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

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Speaker 1: The quarrel, Alan and I were put across Loch Eracht
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Speaker 1: under cloud of night, and went down its eastern shore
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Speaker 1: to another hiding place, near the head of Loch Rannach,
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Speaker 1: whither we were led by one of the Gillies from
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Speaker 1: the cage. This fellow carried all our luggage and Alan's
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Speaker 1: greatcoat in the bargain, trotting along under the burthen, far
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Speaker 1: less than the half of which used to weigh me
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Speaker 1: to the ground like a stout hill pony with a feather.
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Speaker 1: Yet he was a man that, in plain contest I
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Speaker 1: could have broken on my knee. Doubtless it was a
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Speaker 1: great relief to walk disencumbered, And perhaps without that relief
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Speaker 1: and the consequent sense of liberty and lightness, I could
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Speaker 1: not have walked at all. I was but new, risen
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Speaker 1: from a bed of sickness, and there was nothing in
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Speaker 1: the state of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion,
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Speaker 1: Traveling as we did over the most dismal deserts in Scotland,
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Speaker 1: under a cloudy heaven, and with divided hearts among the travelers,
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Speaker 1: for long we said nothing, marching alongside or one behind
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Speaker 1: the other, each with a set countenance I angry and proud,
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Speaker 1: and drawing what strength I had from these two violent
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Speaker 1: and sinful feelings, Allan angry and ashamed, ashamed that he
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Speaker 1: had lost my money, angry that I should take it
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Speaker 1: so ill the thought of a separation ran always the
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Speaker 1: stronger in my mind, and the more I approved of it,
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Speaker 1: the more ashamed I grew of my approval. It would
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Speaker 1: be a fine, handsome, generous thing. Indeed, for Allan to
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Speaker 1: turn round and say to me, go, I am in
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Speaker 1: the most danger, and my company only increases yours. But
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Speaker 1: for me to turn to the friend who certainly loved me,
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Speaker 1: and say to him, you are in great danger. I
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Speaker 1: am in but little your friendship is a burden. Go
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Speaker 1: take your risks and bear your hardships alone. No, that
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Speaker 1: was impossible, and even to think of it privily to
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Speaker 1: myself made my cheeks to burn. And yet Allan had
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Speaker 1: behaved like a child, And what is worse, a treacherous
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Speaker 1: child wheedling my money from me while I lay half
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Speaker 1: conscious was scarce better than theft. And yet here he was,
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Speaker 1: trudging by my side without a penny to his name,
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Speaker 1: and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge
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Speaker 1: upon the money he had driven me to beg true,
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Speaker 1: I was ready to share it with him, but it
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Speaker 1: made me rage to see him count upon my readiness.
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Speaker 1: These were the two things uppermost in my mind, and
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Speaker 1: I could open my mouth upon neither without black ungenerosity.
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Speaker 1: So I did the next worst and said nothing, nor
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Speaker 1: so much as looked once at my companion, save with
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Speaker 1: the tail of my eye. At last, upon the other
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Speaker 1: side of Loch Ehrocht, going over a smooth, rushy place
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Speaker 1: where the walking was easy, he could bear it no
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Speaker 1: longer and came close to me. David says he. This
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Speaker 1: is no way for two friends to take a small accident.
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Speaker 1: I have to say that I'm sorry, and so that's said.
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Speaker 1: And now if you have anything, you'd better say it, Oh,
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Speaker 1: says I. I have nothing. He seemed disconcerted, at which
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Speaker 1: I was meanly pleased. No, said he with rather a
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Speaker 1: trembling voice. But when I say I was to blame,
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Speaker 1: why of course you were to blame, said I coolly.
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Speaker 1: And you will bear me out that I have never
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Speaker 1: reproached you never, says he. But you can very well
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Speaker 1: that you've done worse. Are we to part? You said
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Speaker 1: so once before? Are ye to say it again. There's
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Speaker 1: hills and heather enough between here and the two seas, David,
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Speaker 1: and I will own I'm no very keen to stay
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Speaker 1: where I'm no wanted. This pierced me like a lord
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Speaker 1: and seemed to lay bare my private disloyalty, Alan Breck,
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Speaker 1: I cried, And then do you think I am one
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Speaker 1: to turn my back on you and your chief? Need
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Speaker 1: you durstn't say it to my face. My whole conduct's
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Speaker 1: there to give the lie to it. It's true I
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Speaker 1: fell asleep upon the mirror, but that was from weariness,
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Speaker 1: and you do wrong to cast it up to me,
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Speaker 1: which is what I never did, said Alan. But aside
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Speaker 1: from that, I continued, what have I done that you
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Speaker 1: should even meet at dogs by such a supposition? I
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Speaker 1: never yet failed a friend, and it's not likely i'll
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Speaker 1: begin with you. There are things between us that I
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Speaker 1: can never forget, even if you can. I will only
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Speaker 1: say this to you, David said Allan, very quietly, that
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Speaker 1: I have long been owing you my life, and now
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Speaker 1: I owe you money. You should try to make that
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Speaker 1: burden light for me. This ought to touched me, and
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Speaker 1: in the manner it did, but the wrong manner. I
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Speaker 1: felt I was behaving badly, and was now not only
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Speaker 1: angry with Alan, but angry with myself and the bargain.
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Speaker 1: And it made me the more cruel. You asked me
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Speaker 1: to speak, said I, well, then, I will you own
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Speaker 1: yourself that you have done me a disservice. I have
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Speaker 1: had to swallow an affront. I have never reproached you.
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Speaker 1: I never named the thing till you did, and now
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Speaker 1: you blame me, cried I, because I cannot laugh and
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Speaker 1: sing as if I were glad to be affronted. The
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Speaker 1: next thing will be that I am to go down
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Speaker 1: upon my knees and thank you for it. You should
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Speaker 1: think more of others, Alan Brick. If you thought more
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Speaker 1: of others, you would perhaps speak less about yourself. And
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Speaker 1: when a friend that likes you very well has passed
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Speaker 1: over an offense without a word, you would be blithe
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Speaker 1: to let it lie instead of making it a stick
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Speaker 1: to break his back with. By your own way of it,
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Speaker 1: it was you that was to blame. Then it shouldn't
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Speaker 1: it be you to seek the quarrel a wi you said, Allan,
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Speaker 1: say no mare, and we fell back into our former
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Speaker 1: silence and came to our journey's end. And supped and
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Speaker 1: lay down to sleep without another word. The Gillie put
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Speaker 1: us across Loch Rennach in the dusk of the next
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Speaker 1: day and gave us his opinion as to our best route.
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Speaker 1: This was to get us up at once into the
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Speaker 1: tops of the mountains, to go round by a circuit,
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Speaker 1: turning the heads of Glen Lyon, Glen Lockey and Glen Dochart,
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Speaker 1: and come down upon the lowlands by Kippen and the
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Speaker 1: upper waters of the Fourth. Alan was little pleased with
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Speaker 1: a route which led us through the country of his
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Speaker 1: blood foes at Glenorchy Campbell's. He objected that by turning
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Speaker 1: to the east we should come almost at once among
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Speaker 1: the athol Stuarts, a race of his own name and lineage,
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Speaker 1: although following a different chief, and come beside by a
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Speaker 1: far easier and swifter way to the place whither we
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Speaker 1: were bound. But the Gilly, who was indeed the chief
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Speaker 1: man of Clooney's scouts, had good reasons to give him
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Speaker 1: on all hands, naming the force of troops in every district,
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Speaker 1: and alleging, finally, as well as I could understand that
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Speaker 1: we should nowhere be so little troubled as in a
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Speaker 1: country of the Campbells. Allan gave way at last, but
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Speaker 1: with only half a heart. It's one of the dowiest
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Speaker 1: countries in Scotland, said he. There's nothing there that I
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Speaker 1: can but heath and crows and Campbell's. But I see
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Speaker 1: that you're a man of some penetration, and be it
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Speaker 1: as you please. We set forth accordingly by this itinerary,
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Speaker 1: and for the best part of three knights traveled on
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Speaker 1: eerie mountains and among the well heads of wild rivers,
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Speaker 1: often buried in mist, almost continually blown and rained upon,
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Speaker 1: and not once cheered by any glimpse of sunshine. By
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Speaker 1: day we lay in, slept in the drenching heather. By
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Speaker 1: night incessantly clambered upon breakneck hills and among rude crags.
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Speaker 1: We often wandered. We were often so involved in fog
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Speaker 1: that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A fire
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Speaker 1: was never to be thought of. Our only food was
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Speaker 1: drummach and a portion of cold meat that we had
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Speaker 1: carried from the cage. And as for drink, heaven knows
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Speaker 1: we had no want of water. This was a dreadful time,
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Speaker 1: rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the weather,
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Speaker 1: and the country. I was never warm, my teeth chattered
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Speaker 1: in my head, I was troubled with a very sore throat,
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Speaker 1: such as I had on the aisle. I had a
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Speaker 1: painful stitch in my side which never left me. And
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Speaker 1: when I slept in my wet bed, with the rain
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Speaker 1: beating above and the mood oozing below me, it was
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Speaker 1: to live over again in fancy, the worst part of
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Speaker 1: my adventures, to see the tower of shawls lit by lightning,
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Speaker 1: ransom carried below on them, the men's backs chuon dying
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Speaker 1: on the round house floor, or Colling Campbell grasping at
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Speaker 1: the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers, I
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Speaker 1: would be aroused in the gloaming to sit up in
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Speaker 1: the same puddle where I had slept, and sup cold,
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Speaker 1: dramac the rain driving sharp in my face, or running
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Speaker 1: down my back in icy trickles, the mist enfolding us
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Speaker 1: like as in a gloomy chamber. Or perhaps if the
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Speaker 1: wind blew, falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf
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Speaker 1: of some dark valley where the streams were crying aloud.
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Speaker 1: The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up
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Speaker 1: from all around. In this steady rain. The springs of
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Speaker 1: the mountains were broken up. Every glen gushed water like
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Speaker 1: a cistern. Every stream was in high spate, and had
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Speaker 1: filled and overflowed its channel. During our night tramps, it
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Speaker 1: was solemn to hear the voice of them below in
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Speaker 1: the valleys, now booming like thunder, now with an angry cry.
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Speaker 1: I could well understand the story of the water Kelpie,
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Speaker 1: that demon of the streams, who was fabled to keep
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Speaker 1: wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of
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Speaker 1: the doomed traveler. Allan I saw believed it, or half
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Speaker 1: believed it, And when the cry of the river rose
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Speaker 1: more than usually sharp, I was little surprised, though of
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Speaker 1: course I could still be shocked to see him cross
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Speaker 1: himself in the manner of the Catholics. During all these
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Speaker 1: horrid wanderings we had no familiarity, scarcely even that of speech.
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Speaker 1: The truth is that I was sickening for my grave,
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Speaker 1: which is my best excuse. But besides that, I was
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Speaker 1: of an unforgiving disposition from my birth, slow to take offense,
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Speaker 1: slower to forget it, and now incensed both against my
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Speaker 1: companion and myself. For the best part of two days,
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Speaker 1: he was unweariedly, kind, silent indeed, but always ready to help,
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Speaker 1: and always hoping, as I could very well see that
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Speaker 1: my displeasure would blow by. For the same length of
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Speaker 1: time I stayed in myself, nursing my anger, roughly refusing
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Speaker 1: his services and passing him over with my eyes as
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Speaker 1: if he had been a bush or a stone. The
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Speaker 1: second night, or rather the peep of the third day,
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Speaker 1: found us upon a very open hill, so that we
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Speaker 1: could not follow our usual plan and lie down immediately
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Speaker 1: to eat and sleep. Before we had reached a place
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Speaker 1: of shelter, the gray had come pretty clear, but though
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Speaker 1: it still rained, the clouds ran higher, and Alan, looking
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Speaker 1: in my face, showed some marks of concern. You had
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Speaker 1: better let me take your pack, said he, for perhaps
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Speaker 1: the ninth time since we had parted from the scout
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Speaker 1: beside Loch Rannoch. I do very well, I thank you,
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Speaker 1: said I, as cold as ice. Alan flushed darkly. I'll
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Speaker 1: not offer it again, he said, I'm not a patient man, David.
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Speaker 1: I never said you were, said I, which was exactly
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Speaker 1: the rude, silly speech of a boy of ten. Alan
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Speaker 1: made no answer at the time, but his conduct answered
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Speaker 1: for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought he quite
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Speaker 1: forgave himself for the affair at Cloonies, cocked his hat again,
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Speaker 1: walked jauntily, whistled airs, and looked at me upon one
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Speaker 1: side with a provoking smile. The third night we were
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Speaker 1: to pass through the western end of the country of Balcahitter.
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Speaker 1: It came clear and cold, with a touch in the
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Speaker 1: air like frost, and a northerly wind that blew the
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Speaker 1: clouds away and made the stars bright. The streams were full,
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Speaker 1: of course, and still made a great noise among the hills.
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Speaker 1: But I observed that Alan thought no more upon the kelpie,
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Speaker 1: and was in high good spirits. As for me, the
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Speaker 1: change of weather came too late. I had lain in
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Speaker 1: the mire so long that, as the Bible has it,
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Speaker 1: my very clothes hadhorred me. I was dead, weary, deadly, sick,
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Speaker 1: and full of pains and shiverings. The chill of the
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Speaker 1: wind went through me, and the sound of it confused
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Speaker 1: my ears. In this poor state, I had to bear
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Speaker 1: from my companion something in the nature of a persecution.
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Speaker 1: He spoke a good deal, and never without a taunt.
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Speaker 1: Whig was the best name he had to give me.
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Speaker 1: Here he would say, here's a dub for you to
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Speaker 1: jump my WIGGI I ken, you're a fine jumper, and
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Speaker 1: so on, all the time with a gibing voice and face.
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Speaker 1: I knew it was my own doing and no one else's,
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Speaker 1: but I was too miserable to repent. I felt I
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Speaker 1: could drag myself but little farther. Pretty soon I must
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Speaker 1: lie down and die on these wet mountains like a
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Speaker 1: sheep or a fox, and my bones must whiten there
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Speaker 1: like the bones of a beast. My head was light, perhaps,
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Speaker 1: but I began to love the prospect. I began to
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Speaker 1: glory in the thought of such a death alone in
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Speaker 1: the desert, with the wild eagles besieging my last moments.
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Speaker 1: Alan would repent, then, I thought he would remember when
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Speaker 1: I was dead how much he owed me, and the
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Speaker 1: remembrance would be torture. So I went like a sick,
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Speaker 1: silly and bad hearted schoolboy, feeding my anger against a
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Speaker 1: fellow man when I would have been better on my knees,
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Speaker 1: crying on God for mercy. And at each of Alan's taunts,
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Speaker 1: I hugged myself. Ah thinks, I to myself, I have
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Speaker 1: a better taunt in readiness when I lie down and die.
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Speaker 1: You will feel it like a buffet in your face.
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Speaker 1: Ah what a revenge, Ah, how you will regret your
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Speaker 1: ingratitude and cruelty. All the while I was growing worse
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Speaker 1: and worse. Once I had fallen my legs simply doubling
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Speaker 1: under me, and this had struck Alan for the moment.
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Speaker 1: But I was afoot so briskly, and set off again
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Speaker 1: with such a natural manner that he soon forgot the incident.
15:04
Speaker 1: Flushes of heat went over me, and then spasms of shuddering.
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Speaker 1: The stitch in my side was hardly bearable. At last,
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Speaker 1: I began to feel that I could trail myself no farther.
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Speaker 1: And with that there came on me all at once
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Speaker 1: that wished to have it out with Alan, let my
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Speaker 1: anger blaze, and be done with my life. In a
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Speaker 1: more sudden manner, he had just called me whig. I stopped.
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Speaker 1: Mister Stewart, said I, in a voice that quivered like
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Speaker 1: a fiddle string. You are older than I am and
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Speaker 1: should know your manners. Do you think it either very
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Speaker 1: wise or very witty to cast my politics and my teeth?
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Speaker 1: I thought, where folk differed, it was the part of
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Speaker 1: gentlemen to differ civilly, and if I did not, I
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Speaker 1: may tell you I could find a better talk than
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Speaker 1: some of yours. Alan had stopped opposite to me, his
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Speaker 1: hat cot, his hands in his breeches, pockets, his head
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Speaker 1: a little on one side. He listened, smiling evilly as
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Speaker 1: I could see by the starlight. And when I had done,
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Speaker 1: he began to whistle at jacobite air. It was the
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Speaker 1: air made in mockery of General Cope's defeat at Preston
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Speaker 1: pans Hey, Johnny Cope, are you walking yet? And are
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Speaker 1: your drums a beaten yet? And it came in my
16:26
Speaker 1: mind that Alan, on the day of that battle, had
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Speaker 1: been engaged upon the royal side. Why do you take
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Speaker 1: that air, mister Stewart said, I is it to remind
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Speaker 1: me you have been beaten on both sides. The air
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Speaker 1: stopped on Alan's lips. David said he but it's time
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Speaker 1: these manners ceased, I continued, and I mean you shall
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Speaker 1: henceforth speak civilly of my king and my good friends
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Speaker 1: the Campbells. I am a Stewart began Alan Oh said,
17:00
Speaker 1: I can you bear a king's name? But you are
17:03
Speaker 1: to remember, since I have been in the highlands. I've
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Speaker 1: seen a good many of those that bear it, and
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Speaker 1: the best I can say of them is this, that
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Speaker 1: they would be none the worse of washing. Do you
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Speaker 1: know that you insult me? Said Alan very low. I'm
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Speaker 1: sorry for that, said I, for I am not done.
17:25
Speaker 1: And if you distaste the sermon, I doubt the pearl
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Speaker 1: cue will please you. As little you have been chased
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Speaker 1: in the field by the grown men of my party,
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Speaker 1: it seems a poor kind of pleasure to outface a boy.
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Speaker 1: Both the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten you. You
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Speaker 1: have run before them like a hare. It behooves you
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Speaker 1: to speak of them as of your betters. Alan stood
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Speaker 1: quite still, the tails of his greatcoat clapping behind him
17:52
Speaker 1: in the wind. This is a pity, he said, at last.
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Speaker 1: There are things said that cannot be passed over. I
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Speaker 1: never asked you to, said I. I am as ready
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Speaker 1: as yourself. Ready, said he ready, I repeated, I am
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Speaker 1: no blower and boaster like some that I could name.
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Speaker 1: Come on, and drawing my sword. I fell on guard,
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Speaker 1: as Allan himself had taught me. David, he cried, are
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Speaker 1: you daft? I cannot draw upon you, David, It's fair murder.
18:29
Speaker 1: That was your look out when you insulted me, said I.
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Speaker 1: It's the truth, cried Alan, and he stood for a moment,
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Speaker 1: wringing his mouth in his hand like a man in
18:39
Speaker 1: sore perplexity. It's the bare truth, he said, and drew
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Speaker 1: his sword. But before I could touch his blade with mine,
18:48
Speaker 1: he had thrown it from him and fallen to the ground.
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Speaker 1: Nah nah, he kept saying, nah Na, I cannot, I cannot.
18:58
Speaker 1: At this The last of my anger oozed all out
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Speaker 1: of me, and I found myself only sick and sorry
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Speaker 1: and blank and wondering at myself. I would have given
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Speaker 1: the world to take back what I had said, But
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Speaker 1: a word, once spoken, who can recapture it. I minded
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Speaker 1: me of all Allan's kindness and courage in the past,
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Speaker 1: how he had helped and cheered and borne with me
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Speaker 1: in our evil days, and then recalled my own insults,
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Speaker 1: and saw that I had lost for ever that doughty friend.
19:30
Speaker 1: At the same time, the sickness that hung upon me
19:33
Speaker 1: seemed to redouble, and the pang in my side was
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Speaker 1: like a sword for sharpness. I thought I must have
19:38
Speaker 1: swooned where I stood. This it was that gave me
19:43
Speaker 1: a thought No apology could blot out what I had said.
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Speaker 1: It was needless to think of one. None could cover
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Speaker 1: the offense. But where an apology was vain, a mere
19:54
Speaker 1: cry for help might bring Alan back to my side.
19:57
Speaker 1: I put my pride away from me, Allan, I said,
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Speaker 1: if you cannot help me, I must just die here.
20:07
Speaker 1: He started up, sitting and looked at me. It's true,
20:12
Speaker 1: said I I'm by with it. Oh, let me get
20:16
Speaker 1: into the build of a house. I can die there easier.
20:21
Speaker 1: I had no need to pretend whether I chose or not.
20:24
Speaker 1: I spoke in a weeping voice that would have melted
20:27
Speaker 1: a heart of stone. And Yo walk asked Allan. No,
20:33
Speaker 1: said I not without help this last hour, my legs
20:37
Speaker 1: have been fainting under me. I've a stitch in my
20:40
Speaker 1: side like a red hot iron. I cannot breathe right
20:44
Speaker 1: if I die, Ye'll can forgive me Allan. In my heart,
20:49
Speaker 1: I liked Yo fine, even when I was the angriest wisht. Wisht,
20:55
Speaker 1: cried Allan. Dna say that David many can he shut
20:59
Speaker 1: his mouth upon a sob Let me get my arm
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Speaker 1: about you. He continued, that's the way. Now lean upon me,
21:07
Speaker 1: hard good kens where there's a house. We're in bald
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Speaker 1: wider too. That should be no one of houses, no
21:15
Speaker 1: nor friend's houses here? Do you gang easier? So Davy?
21:19
Speaker 1: I said, I I can be doing this way. I
21:24
Speaker 1: pressed his arm with my hand again. He came near sobbing.
21:29
Speaker 1: Davy said he I'm no a right man at all.
21:33
Speaker 1: I have neither sense nor kindness. I couldn't I remember
21:37
Speaker 1: you were just a barn. I couldn't see you were
21:39
Speaker 1: dying on your feet. Davy, you have to try and
21:42
Speaker 1: forgive me. Oh man, let's say no more about it,
21:48
Speaker 1: said I. We're neither one of us to mend the other.
21:51
Speaker 1: That's the truth. We must just bear and forbear. Man Allen, Oh,
21:57
Speaker 1: but my stitch is sore. Is there no house? I'll
22:02
Speaker 1: find a house to ya, David, he said stoutly. We'll
22:06
Speaker 1: follow down the burn where there's bound to be houses.
22:09
Speaker 1: My poor men, will you know? Be better on my back? Oh, Allan,
22:14
Speaker 1: says I, and me a good twelve inches taller. You're
22:18
Speaker 1: no such thing, cried Alan, with a start. There may
22:22
Speaker 1: be a trifling matter of an inch or two. I'm
22:24
Speaker 1: not saying. I'm just exactly what you would call a
22:27
Speaker 1: tall man. Whatever, And I daresay, he added, his voice
22:31
Speaker 1: tailing off in a laughable manner. Now, when I come
22:35
Speaker 1: to think of it, I dare say, you'll be just
22:37
Speaker 1: about right. I it'll be a foot, or near hand,
22:41
Speaker 1: or maybe even mar It was sweet and laughable to
22:45
Speaker 1: hear Alan eat his words up in the fear of
22:48
Speaker 1: some fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, had not my
22:51
Speaker 1: stitch caught me so hard. But if I had laughed,
22:54
Speaker 1: I think I must have wept too, Alan cried, I
23:00
Speaker 1: what makes you so good to me? What makes you
23:02
Speaker 1: care for such a thankless fellow? Indeed, and I don't know,
23:07
Speaker 1: said Alan, But just precisely, what I thought I liked
23:10
Speaker 1: about you was that you never quarrel. And now I
23:14
Speaker 1: like you better. End of chapter