Robert Louis Stevenson
The Master of Ballantrae
A Winters Tale
To Sir Percy Florence and Lady Shelley
Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many countries By
a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began continued it and concluded
it among distant and diverse scenes Above all he was much upon the sea The
character and fortune of the fraternal enemies the hall and shrubbery of
Durrisdeer the problem of Mackellars homespun and how to shape it for superior
flights these were his company on deck in many starreflecting harbours ran
often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting canvas and were dismissed
something of the suddenest on the approach of squalls It is my hope that
these surroundings of its manufacture may to some degree find favour for my
story with seafarers and sealovers like yourselves
And at least here is a dedication from a great way off written by the loud
shores of a subtropical island near upon ten thousand miles from Boscombe Chine
and Manor scenes which rise before me as I write along with the faces and
voices of my friends
Well I am for the sea once more no doubt Sir Percy also Let us make the
signal B R D
R L S
Waikiki May 17th 1889
Preface
Although an old consistent exile the editor of the following pages revisits
now and again the city of which he exults to be a native and there are few
things more strange more painful or more salutary than such revisitations
Outside in foreign spots he comes by surprise and awakens more attention than
he had expected in his own city the relation is reversed and he stands amazed
to be so little recollected Elsewhere he is refreshed to see attractive faces
to remark possible friends there he scouts the long streets with a pang at
heart for the faces and friends that are no more Elsewhere he is delighted
with the presence of what is new there tormented by the absence of what is old
Elsewhere he is content to be his present self there he is smitten with an
equal regret for what he once was and for what he once hoped to be
He was feeling all this dimly as he drove from the station on his last
visit he was feeling it still as he alighted at the door of his friend Mr
Johnstone Thomson WS with whom he was to stay A hearty welcome a face not
altogether changed a few words that sounded of old days a laugh provoked and
shared a glimpse in passing of the snowy cloth and bright decanters and the
Piranesis on the diningroom wall brought him to his bedroom with a somewhat
lightened cheer and when he and Mr Thomson sat down a few minutes later cheek
by jowl and pledged the past in a preliminary bumper he was already almost
consoled he had already almost forgiven himself his two unpardonable errors
that he should ever have left his native city or ever returned to it
»I have something quite in your way« said Mr Thomson »I wished to do
honour to your arrival because my dear fellow it is my own youth that comes
back along with you in a very tattered and withered state to be sure but
well all thats left of it«
»A great deal better than nothing« said the editor »But what is this which
is quite in my way«
»I was coming to that« said Mr Thomson »Fate has put it in my power to
honour your arrival with something really original by way of dessert A
mystery«
»A mystery« I repeated
»Yes« said his friend »a mystery It may prove to be nothing and it may
prove to be a great deal But in the meanwhile it is truly mysterious no eye
having looked on it for near a hundred years it is highly genteel for it
treats of a titled family and it ought to be melodramatic for according to
the superscription it is concerned with death«
»I think I rarely heard a more obscure or a more promising annunciation«
the other remarked »But what is It«
»You remember my predecessors old Peter MBrairs business«
»I remember him acutely he could not look at me without a pang of
reprobation and he could not feel the pang without betraying it He was to me a
man of a great historical interest but the interest was not returned«
»Ah well we go beyond him« said Mr Thomson »I daresay old Peter knew as
little about this as I do You see I succeeded to a prodigious accumulation of
old lawpapers and old tin boxes some of them of Peters hoarding some of his
fathers John first of the dynasty a great man in his day Among other
collections were all the papers of the Durrisdeers«
»The Durrisdeers« cried I »My dear fellow these may be of the greatest
interest One of them was out in the Fortyfive one had some strange passages
with the devil you will find a note of it in Laws Memorials I think and
there was an unexplained tragedy I know not what much later about a hundred
years ago «
»More than a hundred years ago« said Mr Thomson »In 1783«
»How do you know that I mean some death«
»Yes the lamentable deaths of my Lord Durrisdeer and his brother the
Master of Ballantrae attainted in the troubles« said Mr Thomson with
something the tone of a man quoting »Is that it«
»To say truth« said I »I have only seen some dim reference to the things
in memoirs and heard some traditions dimmer still through my uncle whom I
think you knew My uncle lived when he was a boy in the neighbourhood of St
Brides he has often told me of the avenue closed up and grown over with grass
the great gates never opened the last lord and his old maid sister who lived in
the back parts of the house a quiet plain poor humdrum couple it would seem
but pathetic too as the last of that stirring and brave house and to the
country folk faintly terrible from some deformed traditions«
»Yes« said Mr Thomson »Henry Graeme Durie the last lord died in 1820
his sister the Honourable Miss Katherine Durie in Twentyseven so much I
know and by what I have been going over the last few days they were what you
say decent quiet people and not rich To say truth it was a letter of my
lords that put me on the search for the packet we are going to open this
evening Some papers could not be found and he wrote to Jack MBrair suggesting
they might be among those sealed up by a Mr Mackellar MBrair answered that
the papers in question were all in Mackellars own hand all as the writer
understood of a purely narrative character and besides said he I am bound
not to open them before the year 1889 You may fancy if these words struck me I
instituted a hunt through all the MBrair repositories and at last hit upon
that packet which if you have had enough wine I propose to show you at once«
In the smokingroom to which my host now led me was a packet fastened
with many seals and enclosed in a single sheet of strong paper thus endorsed
Papers relating to the lives and lamentable deaths of the late Lord
Durisdeer and his elder brother James commonly called Master of
Ballantrae attainted in the troubles entrusted into the hands of John
MBrair in the Lawnmarket of Edinburgh WS this 20th day of September
Anno Domini 1789 by him to be kept secret until the revolution of one
hundred years complete or until the 20th day of September 1889 the
same compiled and written by me
EPHRAIM MACKELLAR
For near forty years Land Steward
on the estates of his Lordship
As Mr Thomson is a married man I will not say what hour had struck when we
laid down the last of the following pages but I will give a few words of what
ensued
»Here« said Mr Thomson »is a novel ready to your hand all you have to do
is to work up the scenery develop the characters and improve the style«
»My dear fellow« said I »they are just the three things that I would
rather die than set my hand to It shall be published as it stands«
»But its so bald« objected Mr Thomson
»I believe there is nothing so noble as baldness« replied I »and I am sure
there is nothing so interesting I would have all literature bald and all
authors if you like but one«
»Well well« said Mr Thomson »we shall see«
Chapter I
Summary of Events During the Masters Wanderings
The full truth of this odd matter is what the world has long been looking for
and public curiosity is sure to welcome It so befell that I was intimately
mingled with the last years and history of the house and there does not live
one man so able as myself to make these matters plain or so desirous to narrate
them faithfully I knew the Master on many secret steps of his career I have an
authentic memoir in my hand I sailed with him on his last voyage almost alone
I made one upon that winters journey of which so many tales have gone abroad
and I was there at the mans death As for my late Lord Durrisdeer I served him
and loved him near twenty years and thought more of him the more I knew of him
Altogether I think it not fit that so much evidence should perish the truth is
a debt I owe my lords memory and I think my old years will flow more smoothly
and my white hair lie quieter on the pillow when the debt is paid
The Duries of Durrisdeer and Ballantrae were a strong family in the
southwest from the days of David First A rhyme still current in the
countryside
»Kittle folk are the Durrisdeers
They ride wi ower mony spears«
bears the mark of its antiquity and the name appears in another which common
report attributes to Thomas of Ercildoune himself I cannot say how truly and
which some have applied I dare not say with how much justice to the events
of this narration
»Twa Duries in Durrisdeer
Ane to tie and ane to ride
An ill day for the groom
And a waur day for the bride«
Authentic history besides is filled with their exploits which to our modern
eyes seem not very commendable and the family suffered its full share of those
ups and downs to which the great houses of Scotland have been ever liable But
all these I pass over to come to that memorable year 1745 when the foundations
of this tragedy were laid
At that time there dwelt a family of four persons in the house of
Durrisdeer near St Brides on the Solway shore a chief hold of their race
since the Reformation My old lord eighth of the name was not old in years
but he suffered prematurely from the disabilities of age his place was at the
chimney side there he sat reading in a lined gown with few words for any man
and wry words for none the model of an old retired housekeeper and yet his
mind very well nourished with study and reputed in the country to be more
cunning than he seemed The Master of Ballantrae James in baptism took from
his father the love of serious reading some of his tact perhaps as well but
that which was only policy in the father became black dissimulation in the son
The face of his behaviour was merely popular and wild he sat late at wine
later at the cards had the name in the country of an unco man for the lasses
and was ever in the front of broils But for all he was the first to go in yet
it was observed he was invariably the best to come off and his partners in
mischief were usually alone to pay the piper This luck or dexterity got him
several illwishers but with the rest of the country enhanced his reputation
so that great things were looked for in his future when he should have gained
more gravity One very black mark he had to his name but the matter was hushed
up at the time and so defaced by legends before I came into these parts that I
scruple to set it down If it was true it was a horrid fact in one so young
and if false it was a horrid calumny I think it notable that he had always
vaunted himself quite implacable and was taken at his word so that he had the
addition among his neighbours of an ill man to cross Here was altogether a
young nobleman not yet twentyfour in the year Fortyfive who had made a
figure in the country beyond his time of life The less marvel if there were
little heard of the second son Mr Henry my late Lord Durrisdeer who was
neither very bad nor yet very able but an honest solid sort of lad like many
of his neighbours Little heard I say but indeed it was a case of little
spoken He was known among the salmon fishers in the firth for that was a sport
that he assiduously followed he was an excellent good horsedoctor besides and
took a chief hand almost from a boy in the management of the estates How hard
a part that was in the situation of that family none knows better than myself
nor yet with how little colour of justice a man may there acquire the reputation
of a tyrant and a miser The fourth person in the house was Miss Alison Graeme
a near kinswoman an orphan and the heir to a considerable fortune which her
father had acquired in trade This money was loudly called for by my lords
necessities indeed the land was deeply mortgaged and Miss Alison was designed
accordingly to be the Masters wife gladly enough on her side with how much
goodwill on his is another matter She was a comely girl and in those days
very spirited and selfwilled for the old lord having no daughter of his own
and my lady being long dead she had grown up as best she might
To these four came the news of Prince Charlies landing and set them
presently by the ears My lord like the chimneykeeper that he was was all for
temporising Miss Alison held the other side because it appeared romantical
and the Master though I have heard they did not agree often was for this once
of her opinion The adventure tempted him as I conceive he was tempted by the
opportunity to raise the fortunes of the house and not less by the hope of
paying off his private liabilities which were heavy beyond all opinion As for
Mr Henry it appears he said little enough at first his part came later on It
took the three a whole days disputation before they agreed to steer a middle
course one son going forth to strike a blow for King James my lord and the
other staying at home to keep in favour with King George Doubtless this was my
lords decision and as is well known it was the part played by many
considerable families But the one dispute settled another opened For my lord
Miss Alison and Mr Henry all held the one view that it was the cadets part
to go out and the Master what with restlessness and vanity would at no rate
consent to stay at home My lord pleaded Miss Alison wept Mr Henry was very
plain spoken all was of no avail
»It is the direct heir of Durrisdeer that should ride by his Kings bridle«
says the Master
»If we were playing a manly part« says Mr Henry »there might be sense in
such talk But what are we doing Cheating at cards«
»We are saving the house of Durrisdeer Henry« his father said
»And see James« said Mr Henry »if I go and the Prince has the upper
hand it will be easy to make your peace with King James But if you go and the
expedition fails we divide the right and the title And what shall I be then«
»You will be Lord Durrisdeer« said the Master »I put all I have upon the
table«
»I play at no such game« cries Mr Henry »I shall be left in such a
situation as no man of sense and honour could endure I shall be neither fish
nor flesh« he cried And a little after he had another expression plainer
perhaps than he intended »It is your duty to be here with my father« said he
»You know well enough you are the favourite«
»Ay« said the Master »And there spoke Envy Would you trip up my heels
Jacob« said he and dwelled upon the name maliciously
Mr Henry went and walked at the low end of the hall without reply for he
had an excellent gift of silence Presently he came back
»I am the cadet and I should go« said he »And my lord here is the master
and he says I shall go What say ye to that my brother«
»I say this Harry« returned the Master »that when very obstinate folk are
met there are only two ways out Blows and I think none of us could care to
go so far or the arbitrament of chance and here is a guinea piece Will you
stand by the toss of the coin«
»I will stand and fall by it« said Mr Henry »Heads I go shield I
stay«
The coin was spun and it fell shield »So there is a lesson for Jacob«
says the Master
»We shall live to repent of this« says Mr Henry and flung out of the
hall
As for Miss Alison she caught up that piece of gold which had just sent her
lover to the wars and flung it clean through the family shield in the great
painted window
»If you loved me as well as I love you you would have stayed« cried she
»I could not love you dear so well loved I not honour more« sang the
Master
»O« she cried »you have no heart I hope you may be killed« and she ran
from the room and in tears to her own chamber
It seems the Master turned to my lord with his most comical manner and says
he »This looks like a devil of a wife«
»I think you are a devil of a son to me« cried his father »you that have
always been the favourite to my shame be it spoken Never a good hour have I
gotten of you since you were born no never one good hour« and repeated it
again the third time Whether it was the Masters levity or his
insubordination or Mr Henrys word about the favourite son that had so much
disturbed my lord I do not know but I incline to think it was the last for I
have it by all accounts that Mr Henry was more made up to from that hour
Altogether it was in pretty ill blood with his family that the Master rode
to the North which was the more sorrowful for others to remember when it seemed
too late By fear and favour he had scraped together near upon a dozen men
principally tenants sons they were all pretty full when they set forth and
rode up the hill by the old abbey roaring and singing the white cockade in
every hat It was a desperate venture for so small a company to cross the most
of Scotland unsupported and what made folk think so the more even as that
poor dozen was clattering up the hill a great ship of the Kings navy that
could have brought them under with a single boat lay with her broad ensign
streaming in the bay The next afternoon having given the Master a fair start
it was Mr Henrys turn and he rode off all by himself to offer his sword and
carry letters from his father to King Georges Government Miss Alison was shut
in her room and did little but weep till both were gone only she stitched the
cockade upon the Masters hat and as John Paul told me it was wetted with
tears when he carried it down to him
In all that followed Mr Henry and my old lord were true to their bargain
That ever they accomplished anything is more than I could learn and that they
were anyway strong on the Kings side more than I believe But they kept the
letter of loyalty corresponded with my Lord President sat still at home and
had little or no commerce with the Master while that business lasted Nor was
he on his side more communicative Miss Alison indeed was always sending him
expresses but I do not know if she had many answers Macconochie rode for her
once and found the Highlanders before Carlisle and the Master riding by the
Princes side in high favour he took the letter so Macconochie tells opened
it glanced it through with a mouth like a man whistling and stuck it in his
belt whence on his horse passageing it fell unregarded to the ground It was
Macconochie who picked it up and he still kept it and indeed I have seen it in
his hands News came to Durrisdeer of course by the common report as it goes
travelling through a country a thing always wonderful to me By that means the
family learned more of the Masters favour with the Prince and the ground it
was said to stand on for by a strange condescension in a man so proud only
that he was a man still more ambitious he was said to have crept into
notability by truckling to the Irish Sir Thomas Sullivan Colonel Burke and
the rest were his daily comrades by which course he withdrew himself from his
own countryfolk All the small intrigues he had a hand in fomenting thwarted
my Lord George upon a thousand points was always for the advice that seemed
palatable to the Prince no matter if it was good or bad and seems upon the
whole like the gambler he was all through life to have had less regard to the
chances of the campaign than to the greatness of favour he might aspire to if
by any luck it should succeed For the rest he did very well in the field no
one questioned that for he was no coward
The next was the news of Culloden which was brought to Durrisdeer by one of
the tenants sons the only survivor he declared of all those that had gone
singing up the hill By an unfortunate chance John Paul and Macconochie had that
very morning found the guinea piece which was the root of all the evil
sticking in a holly bush they had been up the gait as the servants say at
Durrisdeer to the changehouse and if they had little left of the guinea they
had less of their wits What must John Paul do but burst into the hall where the
family sat at dinner and cry the news to them that »Tam Macmorland was but new
lichtit at the door and wirra wirra there were nane to come behind him«
They took the word in silence like folk condemned only Mr Henry carrying
his palm to his face and Miss Alison laying her head outright upon her hands
As for my lord he was like ashes
»I have still one son« says he »And Henry I will do you this justice
it is the kinder that is left«
It was a strange thing to say in such a moment but my lord had never
forgotten Mr Henrys speech and he had years of injustice on his conscience
Still it was a strange thing and more than Miss Alison could let pass She
broke out and blamed my lord for his unnatural words and Mr Henry because he
was sitting there in safety when his brother lay dead and herself because she
had given her sweetheart ill words at his departure calling him the flower of
the flock wringing her hands protesting her love and crying on him by his
name so that the servants stood astonished
Mr Henry got to his feet and stood holding his chair It was he that was
like ashes now
»O« he burst out suddenly »I know you loved him«
»The world knows that glory be to God« cries she and then to Mr Henry
»There is none but me to know one thing that you were a traitor to him in your
heart«
»God knows« groans he »it was lost love on both sides«
Time went by in the house after that without much change only they were now
three instead of four which was a perpetual reminder of their loss Miss
Alisons money you are to bear in mind was highly needful for the estates and
the one brother being dead my old lord soon set his heart upon her marrying the
other Day in day out he would work upon her sitting by the chimneyside with
his finger in his Latin book and his eyes set upon her face with a kind of
pleasant intentness that became the old gentleman very well If she wept he
would condole with her like an ancient man that has seen worse times and begins
to think lightly even of sorrow if she raged he would fall to reading again in
his Latin book but always with some civil excuse if she offered as she often
did to let them have her money in a gift he would show her how little it
consisted with his honour and remind her even if he should consent that Mr
Henry would certainly refuse Non vi sed sæpe cadendo was a favourite word of
his and no doubt this quiet persecution wore away much of her resolve no
doubt besides he had a great influence on the girl having stood in the place
of both her parents and for that matter she was herself filled with the
spirit of the Duries and would have gone a great way for the glory of
Durrisdeer but not so far I think as to marry my poor patron had it not been
strangely enough for the circumstance of his extreme unpopularity
This was the work of Tam Macmorland There was not much harm in Tam but he
had that grievous weakness a long tongue and as the only man in that country
who had been out or rather who had come in again he was sure of listeners
Those that have the underhand in any fighting I have observed are ever anxious
to persuade themselves they were betrayed By Tams account of it the rebels
had been betrayed at every turn and by every officer they had they had been
betrayed at Derby and betrayed at Falkirk the night march was a step of
treachery of my Lord Georges and Culloden was lost by the treachery of the
Macdonalds This habit of imputing treason grew upon the fool till at last he
must have in Mr Henry also Mr Henry by his account had betrayed the lads of
Durrisdeer he had promised to follow with more men and instead of that he had
ridden to King George »Ay and the next day« Tam would cry »The puir bonny
Master and the puir kind lads that rade wi him were hardly ower the scaur or
he was aff the Judis Ay weel he has his way ot hes to be my lord nae
less and theres mony a cold corp amang the Hieland heather« And at this if
Tam had been drinking he would begin to weep
Let any one speak long enough he will get believers This view of Mr
Henrys behaviour crept about the country by little and little it was talked
upon by folk that knew the contrary but were short of topics and it was heard
and believed and given out for gospel by the ignorant and the illwilling Mr
Henry began to be shunned yet a while and the commons began to murmur as he
went by and the women who are always the most bold because they are the most
safe to cry out their reproaches to his face The Master was cried up for a
saint It was remembered how he had never any hand in pressing the tenants as
indeed no more he had except to spend the money He was a little wild perhaps
the folk said but how much better was a natural wild lad that would soon have
settled down than a skinflint and a sneckdraw sitting with his nose in an
accountbook to persecute poor tenants One trollop who had had a child to the
Master and by all accounts been very badly used yet made herself a kind of
champion of his memory She flung a stone one day at Mr Henry
»Whaurs the bonny lad that trustit ye« she cried
Mr Henry reined in his horse and looked upon her the blood flowing from
his lip »Ay Jess« says he »You too And yet ye should ken me better« For it
was he who had helped her with money
The woman had another stone ready which she made as if she would cast and
he to ward himself threw up the hand that held his ridingrod
»What would ye beat a lassie ye ugly « cries she and ran away screaming
as though he had struck her
Next day word went about the country like wildfire that Mr Henry had beaten
Jessie Broun within an inch of her life I give it as one instance of how this
snowball grew and one calumny brought another until my poor patron was so
perished in reputation that he began to keep the house like my lord All this
while you may be very sure he uttered no complaints at home the very ground
of the scandal was too sore a matter to be handled and Mr Henry was very
proud and strangely obstinate in silence My old lord must have heard of it by
John Paul if by no one else and he must at least have remarked the altered
habits of his son Yet even he it is probable knew not how high the feeling
ran and as for Miss Alison she was ever the last person to hear news and the
least interested when she heard them
In the height of the illfeeling for it died away as it came no man could
say why there was an election forward in the town of St Brides which is the
next to Durrisdeer standing on the Water of Swift some grievance was
fermenting I forget what if ever I heard and it was currently said there
would be broken heads ere night and that the sheriff had sent as far as
Dumfries for soldiers My lord moved that Mr Henry should be present assuring
him it was necessary to appear for the credit of the house »It will soon be
reported« said he »that we do not take the lead in our own country«
»It is a strange lead that I can take« said Mr Henry and when they had
pushed him further »I tell you the plain truth« he said »I dare not show my
face«
»You are the first of the house that ever said so« cries Miss Alison
»We will go all three« said my lord and sure enough he got into his boots
the first time in four years a sore business John Paul had to get them on
and Miss Alison into her ridingcoat and all three rode together to St
Brides
The streets were full of the riffraff of all the countryside who had no
sooner clapped eyes on Mr Henry than the hissing began and the hooting and
the cries of »Judas« and »Where was the Master« and »Where were the poor lads
that rode with him« Even a stone was cast but the more part cried shame at
that for my old lords sake and Miss Alisons It took not ten minutes to
persuade my lord that Mr Henry had been right He said never a word but turned
his horse about and home again with his chin upon his bosom Never a word said
Miss Alison no doubt she thought the more no doubt her pride was stung for
she was a bonebred Durie and no doubt her heart was touched to see her cousin
so unjustly used That night she was never in bed I have often blamed my lady
when I call to mind that night I readily forgive her all and the first thing in
the morning she came to the old lord in his usual seat
»If Henry still wants me« said she »he can have me now« To himself she
had a different speech »I bring you no love Henry but God knows all the pity
in the world«
June the 1st 1748 was the day of their marriage It was December of the
same year that first saw me alighting at the doors of the great house and from
there I take up the history of events as they befell under my own observation
like a witness in a court
Chapter II
Summary of Events continued
I made the last of my journey in the cold end of December in a mighty dry day
of frost and who should be my guide but Patey Macmorland brother of Tam For a
towheaded barelegged brat of ten he had more ill tales upon his tongue than
ever I heard the match of having drunken betimes in his brothers cup I was
still not so old myself pride had not yet the upper hand of curiosity and
indeed it would have taken any man that cold morning to hear all the old
clashes of the country and be shown all the places by the way where strange
things had fallen out I had tales of Claverhouse as we came through the bogs
and tales of the devil as we came over the top of the scaur As we came in by
the abbey I heard somewhat of the old monks and more of the freetraders who
use its ruins for a magazine landing for that cause within a cannonshot of
Durrisdeer and along all the road the Duries and poor Mr Henry were in the
first rank of slander My mind was thus highly prejudiced against the family I
was about to serve so that I was half surprised when I beheld Durrisdeer
itself lying in a pretty sheltered bay under the Abbey Hill the house most
commodiously built in the French fashion or perhaps Italianate for I have no
skill in these arts and the place the most beautified with gardens lawns
shrubberies and trees I had ever seen The money sunk here unproductively would
have quite restored the family but as it was it cost a revenue to keep it up
Mr Henry came himself to the door to welcome me a tall dark young
gentleman the Duries are all black men of a plain and not cheerful face very
strong in body but not so strong in health taking me by the hand without any
pride and putting me at home with plain kind speeches He led me into the hall
booted as I was to present me to my lord It was still daylight and the first
thing I observed was a lozenge of clear glass in the midst of the shield in the
painted window which I remember thinking a blemish on a room otherwise so
handsome with its family portraits and the pargeted ceiling with pendants and
the carved chimney in one corner of which my old lord sat reading in his Livy
He was like Mr Henry with much the same plain countenance only more subtle
and pleasant and his talk a thousand times more entertaining He had many
questions to ask me I remember of Edinburgh College where I had just received
my mastership of arts and of the various professors with whom and their
proficiency he seemed well acquainted and thus talking of things that I knew
I soon got liberty of speech in my new home
In the midst of this came Mrs Henry into the room she was very far gone
Miss Katharine being due in about six weeks which made me think less of her
beauty at the first sight and she used me with more of condescension than the
rest so that upon all accounts I kept her in the third place of my esteem
It did not take long before all Patey Macmorlands tales were blotted out of
my belief and I was become what I have ever since remained a loving servant
of the house of Durrisdeer Mr Henry had the chief part of my affection It was
with him I worked and I found him an exacting master keeping all his kindness
for those hours in which we were unemployed and in the stewards office not
only loading me with work but viewing me with a shrewd supervision At length
one day he looked up from his paper with a kind of timidness and says he »Mr
Mackellar I think I ought to tell you that you do very well« That was my first
word of commendation and from that day his jealousy of my performance was
relaxed soon it was Mr Mackellar here and Mr Mackellar there with the whole
family and for much of my service at Durrisdeer I have transacted everything at
my own time and to my own fancy and never a farthing challenged Even while he
was driving me I had begun to find my heart go out to Mr Henry no doubt
partly in pity he was a man so palpably unhappy He would fall into a deep muse
over our accounts staring at the page or out of the window and at those times
the look of his face and the sigh that would break from him awoke in me strong
feelings of curiosity and commiseration One day I remember we were late upon
some business in the stewards room This room is in the top of the house and
has a view upon the bay and over a little wooded cape on the long sands and
there right over against the sun which was then dipping we saw the
freetraders with a great force of men and horses scouring on the beach Mr
Henry had been staring straight west so that I marvelled he was not blinded by
the sun suddenly he frowns rubs his hand upon his brow and turns to me with a
smile
»You would not guess what I was thinking« says he »I was thinking I would
be a happier man if I could ride and run the danger of my life with these
lawless companions«
I told him I had observed he did not enjoy good spirits and that it was a
common fancy to envy others and think we should be the better of some change
quoting Horace to the point like a young man fresh from college
»Why just so« said he »And with that we may get back to our accounts«
It was not long before I began to get wind of the causes that so much
depressed him Indeed a blind man must have soon discovered there was a shadow
on that house the shadow of the Master of Ballantrae Dead or alive and he was
then supposed to be dead that man was his brothers rival his rival abroad
where there was never a good word for Mr Henry and nothing but regret and
praise for the Master and his rival at home not only with his father and his
wife but with the very servants
They were two old servingmen that were the leaders John Paul a little
bald solemn stomachy man a great professor of piety and take him for all in
all a pretty faithful servant was the chief of the Masters faction None
durst go so far as John He took a pleasure in disregarding Mr Henry publicly
often with a slighting comparison My lord and Mrs Henry took him up to be
sure but never so resolutely as they should and he had only to pull his
weeping face and begin his lamentations for the Master his laddie as he
called him to have the whole condoned As for Henry he let these things pass
in silence sometimes with a sad and sometimes with a black look There was no
rivalling the dead he knew that and how to censure an old servingman for a
fault of loyalty was more than he could see His was not the tongue to do it
Macconochie was chief upon the other side an old illspoken swearing
ranting drunken dog and I have often thought it an odd circumstance in human
nature that these two servingmen should each have been the champion of his
contrary and blackened their own faults and made light of their own virtues
when they beheld them in a master Macconochie had soon smelled out my secret
inclination took me much into his confidence and would rant against the Master
by the hour so that even my work suffered »Theyre a daft here« he would
cry »and be damned to them The Master the deils in their thrapples that
should call him sae its Mr Henry should be master now They were nane sae
fond o the Master when they had him Ill can tell ye that Sorrow on his name
Never a guid word did I hear on his lips nor naebody else but just fleering
and flyting and profane cursing deil hae him Theres nane kennt his
wickedness him a gentleman Did ever ye hear tell Mr Mackellar o Wully
White the wabster No Aweel Wully was an unco praying kind o man a dreigh
body nane o my kind I never could abide the sight of him onyway he was a
great hand by his way of it and he up and rebukit the Master for some of his
ongoings It was a grand thing for the Master o Ballntrae to tak up a feud
wi a wabster wasnat« Macconochie would sneer indeed he never took the full
name upon his lips but with a sort of a whine of hatred »But he did A fine
employ it was chapping at the mans door and crying boo in his lum and
puttin poother in his fire and peeoys1 in his window till the man thought it
was Auld Hornie was come seekin him Weel to mak a lang story short Wully
gaed gyte At the hinder end they couldna get him frae his knees but he just
roared and prayed and grat straucht on till he got his release It was fair
murder abody said that Ask John Paul he was brawly ashamed o that game
him thats sic a Christian man Grand doins for the Master o Ballntrae« I
asked him what the Master had thought of it himself »How would I ken« says he
»He never said naething« And on again in his usual manner of banning and
swearing with every now and again a Master of Ballantrae sneered through his
nose It was in one of these confidences that he showed me the Carlisle letter
the print of the horseshoe still stamped in the paper Indeed that was our
last confidence for he then expressed himself so illnaturedly of Mrs Henry
that I had to reprimand him sharply and must thenceforth hold him at a
distance
My old lord was uniformly kind to Mr Henry he had even pretty ways of
gratitude and would sometimes clap him on the shoulder and say as if to the
world at large »This is a very good son to me« And grateful he was no doubt
being a man of sense and justice But I think that was all and I am sure Mr
Henry thought so The love was all for the dead son Not that this was often
given breath to indeed with me but once My lord had asked me one day how I
got on with Mr Henry and I had told him the truth
»Ay« said he looking sideways on the burning fire »Henry is a good lad a
very good lad« said he »You have heard Mr Mackellar that I had another son
I am afraid he was not so virtuous a lad as Mr Henry but dear me hes dead
Mr Mackellar and while he lived we were all very proud of him all very proud
If he was not all he should have been in some ways well perhaps we loved him
better« This last he said looking musingly in the fire and then to me with a
great deal of briskness »But I am rejoiced you do so well with Mr Henry You
will find him a good master« And with that he opened his book which was the
customary signal of dismission But it would be little that he read and less
that he understood Culloden field and the Master these would be the burthen of
his thought and the burthen of mine was an unnatural jealousy of the dead man
for Mr Henrys sake that had even then begun to grow on me
I am keeping Mrs Henry for the last so that this expression of my
sentiment may seem unwarrantably strong the reader shall judge for himself when
I have done But I must first tell of another matter which was the means of
bringing me more intimate I had not yet been six months at Durrisdeer when it
chanced that John Paul fell sick and must keep his bed drink was the root of
his malady in my poor thought but he was tended and indeed carried himself
like an afflicted saint and the very minister who came to visit him professed
himself edified when he went away The third morning of his sickness Mr Henry
comes to me with something of a hangdog look
»Mackellar« says he »I wish I could trouble you upon a little service
There is a pension we pay it is Johns part to carry it and now that he is
sick I know not to whom I should look unless it was yourself The matter is
very delicate I could not carry it with my own hand for a sufficient reason I
dare not send Macconochie who is a talker and I am I have I am desirous
this should not come to Mrs Henrys ears« says he and flushed to his neck as
he said it
To say truth when I found I was to carry money to one Jessie Broun who was
no better than she should be I supposed it was some trip of his own that Mr
Henry was dissembling I was the more impressed when the truth came out
It was up a wynd off a side street in St Brides that Jessie had her
lodging The place was very ill inhabited mostly by the freetrading sort
There was a man with a broken head at the entry halfway up in a tavern
fellows were roaring and singing though it was not yet nine in the day
Altogether I had never seen a worse neighbourhood even in the great city of
Edinburgh and I was in two minds to go back Jessies room was of a piece with
her surroundings and herself no better She would not give me the receipt
which Mr Henry had told me to demand for he was very methodical until she
had sent out for spirits and I had pledged her in a glass and all the time she
carried on in a lightheaded reckless way now aping the manners of a lady
now breaking into unseemly mirth now making coquettish advances that oppressed
me to the ground Of the money she spoke more tragically
»Its bloodmoney« said she »I take it for that bloodmoney for the
betrayed See what Im brought down to Ah if the bonny lad were back again it
would be changed days But hes deid hes lyin deid amang the Hieland hills
the bonny lad the bonny lad«
She had a rapt manner of crying on the bonny lad clasping her hands and
casting up her eyes that I think she must have learned of strolling players
and I thought her sorrow very much of an affectation and that she dwelled upon
the business because her shame was now all she had to be proud of I will not
say I did not pity her but it was a loathing pity at the best and her last
change of manner wiped it out This was when she had had enough of me for an
audience and had set her name at last to the receipt »There« says she and
taking the most unwomanly oaths upon her tongue bade me begone and carry it to
the Judas who had sent me It was the first time I had heard the name applied to
Mr Henry I was staggered besides at her sudden vehemence of word and manner
and got forth from the room under this shower of curses like a beaten dog But
even then I was not quit for the vixen threw up her window and leaning forth
continued to revile me as I went up the wynd the freetraders coming to the
tavern door joined in the mockery and one had even the inhumanity to set upon
me a very savage small dog which bit me in the ankle This was a strong lesson
had I required one to avoid ill company and I rode home in much pain from the
bite and considerable indignation of mind
Mr Henry was in the stewards room affecting employment but I could see
he was only impatient to hear of my errand
»Well« says he as soon as I came in and when I had told him something of
what passed and that Jessie seemed an undeserving woman and far from grateful
»She is no friend to me« said he »but indeed Mackellar I have few friends to
boast of and Jessie has some cause to be unjust I need not dissemble what all
the country knows she was not very well used by one of our family« This was
the first time I had heard him refer to the Master even distantly and I think
he found his tongue rebellious even for that much but presently he resumed
»This is why I would have nothing said It would give pain to Mrs Henry and
to my father« he added with another flush
»Mr Henry« said I »if you will take a freedom at my hands I would tell
you to let that woman be What service is your money to the like of her She has
no sobriety and no economy as for gratitude you will as soon get milk from a
whinstone and if you will pretermit your bounty it will make no change at all
but just to save the ankles of your messengers«
Mr Henry smiled »But I am grieved about your ankle« said he the next
moment with a proper gravity
»And observe« I continued »I give you this advice upon consideration and
yet my heart was touched for the woman in the beginning«
»Why there it is you see« said Mr Henry »And you are to remember that I
knew her once a very decent lass Besides which although I speak little of my
family I think much of its repute«
And with that he broke up the talk which was the first we had together in
such confidence But the same afternoon I had the proof that his father was
perfectly acquainted with the business and that it was only from his wife that
Mr Henry kept it secret
»I fear you had a painful errand today« says my lord to me »for which as
it enters in no way among your duties I wish to thank you and to remind you at
the same time in case Mr Henry should have neglected how very desirable it is
that no word of it should reach my daughter Reflections on the dead Mr
Mackellar are doubly painful«
Anger glowed in my heart and I could have told my lord to his face how
little he had to do bolstering up the image of the dead in Mrs Henrys heart
and how much better he were employed to shatter that false idol for by this
time I saw very well how the land lay between my patron and his wife
My pen is clear enough to tell a plain tale but to render the effect of an
infinity of small things not one great enough in itself to be narrated and to
translate the story of looks and the message of voices when they are saying no
great matter and to put in half a page the essence of near eighteen months
this is what I despair to accomplish The fault to be very blunt lay all in
Mrs Henry She felt it a merit to have consented to the marriage and she took
it like a martyrdom in which my old lord whether he knew it or not fomented
her She made a merit besides of her constancy to the dead though its name
to a nicer conscience should have seemed rather disloyalty to the living and
here also my lord gave her his countenance I suppose he was glad to talk of his
loss and ashamed to dwell on it with Mr Henry Certainly at least he made a
little coterie apart in that family of three and it was the husband who was
shut out It seems it was an old custom when the family were alone in
Durrisdeer that my lord should take his wine to the chimneyside and Miss
Alison instead of withdrawing should bring a stool to his knee and chatter to
him privately and after she had become my patrons wife the same manner of
doing was continued It should have been pleasant to behold this ancient
gentleman so loving with his daughter but I was too much a partisan of Mr
Henrys to be anything but wroth at his exclusion Manys the time I have seen
him make an obvious resolve quit the table and go and join himself to his wife
and my Lord Durrisdeer and on their part they were never backward to made him
welcome turned to him smilingly as to an intruding child and took him into
their talk with an effort so illconcealed that he was soon back again beside me
at the table whence so great is the hall of Durrisdeer we could but hear the
murmur of voices at the chimney There he would sit and watch and I along with
him and sometimes by my lords head sorrowfully shaken or his hand laid on
Mrs Henrys head or hers upon his knee as if in consolation or sometimes by
an exchange of tearful looks we would draw our conclusion that the talk had
gone to the old subject and the shadow of the dead was in the hall
I have hours when I blame Mr Henry for taking all too patiently yet we are
to remember he was married in pity and accepted his wife upon that term And
indeed he had small encouragement to make a stand Once I remember he
announced he had found a man to replace the pane of the stained window which
as it was he that managed all the business was a thing clearly within his
attributions But to the Masters fanciers that pane was like a relic and on
the first word of any change the blood flew to Mrs Henrys face
»I wonder at you« she cried
»I wonder at myself« says Mr Henry with more of bitterness than I had
ever heard him to express
Thereupon my old lord stepped in with his smooth talk so that before the
meal was at an end all seemed forgotten only that after dinner when the pair
had withdrawn as usual to the chimneyside we could see her weeping with her
head upon his knee Mr Henry kept up the talk with me upon some topic of the
estates he could speak of little else but business and was never the best of
company but he kept it up that day with more continuity his eye straying ever
and again to the chimney and his voice changing to another key but without
check of delivery The pane however was not replaced and I believe he counted
it a great defeat
Whether he was stout enough or no God knows he was kind enough Mrs Henry
had a manner of condescension with him such as in a wife would have pricked
my vanity into an ulcer he took it like a favour She held him at the staffs
end forgot and then remembered and unbent to him as we do to children
burthened him with cold kindness reproved him with a change of colour and a
bitten lip like one shamed by his disgrace ordered him with a look of the eye
when she was off her guard when she was on the watch pleaded with him for the
most natural attentions as though they were unheardof favours And to all this
he replied with the most unwearied service loving as folk say the very ground
she trod on and carrying that love in his eyes as bright as a lamp When Miss
Katharine was to be born nothing would serve but he must stay in the room
behind the head of the bed There he sat as white they tell me as a sheet
and the sweat dropping from his brow and the handkerchief he had in his hand
was crushed into a little ball no bigger than a musketbullet Nor could he bear
the sight of Miss Katharine for many a day indeed I doubt if he was ever what
he should have been to my young lady for the which want of natural feeling he
was loudly blamed
Such was the state of this family down to the 7th April 1749 when there
befell the first of that series of events which were to break so many hearts and
lose so many lives
On that day I was sitting in my room a little before supper when John Paul
burst open the door with no civility of knocking and told me there was one
below that wished to speak with the steward sneering at the name of my office
I asked what manner of man and what his name was and this disclosed the
cause of Johns illhumour for it appeared the visitor refused to name himself
except to me a sore affront to the majordomos consequence
»Well« said I smiling a little »I will see what he wants«
I found in the entrancehall a big man very plainly habited and wrapped in
a seacloak like one new landed as indeed he was Not far off Macconochie was
standing with his tongue out of his mouth and his hand upon his chin like a
dull fellow thinking hard and the stranger who had brought his cloak about his
face appeared uneasy He had no sooner seen me coming than he went to meet me
with an effusive manner
»My dear man« said he »a thousand apologies for disturbing you but Im in
the most awkward position And theres a son of a ramrod there that I should
know the looks of and more betoken I believe that he knows mine Being in
this family sir and in a place of some responsibility which was the cause I
took the liberty to send for you you are doubtless of the honest party«
»You may be sure at least« says I »that all of that party are quite safe
in Durrisdeer«
»My dear man it is my very thought« says he »You see I have just been
set on shore here by a very honest man whose name I cannot remember and who is
to stand off and on for me till morning at some danger to himself and to be
clear with you I am a little concerned lest it should be at some to me I have
saved my life so often Mr I forget your name which is a very good one
that faith I would be very loth to lose it after all And the son of a ramrod
whom I believe I saw before Carlisle «
»O sir« said I »you can trust Macconochie until tomorrow«
»Well and its a delight to hear you say so« says the stranger »The truth
is that my name is not a very suitable one in this country of Scotland With a
gentleman like you my dear man I would have no concealments of course and by
your leave Ill just breathe it in your ear They call me Francis Burke
Colonel Francis Burke and I am here at a most damnable risk to myself to see
your masters if youll excuse me my good man for giving them the name for
Im sure its a circumstance I would never have guessed from your appearance
And if you would just be so very obliging as to take my name to them you might
say that I come bearing letters which I am sure they will be very rejoiced to
have the reading of«
Colonel Francis Burke was one of the Princes Irishmen that did his cause
such an infinity of hurt and were so much distasted of the Scots at the time of
the rebellion and it came at once into my mind how the Master of Ballantrae had
astonished all men by going with that party In the same moment a strong
foreboding of the truth possessed my soul
»If you will step in here« said I opening a chamber door »I will let my
lord know«
»And I am sure its very good of you Mr Whatsyourname« says the
Colonel
Up to the hall I went slowfooted There they were all three my old lord
in his place Mrs Henry at work by the window Mr Henry as was much his
custom pacing the low end In the midst was the table laid for supper I told
them briefly what I had to say My old lord lay back in his seat Mrs Henry
sprang up standing with a mechanical motion and she and her husband stared at
each others eyes across the room it was the strangest challenging look these
two exchanged and as they looked the colour faded in their faces Then Mr
Henry turned to me not to speak only to sign with his finger but that was
enough and I went down again for the Colonel
When we returned these three were in much the same position I had left them
in I believe no word had passed
»My Lord Durrisdeer no doubt« says the Colonel bowing and my lord bowed
in answer »And this« continues the Colonel »should be the Master of
Ballantrae«
»I have never taken that name« said Mr Henry »but I am Henry Durie at
your service«
Then the Colonel turns to Mrs Henry bowing with his hat upon his heart and
the most killing airs of gallantry »There can be no mistake about so fine a
figure of a lady« says he »I address the seductive Miss Alison of whom I have
so often heard«
Once more husband and wife exchanged a look
»I am Mrs Henry Durie« said she »but before my marriage my name was
Alison Graeme«
Then my lord spoke up »I am an old man Colonel Burke« said he »and a
frail one It will be mercy on your part to be expeditious Do you bring me news
of « he hesitated and then the words broke from him with a singular change of
voice »my son«
»My dear lord I will be round with you like a soldier« said the Colonel
»I do«
My lord held out a wavering hand he seemed to wave a signal but whether it
was to give him time or to speak on was more than we could guess At length he
got out the one word »Good«
»Why the very best in the creation« cries the Colonel »For my good friend
and admired comrade is at this hour in the fine city of Paris and as like as
not if I know anything of his habits he will be drawing in his chair to a
piece of dinner Bedad I believe the ladys fainting«
Mrs Henry was indeed the colour of death and drooped against the
windowframe But when Mr Henry made a movement as if to run to her she
straightened with a sort of shiver »I am well« she said with her white lips
Mr Henry stopped and his face had a strong twitch of anger The next
moment he had turned to the Colonel »You must not blame yourself« says he
»for this effect on Mrs Durie It is only natural we were all brought up like
brother and sister«
Mrs Henry looked at her husband with something like relief or even
gratitude In my way of thinking that speech was the first step he made in her
good graces
»You must try to forgive me Mrs Durie for indeed and I am just an Irish
savage« said the Colonel »and I deserve to be shot for not breaking the matter
more artistically to a lady But here are the Masters own letters one for
each of the three of you and to be sure if I know anything of my friends
genius he will tell his own story with a better grace«
He brought the three letters forth as he spoke arranged them by their
superscriptions presented the first to my lord who took it greedily and
advanced towards Mrs Henry holding out the second
But the lady waved it back »To my husband« says she with a choked voice
The Colonel was a quick man but at this he was somewhat nonplussed »To be
sure« says he »how very dull of me To be sure« But he still held the letter
At last Mr Henry reached forth his hand and there was nothing to be done
but give it up Mr Henry took the letters both hers and his own and looked
upon their outside with his brows knit hard as if he were thinking He had
surprised me all through by his excellent behaviour but he was to excel himself
now
»Let me give you a hand to your room« said he to his wife »This has come
something of the suddenest and at any rate you will wish to read your letter
by yourself«
Again she looked upon him with the same thought of wonder but he gave her
no time coming straight to where she stood »It will be better so believe me«
said he »and Colonel Burke is too considerate not to excuse you« And with that
he took her hand by the fingers and led her from the hall
Mrs Henry returned no more that night and when Mr Henry went to visit her
next morning as I heard long afterwards she gave him the letter again still
unopened
»O read it and be done« he had cried
»Spare me that« said she
And by these two speeches to my way of thinking each undid a great part of
what they had previously done well But the letter sure enough came into my
hands and by me was burned unopened
To be very exact as to the adventures of the Master after Culloden I wrote
not long ago to Colonel Burke now a Chevalier of the Order of St Louis
begging him for some notes in writing since I could scarce depend upon my
memory at so great an interval To confess the truth I have been somewhat
embarrassed by his response for he sent me the complete memoirs of his life
touching only in places on the Master running to a much greater length than my
whole story and not everywhere as it seems to me designed for edification He
begged in his letter dated from Ettenheim that I would find a publisher for
the whole after I had made what use of it I required and I think I shall best
answer my own purpose and fulfil his wishes by giving certain parts of it in
full In this way my readers will have a detailed and I believe a very
genuine account of some essential matters and if any publisher should take a
fancy to the Chevaliers manner of narration he knows where to apply for the
rest of which there is plenty at his service I put in my first extract here
so that it may stand in the place of what the Chevalier told us over our wine in
the hall of Durrisdeer but you are to suppose it was not the brutal fact but a
very varnished version that he offered to my lord
Chapter III
The Masters Wanderings
From the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Burke
I left Ruthven its hardly necessary to remark with much greater
satisfaction than I had come to it but whether I missed my way in the deserts
or whether my companions failed me I soon found myself alone This was a
predicament very disagreeable for I never understood this horrid country or
savage people and the last stroke of the Princes withdrawal had made us of the
Irish more unpopular than ever I was reflecting on my poor chances when I saw
another horseman on the hill whom I supposed at first to have been a phantom
the news of his death in the very front at Culloden being current in the army
generally This was the Master of Ballantrae my Lord Durrisdeers son a young
nobleman of the rarest gallantry and parts and equally designed by nature to
adorn a Court and to reap laurels in the field Our meeting was the more welcome
to both as he was one of the few Scots who had used the Irish with
consideration and as he might now be of very high utility in aiding my escape
Yet what founded our particular friendship was a circumstance by itself as
romantic as any fable of King Arthur
This was on the second day of our flight after we had slept one night in
the rain upon the inclination of a mountain There was an Appin man Alan Black
Stewart or some such name2 but I have seen him since in France who chanced
to be passing the same way and had a jealousy of my companion Very uncivil
expressions were exchanged and Stewart calls upon the Master to alight and have
it out
»Why Mr Stewart« says the Master »I think at the present time I would
prefer to run a race with you« And with the word claps spurs to his horse
Stewart ran after us a childish thing to do for more than a mile and I
could not help laughing as I looked back at last and saw him on a hill holding
his hand to his side and nearly burst with running
»But all the same« I could not help saying to my companion »I would let
no man run after me for any such proper purpose and not give him his desire It
was a good jest but it smells a trifle cowardly«
He bent his brows at me »I do pretty well« says he »when I saddle myself
with the most unpopular man in Scotland and let that suffice for courage«
»O bedad« says I »I could show you a more unpopular with the naked eye
And if you like not my company you can saddle yourself on some one else«
»Colonel Burke« says he »do not let us quarrel and to that effect let
me assure you I am the least patient man in the world«
»I am as little patient as yourself« said I »I care not who knows that«
»At this rate« says he reining in »we shall not go very far And I
propose we do one of two things upon the instant either quarrel and be done or
make a sure bargain to bear everything at each others hands«
»Like a pair of brothers« said I
»I said no such foolishness« he replied »I have a brother of my own and I
think no more of him than of a colewort But if we are to have our noses rubbed
together in this course of flight let us each dare to be ourselves like
savages and each swear that he will neither resent nor deprecate the other I
am a pretty bad fellow at bottom and I find the pretence of virtues very
irksome«
»O I am as bad as yourself« said I »There is no skimmilk in Francis
Burke But which is it to be Fight or make friends«
»Why« says he »I think it will be the best manner to spin a coin for it«
This proposition was too highly chivalrous not to take my fancy and
strange as it may seem of two wellborn gentlemen of today we span a
halfcrown like a pair of ancient paladins whether we were to cut each others
throats or be sworn friends A more romantic circumstance can rarely have
occurred and it is one of those points in my memoirs by which we may see the
old tales of Homer and the poets are equally true today at least of the
noble and genteel The coin fell for peace and we shook hands upon our bargain
And then it was that my companion explained to me his thought in running away
from Mr Stewart which was certainly worthy of his political intellect The
report of his death he said was a great guard to him Mr Stewart having
recognised him had become a danger and he had taken the briefest road to that
gentlemans silence »For« says he »Alan Black is too vain a man to narrate
any such story of himself«
Towards afternoon we came down to the shores of that loch for which we were
heading and there was the ship but newly come to anchor She was the
SainteMariedesAnges out of the port of HavredeGrace The Master after we
had signalled for a boat asked me if I knew the captain I told him he was a
countryman of mine of the most unblemished integrity but I was afraid a
rather timorous man
»No matter« says he »For all that he should certainly hear the truth«
I asked him if he meant about the battle for if the captain once knew the
standard was down he would certainly put to sea again at once
»And even then« said he »the arms are now of no sort of utility«
»My dear man« said I »who thinks of the arms But to be sure we must
remember our friends They will be close upon our heels perhaps the Prince
himself and if the ship be gone a great number of valuable lives may be
imperilled«
»The captain and the crew have lives also if you come to that« says
Ballantrae
This I declared was but a quibble and that I would not hear of the captain
being told and then it was that Ballantrae made me a witty answer for the sake
of which and also because I have been blamed myself in this business of the
SainteMariedesAnges I have related the whole conversation as it passed
»Frank« says he »remember our bargain I must not object to your holding
your tongue which I hereby even encourage you to do but by the same terms
you are not to resent my telling«
I could not help laughing at this though I still forewarned him what would
come of it
»The devil may come of it for what I care« says the reckless fellow »I
have always done exactly as I felt inclined«
As is well known my prediction came true The captain had no sooner heard
the news than he cut his cable and to sea again and before morning broke we
were in the Great Minch
The ship was very old and the skipper although the most honest of men and
Irish too was one of the least capable The wind blew very boisterous and the
sea raged extremely All that day we had little heart whether to eat or drink
went early to rest in some concern of mind and as if to give us a lesson in
the night the wind chopped suddenly into the northeast and blew a hurricane
We were awaked by the dreadful thunder of the tempest and the stamping of the
mariners on deck so that I supposed our last hour was certainly come and the
terror of my mind was increased out of all measure by Ballantrae who mocked at
my devotions It is in hours like these that a man of any piety appears in his
true light and we find what we are taught as babes the small trust that can
be set in worldly friends I would be unworthy of my religion if I let this pass
without particular remark For three days we lay in the dark in the cabin and
had but a biscuit to nibble On the fourth the wind fell leaving the ship
dismasted and heaving on vast billows The captain had not a guess of whither we
were blown he was stark ignorant of his trade and could do naught but bless
the Holy Virgin a very good thing too but scarce the whole of seamanship It
seemed our one hope was to be picked up by another vessel and if that should
prove to be an English ship it might be no great blessing to the Master and
myself
The fifth and sixth days we tossed there helpless The seventh some sail was
got on her but she was an unwieldy vessel at the best and we made little but
leeway All the time indeed we had been drifting to the south and west and
during the tempest must have driven in that direction with unheardof violence
The ninth dawn was cold and black with a great sea running and every mark of
foul weather In this situation we were overjoyed to sight a small ship on the
horizon and to perceive her go about and head for the SainteMarie But our
gratification did not very long endure for when she had laidto and lowered a
boat it was immediately filled with disorderly fellows who sang and shouted as
they pulled across to us and swarmed in on our deck with bare cutlasses
cursing loudly Their leader was a horrible villain with his face blacked and
his whiskers curled in ringlets Teach his name a most notorious pirate He
stamped about the deck raving and crying out that his name was Satan and his
ship was called Hell There was something about him like a wicked child or a
halfwitted person that daunted me beyond expression I whispered in the ear of
Ballantrae that I would not be the last to volunteer and only prayed God they
might be short of hands he approved my purpose with a nod
»Bedad« said I to Master Teach »if you are Satan here is a devil for ye«
The word pleased him and not to dwell upon these shocking incidents
Ballantrae and I and two others were taken for recruits while the skipper and
all the rest were cast into the sea by the method of walking the plank It was
the first time I had seen this done my heart died within me at the spectacle
and Master Teach or one of his acolytes for my head was too much lost to be
precise remarked upon my pale face in a very alarming manner I had the
strength to cut a step or two of a jig and cry out some ribaldry which saved
me for that time but my legs were like water when I must get down into the
skiff among these miscreants and what with my horror of my company and fear of
the monstrous billows it was all I could do to keep an Irish tongue and break a
jest or two as we were pulled aboard By the blessing of God there was a fiddle
in the pirate ship which I had no sooner seen than I fell upon and in my
quality of crowder I had the heavenly good luck to get favour in their eyes
Crowding Pat was the name they dubbed me with and it was little I cared for a
name so long as my skin was whole
What kind of a pandemonium that vessel was I cannot describe but she was
commanded by a lunatic and might be called a floating Bedlam Drinking
roaring singing quarrelling dancing they were never all sober at one time
and there were days together when if a squall had supervened it must have sent
us to the bottom or if a Kings ship had come along it would have found us
quite helpless for defence Once or twice we sighted a sail and if we were
sober enough overhauled it God forgive us and if we were all too drunk she
got away and I would bless the saints under my breath Teach ruled if you can
call that rule which brought no order by the terror he created and I observed
the man was very vain of his position I have known marshals of France ay and
even Highland chieftains that were less openly puffed up which throws a
singular light on the pursuit of honour and glory Indeed the longer we live
the more we perceive the sagacity of Aristotle and the other old philosophers
and though I have all my life been eager for legitimate distinctions I can lay
my hand upon my heart at the end of my career and declare there is not one
no nor yet life itself which is worth acquiring or preserving at the
slightest cost of dignity
It was long before I got private speech of Ballantrae but at length one
night we crept out upon the boltsprit when the rest were better employed and
commiserated our position
»None can deliver us but the saints« said I
»My mind is very different« said Ballantrae »for I am going to deliver
myself This Teach is the poorest creature possible we make no profit of him
and lie continually open to capture and« says he »I am not going to be a
tarry pirate for nothing nor yet to hang in chains if I can help it« And he
told me what was in his mind to better the state of the ship in the way of
discipline which would give us safety for the present and a sooner hope of
deliverance when they should have gained enough and should break up their
company
I confessed to him ingenuously that my nerve was quite shook amid these
horrible surroundings and I durst scarce tell him to count upon me
»I am not very easy frightened« said he »nor very easy beat«
A few days after there befell an accident which had nearly hanged us all
and offers the most extraordinary picture of the folly that ruled in our
concerns We were all pretty drunk and some bedlamite spying a sail Teach put
the ship about in chase without a glance and we began to bustle up the arms and
boast of the horrors that should follow I observed Ballantrae stood quiet in
the bows looking under the shade of his hand but for my part true to my
policy among these savages I was at work with the busiest and passing Irish
jests for their diversion
»Run up the colours« cried Teach »Show the s the Jolly Roger«
It was the merest drunken braggadocio at such a stage and might have lost
us a valuable prize but I thought it no part of mine to reason and I ran up
the black flag with my own hand
Ballantrae steps presently aft with a smile upon his face
»You may perhaps like to know you drunken dog« says he »that you are
chasing a Kings ship«
Teach roared him the lie but he ran at the same time to the bulwarks and
so did they all I have never seen so many drunken men struck suddenly sober
The cruiser had gone about upon our impudent display of colours she was just
then filling on the new tack her ensign blew out quite plain to see and even
as we stared there came a puff of smoke and then a report and a shot plunged
in the waves a good way short of us Some ran to the ropes and got the Sarah
round with an incredible swiftness One fellow fell on the rumbarrel which
stood broached upon the deck and rolled it promptly overboard On my part I
made for the Jolly Roger struck it tossed it in the sea and could have flung
myself after so vexed was I with our mismanagement As for Teach he grew as
pale as death and incontinently went down to his cabin Only twice he came on
deck that afternoon went to the taffrail took a long look at the Kings ship
which was still on the horizon heading after us and then without speech back
to his cabin You may say he deserted us and if it had not been for one very
capable sailor we had on board and for the lightness of the airs that blew all
day we must certainly have gone to the yardarm
It is to be supposed Teach was humiliated and perhaps alarmed for his
position with the crew and the way in which he set about regaining what he had
lost was highly characteristic of the man Early next day we smelled him burning
sulphur in his cabin and crying out of »Hell hell« which was well understood
among the crew and filled their minds with apprehension Presently he comes on
deck a perfect figure of fun his face blacked his hair and whiskers curled
his belt stuck full of pistols chewing bits of glass so that the blood ran down
his chin and brandishing a dirk I do not know if he had taken these manners
from the Indians of America where he was a native but such was his way and he
would always thus announce that he was wound up to horrid deeds The first that
came near him was the fellow who had sent the rum overboard the day before him
he stabbed to the heart damning him for a mutineer and then capered about the
body raving and swearing and daring us to come on It was the silliest
exhibition and yet dangerous too for the cowardly fellow was plainly working
himself up to another murder
All of a sudden Ballantrae stepped forth »Have done with this playacting«
says he »Do you think to frighten us with making faces We saw nothing of you
yesterday when you were wanted and we did well without you let me tell you
that«
There was a murmur and a movement in the crew of pleasure and alarm I
thought in nearly equal parts As for Teach he gave a barbarous howl and
swung his dirk to fling it an art in which like many seamen he was very
expert
»Knock that out of his hand« says Ballantrae so sudden and sharp that my
arm obeyed him before my mind had understood
Teach stood like one stupid never thinking on his pistols
»Go down to your cabin« cries Ballantrae »and come on deck again when you
are sober Do you think we are going to hang for you you blackfaced
halfwitted drunken brute and butcher Go down« And he stamped his foot at him
with such a sudden smartness that Teach fairly ran for it to the companion
»And now mates« says Ballantrae »a word with you I dont know if you are
gentlemen of fortune for the fun of the thing but I am not I want to make
money and get ashore again and spend it like a man And on one thing my mind
is made up I will not hang if I can help it Come give me a hint Im only a
beginner Is there no way to get a little discipline and common sense about this
business«
One of the men spoke up he said by rights they should have a quartermaster
and no sooner was the word out of his mouth than they were all of that opinion
The thing went by acclamation Ballantrae was made quartermaster the rum was
put in his charge laws were passed in imitation of those of a pirate by the
name of Roberts and the last proposal was to make an end of Teach But
Ballantrae was afraid of a more efficient captain who might be a counterweight
to himself and he opposed this stoutly Teach he said was good enough to
board ships and frighten fools with his blacked face and swearing we could
scarce get a better man than Teach for that and besides as the man was now
disconsidered and as good as deposed we might reduce his proportion of the
plunder This carried it Teachs share was cut down to a mere derision being
actually less than mine and there remained only two points whether he would
consent and who was to announce to him this resolution
»Do not let that stick you« says Ballantrae »I will do that«
And he stepped to the companion and down alone into the cabin to face that
drunken savage
»This is the man for us« cried one of the hands »Three cheers for the
quartermaster« which were given with a will my own voice among the loudest
and I daresay these plaudits had their effect on Master Teach in the cabin as
we have seen of late days how shouting in the streets may trouble even the minds
of legislators
What passed precisely was never known though some of the heads of it came
to the surface later on and we were all amazed as well as gratified when
Ballantrae came on deck with Teach upon his arm and announced that all had been
consented
I pass swiftly over those twelve or fifteen months in which we continued to
keep the sea in the North Atlantic getting our food and water from the ships we
overhauled and doing on the whole a pretty fortunate business Sure no one
could wish to read anything so ungenteel as the memoirs of a pirate even an
unwilling one like me Things went extremely better with our designs and
Ballantrae kept his lead to my admiration from that day forth I would be
tempted to suppose that a gentleman must everywhere be first even aboard a
rover but my birth is every whit as good as any Scottish lords and I am not
ashamed to confess that I stayed Crowding Pat until the end and was not much
better than the crews buffoon Indeed it was no scene to bring out my merits
My health suffered from a variety of reasons I was more at home to the last on
a horses back than a ships deck and to be ingenuous the fear of the sea was
constantly in my mind battling with the fear of my companions I need not cry
myself up for courage I have done well on many fields under the eyes of famous
generals and earned my late advancement by an act of the most distinguished
valour before many witnesses But when we must proceed on one of our abordages
the heart of Francis Burke was in his boots the little eggshell skiff in which
we must set forth the horrible heaving of the vast billows the height of the
ship that we must scale the thought of how many might be there in garrison upon
their legitimate defence the scowling heavens which in that climate so often
looked darkly down upon our exploits and the mere crying of the wind in my
ears were all considerations most unpalatable to my valour Besides which as I
was always a creature of the nicest sensibility the scenes that must follow on
our success tempted me as little as the chances of defeat Twice we found women
on board and though I have seen towns sacked and of late days in France some
very horrid public tumults there was something in the smallness of the numbers
engaged and the bleak dangerous seasurroundings that made these acts of
piracy far the most revolting I confess ingenuously I could never proceed
unless I was three parts drunk it was the same even with the crew Teach
himself was fit for no enterprise till he was full of rum and it was one of the
most difficult parts of Ballantraes performance to serve us with liquor in the
proper quantities Even this he did to admiration being upon the whole the most
capable man I ever met with and the one of the most natural genius He did not
even scrape favour with the crew as I did by continual buffoonery made upon a
very anxious heart but preserved on most occasions a great deal of gravity and
distance so that he was like a parent among a family of young children or a
schoolmaster with his boys What made his part the harder to perform the men
were most inveterate grumblers Ballantraes discipline little as it was was
yet irksome to their love of licence and what was worse being kept sober they
had time to think Some of them accordingly would fall to repenting their
abominable crimes one in particular who was a good Catholic and with whom I
would sometimes steal apart for prayer above all in bad weather fogs lashing
rain and the like when we would be the less observed and I am sure no two
criminals in the cart have ever performed their devotions with more anxious
sincerity But the rest having no such grounds of hope fell to another
pastime that of computation All day long they would be telling up their shares
or glooming over the result I have said we were pretty fortunate But an
observation falls to be made that in this world in no business that I have
tried do the profits rise to a mans expectations We found many ships and
took many yet few of them contained much money their goods were usually
nothing to our purpose what did we want with a cargo of ploughs or even of
tobacco and it is quite a painful reflection how many whole crews we have
made to walk the plank for no more than a stock of biscuit or an anker or two of
spirits
In the meanwhile our ship was growing very foul and it was high time we
should make for our port de carénage which was in the estuary of a river among
swamps It was openly understood that we should then break up and go and
squander our proportions of the spoil and this made every man greedy of a
little more so that our decision was delayed from day to day What finally
decided matters was a trifling accident such as an ignorant person might
suppose incidental to our way of life But here I must explain on only one of
all the ships we boarded the first on which we found women did we meet with
any genuine resistance On that occasion we had two men killed and several
injured and if it had not been for the gallantry of Ballantrae we had surely
been beat back at last Everywhere else the defence where there was any at all
was what the worst troops in Europe would have laughed at so that the most
dangerous part of our employment was to clamber up the side of the ship and I
have even known the poor souls on board to cast us a line so eager were they to
volunteer instead of walking the plank This constant immunity had made our
fellows very soft so that I understood how Teach had made so deep a mark upon
their minds for indeed the company of that lunatic was the chief danger in our
way of life The accident to which I have referred was this We had sighted a
little fullrigged ship very close under our board in a haze she sailed near as
well as we did I should be nearer truth if I said near as ill and we cleared
the bowchaser to see if we could bring a spar or two about their ears The
swell was exceedingly great the motion of the ship beyond description it was
little wonder if our gunners should fire thrice and be still quite broad of what
they aimed at But in the meanwhile the chase had cleared a stern gun the
thickness of the air concealing them and being better marksmen their first
shot struck us in the bows knocked our two gunners into mincemeat so that we
were all sprinkled with the blood and plunged through the deck into the
forecastle where we slept Ballantrae would have held on indeed there was
nothing in this contretemps to affect the mind of any soldier but he had a
quick perception of the mens wishes and it was plain this lucky shot had given
them a sickener of their trade In a moment they were all of one mind the chase
was drawing away from us it was needless to hold on the Sarah was too foul to
overhaul a bottle it was mere foolery to keep the sea with her and on these
pretended grounds her head was incontinently put about and the course laid for
the river It was strange to see what merriment fell on that ships company and
how they stamped about the deck jesting and each computing what increase had
come to his share by the death of the two gunners
We were nine days making our port so light were the airs we had to sail on
so foul the ships bottom but early on the tenth before dawn and in a light
lifting haze we passed the head A little after the haze lifted and fell
again showing us a cruiser very close This was a sore blow happening so near
our refuge There was a great debate of whether she had seen us and if so
whether it was likely they had recognised the Sarah We were very careful by
destroying every member of those crews we overhauled to leave no evidence as to
our own persons but the appearance of the Sarah herself we could not keep so
private and above all of late since she had been foul and we had pursued many
ships without success it was plain that her description had been often
published I supposed this alert would have made us separate upon the instant
But here again that original genius of Ballantraes had a surprise in store for
me He and Teach and it was the most remarkable step of his success had gone
hand in hand since the first day of his appointment I often questioned him upon
the fact and never got an answer but once when he told me he and Teach had an
understanding »which would very much surprise the crew if they should hear of
it and would surprise himself a good deal if it was carried out« Well here
again he and Teach were of a mind and by their joint procurement the anchor was
no sooner down than the whole crew went off upon a scene of drunkenness
indescribable By afternoon we were a mere shipful of lunatical persons
throwing of things overboard howling of different songs at the same time
quarrelling and falling together and then forgetting our quarrels to embrace
Ballantrae had bidden me drink nothing and feign drunkenness as I valued my
life and I have never passed a day so wearisomely lying the best part of the
time upon the forecastle and watching the swamps and thickets by which our
little basin was entirely surrounded for the eye A little after dusk Ballantrae
stumbled up to my side feigned to fall with a drunken laugh and before he got
his feet again whispered me to »reel down into the cabin and seem to fall
asleep upon a locker for there would be need of me soon« I did as I was told
and coming into the cabin where it was quite dark let myself fall on the first
locker There was a man there already by the way he stirred and threw me off I
could not think he was much in liquor and yet when I had found another place
he seemed to continue to sleep on My heart now beat very hard for I saw some
desperate matter was in act Presently down came Ballantrae lit the lamp
looked about the cabin nodded as if pleased and on deck again without a word
I peered out from between my fingers and saw there were three of us slumbering
or feigning to slumber on the lockers myself one Dutton and one Grady both
resolute men On deck the rest were got to a pitch of revelry quite beyond the
bounds of what is human so that no reasonable name can describe the sounds they
were now making I have heard many a drunken bout in my time many on board that
very Sarah but never anything the least like this which made me early suppose
the liquor had been tampered with It was a long while before these yells and
howls died out into a sort of miserable moaning and then to silence and it
seemed a long while after that before Ballantrae came down again this time with
Teach upon his heels The latter cursed at the sight of us three upon the
lockers
»Tut« says Ballantrae »you might fire a pistol at their ears You know
what stuff they have been swallowing«
There was a hatch in the cabin floor and under that the richest part of the
booty was stored against the day of division It fastened with a ring and three
padlocks the keys for greater security being divided one to Teach one to
Ballantrae and one to the mate a man called Hammond Yet I was amazed to see
they were now all in the one hand and yet more amazed still looking through my
fingers to observe Ballantrae and Teach bring up several packets four of them
in all very carefully made up and with a loop for carriage
»And now« says Teach »let us be going«
»One word« says Ballantrae »I have discovered there is another man besides
yourself who knows a private path across the swamp and it seems it is shorter
than yours«
Teach cried out in that case they were undone
»I do not know for that« says Ballantrae »For there are several other
circumstances with which I must acquaint you First of all there is no bullet
in your pistols which if you remember I was kind enough to load for both of
us this morning Secondly as there is some one else who knows a passage you
must think it highly improbable I should saddle myself with a lunatic like you
Thirdly these gentlemen who need no longer pretend to be asleep are those of
my party and will now proceed to gag and bind you to the mast and when your
men awaken if they ever do awake after the drugs we have mingled in their
liquor I am sure they will be so obliging as to deliver you and you will have
no difficulty I daresay to explain the business of the keys«
Not a word said Teach but looked at us like a frightened baby as we gagged
and bound him
»Now you see you mooncalf« says Ballantrae »why we made four packets
Heretofore you have been called Captain Teach but I think you are now rather
Captain Learn«
That was our last word on board the Sarah We four with our four packets
lowered ourselves softly into a skiff and left that ship behind us as silent as
the grave only for the moaning of some of the drunkards There was a fog about
breasthigh on the waters so that Dutton who knew the passage must stand on
his feet to direct our rowing and this as it forced us to row gently was the
means of our deliverance We were yet but a little way from the ship when it
began to come grey and the birds to fly abroad upon the water All of a sudden
Dutton clapped down upon his hams and whispered us to be silent for our lives
and hearken Sure enough we heard a little faint creak of oars upon one hand
and then again and farther off a creak of oars upon the other It was clear we
had been sighted yesterday in the morning here were the cruisers boats to cut
us out here were we defenceless in their very midst Sure never were poor
souls more perilously placed and as we lay there on our oars praying God the
mist might hold the sweat poured from my brow Presently we heard one of the
boats where we might have thrown a biscuit in her »Softly men« we heard an
officer whisper and I marvelled they could not hear the drumming of my heart
»Never mind the path« says Ballantrae »we must get shelter anyhow let us
pull straight ahead for the sides of the basin«
This we did with the most anxious precaution rowing as best we could upon
our hands and steering at a venture in the fog which was for all that our
only safety But Heaven guided us we touched ground at a thicket scrambled
ashore with our treasure and having no other way of concealment and the mist
beginning already to lighten hove down the skiff and let her sink We were
still but new under cover when the sun rose and at the same time from the
midst of the basin a great shouting of seamen sprang up and we knew the Sarah
was being boarded I heard afterwards the officer that took her got great
honour and its true the approach was creditably managed but I think he had an
easy capture when he came to board3
I was still blessing the saints for my escape when I became aware we were
in trouble of another kind We were here landed at random in a vast and
dangerous swamp and how to come at the path was a concern of doubt fatigue
and peril Dutton indeed was of opinion we should wait until the ship was
gone and fish up the skiff for any delay would be more wise than to go blindly
ahead in that morass One went back accordingly to the basinside and peering
through the thicket saw the fog already quite drunk up and English colours
flying on the Sarah but no movement made to get her under way Our situation
was now very doubtful The swamp was an unhealthful place to linger in we had
been so greedy to bring treasures that we had brought but little food it was
highly desirable besides that we should get clear of the neighbourhood and
into the settlements before the news of the capture went abroad and against all
these considerations there was only the peril of the passage on the other side
I think it not wonderful we decided on the active part
It was already blistering hot when we set forth to pass the marsh or rather
to strike the path by compass Dutton took the compass and one or other of us
three carried his proportion of the treasure I promise you he kept a sharp eye
to his rear for it was like the mans soul that he must trust us with The
thicket was as close as a bush the ground very treacherous so that we often
sank in the most terrifying manner and must go round about the heat besides
was stifling the air singularly heavy and the stinging insects abounded in
such myriads that each of us walked under his own cloud It has often been
commented on how much better gentlemen of birth endure fatigue than persons of
the rabble so that walking officers who must tramp in the dirt beside their
men shame them by their constancy This was well to be observed in the present
instance for here were Ballantrae and I two gentlemen of the highest breeding
on the one hand and on the other Grady a common mariner and a man nearly a
giant in physical strength The case of Dutton is not in point for I confess he
did as well as any of us4 But as for Grady he began early to lament his case
tailed in the rear refused to carry Duttons packet when it came his turn
clamoured continually for rum of which we had too little and at last even
threatened us from behind with a cocked pistol unless we should allow him rest
Ballantrae would have fought it out I believe but I prevailed with him the
other way and we made a stop and ate a meal It seemed to benefit Grady little
he was in the rear again at once growling and bemoaning his lot and at last
by some carelessness not having followed properly in our tracks stumbled into
a deep part of the slough where it was mostly water gave some very dreadful
screams and before we could come to his aid had sunk along with his booty His
fate and above all these screams of his appalled us to the soul yet it was on
the whole a fortunate circumstance and the means of our deliverance for it
moved Dutton to mount into a tree whence he was able to perceive and to show
me who had climbed after him a high piece of the wood which was a landmark
for the path He went forward the more carelessly I must suppose for presently
we saw him sink a little down draw up his feet and sink again and so twice
Then he turned his face to us pretty white
»Lend a hand« said he »I am in a bad place«
»I dont know about that« says Ballantrae standing still
Dutton broke out into the most violent oaths sinking a little lower as he
did so that the mud was nearly to his waist and plucking a pistol from his
belt »Help me« he cries »or die and be damned to you«
»Nay« says Ballantrae »I did but jest I am coming« And he set down his
own packet and Duttons which he was then carrying »Do not venture near till
we see if you are needed« said he to me and went forward alone to where the
man was bogged He was quiet now though he still held the pistol and the marks
of terror in his countenance were very moving to behold
»For the Lords sake« says he »look sharp«
Ballantrae was now got close up »Keep still« says he and seemed to
consider and then »Reach out both your hands«
Dutton laid down his pistol and so watery was the top surface that it went
clear out of sight with an oath he stooped to snatch it and as he did so
Ballantrae leaned forth and stabbed him between the shoulders Up went his hands
over his head I know not whether with the pain or to ward himself and the
next moment he doubled forward in the mud
Ballantrae was already over the ankles but he plucked himself out and came
back to me where I stood with my knees smiting one another. »The devil take
you Francis« says he »I believe you are a halfhearted fellow after all I
have only done justice on a pirate And here we are quite clear of the Sarah
Who shall now say that we have dipped our hands in any irregularities«
I assured him he did me injustice but my sense of humanity was so much
affected by the horridness of the fact that I could scarce find breath to answer
with
»Come« said he »you must be more resolved The need for this fellow ceased
when he had shown you where the path ran and you cannot deny I would have been
daft to let slip so fair an opportunity«
I could not deny but he was right in principle nor yet could I refrain from
shedding tears of which I think no man of valour need have been ashamed and it
was not until I had a share of the rum that I was able to proceed I repeat I
am far from ashamed of my generous emotion mercy is honourable in the warrior
and yet I cannot altogether censure Ballantrae whose step was really fortunate
as we struck the path without further misadventure and the same night about
sundown came to the edge of the morass
We were too weary to seek far on some dry sands still warm with the days
sun and close under a wood of pines we lay down and were instantly plunged in
sleep
We awaked the next morning very early and began with a sullen spirit a
conversation that came near to end in blows We were now cast on shore in the
southern provinces thousands of miles from any French settlement a dreadful
journey and a thousand perils lay in front of us and sure if there was ever
need for amity it was in such an hour I must suppose that Ballantrae had
suffered in his sense of what is truly polite indeed and there is nothing
strange in the idea after the seawolves we had consorted with so long and as
for myself he fubbed me off unhandsomely and any gentleman would have resented
his behaviour
I told him in what light I saw his conduct he walked a little off I
following to upbraid him and at last he stopped me with his hand
»Frank« says he »you know what we swore and yet there is no oath invented
would induce me to swallow such expressions if I did not regard you with
sincere affection It is impossible you should doubt me there I have given
proofs Dutton I had to take because he knew the pass and Grady because Dutton
would not move without him but what call was there to carry you along You are
a perpetual danger to me with your cursed Irish tongue By rights you should now
be in irons in the cruiser And you quarrel with me like a baby for some
trinkets«
I considered this one of the most unhandsome speeches ever made and indeed
to this day I can scarce reconcile it to my notion of a gentleman that was my
friend I retorted upon him with his Scots accent of which he had not so much
as some but enough to be very barbarous and disgusting as I told him plainly
and the affair would have gone to a great length but for an alarming
intervention
We had got some way off upon the sand The place where we had slept with
the packets lying undone and the money scattered openly was now between us and
the pines and it was out of these the stranger must have come There he was at
least a great hulking fellow of the country with a broad axe on his shoulder
looking openmouthed now at the treasure which was just at his feet and now
at our disputation in which we had gone far enough to have weapons in our
hands We had no sooner observed him than he found his legs and made off again
among the pines
This was no scene to put our minds at rest a couple of armed men in
seaclothes found quarrelling over a treasure not many miles from where a
pirate had been captured here was enough to bring the whole country about our
ears The quarrel was not even made up it was blotted from our minds; and we
got our packets together in the twinkling of an eye and made off running with
the best will in the world But the trouble was we did not know in what
direction and must continually return upon our steps Ballantrae had indeed
collected what he could from Dutton but its hard to travel upon hearsay and
the estuary which spreads into a vast irregular harbour turned us off upon
every side with a new stretch of water
We were near beside ourselves and already quite spent with running when
coming to the top of a dune we saw we were again cut off by another
ramification of the bay This was a creek however very different from those
that had arrested us before being set in rocks and so precipitously deep that
a small vessel was able to lie alongside made fast with a hawser and her crew
had laid a plank to the shore Here they had lighted a fire and were sitting at
their meal As for the vessel herself she was one of those they build in the
Bermudas
The love of gold and the great hatred that everybody has to pirates were
motives of the most influential and would certainly raise the country in our
pursuit Besides it was now plain we were on some sort of straggling peninsula
like the fingers of a hand and the wrist or passage to the mainland which we
should have taken at the first was by this time not improbably secured These
considerations put us on a bolder counsel For as long as we dared looking
every moment to hear sounds of the chase we lay among some bushes on the top of
the dune and having by this means secured a little breath and recomposed our
appearance we strolled down at last with a great affectation of carelessness
to the party by the fire
It was a trader and his negroes belonging to Albany in the province of New
York and now on the way home from the Indies with a cargo his name I cannot
recall We were amazed to learn he had put in here from terror of the Sarah for
we had no thought our exploits had been so notorious As soon as the Albanian
heard she had been taken the day before he jumped to his feet gave us a cup of
spirits for our good news and sent his negroes to get sail on the Bermudan On
our side we profited by the dram to become more confidential and at last
offered ourselves as passengers He looked askance at our tarry clothes and
pistols and replied civilly enough that he had scarce accommodation for
himself nor could either our prayers or our offers of money in which we
advanced pretty far avail to shake him
»I see you think ill of us« says Ballantrae »but I will show you how well
we think of you by telling you the truth We are Jacobite fugitives and there
is a price upon our heads«
At this the Albanian was plainly moved a little He asked us many questions
as to the Scots war which Ballantrae very patiently answered And then with a
wink in a vulgar manner »I guess you and your Prince Charlie got more than you
cared about« said he
»Bedad and that we did« said I »And my dear man I wish you would set a
new example and give us just that much«
This I said in the Irish way about which there is allowed to be something
very engaging Its a remarkable thing and a testimony to the love with which
our nation is regarded that this address scarce ever fails in a handsome
fellow I cannot tell how often I have seen a private soldier escape the horse
or a beggar wheedle out a good alms by a touch of the brogue And indeed as
soon as the Albanian had laughed at me I was pretty much at rest Even then
however he made many conditions and for one thing took away our arms
before he suffered us aboard which was the signal to cast off so that in a
moment after we were gliding down the bay with a good breeze and blessing the
name of God for our deliverance Almost in the mouth of the estuary we passed
the cruiser and a little after the poor Sarah with her prize crew and these
were both sights to make us tremble The Bermudan seemed a very safe place to be
in and our bold stroke to have been fortunately played when we were thus
reminded of the case of our companions For all that we had only exchanged
traps jumped out of the fryingpan into the fire run from the yardarm to the
block and escaped the open hostility of the manofwar to lie at the mercy of
the doubtful faith of our Albanian merchant
From many circumstances it chanced we were safer than we could have dared
to hope The town of Albany was at that time much concerned in contraband trade
across the desert with the Indians and the French This as it was highly
illegal relaxed their loyalty and as it brought them in relation with the
politest people on the earth divided even their sympathies In short they were
like all the smugglers in the world spies and agents readymade for either
party Our Albanian besides was a very honest man indeed and very greedy
and to crown our luck he conceived a great delight in our society Before we
had reached the town of New York we had come to a full agreement that he should
carry us as far as Albany upon his ship and thence put us on a way to pass the
boundaries and join the French For all this we were to pay at a high rate but
beggars cannot be choosers nor outlaws bargainers
We sailed then up the Hudson River which I protest is a very fine
stream and put up at the Kings Arms in Albany The town was full of the
militia of the province breathing slaughter against the French Governor
Clinton was there himself a very busy man and by what I could learn very
near distracted by the factiousness of his Assembly The Indians on both sides
were on the warpath we saw parties of them bringing in prisoners and what was
much worse scalps both male and female for which they were paid at a fixed
rate and I assure you the sight was not encouraging Altogether we could
scarce have come at a period more unsuitable for our designs our position in
the chief inn was dreadfully conspicuous our Albanian fubbed us off with a
thousand delays and seemed upon the point of a retreat from his engagements
nothing but peril appeared to environ the poor fugitives and for some time we
drowned our concern in a very irregular course of living
This too proved to be fortunate and its one of the remarks that fall to
be made upon our escape how providentially our steps were conducted to the very
end What a humiliation to the dignity of man My philosophy the extraordinary
genius of Ballantrae our valour in which I grant that we were equal all
these might have proved insufficient without the Divine blessing on our efforts
And how true it is as the Church tells us that the Truths of Religion are
after all quite applicable even to daily affairs At least it was in the
course of our revelry that we made the acquaintance of a spirited youth by the
name of Chew He was one of the most daring of the Indian traders very well
acquainted with the secret paths of the wilderness needy dissolute and by a
last good fortune in some disgrace with his family Him we persuaded to come to
our relief he privately provided what was needful for our flight and one day
we slipped out of Albany without a word to our former friend and embarked a
little above in a canoe
To the toils and perils of this journey it would require a pen more elegant
than mine to do full justice The reader must conceive for himself the dreadful
wilderness which we had now to thread its thickets swamps precipitous rocks
impetuous rivers and amazing waterfalls Among these barbarous scenes we must
toil all day now paddling now carrying our canoe upon our shoulders and at
night we slept about a fire surrounded by the howling of wolves and other
savage animals It was our design to mount the headwaters of the Hudson to the
neighbourhood of Crown Point where the French had a strong place in the woods
upon Lake Champlain But to have done this directly were too perilous and it
was accordingly gone upon by such a labyrinth of rivers lakes and portages as
makes my head giddy to remember These paths were in ordinary times entirely
desert but the country was now up the tribes on the warpath the woods full
of Indian scouts Again and again we came upon these parties when we least
expected them and one day in particular I shall never forget how as dawn was
coming in we were suddenly surrounded by five or six of these painted devils
uttering a very dreary sort of cry and brandishing their hatchets It passed
off harmlessly indeed as did the rest of our encounters for Chew was well
known and highly valued among the different tribes Indeed he was a very
gallant respectable young man but even with the advantage of his
companionship you must not think these meetings were without sensible peril To
prove friendship on our part it was needful to draw upon our stock of rum
indeed under whatever disguise that is the true business of the Indian trader
to keep a travelling publichouse in the forest and when once the braves had
got their bottle of scaura as they call this beastly liquor it behoved us to
set forth and paddle for our scalps Once they were a little drunk goodbye to
any sense or decency they had but the one thought to get more scaura They
might easily take it in their heads to give us chase and had we been overtaken
I had never written these memoirs
We were come to the most critical portion of our course where we might
equally expect to fall into the hands of French or English when a terrible
calamity befell us Chew was taken suddenly sick with symptoms like those of
poison and in the course of a few hours expired in the bottom of the canoe We
thus lost at once our guide our interpreter our boatman and our passport for
he was all these in one and found ourselves reduced at a blow to the most
desperate and irremediable distress Chew who took a great pride in his
knowledge had indeed often lectured us on the geography and Ballantrae I
believe would listen But for my part I have always found such information
highly tedious and beyond the fact that we were now in the country of the
Adirondack Indians and not so distant from our destination could we but have
found the way I was entirely ignorant The wisdom of my course was soon the
more apparent for with all his pains Ballantrae was no further advanced than
myself He knew we must continue to go up one stream then by way of a portage
down another and then up a third But you are to consider in a mountain
country how many streams come rolling in from every hand And how is a
gentleman who is a perfect stranger in that part of the world to tell any one
of them from any other Nor was this our only trouble We were great novices
besides in handling a canoe the portages were almost beyond our strength so
that I have seen us sit down in despair for half an hour at a time without one
word and the appearance of a single Indian since we had now no means of
speaking to them would have been in all probability the means of our
destruction There is altogether some excuse if Ballantrae showed something of a
glooming disposition his habit of imputing blame to others quite as capable as
himself was less tolerable and his language it was not always easy to accept
Indeed he had contracted on board the pirate ship a manner of address which was
in a high degree unusual between gentlemen and now when you might say he was
in a fever it increased upon him hugely
The third day of these wanderings as we were carrying the canoe upon a
rocky portage she fell and was entirely bilged The portage was between two
lakes both pretty extensive the track such as it was opened at both ends
upon the water and on both hands was enclosed by the unbroken woods and the
sides of the lakes were quite impassable with bog so that we beheld ourselves
not only condemned to go without our boat and the greater part of our
provisions but to plunge at once into impenetrable thickets and to desert what
little guidance we still had the course of the river Each stuck his pistols
in his belt shouldered an axe made a pack of his treasure and as much food as
he could stagger under and deserting the rest of our possessions even to our
swords which would have much embarrassed us among the woods we set forth on
this deplorable adventure The labours of Hercules so finely described by
Homer were a trifle to what we now underwent Some parts of the forest were
perfectly dense down to the ground so that we must cut our way like mites in a
cheese In some the bottom was full of deep swamp and the whole wood entirely
rotten I have leaped on a great fallen log and sunk to the knees in touchwood
I have sought to stay myself in falling against what looked to be a solid
trunk and the whole thing has whiffed at my touch like a sheet of paper
Stumbling falling bogging to the knees hewing our way our eyes almost put
out with twigs and branches our clothes plucked from our bodies we laboured
all day and it is doubtful if we made two miles What was worse as we could
rarely get a view of the country and were perpetually justled from our path by
obstacles it was impossible even to have a guess in what direction we were
moving
A little before sundown in an open place with a stream and set about with
barbarous mountains Ballantrae threw down his pack »I will go no further«
said he and bade me light the fire damning my blood in terms not proper for a
chairman
I told him to try to forget he had ever been a pirate and to remember he
had been a gentleman
»Are you mad« he cried »Dont cross me here« And then shaking his fist
at the hills »To think« cries he »that I must leave my bones in this
miserable wilderness Would God I had died upon the scaffold like a gentleman«
This he said ranting like an actor and then sat biting his fingers and staring
on the ground a most unchristian object
I took a certain horror of the man for I thought a soldier and a gentleman
should confront his end with more philosophy I made him no reply therefore in
words and presently the evening fell so chill that I was glad for my own sake
to kindle a fire And yet God knows in such an open spot and the country alive
with savages the act was little short of lunacy Ballantrae seemed never to
observe me but at last as I was about parching a little corn he looked up
»Have you ever a brother« said he
»By the blessing of Heaven« said I »not less than five«
»I have the one« said he with a strange voice and then presently »He
shall pay me for all this« he added And when I asked him what was his
brothers part in our distress »What« he cried »he sits in my place he bears
my name he courts my wife and I am here alone with a damned Irishman in this
toothchattering desert O I have been a common gull« he cried
The explosion was in all ways so foreign to my friends nature that I was
daunted out of all my just susceptibility Sure an offensive expression
however vivacious appears a wonderfully small affair in circumstances so
extreme But here there is a strange thing to be noted He had only once before
referred to the lady with whom he was contracted That was when we came in view
of the town of New York when he had told me if all had their rights he was
now in sight of his own property for Miss Graeme enjoyed a large estate in the
province And this was certainly a natural occasion but now here she was named
a second time and what is surely fit to be observed in this very month which
was November Fortyseven and I believe upon that very day as we sat among
these barbarous mountains his brother and Miss Graeme were married I am the
least superstitious of men but the hand of Providence is here displayed too
openly not to be remarked5
The next day and the next were passed in similar labours Ballantrae often
deciding on our course by the spinning of a coin and once when I expostulated
on this childishness he had an odd remark that I have never forgotten »I know
no better way« said he »to express my scorn of human reason.« I think it was
the third day that we found the body of a Christian scalped and most abominably
mangled and lying in a pudder of his blood the birds of the desert screaming
over him as thick as flies I cannot describe how dreadfully this sight
affected us but it robbed me of all strength and all hope for this world The
same day and only a little after we were scrambling over a part of the forest
that had been burned when Ballantrae who was a little ahead ducked suddenly
behind a fallen trunk I joined him in this shelter whence we could look abroad
without being seen ourselves and in the bottom of the next vale beheld a large
warparty of the savages going by across our line There might be the value of a
weak battalion present all naked to the waist blacked with grease and soot
and painted with white lead and vermilion according to their beastly habits
They went one behind another like a string of geese and at a quickish trot so
that they took but a little while to rattle by and disappear again among the
woods Yet I suppose we endured a greater agony of hesitation and suspense in
these few minutes than goes usually to a mans whole life Whether they were
French or English Indians whether they desired scalps or prisoners whether we
should declare ourselves upon the chance or lie quiet and continue the
heartbreaking business of our journey sure I think these were questions to
have puzzled the brains of Aristotle himself Ballantrae turned to me with a
face all wrinkled up and his teeth showing in his mouth like what I have read
of people starving he said no word but his whole appearance was a kind of
dreadful question
»They may be of the English side« I whispered »and think the best we
could then hope is to begin this over again«
»I know I know« he said »Yet it must come to a plunge at last« And he
suddenly plucked out his coin shook it in his closed hands looked at it and
then lay down with his face in the dust
Addition by Mr Mackellar I drop the Chevaliers narration at this point
because the couple quarrelled and separated the same day and the Chevaliers
account of the quarrel seems to me I must confess quite incompatible with the
nature of either of the men Henceforth they wandered alone undergoing
extraordinary sufferings until first one and then the other was picked up by a
party from Fort St Frederick Only two things are to be noted And first as
most important for my purpose that the Master in the course of his miseries
buried his treasure at a point never since discovered but of which he took a
drawing in his own blood on the lining of his hat And second that on his
coming thus penniless to the Fort he was welcomed like a brother by the
Chevalier who thence paid his way to France The simplicity of Mr Burkes
character leads him at this point to praise the Master exceedingly to an eye
more worldlywise it would seem it was the Chevalier alone that was to be
commended I have the more pleasure in pointing to this really very noble trait
of my esteemed correspondent as I fear I may have wounded him immediately
before I have refrained from comments on any of his extraordinary and in my
eyes immoral opinions for I know him to be jealous of respect But his version
of the quarrel is really more than I can reproduce for I knew the Master
myself and a man more insusceptible of fear is not conceivable I regret this
oversight of the Chevaliers and all the more because the tenor of his
narrative set aside a few flourishes strikes me as highly ingenuous
Chapter IV
Persecutions Endured by Mr Henry
You can guess on what part of his adventures the Colonel principally dwelled
Indeed if we had heard it all it is to be thought the current of this business
had been wholly altered but the pirate ship was very gently touched upon Nor
did I hear the Colonel to an end even of that which he was willing to disclose
for Mr Henry having for some while been plunged in a brown study rose at last
from his seat and reminding the Colonel there were matters that he must attend
to bade me follow him immediately to the office
Once there he sought no longer to dissemble his concern walking to and fro
in the room with a contorted face and passing his hand repeatedly upon his
brow
»We have some business« he began at last and there broke off declared we
must have wine and sent for a magnum of the best This was extremely foreign to
his habitudes and what was still more so when the wine had come he gulped
down one glass upon another like a man careless of appearances But the drink
steadied him
»You will scarce be surprised Mackellar« says he »when I tell you that my
brother whose safety we are all rejoiced to learn stands in some need of
money«
I told him I had misdoubted as much but the time was not very fortunate as
the stock was low
»Not mine« said he »There is the money for the mortgage«
I reminded him it was Mrs Henrys
»I will be answerable to my wife« he cried violently
»And then« said I »there is the mortgage«
»I know« said he »it is on that I would consult you«
I showed him how unfortunate a time it was to divert this money from its
destination and how by so doing we must lose the profit of our past
economies and plunge back the estate into the mire I even took the liberty to
plead with him and when he still opposed me with a shake of the head and a
bitter dogged smile my zeal quite carried me beyond my place »This is
midsummer madness« cried I »and I for one will be no party to it«
»You speak as though I did it for my pleasure« says he »But I have a child
now and besides I love order and to say the honest truth Mackellar I had
begun to take a pride in the estates« He gloomed for a moment »But what would
you have« he went on »Nothing is mine nothing This days news has knocked
the bottom out of my life I have only the name and the shadow of things only
the shadow there is no substance in my rights«
»They will prove substantial enough before a court« said I
He looked at me with a burning eye and seemed to repress the word upon his
lips and I repented what I had said for I saw that while he spoke of the
estate he had still a sidethought to his marriage And then of a sudden he
twitched the letter from his pocket where it lay all crumpled smoothed it
violently on the table and read these words to me with a trembling tongue
»My dear Jacob This is how he begins« cries he »My dear Jacob I once
called you so you may remember and you have now done the business and flung
my heels as high as Criffel What do you think of that Mackellar« says he
»from an only brother I declare to God I liked him very well I was always
staunch to him and this is how he writes But I will not sit down under the
imputation« walking to and fro »I am as good as he I am a better man than
he I call on God to prove it I cannot give him all the monstrous sum he asks
he knows the estate to be incompetent but I will give him what I have and it
is more than he expects I have borne all this too long See what he writes
further on read it for yourself I know you are a niggardly dog A niggardly
dog I niggardly Is that true Mackellar You think it is« I really thought he
would have struck me at that »O you all think so Well you shall see and he
shall see and God shall see If I ruin the estate and go barefoot I shall
stuff this bloodsucker Let him ask all all and he shall have it It is all
his by rights Ah« he cried »and I foresaw all this and worse when he would
not let me go« He poured out another glass of wine and was about to carry it
to his lips when I made so bold as to lay a finger on his arm He stopped a
moment »You are right« said he and flung glass and all in the fireplace
»Come let us count the money«
I durst no longer oppose him indeed I was very much affected by the sight
of so much disorder in a man usually so controlled and we sat down together
counted the money and made it up in packets for the greater ease of Colonel
Burke who was to be the bearer This done Mr Henry returned to the hall
where he and my old lord sat all night through with their guest
A little before dawn I was called and set out with the Colonel He would
scarce have liked a less responsible convoy for he was a man who valued
himself nor could we afford him one more dignified for Mr Henry must not
appear with the freetraders It was a very bitter morning of wind and as we
went down through the long shrubbery the Colonel held himself muffled in his
cloak
»Sir« said I »this is a great sum of money that your friend requires I
must suppose his necessities to be very great«
»We must suppose so« says he I thought drily but perhaps it was the cloak
about his mouth
»I am only a servant of the family« said I »You may deal openly with me I
think we are likely to get little good by him«
»My dear man« said the Colonel »Ballantrae is a gentleman of the most
eminent natural abilities and a man that I admire and that I revere to the
very ground he treads on« And then he seemed to me to pause like one in a
difficulty
»But for all that« said I »we are likely to get little good by him«
»Sure and you can have it your own way my dear man« says the Colonel
By this time we had come to the side of the creek where the boat awaited
him »Well« said he »I am sure I am very much your debtor for all your
civility Mr Whateveryournameis and just as a last word and since you show
so much intelligent interest I will mention a small circumstance that may be of
use to the family For I believe my friend omitted to mention that he has the
largest pension on the Scots Fund of any refugee in Paris and its the more
disgraceful sir« cries the Colonel warming »because theres not one dirty
penny for myself«
He cocked his hat at me as if I had been to blame for this partiality then
changed again into his usual swaggering civility shook me by the hand and set
off down to the boat with the money under his arms and whistling as he went
the pathetic air of Shule Aroon It was the first time I had heard that tune I
was to hear it again words and all as you shall learn but I remember how that
little stave of it ran in my head after the freetraders had bade him Wheesht
in the deils name and the grating of the oars had taken its place and I stood
and watched the dawn creeping on the sea and the boat drawing away and the
lugger lying with her foresail backed awaiting it
The gap made in our money was a sore embarrassment and among other
consequences it had this that I must ride to Edinburgh and there raise a new
loan on very questionable terms to keep the old afloat and was thus for close
upon three weeks absent from the house of Durrisdeer
What passed in the interval I had none to tell me but I found Mrs Henry
upon my return much changed in her demeanour The old talks with my lord for
the most part pretermitted a certain deprecation visible towards her husband
to whom I thought she addressed herself more often and for one thing she was
now greatly wrapped up in Miss Katharine You would think the change was
agreeable to Mr Henry no such matter To the contrary every circumstance of
alteration was a stab to him he read in each the avowal of her truant fancies
That constancy to the Master of which she was proud while she supposed him dead
she had to blush for now she knew he was alive and these blushes were the hated
spring of her new conduct I am to conceal no truth and I will here say
plainly I think this was the period in which Mr Henry showed the worst He
contained himself indeed in public but there was a deepseated irritation
visible underneath With me from whom he had less concealment he was often
grossly unjust and even for his wife he would sometimes have a sharp retort
perhaps when she had ruffled him with some unwonted kindness perhaps upon no
tangible occasion the mere habitual tenor of the mans annoyance bursting
spontaneously forth When he would thus forget himself a thing so strangely out
of keeping with the terms of their relation there went a shock through the
whole company and the pair would look upon each other in a kind of pained
amazement
All the time too while he was injuring himself by this defect of temper
he was hurting his position by a silence of which I scarce know whether to say
it was the child of generosity or pride The freetraders came again and again
bringing messengers from the Master and none departed emptyhanded I never
durst reason with Mr Henry he gave what was asked of him in a kind of noble
rage Perhaps because he knew he was by nature inclining to the parsimonious he
took a backforemost pleasure in the recklessness with which he supplied his
brothers exigence Perhaps the falsity of the position would have spurred a
humbler man into the same excess But the estate if I may say so groaned under
it our daily expenses were shorn lower and lower the stables were emptied all
but four roadsters servants were discharged which raised a dreadful murmuring
in the country and heated up the old disfavour upon Mr Henry and at last the
yearly visit to Edinburgh must be discontinued
This was in 1756 You are to suppose that for seven years this bloodsucker
had been drawing the lifes blood from Durrisdeer and that all this time my
patron had held his peace It was an effect of devilish malice in the Master
that he addressed Mr Henry alone upon the matter of his demands and there was
never a word to my lord The family had looked on wondering at our economies
They had lamented I have no doubt that my patron had become so great a miser
a fault always despicable but in the young abhorrent and Mr Henry was not yet
thirty years of age Still he had managed the business of Durrisdeer almost
from a boy and they bore with these changes in a silence as proud and bitter as
his own until the copingstone of the Edinburgh visit
At this time I believe my patron and his wife were rarely together save at
meals Immediately on the back of Colonel Burkes announcement Mrs Henry made
palpable advances you might say she had laid a sort of timid court to her
husband different indeed from her former manner of unconcern and distance I
never had the heart to blame Mr Henry because he recoiled from these advances
nor yet to censure the wife when she was cut to the quick by their rejection
But the result was an entire estrangement so that as I say they rarely spoke
except at meals Even the matter of the Edinburgh visit was first broached at
table and it chanced that Mrs Henry was that day ailing and querulous She had
no sooner understood her husbands meaning than the red flew in her face
»At last« she cried »this is too much Heaven knows what pleasure I have
in my life that I should be denied my only consolation These shameful
proclivities must be trod down we are already a mark and an eyesore in the
neighbourhood I will not endure this fresh insanity«
»I cannot afford it« says Mr Henry
»Afford« she cried »For shame But I have money of my own«
»That is all mine madam by marriage« he snarled and instantly left the
room
My old lord threw up his hands to Heaven and he and his daughter
withdrawing to the chimney gave me a broad hint to be gone I found Mr Henry
in his usual retreat the stewards room perched on the end of the table and
plunging his penknife in it with a very ugly countenance
»Mr Henry« said I »you do yourself too much injustice and it is time
this should cease«
»O« cries he »nobody minds here They think it only natural I have
shameful proclivities I am a niggardly dog« and he drove his knife up to the
hilt »But I will show that fellow« he cried with an oath »I will show him
which is the more generous«
»This is no generosity« said I »this is only pride«
»Do you think I want morality« he asked
I thought he wanted help and I should give it him willynilly and no
sooner was Mrs Henry gone to her room than I presented myself at her door and
sought admittance
She openly showed her wonder »What do you want with me Mr Mackellar«
said she
»The Lord knows madam« says I »I have never troubled you before with any
freedoms but this thing lies too hard upon my conscience and it will out Is
it possible that two people can be so blind as you and my lord and have lived
all these years with a noble gentleman like Mr Henry and understand so little
of his nature«
»What does this mean« she cried
»Do you not know where his money goes to his and yours and the money
for the very wine he does not drink at table« I went on »To Paris to that
man Eight thousand pounds has he had of us in seven years and my patron fool
enough to keep it secret«
»Eight thousand pounds« she repeated »It is impossible the estate is not
sufficient«
»God knows how we have sweated farthings to produce it« said I »But eight
thousand and sixty is the sum beside odd shillings And if you can think my
patron miserly after that this shall be my last interference«
»You need say no more Mr Mackellar« said she »You have done most
properly in what you too modestly call your interference I am much to blame
you must think me indeed a very unobservant wife« looking upon me with a
strange smile »but I shall put this right at once The Master was always of a
very thoughtless nature but his heart is excellent he is the soul of
generosity I shall write to him myself You cannot think how you have pained me
by this communication«
»Indeed madam I had hoped to have pleased you« said I for I raged to see
her still thinking of the Master
»And pleased« said she »and pleased me of course«
That same day I will not say but what I watched I had the satisfaction to
see Mr Henry come from his wifes room in a state most unlike himself for his
face was all bloated with weeping and yet he seemed to me to walk upon the air
By this I was sure his wife had made him full amends for once »Ah« thought I
to myself »I have done a brave stroke this day«
On the morrow as I was seated at my books Mr Henry came in softly behind
me took me by the shoulders and shook me in a manner of playfulness »I find
you are a faithless fellow after all« says he which was his only reference to
my part but the tone he spoke in was more to me than any eloquence of
protestation Nor was this all I had effected for when the next messenger came
as he did not long afterwards from the Master he got nothing away with him
but a letter For some while back it had been I myself who had conducted these
affairs Mr Henry not setting pen to paper and I only in the driest and most
formal terms But this letter I did not even see it would scarce be pleasant
reading for Mr Henry felt he had his wife behind him for once and I observed
on the day it was despatched he had a very gratified expression
Things went better now in the family though it could scarce be pretended
they went well There was now at least no misconception there was kindness upon
all sides and I believe my patron and his wife might again have drawn together
if he could but have pocketed his pride and she forgot what was the ground of
all her brooding on another man It is wonderful how a private thought leaks
out it is wonderful to me now how we should all have followed the current of
her sentiments and though she bore herself quietly and had a very even
disposition yet we should have known whenever her fancy ran to Paris And would
not any one have thought that my disclosure must have rooted up that idol I
think there is the devil in women all these years passed never a sight of the
man little enough kindness to remember by all accounts even while she had
him the notion of his death intervening his heartless rapacity laid bare to
her that all should not do and she must still keep the best place in her heart
for this accursed fellow is a thing to make a plain man rage I had never much
natural sympathy for the passion of love but this unreason in my patrons wife
disgusted me outright with the whole matter I remember checking a maid because
she sang some bairnly kickshaw while my mind was thus engaged and my asperity
brought about my ears the enmity of all the petticoats about the house of which
I recked very little but it amused Mr Henry who rallied me much upon our
joint unpopularity It is strange enough for my own mother was certainly one of
the salt of the earth and my Aunt Dickson who paid my fees at the University
a very notable woman but I have never had much toleration for the female sex
possibly not much understanding and being far from a bold man I have ever
shunned their company Not only do I see no cause to regret this diffidence in
myself but have invariably remarked the most unhappy consequences follow those
who were less wise So much I thought proper to set down lest I show myself
unjust to Mrs Henry And besides the remark arose naturally on a reperusal
of the letter which was the next step in these affairs and reached me to my
sincere astonishment by a private hand some week or so after the departure of
the last messenger
Letter from Colonel Burke
afterwards Chevalier to Mr Mackellar
Troyes in Champagne
July 12 1756
My dear Sir You will doubtless be surprised to receive a
communication from one so little known to you but on the occasion I had
the good fortune to rencounter you at Durrisdeer I remarked you for a
young man of a solid gravity of character a qualification which I
profess I admire and revere next to natural genius or the bold
chivalrous spirit of the soldier I was besides interested in the
noble family which you have the honour to serve or to speak more by
the book to be the humble and respected friend of and a conversation I
had the pleasure to have with you very early in the morning has remained
much upon my mind
Being the other day in Paris on a visit from this famous city
where I am in garrison I took occasion to inquire your name which I
profess I had forgot at my friend the Master of B and a fair
opportunity occurring I write to inform you of whats new
The Master of B when we had last some talk of him together was in
receipt as I think I then told you of a highly advantageous pension on
the Scots Fund He next received a company and was soon after advanced
to a regiment of his own My dear sir I do not offer to explain this
circumstance any more than why I myself who have rid at the right hand
of Princes should be fubbed off with a pair of colours and sent to rot
in a hole at the bottom of the province Accustomed as I am to Courts I
cannot but feel it is no atmosphere for a plain soldier and I could
never hope to advance by similar means even could I stoop to the
endeavour But our friend has a particular aptitude to succeed by the
means of ladies and if all be true that I have heard he enjoyed a
remarkable protection It is like this turned against him for when I
had the honour to shake him by the hand he was but newly released from
the Bastille where he had been cast on a sealed letter and though now
released has both lost his regiment and his pension My dear sir the
loyalty of a plain Irishman will ultimately succeed in the place of
craft as I am sure a gentleman of your probity will agree
Now sir the Master is a man whose genius I admire beyond
expression and besides he is my friend but I thought a little word
of this revolution in his fortunes would not come amiss for in my
opinion the mans desperate He spoke when I saw him of an adventure
upon India whither I am myself in some hope of accompanying my
illustrious countryman Mr Lally but for this he would require as I
understood more money than was readily at his command You may have
heard a military proverb that it is a good thing to make a bridge of
gold to a flying enemy I trust you will take my meaning and I
subscribe myself with proper respects to my Lord Durrisdeer to his
son and to the beauteous Mrs Durie
My dear Sir
Your obedient humble Servant
FRANCIS BURKE
This missive I carried at once to Mr Henry and I think there was but the one
thought between the two of us that it had come a week too late I made haste to
send an answer to Colonel Burke in which I begged him if he should see the
Master to assure him his next messenger would be attended to But with all my
haste I was not in time to avert what was impending the arrow had been drawn
it must now fly I could almost doubt the power of Providence and certainly His
will to stay the issue of events and it is a strange thought how many of us
had been storing up the elements of this catastrophe for how long a time and
with how blind an ignorance of what we did
From the coming of the Colonels letter I had a spyglass in my room began to
drop questions to the tenant folk and as there was no great secrecy observed
and the freetrade in our part went by force as much as stealth I had soon
got together a knowledge of the signals in use and knew pretty well to an hour
when any messenger might be expected I say I questioned the tenants for with
the traders themselves desperate blades that went habitually armed I could
never bring myself to meddle willingly Indeed by what proved in the sequel an
unhappy chance I was an object of scorn to some of these braggadocios who had
not only gratified me with a nickname but catching me one night upon a bypath
and being all as they would have said somewhat merry had caused me to dance
for their diversion The method employed was that of cruelly chipping at my toes
with naked cutlasses shouting at the same time Squaretoes and though they did
me no bodily mischief I was none the less deplorably affected and was indeed
for several days confined to my bed a scandal on the state of Scotland on which
no comment is required
It happened on the afternoon of November 7th in this same unfortunate year
that I espied during my walk the smoke of a beacon fire upon the Muckleross
It was drawing near time for my return but the uneasiness upon my spirits was
that day so great that I must burst through the thickets to the edge of what
they call the Craig Head The sun was already down but there was still a broad
light in the west which showed me some of the smugglers treading out their
signal fire upon the Ross and in the bay the lugger lying with her sails
brailed up She was plainly but new come to anchor and yet the skiff was
already lowered and pulling for the landingplace at the end of the long
shrubbery And this I knew could signify but one thing the coming of a
messenger for Durrisdeer
I laid aside the remainder of my terrors clambered down the brae a place
I had never ventured through before and was hid among the shoreside thickets
in time to see the boat touch Captain Crail himself was steering a thing not
usual by his side there sat a passenger and the men gave way with difficulty
being hampered with near upon half a dozen portmanteaus great and small But
the business of landing was briskly carried through and presently the baggage
was all tumbled on shore the boat on its return voyage to the lugger and the
passenger standing alone upon the point of rock a tall slender figure of a
gentleman habited in black with a sword by his side and a walkingcane upon
his wrist As he so stood he waved the cane to Captain Crail by way of
salutation with something both of grace and mockery that wrote the gesture
deeply on my mind
No sooner was the boat away with my sworn enemies than I took a sort of half
courage came forth to the margin of the thicket and there halted again my
mind being greatly pulled about between natural diffidence and a dark foreboding
of the truth Indeed I might have stood there swithering all night had not the
stranger turned spied me through the mists which were beginning to fall and
waved and cried on me to draw near I did so with a heart like lead
»Here my good man« said he in the English accent »here are some things
for Durrisdeer«
I was now near enough to see him a very handsome figure and countenance
swarthy lean long with a quick alert black look as of one who was a
fighter and accustomed to command upon one cheek he had a mole not
unbecoming a large diamond sparkled on his hand his clothes although of the
one hue were of a French and foppish design his ruffles which he wore longer
than common of exquisite lace and I wondered the more to see him in such a
guise when he was but newly landed from a dirty smuggling lugger At the same
time he had a better look at me toised me a second time sharply and then
smiled
»I wager my friend« says he »that I know both your name and your
nickname I divined these very clothes upon your hand of writing Mr
Mackellar«
At these words I fell to shaking
»O« says he »you need not be afraid of me I bear no malice for your
tedious letters and it is my purpose to employ you a good deal You may call me
Mr Bally it is the name I have assumed or rather since I am addressing so
great a precisian it is so I have curtailed my own Come now pick up that and
that« indicating two of the portmanteaus »That will be as much as you are fit
to bear and the rest can very well wait Come lose no more time if you
please«
His tone was so cutting that I managed to do as he bid by a sort of
instinct my mind being all the time quite lost No sooner had I picked up the
portmanteaus than he turned his back and marched off through the long shrubbery
where it began already to be dusk for the wood is thick and evergreen I
followed behind loaded almost to the dust though I profess I was not conscious
of the burthen being swallowed up in the monstrosity of this return and my
mind flying like a weavers shuttle
On a sudden I set the portmanteaus to the ground and halted He turned and
looked back at me
»Well« said he
»You are the Master of Ballantrae«
»You will do me the justice to observe« says he »that I have made no
secret with the astute Mackellar«
»And in the name of God« cries I »what brings you here Go back while it
is yet time«
»I thank you« said he »Your master has chosen this way and not I but
since he has made the choice he and you also must abide by the result And
now pick up these things of mine which you have set down in a very boggy place
and attend to that which I have made your business«
But I had no thought now of obedience I came straight up to him »If
nothing will move you to go back« said I »though sure under all the
circumstances any Christian or even any gentleman would scruple to go forward
«
»These are gratifying expressions« he threw in
»If nothing will move you to go back« I continued »there are still some
decencies to be observed Wait here with your baggage and I will go forward and
prepare your family Your father is an old man and « I stumbled »there
are decencies to be observed«
»Truly« said he »this Mackellar improves upon acquaintance But look you
here my man and understand it once for all you waste your breath upon me
and I go my own way with inevitable motion«
»Ah« says I »Is that so We shall see then«
And I turned and took to my heels for Durrisdeer He clutched at me and
cried out angrily and then I believe I heard him laugh and then I am certain
he pursued me for a step or two and I suppose desisted One thing at least is
sure that I came but a few minutes later to the door of the great house nearly
strangled for the lack of breath but quite alone Straight up the stair I ran
and burst into the hall and stopped before the family without the power of
speech but I must have carried my story in my looks for they rose out of their
places and stared on me like changelings
»He has come« I panted out at last
»He« said Mr Henry
»Himself« said I
»My son« cried my lord »Imprudent imprudent boy O could he not stay
where he was safe«
Never a word says Mrs Henry nor did I look at her I scarce knew why
»Well« said Mr Henry with a very deep breath »and where is he«
»I left him in the long shrubbery« said I
»Take me to him« said he
So we went out together he and I without another word from any one and in
the midst of the gravelled plot encountered the Master strolling up whistling
as he came and beating the air with his cane There was still light enough
overhead to recognise though not to read a countenance
»Ah Jacob« says the Master »So here is Esau back«
»James« says Mr Henry »for Gods sake call me by my name I will not
pretend that I am glad to see you but I would fain make you as welcome as I can
in the house of our fathers«
»Or in my house or yours« says the Master »Which were you about to say
But this is an old sore and we need not rub it If you would not share with me
in Paris I hope you will yet scarce deny your elder brother a corner of the
fire at Durrisdeer«
»That is very idle speech« replied Mr Henry »And you understand the power
of your position excellently well«
»Why I believe I do« said the other with a little laugh And this though
they had never touched hands was as we may say the end of the brothers
meeting for at this the Master turned to me and bade me fetch his baggage
I on my side turned to Mr Henry for a confirmation perhaps with some
defiance
»As long as the Master is here Mr Mackellar you will very much oblige me
by regarding his wishes as you would my own« says Mr Henry »We are constantly
troubling you will you be so good as send one of the servants« with an
accent on the word
If this speech were anything at all it was surely a welldeserved reproof
upon the stranger and yet so devilish was his impudence he twisted it the
other way
»And shall we be common enough to say Sneck up« inquires he softly looking
upon me sideways
Had a kingdom depended on the act I could not have trusted myself in words
even to call a servant was beyond me I had rather serve the man myself than
speak and I turned away in silence and went into the long shrubbery with a
heart full of anger and despair It was dark under the trees and I walked
before me and forgot what business I was come upon till I nearly broke my shin
on the portmanteaus Then it was that I remarked a strange particular for
whereas I had before carried both and scarce observed it it was now as much as
I could do to manage one And this as it forced me to make two journeys kept
me the longer from the hall
When I got there the business of welcome was over long ago the company was
already at supper and by an oversight that cut me to the quick my place had
been forgotten I had seen one side of the Masters return now I was to see the
other It was he who first remarked my coming in and standing back as I did in
some annoyance He jumped from his seat
»And if I have not got the good Mackellars place« cries he »John lay
another for Mr Bally I protest he will disturb no one and your table is big
enough for all«
I could scarce credit my ears nor yet my senses when he took me by the
shoulders and thrust me laughing into my own place such an affectionate
playfulness was in his voice And while John laid the fresh place for him a
thing on which he still insisted he went and leaned on his fathers chair and
looked down upon him and the old man turned about and looked upwards on his
son with such a pleasant mutual tenderness that I could have carried my hand to
my head in mere amazement
Yet all was of a piece Never a harsh word fell from him never a sneer
showed upon his lip He had laid aside even his cutting English accent and
spoke with the kindly Scots tongue that set a value on affectionate words and
though his manners had a graceful elegance mighty foreign to our ways in
Durrisdeer it was still a homely courtliness that did not shame but flattered
us All that he did throughout the meal indeed drinking wine with me with a
notable respect turning about for a pleasant word with John fondling his
fathers hand breaking into little merry tales of his adventures calling up
the past with happy reference all he did was so becoming and himself so
handsome that I could scarce wonder if my lord and Mrs Henry sat about the
board with radiant faces or if John waited behind with dropping tears
As soon as supper was over Mrs Henry rose to withdraw
»This was never your way Alison« said he
»It is my way now« she replied which was notoriously false »and I will
give you a goodnight James and a welcome from the dead« said she and her
voice dropped and trembled
Poor Mr Henry who had made rather a heavy figure through the meal was
more concerned than ever pleased to see his wife withdraw and yet half
displeased as he thought upon the cause of it and the next moment altogether
dashed by the fervour of her speech
On my part I thought I was now one too many and was stealing after Mrs
Henry when the Master saw me
»Now Mr Mackellar« says he »I take this near on an unfriendliness I
cannot have you go this is to make a stranger of the prodigal son and let me
remind you where in his own fathers house Come sit ye down and drink
another glass with Mr Bally«
»Ay ay Mr Mackellar« says my lord »we must not make a stranger either
of him or you I have been telling my son« he added his voice brightening as
usual on the word »how much we valued all your friendly service«
So I sat there silent till my usual hour and might have been almost
deceived in the mans nature but for one passage in which his perfidy appeared
too plain Here was the passage of which after what he knows of the brothers
meeting the reader shall consider for himself Mr Henry sitting somewhat
dully in spite of his best endeavours to carry things before my lord up jumps
the Master passes about the board and claps his brother on the shoulder
»Come come Hairry lad« says he with a broad accent such as they must
have used together when they were boys »you must not be downcast because your
brother has come home Alls yours thats sure enough and little I grudge it
you Neither must you grudge me my place beside my fathers fire«
»And that is too true Henry« says my old lord with a little frown a
thing rare with him »You have been the elder brother of the parable in the good
sense you must be careful of the other«
»I am easily put in the wrong« said Mr Henry
»Who puts you in the wrong« cried my lord I thought very tartly for so
mild a man »You have earned my gratitude and your brothers many thousand
times you may count on its endurance and let that suffice«
»Ay Harry that you may« said the Master and I thought Mr Henry looked
at him with a kind of wildness in his eye
On all the miserable business that now followed I have four questions that I
asked myself often at the time and ask myself still Was the man moved by a
particular sentiment against Mr Henry or by what he thought to be his
interest or by a mere delight in cruelty such as cats display and theologians
tell us of the devil or by what he would have called love My common opinion
halts among the three first but perhaps there lay at the spring of his
behaviour an element of all As thus Animosity to Mr Henry would explain his
hateful usage of him when they were alone the interests he came to serve would
explain his very different attitude before my lord that and some spice of a
design of gallantry his care to stand well with Mrs Henry and the pleasure of
malice for itself, the pains he was continually at to mingle and oppose these
lines of conduct
Partly because I was a very open friend to my patron partly because in my
letters to Paris I had often given myself some freedom of remonstrance I was
included in his diabolical amusement When I was alone with him he pursued me
with sneers before the family he used me with the extreme of friendly
condescension This was not only painful in itself; not only did it put me
continually in the wrong but there was in it an element of insult
indescribable That he should thus leave me out in his dissimulation as though
even my testimony were too despicable to be considered galled me to the blood
But what it was to me is not worth notice I make but memorandum of it here and
chiefly for this reason that it had one good result and gave me the quicker
sense of Mr Henrys martyrdom
It was on him the burthen fell How was he to respond to the public advances
of one who never lost a chance of gibing him in private How was he to smile
back on the deceiver and the insulter He was condemned to seem ungracious He
was condemned to silence Had he been less proud had he spoken who would have
credited the truth The acted calumny had done its work my lord and Mrs Henry
were the daily witnesses of what went on they could have sworn in court that
the Master was a model of longsuffering goodnature and Mr Henry a pattern of
jealousy and thanklessness And ugly enough as these must have appeared in any
one they seemed tenfold uglier in Mr Henry for who could forget that the
Master lay in peril of his life and that he had already lost his mistress his
title and his fortune
»Henry will you ride with me« asks the Master one day
And Mr Henry who had been goaded by the man all morning raps out »I will
not«
»I sometimes wish you would be kinder Henry« says the other wistfully
I give this for a specimen but such scenes befell continually Small wonder
if Mr Henry was blamed small wonder if I fretted myself into something near
upon a bilious fever nay and at the mere recollection feel a bitterness in my
blood
Sure never in this world was a more diabolical contrivance so perfidious
so simple so impossible to combat And yet I think again and I think always
Mrs Henry might have read between the lines she might have had more knowledge
of her husbands nature after all these years of marriage she might have
commanded or captured his confidence And my old lord too that very watchful
gentleman where was all his observation But for one thing the deceit was
practised by a master hand and might have gulled an angel For another in the
case of Mrs Henry I have observed there are no persons so far away as those
who are both married and estranged so that they seem out of earshot or to
have no common tongue For a third in the case of both of these spectators
they were blinded by old ingrained predilection And for a fourth the risk the
Master was supposed to stand in supposed I say you will soon hear why made
it seem the more ungenerous to criticise and keeping them in a perpetual
tender solicitude about his life blinded them the more effectually to his
faults
It was during this time that I perceived most clearly the effect of manner
and was led to lament most deeply the plainness of my own Mr Henry had the
essence of a gentleman when he was moved when there was any call of
circumstance he could play his part with dignity and spirit but in the days
commerce it is idle to deny it he fell short of the ornamental The Master on
the other hand had never a movement but it commended him So it befell that
when the one appeared gracious and the other ungracious every trick of their
bodies seemed to call out confirmation Not that alone but the more deeply Mr
Henry floundered in his brothers toils the more clownish he grew and the more
the Master enjoyed his spiteful entertainment the more engagingly the more
smilingly he went So that the plot by its own scope and progress furthered
and confirmed itself.
It was one of the mans arts to use the peril in which as I say he was
supposed to stand He spoke of it to those who loved him with a gentle
pleasantry which made it the more touching To Mr Henry he used it as a cruel
weapon of offence I remember his laying his finger on the clean lozenge of the
painted window one day when we three were alone together in the hall »Here went
your lucky guinea Jacob« said he And when Mr Henry only looked upon him
darkly »O« he added »you need not look such impotent malice my good fly You
can be rid of your spider when you please How long O Lord When are you to be
wrought to the point of a denunciation scrupulous brother It is one of my
interests in this dreary hole I ever loved experiment« Still Mr Henry only
stared upon him with a glooming brow and a changed colour and at last the
Master broke out in a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder calling him a sulky
dog At this my patron leaped back with a gesture I thought very dangerous and
I must suppose the Master thought so too for he looked the least in the world
discountenanced and I do not remember him again to have laid hands on Mr
Henry
But though he had his peril always on his lips in the one way or the other
I thought his conduct strangely incautious and began to fancy the Government
who had set a price upon his head was gone sound asleep I will not deny I was
tempted with the wish to denounce him but two thoughts withheld me one that
if he were thus to end his life upon an honourable scaffold the man would be
canonised for good in the minds of his father and my patrons wife the other
that if I was anyway mingled in the matter Mr Henry himself would scarce
escape some glancings of suspicion And in the meanwhile our enemy went in and
out more than I could have thought possible the fact that he was home again was
buzzed about all the countryside and yet he was never stirred Of all those
somany and sodifferent persons who were acquainted with his presence none had
the least greed as I used to say in my annoyance or the least loyalty and
the man rode here and there fully more welcome considering the lees of old
unpopularity than Mr Henry and considering the freetraders far safer than
myself
Not but what he had a trouble of his own and this as it brought about the
gravest consequences I must now relate The reader will scarce have forgotten
Jessie Broun her way of life was much among the smuggling party Captain Crail
himself was of her intimates and she had early word of Mr Ballys presence at
the house In my opinion she had long ceased to care two straws for the
Masters person but it was become her habit to connect herself continually with
the Masters name that was the ground of all her playacting and so now when
he was back she thought she owed it to herself to grow a haunter of the
neighbourhood of Durrisdeer The Master could scarce go abroad but she was there
in wait for him a scandalous figure of a woman not often sober hailing him
wildly as her bonny laddie quoting pedlars poetry and as I receive the
story even seeking to weep upon his neck I own I rubbed my hands over this
persecution but the Master who laid so much upon others was himself the least
patient of men There were strange scenes enacted in the policies Some say he
took his cane to her and Jessie fell back upon her former weapons stones It
is certain at least that he made a motion to Captain Crail to have the woman
trepanned and that the Captain refused the proposition with uncommon vehemence
And the end of the matter was victory for Jessie Money was got together an
interview took place in which my proud gentleman must consent to be kissed and
wept upon and the woman was set up in a public of her own somewhere on Solway
side but I forget where and by the only news I ever had of it extremely
illfrequented
This is to look forward After Jessie had been but a little while upon his
heels the Master comes to me one day in the stewards office and with more
civility than usual »Mackellar« says he »there is a damned crazy wench comes
about here I cannot well move in the matter myself which brings me to you Be
so good as to see to it the men must have a strict injunction to drive the
wench away«
»Sir« said I trembling a little »you can do your own dirty errands for
yourself«
He said not a word to that and left the room
Presently came Mr Henry »Here is news« cried he »It seems all is not
enough and you must add to my wretchedness It seems you have insulted Mr
Bally«
»Under your kind favour Mr Henry« said I »it was he that insulted me
and as I think grossly But I may have been careless of your position when I
spoke and if you think so when you know all my dear patron you have but to
say the word For you I would obey in any point whatever even to sin God
pardon me« And thereupon I told him what had passed
Mr Henry smiled to himself a grimmer smile I never witnessed »You did
exactly well« said he »He shall drink his Jessie Broun to the dregs« And
then spying the Master outside he opened the window and crying to him by the
name of Mr Bally asked him to step up and have a word
»James« said he when our persecutor had come in and closed the door behind
him looking at me with a smile as if he thought I was to be humbled »you
brought me a complaint against Mr Mackellar into which I have inquired I need
not tell you I would always take his word against yours for we are alone and I
am going to use something of your own freedom Mr Mackellar is a gentleman I
value and you must contrive so long as you are under this roof to bring
yourself into no more collisions with one whom I will support at any possible
cost to me or mine As for the errand upon which you came to him you must
deliver yourself from the consequences of your own cruelty and none of my
servants shall be at all employed in such a case«
»My fathers servants I believe« said the Master
»Go to him with this tale« said Mr Henry
The Master grew very white He pointed at me with his finger »I want that
man discharged« he said
»He shall not be« said Mr Henry
»You shall pay pretty dear for this« says the Master
»I have paid so dear already for a wicked brother« said Mr Henry »that I
am bankrupt even of fears You have no place left where you can strike me«
»I will show you about that« says the Master and went softly away
»What will he do next Mackellar« cries Mr Henry
»Let me go away« said I »My dear patron let me go away I am but the
beginning of fresh sorrows«
»Would you leave me quite alone« said he
We were not long in suspense as to the nature of the new assault Up to that
hour the Master had played a very close game with Mrs Henry avoiding pointedly
to be alone with her which I took at the time for an effect of decency but now
think to have been a most insidious art meeting her you may say at mealtime
only and behaving when he did so like an affectionate brother Up to that
hour you may say he had scarce directly interfered between Mr Henry and his
wife except in so far as he had manoeuvred the one quite forth from the good
graces of the other Now all that was to be changed but whether really in
revenge or because he was wearying of Durrisdeer and looked about for some
diversion who but the devil shall decide
From that hour at least began the siege of Mrs Henry a thing so deftly
carried on that I scarce know if she was aware of it herself and that her
husband must look on in silence The first parallel was opened as was made to
appear by accident The talk fell as it did often on the exiles in France so
it glided to the matter of their songs
»There is one« says the Master »if you are curious in these matters that
has always seemed to me very moving The poetry is harsh and yet perhaps
because of my situation it has always found the way to my heart It is supposed
to be sung I should tell you by an exiles sweetheart and represents perhaps
not so much the truth of what she is thinking as the truth of what he hopes of
her poor soul in these far lands« And here the Master sighed »I protest it
is a pathetic sight when a score of rough Irish all common sentinels get to
this song and you may see by their falling tears how it strikes home to them
It goes thus father« says he very adroitly taking my lord for his listener
»and if I cannot get to the end of it you must think it is a common case with
us exiles« And thereupon he struck up the same air as I had heard the Colonel
whistle but now to words rustic indeed yet most pathetically setting forth a
poor girls aspirations for an exiled lover of which one verse indeed or
something like it still sticks by me
»O I will dye my petticoat red
With my dear boy Ill beg my bread
Though all my friends should wish me dead
For Willie among the rushes O«
He sang it well even as a song but he did better yet as a performer I have
heard famous actors when there was not a dry eye in the Edinburgh theatre a
great wonder to behold but no more wonderful than how the Master played upon
that little ballad and on those who heard him like an instrument and seemed
now upon the point of failing and now to conquer his distress so that words
and music seemed to pour out of his own heart and his own past and to be aimed
directly at Mrs Henry And his art went further yet for all was so delicately
touched it seemed impossible to suspect him of the least design and so far
from making a parade of emotion you would have sworn he was striving to be
calm When it came to an end we all sat silent for a time he had chosen the
dusk of the afternoon so that none could see his neighbours face but it
seemed as if we held our breathing only my old lord cleared his throat The
first to move was the singer who got to his feet suddenly and softly and went
and walked softly to and fro in the low end of the hall Mr Henrys customary
place We were to suppose that he there struggled down the last of his emotion
for he presently returned and launched into a disquisition on the nature of the
Irish always so much miscalled and whom he defended in his natural voice so
that before the lights were brought we were in the usual course of talk But
even then methought Mrs Henrys face was a shade pale and for another thing
she withdrew almost at once
The next sign was a friendship this insidious devil struck up with innocent
Miss Katharine so that they were always together hand in hand or she climbing
on his knee like a pair of children Like all his diabolical acts this cut in
several ways It was the last stroke to Mr Henry to see his own babe debauched
against him it made him harsh with the poor innocent which brought him still a
peg lower in his wifes esteem and to conclude it was a bond of union between
the lady and the Master Under this influence their old reserve melted by daily
stages Presently there came walks in the long shrubbery talks in the
Belvedere and I know not what tender familiarity I am sure Mrs Henry was like
many a good woman she had a whole conscience but perhaps by the means of a
little winking For even to so dull an observer as myself it was plain her
kindness was of a more moving nature than the sisterly The tones of her voice
appeared more numerous she had a light and softness in her eye she was more
gentle with all of us even with Mr Henry even with myself methought she
breathed of some quiet melancholy happiness
To look on at this what a torment it was for Mr Henry And yet it brought
our ultimate deliverance as I am soon to tell
The purport of the Masters stay was no more noble gild it as they might than
to wring money out He had some design of a fortune in the French Indies as the
Chevalier wrote me and it was the sum required for this that he came seeking
For the rest of the family it spelled ruin but my lord in his incredible
partiality pushed ever for the granting The family was now so narrowed down
indeed there were no more of them than just the father and the two sons that
it was possible to break the entail and alienate a piece of land And to this
at first by hints and then by open pressure Mr Henry was brought to consent
He never would have done so I am very well assured but for the weight of the
distress under which he laboured But for his passionate eagerness to see his
brother gone he would not thus have broken with his own sentiment and the
traditions of his house And even so he sold them his consent at a dear rate
speaking for once openly and holding the business up in its own shameful
colours
»You will observe« he said »this is an injustice to my son if ever I have
one«
»But that you are not likely to have« said my lord
»God knows« says Mr Henry »And considering the cruel falseness of the
position in which I stand to my brother and that you my lord are my father
and have the right to command me I set my hand to this paper But one thing I
will say first I have been ungenerously pushed and when next my lord you are
tempted to compare your sons I call on you to remember what I have done and
what he has done Acts are the fair test«
My lord was the most uneasy man I ever saw even in his old face the blood
came up »I think this is not a very wisely chosen moment Henry for
complaints« said he »This takes away from the merit of your generosity«
»Do not deceive yourself my lord« said Mr Henry »This injustice is not
done from generosity to him but in obedience to yourself«
»Before strangers « begins my lord still more unhappily affected
»There is no one but Mackellar here« said Mr Henry »he is my friend And
my lord as you make him no stranger to your frequent blame it were hard if I
must keep him one to a thing so rare as my defence«
Almost I believe my lord would have rescinded his decision but the Master
was on the watch
»Ah Henry Henry« says he »you are the best of us still Rugged and true
Ah man I wish I was as good«
And at that instance of his favourites generosity my lord desisted from his
hesitation and the deed was signed
As soon as it could be brought about the land of Ochterhall was sold for
much below its value and the money paid over to our leech and sent by some
private carriage into France And now here was all the mans business brought to
a successful head and his pockets once more bulging with our gold and yet the
point for which we had consented to this sacrifice was still denied us and the
visitor still lingered on at Durrisdeer Whether in malice or because the time
was not yet come for his adventure to the Indies or because he had hopes of his
design on Mrs Henry or from the orders of the Government who shall say but
linger he did and that for weeks
You will observe I say »from the orders of the Government« for about this
time the mans disreputable secret trickled out
The first hint I had was from a tenant who commented on the Masters stay
and yet more on his security for this tenant was a Jacobitish sympathiser and
had lost a son at Culloden which gave him the more critical eye »There is one
thing« said he »that I cannot but think strange and that is how he got to
Cockermouth«
»To Cockermouth« said I with a sudden memory of my first wonder on
beholding the man disembark so pointdevice after so long a voyage
»Why yes« says the tenant »it was there he was picked up by Captain
Crail You thought he had come from France by sea And so we all did«
I turned this news a little in my head and then carried it to Mr Henry
»Here is an odd circumstance« said I and told him
»What matters how he came Mackellar so long as he is here« groans Mr
Henry
»No sir« said I »but think again Does not this smack a little of some
Government connivance You know how much we have wondered already at the mans
security«
»Stop« said Mr Henry »Let me think of this« And as he thought there
came that grim smile upon his face that was a little like the Masters »Give me
paper« said he And he sat without another word and wrote to a gentleman of his
acquaintance I will name no unnecessary names but he was one in a high place
This letter I despatched by the only hand I could depend upon in such a case
Macconochies and the old man rode hard for he was back with the reply before
even my eagerness had ventured to expect him Again as he read it Mr Henry
had the same grim smile
»This is the best you have done for me yet Mackellar« says he »With this
in my hand I will give him a shog Watch for us at dinner«
At dinner accordingly Mr Henry proposed some very public appearance for the
Master and my lord as he had hoped objected to the danger of the course
»O« says Mr Henry very easily »you need no longer keep this up with me
I am as much in the secret as yourself«
»In the secret« says my lord »What do you mean Henry I give you my word
I am in no secret from which you are excluded«
The Master had changed countenance and I saw he was struck in a joint of
his harness
»How« says Mr Henry turning to him with a huge appearance of surprise »I
see you serve your masters very faithfully but I had thought you would have
been humane enough to set your fathers mind at rest«
»What are you talking of I refuse to have my business publicly discussed I
order this to cease« cries the Master very foolishly and passionately and
indeed more like a child than a man
»So much discretion was not looked for at your hands I can assure you«
continued Mr Henry »For see what my correspondent writes« unfolding the
paper »It is of course in the interests both of the Government and the
gentleman whom we may perhaps best continue to call Mr Bally to keep this
understanding secret but it was never meant his own family should continue to
endure the suspense you paint so feelingly and I am pleased mine should be the
hand to set these fears at rest Mr Bally is as safe in Great Britain as
yourself«
»Is this possible« cries my lord looking at his son with a great deal of
wonder and still more of suspicion in his face
»My dear father« says the Master already much recovered »I am overjoyed
that this may be disclosed My own instructions direct from London bore a very
contrary sense and I was charged to keep the indulgence secret from every one
yourself not excepted and indeed yourself expressly named as I can show in
black and white unless I have destroyed the letter They must have changed
their mind very swiftly for the whole matter is still quite fresh or rather
Henrys correspondent must have misconceived that part as he seems to have
misconceived the rest To tell you the truth sir« he continued getting
visibly more easy »I had supposed this unexplained favour to a rebel was the
effect of some application from yourself and the injunction to secrecy among my
family the result of a desire on your part to conceal your kindness Hence I was
the more careful to obey orders It remains now to guess by what other channel
indulgence can have flowed on so notorious an offender as myself for I do not
think your son need defend himself from what seems hinted at in Henrys letter
I have never yet heard of a Durrisdeer who was a turncoat or a spy« says he
proudly
And so it seemed he had swum out of this danger unharmed but this was to
reckon without a blunder he had made and without the pertinacity of Mr Henry
who was now to show he had something of his brothers spirit
»You say the matter is still fresh« says Mr Henry
»It is recent« says the Master with a fair show of stoutness and yet not
without a quaver
»Is it so recent as that« asks Mr Henry like a man a little puzzled and
spreading his letter forth again
In all the letter there was no word as to the date but how was the Master
to know that
»It seemed to come late enough for me« says he with a laugh And at the
sound of that laugh which rang false like a cracked bell my lord looked at
him again across the table and I saw his old lips draw together close
»No« said Mr Henry still glancing on his letter »but I remember your
expression You said it was very fresh«
And here we had a proof of our victory and the strongest instance yet of my
lords incredible indulgence for what must he do but interfere to save his
favourite from exposure
»I think Henry« says he with a kind of pitiful eagerness »I think we
need dispute no more We are all rejoiced at last to find your brother safe we
are all at one on that and as grateful subjects we can do no less than drink
to the Kings health and bounty«
Thus was the Master extricated but at least he had been put to his defence
he had come lamely out and the attraction of his personal danger was now
publicly plucked away from him My lord in his heart of hearts now knew his
favourite to be a Government spy and Mrs Henry however she explained the
tale was notably cold in her behaviour to the discredited hero of romance Thus
in the best fabric of duplicity there is some weak point if you can strike it
which will loosen all and if by this fortunate stroke we had not shaken the
idol who can say how it might have gone with us at the catastrophe
And yet at the time we seemed to have accomplished nothing Before a day or
two he had wiped off the ill results of his discomfiture and to all
appearance stood as high as ever As for my Lord Durrisdeer he was sunk in
parental partiality it was not so much love which should be an active quality
as an apathy and torpor of his other powers and forgiveness so to misapply a
noble word flowed from him in sheer weakness like the tears of senility Mrs
Henrys was a different case and Heaven alone knows what he found to say to
her or how he persuaded her from her contempt It is one of the worst things of
sentiment that the voice grows to be more important than the words and the
speaker than that which is spoken But some excuse the Master must have found
or perhaps he had even struck upon some art to wrest this exposure to his own
advantage for after a time of coldness it seemed as if things went worse than
ever between him and Mrs Henry They were then constantly together I would not
be thought to cast one shadow of blame beyond what is due to a halfwilful
blindness on that unfortunate lady but I do think in these last days she was
playing very near the fire and whether I be wrong or not in that one thing is
sure and quite sufficient Mr Henry thought so The poor gentleman sat for days
in my room so great a picture of distress that I could never venture to address
him yet it is to be thought he found some comfort even in my presence and the
knowledge of my sympathy There were times too when we talked and a strange
manner of talk it was there was never a person named nor an individual
circumstance referred to yet we had the same matter in our minds, and we were
each aware of it It is a strange art that can thus be practised to talk for
hours of a thing and never name nor yet so much as hint at it And I remember I
wondered if it was by some such natural skill that the Master made love to Mrs
Henry all day long as he manifestly did yet never startled her into reserve
To show how far affairs had gone with Mr Henry I will give some words of
his uttered as I have cause not to forget upon the 26th of February 1757 It
was unseasonable weather a cast back into winter windless bitter cold the
world all white with rime the sky low and grey the sea black and silent like a
quarryhole Mr Henry sat close by the fire and debated as was now common
with him whether a man should do things whether interference was wise and the
like general propositions, which each of us particularly applied I was by the
window looking out when there passed below me the Master Mrs Henry and Miss
Katharine that now constant trio The child was running to and fro delighted
with the frost the Master spoke close in the ladys ear with what seemed even
from so far a devilish grace of insinuation and she on her part looked on the
ground like a person lost in listening I broke out of my reserve
»If I were you Mr Henry« said I »I would deal openly with my lord«
»Mackellar Mackellar« said he »you do not see the weakness of my ground
I can carry no such base thoughts to any one to my father least of all that
would be to fall into the bottom of his scorn The weakness of my ground« he
continued »lies in myself that I am not one who engages love I have their
gratitude they all tell me that I have a rich estate of it But I am not
present in their minds they are moved neither to think with me nor to think for
me There is my loss« He got to his feet and trod down the fire »But some
method must be found Mackellar« said he looking at me suddenly over his
shoulder »some way must be found I am a man of a great deal of patience far
too much far too much I begin to despise myself And yet sure never was a
man involved in such a toil« He fell back to his brooding
»Cheer up« said I »It will burst of itself.«
»I am far past anger now« says he which had so little coherency with my
own observation that I let both fall
Chapter V
Account of All that Passed on the Night of February 27th 1757
On the evening of the interview referred to the Master went abroad he was
abroad a great deal of the next day also that fatal 27th but where he went or
what he did we never concerned ourselves to ask until next day If we had done
so and by any chance found out it might have changed all But as all we did
was done in ignorance and should be so judged I shall so narrate these
passages as they appeared to us in the moment of their birth and reserve all
that I since discovered for the time of its discovery For I have now come to
one of the dark parts of my narrative and must engage the readers indulgence
for my patron
All the 27th that rigorous weather endured a stifling cold the folk
passing about like smoking chimneys the wide hearth in the hall piled high with
fuel some of the spring birds that had already blundered north into our
neighbourhood besieging the windows of the house or trotting on the frozen turf
like things distracted About noon there came a blink of sunshine showing a
very pretty wintry frosty landscape of white hills and woods with Crails
lugger waiting for a wind under the Craig Head and the smoke mounting straight
into the air from every farm and cottage With the coming of night the haze
closed in overhead it fell dark and still and starless and exceeding cold a
night the most unseasonable fit for strange events
Mrs Henry withdrew as was now her custom very early We had set ourselves
of late to pass the evening with a game of cards another mark that our visitor
was wearying mightily of the life at Durrisdeer and we had not been long at
this when my old lord slipped from his place beside the fire and was off
without a word to seek the warmth of bed The three thus left together had
neither love nor courtesy to share not one of us would have sat up one instant
to oblige another yet from the influence of custom and as the cards had just
been dealt we continued the form of playing out the round I should say we were
late sitters and though my lord had departed earlier than was his custom
twelve was already gone some time upon the clock and the servants long ago in
bed Another thing I should say that although I never saw the Master anyway
affected with liquor he had been drinking freely and was perhaps although he
showed it not a trifle heated
Anyway he now practised one of his transitions and so soon as the door
closed behind my lord and without the smallest change of voice shifted from
ordinary civil talk into a stream of insult
»My dear Henry it is yours to play« he had been saying and now continued
»It is a very strange thing how even in so small a matter as a game of cards
you display your rusticity You play Jacob like a bonnetlaird or a sailor in
a tavern The same dulness the same petty greed cette lenteur dhébété qui me
fait rager it is strange I should have such a brother Even Squaretoes has a
certain vivacity when his stake is imperilled but the dreariness of a game with
you I positively lack language to depict«
Mr Henry continued to look at his cards as though very maturely
considering some play but his mind was elsewhere
»Dear God will this never be done« cries the Master »Quel lourdaud But
why do I trouble you with French expressions which are lost on such an
ignoramus A lourdaud my dear brother is as we might say a bumpkin a clown a
clodpole a fellow without grace lightness quickness any gift of pleasing
any natural brilliancy such a one as you shall see when you desire by looking
in the mirror I tell you these things for your good I assure you and besides
Squaretoes« looking at me and stifling a yawn »it is one of my diversions in
this very dreary spot to toast you and your master at the fire like chestnuts I
have great pleasure in your case for I observe the nickname rustic as it is
has always the power to make you writhe But sometimes I have more trouble with
this dear fellow here who seems to have gone to sleep upon his cards Do you
not see the applicability of the epithet I have just explained dear Henry Let
me show you For instance with all those solid qualities which I delight to
recognise in you I never knew a woman who did not prefer me nor I think« he
continued with the most silken deliberation »I think who did not continue to
prefer me«
Mr Henry laid down his cards He rose to his feet very softly and seemed
all the while like a person in deep thought »You coward« he said gently as if
to himself And then with neither hurry nor any particular violence he struck
the Master in the mouth
The Master sprang to his feet like one transfigured I had never seen the
man so beautiful »A blow« he cried »I would not take a blow from God
Almighty«
»Lower your voice« said Mr Henry »Do you wish my father to interfere for
you again«
»Gentlemen gentlemen« I cried and sought to come between them
The Master caught me by the shoulder held me at arms length and still
addressing his brother »Do you know what this means« said he
»It was the most deliberate act of my life« says Mr Henry
»I must have blood I must have blood for this« says the Master
»Please God it shall be yours« said Mr Henry and he went to the wall and
took down a pair of swords that hung there with others naked These he
presented to the Master by the points »Mackellar shall see us play fair« said
Mr Henry »I think it very needful«
»You need insult me no more« said the Master taking one of the swords at
random »I have hated you all my life«
»My father is but newly gone to bed« said Mr Henry »We must go somewhere
forth of the house«
»There is an excellent place in the long shrubbery« said the Master
»Gentlemen« said I »shame upon you both Sons of the same mother would
you turn against the life she gave you«
»Even so Mackellar« said Mr Henry with the same perfect quietude of
manner he had shown throughout
»It is what I will prevent« said I
And now here is a blot upon my life At these words of mine the Master
turned his blade against my bosom I saw the light run along the steel and I
threw up my arms and fell to my knees before him on the floor »No no« I
cried like a baby
»We shall have no more trouble with him« said the Master »It is a good
thing to have a coward in the house«
»We must have light« said Mr Henry as though there had been no
interruption
»This trembler can bring a pair of candles« said the Master
To my shame be it said I was still so blinded with the flashing of that
bare sword that I volunteered to bring a lantern
»We do not need a lllantern« says the Master mocking me »There is no
breath of air Come get to your feet take a pair of lights and go before I
am close behind with this« making the blade glitter as he spoke
I took up the candlesticks and went before them steps that I would give my
hand to recall but a coward is a slave at the best and even as I went my
teeth smote each other in my mouth It was as he had said there was no breath
stirring a windless stricture of frost had bound the air and as we went forth
in the shine of the candles the blackness was like a roof over our heads Never
a word was said there was never a sound but the creaking of our steps along the
frozen path The cold of the night fell about me like a bucket of water I shook
as I went with more than terror but my companions bareheaded like myself and
fresh from the warm hall appeared not even conscious of the change
»Here is the place« said the Master »Set down the candles«
I did as he bid me and presently the flames went up as steady as in a
chamber in the midst of the frosted trees and I beheld these two brothers take
their places
»The light is something in my eyes« said the Master
»I will give you every advantage« replied Mr Henry shifting his ground
»for I think you are about to die« He spoke rather sadly than otherwise yet
there was a ring in his voice
»Henry Durie« said the Master »two words before I begin You are a fencer
you can hold a foil you little know what a change it makes to hold a sword And
by that I know you are to fall But see how strong is my situation If you fall
I shift out of this country to where my money is before me If I fall where are
you My father your wife who is in love with me as you very well know your
child even who prefers me to yourself how will these avenge me Had you
thought of that dear Henry« He looked at his brother with a smile then made a
fencingroom salute
Never a word said Mr Henry but saluted too and the swords rang together
I am no judge of the play my head besides was gone with cold and fear and
horror but it seems that Mr Henry took and kept the upper hand from the
engagement crowding in upon his foe with a contained and glowing fury Nearer
and nearer he crept upon the man till of a sudden the Master leaped back with a
little sobbing oath and I believe the movement brought the light once more
against his eyes To it they went again on the fresh ground but now methought
closer Mr Henry pressing more outrageously the Master beyond doubt with
shaken confidence For it is beyond doubt he now recognised himself for lost
and had some taste of the cold agony of fear or he had never attempted the foul
stroke I cannot say I followed it my untrained eye was never quick enough to
seize details but it appears he caught his brothers blade with his left hand
a practice not permitted Certainly Mr Henry only saved himself by leaping on
one side as certainly the Master lungeing in the air stumbled on his knee
and before he could move the sword was through his body
I cried out with a stifled scream and ran in but the body was already
fallen to the ground where it writhed a moment like a trodden worm and then
lay motionless
»Look at his left hand« said Mr Henry
»It is all bloody« said I
»On the inside« said he
»It is cut on the inside« said I
»I thought so« said he and turned his back
I opened the mans clothes the heart was quite still it gave not a
flutter
»God forgive us Mr Henry« said I »He is dead«
»Dead« he repeated a little stupidly and then with a rising tone »Dead
dead« says he and suddenly cast his bloody sword upon the ground
»What must we do« said I »Be yourself sir It is too late now you must
be yourself«
He turned and stared at me »O Mackellar« says he and put his face in his
hands
I plucked him by the coat »For Gods sake for all our sakes be more
courageous« said I »What must we do«
He showed me his face with the same stupid stare »Do« says he And with
that his eye fell on the body and »O« he cries out with his hand to his brow
as if he had never remembered and turning from me made off towards the house
of Durrisdeer at a strange stumbling run
I stood a moment mused then it seemed to me my duty lay most plain on the
side of the living and I ran after him leaving the candles on the frosty
ground and the body lying in their light under the trees But run as I pleased
he had the start of me and was got into the house and up to the hall where I
found him standing before the fire with his face once more in his hands and as
he so stood he visibly shuddered
»Mr Henry Mr Henry« I said »this will be the ruin of us all«
»What is this that I have done« cries he and then looking upon me with a
countenance that I shall never forget »Who is to tell the old man« he said
The word knocked at my heart but it was no time for weakness I went and
poured him out a glass of brandy »Drink that« said I »drink it down« I
forced him to swallow it like a child and being still perished with the cold
of the night I followed his example
»It has to be told Mackellar« said he »It must be told« And he fell
suddenly in a seat my old lords seat by the chimneyside and was shaken
with dry sobs
Dismay came upon my soul it was plain there was no help in Mr Henry
»Well« said I »sit there and leave all to me« And taking a candle in my
hand I set forth out of the room in the dark house There was no movement I
must suppose that all had gone unobserved and I was now to consider how to
smuggle through the rest with the like secrecy It was no hour for scruples and
I opened my ladys door without so much as a knock and passed boldly in
»There is some calamity happened« she cried sitting up in bed
»Madam« said I »I will go forth again into the passage and do you get as
quickly as you can into your clothes There is much to be done«
She troubled me with no questions nor did she keep me waiting Ere I had
time to prepare a word of that which I must say to her she was on the threshold
signing me to enter
»Madam« said I »if you cannot be very brave I must go elsewhere for if
no one helps me tonight there is an end of the house of Durrisdeer«
»I am very courageous« said she and she looked at me with a sort of smile
very painful to see but very brave too
»It has come to a duel« said I
»A duel« she repeated »A duel Henry and «
»And the Master« said I »Things have been borne so long things of which
you know nothing which you would not believe if I should tell But tonight it
went too far and when he insulted you «
»Stop« said she »He Who«
»O madam« cried I my bitterness breaking forth »do you ask me such a
question Indeed then I may go elsewhere for help there is none here«
»I do not know in what I have offended you« said she »Forgive me put me
out of this suspense«
But I dared not tell her yet I felt not sure of her and at the doubt and
under the sense of impotence it brought with it I turned on the poor woman with
something near to anger
»Madam« said I »we are speaking of two men one of them insulted you and
you ask me which I will help you to the answer With one of these men you have
spent all your hours has the other reproached you To one you have been always
kind to the other as God sees me and judges between us two I think not
always has his love ever failed you Tonight one of these two men told the
other in my hearing the hearing of a hired stranger that you were in love
with him Before I say one word you shall answer your own question Which was
it Nay madam you shall answer me another If it has come to this dreadful
end whose fault is it«
She stared at me like one dazzled »Good God« she said once in a kind of
bursting exclamation and then a second time in a whisper to herself »Great
God In the name of mercy Mackellar what is wrong« she cried »I am made
up I can hear all«
»You are not fit to hear« said I »Whatever it was you shall say first it
was your fault«
»O« she cried with a gesture of wringing her hands »this man will drive
me mad Can you not put me out of your thoughts«
»I think not once of you« I cried »I think of none but my dear unhappy
master«
»Ah« she cried with her hand to her heart »is Henry dead«
»Lower your voice« said I »The other«
I saw her sway like something stricken by the wind and I know not whether
in cowardice or misery turned aside and looked upon the floor »These are
dreadful tidings« said I at length when her silence began to put me in some
fear »and you and I behove to be the more bold if the house is to be saved«
Still she answered nothing »There is Miss Katharine besides« I added »unless
we bring this matter through her inheritance is like to be of shame«
I do not know if it was the thought of her child or the naked word shame
that gave her deliverance at least I had no sooner spoken than a sound passed
her lips the like of it I never heard it was as though she had lain buried
under a hill and sought to move that burthen And the next moment she had found
a sort of voice
»It was a fight« she whispered »It was not « and she paused upon the
word
»It was a fair fight on my dear masters part« said I »As for the other
he was slain in the very act of a foul stroke«
»Not now« she cried
»Madam« said I »hatred of that man glows in my bosom like a burning fire
ay even now he is dead God knows I would have stopped the fighting had I
dared It is my shame I did not But when I saw him fall if I could have spared
one thought from pitying of my master it had been to exult in that
deliverance«
I do not know if she marked but her next words were »My lord«
»That shall be my part« said I
»You will not speak to him as you have to me« she asked
»Madam« said I »have you not some one else to think of Leave my lord to
me«
»Some one else« she repeated
»Your husband« said I She looked at me with a countenance illegible »Are
you going to turn your back on him« I asked
Still she looked at me then her hand went to her heart again »No« said
she
»God bless you for that word« I said »Go to him now where he sits in the
hall speak to him it matters not what you say give him your hand say I
know all if God gives you grace enough say Forgive me«
»God strengthen you and make you merciful« said she »I will go to my
husband«
»Let me light you there« said I taking up the candle
»I will find my way in the dark« she said with a shudder and I think the
shudder was at me
So we separated she downstairs to where a little light glimmered in the
halldoor I along the passage to my lords room It seems hard to say why but
I could not burst in on the old man as I could on the young woman with whatever
reluctance I must knock But his old slumbers were light or perhaps he slept
not and at the first summons I was bidden enter
He too sat up in bed very aged and bloodless he looked and whereas he
had a certain largeness of appearance when dressed for daylight he now seemed
frail and little and his face the wig being laid aside not bigger than a
childs This daunted me nor less the haggard surmise of misfortune in his
eye Yet his voice was even peaceful as he inquired my errand I set my candle
down upon a chair leaned on the bedfoot and looked at him
»Lord Durrisdeer« said I »it is very well known to you that I am a
partisan in your family«
»I hope we are none of us partisans« said he »That you love my son
sincerely I have always been glad to recognise«
»O my lord we are past the hour of these civilities« I replied »If we
are to save anything out of the fire we must look the fact in its bare
countenance A partisan I am partisans we have all been it is as a partisan
that I am here in the middle of the night to plead before you Hear me before I
go I will tell you why«
»I would always hear you Mr Mackellar« said he »and that at any hour
whether of the day or night for I would be always sure you had a reason You
spoke once before to very proper purpose I have not forgotten that«
»I am here to plead the cause of my master« I said »I need not tell you
how he acts You know how he is placed You know with what generosity he has
always met your other met your wishes« I corrected myself stumbling at that
name of son »You know you must know what he has suffered what he has
suffered about his wife«
»Mr Mackellar« cried my lord rising in bed like a bearded lion
»You said you would hear me« I continued »What you do not know what you
should know one of the things I am here to speak of is the persecution he must
bear in private Your back is not turned before one whom I dare not name to you
falls upon him with the most unfeeling taunts twits him pardon me my lord
twits him with your partiality calls him Jacob calls him clown pursues him
with ungenerous raillery not to be borne by man And let but one of you appear
instantly he changes and my master must smile and courtesy to the man who has
been feeding him with insults I know for I have shared in some of it and I
tell you the life is insupportable All these months it has endured it began
with the mans landing it was by the name of Jacob that my master was greeted
the first night«
My lord made a movement as if to throw aside the clothes and rise »If there
be any truth in this « said he
»Do I look like a man lying« I interrupted checking him with my hand
»You should have told me at first« he said
»Ah my lord indeed I should and you may well hate the face of this
unfaithful servant« I cried
»I will take order« said he »at once« and again made the movement to
rise
Again I checked him »I have not done« said I »Would God I had All this
my dear unfortunate patron has endured without help or countenance Your own
best word my lord was only gratitude O but he was your son too He had no
other father He was hated in the country God knows how unjustly He had a
loveless marriage He stood on all hands without affection or support dear
generous illfated noble heart«
»Your tears do you much honour and me much shame« says my lord with a
palsied trembling »But you do me some injustice Henry has been ever dear to
me very dear James I do not deny it Mr Mackellar James is perhaps dearer
you have not seen my James in quite a favourable light he has suffered under
his misfortunes and we can only remember how great and how unmerited these
were And even now his is the more affectionate nature But I will not speak of
him All that you say of Henry is most true I do not wonder I know him to be
very magnanimous you will say I trade upon the knowledge It is possible there
are dangerous virtues virtues that tempt the encroacher Mr Mackellar I will
make it up to him I will take order with all this I have been weak and what
is worse I have been dull«
»I must not hear you blame yourself my lord with that which I have yet to
tell upon my conscience« I replied »You have not been weak you have been
abused by a devilish dissembler You saw yourself how he had deceived you in the
matter of his danger he has deceived you throughout in every step of his
career I wish to pluck him from your heart I wish to force your eyes upon your
other son ah you have a son there«
»No no« said he »two sons I have two sons«
I made some gesture of despair that struck him he looked at me with a
changed face »There is much worse behind« he asked his voice dying as it rose
upon the question
»Much worse« I answered »This night he said these words to Mr Henry I
have never known a woman who did not prefer me to you and I think who did not
continue to prefer me«
»I will hear nothing against my daughter« he cried and from his readiness
to stop me in this direction I conclude his eyes were not so dull as I had
fancied and he had looked not without anxiety upon the siege of Mrs Henry
»I think not of blaming her« cried I »It is not that These words were
said in my hearing to Mr Henry and if you find them not yet plain enough
these others but a little after Your wife who is in love with me«
»They have quarrelled« he said
I nodded
»I must fly to them« he said beginning once again to leave his bed
»No no« I cried holding forth my hands
»You do not know« said he »These are dangerous words«
»Will nothing make you understand my lord« said I
His eyes besought me for the truth
I flung myself on my knees by the bedside »O my lord« cried I »think on
him you have left think of this poor sinner whom you begot whom your wife bore
to you whom we have none of us strengthened as we could think of him not of
yourself he is the other sufferer think of him That is the door for sorrow
Christs door Gods door O it stands open Think of him even as he thought
of you Who is to tell the old man these were his words It was for that I
came that is why I am here pleading at your feet«
»Let me get up« he cried thrusting me aside and was on his feet before
myself His voice shook like a sail in the wind yet he spoke with a good
loudness his face was like the snow but his eyes were steady and dry »Here is
too much speech« said he »Where was it«
»In the shrubbery« said I
»And Mr Henry« he asked And when I had told him he knotted his old face
in thought
»And Mr James« says he
»I have left him lying« said I »beside the candles«
»Candles« he cried And with that he ran to the window opened it and
looked abroad »It might be spied from the road«
»Where none goes by at such an hour« I objected
»It makes no matter« he said »One might Hark« cries he »What is that«
It was the sound of men very guardedly rowing in the bay and I told him so
»The freetraders« said my lord »Run at once Mackellar put these candles
out I will dress in the meanwhile and when you return we can debate on what is
wisest«
I groped my way downstairs and out at the door From quite a far way off a
sheen was visible making points of brightness in the shrubbery in so black a
night it might have been remarked for miles and I blamed myself bitterly for my
incaution How much more sharply when I reached the place One of the
candlesticks was overthrown and that taper quenched The other burned steadily
by itself, and made a broad space of light upon the frosted ground All within
that circle seemed by the force of contrast and the overhanging blackness
brighter than by day And there was the bloodstain in the midst and a little
farther off Mr Henrys sword the pommel of which was of silver but of the
body not a trace My heart thumped upon my ribs the hair stirred upon my
scalp as I stood there staring so strange was the sight so dire the fears it
wakened I looked right and left the ground was so hard it told no story I
stood and listened till my ears ached but the night was hollow about me like an
empty church not even a ripple stirred upon the shore it seemed you might have
heard a pin drop in the county
I put the candle out and the blackness fell about me groping dark it was
like a crowd surrounding me and I went back to the house of Durrisdeer with my
chin upon my shoulder startling as I went with craven suppositions In the
door a figure moved to meet me and I had near screamed with terror ere I
recognised Mrs Henry
»Have you told him« says she
»It was he who sent me« said I »It is gone But why are you here«
»It is gone« she repeated »What is gone«
»The body« said I »Why are you not with your husband«
»Gone« said she »You cannot have looked Come back«
»There is no light now« said I »I dare not«
»I can see in the dark I have been standing here so long so long« said
she »Come give me your hand«
We returned to the shrubbery hand in hand and to the fatal place
»Take care of the blood« said I
»Blood« she cried and started violently back
»I suppose it will be« said I »I am like a blind man«
»No« said she »nothing Have you not dreamed«
»Ah would to God we had« cried I
She spied the sword picked it up and seeing the blood let it fall again
with her hands thrown wide »Ah« she cried and then with an instant courage
handled it the second time and thrust it to the hilt into the frozen ground »I
will take it back and clean it properly« says she and again looked about her
on all sides »It cannot be that he was dead« she added
»There was no flutter of his heart« said I and then remembering »Why are
you not with your husband«
»It is no use« said she »he will not speak to me«
»Not speak to you« I repeated »O you have not tried«
»You have a right to doubt me« she replied with a gentle dignity
At this for the first time I was seized with sorrow for her »God knows
madam« I cried »God knows I am not so hard as I appear on this dreadful night
who can veneer his words But I am a friend to all who are not Henry Duries
enemies«
»It is hard then you should hesitate about his wife« said she
I saw all at once like the rending or a veil how nobly she had borne this
unnatural calamity and how generously my reproaches
»We must go back and tell this to my lord« said I
»Him I cannot face« she cried
»You will find him the least moved of all of us« said I
»And yet I cannot face him« said she
»Well« said I »you can return to Mr Henry I will see my lord«
As we walked back I bearing the candlesticks she the sword a strange
burthen for that woman she had another thought »Should we tell Henry« she
asked
»Let my lord decide« said I
My lord was nearly dressed when I came to his chamber He heard me with a
frown »The freetraders« said he »But whether dead or alive«
»I thought him « said I and paused ashamed of the word
»I know but you may very well have been in error Why should they remove
him if not living« he asked »O here is a great door of hope It must be given
out that he departed as he came without any note of preparation We must
save all scandal«
I saw he had fallen like the rest of us to think mainly of the house Now
that all the living members of the family were plunged in irremediable sorrow
it was strange how we turned to that conjoint abstraction of the family itself,
and sought to bolster up the airy nothing of its reputation not the Duries
only but the hired steward himself
»Are we to tell Mr Henry« I asked him
»I will see« said he »I am going first to visit him then I go forth with
you to view the shrubbery and consider«
We went downstairs into the hall Mr Henry sat by the table with his head
upon his hand like a man of stone His wife stood a little back from him her
hand at her mouth it was plain she could not move him My old lord walked very
steadily to where his son was sitting he had a steady countenance too but
methought a little cold When he was come quite up he held out both his hands
and said »My son«
With a broken strangled cry Mr Henry leaped up and fell on his fathers
neck crying and weeping the most pitiful sight that ever a man witnessed »O
father« he cried »you know I loved him you know I loved him in the beginning
I could have died for him you know that I would have given my life for him
and you O say you know that O say you can forgive me O father father
what have I done what have I done And we used to be bairns together« and
wept and sobbed and fondled the old man and clutched him about the neck with
a passion of a child in terror
And then he caught sight of his wife you would have thought for the first
time where she stood weeping to hear him and in a moment had fallen at her
knees »And O my lass« he cried »you must forgive me too Not your husband
I have only been the ruin of your life But you knew me when I was a lad there
was no harm in Henry Durie then he meant aye to be a friend to you Its him
its the old bairn that played with you O can ye never never forgive him«
Throughout all this my lord was like a cold kind spectator with his wits
about him At the first cry which was indeed enough to call the house about us
he had said to me over his shoulder »Close the door« And now he nodded to
himself
»We may leave him to his wife now« says he »Bring a light Mr Mackellar«
Upon my going forth again with my lord I was aware of a strange phenomenon
for though it was quite dark and the night not yet old methought I smelt the
morning At the same time there went a tossing through the branches of the
evergreens so that they sounded like a quiet sea and the air puffed at times
against our faces and the flame of the candle shook We made the more speed I
believe being surrounded by this bustle visited the scene of the duel where
my lord looked upon the blood with stoicism and passing farther on toward the
landingplace came at last upon some evidences of the truth For first of all
where was a pool across the path the ice had been trodden in plainly by more
than one mans weight next and but a little farther a young tree was broken
and down by the landingplace where the traders boats were usually beached
another stain of blood marked where the body must have been infallibly set down
to rest the bearers
The stain we set ourselves to wash away with the seawater carrying it in
my lords hat and as we were thus engaged there came up a sudden moaning gust
and left us instantly benighted
»It will come to snow« says my lord »and the best thing that we could
hope Let us go back now we can do nothing in the dark«
As we went houseward the wind being again subsided we were aware of a
strong pattering noise about us in the night and when we issued from the
shelter of the trees we found it raining smartly
Throughout the whole of this my lords clearness of mind no less than his
activity of body had not ceased to minister to my amazement He set the crown
upon it in the council we held on our return The freetraders had certainly
secured the Master though whether dead or alive we were still left to our
conjectures the rain would long before day wipe out all marks of the
transaction by this we must profit The Master had unexpectedly come after the
fall of night it must now be given out he had as suddenly departed before the
break of day and to make all this plausible it now only remained for me to
mount into the mans chamber and pack and conceal his baggage True we still
lay at the discretion of the traders but that was the incurable weakness of our
guilt
I heard him as I said with wonder and hastened to obey Mr and Mrs
Henry were gone from the hall my lord for warmths sake hurried to his bed
there was still no sign of stir among the servants and as I went up the tower
stair and entered the dead mans room a horror of solitude weighed upon my
mind To my extreme surprise it was all in the disorder of departure Of his
three portmanteaus two were already locked a third lay open and near full At
once there flashed upon me some suspicion of the truth The man had been going
after all he had but waited upon Crail as Crail waited upon the wind early in
the night the seamen had perceived the weather changing the boat had come to
give notice of the change and call the passenger aboard and the boats crew had
stumbled on him lying in his blood Nay and there was more behind This
prearranged departure shed some light upon his inconceivable insult of the
night before it was a parting shot hatred being no longer checked by policy
And for another thing the nature of that insult and the conduct of Mrs
Henry pointed to one conclusion which I have never verified and can now never
verify until the great assize the conclusion that he had at last forgotten
himself had gone too far in his advances and had been rebuffed It can never
be verified as I say but as I thought of it that morning among his baggage
the thought was sweet to me like honey
Into the open portmanteau I dipped a little ere I closed it The most
beautiful lace and linen many suits of those fine plain clothes in which he
loved to appear a book or two and those of the best Cæsars »Commentaries« a
volume of Mr Hobbes the »Henriade« of M de Voltaire a book upon the Indies
one on the mathematics far beyond where I have studied these were what I
observed with very mingled feelings But in the open portmanteau no papers of
any description This set me musing It was possible the man was dead but
since the traders had carried him away not likely It was possible he might
still die of his wound but it was also possible he might not And in this
latter case I was determined to have the means of some defence
One after another I carried his portmanteaus to a loft in the top of the
house which we kept locked went to my own room for my keys and returning to
the loft had the gratification to find two that fitted pretty well In one of
the portmanteaus there was a shagreen lettercase which I cut open with my
knife and thenceforth so far as any credit went the man was at my mercy Here
was a vast deal of gallant correspondence chiefly of his Paris days and what
was more to the purpose here were the copies of his own reports to the English
Secretary and the originals of the Secretarys answers a most damning series
such as to publish would be to wreck the Masters honour and to set a price upon
his life I chuckled to myself as I ran through the documents I rubbed my
hands I sang aloud in my glee Day found me at the pleasing task nor did I
then remit my diligence except in so far as I went to the window looked out
for a moment to see the frost quite gone the world turned black again and the
rain and the wind driving in the bay and to assure myself that the lugger was
gone from its anchorage and the Master whether dead or alive now tumbling on
the Irish Sea
It is proper I should add in this place the very little I have subsequently
angled out upon the doings of that night It took me a long while to gather it
for we dared not openly ask and the freetraders regarded me with enmity if
not with scorn It was near six months before we even knew for certain that the
man survived and it was years before I learned from one of Crails men turned
publican on his illgotten gain some particulars which smack to me of truth It
seems the traders found the Master struggled on one elbow and now staring round
him and now gazing at the candle or at his hand which was all bloodied like
a man stupid Upon their coming he would seem to have found his mind bade them
carry him aboard and hold their tongues and on the captain asking how he had
come in such a pickle replied with a burst of passionate swearing and
incontinently fainted They held some debate but they were momently looking for
a wind they were highly paid to smuggle him to France and did not care to
delay Besides which he was well enough liked by these abominable wretches
they supposed him under capital sentence knew not in what mischief he might
have got his wound and judged it a piece of goodnature to remove him out of
the way of danger So he was taken aboard recovered on the passage over and
was set ashore a convalescent at the Havre de Grace What is truly notable he
said not a word to any one of the duel and not a trader knows to this day in
what quarrel or by the hand of what adversary he fell With any other man I
should have set this down to natural decency with him to pride He could not
bear to avow perhaps even to himself that he had been vanquished by one whom
he had so much insulted and whom he so cruelly despised
Chapter VI
Summary of Events During the
Masters Second Absence
Of the heavy sickness which declared itself next morning I can think with
equanimity as of the last unmingled trouble that befell my master and even
that was perhaps a mercy in disguise for what pains of the body could equal the
miseries of his mind Mrs Henry and I had the watching by the bed My old lord
called from time to time to take the news but would not usually pass the door
Once I remember when hope was nigh gone he stepped to the bedside looked a
while in his sons face and turned away with a singular gesture of the head and
hand thrown up that remains upon my mind as something tragic such grief and
such a scorn of sublunary things were there expressed But the most of the time
Mrs Henry and I had the room to ourselves taking turns by night and bearing
each other company by day for it was dreary watching Mr Henry his shaven
head bound in a napkin tossed to and fro without remission beating the bed
with his hands His tongue never lay his voice ran continuously like a river
so that my heart was weary with the sound of it It was notable and to me
inexpressibly mortifying that he spoke all the while on matters of no import
comings and goings horses which he was ever calling to have saddled thinking
perhaps the poor soul that he might ride away from his discomfort matters
of the garden the salmon nets and what I particularly raged to hear
continually of his affairs ciphering figures and holding disputation with the
tenantry Never a word of his father or his wife nor of the Master save only
for a day or two when his mind dwelled entirely in the past and he supposed
himself a boy again and upon some innocent childs play with his brother What
made this the more affecting it appeared the Master had then run some peril of
his life for there was a cry »O Jamie will be drowned O save Jamie«
which he came over and over with a great deal of passion
This I say was affecting both to Mrs Henry and myself but the balance
of my masters wanderings did him little justice It seemed he had set out to
justify his brothers calumnies as though he was bent to prove himself a man of
a dry nature immersed in moneygetting Had I been there alone I would not
have troubled my thumb but all the while as I listened I was estimating the
effect on the mans wife and telling myself that he fell lower every day I was
the one person on the surface of the globe that comprehended him and I was
bound there should be yet another Whether he was to die there and his virtues
perish or whether he should save his days and come back to that inheritance of
sorrows his right memory I was bound he should be heartily lamented in the one
case and unaffectedly welcomed in the other by the person he loved the most
his wife
Finding no occasion of free speech I bethought me at last of a kind of
documentary disclosure and for some nights when I was off duty and should
have been asleep I gave my time to the preparation of that which I may call my
budget But this I found to be the easiest portion of my task and that which
remained namely the presentation to my lady almost more than I had
fortitude to overtake Several days I went about with my papers under my arm
spying for some juncture of talk to serve as introduction I will not deny but
that some offered only when they did my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth
and I think I might have been carrying about my packet till this day had not a
fortunate accident delivered me from all my hesitations This was at night when
I was once more leaving the room the thing not yet done and myself in despair
at my own cowardice
»What do you carry about with you Mr Mackellar« she asked »These last
days I see you always coming in and out with the same armful«
I returned upon my steps without a word laid the papers before her on the
table and left her to her reading Of what that was I am now to give you some
idea and the best will be to reproduce a letter of my own which came first in
the budget and of which according to an excellent habitude I have preserved
the scroll It will show too the moderation of my part in these affairs a
thing which some have called recklessly in question
Durrisdeer 1757
Honoured Madam
I trust I would not step out of my place without occasion but I see
how much evil has flowed in the past to all of your noble house from
that unhappy and secretive fault of reticency and the papers on which I
venture to call your attention are family papers and all highly worthy
your acquaintance
I append a schedule with some necessary observations
And am
Honoured Madam
Your ladyships obliged obedient servant
EPHRAIM MACKELLAR
Schedule of Papers
A Scroll of ten letters from Ephraim Mackellar to the Hon James Durie
Esq by courtesy Master of Ballantrae during the latters residence in
Paris under dates follow the dates Nota to be read in
connection with B and C
B Seven original letters from the said Mr of Ballantrae to the said
E Mackellar under dates follow the dates
C Three original letters from the said Mr of Ballantrae to the Hon
Henry Durie Esq under dates follow the dates Nota given me
by Mr Henry to answer copies of my answers A4 A5 and A9 of these
productions The purport of Mr Henrys communications of which I can
find no scroll may be gathered from those of his unnatural brother
D A correspondence original and scroll extending over a period of
three years till January of the current year between the said Mr of
Ballantrae and Under Secretary of State twentyseven in all Nota
found among the Masters papers
Weary as I was with watching and distress of mind it was impossible for me to
sleep All night long I walked in my chamber revolving what should be the
issue and sometimes repenting the temerity of my immixture in affairs so
private and with the first peep of the morning I was at the sickroom door
Mrs Henry had thrown open the shutters and even the window for the
temperature was mild She looked steadfastly before her where was nothing to
see or only the blue of the morning creeping among woods Upon the stir of my
entrance she did not so much as turn about her face a circumstance from which I
augured very ill
»Madam« I began and then again »Madam« but could make no more of it Nor
yet did Mrs Henry come to my assistance with a word In this pass I began
gathering up the papers where they lay scattered on the table and the first
thing that struck me their bulk appeared to have diminished Once I ran them
through and twice but the correspondence with the Secretary of State on which
I had reckoned so much against the future was nowhere to be found I looked in
the chimney amid the smouldering embers black ashes of paper fluttered in the
draught and at that my timidity vanished
»Good God madam« cried I in a voice not fitting for a sickroom »Good
God madam what have you done with my papers«
»I have burned them« said Mrs Henry turning about »It is enough it is
too much that you and I have seen them«
»This is a fine nights work that you have done« cried I »And all to save
the reputation of a man that ate bread by the shedding of his comrades blood
as I do by the shedding of ink«
»To save the reputation of that family in which you are a servant Mr
Mackellar« she returned »and for which you have already done so much«
»It is a family I will not serve much longer« I cried »for I am driven
desperate You have stricken the sword out of my hands you have left us all
defenceless I had always these letters I could shake over his head and now
what is to do We are so falsely situate we dare not show the man the door the
country would fly on fire against us and I had this one hold upon him and now
it is gone now he may come back tomorrow and we must all sit down with him
to dinner go for a stroll with him on the terrace or take a hand at cards of
all things to divert his leisure No madam God forgive you if He can find it
in His heart for I cannot find it in mine«
»I wonder to find you so simple Mr Mackellar« said Mrs Henry »What does
this man value reputation But he knows how high we prize it he knows we would
rather die than make these letters public and do you suppose he would not trade
upon the knowledge What you call your sword Mr Mackellar and which had been
one indeed against a man of any remnant of propriety would have been but a
sword of paper against him He would smile in your face at such a threat He
stands upon his degradation he makes that his strength it is in vain to
struggle with such characters« She cried out this last a little desperately
and then with more quiet »No Mr Mackellar I have thought upon this matter
all night and there is no way out of it Papers or no papers the door of this
house stands open for him he is the rightful heir forsooth If we sought to
exclude him all would redound against poor Henry and I should see him stoned
again upon the streets Ah if Henry dies it is a different matter They have
broke the entail for their own good purposes the estate goes to my daughter
and I shall see who sets a foot upon it But if Henry lives my poor Mr
Mackellar and that man returns we must suffer only this time it will be
together«
On the whole I was well pleased with Mrs Henrys attitude of mind nor
could I even deny there was some cogency in that which she advanced about the
papers
»Let us say no more about it« said I »I can only be sorry I trusted a lady
with the originals which was an unbusinesslike proceeding at the best As for
what I said of leaving the service of the family it was spoken with the tongue
only and you may set your mind at rest I belong to Durrisdeer Mrs Henry as
if I had been born there«
I must do her the justice to say she seemed perfectly relieved so that we
began this morning as we were to continue for so many years on a proper ground
of mutual indulgence and respect
The same day which was certainly prededicate to joy we observed the first
signal of recovery in Mr Henry and about three of the following afternoon he
found his mind again recognising me by name with the strongest evidences of
affection Mrs Henry was also in the room at the bedfoot but it did not
appear that he observed her And indeed the fever being gone he was so weak
that he made but the one effort and sank again into a lethargy The course of
his restoration was now slow but equal every day his appetite improved every
week we were able to remark an increase both of strength and flesh and before
the end of the month he was out of bed and had even begun to be carried in his
chair upon the terrace
It was perhaps at this time that Mrs Henry and I were the most uneasy in
mind Apprehension for his days was at an end and a worse fear succeeded Every
day we drew consciously nearer to a day of reckoning and the days passed on
and still there was nothing Mr Henry bettered in strength he held long talks
with us on a great diversity of subjects his father came and sat with him and
went again and still there was no reference to the late tragedy or to the
former troubles which had brought it on Did he remember and conceal his
dreadful knowledge or was the whole blotted from his mind This was the problem
that kept us watching and trembling all day when we were in his company and
held us awake at night when we were in our lonely beds We knew not even which
alternative to hope for both appearing so unnatural and pointing so directly
to an unsound brain Once this fear offered I observed his conduct with
sedulous particularity Something of the child he exhibited a cheerfulness
quite foreign to his previous character an interest readily aroused and then
very tenacious in small matters which he had heretofore despised When he was
stricken down I was his only confidant and I may say his only friend and he
was on terms of division with his wife upon his recovery all was changed the
past forgotten the wife first and even single in his thoughts He turned to her
with all his emotions like a child to its mother and seemed secure of
sympathy called her in all his needs with something of that querulous
familiarity that marks a certainty of indulgence and I must say in justice to
the woman he was never disappointed To her indeed this changed behaviour was
inexpressibly affecting and I think she felt it secretly as a reproach so that
I have seen her in early days escape out of the room that she might indulge
herself in weeping But to me the change appeared not natural and viewing it
along with all the rest I began to wonder with many headshakings whether his
reason were perfectly erect
As this doubt stretched over many years endured indeed until my masters
death and clouded all our subsequent relations I may well consider of it more
at large When he was able to resume some charge of his affairs I had many
opportunities to try him with precision There was no lack of understanding nor
yet of authority but the old continuous interest had quite departed he grew
readily fatigued and fell to yawning and he carried into money relations
where it is certainly out of place a facility that bordered upon slackness
True since we had no longer the exactions of the Master to contend against
there was the less occasion to raise strictness into principle or do battle for
a farthing True again there was nothing excessive in these relaxations or I
would have been no party to them But the whole thing marked a change very
slight yet very perceptible and though no man could say my master had gone at
all out of his mind no man could deny that he had drifted from his character
It was the same to the end with his manner and appearance Some of the heat of
the fever lingered in his veins his movements a little hurried his speech
notably more voluble yet neither truly amiss His whole mind stood open to
happy impressions welcoming these and making much of them but the smallest
suggestion of trouble or sorrow he received with visible impatience and
dismissed again with immediate relief It was to this temper that he owed the
felicity of his later days and yet here it was if anywhere that you could
call the man insane A great part of this life consists in contemplating what we
cannot cure but Mr Henry if he could not dismiss solicitude by an effort of
the mind, must instantly and at whatever cost annihilate the cause of it so
that he played alternately the ostrich and the bull It is to this strenuous
cowardice of pain that I have to set down all the unfortunate and excessive
steps of his subsequent career Certainly this was the reason of his beating
MManus the groom a thing so much out of all his former practice and which
awakened so much comment at the time It is to this again that I must lay the
total loss of near upon two hundred pounds more than the half of which I could
have saved if his impatience would have suffered me But he preferred loss or
any desperate extreme to a continuance of mental suffering
All this has led me far from our immediate trouble whether he remembered or
had forgotten his late dreadful act and if he remembered in what light he
viewed it The truth burst upon us suddenly and was indeed one of the chief
surprises of my life He had been several times abroad and was now beginning to
walk a little with an arm when it chanced I should be left alone with him upon
the terrace He turned to me with a singular furtive smile such as schoolboys
use when in fault and says he in a private whisper and without the least
preface »Where have you buried him«
I could not make one sound in answer
»Where have you buried him« he repeated »I want to see his grave«
I conceived I had best take the bull by the horns »Mr Henry« said I »I
have news to give that will rejoice you exceedingly In all human likelihood
your hands are clear of blood I reason from certain indices and by these it
should appear your brother was not dead but was carried in a swound on board
the lugger But now he may be perfectly recovered«
What there was in his countenance I could not read »James« he asked
»Your brother James« I answered »I would not raise a hope that may be
found deceptive but in my heart I think it very probable he is alive«
»Ah« says Mr Henry and suddenly rising from his seat with more alacrity
than he had yet discovered set one finger on my breast and cried at me in a
kind of screaming whisper »Mackellar« these were his words »nothing can
kill that man He is not mortal He is bound upon my back to all eternity to
all Gods eternity« says he and sitting down again fell upon a stubborn
silence
A day or two after with the same secret smile and first looking about as
if to be sure we were alone »Mackellar« said he »when you have any
intelligence be sure and let me know We must keep an eye upon him or he will
take us when we least expect«
»He will not show face here again« said I
»O yes he will« said Mr Henry »Wherever I am there will he be« And
again he looked all about him
»You must not dwell upon this thought Mr Henry« said I
»No« said he »that is a very good advice We will never think of it
except when you have news And we do not know yet« he added »he may be dead«
The manner of his saying this convinced me thoroughly of what I had scarce
ventured to suspect that so far from suffering any penitence for the attempt
he did but lament his failure This was a discovery I kept to myself fearing it
might do him a prejudice with his wife But I might have saved myself the
trouble she had divined it for herself and found the sentiment quite natural
Indeed I could not but say that there were three of us all of the same mind
nor could any news have reached Durrisdeer more generally welcome than tidings
of the Masters death
This brings me to speak of the exception my old lord As soon as my anxiety
for my own master began to be relaxed I was aware of a change in the old
gentleman his father that seemed to threaten mortal consequences
His face was pale and swollen as he sat in the chimneyside with his Latin
he would drop off sleeping and the book roll in the ashes some days he would
drag his foot others stumble in speaking The amenity of his behaviour appeared
more extreme full of excuses for the least trouble very thoughtful for all to
myself of a most flattering civility One day that he had sent for his lawyer
and remained a long while private he met me as he was crossing the hall with
painful footsteps and took me kindly by the hand »Mr Mackellar« said he »I
have had many occasions to set a proper value on your services and today when
I recast my will I have taken the freedom to name you for one of my executors
I believe you bear love enough to our house to render me this service« At that
very time he passed the greater portion of his days in slumber from which it
was often difficult to rouse him seemed to have lost all count of years and
had several times particularly on waking called for his wife and for an old
servant whose very gravestone was now green with moss If I had been put to my
oath I must have declared he was incapable of testing and yet there was never
a will drawn more sensible in every trait or showing a more excellent judgment
both of persons and affairs
His dissolution though it took not very long proceeded by infinitesimal
gradations His faculties decayed together steadily the power of his limbs was
almost gone he was extremely deaf his speech had sunk into mere mumblings and
yet to the end he managed to discover something of his former courtesy and
kindness pressing the hand of any that helped him presenting me with one of
his Latin books in which he had laboriously traced my name and in a thousand
ways reminding us of the greatness of that loss which it might almost be said we
had already suffered To the end the power of articulation returned to him in
flashes it seemed he had only forgotten the art of speech as a child forgets
his lesson and at times he would call some part of it to mind On the last
night of his life he suddenly broke silence with these words from Virgil »
Gnatique patrisque alma precor miserere« perfectly uttered and with a
fitting accent At the sudden clear sound of it we started from our several
occupations but it was in vain we turned to him he sat there silent and to
all appearance fatuous A little later he was had to bed with more difficulty
than ever before and some time in the night without any mortal violence his
spirit fled
At a far later period I chanced to speak of these particulars with a doctor
of medicine a man of so high a reputation that I scruple to adduce his name By
his view of it father and son both suffered from the same affection the father
from the strain of his unnatural sorrows the son perhaps in the excitation of
the fever each had ruptured a vessel in the brain and there was probably my
doctor added some predisposition in the family to accidents of that
description The father sank the son recovered all the externals of a healthy
man but it is like there was some destruction in those delicate tissues where
the soul resides and does her earthly business her heavenly I would fain hope
cannot be thus obstructed by material accidents And yet upon a more mature
opinion it matters not one jot for He who shall pass judgment on the records
of our life is the same that formed us in frailty
The death of my old lord was the occasion of a fresh surprise to us who
watched the behaviour of his successor To any considering mind the two sons
had between them slain their father and he who took the sword might be even
said to have slain him with his hand but no such thought appeared to trouble my
new lord He was becomingly grave I could scarce say sorrowful or only with a
pleasant sorrow talking of the dead with a regretful cheerfulness relating old
examples of his character smiling at them with a good conscience and when the
day of the funeral came round doing the honours with exact propriety I could
perceive besides that he found a solid gratification in his accession to the
title the which he was punctilious in exacting
And now there came upon the scene a new character and one that played his part
too in the story I mean the present lord Alexander whose birth 17th July
1757 filled the cup of my poor masters happiness There was nothing then left
him to wish for nor yet leisure for him to wish for it Indeed there never was
a parent so fond and doting as he showed himself He was continually uneasy in
his sons absence Was the child abroad the father would be watching the clouds
in case it rained Was it night he would rise out of his bed to observe its
slumbers His conversation grew even wearyful to strangers since he talked of
little but his son In matters relating to the estate all was designed with a
particular eye to Alexander and it would be »Let us put it in hand at once
that the wood may be grown against Alexanders majority« or »This will fall in
again handsomely for Alexanders marriage« Every day this absorption of the
mans nature became more observable with many touching and some very
blameworthy particulars Soon the child could walk abroad with him at first on
the terrace hand in hand and afterward at large about the policies and this
grew to be my lords chief occupation The sound of their two voices audible a
great way off for they spoke loud became familiar in the neighbourhood and
for my part I found it more agreeable than the sound of birds It was pretty to
see the pair returning full of briers and the father as flushed and sometimes
as bemuddied as the child for they were equal sharers in all sorts of boyish
entertainment digging in the beach damming of streams and what not and I
have seen them gaze through a fence at cattle with the same childish
contemplation
The mention of these rambles brings me to a strange scene of which I was a
witness There was one walk I never followed myself without emotion so often
had I gone there upon miserable errands so much had there befallen against the
house of Durrisdeer But the path lay handy from all points beyond the Muckle
Ross and I was driven although much against my will to take my use of it
perhaps once in the two months It befell when Mr Alexander was of the age of
six or seven I had some business on the far side in the morning and entered
the shrubbery on my homeward way about nine of a bright forenoon It was that
time of year when the woods are all in their spring colours the thorns all in
flower and the birds in the high season of their singing In contrast to this
merriment the shrubbery was only the more sad and I the more oppressed by its
associations In this situation of spirit it struck me disagreeably to hear
voices a little way in front and to recognise the tones of my lord and Mr
Alexander I pushed ahead and came presently into their view They stood
together in the open space where the duel was my lord with his hand on his
sons shoulder and speaking with some gravity At least as he raised his head
upon my coming I thought I could perceive his countenance to lighten
»Ah« says he »here comes the good Mackellar I have just been telling
Sandie the story of this place and how there was a man whom the devil tried to
kill and how near he came to kill the devil instead«
I had thought it strange enough he should bring the child into that scene
that he should actually be discoursing of his act passed measure But the worst
was yet to come for he added turning to his son »You can ask Mackellar he
was here and saw it«
»Did you really see the devil« asked the child
»I have not heard the tale« I replied »and I am in a press of business«
So far I said sourly fencing with the embarrassment of the position and
suddenly the bitterness of the past and the terror of that scene by
candlelight rushed in upon my mind I bethought me that for a difference of a
seconds quickness in parade the child before me might have never seen the day
and the emotion that always fluttered round my heart in that dark shrubbery
burst forth in words »But so much is true« I cried »that I have met the devil
in these woods and seen him foiled here Blessed be God that we escaped with
life blessed be God that one stone yet stands upon another in the walls of
Durrisdeer And O Mr Alexander if ever you come by this spot though it was
a hundred years hence and you came with the gayest and the highest in the land
I would step aside and remember a bit prayer«
My lord bowed his head gravely »Ah« says he »Mackellar is always in the
right Come Alexander take your bonnet off« And with that he uncovered and
held out his hand »O Lord« said he »I thank Thee and my son thanks Thee for
Thy manifold great mercies Let us have peace for a little defend us from the
evil man Smite him O Lord upon the lying mouth« The last broke out of him
like a cry and at that whether remembered anger choked his utterance or
whether he perceived this was a singular sort of prayer at least he suddenly
came to a full stop and after a moment set back his hat upon his head
»I think you have forgot a word my lord« said I »Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us For Thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen«
»Ah that is easy saying« said my lord »That is very easy saying
Mackellar But for me to forgive I think I would cut a very silly figure if I
had the affectation to pretend it«
»The bairn my lord« said I with some severity for I thought his
expressions little fitted for the ears of children
»Why very true« said he »This is dull work for a bairn Lets go
nesting«
I forget if it was the same day but it was soon after my lord finding me
alone opened himself a little more on the same head
»Mackellar« he said »I am now a very happy man«
»I think so indeed my lord« said I »and the sight of it gives me a light
heart«
»There is an obligation in happiness do you not think so« says he
musingly
»I think so indeed« says I »and one in sorrow too If we are not here to
try to do the best in my humble opinion the sooner we are away the better for
all parties«
»Ay but if you were in my shoes would you forgive him« asks my lord
The suddenness of the attack a little gravelled me »It is a duty laid upon
us strictly« said I
»Hut« said he »These are expressions Do you forgive the man yourself«
»Well no« said I »God forgive me I do not«
»Shake hands upon that« cries my lord with a kind of joviality
»It is an ill sentiment to shake hands upon« said I »for Christian people
I think I will give you mine on some more evangelical occasion«
This I said smiling a little but as for my lord he went from the room
laughing aloud
For my lords slavery to the child I can find no expression adequate He lost
himself in that continual thought business friends and wife being all alike
forgotten or only remembered with a painful effort like that of one struggling
with a posset It was most notable in the matter of his wife Since I had known
Durrisdeer she had been the burthen of his thought and the loadstone of his
eyes and now she was quite cast out I have seen him come to the door of a
room look round and pass my lady over as though she were a dog before the
fire It would be Alexander he was seeking and my lady knew it well I have
heard him speak to her so ruggedly that I nearly found it in my heart to
intervene the cause would still be the same that she had in some way thwarted
Alexander Without doubt this was in the nature of a judgment on my lady
Without doubt she had the tables turned upon her as only Providence can do it
she who had been cold so many years to every mark of tenderness it was her part
now to be neglected
An odd situation resulted that we had once more two parties in the house
and that now I was of my ladys Not that ever I lost the love I bore my master
But for one thing he had the less use for my society For another I could not
but compare the case of Mr Alexander with that of Miss Katharine for whom my
lord had never found the least attention And for a third I was wounded by the
change he discovered to his wife which struck me in the nature of an
infidelity I could not but admire besides the constancy and kindness she
displayed Perhaps her sentiment to my lord as it had been founded from the
first in pity was that rather of a mother than a wife perhaps it pleased her
if I may say so to behold her two children so happy in each other the more as
one had suffered so unjustly in the past But for all that and though I could
never trace in her one spark of jealousy she must fall back for society on poor
neglected Miss Katharine and I on my part came to pass my spare hours more
and more with the mother and daughter It would be easy to make too much of this
division for it was a pleasant family as families go still the thing existed
whether my lord knew it or not I am in doubt I do not think he did he was
bound up so entirely in his son but the rest of us knew it and in a manner
suffered from the knowledge
What troubled us most however was the great and growing danger to the
child My lord was his father over again it was to be feared the son would
prove a second Master Time has proved these fears to have been quite
exaggerate Certainly there is no more worthy gentleman today in Scotland than
the seventh Lord Durrisdeer Of my own exodus from his employment it does not
become me to speak above all in a memorandum written only to justify his
father
Editors Note Five pages of Mr Mackellars MS are here omitted I have
gathered from their perusal an impression that Mr Mackellar in his old age
was rather an exacting servant Against the seventh Lord Durrisdeer with whom
at any rate we have no concern nothing material is alleged RLS
But our fear at the time was lest he should turn out in the person of his
son a second edition of his brother My lady had tried to interject some
wholesome discipline she had been glad to give that up and now looked on with
secret dismay sometimes she even spoke of it by hints and sometimes when
there was brought to her knowledge some monstrous instance of my lords
indulgence she would betray herself in a gesture or perhaps an exclamation As
for myself I was haunted by the thought both day and night not so much for the
childs sake as for the fathers The man had gone to sleep he was dreaming a
dream and any rough awakening must infallibly prove mortal That he should
survive the childs death was inconceivable and the fear of its dishonour made
me cover my face
It was this continual preoccupation that screwed me up at last to a
remonstrance a matter worthy to be narrated in detail My lord and I sat one
day at the same table upon some tedious business of detail I have said that he
had lost his former interest in such occupations he was plainly itching to be
gone and he looked fretful weary and methought older than I had ever
previously observed I suppose it was the haggard face that put me suddenly upon
my enterprise
»My lord« said I with my head down and feigning to continue my occupation
»or rather let me call you again by the name of Mr Henry for I fear your
anger and want you to think upon old times «
»My good Mackellar« said he and that in tones so kindly that I had near
forsook my purpose But I called to mind that I was speaking for his good and
stuck to my colours
»Has it never come in upon your mind what you are doing« I asked
»What I am doing« he repeated »I was never good at guessing riddles«
»What you are doing with your son« said I
»Well« said he with some defiance in his tone »and what am I doing with
my son«
»Your father was a very good man« says I straying from the direct path
»But do you think he was a wise father«
There was a pause before he spoke and then »I say nothing against him« he
replied »I had the most cause perhaps but I say nothing«
»Why there it is« said I »You had the cause at least And yet your father
was a good man I never knew a better save on the one point nor yet a wiser
Where he stumbled it is highly possible another man should fall He had the two
sons «
My lord rapped suddenly and violently on the table
»What is this« cried he »Speak out«
»I will then« said I my voice almost strangled with the thumping of my
heart »If you continue to indulge Mr Alexander you are following in your
fathers footsteps Beware my lord lest when he grows up your son should
follow in the Masters«
I had never meant to put the thing so crudely but in the extreme of fear
there comes a brutal kind of courage the most brutal indeed of all and I burnt
my ships with that plain word I never had the answer When I lifted my head my
lord had risen to his feet and the next moment he fell heavily on the floor
The fit or seizure endured not very long he came to himself vacantly put his
hand to his head which I was then supporting and says he in a broken voice
»I have been ill« and a little after »Help me« I got him to his feet and he
stood pretty well though he kept hold of the table »I have been ill
Mackellar« he said again »Something broke Mackellar or was going to break
and then all swam away I think I was very angry Never you mind Mackellar
never you mind my man I wouldna hurt a hair upon your head Too much has come
and gone Its a certain thing between us two But I think Mackellar I will go
to Mrs Henry I think I will go to Mrs Henry« said he and got pretty
steadily from the room leaving me overcome with penitence
Presently the door flew open and my lady swept in with flashing eyes »What
is all this« she cried »What have you done to my husband Will nothing teach
you your position in this house Will you never cease from making and meddling«
»My lady« said I »since I have been in this house I have had plenty of
hard words For a while they were my daily diet and I swallowed them all As
for today you may call me what you please you will never find the name hard
enough for such a blunder And yet I meant it for the best«
I told her all with ingenuity even as it is written here and when she had
heard me out she pondered and I could see her animosity fall »Yes« she said
»you meant well indeed I have had the same thought myself or the same
temptation rather which makes me pardon you But dear God can you not
understand that he can bear no more He can bear no more« she cried »The cord
is stretched to snapping What matters the future if he have one or two good
days«
»Amen« said I »I will meddle no more I am pleased enough that you should
recognise the kindness of my meaning«
»Yes« said my lady »but when it came to the point I have to suppose your
courage failed you for what you said was said cruelly« She paused looking at
me then suddenly smiled a little and said a singular thing »Do you know what
you are Mr Mackellar You are an old maid«
No more incident of any note occurred in the family until the return of that
illstarred man the Master But I have to place here a second extract from the
memoirs of Chevalier Burke interesting in itself, and highly necessary for my
purpose It is our only sight of the Master on his Indian travels and the first
word in these pages of Secundra Dass One fact it is to observe appears here
very clearly which if we had known some twenty years ago how many calamities
and sorrows had been spared that Secundra Dass spoke English
Chapter VII
Adventure of Chevalier Burke in India
Extracted from his Memoirs
Here was I therefore on the streets of that city the name of which I
cannot call to mind while even then I was so ill acquainted with its situation
that I knew not whether to go south or north The alert being sudden I had run
forth without shoes or stockings my hat had been struck from my head in the
mellay my kit was in the hands of the English I had no companion but the
cipaye no weapon but my sword and the devil a coin in my pocket In short I
was for all the world like one of those calendars with whom Mr Galland has made
us acquainted in his elegant tales These gentlemen you will remember were for
ever falling in with extraordinary incidents and I was myself upon the brink of
one so astonishing that I protest I cannot explain it to this day
The cipaye was a very honest man he had served many years with the French
colours and would have let himself be cut to pieces for any of the brave
countrymen of Mr Lally It is the same fellow his name has quite escaped me
of whom I have narrated already a surprising instance of generosity of mind
when he found Mr de Fessac and myself upon the ramparts entirely overcome with
liquor and covered us with straw while the commandant was passing by I
consulted him therefore with perfect freedom It was a fine question what to
do but we decided at last to escalade a garden wall where we could certainly
sleep in the shadow of the trees and might perhaps find an occasion to get hold
of a pair of slippers and a turban In that part of the city we had only the
difficulty of the choice for it was a quarter consisting entirely of walled
gardens and the lanes which divided them were at that hour of the night
deserted I gave the cipaye a back and we had soon dropped into a large
enclosure full of trees The place was soaking with the dew which in that
country is exceedingly unwholesome above all to whites yet my fatigue was so
extreme that I was already half asleep when the cipaye recalled me to my
senses In the far end of the enclosure a bright light had suddenly shone out
and continued to burn steadily among the leaves It was a circumstance highly
unusual in such a place and hour and in our situation it behoved us to
proceed with some timidity The cipaye was sent to reconnoitre and pretty soon
returned with the intelligence that we had fallen extremely amiss for the house
belonged to a white man who was in all likelihood English
»Faith« says I »if there is a white man to be seen I will have a look at
him for the Lord be praised there are more sorts than the one«
The cipaye led me forward accordingly to a place from which I had a clear
view upon the house It was surrounded with a wide verandah a lamp very well
trimmed stood upon the floor of it and on either side of the lamp there sat a
man crosslegged after the Oriental manner Both besides were bundled up in
muslin like two natives and yet one of them was not only a white man but a man
very well known to me and the reader being indeed that very Master of
Ballantrae of whose gallantry and genius I have had to speak so often Word had
reached me that he was come to the Indies though we had never met at least and
I heard little of his occupations But sure I had no sooner recognised him
and found myself in the arms of so old a comrade than I supposed my
tribulations were quite done I stepped plainly forth into the light of the
moon which shone exceedingly strong and hailing Ballantrae by name made him
in a few words master of my grievous situation He turned started the least
thing in the world looked me fair in the face while I was speaking and when I
had done addressed himself to his companion in the barbarous native dialect The
second person who was of an extraordinary delicate appearance with legs like
walking canes and fingers like the stalk of a tobaccopipe6 now rose to his
feet
»The Sahib« says he »understands no English language I understand it
myself and I see you make some small mistake O which may happen very often
But the Sahib would be glad to know how you come in a garden«
»Ballantrae« I cried »have you the damned impudence to deny me to my
face«
Ballantrae never moved a muscle staring at me like an image in a pagoda
»The Sahib understands no English language« says the native as glib as
before »He be glad to know how you come in a garden«
»O the divil fetch him« says I »He would be glad to know how I come in a
garden would he Well now my dear man just have the civility to tell the
Sahib with my kind love that we are two soldiers here whom he never met and
never heard of but the cipaye is a broth of a boy and I am a broth of a boy
myself and if we dont get a full meal of meat and a turban and slippers and
the value of a gold mohur in small change as a matter of convenience bedad my
friend I could lay my finger on a garden where there is going to be trouble«
They carried their comedy so far as to converse a while in Hindustanee and
then says the Hindu with the same smile but sighing as if he were tired of the
repetition »The Sahib would be glad to know how you come in a garden«
»Is that the way of it« says I and laying my hand on my swordhilt I bade
the cipaye draw
Ballantraes Hindu still smiling pulled out a pistol from his bosom and
though Ballantrae himself never moved a muscle I knew him well enough to be sure
he was prepared
»The Sahib thinks you better go away« says the Hindu
Well to be plain it was what I was thinking myself for the report of a
pistol would have been under Providence the means of hanging the pair of us
»Tell the Sahib I consider him no gentleman« says I and turned away with a
gesture of contempt
I was not gone three steps when the voice of the Hindu called me back »The
Sahib would be glad to know if you are a dam low Irishman« says he and at the
words Ballantrae smiled and bowed very low
»What is that« says I
»The Sahib say you ask your friend Mackellar« says the Hindu »The Sahib he
cry quits«
»Tell the Sahib I will give him a cure for the Scots fiddle when next we
meet« cried I
The pair were still smiling as I left
There is little doubt some flaws may be picked in my own behaviour and when
a man however gallant appeals to posterity with an account of his exploits he
must almost certainly expect to share the fate of Cæsar and Alexander and to
meet with some detractors But there is one thing that can never be laid at the
door of Francis Burke he never turned his back on a friend
Here follows a passage which the Chevalier Burke has been at the pains to
delete before sending me his manuscript Doubtless it was some very natural
complaint of what he supposed to be an indiscretion on my part though indeed
I can call none to mind Perhaps Mr Henry was less guarded or it is just
possible the Master found the means to examine my correspondence and himself
read the letter from Troyes in revenge for which this cruel jest was
perpetrated on Mr Burke in his extreme necessity The Master for all his
wickedness was not without some natural affection I believe he was sincerely
attached to Mr Burke in the beginning but the thought of treachery dried up
the springs of his very shallow friendship and his detestable nature appeared
naked E McK
Chapter VIII
The Enemy in the House
It is a strange thing that I should be at a stick for a date the date
besides of an incident that changed the very nature of my life and sent us all
into foreign lands But the truth is I was stricken out of all my habitudes
and find my journals very ill reddup7 the day not indicated sometimes for a
week or two together and the whole fashion of the thing like that of a man near
desperate It was late in March at least or early in April 1764 I had slept
heavily and wakened with a premonition of some evil to befall So strong was
this upon my spirit that I hurried downstairs in my shirt and breeches and my
hand I remember shook upon the rail It was a cold sunny morning with a
thick white frost the blackbirds sang exceeding sweet and loud about the house
of Durrisdeer and there was a noise of the sea in all the chambers As I came
by the doors of the hall another sound arrested me of voices talking I drew
nearer and stood like a man dreaming Here was certainly a human voice and
that in my own masters house and yet I knew it not certainly human speech
and that in my native land and yet listen as I pleased I could not catch one
syllable An old tale started up in my mind of a fairy wife or perhaps only a
wandering stranger that came to the place of my fathers some generations back
and stayed the matter of a week talking often in a tongue that signified
nothing to the hearers and went again as she had come under cloud of night
leaving not so much as a name behind her A little fear I had but more
curiosity and I opened the halldoor and entered
The supperthings still lay upon the table the shutters were still closed
although day peeped in the divisions and the great room was lighted only with a
single taper and the shining of the fire Close in the chimney sat two men The
one that was wrapped in a cloak and wore boots I knew at once it was the bird
of ill omen back again Of the other who was set close to the red embers and
made up into a bundle like a mummy I could but see that he was an alien of a
darker hue than any man of Europe very frailly built with a singular tall
forehead and a secret eye Several packets and a small valise were on the
floor and to judge by the smallness of this luggage and by the condition of
the Masters boots grossly patched by some unscrupulous country cobbler evil
had not prospered
He rose upon my entrance our eyes crossed and I know not why it should
have been but my courage rose like a lark on a May morning
»Ha« said I »is this you« and I was pleased with the unconcern of my
own voice
»It is even myself worthy Mackellar« says the Master
»This time you have brought the black dog visibly upon your back« I
continued
»Referring to Secundra Dass« asked the Master »Let me present you He is a
native gentleman of India«
»Hum« said I »I am no great lover either of you or your friends Mr
Bally But I will let a little daylight in and have a look at you« And so
saying I undid the shutters of the eastern window
By the light of the morning I could perceive the man was changed Later
when we were all together I was more struck to see how lightly time had dealt
with him but the first glance was otherwise
»You are getting an old man« said I
A shade came upon his face »If you could see yourself« said he »you would
perhaps not dwell upon the topic«
»Hut« I returned »old age is nothing to me I think I have been always
old and I am now I thank God better known and more respected It is not every
one that can say that Mr Bally The lines in your brow are calamities your
life begins to close in upon you like a prison death will soon be rapping at
the door and I see not from what source you are to draw your consolations«
Here the Master addressed himself to Secundra Dass in Hindustanee from
which I gathered I freely confess with a high degree of pleasure that my
remarks annoyed him All this while you may be sure my mind had been busy upon
other matters even while I rallied my enemy and chiefly as to how I should
communicate secretly and quickly with my lord To this in the breathingspace
now given me I turned all the forces of my mind when suddenly shifting my
eyes I was aware of the man himself standing in the doorway and to all
appearance quite composed He had no sooner met my looks than he stepped across
the threshold The Master heard him coming and advanced upon the other side
about four feet apart these brothers came to a full pause and stood exchanging
steady looks and then my lord smiled bowed a little forward and turned
briskly away
»Mackellar« says he »we must see to breakfast for these travellers«
It was plain the Master was a trifle disconcerted but he assumed the more
impudence of speech and manner »I am as hungry as a hawk« says he »Let it be
something good Henry«
My lord turned to him with the same hard smile »Lord Durrisdeer« says he
»O never in the family« returned the Master
»Every one in this house renders me my proper title« says my lord »If it
please you to make an exception I will leave you to consider what appearance it
will bear to strangers and whether it may not be translated as an effect of
impotent jealousy«
I could have clapped my hands together with delight the more so as my lord
left no time for any answer but bidding me with a sign to follow him went
straight out of the hall
»Come quick« says he »we have to sweep vermin from the house« And he sped
through the passages with so swift a step that I could scarce keep up with him
straight to the door of John Paul the which he opened without summons and
walked in John was to all appearance sound asleep but my lord made no
pretence of waking him
»John Paul« said he speaking as quietly as ever I heard him »you served
my father long or I would pack you from the house like a dog If in half an
hours time I find you gone you shall continue to receive your wages in
Edinburgh If you linger here or in St Brides old man old servant and
altogether I shall find some very astonishing way to make you smart for your
disloyalty Up and begone The door you let them in by will serve for your
departure I do not choose my son shall see your face again«
»I am rejoiced to find you bear the thing so quietly« said I when we were
forth again by ourselves
»Quietly« cries he and put my hand suddenly against his heart which
struck upon his bosom like a sledge
At this revelation I was filled with wonder and fear There was no
constitution could bear so violent a strain his least of all that was
unhinged already and I decided in my mind that we must bring this monstrous
situation to an end
»It would be well I think if I took word to my lady« said I Indeed he
should have gone himself but I counted not in vain on his indifference
»Ay« says he »do I will hurry breakfast we must all appear at the table
even Alexander it must appear we are untroubled«
I ran to my ladys room and with no preparatory cruelty disclosed my news
»My mind was long ago made up« said she »We must make our packets secretly
today and leave secretly tonight Thank Heaven we have another house The
first ship that sails shall bear us to New York«
»And what of him« I asked
»We leave him Durrisdeer« she cried »Let him work his pleasure upon that«
»Not so by your leave« said I »There shall be a dog at his heels that can
hold fast Bed he shall have and board and a horse to ride upon if he behave
himself but the keys if you think well of it my lady shall be left in the
hands of one Mackellar There will be good care taken trust him for that«
»Mr Mackellar« she cried »I thank you for that thought All shall be left
in your hands If we must go into a savage country I bequeath it to you to take
our vengeance Send Macconochie to St Brides to arrange privately for horses
and to call the lawyer My lord must leave procuration«
At that moment my lord came to the door and we opened our plan to him
»I will never hear of it« he cried »he would think I feared him I will
stay in my own house please God until I die There lives not the man can beard
me out of it Once and for all here I am and here I stay in spite of all the
devils in hell« I can give no idea of the vehemency of his words and utterance
but we both stood aghast and I in particular who had been a witness of his
former selfrestraint
My lady looked at me with an appeal that went to my heart and recalled me to
my wits I made her a private sign to go and when my lord and I were alone
went up to him where he was racing to and fro in one end of the room like a
halflunatic and set my hand firmly on his shoulder
»My lord« says I »I am going to be the plaindealer once more if for the
last time so much the better for I am grown weary of the part«
»Nothing will change me« he answered »God forbid I should refuse to hear
you but nothing will change me« This he said firmly with no signal or the
former violence which already raised my hopes
»Very well« said I »I can afford to waste my breath« I pointed to a
chair and he sat down and looked at me »I can remember a time when my lady
very much neglected you« said I
»I never spoke of it while it lasted« returned my lord with a high flush
of colour »and it is all changed now«
»Do you know how much« I said »Do you know how much it is all changed The
tables are turned my lord It is my lady that now courts you for a word a look
ay and courts you in vain Do you know with whom she passes her days while
you are out gallivanting in the policies My lord she is glad to pass them with
a certain dry old grieve8 of the name of Ephraim Mackellar and I think you may
be able to remember what that means for I am the more in a mistake or you were
once driven to the same company yourself«
»Mackellar« cries my lord getting to his feet »O my God Mackellar«
»It is neither the name of Mackellar nor the name of God that can change the
truth« said I »and I am telling you the fact Now for you that suffered so
much to deal out the same suffering to another is that the part of any
Christian But you are so swallowed up in your new friend that the old are all
forgotten They are all clean vanished from your memory And yet they stood by
you at the darkest my lady not the least And does my lady ever cross your
mind Does it ever cross your mind what she went through that night or what
manner of a wife she has been to you thenceforward or in what kind of a
position she finds herself today Never It is your pride to stay and face him
out and she must stay along with you O my lords pride thats the great
affair And yet she is the woman and you are a great hulking man She is the
woman that you swore to protect and more betoken the own mother of that son
of yours«
»You are speaking very bitterly Mackellar« said he »but the Lord knows
I fear you are speaking very true I have not proved worthy of my happiness
Bring my lady back«
My lady was waiting near at hand to learn the issue When I brought her in
my lord took a hand of each of us and laid them both upon his bosom »I have
had two friends in my life« said he »All the comfort ever I had it came from
one or other When you two are in a mind I think I would be an ungrateful dog
« He shut his mouth very hard and looked on us with swimming eyes »Do what
ye like with me« says he »only dont think « He stopped again »Do what you
please with me God knows I love and honour you« And dropping our two hands he
turned his back and went and gazed out of the window But my lady ran after
calling his name and threw herself upon his neck in a passion of weeping
I went out and shut the door behind me and stood and thanked God from the
bottom of my heart
At the breakfastboard according to my lords design we were all met The
Master had by that time plucked off his patched boots and made a toilet suitable
to the hour Secundra Dass was no longer bundled up in wrappers but wore a
decent plain black suit which misbecame him strangely and the pair were at the
great window looking forth when the family entered They turned and the black
man as they had already named him in the house bowed almost to his knees but
the Master was for running forward like one of the family My lady stopped him
curtsying low from the far end of the hall and keeping her children at her
back My lord was a little in front so there were the three cousins of
Durrisdeer face to face The hand of time was very legible on all I seemed to
read in their changed faces a memento mori and what affected me still more it
was the wicked man that bore his years the handsomest My lady was quite
transfigured into the matron a becoming woman for the head of a great tableful
of children and dependants My lord was grown slack in his limbs he stooped he
walked with a running motion as though he had learned again from Mr Alexander
his face was drawn it seemed a trifle longer than of old and it wore at times
a smile very singularly mingled and which in my eyes appeared both bitter and
pathetic But the Master still bore himself erect although perhaps with effort
his brow barred about the centre with imperious lines his mouth set as for
command He had all the gravity and something of the splendour of Satan in the
Paradise Lost I could not help but see the man with admiration and was only
surprised that I saw him with so little fear
But indeed as long as we were at the table it seemed as if his authority
were quite vanished and his teeth all drawn We had known him a magician that
controlled the elements and here he was transformed into an ordinary
gentleman chatting like his neighbours at the breakfastboard For now the
father was dead and my lord and lady reconciled in what ear was he to pour his
calumnies It came upon me in a kind of vision how hugely I had overrated the
mans subtlety He had his malice still he was false as ever and the occasion
being gone that made his strength he sat there impotent he was still the
viper but now spent his venom on a file Two more thoughts occurred to me while
yet we sat at breakfast the first that he was abashed I had almost said
distressed to find his wickedness quite unavailing the second that perhaps
my lord was in the right and we did amiss to fly from our dismasted enemy But
my poor masters leaping heart came in my mind and I remembered it was for his
life we played the coward
When the meal was over the Master followed me to my room and taking a
chair which I had never offered him asked me what was to be done with him
»Why Mr Bally« said I »the house will still be open to you for a time«
»For a time« says he »I do not know if I quite take your meaning«
»It is plain enough« said I »We keep you for our reputation as soon as
you shall have publicly disgraced yourself by some of your misconduct we shall
pack you forth again«
»You are become an impudent rogue« said the Master bending his brows at me
dangerously
»I learned in a good school« I returned »And you must have perceived
yourself that with my old lords death your power is quite departed I do not
fear you now Mr Bally I think even God forgive me that I take a certain
pleasure in your company«
He broke out in a burst of laughter which I clearly saw to be assumed
»I have come with empty pockets« says he after a pause
»I do not think there will be any money going« I replied »I would advise
you not to build on that«
»I shall have something to say on the point« he returned
»Indeed« said I »I have not a guess what it will be then«
»O you affect confidence« said the Master »I have still one strong
position that you people fear a scandal and I enjoy it«
»Pardon me Mr Bally« says I »We do not in the least fear a scandal
against you«
He laughed again »You have been studying repartee« he said »But speech is
very easy and sometimes very deceptive I warn you fairly you will find me
vitriol in the house You would do wiser to pay money down and see my back« And
with that he waved his hand to me and left the room
A little after my lord came with the lawyer Mr Carlyle a bottle of old
wine was brought and we all had a glass before we fell to business The
necessary deeds were then prepared and executed and the Scots estates made over
in trust to Mr Carlyle and myself
»There is one point Mr Carlyle« said my lord when these affairs had been
adjusted »on which I wish that you would do us justice This sudden departure
coinciding with my brothers return will be certainly commented on I wish you
would discourage any conjunction of the two«
»I will make a point of it my lord« said Mr Carlyle »The Mas Mr Bally
does not then accompany you«
»It is a point I must approach« said my lord »Mr Bally remains at
Durrisdeer under the care of Mr Mackellar and I do not mean that he shall
even know our destination«
»Common report however « began the lawyer
»Ah but Mr Carlyle this is to be a secret quite among ourselves«
interrupted my lord »None but you and Mackellar are to be made acquainted with
my movements«
»And Mr Bally stays here Quite so« said Mr Carlyle »The powers you
leave « Then he broke off again »Mr Mackellar we have a rather heavy weight
upon us«
»No doubt sir« said I
»No doubt« said he »Mr Bally will have no voice«
»He will have no voice« said my lord »and I hope no influence Mr Bally
is not a good adviser«
»I see« said the lawyer »By the way has Mr Bally means«
»I understand him to have nothing« replied my lord »I give him table
fire and candle in this house«
»And in the matter of an allowance If I am to share the responsibility you
will see how highly desirable it is that I should understand your views« said
the lawyer »On the question of an allowance«
»There will be no allowance« said my lord »I wish Mr Bally to live very
private We have not always been gratified with his behaviour«
»And in the matter of money« I added »he has shown himself an infamous bad
husband Glance your eye upon that docket Mr Carlyle where I have brought
together the different sums the man has drawn from the estate in the last
fifteen or twenty years The total is pretty«
Mr Carlyle made the motion of whistling »I had no guess of this« said he
»Excuse me once more my lord if I appear to push you but it is really
desirable I should penetrate your intentions Mr Mackellar might die when I
should find myself alone upon this trust Would it not be rather your lordships
preference that Mr Bally should ahem should leave the country«
My lord looked at Mr Carlyle »Why do you ask that« said he
»I gather my lord that Mr Bally is not a comfort to his family« says the
lawyer with a smile
My lords face became suddenly knotted »I wish he was in hell« cried he
and filled himself a glass of wine but with a hand so tottering that he spilled
the half into his bosom This was the second time that in the midst of the most
regular and wise behaviour his animosity had spurted out It startled Mr
Carlyle who observed my lord thenceforth with covert curiosity and to me it
restored the certainty that we were acting for the best in view of my lords
health and reason
Except for this explosion the interview was very successfully conducted No
doubt Mr Carlyle would talk as lawyers do little by little We could thus
feel we had laid the foundations of a better feeling in the country and the
mans own misconduct would certainly complete what we had begun Indeed before
his departure the lawyer showed us there had already gone abroad some
glimmerings of the truth
»I should perhaps explain to you my lord« said he pausing with his hat
in his hand »that I have not been altogether surprised with your lordships
dispositions in the case of Mr Bally Something of this nature oozed out when
he was last in Durrisdeer There was some talk of a woman at St Brides to
whom you had behaved extremely handsome and Mr Bally with no small degree of
cruelty There was the entail again which was much controverted In short
there was no want of talk back and forward and some of our wiseacres took up
a strong opinion I remained in suspense as became one of my cloth but Mr
Mackellars docket here has finally opened my eyes I do not think Mr
Mackellar that you and I will give him that much rope«
The rest of that important day passed prosperously through It was our policy to
keep the enemy in view and I took my turn to be his watchman with the rest I
think his spirits rose as he perceived us to be so attentive and I know that
mine insensibly declined What chiefly daunted me was the mans singular
dexterity to worm himself into our troubles You may have felt after a horse
accident the hand of a bonesetter artfully divide and interrogate the muscles
and settle strongly on the injured place It was so with the Masters tongue
that was so cunning to question and his eyes that were so quick to observe I
seemed to have said nothing and yet to have let all out Before I knew where I
was the man was condoling with me on my lords neglect of my lady and myself
and his hurtful indulgence to his son On this last point I perceived him with
panic fear to return repeatedly The boy had displayed a certain shrinking from
his uncle it was strong in my mind his father had been fool enough to
indoctrinate the same which was no wise beginning and when I looked upon the
man before me still so handsome so apt a speaker with so great a variety of
fortunes to relate I saw he was the very personage to captivate a boyish fancy
John Paul had left only that morning it was not to be supposed he had been
altogether dumb upon his favourite subject so that here would be Mr Alexander
in the part of Dido with a curiosity inflamed to hear and there would be the
Master like a diabolical Æneas full of matter the most pleasing in the world
to any youthful ear such as battles seadisasters flights the forests of the
West and since his later voyage the ancient cities of the Indies How
cunningly these baits might be employed and what an empire might be so founded
little by little in the mind of any boy stood obviously clear to me There was
no inhibition so long as the man was in the house that would be strong enough
to hold these two apart for if it be hard to charm serpents it is no very
difficult thing to cast a glamour on a little chip of manhood not very long in
breeches I recalled an ancient sailorman who dwelt in a lone house beyond the
Figgate Whins I believe he called it after Portobello and how the boys would
troop out of Leith on a Saturday and sit and listen to his swearing tales as
thick as crows about a carrion a thing I often remarked as I went by a young
student on my own more meditative holiday diversion Many of these boys went
no doubt in the face of an express command many feared and even hated the
old brute of whom they made their hero and I have seen them flee from him when
he was tipsy and stone him when he was drunk And yet there they came each
Saturday How much more easily would a boy like Mr Alexander fall under the
influence of a highlooking highspoken gentlemanadventurer who should
conceive the fancy to entrap him and the influence gained how easy to employ
it for the childs perversion
I doubt if our enemy had named Mr Alexander three times before I perceived
which way his mind was aiming all this train of thought and memory passed in
one pulsation through my own and you may say I started back as though an open
hole had gaped across a pathway Mr Alexander there was the weak point there
was the Eve in our perishable paradise and the serpent was already hissing on
the trail
I promise you I went the more heartily about the preparations my last
scruple gone the danger of delay written before me in huge characters From
that moment forth I seem not to have sat down or breathed Now I would be at my
post with the Master and his Indian now in the garret buckling a valise now
sending forth Macconochie by the side postern and the woodpath to bear it to
the trystingplace and again snatching some words of counsel with my lady
This was the verso of our life in Durrisdeer that day but on the recto all
appeared quite settled as of a family at home in its paternal seat and what
perturbation may have been observable the Master would set down to the blow of
his unlookedfor coming and the fear he was accustomed to inspire
Supper went creditably off cold salutations passed and the company trooped
to their respective chambers I attended the Master to the last We had put him
next door to his Indian in the north wing because that was the most distant
and could be severed from the body of the house with doors I saw he was a kind
friend or a good master whichever it was to his Secundra Dass seeing to his
comfort mending the fire with his own hand for the Indian complained of cold
inquiring as to the rice on which the stranger made his diet talking with him
pleasantly in the Hindustanee while I stood by my candle in my hand and
affected to be overcome with slumber At length the Master observed my signals
of distress »I perceive« says he »that you have all your ancient habits
early to bed and early to rise Yawn yourself away«
Once in my own room I made the customary motions of undressing so that I
might time myself and when the cycle was complete set my tinderbox ready and
blew out my taper The matter of an hour afterward I made a light again put on
my shoes of list that I had worn by my lords sickbed and set forth into the
house to call the voyagers All were dressed and waiting my lord my lady
Miss Katharine Mr Alexander my ladys woman Christie and I observed the
effect of secrecy even upon quite innocent persons that one after another
showed in the chink of the door a face as white as paper We slipped out of the
side postern into a night of darkness scarce broken by a star or two so that
at first we groped and stumbled and fell among the bushes A few hundred yards
up the woodpath Macconochie was waiting us with a great lantern so the rest of
the way we went easy enough but still in a kind of guilty silence A little
beyond the abbey the path debouched on the main road and some quarter of a mile
farther at the place called Eagles where the moors begin we saw the lights of
the two carriages stand shining by the wayside Scarce a word or two was uttered
at our parting and these regarded business a silent grasping of hands a
turning of faces aside and the thing was over the horses broke into a trot
the lamplight sped like WillotheWisp upon the broken moorland it dipped
beyond Stony Brae and there were Macconochie and I alone with our lantern on
the road There was one thing more to wait for and that was the reappearance of
the coach upon Cartmore It seems they must have pulled up upon the summit
looked back for a last time and seen our lantern not yet moved away from the
place of separation For a lamp was taken from a carriage and waved three times
up and down by way of a farewell And then they were gone indeed having looked
their last on the kind roof of Durrisdeer their faces toward a barbarous
country I never knew before the greatness of that vault of night in which we
two poor servingmen the one old and the one elderly stood for the first
time deserted I had never felt before my own dependency upon the countenance of
others The sense of isolation burned in my bowels like a fire It seemed that
we who remained at home were the true exiles and that Durrisdeer and
Solwayside and all that made my country native its air good to me and its
language welcome had gone forth and was far over the sea with my old masters
The remainder of that night I paced to and fro on the smooth highway
reflecting on the future and the past My thoughts which at first dwelled
tenderly on those who were just gone took a more manly temper as I considered
what remained for me to do Day came upon the inland mountaintops and the
fowls began to cry and the smoke of homesteads to arise in the brown bosom of
the moors before I turned my face homeward and went down the path to where the
roof of Durrisdeer shone in the morning by the sea
At the customary hour I had the Master called and awaited his coming in the
hall with a quiet mind He looked about him at the empty room and the three
covers set
»We are a small party« said he »How comes that«
»This is the party to which we must grow accustomed« I replied
He looked at me with a sudden sharpness »What is all this« said he
»You and I and your friend Mr Dass are now all the company« I replied »My
lord my lady and the children are gone upon a voyage«
»Upon my word« said he »Can this be possible I have indeed fluttered your
Volscians in Corioli But this is no reason why our breakfast should go cold
Sit down Mr Mackellar if you please« taking as he spoke the head of the
table which I had designed to occupy myself »and as we eat you can give me
the details of this evasion«
I could see he was more affected than his language carried and I determined
to equal him in coolness »I was about to ask you to take the head of the
table« said I »for though I am now thrust into the position of your host I
could never forget that you were after all a member of the family«
For a while he played the part of entertainer giving directions to
Macconochie who received them with an evil grace and attending specially upon
Secundra »And where has my good family withdrawn to« he asked carelessly
»Ah Mr Bally that is another point« said I »I have no orders to
communicate their destination«
»To me« he corrected
»To any one« said I
»It is the less pointed« said the Master »cest de bon ton my brother
improves as he continues And I dear Mr Mackellar«
»You will have bed and board Mr Bally« said I »I am permitted to give
you the run of the cellar which is pretty reasonably stocked You have only to
keep well with me which is no very difficult matter and you shall want neither
for wine nor a saddle
He made an excuse to send Macconochie from the room
»And for money« he inquired »Have I to keep well with my good friend
Mackellar for my pocketmoney also This is a pleasing return to the principles
of boyhood«
»There was no allowance made« said I »but I will take it on myself to see
you are supplied in moderation«
»In moderation« he repeated »And you will take it on yourself« He drew
himself up and looked about the hall at the dark rows of portraits »In the
name of my ancestors I thank you« says he and then with a return to irony
»But there must certainly be an allowance for Secundra Dass« he said »It is
not possible they have omitted that«
»I will make a note of it and ask instructions when I write« said I
And he with a sudden change of manner and leaning forward with an elbow on
the table »Do you think this entirely wise«
»I execute my orders Mr Bally« said I
»Profoundly modest« said the Master »perhaps not equally ingenuous You
told me yesterday my power was fallen with my fathers death How comes it
then that a peer of the realm flees under cloud of night out of a house in
which his fathers have stood several sieges that he conceals his address which
must be a matter of concern to his Gracious Majesty and to the whole republic
and that he should leave me in possession and under the paternal charge of his
invaluable Mackellar This smacks to me of a very considerable and genuine
apprehension«
I sought to interrupt him with some not very truthful denegation but he
waved me down and pursued his speech
»I say it smacks of it« he said »but I will go beyond that for I think
the apprehension grounded I came to this house with some reluctancy In view of
the manner of my last departure nothing but necessity could have induced me to
return Money however, is that which I must have You will not give with a good
grace well I have the power to force it from you Inside of a week without
leaving Durrisdeer I will find out where these fools are fled to I will
follow and when I have run my quarry down I will drive a wedge into that
family that shall once more burst it into shivers I shall see then whether my
Lord Durrisdeer« said with indescribable scorn and rage »will choose to buy my
absence and you will all see whether by that time I decide for profit or
revenge«
I was amazed to hear the man so open The truth is he was consumed with
anger at my lords successful flight felt himself to figure as a dupe and was
in no humour to weigh language
»Do you consider this entirely wise« said I copying his words
»These twenty years I have lived by my poor wisdom« he answered with a
smile that seemed almost foolish in its vanity
»And come out a beggar in the end« said I »if beggar be a strong enough
word for it«
»I would have you to observe Mr Mackellar« cried he with a sudden
imperious heat in which I could not but admire him »that I am scrupulously
civil copy me in that and we shall be the better friends«
Throughout this dialogue I had been incommoded by the observation of
Secundra Dass Not one of us since the first word had made a feint of eating
our eyes were in each others faces you might say in each others bosoms and
those of the Indian troubled me with a certain changing brightness as of
comprehension But I brushed the fancy aside telling myself once more he
understood no English only from the gravity of both voices and the occasional
scorn and anger in the Masters smelled out there was something of import in
the wind
For the matter of three weeks we continued to live together in the house of
Durrisdeer the beginning of that most singular chapter of my life what I must
call my intimacy with the Master At first he was somewhat changeable in his
behaviour now civil now returning to his old manner of flouting me to my face
and in both I met him halfway Thanks be to Providence I had now no measure to
keep with the man and I was never afraid of black brows only of naked swords
So that I found a certain entertainment in these bouts of incivility and was
not always ill inspired in my rejoinders At last it was at supper I had a
droll expression that entirely vanquished him He laughed again and again and
»Who would have guessed« he cried »that this old wife had any wit under his
petticoats«
»It is no wit Mr Bally« said I »a dry Scots humour and something of the
driest« And indeed I never had the least pretension to be thought a wit
From that hour he was never rude with me but all passed between us in a
manner of pleasantry One of our chief times of daffing9 was when he required a
horse another bottle or some money He would approach me then after the manner
of a schoolboy and I would carry it on by way of being his father on both
sides with an infinity of mirth I could not but perceive that he thought more
of me which tickled that poor part of mankind the vanity He dropped besides
I must suppose unconsciously into a manner that was not only familiar but
even friendly and this on the part of one who had so long detested me I found
the more insidious He went little abroad sometimes even refusing invitations
»No« he would say »what do I care for these thickheaded bonnetlairds I will
stay at home Mackellar and we shall share a bottle quietly and have one of
our good talks« And indeed mealtime at Durrisdeer must have been a delight to
any one by reason of the brilliancy of the discourse He would often express
wonder at his former indifference to my society »But you see« he would add
»we were upon opposite sides And so we are today but let us never speak of
that I would think much less of you if you were not staunch to your employer«
You are to consider he seemed to me quite impotent for any evil and how it is a
most engaging form of flattery when after many years tardy justice is done to
a mans character and parts But I have no thought to excuse myself I was to
blame I let him cajole me and in short I think the watchdog was gone sound
asleep when he was suddenly aroused
I should say the Indian was continually travelling to and fro in the house
He never spoke save in his own dialect and with the Master walked without
sound and was always turning up where you would least expect him fallen into a
deep abstraction from which he would start upon your coming to mock you with
one of his grovelling obeisances He seemed so quiet so frail and so wrapped
in his own fancies that I came to pass him over without much regard or even to
pity him for a harmless exile from his country And yet without doubt the
creature was still eavesdropping and without doubt it was through his stealth
and my security that our secret reached the Master
It was one very wild night after supper and when we had been making more
than usually merry that the blow fell on me
»This is all very fine« says the Master »but we should do better to be
buckling our valise«
»Why so« I cried »Are you leaving«
»We are all leaving tomorrow in the morning« said he »For the port of
Glascow first thence for the province of New York«
I suppose I must have groaned aloud
»Yes« he continued »I boasted I said a week and it has taken me near
twenty days But never mind I shall make it up I will go the faster«
»Have you the money for this voyage« I asked
»Dear and ingenuous personage I have« said he »Blame me if you choose
for my duplicity but while I have been wringing shillings from my daddy I had
a stock of my own put by against a rainy day You will pay for your own passage
if you choose to accompany us on our flank march I have enough for Secundra and
myself but not more enough to be dangerous not enough to be generous There
is however an outside seat upon the chaise which I will let you have upon a
moderate commutation so that the whole menagerie can go together the
housedog the monkey and the tiger«
»I go with you« said I
»I count upon it« said the Master »You have seen me foiled I mean you
shall see me victorious To gain that I will risk wetting you like a sop in this
wild weather«
»And at least« I added »you know very well you could not throw me off«
»Not easily« said he »You put your finger on the point with your usual
excellent good sense I never fight with the inevitable«
»I suppose it is useless to appeal to you« said I
»Believe me perfectly« said he
»And yet if you would give me time I could write « I began
»And what would be my Lord Durrisdeers answer« asks he
»Ay« said I »that is the rub«
»And at any rate how much more expeditious that I should go myself« says
he »But all this is quite a waste of breath At seven tomorrow the chaise will
be at the door For I start from the door Mackellar I do not skulk through
woods and take my chaise upon the wayside shall we say, at Eagles«
My mind was now thoroughly made up »Can you spare me quarter of an hour at
St Brides« said I »I have a little necessary business with Carlyle«
»An hour if you prefer« said he »I do not seek to deny that the money for
your seat is an object to me and you could always get the first to Glascow with
saddlehorses«
»Well« said I »I never thought to leave old Scotland«
»It will brisken you up« says he
»This will be an ill journey for someone« I said »I think sir for you
Something speaks in my bosom and so much it says plain that this is an
illomened journey«
»If you take to prophecy« says he »listen to that«
There came up a violent squall off the open Solway and the rain was dashed
on the great windows
»Do ye ken what that bodes warlock« said he in a broad accent »that
therell be a man Mackellar unco sick at sea«
When I got to my chamber I sat there under a painful excitation hearkening
to the turmoil of the gale which struck full upon that gable of the house What
with the pressure on my spirits the eldritch cries of the wind among the
turrettops and the perpetual trepidation of the masoned house sleep fled my
eyelids utterly I sat by my taper looking on the black panes of the window
where the storm appeared continually on the point of bursting in its entrance
and upon that empty field I beheld a perspective of consequences that made the
hair to rise upon my scalp The child corrupted the home broken up my master
dead or worse than dead my mistress plunged in desolation all these I saw
before me painted brightly on the darkness and the outcry of the wind appeared
to mock at my inaction
Chapter IX
Mr Mackellars Journey with the Master
The chaise came to the door in a strong drenching mist We took our leave in
silence the house of Durrisdeer standing with drooping gutters and windows
closed like a place dedicate to melancholy I observed the Master kept his head
out looking back on these splashed walls and glimmering roofs till they were
suddenly swallowed in the mist and I must suppose some natural sadness fell
upon the man at this departure or was it some prevision of the end At least
upon our mounting the long brae from Durrisdeer as we walked side by side in
the wet he began first to whistle and then to sing the saddest of our country
tunes which sets folk weeping in a tavern Wandering Willie The set of words
he used with it I have not heard elsewhere and could never come by any copy
but some of them which were the most appropriate to our departure linger in my
memory One verse began
»Home was home then my dear full of kindly faces
Home was home then my dear happy for the child«
And ended somewhat thus
»Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland
Lone stands the house and the chimneystone is cold
Lone let it stand now the folks are all departed
The kind hearts the true hearts that loved the place of old«
I could never be a judge of the merit of these verses they were so hallowed by
the melancholy of the air and were sung or rather soothed to me by a
mastersinger at a time so fitting He looked in my face when he had done and
saw that my eyes watered
»Ah Mackellar« said he »do you think I have never a regret«
»I do not think you could be so bad a man« said I »if you had not all the
machinery to be a good one«
»No not all« says he »not all You are there in error The malady of not
wanting my evangelist« But methought he sighed as he mounted again into the
chaise
All day long we journeyed in the same miserable weather the mist besetting
us closely the heavens incessantly weeping on my head The road lay over
moorish hills where was no sound but the crying of moorfowl in the wet heather
and the pouring of the swollen burns Sometimes I would doze off in slumber
when I would find myself plunged at once in some foul and ominous nightmare
from the which I would awake strangling Sometimes if the way was steep and the
wheels turning slowly I would overhear the voices from within talking in that
tropical tongue which was to me as inarticulate as the piping of the fowls
Sometimes at a longer ascent the Master would set foot to ground and walk by
my side mostly without speech And all the time sleeping or waking I beheld
the same black perspective of approaching ruin and the same pictures rose in my
view only they were now painted upon hillside mist One I remember stood
before me with the colours of a true illusion It showed me my lord seated at a
table in a small room his head which was at first buried in his hands he
slowly raised and turned upon me a countenance from which hope had fled I saw
it first on the black windowpanes my last night in Durrisdeer it haunted and
returned upon me half the voyage through and yet it was no effect of lunacy
for I have come to a ripe old age with no decay of my intelligence nor yet as
I was then tempted to suppose a heavensent warning of the future for all
manner of calamities befell not that calamity and I saw many pitiful sights
but never that one
It was decided we should travel on all night and it was singular once the
dusk had fallen my spirits somewhat rose The bright lamps shining forth into
the mist and on the smoking horses and the hodding postboy gave me perhaps an
outlook intrinsically more cheerful than what day had shown or perhaps my mind
had become wearied of its melancholy At least I spent some waking hours not
without satisfaction in my thoughts although wet and weary in my body and fell
at last into a natural slumber without dreams Yet I must have been at work even
in the deepest of my sleep and at work with at least a measure of intelligence
For I started broad awake in the very act of crying out to myself
»Home was home then my dear happy for the child«
stricken to find in it an appropriateness which I had not yesterday observed
to the Masters detestable purpose in the present journey
We were then close upon the city of Glascow where we were soon breakfasting
together at an inn and where as the devil would have it we found a ship in
the very article of sailing We took our places in the cabin and two days
after carried our effects on board Her name was the Nonesuch a very ancient
ship and very happily named By all accounts this should be her last voyage
people shook their heads upon the quays and I had several warnings offered me
by strangers in the street to the effect that she was rotten as a cheese too
deeply loaden and must infallibly founder if we met a gale From this it fell
out we were the only passengers the Captain MMurtrie was a silent absorbed
man with the Glascow or Gaelic accent the mates ignorant rough seafarers come
in through the hawsehole and the Master and I were cast upon each others
company
The Nonesuch carried a fair wind out of the Clyde and for near upon a week
we enjoyed bright weather and a sense of progress I found myself to my wonder
a born seaman in so far at least as I was never sick yet I was far from
tasting the usual serenity of my health Whether it was the motion of the ship
on the billows the confinement the salted food or all of these together I
suffered from a blackness of spirit and a painful strain upon my temper The
nature of my errand on that ship perhaps contributed I think it did no more
the malady whatever it was sprang from my environment and if the ship were
not to blame then it was the Master Hatred and fear are ill bedfellows but
to my shame be it spoken I have tasted those in other places lain down and
got up with them and eaten and drunk with them and yet never before nor
after have I been so poisoned through and through in soul and body as I was
on board the Nonesuch I freely confess my enemy set me a fair example of
forbearance in our worst days displayed the most patient geniality holding me
in conversation as long as I would suffer and when I had rebuffed his civility
stretching himself on deck to read The book he had on board with him was Mr
Richardsons famous Clarissa and among other small attentions he would read me
passages aloud nor could any elocutionist have given with greater potency the
pathetic portions of that work I would retort upon him with passages out of the
Bible which was all my library and very fresh to me my religious duties I
grieve to say it being always and even to this day extremely neglected He
tasted the merits of the work like the connoisseur he was and would sometimes
take it from my hand turn the leaves over like a man that knew his way and
give me with his fine declamation a Roland for my Oliver But it was singular
how little he applied his reading to himself it passed high above his head like
summer thunder Lovelace and Clarissa the tales of Davids generosity the
psalms of his penitence the solemn questions of the Book of Job the touching
poetry of Isaiah they were to him a source of entertainment only like the
scraping of a fiddle in a changehouse This outer sensibility and inner
toughness set me against him it seemed of a piece with that impudent grossness
which I knew to underlie the veneer of his fine manners and sometimes my gorge
rose against him as though he were deformed and sometimes I would draw away as
though from something partly spectral I had moments when I thought of him as of
a man of pasteboard as though if one should strike smartly through the
buckram of his countenance there would be found a mere vacuity within This
horror not merely fanciful I think vastly increased my detestation of his
neighbourhood I began to feel something shiver within me on his drawing near I
had at times a longing to cry out there were days when I thought I could have
struck him This frame of mind was doubtless helped by shame because I had
dropped during our last days at Durrisdeer into a certain toleration of the man
and if any one had then told me I should drop into it again I must have laughed
in his face It is possible he remained unconscious of this extreme fever of my
resentment yet I think he was too quick and rather that he had fallen in a
long life of idleness into a positive need of company which obliged him to
confront and tolerate my unconcealed aversion Certain at least that he loved
the note of his own tongue as indeed he entirely loved all the parts and
properties of himself a sort of imbecility which almost necessarily attends on
wickedness I have seen him driven when I proved recalcitrant to long
discourses with the skipper and this although the man plainly testified his
weariness fiddling miserably with both hand and foot and replying only with a
grunt
After the first week out we fell in with foul winds and heavy weather The
sea was high The Nonesuch being an oldfashioned ship and badly loaden rolled
beyond belief so that the skipper trembled for his masts and I for my life We
made no progress on our course An unbearable illhumour settled on the ship
men mates and master girding at one another all day long A saucy word on the
one hand and a blow on the other made a daily incident There were times when
the whole crew refused their duty and we of the afterguard were twice got under
arms being the first time that ever I bore weapons in the fear of mutiny
In the midst of our evil season sprang up a hurricane of wind so that all
supposed she must go down I was shut in the cabin from noon of one day till
sundown of the next the Master was somewhere lashed on deck Secundra had eaten
of some drug and lay insensible so you may say I passed these hours in an
unbroken solitude At first I was terrified beyond motion and almost beyond
thought my mind appearing to be frozen Presently there stole in on me a ray of
comfort If the Nonesuch foundered she would carry down with her into the deeps
of that unsounded sea the creature whom we all so feared and hated there would
be no more Master of Ballantrae the fish would sport among his ribs his
schemes all brought to nothing his harmless enemies at peace At first I have
said it was but a ray of comfort but it had soon grown to be broad sunshine
The thought of the mans death of his deletion from this world which he
embittered for so many took possession of my mind I hugged it I found it
sweet in my belly I conceived the ships last plunge the sea bursting upon all
sides into the cabin the brief mortal conflict there all by myself in that
closed place I numbered the horrors I had almost said with satisfaction I
felt I could bear all and more if the Nonesuch carried down with her overtook
by the same ruin the enemy of my poor masters house Towards noon of the
second day the screaming of the wind abated the ship lay not so perilously
over and it began to be clear to me that we were past the height of the
tempest As I hope for mercy I was singly disappointed In the selfishness of
that vile absorbing passion of hatred I forgot the case of our innocent
shipmates and thought but of myself and my enemy For myself I was already
old I had never been young I was not formed for the worlds pleasures I had
few affections it mattered not the toss of a silver tester whether I was
drowned there and then in the Atlantic or dribbled out a few more years to
die perhaps no less terribly in a deserted sickbed Down I went upon my knees
holding on by the locker or else I had been instantly dashed across the
tossing cabin and lifting up my voice in the midst of that clamour of the
abating hurricane impiously prayed for my own death »O God« I cried »I would
be liker a man if I rose and struck this creature down but Thou madest me a
coward from my mothers womb O Lord Thou madest me so Thou knowest my
weakness Thou knowest that any face of death will set me shaking in my shoes
But lo here is Thy servant ready his mortal weakness laid aside Let me give
my life for this creatures take the two of them Lord take the two and have
mercy on the innocent« In some such words as these only yet more irreverent
and with more sacred adjurations I continued to pour forth my spirit God heard
me not I must suppose in mercy and I was still absorbed in my agony of
supplication when some one removing the tarpaulin cover let the light of the
sunset pour into the cabin I stumbled to my feet ashamed and was seized with
surprise to find myself totter and ache like one that had been stretched upon
the rack Secundra Dass who had slept off the effects of his drug stood in a
corner not far off gazing at me with wild eyes and from the open skylight the
captain thanked me for my supplications
»Its you that saved the ship Mr Mackellar« says he »There is no craft
of seamanship that could have kept her floating well may we say, Except the
Lord the city keep the watchmen watch in vain«
I was abashed by the captains error abashed also by the surprise and
fear with which the Indian regarded me at first and the obsequious civilities
with which he soon began to cumber me I know now that he must have overheard
and comprehended the peculiar nature of my prayers It is certain of course
that he at once disclosed the matter to his patron and looking back with
greater knowledge I can now understand what so much puzzled me at the moment
those singular and so to speak approving smiles with which the Master honoured
me Similarly I can understand a word that I remember to have fallen from him
in conversation that same night when holding up his hand and smiling »Ah
Mackellar« said he »not every man is so great a coward as he thinks he is
nor yet so good a Christian« He did not guess how true he spoke For the fact
is the thoughts which had come to me in the violence of the storm retained
their hold upon my spirit and the words that rose to my lips unbidden in the
instancy of prayer continued to sound in my ears with what shameful
consequences it is fitting I should honestly relate for I could not support a
part of such disloyalty as to describe the sins of others and conceal my own
The wind fell but the sea hove ever the higher All night the Nonesuch
rolled outrageously the next day dawned and the next and brought no change
To cross the cabin was scarce possible old experienced seamen were cast down
upon the deck and one cruelly mauled in the concussion every board and block
in the old ship cried out aloud and the great bell by the anchorbitts
continually and dolefully rang One of these days the Master and I sate alone
together at the break of the poop I should say the Nonesuch carried a high
raised poop About the top of it ran considerable bulwarks which made the ship
unweatherly and these as they approached the front on each side ran down in a
fine oldfashioned carven scroll to join the bulwarks of the waist From this
disposition which seems designed rather for ornament than use it followed
there was a discontinuance of protection and that besides at the very margin
of the elevated part where in certain movements of the ship it might be the
most needful It was here we were sitting our feet hanging down the Master
betwixt me and the side and I holding on with both hands to the grating of the
cabin skylight for it struck me it was a dangerous position the more so as I
had continually before my eyes a measure of our evolutions in the person of the
Master which stood out in the break of the bulwarks against the sun Now his
head would be in the zenith and his shadow fall quite beyond the Nonesuch on the
farther side and now he would swing down till he was underneath my feet and
the line of the sea leaped high above him like the ceiling of a room I looked
on upon this with a growing fascination as birds are said to look on snakes My
mind besides was troubled with an astonishing diversity of noises for now
that we had all sails spread in the vain hope to bring her to the sea the ship
sounded like a factory with their reverberations We spoke first of the mutiny
with which we had been threatened this led us on to the topic of assassination
and that offered a temptation to the Master more strong than he was able to
resist He must tell me a tale and show me at the same time how clever he was
and how wicked It was a thing he did always with affectation and display
generally with a good effect But this tale told in a high key in the midst of
so great a tumult and by a narrator who was one moment looking down at me from
the skies and the next peering up from under the soles of my feet this
particular tale I say took hold upon me in a degree quite singular
»My friend the count« it was thus that he began his story »had for an
enemy a certain German baron a stranger in Rome It matters not what was the
ground of the counts enmity but as he had a firm design to be revenged and
that with safety to himself he kept it secret even from the baron Indeed that
is the first principle of vengeance and hatred betrayed is hatred impotent The
count was a man of a curious searching mind he had something of the artist if
anything fell for him to do it must always be done with an exact perfection
not only as to the result but in the very means and instruments or he thought
the thing miscarried It chanced he was one day riding in the outer suburbs
when he came to a disused byroad branching off into the moor which lies about
Rome On the one hand was an ancient Roman tomb on the other a deserted house
in a garden of evergreen trees This road brought him presently into a field of
ruins in the midst of which in the side of a hill he saw an open door and
not far off a single stunted pine no greater than a currantbush The place was
desert and very secret a voice spoke in the counts bosom that there was
something here to his advantage He tied his horse to the pinetree took his
flint and steel in his hand to make a light and entered into the hill The
doorway opened on a passage of old Roman masonry which shortly after branched
in two The count took the turning to the right and followed it groping
forward in the dark till he was brought up by a kind of fence about
elbowhigh which extended quite across the passage Sounding forward with his
foot he found an edge of polished stone and then vacancy All his curiosity
was now awakened and getting some rotten sticks that lay about the floor he
made a fire In front of him was a profound well doubtless some neighbouring
peasant had once used it for his water and it was he that had set up the fence
A long while the count stood leaning on the rail and looking down into the pit
It was of Roman foundation and like all that nation set their hands to built
as for eternity the sides were still straight and the joints smooth to a man
who should fall in no escape was possible Now the count was thinking a
strong impulsion brought me to this place What for what have I gained why
should I be sent to gaze into this well when the rail of the fence gave
suddenly under his weight and he came within an ace of falling headlong in
Leaping back to save himself he trod out the last flicker of his fire which
gave him thenceforward no more light only an incommoding smoke Was I sent here
to my death says he and shook from head to foot And then a thought flashed in
his mind He crept forth on hands and knees to the brink of the pit and felt
above him in the air The rail had been fast to a pair of uprights it had only
broken from the one and still depended from the other The count set it back
again as he had found it so that the place meant death to the first comer and
groped out of the catacomb like a sick man The next day riding in the Corso
with the baron he purposely betrayed a strong preoccupation The other as he
had designed inquired into the cause and he after some fencing admitted that
his spirits had been dashed by an unusual dream This was calculated to draw on
the baron a superstitious man who affected the scorn of superstition Some
rallying followed and then the count as if suddenly carried away called on
his friend to beware for it was of him that he had dreamed You know enough of
human nature my excellent Mackellar to be certain of one thing I mean that
the baron did not rest till he had heard the dream The count sure that he
would never desist kept him in play till his curiosity was highly inflamed and
then suffered himself with seeming reluctance to be overborne I warn you
says he evil will come of it something tells me so But since there is to be
no peace either for you or me except on this condition the blame be on your own
head This was the dream I beheld you riding I know not where yet I think
it must have been near Rome for on your one hand was an ancient tomb and on
the other a garden of evergreen trees Methought I cried and cried upon you to
come back in a very agony of terror whether you heard me I know not but you
went doggedly on The road brought you to a desert place among ruins where was
a door in a hillside and hard by the door a misbegotten pine Here you
dismounted I still crying on you to beware tied your horse to the pinetree
and entered resolutely in by the door Within it was dark but in my dream I
could still see you and still besought you to hold back You felt your way
along the righthand wall took a branching passage to the right and came to a
little chamber where was a well with a railing At this I know not why my
alarm for you increased a thousandfold so that I seemed to scream myself hoarse
with warnings crying it was still time and bidding you begone at once from
that vestibule Such was the word I used in my dream and it seemed then to have
a clear significancy but today and awake I profess I know not what it means
To all my outcry you rendered not the least attention leaning the while upon
the rail and looking down intently in the water And then there was made to you
a communication I do not think I even gathered what it was but the fear of it
plucked me clean out of my slumber and I awoke shaking and sobbing And now
continues the count I thank you from my heart for your insistency This dream
lay on me like a load and now I have told it in plain words and in the broad
daylight it seems no great matter I do not know says the baron It is in
some points strange A communication did you say O it is an odd dream It
will make a story to amuse our friends I am not so sure says the count I am
sensible of some reluctancy Let us rather forget it By all means says the
baron And in fact the dream was not again referred to Some days after the
count proposed a ride in the fields which the baron since they were daily
growing faster friends very readily accepted On the way back to Rome the
count led them insensibly by a particular route Presently he reined in his
horse clapped his hand before his eyes and cried out aloud Then he showed his
face again which was now quite white for he was a consummate actor and
stared upon the baron What ails you cries the baron What is wrong with you
Nothing cries the count It is nothing A seizure I know not what Let us
hurry back to Rome But in the meanwhile the baron had looked about him and
there on the lefthand side of the way as they went back to Rome he saw a
dusty byroad with a tomb upon the one hand and a garden of evergreen trees upon
the other Yes says he with a changed voice Let us by all means hurry back
to Rome I fear you are not well in health O for Gods sake cries the
count shuddering back to Rome and let me get to bed They made their return
with scarce a word and the count who should by rights have gone into society
took to his bed and gave out he had a touch of country fever The next day the
barons horse was found tied to the pine but himself was never heard of from
that hour And now was that a murder« says the Master breaking sharply off
»Are you sure he was a count« I asked
»I am not certain of the title« said he »but he was a gentleman of family
and the Lord deliver you Mackellar from an enemy so subtile«
These last words he spoke down at me smiling from high above the next he
was under my feet I continued to follow his evolutions with a childish fixity
they made me giddy and vacant and I spoke as in a dream
»He hated the baron with a great hatred« I asked
»His belly moved when the man came near him« said the Master
»I have felt that same« said I
»Verily« cries the Master »Here is news indeed I wonder do I flatter
myself or am I the cause of these ventral perturbations«
He was quite capable of choosing out a graceful posture even with no one to
behold him but myself and all the more if there were any element of peril He
sat now with one knee flung across the other his arms on his bosom fitting the
swing of the ship with an exquisite balance such as a featherweight might
overthrow All at once I had the vision of my lord at the table with his head
upon his hands only now when he showed me his countenance it was heavy with
reproach The words of my own prayer I were liker a man if I struck this
creature down shot at the same time into my memory I called my energies
together and the ship then heeling downward toward my enemy thrust at him
swiftly with my foot It was written I should have the guilt of this attempt
without the profit Whether from my own uncertainty or his incredible quickness
he escaped the thrust leaping to his feet and catching hold at the same moment
of a stay
I do not know how long a time passed by I lying where I was upon the deck
overcome with terror and remorse and shame he standing with the stay in his
hand backed against the bulwarks and regarding me with an expression
singularly mingled At last he spoke
»Mackellar« said he »I make no reproaches but I offer you a bargain On
your side I do not suppose you desire to have this exploit made public on
mine I own to you freely I do not care to draw my breath in a perpetual terror
of assassination by the man I sit at meat with Promise me but no« says he
breaking off »you are not yet in the quiet possession of your mind you might
think I had extorted the promise from your weakness and I would leave no door
open for casuistry to come in that dishonesty of the conscientious Take time
to meditate«
With that he made off up the sliding deck like a squirrel and plunged into
the cabin About half an hour later he returned I still lying as he had left
me
»Now« says he »will you give me your troth as a Christian and a faithful
servant of my brothers that I shall have no more to fear from your attempts«
»I give it you« said I
»I shall require your hand upon it« says he
»You have the right to make conditions« I replied and we shook hands
He sat down at once in the same place and the old perilous attitude
»Hold on« cried I covering my eyes »I cannot bear to see you in that
posture The least irregularity of the sea might plunge you overboard«
»You are highly inconsistent« he replied smiling but doing as I asked
»For all that Mackellar I would have you to know you have risen forty feet in
my esteem You think I cannot set a price upon fidelity But why do you suppose
I carry that Secundra Dass about the world with me Because he would die or do
murder for me tomorrow and I love him for it Well you may think it odd but
I like you the better for this afternoon I thought you were magnetised with the
Ten Commandments but no God damn my soul« he cries »the old wife has
blood in his body after all Which does not change the fact« he continued
smiling again »that you have done well to give your promise for I doubt it you
would ever shine in your new trade«
»I suppose« said I »I should ask your pardon and Gods for my attempt At
any rate I have passed my word which I will keep faithfully But when I think
of those you persecute « I paused
»Life is a singular thing« said he »and mankind a very singular people
You suppose yourself to love my brother I assure you it is merely custom
Interrogate your memory and when first you came to Durrisdeer you will find
you considered him a dull ordinary youth He is as dull and ordinary now
though not so young Had you instead fallen in with me you would today be as
strong upon my side«
»I would never say you were ordinary Mr Bally« I returned »but here you
prove yourself dull You have just shown your reliance on my word in other
terms that is my conscience the same which starts instinctively back from
you like the eye from a strong light«
»Ah« says he »but I mean otherwise I mean had I met you in my youth You
are to consider I was not always as I am today nor had I met in with a friend
of your description should I have ever been so«
»Hut Mr Bally« says I »you would have made a mock of me you would never
have spent ten civil words on such a Squaretoes«
But he was now fairly started on his new course of justification with which
he wearied me throughout the remainder of the passage No doubt in the past he
had taken pleasure to paint himself unnecessarily black and made a vaunt of his
wickedness bearing it for a coatofarms Nor was he so illogical as to abate
one item of his old confessions »But now that I know you are a human being« he
would say »I can take the trouble to explain myself For I assure you I am
human too and have my virtues like my neighbours« I say he wearied me for I
had only the one word to say in answer twenty times I must have said it »Give
up your present purpose and return with me to Durrisdeer then I will believe
you«
Thereupon he would shake his head at me »Ah Mackellar you might live a
thousand years and never understand my nature« he would say »This battle is
now committed the hour of reflection quite past the hour for mercy not yet
come It began between us when we span a coin in the hall of Durrisdeer now
twenty years ago we have had our ups and downs but never either of us dreamed
of giving in and as for me when my glove is cast life and honour go with it«
»A fig for your honour« I would say »And by your leave these warlike
similitudes are something too highsounding for the matter in hand You want
some dirty money there is the bottom of your contention and as for your means
what are they to stir up sorrow in a family that never harmed you to debauch
if you can your own nephew and to wring the heart of your born brother A
footpad that kills an old granny in a woollen mutch with a dirty bludgeon and
that for a shillingpiece and a paper of snuff there is all the warrior that
you are«
When I would attack him thus or somewhat thus he would smile and sigh
like a man misunderstood Once I remember he defended himself more at large
and had some curious sophistries worth repeating for a light upon his
character
»You are very like a civilian to think war consists in drums and banners«
said he »War as the ancients said very wisely is ultima ratio When we take
our advantage unrelentingly then we make war Ah Mackellar you are a devil of
a soldier in the stewards room at Durrisdeer or the tenants do you sad
injustice«
»I think little of what war is or is not« I replied »But you weary me with
claiming my respect Your brother is a good man and you are a bad one neither
more nor less«
»Had I been Alexander « he began
»It is so we all dupe ourselves« I cried »Had I been St Paul it would
have been all one I would have made the same hash of that career that you now
see me making of my own«
»I tell you« he cried bearing down my interruption »had I been the least
petty chieftain in the Highlands had I been the least king of naked negroes in
the African desert my people would have adored me A bad man am I Ah but I
was born for a good tyrant Ask Secundra Dass he will tell you I treat him like
a son Cast in your lot with me tomorrow become my slave my chattel a thing
I can command as I command the powers of my own limbs and spirit you will see
no more that dark side that I turn upon the world in anger I must have all or
none But where all is given I give it back with usury I have a kingly nature
there is my loss«
»It has been hitherto rather the loss of others« I remarked »which seems a
little on the hither side of royalty«
»Tillyvally« cried he »Even now I tell you I would spare that family in
which you take so great an interest yes even now tomorrow I would leave
them to their petty welfare and disappear in that forest of cutthroats and
thimbleriggers that we call the world I would do it tomorrow« says he »Only
only «
»Only what« I asked
»Only they must beg it on their bended knees I think in public too« he
added smiling »Indeed Mackellar I doubt if there be a hall big enough to
serve my purpose for that act of reparation«
»Vanity vanity« I moralised »To think that this great force for evil
should be swayed by the same sentiment that sets a lassie mincing to her glass«
»O there are double words for everything the word that swells the word
that belittles you cannot fight me with a word« said he »You said the other
day that I relied on your conscience were I in your humour of detraction I
might say I built upon your vanity It is your pretension to be un homme de
parole tis mine not to accept defeat Call it vanity call it virtue call it
greatness of soul what signifies the expression But recognise in each of us a
common strain that we both live for an idea«
It will be gathered from so much familiar talk and so much patience on both
sides that we now lived together upon excellent terms Such was again the fact
and this time more seriously than before Apart from disputations such as that
which I have tried to reproduce not only consideration reigned but I am
tempted to say even kindness When I fell sick as I did shortly after our
great storm he sat by my berth to entertain me with his conversation and
treated me with excellent remedies which I accepted with security Himself
commented on the circumstance »You see« says he »you begin to know me better
A very little while ago upon this lonely ship where no one but myself has any
smattering of science, you would have made sure I had designs upon your life
And observe it is since I found you had designs upon my own that I have shown
you most respect You will tell me if this speaks of a small mind« I found
little to reply In so far as regarded myself I believed him to mean well I
am perhaps the more a dupe of his dissimulation but I believed and I still
believe that he regarded me with genuine kindness Singular and sad fact so
soon as this change began my animosity abated and these haunting visions of my
master passed utterly away So that perhaps there was truth in the mans last
vaunting word to me uttered on the twentysecond day of July when our long
voyage was at last brought almost to an end and we lay becalmed at the sea end
of the vast harbour of New York in a gasping heat which was presently
exchanged for a surprising waterfall of rain I stood on the poop regarding the
green shores near at hand and now and then the light smoke of the little town
our destination And as I was even then devising how to steal a march on my
familiar enemy I was conscious of a shade of embarrassment when he approached
me with his hand extended
»I am now to bid you farewell« said he »and that for ever For now you go
among my enemies where all your former prejudices will revive I never yet
failed to charm a person when I wanted even you my good friend to call you
so for once even you have now a very different portrait of me in your memory
and one that you will never quite forget The voyage has not lasted long enough
or I should have wrote the impression deeper But now all is at end and we are
again at war Judge by this little interlude how dangerous I am and tell those
fools« pointing with his finger to the town »to think twice and thrice
before they set me at defiance«
Chapter X
Passages at New York
I have mentioned I was resolved to steal a march upon the Master and this with
the complicity of Captain MMurtrie was mighty easily effected a boat being
partly loaded on the one side of our ship and the Master placed on board of it
the while a skiff put off from the other carrying me alone I had no more
trouble in finding a direction to my lords house whither I went at top speed
and which I found to be on the outskirts of the place a very suitable mansion
in a fine garden with an extraordinary large barn byre and stable all in
one It was here my lord was walking when I arrived indeed it had become his
chief place of frequentation and his mind was now filled with farming I burst
in upon him breathless and gave him my news which was indeed no news at all
several ships having outsailed the Nonesuch in the interval
»We have been expecting you long« said my lord »and indeed of late days
ceased to expect you any more I am glad to take your hand again Mackellar I
thought you had been at the bottom of the sea«
»Ah my lord would God I had« cried I »Things would have been better for
yourself«
»Not in the least« says he grimly »I could not ask better There is a long
score to pay and now at last I can begin to pay it«
I cried out against his security
»O« says he »this is not Durrisdeer and I have taken my precautions His
reputation awaits him I have prepared a welcome for my brother Indeed fortune
has served me for I found here a merchant of Albany who knew him after the
Fortyfive and had mighty convenient suspicions of a murder some one of the
name of Chew it was another Albanian No one here will be surprised if I deny
him my door he will not be suffered to address my children nor even to salute
my wife as for myself I make so much exception for a brother that he may speak
to me I should lose my pleasure else« says my lord rubbing his palms
Presently he bethought himself and set men off running with billets to
summon the magnates of the province I cannot recall what pretext he employed
at least it was successful and when our ancient enemy appeared upon the scene
he found my lord pacing in front of his house under some trees of shade with
the Governor upon one hand and various notables upon the other My lady who was
seated in the verandah rose with a very pinched expression and carried her
children into the house
The Master well dressed and with an elegant walkingsword bowed to the
company in a handsome manner and nodded to my lord with familiarity My lord did
not accept the salutation but looked upon his brother with bended brows
»Well sir« says he at last »what ill wind brings you hither of all
places where to our common disgrace your reputation has preceded you«
»Your lordship is pleased to be civil« cries the Master with a fine start
»I am pleased to be very plain« returned my lord »because it is needful
you should clearly understand your situation At home where you were so little
known it was still possible to keep appearances that would be quite vain in
this province and I have to tell you that I am quite resolved to wash my hands
of you You have already ruined me almost to the door as you ruined my father
before me whose heart you also broke Your crimes escape the law but my
friend the Governor has promised protection to my family Have a care sir«
cries my lord shaking his cane at him »if you are observed to utter two words
to any of my innocent household the law shall be stretched to make you smart
for it«
»Ah« says the Master very slowly »And so this is the advantage of a
foreign land These gentlemen are unacquainted with our story I perceive They
do not know that I am the true Lord Durrisdeer they do not know you are my
younger brother sitting in my place under a sworn family compact they do not
know or they would not be seen with you in familiar correspondence that every
acre is mine before God Almighty and every doit of the money you withhold from
me you do it as a thief a perjurer and a disloyal brother«
»General Clinton« I cried »do not listen to his lies I am the steward of
the estate and there is not one word of truth in it The man is a forfeited
rebel turned into a hired spy there is his story in two words«
It was thus that in the heat of the moment I let slip his infamy
»Fellow« said the Governor turning his face sternly on the Master »I know
more of you than you think for We have some broken ends of your adventures in
the provinces which you will do very well not to drive me to investigate There
is the disappearance of Mr Jacob Chew with all his merchandise there is the
matter of where you came ashore from with so much money and jewels when you
were picked up by a Bermudan out of Albany Believe me if I let these matters
lie it is in commiseration for your family and out of respect for my valued
friend Lord Durrisdeer«
There was a murmur of applause from the provincials
»I should have remembered how a title would shine out in such a hole as
this« says the Master white as a sheet »no matter how unjustly come by It
remains for me then to die at my lords door where my dead body will form a
very cheerful ornament«
»Away with your affectations« cries my lord »You know very well I have no
such meaning only to protect myself from calumny and my home from your
intrusion I offer you a choice Either I shall pay your passage home on the
first ship when you may perhaps be able to resume your occupations under
Government although God knows I would rather see you on the highway Or if
that likes you not stay here and welcome I have inquired the least sum on
which body and soul can be decently kept together in New York so much you shall
have paid weekly and if you cannot labour with your hands to better it high
time you should betake yourself to learn The condition is that you speak with
no member of my family except myself« he added
I do not think I have ever seen any man so pale as was the Master but he
was erect and his mouth firm
»I have been met here with some very unmerited insults« said he »from
which I have certainly no idea to take refuge by flight Give me your pittance
I take it without shame for it is mine already like the shirt upon your back
and I choose to stay until these gentlemen shall understand me better Already
they must spy the cloven hoof since with all your pretended eagerness for the
family honour you take a pleasure to degrade it in my person«
»This is all very fine« says my lord »but to us who know you of old you
must be sure it signifies nothing You take that alternative out of which you
think that you can make the most Take it if you can in silence it will serve
you better in the longrun you may believe me than this ostentation of
ingratitude«
»O gratitude my lord« cries the Master with a mounting intonation and
his forefinger very conspicuously lifted up »Be at rest it will not fail you
It now remains that I should salute these gentlemen whom we have wearied with
our family affairs«
And he bowed to each in succession settled his walkingsword and took
himself off leaving every one amazed at his behaviour and me not less so at my
lords
We were now to enter on a changed phase of this family division The Master was
by no manner of means so helpless as my lord supposed having at his hand and
entirely devoted to his service an excellent artist in all sorts of goldsmith
work With my lords allowance which was not so scanty as he had described it
the pair could support life and all the earnings of Secundra Dass might be laid
upon one side for any future purpose That this was done I have no doubt It
was in all likelihood the Masters design to gather a sufficiency and then
proceed in quest of that treasure which he had buried long before among the
mountains to which if he had confined himself he would have been more happily
inspired But unfortunately for himself and all of us he took counsel of his
anger The public disgrace of his arrival which I sometimes wonder he could
manage to survive rankled in his bones he was in that humour when a man in
the words of the old adage will cut off his nose to spite his face and he
must make himself a public spectacle in the hopes that some of the disgrace
might spatter on my lord
He chose in a poor quarter of the town a lonely small house of boards
overhung with some acacias It was furnished in front with a sort of hutch
opening like that of a dogs kennel but about as high as a table from the
ground in which the poor man that built it had formerly displayed some wares
and it was this which took the Masters fancy and possibly suggested his
proceedings It appears on board the pirate ship he had acquired some quickness
with the needle enough at least to play the part of tailor in the public
eye which was all that was required by the nature of his vengeance A placard
was hung above the hutch bearing these words in something of the following
disposition
JAMES DURIE
FORMERLY MASTER OF BALLANTRAE
CLOTHES NEATLY CLOUTED
SECUNDRA DASS
DECAYED GENTLEMAN OF INDIA
FINE GOLDSMITH WORK
Underneath this when he had a job my gentleman sat withinside tailorwise and
busily stitching I say when he had a job but such customers as came were
rather for Secundra and the Masters sewing would be more in the manner of
Penelopes He could never have designed to gain even butter to his bread by
such a means of livelihood enough for him that there was the name of Durie
dragged in the dirt on the placard and the sometime heir of that proud family
set up crosslegged in public for a reproach upon his brothers meanness And in
so far his device succeeded that there was murmuring in the town and a party
formed highly inimical to my lord My lords favour with the Governor laid him
more open on the other side my lady who was never so well received in the
colony met with painful innuendoes in a party of women where it would be the
topic most natural to introduce she was almost debarred from the naming of
needlework and I have seen her return with a flushed countenance and vow that
she would go abroad no more
In the meanwhile my lord dwelled in his decent mansion immersed in farming
a popular man with his intimates and careless or unconscious of the rest He
laid on flesh had a bright busy face even the heat seemed to prosper with
him and my lady in despite of her own annoyances daily blessed Heaven her
father should have left her such a paradise She had looked on from a window
upon the Masters humiliation and from that hour appeared to feel at ease I
was not so sure myself as time went on there seemed to me a something not
quite wholesome in my lords condition Happy he was beyond a doubt but the
grounds of this felicity were secret even in the bosom of his family he brooded
with manifest delight upon some private thought and I conceived at last the
suspicion quite unworthy of us both that he kept a mistress somewhere in the
town Yet he went little abroad and his day was very fully occupied indeed
there was but a single period and that pretty early in the morning while Mr
Alexander was at his lessonbook of which I was not certain of the disposition
It should be borne in mind in the defence of that which I now did that I was
always in some fear my lord was not quite justly in his reason and with our
enemy sitting so still in the same town with us I did well to be upon my guard
Accordingly I made a pretext had the hour changed at which I taught Mr
Alexander the foundation of ciphering and the mathematic and set myself instead
to dog my masters footsteps
Every morning fair or foul he took his goldheaded cane set his hat on
the back of his head a recent habitude which I thought to indicate a burning
brow and betook himself to make a certain circuit At the first his way was
among pleasant trees and beside a graveyard where he would sit a while if the
day were fine in meditation Presently the path turned down to the waterside
and came back along the harbourfront and past the Masters booth As he
approached this second part of his circuit my Lord Durrisdeer began to pace
more leisurely like a man delighted with the air and scene and before the
booth halfway between that and the waters edge would pause a little leaning
on his staff It was the hour when the Master sate within upon his board and
plied his needle So these two brothers would gaze upon each other with hard
faces and then my lord move on again smiling to himself
It was but twice that I must stoop to that ungrateful necessity of playing
spy I was then certain of my lords purpose in his rambles and of the secret
source of his delight Here was his mistress it was hatred and not love that
gave him healthful colours Some moralists might have been relieved by the
discovery I confess that I was dismayed I found this situation of two brethren
not only odious in itself, but big with possibilities of further evil and I
made it my practice in so far as many occupations would allow to go by a
shorter path and be secretly present at their meeting Coming down one day a
little late after I had been near a week prevented I was struck with surprise
to find a new development I should say there was a bench against the Masters
house where customers might sit to parley with the shopman and here I found my
lord seated nursing his cane and looking pleasantly forth upon the bay Not
three feet from him sate the Master stitching Neither spoke nor in this new
situation did my lord so much as cast a glance upon his enemy He tasted his
neighbourhood I must suppose less indirectly in the bare proximity of person
and without doubt drank deep of hateful pleasures
He had no sooner come away than I openly joined him
»My lord my lord« said I »this is no manner of behaviour«
»I grow fat upon it« he replied and not merely the words which were
strange enough but the whole character of his expression shocked me
»I warn you my lord against this indulgency of evil feeling« said I »I
know not to which it is more perilous the soul or the reason but you go the
way to murder both«
»You cannot understand« said he »You had never such mountains of
bitterness upon your heart«
»And if it were no more« I added »you will surely goad the man to some
extremity«
»To the contrary I am breaking his spirit« says my lord
Every morning for hard upon a week my lord took his same place upon the bench
It was a pleasant place under the green acacias with a sight upon the bay and
shipping and a sound from some way off of mariners singing at their employ
Here the two sate without speech or any external movement beyond that of the
needle or the Master biting off a thread for he still clung to his pretence of
industry and here I make a point to join them wondering at myself and my
companions If any of my lords friends went by he would hail them cheerfully
and cry out he was there to give some good advice to his brother who was now
to his delight grown quite industrious And even this the Master accepted with
a steady countenance what was in his mind God knows or perhaps Satan only
All of a sudden on a still day of what they call the Indian Summer when
the woods were changed into gold and pink and scarlet the Master laid down his
needle and burst into a fit of merriment I think he must have been preparing it
a long while in silence for the note in itself was pretty naturally pitched
but breaking suddenly from so extreme a silence and in circumstances so averse
from mirth it sounded ominously on my ear
»Henry« said he »I have for once made a false step and for once you have
had the wit to profit by it The farce of the cobbler ends today and I confess
to you with my compliments that you have had the best of it Blood will out
and you have certainly a choice idea of how to make yourself unpleasant«
Never a word said my lord it was just as though the Master had not broken
silence
»Come« resumed the Master »do not be sulky it will spoil your attitude
You can now afford believe me to be a little gracious for I have not merely a
defeat to accept I had meant to continue this performance till I had gathered
enough money for a certain purpose I confess ingenuously I have not the
courage You naturally desire my absence from this town I have come round by
another way to the same idea And I have a proposition to make or if your
lordship prefers a favour to ask«
»Ask it« says my lord
»You may have heard that I had once in this country a considerable
treasure« returned the Master »it matters not whether or no such is the
fact and I was obliged to bury it in a spot of which I have sufficient
indications To the recovery of this has my ambition now come down and as it
is my own you will not grudge it me«
»Go and get it« says my lord »I shall make no opposition«
»Yes« said the Master »but to do so I must find men and carriage The way
is long and rough and the country infested with wild Indians Advance me only
so much as shall be needful either as a lump sum in lieu of my allowance or
if you prefer it as a loan which I shall repay on my return And then if you
so decide you may have seen the last of me«
My lord stared him steadily in the eyes there was a hard smile upon his
face but he uttered nothing
»Henry« said the Master with a formidable quietness and drawing at the
same time somewhat back »Henry I had the honour to address you«
»Let us be stepping homeward« says my lord to me who was plucking at his
sleeve and with that he rose stretched himself settled his hat and still
without a syllable of response began to walk steadily along the shore
I hesitated a while between the two brothers so serious a climax did we
seem to have reached But the Master had resumed his occupation his eyes
lowered his hand seemingly as deft as ever and I decided to pursue my lord
»Are you mad« I cried so soon as I had overtook him »Would you cast away
so fair an opportunity«
»Is it possible you should still believe in him« inquired my lord almost
with a sneer
»I wish him forth of this town« I cried »I wish him anywhere and anyhow
but as he is«
»I have said my say« returned my lord »and you have said yours There let
it rest«
But I was bent on dislodging the Master That sight of him patiently
returning to his needlework was more than my imagination could digest There was
never a man made and the Master the least of any that could accept so long a
series of insults The air smelt blood to me And I vowed there should be no
neglect of mine if through any chink of possibility crime could be yet turned
aside That same day therefore I came to my lord in his business room where
he sat upon some trivial occupation
»My lord« said I »I have found a suitable investment for my small
economies But these are unhappily in Scotland it will take some time to lift
them and the affair presses Could your lordship see his way to advance me the
amount against my note«
He read me a while with keen eyes »I have never inquired into the state of
your affairs Mackellar« says he »Beyond the amount of your caution you may
not be worth a farthing for what I know«
»I have been a long while in your service and never told a lie nor yet
asked a favour for myself« said I »until today«
»A favour for the Master« he returned quietly »Do you take me for a fool
Mackellar Understand it once and for all I treat this beast in my own way
fear nor favour shall not move me and before I am hoodwinked it will require a
trickster less transparent than yourself I ask service loyal service not that
you should make and mar behind my back and steal my own money to defeat me«
»My lord« said I »these are very unpardonable expressions«
»Think once more Mackellar« he replied »and you will see they fit the
fact It is your own subterfuge that is unpardonable Deny if you can that you
designed this money to evade my orders with and I will ask your pardon freely
If you cannot you must have the resolution to hear your conduct go by its own
name«
»If you think I had any design but to save you « I began
»O my old friend« said he »you know very well what I think Here is my
hand to you with all my heart but of money not one rap«
Defeated upon this side I went straight to my room wrote a letter ran
with it to the harbour for I knew a ship was on the point of sailing and came
to the Masters door a little before dusk Entering without the form of any
knock I found him sitting with his Indian at a simple meal of maize porridge
with some milk The house within was clean and poor only a few books upon a
shelf distinguished it and in one corner Secundras little bench
»Mr Bally« said I »I have near five hundred pounds laid by in Scotland
the economies of a hard life A letter goes by yon ship to have it lifted Have
so much patience till the return ship comes in and it is all yours upon the
same condition you offered to my lord this morning«
He rose from the table came forward took me by the shoulders and looked
me in the face smiling
»And yet you are very fond of money« said he »And yet you love money
beyond all things else except my brother«
»I fear old age and poverty« said I »which is another matter«
»I will never quarrel for a name Call it so« he replied »Ah Mackellar
Mackellar if this were done from any love to me how gladly would I close upon
your offer«
»And yet« I eagerly answered »I say it to my shame but I cannot see you
in this poor place without compunction It is not my single thought nor my
first and yet its there I would gladly see you delivered I do not offer it
in love and far from that but as God judges me and I wonder at it too
quite without enmity«
»Ah« says he still holding my shoulders and now gently shaking me »you
think of me more than you suppose And I wonder at it too« he added repeating
my expression and I suppose something of my voice »You are an honest man and
for that cause I spare you«
»Spare me« I cried
»Spare you« he repeated letting me go and turning away And then fronting
me once more »You little know what I would do with it Mackellar Did you think
I had swallowed my defeat indeed Listen my life has been a series of unmerited
castbacks That fool Prince Charlie mismanaged a most promising affair there
fell my first fortune In Paris I had my foot once more high up on the ladder
that time it was an accident a letter came to the wrong hand and I was bare
again A third time I found my opportunity I built up a place for myself in
India with an infinite patience and then Clive came my rajah was swallowed up
and I escaped out of the convulsion like another Æneas with Secundra Dass upon
my back Three times I have had my hand upon the highest station and I am not
yet threeandforty I know the world as few men know it when they come to die
Court and camp the East and the West I know where to go I see a thousand
openings I am now at the height of my resources sound of health of inordinate
ambition Well all this I resign I care not if I die and the world never hear
of me I care only for one thing and that I will have Mind yourself lest
when the roof falls you too should be crushed under the ruins«
As I came out of his house all hope of intervention quite destroyed I was
aware of a stir on the harbourside and raising my eyes there was a great
ship newly come to anchor It seems strange I could have looked upon her with so
much indifference for she brought death to the brothers of Durrisdeer After
all the desperate episodes of this contention the insults the opposing
interests the fraternal duel in the shrubbery it was reserved for some poor
devil in Grub Street scribbling for his dinner and not caring what he
scribbled to cast a spell across four thousand miles of the salt sea and send
forth both these brothers into savage and wintry deserts there to die But such
a thought was distant from my mind and while all the provincials were fluttered
about me by the unusual animation of their port I passed throughout their midst
on my return homeward quite absorbed in the recollection of my visit and the
Masters speech
The same night there was brought to us from the ship a little packet of
pamphlets The next day my lord was under engagement to go with the Governor
upon some party of pleasure the time was nearly due and I left him for a
moment alone in his room and skimming through the pamphlets When I returned
his head had fallen upon the table his arms lying abroad amongst the crumpled
papers
»My lord my lord« I cried as I ran forward for I supposed he was in some
fit
He sprang up like a figure upon wires his countenance deformed with fury
so that in a strange place I should scarce have known him His hand at the same
time flew above his head as though to strike me down »Leave me alone« he
screeched and I fled as fast as my shaking legs would bear me for my lady
She too lost no time but when we returned he had the door locked within and
only cried to us from the other side to leave him be We looked in each others
faces very white each supposing the blow had come at last
»I will write to the Governor to excuse him« says she »We must keep our
strong friends« But when she took up the pen it flew out of her fingers »I
cannot write« said she »Can you«
»I will make a shift my lady« said I
She looked over me as I wrote »That will do« she said when I had done
»Thank God Mackellar I have you to lean upon But what can it be now What
what can it be«
In my own mind I believed there was no explanation possible and none
required it was my fear that the mans madness had now simply burst forth its
way like the longsmothered flames of a volcano but to this in mere mercy to
my lady I durst not give expression
»It is more to the purpose to consider our own behaviour« said I »Must we
leave him there alone«
»I do not dare disturb him« she replied »Nature may know best it may be
Nature that cries to be alone and we grope in the dark O yes I would leave
him as he is«
»I will then despatch this letter my lady and return here if you
please to sit with you« said I
»Pray do« cries my lady
All afternoon we sat together mostly in silence watching my lords door
My own mind was busy with the scene that had just passed and its singular
resemblance to my vision I must say a word upon this for the story has gone
abroad with great exaggeration and I have even seen it printed and my own name
referred to for particulars So much was the same here was my lord in a room
with his head upon the table and when he raised his face it wore such an
expression as distressed me to the soul But the room was different my lords
attitude at the table not at all the same and his face when he disclosed it
expressed a painful degree of fury instead of that haunting despair which had
always except once already referred to characterised it in the vision There
is the whole truth at last before the public and if the differences be great
the coincidence was yet enough to fill me with uneasiness All afternoon as I
say I sat and pondered upon this quite to myself for my lady had trouble of
her own and it was my last thought to vex her with fancies About the midst of
our time of waiting she conceived an ingenious scheme had Mr Alexander
fetched and bid him knock at his fathers door My lord sent the boy about his
business but without the least violence whether of manner or expression so
that I began to entertain a hope the fit was over
At last as the night fell and I was lighting a lamp that stood there
trimmed the door opened and my lord stood within upon the threshold The light
was not so strong that we could read his countenance when he spoke methought
his voice a little altered but yet perfectly steady
»Mackellar« said he »carry this note to its destination with your own
hand It is highly private Find the person alone when you deliver it«
»Henry« says my lady »you are not ill«
»No no« says he querulously »I am occupied Not at all I am only
occupied It is a singular thing a man must be supposed to be ill when he has
any business Send me supper to this room and a basket of wine I expect the
visit of a friend Otherwise I am not to be disturbed«
And with that he once more shut himself in
The note was addressed to one Captain Harris at a tavern on the portside
I knew Harris by reputation for a dangerous adventurer highly suspected of
piracy in the past and now following the rude business of an Indian trader
What my lord should have to say to him or he to my lord it passed my
imagination to conceive or yet how my lord had heard of him unless by a
disgraceful trial from which the man was recently escaped Altogether I went
upon the errand with reluctance and from the little I saw of the captain
returned from it with sorrow I found him in a foulsmelling chamber sitting by
a guttering candle and an empty bottle he had the remains of a military
carriage or rather perhaps it was an affectation for his manners were low
»Tell my lord with my service that I will wait upon his lordship in the
inside of half an hour« says he when he had read the note and then had the
servility pointing to his empty bottle to propose that I should buy him
liquor
Although I returned with my best speed the captain followed close upon my
heels and he stayed late into the night The cock was crowing a second time
when I saw from my chamber window my lord lighting him to the gate both men
very much affected with their potations and sometimes leaning one upon the
other to confabulate Yet the next morning my lord was abroad again early with a
hundred pounds of money in his pocket I never supposed that he returned with
it and yet I was quite sure it did not find its way to the Master for I
lingered all morning within view of the booth That was the last time my Lord
Durrisdeer passed his own enclosure till we left New York he walked in his
barn or sat and talked with his family all much as usual but the town saw
nothing of him and his daily visits to the Master seemed forgotten Nor yet did
Harris reappear or not until the end
I was now much oppressed with a sense of the mysteries in which we had begun
to move It was plain if only from his change of habitude my lord had
something on his mind of a grave nature but what it was whence it sprang or
why he should now keep the house and garden I could make no guess at It was
clear even to probation the pamphlets had some share in this revolution I
read all I could find and they were all extremely insignificant and of the
usual kind of party scurrility even to a high politician I could spy out no
particular matter of offence and my lord was a man rather indifferent on public
questions The truth is the pamphlet which was the spring of this affair lay
all the time on my lords bosom There it was that I found it at last after he
was dead in the midst of the north wilderness in such a place in such dismal
circumstances I was to read for the first time these idle lying words of a
Whig pamphleteer declaiming against indulgency to Jacobites »Another
notorious Rebel the Mr of Be is to have his Title restored« the passage
ran »This Business has been long in hand since he rendered some very
disgraceful Services in Scotland and France His Brother Ld Dr is known to
be no better than himself in Inclination and the supposed Heir who is now to
be set aside was bred up in the most detestable Principles In the old Phrase
it is six of the one and half a dozen of the other but the Favour of such a
Reposition is too extreme to be passed over« A man in his right wits could not
have cared two straws for a tale so manifestly false that Government should
ever entertain the notion was inconceivable to any reasoning creature unless
possibly the fool that penned it and my lord though never brilliant was ever
remarkable for sense That he should credit such a rodomontade and carry the
pamphlet on his bosom and the words in his heart is the clear proof of the
mans lunacy Doubtless the mere mention of Mr Alexander and the threat
directly held out against the childs succession precipitated that which had so
long impended Or else my master had been truly mad for a long time and we were
too dull or too much used to him and did not perceive the extent of his
infirmity
About a week after the day of the pamphlets I was late upon the
harbourside and took a turn towards the Masters as I often did The door
opened a flood of light came forth upon the road and I beheld a man taking his
departure with friendly salutations I cannot say how singularly I was shaken to
recognise the adventurer Harris I could not but conclude it was the hand of my
lord that had brought him there and prolonged my walk in very serious and
apprehensive thought It was late when I came home and there was my lord making
up his portmanteau for a voyage
»Why do you come so late« he cried »We leave tomorrow for Albany you and
I together and it is high time you were about your preparations«
»For Albany my lord« I cried »And for what earthly purpose«
»Change of scene« said he
And my lady who appeared to have been weeping gave me the signal to obey
without more parley She told me a little later when we found occasion to
exchange some words that he had suddenly announced his intention after a visit
from Captain Harris and her best endeavours whether to dissuade him from the
journey or to elicit some explanation of its purpose had alike proved
unavailing
Chapter XI
The Journey in the Wilderness
We made a prosperous voyage up that fine river of the Hudson the weather
grateful the hills singularly beautified with the colours of the autumn At
Albany we had our residence at an inn where I was not so blind and my lord not
so cunning but what I could see he had some design to hold me prisoner The work
he found for me to do was not so pressing that we should transact it apart from
necessary papers in the chamber of an inn nor was it of such importance that I
should be set upon as many as four or five scrolls of the same document I
submitted in appearance but I took private measures on my own side and had the
news of the town communicated to me daily by the politeness of our host In this
way I received at last a piece of intelligence for which I may say I had been
waiting Captain Harris I was told with Mr Mountain the trader had gone by
up the river in a boat I would have feared the landlords eye so strong the
sense of some complicity upon my masters part oppressed me But I made out to
say I had some knowledge of the captain although none of Mr Mountain and to
inquire who else was of the party My informant knew not Mr Mountain had come
ashore upon some needful purchases had gone round the town buying drinking
and prating and it seemed the party went upon some likely venture for he had
spoken much of great things he would do when he returned No more was known for
none of the rest had come ashore and it seemed they were pressed for time to
reach a certain spot before the snow should fall
And sure enough the next day there fell a sprinkle even in Albany but it
passed as it came and was but a reminder of what lay before us I thought of it
lightly then knowing so little as I did of that inclement province the
retrospect is different and I wonder at times if some of the horror of these
events which I must now rehearse flowed not from the foul skies and savage winds
to which we were exposed and the agony of cold that we must suffer
The boat having passed by I thought at first we should have left the town
But no such matter My lord continued his stay in Albany where he had no
ostensible affairs and kept me by him far from my due employment and making a
pretence of occupation It is upon this passage I expect and perhaps deserve
censure I was not so dull but what I had my own thoughts I could not see the
Master entrust himself into the hands of Harris and not suspect some underhand
contrivance Harris bore a villainous reputation and he had been tampered with
in private by my lord Mountain the trader proved upon inquiry to be another
of the same kidney the errand they were all gone upon being the recovery of
illgotten treasures offered in itself a very strong incentive to foul play
and the character of the country where they journeyed promised impunity to deeds
of blood Well it is true I had all these thoughts and fears and guesses of
the Masters fate But you are to consider I was the same man that sought to
dash him from the bulwarks of a ship in the midsea the same that a little
before very impiously but sincerely offered God a bargain seeking to hire God
to be my bravo It is true again that I had a good deal melted towards our
enemy But this I always thought of as a weakness of the flesh and even
culpable my mind remaining steady and quite bent against him True yet again
that it was one thing to assume on my own shoulders the guilt and danger of a
criminal attempt and another to stand by and see my lord imperil and besmirch
himself But this was the very ground of my inaction For should I anyway stir
in the business I might fail indeed to save the Master but I could not miss to
make a byword of my lord
Thus it was that I did nothing and upon the same reasons I am still strong
to justify my course My lord had carried with him several introductions to
chief people of the town and neighbourhood others he had before encountered in
New York with this consequence that he went much abroad and I am sorry to say
was altogether too convivial in his habits I was often in bed but never
asleep when he returned and there was scarce a night when he did not betray
the influence of liquor By day he would still lay upon me endless tasks which
he showed considerable ingenuity to fish up and renew in the manner of
Penelopes web I never refused as I say for I was hired to do his bidding
but I took no pains to keep my penetration under a bushel and would sometimes
smile in his face
»I think I must be the devil and you Michael Scott« I said to him one day
»I have bridged Tweed and split the Eildons and now you set me to the rope of
sand«
He looked at me with shining eyes and looked away again his jaw chewing
but without words
»Well well my lord« said I »your will is my pleasure I will do this
thing for the fourth time but I would beg of you to invent another task against
tomorrow for by my troth I am weary of this one«
»You do not know what you are saying« returned my lord putting on his hat
and turning his back to me »It is a strange thing you should take a pleasure to
annoy me A friend but that is a different affair It is a strange thing I am
a man that has had illfortune all my life through I am still surrounded by
contrivances I am always treading in plots« he burst out »The whole world is
banded against me«
»I would not talk wicked nonsense if I were you« said I »but I will tell
you what I would do I would put my head in cold water for you had more last
night than you could carry«
»Do ye think that« said he with a manner of interest highly awakened
»Would that be good for me Its a thing I never tried«
»I mind the days when you had no call to try and I wish my lord that they
were back again« said I
»But the plain truth is if you continue to exceed you will do yourself a
mischief«
»I dont appear to carry drink the way I used to« said my lord »I get
overtaken Mackellar But I will be more upon my guard«
»That is what I would ask of you« I replied »You are to bear in mind that
you are Mr Alexanders father give the bairn a chance to carry his name with
some responsibility«
»Ay ay« said he »Yere a very sensible man Mackellar and have been long
in my employ But I think if you have nothing more to say to me I will be
stepping If you have nothing more to say« he added with that burning
childish eagerness that was now so common with the man
»No my lord I have nothing more« said I drily enough
»Then I think I will be stepping« says my lord and stood and looked at me
fidgeting with his hat which he had taken off again »I suppose you will have
no errands No I am to meet Sir William Johnson but I will be more upon my
guard« He was silent for a time and then smiling »Do you call to mind a
place Mackellar its a little below Eagles where the burn runs very deep
under a wood of rowans I mind being there when I was a lad dear it comes
over me like an old song I was after the fishing and I made a bonny cast
Eh but I was happy I wonder Mackellar why I am never happy now«
»My lord« said I »if you would drink with more moderation you would have
the better chance It is an old byword that the bottle is a false consoler«
»No doubt« said he »no doubt Well I think I will be going«
»Goodmorning my lord« said I
»Goodmorning goodmorning« said he and so got himself at last from the
apartment
I give that for a fair specimen of my lord in the morning and I must have
described my patron very ill if the reader does not perceive a notable falling
off To behold the man thus fallen to know him accepted among his companions
for a poor muddled toper welcome if he were welcome at all for the bare
consideration of his title and to recall the virtues he had once displayed
against such odds of fortune was not this a thing at once to rage and to be
humbled at
In his cups he was more excessive I will give but the one scene close
upon the end which is strongly marked upon my memory to this day and at the
time affected me almost with horror
I was in bed lying there awake when I heard him stumbling on the stair and
singing My lord had no gift of music his brother had all the graces of the
family so that when I say singing you are to understand a manner of high
carolling utterance which was truly neither speech nor song Something not
unlike is to be heard upon the lips of children ere they learn shame from
those of a man grown elderly it had a strange effect He opened the door with
noisy precaution peered in shading his candle conceived me to slumber
entered set his light upon the table and took off his hat I saw him very
plain a high feverish exultation appeared to boil in his veins and he stood
and smiled and smirked upon the candle Presently he lifted up his arm snapped
his fingers and fell to undress As he did so having once more forgot my
presence he took back to his singing and now I could hear the words which
were these from the old song of the Twa Corbies endlessly repeated
»And over his banes when they are bare
The wind sall blaw for evermair«
I have said there was no music in the man His strains had no logical succession
except in so far as they inclined a little to the minor mode but they exercised
a rude potency upon the feelings and followed the words and signified the
feelings of the singer with barbaric fitness He took it first in the time and
manner of a rant presently this illfavoured gleefulness abated he began to
dwell upon the notes more feelingly and sank at last into a degree of maudlin
pathos that was to me scarce bearable By equal steps the original briskness of
his acts declined and when he was stripped to his breeches he sat on the
bedside and fell to whimpering I know nothing less respectable than the tears
of drunkenness and turned my back impatiently on this poor sight
But he had started himself I am to suppose on that slippery descent of
self-pity on the which to a man unstrung by old sorrows and recent potations
there is no arrest except exhaustion His tears continued to flow and the man
to sit there three parts naked in the cold air of the chamber I twitted
myself alternately with inhumanity and sentimental weakness now half rising in
my bed to interfere now reading myself lessons of indifference and courting
slumber until upon a sudden the quantum mutatus ab illo shot into my mind
and calling to remembrance his old wisdom constancy and patience I was
overborne with a pity almost approaching the passionate not for my master
alone but for the sons of man
At this I leaped from my place went over to his side and laid a hand on his
bare shoulder which was cold as stone He uncovered his face and showed it me
all swollen and begrutten10 like a childs and at the sight my impatience
partially revived
»Think shame to yourself« said I »This is bairnly conduct I might have
been snivelling myself if I had cared to swill my belly with wine But I went
to my bed sober like a man Come get into yours and have done with this
pitiable exhibition«
»O Mackellar« said he »my heart is wae«
»Wae« cried I »For a good cause I think What words were these you sang
as you came in Show pity to others we then can talk of pity to yourself You
can be the one thing or the other but I will be no party to halfway houses If
youre a striker strike and if youre a bleater bleat«
»Ay« cries he with a burst »thats it strike thats talking Man Ive
stood it all too long But when they laid a hand upon the child when the
childs threatened« his momentary vigour whimpering off »my child my
Alexander« and he was at his tears again
I took him by the shoulders and shook him »Alexander« said I »Do you even
think of him Not you Look yourself in the face like a brave man and youll
find youre but a self-deceiver The wife the friend the child theyre all
equally forgot and you sunk in a mere bog of selfishness«
»Mackellar« said he with a wonderful return to his old manner and
appearance »you may say what you will of me but one thing I never was I was
never selfish«
»I will open your eyes in your despite« said I »How long have we been
here and how often have you written to your family I think this is the first
time you were ever separate have you written at all Do they know if you are
dead or living«
I had caught him here too openly it braced his better nature there was no
more weeping he thanked me very penitently got to bed and was soon fast
asleep and the first thing he did the next morning was to sit down and begin a
letter to my lady a very tender letter it was too though it was never
finished Indeed all communication with New York was transacted by myself and
it will be judged I had a thankless task of it What to tell my lady and in
what words and how far to be false and how far cruel was a thing that kept me
often from my slumber
All this while no doubt my lord waited with growing impatiency for news of
his accomplices Harris it is to be thought had promised a high degree of
expedition the time was already overpast when word was to be looked for and
suspense was a very evil counsellor to a man of an impaired intelligence My
lords mind throughout this interval dwelled almost wholly in the Wilderness
following that party with whose deeds he had so much concern He continually
conjured up their camps and progresses the fashion of the country the
perpetration in a thousand different manners of the same horrid fact and that
consequent spectacle of the Masters bones lying scattered in the wind These
private guilty considerations I would continually observe to peep forth in the
mans talk like rabbits from a hill And it is the less wonder if the scene of
his meditations began to draw him bodily
It is well known what pretext he took Sir William Johnson had a diplomatic
errand in these parts and my lord and I from curiosity as was given out went
in his company Sir William was well attended and liberally supplied Hunters
brought us venison fish was taken for us daily in the streams and brandy ran
like water We proceeded by day and encamped by night in the military style
sentinels were set and changed every man had his named duty and Sir William
was the spring of all There was much in this that might at times have
entertained me but for our misfortune the weather was extremely harsh the
days were in the beginning open but the nights frosty from the first A painful
keen wind blew most of the time so that we sat in the boat with blue fingers
and at night as we scorched our faces at the fire the clothes upon our back
appeared to be of paper A dreadful solitude surrounded our steps the land was
quite dispeopled there was no smoke of fires and save for a single boat of
merchants on the second day we met no travellers The season was indeed late
but this desertion of the waterways impressed Sir William himself and I have
heard him more than once express a sense of intimidation »I have come too late
I fear they must have dug up the hatchet« he said and the future proved how
justly he had reasoned
I could never depict the blackness of my soul upon this journey I have none
of those minds that are in love with the unusual to see the winter coming and
to lie in the field so far from any house oppressed me like a nightmare it
seemed indeed a kind of awful braving of Gods power and this thought which
I daresay only writes me down a coward was greatly exaggerated by my private
knowledge of the errand we were come upon I was besides encumbered by my duties
to Sir William whom it fell upon me to entertain for my lord was quite sunk
into a state bordering on pervigilium watching the woods with a rapt eye
sleeping scarce at all and speaking sometimes not twenty words in a whole day
That which he said was still coherent but it turned almost invariably upon the
party for whom he kept his crazy lookout He would tell Sir William often and
always as if it were a new communication that he had a brother somewhere in the
woods and beg that the sentinels should be directed to inquire for him »I am
anxious for news of my brother« he would say And sometimes when we were under
way he would fancy he spied a canoe far off upon the water or a camp on the
shore and exhibit painful agitation It was impossible but Sir William should
be struck with these singularities and at last he led me aside and hinted his
uneasiness I touched my head and shook it quite rejoiced to prepare a little
testimony against possible disclosures
»But in that case« cries Sir William »is it wise to let him go at large«
»Those that know him best« said I »are persuaded that he should be
humoured«
»Well well« replied Sir William »it is none of my affairs But if I had
understood you would never have been here«
Our advance into this savage country had thus uneventfully proceeded for
about a week when we encamped for a night at a place where the river ran among
considerable mountains clothed in wood The fires were lighted on a level space
at the waters edge and we supped and lay down to sleep in the customary
fashion It chanced the night fell murderously cold the stringency of the frost
seized and bit me through my coverings so that pain kept me wakeful and I was
afoot again before the peep of day crouching by the fires or trotting to and
fro at the streams edge to combat the aching of my limbs At last dawn began
to break upon hoar woods and mountains the sleepers rolled in their robes and
the boisterous river dashing among spears of ice I stood looking about me
swaddled in my stiff coat of a bulls fur and the breath smoking from my
scorched nostrils when upon a sudden a singular eager cry rang from the
borders of the wood The sentries answered it the sleepers sprang to their
feet one pointed the rest followed his direction with their eyes and there
upon the edge of the forest and betwixt two trees we beheld the figure of a
man reaching forth his hands like one in ecstasy The next moment he ran
forward fell on his knees at the side of the camp and burst in tears
This was John Mountain the trader escaped from the most horrid perils and
his first word when he got speech was to ask if we had seen Secundra Dass
»Seen what« cries Sir William
»No« said I »we have seen nothing of him Why«
»Nothing« says Mountain »Then I was right after all« With that he struck
his palm upon his brow »But what takes him back« he cried »What takes the man
back among dead bodies There is some damned mystery here«
This was a word which highly aroused our curiosity but I shall be more
perspicacious if I narrate these incidents in their true order Here follows a
narrative which I have compiled out of three sources not very consistent in all
points
First a written statement by Mountain in which everything criminal is
cleverly smuggled out of view
Second two conversations with Secundra Dass and
Third many conversations with Mountain himself in which he was pleased to
be entirely plain for the truth is he regarded me as an accomplice
Narrative of the Trader Mountain
The crew that went up the river under the joint command of Captain Harris and
the Master numbered in all nine persons of whom if I except Secundra Dass
there was not one that had not merited the gallows From Harris downward the
voyagers were notorious in that colony for desperate bloodyminded miscreants
some were reputed pirates the most hawkers of rum all ranters and drinkers
all fit associates embarking together without remorse upon this treacherous
and murderous design I could not hear there was much discipline or any set
captain in the gang but Harris and four others Mountain himself two Scotsmen
Pinkerton and Hastie and a man of the name of Hicks a drunken shoemaker
put their heads together and agreed upon the course In a material sense they
were well provided and the Master in particular brought with him a tent where
he might enjoy some privacy and shelter
Even this small indulgence told against him in the minds of his companions
But indeed he was in a position so entirely false and even ridiculous that all
his habit of command and arts of pleasing were here thrown away In the eyes of
all except Secundra Dass he figured as a common gull and designated victim
going unconsciously to death yet he could not but suppose himself the contriver
and the leader of the expedition he could scarce help but so conduct himself
and at the least hint of authority or condescension his deceivers would be
laughing in their sleeves I was so used to see and to conceive him in a high
authoritative attitude that when I had conceived his position on this journey
I was pained and could have blushed How soon he may have entertained a first
surmise we cannot know but it was long and the party had advanced into the
Wilderness beyond the reach of any help ere he was fully awakened to the truth
It fell thus Harris and some others had drawn apart into the woods for
consultation when they were startled by a rustling in the brush They were all
accustomed to the arts of Indian warfare and Mountain had not only lived and
hunted but fought and earned some reputation with the savages He could move
in the woods without noise and follow a trail like a hound and upon the
emergence of this alert he was deputed by the rest to plunge into the thicket
for intelligence He was soon convinced there was a man in his close
neighbourhood moving with precaution but without art among the leaves and
branches and coming shortly to a place of advantage he was able to observe
Secundra Dass crawling briskly off with many backward glances At this he knew
not whether to laugh or cry and his accomplices when he had returned and
reported were in much the same dubiety There was now no danger of an Indian
onslaught but on the other hand since Secundra Dass was at the pains to spy
upon them it was highly probable he knew English and if he knew English it was
certain the whole of their design was in the Masters knowledge There was one
singularity in the position If Secundra Dass knew and concealed his knowledge
of English Harris was a proficient in several of the tongues of India and as
his career in that part of the world had been a great deal worse than
profligate he had not thought proper to remark upon the circumstance Each side
had thus a spyhole on the counsels of the other The plotters so soon as this
advantage was explained returned to camp Harris hearing the Hindustani was
once more closeted with his master crept to the side of the tent and the rest
sitting about the fire with their tobacco awaited his report with impatience
When he came at last his face was very black He had overheard enough to
confirm the worst of his suspicions Secundra Dass was a good English scholar
he had been some days creeping and listening the Master was now fully informed
of the conspiracy and the pair proposed on the morrow to fall out of line at a
carrying place and plunge at a venture in the woods preferring the full risk of
famine savage beasts and savage men to their position in the midst of
traitors
What then was to be done Some were for killing the Master on the spot
but Harris assured them that would be a crime without profit since the secret
of the treasure must die along with him that buried it Others were for
desisting at once from the whole enterprise and making for New York but the
appetising name of treasure and the thought of the long way they had already
travelled dissuaded the majority I imagine they were dull fellows for the most
part Harris indeed had some acquirements Mountain was no fool Hastie was an
educated man but even these had manifestly failed in life and the rest were
the dregs of colonial rascality The conclusion they reached at least was more
the offspring of greed and hope than reason It was to temporise to be wary and
watch the Master to be silent and supply no further aliment to his suspicions
and to depend entirely as well as I make out on the chance that their victim
was as greedy hopeful and irrational as themselves and might after all
betray his life and treasure
Twice in the course of the next day Secundra and the Master must have
appeared to themselves to have escaped and twice they were circumvented The
Master save that the second time he grew a little pale displayed no sign of
disappointment apologised for the stupidity with which he had fallen aside
thanked his recapturers as for a service and rejoined the caravan with all his
usual gallantry and cheerfulness of mien and bearing But it is certain he had
smelled a rat for from thenceforth he and Secundra spoke only in each others
ear and Harris listened and shivered by the tent in vain The same night it was
announced they were to leave the boats and proceed by foot a circumstance which
as it put an end to the confusion of the portages greatly lessened the chances
of escape
And now there began between the two sides a silent contest for life on the
one hand for riches on the other They were now near that quarter of the desert
in which the Master himself must begin to play the part of guide and using this
for a pretext of persecution Harris and his men sat with him every night about
the fire and laboured to entrap him into some admission If he let slip his
secret he knew well it was the warrant for his death on the other hand he
durst not refuse their questions and must appear to help them to the best of
his capacity or he practically published his mistrust And yet Mountain assures
me the mans brow was never ruffled He sat in the midst of these jackals his
life depending by a thread like some easy witty householder at home by his own
fire an answer he had for everything as often as not a jesting answer
avoided threats evaded insults talked laughed and listened with an open
countenance and in short conducted himself in such a manner as must have
disarmed suspicion and went near to stagger knowledge Indeed Mountain
confessed to me they would soon have disbelieved the captains story and
supposed their designated victim still quite innocent of their designs but for
the fact that he continued however ingeniously to give the slip to questions
and the yet stronger confirmation of his repeated efforts to escape The last of
these which brought things to a head I am now to relate And first I should
say that by this time the temper of Harriss companions was utterly worn out
civility was scarce pretended and for one very significant circumstance the
Master and Secundra had been on some pretext deprived of weapons On their
side however the threatened pair kept up the parade of friendship handsomely
Secundra was all bows the Master all smiles and on the last night of the truce
he had even gone so far as to sing for the diversion of the company It was
observed that he had also eaten with unusual heartiness and drank deep
doubtless from design
At least about three in the morning he came out of the tent into the open
air audibly mourning and complaining with all the manner of a sufferer from
surfeit For some while Secundra publicly attended on his patron who at last
became more easy and fell asleep on the frosty ground behind the tent the
Indian returning within Some time after the sentry was changed had the Master
pointed out to him where he lay in what is called a robe of buffalo and
thenceforth kept an eye upon him he declared without remission With the first
of the dawn a draught of wind came suddenly and blew open one side the corner
of the robe and with the same puff the Masters hat whirled in the air and
fell some yards away The sentry thinking it remarkable the sleeper should not
awaken thereupon drew near and the next moment with a great shout informed
the camp their prisoner was escaped He had left behind his Indian who in the
first vivacity of the surprise came near to pay the forfeit of his life and
was in fact inhumanly mishandled but Secundra in the midst of threats and
cruelties stuck to it with extraordinary loyalty that he was quite ignorant of
his masters plans which might indeed be true and of the manner of his escape
which was demonstrably false Nothing was therefore left to the conspirators but
to rely entirely on the skill of Mountain The night had been frosty the ground
quite hard and the sun was no sooner up than a strong thaw set in It was
Mountains boast that few men could have followed that trail and still fewer
even of the native Indians found it The Master had thus a long start before
his pursuers had the scent and he must have travelled with surprising energy
for a pedestrian so unused since it was near noon before Mountain had a view of
him At this conjuncture the trader was alone all his companions following at
his own request several hundred yards in the rear he knew the Master was
unarmed his heart was besides heated with the exercise and lust of hunting and
seeing the quarry so close so defenceless and seeming so fatigued he
vaingloriously determined to effect the capture with his single hand A step or
two farther brought him to one margin of a little clearing on the other with
his arms folded and his back to a huge stone the Master sat It is possible
Mountain may have made a rustle it is certain at least the Master raised his
head and gazed directly at that quarter of the thicket where his hunter lay »I
could not be sure he saw me« Mountain said »he just looked my way like a man
with his mind made up and all the courage ran out of me like rum out of a
bottle« And presently when the Master looked away again and appeared to
resume those meditations in which he had sat immersed before the traders
coming Mountain slunk stealthily back and returned to seek the help of his
companions
And now began the chapter of surprises for the scout had scarce informed
the others of his discovery and they were yet preparing their weapons for a
rush upon the fugitive when the man himself appeared in their midst walking
openly and quietly with his hands behind his back
»Ah men« says he on his beholding them »Here is a fortunate encounter
Let us get back to camp«
Mountain had not mentioned his own weakness or the Masters disconcerting
gaze upon the thicket so that with all the rest his return appeared
spontaneous For all that a hubbub arose oaths flew fists were shaken and
guns pointed
»Let us get back to camp« said the Master »I have an explanation to make
but it must be laid before you all And in the meanwhile I would put up these
weapons one of which might very easily go off and blow away your hopes of
treasure I would not kill« says he smiling »the goose with the golden eggs«
The charm of his superiority once more triumphed and the party in no
particular order set off on their return By the way he found occasion to get
a word or two apart with Mountain
»You are a clever fellow and a bold« says he »but I am not so sure that
you are doing yourself justice I would have you to consider whether you would
not do better ay and safer to serve me instead of serving so commonplace a
rascal as Mr Harris Consider of it« he concluded dealing the man a gentle
tap upon the shoulder »and dont be in haste Dead or alive you will find me
an ill man to quarrel with«
When they were come back to the camp where Harris and Pinkerton stood guard
over Secundra these two ran upon the Master like viragoes and were amazed out
of measure when they were bidden by their comrades to stand back and hear what
the gentleman had to say The Master had not flinched before their onslaught
nor at this proof of the ground he had gained did he betray the least
sufficiency
»Do not let us be in haste« says he »Meat first and public speaking
after«
With that they made a hasty meal and as soon as it was done the Master
leaning on one elbow began his speech He spoke long addressing himself to
each except Harris finding for each with the same exception some particular
flattery He called them bold honest blades declared he had never seen a more
jovial company work better done or pains more merrily supported »Well then«
says he »some one asks me Why the devil I ran away But that is scarce worth
answer for I think you all know pretty well But you know only pretty well
that is a point I shall arrive at presently and be you ready to remark it when
it comes There is a traitor here a double traitor I will give you his name
before I am done and let that suffice for now But here comes some other
gentleman and asks me Why in the devil I came back Well before I answer
that question I have one to put to you It was this cur here this Harris that
speaks Hindustani« cries he rising on one knee and pointing fair at the mans
face with a gesture indescribably menacing and when he had been answered in
the affirmative »Ah« says he »then are all my suspicions verified and I did
rightly to come back Now men hear the truth for the first time« Thereupon he
launched forth in a long story told with extraordinary skill how he had all
along suspected Harris how he had found the confirmation of his fears and how
Harris must have misrepresented what passed between Secundra and himself At
this point he made a bold stroke with excellent effect »I suppose« says he
»you think you are going shares with Harris I suppose you think you will see to
that yourselves you would naturally not think so flat a rogue could cozen you
But have a care These halfidiots have a sort of cunning as the skunk has its
stench and it may be news to you that Harris has taken care of himself already
Yes for him the treasure is all money in the bargain You must find it or go
starve But he has been paid beforehand my brother paid him to destroy me look
at him if you doubt look at him grinning and gulping a detected thief«
Thence having made this happy impression he explained how he had escaped and
thought better of it and at last concluded to come back lay the truth before
the company and take his chance with them once more persuaded as he was they
would instantly depose Harris and elect some other leader »There is the whole
truth« said he »and with one exception I put myself entirely in your hands
What is the exception There he sits« he cried pointing once more to Harris
»a man that has to die Weapons and conditions are all one to me put me face to
face with him and if you give me nothing but a stick in five minutes I will
show you a sop of broken carrion fit for dogs to roll in«
It was dark night when he made an end they had listened in almost perfect
silence but the firelight scarce permitted any one to judge from the look of
his neighbours with what result of persuasion or conviction Indeed the Master
had set himself in the brightest place and kept his face there to be the
centre of mens eyes doubtless on a profound calculation Silence followed for
a while and presently the whole party became involved in disputation the
Master lying on his back with his hands knit under his head and one knee flung
across the other like a person unconcerned in the result And here I daresay
his bravado carried him too far and prejudiced his case At least after a cast
or two back and forward opinion settled finally against him Its possible he
hoped to repeat the business of the pirate ship and be himself perhaps on
hard enough conditions elected leader and things went so far that way that
Mountain actually threw out the proposition. But the rock he split upon was
Hastie This fellow was not well liked being sour and slow with an ugly
glowering disposition but he had studied some time for the Church at Edinburgh
College before illconduct had destroyed his prospects and he now remembered
and applied what he had learned Indeed he had not proceeded very far when the
Master rolled carelessly upon one side which was done in Mountains opinion
to conceal the beginnings of despair upon his countenance Hastie dismissed the
most of what they had heard as nothing to the matter what they wanted was the
treasure All that was said of Harris might be true and they would have to see
to that in time But what had that to do with the treasure They had heard a
vast of words but the truth was just this that Mr Durie was damnably
frightened and had several times run off Here he was whether caught or come
back was all one to Hastie the point was to make an end of the business As for
the talk of deposing and electing captains he hoped they were all free men and
could attend their own affairs That was dust flung in their eyes and so was
the proposal to fight Harris »He shall fight no one in this camp I can tell
him that« said Hastie »We had trouble enough to get his arms away from him
and we should look pretty fools to give them back again But if its excitement
the gentleman is after I can supply him with more than perhaps he cares about
For I have no intention to spend the remainder of my life in these mountains
already I have been too long and I propose that he should immediately tell us
where that treasure is or else immediately be shot And there« says he
producing his weapon »there is the pistol that I mean to use«
»Come I call you a man« cries the Master sitting up and looking at the
speaker with an air of admiration
»I didnt ask you to call me anything« returned Hastie »which is it to
be«
»Thats an idle question« said the Master »Needs must when the devil
drives The truth is we are within easy walk of the place and I will show it
you tomorrow«
With that as if all were quite settled and settled exactly to his mind he
walked off to his tent whither Secundra had preceded him
I cannot think of these last turns and wriggles of my old enemy except with
admiration scarce even pity is mingled with the sentiment so strongly the man
supported so boldly resisted his misfortunes Even at that hour when he
perceived himself quite lost when he saw he had but effected an exchange of
enemies and overthrown Harris to set Hastie up no sign of weakness appeared in
his behaviour and he withdrew to his tent already determined I must suppose
upon affronting the incredible hazard of his last expedient with the same easy
assured genteel expression and demeanour as he might have left a theatre withal
to join a supper of the wits But doubtless within if we could see there his
soul trembled
Early in the night word went about the camp that he was sick and the first
thing the next morning he called Hastie to his side and inquired most anxiously
if he had any skill in medicine As a matter of fact, this was a vanity of that
fallen divinity students to which he had cunningly addressed himself Hastie
examined him and being flattered ignorant and highly suspicious knew not in
the least whether the man was sick or malingering In this state he went forth
again to his companions and as the thing which would give himself most
consequence either way announced that the patient was in a fair way to die
»For all that« he added with an oath »and if he bursts by the wayside he
must bring us this morning to the treasure«
But there were several in the camp Mountain among the number whom this
brutality revolted They would have seen the Master pistolled or pistolled him
themselves without the smallest sentiment of pity but they seemed to have been
touched by his gallant fight and unequivocal defeat the night before perhaps
too they were even already beginning to oppose themselves to their new leader
at least they now declared that if the man was sick he should have a days
rest in spite of Hasties teeth
The next morning he was manifestly worse and Hastie himself began to
display something of humane concern so easily does even the pretence of
doctoring awaken sympathy The third the Master called Mountain and Hastie to
the tent announced himself to be dying gave them full particulars as to the
position of the cache and begged them to set out incontinently on the quest so
that they might see if he deceived them and if they were at first
unsuccessful he should be able to correct their error
But here arose a difficulty on which he doubtless counted None of these men
would trust another none would consent to stay behind On the other hand
although the Master seemed extremely low spoke scarce above a whisper and lay
much of the time insensible it was still possible it was a fraudulent sickness
and if all went treasurehunting it might prove they had gone upon a wildgoose
chase and return to find their prisoner flown They concluded therefore to
hang idling round the camp alleging sympathy to their reason and certainly
so mingled are our dispositions several were sincerely if not very deeply
affected by the natural peril of the man whom they callously designed to murder
In the afternoon Hastie was called to the bedside to pray the which
incredible as it must appear he did with unction about eight at night the
wailing of Secundra announced that all was over and before ten the Indian
with a link stuck in the ground was toiling at the grave Sunrise of next day
beheld the Masters burial all hands attending with great decency of demeanour
and the body was laid in the earth wrapped in a fur robe with only the face
uncovered which last was of a waxy whiteness and had the nostrils plugged
according to some Oriental habit of Secundras No sooner was the grave filled
than the lamentations of the Indian once more struck concern to every heart and
it appears this gang of murderers so far from resenting his outcries although
both distressful and in such a country perilous to their own safety roughly
but kindly endeavoured to console him
But if human nature is even in the worst of men occasionally kind it is
still and before all things greedy and they soon turned from the mourner to
their own concerns The cache of the treasure being hard by although yet
unidentified it was concluded not to break camp and the day passed on the
part of the voyagers in unavailing exploration of the woods Secundra the while
lying on his masters grave That night they placed no sentinel but lay
altogether about the fire in the customary woodman fashion the heads outward
like the spokes of a wheel Morning found them in the same disposition only
Pinkerton who lay on Mountains right between him and Hastie had in the
hours of darkness been secretly butchered and there lay still wrapped as to
his body in his mantle but offering above that ungodly and horrific spectacle
of the scalped head The gang were that morning as pale as a company of
phantoms for the pertinacity of Indian war or to speak more correctly Indian
murder was well known to all But they laid the chief blame on their
unsentinelled posture and fired with the neighbourhood of the treasure
determined to continue where they were Pinkerton was buried hard by the Master
the survivors again passed the day in exploration and returned in a mingled
humour of anxiety and hope being partly certain they were now close on the
discovery of what they sought and on the other hand with the return of
darkness infected with the fear of Indians Mountain was the first sentry he
declares he neither slept nor yet sat down but kept his watch with a perpetual
and straining vigilance and it was even with unconcern that when he saw by the
stars his time was up he drew near the fire to awaken his successor This man
it was Hicks the shoemaker slept on the lee side of the circle something
farther off in consequence than those to windward and in a place darkened by
the blowing smoke Mountain stooped and took him by the shoulder his hand was
at once smeared by some adhesive wetness and the wind at the moment veering
the firelight shone upon the sleeper and showed him like Pinkerton dead and
scalped
It was clear they had fallen in the hands of one of those matchless Indian
bravos that will sometimes follow a party for days and in spite of
indefatigable travel and unsleeping watch continue to keep up with their
advance and steal a scalp at every restingplace Upon this discovery the
treasureseekers already reduced to a poor halfdozen fell into mere dismay
seized a few necessaries and deserting the remainder of their goods fled
outright into the forest Their fire they left still burning and their dead
comrade unburied All day they ceased not to flee eating by the way from hand
to mouth and since they feared to sleep continued to advance at random even in
the hours of darkness But the limit of mans endurance is soon reached when
they rested at last it was to sleep profoundly and when they woke it was to
find that the enemy was still upon their heels and death and mutilation had
once more lessened and deformed their company
By this they had become lightheaded they had quite missed their path in
the Wilderness their stores were already running low With the further horrors
it is superfluous that I should swell this narrative already too prolonged
Suffice it to say that when at length a night passed by innocuous and they
might breathe again in the hope that the murderer had at last desisted from
pursuit Mountain and Secundra were alone The trader is firmly persuaded their
unseen enemy was some warrior of his own acquaintance and that he himself was
spared by favour The mercy extended to Secundra he explains on the ground that
the East Indian was thought to be insane partly from the fact that through all
the horrors of the flight and while others were casting away their very food
and weapons Secundra continued to stagger forward with a mattock on his
shoulder and partly because in the last days and with a great degree of heat
and fluency he perpetually spoke with himself in his own language But he was
sane enough when it came to English
»You think he will be gone quite away« he asked upon their blest awakening
in safety
»I pray God so I believe so I dare to believe so« Mountain had replied
almost with incoherence as he described the scene to me
And indeed he was so much distempered that until he met us the next
morning he could scarce be certain whether he had dreamed or whether it was a
fact that Secundra had thereupon turned directly about and returned without a
word upon their footprints setting his face for these wintry and hungry
solitudes along a path whose every stage was milestoned with a mutilated
corpse
Chapter XII
The Journey in the Wilderness continued
Mountains story as it was laid before Sir William Johnson and my lord was
shorn of course of all the earlier particulars and the expedition described
to have proceeded uneventfully until the Master sickened But the latter part
was very forcibly related the speaker visibly thrilling to his recollections
and our then situation on the fringe of the same desert and the private
interests of each gave him an audience prepared to share in his emotions For
Mountains intelligence not only changed the world for my Lord Durrisdeer but
materially affected the designs of Sir William Johnson
These I find I must lay more at length before the reader Word had reached
Albany of dubious import it had been rumoured some hostility was to be put in
act and the Indian diplomatist had thereupon sped into the Wilderness even
at the approach of winter to nip that mischief in the bud Here on the
borders he learned that he was come too late and a difficult choice was thus
presented to a man upon the whole not any more bold than prudent His standing
with the painted braves may be compared to that of my Lord President Culloden
among the chiefs of our own Highlanders at the Fortyfive that is as much as
to say he was to these men reasons only speakingtrumpet and counsels of
peace and moderation if they were to prevail at all must prevail singly
through his influence If then he should return the province must lie open to
all the abominable tragedies of Indian war the houses blaze the wayfarer be
cut off and the men of the woods collect their usual disgusting spoil of human
scalps On the other side to go farther forth to risk so small a party deeper
in the desert to carry words of peace among warlike savages already rejoicing
to return to war here was an extremity from which it was easy to perceive his
mind revolted
»I have come too late« he said more than once and would fall into a deep
consideration his head bowed in his hands his foot patting the ground
At length he raised his face and looked upon us that is to say upon my
lord Mountain and myself sitting close round a small fire which had been
made for privacy in one corner of the camp
»My lord to be quite frank with you I find myself in two minds« said he
»I think it very needful I should go on but not at all proper I should any
longer enjoy the pleasure of your company We are here still upon the
waterside and I think the risk to southward no great matter Will not yourself
and Mr Mackellar take a single boats crew and return to Albany«
My lord I should say had listened to Mountains narrative regarding him
throughout with a painful intensity of gaze and since the tale concluded had
sat as in a dream There was something very daunting in his look something to
my eyes not rightly human the face lean and dark and aged the mouth painful
the teeth disclosed in a perpetual rictus the eyeball swimming clear of the
lids upon a field of bloodshot white I could not behold him myself without a
jarring irritation such as I believe is too frequently the uppermost feeling
on the sickness of those dear to us Others I could not but remark were scarce
able to support his neighbourhood Sir William eviting to be near him Mountain
dodging his eye and when he met it blenching and halting in his story At
this appeal however my lord appeared to recover his command upon himself
»To Albany« said he with a good voice
»Not short of it at least« replied Sir William »There is no safety nearer
hand«
»I would be very sweir11 to return« says my lord »I am not afraid of
Indians« he added with a jerk
»I wish that I could say so much« returned Sir William smiling »although
if any man durst say it it should be myself But you are to keep in view my
responsibility and that as the voyage has now become highly dangerous and your
business if you ever had any« says he »brought quite to a conclusion by
the distressing family intelligence you have received I should be hardly
justified if I even suffered you to proceed and run the risk of some obloquy if
anything regrettable should follow«
My lord turned to Mountain »What did he pretend he died of« he asked
»I dont think I understand your honour« said the trader pausing like a
man very much affected in the dressing of some cruel frostbites
For a moment my lord seemed at a full stop and then with some irritation
»I ask you what he died of Surely thats a plain question« said he
»O I dont know« said Mountain »Hastie even never knew He seemed to
sicken natural and just pass away«
»There it is you see« concluded my lord turning to Sir William
»Your lordship is too deep for me« replied Sir William
»Why« says my lord »this is a matter of succession; my sons title may be
called in doubt and the man being supposed to be dead of nobody can tell what
a great deal of suspicion would be naturally roused«
»But God damn me the mans buried« cried Sir William
»I will never believe that« returned my lord painfully trembling »Ill
never believe it« he cried again and jumped to his feet »Did he look dead«
he asked of Mountain
»Look dead« repeated the trader »He looked white Why what would he be
at I tell you I put the sods upon him«
My lord caught Sir William by the coat with a hooked hand »This man has the
name of my brother« says he »but its well understood that he was never
canny«
»Canny« says Sir William »What is that«
»Hes not of this world« whispered my lord »neither him nor the black
devil that serves him I have struck my sword throughout his vitals« he cried
»I have felt the hilt dirl12 on his breastbone and the hot blood spirt in my
very face time and again time and again« he repeated with a gesture
indescribable »But he was never dead for that« said he and sighed aloud »Why
should I think he was dead now No not till I see him rotting« says he
Sir William looked across at me with a long face Mountain forgot his
wounds staring and gaping
»My lord« said I »I wish you would collect your spirits« But my throat
was so dry and my own wits so scattered I could add no more
»No« says my lord »its not to be supposed that he would understand me
Mackellar does for he kens all and has seen him buried before now This is a
very good servant to me Sir William this man Mackellar he buried him with his
own hands he and my father by the light of two siller candlesticks The
other man is a familiar spirit he brought him from Coromandel I would have
told ye this long syne Sir William only it was in the family« These last
remarks he made with a kind of melancholy composure and his time of aberration
seemed to pass away »You can ask yourself what it all means« he proceeded »My
brother falls sick and dies and is buried or so they say and all seems very
plain But why did the familiar go back I think ye must see for yourself its a
point that wants some clearing«
»I will be at your service my lord in half a minute« said Sir William
rising »Mr Mackellar two words from you« and he led me without the camp
the frost crunching in our steps the trees standing at our elbow hoar with
frost even as on that night in the long shrubbery »Of course this is
midsummer madness« said Sir William as soon as we were gotten out of hearing
»Why certainly« said I »The man is mad I think that manifest«
»Shall I seize and bind him« asked Sir William »I will upon your
authority If these are all ravings that should certainly be done«
I looked down upon the ground back at the camp with its bright fires and
the folk watching us and about me on the woods and mountains there was just
the one way that I could not look and that was in Sir Williams face
»Sir William« said I at last »I think my lord not sane and have long
thought him so But there are degrees in madness and whether he should be
brought under restraint Sir William I am no fit judge« I concluded
»I will be the judge« said he »I ask for facts Was there in all that
jargon any word of truth or sanity Do you hesitate« he asked »Am I to
understand you have buried this gentleman before«
»Not buried« said I and then taking up courage at last »Sir William«
said I »unless I were to tell you a long story which much concerns a noble
family and myself not in the least it would be impossible to make this matter
clear to you Say the word and I will do it right or wrong And at any rate
I will say so much that my lord is not so crazy as he seems This is a strange
matter into the tail of which you are unhappily drifted«
»I desire none of your secrets« replied Sir William »but I will be plain
at the risk of incivility and confess that I take little pleasure in my present
company«
»I would be the last to blame you« said I »for that«
»I have not asked either for your censure or your praise sir« returned Sir
William »I desire simply to be quit of you and to that effect I put a boat
and complement of men at your disposal«
»This is fairly offered« said I after reflection »But you must suffer me
to say a word upon the other side We have a natural curiosity to learn the
truth of this affair I have some of it myself my lord it is very plain has
but too much The matter of the Indians return is enigmatical«
»I think so myself« Sir William interrupted »and I propose since I go in
that direction to probe it to the bottom Whether or not the man has gone like
a dog to lie upon his masters grave his life at least is in great danger
and I propose if I can to save it There is nothing against his character«
»Nothing Sir William« I replied
»And the other« he said »I have heard my lord of course but from the
circumstances of his servants loyalty I must suppose he had some noble
qualities«
»You must not ask me that« I cried »Hell may have noble flames I have
known him a score of years and always hated and always admired and always
slavishly feared him«
»I appear to intrude again upon your secrets« said Sir William »believe
me inadvertently Enough that I will see the grave and if possible rescue
the Indian Upon these terms can you persuade your master to return to Albany«
»Sir William« said I »I will tell you how it is You do not see my lord to
advantage it will seem even strange to you that I should love him but I do
and I am not alone If he goes back to Albany it must be by force and it will
be the deathwarrant of his reason and perhaps his life That is my sincere
belief but I am in your hands and ready to obey if you will assume so much
responsibility as to command«
»I will have no shred of responsibility it is my single endeavour to avoid
the same« cried Sir William »You insist upon following this journey up and be
it so I wash my hands of the whole matter«
With which word he turned upon his heel and gave the order to break camp
and my lord who had been hovering near by came instantly to my side
»Which is it to be« said he
»You are to have your way« I answered »You shall see the grave«
The situation of the Masters grave was between guides easily described it
lay indeed beside a chief landmark of the Wilderness a certain range of
peaks conspicuous by their design and altitude and the source of many brawling
tributaries to that inland sea Lake Champlain It was therefore possible to
strike for it direct instead of following back the bloodstained trail of the
fugitives and to cover in some sixteen hours of march a distance which their
perturbed wanderings had extended over more than sixty Our boats we left under
a guard upon the river it was indeed probable we should return to find them
frozen fast and the small equipment with which we set forth upon the
expedition included not only an infinity of furs to protect us from the cold
but an arsenal of snowshoes to render travel possible when the inevitable snow
should fall Considerable alarm was manifested at our departure the march was
conducted with soldierly precaution the camp at night sedulously chosen and
patrolled and it was a consideration of this sort that arrested us the second
day within not many hundred yards of our destination the night being already
imminent the spot in which we stood well qualified to be a strong camp for a
party of our numbers and Sir William therefore on a sudden thought arresting
our advance
Before us was the high range of mountains toward which we had been all day
deviously drawing near From the first light of the dawn their silver peaks had
been the goal of our advance across a tumbled lowland forest thrid with rough
streams and strewn with monstrous boulders the peaks as I say silver for
already at the higher altitudes the snow fell nightly but the woods and the low
ground only breathed upon with frost All day heaven had been charged with ugly
vapours in the which the sun swam and glimmered like a shillingpiece all day
the wind blew on our left cheek barbarous cold but very pure to breathe With
the end of the afternoon however the wind fell the clouds being no longer
reinforced were scattered or drunk up the sun set behind us with some wintry
splendour and the white brow of the mountains shared its dying glow
It was dark ere we had supper we ate in silence and the meal was scarce
despatched before my lord slunk from the fireside to the margin of the camp
whither I made haste to follow him The camp was on high ground overlooking a
frozen lake perhaps a mile in its longest measurement all about us the forest
lay in heights and hollows above rose the white mountains and higher yet the
moon rode in a fair sky There was no breath of air nowhere a twig creaked and
the sounds of our own camp were hushed and swallowed up in the surrounding
stillness Now that the sun and the wind were both gone down it appeared almost
warm like a night of July a singular illusion of the sense when earth air
and water were strained to bursting with the extremity of frost
My lord or what I still continued to call by his loved name stood with his
elbow in one hand and his chin sunk in the other gazing before him on the
surface of the wood My eyes followed his and rested almost pleasantly upon the
frosted contexture of the pines rising in moonlit hillocks or sinking in the
shadow of small glens Hard by I told myself was the grave of our enemy now
gone where the wicked cease from troubling the earth heaped for ever on his
once so active limbs I could not but think of him as somehow fortunate to be
thus done with mans anxiety and weariness the daily expense of spirit and
that daily river of circumstance to be swum through at any hazard under the
penalty of shame or death I could not but think how good was the end of that
long travel and with that my mind swung at a tangent to my lord For was not
my lord dead also a maimed soldier looking vainly for discharge lingering
derided in the line of battle A kind man I remembered him wise with a decent
pride a son perhaps too dutiful a husband only too loving one that could
suffer and be silent one whose hand I loved to press Of a sudden pity caught
in my windpipe with a sob I could have wept aloud to remember and behold him
and standing thus by his elbow under the broad moon I prayed fervently either
that he should be released or I strengthened to persist in my affection
»O God« said I »this was the best man to me and to himself and now I
shrink from him He did no wrong or not till he was broke with sorrows these
are but his honourable wounds that we begin to shrink from O cover them up O
take him away before we hate him«
I was still so engaged in my own bosom when a sound broke suddenly upon the
night It was neither very loud nor very near yet bursting as it did from so
profound and so prolonged a silence it startled the camp like an alarm of
trumpets Ere I had taken breath Sir William was beside me the main part of
the voyagers clustered at his back intently giving ear Methought as I glanced
at them across my shoulder there was a whiteness other than moonlight on
their cheeks and the rays of the moon reflected with a sparkle on the eyes of
some and the shadows lying black under the brows of others according as they
raised or bowed the head to listen gave to the group a strange air of animation
and anxiety My lord was to the front crouching a little forth his hand raised
as for silence a man turned to stone And still the sounds continued
breathlessly renewed with a precipitate rhythm
Suddenly Mountain spoke in a loud broken whisper as of a man relieved »I
have it now« he said and as we all turned to hear him »the Indian must have
known the cache« he added »That is he he is digging out the treasure«
»Why to be sure« exclaimed Sir William »We were geese not to have
supposed so much«
»The only thing is« Mountain resumed »the sound is very close to our old
camp And again I do not see how he is there before us unless the man had
wings«
»Greed and fear are wings« remarked Sir William »But this rogue has given
us an alert and I have a notion to return the compliment What say you
gentlemen shall we have a moonlight hunt«
It was so agreed dispositions were made to surround Secundra at his task
some of Sir Williams Indians hastened in advance and a strong guard being left
at our headquarters we set forth along the uneven bottom of the forest frost
crackling ice sometimes loudly splitting under foot and overhead the blackness
of pinewoods and the broken brightness of the moon Our way led down into a
hollow of the land and as we descended the sounds diminished and had almost
died away Upon the other slope it was more open only dotted with a few pines
and several vast and scattered rocks that made inky shadows in the moonlight
Here the sounds began to reach us more distinctly we could now perceive the
ring of iron and more exactly estimate the furious degree of haste with which
the digger plied his instrument As we neared the top of the ascent a bird or
two winged aloft and hovered darkly in the moonlight and the next moment we
were gazing through a fringe of trees upon a singular picture
A narrow plateau overlooked by the white mountains and encompassed nearer
hand by woods lay bare to the strong radiance of the moon Rough goods such as
make the wealth of foresters were sprinkled here and there upon the ground in
meaningless disarray About the midst a tent stood silvered with frost the
door open gaping on the black interior At the one end of this small stage lay
what seemed the tattered remnants of a man Without doubt we had arrived upon
the scene of Harriss encampment there were the goods scattered in the panic of
flight it was in yon tent the Master breathed his last and the frozen carrion
that lay before us was the body of the drunken shoemaker It was always moving
to come upon the theatre of any tragic incident to come upon it after so many
days and to find it in the seclusion of a desert still unchanged must have
impressed the mind of the most careless And yet it was not that which struck us
into pillars of stone but the sight which yet we had been half expecting of
Secundra ankledeep in the grave of his late master He had cast the main part
of his raiment by yet his frail arms and shoulders glistered in the moonlight
with a copious sweat his face was contracted with anxiety and expectation his
blows resounded on the grave as thick as sobs and behind him strangely
deformed and inkblack upon the frosty ground the creatures shadow repeated
and parodied his swift gesticulations Some nightbirds arose from the boughs
upon our coming and then settled back but Secundra absorbed in his toil
heard or heeded not at all
I heard Mountain whisper to Sir William »Good God its the grave Hes
digging him up« It was what we had all guessed and yet to hear it put in
language thrilled me Sir William violently started
»You damned sacrilegious hound« he cried »Whats this«
Secundra leaped in the air a little breathless cry escaped him the tool
flew from his grasp and he stood one instant staring at the speaker The next
swift as an arrow he sped for the woods upon the farther side and the next
again throwing up his hands with a violent gesture of resolution he had begun
already to retrace his steps
»Well then you come you help « he was saying But by now my lord had
stepped beside Sir William the moon shone fair upon his face and the words
were still upon Secundras lips when he beheld and recognised his masters
enemy »Him« he screamed clasping his hands and shrinking on himself
»Come come« said Sir William »There is none here to do you harm if you
be innocent and if you be guilty your escape is quite cut off Speak what do
you here among the graves of the dead and the remains of the unburied«
»You no murderer« inquired Secundra »You true man You see me safe«
»I will see you safe if you be innocent« returned Sir William »I have
said the thing and I see not wherefore you should doubt it«
»These all murderers« cried Secundra »that is why He kill murderer«
pointing to Mountain »these two hiremurderers« pointing to my lord and myself
»all gallowsmurderers Ah I see you all swing in a rope Now I go save the
Sahib he see you swing in a rope The Sahib« he continued pointing to the
grave »he not dead He bury he not dead«
My lord uttered a little noise moved nearer to the grave and stood and
stared in it
»Buried and not dead« exclaimed Sir William »What kind of rant is this«
»See Sahib« said Secundra »The Sahib and I alone with murderers try all
way to escape no way good Then try this way good way in warm climate good
way in India here in this dam cold place who can tell I tell you pretty good
hurry you help you light a fire help rub«
»What is the creature talking of« cried Sir William »My head goes round«
»I tell you I bury him alive« said Secundra »I teach him swallow his
tongue Now dig him up pretty good hurry and he not much worse You light a
fire«
Sir William turned to the nearest of his men »Light a fire« said he »My
lot seems to be cast with the insane«
»You good man« returned Secundra »Now I go dig the Sahib up«
He returned as he spoke to the grave and resumed his former toil My lord
stood rooted and I at my lords side fearing I knew not what
The frost was not yet very deep and presently the Indian threw aside his
tool and began to scoop the dirt by handfuls Then he disengaged a corner of a
buffalo robe and then I saw hair catch among his fingers yet a moment more
and the moon shone on something white A while Secundra crouched upon his knees
scraping with delicate fingers breathing with puffed lips and when he moved
aside I beheld the face of the Master wholly disengaged It was deadly white
the eyes closed the ears and nostrils plugged the cheeks fallen the nose
sharp as if in death but for all he had lain so many days under the sod
corruption had not approached him and what strangely affected all of us his
lips and chin were mantled with a swarthy beard
»My God« cried Mountain »he was as smooth as a baby when we laid him
there«
»They say hair grows upon the dead« observed Sir William but his voice was
thick and weak
Secundra paid no heed to our remarks digging swift as a terrier in the
loose earth Every moment the form of the Master swathed in his buffalo robe
grew more distinct in the bottom of that shallow trough the moon shining
strong and the shadows of the standersby as they drew forward and back
falling and flitting over his emergent countenance The sight held us with a
horror not before experienced I dared not look my lord in the face but for as
long as it lasted I never observed him to draw breath and a little in the
background one of the men I know not whom burst into a kind of sobbing
»Now« said Secundra »you help me lift him out«
Of the flight of time I have no idea it may have been three hours and it
may have been five that the Indian laboured to reanimate his masters body One
thing only I know that it was still night and the moon was not yet set
although it had sunk low and now barred the plateau with long shadows when
Secundra uttered a small cry of satisfaction and leaning swiftly forth I
thought I could myself perceive a change upon that icy countenance of the
unburied The next moment I beheld his eyelids flutter the next they rose
entirely and the weekold corpse looked me for a moment in the face
So much display of life I can myself swear to I have heard from others that
he visibly strove to speak that his teeth showed in his beard and that his
brow was contorted as with an agony of pain and effort And this may have been
I know not I was otherwise engaged For at that first disclosure of the dead
mans eyes my Lord Durrisdeer fell to the ground and when I raised him up he
was a corpse
Day came and still Secundra could not be persuaded to desist from his
unavailing efforts Sir William leaving a small party under my command
proceeded on his embassy with the first light and still the Indian rubbed the
limbs and breathed in the mouth of the dead body You would think such labours
might have vitalised a stone but except for that one moment which was my
lords death the black spirit of the Master held aloof from its discarded
clay and by about the hour of noon even the faithful servant was at length
convinced He took it with unshaken quietude
»Too cold« said he »good way in India no good here« And asking for some
food which he ravenously devoured as soon as it was set before him he drew
near to the fire and took his place at my elbow In the same spot as soon as he
had eaten he stretched himself out and fell into a childlike slumber from
which I must arouse him some hours afterwards to take his part as one of the
mourners at the double funeral It was the same throughout he seemed to have
outlived at once and with the same effort his grief for his master and his
terror of myself and Mountain
One of the men left with me was skilled in stonecutting and before Sir
William returned to pick us up I had chiselled on a boulder this inscription
with a copy of which I may fitly bring my narrative to a close
J D
Heir to a Scottish Title
a Master of the Arts and Graces
Admired in Europe Asia America
in War and Peace
in the Tents of Savage Hunters and the
Citadels of Kings After so Much
Acquired Accomplished and
Endured Lies Here Forgotten
H D
His Brother
After a Life of Unmerited Distress
Bravely Supported
Died Almost in the Same Hour
and Sleeps in the Same Grave
With His Fraternal Enemy
The Piety of His Wife and One
Old Servant Raised this Stone
to Both
Notes
1 A kind of firework made with damp powder
2 Note by Mr Mackellar Should not this be Alan Breck Stewart afterwards
notorious as the Appin murderer The Chevalier is sometimes very weak on names
3 Note by Mr Mackellar This Teach of the Sarah must not be confused with the
celebrated Blackbeard The dates and facts by no means tally It is possible the
second Teach may have at once borrowed the name and imitated the more excessive
part of his manners from the first Even the Master of Ballantrae could make
admirers
4 Note by Mr Mackellar And is not this the whole explanation since this
Dutton exactly like the officers enjoyed the stimulus of some responsibility
5 Note by Mr Mackellar A complete blunder there was at this date no word of
the marriage see above in my own narration
6 Note by Mr Mackellar Plainly Secundra Dass E McK
7 Ordered
8 Land steward
9 Fooling
10 Tearmarked
11 Unwilling
12 Ring