Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped
Being Memoirs of the Adventures of
David Balfour in the year 1751 how he was kidnapped and cast away his
sufferings in a desert isle his journey in the wild highlands his acquaintance
with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious highland Jacobites with all that he
suffered at the hands of his uncle Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws falsely socalled
written by himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dedication
My dear Charles Baxter
If you ever read this tale you will likely ask yourself more questions than
I should care to answer as for instance how the Appin murder has come to fall
in the year 1751 how the Torran rocks have crept so near to Earraid or why the
printed trial is silent as to all that touches David Balfour These are nuts
beyond my ability to crack But if you tried me on the point of Alans guilt or
innocence I think I could defend the reading of the text To this day you will
find the tradition of Appin clear in Alans favour If you inquire you may even
hear that the descendants of the other man who fired the shot are in the country
to this day But that other mans name inquire as you please you shall not
hear for the Highlander values a secret for itself and for the congenial
exercise of keeping it I might go on for long to justify one point and own
another indefensible it is more honest to confess at once how little I am
touched by the desire of accuracy This is no furniture for the scholars
library but a book for the winter evening schoolroom when the tasks are over
and the hour for bed draws near and honest Alan who was a grim old fireeater
in his day has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some
young gentlemans attention from his Ovid carry him a while into the Highlands
and the last century and pack him to bed with some engaging images to mingle
with his dreams
As for you my dear Charles I do not even ask you to like this tale But
perhaps when he is older your son will he may then be pleased to find his
fathers name on the flyleaf and in the meanwhile it pleases me to set it
there in memory of many days that were happy and some now perhaps as pleasant
to remember that were sad If it is strange for me to look back from a distance
both in time and space on these bygone adventures of our youth it must be
stranger for you who tread the same streets who may tomorrow open the door of
the old Speculative where we begin to rank with Scott and Robert Emmet and the
beloved and inglorious Macbean or may pass the corner of the close where that
great society the LJR held its meetings and drank its beer sitting in the
seats of Burns and his companions I think I see you moving there by plain
daylight beholding with your natural eyes those places that have now become for
your companion a part of the scenery of dreams How in the intervals of present
business the past must echo in your memory Let it not echo often without some
kind thoughts of your friend
RLS
Skerryvore
Bournemouth
Chapter I
I Set Off Upon My Journey to the House of Shaws
I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the
month of June the year of grace 1751 when I took the key for the last time out
of the door of my fathers house The sun began to shine upon the summit of the
hills as I went down the road and by the time I had come as far as the manse
the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs and the mist that hung
around the valley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die away
Mr Campbell the minister of Essendean was waiting for me by the garden
gate good man He asked me if I had breakfasted and hearing that I lacked for
nothing he took my hand in both of his and clapped it kindly under his arm
»Well Davie lad« said he »I will go with you as far as the ford to set
you on the way«
And we began to walk forward in silence
»Are ye sorry to leave Essendean« said he after a while
»Why sir« said I »if I knew where I was going or what was likely to
become of me I would tell you candidly Essendean is a good place indeed and I
have been very happy there but then I have never been anywhere else My father
and mother since they are both dead I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than
in the Kingdom of Hungary and to speak truth if I thought I had a chance to
better myself where I was going I would go with a good will«
»Ay« said Mr Campbell »Very well Davie Then it behoves me to tell your
fortune or so far as I may When your mother was gone and your father the
worthy Christian man began to sicken for his end he gave me in charge a
certain letter which he said was your inheritance So soon says he as I am
gone and the house is redd up and the gear disposed of all which Davie hath
been done give my boy this letter into his hand and start him off to the
house of Shaws not far from Cramond That is the place I came from he said
and its where it befits that my boy should return He is a steady lad your
father said and a canny goer and I doubt not he will come safe and be well
liked where he goes«
»The house of Shaws« I cried »What had my poor father to do with the house
of Shaws«
»Nay« said Mr Campbell »who can tell that for a surety But the name of
that family Davie boy is the name you bear Balfours of Shaws an ancient
honest reputable house peradventure in these latter days decayed Your father
too was a man of learning as befitted his position no man more plausibly
conducted school nor had he the manner or the speech of a common dominie but
as ye will yourself remember I took aye a pleasure to have him to the manse to
meet the gentry and those of my own house Campbell of Kilrennet Campbell of
Dunswire Campbell of Minch and others all wellkenned gentlemen had pleasure
in his society Lastly to put all the elements of this affair before you here
is the testamentary letter itself superscrived by the own hand of our departed
brother«
He gave me the letter which was addressed in these words »To the hands of
Ebenezer Balfour Esquire of Shaws in his house of Shaws these will be
delivered by my son David Balfour« My heart was beating hard at this great
prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen years of age the son of
a poor country dominie in the Forest of Ettrick
»Mr Campbell« I stammered »and if you were in my shoes would you go«
»Of a surety« said the minister »that would I and without pause A pretty
lad like you should get to Cramond which is near in by Edinburgh in two days
of walk If the worst came to the worst and your high relations as I cannot
but suppose them to be somewhat of your blood should put you to the door ye
can but walk the two days back again and risp at the manse door But I would
rather hope that ye shall be well received as your poor father forecast for
you and for anything that I ken come to be a great man in time And here Davie
laddie« he resumed »it lies near upon my conscience to improve this parting
and set you on the right guard against the dangers of the world«
Here he cast about for a comfortable seat lighted on a big boulder under a
birch by the trackside sate down upon it with a very long serious upper lip
and the sun now shining in upon us between two peaks put his
pockethandkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter him There then with
uplifted forefinger he first put me on my guard against a considerable number
of heresies to which I had no temptation and urged upon me to be instant in my
prayers and reading of the Bible That done he drew a picture of the great
house that I was bound to and how I should conduct myself with its inhabitants
»Be soople Davie in things immaterial« said he »Bear ye this in mind
that though gentle born ye have had a country rearing Dinna shame us Davie
dinna shame us In yon great muckle house with all these domestics upper and
under show yourself as nice as circumspect as quick at the conception, and as
slow of speech as any As for the laird remember hes the laird I say no
more honour to whom honour Its a pleasure to obey a laird or should be to
the young«
»Well sir« said I »it may be and Ill promise you Ill try to make it
so«
»Why very well said« replied Mr Campbell heartily »And now to come to
the material or to make a quibble to the immaterial I have here a little
packet which contains four things« He tugged it as he spoke and with some
great difficulty from the skirtpocket of his coat »Of these four things the
first is your legal due the little pickle money for your fathers books and
plenishing which I have bought as I have explained from the first in the
design of reselling at a profit to the incoming dominie The other three are
gifties that Mrs Campbell and myself would be blithe of your acceptance The
first which is round will likely please ye best at the first offgo but O
Davie laddie its but a drop of water in the sea itll help you but a step
and vanish like the morning The second which is flat and square and written
upon will stand by you through life like a good staff for the road and a good
pillow to your head in sickness And as for the last which is cubical thatll
see you its my prayerful wish into a better land«
With that he got upon his feet took off his hat and prayed a little while
aloud and in affecting terms for a young man setting out into the world then
suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard then held me at arms
length looking at me with his face all working with sorrow and then whipped
about and crying goodbye to me set off backward by the way that we had come
at a sort of jogging run It might have been laughable to another but I was in
no mind to laugh I watched him as long as he was in sight and he never stopped
hurrying nor once looked back Then it came in upon my mind that this was all
his sorrow at my departure and my conscience smote me hard and fast because I
for my part was overjoyed to get away out of that quiet countryside and go to
a great busy house among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and
blood
»Davie Davie« I thought »was ever seen such black ingratitude Can you
forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name Fie fie
think shame«
And I sat down on the boulder the good man had just left and opened the
parcel to see the nature of my gifts That which he had called cubical I had
never had much doubt of sure enough it was a little Bible to carry in a
plaidneuk That which he had called round I found to be a shilling piece and
the third which was to help me so wonderfully both in health and sickness all
the days of my life was a little piece of coarse yellow paper written upon
thus in red ink
»To Make Lilly of the Valley Water Take the flowers of lilly of the
valley and distil them in sack and drink a spooneful or two as there is
occasion It restores speech to those that have the dumb palsey It is
good against the Gout it comforts the heart and strengthens the memory
and the flowers put into a Glasse close stopt and set into ane hill
of ants for a month then take it out and you will find a liquor which
comes from the flowers which keep in a vial it is good ill or well
and whether man or woman«
And then in the ministers own hand was added
»Likewise for sprains rub it in and for the cholic a great spooneful
in the hour«
To be sure I laughed over this but it was rather tremulous laughter and I was
glad to get my bundle on my staffs end and set out over the ford and up the
hill upon the farther side till just as I came on the green droveroad running
wide through the heather I took my last look of Kirk Essendean the trees about
the manse and the big rowans in the kirkyard where my father and my mother lay
Chapter II
I Come to My Journeys End
On the forenoon of the second day coming to the top of a hill I saw all the
country fall away before me down to the sea and in the midst of this descent
on a long ridge the city of Edinburgh smoking like a kiln There was a flag
upon the castle and ships moving or lying anchored in the firth both of which
for as far away as they were I could distinguish clearly and both brought my
country heart into my mouth
Presently after I came by a house where a shepherd lived and got a rough
direction for the neighbourhood of Cramond and so from one to another worked
my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton till I came out upon the
Glasgow road And there to my great pleasure and wonder I beheld a regiment
marching to the fifes every foot in time an old redfaced general on a grey
horse at the one end and at the other the company of grenadiers with their
Popeshats The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the sight of the
red coats and the hearing of that merry music
A little farther on and I was told I was in Cramond parish and began to
substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of Shaws It was a word that
seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way At first I thought the
plainness of my appearance in my country habit and that all dusty from the
road consorted ill with the greatness of the place to which I was bound But
after two or maybe three had given me the same look and the same answer I
began to take it into my head there was something strange about the Shaws
itself.
The better to set this fear at rest I changed the form of my inquiries
and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the shaft of his cart I
asked him if he had ever heard tell of a house they called the house of Shaws
He stopped his cart and looked at me like the others
»Ay« said he »What for«
»Its a great house« I asked
»Doubtless« says he »The house is a big muckle house«
»Ay« said I »but the folk that are in it«
»Folk« cried he »Are ye daft Theres nae folk there to call folk«
»What« say I »not Mr Ebenezer«
»Ou ay« says the man »theres the laird to be sure if its him youre
wanting Whatll like be your business mannie«
»I was led to think that I would get a situation« I said looking as modest
as I could
»What« cries the carter in so sharp a note that his very horse started
and then »Well mannie« he added »its nane of my affairs but ye seem a
decentspoken lad and if yell take a word from me yell keep clear of the
Shaws«
The next person I came across was a dapper little man in a beautiful white
wig whom I saw to be a barber on his rounds and knowing well that barbers were
great gossips I asked him plainly what sort of a man was Mr Balfour of the
Shaws
»Hoot hoot hoot« said the barber »nae kind of a man nae kind of a man
at all« and began to ask me very shrewdly what my business was but I was more
than a match for him at that and he went on to his next customer no wiser than
he came
I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions The more
indistinct the accusations were the less I liked them for they left the wider
field to fancy What kind of a great house was this that all the parish should
start and stare to be asked the way to it or what sort of a gentleman that his
illfame should be thus current on the wayside If an hours walking would have
brought me back to Essendean I had left my adventure then and there and
returned to Mr Campbells But when I had come so far a way already mere shame
would not suffer me to desist till I had put the matter to the touch of proof I
was bound out of mere selfrespect to carry it through and little as I liked
the sound of what I heard and slow as I began to travel I still kept asking my
way and still kept advancing
It was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout dark sourlooking woman
coming trudging down a hill and she when I had put my usual question turned
sharp about accompanied me back to the summit she had just left and pointed to
a great bulk of building standing very bare upon a green in the bottom of the
next valley The country was pleasant round about running in low hills
pleasantly watered and wooded and the crops to my eyes wonderfully good but
the house itself appeared to be a kind of ruin no road led up to it no smoke
arose from any of the chimneys nor was there any semblance of a garden My
heart sank »That« I cried
The womans face lit up with a malignant anger »That is the house of
Shaws« she cried »Blood built it blood stopped the building of it blood
shall bring it down See here« she cried again »I spit upon the ground and
crack my thumb at it Black be its fall If ye see the laird tell him what ye
hear tell him this makes the twelve hunner and nineteen time that Jennet
Clouston has called down the curse on him and his house byre and stable man
guest and master wife miss or bairn black black be their fall«
And the woman whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch singsong turned
with a skip and was gone I stood where she left me with my hair on end In
those days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a curse and this one
falling so pat like a wayside omen to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose
took the pith out of my legs
I sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws The more I looked the
pleasanter that countryside appeared being all set with hawthorn bushes full
of flowers the fields dotted with sheep a fine flight of rooks in the sky and
every sign of a kind soil and climate and yet the barrack in the midst of it
went sore against my fancy
Countryfolk went by from the fields as I sat there on the side of the
ditch but I lacked the spirit to give them a goodeen At last the sun went
down and then right up against the yellow sky I saw a scroll of smoke go
mounting not much thicker as it seemed to me than the smoke of a candle but
still there it was and meant a fire and warmth and cookery and some living
inhabitant that must have lit it and this comforted my heart
So I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that led in my
direction It was very faint indeed to be the only way to a place of habitation
yet I saw no other Presently it brought me to stone uprights with an unroofed
lodge beside them and coats of arms upon the top A main entrance it was
plainly meant to be but never finished instead of gates of wroughtiron a
pair of hurdles were tied across with a straw rope and as there were no park
walls nor any sign of avenue the track that I was following passed on the
right hand of the pillars and went wandering on toward the house
The nearer I got to that the drearier it appeared It seemed like the one
wing of a house that had never been finished What should have been the inner
end stood open on the upper floors and showed against the sky with steps and
stairs of uncompleted masonry Many of the windows were unglazed and bats flew
in and out like doves out of a dovecote
The night had begun to fall as I got close and in three of the lower
windows which were very high up and narrow and well barred the changing light
of a little fire began to glimmer
Was this the palace I had been coming to Was it within these walls that I
was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes Why in my fathers house on
EssenWaterside the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away and the
door open to a beggars knock
I came forward cautiously and giving ear as I came heard some one
rattling with dishes and a little dry eager cough that came in fits but there
was no sound of speech and not a dog barked
The door as well as I could see it in the dim light was a great piece of
wood all studded with nails and I lifted my hand with a faint heart under my
jacket and knocked once Then I stood and waited The house had fallen into a
dead silence a whole minute passed away and nothing stirred but the bats
overhead I knocked again and hearkened again By this time my ears had grown
so accustomed to the quiet that I could hear the ticking of the clock inside as
it slowly counted out the seconds but whoever was in that house kept deadly
still and must have held his breath
I was in two minds whether to run away but anger got the upper hand and I
began instead to rain kicks and buffets on the door and to shout out aloud for
Mr Balfour I was in full career when I heard the cough right overhead and
jumping back and looking up beheld a mans head in a tall nightcap and the
bell mouth of a blunderbuss at one of the firststory windows
»Its loaded« said a voice
»I have come here with a letter« I said »to Mr Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws
Is he here«
»From whom is it« asked the man with the blunderbuss
»That is neither here nor there« said I for I was growing very wroth
»Well« was the reply »ye can put it down upon the doorstep and be off
with ye«
»I will do no such thing« I cried »I will deliver it into Mr Balfours
hands as it was meant I should It is a letter of introduction«
»A what« cried the voice sharply
I repeated what I had said
»Who are ye yourself« was the next question after a considerable pause
»I am not ashamed of my name« said I »They call me David Balfour«
At that I made sure the man started for I heard the blunderbuss rattle on
the windowsill and it was after quite a long pause and with a curious change
of voice that the next question followed
»Is your father dead«
I was so much surprised at this that I could find no voice to answer but
stood staring
»Ay« the man resumed »hell be dead no doubt and thatll be what brings
ye chapping to my door« Another pause and then defiantly »Well man« he
said »Ill let ye in« and he disappeared from the window
Chapter III
I Make Acquaintance of My Uncle
Presently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts and the door was
cautiously opened and shut to again behind me as soon as I had passed
»Go into the kitchen and touch naething« said the voice and while the
person of the house set himself to replacing the defences of the door I groped
my way forward and entered the kitchen
The fire had burned up fairly bright and showed me the barest room I think
I ever put my eyes on Halfadozen dishes stood upon the shelves the table was
laid for supper with a bowl of porridge a horn spoon and a cup of small beer
Besides what I have named there was not another thing in that great
stonevaulted empty chamber but lockfast chests arranged along the wall and a
cornercupboard with a padlock
As soon as the last chain was up the man rejoined me He was a mean
stooping narrowshouldered clayfaced creature and his age might have been
anything between fifty and seventy His nightcap was of flannel and so was the
nightgown that he wore instead of coat and waistcoat over his ragged shirt He
was long unshaved but what most distressed and even daunted me he would
neither take his eyes away from me nor look me fairly in the face What he was
whether by trade or birth was more than I could fathom but he seemed most like
an old unprofitable servingman who should have been left in charge of that
big house upon board wages
»Are ye sharpset« he asked glancing at about the level of my knee »Ye
can eat that drop parritch«
I said I feared it was his own supper
»O« said he »I can do fine wanting it Ill take the ale though for it
slockens1 my cough« He drank the cup about half out still keeping an eye upon
me as he drank and then suddenly held out his hand »Lets see the letter«
said he
I told him the letter was for Mr Balfour not for him
»And who do ye think I am« says he »Give me Alexanders letter«
»You know my fathers name«
»It would be strange if I didna« he returned »for he was my born brother
and little as ye seem to like either me or my house or my good parritch Im
your born uncle Davie my man and you my born nephew So give us the letter
and sit down and fill your kyte«
If I had been some years younger what with shame weariness and
disappointment I believe I had burst into tears As it was I could find no
words neither black nor white but handed him the letter and sat down to the
porridge with as little appetite for meat as ever a young man had
Meanwhile my uncle stooping over the fire turned the letter over and over
in his hands
»Do ye ken whats in it« he asked suddenly
»You see for yourself sir« said I »that the seal has not been broken«
»Ay« said he »but what brought you here«
»To give the letter« said I
»No« says he cunningly »but yell have had some hopes nae doubt«
»I confess sir« said I »when I was told that I had kinsfolk welltodo I
did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me in my life But I am no
beggar I look for no favours at your hands and I want none that are not freely
given For as poor as I appear I have friends of my own that will be blithe to
help me«
»Hoottoot« said uncle Ebenezer »dinna fly up in the snuff at me Well
agree fine yet And Davie my man if youre done with that bit parritch I
could just take a sup of it myself Ay« he continued as soon as he had ousted
me from the stool and spoon »theyre fine halesome food theyre grand food
parritch« He murmured a little grace to himself and fellto »Your father was
very fond of his meat I mind he was a hearty if not a great eater but as for
me I could never do mair than pyke at food« He took a pull at the small beer
which probably reminded him of hospitable duties for his next speech ran thus
»If yere dry yell find water behind the door«
To this I returned no answer standing stiffly on my two feet and looking
down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart He on his part continued to eat
like a man under some pressure of time and to throw out little darting glances
now at my shoes and now at my homespun stockings Once only when he had
ventured to look a little higher our eyes met and no thief taken with a hand
in a mans pocket could have shown more lively signals of distress This set me
in a muse whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human
company and whether perhaps upon a little trial it might pass off and my
uncle change into an altogether different man From this I was awakened by his
sharp voice
»Your fathers been long dead« he asked
»Three weeks sir« said I
»He was a secret man Alexander a secret silent man« he continued »He
never said muckle when he was young Hell never have spoken muckle of me«
»I never knew sir till you told it me yourself that he had any brother«
»Dear me dear me« said Ebenezer »Nor yet of Shaws I daresay«
»Not so much as the name sir« said I
»To think o that« said he »A strange nature of a man« For all that he
seemed singularly satisfied but whether with himself or me or with this
conduct of my fathers was more than I could read Certainly however he
seemed to be outgrowing that distaste or illwill that he had conceived at
first against my person for presently he jumped up came across the room behind
me and hit me a smack upon the shoulder »Well agree fine yet« he cried »Im
just as glad I let you in And now come awa to your bed«
To my surprise he lit no lamp or candle but set forth into the dark
passage groped his way breathing deeply up a flight of steps and paused
before a door which he unlocked I was close upon his heels having stumbled
after him as best I might and then he bade me go in for that was my chamber I
did as he bid but paused after a few steps and begged a light to go to bed
with
»Hoottoot« said uncle Ebenezer »theres a fine moon«
»Neither moon nor star sir and pitmirk«2 said I »I canna see the bed«
»Hoottoot hoottoot« said he »Lights in a house is a thing I dinna agree
with Im unco feared of fires Goodnight to ye Davie my man« And before I
had time to add a further protest he pulled the door to and I heard him lock
me in from the outside
I did not know whether to laugh or cry The room was as cold as a well and
the bed when I had found my way to it as damp as a peathag but by good
fortune I had caught up my bundle and my plaid and rolling myself in the
latter I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead and fell
speedily asleep
With the first peep of day I opened my eyes to find myself in a great
chamber hung with stamped leather furnished with fine embroidered furniture
and lit by three fair windows Ten years ago or perhaps twenty it must have
been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awake in as a man could wish but
damp dirt disuse and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then
Many of the windowpanes besides were broken and indeed this was so common a
feature in that house that I believe my uncle must at some time have stood a
siege from his indignant neighbours perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their
head
Meanwhile the sun was shining outside and being very cold in that miserable
room I knocked and shouted till my gaoler came and let me out He carried me to
the back of the house where was a drawwell and told me to »wash my face
there if I wanted« and when that was done I made the best of my own way back
to the kitchen where he had lit the fire and was making the porridge The table
was laid with two bowls and two horn spoons but the same single measure of
small beer Perhaps my eye rested on this particular with some surprise and
perhaps my uncle observed it for he spoke up as if in answer to my thought
asking me if I would like to drink ale for so he called it
I told him such was my habit but not to put himself about
»Na na« said he »Ill deny you nothing in reason«
He fetched another cup from the shelf and then to my great surprise
instead of drawing more beer he poured an accurate half from one cup to the
other There was a kind of nobleness in this that took my breath away if my
uncle was certainly a miser he was one of that thorough breed that goes near to
make the vice respectable
When we had made an end of our meal my uncle Ebenezer unlocked a drawer
and drew out of it a clay pipe and a lump of tobacco from which he cut one fill
before he locked it up again Then he sat down in the sun at one of the windows
and silently smoked From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me and
he shot out one of his questions Once it was »And your mother« and when I had
told him that she too was dead »Ay she was a bonny lassie« Then after
another long pause »Wha were these friends o yours«
I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell though
indeed there was only one and that the minister that had ever taken the least
note of me but I began to think my uncle made too light of my position and
finding myself all alone with him I did not wish him to suppose me helpless
He seemed to turn this over in his mind and then »Davie my man« said he
»yeve come to the right bit when ye came to your uncle Ebenezer Ive a great
notion of the family and I mean to do the right by you but while Im taking a
bit think to mysel of whats the best thing to put you to whether the law or
the meenistry or maybe the army whilk is what boys are fondest of I wouldna
like the Balfours to be humbled before a wheen Hieland Campbells and Ill ask
you to keep your tongue within your teeth Nae letters nae messages no kind of
word to onybody or else theres my door«
»Uncle Ebenezer« said I »Ive no manner of reason to suppose you mean
anything but well by me For all that I would have you to know that I have a
pride of my own It was by no will of mine that I came seeking you and if you
show me your door again Ill take you at the word«
He seemed grievously put out »Hootstoots« said he »ca cannie man ca
cannie Bide a day or two Im nae warlock to find a fortune for you in the
bottom of a parritchbowl but just you give me a day or two and say naething
to naebody and as sure as sure Ill do the right by you«
»Very well« said I »enough said If you want to help me theres no doubt
but Ill be glad of it and none but Ill be grateful«
It seemed to me too soon I daresay that I was getting the upper hand of
my uncle and I began next to say that I must have the bed and bedclothes aired
and put to sundry for nothing would make me sleep in such a pickle
»Is this my house or yours« said he in his keen voice and then all of a
sudden broke off »Na na« said he »I didna mean that Whats mine is yours
Davie my man and whats yours is mine Bloods thicker than water and theres
naebody but you and me that ought the name« And then on he rambled about the
family and its ancient greatness and his father that began to enlarge the
house and himself that stopped the building as a sinful waste and this put it
in my head to give him Jennet Cloustons message
»The limmer« he cried »Twelve hunner and fifteen thats every day since
I had the limmer row 3 Dod David Ill have her roasted on red peats before
Im by with it A witch a proclaimed witch Ill aff and see the
sessionclerk«
And with that he opened a chest and got out a very old and wellpreserved
blue coat and waistcoat and a good enough beaver hat both without lace These
he threw on anyway and taking a staff from the cupboard locked all up again
and was for setting out when a thought arrested him
»I canna leave you by yoursel in the house« said he »Ill have to lock
you out«
The blood came to my face »If you lock me out« I said »itll be the last
youll see of me in friendship«
He turned very pale and sucked his mouth in »This is no the way« he
said looking wickedly at a corner of the floor »this is no the way to win my
favour David«
»Sir« says I »with a proper reverence for your age and our common blood I
do not value your favour at a bodles purchase I was brought up to have a good
conceit of myself and if you were all the uncle and all the family I had in
the world ten times over I wouldnt buy your liking at such prices«
Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for a while I could see
him all trembling and twitching like a man with palsy But when he turned
round he had a smile upon his face
»Well well« said he »we must bear and forbear Ill no go thats all
thats to be said of it«
»Uncle Ebenezer« I said »I can make nothing out of this You use me like a
thief you hate to have me in this house you let me see it every word and
every minute its not possible that you can like me and as for me Ive spoken
to you as I never thought to speak to any man Why do you seek to keep me then
Let me gang back let me gang back to the friends I have and that like me«
»Na na na na« he said very earnestly »I like you fine well agree
fine yet and for the honour of the house I couldna let you leave the way ye
came Bide here quiet theres a good lad just you bide here quiet a bittie
and yell find that we agree«
»Well sir« said I after I had thought the matter out in silence »Ill
stay a while Its more just I should be helped by my own blood than strangers
and if we dont agree Ill do my best it shall be through no fault of mine«
Chapter IV
I Run a Great Danger in the House of Shaws
For a day that was begun so ill the day passed fairly well We had the porridge
cold again at noon and hot porridge at night porridge and small beer was my
uncles diet He spoke but little and that in the same way as before shooting
a question at me after a long silence and when I sought to lead him in talk
about my future slipped out of it again In a room next door to the kitchen
where he suffered me to go I found a great number of books both Latin and
English in which I took great pleasure all the afternoon Indeed the time
passed so lightly in this good company that I began to be almost reconciled to
my residence at Shaws and nothing but the sight of my uncle and his eyes
playing hide and seek with mine revived the force of my distrust
One thing I discovered which put me in some doubt This was an entry on the
flyleaf of a chapbook one of Patricks Walkers plainly written by my
fathers hand and thus conceived »To my brother Ebenezer on his fifth
birthday« Now what puzzled me was this That as my father was of course the
younger brother he must either have made some strange error or he must have
written before he was yet five an excellent clear manly hand of writing
I tried to get this out of my head but though I took down many interesting
authors old and new history poetry and storybook this notion of my
fathers hand of writing stuck to me and when at length I went back into the
kitchen and sat down once more to porridge and small beer the first thing I
said to uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if my father had not been very quick at
his book
»Alexander No him« was the reply »I was far quicker mysel I was a
clever chappie when I was young Why I could read as soon as he could«
This puzzled me yet more and a thought coming into my head I asked if he
and my father had been twins
He jumped upon his stool and the horn spoon fell out of his hand upon the
floor »What gars ye ask that« he said and he caught me by the breast of the
jacket and looked this time straight into my eyes his own were little and
light and bright like a birds blinking and winking strangely
»What do you mean« I asked very calmly for I was far stronger than he
and not easily frightened »Take your hand from my jacket This is no way to
behave«
My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself »Dod man David« he
said »ye shouldna speak to me about your father Thats where the mistake is«
He sat a while and shook blinking in his plate »He was all the brother that
ever I had« he added but with no heart in his voice and then he caught up his
spoon and fell to supper again but still shaking
Now this last passage this laying of hands upon my person and sudden
profession of love for my dead father went so clean beyond my comprehension
that it put me into both fear and hope On the one hand I began to think my
uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous on the other there came up
into my mind quite unbidden by me and even discouraged a story like some
ballad I had heard folk singing of a poor lad that was a rightful heir and a
wicked kinsman that tried to keep him from his own For why should my uncle play
a part with a relative that came almost a beggar to his door unless in his
heart he had some cause to fear him
With this notion all unacknowledged but nevertheless getting firmly
settled in my head I now began to imitate his covert looks so that we sat at
table like a cat and a mouse each stealthily observing the other Not another
word had he to say to me black or white but was busy turning something
secretly over in his mind and the longer we sat and the more I looked at him
the more certain I became that the something was unfriendly to myself
When he had cleared the platter he got out a single pipeful of tobacco
just as in the morning turned round a stool into the chimneycorner and sat a
while smoking with his back to me
»Davie« he said at length »Ive been thinking« then he paused and said
it again »Theres a wee bit siller that I half promised ye before ye were
born« he continued »promised it to your father O naething legal ye
understand just gentlemen daffing at their wine Well I keepit that bit money
separate it was a great expense but a promise is a promise and it has grown
by now to be a maitter of just precisely just exactly« and here he paused
and stumbled »of just exactly forty pounds« This last he rapped out with a
sidelong glance over his shoulder and the next moment added almost with a
scream »Scots«
The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling the difference
made by this second thought was considerable I could see besides that the
whole story was a lie invented with some end which it puzzled me to guess and
I made no attempt to conceal the tone of raillery in which I answered
»O think again sir Pounds sterling I believe«
»Thats what I said« returned my uncle »pounds sterling And if youll
step outby to the door a minute just to see what kind of a night it is Ill
get it out to ye and call ye in again«
I did his will smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think I was
so easily to be deceived It was a dark night with a few stars low down and as
I stood just outside the door I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off among
the hills I said to myself there was something thundery and changeful in the
weather and little knew of what a vast importance that should prove to me
before the evening passed
When I was called in again my uncle counted out into my hand
sevenandthirty golden guinea pieces the rest was in his hand in small gold
and silver but his heart failed him there and he crammed the change into his
pocket
»There« said he »thatll show you Im a queer man and strange wi
strangers but my word is my bond and theres the proof of it«
Now my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this sudden
generosity and could find no words in which to thank him
»No a word« said he »Nae thanks I want nae thanks I do my duty Im no
saying that everybody would have done it but for my part though Im a careful
body too its a pleasure to me to do the right by my brothers son and its a
pleasure to me to think that now well agree as such near friends should«
I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able but all the while I was
wondering what would come next and why he had parted with his precious guineas
for as to the reason he had given a baby would have refused it
Presently he looked towards me sideways
»And see here« says he »tit for tat«
I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any reasonable degree and
then waited looking for some monstrous demand And yet when at last he plucked
up courage to speak it was only to tell me very properly as I thought that
he was growing old and a little broken and that he would expect me to help him
with the house and the bit garden
I answered and expressed my readiness to serve
»Well« he said »lets begin« He pulled out of his pocket a rusty key
»There« says he »theres the key of the stairtower at the far end of the
house Ye can only win into it from the outside for that part of the house is
no finished Gang ye in there and up the stairs and bring me down the chest
thats at the top Theres papers int« he added
»Can I have a light sir« said I
»Na« said he very cunningly »Nae lights in my house«
»Very well sir« said I »Are the stairs good«
»Theyre grand« said he and then as I was going »Keep to the wall« he
added »theres nae banisters But the stairs are grand under foot«
Out I went into the night The wind was still moaning in the distance
though never a breath of it came near the house of Shaws It had fallen blacker
than ever and I was glad to feel along the wall till I came the length of the
stairtower door at the far end of the unfinished wing I had got the key into
the keyhole and had just turned it when all upon a sudden without sound of
wind or thunder the whole sky lighted up with wildfire and went black again I
had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the colour of the darkness and
indeed I was already half blinded when I stepped into the tower
It was so dark inside it seemed a body could scarce breathe but I pushed
out with foot and hand and presently struck the wall with the one and the
lowermost round of the stair with the other The wall by the touch was of fine
hewn stone the steps too though somewhat steep and narrow were of polished
masonwork and regular and solid under foot Minding my uncles word about the
banisters I kept close to the tower side and felt my way in the pitch darkness
with a beating heart
The house of Shaws stood some five full stories high not counting lofts
Well as I advanced it seemed to me the stair grew airier and a thought more
lightsome and I was wondering what might be the cause of this change when a
second blink of the summer lightning came and went If I did not cry out it was
because fear had me by the throat and if I did not fall it was more by
Heavens mercy than my own strength It was not only that the flash shone in on
every side through breaches in the wall so that I seemed to be clambering aloft
upon an open scaffold but the same passing brightness showed me the steps were
of unequal length and that one of my feet rested that moment within two inches
of the well
This was the grand stair I thought and with the thought a gust of a kind
of angry courage came into my heart My uncle had sent me here certainly to run
great risks perhaps to die I swore I would settle that perhaps if I should
break my neck for it got me down upon my hands and knees and as slowly as a
snail feeling before me every inch and testing the solidity of every stone I
continued to ascend the stair The darkness by contrast with the flash
appeared to have redoubled nor was that all for my ears were now troubled and
my mind confounded by a great stir of bats in the top part of the tower and the
foul beasts flying downwards sometimes beat about my face and body
The tower I should have said was square and in every corner the step was
made of a great stone of a different shape to join the flights Well I had
come close to one of these turns when feeling forward as usual my hand
slipped upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness beyond it The stair had
been carried no higher to set a stranger mounting it in the darkness was to
send him straight to his death and although thanks to the lightning and my
own precautions I was safe enough the mere thought of the peril in which I
might have stood and the dreadful height I might have fallen from brought out
the sweat upon my body and relaxed my joints
But I knew what I wanted now and turned and groped my way down again with
a wonderful anger in my heart About halfway down the wind sprang up in a clap
and shook the tower and died again the rain followed and before I had reached
the ground level it fell in buckets I put out my head into the storm and
looked along towards the kitchen The door which I had shut behind me when I
left now stood open and shed a little glimmer of light and I thought I could
see a figure standing in the rain quite still like a man hearkening And then
there came a blinding flash which showed me my uncle plainly just where I had
fancied him to stand and hard upon the heels of it a great towrow of thunder
Now whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my fall or
whether he heard in it Gods voice denouncing murder I will leave you to guess
Certain it is at least that he was seized on by a kind of panic fear and that
he ran into the house and left the door open behind him I followed as softly as
I could and coming unheard into the kitchen stood and watched him
He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great
casebottle of aqua vitæ and now sat with his back towards me at the table
Ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and groan
aloud and carrying the bottle to his lips drink down the raw spirits by the
mouthful
I stepped forward came close behind him where he sat and suddenly clapping
my two hands down upon his shoulders »Ah« cried I
My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheeps bleat flung up his arms
and tumbled to the floor like a dead man I was somewhat shocked at this but I
had myself to look to first of all and did not hesitate to let him lie as he
had fallen The keys were hanging in the cupboard and it was my design to
furnish myself with arms before my uncle should come again to his senses and the
power of devising evil In the cupboard were a few bottles some apparently of
medicine a great many bills and other papers which I should willingly enough
have rummaged had I had the time and a few necessaries that were nothing to
my purpose Thence I turned to the chests The first was full of meal the
second of moneybags and papers tied into sheaves in the third with many other
things and these for the most part clothes I found a rusty uglylooking
Highland dirk without the scabbard This then I concealed inside my waistcoat
and turned to my uncle
He lay as he had fallen all huddled with one knee up and one arm sprawling
abroad his face had a strange colour of blue and he seemed to have ceased
breathing Fear came on me that he was dead then I got water and dashed it in
his face and with that he seemed to come a little to himself working his mouth
and fluttering his eyelids At last he looked up and saw me and there came into
his eyes a terror that was not of this world
»Come come« said I »sit up«
»Are ye alive« he sobbed »O man are ye alive«
»That am I« said I »Small thanks to you«
He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs »The blue phial« said
he »in the aumry the blue phial« His breath came slower still
I ran to the cupboard and sure enough found there a blue phial of
medicine with the dose written on it on a paper and this I administered to him
with what speed I might
»Its the trouble« said he reviving a little »I have a trouble Davie
Its the heart«
I set him on a chair and looked at him It is true I felt some pity for a
man that looked so sick but I was full besides of righteous anger and I
numbered over before him the points on which I wanted explanation why he lied
to me at every word why he feared that I should leave him why he disliked it
to be hinted that he and my father were twins »Is that because it is true« I
asked why he had given me money to which I was convinced I had no claim and
last of all why he had tried to kill me He heard me all through in silence
and then in a broken voice begged me to let him go to bed
»Ill tell ye the morn« he said »as sure as death I will«
And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent I locked him into
his room however and pocketed the key and then returning to the kitchen made
up such a blaze as had not shone there for many a long year and wrapping
myself in my plaid lay down upon the chests and fell asleep
Chapter V
I Go to the Queens Ferry
Much rain fell in the night and the next morning there blew a bitter wintry
wind out of the northwest driving scattered clouds For all that and before
the sun began to peep or the last of the stars had vanished I made my way to
the side of the burn and had a plunge in a deep whirling pool All aglow from
my bath I sat down once more beside the fire which I replenished and began
gravely to consider my position
There was now no doubt about my uncles enmity there was no doubt I carried
my life in my hand and he would leave no stone unturned that he might compass
my destruction But I was young and spirited and like most lads that have been
countrybred I had a great opinion of my shrewdness I had come to his door no
better than a beggar and little more than a child he had met me with treachery
and violence it would be a fine consummation to take the upper hand and drive
him like a herd of sheep
I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire and I saw myself in
fancy smell out his secrets one after another and grow to be that mans king
and ruler The warlock of Essendean they say had made a mirror in which men
could read the future it must have been of other stuff than burning coal for
in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and gazed at there was never a ship
never a seaman with a hairy cap never a big bludgeon for my silly head or the
least sign of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me
Presently all swollen with conceit I went upstairs and gave my prisoner
his liberty He gave me goodmorning civilly and I gave the same to him
smiling down upon him from the heights of my sufficiency Soon we were set to
breakfast as it might have been the day before
»Well sir« said I with a jeering tone »have you nothing more to say to
me« And then as he made no articulate reply »It will be time I think to
understand each other« I continued »You took me for a country Johnny Raw with
no more motherwit or courage than a porridgestick I took you for a good man
or no worse than others at the least It seems we were both wrong What cause
you have to fear me to cheat me and to attempt my life «
He murmured something about a jest and that he liked a bit of fun and
then seeing me smile changed his tone and assured me he would make all clear
as soon as we had breakfasted I saw by his face that he had no lie ready for
me though he was hard at work preparing one and I think I was about to tell
him so when we were interrupted by a knocking at the door
Bidding my uncle sit where he was I went to open it and found on the
doorstep a halfgrown boy in seaclothes He had no sooner seen me than he began
to dance some steps of the seahornpipe which I had never before heard of far
less seen snapping his fingers in the air and footing it right cleverly For
all that he was blue with the cold and there was something in his face a look
between tears and laughter that was highly pathetic and consisted ill with this
gaiety of manner
»What cheer mate« says he with a cracked voice
I asked him soberly to name his pleasure
»O pleasure« says he and then began to sing
»For its my delight of a shiny night
In the season of the year«
»Well« said I »if you have no business at all I will even be so unmannerly as
to shut you out«
»Stay brother« he cried »Have you no fun about you or do you want to get
me thrashed Ive brought a letter from old Heasyoasy to Mr Belflower« He
showed me a letter as he spoke »And I say mate« he added »Im mortal
hungry«
»Well« said I »come into the house and you shall have a bite if I go
empty for it«
With that I brought him in and set him down to my own place where he fell
to greedily on the remains of breakfast winking to me betweenwhiles and
making many faces which I think the poor soul considered manly Meanwhile my
uncle had read the letter and sat thinking then suddenly he got to his feet
with a great air of liveliness and pulled me apart into the farthest corner of
the room
»Read that« said he and put the letter in my hand
Here it is lying before me as I write
»The Hawes Inn at the Queens Ferry
Sir I lie here with my hawser up and down and send my cabinboy to
informe If you have any further commands for overseas today will be
the last occasion as the wind will serve us well out of the firth I
will not seek to deny that I have had crosses with your doer4 Mr
Rankeillor of which if not speedily redd up you may looke to see some
losses follow I have drawn a bill upon you as per margin and am sir
your most obedt humble servant
ELIAS HOSEASON«
»You see Davie« resumed my uncle as soon as he saw that I had done »I have a
venture with this man Hoseason the captain of a trading brig the Covenant of
Dysart Now if you and me was to walk over with yon lad I could see the
captain at the Hawes or maybe on board the Covenant if there was papers to be
signed and so far from a loss of time we can jog on to the lawyer Mr
Rankeillors After a thats come and gone ye would be sweer5 to believe me
upon my naked word but yell believe Rankeillor Hes factor to half the gentry
in these parts an auld man forbye highly respeckit and he kenned your
father«
I stood awhile and thought I was going to some place of shipping which was
doubtless populous and where my uncle durst attempt no violence and indeed
even the society of the cabinboy so far protected me Once there I believed I
could force on the visit to the lawyer even if my uncle were now insincere in
proposing it and perhaps in the bottom of my heart I wished a nearer view of
the sea and ships You are to remember I had lived all my life in the inland
hills and just two days before had my first sight of the firth lying like a
blue floor and the sailed ships moving on the face of it no bigger than toys
One thing with another I made up my mind
»Very well« says I »let us go to the Ferry«
My uncle got into his hat and coat and buckled an old rusty cutlass on and
then we trod the fire out locked the door and set forth upon our walk
The wind being in that cold quarter the northwest blew nearly in our
faces as we went It was the month of June the grass was all white with daisies
and the trees with blossom but to judge by our blue nails and aching wrists
the time might have been winter and the whiteness a December frost
Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch jogging from side to side like an old
ploughman coming home from work He never said a word the whole way and I was
thrown for talk on the cabinboy He told me his name was Ransome and that he
had followed the sea since he was nine but could not say how old he was as he
had lost his reckoning He showed me tattoo marks baring his breast in the
teeth of the wind and in spite of my remonstrances for I thought it was enough
to kill him he swore horribly whenever he remembered but more like a silly
schoolboy than a man and boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done
stealthy thefts false accusations ay and even murder but all with such a
dearth of likelihood in the details and such a weak and crazy swagger in the
delivery as disposed me rather to pity than to believe him
I asked him of the brig which he declared was the finest ship that sailed
and of Captain Hoseason in whose praises he was equally loud Heasyoasy for
so he still named the skipper was a man by his account that minded for
nothing either in heaven or earth one that as people said would »crack on all
sail into the day of judgment« rough fierce unscrupulous and brutal and all
this my poor cabinboy had taught himself to admire as something seamanlike and
manly He would only admit one flaw in his idol »He aint no seaman« he
admitted »Thats Mr Shuan that navigates the brig hes the finest seaman in
the trade only for drink and I tell you I believe it Why look ere« and
turning down his stocking he showed me a great raw red wound that made my blood
run cold »He done that Mr Shuan done it« he said with an air of pride
»What« I cried »do you take such savage usage at his hands Why you are
no slave to be so handled«
»No« said the poor mooncalf changing his tune at once »and so hell
find See ere« and he showed me a great caseknife which he told me was
stolen »O« says he »let me see him try I dare him to Ill do for him O he
aint the first« And he confirmed it with a poor silly ugly oath
I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I felt for
that halfwitted creature and it began to come over me that the brig Covenant
for all her pious name was little better than a hell upon the seas
»Have you no friends« said I
He said he had a father in some English seaport I forget which »He was a
fine man too« he said »but hes dead«
»In Heavens name« cried I »can you find no reputable life on shore«
»O no« says he winking and looking very sly »they would put me to a
trade I know a trick worth two of that I do«
I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed where he
ran the continual peril of his life not alone from wind and sea but by the
horrid cruelty of those who were his masters He said it was very true and then
began to praise the life and tell what a pleasure it was to get on shore with
money in his pocket and spend it like a man and buy apples and swagger and
surprise what he called stickinthemud boys »And then its not all as bad as
that« says he »theres worse off than me theres the twentypounders O laws
you should see them taking on Why Ive seen a man as old as you I dessay«
to him I seemed old »ah and he had a beard too well and as soon as we
cleared out of the river and he had the drug out of his head my how he cried
and carried on I made a fine fool of him I tell you And then theres little
uns too O little by me I tell you I keep them in order When we carry
little uns I have a ropesend of my own to wollop em« And so he ran on
until it came in on me what he meant by twentypounders were those unhappy
criminals who were sent overseas to slavery in North America or the still more
unhappy innocents who were kidnapped or trepanned as the word went for private
interest or vengeance
Just then we came to the top of the hill and looked down on the Ferry and
the Hope The Firth of Forth as is very well known narrows at this point to
the width of a goodsized river which makes a convenient ferry going north and
turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for all manner of ships Right in
the midst of the narrows lies an islet with some ruins on the south shore they
have built a pier for the service of the Ferry and at the end of the pier on
the other side of the road and backed against a pretty garden of hollytrees
and hawthorns I could see the building which they call the Hawes Inn
The town of Queensferry lies farther west and the neighbourhood of the inn
looked pretty lonely at that time of day for the boat had just gone north with
passengers A skiff however lay beside the pier with some seamen sleeping on
the thwarts this as Ransome told me was the brigs boat waiting for the
captain and about half a mile off and all alone in the anchorage he showed me
the Covenant herself There was a seagoing bustle on board yards were swinging
into place and as the wind blew from that quarter I could hear the song of the
sailors as they pulled upon the ropes After all I had listened to upon the way
I looked at that ship with an extreme abhorrence and from the bottom of my
heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to sail in her
We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill and now I marched across
the road and addressed my uncle »I think it right to tell you sir« says I
»theres nothing that will bring me on board that Covenant«
He seemed to waken from a dream »Eh« he said »Whats that«
I told him over again
»Well well« he said »well have to please ye I suppose But what are we
standing here for Its perishing cold and if Im no mistaken theyre
busking the Covenant for sea«
Chapter VI
What Befell at the Queens Ferry
As soon as we came to the inn Ransome led us up the stair to a small room with
a bed in it and heated like an oven by a great fire of coal At a table hard by
the chimney a tall dark soberlooking man sat writing In spite of the heat
of the room he wore a thick seajacket buttoned to the neck and a tall hairy
cap drawn down over his ears yet I never saw any man not even a judge upon the
bench look cooler or more studious and selfpossessed than this shipcaptain
He got to his feet at once and coming forward offered his large hand to
Ebenezer »I am proud to see you Mr Balfour« said he in a fine deep voice
»and glad that ye are here in time The winds fair and the tide upon the turn
well see the old coalbucket burning on the Isle of May before tonight«
»Captain Hoseason« returned my uncle »you keep your room unco hot«
»Its a habit I have Mr Balfour« said the skipper »Im a coldrife man by
my nature I have a cold blood sir Theres neither fur nor flannel no sir
nor hot rum will warm up what they call the temperature Sir its the same
with most men that have been carbonadoed as they call it in the tropic seas«
»Well well captain« replied my uncle »we must all be the way were
made«
But it chanced that this fancy of the captains had a great share in my
misfortunes For though I had promised myself not to let my kinsman out of
sight I was both so impatient for a nearer look of the sea and so sickened by
the closeness of the room that when he told me to »run downstairs and play
myself awhile« I was fool enough to take him at his word
Away I went therefore leaving the two men sitting down to a bottle and a
great mass of papers and crossing the road in front of the inn walked down
upon the beach With the wind in that quarter only little wavelets not much
bigger than I had seen upon a lake beat upon the shore But the weeds were new
to me some green some brown and long and some with little bladders that
crackled between my fingers Even so far up the firth the smell of the
seawater was exceedingly salt and stirring the Covenant besides was
beginning to shake out her sails which hung upon the yards in clusters and the
spirit of all that I beheld put me in thoughts of far voyages and foreign
places
I looked too at the seamen with the skiff big brown fellows some in
shirts some with jackets some with coloured handkerchiefs about their throats
one with a brace of pistols stuck into his pockets two or three with knotty
bludgeons and all with their caseknives I passed the time of day with one
that looked less desperate than his fellows and asked him of the sailing of the
brig He said they would get under way as soon as the ebb set and expressed his
gladness to be out of a port where there were no taverns and fiddlers but all
with such horrifying oaths that I made haste to get away from him
This threw me back on Ransome who seemed the least wicked of that gang and
who soon came out of the inn and ran to me crying for a bowl of punch I told
him I would give him no such thing for neither he nor I was of an age for such
indulgences »But a glass of ale you may have and welcome« said I He mopped
and mowed at me and called me names but he was glad to get the ale for all
that and presently we were set down at a table in the front room of the inn
and both eating and drinking with a good appetite
Here it occurred to me that as the landlord was a man of that county I
might do well to make a friend of him I offered him a share as was much the
custom in those days but he was far too great a man to sit with such poor
customers as Ransome and myself and he was leaving the room when I called him
back to ask if he knew Mr Rankeillor
»Hoot ay« says he »and a very honest man And O by the by« says he »was
it you that came in with Ebenezer« And when I had told him yes »Yell be no
friend of his« he asked meaning in the Scottish way that I would be no
relative
I told him no none
»I thought not« said he »and yet ye have a kind of gliff6 of Mr
Alexander«
I said it seemed that Ebenezer was illseen in the country
»Nae doubt« said the landlord »Hes a wicked auld man and theres many
would like to see him girning in a tow7 Jennet Clouston and mony mair that he
has harried out of house and hame And yet he was ance a fine young fellow too
But that was before the sough8 gaed abroad about Mr Alexander that was like
the death of him«
»And what was it« I asked
»Ou just that he had killed him« said the landlord »Did ye never hear
that«
»And what would he kill him for« said I
»And what for but just to get the place« said he
»The place« said I »The Shaws«
»Nae other place that I ken« said he
»Ay man« said I »Is that so Was my was Alexander the eldest son«
»Deed was he« said the landlord »What else would he have killed him for«
And with that he went away as he had been impatient to do from the
beginning
Of course I had guessed it a long while ago but it is one thing to guess
another to know and I sat stunned with my good fortune and could scarce grow
to believe that the same poor lad who had trudged in the dust from Ettrick
Forest not two days ago was now one of the rich of the earth and had a house
and broad lands and might mount his horse tomorrow All these pleasant things
and a thousand others crowded into my mind as I sat staring before me out of
the inn window and paying no heed to what I saw only I remember that my eye
lighted on Captain Hoseason down on the pier among his seamen and speaking with
some authority And presently he came marching back towards the house with no
mark of a sailors clumsiness but carrying his fine tall figure with a manly
bearing and still with the same sober grave expression on his face I wondered
if it was possible that Ransomes stories could be true and half disbelieved
them they fitted so ill with the mans looks But indeed he was neither so
good as I supposed him nor quite so bad as Ransome did for in fact he was
two men and left the better one behind as soon as he set foot on board his
vessel
The next thing I heard my uncle calling me and found the pair in the road
together It was the captain who addressed me and that with an air very
flattering to a young lad of grave equality
»Sir« said he »Mr Balfour tells me great things of you and for my own
part I like your looks I wish I was for longer here that we might make the
better friends but well make the most of what we have Ye shall come on board
my brig for half an hour till the ebb sets and drink a bowl with me«
Now I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can tell but I was
not going to put myself in jeopardy and I told him my uncle and I had an
appointment with a lawyer
»Ay ay« said he »he passed me word of that But ye see the boatll set
ye ashore at the town pier and thats but a penny stonecast from Rankeillors
house« And here he suddenly leaned down and whispered in my ear »Take care of
the old tod9 he means mischief Come aboard till I can get a word with ye« And
then passing his arm through mine he continued aloud as he set off towards
his boat »But come what can I bring ye from the Carolinas Any friend of Mr
Balfours can command A roll of tobacco Indian featherwork A skin of a wild
beast a stone pipe the mockingbird that mews for all the world like a cat
the cardinalbird that is as red as blood take your pick and say your
pleasure«
By this time we were at the boatside and he was handing me in I did not dream
of hanging back I thought the poor fool that I had found a good friend and
helper and I was rejoiced to see the ship As soon as we were all set in our
places the boat was thrust off from the pier and began to move over the waters
and what with my pleasure in this new movement and my surprise at our low
position and the appearance of the shores and the growing bigness of the brig
as we drew near to it I could hardly understand what the captain said and must
have answered him at random
As soon as we were alongside where I sat fairly gaping at the ships
height the strong humming of the tide against its sides and the pleasant cries
of the seamen at their work Hoseason declaring that he and I must be the first
aboard ordered a tackle to be sent down from the mainyard In this I was
whipped into the air and set down again on the deck where the captain stood
ready waiting for me and instantly slipped back his arm under mine There I
stood some while a little dizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me perhaps
a little afraid and yet vastly pleased with these strange sights the captain
meanwhile pointing out the strangest and telling me their names and uses
»But where is my uncle« said I suddenly
»Ay« said Hoseason with a sudden grimness »thats the point«
I felt I was lost With all my strength I plucked myself clear of him and
ran to the bulwarks Sure enough there was the boat pulling for the town with
my uncle sitting in the stern I gave a piercing cry »Help help Murder«
so that both sides of the anchorage rang with it and my uncle turned round
where he was sitting and showed me a face full of cruelty and terror
It was the last I saw Already strong hands had been plucking me back from
the ships side and now a thunderbolt seemed to strike me I saw a great flash
of fire and fell senseless
Chapter VII
I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart
I came to myself in darkness in great pain bound hand and foot and deafened
by many unfamiliar noises There sounded in my ears a roaring of water as of a
huge milldam the thrashing of heavy sprays the thundering of the sails and
the shrill cries of seamen The whole world now heaved giddily up and now
rushed giddily downward and so sick and hurt was I in body and my mind so much
confounded that it took me a long while chasing my thoughts up and down and
ever stunned again by a fresh stab of pain to realise that I must be lying
somewhere bound in the belly of that unlucky ship and that the wind must have
strengthened to a gale With the clear perception of my plight there fell upon
me a blackness of despair a horror of remorse at my own folly and a passion of
anger at my uncle that once more bereft me of my senses
When I returned again to life the same uproar the same confused and
violent movements shook and deafened me and presently to my other pains and
distresses there was added the sickness of an unused landsman on the sea In
that time of my adventurous youth I suffered many hardships but none that was
so crushing to my mind and body or lit by so few hopes as these first hours
aboard the brig
I heard a gun fire and supposed the storm had proved too strong for us and
we were firing signals of distress The thought of deliverance even by death in
the deep sea was welcome to me Yet it was no such matter but as I was
afterwards told a common habit of the captains which I here set down to show
that even the worst man may have his kindlier side We were then passing it
appeared within some miles of Dysart where the brig was built and where old
Mrs Hoseason the captains mother had come some years before to live and
whether outward or inward bound the Covenant was never suffered to go by that
place by day without a gun fired and colours shown
I had no measure of time day and night were alike in that illsmelling
cavern of the ships bowels where I lay and the misery of my situation drew out
the hours to double How long therefore I lay waiting to hear the ship split
upon some rock or to feel her reel headforemost into the depths of the sea I
have not the means of computation But sleep at length stole from me the
consciousness of sorrow
I was wakened by the light of a handlantern shining in my face A small man
of about thirty with green eyes and a tangle of fair hair stood looking down
at me
»Well« said he »how goes it«
I answered by a sob and my visitor then felt my pulse and temples and set
himself to wash and dress the wound upon my scalp
»Ay« said he »a sore dunt10 What man Cheer up The worlds no done
youve made a bad start of it but youll make a better Have you had any meat«
I said I could not look at it and thereupon he gave me some brandy and
water in a tin pannikin and left me once more to myself
The next time he came to see me I was lying betwixt sleep and waking my
eyes wide open in the darkness the sickness quite departed but succeeded by a
horrid giddiness and swimming that was almost worse to bear I ached besides
in every limb and the cords that bound me seemed to be of fire The smell of
the hole in which I lay seemed to have become a part of me and during the long
interval since his last visit I had suffered tortures of fear now from the
scurrying of the ships rats that sometimes pattered on my very face and now
from the dismal imaginings that haunt the bed of fever
The glimmer of the lantern as a trap opened shone in like the heavens
sunlight and though it only showed me the strong dark beams of the ship that
was my prison I could have cried aloud for gladness The man with the green eyes
was the first to descend the ladder and I noticed that he came somewhat
unsteadily He was followed by the captain Neither said a word but the first
set to and examined me and dressed my wound as before while Hoseason looked me
in my face with an odd black look
»Now sir you see for yourself« said the first »a high fever no
appetite no light no meat you see for yourself what that means«
»I am no conjurer Mr Riach« said the captain
»Give me leave sir« said Riach »youve a good head upon your shoulders
and a good Scots tongue to ask with but I will leave you no manner of excuse I
want that boy taken out of this hole and put in the forecastle«
»What ye may want sir is a matter of concern to nobody but yoursel«
returned the captain »but I can tell ye that which is to be Here he is here
he shall bide«
»Admitting that you have been paid in a proportion« said the other »I will
crave leave humbly to say that I have not Paid I am and none too much to be
the second officer of this old tub and you ken very well if I do my best to
earn it But I was paid for nothing more«
»If ye could hold back your hand from the tin pan Mr Riach I would have
no complaint to make of ye« returned the skipper »and instead of asking
riddles I make bold to say that ye would keep your breath to cool your
porridge Well be required on deck« he added in a sharper note and set one
foot upon the ladder
But Mr Riach caught him by the sleeve
»Admitting that you have been paid to do a murder « he began
Hoseason turned upon him with a flash
»Whats that« he cried »What kind of talk is that«
»It seems it is the talk that you can understand« said Mr Riach looking
him steadily in the face
»Mr Riach I have sailed with ye three cruises« replied the captain »In
all that time sir ye should have learned to know me Im a stiff man and a
dour man but for what ye say the now fie fie it comes from a bad heart
and a black conscience If ye say the lad will die «
»Ay will he« said Mr Riach
»Well sir is not that enough« said Hoseason »Flit him where ye please«
Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder and I who had lain silent
throughout this strange conversation beheld Mr Riach turn after him and bow as
low as to his knees in what was plainly a spirit of derision Even in my then
state of sickness I perceived two things that the mate was touched with liquor
as the captain hinted and that drunk or sober he was like to prove a valuable
friend
Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut I was hoisted on a mans back
carried up to the forecastle and laid in a bunk on some seablankets where the
first thing that I did was to lose my senses
It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon the daylight and
to find myself in the society of men The forecastle was a roomy place enough
set all about with berths in which the men of the watch below were seated
smoking or lying down asleep The day being calm and the wind fair the scuttle
was open and not only the good daylight but from time to time as the ship
rolled a dusty beam of sunlight shone in and dazzled and delighted me I had
no sooner moved moreover than one of the men brought me a drink of something
healing which Mr Riach had prepared and bade me lie still and I should soon be
well again There were no bones broken he explained »A clour11 on the head was
naething Man« said he »it was me that gave it ye«
Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner and not only got my
health again but came to know my companions They were a rough lot indeed as
sailors mostly are being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life and
condemned to toss together on the rough seas with masters no less cruel There
were some among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would
be a shame even to speak of some were men that had run from the kings ships
and went with a halter round their necks of which they made no secret and all
as the saying goes were at a word and a blow with their best friends Yet I had
not been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first
judgment when I had drawn away from them at the Ferry pier as though they had
been unclean beasts No class of man is altogether bad but each has its own
faults and virtues and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule
Rough they were sure enough and bad I suppose but they had many virtues
They were kind when it occurred to them simple even beyond the simplicity of a
country lad like me and had some glimmerings of honesty
There was one man of maybe forty that would sit on my berthside for hours
and tell me of his wife and child He was a fisher that had lost his boat and
thus been driven to the deepsea voyaging Well it is years ago now but I have
never forgotten him His wife who was young by him as he often told me waited
in vain to see her man return he would never again make the fire for her in the
morning nor yet keep the bairn when she was sick Indeed many of these poor
fellows as the event proved were upon their last cruise the deep seas and
cannibal fish received them and it is a thankless business to speak ill of the
dead
Among other good deeds that they did they returned my money which had been
shared among them and though it was about a third short I was very glad to get
it and hoped great good from it in the land I was going to The ship was bound
for the Carolinas and you must not suppose that I was going to that place
merely as an exile The trade was even then much depressed since that and with
the rebellion of the colonies and the formation of the United States it has of
course come to an end but in those days of my youth white men were still sold
into slavery on the plantations and that was the destiny to which my wicked
uncle had condemned me
The cabinboy Ransome from whom I had first heard of these atrocities came
in at times from the roundhouse where he berthed and served now nursing a
bruised limb in silent agony now raving against the cruelty of Mr Shuan It
made my heart bleed but the men had a great respect for the chief mate who
was as they said »the only seaman of the whole jingbang and none such a bad
man when he was sober« Indeed I found there was a strange peculiarity about
our two mates that Mr Riach was sullen unkind and harsh when he was sober
and Mr Shuan would not hurt a fly except when he was drinking I asked about
the captain but I was told drink made no difference upon that man of iron
I did my best in the small time allowed me to make something like a man or
rather I should say something like a boy of the poor creature Ransome But his
mind was scarce truly human He could remember nothing of the time before he
came to sea only that his father had made clocks and had a starling in the
parlour which could whistle The North Countrie all else had been blotted out
in these years of hardship and cruelties He had a strange notion of the dry
land picked up from sailors stories that it was a place where lads were put
to some kind of slavery called a trade and where apprentices were continually
lashed and clapped into foul prisons In a town he thought every second person a
decoy and every third house a place in which seamen would be drugged and
murdered To be sure I would tell him how kindly I had myself been used upon
that dry land he was so much afraid of and how well fed and carefully taught
both by my friends and my parents and if he had been recently hurt he would
weep bitterly and swear to run away but if he was in his usual crackbrain
humour or still more if he had had a glass of spirits in the roundhouse he
would deride the notion.
It was Mr Riach Heaven forgive him who gave the boy drink and it was
doubtless kindly meant but besides that it was ruin to his health it was the
pitifullest thing in life to see this unhappy unfriended creature staggering
and dancing and talking he knew not what Some of the men laughed but not all
others would grow as black as thunder thinking perhaps of their own childhood
or their own children and bid him stop that nonsense and think what he was
doing As for me I felt ashamed to look at him and the poor child still comes
about me in my dreams
All this time you should know the Covenant was meeting continual
headwinds and tumbling up and down against headseas so that the scuttle was
almost constantly shut and the forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern on
a beam There was constant labour for all hands the sails had to be made and
shortened every hour the strain told on the mens temper there was a growl of
quarrelling all day long from berth to berth and as I was never allowed to set
my foot on deck you can picture to yourselves how weary of my life I grew to
be and how impatient for a change
And a change I was to get as you shall hear but I must first tell of a
conversation I had with Mr Riach which put a little heart in me to bear my
troubles Getting him in a favourable stage of drink for indeed he never looked
near me when he was sober I pledged him to secrecy and told him my whole
story
He declared it was like a ballad that he would do his best to help me that
I should have paper pen and ink and write one line to Mr Campbell and
another to Mr Rankeillor and that if I had told the truth ten to one he would
be able with their help to pull me through and set me in my rights
»And in the meantime« says he »keep your heart up Youre not the only
one Ill tell you that Theres many a man hoeing tobacco overseas that should
be mounting his horse at his own door at home many and many And life is all a
variorum at the best Look at me Im a lairds son and more than half a doctor
and here I am manJack to Hoseason«
I thought it would be civil to ask him for his story
He whistled loud
»Never had one« said he »I liked fun thats all« And he skipped out of
the forecastle
Chapter VIII
The RoundHouse
One night about eleven oclock a man of Mr Riachs watch which was on deck
came below for his jacket and instantly there began to go a whisper about the
forecastle that Shuan had done for him at last There was no need of a name we
all knew who was meant but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly in our
heads far less to speak of it when the scuttle was again flung open and
Captain Hoseason came down the ladder He looked sharply round the bunks in the
tossing light of the lantern and then walking straight up to me he addressed
me to my surprise in tones of kindness
»My man« said he »we want ye to serve in the roundhouse You and Ransome
are to change berths Run away aft with ye«
Even as he spoke two seamen appeared in the scuttle carrying Ransome in
their arms and the ship at that moment giving a great sheer into the sea and
the lantern swinging the light fell direct on the boys face It was as white
as wax and had a look upon it like a dreadful smile The blood in me ran cold
and I drew in my breath as if I had been struck
»Run away aft run away aft with ye« cried Hoseason
And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy who neither spoke nor
moved and ran up the ladder on deck
The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long cresting swell
She was on the starboard tack and on the left hand under the arched foot of
the foresail I could see the sunset still quite bright This at such an hour
of the night surprised me greatly but I was too ignorant to draw the true
conclusion that we were going northabout round Scotland and were now on the
high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands having avoided the dangerous
currents of the Pentland Firth For my part who had been so long shut in the
dark and knew nothing of headwinds I thought we might be halfway or more
across the Atlantic And indeed beyond that I wondered a little at the lateness
of the sunset light I gave no heed to it and pushed on across the decks
running between the seas catching at ropes and only saved from going overboard
by one of the hands on deck who had been always kind to me
The roundhouse for which I was bound and where I was now to sleep and
serve stood some six feet above the decks and considering the size of the
brig was of good dimensions Inside were a fixed table and bench and two
berths one for the captain and the other for the two mates turn and turn
about It was all fitted with lockers from top to bottom so as to stow away the
officers belongings and a part of the ships stores there was a second
storeroom underneath which you entered by a hatchway in the middle of the
deck indeed all the best of the meat and drink and the whole of the powder
were collected in this place and all the firearms except the two pieces of
brass ordnance were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the roundhouse The
most of the cutlasses were in another place
A small window with a shutter on each side and a skylight in the roof gave
it light by day and after dark there was a lamp always burning It was burning
when I entered not brightly but enough to show Mr Shuan sitting at the table
with the brandybottle and a tin pannikin in front of him He was a tall man
strongly made and very black and he stared before him on the table like one
stupid
He took no notice of my coming in nor did he move when the captain followed
and leant on the berth beside me looking darkly at the mate I stood in great
fear of Hoseason and had my reasons for it but something told me I need not be
afraid of him just then and I whispered in his ear »How is he« He shook his
head like one that does not know and does not wish to think and his face was
very stern
Presently Mr Riach came in He gave the captain a glance that meant the boy
was dead as plain as speaking and took his place like the rest of us so that
we all three stood without a word staring down at Mr Shuan and Mr Shuan on
his side sat without a word looking hard upon the table
All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle and at that Mr
Riach started forward and caught it away from him rather by surprise than
violence crying out with an oath that there had been too much of this work
altogether and that a judgment would fall upon the ship And as he spoke the
weather slidingdoors standing open he tossed the bottle into the sea
Mr Shuan was on his feet in a trice he still looked dazed but he meant
murder ay and would have done it for the second time that night had not the
captain stepped in between him and his victim
»Sit down« roars the captain »Ye sot and swine do ye know what yeve
done Yeve murdered the boy«
Mr Shuan seemed to understand for he sat down again and put up his hand
to his brow
»Well« he said »he brought me a dirty pannikin«
At that word the captain and I and Mr Riach all looked at each other for a
second with a kind of frightened look and then Hoseason walked up to his chief
officer took him by the shoulder led him across to his bunk and bade him lie
down and go to sleep as you might speak to a bad child The murderer cried a
little but he took off his seaboots and obeyed
»Ah« cried Mr Riach with a dreadful voice »ye should have interfered
lang syne Its too late now«
»Mr Riach« said the captain »this nights work must never be kennt in
Dysart The boy went overboard sir thats what the story is and I would give
five pounds out of my pocket it was true« He turned to the table »What made ye
throw the good bottle away« he added »There was nae sense in that sir
Here David draw me another Theyre in the bottom locker« and he tossed me a
key »Yell need a glass yourself sir« he added to Riach »Yon was an ugly
thing to see«
So the pair sat down and hobanobbed and while they did so the murderer
who had been lying and whimpering in his berth raised himself upon his elbow
and looked at them and at me
That was the first night of my new duties and in the course of the next day
I had got well into the run of them I had to serve at the meals which the
captain took at regular hours sitting down with the officer who was off duty
all the day through I would be running with a dram to one or other of my three
masters and at night I slept on a blanket thrown on the deck boards at the
aftermost end of the roundhouse and right in the draught of the two doors It
was a hard and a cold bed nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption for
some one would be always coming in from deck to get a dram and when a fresh
watch was to be set two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew a bowl
together How they kept their health I know not any more than how I kept my
own
And yet in other ways it was an easy service There was no cloth to lay the
meals were either of oatmeal porridge or salt junk except twice a week when
there was duff and though I was clumsy enough and not being firm on my
sealegs sometimes fell with what I was bringing them both Mr Riach and the
captain were singularly patient I could not but fancy they were making up
leeway with their consciences and that they would scarce have been so good
with me if they had not been worse with Ransome
As for Mr Shuan the drink or his crime or the two together had
certainly troubled his mind I cannot say I ever saw him in his proper wits He
never grew used to my being there stared at me continually sometimes I could
have thought with terror and more than once drew back from my hand when I was
serving him I was pretty sure from the first that he had no clear mind of what
he had done and on my second day in the roundhouse I had the proof of it We
were alone and he had been staring at me a long time when all at once up he
got as pale as death and came close up to me to my great terror But I had no
cause to be afraid of him
»You were not here before« he asked
»No sir« said I
»There was another boy« he asked again and when I had answered him »Ah«
says he »I thought that« and went and sat down without another word except
to call for brandy
You may think it strange but for all the horror I had I was still sorry
for him He was a married man with a wife in Leith but whether or no he had a
family I have now forgotten I hope not
Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted which as you
are to hear was not long I was as well fed as the best of them even their
pickles which were the great dainty I was allowed my share of and had I liked
I might have been drunk from morning to night like Mr Shuan I had company
too and good company of its sort Mr Riach who had been to the college spoke
to me like a friend when he was not sulking and told me many curious things
and some that were informing and even the captain though he kept me at the
sticks end the most part of the time would sometimes unbuckle a bit and tell
me of the fine countries he had visited
The shadow of poor Ransome to be sure lay on all four of us and on me and
Mr Shuan in particular most heavily And then I had another trouble of my own
Here I was doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon and one of
whom at least should have hung upon a gallows that was for the present and
as for the future I could only see myself slaving alongside of negroes in the
tobaccofields Mr Riach perhaps from caution would never suffer me to say
another word about my story the captain whom I tried to approach rebuffed me
like a dog and would not hear a word and as the days came and went my heart
sank lower and lower till I was even glad of the work which kept me from
thinking
Chapter IX
The Man with the Belt of Gold
More than a week went by in which the illluck that had hitherto pursued the
Covenant upon this voyage grew yet more strongly marked Some days she made a
little way others she was driven actually back At last we were beaten so far
to the south that we tossed and tacked to and fro the whole of the ninth day
within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild rocky coast on either hand of it There
followed on that a council of the officers and some decision which I did not
rightly understand seeing only the result that we had made a fair wind of a
foul one and were running south
The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick wet white fog
that hid one end of the brig from the other All afternoon when I went on deck
I saw men and officers listening hard over the bulwarks »for breakers« they
said and though I did not so much as understand the word I felt danger in the
air and was excited
Maybe about ten at night I was serving Mr Riach and the captain at their
supper when the ship struck something with a great sound and we heard voices
singing out My two masters leaped to their feet
»Shes struck« said Mr Riach
»No sir« said the captain »Weve only run a boat down«
And they hurried out
The captain was in the right of it We had run down a boat in the fog and
she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom with all her crew but one
This man as I heard afterwards had been sitting in the stern as a passenger
while the rest were on the benches rowing At the moment of the blow the stern
had been thrown into the air and the man having his hands free and for all he
was encumbered with a frieze overcoat that came below his knees had leaped up
and caught hold of the brigs bowsprit It showed he had luck and much agility
and unusual strength that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass
And yet when the captain brought him into the roundhouse and I set eyes on
him for the first time he looked as cool as I did
He was smallish in stature but well set and as nimble as a goat his face
was of a good open expression but sunburnt very dark and heavily freckled and
pitted with the smallpox his eyes were unusually light and had a kind of
dancing madness in them that was both engaging and alarming and when he took
off his greatcoat he laid a pair of fine silver pistols on the table and I
saw that he was belted with a great sword His manners besides were elegant
and he pledged the captain handsomely Altogether I thought of him at the first
sight that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy
The captain too was taking his observations but rather of the mans
clothes than his person And to be sure as soon as he had taken off the
greatcoat he showed forth mighty fine for the roundhouse of a merchant brig
having a hat with feathers a red waistcoat breeches of black plush and a blue
coat with silver buttons and handsome silver lace costly clothes though
somewhat spoiled with the fog and being slept in
»Im vexed sir about the boat« says the captain
»There are some pretty men gone to the bottom« said the stranger »that I
would rather see on the dry land again than half a score of boats«
»Friends of yours« said Hoseason
»You have none such friends in your country« was the reply »They would
have died for me like dogs«
»Well sir« said the captain still watching him »there are more men in
the world than boats to put them in«
»And thats true too« cried the other »and ye seem to be a gentleman of
great penetration«
»I have been in France sir« says the captain so that it was plain he
meant more by the words than showed upon the face of them
»Well sir« says the other »and so has many a pretty man for the matter
of that«
»No doubt sir« says the captain »and fine coats«
»Oho« says the stranger »is that how the wind sets« And he laid his hand
quickly on his pistols
»Dont be hasty« said the captain »Dont do a mischief before ye see the
need of it Yeve a French soldiers coat upon your back and a Scots tongue in
your head to be sure but so has many an honest fellow in these days and I
daresay none the worse of it«
»So« said the gentleman in the fine coat »are ye of the honest party«
meaning Was he a Jacobite for each side in these sort of civil broils takes
the name of honesty for its own).
»Why sir« replied the captain »I am a trueblue Protestant and I thank
God for it« It was the first word of any religion I had ever heard from him
but I learnt afterwards he was a great churchgoer while on shore »But for
all that« says he »I can be sorry to see another man with his back to the
wall«
»Can ye so indeed« asked the Jacobite »Well sir to be quite plain with
ye I am one of those honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years
fortyfive and six and to be still quite plain with ye if I got into the hands
of any of the redcoated gentry its like it would go hard with me Now sir I
was for France and there was a French ship cruising here to pick me up but she
gave us the goby in the fog as I wish from the heart that ye had done
yoursel And the best that I can say is this If ye can set me ashore where I
was going I have that upon me will reward you highly for your trouble«
»In France« says the captain »No sir that I cannot do But where ye come
from we might talk of that«
And then unhappily he observed me standing in my corner and packed me off
to the galley to get supper for the gentleman I lost no time I promise you
and when I came back into the roundhouse I found the gentleman had taken a
moneybelt from about his waist and poured out a guinea or two upon the table
The captain was looking at the guineas and then at the belt and then at the
gentlemans face and I thought he seemed excited
»Half of it« he cried »and Im your man«
The other swept back the guineas into the belt and put it on again under
his waistcoat »I have told ye sir« said he »that not one doit of it belongs
to me It belongs to my chieftain« and here he touched his hat »and while I
would be but a silly messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come
safe I should show myself a hound indeed if I bought my own carcass any too
dear Thirty guineas on the seaside or sixty if ye set me on the Linnhe Loch
Take it if ye will if not ye can do your worst«
»Ay« said Hoseason »And if I give ye over to the soldiers«
»Ye would make a fools bargain« said the other »My chief let me tell
you sir is forfeited like every honest man in Scotland His estate is in the
hands of the man they call King George and it is his officers that collect the
rents or try to collect them But for the honour of Scotland the poor tenant
bodies take a thought upon their chief lying in exile and this money is a part
of that very rent for which King George is looking Now sir ye seem to me to
be a man that understands things bring this money within the reach of
Government and how much of itll come to you«
»Little enough to be sure« said Hoseason and then »if they knew« he
added drily »But I think if I was to try that I could hold my tongue about
it«
»Ah but Ill begowk12 ye there« cried the gentleman »Play me false and
Ill play you cunning If a hands laid upon me they shall ken what money it
is«
»Well« returned the captain »what must be must Sixty guineas and done
Heres my hand upon it«
»And heres mine« said the other
And thereupon the captain went out rather hurriedly I thought and left
me alone in the roundhouse with the stranger
At that period so soon after the fortyfive there were many exiled
gentlemen coming back at the peril of their lives either to see their friends
or to collect a little money and as for the Highland chiefs that had been
forfeited it was a common matter of talk how their tenants would stint
themselves to send them money and their clansmen outface the soldiery to get it
in and run the gauntlet of our great navy to carry it across All this I had
of course heard tell of and now I had a man under my eyes whose life was
forfeit on all these counts and upon one more for he was not only a rebel and
a smuggler of rents but had taken service with King Louis of France And as if
all this were not enough he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins
Whatever my opinions I could not look on such a man without a lively interest
»And so youre a Jacobite« said I as I set meat before him
»Ay« said he beginning to eat »And you by your long face should be a
Whig«13
»Betwixt and between« said I not to annoy him for indeed I was as good a
Whig as Mr Campbell could make me
»And thats naething« said he »But Im saying Mr BetwixtandBetween«
he added »this bottle of yours is dry and its hard if Im to pay sixty
guineas and be grudged a dram upon the back of it«
»Ill go and ask for the key« said I and stepped on deck
The fog was as close as ever but the swell almost down They had laid the
brig to not knowing precisely where they were and the wind what little there
was of it not serving well for their true course Some of the hands were still
hearkening for breakers but the captain and the two officers were in the waist
with their heads together It struck me I dont know why that they were after
no good and the first word I heard as I drew softly near more than confirmed
me
It was Mr Riach crying out as if upon a sudden thought
»Couldnt we wile him out of the roundhouse«
»Hes better where he is« returned Hoseason »he hasnt room to use his
sword«
»Well thats true« said Riach »but hes hard to come at«
»Hut« said Hoseason »We can get the man in talk one upon each side and
pin him by the two arms or if thatll not hold sir we can make a run by both
the doors and get him under hand before he has the time to draw«
At this hearing I was seized with both fear and anger at these treacherous
greedy bloody men that I sailed with My first mind was to run away my second
was bolder
»Captain« said I »the gentleman is seeking a dram and the bottles out
Will you give me the key«
They all started and turned about
»Why heres our chance to get the firearms« Riach cried and then to me
»Hark ye David« he said »do ye ken where the pistols are«
»Ay ay« put in Hoseason »David kens Davids a good lad Ye see David my
man yon wild Hielandman is a danger to the ship besides being a rank foe to
King George God bless him«
I had never been so beDavided since I came on board but I said Yes as if
all I heard were quite natural
»The trouble is« resumed the captain »that all our firelocks great and
little are in the roundhouse under this mans nose likewise the powder Now
if I or one of the officers was to go in and take them he would fall to
thinking But a lad like you David might snap up a horn and a pistol or two
without remark And if ye can do it cleverly Ill bear it in mind when itll be
good for you to have friends and thats when we come to Carolina«
Here Mr Riach whispered him a little
»Very right sir« said the captain and then to myself »And see here
David yon man has a beltful of gold and I give you my word that you shall have
your fingers in it«
I told him I would do as he wished though indeed I had scarce breath to
speak with and upon that he gave me the key of the spiritlocker and I began
to go slowly back to the roundhouse What was I to do They were dogs and
thieves they had stolen me from my own country they had killed poor Ransome
and was I to hold the candle to another murder But then upon the other hand
there was the fear of death very plain before me for what could a boy and a
man if they were as brave as lions against a whole ships company
I was still arguing it back and forth and getting no great clearness when
I came into the roundhouse and saw the Jacobite eating his supper under the
lamp and at that my mind was made up all in a moment I have no credit by it
it was by no choice of mine but as if by compulsion that I walked right up to
the table and put my hand on his shoulder
»Do ye want to be killed« said I
He sprang to his feet and looked a question at me as clear as if he had
spoken
»O« cried I »theyre all murderers here its a ship full of them Theyve
murdered a boy already Now its you«
»Ay ay« said he »but they havent got me yet« And then looking at me
curiously »Will ye stand with me«
»That will I« said I »I am no thief nor yet murderer Ill stand by you«
»Why then« said he »whats your name«
»David Balfour« said I and then thinking that a man with so fine a coat
must like fine people I added for the first time »of Shaws«
It never occurred to him to doubt me for a Highlander is used to see great
gentlefolk in great poverty but as he had no estate of his own my words
nettled a very childish vanity he had
»My name is Stewart« he said drawing himself up »Alan Breck they call
me A kings name is good enough for me though I bear it plain and have the
name of no farmmidden to clap to the hindend of it«
And having administered this rebuke as though it were something of a chief
importance he turned to examine our defences
The roundhouse was built very strong to support the breaching of the seas
Of its five apertures only the skylight and the two doors were large enough for
the passage of a man The doors besides could be drawn close they were of
stout oak and ran in grooves and were fitted with hooks to keep them either
shut or open as the need arose The one that was already shut I secured in this
fashion but when I was proceeding to slide to the other Alan stopped me
»David« said he »for I canna bring to mind the name of your landed
estate and so will make so bold as to call you David that door being open
is the best part of my defences«
»It would be yet better shut« says I
»Not so David« says he »Ye see I have but one face but so long as that
door is open and my face to it the best part of my enemies will be in front of
me where I would aye wish to find them«
Then he gave me from the rack a cutlass of which there were a few besides
the firearms choosing it with great care shaking his head and saying he had
never in all his life seen poorer weapons and next he set me down to the table
with a powderhorn a bag of bullets and all the pistols which he bade me
charge
»And that will be better work let me tell you« said he »for a gentleman
of decent birth than scraping plates and raxing14 drams to a wheen tarry
sailors«
Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the door and drawing
his great sword made trial of the room he had to wield it in
»I must stick to the point« he said shaking his head »and thats a pity
too It doesnt set my genius which is all for the upper guard And now« said
he »do you keep on charging the pistols and give heed to me«
I told him I would listen closely My chest was tight my mouth dry the
light dark to my eyes the thought of the numbers that were soon to leap in upon
us kept my heart in a flutter and the sea which I heard washing round the
brig and where I thought my dead body would be cast ere morning ran in my mind
strangely
»First of all« said he »how many are against us«
I reckoned them up and such was the hurry of my mind I had to cast the
numbers twice »Fifteen« said I
Alan whistled »Well« said he »that cant be cured And now follow me It
is my part to keep this door where I look for the main battle In that ye have
no hand And mind and dinna fire to this side unless they get me down for I
would rather have ten foes in front of me than one friend like you cracking
pistols at my back«
I told him indeed I was no great shot
»And thats very bravely said« he cried in a great admiration of my
candour »Theres many a pretty gentleman that wouldna dare to say it«
»But then sir« said I »there is the door behind you which they may
perhaps break in«
»Ay« said he »and that is a part of your work No sooner the pistols
charged than ye must climb up into yon bed where yere handy at the window and
if they lift hand against the door yere to shoot But thats not all Lets
make a bit of a soldier of ye David What else have ye to guard«
»Theres the skylight« said I »But indeed Mr Stewart I would need to
have eyes upon both sides to keep the two of them for when my face is at the
one my back is to the other«
»And thats very true« said Alan »But have ye no ears to your head«
»To be sure« cried I »I must hear the bursting of the glass«
»Ye have some rudiments of sense,« said Alan grimly
Chapter X
The Siege of the RoundHouse
But now our time of truce was come to an end Those on deck had waited for my
coming till they grew impatient and scarce had Alan spoken when the captain
showed face in the open door
»Stand« cried Alan and pointed his sword at him
The captain stood indeed but he neither winced nor drew back a foot
»A naked sword« says he »This is a strange return for hospitality«
»Do ye see me« said Alan »I am come of kings I bear a kings name My
badge is the oak Do ye see my sword It has slashed the heads off mair
Whigamores than you have toes upon your feet Call up your vermin to your back
sir and fall on The sooner the clash begins the sooner yell taste this steel
throughout your vitals«
The captain said nothing to Alan but he looked over at me with an ugly
look »David« said he »Ill mind this« and the sound of his voice went
through me with a jar
Next moment he was gone
»And now« said Alan »let your hand keep your head for the grip is
coming«
Alan drew a dirk which he held in his left hand in case they should run in
under his sword I on my part clambered up into the berth with an armful of
pistols and something of a heavy heart and set open the window where I was to
watch It was a small part of the deck that I could overlook but enough for our
purpose The sea had gone down and the wind was steady and kept the sails
quiet so that there was a great stillness in the ship in which I made sure I
heard the sound of muttering voices A little after and there came a clash of
steel upon the deck by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses and one
had been let fall and after that silence again
I do not know if I was what you call afraid but my heart beat like a
birds both quick and little and there was a dimness came before my eyes which
I continually rubbed away and which continually returned As for hope I had
none but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world
that made me long to sell my life as dear as I was able I tried to pray I
remember but that same hurry of my mind like a man running would not suffer
me to think upon the words and my chief wish was to have the thing begin and be
done with it
It came all of a sudden when it did with a rush of feet and a roar and
then a shout from Alan and a sound of blows and some one crying out as if hurt
I looked back over my shoulder and saw Mr Shuan in the doorway crossing
blades with Alan
»Thats him that killed the boy« I cried
»Look to your window« said Alan and as I turned back to my place I saw
him pass his sword through the mates body
It was none too soon for me to look to my own part for my head was scarce
back at the window before five men carrying a spare yard for a batteringram
ran past me and took post to drive the door in I had never fired with a pistol
in my life and not often with a gun far less against a fellowcreature But it
was now or never and just as they swang the yard I cried out »Take that« and
shot into their midst
I must have hit one of them for he sang out and gave back a step and the
rest stopped as if a little disconcerted Before they had time to recover I sent
another ball over their heads and at my third shot which went as wide as the
second the whole party threw down the yard and ran for it
Then I looked round again into the deckhouse The whole place was full of
the smoke of my own firing just as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of
the shots But there was Alan standing as before only now his sword was
running blood to the hilt and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into
so fine an attitude that he looked to be invincible Right before him on the
floor was Mr Shuan on his hands and knees the blood was pouring from his
mouth and he was sinking slowly lower with a terrible white face and just as
I looked some of those from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged
him bodily out of the roundhouse I believe he died as they were doing it
»Theres one of your Whigs for ye« cried Alan and then turning to me he
asked if I had done much execution
I told him I had winged one and thought it was the captain
»And Ive settled two« says he »No theres not enough blood let theyll
be back again To your watch David This was but a dram before meat«
I settled back to my place recharging the three pistols I had fired and
keeping watch with both eye and ear
Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck and that so loudly
that I could hear a word or two above the washing of the seas
»It was Shuan bauchled15 it« I heard one say
And another answered him with a »Wheesht man Hes paid the piper«
After that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before Only
now one person spoke most of the time as though laying down a plan and first
one and then another answered him briefly like men taking orders By this I
made sure they were coming on again and told Alan
»Its what we have to pray for« said he »Unless we can give them a good
distaste of us and done with it therell be nae sleep for either you or me
But this time mind theyll be in earnest«
By this my pistols were ready and there was nothing to do but listen and
wait While the brush lasted I had not the time to think if I was frighted but
now when all was still again my mind ran upon nothing else The thought of the
sharp swords and the cold steel was strong in me and presently when I began to
hear stealthy steps and a brushing of mens clothes against the roundhouse
wall and knew they were taking their places in the dark I could have found it
in my mind to cry out aloud
All this was upon Alans side and I had begun to think my share of the
fight was at an end when I heard some one drop softly on the roof above me
Then there came a single call on the seapipe and that was the signal A
knot of them made one rush of it cutlass in hand against the door and at the
same moment the glass of the skylight was dashed in a thousand pieces and a man
leaped through and landed on the floor Before he got his feet I had clapped a
pistol to his back and might have shot him too only at the touch of him and
him alive my whole flesh misgave me and I could no more pull the trigger than
I could have flown
He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped and when he felt the pistol
whipped straight round and laid hold of me roaring out an oath and at that
either my courage came again or I grew so much afraid as came to the same
thing for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body He gave the
most horrible ugly groan and fell to the floor The foot of a second fellow
whose legs were dangling through the skylight struck me at the same time upon
the head and at that I snatched another pistol and shot this one through the
thigh so that he slipped through and tumbled in a lump on his companions body
There was no talk of missing any more than there was time to aim I clapped the
muzzle to the very place and fired
I might have stood and stared at them for long but I heard Alan shout as if
for help and that brought me to my senses
He had kept the door so long but one of the seamen while he was engaged
with others had run in under his guard and caught him about the body Alan was
dirking him with his left hand but the fellow clung like a leech Another had
broken in and had his cutlass raised The door was thronged with their faces I
thought we were lost and catching up my cutlass fell on them in flank
But I had not time to be of help The wrestler dropped at last and Alan
leaping back to get his distance ran upon the others like a bull roaring as he
went They broke before him like water turning and running and falling one
against another in their haste The sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver
into the huddle of our fleeing enemies and at every flash there came the scream
of a man hurt I was still thinking we were lost when lo they were all gone
and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheepdog chases sheep
Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again being as cautious as he was
brave and meanwhile the seamen continued running and crying out as if he was
still behind them and we heard them tumble one upon another into the
forecastle and clapto the hatch upon the top
The roundhouse was like a shambles three were dead inside another lay in
his deathagony across the threshold and there were Alan and I victorious and
unhurt
He came up to me with open arms »Come to my arms« he cried and embraced
and kissed me hard upon both cheeks »David« said he »I love you like a
brother And O man« he cried in a kind of ecstasy »am I no a bonny fighter«
Thereupon he turned to the four enemies passed his sword clean through each
of them and tumbled them out of doors one after the other As he did so he
kept humming and singing and whistling to himself like a man trying to recall
an air only what he was trying was to make one All the while the flush was in
his face and his eyes were as bright as a fiveyearold childs with a new toy
And presently he sat down upon the table sword in hand the air that he was
making all the time began to run a little clearer and then clearer still and
then out he burst with a great voice into a Gaelic song
I have translated it here not in verse of which I have no skill but at
least in the kings English He sang it often afterwards and the thing became
popular so that I have heard it and had it explained to me manys the time
This is the song of the sword of Alan
The smith made it
The fire set it
Now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck
Their eyes were many and bright
Swift were they to behold
Many the hands they guided
The sword was alone
The dun deer troop over the hill
They are many the hill is one
The dun deer vanish
The hill remains
Come to me from the hills of heather
Come from the isles of the sea
O farbeholding eagles
Here is your meat
Now this song which he made both words and music in the hour of our victory
is something less than just to me who stood beside him in the tussle Mr Shuan
and five more were either killed outright or thoroughly disabled but of these
two fell by my hand the two that came by the skylight Four more were hurt and
of that number one and he not the least important got his hurt from me So
that altogether I did my fair share both of the killing and the wounding and
might have claimed a place in Alans verses But poets have to think upon their
rhymes and in good prose talk Alan always did me more than justice
In the meanwhile I was innocent of any wrong being done me For not only I
knew no word of the Gaelic but what with the long suspense of the waiting and
the scurry and strain of our two spirts of fighting and more than all the
horror I had of some of my own share in it the thing was no sooner over than I
was glad to stagger to a seat There was that tightness on my chest that I could
hardly breathe the thought of the two men I had shot sat upon me like a
nightmare and all upon a sudden and before I had a guess of what was coming I
began to sob and cry like any child
Alan clapped my shoulder and said I was a brave lad and wanted nothing but
a sleep
»Ill take the first watch« said he »Yeve done well by me David first
and last and I wouldnt lose you for all Appin no nor for Breadalbane«
So I made up my bed on the floor and he took the first spell pistol in
hand and sword on knee three hours by the captains watch upon the wall Then
he roused me up and I took my turn of three hours before the end of which it
was broad day and a very quiet morning with a smooth rolling sea that tossed
the ship and made the blood run to and fro on the roundhouse floor and a heavy
rain that drummed upon the roof All my watch there was nothing stirring and by
the banging of the helm I knew they had even no one at the tiller Indeed as I
learned afterwards there were so many of them hurt or dead and the rest in so
ill a temper that Mr Riach and the captain had to take turn and turn like Alan
and me or the brig might have gone ashore and nobody the wiser It was a mercy
the night had fallen so still for the wind had gone down as soon as the rain
began Even as it was I judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls that
went crying and fishing round the ship that she must have drifted pretty near
the coast or one of the islands of the Hebrides and at last looking out of the
door of the roundhouse I saw the great stone hills of Skye on the right hand
and a little more astern the strange isle of Rum
Chapter XI
The Captain Knuckles Under
Alan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the clock The floor was covered
with broken glass and in a horrid mess of blood which took away my hunger In
all other ways we were in a situation not only agreeable but merry having
ousted the officers from their own cabin and having at command all the drink in
the ship both wine and spirits and all the dainty part of what was eatable
such as the pickles and the fine sort of bread This of itself, was enough to
set us in good humour but the richest part of it was this that the two
thirstiest men that ever came out of Scotland Mr Shuan being dead were now
shut in the forepart of the ship and condemned to what they hated most cold
water
»And depend upon it« Alan said »we shall hear more of them ere long Ye
may keep a man from the fighting but never from his bottle«
We made good company for each other Alan indeed expressed himself most
lovingly and taking a knife from the table cut me off one of the silver
buttons from his coat
»I had them« says he »from my father Duncan Stewart and now give ye one
of them to be a keepsake for last nights work And wherever ye go and show that
button the friends of Alan Breck will come around you«
He said this as if he had been Charlemagne and commanded armies and
indeed much as I admired his courage I was always in danger of smiling at his
vanity in danger I say for had I not kept my countenance I would be afraid
to think what a quarrel might have followed
As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the captains
locker till he found a clothesbrush and then taking off his coat began to
visit his suit and brush away the stains with such care and labour as I
supposed to have been only usual with women To be sure he had no other and
besides as he said it belonged to a king and so behoved to be royally looked
after
For all that when I saw what care he took to pluck out the threads where
the button had been cut away I put a higher value on his gift
He was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr Riach from the deck
asking for a parley and I climbing through the skylight and sitting on the
edge of it pistol in hand and with a bold front though inwardly in fear of
broken glass hailed him back again and bade him speak out He came to the edge
of the roundhouse and stood on a coil of rope so that his chin was on a level
with the roof and we looked at each other a while in silence Mr Riach as I
do not think he had been very forward in the battle so he had got off with
nothing worse than a blow upon the cheek but he looked out of heart and very
weary having been all night afoot either standing watch or doctoring the
wounded
»This is a bad job« said he at last shaking his head
»It was none of our choosing« said I
»The captain« says he »would like to speak with your friend They might
speak at the window«
»And how do we know what treachery he means« cried I
»He means none David« returned Mr Riach »and if he did Ill tell ye the
honest truth we couldna get the men to follow«
»Is that so« said I
»Ill tell ye more than that« said he »Its not only the men its me Im
frichened Davie« And he smiled across at me »No« he continued »what we
want is to be shut of him«
Thereupon I consulted with Alan and the parley was agreed to and parole
given upon either side but this was not the whole of Mr Riachs business and
he now begged me for a dram with such instancy and such reminders of his former
kindness that at last I handed him a pannikin with about a gill of brandy He
drank a part and then carried the rest down upon the deck to share it I
suppose with his superior
A little after the captain came as was agreed to one of the windows and
stood there in the rain with his arm in a sling and looking stern and pale
and so old that my heart smote me for having fired upon him
Alan at once held a pistol in his face
»Put that thing up« said the captain »Have I not passed my word sir or
do you seek to affront me«
»Captain« says Alan »I doubt your word is a breakable Last night ye
haggled and arglebargled like an applewife and then passed me your word and
gave me your hand to back it and ye ken very well what was the upshot Be
damned to your word« says he
»Well well sir« said the captain »yell get little good by swearing«
And truly that was a fault of which the captain was quite free »But we have
other things to speak« he continued bitterly »Yeve made a sore hash of my
brig I havent hands enough left to work her and my first officer whom I
could ill spare has got your sword throughout his vitals and passed without
speech There is nothing left me sir but to put back into the port of Glasgow
after hands and there by your leave ye will find them that are better able to
talk to you«
»Ay« said Alan »and faith Ill have a talk with them mysel Unless
theres naebody speaks English in that town I have a bonny tale for them
Fifteen tarry sailors upon the one side and a man and a halfling boy upon the
other O man its peetiful«
Hoseason flushed red
»No« continued Alan »thatll no do Yell just have to set me ashore as
we agreed«
»Ay« said Hoseason »but my first officer is dead ye ken best how
Theres none of the rest of us acquaint with this coast sir and its one very
dangerous to ships«
»I give ye your choice« says Alan »Set me on dry ground in Appin or
Ardgour or in Morven or Arisaig or Morar or in brief where ye please
within thirty miles of my own country except in a country of the Campbells
Thats a broad target If ye miss that ye must be as feckless at the sailoring
as I have found ye at the fighting Why my poor countrypeople in their bit
cobles16 pass from island to island in all weathers ay and by night too for
the matter of that«
»A cobles not a ship sir« said the captain »It has nae draught of
water«
»Well then to Glasgow if ye list« says Alan »Well have the laugh of ye
at the least«
»My mind runs little upon laughing« said the captain »But all this will
cost money sir«
»Well sir« says Alan »I am nae weathercock Thirty guineas if ye land me
on the seaside and sixty if ye put me in the Linnhe Loch«
»But see sir where we lie we are but a few hours sail from Ardnamurchan«
said Hoseason »Give me sixty and Ill set ye there«
»And Im to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the redcoats to please
you« cries Alan »No sir if ye want sixty guineas earn them and set me in my
own country«
»Its to risk the brig sir« said the captain »and your own lives along
with her«
»Take it or want it« says Alan
»Could ye pilot us at all« asked the captain who was frowning to himself
»Well its doubtful« said Alan »Im more of a fighting man as ye have
seen for yoursel than a sailorman But I have been often enough picked up and
set down upon this coast and should ken something of the lie of it«
The captain shook his head still frowning
»If I had lost less money on this unchancy cruise« says he »I would see
you in a ropesend before I risked my brig sir But be it as ye will As soon
as I get a slant of wind and theres some coming or Im the more mistaken
Ill put it in hand But theres one thing more We may meet in with a Kings
ship and she may lay us aboard sir with no blame of mine they keep the
cruisers thick upon this coast ye ken who for Now sir if that was to befall
ye might leave the money«
»Captain« says Alan »if ye see a pennant it shall be your part to run
away And now as I hear youre a little short of brandy in the forepart
Ill offer ye a change a bottle of brandy against two buckets of water«
That was the last clause of the treaty and was duly executed on both sides
so that Alan and I could at last wash out the roundhouse and be quit of the
memorials of those whom we had slain and the captain and Mr Riach could be
happy again in their own way the name of which was drink
Chapter XII
I Hear of the »Red Fox«
Before we had done cleaning out the roundhouse a breeze sprang up from a little
to the east of north This blew off the rain and brought out the sun
And here I must explain and the reader would do well to look at a map On
the day when the fog fell and we ran down Alans boat we had been running
through the Little Minch At dawn after the battle we lay becalmed to the west
of the Isle of Canna or between that and Isle Eriska in the chain of the Long
Island Now to get from there to the Linnhe Loch the straight course was
through the narrows of the Sound of Mull But the captain had no chart he was
afraid to trust his brig so deep among the islands and the wind serving well
he preferred to go by west of Tiree and come up under the southern coast of the
great Isle of Mull
All day the breeze held in the same point and rather freshened than died
down and towards afternoon a swell began to set in from round the outer
Hebrides Our course to go round about the inner isles was to the west of
south so that at first we had this swell upon our beam and were much rolled
about But after nightfall when we had turned the end of Tiree and began to
head more to the east the sea came right astern
Meanwhile the early part of the day before the swell came up was very
pleasant sailing as we were in a bright sunshine and with many mountainous
islands upon different sides Alan and I sat in the roundhouse with the doors
open on each side the wind being straight astern and smoked a pipe or two of
the captains fine tobacco It was at this time we heard each others stories
which was the more important to me as I gained some knowledge of that wild
Highland country on which I was so soon to land In those days so close on the
back of the great rebellion it was needful a man should know what he was doing
when he went upon the heather
It was I that showed the example telling him all my misfortune which he
heard with great goodnature Only when I came to mention that good friend of
mine Mr Campbell the minister Alan fired up and cried out that he hated all
that were of that name
»Why« said I »he is a man you should be proud to give your hand to«
»I know nothing I would help a Campbell to« says he »unless it was a
leaden bullet I would hunt all of that name like blackcocks If I lay dying I
would crawl upon my knees to my chamber window for a shot at one«
»Why Alan« I cried »what ails ye at the Campbells«
»Well« says he »ye ken very well that I am an Appin Stewart and the
Campbells have long harried and wasted those of my name ay and got lands of us
by treachery but never with the sword« he cried loudly and with the word
brought down his fist upon the table But I paid the less attention to this for
I knew it was usually said by those who have the underhand »Theres more than
that« he continued »and all in the same story lying words lying papers
tricks fit for a peddler and the show of whats legal over all to make a man
the more angry«
»You that are so wasteful of your buttons« said I »I can hardly think you
would be a good judge of business«
»Ah« says he falling again to smiling »I got my wastefulness from the
same man I got the buttons from and that was my poor father Duncan Stewart
grace be to him He was the prettiest man of his kindred and the best swordsman
in the Hielands David and that is the same as to say in all the world I
should ken for it was him that taught me He was in the Black Watch when first
it was mustered and like other gentleman privates had a gillie at his back to
carry his firelock for him on the march Well the King it appears was wishful
to see Hieland swordsmanship and my father and three more were chosen out and
sent to London town to let him see it at the best So they were had into the
palace and showed the whole art of the sword for two hours at a stretch before
King George and Queen Carline and the Butcher Cumberland and many more of whom
I havena mind And when they were through the King for all he was a rank
usurper spoke them fair and gave each man three guineas in his hand Now as
they were going out of the palace they had a porters lodge to go by and it
came in on my father as he was perhaps the first private Hieland gentleman that
had ever gone by that door it was right he should give the poor porter a proper
notion of their quality So he gives the Kings three guineas into the mans
hand as if it was his common custom the three others that came behind him did
the same and there they were on the street never a penny the better for their
pains Some say it was one that was the first to fee the Kings porter and some
say it was another but the truth of it is that it was Duncan Stewart as I am
willing to prove with either sword or pistol And that was the father that I
had God rest him«
»I think he was not the man to leave you rich« said I
»And thats true« said Alan »He left me my breeks to cover me and little
besides And that was how I came to enlist which was a black spot upon my
character at the best of times and would still be a sore job for me if I fell
among the redcoats«
»What« cried I »were you in the English army«
»That was I« said Alan »But I deserted to the right side at Prestonpans
and thats some comfort«
I could scarcely share this view holding desertion under arms for an
unpardonable fault in honour But for all I was so young I was wiser than say
my thought »Dear dear« says I »the punishment is death«
»Ay« said he »if they got hands on me it would be a short shrift and a
lang tow for Alan But I have the King of Frances commission in my pocket
which would aye be some protection«
»I misdoubt it much« said I
»I have doubts mysel« said Alan drily
»And good heaven man« cried I »you that are a condemned rebel and a
deserter and a man of the French Kings what tempts ye back into this
country Its a braving of Providence«
»Tut« says Alan »I have been back every year since fortysix«
»And what brings ye man« cried I
»Well ye see I weary for my friends and country« said he »France is a
braw place nae doubt but I weary for the heather and the deer And then I have
bit things that I attend to Whiles I pick up a few lads to serve the King of
France recruits ye see and thats aye a little money But the heart of the
matter is the business of my chief Ardshiel«
»I thought they called your chief Appin« said I
»Ay but Ardshiel is the captain of the clan« said he which scarcely
cleared my mind »Ye see David he that was all his life so great a man and
come of the blood and bearing the name of kings is now brought down to live in
a French town like a poor and private person He that had four hundred swords at
his whistle I have seen with these eyes of mine buying butter in the
marketplace and taking it home in a kaleleaf This is not only a pain but a
disgrace to us of his family and clan There are the bairns forbye the children
and the hope of Appin that must be learned their letters and how to hold a
sword in that far country Now the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent to King
George but their hearts are staunch they are true to their chief and what
with love and a bit of pressure and maybe a threat or two the poor folk scrape
up a second rent for Ardshiel Well David Im the hand that carries it« And
he struck the belt about his body so that the guineas rang
»Do they pay both« cried I
»Ay David both« says he
»What two rents« I repeated
»Ay David« says he »I told a different tale to yon captain man but this
is the truth of it And its wonderful to me how little pressure is needed But
thats the handiwork of my good kinsman and my fathers friend James of the
Glens James Stewart that is Ardshiels halfbrother He it is that gets the
money in and does the management«
This was the first time I heard the name of that James Stewart who was
afterwards so famous at the time of his hanging But I took little heed at the
moment for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of these poor
Highlanders
»I call it noble« I cried »Im a Whig or little better but I call it
noble«
»Ay« said he »yere a Whig but yere a gentleman and thats what does
it Now if ye were one of the cursed race of Campbell ye would gnash your
teeth to hear tell of it If ye were the Red Fox« And at that name his teeth
shut together and he ceased speaking I have seen many a grim face but never a
grimmer than Alans when he had named the Red Fox
»And who is the Red Fox« I asked daunted but still curious
»Who is he« cried Alan »Well and Ill tell you that When the men of the
clans were broken at Culloden and the good cause went down and the horses rode
over the fetlocks in the best blood of the north Ardshiel had to flee like a
poor deer upon the mountains he and his lady and his bairns A sair job we had
of it before we got him shipped and while he still lay in the heather the
English rogues that couldna come at his life were striking at his rights They
stripped him of his powers they stripped him of his lands they plucked the
weapons from the hands of his clansmen that had borne arms for thirty
centuries ay and the very clothes off their backs so that its now a sin to
wear a tartan plaid and a man may be cast into a gaol if he has but a kilt
about his legs One thing they couldna kill That was the love the clansmen bore
their chief These guineas are the proof of it And now in there steps a man a
Campbell redheaded Colin of Glenure «
»Is that him you call the Red Fox« said I
»Will ye bring me his brush« cries Alan fiercely »Ay thats the man In
he steps and gets papers from King George to be socalled Kings factor on the
lands of Appin And at first he sings small and is hailfellowwellmet with
Sheamus thats James of the Glens my chieftains agent But byandby that
came to his ears that I have just told you how the poor commons of Appin the
farmers and the crofters and the boumen were wringing their very plaids to get
a second rent and send it overseas for Ardshiel and his poor bairns What was
it ye called it when I told ye«
»I called it noble Alan« said I
»And you little better than a common Whig« cries Alan »But when it came to
Colin Roy the black Campbell blood in him ran wild He sat gnashing his teeth
at the winetable What should a Stewart get a bite of bread and him not be
able to prevent it Ah Red Fox if ever I hold you at a guns end the Lord
have pity upon ye« Alan stopped to swallow down his anger »Well David what
does he do He declares all the farms to let And thinks he in his black
heart Ill soon get other tenants thatll overbid these Stewarts and Maccolls
and Macrobs for these are all names in my clan David and then thinks he
Ardshiel will have to hold his bonnet on a French roadside«
»Well« said I »what followed«
Alan laid down his pipe which he had long since suffered to go out and set
his two hands upon his knees
»Ay« said he »yell never guess that For these same Stewarts and
Maccolls and Macrobs that had two rents to pay one to King George by stark
force and one to Ardshiel by natural kindness offered him a better price than
any Campbell in all broad Scotland and far he sent seeking them as far as to
the sides of Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh seeking and fleeching and
begging them to come where there was a Stewart to be starved and a redheaded
hound of a Campbell to be pleasured«
»Well Alan« said I »that is a strange story and a fine one too And Whig
as I may be I am glad the man was beaten«
»Him beaten« echoed Alan »Its little ye ken of Campbells and less of the
Red Fox Him beaten No nor will be till his bloods on the hillside But if
the day comes David man that I can find time and leisure for a bit of hunting
there grows not enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance«
»Man Alan« said I »ye are neither very wise nor very Christian to blow off
so many words of anger They will do the man ye call the Fox no harm and
yourself no good Tell me your tale plainly out What did he next«
»And thats a good observe David« said Alan »Troth and indeed they will
do him no harm the mores the pity And barring that about Christianity of
which my opinion is quite otherwise or I would be nae Christian I am much of
your mind«
»Opinion here or opinion there« said I »its a kennt thing that
Christianity forbids revenge«
»Ay« said he »its well seen it was a Campbell taught ye It would be a
convenient world for them and their sort if there was no such a thing as a lad
and a gun behind a heather bush But thats nothing to the point This is what
he did«
»Ay« said I »come to that«
»Well David« said he »since he couldna be rid of the loyal commons by
fair means he swore he would be rid of them by foul Ardshiel was to starve
that was the thing he aimed at And since them that fed him in his exile wouldna
be bought out right or wrong he would drive them out Therefore he sent for
lawyers and papers and redcoats to stand at his back And the kindly folk of
that country must all pack and tramp every fathers son out of his fathers
house and out of the place where he was bred and fed and played when he was a
callant And who are to succeed them Bareleggit beggars King George is to
whistle for his rents he maun dow with less he can spread his butter thinner
what cares Red Colin If he can hurt Ardshiel he has his wish if he can pluck
the meat from my chieftains table and the bit toys out of his childrens
hands he will gang hame singing to Glenure«
»Let me have a word« said I »Be sure if they take less rents be sure
Government has a finger in the pie Its not this Campbells fault man its
his orders And if ye killed this Colin tomorrow what better would ye be
There would be another factor in his shoes as fast as spur can drive«
»Yere a good lad in a fight« said Alan »but man ye have Whig blood in
ye«
He spoke kindly enough but there was so much anger under his contempt that
I thought it was wise to change the conversation I expressed my wonder how
with the Highlands covered with troops and guarded like a city in a siege a
man in his situation could come and go without arrest
»Its easier than ye would think« said Alan »A bare hillside ye see is
like all one road if theres a sentry at one place ye just go by another And
then the heathers a great help And everywhere there are friends houses and
friends byres and haystacks And besides when folk talk of a country covered
with troops its but a kind of a byword at the best A soldier covers nae mair
of it than his bootsoles I have fished a water with a sentry on the other side
of the brae and killed a fine trout and I have sat in a heather bush within
six feet of another and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling This was
it« said he and whistled me the air
»And then besides« he continued »its no sae bad now as it was in
fortysix The Hielands are what they call pacified Small wonder with never a
gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape Wrath but what tenty17 folk have
hidden in their thatch But what I would like to ken David is just how long
Not long ye would think with men like Ardshiel in exile and men like the Red
Fox sitting birling the wine and oppressing the poor at home But its a kittle
thing to decide what folkll bear and what they will not Or why would Red
Colin be riding his horse all over my poor country of Appin and never a pretty
lad to put a bullet in him«
And with this Alan fell into a muse and for a long time sate very sad and
silent
I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend that he was
skilled in all kinds of music but principally pipemusic was a wellconsidered
poet in his own tongue had read several books both in French and English was a
dead shot a good angler and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well
as with his own particular weapon For his faults they were on his face and I
now knew them all But the worst of them his childish propensity to take
offence and to pick quarrels he greatly laid aside in my case out of regard
for the battle of the roundhouse But whether it was because I had done well
myself or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess is more
than I can tell For though he had a great taste for courage in other men yet
he admired it most in Alan Breck
Chapter XIII
The Loss of the Brig
It was already late at night and as dark as it ever would be at that season of
the year and that is to say it was still pretty bright when Hoseason clapped
his head into the roundhouse door
»Here« said he »come out and see if ye can pilot«
»Is this one of your tricks« asked Alan
»Do I look like tricks« cries the captain »I have other things to think of
my brigs in danger«
By the concerned look of his face and above all by the sharp tones in which
he spoke of his brig it was plain to both of us he was in deadly earnest and
so Alan and I with no great fear of treachery stepped on deck
The sky was clear it blew hard and was bitter cold a great deal of
daylight lingered and the moon which was nearly full shone brightly The brig
was closehauled so as to round the southwest corner of the Island of Mull
the hills of which and Ben More above them all with a wisp of mist upon the
top of it lay full upon the larboard bow Though it was no good point of
sailing for the Covenant she tore through the seas at a great rate pitching
and straining and pursued by the westerly swell
Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in and I had begun to
wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the captain when the brig rising
suddenly on the top of a high swell he pointed and cried to us to look Away on
the lee bow a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea and
immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring
»What do ye call that« asked the captain gloomily
»The sea breaking on a reef« said Alan »And now ye ken where it is and
what better would ye have«
»Ay« said Hoseason »if it was the only one«
And sure enough just as he spoke there came a second fountain farther to
the south
»There« said Hoseason »Ye see for yourself If I had kennt of these reefs
if I had had a chart or if Shuan had been spared its not sixty guineas no
nor six hundred would have made me risk my brig in sic a stoneyard But you
sir that was to pilot us have ye never a word«
»Im thinking« said Alan »thesell be what they call the Torran Rocks«
»Are there many of them« says the captain
»Truly sir I am nae pilot« said Alan »but it sticks in my mind there are
ten miles of them«
Mr Riach and the captain looked at each other
»Theres a way through them I suppose« said the captain
»Doubtless« said Alan »but where But it somehow runs in my mind once more
that it is clearer under the land«
»So« said Hoseason »Well have to haul our wind then Mr Riach well
have to come as near in about the end of Mull as we can take her sir and even
then well have the land to kep the wind off us and that stoneyard on our lee
Well were in for it now and may as well crack on«
With that he gave an order to the steersman and sent Riach to the foretop
There were only five men on deck counting the officers these being all that
were fit or at least both fit and willing for their work So as I say it
fell to Mr Riach to go aloft and he sat there looking out and hailing the deck
with news of all he saw
»The sea to the south is thick« he cried and then after a while »it does
seem clearer in by the land«
»Well sir« said Hoseason to Alan »well try your way of it But I think I
might as well trust to a blind fiddler Pray God youre right«
»Pray God I am« says Alan to me »But where did I hear it Well well it
will be as it must«
As we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began to be sown here and
there on our very path and Mr Riach sometimes cried down to us to change the
course Sometimes indeed none too soon for one reef was so close on the
brigs weatherboard that when a sea burst upon it the lighter sprays fell upon
her deck and wetted us like rain
The brightness of the night showed us these perils as clearly as by day
which was perhaps the more alarming It showed me too the face of the
captain as he stood by the steersman now on one foot now on the other and
sometimes blowing in his hands but still listening and looking and as steady as
steel Neither he nor Mr Riach had shown well in the fighting but I saw they
were brave in their own trade and admired them all the more because I found
Alan very white
»Ochone David« says he »this is no the kind of death I fancy«
»What Alan« I cried »youre not afraid«
»No« said he wetting his lips »but youll allow yourself its a cold
ending«
By this time now and then sheering to one side or the other to avoid a
reef but still hugging the wind and the land we had got round Iona and begun
to come alongside Mull The tide at the tail of the land ran very strong and
threw the brig about Two hands were put to the helm and Hoseason himself would
sometimes lend a help and it was strange to see three strong men throw their
weight upon the tiller and it like a living thing struggle against and drive
them back This would have been the greater danger had not the sea been for some
while free of obstacles Mr Riach besides announced from the top that he saw
clear water ahead
»Ye were right« said Hoseason to Alan »Ye have saved the brig sir Ill
mind that when we come to clear accounts« and I believe he not only meant what
he said but would have done it so high a place did the Covenant hold in his
affections
But this is matter only for conjecture things having gone otherwise than he
forecast
»Keep her away a point« sings out Mr Riach »Reef to windward«
And just at the same time the tide caught the brig and threw the wind out
of her sails She came round into the wind like a top and the next moment
struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck and came
near to shake Mr Riach from his place upon the mast
I was on my feet in a minute The reef on which we had struck was close in
under the southwest end of Mull off a little isle they call Earraid which lay
low and black upon the larboard Sometimes the swell broke clean over us
sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef so that we could hear her
beat herself to pieces and what with the great noise of the sails and the
singing of the wind and the flying of the spray in the moonlight and the sense
of danger I think my head must have been partly turned for I could scarcely
understand the things I saw
Presently I observed Mr Riach and the seamen busy round the skiff and
still in the same blank ran over to assist them and as soon as I set my hand
to work my mind came clear again It was no very easy task for the skiff lay
amidships and was full of hamper and the breaking of the heavier seas
continually forced us to give over and hold on but we all wrought like horses
while we could
Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came clambering out of the
forescuttle and began to help while the rest that lay helpless in their bunks
harrowed me with screaming and begging to be saved
The captain took no part It seemed he was struck stupid He stood holding
by the shrouds talking to himself and groaning out aloud whenever the ship
hammered on the rock His brig was like wife and child to him he had looked on
day by day at the mishandling of poor Ransome but when it came to the brig
he seemed to suffer along with her
All the time of our working at the boat I remember only one other thing
that I asked Alan looking across at the shore what country it was and he
answered it was the worst possible for him for it was the land of the
Campbells
We had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch upon the seas and cry
us warning Well we had the boat about ready to be launched when this man sang
out pretty shrill »For Gods sake hold on« We knew by his tone that it was
something more than ordinary and sure enough there followed a sea so huge that
it lifted the brig right up and canted her over on her beam Whether the cry
came too late or my hold was too weak I know not but at the sudden tilting of
the ship I was cast clean over the bulwarks into the sea
I went down and drank my fill and then came up and got a blink of the
moon and then down again They say a man sinks a third time for good I cannot
be made like other folk then for I would not like to write how often I went
down or how often I came up again All the while I was being hurled along and
beaten upon and choked and then swallowed whole and the thing was so
distracting to my wits that I was neither sorry nor afraid
Presently I found I was holding to a spar which helped me somewhat And
then all of a sudden I was in quiet water and began to come to myself
It was the spare yard I had got hold of and I was amazed to see how far I
had travelled from the brig I hailed her indeed but it was plain she was
already out of cry She was still holding together but whether or not they had
yet launched the boat I was too far off and too low down to see
While I was hailing the brig I spied a tract of water lying between us
where no great waves came but which yet boiled white all over and bristled in
the moon with rings and bubbles Sometimes the whole tract swung to one side
like the tail of a live serpent sometimes for a glimpse it would all
disappear and then boil up again What it was I had no guess which for the time
increased my fear of it but I now know it must have been the roost or tide
race which had carried me away so fast and tumbled me about so cruelly and at
last as if tired of that play had flung out me and the spare yard upon its
landward margin
I now lay quite becalmed and began to feel that a man can die of cold as
well as of drowning The shores of Earraid were close in I could see in the
moonlight the dots of heather and the sparkling of the mica in the rocks
»Well« thought I to myself »if I cannot get as far as that its strange«
I had no skill of swimming Essen Water being small in our neighbourhood
but when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms and kicked out with both
feet I soon began to find that I was moving Hard work it was and mortally
slow but in about an hour of kicking and splashing I had got well in between
the points of a sandy bay surrounded by low hills
The sea was here quite quiet there was no sound of any surf the moon shone
clear and I thought in my heart I had never seen a place so desert and
desolate But it was dry land and when at last it grew so shallow that I could
leave the yard and wade ashore upon my feet I cannot tell if I was more tired
or more grateful Both at least I was tired as I never was before that night
and grateful to God as I trust I have been often though never with more cause
Chapter XIV
The Islet
With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my adventures It was
halfpast twelve in the morning and though the wind was broken by the land it
was a cold night I dared not sit down for I thought I should have frozen but
took off my shoes and walked to and fro upon the sand barefoot and beating my
breast with infinite weariness There was no sound of man or cattle not a cock
crew though it was about the hour of their first waking only the surf broke
outside in the distance which put me in mind of my perils and those of my
friend To walk by the sea at that hour of the morning and in a place so
desertlike and so lonesome struck me with a kind of fear
As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed a hill the
ruggedest scramble I ever undertook falling the whole way between big blocks
of granite or leaping from one to another When I got to the top the dawn was
come There was no sign of the brig which must have lifted from the reef and
sunk The boat too was nowhere to be seen There was never a sail upon the
ocean and in what I could see of the land was neither house nor man
I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates and afraid to look
longer at so empty a scene What with my wet clothes and weariness and my
belly that now began to ache with hunger I had enough to trouble me without
that So I set off eastward along the south coast hoping to find a house where
I might warm myself and perhaps get news of those I had lost And at the worst
I considered the sun would soon rise and dry my clothes
After a little my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea which
seemed to run pretty deep into the land and as I had no means to get across I
must needs change my direction to go about the end of it It was still the
roughest kind of walking indeed the whole not only of Earraid but of the
neighbouring part of Mull which they call the Ross is nothing but a jumble of
granite rocks with heather in among At first the creek kept narrowing as I had
looked to see but presently to my surprise it began to widen out again At this
I scratched my head but had still no notion of the truth until at last I came
to a rising ground and it burst upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon a
little barren isle and cut off on every side by the salt seas
Instead of the sun rising to dry me it came on to rain with a thick mist
so that my case was lamentable
I stood in the rain and shivered and wondered what to do till it occurred
to me that perhaps the creek was fordable Back I went to the narrowest point
and waded in But not three yards from shore I plumped in head over ears and if
ever I was heard of more it was rather by Gods grace than my own prudence I
was no wetter for that could hardly be but I was all the colder for this
mishap and having lost another hope was the more unhappy
And now all at once the yard came in my head What had carried me through
the roost would surely serve me to cross this little quiet creek in safety With
that I set off undaunted across the top of the isle to fetch and carry it
back It was a weary tramp in all ways and if hope had not buoyed me up I must
have cast myself down and given up Whether with the sea salt or because I was
growing fevered I was distressed with thirst and had to stop as I went and
drink the peaty water out of the hags
I came to the bay at last more dead than alive and at the first glance I
thought the yard was something farther out than when I left it In I went for
the third time into the sea The sand was smooth and firm and shelved
gradually down so that I could wade out till the water was almost to my neck
and the little waves splashed into my face But at that depth my feet began to
leave me and I durst venture in no farther As for the yard I saw it bobbing
very quietly some twenty feet beyond
I had borne up well until this last disappointment but at that I came
ashore and flung myself down upon the sands and wept
The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me that
I must pass it lightly over In all the books I have read of people cast away
they had either their pockets full of tools or a chest of things would be
thrown upon the beach along with them as if on purpose My case was very
different I had nothing in my pockets but money and Alans silver button and
being inland bred I was as much short of knowledge as of means
I knew indeed that shellfish were counted good to eat and among the rocks
of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets which at first I could scarcely
strike from their places not knowing quickness to be needful There were
besides some of the little shells that we call buckies I think periwinkle is
the English name Of these two I made my whole diet devouring them cold and raw
as I found them and so hungry was I that at first they seemed to me delicious
Perhaps they were out of season or perhaps there was something wrong in the
sea about my island But at least I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was
seized with giddiness and retching and lay for a long time no better than dead
A second trial of the same food indeed I had no other did better with me and
revived my strength But as long as I was on the island I never knew what to
expect when I had eaten sometimes all was well and sometimes I was thrown into
a miserable sickness nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was
that hurt me
All day it streamed rain the island ran like a sop there was no dry spot
to be found and when I lay down that night between two boulders that made a
kind of roof my feet were in a bog
The second day I crossed the island to all sides There was no one part of
it better than another it was all desolate and rocky nothing living on it but
game birds which I lacked the means to kill and the gulls which haunted the
outlying rocks in a prodigious number But the creek or strait that cut off
the isle from the main land of the Ross opened out on the north into a bay and
the bay again opened into the sound of Iona and it was the neighbourhood of
this place that I chose to be my home though if I had thought upon the very
name of home in such a spot I must have burst out weeping
I had good reasons for my choice There was in this part of the isle a
little hut of a house like a pigs hut where fishers used to sleep when they
came there upon their business but the turf roof of it had fallen entirely in
so that the hut was of no use to me and gave me less shelter than my rocks
What was more important the shellfish on which I lived grew there in great
plenty when the tide was out I could gather a peck at a time and this was
doubtless a convenience But the other reason went deeper I had become in no
way used to the horrid solitude of the isle but still looked round me on all
sides like a man that was hunted between fear and hope that I might see some
human creature coming Now from a little up the hillside over the bay I could
catch a sight of the great ancient church and the roofs of the peoples houses
in Iona And on the other hand over the low country of the Ross I saw smoke go
up morning and evening as if from a homestead in a hollow of the land
I used to watch this smoke when I was wet and cold and had my head half
turned with loneliness and think of the fireside and the company till my heart
burned It was the same with the roofs of Iona Altogether this sight I had of
mens homes and comfortable lives although it put a point on my own sufferings
yet it kept hope alive and helped me to eat my raw shellfish which had soon
grown to be a disgust and saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever I
was quite alone with dead rocks and fowls and the rain and the cold sea
I say it kept hope alive and indeed it seemed impossible that I should be
left to die on the shores of my own country and within view of a church tower
and the smoke of mens houses But the second day passed and though as long as
the light lasted I kept a bright lookout for boats on the Sound or men passing
on the Ross no help came near me It still rained and I turned in to sleep as
wet as ever and with a cruel sore throat but a little comforted perhaps by
having said goodnight to my next neighbours the people of Iona
Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days in the year
in the climate of England than in any other This was very like a king with a
palace at his back and changes of dry clothes But he must have had better luck
on his flight from Worcester than I had on that miserable isle It was the
height of the summer yet it rained for more than twentyfour hours and did not
clear until the afternoon of the third day
This was the day of incidents In the morning I saw a red deer a buck with
a fine spread of antlers standing in the rain on the top of the island but he
had scarce seen me rise from under my rock before he trotted off upon the other
side I supposed he must have swum the strait though what should bring any
creature to Earraid was more than I could fancy
A little after as I was jumping about after my limpets I was startled by a
guineapiece which fell upon a rock in front of me and glanced off into the
sea When the sailors gave me my money again they kept back not only about a
third of the whole sum but my fathers leather purse so that from that day
out I carried my gold loose in a pocket with a button I now saw there must be
a hole and clapped my hand to the place in a great hurry But this was to lock
the stabledoor after the steed was stolen I had left the shore at Queensferry
with near on fifty pounds now I found no more than two guineapieces and a
silver shilling
It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after where it lay shining
on a piece of turf That made a fortune of three pounds and four shillings
English money for a lad the rightful heir of an estate and now starving on an
isle at the extreme end of the wild Highlands
This state of my affairs dashed me still further and indeed my plight on
that third morning was truly pitiful My clothes were beginning to rot my
stockings in particular were quite worn through so that my shanks went naked
my hands had grown quite soft with the continual soaking my throat was very
sore my strength had much abated and my heart so turned against the horrid
stuff I was condemned to eat that the very sight of it came near to sicken me
And yet the worst was not yet come
There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid which because it
had a flat top and overlooked the Sound I was much in the habit of frequenting
not that ever I stayed in one place save when asleep my misery giving me no
rest Indeed I wore myself down with continual and aimless goings and comings
in the rain
As soon however as the sun came out I lay down on the top of that rock to
dry myself The comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot tell It set me
thinking hopefully of my deliverance of which I had begun to despair and I
scanned the sea and the Ross with a fresh interest On the south of my rock a
part of the island jutted out and hid the open ocean so that a boat could thus
come quite near me upon that side and I be none the wiser
Well all of a sudden a coble with a brown sail and a pair of fishers
aboard of it came flying round that corner of the isle bound for Iona I
shouted out and then fell on my knees on the rock and reached up my hands and
prayed to them They were near enough to hear I could even see the colour of
their hair and there was no doubt but they observed me for they cried out in
the Gaelic tongue and laughed But the boat never turned aside and flew on
right before my eyes for Iona
I could not believe such wickedness and ran along the shore from rock to
rock crying on them piteously even after they were out of reach of my voice I
still cried and waved to them and when they were quite gone I thought my heart
would have burst All the time of my troubles I wept only twice Once when I
could not reach the yard and now the second time when these fishers turned a
deaf ear to my cries But this time I wept and roared like a wicked child
tearing up the turf with my nails and grinding my face in the earth If a wish
would kill men those two fishers would never have seen morning and I should
likely have died upon my island
When I was a little over my anger I must eat again but with such loathing
of the mess as I could now scarce control Sure enough I should have done as
well to fast for my fishes poisoned me again I had all my first pains my
throat was so sore I could scarce swallow I had a fit of strong shuddering
which clucked my teeth together and there came on me that dreadful sense of
illness which we have no name for either in Scots or English I thought I should
have died and made my peace with God forgiving all men even my uncle and the
fishers and as soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst clearness came
upon me I observed the night was falling dry my clothes were dried a good
deal truly I was in a better case than ever before since I had landed on the
isle and so I got to sleep at last with a thought of gratitude
The next day which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine I found my
bodily strength run very low But the sun shone the air was sweet and what I
managed to eat of the shellfish agreed well with me and revived my courage
I was scarce back on my rock where I went always the first thing after I
had eaten before I observed a boat coming down the Sound and with her head as
I thought in my direction
I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly for I thought these men might
have thought better of their cruelty and be coming back to my assistance But
another disappointment such as yesterdays was more than I could bear I
turned my back accordingly upon the sea and did not look again till I had
counted many hundreds The boat was still heading for the island The next time
I counted the full thousand as slowly as I could my heart beating so as to
hurt me And then it was out of all question She was coming straight to
Earraid
I could no longer hold myself back but ran to the seaside and out from
one rock to another as far as I could go It is a marvel I was not drowned for
when I was brought to a stand at last my legs shook under me and my mouth was
so dry I must wet it with the seawater before I was able to shout
All this time the boat was coming on and now I was able to perceive it was
the same boat and the same two men as yesterday This I knew by their hair
which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black But now there was a
third man along with them who looked to be of a better class
As soon as they were come within easy speech they let down their sail and
lay quiet In spite of my supplications they drew no nearer in and what
frightened me most of all the new man teeheed with laughter as he talked and
looked at me
Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while speaking fast
and with many wavings of his hand I told him I had no Gaelic and at this he
became very angry and I began to suspect he thought he was talking English
Listening very close I caught the word whateffer several times but all the
rest was Gaelic and might have been Greek and Hebrew for me
»Whatever« said I to show him I had caught a word
»Yes yes yes yes« says he and then he looked at the other men as much
as to say »I told you I spoke English« and began again as hard as ever in the
Gaelic
This time I picked out another word tide Then I had a flash of hope I
remembered he was always waving his hand towards the mainland of the Ross
»Do you mean when the tide is out « I cried and could not finish
»Yes yes« said he »Tide«
At that I turned tail upon their boat where my adviser had once more begun
to teehee with laughter leaped back the way I had come from one stone to
another and set off running across the isle as I had never run before In about
half an hour I came out upon the shores of the creek and sure enough it was
shrunk into a little trickle of water through which I dashed not above my
knees and landed with a shout on the main island
A seabred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid which is only what
they call a tidal islet and except in the bottom of the neaps can be entered
and left twice in every twentyfour hours either dryshod or at the most by
wading Even I who had the tide going out and in before me in the bay and even
watched for the ebbs the better to get my shellfish even I I say if I had
sat down to think instead of raging at my fate must have soon guessed the
secret and got free It was no wonder the fishers had not understood me The
wonder was rather that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion and taken the
trouble to come back I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for
close upon one hundred hours But for the fishers I might have left my bones
there in pure folly And even as it was I had paid for it pretty dear not
only in past sufferings but in my present case being clothed like a
beggarman scarce able to walk and in great pain of my sore throat
I have seen wicked men and fools a great many of both and I believe they
both get paid in the end but the fools first
Chapter XV
The Lad with the Silver Button
Through the Isle of Mull
The Ross of Mull which I had now got upon was rugged and trackless like the
isle I had just left being all bog and briar and big stone There may be
roads for them that know that country well but for my part I had no better
guide than my own nose and no other landmark than Ben More
I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so often from the
island and with all my great weariness and the difficulty of the way came upon
the house in the bottom of a little hollow about five or six at night It was
low and longish roofed with turf and built of unmortared stones and on a
mound in front of it an old gentleman sat smoking his pipe in the sun
With what little English he had he gave me to understand that my shipmates
had got safe ashore and had broken bread in that very house on the day after
»Was there one« I asked »dressed like a gentleman«
He said they all wore rough greatcoats but to be sure the first of them
the one that came alone wore breeches and stockings while the rest had
sailors trousers
»Ah« said I »and he would have a feathered hat«
He told me no that he was bareheaded like myself
At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat and then the rain came in
my mind and I judged it more likely he had it out of harms way under his
greatcoat This set me smiling partly because my friend was safe partly to
think of his vanity in dress
And then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow and cried out that
I must be the lad with the silver button
»Why yes« said I in some wonder
»Well then« said the old gentleman »I have a word for you that you are
to follow your friend to his country by Torosay«
He then asked me how I had fared and I told him my tale A southcountry
man would certainly have laughed but this old gentleman I call him so because
of his manners for his clothes were dropping off his back heard me all through
with nothing but gravity and pity When I had done he took me by the hand led
me into his hut it was no better and presented me before his wife as if she
had been the Queen and I a duke
The good woman set oatbread before me and a cold grouse patting my
shoulder and smiling to me all the time for she had no English and the old
gentleman not to be behind brewed me a strong punch out of their country
spirit All the while I was eating and after that when I was drinking the
punch I could scarce come to believe in my good fortune and the house though
it was thick with the peatsmoke and as full of holes as a colander seemed like
a palace
The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slumber the good people let
me lie and it was near noon of the next day before I took the road my throat
already easier and my spirits quite restored by good fare and good news The old
gentleman although I pressed him hard would take no money and gave me an old
bonnet for my head though I am free to own I was no sooner out of view of the
house than I very jealously washed this gift of his in a wayside fountain
Thought I to myself »If these are the wild Highlanders I could wish my own
folk wilder«
I not only started late but I must have wandered nearly half the time
True I met plenty of people grubbing in little miserable fields that would not
keep a cat or herding little kine about the bigness of asses The Highland
dress being forbidden by law since the rebellion and the people condemned to
the Lowland habit which they much disliked it was strange to see the variety
of their array Some went bare only for a hanging cloak or greatcoat and
carried their trousers on their backs like a useless burthen some had made an
imitation of the tartan with little particoloured stripes patched together like
an old wifes quilt others again still wore the Highland philabeg but by
putting a few stitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of trousers
like a Dutchmans All those makeshifts were condemned and punished for the
law was harshly applied in hopes to break up the clan spirit but in that
outoftheway seabound isle there were few to make remarks and fewer to tell
tales
They seemed in great poverty which was no doubt natural now that rapine
was put down and the chiefs kept no longer an open house and the roads even
such a wandering country bytrack as the one I followed were infested with
beggars And here again I marked a difference from my own part of the country
For our Lowland beggars even the gownsmen themselves who beg by patent had
a louting flattering way with them and if you gave them a plack and asked
change would very civilly return you a boddle But these Highland beggars stood
on their dignity asked alms only to buy snuff by their account and would give
no change
To be sure this was no concern of mine except in so far as it entertained
me by the way What was much more to the purpose few had any English and these
few unless they were of the brotherhood of beggars not very anxious to place
it at my service I knew Torosay to be my destination and repeated the name to
them and pointed but instead of simply pointing in reply they would give me a
screed of the Gaelic that set me foolish so it was small wonder if I went out
of my road as often as I stayed in it
At last about eight at night and already very weary I came to a lone
house where I asked admittance and was refused until I bethought me of the
power of money in so poor a country and held up one of my guineas in my finger
and thumb Thereupon the man of the house who had hitherto pretended to have
no English and driven me from his door by signals suddenly began to speak as
clearly as was needful and agreed for five shillings to give me a nights
lodging and guide me the next day to Torosay
I slept uneasily that night fearing I should be robbed but I might have
spared myself the pain for my host was no robber only miserably poor and a
great cheat He was not alone in his poverty for the next morning we must go
five miles about to the house of what he called a rich man to have one of my
guineas changed This was perhaps a rich man for Mull he would have scarce been
thought so in the south for it took all he had the whole house was turned
upside down and a neighbour brought under contribution before he could scrape
together twenty shillings in silver The odd shilling he kept for himself
protesting he could ill afford to have so great a sum of money lying locked up
For all that he was very courteous and well spoken made us both sit down with
his family to dinner and brewed punch in a fine china bowl over which my
rascal guide grew so merry that he refused to start
I was for getting angry and appealed to the rich man Hector Maclean was
his name who had been a witness to our bargain and to my payment of the five
shillings But Maclean had taken his share of the punch and vowed that no
gentleman should leave his table after the bowl was brewed so there was nothing
for it but to sit and hear Jacobite toasts and Gaelic songs till all were tipsy
and staggered off to the bed or the barn for their nights rest
Next day the fourth of my travels we were up before five upon the clock
but my rascal guide got to the bottle at once and it was three hours before I
had him clear of the house and then as you shall hear only for a worse
disappointment
As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay before Mr Macleans
house all went well only my guide looked constantly over his shoulder and
when I asked him the cause only grinned at me No sooner however had we
crossed the back of a hill and got out of sight of the house windows than he
told me Torosay lay right in front and that a hilltop which he pointed out
was my best landmark
»I care very little for that« said I »since you are going with me«
The impudent cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he had no English
»My fine fellow« I said »I know very well your English comes and goes
Tell me what will bring it back Is it more money you wish«
»Five shillings mair« said he »and hersel will bring ye there«
I reflected a while and then offered him two which he accepted greedily
and insisted on having in his hands at once »for luck« as he said but I
think it was rather for my misfortune
The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles at the end of which
distance he sat down upon the wayside and took off his brogues from his feet
like a man about to rest
I was now redhot »Ha« said I »have you no more English«
He said impudently »No«
At that I boiled over and lifted my hand to strike him and he drawing a
knife from his rags squatted back and grinned at me like a wild cat At that
forgetting everything but my anger I ran in upon him put aside his knife with
my left and struck him in the mouth with the right I was a strong lad and
very angry and he but a little man and he went down before me heavily By good
luck his knife flew out of his hand as he fell
I picked up both that and his brogues wished him a good morning and set
off upon my way leaving him barefoot and disarmed I chuckled to myself as I
went being sure I was done with that rogue for a variety of reasons First he
knew he could have no more of my money next the brogues were worth in that
country only a few pence and lastly the knife which was really a dagger it
was against the law for him to carry
In about half an hour of walk I overtook a great ragged man moving pretty
fast but feeling before him with a staff He was quite blind and told me he
was a catechist which should have put me at my ease But his face went against
me it seemed dark and dangerous and secret and presently as we began to go on
alongside I saw the steel butt of a pistol sticking from under the flap of his
coatpocket To carry such a thing meant a fine of fifteen pounds sterling upon
a first offence and transportation to the colonies upon a second Nor could I
quite see why a religious teacher should go armed or what a blind man could be
doing with a pistol
I told him about my guide for I was proud of what I had done and my vanity
for once got the heels of my prudence At the mention of the five shillings he
cried out so loud that I made up my mind I should say nothing of the other two
and was glad he could not see my blushes
»Was it too much« I asked a little faltering
»Too much« cries he »Why I will guide you to Torosay myself for a dram of
brandy And give you the great pleasure of my company me that is a man of some
learning in the bargain«
I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide but at that he
laughed aloud and said his stick was eyes enough for an eagle
»In the Isle of Mull at least« says he »where I knew every stone and
heatherbush by mark of head See now« he said striking right and left as if
to make sure »down there a burn is running and at the head of it there stands
a bit of a small hill with a stone cocked upon the top of that and its hard at
the foot of the hill that the way runs by to Torosay and the way here being
for droves is plainly trodden and will show grassy through the heather«
I had to own he was right in every feature and told my wonder
»Ha« says he »thats nothing Would ye believe me now that before the Act
came out and when there were weepons in this country I could shoot Ay could
I« cries he and then with a leer »If ye had such a thing as a pistol here to
try with I would show you how its done«
I told him I had nothing of the sort and gave him a wider berth If he had
known his pistol stuck at that time quite plainly out of his pocket and I
could see the sun twinkle on the steel of the butt But by the better luck for
me he knew nothing thought all was covered and lied on in the dark
He then began to question me cunningly where I came from whether I was
rich whether I could change a fiveshilling piece for him which he declared he
had that moment in his sporran and all the time he kept edging up to me and I
avoiding him We were now upon a sort of green cattletrack which crossed the
hills towards Torosay and we kept changing sides upon that like dancers in a
reel I had so plainly the upper hand that my spirits rose and indeed I took a
pleasure in this game of blindmansbuff but the catechist grew angrier and
angrier and at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with his
staff
Then I told him that sure enough I had a pistol in my pocket as well as
he and if he did not strike across the hill due south I would even blow his
brains out
He became at once very polite and after trying to soften me for some time
but quite in vain he cursed me once more in Gaelic and took himself off I
watched him striding along through bog and briar tapping with his stick until
he turned the end of a hill and disappeared in the next hollow Then I struck on
again for Torosay much better pleased to be alone than to travel with that man
of learning This was an unlucky day and these two of whom I had just rid
myself one after the other were the two worst men I met with in the Highlands
At Torosay on the Sound of Mull and looking over to the mainland of
Morven there was an inn with an innkeeper who was a Maclean it appeared of a
very high family for to keep an inn is thought even more genteel in the
Highlands than it is with us perhaps as partaking of hospitality or perhaps
because the trade is idle and drunken He spoke good English and finding me to
be something of a scholar tried me first in French where he easily beat me
and then in the Latin in which I dont know which of us did best This pleasant
rivalry put us at once upon friendly terms and I sat up and drank punch with
him or to be more correct sat up and watched him drink it until he was so
tipsy that he wept upon my shoulder
I tried him as if by accident with a sight of Alans button but it was
plain he had never seen or heard of it Indeed he bore some grudge against the
family and friends of Ardshiel and before he was drunk he read me a lampoon in
very good Latin but with a very ill meaning which he had made in elegiac
verses upon a person of that house
When I told him of my catechist he shook his head and said I was lucky to
have got clear off »That is a very dangerous man« he said »Duncan Mackiegh is
his name he can shoot by the ear at several yards and has been often accused
of highway robberies and once of murder«
»The cream of it is« says I »that he called himself a catechist«
»And why should he not« says he »when that is what he is It was Maclean
of Duart gave it to him because he was blind But perhaps it was a peety« says
my host »for he is always on the road going from one place to another to hear
the young folk say their religion and doubtless that is a great temptation to
the poor man«
At last when my landlord could drink no more he showed me to a bed and I
lay down in very good spirits having travelled the greater part of that big and
crooked Island of Mull from Earraid to Torosay fifty miles as the crow flies
and with my wanderings much nearer a hundred in four days and with little
fatigue Indeed I was by far in better heart and health of body at the end of
that long tramp than I had been at the beginning
Chapter XVI
The Lad with the Silver Button Across Morven
There is a regular ferry from Torosay to Kinlochaline on the mainland Both
shores of the sound are in the country of the strong clan of the Macleans and
the people that passed the ferry with me were almost all of that clan The
skipper of the boat on the other hand was called Neil Roy Macrob and since
Macrob was one of the names of Alans clansmen and Alan himself had sent me to
that ferry I was eager to come to private speech of Neil Roy
In the crowded boat this was of course impossible and the passage was a
very slow affair There was no wind and as the boat was wretchedly equipped we
could pull but two oars on one side and one on the other The men gave way
however with a good will the passengers taking spells to help them and the
whole company giving the time in Gaelic boatsongs And what with the songs and
the seaair and the goodnature and spirit of all concerned and the bright
weather the passage was a pretty thing to have seen
But there was one melancholy part In the mouth of Loch Aline we found a
great seagoing ship at anchor and this I supposed at first to be one of the
Kings cruisers which were kept along that coast both summer and winter to
prevent communication with the French As we got a little nearer it became
plain she was a ship of merchandise and what still more puzzled me not only
her decks but the seabeach also were quite black with people and skiffs were
continually plying to and fro between them Yet nearer and there began to come
to our ears a great sound of mourning the people on board and those on the
shore crying and lamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart
Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for the American colonies
We put the ferryboat alongside and the exiles leaned over the bulwarks
weeping and reaching out their hands to my fellowpassengers among whom they
counted some near friends How long this might have gone on I do not know for
they seemed to have no sense of time but at last the captain of the ship who
seemed near beside himself and no great wonder in the midst of this crying and
confusion came to the side and begged us to depart
Thereupon Neil sheered off and the chief singer in our boat struck into a
melancholy air which was presently taken up both by the emigrants and their
friends upon the beach so that it sounded from all sides like a lament for the
dying I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men and women in the boat
even as they bent at the oars and the circumstances and the music of the song
which is one called Lochaber no more were highly affecting even to myself
At Kinlochaline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the beach and said I made
sure he was one of Appins men
»And what for no« said he
»I am seeking somebody« said I »and it comes in my mind that you will have
news of him Alan Breck Stewart is his name« And very foolishly instead of
showing him the button I sought to pass a shilling in his hand
At this he drew back »I am very much affronted« he said »and this is not
the way that one shentleman should behave to another at all The man you ask for
is in France but if he was in my sporran« says he »and your belly full of
shillings I would not hurt a hair upon his body«
I saw I had gone the wrong way to work and without wasting time upon
apologies showed him the button lying in the hollow of my palm
»Aweel aweel« said Neil »and I think ye might have begun with that end of
the stick whatever But if ye are the lad with the silver button all is well
and I have the word to see that ye come safe But if ye will pardon me to speak
plainly« says he »there is a name that you should never take into your mouth
and that is the name of Alan Breck and there is a thing that ye would never do
and that is to offer your dirty money to a Hieland shentleman«
It was not very easy to apologise for I could scarce tell him what was the
truth that I had never dreamed he would set up to be a gentleman until he told
me so Neil on his part had no wish to prolong his dealings with me only to
fulfil his orders and be done with it and he made haste to give me my route
This was to lie the night in Kinlochaline in the public inn to cross Morven the
next day to Ardgour and lie the night in the house of one John of the Claymore
who was warned that I might come the third day to be set across one loch at
Corran and another at Balachulish and then ask my way to the house of James of
the Glens at Aucharn in Duror of Appin There was a good deal of ferrying as
you hear the sea in all this part running deep into the mountains and winding
about their roots It makes the country strong to hold and difficult to travel
but full of prodigious wild and dreadful prospects
I had some other advice from Neil to speak with no one by the way to avoid
Whigs Campbells and the redsoldiers to leave the road and lie in a bush if I
saw any of the latter coming for it was never chancy to meet in with them and
in brief to conduct myself like a robber or a Jacobite agent as perhaps Neil
thought me
The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place that ever pigs were
styed in full of smoke vermin and silent Highlanders I was not only
discontented with my lodging but with myself for my mismanagement of Neil and
thought I could hardly be worse off But very wrongly as I was soon to see for
I had not been half an hour at the inn standing in the door most of the time
to ease my eyes from the peatsmoke when a thunderstorm came close by the
springs broke in a little hill on which the inn stood and one end of the house
became a running water Places of public entertainment were bad enough all over
Scotland in those days yet it was a wonder to myself when I had to go from the
fireside to the bed in which I slept wading over the shoes
Early in my next days journey I overtook a little stout solemn man
walking very slowly with his toes turned out sometimes reading in a book and
sometimes marking the place with his finger and dressed decently and plainly in
something of a clerical style
This I found to be another catechist but of a different order from the
blind man of Mull being indeed one of those sent out by the Edinburgh Society
for Propagating Christian Knowledge to evangelise the more savage places of the
Highlands His name was Henderland he spoke with the broad southcountry
tongue which I was beginning to weary for the sound of and besides common
countryship we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest For my
good friend the minister of Essendean had translated into the Gaelic in his
bytime a number of hymns and pious books which Henderland used in his work
and held in great esteem Indeed it was one of these he was carrying and
reading when we met
We fell in company at once our ways lying together as far as to
Kingairloch As we went he stopped and spoke with all the wayfarers and workers
that we met or passed and though of course I could not tell what they
discoursed about yet I judged Mr Henderland must be well liked in the
countryside for I observed many of them to bring out their mulls and share a
pinch of snuff with him
I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise as far that is as they
were none of Alans and gave Balachulish as the place I was travelling to to
meet a friend for I thought Aucharn or even Duror would be too particular
and might put him on the scent
On his part he told me much of his work and the people he worked among the
hiding priests and Jacobites the Disarming Act the dress and many other
curiosities of the time and place He seemed moderate blaming Parliament in
several points and especially because they had framed the Act more severely
against those who wore the dress than against those who carried weapons
This moderation put it in my mind to question him of the Red Fox and the
Appin tenants questions which I thought would seem natural enough in the
mouth of one travelling to that country
He said it was a bad business »Its wonderful« said he »where the tenants
find the money for their life is mere starvation Ye dont carry such a thing
as snuff do ye Mr Balfour No Well Im better wanting it But these
tenants as I was saying are doubtless partly driven to it James Stewart in
Duror thats him they call James of the Glens is halfbrother to Ardshiel the
captain of the clan and he is a man much looked up to and drives very hard
And then theres one they call Alan Breck «
»Ah« cried I »what of him«
»What of the wind that bloweth where it listeth« said Henderland »Hes
here and awa here today and gone tomorrow a fair heathercat He might be
glowering at the two of us out of yon whinbush and I wouldna wonder Yell no
carry such a thing as snuff will ye«
I told him no and that he had asked the same thing more than once
»Its highly possible« said he sighing »But it seems strange ye shouldna
carry it However as I was saying this Alan Breck is a bold desperate
customer and well kennt to be Jamess right hand His life is forfeit already
he would boggle at naething and maybe if a tenantbody was to hang back he
would get a dirk in his wame«
»You make a poor story of it all Mr Henderland« said I »If it is all
fear upon both sides I care to hear no more of it«
»Na« said Mr Henderland »but theres love too and selfdenial that
should put the like of you and me to shame Theres something fine about it no
perhaps Christian but humanly fine Even Alan Breck by all that I hear is a
chield to be respected Theres many a lying sneckdraw sits close in kirk in
our own part of the country and stands well in the worlds eye and maybe is a
far worse man Mr Balfour than yon misguided shedder of mans blood Ay ay
we might take a lesson by them Yell perhaps think Ive been too long in the
Hielands« he added smiling to me
I told him not at all that I had seen much to admire among the Highlanders
and if he came to that Mr Campbell himself was a Highlander
»Ay« said he »thats true Its a fine blood«
»And what is the Kings agent about« I asked
»Colin Campbell« says Henderland »Putting his head in a bees byke«
»He is to turn the tenants out by force I hear« said I
»Yes« says he »but the business has gone back and forth as folks say
First James of the Glens rode to Edinburgh and got some lawyer a Stewart nae
doubt they all hing together like bats in a steeple and had the proceedings
stayed And then Colin Campbell cam in again and had the upper hand before the
Barons of Exchequer And now they tell me the first of the tenants are to flit
tomorrow Its to begin at Duror under Jamess very windows which doesna seem
wise by my humble way of it«
»Do you think theyll fight« I asked
»Well« says Henderland »theyre disarmed or supposed to be for theres
still a good deal of cold iron lying by in quiet places And then Colin Campbell
has the sogers coming But for all that if I was his lady wife I wouldna be
well pleased till I got him home again Theyre queer customers the Appin
Stewarts«
I asked if they were worse than their neighbours
»No they« said he »And thats the worst part of it For if Colin Roy can
get his business done in Appin he has it all to begin again in the next
country which they call Mamore and which is one of the countries of the
Camerons Hes Kings factor upon both and from both he has to drive out the
tenants and indeed Mr Balfour to be open with ye its my belief that if he
escapes the one lot hell get his death by the other«
So we continued talking and walking the great part of the day until at
last Mr Henderland after expressing his delight in my company and
satisfaction at meeting with a friend of Mr Campbells »whom« says he »I
will make bold to call that sweet singer of our covenanted Zion« proposed that
I should make a short stage and lie the night in his house a little beyond
Kingairloch To say truth I was overjoyed for I had no great desire for John
of the Claymore and since my double misadventure first with the guide and next
with the gentleman skipper I stood in some fear of any Highland stranger
Accordingly we shook hands upon the bargain and came in the afternoon to a
small house standing alone by the shore of the Linnhe Loch The sun was already
gone from the desert mountains of Ardgour upon the hither side but shone on
those of Appin on the farther the loch lay as still as a lake only the gulls
were crying round the sides of it and the whole place seemed solemn and
uncouth
We had no sooner come to the door of Mr Henderlands dwelling than to my
great surprise for I was now used to the politeness of Highlanders he burst
rudely past me dashed into the room caught up a jar and a small horn spoon
and began ladling snuff into his nose in most excessive quantities Then he had
a hearty fit of sneezing and looked round upon me with a rather silly smile
»Its a vow I took« says he »I took a vow upon me that I wouldna carry it
Doubtless its a great privation but when I think upon the martyrs not only to
the Scottish Covenant but to other points of Christianity I think shame to mind
it«
As soon as we had eaten and porridge and whey was the best of the good
mans diet he took a grave face and said he had a duty to perform by Mr
Campbell and that was to inquire into my state of mind towards God I was
inclined to smile at him since the business of the snuff but he had not spoken
long before he brought the tears into my eyes There are two things that men
should never weary of goodness and humility we get none too much of them in
this rough world among cold proud people but Mr Henderland had their very
speech upon his tongue And though I was a good deal puffed up with my
adventures and with having come off as the saying is with flying colours yet
he soon had me on my knees beside a simple poor old man and both proud and
glad to be there
Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my way out of a
scanty store he kept in the turf wall of his house at which excess of goodness
I knew not what to do But at last he was so earnest with me that I thought it
the more mannerly part to let him have his way and so left him poorer than
myself
Chapter XVII
The Death of the Red Fox
The next day Mr Henderland found for me a man who had a boat of his own and was
to cross the Linnhe Loch that afternoon into Appin fishing Him he prevailed on
to take me for he was one of his flock and in this way I saved a long days
travel and the price of the two public ferries I must otherwise have passed
It was near noon before we set out a dark day with clouds and the sun
shining upon little patches The sea was here very deep and still and had
scarce a wave upon it so that I must put the water to my lips before I could
believe it to be truly salt The mountains on either side were high rough and
barren very black and gloomy in the shadow of the clouds but all silverlaced
with little watercourses where the sun shone upon them It seemed a hard
country this of Appin for people to care as much about as Alan did
There was but one thing to mention A little after we had started the sun
shone upon a little moving clump of scarlet close in along the waterside to the
north It was much of the same red as soldiers coats every now and then too
there came little sparks and lightnings as though the sun had struck upon
bright steel
I asked my boatman what it should be and he answered he supposed it was
some of the redsoldiers coming from Fort William into Appin against the poor
tenantry of the country Well it was a sad sight to me and whether it was
because of my thoughts of Alan or from something prophetic in my bosom
although this was but the second time I had seen King Georges troops I had no
good will to them
At last we came so near the point of land at the entering in of Loch Leven
that I begged to be set on shore My boatman who was an honest fellow and
mindful of his promise to the catechist would fain have carried me on to
Balachulish but as this was to take me farther from my secret destination I
insisted and was set on shore at last under the wood of Lettermore or
Lettervore for I have heard it both ways in Alans country of Appin
This was a wood of birches growing on a steep craggy side of a mountain
that overhung the loch It had many openings and ferny howes and a road or
bridletrack ran north and south through the midst of it by the edge of which
where was a spring I sat down to eat some oatbread of Mr Henderlands and
think upon my situation
Here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges but far more by
the doubts of my mind What I ought to do why I was going to join myself with
an outlaw and a wouldbe murderer like Alan whether I should not be acting more
like a man of sense to tramp back to the south country direct by my own
guidance and at my own charges and what Mr Campbell or even Mr Henderland
would think of me if they should ever learn my folly and presumption these were
the doubts that now began to come in on me stronger than ever
As I was so sitting and thinking a sound of men and horses came to me
through the wood and presently after at the turning of the road I saw four
travellers come into view The way was in this part so rough and narrow that
they came single and led their horses by the reins The first was a great
redheaded gentleman of an imperious and flushed face who carried his hat in
his hand and fanned himself for he was in a breathing heat The second by his
decent black garb and white wig I correctly took to be a lawyer The third was
a servant and wore some part of his clothes in tartan which showed that his
master was of a Highland family and either an outlaw or else in singular good
odour with the Government since the wearing of tartan was against the Act If I
had been better versed in these things I would have known the tartan to be of
the Argyle or Campbell colours This servant had a goodsized portmanteau
strapped on his horse and a net of lemons to brew punch with hanging at the
saddlebow as was often enough the custom with luxurious travellers in that
part of the country
As for the fourth who brought up the tail I had seen his like before and
knew him at once to be a sheriffs officer
I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up my mind for no
reason that I can tell to go through with my adventure and when the first came
alongside of me I rose up from the bracken and asked him the way to Aucharn
He stopped and looked at me as I thought a little oddly and then turning
to the lawyer »Mungo« said he »theres many a man would think this more of a
warning than two pyats Here am I on my road to Duror on the job ye ken and
here is a young lad starts up out of the bracken and speers if I am on the way
to Aucharn«
»Glenure« said the other »this is an ill subject for jesting«
These two had now drawn close up and were gazing at me while the two
followers had halted about a stonecast in the rear
»And what seek ye in Aucharn« said Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure him they
called the Red Fox for he it was that I had stopped
»The man that lives there« said I
»James of the Glens« says Glenure musingly and then to the lawyer »Is he
gathering his people think ye«
»Anyway« says the lawyer »we shall do better to bide where we are and let
the soldiers rally us«
»If you are concerned for me« said I »I am neither of his people nor
yours but an honest subject of King George owing no man and fearing no man«
»Why very well said« replies the factor »But if I may make so bold as
ask what does this honest man so far from his country and why does he come
seeking the brother of Ardshiel I have power here I must tell you I am Kings
factor upon several of these estates and have twelve files of soldiers at my
back«
»I have heard a waif word in the country« said I a little nettled »that
you were a hard man to drive«
He still kept looking at me as if in doubt
»Well« said he at last »your tongue is bold but I am no unfriend to
plainness If ye had asked me the way to the door of James Stewart on any other
day but this I would have set ye right and bidden ye Godspeed But today
eh Mungo« And he turned again to look at the lawyer
But just as he turned there came the shot of a fire from higher up the
hill and with the very sound of it Glenure fell upon the road
»O I am dead« he cried several times over
The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms the servant standing
over and clasping his hands And now the wounded man looked from one to another
with scared eyes and there was a change in his voice that went to the heart
»Take care of yourselves« says he »I am dead«
He tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound but his fingers
slipped on the buttons With that he gave a great sigh his head rolled on his
shoulder and he passed away
The lawyer said never a word but his face was as sharp as a pen and as
white as the dead mans the servant broke out into a great noise of crying and
weeping like a child and I on my side stood staring at them in a kind of
horror The sheriffs officer had run back at the first sound of the shot to
hasten the coming of the soldiers
At last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood upon the road and
got to his own feet with a kind of stagger
I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses for he had no
sooner done so than I began to scramble up the hill crying out »The murderer
the murderer«
So little a time had elapsed that when I got to the top of the first
steepness and could see some part of the open mountain the murderer was still
moving away at no great distance He was a big man in a black coat with metal
buttons and carried a long fowlingpiece
»Here« I cried »I see him«
At that the murderer gave a little quick look over his shoulder and began
to run The next moment he was lost in a fringe of birches then he came out
again on the upper side where I could see him climbing like a jackanapes for
that part was again very steep and then he dipped behind a shoulder and I saw
him no more
All this time I had been running on my side and had got a good way up when
a voice cried upon me to stand
I was at the edge of the upper wood and so now when I halted and looked
back I saw all the open part of the hill below me
The lawyer and the sheriffs officer were standing just above the road
crying and waving on me to come back and on their left the redcoats musket
in hand were beginning to struggle singly out of the lower wood
»Why should I come back« I cried »Come you on«
»Ten pounds if ye take that lad« cried the lawyer »Hes an accomplice He
was posted here to hold us in talk«
At that word which I could hear quite plainly though it was to the
soldiers and not to me that he was crying it my heart came in my mouth with
quite a new kind of terror Indeed it is one thing to stand the danger of your
life and quite another to run the peril of both life and character The thing
besides had come so suddenly like thunder out of a clear sky that I was all
amazed and helpless
The soldiers began to spread some of them to run and others to put up
their pieces and cover me and still I stood
»Jouk18 in here among the trees« said a voice close by
Indeed I scarce knew what I was doing but I obeyed and as I did so I
heard the firelocks bang and the balls whistle in the birches
Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing with a
fishingrod He gave me no salutation indeed it was no time for civilities
only »Come« says he and set off running along the side of the mountain towards
Balachulish and I like a sheep to follow him
Now we ran among the birches now stooping behind low humps upon the
mountain side now crawling on allfours among the heather The pace was deadly
my heart seemed bursting against my ribs and I had neither time to think nor
breath to speak with Only I remember seeing with wonder that Alan every now and
then would straighten himself to his full height and look back and every time
he did so there came a great faraway cheering and crying of the soldiers
Quarter of an hour later Alan stopped clapped down flat in the heather
and turned to me
»Now« said he »its earnest Do as I do for your life«
At the same speed but now with infinitely more precaution we traced back
again across the mountain side by the same way that we had come only perhaps
higher till at last Alan threw himself down in the upper wood of Lettermore
where I had found him at the first and lay with his face in the bracken
panting like a dog
My own sides so ached my head so swam my tongue so hung out of my mouth
with heat and dryness that I lay beside him like one dead
Chapter XVIII
I Talk with Alan in the Wood of Lettermore
Alan was the first to come round He rose went to the border of the wood
peered out a little and then returned and sat down
»Well« said he »yon was a hot burst David«
I said nothing nor so much as lifted my face I had seen murder done and a
great ruddy jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment the pity of that
sight was still sore within me and yet that was but a part of my concern Here
was murder done upon the man Alan hated here was Alan skulking in the trees and
running from the troops and whether his was the hand that fired or only the
head that ordered signified but little By my way of it my only friend in that
wild country was bloodguilty in the first degree I held him in horror I could
not look upon his face I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold
isle than in that warm wood beside a murderer
»Are ye still wearied« he asked again
»No« said I still with my face in the bracken »no I am not wearied now
and I can speak You and me must twine«19 I said »I liked you very well Alan
but your ways are not mine and theyre not Gods and the short and the long of
it is just that we must twine«
»I will hardly twine from ye David without some kind of reason for the
same« said Alan mighty gravely »If ye ken anything against my reputation
its the least thing that ye should do for old acquaintance sake to let me
hear the name of it and if ye have only taken a distaste to my society it will
be proper for me to judge if Im insulted«
»Alan« said I »what is the sense of this Ye ken very well yon Campbell
man lies in his blood upon the road«
He was silent for a little then says he »Did ever ye hear tell of the
story of the Man and the Good People« by which he meant the fairies
»No« said I »nor do I want to hear it«
»With your permission Mr Balfour I will tell it you whatever« says
Alan »The man ye should ken was cast upon a rock in the sea where it appears
the Good People were in use to come and rest as they went through to Ireland
The name of this rock is called the Skerryvore and its not far from where we
suffered shipwreck Well it seems the man cried so sore if he could just see
his little bairn before he died that at last the king of the Good People took
peety upon him and sent one flying that brought back the bairn in a poke20 and
laid it down beside the man where he lay sleeping So when the man woke there
was a poke beside him and something into the inside of it that moved Well it
seemed he was one of these gentry that think aye the worst of things and for
greater security he stuck his dirk throughout that poke before he opened it and
there was his bairn dead I am thinking to myself Mr Balfour that you and the
man are very much alike«
»Do you mean you had no hand in it« cried I sitting up
»I will tell you first of all Mr Balfour of Shaws as one friend to
another« said Alan »that if I were going to kill a gentleman it would not be
in my own country to bring trouble on my clan and I would not go wanting sword
and gun and with a long fishingrod upon my back«
»Well« said I »thats true«
»And now« continued Alan taking out his dirk and laying his hand upon it
in a certain manner »I swear upon the Holy Iron I had neither art nor part act
nor thought in it«
»I thank God for that« cried I and offered him my hand
He did not appear to see it
»And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell« said he »They are not
so scarce that I ken«
»At least« said I »you cannot justly blame me for you know very well what
you told me in the brig But the temptation and the act are different I thank
God again for that We may all be tempted but to take a life in cold blood
Alan« And I could say no more for the moment »And do you know who did it« I
added »Do you know that man in the black coat«
»I have nae clear mind about his coat« said Alan cunningly »but it sticks
in my head that it was blue«
»Blue or black did ye know him« said I
»I couldna just conscientiously swear to him« says Alan »He gaed very
close by me to be sure but its a strange thing that I should just have been
tying my brogues«
»Can you swear that you dont know him Alan« I cried half angered half
in a mind to laugh at his evasions
»No yet« says he »but Ive a grand memory for forgetting David«
»And yet there was one thing I saw clearly« said I »and that was that you
exposed yourself and me to draw the soldiers«
»Its very likely« said Alan »and so would any gentleman You and me were
innocent of that transaction«
»The better reason since we were falsely suspected that we should get
clear« I cried »The innocent should surely come before the guilty«
»Why David« said he »the innocent have aye a chance to get assoiled in
court but for the lad that shot the bullet I think the best place for him will
be the heather Them that havena dipped their hands in any little difficulty
should be very mindful of the case of them that have And that is the good
Christianity For if it was the other way round about and the lad whom I
couldna just clearly see had been in our shoes and we in his as might very
well have been I think we would be a good deal obliged to him oursels if he
would draw the soldiers«
When it came to this I gave Alan up But he looked so innocent all the
time and was in such clear good faith in what he said and so ready to
sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty that my mouth was closed Mr
Henderlands words came back to me that we ourselves might take a lesson by
these wild Highlanders Well here I had taken mine Alans morals were all
tailfirst but he was ready to give his life for them such as they were
»Alan« said I »Ill not say its the good Christianity as I understand it
but its good enough And here I offer ye my hand for the second time«
Whereupon he gave me both of his saying surely I had cast a spell upon him
for he could forgive me anything Then he grew very grave and said we had not
much time to throw away but must both flee that country he because he was a
deserter and the whole of Appin would now be searched like a chamber and every
one obliged to give a good account of himself and I because I was certainly
involved in the murder
»O« says I willing to give him a little lesson »I have no fear of the
justice of my country«
»As if this was your country« said he »Or as if ye would be tried here in
a country of Stewarts«
»Its all Scotland« said I
»Man I whiles wonder at ye« said Alan »This is a Campbell thats been
killed Well itll be tried in Inverara the Campbells head place with
fifteen Campbells in the jurybox and the biggest Campbell of all and thats
the Duke sitting cocking on the bench Justice David The same justice by all
the world as Glenure found a while ago at the roadside«
This frighted me a little I confess and would have frighted me more if I
had known how nearly exact were Alans predictions indeed it was but in one
point that he exaggerated there being but eleven Campbells on the jury though
as the other four were equally in the Dukes dependence it mattered less than
might appear Still I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle who
for all he was a Whig was yet a wise and honest nobleman
»Hoot« said Alan »the mans a Whig nae doubt but I would never deny he
was a good chieftain to his clan And what would the clan think if there was a
Campbell shot and naebody hanged and their own chief the JusticeGeneral But
I have often observed« says Alan »that you Lowcountry bodies have no clear
idea of whats right and wrong«
At this I did at last laugh out aloud when to my surprise Alan joined in
and laughed as merrily as myself
»Na na« said he »were in the Hielands David and when I tell ye to run
take my word and run Nae doubt its a hard thing to skulk and starve in the
heather but its harder yet to lie shackled in a redcoat prison«
I asked him whither we should flee and as he told me »to the Lowlands« I
was a little better inclined to go with him for indeed I was growing
impatient to get back and have the upper hand of my uncle Besides Alan made so
sure there would be no question of justice in the matter that I began to be
afraid he might be right Of all deaths I would truly like least to die by the
gallows and the picture of that uncanny instrument came into my head with
extraordinary clearness as I had once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlars
ballad and took away my appetite for courts of justice
»Ill chance it Alan« said I »Ill go with you«
»But mind you« said Alan »its no small thing Ye maun lie bare and hard
and brook many an empty belly Your bed shall be the muircocks and your life
shall be like the hunted deers and ye shall sleep with your hand upon your
weapons Ay man ye shall taigle many a weary foot or we get clear I tell ye
this at the start for its a life that I ken well But if ye ask what other
chance ye have I answer Nane Either take to the heather with me or else
hang«
»And thats a choice very easily made« said I and we shook hands upon it
»And now lets take another keek at the redcoats« says Alan and he led me
to the northeastern fringe of the wood
Looking out between the trees we could see a great side of mountain running
down exceeding steep into the waters of the loch It was a rough part all
hanging stone and heather and bit scrogs of birchwood and away at the far end
towards Balachulish little wee red soldiers were dipping up and down over hill
and howe and growing smaller every minute There was no cheering now for I
think they had other uses for what breath was left them but they still stuck to
the trail and doubtless thought that we were close in front of them
Alan watched them smiling to himself
»Ay« said he »theyll be gey weary before theyve got to the end of that
employ And so you and me David can sit down and eat a bite and breathe a bit
longer and take a dram from my bottle Then well strike for Aucharn the house
of my kinsman James of the Glens where I must get my clothes and my arms and
money to carry us along and then David well cry Forth Fortune and take a
cast among the heather«
So we sat again and ate and drank in a place whence we could see the sun
going down into a field of great wild and houseless mountains such as I was
now condemned to wander in with my companion Partly as we so sat and partly
afterwards on the way to Aucharn each of us narrated his adventures and I
shall here set down so much of Alans as seems either curious or needful
It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was passed saw me
and lost me and saw me again as I tumbled in the roost and at last had one
glimpse of me clinging on the yard It was this that put him in some hope I
would maybe get to land after all and made him leave those clues and messages
which had brought me for my sins to that unlucky country of Appin
In the meantime those still on the brig had got the skiff launched and one
or two were on board of her already when there came a second wave greater than
the first and heaved the brig out of her place and would certainly have sent
her to the bottom had she not struck and caught on some projection of the reef
When she had struck first it had been bowson so that the stern had hitherto
been lowest But now her stern was thrown in the air and the bows plunged under
the sea and with that the water began to pour into the forescuttle like the
pouring of a milldam
It took the colour out of Alans face even to tell what followed For there
were still two men lying impotent in their bunks and these seeing the water
pour in and thinking the ship had foundered began to cry out aloud and that
with such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after another
into the skiff and fell to their oars They were not two hundred yards away
when there came a third great sea and at that the brig lifted clean over the
reef her canvas filled for a moment and she seemed to sail in chase of them
but settling all the while and presently she drew down and down as if a hand
was drawing her and the sea closed over the Covenant of Dysart
Never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore being stunned with the horror
of that screaming but they had scarce set foot upon the beach when Hoseason
woke up as if out of a muse and bade them lay hands upon Alan They hung back
indeed having little taste for the employment but Hoseason was like a fiend
crying that Alan was alone that he had a great sum about him that he had been
the means of losing the brig and drowning all their comrades and that here was
both revenge and wealth upon a single cast It was seven against one in that
part of the shore there was no rock that Alan could set his back to and the
sailors began to spread out and come behind him
»And then« said Alan »the little man with the red head I havena mind of
the name that he is called«
»Riach« said I
»Ay« said Alan »Riach Well it was him that took up the clubs for me
asked the men if they werena feared of a judgment and says he Dod Ill put
my back to the Hielandmans mysel Thats none such an entirely bad little man
yon little man with the red head« said Alan »He has some spunks of decency«
»Well« said I »he was kind to me in his way«
»And so he was to Alan« said he »and by my troth I found his way a very
good one But ye see David the loss of the ship and the cries of these poor
lads sat very ill upon the man and Im thinking that would be the cause of it«
»Well I would think so« says I »for he was as keen as any of the rest at
the beginning But how did Hoseason take it«
»It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill« says Alan »But the
little man cried to me to run and indeed I thought it was a good observe and
ran The last that I saw they were all in a knot upon the beach like folk that
were not agreeing very well together«
»What do you mean by that« said I
»Well the fists were going« said Alan »and I saw one man go down like a
pair of breeks But I thought it would be better no to wait Ye see theres a
strip of Campbells in that end of Mull which is no good company for a gentleman
like me If it hadna been for that I would have waited and looked for ye mysel
let alone giving a hand to the little man« It was droll how Alan dwelt on Mr
Riachs stature for to say the truth the one was not much smaller than the
other »So« says he continuing »I set my best foot forward and whenever I
met in with any one I cried out there was a wreck ashore Man they didna stop
to fash with me Ye should have seen them linking for the beach And when they
got there they found they had had the pleasure of a run which is aye good for a
Campbell Im thinking it was a judgment on the clan that the brig went down in
the lump and didna break But it was a very unlucky thing for you that same
for if any wreck had come ashore they would have hunted high and low and would
soon have found ye«
Chapter XIX
The House of Fear
Night fell as we were walking and the clouds which had broken up in the
afternoon settled in and thickened so that it fell for the season of the year
extremely dark The way we went was over rough mountain sides and though Alan
pushed on with an assured manner I could by no means see how he directed
himself
At last about halfpast ten of the clock we came to the top of a brae and
saw lights below us It seemed a housedoor stood open and let out a beam of
fire and candlelight and all round the house and steading five or six persons
were moving hurriedly about each carrying a lighted brand
»James must have tint his wits« said Alan »If this was the soldiers
instead of you and me he would be in a bonny mess But I daresay hell have a
sentry on the road and he would ken well enough no soldiers would find the way
that we came«
Hereupon he whistled three times in a particular manner It was strange to
see how at the first sound of it all the moving torches came to a stand as if
the bearers were affrighted and how at the third the bustle began again as
before
Having thus set folks minds at rest we came down the brae and were met at
the yard gate for this place was like a welldoing farm by a tall handsome
man of more than fifty who cried out to Alan in Gaelic
»James Stewart« said Alan »I will ask ye to speak in Scots for here is a
young gentleman with me that has nane of the other This is him« he added
putting his arm through mine »a young gentleman of the Lowlands and a laird in
his country too but I am thinking it will be better for his health if we give
his name the goby«
James of the Glens turned to me for a moment and greeted me courteously
enough the next he had turned to Alan
»This has been a dreadful accident« he cried »It will bring trouble on the
country« And he wrung his hands
»Hoots« said Alan »ye must take the sour with the sweet man Colin Roy is
dead and be thankful for that«
»Ay« said James »and by my troth I wish he was alive again Its all very
fine to blow and boast beforehand but now its done Alan and whos to bear
the wyte21 of it The accident fell out in Appin mind ye that Alan its
Appin that must pay and I am a man that has a family«
While this was going on I looked about me at the servants Some were on
ladders digging in the thatch of the house or the farm buildings from which
they brought out guns swords and different weapons of war others carried them
away and by the sound of mattock blows from somewhere farther down the brae I
suppose they buried them Though they were all so busy there prevailed no kind
of order in their efforts men struggled together for the same gun and ran into
each other with their burning torches and James was continually turning about
from his talk with Alan to cry out orders which were apparently never
understood The faces in the torchlight were like those of people overborne with
hurry and panic and though none spoke above his breath their speech sounded
both anxious and angry
It was about this time that a lassie came out of the house carrying a pack
or bundle and it has often made me smile to think how Alans instinct awoke at
the mere sight of it
»Whats that the lassie has« he asked
»Were just setting the house in order Alan« said James in his frightened
and somewhat fawning way »Theyll search Appin with candles and we must have
all things straight Were digging the bit guns and swords into the moss ye
see and these I am thinking will be your ain French clothes Well be to bury
them I believe«
»Bury my French clothes« cried Alan »Troth no« And he laid hold upon the
packet and retired into the barn to shift himself recommending me in the
meanwhile to his kinsman
James carried me accordingly into the kitchen and sat down with me at
table smiling and talking at first in a very hospitable manner But presently
the gloom returned upon him he sat frowning and biting his fingers only
remembered me from time to time and then gave me but a word or two and a poor
smile and back into his private terrors His wife sat by the fire and wept
with her face in her hands his eldest son was crouched upon the floor running
over a great mass of papers and now and again setting one alight and burning it
to the bitter end all the while a servant lass with a red face was rummaging
about the room in a blind hurry of fear and whimpering as she went and every
now and again one of the men would thrust in his face from the yard and cry for
orders
At last James could keep his seat no longer and begged my permission to be
so unmannerly as walk about »I am but poor company altogether sir« says he
»but I can think of nothing but this dreadful accident and the trouble it is
like to bring upon quite innocent persons«
A little after he observed his son burning a paper which he thought should
have been kept and at that his excitement burst out so that it was painful to
witness He struck the lad repeatedly
»Are you gone gyte22« he cried »Do you wish to hang your father« and
forgetful of my presence carried on at him a long time together in the Gaelic
the young man answering nothing only the wife at the name of hanging throwing
her apron over her face and sobbing out louder than before
This was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear and see and I was
right glad when Alan returned looking like himself in his fine French clothes
though to be sure they were now grown almost too battered and withered to
deserve the name of fine I was then taken out in my turn by another of the
sons and given that change of clothing of which I had stood so long in need
and a pair of Highland brogues made of deerleather rather strange at first
but after a little practice very easy to the feet
By the time I came back Alan must have told his story for it seemed
understood that I was to fly with him and they were all busy upon our
equipment They gave us each a sword and pistols though I professed my
inability to use the former; and with these and some ammunition a bag of
oatmeal an iron pan and a bottle of right French brandy we were ready for the
heather Money indeed was lacking I had about two guineas left Alans belt
having been despatched by another hand that trusty messenger had no more than
seventeenpence to his whole fortune and as for James it appears he had
brought himself so low with journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf
of the tenants that he could only scrape together
threeandfivepencehalfpenny the most of it in coppers
»Thisll no do« said Alan
»Ye must find a safe bit somewhere near by« said James »and get word sent
to me Ye see yell have to get this business prettily off Alan This is no
time to be stayed for a guinea or two Theyre sure to get wind of ye sure to
seek ye and by my way of it sure to lay on ye the wyte of this days accident
If it falls on you it falls on me that am your near kinsman and harboured ye
while ye were in the country And if it comes on me « he paused and bit his
fingers with a white face »It would be a painful thing for our friends if I
was to hang« said he
»It would be an ill day for Appin« says Alan
»Its a day that sticks in my throat« said James »O man man man man
Alan you and me have spoken like two fools« he cried striking his hand upon
the wall so that the house rang again
»Well and thats true too« said Alan »and my friend from the Lowlands
here« nodding at me »gave me a good word upon that head if I would only have
listened to him«
»But see here« said James returning to his former manner »if they lay me
by the heels Alan its then that youll be needing the money For with all
that I have said and that you have said it will look very black against the two
of us do ye mark that Well follow me out and yell see that Ill have to get
a paper out against ye mysel Ill have to offer a reward for ye ay will I
Its a sore thing to do between such near friends but if I get the dirdum23 of
this dreadful accident Ill have to fend for myself man Do ye see that«
He spoke with a pleading earnestness taking Alan by the breast of the coat
»Ay« said Alan »I see that«
»And yell have to be clear of the country Alan ay and clear of Scotland
you and your friend from the Lowlands too For Ill have to paper your friend
from the Lowlands Ye see that Alan say that ye see that«
I thought Alan flushed a bit »This is unco hard on me that brought him
here James« said he throwing his head back »Its like making me a traitor«
»Now Alan man« cried James »Look things in the face Hell be papered
anyway Mungo Campbell ll be sure to paper him what matters if I paper him
too And then Alan I am a man that has a family« And then after a little
pause on both sides »And Alan itll be a jury of Campbells« said he
»Theres one thing« said Alan musingly »that naebody kens his name«
»Nor yet they shallna Alan Theres my hand on that« cried James for all
the world as if he had really known my name and was foregoing some advantage
»But just the habit he was in and what he looked like and his age and the
like I couldna well do less«
»I wonder at your fathers son« cried Alan sternly »Would ye sell the lad
with a gift Would ye change his clothes and then betray him«
»No no Alan« said James »No no the habit he took off the habit Mungo
saw him in« But I thought he seemed crestfallen indeed he was clutching at
every straw and all the time I daresay saw the faces of his hereditary foes
on the bench and in the jurybox and the gallows in the background
»Well sir« says Alan turning to me »what say ye to that Ye are here
under the safeguard of my honour and its my part to see nothing done but what
shall please you«
»I have but one word to say« said I »for to all this dispute I am a
perfect stranger But the plain commonsense is to set the blame where it
belongs and that is on the man that fired the shot Paper him as ye call it
set the hunt on him and let honest innocent folk show their faces in safety«
But at this both Alan and James cried out in horror bidding me hold my
tongue for that was not to be thought of and asking me what the Camerons would
think which confirmed me it must have been a Cameron from Mamore that did the
act and if I did not see that the lad might be caught »Ye havena surely
thought of that« said they with such innocent earnestness that my hands
dropped at my side and I despaired of argument
»Very well then« said I »paper me if you please paper Alan paper King
George Were all three innocent and that seems to be whats wanted But at
least sir« said I to James recovering from my little fit of annoyance »I am
Alans friend and if I can be helpful to friends of his I will not stumble at
the risk«
I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent for I saw Alan troubled
and besides thinks I to myself as soon as my back is turned they will paper
me as they call it whether I consent or not But in this I saw I was wrong
for I had no sooner said the words than Mrs Stewart leaped out of her chair
came running over to us and wept first upon my neck and then on Alans
blessing God for our goodness to her family
»As for you Alan it was no more than your bounden duty« she said »But
for this lad that has come here and seen us at our worst and seen the goodman
fleeching like a suitor him that by rights should give his commands like any
king as for you my lad« she says »my heart is wae not to have your name
but I have your face and as long as my heart beats under my bosom I will keep
it and think of it and bless it« And with that she kissed me and burst once
more into such sobbing that I stood abashed
»Hoot hoot« said Alan looking mighty silly »The day comes unco soon in
this month of July and tomorrow therell be a fine todo in Appin a fine
riding of dragoons and crying of Cruachan24 and running of redcoats and it
behoves you and me to the sooner be gone«
Thereupon we said farewell and set out again bending somewhat eastwards
in a fine mild dark night and over much the same broken country as before
Chapter XX
The Flight in the Heather the Rocks
Sometimes we walked sometimes ran and as it drew on to morning walked ever
the less and ran the more Though upon its face that country appeared to be a
desert yet there were huts and houses of the people of which we must have
passed more than twenty hidden in quiet places of the hills When we came to
one of these Alan would leave me in the way and go himself and rap upon the
side of the house and speak awhile at the window with some sleeper awakened
This was to pass the news which in that country was so much of a duty that
Alan must pause to attend to it even while fleeing for his life and so well
attended to by others that in more than half of the houses where we called they
had heard already of the murder In the others as well as I could make out
standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue the news was
received with more of consternation than surprise
For all our hurry day began to come in while we were still far from any
shelter It found us in a prodigious valley strewn with rocks and where ran a
foaming river Wild mountains stood around it there grew there neither grass
nor trees and I have sometimes thought since then that it may have been the
valley called Glencoe where the massacre was in the time of King William But
for the details of our itinerary I am all to seek our way lying now by short
cuts now by great détours our pace being so hurried our time of journeying
usually by night and the names of such places as I asked and heard being in the
Gaelic tongue and the more easily forgotten
The first peep of morning then showed us this horrible place and I could
see Alan knit his brow
»This is no fit place for you and me« he said »This is a place theyre
bound to watch«
And with that he ran harder than ever down to the waterside in a part
where the river was split in two among three rocks It went through with a
horrid thundering that made my belly quake and there hung over the lynn a
little mist of spray Alan looked neither to the right nor to the left but
jumped clean upon the middle rock and fell there on his hands and knees to check
himself for that rock was small and he might have pitched over on the far
side I had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril
before I had followed him and he had caught and stopped me
So there we stood side by side upon a small rock slippery with spray a far
broader leap in front of us and the river dinning upon all sides When I saw
where I was there came on me a deadly sickness of fear and I put my hand over
my eyes Alan took me and shook me I saw he was speaking but the roaring of
the falls and the trouble of my mind prevented me from hearing only I saw his
face was red with anger and that he stamped upon the rock The same look showed
me the water raging by and the mist hanging in the air and with that I covered
my eyes again and shuddered
The next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips and forced me to
drink about a gill which sent the blood into my head again Then putting his
hands to his mouth and his mouth to my ear he shouted »Hang or drown« and
turning his back upon me leaped over the farther branch of the stream and
landed safe
I was now alone upon the rock which gave me the more room the brandy was
singing in my ears I had this good example fresh before me and just wit enough
to see that if I did not leap at once I should never leap at all I bent low on
my knees and flung myself forth with that kind of anger of despair that has
sometimes stood me in stead of courage Sure enough it was but my hands that
reached the full length these slipped caught again slipped again and I was
sliddering back into the lynn when Alan seized me first by the hair then by
the collar and with a great strain dragged me into safety
Never a word he said but set off running again for his life and I must
stagger to my feet and run after him I had been weary before but now I was
sick and bruised and partly drunken with the brandy I kept stumbling as I ran
I had a stitch that came near to overmaster me and when at last Alan paused
under a great rock that stood there among a number of others it was none too
soon for David Balfour
A great rock I have said but by rights it was two rocks leaning together at
the top both some twenty feet high and at the first sight inaccessible Even
Alan though you may say he had as good as four hands failed twice in an
attempt to climb them and it was only at the third trial and then by standing
on my shoulders and leaping up with such force as I thought must have broken my
collarbone that he secured a lodgment Once there he let down his leathern
girdle and with the aid of that and a pair of shallow footholds in the rock I
scrambled up beside him
Then I saw why we had come there for the two rocks being both somewhat
hollow on the top and sloping one to the other made a kind of dish or saucer
where as many as three or four men might have lain hidden
All this while Alan had not said a word and had run and climbed with such a
savage silent frenzy of hurry that I knew that he was in mortal fear of some
miscarriage Even now we were on the rock he said nothing nor so much as
relaxed the frowning look upon his face but clapped flat down and keeping
only one eye above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the
compass The dawn had come quite clear we could see the stony sides of the
valley and its bottom which was bestrewed with rocks and the river which
went from one side to another and made white falls but nowhere the smoke of a
house nor any living creature but some eagles screaming round a cliff
Then at last Alan smiled
»Ay« said he »now we have a chance« and then looking at me with some
amusement »Yere no very gleg25 at the jumping« said he
At this I suppose I coloured with mortification for he added at once
»Hoots small blame to ye To be feared of a thing and yet to do it is what
makes the prettiest kind of a man And then there was water there and waters a
thing that dauntons even me No no« said Alan »its no you thats to blame
its me«
I asked him why
»Why« said he »I have proved myself a gomeril this night For first of all
I take a wrong road and that in my own country of Appin so that the day has
caught us where we should never have been and thanks to that we lie here in
some danger and mair discomfort And next which is the worst of the two for a
man that has been so much among the heather as myself I have come wanting a
waterbottle and here we lie for a long summers day with naething but neat
spirit Ye may think that a small matter but before it comes night David
yell give me news of it«
I was anxious to redeem my character and offered if he would pour out the
brandy to run down and fill the bottle at the river
»I wouldna waste the good spirit either« says he »Its been a good friend
to you this night or in my poor opinion ye would still be cocking on yon
stone And whats mair« says he »ye may have observed you thats a man of so
much penetration that Alan Breck Stewart was perhaps walking quicker than his
ordinar«
»You« I cried »you were running fit to burst«
»Was I so« said he »Well then ye may depend upon it there was nae time
to be lost And now here is enough said gang you to your sleep lad and Ill
watch«
Accordingly I lay down to sleep a little peaty earth had drifted in
between the top of the two rocks and some bracken grew there to be a bed to
me the last thing I heard was still the crying of the eagles
I daresay it would be nine in the morning when I was roughly awakened and
found Alans hand pressed upon my mouth
»Wheesht« he whispered »Ye were snoring«
»Well« said I surprised at his anxious and dark face »and why not«
He peered over the edge of the rock and signed to me to do the like
It was now high day cloudless and very hot The valley was as clear as in
a picture About half a mile up the water was a camp of redcoats a big fire
blazed in their midst at which some were cooking and near by on the top of a
rock about as high as ours there stood a sentry with the sun sparkling on his
arms All the way down along the riverside were posted other sentries here
near together there widelier scattered some planted like the first on places
of command some on the ground level and marching and countermarching so as
to meet halfway Higher up the glen where the ground was more open the chain
of posts was continued by horsesoldiers whom we could see in the distance
riding to and fro Lower down the infantry continued but as the stream was
suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerable burn they were more widely
set and only watched the fords and steppingstones
I took but one look at them and ducked again into my place It was strange
indeed to see this valley which had lain so solitary in the hour of dawn
bristling with arms and dotted with the red coats and breeches
»Ye see« said Alan »this was what I was afraid of Davie that they would
watch the burnside They began to come in about two hours ago and man but
yere a grand hand at the sleeping Were in a narrow place If they get up the
sides of the hill they could easy spy us with a glass but if theyll only keep
in the foot of the valley well do yet The posts are thinner down the water
and come night well try our hand at getting by them«
»And what are we to do till night« I asked
»Lie here« says he »and birstle«
That one good Scots word birstle was indeed the most of the story of the
day that we had now to pass You are to remember that we lay on the bare top of
a rock like scones upon a girdle the sun beat upon us cruelly the rock grew
so heated a man could scarce endure the touch of it and the little patch of
earth and fern which kept cooler was only large enough for one at a time We
took turn about to lie on the naked rock which was indeed like the position of
that saint that was martyred on a gridiron and it ran in my mind how strange it
was that in the same climate and at only a few days distance I should have
suffered so cruelly first from cold upon my island and now from heat upon this
rock
All the while we had no water only raw brandy for a drink which was worse
than nothing but we kept the bottle as cool as we could burying it in the
earth and got some relief by bathing our breasts and temples
The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley now changing
guard now in patrolling parties hunting among the rocks These lay round in so
great a number that to look for men among them was like looking for a needle in
a bottle of hay and being so hopeless a task it was gone about with the less
care Yet we could see the soldiers pike their bayonets among the heather which
sent a cold thrill into my vitals and they would sometimes hang about our rock
so that we scarce dared to breathe
It was in this way that I first heard the right English speech one fellow
as he went by actually clapping his hand upon the sunny face of the rock on
which we lay and plucking it off again with an oath »I tell you its ot«
says he and I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd singsong in which
he spoke and no less at that strange trick of dropping out the letter h To be
sure I had heard Ransome but he had taken his ways from all sorts of people
and spoke so imperfectly at the best that I set down the most of it to
childishness My surprise was all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in
the mouth of a grown man and indeed I have never grown used to it nor yet
altogether with the English grammar as perhaps a very critical eye might here
and there spy out even in these memoirs
The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only the greater
as the day went on the rock getting still the hotter and the sun fiercer There
were giddiness and sickness and sharp pangs like rheumatism to be supported
I minded then and have often minded since on the lines in our Scots psalm
»The moon by night thee shall not smite
Nor yet the sun by day «
and indeed it was only by Gods blessing that we were neither of us sunsmitten
At last about two it was beyond mens bearing and there was now
temptation to resist as well as pain to thole For the sun being now got a
little into the west there came a patch of shade on the east side of our rock
which was the side sheltered from the soldiers
»As well one death as another« said Alan and slipped over the edge and
dropped on the ground on the shadowy side
I followed him at once and instantly fell all my length so weak was I and
so giddy with that long exposure Here then we lay for an hour or two aching
from head to foot as weak as water and lying quite naked to the eye of any
soldier who should have strolled that way None came however all passing by on
the other side so that our rock continued to be our shield even in this new
position
Presently we began again to get a little strength and as the soldiers were
now lying closer along the riverside Alan proposed that we should try a start
I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the world and that was to be set
back upon the rock anything else was welcome to me so we got ourselves at once
in marching order and began to slip from rock to rock one after the other now
crawling flat on our bellies in the shade now making a run for it heart in
mouth
The soldiers having searched this side of the valley after a fashion and
being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon had now laid
by much of their vigilance and stood dozing at their posts or only kept a
lookout along the banks of the river so that in this way keeping down the
valley and at the same time towards the mountains we drew steadily away from
their neighbourhood But the business was the most wearing I had ever taken part
in A man had need of a hundred eyes in every part of him to keep concealed in
that uneven country and within cry of so many and scattered sentries When we
must pass an open place quickness was not all but a swift judgment not only of
the lie of the whole country but of the solidity of every stone on which we
must set foot for the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that the rolling
of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistolshot and would start the echo calling
among the hills and cliffs
By sundown we had made some distance even by our slow rate of progress
though to be sure the sentry on the rock was still plainly in our view But now
we came on something that put all fears out of season and that was a deep
rushing burn that tore down in that part to join the glen river At the sight
of this we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in the
water and I cannot tell which was the more pleasant the great shock as the
cool stream went over us or the greed with which we drank of it
We lay there for the banks hid us drank again and again bathed our
chests let our wrists trail in the running water till they ached with the
chill and at last being wonderfully renewed we got out the mealbag and made
drammach in the iron pan This though it is but cold water mingled with
oatmeal yet makes a good enough dish for a hungry man and where there are no
means of making fire or as in our case good reason for not making one it is
the chief standby of those who have taken to the heather
As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen we set forth again at first
with the same caution but presently with more boldness standing our full
height and stepping out at a good pace of walking The way was very intricate
lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs clouds had
come in with the sunset and the night was dark and cool so that I walked
without much fatigue but in continual fear of falling and rolling down the
mountains and with no guess at our direction
The moon rose at last and found us still on the road it was in its last
quarter and was long beset with clouds but after a while shone out and showed
me many dark heads of mountains and was reflected far underneath us on the
narrow arm of a sealoch
At this sight we both paused I struck with wonder to find myself so high
and walking as it seemed to me upon clouds Alan to make sure of his
direction
Seemingly he was well pleased and he must certainly have judged us out of
earshot of all our enemies for throughout the rest of our nightmarch he
beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes warlike merry plaintive reel
tunes that made the foot go faster tunes of my own south country that made me
fain to be home from my adventures and all these on the great dark desert
mountains making company upon the way
Chapter XXI
The Flight in the Heather the Heugh of Corrynakiegh
Early as day comes in the beginning of July it was still dark when we reached
our destination a cleft in the head of a great mountain with a water running
through the midst and upon the one hand a shallow cave in a rock Birches grew
there in a thin pretty wood which a little farther on was changed into a wood
of pines The burn was full of trout the wood of cushatdoves on the open side
of the mountain beyond whaups would be always whistling and cuckoos were
plentiful From the mouth of the cleft we looked down upon a part of Mamore and
on the sealoch that divides that country from Appin and this from so great a
height as made it my continual wonder and pleasure to sit and behold them
The name of the cleft was the Heugh of Corrynakiegh and although from its
height and being so near upon the sea it was often beset with clouds yet it
was on the whole a pleasant place and the five days we lived in it went
happily
We slept in the cave making our bed of heather bushes which we cut for that
purpose and covering ourselves with Alans greatcoat There was a low
concealed place in a turning of the glen where we were so bold as to make
fire so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set in and cook hot
porridge and grill the little trouts that we caught with our hands under the
stones and overhanging banks of the burn This was indeed our chief pleasure and
business and not only to save our meal against worse times but with a rivalry
that much amused us we spent a great part of our days at the waterside
stripped to the waist and groping about or as they say guddling for these
fish The largest we got might have been a quarter of a pound but they were of
good flesh and flavour and when broiled upon the coals lacked only a little
salt to be delicious
In any bytime Alan must teach me to use my sword for my ignorance had much
distressed him and I think besides as I had sometimes the upper hand of him in
the fishing he was not sorry to turn to an exercise where he had so much the
upper hand of me He made it somewhat more of a pain than need have been for he
stormed at me all through the lessons in a very violent manner of scolding and
would push me so close that I made sure he must run me through the body I was
often tempted to turn tail but held my ground for all that and got some profit
of my lessons if it was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance
which is often all that is required So though I could never in the least
please my master I was not altogether displeased with myself
In the meanwhile you are not to suppose that we neglected our chief
business which was to get away
»It will be many a long day« Alan said to me on our first morning »before
the redcoats think upon seeking Corrynakiegh so now we must get word sent to
James and he must find the siller for us«
»And how shall we send that word« says I »We are here in a desert place
which yet we dare not leave and unless ye get the fowls of the air to be your
messengers I see not what we shall be able to do«
»Ay« said Alan »Yere a man of small contrivance David«
Thereupon he fell in a muse looking in the embers of the fire and
presently getting a piece of wood he fashioned it in a cross the four ends of
which he blackened on the coals Then he looked at me a little shyly
»Could ye lend me my button« says he »It seems a strange thing to ask a
gift again but I own I am laith to cut another«
I gave him the button whereupon he strung it on a strip of his greatcoat
which he had used to bind the cross and tying in a little sprig of birch and
another of fir he looked upon his work with satisfaction
»Now« said he »there is a little clachan« what is called a hamlet in the
English »not very far from Corrynakiegh and it has the name of Koalisnacoan
There there are living many friends of mine whom I could trust with my life and
some that I am no just so sure of Ye see David there will be money set upon
our heads James himsel is to set money on them and as for the Campbells they
would never spare siller where there was a Stewart to be hurt If it was
otherwise I would go down to Koalisnacoan whatever and trust my life into
these peoples hands as lightly as I would trust another with my glove«
»But being so« said I
»Being so« said he »I would as lief they didna see me Theres bad folk
everywhere and whats far worse weak ones So when it comes dark again I
will steal down into that clachan and set this that I have been making in the
window of a good friend of mine John Breck Maccoll a bouman26 of Appins«
»With all my heart« says I »and if he finds it what is he to think«
»Well« says Alan »I wish he was a man of more penetration for by my troth
I am afraid he will make little enough of it But this is what I have in my
mind This cross is something in the nature of the crosstarrie or fiery cross
which is the signal of gathering in our clans yet he will know well enough the
clan is not to rise for there it is standing in his window and no word with
it So he will say to himsel The clan is not to rise but there is something
Then he will see my button and that was Duncan Stewarts And then he will say
to himsel The son of Duncan is in the heather and has need of me«
»Well« said I »it may be But even supposing so there is a good deal of
heather between here and the Forth«
»And that is a very true word« says Alan »But then John Breck will see the
sprig of birch and the sprig of pine and he will say to himsel if he is a man
of any penetration at all which I misdoubt Alan will be lying in a wood which
is both of pines and birches Then he will think to himsel That is not so very
rife hereabout and then he will come and give us a look up in Corrynakiegh And
if he does not David the devil may fly away with him for what I care for he
will no be worth the salt to his porridge«
»Eh man« said I drolling with him a little »youre very ingenious But
would it not be simpler for you to write him a few words in black and white«
»And that is an excellent observe Mr Balfour of Shaws« says Alan
drolling with me »and it would certainly be much simpler for me to write to
him but it would be a sore job for John Breck to read it He would have to go
to the school for twothree years and its possible we might be wearied waiting
on him«
So that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and set it in the boumans
window He was troubled when he came back for the dogs had barked and the folk
run out from their houses and he thought he had heard a clatter of arms and
seen a redcoat come to one of the doors On all accounts we lay the next day in
the borders of the wood and kept a close lookout so that if it was John Breck
that came we might be ready to guide him and if it was the redcoats we should
have time to get away
About noon a man was to be spied straggling up the open side of the
mountain in the sun and looking round him as he came from under his hand No
sooner had Alan seen him than he whistled the man turned and came a little
towards us then Alan would give another »peep« and the man would come still
nearer and so by the sound of whistling he was guided to the spot where we
lay
He was a ragged wild bearded man about forty grossly disfigured with the
smallpox and looked both dull and savage Although his English was very bad
and broken yet Alan according to his very handsome use whenever I was by
would suffer him to speak no Gaelic Perhaps the strange language made him
appear more backward than he really was but I thought he had little goodwill
to serve us and what he had was the child of terror
Alan would have had him carry a message to James but the bouman would hear
of no message »She was forget it« he said in his screaming voice and would
either have a letter or wash his hands of us
I thought Alan would be gravelled at that for we lacked the means of
writing in that desert But he was a man of more resources than I knew searched
the wood until he found a quill of a cushatdove which he shaped into a pen
made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and water from the
running stream and tearing a comer from his French military commission which
he carried in his pocket like a talisman to keep him from the gallows he sat
down and wrote as follows
»Dear Kinsman Please send money by the bearer to the place he kens
of
Your affectionate cousin
AS«
This he intrusted to the bouman who promised to make what manner of speed he
best could and carried it off with him down the hill
He was three full days gone but about five in the evening of the third we
heard a whistling in the wood which Alan answered and presently the bouman
came up the waterside looking for us right and left He seemed less sulky
than before and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of
such a dangerous commission
He gave us the news of the country that it was alive with redcoats that
arms were being found and poor folk brought in trouble daily and that James
and some of his servants were already clapped in prison at Fort William under
strong suspicion of complicity It seemed it was noised on all sides that Alan
Breck had fired the shot and there was a bill issued both for him and me with
one hundred pounds reward
This was all as bad as could be and the little note the bouman had carried
us from Mrs Stewart was of a miserable sadness In it she besought Alan not to
let himself be captured assuring him if he fell in the hands of the troops
both he and James were no better than dead men The money she had sent was all
that she could beg or borrow and she prayed Heaven we could be doing with it
Lastly she said she enclosed us one of the bills in which we were described
This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear partly as a
man may look in a mirror partly as he might look into the barrel of an enemys
gun to judge if it be truly aimed Alan was advertised as »a small pockmarked
active man of thirtyfive or thereby dressed in a feathered hat a French
sidecoat of blue with silver buttons and lace a great deal tarnished a red
waistcoat and breeches of black shag« and I as »a tall strong lad of about
eighteen wearing an old blue coat very ragged an old Highland bonnet a long
homespun waistcoat blue breeches his legs bare lowcountry shoes wanting the
toes speaks like a Lowlander and has no beard«
Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully remembered and set
down only when he came to the word tarnished he looked upon his lace like one
a little mortified As for myself I thought I cut a miserable figure in the
bill and yet was well enough pleased too for since I had changed these rags
the description had ceased to be a danger and become a source of safety
»Alan« said I »you should change your clothes«
»Na troth« said Alan »I have nae others A fine sight I would be if I
went back to France in a bonnet«
This put a second reflection in my mind that if I were to separate from
Alan and his telltale clothes I should be safe against arrest and might go
openly about my business Nor was this all for suppose I was arrested when I
was alone there was little against me but suppose I was taken in company with
the reputed murderer my case would begin to be grave For generositys sake I
dared not speak my mind upon this head but I thought of it none the less
I thought of it all the more too when the bouman brought out a green purse
with four guineas in gold and the best part of another in small change True
it was more than I had But then Alan with less than five guineas had to get
as far as France I with my less than two not beyond Queensferry so that
taking things in their proportion Alans society was not only a peril to my
life but a burden on my purse
But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my companion He
believed he was serving helping and protecting me And what could I do but
hold my peace and chafe and take my chance of it
»Its little enough« said Alan putting the purse in his pocket »but itll
do my business And now John Breck if ye will hand me over my button this
gentleman and me will be for taking the road«
But the bouman after feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in front of
him in the Highland manner though he wore otherwise the Lowland habit with
seatrousers began to roll his eyes strangely and at last said »Her nainsel
will loss it« meaning he thought he had lost it
»What« cried Alan »you will lose my button that was my fathers before
me Now I will tell you what is in my mind John Breck it is in my mind this is
the worst days work that ever ye did since ye were born«
And as Alan spoke he set his hands on his knees and looked at the bouman
with a smiling mouth and that dancing light in his eyes that meant mischief to
his enemies
Perhaps the bouman was honest enough perhaps he had meant to cheat and
then finding himself alone with two of us in a desert place cast back to
honesty as being safer at least and all at once he seemed to find that button
and handed it to Alan
»Well and it is a good thing for the honour of the Maccolls« said Alan
and then to me »Here is my button back again and I thank you for parting with
it which is of a piece with all your friendships to me« Then he took the
warmest parting of the bouman »For« says he »ye have done very well by me
and set your neck at a venture and I will always give you the name of a good
man«
Lastly the bouman took himself off by one way and Alan and I getting our
chattels together struck into another to resume our flight
Chapter XXII
The Flight in the Heather the Moor
Some seven hours incessant hard travelling brought us early in the morning to
the end of a range of mountains In front of us there lay a piece of low
broken desert land which we must now cross The sun was not long up and shone
straight in our eyes a little thin mist went up from the face of the moorland
like a smoke so that as Alan said there might have been twenty squadron of
dragoons there and we none the wiser
We sat down therefore in a howe of the hillside till the mist should have
risen and made ourselves a dish of drammach and held a council of war
»David« said Alan »this is the kittle bit Shall we lie here till it comes
night or shall we risk it and stave on ahead«
»Well« said I »I am tired indeed but I could walk as far again if that
was all«
»Ay but it isna« said Alan »nor yet the half This is how we stand
Appins fair death to us To the south its all Campbells and no to be thought
of To the north well theres no muckle to be gained by going north neither
for you that wants to get to Queensferry nor yet for me that wants to get to
France Well then well can strike east«
»East be it« says I quite cheerily but I was thinking in to myself »O
man if you would only take one point of the compass and let me take any other
it would be the best for both of us«
»Well then east ye see we have the muirs« said Alan »Once there
David its mere pitchandtoss Out on yon bald naked flat place where can a
body turn to Let the redcoats come over a hill they can spy you miles away
and the sorrows in their horses heels they would soon ride you down Its no
good place David and Im free to say its worse by daylight than by dark«
»Alan« said I »hear my way of it Appins death for us we have none too
much money nor yet meal the longer they seek the nearer they may guess where
we are its all a risk and I give my word to go ahead until we drop«
Alan was delighted »There are whiles« said he »when ye are altogether too
canny and Whiggish to be company for a gentleman like me but there come other
whiles when ye show yersel a mettle spark and its then David that I love ye
like a brother«
The mist rose and died away and showed us that country lying as waste as
the sea only the moorfowl and the peewees crying upon it and far over to the
east a herd of deer moving like dots Much of it was red with heather much of
the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools some had been burnt black
in a heathfire and in another place there was quite a forest of dead firs
standing like skeletons A wearierlooking desert man never saw but at least it
was clear of troops which was our point
We went down accordingly into the waste and began to make our toilsome and
devious travel towards the eastern verge There were the tops of mountains all
round you are to remember from whence we might be spied at any moment so it
behoved us to keep in the hollow parts of the moor and when these turned aside
from our direction to move upon its naked face with infinite care Sometimes
for half an hour together we must crawl from one heather bush to another as
hunters do when they are hard upon the deer It was a clear day again with a
blazing sun the water in the brandybottle was soon gone and altogether if I
had guessed what it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly and to walk
much of the rest stooping nearly to the knees I should certainly have held back
from such a killing enterprise
Toiling and resting and toiling again we wore away the morning and about
noon lay down in a thick bush of heather to sleep Alan took the first watch
and it seemed to me I had scarce closed my eyes before I was shaken up to take
the second We had no clock to go by and Alan stuck a sprig of heath in the
ground to serve instead so that as soon as the shadow of the bush should fall
so far to the east I might know to rouse him But I was by this time so weary
that I could have slept twelve hours at a stretch I had the taste of sleep in
my throat my joints slept even when my mind was waking the hot smell of the
heather and the drone of the wild bees were like possets to me and every now
and again I would give a jump and find I had been dozing
The last time I woke I seemed to come back from farther away and thought
the sun had taken a great start in the heavens I looked at the sprig of heath
and at that I could have cried aloud for I saw I had betrayed my trust My head
was nearly turned with fear and shame and at what I saw when I looked out
around me on the moor my heart was like dying in my body For sure enough a
body of horsesoldiers had come down during my sleep and were drawing near to
us from the southeast spread out in the shape of a fan and riding their horses
to and fro in the deep parts of the heather
When I waked Alan he glanced first at the soldiers then at the mark and the
position of the sun and knitted his brows with a sudden quick look both ugly
and anxious which was all the reproach I had of him
»What are we to do now« I asked
»Well have to play at being hares« said he »Do ye see yon mountain«
pointing to one on the northeastern sky
»Ay« said I
»Well then« says he »let us strike for that Its name is Ben Alder its a
wild desert mountain full of hills and hollows and if we can win to it before
the morn we may do yet«
»But Alan« cried I »that will take us across the very coming of the
soldiers«
»I ken that fine« said he »but if we are driven back on Appin we are two
dead men So now David man be brisk«
With that he began to run forward on his hands and knees with incredible
quickness as though it were his natural way of going All the time too he
kept winding in and out in the lower parts of the moorland where we were the
best concealed Some of these had been burned or at least scathed with fire and
there rose in our faces which were close to the ground a blinding choking
dust as fine as smoke The water was long out and this posture of running on
the hands and knees brings an overmastering weakness and weariness so that the
joints ache and the wrists faint under your weight
Now and then indeed where was a big bush of heather we lay awhile and
panted and putting aside the leaves looked back at the dragoons They had not
spied us for they held straight on a halftroop I think covering about two
miles of ground and beating it mighty thoroughly as they went I had awakened
just in time a little later and we must have fled in front of them instead of
escaping on one side Even as it was the least misfortune might betray us and
now and again when a grouse rose out of the heather with a clap of wings we
lay as still as the dead and were afraid to breathe
The aching and faintness of my body the labouring of my heart the soreness
of my hands and the smarting of my throat and eyes in the continual smoke of
dust and ashes had soon grown to be so unbearable that I would gladly have
given up Nothing but the fear of Alan lent me enough of a false kind of courage
to continue As for himself and you are to bear in mind that he was cumbered
with a greatcoat he had first turned crimson but as time went on the redness
began to be mingled with patches of white his breath cried and whistled as it
came and his voice when he whispered his observations in my ear during our
halts sounded like nothing human Yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits
nor did he at all abate in his activity so that I was driven to marvel at the
mans endurance
At length in the first gloaming of the night we heard a trumpet sound
and looking back from among the heather saw the troop beginning to collect A
little after they had built a fire and camped for the night about the middle
of the waste
At this I begged and besought that we might lie down and sleep
»There shall be no sleep the night« said Alan »From now on these weary
dragoons of yours will keep the crown of the muirland and none will get out of
Appin but winged fowls We got through in the nick of time and shall we jeopard
what weve gained Na na when the day comes it shall find you and me in a
fast place on Ben Alder«
»Alan« I said »its not the want of will its the strength that I want
If I could I would but as sure as Im alive I cannot«
»Very well then« said Alan »Ill carry ye«
I looked to see if he were jesting but no the little man was in dead
earnest and the sight of so much resolution shamed me
»Lead away« said I »Ill follow«
He gave me one look as much as to say »Well done David« and off he set
again at his top speed
It grew cooler and even a little darker but not much with the coming of
the night The sky was cloudless it was still early in July and pretty far
north in the darkest part of that night you would have needed pretty good eyes
to read but for all that I have often seen it darker in a winter midday Heavy
dew fell and drenched the moor like rain and this refreshed me for a while
When we stopped to breathe and I had time to see all about me the clearness
and sweetness of the night the shapes of the hills like things asleep and the
fire dwindling away behind us like a bright spot in the midst of the moor
anger would come upon me in a clap that I must still drag myself in agony and
eat the dust like a worm
By what I have read in books I think few that have held a pen were ever
really wearied or they would write of it more strongly I had no care of my
life neither past nor future and I scarce remembered there was such a lad as
David Balfour I did not think of myself but just of each fresh step which I
was sure would be my last with despair and of Alan who was the cause of it
with hatred Alan was in the right trade as a soldier this is the officers
part to make men continue to do things they know not wherefore and when if
the choice was offered they would lie down where they were and be killed And I
daresay I would have made a good enough private for in these last hours it
never occurred to me that I had any choice but just to obey as long as I was
able and die obeying
Day began to come in after years I thought and by that time we were past
the greatest danger and could walk upon our feet like men instead of crawling
like brutes But dear heart have mercy what a pair we must have made going
double like old grandfathers stumbling like babes and as white as dead folk
Never a word passed between us each set his mouth and kept his eyes in front of
him and lifted up his foot and set it down again like people lifting weights
at a country play27 all the while with the moorfowl crying peep in the
heather and the light coming slowly clearer in the east
I say Alan did as I did Not that ever I looked at him for I had enough ado
to keep my feet but because it is plain he must have been as stupid with
weariness as myself and looked as little where we were going or we should not
have walked into an ambush like blind men
It fell in this way We were going down a heathery brae Alan leading and I
following a pace or two behind like a fiddler and his wife when upon a sudden
the heather gave a rustle three or four ragged men leaped out and the next
moment we were lying on our backs each with a dirk at his throat
I dont think I cared the pain of this rough handling was quite swallowed
up by the pains of which I was already full and I was too glad to have stopped
walking to mind about a dirk I lay looking up in the face of the man that held
me and I mind his face was black with the sun and his eyes very light but I
was not afraid of him I heard Alan and another whispering in the Gaelic and
what they said was all one to me
Then the dirks were put up our weapons were taken away and we were set
face to face sitting in the heather
»They are Clunys men« said Alan »We couldna have fallen better Were
just to bide here with these which are his outsentries till they can get word
to the chief of my arrival«
Now Cluny Macpherson the chief of the clan Vourich had been one of the
leaders of the great rebellion six years before there was a price on his life
and I had supposed him long ago in France with the rest of the heads of that
desperate party Even tired as I was the surprise of what I heard half wakened
me
»What« I cried »is Cluny still here«
»Ay is he so« said Alan »Still in his own country and kept by his own
clan King George can do no more«
I think I would have asked further but Alan gave me the putoff »I am
rather wearied« he said »and I would like fine to get a sleep« And without
more words he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush and seemed to sleep at
once
There was no such thing possible for me You have heard grasshoppers
whirring in the grass in the summertime Well I had no sooner closed my eyes
than my body and above all my head belly and wrists seemed to be filled with
whirring grasshoppers and I must open my eyes again at once and tumble and
toss and sit up and lie down and look at the sky which dazzled me or at
Clunys wild and dirty sentries peering out over the top of the brae and
chattering to each other in the Gaelic
That was all the rest I had until the messenger returned when as it
appeared that Cluny would be glad to receive us we must get once more upon our
feet and set forward Alan was in excellent good spirits much refreshed by his
sleep very hungry and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and a dish of hot
collops of which it seems the messenger had brought him word For my part it
made me sick to hear of eating I had been deadheavy before and now I felt a
kind of dreadful lightness which would not suffer me to walk I drifted like a
gossamer the ground seemed to me a cloud the hills a featherweight the air
to have a current like a running burn which carried me to and fro With all
that a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind so that I could have wept at
my own helplessness
I saw Alan knitting his brows at me and supposed it was in anger and that
gave me a pang of lightheaded fear like what a child may have I remember too
that I was smiling and could not stop smiling hard as I tried for I thought
it was out of place at such a time But my good companion had nothing in his
mind but kindness and the next moment two of the gillies had me by the arms
and I began to be carried forward with great swiftness or so it appeared to me
although I daresay it was slowly enough in truth through a labyrinth of dreary
glens and hollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder
Chapter XXIII
Clunys Cage
We came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood which scrambled up a
craggy hillside and was crowned by a naked precipice
»Its here« said one of the guides and we struck up hill
The trees clung upon the slope like sailors on the shrouds of a ship and
their trunks were like the rounds of a ladder by which we mounted
Quite at the top and just before the rocky face of the cliff sprang above
the foliage we found that strange house which was known in the country as
»Clunys Cage« The trunks of several trees had been wattled across the
intervals strengthened with stakes and the ground behind this barricade
levelled up with earth to make the floor A tree which grew out from the
hillside was the living centrebeam of the roof The walls were of wattle and
covered with moss The whole house had something of an eggshape and it half
hung half stood in that steep hillside thicket like a wasps nest in a green
hawthorn
Within it was large enough to shelter five or six persons with some
comfort A projection of the cliff had been cunningly employed to be the
fireplace and the smoke rising against the face of the rock and being not
dissimilar in colour readily escaped notice from below
This was but one of Clunys hidingplaces he had caves besides and
underground chambers in several parts of his country and following the reports
of his scouts he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved
away By this manner of living and thanks to the affection of his clan he had
not only stayed all this time in safety while so many others had fled or been
taken and slain but stayed four or five years longer and only went to France
at last by the express command of his master There he soon died and it is
strange to reflect that he may have regretted his Cage upon Ben Alder
When we came to the door he was seated by his rock chimney watching a
gillie about some cookery He was mighty plainly habited with a knitted
nightcap drawn over his ears and smoked a foul cutty pipe For all that he had
the manners of a king and it was quite a sight to see him rise out of his place
to welcome us
»Well Mr Stewart come awa sir« said he »and bring in your friend that
as yet I dinna ken the name of«
»And how is yourself Cluny« said Alan »I hope ye do brawly sir And I am
proud to see ye and to present to ye my friend the Laird of Shaws Mr David
Balfour«
Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer when we were
alone but with strangers he rang the words out like a herald
»Step in by the both of ye gentlemen« says Cluny »I make ye welcome to
my house which is a queer rude place for certain but one where I have
entertained a royal personage Mr Stewart ye doubtless ken the personage I
have in my eye Well take a dram for luck and as soon as this handless man of
mine has the collops ready well dine and take a hand at the cartes as
gentlemen should My life is a bit dreigh« says he pouring out the brandy »I
see little company and sit and twirl my thumbs and mind upon a great day that
is gone by and weary for another great day that we all hope will be upon the
road And so heres a toast to ye The Restoration«
Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank I am sure I wished no ill to
King George and if he had been there himself in proper person its like he
would have done as I did No sooner had I taken out the dram than I felt hugely
better and could look on and listen still a little mistily perhaps but no
longer with the same groundless horror and distress of mind
It was certainly a strange place and we had a strange host In his long
hiding Cluny had grown to have all manner of precise habits like those of an
old maid He had a particular place where no one else must sit the Cage was
arranged in a particular way which none must disturb cookery was one of his
chief fancies and even while he was greeting us in he kept an eye to the
collops
It appears he sometimes visited or received visits from his wife and one or
two of his nearest friends under the cover of night but for the more part
lived quite alone and communicated only with his sentinels and the gillies that
waited on him in the Cage The first thing in the morning one of them who was
a barber came and shaved him and gave him the news of the country of which he
was immoderately greedy There was no end to his questions he put them as
earnestly as a child and at some of the answers laughed out of all bounds of
reason, and would break out again laughing at the mere memory hours after the
barber was gone
To be sure there might have been a purpose in his questions for though he
was thus sequestered and like the other landed gentlemen of Scotland stripped
by the late Act of Parliament of legal powers he still exercised a patriarchal
justice in his clan Disputes were brought to him in his hidinghole to be
decided and the men of his country who would have snapped their fingers at the
Court of Session laid aside revenge and paid down money at the bare word of
this forfeited and hunted outlaw When he was angered which was often enough
he gave his commands and breathed threats of punishment like any king and his
gillies trembled and crouched away from him like children before a hasty father
With each of them as he entered he ceremoniously shook hands both parties
touching their bonnets at the same time in a military manner Altogether I had
a fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a Highland clan and this
with a proscribed fugitive chief his country conquered the troops riding upon
all sides in quest of him sometimes within a mile of where he lay and when the
least of the ragged fellows whom he rated and threatened could have made a
fortune by betraying him
On that first day as soon as the collops were ready Cluny gave them with
his own hand a squeeze of a lemon for he was well supplied with luxuries and
bade us draw into our meal
»They« said he meaning the collops »are such as I gave His Royal Highness
in this very house bating the lemon juice for at that time we were glad to get
the meat and never fashed for kitchen28 Indeed there were mair dragoons than
lemons in my country in the year Fortysix«
I do not know if the collops were truly very good but my heart rose against
the sight of them and I could eat but little All the while Cluny entertained
us with stories of Prince Charlies stay in the Cage giving us the very words
of the speakers and rising from his place to show us where they stood By
these I gathered the Prince was a gracious spirited boy like the son of a
race of polite kings but not so wise as Solomon I gathered too that while he
was in the Cage he was often drunk so the fault that has since by all
accounts made such a wreck of him had even then begun to show itself
We were no sooner done eating than Cluny brought out an old thumbed greasy
pack of cards such as you may find in a mean inn and his eyes brightened in
his face as he proposed that we should fall to playing
Now this was one of the things I had been brought up to eschew like
disgrace it being held by my father neither the part of a Christian nor yet of
a gentleman to set his own livelihood and fish for that of others on the cast
of painted pasteboard To be sure I might have pleaded my fatigue which was
excuse enough but I thought it behoved that I should bear a testimony I must
have got very red in the face but I spoke steadily and told them I had no call
to be a judge of others but for my own part it was a matter in which I had no
clearness
Cluny stopped mingling the cards »What in the deils name is this« says
he »What kind of Whiggish canting talk is this for the house of Cluny
Macpherson«
»I will put my hand in the fire for Mr Balfour« says Alan »He is an
honest and a mettle gentleman and I would have ye bear in mind who says it I
bear a kings name« says he cocking his hat »and I and any that I call friend
are company for the best But the gentleman is tired and should sleep if he
has no mind to the cartes it will never hinder you and me And Im fit and
willing sir to play ye any game that ye can name«
»Sir« says Cluny »in this poor house of mine I would have you to ken that
any gentleman may follow his pleasure If your friend would like to stand on his
head he is welcome And if either he or you or any other man is not
preceesely satisfied I will be proud to step outside with him«
I had no will that these two friends should cut their throats for my sake
»Sir« said I »I am very wearied as Alan says and whats more as you are
a man that likely has sons of your own I may tell you it was a promise to my
father«
»Say nae mair say nae mair« said Cluny and pointed me to a bed of heather
in a corner of the Cage For all that he was displeased enough looked at me
askance and grumbled when he looked And indeed it must be owned that both my
scruples and the words in which I had declared them smacked somewhat of the
Covenanter and were little in their place among wild Highland Jacobites
What with the brandy and the venison a strange heaviness had come over me
and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I fell into a kind of trance in
which I continued almost the whole time of our stay in the Cage Sometimes I was
broad awake and understood what passed sometimes I only heard voices or men
snoring like the voice of a silly river and the plaids upon the wall dwindled
down and swelled out again like firelight shadows on the roof I must sometimes
have spoken or cried out for I remember I was now and then amazed at being
answered yet I was conscious of no particular nightmare only of a general
black abiding horror a horror of the place I was in and the bed I lay on
and the plaids on the wall and the voices and the fire and myself
The barbergillie who was a doctor too was called in to prescribe for me
but as he spoke in the Gaelic I understood not a word of his opinion and was
too sick even to ask for a translation I knew well enough I was ill and that
was all I cared about
I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass But Alan and Cluny were
most of the time at the cards and I am clear that Alan must have begun by
winning for I remember sitting up and seeing them hard at it and a great
glittering pile of as much as sixty or a hundred guineas on the table It looked
strange enough to see all this wealth in a nest upon a cliffside wattled about
growing trees And even then I thought it seemed deep water for Alan to be
riding who had no better battlehorse than a green purse and a matter of five
pounds
The luck it seems changed on the second day About noon I was wakened as
usual for dinner and as usual refused to eat and was given a dram with some
bitter infusion which the barber had prescribed The sun was shining in at the
open door of the Cage and this dazzled and offended me Cluny sat at the table
biting the pack of cards Alan had stooped over the bed and had his face close
to my eyes to which troubled as they were with the fever it seemed of the
most shocking bigness
He asked me for a loan of my money
»What for« said I
»O just for a loan« said he
»But why« I repeated »I dont see«
»Hut David« said Alan »ye wouldna grudge me a loan«
I would though if I had had my senses But all I thought of then was to get
his face away and I handed him my money
On the morning of the third day when we had been fortyeight hours in the
Cage I awoke with a great relief of spirits very weak and weary indeed but
seeing things of the right size and with their honest everyday appearance I
had a mind to eat moreover rose from my bed of my own movement and as soon as
we had breakfasted stepped to the entry of the Cage and sat down outside in the
top of the wood It was a grey day with a cool mild air and I sat in a dream
all morning only disturbed by the passing by of Clunys scouts and servants
coming with provisions and reports for as the coast was at that time clear
you might almost say he held court openly
When I returned he and Alan had laid the cards aside and were questioning
a gillie and the chief turned about and spoke to me in the Gaelic
»I have no Gaelic sir« said I
Now since the card question everything I said or did had the power of
annoying Cluny »Your name has more sense than yourself then« said he angrily
»for its good Gaelic But the point is this my scout reports all clear in the
south and the question is have ye the strength to go«
I saw cards on the table but no gold only a heap of little written papers
and these all on Clunys side Alan besides had an odd look like a man not
very well content and I began to have a strong misgiving
»I do not know if I am as well as I should be« said I looking at Alan
»but the little money we have has a long way to carry us«
Alan took his underlip into his mouth and looked upon the ground
»David« says he at last »Ive lost it theres the naked truth«
»My money too« said I
»Your money too« says Alan with a groan »Ye shouldna have given it me
Im daft when I get to the cartes«
»Hoottoot hoottoot« said Cluny »It was all daffing its all nonsense
Of course youll have your money back again and the double of it if yell make
so free with me It would be a singular thing for me to keep it Its not to be
supposed that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situation that
would be a singular thing« cries he and began to pull gold out of his pocket
with a mighty red face
Alan said nothing only looked on the ground
»Will you step to the door with me sir« said I
Cluny said he would be very glad and followed me readily enough but he
looked flustered and put out
»And now sir« says I »I must first acknowledge your generosity«
»Nonsensical nonsense« cries Cluny »Wheres the generosity This is just a
most unfortunate affair but what would ye have me do boxed up in this
beeskep of a cage of mine but just set my friends to the cartes when I can
get them And if they lose of course its not to be supposed « And here he
came to a pause
»Yes« said I »if they lose you give them back their money and if they
win they carry away yours in their pouches I have said before that I grant
your generosity but to me sir its a very painful thing to be placed in this
position«
There was a little silence in which Cluny seemed always as if he was about
to speak but said nothing All the time he grew redder and redder in the face
»I am a young man« said I »and I ask your advice Advise me as you would
your son My friend fairly lost this money after having fairly gained a far
greater sum of yours can I accept it back again Would that be the right part
for me to play Whatever I do you can see for yourself it must be hard upon a
man of any pride«
»Its rather hard on me too Mr Balfour« said Cluny »and ye give me very
much the look of a man that has entrapped poor people to their hurt I wouldna
have my friends come to any house of mine to accept affronts no« he cried
with a sudden heat of anger »nor yet to give them«
»And so you see sir« said I »there is something to be said upon my side
and this gambling is a very poor employ for gentlefolks But I am still waiting
your opinion«
I am sure if ever Cluny hated any man it was David Balfour He looked me all
over with a warlike eye and I saw the challenge at his lips But either my
youth disarmed him or perhaps his own sense of justice Certainly it was a
mortifying matter for all concerned and not least for Cluny the more credit
that he took it as he did
»Mr Balfour« said he »I think you are too nice and covenanting but for
all that you have the spirit of a very pretty gentleman Upon my honest word ye
may take this money its what I would tell my son and heres my hand along
with it«
Chapter XXIV
The Flight in the Heather the Quarrel
Alan and I were put across Loch Errocht under cloud of night and went down its
eastern shore to another hidingplace near the head of Loch Rannoch whither we
were led by one of the gillies from the Cage This fellow carried all our
luggage and Alans greatcoat in the bargain trotting along under the burthen
far less than the half of which used to weigh me to the ground like a stout
hillpony with a feather yet he was a man that in plain contest I could have
broken on my knee
Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered and perhaps without
that relief and the consequent sense of liberty and lightness I could not have
walked at all I was but new risen from a bed of sickness and there was nothing
in the state of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion travelling as we
did over the most dismal deserts in Scotland under a cloudy heaven and with
divided hearts among the travellers
For long we said nothing marching alongside or one behind the other each
with a set countenance I angry and proud and drawing what strength I had from
these two violent and sinful feelings Alan angry and ashamed ashamed that he
had lost my money angry that I should take it so ill
The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in my mind and the more
I approved of it the more ashamed I grew of my approval It would be a fine
handsome generous thing indeed for Alan to turn round and say to me »Go I
am in the most danger and my company only increases yours« But for me to turn
to the friend who certainly loved me and say to him »You are in great danger
I am in but little your friendship is a burden go take your risks and bear
your hardships alone « no that was impossible and even to think of it
privily to myself made my cheeks to burn
And yet Alan had behaved like a child and what is worse a treacherous
child Wheedling my money from me while I lay halfconscious was scarce better
than theft and yet here he was trudging by my side without a penny to his
name and by what I could see quite blithe to sponge upon the money he had
driven me to beg True I was ready to share it with him but it made me rage to
see him count upon my readiness
These were the two things uppermost in my mind and I could open my mouth
upon neither without black ungenerosity So I did the next worst and said
nothing nor so much as looked once at my companion save with the tail of my
eye
At last upon the other side of Loch Errocht going over a smooth rushy
place where the walking was easy he could bear it no longer and came close to
me
»David« says he »this is no way for two friends to take a small accident
I have to say that Im sorry and so thats said And now if you have anything
yed better say it«
»O« says I »I have nothing«
He seemed disconcerted at which I was meanly pleased
»No« said he with rather a trembling voice »but when I say I was to
blame«
»Why of course ye were to blame« said I coolly »and you will bear me out
that I have never reproached you«
»Never« says he »but ye ken very well that yeve done worse Are we to
part Ye said so once before Are ye to say it again Theres hills and heather
enough between here and the two seas David and I will own Im no very keen to
stay where Im no wanted«
This pierced me like a sword and seemed to lay bare my private disloyalty
»Alan Breck« I cried and then »Do you think I am one to turn my back on
you in your chief need You durstnt say it to my face My whole conducts there
to give the lie to it Its true I fell asleep upon the muir but that was from
weariness and you do wrong to cast it up to me «
»Which is what I never did« said Alan
»But aside from that« I continued »what have I done that you should even
me to dogs by such a supposition I never yet failed a friend and its not
likely Ill begin with you There are things between us that I can never forget
even if you can«
»I will only say this to ye David« said Alan very quietly »that I have
long been owing ye my life and now I owe ye money Ye should try to make that
burden light for me«
This ought to have touched me and in a manner it did but the wrong manner
I felt I was behaving badly and was now not only angry with Alan but angry
with myself in the bargain and it made me the more cruel
»You asked me to speak« said I »Well then I will You own yourself that
you have done me a disservice I have had to swallow an affront I have never
reproached you I never named the thing till you did And now you blame me«
cried I »because I canna laugh and sing as if I was glad to be affronted The
next thing will be that Im to go down upon my knees and thank you for it Ye
should think more of others Alan Breck If ye thought more of others ye would
perhaps speak less about yourself and when a friend that likes you very well
has passed over an offence without a word you would be blithe to let it lie
instead of making it a stick to break his back with By your own way of it it
was you that was to blame then it shouldna be you to seek the quarrel«
»Aweel« said Alan »say nae mair«
And we fell back into our former silence and came to our journeys end and
supped and lay down to sleep without another word
The gillie put us across Loch Rannoch in the dusk of the next day and gave
us his opinion as to our best route This was to get us up at once into the tops
of the mountains to go round by a circuit turning the heads of Glen Lyon Glen
Lochay and Glen Dochart and come down upon the lowlands by Kippen and the
upper waters of the Forth Alan was little pleased with a route which led us
through the country of his bloodfoes the Glenorchy Campbells He objected
that by turning to the east we should come almost at once among the Athole
Stewarts a race of his own name and lineage although following a different
chief and come besides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we
were bound But the gillie who was indeed the chief man of Clunys scouts had
good reasons to give him on all hands naming the force of troops in every
district and alleging finally as well as I could understand that we should
nowhere be so little troubled as in a country of the Campbells
Alan gave way at last but with only half a heart »Its one of the dowiest
countries in Scotland« said he »Theres naething there that I ken but heath
and crows and Campbells But I see that yere a man of some penetration and be
it as ye please«
We set forth accordingly by this itinerary and for the best part of three
nights travelled on eerie mountains and among the wellheads of wild rivers
often buried in mist almost continually blown and rained upon and not once
cheered by any glimpse of sunshine By day we lay and slept in the drenching
heather by night incessantly clambered upon breakneck hills and among rude
crags We often wandered we were often so involved in fog that we must lie
quiet till it lightened A fire was never to be thought of Our only food was
drammach and a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the Cage and as
for drink Heaven knows we had no want of water
This was a dreadful time rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the
weather and the country I was never warm my teeth chattered in my head I was
troubled with a very sore throat such as I had on the isle I had a painful
stitch in my side which never left me and when I slept in my wet bed with the
rain beating above and the mud oozing below me it was to live over again in
fancy the worst part of my adventures to see the tower of Shaws lit by
lightning Ransome carried below on the mens backs Shuan dying on the
roundhouse floor or Colin Campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat From
such broken slumbers I would be aroused in the gloaming to sit up in the same
puddle where I had slept and sup cold drammach the rain driving sharp in my
face or running down my back in icy trickles the mist enfolding us like as in a
gloomy chamber or perhaps if the wind blew falling suddenly apart and
showing us the gulf of some dark valley where the streams were crying aloud
The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all round In this
steady rain the springs of the mountain were broken up every glen gushed water
like a cistern every stream was in high spate and had filled and overflowed
its channel During our night tramps it was solemn to hear the voice of them
below in the valleys now booming like thunder now with an angry cry I could
well understand the story of the Water Kelpie that demon of the streams who is
fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of the doomed
traveller Alan I saw believed it or half believed it and when the cry of
the river rose more than usually sharp I was little surprised though of
course I would still be shocked to see him cross himself in the manner of the
Catholics
During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity scarcely even that
of speech The truth is that I was sickening for my grave which is my best
excuse But besides that I was of an unforgiving disposition from my birth
slow to take offence slower to forget it and now incensed both against my
companion and myself For the best part of two days he was unweariedly kind
silent indeed but always ready to help and always hoping as I could very
well see that my displeasure would blow by For the same length of time I
stayed in myself nursing my anger roughly refusing his services and passing
him over with my eyes as if he had been a bush or a stone
The second night or rather the peep of the third day found us upon a very
open hill so that we could not follow our usual plan and lie down immediately
to eat and sleep Before we had reached a place of shelter the grey had come
pretty clear for though it still rained the clouds ran higher and Alan
looking in my face showed some marks of concern
»Ye had better let me take your pack« said he for perhaps the ninth time
since we had parted from the scout beside Loch Rannoch
»I do very well I thank you« said I as cold as ice
Alan flushed darkly »Ill not offer it again« he said »Im not a patient
man David«
»I never said you were« said I which was exactly the rude silly speech of
a boy of ten
Alan made no answer at the time but his conduct answered for him
Henceforth it is to be thought he quite forgave himself for the affair at
Clunys cocked his hat again walked jauntily whistled airs and looked at me
upon one side with a provoking smile
The third night we were to pass through the western end of the country of
Balquhidder It came clear and cold with a touch in the air like frost and a
northerly wind that blew the clouds away and made the stars bright The streams
were full of course and still made a great noise among the hills but I
observed that Alan thought no more upon the Kelpie and was in high good
spirits As for me the change of weather came too late I had lain in the mire
so long that as the Bible has it my very clothes abhorred me I was dead
weary deadly sick and full of pains and shiverings the chill of the wind went
through me and the sound of it confused my ears In this poor state I had to
bear from my companion something in the nature of a persecution He spoke a good
deal and never without a taunt Whig was the best name he had to give me
»Here« he would say »heres a dub for ye to jump my Whiggie I ken youre a
fine jumper« And so on all the time with a gibing voice and face
I knew it was my own doing and no one elses but I was too miserable to
repent I felt I could drag myself but little farther pretty soon I must lie
down and die on these wet mountains like a sheep or a fox and my bones must
whiten there like the bones of a beast My head was light perhaps but I began
to love the prospect I began to glory in the thought of such a death alone in
the desert with the wild eagles besieging my last moments Alan would repent
then I thought he would remember when I was dead how much he owed me and
the remembrance would be torture So I went like a sick silly and badhearted
schoolboy feeding my anger against a fellowman when I would have been better
on my knees crying on God for mercy And at each of Alans taunts I hugged
myself »Ah« thinks I to myself »I have a better taunt in readiness when I
lie down and die you will feel it like a buffet in your face ah what a
revenge ah how you will regret your ingratitude and cruelty«
All the while I was growing worse and worse Once I had fallen my legs
simply doubling under me and this had struck Alan for the moment but I was
afoot so briskly and set off again with such a natural manner that he soon
forgot the incident Flushes of heat went over me and then spasms of
shuddering The stitch in my side was hardly bearable At last I began to feel
that I could trail myself no farther and with that there came on me all at
once the wish to have it out with Alan let my anger blaze and be done with my
life in a more sudden manner He had just called me Whig I stopped
»Mr Stewart« said I in a voice that quivered like a fiddlestring »you
are older than I am and should know your manners Do you think it either very
wise or very witty to cast my politics in my teeth I thought where folk
differed it was the part of gentlemen to differ civilly and if I did not I
may tell you I could find a better taunt than some of yours«
Alan had stopped opposite to me his hat cocked his hands in his breeches
pockets his head a little on one side He listened smiling evilly as I could
see by the starlight and when I had done he began to whistle a Jacobite air It
was the air made in mockery of General Copes defeat at Prestonpans
»Hey Johnnie Cope are ye waukin yet
And are your drums abeatin yet«
And it came in my mind that Alan on the day of that battle had been engaged
upon the royal side
»Why do ye take that air Mr Stewart« said I »Is that to remind me you
have been beaten on both sides«
The air stopped on Alans lips »David« said he
»But its time these manners ceased« I continued »and I mean you shall
henceforth speak civilly of my King and my good friends the Campbells«
»I am a Stewart « began Alan
»O« says I »I ken ye bear a kings name But you are to remember since I
have been in the Highlands I have seen a good many of those that bear it and
the best I can say of them is this that they would be none the worse of
washing«
»Do you know that you insult me« said Alan very low
»I am sorry for that« said I »for I am not done and if you distaste the
sermon I doubt the pirliecue29 will please you as little You have been chased
in the field by the grown men of my party it seems a poor kind of pleasure to
outface a boy Both the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten you you have run
before them like a hare It behoves you to speak of them as of your betters«
Alan stood quite still the tails of his greatcoat clapping behind him in
the wind
»This is a pity« he said at last »There are things said that cannot be
passed over«
»I never asked you to« said I »I am as ready as yourself«
»Ready« said he
»Ready« I repeated »I am no blower and boaster like some that I could
name Come on« And drawing my sword I fell on guard as Alan himself had taught
me
»David« he cried »Are ye daft I canna draw upon ye David Its fair
murder«
»That was your lookout when you insulted me« said I
»Its the truth« cried Alan and he stood for a moment wringing his mouth
in his hand like a man in sore perplexity »Its the bare truth« he said and
drew his sword But before I could touch his blade with mine he had thrown it
from him and fallen to the ground »Na na« he kept saying »na na I canna
I canna«
At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me and I found myself only
sick and sorry and blank and wondering at myself I would have given the
world to take back what I had said but a word once spoken who can recapture
it I minded me of all Alans kindness and courage in the past how he had
helped and cheered and borne with me in our evil days and then recalled my own
insults and saw that I had lost for ever that doughty friend At the same time
the sickness that hung upon me seemed to redouble and the pang in my side was
like a sword for sharpness I thought I must have swooned where I stood
This it was that gave me a thought No apology could blot out what I had
said it was needless to think of one none could cover the offence but where
an apology was vain a mere cry for help might bring Alan back to my side I put
my pride away from me »Alan« I said »if you canna help me I must just die
here«
He started up sitting and looked at me
»Its true« said I »Im by with it O let me get into the bield of a house
I can die there easier« I had no need to pretend whether I chose or not I
spoke in a weeping voice that would have melted a heart of stone
»Can ye walk« asked Alan
»No« said I »not without help This last hour my legs have been fainting
under me Ive a stitch in my side like a redhot iron I canna breathe right
If I die yell can forgive me Alan In my heart I liked ye fine even when I
was the angriest«
»Wheesht wheesht« cried Alan »Dinna say that David man ye ken « He
shut his mouth upon a sob »Let me get my arm about ye« he continued »thats
the way Now lean upon me hard Gude kens where theres a house Were in
Balwhidder too there should be no want of houses no nor friends houses
here Do ye gang easier so Davie«
»Ay« said I »I can be doing this way« and I pressed his arm with my hand
Again he came near sobbing »Davie« said he »Im no a right man at all I
have neither sense nor kindness I couldna remember ye were just a bairn I
couldna see ye were dying on your feet Davie yell have to try and forgive
me«
»O man lets say no more about it« said I »Were neither one of us to
mend the other thats the truth We must just bear and forbear man Alan O
but my stitch is sore Is there nae house«
»Ill find a house to ye David« he said stoutly »Well follow down the
burn where theres bound to be houses My poor man will ye no be better on my
back«
»O Alan« says I »and me a good twelve inches taller«
»Yere no such a thing« cried Alan with a start »There may be a trifling
matter of an inch or two Im no saying Im just exactly what ye would call a
tall man whatever and I daresay« he added his voice tailing off in a
laughable manner »now when I come to think of it I daresay yell be just about
right Ay itll be a foot or nearhand or maybe even mair«
It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the fear of some
fresh quarrel I could have laughed had not my stitch caught me so hard but if
I had laughed I think I must have wept too
»Alan« cried I »what makes ye so good to me What makes ye care for such a
thankless fellow«
»Deed and I dont know« said Alan »For just precisely what I thought I
liked about ye was that ye never quarrelled and now I like ye better«
Chapter XXV
In Balquhidder
At the door of the first house we came to Alan knocked which was no very safe
enterprise in such a part of the Highlands as the Braes of Balquhidder No great
clan held rule there it was filled and disputed by small septs and broken
remnants and what they call chiefless folk driven into the wild country about
the springs of Forth and Teith by the advance of the Campbells Here were
Stewarts and Maclarens which came to the same thing for the Maclarens followed
Alans chief in war and made but one clan with Appin Here too were many of
that old proscribed nameless redhanded clan of the Macgregors They had
always been illconsidered and now worse than ever having credit with no side
or party in the whole country of Scotland Their chief Macgregor of Macgregor
was in exile the more immediate leader of that part of them about Balquhidder
James More Rob Roys eldest son lay waiting his trial in Edinburgh Castle
they were in illblood with Highlander and Lowlander with the Grahames the
Maclarens and the Stewarts and Alan who took up the quarrel of any friend
however distant was extremely wishful to avoid them
Chance served us very well for it was a household of Maclarens that we
found where Alan was not only welcome for his names sake but known by
reputation Here then I was got to bed without delay and a doctor fetched who
found me in a sorry plight But whether because he was a very good doctor or I
a very young strong man I lay bedridden for no more than a week and before a
month I was able to take the road again with a good heart
All this time Alan would not leave me though I often pressed him and
indeed his foolhardiness in staying was a common subject of outcry with the two
or three friends that were let into the secret He hid by day in a hole of the
braes under a little wood and at night when the coast was clear would come
into the house to visit me I need not say if I was pleased to see him Mrs
Maclaren our hostess thought nothing good enough for such a guest and as
Duncan Dhu which was the name of our host had a pair of pipes in his house
and was much of a lover of music the time of my recovery was quite a festival
and we commonly turned night into day
The soldiers let us be although once a party of two companies and some
dragoons went by in the bottom of the valley where I could see them through the
window as I lay in bed What was much more astonishing no magistrate came near
me and there was no question put of whence I came or whither I was going and
in that time of excitement I was as free of all inquiry as though I had lain in
a desert Yet my presence was known before I left to all the people in
Balquhidder and the adjacent parts many coming about the house on visits and
these after the custom of the country spreading the news among their
neighbours The bills too had now been printed There was one pinned near the
foot of my bed where I could read my own not very flattering portrait and in
larger characters the amount of the bloodmoney that had been set upon my life
Duncan Dhu and the rest that knew that I had come there in Alans company could
have entertained no doubt of who I was and many others must have had their
guess For though I had changed my clothes I could not change my age or person
and Lowland boys of eighteen were not so rife in these parts of the world and
above all about that time that they could fail to put one thing with another
and connect me with the bill So it was at least Other folk keep a secret
among two or three near friends and somehow it leaks out but among these
clansmen it is told to a whole countryside and they will keep it for a
century
There was but one thing happened worth narrating and that is the visit I
had of Robin Oig one of the sons of the notorious Rob Roy He was sought upon
all sides on the charge of carrying a young woman from Balfron and marrying her
as was alleged by force yet he stepped about Balquhidder like a gentleman in
his own walled policy It was he who had shot James Maclaren at the
ploughstilts a quarrel never satisfied yet he walked into the house of his
blood enemies as a rider30 might into a public inn
Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was and we looked at one another
in concern You should understand it was then close upon the time of Alans
coming the two were little likely to agree and yet if we sent word or sought
to make a signal it was sure to arouse suspicion in a man under so dark a cloud
as the Macgregor
He came in with a great show of civility but like a man among inferiors
took off his bonnet to Mrs Maclaren but clapped it on his head again to speak
to Duncan and having thus set himself as he would have thought in a proper
light came to my bedside and bowed
»I am given to know sir« says he »that your name is Balfour«
»They call me David Balfour« said I »at your service«
»I would give ye my name in return sir« he replied »but its one somewhat
blown upon of late days and itll perhaps suffice if I tell ye that I am own
brother to James More Drummond or Macgregor of whom ye will scarce have failed
to hear«
»No sir« said I a little alarmed »nor yet of your father
MacgregorCampbell« And I sat up and bowed in bed for I thought best to
compliment him in case he was proud of having had an outlaw to his father
He bowed in return »But what I am come to say sir« he went on »is this
In the year Fortyfive my brother raised a part of the Gregara and marched six
companies to strike a stroke for the good side and the surgeon that marched
with our clan and cured my brothers leg when it was broken in the brush at
Prestonpans was a gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself He was
brother to Balfour of Baith and if you are in any reasonable degree of nearness
one of that gentlemans kin I have come to put myself and my people at your
command«
You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent than any cadgers dog
my uncle to be sure had prated of some of our high connections but nothing to
the present purpose and there was nothing left me but that bitter disgrace of
owning that I could not tell
Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself about turned his back
upon me without a sign of salutation and as he went towards the door I could
hear him telling Duncan that I was »only some kinless loon that didnt know his
own father« Angry as I was at these words and ashamed of my own ignorance I
could scarce keep from smiling that a man who was under the lash of the law and
was indeed hanged some three years later should be so nice as to the descent of
his acquaintances
Just in the door he met Alan coming in and the two drew back and looked at
each other like strange dogs They were neither of them big men but they seemed
fairly to swell out with pride Each wore a sword and by a movement of his
haunch thrust clear the hilt of it so that it might be the more readily
grasped and the blade drawn
»Mr Stewart I am thinking« says Robin
»Troth Mr Macgregor its not a name to be ashamed of« answered Alan
»I did not know ye were in my country sir« says Robin
»It sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my friends the Maclarens«
says Alan
»Thats a kittle point« returned the other »There may be two words to say
to that But I think I will have heard that you are a man of your sword«
»Unless ye were born deaf Mr Macgregor ye will have heard a good deal
more than that« says Alan »I am not the only man that can draw steel in Appin
and when my kinsman and captain Ardshiel had a talk with a gentleman of your
name not so many years back I could never hear that the Macgregor had the best
of it«
»Do ye mean my father sir« says Robin
»Well I wouldna wonder« said Alan »The gentleman I have in my mind had
the illtaste to clap Campbell to his name«
»My father was an old man« returned Robin »The match was unequal You and
me would make a better pair sir«
»I was thinking that« said Alan
I was half out of bed and Duncan had been hanging at the elbow of these
fightingcocks ready to intervene upon the least occasion But when that word
was uttered it was a case of now or never and Duncan with something of a
white face to be sure thrust himself between
»Gentlemen« said he »I will have been thinking of a very different matter
whateffer Here are my pipes and here are you two gentlemen who are baith
acclaimed pipers Its an auld dispute which one of yes the best Here will be
a braw chance to settle it«
»Why sir« said Alan still addressing Robin from whom indeed he had not
so much as shifted his eyes nor yet Robin from him »why sir« says Alan »I
think I will have heard some sough31 of the sort Have ye music as folk say
Are ye a bit of a piper«
»I can pipe like a Macrimmon« cries Robin
»And that is a very bold word« quoth Alan
»I have made bolder words good before now« returned Robin »and that
against better adversaries«
»It is easy to try that« says Alan
Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was his principal
possession and to set before his guests a muttonham and a bottle of that drink
which they call Athole brose and which is made of old whisky strained honey
and sweet cream slowly beaten together in the right order and proportion The
two enemies were still on the very breach of a quarrel but down they sat one
upon each side of the peat fire with a mighty show of politeness Maclaren
pressed them to taste his muttonham and the wifes brose reminding them the
wife was out of Athole and had a name far and wide for her skill in that
confection But Robin put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath
»I would have ye to remark sir« said Alan »that I havena broken bread for
near upon ten hours which will be worse for the breath than any brose in
Scotland«
»I will take no advantages Mr Stewart« replied Robin »Eat and drink
Ill follow you«
Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of the brose to Mrs
Maclaren and then after a great number of civilities Robin took the pipes and
played a little spring in a very ranting manner
»Ay ye can blow« said Alan and taking the instrument from his rival he
first played the same spring in a manner identical with Robins and then
wandered into variations which as he went on he decorated with a perfect
flight of gracenotes such as pipers love and call the warblers
I had been pleased with Robins playing Alans ravished me
»Thats no very bad Mr Stewart« said the rival »but ye show a poor
device in your warblers«
»Me« cried Alan the blood starting to his face »I give ye the lie«
»Do ye own yourself beaten at the pipes then« said Robin »that ye seek to
change them for the sword«
»And thats very well said Mr Macgregor« returned Alan »and in the
meantime« laying a strong accent on the word »I take back the lie I appeal to
Duncan«
»Indeed ye need apply to naebody« said Robin »Yere a far better judge
than any Maclaren in Balquhidder for its a Gods truth that youre a very
creditable piper for a Stewart Hand me the pipes«
Alan did as he asked and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part
of Alans variations which it seemed that he remembered perfectly
»Ay ye have music« said Alan gloomily
»And now be the judge yourself Mr Stewart« said Robin and taking up the
variations from the beginning he worked them throughout to so new a purpose
with such ingenuity and sentiment and with so odd a fancy and so quick a knack
in the gracenotes that I was amazed to hear him
As for Alan his face grew dark and hot and he sat and gnawed his fingers
like a man under some deep affront »Enough« he cried »Ye can blow the pipes
make the most of that« And he made as if to rise
But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence and struck into
the slow measure of a pibroch It was a fine piece of music in itself, and nobly
played but it seems besides it was a piece peculiar to the Appin Stewarts and
a chief favourite with Alan The first notes were scarce out before there came
a change in his face when the time quickened he seemed to grow restless in his
seat and long before that piece was at an end the last signs of his anger died
from him and he had no thought but for the music
»Robin Oig« he said when it was done »ye are a great piper I am not fit
to blow in the same kingdom with ye Body of me ye have mair music in your
sporran than I have in my head And though it still sticks in my mind that I
could maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel I warn ye beforehand
itll no be fair It would go against my heart to haggle a man that can blow
the pipes as you can«
Thereupon that quarrel was made up all night long the brose was going and
the pipes changing hands and the day had come pretty bright and the three men
were none the better for what they had been taking before Robin as much as
thought upon the road
Chapter XXVI
End of the Flight We Pass the Forth
The month as I have said was not yet out but it was already far through
August and beautiful warm weather with every sign of an early and great
harvest when I was pronounced able for my journey Our money was now run to so
low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed for if we came not soon to
Mr Rankeillors or if when we came there he should fail to help me we must
surely starve In Alans view besides the hunt must have now greatly
slackened and the line of the Forth and even Stirling Bridge which is the main
pass over that river would be watched with little interest
»Its a chief principle in military affairs« said he »to go where ye are
least expected Forth is our trouble ye ken the saying Forth bridles the wild
Hielandman Well if we seek to creep round about the head of that river and
come down by Kippen or Balfron its just precisely there that theyll be
looking to lay hands on us But if we stave on straight to the auld Brig of
Stirling Ill lay my sword they let us pass unchallenged«
The first night accordingly we pushed to the house of a Maclaren in
Strathire a friend of Duncans where we slept the twentyfirst of the month
and whence we set forth again about the fall of night to make another easy
stage The twentysecond we lay in a heather bush on the hillside in Uam Var
within view of a herd of deer the happiest ten hours of sleep in a fine
breathing sunshine and on bonedry ground that I have ever tasted That night
we struck Allan Water and followed it down and coming to the edge of the hills
saw the whole Carse of Stirling underfoot as flat as a pancake with the town
and castle on a hill in the midst of it and the moon shining on the Links of
Forth
»Now« said Alan »I kenna if ye care but yere in your own land again We
passed the Hieland Line in the first hour and now if we could but pass yon
crooked water we might cast our bonnets in the air«
In Allan Water near by where it falls into the Forth we found a little
sandy islet overgrown with burdock butterbur and the like low plants that
would just cover us if we lay flat Here it was we made our camp within plain
view of Stirling Castle whence we could hear the drums beat as some part of the
garrison paraded Shearers worked all day in a field on one side of the river
and we could hear the stones going on the hooks and the voices and even the
words of the men talking It behoved to lie close and keep silent But the sand
of the little isle was sunwarm the green plants gave us shelter for our heads
we had food and drink in plenty and to crown all we were within sight of
safety
As soon as the shearers quit their work and the dusk began to fall we waded
ashore and struck for the Bridge of Stirling keeping to the fields and under
the field fences
The bridge is close under the castle hill an old high narrow bridge with
pinnacles along the parapet and you may conceive with how much interest I
looked upon it not only as a place famous in history but as the very doors of
salvation to Alan and myself The moon was not yet up when we came there a few
lights shone along the front of the fortress and lower down a few lighted
windows in the town but it was all mighty still and there seemed to be no
guard upon the passage
I was for pushing straight across but Alan was more wary
»It looks unco quiet« said he »but for all that well lie down here
cannily behind a dyke and make sure«
So we lay for about a quarter of an hour whiles whispering whiles lying
still and hearing nothing earthly but the washing of the water on the piers At
last there came by an old hobbling woman with a crutch stick who first stopped
a little close to where we lay and bemoaned herself and the long way she had
travelled and then set forth again up the steep spring of the bridge The woman
was so little and the night still so dark that we soon lost sight of her only
heard the sound of her steps and her stick and a cough that she had by fits
draw slowly farther away
»Shes bound to be across now« I whispered
»Na« said Alan »her foot still sounds boss32 upon the bridge«
And just then »Who goes« cried a voice and we heard the butt of a musket
rattle on the stones I must suppose the sentry had been sleeping so that had
we tried we might have passed unseen but he was awake now and the chance
forfeited
»Thisll never do« said Alan »Thisll never never do for us David«
And without another word he began to crawl away through the fields and a
little after being well out of eyeshot got to his feet again and struck
along a road that led to the eastward I could not conceive what he was doing
and indeed I was so sharply cut by the disappointment that I was little likely
to be pleased with anything A moment back and I had seen myself knocking at Mr
Rankeillors door to claim my inheritance like a hero in a ballad and here was
I back again a wandering hunted blackguard on the wrong side of Forth
»Well« said I
»Well« said Alan »what would ye have Theyre none such fools as I took
them for We have still the Forth to pass Davie weary fall the rains that fed
and the hillsides that guided it«
»And why go east« said I
»Ou just upon the chance« said he »If we canna pass the river well have
to see what we can do for the firth«
»There are fords upon the river and none upon the firth« said I
»To be sure there are fords and a bridge forbye« quoth Alan »and of what
service when they are watched«
»Well« said I »but a river can be swum«
»By them that have the skill of it« returned he »but I have yet to hear
that either you or me is much of a hand at that exercise and for my own part I
swim like a stone«
»Im not up to you in talking back Alan« I said »but I can see were
making bad worse If its hard to pass a river it stands to reason it must be
worse to pass a sea«
»But theres such a thing as a boat« says Alan »or Im the more deceived«
»Ay and such a thing as money« says I »But for us that have neither one
nor other they might just as well not have been invented«
»Ye think so« said Alan
»I do that« said I
»David« says he »yere a man of small invention and less faith But let me
set my wits upon the hone and if I canna beg borrow nor yet steal a boat
Ill make one«
»I think I see ye« said I »And whats more than all that if ye pass a
bridge it can tell no tales but if we pass the firth theres the boat on the
wrong side somebody must have brought it the countryside will all be in a
bizz «
»Man« cried Alan »if I make a boat Ill make a body to take it back
again So deave me with no more of your nonsense but walk for thats what
youve got to do and let Alan think for ye«
All night then we walked through the north side of the Carse under the
high line of the Ochil mountains and by Alloa and Clackmannan and Culross all
of which we avoided and about ten in the morning mighty hungry and tired came
to the little clachan of Limekilns This is a place that sits near in by the
waterside and looks across the Hope to the town of the Queens Ferry Smoke went
up from both of these and from other villages and farms upon all hands The
fields were being reaped two ships lay anchored and boats were coming and
going on the Hope It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me and I could
not take my fill of gazing at these comfortable green cultivated hills and the
busy people both of the field and sea
For all that there was Mr Rankeillors house on the south shore where I
had no doubt wealth awaited me and here was I upon the north clad in poor
enough attire of an outlandish fashion with three silver shillings left to me
of all my fortune a price set upon my head and an outlawed man for my sole
company
»O Alan« said I »to think of it Over there theres all that heart could
want waiting me and the birds go over and the boats go over all that please
can go but just me only O man but its a heartbreak«
In Limekilns we entered a small changehouse which we only knew to be a
public by the wand over the door and bought some bread and cheese from a
goodlooking lass that was the servant This we carried with us in a bundle
meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the seashore that we saw some
third part of a mile in front As we went I kept looking across the water and
sighing to myself and though I took no heed of it Alan had fallen into a
muse At last he stopped in the way
»Did ye take heed of the lass we bought this of« says he tapping on the
bread and cheese
»To be sure« said I »and a bonny lass she was«
»Ye thought that« cries he »Man David thats good news«
»In the name of all thats wonderful why so« says I »What good can that
do«
»Well« said Alan with one of his droll looks »I was rather in hopes it
would maybe get us that boat«
»If it were the other way about it would be liker it« said I
»Thats all that you ken ye see« said Alan »I dont want the lass to fall
in love with ye I want her to be sorry for ye David to which end there is no
manner of need that she should take you for a beauty Let me see« looking me
curiously over »I wish ye were a wee thing paler but apart from that yell do
fine for my purpose ye have a fine hangdog ragandtatter clappermaclaw
kind of a look to ye as if ye had stolen the coat from a potatobogle Come
right about and back to the changehouse for that boat of ours«
I followed him laughing
»David Balfour« said he »yere a very funny gentleman by your way of it
and this is a very funny employ for ye no doubt For all that if ye have any
affection for my neck to say nothing of your own ye will perhaps be kind
enough to take this matter responsibly I am going to do a bit of playacting
the bottom ground of which is just exactly as serious as the gallows for the
pair of us So bear it if ye please in mind and conduct yourself according«
»Well well« said I »have it as you will«
As we got near the clachan he made me take his arm and hang upon it like
one almost helpless with weariness and by the time he pushed open the
changehouse door he seemed to be half carrying me The maid appeared surprised
as well she might be at our speedy return but Alan had no words to spare for
her in explanation helped me to a chair called for a tass of brandy with
which he fed me in little sips and then breaking up the bread and cheese
helped me to eat it like a nurserylass the whole with that grave concerned
affectionate countenance that might have imposed upon a judge It was small
wonder if the maid were taken with the picture we presented of a poor sick
overwrought lad and his most tender comrade She drew quite near and stood
leaning with her back on the next table
»Whats like wrong with him« said she at last
Alan turned upon her to my great wonder with a kind of fury »Wrong«
cries he »Hes walked more hundreds of miles than he has hairs upon his chin
and slept oftener in wet heather than dry sheets Wrong quo she Wrong enough
I would think Wrong indeed« and he kept grumbling to himself as he fed me
like a man illpleased
»Hes young for the like of that« said the maid
»Ower young« said Alan with his back to her
»He would be better riding« says she
»And where could I get a horse to him« cried Alan turning on her with the
same appearance of fury »Would ye have me steal«
I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon as indeed it
closed her mouth for the time But my companion knew very well what he was
doing and for as simple as he was in some things of life had a great fund of
roguishness in such affairs as these
»Ye needna tell me« she said at last »yere gentry«
»Well« said Alan softened a little I believe against his will by this
artless comment »and suppose we were Did ever you hear that gentrice put money
in folks pockets«
She sighed at this as if she were herself some disinherited great lady
»No« says she »thats true indeed«
I was all this while chafing at the part I played and sitting tonguetied
between shame and merriment but somehow at this I could hold in no longer and
bade Alan let me be for I was better already My voice stuck in my throat for
I ever hated to take part in lies but my very embarrassment helped on the plot
for the lass no doubt set down my husky voice to sickness and fatigue
»Has he nae friends« said she in a tearful voice
»That has he so« cried Alan »if we could but win to them friends and
rich friends beds to lie in food to eat doctors to see to him and here he
must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like a beggarman«
»And why that« says the lass
»My dear« said Alan »I canna very safely say but Ill tell ye what Ill
do instead« says he »Ill whistle ye a bit tune« And with that he leaned
pretty far over the table and in a mere breath of a whistle but with a
wonderful pretty sentiment gave her a few bars of Charlie is my darling
»Wheesht« says she and looked over her shoulder to the door
»Thats it« said Alan
»And him so young« cries the lass
»Hes old enough to « and Alan struck his forefinger on the back part of
his neck meaning that I was old enough to lose my head
»It would be a black shame« she cried flushing high
»Its what will be though« said Alan »unless we manage the better«
At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the house leaving us
alone together Alan in high good humour at the furthering of his schemes and
I in bitter dudgeon at being called a Jacobite and treated like a child
»Alan« I cried »I can stand no more of this«
»Yell have to sit it then Davie« said he »For if ye upset the pot now
ye may scrape your own life out of the fire but Alan Breck is a dead man«
This was so true that I could only groan and even my groan served Alans
purpose for it was overheard by the lass as she came flying in again with a
dish of white puddings and a bottle of strong ale
»Poor lamb« says she and had no sooner set the meat before us than she
touched me on the shoulder with a little friendly touch as much as to bid me
cheer up Then she told us to fallto and there would be no more to pay for
the inn was her own or at least her fathers and he was gone for the day to
Pittencrieff We waited for no second bidding for bread and cheese is but cold
comfort and the puddings smelt excellently well and while we sat and ate she
took up that same place by the next table looking on and thinking and
frowning to herself and drawing the string of her apron through her hand
»Im thinking ye have rather a long tongue« she said at last to Alan
»Ay« said Alan »but ye see I ken the folk I speak to«
»I would never betray ye« said she »if ye mean that«
»No« said he »yere not that kind But Ill tell ye what ye would do ye
would help«
»I couldna« said she shaking her head »Na I couldna«
»No« said he »but if ye could«
She answered him nothing
»Look here my lass« said Alan »there are boats in the kingdom of Fife
for I saw two no less upon the beach as I came in by your towns end Now if
we could have the use of a boat to pass under cloud of night into Lothian and
some secret decent kind of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his
counsel there would be two souls saved mine to all likelihood his to a dead
surety If we lack that boat we have but three shillings left in this wide
world and where to go and how to do and what other place there is for us
except the chains of a gibbet I give you my naked word I kenna Shall we go
wanting lassie Are ye to lie in your warm bed and think upon us when the wind
gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof Are ye to eat your meat by
the cheeks of a red fire and think upon this poor sick lad of mine biting his
fingerends on a blae muir for cauld and hunger Sick or sound he must aye be
moving with the deathgrapple at his throat he must aye be trailing in the rain
on the lang roads and when he gants his last on a rickle of cauld stanes there
will be nae friends near him but only me and God«
At this appeal I could see the lass was in great trouble of mind being
tempted to help us and yet in some fear she might be helping malefactors and
so now I determined to step in myself and to allay her scruples with a portion
of the truth
»Did ever you hear« said I »of Mr Rankeillor of the Ferry«
»Rankeillor the writer« said she »I daursay that«
»Well« said I »its to his door that I am bound so you may judge by that
if I am an illdoer and I will tell you more that though I am indeed by a
dreadful error in some peril of my life King George has no truer friend in all
Scotland than myself«
Her face cleared up mightily at this although Alans darkened
»Thats more than I would ask« said she »Mr Rankeillor is a kennt man«
And she bade us finish our meat get clear of the clachan as soon as might be
and lie close in the bit wood on the sea beach »And ye can trust me« says she
»Ill find some means to put you over«
At this we waited for no more but shook hands with her upon the bargain
made short work of the puddings and set forth again from Limekilns as far as to
the wood It was a small piece of perhaps a score of elders and hawthorns and a
few young ashes not thick enough to veil us from passersby upon the road or
beach Here we must lie however making the best of the brave warm weather and
the good hopes we now had of a deliverance and planning more particularly what
remained for us to do
We had but one trouble all day when a strolling piper came and sat in the
same wood with us a rednosed bleareyed drunken dog with a great bottle of
whisky in his pocket and a long story of wrongs that had been done him by all
sorts of persons from the Lord President of the Court of Session who had
denied him justice down to the Bailies of Inverkeithing who had given him more
of it than he desired It was impossible but he should conceive some suspicion
of two men lying all day concealed in a thicket and having no business to
allege As long as he stayed there he kept us in hot water with prying
questions and after he was gone as he was a man not very likely to hold his
tongue we were in the greater impatience to be gone ourselves
The day came to an end with the same brightness the night fell quiet and
clear lights came out in houses and hamlets and then one after another began
to be put out but it was past eleven and we were long since strangely tortured
with anxieties before we heard the grinding of oars upon the rowingpins At
that we looked out and saw the lass herself coming rowing to us in a boat She
had trusted no one with our affairs not even her sweetheart if she had one
but as soon as her father was asleep had left the house by a window stolen a
neighbours boat and come to our assistance singlehanded
I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks but she was no less
abashed at the thought of hearing them begged us to lose no time and to hold
our peace saying very properly that the heart of our matter was in haste and
silence and so what with one thing and another she had set us on the Lothian
shore not far from Carriden had shaken hands with us and was out again at sea
and rowing for Limekilns before there was one word said either of her service
or our gratitude
Even after she was gone we had nothing to say as indeed nothing was enough
for such a kindness Only Alan stood a great while upon the shore shaking his
head
»It is a very fine lass« he said at last »David it is a very fine lass«
And a matter of an hour later as we were lying in a den on the seashore and I
had been already dozing he broke out again in commendations of her character
For my part I could say nothing she was so simple a creature that my heart
smote me both with remorse and fear remorse because we had traded upon her
ignorance and fear lest we should have any way involved her in the dangers of
our situation
Chapter XXVII
I Come to Mr Rankeillor
The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself till sunset but as
soon as it began to grow dark he should lie in the fields by the roadside near
to Newhalls and stir for naught until he heard me whistling At first I
proposed I should give him for a signal the Bonnie House of Airlie which was a
favourite of mine but he objected that as the piece was very commonly known
any ploughman might whistle it by accident and taught me instead a little
fragment of a Highland air which has run in my head from that day to this and
will likely run in my head when I lie dying Every time it comes to me it takes
me off to that last day of my uncertainty with Alan sitting up in the bottom of
the den whistling and beating the measure with a finger and the grey of the
dawn coming on his face
I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up It was a
fairly built burgh the houses of good stone many slated the townhall not so
fine I thought as that of Peebles nor yet the street so noble but take it
altogether it put me to shame for my foul tatters
As the morning went on and the fires began to be kindled and the windows
to open and the people to appear out of the houses my concern and despondency
grew ever the blacker I saw now that I had no grounds to stand upon and no
clear proof of my rights nor so much as of my own identity If it was all a
bubble I was indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass Even if things were
as I conceived it would in all likelihood take time to establish my
contentions and what time had I to spare with less than three shillings in my
pocket and a condemned hunted man upon my hands to ship out of the country
Truly if my hope broke with me it might come to the gallows yet for both of
us And as I continued to walk up and down and saw people looking askance at me
upon the street or out of windows and nudging or speaking to one another with
smiles I began to take a fresh apprehension that it might be no easy matter
even to come to speech of the lawyer far less to convince him of my story
For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address any of these
reputable burghers I thought shame even to speak with them in such a pickle of
rags and dirt and if I had asked for the house of such a man as Mr Rankeillor
I supposed they would have burst out laughing in my face So I went up and down
and through the street and down to the harbourside like a dog that has lost
its master with a strange gnawing in my inwards and every now and then a
movement of despair It grew to be high day at last perhaps nine in the
forenoon and I was worn with these wanderings and chanced to have stopped in
front of a very good house on the landward side a house with beautiful clear
glass windows flowering knots upon the sills the walls newharled33 and a
chasedog sitting yawning on the step like one that was at home Well I was
even envying this dumb brute when the door fell open and there issued forth a
shrewd ruddy kindly consequential man in a wellpowdered wig and spectacles
I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once but he looked at me
again and this gentleman as it proved was so much struck with my poor
appearance that he came straight up to me and asked me what I did
I told him I was come to the Queens Ferry on business and taking heart of
grace asked him to direct me to the house of Mr Rankeillor
»Why« said he »that is his house that I have just come out of and for a
rather singular chance I am that very man«
»Then sir« said I »I have to beg the favour of an interview«
»I do not know your name« said he »nor yet your face«
»My name is David Balfour« said I
»David Balfour« he repeated in rather a high tone like one surprised
»And where have you come from Mr David Balfour« he asked looking me pretty
drily in the face
»I have come from a great many strange places sir« said I »but I think it
would be as well to tell you where and how in a more private manner«
He seemed to muse a while holding his lip in his hand and looking now at
me and now upon the causeway of the street
»Yes« says he »that will be the best no doubt« And he led me back with
him into his house cried out to some one whom I could not see that he would be
engaged all morning and brought me into a little dusty chamber full of books
and documents Here he sat down and bade me be seated though I thought he
looked a little ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags »And now« says
he »if you have any business pray be brief and come swiftly to the point Nec
gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo do you understand that« says he with a
keen look
»I will even do as Horace says sir« I answered smiling »and carry you in
medias res« He nodded as if he was well pleased and indeed his scrap of Latin
had been set to test me For all that and though I was somewhat encouraged the
blood came in my face when I added »I have reason to believe myself some rights
on the estate of Shaws«
He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open »Well« said
he
But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless
»Come come Mr Balfour« said he »you must continue Where were you
born«
»In Essendean sir« said I »the year 1733 the 12th of March«
He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book but what that meant I
knew not »Your father and mother« said he
»My father was Alexander Balfour schoolmaster of that place« said I »and
my mother Grace Pitarrow I think her people were from Angus«
»Have you any papers proving your identity« asked Mr Rankeillor
»No sir« said I »but they are in the hands of Mr Campbell the minister
and could be readily produced Mr Campbell too would give me his word and
for that matter I do not think my uncle would deny me«
»Meaning Mr Ebenezer Balfour« says he
»The same« said I
»Whom you have seen« he asked
»By whom I was received into his own house« I answered
»Did you ever meet a man of the name of Hoseason« asked Mr Rankeillor
»I did so sir for my sins« said I »for it was by his means and the
procurement of my uncle that I was kidnapped within sight of this town carried
to sea suffered shipwreck and a hundred other hardships and stand before you
today in this poor accoutrement«
»You say you were shipwrecked« said Rankeillor »where was that«
»Off the south end of the Isle of Mull« said I »The name of the isle on
which I was cast up is the Island Earraid«
»Ah« says he smiling »you are deeper than me in the geography But so
far I may tell you this agrees pretty exactly with other informations that I
hold But you say you were kidnapped in what sense«
»In the plain meaning of the word sir« said I »I was on my way to your
house when I was trepanned on board the brig cruelly struck down thrown
below and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea I was destined for
the plantations a fate that in Gods providence I have escaped«
»The brig was lost on June the 27th« says he looking in his book »and we
are now at August the 24th Here is a considerable hiatus Mr Balfour of near
upon two months It has already caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends
and I own I shall not be very well contented until it is set right«
»Indeed sir« said I »these months are very easily filled up but yet
before I told my story I would be glad to know that I was talking to a friend«
»This is to argue in a circle« said the lawyer »I cannot be convinced till
I have heard you I cannot be your friend till I am properly informed If you
were more trustful it would better befit your time of life And you know Mr
Balfour we have a proverb in the country that evildoers are aye
evildreaders«
»You are not to forget sir« said I »that I have already suffered by my
trustfulness and was shipped off to be a slave by the very man that if I
rightly understand is your employer«
All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr Rankeillor and in
proportion as I gained ground gaining confidence But at this sally which I
made with something of a smile myself he fairly laughed aloud
»No no« said he »it is not so bad as that Fui non sum I was indeed
your uncles man of business but while you imberbis juvenis custode remoto
were gallivanting in the west a good deal of water has run under the bridges
and if your ears did not sing it was not for lack of being talked about On
the very day of your sea disaster Mr Campbell stalked into my office
demanding you from all the winds I had never heard of your existence but I had
known your father and from matters in my competence to be touched upon
hereafter I was disposed to fear the worst Mr Ebenezer admitted having seen
you declared what seemed improbable that he had given you considerable sums
and that you had started for the continent of Europe intending to fulfil your
education which was probable and praiseworthy Interrogated how you had come to
send no word to Mr Campbell he deponed that you had expressed a great desire
to break with your past life Further interrogated where you now were protested
ignorance but believed you were in Leyden That is a close sum of his replies
I am not exactly sure that any one believed him« continued Mr Rankeillor with
a smile »and in particular he so much disrelished some expressions of mine that
in a word he showed me to the door We were then at a full stand for
whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain we had no shadow of probation In
the very article comes Captain Hoseason with the story of your drowning
whereupon all fell through with no consequences but concern to Mr Campbell
injury to my pocket and another blot upon your uncles character which could
very ill afford it And now Mr Balfour« said he »you understand the whole
process of these matters and can judge for yourself to what extent I may be
trusted«
Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him and placed more
scraps of Latin in his speech but it was all uttered with a fine geniality of
eye and manner which went far to conquer my distrust Moreover I could see he
now treated me as if I was myself beyond a doubt so that first point of my
identity seemed fully granted
»Sir« said I »if I tell you my story I must commit a friends life to
your discretion Pass me your word it shall be sacred and for what touches
myself I will ask no better guarantee than just your face«
He passed me his word very seriously »But« said he »these are rather
alarming prolocutions and if there are in your story any little jostles to the
law I would beg you to bear in mind that I am a lawyer and pass lightly«
Thereupon I told him my story from the first he listening with his
spectacles thrust up and his eyes closed so that I sometimes feared he was
asleep But no such matter he heard every word as I found afterward with such
quickness of hearing and precision of memory as often surprised me Even strange
outlandish Gaelic names heard for that time only he remembered and would
remind me of years after Yet when I called Alan Breck in full we had an odd
scene The name of Alan had of course rung through Scotland with the news of
the Appin murder and the offer of the reward and it had no sooner escaped me
than the lawyer moved in his seat and opened his eyes
»I would name no unnecessary names Mr Balfour« said he »above all of
Highlanders many of whom are obnoxious to the law«
»Well it might have been better not« said I »but since I have let it
slip I may as well continue«
»Not at all« said Mr Rankeillor »I am somewhat dull of hearing as you
may have remarked and I am far from sure I caught the name exactly We will
call your friend if you please Mr Thomson that there may be no reflections
And in future I would take some such way with any Highlander that you may have
to mention dead or alive«
By this I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly and had already
guessed I might be coming to the murder If he chose to play this part of
ignorance it was no matter of mine so I smiled said it was no very
Highlandsounding name and consented Through all the rest of my story Alan was
Mr Thomson which amused me the more as it was a piece of policy after his own
heart James Stewart in like manner was mentioned under the style of Mr
Thomsons kinsman Colin Campbell passed as a Mr Glen and to Cluny when I
came to that part of my tale I gave the name of Mr Jameson a Highland chief
It was truly the most open farce and I wondered that the lawyer should care to
keep it up but after all it was quite in the taste of that age when there
were two parties in the State and quiet persons with no very high opinions of
their own sought out every cranny to avoid offence to either
»Well well« said the lawyer when I had quite done »this is a great epic
a great Odyssey of yours You must tell it sir in a sound Latinity when your
scholarship is riper or in English if you please though for my part I prefer
the stronger tongue You have rolled much quæ regio in terris what parish in
Scotland to make a homely translation has not been filled with your
wanderings You have shown besides a singular aptitude for getting into false
positions and yes upon the whole for behaving well in them This Mr Thomson
seems to me a gentleman of some choice qualities though perhaps a trifle
bloodyminded It would please me none the worse if with all his merits he
were soused in the North Sea for the man Mr David is a sore embarrassment
But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to him indubitably he adhered to
you It comes we may say he was your true companion nor less paribus curis
vestigia figit for I daresay you would both take an orra thought upon the
gallows Well well these days are fortunately by and I think speaking
humanly that you are near the end of your troubles«
As he thus moralised on my adventures he looked upon me with so much humour
and benignity that I could scarce contain my satisfaction I had been so long
wandering with lawless people and making my bed upon the hills and under the
bare sky that to sit once more in a clean covered house and to talk amicably
with a gentleman in broadcloth seemed mighty elevations Even as I thought so
my eye fell on my unseemly tatters and I was once more plunged in confusion
But the lawyer saw and understood me He rose called over the stair to lay
another plate for Mr Balfour would stay to dinner and led me into a bedroom
in the upper part of the house Here he set before me water and soap and a
comb and laid out some clothes that belonged to his son and here with another
apposite tag he left me to my toilet
Chapter XXVIII
I Go in Quest of My Inheritance
I made what change I could in my appearance and blithe was I to look in the
glass and find the beggarman a thing of the past and David Balfour come to life
again And yet I was ashamed of the change too and above all of the borrowed
clothes When I had done Mr Rankeillor caught me on the stair made me his
compliments and had me again into the cabinet
»Sit ye down Mr David« said he »and now that you are looking a little
more like yourself let me see if I can find you any news You will be
wondering no doubt about your father and your uncle To be sure it is a
singular tale and the explanation is one that I blush to have to offer you
For« says he really with embarrassment »the matter hinges on a loveaffair«
»Truly« said I »I cannot very well join that notion with my uncle«
»But your uncle Mr David was not always old« replied the lawyer »and
what may perhaps surprise you more not always ugly He had a fine gallant air
people stood in their doors to look after him as he went by upon a mettle
horse I have seen it with these eyes and I ingenuously confess not
altogether without envy for I was a plain lad myself and a plain mans son
and in those days it was a case of Odi te qui bellus es Sabelle«
»It sounds like a dream« said I
»Ay ay« said the lawyer »that is how it is with youth and age Nor was
that all but he had a spirit of his own that seemed to promise great things in
the future In 1715 what must he do but run away to join the rebels It was
your father that pursued him found him in a ditch and brought him back multum
gementem to the mirth of the whole country However majora canamus the two
lads fell in love and that with the same lady Mr Ebenezer who was the
admired and the beloved and the spoiled one made no doubt mighty certain of
the victory and when he found he had deceived himself screamed like a peacock
The whole country heard of it now he lay sick at home with his silly family
standing round the bed in tears now he rode from publichouse to publichouse
and shouted his sorrows into the lug of Tom Dick and Harry Your father Mr
David was a kind gentleman but he was weak dolefully weak took all this
folly with a long countenance and one day by your leave resigned the lady
She was no such fool however its from her you must inherit your excellent
good sense and she refused to be bandied from one to another Both got upon
their knees to her and the upshot of the matter for that while was that she
showed both of them the door That was in August dear me the same year I came
from college The scene must have been highly farcical«
I thought myself it was a silly business but I could not forget my father
had a hand in it »Surely sir it had some note of tragedy« said I
»Why no sir not at all« returned the lawyer »For tragedy implies some
ponderable matter in dispute some dignus vindice nodus and this piece of work
was all about the petulance of a young ass that had been spoiled and wanted
nothing so much as to be tied up and soundly belted However that was not your
fathers view and the end of it was that from concession to concession on your
fathers part and from one height to another of squalling sentimental
selfishness upon your uncles they came at last to drive a sort of bargain
from whose ill results you have recently been smarting The one man took the
lady the other the estate Now Mr David they talk a great deal of charity
and generosity but in this disputable state of life I often think the happiest
consequences seem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer and takes all
the law allows him Anyhow this piece of Quixotry on your fathers part as it
was unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family of injustices Your
father and mother lived and died poor folk you were poorly reared and in the
meanwhile what a time it has been for the tenants on the estate of Shaws And I
might add if it was a matter I cared much about what a time for Mr
Ebenezer«
»And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all« said I »that a mans
nature should thus change«
»True« said Mr Rankeillor »And yet I imagine it was natural enough He
could not think that he had played a handsome part Those who knew the story
gave him the cold shoulder those who knew it not seeing one brother disappear
and the other succeed in the estate raised a cry of murder so that upon all
sides he found himself evited Money was all he got by his bargain well he
came to think the more of money He was selfish when he was young he is selfish
now that he is old and the latter end of all these pretty manners and fine
feelings you have seen for yourself«
»Well sir« said I »and in all this what is my position«
»The estate is yours beyond a doubt« replied the lawyer »It matters
nothing what your father signed you are the heir of entail But your uncle is a
man to fight the indefensible and it would be likely your identity that he
would call in question A lawsuit is always expensive and a family lawsuit
always scandalous besides which if any of your doings with your friend Mr
Thomson were to come out we might find that we had burned our fingers The
kidnapping to be sure would be a court card upon our side if we could only
prove it But it may be difficult to prove and my advice upon the whole is to
make a very easy bargain with your uncle perhaps even leaving him at Shaws
where he has taken root for a quarter of a century and contenting yourself in
the meanwhile with a fair provision«
I told him I was very willing to be easy and that to carry family concerns
before the public was a step from which I was naturally much averse In the
meantime thinking to myself I began to see the outlines of that scheme on
which we afterwards acted
»The great affair« I asked »is to bring home to him the kidnapping«
»Surely« said Mr Rankeillor »and if possible out of court For mark you
here Mr David we could no doubt find some men of the Covenant who would swear
to your reclusion but once they were in the box we could no longer check their
testimony and some word of your friend Mr Thomson must certainly crop out
which from what you have let fall I cannot think to be desirable«
»Well sir« said I »here is my way of it« And I opened my plot to him
»But this would seem to involve my meeting the man Thomson« says he when I
had done
»I think so indeed sir« said I
»Dear doctor« cries he rubbing his brow »Dear doctor No Mr David I am
afraid your scheme is inadmissible I say nothing against your friend Mr
Thomson I know nothing against him and if I did mark this Mr David it
would be my duty to lay hands on him Now I put it to you is it wise to meet
He may have matters to his charge He may not have told you all His name may
not be even Thomson« cries the lawyer twinkling »for some of these fellows
will pick up names by the roadside as another would gather haws«
»You must be the judge sir« said I
But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy for he kept musing
to himself till we were called to dinner and the company of Mrs Rankeillor and
that lady had scarce left us again to ourselves and a bottle of wine ere he was
back harping on my proposal When and where was I to meet my friend Mr Thomson
was I sure of Mr Ts discretion supposing we could catch the old fox
tripping would I consent to such and such a term of an agreement these and
the like questions he kept asking at long intervals while he thoughtfully
rolled his wine upon his tongue When I had answered all of them seemingly to
his contentment he fell into a still deeper muse even the claret being now
forgotten Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil and set to work writing
and weighing every word and at last touched a bell and had his clerk into the
chamber
»Torrance« said he »I must have this written out fair against tonight
and when it is done you will be so kind as put on your hat and be ready to come
along with this gentleman and me for you will probably be wanted as a witness«
»What sir« cried I as soon as the clerk was gone »are you to venture
it«
»Why so it would appear« says he filling his glass »But let us speak no
more of business The very sight of Torrance brings in my head a little droll
matter of some years ago when I had made a tryst with the poor oaf at the cross
of Edinburgh Each had gone his proper errand and when it came four oclock
Torrance had been taking a glass and did not know his master and I who had
forgot my spectacles was so blind without them that I give you my word I did
not know my own clerk« And thereupon he laughed heartily
I said it was an odd chance and smiled out of politeness but what held me
all the afternoon in wonder he kept returning and dwelling on this story and
telling it again with fresh details and laughter so that I began at last to be
quite out of countenance and feel ashamed for my friends folly
Towards the time I had appointed with Alan we set out from the house Mr
Rankeillor and I arm in arm and Torrance following behind with the deed in his
pocket and a covered basket in his hand All through the town the lawyer was
bowing right and left and continually being buttonholed by gentlemen on
matters of burgh or private business and I could see he was one greatly looked
up to in the county At last we were clear of the houses and began to go along
the side of the haven and towards the Hawes Inn and the ferry pier the scene of
my misfortune I could not look upon the place without emotion recalling how
many that had been there with me that day were now no more Ransome taken I
could hope from the evil to come Shuan passed where I dared not follow him
and the poor souls that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge All
these and the brig herself I had outlived and come through these hardships
and fearful perils without scathe My only thought should have been of
gratitude and yet I could not behold the place without sorrow for others and a
chill of recollected fear
I was so thinking when upon a sudden Mr Rankeillor cried out clapped his
hand to his pockets and began to laugh
»Why« he cries »if this be not a farcical adventure After all that I
said I have forgot my glasses«
At that of course I understood the purpose of his anecdote and knew that
if he had left his spectacles at home it had been done on purpose so that he
might have the benefit of Alans help without the awkwardness of recognising
him And indeed it was well thought upon for now suppose things to go the very
worst how could Rankeillor swear to my friends identity or how be made to
bear damaging evidence against myself For all that he had been a long while
finding out his want and had spoken to and recognised a good few persons as we
came through the town and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably
well
As soon as we were past the »Hawes« where I recognised the landlord smoking
his pipe in the door and was amazed to see him look no older Mr Rankeillor
changed the order of march walking behind with Torrance and sending me forward
in the manner of a scout I went up the hill whistling from time to time my
Gaelic air and at length I had the pleasure to hear it answered and to see Alan
rise from behind a bush He was somewhat dashed in spirits having passed a long
day alone skulking in the county and made but a poor meal in an alehouse near
Dundas But at the mere sight of my clothes he began to brighten up and as soon
as I had told him in what a forward state our matters were and the part I
looked to him to play in what remained he sprang into a new man
»And that is a very good notion of yours« says he »and I dare to say that
you could lay your hands upon no better man to put it through than Alan Breck
It is not a thing mark ye that any one could do but takes a gentleman of
penetration But it sticks in my head your lawyerman will be somewhat
wearying to see me« says Alan
Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr Rankeillor who came up alone and was
presented to my friend Mr Thomson
»Mr Thomson I am pleased to meet you« said he »But I have forgotten my
glasses and our friend Mr David here« clapping me on the shoulder »will tell
you that I am little better than blind and that you must not be surprised if I
pass you by tomorrow«
This he said thinking that Alan would be pleased but the Highlandmans
vanity was ready to startle at a less matter than that
»Why sir« says he stiffly »I would say it mattered the less as we are met
here for a particular end to see justice done to Mr Balfour and by what I can
see not very likely to have much else in common But I accept your apology
which was a very proper one to make«
»And that is more than I could look for Mr Thomson« said Rankeillor
heartily »And now as you and I are the chief actors in this enterprise I think
we should come into a nice agreement to which end I propose that you should
lend me your arm for what with the dusk and the want of my glasses I am not
very clear as to the path and as for you Mr David you will find Torrance a
pleasant kind of body to speak with Only let me remind you its quite needless
he should hear more of your adventures or those of ahem Mr Thomson«
Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk and Torrance and I
brought up the rear
Night was quite come when we came in view of the house of Shaws Ten had
been gone some time it was dark and mild with a pleasant rustling wind in the
southwest that covered the sound of our approach as we drew near we saw no
glimmer of light in any portion of the building It seemed my uncle was already
in bed which was indeed the best thing for our arrangements We made our last
whispered consultation some fifty yards away and then the lawyer and Torrance
and I crept quietly up and crouched down beside the corner of the house and as
soon as we were in our places Alan strode to the door without concealment and
began to knock
Chapter XXIX
I Come into My Kingdom
For some time Alan volleyed upon the door and his knocking only roused the
echoes of the house and neighbourhood At last however I could hear the noise
of a window gently thrust up and knew that my uncle had come to his
observatory By what light there was he would see Alan standing like a dark
shadow on the steps the three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view so
that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house For all that he
studied his visitor a while in silence and when he spoke his voice had a quaver
of misgiving
»Whats this« says he »This is nae kind of time of night for decent folk
and I hae nae trokings34 wi nighthawks What brings ye here I have a
blunderbush«
»Is that yoursel Mr Balfour« returned Alan stepping back and looking up
into the darkness »Have a care of that blunderbuss theyre nasty things to
burst«
»What brings ye here and whae are ye« says my uncle angrily
»I have no manner of inclination to rowt out my name to the countryside«
said Alan »but what brings me here is another story being more of your affairs
than mine and if yere sure its what ye would like Ill set it to a tune and
sing it to you«
»And what ist« asked my uncle
»David« says Alan
»What was that« cried my uncle in a mighty changed voice
»Shall I give ye the rest of the name then« said Alan
There was a pause and then »Im thinking Ill better let ye in« says my
uncle doubtfully
»I daresay that« said Alan »but the point is Would I go Now I will tell
you what I am thinking I am thinking that it is here upon this doorstep that
we must confer upon this business and it shall be here or nowhere at all
whatever for I would have you to understand that I am as stiffnecked as
yoursel and a gentleman of better family«
This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer he was a little while digesting
it and then says he »Weel weel what must be must« and shut the window But
it took him a long time to get downstairs and a still longer to undo the
fastenings repenting I daresay and taken with fresh claps of fear at every
second step and every bolt and bar At last however we heard the creak of the
hinges and it seems my uncle slipped gingerly out and seeing that Alan had
stepped back a pace or two sate him down on the top doorstep with the
blunderbuss ready in his hands
»And now« says he »mind I have my blunderbush and if ye take a step
nearer yere as good as deid«
»And a very civil speech« says Alan »to be sure«
»Na« says my uncle »but this is no a very chancy kind of a proceeding
and Im bound to be prepared And now that we understand each other yell can
name your business«
»Why« says Alan »you that are a man of so much understanding will
doubtless have perceived that I am a Hieland gentleman My name has nae business
in my story but the county of my friends is no very far from the Isle of Mull
of which ye will have heard It seems there was a ship lost in those parts and
the next day a gentleman of my family was seeking wreckwood for his fire along
the sands when he came upon a lad that was half drowned Well he brought him
to and he and some other gentlemen took and clapped him in an auld ruined
castle where from that day to this he has been a great expense to my friends
My friends are a wee wildlike and not so particular about the law as some that
I could name and finding that the lad owned some decent folk and was your born
nephew Mr Balfour they asked me to give ye a bit call and to confer upon the
matter And I may tell ye at the offgo unless we can agree upon some terms ye
are little likely to set eyes upon him For my friends« added Alan simply »are
no very well off«
My uncle cleared his throat »Im no very caring« says he »He wasna a
good lad at the best of it and Ive nae call to interfere«
»Ay ay« said Alan »I see what ye would be at pretending ye dont care
to make the ransom smaller«
»Na« said my uncle »its the mere truth I take nae manner of interest in
the lad and Ill pay nae ransom and ye can make a kirk and a mill of him for
what I care«
»Hoot sir« says Alan »Bloods thicker than water in the deils name Ye
canna desert your brothers son for the fair shame of it and if ye did and it
came to be kennt ye wouldna be very popular in your countryside or Im the
more deceived«
»Im no just very popular the way it is« returned Ebenezer »and I dinna
see how it would come to be kennt No by me onyway nor yet by you or your
friends So thats idle talk my buckie« says he
»Then itll have to be David that tells it« said Alan
»How that« says my uncle sharply
»Ou just this way« says Alan »My friends would doubtless keep your nephew
as long as there was any likelihood of siller to be made of it but if there was
nane I am clearly of opinion they would let him gang where he pleased and be
damned to him«
»Ay but Im no very caring about that either« said my uncle »I wouldna be
muckle made up with that«
»I was thinking that« said Alan
»And what for why« asked Ebenezer
»Why Mr Balfour« replied Alan »by all that I could hear there were two
ways of it either ye liked David and would pay to get him back or else ye had
very good reasons for not wanting him and would pay for us to keep him It
seems its not the first well then its the second and blithe am I to ken it
for it should be a pretty penny in my pocket and the pockets of my friends«
»I dinna follow ye there« said my uncle
»No« said Alan »Well see here you dinna want the lad back well what do
ye want done with him and how much will ye pay«
My uncle made no answer but shifted uneasily on his seat
»Come sir« cried Alan »I would have ye to ken that I am a gentleman I
bear a kings name I am nae rider to kick my shanks at your halldoor Either
give me an answer in civility and that out of hand or by the top of Glencoe
I will ram three feet of iron through your vitals«
»Eh man« cried my uncle scrambling to his feet »give me a meenit Whats
like wrong with ye Im just a plain man and nae dancingmaster and Im trying
to be as ceevil as its morally possible As for that wild talk its fair
disrepitable Vitals says you And where would I be with my blunderbush« he
snarled
»Powder and your auld hands are but as the snail to the swallow against the
bright steel in the hands of Alan« said the other »Before your jottering
finger could find the trigger the hilt would dirl on your breastbane«
»Eh man whaes denying it« said my uncle »Pit it as ye please haet
your ain way Ill do naething to cross ye Just tell me what like yell be
wanting and yell see that well can agree fine«
»Troth sir« said Alan »I ask for nothing but plain dealing In two words
do ye want the lad killed or kept«
»O sirs« cried Ebenezer »O sirs me thats no kind of language«
»Killed or kept« repeated Alan
»O keepit keepit« wailed my uncle »Well have nae bloodshed if you
please«
»Well« says Alan »as ye please thatll be the dearer«
»The dearer« cries Ebenezer »Would ye fyle your hands wi crime«
»Hoot« said Alan »theyre baith crime whatever And the killings easier
and quicker and surer Keeping the ladll be a fashious35 job a fashious
kittle business«
»Ill have him keepit though« returned my uncle »I never had naething to
do with onything morally wrong and Im no gaun to begin to pleasure a wild
Hielandman«
»Yere unco scrupulous« sneered Alan
»Im a man o principle« said Ebenezer simply »and if I have to pay for
it Ill have to pay for it And besides« says he »ye forget the lads my
brothers son«
»Well well« said Alan »and now about the price Its no very easy for me
to set a name upon it I would first have to ken some small matters I would
have to ken for instance what ye gave Hoseason at the first offgo«
»Hoseason« cries my uncle struck aback »What for«
»For kidnapping David« says Alan
»Its a lee its a black lee« cried my uncle »He was never kidnapped He
leed in his throat that tauld ye that Kidnapped He never was«
»Thats no fault of mine nor yet of yours« said Alan »nor yet of
Hoseasons if hes a man that can be trusted«
»What do ye mean« cried Ebenezer »Did Hoseason tell ye«
»Why ye donnered auld runt how else would I ken« cried Alan »Hoseason
and me are partners we gang shares so ye can see for yoursel what good ye can
do leeing And I must plainly say ye drove a fools bargain when ye let a man
like the sailorman so far forward in your private matters But thats past
praying for and ye must lie on your bed the way ye made it And the point in
hand is just this what did ye pay him«
»Has he tauld ye himsel« asked my uncle
»Thats my concern« said Alan
»Weel« said my uncle »I dinna care what he said he leed and the solemn
Gods truth is this that I gave him twenty pound But Ill be perfecly honest
with ye forbye that he was to have the selling of the lad in Caroliny whilk
would be as muckle mair but no from my pocket ye see«
»Thank you Mr Thomson That will do excellently well« said the lawyer
stepping forward and then mighty civilly »Goodevening Mr Balfour« said he
And »Goodevening uncle Ebenezer« said I
And »Its a braw nicht Mr Balfour« added Torrance
Never a word said my uncle neither black nor white but just sat where he
was on the top doorstep and stared upon us like a man turned to stone Alan
filched away his blunderbuss and the lawyer taking him by the arm plucked him
up from the doorstep led him into the kitchen whither we all followed and set
him down in a chair beside the hearth where the fire was out and only a
rushlight burning
There we all looked upon him for a while exulting greatly in our success
but yet with a sort of pity for the mans shame
»Come come Mr Ebenezer« said the lawyer »you must not be downhearted
for I promise you we shall make easy terms In the meanwhile give us the cellar
key and Torrance shall draw us a bottle of your fathers wine in honour of the
event« Then turning to me and taking me by the hand »Mr David« says he »I
wish you all joy in your good fortune which I believe to be deserved« And then
to Alan with a spice of drollery »Mr Thomson I pay you my compliment it was
most artfully conducted but in one point you somewhat outran my comprehension
Do I understand your name to be James or Charles or is it George perhaps«
»And why should it be any of the three sir« quoth Alan drawing himself
up like one who smelt an offence
»Only sir that you mentioned a kings name« replied Rankeillor »and as
there has never yet been a King Thomson or his fame at least has never come my
way I judged you must refer to that you had in baptism«
This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest and I am free to
confess he took it very ill Not a word would he answer but stepped off to the
far end of the kitchen and sat down and sulked and it was not till I stepped
after him and gave him my hand and thanked him by title as the chief spring of
my success that he began to smile a bit and was at last prevailed upon to join
our party
By that time we had the fire lighted and a bottle of wine uncorked a good
supper came out of the basket to which Torrance and I and Alan set ourselves
down while the lawyer and my uncle passed into the next chamber to consult
They stayed there closeted about an hour at the end of which period they had
come to a good understanding and my uncle and I set our hands to the agreement
in a formal manner By the terms of this my uncle bound himself to satisfy
Rankeillor as to his intromissions and to pay me two clear thirds of the yearly
income of Shaws
So the beggar in the ballad had come home and when I lay down that night on
the kitchen chests I was a man of means and had a name in the country Alan and
Torrance and Rankeillor slept and snored on their hard beds but for me who had
lain out under heaven and upon dirt and stones so many days and nights and
often with an empty belly and in fear of death this good change in my case
unmanned me more than any of the former evil ones and I lay till dawn looking
at the fire on the roof and planning the future
Chapter XXX
Goodbye
So far as I was concerned myself I had come to port but I had still Alan to
whom I was so much beholden on my hands and I felt besides a heavy charge in
the matter of the murder and James of the Glens On both these heads I unbosomed
to Rankeillor the next morning walking to and fro about six of the clock before
the house of Shaws and with nothing in view but the fields and woods that had
been my ancestors and were now mine Even as I spoke on these grave subjects
my eye would take a glad bit of a run over the prospect and my heart jump with
pride
About my clear duty to my friend the lawyer had no doubt I must help him
out of the country at whatever risk but in the case of James he was of a
different mind
»Mr Thomson« says he »is one thing Mr Thomsons kinsman quite another
I know little of the facts but I gather that a great noble whom we will call
if you like the D of A36 has some concern and is even supposed to feel some
animosity in the matter The D of A. is doubtless an excellent nobleman but
Mr David timeo qui nocuere deos If you interfere to baulk his vengeance you
should remember there is one way to shut your testimony out and that is to put
you in the dock There you would be in the same pickle as Mr Thomsons kinsman
You will object that you are innocent well but so is he And to be tried for
your life before a Highland jury on a Highland quarrel and with a Highland
judge upon the bench would be a brief transition to the gallows«
Now I had made all these reasonings before and found no very good reply to
them so I put on all the simplicity I could »In that case sir« said I »I
would just have to be hanged would I not«
»My dear boy« cries he »go in Gods name and do what you think is right
It is a poor thought that at my time of life I should be advising you to choose
the safe and shameful and I take it back with an apology Go and do your duty
and be hanged if you must like a gentleman There are worse things in the
world than to be hanged«
»Not many sir« said I smiling
»Why yes sir« he cried »very many And it would be ten times better for
your uncle to go no farther afield if he were dangling decently upon a
gibbet«
Thereupon he turned into the house still in a great fervour of mind so
that I saw I had pleased him heartily and there he wrote me two letters making
his comments on them as he wrote
»This« says he »is to my bankers the British Linen Company placing a
credit to your name Consult Mr Thomson he will know of ways and you with
this credit can supply the means I trust you will be a good husband of your
money but in the affair of a friend like Mr Thomson I would be even prodigal
Then for his kinsman there is no better way than that you should seek the
Advocate tell him your tale and offer testimony whether he may take it or not
is quite another matter and will turn on the D of A Now that you may reach
the Lord Advocate well recommended I give you here a letter to a namesake of
your own the learned Mr Balfour of Pilrig a man whom I esteem It will look
better that you should be presented by one of your own name and the laird of
Pilrig is much looked up to in the Faculty, and stands well with Lord Advocate
Grant I would not trouble him if I were you with any particulars and do you
know I think it would be needless to refer to Mr Thomson Form yourself upon
the laird he is a good model when you deal with the Advocate be discreet and
in all these matters may the Lord guide you Mr David«
Thereupon he took his farewell and set out with Torrance for the Ferry
while Alan and I turned our faces for the city of Edinburgh As we went by the
footpath and beside the gateposts and the unfinished lodge we kept looking
back at the house of my fathers It stood there bare and great and smokeless
like a place not lived in only in one of the top windows there was the peak of
a nightcap bobbing up and down and back and forward like the head of a rabbit
from a burrow I had little welcome when I came and less kindness while I
stayed but at least I was watched as I went away
Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way having little heart either to
walk or speak The same thought was uppermost in both that we were near the
time of our parting and remembrance of all the bygone days sate upon us sorely
We talked indeed of what should be done and it was resolved that Alan should
keep to the country biding now here now there but coming once in the day to a
particular place where I might be able to communicate with him either in my own
person or by messenger In the meanwhile I was to seek out a lawyer who was an
Appin Stewart and a man therefore to be wholly trusted and it should be his
part to find a ship and to arrange for Alans safe embarkation No sooner was
this business done than the words seemed to leave us and though I would seek to
jest with Alan under the name of Mr Thomson and he with me on my new clothes
and my estate you could feel very well that we were nearer tears than laughter
We came the byway over the hill of Corstorphine and when we got near to
the place called RestandbeThankful and looked down on Corstorphine bogs and
over to the city and the castle on the hill we both stopped for we both knew
without a word said that we had come to where our ways parted Here he repeated
to me once again what had been agreed upon between us the address of the
lawyer the daily hour at which Alan might be found and the signals that were
to be made by any that came seeking him Then I gave him what money I had a
guinea or two of Rankeillors so that he should not starve in the meanwhile
and then we stood a space, and looked over at Edinburgh in silence
»Well goodbye« said Alan and held out his left hand
»Goodbye« said I and gave the hand a little grasp and went off down the
hill
Neither one of us looked the other in the face nor so long as he was in my
view did I take one back glance at the friend I was leaving But as I went on my
way to the city I felt so lost and lonesome that I could have found it in my
heart to sit down by the dyke and cry and weep like any baby
It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West Kirk and the
Grassmarket into the streets of the capital The huge height of the buildings
running up to ten and fifteen stories the narrow arched entries that
continually vomited passengers the wares of the merchants in their windows the
hubbub and endless stir the foul smells and the fine clothes and a hundred
other particulars too small to mention struck me into a kind of stupor of
surprise so that I let the crowd carry me to and fro and yet all the time what
I was thinking of was Alan at RestandbeThankful and all the time although
you would think I would not choose but be delighted with these braws and
novelties there was a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse for something
wrong
The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the very doors of the
British Linen Companys bank
Notes
1 Moistens
2 Dark as the pit
3 Sold up
4 Agent
5 Unwilling
6 Look
7 Rope
8 Report
9 Fox
10 Stroke
11 Blow
12 Befool
13 Whig or Whigamore was the cant name for those who were loyal to King
George
14 Reaching
15 Bungled
16 Coble a small boat used in fishing
17 Careful
18 Duck
19 Part
20 Bag
21 Blame
22 Mad
23 Blame
24 The rallyingword of the Campbells
25 Brisk
26 A bouman is a tenant who takes stock from the landlord and shares with him
the increase
27 Village fair
28 Condiment
29 A second sermon
30 Commercial traveller
31 Rumour
32 Hollow
33 Newly roughcast
34 Dealings
35 Troublesome
36 The Duke of Argyle