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09 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter nine, The Man with the Belt of Gold. More than a week
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  went by in which the ill luck that had hitherto pursued the Covenant upon this
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  voyage grew yet more strongly marked. Some days she made a little way,
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  others she was driven actually back. At last we were beaten so far to
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  the south that we tossed intact to and fro the whole of the ninth day,
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  within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild rocky coast on either hand of
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  it. There followed on that a council of the officers, and some decision
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  which I did not rightly understand, seeing only the result that we had made
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  a fair wind of a foul one, and were running south. The tenth
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  afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet, white fog that
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  hid one end of the brig from the other all afternoon. When I went
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  on deck, I saw men and officers listening hard over the bulwarks for breakers,
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  they said, and though I did not so much as understand the word,
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  I felt danger in the air and was excited. Maybe about ten at
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  night I was serving mister Riach and the captain at their supper when the ship
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  struck something with a great sound, and we heard voices singing out. My
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  two masters leaped to their feet. She's struck, said mister Riach. No,
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  sir, said the captain. We've only run a boat down, and
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  they hurried out. The captain was in the right of it. We had
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  run down a boat in the fog, and she had parted in the midst
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  and gone to the bottom with all her crew but one. This man,
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  as I heard afterwards, had been sitting in the stern as a passenger,
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  while the rest were on the benches rowing. At the moment of the blow,
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  the stern had been thrown into the air, and the man, having
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  his hands free and for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoat that came
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  below his knees, had leaped up and caught hold of the brig's bowsprit It
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  showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength that he should have thus
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  saved himself from such a pass And yet when the captain brought him into the
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  round house and I set eyes on him for the first time, he looked
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  as cool as I did. He was smallish in stature, but well set,
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  and as nimble as a goat. His face was of a good open
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  expression, but sun burnt, very dark, and heavily freckled and pitted with
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  a small pox. His eyes were unusually light, and had a kind of
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  dancing madness in them that was both engaging in alarming. And when he took
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  off his greatcoat, he laid a pair of fine silver mounted pistols on the
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  table, and I saw that he was belted with a great sword. His
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  manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the captain handsomely. Altogether,
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  I thought of him at the first sight, that here was a man
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  I would rather call my friend than my enemy. The captain, too,
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  was taking his observations, but rather of the man's clothes than his person.
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  And to be sure, as soon as he had taken off the great coat,
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  he showed forth mighty fine for the round house of a merchant brig having
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  a hat with feathers, a red waistcoat, breeches of black plush, and
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  a blue coat with silver buttons, and handsome silver lace. Costly clothes,
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  though somewhat spoiled with a fog, and being slept in. I'm vexed,
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  sir about the boat, said the captain. There are some pretty men gone
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  to the bottom, said the stranger, that it would rather see on the
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  dry land again than half a score of boats friends of yours, said O,
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  Susan, you have none such friends in your country, was the reply.
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  They would have died for me like dogs, Well, sir, said
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  the captain, still watching him. There are more men in the world than
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  boats to put them in. And that's true too, cried the other.
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  And you seem to be a gentleman of great penetration. I have been in
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  France, sir, says the captain, so that it was plain he meant
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  more by the words than showed upon the face of them. Well, sir,
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  says the other. And so has many a pretty man for the matter
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  of that, no doubt, sir, says the captain. And fine coats
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  a hale, says the stranger. Is that how the wind sets. And
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  he laid his hand quickly on his pistols. Don't be hasty, said the
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  captain. Don't do a mischief before you see the need of it. Ye've
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  a French soldier's coat upon your back and a Scotch tongue in your head,
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  to be sure. But so has many an honest fellow these days. And
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  I dare say none the worse of it, So said the gentleman in the
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  fine coat. Are ye of the honest party? Meaning was he a Jacobite?
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  For each side in these sort of civil broils takes the name of honesty
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  for its own. Why, Sir, replied the captain, I am a
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  true blue Protestant, and I thank God for it. It was the first
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  word of any religion I had ever heard from him. But I learned afterwards
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  he was a great church goer while on shore. But for all that,
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  says he, I can be sorry to see another man with his back to
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  the wall, can ye? So? Indeed, asked the Jacobite. Well,
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  sir, to be quite plain with ye. I am one of those
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  honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years forty five and six, And
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  to be still quite plain with ye. If I got into the hands of
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  any of the red coated gentry, it's like it would go hard with me.
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  Now, Sir, I was for France, and there was a French
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  ship cruising here to pick me up, but she gave us to go by
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  and the fog as I wish from the heart that YE had done yourself,
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  and the best that I can say is this, if you can set me
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  ashore where I was going, I have that upon me. We'll reward you
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  highly for your trouble in France, says the captain. No, sir,
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  that I cannot do. But where you come from we might talk o that.
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  And then unhappily he observed me standing in my corner and packed me off
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  to the galley to get supper for the gentleman. I lost no time,
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  I promise you, And when I came back into the round house I found
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  the gentleman had taken a money belt from about his waist and poured out a
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  guinea or two upon the table. The captain was looking at the guineas,
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  and then at the belt, and then at the gentleman's face, and I
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  thought he seemed excited. Half of it, he cried, and I'm your
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  man. The other swept back the guineas into the belt and put it on
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  again under his waistcoat. I have told you, sir, said he that
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  not one doit of it belongs to me. It belongs to my chieftain.
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  And here he touched his hat. And while I would be but a silly
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  messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come safe. I should
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  show myself a hound. Indeed, if I bought my own carcass any to
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  deer thirty guineas on the sea side, or sixty if YO set me on
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  the Lineloch, take it if you will. If not, ye can do
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  your worst, I said hot Seasan. And if I give you over to
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  the soldiers, you would make a fool's pargain, said the other. My
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  chief, let me tell you, sir, is forfeited, like every honest
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  man in Scotland. His estates is in the hands of the man they call
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  King George, and it is his officers that collects the rents, or try
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  to collect them. But for the honor of Scotland, the poor tenant bodies
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  take a thought upon their chief lying in exile, and this money is a
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  part of that very rent for which King George is looking. Now, sir,
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  you seem to me to be a man that understands things. Bring this
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  money within the reach of government, and how much of it'll come to you?
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  Little enough, to be sure, said hose Eson. And then if
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  they knew, he added dryly. But I think if I was to try
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  that, I could hold my tongue about it. Ah, but I'll begaut
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  you there, cried the gentleman. Play me false, and I'll play you
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  cunning. If a hand is laid upon me, they shall ken what money
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  it is, well, returned the captain, that must be mussed sixty guineas,
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  and done, here's my hand upon it, and here's mine, said
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  the other. And thereupon the captain went out rather hurriedly, I thought,
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  and left me alone in the round house with the stranger. At that period,
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  so soon after the forty five, there were many exiled gentlemen coming back
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  at the peril of their lives, either to see their friends or to collect
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  a little money. And as for the highland chiefs that had been forfeited,
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  it was a common matter of talk how their tenants would stint themselves to send
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  them money, and their clansmen outfaced the soldiery to get it in and run
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  the gauntlet of our great navy to carry it across. All this I had,
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  of course heard tell of. And now I had a man under my
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  eyes whose life was forfeit on all these counts, and upon one more.
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  For he was not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but he
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  had taken service with King Louis of France, and as if all this were
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  not enough, he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins.
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  Whatever my opinions, I could not look on such a man without a lively
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  interest. And so you're a jacobite, said I, as I set meat
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  before him. Aye, said he beginning to eat. And you, by
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  your long fe face, should be a wig. Betwix stem between, said
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  I, not to annoy him, but for indeed I was as good a
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  wig as mister Campbell could make me. And that's nothing, said he.
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  But I'm saying, mister betwixt diem between. He added, this bottle of
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  yours is dry, and it's hard if I'm to pay sixty guineas and be
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  grudged a dram upon the back of it. I'll go and ask for the
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  key, said I, and stepped on deck. The fog was as close
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  as ever, but the swell almost down. They had laid the brig to,
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  not knowing precisely where they were, and the wind, what little there
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  was of it, not serving well for their true course. Some of the
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  hands were still hearkening for breakers, but the captain and the two officers were
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  in the waist with their heads together. It struck me, I don't know
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  why, that they were after no good. And the first word I heard
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  as I drew softly near more than confirmed me. It was mister Riach,
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  crying out, as if upon the sudden thought, couldn't we wile him out
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  of the roundhouse. He's better where he is, returned hose Saesan. He
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  hasn't room to use his sword. Well, that's true, said Riach.
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  But he's hard to come at. But said hose Season, we can get
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  the man in talk one upon each side and pinn him by the two arms.
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  Or if that'll not hold, sir, we can make a run by
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  both the doors and get him under hand before he has the time to draw.
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  At this hearing, I was seized with both fear and anger at these
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  treacherous, greedy, bloody men that I sailed with. My first mind was
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  to run away. My second was bolder. Captain said I, the gentleman
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  is seeking a dram and the bottles out. Will you give me the key?
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  They all started and turned about. Why here's our chance to get the
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  fire arms, Riach cried, and then to me, hark ye, David,
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  he said, do you can where the pistols are? Ay? Ay?
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  Put in host season David Ken's. David's a good lad, you see,
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  David my Man jan Wild Highlandmann is a danger to the ship, besides
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  being a rank foe to King George, God bless him. I had never
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  been so be davided since I came on board. But I said, yes,
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  as if all I heard were quite natural. The trouble is resumed the
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  Captain that all our firelocks, great and little are in the roundhouse under this
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  man's nose. Likewise the powder. Now, if I or one of the
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  officers was to go in and take them, he would fall to thinking.
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  But a lad like you, David, might snap up a horn and a
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  pistol or two without remark. And if you can do it cleverly, I'll
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  bear it in mind when it'll be good for you to have friends. And
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  that's when we come to Carolina. Here, mister Riach whispered him. A
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  little very right, sir, said the captain. And then to myself.
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  And see here, David yon Man has a beltful of gold, and I
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  give you my word that you shall have your fingers in it. I told
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  him I would do as he wished, though indeed I had scarce breath to
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  speak with, And upon that he gave me the key of the spirit locker,
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  and I began to go slowly back to the roundhouse. What was I
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  to do? They were dogs and thieves. They had stolen me from my
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  own country, they had killed Poort ransom, and was I to hold the
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  candle to another murder? But then, on the other hand, there was
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  the fear of death very plain before me. For what could a boy and
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  a man if they were as brave as lions against a whole ship's company.
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  I was still arguing it back and forth and getting no great clearness when I
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  came into the roundhouse and saw the Jacob eating his supper under the lamp.
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  And at that my mind was made up all in a moment. I have
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  no credit by it. It was by no choice of mine, but as
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  if by compulsion that I walked right up to the table and put my hand
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  on his shoulder. Do you want to be killed? Said I? He
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  sprang to his feet and looked a question at me, as clear as if
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  he had spoken. Oh, cried I. They're all murderers here. It's
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  a ship full of them. They've murdered a boy already. Now it's you,
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  I ay, said he. But they haven't got me yet, And
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  then, looking at me curiously, Will ye stand with me? That?
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  Will? I? Said? I? I am no thief, nor yet
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  murderer. I'll stand by you. Why, then said he? What's your
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  name? David Balfour, said I, And then, thinking that a man
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  with so fine a coat must like find peace people, I added, for
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  the first time of shaws it ever occurred to him to doubt me, For
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  a highlander is used to see great gentlefolk in great poverty. But as he
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  had no estate of his own, my words nettled a very childish vanity he
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  had. My name is Stuart, he said, drawing himself up alan breck.
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  They call me the King's name is good enough for me, though I
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  bear it plain. And how the name of no farm midden to clap to
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  the hind end of it. And having administered this rebuke as though it were
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  something of a chief importance, he turned to examine our defenses. The roundhouse
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  was built very strong to support the breaching of the seas. Of its five
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  apertures, only the skylight and the two doors were large enough for the passage
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  of a man. The doors, besides, could be drawn close. They
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  were of stout oak and ran in grooves, and were fitted with hooks to
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  keep them either shut or open. As then arose the one that was already
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  shut, I secured in this fashion. But when I was proceeding to slide
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  too, the other Alan stopped me. David said he, for I cannot
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  bring to mind the name of your landed estate, and so will make so
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  bold as to call you David. That door being open is the best part
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  of my defenses. It would be yet better shut, says I. Not
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  so, David, says he. You see I have but one face.
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  But so long as that door is open, and my face to it,
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  the best part of my enemies will be in front of me, where I
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  would I wish to find them. Then he gave me from the rack a
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  cutlass, of which there were a few besides the firearms, choosing it with
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  great care, shaking his head and saying he had never in all his life
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  seen poorer weapons. And next he set me down to the table with a
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  powder horn, a bag of bullets, and all the pistols, which he
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  bade me charge. That will be better work. Let me tell you,
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  said he, for a gentleman of decent birth, than scraping plates and raxing
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  drums to a ween terry sailors. Thereupon he stood up in the midst,
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  with his face to the door, and drawing his great sword, made trial
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  of the room. He had to wield it in. I must stick to
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  the point, he said, shaking his head. And that's a pity too,
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  it doesn't set my genius, which is all for the upper guard.
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  And now said he, do you keep on charging the pistols and give heed
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  to me? I told him I would listen closely. My chest was tight,
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  my mouth dry, the light dark to my eyes, and the thought
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  of the numbers that were soon to leap in upon us kept my heart in
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  a flutter. And the sea, which I heard washing round the brig and
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  where I thought my dead body would be cast ere morning, ran in my
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  mind strangely. First of all, said he, how many are against us?
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  I reckon them up? And such was the hurry of my mind.
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  I had to cast the numbers twice fifteen, said I Alan whistled. Whew
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  well, said he that can't be cured. And now follow me. It
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  is my part to keep this door where I look for the main battle.
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  In that you have no hand and mind and identifire to this side unless they
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  get me down. For I would rather have ten foes in front of me
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  than one friend like you, cracking pistols at my back. I told him.
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  Indeed, I was no great shot. And that's very bravely, said
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  he cried, in a great admiration of my candor. There's many a pretty
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  gentleman that wouldn't dare to say it. But then, sir, said I.
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  There is the door behind you, which they may perhaps break in,
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  Aye, said he, And that is the part of your work. No
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  sooner the pistols chock charged, then you must climb up into yon bed where
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  you handy at the window, and if they lift hand against the door,
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  you're to shoot. But that's not all. Let's make a bit of a
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  soldier of you, David. What else have you to guard? There's the
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  skylight, said I. But indeed, mister Stewart, I would need to
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  have eyes upon both sides to keep the two of them, for when my
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  face is at the one, my back is to the other. And that's
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  very true, said Alan. But have you no ears to your head to
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  be sure, cried I I must hear the bursting of the glass. You
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  have some rudiments of sense, said Alan grimly, end of chapter