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diff --git a/old/61360-0.txt b/old/61360-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5020ec9..0000000 --- a/old/61360-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7291 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Witch of the Glens, by Sally Watson, -Illustrated by Barbara Werner - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Witch of the Glens - - -Author: Sally Watson - - - -Release Date: February 9, 2020 [eBook #61360] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITCH OF THE GLENS*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images digitized by the Google Books -Library Project (https://books.google.com) and generously made available -by HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 61360-h.htm or 61360-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61360/61360-h/61360-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61360/61360-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - HathiTrust Digital Library. See - https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005597078 - - - - - -WITCH OF THE GLENS - -by - -SALLY WATSON - -Drawings by Barbara Werner - - - - - - -The Viking Press -New York - - -[Illustration] - - -Copyright © 1962 by Sally Watson -All rights reserved -First published in 1962 by The Viking Press, Inc. -625 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N. Y. -Published simultaneously in Canada -by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited - -Library of Congress catalog card number: 62-17071 - -Printed in the U.S.A. by the Vail-Ballou Press, Inc. - - - - -To my favorite witch and _uruisg_ Jean and Don and their two small -kelpies Kathy and Mark - - - - -Contents - - - 1. The Gypsies 15 - - 2. The Waif 26 - - 3. Glenfern 36 - - 4. The Daft Folk 48 - - 5. Bewitchery 60 - - 6. The Picture in the Loch 73 - - 7. The Return of Mina and Bogle 88 - - 8. A Task for Kelpie 102 - - 9. Inverary Castle 115 - - 10. A Bit of Hair 124 - - 11. Argyll’s Dungeon 135 - - 12. Meeting at Pitlochry 146 - - 13. The Hexing of Alex 159 - - 14. The Battle of Tippermuir 170 - - 15. Witch Hunt 182 - - 16. Morag Mhor 195 - - 17. The Road to Inverary 206 - - 18. The Black Sail 223 - - 19. Footprints in the Snow 229 - - 20. The Campbell Lass 240 - - 21. Vengeance 250 - - 22. The Last Word 261 - - - - -Gaelic Terms - - - _Amadain_ (masculine, _amadan_). Fool. - - _Briosag._ Witch, sorceress. - - _Chlanna nan con, thigibh a sh’s gheibh sibh feoil._ “Sons of - the dogs, come hither, and you shall have flesh” (Cameron war - cry). - - _Dhia dhuit._ A greeting (“good day,” literally, “God today”). - - _Droch-inntinneach._ Evil-minded. - - _Dubh_ (also _dhu_). Black. - - _Each uisghe._ Water horse (mythical sea-monster, probably with - some connection to the Loch Ness Monster, which has been seen - frequently for at least 1500 years and to which Saint Columba - of Iona gave a good scolding in 565, as recorded by the Abbot - of Iona). - - _Filleadh mór._ The great-plaid, kilt and plaid in one piece. - (The plaid, or plaidie, was worn around the shoulders and - sometimes over the head.) - - _Ghillie._ An attendant or follower of a clan chief or - chieftain. - - _Kelpie._ A water witch. - - _Mallaichte._ Wicked. - - _M’eudain._ An endearment. - - _Mise-an-dhuit._ An exclamation (literally, “Me today!”). - - _Mo chridhe._ An endearment (literally, “My heart”). - - _Mo thruigh._ An exclamation (literally, “My sorrow!”). - - _Mor_ (or _mhor_). Great, large. - - _Nathrach._ Serpent. - - _Seach._ Interjection: “Yes?” “Well—” “Truly!” “Really?” - - _Sgian dhu._ Black knife: a small dagger usually worn in the - top of the right stocking by men, just below the knee on the - outside, where it is most convenient to reach. - - _Slaoightire._ Scoundrel. - - _Uruisg_ (plural, _uruisgean_). A hobgoblin; sometimes thought - to be half human, half hobgoblin. A most disagreeable fellow, - in any case. - - - - -Pronouncing Gaelic - - -Gaelic pronunciation is in some ways totally different from English. -For instance, _s_ in front of _i_ or _e_ sounds like _sh_; _th_, _bh_, -_dh_, and _gh_ are sometimes (but not always) silent; _mh_ is usually -pronounced _v_; and _ch_ has a sound not found in English at all, and -made by trying to say _kh_ as far back in the throat as possible. - -_Following are the pronunciations for some of the names and words found -in this book_: - - dubh—doo - - each uisghe—ekh oosh-ga (“oo” as in “look”) - - Eithne—Ay-na - - Ewen—Yew-en - - ghillie—gilly - - Hamish—Hay-mish - - Ian—Ee-an - - Lachlan—Lakh-lan - - Loch Leven—Lokh Leeven - - Mairi—Mah-ri - - mhor—vore - - mo chridhe—mo cree - - Seumas—Shay-mas (James) - - sgian dhu—skean doo - - uruisg—oorishk - - - - -Historical Note - - -To avoid confusion I have in this book described clan tartans more or -less as they exist today. This is not strictly accurate. To begin with, -in 1644 clans had not yet adopted specific tartans to be worn by all -their members, and probably none of the tartans were the same, in either -pattern or color, as they are today. In fact, it is very difficult to -know just what they did look like, for all kinds of vegetable dyes were -used, and the remnants of old tartans that we find today are so faded and -changed in color that they seem mostly gray or gray-brown, and it is hard -to tell what colors they once were. - - - - -Witch of the Glens - - - - -[Illustration: THE PART OF _SCOTLAND_ WHERE KELPIE’S ADVENTURE TOOK -PLACE] - - - - -1. The Gypsies - - -The people of Inverness were deeply annoyed. A number of them stood -in the square and scowled with great hostility at the three tattered -wanderers in their midst—but their anger held a wary quality. - -“Tinklers! Gypsies!” they cried accusingly, and the soft, sibilant sound -of the Gaelic was less soft but more sibilant than usual. “_Briosag!_” -(“Witch!”) muttered some with conviction but caution. “Thieves!” they -added, getting to the real heart of the annoyance. And with this fresh -reminder of their grievances they began picking up stones as they -advanced toward the man, woman, and girl. - -Anyone who expected to see clan loyalty in this gypsy family would have -been terribly disappointed. The massive bent shoulders and stringy legs -of the man somehow evaporated between two houses, and the final glance -from his pasty dark face was one of hooded derision. - -Old Mina Faw didn’t seem at all put out by her man’s desertion. One -might have thought she had expected it. Her scrawny figure seemed to grow -taller as she turned a once-handsome hag face toward the crowd, and her -sunken pale eyes flashed. The crowd hesitated. Everyone knew Old Mina was -a witch, with the most devastating Evil Eye in all Scotland. - -But surprisingly Mina chose to pacify them. After all, there weren’t many -towns in the Highlands in this year of 1644, and it was well not to be -alienating those few too deeply. “Och, now!” She wheedled the crowd in -her thin but powerful voice. “Ye wouldn’t be wishing to harm a poor old -woman, now, would ye?” - -It wasn’t at all that they weren’t wishing to harm her. But no one wanted -to risk having his hands fall off or his cattle die. They regarded her -dubiously, making up their minds. “Witch!” repeated someone from the -safety of the back. “Thief!” cried several more with fresh indignation, -and they began to move forward again. - -“Thief?” echoed Mina indignantly. “Not I! I would only be reading your -palms and telling good fortune for ye. If anyone has been lifting -your belongings, it must be my wicked wee Kelpie, whom I am beating -every night for her sins.” And she pointed accusingly at an undersized -goblin-lass who might have been perhaps fifteen or seventeen years old, -dressed in an outrageous assortment of faded scraps. Long black elf-locks -flapped about her thin face and down her back. Eyes that were not quite -canny peered out like those of an alarmed wee beast—or a witch. - -The “wicked wee Kelpie” didn’t stay to dispute the issue. With one -bright, mutinous glance at Mina, she dived through the startled fringe of -the crowd like a young stoat and ran away into the narrow steep lanes of -the town. - -The Inverness crowd promptly forgot Mina and took after the lass. -“Thief!” they yelled with new enthusiasm. And whatever was convenient to -pick up, they threw. - -It was fortunate that Kelpie was experienced in this sort of thing, for -it was a nasty chase, and she knew all too well what might happen if they -caught her. With cunning amounting to sheer genius she ran and dodged, -doubled back and forth between houses, wriggled over and under and around -obstacles. Now and then her intense small face broke into a pointed -grin of appreciation at her own cleverness—for there was something -exhilarating in outwitting an entire town—but very real fear lurked -behind those uncanny blue eyes. To tell the truth, it was the tide of ill -will surging behind her which oppressed her even more than the stones. -But Kelpie did not realize this, for she was so used to ill will that she -could not remember anything else. - -As for Mina’s deplorable behavior, Kelpie was annoyed but not in the -least astonished. Mina had merely followed the law of self-preservation, -the only law Kelpie knew. She herself would do the same thing, given the -chance. It was the only way to stay alive. - -“_Briosag!_ Witch!” - -Kelpie swerved round a corner and wished that she _were_ a witch. If so, -she wouldn’t be running now but putting a braw spell on them all, causing -their legs to buckle under them and stay that way for three days too, so -that the whole town would be crawling about on hands and knees, just—She -laughed at the picture and took another corner at full speed. Just wait -until she _was_ a witch! Och, no one would chase her then, or beat her, -either.... - -A red petticoat spread on a gorse bush vanished magically as she flew -past. Why not? If she got away, she was a petticoat richer. If not, what -would it be mattering, a petticoat more, since she already had two stolen -purses, a kerchief, and a fine _sgian dhu_ on her anyhow? - -Up hill and down and around, and finally away out of the town, and -presently the stones ceased to bite at her ankles and back, and the yells -were lost behind. Her breath seared her lungs now, and she hurtled down -the hill toward the river which led from Loch Ness to Moray Firth. At -last she threw herself into a cold, wet, but safely thick bank of broom, -bracken, and juniper, where she lay panting and gasping painfully. Mina -and Bogle would be safely away by now and waiting for her down along -the path that was the only road along Loch Ness. Let them wait. She had -earned a rest. She was sore bruised and aching from the stones, and her -bare feet, tough as they were, hurt from the cobbled streets of the town. - -Och, she thought pleasantly, if only they would some day be catching and -hanging Mina, and Bogle too—but only, of course, after Kelpie had learned -all the witchcraft that Mina knew, and perhaps more. Oh, to be a more -powerful witch than Mina, and to be putting all kinds of curses on her -until all scores were settled! - -Curled up in her nest of bracken, head resting on the scarlet petticoat, -Kelpie drifted into her favorite daydream. _Dhé_, how Mina would plead -for mercy! Her arms and legs would shrivel up, just, and her few -remaining teeth fall out. Kelpie smiled, looking like a starry-eyed -lass dreaming of romance. Then her short upper lip curled and lifted, -revealing a row of small, sharp white teeth, so that she looked more like -a wolf cub dreaming of dinner. - -The long northern twilight was beginning to creep into the Great Glen, -for sunlight vanished early in the valley between those high, steep, -massive hills, even in March. She must go on now, or she would be beaten -for delaying. And presently, still sore, she was loping silently down the -path by the loch, where new gorse and bracken grew between patches of old -snow. Two or three miles down she met Bogle and Mina sitting on their -bundles and waiting. - -“You have taken your time about getting here,” said Bogle. “And how many -purses were you taking?” - -Twilight had deepened into the toneless half-light of gloaming. Light -had slowly drained from the Glen, leaving a world of eerie gray on the -hill above Loch Ness. The loch itself was liquid iron, from which might -easily arise the three black humps and snaky neck of the _each uisghe_, -the water horse who lived there. A meager supper was over, and the only -color left in the world was the small salmon-pink pennant of cloud flying -over the black shoulder of Meall Fuarvounie and reflected in the shining -crystal ball in Mina’s hand. - -She spread a shabby bit of stolen black velvet on the springy turf and -set the crystal sphere lovingly in the exact center. “And now you will be -reading the glass with me,” she said. - -It was a nightly ritual. Ordinarily Kelpie found it interesting, -exciting, but tonight she was sore and aching and rebellion was in her. -It was foolish, of course, to express such feelings. It was to risk not -only a beating—which, being used to, she did not fear—but an evil spell, -which she did. But she expressed them now and then, all the same. - -“May the _uruisg_ be away with you!” she said sweetly and ducked. Mina’s -fist merely caught the top of Kelpie’s tangled head, but her snarl was -more effective. - -“Mind me so!” Her voice rasped. “And how do you think to be learning -witchcraft else?” - -“I am reading the crystal with you every night,” muttered Kelpie. “But -you’ll never let me be trying alone, and you’ve taught me never so much -as a single wee spell.” - -“And listen to her now!” The hateful voice was a croak of derision, -echoed by a snort from the bulky gray shadow that was Bogle. “She cannot -crawl yet and she is wanting to run!” And this time the blow fell on -Kelpie’s high, thin cheekbone before she could think to duck. “Look into -the crystal, _amadain_!” - -Kelpie considered further defiance and then decided against it. She -didn’t really feel up to another beating tonight, and she did want to -learn witchcraft. So she permitted Mina’s long gnarled hand to clutch her -own so that Kelpie would be able to see what Mina did. For a seer could -share his sight with another by touching him, and Kelpie, said Mina, was -not yet ready to see alone. Night after night, for as long as she could -remember, Kelpie had looked into the ball with Mina, describing what she -saw, while the old woman questioned and corrected her. - -“Now,” said Mina, and Kelpie stared into the luminous ball. First it -clouded, then the center began to glow dully, and then a vague picture -developed. Kelpie’s dark head bent forward on its long neck, and her eyes -grew wide and fixed.... - -Two young men were riding along a loch-side on fine horses, with a blond -giant behind them on a shaggy Highland pony. Bright tartan _filleadh -mór_—the bulky great-kilts—beat heavily against their thighs and swung -over their shoulders, and their heads were high with the proud confidence -of the well-born. - -Kelpie recognized one of them. Young Glenfern, it was, whose father was -a minor chieftain of Clan Cameron, and who had once given her a farthing -and a sudden compassionate smile that lit his grave dark-eyed face like -sunshine. The smile had roused in Kelpie a strange sensation of joy and -resentment combined, and the feeling came back now as she stared. There -was gladness behind the composure of his face as he rode, and his dark -shoulder-length hair lifted in the breeze. And Kelpie, ignorant of the -eternal attraction of lad for lass, frowned at the pleasant pain of her -own feelings. She spared no more than a glance for the other young man in -MacDonald tartan, whose narrow face seemed composed of straight lines, -whose freckles matched the blaze of his red hair, whose expression seemed -to laugh at all the world. - -“Who is that?” muttered Mina, peering. “What will they be to us? Do you -know them?” - -“No,” lied Kelpie, whose policy was to deceive Mina and Bogle whenever -possible, just on principle. - -“I would be seeing something of the King, or the war, or Mac Cailein -Mor,” said Mina fretfully. - -Kelpie spared her a narrow, speculative glance. Why was Mina so -interested of late in politics? Of what benefit to her was the blaze -of civil war sweeping through the remote world of England and even -the less remote world of the Lowlands? As far as Kelpie could see, it -affected them not at all—except, of course, that Mac Cailein Mor, Marquis -of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell, was head of the Covenant army of -the Lowlands and therefore a merciless hunter of witches. But then Mac -Cailein Mor came into these Western Highlands only now and then, and -merely to wipe out here and there a few of the clans whom he had always -hated. A terrible fierce enemy he was, no doubt, and one deserving the -Evil Eye—but what was he to Mina, at all? - -“Is it still the lads riding, then?” Mina persisted. “And who will they -be, whatever?” - -Always and always Kelpie must describe every detail, just as if Mina -couldn’t see for herself. Kelpie was irritated. “How should I be -knowing?” she snapped, and a blow on the ear set her head ringing. - -“Don’t know! _Amadain!_ What tartan will they be wearing?” - -It was too much. Kelpie jerked away, too angry to care about the -consequences. “_Nathrach!_” She spat. “Look for yourself!” - -The motionless gray bulk in the shadows now stirred and gave a low, -spiteful chuckle. “She cannot,” Bogle said, wheezing with satisfaction. -“It is sure I am now; her Sight will be going from her. It was for that, -these long years ago, that she must be stealing a wee bairn with the -ringed eyes of the Second Sight, and holding her hand so that she can see -through other eyes what she cannot see for herself—” - -There was a scream of fury from old Mina, and a battered saucepan hurtled -through the dusk, hit Bogle’s ragged shoulder, and fell into the heather. -Bogle chuckled with malicious triumph. It wasn’t that he hated Mina -in particular. He was quite impartial, was Bogle; he simply hated all -mankind and greatly enjoyed seeing anyone unhappy. Now he ducked his -head slightly and shook with laughter as the saucepan was followed by an -assortment of sticks, stolen objects, and curses. - -Kelpie sat perfectly still. A universe of startling possibilities was -opening to her mind—because, with Mina’s hand no longer touching hers, -the tiny picture in the crystal glowed more sharply, brightly clear than -she had ever seen it. - - * * * * * - -Wrapped in her tattered plaidie in a nest of last year’s dry bracken, she -lay awake after the long gloaming had deepened to black and stars peeped -out to grow dim again as the unearthly white radiance of the northern -lights—the Dancers—shimmered and pulsed over the western hills. The -wonder of the lights, as Kelpie watched, seemed to match the wonder in -her heart. - -Had Bogle told the truth? Mina’s behavior made Kelpie think he had. And -it was certain that the crystal was even clearer for her without Mina’s -touch. - -So then, was it also true that she had been stolen? From where? Kelpie -reached back into her memory but could find nothing but the vagrant life -of gypsies—tramping, begging, stealing, telling fortunes and selling -spells and charms in the Highlands, running from witch-hunters in the -Lowlands, sleeping under the sky. - -Och, how could she ever be finding out? Only, perhaps, by becoming a -greater witch than Mina and putting the power upon her. And indeed, it -was a great advantage if Mina no longer had the Sight! _Dhé_, but she had -other powers, had Mina, terrible powers of cursing and spells! She was -clever, too, and for all her age she used a stick with great strength. -Kelpie must be canny, she must so. The cold streams of the northern -lights faded, and when they were gone, Kelpie was asleep. - - - - -2. The Waif - - -It was one of those days that couldn’t decide between winter and spring. -A cold, gusty wind whistled thinly through dark pine and barren birch and -chased fat clouds over the sky one by one, causing flurries of hard rain -to alternate with pale and hesitant sunshine. - -They had traveled the thirty miles of Loch Ness, stopping at the village -near Urquhart Castle, and again at Kilcummin, where they had nearly been -caught picking the purse of one of the MacDonald chieftains. And now they -were moving south beside the silver ripples of Loch Lochy. - -Kelpie was far ahead of Mina and Bogle, moving along high on the hillside -with a prancing motion caused partly by high spirits and partly by the -masses of tough-stemmed heather that covered the slope. She was still -sore from her latest beating, and also hungry. Her life consisted -largely of pain and hunger and cold, and was peopled by enemies to be -feared and hated or fools to be tricked, but Kelpie had discovered -all that long ago and was quite used to the fact and found life very -enjoyable anyway. Certainly it was never dull, and she had a zest for -adventure. - -And in spite of everything, the world was beautiful. Kelpie could forgive -it a lot for that. In any case, her day was coming! She had deliberately -described the details in last night’s crystal quite wrongly, and Mina -hadn’t known. - -Or had she? - -This appalling thought caused Kelpie to miss her usually sure footing and -to step right in the middle of a gorse bush. Neither the travel-hardened -toughness of the bare brown foot nor the deceptive beauty of the silvery -leaves saved her from a good pricking, and Kelpie swore with an ardent -fluency that would have pleased Bogle greatly. Still hopping and cursing, -she saw the movement and color of the three horsemen down the loch much -later than she should have. They were coming along toward her in the path -below and doubtless had well-filled purses which might well be lightened. -She was halfway down the steep slope when suddenly the sun shone brightly -from behind the latest cloud, and Kelpie recognized the scene from the -crystal: young Glenfern and his red-haired companion and the giant blond -_ghillie_ riding behind. - -But there was no time to wonder about it. Timing her movements -carefully, Kelpie threw herself headlong down the last steep bank and -sprawled full length in the path, almost under the horses’ feet. - -“_Dhé!_” exclaimed Ian Cameron as he and Alex reined the horses so -sharply that they reared for a moment on their hind legs. All he could -see on the ground was a pitifully small and tattered figure, clearly in -great danger of being trampled to death. - -Alex MacDonald, from his better position behind, saw something a little -more. As Ian’s horse stepped alarmingly close to Kelpie, one “thin and -helpless” arm moved, neatly and efficiently, the precise six inches -required for safety. Alex’s red eyebrows arched, and an appreciative grin -danced on his face. He relaxed and prepared to enjoy the comedy that was -sure to follow. - -The crisis was over in a moment. “Is it all right you are?” demanded Ian -of the wee figure, and the wee figure nodded biting its lip in a fine -imitation of silent courage as it raised itself painfully to an elbow. -For Kelpie had discovered that this sort of act was much more touching -than loud wails and tears. She decided to have a hurt back, this being -hard to disprove, as well as more impressive than other hurts. So she -winced to indicate great pain and looked up with a brave and pathetic -smile. - -The lads looked back at her. A scrawny waif it was, tattered and -unbelievably dirty. The tangled dark hair, apparently never touched by -water or comb, fell over the thin face in a way that reminded Ian of -shaggy Highland cattle—except that these eyes were unlike those of any -cattle that ever lived. They were long and black-fringed, set at a slant -in the narrow face, and strangely ringed. Around each black pupil was -a wide circle of smoky blue, then a narrow one of lightish gray, and a -third of deep and vivid blue. Astonishing eyes, almost alarming! Where -had he seen them before? - -While Ian stared in wonder and pity, Alex made a few further observations -of his own. He noted the high cheekbones and the pointed chin and the -wicked slant of black brows and the short upper lip—giving rather the -effect, thought Alex, of a wicked elfin creature, or perhaps a witch. -Amused but wary, he sat back and let his foster brother make up his mind. -Ian wouldn’t have been noticing, of course, that the wee _briosag_ threw -herself into the path on purpose. Ian had the way of always believing the -best of everyone. - -Ian was aware of the cynical smile behind him. A nasty suspicious mind -Alex had! It was a pity. What else could he be expecting of a poor wild -waif like this? What sort of life must she have had? Then Ian remembered -where he had seen her before: with that wicked old witch Mina. Och, the -poor creature! - -“’Tis hurt you are,” he said worriedly, to Kelpie’s relief. She had -feared for a moment that she’d been too subtle altogether. - -“Och, only a little,” she whispered, putting on a braw show of dreadful -pain heroically borne. - -“Now, do not be overdoing it,” drawled Alex. - -Kelpie shot him a look which, had she been a properly qualified witch, -would surely have caused him to break out with every loathsome disease -known to mankind. Unfortunately the only effect of her venomous glare was -that Alex’s smile broadened to an insulting chuckle. Och, what a beast -he was, then, with the bony, freckled, jeering face of him, and the two -jaunty tufts of red hair jutting upward just where horns ought to sprout! -She was about to tell him so, and in great detail, but just in time she -remembered her role and Ian, who was still showing his pity and dismay. - -What a misfortune, he thought, that this should happen now, just when he -and Alex were nearly home again after those long months away in Oxford, -where he had been savagely homesick. They were about to get home early, -and with very important news, and now this had to happen, not five miles -from Glenfern. - -“What shall we be doing with you at all?” he said. “We cannot just be -leaving her here!” he added fiercely, turning on Lachlan, the blond -_ghillie_, who, looking larger than usual on his short shaggy pony, had -muttered something from behind. - -“Give her a copper,” Alex said, laughing, “and see how quickly she’ll -mend!” - -Copper indeed! thought Kelpie. It was silver she was wanting. But she -didn’t hide the gleam in her eyes quickly enough. - -“I’ll show you,” said Alex. Slowly, tantalizingly, he drew a coin from -his sporran and held it up. It gleamed silver, and Kelpie stared at it -greedily. “See?” Alex chuckled and spun it toward her. - -Quick as the flash of bright metal in the air, her brown hand shot out -to catch it in flight—then dropped, and the coin fell noiselessly on the -path. Kelpie sat staring first at it and then at her own shoulder with -dismay that was, for a change, perfectly genuine. - -“I—I _am_ hurt!” she said with astonishment and then hastily snatched up -the coin with her good left hand before they should change their minds. - -“Not too hurt to be picking up the silver,” observed Alex, but the -gibe lacked his earlier light tone. Ian had already dismounted and -was touching rather gingerly the filthy rags covering the shoulder in -question. The lass frankly stank. - -This time Kelpie’s face showed an honest flicker of pain. “I think it -will be sprained, or perhaps out of place,” Ian decided and looked at -Alex. - -Alex looked back at him. “Well, so. And where does she live, then? Where -are her people? Perhaps Lachlan could be taking her home.” - -Ian shrugged. “I think I’ve seen her with Old Mina and Black Bogle. Is -that so?” he asked Kelpie, who nodded. - -Alex raised his eyebrows, not in the least surprised. It was logical that -she should belong to the nastiest witch in Scotland. - -“Will they be coming along, then?” Ian inquired, and again Kelpie nodded, -so bewildered by her unexpected hurt and the pain that was now shooting -sharply through her shoulder that she couldn’t really think clearly at -all. - -A glum silence settled on them, broken only by furtive and disapproving -mutters from Lachlan. His duty was to be protecting his young masters, -and now here they were consorting with witches, and he not able to -prevent them at all, at all. He crossed himself. - -Ian sighed with relief when the bent figures of Mina and Bogle appeared -up the loch-side. They would take care of their lass, and he and Alex -could be away home. - -But it wasn’t that easy. Mina, after taking in the situation at a -glance, burst into lamentations and curses that caused the ruddy Lachlan -to go pale. “And is it our poor lass you have harmed, wicked beasts -that you are?” she wailed, while Bogle stood like a massive old tree -in disconcerting silence. “Ocho, ocho, whatever shall we be doing now? -May the Evil Eye fall on all your cattle, and the pox upon yourselves, -_uruisgean_ that you are!” - -Ian himself recoiled, not from the curses, but from the evil that was in -this horrible old woman. What a dreadful thing that a young lass should -belong to such as these! It was wicked! And yet, what could he do? What -could anyone do? Unhappily he stood and stroked his horse’s nose while -Alex handled the matter. - -Alex did handle it beautifully, with just the right mixture of -indulgence, severity, and money. “’Twas no fault of ours that she fell, -but altogether her own,” he told them. “Still, we are kind-hearted and -willing to give you a bit of silver.” And when Mina would have demanded -more, he fixed her with a stern hazel stare that caused her own pale, -muddy eyes to waver and fall. It was all settled then, and Ian, feeling -depressed, turned to mount his horse. - -And then Black Bogle, perhaps feeling that they had been worsted in the -bargaining, reached down and jerked Kelpie roughly to her feet by the -injured arm. - -The bit of brutality wrenched a choked cry of anguish from the girl. Ian -whirled around, and Alex was off his horse in a flying leap and seized -Bogle’s arm in a grip that had no gentleness whatever. - -“Let go of her, you vile bully!” Alex snarled, red with fury, while Ian -removed the sagging Kelpie from Bogle’s grasp. Lachlan, brandishing a -steel dirk a foot long, loomed ominously behind.... - -When Kelpie was again able to take an active interest in events, she -heard several voices: a cold, contemptuous one and a dangerously quiet -one, Bogle’s growl and Mina’s whine, with dour grumblings in the -background. More money changed hands, and then Mina bent over Kelpie, a -cunning, complacent look on her face. - -“The fine gentlemen will be taking you home with them to fix your hurt, -and we will come to fetch you in the morning,” she said. “You will -be properly grateful—and behave as I’d be wishing you to,” she added -meaningly, and Kelpie nodded. She knew quite well what Mina meant—steal -whatever she could lay hands on. - -Then Ian’s concerned face was close to hers as he removed the grimy -once-red sash from about her waist and gently bound the injured arm to -her side. “And who’s knowing what further damage the brute will have -done?” he muttered. - -After that she found herself lifted to the fearful height of Alex’s -horse and felt his hard young arm firmly around her. And at a slow walk -they set along toward the fork in the path that led through the hills to -Glenfern. - -By the time they reached the top of the pass, Kelpie was feeling much -better. She began to relish the adventure, and she stared with interest -at the scene before her as they paused. Ian’s face was alight with joy, -and Lachlan actually had tears in his eyes. A strange thing that was, she -thought wonderingly, ignorant as she was of the love of the Highlander -for his own hills. Kelpie knew no home but the ground she walked on. - -The glen ran westward ahead of them, a long little valley cradled in -hills that were just turning jewel-green with new bracken and showing -dark with juniper and white here and there with birch trunks and unmelted -snow. On the northern slope stood a weathered gray house which seemed -large and grand indeed to Kelpie, and scattered along the glen were -little rye-thatched shieling huts of unmortared stone, nestled into the -hillside as if they had grown there. Farther down the glen was a wee -loch of silver and blue, ringed with white birches and dotted with green -islets. - -“Loch nan Eilean—Lake of the Islands,” murmured Ian with his heart in his -voice, and they rode on down the hill and along to the stables. - -Alex lifted Kelpie down from the horse, looked at her oddly, and then -with a grin forced open her left hand. - -“You little devil!” He laughed. “You’ve picked my pocket!” - - - - -3. Glenfern - - -Kelpie perched gingerly on a fine brocaded chair near the door of the -drawing room and gazed curiously at the scene before her. For house and -glen had, on their arrival, erupted into a perfect frenzy of excitement, -questions, tears, laughter, shouting, teasing, and hugging. - -_Dhé!_ And was this the way most families were behaving toward one -another? Kelpie found it baffling and achingly strange, and vaguely -annoying; and on the whole she was glad enough to have been forgotten for -the moment while she recovered her usual cool head. - -Talk rose and surged in a mixture of Gaelic and English. Cameron of -Glenfern paced back and forth, the rusty-red and green of his kilt -swinging about strong knees. Lady Glenfern, smiling and anxious at once, -sat in a carved oak chair, her harebell-blue skirts billowing about her -feet. Two small kilted lads pranced with excitement, a bittie lass -clamored to be away up in Ian’s arms, and a bonnie lass in green, perhaps -near Kelpie’s age, clung affectionately to both Ian and Alex at once. - -Through the open window Kelpie could see Lachlan standing in a ring of -laughing and chattering clansmen, and it began to dawn on her that this -was no ordinary homecoming. The lads had been away to school in a far-off -place in England and had returned quite unexpectedly with important news. - -“We knew that King Charles had fled London and set up his court at -Oxford,” said Glenfern. “And you wrote that Montrose was there, awaiting -permission to come and raise an army in Scotland for the King. Now you -say he’s coming?” - -“Aye so,” said Alex cynically, “but a bit late, now that Argyll has got -all the Lowlands and some of the Highlands well under the thumb of the -cursed Covenant! Were you knowing that the Covenant army has crossed the -border into England and will be fighting along with the Parliament army -against the King?” - -“_Dhé!_” exclaimed Glenfern in dismay. “Is it too late, then? Why was the -King waiting so long?” - -Alex shrugged. “Och, King Charles has a grand talent for not seeing what -he doesn’t like, and for doing the wrong thing altogether or the right -thing too late.” - -Ian, whose loyalty was a simple and wholehearted thing, frowned at his -foster brother. “He’s our king and a Stewart,” he reminded him and then -turned to his father. “At any rate, we were thinking we’d best come home -while we still could—and perhaps join Montrose when he arrives.” - -None of this meant a great deal to Kelpie, so she began looking around -with greedy wonder at the drawing room. Och, the glowing fine old silver -on the sideboard, the great portraits on the tapestry-hung walls, the -grand, massive carved furniture worn smooth as silk by time and polish, -and the damask draperies at real glass windows! It wasn’t fair that some -people should have so much! They should be sharing it, they should, and -it was up to Kelpie, she felt, to see to the sharing. - -A small silver snuff box was lying on a table near her; an instant later, -it wasn’t. Kelpie’s long slanted eyes flickered with satisfaction, but -before she could so much as thrust her loot under her rags, a redheaded -figure bent over her and a sinewy long hand grasped her wrist gently but -with great strength. - -“Really, Ian,” observed Alex lazily, “you must be paying more attention -to your guest.” - -“Ssssss!” said Kelpie, again wishing she could cast the Evil Eye on him. -But instead the eyes of the entire family were now on her. - -“My sorrow!” said Ian ruefully. “I was forgetting!” - -“A shame to all of us, and she injured!” declared his mother, standing -up. “’Tis only for the night, you were saying, Ian? Well, so, we will -see to the shoulder—but not in the house, I think,” she added, looking at -Kelpie’s filthy clothes. - -“No,” agreed her husband. “Come away out to the wee room in the stable, -which will do nicely, I think.” - -And Kelpie, who had expected to be beaten and turned out for her theft, -stared. They were daft, all of them! But presently she forgot their -daftness because of the surprisingly painful business of having her -shoulder tended. She gritted her teeth and cursed vigorously, and after -it was over she was glad enough to lie down on the small cot in the -stable-room and be left alone to sleep. - - * * * * * - -Kelpie awoke with an oppressive sense of being trapped. Blindly hostile -walls and ceiling surrounded her, shutting out sky and wind. In sudden -panic she would have leaped up and fled to the safety of outside, but -the first movement brought the sharp, forgotten pain of her shoulder. -She gasped slightly, blinked, and noticed a pair of dark eyes regarding -her from a flower face. It was the wee bit of a lassie she had seen in -the big house, who stood watching Kelpie with grave sympathy. She was a -tiny thing, her body slight as it rose from the primrose bulk of her long -skirts, but Kelpie was disconcerted. The gaze seemed to understand too -much. - -“Poor lady!” said the mite, shaking her honey-brown head sorrowfully. “Is -it a sore bad hurt, then?” - -Kelpie said nothing. - -Light danced into the dark eyes. “Wee Mairi will kiss it and make it -well.” Quite undeterred by thoughts of cleanliness, the child leaned -over the cot and dropped a soft kiss on the bandages covering Kelpie’s -shoulder, and then another on her cheek. “Now it will stop hurting, just, -and you can be happy,” she announced. Crooking a small finger in the old -gesture of calling down a blessing from heaven, she turned and trotted -out, leaving a shaken Kelpie behind her. - -Nothing like this had ever happened to her before! Children had always -clung to their mothers, frightened of the witch’s lass. No one at all had -ever kissed her and Kelpie, to her dismay, found that her eyes had filled -with tears. Och, this would never do at all! She must be hard and strong, -or else how would she ever survive in the world she knew? She closed her -treacherous eyes and concentrated on subduing the weakness. - -The weakness was just about subdued when she became aware of more company -in the room. This time it was a pair of seven or eight-year-old lads with -penetrating blue eyes set in identical tanned faces which were alight -with passionate curiosity. - -Kelpie, still shaken and very much on the defensive from her encounter -with Wee Mairi, glared at them with frank hostility. They went on staring -at her with unwavering interest. _Dhé!_ They were nearly as disconcerting -as Wee Mairi—and there were two of them. Kelpie decided to take the -offensive. - -“Ssssss!” she hissed, baring her teeth and beetling her thick eyebrows -menacingly. The bright eyes rounded slightly, but with increased -curiosity rather than alarm. - -“Were you crying?” asked one boy candidly. - -“Are you a witch?” demanded the other. - -Kelpie considered. It wasn’t in the least safe to be thought a witch. -It could lead to all sorts of uncomfortable and fatal things. On the -other hand, she had never known real safety in any case, and it would be -pleasant to impress, or even frighten, these complacent lads. - -“I am so,” she said with an intimidating scowl. “I can put curses on ye, -or the Evil Eye whatever.” - -They were unintimidated. “Show us!” suggested one hopefully. - -“Alex was saying you cannot,” challenged the other. - -“Och, just you wait!” said Kelpie darkly. “I will be fixing that Alex as -ever was!” - -“What will you do to him?” persisted the skeptic with morbid curiosity. - -“What is your name?” asked his twin. - -“Kelpie!” said she in triumph, and at last she had impressed them. For -every Highland child knew that a Kelpie was a kind of fairy person, a -water witch who wails at night by lochs and rivers for a victim, or cries -for admittance at shuttered windows. - -“I don’t believe it,” said the skeptical twin, but he said it -halfheartedly. - -“Ronald! Donald!” The green-frocked lass who was Kelpie’s age stood in -the doorway, with a big-boned young woman behind her carrying a tray. -“Och, naughty lads! Ye shouldn’t be bothering in here, and well ye know -it!” - -“She’s a witch, and a kelpie too,” reported one of them, unabashed. - -“At least she says so, but we haven’t seen her put a spell yet,” added -the other. “When will you be showing us one?” - -The young woman nearly dropped her tray as she hastily tried to make the -sign of the cross. Her young mistress looked faintly alarmed but stood -her ground. “Be away, now,” she told the twins. “I’ll take that, Fiona.” -She took the tray from the quaking Fiona and set it on a stool beside -Kelpie’s cot. - -“We thought you’d be waking up hungry,” she said and then looked at -Kelpie apologetically, as if ashamed of her own good fortune and pretty -clothes. “My name is Eithne,” she added, pronouncing it “Ay-na,” with -the Highland lilt in her voice. “And the twins must not be saying such -things—about your being a witch, I mean. Are you?” she asked, overcome by -curiosity. - -Kelpie already had hand and mouth full of cold venison pie and new-baked -bannocks and had no intention of risking the rest of the food. She shook -her head firmly and put on her most innocent and helpless expression. - -“Och, no!” she mumbled truthfully around her bannock. “Not I!” - -At this moment a gaunt black cat sidled through the open door, spat at -Fiona, and with a joyful yowl leaped right on top of Kelpie. This was -unfortunate, since black cats were known to have a fondness for witches. - -Fiona backed up to the door, crossing herself furiously, and Eithne -looked awed. “_Dhé!_” she whispered. “Dubh has never done that before for -anyone!” - -Kelpie looked at Dubh with a mixture of pleasure and irritation. She -liked cats, but this one had timed his appearance poorly. - -Dubh looked back at her, great topaz eyes glowing into hers steadily and -inscrutably, and his purring filled the room. - -“He is wanting some food,” suggested Kelpie lamely. But Dubh didn’t -show the slightest interest in her meal. Instead, he arranged himself -comfortably on top of her legs. - -“Animals are always liking me,” Kelpie went on with better success. -Eithne’s face brightened and cleared. Of course! And if animals liked a -person, it was a sure sign that the person was to be trusted. Eithne, -like her brother, wanted to think the best of everyone, especially -of those whom life seemed to have treated unfairly. Besides, Kelpie -interested her. - -Presently she was seated on the edge of the cot, listening to the lurid -tale of Kelpie’s life and even being shown some of the scars and bruises -on the thin shoulders and back. Eithne was hot and shaking with shocked -indignation. It was perfectly dreadful, appalling! - -And Kelpie, rising to great tragic heights, played up to the most -sympathetic audience she had ever had. The long ringed eyes fixed on -Eithne’s brown ones were soft and luminous and oh, so innocent. - -But the “innocent” eyes reminded Alex of Dubh’s, as he entered the room -and got a good view of both pairs. He hadn’t been easy in his mind about -Eithne’s being in here so long. Ringed eyes like that weren’t canny. The -lass might well be a witch, at that, though likely too young to be very -dangerous. All the same, his foster sister must be protected. - -“Come away from her and out of here!” he ordered Eithne brusquely. - -He should have known better. She whirled on him, round chin jutting -out indignantly. “And will you be judging her unfairly, like all the -villagers and all?” Eithne demanded. “Don’t deny it, Alex MacDonald! -You’re thinking hard, suspicious things about her this very minute!” - -Alex’s sunburned face looked disconcerted at this sudden attack, but -only for an instant. “Oh, aye,” he agreed cheerfully. “I am that. And why -wouldn’t I be, with the many reasons she’s given me already? Has she put -a spell on you, _m’eudail_? Best be away to the house and see if Catriona -can break it.” - -Eithne stamped her foot, but it wasn’t easy to find a retort. “You—you -talk like a Covenanter!” she finally flung at him scathingly and flounced -out in a swirl of petticoats, Fiona behind her. - -Alex scratched his red head, more confounded by her passion than by her -rather shaky logic. He grinned wryly at Kelpie, who looked back at him in -triumph. - -“Poor innocent waif!” he jeered, putting one foot up on the edge of the -cot, where Dubh spat at it. He rested an elbow on his kilted knee and -stared at Kelpie with interest. She stared back through slitted eyes. - -“Before you’re up and away again,” he said, casually, “I’ve a wee word -to be saying to you, and it is this. Unlike Ian and Eithne, I’ve a nasty -suspicious mind, I have.” He wagged his head sadly. “And I’ve a picture -in my head of you away off tomorrow bearing every movable thing in the -glen hid in your rags, and we sitting here without so much as a stick of -furniture left to us.” - -“Indeed, and I would never be doing such a thing!” cried Kelpie -indignantly. “How could I be carrying it all?” - -Alex laughed outright. Kelpie scowled. She had been cursed and beaten -often enough, but she had never before been laughed at, and she didn’t -like it. - -Alex stopped laughing and grinned at her. “Well, so, and I’ve a -soft heart in me, so I’ll be doing nothing about such matters as -pocket-picking or a certain snuff box, nor will anyone else, I think. -But”—and he leaned forward a little—“should anything else just happen -to be missing when you leave, then you’ll be finding the hand of every -Cameron and MacDonald, all through the Great Glen and Lochaber from Loch -Leven to Loch Ness, turned against you.” - -Kelpie showed sharp white teeth in a defiant laugh. “Are you thinking -I’ve never heard threats before?” - -“Aye, I’m sure you have, and most unpleasant ones,” retorted Alex. “But -have you ever had one like this carried out, and two entire clans arrayed -against you, and every _ghillie_ on the watch?” - -Kelpie narrowed her eyes. He had her, just! And to have the Great Glen -and Lochaber closed against them would be a sore handicap indeed. - -“Sssss!” said Kelpie with deep sincerity. - -Alex grinned again. “I’m not done,” he said briskly. “It seems that my -foster sister has given you her friendship. You’re not deserving it, of -course, but for Eithne that’s good enough reason for giving it. Now, I am -fond of Eithne, and if you should be taking advantage of her or hurting -her in any way, I shall see to it that you are punished—even if I must -denounce you as a witch. Do you understand?” - -It was a fearful threat, and Kelpie, used to bluster and invective, was -unnerved by his very calm. - -“_Nathrach!_” She spat “Remember, witches can curse! Shall I be putting -the Evil Eye on you?” And she widened her slanted eyes until the dark and -light rings were smoldering circles. - -Alex laughed again, infuriatingly. “And if you haven’t already put the -Evil Eye on me at least three times today, it must be that you have not -got it at all. For you’ve wanted to, haven’t you? No, I’ll wager you -cannot do it.” - -“Mina can,” muttered Kelpie sulkily. - -“Now that I’ll believe,” he agreed readily. “But even the Evil Eye -wouldn’t save the two of you from being burned as witches, would it?” - -Och, and he was so sure of himself! Kelpie saw suddenly that great -cunning and apparent submission were her best weapons. “And if I am -keeping the bargain?” she hinted, looking at his pocket. - -“We’ve no bargain.” Alex corrected her mildly. “I’m no such fool. It’s -just that I’ve been telling you in a friendly way what will happen if -you should be stealing anything or hurting Eithne, that’s all.” And he -sauntered out, his kilt swinging jauntily about his brown knees. - - - - -4. The Daft Folk - - -Kelpie slept heavily for the first part of the night and then awoke to -stare restlessly into the stifling, closed-in darkness. How could a body -tell the hour, shut in like this? She must be out into the free air and -waiting when Mina and Bogle came for her. - -She got up and groped her way out into the warm, horse-scented main part -of the stable. Dubh, a blacker shape in the dark, came and wove himself -around her ankles as she felt for the door with her good left hand; her -right shoulder was still too sore to move. - -And then she was outside in the cold sweet air of pre-dawn. The hills to -the southeast stood black against a thin ghost of gray in the sky, and -the glen was filled with a toneless purple except for the ropes of pearly -mist strung down the clefts of the hills and over the loch. A tiny burn -and waterfall danced in a white thread at the far end of the glen, and -the wind smelled of the sea. - -Kelpie drew in her breath deeply, and the beauty of it made a sore ache -inside her and a daft desire to cry. It was something deep within her, -just, that had these strange feelings now and then, and she must be -careful never to let them out. - -It was these daft folk at Glenfern who were making her feel peculiar. She -must be away from them, away from the trapping walls and alien people, -to the freedom of the hills and sky. She slipped like a wraith around to -the back of the stable, where the ground sloped upward, wrapping her bare -ankles in the wetness of rank grass and heather and stinging nettles, -which she had long ago stopped noticing. And at the upper corner a long -skinny arm reached out with the swiftness of a snake, seized Kelpie’s -wrist (fortunately, the uninjured one), and shook her. - -“We’ve been waiting for you this long while!” Mina began pulling her up -the hill. - -Kelpie came willingly enough. She was almost glad to see Mina’s evil -old face. She knew where she was with Mina. She could hate and be hated -single-mindedly, and always know how Mina would behave. The people at -Glenfern were unpredictable and confusing. - -Black Bogle was waiting in a clump of snowy-trunked birches halfway up -the hill. He said nothing, just grinned without warmth or welcome. - -“Well, and what have you got?” demanded Mina, turning upon Kelpie with -greedy fingers held out. - -“Nothing at all,” muttered Kelpie defensively. “The red-haired _uruisg_ -took back the silver and the snuff box and said if I was taking anything -else he would be setting all the Camerons and MacDonalds against us.” - -Mina cursed Alex and Kelpie both, but with her mind so clearly upon other -matters that Kelpie didn’t feel the curses would be very effective. -“Well, so!” concluded the old woman suddenly. “And just as well, perhaps. -For we are wanting you to bide here for a time.” - -Kelpie stared, her mouth drooping open. _Dhé!_ Now Mina was being as -unpredictable as anyone in the glen below! “And whatever for, if I cannot -be stealing anything?” she demanded. “And why would they be letting me -stay?” - -Mina struck at her. Kelpie ducked automatically, and Bogle chuckled. He -would also have chuckled had the blow landed. - -“You’ll be persuading them, just,” commanded Mina. “Play upon their -sympathy. Let them be making you a maidservant if they will—and mind -that you be a good one. ’Tis a spy you’ll be, to watch and listen, for -the lads are fresh from England and knowing about affairs. Be learning -how they feel about the King and Mac Cailein Mor and the Lord Graham of -Montrose. And keep them feeling kindly toward you, for we may use them -one day.” - -Kelpie hooded her eyes thoughtfully. She had already learned a good -bit—but why tell Mina now? Better to wait and see where her own -advantage lay and learn what Mina was up to. - -“And where will ye be going?” she ventured to ask. - -“Never you mind!” snapped Mina. “We will be returning for you when we are -ready, and then it may be that you can learn some of the witchcraft you -are wanting so badly.” Beneath their wrinkled lids her faded old eyes -gleamed at Kelpie watchfully. - -Kelpie kept her own eyes veiled. She knew how much Mina’s promise was -worth, but here was hope that Mina might really be going to teach her at -last, for her own profit. Kelpie must be very docile, then, and never let -Mina suspect what was in her mind. - -“Very well so,” she agreed indifferently, it being best to show neither -reluctance nor enthusiasm. - -“Once more with the crystal, then,” ordered Mina, producing it; and -Kelpie obediently sat down in the dew-heavy clumps of long grass. Her -face was lowered meekly, to conceal the knowledge that Mina depended on -her to see the picture. The gray light was now growing rosy over the bare -top of Meall Dubh. The rosiness was reflected in the shining ball and -then moved and scattered. - -“A battle!” whispered Kelpie, her eyes large and fixed on the scene. But -it wasn’t like the other battles she had seen in the crystal—no cavalry -charge of armored men on green slopes, but a charge of Highlanders on the -steeper, wilder hills of Scotland. She could clearly make out the bright -tartans, and the double-handed claymores flashing, and she could almost -hear the wailing skirl of the pipes. There was a red-bearded giant in the -thick of it, and a slight brown-haired man on a horse, wearing a blue -bonnet, and it was he who seemed to be the power behind the charge—though -Kelpie couldn’t say how she knew. And now the others were fleeing in the -fury of the attack, and it seemed to Kelpie that she saw the blue and -green Campbell tartan among the defeated. - -Her voice muted and hurried, Kelpie described the scene to Mina, leaving -out the name of the tartan and any other details that she guessed Mina -might not be able to make out for herself. - -And now there was a different scene, and there was the brown-haired -man, dressed quite unfittingly as a groom, clasping the hand of the -red-bearded one, who was looking altogether astonished and overjoyed, and -behind them, on the hillside, was a cheering crowd of Highlanders. - -“Well?” demanded Mina. - -Kelpie shook her head. “A hillside and a crowd of people,” she murmured, -“but ’tis all cloudy.” And then she held her breath. - -But Mina didn’t seem to know that Kelpie was deceiving her. “I wanted -news of Argyll,” she grumbled and put the crystal away. Then, after a -parting cuff, she strode up the hill with Bogle—and not so much as a -parting glance from either of them. Och, they had some pressing purpose, -the two of them, and whatever could it be? - -The eastern sky was apricot now. The sun would be up in a few minutes, -and already golden light was pouring across the very tops of the hills -on the far side of the glen, but a fitful wind was coming from the west, -promising to bring rain clouds over those same bright hills.... - -What if, after all, Glenfern refused to let her stay? Feeling excited and -forlorn at once, Kelpie turned her back on the sunrise and walked slowly -down the hill. - - * * * * * - -She approached the house on lagging feet, suddenly nervous. Ian’s father -was outside the door, talking to Lachlan and an old man. Lachlan already -disliked her, and Glenfern looked as if he could be stern indeed. Kelpie -drooped her mouth into an expression of wistful apology, arranged the -sling on her arm so that it showed up well, and hovered tentatively a few -feet away. - -Glenfern’s face was kindly enough when he looked up and saw her. “Good -morning,” he greeted her. “And how are you feeling?” - -“Good morning,” replied Kelpie, “and well enough,”—making it sound like a -brave lie. “But—” She stopped, looking frightened. “Mina and Bogle came,” -she began, and paused. - -“Oh. And you’ll be wanting a bit of breakfast before you’re away off -with them?” suggested Glenfern with a smile. - -“They’re away off without me,” blurted Kelpie, looking helpless. “They’re -not wanting me any more.” - -“_Dhé!_” said Glenfern. He didn’t seem overjoyed. - -“I have nowhere to go,” added Kelpie pathetically, in case he hadn’t got -the point. - -“Aye,” said Glenfern, who had got it very quickly. “Well, come away in, -and we’ll see my wife.” - -“_Mise-an-dhui!_” said Lady Glenfern when they told her. She looked even -less delighted than her husband. - -Eithne looked up from sorting and polishing silver. “Och, what a wicked -thing!” she exclaimed, her creamy oval face troubled and sympathetic. -“And have you no other relations?” - -Kelpie shook her head. Wee Mairi, gathering that something was wrong, ran -over and slipped her warm little hand into Kelpie’s, and the twins looked -up in surprise, for they had thought everyone had more relations than -could be counted. - -“Perhaps she had better be staying with us,” they suggested through -mouthfuls of buttered scone—an extra breakfast, no doubt. “She could put -the Evil Eye on all our enemies, whatever,” added Ronald hopefully. - -“You’re not really a witch, are you?” asked Lady Glenfern seriously. A -white witch, of course, was a great benefit to have around, since all -her powers were used for good; and the Kirk of the Lowlands had not -yet reached far enough into the Highlands to make even white powers -dangerous. Still, the lass of Old Mina was more likely to be a black -witch, than a white one. - -“No!” Said Kelpie vehemently, and with perfect truth. (How she wished she -were!) “And I would never be wanting to harm anyone,” she added, less -truthfully. - -Alex, sitting cross-legged on the far window seat, sent her a bright -hazel glance of derision, which Kelpie ignored. - -Glenfern raised an eyebrow at his wife, sighed, and smiled kindly. “Would -you be wanting to stay with us, lassie?” he asked. - -“I would so,” replied Kelpie forthrightly. This was easier than she had -hoped—if only Alex didn’t spoil it. “I could be working,” she offered -meekly. “’Tis little enough I am knowing about the insides of houses, but -I learn quickly.” - -Alex muffled a snort of laughter. They all glanced at him, but he merely -gave Kelpie a look that was both warning and mirthful. - -Kelpie, who would have made a good general, seized the offensive boldly. -“He is thinking I want to steal things,” she announced, nodding her -tangled black head in Alex’s direction. - -“And do you not?” asked Glenfern bluntly. - -“Of course,” admitted Kelpie candidly. Didn’t everyone? “But I would -not be doing it,” she went on, her blue-ringed eyes fixed on Glenfern’s, -“because you would be sending me away if I did.” - -It was the best thing she could have said. Glenfern lifted his dark -head with a shout of delighted laughter. Everyone seemed pleased and -amused, and Kelpie made a mental note that truth was sometimes even more -effective than a lie. She looked demure and managed at the same time to -shoot a triumphant glance at Alex. But, disappointingly, he only grinned. - -“Very well so,” decided Lady Glenfern, smiling at her. “It is not many -people can claim to having a friendly Kelpie staying with them. And I -think you have it in you to be a good lass, and trustworthy.” - -Kelpie looked at her, deeply shocked. How could a great lady like this be -so foolishly trusting? And all of them seemed the same—excepting Alex, -of course, who was sensibly suspicious. Kelpie definitely approved of -this, although she hated his uncanny astuteness and his mockery. As for -the rest of them, indeed and indeed, it was a wonder they had managed to -survive so long. Fooling them was almost too easy, like catching a baby -hare with a broken leg. - -She felt the same way all over again on that very afternoon, after a most -difficult morning. - -The difficulties had begun almost immediately after Kelpie’s too easy -acceptance into the life of Glenfern. It seemed that Lady Glenfern had -peculiar ideas on the subject of cleanliness and propriety. To begin -with, there was the bath, the first Kelpie had ever had, supervised by -the mistress herself, and executed by Fiona and her formidable mother -Catriona. Catriona grumbled constantly, and Fiona crossed herself every -time Kelpie looked at her—which she did frequently and maliciously. - -Then there was the matter of her name. “Have you not a proper Christian -name?” asked Lady Glenfern while Kelpie’s matted hair was being violently -combed and plaited into two long, thick tails. Kelpie, unable to shake -her head, and with eyes smarting from the pulling, made a sound that -meant no. - -“My sorrow!” remarked her new mistress. “A strange thing to be naming a -lass for a water witch! Would you not rather be called something else? -Rena, perhaps, or Morag?” - -But Kelpie caught a glimpse of herself just then in the small mirror that -stood on a table, and a fleeting shaft of panic shot through her. It -wasn’t herself at all! Her face was a stranger, with the dirt off and the -hair pulled back wetly to show all of her eyes and forehead and even her -fawn-shaped ears. _Dhé!_ If they changed her name as well, perhaps she -would cease altogether to be herself and become someone else entirely! - -“No!” she said vehemently. And the subject was dropped. - -But when they gave her a fine-woven blue woolen dress of Eithne’s for her -very own, and even something to wear under it, she began to take a more -favorable view of the situation. And when, in the afternoon, she met Ian -coming in the front door, he hardly seemed to know her at first. His eyes -opened wide as he shook the heavy rain from his plaidie, and then he gave -her one of his rare and sudden smiles that was like sunlight out of the -drenching sky. Kelpie grinned back, preening herself frankly in her new -finery. - -“Och, aren’t you grand, just!” Ian said admiringly. - -“Oh, aye,” agreed Kelpie, seeing no reason to deny it. “But I should have -a pocket and a wee bit of silver to put in it,” she added hopefully. - -Ian laughed at her cheekiness. “Perhaps some day,” he said. “But I know -that you will not be stealing them, for you have said you won’t, and I -trust you.” - -There it was again! Kelpie shook her head in wonder. That wasn’t at all -the reason she wouldn’t be stealing, and how could he be so daft as to -think it? His warm brown eyes and the lovely chiseled, sensitive curve of -his mouth quite melted Kelpie, and before she could stop herself she was -warning him. - -“Och,” she blurted. “You mustn’t be trusting people so easily! It is not -safe whatever!” - -“Mustn’t I trust you, then?” asked Ian gently. “Are you not wanting to be -trusted, Kelpie?” - -“Indeed so,” explained Kelpie kindly. “Everyone is wanting to be trusted, -because then it is much easier to fool the ones who trust them. And you -may be trusting me because you have a stick over me, but it is foolish to -do so otherwise.” - -They looked at each other pityingly. - -“Perhaps people are not so good as I would like to think,” said Ian -slowly. “But I think they are not so bad as you have found them, either, -Kelpie. And I would liefer trust mistakenly than to mistrust unfairly. Do -you understand that?” - -“No,” said Kelpie. - - - - -5. Bewitchery - - -It was a strange new life she was in, indeed! Walls and roof were like a -trap at first, although it was a grand thing to be warm and dry with all -the storm demons howling over the earth. It was strange to have certain -tasks at certain times, too, and not easy for a gypsy lass to whom time -was nothing. It was strange to eat hot meals three times a day, and at a -table, with the heat coming from the huge kitchen fireplace. But it was -not so strange to have the servants lowering at her suspiciously. For the -clanspeople of the glen, unlike their chief and his family, never trusted -this water witch for a moment. An evil sprite she was, and no mistake -about it. They watched every move she made. - -Still, suspicion was less after her first Sunday there, after she had -gathered with the others to hear Glenfern read the service. It was well -known that no witch would dare enter a church or hear the Holy Word, -lest the roof fall in or some other dire thing happen. Kelpie herself was -uneasy about this at first. True, she was not a witch, but she wanted to -be, and she had read the crystal with Mina, and she wasn’t altogether -certain what might happen. Still, it wasn’t a proper church, with a -priest, but only Glenfern reading the Anglican service—and in any case, -she dared not refuse. So she went, heart beating faster than usual, and -was greatly relieved when nothing dreadful happened. - -True to her promise, Kelpie was diligent and learned quickly. Her reward -was free time to wander in the encircling hills or to be with the other -young people—and this was strangest of all, for they played and chattered -and joked in a way quite novel to Kelpie, with laughter among them, and -an ease and affection that held no wariness. Under the bewitchment of -it, Kelpie found herself dropping her own guard more and more often. -She liked being with them! There was more joy in it than in shouting -and dancing alone on a hilltop; a different excitement from that she -felt when cutting purses. As the days passed, she often had to remind -herself of the advice she had given Ian. To be too relaxed could be -dangerous—especially with that sharp-minded Alex about. - -Still, she couldn’t help enjoying those hours, and presently something -clicked in her mind, and she understood the baffling thing they called -teasing. - -Kelpie, Eithne, Ian, and Alex were sitting nearly waist-deep in the -tangle of heather and bog-myrtle that rimmed Loch nan Eilean on a sunny -afternoon. - -“Are you _sure_ you’re not wanting a proper name besides ‘Kelpie’?” -Eithne asked, her soft voice worried and laughing at once. “It seems so -insulting, just, that your parents....” - -Parents? Suddenly Kelpie remembered what Bogle had said. Suppose she had -truly been stolen? Suppose she were really the daughter of a chief? Och, -the glory of it! Wealth and importance, lovely gowns and jewels, silver -buckles on real leather shoes, and a silver belt around her waist, and -oh, the safety of never having to run from angry crowds.... - -“_Dhé!_” she announced eagerly. “Mina and Bogle will not be my parents, -at all.” She paused dramatically and prepared to launch the rest of her -news. How startled and respectful they would be! Why hadn’t she thought -of it sooner? - -“Och, now!” Alex turned twin sparks of laughter upon her. “And haven’t -I been waiting, just, for you to be telling us? Kelpie has suddenly -remembered,” he explained to the others solemnly, “that she was stolen by -the gypsies when a wee bairn and is truly the daughter of a great chief, -or perhaps of royal blood.” - -“How did you know?” began Kelpie and then stopped. The others were -chuckling as at a great joke. Alex had put the blight of ridicule on -her story—though it was at least half true. And now no one would ever be -believing it at all! - -“Beast!” she spat. “It is _true_!” - -“As ever was!” agreed Alex jauntily and ducked her angry fist. Then he -caught her wrist, put it firmly in her lap, and sat grinning at her. -“You’re a wonderful wee liar, aren’t you just?” he observed admiringly. - -“Ou, aye,” admitted Kelpie a trifle smugly before she realized that he -had tricked her again. “But this time,” she pointed out with indignation, -“I am not lying.” - -“And would you not be saying the same thing if you were lying?” he -persisted. - -This time Kelpie saw the trap, but she was already in it. “Of course,” -she admitted with forthright logic. “For what would be the good of lying -if you did not say it was the truth? But”—she bristled, slanted brows -scrambling themselves darkly above her short nose—“_this_ time it _is_ -true!” - -Alex laughed. - -Kelpie tried for at least the twentieth time to put the Evil Eye on -him. The result was a poisonous look, if not a blighting one. “Wicked, -evil-minded beast!” she told him earnestly. - -Ian looked at Alex judiciously. “Och, no; not wicked,” he said. “He’s a -bit evil-minded, ’tis true, and surely daft.” - -Kelpie blinked. - -“Aye, daft enough,” agreed Eithne happily. “Were you knowing, Kelpie, -that he’s altogether foolish about an English lass, his cousin Cecily in -Oxford? And yet all he can be saying of her is that she is like her own -wee kitten, and that he will marry with her some day.” - -Alex grinned brazenly. “Well, and with who else?” he demanded. “You would -not be having me, _m’eudail_.” - -“_Dhé_, no!” agreed Eithne promptly. “I’d as lief marry the twins!” - -“Mayhap Kelpie would have him,” suggested Ian lazily, and then he and -Eithne shouted with laughter at the looks of sheer horror on both faces. - -“Mercy!” begged Alex, getting to his knees and clasping his hands -pleadingly. “Anything but that! Curse me all you wish, water witch, but -_please_ do not marry me!” - -Kelpie looked at him. It was then that something clicked. “Very well so,” -she agreed with enthusiasm. “And what sort of curse would you be wanting?” - - * * * * * - -She went back to the house a little later, looking thoughtful and with a -pleasant feeling in the heart of her—not merely because, for once, she -had got the better of Alex, but also because of the thing that happened -between people when they teased. It was a warm and happy thing that -turned insults to joking and the hatred of Alex to something kinder. For -surely a body did not tease where he hated! And surely he had been half -teasing her from the first. - -Kelpie’s blue eyes glinted happily as she hurried into the big -stone-floored kitchen, so that Marsali the cook almost smiled at her and -Fiona for once forgot to cross herself. - -“And about time it is, too!” Marsali grunted, remembering her doubts -about Kelpie. “The mistress has been looking for you while you were -playing like a fine lady. Here, now, be helping to pluck this fowl, and -let Master Donald go tell her that you’re here.” - -Kelpie glanced at the half of the twins who was arming himself for an -afternoon of fishing, with a huge packet of scones and butter. “That’s -Ronald,” she said absently as she picked up the small brown pheasant. - -Three pairs of eyes focused on her in sudden sharp attention, for it took -far more than a brief glance to tell one twin from the other. In fact, -only their mother and Wee Mairi could invariably do it. - -“I’m Donald,” asserted the twin, his eyes sparkling at her. - -“You’re Ronald.” Kelpie contradicted him serenely, hardly glancing up -from her plucking job. - -Marsali at once took sides. “Och, now, will you be calling the wee master -a liar?” she demanded indignantly, her fists planted against her hips. - -“Ou, aye,” said Kelpie. “He will be teasing you,” she added, pleased to -recognize it. - -Fiona looked shocked. Marsali peered suspiciously from Kelpie to the -twin, who giggled. “Och, well, then,” said Marsali, her ruddy face now -ruddier with indignation, though she was not quite sure at whom to -direct it. “Fine it is that Master Ronald has the wee mole on the back -of his neck.” And she strode over to the grinning lad and lifted up the -shoulder-length dark hair to look at the neck beneath. Kelpie went on -plucking, perfectly sure of herself and feeling rather smug. - -“Master Ronald it _is_!” Marsali clucked, and Fiona crossed herself and -edged away from Kelpie. “How could you be knowing, save with the Black -Power?” - -“Aye,” demanded Ronald. “How were you knowing, Kelpie? Was it witchcraft?” - -Kelpie grinned and shrugged. She couldn’t really tell how she knew. -It wasn’t the look of them, but rather the feel. Donald had a more -aggressive and challenging tone, and Ronald more a feel of hungry -curiosity. But how could a body explain this kind of knowing? No, they -would just have to think it witchcraft. - -“_Mise-an-dhui!_” muttered Marsali, regarding her warily. Fiona had -backed against the far wall. Donald appeared in search of his twin, -and the two went into a conference. Presently they came out of it and -presented a solid front to Kelpie, sturdy legs planted wide. - -“That is no proof you are a witch,” announced Donald. “Mother and Wee -Mairi can tell us apart, and they are no witches, only Mother is knowing -us too well and Mairi has Second Sight.” - -Kelpie yielded to temptation, made a horrible grimace, and began weaving -mysterious signs in the air with her fingers. Fiona screeched, and -Marsali turned pale. The twins stood their ground, grinning, belligerent, -deeply interested—and just faintly worried. - -“Now whatever is all this?” It was Lady Glenfern herself, her full mauve -skirts nearly filling the wide doorway, with Eithne, round-eyed, just -behind. - -“Witchcraft!” squeaked Fiona. - -Kelpie flushed guiltily and found a sudden lump in her throat. Och, here -was a mess! Why had she done such a foolish thing? All in fun it was, -and yet who would believe her for a minute? Now she would be punished -and sent away—and, for once, for a thing of which she was innocent! The -novelty of the situation was so shattering that for once she lost her -glib tongue. She simply stared at her mistress, her eyes growing wide -with frustration and despair. - -The twins and Marsali broke into simultaneous explanations—all slightly -different—with Fiona putting in exclamation points here and there, so -that it was some time before Lady Glenfern could get an idea of what had -happened. When she did, she turned questioningly to Kelpie, who was still -trying to think up some lie that sounded more plausible than the truth. -But Eithne spoke first. - -“Och, then, Mother!” she said, laughter and distress in her voice. “She -was teasing; I am sure of it. Look you how the twins are always at her -to cast a spell, and Fiona just begging to be teased by the very look of -her. I am sure that was the way of it! Was it not, Kelpie?” - -Kelpie nodded a bit sullenly. This was humiliating. She wished she really -had power to do a wee magic spell and dared show them, just to see their -surprise. - -“Well—” Lady Glenfern hesitated, inclined to believe it, but not quite -sure. After all.... - -At that moment Wee Mairi popped into the kitchen, looking, in her full -skirts, like a fairy child caught in an overblown rose. And, like a fairy -child, she knew instantly that something was wrong, and what to do about -it. She pattered across the floor and slipped her small, soft hand into -Kelpie’s. - -“This is _my_ Kelpie,” she announced, smiling angelically at her mother. -“’Tis myself loves her, and you must not be cross at her.” - -“There, Mother!” crowed Eithne. “Wee Mairi loves her, and Mairi has the -Second Sight; you said yourself that she is never making a mistake about -a person!” - -Lady Glenfern relaxed. “Aye so,” she agreed and smiled at Kelpie. “I can -well see how you were tempted to tease,” she admitted and then became -grave. “But you must be careful, lass. To joke about such matters could -cause you sore trouble.” - -Kelpie hardly heard the warning. Her hand was gripping the small one -still protectively clinging to it, and she found herself again seized by -an alarming surge of feeling for its owner. Och, the fair, sweet heart of -her.... - -Wee Mairi chose this instant to lean confidingly against Kelpie and peer -up with a beguiling smile. “_My_ Kelpie,” she repeated. - -And Kelpie was swallowed in a tide of the first real love she had ever -known. She found it extremely upsetting. All her training and experience -warned her that it was dangerous to be trapped into this sort of feeling. -It left one vulnerable, could lead one into foolishness. And here she -was, bewitched, unable to help it! She scowled helplessly. - -Lady Glenfern, seeing her distress, mercifully took her from the kitchen -for the rest of the day and set her to work at a simple bit of weaving. -For an hour or so Kelpie sat alone, brooding. Eithne came in for a while -to work at her own more complicated length of Cameron tartan, but Kelpie -was so unsociable that she left again. - -And then the twins arrived, dark heads cocked to one side, eyes dancing -at her impishly. “We have found you,” they announced in triumph. - -“Fine I know it,” growled Kelpie, refusing to look at them. - -Undaunted, they seated themselves on two wee creepie-stools and regarded -her with affable curiosity. “There is a thing that we have in our minds,” -they told her. - -“I am doubting that!” snapped Kelpie. - -The twins digested this insult and then chuckled. “I am liking you fine,” -said Donald, “even though you are not a witch.” - -Kelpie, touched again on that newly sensitive spot, shot the shuttle -through the warp with unnecessary violence and said nothing. - -“Why were you saying you are a witch when you are not?” asked Ronald -with interest. “Why,” he continued, getting warmed up, “do Fiona and the -others think you are? Would you like to be? Are you truly Old Mina’s -girl? Is she your Grannie Witchie? If you were a witch, Kelpie, what -would you do first of all?” - -“Put a spell of silence on the tongue of you,” retorted Kelpie and found -that her ill humor was beginning to evaporate. It was impossible not to -smile back at their cheeky grins, not to chuckle when they said that -Mother would probably approve such a spell. The atmosphere became quite -congenial. - -“I thought you were going fishing,” observed Kelpie. - -The twins looked depressed. “We were,” they agreed. “But Father is come -back from seeing Lochiel and told us to bide here for our lessons that we -missed this morning. I think ’twill take him a wee while to find us in -here, whatever,” added Ronald cheerfully, and Kelpie grinned again. - -“We are learning about the war between King Charles and Parliament and -the Covenant,” volunteered Donald sadly, “and we could do fine _not_ -knowing about it. Grownups are gey confusing, so they are, and sometimes -I think gey foolish besides, and we are not understanding it all very -well.” - -“Are you loving King Charles?” demanded Ronald. - -“Ou, aye,” murmured Kelpie vaguely and hastened to turn the question. -“Are you?” she countered. - -“As ever was!” they chorused instantly. “Is he not our King, and a -Stewart, besides?” - -Well, Kelpie had already known that Glenfern was pro-Royalist. “And so -the King is always right?” she pursued, trying to think what else to ask. - -“Och, no!” said the twins in surprise. “No one is always right,” they -informed her gravely. “Except,” they added, “for Father.” - -Kelpie put her shuttle through the wrong way and had to take it out -again, her lip twitching ever so slightly. The twins, having settled that -subject of conversation, looked at her hopefully. “Can you,” they asked, -“tell us a story?” - -Now if there was one thing Kelpie could do better than any other, -it was to tell stories—pathetic tales to earn sympathy or a copper, -outrageous lies to escape impending trouble, embroidered yarns of her own -adventures, old gypsy stories, eerie folk tales of the wee people and -other uncanny beings, or fanciful bits and snatches that she wove for -herself among the hills or beside the campfire. Her eyes sparkled. “Fine -I can that!” she asserted and dropped her voice to an eerie pitch. - -“Have you ever,” she whispered, “heard of the _uruisg_ of Glenlyon?” - -They shook their heads and drew their stools nearer. - -“Well, then.” Kelpie paused, shuttle in hand. “It was a farmer’s wife -who was making porridge for breakfast on a wet morning, when who should -come walking in but an _uruisg_. Och, a slippery, damp, uncouth monster -he was, half man and half goat; and wasn’t he just sitting himself down -at the fire to dry, and not so much as a wee greeting to her? Well, the -farmer’s wife was fair angered at his impertinence, and she having to -step over and around him every minute, so presently she just lifted a -ladle of the boiling porridge from the pot over the fire, and poured it -over him, just. Well, at that he leaped up, howling, and ran out the door -and never dared set foot in that house again....” - -When Glenfern finally tracked down his elusive twins some time later, -Kelpie had got very little weaving done, but she had made a place for -herself forever in the hearts of Ronald and Donald. - - - - -6. The Picture in the Loch - - -“’Tis a terrible complicated matter, the war,” objected Eithne doubtfully -as she began basting a sleeve into what was to be a fine linen shirt for -Ian’s birthday. “I fear I’d only be confusing you.” - -Kelpie surveyed the four or five yards of red and green tartan wool which -constituted a kilt for a small lad, and wondered how even Donald could -have managed to tear such stout weave. “I could not be more confused than -I am,” she pointed out, “for I am knowing nothing at all. Tell me at -least a little.” - -Eithne sighed and obeyed. “Well,” she began hesitantly, “you know that -King Charles is King of England and Scotland both?” Kelpie nodded. “But -in both countries are representative bodies of men called Parliaments, -and they help to rule. They are supposed to agree with the things the -King does, and it is the English parliament who must vote to give him -things like extra money when he needs it—which he usually does.” - -She paused to squint critically at her basting, and Kelpie waited. -Somehow she had developed a great eagerness to learn about the matters -which had thrown England and Scotland into civil war. “Aye, go on,” she -murmured. - -“Well, so. Neither King Charles nor his father before him has got along -well with Parliament. King and Parliament each said the other will be -trying to take more rights and power than they should have, and they -became angry. Parliament would refuse to vote money for the King, so the -King would dissolve Parliament, which meant that they could not meet any -more to vote on anything at all until King Charles called them back, and -so everyone was unhappy.” - -She bit off her thread and held the shirt closer to the dim light -which filtered through the thick diamond-shaped mullion panes of the -casement window. “And then”—she sighed—“religion came into it. Father,” -she remarked severely, “says that religion should never be mixed with -politics, but they do not listen to wise people like Father, and so there -is trouble.” - -“What has religion to do with it?” asked Kelpie curiously. She had never -known anything of religion for herself, only that the stern Kirk of the -Lowlands had severe views on all other faiths, on fun and laughter, and -most particularly on witches. But the Anglican services here at Glenfern -seemed peaceful and vaguely pleasant, even though she did not understand -them. - -“Och!” protested Eithne, but Kelpie’s face was implacable, so she went -on. “Well, the Catholics and Protestants do not like each other, and -especially the Protestants of the new Reformed Church, like the Puritans -in England and the Calvinist Covenanters in Scotland—and we Anglicans -caught in the middle. King Charles is Anglican, but the Parliament is -mostly Puritan, I think. At any rate, they were very angry when the King -married Queen Henrietta, who is a Roman Catholic and said she would turn -the country all Catholic and burn Protestants at the stake. And the -Catholics said the Protestants were trying to rule the country and force -their religion on everyone, and so it was a fine braw quarrel for years, -with religion and politics all mixed together.” - -Kelpie carefully selected a strand of wool to match the soft, dull red of -the Cameron tartan. This was the most difficult bit of mending she had -yet been trusted with. “Mmm,” she murmured after a minute, turning her -mind back to the conversation. “And then?” - -It was Eithne’s turn to pause, while the rain beat against the casement -windows. Wee Mairi turned from her doll to lift a merry smile in the -direction of “her Kelpie,” who felt a new pang of affection. Och, the -bonnie wee thing! - -Eithne scowled at the shirt and then glanced up at Kelpie with a rueful -shrug. “Ou, I cannot mind me of all the details.” She sighed again. “But -the quarrel turned into fighting.” - -“But what of Scotland?” demanded Kelpie. “What had it to do with us at -all?” - -“Why,” interrupted the dry voice of Alex, “King Charles himself must be -bringing that on!” They looked up to see him standing in the doorway, a -shirt in his hand and a wry grin on his angular face. “Scotland might -have been loyal to him, even though all the Lowlands are Calvinist, and -even more rigid than the Puritans, but he had the bright idea of forcing -the Anglican prayer book on Scotland. And the next thing he knew, there -was a Solemn League and Covenant formed against him, and Scotland divided -as England was, with Lowlands against the King, and most of the Highlands -loyal to him.” - -Eithne looked both relieved and worried, while Kelpie studied Alex’s -expression in the dim light, not quite certain if he were teasing or not. -She decided not—for once. There was a faint note of bitterness in his -voice. “I thought you were a King’s man!” she challenged him. - -“I am so,” he returned promptly and unpropped himself from the doorway. -“Look you, Eithne,” he went on, crossing the room to her. “I have ripped -my shirt sorely and am needing a bonnie sweet lass to mend it for me.” - -Eithne tilted her chestnut curls at him and wrinkled up her nose in an -impish grin. “If I do,” she said, bargaining, “will you be explaining the -rest of the war to Kelpie?” - -“_Dhé!_” said Alex and raised both eyebrows at Kelpie. - -“She is truly wanting to know,” said Eithne sternly, “so do not be -teasing her, Alex. And I am gey muddled about it, and you knowing so much -more, with having been at Oxford and even seeing the King and his family -yourself. Will you?” - -“’Tis a hard bargain,” complained Alex, “and I am thinking I pity the -man who will one day marry you, Eithne _m’eudail_.” He perched on the -corner of the massive table, his kilt falling in heavy folds about his -lean knees. “Well, then, and what bit of my great knowledge should I be -sharing with you first?” - -Kelpie gave him a wicked pointed smile. “Tell me,” she said softly, “in -one word, just, _what are they fighting for?_” - -“My sorrow!” exclaimed Alex, straightening up as if he had sat on a -thistle. “Is that all?” - -“Don’t you know?” asked Kelpie tauntingly. “I will tell you, then. -They’re fighting for power. Is it not so?” - -Alex resumed his perch and surveyed her ruefully. “Och, and are you -not the young cynic!” he observed. “And you have shocked my foster -sister, too.” For Eithne was looking both dismayed and indignant. Both -girls had forgotten their sewing for the moment and sat staring at Alex -challengingly, waiting for his opinion. - -He laughed. “I fear me I shall anger you both,” he remarked, “and go -through the rest of my life with an evil spell on my head and a tom -sleeve in my shirt.” - -“Well?” demanded Kelpie. - -Alex gave her a crooked grin. “Sorry I am to agree with you even in -part,” he confessed, “but no doubt some men are fighting for power. -No, no, Eithne,” he added as she opened her mouth. “Do not deny it too -quickly. What about Argyll?” - -Eithne subsided. - -“On the other hand, Alex _avic_, there is Montrose.” It was Ian. He -pulled up a hassock and ranged himself quietly but firmly on Eithne’s -side. - -“Montrose?” asked Kelpie. - -“Aye,” said Ian, turning his warm smile upon her. “James Graham of -Montrose, and he one of the finest, truest men under the sun. He it is -who is named to fight for the King’s cause in Scotland, even to form and -organize the army. And he is fighting for no selfish reason whatever, but -only for what he believes to be right. Alex cannot deny it, for we both -met and talked to him last winter in Oxford.” - -“Indeed and I’ll not deny it,” agreed Alex amiably, “though Kelpie might. -My point was just that all men are not like Montrose, and my proof of -it is still Argyll. Och, and have you done, my sonsie Eithne?” he added -as she held up the mended shirt. “Come away, then, Ian, and let’s be -outside. I believe the sun is going to come out.” - -And they were gone before Kelpie could ask about Argyll. Perhaps it was -as well, she decided, going back to her mending. For she really thought -she had heard quite as much as she could absorb all in one lump. - -Eithne flickered a mischievous sideways glance at her. “And wasn’t I -warning you ’twas complicated?” she murmured. - - * * * * * - -As if by tacit agreement, no one brought up matters like war and politics -for some time. After all, it was easy enough, in that peaceful, secluded -glen, to put such things far out of mind. Kelpie’s free hours were full -enough, as spring days became longer, with other things. Wee Mairi -tagged along with her, a self-appointed guardian, and the glenspeople -had learned to hide their hostility when Mairi was there. The twins were -insatiably hungry for more stories—and so, for that matter, were the -older young people. Books were rare and precious, and mostly devoted to -serious and difficult subjects. And, as Ian generously remarked on a -sunny afternoon by the loch, Kelpie was a master at telling tales. - -Alex grinned impishly. “She is that!” he agreed with a wicked twinkle in -his eye and a double meaning to his voice which Kelpie chose to ignore. - -“Next time I will tell you about the _sithiche_ (fairies) of Loch -Maree—_if_ you are all very kind to me,” she said blandly and glanced -impudently at Alex. - -She sat on alone by the loch for a little while after the others had -left, thinking about things. How Alex had changed since she first met -him! He was much nicer than she had thought. And she had begun to like -his teasing and mockery, for it was all good-humored.... Or was it -perhaps herself had changed? And if so—She rolled over to lie full-length -on her face in the fragrant long grasses and pondered. Then, lazily, she -stretched until her head was over the edge of the loch. - -What was her real self like? Had that changed? Could it? - -The bank at this point rose abruptly about two feet above the glassy -surface of the water, with tough curling roots of heather overhanging -the edge. Kelpie reached down skillfully, scooped up a handful of the -cold water, and drank it from her palm before it could run through -her fingers. The surface rippled slightly and returned to its mirror -stillness, with sky, hills, and trees reflected so clearly that it would -be hard to tell the reflection from the real. Or was one, perhaps, as -real as the other? - -She stared down at her own face, still looking indecently bare with all -the thick dark hair pulled back into plaits. Was that any less real—or -more—than the scenes she saw in Mina’s crystal? - -And then it was no longer her own face she was seeing, but a town -street and an ugly-tempered crowd surging down it. Not merely annoyed, -that crowd, but murderous. Kelpie shivered a little, for she knew too -well how bestial a mob could be. And this one had a victim, for there -was savage satisfaction in the grim Lowland faces above their sober -Covenanter garments, pressing closer and closer.... And there was Ian! -Whatever could he be doing in the Lowlands? Pushing through the crowd, he -was; and Alex came after, shouting at him, his angular face all twisted -with fury. And now they were closer, and Alex was catching up to Ian.... -Alex was lifting his sword, and through the crowd Kelpie could see him -bring it down savagely.... _Dhé!_ Ian had fallen, his dark head vanished -in the throng! And Alex’s sword with blood on it! - -Kelpie jerked with horror, and a bit of dry heather plopped into the -water—and the picture was gone. Nor did it return, though she waited, -staring at the still water and brooding bitterly. - -_Dhé!_ That serpent Alex! She had never liked him from the beginning! -And now he was going to turn on his foster brother, strike him down from -behind, perhaps kill him—for the Sight never lied. - -She tried to tell herself that it didn’t matter to her, but it was too -late. Ian had crept into her heart, and Wee Mairi, and the rest of them. -Even Alex, deceitful scoundrel that he was, had somehow tricked her into -liking him—for a while, anyway. But now she knew better. Och, she must -try to warn Ian! Even if he could not prevent it, perhaps he could be on -his guard, could put off the evil day of it, could duck in time to save -his life. - -Dismayed, angry, resolute, Kelpie got to her feet, smoothed down the full -folds of her blue dress, and started back up the loch. - - * * * * * - -Now what, wondered Alex, had got under the skin of their wolf cub lately? -For there was a new venom toward himself—and after he had been thinking -her nearly tamed, too. Aye, a wolf cub: belligerent, cunning, snarling, -biting, thieving, destructive—and yet innocent, as a wolf cub is innocent -because it knows nothing else. - -But she had been changing. She had been learning trust and affection, -even to play and tease. And now, suddenly, there was a new and deadly -hatred smoldering at him from those ringed eyes. It was puzzling, it -was, and rather less amusing than her old spitting indignation had -been; and even though it could hardly be a tragedy to him, still it was -disconcerting. Alex kept a wary eye on her, lest she should decide to -take her _sgian dhu_ to his back. - -As for Kelpie, she found the business of warning Ian a bit harder than -it had seemed. For one thing, it was none so easy to find him alone, for -he and Alex were usually together and about their own affairs, while -Kelpie had her tasks in the house. In the evenings the family sat -together in the withdrawing room, which was not Kelpie’s place. The big -warm kitchen, or her wee cot in Marsali’s room, was where she belonged, -or—more often—away by herself outside, in the pale half-light of the long -northern gloaming. For summer was drawing near, and darkness now merely -brushed down late upon the world and, like a gull’s wing, quickly lifted. - -So she glared at Alex and did her tasks and kept her eyes and ears open -and bided her time. And at last Alex went off for a few days to visit his -brother in Ardochy. And the next evening Kelpie, on one of her rambles, -saw Ian on the hill above her, quietly looking down over the glen. - -Kelpie drew near, and then paused. Och, a braw lad he was! But how might -she be approaching him best? It might be he wanted to be alone. Before -she could decide, Ian saw her, smiled, beckoned, his face oddly blurred -in the half-light that turned all things gray. She sat beside him and for -a minute followed his gaze over the long shadowed cup of the glen, lit by -the silver gleam of Loch nan Eilean. - -Finally Ian stirred and spoke. “I wish I might never need to leave it -again,” he said wistfully. - -Did he love it so? Kelpie dimly sensed that he did; but she did not -understand, for she herself had no roots to her heart, but only a -wanderlust to her feet. “And must you, then?” she asked. Why could Ian -not be doing as he pleased, since he was the heir to Glenfern? - -“Aye so,” he said, a bit more briskly. “For I must finish my schooling -if I am to be a fit chieftain and leader to my people. However”—he -brightened considerably—“I think we’ll not be able to return to Oxford -for some time, with the war moving northward and becoming more serious, -and Argyll endangering all the Highlands.” - -Now was the moment for her to warn him about Alex. But it was also a -chance to ask about Argyll and put off the more difficult thing. “Tell me -about Argyll!” she urged. - -Ian turned to look at her with friendly interest. “You’ve a good head on -you, haven’t you, Kelpie? Mother says you’re quick to learn and that you -speak English as well as Gaelic. Are you truly interested in national -affairs, then?” Kelpie nodded. - -“Well, then,” began Ian, “you know who Argyll is, do you not? Mac Cailein -Mor, Chief of Clan Campbell in the Highlands, and also head of the -Covenant Army of the Lowlands. So he has that power added to the power -of his own clan, and he uses it ill, Kelpie. He is a vicious man, cruel, -ambitious, and vindictive.” - -Kelpie could not resist a gibe. “And is he not also a Campbell, and his -clan at feud with yours?” she remarked. - -Ian flushed. Even in the dusk she could see it. “’Tis not that!” he -protested. “I am not one to hate a man for his name, Kelpie! And in any -case, my own uncle married a Campbell lass; and the son of Lochiel, our -own clan chief, married Argyll’s sister, and we are anxious to be at -peace. But Argyll, devil that he is, wishes to dictate his own terms -entirely. Do you know what he has done, Kelpie? He has taken his nephew -Ewen—Lochiel’s own grandson, who will be chief of the Camerons some -day—and is keeping him at his own castle of Inverary. He says he wishes -to see to his education—and I can guess what kind of education ’twill -be—but do you see that Ewen is hostage for Lochiel’s actions? And if -Lochiel dares to take the side of the King against Argyll—” - -“Mmmm,” said Kelpie, seeing. - -“Nor is it just our clan,” Ian went on, deep anger in his voice. “He -was commissioned to secure the Highlands for the Covenant, which is bad -enough, for we have not tried to inflict our politics or religion on -them. But Argyll has used his commission and the Lowland army to settle -his private grudges. He burned the great house of Airly, with no enemy -there but a helpless woman. And he burned and ravaged the lands of -MacDonald of Keppoch, and is even now laying waste the lands of Gordon of -Huntly. They say he would make himself King Campbell, and a black day for -Scotland if he should.” - -Kelpie remembered the face she had seen once in the crystal, which Mina -had called Mac Cailein Mor, Marquis of Argyll. A cold, cruel face it -had been, with twisted sneering mouth, a heavy and pendulous nose, and a -squint in the crafty eyes of him, so that one couldn’t be just sure what -he was looking at. - -“Aye,” she agreed suddenly. “He is a red-haired _uruisg_. I have been -seeing him helping with his own hands to fire the homes and burn people -too.” She didn’t add that the people burned were accused of witchcraft, -as this might not be a tactful thing to mention. - -“You’ve seen that?” exclaimed Ian. - -“In the crystal, only,” confessed Kelpie. “I was also seeing him mounting -the scaffold to be hanged,” she remembered with relish. “But,” she added -regretfully, “he was looking much older then.” - -“_Dhé!_” exclaimed Ian, deeply impressed. “I did not know you were having -the Second Sight, Kelpie.” - -“Aye,” said Kelpie. And here was her opening. “Ian!” she blurted, quite -forgetting to give him a respectful title. “You must not be trusting Alex -MacDonald.” - -“Not trust Alex?” Ian turned a dumfounded face to hers. And then he -laughed. “Och, Kelpie, there is no one in the world I trust better! We -are sworn brothers, and if my life were to rest in the two hands of him, -there is no place I would sooner have it.” - -“And you would lose it, then,” said Kelpie flatly. “For I had a Seeing, -and his sword fell upon you from behind, and you fell. And there was -anger on his face and blood upon his sword.” - -Ian’s face was a pale blob in the dusk, and she could not see it turn -white—and yet she knew, somehow, that it did. For the Second Sight never -lied. - -And in spite of that, Ian shook his head. “I cannot believe it, Kelpie,” -he said quietly. “It is a mistake, for the sun would fall from the sky -before Alex could be untrue.” - -Kelpie thrust an angry face, long eyes glittering, close to his. “You -think I am lying, but I am not. I would have been warning you, even -though it is of no profit to me, whatever. But it is a spell he has cast -upon you! And,” she added bitterly, “you will be discovering it too -late.” - - - - -7. The Return of Mina and Bogle - - -Summer was upon the Highlands. The serene curves of the hills glowed with -a hundred shades of green and tawny and rose, all with a faintly unreal, -spirit-of-opal quality, so that the distances looked no more solid than a -rainbow. - -Kelpie breathed the salt wind as she climbed higher above the glen, and -stared hungrily at the distant hills. For she was beginning to feel -restless. A wee glen was not space enough, and there were too many -people, too much routine, and she must away to the hills to be alone. -Here were only the mild shaggy cattle peering mournfully from behind long -fringes of hair, and the hares and red deer, the hill larks and whaups -and gulls, and an eagle—high and alone in the free air. - -Her acute senses had been lulled by the months of security at Glenfern, -and she was startled to see the bent, wiry figure of Mina rise -unexpectedly from behind a clump of juniper. - -They looked at each other, and Kelpie’s expression could not possibly -have been mistaken for delight. Mina took one good look at it, swung back -her strong, scrawny arm, and aimed it at Kelpie. - -It seemed that Kelpie’s reactions as well as her senses had become rusty. -She didn’t duck in time. And, since Mina had fully expected her to, the -resounding smack startled and pained them both. - -Mina shook her stinging hand and glared at Kelpie as if the girl had done -it on purpose. Kelpie, her head ringing, glared back. And Black Bogle, -who had appeared as silently as his eerie namesake, shook with malicious -laughter. - -“_Amadain!_” grumbled Mina sourly. “Forgotten everything you ever knew! -Fine-lady clothes and clean face, and hands that will have lost all their -cunning—such as it was. Blind and deaf and slow as a sleeping snail. -_Amadain!_” - -“Sssss!” remarked Kelpie, looking and sounding like a wrathful snake. She -had forgotten how ugly and mean and dirty Mina was. Och, how she hated -her! - -Mina looked pleased. She enjoyed Kelpie’s impotent hatred. And Kelpie, -knowing this, controlled her feelings and hooded her eyes and made her -sharp-jawed small mouth curl upward. She had been a fool to show her -feelings at all at all! - -“Come away, then,” ordered Mina, suddenly becoming brisk. “You have kept -us waiting long enough! Why weren’t you coming as soon as you got my -message?” - -“What message?” asked Kelpie blankly. Mina’s eyes blazed with fury and -humiliation. Bogle laughed aloud, and Kelpie knew that Mina had tried to -send her a message by magic—and it hadn’t worked. Och, but she must say -something quickly, or no telling what Mina might do! - -“It would be yon red-haired serpent down there,” she said improvising -hastily. “He was no doubt setting up a spell to prevent your message from -reaching me. Teach me to say spells, Mina,” she wheedled, “so that I may -set one on him.” - -It worked. Mina’s pride was saved, and her wrath turned from Kelpie to -Alex. “I will be cursing him myself,” she growled. “He is the same one -who would not pay me enough when you were hurt, and who would not let you -steal? Very well so! He will pay, and the others as well. We will go now -and demand your wages before you leave.” - -Leave? Kelpie’s heart sank. Back to the old life of fear, hatred, -beatings? Away from Wee Mairi and Ian and the companionship and teasing? -She backed up a step and braced herself. - -“What for should I want to leave?” She stuck out her jaw rebelliously, -and Mina slapped it. - -“Because I am saying so!” she snarled. “And because I will put an evil -curse on you if you do not obey.” - -Kelpie prudently pulled in her smarting jaw and considered this. On one -hand, Mina was not as powerful as Kelpie had thought, for she almost -certainly could not read the crystal alone, and her magic message had -failed to get through. But that was not to say she could not curse. -Kelpie still had great faith in the power of Mina’s evil spells. And -Mina’s curse would be even more disagreeable than her company. Kelpie -brooded darkly over the unpleasant alternatives before her, almost -inclined to risk the curse. - -“Why would you not want to come?” demanded Mina, and her cursing changed -to wheedling. “And here I have been to the trouble of arranging for you -to learn witchcraft at last, ungrateful wretch that you are, then! What, -would you stay to be a slave to arrogant fools such as these? Stupid -sheep, spending their lives shut in a wee glen?” - -“They do not, then,” muttered Kelpie mutinously. “Ian and Alex have been -to school in England in a place called Oxford, and have seen the King and -Montrose and know more than we about affairs. And they do not beat me, -nor make me steal for them and then set the crowd on me. And I do not -believe you plan to teach me witchcraft, whatever, for you are always -promising it and never do it.” - -Mina’s face darkened, and she raised a scrawny, strong arm again, but -Bogle loomed over her and drew her aside to speak for a moment in a -voice like distant thunder. Kelpie watched apprehensively. When Bogle -intervened, it was never for motives of kindness and charity. - -“Hah!” Mina cackled presently and turned back to Kelpie. “And what of the -wee bittie lass we were seeing you playing with so tenderly this morning? -Shall I put a curse on her, too? Aye, on all the glen I shall put the -Evil Eye, so that they will all wither up and die horrible deaths!” - -Kelpie’s defiance collapsed like a deflated bagpipe. Not Wee Mairi! -She could not bear to risk harm for her bonnie bairn. But she must not -let Mina know how vulnerable she was on this point, or she would be in -slavery and Wee Mairi in danger forever more! Carefully keeping her face -impassive, she shrugged indifferently. “Och, well, just do not be putting -it on me,” she murmured, and noted that both Mina and Bogle looked -disappointed. “And will you truly be teaching me witchcraft if I come?” -she demanded, as if this were her only interest. - -“Have I not said so?” Mina growled. “Was it trying to drive a hard -bargain you were, then? I should beat you for it! Come away down, now, -for we have wasted too much time already.” And she led the way down the -hill. - -It was the twins who first spotted the assorted trio approaching, and -they began to shout excitedly. - -“Kelpie, is yon your Grannie Witchie? Father, Ian, come and see!” they -yelled in full voice. And then, short kilts swinging, they raced up the -slope to stare at Mina and Bogle with frank, fearless curiosity. - -“Are you truly a witch?” demanded Ronald, and, in spite of her gloom, -Kelpie stifled a grin at the look on Mina’s face. - -The old woman drew herself up and glared at them. “Best not be asking -that!” she warned in an ominous croak that should have completely cowed -them, but didn’t. - -“Why not?” asked Ronald with great interest. “What will happen if we do? -Do you not think, Donald, that she looks like a witch?” - -“Ou, aye,” declared Donald judiciously. “But we have not seen her casting -any spells yet. Can you cast spells, Grannie Witchie?” - -Kelpie’s amusement changed to apprehension as the infuriated Mina -spluttered speechlessly. It was probably only her speechlessness and the -timely arrival of Glenfern that saved the twins from an awful fate. Mina -gave them one last baleful glare—Kelpie fervently hoped it wasn’t the -Evil Eye—and turned to the tall chieftain. Kelpie glanced at him, and -at Ian, Eithne, and Alex, who arrived just then from down by the loch, -and then stared sullenly at the ground. She dared not look straight at -them, for if they were to read her eyes and guess how she felt, then -they would refuse to let her go, and so Mina’s curse would be upon them. -And now Kelpie found that her old misgivings were justified. She had -recklessly given her affection and left herself vulnerable, so now she -must suffer the consequences. Angrily she promised herself never to be so -weak again. - -“Well, then,” said Glenfern pleasantly at last. “And are you leaving us, -Kelpie?” She jerked her head, not looking at him. “I am sorry to hear -it,” he said gently, “for I think you were happy here, and we have come -to like you well.” - -“Oh, Kelpie!” Eithne protested, shrinking a little from Mina and Bogle. -“Can you not stay?” - -“Och, you cannot go!” clamored the twins in outrage. “Who will be telling -us stories now?” - -Kelpie scowled, chewed her lip, and wished herself a thousand miles away. -And worse was to come, for a brief glance upward showed her that all of -them, from Mina to the twins, were on the verge of guessing her true -feelings. She tossed her head and gave a hard little laugh. “Och, I’m -away,” she said airily, “for I’ve bided too long in one place.” - -Glenfern was looking at her keenly. “You are welcome to stay, you know,” -he told her. - -“Aye, to slave for you without pay!” whined Mina in her most put-upon -voice. If she had been slow to the attack, she made up for it now. “We -have come to have her wages.” - -From under her lashes Kelpie saw the hurt on Eithne’s face, and something -like pity on Ian’s. Only Alex wore a look of acid amusement that set -Kelpie’s teeth on edge. And Glenfern was giving Mina the same stern look -he used when the twins had been naughty. - -“I think you must be joking,” he said quietly. “We have treated this lass -far better than ever you have done. We have fed her properly, clothed her -in decent, clean garments, taught her, given her affection and a roof -over her head and a bed under her. What have you ever given her save harm -and neglect?” - -“She is ours!” Mina squealed angrily, but she must have seen that she -would get nowhere, for she suddenly changed tactics. “Would you be -wanting Mac Cailein Mor to hear things about you?” she hinted softly. -“Things about how you are favoring King Charles, and what you think of -the Covenant, and your own son associating with the King and bringing -back messages from him, and from Montrose as well, perhaps?” - -There was only one way Mina could have learned these things. Everyone -looked at Kelpie, who stuck out her chin and grinned brazenly. Ou, the -wicked, careless tongue of her, to be telling Mina that! Ian and Eithne -were looking as if she had slapped them. There was a smile on Alex’s lean -face and scorn in his eyes. - -“And so you have not really changed at all,” he observed softly, and -was surprised at the bitterness of his own disappointment. After all, -what else had he expected? But his tongue went on scathingly. “Selfish, -faithless, unscrupulous you are and always will be. You could never think -of inconveniencing yourself for the good of another, could you, Kelpie?” - -“Of course not,” said Kelpie defiantly, but the sweet face of Wee Mairi -was warm and mocking in her heart. - -“Let be, Alex.” Ian sighed. “She cannot help it. There was not enough -time to change old habits.” - -“Nor ever will be,” retorted Alex. - -Kelpie hissed at him venomously. “Faithless yourself!” she spat. “Do not -be forgetting what I told you, Ian!” And she turned away to Glenfern, who -was laughing at Mina. - -“By all means go to Argyll,” he said cheerfully. “Tell him whatever you -like. He knows well enough where our sympathies lie. But leave the lass -behind you when you go, for I should not like her to be burned as a witch -along with the two of you. And now, farewell. I am sorry,” he added, -turning to Kelpie, “that you could not stay with us, poor lass. Remember -that we wish you well.” - -That was really almost too much. Kelpie turned abruptly and started up -the pass with Mina and Bogle, who knew when they were defeated. At least -it was over, and she must just put it away out of her memory. - -But it was not quite over. Halfway up the hill a small voice wailed -after her. She turned to see Wee Mairi tugging at Eithne’s hand, one -small arm stretched out and upward. “My Kelpie!” she shrilled. “Do not go -away, my Kelpie!” - -Mina’s pale eyes were upon Kelpie, narrowed, watchful, suspicious. Kelpie -set her jaw, hardened her face, and deliberately turned her back on the -broken-hearted little figure below. - - * * * * * - -The next few miles were blurred. Kelpie tramped mechanically behind Mina -and Bogle, unseeing, trying to wipe three months out of her life and -become the person she had been before. Och, she had been right to begin -with! A feckless, foolish thing it was to care for anyone, and only hurt -could come from it. From now on she would be hard as the granite sides of -Ben Nevis, which now loomed ahead, snow still patching its sheer northern -side. She would be what Alex thought her—and a pox on him, too. Nor would -she even care that he would strike down that braw lad Ian, for Ian had -had his warning, and it was his own fault if he was too stupid to heed it. - -Scowling, she kicked at an inoffensive clump of bluebells and -deliberately stepped on a wild yellow iris. She would become a witch, -then; not a “coven witch,” either. She had seen them—silly people, who -made a great ceremony of selling their souls to the Devil and met in -groups of thirteen, called covens, and held Black Mass, and did a great -deal of wild dancing. Mina said these were little more than playing at -witchcraft and learned only a few simple spells. No, now, Kelpie would -be a witch of the old sort, who needed no bargains with Satan, but who -tapped a Power that was old before the beginnings of Christianity. -A Power it was that could be used for either black or white magic, -but Kelpie had seen little of the white, and black seemed much more -congenial, especially in her present mood. - -She drifted into her old dream of what she would do one day to Mina and -Bogle. Aye, and perhaps she would just add Alex as well. They were over -the pass and heading south along the side of Loch Lochy before she came -back to herself and began to wonder about the present. - -“Where is it we are going now?” she demanded, moving up to walk beside -Mina, half off the narrow path. “When will you be teaching me witchcraft? -What are you planning?” - -Mina cast a thoughtful eye at Kelpie’s blue dress, now kilted up through -her belt for easier walking. “I think that would be fitting me,” she -remarked casually. “We will be telling you what you will need to know -when it is the right time for knowing it,” she added so mildly that -Kelpie looked at her with dark suspicion. - -Falling behind once more, she began again to brood over her life. It -consisted of being pushed from one situation into another. It was -other folk who acted, and herself who reacted, who was acted upon. -Was she, then, such a spineless creature? Was her whole life to be -molded by others? Rebellion once more rose in her, but then subsided -as she remembered the two-pronged stick that Mina held over her—nay, -three-pronged, really. She could curse Kelpie, and she could curse Wee -Mairi and Ian and the other folk of Glenfern, and only Mina could teach -Kelpie witchcraft. And witchcraft, now, had become the only goal in her -life, the only hope of escaping the hateful mastery of Mina and Bogle. -Kelpie set her teeth, and the look on her face was neither pleasant nor -attractive. - -Down to the tip of Loch Lochy and on down the river they plodded, past -the home of Glenfern’s chief, Lochiel; and at last they made camp for the -night in the old unfinished castle of Inverlochy. Roofless it was, and -built four-square, with a round tower at each corner, and Kelpie narrowed -her eyes thoughtfully as they went in. Mina and Bogle never looked for -walls about them, except sometimes in the cold of winter. What was afoot? - -For the moment there was no time to wonder. Mina nodded brusquely at the -river, which flowed just outside the arched stone entrance. “Gather us -firewood,” she ordered, “and then guddle us some fish—if you have not -forgotten how.” Her pale eyes rested again on Kelpie’s dress, and Bogle -chuckled. - -An hour or so later, annoyed but not in the least astonished, Kelpie -wiped her greasy fingers on the dirty rags which now covered her, and -glowered across the fire at Mina. The hag and the blue dress were more or -less the same size, but of far different shapes. The dress sagged across -the front of Mina’s hunched shoulders and strained ominously across the -back, and was at once too long and too narrow in the waist, and the cuffs -reached in vain for those long bony wrists. Kelpie had a mental picture -of bright hazel eyes dancing in wicked amusement in an angular red-topped -face. For once she could have appreciated Alex’s sense of humor, and her -own white teeth showed momentarily in a matching grin. - -Mina glared at her suspiciously, and Kelpie hastily stopped grinning. -_Dhé!_ Mina was almost as bad as Alex himself at seeing what she -shouldn’t! And she mustn’t anger Mina too much—not yet! So she lowered -her slanted eyes more or less submissively and waited. - -“Hah!” said Mina suddenly. “You think I am not knowing what you are -thinking?” - -Kelpie devoutly hoped not. She had no desire to be turned into a toad or -something equally unpleasant. Best to walk warily—neither too innocent -nor too defiant. “I am wondering what you are about,” she retorted -sullenly. “I have learned the things you were wanting me to, but you have -not told me why, nor have you taught me any spells.” - -“Hah!” said Mina again. “First we will read the crystal.” - -And presently, under the ghost-light of the summer night, Kelpie sat -again with her hand in Mina’s horny claw and gazed into the blank crystal -ball. It remained still and empty. “I see myself,” invented Kelpie -impudently. “It is in a place that I have never been, and I am wearing a -blue dress—” - -Mina turned on her in sudden suspicion, and Kelpie prepared to duck. But -they were distracted by a small flicker of light that came from an upper -window of one of the castle towers. For an instant, fear gripped Kelpie. -Was it an uncanny creature of some sort? Then she noticed that Bogle was -nowhere in sight, and she chewed her lip thoughtfully. - -Sure enough, presently his shadowy figure emerged from the tower door. He -came back to the fire and sat down without a word. But Kelpie thought she -had seen him put something in his new leather sporran (recently stolen, -without doubt), and there passed between him and Mina a long look and the -tiniest of nods. - -Kelpie pretended to notice nothing, but her mind was busy. It couldn’t -have been magic he was up to, for Bogle did no magic except for ordinary -curses. It must have been a message, then—a message left for him here, -and they had known where to look for it. And that was why they camped in -the castle instead of out in the open. - -Och, there was something in the air, indeed and indeed! Kelpie went to -sleep wondering what it might be—and how she might be turning it to her -own advantage. - - - - -8. A Task for Kelpie - - -From Inverlochy Castle they headed southeast, around the tip of Loch -Leven and into the lands of the Stewarts of Glencoe. Now they definitely -turned southward. Kelpie frowned. - -“Will we be going into Campbell country, then?” she asked, faintly -alarmed. For the last time they had ventured into Argyll’s lands there -had been an all too exciting witch hunt from which they had barely -escaped, so it must be an important matter indeed that would bring Mina -and Bogle back again into danger. - -Mina just grunted disagreeably, but by the next day Kelpie’s question was -answered, for they reached Loch Etive, which was well into Campbell land. -Mina glanced around nervously, and Kelpie again wondered where they were -going, and why. Bogle stood for a moment, staring down the loch, then -turned and purposefully led the way to the precise spot where the River -Etive entered the northernmost tip. Clearly he knew exactly where he was -going. And then Kelpie saw what must be the reason for this journey. A -man sat waiting for them in a copse of alder near the river, looking -oddly out of place in the sober gray breeches of a Lowlander. - -“Aweel,” he said and looked at them. Kelpie’s sharp eyes took in every -detail of the stocky long-armed figure, with sandy hair cropped to -its ears, and sandy eyebrows looking too thin for the broad face. She -did not like what she saw, and even less what she felt. For there was -no expression at all on the Lowlander’s face. His eyes were like cold -pebbles, and there was a malignance about him that made her shrink inside. - -Suddenly Kelpie knew that he must be a warlock. Mina and Bogle would not -be merely working with him; they were under his orders. Probably it was -he who was behind Mina’s interest in politics, Kelpie’s long stay at -Glenfern, this hurried trip. Och, it was a powerful and evil man, this, -and she would do well to fear him. - -The small opaque eyes studied her for a moment and then turned to Mina, -who looked small and shrunken before them. “Is yon the lass?” Their owner -demanded in the burred English of Glasgow. - -Mina nodded, and the eyes turned back to Kelpie. “Come here!” he -commanded. - -Kelpie had a passionate desire to assert her own will and refuse. But it -would be daft to try to challenge his power now—and especially with Mina -and Bogle watching her. Reluctantly, her own eyes smoldering with anger -and foreboding, she went and stood before him, and he seemed to read her -thoughts. - -“So, ye’d like tae be a witch,” he said, his voice half a sneer, half a -caress. “Tae hae sich power, ye maun learn tae obey. Obey! Ye didna ken -that, eh? Weel—ailbins ye can prove yersel’ the noo, and earn the powers -ye’re wanting.” He turned to Mina again. “Hae ye told her?” - -Mina shook her head humbly. “Never a word.” - -“Good. She’ll hear it the noo,” returned the Lowlander. He turned back -to Kelpie, whose small face regarded him with wary intensity. His face -became genial and fatherly. “Ye’re a lucky lass,” he began, “tae hae us -a’ so concerned wi’ yer ain guid.” - -Kelpie laughed aloud, and there was genuine amusement as well as derision -in her laughter. Did they think her a bairn, and daft as well? - -At once the Lowlander became brisk and businesslike. Very well, then, he -conceded, perhaps it was not merely her own good they were after. But she -would profit greatly. Who, he demanded, was her worst enemy? - -Kelpie prudently did not name Mina and Bogle. Instead, she remembered -Mina’s deep interest of late and made a shrewd guess at the answer he -expected. “Mac Cailein Mor?” - -“Aye, Argyll,” he said approvingly and went on to point out why. The -Kirk of the Covenant was reaching farther and farther into the Highlands -now, with its persecution of honest witches, and even of stupid old folk -who were not witches at all, for that matter. And who was head of the -Covenant? Who was spearhead of the persecutions, the pricking and torture -and burnings? Argyll. If he was not stopped, there would be no safe place -in all Scotland for such as they. - -Kelpie nodded and found part of her mind thinking that on this one point -only—Argyll and the Covenant—did her world and that of Glenfern agree. - -Very well, then, the Lowlander continued. They must take steps to destroy -Argyll. And what better thing than a hex? A wee image of him, in clay or -wax, they would make. And then they would stick pins in it, roast it, -freeze it, pour poison over it, and, by the black powers of witchcraft, -all these things would happen to Mac Cailein Mor himself, until at last -he would die in great pain. - -Again Kelpie nodded warily. And how did she enter into all this, at all? - -She found out soon enough. In order to make a really effective hex -on Argyll, something from himself was needed to mold into the wax -figure—hair or fingernail clippings, preferably. And who was to obtain -them? Why, Kelpie, of course. - -Now it was clear why she had been left at Glenfern to learn the ways of -gentry and how to be a servant. She would hire herself as housemaid at -Inverary Castle and, as soon as she managed to get the hair or fingernail -clippings, just come away back here with them. And as a reward she would -be taught all she wished to know about spells, potions, curses—even the -Evil Eye itself. - -As easy as that! - -They were making her their tool again, of course, to do what they dared -not do themselves. If she were caught, her life would not be worth a -farthing. Still—Kelpie thought quickly behind narrowed eyes and an -impassive face. It was a chance to get away from Mina and Bogle and -perhaps take a hand in managing her own life. Once away in Inverary, she -could decide whether or not to carry out the errand. Perhaps she would -prefer Mac Cailein Mor to Mina and just stay for a while. Or perhaps.... -Well, she would see. - -She listened with great docility as they explained how she could get in -touch with them once she had completed her task. She even nodded when -the Lowlander suggested blandly that it might just be safest to send the -hair—or half of it—on to them by the messenger they would tell her of, -and then she herself could be bringing the rest later. Kelpie kept a -sneer from crossing her face. If they thought her so witless as that, let -them, then! But if and when she came to them, it would be with the hair -hidden in a safe place, and they having to fulfill their part of the -bargain before they saw it. - -The Lowlander was very pleased with her, and Kelpie went to bed very -pleased with herself. But she awoke near dawn with the sense of something -bothering her. - -The sky was a vast aching void, neither black nor light. The world was -a great shadow. Kelpie crept silently away from the camp and over the -crest of the nearest rise, still wrapped in the old woolen plaidie which -served as cloak and blanket. She seated herself against the thickness of -a rhododendron, so that she was lost in the black shadows of its great -leaves and blossoms. Then she stared down along the long, steely sheet of -Loch Etive and began to think. - -Obey, the Lowlander had said—and clearly Mina and Bogle were obeying him. -But Kelpie had thought that to be a witch was to be free, to have power -to command others, never to _be_ commanded again by anyone. - -Was it not so, after all? Did the Lowlander, in turn, obey someone—or -Something? For an instant Kelpie sensed something infinitely dangerous -and horrible. Was Satan merely another name for those ancient Dark -Powers? And was the price for invoking them to be a slave to them? She -shuddered, and cold droplets of sweat broke out on her short upper lip. - -Then she pulled herself together. She must not give in to foolish -worries. The Lowlander was a fearsome man, but witchcraft was the only -way to be free of Mina, and when she had learned it she need fear neither -of them any longer. - -All the same, the first seed of doubt had taken root, and it no longer -seemed quite so easy to become the most powerful witch in Scotland. It -was a rather subdued Kelpie who meekly cooked the fish and oatcakes for -breakfast, bade the Lowlander farewell, and followed Bogle and Mina on to -Loch Awe. - -At a ruined old shieling hut by the loch they stopped and waited for a -day, until there came a round-faced young woman with a wealth of brown -hair and a slate-colored dress kilted up over a striped petticoat. She -seemed an unlikely person to be working with witches and warlocks, for -her bright-cheeked smile was quite artless. - -“_Dhia dhuit!_” She beamed. “Is this the lass who will be fetching the -hair to hex Mac Cailein Mor, may the demons fly away with him? I am Janet -Campbell, who will take you to Inverary. I will call you Sheena at once,” -she added chattily, “so you can get used to it, for Mrs. MacKellar would -never be hiring a lass named for a kelpie.” She chuckled cheerfully. - -Kelpie gave her an appraising look from under her thick black lashes, but -Janet didn’t seem in the least put out. “I could not be doing the task -myself,” she explained, “for I have my work, and no reason to be going -into the castle. And,” she added forthrightly, “I am not brave or clever -enough. But I will be your messenger, Sheena, when you need me.” - -Kelpie, more and more resentful of being used by others, nodded sullenly. -But Janet’s next words cheered her considerably. - -“She cannot be asking for work in such rags,” pointed out that young -woman matter-of-factly. “They would know her for a gypsy at once, and Mac -Cailein Mor has a fearful hatred of such. Best be giving her your blue -dress to wear, Mina.” - -Bogle chuckled, and Kelpie hid her satisfaction behind a blank face. -Mina snarled and gave in. The string of epithets she flung at Kelpie -along with the dress hardly amounted to an objection at all, and Kelpie’s -earlier misgivings rose again briefly. If even the formidable Mina was so -meekly obeying, then what power this Lowlander must have! - -She was still brooding on this as she and Janet set out on the last bit -of the journey, her cheek still stinging from Mina’s farewell cuff. On -down Loch Awe, and to the wild steepness of Glen Aray, and along that -gash in the hills toward Loch Fyne, Janet led the way sturdily enough, -although Kelpie’s wiry legs could have gone much faster. Part of the -time Janet left the thin path altogether and threaded her way along the -slopes, among great clumps of brilliant pink rhododendron, groves of oak -and hazel and rowan, patches of lavender-blooming heath and the mystic -white bog-cotton. - -“Best not to risk meeting anyone,” she remarked with a trace of -nervousness. “I dare not be seen with you, in case....” - -She left the sentence unfinished and went on in a new and brisk voice. -“Now I will be giving you your story to tell the housekeeper when you ask -for work. You are Sheena Campbell, daughter to Sorcha and Seumas, who -lived in the old shieling hut where we met on Loch Awe. When they died, -you went in service with MacIntyre of Craignish, but now, with their -daughter wedded and away, there is no need for you. So you have come to -Inverary, to your own clan chief, to see is there a place for you.” - -For the next two hours she fed Kelpie the details of her fictional life -and made her repeat them over and over, until Kelpie almost felt that she -was two people at once. - -“Och, you’re glib, just!” said Janet at last, her round face admiring. -“I’m almost believing you myself. ’Tis a clever mind you have, and a -canny tongue.” She stopped and turned around to survey Kelpie’s face -searchingly. “Aye,” she went on, “and your face, though it is not bonnie, -just, is a face to beguile the lads. Have you a braw laddie who loves -you, Sheena?” - -Four months ago Kelpie would have jeered at her in wonder and scorn. -What had the lass of Mina and Bogle to do with love, or lads either—save -to sell love-charms to the foolish? But though there had been no talk or -thought of romance at Glenfern (except on one teasing afternoon), some -sleeping thing in Kelpie had, perhaps, begun to stir. The face of Ian -leaped into her mind, with the fine dark eyes of him, and the sensitive -mouth curving downward and then up; and then she felt the strange, -warm-faced sensation of her first blush—and she felt again the pain of -her departure from Glenfern. - -“No!” She spat so violently that Janet raised her eyebrows and gave -Kelpie another sharp glance before she turned to walk on. - -“A pity, that,” she observed mildly. “And a great waste,” she added -presently, with a catch to her voice. “Had I your face and tongue, I -would not be in the service of witchcraft, perhaps.” - -Kelpie kilted up her blue dress a bit higher and came even with Janet so -that she could see her face. “Why are you?” she demanded curiously. “I -think you could never be a witch.” - -“Och, no!” agreed Janet instantly. “At first I was only wanting a wee bit -of a love potion to win the heart of the lad I loved. But before it could -start to work at all, Mac Cailein Mor took him into the army and off to -raid the MacDonalds. Och, my braw Angus.” She whimpered. - -“He was killed?” Kelpie asked, and tried to push down the sympathy in her -voice. She had promised herself not to care for anyone again, but only -for herself. - -“It was Mac Cailein Mor had him shot,” said Janet tonelessly. “He tried -to save an old woman from the house they were burning. And for that I -will help the Devil himself to destroy Mac Cailein Mor, my chief though -he be. I am afraid of yon Lowlander, for he is evil, but I hate Mac -Cailein Mor more than I fear the Lowlander. - -“You must be very canny, Sheena! If you are caught—” She shuddered. “Have -you a _sgian dhu_?” - -Kelpie nodded and drew the small sheathed knife from inside her dress. -Janet looked at it somberly. “If you’re caught, you’d do well to use it -on yourself. ’Twould save you torment and burning, more than likely, and -keep you from betraying the rest of us. You’ll say no word, ever, about -me, Sheena? Pretend you have never seen or heard of me! Promise, Sheena!” - -Kelpie looked at her, and Janet’s eyes were humble and pleading. “I know -I am a coward,” Janet whispered, “but I cannot help it. I could not bear -the pain, and I would not dare to kill myself—but you would, for you are -brave.” - -Kelpie looked at her _sgian dhu_ reflectively. It was the finest one -she had ever had, the one stolen last spring in Inverness. The wee flat -scabbard was darkly carved, and the four-inch blade, when she drew -it out, winked sharply in the sun. Would she use it on herself? she -wondered. Did she dare? - -The beauty of the Highlands shimmered around her in pure, clear colors -never quite the same from one instant to the next. The sky was infinite -and tender; the sun beat warmly on her head; the air was delight to -breathe. The world was good—except for the people in it, defiling it with -hate and greed. It would be a pity to die, a waste of living. She found -it very difficult to imagine. - -She looked again at the gleaming edge of the _sgian dhu_, frowning a -little. Dare? Yes, she thought she would dare, if it was to escape -torture and burning. That would not take much courage. On the contrary, -it would be the easy way—and she found that she did not like the taste -of the idea. A feeling within her protested that suicide was shabby, -debasing, a cheating of oneself. But Kelpie, who had never been taught -such things as morals and integrity, could find no words and no reasons -for this feeling. She shrugged and put the _sgian dhu_ back. Time enough -to think about it if the occasion came up. - -Janet had been watching her with round eyes, guessing a little of her -thought. She shivered slightly. “You are very brave,” and said again. “I -think you will be getting away with the hair. And I am sure that whatever -is happening at all, you will not speak any names.” - -Kelpie fell back a step or two. She looked thoughtfully on a golden -patch of gorse blanketing the hillside ahead, and her smile was very -pointed. No, she would not betray Janet—not, she reminded herself, -because she was softhearted, but only because it would not help herself. -But—if she was so unlucky as to be caught, which she did not at all -intend to be—she would be very happy indeed to tell Mac Cailein Mor all -about Mina, Bogle, and the Lowlander. - - - - -9. Inverary Castle - - -Loch Fyne stretched long and narrow between its hills—as what Highland -loch did not? Glen Aray opened out into a meadow there, where the river -entered the loch, and from the top of her hill Kelpie had a fine and -leisurely view. There was the town of Inverary on the far side, nestled -right on the loch. And on this side, almost below her, rose the massive -stone bulk and towers of Inverary Castle, home of Mac Cailein Mor. - -Kelpie wriggled a little deeper into her nest of tall harebells and broom -and stared down at it with interest. She had time to wait and think. -Janet had braided the black hair neatly for her, used the hem of her -own dress to wash Kelpie’s grimy pointed face, and then hurried on to -the head of the loch. From there she would return to the village as if -from her own home. And Kelpie was to bide here, out of sight, until the -next day, and then come down from the glen. Kelpie had agreed willingly -enough, not for Janet’s sake, but for one more night under the free sky. - -She glowered at the brooding gray castle, for it was just occurring to -her that it would be much more like a prison than Glenfern. And would -they allow her to be out and away in the hills when her tasks were -done, as she had done at Glenfern? She doubted it. Och, it was a great -sacrifice she was making for those who had sent her, and she must see -that her reward was as great. And then.... She drifted into her favorite -daydream. - -In the long white twilight she backed down the hill until she found a -tarn sheltered by birch, and settled herself for the night. The Dancers -were absent tonight, and the sky a pale shadowed silver in which only the -largest stars flickered feebly, for it was midsummer. Then the moon came -over the crest of the hill, and there were no more stars, and the tarn -became a pool of cold light. Deliberately Kelpie leaned over the bank and -stared into the tarn. - -The reflected brilliance of moonlight glowed, closed in upon itself, -became a silver point, and then in its place there was a strange land—a -place with giant forests, dark and wild, and a crude house made of logs -in a rough clearing. She tossed her head with annoyance. What was this to -her? What of her future, her career as a witch? What of destruction of -those she hated? What of her enemies? - -The tarn obeyed, as if with a malicious will of its own, and she saw -Argyll’s face, the eyes coldly burning, the mouth twisted in anger, -staring straight at her, and in her mind’s ear Kelpie heard the word -“witch.” - -She threw herself backward and sat with beating heart for several moments -after the water stood clear and blank. Was she fey, then? Was it her own -doom she was seeing? Och, no, perhaps not. For she had not seen herself, -and surely Mac Cailein Mor had looked so to many a person accused of -witchcraft. She had asked to see her enemy, and the picture was telling -her, just, that here was a dangerous enemy—a warning to be canny, that -was all. She curled up comfortably in a patch of rank grass free of -nettles, and slept. - - * * * * * - -In the thin light of morning she smoothed back her hair and washed her -face in the cold, peaty water of the tarn. Then, wary but confident, she -made her way back to the glen and along the river to the castle. - -As she approached the massive stone gateway, Kelpie put on the proper -face and attitude for this occasion as easily as Eithne might have put on -a different frock. The task was not so easy, really, for there was little -that could be done about the long slanted eyes and brows or the pointed -jaw. But the severely braided hair helped, and by tucking in her lower -lip and drooping the corners she added a helpless and wistful note. She -pulled her chin down and back and pressed her elbows to her sides for a -look of brave apprehension, and then she changed her free, fawnlike walk -for a most sober one. - -Through the gate she stepped into a subdued world of drab colors. Her -blue dress looked insolently bright beside the grays and blacks of the -other women in the courtyard. Only the tartan—that proud symbol of the -Highlander—had failed to be extinguished by the decree of the Covenant -and Kirk. And even the tartans, being colored with vegetable dye, were of -muted shades. - -A man leading a horse stopped and regarded her with little approval. -“What is it that you are wanting?” he asked. - -“Could I be seeing Mrs. MacKellar, the housekeeper?” asked Kelpie, her -eyes lowered modestly. - -He looked at her for a moment and then called over his shoulder, -“Siubhan, the lass is wanting Mrs. MacKellar. Take her away up to the -door.” And he went on about his business. - -A sad-faced woman put down her basket of laundry, regarded Kelpie without -curiosity, and jerked her head. Kelpie followed with great meekness and -waited obediently at the castle door until Siubhan had gone inside and -reappeared with a tall, gaunt woman in black. - -Once again there was the disapproving look. “And who may you be?” - -“I be Sheena Campbell.” Kelpie launched into her story, not too glibly, -with downcast eyes and humble voice. “And it’s hoping I am to serve Mac -Cailein Mor,” she finished earnestly. - -“Mmmm,” commented Mrs. MacKellar. “We’ve lasses aplenty in Inverary -Village.” - -“Och,” protested Kelpie, “but ’tis experience I’ve had! And,” she added -pitifully, “they will be having homes, and I with nowhere to turn.” - -Mrs. MacKellar softened, but only slightly. “To tell the truth,” she said -bluntly, “there is something—I’m not altogether liking the look of you! -How am I knowing you are what you say?” - -“But and whyever else would I be coming to Mac Cailein Mor?” demanded -Kelpie artlessly. - -“Mmmm, that will be the question,” retorted Mrs. MacKellar. “No, now, I’m -thinking—” - -What she thought was never said, for from the corner of her eye Kelpie -saw a tall figure just passing the foot of the stairs—not Argyll, but his -tallness, his long face, red hair, and manner of dress suggested that he -must be Argyll’s son. Kelpie took a chance. - -She turned away blindly from the imminent refusal, carefully stumbled a -bit, and tumbled herself neatly down the steps to land in a pathetic heap -in front of the startled young man. - -“My sorrow!” he ejaculated. - -Kelpie swiftly decided against being injured, as this might prove -inconvenient. So she gave a small scared glance upward at the faint frown -above her and shrank back against the wall. “Och, your pardon!” she -whispered. “Please do not be beating me!” - -The young man—she was quite sure now that he must be Lord Lorne, son of -Argyll—gave a short laugh. “Whatever you may have heard, I am no beater -of bairns.” - -Kelpie drooped her lip at him. “Sir, I would not mind a beating, if only -I could be staying here to work for Mac Cailein Mor.” - -“What is this? Who is she?” Lord Lorne switched to English, and Mrs. -MacKellar replied in the same tongue. - -“She iss saying her name iss Sheena Campbell from Loch Awe, and that -she iss an orphan who hass peen working in the home of MacIntyre of -Craignish who iss not needing her any more.” Mrs. MacKellar’s English, -sibilant with the soft Gaelic sounds, was really not nearly as good as -Kelpie’s—but Kelpie was careful to keep her face blank, as if she did not -understand. “But sir,” went on the housekeeper, “I am not liking the look -of her whateffer. Her eyes—” - -Lord Lorne bent and looked at them. Kelpie tried to make them wide and -pleading. - -“Oddly ringed, aren’t they?” he observed. “Well, she can’t help that. You -could use her, I think. Why not try her out?” And he went on to wherever -he had been going. - -“_Seadh._” Mrs. MacKellar shrugged and washed her hands of the decision. -“You can be staying a bit, then, until I see can you do the work. We will -see does Peigi have an old dress you can be wearing, of a proper color. -You’re of the Kirk, are you no?” she demanded suddenly, turning to cast a -suspicious eye on the blue of Kelpie’s dress. - -Kelpie wasn’t quite sure what that meant, and, even with Janet’s -tutoring, she dared not bluff too far. She took an instant to think as -she rose slowly to her feet. “I am wanting to be a better Christian,” she -said, temporizing, with an earnest face. “And that is one reason I was -coming here, for the house of Mac Cailein Mor is surely the most godly of -all.” - -“Well—” Mrs. MacKellar looked somewhat appeased. “Come away in, then.” -And Kelpie came. - - * * * * * - -Life in Inverary Castle was quite different from life at Glenfern, even -though Kelpie’s duties were similar. There was a coldness here—and not -only physical, although the castle was chill enough, with draughts -constantly blowing down the halls and pushing out against the wall -tapestries. But the chill of spirit was even more depressing. Laughter -was near sacrilege, and a smile darkly suspect. Dancing simply didn’t -exist, and singing was confined to dour hymns regarding hellfire and -damnation. If Kelpie had ever chafed at the restrictions of Glenfern, she -now realized what a free and happy life that had been. Och, that people -could live like this! Worse, that they seemed to approve it! One could -hardly say they _liked_ anything. - -And here Kelpie heard the other viewpoint regarding Mac Cailein Mor. -Everyone seemed to fear him, even his rather mousy wife and sullen son. -But they also saw him (except possibly Lord Lorne) as the Right Hand of -God, fighting the battles of righteousness against such enemies of Heaven -as witches, King Charles, Papists, Anglicans, everyone else who was not -of the Covenant, and, most particularly, Lord Graham of Montrose, who was -supposedly leading the King’s army in Scotland. But no one seemed to know -where Montrose was now, at all. He had started north to raise an army for -the king and then vanished altogether, and it was to be fondly hoped that -the Devil had snatched him away to Hell where he belonged. - -Kelpie listened and said nothing. She didn’t like what she heard and -began to hate Argyll on her own account. Indeed and it was true that he -would take all freedom from all people if he could. Kelpie cared little -enough about anyone else, she told herself, but her own freedom mattered -more than anything at all, and she began to feel a personal enthusiasm -for her task here. A hex was what he deserved, and she hoped that the -Lowlander would make it a fine horrible one indeed. - -It was lucky, she discovered, that himself was home at all now, for he -spent much of his time these days heading his Covenant army, raiding the -Highlands, and occasionally daring a small skirmish with other enemies. -(Kelpie received the impression that he was not, perhaps, the boldest and -most audacious leader when it came to fighting.) But now he was home, as -no doubt the Lowlander had known. - -Still, three bleak weeks had passed, and she still had never had a chance -to lay her hands on any bit of his person or even come near his private -rooms. Mrs. MacKellar kept a watchful eye out, and Kelpie’s duties were -confined to all wings of the castle but that of Mac Cailein Mor. And so -she watched and waited through June, tense, wary, inwardly chafing. - - - - -10. A Bit of Hair - - -It was an impossible errand they had sent her on! Kelpie realized it -slowly, angrily. A bit of Argyll’s hair, indeed and indeed! Nobody at -all would be so feckless as to leave a bit of his hair lying about, -convenient to the hand of any witch who happened to be passing. And -how much less Mac Cailein Mor, who was thrice as crafty, ten times as -suspicious, and a thousand times more hated than most folk? Och, no; for -him such carelessness would be altogether impossible. It was certain -that he would stand over his barber while every last hair or fingernail -clipping was safely burned. The best she could hope for was a bit of his -personal belongings, which would be much less effective; and whatever -Mina and the Lowlander would say she did not know. No doubt they would -make an excuse to refuse to teach her spells, after all. - -And so she seethed under the joyless Covenant mask which was becoming -harder and harder to wear. How she longed for the freedom of the open! -Her legs ached with the longing to run and leap and dance upon the hills, -and her face ached with the need to laugh. And yet she stayed on, hoping -for some miracle, reflecting sourly that Mrs. MacKellar and Argyll were -very little improvement over Mina and Bogle. - -It was in mid-July that it happened, during morning prayer. - -Kelpie knelt with the rest of the household on the cold stone floor in -grim endurance, for this long, twice-daily torment was nearly unbearable -for an active young gypsy. - -Her place was in the very back, among the meanest of the servants. Ahead, -the bowed backs graduated in rank, with Mrs. MacKellar far up front, just -behind meek Lady Argyll, Lord Lorne, and Ewen Cameron, whose red kilt -blazed sharply alien amid all the blue and green of the Campbell tartan. -And before them all stood Mac Cailein Mor’s long, stooped figure, telling -of the anger, jealousy, cruelty of a God who could surely have nothing to -do with the opal world outside. With cold satisfaction and in grim detail -he described God’s will (which seemed indistinguishable from Argyll’s -will); and his pale eyes were most disconcerting, for if one seemed fixed -upon Siubhan or Peigi, the other seemed to stare straight at Kelpie, and -who was to know what himself was really looking at, whatever? - -“Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; -to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of -it,” said Argyll. “He shall destroy the minions of Satan, those evildoers -who are not of the Kirk, who blasphemously question the Covenant. For -all those who are not with the Covenant are against the Lord and vile in -His sight. They shall burn forever in Hell, and above all shall burn all -witches and that servant of the Devil, Montrose. They shall be tormented—” - -Kelpie felt the presence of the messenger in the open door behind her, -but dared not turn to look. She saw Argyll’s eye flicker briefly in that -direction and noticed the slight pause before he went coldly on with his -orders to and from God. And something inside Kelpie stirred, and she knew -that something was about to happen which would be important to her. - -Dropping her dark head over clasped hands in an attitude of great -reverence, she tried to think what it could be. There was nothing she had -done. Unless—Had Ewen Cameron said something about yesterday? - -For yesterday Kelpie had found her first opportunity to get away over to -the wing which held the chambers of Mac Cailein Mor and his family. She -had actually reached his door, and as she hesitated there, heart beating -quickly, another door nearby had opened, and through it came a lad of -about fifteen. - -Kelpie had not needed to look at the oddness of a Cameron tartan in the -Campbell stronghold to know that this was Ewen, the grandson of Lochiel. -Ian had told her about him, and she had seen him now and again about the -castle. And Peigi had told her proudly how fine it was that Mac Cailein -Mor was taking on himself the education of his nephew, for fear it should -be neglected or his own family should teach him to believe the wrong -things. - -Kelpie had hidden a cynical smile at the time, but now, when the grave, -clear-eyed lad stood regarding her in the hall, she wondered briefly how -much this “education” would really mean. For he had about him the air of -one with a mind of his own. - -“You’ll be Sheena, will you not?” he asked as Kelpie belatedly made a -stiff bob. She nodded. “Best not to linger here,” he went on. “If my -uncle should see you—” - -“Aye,” Kelpie had murmured, and slipped away back to her own territory -with the odd feeling that he had seen through her mask—not, perhaps, that -he knew exactly what was under it, but that he knew she was alien to this -world of Inverary. - -Could he have said anything, just? Kelpie wondered as she shifted her -knees ever so slightly on the painfully hard stone. The thing inside said -no. He was another of those strange people, like Ian and Eithne, who -seemed not to hate anyone or even wish them ill. - -But still, something was about to happen, and she must find out as soon -as ever she could. When prayers were over, and the household rose and -respectfully made way for himself to go out first, it was easy enough -for her to slip nearest the door, for she had had a wealth of experience -at picking pockets and melting through crowds. And so she saw the -travel-weary messenger waiting outside, and heard the news when Argyll -did. - -“Antrim of Colonsay and his clan of Irish MacDonalds have landed at -Ardnaburchen and taken the castle of Mingary, and will even now be taking -the keep of Lochaline, your Lordship!” - -The Marquis of Argyll said something under his breath, and the freckles -suddenly stood out under the red hair that Kelpie coveted. “May the Devil -take his impudence!” he said aloud, and there was no doubt that he meant -it literally. - -Kelpie tried to remember something she had heard at Glenfern. -Antrim—Colkitto, they called him—was chief of a branch of MacDonalds -that the Campbells had driven westward, over the islands, and at last to -Ireland. And now, it seemed, he had decided to bring his clan back to -Scotland to fight the Campbells and perhaps take back some land. - -“Have messengers ready to ride,” Argyll said viciously to his son. “I’ll -have the army up and wipe him out once and for all!” By this time the -rest of the household had filtered out into the hall, and it didn’t seem -to matter if they all heard or no. But then, there’d be no keeping this -kind of news secret, whatever. - -Kelpie clenched her fists. We? Then would Mac Cailein Mor be away with -the army himself? - -“Isn’t there an English Parliament garrison at Carlisle?” ventured Lord -Lorne in English. “Why not send to them to take warships up the coast? If -they captured Antrim’s ships, there’d be no retreat for him.” - -Argyll nodded brusquely and strode off toward his chambers to write the -necessary letters—taking his hair with him, of course. “Get my things -ready to ride,” he ordered one of his retainers, thus destroying Kelpie’s -last hope. - -“_Dhé!_” she muttered, without changing the blank and sober expression -considered suitable for God-fearing people. Whatever could she be doing -now, at all, with him away? - -Impulsively, she slipped out of the hall before Mrs. MacKellar or Peigi -should see her, and made her way to the tower next to Argyll’s wing. -There she hid her thin self partway up the steep, twisting stairs, where -with one eye she could see his door, and waited. Not that he would be -likely to be trimming his hair or fingernails now, but perhaps in the -flurry of his leaving she could just slip in and lay hold of some wee -personal item to be used instead, and it the best she could do. - -It was a full half-hour before Argyll’s door opened. Kelpie glimpsed the -full tartan folds of his belted plaid and then pressed herself out of -sight as the halting steps assured her that it was indeed Mac Cailein Mor. - -She waited until they had passed down the hall and out of hearing, and -then slipped out of the tower and across to the massive oaken door. -She paused an instant, hand lifted to open the door, but it was almost -certain there could be no one else in there, for the entire household -had been at morning prayer, and no one else had gone in. The door opened -heavily, with never a creak, and closed firmly behind her. - -Here must be his Lordship’s private withdrawing room. Kelpie had never -seen such a room, and she glanced around with interest. The clan crest, -a boar’s head, was carved over the large stone fireplace and on the back -of the high oaken settle that stood at one wall. A bulky armchair with a -triangular seat going to a point in back stood by a long table on which -quills, ink, sand, and paper still stood. But there was nothing personal. -His bedroom must be on through that other door. - -She darted across the room silently, opened the door, and saw an enormous -four-post bedstead of inlaid walnut—a fine piece indeed, she thought -cynically, for an unworldly Covenanter! No less than three great-chests -doubtless held his clothing and perhaps Lady Argyll’s—but clothing would -be too bulky for Kelpie’s needs. A plaid-brooch might just do nicely, -though, and they should be in a cupboard, perhaps, or a wee box somewhere. - -Kelpie began investigating. And then she nearly yelped with triumph. A -brush! A brush in which were tangled several long strands of red hair! -Och, and he _had_ been careless, then, perhaps with being upset from the -news of Antrim. Och, the fine luck of it! Chuckling, she pulled them -loose, looked around for something to wrap them in—and saw the bedroom -door swing inexorably open. - -There he stood, Mac Cailein Mor, one eye regarding her balefully, the -other apparently fixed on the wall behind; and the thin lips were -pitiless. For once Kelpie’s quick mind and glib tongue failed her -altogether, and she just stood there while he crossed the room in three -strides and seized her wrist. - -“A thief, is it?” he rasped. - -Kelpie found her wits. “Och, no, your worship!” she cried. “I know it’s -no right I have to be coming here, but it’s the fine and godly man you -are, and leaving now, and I just wanting to see—” - -He pried her hand roughly open, and the damning evidence of the hairs lay -exposed on her palm. - -“A witch!” he said with savage glee. “A witch in my own household. Ah, -the Devil is trying hard to destroy me, for I do the work of the Lord. -Blessed are those who are persecuted for Thy name’s sake. Spawn of Satan, -do you know what we do with witches?” - -“Witches?” faltered Kelpie with desperate innocence, though she knew by -now that pretense was hopeless. Far less evidence than this would have -been fatal, and even with a much less suspicious man than Mac Cailein -Mor. Sudden hot anger almost drove out her terror for an instant—not -so much at Argyll as at Mina and Bogle and the Lowlander, who had so -callously sent her on this errand. They had surely known how slim her -chances were, and that she would almost certainly be caught and burned. -And they would never have taught her the Evil Eye, even had she been -successful. She had been their tool and cat’s-paw, and she cursed herself -for being such a fool. Och, she would see to it before she died that -Argyll knew their names and the meeting place. - -She didn’t once think of the _sgian dhu_ that rested within the bodice of -her sober gray dress. - -Mac Cailein Mor was dragging her out of the room, baying for his -servants, the dangerous hairs safely in his own hand. Kelpie submitted -passively because it would do no good at all to struggle. Her mind darted -here and there, like a moth in a glass ball, finding no way out at all. - -And now all the household was running, and two husky men took her from -Argyll and hustled her brutally through the castle and out to the -courtyard, while Argyll sputtered his tale to his son between bellows for -Mrs. MacKellar. - -“Was it you hired her?” he demanded ominously of the cringing -housekeeper. “Could you not see the eyes of her, the teeth, the brows? Or -was it yourself plotting against me too? Are the minions of Satan filling -my own home?” He was working himself into a fine frenzy, and even through -her terror Kelpie found time to wonder briefly at the idiotic honesty of -Lorne, who spoke up then. - -“’Twas my fault, Father. Mrs. MacKellar didn’t like the look of the -lass when she came to ask for employment, and I was fool enough to feel -sorry for her, and I said to take her in.” He met his sire’s black glare -straight. “’Twas stupid,” he said firmly, “but no plot against you by any -here.” - -“The Devil addled your wits, then,” retorted Argyll, not to be deprived -of his martyrdom. “Could you not see the ringed eyes of her? No, do not -look into them! She’ll cast a spell!” He glared at Lorne, and then, -dourly, at Ewen Cameron, who stood near with an expressionless face. - -Kelpie was again fervently wishing that she _could_ cast a spell! Och, -the plague she would be putting on the lot of them, and himself in -particular! Since she couldn’t, she tucked in her lower lip, lowered the -offensive eyes, hung meekly in the painful grip on her arms, and made one -last hopeless try for her life. - -“What was it I was doing wrong?” she whimpered. “It was nothing valuable -I was taking, but only a wee bit token to protect me from the Devil -whilst yourself was away.” - -It was no use at all. Everyone knew what hairs were used for, even -children. - -“Shall we burn her now, Mac Cailein Mor?” asked one of the men. Kelpie’s -heart thudded sickly. But Argyll brooded. - -“No time now,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll be wanting to test her for -witch marks and get a full confession and the names of her accomplices. -And there’s Antrim to deal with first.” He looked frustrated at having to -delay, and Kelpie realized that here was a man who enjoyed cruelty for -its own sake. She shuddered. - -“Put her in the dungeon,” ordered Argyll, “the wee cell at the bottom, -and with no blanket. And let no one open the door or speak to her until -I return. Put bread and water through the grate, but nothing else. Is -everything ready, Buchanan? My horse, then.” - -He turned away, and Kelpie drew a small shaky breath. A wee respite, -then, and perhaps a chance to escape altogether from the torture and -burning, if they didn’t search her and take away the _sgian dhu_—and if -she made up her mind to use it. - - - - -11. Argyll’s Dungeon - - -The cell was tiny, damp, cold, and inconceivably black. Within ten -minutes after the solid door thudded behind her, Kelpie was cowering on -the floor. Even an ordinary roof was oppressive to her, and this—Ou, -the dark and the smallness were almost tangible things that seemed to -press down and in on her, smothering and squashing! It was even hard to -breathe, just with the thinking of it. - -By the time half an hour had passed, it was all she could do not to -shriek wildly and beat her head against the stone. She gritted her -teeth, sensing that self-control was her only hold on sanity. How could -mere darkness hurt the eyes so? Kelpie began fingering her _sgian dhu_ -longingly. It was escape, escape from this torment and that to follow. -She had no great fear of death, in spite of all she had heard of Hell, -for at worst it was almost certain to be interesting. - -And yet, the thing inside would not let her use the wee sharp dagger that -nestled so temptingly in her hand. It gave no reason, except that this -was a mean and shabby way to die. - -For nearly the first time in her memory, Kelpie cried. On and on she -sobbed, for as space was closing in on her, time was stretched into a -long and empty void, and she was alone in chaos and terror. - -Once she thought that perhaps if she did kill herself now, her Hell -would be an eternity of this, and she shuddered at the thought. Argyll’s -God might just do such a thing, and Satan’s fire was surely to be -preferred—but which of them would be having the decision, at all? Her -thoughts blurred off into confusion. - -Some time later a grate in the door opened, a hand pushed a bit of bread -through the pale oblong, and it clanged shut again. Kelpie roused herself -to explore the spot with her long, sensitive fingers but found it small -and solidly bolted. She took a few halfhearted bites of bread and lapsed -again into a shivering huddle. - -After more time she drifted up from a semi-sleep to hear another sound at -the door. Was it the next day, then, and time for more bread? - -_Dhé!_ The door was opening, when Mac Cailein Mor had ordered against -it! Was he back, then? She shrank against the wall as an oblong of gray -spread like a shaft of light into the thick black of the cell. - -“Sheena?” - -It was Ewen Cameron! She knew the voice of him! - -“Sheena, are you awake?” - -With a small gasp, Kelpie was at the door. “Och, it’s near dead I am! -Will you no let me free? You wouldn’t see me burned, an innocent wee -lass, and put to torment before it? I’ll—” - -“Hist!” There was a hint of strain in his voice, with a thread of humor -around it. “And what were you thinking I came for? ’Tis quite likely you -_are_ a witch,” he added ruefully, “but for all that, I cannot abide -cruelty. Come away, then, and like a mouse.” - -Gasping with relief, Kelpie was out of the door before he had finished -speaking. He groped to find her face in the dark that was to her almost -light. “Wait, now. I must be bolting the door again. I cannot see.” - -Kelpie moved beside him and helped. “Follow me,” he said when it was -done. “I can put you outside the walls, and then ’tis up to you.” - -It was all she asked. Scarcely able to believe her good fortune, she -followed him through a dark, narrow labyrinth of stone corridors, most -of them damp with being underground. Twice he unlocked doors for them to -pass through, and finally they crept on hands and knees through a tunnel -quite as black as her cell had been. It twisted on and on, and finally -upward. - -“’Tis an escape route in case of siege by an enemy,” Ewen explained -over his shoulder. “None but the family is supposed to know of it, and -even they have nearly forgotten it, because for the last hundred years -Clan Campbell has been too strong to be attacked in its own stronghold. -Instead, it is they who attack other clans.” - -The narrow tunnel picked up the faint note of anger in his voice, -magnified and echoed it. Kelpie, engrossed though she was in her own -important affairs, suddenly wondered how it felt to be fostered by a -wicked uncle who was, in addition, enemy to one’s own clan, and to know -you were being used as a hostage to control the actions of your own -grandfather, your own people. It was the first time Kelpie had seriously -tried to put herself into the mind of another person, and it felt most -peculiar and disturbing. - -“What if real war is coming to the Highlands?” she demanded. “Will -Lochiel dare call out the Camerons to fight against your uncle and the -Covenant, or—” - -There was a brief silence in which their small scufflings seemed to shout -aloud. Then: “Grandfather will dare to do what is right,” said Ewen -tersely. - -Another silence, and then his low voice reached back to her again, -strongly earnest. “There are things more important than safety, Sheena. I -wonder if you know about them. Was it for a principle you were wanting to -put a hex on my uncle, or for something else?” - -Kelpie didn’t answer this, for the simple reason that she was not at all -sure what a principle was. Unless—Could it have anything to do with not -using the _sgian dhu_ on herself when it seemed much easier to do so? Or -had she not used it because the thing inside her had known that she was -going to be rescued? Och, it was much too confusing to bother with now, -for she could at last see a pale blob of night sky ahead. - -They emerged in a shallow cave on the hill above Inverary, not far from -where Kelpie had first looked down upon the castle. - -“Now,” said Ewen, “be away out of Campbell territory as quickly as -ever you can! Away around the tip of Loch Fyne, and then east is best, -but be canny. You’ll not be safe with the MacFarlanes, either, but the -Stewarts of Balquidder are hostile to the Campbell, and the MacGregors -and MacNabs, and they are past Loch Lomond. Best to skulk low during the -day, for you’ll not get so far this night—though I’m hoping you’ll not be -found missing until Uncle Archibald is returned and the cell door opened.” - -Kelpie nodded. The weight of horror was lifting (though she would never -quite forget it), and she began to feel quite cocky again. Fine she was -now, for who knew more about skulking and wariness in the hills? And yet -through her cockiness crept an odd curiosity. - -“Will _he_ be finding out ’twas you who freed me?” - -“I think not,” said Ewen, and there was laughter in the lilt of his -voice. “No one is thinking I know about the secret tunnel, and they will -probably believe you escaped by witchcraft. Be careful, Sheena, the next -time you’re wanting to hex someone,” he added and vanished back into the -tunnel. - -Kelpie stared down the blackness after him and shook her head -wonderingly. He was another daft one, to take a risk for someone else, -and with no profit to himself whatever! But she was grateful, for all -that. She owed much to his daftness. - -She left the cave, lifted her face to the infinite space of the open -sky, and breathed deeply of the free air. The moonlit side of the hill -was ghostlike, a pale glow without depth. The dark side was a soft, deep -purple-black. Patches of glimmering mist rose from the loch, and there -was a line of it behind the western hills. Kelpie laughed aloud and -headed northeast. - - * * * * * - -Thick gray mist poured over the hills from the west, covering the world -with a layer of wetness. A curlew gave its eerie call, the whaups -shrilled, and presently it began to rain. Kelpie shivered a little, -even though the gray wool dress was the warmest she had ever owned. -She had got soft, then, living in houses. She must steal a plaidie -somewhere—preferably one of plain color, or a black and white shepherd’s -tartan. Wearing the tartan of a clan could get her into trouble. - -By the time it was really light, she had passed the tip of Loch Fyne. -She rested for a while, but it was cold sitting still, she was getting -more and more hungry, and as there was little enough chance of being -seen through the thickness of the mist she went on again. Once out of -Campbell country she might risk stealing as well as begging, but she must -be careful about telling fortunes or selling charms, for she would be -getting near the Lowlands, where the arm of the Kirk was long and strong -and people were narrow-minded about such activities. And Kelpie very much -wanted to avoid any more trouble of that sort. - -She waded through the dripping tangle of heather and bracken and wondered -what to do next. She was free of Mina and Bogle—unless they found her -again. Did she dare return to Glenfern, having left the way she had? No, -for they no longer trusted her, and Alex was now her enemy. Moreover, if -Mina ever found out, she would put a curse on Wee Mairi. It seemed she -must give up her hopes of learning witchcraft from Mina, and any other -witches who still lived in Covenant territory would be very canny and -quiet indeed. She might try the Highlands, but there was a problem too, -for in order to get there without recrossing Campbell territory, she must -go far east and then north and through another danger zone, where there -had been fighting and trouble since spring. And even in the Highlands -there was danger of meeting Mina and Bogle, and further danger that Alex -might have set all the Camerons and MacDonalds against her, as he had -threatened. - -_Dhé!_ Indeed and it was a braw mess she had got herself into! She cursed -the Lowlander, Mina, Bogle, Mac Cailein Mor, the Kirk, and Alex, with -fine impartial vigor and in two languages. Then, for good measure, she -added Antrim (for forcing her hand too soon), the King (for his general -fecklessness), all religious bodies, God, the Devil, and people in -general. - -When she had finished she felt no better, either mentally or physically. -She had now traveled some twenty miles over thickly brushed and wooded -hills, on an empty stomach, after a shattering experience, and even -Kelpie’s wiry toughness had its limits. Had she reached friendly -territory yet? How was she to know without seeing a clan tartan that -would tell her? Well, surely she was for the moment way ahead of any -possible alarm out for her. She must have food, and there was a shieling -hut below. - -She sat down in the drenched heather and absently regarded a small twig -of ling, already in bloom a month ahead of the ordinary heather. The tiny -lantern-shaped blossoms were larger and pinker than heather too, not -quite as charming, perhaps, but still tiny perfect things. Plants were -nicer than people, if less exciting. She stared at it while she thought -up two stories; one to use on a Campbell or a MacFarlane, the other for -Stewart or MacNab. Then she stood up, brushed the wet from her skirts, -and started slowly down the hill. - -An old woman stepped out of the low hut to empty a pail of water, and -there was no mistaking the light and dark reds crossed with green on her -plaidie. It was MacNab. Her husband, no doubt, would be out in the hills -with the sheep or cattle. Fine, that. Women living alone in the hills -were rather more likely to be sympathetic and motherly toward a forlorn -wee lass than men. (On the other hand, women of the Kirk towns were like -to be dourly suspicious and hating.) - -The old woman started to go back inside and then caught a glimpse of -Kelpie, who stumbled a bit because she was hungry and tired—and because -it was her general policy. - -“Whoever is it, then?” The Highland lilt of the Gaelic was less marked -here, near the Lowlands, and the voice cracked slightly with age—and yet -there was in it a note like a bell. - -“Och, forgive me, just.” Kelpie’s voice was faint, and she swayed -slightly. “I am weary and hungry, and could you be sparing just a crust?” - -“_Seadh_, the little love!” Mrs. MacNab was all sympathy. “Come away in, -then, and I’ve a fine pot of oatmeal on the fire. Whatever will you be -doing all alone and in the hills?” She looked at Kelpie with wise old -eyes as they entered the dark shieling, and frowned in puzzlement. “From -your dress you would be a lass from a Covenant home, but your face is -giving it the lie.” - -Kelpie instantly revised her story in the brief time it took to step -through the low doorway under its bristling roof of rye thatch. She stood -meekly on the earthen floor under the smoke-blackened rafters and noted -at a glance that these folk were better off than some, for there was a -real bedstead in the corner instead of a pile of heather and bracken, and -four three-legged creepie-stools. - -“Eat now,” invited her hostess, handing her a big bowl of oatmeal from -the iron pot over the fire. “And there are bannocks here, and milk. And -then perhaps you will tell me about yourself, little one, for I confess -I’ve a fine curiosity, and strangers are none so common here.” - -Kelpie made use of the respite to ask some questions and get her -bearings, in between ravenous mouthfuls of food. “Be ye Covenant here?” -she ventured around half a bannock. - -“Och, and can you no see my tartan?” demanded Mrs. MacNab. “We MacNabs -are loyal to our own Stewart King, foolish darling. Why, then, are you of -the Kirk?” - -Kelpie shook her head vigorously. “Not I! ’Tis a prisoner of the -Campbells I’ve been. They wanted me to be of the Covenant and refused to -tell me who my parents are, at all. And so I have run away—” - -“_Dhé!_” interrupted Mrs. MacNab with wide eyes. This was the most -exciting thing that had happened in the braes of Balquidder this many a -year. She was ready to believe anything of the hated Campbells. “Oh, my -dear! Is it that they were stealing you, then? Tell me all about it, -heart’s love, every bit!” - -And so, replete and comfortable, warm and very nearly dry, Kelpie spun -a wonderful long tale of truth and fiction mixed. The lonely old woman -eagerly drank it in, with exclamations of indignation and sympathy. When -Callum MacNab, looking like a twisted and weatherworn pine, came in at -dusk, he had to hear it all over again, and by this time Kelpie had -thought up a few more interesting details. She fairly basked in their -attention and tenderness, while the old couple glowed with kindness and -the rare treat of company and news. And so, with one thing and another, -Kelpie spent the night and the next day with them. - - - - -12. Meeting at Pitlochry - - -“’Tis sorry I am to see you away, wee dark love, but you must be -putting more distance between yourself and the Campbells. And you must -be searching for your own true family. To think of it! And you say Mac -Cailein Mor was telling you himself that ’twas from a chief he stole you?” - -“And I but a bairn,” agreed Kelpie firmly. Having Callum and Alsoon -believe her tale so readily almost made her believe it herself—and, -after all, might not some of it be true? She tucked the little bundle -of oatmeal and scones into her belt, and hugged the rough warmth of her -new plaidie about her shoulders, pleased that it was the neutral black -and white of the shepherd’s tartan and would not associate her with any -particular clan. - -Luck was with her again, she reflected, that she had found these kind and -simple people, willing to give her the food from their mouths and the -clothes from their backs—much simpler, if less exciting, than stealing. -It made her feel odd to be _given_ things this way. Perhaps if all folk -were like these, or like Ian and his family, there would be no need to -steal. Warm with a novel sense of gratitude, she was careful not to take -anything from Callum and Alsoon that they had not given her. - -They stood just outside the low doorway in the brightness of the summer -evening. The rain had become mere clouds glowing to the northwest, where -the sun would soon dip briefly below the hills. The old couple regarded -her anxiously, not at all happy to see her set off in the white gloaming. - -“Look you, now,” repeated Callum, “you must be going south and east for a -bit, through Drummond and Stewart country, and then north through Murrays -and Menzies, and when you reach Pitlochry, just be finding the home of -my daughter Meg, at the tanning shop next the Tey River, and tell them I -sent you, and they will care for you until you are away again.” - -“Aye, then,” murmured Kelpie, anxious to be gone. She had heard these -directions at least twice before, and in any case she knew the country -far better than she dared to let Callum know. - -“Haste ye back,” they said, and this Highland phrase was never used -unless truly meant. No one had ever said it to Kelpie before. She caught -her breath, turned her head away, and hurried off. - -Traveling, she found, was easier without Mina and Bogle than with them, -in one way. For folks had only to take one look at those two to know -the worst. But Kelpie, as long as she kept her eyes lowered and her lip -tucked demurely in, looked quite innocent, so that, even on the edge of -the thrifty and Kirk-trained Lowlands, people were usually willing to -give her food—and when they didn’t, Kelpie simply helped herself. - -Now and then she picked up rumors about what was going on in the -Highlands, particularly concerning Argyll, who was, it appeared, still -away in the west, chasing an elusive Antrim. - -As nearly as Kelpie could make out from bits here and there, Argyll -had chased Antrim back to Ardnamurchen, where the latter had left his -ships. But the ships had been spirited away by the English, just as -Lorne had suggested, and since then the two forces had been playing -catch-me-if-you-can all over the Highlands, with Antrim trying to rouse -the clans against Argyll, the clans either afraid or quarreling among -themselves, while Argyll tried to catch Antrim’s small army before it -should become a larger army. - -“Aye,” said an old man, chuckling, in a voice not meant to be overheard. -“Argyll will never be fighting a battle against more than half his number -if he can avoid it.” - -“Dinna mock him!” whispered another. “Ye’ll no be wanting yon wild -foreign Hielanders crossing the mountains wi’ their wicked screechin’ -pipes and attacking us, will ye?” - -“Dinna fret, they’ll no come. ’Tis too busy they are wi’ their own -heathen fighting; Papists, the lot o’ them.” - -“They might, if Montrose could stir them up tae fight for the King -against the Covenant.” - -“They would never do that. He’s a Graham from the East Coast, and those -savages in the West would never stir a foot for any but their own chiefs. -Anyway, they say Montrose is vanished altogether, and no doubt dead.” - -They both bent lowering gray brows when they saw the shamelessly -eavesdropping Kelpie. She scurried away hastily, lest they think her a -spy. - -She wandered on, begging, stealing, and listening, until she came at last -to Pitlochry. - -There seemed a braw lot of people in the narrow streets of the town, -and, surprisingly, many of them seemed to be wearing Gordon or MacDonald -tartans. Whatever were those clans doing here? And those two young men -striding along the street toward her.... “_Dhé!_” said Kelpie, and they -all stopped short. - -They stared at one another with mixed feelings. “Why, whatever will ye be -doing here, at all?” demanded Kelpie with astonishment. - -Alex recovered his wits first. “Why,” he said with the old mocking grin, -“we were missing you and your bonnie friends so badly that we had to come -away to look for ye.” - -“Sssss!” remarked Kelpie, concealing her pleasure at the old bantering -and reminding herself that Alex was a treacherous enemy. Moreover, she -was never again going to permit herself the dangerous luxury of caring -for anyone at all. Having told herself this, she turned to look at Ian -with delight. A braw lad! Did he carry a grudge against her? she wondered -anxiously. - -“And are you all right, Kelpie?” he asked kindly. “Mina and Bogle are -treating you well?” - -“Sssss,” she said again. “They are wicked _uruisgean_, and I have left -them this long time ago. I did not want to be leaving Glenfern whatever,” -she added hopefully. - -Ian looked pleased, but Alex laughed. “Aye, it was a good enough life you -were leading there, after all. But you seem to be doing well enough for -yourself the now. Where were you stealing the gey sober gown and plaidie?” - -“I was not stealing them whatever!” Kelpie was outraged more by his -manner than by his words. - -“But you would be saying the same thing even if you had,” encouraged Alex -with a straight face. - -Kelpie’s lips began to curve upward as she remembered the teasing at the -loch-side at Glenfern. She tried to frown, for it was not right to be -teasing with Alex when they were no longer friends. But she could not -help it. “Of course,” she agreed cheekily and grinned. - -“Och, the wicked wee lass!” Alex chuckled. “She’ll never change!” - -“No, now, but she has changed!” Ian objected. “She could not laugh at -herself when first she came to Glenfern.” - -“Are you sure ’tis herself she’s laughing at?” gibed Alex. “Or is it -ourselves, just, for being ready to forgive her so easily—and after she -was breaking the ancient code of hospitality.” - -“It was not my fault!” protested Kelpie. “Mina was threatening to put a -curse on you all if I did not come with them.” - -“Och, how tender you are of our welfare!” said Alex derisively. “And -that, I suppose, is why you were so quick to tell her all about how Ian -and I met the King and Montrose in Oxford?” - -There was no use trying to explain, for he would never believe her—not -that she cared a groat what Alex MacDonald thought, anyway. Perhaps she -would be able to tell Ian about it some day, with Alex not around. An -idea was growing in her mind. After glowering at Alex, she turned to Ian -and looked up at him meltingly through long lashes. She had never before -set out to beguile a lad, but Janet had put the thought in her head, and -she might as well try now and see could she do it. Some deep instinct -awoke, so that she seemed to know just how to go about it. “And what is -it you are doing so far from Glenfern?” she asked softly. - -Was it her fancy that Ian’s smile seemed a wee bit warmer than usual? -“Why,” he said, “we are with Colkitto’s army, up at Blair Atholl, and—” - -Kelpie forgot about beguiling him. “Colkitto!” she yelped. “You mean -Antrim?” - -“Aye, ’tis what we call him; Alistair MacDonald, Earl of Antrim, who has—” - -“Fine I know that!” interrupted Kelpie. “But where will Mac Cailein Mor -be, then? On your tail?” There was alarm in her voice, and both lads -regarded her curiously. - -“Na, na,” Ian said soothingly. “He’s away back to his own country, -raising a larger army, no doubt, since some five hundred Gordons have -joined us. Are you afraid of him, Kelpie? And what are you doing here, -and where are you living?” - -Kelpie looked wistful. “I am all alone, and nowhere to five.” She sighed -and then smiled up at him brightly. “It is in my mind to come along with -you,” she announced. - -Alex laughed. Unprincipled little thing though she was, he did enjoy her -shameless, incorrigible audacity! The workings of her mind fascinated -him, and even though he could see through her so easily, he could never -remain angry for long. - -Ian looked thoughtful. “Well, and why not? We’ve nearly as many women and -bairns as we have men, for Colkitto brought the whole of his clan over -with him to take back their land from the Campbells. And Lachlan brought -his wife Maeve along to be cooking and nursing and caring for us, for -she does not trust Lachlan to do it properly. You’d be far safer than -wandering alone. What about it, Alex?” - -Alex shrugged and lifted a red eyebrow. “Ou, I’ve no doubt at all that -she can look after herself,” he observed dryly. “But I’ve no objection; -only, Ian _avic_, let us not be trusting her as far as tomorrow, for -there is no loyalty in her.” - -The lazy mockery of his voice had a whiplash in it, and Kelpie flinched, -unexpectedly hurt by it. She lashed back, remembering the scene in Loch -nan Eilean. - -“You!” she fumed. “You, to be talking of loyalty, who would strike down a -friend from behind!” - -Alex gaped. It was the first time she had ever caught him out of -countenance, and it gave her great satisfaction. Ian looked distressed. -“Och, now!” he protested hastily. “Let you both be saving your fighting -for the Covenant armies. Come away back to the camp, now, and we’ll talk -as we go.” - -They started back, out of Pitlochry and over the narrow road lined with -tall blooming thistles. The heather, just preparing to bloom, glowed -rustily under the patchy sunlight. Alex strode along frowning, still -smarting and dumfounded over the outrageous flank attack. What could she -have meant by it, the wee witch? She had seemed genuinely indignant, -too. For once she was not acting; Alex had been matching wits with her -long enough to be sure of that. Then what under the great heavens could -he have done to draw such a denunciation, such withering scorn from an -unprincipled gypsy lass who would doubtless betray her own grandmother -for a bit of copper? It made no sense whatever. And although Alex -reminded himself that the opinion of a wee witch could scarcely matter, -he found that it rankled. “_Dhiaoul!_” he muttered under his breath and -knit his brows in annoyance, leaving most of the conversation to Ian. - -“And why is it you’re so concerned over Mac Cailein Mor, Kelpie?” Ian -asked. “Have you been studying more politics since you left Glenfern?” - -Kelpie hedged. “Is it likely I’d be wanting to run into the head of the -Covenant army, and him death on gypsies and all who do not belong to the -Kirk? No, now”—she shifted the subject—“tell me what has been happening, -and why Colkitto has his army at Blair Atholl.” - -“Well, so.” Ian thought for a minute, his sensitive profile clear and -grave against the mauve and russet and olive of the August hills. Kelpie -tilted her own face to look at him as she kept easy pace while Alex -walked, brooding silently, behind. - -“Did you know,” began Ian, “that Colkitto brought over his whole clan to -fight for the King against Argyll and the Covenant, and perhaps take back -some of the MacDonald land from the Campbells?” - -“Fine, that!” murmured Kelpie, remembering that day at Inverary. “And -Argyll away after him all over the Highlands.” - -Ian nodded. “And the English burned Antrim’s ships, so that he must stay -here, will he, nil he. So he has been trying to get the other Highland -clans to join him. He’s not had much luck, for some of the clans fear -the Campbells too much, and some others have decided that they hate the -MacDonalds even more than the Covenant—for the moment, at any rate. -Lochiel doesn’t dare call out our clan yet, with Ewen still in Argyll’s -hands, and—more important—with Argyll’s army so near to Lochaber. Can you -imagine what would be happening to our women and children at Lochaber if -Lochiel took the men away to fight the Covenant?” - -Kelpie could imagine, easily. Her blood ran cold at the thought of Wee -Mairi in danger, and she nodded soberly. - -“Some of us Camerons have come along anyway, and so have some five -hundred Gordons who are wanting revenge against Argyll,” continued Ian. -“But most on this side of the mountains think we Western Highlanders are -a band of wild savages, like the Red Indians of America. And even Stewart -of Atholl—although he hates Argyll and the Covenant—will have nothing to -do with the Irish MacDonalds. So—” He grinned at Kelpie mischievously. -“We have just borrowed Atholl’s castle from him, and now we sit and -wait.” He sobered again. “I do not know what we will do next. There is a -rumor that Graham of Montrose is still alive, and perhaps he is our hope. -But to tell the truth, things do not look very good, and the Covenant -armies will not sit still forever.” - -Kelpie’s lip lifted in sudden anger. “Och, ye will be losing this war, -just!” she predicted despairingly. “For yourselves, and for the folk like -me who want only to be left alone. You cannot get together even to save -your own lives, but must always be quarreling clan against clan, and so -ye will lose!” - -Ian looked depressed, but Alex came out of his black reverie with a -laugh. “Listen to her, just!” he taunted. “The lone lass who lives for -herself and no other will be giving us a lesson on cooperation! But even -though you don’t practice what you preach,” he added somberly, “you’re -right.” - -A puffy cloud blew over the sun, darkening the bright hills, and the -thistles waved in a sudden sharp breeze. - - * * * * * - -The small army was spread over the hill and moor near Blair Atholl, -looking somewhat dispirited. Some men were hopefully cleaning their gear, -polishing the huge two-handed claymores and battle axes which struck such -terror into Lowland hearts. Others just sat, or wandered, or gambled, -or talked. Women were busy gossiping, sewing, cooking, arguing; but -one tall, gaunt woman brooded alone. Children ran about playing tag or -hanging about the men. A ragged, motley crowd it was, but fierce-looking -enough, no doubt, to folk on this side of the mountains. Kelpie frowned -suddenly. The whole scene looked familiar. - -“We’ve set up our wee camp spot over yon, just near those rowan trees,” -said Ian, pointing to a spot partway up the hill. But before they were -halfway there a flurry of excitement near the edge of the moor turned -into an uproar. Men began shouting, running. A single shot was fired, and -then several more. - -“It couldn’t be an attack!” Ian frowned, staring across the moor, “but -what is it?” - -“’Tis he!” shouted Alex. “’Tis Graham of Montrose! Look you there!” - -“The King’s Lieutenant!” “He’s come!” “My Lord of Montrose!” The words -were being shouted back and forth, and the sound swelled into a thunder -of cheers. Kelpie found herself running with the lads toward the center -of the excitement. - -As nearly as she could see through the crowd, the Lord of Montrose seemed -to be a slight young man in groom’s clothing, with brown hair and a bunch -of oats stuck in his bonnet. _Dhé!_ She had seen him before! And now from -the wooded hill a red-bearded giant in the MacDonald tartan—Antrim—rushed -down to clasp the hand of the slight young man, and Kelpie remembered. -She had seen it in the crystal, that first morning at Glenfern. - -And so now they had come together, Antrim and Montrose, totally different -and yet fighting for the King’s cause. What would be the outcome? - - - - -13. The Hexing of Alex - - -The immediate effect of Montrose’s arrival was that of a most powerful -magic charm. It could not have been more telling had he come with a full -army at his back instead of just one man, his cousin Patrick. The King’s -standard was raised then and there on the hillside and saluted with a -flourish of trumpets, and cheers, and triumphantly skirling bagpipes. -And some of the clans who had been hovering about waiting to attack -the Irish Highlander Antrim now came to join the King’s Lieutenant, -Montrose—including Stewart of Atholl. - -Kelpie decided to stay for a while. Things looked interesting. She was -safer here than wandering alone. Besides, she liked Ian’s company, even -if it meant putting up with Alex. She even thought that she just might -persuade Ian to guard himself against his precious foster brother, -though she had not much hope of this, Ian being so stubbornly trustful. -Besides, since she had “seen” the thing in the loch, it would surely -happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. - -For a while, staying with the army meant simply staying right there where -it was. Nothing much seemed to be happening. Clans—or, more often, bits -of them—drifted in. Kelpie roamed where she liked, usually with the lads -and their watchful _ghillie_, Lachlan, exchanging insults with Alex and -hostile silence with Lachlan and his wife Maeve, who had no use for her -whatever and made no secret of it. - -She also spent some of her time gazing speculatively at the tall, gaunt -woman whom she had noticed the first day she arrived. The woman would -stare for hours into space, a black, brooding look on her face, her hands -twisting together as if she were wringing someone’s neck—or perhaps -casting a new kind of spell. A bulky Gordon plaidie covered her broad -shoulders, and, though she was not old, there was the beginning of gray -at her dark temples, and there were strong, grim lines along her mouth. -Her eyes were deep-set and a little alarming, and Kelpie wondered whether -she might be a witch. She looked it. Perhaps she had been tortured by -witch-hunters and had somehow escaped? Kelpie considered approaching -her about learning the Evil Eye, but the woman’s fierceness made her -hesitate. She might get a curse put on herself for her boldness, and she -could do fine without _that_. - -The coppery hills began to turn purple with the blooming of the heather. -It rained. No more was heard of Argyll, but there were rumors that the -enemy commander, Lord Elcho, was in Perth with an army of seven thousand -and looking with considerable interest toward Blair Atholl. “And we with -only two thousand men,” commented Alex cheerfully. - -“Ou, aye,” agreed Ian with a grin. “But just think of our fine store of -weapons!” Lachlan looked sour, and Kelpie raised a derisive eyebrow. - -“Artillery?” mused Alex. “None.” - -“Cavalry—three old horses, one of them lame,” chanted Ian. - -“Guns—some old-fashioned matchlocks, and all the ammunition we could be -needing to shoot a third of them for one round each.” - -“And then,” finished Ian in triumph, “just in case we’re needing them, -there’s a few swords, claymores, and battleaxes—not to mention the _sgian -dhu_” he added, reaching down to tap the wee dirk where it nestled in his -stocking, just on the outside of his right knee. - -“And”—Alex chuckled with ironic optimism—“Montrose has been saying that -the enemy has plenty of weapons, and those of us without can just help -ourselves once the fighting has started.” - -Kelpie looked at them. There was, she felt, a definite limit to the -things a body should be joking about. She said so. And Lachlan, who felt -personally responsible for the safety of Ian and Alex, for once agreed -with her. - -And now came Maeve, whose loyalty was all toward Mac ’ic Ian, heir to -Glenfern (for Master Alex, although a foster son, was not actually a -Cameron at all). Her orange hair gleamed even in the cloud-filtered sun, -and she addressed herself to Ian. - -“Food will be ready,” she said and crossed herself as she looked at -Kelpie. As they all started toward the rowan tree they called home, she -added, half under her breath, “Herself eats enough, whatever, but will -never be doing any cooking.” - -“You were not liking my cooking,” observed Kelpie complacently. It was -no accident that the one meal she had produced, at Alex’ insistence, had -been perfectly awful. - -“_Dhé_, no!” Ian agreed, laughing. “You said she was trying to poison us, -Maeve. You’d not be wanting to try that again, would you?” - -“’Tis gey queer,” retorted Maeve, “for a gypsy not to be able to cook -over an open fire.” - -Ian looked at Kelpie, his keen mind as usual fighting with his desire -to believe the best of people. Alex began to laugh. “Och!” he exclaimed -ruefully. “And I the one who was never going to be fooled by her again!” - -Kelpie saw an opening. “Gypsy taste will be different from yours,” she -announced blandly. “When I was first stolen, it was a dreadful time I had -getting used to gypsy food! It was nearly starving I was, for a while.” -Her blue ringed eyes widened with the picture of a poor wee bairn pining -away with hunger. - -Lachlan snorted. - -“Ou, the pity of it!” said Alex mournfully, his angular face looking -almost tender. “And you used to royal food, and all. I’ve wondered, just, -whether ’tis yourself was the princess stolen from our King and Queen all -those long years ago when they visited the Highlands.” - -For a minute Kelpie was fooled. Her eyes were a smoky blue blaze as -visions of royal grandeur hurtled through her mind. Of course! Why not? - -“For shame, Alex,” said Ian reproachfully. “She’s nearly believing it.” - -Kelpie jerked out of her dream and hissed venomously at Alex, who -chuckled impenitently and wondered how she would try to get even this -time. - -The next day Kelpie went down to the burn, where she had noticed that -the soil had a sticky, claylike quality. There she sat for some time, -screened by broom and high bracken, and slowly shaped a small clay -figure—not that it looked much like Alex, she being no artist. In fact, -she admitted, a body could barely tell that it was supposed to be human -at all. But perhaps the intent was the main thing. If only she could get -hold of a bit of his hair or a fingernail—but Kelpie had had enough of -hair-stealing for a while, particularly red hair. Anyway, Alex was much -too canny. She had never yet managed to steal anything from him without -being caught. No, she would just have to be trying her hex without it. - -There were brambles conveniently near. Kelpie picked a long thorn, -regarded her clay figure thoughtfully, and then plunged the thorn deep -into the area where the stomach might be expected to be. - -Then she wrapped up the hex figure, went back to the rowan tree, and -began to watch Alex hopefully. - -Two days passed, but if he had any pains in his stomach, he concealed -them very well. Kelpie added a second thorn to the figure, this time in -the head, and again waited. By rights, his brains ought to start melting -away, but she must not be doing it right, for Alex’s brains remained as -uncomfortably keen as ever. He didn’t even get a headache. - -Kelpie began looking wistfully at the tall, gaunt woman again. If she -_was_ a witch, she could undoubtedly help. And yet—Kelpie noticed that -the men of the army did not treat her at all as a witch. Far from -shunning her, they went out of their way to be kind, to bring her choice -bits of food, to talk to her. Once again Kelpie decided not to risk -trouble. She would manage her own hex, impotent as it seemed to be. - -In disgust, she took it out again, plunged thorns all over it, rubbed it -with nettles, burned it, and then watched again. After five days Alex -did twist his wrist slightly, but somehow Kelpie failed to feel much -satisfaction. She was quite sure that she had never put a thorn in the -left wrist. So she gave up trying to hex him. Either she didn’t have the -power at all, or else—which seemed quite possible—Alex had a greater -power. - -Lord Graham of Montrose had a great power too. Kelpie found herself more -and more interested in him. The look of him was not that of a strong -leader at all. Slight, he was, with gentle dark gray eyes and a quiet and -courteous air that hardly seemed to belong in an army at all, much less -at the head of one. Now, Antrim looked like a leader indeed, massive red -giant that he was, with a great roar of a voice. Yet there was no doubt -that Montrose was the heart and soul of the army. Everyone, even Antrim, -listened to him with respect amounting almost to worship, and everyone -said that he had a genius for warfare. - -Was it magic? Quite likely, Kelpie thought. She took to watching and -listening whenever he was among the men. But she never saw him make any -magic signs, and his words were about such things as honor and loyalty -and why he was fighting for the King. Ian had said Montrose wanted no -power for himself, but only for right to be done, but Ian was gullible. -Skeptical, Kelpie kept her ears open. - -“Loyalty is the great thing,” Montrose remarked one day, sitting at ease -in a misty drizzle, kilted Highlanders all around him. They listened with -eagerness and respect, but Kelpie, at the edge of the group, narrowed her -eyes mistrustfully. - -“Loyalty to your clan and your King, to an ideal, to a friend, to a thing -you believe,” he went on. “This is integrity; and it is loyalty also to -yourself.” Kelpie frowned. It was only loyalty to oneself that paid. -She had found that out. Montrose was like Ian, then, too generous and -trusting. They would both suffer for it, no doubt, unless they learned to -care only for their own welfare. - -“You see,” said Montrose, “King Charles is a Stewart, and so we have a -double loyalty to him—as our King, and as a Stewart and a Highlander. The -English Parliament and the Scottish Covenant wish to rule the King and -all of us as well. I think I need not tell you that.” - -There was a growl from the group. “Aye, Mac Cailein Mor would be King -Campbell with the help of the Covenanters!” “A plague on the lot of them!” - -“And so,” urged Montrose, “we must put aside lesser loyalties and -quarrels amongst our own clans, and stand together.” - -“Aye!” shouted the men, but Kelpie privately thought that Montrose’s -magic would fail at this point. Who ever knew a Highlander to give up his -clan feuds for anything at all—except a greater clan feud? - -She did learn one thing about Montrose. He used different words with -different kinds of people—just as she herself did, in a way. She was -eavesdropping one evening as he sat by his campfire with Antrim and -Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, and his words to them were less simple and -certain than those to the untaught clansmen. - -“No,” he said, “I do not fight for what people call the Divine Right of -Kings. I don’t believe there is such a thing, Alistair. A king must be -subject to the laws of God, nature, and the country that he rules. But as -long as he stays within those laws, then he should _be_ the ruler.” - -“And if he doesn’t?” It was Patrick Graham, called “Black Pate.” - -The youthful face looked troubled in the firelight. “It’s true King -Charles hasn’t always obeyed the rules,” murmured Montrose. “That is why -I supported the Covenant at first. But then I saw the greater danger we -courted. If a group of subjects takes over the king’s power, they may -become a far worse tyrant than ever a king could be, and that is what -happened. You see yourselves how the Covenant oppresses the people; and -I think those who are fighting for the Parliament in this war may find -that they’ve used their own blood and their own fortunes to buy vultures -and tigers to rule over them. To tell you the truth, my friends, I don’t -know the right way to handle a king who abuses his power, but I do know -that this is the wrong way. Perhaps there should be some limit set to the -amount of power that one man or group can have.” - -Kelpie chewed her lip thoughtfully. Och, now, and there was a good idea. -She could think of several such whose power should be limited to nothing -at all. She would begin with Argyll and the Covenant, and go on to the -Lowlander and Mina and Bogle. But how would one set about arranging this? - -In her preoccupation, Kelpie forgot that she was hiding and carelessly -shifted her position so that a twig cracked. A small twig it was, and -most folk would never have noticed, but these men were well schooled in -danger. Three heads turned as one, and an instant later Antrim’s huge -hand was plucking her from her hiding place as he would a puppy. - -“_Dhé!_” He chortled, holding her up in the orange light of the fire and -looking her over with interest. “Here’s a fine dangerous enemy in our -midst.” - -“Och, indeed and I am not!” protested Kelpie as well as she could. She -tucked in her lip and looked pathetically at Montrose. “Do not be letting -him hurt me, your Lordship!” she begged in English. “’Tis only a poor, -wee, harmless—” - -“Let her down, Alistair,” suggested Montrose gently, “and perhaps she can -tell us what she was doing there.” - -“Spying for Argyll, perhaps?” suggested Patrick narrowly, looking at her -gray dress. - -Kelpie’s indignation was genuine. “That _nathrach_!” She -sputtered earnestly and went on to curse him vigorously. “He is a -_droch-inntinneach uruisg_ and a red-haired devil with a black heart in -him!” - -Montrose, who knew little Gaelic, looked interested. “What was that?” he -inquired, and Antrim chuckled. - -“She called him a serpent and an evil-minded monster,” he translated. -“And I’m thinking she meant it, too! Well, then, why _were_ you skulking -there, lass?” - -Once again Kelpie found semi-truth to be the most effective answer. -“Och,” she whispered, ducking her head shyly. “I was wanting to see -himself, and to be hearing him talk, for the singing tongue in his -mouth.” From beneath lowered lids she observed that their faces were -amused and tolerant. - -“Well, and so you’ve heard him,” said Antrim, not unkindly. “Away with -you, then, and don’t be doing it again. Next time you might just be -getting a claymore instead of a question.” - -Kelpie left meekly enough, relieved to get off so easily. But none of -her questions was really answered. She had wanted to learn the source of -Montrose’s power, and whether or no it was from magic, and if and how she -could learn it. For although it was just possible that Montrose could -destroy his archenemy, Argyll, which would be a fine thing indeed, Kelpie -felt that Mina and Bogle and the Lowlander were another matter, and up -to her. For sooner or later she was almost sure to run into them again, -and when that day came she was going to need a great deal of magic power -indeed! - - - - -14. The Battle of Tippermuir - - -At last word went round that the army was to move, but not, as Kelpie -had expected, away from the danger of Perth and Lord Elcho’s great army. -Quite the contrary. They were, it seemed, going to take Perth. - -Recklessness and practical caution fought within Kelpie. A fine, daft, -gallant, and suicidal idea it seemed to her. If she had any sense in the -head of her, she would take her leave now and head for safety. But she -decided, instead, to go along but to stay with the women and children -well behind the lines, once the fighting started, and then take to the -hills when the battle was lost. - -The small, poorly equipped army gathered itself together and started -south to the sound of pipes playing valiantly. They had got no farther -than the hill of Buchanty when they ran into one of the enemy forces -which had been surrounding them all the time. A full five hundred bowmen -it must be, and Kelpie looked around hastily for something to hide under. - -But she had reckoned without Montrose. He and Antrim rode to meet the two -leaders of the bowmen, and they talked. And, sometime during the talking, -Montrose cast his spell, for presently the two forces spread out over the -purple masses of blooming heather and ate together, the leaders still -talking over wine and food. - -And then one of the enemy leaders sprang to his feet, and Kelpie could -hear his words clearly. “You’re wrong!” he shouted. “’Tis not two -thousand men ye have, but two thousand and five hundred! For we’ll never -be fighting against Montrose!” - -Kelpie shook her head wonderingly. Why on earth did Montrose fight at -all, if he could do this? Or did Argyll and others have some kind of -counter-magic? Kelpie began to feel newly discouraged about her own -prospects for magical powers, with so much competition about. - -The newly expanded army moved on again, undisturbed by the news that, in -addition to his seven thousand infantry, Lord Elcho also had some eight -hundred cavalry and nine pieces of heavy artillery. The Highlanders, like -Kelpie, put their faith in the magic of Montrose. With him to lead them, -no force on earth could beat them. - -They spent the night on the moor of Fowlis, and early in the morning were -away down the Small Glen, and on to Tippermuir. There stood the walled -town of Perth, some three miles away. And between stood the Covenant -army, spread wide, waiting to catch Montrose’s impudent small army -between its fierce jaws. - -Kelpie looked at it with awe, and some of her assurance left her. Surely, -now, Montrose was stretching his powers too far! Lord Elcho would be -wiping them out as easily as Antrim might knock down herself. There they -stood, six deep, every man protected by corselet and an iron headpiece, -and the most of them armed with muskets, against one-third the number -of Highlanders, who wore only ragged kilts and rawhide brogans and -had claymores and bows and arrows, or no weapons at all. It was a sad -contrast. - -The citizens of Perth seemed to regard the coming battle as a fine new -kind of Sabbath sport, for they had turned out in great numbers to -watch the fun. Kelpie shoved through the palpitating crowd of women and -children, now well behind the army, until she reached a spot on high -ground which gave her both a good view and a quick escape route for when -she needed it. And she expected to need it. She hoped that Ian might -escape the slaughter somehow, but she was going to be quite sure that -_she_ did. - - * * * * * - -Ian, who had an even better view in his spot in the front row of the -battle line, was not feeling very optimistic himself. He looked with -resignation over the flaunting blue banners of the Covenant ranks bearing -the motto: _For Christ’s Crown and Covenant_—and then back to the one -brave royal banner—three golden leopards on a red background—floating -above the Highland rabble. The breeze rippled its folds and shivered -across the purpled moors. It seemed too fine a day for men to die. - -Alex turned from chaffing his cousins among the small band of Keppoch -MacDonalds and looked at Ian. There was a touch of pallor beneath the -sunburn of his angular face, but his eyes were bright. - -“And are you frightened, Ian?” he asked with a crooked grin. - -“As ever was!” retorted Ian forthrightly, and Alex chuckled. - -“And I too,” he agreed. “My cousin Archie has just been saying it’s only -a fool does not fear danger—in which case, I’m a wise man indeed!” - -Ian looked around him. Most of the ordinary clansmen seemed not -much worried. There was an almost supernatural faith in Montrose, -that he would bring victory at any odds. And Antrim—the magnificent -Colkitto—strode down the line with confidence in every inch of him. His -legs were pillars beneath the MacDonald kilt he wore, and they were -matched by the size of his shoulders. - -“I think _he_ isn’t afraid,” observed Ian. - -Alex nodded agreement. “Montrose is worried, though,” he murmured. “You -can see it behind his eyes. What is happening now?” For one of Montrose’s -officers was going toward Lord Elcho, waving a white flag of truce. - -“Here’s Ranald,” said Archie. “He’ll know. Ranald learns everything.” If -Archie was frightened, one would never know it. His black eyes sparkled -wickedly from under his thick black hair, and he turned eagerly to make -room for another Keppoch cousin. “What is it Ranald, _avic_?” - -“An envoy of courtesy,” reported Ranald, shaking his fair head -wonderingly. “Montrose has sent to ask is it against their principles -to fight on the Sabbath, and would they rather wait for tomorrow. Only -Montrose would think to make such a gesture!” - -Archie, who seemed to have a low opinion of Covenant principles, shook -his head disapprovingly. Alex opened his mouth for a jesting remark, -and forgot to close it again. For, incredibly, outrageously, the envoy -was being taken prisoner! He was seized, bound, hustled off through the -Covenant ranks. - -Incredulous anger rippled through the Highland army. Ian stood aghast. -“He couldn’t!” he whispered. “He _couldn’t_ violate a flag of truce!” And -for once even the more cynical Alex shared Ian’s feelings. - -Oddly, Kelpie’s face came to Alex at that moment. Her narrow, slant-eyed, -impudent face would be wondering what was so awful about violating a -white flag. Was it any worse than killing a man in battle? And the envoy -wasn’t even dead—yet, anyway. To his disgust, Alex found himself, in -his own mind, trying to explain it to her. “_Dhiaoul!_” he muttered and -turned his attention to the matters at hand. - -It was quite possible that Lord Elcho had done himself an ill service, -for a flame of Celtic rage had engulfed the Highland army. Alex found -that he had shifted forward an inch or two without knowing it, and the -rest of the army with him. Those without weapons had picked up stones. -For a moment it seemed that they would all break into a wild charge, but -Montrose achieved the minor miracle of holding them back. “Wait!” said -his outflung arm. “Wait!” boomed Antrim. “Be patient a wee while, men of -my heart, and we soon will be giving them cold steel for it.” - -And they waited, only inching forward a toe at a time, as the Covenant -army moved closer, until not a hundred paces separated them. A long wait -it seemed, long enough for all the army to hear Lord Elcho’s answer to -the message of the unfortunate envoy. “The Lord’s Day,” he had said, -“is fit for the Lord’s work of exterminating the barbarous Irish and -Highlanders.” - -“When we charge,” muttered Archie, who had been in battles before, “keep -just one thing in mind. Choose your enemy and kill him, and then a second -man if you can.” - -“Very well so,” agreed Alex mildly. “And what will I do with my third -man?” He was pleased that his voice had just the nonchalance he wanted -for it. - -Ian’s was equally cool. “Just be leaving him to me,” he said. “I’ll have -had my three by then.” - -Another inch forward, and the Covenanters closer yet, and still no signal -to charge. And now came the Covenant battle cry for the day. “Jesus and -no quarter!” they yelled, and Ian shuddered at the blasphemy. - -And then suddenly came a shrill wild skirl from the gaunt woman at the -back of the battle. A voice lifted and pealed savagely. “Wolves of the -North! Let the fangs bite!” - -And the signal was given, and as they rushed forward Ian’s voice answered -with his own clan battle cry. “Sons of the dogs, come hither, come -hither, and ye shall have flesh!” - -“God and St. Andrew!” answered the Keppoch MacDonalds, and the air was -thick with the wailing menace of pipes and clan cries, until the pipers -abandoned their pipes for the claymores, and the slogans became scattered -and mixed with mere yells. - -Neither Alex nor Ian remembered the rest clearly—only a wall of armed -men ahead, and then the smashing, tearing impact of battle. There was -Archie’s fighting laughter, and the blazing red beard of Antrim ... -someone yelling “A Gordon, a Gordon!” the whole of the fight. And then -there was no wall of armored men, but only fleeing backs, and the charge -went on and on—until they were at the gates of Perth. - - * * * * * - -When Kelpie reached Perth, some time later (and a messy three miles it -was too, littered with Covenant casualties), she fully expected to find -it being thoroughly sacked and looted, and to be in time to pick up a -few wee things herself. It was just for this that she had managed to get -slightly ahead of the rest of the women and children. - -But there was unexpected quiet and order. Kelpie paused inside the gate, -frowning. A few citizens peered fearfully from windows, waiting for the -worst, but the worst did not seem to be happening. Instead, Highlanders -stood about, glaring at the frightened heads and at a shouting preacher -on the near corner, and looking disgruntled. - -“He shall rain snares upon the sinners,” screamed the preacher, “and fire -and brimstone and storms of wind shall be the portion of their cup!” - -Kelpie joined a group of ragged Highlanders who were standing there -listening. “_Now_ will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins!” -the preacher was suggesting hopefully. “I will consume them by the sword, -and by the famine, and by the pestilence! I will pour their wickedness -upon them!” - -“Is it ourselves he means?” asked Kelpie of the nearest Highlander. - -He nodded, looking disgusted. “And we not even allowed to feed his words -back to him,” he growled. “And,” he added regretfully, “I am thinking -that the fine coat of him would be fitting me, whatever.” - -“But why? Why not be silencing him and taking it?” demanded Kelpie. -He shrugged, looking aggressive. Montrose, it seemed, had ordered no -sacking, no looting, no harm to the citizens. - -Several Highlanders turned from the preacher, who was now informing -them that they were to be cast forth from the land, and chimed in. An -unheard-of thing, that! And they half-starved and in rags, and counting -on food, clothing, and a fine wee bit of loot from these overfed, -psalm-singing heathen hypocrites! And what was Montrose about, then, to -be depriving them of their just reward? And yet, not a man suggested -disobeying. - -The preacher, a gaunt, long-faced man in a fine black coat, was working -himself up into a fine passion of Covenanter Christianity. “They shall -die grievous deaths,” he announced. “They shall not be lamented, neither -shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.” - -“Is it his own friends he’s speaking of?” came Alex’s mocking voice. -“’Tis a fine burial service you’re preaching, my friend, but shouldn’t -you be helping to dig the graves first?” - -The preacher stopped, glared, and began to launch forth with more Bible -verses. But the Highlanders had got the idea. - -“Now then,” one of them called, chortling. “’Twould be no harm to the -bonnie man if we just see to it that he helps bury his friends, now, -would it? Come away out, now, and be useful!” And in a moment the -preacher was being propelled firmly out of the gate, protesting loudly -that yon muckle redshanks were gang to murther him. Alex and Ian, Archie -and Ranald were left, grinning after them. - -Kelpie spared them no more than a glance and then returned to her -grievance. No looting! And she had been wanting a nice silver belt and -perhaps a silken purse. - -Disgustingly, Ian and Alex agreed with Montrose. “’Tis a barbaric -practice, sacking cities,” said Ian with quiet intensity. “Why should -soldiers war on civilians, especially women and bairns? If there were -more leaders with the principles of Montrose, war would be less evil than -it is.” - -“There’s no use one army stopping, and the others going on doing it,” -argued Kelpie. - -“Someone must be stopping first,” Alex pointed out. Odd how he kept -trying to explain principles to this little witch, who could no more -understand them than could his cousin Cecily’s wee and wicked yellow -kitten. “If Montrose shows mercy, perhaps the Covenanters will do the -same.” - -Kelpie sneered audibly, and Archie made a rude noise. Alex shrugged. -“To be more practical,” he pointed out, “perhaps Montrose is hoping that -these towns near his own home may be turned to our side if we treat them -well.” - -“I think he would do so anyway,” insisted Ian, “’Tis a point of -integrity, Kelpie.” - -Kelpie looked blank, and Alex laughed. “Do not be trying to explain -integrity to _her_, Ian!” he pleaded. “Begin first on a creature with -more capacity—like Cecily’s kitten, for example—and then Dubh, perhaps, -and after that you might be working up to a kelpie.” - -At the mention of Cecily, Ian saw in his mind a heart-shaped, mischievous -face in a halo of tawny hair. And then he put it away from him, for Alex -had said fifty times that he was going to marry his cousin one day; and -if his foster brother wanted Cecily, then she was not for Ian to think -of. So he thought instead of Kelpie, who was tossing her black head -scornfully. - -“Well, whatever integrity is,” she announced, “this is daft. For,” she -predicted with gloomy relish, “all the towns around will be thinking -they may do as they please, with no fear of punishment. Just wait you -now, they’ll be shouting more loudly and burning more witches than ever -before.” - -Surprisingly, Alex nodded. It was Ian who was about to argue. But at this -moment Lachlan and Maeve arrived, shouting that at last they had found -Mac ’ic Ian, and would he be coming away this minute to have his sore -wound tended. - -Ian laughed, faintly embarrassed, and began to protest. And Kelpie, -with a pang of concern, noticed for the first time that his plaidie was -wrapped oddly about his left arm and that a stain of red was creeping -along the sleeve beneath it. - -“_Dhé!_” she cried. “It may be only a wee bit cut as you say, Ian, but -yon orange-top”—she glared at Maeve—“has not the sense to be tending it -for you, and it will surely mortify if you let her. I,” she announced -firmly, “will bind it myself, with bread mold and cobwebs on the cut, and -a wee charm or two over it, and ’twill heal overnight, for I know about -such matters.” - -Maeve promptly screamed that the wicked little witch would poison Mac ’ic -Ian only over her dead body. Kelpie retorted that it was a fine idea, -that last. Ranald said that he had known mold and cobwebs to work very -well. Archie’s black eyes sparkled with amusement, and it fell upon Alex -to arbitrate. - -Firmly, with the masterful air that Kelpie usually resented hotly, he -declared in favor of her bread mold but against her charms. He pacified -Maeve by allowing her to supervise and to put the sign of the cross upon -Ian’s arm. And because both Maeve and Kelpie were genuinely concerned -over Ian’s welfare a truce of sorts was declared—for the moment. - - - - -15. Witch Hunt - - -An uneasy peace brooded over the whole of Perth the next day. Not only -the citizens but also their Gaelic conquerors tended to feel slightly -abused, and they spent the morning glooming at one another. By noon the -high Celtic spirits had risen again in the conquerors, and a spirit of -mischief took over. They released prisoners from stocks and jails (most -of them guilty of such crimes as failing to attend kirk), and some of -the Irish MacDonalds began preaching back at the dour, hell-spouting -Calvinist preachers. - -But this palled too, and presently a group of young and adventurous -Highlanders decided just to go out and have a wee look round the -neighboring countryside. Archie and Ranald came hunting Alex and Ian, -who were delighted. Lachlan firmly attached himself to the party, with -strict orders from Maeve not to be letting Mac ’ic Ian do anything to -start his cut bleeding afresh. - -At this point Kelpie announced that she would just go too. Ranald looked -at her dubiously, but Archie laughed. “And why ever not?” he demanded. -“The women do full share of work, what with cooking and nursing, and -should have a bit of fun when they can. Will you come too, Maeve?” - -Maeve hesitated, glared at Kelpie, and declined. And the party, some -dozen or fifteen altogether, set off. - -“Is Kelpie your true name?” demanded Archie as they started west across -the sweep of moor. He grinned at her engagingly. “It wouldn’t be every -day a body could have a kelpie as mascot. Tell me,” he asked, “have I -seen you turn a soft eye upon Ian? Could you not be giving him a wee love -potion?” - -Kelpie smiled enigmatically and declined to answer. But she turned the -idea over in her mind. - -It was a lovely day, this second of September. The birches were beginning -to yellow and the bracken to turn rusty underneath. Rowan trees flaunted -clumps of brilliant red-orange berries in the sun; and only now and -again did a cloud shadow glide silently over the rosy-heathered swelling -ground, patching it with somber purple. Kelpie tied her plaidie around -her waist, for she would not be needing it until the chill of evening. - -They walked on, with the long, tireless Highland stride, chattering and -laughing with the upsurge of spirits that was a normal reaction from the -fear and triumph of yesterday. - -“And did you get your dozen men, Alex?” inquired the fair-haired Ranald. -“I saw you once cutting down an armored musketeer twice your size, and -glad I was to be fighting with and not against you.” - -Alex’s red brows slanted upward. “_Dhé!_” he said. “I was so frighted I -just held out my sword, and it seems the enemy was obliging enough to run -into it. ’Twas Ian was the braw fighter, and none better in Scotland. It -was he saved me more than once.” - -“Only so that you could be saving me, Alex _avic_,” retorted Ian, “and -Lachlan saving the both of us,” he added. “Besides, it was I was so -scared I could only think to run away.” - -“And since you were headed for Perth, already, the only thing to do was -just cut your way through the face of the enemy,” finished Archie with -bland seriousness. - -Ian nodded gravely. “That was the way of it. I was too frightened to -think of turning around.” - -And so they went on, with the same old bantering Kelpie had heard so -often at Glenfern, and each of them claiming to have been more frightened -than any of the rest. Kelpie listened with an odd feeling of contentment. -This brotherhood, this easy straight-faced teasing which was an unspoken -love between friends, was a warm and joyous thing to hear—for all that -it was dangerous to have it. There was wistfulness in her heart as she -walked silently among the cheerful group, and a shadow on her face. - -Presently they came to a river and a small gray town on the near side. “I -doubt they’ll love us there,” predicted a tall lad in Duncan kilt, “but -perhaps their good Lowland sense of business will make them willing to -sell us a pint or two of ale—or even good _uisghebaugh_, if there is such -a thing outside of the Highlands.” - -It was a popular suggestion, and the long Highland strides became even -longer, so that Kelpie—though she denied it—had to stretch her own to -keep up. As they drew near the cluster of stone houses with the somber -square kirk in the center, she frowned a little. A dour, gloomy place it -was! Not that it looked different, really, from other towns, but there -was a bad feel to it. None of the others seemed to notice, but Kelpie’s -bones were wary. - -There seemed to be very few people about. Perhaps most of them had seen -the Highlanders coming and gone inside. The few folk they did meet cast -looks of hate at the kilted barbarians—which the barbarians, secure in -the safety of numbers and reputation, found rather amusing. - -An innkeeper sourly sold them ale, with black looks thrown in for good -measure. “Och, wouldn’t he like to poison it, just!” said Alex in Gaelic -as Kelpie refused the ale Ian offered her. It might not actually be -poisoned, but it could have an evil spell on it, all the same. She said -so. - -“If your spells haven’t worked, I doubt anyone’s could!” Alex taunted -her. “For you’ve tried hard enough, haven’t you?” - -Kelpie glowered from under her thick lashes. Had he seen her, then, all -that while at Blair Atholl? Or was it just his evil way of always knowing -what she was thinking? She had begun to feel a trifle more friendly since -learning that he had saved Ian yesterday instead of cutting him down. But -once again Alex was taking the offensive. - -Alex had known what she was about at Blair Atholl, and it had amused him, -in a way—once he was sure her spells were impotent. But just now, for -some reason, all her hatred for him was rankling, and he was in the mood -to goad her a bit for her irritating ways—although he was not at all sure -why she got under his skin so easily. So he deliberately treated her to -his most satirical grin. “And didn’t your hex work at all, poor lass?” he -inquired sympathetically. - -Kelpie started to hiss at him, but Ian was looking at her oddly. He would -not take it kindly that she had tried to hex his foster brother, even -though it was himself she was trying to protect. And she wanted to keep -Ian’s good will. - -Her lip drooped. “Always and always you will be thinking evil of me, -Alex MacDonald!” she lamented. “You will be trying to make everyone hate -me, and never giving me the chance at all to be better, no matter how I -might try.” - -The other lads were listening to all this with great interest, and they -now regarded Alex with severity, and Kelpie with sympathy. But it was -Ian’s sympathy she wanted—and got. - -“’Tis true enough, Alex,” he said accusingly. “You’ve ever thought the -worst of the poor lass, and her only sin is in being what she was taught -to be. How could she ever change with you condemning her in advance?” - -A rare blaze of rage swept over Alex. “_Dhiaoul!_ ’Tis a fool you are, -Ian!” And suddenly he was quarreling—it was incredible—with his foster -brother, dearer than kin, and over a young rogue of a gypsy lass not -worth a hair on Ian’s head! And yet the quarrel went on and on. - -Kelpie had never seen them angry at each other before, and she was -frightened. It was the town had done it! The town was filled with hate -and malice and had put a spell on them all! And she, who should be -pleased at seeing Ian turn from Alex, found that she couldn’t enjoy it. -She couldn’t even bear to listen. She slipped out of the tavern with -their angry words drifting after her. - -The streets were no longer empty. A crowd was streaming out of the -four-square meeting house and along toward the town square, and it was -the sort of crowd she knew all too well. Their faces held a savage and -bloodthirsty fanaticism, and this was not a mob looking for a victim, but -one which had found one. It was someone, no doubt, who had committed the -sin of breaking the Sabbath, or dancing, or perhaps chancing to glance at -a neighbor’s cow before it fell ill. Och, it was a witch trial they had -been having! No knowing was it a real witch or not, nor would it matter; -for to be accused was to be condemned. - -“Burn them!” the crowd growled as it surged past the tavern. Kelpie -should have ducked back inside, but her curiosity was too great. And -despite her vow to be hard-hearted there was a flicker in her of pity. -The victims were coming now, being roughly hustled along toward the -square. The crowd swept Kelpie along, not noticing one more gray gown -among so many others. - -Kelpie squeezed through a gap between a stout man and a bony woman, and -as it closed behind her she found herself almost pushed against the -victims, her eyes staring straight into theirs—and their eyes were as -filled with hatred as those of the crowd. - -Mina and Bogle! - -Panic gripped her heart. Frantically she tried to back up, to melt back -into the crowd. But there was no gap now, only a wall of townsmen at her -back. And it was too late. Mina’s shrill screech cut the other sounds. - -“There she is! The kelpie who led us into witchcraft! In the gray dress! -There! Look at the ringed eyes of her!” - -“She’ll be putting the Evil Eye on ye all” croaked Bogle venomously. - -Sick fear and revulsion were in Kelpie as her quick eyes swept -around—vainly—for an avenue of escape. They were not accusing her to save -themselves, which would have been logical, but in sheer malice. That she -might have done the same didn’t occur to her, for there was no time for -thinking. The crowd was responding with a new roar, seeking more blood, -turning to find its new victim. - -Kelpie looked instinctively for a scapegoat, another gray dress to point -out—but again, too late. Hands grabbed her. She wrenched free with a -twist, only to be grasped by more hands, caught beyond hope of escape. - -“Alex!” screamed Kelpie. “Ian! Help!” And she lifted her voice in the -Cameron war rant, hoping that the familiar words might reach Ian. -“_Chlanna non can, thigibh a so_—” A blow on the head cut it short, and -she thought with bitterness that it could not matter. How could they -hear her so far away, and over the crowd, and when they were themselves -quarreling in the tavern, and herself being carried farther away every -minute? - -“Ye’ll not be taking a witch’s word!” she cried out. “I am of the Kirk, -and have been servant to Argyll himself!” - -One or two of the nearest people hesitated doubtfully, for Argyll was a -name to conjure with. But Mina dashed Kelpie’s faint chance. “Aye!” she -shrieked. “To be getting a bit of his hair for a hex! Look at her eyes, -just!” - -She was doomed, then. “Sons of the dogs!” she yelled once more, with -despair in voice and heart. And then she was being shoved along with Mina -and Bogle. - -“_Chlanna non can, thigibh a so’s gheibh sibh feoil!_” It was Ian’s -voice. A wedge began to cut itself into the crowd from behind, a bright -blade gleaming, and Ian’s wild face at the back of the sword. - -And then another voice, that of Alex. “_Ian!_” it roared, and another -wedge appeared behind the first. And now figures in MacDonald and Duncan -bonnets cut a swathe, more swords gleamed, voices roared happily with the -joy of battle. - -But Alex was coming after Ian, and a black rage on his face, and his -voice bellowing Ian’s name. He was angry still, then, and the more so -because Ian was trying to save her! Kelpie’s feet were set against the -cobblestones of the street, her body twisted to see behind. And now the -hold on her was loosening as the witch-burners began to take alarm. But -oh, would Ian be in time? Would Alex stop him? - -Ian had nearly reached her. The crowd, mostly unarmed, swirled and shoved -in disorganized fury. They turned from their victims now, and two or -three dirks were flashed. The MacDonalds were gleefully wreaking havoc -somewhere behind, but Alex had caught up with Ian now, and his face was -fearful to look on. Ian’s back was to Alex, his attention on dealing with -those dirks still separating him from Kelpie. Kelpie could not see his -hands, for the shoulders and heads in the way, but his face was grim, -intent. “Hold on, Kelpie!” he shouted. - -“_Ian!_” roared Alex again, and his sword rose—rose and then fell with a -furious slash. And Ian was down, and his dark head had vanished in the -crowd. - -It was just as she had seen it in the loch! For an instant Kelpie felt -nothing at all but a terrible cold emptiness, and then grief was in her -very bones, and a small cry of anguish on her lips. She made a move -toward the swarming, fighting spot where Ian had vanished. There was one -brief glimpse of Alex, raging like one gone mad, and then the MacDonalds -were there, making a havoc that sent townspeople screaming for safety. -And somewhere, being trampled beneath, was the body of Ian, and perhaps -she could reach him and help.... - -And then she hesitated. Alex would be wanting to kill her too! And now -was her chance to be away and safe from him. And after all, what good -could she be to Ian? For either he was dead and past help, or, if not, -there were the MacDonalds to care for him, and Maeve back at Perth. - -Kelpie hesitated a moment longer, then she reverted to old habits and -saved herself. She slipped like a hunted wildcat through the crowd, which -now had other things on its mind than stopping her. She was out of it, -around a corner, through the narrow streets in a swift streak of gray. -The clamor grew muffled and scattered. She tore across the stone bridge -and the moor and along a glen and over a hill. She ran until she could -no longer breathe, and then crawled into a thick patch of broom and lay -gasping and sobbing. - -She must not think! She could not bear to think. Alex had really done it, -then! The thing inside her had never really believed he would, and that -was the thing now keening in black anguish that he could have done it. - -And Ian! Was he dead, then? Dead trying to save herself, who had then -fled without a backward look? - -But it was only sense to have saved herself! It was what Ian had been -trying to do, to save _her_, and wouldn’t he have wished it? Why should -it be the weight of a stone on her? Ian would have wished it, she told -herself. And then she rolled over on her face and was violently sick. - - * * * * * - -How long had she been walking? And to where? It was just away from the -town she had been going, and she was now far away, for she had spent more -than one night in the heather. And yet she could not get away from the -beating blackness in her mind. - -Kelpie sank down in the drenched heather and discovered with vague -surprise that rain was pouring steadily from a dreary sky. She looked -wearily around and saw nothing but hills and heath closed in mist. She -was wet as a water horse, and when had she last eaten? - -What was she to do now? And where was she going? She didn’t care much. -It would be nice just to lie down and not be waking at all at all. But -some inner vitality would never let her do that. She sighed. She must be -finding food, then, and learning where she was. For all she knew, she -might be back in Campbell country—and that thought roused her just a -little. - -She dragged herself to her feet and tramped on again. The glen ended in a -long loch, so large that both ends were out of sight around the curves of -the hills. Kelpie sat down again and thought, slowly, because she could -not seem to think very well. There were not so many lochs of this size. -She did not think she could have got so far as Loch Rannoch, and this -seemed too long for Loch Earn and not wide enough for Loch Lomond. It -must be that it was Loch Tay, and if this were so, then she might well be -in Campbell country. - -If only the sun would come out! If only there were some place that she -could go and rest and hide away from the world and her thoughts.... - -And then she remembered the braes of Balquidder and two kind and lonely -old folk who had said, “Haste ye back.” - -At this point Kelpie’s instinct and gypsy training took over. Without -stopping to wonder was she right or no, she turned to the left and -trudged along the southern bank of the loch. She found berries and roots -to eat. She lay down in the wet heather and slept, her plaidie around -her, when she could go no farther. And then she awoke and went on. To the -end of the loch she went, and down a glen, and around a mountain. - -And late on a drizzly afternoon old Alsoon MacNab heard a faint scratch -at her door and opened it to find her own plaidie back—wrapped round a -morsel of wretched humanity that for once was not shamming in the least. - - - - -16. Morag Mhor - - -It was pleasant to be cared for, pleasant and strange. Kelpie lay for -several days on the pile of springy heather which served for her bed. -At first she just slept and awoke to eat and sleep again. But then she -began lying awake, her eyes on the smoky fire, or on the mortarless stone -walls that leaned a little inward against the black rafters and thatched -roof. Alsoon was always busy, cooking or sweeping the earthen floor with -a besom broom or weaving or knitting, one eye always on her patient. - -And why should they take her in and care for her so, when they had -nothing to gain by it? Glenfern had done the same thing—no, best not -to think of Glenfern, for that was too painful. She must learn to wall -off those memories from her feelings, so that they would become like a -witch-spot on the body, a spot that could feel no pain even though a pin -was stuck in to the head. Kelpie had no witch-spots, though Mina did. But -then, Kelpie was not a witch, and what was more, she never would be, -however hard she might try! - -The knowledge crept upon her stealthily, while she was still too weak and -drained to resist it. She had no power at all. None of her spells had -ever worked. And Mina had lied about teaching her the Evil Eye. It came -to her with bitter clarity that the Evil Eye was a thing one must be born -with; it could never be learned. All Kelpie had was the Second Sight, and -many Highlanders had that. - -She received the knowledge with a strange kind of indifference. Later, -when she wasn’t so tired, she would no doubt feel a savage sense of loss. -But she could not think about it now—not yet. - -Alsoon was bringing her some broth now and crooning to her wee dark love -to drink it and sleep. Callum must have tramped far over the hills to -find a deer to make it, and they knew very well that she could never -pay for it at all, and they would be hurt even if she offered payment. -Highland hospitality was a warm, strong thing with rules to it. It made a -grace between host and guest and a bond not to harm each other. This was -why Alex had been so angry at the way she left Glenfern, and Eithne so -hurt, and—and Ian— - -She wrenched her mind from the thought of Ian, drank her broth, and -drifted back to sleep. - -When she was on her feet again, Kelpie was strangely content just to -stay where she was. It seemed to her that her life had been violently -wrenched apart, and she hardly knew how to begin putting it back together -again. She needed time to think. Kelpie had always found the world full -and interesting, however cruel. She played a game. She avoided the -cruelty when she could, and bore it if she must, and fought back when -she had the chance. She adapted herself to each new situation that came -along, and had quite enjoyed—on the whole—the glimpses of various new -worlds that the last few months had offered. - -But now she seemed to be cast out of every world she knew, for she could -never go back to Glenfern, or to Mina and Bogle (even if she would), or -to Campbell country. Worse, she did not even know what she wanted, now -that the power of witchcraft was denied her. The old gypsy life no longer -seemed attractive. New ideas had been planted in her mind, and she had -found herself groping restlessly for something she could not name. - -To keep her mind and hands busy, she began to help Alsoon and Callum with -the various chores, and took an unexpected pleasure in them. For once, -walls seemed not a trap but a warm, safe shelter from the early frost and -biting wind outside, and from the world in general. - -And so the autumn passed, and it was the dark of the year, with only a -few brief hours of daylight and long gray dusks. In that remote glen they -heard little of the outside world. It wasn’t until she had been there for -two months that a neighbor from over the hill came that way in search -of stray cattle and stopped in to pass on the news that his brother had -heard from someone’s cousin who had been away in to a town. - -Montrose had taken his army north to Aberdeen, and this time he had let -his men sack the city. “It was because they had shot a wee drummer boy,” -explained the neighbor. “The lad was just along with the envoy, asking -them would they like to send their women and bairns to safety. And Graham -was so angry at it that he took the town and turned his army loose on it, -but they say he was sorry after.” - -And then, it seemed, the old game of tag had started again, with Argyll -panting after Montrose all the way from Bog o’ Gight to Badenoch, Tumnel -to Strathbogie, devastating lands as he went, and slaughtering people if -he even suspected them of royalist sympathies. - -When Kelpie awoke the next morning, she saw the white light of the first -snow coming through the cracks in the shutters, and her first, unbidden -thought was: did Ian lie somewhere beneath that blanket? Had Alex been -punished for killing him? Where was Montrose now, and what was happening -in Scotland? It was the beginning of a new restlessness and a growing -desire to learn whether Ian was dead, and perhaps even to take vengeance -herself on Alex, if no one else had done it already. Even without magic -powers, she reflected with narrowed eyes, she could still use her wee -_sgian dhu_! - -The dark, smoky shieling became too cramped for such thoughts, and, in -spite of the cold, Kelpie took to making long walks over the braes and -around the foot of Ben More. Alsoon looked at her wisely. If she guessed -that confusing thoughts were disturbing the young waif, she said nothing -but merely finished whatever task Kelpie might have left undone when the -restlessness was upon her. - -“Och, and you’ll be away again one day,” predicted old Callum mildly one -crisp afternoon when Kelpie paused at the sheep pen where he was working. -“’Tis the wanderlust you have in your feet—but are you not also wanting -somewhere to call home?” - -Kelpie had never thought of the matter. She did so now. What _was_ a -home? For Ian it had been Glenfern, where his heart stayed wherever the -rest of him might be. But for Kelpie, Glenfern was not just a place; -it was a feeling and it was people. It was Wee Mairi’s bonnie face and -confiding smile; and the twins crowding close, bright-eyed, to demand -more stories; and Eithne’s quick sympathy; and laughter beside the loch. -It was teasing and love and trust among them all, and her own heart given -recklessly against her better judgement. - -No, home was not a place but a feeling—a deceitful feeling, she -remembered bitterly. She had endangered Wee Mairi by her very affection, -and Ian had trusted too much.... And Kelpie thought again that if -Glenfern had not settled the score with Alex, she herself might do it -one day. She thought of Mina and Bogle too, and hoped fiercely that they -had not escaped. - -There was more heavy snow the next week, and now this was nearly the -longest time she had ever spent in one place—except for Glenfern, -and Glenfern had been much more lively. She longed more and more for -excitement, for adventure, aye, even for danger, for these were the spice -of life. And so she stiffened with anticipation on the morning that wee -Angus MacNab came racing over the hill toward the shieling hut. Important -news was in his every movement. - -“Och, Callum, and have you seen it?” he demanded in a shrill shout. -“Montrose himself it is, and his army, just yon over the braes on the -edge of Campbell land. It is said they will be going to harry Mac Cailein -Mor in his own castle!” - -Kelpie had been standing over near the sheep pen, very still, watching -the small lad come. A too large kilt flapped about his knobbly knees, -and himself and his long shadow and his twisting track were all dark -against the white of the snow. To her left was the black of the shieling -hut, smoke rising vaguely against the pearl-blue of the sky, and Callum -standing by the door. Everything seemed to stop in time for just an -instant, while something inside Kelpie awoke, stretched, looked around, -and made a decision. - -She didn’t ask herself any questions then, but turned in her tracks and -walked back to the hut, where Callum and Alsoon were greeting the lad and -asking for more details. - -“And where are they?” she demanded. - -Angus waved a skinny arm toward the north. “Yon, near Loch Tay. The clan -is called out and will be joining there. I wish I could be going!” - -Sudden reasonless elation filled Kelpie. She wrapped her plaidie more -firmly about her shoulders and looked at Callum and Alsoon. “I’m away,” -she announced. - -“Och, no, heart’s darling!” protested Alsoon. “Not into Campbell lands, -and in midwinter! Bide with us a wee while longer, until spring.” - -“I’m away,” repeated Kelpie, a little sharply, as she realized that once -again she was in danger of giving her heart. “And what harm from cold or -Campbells when the army and all the women and bairns are along? I cannot -bide longer, for my feet have the urge in them.” And she tossed her dark -head like a young Highland pony, so that the thick braids—well tended -by Alsoon—leaped over her shoulders and beat against her waist, as if -impatient. - -Alsoon sighed. “Well, then, and you must go if you must. But come away in -first, my light, and I’ll be giving you food to take along. Dried venison -there is, and fresh bannocks, and oatcakes. And here are the new skin -brogans that Callum has finished for you.” - -“Haste ye back, white love,” she added at last as Kelpie took the food -and put on the shoes and stood looking at her. - -“Aye,” said Kelpie, and her heart was torn. The MacNabs gave and asked -no return but to be able to give more. “You’ve been kind, and I not -deserving it,” she murmured, and then clenched her fists and walked -quickly out of the low doorway, lest she be caught up in folly again. - -Halfway up the hill she paused, stared back at the long, low shieling -hut, and then waved at the two old people standing there. Tears stung her -eyelids for a moment, and impulsively she crooked her forefinger, calling -down a blessing upon them. - -Five minutes later she had shaken off her sadness. She lifted her head -and breathed the air of new adventure. The hills had been calling this -long while, calling through the spell of black depression that was on -her. But the spell was broken now, and she was answering the call. - -At the top of the hill she was seized by fresh exuberance. Curving her -arms upward like a stag’s antlers, she broke into the light, wild leaps -of a dance that the Highland men did around the campfire or at friendly -gatherings, and then laughed aloud at her own impertinence—she, a lass, -to be doing a man’s dance, and doing it well too. The dance took on a -distinctly mocking and impudent quality. - -From the top of the next hill she looked down on Montrose’s army, which -had made camp by the loch. From the mouth of the glen, the MacNabs were -arriving, great-kilts swinging about their bare, strong knees, and the -top halves of the kilts wrapped round massive shoulders. Kelpie surveyed -the scene for a moment before going down, counting tartans. MacDonalds -were still most plentiful, with Gordons, MacPhersons, Stewarts—but she -saw no Cameron tartans. - -She also saw no children, and only a small scattering of women. Where -were they all, then? Frowning a little, she went down, over the snowy -hillside, to the camp. - -“Whist, lass, and what is it you’re wanting?” It was a bearded Irish -MacDonald. “The time for sweethearts’ farewells is past, and we off to -raid and harry the Campbells in their lair.” The beard split in a grin of -vengeful glee. - -“It is I that am coming with you,” announced Kelpie cheekily. “Where are -all the women and bairns?” - -He stared. “Back at Blair Castle, the most of them, safe in Stewart -country. It is only a few of the strongest, and they with no children, -that we have brought. ’Tis no adventure for you, lassie. Be away back -home.” - -“I am strong, and with no bairns,” argued Kelpie. “And I’m frightened to -travel alone.” She looked helpless and pleading. “I have no home, and I’d -like well to raid the Campbells. Can I not be coming?” - -He grinned sympathetically. “Och, well—we’ve a bloody enough work to -do, and might even use an extra nurse once or twice. Go find Morag Mhor, -then, who is head of the women.” - -Kelpie recognized Morag Mhor as soon as she saw her—the tall, gaunt woman -she had noticed at Blair Atholl, who well deserved the title of “great” -Morag. Ragged woolen skirts were kilted up over a bright red petticoat, -showing ankles as sturdy as a man’s. The worn Gordon plaidie had fallen -back from her head, and her face was more alive than it had been at Blair -Atholl, but as fierce as ever. When Kelpie found her, she was berating a -red-faced MacGregor at least two inches shorter than she, who clearly had -no fight left in him. - -“And don’t be crossing my path again until I feel forgiving, or I’ll box -the other ear!” she finished briskly and then turned to look at Kelpie. -“Gypsy!” she said, crossing brawny arms on her breast. - -“Indeed and no!” protested Kelpie with great promptness. “Only a poor -lost lass, and away from home—” - -Morag Mhor laughed loudly. “Gypsy!” she repeated, pointing a long -forefinger. - -Kelpie regarded her warily and trimmed her tale. “The gypsies were -stealing me when I was a bairn,” she conceded, not expecting to be -believed. - -“Aye, then,” agreed Morag Mhor surprisingly. “Because of the ringed eyes -of you, I think. You’ll have the Second Sight. Are you a witch?” - -“Are you?” countered Kelpie, remembering with a pang that she herself was -not and never could be. - -Morag shrugged wide shoulders. “I have a healing power. But I’m not -belonging to any coven of daft folk who hold Black Mass and dance their -silly feet off at midnights. My power is in what I’m doing, not what -I’m saying.” Her lined face drew down fiercely. “I’ll be helping to put -the curse of deeds on the Campbells this week. They passed my happy wee -home in Gordon country and left behind a blackened stone—and I arriving -back from over the hill to find the thatch still smoldering, and my man -dead, and my son beside him, and the lad not yet ten! I have thirsted for -Campbell blood ever since, and I shall drink deep.” - -She stopped, staring into the white distance with eyes that were of -burning stone. Kelpie reflected that she would not like to have this -woman for an enemy. Best to go canny. - -“I was prisoner of Mac Cailein Mor,” she volunteered. “He would have -burned me, but I escaped.” - -“Och, then, and you’re another who hates him!” Morag’s eyes returned -from unpleasant places. “Stay along with me, then, gypsy lass. We’ll see -revenge together, and no man nor devil will harm you whilst I am near.” -And Kelpie believed her. - - - - -17. The Road to Inverary - - -They had slept on the border of Campbell country, after feeding on -Campbell cattle collected by some twenty or thirty Highlanders. Their -tightly woven woolen plaids had helped to keep out the cold, and so had -the fires scattered along the glen. But Kelpie was glad enough of the red -wool hose that Alsoon had knitted for her, and of the warm bulk of Morag -beside her. - -Now they were heading up Strath Fuile, and the warm-hearted comradeship -of the Highlanders became a savage expectation, for here at last was the -great enemy ahead. Montrose might talk all he liked of getting to the -border to aid the King in England—but a score or two must be settled -first. Montrose had had to compromise; otherwise too many of his army -would have just slipped away home, taking with them as many stolen cattle -as possible. - -Now an advance party had gone ahead of the main army to find cattle -before the owners could be warned and drive them off to hide in the -hills. And Morag Mhor, with a dark and unpleasant grin, had attached -herself and Kelpie to them. The men, knowing of her murdered husband and -child, let her join them, with a grim jest or two about the fate of any -Campbells unlucky enough to run into her. - -They rounded a curve in the river, and there before them was a long, -low shieling hut with two children playing out in front and a handful -of cattle scattered up the hill behind. Morag saw the hut first and was -off toward it with a flash of red petticoat. Kelpie wished suddenly -that she had stayed with the rest of the women, but she hurtled after -Morag simply because it didn’t occur to her to do anything else. Now the -men had seen it too, and a menacing yell rose from thirty throats as -some of them raced around after the cattle, and the rest—mostly Irish -MacDonalds—followed Morag and Kelpie toward the hut. - -Even as she was running, the thing inside Kelpie felt sick at what was -to come. Campbells they were, certainly, but what fault had the bairns -committed? Montrose would be angry, surely, with his scruples about -making war on the innocent. Now the children had seen them and were -running toward the house, screaming with terror. An ashen-faced woman -gathered them to her and then paused in the doorway, uncertain whether to -run inside or away into the hills. Kelpie could almost taste the fear in -her. - -Then Kelpie’s foot hit something soft and yielding. She tripped and flew -head first into a patch of wet snow. There was a wail of pain and—the cry -of a small child. - -Kelpie raised her head from the snow in time to see Morag stop, whirl, -and race back toward Kelpie and the child. Was she going to begin her -revenge by killing the bairn? - -“Is it hurt that you are?” roared Morag, but she was not speaking to -Kelpie. She picked up the crying child and stood, her gaunt face twisted -with the conflict of feelings going on in her. Then she turned to Kelpie, -with the Irish MacDonalds only a few yards from them. “Come on!” she -ordered and raced with the child toward the hut and the cowering woman. - -Bewildered, Kelpie scrambled up and followed, just barely ahead of the -men. Morag thrust the baby into its mother’s arms, whirled, and drew her -_sgian dhu_. - -“You’ll not be touching them, whatever!” she bellowed at the astonished -giant who led the pack. “Back, or I’ll skewer you, Rab MacDonald! Am I -not a woman and mother myself? A plague on men and war! Back, I say!” - -She was terrifying; her avenging fury turned to defense of her prey. It -was altogether too much for the Highlanders. They stood and stared, a -full dozen of them in a semicircle before her. - -“Fine brave soldiers ye are!” jeered Morag. “Are ye no afraid to be -attacking such dangerous foes? Here’s the wee bairn, now. Will one of -you not challenge him to fair combat?” - -They shuffled their feet, quite taken aback. The madness that Morag -herself had kindled in them trickled out, to be replaced by the Highland -sense of the ridiculous. One of them chuckled, and then several others -began to roar with laughter. “And is this your own vengeance, Morag -Mhor?” they hooted. “I will be remembering this the next time you are -clouting me on the ear and send for a bairn to protect me,” added the -giant called Rab. - -Morag Mhor seemed not to care about the teasing. She stood guard over the -grateful little family while the cattle were caught and while the rest -of the army arrived on the scene. And, with the backing of Montrose, she -defied those who wanted to burn the house. - -“I can do no more for ye,” she told the Campbell woman when the army and -its captured cattle had started on once again. “You have your bairns and -your home—although your Campbell army left me neither, nor husband. I -intended to do the same to you, but I could not, for I saw myself in you, -and it came to me that a woman’s place is to give life, not to take it. -It comes to me, too, that men are a senseless lot with all their useless -killing, and perhaps we mothers should be raising our sons to different -ideas.” - -And then she turned abruptly and headed in long strides back to the -Highland army, not waiting for the stammered words of thanks. - -Kelpie trailed along at her heels, saying nothing but thinking a good -deal. - -And so it went, along to Tyndrum and up Glenorchy. Morag Mhor vehemently -defended every woman and child they found, against the threats and -wild arguments of the Highland soldiers. It didn’t take Kelpie long to -discover that all this was a great act put on by the Highlanders for -Morag’s benefit, and it was a surprise to her that a woman as shrewd as -Morag didn’t know it too. But she never guessed. - -“I know you for the braw liar you are,” remarked Kelpie saucily to Rab -one morning over their beef-and-oatmeal breakfast. “You will be teasing -her every time, and you as softhearted as herself.” - -“As ever was,” agreed Rab, rolling a dark eye at her. “But do not be -telling Morag, whatever, for it is not just teasing. With the grief of -her, she is needing something to fight, but she is happier to be fighting -us to save bairns than the other way around.” - -Although the campaign through Campbell territory was less bloodthirsty -than Kelpie had expected, still it was not pretty. Men of fighting age -found little mercy, few cattle escaped the voracious appetite of the -army, and more than a few barns and thatch roofs went up in smoke behind -it. - -Blazing fires and roasted meat were good at night, after long and cold -marches. Since there were so few women to do the cooking, the men helped -too, with good will and bantering. Kelpie poked at a haunch of beef -one chill but clear evening, thinking to herself that they were going a -long way round to Argyll at Inverary, in a huge triangle to north and -west. Surely by now Argyll would have received word of this invasion! -Kelpie wondered what he would be doing about it. The obvious thing would -be to come away after them, and she looked apprehensively toward the -purple-black hills that surrounded the orange firelight. - -“Is there food for a starving—Why, ’tis the water witch!” Kelpie turned -to face Archie MacDonald, whose black eyes were sparkling with curiosity. -They stared at each other. - -“And where did you vanish to that day?” he demanded. “A braw lot of -trouble and grief you caused! If you’ve the power to vanish into thin -air, you might have been doing it before Ian Cameron was cut down trying -to save you.” - -Kelpie winced. “Was he killed entirely?” she asked, her heart pounding -for fear of the answer. - -“Na, na, not entirely. But a nasty wound it was. Still, he survived it, -although he had to go back to Glenfern, and no more fighting for the -time.” Kelpie saw again in her mind the savage downward sweep of Alex’s -broadsword and had to push aside the tumult of feelings that it brought. -But—Ian was not dead! Alex had not killed him! - -“And Alex MacDonald?” she demanded balefully. - -“He’s—away,” said Archie, and it was clear that he was going to say no -more. But then, he was Alex’s cousin and not likely to want to speak -of it. At least Kelpie knew now that Alex had not been hanged, and she -thought again that she might be the one to avenge Ian some day. For she -doubted that, even now, Ian himself would raise a hand against Alex. -She looked right through Archie, and her slanted blue eyes held no very -pleasant expression. - -The meat was done now and being divided. Archie pulled his _sgian dhu_ -from his stocking, vanished briefly into the crowd of hungry men, and -emerged with a smoking hunk for Kelpie in one hand and one for himself in -the other. She bit into the meat hungrily and then looked up to find the -deep black eyes still fixed on her, and a question in them. - -“That day,” he began, with an uncertain note in his voice, “were you -sending a call in the mind to Alex before you gave the Cameron rant with -your voice?” - -Kelpie looked as blank as she felt. “I don’t understand you whatever!” -she said warily. - -“Why,” he began, and frowned a little, “there we were in the tavern, -with Alex and Ian in a fury at each other, and none of us even hearing -the sounds outside. It was a braw quarrel, with Ian gone white with the -anger in him, and Alex the color of a rowan berry. And then Alex was -stopping in mid-word, with an intent, listening look on the face of him, -and looking round. And it was because of his silence that an instant -later we were hearing the Cameron rant, and Ian shouting ‘’Tis Kelpie in -trouble!’” - -Kelpie shook her head blankly. “And what then?” was all she said. - -Archie shrugged. “Why, then, Ian forgot the quarrel and was away out the -door, and Alex after him with drawn sword, and the rest of us collected -our wits and followed, not knowing if Alex’s black fury was still for -Ian, or for the witch-hunters. His face was a fearful thing to see, and -I’m hoping I never meet the like in battle, for ’twould be the end of me. -But you know the rest better than I. How was it, Kelpie, that Alex heard -you even through the quarrel, and before the rest of us?” - -“I don’t know,” said Kelpie absently, her mind on another question -altogether. For the thing she had suspected was clear. It was herself -had helped bring about the scene in the loch, and hatred of her had -caused Alex to strike down his foster brother. It was the only possible -explanation, and there was a sore hurt in the thought of it. How could -Alex have hated her that much, who had never seemed to hate her at all, -but only scorn her? Her short upper lip curled. Och, he would pay for it, -just! Even though Kelpie could no longer hope for witchcraft to help her, -he would pay for it. - -Archie looked at her uneasily. There was a look about her not quite -canny, and it was occurring to him that folk called after water witches, -who could communicate without the voice, might not be a braw choice for -companionship, so he brought her another hunk of meat—to avoid offending -her—and melted hastily into the crowd of soldiers. - - * * * * * - -The army passed the very spot near Loch Awe where Kelpie had first seen -Janet Campbell that June day six months ago. And then they were heading -at last toward Inverary, through the steep wilds of Glen Aray where she -and Janet had gone. And what had been happening to Janet all this time? -she wondered. Not that she really cared, she tried to tell herself, -except that Janet was a harmless soul and not deserving to be harmed by -either Mac Cailein Mor or his enemies. - -There was no detour to the top of the hill this time. Straight down -the glen the army came, pipes shrieking in ominous triumph. It was a -braw sound indeed, a wild song that set the blood running with joyful -madness—or the blood of Montrose’s army, at any rate. Kelpie wondered -briefly how it sounded to the ears in Inverary. Along the river they -marched, half running now, and erupted into the valley, the town of -Inverary seeming to cower ahead on its point of land, and the castle—so -familiar to Kelpie—to the left. - -Morag Mhor was with the men heading for the village, loudly daring them -to lay a finger on woman or child, her voice rising as they insisted, -grinning, that this time every wee babe would be slaughtered, just. For -once, this game had no interest for Kelpie, and she headed straight for -the castle. If Mac Cailein Mor was captured, she wanted to be there to -gloat. - -Everywhere there was clear evidence of surprise and panic. The town and -castle, unaware of the approaching invasion, had been celebrating the -Christmas season—in their sober Puritan way, of course, with longer and -more frequent sermons. Kelpie’s lip curled with scorn for a chief so -feckless as not to know what was happening in his own country—or else so -sure of his invulnerability that he took no precautions. Och, she could -hardly wait to see him taken prisoner! Her small white teeth fairly -glittered in her smile. - -She had just reached the castle wall when a shout of dismay and fury -broke out. Kelpie rushed to a high knoll where she could see. Men were -pointing to the small bay. A fishing boat was hastily heading out into -the loch. - -“’Tis himself is running away!” And Kelpie hardly needed a second glance -to confirm it. Her keen eyes picked out two red heads, the short bulk of -Lady Argyll, the patch of Cameron tartan that was Ewen. - -“Ssss!” said Kelpie in savage regret. - -The pipes lifted a wild wail of derision. “Oh, the great Argyll!” someone -yelled. “Brave General Campbell! What, will you be away off, Mac Cailein -Mor, and us just come to visit?” - -Montrose wasted no time fuming over what couldn’t be helped, although -he must have been bitterly disappointed. The capture of Argyll this day -might have changed history—although he had not the Second Sight to tell -him how much. Even Kelpie did not know, for the crystal had not yet -showed her the scene to come later, when Montrose himself calmly mounted -the scaffold. - -His face was calm now as he gave orders to set about taking the castle -abandoned by its owner. It wasn’t as difficult as it might have been. One -couldn’t expect inspired defense from the men who had been left behind -while their leader fled. And once Montrose’s men were in full possession, -Kelpie entered the castle through those massive gates she had passed -through before—but this time with an arrogant sway to her slim body. - -She wasted no time with the fine white bread and wine that had been -discovered, nor even with the miserable figure of Mrs. MacKellar huddled -on a chair in the hall. She knew where she was going, and she wanted to -be the first one there. - -Argyll’s apartments were deserted. She walked boldly through the massive -oaken doors, on into the inner chamber. There was a fine large cairngorm -brooch on the table, mounted in silver, bigger than her fist. Fine, that! -She looked around. What else? - -A thought struck her. The next chamber must be that of Lady Argyll. In -she went, and in a moment was kneeling beside a chest of fine gowns. A -pity there were none of bright colors. Kelpie had always wanted a gown of -flame-red velvet, but of course such a thing would never be found in a -Covenant household. Still, there was one of moss-green, and the softest, -finest wool she had ever seen, and not so _very_ much too big, provided -she belted it tightly about the waist. And she laughed with joy. Here was -the fine silver belt she had always wanted. - -Next she pulled out a lovely cloak the color of juniper—and she must have -it, although it was lined with Campbell tartan—and a silken purse, a -linen kerchief, and several baubles. She tried on a pair of square-toed -leather shoes with silver buckles, but they hurt her feet sorely, so she -kicked them off and went back into Argyll’s room for a silver snuff box -she had seen there. - -And as she stood, green gown bunched about her waist under untidy thick -braids (uncombed since leaving Alsoon), the cairngorm in one hand and the -snuff box in the other, the outer door opened. - -For an instant memory played tricks on her and she thought that it was -Mac Cailein Mor finding her there with the hairs in her hand, and blind -panic was on her. Then it cleared as a voice spoke. - -“_Dhé!_” boomed Antrim. “And whom have we here?” - -“’Tis the eavesdropping lass from last summer,” answered Montrose, -standing still, taking in every detail. - -Kelpie looked back at him fearlessly. He was amused, she could tell. And -besides, did not his scruples prevent him from harming women or children, -even enemy ones, and she no enemy? - -“I see you’ve wasted no time,” he observed mildly. “How is it you’re here -ahead even of your army commander?” - -“I was knowing the way and wanting to be first,” explained Kelpie -artlessly. She waved her loot at him with great pride in her cleverness. - -He looked at it, and at her. The corners of his mouth moved slightly. -“That would be Argyll’s cairngorm, I suppose?” - -She nodded, regarding it happily. Then something occurred to her, and she -glanced up at him dubiously from under her thick lashes. Perhaps it might -be wise to sacrifice material gain—if necessary—for policy. - -“Were you wanting it yourself?” she asked reluctantly. “I will give it to -you, if you like. There’s another nearly as good in yon box,” she added, -“and this a wee bit heavy for a lass to be wearing.” - -Montrose laughed. “No, I don’t want Argyll’s brooch,” he assured her, to -her relief. Then he looked at her seriously. “I don’t suppose it’s ever -occurred to you,” he suggested, “that stealing could be a bad thing?” - -“Och, aye!” exclaimed Kelpie earnestly, “You must be very canny at it, -my Lord, and lucky, too. For ’tis a bad thing indeed and indeed to be -caught! But Mac Cailein Mor’s away in his wee boat, and no danger now.” - -This time it was Antrim who boomed with laughter, and Kelpie looked at -him resentfully. Clearly he had had no experience at getting caught, or -he would never be laughing at such a serious matter. - -“I didn’t mean quite that, although I’m sure it must be true,” explained -Montrose gently, and the corners of his mouth were jiggling again. “I -mean, did you never think that it might be wrong to steal, whether you -were caught at it or no?” - -“Och, no!” said Kelpie, wide-eyed. “But then, perhaps ’tis different for -you,” she added kindly. “Being a chief and lord and all, you will be able -to get things without stealing them, and I doubt you’re ever hungry, -whatever.” - -Montrose sighed. “Aye,” he agreed, seeming sad for some reason. “’Tis -different for me. You’d best run along now, though.” And he turned to -look after her as she left the room. - -Kelpie went back to the other wing, picked up an item or two from -Mrs. MacKellar’s room, and then stood still for a minute, frowning at -nothing at all. Why did people persist in making her think about new -and uncomfortable ideas? A few months ago she would have been genuinely -puzzled by the notion that it might be wrong to steal, even though a body -was not caught at it. But now, even though she had pretended not to know -what Montrose meant, the idea wasn’t really as startling as it would once -have been. It was the sort of thing the folks at Glenfern might have -said, or Ewen Cameron, or even Alsoon and Callum. It undoubtedly had -to do with the integrity thing Alex and Ian talked of, and all of them -wanting her to apply it to herself. Why should she? Mina and Bogle had -taught her that anything was right if one got away with it—but then, Mina -and Bogle were evil, and perhaps everything they said was wrong. - -Kelpie sighed. On the other hand, Alex talked about those ideas, and he -was evil too. So what was a lass to think, at all? - -She wandered down into the main hall, which was still a chaos of -triumphant men. But she was so engrossed in her problem of right and -wrong that she quite forgot to taunt the dejected and weeping Mrs. -MacKellar. In any case, it no longer seemed necessary. After all, the -housekeeper had been loyal to her chief, and it the only safe thing -to do—but would it not be safer now for her to side with the royalist -victors? - -Kelpie frowned at the red-eyed and unlovely figure of Mrs. MacKellar, -for in it there was something undefeated and almost gallant. No, Mrs. -MacKellar would never change sides, but would stay loyal to Mac Cailein -Mor, even though he was not worthy of it. Why? Did she fear that he would -come back? Or was this something like not stealing, that a body did even -against his own interest? Was that what integrity was? But what good was -it? As far as Kelpie could see, it was more likely to be a nuisance than -an asset. - -She wandered over to one of the deep-set windows and stared out, -unseeing, her whole attention focused on her thoughts. The folk at -Glenfern, like Mrs. MacKellar, would remain loyal for always to a person -or ideal. This was part of the thing about them which she had sensed from -the first—the daftness, the difference. True they would be, whether or -not it was profitable or safe, aye, though it cost them their lives—all -but Alex. And it was this, perhaps, that had shocked her so. For Alex, -surely, would never change sides but would be true to an ideal—and how -was it, then, that he could betray a friend? - -She leaned her forehead against one of the thick diamond-shaped panes, -dimming it even more with her breath, and remembered that Montrose had -talked of such things back at Blair Atholl. But neither he nor anyone -else had ever explained to Kelpie why this way of acting was desirable. -Was it possible that there was some strange kind of happiness in it? Did -they have things inside which would make them uncomfortable if they acted -otherwise? - -Kelpie stopped trying to understand, for she found that there was an -argument going on within her. The thing inside her was saying that this -was a fine and proud way to be, but her common sense told her that it was -not at all practical, and had she not vowed to think of herself first, -last, and always? And surely if it was a choice between her own safety -and any other thing (and she forced the thought of Wee Mairi from her -mind), surely it would be only sensible to look out for herself, as ever -was! - - - - -18. The Black Sail - - -Kelpie awoke from a dream in which she was trudging along beside a loch -against blinding rain. She blinked a little as she remembered that she -was back at Inverlochy Castle—the same place she and Mina and Bogle had -spent the first night after leaving Glenfern. She shivered a little, -partly at the memory of Mina and Bogle, and partly from cold. Hugging the -stolen cloak and her old plaidie about her, she hurried down the tower -stairs and out to the central court, where Morag Mhor and the other women -were preparing breakfast. - -“Slugabed!” Morag greeted her, and Kelpie grinned cheekily, knowing all -about Morag’s pretended fierceness by now. There were more men than ever -to feed, since the Glencoe MacDonalds and the Stewarts of Appin had -joined, and Kelpie was glad that they were in friendly Cameron country, -where it was safe to build fires and they could have hot porridge. -She had got heartily tired of a diet of oatmeal mixed with cold water. -She looked thoughtfully up at Ben Nevis, which looked larger and more -lowering under its quilt of snow than in the green and tawny blanket of -summer, and realized suddenly that she had had enough of army life. - -Rab paused by the fire to sniff the oatmeal hungrily and announce that -he thought he would just go out and lift some cattle for breakfast. He -chucked Morag Mhor under the chin as he said it, and received a sound -clout on the ear as a reward. “Ouch!” he exclaimed, making a great show -of nursing his ear. “You will ever be bullying me, Morag _avic_, and I a -poor helpless man at your mercy.” - -Kelpie giggled, and Morag shook her fist at the other ear. “This is the -day we go to ask Lochiel and the Camerons to join us, and you would be -lifting their cattle! _Amadan!_” - -Rab began explaining that they didn’t really need the Camerons at all, -but Kelpie stopped listening, for she was thinking that this would be a -good time indeed to leave the army. She had had enough of battles. Just -a few miles up the Great Glen was the pass that led to Glenfern. Would -she be welcome there? Surely Ian would remember that she had warned him -against Alex, and so would forgive her for running away and leaving him -struck down and half dead. Would he and his father join Montrose? she -wondered. Or would Lochiel dare to raise his clan? - -She turned to Morag Mhor, who had sent Rab, protesting, out to the river -for more water, and was now vigorously stirring the porridge. “Lochiel -would be daft to call out his clan,” she suggested. “With his grandson in -Campbell hands, he could not dare.” - -Morag thought about it for a while, her lean face still and -expressionless. “There was a wise woman in our village long ago,” she -said at last, “who used to say to me, ‘Always dare to do what is right,’ -and I am thinking Lochiel will say the same. Would you understand that, -Kelpie?” - -“No!” said Kelpie forcefully and scowled. Ewen Cameron himself had used -those same words. So here again were those ideas that she did not want -to think about. She set her small face into a hard mask and dropped the -subject. “I am thinking I have had my fill of armies and battles,” she -announced. “I will stay behind when you go up the Great Glen, and perhaps -go to stay with friends here in Lochaber.” - -“Well, then, and a blessing on you,” said Morag. “May you find a home -for your bones and your spirit—though I think you will never stay in one -place for long. I’m thinking I’ll go back to Gordon country myself soon. -No doubt there are orphans left by the Campbells who would be needing a -mother.” - -Kelpie followed the army as far as Lochiel’s home at Torcastle, curious -to see whether or not Lochiel would raise his clan. He did. The -traditional cross was made of two sturdy sticks bound firmly together. -And according to the ancient ceremony the ends were set aflame, -extinguished in goat’s blood, then lighted once more: one of Lochiel’s -men held the cross proudly high and set off at a trot that carried him -deeper into Cameron territory. The torch would be passed from runner to -runner until the whole area had received the message of war. - -The army stayed at Torcastle for two days while Camerons came flocking to -the call of their chief. If any had misgivings about Argyll’s possible -revenge on them, they did not show it; nor did Lochiel, that stern old -man who held his head so high. Kelpie did not wait to see the Glenfern -Camerons arrive, for she had sudden misgivings about seeing Ian again. -Instead, she went back to the tower room at Inverlochy Castle in a very -thoughtful frame of mind. - -For several days she stayed at the castle, enjoying her solitude, and -getting her food from homes nearby with surprising ease. For the very -people who had once regarded her with deep suspicion were now delighted -to give food and hospitality to the wistful lass who had been a prisoner -of Argyll, who had been helped by Ewen Cameron himself, and who had even -got away with Lady Argyll’s fine cloak. Food, scanty though it might be -with the men away in the army, was shared, and there was not a home where -she was not urged to bide awhile. - -But she shook her black head. Och, no, she said. She was away up the -Glen. But she would take her leave marveling at such openheartedness to a -stranger—even one who had not yet stolen anything. After thinking about -it, Kelpie decided not to take anything at all. Somehow the good will -seemed more valuable than anything she might steal. - -Then the mild weather turned into sudden bitter cold. The night wind -hurled blasts of snow against the tower walls, crept up the winding -stairs, and whined outside like the banshee. It was so cold that Kelpie -thought she might put away misgivings and go to Glenfern after all. -Surely Lady Glenfern would not refuse her shelter in this cold! - -She was heading back to Inverlochy in the early dusk when she decided -this. Her stomach was comfortably full of hot broth and scones from -a generous young Cameron wife, she was a trifle sleepy, and it would -be good indeed to sleep tomorrow night or the next in the comfort of -Glenfern, under the same roof with Wee Mairi. - -It was fortunate that Kelpie’s senses remained alert even when her mind -was on other things. Even so, she had nearly walked up to the castle -gate before she realized that something was wrong, and she never knew -exactly what it was that warned her. But suddenly she stopped, alive to -the sharp feel of danger, her small figure dark and taut against the -faintly luminous patches of snow. An instant later she simply was not -there, and the Campbell soldier who came running out of the gate, under -the impression that he had seen something, shook his head and cursed the -weather. - -Kelpie lay in the snow where she had thrown herself behind a small -hillock, not daring to raise her head but listening as if her life -depended on it—which it did. Soon there was no doubt. Inverlochy Castle -was being occupied—by Mac Cailein Mor and his army! - -With sick dismay she pieced things together. Someone called for Campbell -of Auchinbreck. Then there was a harsh and authoritative Lowland voice. -And by crouching behind a thick clump of juniper and twisting her -head cautiously, Kelpie could just make out a galley with black sails -silhouetted against the gray waters of the Loch. - -Oh, there was no doubt whatever! The Campbell had gathered his courage -and his army and had come after Montrose. - - - - -19. Footprints in the Snow - - -Kelpie spent the night at the shieling hut of Lorne Cameron, which was -nestled at the foot of Ben Nevis. Lorne had urged Kelpie to stay, for -she and her four bairns were alone since her husband had gone off with -Montrose and his army. Now her ruddy young face paled at Kelpie’s news. - -“Campbells! _Dhé!_ and they will be murdering us all, then!” - -“Perhaps not,” said Kelpie hopefully. “If Mac Cailein Mor is after -Montrose, perhaps he’ll not be lingering in Lochaber.” - -But she slept with one ear well out of the folds of her plaidie, cocked -for any sounds of danger. The hut was only a mile or so from Inverlochy -Castle, and if Lorne had reason to fear Mac Cailein Mor, Kelpie had that -much more. - -She had planned to be off the first thing in the morning, out of danger. -But somehow she found herself waiting, even after she had eaten the hot -oatmeal Lorne cooked, and tucked some food into her pouch. There was -Lorne here, and the wee ones, and none of Kelpie’s concern at all. But -Lorne was frightened and uncertain what to do, and they so helpless and -looking up to Kelpie—and after all, perhaps it would be wise just to take -a wee peek at what Argyll was doing, and see the size of his army. - -“You might just be getting food and blankets together in case you need to -hide,” she suggested. “And I’ll go have a look around.” - -“Och,’tis both good and brave you are!” said Lorne gratefully. Kelpie -left the house hurriedly, feeling oddly embarrassed. - -She moved cautiously around the flank of the ben, skulking behind -masses of juniper and pine clumps, until she could see the castle. -_Mise-an-dhui!_ It was an army indeed and indeed! Highland Campbells and -Lowlanders too, and well more than twice what Montrose could have, even -with his new recruits. But Argyll seemed to be making no move to follow -him up the Great Glen, even with this advantage. - -Kelpie’s heart sank as she watched groups of men forming before the -castle. It was what she had expected in the heart of her. Mac Cailein -Mor had no heart for battle but would be about his usual practice of -wiping out women and children. Even now one of the groups of soldiers -was setting off toward the little cluster of homes on the edge of Loch -Linnhe, and another was turning west along Loch Eil. - -She watched no longer but headed back around the northern side of Ben -Nevis. In a way this might be fortunate for her, giving her time to be -up the Great Glen ahead of them. But suppose they penetrated as far as -Glenfern? Perhaps she ought to be heading eastward, and out of the way -altogether. In any case she would be passing Lorne’s home on the way, -and it costing only a few minutes to warn the lass. Nor was this just -profitless foolishness, she told herself, for who knew when she might be -needing a friend under obligation to herself? - -An hour later she was laboring up the side of the mountain with a bundle -of food in one arm and the next-smallest bairn in the other; Lorne, with -the baby, and the older children panting behind. “Mind ye stay clear of -soft snow,” she warned over her shoulder. “It could be putting them on -your trail.” - -Another hour saw them settled in a well-hidden shepherd’s shelter, cold -and uncomfortable and not daring to have a fire, but at least safer than -at their home. - -“Will you not be staying too?” begged Lorne, her dark eyes anxious for -the safety of this generous new friend. But Kelpie shook her head. She -wanted to be farther than this from Argyll. And besides, a new thought -was beginning to hound the fringes of her mind. Montrose, all unknowing, -was now between two armies, for was not Seaforth at Inverness with -five thousand men? And if he should be caught in a trap and wiped out, -it would put Argyll altogether in control of the Highlands as well as -Lowlands—and what would happen to Kelpie then? For her own safety, it -seemed, she must try to warn Montrose. - -It was a sore uncomfortable thought, filled with hardship and danger. -She tried to put it out of her mind as she picked her way down the gaunt -wintry slope, but it wouldn’t leave. And with it were thoughts of Morag -Mhor and Rab and Archie and Montrose himself lying slain in the snow, and -all the comradeship and merry teasing silenced forever. A pity that would -be. With a sigh she headed up the glen, a sharp eye out for any movement -that might spell danger. - -Och, then, but it was cold! Her feet were icy in their hide shoes, even -with the woolen hose, and it was threatening to snow again. However could -she catch up with the army at all? Perhaps it had already met Seaforth. -But she kept on going. - -She saw nothing but hares and deer and a lone eagle, until she reached -the River Spean. Then a short, wiry figure came from the brush just -ahead, and Kelpie sank swiftly to the ground for a tense moment before -she saw he was not a Campbell. He was alone and in a faded Cameron kilt. -Kelpie followed him to a dilapidated hut on the bank of the river and -watched him enter. A drift of smoke began to rise. Might not he help -himself and his clan by taking the message for her? And then she would be -free to seek safety. She walked up to the door boldly. - -“Come away in,” came the expected lilt of Gaelic when she knocked, and -the man’s face turned to her in surprise as she entered. “_Dhia dhuit_,” -he greeted her politely. “And what is a wee lass doing alone in the cold? -Will you no have a sup of hot food?” - -“I will, then,” agreed Kelpie promptly. “And give an important word to -you, and also a task if you will do it.” - -The man listened while she talked and ate, his face growing graver and -grimmer. “Aye so,” he agreed. “’Tis the hand of destiny that I live alone -here and knew nothing of the clan rising, or I would be with them, and a -bad time of it you would be having alone and in this weather. Eat your -fill, then, whilst I fill my pouch, and I’ll be away before you’re done. -You can be biding here whilst I am gone.” - -“That I will not!” retorted Kelpie firmly. “For every house in Lochaber -is a danger. I’ll be away east out of trouble.” - -He frowned and shook his head. “There is no shelter to the east of here, -lass, and it too cold to be sleeping out. And I have just come from -hunting a wolf that has been skulking upriver. You would be safer here, -I am thinking, for my house is alone and well hidden. But if you’re -feared to rest here, there is a bittie cave nearby, and you are welcome -to my blankets and food. Follow the Spean along up for a mile or so, and -where the Cour is entering it turn south for a bit and mark sharp the -west bank. The cave is in a high bluff and well hid with juniper. But I’m -thinking you’ll be safe enough the night here, whatever, and it nearly -dark already. There’ll be no Campbells along this day, and ’tis no good -for you to be freezing.” - -“Aye, then,” agreed Kelpie, seeing the sense to this, and the man was -off. Odd, she didn’t know the name of him, nor he hers, and yet he was -away on a dangerous errand on her word. A purpose in common—or common -danger—she decided, was like a spell, binding even strangers one to -another. - -The morning was heavy with clouds, the new snow a dead white beneath the -gray of the sky. Kelpie put out the fire for fear of any betraying smoke -and set out to locate the cave, wishing she dared stay in the warmth of -the shieling. But as she trudged along the Cour River, watching the west -bank, she stopped. Clear in the snow were footprints coming down the -Cour—and stopping just ahead in a tumbled heap of snow. Kelpie stared, -eyes narrowed. Footsteps didn’t just stop, unless someone had wings. - -No, there were no wings. There the prints went, back the way they came. -In a moment Kelpie had read the story. A man it was, by the size of the -prints, and coming north along the Cour in a great hurry, so that he did -not notice the treacherous slab of granite by the river, with ice under -the snow. And there he had slipped and fallen; the mark was plain. Then, -it would seem, he had made back the way he had come, limping sorely. - -Kelpie straightened and looked up the glen cautiously. Where was -he, then? And who was he? Warily she began to follow the retreating -footprints. - -They angled up the hill to the right presently, through a thick patch of -pine and juniper. Kelpie hesitated, peering through it, her right hand -reaching for the _sgian dhu_ in the front of her dress, feet ready to -run. Nothing stirred. And then a tiny trickle of smoke floated up just a -few feet away from behind the brush. _Dhé!_ It must be that he had found -the cave and taken shelter there. Probably he was not a Campbell, then, -but more likely hiding from them—though he would not stay hidden long, -with the smoke giving him away. Kelpie grinned sourly and shrugged. This -was no place for her, then. She turned and prepared to slip quietly away, -back to the shieling. - -“And have I taken the home of the water witch?” - -It was a low voice with a mocking note that Kelpie could never mistake. -She whirled. Alex! She could see him now through the brush, nearly -invisible against the low winter sun. He sat at the mouth of a small, -shallow cave, regarding her quizzically—but with a drawn look about the -mouth of him. One foot, badly swollen, was propped up before him. - -Och, then, wasn’t it her curse on him that had come at last to bear -fruit? Moving thru the juniper, but keeping a safe distance away, Kelpie -told him so with considerable relish. - -Alex grinned wryly. “It may be so,” he conceded. “Sure it is you’ve -cursed me enough. But have I not told you that such things are likely to -fly back in the face of the one who curses? And if this is your curse at -work, then ’tis not just me you’ve harmed, but Montrose and his army, and -yourself as well. For Argyll is about, and I was on my way up the Great -Glen to warn Montrose when I fell; and what will you do if Argyll wins -and puts his witch-hunters over the whole of the Highlands?” - -His tone was still mocking, but Kelpie could hear bitterness and despair -in his voice. It made her feel most peculiar, for Alex was usually so -infuriatingly self-assured—and much easier to hate that way. His distress -was not quite as satisfying as it should have been. For a moment she -toyed with the idea of leaving him to his worry, but she could not resist -bragging. She gave him a pointed grin. - -“You will always be thinking yourself the only clever body in the world,” -she observed smugly. “I myself have already sent a messenger to Montrose.” - -Alex stared, frankly unbelieving. “You?” - -“And why not, whatever? Wasn’t I crossing Campbell land myself with the -army, and you away safe out of it? Haven’t I the wits to see I’m not -wanting Mac Cailein Mor king in the Highlands? It is I should be doubting -you, for if Ian and his father are with Montrose now, I’m thinking you’d -not be going near whatever.” - -Alex narrowed his hazel eyes at her, and Kelpie prudently moved a step -farther away. “And why not?” he inquired lazily. - -Kelpie laughed nastily. “I’ve eyes in my head!” she retorted. “Did you -think I was not seeing? Aye, and I saw it before, as well, with the -Second Sight, last spring.” - -Alex’s eyes widened for an instant, then narrowed. He seemed about to say -something, but changed his mind. Instead, the planes in his face became -more angular than ever, and he gave Kelpie a long, hard, brooding stare -that made her thankful for the hurt foot which kept him from moving. For -surely he was thinking that he would like to silence her. He shrugged -finally. “I wonder,” he said, “whether ’tis the truth you’re telling me -about that messenger. If so, I could find it in my heart....” - -He didn’t finish the thought, nor did Kelpie answer. Instead, she stared -back at him, at the freckles and straight lines of his face, at the way -the cheekbones stood out above the narrow strength of jaw, and at the -tangled red hair which had not been trimmed or combed recently. He was -thinner than he had been and pale under his freckles, and she could see -a tiny pulse in his temple that was his life itself—so easy to stop, -so small a thread of life. And was there not something she should be -doing the now, to avenge Ian? But she could not think what. Alex was not -asleep, nor by any means helpless, even with a sore foot; and she had -no intention at all of risking her own life for Ian or anyone else. She -pulled her thick brows together and regarded him darkly. - -Alex laughed suddenly. “You cannot be planning to rob me, so it must be -some other devilment you have in mind. Are you not satisfied yet, water -witch? Is it another wee spell, or have you learned the Evil Eye by now?” - -“Sssss!” said Kelpie earnestly. - -“Well, and why will you not be going to Mac Cailein Mor to say that I am -here?” he asked. “He would make short enough shrift of me, and would you -not be liking that?” - -“Aye so,” agreed Kelpie with enthusiasm. “But,” she pointed out -regretfully, “he would be making even shorter shrift of me, and I’d not -be liking that so well.” And then she bit her tongue in annoyance as Alex -laughed again. It was a spell he had put on her, to be always telling him -the truth she had never intended to say! - -She scowled and lifted her lip in the old wolfish snarl, and then found -herself grinning ruefully, though she had never intended that, either. It -was not funny; it was _not_! She stamped her foot. - -“Ou, aye!” said Alex. “Your sense of humor has slipped out again, and why -will you be squashing it under? Laugh at yourself, Kelpie. ’Tis the cure -for all ills, and it is in my mind that perhaps most evil is caused by -folk who take themselves too seriously.” - -“You’re daft,” said Kelpie and turned away uncertainly. She should be -off about her business and leave Alex to his fate. But it seemed that -the thing inside that had been pushing her for days against her will was -pushing still. It was as if she were living a pattern, and it was yet -unfinished, and the thing would not permit her to go off and leave it -until it was complete. She paused, her back turned to Alex, who sat still -and silent in the mouth of his refuge. - -“What will you be doing now?” she asked against her will. - -“Bide here,” he returned philosophically, “since I can do nothing else, -and see what will happen.” - -“They will be seeing your smoke,” she pointed out, still reluctantly. - -“I will let my fire die during the day, and try to keep warm by moving -about,” he returned, and the quizzical note was back in his voice. “And -why do you warn me of that, water witch? Wouldn’t it please you just to -see me captured?” - -“It would that!” Kelpie’s eyes flashed. “I will be laughing that day, and -not at myself either!” And this time she did leave, heading angrily back -toward the Spean River. - - - - -20. The Campbell Lass - - -Kelpie went back to the hut, since there was no other shelter and it was -better to risk Campbells than to freeze to death. But she found a hiding -place on the river bank, just in case, and for three days she alternately -huddled over the tiny coals which were all she dared have during the -daytime and watched the path for signs of the invaders. - -There was plenty of time to think. She wondered whether the message had -got through to Montrose, and what he could do even if it had. For he was -trapped in the Great Glen between two armies, and no way out except over -mountains impassable with snow. She wondered about Alex and that long, -inscrutable look he had given her, and it came to her that she had been a -fool to tell him that she knew what he had done. For if he could strike -down his foster brother, it would be nothing for him to silence her. She -began to feel very trapped herself. Was no place in the world safe for -her? - -Lost in brooding, she failed to keep her sharp watch, and on the third -afternoon she heard, too late, the crunch of heavy steps in the crusted -snow. Before she could do more than turn, a heavy-set Campbell flung the -door open, two or three others looming behind him. - -“Here’ll be another cursed Cameron or two,” he shouted, and his -broadsword bore grim stains from the last house he had visited. “And -where is your husband hiding, lass?” - -Kelpie’s wits, well trained in crisis, worked quickly. “Husband indeed!” -she retorted, staring boldly into the ruddy face. “Where are your eyes, -man, that you cannot recognize a Campbell when you see one?” She snatched -up Lady Argyll’s cloak and waved it at him, thankful for that particular -theft. “Och, but I am glad that you have come,” she went on with a -trusting upward smile through her lashes. “It was my wicked Cameron uncle -who came by my home on Loch Awe with that devil Montrose and all the -army, and stole me away to keep house for him, since his wife died, and -he saying I must be his daughter now and some day marry a Cameron; and -have I not been biding my time and waiting for warm weather to run away -back home?” - -The Campbells blinked and believed her. She was utterly convincing, and -in any case, what Cameron would have claimed to be a Campbell, even at -the edge of death? And had she not the once fine Campbell cloak, clearly -given her by a lady of that clan? The sword went back into its sheath. - -“Och, well,” said its owner with a sigh. “Naught to do here but burn the -place. But at least you can be coming back the now.” - -This was the last thing Kelpie wanted! “To another army?” she jeered, -hiding her panic. “No, now, I’ve enough of armies and battles. Leave me -be, just, and when ’tis warmer I’ll be finding my own way. Will you not -be fighting Montrose soon?” she demanded. “Or is it only women and bairns -you are after?” - -They shuffled their feet. “We’ll be taking care of Montrose,” promised -the stout one. “But we cannot leave you here, lass. You must just come -along back to Inverlochy, and perhaps himself will be seeing you’re sent -back home.” - -Kelpie’s heart threatened to choke her. He’d be sending her back, fine -enough! “_Dhé!_” she sputtered, knowing her life might depend on her next -words. “Will ye be bothering the likes of him with a nobody, and him with -a war on his hands? He’d no be thanking ye for it! Besides,” she confided -beseechingly, “it is myself am afraid of Mac Cailein Mor, and he so great -and all. No, now, just leave me here, and then it’s away back I’ll be by -myself.” - -The stout one was not unsympathetic. “Well, women have daft fears,” he -observed. “But ’tis true enough that himself is an awesome man. We cannot -leave you here, but perhaps we can be tucking you into a wee bit place -near Inverlochy where you’ll not be noticed until we move on. There is -a burned shieling just near the loch, with one end left untouched. Come -along now.” - -To argue further would be hopeless and perhaps fatal. This was a stubborn -man, already close enough to suspicion. Numb with apprehension, Kelpie -wrapped the cloak firmly around herself and let them lead her outside -while they fired the thatch. - -And then, just as they were climbing up the bank, a tall man pointed to -a faint wisp of smoke to the southeast. “Another shieling,” he announced -happily. - -It was no shieling at all, of course. It was Alex’s fire, and now -Kelpie’s curse would be well and truly fulfilled. Why hadn’t she thought -of telling them herself? And why was it that she felt more dismay than -elation? Frowning, she probed at the feeling, trying to figure it out. -Och, of course; It was not for Alex’s sake she did not want him caught, -but for her own. For he would be sure to tell them that she was no -Campbell at all but a gypsy lass, and then they would take her straight -to Argyll. She bit her lip as she silently followed the Campbells up the -Cour in the direction of the telltale smoke, hoping passionately that -Alex would either get away or be killed before he could betray her. - -He nearly did get away. The cave, when they finally found it, was empty, -the fire quenched with snow. The tangled footprints in the snow seemed -to lead nowhere, and they might have given up but for the stubbornness of -Hamish, the stout man. But at last someone saw Alex hiding high up amid -the dark needles of a pine tree. - -“A MacDonald!” Hamish peered upward. “Come away down, now, or we’ll shoot -you there.” - -“And what difference?” asked Alex mockingly from his high perch. “I’d as -lief be shot here as on the ground.” - -Kelpie set her teeth. She hoped they’d shoot him now, before he could see -her and speak against her. She _did_! But again Hamish had other ideas. -What was a MacDonald doing here at all, he wanted to know, and one, -moreover, who was clearly well educated and therefore at least the son of -a chieftain? It was a thing out of the ordinary and had better have the -attention of his own chieftain, Campbell of Auchinbreck. - -“We’re no for shooting you now,” he announced, “but will be taking you -prisoner.” - -Alex seemed to think it over for a moment. Then he laughed. “’Twill be a -braw task for you, then,” he observed, “for I’ve a sore hurt ankle and -can no longer set it to the ground—or else you’d not have found me here, -whatever. Are you wanting to carry me all that way? For if not, you may -as well shoot me here.” - -This last clearly appealed to most of the Campbells, but Hamish stuck out -his jaw. “Aye, then. Finlay and Angus will carry you,” he announced, to -the displeasure of two of his men. - -Alex shrugged and came down, leaning for an instant against the trunk of -the tree as he reached the ground. His face was cool, although his ankle -must be hurting him badly. But his lips tightened slightly when he saw -Kelpie, and he stood for an instant, fixing her with another of those -long, penetrating looks. There was more than mockery in it now. Kelpie -flinched from it, and it came to her that Alex thought she had brought -the Campbells to find him. - -Of course he did! How could he suppose anything else? And he knew quite -well that he held the power of vengeance in his own tongue. For although -he could not know what was between Kelpie and Mac Cailein Mor, the mere -word “witch” would be quite enough to destroy her. - -She waited for it, head high, with the look of a trapped fox in her eyes, -hoping they might kill her swiftly, for Argyll would do worse. But Alex -did not say it. Looking into her eyes, he gave one short contemptuous -laugh and turned away. And while he arranged himself in the hand-chair -made by the reluctant Finlay and Angus, Kelpie stood quite still, hot and -shaken by feelings she hadn’t known she possessed. - -She tried to collect her thoughts during the long, slow trip back to -Inverlochy Castle. Why had Alex not denounced her? He must be waiting, -knowing she would be tormented by uncertainty. He would do it, doubtless, -when they reached the castle. Och, then, she must forget the searing pain -of his laughter, and try to get away! - -Dusk was lowering as they neared Inverlochy, and she sidled up to walk -alongside Hamish. “I am frightened,” she whispered pathetically. “There -are too many men, and I used to the lonely hills and cattle. Can I not -just be slipping away down the loch and home? I know the way well enough.” - -He looked at her kindly. “No, ’tis much too cold for you to be traveling -alone,” he said with firmness. - -Kelpie’s lip trembled—and for this she required no great dramatic -ability, either. He looked alarmed. “Do not be crying, now,” he said -hastily. “I tell you, I know a place where you can bide, and no need -to be going among the army at all. Just wait now until I’m turning the -prisoner over to Auchinbreck. Fergus, run ahead a bit and see can you -find out where he is the now.” - -He clasped Kelpie’s cold hand firmly in his, no doubt thinking he was -comforting her; and Kelpie had to trudge along beside him, her heart -thudding with fear. It thudded harder when Fergus returned to report that -Auchinbreck was away down at the loch with Mac Cailein Mor, seeing about -the two cannon. - -“Fine, then,” said Hamish. “For the wee bit placie for you to hide is -down there too, and we need not be going near the castle at all but just -deliver the prisoner and ask can you stay there at the same time.” And -he beamed heartily upon the quaking Kelpie, who saw no escape now from a -witch’s death by fire. - -Setting her teeth hard upon her lower lip, she tried to remember that she -had faced death before. But this time she seemed to have no courage in -reserve. The long strain had drained it from her. She could only remember -Mac Cailein Mor’s cruel face and unbearable dungeon, and think that this -could not really be happening, and wish that she could drop dead on the -spot and be done with it. - -They were just past the castle now, and Hamish turned to watch a -scattered group of soldiers come running from the slopes of Ben Nevis, -cutting behind his group, in a great hurry to reach the castle. There was -an air of alarm in their gray shapes in the dusk, and Hamish stared after -them curiously. - -“A fine hurry they are in,” he said. “I wonder what news it is they are -bringing from the ben, and what they could be finding at all on that wild -place.” - -“Perhaps the water-bull of Lundavra has been straying north a bit,” -suggested Alex, breaking his long silence. His voice dropped to an eerie -whisper, and only Kelpie could hear the hint of laughter in it. “You’ll -have heard of it, no doubt, with its broad ears and black hoofs and wild -demon eye?” - -The soldiers shivered, and one made a gesture, quickly halted, of -crossing himself. For though the Campbells were now all good members of -the Kirk, old habits remained from many generations past and were likely -to pop up in a crisis. - -They went on, with occasional furtive glances over their shoulders at -the brooding shape of that giant mountain Ben Nevis—the highest, it was -said, in all of the British Isles, and therefore an apt place for uncanny -and ungodly things. Kelpie too would have been glad to scurry from its -menace, had there not been a greater one facing her. As it was, she would -gladly have fled to Ben Nevis for protection, even if there were a dozen -water-bulls there. - -They had circled below the castle now, to the river, and were perhaps a -mile from Loch Linnhe. If only Hamish would relax his hard, reassuring -grip on her hand, she might be able to dive into the surrounding dusk and -lose herself. But when she gently tested his grip, he merely tightened it. - -Perhaps if she should suggest to him that she could walk better with -both hands free? Or was it already too late? There was a group of dark -shapes in the gloom just ahead now. If that was Argyll, this was her last -chance! “Please,” she began in her softest voice, and got no further. - -From behind came the pound of running footsteps, and an excited voice -raised. “Mac Cailein Mor! Mac Cailein Mor!” - -A soldier rushed past them to the figures a few yards ahead, and the cold -voice of Argyll answered. “Here. What is it, then?” - -“Montrose!” The soldier gasped. “Some of our scouts have just come back. -They say Montrose is on Ben Nevis!” - - - - -21. Vengeance - - -In the shocked silence which followed, Hamish forgot his comforting grip -on the poor wee frightened lass for an instant, and in that instant the -poor wee frightened lass vanished. - -She crouched on the far side of a rhododendron bush, tensed and ready for -further flight. For the moment, it was best not to move again, for there -was silence beside the river, and she dared make no noise that might call -attention to herself. Och, the good luck of it! And a fine chance there -was that, with this news, no one would think of her again at all. - -“Impossible!” said Argyll. His voice was thin. - -“It is true, Mac Cailein Mor!” insisted the messenger. “On the north -slope of Ben Nevis it was, his army ran into our outpost, and some of our -scouts escaped and came to warn us.” - -“Impossible,” repeated Argyll more thinly yet. “He couldn’t. He went up -the Great Glen, and he hasn’t come back down it. And there’s no other way -he could have come in this cold and snow—not with an army and horses and -cannon. It’s not humanly possible.” - -There was a good deal of sense in this. Even Kelpie, still as a bogle -behind her bush, frowned in puzzlement. How _could_ Montrose have come -so quickly, and _not_ through the Great Glen? Over the bitter impassable -mountains, then? Och, Glen Roy, it must be! Argyll didn’t know this -country as she did, and as the Camerons and MacDonalds would. Through -Glen Roy, then—and it was next to impossible even then, but if anyone at -all could do it, then it would be Montrose and his Highlanders, and she -the cause of it all, with her message! She hugged herself silently. - -“It couldna be the army,” said an Edinburgh voice soothingly. “Gin ’tis -Montrose at all, which I doot, ’tis a mere handfu’ o’ wild Hieland -thieves he could ha’ brought, and we’ll wipe ’em oot the morn.” - -“Still and all,” came another voice, “it might be best for you to be -going on board your galley, your Lordship. You’ve an injured shoulder, -remember, and you’re too valuable to risk your life in a mere skirmish.” - -“You may be right.” There was unmistakable relief in Argyll’s voice, -and Kelpie lifted her short lip in contempt. “I can put you in charge, -Auchinbreck, and send commands from my galley. Who is that over there?” - -His voice rose sharply, and Kelpie’s hair stood on end until she heard -Hamish’s apologetic answer. “Hamish Campbell, just, with a MacDonald -I found skulking up near the Spean River, and I thinking you might be -wanting to see him.” - -“A MacDonald?” Auchinbreck’s voice was incisive. “Aye, he’s likely a -scout for Montrose and may be able to tell us something. Will you speak -to him, your Lordship?” - -“Later,” said Argyll. “Take him down to the shelter by the loch and stay -there yourselves on guard. See that no one goes near the galley, and I’ll -question the prisoner before I go board.” - -There was a crunch of snow as Argyll and his party started back toward -the castle, and then a pause. “Why isn’t he tied?” came Argyll’s voice -accusingly. - -“Och, your Lordship, he has a hurt foot, and it would be too hard to -carry him this whole way if—” - -“He could have been shamming, you fool!” Argyll was furious. “Tie him -now.” - -He went on, leaving the other group of dark shapes where they stood. -“Well, so, and himself was saying ‘now,’” muttered Hamish, “so now it is, -my lad. We’ll have your two hands behind you. _Were_ you shamming?” - -“Not a whit,” said Alex coolly. “I’d have left you before this, if I -were.” - -“Well, I almost have it in my heart to pity you, just for your courage, -though you’re a cursed MacDonald. Angus, where’s the wee lass?” - -“She was off and away at the word Montrose,” reported Angus, “and no -wonder. She’s frighted even of our army and will be in terror of his. -She’ll no be staying for a battle.” - -“Och, she’ll freeze, just, poor _amadain_!” said Hamish worriedly. “And -she could have been staying at the shelter with us, and quite safe. Well, -so. Come away now.” - -They moved off toward the loch, leaving Kelpie to figure out her new -situation. - -It was a great improvement, surely, but hardly rosy. If only the weather -were warm, there would be no problem at all. She could set off for -safety, leaving Alex just where she wanted him, and Montrose over behind -the mountain to settle with Argyll after Argyll had settled with Alex. -But it was cold! And there would be no shelter near, what with all the -homes burned. And she didn’t want to freeze. - -An hour earlier she would gladly have taken the chance, gladly frozen, -even, in preference to meeting Argyll. But now that she was out of -danger from him for the moment, she wanted to live, and how could she be -arranging it? If it were not for Alex, she might slip down to the shelter -after all, and just hide when Argyll came. But Alex would not miss -another chance to betray her. He had delayed too long once before, and he -must be cursing himself for it. - -But she had to do something! Shivering, she got to her feet and silently -followed an orange glimmer down near the loch. Och, a fire! Kelpie -hurried her steps until she could see the ruins of a shieling hut, one -side open to the night, but with a warm fire just at the edge, where the -fireplace had once stood. Alex, well bound now, was lying against one -wall, and the other men were grouped around. As she watched, they began -taking food from their pouches. - -In an agony of indecision, Kelpie crouched in the bushes, just too far -away to feel the warmth of the fire, but she didn’t dare to go closer. -She could almost wish Alex free, so that— - -Her eyes widened. Alex had turned over to face the wall and was -unmistakably settling down to sleep! How could he? Reluctantly Kelpie -admired him for it. He was a bad one, but for all that he had a cool -courage that was fine. - -She waited a few minutes more; then she _had_ to get warm! And Alex -seemed to be truly asleep. Standing up, she raised her voice scarcely -above a whisper. “Hamish!” - -He was up, his ruddy face turning to search the bushes. “The wee lass! -Are you frozen, just? Come away to the fire. It was gey foolish of you to -run off.” - -She came, rubbing her numbed hands in the heavenly warmth, even though it -made them hurt sorely. “I was affrighted,” she explained, “of Montrose, -and of all the men, and of Mac Cailen Mor, and even of him.” She nodded -toward Alex. “Please, if anyone comes, could I not be hiding away at the -back behind the walls until they go?” - -“Ou, aye,” said Hamish tolerantly, “if you’re so frighted as all that.” - - * * * * * - -It was nearly morning, and Kelpie had napped a little herself and was -warm and fed (with a wary eye on the sleeping Alex), before voices and -steps announced a party coming from the castle. In a flash she was around -behind the ruined shieling, just at the corner where she could hear -everything and even see a bit. She would be safe enough from now on, -for although it was still dark enough to escape, the faintest of gray -appeared over the stern dome of Ben Nevis, and the peaks farther south -were beginning to show starkly black against the lighter clouds. The -night was over, and she could afford to stay and watch what happened to -Alex. - -“Put my things aboard,” ordered Argyll’s cold voice. “I’ll be along as -soon as I see to this prisoner. Where is he?” - -“Here, asleep,” replied Hamish humbly. “Wake you up, MacDonald! Mac -Cailein Mor wants to talk to you.” - -Apparently Alex awoke as Kelpie always did, all at once, for there was -no trace of sleepiness in his voice. “Well, then, and let us talk,” he -returned casually. - -Kelpie knew that his coolness would enrage Argyll, who repeatedly fled -danger and was about to do it again. This would go hard with Alex. She -_must_ see! There was a hole in the wall, just at the corner, where a -stone had fallen out, and surely no one would be noticing a wee eye in -the dark! - -She applied the eye to the hole. Sure enough, Argyll’s pale face was -twisted with anger, the habitual sneer deeper than usual. And Alex had -that faintly amused smile on his face, despite bound hands and swollen -foot, and despite his fear. - -“Your name?” asked Argyll harshly. - -“Alexander MacDonald of Ardochy on Loch Garry,” replied Alex proudly. - -“So. Son of a chieftain, then. And what were you doing skulking in -Lochaber?” - -“Nursing a sprained ankle,” replied Alex, still with a faint smile, “and -hoping to be overlooked by your men.” - -“You knew we were here, then?” Argyll pounced upon the idea like a man -looking for an excuse to unleash a storm of venom. And there was no doubt -he had his victim. Kelpie’s revenge would be better than she had ever -dreamed! She pressed closer to her peephole to see if Alex’s face would -betray fear. But he just lifted a sandy eyebrow. - -“Could anyone _not_ be knowing you were here, with the smoke of burning -homes rising like the plague?” he retorted reasonably. - -“You are one of Montrose’s men!” Argyll said accusingly, and Kelpie found -herself thinking of the things Alex might answer to that. He would never -claim to be a Covenanter, proud fool that he was, but he could say he was -not with Montrose, that he never had been, that he had had a quarrel with -the Camerons—any number of things. But he said none of them. Did he not -know that his silence would seem an admission of guilt? Kelpie fumed at -his stupidity before she remembered that—this time—she was on Argyll’s -side. - -“You are a spy left behind!” Argyll went on threateningly. “It was you -warned him we were here!” - -“I wish I _had_ been the one,” confessed Alex wryly. “I would not be here -if I had. But since I _am_ here, and not with Montrose, that is clearly -nonsense.” - -“Don’t quibble with me!” Argyll was in a cold rage, the cruel, bullying -streak in him showing clear. “You were responsible. You hurt your foot -and sent someone else with the message.” - -In the gleam of the fire, Alex’s jaw moved up and outward a fraction. “I -would have done so,” he retorted proudly, “but that I could find no one -to send.” - -“You’ll not save your life that way.” There was wintry satisfaction in -Argyll’s face. “Unless you can produce the guilty party and prove your -innocence ...” The sentence went grimly unfinished. - -Even Hamish looked shocked at this unfairness, and for an instant Kelpie -missed the full irony of the situation. Then it dawned on her. Alex was -to die for the thing she herself had done—and he well aware of it and -helpless, since he had no notion where she was! It was almost too good to -be possible! - -She bit her lip and pressed closer to the chink, and a squeak of what -must be delight—although it felt almost like a sob—escaped her. - -Alex turned—oh, so casually!—and his eyes, dark in the shadow of the -shelter, looked straight into hers. - -Kelpie stopped breathing. Too appalled even to move, she stood frozen, -waiting for the simple, deadly words that must come next. In her mind she -heard them clearly. “Very well so, and you will find the guilty party is -the witch lass hiding this very moment outside the wall....” She should -be away, running like a hare! But she could not, for her shock had glued -her feet to the ground, and already Alex had begun to speak. - -“And how,” he asked deliberately, “could I be doing that?” - -Kelpie missed the next part of the conversation, for she was altogether -stunned. He had seen and recognized her; never a doubt of it. In that -instant she had handed him the victory, his own life and hers as well, -and he had dropped them indifferently at his feet! Why? Was he fey, then, -to be deliberately throwing away his life? Not even the scruples of Ian -could account for it, for Alex owed her nothing and less than nothing, -especially since he believed she had betrayed him to the Campbells. - -In her bewilderment she didn’t even feel relief at her own narrow escape. -And when she was again able to concentrate on the scene inside, she found -that Alex had taken the edge off her victory simply by giving it to her. -Where had the triumph and savor gone? Frowning, she reminded herself that -Alex was being justly punished for what he did to Ian, and she was _not_ -sorry! No, nor would she ever dream of wanting to save him whatever, for -he deserved to die, and had she not been planning revenge? She would not -_want_ to help him even if she could—and couldn’t if she wanted to, for -was it not her rule of life to look out for herself and no one else? -And if Mac Cailein Mor should so much as glimpse the witch lass caught -trying to hex him, and herself wearing his own wife’s gown and cloak this -moment.... She laughed at herself for even thinking that such a daft idea -could ever enter her head. It was gloating she was. She _was_! - -Intent on her gloating, she risked another peep through the chink and -saw that Argyll was biting his lip with anger. Alex had no doubt just -said something derisive, for he was smiling recklessly. But for all his -composure, Kelpie knew that he was afraid in the face of death. Had not -she herself, more than once, acted calm when she did not feel that way? -Och, she knew how his heart must be pounding, as her own was just from -imagining it. - -Or perhaps it was pounding with happiness and excitement and triumph. Her -fists were clenched painfully and her lips drawn back from her teeth. -This was the moment, and she would watch while—while— - -“Take him out yonder and shoot him,” said Argyll. - -Then Kelpie heard a reckless laugh coming from her own lips, and she -found herself around the wall and in the firelight and confronting Argyll -with her head held high. - -“No, now,” she said, “for ’twas I sent the messenger.” - -One part of her stood aghast and terrified at the insane thing she had -done, but the other part—the thing inside, which had been pushing her for -so long—was glad and triumphant. - - - - -22. The Last Word - - -For a moment even the daybreak seemed to pause over the Highlands. The -thin sky of morning lighted a wan world of muted gray and white and -purple with an eerie, ghostlike tone. There was no sound outside the -ruined shelter with its circle of sickly firelight, and for just an -instant there was no sound even there. - -Alex’s face seemed carved in an odd expression of exultation and anguish -combined, and his eyes fixed upon her as if they would never leave. But -Kelpie did not see this, for her own eyes were fixed defiantly upon -Argyll, waiting. - -She had not long to wait. “The witch!” he whispered, and his eyes blazed -in pale fury. “And in her Ladyship’s stolen clothes!” he added with new -outrage. - -Alex laughed, and his laughter was delighted, exasperated—and somehow -sad. He moved to stand beside Kelpie. “Och,” he said, “and isn’t -it just the way you will be overdoing things? I would have had you -remain unprincipled and live. I would have called you liar and saved -you yet. But you must appear in Lady Argyll’s stolen clothes and seal -your doom—and knowing it!” His eyes were stricken, exultant, tender; -but Kelpie only looked at him dazedly. All of it was beyond her -understanding, except that she had doomed herself irrevocably by her own -madness, and the thing inside said it must be so. - -Argyll was breathing hard, taut with hatred; his menace was overwhelming. -“Shoot the man now,” he said between his teeth, “but bind the witch -and take her aboard the galley. I will try her and burn her when this -business with Montrose is over.” - -And then all Lochaber seemed to explode at once. Shots echoed from Ben -Nevis just as Alex went quite berserk. His face was as she had seen it -in the witch-hunting town, jutted with sharp angles of rage. He hurled -himself against Argyll, the full force of his hard shoulder driving into -the Campbell’s midsection; and down they went. The others rushed forward -with yells, and from the castle came more yells and a new volley of shots. - -Hamish was pulling his chief from under Alex and shouting, “The battle -has started!” Someone kicked Alex brutally in the head, and Kelpie flung -herself at the culprit, using both teeth and nails, and was herself -flung to the ground, while still another voice shouted, “Get you to the -galley, Mac Cailein Mor!” - -Kelpie, dazed from her fall, saw Argyll, staggering and winded, clutching -his shoulder and croaking contradictions. “Shoot them! Take the witch on -board! I’ll burn them both! Shoot them at once!” Alex struggled up and -tried to shield Kelpie with his own body as someone raised a gun. She -heard a wild shriek of pipes from the direction of Ben Nevis, more shots -and more yells. And then came a blaze of pain, and nothing at all. - - * * * * * - -She lay for a while without opening her eyes, trying to decide whether -she was really alive. It seemed quite unlikely. But on the other hand, -except for a sore pain in her head and a hot, smoldering one in her body, -this did not seem like Hell. For one thing, she seemed to be in a soft -bed with sheets, and surely Hell would never provide such things. She -decided to open her eyes and find out. - -Opening her eyes did not help much, but only added to her confusion. For -was not this one of the bedrooms at Glenfern, which she had helped often -enough to clean? And whatever could she be doing here at all? Clearly she -could not be here—but how was it that a stout and smiling Marsali seemed -to be feeding her beef broth? Och, it was too much effort to worry about -it! She swallowed the broth, closed her eyes, and slept again. The next -time she awoke, it was to morning light, and she felt much stronger. - -There was a small movement to the left of the bed, and Kelpie slowly -focused her eyes toward it. A flower face lighted and moved closer. “Och, -my Kelpie!” whispered Wee Mairi, radiant. “You’ve come away back to me!” - -Hot tears stung Kelpie’s eyes. She closed them and moved her left hand -gropingly and felt a small warm one creep into it. Och, the wee love! The -tears slid down her cheeks. - -There was more movement presently, and then Ronald’s voice asking with -deep interest, “Is she awake yet?” - -“Of course she is, or how else could she be weeping?” demanded his twin -scornfully. “Kelpie, is it hurting you are? Can you open your eyes, -Kelpie? Fiona, will you run to tell Mother she is awake?” - -Kelpie opened her eyes mistily and saw the rosy, concerned faces over -her. Fiona, crossing herself as usual, appeared beyond them and then -disappeared again. Donald vanished too, while Kelpie—still gripping Wee -Mairi’s hand—closed her eyes again and tried to sort out the confusion of -her thoughts. Presently there was a slight denting of the bed near her -elbow. - -“I’ve brought Dubh,” announced Donald cheerfully. “We decided before that -you were not a witch, but now Alex says you are, but a nice one; and I -was thinking, if Dubh is still liking you, perhaps Alex is right.” - -Kelpie wrinkled her forehead as Dubh spat nastily at Donald. Alex? Alex -at Glenfern? Dubh regarded her with slitted yellow eyes and then draped -himself in a scraggy, purring fur piece across her shoulder. “Alex?” said -Kelpie aloud, puzzled. - -“Ou, aye, and he sore hurt, too.” Ronald nodded. “But he is better now. -Kelpie, when you are well, will you tell us about your adventures? Why -were you leaving Glenfern at all, Kelpie? Do you _like_ your Grannie -Witchie, or was it that you were afraid of her, as Father said? Is she -truly a witch, Kelpie? Where is she the now? Are you going to stay with -us? Wee Mairi says you love her. Do you, Kelpie?” - -The small hand in Kelpie’s stirred. “Aye so!” piped Wee Mairi -indignantly. “My Kelpie _does_ love me!” - -“Aye,” confessed Kelpie, her defenses quite down. “But,” she went on -incredulously, “is Alex truly here? At Glenfern?” - -“Of course,” said Donald. “He has been telling us of his adventures too, -and how Montrose was sending him on a special important mission to talk -to clan chiefs and see if Lochiel would join the army, and all; and that -was why he was alone and caught by the Campbells. But we do not know why -you were there at all.” He paused, head tilted hopefully to one side. - -But Kelpie, more and more bewildered, was in no state to tell stories. -“Alex?” she repeated stupidly. - -“Himself.” It was his voice, with something new in the laughter of it. -Suddenly the room was full of people. Eithne and Lady Glenfern smiled at -her from the foot of the bed, and Alex himself was coming slowly across -the floor. There was a bandage round his head, and he leaned heavily on -Glenfern and Ian. - -Och, it made no sense at all! Kelpie closed her eyes again and moved her -head fretfully. - -“Alex has told us what you did,” said Glenfern. “It is at such times that -a person’s true character comes forth.” He smiled down at her warmly. -“Let you know now, Kelpie, that you will always have a home at Glenfern, -and our love; and for saving Alex we owe you a debt that we can never -pay.” - -Kelpie’s puzzlement deepened. _Dhé!_ It must be that Ian had never known -that it was Alex who struck him down! In the confusion, perhaps herself -was the only one who had really seen it. It must be so, for no other -explanation made sense. Perhaps Archie hadn’t known either, and she had -merely read meanings into his words that evening in the camp. Her blue -eyes flew open and met Alex’s quizzical ones. What an actor he was, then, -behaving as if nothing had happened! But _she_ could tell them what had -happened, and Alex knew it, and yet here he stood quite at ease. - -They stared at each other for a long, searching moment, and a look of -baffled frustration came to both faces. And then Kelpie closed her eyes -once again, too weak to cope with such a puzzle or even to decide -whether or no she should tell Ian what his foster brother had done. - -“_Dhé_, and she’ll be confused enough, poor water witch!” The old teasing -note in Alex’s voice overlaid a new tenderness. “Just be settling me in a -chair by the bed, and then away out, the rest of you, whilst I tell her -the end of our adventure.” - -Presently the room was silent again, except for Dubh’s purring. Conscious -of a presence beside the bed, Kelpie opened a cautious eye again after a -minute and found the hazel eyes fixed on her broodingly. - -“Och so,” he murmured, shaking his head sadly. “I had thought my cousin -Cecily unpredictable and you an open book, with your devious wiles, and -so candidly unprincipled. And then—you put a spell on me, with the ringed -witch-eyes in your head. You baffled me, you haunted me, you eluded me, -leaving me forever two jumps behind and never knowing what to think at -all. Aye me, I suppose I shall never understand you at all, and that is -my fate and destiny.” - -Kelpie slowly progressed from bewilderment to indignation. Only the last -words had any meaning whatever, and that was little enough. - -“_I!_” she fumed, causing Dubh to dig in a protesting claw. “It is you -who make no sense at all, and I never knowing what to think!” - -Alex grinned ruefully. “At least we are even, then. Are you wanting to -know what has happened since Argyll’s men put bullets in the both of us?” - -Kelpie nodded. - -“Well, then, were you hearing the start of the battle, just as our own -wee war was getting exciting?” asked Alex. She nodded again, content to -lie still and listen. “Well,” he went on, “it was the battle that saved -us, for Argyll rushed off to the safety of his galley, and his men left -us for dead—and very nearly right they were. And so we lay unknowing -while Montrose won a great victory over an army twice his size. It was -another Tippermuir, and this time the fighting force of the Campbells -is crippled for years to come. Some say as many as fifteen hundred were -slain, and the rest taken prisoner or chased back to their own country, -and our men on their heels all the way to Lundavra. I think it will be -another generation, Kelpie, before Clan Campbell can come raiding other -clans again—and a good blow for the King’s cause as well,” he added, -almost as an afterthought. Loyal to the king though he was, Alex was a -Highlander, and Highland affairs were his closest concern. - -Kelpie found herself wondering suddenly about Morag Mhor and Rab, Archie, -and the others. “And had we many killed?” - -Alex shook his head. “It was a rout,” he said. “They tell me there -are some two hundred or more wounded, but scarce over a dozen killed -outright. It seems fair unbelievable.” - -Kelpie assimilated this and then returned to another matter of interest. -“What of Mac Cailein Mor?” she demanded vindictively. “And what was -happening to us, after all?” - -“Och, the great General Campbell was away down the loch in his galley -before the fight was yet over, hero that he is!” Scorn was bright in -Alex’s voice. “But as for us, we lay until some of our men found us and -recognized my tartan, so they took us up to the castle with the other -wounded. There were plenty of the army who knew me—and you, too, it -seems, for there was a hulking great man named Rab and a huge fierce -woman called Morag Mhor nearly come to blows over which could be doing -most for you.” His eyes crinkled at her with approval and amusement. “So -it was soon enough that my brother and Ian both found us. And when we -were fit to be carried, they brought us here.” - -“Here!” echoed Kelpie, renewed bafflement upon her. Forgetting her -wounds, she tried to sit up and then changed her mind. Wincing, she lay -back again, and her ringed eyes stared beneath lowered brows at Alex. -Dubh, his nap disturbed, glared with equal fierceness, and Alex found the -combination disconcerting. - -“You would be coming _here_?” Kelpie spat. “You, with all your prating of -loyalty and the laws of hospitality and this principles thing? And you -have not even good sense, for here am I, and whatever makes you think I -will not be telling? And yet you have not even tried to threaten me.” - -Complete bewilderment was on Alex’s face. “Either your wits or mine are -wandering entirely,” he said. “What are you talking about? Tell what?” - -“That you tried to kill Ian!” answered Kelpie. - -“_What?_” He was utterly dumfounded, and Kelpie’s conviction wavered, but -only briefly. She knew what she had seen! - -“Do not be denying it, for I saw it myself, and twice over—once with the -Second Sight, which never lies, and again when it happened.” - -Alex’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as if he had begun to see a clue to -some deep puzzle. “You were saying something of the sort back at yon -cave,” he said. “It made no sense, but I had already given up expecting -to understand you, and there were other urgent matters on my mind. -Tell me now: What was it that you saw twice over? Tell me exactly, for -although the Second Sight never lies, sometimes the reading of it can be -wrong. What was it you were seeing, water witch?” - -Kelpie frowned. “It was the crowd of witch-hunters, although the first -time I did not know who or where, or that it was me they were going to -burn. But I saw Ian coming through them, and you after him with a black -anger on your face. And when you reached him, you raised your sword and -brought it down on him, and he dropped like a stone and out of sight.” -She glared at him defiantly. - -A whole series of expressions chased one another across Alex’s face, but -they were not quite the ones Kelpie had expected. Wonder and relief and -joy surely had no place there! - -“My sorrow,” he whispered, closing his eyes for an instant. “And is -it for that you’ve hated me so darkly this long while? No wonder!” He -looked at her suddenly with new delight. “And for Ian too, though you -tried so hard to admit no loyalty or friendship, and I believed you! -Think carefully,” he commanded as Kelpie was about to burst out at him in -frustration and fury. “Were you actually _seeing_ my sword _strike_ Ian?” - -“Aye so—” began Kelpie hotly, and then paused. “Well, and there was a -head in the way for a wee moment,” she conceded, conjuring up the vivid -picture and looking at it carefully. “Your sword is striking him just -behind the head—the other head, I mean—but now Ian is falling straight -away, and so—” - -“Look again!” interrupted Alex. “Look closely, Kelpie, and do not judge -too quickly. For my sword was falling on the man who was in the act of -dirking Ian, and they went down at the same moment. Little _amadain_, -how could you be thinking I would turn on my foster brother, dearer than -kin, for whom I would give my heart’s blood?” - -Kelpie scowled in sudden, unreasoning resentment, but he leaned forward -to place his hand on her arm where it lay outside the covers. “Look in -your heart for the truth,” he commanded urgently. “Ask it of your reason -as well. You _must_ know that I did not do it.” - -It was true. She did know it. She felt slightly dizzy, as if the sun had -spun round suddenly and begun rising in the west. And was it a mistake -that she had hated Alex this long time? Och, no! Had he not always -infuriated her with his mockery and scorn and his uncanny knowledge of -what she would think and do next? But whatever had possessed the both of -them that dawn in the shelter, each offering his own life to save the -other? She could hardly believe that it had really happened. - -The eyes she raised to Alex were night-blue with wonder. “You knew I -was hiding behind the wall! Why didn’t you save yourself by telling Mac -Cailein Mor it was I sent the message? And especially when you thought -that I had betrayed you to the Campbells? _Why?_” - -There was sudden gladness on Alex’s lean face. “Kelpie!” he fairly -shouted. “You didn’t betray me, then?” - -She shook her head irritably and immediately wished she hadn’t. “I _told_ -you I did not dare! And now you know why, with Mac Cailein Mor already -wanting me for a witch, and I with his wife’s clothing on my back. ’Twas -the smoke from your fire betrayed you, fool that you were!” She glared -at him. “But you were _believing_ it was I, and you needing only a word -to save yourself and settle all accounts. Why did you not tell?” she -demanded angrily. - -Alex grinned flippantly at her, but the angles of his face seemed -softened, and his voice as well. He seemed to be laughing at her and at -himself too. “Perhaps, _mo chridhe_, it was for the same reason that you -spoke out when you needed only to stay still. Can you answer me your own -question, Kelpie? Why did you come forth?” - -“I was daft, just!” she retorted promptly. “And,” she added, remembering, -“there was a thing in me pushing where I was not wanting to go.” She -frowned. - -“There has been a thing in me too, this long while,” said Alex softly, -and for an instant he saw her as she had appeared from the shadows to -face Argyll—intense then too, but heartbreakingly brave, nearly tearing -him apart with joy for her gallantry and with despair for its result. And -he had not known, then, the full horror of what she was facing, that she -was giving herself up to be burned as a witch. - -She was regarding him with annoyance. “I think it was a spell, whatever,” -she announced accusingly. - -Alex looked at her oddly. “Aye so, a spell,” he muttered with a wry twist -to his mouth. “And I with a fondness for merry, fair-haired lassies, like -my sweet Cecily in Oxford. And now she will have to marry Ian, just, -though perhaps neither of them will mind much. I have _never_ cared for -witches!” he told her plaintively. “And especially not black-haired ones, -with dark, pointy faces, all uncanny eyes. It’s never a moment’s peace I -shall have again; but ’tis a terrible, strong spell you have put on me, -and I cannot break it. Och, there’s no way at all out of it, but I shall -have to marry you, just!” - -“Marry me!” Kelpie’s shock reached to the very soles of her feet. - -“Ou, aye,” answered the outrageous lad, wagging his head sadly. “And a -dreadful life it will be, never a doubt of it, wed to a wild wee water -witch. But marry you I must, for I cannot help myself.” - -“_I_ can, then!” Kelpie sizzled with outrage. “Did you never think of -consulting _me_? Were you thinking I would—_Dhé!_ I’d sooner be wedding -the sea horse in Loch Ness, or Argyll himself! And the very conceit of -you to be thinking it! ’Tis a spell indeed I’ll be putting on you! Wait -until I learn the Evil Eye, and then see will you not be begging my -mercy, and with the horrid spots all over you, and—” - -Alex silenced her by the simple expedient of putting his lips firmly over -hers. When at last he lifted them, it was to laugh into her startled and -indignant eyes with the old mockery. - -“I’m thinking,” he said, just as if she had never uttered a word of -her last speech, “that I shall have to be taking you out of Scotland -altogether, or sooner or later it would be to the stake with the both of -us. And in any case, what else could I be doing with the gypsy wanderlust -in your feet?” - -“The gypsies _stole_ me, I tell you!” retorted Kelpie automatically. - -He raised a quizzical eyebrow. “And did they so, truly? Well, and what -does it matter? You could never be finding your parents now, nor fit into -their life if you did. And in any case, you’re going to marry me, and -we’ll away to the New World. A grand wilderness it is, they say, with all -the space needed for wandering in and out of trouble.” - -He bent toward her again, and reached for her hand, as Kelpie opened a -mutinous mouth. Dubh, who had patiently endured the last disturbance of -his nap, opened one yellow eye, saw Alex’s hand approaching, and slashed -it. Then he rearranged himself across Kelpie’s neck and went back to -sleep. - -Kelpie laughed at Alex, who was also laughing and sucking at his torn -finger. “You see?” he said. “The Red Indians and wild animals will never -have a chance against you with your dark power over man and beast, witch -that you are. I wonder, would next week be too soon for the wedding?” - -“Sssss!” said Kelpie contentedly. - - - - -[Illustration: PHOTO BY LARRY WAY - -_Sally Watson in costume for the Highland Games competition_] - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITCH OF THE GLENS*** - - -******* This file should be named 61360-0.txt or 61360-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/3/6/61360 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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