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23 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three, Clooney's Cage. We came at last to
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  Speaker 1: the foot of an exceeding steep wood, which scrambled up
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  Speaker 1: a craggy hillside and was crowned by a naked precipice.
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  Speaker 1: It's here, said one of the guides, and we struck
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  Speaker 1: up hill. The trees clung upon the slope like sailors
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  Speaker 1: on the shrouds of a ship, and their trunks were
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  Speaker 1: like the rounds of the ladder by which we mounted.
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  Speaker 1: Quite at the top, and just before the rocky face
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  Speaker 1: of the cliffs sprang above the foliage, we found that
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  Speaker 1: strange house, which was known in the country as Clooney's Cage.
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  Speaker 1: The trunks of several trees had been waddled across the intervals,
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  Speaker 1: strengthened with stakes, and the ground behind this barricade leveled
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  Speaker 1: up with earth to make the floor. A tree which
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  Speaker 1: grew out from the hillside was the living center beam
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  Speaker 1: of the roof. The walls were of wattle and covered
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  Speaker 1: with moss. The whole house had something of an egg
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  Speaker 1: shap ape, and had half hung half stood in that
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  Speaker 1: steep hillside thicket, like a wasp's nest in a green
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  Speaker 1: hawthorn within it was large enough to shelter five or
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  Speaker 1: six persons with some comfort. A projection of the cliff
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  Speaker 1: had been cunningly employed to be the fireplace, and the smoke,
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  Speaker 1: rising against the face of the rock, and being not
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  Speaker 1: dissimilar in color, readily escaped notice from below. This was
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  Speaker 1: but one of Clooney's hiding places. He had caves besides
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  Speaker 1: and underground chambers in several parts of his country, and
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  Speaker 1: following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one
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  Speaker 1: to another as the soldiers drew near or moved away.
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  Speaker 1: By this manner of living, and thanks to the affection
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  Speaker 1: of his clan, he had not only stayed all this
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  Speaker 1: time in safety, while so many others had fled or
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  Speaker 1: been taken and slain, but stayed four or five years longer,
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  Speaker 1: and only went to France at last by the express
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  Speaker 1: command of his master. There he soon died, and it
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  Speaker 1: is strange to reflect that he may have regretted his
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  Speaker 1: cage upon ben Alder. When we came to the door,
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  Speaker 1: he was seated by his rock chimney, watching a gilly
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  Speaker 1: about some cookery. He was mighty plainly habited, with a
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  Speaker 1: knitted nightcap drawn over his ears, and smoked a foul
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  Speaker 1: cutty pipe, for all that he had the manners of
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  Speaker 1: a king, and it was quite a sight to see
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  Speaker 1: him rise out of his place to welcome us. Well,
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  Speaker 1: mister Stewart, come away, sir, said he, and bringing your
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  Speaker 1: friend that as yet I dinnoken the name of. And
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  Speaker 1: how is yourself? Pooney, said Allan. I hope you do brawly, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and I am proud to see you and to present
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  Speaker 1: to ya my friend, the Lord of Shaw's, mister David
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  Speaker 1: Balfour Alan never referred to my estate without a touch
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  Speaker 1: of a sneer when we were alone, But with strangers
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  Speaker 1: he rang the words out like a herald. Step in
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  Speaker 1: by the both of you, gentlemen, says Clooney, I make
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  Speaker 1: you welcome to my house, which is a queer rude place,
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  Speaker 1: for certain, but one where I have entertained a royal personage,
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  Speaker 1: mister Stuart, yet doubtless ken the personage I have in
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  Speaker 1: my eye. We'll take a dram for luck, and as
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  Speaker 1: soon as this handless man of mine has the collops ready,
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  Speaker 1: we'll dine and take a hand at the carts, as
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen should. My life is a bit dry, he says,
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  Speaker 1: he pouring out the brandy. I see little company, and
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  Speaker 1: sit and twirl my thumbs, and mind upon a great
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  Speaker 1: day that is gone by, and weary for another great
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  Speaker 1: day that we all hope will be upon the road.
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  Speaker 1: So here's a toast to ye the restoration. Thereupon we
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  Speaker 1: all touched glasses and drank. I am sure I wished
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  Speaker 1: no ill to King George, And if ye had been
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  Speaker 1: there himself in proper person, it's like he would have
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  Speaker 1: done as I did. No sooner had I taken out
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  Speaker 1: the drain than I felt hugely better, and could look
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  Speaker 1: and listen, still a little mistily, perhaps, but no longer
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  Speaker 1: with the same groundless horror and distress of mind. It
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  Speaker 1: was certainly a strange place, and we had a strange host.
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  Speaker 1: In his long hiding, Clooney had grown to have all
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  Speaker 1: manner of precise habits, like those of an old maid.
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  Speaker 1: He had a particular place where no one else must sit.
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  Speaker 1: The cage was arranged in a particular way which none
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  Speaker 1: must disturb. Cookery was one of his chief fancies, and
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  Speaker 1: even while he was greeting us in, he kept an
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  Speaker 1: eye to the collopse. It appears he sometimes visited or
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  Speaker 1: received visits from his wife and one or two of
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  Speaker 1: his nearest friends under the cover of night, but for
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  Speaker 1: the more part lived quite alone, and communicated only with
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  Speaker 1: his sentinels and the gillies that waited on him in
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  Speaker 1: the cage. The first thing in the morning, one of them,
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  Speaker 1: who was a barber, came and shaved him and gave
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  Speaker 1: him the news of the country, of which he was
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  Speaker 1: immoderately greedy. There was there's no end to his questions.
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  Speaker 1: He put them as earnestly as a child, and at
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  Speaker 1: some of the answers laughed out of all bounds of reason,
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  Speaker 1: and would break out again laughing at the mere memory
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  Speaker 1: hours after the barber was gone. To be sure, there
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  Speaker 1: might have been a purpose in his questions, for though
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  Speaker 1: he was thus sequestered, and like the other landed gentlemen
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  Speaker 1: of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament of
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  Speaker 1: legal powers, he still exercised a patriarchal justice in his clan.
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  Speaker 1: Disputes were brought to him in his hiding hole to
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  Speaker 1: be decided, and the men of his country, who would
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  Speaker 1: have snapped their fingers at the court of Session, laid
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  Speaker 1: aside revenge and paid down money at the bare word
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  Speaker 1: of this, forfeited and hunted outlaw. When he was angered,
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  Speaker 1: which was often enough, he gave his commands and breathed
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  Speaker 1: threats of punishment like any king, and his gillies trembled
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  Speaker 1: and crouched away from him like children before a hasty father.
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  Speaker 1: With each of them. As he entered, he ceremoniously shook hands,
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  Speaker 1: both parties, touching their bonnets at the same time, in
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  Speaker 1: a military manner. Altogether, I had a fair chance to
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  Speaker 1: see some of the inner workings of a highland clan.
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  Speaker 1: And this with a proscribed fugitive chief his country conquered,
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  Speaker 1: the troops riding upon all sides in quest of him,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes within a mile of where he lay, and when
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  Speaker 1: the least of the ragged fellows whom he raided and threatened,
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  Speaker 1: could have made a fortune by betraying him. On that
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  Speaker 1: first day, as soon as the collops were ready, Clooney
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  Speaker 1: gave them with his own hand a squeeze of a lemon,
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  Speaker 1: for he was well supplied with luxuries, and bade us
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  Speaker 1: draw in to our meal, they said, he, meaning the
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  Speaker 1: collops are such as I give His Royal Highness in
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  Speaker 1: this very house, baiting the lemon juice, for at that
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  Speaker 1: time we were glad to get the meat, and never
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  Speaker 1: fashed for kitchen. Indeed, there were more dragoons than lemons
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  Speaker 1: in my country in the year forty. I do not
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  Speaker 1: know if the collops were truly very good, but my
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  Speaker 1: heart rose against the sight of them, and I could
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  Speaker 1: eat but little. All the while Clooney entertained us with
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  Speaker 1: stories of Prince Charlie's stay in the cage, giving us
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  Speaker 1: the very words of the speakers, and rising from his
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  Speaker 1: place to show us where they stood. By these I
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  Speaker 1: gathered the Prince was a gracious, spirited boy, like the
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  Speaker 1: son of a race of polite kings, but not so
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  Speaker 1: wise as Solomon. I gathered too, that while he was
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  Speaker 1: in the cage he was often drunk. So the fault
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  Speaker 1: that has since, by all accounts, made such a wreck
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  Speaker 1: of him had even then begun to show itself. We
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  Speaker 1: were no sooner done eating that Clooney brought out an old, thumbed,
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  Speaker 1: greasy pack of cards, such as you may find in
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  Speaker 1: a mean inn, and his eyes brightened in his face
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  Speaker 1: as he proposed that we should fall to playing. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this was one of the things I had been brought
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  Speaker 1: up to a shoe like to disgrace it being held
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  Speaker 1: by my father. Neither the part of a Christian, nor
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  Speaker 1: yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and
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  Speaker 1: fish for that of others on the cast of painted pasteboard.
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  Speaker 1: To be sure, I might have pleaded my fatigue, which
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  Speaker 1: was excuse enough, but I thought it behooved that I
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  Speaker 1: should bear a testimony. I must have got very red
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  Speaker 1: in the face, But I spoke steadily and told them
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  Speaker 1: I had no call to be a judge of others,
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  Speaker 1: but for my own part it was a matter in
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  Speaker 1: which I had no clearness. Clooney stopped mingling the cards.
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  Speaker 1: What in Derrell's name is this? Says he? What kind
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  Speaker 1: of whiggish canting talk is this? For the house of
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  Speaker 1: Clooney mac Pherson. I will put my hand in the
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  Speaker 1: fire for mister Balfour, says Allan. He is an honest
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  Speaker 1: and a metal gentleman. And I would have you bear
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  Speaker 1: in mine. Who says it I bear a king's name,
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  Speaker 1: says he, cocking his hat. And I and any that
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  Speaker 1: I call friend or company for the best. But the
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  Speaker 1: gentleman is tired and should sleep. He has no mind
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  Speaker 1: to the carts. It will never hinder you and me.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm fit and willing, sir, to play any game
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  Speaker 1: that you can name, Sir, says Cloony. In this poor
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  Speaker 1: house of mine, I would have you to ken that
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  Speaker 1: any gentleman may follow his pleasure. If your friend would
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  Speaker 1: like to stand on his head, he is welcome. And
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  Speaker 1: if either he or you, or any other man is
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  Speaker 1: not precisely satisfied, I would be proud to step outside
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  Speaker 1: with him. I had no will that these two friends
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  Speaker 1: should cut their throats for my sake, Sir said I.
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  Speaker 1: I'm very wearied, as Alan says. And what's more, as
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  Speaker 1: you are a man that likely has sons of your own,
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  Speaker 1: I may tell you it was a promise to my father.
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  Speaker 1: Say no more. Say no more, said Clooney, and pointed
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  Speaker 1: me to a bed of heather in a corner of
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  Speaker 1: the cage. For all all that he was displeased, enough
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  Speaker 1: looked at me askance, and grumbled when he looked. And
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  Speaker 1: indeed it must be owned that both my scruples and
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  Speaker 1: the words in which I declared them smacked somewhat of
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  Speaker 1: the covenanter, and were little in their place among wild
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  Speaker 1: highland Jacobites. What were the brandy and the venison. A
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  Speaker 1: strange heaviness had come over me, and I had scarce
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  Speaker 1: lain down upon the bed before I fell into a
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  Speaker 1: kind of trance in which I continued almost the whole
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  Speaker 1: time of our stay in the cage. Sometimes I was
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  Speaker 1: brought awake and understood what passed. Sometimes I only heard
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  Speaker 1: voices or men snoring, like the voice of a silly river,
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  Speaker 1: and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and swelled
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  Speaker 1: out again like firelight shadows on the roof. I must
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  Speaker 1: sometimes have spoken or cried out, for I remember I
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  Speaker 1: was now and then amazed at being answered. Yet I
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  Speaker 1: was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black,
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  Speaker 1: abiding horror, a horror of the place I was in,
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  Speaker 1: and the bed I lay in, and the plaids on
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  Speaker 1: the wall, and the voices, and the fire, and myself.
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  Speaker 1: The barber Gillee, who was a doctor too, was called
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  Speaker 1: in to prescribe for me, But as he spoke in
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  Speaker 1: the Gaelic, I understood not a word of his opinion,
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  Speaker 1: and was too sick even to ask for a translation.
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  Speaker 1: I knew well enough I was ill, and that was
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  Speaker 1: all I cared about. I paid little heed while I
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  Speaker 1: lay in this poor pass, but Alan and Clooney were
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  Speaker 1: most of the time at the cards, and I am
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  Speaker 1: clear that Allan must have begun by winning, for I
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  Speaker 1: remember sitting up and seeing them hard at it, and
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  Speaker 1: a great glittering pile of as much as sixty or
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  Speaker 1: one hundred guineas on the table. It looked strange enough
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  Speaker 1: to see all this wealth in a nest upon a
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  Speaker 1: cliff side waddled about growing trees, and even then I
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  Speaker 1: thought it seemed deep water for Allan to be riding,
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  Speaker 1: who had no better battle horse than a green purse
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  Speaker 1: and a matter of five pounds. The luck, it seems, changed,
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  Speaker 1: on the second day, about noon, I was wakened as
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  Speaker 1: usual for dinner, and as usual, refused to eat, and
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  Speaker 1: was given a dram with some bitter infusion, which the
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  Speaker 1: barber had prescribed. The sun was shining in at the
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  Speaker 1: open door of the cage, and this dazzled and offended me.
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  Speaker 1: Looney sat at the table biting the pack of cards.
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  Speaker 1: Alan had stooped over the bed and had his face
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  Speaker 1: close to my eyes, to which troubled as they were
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  Speaker 1: with the fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness.
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  Speaker 1: He asked me for a loan of my money. What for,
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  Speaker 1: said I, Oh, just for a loan, said he. But why,
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  Speaker 1: I repeated, I don't see put, David said Alan. You
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't grudge me alone. I would, though, if I'd had
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  Speaker 1: my senses. But all I thought of then was to
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  Speaker 1: get his face away, and I handed him my money.
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  Speaker 1: On the morning of the third day, when we had
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  Speaker 1: been forty eight hours in the cage, I awoke with
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  Speaker 1: a great relief of spirits, very weak and weary indeed,
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  Speaker 1: but seeing things of the right size and with their
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  Speaker 1: honest everyday appearance, I had a mind to eat moreover,
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  Speaker 1: rose from bed of my own movement, and as soon
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  Speaker 1: as we had breakfasted stepped to the entry of the
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  Speaker 1: cage and sat down outside in the top of the wood.
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  Speaker 1: It was a gray day with a cool mild air,
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  Speaker 1: and I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbed
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  Speaker 1: by the passing by of Clooney's scouts and servants coming
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  Speaker 1: with provisions and reports. For as the coast was at
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  Speaker 1: that time clear, he might almost say he held court openly.
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  Speaker 1: When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards
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  Speaker 1: aside and were questioning a Gilly and the chief turned
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  Speaker 1: about and spoke to me in the game glick. I
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  Speaker 1: have no Gaelic, sir, said I. Now, since the card question,
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  Speaker 1: everything I said or did had the power of annoying Clooney.
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  Speaker 1: Your name has more sense than yourself, then, said he angrily.
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  Speaker 1: For it's good Gaelic. But the point is this, my
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  Speaker 1: scout reports all clear in the south, and the question
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  Speaker 1: is have you got the strength to go? I saw
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  Speaker 1: cards on the table, but no gold, only a heap
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  Speaker 1: of little written papers, and these all on Clooney's side. Alan, besides,
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  Speaker 1: had an odd look, like a man not very well content,
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  Speaker 1: and I began to have a strong misgiving. I do
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  Speaker 1: not know if I'm as well as I should be,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: said I, looking at Alan. But the little money we
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  Speaker 1: have has a long way to carry us. Alan took
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  Speaker 1: his underlip into his mouth and looked upon the ground.
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  Speaker 1: David says he last, I've lost it. There's the naked truth.
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  Speaker 1: My money too, said I. Your money too, says Alan,
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  Speaker 1: with a groan. YE shouldna have given it me. I'm
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  Speaker 1: daft when I get to the carts. Hut tut hou tute,
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  Speaker 1: said Clooney. It was all daffing. It's all nonsense. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: you'll have your money back again, and the double of it.
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  Speaker 1: If you'll make so free with me, It would be
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  Speaker 1: a singular thing for me to keep it. It's not
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  Speaker 1: to be supposed that I would be any hindrance to
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen in your situation. That would be a singular thing,
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  Speaker 1: cries he, and began to pull gold out of his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: With a mighty red face. Alan said nothing, only looked
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. Will you step to the door with me, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said I. Clooney said he would be very glad, and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: followed me readily enough. But he looked flustered and put out.
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  Speaker 1: And now, sir says I, I must first acknowledge your generosity.
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  Speaker 1: Nonsensical nonsense, cries Clooney. Where's the generosity? This is just
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  Speaker 1: a most unfortunate affair. But what would you have me do?
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  Speaker 1: Boxed up in this beast skip of a cage of mine?
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  Speaker 1: But just set my friends through the carts? When can
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  Speaker 1: I get them? And if they lose, of course it's
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: not to be supposed. And here he came to a pause. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said I. If they lose, you give them back their money,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and if they win, they carry away yours in their pouches.
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  Speaker 1: I've said before that I grant your generosity. But to me, sir,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it's a very painful thing to be placed in this position.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: There was a little silence in which Clooney seemed always
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: as if he were about to speak, but said nothing.
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  Speaker 1: All the time he grew redder and redder in the face.
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  Speaker 1: I am a young man, said I, and I ask
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  Speaker 1: your advice. Advise me as you would your son. My
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  Speaker 1: friend fairly lost his money after having fairly gained a
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: far greater sum of yours. Can I accept it back again?
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  Speaker 1: Would that be the right part for me to play?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Whatever I do? You can see for yourself it must
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: be hard upon a man of any pride. It's rather
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  Speaker 1: hard on me too, mister Balfour, said Clooney. And you
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: give me very much the look of a man that
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: has entrapped poor people to their hurt. I wouldn't I
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: have my friends come to any house of mind to
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: accept affronts. No, he cried, with a sudden heat of anger,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: nor yet to give them. And so you see, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said I. There is something to be said upon my side.
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  Speaker 1: And this gambling is a very poor employ for gentlefolks.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: But I am still waiting your opinion. I am sure
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: if ever Clooney hated any man, it was David Balfour.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: He looked me all over with a warlike eye, and
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I saw the chance lunge at his lips. But either
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: my youth disarmed him, or perhaps his own sense of justice.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all concerned, and
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: not least Clooney more credit that he took it as
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: he did. Mister Balfour said he, I think you are
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: too nice in covenanting, but for all that you have
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of a very pretty gentleman. Upon my honest word,
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  Speaker 1: you may take this money. It's what I would tell
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  Speaker 1: my son. And here's my hand along with it. End
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  Speaker 1: of chapter