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diff --git a/58913-0.txt b/58913-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a3dad3 --- /dev/null +++ b/58913-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5864 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58913 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + LEGENDARY + TALES OF THE HIGHLANDS. + + A SEQUEL TO + HIGHLAND RAMBLES. + + + BY + Sir THOMAS DICK LAUDER, Bart. + + AUTHOR OF "LOCHANDHU," "THE WOLFE OF BADENOCH," + "THE MORAY FLOODS," ETC. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOLUME I. + + + LONDON: + HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, + GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. + M.DCCC.XLI. + + + + + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + DEDICATION, vii + + INTRODUCTION, xi + + STRATHDAWN, 1 + + THE WATER-KELPIE'S BRIDLE AND THE MERMAID'S STONE, 13 + + THE DOMINIE DEPARTS, 25 + + HISTORY OF SERJEANT ARCHY STEWART, 32 + + GALLANTRY OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY, 62 + + LEGEND OF THE CLAN-ALLAN STEWARTS, 77 + + FATE OF THE OULD AUNCIENT MONUMENTS, 261 + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + SUMMARY JUSTICE OF A HIGHLAND CHIEF, 113 + + THE TABLES TURNED, 223 + + + + + + + + + TO + HIS GRACE + JOHN DUKE OF ARGYLL. + + +My Dear Duke, + +The permission which you have so kindly given me to dedicate these +Volumes to you, affords me a double source of gratification. + +In the first place, it recalls and strengthens the recollection of +the first formation of that, which may now be called an old friendship +between us; from the continuance of which I have, from time to time, +derived so much valuable scientific and general information, as well +as so much rational recreation of mind, and which has, moreover, +produced some of the happiest hours of my life. + +Secondly, I am thus allowed to attach to my Highland Legends the name +of Mac Chailein Mhòir, which is certainly, of all others, that most +fitted to be associated with Highland story. + +With my best thanks, therefore, and with every wish for your Grace's +health and happiness, as well as for those of all you hold dear, I +beg that you will always believe me to be, with the highest respect +and regard, + + My dear Duke, + + Most sincerely and affectionately yours, + + THOS. DICK LAUDER. + + The Grange House, + 19th March 1840. + + + + + + + + +NOTE EXPLANATORY OF THE ARGYLL PATRONIMIC OF MAC CHAILEAN MHOIR. + + +This patronimic of the noble family of Argyll has been strangely +changed by Sir Walter Scott, and others, into MacCallum More. The +true orthography and reading of it is Mac Chailein, that is, the +son or descendant of Colin. Mòr signifies great; and when used in +the genitive case as above, it is written Mhoir--pronounced Vòr, +or rather Vore--having much the same sound as More in English. + +Mac Chailein Mhoir, the son of the Great Colin, or Mac Chailean, is +synonymous in Gaelic with Argyll; and Mòr, great, makes it, in fact, +the Great Argyll. + +Calain Mòr--so called from his stature or his actions--was the eighth +knight of Lochow of the name of Campbell. He commanded the right wing +of the Scottish army at the battle of Largs, in the year 1263. His +father Archibald was in life at the time, though Colin led on the +men of Argyll. Colin Mor was knighted by Alexander III. in the year +1280. He was killed in a fight with John Bachach (that is, Lame John) +MacDougald of Lorn about the year 1293, in forcing a pass called the +Ath-dearg, or the Bloody Ford, in Lorn. His remains were carried to +Kilchrennan, on Lochow side, and interred in the parish churchyard, +where his tombstone is still a conspicuous object. From him the family +of Argyll have the patronimic of Mac Chailean Mhoir, or, as generally +pronounced, Mac Calain Mòr. + +The Author has to thank the Rev. Dr. Norman MacLeod of Glasgow +for having afforded him the information which has enabled him to +give this explanation, and he is the more grateful for it from the +interest he personally takes in the memory of the heroic Sir Colin, +from whose great grand-daughter, Alicia, he has himself the honour +of being descended. + + + + + + + + +TO THE READER. + + +These three volumes of Highland Legends are published in continuation +of those which appeared in 1837, and in pursuance of a plan--long +cherished by the Author--of collecting, and preserving in print, +all the more interesting of the traditional and local histories of +the Highlanders that yet remain, but which, to the regret of all +antiquaries, are fast melting away. Not a year passes over us, that +does not see some ancient Seanachaidh, whom perhaps we may have known +as the venerable historian of the district where he lived,--to whose +tales of love, strife, or peril, we may have often listened with eager +attention,--borne to his silent grave in the simple churchyard of some +lonely Highland parish, where his snow-white head is consigned to +its parent earth, and there left to moulder into dust and oblivion, +together with all the legendary lore which it contained. The Author +has always had great pleasure in availing himself of every opportunity +that occurred to him, of conversing with those living records of the +glens, and he has never failed to write down whatsoever curious matter +it may have been his good fortune to gather from them. By such means, +as well as by the assistance of many kind friends, he has been enabled +to make a very considerable collection of these traditions, from all +parts of the Highlands of Scotland; and, like all other collectors, +he has become only just so much the more insatiably avaricious to +increase his store, the larger that he sees the heap becoming. + +Such legends are not only curious and interesting in themselves, +but they will often prove to be helps to history, from the little +incidents which they furnish, that may throw light upon it. But, +however they are to be estimated in this respect, they must always be +considered as having some value, from the pictures which they afford +of the manners of the times to which they belong. + +It is quite possible that many of these Traditions, in the course of +their long descent through successive ages, during which they have +been distilled and redistilled through the poetical imaginations +of so many narrators, may have undergone considerable alteration, +and even, perhaps, in some instances, exaggeration. To many fervid +minds such an effect produced by their antiquity, may not render them +one whit less palatable; whilst people of a less romantic and more +common-sense cast, will always be able to winnow out for themselves +the more solid grains from the glittering but empty chaff. But any +one, who, from the apparent improbability of some of their attendant +circumstances, should assert that such legends have no foundation in +fact, would fall, it is apprehended, into a very grievous error. The +Author thinks that no legend, however improbable, can have been +created, without having had some foundation in reality,--some germ, +in short, from which it had its origin,--and perhaps he cannot better +illustrate this observation, or prove its truth, than by narrating +a circumstance with the particulars of which he was favoured by his +friend the Venerable Archdeacon Williams, which shows this connexion +in the strongest light. What he has to tell, it is true, belongs more +particularly to the Principality of Wales, but it only furnishes a +more than ordinarily curious and striking example of a class, of which +many similar samples might be easily produced from the Highlands of +Scotland, as well as from many other parts of the world. + +Some of the Welsh legendary historians tell us, that in the year +500, there flourished a renowned chief called Benlli Gawr. His +usual residence was where the present town of Mold now stands, and +his hill-fort, or place of strength was erected on the highest of +the Clwydian range, nearly due west from Mold, and about half way +between that place and Ruthin. The hill on which the remains of this +fortalice still exist, is called Moel Benlli, or the conical hill +of Benlli, and it presents a conspicuous object from Mold, Ruthin, +and Denbigh. An immense carnedd or cairn of stones, which was still +to be seen some years ago in an entire state in a field about half +a mile from the town of Mold, was supposed to have been the place +of this hero's interment; and if we may believe what we read in the +Welsh verses on the graves of the warriors of the Isle of Britain, +his son's place of sepulture was in a spot about eight miles distant, +and is thus noticed in the following rhymes:-- + + + "Pian y bedhd yn y Maes Mawr, + Balen a law ar ei larn awr: + Bedhd Beli ab Benlli Gawr." + + +That is,-- + + + "He who owns the grave in the large field, + Proud his hand on his blade: + The grave of Beli, son of Benlli Gawr." + + +But to return to the great Carnedd of Benlli himself in the field +near Mold. It was always called Tomen y r Ellyllon, or the Tumulus +of the Goblins, and for this reason, that from time immemorial it +was believed that the grim ghost of Benlli, in the form of a knight +clad in splendid gear, and especially wearing a Celain Aur, or golden +corselet, appeared after sunset, standing on the cairn, or walking +round it, and that there he continued to maintain his cold post, +till the scent of the morning air, or the crowing of the cock, drove +him to the necessity of retiring from it to some more comfortable +quarters. This legend had for generations so terrified the people, +that no bribe could have tempted any one to have passed by that way +after nightfall. Yet, though nobody went thither, and that every +possibility of having anything like direct evidence as to what the +spectre knight's personal appearance and dress really were, had been +thus precluded by the circumstance that every one shunned his dreaded +presence, the most wonderful and incredible accounts of his stern +countenance and terrific bearing, together with the most fearful +stories of their effects upon people who had beheld them, continued +to be propagated, although no one could specify the individuals who +had seen them, or been so affected by them. + +Towards the end of the year 1833, it happened that the occupier of +the field where the carnedd stood, took it into his head, that the +stones of which it was composed might be of use for the construction +of a road, or for filling drains, or for some such rural purpose. It +was with some difficulty that he could procure workmen bold enough to +make such an assault on the very castle of the goblin, even although +it was to be carried on during the hours that the blessed sun was +abroad. But having at last succeeded in obtaining these, he proceeded +to work, and soon drove away some four or five hundred cart-loads of +stones from the cairn, when, at last, the workmen came upon something +of a strange shape, which was manifestly constructed of some sort of +metal. It was with no little dread that they ventured to touch it, +but their observation having led them to believe that it was some +old brass pot-lid or frying-pan, it ceased to be an object either +of dread or of interest in their unlearned eyes, and they threw it +carelessly into a hedge, where it lay all night neglected. + +Some person of education having come to the spot next morning, who +had heard of such a thing having been found, was led by curiosity +to examine it, when, to the astonishment of all who heard of it, the +brazen frying-pan was discovered to be a lorica, or corselet of gold. + +The metal was found to be of about the same degree of purity as our +present coin. It was so thin, that it weighed altogether no more than +sixty sovereigns, and therefore it appears evident that it could +not have been used as armour of defence in combat. It is more than +probable that it must have been worn merely as an ornamental piece of +armour on occasions of state or parade, in which case it was, very +likely, originally lined with leather. It was embossed all over it, +of a simple pattern, but it was not perforated. + +The obliging correspondent through whose kindness, and that of his +friends, I have become possessed of these very remarkable facts, +amuses himself by calculating the immense value which such a piece +of dress must have had in the time of Benlli-Gawr, its wearer, that +is, in the year 500. "This," says he, "may be done by referring +to the ancient laws of Wales, now publishing under the Government +Commission. In these laws, the average price of a cow was five +shillings, and allowing for the difference in the value of money, +a cow would now cost about ten pounds. Then one pound at that time +would buy four cows, and the ten pounds would buy forty cows, and the +sixty sovereigns would be the value of two hundred and forty cows, +or two thousand four hundred pounds sterling." + +This curious and highly valuable morceau of antiquity was immediately +claimed by the Honourable Edward Mostyn Lloyd Mostyn as lord of the +manor, and by Colonel Salusbury of Gallbfarnan as the possessor of +the field where it was found, and the law having determined that it +should belong to the former gentleman, it is now in his possession. It +is gratifying to the Author to think, that it should have fallen into +the hands of Mr. Mostyn, with whom he has since had the honour of +becoming acquainted, during the Welsh Eisteddvod, held at Liverpool, +where, as President of that body, his high attainments--his courteous +manners--and his ardent devotion to the cause of the preservation of +Welsh literature and antiquities, gave universal satisfaction to all +present, and afforded a sufficient assurance for the safety of the +interesting relic, of which an account has been given. + +This is certainly a very powerful instance of the soundness of the +proposition, that legendary tales, however incredible many of their +circumstances may be, have always some foundation in truth. It appears +to be by no means difficult to speculate reasonably enough on the +probabilities of the matter in this case; and it would seem that they +have in all likelihood been these:--In the year 500 or thereabouts, +the renowned hero, Benlli, died, and in obedience to his own last +instructions, or of those of his son, Beli, or of some other relative +or friend, he was buried in the tumulus with his golden corselet on, +and then the carnedd was heaped up over his remains. To prevent the +risk of any avaricious follower or serf, or any other promiscuous +pilferer, uncovering his body during the night, in order to possess +himself of the glittering prize, his surviving friends circulate the +story that his ghost, frowning fearfully, as such ghosts are wont, is +seen nightly to guard the tumulus, girt in the golden armour. Terror +fills the superstitious minds of the inhabitants of the district, +and no man for his life will venture to approach the Carnedd after +sunset. This lie protective is thus very naturally and innocently +handed down from one generation of the superstitious people of the +neighbourhood to that which succeeds it, and implicitly believed; and +so the story is traditionally preserved for about fourteen hundred +years, until it is now at last unravelled, in our own time, by the +removal of the Carnedd of stones, and the discovery of the golden +corselet itself. + +Let not any one refuse then to give credence to the main circumstances +of these our Highland Legends, because they may perhaps be somewhat +overlaid with circumstances of a romantic or doubtful nature, but let +the judgment rather be exercised to discover, and to discriminate, +between the thread of the true and original history, and those +adventitious filaments of later manufacture which have from time to +time been introduced and interwoven with it. This will generally +be found to be no very difficult task, and there are many by whom +it will be considered rather as an agreeable amusement, than as an +irksome occupation. + + + + + + + + +HIGHLAND RAMBLES. + +STRATHDAWN. + + +We left the Highland village of Tomantoul after an early breakfast, +and proceeded to wend our way slowly up the pastoral valley of +Aven. The scenery as yet had nothing peculiarly striking about it, +but our faces were turned towards the Cairngorm group of mountains, +and the closing in of the hills forming the termination of our present +view, already excited interesting expectation regarding those higher +regions which arose beyond them. This was especially the case with +my fellow-travellers, who had not previously visited this elevated +district. A certain air of tranquil repose that hung over every thing +around us, and gave an indescribable charm to the simple features of +nature, rather disposed our minds to quiet and passive enjoyment, +so that we walked leisurely along for some time, less inclined to +talk than to ruminate each within himself. Our young friend Clifford +was the first to break silence. + +Clifford.--What a beautiful little plain!--How animating the clear +river that waters it, with its stream sparkling under the bright +morning sun!--And see how appropriate the few figures that give life +to it. Those cattle there, so agreeably disposed, cropping the fresh +herbage, with that boy so intent upon plaiting a cap of rushes for the +innocent little girl who sits beside him. It would make a subject for +a Cuyp or a Paul Potter. What a scene of simple happiness, contentment, +and peace! + +Dominie Macpherson.--It is indeed a quiet enough scene at this moment, +sir. But peaceful as it is at this present time, it hath not been +always so, for it hath more than once had its green turf trodden +into black and dusty earth by the thundering hoof of the neighing +battle-steed. The day has been, Mr. Clifford, when, as Maro has it:-- + + + -----------------------------------"Agmine facto + Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum." + + +Here it was, sir, that Montrose encampit with his army in 1645, alter +having defeated the godly sons of the covenant in the bloody field of +Auldern, and before marching to glut his cruel spirit by massacring +more of them at Alford on the Don. And, as if the soil of this fair +spot had not been thus sufficiently polluted, it so chanced that, +in June 1689, the bloody Clavers also cumbered it with himself and +his followers on his way to the Pass of Killiecrankie, where, on the +16th of July thereafter, praise be to the Lord, his wicked existence +was at last put an end to. + +Grant.--Ha! These historical recollections do indeed give a new +interest to the scene. + +Clifford.--Only fancy the motley troops, in the varied military +costume of the time, drawn up here in their lines, the tents and huts +stretching along yonder in regular order,--the mingled sounds arising +from the busy camp followers,--the trumpets clanging,--and the bold +Dundee scampering across the plain on his gallant black charger! What +a contrast to the figures which are now before us! + +Dominie.--Aye; and if all tales be true, he was but an uncanny beast +that black hone of his. But, my certy! the beast and the man were +well matched. + +Clifford.--You seem to have a great distaste at the Viscount Dundee, +Mr. Macpherson, and yet he was followed by the great mass of your +Highland clans. + +Dominie.--That may be, Mr. Clifford; but that makes no odds to me, +sir. I am in no ways answerable for the deeds of my forebears. If +they turned out to support popery and yepiscopacy, that is not what I +would have done. I reverence the manes of those sainted heroes who drew +their good broadswords for God and the Covenant, and who suffered all +manner of tortures and all kinds of cruel deaths rather than abandon +so glorious a cause,--a cause, let me tell you, with all due respeck +to you, Mr. Clifford,--a cause in which I should be proud to die at +this moment. + +Clifford.--Your enthusiasm is not only excusable, but honourable +to you, Mr. Macpherson. But will you tell me the name of this spot, +that I may endeavour to remember it? + +Dominie.--It is called Dell-a-Vorar, or the Lord's-haugh, a name which +it got from one, or may be from both of these two lords I have named, +though it is more probable that it was from Clavers, seeing that the +place in Braemar to which he marched from here has ever since borne +the same name. + +Grant.--I know there is a place in Braemar so called. + +Author.--By the bye, Mr. Macpherson, does not the dwelling of Willox +the wizard lie somewhere in this neighbourhood? + +Dominie.--Yes, sir, it does. Gaulrig, as the place is called, lies +up beyond yon hollow in the hill on the right side of the glen which +you see before us yonder, dipping into the valley of the Aven from +the north. + +Clifford.--Let us visit the old fellow by all means, Mr. Macpherson. + +Dominie.--We may easily do that, sir, for the house is not much out +of your way, and we are pretty sure of finding him, for he is too +old now to be often or far from home. + +A walk of some couple of miles brought us to the place where we found +the residence of this extraordinary man, standing on the sloping side +of the northern hill, immediately below a small tributary ravine, which +ancient popular superstition has very appropriately consigned to the +dominion of the fairies, and other beings belonging to the world of +spirits, and in which there is one of those green artificial-looking +knolls called shians, from their being supposed to be places of +especial fairy resort. His cottage hangs on the edge of the bank +facing the Aven, is of the most primitive architecture, composed of +drystones and sods, and forms, with its humble out-houses, two sides +of a small square. Near one angle of the house there is a rude stone, +on which the old warlock is in the habit of sitting to enjoy the sun. + +Understanding that Willox was at all times rather flattered by a +visit from strangers, we made no scruple in requesting an interview +with him; and, accordingly, he soon appeared from the door of his +dwelling. Notwithstanding all that Mr. Macpherson had said to the +contrary, I had found it a difficult matter to persuade myself that I +was not to see a vulgar countenance, strongly marked with that species +of sordid cunning, which one might suppose sufficient to enable a +knave, of the lowest description, to impose on the most ignorant class +of rustics. The figure of the man, indeed, who now showed himself, +had nothing about it to do away with this preconceived notion of +mine. He was rather under the middle size, and was dressed in the +ordinary hodden grey clothes, which have now so generally usurped the +place of the gayer tartans, and more picturesque highland dress. But +I at once perceived that his low stature was to be attributed to the +decrepitude of old age, for he was probably above ninety. The moment +he put forth his head from the threshold, and perceived those who +sought for an interview with him, an inconceivable expression flashed +from his eyes, which, I might almost say, threw over him a certain +light of dignity. We were all of us at once convinced that this was +no common man, and our regard was riveted upon him. It seemed as if +the native lightnings of an uneducated, but naturally very powerful +mind, were bursting through the obscurity of those grey orbs, which +had been dimmed by the gathering mists of many a long year. The half +dormant spirit appeared to have been suddenly summoned to the portal +of the eye, by this anticipated interview with people whom he had +never seen before, just as, in the olden time, the jealous captain +of a fortress might have been brought to its barbican by the bugle +call of some knight of doubtful mien who wished to hold parley. + +As he advanced to meet us, I was struck with the corselike paleness +of his face, to which the glaze of his eyeballs, and the grizzly +and tangled locks that strayed from beneath his bonnet, gave an +inexpressibly ghastly effect. A transient gleam of electric fire shot +from within his eyeballs into each of our countenances individually, as +he was introduced to us in succession. We felt as if it had penetrated +into the inmost recesses of our very souls. It appeared to us as if he +had thereby been enabled, from long practice in the study of mankind, +at once to read our several characters and thoughts, like so many +lines of the great book of nature hastily skimmed over. To each of +us in turn he bowed with a polished air, and a manner like that of a +faded courtier of the age of Louis Quatorze, than the inhabitant of +so humble a dwelling, in the simple and pastoral valley of Strathdawn; +and strangely indeed did it contrast with the coarseness and poverty of +his dress, and the squalid impropreté of his whole personal appearance. + +After the usual preliminary salutations were over, I expressed a wish +to see the far-famed magical kelpie's bridle and mermaid's stone, for +the possession of which he is so celebrated in all the neighbouring +districts. + +"You shall see them both, sir," said he, after eyeing me for a moment +with a searching look. "To such gentlemen as you, I cannot refuse a +sight of them, though they are hardly to be seen by vulgar eyes, and +never to be handled by vulgar hands;" and, with a marked politeness +of manner, he returned into the cottage to bring them out. + +"Now," said I to my companions, "you must keep him in talk, whilst +I endeavour to steal a sketch of him." + +"Here are the wonderful implements of my art," said he, as he returned, +holding them up to our observation. + +"They are very curious," said I; "perhaps you will have the goodness +to allow me to make a hasty drawing of them. I hope it will have no +effect in taking away their virtues. + +"Their virtues cannot be taken away by human hands," replied Willox, +gravely. "You are welcome to draw them if you please, sir, and I +shall hold them for you so that you may best see them." + +I thanked him, and proceeded instantly to my work. My friends +followed my injunctions so well as fully to occupy his attention in +replying to their cross fire of queries, whilst I was myself obliged +to interject a question now and then, in order to get him to turn +his countenance towards me. The wonderful expression I have already +alluded to appeared even yet more striking, on these occasions, by +his ghost-like features being brought so closely and directly opposite +to my eyes. I then looked in as it were upon his spirit,--and it was +manifestly a spirit which, in ancient days, when superstition brooded +as much over the proud castle of the bold baron, as it did over the +humble cot of the timid peasant, might well enough have domineered +over the minds of nobles and princes, nay subjected even crowned +heads to its powerful control. + +I did make sketches of the mermaid's stone and the water-kelpie's +bridle, the two grand instruments of his art. As already described +to us by Mr. Macpherson, we found the stone to be a circular and +flattish lens, three inches diameter, of semi-opaque crystal, somewhat +resembling, in shape and appearance, what is called a bull's eye, used +for transmitting light through the deck of a vessel into its smaller +apartments below. The water-kelpie's bridle consists of a flat piece +of brass, annular in the middle, and having two lobe-like branches +springing from it in two curves outwards, the wider part of each lobe +being slightly recurved inwards, so that they present the appearance +of two leaves when they are held flat. Attached to the ring part, +but loose upon it, are two long doubled pieces of flat brass, and, +between these, a short leathern thong is attached by a fastening so +intricate that it might have rivalled the Gordian knot. It has not +the most distant resemblance to any part of a bridle, and none of us +could guess to what purpose, either useful or ornamental, it could +have ever been applied. Willox's own account of the acquirement of +these two wonderful engines of his supernatural power, elicited by +our repeated questions, was nearly as follows:-- + + + + + + + + +THE WATER-KELPIE'S BRIDLE AND THE MERMAID'S STONE. + + +My grand-uncle Macgregor, was so much devoted to the study of that +mysterious and unpronounceable art which gives man control over +the world of spirits, that he ultimately became a powerful adept in +it. He lived on the banks of the river Dulnan, in Strathspey, and his +fame went so much abroad, that his name was never mentioned without +reverential awe. Whilst involved in the pursuit of these studies, he +was much used to take solitary walks, during which it was believed +that he held high converse with beings rarely brought within the +reach of human communing. + +He was walking one evening on the lonely shore of Loch-an-dorbe. The +sky was calm, but the air was hot and sulphurous, and the sun went +down in a blood-red haze, that the gifted eye of Macgregor knew +to be portentous. Wrapped in his plaid, he leaned against a huge +stone, and stood earnestly gazing at the sinking orb till it had +altogether disappeared. He read therein that some mighty deed was to +be achieved, and he wound himself up to encounter whatever adventure +might befall him. + +Suddenly the black waters of the lake began to heave from their centre +without any seeming cause. Not a breath of wind stirred them, yet they +came boiling outwards, so as at once to dash their waves on every part +of the surrounding shores. A dark object was seen to bound forth upon +the beach at no great distance from the spot where Macgregor stood. A +less strongly fortified heart would have quailed with fear, but his +was armed with potent spells. He stretched his eyeballs towards the +object, when, less to his astonishment than delight, he beheld a black +horse, of immense size, and of beautiful proportions, approaching him +through the lurid twilight. On he came, prancing proudly along the +strand, pawing the ground from time to time, and neighing aloud with +a voice of thunder, while blue lightnings were ever and anon darting +from his expanded nostrils, and his eyes were shining like stars. It +required not Macgregor's skill to know that this was no ordinary horse, +but his superhuman knowledge made him at once aware that it was the +water-kelpie himself, and he watched his coming with a heart beating +high with hope. Well instructed as to the measures which it now became +necessary for him to adopt, he stood aside behind the large stone, and +employed certain charms which he knew would aid in his concealment; +and as this terrific incarnation of the spirit of the waters was +curvetting grandly past him, he sprang suddenly out upon him, and, +seizing his bridle with his left hand, he raised aloft his gleaming +claymore with his right, and cut it out of the water-kelpie's head +at one blow. In an instant the terrible spirit was metamorphosed into +the shape of a man of huge and very formidable appearance. + +"Give me back my bridle, thou son of earth!" cried he, in a voice +like the roaring of a cataract. + +"No!" said Macgregor, boldly; "I have won it, and I shall keep it." + +"Then," roared the enraged spirit, "you and it shall never enter your +house together!" + +Macgregor staid not to hear more, but ran off in the direction +of his home, from which he was then distant a good many miles. The +enraged spirit came roaring and howling after him. Ten thousand floods +pouring down over the rocky ridge of Ben Nevis could not have created +so appalling a combination of terrific sounds. The hot breath of the +fiend came about Macgregor as he flew, as if it would have threatened +suffocation. Lucky was it for my granduncle that the kelpie, in losing +his bridle, had also lost with it, for the time at least, the power of +becoming a horse, else had his chance of escape been small indeed. As +it was, however, it seemed as if Macgregor had suddenly acquired a +large proportion of those racing qualities which were derived from +that magical virtue so strongly inherent in the bridle which he bore; +for he appeared, even to himself, rather to skim than to run over the +vast extent of moors, hills, and bogs that lay between him and his +own home, scarcely bending the heather tops in his way, so lightly +and rapidly did his feet fly over the ground. But great as was the +supernatural speed he had acquired, that of the water-kelpie was so +little short of it, that the wicked spirit was close at his heels when +he reached his own house. With a presence of mind, and an adroitness, +which no one but an experienced and expert adept in the management +of a contest with powers naturally so superior to man, could have +commanded or exercised, he avoided entering by the door, although it +stood yawning temptingly wide to receive him. Luckily a window was +open. "Hulloo!" cried he hastily to his wife, whom he happily observed +within, "catch this in your apron!" And, throwing the bridle to her +through the window, he cunningly avoided the denunciation which the +kelpie had uttered against him. + +No sooner did the kelpie perceive that he was thus outwitted, than +he shrieked so loud that all the hills of Strathspey re-echoed +again.--Yes, you need not stare, gentlemen; I tell you that the +mountains echoed again, as if the lofty Craig Ellachie had rent itself +from its foundations, and rolled itself into the river Spey. The +water-kelpie disappeared, and, what is strange, he has never since +been seen by mortal man. But my grand-uncle Macgregor had his bridle, +which, as you see, afterwards descended from him to me. + +The story of the acquirement of the Mermaid's Stone is no whit less +extraordinary than that of the bridle. The stone came to me from my +maternal grandfather, who gained it by the superhuman powers which +he possessed; for in my veins two most potent streams of necromantic +blood have united themselves, though it would ill become me to say +that I have ever equalled my ancestors. After having made frequent +visits to the sea coast, my grandfather at last found out the spot +where a beautiful mermaid was wont to sport amid the shallows, +and sit on a rock, to comb her long hair, and to sing the most +exquisite melodies. Long and anxiously did he watch her motions, +till he perceived her one day combing her lovely tresses over her +face and bosom, altogether unconscious that she was observed. Arming +himself with certain spells which he possessed, which gave him +superhuman powers, he crept into the sea from the rocky point where +he lay concealed, and wading silently towards the stone where she +sat, he came behind her, and clasping her eagerly in his arms, he +held her fast, and, in spite of all her wailings, her lamentations, +and her struggles, he succeeded in carrying her on shore. When fairly +on land, she became exceedingly helpless, so that he had no farther +trouble with her, and, delighted with his fair prize, he brought her +home in triumph. There he made a soft bed for her upon the rafters +of the house; and although he was unwillingly compelled by prudence +to make sure of her by subjecting her to the restraint of tying her +to the couples of the roof, he in all other respects lavished the +utmost kindness upon her. + +So very much, indeed, was my grandfather taken up with his +new acquisition, that my grandmother began to grow jealous of +his attentions to the fair sea nymph; and, more out of spite, +perhaps, than from any real wickedness, she began to encourage the +visits of a young man who had been formerly attached to her. Now, +strange as it may seem, it is no less true, that, great as were my +grandfather's powers in the art magic, he was yet unable thereby to +discover the fact, that his wife received the visits of this lover, +on certain occasions, when his trifling affairs required his absence +from home. Now, it happened one day that my grandfather returned so +suddenly, and so unexpectedly, that his wife was compelled to conceal +the youth hastily behind a bed. The lady was in a terrible taking, +you may believe; but she so far subdued her agitation as to receive +her husband with every possible appearance of kindness and affection. + +"I dreamed a strange dream last night," said she, after fully +recovering her presence of mind, and smiling gaily. "I dreamed that I +put both my hands over your eyes, and yet you saw as well as if they +had not been there." + +"Come try, then!" replied her husband sportively, taking what she +said as the mere prelude to some little innocent matrimonial frolic; +"come try then, my dear. I believe I can see as far into a millstone +as most people." + +"No doubt you can," said his spouse, laughing outright, and approaching +him with a merry air, she clapped her hands so firmly over his eyes +that he was completely blindfolded, "now can you see?" exclaimed she. + +"No!" replied the husband, "not one whit." + +"Stay a little," cried his wife, laughing heartily again, "depend +upon it this miraculous light will come to you at last!" + +"Aye, aye!" cried he, struggling till he escaped from her hands, and +then kissing her heartily, "I see now well enough." But, alas! my +grandfather's vision had come too late, for the lover had availed +himself of this brief opportunity, so cunningly afforded him, to make +his escape. + +The mermaid, who was seated on the rafters above, laughed aloud with an +unearthly laughter, as she witnessed the trick that had been played to +my grandfather. To divert her husband's attention from a mirth that at +first appalled her, the lady, with great presence of mind, threw down +the girdle-stone, a flat stone, which in those primitive times was used +for firing the oaten cakes, instead of the iron plate of that name, +which now forms so important an article of furniture in the kitchen +of every Scottish cottage. The stone was broken to pieces, and the +lady's loud lamentation for this apparently accidental misfortune, +quickly diverted her husband's attention from the mysterious merriment +of the mermaid, and having thus effected her purpose, she threw the +fragments of the stone out on the dunghill. + +The poor mermaid pined and sighed for her native element, until she +wrung the heart of her captor to pity. + +"Take me but down to the sea," said she with her sweet voice, "take +me but down to the sea, and put me but into the waves--but three +yards from the shore--and it shall be better for thee than all the +good thou can'st gain by keeping me here." + +Softened to compliance at last, my grandfather did take her down from +the rafters, and carrying her to the coast, he waded into the sea +with her, the three yards she had specified, and put her gently down +amid the waves, near the very stone where he had originally caught +her. The joy of this beautiful marine spirit in finding herself thus +again bathing in the invigorating waters of her own native ocean, +after having been so long hung up, as it were, on the rafters of a +Highland cottage, to be smoked like an Aberdeen haddock, or a kipper +salmon, may be easily imagined. But, although wicked people might +perhaps impute her parting speech more to that natural love of scandal +which is said to belong to her sex, than to any strong feeling for my +grandfather, yet we must say, that her words and her counsel shewed +that her gratitude was no less abundant than her joy. Turning to him +who had treated her so compassionately, she passed her taper fingers +gracefully through her long silken tresses, and thus addressed him +with her siren tongue:-- + +"Travel not so oft nor so far from home again! Ill luck attends +that home whence the master often wanders. Dost thou remember my +loud laugh on that day when thy wife broke the girdle stone? It +was because she made a fool of thee by blinding thine eyes that her +lover might escape unseen. Be wiser in future, and never leave home; +and when you go back now, look among the straw where the broken bits +of the girdle stone were thrown, and you will find that which will +be a treasure to you and to your children for ever." + +With these words she dived among the breakers and was seen by him no +more. My grandfather returned home rather chopfallen; but on searching +where the mermaid had indicated to him, he found that very stone, +which has now, for three generations, been the agent in performing +so many wonders. + + + + + + + + +THE DOMINIE DEPARTS. + + +Soon after quitting the dwelling of the Warlock, we were doomed to lose +the company of one, with whom we were all much more unwilling to part. + +Dominie Macpherson.--I can hardly bring myself to tell you, gentlemen, +that I must now--sore against my will--take my humble leave of you. My +road to my brother's house lies north over the hill there. But ere +I go, I am truly glad to have it in my power to put you under the +guidance of my good friend, Serjeant Archy Stewart. I sent him a +message last night to come and meet us here; and there is the very +man coming over the knoll, with his Sabbath-day's jacket and bonnet +on.--How is all with you, Serjeant? My certy, I need not ask, for +you look stout and hearty. + +Serjeant Archy Stewart.--Thank ye, Mr. Macpherson, I cannot complain. I +am a little the worse for the wear--but my old legs, such as they be, +are fit enough for the hill yet. I am glad to see you well back in +the country again. + +Dominie.--Thank ye, Serjeant. Now, my good man, these are the three +gentlemen you are to guide. Three better gentlemen you never fell +in with in all your travels. You must do all you can for them; and, +above all things, be sure to give them plenty of your cracks. They +like to hear all manner of auld-warld stories; so, as you must put on +a budget of their provisions on your back--which, by the bye, will +be like Æsop's burden, always growing less,--you may e'en lighten +yourself as you go of as many of the auncient legends which you carry +in your head as may help to ease your travel. + +Serjeant.--Uh! I'll not be slack at that, Mr. Macpherson, I promise +ye, if it be the pleasure of the gentlemen. + +I shall not attempt to describe the scene of our parting with the +worthy schoolmaster. It threw a gloom over us all. As for the good +man himself, his voice trembled--his lip quivered--and his eyes +filled with moisture, when he pronounced that most unpleasant of +all words--farewell--and gave us the last cordial shake of the hand, +pouring out his best wishes and blessings upon us. He then put his +stick firmly to the ground, as if to help his failing resolution, +and, as he took his way over the hill, he turned and waved--and turned +and waved, twenty times at least, e'er he disappeared from our sight. + +Our attention was now directed towards Serjeant Archy Stewart, +who was cheerfully occupying himself in shouldering a portion of +our necessaries. He was a veteran of about sixty years of age, of +middle size, and of a hardy, wiry, though not very robust frame. His +fresh coloured countenance was lighted up by a pair of small, grey, +and very intelligent eyes; and its bold forehead, aquiline nose, high +cheek-bones, and prominent chin and lips, exhibited traits of a very +undaunted and indomitable resolution, which his whole appearance showed +had been well tried by hardships. All this, however, was tempered and +sweetened with so perfect an expression of courtesy and good humour, +pervading every line of his weather-beaten features, that he instantly +gained the golden opinions of our party. After adjusting the wallet +to his back, he pointed his hazel stick to the grass, and led the +way before us with an activity much beyond his years. + +Clifford.--Capital fishing hereabouts, no doubt, Mr. Stewart? + +Serjeant.--Just grand, sir--no better in this, or any other country +side. + +Clifford.--You know the river well, I suppose? + +Serjeant.--Few should know it better, sir--for I've known it ever +since I could look out over the nest. + +Clifford.--You are a native of these mountains, then?--Come! we have +been told that you are full of their legendary lore, and we look to +have much of it out of you ere we part. + +Serjeant.--I am sure your honor is welcome to as much as you can take +and I can give you. + +Clifford.--Come away then--you shall begin, if you please, by giving +us your own history. + +Serjeant.--Oh troth, sir, my history is little worth; but, such as +it is, you shall have it. I was born in this very glen here--for I am +come of the Clan-Allan Stewarts, who were the offspring of Sir Allan +Stewart, who was said to have been a natural son of the Yearl of Moray. + +Author.--What Earl of Moray was that, Archy? + +Serjeant.--Really and truly I cannot tell you, sir. But this I know +well enough, that them Clan-Allan Stewarts were a proud, powerful, +domineering race, and always reported to have been very troublesome +customers to those who happened to have any feud with them. I've heard +say, indeed, that while they boore sway here away, fint a man of any +other name dared to blow his nose throughout the whole of Strathdawn +without their leave being first asked and granted. Wild chields they +were, I'll warrant ye. + +Author.--That may be, Serjeant; but I shrewdly suspect that you are +not altogether right in your genealogy. My belief is, that it does +in reality go somewhat farther back than you suppose. + +Serjeant.--Do you think so, sir? Well it may be so. + +Author.--I am inclined to think that you must be come of the old +Stewarts, Earls of Atholl. + +Serjeant.--Aye, aye!--Yearls of Athol!--that would be strange. But +what makes you think that, sir? + +Author.--Why, we know that it was through the marriage of Alexander, +third Earl of Huntly, with the Lady Johanna Stewart, daughter of one +of these Earls, in 1474, that Strathdawn first came into the family +of the Gordons, with whom it still remains. It is therefore clear that +Sir Allan, your ancestor, must have come here considerably before that +period; and if your forefathers, the Clan-Allan Stewarts, were such +hard-headed, knock-me-down, domineering fellows as you would seem to +say they were, it is by no means improbable that they may have managed, +by the use of their swords, to bear sway here for many a long day, +after the lands were chartered to the Gordons. + +Serjeant.--I have little doubt that your honor is perfectly +right; and now I think on't, I remember an auncient legend of the +Stewarts of Clan-Allan, in which a speech of the old Lord of Cargarf +strongly supports the very view of the matter which you have so well +explained. I never could very well understand it before--but now, when +I put that and that together, I see the truth as clear as day light. + +Clifford (taking out his tablets and writing.)--I shall put you down +for that same legend, Mister Serjeant; but in the meanwhile proceed +with your own history, if you please. + + + + + + + + +HISTORY OF SERJEANT ARCHY STEWART. + + +Well, Gentlemen--as I was telling you, I was born in Strathdawn +here--as pretty a glen as there is in all Scotland. Oh, what a bonny +glen it was in my young days! You see plain enough, without my telling +you, that there are no trees now in it to speak of--none, indeed, +but a parcel of straggling patches and bushes of aller and birch +and hazel about the bit water-runs and burnies, or hanging here and +there on the brae sides. But when I was a boy, the hills were all one +thick wood of tall trees, that gave shelter to great herds of deer in +the winter. Now, alas! the trees have fallen, and the deer, annoyed +and persecuted by sheep, shepherds, and sheep-dogs, have longsyne +retreated to the upper mountains and vallies of the Cairngorms, save +may be, at an anterin [1] time, when severe weather on the heights, +may drive an odd few of them down upon us for a short season. + +Well, gentlemen--not to detain you with my school-boy days--(for I was +at school, gentlemen--and not so bad a scholar neither)--when I grew +up to be a stout lad, I left the glen, with six others of my own age, +to go and seek for work in the south country. I shall never forget +that day that we left it. We went off full of life and joy--for we +thought but little of leaving our friends or the scenes of our youth, +since we trusted that the same firm legs that were carrying us away +could at any time bring us back to them the moment we had the will +to return. We panted to see the world, and it was now opening before +us. All the fanciful dreams of our boyhood were, as we thought, now +about to be realized. Light, I trow, were our hearts, and full were we +of hopes, as we made our way across the Grampians, and in a few days +these hopes were realized, by our finding ourselves busily employed, +and working hard, though at good wages, in a quarry near Cupar in Fife. + +There we continued for some time perfectly contented with our labour, +as well as with the price of it, till John Grant of Lurg, grandson of +the famous Robert of Lurg, well known by the nick-name of Old Stachcan, +or the stubborn---- + +Clifford (breaking in on the Serjeant's narrative.)--What! the fierce +looking fellow whose picture we saw at Castle Grant with a pistol in +his hand? + +Serjeant.--Just exactly--the very same, sir--he has a pistol in his +hand in the picture, and well, I promise you, did he know how to +use it when he was in the body. Well, it was his grandson, John of +Lurg, who, some how or other, smelt us out in the place where we then +were in Fife; and as he was at that time raising men for a company, +you may well believe that his joy was not small when he thus came, +like a setting dog, to a dead point on such a covey of stout young +Hillantmen in a quarry. He soon contrived to get about us altogether, +and with a hantel of fair words, and mony a bonny speech about our +Hillant hills--Hillant glens--Hillant waters--Hillant lasses--and, +what was more to his purpose at the time, about Hillant deeds of +arms--all of which, observe ye, gentlemen, were made over a reeking +bowl of punch that you might have swum in, he very soon succeeded in +stirring up the fire of military ambition within our souls, until +he ultimately so inflamed us, that, with all the ease in life, he +quickly converted us, who were nothing unwilling, from hard-working +quarriers, into gentlemen sodgers, by enlisting us, all in a bunch, +into the ninety-seventh regiment, or Inverness Highlanders. + +I need not tell you all the outs-and-ins of adventures that befel me +while I was in the ninety-seventh, in which corps I remained about +two years and a half. But I may mention to you, that I was serving +with it when I got my first wound--I mean this bit crack here, +gentlemen--(and he pulled up his trews, and shewed his right leg +immediately below the knee, which was shrunken up to half the thickness +of the other, from having had the greater part of the muscles utterly +destroyed.)--Some way or another, they took it into their heads to +put us on board of the Orion, one of the ships of Lord Bridport's +squadron, to act as marines--an odd sort of duty truly for Hillantmen, +and one, I'll assure you, that we by no means liked over much, seeing +that, on board of a ship, we were obliged to stand to be peppered +at like brancher crows on a tree, without the power of having our +will out against the villains, by charging them with the baggonet, +as we should have done had we been opposed to them on dry land; and, +indeed, we soon felt the frost of this, when we came to be engaged +in the action fought with the French fleet on the 23d of June 1795. + +On that day, the French had twelve line-of-battle ships, besides a +number of frigates and other smaller vessels. From all their manoeuvres +it was very clear that they did not wish to face us--for they stole +off in a very dignified manner, never looking over their shoulders all +the time, as they were fain to have made us believe that they never +saw us at all, or that we were quite beneath their notice. But it +was no time for us to stand upon ceremony.--We after them full sail, +and we soon made them condescend to attend to us. In spite of all +they could do we brought them to action in L'Orient Bay. There we +lethered them handsomely, and we very speedily took from them three +great ships, the Alexander, the Formidable, and the Tigger; and, +if it had not been for the batteries on shore, there was no doubt +that we should have had every keel of them. Well, you see, gentlemen, +a large splinter of oak--rent away from the ship's side by a cannon +shot--took me just below the knee, and demolished the shape of my leg +in the ugly fashion I showed you this moment. But I was young then, +and hearty, and no very easily daunted or cast down, so that I was +soon out of the doctor's list, and on duty again. + +But what was far worse than all the wounds that my body could have +suffered, though it had been shot and drilled through and through like +a riddle, was that which befel me at Hilsea barracks after we returned +to Britain. You know very well, gentlemen, that the Bible says, "a +wounded speerit who can bear?" Now, you may guess what were the wounds +of my speerit, and, consequently, what were my sufferings, when I and +some of my Hillant comrades were told, that we were to be immediately +drafted into the ninth, or East Norfolk--an English regiment! + +It was with sore hearts, and no little indignation, that we heard of +the odious order for this cruel separation from our beloved native +regiment--a corps in which we had all been like bairns of the same +family in the bosom of our common mother--where our officers had +been more like elder brothers to us than superiors--cracking with us, +at times, in Gaelic, over all our old Hillant stories--and enjoying, +as much as we did, our Hillant songs and Hillant dances--and many of +them, having known sundry individuals among us when at home in boyhood, +were as familiar and easy with us, at any ordinary bye-hour, as you, +gentlemen, are pleased to be with me at this precious moment--and +yet the di'el ae bit was our discipline any the waur o' that, +whatever his Grace the gallant Duke of Wellington may say against +such a system--and, for aught I know, he may be right enough as to +the English, who have not been brought up as we were in the allowance +of such liberties,--but, as for us, when the parade hour came, or the +time for duty, all such familiarities ceased, and every one filled his +own place, like the wheel of a watch, to be turned at the will of him +who was above him.--You may easily conceive, then, that banishment, +or even death itself, would have been better to us than the being +thus torn from such a regiment for the express purpose of being +joined to a corps composed of Englishmen, with whom we could neither +crack of our homes, nor of our Hillant hills, nor sing Gaelic songs, +nor tell auncient stories, nor speak about Ossian, nor hear the pipes +play, nor dance the Hillant-fling.--And then, instead of the kind and +brotherly correction of our Hillant officers, the very slightest sound +of whose word of reproof brought the blush of shame into our cheeks, +and was as effectual a punishment to us as if we had been brought +to the halberts--think what it was to us to be snubbed by some cross +tempered upsetting Sassenach, who could know nothing of our nation's +temper or disposition, and who might perhaps, of a morning, order +our backs to be scored, with as little remorse as he would order a +beef-steak to be brandered for his breakfast.--Oh it was a terrible +change!--Our very speerits were just altogether broken at the very +thought of it, and we actually ceased to be the same men. + +But, gentlemen, if this was the effect produced on our minds by +the mere anticipation of this most bitter change in our fate, what +think ye was the misery of body which we sustained, and, especially, +what think ye was my misery, when I, who never wore aught else but a +kilt from the day I was born till that accursed moment, was crammed, +in spite of all I could say or do to the contrary, hip and thigh, into +a pair of tight regimental small-clothes!--Aye, you may laugh indeed +gentlemen--but if anybody was to tie your legs together with birken +woodies, as they have tied the fore-legs of yon pouny that you see +feeding yonder in the bit meadow at the foot of the brae, and if you +were then to be bidden to climb up the steepest face of Ben-Machduie, +you could not be more helpless, or more ill at ease than I was. As +for drilling, you might as well have set up a man in a sack to march. + +"Step out!" cried they eternally--"why the devil don't you step out?" + +But it was just altogether ridiculous to cry out any such thing to +me, for fint a step could I take at all, unless they had letten me +step out of my breeks.--I was in perfect torture with them.--The +very circulation of my blood was stopped--my nether man was rendered +entirely numb and powerless. Nay, had I been built up mid man into +a brick-wall I might have stepped out just as well. + +Now, I would have you to understand, gentlemen, that especially and +above all things, the confounded articles grippit and pinched me most +desperately over the henches. The joints of my henches were so bound +together in their very sockets by their pressure as to be rendered +altogether useless; and the torture I endured in these quarters became +so great, that I felt I could bear it no longer. I sat down, therefore, +to hold a consultation with myself what was best to be done; and, after +as cool and calm a consideration of my lamentable case as my extreme +state of misery would allow, I came, in my own private council of war, +to the determination, that I had only three things to choose from, and +these were,--to desert--to cut my throat--or to cut my breeches; and, +after having much and duly weighed these different evil alternatives, +I finally resolved to adopt the last of them. + +Having come to this resolution, I then began, like a skilful engineer, +narrowly to examine the horrid instruments of my sufferings, in order +to ascertain how and where I could most easily make a breach in them, +and one that was most likely to give the greatest ease to myself. A +little farther thought and observation soon convinced me, that, as +the parts most grievously afflicted, were those which your masters of +fortification would have called the sailliant angles of my henches to +right and left, and especially as on these hinged much of the motion +of the whole man, it was clear that the proposed attempt to work myself +relief should be first tried in those two points. I lost not a moment, +therefore, in carrying my plan into execution. I immediately borrowed +a pair of shears from a sodger's wife; and, sitting down regularly +before my breeches, like an experienced general about to besiege a +fortress, I fairly attacked the two sailliant angles of the bastion, +and carried them by storm; and having, with the greatest nicety, +cut out a round piece of the cloth of three or four inches in width, +directly over each hip-joint, I ventured to thrust my limbs within +the very garrison of my breeches; and really, gentlemen, the ease I +obtained in consequence of this bold operation is not to be described. + +So innocent was I, and so utterly unconscious of even a suspicion +that I had done any thing wrong, that when the drum beat, I went off +to the private parade of the company I had been attached to, with +my heart almost as much eased as my henches; nay, it was absolutely +bounding with benevolence, and brimful with the earnest desire and +intention of spreading the blessed discovery I had made, and making +it widely known among my Hillant comrades, so that all of them who +might be in the same state of misery as I had been, might forthwith +proceed to benefit themselves, as I had done, by the bright discovery +I had made. Rejoicing in my ease, therefore, I strode across the +barrack-square, with a step so much wider and grander than any I +had lately been able to use, that I felt a pride in the excellence +of my invention which I cannot possibly describe. I halted for a +moment--stretched out, first my right leg, and then my left, just as +I have seen a fowl do upon its perch--and then, clapping my hand upon +the new made hole on either side of me, I chuckled for joy. + +"Hah!" cried I; "breeches do they call you? By my faith, then, but I +have made you more like your name by these well-imagined breaches of +my own contrivance, which I have so ingeniously opened through your +accursed sides." + +I then bent myself down, and made a spring into the air; after which, +being quite satisfied that a paring or two more off the edges of the +round holes would make all nearly right, I walked on with an air of +dignified self-satisfaction that was not to be mistaken. But I had not +come within ten yards of the spot where the company was falling in, +when I heard the serjeant exclaim,-- + +"My heyes! look at that ere Ighland savage! I'm damned if he arn't +been cutting big oles in his Majesty's rigimental breeches!" + +A loud horse-laugh burst out from among the men, and the serjeant +joined heartily in it. But it was no laughing matter to me; I was +cut to the soul. All our horrible anticipations of English officers, +halberds, and cat-o'-nine-tails, came smack upon me at once. I was +overwhelmed--I grew dizzy--and, before I had well recovered myself, +I was marched off to the guard-house under the charge of a corporal +and a file of men, and a written crime was given in against me in +these terms. + +"Privut Archbauld Stewart of Captin Ketley's compnay, confined by order +of Sargunt Nevett, for aving cut two big oles in the ipps of a pair of +riggimental britches belonghing too is Magesty King George the Third." + +Well, gentlemen, there was I left in the guard-house for some hours +a prisoner. But if I was confined in one way, I took good care to put +myself very much at my ease in another; for I pulled off my tormentors +altogether, and sat quite coolly and comfortably without them. But +I was sore enough at heart, for all that; for, independent of the +fearful prospect of the unrelenting punishment that awaited me, the +disgrace of confinement to which I had thus, for the first time in +my life, been subjected, and that so unjustly, stung me to the very +heart. For a good hour or more I could do nothing but grind my teeth +with absolute vexation and rage; but at length I began to gather some +command of myself, and to think of the necessity of making up my mind +as to what was to be done. I recalled the three evil alternatives, +from which I had already made that which had now proved to be so +unfortunate a selection, and as that had so miserably failed me, I +continued for sometime swinging backwards and forwards, like a bairn +in a shuggy-shue, [2] between the two that yet remained to be tried, +and I had not yet made up my mind on the subject, when the serjeant +appeared, and ordered me to put on my breeches and follow him. I obeyed +like a man who gets up from his straw to go out and be hanged. But +there was one great difference between such a poor wretch and me, +very much in his favour, for as his fetters in such a case are taken +off, I was on the contrary condemned to buckle on mine. + +I did follow the serjeant as he bade me, but notwithstanding the +outlets I had made in the breeches for the joints of my hench bones, +and the comparative ease I had thereby formerly enjoyed, yet the few +hours I had had in the guardhouse of a freedom of limb resembling that +which I was wont to enjoy in my old kilt, made me feel so strange upon +thus recommitting my joints to the thraldom of the accursed garments, +that I went shaughling along after him, as if they had undergone no +improvement at all. He took me directly to Captain Ketley's quarters, +and whilst I was on my way thither, I was compelled to bring my doubts +to a hasty conclusion, and so I resolved that of the two plans now +only remaining for me to choose from, desertion should be first tried, +seeing that if it should fail me, I might cut my throat afterwards, for +that if I should cut my throat first, I should not afterwards find it +an easy matter to desert. I had no more time than just enough to settle +this point with myself, when the serjeant rapped at our captain's door. + +"Come in!" cried Captain Ketley, in what sounded in my ear like a +tremendous voice. + +"Privut Archbauld Stewart and his cut breeches, your honour!" cried +the serjeant, ushering me without ceremony into the middle of the room. + +There I stood with my head up, and in the military attitude of +attention, the which, as you will naturally observe, gentlemen, was, +of all others, out of all sight the most convenient and best chosen +attitude for me at the time; for, as you will understand, the palms of +my two hands were thus exactly applied to the two holes I had made, +though the size of the holes themselves was so great that I could by +no means entirely cover them. But if I could have done so, this well +conceived manoeuvre of mine would have been of no avail. + +"Stand at ease!" cried the serjeant, giving me at the same time a +smart tap on the back with his rattan cane. + +"Serjeant," said I impatiently, "you know very well that it's not +possible for me to stand at ease in thir fashious breeks of mine." + +I saw that Captain Ketley had a hard task of it to keep his gravity. + +"What is this which has been reported to me of you, sir?" demanded he +with as stern a look as he could possibly assume; "how comes it that +you have taken upon you to destroy a pair of new regimental breeches +in that manner?" + +"Captain," said I, now quite brought to bay, and making up my mind +to go through with it, whatever the consequences might be; "Captain, +if your honor will but hear me, I will speak." + +"Speak on then," said Captain Ketley, "provided you say nothing that +as an officer I may not listen to. Serjeant Nevett, you may retire." + +"You need not fear that I shall offend you, Captain Ketley," said I, +"I have been over long accustomed to speak to officers to forget the +respect and duty I owe to them as a sodger, and since your honour is +so kind, I will be as short as I can. I enlisted, you see, to serve in +the Inverness Highlanders, and in so doing I covenanted to fight in +company with my own countrymen, and in the freedom of a kilt. Now, +against all bargain--against all manner of justice--against my +will--and against the very nature of a Hillantman, I have been thrust, +first into this English regiment, and then into this pair of English +small clothes--well may they be so called, I'm sure. Captain Ketley, +all this is most unreasonable. You might as well put a deer of the +mountains into a breachame, and expect to plough the land with him, +as to put a Hillantman into such cruel harness as thir things, with the +hope that he can do his work in them; and, although I am as wishful as +any man that serves King George can be, to spend the last drop of my +blood, as some of it has flowed already in the cause of his Majesty, +God bless him! and for our common country, yet I will just tell your +honour plainly and honestly--though with all manner of respect--that +I will not stay in this Ninth Regiment to be kept in the eternal +torture of thir breeks, though I should see the men drawn out to +shoot me for trying to desert--for death itself is desirable rather +than that I should longer endure such misery as this. So I say again, +that although I am quite willing to serve King George in any regiment +he may be pleased to put me into that wears the kilt, yet I will take +the first moment I can catch, to run away from such disgraceful and +heartbreaking bondage as this to which I am now subjected." + +"No, no, my good fellow," said Captain Ketley, who had all this time +had his own share of trouble in keeping himself from laughing, and +who now gave way and laughed outright; "you must not run away from +us, Archy. We cannot afford to lose so good a man. We must do all we +can to put you at your ease with us. Your complaints are certainly +not altogether unreasonable. But you should not have cut holes in +your breeches--you should have come and stated your grievances to +me. Remember in future, that you will always find me ready to listen +to any well-founded complaint you may have to make. Meanwhile,--see +here," said he, taking a pair of old loose trowsers out of his chest, +and tossing them to me,--"wear these for a few days, till your limbs +get somewhat accustomed to the thraldom of small clothes, and until +we can get you fitted with a better and easier pair of your own. I +shall see about your immediate release from confinement, and that +you and your Highland comrades be excused from duty until you are +more at home in your new clothing. If you behave yourself well, +you shall always find a friend in me." + +"God bless your honour!" cried I, with a joyful and grateful heart, +and, if you will believe me, gentlemen, almost with the tears in my +eyes; "your honour has spoken to me just like one of our own kind +Hillant officers of the Ninety-seventh. I'll go all the world over +with you, though my breeks were of iron!" + +Well, gentlemen, Captain Ketley was as good as his word--he was a +kind and steady friend to me as long as he lived. He inquired of me +whether I could read and write; and, finding that I could do both--aye, +and spell too--and that somewhat better, as I reckon, than Serjeant +Nevett,--and, moreover, that I was not a bad hand at counting,--he got +me made a corporal in less than a fortnight, and, very soon after that, +a serjeant. But, woe's me! a few months had hardly passed away when +Captain Ketley died. Many were the salt tears I shed over his grave, +after we had given him our parting vollies, and no wonder, for he was +one of the best friends I ever had in my life. I cannot think of him, +even yet, without regret. Willingly would I have given my life for +his at any time. But what is this miserable world, gentlemen, but a +valley of sorrow? + +Well, I got fond enough, after all, of the Holy Boys, as the old +Ninth lads were called. + +Clifford (interrupting.)--How did they get that name, Archy? + +Serjeant.--Oh, I'll tell you that, sir.--You see, when they came from +the West Indies, as a skeleton regiment, they were made up again with +growing boys. Colonel Campbell of Blythswood tried to do them some +good by getting them schoolmasters and Bibles. But the young rogues +had been ill nurtured in the parent nest, and they used to barter their +Bibles for gin and gingerbread. The Duke of York used to say of them, +that they were every thing that was bad but bad sodgers--ha! ha! ha! + +And now, gentlemen, I believe I have little more to tell you about +myself, except that I got my jaw broken in two places by a musket +ball in Holland, on the 19th of September 1799. See what a queer kind +of a mouth it has made me in the inside here. You see I had been out +superintending the working party in the redoubts, and I had returned, +tired as a dog, to the barn where the light company were quartered, +and had just laid my head on my wife's knee to take a nap--for I +was married by this time--when a terrible thumping came to the door, +and Corporal Parrot ran to see who was there. Now, it happened that +one of our serjeants was sick, and the other had been killed.--It +was Adjutant Orchard who knocked so loud. + +"Where is Serjeant Stewart?" demanded he, in a terrible hurry, the +moment he entered the place. + +"Can't I do instead of him?" replied Corporal Parrot; "for he is just +new out of the trenches." + +"No!" replied the Adjutant; "if he was new out of hell, I must have +him directly." + +"What's ado, sir?" demanded I, jumping up. + +"You know as much as I do," replied the Adjutant; "but, depend upon +it, we are not wanted to build churches. Get you out the light bobs +as fast as you can." + +Well, I hurried about and got out the light company with as little +delay as possible; and no very easy matter it was to get hold of the +poor fellows, knocked up as they were. Some of them I actually pulled +out of hay stacks by the legs, as you would pull out periwinkles from +their shells. The troops marched fifteen miles without a halt. We found +the French and Russians hard at it, blazing away so that we could see +the very straws at our feet as we marched over the sand. The balls +came whistling about us like hail as we advanced. First came one, +and knocked away the hilt of my sword; then came another, and cracked +off the iron head of my halberd. + +"If you go on at this rate, you villains," said I, "you'll disarm +us altogether." + +Then smack came another, whack through my canteen, and spilt all +my brandy. + +"Ye rascals!" said I, trying at the same time to save as much of it +as I could in my mouth, "that is most uncivil. Ye are no gentlemen, +ye scoundrels, to spill a poor fellow's drop of comfort in this way." + +By and bye, half-a-dozen of balls or so went through the blanket I +carried on my shoulders. + +"By my faith," said I, "it's time now that I should return you my +compliments for all your civilities, you vagabonds." + +I stooped to take a musket from a dead Russian for my own defence. The +piece was a rifle, and it was yet warm in his hand from the last +discharge. + +"By your leave, my poor fellow," said I, "I'll borrow your firelock +for a shot or two, seeing that you have no farther use for it at this +present time." + +But dead as he was, the last gripe of departing life had made him hold +it so fast, that I was obliged to twist it round ere I could make him +part with it. I took off his cartridge-box by pulling the belt over his +head. He had fired but two cartridges, and eighteen still remained. I +loaded and fired twice; and I was just in the act of biting off the +end of my third cartridge to fire again, when a musket ball took me +in the left cheek, and knocked me over as flat as a sixpence on the +ground. The captain of the company looked behind him, and seeing that +I was still able to move my hands, he very humanely ordered a file +of men to carry me to the rear. They lifted me up from the ground, +and the whole world seemed to be going round with me. They supported +me under the arms, and I staggered along like a drunk man. They took +me to a barn, where I lay insensible for some time, until coming to +myself somewhat, as I lay there, I saw two surgeons employed with the +wounded. "You will have little trouble with me, gentlemen," thought +I within myself; "I shall be dead before you can get at me." Just at +this moment I heard one of the surgeons say to the other,-- + +"I believe I shall die of hunger." + +"I am like to faint from absolute want," said the other. + +I could not speak, but I beckoned. + +"By and bye," said one of the surgeons, shaking his head. + +"Your turn is not come yet," said the other. + +I beckoned again, and pointed to the wallet at my side. + +"Oh ho!" said the first surgeon crossing the place, and rapidly +followed by the other,--"Oh ho! I comprehend you now. Let's see what +you have got in your larder." + +He put his hand into the wallet, and found some balls of oatmeal, +which my wife, honest woman, had made by rolling them up with water, +and then giving them a roast among the ashes. The two gentlemen +devoured them with great glee. They then looked at my chafts, put +some lint into the wound, and bound it up. + +"Well," thought I to myself, "a leaden ball made the wound, and +a ball of oatmeal has doctored it. Many thanks to my worthy wife, +God bless her!" + +After the doctors left us, the place, which was pitch dark, became +hot and pestiferous, and the groans that came from some of the poor +wretches put me in mind of pandemonium. I was for some time feverish +and restless. I tried to stretch myself out at length, but I felt some +one at my feet who would not stir all I could do. Though I could not +speak, I was not sparing of my kicks, but still the person regarded +me not. Next to me was Serjeant Wilson with a broken leg, and he was +pressed upon by some one at his side. But the Serjeant had the full +use of his tongue. + +"Sir," said he to his neighbour, for he was noted for being a very +polite man, "will you do me the favour to lie a little farther over, +and take your elbow out of my stomach." + +His civil request was disregarded, and there was no reply. + +"Oh!" said the serjeant, "perhaps the gentleman is a furreiner; but +all them furreiners understands French, so I'll try my hand at that +with him:--Moushee wooly wous have the goodness to takee your elbow +out of my guts. Confound the fellow, what an edification he has had +that he does not understand French. I've heard Ensign Flitterkin +say that it is the language of Europe. Pray, sir, may I ax if you +be a European? No answer,--by my soul then I may make bold to say +that you are any thing but a civilian. Sir," continued the serjeant, +beginning now to lose patience altogether, and to wax very wroth, +"I insist on your removing your elbow. I say, rascal! take your elbow +out of my stomach this moment!" + +And so the serjeant went on from bad to worse, till he swore, and +went on to swear, at the poor man more and more bloodily the whole +night. But neither his swearing, nor my kicking, could rid either +of us of our troublesome companions. And it was no great wonder +indeed--for when the day-light came, we discovered that they were +two dead Russians! + +"This is a horrible place!" exclaimed the principal surgeon when he +came back in the morning. "As near as I can guess, one hundred and +fifty-two men have died in this wretched barn since last night!--we +must have the wounded out of this." + +Thanks to my wife's oatmeal balls, which the grateful surgeons had +not forgotten, my wounds were dressed the very first man. We were +soon afterwards carried on hand-barrows by a Russian party down to +the flat-bottomed boats, and so we were conveyed to the Texel. I bore +the bullet home in my chafts, and it was cut out by an English doctor +in Deal hospital. I was discharged on the 23d of June 1800. But my +pension was granted before pensions were so big as they are now-a-days, +so that I am but ill off compared to some who have come home from +the late wars. But, thank God, I am contented, since I cannot make +a better of it. + + + + + + + + +GALLANTRY OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY. + + +Clifford.--How little known are the miseries to which the brave +defenders of Britain's glory are subjected!--and how meagre is +their reward, and how poor is their harvest of individual fame!--Our +Nelsons and our Wellingtons, to be sure, are as certainly, as they are +deservedly, destined to immortality of name. But is it not most painful +to think that so many of our bravest hearts have gallantly fallen, +to sleep in undistinguished oblivion? Your scene in the old barn, +Serjeant, reminds me of an anecdote which I had from an officer of the +Ninety-first Regiment.--It has never yet appeared in print, though it +well deserves to be so recorded, as being worthy of that distinguished +corps, the Seventy-first Highland Light Infantry, to which it belongs. + +The circumstances took place in 1813, during the Peninsular War. The +Seventy-first were at that time stationed with the Fiftieth and the +Ninety-second, at St. Pierre, on the main road between Bayonne and +St. Jean-pied-de-Port.--This was the key of Lord Hill's position +on the river Adour, and the fire of musquetry brought against its +defenders on the 13th December, was such as the oldest veterans had +never before witnessed. The corps under Lord Hill, indeed, were on +that day attacked by Soult's whole force. But so nobly did those +fine regiments perform their duty, that the late Lieutenant-General +the Honourable William Stewart, next day gave out an order, which I +remember treasuring up in my memory as a masterpiece of soldier-like +diction. I think the very words were these:--"The second Division has +greatly distinguished itself, and its gallantry in yesterday's action +is fully felt by the Commander of the Forces, and the Allied Army." + +And well indeed had they merited this highly creditable testimonial of +their good behaviour. But the carnage was great, and there were many +who, alas! did not survive to participate in the honour conferred +by it. Several of the wounded, belonging to the respective corps, +were huddled together in the lower storey of an old house, that stood +upon the very ground on which the thickest part of the contest had +taken place. Now it happened, that certain officers from different +regiments had taken shelter in a room in the floor above, where they +were refreshing themselves, after their fatigue, with such food and +other restoratives as they could command, and among them was that +officer of the Ninety-first who told me the facts to which he was +an ear-witness. + +The conversation of these gentlemen, though mingled now and then with +many regrets for lost companions, had a certain temperate joy in it--a +joy arising from a conviction that they had behaved like men--and which +was tempered by strong feelings of gratitude to a kind Providence, +who had preserved them amidst all the perils of the fight. Suddenly +their talk was put an end to by the most heart-rending groans and +shrieks of agony, that came up from the room below, through the old +decayed floor. What mirth or joy there was among them, was altogether +banished by the frequency and intensity of the screams, that betokened +the mortal sufferings of a dying man. They sat for a time mutely, +though deeply sympathizing, with the poor unfortunate from whom they +came. At length they distinctly heard another faint, and apparently +expiring voice, say, in a tone of rebuke,--"Haud your tongue, James, +and bear your fate like a man. We'll soon be baith at ease.--But, in +the mean time, haud your tongue, for there are folk aboon us that may +be hearin' you; and if you have no respect for yoursell, recollect +what you owe to the gallant Seventy-first Hillant Light Infantry, +to which we baith belong." + +This appeal had the desired effect. All that could now be heard, in +the stillness of the night, was a low murmur. A surgeon, who was of +the party, immediately went to administer what relief he might to the +wretched sufferers. But in one short hour these heroic men had ceased +to exist, and no one can now tell even the name of either of them. + +Author.--A most touching anecdote!--What magnanimous fellows! + +Grant.--Their names should have been written by the hand of Fame +herself, in letters of the purest and most imperishable gold!--Yet +they have been allowed to sink into the sea of forgetfulness, and, + + + "Like the snow-falls in the river, + A moment white, then gone for ever." + + +they have melted into oblivion--so far, at least, as this world +is concerned. + +Clifford.--Yes; they sleep unremembered, whilst every lily-livered +cobler, or tailor, who has handled his awl, or his bodkin, with no +more peril to his person than may have lain on the point of one or +other of these formidable weapons, has his tombstone--his death's +head and cross-bones--and his attendant cherubims--as well as his +text and his epitaph. + +Serjeant.--Very true, sir--very true. What have such chields as these +to do with fame? But for all that, we see fame arise to the silliest +men, and from the most trifling causes. + +Grant.--Right, Archy. For instance, I remember a certain Highlander, +who gained his fame in a way that may perhaps make you envious--for +it is the tale of your unwhisperables that has brought him to my mind. + +Serjeant.--Aye, sir!--What was his story? + +Grant.--Why, the hero was a certain Rory Maccraw, who, despising +the kilt which he had worn all his life, resolved, at all risks, +to figure in a pair of those elegant emblems of civilization called +breeches. At the present day, one may travel from the Tweed to the +Pentland Firth without seeing such a thing as a kilt; but at the time +of which I am now speaking, anything in the shape of breeches was +just as rarely to be seen as the kilt is now. Rory had a pair made +for him in some distant town, where, as they would say in Ireland, +he had not been by when his measure was taken, and having put them on, +he left his glen to go to a market. It was observed by his neighbours, +that he never before took so long a time to walk the same distance, +and, from his strange and stately manner of strutting, they attributed +this circumstance to the pride he felt in his new garments. Arrived at +the market, the expectation he had indulged in, that he was to excite +the wonder and envy of all the people there, did not deceive him. He +was followed, and stared at, and admired, and questioned wherever he +went. If a dancing bear had waddled through the fair, he could not +have had half the number of people after him. But like most of those +who envy the lot of their neighbours, these good folks only saw the +outside of things, and knew not the misery which was covered by this +fair external show. In the midst of their admiration, poor Rory was in +torture. He would have given all he was worth, unmentionables and all, +to have got rid of the admiring crowds that followed him; and at last, +long before he had done half his business in the market--for as to +pleasure, he could taste none of it--he, the envied, the observed of +all observers, watched his opportunity to steal hobbling away down a +back lane, whence he went limping in agony into the country. There, +seating himself by the public way-side, regardless of what eyes +might behold him, he pulled off the instruments of his suffering, and +hanging them on the end of his staff, he placed it over his shoulder, +and so trudged his way homeward, in defiance of the taunts, gibes, +and laughter of the crowds which he fell in with by the way. But +his fame was established; and ever afterwards he went by the name of +Peter Breeks. + +Clifford.--Capital! + +Author.--Well, Archy, to return to your own story, and the +disappointment you have met with in the arrestment of your career of +glory, I would fain comfort you with the old proverb, that a contented +mind is better than riches. + +Serjeant.--That is very true, sir; and I am very thankful that I am +blessed with that same. And although I got but little in the army but +hard knocks, yet I would take them all over again, rather than that I +should not have seen the many things I did see, as well as the heaps of +queer human beings I met with during the few years I served. What is +man, gentlemen, unless he gets the rust of home, and the reek of his +own fire-side rubbed off him by travel? He can never be expected to +speculate on any thing but the ducks in the dubbs, or the hens on the +midden-head. Though I had a tolerable education for the like of me, +what would I have been had I never been out of this valley? Not much +better, I trow, than one of the stirks that are bred in it. Bless you, +sirs, I saw a vast of human nature in my travels. + +Grant.--And thought much and well on it too, Archy, if I mistake not. + +Serjeant.--May be I did, sir,--and a very curious nature it is, I'll +assure you. But, gentlemen, we must cross the water at this wooden +bridge here. + +Author.--If you had not seen so much by going into the world as you +have done, Archy, I have great doubts whether that curiosity, which +has since made you pick up that great store of your native legends +which you are said to possess, might not have lain entirely dormant. + +Serjeant.--Oh, bless your honour, I should never have thought of +such things. It was the seeing so much that roused up the spirit of +enquiry within me. And so it happened, that after I came back from the +sodgering trade, this spirit could not rest till I had gathered up all +the curious stories I could get. And then I fell tooth and nail upon +books, so that, when I was not working, I was always reading histories, +novelles, magazines, newspapers, and such like, so that I am not just +altogether that ill informed. But stop a moment, gentlemen; do you see +yon bright green spot in the hollow of the hill-side yonder above us? + +Grant.--Yes; but what is there wonderful about that, Archy? + +Serjeant.--There is nothing very wonderful about itself, indeed, +but it is worth your remarking for all that. It is what we call in +this country a wallee, that is, the quaking bog out of which a spring +wells forth. + +Clifford.--Tut, Archy! There are few grouse shooters who have not +experienced the treachery of these smooth-faced, flattering, but most +deceitful water-traps. + +Serjeant.--Smooth-faced, flattering, and deceitful, indeed, sir. I've +heard them compared by some to the fair sex, beauteous and smiling +outside, and cruelly cold-hearted within. But I think any such +comparison is most unjust, for my old woman never deceived me; and, +as I have told you, if it had not been for her oatmeal balls I verily +believe I should not have been here at this moment. + +Clifford.--It would ill become you, indeed, to slander the fair sex, +Mister Serjeant, and depend upon it, you will not catch me doing so. + +Serjeant.--But about the wallee yonder; I was saying---- + +Clifford.--Aye, the wallee; I shall never forget the first cold-bath I +had up to the neck in one of them. It was all owing to the spite of a +cunning old moorcock, which I had severely wounded. Out of revenge, +I suppose, for the mortal injury I had done him, he chose to come +fluttering down into the very middle of what I conceived to be a +beautiful surface of hard green-sward. Being but a young sportsman at +the time, and very eager to secure my bird, who sat most provokingly +tock-tock-tocking at me, as if he had bid me defiance, I ran down +the bank, and made a bound towards him. In I went souse. I shiver +yet to think of it--my very senses were congealed--and for a moment I +verily believed that I had been suddenly transformed into the North +Pole, and that the cock-grouse that fluttered around me was Captain +Parry come to explore me. And, i' faith, if it had not been for the +light foot and strong arm of the gilly who was with me, I believe I +might have been sticking upright there, preserved in ice till this +moment. There was a moorish bath for you! + +Serjeant.--They are most unchancy bits for strangers; that is certain, +sir. + +Clifford.--Unchancy indeed! But if that is all you have to tell us +about yonder place in the hill-side, Mr. Archy, you may save yourself +the trouble of attempting to astonish me with your information; +for, Sassenach though I be, I promise you that I have been long ago +initiated into the full depth of the mystery.--Nymphs and Naiads of +the crystal Aven, what a beautiful stream there is for fishing! + +Serjeant.--'Tis very good, indeed, sir. But yon wallee that I was +speaking about would swallow a horse, with you on the top of it. Many +a time have I thrust a long pole down into it without reaching any +thing the least like firm ground. It would swallow that fishing-wand +of yours, sir. + +Clifford.--(Already employed in putting his rod together.)--Plague +choke it, I should be sorry indeed to see my rod go in any such way. It +is one of the best Bond ever made; and though adapted, by means of +these different pieces, to any size of stream, it was never intended +for such deep sea fishing as you would put it to. I shall apply it to +another purpose, my good serjeant. With this sky, the trouts there will +take a grey mallard's wing with a yellow silk body, in great style. + +Serjeant.--But the wallee up yonder is worth your notice, because of +an ould auncient monumental stone, that once stood on the dry bank +beside it. + +Grant.--Ha! a monumental stone!--let us hear about that. + +Serjeant.--It was about seven feet high, sir, and the tradition +regarding it is, that it was set up there in memory of a sad story +that is connected with it. + +Author.--A story, said you? + +Clifford.--Then, my good fellow, Serjeant Stewart, just have the +kindness to sit down there, and tell us the particulars of your sad +story, while I give a few casts here over this most tempting stream. + +Serjeant.--With all manner of pleasure, sir; I shall be happy to tell +your honours all I have gathered about it. It is the very legend for +which Mr. Clifford marked me down in his book. + +Clifford immediately began to fish. Grant and I seated ourselves on the +daisied bank of the river, one on each side of the serjeant. The gilly +stretched himself at length on the grass, and was soon asleep--the +pony with the panniers grazed as far around him as the length of his +halter would let him, and my Newfoundland dog Bronte sat watching +the trouts leaping, whilst Archy proceeded with his narrative, as +nearly as I can recollect, in the following words; but if not always +precisely in the serjeant's own language, at least I shall give it +with a strict adherence to his facts. + + + + + + + + +LEGEND OF THE CLAN-ALLAN STEWARTS. + + +From the important correction which your honour has made upon my +genealogy, I think I may now venture to say, with some confidence, +that the time of my legend must be somewhere about the fifteenth +century--how early in it I cannot say; but it is pretty clear that my +ancestor, Sir Allan Stewart, must have lived about that period. As +I have already told you, the whole of this country, hill and glen, +was then covered with forests, except in such spots as were kept +open by the art of man for pasture or for tillage, but of the latter, +even of the rudest kind, I suspect there was but little hereaway in +those days. I take it for granted that the chief of the Clan-Allan +must have had his stronghold at the old tower of Drummin, though I +do not mean to say that it was identically the same building that +now exists there. It stands, as some of you perhaps know, gentlemen, +a good way down the country from where we now are, on a point of table +land considerably elevated above the valley, which is there rendered +wider by the junction of the river Livat with the river Aven, and just +in the angle between these two streams. When the noble old forests +waved over the surrounding hills, leaving the quiet meadows below +open in rich pasture, it must have been even yet a more beautiful +place for man to dwell in than it is now,--and, let me tell you, +that is saying a great deal. + +My history begins towards the end of the life of Sir Allan Stewart, +whose term of existence had been long, and no doubt boisterous enough, +as you may very well guess. He was by this time so old as to be +confined to his big oak chair, which was generally placed for him +under the projection of the huge chimney of the ancient fire-place, +or lumm, as we call it in Scotland; and there he sat, propped up with +pillows, crooning over old ballads, and muttering old saws from morn +till night, as if he now cared for nothing in this life, but to drone +away the last dull measure of his time, like the end of some drowsy +ill-composed pibroch, if such a thing there can be. But the lively +interest which he took when any stirring event occurred, which in any +degree affected the honour or welfare of himself, his family or clan, +sufficiently showed that all his martial fire was not extinguished; +for then would it flash out from beneath his heavy eyelids--his bulky +form would move impatiently on his seat, and he would turn his eyes +restlessly towards his broadsword and targe, that hung conspicuously +among the deers' heads, wolfs' skins, and the numerous warlike weapons +that covered the walls, with an expression so animated, as very plainly +to speak the ardour of his decaying spirit, which still, like that +of the old war-horse, seemed thus to snuff up the battle from afar. + +Sir Allan had two tall strapping sons by his first marriage--Walter and +Patrick, both of them pretty men. To Walter, as the elder of the two, +he looked as his successor, and, accordingly, he already acted in all +things, and on all occasions, as his father's representative. After +the death of their mother, Sir Allan had married a woman of lower +degree, by whom he had a third son, called Murdoch, whose naturally +bad dispositions had been fostered by the doting fondness of his old +father. Murdoch's mother, at the time we are speaking of, was what +we would call in our country phrase a handsome boardly-looking dame, +of some forty years of age or so, whose smooth tongue and deceitful +smile covered the blackest and most depraved heart. + +"See, father!" said Walter Stewart to old Sir Allan, as he and his +brother Patrick entered the hall one evening, followed by some of +their people, with whom they had been all day engaged in the pursuit +of a wolf, whose grinning countenance, attached to his shaggy skin, +was borne triumphantly on the point of a hunting spear. "See here, +father! we have got him at last. We have at last taken vengeance on +the villain for his cruel slaughter of poor Isabel's child. Look at +the spoils of the murdering caitiff who devoured the little innocent." + +"Hath he not been a fell beast, father?" said Patrick, holding up +the hunting spear before Sir Allan, and shaking the trophy. + +"Ah!" said Sir Allan, rousing himself up, "a fell beast indeed!--aye, +aye--poor child, poor child!--bring his head nearer to me, boy! Would +I could have been with you! Aye, aye--dear me--age will come upon +us. But I have seen the day, boys--aye, aye--och, hey!" + +"Ho, there!" cried Walter Stewart, "what means it that there are no +signs of supper? By St. Hubert, but we have toiled long enough and +hard enough to-day with legs, arms, spears, spades, and mattocks, +to have well earned our meal! Where is brother Murdoch?--where is +the Lady Stradawn?" + +"Aye, aye," said the querulous old Sir Allan, "it is ever thus +now-a-days. I am always left to myself--weary, weary is my life I am +sure--and I am hungry--very hungry. Aye, aye." + +"Thou shalt have thy supper very soon, father," said Patrick, kindly +taking his hand; "and Walter and I will leave you but for a brief +space, to rid us of these wet and soiled garments." + +The two brothers then hastened from the hall to go to their respective +chambers. + +"Whose draggle-tailed beast was that I saw tied up under the tree +beyond the outer gateway as we came in?" demanded Walter of his +attendant, Dugald Roy. + +"I have seen the beast before," replied Dugald. "If I am not far +mista'en, it is the garron the proud Priest of Dalestie rides,--and a +clever beast it would need to be, I am sure, for many a long, and late, +and queer gate does it carry him, I trow." + +"How came the animal there, Dugald?" demanded Walter quickly. + +"If by your question, how the animal came there, you would ask what +road he took, Sir Knight," replied Dugald, "I must tell you that the +man that could answer you would need to deal with the devil, for no +one but the foul fiend himself could follow the Priest of Dalestie; +for, unless he be most wickedly belied, his ways follow those of the +Evil One, as much as our good father, Peter of Dounan, is known to +travel in the path of his blessed Master." + +"Nay, but I would know from thee, in plain terms, where thou judgest +that the rider of the horse may be?" said Sir Walter, impatiently. + +"With your lady mother, the Lady Stradawn, I reckon," said Dugald, +sinking his voice to a half whisper. + +"Call her not my lady mother!" said Sir Walter, angrily, "my lady +step-mother, if thou wilt, or my step-mother without the lady, for +that, in truth, would better befit her, disgrace as she hath been and +still is to us all.--Here, undo this buckle!--But what, I pr'ythee, +hath she to do with the proud Priest of Dalestie, as thou hast so +well named him?" + +"Nay, nothing that I know of, Sir Walter, unless it be to confess her," +replied Dugald. + +"Why, the good old father, Peter of Dounan, was here but yesterday, +was he not?" exclaimed Sir Walter, "might he not have shriven her?" + +"Father Peter was here sure enough," replied Dugald, "but it would +seem that he is not to the lady's fancy." + +"Beshrew her fancy!" cried Sir Walter, bitterly,--"Where could she, +or any one, find a worthier confessor than Father Peter of Dounan? He +is, indeed, a good and godly man, and, frail as he is in body, we +know that he is always ready to run, as fast as his feeble limbs +can carry him, wherever his pious duties or his charities may call +him.--Moreover, he is at all times within reach, what need, then, +hath she to send so far a-field for one whose character is, by every +one's report, so very questionable--give me my hose and sandals, +Donald.--Now thou may'st go.--By the Rood, I like not that pestilent +and ill-famed fellow coming about our house! He hath more character +for arrogance, and self-indulgence as a glutton and a toss-pot, than +for sanctity.--It was an ill day for this country side when it was +disgraced by his coming into it." + +After muttering this last sentence to himself, Walter quickly +descended the narrow stair, and approached the door of the lady's +bower in another part of the building.--It was partially open.--He +tapped gently, and, no answer being returned, he pushed it up, and +great were his surprise and disgust at the scene which he beheld. The +Lady Stradawn was sitting, or rather reclining in her arm-chair, with a +pretty large round table before her, covered with good things.--A huge +venison pasty occupied the centre of it, and around it stood several +dishes, in no very regular order, containing different dainties. Two +well-used trenchers, showed that some one else had assisted her, in +producing the havoc that appeared to have been wrought in the pie, +and among the other viands--and a black-jack half full of ale--and a +tall silver stoup, which, though now empty, still gave forth a potent +odour of the spiced wine which it had contained--together with two +mazers of the same metal, which bore the marks of having been used in +the drinking of it, proved that the guest, who had just left the lady, +must have been a noble auxiliary in this revel, which, judging from +the fact of an over-turned drinking horn that lay on the floor, and +one or two other circumstances that appeared, must have been a merry +one. The deep sleep in which the lady lay, and her flushed countenance, +left no doubt in Sir Walter's mind that she had enjoyed a full share +of this private banquet. By the time he had leisure to make himself +fully aware of all these particulars, the lady's bower-woman appeared +at the chamber door. She started, and would have retreated--but Sir +Walter seized her by the wrist, and adroitly put a question to her +before she had time to recover from her confusion. + +"When did the priest of Dalestie go forth from hence, Jessy?" demanded +he. + +"I have just come from seeing him to horse, Sir Knight," said the +woman, trembling. + +"Well, Jessy, thou mayest go; I would speak with thy mistress in +private," said Sir Walter, seeing her out, and shutting the chamber +door; and then, turning to the Lady Stradawn, and shaking her arm till +he had awakened her. "Madam," said he, "what unseemly sight is this?" + +"Sis--sis--sis--sight, Sir Priest?" replied the lady, with her eyes +goggling; "sis--sight! What mean ye, Sir Priest? he! he! he!" + +"Holy Saint Andrew grant me temper!" said Sir Walter. "Madam, Sir +Allan waits for thee to give him his evening meal: he is impatient. Sir +Allan, I say!" + +"Tut! hang Sir Allan," cried the lady, still unconscious as to whom +she was addressing, and taking him by the arm; "hang Sir Allan, as +thou thyself saidst but now, thou most merry conditioned mettlesome, +Sir Priest. He! he! he! Hang the old stobber-chops, and let's be +jolly while we can. Come; sit down--sit down, I say. You need not go +yet. Did I not tell thee that Jessy keeps the door?" + +"I am not the priest, vile woman!" cried Sir Walter, with indignation, +whilst, at the same time, he shook her off with a force and rudeness +that seemed almost to bring her back to her senses. "Did'st thou not +now, alas! alas! to our shame, most unworthily fill that place once +occupied by my sainted mother, and that thine exposure would prove but +the greater dishonour to our house, by the holy Rood, I would call up +every thing that hath life within these walls, down to the very cat, +that all eyes might behold thy disgrace, and then should'st thou +be trundled forth, and rolled into the river, that the fishes might +gorge themselves on thine obscene carcase!" + +Bursting from the apartment, Walter hastily sought the hall; and +the evening meal having been by this time spread, he called to the +retainers to be seated, and hastened to busy himself in attending +to his father, in supplying him with the food prepared for him, and +with such little matters as he knew the old man most liked--feeding +him from time to time like a child. + +"Aye, aye, that's good," said old Sir Walter. "Thanks, thanks, +my boy; you are a good boy. But where is Bella? where is the Lady +Stradawn? Och hey, that's good,--but she is often away now; seldom +it is, I am sure, that I see her. Aye, aye, Walter, boy, that is +good--that is very good." + +When his father was satisfied, Walter seated himself at the board, and +ate and drank largely, from very vexation and ire, and in order to keep +down the storm of rage which was secretly working within him. This, as +well as the cause of it, he privately determined to conceal, even from +his brother Patrick, with whom he had been, upon all other occasions, +accustomed to share his inmost thoughts. For the rest of the night he +sat gloomy and abstracted, and at an earlier hour than usual he hurried +off to his chamber. There, having summoned his attendant, Dugald Roy, +he questioned him more particularly as to all he knew regarding the +visits of the Priest of Dalestie to Drummin, and having then dismissed +him, with strict injunctions to maintain a prudent silence, he threw +himself into bed, to pass a restless and perturbed night. + +The next morning saw the Lady Stradawn glide into the hall, to preside +over the morning meal, gaily dressed, and covered as usual with chains, +brooches, and rings of massive worth, which she procured no one knew +how. Her countenance beamed with her wonted smiles, as if nothing +wrong had happened, or could have happened on her part. Walter and +Patrick saluted her with that cold yet civil deference, which they had +always been in the habit of using towards her, as the wife of their +father, and in which Walter took care that neither his brother, nor +any one else, should perceive any shadow of change upon the present +occasion. The manner of her salutation was as blythe, kind, free, +and unconcerned as it ever was before. + +"Wicked rogue, Walter, that thou art!" said she in a tone of merry +railery, "fie for shame on thee! to steal into thy lady mother's +bower to catch her asleep in her arm-chair! In sooth I was not +altogether well last night, else had I joined thee at the festive +board, to rejoice with thee over the spoils of that grim gaffer wolf, +whom they tell me thou hast so nobly slain." + +"Thou did'st indeed seem somewhat indisposed, madam," said Sir Walter +with a peculiarly significant emphasis, and with a penetrating look +which she alone could understand. + +"I was very much indisposed as you say, Walter," replied she, as if +quite unconscious that he had intended to convey to her any covered +meaning; "that foolish old woman, Nancy, the miller's wife, took it +into her wise head to come a plaguing me, to reckon with her about +the kain fowls she had paid into the castle since last quarter-day; +and she talks--Holy Virgin, how the woman does talk!" + +"Truly the woman does talk marvellously," replied Walter, biting his +nether lip to keep down his vexation. + +"As thou say'st, son Walter, she does e'en talk most marvellously. Her +tongue seems to have learned the art of wagging from the clapper of +old John's mill. I protest I would as lieve sit listening to the one +as to the other. My head aches still with the noise of her clatter." + +"I wonder not indeed that thy head should ache," replied Sir Walter. + +"And then, forsooth, I behoved to call up meat for the greedy cummer," +continued the lady,--"Holy Mother, how the woman did swallow the +eatables and drinkables!" + +"She must have swallowed enough of both sorts," said Sir Walter, +with a meaning in his mode of speaking, that he began to suspect he +might have made almost too plainly marked; and, hastening to change +the subject, "Madam," continued he, "I fear you have forgotten Sir +Allan this morning." + +"Holy Saints, but so I have!" cried she, starting up from her +seat,--"what have I been thinking of? My poor Sir Allan!" continued +she, as she hastened to him with a covered silver dish, that contained +the minced food the old man was wont to take; and, after making of +him, with all the fuss and phrase she would have used to an infant, +she put a napkin around his neck, and proceeded to feed him. + +"Where is Murdoch this morning?" demanded Patrick of his brother. + +"I know not," replied Walter, as he sat musing with a clouded brow. + +"He was not at supper last night," observed Patrick again; "nay, +I know not that I have seen him for these three days bypast." + +"He was not at supper," said Sir Walter, still absorbed by his own +thoughts. + +"Murdoch is an idle good-for-nothing," said the Lady Stradawn, joining +in the conversation, from the place where she stood by the side of +Sir Allan's chair. "Though he be mine own son, I will say that for +him, that it would be well for him to take a pattern by his elder +brothers, and be killing wolves, or doing some such useful work, +and not be staying out whole days and nights this way, at weddings +and merry-makings, without ever showing us his face. I wish you would +give him a good word of your brotherly advice, my dear son Walter." + +"Chut!--tut!" cried old Sir Allan,--"let the boy alone!--aye, +aye--let the boy alone. The lad is young.--I was a wild slip myself +once in a day--that I was. But old age will creep on--hech sirs!--aye, +aye--what days I have seen!--Och, hey!" + +"Here, take this, my dear Sir Allan," said the lady,--"take this, +dearest--'tis the last spoonful." + +"Where art thou going, brother?" said Patrick, rising to follow his +brother Sir Walter, who had left the table, and was moving towards +the door. + +"Up the glen to look for a deer," replied Walter. + +"Then have with thee brother," said Patrick. + +Sir Walter would have fain shaken himself free from his brother, for +that morning at least; but he felt that he could not do so without +a certain appearance of unkindness, which the warm affection that +subsisted between them could not allow him to use, or that otherwise, +he must have given him an explanation, which he was conscious that +he could not have given him, consistently with those designs which +he then privately cherished in his bosom. He was therefore compelled +silently to assent to his accompanying him. They both accordingly +assumed that humble garb, which they usually wore when bent upon the +pursuit of the deer,--in which, but for their carriage and bearing, +they might easily have been mistaken for the humblest of their party, +and, after such preparation, they sallied forth. + +They were hardly gone, when the Lady Stradawn, leaving the old Sir +Allan to entertain himself with his own dreamy musings and vacant +thoughts, climbed to the bartizan of the tower to look out for her son, +Murdoch. It was yet early in the morning--but as her two step-sons +had a walk of a good many miles before them, ere they could reach +the place where they proposed hunting, they and their people were +seen toiling up the valley, at a pace which corresponded with the +violence of those feelings which then possessed Sir Walter, who was +stretching away at the head of the party. + +"Curses on ye both!" cried the lady, with intense bitterness, after +having followed them with her malignant eyes, till they had wound out +of sight behind a projecting spur of a wooded mountain that flanked +the valley.--"Curses!--black and withering curses on ye both, vile +spawn that ye are, that stand between my boy and his prospects!--I +fear that Walter--my especial curse upon him!--for, with all his fair +words, he is stern and ferocious as a wild cat when he is roused.--But, +wild cat though he be, the wily viper may yet wind its folds silently +around him, and sting him to the death ere he may have time to unglove +his claws.--What can make my darling boy tarry so long.--He has now +been absent for more than three days.--Much as he hath enriched me +with money and jewels, I like not the risk he runs.--But he will not +be forbidden.--Nature works in him, and perhaps it is as well that he +should thus render himself hardy, seeing that he must one day--aye, +and that soon too, if I have any cunning left in me--command the proud +Clan-Allan. Stay, did I not see tartans yonder, and arms glittering in +yon farther lawnde, in the vale below, beyond those nearer woods? That +must surely be Murdoch and his men. The foolish boy will not surely +bring them within nearer ken of the Castle? Ha!--I see one figure +separate from the rest, whilst the main body seems to take to the +woods on the hill-side. In sooth, there is no prudence lacking in +the youth, nay, nor any cunning neither, as I well know, from the +trouble it hath cost me to lull his suspicions regarding the Priest of +Dalestie. But if Murdoch hath cunning, he hath it from me, his mother; +and it will be hard indeed if mine cannot match it. Ah!--there he +already bursts from the wood--I must hasten to meet him in my bower, +that I may learn what luck he hath had." + +The lady hurried down to her bower--quickly found some errand on which +to despatch her woman--and then she sat waiting impatiently, turning +over the bunch of antique keys which hung at her girdle, until she +heard her son's step in the passage, and his gentle tap at her door. + +"Come in!" said the Lady Stradawn in a subdued voice--"come in, +my son!" + +"Ha!--I am glad that thou art here and alone, mother," said Murdoch, +a slim, handsome, dark-eyed youth, who, after cautiously entering, +shut the door behind him, and carefully turned the huge key that +locked it. "I am glad that you are here alone, for I have such treasure +for you." + +"Hush, hush, my darling," said the lady, almost in a whisper--"speak +lower, I entreat you, lest any eaves-dropper should hear +you.--Quick!--how sped ye?--and what have you got?" + +"We have been all the way to Banff again this time," replied +Murdoch. "Seeing that we sped so well the last time we made thither, +as thou well knowest we did, we thought we should try our luck there +once more. We heard that there was a market in the Brugh, and we +sent a clever-witted spy among the packmen, to gather who among them +might be best worth holding talk with. Two of them we learned were to +travel together for company's sake,--fellows who dealt in goldsmiths' +work. But, marry! they travelled not far from the town-end till we +met them, when, like good-natured civil fellows, we eased them of +their heavy loads, under which they seemed to sweat so grievously; +and that they might not trouble us here, and at the same time being +loth to part two such friends, we set them both a travelling together +on a journey to the next world." + +"Speak not of the next world, Murdoch!" said the lady, shuddering. "But +they were sickerly sent thither, said'st thou?" + +"As surely as we shall one day go there ourselves, good mother," +replied Murdoch. + +"Speak not of our going there, boy," said the lady. "'Tis time enough +yet. But there is little crime I wot, after all, in ridding this +world of such cheating gangerels as those you tell me of." + +"Crime!" replied Murdoch, "Why, mother, there is an absolute virtue in +such a deed. Have we not put an end to their rapacity and knavery? And +have we not thereby saved many a foolish maiden from being cheated +by them? By Saint Nicholas, but the doer of so good a deed deserves +to be canonized!" + +"But come, boy, thy treasure," said the greedy and impatient +dame. "Quick,--what hast thou got to show me? Haste thee to feast +mine eyes with the spoil of these miscreants." + +"In the first place, then," said Murdoch, "as at a feast we should +always begin with the solids,--here is a small bag of broad pieces, +which might well satisfy many a hungry man. Secondly, here are +your curious cates and delicacies, enow to bedizen out a dozen +of lordlings' daughters!--See what a chain!--how exquisite the +workmanship!--Behold these rings,--see what sparkling gems! Every one +of them set, too, most rarely in a different fashion! Here is one, +for example, which would seem to have a curious posey in it; some +ready-made love verse, I suppose. Let me see,--'Feare God and doe no +evyle,'--eh! ha!--that--that is a good advice, which the last owner, +as I take it, was too great a knave to profit by; but you and I, +mother dear----" + +"Have done with thy foolery, Murdoch," said the lady, impatiently; +"have done with thy foolery, and give me thy booty, without farther +nonsense. Now, leave me for a while, and go talk with the old man, +whilst I bestow the treasure in a place of safety. Thou knowest it +will all go to deck thy bride, when thou canst find one." + +"Leave me alone for that, mother," said Murdoch, significantly. "I +promise thee, I have mine eye on a good man's daughter, whom I shall +have by foul or by fair means ere I die. But that is a secret I shall +keep to myself till the time comes; so good day, good mother." + +"What can he mean?" said the Lady Stradawn, after he was gone. "But +'tis nothing, after all, but his wild talk. No, no; I must have my +say with him when it comes to that!" + +Now that the lady found herself alone, she doubly locked and bolted the +door. She then spread the gold and the jewels on the table before her, +and glutted her eyes for a time with the glittering sight. Applying +her keys to a cabinet which stood against the wall, she opened the +leaves of it, and so exposed the front of a set of secret drawers, +shallower above and deeper below. Selecting other keys from the bunch, +she began to open and to examine the drawers, one by one, from above +downwards--her eyes successively surveying the riches they contained, +whilst, with scrupulous attention, she from time to time selected +articles from among the spoils on the table, and deposited them among +the rest, as fancy led her to sort and arrange them, carefully locking +each drawer ere she proceeded to open the next; and thus she went on +until she found that she had disposed of the whole of the trinkets. + +"'Twas no great things, after all," said she, musing; "I wonder when +they will go forth again? But let me count the money.--Aye, that is +pretty well; and yet it might have been more for the death of two +men. But there are other two men I know of, whose lives would be +worth more!--Hush!--did I not hear a noise?--Quick--let me huddle +the gold into this drawer in the cabinet, where I bestowed the +broad pieces in the hurry I was taken with when the Priest came in +last night.--What!--nothing there!--Ha!--can the man who--can the +villain have robbed me?--Yes; it could have been no one else.--I +see clearly how it was. He asked me for money--I gave him two pieces +from that very drawer. His greedy eyes saw what it contained, and, +whilst my back was turned, he must have cleverly helped himself to +the whole. It could have been nobody else, because I well remember +that I carefully closed the leaves of the cabinet, locked them, and +put the keys into my iron strong-box, before I called Jessy to bring +the refreshments.--What a consummate knave!--But what could I expect +better of such a reprobate--a priest who glories as he does in his +wickedness? It would have been well perhaps for me that I had never +seen him.--And yet--But his share of his crime is his own.--Wretch that +he is, he might have had it all for the asking.--Weak woman that I am, +I could have refused him nothing.--Well, I must e'en let it pass, and +be more careful again.--But I shall look better after this bag of broad +pieces. It shall be added to the heap I have here," continued she, +unlocking a drawer of deeper and larger dimensions. "Aye!" said she, +eyeing the treasure it contained with avaricious delight,--"that is all +safe; go thou, then, to increase the store, and may my darling boy soon +fetch me other bags to bear these company in this their prison-house!" + +I must now return to the two brothers. Walter, who usually directed +every thing in all their expeditions, never halted until he found +himself far up on these very mountains now before us. He sought for +deer, it is true; but, whilst he did so, or rather, whilst he allowed +his brother and his people to do so, his mind seemed to be occupied +with something else than hunting. It was towards evening, when he +and the rest of the party were still tracking their way through +the forest without success, when, they at last found themselves in +that part of it, which then covered the hill that hangs over the +haugh of Dalestie, some miles above this. Partial breaks among the +trees there gave Sir Walter, now and then, a view downwards into +the valley below; and, as he walked and ruminated within himself, +as if oppressed with some weighty matter, his secret musings were +suddenly broken by the distant toll of the bell of a small chapel, +which, if I am rightly informed, then stood near the bottom of the +hill. The sound came mellowed over the intervening woods, and Sir +Walter started as it reached his ear. He became deeply moved; but +his emotion was not like that movement of piety which the note of the +church-going bell should awaken. It more resembled that, which, when +the hoarse trumpet has sounded, or the shrill pipes have struck up, +I have myself seen convert the godlike countenance of man into that +of a demon. Sir Walter Stewart stamped upon the ground. + +"Dugald!" cried he aloud; "What ho, Dugald Roy, I say. Does that bell +call to evening mass?" + +"It does, Sir Knight," replied Dugald. + +"Then get thee down through the wood," said Sir Walter; "get thee +down through the wood ere it hath ceased to sound, and tell the proud +priest of Dalestie that I, Walter Stewart of Clan-Allan, am upon the +hill, and that, if he dares to mumble a word, yea, or a syllable, +before I come, his life shall pay for it." + +"Stay, stay," cried Patrick Stewart, eagerly; "stay him, dear +brother! What sudden fit is this that hath seized thee? A priest!--how +canst thou think of sending such a message as this to a priest?" + +"Dugald Roy, begone, and obey thy master's bidding!" cried Sir Walter, +sternly. "Brother, I forgive thee this thine interference, though +I cannot allow myself to be swayed by it. Trust me, I have mine own +good reasons for so acting, though this be no fitting time for making +thee aware of them." + +Patrick, whom affection, as well as habit had long disposed to show +implicit deference and obedience to his brother Walter's will, said +no more, but followed his solemn footsteps down the mountain path +that led to the chapel. They had not gone half the way till the bell +had ceased to toll. And they had not gone two-thirds of the way till +Dugald Roy met them. + +"Thou hast not sped on thine errand, then?" said Sir Walter, with +an expression in which more of satisfaction than of disappointment +might have been read. "Speak, Dugald; how did the arrogant caitiff +receive my message?" + +"Since I must say it, Sir Knight," replied Dugald, with some +hesitation,--"he received it very scurvily.--'Tell the proud Stewart,' +said he, 'that though he may be lord of the land, I am the king as +well as the priest in mine own chapel.'--And so he straightway began +the holy service, but rather, methought, as if he had been dighting +himself for single combat, than for prayer, and in a manner altogether +so irreverent, that the few people who were there, with faces full +of dismay, quietly arose and left the chapel, as if some wicked thing +had ta'en up the priest's surplice in mockery." + +"By the Rood, but they were right if they so thought!" cried Sir +Walter, quickening his pace--"He is a vile obscene wolf that hath +crept like a thief into the fold.--But I'll speak to him anon." + +The rate at which Sir Walter now strode down the hill, kept his +astonished brother Patrick, and the whole party at their full bent. The +trees grew thinner as they came nearer the level valley, and by and +bye they ceased altogether, so that a full view was obtained of the +haugh at the bottom. There the Priest of Dalestie was seen leaving +the chapel to go homewards. + +"There he goes!" cried Sir Walter--"there he goes stalking along with +an air and a gait, that might better befit a proud prince of the earth, +than Heaven's humble messenger of peace, as his profession ought to +have made him.--What, ho, Sir Priest!--I would speak with thee." + +The Priest started--looked suddenly back--halted, and drew himself +up--then turned again, and moved a few paces slowly onwards, as if +irresolute what he should do.--Again he halted, and again he moved on, +whilst Sir Walter's footsteps were hurrying fast up to him.--At length, +he seemed to have made up his mind to abide that parley which he now +saw he could not escape, and, turning sharp round to face the Stewart, +he planted himself firmly in the way before him. + +"What would'st thou with me, Sir Knight?" demanded he, in a haughty +and determined tone.--"After the rude and unwonted message which +thou hast just dared to send to me, a holy minister of the Church, +methinks that thou canst dare to approach me now, for no other purpose, +than to sue penitently for pardon and absolution at my hands." + +"A holy minister of the Church!" exclaimed Sir Walter.--"A minister +of the holy Church, if thou wilt--but thyself most unholy.--My sins, +God pardon me!--are many.--But albeit that I am at all times ready +to kneel in confession, and in humble penitence, before that true and +godly servant of Christ, the good and pious father, Peter of Dounan, +or any other such as he, I will never bend the knee before one, whose +wickedness has been the dishonour and reproach of the district, ever +since it hath been cursed with his presence, and who yet profanely +dares most impiously to approach the holy altar." + +"Brother! brother Walter!" cried Patrick Stewart, endeavouring to +moderate Sir Walter's growing ire; "what madness is this! Think of +the sacred character he wears, however little common fame may give +him credit for supporting it. Think how----" + +"Silence, I say, Patrick!" cried Sir Walter, in an authoritative tone, +which he had never before assumed to his brother. "Again I say, thou +knowest not the secret reasons which move me at this moment. That +foul swine, whose sensual snout hath been in every man's dish, and +who hath uprooted that very vineyard which hath been confided to his +care, must be forthwith cast out. He must be no longer permitted to +live. Seize him and bind him!" + +"Lay not a hand on me, good sirs, if you would avoid the thunders and +excommunications of the Church," cried the priest, now no longer proud, +but trembling, and in an humble tone. + +"Seize him and bind him, I say," cried Sir Walter. "If there be any +one man among the Clan-Allan here--if there be one Clan-Allan Stewart, +I say, who in his conscience believes that he doth not deserve to die +by fire, that man hath my leave to sit apart, and bear no faggot to +the pile that is to consume him. Who among you is there that doth not +know his misdeeds? Not a man answers. Then is he condemned by all. Let +each man, then, get him to the wood, and bring a faggot of the driest +fuel, and let him forthwith be brent, and his ashes scattered to the +winds, so that the earth may be no longer polluted with his carcase, +and that even the very memory of him may perish!" + +"Brother, brother!" cried Patrick Stewart, in a tone of entreaty; +"do not bring upon yourself the terrors of the Church. His fame, +indeed, is none of the best; but, whatever be his sins, bethink thee +that 'twere better to let him be tried by that sacred tribunal to +which he is naturally amenable." + +"By the holy Rood, which this traitor to his crucified Master has +so wickedly profaned, he shall not live an hour," cried Sir Walter, +rising in his rage. "I am but the executioner of God's justice on him; +and he shall die, be the consequences what they may. See!--see how +busily the fellows toil! Their hearts are in the work. The labour is +a pleasure to them. Not a man hath stood aloof from it, far less hath +any one dared to speak in his cause. Why, then shouldst thou speak +brother Patrick? Though thou knowest not all, thou knowest quite +enough to know that he hath well earned the fate I have awarded +him. But though thou art ignorant of all that now impelleth me, I +tell thee that I have enough to satisfy bishop or pope, if need were, +that I am now doing the Church good service. But, be that as it may, +I trust the time will never come when the chieftain of Clan-Allan +shall not dare to deal with all within the bounds of Stradawn, +whether churchman or layman, as his pleasure may dictate. Ha! see, +the pile is already heaped high, and now they are preparing to set +fire to it; that shows no want of good will; and see, of their own +accord, they prepare to drag him to it!" + +"Then, brother, though I am the younger, I must needs interfere," +cried Patrick Stewart, rushing forward to throw himself between the +men of the clan, and their terrified victim; "such a deed as this +must never be done by thee, my brother." + +"Patrick, dispute not mine authority," cried Sir Walter, his rage now +beginning to get the better of him; "my father's weakness hath made +me thy chieftain. Stand back I tell thee! Stand back! place thyself +not between me and my just vengeance, or even the name of brother +shall not hinder me from dashing thee to the ground." + +"Nay, stand you back!" cried Patrick, covering the priest with +his body, whilst the clansmen retreated from the prisoner at his +word. "Walter, I would save this wretched man for another and a calmer +tribunal; and, in thus saving him, I would save thee, my brother, +from----" + +"Stand from before his polluted carcase!" cried Sir Walter, collaring +Patrick, and casting him from him with a force that threw him several +yards away from the spot where they were contending, and prostrated +him headlong on the ground. "Now, Clan-Allan! now do your duty to +your chieftain! I'll see that my sentence--aye, and your sentence, +is duly carried through!" + +"Mercy, most noble knight!" cried the wretched man, as they dragged +him along to the pile, deadly pale, and quailing with fear--his pride +all gone, and the terrors of a horrible death upon him. "Mercy! O +spare me! spare me, most noble Sir Walter Stewart! I confess that I +have deeply sinned against you and yours; I confess that----" + +"Silence, caitiff!" cried the stern Sir Walter, loudly and +hastily interrupting him; "I am no priest--I want none of thy +confessions. Confess thyself inwardly to thine outraged Maker. Thou +shalt have time for that. Down on thy knees! confess thy sins in +secret to Him, and pray to Him for mercy in the next world, for here +all laws, human and divine, tell me that thou shouldst have none; +and thou shalt have none from me." + +The miserable wretch, trembling, haggard, and conscience-stricken, +knelt down at a short distance from the great heap of dry and decayed +timber which they had prepared. By this time it was lighted, and it +soon began to blaze up so high as widely to illuminate the broad faces +of the wooded hills on both sides of the valley, arousing them from +that gloom which had been already gradually deepening over them into +shadow, since the sinking of the sun. Neither his countenance nor his +eyes were directed heavenwards; yet his lips moved, more like those +of some one uttering an incantation, than of a penitent seeking of +Heaven to be shriven of his sins. Full time was allowed him. But the +stern Sir Walter Stewart stood over him, as if jealous lest his fears +or his agony of mind, might goad him on to utter some secret aloud +before the clansmen, which he wished to see consumed, and for ever +annihilated with all that was mortal of him who held it. And when +he thought that he had given the wretched man enough of licence, he +waved his hand--turned himself aside for a moment--heard one piercing +shriek--and when he looked again the myriads of brilliant sparks that +were rising into the air from the fall of a heavy body among the fuel, +sufficiently proved to him, that the miserable object of his wrath +had been thrown into the very midst of the burning heap. Another, and +a fainter cry, made Sir Walter again turn involuntarily towards the +pile. There the head appeared, with the face contorted with torment, +and fearfully illuminated. The body reared itself up for a moment, +as if by one last struggling effort of life, and these half-stifled +words were dolefully heard,-- + +"Walter Stewart!--THY GRAVE IS NEAR!" + +The Clan-Allan men stood appalled. Again the figure sank. More broken +and decayed wood was thrown on the pile, and they continued to heap it +up until all signs of a human form were obliterated. Then it was that +Sir Walter, calling his followers into a ring around him, swore them +solemnly, on their chieftain's sword, to eternal secrecy; and then, +sick at the thought of the work they had done, chieftain and clansmen +slowly, and silently, left the place and began to wend their way down +the glen. Sir Walter thought of his brother Patrick as he went--he +halted, and blew that bugle sound, which was well known as a private +signal between them. But there was no note of reply. Taking it for +granted, therefore, that the stern act of justice, which circumstances +had compelled him to see done on the Priest, had been too much for the +sensitive mind of Patrick even to contemplate, and that, therefore, +he had hurried away to avoid witnessing the horrible spectacle, +Sir Walter pensively and moodily moved homewards. + +But the cause of the muteness of Patrick Stewart's bugle, was very +different from that which his brother believed it to be. At the +time that he had been dragged from before the Priest, and thrown so +violently to a distance, Sir Walter had been too much excited by rage +to notice how he fell, or indeed whether he fell at all. Nor in the +fearful work in which they were all so intently, and with so much +good will engaged, did any of the Stewarts of Clan-Allan once think +of him more. Had Sir Walter known that his beloved brother had been +stretched bleeding, and senseless, on the ground, by his rash hand, +and that he was now leaving him to perish without help, his mind, +during his homeward journey, would have been even less tranquil than +his reflections on the past event permitted it to be. The truth was, +that Patrick Stewart's bonnet, having been driven off by the furious +force with which Sir Walter had hurled him from him, his unprotected +head came into contact with a large stone, that projected out of the +surface of the meadow-sward, with a sharp point, from which he received +so severe a cut, and so rude a shock, that he never moved after it, +but lay there as if he had been dead, in the midst of a pool of blood +that flowed from the wound. How long he had remained in this situation, +he had no means of guessing, but when his senses returned to him, +he found himself seated, with his back leaning against the trunk of +a great tree, near a fountain that welled out from the side of the +hill. By the blaze of a bit of moss fir that a man held in his hand, +he perceived that there were several people around him, who seemed +to be busied in administering to him. One especially was anxiously +supporting his head, staunching the blood that was still discharging +itself from the cut in his temple, and holding a cup to his lips. + +"How fares it with thee now?" enquired this person eagerly; "how +fares it with thee, my dear friend?" + +"Arthur Forbes of Curgarf!" said Patrick faintly. + +"Holy St. Macher be praised that thine eyes are opened, and that I +once more hear thy voice!" cried Arthur Forbes, "I had mine own fears +that thou wert done for. What, in the name of all that is marvellous, +hath befallen thee? Hast thou chanced to come into the hands of the +Catteranes, who are said to harbour sometimes among these mountains?" + +"Where am I?" said Patrick, turning his eyes around him, his brain +still swimming in confusion. "Ah! that fire yonder!" + +"Aye, that fire!" said Arthur Forbes eagerly, "what knowest thou of +that fire?" + +"Nay nothing," replied Patrick shuddering. + +"By the Rood, but it brent boldly when we first saw it from the far +hill-side yonder," said Arthur, "though it hath now fallen somewhat +lower. Knowest thou at all who kindled it? We heard a bugle blast +come faintly up from the bottom of the valley, as we came first within +sight of it." + +"It was not burning when I fell," replied Patrick guardedly. + +"How did you fall, I pray you?" demanded Arthur Forbes. + +"As I was hurrying through the haugh," replied Patrick, "my foot +tripped in the twilight against something in the grass, and I was +thrown forward, with so much force, that it is no wonder I was +stunned." + +"Your head must have struck upon some sharp stone," said Arthur Forbes, +"that gash in your temple is a very ugly one, and it still bleeds +considerably. Let me bathe it for you." + +"The ice-cold water is most reviving to me," said Patrick, sitting up; +"I am much better now. I think I am almost strong enough to walk." + +"Shall we help thee down to the Priest's house?" demanded Arthur; +"that, as thou knowest, is the nearest dwelling." + +"The Priest's house!" said Patrick, with an expression of horror +which he could not restrain. + +"Nay 'tis no wonder that thou should'st shudder at the very mention +of that reprobate," said Arthur Forbes; "he is a scandal to the very +name of Priest." + +"I would rather go anywhere than to the Priest's house," said Patrick +Stewart. + +"Nay," said Arthur Forbes, "it is a thousand to one that we should +find him abroad on some of his unseemly nocturnal pranks; but you +might at least repose thee for a time in his dwelling." + +"I should find no repose under the Priest's roof," said Patrick Stewart +quickly. "I would rather try to make the best of my way to Drummin." + +"Thou shalt never essay to go to Drummin to-night," said Arthur +Forbes. "And, now I think on't, why should you not go over the hill +with me to Curgarf? My sturdy fellows there shall carry you. And then, +when you are there you know," continued he, sinking his voice to a +whisper into Patrick's ear, "my sister Kate shall nurse thee." + +"Your proposal is life to me," replied Patrick, in the same tone. "I +gladly accept your kind offer. But as to loading your poor men with +the weight of my carcase, there will be no occasion for that. Now +that my head is bound up, I feel quite strong, and I know I shall +get better every step of the hill I travel." + +"I thought that Kate's very name would be a potent balsam for thy +wound," whispered Arthur Forbes again. "Thou wilt be better in the +hands of Kate, my friend, than in those of the Catteranes. Lucky +was it for thee, truly, that those knaves did not find thee in thy +swoon. They were the people, no doubt, who kindled yon rousing fire, +from which they were probably driven away by our first appearance on +the hill. Thou wert lying scarcely half a cross-bow shot from the +very spot where they must have been making merry, and if they had +but stumbled on thee by accident, their cure for thy wound would have +been a dirk-point. Holy Saint Michael, what an escape thou hast made!" + +The way to Curgarf was long and tiresome enough, for they had to cross +over the very summit of the mountain-ridge--that, I mean, which now +divides us from the water of Don. But Patrick Stewart bore the fatigue +of the walk better than any one could have expected, and there was no +doubt that the prospect of seeing Catherine Forbes very much improved +his animal powers. He was already known to his friend's father, +who received him hospitably, though rather haughtily. The old Lord +of Curgarf's coldness of carriage towards him was to be attributed +to the suspicion he entertained of that which was in reality true, +that a secret attachment existed between Patrick Stewart and his +only daughter Catherine. This he did not wish to encourage for many +reasons. The Clan-Allan Stewarts--to say nothing of what he considered +their questionable origin--were a new race in the neighbouring strath; +and although he had never been actually at war with them, there had +yet been many petty grievances and heart-burnings between them and +his people. These had not in the least shaken the friendship that had +accidentally arisen, during their boyhood, between Patrick Stewart and +Arthur Forbes; and you all know, gentlemen, that the affections of a +woman's heart are but little swayed by any such circumstances. The +bonny blue eyes of Catherine Forbes sparkled, and her bosom heaved +with delight, when she saw Patrick Stewart enter the hall of Curgarf, +though she was compelled to keep down her emotions, and to receive +him as a mere acquaintance. Certain stolen glances did, however, pass +between them; and when Arthur mentioned the accident which had led +to his bringing his friend to the castle, and made him exhibit his +wound, Catherine had an opportunity of giving way, in some degree, +to her feelings, without the risk of being chargeable with any thing +more than that compassion naturally to be expected from a lady, even +towards a perfect stranger, who came under such circumstances. Patrick +was by this time satisfied that the wound was of no great moment. But +his love for Catherine, and the opportunity which it thus happily +afforded him of being under the same roof with her, made him very +cautious in contending that it was not severe, and he had no objection +to admit, when he was much pressed, that the pain he suffered from +the contusion which his head had received, was very considerable. + +Patrick retired to his chamber that night, his mind filled with the +lovely image of Catherine Forbes, his eyes having done little else, +during the evening meal, than carefully to collect and treasure +every minute beauty of her fair countenance, and graceful person, +so as to deepen the lines of that portrait of her which had been for +some time engraven on his heart. But fond as he was of dwelling upon +so much loved an object, he felt it difficult to keep possession +of her image, or to prevent it from being driven from his memory, +by the frequent recurrence of that horrible scene, of which he had +witnessed so much, previous to his being rendered unconscious, as well +as to overcome the distressing recollection of his brother Walter's +violence towards himself, and he found it a very difficult matter, to +control his mind so far, as to prevent his imagination from sketching +out the revolting circumstances of the catastrophe that followed, +with a degree of detail, and in colours, scarcely less appalling than +those of the dreadful reality. + +Patrick was next morning blessed with a short private interview with +Catherine Forbes. It was short indeed, but it was long enough to +give time for the ingenuity of lovers to arrange a plan for a more +satisfactory meeting. It was agreed between them, that they should +separately steal out in the evening, to a grove of ancient pine +trees near the Castle, where, if I mistake not, they had met with +one another before, with the sanction of Arthur Forbes. There they +hoped for leisure and privacy enough to enable them more fully to +open their hearts to each other, and to talk of their future hopes +and fears. Contented with this arrangement, Patrick submitted to the +confinement which was imposed upon him in his character of an invalid, +and spent the day in basking silently in the sunshine of his lady's +eyes, in conversing with his friend Arthur as the confidant of their +loves, and in doing all that in him lay to thaw the icy politeness of +the old Lord of Curgarf. An earnest desire to make one's self agreeable +to another, will generally succeed, in some degree, in the long run; +but Patrick's success with the old Lord was much beyond what he could +have believed or expected. + +"Truly thou art a pretty fellow, Patrick!" said Arthur Forbes jocularly +to him, at the first private moment which he chanced to catch. "Judging +by the proximity of the place where you were found lying last night, +to the fire which had been kindled by the Catteranes, there can be no +doubt that you must have fallen among thieves. This being the case, +I, like the good Samaritan, pick thee up by the wayside, bring thee +here in thy wretchedness, pour wine and oil into thy wounds, and see +thee well fed and lodged; and how dost thou repay me, I prythee? Why, +not contented with carrying off my poor love-sick sister's heart, +thou art likely to run away with the old man's too." + +"I rejoice to hear that I have any such chance," replied Patrick; +"I had feared that thy father's coldness towards me was invincible." + +"Nay, promise me not to interfere with my birthright, by taking away +half my father's lands with Kate, and I will tell thee what he said +of thee but half an hour ago." + +"I should be too happy to have thy treasure of a sister, with nothing +but the sandals her fair feet tread on," said Patrick, with enthusiasm. + +"Tush, man!" replied Arthur Forbes, "be assured thou shalt have +her some day or other; aye, and a bit of land, and some good purses +of broad pieces with her to boot. But hear what the Lord of Curgarf +said,--'Arthur, do you know that friend of thine hath a mighty pleasant +manner with him; yea, and his discourse is more worth listening to than +a young man's talk usually is: moreover, he hath a certain noble air +withal. I remember that, when I was a child, I was once taken to visit +the old Earl of Athol. His appearance made so strong an impression on +me, that I think I see him yet, and that Patrick Stewart is the very +image of his progenitor.' There is for you, my gallant friend! As to +finding thee agreeable, I marvel not much at that; for other people, +both men and women too, have been before him in making that wonderful +discovery; and then, seeing that thou didst listen so well to his talk, +and agree with him in every thing he propounded, his finding that +your conversation was good was all natural enough. But to discover +that you bore so strong a resemblance to the old Earl of Athol--the +person whom he is ever ready to cite as the pattern of every thing +that was graceful and pleasing in days long gone by, and now never +to be matched again--ha! that was something indeed to give thee a +great stride into the citadel of his affection." + +"Be the breach through which I may be allowed to march in thither, +produced how it may," said Patrick Stewart, "I am not sorry at thine +intelligence. But, much as I love the good Lord of Curgarf's converse, +I must freely tell thee that I would fain slip away from it, for +some half hour or so, before supper to-night, unperceived by him, to +exchange it for that of thy sweet sister. We have not had above five +words of private conference together since I entered the Castle. So +pray have the charity to keep thy worthy father in talk, while the +Lady Catherine and I are out, for a brief space, on an evening walk." + +"A pretty use thou wouldst put me to, truly!" said Arthur Forbes, +laughing. "But to pleasure thee, thou shalt be obeyed." + +The lovers waited with no little impatience for the hour which was +to yield them the desired meeting. When it at length arrived, they +stole out at different moments, and went by different ways to the +trysting spot. No one but a lover can fully estimate the delight of +such a stolen interview as this was. They felt it deeply; and the +only difficulty they had was in estimating the lapse of time. The +surly toned bell, that pealed from the tower of the Castle at some +distance, warned them to separate, ere, by their calculation, they +had been more than a few short minutes together. + +"Must we then part so soon?" said Patrick, fondly. "How swiftly the +moments have flown!" + +"I dare not tarry one instant longer," said the Lady Catherine; +"my father, you well know,----" + +"Alas! I do know," interrupted Patrick; "yet have I now some hopes +of working my way into his good favour. But I shall tell you more of +this anon. We shall meet again to-morrow night, shall we not?" + +"Yes, yes!" replied Catherine, hurriedly. + +"At the same hour and place?" said Patrick. "Alas! till then I must +be contented with such converse with thee as our eyes may yield us: +and blessings on thine for the intelligence they convey to me." + +"I hope my father may not be able to read them so readily," replied +Catherine. "But I must go now." + +"Stay for one moment, my sweetest heart," said Patrick. "Ere you go, +let me fix thine arryssade more firmly over thy bosom." And, as he +said so, he took from his sporran a golden brooch, formed of two +entwined hearts, set with garnets. "Wear this trifle for my sake over +thy heart. And now may I say, what I dare not utter in thy father's +hall--Farewell, my love--my dearest Catherine!" + +"Farewell! farewell! my dearest Patrick!" replied she, with a throbbing +heart. "I shall never part with this thy gift whilst life or sense +endures; and I shall wear it ever thus, as thou sayest, over this +heart, which beats but for thee alone." + +Thus they at last parted, with lingering reluctance; and each took +a different and circuitous way to return to the Castle. + +As Patrick entered the hall, a significant nod passed between him +and Arthur Forbes. Soon afterwards, the retainers came crowding in, +and the evening meal was placed on the board by the serving men. The +piper had played his accustomed number of turns upon his walk, in the +open gallery over the court-yard. All were ready to sit down. But +there was one most important personage wanting; I mean, the fair +Lady Catherine Forbes. The fashion of the house, as well as of all +well fashioned houses of the time, forbade their sitting down till +the lady appeared. The Lord of Curgarf grew impatient. + +"Go!" said he at length to one of the attendants; "go, and send some +of the women to knock at the Lady Catherine's chamber door, to tell +her that supper is served, and that we wait for her presence." + +Again the company remained standing for some time. The old Lord of +Curgarf arose from his arm chair, and took two or three turns on the +large hearth before the fire place. Meanwhile, Arthur Forbes stole +an enquiring glance at Patrick Stewart, but could gather nothing in +reply. At length the Lady Catherine's bower woman entered the hall, +pale and trembling. + +"What wouldst thou say, girl?" cried the Lord of Curgarf. "What of +my daughter? Thy looks are ominous! She is not ill?" + +"No, my Lord," replied the girl, "my Lady is not ill; that is, she +was quite well little more than an hour ago--but--but----" + +"But what?" cried Arthur Forbes, anxiously; "cannot the girl speak +out?" + +"Tempted by the balmy evening," replied the girl, "my Lady threw +her arryssade about her, and walked forth beyond the castle walls, +as her custom sometimes is, to breathe the air a little while." + +"Run!--fly all of you!--take lights, and search for her every +where!" cried the Lord of Curgarf. "How provoking this is! How often +have I tried in vain to cure her of this most foolish and pernicious +custom! And then to go without an attendant too! and beyond the +walls!--how very imprudent!" + +The two friends were among the first to hurry out, in obedience to +these orders from the old man. Both were extremely agitated; and, so +far as this example went, it would have been difficult to have, from +it, determined the question whether the affection of a loving brother +or a tender lover, should be accounted the greater. Arthur Forbes was +eager for some explanation from Patrick Stewart as to what he knew of +the Lady Catherine. But, alas! Patrick could give him no information +beyond that which I have already detailed to you. Leaving the crowd +of the retainers to examine every hole and corner, bush and brake, +immediately around the castle walls, Arthur and Patrick, from their +knowledge of circumstances, pushed their search farther; and as they +secretly knew the way that Catherine had taken from the pine grove +homewards, they looked diligently for her all along the path. Of her, +or any thing belonging to her, they discovered nothing. But at last, in +one place, where the path ran through a thicket, where the ground was +soft, they were struck with the appearance of numerous newly impressed +prints of footsteps. On examining these more closely by means of a +torch, they observed, among those of many a rude brogue and sandal, +mixed and mingled together, and pointing in all directions, as if those +who wore them had been engaged in hurried action--among all these, +I say, they observed one tiny and delicate footprint, which was here +and there perceptible, and which Patrick Stewart at once declared, +could have belonged to no one but to the Lady Catherine Forbes.--Wild +with dread and alarm, they returned to the castle. On questioning the +warder, he admitted that he did remember having heard something like a +woman's shriek, that came faintly from some distance in the direction +of the thicket, but as it was immediately drowned by the first drone of +the piper's warning, and had been heard by him no more, it had passed +away altogether from his thoughts. Not a doubt now remained in their +minds, that the Lady Catherine had been carried off by some villains, +who had been lurking about the castle. The old Lord of Curgarf was +inconsolable.--He was quite unmanned, and unable to give an order +as to what should be done. His son Arthur, the Master of Forbes, +lost no time in acting for him.--The retainers were hastily armed, +and commanded to prepare for instant pursuit; and, being divided, +at Patrick Stewart's request, into two bands, the friends determined +each to take the command of one of them,--and accordingly, with such +hasty refreshments as the men could snatch, and carry with them, they +took leave of one another, and started off, each upon such a line of +country as he, in his quickly summoned forethought, judged to be the +most likely to bring his expedition to a successful termination. + +As we have already learned from the conversation of the Master of +Forbes, when he first met Patrick Stewart after the accident which +befell him near Dalestie, it was pretty generally known in the country, +at this time, that a gang of Catteranes, or free-booters, from the +west, were occasionally harboured somewhere among the neighbouring +mountains, but no one could precisely tell whereabouts they most +commonly secreted themselves. On this point, however, Patrick Stewart +had some general suspicions, though he knew nothing that could lead +him to guess--even within miles--as to the exact spot where their +lurking place might be.--He took his way directly over the mountain +that separates the upper part of the river Don from the Aven, and +he descended towards the valley of the latter stream, through that +precipitous ravine, that affords a course for the little tributary +burn of Cuachan-Seirceag, down the face of the white cliffs that +almost overhang the small house of Inchvory, which, if we be all +spared gentlemen, we shall see this night before we sleep. There is +not a tree there now; but, at that period, the ravine was thickly +shaded by such timber as could find footing, or nourishment among +the rocks, and it therefore formed a good and well-known place of +shelter. Having fixed on it as the point of rendezvous, Patrick took +his way up the valley of the Aven for some little distance, and then, +dividing his people into two parties, he sent one of them off by +the pass leading in the direction of Loch Builg, whilst he continued +to lead the other up that which is more properly called Glen Aven, +by the Lynn of Aven, where the river throws itself over the rocks +in a fine wild fall. Having then ascended the mountains, he began, +by break of day, to march, and countermarch, over and across them, +visiting, and carefully examining every retired nook or corner that +he thought might be the least likely to be chosen, by such villains, +as a hiding-place, until mid-day came without bringing him the least +clue to the object of his search. Then it was that he unwillingly +halted his party in a hollow by the side of a spring, that the poor +fellows might refresh themselves with food, and rest for a time. + + + + + + + + +THE SERJEANT HALTED FOR REFRESHMENT. + + +Clifford.--(Interrupting the Serjeant.)--Gentlemen, I beg to remark, +that I think it would be quite proper that we should refresh ourselves +with food, whilst Mr. Patrick Stewart and his party are engaged in +doing so. We shall thus save time, as must be self-evident to all, +seeing that the action of the story is thus brought, for a little +while, to a state of repose. Of bodily rest we have had enough, +in all conscience--thanks to the length of Mister Archy's yarn. + +Grant.--I beg to second the motion of our worthy secretary, which, +in my mind, is most sensible. + +Clifford.--Methinks, then, that a slice or two from that cold round +of beef, which I saw so carefully bestowed in the right hand pannier +on the pony's back, would come well in as an episode to Serjeant +Stewart's story. Here Davy, untruss, if you please. + +Grant.--Spread the cloth before us here on the grass, and then lay +out the eatables. + +Clifford.--Now, methinks, we can more readily sympathise with Patrick +Stewart and his people at their luncheon. But come, Davy; we must +have something potable too. + +Author.--Bring us one of those bottles from the pannier on the other +side of the pony. + +Clifford.--Aye, that's right; something to wash the dust out of the +serjeant's throat would considerably improve his voice. What say you +to my prescription, Archy? + +Serjeant.--Troth, sir, you're an excellent doctor. Well, here's +wishing all your good healths, gentlemen! + +Author.--By the way, Clifford, how many trouts have you caught? + +Clifford.--None of your jokes, my good friend. Why, you know very well +that I have never made a single cast. Before I had time to give one +throw over the stream, Archy hooked me here with the thread of his +discourse, and here he has been reeling me out such a line, that I +can plainly see it will be some time ere he can wind it up again so +as to land me. Fish!--no, no, I may as well put up my rod at once, +that we may all hear his Legend quietly to an end. + +Author.--I think so, indeed. + +Grant.--Well Archy, when you think that your Patrick Stewart and his +party have had their luncheon, and that you have satisfied your own +hunger and thirst, we shall all be ready to listen to you. + +Serjeant.--I am well served now, sir, and quite ready to proceed. + +Clifford.--Spin away then, my gay fellow. + + + + + + + + +LEGEND OF THE CLAN-ALLAN STEWARTS CONTINUED. + + +With a view of multiplying the chances which might still remain of +effecting the anxious object of his expedition, Patrick Stewart +had no sooner started again from the heather where they had been +seated, than he subdivided his party into several sections, under +certain intelligent leaders, and having given to each of them such +instructions as he deemed necessary for their guidance, he sent them +off in different directions, with orders to meet together again, +by nightfall, at the ravine of Cuachan-Seirceag. There they were +all to wait till he should join them, unless in the event of the +Lady Catherine being recovered by any of them, in which case they +were to proceed in a body, without tarrying, to carry her straight to +Curgarf, leaving one of their number behind them to certify him of the +agreeable intelligence. For his own part, he took with him a single +attendant only, one of the Curgarf retainers, called Michael Forbes, +with whose superior sagacity and activity, some former circumstances +had led him to be more particularly acquainted. + +After all the others had left them, Patrick and his companion began a +most particular and persevering search through the forest, and among +the mountains, of that part of the country which he had especially +marked out and reserved for himself, leaving no spot unexplored +that had any thing the least suspicious connected with it. But the +wilderness through which they wandered was so wide, and, in many +places, so very thickly wooded, that they might have been employed +for days in the same way, without his being one whit nearer his +object. It is not wonderful, then, that the evening began to manifest +its approach, whilst he was yet actively engaged in laborious travel, +yet still he bore on with unremitting exertion, altogether unconscious +of the wane of day. + +The wild scenery by which he was surrounded was beginning to grow dim +in the increasing obscurity, when he arrived at the edge of a deep +corry or ravine, in the steeply inclined side of a mountain. It was a +place, of the existence of which, neither he nor his companion had ever +been aware, well as they were both acquainted with the mountains. The +precise position of it has been long ago forgotten; and indeed, if it +could be guessed at, it is probably now so altered, and blocked up, +by the fall of the mountain masses from time to time, as to be no +longer in such a state as might admit of its being identified. But it +was one of those rugged places of which there are plenty of examples +among these mountains. The elevation on the mountain side was not +greater than to have allowed Nature, at that time, to have carried the +forest partially up around it, and the wood, that in a great measure +concealed it, was chiefly composed of the mountain pine. The trees, +which were seen struggling against the wintry tempests that prevailed +around the summits of the cliffs above, appeared twisted and stunted, +yet they grew thickly and sturdily together, as if resolved, like +bold Highlanders in possession of a dangerous post, to put shoulder to +shoulder for the determined purpose of maintaining their position, in +defiance of the raging elements. Their foliage was shorn, not thinned +by the blast. On the contrary, it was thickened by it, from that very +clipping to which the storms so continually subjected it, so that the +shade which was formed by their tops overhead, was thereby rendered +just so much the more dense and impenetrable. The narrow and inclined +bottom of the immense gully below, was composed of enormous fragments, +which had been wedged out by time and frosts from the faces of the +overhanging crags, and piled one over the other to an unknown depth, +whilst the ground, that sloped rapidly down into it, from the lower +part of the abrupt faces of the precipices on either side, was covered +with smaller and lighter materials of the same sort, mingled with a +certain proportion of soil. There some scattered trees had been enabled +to grow to a huge size, from the uninterrupted shelter which the place +afforded; but whilst few of these had altogether escaped injury and +mutilation from the frequent descent of the stony masses, many of them +had been entirely uprooted and overturned, by the immense magnitude +of some of those falling rocks which had swept down upon them, and +there lay their enormous trunks, resting upon their larger limbs, or +upon one another, the whole being tossed and tumbled together in most +intricate confusion, so as to cover the rocky fragments beneath them, +with one continued and almost impervious natural chevaux-de-frize. + +Patrick Stewart halted behind the bole of a tree, and, resting +against it, so as to enable him to lean forward over the precipice, +he surveyed the gulf below, as accurately as the evening twilight, +and the intervening obstacles permitted him to do. He and Michael +Forbes then stole slowly and silently along the very verge of it, +in that direction that lay down the mountain side, using their eyes +sharply and earnestly as they went, and peering anxiously everywhere, +with the hope of discovering some track which might tend downwards +into the ravine. While so occupied, Patrick became suddenly sensible +of the fresh smell of wood smoke. From the manner in which it was +necessarily diffused, by the multiplied network of boughs through +which it had to ascend, he looked for it in vain for some time, +till he accidentally observed one or two bright fiery sparks mount +upwards from below, such as may be often seen to arise from a cottage +chimney top, when new fuel has been thrown upon the fire by the +people within. Marking, with great attention, the spot whence these +had proceeded, he commenced a more narrow examination of the edge +of the ravine, until he at length discovered a perforation in the +brushwood, so small, that it might have been easily mistaken for the +avenue leading to the den of some wild beast, but which, a closer +inspection persuaded him, might have been used by human creatures, +there being quite enough of room for one man at a time to creep +through it in a stooping posture. At all events he was resolved to +explore it, and accordingly, having first stationed his attendant, +Michael Forbes, in a concealed place, near to its entrance, that he +might watch and give him warning if any one approached from without, +he bent himself down, and began his strange and hazardous enterprise. + +Creeping along, with his bonnet off, and almost on his hands and +knees, he found that the track, which inclined gently at first over +the rounded edge of the ravine, became, as he proceeded, nearly as +steep as an upright ladder, but it was less encumbered with branches +than the first part of the way had been, though there was still enough +of growth to aid him in his descent, and to take away all appearance +of danger. It went diagonally down the face of the cliff, dropping +from one narrow ledge of footing in the rock, to that beneath it, +with considerable intervals between each. But to one accustomed, +as Patrick Stewart was, to scramble like a goat, the difficulties +it presented were as nothing. All his anxiety and care was exerted +to guard, if possible, against surprise, as well as against making +any noise that might betray his approach, to any one who might be +harboured in the ravine below. + +Having at last got to the foot of the precipice, he found it somewhat +easier to descend the rugged slope that inclined downwards from its +base, and, upon reaching the bottom, he discovered that the track +continued to lead onwards under the arched limbs of an overthrown +pine, the smaller branches and spray of which, appeared, on a minute +examination, to have been evidently broken away by frequent passage +through underneath it. This circumstance he had some difficulty in +discovering, as the increasing darkness was rendered deeper here, by +the overhanging shade of the rocks and trees high above him. Bending +beneath the boughs of the fir, he advanced with yet greater caution, +and with some difficulty, over the rugged and angular fragments, +until he suddenly observed something, that made it prudent for him +to halt for a moment, that he might well consider his position. This +abrupt stop was occasioned by his observing a faint gleam of light, +that partially illumined the broad side, and moss-grown edge, of +a large mass of stone, a little way in advance of the place where +he then was. He hardly breathed, and he tried to listen--and, for a +moment, he fancied he heard a murmur like that of human voices. Again +he stretched his ear, and again he felt persuaded that he heard the +sound of the voices coming hollow on his ear, as if from some cavity, +somewhere below the surface, at a little distance beyond him. Resolving +at last to proceed, he moved on gently, and upon a nearer approach to +the great stone, on the broad edge of which the light fell, he found +that it formed one side of a natural entrance to a passage, that led +upwards under the enormous superincumbent masses, that had been piled +up over it, in their fall from the shattered crags above. Pausing +again for a moment, he drew himself up behind a projecting part of +another huge stone, that formed the dark side of the entrance, that +he might again listen. He was now certain that he distinctly heard +voices proceeding from within, though he was not yet near enough to +the speakers to be able to make out their words. The smell of the +wood smoke was exceedingly powerful, and his heart began to beat high, +for he was now convinced that his adventure was drawing to a crisis. + +He plucked forth his dirk, and stooped to enter the place. He found +the passage to be low, narrow, gently ascending, and running somewhat +in an oblique direction, from the illuminated stone at the mouth, for +a few paces inwards, till it met with another block of great size. The +edges of this block glowed with a brighter light, that seemed to come +directly upon it, at a right angle, from some fire, not then visible, +but which was evidently blazing within, and which was again reflected +from the side of this stone towards that of the stone at the entrance. + +Having crept onwards to this second fragment of rock, where the passage +took its new direction, he discovered that it led into a large, and +very irregularly-shaped chamber, which was within a few feet only of +the spot which he had now reached, but he had no accurate means of +judging of the full extent of the cavern. He could now see the rousing +fire that was burning in a recess, in the side of the rocky wall of the +place, the smoke from which seemed to find its way upwards, through +some natural crevice immediately over it, for the interior of this +subterranean den was by no means obscured by any great accumulation +of it. By the light of the fire, one or two dark holes were seen, +apparently forming low passages of connection with other chambers. How +many living beings the place might then contain, he had no means of +knowing or guessing. All that came within the field of his vision +were two persons, which he supposed were those whose voices he had +heard. One of these was a slim youth, who was employed in feeding +the fire from time to time with pieces of rotten wood and branches, +and in attending to a large pot, that hung over it by an iron chain, +depending from a strong hook fastened in the rock above. But the youth +and his occupations were altogether disregarded by Patrick Stewart, +in the intense interest and delight which he experienced in beholding +the Lady Catherine Forbes, the fair object of his toilsome search, +who sat pensively and in tears, on a bundle of heather on the farther +side of the fire. + +You will easily believe, gentlemen, that it was difficult for him to +subdue his impatient feelings, so far as to restrain himself from +at once rushing forward to snatch her to his arms. But prudence +whispered him that her safety might depend on the caution he should +use. Ignorant as he was of the extent of the subterranean den, +or how it might be tenanted, he felt the necessity of exerting his +self-command, and to remain quietly where he was for a little time, +until he might be enabled to form some judgment, from what he should +see and hear, as to the probable force he should have to contend with, +as well as to determine what might be his best plan of action. + +"If thou wouldst but listen to my entreaty," said Catherine Forbes, +addressing the youth in an earnest tone of supplication, whilst +the tears that ran down her cheeks roused Patrick's feelings to an +agonizing pitch of intensity--"If thou wouldst but fly with me, and +take me to Curgarf, my father would give thee gold enough to enrich +thee and thine for all thy life." + +"I tell thee again that it is useless to talk of it, lady," replied +the youth. "I have already told thee that I pity thee, but it were +more than my life were worth to do as thou wouldst have me. And what +is gold, I pray thee, compared to such a risk?" + +"Methinks that, once out amidst these wide hills and forests, the +risk would be but small indeed," said Catherine. + +"That is all true," replied the youth. "The hills and forests are wide; +but the men of the band well know every nook and turn of them. Nay, +they are every where, and come pop upon one at the very time when they +are least looked for. Holy Virgin, an' we were to meet any of them as +we fled!--My head sits uneasily on my neck at the very thought!--By +the Rood, but there would be a speedy divorce between them! and where +would your gold be then, lady?" + +"Then let me go try to explore mine own way without thee," said the +Lady Catherine. + +"Talk not of it, lady," replied the youth, impatiently. "My head would +go for it, I tell thee.--It would go the moment they should return and +find that thou hadst escaped. They may be already near at hand, too, +if I mistake not the time of evening. Therefore, teaze me no more, +I pray thee." + +"Spirits of mine ancestors, give me strength and boldness!" cried the +Lady Catherine, starting up energetically, after a moment's pause, +during which she seemed to have taken her resolution, and assuming +a commanding attitude and air as she spoke.--"Let me pass, young +man!--give me way, I say!--or I will struggle with thee to the death, +but I will force a passage!" + +"I have a sharp argument against that," said the youth, drawing his +dirk, and planting himself in the gap before her.--"Stand back!--or +thou shalt have every inch of its blade." + +"Out of the way, vermin!" cried Patrick Stewart, no longer able to +contain his rage, and dashing down the youth before him as he entered. + +"Patrick!--my dear Patrick!" cried the Lady Catherine, flying into +his arms with a scream of joy. + +"My dearest, dearest Catherine!" said Patrick, fondly--"this is indeed +to be rewarded!--Wretch!" cried he, grappling the youth by the throat, +and putting the point of his dirk to his breast, as he was in the act +of rising from the ground, apparently with the intention of making +his escape--"Wretch! our safety requires thy death." + +"Oh, do not kill me, good Sir Knight!" cried the terrified youth +piteously, and with a countenance as pale as a corpse. + +"Spare him!--spare him!" cried Catherine,--"his worthless life is +unworthy of thy blade." + +"Oh, mercy, mercy!" cried the youth again.--"Spare me!--spare me!--oh, +do not kill me!" + +"If I did kill thee, it would be no more than what thou hast well +merited," said Patrick.--"But, as thou sayest, Catherine, my love, +such worthless blood should never wantonly soil the steel of a brave +man; and if I could but make him secure by any other means, I should +be better contented." + +"Bind me, if thou wilt, Sir Knight; but, oh, do not!--do not kill +me!" cried the youth. + +"Well then, I will spare thy life, though I half question the wisdom +of so doing," said Patrick. + +Casting his eyes around the cave, he espied some ropes lying in a +dark corner. Catherine flew and brought them to him. He seized them, +and quickly bound the youth neck and heel, in such a manner as to make +it quite impossible for him to move body or limb, and then, lifting +him in his arms, he groped his way with him into the farther end of +one of those dark recesses that branched off from the main cavern, +and there he deposited him. + +"Now, let us fly, my love!" cried he, hastily returning to the Lady +Catherine. "Every moment we tarry here is fraught with danger.--Follow +me quickly!--I grieve to think of the fatigue you must undergo. But +cheer up, and trust for your defence, from all danger, to this good +arm of mine. Above all things, be silent." + +"With thee as my protector I am strong and bold," said +Catherine. "Thanks be to the Virgin for this deliverance!" + +Patrick now led the Lady Catherine forth into the open air. But +before he ventured to proceed, he listened for a moment to ascertain +that there was no one near. To his great horror, and to the lady's +death-like alarm, they distinctly heard a footstep slowly and +cautiously approaching. Pushing Catherine gently behind the dark mass +of stone at the entrance, he placed himself before her in the shadow, +that, whilst concealed by it himself, he might have a perfect view of +whosoever came, the moment the person should advance into the light, +that was reflected on the wall-like side of the rocky mass opposite to +him, and fell on the ground for a little space beyond it. He listened, +with attention so breathless, that he seemed to hear every beat of his +own heart, as well as of that of his trembling companion. The footstep +was that of one person only, and he felt as if his resolution was +quite equal to an encounter with a dozen; but he knew not how many +might be following, and he was fully conscious of the importance, +as regarded the lady, of avoiding a conflict, unless rendered +indispensable by circumstances. The step came on, falling gently, +at intervals of several moments, as if the individual who approached +was unwilling to make the least unnecessary noise. The dim figure +of a man at length appeared, under the arched boughs of the fallen +pine tree. He advanced, step by step, with increased caution. A dirk +blade, which he held forward in his outstretched hand, first caught the +stream of reflected light that came from the mouth of the cavern. The +next step that the figure took brought his face under its influence; +and, to the great relief of Patrick Stewart, displayed the features of +Michael Forbes. Patrick gave a low whistle. Michael had at that moment +stopped to listen, with a strange expression of dread and horror, to +the complaints of the youth who was bound in the innermost recesses of +the cavern, whence they came, reduced by its sinuosities, into a low +wild moaning sound, that had something supernatural in it, so as to be +quite enough to appal any superstitious mind. The whistle startled him. + +"Michael!" said Patrick in a low tone of voice, "why did'st thou +desert thy post?" + +"Holy virgin, is that you, Sir Knight?" said Michael, in a voice +which seemed to convey a doubt whether he was not holding converse +with a spirit. + +"What could make you desert your post?" demanded Patrick, angrily, +and at the same time showing himself. + +"Holy saints, I am glad that it is really you, Sir Knight," replied +Michael. "I crave your pardon, but your long delay led me to fear +that something had befallen you, and that you might lack mine aid." + +"Had an accident befallen me, Michael," said Patrick, "thine aid, +I fear, would have been of little avail. But we have lost much time +by this thy neglect of mine orders. Quick! let us lose no more, +and give me thy best help to aid thy mistress, the Lady Catherine." + +"The Virgin be praised!" exclaimed Michael, as Catherine appeared; +"then the lady is safe!" + +"But so for only," replied Patrick Stewart. "We have yet much peril +to encounter; but our perils are increased every precious moment +that we loiter here. Get thee on quickly before us to the top of the +path where it quits the ravine,--the spot, I mean, where I left thee, +and see that you be sure to give me good warning, shouldst thou see +or hear any thing to cause alarm." + +Michael obeyed; and Patrick, having led Catherine out from under +the boughs of the fallen pine, began to assist her in ascending the +path. He had some difficulty in dragging her up the wild-cat's ladder +that scaled the side of the cliff; but, by the assistance of his +strongly nerved arm, she reached the summit without danger. She then +forced her way through the narrow passage in the brushwood that grew +over the top of the crags, until she had at length the satisfaction +of being able to stand erect, to receive the cooling mountain breeze +on her flushed cheek and throbbing temples. But this was no place +for them to rest. Patrick whistled softly, and Michael appeared. + +"Catherine, my love," said he, "this is no time for ceremony. Give +one arm to Michael, and put the other firmly into mine--so. Now take +the best care you can of your footing, and lean well upon me as we go +down the mountain side. Oh, how I long to talk to thee! But, dearest, +we must be silent as death, for we know not whom we may meet." + +After a long, rough, and slippery descent, they came at length into +a narrow glen, where the trees grew taller and farther apart from +each other. This was so far fortunate for them; for as the shadows +of night became deeper here than they had been on the mountain side, +they were compelled to move slower; and it required all the care of +the Lady Catherine's supporters, to save her from the injuries she +might have sustained from the numerous fallen branches, and other +obstacles lying in their way. + +They had nearly reached the lower extremity of this lesser tributary +glen, where it discharged a small rill into the wider glen and stream +of the Aven, when Patrick Stewart suddenly halted. + +"Stop!" cried he; "I hear voices on the breeze, and they come this way +too. We must up the bank, Michael. Courage, my dearest Catherine! let +me help thee to climb. Trust me love, thou hast nothing to fear." + +"I fear nothing whilst thou art by my side," replied Catherine, +exerting herself to the utmost. + +"Now," said Patrick, after they had half carried her some +thirty or forty paces up the steep slope; "we have time to go no +farther. Hark! they come! Stretch thyself at length among this +long heather, Catherine, and let me throw my plaid over thee. Nay, +now I think on't, Michael's green one is better, the red of mine +might be more visible. There; that will do. Now, Michael, draw thy +good claymore, as I do mine. Here are two thick trunks which stand +well placed in front of us. Do thou take thy stand behind that one, +whilst I post myself behind this, so that both of us may be between +the lady and danger. They cannot come at her but by passing between +us. And if they do! But see that thou dost not strike till I give +thee the word. Hush! they come!" + +They had hardly thus disposed of themselves, when the voices drew +nearer, and the dusky figures were obscurely seen moving up the bottom +of the little glen. They came loitering on, one after another, in +what we of the army used to call Indian files,--man following man +along the track, where they knew that the footing was likely to be +the best. This plan of march necessarily made them longer of passing +by, but it relieved those who were lurking in the bank above from any +great fear of being discovered by any stray straggler. Two individuals +of the party, who had probably some sort of command over the rest, +were considerably in advance. These lingered on their way, and halted +more than once to give time for those that followed to come up, so +that Patrick Stewart caught a sentence or two of the conversation +that fell from them. + +"He must be as cunning as the devil," said one of them to the other, +in Gaelic. + +"Thou knowest that she has not yet seen his face," replied the other; +"so that, when he comes to act the part of her deliverer, she will +never suspect that it was to him she was indebted for her unwilling +travel last night, and her present confinement. And then, you see, he +thinks, in this way, to make his own, both of her and her old father, +by his pretended gallantry in rescuing her from----" + +Patrick Stewart in vain stretched his ears to catch more, for on came +the rest in closer lines, gabbling together so loudly about trifles, +and with voices so commingled, that it was not possible to gather +the least sense out of their talk. These all passed onwards; and, a +little way behind them, came four other men, who walked very slowly, +and stopped occasionally to converse in Gaelic, like people, who +were so travel-worn, that they were not sorry to halt now and then, +and to rest against a tree for a few moments. + +"What made Grigor Beg stop behind Allister?" demanded one. + +"Hoo! you may well guess it was nothing but his old trick," replied +the other. "The boddoch would have fain had me to tarry for him, that +I might help him, by carrying a part of what load he might get. But +I was no such fool. My shoulders ache enough already with carrying +the rough rungs of that accursed litter last night, to let me wish +for any new burden." + +"If thou hadst not been carrying the bonny lassie for another's +pleasure, methinks you would maybe have thought less of it," said a +third man. + +Whilst attentively listening to this dialogue, Patrick Stewart +observed some ill-defined object, coming stealing up the slope of +the bank, in a diagonal line, from the place a little way down the +glen, where the four men had halted. It came on noiselessly, but +steadily pointing towards the spot where Catherine lay. It stopped, +and uttered a short bark, and Patrick now saw that it was a large, +rough, Highland wolf-dog. Again, with its long snout directed towards +the plaid that covered Catherine, it barked and snarled. + +"Dermot, boy!--Dermot!"--cried one of the men from the hollow +below.--"What hast thou got there?" + +As if encouraged by its master's voice, the animal barked and +snarled again yet more eagerly, and seemed to be on the very eve of +springing upon the plaid. The blade of Patrick Stewart's claymore +made one swift circuit in the air, and, descending like a flash of +lightning on the neck of the creature, his head and his body rolled +asunder into different parts of the heather, and again Patrick took +his silent but determined stand behind the tree. + +"Dermot!--Dermot, boy!"--cried the man again from below.--"What think +ye is the beast at, lads?" + +"Some foulmart or badger it may be," replied another. + +"Can'st thou not go up and see, man?" said a third. + +"Go thyself, my good man," said the dog's master.--"I am fond enough +of the dog--aye, and, for that part, I am fond enough of travel too, +but I am content with my share of fagg for this day without going up +the brae there to seek for more. A man may e'en have his serving of +the best haggis that ever came out of a pot. Trust me, I am for going +no foot to-night beyond what I can help.--Dermot--Dermot, boy!--See +ye any thing of him at all, lads?" + +"The last sight that I had of him at all, was near yon dark looking +hillock, a good way up the bank yonder," said another man. + +"I'm thinking that the brute has winded a passing roebuck," said the +fourth man, "I thought I saw something like a glimmer just against +the light cloud yonder above, as if it had been the dog darting over +the height, the very moment after the last bark he gave." + +"Dermot! whif-hoo-if!" cried the dog's master, and, at the same time, +whistling shrilly upon his fingers. "Tut! the fiend catch him for +me! let him go! I'll be bound that he'll be home before us." + +"Come, then, let's on!" said another, "I wonder much that Grigor Beg +hath not come up with us ere this." + +"Hulloah, Grigor!" shouted one of them. "No, no, we'll not see him +so soon, I'll warrant ye." + +"Come! come away, lads!" said another, moving on with the rest +following him. "I'll be bound that the boddoch hath got a swingeing +load upon his back." + +"Awell!" said one of the first speakers, "rather him than me. But we +shan't be the worse of it when it's well broiled, for all that. I'm +sure I wish I had a bit of it at this moment, for I'm famishing. I'm +dead tired to-night; I hope that we may have some rest to-morrow. Know +ye aught that is to do?" + +"I heard the Captain say that"----but the rest of the dialogue was +cut off by the distance which the men had by this time reached. + +"Thanks be to St. Peter, they are gone at last!" said +Patrick Stewart. "How my fingers itched to have a cut at the +villains.--Catherine," continued he, lifting the plaid, and assisting +her to rise, "art thou not half dead with terror? But courage, my +love. There lies the murderous four-footed savage, whose fell fangs +had so nearly been busied with the plaid that covered thee. If we may +trust to what we have just heard, there is but one man to come; and, +judging by the name of Beg [3] which they gave him, he ought to be no +very formidable person. Michael, get thee on a few steps in front, and +keep a good look out for him. Were we but out of this narrow place, +and fairly into the wider glen of the Aven, we should have less to +fear, and then we shall find means to carry thee." + +"Thanks to the Virgin, I am yet strong," said Catherine. "Let us fly, +then, with all speed." + +A farther walk, of a few minutes only, brought them into Glen Aven, +and they pursued its downward course, for a considerable length of way, +until Patrick Stewart began to perceive something like fatigue in the +Lady Catherine's step. He therefore halted, and made her sit down to +rest a while. In the mean time, he and Michael Forbes contrived to hew +down two small sapling fir trees, by the aid of their good claymores, +and having tied their plaids between them, they, in this manner, +very speedily constructed a tolerably easy litter for the lady to +recline at length in. This they carried between them, by resting +the ends of the poles upon their shoulders, Patrick making Michael +Forbes go foremost, and reserving the place behind for himself. I need +hardly tell you that the Stewart especially selected that position, +for the obvious reason that he might be thereby enabled to cheer the +Lady Catherine's spirits, and to lighten her fatigues, by now and then +addressing a word or two of comfort to her as they went. In this manner +they pursued their way down the glen, until the loud roar of many +waters informed them that they were approaching the grand waterfall, +called the Lynn of Aven. You will have ample opportunity of becoming +intimately acquainted with all the details of this fine scene, +gentlemen, as you go up the glen to-morrow. But in the meanwhile, +I may tell you generally, that the whole of this large river, there +precipitates itself headlong, through a comparatively narrow chasm +in the rocks, into a long, wide, and extremely deep pool below. + +The sound increased as the bearers of the litter drew nearer to +the waterfall, and the rocky and confined passage, over which they +had to make their way, compelled them to walk at greater leisure, +and to select their footing with more caution. Fortunately they had +now the advantage of the moon, which had been for some time shining +favourably upon them, and they were already within a very few steps +of coming immediately over the waterfall, when they were suddenly +alarmed by a fearful and most unearthly shriek. It came apparently +from the very midst of the descending column of water below them. + +"Holy Virgin Mother!" cried Michael Forbes, halting, and backing like +a restive horse, so unexpectedly, that the ends of the poles were +nearly jerked from Patrick Stewart's shoulders, by the shock which +was thus communicated to them. "Holy Mother, didst thou not hear that, +Sir Knight?" + +"I did hear something," said Stewart, not quite willing to increase +that dread which he perceived was already quite sufficiently excited in +his companion, and of which he could not altogether divest himself. "I +did fancy that I heard something. But for the love of the Virgin +take care what thou dost. Thou hadst almost shaken the poles from my +shoulders by thy sudden start.--Come! proceed man!" + +Again, a louder, and more appalling shriek arose from the midst of +the cataract, piercing their ears above all the roaring of its thunder. + +"For the love of all the saints, let us turn back, Sir Knight!" cried +Michael. "It is the water-kelpie himself!" + +"Nay," said Patrick Stewart; "back we may not go, without the risk +of falling again into the very jaws of the Catteranes. They are no +doubt hard on foot after us by this time.--Forward then, and fear not!" + +Again came the wild shriek, if possible louder and more terrible +than before. + +"For the love of God, Sir Knight, back!" cried Michael, now losing +all command of himself, and forcing the litter so backwards upon +Patrick Stewart, as to compel him, from the narrowness of the rocky +shelf where they then stood, to retreat in a corresponding degree, +to avoid the certain alternative of being precipitated over the giddy +ledge into the boiling stream of the Aven. "For the love of God, back, +I say! were it but for a few paces, till we have leisure to lay down +our burden, and cross ourselves." + +"Merciful saints! what will become of us?" cried the Lady Catherine, +in great alarm. + +"Now," said Patrick Stewart, after yielding a few steps, "now, we +may surely halt here till thy courage return to thee, Michael. What +a fiend hath so unmanned thee to-night? I thought thou hadst been +brave as a lion." + +"A fiend indeed, Sir Knight," replied Michael, as they were laying down +the litter; "I trust that I lack not courage, at any time, to face any +mortal foe that ever came before me. But," added he, eagerly crossing +himself, "to meet with the devil thus in one's very path!--Good angels +be about us, heard ye not that scream again? Have mercy upon us all!" + +"There is something very strange in this," said Patrick Stewart. "But +this will never do. We cannot tarry here long without the certainty +of being overtaken by the whole body of the Catteranes. By this time +they must be well on their way in pursuit of us." + +"Holy Virgin! what will become of us if we should fall into their +hands?" cried the Lady Catherine, in an agony of distress. + +"Fear not, my love!" said Patrick Stewart; "I will forthwith fathom +this mystery. I will see whence these horrible screams proceed." + +"Nay, Sir Patrick, tempt not thy fate," cried Michael. "If thou dost, +thou goest to thy certain destruction." + +"Oh stir not, dear Patrick!" cried the Lady Catherine, starting up +from the litter, and endeavouring to detain him. "Do not attempt so +great, so dreadful a danger." + +"Catherine, my dearest!" said Patrick, fondly taking her hands in his; +"listen to reason, I entreat thee. The danger that presses on us from +behind is imminent, and more than what two swords, good as they may +be, could by any means save thee from. And since God hath given us +strength to flee from it, he will not forsake me in a conflict with +the powers of hell, should they stand in my way. I go forward in his +holy name, then; have no fear for me therefore. Rest thine arm upon +Michael, dearest--tell thy beads, and may the blessed Virgin hover +over thee to protect thee! As for you, Michael, draw your claymore, +and stir not a step from the lady till I call thee." + +Patrick Stewart now crossed himself, and then strode, slowly and +resolutely, along the narrow ledge of rock towards the roaring lynn, +repeating a paternoster as he went. The moon was by this time high +in the heavens, and its beams produced a faint tinge of the rainbow's +hues, as they played among the mists that arose from the waterfall. The +shrieks that came from below were now loud and incessant, and might +have quailed the stoutest heart. But still Patrick advanced firmly, +till he stood upon a shelving rock, forming the very verge of the +roaring cataract, whence he could throw his eyes directly downwards, +through the shooting foam, into the abyss below. Far down, in the +midst of the rising vapour, and apparently suspended in it, close +by the edge of the descending column of water, he could distinguish +a dark object. New and more piercing screams arose from it. He bent +forward, and looked yet more intently. To his no inconsiderable dismay, +he beheld a fearful head rear itself, as it were from out of it; the +long hair by which it was covered, and the immense beard that flowed +from the chin, hanging down, drenched by the surrounding moisture, +and the eyes glaring fearfully in the moonlight, whilst the terrific +screams were inconceivably augmented. Appalled as he was by this most +unaccountable apparition, Patrick was shifting his position, in order +to lean yet more forward, that he might the better contemplate it, +when the toe of his sandal grazed against something that had nearly +destroyed his equilibrium, and sent him headlong over the rock. Having, +with some difficulty, recovered himself, he stooped down to ascertain +what had tripped him, when he found, to his surprise, that it was a +rope. He now remembered, that the feudal tenant of the neighbouring +ground, who owed service to his father, Sir Allan, was accustomed +to hang a conical creel, or large rude basket, by the edge of the +fall, for the purpose of catching the salmon that fell into it, +after failing in their vain attempts to leap up. + +"Ho, there!" cried Patrick Stewart, in that voice of thunder, which +he required to exert in order to overcome the continuous roar of +the cataract. + +"Oh, help! help! help!" cried the fearful head from below. + +"Man or demon, I will see what thou art!" cried Patrick, stooping down +to lay hold of the rope, with the intention of making an attempt to +pull up the creel. + +"For the love of Saint Andrew, lay not a hand on the rope, Sir +Knight, as thou may'st value thy life!" said Michael Forbes, who, +having heard Patrick's loud shout, had been hurried off to his aid +by the fears and the commands of the Lady Catherine. + +"Why hast thou left the lady, caitiff?" demanded Patrick Stewart, +angrily. "Did I not tell thee to stay with her till I should call +thee?" + +"We heard thee call loudly, Sir Knight," replied Michael, trembling +more from his proximity to the place whence the screams had issued, +than from any thing that Patrick had said. + +"True, I had forgotten," replied Patrick; "I did call, though not +on thee. But since thou art here, come lend me thy hand to pull up +the basket." + +"Nay, Sir Knight; surely thou art demented by devilish influence. For +the love of all the saints!" cried Michael, quaking from head to foot; +"for the love of ----" + +"Dastard, obey my command, or I will hurl thee over the rock!" cried +Patrick furiously, and with a manner that showed Michael that it was +time to obey. "Now, pull--pull steadily and firmly; pull away, I say!" + +"Have mercy on us! have mercy on our souls!" cried Michael, pulling +most unwillingly. + +"What a fiend are you afraid of? Why don't you pull, I say?" cried +the Knight again. + +"Jesu Maria protect me! that I should have a hand in any such +work!" muttered Michael. "Oh holy Virgin! to have thus to deal with +the Devil himself!" + +"Come! pull!--pull away, I tell ye--pull! aye, there!" cried Patrick +Stewart, as the basket at last came to the top of the rock. + +"Preserve us all!" cried Michael; "the water-kelpie, sure enough! Mercy +on us, what a fearful red beard! what terrible fiery eyes! For the +love of heaven, Sir Knight, let him down again!" + +"Coward!" cried Patrick, "if you let go the rope, I'll massacre +thee! Now, do you hear? pull the creel well out this way.--Ha, that +will do!--Now I think it is safe." + +"Oh, may the blessed saints reward thee!" said a little shred of a man, +who now arose, shaking in a palsy of cold and wet, from the midst of +at least a dozen large salmon, with which the creel was heaped up; +"Thou hast saved me from the most dreadful of deaths." + +"How camest thou there?" demanded Patrick Stewart; "answer quickly, +for we are in haste." + +"Oh, I know not well how I got there," said the little man, shivering +so that he could hardly speak. "I stept aside from the path, just +to take a look down to see if there were any salmon in the creel, +when something took my foot, and over I went. Oh, what a providence +it was that ye came by! Another hour, and I must have been dead from +cold and wet, and buried in salmon, for they were flying in upon me +like so many swallows. I thought they would have choked me." + +"Here," said Patrick Stewart, taking out a flask, "take a sup of this +cordial; it will speedily restore thee." + +"Oh, blessings on thee, Sir Knight!" said the little man; "I will +drink thy health with good will. But tell me thy name, I pray thee, +that I may know, and never forget, who it was that saved my life." + +"I am Patrick Stewart of Clan-Allan," replied the knight +carelessly. "Come now, Michael, we must tarry here no longer." + +"Sure I am that I shall never forget the name of Sir Patrick Stewart," +said the little man, whilst he was following them along the narrow +path, as they retraced it towards the place where they had left the +Lady Catherine; "and if ever I can do thee a good turn I shall do it, +though it were by the sacrifice of my life." + +Catherine's fears were soon allayed by the explanation that was given +her. She was again put into the litter, which was quickly shouldered +by her protectors, the little man lending them a willing helping hand; +and Patrick and Michael proceeded on their way, whilst the half-drowned +wretch went up the glen, pouring out blessings upon them. Without fear +or interruption they now passed by the spot which had occasioned them +so much dread and delay, and they soon left the roar of the lynn behind +them, and at length reached the ravine of Cuachan Searceag, where, much +to their relief, they found the whole of the party anxiously waiting +for them. When the Forbeses beheld Patrick Stewart, and, above all, +when they beheld their young mistress, the daughter of their Chief, +safe and well among them, they rent the air with shouts of joy that +made the whole glen ring again. + +"Aye," said Patrick Stewart, as they sat down to rest a little while, +and to take some hasty refreshment, "We may now make what noise we +list, for, if the whole gang of these accursed Catteranes should +come upon us, we have brave hearts and keen claymores enow to meet +them. But, for all that, we have too precious a charge with us to +tarry for the mere pleasure of a conflict; so be stirring my men, +and let us breast the hill as fast as may be." + +You may all well enough guess, gentlemen, how Patrick Stewart +was received by the old Lord of Curgarf when he entered his hall, +leading in his fair daughter safe and sound. The joy of the father +was not the less, that his son, Arthur the Master of Forbes, had +returned but a brief space of time before, jaded, dispirited, and +sorrowful, from his long, tiresome, and fruitless expedition. Worn +with anxiety, the old man had counted watch after watch of the night, +and the day and the night again, until his son's arrival, and then +he had sunk into the most overwhelming despair. After pouring forth +thanks to Heaven, and to all the saints, he now gave way to his +joy. The midnight feast was spread, and all was revelry and gladness +in the castle. Patrick Stewart was now viewed by him as his guardian +angel. Seeing this, Arthur Forbes took an opportunity of advising his +friend to profit by the happy circumstance which had now placed him +so high in his father's good opinion. He did so--and the result was, +that he obtained the willing consent of the old Lord of Curgarf to +his union with his daughter, the Lady Catherine, with the promise of +a tocher which should be worthy of her. + +The happiness of the lovers was now complete, and the next day was +spent in open and unrestrained converse between them. The time was +fixed for the wedding, and then it was, after all these arrangements +had been made, that Patrick Stewart first had leisure fully to recall +to mind, all those afflicting circumstances which had taken place +when he last saw his brother Walter. He thought of his father--he felt +the necessity of going immediately home, to relieve any anxiety which +his father, Sir Allan, might have, in consequence of his unexplained +absence, as well as to make him acquainted with his approaching +marriage. He accordingly took a tender leave of his fair bride that +evening, and, starting next morning, he made his way over the hills +to Drummin. + +Patrick Stewart was already within sight of home, when his attention +was arrested by the blast of a bugle, which rang shrilly from the hill +above him. It conveyed to him that private signal which was always +used between his brother Walter and himself. For the first time in his +life it grated harshly in his ear, for it immediately brought back to +his recollection those oppressively painful circumstances which had +occurred at Dalestie, which he had so studiously endeavoured to banish +from his memory. But the strong tide of brotherly affection within him +was too resistless not to sweep away every feeling connected with the +past. He applied his bugle to his lips, and returned the call; and, +looking up the side of the hill, he beheld Walter, and a party of the +Clan-Allan, hastening down through the scattered greenwood to meet him. + +"Thanks be to Heaven and good Saint Hubert that I see thee safe, my +dearest Patrick," said Sir Walter, hurrying towards him, and warmly +embracing him. "Hast thou forgiven a brother's anger and unkindness?" + +"Could'st thou believe that I could for a moment remember it, my dear +Walter?" replied Patrick, returning his embrace. + +"Where in the name of wonder hast thou been wandering?" demanded Sir +Walter. "Where hast thou been since that night--that night of justice, +yet of horror--when you disappeared so mysteriously? Since that moment, +when I returned home and found thee not, I have done little else, +night or day, but travel about hither and thither, anxiously seeking +for tidings of thee." + +"Let us walk apart," said Patrick in his ear, "and I will tell thee +all that has befallen me." + +"Willingly," said Sir Walter in the same tone; "for, in exculpation +of myself, I would now fain pour into thy private ear all those +circumstances which secretly urged me to execute that stern act of +justice and necessity, which then thou could'st not comprehend, and +against which thy recoiling humanity did naturally enough compel thee +so urgently to protest." + +Arm in arm the two brothers then walked on alone, at such a distance +before their clansmen as might insure the perfect privacy of their +talk, and long ere they reached Drummin, they had fully communicated +to each other all that they had mutually to impart. Old Sir Allan had +been querulous and impatient about Patrick's absence, and he had been +every now and then peevishly inquiring about him. But now that his +son appeared, he seemed to have forgotten that he had not been always +with him. He was pleased and proud when the contemplated marriage was +communicated to him, and he enjoined Sir Walter to see to it, that +every thing handsome should be done on the occasion. In this respect, +Sir Walter's generosity required no stimulus; and if Patrick was +dissatisfied at all, it was with the over liberality which his brother +manifested, which, in some particulars, he felt inclined to resist. + +"Patrick," said Sir Walter aside to his brother, with a more than +ordinarily serious air, "I give thee but thine own in advance. One +day or other it will be all thine own. There is something within me +that tells me that I am not long for this world. The last words of +that wretch, delivered to me, as I told thee, from the midst of those +flames that consumed him, were prophetic. But, be that as it may, +I have never had thoughts of marrying, and now I am firmly resolved +that I never shall marry, so that thou art the sole prop of our house." + +The entrance of the retainers, and the spreading of the evening meal, +put a stop to all farther conversation between the brothers. Patrick +had not yet seen either the Lady Stradawn, or her son Murdoch. On +inquiry, he was told that Murdoch had gone on some unknown expedition +on the previous day, and that he had not yet returned. A circumstance, +so common with him, excited no surprise. As for the Lady Stradawn, +she now came swimming into the hall, with her countenance clothed +in all its usual smiles. Her salutation to her stepsons was full +of well-dissembled warmth and affection. She hastened, with her +wonted affectation of fondness, to bustle about Sir Allan, with the +well-feigned pretence of anxiety to attend to his wants, after which +she took her place at the head of the board. It was then that Patrick's +eyes became suddenly fixed upon her with a degree of astonishment, +which, fortunately for him, the busy occupation of every one else at +the table left them no leisure to observe. To his utter amazement, +he beheld in her bosom that very garnet brooch which he had given +to Catherine Forbes! His first impulse was to demand from her an +explanation of the circumstances by which she had become possessed of +it; but a little reflection soon enabled him to control his feelings, +though he continued to sit gazing at the well-known jewel, altogether +forgetful of the feast, until the lady arose to retire to her chamber. + +"My dearest Sir Allan," said she, going up to the old knight's chair +to bestow her caresses on him ere she went; "My dearest Sir Allan, +thou hast eaten nothing for these two days. What can I get for thee +that may tickle thy palate into thy wonted appetite? Said'st thou not +something of a deer's heart, for which thou hadst a longing? 'Tis a +strange fancy, I'm sure." + +"Oh, aye! very true,--a deer's heart!" said the doting old man. "Very +true, indeed, my love. I did dream--oh, aye--I dreamed, I say, +Bella, that I was eating the rosten heart of a stag--of a great +hart of sixteen, [4] killed by my boys on the hill of Dalestie--aye, +aye--and with arrows feathered from an eagle's wing. As I ate, and +better ate, I always grew stronger and stronger, till at length I was +able to rise from my chair as stoutly as ever I did in my life--ouch, +aye! that day is gone! Yet much would I like to eat the rosten heart +of a deer; but it would need to be that of a great hart of sixteen." + +"My dear father, thou shalt not want that," said Sir Walter; "thou +shalt have it ere I am a day older, if a hart of sixteen be to be +found between this and Loch Aven." + +"Aye, aye, Walter boy, as thou sayest," said the old man; "a great hart +of sixteen--else hath the heart of the beast no potency in't--aye, +and killed with an arrow feathered from an eagle's wing--och, +aye--hoch-hey!" + +Though the two brothers were satisfied that this was nothing but +the drivelling of age, they were not the less anxiously desirous +to gratify their father's wish to the very letter. Accordingly, +the necessary orders were given, and the trusty Dugald Roy [5] was +forthwith summoned to prepare six arrows, which would have been easily +supplied, with the small portions of feather which were necessary +for them, from the eagle wing in Sir Walter's bonnet. But Sir Allan +stopped him as he was about to tear it off. + +"What, Sir!" exclaimed the old man testily, and in a state of agitation +that shook every fibre of his frame like a palsy;--"What! wouldst +thou shear the eagle plume of my boy Walter, thou ill-omened bird +that thou art? Yonder hangs mine; it can never more appear bearing +proudly forward in the foremost shock of the battle-field. Och, +hey, that is true! Take that, thou raven! Thou may'st rend it as ye +list. But, my boy's!--the proud plume of mine eldest born boy!--thou +shalt never take that!" + +"I crave your pardon, Sir Knight," replied Dugald Roy; "and now I think +on't, I need not take either, for I have some spare wing feathers in +my store that will do all the turn." + +The next morning saw Sir Walter and his brother Patrick early on foot, +dressed in their plainest hunting attire, stretching up the valley at +the head of their attendants. Each of the brothers had three of the +eagle-winged arrows stuck into his belt; for, as both were dexterous +marksmen, and as they had resolved to use their shafts against nothing +else but a great hart of sixteen, they felt themselves to be thus +most amply provided to insure success. Fortune was somewhat adverse +to them, however; for although they saw deer in abundance, they found +themselves in this very part of the valley, when the day was already +far spent, without having once had a chance of effecting their object. + +"Look ye there, brother Walter!" at length cried Patrick Stewart +suddenly, as he pointed to a hart with a magnificent head, which +was crossing to this side of the river, at the ford you see above +yonder. "Look ye there brother! there he goes at last!" + +"By the rood, but that is the very fellow we want," replied Sir +Walter. "Watch him! See!--he takes the hill aslant. He will not go far, +if we may judge from his present pace." + +"I saw him walk over that open knoll in the wood high up yonder," +said Patrick, after some minutes of pause. "He has no mind to go +farther than the dip of the hill above. I think that we are sure of +finding him there. What say you brother?" + +"Thou art right, Patrick," said Walter. "Then do thou run on, and take +the long hollow in the hill-side, beyond the big pine tree yonder. I +will follow up the slack behind us here. Let your sweep be wide, +that we may be sure of stalking well in beyond him, so that, if we +fail of getting proper vantage of him, we may be sure that we drive +him not farther a-field. Let us take no sleuth-hound, nor bratchet +neither, lest, perchance, we cause him alarm. You, my merry men, +will tarry here for us with the dogs." + +Off went the two brothers, each in his own direction, and each with his +bow in his hand, and his three arrows in his belt. In obedience to Sir +Walter's directions, Patrick hurried away to the great pine tree, and +then began his ascent through the long hollow in the woody mountain's +side with all manner of expedition. After a long and fatiguing climb, +he began to use less speed and more caution, as he approached nearer to +the somewhat less steep ground, where his hopes lay. Then it was that +he commenced making a long sweep around, stealing silently from tree +to tree, and concealing himself, as much as he could, by keeping their +thick trunks before him, and creeping along among the heather, where +such a precaution was necessary. Having completed his sweep to such +an extent as led him to believe that he had certainly got beyond the +hart, he was about to creep down the hill, in the hope of soon coming +upon him, when he chanced to observe a great uprooted pine, which +lay prostrated a little way farther on, and somewhat above the spot +where he then was, its head rising above the heather like a great green +hillock. Thinking that he might as well have one peep beyond it before +he turned downwards, and wishing to avail himself of its shade to mask +his motions, he took a direct course towards it. But it so happened, +that the hart had found it equally convenient for the same purpose, +as well as for a place of outlook, for it had taken post close to it, +on the farther side. Descrying Patrick Stewart through an accidental +opening in the foliage, and having no fancy to hold nearer converse +with him, the creature moved slowly away. His quick and practised +eye caught a view of it through the opening, as it was going away +up the hill, as it happened, in a direct line. Well experienced in +woodcraft, he, in a loud voice, called out "hah!" As is common with +red deer when in the woods, the hart made a sudden halt, and wheeled +half round to listen, and in this way he placed his broadside to the +hunter's eye. This was but for an instant, to be sure; but in that +instant Patrick Stewart's arrow, passing through the break in the +foliage of the pine, fixed itself deep into the shoulder of the hart. + +"Clumsily done!" exclaimed Patrick Stewart from very vexation as he saw +the hart bound off. "I'll warrant me the arrow-head is deep into his +shoulder blade. One single finger's breadth more behind it would have +made him mine own, and with all the cleverness of perfect woodcraft." + +Patrick, baulked and disappointed, now extended his sweep, and crossed +and re-crossed the ground, with the hope of meeting his brother Sir +Walter; but as he did not succeed in falling in with him, he followed +the track of the hart for some distance up the hill, until he lost +every trace of his slot upon the dry summit, after which he returned +with all manner of haste to make his way downwards to the party in the +valley below. This he did, partly with the expectation of meeting his +brother Sir Walter there, and partly with the intention of getting the +dogs, that he might make an attempt to recover his wounded hart. There +he found--not his brother Sir Walter--but his brother Murdoch--who +stood exulting over a dead stag. He was a great hart of sixteen, +just such an one as he himself had been after. + +"Thou see'st that I have the luck," said Murdoch Stewart triumphantly. + +"Whence camest thou, Murdoch? and how comes this?" demanded Patrick. + +"All naturally enough, brother," replied Murdoch Stewart +carelessly. "As I was wandering idly on the hill-side above there, +I espied the people here below, so I came sauntering down to see what +they were about, and to hear news of ye all. But, as my luck would +have it, I had hardly been with them the pattering of a paternoster, +when the very hart that thou wentest after came bang down upon me--my +shaft fled--and there he lies. Mark now, brother, is he not well and +cleanly killed? Observe--right through the neck you see. But, ha!--it +would seem that thou hast spent an arrow too--for these fellows tell +me that thou tookest three with thee, and methinks thou hast but +twain left in thy belt." + +"I used one against the hart I went after," said Patrick coldly. + +"And missed him, brother--is't not so?" said Murdoch laughing. "Well, +I never hoped that I should live to wipe thine eye in any such +fashion; for these varlets all say that this is the very hart that +thou went'st after." + +"Nay, then," replied Patrick with an air of indifference; "if this +be the hart I went after, I must have found another great hart of +sixteen the very marrow of him; and him I have so marked, that I'll +be sworn he will be known again; for I promise you that at this moment +he beareth wood on his shoulder as well as on his head." + +"The hart thou sayest that thou sawest may be like Saint Hubert's +stag for aught I know," said Murdoch; "but it is clear, from all that +these fellows say, that there lies the very hart that thou went'st +forth to kill, and that is no arrow of thine that hath fixed itself +in his gullet." + +"I did see a hart--draw my bow at a hart--and sorely wound a hart," +said Patrick, rather testily; "and were it not that the scent is +cold, and the hour so late, I think that the sleuth-hounds there, +would soon help me to prove to thee that he is as fine a hart of +sixteen as this which thou hast slain." + +"Cry your mercy, brother," said Murdoch; "I knew not that such great +harts of sixteen had been so rife hereabouts, as that one should +start up as a butt for thine arrow the moment that the other had +been lost to thee. Yet it is clear that thou hast spent an arrow upon +something.--Ha!--by the way--where is our brother Walter? They tell +me that he went up the hill-side with thee." + +"After seeking for him on the hill-side in vain, I reckoned on finding +him here," replied Patrick. "But if he be within a mile of us I'll +make him answer." + +He put his bugle to his lips, and awakened the echoes, with such +sounds as were understood between Sir Walter and himself; but the +echoes alone replied to him. + +"He may have met with a deer which may have led him off in pursuit +over the hill," said Patrick. + +"Aye," said Murdoch; "he may have fallen in with your hart of +sixteen--yea, or another, for aught I know, seeing that harts of +sixteen are now so rife on these hills." + +"Fall in with what he might, he is not the man to give up his game +easily," said Patrick, somewhat keenly. + +"Whatever may have befallen him," said Murdoch, "we can hardly hope +to see him hereabouts to-night." + +"I hope we may see him at Drummin," said Patrick; "for as the night is +now drooping down so fast, he will most readily seek the straightest +way thither. So, as thou hast now made sure of a great hart of +sixteen for Sir Allan, we may as well turn our steps thitherward +without more delay." + +On reaching Drummin, Patrick Stewart's first inquiry was for his +brother Sir Walter. He had not returned home; but it was yet early +in the night, and he might have been led away to such a distance as +to require the greater part of the night to bring him home. The hart +was borne up to the hall in triumph, and exhibited before Sir Allan, +with the arrow still sticking in his neck. The old man's countenance +was filled with joy and exultation when he beheld it. The Lady Stradawn +could not contain her triumph. + +"So, Murdoch," said she, "thou art the lucky man who hath killed the +much longed for venison! Thou art the lucky man who hath brought thy +father the food for which his soul so yearneth! There is something +of good omen for thee in this, my boy!" + +"A noble head!--a great hart of sixteen, indeed," said Sir Allan. "Aye, +aye, that is a head, that is a head indeed! Yet have I slain many as +fine in my time. Aye, aye,--but those days are gone; och, hey! gone +indeed. See what a cuach his horn hath. Yet that which I slew up +at Loch Aven had a bigger cuach than this one by a great deal. As +I live, you might have slaked your thirst from the hollow of it the +drowthiest day you ever saw. Yet this is a good hart--a noble hart of +sixteen,--aye, aye! hoch-hey! But, hey! what's this? A goose-winged +shaft? Did I not tell ye that my dream spake of an eagle's wing? His +heart will be naught after all--naught, naught--och, hey! och, hey!" + +"Nay, we shall soon convince thee to the contrary, father," said +Murdoch, motioning to the attendants to lay the deer down upon the +hearth. "I will forthwith break him under thine own eye, and thou +shalt see, and judge for thyself." + +Murdoch then drawing forth his knife, began to open up the animal +according to the strictest rules laid down for breaking a deer, as +this operation was called, and on proceeding to slit up the slough, +to the great wonder of every one, it was discovered that the old man +was right. The heart was indeed so very small that it might very +well have been said to have been naught. Murdoch was dismayed for +a moment at an omen so very inauspicious, which, in his own mind, +he felt was more than enough to overthrow all the fair prognostics +which his mother had so evidently drawn from his success. The Lady +herself was equally disconcerted. + +"Naught, naught!" whimpered Sir Allan. "'Tis an ill omen for thee, +boy. Thou shalt ne'er fly with an eagle's wing--nay, nay! Aye, +aye! Thou art ever doomed to gobble i' the muddy stagnant waters like +a midden-gander.--Uch, aye! och, hey!" + +"The fiend take the old carl for his saying!" whispered Murdoch +angrily aside to his mother. + +"Amen!" replied the Lady Stradawn bitterly, in the same under +tone. "But fear ye not, boy, thou shalt wear his eagle wing, aye, +and sit in his chair to boot, ere long." + +This dialogue apart was unobserved by any one, and both son and mother +speedily recovered their self-possession. The lady very cunningly +set herself, straightway, to turn the weak and dribbling stream of +Sir Allan's thoughts from the subject which then occupied them, +to some other, which was to her less disagreeable at the moment, +and she easily succeeded. + +Patrick Stewart's attention was attracted from all this superstitious +trifling, as well as from what followed it, by again observing the +garnet brooch, which appeared in the bosom of the Lady Stradawn. His +thoughts were entirely occupied with it, and his eyes were from +time to time rivetted on it. At length it seemed as if Murdoch had +somehow remarked his fixed gaze, for a private sign appeared to pass +from him to his mother, after which she pleaded a sudden faintness, +and left the hall, to return no more that night, and her son soon +afterwards followed her. Patrick Stewart's mind remained filled with +strange speculations regarding the jewel, until the night wore late, +and he began to think anxiously about his brother Sir Walter. Having +done the last offices of attention to his father for the evening, +he secretly desired Dugald Roy to follow him. + +"Dugald," said he, "I am, most unaccountably, unhappy about thy +master. Surely, if all had been well with him he should have been here +ere this? I cannot rid my mind of the idea that there is something +amiss with him. He rested not, as thou knowest, when I was missing, +and it would ill become me to sleep when he is absent. Let us go seek +for him, then, without delay." + +Dugald Roy readily assented; and both of them having dighted themselves +well up for turmoil, as well as for toil, they secretly left the +tower of Drummin. All that night they travelled, and by daylight they +had got into the range of mountains, and of forests, where they had +reason to hope for tidings of Sir Walter. They searched through every +part of the wooded side of that hill where he had last disappeared, +and they visited every human dwelling within a great range around +it, but all without obtaining the slightest intelligence regarding +him. Disappointed, and disheartened, they had returned nearly as far +as where the village of Tomantoul now stands, on their way home in +the evening, when they met with Dugald Roy's brother Neil. + +"What brought thee here, man?" demanded Dugald; "and what a fiend +gives thee that anxious face?" + +"Holy Saint Michael, but it is well that I have foregathered with you +both!" replied Neil. "You must take some other road than that which +leads to Drummin, Sir Patrick. Believe me, it is no place for you at +this present time." + +"What, in the name of all the saints, hath happened to make it +otherwise?" demanded Patrick Stewart. + +"Cannot ye speak out at once, ye Amadan ye, and not hammer like a +fool that gate?" cried Dugald impatiently. + +"Patience! patience!" said Neil; "patience! and ye shall know all +presently. In the first place, then, Master Murdoch says that Sir +Walter is murdered." + +"Murdered!" cried Patrick, in an agony of anxiety; "My brother Walter +murdered!--Where?--when?--how?--by whom?--Oh, speak, that I may hasten +to avenge him! But, no!--'tis impossible!--speak!--I have mistaken +thee--surely it cannot be!" + +"Master Murdoch says that it is true," replied Neil. "But the worst +of all is, that he hath accused thee, Sir Patrick, of having done the +deed, with an arrow, somewhere in the wood on the hill of Dalestie." + +"Merciful Saints!" exclaimed Patrick; "can he indeed be such a +villain? But who will believe so foul and unnatural a calumny? Oh, +Walter, my brother, my brother! Heaven above knows that thy life was +ten thousand times dearer to me than mine own!" + +"Nay," replied Neil, "he hath called all the clansmen who were +there to witness and to support the strong suspicions which he hath +industriously raised against thee." + +"What argument hath he against me?" cried Patrick Stewart impatiently. + +"He says that the men who were present can testify that you and your +brother, Sir Walter, went into the wood together," replied Neil; +"and that Sir Walter hath not been seen since; and then, he contends, +that the sudden flight which you made from Drummin, under the cloud +of night, is enough to show that you have taken guilt home to your +conscience." + +"And is this all?" demanded Patrick Stewart. + +"Nay," replied Neil, "there was more stuff of the same kind, by the use +of which he hath contrived so to persuade them with his wily tongue, +that they are all clamorous against thee. Nay, he hath even warped +the feeble judgment of Sir Allan himself to the same belief." + +"Serpent that he is!" cried Patrick Stewart. "But let me hasten home to +confront this vile traducer. My brother!--my brother Walter!" continued +he, bursting into tears. "My brother Walter gone!--and I accused of +his murder!--Oh, my brother!--my dear brother! Heaven above knows how +willingly I would have laid down my life to have saved thine! Nay, +how willingly would I now lay it down at this moment, were it only to +secure to me the certainty that thou art yet alive! The very thought +that it may be otherwise is agony and desolation to me. But let us +hasten to confront this villainy. Let us hasten to revenge! For the +love of Heaven, let us hasten home, Dugald!" + +"Nay, my good master," said Dugald weeping, "for if this sad tale be +true as to Sir Walter's death, other master than thee, I fear me, +that I now have none. Neil says well that Drummin is no place for +thee to-night, with so sudden and tumultuous a clamour excited against +thee. Thine innocence will avail thee nothing. Even the innocence of +an angel would naught avail against the diseased judgments of men, +with minds so poisoned and so possessed. Be persuaded to go elsewhere, +until the false and weak foundations of this most traitorous accusation +fail beneath it, and the mists drop from men's eyes. Who can say for +certain that my beloved master, Sir Walter, is dead? I cannot believe +in so great a calamity. What proof is there that he is dead? There +is no news that his body hath been found." + +"Nay," replied Neil, "he is only amissing as I said." + +"Thou dost well advise me, Dugald," said Patrick Stewart after a +moment's thought. "There is, as thou say'st, no proof that my brother, +Sir Walter, is dead. It is most reasonable to believe that this may, +after all, be nothing but a foolish or malicious surmise. My best hope, +nay, my belief is, that it is founded on naught else; and may Heaven +in its mercy grant that it may prove so. I will take thine advice. I +will not go to Drummin at present, but I shall straightway bend my +steps towards the Castle of Curgarf." + +"Then shall I and Neil attend thee thither, Sir Knight," said Dugald; +"for next to Sir Walter Stewart do I assuredly owe thee fealty and +service." + +Sir Patrick and his two attendants now turned off in the direction +of Curgarf, and the day was so far spent that the sun was setting, +as they were passing over the ridge of the country lying between the +Aven and the Don. The trees of the forest there grew thinly scattered +in little stunted patches. Sir Patrick was walking a few paces in front +of the two brothers, musing as he went, when he was suddenly surprised +by a shower of arrows falling thickly on and around him. One stuck +in his bonnet, another buried itself harmlessly in the folds of his +plaid, a third pierced his sandal and slightly wounded his foot; and, +whilst a fourth struck fire out of a large stone close to him, two +more fell short of him among the heather near him. In an instant his +bow and those of his attendants were bent, and their eyes being turned +towards the place whence the shafts had flown, they descried some men +lurking beneath one of the straggling patches of dwarf pine trees. To +have stood aloof with the hope of shooting at them successfully would +have been fatal, for the archery of Sir Patrick and his attendants +could have done nothing against men so ambushed, whilst the Knight +and his people would have been a sure mark for their traitorous foes. + +"On them, my brave Dugald!" cried Sir Patrick Stewart, drawing his +sword, and rushing towards the enemy. + +Dugald Roy, and his brother, Neil, were at his back in a moment. Before +they could reach the point against which their assault was directed, +several arrows were discharged at them. But so resolute, and so +spirited an attack had been so little looked for by those who shot +them, that they were too much appalled to take any very steady aim, +so that all of them fell innocuous. Seeing Sir Patrick and his two +attendants so rapidly nearing their place of concealment, the villains +thought it better to turn out, that they might receive their onset on +ground where they could all act at once. Six men accordingly appeared +claymore in hand, and as Sir Patrick continued to hurry forward, +he now took the opportunity of speaking hastily to Dugald and Neil, +who were advancing to right and left of him. + +"Draw an arrow each," said he, "and when I give you the word, stop +suddenly, and each of you pick off the man opposite to you, and leave +me to take my choice of the rest.--Now!" + +The unlooked for halt was made just as the assassins were preparing +to receive the on-comers on the points of their swords. The aim was +sure and fatal. Three men fell--and on rushed Sir Patrick and his +two people with a loud shout. The three, who yet stood against them, +were panic-struck, and, ere they could well offer defence, they were +also extended writhing among the heather, in the agonies of death; +and the whole matter was over in less time than it has taken for +me to tell of it. But, uncertain whether the partial covert of the +pine-patch might not still shelter some more enemies, they rushed +in among the trees, brandishing their reeking blades. Up started a +youth from among some low brushwood, and ran off like a hare. Neil +was after him in a moment, and up to him ere he had fled twenty +paces. Already he had him by the hair of the head, and his claymore +was raised to smite him, when Patrick Stewart called to his follower +to stay his hand. Neil obeyed, and granted the youth his life; but +when he brought him in as a prisoner, what was the Stewart's surprise +when he discovered that he was the same individual whose life he had +spared in the Catterane's den. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Sir Patrick; "said I not well that I questioned the +wisdom of sparing thy life when we last met, thou vermin? What hast +thou to urge, that I should show mercy to thee now, Sir Caitiff?" + +"Oh, mercy, mercy, Sir Knight!" exclaimed the youth, piteously. "Trust +me, I came not hither willingly. I had no hand in this treacherous +ambush against thy life." + +"Appearances are woefully against thee," said Patrick Stewart; "yet +would I not willingly do thee hurt, if thou be'st innocent. But this +is no convenient time nor place to tarry for thy trial. So bring him +along with thee, Dugald. We shall take our own leisure to examine +him afterwards; meanwhile, take especial care that he escape not." + +Sir Patrick Stewart's reception at Curgarf may be easily guessed +at. He told of the providential escape he had made from assassination +by the way; but he thought it better, as yet, to say nothing of +the mysterious disappearance of his brother, Sir Walter, or of the +traitorous accusations against himself, to which it had given rise. His +resolve to be silent as to this matter was formed, because he had by +this time reasoned himself into the firm persuasion that his brother's +reappearance would speedily make his own innocence as clear as noonday. + +He was next morning happily seated in the hall, now talking with the +old Lord of Curgarf on one subject, and again taking his opportunity +of whispering to the Lady Catherine on another, when he suddenly +recollected the brooch he had given her. It was not in her bosom. + +"Where are the two twined hearts?" said he to her, smiling. "Fear not, +dearest--I am not jealous." + +"Thou hast no cause for jealousy, dear Patrick," replied the lady; +"and yet, I grieve to say, that I have not the jewel. When the +Catteranes hurried me off from here, and just as they stopped for +a little time to make up a litter, that they might the more easily +carry me, one who appeared to have a certain command over them, +but whose face or person I could not see in the obscurity which then +prevailed, snatched it from my bosom, whilst affecting to fasten my +arryssade more firmly around me. Nay, look not so serious, dearest +Patrick! surely thou dost not doubt me in this matter?" + +"Doubt thee, my Catherine!" said Sir Patrick, kissing her hand with +fervour; "sooner would I doubt mine own existence;--thou art pure +virgin truth itself! Think no more of it. Thou shalt have another +and a richer one anon. But say, dearest! why should we longer delay +to set our own very two hearts in that indissoluble golden knot, +with which the sacrament of our holy church may bind them together, +so as to form a jewel, of which neither robber nor Catterane can +rifle us, and which cannot be rent asunder save by the iron hand of +death. I have thy father's permission to move thee to shorten that +cruel interval which thou hast placed between me and happiness." + +In such a strain as this, did he continue to urge his suit, until +it was at last successful; and, to his great joy, it was ultimately +arranged, with the consent of all parties, that the marriage should +take place on the second day from the time I am now speaking of. The +bustle of preparation began in the Castle the moment the circumstance +was announced; and it immediately spread far and wide everywhere +around it, and went on incessantly day and night. Joy was everywhere as +universal among the clansmen as their devotion to the Lady Catherine, +the bride, and their admiration of the merits of the bridegroom, could +make it. The day at length arrived. The Castle was crowded with all the +friends and retainers of the family, who came pouring in to witness +a ceremonial so interesting to them all. The Priest had arrived; the +Castle chapel had been set in order; the bridal-chamber had been dight +up; and the feast prepared; and every soul was astir to contribute, +so far as in them lay, to the general felicity, as well as to share in +it. The old Lord of Curgarf seemed to have grown young again. Arthur, +the Master of Forbes, was all life and raillery. Already had the +whole company been assembled within the hall. All the men-at-arms +within the Castle had crowded in thither. Even the old warden at the +gate had lowered his portcullis, and made every thing secure with +bolt, bar, and chain, so that he might safely leave his post to the +charge of their stubborn defences. The blushing bride, arrayed in the +richest attire, had been led in, attended by her blooming maidens; +and the movement towards the chapel was about to be made, so that +the ceremony might go on, when suddenly a shrill bugle blast from +without the gate made the very Castle walls resound again. + +"Go some of ye, and see who that may be who summons us so rudely," +said the Lord of Curgarf. + +"Murdoch Stewart, and a party of the Clan-Allan, are at the gate, +craving admittance," said the messenger, on his return. + +"Son Arthur," said the Lord of Curgarf, "get thee down quickly, +and give Murdoch Stewart of Clan-Allan, the brother of this our +son-in-law to be, instant entry. Let the gate be opened to him, +aye, and to all his people, dost thou hear? It was kind in him +thus to come, on the spur of the occasion," continued the old Lord, +addressing Patrick, after his son had gone with his attendants to +obey his will--"It was kind in thy brother to come thus unasked on +the spur of the moment. Would that Sir Allan, thy father himself, +could have been here." + +The court-yard and the stair now rang with the clink of armed men, +and Arthur, the Master of Forbes, entered, ushering in Murdoch Stewart, +proudly attired, and followed by a formidable band of the Clan-Allan, +whose flaring red tartans were strongly contrasted against the more +modest green of those of the Clan-Forbes. To the no small surprise +of his brother Patrick, he no longer wore that appearance of youthful +carelessness and indifference, under the mask of which he had hitherto +disguised his true character. His bearing was now manly and lofty, +suited to the command of the Clan-Allan, which he now seemed to have +assumed. His salutation to the Lord of Curgarf was grave, dignified, +and courteous; and, as way was made for him, he advanced, with the +utmost self-possession, into the middle of the hall. + +"I rejoice that I have arrived thus, as it seems, in the nick of time," +said he, looking around him, and bowing as he did so, but without +once allowing his eyes to rest on his brother, who stood fixed in +silent astonishment at what he beheld. + +"So do we all rejoice," replied the Lord of Curgarf. "Had we but +known that our bridal might have been thus honoured by the house of +Clan-Allan, on so short a warning, trust me thou shouldst not have +lacked our warmest bidding, as thou hast now our warmest welcome." + +"Welcome or not, my Lord," replied Murdoch Stewart, with a respectful +reverence, "thou wilt surely thank me for this most unceremonious +visit, when thou shalt know the object of it. I come to save the +honour of thy house from foul disgrace: would, that in so doing, +I could likewise save the honour of that which gave me birth! But +although, in saving thee and thy house from dishonour, the good name +of that of Clan-Allan must assuredly be tarnished, it shall never be +said of me, that I preserved it by falsehood or infamous concealment." + +"Of what wouldst thou speak?" demanded the Lord of Curgarf. "I do +beseech thee, keep me, and keep this good company, no longer in +suspense." + +"Then, my good Lord," replied Murdoch, solemnly, "much as it pains me +to utter it, and much as it must pain thee, and all present, to hear +it, I must tell thee, that strong suspicions are abroad, that mine +eldest brother, Sir Walter Stewart, hath been most foully murdered, +and that he, on whom thou wert now on the very eve of bestowing thine +only daughter, is the foul murderer, who took an elder brother's life, +to make way for the gratification of his own ambitious and avaricious +desires. The circumstances are so strong against my unfortunate brother +Patrick, that all agree that no one else could have been the murderer." + +"All!--all!--all!--all! was echoed from the stern Clan-Allans, at +the lower end of the hall. + +"Holy saints defend us!" exclaimed the Lord of Curgarf, sinking into +a chair. + +"'Tis false! oh 'tis all false, father!" cried the trembling Catherine +Forbes, rushing forward to assist her father. + +"Infamous traitor!" cried Patrick Stewart; "lying and infamous +traitor! Where are the proofs on which you found so foul and false +an accusation?" + +"Would, for the credit of our poor house, that it were false!" said +Murdoch, mildly. "But it is impossible to conceal, that thou wert the +last person seen in our poor brother Walter's company. Thou wentest +up the wood with him, with three arrows in thy belt. Thou camest back +shortly afterwards without him. One of thine arrows was gone. Thou +gavest reasons for the want of it which proved to be false; and our +dear brother Walter hath never been since seen." + +"He is guilty! He, and no one else, is the murderer!" cried the men +of Clan-Allan hoarsely. + +"Woe is me!" said the distracted Lord of Curgarf, springing from +his chair with nervous agitation; "the circumstances are indeed +too suspicious!" + +"Father!--father!--father, he is innocent!" cried the frantic Lady +Catherine Forbes, holding the old lord's arm. + +"Sister," cried the Master of Forbes, taking the Lady Catherine +affectionately by the hand, and speaking to her with great +feeling--"Dearest sister, this is indeed an afflicting trial for thee; +yet, be of good courage--I have no fears of the result. Patrick Stewart +cannot be guilty of the foul and cruel deed of which he has been +accused. We must have the matter sifted to the bottom; the truth must +be brought out; and, as his innocence must be thereby established, all +the evil that can happen will be but the short delay of your nuptials, +till he be fairly and fully cleansed from these wicked charges." + +"I am sent by my father," said Murdoch Stewart--"I am sent by my +father, and that most unwillingly, to demand his son Patrick as a +prisoner. Forgive me, my good Lord of Curgarf, for thus daring to +execute his paternal order under your roof.--Men of Clan-Allan, +seize and bind Patrick Stewart!" + +"Hold!" cried Dugald Roy, in a voice like thunder--"Hold, men of +Clan-Allan! Lay not a hand upon him, to whom, if my dear master Sir +Walter be indeed gone, ye must all soon, in the course of nature, +swear fealty as your chieftain. He is guiltless of my beloved master's +murder, though murdered, I fear, he hath most foully been. But here is +one who can tell more of this cruel and wicked deed. Come hither boy, +and tell us what thou may'st know of this mysterious matter." + +Dugald Roy then led forward the youth whom he had brought prisoner +to Curgarf, of whose very existence Sir Patrick Stewart had lost +all recollection, amidst the tumult of joy in which he had been so +continually kept by his approaching nuptials. The Lady Catherine +Forbes started with surprise when she beheld him; but the countenance +of Murdoch Stewart turned as pale as a linen sheet at the sight of him. + +"What hast thou to say, young man, to the clearing up of this dark +and cruel mystery?" demanded the Lord of Curgarf. + +"My Lord, I saw Sir Walter Stewart of Clan-Allan murdered," said the +youth in a tremulous voice. "I saw him shot to the death by the arrow +of Ewan Cameron, one of the band of Catteranes." + +"How camest thou to have been in any such evil company?" demanded +the Lord of Curgarf. + +"Trusting to have mercy at your hands, my Lord, I will tell my whole +story as shortly as I can, if thou wilt but listen to me," replied +the youth. "I was prentice to a craftsman in the town of Banff, a +man who wrought in gold and silver. Being one day severely chidden +by my master for some unlucky fault, the devil entered into me, +and I resolved to be revenged of him. Having become known to the +captain of a certain band of Catteranes, I stole my master's keys, +and gave them to him, so that he and his gang were enabled to rifle +the goldsmith's stores of all his valuables. In dread of punishment I +fled with them to their den in the hills, where they afterwards kept +me in thrall to do their service. The lady, thy daughter, can tell +thee that I was there when she was brought in by them, and had not +Sir Patrick Stewart left me bound when he spared my life, they would +have certainly taken it on their return, in their rage and fury at her +escape; but, fortunately, I was lying quite out of their way at the +moment, and was not discovered till they had somewhat cooled. Finding +that their retreat had been found out, they hastily abandoned it, +and dispersed themselves through the hills. On the day that followed +after that, we were all collected together to meet our captain; and +after two days more, a breathless messenger came early in the morning +to tell him something which was kept secret from all else. There were +but few of the band with him at the time; but these were ordered to +arm on the sudden; and even I, who had never been called out on any +expedition until that day, was commanded to arm like the rest. + +"Our small party marched off in all haste, and about mid-day we were +planted in ambush on the side of a hill above the Aven. Our captain +seemed to be restless and anxious. He moved about from place to place, +stretching on tiptoe from the top of every knoll, and sometimes +climbing the tallest pine trees, in order to scan the valley below +more narrowly. At length, as it grew late in the afternoon, he took +a long look from one point, and then, as if he had at last made some +discovery of importance, he suddenly moved us off into a thicket, +which grew on the edge of a considerable opening in the wood on the +hill-side; and I would know that opening again, for it had the green +quaking bog of a well-head in the very midst of it. + +"We had not stood long there, till a man in very plain attire, with a +bow in his hand, came up from the thick wood below, and began to pass +aslant the open space. 'There goes a good mark for an arrow,' said +the captain of the band. 'Shoot at him, my men.'--'He is not worth +a shaft,' replied some of his people. 'He is a poor fellow who hath +nothing in his sporran to pay for the killing of him.'--'No matter,' +said Ewan Cameron, 'he hath a good pair of sandals on him; and my +brogues are worn to shreds--so, here goes at him.' And just as the man +was passing along the bank close above the well-eye, the arrow fled, +and pierced him to the heart. 'Well shot, Ewan!' cried the captain, +in a strange ecstasy of joy; 'thou shalt have gold for that shot of +thine.' So instant was his death, that he sprang high into the air, +and his body fell headlong and without life into the very middle of +the bog, with a force that buried it in its yielding mass, so high, +that nothing was seen of him but his legs. Ewan hastened to the place, +quietly took off the sandals from the dead man, threw off his own +brogues, and put on the sandals in place of them, and then the captain +himself ran eagerly to help him to force the corpse downwards into +the bog; and this they did till the green moss closed over the soles +of its feet. I then knew not who the murdered man might be,--and the +deed was no sooner done, than our captain ordered us to make our way +back, as fast as we could travel, over the hills, whilst he left us +to go directly down into the glen. + +"Early next morning, a messenger again came to us; and five picked +archers were sent out under the orders of Ewan Cameron. I was +directed to accompany them; and I marvelled much why I, who was so +inexperienced, should be required to go on an expedition where they +seemed to be so very particular in choosing their men. But Ewan +Cameron soon let me into the secret. 'Thou knowest the person of +Patrick Stewart of Clan-Allan, dost thou not?' said he to me.--'If +that was he who took the lady from the cave, and left me bound, +replied I, 'then have I reason to remember him right well.'--'Then +must I tell thee, that we are now sent forth expressly to hunt for +him, and to take his life,' replied Ewan; 'and if thou would'st fain +preserve thine own, thou wilt need to look sharply about thee, that +thou mayest tell me when thou seest him.'--'Who covets to have his +life?' demanded I.'--'He who made me take the life of his brother +Walter, for those sandals which I now wear,' said Ewan.--'What! our +captain?' exclaimed I; 'that must be in revenge, because Sir Patrick +Stewart took the lady from him.'--'Partly so, perhaps,' replied Ewan; +'but I am rather jealous that our captain's greatest fault to Sir +Patrick Stewart is, that he, like his brother, Sir Walter Stewart, +was born before him. Knowest thou not, that our captain is no other +than Murdoch Stewart, the third son of old Sir Allan of Stradawn?' I +was no sooner made aware of this, than--" + +The youth would have proceeded, but the loud murmur of astonishment +and horror that arose every where throughout the hall, so drowned +his voice, that he was compelled to stop. + +"Holy Saint Michael, what a perfect villain thou art!" exclaimed +the old Lord of Curgarf, darting a look of indignant detestation at +Murdoch Stewart. + +"Thou wouldst not condemn a stranger unheard," said Murdoch, calmly. + +"Nay," replied the Lord of Curgarf, "thou shalt have full justice. We +shall hear thee anon. But let this youth finish his narrative, which +would seem to be pregnant with strange and horrible things." + +"I have but little more to say," continued the youth. "Gratitude to +Sir Patrick Stewart, for having spared my life, when his own security +might have required the taking of it, at once resolved me against +betraying him to slaughter. Ewan Cameron marched us straight away +to the hill, which rises above the track that leads from the little +place of Tomantoul to the river Don, and there he kept us sitting, +for some time, watching, till we espied three men coming along the +way. Whilst they were yet afar off I knew one of them to be the very +person whom the murderers were in search of. 'Is that Sir Patrick +Stewart that comes first yonder?' demanded Ewan.--'I cannot tell +at this distance,' said I; 'but I think the man I saw in the cave +was much taller than that man.'--'That is a tall man,' said Ewan; +'take care what thou sayest, or thou mayest chance to have thy +stature curtailed by the whole head.'--'I say what is true,' said I; +'no man could know his own father at that distance.'--'Then will I +assert that thou sayest that which is a lie,' said one of the party; +'for great as the distance may be, I know that to be Sir Patrick +Stewart. I mean that man who comes first of the three.'--'Let us +down upon him without loss of time then,' cried Ewan; 'and do you +come along, Sirrah! Thou shalt along with us; and, when our work is +done, we shall see whether we cannot find the means of refreshing +thy memory.' Having uttered these words, Ewan hurried us all down to +the covert of a small patch of stunted pines, that grew on the flat +ground below. There we lay in ambush till Sir Patrick Stewart, and +his two attendants, came within bowshot, and there, as is already +known to most here, the six assassins were speedily punished for +their wicked attempt, and I became Sir Patrick Stewart's prisoner." + +"Now," said the Lord of Curgarf, addressing himself to Murdoch, +"what hast thou to say in answer to all this?--What hast thou to +answer for thyself?" + +"I say that the young caitiff is a foul liar!" cried Murdoch +violently. "He is a foul liar, who hath been taught a false tale, +to bear me down." + +"He may be a liar," said the Lord of Curgarf; "but his story hangs +marvellously well together." + +"Who would dare to condemn me on his unsupported testimony?" demanded +Murdoch, boldly. + +"Here is one who is ready to support his tale," said Michael Forbes, +pressing forward, and pushing before him a strange looking little man, +with a long red beard, and a head of hair so untamed, that it hung +over his sharp sallow features in such a manner, as, for some moments, +to render it difficult for Sir Patrick Stewart to recognise in him, +the man whom he had saved from his perilous position in the salmon +creel, at the Lynn of Aven. + +"Ha!--Grigor Beg!" cried Murdoch Stewart, betrayed by his surprise, at +beholding him; "What a fiend hath brought thee hither?--But thou--thou +can'st say nothing against me." + +"I fear I can say nothing for thee, Murdoch Stewart," said the little +man, darting a pair of piercing eyes towards him, from amidst the +tangled thickets of his hair. "Nor is it needful for me now to say +all I might against thee. But here, as I understand, thou hast basely +and falsely accused thy brother Sir Patrick Stewart of murdering his +elder brother Sir Walter. Now, I saw Ewan Cameron shoot down Sir +Walter Stewart with an arrow; and it was done at thy bidding too, +for I was by, on the hill-side, when thou didst give to Ewan Cameron +his secret order to slay thy brother, and when thou didst teach him +to do the deed, as if it were an idle act, done against a stranger." + +"Lies!--lies!--a very net-work of lies, in which to ensnare me!" cried +Murdoch. "But who can condemn me for another's death, who, for aught +that we know truly, may yet appear alive and well?" + +"Thou hadst no such scruple in condemning thine innocent brother, +Sir Patrick," said the Lord of Curgarf; "yet shall no guilt be +fixed upon thee, till thy brother's death be established beyond +question. Meanwhile thou must be a bounden prisoner, till the truth +be clearly brought to light." + +"Men of Clan-Allan! will ye allow him who must be your chieftain to +be laid hands on in the house of a stranger?" cried Murdoch Stewart +aloud. "You are armed; use your weapons then, and leave not a man +alive!" + +A thrill of horror ran through every bosom. There were brave men enough +of the Clan-Forbes there, to have made head against three times the +number of Clan-Allans that now stood, armed to the teeth, and in a +firm body, at the lower end of the hall; but there was not a man of +the Forbeses, who, if not altogether unarmed, had any weapon at all +to defend himself with but his dirk. Those who had such instruments +were drawing them, whilst others were rushing to the walls, to arm +themselves with whatsoever weapons they could most easily reach, +and pluck down thence. The noise and bustle of the moment was great, +when, all at once, there fell a hush over the turbulence of the scene. + +"Stir not a man of Clan-Allan!" cried Sir Patrick to the Stewarts, who +stood in their array, like a heavy and portentous thundercloud. "Stir +not, men of Clan-Allan!--Stir not a finger, I command you!" + +"Sir Patrick Stewart is our young chieftain!" broke like a roll of +Heaven's artillery from the Clan-Allans. "Sir Patrick Stewart is our +young chieftain! Murdoch is a foul traitor and murderer! Bind him, bind +him! Let him be the prisoner, and let us have him forthwith justified!" + +"Nay, nay," cried Sir Patrick; "bind him if you will, but lay not +your hands upon his life. This day, my Catherine," said he, turning +to the lady, and addressing her tenderly and sorrowfully; "This day, +that was to have been to me so full of joy, must now, alas! be the +first of that doleful time, which, in the bereavement of my heart, +I must devote to mourning for my beloved brother Walter. My first duty +is to go and seek for his remains; and in following out this most sad +and anxious search, I must crave thy presence, my Lord of Curgarf, +and thine, too, Arthur, with that of such of our friends as may be +disposed to go forth with us, to aid us in so painful a quest." + +The wishes of Sir Patrick Stewart were readily agreed to. The nuptials +were for the present postponed; and instead of the marriage-feast, some +hasty refreshment was taken, preparatory to their immediate departure +on their melancholy search. The treacherous Murdoch Stewart was now +given in charge, as a manacled prisoner, to those very Clan-Allans, +at the head of whom he had come, so triumphantly, to fix a false +accusation on his brother Sir Patrick. With them too went the youth, +and the little man, Grigor Beg, who had given their evidence against +Murdoch. The old Lord of Curgarf's quiet palfrey was led forth; +and he set forward, attended by Arthur the Master of Forbes, Sir +Patrick Stewart, and a considerable following of those who were led +to accompany him by duty, or from curiosity. + +They first visited the scene of the attempted assassination of Sir +Patrick Stewart. The spot where the six Catteranes were slain, was +easily discovered, by the flock of birds of prey that sat perched upon +the tops of the dwarf pines, or that wheeled over them in whistling +circles; whilst every now and then, some individual, bolder than the +rest, would swoop down on the heath, to partake of the banquet which +had been spread upon it for them. That some considerable share of +courage was required to enable these creatures to do this, was proved +to the party, who, on their nearer approach, scared away a brace of +hungry, gaunt-looking wolves, who had been employed in ravenously +tearing at the bodies, and dragging them hither and thither with +bloody jaws; as well as an eagle, who had dared to sit a little +way apart, to feed upon one of the carcases, in defiance of his +ferocious four-footed fellow-guests. The spectacle was shocking to +all who beheld it. But one object of their search was gained; for, +on examination, Patrick recognised his brother Walter's sandals, +which were removed from the feet of the corpse of Ewan Cameron, +and taken care of--thus so far corroborating the testimony of the +youth. Having completed their investigations in this place, they +piled heaps of stones over the bodies on the spot where they lay, +and the party then pursued their way, over the mountain, towards the +alleged scene of Sir Walter Stewart's murder. + +Providence seemed to guide their steps;--for, as they passed over +the brow of the wooded hill that dropped down towards the Aven, +they scared away two ravens from a hollow place in the heath; and, +on approaching the spot, they discovered the well-picked bones of +a deer. His head showed him to have been an unusually fine great +hart of sixteen. An arrow was sticking so deeply fixed through the +shoulder-blade, as to satisfy all present, that its point must have +produced death, very soon after the animal had received it. + +"As I hope for mercy, there is the very arrow that was lacking of +Sir Patrick's three!" cried Dugald Roy, triumphantly. "See--there is +the very eagle's feather which I put on it, with mine own hand! And, +look--there is the cross, which I always cut on the shaft, to give them +good luck. No shaft of mine, so armed, ever misses, when righteously +discharged. But for foul or treacherous murther, I'll warrant me, +that the most practised eye could never bring it to a true aim. But" +added he, as he very adroitly dislocated out the shoulder-bone, as +Highlanders are wont, and then possessed himself of the shoulder-blade, +arrow and all--"I'll e'en take this arrow with me, with the bone just +as it is, as a dumb but true witness in a righteous cause." + +Led by the directions which they received from Grigor Beg, they now +descended through the forest, till they came to that very well-eye +you see yonder--for that was the very individual place, that both +the old man and the youth had described as the scene of Sir Walter's +murder. They had used the precaution to bring with them implements +for digging; and, by means of these, a few sturdy fellows were soon +enabled to make an opening into the lower end of the quaking bog, +so as very quickly to discharge the pent-up water within it. The +green surface then gradually subsided, and the legs of a human being, +with hose on, but without sandals, began to appear, sticking out, +with the feet upwards; and, by digging a little around it, they +soon succeeded in bringing the body of Sir Walter Stewart fully to +light. It was in all respects unchanged. The fatal arrow was deeply +buried in his left breast; his bow was firmly grasped in his hand; +and his three eagle-winged shafts were in his belt. The small unplumed +bonnet which he usually wore, when dressed for following the deer, +was fast squeezed down on his head, by the pressure which had been +exerted to sink him. How differently were the two brothers, Patrick +and Murdoch Stewart, affected by the harrowing spectacle which was +now brought before their eyes! Murdoch shed no tear--yet his features +were strongly agitated. He looked at the corpse with averted eyes, and +shuddered as he looked; whilst his face became black, and again deadly +pale, twenty times alternately. Sir Patrick Stewart, on the other hand, +threw himself, in an agony of tears, on the cold and dripping body of +his murdered brother, as it lay exposed on the bank; and, unable to +give utterance to his grief, he clasped it to his bosom, and lavished +fond, though unavailing caresses on it. In vain he essayed, with as +much tenderness as if his brother could have still felt the pain he +might thereby have given him, to pluck forth the arrow, deeply buried +in the fatal wound. All present were overcome by this sad scene;--but +poor Dugald Roy hung over them, and sobbed aloud, till the violence +of his grief recalled Sir Patrick Stewart to himself again. + +"Aye!" said Dugald Roy; "that is a murderous shaft indeed! A good +cloth-yard in length, I'll warrant me; and feathered, too, from the +wing of some ill-omened grey goose, that was hatched in some western +sea-loch. This is no arrow of the make of Aven-side, else am I no judge +of the tool. No cross upon this, I'll be sworn. No, no.--By St. Peter, +but it hath murther in the very look of it! Aye, and there are the true +arrows of the cross in his belt!--These are of my winging, every one +of them. Little did I think, when I stuck them into my poor master's +girdle, that this was to be the way in which I was to find them! Would +that he had but gotten fair play! Would that he had but got his eye +on the villains ere they slew him! If he had but gotten one glimpse +of them, by the Rood, but every cross of these shafts would have been +eager to have dyed itself red in the blood of their cowardly hearts!" + +The body of Sir Walter Stewart was now wrapped up in a plaid, and +fastened lengthwise upon two parallel boughs, and it was borne towards +Drummin. Their movements were so slow, and so often interrupted, +that it was dark night long ere they came to the place of their +destination. Sir Patrick Stewart felt the necessity of preparing his +father, Sir Allan, for the coming scene, as well as for the reception +of the Lord of Curgarf, and his son, the Master of Forbes. He therefore +resolved to hurry on before the party, that he might have a private +meeting with the old Knight, before their arrival. But being fully +aware that Sir Allan's mind had been already filled with those +iniquitous falsehoods, which his wicked brother, Murdoch Stewart, +had engendered against him, he thought it prudent to take with him +Dugald Roy, and two other men of the Clan-Allans, that they might be +prepared, if necessary, to support his justification of himself. + +As Sir Patrick Stewart, and his small escort, approached the outer gate +of the Castle of Drummin, they perceived that it was shut. Dugald had +no sooner observed this circumstance, than he made a signal to the +Knight to remain silent, and then he advanced quietly to the little +wicket in the middle of the gate, and knocked gently. + +"Who is there?" demanded the Warder, from within. + +"Open the wicket, man, without a moment's tarrying," replied Dugald. + +"Is that thee, Dugald Roy?" demanded the Warder. + +"Who else could it be?" replied Dugald. + +"It may be that any other might have done as well," replied the Warder +gruffly. "Thou wentst not forth with Murdoch Stewart;--Art thou of +his company at the present time?" + +"What matter though I went not forth with him, if I come home in his +company?" replied Dugald readily. + +"Is he with thee, then?" demanded the Warder. + +"To be sure he is," cried Dugald impatiently. "Come, man! he is +close at hand, I tell thee. Come! art thou to keep us standing here +all night? By all that's good, he is coming upon us;--and, if he be +detained but the veriest fraction of a prod-flight, thou shalt surely +have a cudgelling for thy supper. Come man!--open I tell thee." + +The huge iron bolts were now withdrawn from their fastenings, the key +grated among the rough wards of the lock, and the wicket was thrown +back, whilst the Warder, peering through the opening, seemed as if +he were inclined to know something more of those without, before he +removed his own bulky person, that still blocked the passage. But +Dugald, stooping his head, sprang through the low aperture, and +throwing his skull right into the poor fellow's stomach, with the +force of a battering-ram, he laid him sprawling on his back. + +"Hech!" cried the Warder, as he fell. "Hech me!" + +"Old fool that thou art!" cried Dugald, taking up the first word of +quarrel with him; "who was to think that thou wert to be standing in +the very midst of the way?--Yet I hope I have not hurt thee, for all +that. Thou knowest, Rory, that I had rather hurt myself than thee." + +"Nay, nay," said the old man, with a surly sort of acquiescence, as +he was slowly raising himself from the ground by means of Dugald's +assistance; during which operation Patrick Stewart, wrapped up in his +plaid, and followed by the other two men, had made good his entrance +into the court-yard. "Nay, nay, I am not hurt. I'm no such eggshells, +i'faith. Yet what a fiend made thee so impatient? I behooved to be +careful who I let in, seeing that I was strictly charged to open to +none but Murdoch Stewart himself there," pointing to Sir Patrick, +who was standing a few paces aloof. "More by token, I required to be +all the warier, seeing that there was none living within the walls, +besides myself, save the old Knight Sir Allan, and the Lady Stradawn." + +"How comes that?" demanded Dugald; "Though so many went to Curgarf, +there were still some left behind, surely." + +"True enough, true enough," replied the Warder. "But I know not what +hath possessed the lady. They have all been sent hither and thither, on +some errand or another;--even the very women folk have all gone forth." + +Sir Patrick Stewart stood to hear no more, but making a signal to +Dugald and the others to follow him, he crossed the court-yard towards +the door of the keep tower, where they stood aside, whilst he knocked +gently, yet loud enough to be heard in the hall above. Soon afterwards, +a timid and unsteady footstep was heard descending the stair. + +"Open, good mother," said Sir Patrick. + +"Oh, how thankful I am that thou art come!" said the Lady Stradawn, +mistaking him for her son Murdoch, their voices being a good deal +like to each other, and opening the door, pale and trembling, with a +lamp in her hand, which the gust immediately extinguished. "A plague +on the wind, my lamp is out! But oh, I am thankful that thou art +come! 'Tis fearful to be left alone in the house with a dead man, +and one, too----Oh 'twas fearful!" + +"Dead!" cried Sir Patrick, with an accent of horror, which might have +betrayed him, but for the agitation which then possessed her whom he +addressed. "A dead man, saidst thou?" + +"Aye!" replied the lady, in a hollow tone, "aye! I saw that thou hadst +yearnings. Yet, after all, it was but giving him ease, by ridding him +of a lingering life of pain. It was kindness, in truth, to help him +away from such misery. Yet, 'tis no marvel that thou, who art his very +blood, should have some compunction. But thou mayest be at rest now, +for he is gone beyond thy help, or that of any one else." + +"Gone!" exclaimed Sir Patrick again--"Gone! how did he die?" + +"Horribly! most horribly!" replied the lady, shuddering. "It was +fearful to behold him in his agonies! Knowing, as I did, the potency +of the poison, I could hardly have believed that the old man would +have taken so long to die." + +"Horrible!" exclaimed Sir Patrick, involuntarily. + +"Aye, it was horrible!" replied the lady; "horrible indeed, as thou +wouldst have said if thou hadst seen it. For a moment, the poison +seemed to have given him new strength, and he rose from his chair as +if he would have done vengeance on me. 'Twas fearful to behold him!" + +"Art sure he is quite dead?" said Sir Patrick again. + +"Aye," replied the lady, "as dead as his son Walter; so dead, as to +make thee surely the Laird of Stradawn, the moment that thou shalt +have made as sicker of Patrick, as we may now soon hope thou wilt +be able to do. I did but help him, as I was saying, out of the pains +and wretchedness of old age and dotage. Yet it was an awful work for +me. And oh, his last look was fearful! I wish I may ever be able to +get rid of it! Would that thou couldst have steeled thyself up to +have done it thyself Murdoch! But come in--come in quickly! Hast thou +secured the prisoner?" + +"I have," replied Sir Patrick, now exerting a certain degree of +command over his feelings; "he will be here anon." + +"That is well," replied the Lady Stradawn; "then all is thine own. His +trial must be short, and his execution speedy. But come, we have much +to do to make things seemly ere they arrive. He must appear to have +died of a broken heart, caused by the wickedness of his son. Every +thing suspicious must be removed from about him. I could not dare +to touch him. Why stand ye so long hesitating? But 'tis no wonder, +for I could not look upon him myself without fancying that the devil +was grinning over my shoulder. 'Tis horrible to think on't! But come," +continued she, as she at last seemed to summon up resolution to climb +the stair; "lock the door, Murdoch, and follow me up quickly, for we +have no time to lose." + +Sir Patrick Stewart made a signal to Dugald and the others, and then +ascended to the hall after the Lady Stradawn. A deathlike silence +prevailed within it. A single lamp was glimmering feebly on a sconce +at the upper end of it: and there stood the lady, pale and trembling, +at that side of the chimney which was farthest from Sir Allan's +chair. Sir Patrick, in his agitation, moved hurriedly forward; and +the moment the light of the lamp fell upon his features, the lady +uttered a loud scream, and swooned away upon the floor. + +The spectacle that now met his eyes harrowed up his very soul. His +father lay dead in his chair, with his features and his limbs fixed +in the last frightful convulsion, by which the racking poison had +terminated his existence. His mouth was twisted, his tongue thrust +out, and his eyeballs so fearfully staring, that even his tenderly +affectionate son felt it a dreadful effort to look upon that, which +used to be to him an object of the deepest veneration and love. Beside +his chair was the small table, on which he was usually served with +his food. There stood a silver porringer containing the minced meat, +which his extreme age required; and notwithstanding all that the Lady +Stradawn had said to the contrary, the operation of the poison seemed +to have been so quick, as to have mortally affected him, ere he had +taken the fourth part of the mess that had been provided for him. Sir +Patrick was overpowered by his feelings. He sank into a chair, and +covering his face with his hands, he gave way to his grief, in which +he remained so entirely absorbed, that neither the entrance of Dugald, +nor the thundering which some time afterwards took place at the outer +gate, nor the noise of the many voices of those who came pouring in, +were sufficient to arouse him. + +Dugald Roy had the presence of mind to hurry down to the court-yard, +to prepare the Lord of Curgarf, and those who came with him, for the +dreadful spectacle they were to witness. Thunderstruck and shocked +by his intelligence, they crowded up to the hall, where the general +horror was for some time so great, as to render every one incapable of +acting; but at length they gathered sufficient recollection to bestir +themselves. The poisoned porringer was first carefully preserved; +the Lady Stradawn was carried off in strong fits to her apartment; +the body of Sir Walter Stewart was borne up into the hall; and there, +after undergoing the necessary preparations used on such occasions, +the father and son were laid out in state together, and the couches +on which the bodies rested were surrounded by so great a multitude +of wax tapers, as to exchange the melancholy gloom of the place into +a blaze of light, which, reflected as it was from the various pieces +of armour that glittered in vain pomp upon the walls, shone but to +produce a greater intensity of sadness. The good priest of Dounan +was sent for; and the appalling news having spread quickly around, +the retainers began to swarm into the Castle, from all quarters, in +sorrowing groups, full of lamentation. Meanwhile the Lord of Curgarf +and his son, the Master of Forbes, occupied themselves in soothing +the afflicted Sir Patrick Stewart, and in aiding and encouraging him +to go through with those trying and painful duties which this most +afflicting occasion demanded of him. + +Food and wine had been carried to the Lady Stradawn, where she +sat alone in her bower, so deeply sunk in remorse, and dejection, +and dread, as to be quite unconscious of the entrance or departure +of those who brought her these comforts. Those who were compelled +to be the bearers of them, gazed on her with fear, and hastened +from her with expedition, and no one else could be persuaded to go +near her, even her woman refused to remain with her, as something +accursed, so that she was left abandoned by all, as a prey to her +evil thoughts. Had any one ventured to look in upon her, as she sat +motionless in her great chair, with a lamp flickering on a table beside +her, and throwing an uncertain light by fits and snatches on her face, +now pale and fixed as marble,--and on her glazed and tearless eyes, +and her dry and withered lips, he might have fancied that she was +already a corpse; yet deep, deep was the mental agony that she felt. + +The midnight watch had been set, and all had been for some time silent +within the walls of Drummin, save the distant hum of the subdued +voices of those who, according to custom, sat waking the corpses in +the hall, when the door of the Lady Stradawn's bower opened, and her +son Murdoch appeared. If the spirit of her murdered husband had arisen +before her eyes, she could not have started with more astonishment, +or recoiled with greater apparent horror. + +"Murdoch!" cried she, in a loud and agitated voice, "Is it thee, +Murdoch?"--And then, sinking back into the same fixed and motionless +attitude, whence she had been thus momentarily aroused, she added, +in a faint, low, and feeble tone, "Murdoch!--would that thou hadst +never been born!" + +"Mother," said Murdoch, calmly shutting the door behind him, and taking +a seat beside her chair, "I have heard all from Nicol, the playfellow +of my boyhood, who chanced to be set to guard me, in the apartment +below. I wished to see thee ere we die; and I purchased from the +sordid wretch this midnight hour--this last hour of privacy with thee." + +"Ha!" cried the Lady Stradawn, with a strange and sudden +transition from the apathy and torpor of despair, to the most +energetic anxiety of hope; "If Nicol did that for thee, why may +we not bribe him to open a way for us through those who guard the +gate?--Quick!--quick!--quick!--Oh, let us quickly escape!--Oh, let +us not tarry one moment longer! There are my keys; we have treasure +in that cabinet, which may well bribe him, and yet leave us rich!" + +"Be composed, my most worthy mother," said Murdoch Stewart; "There +is not the shadow of a chance for us in that way. The door of the +keep is doubly barred, and doubly guarded, and no one leaves it +unexamined beneath the light of a blazing torch. The whole men-at-arms +and clansmen within the walls, infuriated against us, are of their +own free will engaged in vigilant watching. The portcullis is down, +the gate barricaded, the barbican manned, and the walls surrounded +by patroles. Mother, cast aside all such hopes as useless, for as the +guilt of both of us must soon appear as clear as to-morrow's noonday, +so that sun, which shall certainly arise to-morrow morning, shall as +surely look upon our graves ere he sets." + +The Lady Stradawn sank again into the chair, from which the sudden +impulse of hope had so energetically raised her, and, groaning deeply, +she relapsed into her former state of deathlike stillness, broken +only by the long drawn sob that at certain intervals convulsed her +whole frame. + +"Mother!" said Murdoch Stewart, after a pause; "Where are all the +fruits of that career of crime for which thou nursed me as an infant, +tutored me as a boy, and prompted me as a man? Have I not followed +thy bidding through deceit, robbery, and murder, and where is now my +reward?--Thine is locked up there in that secret cabinet of glittering +toys, which to-morrow thou must leave, to go out to be hanged by +the neck on the gallows-tree, with the son, whom thou wouldst have +had Lord of the Aven, grinning at thee like a caitiff cur from the +farther end of its beam--" + +"Oh!--Oh--ho!" cried the agonized woman, shaken through every limb +by the palsy of her fears; "Is there no--no deliverance for us?" + +"Yes," said Murdoch Stewart, calmly; "yes, there is a deliverance, +and a speedy one too." + +"Oh, name it!" cried the frantic woman; "Oh, name it! and quickly +let us avail ourselves of it!" + +"Here it is," said Murdoch Stewart, quietly taking a small paper +packet from his bosom; "Here it is, mother. A few small pinches of +this powder, mingled in a cup of that wine, will snatch us both from +the torture of being made a disgraceful public spectacle to-morrow--of +being gazed at by the vulgar eyes, and pointed at by the vile fingers +of those wretched serfs, and their grovelling mates and spawn, whom, +a little better luck and better fortune for us, had by that time made +the abject slaves of our will. See! here it is mingled, already it +is dissolved, and now the draught is potent. Good mother, I pledge +thee," said he, drinking down half of what the goblet contained; +"and now here is thy share." + +"No,--no,--no!--I cannot!--no, I cannot!" cried the Lady Stradawn, +with frantic horror in her averted eyes. + +"Then do I tell thee, mother mine," said Murdoch Stewart sternly; +"thou hast not trained me up to deal in deeds of blood and death for +naught. I shall never suffer thy womanish fears to bring the disgrace +of the gallows upon thee. I love thee too much for that. See here, +good mother! 'tis but a choice of deaths. Here is a concealed dagger, +look you. Say! wouldst thou bring one more murder--the murder of +a mother on my already overburdened soul, to sink it deeper in that +sea of torment, to which these priests would fain have us believe that +those, who, like us, have used the wit and the strength with which they +have been gifted, for bettering their own condition in this world, +must hasten from hence. Drink! or by every fiend that suffers there, +thou diest in the instant!" + +The Lady Stradawn glared at her son with a vacant stare, as if all +reason had fled from her. She took the cup mechanically from his hand, +and drained it to the bottom. + +"What hast thou done?" cried the man-at-arms, who had been brought to +the door by the violent tone of some of Murdoch Stewart's last words, +and who rushed in just as the Lady Stradawn had swallowed the poison. + +"Do what thou wilt now, Nicol," said Murdoch Stewart, with perfect +composure; "We are both beyond thy power, or that of any one else +within the castle of Drummin." + +Nicol at once guessed at what had happened, and ran instantly for +the Priest. The good Father of Dounan was deeply skilled in medicine, +as well as in divinity. He called for assistance, and antidotes were +forcibly given to Murdoch Stewart, and passively received by his +mother the Lady Stradawn. Their wretched existence was thus prolonged, +though death could not be altogether averted. They lingered on, +in great pain, for many days, during which all judicial proceedings +were suspended. The pious priest lost not one moment of this precious +time. By exerting all his religious learning, and all his eloquence, +he at length succeeded in bringing both of them to a full sense of +the enormity of their guilt, as well as to an ample confession of +all their crimes. It is not for us to interpret the decrees of the +Almighty in such a case as theirs; but if the apparent deep contrition +that followed was real, and heartfelt, we may trust that the mercy, +as well as the benefit of the merits of that blessed Saviour, who died +for us all upon the cross, even for the thief that was crucified with +him, was extended to them, dreadful as their crimes had been. + +My legend now draws to a hasty conclusion. The days of mourning were +fully numbered by Sir Patrick Stewart, for his murdered father and +brother. The kindness of the old Lord of Curgarf, and his son Arthur +Master of Forbes, towards him, was unwearied and most consolatory. Nor +were the delicate affections of the Lady Catherine Forbes less tenderly +or unremittingly displayed, so that, in due time, by becoming her +husband, he bound himself to both his friends by the closest and +dearest ties. In pious remembrance of his brother Sir Walter's murder, +he erected the pillar of stone I spoke of, as that which stood so long +by the side of the well-eye where he was slain; but he refrained from +inscribing any thing upon it, lest his doing so might have revived +the recollection of Murdoch Stewart's atrocity. He likewise ordered +a stone to be set up, where the proud Priest of Dalestie was burned, +rather as a sort of expiation of the stern act of justice, which his +brother Sir Walter had inflicted upon him, than to perpetuate the +detested memory of the depraved wretch who suffered there. + + + + + + + + +FATE OF THE OULD AUNCIENT MONUMENTS. + + +Clifford.--(as we arose to pursue our journey.)--And what became of +these two monuments, Serjeant Stewart? + +Serjeant.--A certain gentleman, who was building a house somewhere +in this neighbourhood, (for I had rather not designate him too +particularly,) cast his eyes on the fine stone that stood by the +well-eye, and perceiving that it would make an excellent lintel, +he took immediate measures to get it carried off to his rising +edifice. Having accomplished his intention, with no little difficulty, +it was speedily employed in the building, where it promised to +conduct itself with the same quiet and decorum which were observed +by all the other stones of the edifice, after being put to rest, +each in his separate bed of mortar. But no sooner did the house +come to be inhabited, than it began to be haunted by strange and +mysterious noises. Some of these were quite unintelligible, for they +resembled no earthly sound that had ever been heard before. Then long +conversations began, and were continued, in small sharp clear voices; +but although the words fell distinctly enough on the ears of those +who heard them, the language was as a sealed book to them. And ever +and anon the seeming dialogue would be interrupted by strange uncouth +fits of laughter, as if of several persons together, or in different +parts of the premises, that were so far from creating a corresponding +disposition to mirth or merriment in the listeners, that they froze up +the very blood in their veins. But this was not all. The most dismal +croaking of frogs arose in every part of the house. You would have +sworn that the creatures were in the cup-boards--the presses--the +chimnies--in the beds--on the floors--nay, on the very tables, and +among the dishes which the good folks of the family had set before +them. It was as if the frogs, that formed the great plague in Egypt, +had filled the house with their hoarse voices. One would begin as if +he were the leader of the band, and then others would start off, one +after another, till the doleful chorus, resounding from all quarters, +made the concert loud and sonorous. It was no uncommon thing, during +the dark and dreary watches of the night, for the voice of the leader, +which had something peculiarly striking in it, to arise of a sudden, +as if he that uttered it was sitting astraddle on the nose of the +goodman of the house. In vain was the hand applied to the organ, +to drive off what, in reality, appeared to be the organist. There +was nothing there; yet the sound continued as if it had come from the +deepest pipe in the organ loft of some cathedral, yea, of that of the +great organ of Haerlem itself. The more he rubbed the more it grew, +and the louder and more universal became the chorus. His very nose +itself increased in size, from the frequent and severe rubbings to +which it was thus subjected, whilst he began to grow thin and emaciated +in proportion, till his whole person at length appeared rather as if +it had been an appendage to his nose, than his nose an appendage to +his person. At last, being worn out in spirit, as he was very nearly +in body also, he was fain to take out the stone from the building, +and to carry it back to the hill-side again, and then, to be sure, +he enjoyed perfect quiet. + +Clifford.--A sensible man, truly. But what had evil spirits or fairies +to do with a monumental stone? + +Serjeant.--Nothing that I can see, sir, except that being guilty +of so impious a deed as the removal of such a stone, he was for a +time left unprotected by all good angels, and consequently he was +altogether at the mercy of those evil ones. + +Grant.--Very well made out, Mister Serjeant. But where is the +stone now? + +Serjeant.--Why, sir, I am sure you will hardly believe me when I +tell you, that a few years ago it was wantonly destroyed by another +gentleman, who shall be also nameless. + +Grant.--What a Goth he must have been! Why should you conceal his name, +Serjeant?--It deserves to be held up to public reprobation + +Serjeant.--I know my own interest too well to be the officious person +who shall publish it though. Yet I must own that it would have served +him right that it should have been so marked. What do you think he did, +gentlemen? Happening to be in this part of Strathdawn, he, without +rhyme or reason, and out of sheer wickedness, ordered his people +to break both that and the Clach-na-Tagart, or the Priest's stone, +which shocking pieces of barbarism he took care to see executed in +his own presence, whilst he stood by, like a mischievous baboon, +chuckling over their destruction. + +Clifford.--The fellow deserved to have been plunged over head and ears +into the Wallee in the first place, and after being thus well soaked, +he ought to have been leisurely consumed at the Priest's stone, +like a well watered sack of Newcastle coals. + +Serjeant.--Why, sir, I must allow that he has been punished severely +enough. The whole people of the country cried out upon him, and every +one declared that it was quite impossible that the fellow could thrive, +after having demolished two such ould auncient antiquities. And so in +truth it turned out, for not long afterwards he lost the whole fushon +[6] of his side. As for the Clach-na-Tagart, the Roman Catholics, +who form the chief population hereabouts, intended to have clasped +it together with iron bands, but, (addressing author,) as you know +very well, sir, from having recorded the fact in your book, the great +flood of August 1829 saved them the trouble of doing so, for the Aven +then carried the broken stone clean away, aye, and it swept off the +best part of the haugh it stood upon into the bargain. + +Grant.--But stay, my good friend, Archy. What do you mean by quitting +the level path to climb this confounded steep hill, as the direction +of your nose, at this moment, would seem to indicate your present +intention to be? + +Serjeant.--I would fain show you an extensive prospect, gentlemen. It +is only a bit start of a pull up here. A mere breathing for you after +the long rest you had by the water side yonder.--(Then addressing +the gilly.)--My man, hold you on the road to Inchrory with the horse, +and tell the gudewife there that we are coming. + +Clifford.--'Tis a very stiff pull, Archy. But we shall be all the +better for something of this sort to put us in wind. I calculate that +we shall have some worse climbing than this before we are done with +these mountains. + +Serjeant.--Troth, you may well say that, sir; and as for this hill, +we may be very thankful that we have not to climb it with a strong +demonstration of the enemies' riflemen lining the ridge of it. + +Clifford.--You are out there, serjeant. Depend upon it, if we saw an +enemy lining the height, we should both of us climb it like roebucks, +to be at them. + +Serjeant.--I'm not saying but we might, sir; that is, if we saw that +we were sufficiently well backed. But for all that, we might find +our graves before we were half way up the hill; and then what the +better should we be, of our comrades saying, as they passed by us, +"Poor fellows, you are settled!" Would that be any consolation to us, +as we lay writhing in the last agonies? + +Grant.--Very small consolation indeed, Archy. + +Serjeant.--I wot it would be little indeed, sir. Yet ought a man to +do his duty for all that, simply because it is his duty. Many is the +time I have heard my good friend Captain Ketley say that; and there +were few words fell from his mouth that had not some good sense, +or some good moral in them. And certain it is, that if we did not +always keep this rule of our conduct in view, we should neither be +good sodgers nor good Christians. + +Clifford.--Right again, old boy. + +Serjeant.--And yet, Mr. Clifford, as I reckon, there is some pleasure +in coming out of the skrimmage in a whole skin, and with ears that +can hear all the honest commendations that are bestowed upon your +own brave and gallant conduct. + +Grant--(after reaching the summit of the hill.)--That was indeed +a breather; but now, Serjeant, for the prospect you promised us, +I see nothing as yet but the bare flat moist moory hill-top. + +Serjeant--(leading us to the eastern verge of the top of the +hill.)--Come this way, then, gentlemen. See here what an extensive +prospect you have down the course of the river Don. It looks but a +small stream there, especially from this height. + +Author.--What old castle is that which we see below us there, near +yonder clump of trees? + +Serjeant.--That is Curgarf Castle. That is the very spot to which so +much of my legend referred, though I shall not pretend to say that +the building you see there is precisely the same. But now, gentlemen, +turn your eyes westward again. Is not that a fine mountain view? See +how proudly the Cairngorms rise yonder! But, observe me--you don't +see the very highest summits as yet, because those big black lumps +opposite to us there, hide the highest tops from our eyes. + +Author.--It is a magnificent scene notwithstanding, especially as +viewed at present, under that splendid display of evening light, +that is now shooting over those loftier ridges from the descending sun. + +Grant.--A very grand scene indeed! + +Clifford.--Aye, Grant, we shall have some climbing there, I promise +you. + +Grant.--There can be little doubt of that. But tell me, Serjeant, +what solitary house is that we see in the valley below? + +Author.--I can answer you that question. That is Inchrory, the +small place, half farm-house, half hostel, where we are to sojourn +to-night. It is used as a place of rest and refreshment, by the few +travellers who pass on foot, or on horseback, by the rugged path which +we left in the valley, and which goes hence southwards, up through +the valley of the Builg--past the lake of that name,--so across what +is there the rivulet of the Don,--and then onwards over the hills to +Castleton of Braemar. That deep hollow in the mountains, that turns +sharp westwards beyond Inchrory yonder, is what is more properly called +Glenaven. The river Aven comes pouring down hitherwards through it, +and our way lies up its course. + +Clifford.--I should be sorry if it did so this evening. I am quite +prepared to hail yonder house of Inchrory below, as a welcome place +of refuge for this night. + +Author.--Few places must be more welcome to a wayworn traveller than +Inchrory, especially when first descried by the weary wayfarer from +Castleton, in a winter's evening, as the sun is hasting downwards. + +Serjeant.--You are not far wrong there, sir. A dreadful hill journey +that is, indeed, from Castleton to Inchrory, amid the storms of +winter. Not a vestige of a house by the way. Many a poor wretch +has perished in the snow, amidst these trackless wastes. Not to go +very far back, there was a terrible snow storm about the Martinmas +time in the 1829. It roared, and blew, and drifted so fast, that +it was mid-day or ever Mrs. Shaw of Inchrory ventured to put her +head out beyond the threshold of her own door, to look at the thick +and dreary shroud of white in which dead nature was wrapped, and +which covered the whole lonely scene of hill and valley around her, +and was in many places blown into wreathes of a great depth. There +was not a speck of colour, nor any moving thing to vary the glazed +unbroken surface, except on one distant hillock, where a single +human figure was seen, wandering to and fro, as if in a maze, like +some one bereft of reason. The male inhabitants of the house were +all out looking after the stock belonging to the grazing farm; and, +as Mrs. Shaw was in doubt whether the person she beheld might not in +reality be some one who was deranged, as his movements rather seemed +to indicate, she was afraid to venture to approach him. But curiosity +as well as pity made her cast many a look towards him during that +afternoon, as he still continued to move slowly round the hillock, +and backwards and forwards, without any apparent sense or meaning, +and stopping now and then, as if utterly bewildered. At length, +as it was drawing towards night, Mrs. Shaw observed that the figure +had either fallen, or lain down among the snow, and her charitable +feelings then overcoming all her apprehensions, she proceeded to wade +through the snow towards the hillock where he lay. Having, with very +considerable difficulty, made her way to the spot, she found him lying +on his back, as composedly as if he had lain down in his bed. The +intense cold had so benumbed his intellects, indeed, that he did not +seem to be in the least aware of his own melancholy situation.--"Wha +are ye? and what are ye wantin?" said he, to Mrs. Shaw, with a faint +smile on his emaciated face, as he beheld her stooping over him with +an anxious gaze of inquiry. "I came to help you," replied Mrs. Shaw; +"Will you let me try to lift you up?"--"Thank you, I can rise mysel'," +replied he, making a vain effort to get up.--"You had better let me +help you," said Mrs. Shaw.--"Ou, na, thank ye," replied he again; +"I can rise weel eneugh mysel."--"Do so, then," said Mrs. Shaw, +whilst at the same time she prepared herself for giving him her best +assistance during his attempt. In this way, a strong effort on her part +enabled her at last to succeed in getting the poor man on his legs; +and then, after the expenditure of as much time as might have easily +enabled her to have gone five or six miles, and with immense labour and +fatigue, this heroic woman was finally successful in supporting him, +or rather, I should say, in half carrying him to Inchrory. When she +had got him fairly out of the snow, and into the house, she had the +horror to discover, that not only were his shoes and stockings gone, +but that even the very flesh was worn off his feet. When help arrived, +they got him into bed, and did all for him that charitable Christians +could do. Food was brought to him, but it was some time before he +could be made to swallow any portion of it, and that only by feeding +him like a child. The poor fellow turned out to be a young man of +the name of Thomas Macintosh, servant to the Rev. Mr. MacEachan, +the Roman Catholic priest at Castleton, which place he had left on +the Wednesday morning, and he had wandered among the snow, without +food or shelter, and becoming every moment more and more bewildered, +until the Friday evening, when Mrs. Shaw's praiseworthy exertions +brought him to her house. On the Saturday, the good people carried +him down the valley to the next farm, on his way to the doctor. But, +alas! no doctor was ever destined to do him any good, for he died that +same evening. Two one pound notes, and a few shillings, were found +in his pocket, which sum went to pay the expense of his interment in +the newly made church-yard at Tomantoul, of which, as it so happened, +he was the second tenant. + +Grant.--What a melancholy fate! + +Serjeant.--Sad, indeed, sir. But there are many stories of the same +kind connected with this wild path through these desolate mountains. + +Author.--Do you remember any more of them, Archy? + +Serjeant.--Ou, yes, sir. It was upon that terrible night of drift, +the 25th of November, 1826, no farther gone, when so many poor people +perished, that a man, three women, and two horses, were buried in +the snow upon yon hill, which is called Cairn Elsach, as they were +on their way back from the Tomantoul market. So deep was the snow +in many places, that one of the horses was found frozen stiff dead, +and the beast was so supported in it, as to be sticking upright upon +his legs, and a woman was discovered standing dead beside him. Some +little time afterwards, a shepherd, who happened to have occasion to +cross the hill, had his attention attracted by some long hair which was +seen above the icy surface, waving in the wintry blast. On scraping +away the snow, he found that it was attached to a woman's head, who +had unfortunately perished. He procured the assistance of some of his +friends, who were afraid to dig out the body for fear it might have +become offensive. I, who chanced to be there, had no such scruples, +first, because I knew very well that the snow must have preserved it, +and, secondly, because, if it had been otherwise, I knew that I had +lost my sense of smelling in consequence of the desperate wound in my +jaw, of which I told you. When the snow was removed, the poor young +woman's body was found quite fresh and entire, but it was perfectly +blue in colour. + +Author.--These are melancholy details; yet, it must be confessed, +they are quite in harmony with the wild and lonely scenery now before +our eyes. + +Grant.--They remind one of the horrors of the Alps. + +Clifford.--The gaunt wolves are wanting, though, to make up the +picture completely. + +Serjeant.--We had the wolves also ourselves once upon a time, sir; +and now the corby, and the hill-fox, and the eagle, do their best to +make up for the want of them. But such a wilderness as this, covered +deep with snow, and the howling wind carrying the drift across it, +has quite terrors enough in it for my taste. + +Author.--I am quite of your opinion, Archy. + +Serjeant.--Yet it is wonderful how Providence will interfere to +preserve people alive, amidst such complicated horrors. I remember a +story of a man of the name of Macintosh, who left Braemar, with his +wife, to come over this way. A dreadful snow storm came upon them, and, +being blinded by the snow-drift, and encumbered in the deep and heavy +wreathes, the poor people were separated from each other. The man made +his way, with great difficulty, to a whisky bothy, where he arrived +much exhausted, and quite inconsolable for the loss of his wife. Being +thus saved himself, he procured the assistance of people to help him +to look for the corpse of his lost partner. For two whole days they +sought in vain; when, just as they were about to abandon their search, +till the surface of the ground should become less burdened with snow, +they observed a figure coming slowly and wearily down the hill of +Gart. This, as it drew nearer, appeared to be a woman; and, on her +approaching nearer still, the overjoyed husband discovered that she +was his living wife, for whom he had been weeping as dead. She had +been wandering for nearly three days, without either food or shelter, +amid the mountain snows, but, although she was dreadfully exhausted, +she eventually recovered. + +Grant.--That was indeed the support of Providence, Archy! + +Author.--Most wonderful indeed! Her preservation was little short of +a miracle. + +Serjeant.--Aye, truly, you may well say that, sir. Nothing but a +miracle could have preserved the poor woman from so many perils as +she must have encountered in her wanderings,--not to mention those of +cold, hunger, and fatigue. It was the hand of Providence, assuredly, +that supported her. By what means he worked, we have no opportunity +of knowing. But surely it was strange that he could have enabled any +human being, and especially a woman, to have come through so much +fatigue and suffering alive. + +Clifford.--Truly, most miraculous! + +Serjeant.--And then, gentlemen, how very strangely--so far as we +blind mortals can perceive--are others permitted to perish at the +very door, as it were, of help. I think it is now about sixteen +years ago--and, if I remember rightly, it was about the Christmas +time--that James Stewart, son of the miller of Delnabo, perished, on +the very haugh there, just below the House of Inchrory. The poor fellow +passed by this place, on his way over to Braemar, one morning that I +happened to be here. He stopped a few minutes with me, and had some +talk.--"I'm likely to get a fine day for crossing the hill, Archy," +said he.--"Well," said I, "I hope you will, and I wish you may. Yet I +don't altogether like yon mountaneous heap of white tumbling-looking +clouds, that are casting up afar off over the hill-top yonder."--"They +dinna look awthegither weel, to be sure," said Jemmy; "but I houp I +may be in weel kent land lang or they break."--We parted. The snow +came on in a dreadful storm, about mid-day; and I had two or three +anxious thoughts about Jemmy Stewart, as the recollection of him was +ever and anon brought back to me, during the night, by the fearful +whistling of the wind, and the rattling of the hail. Next morning, +I, and some of the other men about the place, found a human track, +running in a bewildered, irregular, and uncertain line, between the +house of Inchrory and the burn yonder, which must be a width of not +much more than forty yards. We had not followed this far, when we +came to the poor man, whose worn-out feet had made these prints. His +walking-stick was standing erect among the snow beside him,--and +there lay poor Jemmy Stewart, on his face; his hands were closed, +and his head rested on them, just as if he had lain quietly down to +sleep. The lads who were with me, stupid gomerills that they were, +had a superstitious dread of touching him; but, deeply as I grieved +for the poor fellow, I had seen too many dead men in my time to have +any such scruples. I accordingly turned him, and found, alas! that he +was quite gone. It appeared that he had been suddenly surprised and +bewildered by the snow-drift among the hills, and that, having lost +all knowledge of his way, he had unconsciously wandered in the very +opposite direction to that in which he had intended to go. Becoming +more and more confused, as he wandered and wandered, he became at last +so entirely stupified by the multiplied terrors of that awful night, +that he ultimately yielded to the last drowsiness of death, and so +laid himself down to court its fatal repose. Alas! he was unhappily +ignorant that he was within a few yards of the friendly house which he +had passed on his way upwards on the previous morning, to the reviving +shelter of which, the least possible additional exertion might have +easily brought him, had he but known in what direction to have made it. + +Clifford.--What a sad and fearful story! + +Serjeant.--Aye, sir, sad and fearful indeed! Is it not dreadful to +think how often the recollection of him crossed my mind during that +fatal night, and how little trouble, on my part, would have saved him, +had I only known that he was wandering in the snow so near me? Aye, +and to think that I should have lain ignorantly all the while in my +warm bed, allowing him so cruelly to perish! Willing would I have +been to have travelled all night through the drift to have saved poor +Jemmy Stewart! + +Author.--No one can doubt that, Archy. + +Serjeant.--Well, but sir, you see these matters are in the hand of +God, and at his wise disposal; and although we, blind moles of the +yearth as we are, cannot easily descry why a worthy well-doing young +man like Jemmy Stewart should be permitted thus wretchedly to die, +without aid, either human or divine, we cannot doubt the justice and +wisdom of God's ways, which are inscrutable, and past man's finding +out. Well, I did all I could for the poor fellow, for I had his corpse +carried down to his afflicted father at Delnabo, and I saw him buried +at Dounan, near the Bridge of Livat. + +Clifford.--That, indeed, was all you could do for the poor man, +Archy; and the manner in which you did that little, together with +all the sentiments that you have uttered regarding him, are enough to +convince any one that you would not have scrupled to peril your life, +if you could have thereby saved that of a fellow-creature, still more +that of a friend. + +Serjeant.--Thank you, sir, for your good opinion of me; but, as I +said before, these matters are in the hand of God: and, whilst he +allows the strong to perish, he can, if he so wills it, preserve +the weakest. I remember an extraordinary circumstance that happened +about eighteen or twenty years ago, which I may mention to you as +an example of the truth of this observe of mine. Four women, who +had been in the south country at the harvest, were on their return +home over these mountains, when they were caught in a storm. The +snow came on so thickly upon them, and the wind raised so great a +land-drift, that they became bewildered, lost their way, and, after +much wandering, they at last got into the ruins of an old bothy, +near the side of the river Gairden, which runs, as I may tell ye, +beyond those farther hills there to the south. By this time their +shoes were worn off. They were without food--without all means of +making a fire--and the cold came on so intense during the night, that +the poor things were all frozen to death. There they were found in +the morning by a party of smugglers, who had been early a-stir after +their trade. The whole of the four women were cold and stiff. But the +most wonderful, as well as the most touching circumstance of all was, +that a female child, of about sixteen months old, was found alive, +vainly attempting to draw nourishment from its mother's breast. The +poor woman's maternal anxiety had enabled her to use precautions to +keep her babe warm and in life, which she had failed to exercise for +her own preservation. The child was taken charge of by Donald Shaw of +Lagganall, and brought up by him under the name of Kirstock; and she +afterwards went to service in Glen Livat, where----But mark me now, +gentlemen! Here we are at Caochan-Seirceag, of which you heard so +much from me in my Legend of the Clan-Allan Stewarts. + +Clifford.--I see there are no trees here now, as you say there were +in the days of Sir Patrick Stewart of Clan-Allan. + +Grant.--The cliffs are fine though, and the ravine itself romantic. How +comes it that some of these rocks are so brilliantly white? They +absolutely shine like alabaster amid the dazzling radiance of that +setting sun. + +Author.--If I answer your question, it will draw me into a disquisition +which may bring an attack upon us from Clifford, for prosing about +geology to one another. + +Grant.--Never mind him; he may shut his ears, if he likes. + +Author.--Those brilliant streaks of alabastrine white, are nothing more +than incrustations of calcareous stalactites, formed on those rocks +of gneiss, by the evaporation of these trickling rills, the water +of which holds lime in solution, probably derived from the little +aquatic marl snail in the moss above, from which they drain themselves. + +Clifford.--I'd advise you to think less of your alabastrine +incrustations of calcareous stalactites on gneiss, and more of your +necks and limbs, during this steep and somewhat hazardous descent, +else you may evaporate like some of those trickling rills you are +speaking of. These fellows you told us of, Mr. Serjeant, must have +had some little difficulty in carrying the Lady Catherine down and +up here. But tell me, I pray you, what is the meaning of the name +of Caochan-Seirceag? for I know that all your Gaelic names of places +are highly poetical and descriptive. + +Serjeant.--The meaning of Caochan-Seirceag, sir, so far as I can make +it out, is the rivulet of the beloved maiden. + +Clifford.--Poetical in the highest degree!--Why, what scope does it +not afford to the poet's mind to fancy the ardour of the passion of +the lovers who must have made the romantic bed of this rivulet their +trysting place, as well as the beauty of the maiden by whose beloved +image the youth thus happily chose to distinguish it--to imagine all +the obstacles which the pure stream of their love may have encountered +in its course, and of which this vexed and tortured little brook may +have formed but too lively a type, until at length it glided into a +peaceful channel, as this does in its passage across the green meadow +yonder below! What a glorious poetical romance might be suggested by +these rocks and rills!--Confound them!--I had nearly tumbled headlong +over this slippery stone!--What a fall I should have had! + +Grant.--You made a narrow escape there, indeed, Clifford. I would have +you to remember, that it would have been quite as bad to have died +the victim of romantic enthusiasm, as of dry geological speculation. + +Clifford.--I beg your pardon, my good fellow, you are quite +wrong there. I at least would have infinitely preferred to have +died from thinking of the beloved maiden, than from a confusion +of brain occasioned by a mixture of alabastrine incrustations of +calcareous stalactites and gneiss and marl snails! But to return to +my speculations as to the rivulet of the beloved maiden,--why may it +not have had its name from the Lady Catherine Forbes herself? + +Serjeant.--As I shall answer, you have hit the very thing, sir. There +cannot be a doubt that it was from her that the rill was so called. + +Clifford.--See now how lucky it was for you, Mister Archy, that I +was not killed by a fall, as I had so nearly been, else had you been +deprived of my ingenious elucidation of this most difficult point. But +now, thank heaven, we are all safe in the meadow, and I shall have +one touch at the trouts yet ere the light goes away entirely. + +Author.--I wish you great success, Clifford. Pray do your best, +my good fellow, for I know not what commons we may have in this our +hostel of Inchrory here. + +Clifford.--Aha! you see that my rod and my piscatorial skill are not +without their use. Depend upon it, you shan't go without a supper, +if I can help it. + +As I suspected, we found that our accommodations at Inchrory were +rather of the simplest description. But the good people of the house +showed every disposition to do the best, for our comfort, that lay +in their power. A dozen and a half of large trouts, which Clifford +soon brought in, added to some of those provisions which we carried +with us, made up the best part of our repast, and we very speedily +prepared ourselves for the intellectual enjoyment of the evening. + +Clifford.--One would think that the worthy people here, had been +forewarned of our story-telling propensities, and that they had made +especial provision accordingly for the serjeant's long yarns. Did you +ever see a more magnificent pair of wax candles on any table? Why, +these would see out all the narratives that ever were told by Sindbad +the Sailor. + +Grant.--Who could have expected to have met with wax candles, such +as these, in an humble place like this, in the midst of these lonely +mountains, and so far from the haunts of men? Nay, who could have +expected to have met with any candles at all here? + +Author.--How happens it, Archy, that they can give us candles so +superb as these, in a place like this, where they have so little else +to produce, and nothing at all that can in the least degree correspond +with them? They are of enormous size--nearly three inches in diameter, +I should say. I have seen no such candles as these, except in a Roman +Catholic church, or procession. + +Serjeant.--Troth, sir, I imagine you have solved the mystery. The truth +is, as I told you before, that the great mass of the population of +this Highland country consists of Roman Catholics; and it is probable +that these candles, which have been originally used for some religious +rite, have, from necessity, been this night lighted for your use. + +Clifford.--Come, then, serjeant, do you proceed to use the candles +as fast as may be. Open your budget, my good man, and give us one of +your many legends. + +Grant.--You had better allow the serjeant to mix a tumbler of warm +stuff in the first place, and whilst he is doing so, he can be +considering as to what he had best give us. + +Serjeant.--Thank you, sir. I'll just be doing that same. Would you have +any objections to another legend of the Clan-Allan Stewarts, gentlemen? + +Author.--Certainly not, Archy, if it be only as good as the last you +gave us. + +Serjeant.--It is not for me to speak in its praise, sir, though I +must e'en say that I think it no worse than the last. But it is a +hantel longer. + +Grant.--The longer the better, if it be good. We have a long night, +and great candles before us, so that you may give your tongue its +fullest licence. + +Serjeant.--Well, gentlemen, it's a good thing to be neither gagged +in the mouth, nor stinted in the bicker. + +Author.--Depend upon it, Archy, you shall be neither the one nor +the other. + +Clifford.--Come away, then, serjeant, begin as soon as you please. + +Archy then took a long snuff out of the box which I handed to him, +during which he seemed to be collecting his ideas, and then he +began his narrative. Although I regret that I cannot always give the +precise words used by him, I shall endeavour to preserve as faithful +an outline of its particulars as I can, and that in language which +I hope may be at least as intelligible. + + + + END OF VOLUME FIRST. + + + + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] Accidental, and rarely occurring. + +[2] A swing. + +[3] Mòr, great, and Beg or Beag, little, are well known Highland +cognomina, employed like Dubh, black, Ruadh, red, and Bàn, white, +to distinguish different individuals of the same name. + +[4] That is, having sixteen or more tynes upon his antlers. + +[5] Or Ruadh, red. + +[6] Power. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legendary Tales of the Highlands +(Volume 1 of 3), by Thomas Dick Lauder + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58913 *** |