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diff --git a/old/61360-h/61360-h.htm b/old/61360-h/61360-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index d745f35..0000000 --- a/old/61360-h/61360-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8902 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Witch of the Glens, by Sally Watson</title> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> -<style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none; -} - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2,h3,h4 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -hr { - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - clear: both; - width: 65%; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -p { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -table { - margin: 1em auto 1em auto; - max-width: 40em; - border-collapse: collapse; -} - -td { - padding-left: 2.25em; - padding-right: 0.25em; - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.tdr { - text-align: right; -} - -.tdpg { - vertical-align: bottom; - text-align: right; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 10%; -} - -.blockquote p { - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.center { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.front-matter { - margin: auto; - max-width: 25em; -} - -.larger { - font-size: 150%; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 4%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; -} - -.right { - text-align: right; -} - -.smaller { - font-size: 80%; -} - -.tb { - margin-top: 2em; -} - -@media handheld { - -img { - max-width: 100%; - width: auto; - height: auto; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 5%; -} -} - - - h1.pgx { text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: bold; - font-size: 190%; - margin-top: 0em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - word-spacing: 0em; - letter-spacing: 0em; - line-height: 1; } - h2.pgx { text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: bold; - font-size: 135%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - word-spacing: 0em; - letter-spacing: 0em; - line-height: 1; } - h3.pgx { text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: bold; - font-size: 110%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - word-spacing: 0em; - letter-spacing: 0em; - line-height: 1; } - h4.pgx { text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: bold; - font-size: 100%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - word-spacing: 0em; - letter-spacing: 0em; - line-height: 1; } - hr.pgx { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pgx" title="header title">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Witch of the Glens, by Sally Watson, -Illustrated by Barbara Werner</h1> -<p>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 <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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.</p> -<p>Title: Witch of the Glens</p> -<p>Author: Sally Watson</p> -<p>Release Date: February 9, 2020 [eBook #61360]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITCH OF THE GLENS***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="pgx" title="credit">E-text prepared by Tim Lindell<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images digitized by the<br /> - Google Books Library Project<br /> - (<a href="https://books.google.com">https://books.google.com</a>)<br /> - and generously made available by<br /> - HathiTrust Digital Library<br /> - (<a href="https://www.hathitrust.org/">https://www.hathitrust.org/</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - HathiTrust Digital Library. See - <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005597078"> - https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005597078</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center larger">Witch of the Glens</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="Cover image" /> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> - -<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="700" height="500" alt="Titlepage image" /> - -<p class="center larger">Witch<br /> -of the Glens</p> - -<p class="center">By SALLY WATSON</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Drawings by Barbara Werner</p> - -<p class="right">THE VIKING PRESS<br /> -<span class="smaller"><i>New York</i></span></p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> - -<div class="front-matter"> - -<p class="right">Copyright © 1962 by Sally Watson<br /> -All rights reserved<br /> -First published in 1962 by The Viking Press, Inc.<br /> -625 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N. Y.<br /> -Published simultaneously in Canada<br /> -by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited</p> - -<p class="right"><i>Library of Congress catalog card number: 62-17071</i></p> - -<p class="right smaller">PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC.</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="front-matter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> - -<p class="right">To my favorite witch and <i lang="gd">uruisg</i><br /> -Jean and Don<br /> -and their two small kelpies<br /> -Kathy and Mark</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<h2>Contents</h2> - -<table summary="Contents"> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">1.</td> - <td>The Gypsies</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_1">15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">2.</td> - <td>The Waif</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_2">26</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">3.</td> - <td>Glenfern</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_3">36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">4.</td> - <td>The Daft Folk</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_4">48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">5.</td> - <td>Bewitchery</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_5">60</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">6.</td> - <td>The Picture in the Loch</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_6">73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">7.</td> - <td>The Return of Mina and Bogle</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_7">88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">8.</td> - <td>A Task for Kelpie</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_8">102</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">9.</td> - <td>Inverary Castle</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_9">115</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">10.</td> - <td>A Bit of Hair</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_10">124</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">11.</td> - <td>Argyll’s Dungeon</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_11">135</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">12.</td> - <td>Meeting at Pitlochry</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_12">146</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">13.</td> - <td>The Hexing of Alex</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_13">159</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">14.</td> - <td>The Battle of Tippermuir</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_14">170</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>15.</td> - <td>Witch Hunt</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_15">182</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">16.</td> - <td>Morag Mhor</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_16">195</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">17.</td> - <td>The Road to Inverary</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_17">206</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">18.</td> - <td>The Black Sail</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_18">223</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">19.</td> - <td>Footprints in the Snow</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_19">229</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">20.</td> - <td>The Campbell Lass</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_20">240</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">21.</td> - <td>Vengeance</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_21">250</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">22.</td> - <td>The Last Word</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Chapter_22">261</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - -<h2>Gaelic Terms</h2> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p><i lang="gd">Amadain</i> (masculine, <i lang="gd">amadan</i>). Fool.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Briosag.</i> Witch, sorceress.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Chlanna nan con, thigibh a sh’s gheibh sibh feoil.</i> “Sons -of the dogs, come hither, and you shall have flesh” -(Cameron war cry).</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dhia dhuit.</i> A greeting (“good day,” literally, “God today”).</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Droch-inntinneach.</i> Evil-minded.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dubh</i> (also <i lang="gd">dhu</i>). Black.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Each uisghe.</i> 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).</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Filleadh mór.</i> The great-plaid, kilt and plaid in one piece. -(The plaid, or plaidie, was worn around the shoulders -and sometimes over the head.)</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Ghillie.</i> An attendant or follower of a clan chief or chieftain.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Kelpie.</i> A water witch.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Mallaichte.</i> Wicked.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">M’eudain.</i> An endearment.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Mise-an-dhuit.</i> An exclamation (literally, “Me today!”).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Mo chridhe.</i> An endearment (literally, “My heart”).</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Mo thruigh.</i> An exclamation (literally, “My sorrow!”).</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Mor</i> (or <i lang="gd">mhor</i>). Great, large.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Nathrach.</i> Serpent.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Seach.</i> Interjection: “Yes?” “Well—” “Truly!” “Really?”</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Sgian dhu.</i> 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.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Slaoightire.</i> Scoundrel.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Uruisg</i> (plural, <i lang="gd">uruisgean</i>). A hobgoblin; sometimes -thought to be half human, half hobgoblin. A most disagreeable -fellow, in any case.</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<h2>Pronouncing Gaelic</h2> - -<p>Gaelic pronunciation is in some ways totally different -from English. For instance, <i>s</i> in front of <i>i</i> or <i>e</i> sounds like -<i>sh</i>; <i>th</i>, <i>bh</i>, <i>dh</i>, and <i>gh</i> are sometimes (but not always) -silent; <i>mh</i> is usually pronounced <i>v</i>; and <i>ch</i> has a sound not -found in English at all, and made by trying to say <i>kh</i> as -far back in the throat as possible.</p> - -<p><i>Following are the pronunciations for some of the names -and words found in this book</i>:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>dubh—doo</p> - -<p>each uisghe—ekh oosh-ga (“oo” as in “look”)</p> - -<p>Eithne—Ay-na</p> - -<p>Ewen—Yew-en</p> - -<p>ghillie—gilly</p> - -<p>Hamish—Hay-mish</p> - -<p>Ian—Ee-an</p> - -<p>Lachlan—Lakh-lan</p> - -<p>Loch Leven—Lokh Leeven</p> - -<p>Mairi—Mah-ri</p> - -<p>mhor—vore</p> - -<p>mo chridhe—mo cree</p> - -<p>Seumas—Shay-mas (James)</p> - -<p>sgian dhu—skean doo</p> - -<p>uruisg—oorishk</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<h2>Historical Note</h2> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> - -<h1>Witch of the Glens</h1> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<img src="images/map.jpg" width="450" height="700" alt="Cover image" /> -<p class="center">THE PART OF <i>SCOTLAND</i> WHERE KELPIE’S ADVENTURE TOOK PLACE</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_1">1. The Gypsies</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Tinklers! Gypsies!” they cried accusingly, and the soft, -sibilant sound of the Gaelic was less soft but more sibilant -than usual. “<i lang="gd">Briosag!</i>” (“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Old Mina Faw didn’t seem at all put out by her man’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -face and down her back. Eyes that were not quite canny -peered out like those of an alarmed wee beast—or a witch.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -She herself would do the same thing, given the chance. It -was the only way to stay alive.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Briosag!</i> Witch!”</p> - -<p>Kelpie swerved round a corner and wished that she -<em>were</em> 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 <em>was</em> a witch! Och, -no one would chase her then, or beat her, either....</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> on her anyhow?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -from the stones, and her bare feet, tough as they were, -hurt from the cobbled streets of the town.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>Curled up in her nest of bracken, head resting on the -scarlet petticoat, Kelpie drifted into her favorite daydream. -<i lang="gd">Dhé</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You have taken your time about getting here,” said -Bogle. “And how many purses were you taking?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">each uisghe</i>, -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“May the <i lang="gd">uruisg</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“Mind me so!” Her voice rasped. “And how do you -think to be learning witchcraft else?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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, <i lang="gd">amadain</i>!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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....</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">filleadh mór</i>—the bulky great-kilts—beat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -heavily against their thighs and swung over -their shoulders, and their heads were high with the proud -confidence of the well-born.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Who is that?” muttered Mina, peering. “What will -they be to us? Do you know them?”</p> - -<p>“No,” lied Kelpie, whose policy was to deceive Mina -and Bogle whenever possible, just on principle.</p> - -<p>“I would be seeing something of the King, or the war, -or Mac Cailein Mor,” said Mina fretfully.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>“Is it still the lads riding, then?” Mina persisted. “And -who will they be, whatever?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Don’t know! <i lang="gd">Amadain!</i> What tartan will they be wearing?”</p> - -<p>It was too much. Kelpie jerked away, too angry to care -about the consequences. “<i lang="gd">Nathrach!</i>” She spat. “Look for -yourself!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -ringed eyes of the Second Sight, and holding her hand so -that she can see through other eyes what she cannot see -for herself—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>Had Bogle told the truth? Mina’s behavior made Kelpie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -think he had. And it was certain that the crystal was even -clearer for her without Mina’s touch.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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! <i lang="gd">Dhé</i>, 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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_2">2. The Waif</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Or had she?</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">ghillie</i> riding behind.</p> - -<p>But there was no time to wonder about it. Timing her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -movements carefully, Kelpie threw herself headlong down -the last steep bank and sprawled full length in the path, -almost under the horses’ feet.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">briosag</i> threw herself into the -path on purpose. Ian had the way of always believing the -best of everyone.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>“’Tis hurt you are,” he said worriedly, to Kelpie’s relief. -She had feared for a moment that she’d been too -subtle altogether.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Och, only a little,” she whispered, putting on a braw -show of dreadful pain heroically borne.</p> - -<p>“Now, do not be overdoing it,” drawled Alex.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i lang="gd">ghillie</i>, who, looking larger -than usual on his short shaggy pony, had muttered something -from behind.</p> - -<p>“Give her a copper,” Alex said, laughing, “and see how -quickly she’ll mend!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> - -<p>Copper indeed! thought Kelpie. It was silver she was -wanting. But she didn’t hide the gleam in her eyes quickly -enough.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I—I <em>am</em> hurt!” she said with astonishment and then -hastily snatched up the coin with her good left hand before -they should change their minds.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Alex looked back at him. “Well, so. And where does she -live, then? Where are her people? Perhaps Lachlan could -be taking her home.”</p> - -<p>Ian shrugged. “I think I’ve seen her with Old Mina and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -Black Bogle. Is that so?” he asked Kelpie, who nodded.</p> - -<p>Alex raised his eyebrows, not in the least surprised. It -was logical that she should belong to the nastiest witch in -Scotland.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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, <i lang="gd">uruisgean</i> that you are!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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....</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -money changed hands, and then Mina bent over Kelpie, -a cunning, complacent look on her face.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The glen ran westward ahead of them, a long little -valley cradled in hills that were just turning jewel-green<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Alex lifted Kelpie down from the horse, looked at her -oddly, and then with a grin forced open her left hand.</p> - -<p>“You little devil!” He laughed. “You’ve picked my -pocket!”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_3">3. Glenfern</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” exclaimed Glenfern in dismay. “Is it too late, -then? Why was the King waiting so long?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Ian, whose loyalty was a simple and wholehearted -thing, frowned at his foster brother. “He’s our king and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Really, Ian,” observed Alex lazily, “you must be paying -more attention to your guest.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“My sorrow!” said Ian ruefully. “I was forgetting!”</p> - -<p>“A shame to all of us, and she injured!” declared his -mother, standing up. “’Tis only for the night, you were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“No,” agreed her husband. “Come away out to the wee -room in the stable, which will do nicely, I think.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>“Poor lady!” said the mite, shaking her honey-brown -head sorrowfully. “Is it a sore bad hurt, then?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - -<p>Kelpie said nothing.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> They were nearly as disconcerting as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -Wee Mairi—and there were two of them. Kelpie decided -to take the offensive.</p> - -<p>“Ssssss!” she hissed, baring her teeth and beetling her -thick eyebrows menacingly. The bright eyes rounded -slightly, but with increased curiosity rather than alarm.</p> - -<p>“Were you crying?” asked one boy candidly.</p> - -<p>“Are you a witch?” demanded the other.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I am so,” she said with an intimidating scowl. “I can -put curses on ye, or the Evil Eye whatever.”</p> - -<p>They were unintimidated. “Show us!” suggested one -hopefully.</p> - -<p>“Alex was saying you cannot,” challenged the other.</p> - -<p>“Och, just you wait!” said Kelpie darkly. “I will be -fixing that Alex as ever was!”</p> - -<p>“What will you do to him?” persisted the skeptic with -morbid curiosity.</p> - -<p>“What is your name?” asked his twin.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I don’t believe it,” said the skeptical twin, but he said -it halfheartedly.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“She’s a witch, and a kelpie too,” reported one of them, -unabashed.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie already had hand and mouth full of cold venison<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Och, no!” she mumbled truthfully around her bannock. -“Not I!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Fiona backed up to the door, crossing herself furiously, -and Eithne looked awed. “<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” she whispered. “Dubh -has never done that before for anyone!”</p> - -<p>Kelpie looked at Dubh with a mixture of pleasure and -irritation. She liked cats, but this one had timed his appearance -poorly.</p> - -<p>Dubh looked back at her, great topaz eyes glowing into -hers steadily and inscrutably, and his purring filled the -room.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -wanted to think the best of everyone, especially of those -whom life seemed to have treated unfairly. Besides, Kelpie -interested her.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Come away from her and out of here!” he ordered -Eithne brusquely.</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>Alex’s sunburned face looked disconcerted at this sudden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -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, <i lang="gd">m’eudail</i>? Best be away to the house and see if -Catriona can break it.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, and I would never be doing such a thing!” -cried Kelpie indignantly. “How could I be carrying it -all?”</p> - -<p>Alex laughed outright. Kelpie scowled. She had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -cursed and beaten often enough, but she had never before -been laughed at, and she didn’t like it.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie showed sharp white teeth in a defiant laugh. -“Are you thinking I’ve never heard threats before?”</p> - -<p>“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 -<i lang="gd">ghillie</i> on the watch?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Sssss!” said Kelpie with deep sincerity.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -if I must denounce you as a witch. Do you -understand?”</p> - -<p>It was a fearful threat, and Kelpie, used to bluster and -invective, was unnerved by his very calm.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Nathrach!</i>” 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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“Mina can,” muttered Kelpie sulkily.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_4">4. The Daft Folk</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been waiting for you this long while!” Mina -began pulling her up the hill.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Black Bogle was waiting in a clump of snowy-trunked -birches halfway up the hill. He said nothing, just grinned -without warmth or welcome.</p> - -<p>“Well, and what have you got?” demanded Mina, turning -upon Kelpie with greedy fingers held out.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Nothing at all,” muttered Kelpie defensively. “The -red-haired <i lang="gd">uruisg</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie stared, her mouth drooping open. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>Mina struck at her. Kelpie ducked automatically, and -Bogle chuckled. He would also have chuckled had the -blow landed.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie hooded her eyes thoughtfully. She had already -learned a good bit—but why tell Mina now? Better to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -wait and see where her own advantage lay and learn -what Mina was up to.</p> - -<p>“And where will ye be going?” she ventured to ask.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Very well so,” she agreed indifferently, it being best -to show neither reluctance nor enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well?” demanded Mina.</p> - -<p>Kelpie shook her head. “A hillside and a crowd of -people,” she murmured, “but ’tis all cloudy.” And then -she held her breath.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -from either of them. Och, they had some pressing purpose, -the two of them, and whatever could it be?</p> - -<p>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....</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>Glenfern’s face was kindly enough when he looked up -and saw her. “Good morning,” he greeted her. “And how -are you feeling?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Oh. And you’ll be wanting a bit of breakfast before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -you’re away off with them?” suggested Glenfern with a -smile.</p> - -<p>“They’re away off without me,” blurted Kelpie, looking -helpless. “They’re not wanting me any more.”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” said Glenfern. He didn’t seem overjoyed.</p> - -<p>“I have nowhere to go,” added Kelpie pathetically, in -case he hadn’t got the point.</p> - -<p>“Aye,” said Glenfern, who had got it very quickly. -“Well, come away in, and we’ll see my wife.”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Mise-an-dhui!</i>” said Lady Glenfern when they told her. -She looked even less delighted than her husband.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You’re not really a witch, are you?” asked Lady Glenfern -seriously. A white witch, of course, was a great benefit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Alex, sitting cross-legged on the far window seat, sent -her a bright hazel glance of derision, which Kelpie ignored.</p> - -<p>Glenfern raised an eyebrow at his wife, sighed, and -smiled kindly. “Would you be wanting to stay with us, -lassie?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Alex muffled a snort of laughter. They all glanced at -him, but he merely gave Kelpie a look that was both -warning and mirthful.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“And do you not?” asked Glenfern bluntly.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” admitted Kelpie candidly. Didn’t everyone?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She felt the same way all over again on that very afternoon, -after a most difficult morning.</p> - -<p>The difficulties had begun almost immediately after -Kelpie’s too easy acceptance into the life of Glenfern. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> If they changed her name as well, -perhaps she would cease altogether to be herself and become -someone else entirely!</p> - -<p>“No!” she said vehemently. And the subject was -dropped.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och, aren’t you grand, just!” Ian said admiringly.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och,” she blurted. “You mustn’t be trusting people so -easily! It is not safe whatever!”</p> - -<p>“Mustn’t I trust you, then?” asked Ian gently. “Are you -not wanting to be trusted, Kelpie?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>They looked at each other pityingly.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Kelpie.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_5">5. Bewitchery</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Still, she couldn’t help enjoying those hours, and presently -something clicked in her mind, and she understood -the baffling thing they called teasing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Are you <em>sure</em> 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....”</p> - -<p>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....</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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?</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“How did you know?” began Kelpie and then stopped. -The others were chuckling as at a great joke. Alex had put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<p>“Beast!” she spat. “It is <em>true</em>!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And would you not be saying the same thing if you -were lying?” he persisted.</p> - -<p>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—“<em>this</em> time it <em>is</em> true!”</p> - -<p>Alex laughed.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Ian looked at Alex judiciously. “Och, no; not wicked,” -he said. “He’s a bit evil-minded, ’tis true, and surely daft.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie blinked.</p> - -<p>“Aye, daft enough,” agreed Eithne happily. “Were you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>Alex grinned brazenly. “Well, and with who else?” he -demanded. “You would not be having me, <i lang="gd">m’eudail</i>.”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé</i>, no!” agreed Eithne promptly. “I’d as lief marry -the twins!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Mercy!” begged Alex, getting to his knees and clasping -his hands pleadingly. “Anything but that! Curse me all -you wish, water witch, but <em>please</em> do not marry me!”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’m Donald,” asserted the twin, his eyes sparkling at -her.</p> - -<p>“You’re Ronald.” Kelpie contradicted him serenely, -hardly glancing up from her plucking job.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Ou, aye,” said Kelpie. “He will be teasing you,” she -added, pleased to recognize it.</p> - -<p>Fiona looked shocked. Marsali peered suspiciously from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Master Ronald it <em>is</em>!” Marsali clucked, and Fiona -crossed herself and edged away from Kelpie. “How could -you be knowing, save with the Black Power?”</p> - -<p>“Aye,” demanded Ronald. “How were you knowing, -Kelpie? Was it witchcraft?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Mise-an-dhui!</i>” 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.</p> - -<p>“That is no proof you are a witch,” announced Donald. -“Mother and Wee Mairi can tell us apart, and they are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -no witches, only Mother is knowing us too well and Mairi -has Second Sight.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Witchcraft!” squeaked Fiona.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -sounded more plausible than the truth. But Eithne spoke -first.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well—” Lady Glenfern hesitated, inclined to believe -it, but not quite sure. After all....</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“This is <em>my</em> Kelpie,” she announced, smiling angelically -at her mother. “’Tis myself loves her, and you must not -be cross at her.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -careful, lass. To joke about such matters could cause you -sore trouble.”</p> - -<p>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....</p> - -<p>Wee Mairi chose this instant to lean confidingly against -Kelpie and peer up with a beguiling smile. “<em>My</em> Kelpie,” -she repeated.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>And then the twins arrived, dark heads cocked to one -side, eyes dancing at her impishly. “We have found you,” -they announced in triumph.</p> - -<p>“Fine I know it,” growled Kelpie, refusing to look at -them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I am doubting that!” snapped Kelpie.</p> - -<p>The twins digested this insult and then chuckled. “I -am liking you fine,” said Donald, “even though you are -not a witch.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie, touched again on that newly sensitive spot, shot -the shuttle through the warp with unnecessary violence -and said nothing.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I thought you were going fishing,” observed Kelpie.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -whatever,” added Ronald cheerfully, and Kelpie grinned -again.</p> - -<p>“We are learning about the war between King Charles -and Parliament and the Covenant,” volunteered Donald -sadly, “and we could do fine <em>not</em> 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.”</p> - -<p>“Are you loving King Charles?” demanded Ronald.</p> - -<p>“Ou, aye,” murmured Kelpie vaguely and hastened to -turn the question. “Are you?” she countered.</p> - -<p>“As ever was!” they chorused instantly. “Is he not our -King, and a Stewart, besides?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och, no!” said the twins in surprise. “No one is always -right,” they informed her gravely. “Except,” they added, -“for Father.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Have you ever,” she whispered, “heard of the <i lang="gd">uruisg</i> of -Glenlyon?”</p> - -<p>They shook their heads and drew their stools nearer.</p> - -<p>“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 -<i lang="gd">uruisg</i>. 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....”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_6">6. The Picture in the Loch</h2> - -<p>“’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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“But what of Scotland?” demanded Kelpie. “What had -it to do with us at all?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Eithne tilted her chestnut curls at him and wrinkled up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -her nose in an impish grin. “If I do,” she said, bargaining, -“will you be explaining the rest of the war to Kelpie?”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” said Alex and raised both eyebrows at Kelpie.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis a hard bargain,” complained Alex, “and I am -thinking I pity the man who will one day marry you, -Eithne <i lang="gd">m’eudail</i>.” 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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie gave him a wicked pointed smile. “Tell me,” she -said softly, “in one word, just, <em>what are they fighting for?</em>”</p> - -<p>“My sorrow!” exclaimed Alex, straightening up as if he -had sat on a thistle. “Is that all?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know?” asked Kelpie tauntingly. “I will tell -you, then. They’re fighting for power. Is it not so?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He laughed. “I fear me I shall anger you both,” he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -remarked, “and go through the rest of my life with an evil -spell on my head and a tom sleeve in my shirt.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” demanded Kelpie.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>Eithne subsided.</p> - -<p>“On the other hand, Alex <i lang="gd">avic</i>, there is Montrose.” It -was Ian. He pulled up a hassock and ranged himself -quietly but firmly on Eithne’s side.</p> - -<p>“Montrose?” asked Kelpie.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>And they were gone before Kelpie could ask about Argyll.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Eithne flickered a mischievous sideways glance at her. -“And wasn’t I warning you ’twas complicated?” she murmured.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Next time I will tell you about the <i lang="gd">sithiche</i> (fairies) of -Loch Maree—<em>if</em> you are all very kind to me,” she said -blandly and glanced impudently at Alex.</p> - -<p>She sat on alone by the loch for a little while after the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>What was her real self like? Had that changed? Could -it?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -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.... <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> Ian had fallen, his dark head -vanished in the throng! And Alex’s sword with blood on -it!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Dismayed, angry, resolute, Kelpie got to her feet, -smoothed down the full folds of her blue dress, and started -back up the loch.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> to his -back.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Finally Ian stirred and spoke. “I wish I might never -need to leave it again,” he said wistfully.</p> - -<p>Did he love it so? Kelpie dimly sensed that he did; but -she did not understand, for she herself had no roots to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie could not resist a gibe. “And is he not also a -Campbell, and his clan at feud with yours?” she remarked.</p> - -<p>Ian flushed. Even in the dusk she could see it. “’Tis not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -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—”</p> - -<p>“Mmmm,” said Kelpie, seeing.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie remembered the face she had seen once in the -crystal, which Mina had called Mac Cailein Mor, Marquis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Aye,” she agreed suddenly. “He is a red-haired <i lang="gd">uruisg</i>. -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.</p> - -<p>“You’ve seen that?” exclaimed Ian.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” exclaimed Ian, deeply impressed. “I did not -know you were having the Second Sight, Kelpie.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And you would lose it, then,” said Kelpie flatly. “For -I had a Seeing, and his sword fell upon you from behind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -and you fell. And there was anger on his face and blood -upon his sword.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_7">7. The Return of Mina and Bogle</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Amadain!</i>” 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. <i lang="gd">Amadain!</i>”</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>Mina looked pleased. She enjoyed Kelpie’s impotent -hatred. And Kelpie, knowing this, controlled her feelings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What for should I want to leave?” She stuck out her -jaw rebelliously, and Mina slapped it.</p> - -<p>“Because I am saying so!” she snarled. “And because I -will put an evil curse on you if you do not obey.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -whatever, for you are always promising it and never do -it.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was the twins who first spotted the assorted trio approaching, -and they began to shout excitedly.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Are you truly a witch?” demanded Ronald, and, in -spite of her gloom, Kelpie stifled a grin at the look on -Mina’s face.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” asked Ronald with great interest. “What -will happen if we do? Do you not think, Donald, that she -looks like a witch?”</p> - -<p>“Ou, aye,” declared Donald judiciously. “But we have -not seen her casting any spells yet. Can you cast spells, -Grannie Witchie?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Kelpie!” Eithne protested, shrinking a little from -Mina and Bogle. “Can you not stay?”</p> - -<p>“Och, you cannot go!” clamored the twins in outrage. -“Who will be telling us stories now?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Glenfern was looking at her keenly. “You are welcome -to stay, you know,” he told her.</p> - -<p>“Aye, to slave for you without pay!” whined Mina in -her most put-upon voice. If she had been slow to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -attack, she made up for it now. “We have come to have -her wages.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said Kelpie defiantly, but the sweet face -of Wee Mairi was warm and mocking in her heart.</p> - -<p>“Let be, Alex.” Ian sighed. “She cannot help it. There -was not enough time to change old habits.”</p> - -<p>“Nor ever will be,” retorted Alex.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But it was not quite over. Halfway up the hill a small<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>An hour or so later, annoyed but not in the least astonished, -Kelpie wiped her greasy fingers on the dirty rags<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Mina glared at her suspiciously, and Kelpie hastily -stopped grinning. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“Hah!” said Mina suddenly. “You think I am not knowing -what you are thinking?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“Hah!” said Mina again. “First we will read the crystal.”</p> - -<p>And presently, under the ghost-light of the summer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -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—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_8">8. A Task for Kelpie</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mina nodded, and the eyes turned back to Kelpie. -“Come here!” he commanded.</p> - -<p>Kelpie had a passionate desire to assert her own will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Mina shook her head humbly. “Never a word.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Again Kelpie nodded warily. And how did she enter -into all this, at all?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Now it was clear why she had been left at Glenfern to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>As easy as that!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -in a safe place, and they having to fulfill their part of the -bargain before they saw it.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>be</em> commanded again by anyone.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Then she pulled herself together. She must not give in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhia dhuit!</i>” 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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -And,” she added forthrightly, “I am not brave or clever -enough. But I will be your messenger, Sheena, when you -need me.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie, more and more resentful of being used by -others, nodded sullenly. But Janet’s next words cheered -her considerably.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -and rowan, patches of lavender-blooming heath and the -mystic white bog-cotton.</p> - -<p>“Best not to risk meeting anyone,” she remarked with -a trace of nervousness. “I dare not be seen with you, in -case....”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Four months ago Kelpie would have jeered at her in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“No!” She spat so violently that Janet raised her eyebrows -and gave Kelpie another sharp glance before she -turned to walk on.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You must be very canny, Sheena! If you are caught—” -She shuddered. “Have you a <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>?”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie looked at her <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -in the sun. Would she use it on herself? she wondered. -Did she dare?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She looked again at the gleaming edge of the <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>, -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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> back. Time enough to -think about it if the occasion came up.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie fell back a step or two. She looked thoughtfully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_9">9. Inverary Castle</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -not for Janet’s sake, but for one more night under the -free sky.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A man leading a horse stopped and regarded her with -little approval. “What is it that you are wanting?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“Could I be seeing Mrs. MacKellar, the housekeeper?” -asked Kelpie, her eyes lowered modestly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Once again there was the disapproving look. “And who -may you be?”</p> - -<p>“I be Sheena Campbell.” Kelpie launched into her story,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -not too glibly, with downcast eyes and humble voice. -“And it’s hoping I am to serve Mac Cailein Mor,” she -finished earnestly.</p> - -<p>“Mmmm,” commented Mrs. MacKellar. “We’ve lasses -aplenty in Inverary Village.”</p> - -<p>“Och,” protested Kelpie, “but ’tis experience I’ve had! -And,” she added pitifully, “they will be having homes, and -I with nowhere to turn.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“But and whyever else would I be coming to Mac Cailein -Mor?” demanded Kelpie artlessly.</p> - -<p>“Mmmm, that will be the question,” retorted Mrs. MacKellar. -“No, now, I’m thinking—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“My sorrow!” he ejaculated.</p> - -<p>Kelpie swiftly decided against being injured, as this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> -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!”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“What is this? Who is she?” Lord Lorne switched to -English, and Mrs. MacKellar replied in the same tongue.</p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>Lord Lorne bent and looked at them. Kelpie tried to -make them wide and pleading.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Seadh.</i>” Mrs. MacKellar shrugged and washed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“Well—” Mrs. MacKellar looked somewhat appeased. -“Come away in, then.” And Kelpie came.</p> - -<p class="tb">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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -people could live like this! Worse, that they seemed to -approve it! One could hardly say they <em>liked</em> anything.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_10">10. A Bit of Hair</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>And so she seethed under the joyless Covenant mask<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>It was in mid-July that it happened, during morning -prayer.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie had not needed to look at the oddness of a Cameron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But still, something was about to happen, and she must -find out as soon as ever she could. When prayers were over,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -they all heard or no. But then, there’d be no keeping this -kind of news secret, whatever.</p> - -<p>Kelpie clenched her fists. We? Then would Mac Cailein -Mor be away with the army himself?</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -might just do nicely, though, and they should be -in a cupboard, perhaps, or a wee box somewhere.</p> - -<p>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 <em>had</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“A thief, is it?” he rasped.</p> - -<p>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—”</p> - -<p>He pried her hand roughly open, and the damning -evidence of the hairs lay exposed on her palm.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>She didn’t once think of the <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> that rested within -the bodice of her sober gray dress.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Was it you hired her?” he demanded ominously of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“’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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie was again fervently wishing that she <em>could</em> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was no use at all. Everyone knew what hairs were -used for, even children.</p> - -<p>“Shall we burn her now, Mac Cailein Mor?” asked one -of the men. Kelpie’s heart thudded sickly. But Argyll -brooded.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>—and if she made up her -mind to use it.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_11">11. Argyll’s Dungeon</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sheena?”</p> - -<p>It was Ewen Cameron! She knew the voice of him!</p> - -<p>“Sheena, are you awake?”</p> - -<p>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—”</p> - -<p>“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 <em>are</em> a witch,” he added -ruefully, “but for all that, I cannot abide cruelty. Come -away, then, and like a mouse.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“’Tis an escape route in case of siege by an enemy,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie didn’t answer this, for the simple reason that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -was not at all sure what a principle was. Unless—Could -it have anything to do with not using the <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> 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.</p> - -<p>They emerged in a shallow cave on the hill above Inverary, -not far from where Kelpie had first looked down -upon the castle.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Will <em>he</em> be finding out ’twas you who freed me?”</p> - -<p>“I think not,” said Ewen, and there was laughter in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -and MacDonalds against her, as he had threatened.</p> - -<p><i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Seadh</i>, 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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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—”</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -Is it that they were stealing you, then? Tell me all about -it, heart’s love, every bit!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_12">12. Meeting at Pitlochry</h2> - -<p>“’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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -backs—much simpler, if less exciting, than stealing. It -made her feel odd to be <em>given</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Dinna mock him!” whispered another. “Ye’ll no be -wanting yon wild foreign Hielanders crossing the mountains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> -wi’ their wicked screechin’ pipes and attacking us, -will ye?”</p> - -<p>“Dinna fret, they’ll no come. ’Tis too busy they are wi’ -their own heathen fighting; Papists, the lot o’ them.”</p> - -<p>“They might, if Montrose could stir them up tae fight -for the King against the Covenant.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>They both bent lowering gray brows when they saw the -shamelessly eavesdropping Kelpie. She scurried away hastily, -lest they think her a spy.</p> - -<p>She wandered on, begging, stealing, and listening, until -she came at last to Pitlochry.</p> - -<p>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.... “<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” said Kelpie, and -they all stopped short.</p> - -<p>They stared at one another with mixed feelings. “Why, -whatever will ye be doing here, at all?” demanded Kelpie -with astonishment.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“And are you all right, Kelpie?” he asked kindly. “Mina -and Bogle are treating you well?”</p> - -<p>“Sssss,” she said again. “They are wicked <i lang="gd">uruisgean</i>, and -I have left them this long time ago. I did not want to be -leaving Glenfern whatever,” she added hopefully.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“I was not stealing them whatever!” Kelpie was outraged -more by his manner than by his words.</p> - -<p>“But you would be saying the same thing even if you -had,” encouraged Alex with a straight face.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och, the wicked wee lass!” Alex chuckled. “She’ll never -change!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No, now, but she has changed!” Ian objected. “She -could not laugh at herself when first she came to Glenfern.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It was not my fault!” protested Kelpie. “Mina was -threatening to put a curse on you all if I did not come with -them.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Was it her fancy that Ian’s smile seemed a wee bit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -warmer than usual? “Why,” he said, “we are with Colkitto’s -army, up at Blair Atholl, and—”</p> - -<p>Kelpie forgot about beguiling him. “Colkitto!” she -yelped. “You mean Antrim?”</p> - -<p>“Aye, ’tis what we call him; Alistair MacDonald, Earl -of Antrim, who has—”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -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?”</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">avic</i>, let us not be -trusting her as far as tomorrow, for there is no loyalty in -her.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You!” she fumed. “You, to be talking of loyalty, who -would strike down a friend from behind!”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -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. “<i lang="gd">Dhiaoul!</i>” he muttered under his -breath and knit his brows in annoyance, leaving most of -the conversation to Ian.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Fine, that!” murmured Kelpie, remembering that day -at Inverary. “And Argyll away after him all over the Highlands.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie could imagine, easily. Her blood ran cold at the -thought of Wee Mairi in danger, and she nodded soberly.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>A puffy cloud blew over the sun, darkening the bright -hills, and the thistles waved in a sudden sharp breeze.</p> - -<p class="tb">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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“It couldn’t be an attack!” Ian frowned, staring across -the moor, “but what is it?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis he!” shouted Alex. “’Tis Graham of Montrose! -Look you there!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -young man, and Kelpie remembered. She had seen it in -the crystal, that first morning at Glenfern.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_13">13. The Hexing of Alex</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">ghillie</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>that</em>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Artillery?” mused Alex. “None.”</p> - -<p>“Cavalry—three old horses, one of them lame,” chanted -Ian.</p> - -<p>“Guns—some old-fashioned matchlocks, and all the ammunition -we could be needing to shoot a third of them for -one round each.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>” he added, reaching -down to tap the wee dirk where it nestled in his stocking, -just on the outside of his right knee.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie looked at them. There was, she felt, a definite -limit to the things a body should be joking about. She said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -so. And Lachlan, who felt personally responsible for the -safety of Ian and Alex, for once agreed with her.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé</i>, no!” Ian agreed, laughing. “You said she was trying -to poison us, Maeve. You’d not be wanting to try that -again, would you?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis gey queer,” retorted Maeve, “for a gypsy not to -be able to cook over an open fire.”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Lachlan snorted.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>“For shame, Alex,” said Ian reproachfully. “She’s nearly -believing it.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Then she wrapped up the hex figure, went back to the -rowan tree, and began to watch Alex hopefully.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie began looking wistfully at the tall, gaunt woman -again. If she <em>was</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>“And so,” urged Montrose, “we must put aside lesser -loyalties and quarrels amongst our own clans, and stand -together.”</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -of Inchbrakie, and his words to them were less simple and -certain than those to the untaught clansmen.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>be</em> the ruler.”</p> - -<p>“And if he doesn’t?” It was Patrick Graham, called -“Black Pate.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie chewed her lip thoughtfully. Och, now, and -there was a good idea. She could think of several such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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.”</p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>“Let her down, Alistair,” suggested Montrose gently, -“and perhaps she can tell us what she was doing there.”</p> - -<p>“Spying for Argyll, perhaps?” suggested Patrick narrowly, -looking at her gray dress.</p> - -<p>Kelpie’s indignation was genuine. “That <i lang="gd">nathrach</i>!” She -sputtered earnestly and went on to curse him vigorously. -“He is a <i lang="gd">droch-inntinneach uruisg</i> and a red-haired devil -with a black heart in him!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> - -<p>Montrose, who knew little Gaelic, looked interested. -“What was that?” he inquired, and Antrim chuckled.</p> - -<p>“She called him a serpent and an evil-minded monster,” -he translated. “And I’m thinking she meant it, too! Well, -then, why <em>were</em> you skulking there, lass?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_14">14. The Battle of Tippermuir</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They spent the night on the moor of Fowlis, and early -in the morning were away down the Small Glen, and on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>she</em> did.</p> - -<p class="tb">Ian, who had an even better view in his spot in the -front row of the battle line, was not feeling very optimistic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -himself. He looked with resignation over the flaunting -blue banners of the Covenant ranks bearing the motto: -<em>For Christ’s Crown and Covenant</em>—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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“And are you frightened, Ian?” he asked with a crooked -grin.</p> - -<p>“As ever was!” retorted Ian forthrightly, and Alex -chuckled.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I think <em>he</em> isn’t afraid,” observed Ian.</p> - -<p>Alex nodded agreement. “Montrose is worried, though,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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, <i lang="gd">avic</i>?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Incredulous anger rippled through the Highland army. -Ian stood aghast. “He couldn’t!” he whispered. “He -<em>couldn’t</em> violate a flag of truce!” And for once even the -more cynical Alex shared Ian’s feelings.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -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. “<i lang="gd">Dhiaoul!</i>” -he muttered and turned his attention to the matters at -hand.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Ian’s was equally cool. “Just be leaving him to me,” he -said. “I’ll have had my three by then.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -fleeing backs, and the charge went on and on—until they -were at the gates of Perth.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>Kelpie joined a group of ragged Highlanders who were -standing there listening. “<em>Now</em> 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!”</p> - -<p>“Is it ourselves he means?” asked Kelpie of the nearest -Highlander.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The preacher stopped, glared, and began to launch forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -with more Bible verses. But the Highlanders had got the -idea.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no use one army stopping, and the others going -on doing it,” argued Kelpie.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie sneered audibly, and Archie made a rude noise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>“I think he would do so anyway,” insisted Ian, “’Tis a -point of integrity, Kelpie.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie looked blank, and Alex laughed. “Do not be -trying to explain integrity to <em>her</em>, 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -would he be coming away this minute to have his sore -wound tended.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_15">15. Witch Hunt</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -orders from Maeve not to be letting Mac ’ic Ian do anything -to start his cut bleeding afresh.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>Maeve hesitated, glared at Kelpie, and declined. And -the party, some dozen or fifteen altogether, set off.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie smiled enigmatically and declined to answer. But -she turned the idea over in her mind.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They walked on, with the long, tireless Highland stride,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -chattering and laughing with the upsurge of spirits that -was a normal reaction from the fear and triumph of yesterday.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Alex’s red brows slanted upward. “<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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.”</p> - -<p>“Only so that you could be saving me, Alex <i lang="gd">avic</i>,” 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Ian nodded gravely. “That was the way of it. I was too -frightened to think of turning around.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">uisghebaugh</i>, if there is such -a thing outside of the Highlands.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -it could have an evil spell on it, all the same. She said so.</p> - -<p>“If your spells haven’t worked, I doubt anyone’s could!” -Alex taunted her. “For you’ve tried hard enough, haven’t -you?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -the chance at all to be better, no matter how I might try.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“’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?”</p> - -<p>A rare blaze of rage swept over Alex. “<i lang="gd">Dhiaoul!</i> ’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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mina and Bogle!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There she is! The kelpie who led us into witchcraft! -In the gray dress! There! Look at the ringed eyes of her!”</p> - -<p>“She’ll be putting the Evil Eye on ye all” croaked Bogle -venomously.</p> - -<p>Sick fear and revulsion were in Kelpie as her quick eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Alex!” screamed Kelpie. “Ian! Help!” And she lifted -her voice in the Cameron war rant, hoping that the familiar -words might reach Ian. “<i lang="gd">Chlanna non can, thigibh -a so</i>—” 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?</p> - -<p>“Ye’ll not be taking a witch’s word!” she cried out. “I -am of the Kirk, and have been servant to Argyll himself!”</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Chlanna non can, thigibh a so’s gheibh sibh feoil!</i>” 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.</p> - -<p>And then another voice, that of Alex. “<em>Ian!</em>” 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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> - -<p>“<em>Ian!</em>” 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.</p> - -<p>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....</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -and then crawled into a thick patch of broom and lay -gasping and sobbing.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>And Ian! Was he dead, then? Dead trying to save herself, -who had then fled without a backward look?</p> - -<p>But it was only sense to have saved herself! It was -what Ian had been trying to do, to save <em>her</em>, 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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>What was she to do now? And where was she going? -She didn’t care much. It would be nice just to lie down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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....</p> - -<p>And then she remembered the braes of Balquidder and -two kind and lonely old folk who had said, “Haste ye -back.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_16">16. Morag Mhor</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> -witch, and what was more, she never would be, however -hard she might try!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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—</p> - -<p>She wrenched her mind from the thought of Ian, drank -her broth, and drifted back to sleep.</p> - -<p>When she was on her feet again, Kelpie was strangely -content just to stay where she was. It seemed to her that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie had never thought of the matter. She did so now. -What <em>was</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She didn’t ask herself any questions then, but turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -in her tracks and walked back to the hut, where Callum -and Alsoon were greeting the lad and asking for more -details.</p> - -<p>“And where are they?” she demanded.</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och, no, heart’s darling!” protested Alsoon. “Not into -Campbell lands, and in midwinter! Bide with us a wee -while longer, until spring.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“Haste ye back, white love,” she added at last as Kelpie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> -took the food and put on the shoes and stood looking at -her.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>From the top of the next hill she looked down on Montrose’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“It is I that am coming with you,” announced Kelpie -cheekily. “Where are all the women and bairns?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>He grinned sympathetically. “Och, well—we’ve a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Indeed and no!” protested Kelpie with great promptness. -“Only a poor lost lass, and away from home—”</p> - -<p>Morag Mhor laughed loudly. “Gypsy!” she repeated, -pointing a long forefinger.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Are you?” countered Kelpie, remembering with a pang -that she herself was not and never could be.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I was prisoner of Mac Cailein Mor,” she volunteered. -“He would have burned me, but I escaped.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_17">17. The Road to Inverary</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Now an advance party had gone ahead of the main<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i>.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Fine brave soldiers ye are!” jeered Morag. “Are ye no -afraid to be attacking such dangerous foes? Here’s the wee<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> -bairn, now. Will one of you not challenge him to fair -combat?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>And then she turned abruptly and headed in long strides -back to the Highland army, not waiting for the stammered -words of thanks.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> - -<p>Kelpie trailed along at her heels, saying nothing but -thinking a good deal.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie winced. “Was he killed entirely?” she asked, -her heart pounding for fear of the answer.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“And Alex MacDonald?” she demanded balefully.</p> - -<p>“He’s—away,” said Archie, and it was clear that he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>The meat was done now and being divided. Archie -pulled his <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie looked as blank as she felt. “I don’t understand -you whatever!” she said warily.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> -silence that an instant later we were hearing the Cameron -rant, and Ian shouting ‘’Tis Kelpie in trouble!’”</p> - -<p>Kelpie shook her head blankly. “And what then?” was -all she said.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Archie looked at her uneasily. There was a look about -her not quite canny, and it was occurring to him that folk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Morag Mhor was with the men heading for the village, -loudly daring them to lay a finger on woman or child, her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“’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.</p> - -<p>“Ssss!” said Kelpie in savage regret.</p> - -<p>The pipes lifted a wild wail of derision. “Oh, the great -Argyll!” someone yelled. “Brave General Campbell! What,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> -will you be away off, Mac Cailein Mor, and us just come -to visit?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> - -<p>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 <em>very</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” boomed Antrim. “And whom have we here?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis the eavesdropping lass from last summer,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -answered Montrose, standing still, taking in every detail.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>“I see you’ve wasted no time,” he observed mildly. -“How is it you’re here ahead even of your army commander?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>He looked at it, and at her. The corners of his mouth -moved slightly. “That would be Argyll’s cairngorm, I suppose?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“Och, aye!” exclaimed Kelpie earnestly, “You must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_18">18. The Black Sail</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">avic</i>, and I a poor helpless man at your mercy.”</p> - -<p>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! -<i lang="gd">Amadan!</i>”</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie followed the army as far as Lochiel’s home at -Torcastle, curious to see whether or not Lochiel would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> -soldier who came running out of the gate, under the impression -that he had seen something, shook his head and -cursed the weather.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Oh, there was no doubt whatever! The Campbell had -gathered his courage and his army and had come after -Montrose.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_19">19. Footprints in the Snow</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Campbells! <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> and they will be murdering us all, -then!”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not,” said Kelpie hopefully. “If Mac Cailein -Mor is after Montrose, perhaps he’ll not be lingering in -Lochaber.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> -reason to fear Mac Cailein Mor, Kelpie had that much -more.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Och,’tis both good and brave you are!” said Lorne -gratefully. Kelpie left the house hurriedly, feeling oddly -embarrassed.</p> - -<p>She moved cautiously around the flank of the ben, skulking -behind masses of juniper and pine clumps, until she -could see the castle. <i lang="gd">Mise-an-dhui!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie’s heart sank as she watched groups of men forming -before the castle. It was what she had expected in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Will you not be staying too?” begged Lorne, her dark -eyes anxious for the safety of this generous new friend.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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. “<i lang="gd">Dhia dhuit</i>,” he greeted her politely. “And -what is a wee lass doing alone in the cold? Will you no -have a sup of hot food?”</p> - -<p>“I will, then,” agreed Kelpie promptly. “And give an -important word to you, and also a task if you will do it.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“That I will not!” retorted Kelpie firmly. “For every -house in Lochaber is a danger. I’ll be away east out of -trouble.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>No, there were no wings. There the prints went, back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie straightened and looked up the glen cautiously. -Where was he, then? And who was he? Warily she began -to follow the retreating footprints.</p> - -<p>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 <i lang="gd">sgian dhu</i> 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. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“And have I taken the home of the water witch?”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> -regarding her quizzically—but with a drawn look about -the mouth of him. One foot, badly swollen, was propped -up before him.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Alex stared, frankly unbelieving. “You?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Alex narrowed his hazel eyes at her, and Kelpie prudently -moved a step farther away. “And why not?” he -inquired lazily.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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....”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“Sssss!” said Kelpie earnestly.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>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 <em>not</em>! -She stamped her foot.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“What will you be doing now?” she asked against her -will.</p> - -<p>“Bide here,” he returned philosophically, “since I can -do nothing else, and see what will happen.”</p> - -<p>“They will be seeing your smoke,” she pointed out, still -reluctantly.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_20">20. The Campbell Lass</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -him to silence her. She began to feel very trapped herself. -Was no place in the world safe for her?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie’s heart threatened to choke her. He’d be sending -her back, fine enough! “<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i>” 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.”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He nearly did get away. The cave, when they finally -found it, was empty, the fire quenched with snow. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“A MacDonald!” Hamish peered upward. “Come away -down, now, or we’ll shoot you there.”</p> - -<p>“And what difference?” asked Alex mockingly from his -high perch. “I’d as lief be shot here as on the ground.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie set her teeth. She hoped they’d shoot him now, -before he could see her and speak against her. She <em>did</em>! -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.</p> - -<p>“We’re no for shooting you now,” he announced, “but -will be taking you prisoner.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>This last clearly appealed to most of the Campbells, -but Hamish stuck out his jaw. “Aye, then. Finlay and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -Angus will carry you,” he announced, to the displeasure -of two of his men.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She tried to collect her thoughts during the long, slow -trip back to Inverlochy Castle. Why had Alex not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>He looked at her kindly. “No, ’tis much too cold for -you to be traveling alone,” he said with firmness.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Fine, then,” said Hamish. “For the wee bit placie for -you to hide is down there too, and we need not be going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>From behind came the pound of running footsteps, and -an excited voice raised. “Mac Cailein Mor! Mac Cailein -Mor!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> - -<p>A soldier rushed past them to the figures a few yards -ahead, and the cold voice of Argyll answered. “Here. -What is it, then?”</p> - -<p>“Montrose!” The soldier gasped. “Some of our scouts -have just come back. They say Montrose is on Ben Nevis!”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_21">21. Vengeance</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Impossible!” said Argyll. His voice was thin.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Impossible,” repeated Argyll more thinly yet. “He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>There was a good deal of sense in this. Even Kelpie, -still as a bogle behind her bush, frowned in puzzlement. -How <em>could</em> Montrose have come so quickly, and <em>not</em> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Och, your Lordship, he has a hurt foot, and it would -be too hard to carry him this whole way if—”</p> - -<p>“He could have been shamming, you fool!” Argyll was -furious. “Tie him now.”</p> - -<p>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. <em>Were</em> you shamming?”</p> - -<p>“Not a whit,” said Alex coolly. “I’d have left you before -this, if I were.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I almost have it in my heart to pity you, just for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -your courage, though you’re a cursed MacDonald. Angus, -where’s the wee lass?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Och, she’ll freeze, just, poor <i lang="gd">amadain</i>!” said Hamish -worriedly. “And she could have been staying at the shelter -with us, and quite safe. Well, so. Come away now.”</p> - -<p>They moved off toward the loch, leaving Kelpie to figure -out her new situation.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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—</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>She waited a few minutes more; then she <em>had</em> to get -warm! And Alex seemed to be truly asleep. Standing up, -she raised her voice scarcely above a whisper. “Hamish!”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> -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?”</p> - -<p>“Ou, aye,” said Hamish tolerantly, “if you’re so frighted -as all that.”</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>“Put my things aboard,” ordered Argyll’s cold voice. -“I’ll be along as soon as I see to this prisoner. Where is -he?”</p> - -<p>“Here, asleep,” replied Hamish humbly. “Wake you up, -MacDonald! Mac Cailein Mor wants to talk to you.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie knew that his coolness would enrage Argyll, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -repeatedly fled danger and was about to do it again. This -would go hard with Alex. She <em>must</em> 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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Your name?” asked Argyll harshly.</p> - -<p>“Alexander MacDonald of Ardochy on Loch Garry,” replied -Alex proudly.</p> - -<p>“So. Son of a chieftain, then. And what were you doing -skulking in Lochaber?”</p> - -<p>“Nursing a sprained ankle,” replied Alex, still with a -faint smile, “and hoping to be overlooked by your men.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Could anyone <em>not</em> be knowing you were here, with the -smoke of burning homes rising like the plague?” he retorted -reasonably.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You are a spy left behind!” Argyll went on threateningly. -“It was you warned him we were here!”</p> - -<p>“I wish I <em>had</em> been the one,” confessed Alex wryly. “I -would not be here if I had. But since I <em>am</em> here, and not -with Montrose, that is clearly nonsense.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Even Hamish looked shocked at this unfairness, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> -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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Alex turned—oh, so casually!—and his eyes, dark in the -shadow of the shelter, looked straight into hers.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“And how,” he asked deliberately, “could I be doing -that?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -nothing and less than nothing, especially since he believed -she had betrayed him to the Campbells.</p> - -<p>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 <em>not</em> 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 <em>want</em> 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 <em>was</em>!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> - -<p>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—</p> - -<p>“Take him out yonder and shoot him,” said Argyll.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“No, now,” she said, “for ’twas I sent the messenger.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="Chapter_22">22. The Last Word</h2> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Alex laughed, and his laughter was delighted, exasperated—and -somehow sad. He moved to stand beside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> -ground, while still another voice shouted, “Get you to the -galley, Mac Cailein Mor!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="tb">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There was more movement presently, and then Ronald’s -voice asking with deep interest, “Is she awake yet?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie wrinkled her forehead as Dubh spat nastily at -Donald. Alex? Alex at Glenfern? Dubh regarded her with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> -slitted yellow eyes and then draped himself in a scraggy, -purring fur piece across her shoulder. “Alex?” said Kelpie -aloud, puzzled.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>like</em> 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?”</p> - -<p>The small hand in Kelpie’s stirred. “Aye so!” piped Wee -Mairi indignantly. “My Kelpie <em>does</em> love me!”</p> - -<p>“Aye,” confessed Kelpie, her defenses quite down. -“But,” she went on incredulously, “is Alex truly here? At -Glenfern?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>But Kelpie, more and more bewildered, was in no state -to tell stories. “Alex?” she repeated stupidly.</p> - -<p>“Himself.” It was his voice, with something new in the -laughter of it. Suddenly the room was full of people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Och, it made no sense at all! Kelpie closed her eyes -again and moved her head fretfully.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie’s puzzlement deepened. <i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> 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 <em>she</em> could tell them -what had happened, and Alex knew it, and yet here he -stood quite at ease.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> -with such a puzzle or even to decide whether or no she -should tell Ian what his foster brother had done.</p> - -<p>“<i lang="gd">Dhé</i>, 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Kelpie slowly progressed from bewilderment to indignation. -Only the last words had any meaning whatever, and -that was little enough.</p> - -<p>“<em>I!</em>” 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!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>Kelpie nodded.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Kelpie found herself wondering suddenly about Morag -Mhor and Rab, Archie, and the others. “And had we many -killed?”</p> - -<p>Alex shook his head. “It was a rout,” he said. “They tell -me there are some two hundred or more wounded, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> -scarce over a dozen killed outright. It seems fair unbelievable.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“You would be coming <em>here</em>?” Kelpie spat. “You, with -all your prating of loyalty and the laws of hospitality<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>Complete bewilderment was on Alex’s face. “Either -your wits or mine are wandering entirely,” he said. “What -are you talking about? Tell what?”</p> - -<p>“That you tried to kill Ian!” answered Kelpie.</p> - -<p>“<em>What?</em>” He was utterly dumfounded, and Kelpie’s -conviction wavered, but only briefly. She knew what she -had seen!</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>“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 -<em>seeing</em> my sword <em>strike</em> Ian?”</p> - -<p>“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—”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> -went down at the same moment. Little <i lang="gd">amadain</i>, how could -you be thinking I would turn on my foster brother, dearer -than kin, for whom I would give my heart’s blood?”</p> - -<p>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 <em>must</em> know that I did not do it.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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? <em>Why?</em>”</p> - -<p>There was sudden gladness on Alex’s lean face. “Kelpie!” -he fairly shouted. “You didn’t betray me, then?”</p> - -<p>She shook her head irritably and immediately wished -she hadn’t. “I <em>told</em> you I did not dare! And now you know -why, with Mac Cailein Mor already wanting me for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> -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 <em>believing</em> it was I, and -you needing only a word to save yourself and settle all -accounts. Why did you not tell?” she demanded angrily.</p> - -<p>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, <i lang="gd">mo chridhe</i>, -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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>She was regarding him with annoyance. “I think it was -a spell, whatever,” she announced accusingly.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -And now she will have to marry Ian, just, though perhaps -neither of them will mind much. I have <em>never</em> 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!”</p> - -<p>“Marry me!” Kelpie’s shock reached to the very soles -of her feet.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“<em>I</em> can, then!” Kelpie sizzled with outrage. “Did you -never think of consulting <em>me</em>? Were you thinking I would—<i lang="gd">Dhé!</i> -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—”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> -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?”</p> - -<p>“The gypsies <em>stole</em> me, I tell you!” retorted Kelpie automatically.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>“Sssss!” said Kelpie contentedly.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> -<img src="images/author.jpg" width="550" height="700" alt="" /> -<p class="right smaller">PHOTO BY LARRY WAY</p> -<p class="center"><i>Sally Watson in costume for the Highland Games competition</i></p> -</div> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITCH OF THE GLENS***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 61360-h.htm or 61360-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/3/6/61360">http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/3/6/61360</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>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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