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diff --git a/42389-0.txt b/42389-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e265c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/42389-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22179 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42389 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 42389-h.htm or 42389-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42389/42389-h/42389-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42389/42389-h.zip) + + + 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. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42389 *** |