunce's harangue,
-Halcro descended the companion ladder two steps at a time, and knocking
-at the cabin door, could scarce find intelligible language enough to say
-his errand. The sisters hearing, with unexpected joy, that they were to
-be set ashore, muffled themselves in their cloaks, and, when they
-learned that the boat was hoisted out, came hastily on deck, where they
-were apprized, for the first time, to their great horror, that their
-father was still to remain on board of the pirate.
-
-"We will remain with him at every risk," said Minna--"we may be of some
-assistance to him, were it but for an instant--we will live and die with
-him!"
-
-"We shall aid him more surely," said Brenda, who comprehended the nature
-of their situation better than Minna, "by interesting the people of
-Kirkwall to grant these gentlemen's demands."
-
-"Spoken like an angel of sense and beauty," said Bunce; "and now away
-with you; for, d----n me, if this is not like having a lighted linstock
-in the powder-room--if you speak another word more, confound me if I
-know how I shall bring myself to part with you!"
-
-"Go, in God's name, my daughters," said Magnus. "I am in God's hand; and
-when you are gone I shall care little for myself--and I shall think and
-say, as long as I live, that this good gentleman deserves a better
-trade.--Go--go--away with you!"--for they yet lingered in reluctance to
-leave him.
-
-"Stay not to kiss," said Bunce, "for fear I be tempted to ask my share.
-Into the boat with you--yet stop an instant." He drew the three captives
-apart--"Fletcher," said he, "will answer for the rest of the fellows,
-and will see you safe off the sea-beach. But how to answer for Fletcher,
-I know not, except by trusting Mr. Halcro with this little guarantee."
-
-[Illustration]
-
-He offered the minstrel a small double-barrelled pistol, which, he said,
-was loaded with a brace of balls. Minna observed Halcro's hand tremble
-as he stretched it out to take the weapon. "Give it to me, sir," she
-said, taking it from the outlaw; "and trust to me for defending my
-sister and myself."
-
-"Bravo, bravo!" shouted Bunce. "There spoke a wench worthy of Cleveland,
-the King of Rovers!"
-
-"Cleveland!" repeated Minna, "do you then know that Cleveland, whom you
-have twice named?"
-
-"Know him! Is there a man alive," said Bunce, "that knows better than I
-do the best and stoutest fellow ever stepped betwixt stem and stern?
-When he is out of the bilboes, as please Heaven he shall soon be, I
-reckon to see you come on board of us, and reign the queen of every sea
-we sail over.--You have got the little guardian; I suppose you know how
-to use it? If Fletcher behaves ill to you, you need only draw up this
-piece of iron with your thumb, so--and if he persists, it is but
-crooking your pretty forefinger thus, and I shall lose the most dutiful
-messmate that ever man had--though, d----n the dog, he will deserve his
-death if he disobeys my orders. And now, into the boat--but stay, one
-kiss for Cleveland's sake."
-
-Brenda, in deadly terror, endured his courtesy, but Minna, stepping back
-with disdain, offered her hand. Bunce laughed, but kissed, with a
-theatrical air, the fair hand which she extended as a ransom for her
-lips, and at length the sisters and Halcro were placed in the boat,
-which rowed off under Fletcher's command.
-
-Bunce stood on the quarter-deck, soliloquizing after the manner of his
-original profession. "Were this told at Port-Royal now, or at the isle
-of Providence, or in the Petits Guaves, I wonder what they would say of
-me! Why, that I was a good-natured milksop--a Jack-a-lent--an
-ass.--Well, let them. I have done enough of bad to think about it; it is
-worth while doing one good action, if it were but for the rarity of the
-thing, and to put one in good humour with oneself." Then turning to
-Magnus Troil, he proceeded--"By ---- these are bona-robas, these
-daughters of yours! The eldest would make her fortune on the London
-boards. What a dashing attitude the wench had with her, as she seized
-the pistol!--d----n me, that touch would have brought the house down!
-What a Roxalana the jade would have made!" (for, in his oratory, Bunce,
-like Sancho's gossip, Thomas Cecial, was apt to use the most energetic
-word which came to hand, without accurately considering its propriety.)
-"I would give my share of the next prize but to hear her spout--
-
-  'Away, begone, and give a whirlwind room,
-  Or I will blow you up like dust.--Avaunt!
-  Madness but meanly represents my rage.'
-
-And then, again, that little, soft, shy, tearful trembler, for Statira,
-to hear her recite--
-
-  'He speaks the kindest words, and looks such things,
-  Vows with such passion, swears with so much grace,
-  That 'tis a kind of heaven to be deluded by him.'
-
-What a play we might have run up!--I was a beast not to think of it
-before I sent them off--I to be Alexander--Claud Halcro,
-Lysimachus--this old gentleman might have made a Clytus, for a pinch. I
-was an idiot not to think of it!"
-
-There was much in this effusion which might have displeased the Udaller;
-but, to speak truth, he paid no attention to it. His eye, and, finally,
-his spy-glass, were employed in watching the return of his daughters to
-the shore. He saw them land on the beach, and, accompanied by Halcro,
-and another man, (Fletcher, doubtless,) he saw them ascend the
-acclivity, and proceed upon the road to Kirkwall; and he could even
-distinguish that Minna, as if considering herself as the guardian of the
-party, walked a little aloof from the rest, on the watch, as it seemed,
-against surprise, and ready to act as occasion should require. At
-length, as the Udaller was just about to lose sight of them, he had the
-exquisite satisfaction to see the party halt, and the pirate leave them,
-after a space just long enough for a civil farewell, and proceed slowly
-back, on his return to the beach. Blessing the Great Being who had thus
-relieved him from the most agonizing fears which a father can feel, the
-worthy Udaller, from that instant, stood resigned to his own fate,
-whatever that might be.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[38] Liquor brewed for a Christmas treat.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-  Over the mountains and under the waves,
-  Over the fountains and under the graves,
-        Over floods that are deepest,
-          Which Neptune obey,
-        Over rocks that are steepest,
-          Love will find out the way.
-
-                                                 _Old Song._
-
-
-The parting of Fletcher from Claud Halcro and the sisters of
-Burgh-Westra, on the spot where it took place, was partly occasioned by
-a small party of armed men being seen at a distance in the act of
-advancing from Kirkwall, an apparition hidden from the Udaller's
-spy-glass by the swell of the ground, but quite visible to the pirate,
-whom it determined to consult his own safety by a speedy return to his
-boat. He was just turning away, when Minna occasioned the short delay
-which her father had observed.
-
-"Stop," she said; "I command you!--Tell your leader from me, that
-whatever the answer may be from Kirkwall, he shall carry his vessel,
-nevertheless, round to Stromness; and, being anchored there, let him
-send a boat ashore for Captain Cleveland when he shall see a smoke on
-the Bridge of Broisgar."
-
-Fletcher had thought, like his messmate Bunce of asking a kiss, at
-least, for the trouble of escorting these beautiful young women; and
-perhaps, neither the terror of the approaching Kirkwall men, nor of
-Minna's weapon, might have prevented his being insolent. But the name of
-his Captain, and, still more, the unappalled, dignified, and commanding
-manner of Minna Troil, overawed him. He made a sea bow,--promised to
-keep a sharp look-out, and, returning to his boat, went on board with
-his message.
-
-As Halcro and the sisters advanced towards the party whom they saw on
-the Kirkwall road, and who, on their part, had halted as if to observe
-them, Brenda, relieved from the fears of Fletcher's presence, which had
-hitherto kept her silent, exclaimed, "Merciful Heaven!--Minna, in what
-hands have we left our dear father?"
-
-"In the hands of brave men," said Minna, steadily--"I fear not for him."
-
-"As brave as you please," said Claud Halcro, "but very dangerous rogues
-for all that.--I know that fellow Altamont, as he calls himself, though
-that is not his right name neither, as deboshed a dog as ever made a
-barn ring with blood and blank verse. He began with Barnwell, and every
-body thought he would end with the gallows, like the last scene in
-Venice Preserved."
-
-"It matters not," said Minna--"the wilder the waves, the more powerful
-is the voice that rules them. The name alone of Cleveland ruled the mood
-of the fiercest amongst them."
-
-"I am sorry for Cleveland," said Brenda, "if such are his
-companions,--but I care little for him in comparison to my father."
-
-"Reserve your compassion for those who need it," said Minna, "and fear
-nothing for our father.--God knows, every silver hair on his head is to
-me worth the treasure of an unsummed mine; but I know that he is safe
-while in yonder vessel, and I know that he will be soon safe on shore."
-
-"I would I could see it," said Claud Halcro; "but I fear the Kirkwall
-people, supposing Cleveland to be such as I dread, will not dare to
-exchange him against the Udaller. The Scots have very severe laws
-against theft-boot, as they call it."
-
-"But who are those on the road before us?" said Brenda; "and why do they
-halt there so jealously?"
-
-"They are a patrol of the militia," answered Halcro. "Glorious John
-touches them off a little sharply,--but then John was a Jacobite,--(_e_)
-
-  'Mouths without hands, maintain'd at vast expense,
-  In peace a charge, in war a weak defence;
-  Stout once a-month, they march, a blustering band,
-  And ever, but in time of need, at hand.'
-
-I fancy they halted just now, taking us, as they saw us on the brow of
-the hill, for a party of the sloop's men, and now they can distinguish
-that you wear petticoats, they are moving on again."
-
-They came on accordingly, and proved to be, as Claud Halcro had
-suggested, a patrol sent out to watch the motions of the pirates, and to
-prevent their attempting descents to damage the country.
-
-They heartily congratulated Claud Halcro, who was well known to more
-than one of them, upon his escape from captivity; and the commander of
-the party, while offering every assistance to the ladies, could not help
-condoling with them on the circumstances in which their father stood,
-hinting, though in a delicate and doubtful manner, the difficulties
-which might be in the way of his liberation.
-
-When they arrived at Kirkwall, and obtained an audience of the Provost,
-and one or two of the Magistrates, these difficulties were more plainly
-insisted upon.--"The Halcyon frigate is upon the coast," said the
-Provost; "she was seen off Duncansbay-head; and, though I have the
-deepest respect for Mr. Troil of Burgh-Westra, yet I shall be answerable
-to law if I release from prison the Captain of this suspicious vessel,
-on account of the safety of any individual who may be unhappily
-endangered by his detention. This man is now known to be the heart and
-soul of these buccaniers, and am I at liberty to send him aboard, that
-he may plunder the country, or perhaps go fight the King's ship?--for he
-has impudence enough for any thing."
-
-"_Courage_ enough for any thing, you mean, Mr. Provost," said Minna,
-unable to restrain her displeasure.
-
-"Why, you may call it as you please, Miss Troil," said the worthy
-Magistrate; "but, in my opinion, that sort of courage which proposes to
-fight singly against two, is little better than a kind of practical
-impudence."
-
-"But our father?" said Brenda, in a tone of the most earnest
-entreaty--"our father--the friend, I may say the father, of his
-country--to whom so many look for kindness, and so many for actual
-support--whose loss would be the extinction of a beacon in a storm--will
-you indeed weigh the risk which he runs, against such a trifling thing
-as letting an unfortunate man from prison, to seek his unhappy fate
-elsewhere?"
-
-"Miss Brenda is right," said Claud Halcro; "I am for let-a-be for
-let-a-be, as the boys say; and never fash about a warrant of
-liberation, Provost, but just take a fool's counsel, and let the goodman
-of the jail forget to draw his bolt on the wicket, or leave a chink of a
-window open, or the like, and we shall be rid of the rover, and have the
-one best honest fellow in Orkney or Zetland on the lee-side of a bowl of
-punch with us in five hours."
-
-The Provost replied in nearly the same terms as before, that he had the
-highest respect for Mr. Magnus Troil of Burgh-Westra, but that he could
-not suffer his consideration for any individual, however respectable, to
-interfere with the discharge of his duty.
-
-Minna then addressed her sister in a tone of calm and sarcastic
-displeasure.--"You forget," she said, "Brenda, that you are talking of
-the safety of a poor insignificant Udaller of Zetland, to no less a
-person than the Chief Magistrate of the metropolis of Orkney--can you
-expect so great a person to condescend to such a trifling subject of
-consideration? It will be time enough for the Provost to think of
-complying with the terms sent to him--for comply with them at length he
-both must and will--when the Church of Saint Magnus is beat down about
-his ears."
-
-"You may be angry with me, my pretty young lady," said the good-humoured
-Provost Torfe, "but I cannot be offended with you. The Church of Saint
-Magnus has stood many a day, and, I think, will outlive both you and me,
-much more yonder pack of unhanged dogs. And besides that your father is
-half an Orkneyman, and has both estate and friends among us, I would, I
-give you my word, do as much for a Zetlander in distress as I would for
-any one, excepting one of our own native Kirkwallers, who are doubtless
-to be preferred. And if you will take up your lodgings here with my wife
-and myself, we will endeavour to show you," continued he, "that you are
-as welcome in Kirkwall, as ever you could be in Lerwick or Scalloway."
-
-Minna deigned no reply to this good-humoured invitation, but Brenda
-declined it in civil terms, pleading the necessity of taking up their
-abode with a wealthy widow of Kirkwall, a relation, who already expected
-them.
-
-Halcro made another attempt to move the Provost, but found him
-inexorable.--"The Collector of the Customs had already threatened," he
-said, "to inform against him for entering into treaty, or, as he called
-it, packing and peeling with those strangers, even when it seemed the
-only means of preventing a bloody affray in the town; and, should he now
-forego the advantage afforded by the imprisonment of Cleveland and the
-escape of the Factor, he might incur something worse than censure." The
-burden of the whole was, "that he was sorry for the Udaller, he was
-sorry even for the lad Cleveland, who had some sparks of honour about
-him; but his duty was imperious, and must be obeyed." The Provost then
-precluded farther argument, by observing, that another affair from
-Zetland called for his immediate attention. A gentleman named Mertoun,
-residing at Jarlshof, had made complaint against Snailsfoot the Jagger,
-for having assisted a domestic of his in embezzling some valuable
-articles which had been deposited in his custody, and he was about to
-take examinations on the subject, and cause them to be restored to Mr.
-Mertoun, who was accountable for them to the right owner.
-
-In all this information, there was nothing which seemed interesting to
-the sisters excepting the word Mertoun, which went like a dagger to the
-heart of Minna, when she recollected the circumstances under which
-Mordaunt Mertoun had disappeared, and which, with an emotion less
-painful, though still of a melancholy nature, called a faint blush into
-Brenda's cheek, and a slight degree of moisture into her eye. But it was
-soon evident that the Magistrate spoke not of Mordaunt, but of his
-father; and the daughters of Magnus, little interested in his detail,
-took leave of the Provost to go to their own lodgings.
-
-When they arrived at their relation's, Minna made it her business to
-learn, by such enquiries as she could make without exciting suspicion,
-what was the situation of the unfortunate Cleveland, which she soon
-discovered to be exceedingly precarious. The Provost had not, indeed,
-committed him to close custody, as Claud Halcro had anticipated,
-recollecting, perhaps, the favourable circumstances under which he had
-surrendered himself, and loath, till the moment of the last necessity,
-altogether to break faith with him. But although left apparently at
-large, he was strictly watched by persons well armed and appointed for
-the purpose, who had directions to detain him by force, if he attempted
-to pass certain narrow precincts which were allotted to him. He was
-quartered in a strong room within what is called the King's Castle, and
-at night his chamber door was locked on the outside, and a sufficient
-guard mounted to prevent his escape. He therefore enjoyed only the
-degree of liberty which the cat, in her cruel sport, is sometimes
-pleased to permit to the mouse which she has clutched; and yet, such was
-the terror of the resources, the courage, and ferocity of the pirate
-Captain, that the Provost was blamed by the Collector, and many other
-sage citizens of Kirkwall, for permitting him to be at large upon any
-conditions.
-
-It may be well believed, that, under such circumstances, Cleveland had
-no desire to seek any place of public resort, conscious that he was the
-object of a mixed feeling of curiosity and terror. His favourite place
-of exercise, therefore, was the external aisles of the Cathedral of
-Saint Magnus, of which the eastern end alone is fitted up for public
-worship. This solemn old edifice, having escaped the ravage which
-attended the first convulsions of the Reformation, still retains some
-appearance of episcopal dignity. This place of worship is separated by a
-screen from the nave and western limb of the cross, and the whole is
-preserved in a state of cleanliness and decency, which might be well
-proposed as an example to the proud piles of Westminster and St. Paul's.
-
-It was in this exterior part of the Cathedral that Cleveland was
-permitted to walk, the rather that his guards, by watching the single
-open entrance, had the means, with very little inconvenience to
-themselves, of preventing any possible attempt at escape. The place
-itself was well suited to his melancholy circumstances. The lofty and
-vaulted roof rises upon ranges of Saxon pillars, of massive size, four
-of which, still larger than the rest, once supported the lofty spire,
-which, long since destroyed by accident, has been rebuilt upon a
-disproportioned and truncated plan. The light is admitted at the eastern
-end through a lofty, well-proportioned, and richly-ornamented Gothic
-window; and the pavement is covered with inscriptions, in different
-languages, distinguishing the graves of noble Orcadians, who have at
-different times been deposited within the sacred precincts.
-
-Here walked Cleveland, musing over the events of a misspent life, which,
-it seemed probable, might be brought to a violent and shameful close,
-while he was yet in the prime of youth.--"With these dead," he said,
-looking on the pavement, "shall I soon be numbered--but no holy man will
-speak a blessing; no friendly hand register an inscription; no proud
-descendant sculpture armorial bearings over the grave of the pirate
-Cleveland. My whitening bones will swing in the gibbet-irons, on some
-wild beach or lonely cape, that will be esteemed fatal and accursed for
-my sake. The old mariner, as he passes the Sound, will shake his head,
-and tell of my name and actions, as a warning to his younger
-comrades.--But, Minna! Minna!--what will be thy thoughts when the news
-reaches thee?--Would to God the tidings were drowned in the deepest
-whirlpool betwixt Kirkwall and Burgh-Westra, ere they came to her
-ear!--and O! would to Heaven that we had never met, since we never can
-meet again!"
-
-He lifted up his eyes as he spoke, and Minna Troil stood before him. Her
-face was pale, and her hair dishevelled; but her look was composed and
-firm, with its usual expression of high-minded melancholy. She was still
-shrouded in the large mantle which she had assumed on leaving the
-vessel. Cleveland's first emotion was astonishment; his next was joy,
-not unmixed with awe. He would have exclaimed--he would have thrown
-himself at her feet--but she imposed at once silence and composure on
-him, by raising her finger, and saying, in a low but commanding
-accent,--"Be cautious--we are observed--there are men without--they let
-me enter with difficulty. I dare not remain long--they would think--they
-might believe--O, Cleveland! I have hazarded every thing to save you!"
-
-"To save me?--Alas! poor Minna!" answered Cleveland, "to save me is
-impossible.--Enough that I have seen you once more, were it but to say,
-for ever farewell!"
-
-"We must indeed say farewell," said Minna; "for fate, and your guilt,
-have divided us for ever.--Cleveland, I have seen your associates--need
-I tell you more--need I say, that I know now what a pirate is?"
-
-"You have been in the ruffians' power!" said Cleveland, with a start of
-agony--"Did they presume"----
-
-"Cleveland," replied Minna, "they presumed nothing--your name was a
-spell over them. By the power of that spell over these ferocious
-banditti, and by that alone, I was reminded of the qualities I once
-thought my Cleveland's!"
-
-"Yes," said Cleveland, proudly, "my name has and shall have power over
-them, when they are at the wildest; and, had they harmed you by one rude
-word, they should have found--Yet what do I rave about--I am a
-prisoner!"
-
-"You shall be so no longer," said Minna--"Your safety--the safety of my
-dear father--all demand your instant freedom. I have formed a scheme for
-your liberty, which, boldly executed, cannot fail. The light is fading
-without--muffle yourself in my cloak, and you will easily pass the
-guards--I have given them the means of carousing, and they are deeply
-engaged. Haste to the Loch of Stennis, and hide yourself till day dawns;
-then make a smoke on the point, where the land, stretching into the
-lake on each side, divides it nearly in two at the Bridge of Broisgar.
-Your vessel, which lies not far distant, will send a boat ashore.--Do
-not hesitate an instant!"
-
-"But you, Minna!--Should this wild scheme succeed," said Cleveland,
-"what is to become of you?"
-
-"For my share in your escape," answered the maiden, "the honesty of my
-own intention will vindicate me in the sight of Heaven; and the safety
-of my father, whose fate depends on yours, will be my excuse to man."
-
-In a few words, she gave him the history of their capture, and its
-consequences. Cleveland cast up his eyes and raised his hands to Heaven,
-in thankfulness for the escape of the sisters from his evil companions,
-and then hastily added,--"But you are right, Minna; I must fly at all
-rates--for your father's sake I must fly.--Here, then, we part--yet not,
-I trust, for ever."
-
-"For ever!" answered a voice, that sounded as from a sepulchral vault.
-
-They started, looked around them, and then gazed on each other. It
-seemed as if the echoes of the building had returned Cleveland's last
-words, but the pronunciation was too emphatically accented.
-
-"Yes, for ever!" said Norna of the Fitful-head, stepping forward from
-behind one of the massive Saxon pillars which support the roof of the
-Cathedral. "Here meet the crimson foot and the crimson hand. Well for
-both that the wound is healed whence that crimson was derived--well for
-both, but best, for him who shed it.--Here, then, you meet--and meet for
-the last time!"
-
-"Not so," said Cleveland, as if about to take Minna's hand; "to
-separate me from Minna, while I have life, must be the work of herself
-alone."
-
-"Away!" said Norna, stepping betwixt them,--"away with such idle
-folly!--Nourish no vain dreams of future meetings--you part here, and
-you part for ever. The hawk pairs not with the dove; guilt matches not
-with innocence.--Minna Troil, you look for the last time on this bold
-and criminal man--Cleveland, you behold Minna for the last time!"
-
-"And dream you," said Cleveland, indignantly, "that your mummery imposes
-on me, and that I am among the fools who see more than trick in your
-pretended art?"
-
-"Forbear, Cleveland, forbear!" said Minna, her hereditary awe of Norna
-augmented by the circumstance of her sudden appearance. "O,
-forbear!--she is powerful--she is but too powerful.--And do you, O
-Norna, remember my father's safety is linked with Cleveland's."
-
-"And it is well for Cleveland that I do remember it," replied the
-Pythoness--"and that, for the sake of one, I am here to aid both. You,
-with your childish purpose, of passing one of his bulk and stature under
-the disguise of a few paltry folds of wadmaal--what would your device
-have procured him but instant restraint with bolt and shackle?--I will
-save him--I will place him in security on board his bark. But let him
-renounce these shores for ever, and carry elsewhere the terrors of his
-sable flag, and his yet blacker name; for if the sun rises twice, and
-finds him still at anchor, his blood be on his own head.--Ay, look to
-each other--look the last look that I permit to frail affection,--and
-say, if ye _can_ say it, Farewell for ever!"
-
-"Obey her," stammered Minna; "remonstrate not, but obey her."
-
-Cleveland, grasping her hand, and kissing it ardently, said, but so low
-that she only could hear it, "Farewell, Minna, but _not_ for ever."
-
-"And now, maiden, begone," said Norna, "and leave the rest to the
-Reimkennar."
-
-"One word more," said Minna, "and I obey you. Tell me but if I have
-caught aright your meaning--Is Mordaunt Mertoun safe and recovered?"
-
-"Recovered, and safe," said Norna; "else woe to the hand that shed his
-blood!"
-
-Minna slowly sought the door of the Cathedral, and turned back from time
-to time to look at the shadowy form of Norna, and the stately and
-military figure of Cleveland, as they stood together in the deepening
-gloom of the ancient Cathedral. When she looked back a second time they
-were in motion, and Cleveland followed the matron, as, with a slow and
-solemn step, she glided towards one of the side aisles. When Minna
-looked back a third time, their figures were no longer visible. She
-collected herself, and walked on to the eastern door by which she had
-entered, and listened for an instant to the guard, who talked together
-on the outside.
-
-"The Zetland girl stays a long time with this pirate fellow," said one.
-"I wish they have not more to speak about than the ransom of her
-father."
-
-"Ay, truly," answered another, "the wenches will have more sympathy with
-a handsome young pirate, than an old bed-ridden burgher."
-
-Their discourse was here interrupted by her of whom they were speaking;
-and, as if taken in the manner, they pulled off their hats, made their
-awkward obeisances, and looked not a little embarrassed and confused.
-
-Minna returned to the house where she lodged, much affected, yet, on the
-whole, pleased with the result of her expedition, which seemed to put
-her father out of danger, and assured her at once of the escape of
-Cleveland, and of the safety of young Mordaunt. She hastened to
-communicate both pieces of intelligence to Brenda, who joined her in
-thankfulness to Heaven, and was herself wellnigh persuaded to believe in
-Norna's supernatural pretensions, so much was she pleased with the
-manner in which they had been employed. Some time was spent in
-exchanging their mutual congratulations, and mingling tears of hope,
-mixed with apprehension; when, at a late hour in the evening, they were
-interrupted by Claud Halcro, who, full of a fidgeting sort of
-importance, not unmingled with fear, came to acquaint them, that the
-prisoner, Cleveland, had disappeared from the Cathedral, in which he had
-been permitted to walk, and that the Provost, having been informed that
-Minna was accessary to his flight, was coming, in a mighty quandary, to
-make enquiry into the circumstances.
-
-When the worthy Magistrate arrived, Minna did not conceal from him her
-own wish that Cleveland should make his escape, as the only means which
-she saw of redeeming her father from imminent danger. But that she had
-any actual accession to his flight, she positively denied; and stated,
-"that she had parted from Cleveland in the Cathedral, more than two
-hours since, and then left him in company with a third person, whose
-name she did not conceive herself obliged to communicate."
-
-"It is not needful, Miss Minna Troil," answered Provost Torfe; "for,
-although no person but this Captain Cleveland and yourself was seen to
-enter the Kirk of St. Magnus this day, we know well enough that your
-cousin, old Ulla Troil, whom you Zetlanders call Norna of Fitful-head,
-has been cruising up and down, upon sea and land, and air, for what I
-know, in boats and on ponies, and it may be on broomsticks; and here has
-been her dumb Drow, too, coming and going, and playing the spy on every
-one--and a good spy he is, for he can hear every thing, and tells
-nothing again, unless to his mistress. And we know, besides, that she
-can enter the Kirk when all the doors are fast, and has been seen there
-more than once, God save us from the Evil One!--and so, without farther
-questions asked, I conclude it was old Norna whom you left in the Kirk
-with this slashing blade--and, if so, they may catch them again that
-can.--I cannot but say, however, pretty Mistress Minna, that you Zetland
-folks seem to forget both law and gospel, when you use the help of
-witchcraft to fetch delinquents out of a legal prison; and the least
-that you, or your cousin, or your father, can do, is to use influence
-with this wild fellow to go away as soon as possible, without hurting
-the town or trade, and then there will be little harm in what has
-chanced; for, Heaven knows, I did not seek the poor lad's life, so I
-could get my hands free of him without blame; and far less did I wish,
-that, through his imprisonment, any harm should come to worthy Magnus
-Troil of Burgh-Westra."
-
-"I see where the shoe pinches you, Mr. Provost," said Claud Halcro, "and
-I am sure I can answer for my friend Mr. Troil, as well as for myself,
-that we will say and do all in our power with this man, Captain
-Cleveland, to make him leave the coast directly."
-
-"And I," said Minna, "am so convinced that what you recommend is best
-for all parties, that my sister and I will set off early to-morrow
-morning to the House of Stennis, if Mr. Halcro will give us his escort,
-to receive my father when he comes ashore, that we may acquaint him with
-your wish, and to use every influence to induce this unhappy man to
-leave the country."
-
-Provost Torfe looked upon her with some surprise. "It is not every young
-woman," he said, "would wish to move eight miles nearer to a band of
-pirates."
-
-"We run no risk," said Claud Halcro, interfering. "The House of Stennis
-is strong; and my cousin, whom it belongs to, has men and arms within
-it. The young ladies are as safe there as in Kirkwall; and much good may
-arise from an early communication between Magnus Troil and his
-daughters. And happy am I to see, that in your case, my good old
-friend,--as glorious John says,--
-
-    ----'After much debate,
-  The man prevails above the magistrate.'"
-
-The Provost smiled, nodded his head, and indicated, as far as he thought
-he could do so with decency, how happy he should be if the Fortune's
-Favourite, and her disorderly crew, would leave Orkney without further
-interference, or violence on either side. He could not authorize their
-being supplied from the shore, he said; but, either for fear or favour,
-they were certain to get provisions at Stromness. This pacific
-magistrate then took leave of Halcro and the two ladies, who proposed
-the next morning, to transfer their residence to the House of Stennis,
-situated upon the banks of the salt-water lake of the same name, and
-about four miles by water from the Road of Stromness, where the Rover's
-vessel was lying.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-  Fly, Fleance, fly!--Thou mayst escape.
-
-                                                  _Macbeth._
-
-
-It was one branch of the various arts by which Norna endeavoured to
-maintain her pretensions to supernatural powers, that she made herself
-familiarly and practically acquainted with all the secret passes and
-recesses, whether natural or artificial, which she could hear of,
-whether by tradition or otherwise, and was, by such knowledge, often
-enabled to perform feats which were otherwise unaccountable. Thus, when
-she escaped from the tabernacle at Burgh-Westra, it was by a sliding
-board which covered a secret passage in the wall, known to none but
-herself and Magnus, who, she was well assured, would not betray her. The
-profusion, also, with which she lavished a considerable income,
-otherwise of no use to her, enabled her to procure the earliest
-intelligence respecting whatever she desired to know, and, at the same
-time, to secure all other assistance necessary to carry her plans into
-effect. Cleveland, upon the present occasion, had reason to admire both
-her sagacity and her resources.
-
-Upon her applying a little forcible pressure, a door which was concealed
-under some rich wooden sculpture in the screen which divides the eastern
-aisle from the rest of the Cathedral, opened, and disclosed a dark
-narrow winding passage, into which she entered, telling Cleveland, in a
-whisper, to follow, and be sure he shut the door behind him. He obeyed,
-and followed her in darkness and silence, sometimes descending steps, of
-the number of which she always apprized him, sometimes ascending, and
-often turning at short angles. The air was more free than he could have
-expected, the passage being ventilated at different parts by unseen and
-ingeniously contrived spiracles, which communicated with the open air.
-At length their long course ended, by Norna drawing aside a sliding
-panel, which, opening behind a wooden, or box-bed, as it is called in
-Scotland, admitted them into an ancient, but very mean apartment, having
-a latticed window, and a groined roof. The furniture was much
-dilapidated; and its only ornaments were, on the one side of the wall, a
-garland of faded ribbons, such as are used to decorate whale-vessels;
-and, on the other, an escutcheon, bearing an Earl's arms and coronet,
-surrounded with the usual emblems of mortality. The mattock and spade,
-which lay in one corner, together with the appearance of an old man,
-who, in a rusty black coat, and slouched hat, sat reading by a table,
-announced that they were in the habitation of the church-beadle, or
-sexton, and in the presence of that respectable functionary.
-
-When his attention was attracted by the noise of the sliding panel, he
-arose, and, testifying much respect, but no surprise, took his shadowy
-hat from his thin grey locks, and stood uncovered in the presence of
-Norna with an air of profound humility.
-
-"Be faithful," said Norna to the old man, "and beware you show not any
-living mortal the secret path to the Sanctuary."
-
-The old man bowed, in token of obedience and of thanks, for she put
-money in his hand as she spoke. With a faltering voice, he expressed his
-hope that she would remember his son, who was on the Greenland voyage,
-that he might return fortunate and safe, as he had done last year, when
-he brought back the garland, pointing to that upon the wall.
-
-"My cauldron shall boil, and my rhyme shall be said, in his behalf,"
-answered Norna. "Waits Pacolet without with the horses?"
-
-The old Sexton assented, and the Pythoness, commanding Cleveland to
-follow her, went through a back door of the apartment into a small
-garden, corresponding, in its desolate appearance, to the habitation
-they had just quitted. The low and broken wall easily permitted them to
-pass into another and larger garden, though not much better kept, and a
-gate, which was upon the latch, let them into a long and winding lane,
-through which, Norna having whispered to her companion that it was the
-only dangerous place on their road, they walked with a hasty pace. It
-was now nearly dark, and the inhabitants of the poor dwellings, on
-either hand, had betaken themselves to their houses. They saw only one
-woman, who was looking from her door, but blessed herself, and retired
-into her house with precipitation, when she saw the tall figure of Norna
-stalk past her with long strides. The lane conducted them into the
-country, where the dumb dwarf waited with three horses, ensconced behind
-the wall of a deserted shed. On one of these Norna instantly seated
-herself, Cleveland mounted another, and, followed by Pacolet on the
-third, they moved sharply on through the darkness; the active and
-spirited animals on which they rode being of a breed rather taller than
-those reared in Zetland.
-
-After more than an hour's smart riding, in which Norna acted as guide,
-they stopped before a hovel, so utterly desolate in appearance, that it
-resembled rather a cattle-shed than a cottage.
-
-"Here you must remain till dawn, when your signal can be seen from your
-vessel," said Norna, consigning the horses to the care of Pacolet, and
-leading the way into the wretched hovel, which she presently illuminated
-by lighting the small iron lamp which she usually carried along with
-her. "It is a poor," she said, "but a safe place of refuge; for were we
-pursued hither, the earth would yawn and admit us into its recesses ere
-you were taken. For know, that this ground is sacred to the Gods of old
-Valhalla.--And now say, man of mischief and of blood, are you friend or
-foe to Norna, the sole priestess of these disowned deities?"
-
-"How is it possible for me to be your enemy?" said Cleveland.--"Common
-gratitude"----
-
-"Common gratitude," said Norna, interrupting him, "is a common word--and
-words are the common pay which fools accept at the hands of knaves; but
-Norna must be requited by actions--by sacrifices."
-
-"Well, mother, name your request."
-
-"That you never seek to see Minna Troil again, and that you leave this
-coast in twenty-four hours," answered Norna.
-
-"It is impossible," said the outlaw; "I cannot be soon enough found in
-the sea-stores which the sloop must have."
-
-"You can. I will take care you are fully supplied; and Caithness and the
-Hebrides are not far distant--you can depart if you will."
-
-"And why should I," said Cleveland, "if I will not?"
-
-"Because your stay endangers others," said Norna, "and will prove your
-own destruction. Hear me with attention. From the first moment I saw you
-lying senseless on the sand beneath the cliffs of Sumburgh, I read that
-in your countenance which linked you with me, and those who were dear to
-me; but whether for good or evil, was hidden from mine eyes. I aided in
-saving your life, in preserving your property. I aided in doing so, the
-very youth whom you have crossed in his dearest affections--crossed by
-tale-bearing and slander."
-
-"_I_ slander Mertoun!" exclaimed Cleveland. "By heaven, I scarce
-mentioned his name at Burgh-Westra, if it is that which you mean. The
-peddling fellow Bryce, meaning, I believe, to be my friend, because he
-found something could be made by me, did, I have since heard, carry
-tattle, or truth, I know not which, to the old man, which was confirmed
-by the report of the whole island. But, for me, I scarce thought of him
-as a rival; else, I had taken a more honourable way to rid myself of
-him."
-
-"Was the point of your double-edged knife, directed to the bosom of an
-unarmed man, intended to carve out that more honourable way?" said
-Norna, sternly.
-
-Cleveland was conscience-struck, and remained silent for an instant, ere
-he replied, "There, indeed, I was wrong; but he is, I thank Heaven,
-recovered, and welcome to an honourable satisfaction."
-
-"Cleveland," said the Pythoness, "No! The fiend who employs you as his
-implement is powerful; but with me he shall not strive. You are of that
-temperament which the dark Influences desire as the tools of their
-agency; bold, haughty, and undaunted, unrestrained by principle, and
-having only in its room a wild sense of indomitable pride, which such
-men call honour. Such you are, and as such your course through life has
-been--onward and unrestrained, bloody and tempestuous. By me, however,
-it shall be controlled," she concluded, stretching out her staff, as if
-in the attitude of determined authority--"ay, even although the demon
-who presides over it should now arise in his terrors."
-
-Cleveland laughed scornfully. "Good mother," he said, "reserve such
-language for the rude sailor that implores you to bestow him fair wind,
-or the poor fisherman that asks success to his nets and lines. I have
-been long inaccessible both to fear and to superstition. Call forth your
-demon, if you command one, and place him before me. The man that has
-spent years in company with incarnate devils, can scarce dread the
-presence of a disembodied fiend."
-
-This was said with a careless and desperate bitterness of spirit, which
-proved too powerfully energetic even for the delusions of Norna's
-insanity; and it was with a hollow and tremulous voice that she asked
-Cleveland--"For what, then, do you hold me, if you deny the power I have
-bought so dearly?"
-
-"You have wisdom, mother," said Cleveland; "at least you have art, and
-art is power. I hold you for one who knows how to steer upon the current
-of events, but I deny your power to change its course. Do not,
-therefore, waste words in quoting terrors for which I have no feeling,
-but tell me at once, wherefore you would have me depart?"
-
-"Because I will have you see Minna no more," answered Norna--"Because
-Minna is the destined bride of him whom men call Mordaunt
-Mertoun--Because if you depart not within twenty-four hours, utter
-destruction awaits you. In these plain words there is no metaphysical
-delusion--Answer me as plainly."
-
-"In as plain words, then," answered Cleveland, "I will _not_ leave these
-islands--not, at least, till I have seen Minna Troil; and never shall
-your Mordaunt possess her while I live."
-
-"Hear him!" said Norna--"hear a mortal man spurn at the means of
-prolonging his life!--hear a sinful--a most sinful being, refuse the
-time which fate yet affords for repentance, and for the salvation of an
-immortal soul!--Behold him how he stands erect, bold and confident in
-his youthful strength and courage! My eyes, unused to tears--even my
-eyes, which have so little cause to weep for him, are blinded with
-sorrow, to think what so fair a form will be ere the second sun set!"
-
-"Mother," said Cleveland, firmly, yet with some touch of sorrow in his
-voice, "I in part understand your threats. You know more than we do of
-the course of the Halcyon--perhaps have the means (for I acknowledge you
-have shown wonderful skill of combination in such affairs) of directing
-her cruise our way. Be it so,--I will not depart from my purpose for
-that risk. If the frigate comes hither, we have still our shoal water to
-trust to; and I think they will scarce cut us out with boats, as if we
-were a Spanish xebeck. I am therefore resolved I will hoist once more
-the flag under which I have cruised, avail ourselves of the thousand
-chances which have helped us in greater odds, and, at the worst, fight
-the vessel to the very last; and, when mortal man can do no more, it is
-but snapping a pistol in the powder-room, and, as we have lived, so
-will we die."
-
-There was a dead pause as Cleveland ended; and it was broken by his
-resuming, in a softer tone--"You have heard my answer, mother; let us
-debate it no further, but part in peace. I would willingly leave you a
-remembrance, that you may not forget a poor fellow to whom your services
-have been useful, and who parts with you in no unkindness, however
-unfriendly you are to his dearest interests.--Nay, do not shun to accept
-such a trifle," he said, forcing upon Norna the little silver enchased
-box which had been once the subject of strife betwixt Mertoun and him;
-"it is not for the sake of the metal, which I know you value not, but
-simply as a memorial that you have met him of whom many a strange tale
-will hereafter be told in the seas which he has traversed."
-
-"I accept your gift," said Norna, "in token that, if I have in aught
-been accessary to your fate, it was as the involuntary and grieving
-agent of other powers. Well did you say we direct not the current of the
-events which hurry us forward, and render our utmost efforts unavailing;
-even as the wells of Tuftiloe[39] can wheel the stoutest vessel round
-and round, in despite of either sail or steerage.--Pacolet!" she
-exclaimed, in a louder voice, "what, ho! Pacolet!"
-
-A large stone, which lay at the side of the wall of the hovel, fell as
-she spoke, and to Cleveland's surprise, if not somewhat to his fear, the
-misshapen form of the dwarf was seen, like some overgrown reptile,
-extricating himself out of a subterranean passage, the entrance to which
-the stone had covered.
-
-Norna, as if impressed by what Cleveland had said on the subject of her
-supernatural pretensions, was so far from endeavouring to avail herself
-of this opportunity to enforce them, that she hastened to explain the
-phenomenon he had witnessed.
-
-"Such passages," she said, "to which the entrances are carefully
-concealed, are frequently found in these islands--the places of retreat
-of the ancient inhabitants, where they sought refuge from the rage of
-the Normans, the pirates of that day. It was that you might avail
-yourself of this, in case of need, that I brought you hither. Should you
-observe signs of pursuit, you may either lurk in the bowels of the earth
-until it has passed by, or escape, if you will, through the farther
-entrance near the lake, by which Pacolet entered but now.--And now
-farewell! Think on what I have said; for as sure as you now move and
-breathe a living man, so surely is your doom fixed and sealed, unless,
-within four-and-twenty hours, you have doubled the Burgh-head."
-
-"Farewell, mother!" said Cleveland, as she departed, bending a look upon
-him, in which, as he could perceive by the lamp, sorrow was mingled with
-displeasure.
-
-The interview, which thus concluded, left a strong effect even upon the
-mind of Cleveland, accustomed as he was to imminent dangers and to
-hair-breadth escapes. He in vain attempted to shake off the impression
-left by the words of Norna, which he felt the more powerful, because
-they were in a great measure divested of her wonted mystical tone, which
-he contemned. A thousand times he regretted that he had from time to
-time delayed the resolution, which he had long adopted, to quit his
-dreadful and dangerous trade; and as often he firmly determined, that,
-could he but see Minna Troil once more, were it but for a last farewell,
-he would leave the sloop, as soon as his comrades were extricated from
-their perilous situation, endeavour to obtain the benefit of the King's
-pardon, and distinguish himself, if possible, in some more honourable
-course of warfare.
-
-This resolution, to which he again and again pledged himself, had at
-length a sedative effect on his mental perturbation, and, wrapt in his
-cloak, he enjoyed, for a time, that imperfect repose which exhausted
-nature demands as her tribute, even from those who are situated on the
-verge of the most imminent danger. But how far soever the guilty may
-satisfy his own mind, and stupify the feelings of remorse, by such a
-conditional repentance, we may well question whether it is not, in the
-sight of Heaven, rather a presumptuous aggravation, than an expiation of
-his sins.
-
-When Cleveland awoke, the grey dawn was already mingling with the
-twilight of an Orcadian night. He found himself on the verge of a
-beautiful sheet of water, which, close by the place where he had rested,
-was nearly divided by two tongues of land that approach each other from
-the opposing sides of the lake, and are in some degree united by the
-Bridge of Broisgar, a long causeway, containing openings to permit the
-flow and reflux of the tide. Behind him, and fronting to the bridge,
-stood that remarkable semicircle of huge upright stones, which has no
-rival in Britain, excepting the inimitable monument at Stonehenge. These
-immense blocks of stone, all of them above twelve feet, and several
-being even fourteen or fifteen feet in height, stood around the pirate
-in the grey light of the dawning, like the phantom forms of antediluvian
-giants, who, shrouded in the habiliments of the dead, came to revisit,
-by this pale light, the earth which they had plagued by their oppression
-and polluted by their sins, till they brought down upon it the vengeance
-of long-suffering Heaven.[40]
-
-Cleveland was less interested by this singular monument of antiquity
-than by the distant view of Stromness, which he could as yet scarce
-discover. He lost no time in striking a light, by the assistance of one
-of his pistols, and some wet fern supplied him with fuel sufficient to
-make the appointed signal. It had been earnestly watched for on board
-the sloop; for Goffe's incapacity became daily more apparent; and even
-his most steady adherents agreed it would be best to submit to
-Cleveland's command till they got back to the West Indies.
-
-Bunce, who came with the boat to bring off his favourite commander,
-danced, cursed, shouted, and spouted for joy, when he saw him once more
-at freedom. "They had already," he said, "made some progress in
-victualling the sloop, and they might have made more, but for that
-drunken old swab Goffe, who minded nothing but splicing the main-brace."
-
-The boat's crew were inspired with the same enthusiasm, and rowed so
-hard, that, although the tide was against them, and the air or wind
-failed, they soon placed Cleveland once more on the quarter-deck of the
-vessel which it was his misfortune to command.
-
-The first exercise of the Captain's power was to make known to Magnus
-Troil that he was at full freedom to depart--that he was willing to make
-him any compensation in his power, for the interruption of his voyage to
-Kirkwall; and that Captain Cleveland was desirous, if agreeable to Mr.
-Troil, to pay his respects to him on board his brig--thank him for
-former favours, and apologize for the circumstances attending his
-detention.
-
-To Bunce, who, as the most civilized of the crew, Cleveland had
-intrusted this message, the old plain-dealing Udaller made the following
-answer: "Tell your Captain that I should be glad to think he had never
-stopped any one upon the high sea, save such as have suffered as little
-as I have. Say, too, that if we are to continue friends, we shall be
-most so at a distance; for I like the sound of his cannon-balls as
-little by sea, as he would like the whistle of a bullet by land from my
-rifle-gun. Say, in a word, that I am sorry I was mistaken in him, and
-that he would have done better to have reserved for the Spaniard the
-usage he is bestowing on his countrymen."
-
-"And so that is your message, old Snapcholerick?" said Bunce--"Now, stap
-my vitals if I have not a mind to do your errand for you over the left
-shoulder, and teach you more respect for gentlemen of fortune! But I
-won't, and chiefly for the sake of your two pretty wenches, not to
-mention my old friend Claud Halcro, the very visage of whom brought back
-all the old days of scene-shifting and candle-snuffing. So good morrow
-to you, Gaffer Seal's-cap, and all is said that need pass between us."
-
-No sooner did the boat put off with the pirates, who left the brig, and
-now returned to their own vessel, than Magnus, in order to avoid
-reposing unnecessary confidence in the honour of these gentlemen of
-fortune, as they called themselves, got his brig under way; and, the
-wind coming favourably round, and increasing as the sun rose, he crowded
-all sail for Scalpa-flow, intending there to disembark and go by land to
-Kirkwall, where he expected to meet his daughters and his friend Claud
-Halcro.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[39] A _well_, in the language of those seas, denotes one of the
-whirlpools, or circular eddies, which wheel and boil with astonishing
-strength, and are very dangerous. Hence the distinction, in old English,
-betwixt _wells_ and _waves_, the latter signifying the direct onward
-course of the tide, and the former the smooth, glassy, oily-looking
-whirlpools, whose strength seems to the eye almost irresistible.
-
-[40] Note VII.--The Standing Stones of Stennis.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-  Now, Emma, now the last reflection make,
-  What thou wouldst follow, what thou must forsake
-  By our ill-omen'd stars and adverse Heaven,
-  No middle object to thy choice is given.
-
-                                           _Henry and Emma._
-
-
-The sun was high in heaven; the boats were busily fetching off from the
-shore the promised supply of provisions and water, which, as many
-fishing skiffs were employed in the service, were got on board with
-unexpected speed, and stowed away by the crew of the sloop, with equal
-dispatch. All worked with good will; for all, save Cleveland himself,
-were weary of a coast, where every moment increased their danger, and
-where, which they esteemed a worse misfortune, there was no booty to be
-won. Bunce and Derrick took the immediate direction of this duty, while
-Cleveland, walking the deck alone, and in silence, only interfered from
-time to time, to give some order which circumstances required, and then
-relapsed into his own sad reflections.
-
-There are two sorts of men whom situations of guilt, terror, and
-commotion, bring forward as prominent agents. The first are spirits so
-naturally moulded and fitted for deeds of horror, that they stalk forth
-from their lurking-places like actual demons, to work in their native
-element, as the hideous apparition of the Bearded Man came forth at
-Versailles, on the memorable 5th October, 1789, the delighted
-executioner of the victims delivered up to him by a bloodthirsty rabble.
-But Cleveland belonged to the second class of these unfortunate beings,
-who are involved in evil rather by the concurrence of external
-circumstances than by natural inclination, being, indeed, one in whom
-his first engaging in this lawless mode of life, as the follower of his
-father, nay, perhaps, even his pursuing it as his father's avenger,
-carried with it something of mitigation and apology;--one also who often
-considered his guilty situation with horror, and had made repeated,
-though ineffectual efforts, to escape from it.
-
-Such thoughts of remorse were now rolling in his mind, and he may be
-forgiven, if recollections of Minna mingled with and aided them. He
-looked around, too, on his mates, and, profligate and hardened as he
-knew them to be, he could not think of their paying the penalty of his
-obstinacy. "We shall be ready to sail with the ebb tide," he said to
-himself--"why should I endanger these men, by detaining them till the
-hour of danger, predicted by that singular woman, shall arrive? Her
-intelligence, howsoever acquired, has been always strangely accurate;
-and her warning was as solemn as if a mother were to apprize an erring
-son of his crimes, and of his approaching punishment. Besides, what
-chance is there that I can again see Minna? She is at Kirkwall,
-doubtless, and to hold my course thither would be to steer right upon
-the rocks. No, I will not endanger these poor fellows--I will sail with
-the ebb tide. On the desolate Hebrides, or on the north-west coast of
-Ireland, I will leave the vessel, and return hither in some
-disguise--yet why should I return, since it will perhaps be only to see
-Minna the bride of Mordaunt? No--let the vessel sail with this ebb tide
-without me. I will abide and take my fate."
-
-His meditations were here interrupted by Jack Bunce, who, hailing him
-noble Captain, said they were ready to sail when he pleased.
-
-"When _you_ please, Bunce; for I shall leave the command with you, and
-go ashore at Stromness," said Cleveland.
-
-"You shall do no such matter, by Heaven!" answered Bunce. "The command
-with me, truly! and how the devil am I to get the crew to obey _me_?
-Why, even Dick Fletcher rides rusty on me now and then. You know well
-enough that, without you, we shall be all at each other's throats in
-half an hour; and, if you desert us, what a rope's end does it signify
-whether we are destroyed by the king's cruisers, or by each other? Come,
-come, noble Captain, there are black-eyed girls enough in the world, but
-where will you find so tight a sea-boat as the little Favourite here,
-manned as she is with a set of tearing lads,
-
-  'Fit to disturb the peace of all the world,
-  And rule it when 'tis wildest?'"
-
-"You are a precious fool, Jack Bunce," said Cleveland, half angry, and,
-in despite of himself, half diverted, by the false tones and exaggerated
-gesture of the stage-struck pirate.
-
-"It may be so, noble Captain," answered Bunce, "and it may be that I
-have my comrades in my folly. Here are you, now, going to play All for
-Love, and the World well Lost, and yet you cannot bear a harmless
-bounce in blank verse--Well, I can talk prose for the matter, for I have
-news enough to tell--and strange news, too--ay, and stirring news to
-boot."
-
-"Well, prithee deliver them (to speak thy own cant) like a man of this
-world."
-
-"The Stromness fishers will accept nothing for their provisions and
-trouble," said Bunce--"there is a wonder for you!"
-
-"And for what reason, I pray?" said Cleveland; "it is the first time I
-have ever heard of cash being refused at a seaport."
-
-"True--they commonly lay the charges on as thick as if they were
-caulking. But here is the matter. The owner of the brig yonder, the
-father of your fair Imoinda, stands paymaster, by way of thanks for the
-civility with which we treated his daughters, and that we may not meet
-our due, as he calls it, on these shores."
-
-"It is like the frank-hearted old Udaller!" said Cleveland; "but is he
-at Stromness? I thought he was to have crossed the island for Kirkwall."
-
-"He did so purpose," said Bunce; "but more folks than King Duncan change
-the course of their voyage. He was no sooner ashore than he was met with
-by a meddling old witch of these parts, who has her finger in every
-man's pie, and by her counsel he changed his purpose of going to
-Kirkwall, and lies at anchor for the present in yonder white house, that
-you may see with your glass up the lake yonder. I am told the old woman
-clubbed also to pay for the sloop's stores. Why she should shell out the
-boards I cannot conceive an idea, except that she is said to be a witch,
-and may befriend us as so many devils."
-
-"But who told you all this?" said Cleveland, without using his
-spy-glass, or seeming so much interested in the news as his comrade had
-expected.
-
-"Why," replied Bunce, "I made a trip ashore this morning to the village,
-and had a can with an old acquaintance, who had been sent by Master
-Troil to look after matters, and I fished it all out of him, and more,
-too, than I am desirous of telling you, noble Captain."
-
-"And who is your intelligencer?" said Cleveland; "has he got no name?"
-
-"Why, he is an old, fiddling, foppish acquaintance of mine, called
-Halcro, if you must know," said Bunce.
-
-"Halcro!" echoed Cleveland, his eyes sparkling with surprise--"Claud
-Halcro?--why, he went ashore at Inganess with Minna and her
-sister--Where are they?"
-
-"Why, that is just what I did not want to tell you," replied the
-confidant--"yet hang me if I can help it, for I cannot baulk a fine
-situation.--That start had a fine effect--O ay, and the spy-glass is
-turned on the House of Stennis _now_!--Well, yonder they are, it must be
-confessed--indifferently well guarded, too. Some of the old witch's
-people are come over from that mountain of an island--Hoy, as they call
-it; and the old gentleman has got some fellows under arms himself. But
-what of all that, noble Captain!--give you but the word, and we snap up
-the wenches to-night--clap them under hatches--man the capstern by
-daybreak--up topsails--and sail with the morning tide."
-
-"You sicken me with your villainy," said Cleveland, turning away from
-him.
-
-"Umph!--villainy, and sicken you!" said Bunce--"Now, pray, what have I
-said but what has been done a thousand times by gentlemen of fortune
-like ourselves?"
-
-"Mention it not again," said Cleveland; then took a turn along the deck,
-in deep meditation, and, coming back to Bunce, took him by the hand, and
-said, "Jack, I will see her once more."
-
-"With all my heart," said Bunce, sullenly.
-
-"Once more will I see her, and it may be to abjure at her feet this
-cursed trade, and expiate my offences"----
-
-"At the gallows!" said Bunce, completing the sentence--"With all my
-heart!--confess and be hanged is a most reverend proverb."
-
-"Nay--but, dear Jack!" said Cleveland.
-
-"Dear Jack!" answered Bunce, in the same sullen tone--"a dear sight you
-have been to dear Jack. But hold your own course--I have done with
-caring for you for ever--I should but sicken you with my villainous
-counsels."
-
-"Now, must I soothe this silly fellow as if he were a spoiled child,"
-said Cleveland, speaking at Bunce, but not to him; "and yet he has sense
-enough, and bravery enough, too; and, one would think, kindness enough
-to know that men don't pick their words during a gale of wind."
-
-"Why, that's true, Clement," said Bunce, "and there is my hand upon
-it--And, now I think upon't, you shall have your last interview, for
-it's out of my line to prevent a parting scene; and what signifies a
-tide--we can sail by to-morrow's ebb as well as by this."
-
-Cleveland sighed, for Norna's prediction rushed on his mind; but the
-opportunity of a last meeting with Minna was too tempting to be
-resigned either for presentiment or prediction.
-
-"I will go presently ashore to the place where they all are," said
-Bunce; "and the payment of these stores shall serve me for a pretext;
-and I will carry any letters or message from you to Minna with the
-dexterity of a valet de chambre."
-
-"But they have armed men--you may be in danger," said Cleveland.
-
-"Not a whit--not a whit," replied Bunce. "I protected the wenches when
-they were in my power; I warrant their father will neither wrong me, nor
-see me wronged."
-
-"You say true," said Cleveland, "it is not in his nature. I will
-instantly write a note to Minna." And he ran down to the cabin for that
-purpose, where he wasted much paper, ere, with a trembling hand, and
-throbbing heart, he achieved such a letter as he hoped might prevail on
-Minna to permit him a farewell meeting on the succeeding morning.
-
-His adherent, Bunce, in the meanwhile, sought out Fletcher, of whose
-support to second any motion whatever, he accounted himself perfectly
-sure; and, followed by this trusty satellite, he intruded himself on the
-awful presence of Hawkins the boatswain, and Derrick the quarter-master,
-who were regaling themselves with a can of rumbo, after the fatiguing
-duty of the day.
-
-"Here comes he can tell us," said Derrick.--"So, Master Lieutenant, for
-so we must call you now, I think, let us have a peep into your
-counsels--When will the anchor be a-trip?"
-
-"When it pleases heaven, Master Quarter-master," answered Bunce, "for I
-know no more than the stern-post."
-
-"Why, d----n my buttons," said Derrick, "do we not weigh this tide?"
-
-"Or to-morrow's tide, at farthest?" said the Boatswain--"Why, what have
-we been slaving the whole company for, to get all these stores aboard?"
-
-"Gentlemen," said Bunce, "you are to know that Cupid has laid our
-Captain on board, carried the vessel, and nailed down his wits under
-hatches."
-
-"What sort of play-stuff is all this?" said the Boatswain, gruffly. "If
-you have any thing to tell us, say it in a word, like a man."
-
-"Howsomdever," said Fletcher, "I always think Jack Bunce speaks like a
-man, and acts like a man too--and so, d'ye see"----
-
-"Hold your peace, dear Dick, best of bullybacks, be silent," said
-Bunce--"Gentlemen, in one word, the Captain is in love."
-
-"Why, now, only think of that!" said the Boatswain; "not but that I have
-been in love as often as any man, when the ship was laid up."
-
-"Well, but," continued Bunce, "Captain Cleveland is in love--Yes--Prince
-Volscius is in love; and, though that's the cue for laughing on the
-stage, it is no laughing matter here. He expects to meet the girl
-to-morrow, for the last time; and that, we all know, leads to another
-meeting, and another, and so on till the Halcyon is down on us, and then
-we may look for more kicks than halfpence."
-
-"By --," said the Boatswain, with a sounding oath, "we'll have a mutiny,
-and not allow him to go ashore,--eh, Derrick?"
-
-"And the best way, too," said Derrick.
-
-"What d'ye think of it, Jack Bunce?" said Fletcher, in whose ears this
-counsel sounded very sagely, but who still bent a wistful look upon his
-companion.
-
-"Why, look ye, gentlemen," said Bunce, "I will mutiny none, and stap my
-vitals if any of you shall!"
-
-"Why, then I won't, for one," said Fletcher; "but what are we to do,
-since howsomdever"----
-
-"Stopper your jaw, Dick, will you?" said Bunce.--"Now, Boatswain, I am
-partly of your mind, that the Captain must be brought to reason by a
-little wholesome force. But you all know he has the spirit of a lion,
-and will do nothing unless he is allowed to hold on his own course.
-Well, I'll go ashore and make this appointment. The girl comes to the
-rendezvous in the morning, and the Captain goes ashore--we take a good
-boat's crew with us, to row against tide and current, and we will be
-ready at the signal, to jump ashore and bring off the Captain and the
-girl, whether they will or no. The pet-child will not quarrel with us,
-since we bring off his whirligig along with him; and if he is still
-fractious, why, we will weigh anchor without his orders, and let him
-come to his senses at leisure, and know his friends another time."
-
-"Why, this has a face with it, Master Derrick," said Hawkins.
-
-"Jack Bunce is always right," said Fletcher; "howsomdever, the Captain
-will shoot some of us, that is certain."
-
-"Hold your jaw, Dick," said Bunce; "pray, who the devil cares, do you
-think, whether you are shot or hanged?"
-
-"Why, it don't much argufy for the matter of that," replied Dick;
-"howsomdever"----
-
-"Be quiet, I tell you," said his inexorable patron, "and hear me
-out.--We will take him at unawares, so that he shall neither have time
-to use cutlass nor pops; and I myself, for the dear love I bear him,
-will be the first to lay him on his back. There is a nice tight-going
-bit of a pinnace, that is a consort of this chase of the Captain's,--if
-I have an opportunity, I'll snap her up on my own account."
-
-"Yes, yes," said Derrick, "let you alone for keeping on the look-out for
-your own comforts."
-
-"Faith, nay," said Bunce, "I only snatch at them when they come fairly
-in my way, or are purchased by dint of my own wit; and none of you could
-have fallen on such a plan as this. We shall have the Captain with us,
-head, hand, and heart and all, besides making a scene fit to finish a
-comedy. So I will go ashore to make the appointment, and do you possess
-some of the gentlemen who are still sober, and fit to be trusted, with
-the knowledge of our intentions."
-
-Bunce, with his friend Fletcher, departed accordingly, and the two
-veteran pirates remained looking at each other in silence, until the
-Boatswain spoke at last. "Blow me, Derrick, if I like these two
-daffadandilly young fellows; they are not the true breed. Why, they are
-no more like the rovers I have known, than this sloop is to a
-first-rate. Why, there was old Sharpe that read prayers to his ship's
-company every Sunday, what would he have said to have heard it proposed
-to bring two wenches on board?"
-
-"And what would tough old Black Beard have said," answered his
-companion, "if they had expected to keep them to themselves? They
-deserve to be made to walk the plank for their impudence; or to be tied
-back to back and set a-diving, and I care not how soon."
-
-"Ay, but who is to command the ship, then?" said Hawkins.
-
-"Why, what ails you at old Goffe?" answered Derrick.
-
-"Why, he has sucked the monkey so long and so often," said the
-Boatswain, "that the best of him is buffed. He is little better than an
-old woman when he is sober, and he is roaring mad when he is drunk--we
-have had enough of Goffe."
-
-"Why, then, what d'ye say to yourself, or to me, Boatswain?" demanded
-the Quarter-master. "I am content to toss up for it."
-
-"Rot it, no," answered the Boatswain, after a moment's consideration;
-"if we were within reach of the trade-winds, we might either of us make
-a shift; but it will take all Cleveland's navigation to get us there;
-and so, I think, there is nothing like Bunce's project for the present.
-Hark, he calls for the boat--I must go on deck and have her lowered for
-his honour, d----n his eyes."
-
-The boat was lowered accordingly, made its voyage up the lake with
-safety, and landed Bunce within a few hundred yards of the old
-mansion-house of Stennis. Upon arriving in front of the house, he found
-that hasty measures had been taken to put it in a state of defence, the
-lower windows being barricaded, with places left for use of musketry,
-and a ship-gun being placed so as to command the entrance, which was
-besides guarded by two sentinels. Bunce demanded admission at the gate,
-which was briefly and unceremoniously refused, with an exhortation to
-him, at the same time, to be gone about his business before worse came
-of it. As he continued, however, importunately to insist on seeing some
-one of the family, and stated his business to be of the most urgent
-nature, Claud Halcro at length appeared, and, with more peevishness than
-belonged to his usual manner, that admirer of glorious John expostulated
-with his old acquaintance upon his pertinacious folly.
-
-"You are," he said, "like foolish moths fluttering about a candle, which
-is sure at last to consume you."
-
-"And you," said Bunce, "are a set of stingless drones, whom we can smoke
-out of your defences at our pleasure, with half-a-dozen of
-hand-grenades."
-
-"Smoke a fool's head!" said Halcro; "take my advice, and mind your own
-matters, or there will be those upon you will smoke you to purpose.
-Either begone, or tell me in two words what you want; for you are like
-to receive no welcome here save from a blunderbuss. We are men enough of
-ourselves; and here is young Mordaunt Mertoun come from Hoy, whom your
-Captain so nearly murdered."
-
-"Tush, man," said Bunce, "he did but let out a little malapert blood."
-
-"We want no such phlebotomy here," said Claud Halcro; "and, besides,
-your patient turns out to be nearer allied to us than either you or we
-thought of; so you may think how little welcome the Captain or any of
-his crew are like to be here."
-
-"Well; but what if I bring money for the stores sent on board?"
-
-"Keep it till it is asked of you," said Halcro. "There are two bad
-paymasters--he that pays too soon, and he that does not pay at all."
-
-"Well, then, let me at least give our thanks to the donor," said Bunce.
-
-"Keep them, too, till they are asked for," answered the poet.
-
-"So this is all the welcome I have of you for old acquaintance' sake?"
-said Bunce.
-
-"Why, what can I do for you, Master Altamont?" said Halcro, somewhat
-moved.--"If young Mordaunt had had his own will, he would have welcomed
-you with 'the red Burgundy, Number a thousand.' For God's sake begone,
-else the stage direction will be, Enter guard, and seize Altamont."
-
-"I will not give you the trouble," said Bunce, "but will make my exit
-instantly.--Stay a moment--I had almost forgot that I have a slip of
-paper for the tallest of your girls there--Minna, ay, Minna is her name.
-It is a farewell from Captain Cleveland--you cannot refuse to give it
-her?"
-
-"Ah, poor fellow!" said Halcro--"I comprehend--I comprehend--Farewell,
-fair Armida--
-
-  ''Mid pikes and 'mid bullets, 'mid tempests and fire,
-  The danger is less than in hopeless desire!'
-
-Tell me but this--is there poetry in it?"
-
-"Chokeful to the seal, with song, sonnet, and elegy," answered Bunce;
-"but let her have it cautiously and secretly."
-
-"Tush, man!--teach me to deliver a billet-doux!--me, who have been in
-the Wits' Coffee-house, and have seen all the toasts of the Kit-Cat
-Club!--Minna shall have it, then, for old acquaintance' sake, Mr.
-Altamont, and for your Captain's sake, too, who has less of the core of
-devil about him than his trade requires. There can be no harm in a
-farewell letter."
-
-"Farewell, then, old boy, for ever and a day!" said Bunce; and seizing
-the poet's hand, gave it so hearty a gripe, that he left him roaring,
-and shaking his fist, like a dog when a hot cinder has fallen on his
-foot.
-
-Leaving the rover to return on board the vessel, we remain with the
-family of Magnus Troil, assembled at their kinsman's mansion of Stennis,
-where they maintained a constant and careful watch against surprise.
-
-Mordaunt Mertoun had been received with much kindness by Magnus Troil,
-when he came to his assistance, with a small party of Norna's
-dependants, placed by her under his command. The Udaller was easily
-satisfied that the reports instilled into his ears by the Jagger,
-zealous to augment his favour towards his more profitable customer
-Cleveland, by diminishing that of Mertoun, were without foundation. They
-had, indeed, been confirmed by the good Lady Glowrowrum, and by common
-fame, both of whom were pleased to represent Mordaunt Mertoun as an
-arrogant pretender to the favour of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, who
-only hesitated, sultan-like, on whom he should bestow the handkerchief.
-But common fame, Magnus considered, was a common liar, and he was
-sometimes disposed (where scandal was concerned) to regard the good Lady
-Glowrowrum as rather an uncommon specimen of the same genus. He
-therefore received Mordaunt once more into full favour, listened with
-much surprise to the claim which Norna laid to the young man's duty, and
-with no less interest to her intention of surrendering to him the
-considerable property which she had inherited from her father. Nay, it
-is even probable that, though he gave no immediate answer to her hints
-concerning an union betwixt his eldest daughter and her heir, he might
-think such an alliance recommended, as well by the young man's personal
-merits, as by the chance it gave of reuniting the very large estate
-which had been divided betwixt his own father and that of Norna. At all
-events, the Udaller received his young friend with much kindness, and he
-and the proprietor of the mansion joined in intrusting to him, as the
-youngest and most active of the party, the charge of commanding the
-night-watch, and relieving the sentinels around the House of Stennis.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-  Of an outlawe, this is the lawe--
-    That men him take and bind,
-  Without pitie hang'd to be,
-    And waive with the wind.
-
-                         _The Ballad of the Nut Brown Maid._
-
-
-Mordaunt had caused the sentinels who had been on duty since midnight to
-be relieved ere the peep of day, and having given directions that the
-guard should be again changed at sunrise, he had retired to a small
-parlour, and, placing his arms beside him, was slumbering in an
-easy-chair, when he felt himself pulled by the watch-cloak in which he
-was enveloped.
-
-"Is it sunrise," said he, "already?" as, starting up, he discovered the
-first beams lying level upon the horizon.
-
-"Mordaunt!" said a voice, every note of which thrilled to his heart.
-
-He turned his eyes on the speaker, and Brenda Troil, to his joyful
-astonishment, stood before him. As he was about to address her eagerly,
-he was checked by observing the signs of sorrow and discomposure in her
-pale cheeks, trembling lips, and brimful eyes.
-
-"Mordaunt," she said, "you must do Minna and me a favour--you must allow
-us to leave the house quietly, and without alarming any one, in order to
-go as far as the Standing Stones of Stennis."
-
-"What freak can this be, dearest Brenda?" said Mordaunt, much amazed at
-the request--"some Orcadian observance of superstition, perhaps; but the
-time is too dangerous, and my charge from your father too strict, that I
-should permit you to pass without his consent. Consider, dearest Brenda,
-I am a soldier on duty, and must obey orders."
-
-"Mordaunt," said Brenda, "this is no jesting matter--Minna's reason,
-nay, Minna's life, depends on your giving us this permission."
-
-"And for what purpose?" said Mordaunt; "let me at least know that."
-
-"For a wild and a desperate purpose," replied Brenda--"It is that she
-may meet Cleveland."
-
-"Cleveland!" said Mordaunt--"Should the villain come ashore, he shall be
-welcomed with a shower of rifle-balls. Let me within a hundred yards of
-him," he added, grasping his piece, "and all the mischief he has done me
-shall be balanced with an ounce bullet!"
-
-"His death will drive Minna frantic," said Brenda; "and him who injures
-Minna, Brenda will never again look upon."
-
-"This is madness--raving madness!" said Mordaunt--"Consider your
-honour--consider your duty."
-
-"I can consider nothing but Minna's danger," said Brenda, breaking into
-a flood of tears; "her former illness was nothing to the state she has
-been in all night. She holds in her hand his letter, written in
-characters of fire, rather than of ink, imploring her to see him, for a
-last farewell, as she would save a mortal body, and an immortal soul;
-pledging himself for her safety; and declaring no power shall force him
-from the coast till he has seen her.--You _must_ let us pass."
-
-"It is impossible!" replied Mordaunt, in great perplexity--"This ruffian
-has imprecations enough, doubtless, at his fingers' ends--but what
-better pledge has he to offer?--I cannot permit Minna to go."
-
-"I suppose," said Brenda, somewhat reproachfully, while she dried her
-tears, yet still continued sobbing, "that there is something in what
-Norna spoke of betwixt Minna and you; and that you are too jealous of
-this poor wretch, to allow him even to speak with her an instant before
-his departure."
-
-"You are unjust," said Mordaunt, hurt, and yet somewhat flattered by her
-suspicions,--"you are as unjust as you are imprudent. You know--you
-cannot but know--that Minna is chiefly dear to me as _your_ sister. Tell
-me, Brenda--and tell me truly--if I aid you in this folly, have you no
-suspicion of the Pirate's faith!"
-
-"No, none," said Brenda; "if I had any, do you think I would urge you
-thus? He is wild and unhappy, but I think we may in this trust him."
-
-"Is the appointed place the Standing Stones, and the time daybreak?"
-again demanded Mordaunt.
-
-"It is, and the time is come," said Brenda,--"for Heaven's sake let us
-depart!"
-
-"I will myself," said Mordaunt, "relieve the sentinel at the front door
-for a few minutes, and suffer you to pass.--You will not protract this
-interview, so full of danger?"
-
-"We will not," said Brenda; "and you, on your part, will not avail
-yourself of this unhappy man's venturing hither, to harm or to seize
-him?"
-
-"Rely on my honour," said Mordaunt--"He shall have no harm, unless he
-offers any."
-
-"Then I go to call my sister," said Brenda, and quickly left the
-apartment.
-
-Mordaunt considered the matter for an instant, and then going to the
-sentinel at the front door, he desired him to run instantly to the
-main-guard, and order the whole to turn out with their arms--to see the
-order obeyed, and to return when they were in readiness. Meantime, he
-himself, he said, would remain upon the post.
-
-During the interval of the sentinel's absence, the front door was slowly
-opened, and Minna and Brenda appeared, muffled in their mantles. The
-former leaned on her sister, and kept her face bent on the ground, as
-one who felt ashamed of the step she was about to take. Brenda also
-passed her lover in silence, but threw back upon him a look of gratitude
-and affection, which doubled, if possible, his anxiety for their safety.
-
-The sisters, in the meanwhile, passed out of sight of the house; when
-Minna, whose step, till that time, had been faint and feeble, began to
-erect her person, and to walk with a pace so firm and so swift, that
-Brenda, who had some difficulty to keep up with her, could not forbear
-remonstrating on the imprudence of hurrying her spirits, and exhausting
-her force, by such unnecessary haste.
-
-"Fear not, my dearest sister," said Minna; "the spirit which I now feel
-will, and must, sustain me through the dreadful interview. I could not
-but move with a drooping head, and dejected pace, while I was in view of
-one who must necessarily deem me deserving of his pity, or his scorn.
-But you know, my dearest Brenda, and Mordaunt shall also know, that the
-love I bore to that unhappy man, was as pure as the rays of that sun,
-that is now reflected on the waves. And I dare attest that glorious sun,
-and yonder blue heaven, to bear me witness, that, but to urge him to
-change his unhappy course of life, I had not, for all the temptations
-this round world holds, ever consented to see him more."
-
-As she spoke thus, in a tone which afforded much confidence to Brenda,
-the sisters attained the summit of a rising ground, whence they
-commanded a full view of the Orcadian Stonehenge, consisting of a huge
-circle and semicircle of the Standing Stones, as they are called, which
-already glimmered a greyish white in the rising sun, and projected far
-to the westward their long gigantic shadows. At another time, the scene
-would have operated powerfully on the imaginative mind of Minna, and
-interested the curiosity at least of her less sensitive sister. But, at
-this moment, neither was at leisure to receive the impressions which
-this stupendous monument of antiquity is so well calculated to impress
-on the feelings of those who behold it; for they saw, in the lower lake,
-beneath what is termed the Bridge of Broisgar, a boat well manned and
-armed, which had disembarked one of its crew, who advanced alone, and
-wrapped in a naval cloak, towards that monumental circle which they
-themselves were about to reach from another quarter.
-
-"They are many, and they are armed," said the startled Brenda, in a
-whisper to her sister.
-
-"It is for precaution's sake," answered Minna, "which, alas, their
-condition renders but too necessary. Fear no treachery from him--that,
-at least, is not his vice."
-
-As she spoke, or shortly afterwards, she attained the centre of the
-circle, on which, in the midst of the tall erect pillars of rude stone
-that are raised around, lies one flat and prostrate, supported by short
-stone pillars, of which some relics are still visible, that had once
-served, perhaps, the purpose of an altar.
-
-"Here," she said, "in heathen times (if we may believe legends, which
-have cost me but too dear) our ancestors offered sacrifices to heathen
-deities--and here will I, from my soul, renounce, abjure, and offer up
-to a better and a more merciful God than was known to them, the vain
-ideas with which my youthful imagination has been seduced."
-
-She stood by the prostrate table of stone, and saw Cleveland advance
-towards her, with a timid pace, and a downcast look, as different from
-his usual character and bearing, as Minna's high air and lofty
-demeanour, and calm contemplative posture, were distant from those of
-the love-lorn and broken-hearted maiden, whose weight had almost borne
-down the support of her sister as she left the House of Stennis. If the
-belief of those is true, who assign these singular monuments exclusively
-to the Druids, Minna might have seemed the Haxa, or high priestess of
-the order, from whom some champion of the tribe expected inauguration.
-Or, if we hold the circles of Gothic and Scandinavian origin, she might
-have seemed a descended Vision of Freya, the spouse of the Thundering
-Deity, before whom some bold Sea-King or champion bent with an awe,
-which no mere mortal terror could have inflicted upon him. Brenda,
-overwhelmed with inexpressible fear and doubt, remained a pace or two
-behind, anxiously observing the motions of Cleveland, and attending to
-nothing around, save to him and to her sister.
-
-Cleveland approached within two yards of Minna, and bent his head to the
-ground. There was a dead pause, until Minna said, in a firm but
-melancholy tone, "Unhappy man, why didst thou seek this aggravation of
-our woe? Depart in peace, and may Heaven direct thee to a better course
-than that which thy life has yet held!"
-
-"Heaven will not aid me," said Cleveland, "excepting by your voice. I
-came hither rude and wild, scarce knowing that my trade, my desperate
-trade, was more criminal in the sight of man or of Heaven, than that of
-those privateers whom your law acknowledges. I was bred in it, and, but
-for the wishes you have encouraged me to form, I should have perhaps
-died in it, desperate and impenitent. O, do not throw me from you! let
-me do something to redeem what I have done amiss, and do not leave your
-own work half-finished!"
-
-"Cleveland," said Minna, "I will not reproach you with abusing my
-inexperience, or with availing yourself of those delusions which the
-credulity of early youth had flung around me, and which led me to
-confound your fatal course of life with the deeds of our ancient heroes.
-Alas, when I saw your followers, that illusion was no more!--but I do
-not upbraid you with its having existed. Go, Cleveland; detach yourself
-from those miserable wretches with whom you are associated, and believe
-me, that if Heaven yet grants you the means of distinguishing your name
-by one good or glorious action, there are eyes left in those lonely
-islands, that will weep as much for joy, as--as--they must now do for
-sorrow."
-
-"And is this all?" said Cleveland; "and may I not hope, that if I
-extricate myself from my present associates--if I can gain my pardon by
-being as bold in the right, as I have been too often in the wrong
-cause--if, after a term, I care not how long--but still a term which may
-have an end, I can boast of having redeemed my fame--may I not--may I
-not hope that Minna may forgive what my God and my country shall have
-pardoned?"
-
-"Never, Cleveland, never!" said Minna, with the utmost firmness; "on
-this spot we part, and part for ever, and part without longer
-indulgence. Think of me as of one dead, if you continue as you now are;
-but if, which may Heaven grant, you change your fatal course, think of
-me then as one, whose morning and evening prayers will be for your
-happiness, though she has lost her own.--Farewell, Cleveland!"
-
-He kneeled, overpowered by his own bitter feelings, to take the hand
-which she held out to him, and in that instant, his confidant Bunce,
-starting from behind one of the large upright pillars, his eyes wet with
-tears, exclaimed--
-
-"Never saw such a parting scene on any stage! But I'll be d----d if you
-make your exit as you expect!"
-
-And so saying, ere Cleveland could employ either remonstrance or
-resistance, and indeed before he could get upon his feet, he easily
-secured him by pulling him down on his back, so that two or three of the
-boat's crew seized him by the arms and legs, and began to hurry him
-towards the lake. Minna and Brenda shrieked, and attempted to fly; but
-Derrick snatched up the former with as much ease as a falcon pounces on
-a pigeon, while Bunce, with an oath or two which were intended to be of
-a consolatory nature, seized on Brenda; and the whole party, with two or
-three of the other pirates, who, stealing from the water-side, had
-accompanied them on the ambuscade, began hastily to run towards the
-boat, which was left in charge of two of their number. Their course,
-however, was unexpectedly interrupted, and their criminal purpose
-entirely frustrated.
-
-When Mordaunt Mertoun had turned out his guard in arms, it was with the
-natural purpose of watching over the safety of the two sisters. They had
-accordingly closely observed the motions of the pirates, and when they
-saw so many of them leave the boat and steal towards the place of
-rendezvous assigned to Cleveland, they naturally suspected treachery,
-and by cover of an old hollow way or trench, which perhaps had anciently
-been connected with the monumental circle, they had thrown themselves
-unperceived between the pirates and their boat. At the cries of the
-sisters, they started up and placed themselves in the way of the
-ruffians, presenting their pieces, which, notwithstanding, they dared
-not fire, for fear of hurting the young ladies, secured as they were in
-the rude grasp of the marauders. Mordaunt, however, advanced with the
-speed of a wild deer on Bunce, who, loath to quit his prey, yet unable
-to defend himself otherwise, turned to this side and that alternately,
-exposing Brenda to the blows which Mordaunt offered at him. This
-defence, however, proved in vain against a youth, possessed of the
-lightest foot and most active hand ever known in Zetland, and after a
-feint or two, Mordaunt brought the pirate to the ground with a stroke
-from the but of the carabine, which he dared not use otherwise. At the
-same time fire-arms were discharged on either side by those who were
-liable to no such cause of forbearance, and the pirates who had hold of
-Cleveland, dropped him, naturally enough, to provide for their own
-defence or retreat. But they only added to the numbers of their enemies;
-for Cleveland, perceiving Minna in the arms of Derrick, snatched her
-from the ruffian with one hand, and with the other shot him dead on the
-spot. Two or three more of the pirates fell or were taken, the rest fled
-to their boat, pushed off, then turned their broadside to the shore, and
-fired repeatedly on the Orcadian party, which they returned, with little
-injury on either side. Meanwhile Mordaunt, having first seen that the
-sisters were at liberty and in full flight towards the house, advanced
-on Cleveland with his cutlass drawn. The pirate presented a pistol, and
-calling out at the same time,--"Mordaunt, I never missed my aim," he
-fired into the air, and threw it into the lake; then drew his cutlass,
-brandished it round his head, and flung that also as far as his arm
-could send it, in the same direction. Yet such was the universal belief
-of his personal strength and resources, that Mordaunt still used
-precaution, as, advancing on Cleveland, he asked if he surrendered.
-
-"I surrender to no man," said the Pirate-captain; "but you may see I
-have thrown away my weapons."
-
-He was immediately seized by some of the Orcadians without his offering
-any resistance; but the instant interference of Mordaunt prevented his
-being roughly treated, or bound. The victors conducted him to a
-well-secured upper apartment in the House of Stennis, and placed a
-sentinel at the door. Bunce and Fletcher, both of whom had been
-stretched on the field during the skirmish, were lodged in the same
-chamber; and two prisoners, who appeared of lower rank, were confined
-in a vault belonging to the mansion.
-
-Without pretending to describe the joy of Magnus Troil, who, when
-awakened by the noise and firing, found his daughters safe, and his
-enemy a prisoner, we shall only say, it was so great, that he forgot,
-for the time at least, to enquire what circumstances were those which
-had placed them in danger; that he hugged Mordaunt to his breast a
-thousand times, as their preserver; and swore as often by the bones of
-his sainted namesake, that if he had a thousand daughters, so tight a
-lad, and so true a friend, should have the choice of them, let Lady
-Glowrowrum say what she would.
-
-A very different scene was passing in the prison-chamber of the
-unfortunate Cleveland and his associates. The Captain sat by the window,
-his eyes bent on the prospect of the sea which it presented, and was
-seemingly so intent on it, as to be insensible of the presence of the
-others. Jack Bunce stood meditating some ends of verse, in order to make
-his advances towards a reconciliation with Cleveland; for he began to be
-sensible, from the consequences, that the part he had played towards his
-Captain, however well intended, was neither lucky in its issue, nor
-likely to be well taken. His admirer and adherent Fletcher lay half
-asleep, as it seemed, on a truckle-bed in the room, without the least
-attempt to interfere in the conversation which ensued.
-
-"Nay, but speak to me, Clement," said the penitent Lieutenant, "if it be
-but to swear at me for my stupidity!
-
-  'What! not an oath?--Nay, then the world goes hard,
-  If Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath.'"
-
-"I prithee peace, and be gone!" said Cleveland; "I have one bosom friend
-left yet, and you will make me bestow its contents on you, or on
-myself."
-
-"I have it!" said Bunce, "I have it!" and on he went in the vein of
-Jaffier--
-
-  "'Then, by the hell I merit, I'll not leave thee,
-  Till to thyself at least thou'rt reconciled,
-  However thy resentment deal with me!'"
-
-"I pray you once more to be silent," said Cleveland--"Is it not enough
-that you have undone me with your treachery, but you must stun me with
-your silly buffoonery?--I would not have believed _you_ would have
-lifted a finger against me, Jack, of any man or devil in yonder unhappy
-ship."
-
-"Who, I?" exclaimed Bunce, "I lift a finger against you!--and if I did,
-it was in pure love, and to make you the happiest fellow that ever trode
-a deck, with your mistress beside you, and fifty fine fellows at your
-command. Here is Dick Fletcher can bear witness I did all for the best,
-if he would but speak, instead of lolloping there like a Dutch dogger
-laid up to be careened.--Get up, Dick, and speak for me, won't you?"
-
-"Why, yes, Jack Bunce," answered Fletcher, raising himself with
-difficulty, and speaking feebly, "I will if I can--and I always knew you
-spoke and did for the best--but howsomdever, d'ye see, it has turned out
-for the worst for me this time, for I am bleeding to death, I think."
-
-"You cannot be such an ass!" said Jack Bunce, springing to his
-assistance, as did Cleveland. But human aid came too late--he sunk back
-on the bed, and, turning on his face, expired without a groan.
-
-"I always thought him a d----d fool," said Bunce, as he wiped a tear
-from his eye, "but never such a consummate idiot as to hop the perch so
-sillily. I have lost the best follower"--and he again wiped his eye.
-
-Cleveland looked on the dead body, the rugged features of which had
-remained unaltered by the death-pang--"A bull-dog," he said, "of the
-true British breed, and, with a better counsellor, would have been a
-better man."
-
-"You may say that of some other folks, too, Captain, if you are minded
-to do them justice," said Bunce.
-
-"I may indeed, and especially of yourself," said Cleveland, in reply.
-
-"Why then, say, _Jack, I forgive you_," said Bunce; "it's but a short
-word, and soon spoken."
-
-"I forgive you from all my soul, Jack," said Cleveland, who had resumed
-his situation at the window; "and the rather that your folly is of
-little consequence--the morning is come that must bring ruin on us all."
-
-"What! you are thinking of the old woman's prophecy you spoke of?" said
-Bunce.
-
-"It will soon be accomplished," answered Cleveland. "Come hither; what
-do you take yon large square-rigged vessel for, that you see doubling
-the headland on the east, and opening the Bay of Stromness?"
-
-"Why, I can't make her well out," said Bunce, "but yonder is old Goffe,
-takes her for a West Indiaman loaded with rum and sugar, I suppose, for
-d----n me if he does not slip cable, and stand out to her!"
-
-"Instead of running into the shoal-water, which was his only safety,"
-said Cleveland--"The fool! the dotard! the drivelling, drunken
-idiot!--he will get his flip hot enough; for yon is the Halcyon--See,
-she hoists her colours and fires a broadside! and there will soon be an
-end of the Fortune's Favourite! I only hope they will fight her to the
-last plank. The Boatswain used to be stanch enough, and so is Goffe,
-though an incarnate demon.--Now she shoots away, with all the sail she
-can spread, and that shows some sense."
-
-"Up goes the Jolly Hodge, the old black flag, with the death's head and
-hour-glass, and that shows some spunk," added his comrade.
-
-"The hour-glass is turned for us, Jack, for this bout--our sand is
-running fast.--Fire away yet, my roving lads! The deep sea or the blue
-sky, rather than a rope and a yard-arm!"
-
-There was a moment of anxious and dead silence; the sloop, though hard
-pressed, maintaining still a running fight, and the frigate continuing
-in full chase, but scarce returning a shot. At length the vessels neared
-each other, so as to show that the man-of-war intended to board the
-sloop, instead of sinking her, probably to secure the plunder which
-might be in the pirate vessel.
-
-"Now, Goffe--now, Boatswain!" exclaimed Cleveland, in an ecstasy of
-impatience, and as if they could have heard his commands, "stand by
-sheets and tacks--rake her with a broadside, when you are under her
-bows, then about ship, and go off on the other tack like a wild-goose.
-The sails shiver--the helm's a-lee--Ah!--deep-sea sink the
-lubbers!--they miss stays, and the frigate runs them aboard!"
-
-Accordingly, the various man[oe]uvres of the chase had brought them so
-near, that Cleveland, with his spy-glass, could see the man-of-war's-men
-boarding by the yards and bowsprit, in irresistible numbers, their naked
-cutlasses flashing in the sun, when, at that critical moment, both ships
-were enveloped in a cloud of thick black smoke, which suddenly arose on
-board the captured pirate.
-
-"Exeunt omnes!" said Bunce, with clasped hands.
-
-"There went the Fortune's Favourite, ship and crew!" said Cleveland, at
-the same instant.
-
-But the smoke immediately clearing away, showed that the damage had only
-been partial, and that, from want of a sufficient quantity of powder,
-the pirates had failed in their desperate attempt to blow up their
-vessel with the Halcyon.
-
-Shortly after the action was over, Captain Weatherport of the Halcyon
-sent an officer and a party of marines to the House of Stennis, to
-demand from the little garrison the pirate seamen who were their
-prisoners, and, in particular, Cleveland and Bunce, who acted as Captain
-and Lieutenant of the gang.
-
-This was a demand which was not to be resisted, though Magnus Troil
-could have wished sincerely that the roof under which he lived had been
-allowed as an asylum at least to Cleveland. But the officer's orders
-were peremptory; and he added, it was Captain Weatherport's intention to
-land the other prisoners, and send the whole, with a sufficient escort,
-across the island to Kirkwall, in order to undergo an examination there
-before the civil authorities, previous to their being sent off to London
-for trial at the High Court of Admiralty. Magnus could therefore only
-intercede for good usage to Cleveland, and that he might not be stripped
-or plundered, which the officer, struck by his good mien, and
-compassionating his situation, readily promised. The honest Udaller
-would have said something in the way of comfort to Cleveland himself,
-but he could not find words to express it, and only shook his head.
-
-"Old friend," said Cleveland, "you may have much to complain of--yet you
-pity instead of exulting over me--for the sake of you and yours, I will
-never harm human being more. Take this from me--my last hope, but my
-last temptation also"--he drew from his bosom a pocket-pistol, and gave
-it to Magnus Troil. "Remember me to--But no--let every one forget me.--I
-am your prisoner, sir," said he to the officer.
-
-"And I also," said poor Bunce; and putting on a theatrical countenance,
-he ranted, with no very perceptible faltering in his tone, the words of
-Pierre:
-
-  "'Captain, you should be a gentleman of honour:
-  Keep off the rabble, that I may have room
-  To entertain my fate, and die with decency.'"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-  Joy, joy, in London now!
-
-                                                    SOUTHEY.
-
-
-The news of the capture of the Rover reached Kirkwall, about an hour
-before noon, and filled all men with wonder and with joy. Little
-business was that day done at the Fair, whilst people of all ages and
-occupations streamed from the place to see the prisoners as they were
-marched towards Kirkwall, and to triumph in the different appearance
-which they now bore, from that which they had formerly exhibited when
-ranting, swaggering, and bullying in the streets of that town. The
-bayonets of the marines were soon seen to glisten in the sun, and then
-came on the melancholy troop of captives, handcuffed two and two
-together. Their finery had been partly torn from them by their captors,
-partly hung in rags about them; many were wounded and covered with
-blood, many blackened and scorched with the explosion, by which a few of
-the most desperate had in vain striven to blow up the vessel. Most of
-them seemed sullen and impenitent, some were more becomingly affected
-with their condition, and a few braved it out, and sung the same ribald
-songs to which they had made the streets of Kirkwall ring when they were
-in their frolics.
-
-The Boatswain and Goffe, coupled together, exhausted themselves in
-threats and imprecations against each other; the former charging Goffe
-with want of seamanship, and the latter alleging that the Boatswain had
-prevented him from firing the powder that was stowed forward, and so
-sending them all to the other world together. Last came Cleveland and
-Bunce, who were permitted to walk unshackled; the decent melancholy, yet
-resolved manner of the former, contrasting strongly with the stage strut
-and swagger which poor Jack thought it fitting to assume, in order to
-conceal some less dignified emotions. The former was looked upon with
-compassion, the latter with a mixture of scorn and pity; while most of
-the others inspired horror, and even fear, by their looks and their
-language.
-
-There was one individual in Kirkwall, who was so far from hastening to
-see the sight which attracted all eyes, that he was not even aware of
-the event which agitated the town. This was the elder Mertoun, whose
-residence Kirkwall had been for two or three days, part of which had
-been spent in attending to some judicial proceedings, undertaken at the
-instance of the Procurator Fiscal, against that grave professor, Bryce
-Snailsfoot. In consequence of an inquisition into the proceedings of
-this worthy trader, Cleveland's chest, with his papers and other matters
-therein contained, had been restored to Mertoun, as the lawful custodier
-thereof, until the right owner should be in a situation to establish his
-right to them. Mertoun was at first desirous to throw back upon Justice
-the charge which she was disposed to intrust him with; but, on perusing
-one or two of the papers, he hastily changed his mind--in broken words,
-requested the Magistrate to let the chest be sent to his lodgings, and,
-hastening homeward, bolted himself into the room, to consider and
-digest the singular information which chance had thus conveyed to him,
-and which increased, in a tenfold degree, his impatience for an
-interview with the mysterious Norna of the Fitful-head.
-
-It may be remembered that she had required of him, when they met in the
-Churchyard of Saint Ninian, to attend in the outer isle of the Cathedral
-of Saint Magnus, at the hour of noon, on the fifth day of the Fair of
-Saint Olla, there to meet a person by whom the fate of Mordaunt would be
-explained to him.--"It must be herself," he said; "and that I should see
-her at this moment is indispensable. How to find her sooner, I know not;
-and better lose a few hours even in this exigence, than offend her by a
-premature attempt to force myself on her presence."
-
-Long, therefore, before noon--long before the town of Kirkwall was
-agitated by the news of the events on the other side of the island, the
-elder Mertoun was pacing the deserted aisle of the Cathedral, awaiting,
-with agonizing eagerness, the expected communication from Norna. The
-bell tolled twelve--no door opened--no one was seen to enter the
-Cathedral; but the last sounds had not ceased to reverberate through the
-vaulted roof, when, gliding from one of the interior side-aisles, Norna
-stood before him. Mertoun, indifferent to the apparent mystery of her
-sudden approach, (with the secret of which the reader is acquainted,)
-went up to her at once, with the earnest ejaculation--"Ulla--Ulla
-Troil--aid me to save our unhappy boy!"
-
-"To Ulla Troil," said Norna, "I answer not--I gave that name to the
-winds, on the night that cost me a father!"
-
-"Speak not of that night of horror," said Mertoun; "we have need of our
-reason--let us not think on recollections which may destroy it; but aid
-me, if thou canst, to save our unfortunate child!"
-
-"Vaughan," answered Norna, "he is already saved--long since saved; think
-you a mother's hand--and that of such a mother as I am--would await your
-crawling, tardy, ineffectual assistance? No, Vaughan--I make myself
-known to you, but to show my triumph over you--it is the only revenge
-which the powerful Norna permits herself to take for the wrongs of Ulla
-Troil."
-
-"Have you indeed saved him--saved him from the murderous crew?" said
-Mertoun, or Vaughan--"speak!--and speak truth!--I will believe every
-thing--all you would require me to assent to!--prove to me only he is
-escaped and safe!"
-
-"Escaped and safe, by my means," said Norna--"safe, and in assurance of
-an honoured and happy alliance. Yes, great unbeliever!--yes, wise and
-self-opinioned infidel!--these were the works of Norna! I knew you many
-a year since; but never had I made myself known to you, save with the
-triumphant consciousness of having controlled the destiny that
-threatened my son. All combined against him--planets which threatened
-drowning--combinations which menaced blood--but my skill was superior to
-all.--I arranged--I combined--I found means--I made them--each disaster
-has been averted;--and what infidel on earth, or stubborn demon beyond
-the bounds of earth, shall hereafter deny my power?"
-
-The wild ecstasy with which she spoke, so much resembled triumphant
-insanity, that Mertoun answered--"Were your pretensions less lofty, and
-your speech more plain, I should be better assured of my son's safety."
-
-"Doubt on, vain sceptic!" said Norna--"And yet know, that not only is
-our son safe, but vengeance is mine, though I sought it not--vengeance
-on the powerful implement of the darker Influences by whom my schemes
-were so often thwarted, and even the life of my son endangered.--Yes,
-take it as a guarantee of the truth of my speech, that Cleveland--the
-pirate Cleveland--even now enters Kirkwall as a prisoner, and will soon
-expiate with his life the having shed blood which is of kin to Norna's."
-
-"Who didst thou say was prisoner?" exclaimed Mertoun, with a voice of
-thunder--"_Who_, woman, didst thou say should expiate his crimes with
-his life?"
-
-"Cleveland--the pirate Cleveland!" answered Norna; "and by me, whose
-counsel he scorned, he has been permitted to meet his fate."
-
-"Thou most wretched of women!" said Mertoun, speaking from between his
-clenched teeth,--"thou hast slain thy son, as well as thy father!"
-
-"My son!--what son?--what mean you?--Mordaunt is your son--your only
-son!" exclaimed Norna--"is he not?--tell me quickly--is he not?"
-
-"Mordaunt is indeed _my_ son," said Mertoun--"the laws, at least, gave
-him to me as such--But, O unhappy Ulla! Cleveland is your son as well as
-mine--blood of our blood, bone of our bone; and if you have given him to
-death, I will end my wretched life along with him!"
-
-"Stay--hold--stop, Vaughan!" said Norna; "I am not yet overcome--prove
-but to me the truth of what you say, I would find help, if I should
-evoke hell!--But prove your words, else believe them I cannot."
-
-"_Thou_ help! wretched, overweening woman!--in what have thy
-combinations and thy stratagems--the legerdemain of lunacy--the mere
-quackery of insanity--in what have these involved thee?--and yet I will
-speak to thee as reasonable--nay, I will admit thee as powerful--Hear,
-then, Ulla, the proofs which you demand, and find a remedy, if thou
-canst:--
-
-"When I fled from Orkney," he continued, after a pause--"it is now
-five-and-twenty years since--I bore with me the unhappy offspring to
-whom you had given light. It was sent to me by one of your kinswomen,
-with an account of your illness, which was soon followed by a generally
-received belief of your death. It avails not to tell in what misery I
-left Europe. I found refuge in Hispaniola, wherein a fair young Spaniard
-undertook the task of comforter. I married her--she became mother of the
-youth called Mordaunt Mertoun."
-
-"You married her!" said Norna, in a tone of deep reproach.
-
-"I did, Ulla," answered Mertoun; "but you were avenged. She proved
-faithless, and her infidelity left me in doubts whether the child she
-bore had a right to call me father--But I also was avenged."
-
-"You murdered her!" said Norna, with a dreadful shriek.
-
-"I did that," said Mertoun, without a more direct reply, "which made an
-instant flight from Hispaniola necessary. Your son I carried with me to
-Tortuga, where we had a small settlement. Mordaunt Vaughan, my son by
-marriage, about three or four years younger, was residing in
-Port-Royal, for the advantages of an English education. I resolved never
-to see him again, but I continued to support him. Our settlement was
-plundered by the Spaniards, when Clement was but fifteen--Want came to
-aid despair and a troubled conscience. I became a corsair, and involved
-Clement in the same desperate trade. His skill and bravery, though then
-a mere boy, gained him a separate command; and after a lapse of two or
-three years, while we were on different cruises, my crew rose on me, and
-left me for dead on the beach of one of the Bermudas. I recovered,
-however, and my first enquiries, after a tedious illness, were after
-Clement. He, I heard, had been also marooned by a rebellious crew, and
-put ashore on a desert islet, to perish with want--I believed he had so
-perished."
-
-"And what assures you that he did not?" said Ulla; "or how comes this
-Cleveland to be identified with Vaughan?"
-
-"To change a name is common with such adventurers," answered Mertoun,
-"and Clement had apparently found that of Vaughan had become too
-notorious--and this change, in his case, prevented me from hearing any
-tidings of him. It was then that remorse seized me, and that, detesting
-all nature, but especially the sex to which Louisa belonged, I resolved
-to do penance in the wild islands of Zetland for the rest of my life. To
-subject myself to fasts and to the scourge, was the advice of the holy
-Catholic priests, whom I consulted. But I devised a nobler penance--I
-determined to bring with me the unhappy boy Mordaunt, and to keep always
-before me the living memorial of my misery and my guilt. I have done so,
-and I have thought over both, till reason has often trembled on her
-throne. And now, to drive me to utter madness, my Clement--my own, my
-undoubted son, revives from the dead to be consigned to an infamous
-death, by the machinations of his own mother!"
-
-"Away, away!" said Norna, with a laugh, when she had heard the story to
-an end, "this is a legend framed by the old corsair, to interest my aid
-in favour of a guilty comrade. How could I mistake Mordaunt for my son,
-their ages being so different?"
-
-"The dark complexion and manly stature may have done much," said Basil
-Mertoun; "strong imagination must have done the rest."
-
-"But, give me proofs--give me proofs that this Cleveland is my son, and,
-believe me, this sun shall sooner sink in the east, than they shall have
-power to harm a hair of his head."
-
-"These papers, these journals," said Mertoun, offering the pocket-book.
-
-"I cannot read them," she said, after an effort, "my brain is dizzy."
-
-"Clement has also tokens which you may remember, but they must have
-become the booty of his captors. He had a silver box with a Runic
-inscription, with which in far other days you presented me--a golden
-chaplet."
-
-"A box!" said Norna, hastily; "Cleveland gave me one but a day since--I
-have never looked at it till now."
-
-Eagerly she pulled it out--eagerly examined the legend around the lid,
-and as eagerly exclaimed--"They may now indeed call me Reimkennar, for
-by this rhyme I know myself murderess of my son, as well as of my
-father!"
-
-The conviction of the strong delusion under which she had laboured, was
-so overwhelming, that she sunk down at the foot of one of the
-pillars--Mertoun shouted for help, though in despair of receiving any;
-the sexton, however, entered, and, hopeless of all assistance from
-Norna, the distracted father rushed out, to learn, if possible, the fate
-of his son.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-  Go, some of you cry a reprieve!
-
-                                           _Beggar's Opera._
-
-
-Captain Weatherport had, before this time, reached Kirkwall in person,
-and was received with great joy and thankfulness by the Magistrates, who
-had assembled in council for the purpose. The Provost, in particular,
-expressed himself delighted with the providential arrival of the
-Halcyon, at the very conjuncture when the Pirate could not escape her.
-The Captain looked a little surprised, and said--"For that, sir, you may
-thank the information you yourself supplied."
-
-"That I supplied?" said the Provost, somewhat astonished.
-
-"Yes, sir," answered Captain Weatherport, "I understand you to be George
-Torfe, Chief Magistrate of Kirkwall, who subscribes this letter."
-
-The astonished Provost took the letter addressed to Captain Weatherport
-of the Halcyon, stating the arrival, force, &c., of the pirates' vessel;
-but adding, that they had heard of the Halcyon being on the coast, and
-that they were on their guard and ready to baffle her, by going among
-the shoals, and through the islands, and holms, where the frigate could
-not easily follow; and at the worst, they were desperate enough to
-propose running the sloop ashore and blowing her up, by which much booty
-and treasure would be lost to the captors. The letter, therefore,
-suggested, that the Halcyon should cruise betwixt Duncansbay Head and
-Cape Wrath, for two or three days, to relieve the pirates of the alarm
-her neighbourhood occasioned, and lull them into security, the more
-especially as the letter-writer knew it to be their intention, if the
-frigate left the coast, to go into Stromness Bay, and there put their
-guns ashore for some necessary repairs, or even for careening their
-vessel, if they could find means. The letter concluded by assuring
-Captain Weatherport, that, if he could bring his frigate into Stromness
-Bay on the morning of the 24th of August, he would have a good bargain
-of the pirates--if sooner, he was not unlikely to miss them.
-
-"This letter is not of my writing or subscribing, Captain Weatherport,"
-said the Provost; "nor would I have ventured to advise any delay in your
-coming hither."
-
-The Captain was surprised in his turn. "All I know is, that it reached
-me when I was in the bay of Thurso, and that I gave the boat's crew that
-brought it five dollars for crossing the Pentland Frith in very rough
-weather. They had a dumb dwarf as cockswain, the ugliest urchin my eyes
-ever opened upon. I give you much credit for the accuracy of your
-intelligence, Mr. Provost."
-
-"It is lucky as it is," said the Provost; "yet I question whether the
-writer of this letter would not rather that you had found the nest cold
-and the bird flown."
-
-So saying, he handed the letter to Magnus Troil, who returned it with a
-smile, but without any observation, aware, doubtless, with the sagacious
-reader, that Norna had her own reasons for calculating with accuracy on
-the date of the Halcyon's arrival.
-
-Without puzzling himself farther concerning a circumstance which seemed
-inexplicable, the Captain requested that the examinations might proceed;
-and Cleveland and Altamont, as he chose to be called, were brought up
-the first of the pirate crew, on the charge of having acted as Captain
-and Lieutenant. They had just commenced the examination, when, after
-some expostulation with the officers who kept the door, Basil Mertoun
-burst into the apartment and exclaimed, "Take the old victim for the
-young one!--I am Basil Vaughan, too well known on the windward
-station--take my life, and spare my son's!"
-
-All were astonished, and none more than Magnus Troil, who hastily
-explained to the Magistrates and Captain Weatherport, that this
-gentleman had been living peaceably and honestly on the Mainland of
-Zetland for many years.
-
-"In that case," said the Captain, "I wash my hands of the poor man, for
-he is safe, under two proclamations of mercy; and, by my soul, when I
-see them, the father and his offspring, hanging on each other's neck, I
-wish I could say as much for the son."
-
-"But how is it--how can it be?" said the Provost; "we always called the
-old man Mertoun, and the young, Cleveland, and now it seems they are
-both named Vaughan."
-
-"Vaughan," answered Magnus, "is a name which I have some reason to
-remember; and, from what I have lately heard from my cousin Norna, that
-old man has a right to bear it."
-
-"And, I trust, the young man also," said the Captain, who had been
-looking over a memorandum. "Listen to me a moment," added he, addressing
-the younger Vaughan, whom we have hitherto called Cleveland. "Hark you,
-sir, your name is said to be Clement Vaughan--are you the same, who,
-then a mere boy, commanded a party of rovers, who, about eight or nine
-years ago, pillaged a Spanish village called Quempoa, on the Spanish
-Main, with the purpose of seizing some treasure?"
-
-"It will avail me nothing to deny it," answered the prisoner.
-
-"No," said Captain Weatherport, "but it may do you service to admit
-it.--Well, the muleteers escaped with the treasure, while you were
-engaged in protecting, at the hazard of your own life, the honour of two
-Spanish ladies against the brutality of your followers. Do you remember
-any thing of this?"
-
-"I am sure _I_ do," said Jack Bunce; "for our Captain here was marooned
-for his gallantry, and I narrowly escaped flogging and pickling for
-having taken his part."
-
-"When these points are established," said Captain Weatherport,
-"Vaughan's life is safe--the women he saved were persons of quality,
-daughters to the governor of the province, and application was long
-since made, by the grateful Spaniard, to our government, for favour to
-be shown to their preserver. I had special orders about Clement Vaughan,
-when I had a commission for cruizing upon the pirates, in the West
-Indies, six or seven years since. But Vaughan was gone then as a name
-amongst them; and I heard enough of Cleveland in his room. However,
-Captain, be you Cleveland or Vaughan, I think that, as the Quempoa hero,
-I can assure you a free pardon when you arrive in London."
-
-Cleveland bowed, and the blood mounted to his face. Mertoun fell on his
-knees, and exhausted himself in thanksgiving to Heaven. They were
-removed, amidst the sympathizing sobs of the spectators.
-
-"And now, good Master Lieutenant, what have you got to say for
-yourself?" said Captain Weatherport to the ci-devant Roscius.
-
-"Why, little or nothing, please your honour; only that I wish your
-honour could find my name in that book of mercy you have in your hand;
-for I stood by Captain Clement Vaughan in that Quempoa business."
-
-"You call yourself Frederick Altamont?" said Captain Weatherport. "I can
-see no such name here; one John Bounce, or Bunce, the lady put on her
-tablets."
-
-"Why, that is me--that is I myself, Captain--I can prove it; and I am
-determined, though the sound be something plebeian, rather to live Jack
-Bunce, than to hang as Frederick Altamont."
-
-"In that case," said the Captain, "I can give you some hopes as John
-Bunce."
-
-"Thank your noble worship!" shouted Bunce; then changing his tone, he
-said, "Ah, since an alias has such virtue, poor Dick Fletcher might have
-come off as Timothy Tugmutton; but howsomdever, d'ye see, to use his own
-phrase"----
-
-"Away with the Lieutenant," said the Captain, "and bring forward Goffe
-and the other fellows; there will be ropes reeved for some of them, I
-think." And this prediction promised to be amply fulfilled, so strong
-was the proof which was brought against them.
-
-The Halcyon was accordingly ordered round to carry the whole prisoners
-to London, for which she set sail in the course of two days.
-
-During the time that the unfortunate Cleveland remained at Kirkwall, he
-was treated with civility by the Captain of the Halcyon; and the
-kindness of his old acquaintance, Magnus Troil, who knew in secret how
-closely he was allied to his blood, pressed on him accommodations of
-every kind, more than he could be prevailed on to accept.
-
-Norna, whose interest in the unhappy prisoner was still more deep, was
-at this time unable to express it. The sexton had found her lying on the
-pavement in a swoon, and when she recovered, her mind for the time had
-totally lost its equipoise, and it became necessary to place her under
-the restraint of watchful attendants.
-
-Of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, Cleveland only heard that they remained
-ill, in consequence of the fright to which they had been subjected,
-until the evening before the Halcyon sailed, when he received, by a
-private conveyance, the following billet:
-
-    --"Farewell, Cleveland--we part for ever, and it is right that we
-    should--Be virtuous and be happy. The delusions which a solitary
-    education and limited acquaintance with the modern world had
-    spread around me, are gone and dissipated for ever. But in you, I
-    am sure, I have been thus far free from error--that you are one to
-    whom good is naturally more attractive than evil, and whom only
-    necessity, example, and habit, have forced into your late course
-    of life. Think of me as one who no longer exists, unless you
-    should become as much the object of general praise, as now of
-    general reproach; and then think of me as one who will rejoice in
-    your reviving fame, though she must never see you  more!"--
-
-The note was signed M. T.; and Cleveland, with a deep emotion, which he
-testified even by tears, read it an hundred times over, and then
-clasped it to his bosom.
-
-Mordaunt Mertoun heard by letter from his father, but in a very
-different style. Basil bade him farewell for ever, and acquitted him
-henceforward of the duties of a son, as one on whom he, notwithstanding
-the exertions of many years, had found himself unable to bestow the
-affections of a parent. The letter informed him of a recess in the old
-house of Jarlshof, in which the writer had deposited a considerable
-quantity of specie and of treasure, which he desired Mordaunt to use as
-his own. "You need not fear," the letter bore, "either that you lay
-yourself under obligation to me, or that you are sharing the spoils of
-piracy. What is now given over to you, is almost entirely the property
-of your deceased mother, Louisa Gonzago, and is yours by every right.
-Let us forgive each other," was the conclusion, "as they who must meet
-no more."--And they never met more; for the elder Mertoun, against whom
-no charge was ever preferred, disappeared after the fate of Cleveland
-was determined, and was generally believed to have retired into a
-foreign convent.
-
-The fate of Cleveland will be most briefly expressed in a letter which
-Minna received within two months after the Halcyon left Kirkwall. The
-family were then assembled at Burgh-Westra, and Mordaunt was a member of
-it for the time, the good Udaller thinking he could never sufficiently
-repay the activity which he had shown in the defence of his daughters.
-Norna, then beginning to recover from her temporary alienation of mind,
-was a guest in the family, and Minna, who was sedulous in her attention
-upon this unfortunate victim of mental delusion, was seated with her,
-watching each symptom of returning reason, when the letter we allude to
-was placed in her hands.
-
-    "Minna," it said--"dearest Minna!--farewell, and for ever! Believe
-    me, I never meant you wrong--never. From the moment I came to know
-    you, I resolved to detach myself from my hateful comrades, and had
-    framed a thousand schemes, which have proved as vain as they
-    deserved to be--for why, or how, should the fate of her that is so
-    lovely, pure, and innocent, be involved with that of one so
-    guilty?--Of these dreams I will speak no more. The stern reality
-    of my situation is much milder than I either expected or deserved;
-    and the little good I did has outweighed, in the minds of
-    honourable and merciful judges, much that was evil and criminal. I
-    have not only been exempted from the ignominious death to which
-    several of my compeers are sentenced; but Captain Weatherport,
-    about once more to sail for the Spanish Main, under the
-    apprehension of an immediate war with that country, has generously
-    solicited and obtained permission to employ me, and two or three
-    more of my less guilty associates, in the same service--a measure
-    recommended to himself by his own generous compassion, and to
-    others by our knowledge of the coast, and of local circumstances,
-    which, by whatever means acquired, we now hope to use for the
-    service of our country. Minna, you will hear my name pronounced
-    with honour, or you will never hear it again. If virtue can give
-    happiness, I need not wish it to you, for it is yours
-    already.--Farewell, Minna."
-
-Minna wept so bitterly over this letter, that it attracted the attention
-of the convalescent Norna. She snatched it from the hand of her
-kinswoman, and read it over at first with the confused air of one to
-whom it conveyed no intelligence--then with a dawn of recollection--then
-with a burst of mingled joy and grief, in which she dropped it from her
-hand. Minna snatched it up, and retired with her treasure to her own
-apartment.
-
-From that time Norna appeared to assume a different character. Her dress
-was changed to one of a more simple and less imposing appearance. Her
-dwarf was dismissed, with ample provision for his future comfort. She
-showed no desire of resuming her erratic life; and directed her
-observatory, as it might be called, on Fitful-head, to be dismantled.
-She refused the name of Norna, and would only be addressed by her real
-appellation of Ulla Troil. But the most important change remained
-behind. Formerly, from the dreadful dictates of spiritual despair,
-arising out of the circumstances of her father's death, she seemed to
-have considered herself as an outcast from divine grace; besides, that,
-enveloped in the vain occult sciences which she pretended to practise,
-her study, like that of Chaucer's physician, had been "but little in the
-Bible." Now, the sacred volume was seldom laid aside; and, to the poor
-ignorant people who came as formerly to invoke her power over the
-elements, she only replied--"_The winds are in the hollow of His
-hand._"--Her conversion was not, perhaps, altogether rational; for this,
-the state of a mind disordered by such a complication of horrid
-incidents, probably prevented. But it seemed to be sincere, and was
-certainly useful. She appeared deeply to repent of her former
-presumptuous attempts to interfere with the course of human events,
-superintended as they are by far higher powers, and expressed bitter
-compunction when such her former pretensions were in any manner
-recalled to her memory. She still showed a partiality to Mordaunt,
-though, perhaps, arising chiefly from habit; nor was it easy to know how
-much or how little she remembered of the complicated events in which she
-had been connected. When she died, which was about four years after the
-events we have commemorated, it was found that, at the special and
-earnest request of Minna Troil, she had conveyed her very considerable
-property to Brenda. A clause in her will specially directed, that all
-the books, implements of her laboratory, and other things connected with
-her former studies, should be committed to the flames.
-
-About two years before Norna's death, Brenda was wedded to Mordaunt
-Mertoun. It was some time before old Magnus Troil, with all his
-affection for his daughter, and all his partiality for Mordaunt, was
-able frankly to reconcile himself to this match. But Mordaunt's
-accomplishments were peculiarly to the Udaller's taste, and the old man
-felt the impossibility of supplying his place in his family so
-absolutely, that at length his Norse blood gave way to the natural
-feeling of the heart, and he comforted his pride while he looked around
-him, and saw what he considered as the encroachments of the Scottish
-gentry upon THE COUNTRY, (so Zetland is fondly termed by its
-inhabitants,) that as well "his daughter married the son of an English
-pirate, as of a Scottish thief," in scornful allusion to the Highland
-and Border families, to whom Zetland owes many respectable landholders;
-but whose ancestors were generally esteemed more renowned for ancient
-family and high courage, than for accurately regarding the trifling
-distinctions of _meum_ and _tuum_. The jovial old man lived to the
-extremity of human life, with the happy prospect of a numerous
-succession in the family of his younger daughter; and having his board
-cheered alternately by the minstrelsy of Claud Halcro, and enlightened
-by the lucubrations of Mr. Triptolemus Yellowley, who, laying aside his
-high pretensions, was, when he became better acquainted with the manners
-of the islanders, and remembered the various misadventures which had
-attended his premature attempts at reformation, an honest and useful
-representative of his principal, and never so happy as when he could
-escape from the spare commons of his sister Barbara, to the genial table
-of the Udaller. Barbara's temper also was much softened by the
-unexpected restoration of the horn of silver coins, (the property of
-Norna,) which she had concealed in the mansion of old Stourburgh, for
-achieving some of her mysterious plans, but which she now restored to
-those by whom it had been accidentally discovered, with an intimation,
-however, that it would again disappear unless a reasonable portion was
-expended on the sustenance of the family, a precaution to which Tronda
-Dronsdaughter (probably an agent of Norna's) owed her escape from a slow
-and wasting death by inanition.
-
-Mordaunt and Brenda were as happy as our mortal condition permits us to
-be. They admired and loved each other--enjoyed easy circumstances--had
-duties to discharge which they did not neglect; and, clear in conscience
-as light of heart, laughed, sung, danced, daffed the world aside, and
-bid it pass.
-
-But Minna--the high-minded and imaginative Minna--she, gifted with such
-depth of feeling and enthusiasm, yet doomed to see both blighted in
-early youth, because, with the inexperience of a disposition equally
-romantic and ignorant, she had built the fabric of her happiness on a
-quicksand instead of a rock,--was she, could she be happy? Reader, she
-_was_ happy, for, whatever may be alleged to the contrary by the sceptic
-and the scorner, to each duty performed there is assigned a degree of
-mental peace and high consciousness of honourable exertion,
-corresponding to the difficulty of the task accomplished. That rest of
-the body which succeeds to hard and industrious toil, is not to be
-compared to the repose which the spirit enjoys under similar
-circumstances. Her resignation, however, and the constant attention
-which she paid to her father, her sister, the afflicted Norna, and to
-all who had claims on her, were neither Minna's sole nor her most
-precious source of comfort. Like Norna, but under a more regulated
-judgment, she learned to exchange the visions of wild enthusiasm which
-had exerted and misled her imagination, for a truer and purer connexion
-with the world beyond us, than could be learned from the sagas of
-heathen bards, or the visions of later rhymers. To this she owed the
-support by which she was enabled, after various accounts of the
-honourable and gallant conduct of Cleveland, to read with resignation,
-and even with a sense of comfort, mingled with sorrow, that he had at
-length fallen, leading the way in a gallant and honourable enterprise,
-which was successfully accomplished by those companions, to whom his
-determined bravery had opened the road. Bunce, his fantastic follower in
-good, as formerly in evil, transmitted an account to Minna of this
-melancholy event, in terms which showed, that though his head was weak,
-his heart had not been utterly corrupted by the lawless life which he
-had for some time led, or at least that it had been amended by the
-change; and that he himself had gained credit and promotion in the same
-action, seemed to be of little consequence to him, compared with the
-loss of his old captain and comrade.[41] Minna read the intelligence,
-and thanked Heaven, even while the eyes which she lifted up were
-streaming with tears, that the death of Cleveland had been in the bed of
-honour; nay, she even had the courage to add her gratitude, that he had
-been snatched from a situation of temptation ere circumstances had
-overcome his new-born virtue; and so strongly did this reflection
-operate, that her life, after the immediate pain of this event had
-passed away, seemed not only as resigned, but even more cheerful than
-before. Her thoughts, however, were detached from the world, and only
-visited it, with an interest like that which guardian spirits take for
-their charge, in behalf of those friends with whom she lived in love, or
-of the poor whom she could serve and comfort. Thus passed her life,
-enjoying from all who approached her, an affection enhanced by
-reverence; insomuch, that when her friends sorrowed for her death, which
-arrived at a late period of her existence, they were comforted by the
-fond reflection, that the humanity which she then laid down, was the
-only circumstance which had placed her, in the words of Scripture, "a
-little lower than the angels!"
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[41] We have been able to learn nothing with certainty of Bunce's fate;
-but our friend, Dr Dryasdust, believes he may be identified with an old
-gentleman, who, in the beginning of the reign of George I., attended the
-Rose Coffee-house regularly, went to the theatre every night, told
-mercilessly long stories about the Spanish Main, controlled reckonings,
-bullied waiters, and was generally known by the name of Captain Bounce.
-
-
-
-
-AUTHOR'S NOTES.
-
-
-Note I., p. 17.--FORTUNE-TELLING RHYMES.
-
-The author has in Chapter I. supposed that a very ancient northern
-custom, used by those who were accounted soothsaying women, might have
-survived, though in jest rather than earnest, among the Zetlanders,
-their descendants. The following original account of such a scene will
-show the ancient importance and consequence of such a prophetic
-character as was assumed by Norna:--
-
-"There lived in the same territory (Greenland) a woman named Thorbiorga,
-who was a prophetess, and called the little Vola, (or fatal sister,) the
-only one of nine sisters who survived. Thorbiorga during the winter used
-to frequent the festivities of the season, invited by those who were
-desirous of learning their own fortune, and the future events which
-impended. Torquil being a man of consequence in the country, it fell to
-his lot to enquire how long the dearth was to endure with which the
-country was then afflicted; he therefore invited the prophetess to his
-house, having made liberal preparation, as was the custom, for receiving
-a guest of such consequence. The seat of the soothsayer was placed in an
-eminent situation, and covered with pillows filled with the softest
-eider down. In the evening she arrived, together with a person who had
-been sent to meet her, and show her the way to Torquil's habitation. She
-was attired as follows: She had a sky-blue tunick, having the front
-ornamented with gems from the top to the bottom, and wore around her
-throat a necklace of glass beads.[42] Her head-gear was of black
-lambskin, the lining being the fur of a white wild-cat. She leant on a
-staff, having a ball at the top.[43] The staff was ornamented with
-brass, and the ball or globe with gems or pebbles. She wore a Hunland
-(or Hungarian) girdle, to which was attached a large pouch, in which she
-kept her magical implements. Her shoes were of sealskin, dressed with
-the hair outside, and secured by long and thick straps, fastened by
-brazen clasps. She wore gloves of the wild-cat's skin, with the fur
-inmost. As this venerable person entered the hall, all saluted her with
-due respect; but she only returned the compliments of such as were
-agreeable to her. Torquil conducted her with reverence to the seat
-prepared for her, and requested she would purify the apartment and
-company assembled, by casting her eyes over them. She was by no means
-sparing of her words. The table being at length covered, such viands
-were placed before Thorbiorga as suited her character of a soothsayer.
-These were, a preparation of goat's milk, and a mess composed of the
-hearts of various animals; the prophetess made use of a brazen spoon,
-and a pointless knife, the handle of which was composed of a whale's
-tooth, and ornamented with two rings of brass. The table being removed,
-Torquil addressed Thorbiorga, requesting her opinion of his house and
-guests, at the same time intimating the subjects on which he and the
-company were desirous to consult her.
-
-"Thorbiorga replied, it was impossible for her to answer their enquiries
-until she had slept a night under his roof. The next morning, therefore,
-the magical apparatus necessary for her purpose was prepared, and she
-then enquired, as a necessary part of the ceremony, whether there was
-any female present who could sing a magical song called '_Vardlokur_.'
-When no songstress such as she desired could be found, Gudrida, the
-daughter of Torquil, replied, 'I am no sorceress or soothsayer; but my
-nurse, Haldisa, taught me, when in Iceland, a song called
-_Vardlokur_.'--'Then thou knowest more than I was aware of,' said
-Torquil. 'But as I am a Christian,' continued Gudrida, 'I consider these
-rites as matters which it is unlawful to promote, and the song itself as
-unlawful.'--'Nevertheless,' answered the soothsayer, 'thou mayst help us
-in this matter without any harm to thy religion, since the task will
-remain with Torquil to provide every thing necessary for the present
-purpose.' Torquil also earnestly entreated Gudrida, till she consented
-to grant his request. The females then surrounded Thorbiorga, who took
-her place on a sort of elevated stage; Gudrida then sung the magic song,
-with a voice so sweet and tuneful, as to excel any thing that had been
-heard by any present. The soothsayer, delighted with the melody,
-returned thanks to the singer, and then said, 'Much I have now learned
-of dearth and disease approaching the country, and many things are now
-clear to me which before were hidden as well from me as others. Our
-present dearth of substance shall not long endure for the present, and
-plenty will in the spring succeed to scarcity. The contagious diseases
-also, with which the country has been for some time afflicted, will in a
-short time take their departure. To thee, Gudrida, I can, in recompense
-for thy assistance on this occasion, announce a fortune of higher import
-than any one could have conjectured. You shall be married to a man of
-name here in Greenland; but you shall not long enjoy that union, for
-your fate recalls you to Iceland, where you shall become the mother of a
-numerous and honourable family, which shall be enlightened by a luminous
-ray of good fortune. So, my daughter, wishing thee health, I bid thee
-farewell.' The prophetess, having afterwards given answers to all
-queries which were put to her, either by Torquil or his guests, departed
-to show her skill at another festival, to which she had been invited for
-that purpose. But all which she had presaged, either concerning the
-public or individuals, came truly to pass."
-
-The above narrative is taken from the Saga of Erick Randa, as quoted by
-the learned Bartholine in his curious work. He mentions similar
-instances, particularly of one Heida, celebrated for her predictions,
-who attended festivals for the purpose, as a modern Scotsman might say,
-of _spaeing_ fortunes, with a gallant _tail_, or retinue, of thirty male
-and fifteen female attendants.--See _De Causis Contemptæ a Danis adhuc
-gentilibus Mortis, lib. III., cap. 4_.
-
-
-Note II., p. 32.--PROMISE OF ODIN.
-
-Although the Father of Scandinavian mythology has been as a deity long
-forgotten in the archipelago, which was once a very small part of his
-realm, yet even at this day his name continues to be occasionally
-attested as security for a promise.
-
-It is curious to observe, that the rites with which such attestations
-are still made in Orkney, correspond to those of the ancient Northmen.
-It appears from several authorities, that in the Norse ritual, when an
-oath was imposed, he by whom it was pledged, passed his hand, while
-pronouncing it, through a massive ring of silver kept for that
-purpose.[44] In like manner, two persons, generally lovers, desirous to
-take the promise of Odin, which they considered as peculiarly binding,
-joined hands through a circular hole in a sacrificial stone, which lies
-in the Orcadian Stonehenge, called the Circle of Stennis, of which we
-shall speak more hereafter. The ceremony is now confined to the
-troth-plighting of the lower classes, but at an earlier period may be
-supposed to have influenced a character like Minna in the higher ranks.
-
-
-Note III., p. 101.--THE PICTISH BURGH.
-
-The Pictish Burgh, a fort which Nora is supposed to have converted into
-her dwelling-house, has been fully described in the Notes upon Ivanhoe,
-vol. xvii. p. 352, of this edition. An account of the celebrated Castle
-of Mousa is there given, to afford an opportunity of comparing it with
-the Saxon Castle of Coningsburgh. It should, however, have been
-mentioned, that the Castle of Mousa underwent considerable repairs at a
-comparatively recent period. Accordingly, Torfæus assures us, that even
-this ancient pigeon-house, composed of dry stones, was fortification
-enough, not indeed to hold out a ten years' siege, like Troy in similar
-circumstances, but to wear out the patience of the besiegers. Erland,
-the son of Harold the Fair-spoken, had carried off a beautiful woman,
-the mother of a Norwegian earl, also called Harold, and sheltered
-himself with his fair prize in the Castle of Mousa. Earl Harold followed
-with an army, and, finding the place too strong for assault, endeavoured
-to reduce it by famine; but such was the length of the siege, that the
-offended Earl found it necessary to listen to a treaty of accommodation,
-and agreed that his mother's honour should be restored by marriage. This
-transaction took place in the beginning of the thirteenth century, in
-the reign of William the Lion of Scotland.[45] It is probable that the
-improvements adopted by Erland on this occasion, were those which
-finished the parapet of the castle, by making it project outwards, so
-that the tower of Mousa rather resembles the figure of a dice-box,
-whereas others of the same kind have the form of a truncated cone. It is
-easy to see how the projection of the highest parapet would render the
-defence more easy and effectual.
-
-
-
-Note IV., p. 143.--ANTIQUE COINS FOUND IN ZETLAND.
-
-While these sheets were passing through the press, I received a letter
-from an honourable and learned friend, containing the following passage,
-relating to a discovery in Zetland:--"Within a few weeks, the workmen
-taking up the foundation of an old wall, came on a hearth-stone, under
-which they found a horn, surrounded with massive silver rings, like
-bracelets, and filled with coins of the Heptarchy, in perfect
-preservation. The place of finding is within a very short distance of
-the [supposed] residence of Norna of the Fitful-head."--Thus one of the
-very improbable fictions of the tale is verified by a singular
-coincidence.
-
-
-Note V., p. 197.--CHARACTER OF NORNA.
-
-The character of Norna is meant to be an instance of that singular kind
-of insanity, during which the patient, while she or he retains much
-subtlety and address for the power of imposing upon others, is still
-more ingenious in endeavouring to impose upon themselves. Indeed,
-maniacs of this kind may be often observed to possess a sort of double
-character, in one of which they are the being whom their distempered
-imagination shapes out, and in the other, their own natural self, as
-seen to exist by other people. This species of double consciousness
-makes wild work with the patient's imagination, and, judiciously used,
-is perhaps a frequent means of restoring sanity of intellect. Exterior
-circumstances striking the senses, often have a powerful effect in
-undermining or battering the airy castles which the disorder has
-excited.
-
-A late medical gentleman, my particular friend, told me the case of a
-lunatic patient confined in the Edinburgh Infirmary. He was so far happy
-that his mental alienation was of a gay and pleasant character, giving a
-kind of joyous explanation to all that came in contact with him. He
-considered the large house, numerous servants, &c., of the hospital, as
-all matters of state and consequence belonging to his own personal
-establishment, and had no doubt of his own wealth and grandeur. One
-thing alone puzzled this man of wealth. Although he was provided with a
-first-rate cook and proper assistants, although his table was regularly
-supplied with every delicacy of the season, yet he confessed to my
-friend, that by some uncommon depravity of the palate, every thing which
-he ate _tasted of porridge_. This peculiarity, of course, arose from the
-poor man being fed upon nothing else, and because his stomach was not so
-easily deceived as his other senses.
-
-
-Note VI., p. 199.--BIRDS OF PREY.
-
-So favourable a retreat does the island of Hoy afford for birds of prey,
-that instances of their ravages, which seldom occur in other parts of
-the country, are not unusual there. An individual was living in Orkney
-not long since, whom, while a child in its swaddling clothes, an eagle
-actually transported to its nest in the hill of Hoy. Happily the eyry
-being known, and the bird instantly pursued, the child was found
-uninjured, playing with the young eagles. A story of a more ludicrous
-transportation was told me by the reverend clergyman who is minister of
-the island. Hearing one day a strange grunting, he suspected his
-servants had permitted a sow and pigs, which were tenants of his
-farm-yard, to get among his barley crop. Having in vain looked for the
-transgressors upon solid earth, he at length cast his eyes upward, when
-he discovered one of the litter in the talons of a large eagle, which
-was soaring away with the unfortunate pig (squeaking all the while with
-terror) towards her nest in the crest of Hoy.
-
-
-Note VII., p. 280.--THE STANDING STONES OF STENNIS.
-
-The Standing Stones of Stennis, as by a little pleonasm this remarkable
-monument is termed, furnishes an irresistible refutation of the opinion
-of such antiquaries as hold that the circles usually called Druidical,
-were peculiar to that race of priests. There is every reason to believe,
-that the custom was as prevalent in Scandinavia as in Gaul or Britain,
-and as common to the mythology of Odin as to Druidical superstition.
-There is even reason to think, that the Druids never occupied any part
-of the Orkneys, and tradition, as well as history, ascribes the Stones
-of Stennis to the Scandinavians. Two large sheets of water,
-communicating with the sea, are connected by a causeway, with openings
-permitting the tide to rise and recede, which is called the Bridge of
-Broisgar. Upon the eastern tongue of land appear the Standing Stones,
-arranged in the form of a half circle, or rather a horse-shoe, the
-height of the pillars being fifteen feet and upwards. Within this circle
-lies a stone, probably sacrificial. One of the pillars, a little to the
-westward, is perforated with a circular hole, through which loving
-couples are wont to join hands when they take the _Promise of Odin_, as
-has been repeatedly mentioned in the text. The enclosure is surrounded
-by barrows, and on the opposite isthmus, advancing towards the Bridge of
-Broisgar, there is another monument, of Standing Stones, which, in this
-case, is completely circular. They are less in size than those on the
-eastern side of the lake, their height running only from ten or twelve
-to fourteen feet. This western circle is surrounded by a deep trench
-drawn on the outside of the pillars; and I remarked four tumuli, or
-mounds of earth, regularly disposed around it. Stonehenge excels this
-Orcadian monument; but that of Stennis is, I conceive, the only one in
-Britain which can be said to approach it in consequence. All the
-northern nations marked by those huge enclosures the places of popular
-meeting, either for religious worship or the transaction of public
-business of a temporal nature. The _Northern Popular Antiquities_
-contain, in an abstract of the Eyrbiggia Saga, a particular account of
-the manner in which the Helga Fels, or Holy Rock, was set apart by the
-Pontiff Thorolf for solemn occasions.
-
-I need only add, that, different from the monument on Salisbury Plain,
-the stones which were used in the Orcadian circle seem to have been
-raised from a quarry upon the spot, of which the marks are visible.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[42] We may suppose the beads to have been of the potent adderstone, to
-which so many virtues were ascribed.
-
-[43] Like those anciently borne by porters at the gates of distinguished
-persons, as a badge of office.
-
-[44] See the Eyrbiggia Saga.
-
-[45] See Torfæi Orcadus, p. 131.
-
-
-
-
-EDITOR'S NOTES.
-
-
-(_a_) p. 17. Norna's soothsaying. The passage quoted by Scott from the
-Saga of Eric the Red may be read in its context in "Vinland the Good,"
-edited by Mr. Reeves, and published by the Clarendon Press. Eric was the
-discoverer of Greenland, and father of Leif the Lucky, who found Vinland
-(New England, or Nova Scotia?) about the year 1002. Leif has a statue in
-Boston, Massachusetts.
-
-(_b_) p. 35. Islands "supposed to be haunted." In De Quincey's
-autobiographical essay his sailor brother, Pink, describes the terrors
-of those isles. One of them, the noise of a Midnight Axe, is also found
-in Ceylon, in Mexico, and elsewhere. The Editor may be permitted to
-refer to the legends collected in his "Custom and Myth."
-
-(_c_) p. 47. Cleveland's song. Lockhart says that Scott, in his later
-years, heard this song sung, and said, "'Capital words! Whose are they?
-Byron's, I suppose, but I don't remember them.' He was astonished when I
-told him that they were his own in 'The Pirate.' He seemed pleased at
-the moment, but said next minute, 'You have distressed me--if memory
-goes all is up with me, for that was always my strong point.'" This was
-in 1828. Mrs. Arkwright was the daughter of Stephen Kemble. She set
-"Hohenlinden."
-
-(_d_) p. 86. "Auld Robin Gray." In the Abbotsford MSS. is a long
-correspondence between Lady Ann Lindsay and Scott. She had known him as
-a child. There was a project of editing all her poems, but perhaps her
-own modesty, perhaps the quality of the work, caused this to be dropped,
-and Scott only edited the ballad, with a letter of the lady's. This
-small quarto sells for some £5 when it comes into the market. It has a
-frontispiece by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, and is apparently the only
-book of Scott's which is valued as a rarity by bibliomaniacs.
-
-(_e_) p. 255. "John was a Jacobite." In the library of a country house in
-the south of England is a copy of Dryden's Miscellany Poems, with a
-laudatory autograph envoy to Judge Jeffreys, a sufficiently
-thoroughgoing King's man.
-
-                                                          ANDREW LANG.
-  _August 1893._
-
-
-
-
-GLOSSARY.
-
-
-  A', all.
-
-  Aboon, above.
-
-  Ae, one.
-
-  Ain, own.
-
-  Aits, oats.
-
-  Anes, once.
-
-  A'thegither, altogether.
-
-  Aught, owned.
-
-  Auld, old.
-
-  Awa, away.
-
-
-  Bailie, a magistrate.
-
-  Baittle, denoting that sort of pasture where the grass is short,
-  close, and rich.
-
-  Bang, a blow.
-
-  Bear, a kind of barley.
-
-  Bee--"to have a bee in one's bonnet," to be harebrained.
-
-  Bern, bairn, a child.
-
-  Bicker, a wooden dish.
-
-  Bide, to await, to endure.
-
-  Biggin, a building.
-
-  Bilboes, irons.
-
-  Bismar, a small steelyard.
-
-  Bland, a drink made from butter-milk.
-
-  Blithe, glad.
-
-  Blude, blood.
-
-  Bodle, a small coin equal to one sixth of a penny sterling.
-
-  Bole, a small aperture.
-
-  Bonny-die, a toy, a trinket.
-
-  Boobie, a dunce.
-
-  Bowie, a wooden dish for milk.
-
-  Brae, a hill.
-
-  Braw, fine, pretty.
-
-  Buckie, a whilk.
-
-  Bumming, making a humming noise.
-
-
-  Ca', to call.
-
-  Canny, good, worthy; safe.
-
-  Cannily, gently.
-
-  Capa, a Spanish mantle.
-
-  Caper, a Dutch privateer of the seventeenth century.
-
-  Carle, a churl; also, a farm servant.
-
-  Carline, a witch.
-
-  Cart-avers, cart-horses.
-
-  Chapman, a small merchant or pedlar.
-
-  "Clashes and clavers," scandal and nonsense.
-
-  Clink, to drop.
-
-  Cowp, to upset.
-
-  Craig, the neck; also, a rock.
-
-  Cummer, a gossip.
-
-
-  Daft, crazy.
-
-  "Deaf nuts," nuts whose kernels are decayed.
-
-  Deil, the devil.
-
-  Dibble, to plant.
-
-  Dinna, do not.
-
-  "Dinna, downa, bide," cannot bear.
-
-  Divot, thin turf used for roofing cottages.
-
-  Douce, sedate, modest.
-
-  Dowie, dark, melancholy.
-
-  "Dowse the glim," put out the light.
-
-  Dree, to endure.
-
-  Duds, clothes.
-
-  Dulse, a species of sea-weed.
-
-  Dune, done.
-
-  Dung, knocked.
-
-  Dunt, to knock.
-
-
-  Een, eyes.
-
-  Eneugh, enough.
-
-  Eviting, avoiding.
-
-
-  Fash, fashery, trouble.
-
-  Fear'd, afraid.
-
-  Feck, the greatest part.
-
-  Ferly, wonderful.
-
-  "Fey folk," fated or unfortunate folk.
-
-  "Floatsome and jetsome," articles floated or cast away on the sea.
-
-  Forby, besides.
-
-  Forgie, to forgive.
-
-  Fowd, the chief judge or magistrate.
-
-  Frae, from.
-
-  Fule, a fool.
-
-  "Funking and flinging," the act of dancing.
-
-
-  Gae, go.
-
-  Galdragon, a sorceress.
-
-  Gane, gone.
-
-  Gate, way, direction.
-
-  Gar, to oblige, to force.
-
-  Gear, property.
-
-  Ghaist, a ghost.
-
-  Gob-box, the mouth.
-
-  Gowd, gold.
-
-  Gowk, a fool.
-
-  Gude, God, good.
-
-  Gue, a two-stringed violin.
-
-  Guide, to take care of.
-
-
-  Haaf, deep-sea fishing.
-
-  Hae, have.
-
-  Haena, have not.
-
-  Haill, whole.
-
-  Hank, to fasten.
-
-  Hellicat, lightheaded, extravagant, wicked.
-
-  Hialtland, the old name for Shetland.
-
-  Hirple, to halt, to limp.
-
-  Howf, a haunt, a haven.
-
-  Hurley-house, a term applied to a large house that is so much in
-  disrepair as to be nearly in a ruinous state.
-
-
-  "Infang and outfang thief," the right of trying thieves.
-
-
-  Jagger, a pedlar.
-
-  Jarto, my dear.
-
-  Jokul, yes, sir.
-
-  Joul, Yule.
-
-
-  Kailyard, a cabbage garden.
-
-  Kempies, Norse champions.
-
-  Ken, to know.
-
-  Kend, well-known.
-
-  Kenna, know not.
-
-  Kist, a chest.
-
-  Kittle, difficult, ticklish.
-
-
-  Lampits, limpets.
-
-  Landlouper, a vagabond.
-
-  Lave, the rest.
-
-  Leddy, a lady.
-
-  Lispund, the fifteenth part of a barrel, a weight in Orkney and
-  Shetland.
-
-  List, to wish, to choose.
-
-  Lowe, a flame.
-
-  Lug, the ear.
-
-
-  Main, to moan.
-
-  Mair, more.
-
-  Malapert, impertinent.
-
-  Mallard, the wild-duck.
-
-  Marooned, abandoned on a desert island.
-
-  Masking-fat, a mashing vat.
-
-  Maun, must.
-
-  Mearns, Kincardineshire.
-
-  Meed, reward.
-
-  Menseful, modest, discreet.
-
-  Merk, an ancient Scottish silver coin = 13-1/3_d._
-
-  Mickle, much, big.
-
-  Mind, to remember.
-
-  Mony, many.
-
-  Muckle, much, big.
-
-
-  Na, nae, no, not.
-
-  Neist, next.
-
-  Nixie, a water-fairy.
-
-
-  Ony, any.
-
-  Orra, odd.
-
-  Ower, over.
-
-  Owerlay, a cravat.
-
-
-  Peery, sharp-looking, disposed to examine narrowly.
-
-  Pixie, a fairy.
-
-  Pleugh, a plough.
-
-  Puir, poor.
-
-  Pye-holes, eye-holes.
-
-
-  Ranzelman, a constable.
-
-  Rape, a rope.
-
-  Reimkennar, one who knows mystic rhyme.
-
-  "Roose the ford," judge of the ford.
-
-
-  Sae, so.
-
-  Sain, to bless.
-
-  Sair, sore.
-
-  Saunt, a saint.
-
-  Scald, a bard or minstrel.
-
-  Scat, a land-tax paid to the Crown.
-
-  "Sclate stane," slate stone.
-
-  Scowries, young sea-gulls.
-
-  Sealgh, sealchie, a seal.
-
-  Shogh! (Gaelic), there!
-
-  Sic, siccan, such.
-
-  Siller, money.
-
-  Sillocks, the fry of the coal-fish.
-
-  Skelping, galloping.
-
-  Skeoe, a stone hut for drying fish.
-
-  Skeps, straw hives.
-
-  Skerry, a flat insulated rock.
-
-  Skirl, to scream.
-
-  Slade, slid.
-
-  Sombrero, a large straw hat worn by Spaniards.
-
-  Sorner, one who lives upon his friends.
-
-  Spae-women, fortune-tellers.
-
-  Spaed, foretold.
-
-  Speer, to ask, to inquire.
-
-  Speerings, inquiries.
-
-  Spring, a dance tune.
-
-  Stack, an insulated precipitous rock.
-
-  Staig, a young horse.
-
-  Suld, should.
-
-  Swatter, to swim quickly and awkwardly.
-
-  Swap, to exchange.
-
-  Swelchies, whirlpools.
-
-  Syne, since, ago.
-
-
-  Taen, taken.
-
-  "Taits of woo'," locks of wool.
-
-  Tauld, told.
-
-  Thae, these, those.
-
-  Thairm, catgut.
-
-  Tint, lost.
-
-  Trow or Drow, a spirit or elf believed in by the Norse.
-
-
-  Ugsome, frightful.
-
-  Umquhile, the late.
-
-  Unco, very, strange, great, particularly.
-
-  "Unco wark," a great ado.
-
-
-  Vifda, beef dried without salt.
-
-  Vivers, victuals.
-
-  Voe, an inlet of the sea.
-
-
-  Wa', a wall.
-
-  Wad, would.
-
-  Wadmaal, homespun woollen cloth.
-
-  Waft, the woof in a web.
-
-  Warlock, a wizard.
-
-  Wasna, was not.
-
-  Wat, wet.
-
-  Wattle, an assessment for the salary of the magistrate.
-
-  Wawl, to look wildly.
-
-  Waws, waves.
-
-  Weal, well.
-
-  Wearifu', causing pain or trouble.
-
-  Weird, fate, destiny.
-
-  Wha, who.
-
-  "What for," why.
-
-  Whilk, which.
-
-  Whomled, turned over.
-
-  Wi', with.
-
-  Wittols, cuckolds.
-
-  "Win by," to escape.
-
-  Wot, to know.
-
-  Wrang, wrong.
-
-
-  Yarfa, yarpha, peat full of fibres and roots; land.
-
-  Yelloched, screeched or yelled.
-
-
-
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