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Kidnapped · Kidnapped

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  Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson breakface to the biographical edition. While my husband and
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  mister Henley were engaged in writing plays in Bournemouth, they made a number of
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  titles, hoping to use them in the future. Dramatic composition was not what
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  my husband preferred, but the torrent of mister Henley's enthusiasm swept him off his
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  feet. However, after several plays had been finished, and his health seriously
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  impaired by his endeavors to keep up with mister Henley, playwriting was abandoned forever,
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  and my husband returned to his legitimate vocation. Having added one of the
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  titles, The Hanging Judge, to the list of projected plays now thrown aside,
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  and emboldened by my husband's offer to give me any help needed, I
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  concluded to try and write it myself, as it wanted a trial scene in
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  the Old Bailey. I chose the period of seventeen hundred for my purpose,
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  but, being shit aimfully ignorant of my subject, and my husband confessing to
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  little more knowledge than I possessed, a London bookseller was commissioned to send us
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  everything he could procure, bearing on Old Bailey, trials. A great package
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  came in response to our order, and very soon we were both absorbed,
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  not so much in the trials as in following the brilliant career of a mister
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  Garrow, who appeared as counsel in many of the cases. We sent for
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  more books, and yet more, still intent on mister Garrow, whose subtle
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  cross examination of witnesses and masterly, if sometimes startling methods of arriving at the
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  truth seemed more thrilling to us than any novel. Occasionally, other trials than
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  those in the Old Bailey would be included in the package of books we received
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  from London. Among these my husband found and read with avidity, the trial
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  of James Stewart in o'carne en, Durer of Eppin for the murder of Colin
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  Campbell of Glenn or e f q Factor for his majesty on the forfeited estate
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  of Ardfield. My husband was always interested in this period of his country's history,
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  and had already the intention of writing a story that should turn on the
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  Appen murder. The tale was to be of a boy, David Balfour,
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  supposed to belong to my husband's own family, who should travel in Scotland as
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  though it were a foreign country, meeting with various adventures and misadventures. By
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  the way, from the trial of James Stewart, my husband gleaned much valuable
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  material for his novel, the most important being the character of Alan Breck.
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  Aside from having described him as smallish in stature, my husband seems to have
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  taken Alan Breck's personal appearance, even to his clothing from the book. A
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  letter from James Stewart to mister John McFarlane introduced his evidence in the trial,
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  says, there is one Alan Stewart, a distant friend of the late Art
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  deals, who is in the French service, and came over in March last
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  as he said to some in order to settle at home, to others that
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  he was to go soon back, and was, as I hear, the
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  day that the murder was committed, seen not far from the place where it
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  happened, and is not now to be seen, by which it is believed
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  he was the actor. He is a desperate, foolish fellow, and if
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  he is guilty, came to the country for that very purpose. He is
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  a tall, hawk pitted lad, very black hair, and wore a blue
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  coat and metal buttons, an old red vest, and breeches of the same
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  color. A second witness testified to having seen him wearing a blue coat with
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  silver buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breeches, tartan hose, and
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  a feathered hat with a big coat dun colored, a costume referred to by
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  one of the council as wrench clothes, which were remarkable. There are many
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  incidents given in the trial that point to Allan's fiery spirit highland quickness to take
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  offense. One witness declared also that the said Alan Brick threatened that he would
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  challenge Bally Violin and his sons to fight because of his removing the declarant last
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  year from Glendura. On another page, Duncan Campbell change keeper at Annett,
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  aged thirty five years married. Witness sighted sworn purged and examined atsupro de pones
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  that in the month of April last the opponent met with Alan breck Stewart,
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  with whom he was not acquainted, and John Stuart in Ochnachuan in the house
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  of the walk miller of Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house.
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  Alan breck Stewart said that he hated all the name of Campbell, and
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  the opponent said he had no reason for doing so, but Alan said he
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  had very good reason for that. Thereafter they left that house, and after
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  drinking a dram at another house, came to the deponent's house, where they
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  went in and drunk some DRAMs, and Alan Breck renewed the former conversation,
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  and the opponent making the same answer. Alan said that if the deponent had
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  any respect for his friends, he would tell them that if they offered to
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  turn out the possessors of Ardheel's estate, he would make black cocks of them
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  before they entered into possession, by which the deponent understood shooting them, it
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  being a common phrase in the country. Some time after the publication of Kidnapped,
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  we stopped for a short while in the Appen country, where we were
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  surprised and interested to discover that the feeling concerning the murder of Glennyeur the Red
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  Fox, also called Colin Roy, was almost as keen as though the tragedy
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  had taken place the day before. For several years my husband received letters of
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  expostulation or commendation from members of the Campbell and Stuart clans, I have in
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  my possession of paper yellow with age that was sent soon after the novel appeared,
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  containing the pedigree of the family of Appine, wherein it is said that
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  Alan, third Baron of Appine, was not killed at Flowdone though there,
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  but lived to a great old age. He married a Cameron, daughter to
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  Ewen mccameron of Bochiel, following this as a paragraph stating that John Stuart,
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  first of ardsheel of his descendants Alan Breck, had better be omitted Duncan Bain
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  Stuart in Achonderach. His father was a bastard. One day, while my
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  husband was busily at work, I sat beside him reading an old cookery book
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  called The Complete Housewife, an accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion. In the midst of receipts
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  for rabbits and chickens, mumbled nickeled samphire skirt, pye, maked tansy and
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  other forgotten delicacies, there were directions for the preparation of several lotions for the
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  preservation of beauty. One of these was so charming that I interrupted my husband
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  to read it aloud. Just what I wanted, he exclaimed, And the
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  receipt for the lily of the valley water was instantly incorporated into Kidnapped signed F
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  V d G S dedication. My dear Charles Baxter. If you ever read
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  this tale, you will likely ask yourself more questions than I should care to
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  answer, as, for instance, how the app and murder has come to
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  fall in the year seventeen fifty one, how the Torran rocks have crept so
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  near to Eiraid, or why the pretty trial is silent? As to all
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  the touches David Balfour, these are nuts beyond my ability to crack. But
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  if you tried me on the point of Allan's guilt or innocence, I think
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  I could defend the reading of the text. To this day you will find
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  the tradition of appen clear in Alan's favor. If you inquire, you may
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  even hear that the descendants of the other man who fired the shot are in
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  the country to this day, but that other man's name. Inquire as you
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  please, you shall not hear. For the Highlander values a secret for itself
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  and for the congenial exercise of keeping it. I might go on for long
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  to justify one point and own another indefensible. It is more honest to confess
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  at once how little I am touched by the desire of accuracy. This is
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  no furniture for the scholar's library, but a book for the winter evening school
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  room, when the tasks are over and the hour for bed draws near.
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  And honest, Alan, who was a grim old fire eater in his stay,
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  has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young
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  gentleman's attention from his ovid, carry him a while into to the highlands and
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  the last century, and pack him to bed with some engaging images to mingle
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  with his dreams. As for you, my dear Charles, I do not
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  even ask you to like this tale. But perhaps when he is older,
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  your son will. He may then be pleased to find his father's name on
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  the fly leaf. And in the meanwhile, it pleases me to set it
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  there in memory of many days that were happy, and some now perhaps is
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  pleasant to remember that were sad. It is strange for me to look back,
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  from a distance, both in time and space, on these bygone adventures
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  of our youth. It must be stranger for you, who tread the same
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  streets, who may tomorrow open the door of the old speculative, where we
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  began to rank with Scott and Robert Emmett and the beloved and inglorious Macbean.
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  Or may pass the corner of the clothes, where that great society the Ljr.
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  Held its meetings and drank its beer, sitting in the seats of Burns
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  and his companion. I think I see you moving there by plain daylight,
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  beholding with your natural eyes those places that have now become for your companion a
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  part of the scenery of dreams. How in the interval of present business,
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  the past must echo in your memory. Let it not echo often without some
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  kind thoughts of your friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, signed in Scarybore, Bournemouth.
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  And now a disclaimer your reader is an American. I'm sorry. I
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  will do my absolute level best to pronounce the Scott's words accurately and the names
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  as well, but I cannot promise that they are accurate. Neither can I
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  pretend to a Highland or a Lowland Scott's accent. I will make some kind
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  of an attempt, but please bear with me when I fall short. Thank
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  you and good listening. Chapter one. I set off upon my journey to
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  the house of Shaws. I will begin the story of my adventures with a
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  certain morning, early in the month of June, the year of Grace,
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  seventeen fifty one, when I took the key for the last time out of
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  the door of my father's house. The sun began to shine upon the summit
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  of the hills as I went down the road, and by the time I
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  had come as far as the matse, the blackbirds were whistling in the garden
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  lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time of the
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  dawn was beginning to arise and die away. Mister Campbell, the Minister of
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  Essendean, was waiting for me by the garden gate. That man he asked
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  me if I had breakfasted, and, hearing that I lacked for nothing,
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  he took my hand in both of his and clapt it kindly under his arm.
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  Well davy lad said he, I will go with you as far as
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  the ford set you. On the way, we began to walk forward in
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  silence. Are you sorry to leave? Wessen said he? After a while,
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  Why, Sir, said I. If I knew where I was going
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  or what was likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly.
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  Essendean is a good place, indeed, and I have been very happy there.
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  But then I have never been anywhere else my father and mother. Since
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  they are both dead, I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in
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  the Kingdom of Hungry. And to speak truth, if I thought I had
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  a chance to better myself where I was going, I would go with a
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  good will, I said, mister Campbell. Very well, Davy, then
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  it behooves me to tell your fortune, or so far as I may.
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  When your mother was gone and your father, the worthy Christian man, began
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  to sicken for his end, he gave me in charge a certain letter,
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  which he said was your inheritance. So soon, says he, as I
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  am gone, and house is read up, and the gear disposed of all
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  which Davy hath been done, give my boy this letter into his hand,
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  and start him off to the house of Shaws, not far from Krement.
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  That is the place I came from, he said, And it's where it
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  befits that my boy should return. He is a steady lad, your father
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  said, and a canny goer, and I doubt not he will come safe
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  and be well liked where he goes. The house of Shaw's. I cried,
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  what had my poor father to do with the house of Shaw's. Nay,
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  said mister Campbell, who can tell that for a surety? But the
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  name of that family, Davy boy, is the name you bear. Balfours
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  of Shaw's, an ancient, honest, reputable house peradventure in these latter days
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  decayed. Your father too was a man of learning, as befitted his position.
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  No man more plausibly conducted school, nor had he the manner of the
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  speech of a common domini. But as ye will yourself remember, I took
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  aye a pleasure to have him the mats to meet the gentry, and those
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  of my own house. Campbell of Kilrennett, Gampbell of Dunswire, Gambell of
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  Minch, and others, all well kenned gentlemen, had pleasure in his society.
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  Lastly, to put all the elements of this affair before you. Here
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  is the testamentary letter itself superscribed by the own hand of our departed brother.
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  He gave me the letter which was addressed in these words to the hands of
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  Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire of Shaws, in his house of Shaws. These will
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  be delivered by my son David Balfour. My heart was beating hard at this
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  great prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen years of age, the
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  son of a poor country Dominie in the forest of Etrich. Mister Campbell,
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  I stammered, and if you were in my shoes, would you go of
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  a surety? Said the minister, that would I, and would out pause.
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  A pretty lad like you should get the Cramond, which is near in
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  by Edinburgh in two days of walk. If the worst come to the worst,
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  and your high relations, as I cannot but suppose them to be somewhat
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  of your blood, should put you to the door, you can but walk
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  the two days back again and risp at the man's door. But I would
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  rather hope that you should be well received as your poor father forecast for you,
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  and for anything that I can come to be a great man in time.
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  And here Davy Laddie, he resumed, it lies near upon my conscience
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  to improve this parting and set you on the right guard against the dangers of
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  the world. Here he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a
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  big boulder under a birch by the track side, sat down upon it with
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  a very long, serious upper lip, and the sun now shining in upon
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  us between two peaks, put his pocket handkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter
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  him there. Then, with uplifted forefinger, he first put me on my
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  guard against a considerable number of heresies to which I had no temptation, and
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  urged upon me to be instant in my prayers and reading of the Bible.
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  That done, he drew a picture of the great house that I was bound
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  to, and how I should conduct myself with its inhabitants. Be suple davy
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  in things immaterial, said he bear ye this in mind, that though gentle
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  born, ye have a country rearing den a shamus davy, den a sham
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  us in yon great muckle house, with all these domestics upper and under,
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  show yourself as nice as circumspect, as quick at the conception, and as
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  slow of speech as any asked for the laird. Remember he's the laird.
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  I say no more honor to whom honor it's a pleasure to obey a lard,
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  or should be to the young Well, sir, said I it may
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  be, and I'll promise you I'll try to make it so. Why very
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  well, said replied mister Campbell heartily. And now to come to the material,
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  or to make a quibble to the immaterial, I have here a little
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  packet which contains four things. He tugged it as he spoke, and with
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  some great difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. Of these four
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  things, the first is your legal do the little pickle money for your father's
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  books implenishing, which I have bought, as I explained from the first,
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  in the design of reselling it a profit to the incoming dominie. The other
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  three are gifties that missus Campbell and myself would be blithe of your acceptance.
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  The first, which is round, will likely please your best at the first
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  off go but o davy laddie, it's but a drop of water in the
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  sea. It'll help you but a step and vanish like the morning. The
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  second, which is flat and square and written upon, will stand by you
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  through life like a good staff for the road, and a good pillow to
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  your head in sickness. And as for the last, which is cubicle,
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  that'll see you. It's my prayerful wish into a better lad With that,
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  he got upon his feet, took off his hat and prayed a little while
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  aloud and in affecting terms for a young man setting out into the world.
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  Then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard, then held
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  me at arm's length, looking at me with his face all working with sorrow,
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  and then whipped about and crying good bye to me, set off backward
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  by the way that we had come, at a sort of jogging run.
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  It might have been laughable to another, but I was in no mind to
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  laugh. I watched him as long as he was in sight, and he
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  never stopped hurrying, nor once looked back. Then it came in upon my
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  mind that this was all his sorrow at my departure, and my conscience smote
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  me hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to
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  get out of that quiet countryside and go to a great busy house among rich
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  and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood. Davy Davy, I thought
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  was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favors and old friends
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  at the mere whistle of a name? By by think shame? And I
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  sat down on the boulder. The good man had just left and opened a
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  parcel to see the nature of my gifts, that which he had called cubicle
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  I had never had much doubt of. Sure enough, it was a little
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  bible to carry in a plaidnuc. That which he had called round, I
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  found to be a shilling piece. And the third, which was to help
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  me so wonderfully, both in health and sickness all the days of my life,
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  was a little piece of coarse yellow paper written upon thus in red ink,
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  to make lily of the valley water. Take the flowers of lily of
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  the valley, and distill them in sack, and drink a spoonful or two,
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  as there is occasion. It restores speech to those that have the dumb
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  palsy. It is good against the gout. It comforts the heart and strengthens
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  the memory. And the flowers put into a glass, close, stopped,
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  and set into a hill of ants for a month. Then take it out
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  and you will find a liquord which comes from the flowers, which keep in
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  a vial. It is good ill or well, and whether man or woman.
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  And then in the minister's own hand was added likewise for sprains, rub
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  it in, and for the colck a great spoonful in the hour to be
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  sure I laughed over this, but it was rather tremulous laughter, and I
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  was glad to get my bundle on my staff's end, and set out over
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  the ford and up the hill upon the farther side, till just as I
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  came on the green drove road, running wide through the heather, I took
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  my last look of kirk Essendean, the trees about the manse, and the
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  big rowans in the kirkyard where my father and my mother lay. End of
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  chapter Chapter two. I come to my journey's end on the forenoon of the
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  second day. Coming to the top of a hill, I saw all the
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  country fall away before me down to the sea, and in the midst of
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  this descent, on a long ridge, the city of Edinburgh smoking like a
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  kiln. There was a flag upon the castle, and ships moving or lying
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  anchored in the firth, both of which, for as far away as they
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  were, I could distinguish clearly, and both brought my country heart into my
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  mouth. Presently after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived and
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  got a rough direction for the neighborhood of Cramond, and so from one to
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  another worked my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton till I came
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  out upon the Glasgow Road, and there, to my great pleasure and wonder,
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  I beheld a regiment marching to the fifes every foot in time, an
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  old red faced general on a gray horse at the one end, and at
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  the other the company of grenadier's with their pope's hats. The pride of life
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  seemed to mount into my brain at the sight of the red coats and the
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  hearing of that merry music. A little further on, and I was told
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  I was in kremen of Parish, and began to substitute in my inquiries the
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  name of the House of Shaws. It was word that seemed to surprise those
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  of whom I sought my way. At first I thought the plainness of my
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  appearance in my country habit, and that all dusty from the road consorted ill
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  with the greatness of the place to which I was bound. But after two
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  or maybe three had given me the same look and the same answer, I
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  began to take it in my head that there was something strange about the Shaws
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  itself. The better to set the sphere at rest. I changed the form
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  of my inquiries, and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the
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  shaft of his cart, I asked him if he had ever heard tell of
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  a house that called the House of Shaws. He stopped his cart and looked
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  at me like the others, I said, he what for it's a great
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  house, I asked, doubtless, says he. The house is a big
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  muckle house, I said, I. But the folk that are in it
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  folk, cried he are you daft? Then they're folks there to call folk?
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  What say I not, mister Ebenezer, Oh, I says the man.
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  There's the laird. To be sure. If it's him you're wanting,
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  what'll like be your business? Mannie? I was led to think that I
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  would get a situation, I said, looking as modest as I could.
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  What cries the cart in so sharp a note that his very horse started and
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  then well, Mannie, he added, it's none of my affairs, but
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  you seem a decent spoken lad. If you'll take a word from me,
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  you'll keep clear of the Shaws. The next person I came across was a
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  dapper little man in a beautiful white wig, whom I saw to be a
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  barber on his rounds, and knowing well that barbers were great gossips. I
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  asked him plainly, what sort of a man was mister Balfour of the shaws?
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  Hoot, hoot, hoot, said the barber, NAE kind of a
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  man, na, kind of a man at all, and began to ask
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  me very shrewdly what my business was. But I was more than a match
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  for him at that, and he went on to his next customer, no
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  wiser than he came. I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my
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  illusions. The more indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them,
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  for they left the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house
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  was this, that all the parish should start and stare to be asked the
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  way to it? Or what sort of a gentleman that his ill fame should
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  be thus current on the wayside. If an hour's walking would have brought me
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  back to Essendean, I would have left my adventure then and there and returned
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  to mister Campbell's. But when I had come so far away already, mere
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  shame would not suffer me to desist. Till I had put the matter to
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  the touch of proof. I was bound out of mere self respect to carry
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  it through. And little as I liked the sound of what I heard,
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  and slow as I began to travel, I still kept asking my way,
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  and still kept advancing. I was drawing on to sundown when I met a
• 25:41
  stout, dark, sour looking woman coming trudging down a hill, and she,
• 25:47
  when I had put my usual question, turned sharp about, accompanied me
• 25:51
  back to the summit she had just left, and pointed to a great bulk
• 25:55
  of buildings standing very bare upon a green in the bottom of the next valley.
• 26:00
  The country was pleasant round about, running in low hills, pleasantly watered
• 26:04
  and wooded, and the crops, to my eyes, wonderfully good. But
• 26:08
  the house itself seemed to be a kind of ruin. No road led up
• 26:12
  to it, no smoke arose from any of the chimneys, nor was there
• 26:17
  any semblance of a garden. My heart sank that I cried. The woman's
• 26:23
  face lit up with a malignant anger. That is the house of Shaws,
• 26:29
  she cried. Blood built it, Blood stopped the building of it. Blood
• 26:33
  shall bring it down. See here, she cried again. I spit upon
• 26:37
  the ground and crack my thumb at it. Black be its fall. If
• 26:42
  you see the laird tell him what you hear tell him. This makes the
• 26:45
  twelve hundred nineteen times that Jennek Gluston has called down the curse on him and
• 26:51
  his house byre and stable man guessed, and master wife miss or Bairn black
• 26:56
  black be their fall. And the woman, whose voice had ridden to a
• 27:02
  kind of eldritch sing song, turned with a skip and was gone. Stood
• 27:07
  where she left me with my hair on end. In those days, folk
• 27:11
  still believed in witches and trembled at a curse, and this one, falling
• 27:17
  so pat like a wayside omen to arrest me. Ere I carried out my
• 27:21
  purpose, took the pith out of my legs. I sat me down and
• 27:26
  stared at the house of Shaws. The more I looked, the pleasanterer that
• 27:30
  country side appeared, being all set with hawthorn, bushes full of flowers,
• 27:34
  the fields dotted with sheep, a fine flight of rooks in the sky,
• 27:38
  and every sign of a kind soil and climate. And yet the barrack in
• 27:42
  the midst of it went sore against my fancy. Country Folk went by from
• 27:48
  the fields as I sat there on the side of the ditch, but I
• 27:52
  lacked the spirit to give them a good inn. At last the sun went
• 27:56
  down, and then right up against the yellow sky, I saw a scroll
• 28:00
  of smoke go mounting, not much thicker, as it seemed to me,
• 28:04
  than the smoke of a candle, but still there it was, and meant
• 28:08
  a fire and warmth and cookery, and some living inhabitant that must have lit
• 28:14
  it. And discomforted my heart. So I set forward by a little faint
• 28:18
  track in the grass that led in my direction. It was very faint,
• 28:22
  indeed, to be the only way to a place of habitation, yet I
• 28:26
  saw no other presently. It brought me to stone uprights, with an unroofed
• 28:30
  lodge beside them, and coats of arms upon the top. A main entrance
• 28:36
  it was plainly meant to be, but never finished. Instead of gates of
• 28:40
  wrought iron, a pair of hurdles were tied across with a straw rope.
• 28:45
  And as there were no park walls nor any sign of avenue, the track
• 28:48
  that I was following passed on the right hand of the pillars, and went
• 28:52
  wandering on toward the house. The nearer I got to that, the drearier
• 28:57
  it appeared. It seemed like the one wing of a house that had never
• 29:02
  been finished. What should have been the inner end stood open on the upper
• 29:06
  floors and showed against the sky with steps and stairs of uncompleted masonry. Many
• 29:12
  of the windows were unglazed, and bats flew in and out like doves out
• 29:17
  of a dove cote. The night had begun to fall as I got close,
• 29:22
  and in three of the lower windows, which were very high up and
• 29:25
  narrow and well barred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer.
• 29:30
  Was this the palace I had been coming to? Was it within these
• 29:33
  walls that I was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes? Why in
• 29:38
  my father's house on essen waterside the fire and the bright lights would show a
• 29:44
  mile away, and the door opened to a beggar's knock. I came forward,
• 29:48
  cautiously and giving ear. As I came heard someone rattling with dishes,
• 29:53
  a little dry, eager cough that came in fits, but there was no
• 29:57
  sound of speech, and not a dog barked. The door, As well
• 30:03
  as I could see it in the dim light was a great piece of wood,
• 30:06
  all studded with nails. And I lifted my hand with a faint heart
• 30:10
  under my jacket, and knocked once. Then I stood and waited. The
• 30:15
  house had fallen into a dead silence. A whole minute passed away, and
• 30:21
  nothing stirred but the bats overhead. I knocked again, and hearkened again.
• 30:26
  By this time my ears had grown so accustomed to the quiet that I could
• 30:30
  hear the ticking of the clock inside as it slowly counted out the seconds.
• 30:36
  But whoever was in that house kept deadly still and must have held his breath.
• 30:41
  I was in two minds whether to run away, but anger got the
• 30:45
  upper hand, and I began instead to rain kicks and buffets on the door,
• 30:49
  and to shout aloud for mister Balfourt. I was in full career when
• 30:53
  I heard the cough right overhead, and jumping back and looking up, beheld
• 30:59
  a man's head in a tall nightcap and the bell mouth of a blunderbuss at
• 31:03
  one of the first story windows. It's louded, said a voice. I
• 31:10
  have come here with a letter, I said to mister Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws.
• 31:14
  Is he here? From whom is it? Asked the man with a
• 31:18
  blunderbuss. That is neither here nor there, said I, where I was
• 31:23
  growing very wroth well, was the reply. YE can put it down upon
• 31:29
  the door step and be off with ye. I will do no such thing,
• 31:33
  I cried, I will deliver it into mister Balfour's hands, as it
• 31:37
  was meant I should. It is a letter of introduction. A what cried
• 31:42
  the voice sharply, I repeated what I had said. Who are ye yourself?
• 31:49
  Was the next question, after a considerable pause. I'm not ashamed of
• 31:53
  my name, said I they call me David Balfour. At that I made
• 32:00
  sure the man started, for I heard the blunderbuss rattle on the window sill.
• 32:05
  And it was after quite a long pause, and with a curious change
• 32:07
  of voice, that the next question followed, is your father dead? I
• 32:15
  was so much surprised at this that I could find no voice to answer,
• 32:19
  but stood staring Aye, the man resumed, He'll be dead, no doubt,
• 32:25
  and that'll be what brings you chappin' to my door. Another pause,
• 32:30
  and then defiantly, well man, he said, I'll let you in,
• 32:37
  and he disappeared from the window. End of chapter chapter three. I'll make
• 32:44
  acquaintance of my uncle. Presently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts,
• 32:52
  and the door was cautiously opened and shut two again behind me. As
• 32:55
  soon as I had passed, go into the kitchin and touched Nathan, said
• 33:01
  the voice. And while the person of the house set himself to replacing the
• 33:06
  defenses of the door, I groped my way forward and entered the kitchen.
• 33:12
  The fire had burned up fairly bright, and showed me the barest room I
• 33:15
  think I ever put my eyes on. Half a dozen dishes stood upon the
• 33:20
  shelves. The table was laid for supper, with a bowl of porridge,
• 33:23
  a horn spoon, and a cup of small beer. Besides what I have
• 33:29
  named, there was not another thing in that great stone vaulted empty chamber,
• 33:32
  but locked fast chests arranged along the wall, and a corner cupboard with a
• 33:37
  padlock. As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me.
• 33:44
  He was a mean, stooping, narrow shouldered, lay faced creature,
• 33:49
  and his age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was
• 33:54
  of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore instead of coat and
• 33:59
  waist over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved. But what most distressed
• 34:05
  and even daunted me. He would neither take his eyes away from me nor
• 34:08
  look me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or
• 34:13
  berth, was more than I could fathom. But he seemed most like an
• 34:17
  old, unprofitable serving man who should have been left in charge of that big
• 34:22
  house upon board wages? Are ye a sharp set, he asked, glancing
• 34:28
  at about the level of my knee. Ye can eat that drop, perritch,
• 34:32
  I said, I feared it was his own supper, Oh, said
• 34:37
  he. I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, though,
• 34:42
  for it slockens my cough. He drank the cup about half out,
• 34:46
  still keeping an eye upon me as he drank, and then suddenly held out
• 34:51
  his hand. That's say the letter, said he. I told him the
• 34:57
  letter was for mister Balfour, not for him. And who do you think
• 35:00
  I am? Says he give me Alexander's letter. You know my father's name.
• 35:08
  It would be strange if I didn't, he returned, for he was
• 35:13
  my born brother. And little as you seem to like either me or my
• 35:16
  house or my good parritch, I'm your born uncle, Davy, my man,
• 35:21
  and you my born nephew. So give us the letter and sit down
• 35:24
  and fill your kate. I have been some years younger. What with shame,
• 35:30
  weariness, and disappointment, I believe I had burst into tears. As
• 35:36
  it was, I could find no words, neither black nor white, but
• 35:39
  handed him the letter and sat down to the porridge with as little appetite for
• 35:44
  meat as ever a young man had. Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over
• 35:49
  the fire, turned the letter over and over in his hands. Do you
• 35:53
  ken what's in it? He asked. Suddenly you see for yourself, sir,
• 35:59
  said I that the seal has not been broken, Aye, said he.
• 36:05
  But what brought ye here to give the letter? Said I? No,
• 36:12
  says he cunningly. But you'll have some hopes nadad, I confess,
• 36:17
  sir, said I. When I was told that I had kinsfolk well to
• 36:22
  do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me in my
• 36:25
  life. But I am no beggar. I look for no favors at your
• 36:30
  hands, and I want none that are not freely given. For as poor
• 36:35
  as I appear, I have friends of my own that will be blithe to
• 36:37
  help me. Boo tute, said Uncle Ebenezer. Didn't fly up in the
• 36:44
  snuff at me. We'll agree fine yet, and davy, my man,
• 36:49
  if you're done with that bit of perrits, I could just tick a sup
• 36:52
  of it myself, aye, he continued, as soon as he had ousted
• 36:58
  me from the stool and spoon. They're fine, hail's some food, their
• 37:02
  grand food, perrisch. He murmured the little grace to himself, and fell
• 37:07
  to your father was very fond of his meat. I mind he was a
• 37:14
  hearty, if not a great eater. But as for me, I could
• 37:17
  never do more. And pike at food. He took a pull at the
• 37:21
  small beer, which probably reminded him of hospitable duties. For his next speech
• 37:25
  ran, thus, if you're dry, you'll find water behind the door.
• 37:30
  To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet and looking
• 37:36
  down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart. He, on his part,
• 37:40
  continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to
• 37:45
  throw out little darting glances, now at my shoes, and now at my
• 37:49
  homespun stockings. Once, only when he had ventured to look a little higher,
• 37:53
  our eyes met, and no thief taken with a hand in a man's
• 37:58
  pocket could have shown more lfe I lead signals of distress. This set me
• 38:02
  in amuse. Whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human
• 38:07
  company, or whether perhaps upon a little trial, it might pass off,
• 38:13
  and my uncle changed into an altogether different man. From this, I was
• 38:19
  awakened by his sharp voice. Your father's been long dead, he asked.
• 38:24
  Three weeks, Sir said I. He was a secret man, Alexander,
• 38:30
  A secret, silent man, he continued. He never said muckle when he
• 38:37
  was young. He never had spoken muckle of me. I never knew,
• 38:40
  sir, till you told it me yourself, that he had any brother.
• 38:45
  Dear me, dear me, said Ebenezer. Nor yet of Shaw's I dare
• 38:52
  say, not so much as the name, Sir said, I to think
• 38:57
  of that, said he a strange nature man, for all that he seemed
• 39:01
  singularly satisfied. But whether with himself or me, or with this conduct of
• 39:07
  my father's, was more than I could read. Certainly, however, he
• 39:12
  seemed to be outgrowing that distaste or ill will that he had conceived at first
• 39:16
  against my person. For presently he jumped up, came across the room behind
• 39:21
  me, and hit me a smack upon the shoulder. We'll agree fine,
• 39:25
  Yet, he cried, I am just as glad. I let you in,
• 39:30
  and now come away to your bed. To my surprise, he lit
• 39:34
  no lamp or candle, but set forth into the dark passage, groped his
• 39:38
  way, breathing deeply, up a flight of steps, and paused before a
• 39:43
  door, which he unlocked. I was close upon his heels, having stumbled
• 39:47
  after him as best I might, And then he bade me go in,
• 39:52
  for that was my chamber. I did as he bid, but paused after
• 39:55
  a few steps, and begged delight to go to bed with ou toute,
• 40:00
  said Uncle Epeneser. There's a fine moon, neither moon nor star, sir,
• 40:07
  and pitt murk said I, I cannot see the bed. Hou tout
• 40:13
  hoo toot, said he lights in a house is a thing I did not
• 40:17
  agree with. I'm uncle feared of fires. Good night, ye dave y,
• 40:22
  my man. And before I had time to add a further protest,
• 40:27
  he pulled the door to and I heard him lock me in from the outside.
• 40:32
  I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as
• 40:36
  cold as so well, and the bed, when I had found my way
• 40:39
  to it, as damp as a peat hag, but by good fortune I
• 40:44
  had caught up my bundle in my plaid, and rolling myself in the ladder,
• 40:49
  I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead, and
• 40:52
  fell speedily asleep. With the first peep of day, I opened my eyes
• 40:58
  to find myself in a great shair chamber, hung with stamped leather, furnished
• 41:02
  with fine embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years ago,
• 41:08
  or perhaps twenty, it must have been as pleasant a room to lie
• 41:12
  down or to awaken as a man could wish. But damp, dirt,
• 41:16
  disuse, and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then. Many
• 41:22
  of the window panes, besides, were broken. And indeed this was so
• 41:25
  common a feature in that house that I believe my uncle must at some time
• 41:30
  have stood a siege from his indignant neighbors, perhaps with Genet Kluston at their
• 41:36
  head. Meanwhile, the sun was shining outside, and being very cold in
• 41:40
  that miserable room, I knocked and shouted till my jailer came and let me
• 41:45
  out. He carried me to the back of the house, where there was
• 41:50
  a draw well, and told me to wash my face there if I wanted,
• 41:54
  And when that was done, I made the best of my own way
• 41:58
  back to the kitchen, where he had lit the fire and was making the
• 42:01
  porridge. The table was laid with two bowls and two horn spoons, but
• 42:07
  the same single measure of small beer. Perhaps my eye rested on this particular
• 42:12
  with some surprise, and perhaps my uncle observed it, for he spoke up,
• 42:16
  as if in answer to my thought, asking me if I would like
• 42:20
  to drink ale, or so he called it. I told him such was
• 42:24
  my habit, but not to put himself about nah nah, said he,
• 42:30
  I'll deny you nothing In reason, he fetched another cup from the shelf,
• 42:35
  and then, to my great surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he
• 42:38
  poured an acrid half from one cup to the other. There was a kind
• 42:44
  of nobleness in this that took my breath away. If my uncle was certainly
• 42:47
  a miser, he was one of that thorough breed that goes near to make
• 42:52
  the vice respectable. When we have made an end of our meal, my
• 42:57
  uncle Ebenezer unlocked to drawer and drew out of it a clay pipe and a
• 43:00
  lump of tobacco, from which he cut one fill before he locked it up
• 43:05
  again. Then he sat down in the sun at one of the windows and
• 43:08
  silently smoked. From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me,
• 43:15
  and he shot me out. One of his questions once it was and your
• 43:20
  mother? And when I had told him that she too was dead? Ay,
• 43:24
  she was a bonny lassie. Then, after another long pause, where
• 43:30
  were these friends of yours? I told him they were different gentlemen of the
• 43:36
  name of Campbell, though indeed there was only one, and that the minister
• 43:40
  that had ever taken the least note of me. But I began to think
• 43:45
  my uncle made too light of my position, and finding myself all alone with
• 43:49
  him, I did not wish him to suppose me helpless. He seemed to
• 43:53
  turn this over in his mind, and then Davy my man, said he
• 44:00
  you've come to the right bit when you come to your uncle, Ebenezer.
• 44:02
  I have a great notion of the family, and I mean to do the
• 44:06
  right by you. But why I am taken a bit think to myself,
• 44:09
  or what's the best thing to put you to, whether the law or the
• 44:14
  ministry or maybe the army. Wilk is what boys are fondest of. I
• 44:20
  wouldn't have liked the Balfers to be humbled before a ween Eiland Campbell's. And
• 44:23
  I'll ask you to keep your tongue within your teeth. No letters, their
• 44:29
  messages, no kind of work to anybody or else. There's my door,
• 44:36
  Uncle Ebenezer said I I've no manner of reason to suppose you mean anything but
• 44:42
  well by me. For all that, I would have you to know that
• 44:45
  I have a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine
• 44:49
  that I came seeking you. And if you show me your door again,
• 44:52
  I'll take you at the word. He seemed grievously put out. Boot Hoot
• 44:58
  said he canny, man ca canny, buy a day or two. I'm
• 45:04
  no warlock to find a fortune for you at the bottom of a parrot's bowl.
• 45:08
  But just you give me a day or two. Say nothing to nobody,
• 45:13
  and I'm sure as sure I'll do the right by you. Very well,
• 45:19
  said I. Enough said, But you want to help me, there's
• 45:23
  no doubt, but I'll be glad of it, and none but I'll be
• 45:27
  grateful. It seemed to me too soon, I dare say that I was
• 45:31
  getting the upper hand of my uncle. And I began next to say that
• 45:36
  I must have the bed and bedclothes aired and put the sun dry, for
• 45:39
  nothing would make me sleep in such a pickle. Is this my house or
• 45:45
  yours? Said he in his keen voice, And then all of a sudden
• 45:49
  broke off. Nah Nah, said he. I didna mean that what's mine
• 45:54
  is yours day of a man, and what's yours is mine blood sticker in
• 46:00
  water, and there's nobody but you and me that ought the name. Then
• 46:05
  Awnie rambled about the family and its ancient greatness, and his father that began
• 46:10
  to enlarge the house, and himself that stopped the building as a sinful waste.
• 46:15
  And this put it in my head to give him Jennet Kluston's message the
• 46:22
  limmer, He cried, twelve hundred and fifteen. That's every day since I
• 46:27
  had the limber roupted dog, David, I'll have a roasted on red peats
• 46:31
  before I'm by with it. A witch, a proclaimed witch. I'll often
• 46:37
  see the session clerk With that. He opened a chest and got out a
• 46:42
  very old and well preserved blue coat and waistcoat and a good enough beaver hat,
• 46:46
  both without lace. These he threw on anyway, and taking a staff
• 46:52
  from the cupboard locked all up again, and was for setting out one A
• 46:55
  thought arrested him. I cannot leave you by itself in the house, said
• 47:00
  he, I have to lock you out. The blood came to my face.
• 47:07
  If you lock me out, I said, it'll be the last you'll
• 47:12
  see of me in friendship. He turned very pale and sucked his mouth in.
• 47:17
  This is not a way, he said, looking wickedly at a corner
• 47:22
  of the floor. This is another way to win my favor, David,
• 47:28
  Sir, says I, with a proper reverence for your age in our common
• 47:32
  blood, I do not value your favor at a bottle's purchase. I was
• 47:37
  brought up to have a good conceit of myself, and if you were all
• 47:40
  the uncle and all the family I had in the world ten times over,
• 47:45
  I wouldn't buy your liking at such prices. Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out
• 47:51
  of the window for a while. I could see him all trembling and twitching,
• 47:54
  like a man with palsy. But when he turned round he had a
• 47:58
  smile upon his face. Well well, said he We must bear, and
• 48:04
  forbear. I'll now go. That's all to be said of it. Uncle
• 48:09
  Ebenezer I said, I can make nothing out of this. You use me
• 48:15
  like a thief. You hate to have me in this house. You let
• 48:19
  me see it every word, in every minute. It's not possible that you
• 48:22
  can like me. And as for me, I've spoken to you as I've
• 48:27
  never thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to keep me?
• 48:30
  Then? Let me gang back, Let me gang back to the friends
• 48:34
  I have, And that like me. Nana, Nana, he said,
• 48:38
  very earnestly. I like you, fine, we'll agree fine yet, and
• 48:44
  for the honor of the house, I couldn't let you leave the way you
• 48:45
  came. Bide here quiet, there's a good lad just you bide here quiet,
• 48:51
  a pity, and you'll find if we agree, well, Sir,
• 48:55
  said I, after I'd thought the matter out in silence. I'll stay awhile.
• 49:01
  It's more just. I should be helped by my own blood than strangers.
• 49:06
  And if we don't agree, I'll do my best. It shall be
• 49:08
  through no fault of mine. End of chapter Chapter four. I run a
• 49:15
  great danger in the house of Shaws for a day that was begun. So
• 49:23
  ill the day passed fairly well. We had the porridge cold again at noon,
• 49:29
  and hot porridge at night. Porridge and small beer was my uncle's diet.
• 49:34
  He spoke but little, and that in the same way as before,
• 49:37
  shooting a question at me after a long silence, and when I sought to
• 49:42
  lead him to talk about my future, slipped out of it again. In
• 49:46
  a room next door to the kitchen, where he suffered me to go,
• 49:50
  I found a great number of books, both Latin and English, in which
• 49:53
  I took great pleasure all the afternoon. Indeed, the time passed so lightly
• 49:59
  in the this good company that I began to be almost reconciled to my residence
• 50:04
  at Shaws. And nothing but the sight of my uncle and his eyes playing
• 50:07
  a hide and seek with mine, revived the force of my distrust. One
• 50:14
  thing I discovered which put me in some doubt. There was an entry on
• 50:17
  the fly leaf of a chap book, one of Patrick Walker's, plainly written
• 50:22
  by my father's hand, and thus conceived to my brother Ebenezer on his fifth
• 50:28
  birthday. Now what puzzled me was this that, as my father was,
• 50:32
  of course the younger brother, he must either have made some strange error,
• 50:37
  or he must have written before he was yet five, an excellent, clear,
• 50:42
  manly hand of writing. I tried to get this out of my head,
• 50:46
  but though I took down many interesting authors, old and new history,
• 50:52
  poetry and storybook, this notion of my father's hand of writing stuck to me,
• 50:58
  And when at length I went back into the kitchen and sat down once
• 51:01
  more to porridge and small beer. The first thing I said to Uncle Ebenezer
• 51:07
  was to ask him if my father had not been very quick at his book.
• 51:10
  Alexander n him was the reply. I was far quicker, mysel I
• 51:17
  was a clever chappie when I was young. Why I could read as soon
• 51:22
  as he could. This puzzled me yet more, and a thought coming into
• 51:27
  my head, I asked if he and my father had been twins. He
• 51:30
  jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out of his hand upon
• 51:35
  the floor. Look Garzia, ask that, he said, And he caught
• 51:40
  me by the breast of the jacket and looked, this time straight into my
• 51:44
  eyes. His own were little and light and bright like a bird's, blinking
• 51:49
  and winking strangely, What do you mean? I asked, very calmly,
• 51:54
  for I was far stronger than he, and not easily frightened. Take your
• 52:00
  hand from my jacket. This is no way to behave. My uncle seemed
• 52:05
  to make a great effort upon himself, Dad man David. He said,
• 52:10
  you shouldn't speak to me about your father. That's where the mistake is.
• 52:15
  He sat awhile and shook, blinking in his plate. He was all the
• 52:20
  brother that ever I had, he added, with no heart in his voice.
• 52:24
  And then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again, but
• 52:28
  still shaking. Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person,
• 52:34
  and sudden profession of love for my dead father, went so clean beyond
• 52:38
  my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. On the one
• 52:43
  hand, I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous.
• 52:49
  On the other, there came up into my mind, quite unbidden by
• 52:52
  me, and even discouraged a story like some ballad. I had heard folks
• 52:57
  singing of a poor lad that was rightful air, and a wicked kinsman that
• 53:01
  tried to keep him from his own. But why should my uncle play a
• 53:06
  part with a relative that came almost a beggar to his door, unless in
• 53:10
  his heart he had some cause to fear him? With this notion, all
• 53:15
  unacknowledged, but nevertheless getting firmly settled in my head. I now began to
• 53:21
  imitate his covert looks, so that we sat at table like a cat and
• 53:24
  a mouse, each stealthily observing the other. Not another word had he to
• 53:30
  say to me black or white. But he was busy turning something secretly over
• 53:35
  in his mind. And the longer we sat, and the more I looked
• 53:38
  at him, more certain I became that something was unfriendly to myself. When
• 53:45
  he had cleared the platter, he got out a single pipe full of tobacco,
• 53:49
  just as in the morning, turned round a stool into the chimney corner,
• 53:52
  and sat a while smoking with his back to me. Davy, he
• 53:59
  said, at length, I've been thinking. Then he paused and said it
• 54:02
  again. There's a wee bit, Siller, that I have promised ye before
• 54:07
  you was born, he continued, promised it to your father. Oh,
• 54:13
  nothing legal, you understand, Just gentlemen daffinite their wine. Well, I
• 54:17
  keep it that bit of money separate. It was a great expense, but
• 54:22
  a promise. He is a promise, and it has grown by now to
• 54:24
  be a matter of just precisely. Yea just exactly and here, he paused
• 54:30
  and stumbled, I just exactly forty pounds. This last he wrapped out with
• 54:37
  a sidelong glance over his shoulder, and the next moment he added, almost
• 54:42
  with a scream, Scott's, the pound Scot's being the same thing as an
• 54:47
  English shilling. The difference made by this second thought was considerable. I could
• 54:52
  see besides that the whole story was a lie, invented with some end which
• 54:58
  it puzzled me to guess. And I made no attempt to conceal the tone
• 55:01
  of raillery in which I answered, Oh, think again, sir, pounds
• 55:06
  Sterling. I believe that's what I said, returned my uncle, Pounds Sterling.
• 55:13
  And if you'll step out by to the door a minute, just to
• 55:15
  see what kind of a night it is, i'll get it out to you
• 55:19
  and call you in again. I did his will, smiling to myself in
• 55:24
  my contempt that he should think I was so easily to be deceived. It
• 55:29
  was a dark night, with a few stars low down, and as I
• 55:32
  stood just outside the door, I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off
• 55:37
  among the hills. I said to myself, there was something thundery and changeful
• 55:42
  in the weather, and little knew of what a vast importance that should prove
• 55:46
  to me. Before the evening passed. When I was called in again,
• 55:52
  my uncle counted out into my hand seven and thirty golden guinea pieces. The
• 55:57
  rest was in his hand, in small gold and so over. But his
• 56:00
  heart failed him there, and he crammed the change into his pocket there,
• 56:06
  said he. That'll show you. I'm a queer man and strange with strangers.
• 56:10
  But my word is my bond, and there's the proof of it.
• 56:15
  Now. My uncle seemed so misily that I was struck dumb by this sudden
• 56:20
  generosity, and could find no words in which to thank him. Not a
• 56:24
  word he said, no thanks. I want nothing thanks. I do my
• 56:30
  duty. I'm not saying that everybody would have done it, but for my
• 56:34
  part, though I'm a careful body too. It's a pleasure to me to
• 56:38
  do the right by my brother's son. And it's a pleasure to me to
• 56:42
  think that now we'll agree as such near friends. Should I spoke him in
• 56:47
  return as handsomely as I was able, But all the while I was wondering
• 56:52
  what would come next, and why he had parted with his precious guineas for
• 56:57
  as to the reason he had given a baby would have re fused it.
• 57:00
  Presently, he looked towards me sideways, and see here, said he tit
• 57:07
  for tat. I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any
• 57:12
  reasonable degree, and then waited, looking for some monstrous demand. And yet
• 57:17
  when at last he plucked up courage to speak, it was only to tell
• 57:22
  me very properly, as I thought that he was growing old and a little
• 57:25
  broken, and that he would expect me to help him with the house and
• 57:30
  the binder garden. I answered, and expressed my readiness to serve. Well,
• 57:36
  said he, let's begin. He pulled out of his pocket a rusty
• 57:40
  key. There, says he. There's the key of the stair tower at
• 57:45
  the far end of the house. You can only win into it from the
• 57:50
  outside, for that part of the house is nuf finished. Gang ye in
• 57:53
  there and up the stairs and bring me down the chest that's at the top.
• 57:58
  There's papers in it. He added. Can I have a light,
• 58:01
  sir, said I, nah, said he very cunningly, No lights in
• 58:07
  my house. Very well, sir said, I Are the stairs good?
• 58:15
  They're grand, said he. And then as I was going heap to the
• 58:20
  wall. He added, there's ne banisters, but the stairs are grand underfoot.
• 58:25
  Out I went into the night. The wind was still moaning in the
• 58:30
  distance, though never a breath of it came near the House of Shawls.
• 58:34
  It had fallen blacker than ever, and I was glad to feel along the
• 58:37
  wall till I came the length of the stair tower door at the far end
• 58:42
  of the unfinished wing. I had got the key into the keyhole and had
• 58:45
  just turned it, when all of a sudden, without sound of wind or
• 58:50
  thunder, the whole sky lighted up with wild fire and went black again.
• 58:55
  I had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the color
• 58:59
  of the darkness, And indeed I was already half blinded when I stepped into
• 59:02
  the tower. It was so dark inside it seemed a body could scarce breathe.
• 59:08
  But I pushed out with foot in hand, and presently struck the wall
• 59:13
  with one and the lowermost round of the stair with the other. The wall,
• 59:17
  by the touch, was of fine hewn stone. The steps, too,
• 59:22
  though somewhat steep and narrow, were of polished mason work, and regular
• 59:27
  and solid underfoot. Minding my uncle's word, about the banisters. I kept
• 59:31
  close to the tower side and felt my way in the pitch darkness with a
• 59:36
  beating heart. The House of Shaws stood some five full stories high, not
• 59:43
  counting lofts. Well. As I advanced, it seemed to me the stair
• 59:46
  grew airier, in a thought, more lightsome, and I was wondering what
• 59:51
  might be the cause of this change, when a second blink of the summer
• 59:54
  lightning came and went. If I did not cry out, it was because
• 59:59
  fear had be by the throat, and if I did not fall, it
• 1:00:02
  was more by Heaven's mercy than my own strength. It was not only that
• 1:00:07
  the flash shone in on every side through breeches in the wall, so that
• 1:00:10
  I seemed to be clambering aloft upon an open scaffold, but the same passing
• 1:00:15
  brightness showed me the steps were of unequal length, and that one of my
• 1:00:20
  feet rested that moment within two inches of the well. This was the grand
• 1:00:25
  Stare, I thought, and with the thought a gust of a kind of
• 1:00:30
  angry courage came into my heart. My uncle had sent me here, certainly
• 1:00:36
  to run great risks, perhaps to die. I swore I would settle that
• 1:00:42
  perhaps if I should break my neck, for it got me down upon my
• 1:00:45
  hands and knees, and as slowly as a snail, feeling before me every
• 1:00:50
  inch and testing the solidity of every stone, I continued to ascend the stair.
• 1:00:57
  The darkness, by contrast with the flash, appeared to have redoubled.
• 1:01:01
  Nor was that all, for my ears were now troubled, and my mind
• 1:01:06
  confounded by a great stir of bats in the top part of the tower,
• 1:01:09
  and the foul beasts flying downwards sometimes beat about my face and body. The
• 1:01:16
  tower, I should have said, was square, and in every corner the
• 1:01:20
  step was made of a great stone of a different shape to join the flights.
• 1:01:24
  Well, I had come close to one of these turns, when feeling
• 1:01:29
  forward as usual, my hand slipped upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness
• 1:01:32
  beyond it. The stair had been carried no higher. To set a stranger
• 1:01:37
  mounting it in the darkness was to send him straight to his death. And
• 1:01:43
  although thanks to the lightning and my own precautions, I was safe enough,
• 1:01:47
  the mere thought of the peril in which I might have stood, and the
• 1:01:51
  dreadful height I might have fallen from, brought out the sweat upon my body
• 1:01:55
  and relaxed my joints. But I knew what I wanted now, and turned
• 1:02:00
  and groped my way down again, with a wonderful anger in my heart.
• 1:02:05
  About half way down, the wind sprang up in a clap and shook the
• 1:02:07
  tower, and died again. The rain followed, and before I had reached
• 1:02:13
  the ground level, it fell in buckets. I put out my head into
• 1:02:16
  the storm and looked along towards the kitchen. The door which I had shut
• 1:02:22
  behind me when I left, now stood open and shed a little glimmer of
• 1:02:25
  light, and I thought I could see a figure standing in the rain,
• 1:02:30
  quite still, like a man hearkening. And then there came a blinding flash
• 1:02:35
  which showed me my uncle plainly just where I had fancied him to stand,
• 1:02:39
  and hard upon the heels of it a great tow row of thunder. Now,
• 1:02:45
  whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my fall,
• 1:02:49
  or whether he heard in it God's voice denouncing murder, I will leave you
• 1:02:52
  to guess. Certain It is at least that he was seized on by a
• 1:02:57
  kind of panic fear, and that he he ran into the house and left
• 1:03:00
  the door open behind him. I followed as softly as I could, and,
• 1:03:06
  coming unheard into the kitchen, stood and watched him. He had found
• 1:03:10
  time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great case bottle of aquavite,
• 1:03:15
  and now sat with his back towards me at the table. Ever and
• 1:03:20
  again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering, and grown aloud,
• 1:03:23
  and, carrying the bottle to his lips, drinked down the raw spirits
• 1:03:28
  by the mouthful. I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat,
• 1:03:35
  and suddenly, clapping my two hands down upon his shoulders, ah cried
• 1:03:39
  I. My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep's bleat,
• 1:03:45
  flung up his arms, and tumbled to the floor like a dead man.
• 1:03:49
  I was somewhat shocked at this, but I had myself to look to first
• 1:03:53
  of all, and I did not hesitate to let him lie as he had
• 1:03:57
  fallen. The keys were hanging in the covered and it was my design to
• 1:04:00
  furnish myself with arms before my uncle should come again to his senses and the
• 1:04:05
  power of devising evil. In the cupboard were a few bottles, some apparently
• 1:04:11
  of medicine, a great many bills, and other papers, which I should
• 1:04:15
  willingly enough have rummaged, had I had the time and a few necessaries that
• 1:04:19
  were nothing to my purpose. Thence I turned to the chests. The first
• 1:04:25
  was full of meal, the second of money bags and papers tied into sheaves.
• 1:04:30
  In the third with many other things, and these for the most part
• 1:04:33
  clothes. I found a rusty, ugly looking Highland dirk without the scabbard.
• 1:04:39
  This, then I concealed inside my waistcoat and turned to my uncle. He
• 1:04:44
  lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee up and one
• 1:04:47
  arm sprawling abroad. His face had a strange color of blue, and he
• 1:04:53
  seemed to have ceased breathing. Fear came on me that he was dead.
• 1:04:57
  Then I got water and dashed it in his face, and with that he
• 1:05:00
  seemed to come a little to himself, working his mouth and fluttering his eyelids.
• 1:05:06
  At last he looked up and saw me, and there came into his
• 1:05:10
  eyes a terror that was not of this world. Come, Come, said
• 1:05:15
  I sit up, Are ye alive? He sobbed, Oh man, are
• 1:05:20
  you alive? That am? I said, I small? Thanks to you.
• 1:05:28
  He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. The blue
• 1:05:32
  file, said he, in the Olmri, the blue vial. His breath
• 1:05:39
  came slower still. I ran to the cupboard, and sure enough found there
• 1:05:44
  a blue file of medicine with the dose written on it on a paper,
• 1:05:47
  and this I administered to him with what speed I might. It's the trouble,
• 1:05:54
  said he, reviving a little. I have a trouble, Davy,
• 1:05:58
  it's the heart. I set him on a chair and looked at him.
• 1:06:01
  It is true. I felt some pity for a man that looked so sick.
• 1:06:05
  But I was full besides of righteous anger. And I numbered over before
• 1:06:11
  him the points on which I wanted explanation. Why he lied to me at
• 1:06:15
  every word, Why he feared that I should leave him, why he disliked
• 1:06:18
  it to be hinted that he and my father were twins? Is that?
• 1:06:23
  Because it is true? I asked why he had given me money, to
• 1:06:27
  which I was convinced I had no claim, And last of all, why
• 1:06:30
  he had tried to kill me. He heard me all through in silence,
• 1:06:35
  and then, in a broken voice, begged me to let him go to
• 1:06:40
  bed. I'll tell you the mourn, he said, as sure as death,
• 1:06:45
  I will, and so weak was he that I could do nothing but
• 1:06:49
  consent. I locked him into his room, however, and pocketed the key,
• 1:06:56
  and then returning to the kitchen, made up such a blaze as had
• 1:06:59
  not shown there for many a long year, and, wrapping myself in my
• 1:07:02
  plaid, lay down upon the chests and fell asleep. End of chapter Chapter
• 1:07:11
  five. I go to the queen's ferry. Much rain fell in the night,
• 1:07:18
  and the next morning there blew a bitter wintry wind out of the northwest,
• 1:07:23
  driving scattered clouds for all that, and before the sun began to peep
• 1:07:28
  over the last of the stars had vanished, I made my way to the
• 1:07:31
  side of the burn and had a plunge in a deep whirling pool. All
• 1:07:35
  aglow from my bath, sat down once more beside the fire, which I
• 1:07:41
  replenished, and began gravely to consider my position. There was now no doubt
• 1:07:46
  about my uncle's enmity. There was no doubt I carried my life in my
• 1:07:50
  hand, and he would leave no stone unturned that he might compass my destruction.
• 1:07:56
  But I was young and spirited, and like most lads that have been
• 1:08:00
  country bread, I had a great opinion of my shrewdness I'd come to his
• 1:08:03
  door no better than a beggar, little more than a child. He had
• 1:08:08
  met me with treachery and violence. It would be a fine consummation to take
• 1:08:13
  the upper hand and drive him like a herd of sheep. I sat there,
• 1:08:17
  nursing my knee and smiling at the fire, and I saw myself in
• 1:08:21
  fancy smell out his secrets one after another, and grow to be that man's
• 1:08:27
  king and ruler. The Warlock of Essendean, they say, had made a
• 1:08:31
  mirror in which men could read the future. It must have been of other
• 1:08:35
  stuff than burning coal. For in all the shapes and pictures that I sat
• 1:08:40
  and gazed at, there was never a ship, never a seaman with a
• 1:08:45
  hairy cap, never a big bludgeon for my silly head, or the least
• 1:08:48
  sign of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me. Presently,
• 1:08:54
  all swollen with conceit, I went upstairs and gave my prisoner his liberty.
• 1:09:00
  He gave me good morning, civilly, and I gave the same to him,
• 1:09:02
  smiling down upon him from the heights of my sufficiency. Soon we were
• 1:09:08
  set to breakfast, as it might have been the day before. Well sir,
• 1:09:13
  said I, with a jeering tone, have you nothing more to say
• 1:09:16
  to me? And then, as he made no articulate reply, it will
• 1:09:21
  be time, I think to understand each other, I continued. You took
• 1:09:27
  me for a country Johnny raw, with no more mother, wit or courage
• 1:09:30
  than a porridge stick. I took you for a good man, or no
• 1:09:34
  worse than others. At the least, it seems we were both wrong.
• 1:09:39
  What cause have you to fear me, to cheat me, and to attempt
• 1:09:43
  my life? He murmured something about a jest and that he liked a bit
• 1:09:47
  of fun, and then, seeing me smile, changed his tone and assured
• 1:09:53
  me he would make all clear. As soon as we had breakfasted. I
• 1:09:57
  saw by his face that he had no lie ready for me, though he
• 1:10:00
  was hard at work preparing one, and I think I was about to tell
• 1:10:03
  him so when we were interrupted by knocking at the door, bidding my uncle
• 1:10:10
  sit where he was. I went to open it and found on the doorstep
• 1:10:13
  a half grown boy in sea clothes. He had no sooner seen me than
• 1:10:17
  he began to dance some steps of the sea hornpipe, which I had never
• 1:10:21
  before heard of, far less seen, snapping his fingers in the air and
• 1:10:26
  footing it right cleverly for all that he was blue with the cold, and
• 1:10:30
  there was something in his face, a look between tears and laughter that was
• 1:10:35
  highly pathetic and consisted ill with this gayety of manner. What cheer mate,
• 1:10:43
  says he with a cracked voice. I asked him soberly to name his pleasure.
• 1:10:48
  Oh pleasure, says he, and then began to sing, for it's
• 1:10:53
  my delight of a shiny night in the season of the year. Well,
• 1:11:00
  if you have no business at all, I will even be so unmannerly as
• 1:11:04
  to shut you out. Stay, brother, he cried, Have you no
• 1:11:09
  fun about you? Or do you want to get me thrashed? I've brought
• 1:11:14
  a letter from old Heziosi to mister Bellflower. He showed me a letter as
• 1:11:18
  he spoke, and I say, mate, he added, I'm mortal hungry,
• 1:11:25
  well said I come into the house, and you shall have a bite
• 1:11:28
  if I go empty for it. With that, I brought him in and
• 1:11:32
  set him down to my own place, where he fell too greedily on the
• 1:11:35
  remains of breakfast, winking to me between whiles and making many faces which I
• 1:11:42
  think the poor soul considered manly. Meanwhile, my uncle had read the letter
• 1:11:46
  and sat thinking. Then suddenly he got to his feet with a great air
• 1:11:51
  of liveliness, and pulled me apart into the farthest corner of the room.
• 1:11:57
  Read that, said he, and put the letter in my hand. Here
• 1:12:00
  it is lying before me as I write the haws in at the Queen's ferry.
• 1:12:08
  Sir, I lie here with my hawser up and down, and send
• 1:12:12
  my cabin boy to inform if you have any further commands for overseas. To
• 1:12:17
  day will be the last occasion, as the wind will serve us well out
• 1:12:21
  of the firth. I will not seek to deny that I have had crosses
• 1:12:26
  with your doer, mister Wrenkyler, of which if not speedily read up,
• 1:12:30
  you may look to see some losses follow. I have drawn a bill upon
• 1:12:34
  you as per margin, and am, Sir, your most obedient, humble
• 1:12:39
  servant, Elias host Season agent you see Davy resumed my uncle as soon as
• 1:12:47
  he saw that I had done. I have a venture with this man host
• 1:12:50
  Season, the captain of a trading brig the Covenant of Dysart. Now if
• 1:12:57
  you and me was to walk over with young lad I could see the captain
• 1:13:00
  of the haws, maybe on board the Covenant, if there were papers to
• 1:13:04
  be signed, and so far from a loss of time, we can jog
• 1:13:09
  on to the lawyer, mister wren Kuyler's after that's coming gone. You would
• 1:13:14
  be swire to believe me upon my naked word, but you'll believe rang Kyler.
• 1:13:19
  He's factor a half the gentry in these parts, an old man for
• 1:13:24
  by, highly respected, and he kinned your father. I stood awhile in
• 1:13:30
  thought I was going to some place of shipping, which was doubtless populous,
• 1:13:35
  and where my uncle darst attempt no violence, and indeed even the society of
• 1:13:41
  the cabin boy so far protected me. Once there, I believed I could
• 1:13:45
  force on the visit to the lawyer, even if my uncle were now insincere
• 1:13:48
  in proposing it. And perhaps in the bottom of my heart I wished a
• 1:13:54
  nearer view of the sea and ships. You already remember I had lived all
• 1:13:58
  my life in the inland hills, and just two days before had my first
• 1:14:01
  sight of the Thirth lying like a blue floor, and the sailed ships moving
• 1:14:06
  on the face of it, no bigger than toys. One thing with another
• 1:14:11
  I made up my mind very well, says I. Let us go to
• 1:14:16
  the ferry. My uncle got into his hat and coat and buckled an old,
• 1:14:20
  rusty cutlass on, and then we trod the fire out, locked the
• 1:14:25
  door, and set forth upon our walk. The wind, being in that
• 1:14:30
  cold quarter of the northwest, blew nearly in our faces as we went.
• 1:14:34
  It was the month of June. The grass was all white with daisies,
• 1:14:39
  and the trees with blossoms, but to judge by her blue nails and aching
• 1:14:43
  wrists, the time might have been winter, and the whiteness of December frost.
• 1:14:48
  Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side to side like an
• 1:14:53
  old plowman coming home from work. He never said a word the whole way,
• 1:14:58
  and I was thrown for talk. The cabin boy. He told me
• 1:15:01
  his name was Ransom, and that he had followed the sea since he was
• 1:15:05
  nine, but could not say how old he was, as he had lost
• 1:15:09
  his reckoning. He showed me tattoo marks bearing his breast and the teeth of
• 1:15:14
  the wind, and in spite of my remonstrances, for I thought it was
• 1:15:17
  enough to kill him, he swore horribly whenever he remembered, but more like
• 1:15:23
  a silly schoolboy than a man, and boasted of many wild and bad things
• 1:15:28
  that he had done, stealthy thefts, false accusations, aye, and even
• 1:15:32
  murder, but all with such a dearth of likelihood in the details, and
• 1:15:38
  such a weak and crazy swagger in the delivery, as disposed me rather to
• 1:15:43
  pity than to believe him. I asked him of the brig which he declared
• 1:15:47
  was the finest ship that sailed, and of Captain hose Season, in whose
• 1:15:51
  praise, as he was equally loud heziosie for so he still named the skipper
• 1:15:58
  was a man, by his account, that minded for nothing, either in
• 1:16:01
  heaven or earth, one that, as people said, would crack on all
• 1:16:05
  sail into the day of judgment. Rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal.
• 1:16:12
  And all this my poor cabin boy had taught himself to admire as something
• 1:16:15
  seamen like and manly. He would only emit one flaw in his idol.
• 1:16:20
  He ain't no seaman, he admitted, that's mister Schuan that navigates the bridge.
• 1:16:27
  He's the finest seamen in the trade, only for drink. And I
• 1:16:30
  tell you I believe it. Why look here, and turning down his stocking.
• 1:16:34
  He showed me a great raw, red wound that made my blood run
• 1:16:39
  cold. He done that, mister Chuan did that, he said, with
• 1:16:44
  a air of pride. What I cried, Do you take such savage usage
• 1:16:49
  at his hands? Why you're no slave to be so handled? No,
• 1:16:55
  said the poor moon calf, changing his tune at once, And so he'll
• 1:16:59
  find see here. And he showed me a great case knife, which he
• 1:17:03
  told me was stolen. Oh, says he let him see me. Try,
• 1:17:09
  I dare him too, I'll do for him. Oh he ain't the
• 1:17:13
  first, And he confirmed it with a poor, silly, ugly oath.
• 1:17:18
  I have never felt such pity for anyone in this wide world as I felt
• 1:17:23
  for that half witted creature. And it began to come over me that the
• 1:17:26
  brig Covenant, for all her pious name, was little better than a hell
• 1:17:30
  upon the seas. Have you no friends, said I? He said he
• 1:17:36
  had a father in some English seaport I forget, which he was a fine
• 1:17:42
  man too, he said, But he's dead. In Heaven's name, cried
• 1:17:47
  I, can you find no reputable life on shore? Oh? No,
• 1:17:53
  says he, winking and looking very sly. They would put me to a
• 1:17:57
  trade. I know a trick worth two of that, I do. I
• 1:18:01
  asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed, where
• 1:18:05
  he ran the continual peril of his life, not alone from wind and sea,
• 1:18:10
  but by the horrid cruelty of those who were his masters. He said
• 1:18:15
  it was very true, and then began to praise the life, and tell
• 1:18:18
  what a pleasure it was to get on shore with money in his pocket and
• 1:18:23
  spend it like a man, and buy apples and swagger and surprise what he
• 1:18:28
  called stick in the mud boys. And then it's not all as bad as
• 1:18:32
  that, says he. There's worse off than me. There's the twenty pounders,
• 1:18:39
  oh laws, you should see them taking on. Why I've seen a
• 1:18:43
  man as old as you, I daresay to him, I seemed old,
• 1:18:46
  ah, And he had a beard too well. And as soon as we
• 1:18:50
  cleared out of the river and he had the drug out of his head,
• 1:18:55
  my how he cried and carried on. I made a fine foloy of him,
• 1:19:00
  I tell you. But then there's littlands too, oh little by me,
• 1:19:04
  I tell you, I keep them in order. When we carry littlands.
• 1:19:09
  I have a rope's end of my own to wallop them, And so
• 1:19:12
  he ran on until it came in on me. What he meant by twenty
• 1:19:15
  pounders were of those unhappy criminals who were sent overseas to slavery in North America,
• 1:19:21
  or the still more unhappy innocents who were kidnapped or tree panned, as
• 1:19:26
  the word went, for private interest or vengeance. Just then we came to
• 1:19:30
  the top of the hill and looked down on the ferry and the hope.
• 1:19:34
  The Firth of Forth, as is very well known, narrows at this point
• 1:19:40
  to the width of a good sized river, which makes a convenient ferry going
• 1:19:44
  north, and turns the upper reach into a landlocked tabn for all manner of
• 1:19:47
  ships. Right in the midst of the narrows lies an islet with some ruins.
• 1:19:53
  On the south shore. They have built a pier for the service of
• 1:19:56
  the ferry. And at the end of the pier, on the other side
• 1:19:59
  of the the road, and backed against a pretty garden of holly trees and
• 1:20:02
  hawthorns, I could see the building, which they called the haws Inn.
• 1:20:09
  The town of Queen's Ferry lies further west, and the neighborhood of the inn
• 1:20:13
  looked pretty lonely at that time of day, for the boat had just gone
• 1:20:16
  north with passengers. A skiff, however, lay beside the pier with some
• 1:20:21
  seamen sleeping on the thwarts. This, as Ransom told me, was the
• 1:20:26
  Briggs boat waiting for the captain, and about half a mile off, and
• 1:20:30
  all alone in the anchorage. He showed me the Covenant herself. There was
• 1:20:34
  a sea going bustle on board. Yards were swinging into place, and as
• 1:20:40
  the wind blew from that quarter, I could hear the song of the sailors
• 1:20:43
  as they pulled upon the ropes. After all I had listened to upon the
• 1:20:46
  way, I looked at that ship with an extreme abhorrence, and from the
• 1:20:51
  bottom of my heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to sail in
• 1:20:57
  her. We had all three pulls up on the brow of the hill.
• 1:21:00
  And now I marched across the road and addressed my uncle. I think it
• 1:21:05
  right to tell you, sir, says I, there's nothing that will bring
• 1:21:10
  me on board that Covenant. He seemed to awaken from a dream. Eh,
• 1:21:15
  he said, what's that? I told him over again. Well,
• 1:21:20
  well, he said, we'll have to please you. I suppose, but
• 1:21:26
  what are we standing here? For it's haishing cold, And if I'm no
• 1:21:30
  mistake and they're buskin the covenant for sea end of chapter chapter six what befell
• 1:21:39
  at the Queen's Ferry. As soon as we came to the inn, Ransom
• 1:21:45
  led us up the stair to a small room with a bed in it,
• 1:21:48
  and heated like an oven by a great fire of coal. At a table
• 1:21:53
  hard by the chimney, a tall, dark, sober looking man sat riding
• 1:21:58
  in spite of the heat of the room. He wore a thick sea jacket
• 1:22:01
  buttoned to the neck and a tall, hairy cap drawn down over his ears.
• 1:22:06
  Yet I never saw any man, not even a judge upon the bench,
• 1:22:10
  look cooler or more studious and self possessed than this ship captain. He
• 1:22:16
  got to his feet at once, and, coming forward, offered his large
• 1:22:19
  hand to Ebenezer. I am proud to see, mister Balfour, said he
• 1:22:25
  in a fine, deep voice, and glad that you are here. In
• 1:22:28
  time, the wind's fair, and the tide upon the turn, we'll see
• 1:22:32
  the old coal bucket burning on the Isle of May before tonight. Captain hoe
• 1:22:38
  Sasan returned, my uncle, you keep your room, uncle, hot It's
• 1:22:44
  a habit I have, mister Balfour, said the skipper. I'm a cold,
• 1:22:48
  rife man by my nature. I have a cold blood, sir.
• 1:22:51
  There's neither fer nor flannel, no sir, nor hot rum will warm up
• 1:22:57
  what they call the temperature. Sir. It's the same with most men that
• 1:23:00
  had been carbonadoed, as they call it in the tropic seas well. Well,
• 1:23:05
  captain replied my uncle. We must all be the way we're made.
• 1:23:12
  But it chanced that this fancy of the captain's had a great share in my
• 1:23:15
  misfortunes. For though I had promised myself not to let my kinsmen out of
• 1:23:20
  sight, I was both so impatient for a nearer look of the sea and
• 1:23:25
  so sickened by the closeness of the room, that when he told me to
• 1:23:29
  run downstairs and play myself a while, I was fool enough to take him
• 1:23:32
  at his word. Away. I went, therefore, leaving the two men
• 1:23:38
  sitting down to a bottle in a great mass of papers, and crossing the
• 1:23:42
  road in front of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With a
• 1:23:45
  wind in that quarter only little wavelets, not much bigger than I had seen
• 1:23:49
  upon a lake beat upon the shore, But the weeds were new to me,
• 1:23:55
  some green, some brown and long, and some with little bladders that
• 1:24:00
  between my fingers. Even so far up the firth, the smell of the
• 1:24:03
  sea water was exceedingly salt and stirring. The Covenant, besides, was beginning
• 1:24:10
  to shake out her sails, which hung upon the yards in clusters, and
• 1:24:14
  the spirit of all that I beheld put me in thoughts of far voyages and
• 1:24:17
  foreign places. I looked too at the seamen with the skiff, big brown
• 1:24:24
  fellows, some in shirts, some with jackets, some with colored handkerchiefs about
• 1:24:29
  their throats, one with a brace of pistols stuck into his pockets, two
• 1:24:33
  or three with knotty bludgeons, and all with their case knives. I passed
• 1:24:39
  the time of day with one that looked less desperate than his fellows, and
• 1:24:42
  asked him of the sailing of the brig. He said they would get under
• 1:24:45
  way as soon as the ebb set, and expressed his gladness to be out
• 1:24:49
  of a port where there were no taverns and fiddlers, but all with such
• 1:24:54
  horrifying oaths that I made haste to get away from him. This threw me
• 1:24:58
  back on Ransom, who seemed the least wicked of that gang, and who
• 1:25:01
  soon came out of the inn and ran to me crying for a bowl of
• 1:25:05
  punch. I told him I would give him no such thing, for neither
• 1:25:10
  he nor I was of an age for such indulgences. But a glass of
• 1:25:14
  ale you may have, and welcome, says I. He mopped and mowed
• 1:25:18
  at me and called me names, but he was glad to get the ale
• 1:25:21
  for all that. And presently we were set down at the table in the
• 1:25:26
  front room of the inn, and both eating and drinking with a good appetite.
• 1:25:30
  Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man of
• 1:25:33
  that county, I might do well to make a friend of him. I
• 1:25:36
  offered him a share, as was much the custom in those days, But
• 1:25:41
  he was far too great a man to sit with such poor customers as Ransom
• 1:25:45
  and myself. And he was leaving the room when I called him back to
• 1:25:48
  ask if he knew mister Renkuiler. Oh, I says he a very honest
• 1:25:55
  man. And oh, by the bye, says he was it you who
• 1:26:00
  came in with Ebenezer. And when I told him, yes, you be
• 1:26:03
  no friend of his, he asked, meaning in the Scottish way, that
• 1:26:08
  I would be no relative. I told him, no, none, I
• 1:26:13
  thought not, said he. And yet you have a kind of glyph of
• 1:26:17
  mister Alexander, I said, it seemed that Ebenezer was ill seen in the
• 1:26:23
  country. Nay doubt, said the Landlord. He's a wicked old man,
• 1:26:29
  and there's many would like to see him girning in the tow Jennet Klouston him,
• 1:26:32
  menimre that he has harried out of house and ham, And yet he
• 1:26:38
  was once a fine young fellow too, But that was before the soft gate
• 1:26:42
  abroad. About mister Alexander. That was like the death of him. And
• 1:26:46
  what was it? I asked, Oh, just that he had killed him,
• 1:26:51
  said the landlord. Did you never hear that? And what would he
• 1:26:57
  kill him for? Said I? And what for? But just to get
• 1:27:00
  the place? Said he? The place, said I, the Shaws,
• 1:27:06
  the other place that I can, said he. I man, said I
• 1:27:14
  is that? So was Alexander, the eldest son. Indeed he was,
• 1:27:20
  said the landlord. What else would he have killed him for? And with
• 1:27:26
  that he went away, as he had been impatient to do from the beginning
• 1:27:30
  of course, I had guessed it a long while ago, But it is
• 1:27:33
  one thing to guess, another to know. And I sat stunned with my
• 1:27:38
  good fortune, and could scarce grow to believe that the same poor lad who
• 1:27:42
  had trudged in the dust from etric forest not two days ago was now one
• 1:27:46
  of the rich of the earth, and had a house and broad lands,
• 1:27:50
  and might mount his horse tomorrow. All these pleasant things, and a thousand
• 1:27:56
  others, crowded into my mind as I sat staring before me out of the
• 1:28:00
  inn window, and paying no heed to what I saw. Only I remember
• 1:28:04
  that my eye lighted on Captain Hose season down on the pier among a seamen,
• 1:28:10
  and speaking with some authority. Presently he came marching back towards the house,
• 1:28:15
  with no mark of a sailor's clumsiness, but carrying his fine, tall
• 1:28:19
  figure with a manly bearing, and still with the same sober, grave expression
• 1:28:25
  on his face. I wondered if it was possible that Ransom's stories could be
• 1:28:30
  true, and half disbelieved them. They fitted so ill with the man's looks.
• 1:28:35
  But indeed he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quite
• 1:28:40
  so bad as Ransom did, For in fact, he was two men,
• 1:28:44
  and left the better one behind as soon as he set foot on board his
• 1:28:46
  vessel. The next thing, I heard my uncle calling me, and found
• 1:28:51
  the pair in the road together. It was the captain who addressed me,
• 1:28:56
  and that with an air very flattering to a young lad of grave equality.
• 1:29:02
  Sir says he, mister belfour, tells me great things of you, And
• 1:29:06
  for my own part, I like your looks. I wish I was for
• 1:29:11
  longer here, that we might make the better friends, but will make the
• 1:29:15
  most of what we have. He shall come on board my brig for half
• 1:29:18
  an hour till the ebb sets and drink a bowl with me. Now,
• 1:29:24
  I longed to see the inside of a ship, more than words can tell,
• 1:29:28
  but I was not going to put myself in jeopardy. And I told
• 1:29:30
  him my uncle and I had an appointment with a lawyer. Aye aye,
• 1:29:35
  said he He passed me word of that. But you see, the boat'll
• 1:29:40
  sets you ashore at the town pier, and that's but a penny stonecast from
• 1:29:44
  Rangcoller's house. And here he suddenly leaned down and whispered in my ear,
• 1:29:49
  take care the old todd he means mischief. I'm aboard till I can get
• 1:29:54
  a word with you, And then, passing his arm through mine, he
• 1:29:57
  continued aloud as he set off towards his boat. But come, what can
• 1:30:01
  I bring you from the Carolinas? Any friend of mister Balfour's can command a
• 1:30:08
  roll of tobacco, Indian featherwork, a skin of a wild beast, a
• 1:30:12
  stone pipe, the mocking bird that mused for all the world like a cat,
• 1:30:16
  the cardinal bird that is as red as blood. Take your pick and
• 1:30:20
  say your pleasure. By this time we were at the boat's side, and
• 1:30:26
  he was handing me in. I did not dream of hanging back. I
• 1:30:30
  thought the poor fool that I had found a good friend in help her,
• 1:30:34
  and I was rejoiced to see the ship. As soon as we were all
• 1:30:39
  set in our places, the boat was thrust off from the pier and began
• 1:30:43
  to move over the waters. And what with my pleasure in this new movement?
• 1:30:46
  Am I surprise at our low position, and the appearance of the shores,
• 1:30:50
  and the growing bigness of the brig As we drew near to it.
• 1:30:55
  I could hardly understand what the captain said, and must have answered him at
• 1:30:59
  random. As soon as we were alongside, where I sat fairly gaping at
• 1:31:04
  the ship's height, the strong humming of the tide against its sides, and
• 1:31:09
  the pleasant cries of the seamen at their work. Hose Season, declaring that
• 1:31:14
  he and I must be the first aboard, ordered a tackle to be sent
• 1:31:16
  down from the main yard. In this I was whipped into the air and
• 1:31:20
  set down again on the deck, where the captain stood ready waiting for me,
• 1:31:26
  and instantly slipped back his arm under mine. There I stood somewhile,
• 1:31:30
  a little dizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me, perhaps a little afraid,
• 1:31:35
  and yet vastly pleased with these strange sights. The captain meanwhile pointing out
• 1:31:41
  the strangest and telling me their names and uses. But where is my uncle?
• 1:31:46
  Said I? Suddenly, Hi said, hose Season, with a sudden
• 1:31:51
  grimness. That's the point I felt I was lost. With all my strength,
• 1:31:59
  I plucked myself clear of him and ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough
• 1:32:02
  there was the boat pulling for the town, with my uncle sitting in the
• 1:32:05
  stern. I cave a piercing cry, help help murder, so that both
• 1:32:12
  sides of the anchorage rang with it, and my uncle turned round where he
• 1:32:15
  was sitting, and showed me a face full of cruelty and terror. It
• 1:32:21
  was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been plucking me back from
• 1:32:26
  the ship's side, and now a thunderbolt seemed to strike me. I saw
• 1:32:30
  a great flash of fire, and fell senseless. End of chapter Chapter seven,
• 1:32:40
  I go to see in the brig Covenant of Dysart. I came to
• 1:32:45
  myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot, and deafened
• 1:32:50
  by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears a roaring of water,
• 1:32:56
  as of a huge mill damp, the thrashing of heavy sprays, the thundering
• 1:33:00
  of the sails, and the shrill cries of seamen. The whole world now
• 1:33:05
  heaved giddily up and now rushed giddily downward. And so sick and hurt was
• 1:33:11
  I in body, and my mind so much confounded that it took me a
• 1:33:15
  long while, chasing my thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again by
• 1:33:18
  a fresh stab of pain, to realize that I must be lying somewhere,
• 1:33:24
  bound in the belly of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have
• 1:33:28
  strengthened to a gale with a clear perception of my plight. There fell upon
• 1:33:32
  me a blackness of despair, a horror of remorse at my own folly,
• 1:33:38
  and a passion of anger at my uncle, that once more bereft me of
• 1:33:42
  my senses. When I returned again to life, the same uproar, the
• 1:33:47
  same confused and violent movements, shook and deafened me. And presently to my
• 1:33:53
  other pains and distresses, there was added the sickness of an unused landsman on
• 1:33:58
  the sea. And that time of my adventurous youth, I suffered many hardships,
• 1:34:03
  but none that was so crushing to my mind and body were lit by
• 1:34:08
  so few hopes as these first hours aboard the brig, I heard a gun
• 1:34:13
  fire, and supposed the storm had proved too strong for us, and we
• 1:34:16
  were firing signals of distress. The thought of deliverance, even by death in
• 1:34:21
  the deep sea, was welcome to me. Yet it was no such matter.
• 1:34:27
  But as I was afterwards told a common habit of the captain's, which
• 1:34:31
  I here set down to show that even the worst man may have his kindly
• 1:34:35
  as side we were then passing, it appeared within some miles of Dysart,
• 1:34:42
  where the brig was built, and where old missus hose season, the captain's
• 1:34:45
  mother had come some years before to live, And whether outward or inward bound,
• 1:34:50
  the covenant was never suffered to go by that place by day without a
• 1:34:55
  gun fired in colors shown. I had no measure of day and night were
• 1:35:01
  alike in that ill smelling cavern of the ship's bowels where I lay, and
• 1:35:06
  the misery of my situation drew out the hours to double. How long therefore
• 1:35:12
  I lay, waiting to hear the ship split upon some rock, or to
• 1:35:15
  feel her real head foremost into the depths of the sea. I have not
• 1:35:20
  the means of computation, but sleep at length stole from me the consciousness of
• 1:35:26
  sorrow. I was awakened by the light of a hand lantern shining in my
• 1:35:30
  face. A small man of about thirty, green eyes and a tangle of
• 1:35:34
  fair hair, stood looking down at me. Well, said he, how
• 1:35:41
  goes it? I answered by a sob, And my visitor then felt my
• 1:35:45
  pulse and temples, and set himself to wash, and dressed the wound upon
• 1:35:48
  my scalp. Aye said he a sword dant what man? Cheer up?
• 1:35:56
  The world's no done. You've made a bad start of it, But you'll
• 1:35:59
  make a bad Have you had any meat, I said, I could not
• 1:36:03
  look at it, And thereupon he gave me some brandy and water in a
• 1:36:08
  tin pannikin, and left me once more to myself. The next time he
• 1:36:14
  came to see me, I was lying betwixt sleep and waking, my eyes
• 1:36:17
  wide open in the darkness. The sickness quite departed, but succeeded by a
• 1:36:21
  horrid giddiness. In swimming that were almost worse to bear. I ached besides
• 1:36:28
  in every limb, and the cords that bound me seemed to be of fire.
• 1:36:32
  The smell of the hole in which I lay seemed to have become a
• 1:36:34
  part of me. And during the long interval since his last visit, I
• 1:36:39
  had suffered tortures of fear, now from the scurrying of the ship's rats that
• 1:36:44
  sometimes pattered on my very face, and now from the dismal imaginings that haunt
• 1:36:49
  the bed of fever. The glimmer of the lantern, as a trap opened,
• 1:36:55
  shone in like the heaven sunlight, And though it only showed me the
• 1:36:59
  strong dark beam of the ship that was my prison, I could have cried
• 1:37:01
  aloud for gladness. The man with the green eyes was the first to descend
• 1:37:06
  the latter, and I noticed that he came somewhat unsteadily. He was followed
• 1:37:12
  by the captain. Neither said a word, but the first set to and
• 1:37:15
  examined me and dressed my wound as before, while Hoseason looked me in my
• 1:37:20
  face with an odd black look. Now, sir, you see for yourself,
• 1:37:27
  said the first, A high fever, no appetite, no light,
• 1:37:30
  no meat. You see for yourself what that means. I am no conjuror,
• 1:37:35
  mister Riach, said the captain. Ye may leave, sir, said
• 1:37:42
  Riach, You've a good head upon your shoulders and a good Scotch tongue to
• 1:37:45
  ask with. But I will leave you no manner of excuse. I want
• 1:37:49
  that boy taken out of this hole and put in the forecastle. What you
• 1:37:55
  may want, sir, as a matter of concerned to nobody but yourself,
• 1:37:58
  returned the captain. But I can tell you that which is to be here,
• 1:38:02
  he is here. He shall bide, admitting that you have been paid
• 1:38:09
  in proportion, said the other. I will crave leave humbly to say that
• 1:38:13
  I have not paid. I am and none too much to be the second
• 1:38:16
  officer of this old tub, and you can very well if I do my
• 1:38:20
  best to earn it. But I was paid for nothing more. If ye
• 1:38:26
  could hold back your hand from the tin pan, mister Riach, I would
• 1:38:29
  have no complaint to make of you. Returned the skipper, and instead of
• 1:38:33
  asking riddles, I make bold to say that you would hold your breath to
• 1:38:36
  cool your porridge will be required on deck, he added in a sharper note,
• 1:38:43
  and set one foot upon the ladder. But mister Riach caught him by
• 1:38:48
  the sleeve, admitting that you've been paid to do a murder. He began
• 1:38:54
  hose season turned upon him with a flash. What's that? He cried?
• 1:38:59
  What kind of talk as that? It seems it is the talk that you
• 1:39:03
  can understand, said mister Riach, looking him steadily in the face. Mister
• 1:39:09
  reach I have sailed with ye three cruisers, replied the captain. In all
• 1:39:14
  that time, sir, you should have learned to know me. I'm a
• 1:39:17
  stiff man and a dour man. But for what you say, the now
• 1:39:21
  fie fie, it comes from a bad heart and a black conscience. If
• 1:39:27
  you say the lad will die, ay, he will, said mister reach
• 1:39:31
  Well. Sir, is that not enough? Said ho season flit him where
• 1:39:36
  you please. Thereupon the Captain ascended the latter, and I, who had
• 1:39:42
  lain silent throughout this strange conversation, beheld mister Riach turn after how as low
• 1:39:46
  as to his knees, in what was plainly a spirit of derision. Even
• 1:39:51
  in my then state of sickness, I perceived two things. That the mate
• 1:39:56
  was touched with liquor, as the Captain hinted, and that, drunk or
• 1:40:00
  sober, he was like to prove a valuable friend. Five minutes afterwards my
• 1:40:05
  bonds were cut. I was hoisted on a man's back, carried up to
• 1:40:10
  the forecastle, and laid in a bunk on some sea blankets, where the
• 1:40:14
  first thing that I did was to lose my senses. It was a blessed
• 1:40:17
  thing, indeed, to open my eyes again upon the daylight, and to
• 1:40:21
  find myself in the society of men. The forecastle was a roomy place enough,
• 1:40:28
  set all about with berths in which the men of the watch below were
• 1:40:30
  seated, smoking or lying down asleep. The day being calm and the wind
• 1:40:36
  fair, the scuttle was open, and not only the good daylight, but
• 1:40:40
  from time to time. As the ship rolled, a dusty beam of sunlight
• 1:40:45
  shone in, dazzled and delighted me. I had no sooner moved moreover than
• 1:40:50
  one of the men brought me a drink of something healing, which mister Riach
• 1:40:55
  had prepared, and bade me lie still, and I should soon be well
• 1:40:58
  again. There were no bones broken, he explained, The kloer on the
• 1:41:02
  head were nothing, man said he. It was me that gave it.
• 1:41:06
  Ye. Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner,
• 1:41:13
  not only got my health again, but came to know my companions. They
• 1:41:16
  were a rough lot, indeed, as sailors mostly are, being men rooted
• 1:41:21
  out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss together on
• 1:41:26
  the rough seas with masters no less cruel. There were some among them that
• 1:41:30
  had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to
• 1:41:34
  speak of. Some were men that had run from the king's ships and went
• 1:41:40
  with a halter round their necks, of which they made no secret, And
• 1:41:44
  all, as the saying goes, were at a word and a blow with
• 1:41:47
  their best friends. Yet I had not been many days shut up with them
• 1:41:51
  before I began to be ashamed of my first judgment when I had drawn away
• 1:41:57
  from them at the fairy pier, as though they had been unclean beasts.
• 1:42:01
  No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and
• 1:42:05
  virtues, and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough
• 1:42:11
  They were, sure enough, and bad, I suppose, but they had
• 1:42:15
  many virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them, simple, even
• 1:42:19
  beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, and had some glimmerings of
• 1:42:24
  honesty. There was one man of maybe forty that would sit on my birth
• 1:42:30
  side for hours and tell me of his wife and child. He was a
• 1:42:33
  fisher that had lost his boat and thus been driven to the deep sea voyaging.
• 1:42:39
  Well, it is years ago now, but I have never forgotten him.
• 1:42:44
  His wife, who was young by him, as he often told me,
• 1:42:47
  waited in vain to see her man return. He would never again make
• 1:42:50
  the fire for her in the morning, nor yet keep the baron when she
• 1:42:55
  was sick. Indeed, many of these poor fellows, as the event proved,
• 1:43:00
  where upon their last cruise the deep seas and cannibal fish received them.
• 1:43:04
  And it is a thankless business to speak ill of the dead. Among other
• 1:43:11
  good deeds that they did, they returned my money, which had been shared
• 1:43:15
  among them, and though it was about a third short, I was very
• 1:43:17
  glad to get it, and hoped great good from it. In the land
• 1:43:20
  I was going to. The ship was bound for the Carolinas, and you
• 1:43:26
  must not suppose that I was going to that place merely as an exile.
• 1:43:30
  The trade was even then much depressed. Since that, and with the rebellion
• 1:43:33
  of the colonies and the formation of the United States, it has of course
• 1:43:39
  come to an end. But in those days of my youth, white men
• 1:43:43
  were still sold into slavery on the plantations, and that was the destiny to
• 1:43:47
  which my wicked uncle had condemned me. The cabin boy Ransom, from whom
• 1:43:53
  I had first heard of these atrocities, came in at times from the roundhouse
• 1:43:57
  where he birthed and served, now nursing a bruised limb and silent agony,
• 1:44:02
  now raving against the cruelty of mister Chuan. It made my heart bleed.
• 1:44:08
  But the men had a great respect for the chief Mate, who was,
• 1:44:11
  as they said, the only seamen of the whole jing Bang, and none
• 1:44:15
  such a bad man when he was sober. Indeed, I found there was
• 1:44:19
  a strange peculiarity about our two mates, that mister Riach was sullen, unkind
• 1:44:25
  and harsh when he was sober, and mister Chuan would not hurt a fly
• 1:44:30
  except when he was drinking. I asked about the captain, but I was
• 1:44:33
  told drink made no difference upon that man of iron. I did my best
• 1:44:39
  in the small time, allowed me to make something like a man, or
• 1:44:42
  rather, I should say something like a boy of the poor creature ransom.
• 1:44:47
  But his mind was scarce, truly human. He could remember nothing of the
• 1:44:51
  time before he came to see, only that his father had made clocks and
• 1:44:56
  had a starling in the parlor which could whistle the north country. All else
• 1:45:01
  had been blotted out in these years of hardship and cruelties. He had a
• 1:45:05
  strange notion of the dry land, picked up from sailor's stories, that it
• 1:45:11
  was a place where lads were put to some kind of slavery called a trade,
• 1:45:15
  and where apprentices were continually lashed and clapped into foul prisons. In a
• 1:45:19
  town. He thought every second person a decoy, and every third house a
• 1:45:25
  place in which seamen would be drugged and murdered. To be sure, I
• 1:45:29
  would tell him how kindly I had myself been used upon that dry land he
• 1:45:32
  was so much afraid of, and how well fed and carefully taught, both
• 1:45:36
  by my friends and my parents. And if he had been recently hurt,
• 1:45:41
  he would weep bitterly and swear to run away. But if he was in
• 1:45:45
  his usual crack brain humor, or still more, if he had had a
• 1:45:48
  glass of spirits in the roundhouse, he would deride the notion. It was
• 1:45:55
  mister Riach, Heaven forgive him who gave the boy drink, and it was
• 1:46:00
  doubtless kindly meant. But besides that, it was ruined to his health.
• 1:46:04
  It was the pitifulest thing in life to see this unhappy, unfriended creature staggering
• 1:46:10
  and dancing and talking. He knew not what. Some of the men laughed,
• 1:46:15
  but not all. Others would grow as black as thunder, thinking perhaps
• 1:46:19
  of their own childhood or their own children, and bid him stop that nonsense
• 1:46:25
  and think what he was doing. As for me, I felt ashamed to
• 1:46:29
  look at him, and the poor child still comes about me in my dreams
• 1:46:34
  all this time. You should know the covenant was meeting continual headwinds and tumbling
• 1:46:40
  up and down against head seas, so that the scuttle was almost constantly shut,
• 1:46:45
  and the forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern on a beam. There
• 1:46:49
  was constant labor for all hands. The sails had to be made and shortened
• 1:46:54
  every hour. The strain told on the men's temper. There was a growl
• 1:46:59
  of coral all day long, from birth to birth. And as I was
• 1:47:02
  never allowed to set my foot on deck, you can picture to yourselves how
• 1:47:08
  weary of my life I grew to be, and how impatient for a change,
• 1:47:13
  and a change I was to get, as you shall hear. But
• 1:47:15
  I must first tell of a conversation I have with mister Riach, which put
• 1:47:20
  a little heart in me to bear my troubles getting him in a favorable stage
• 1:47:25
  of drink. For indeed he never looked near me when he was sober.
• 1:47:30
  I pledged him to secrecy and told him my whole story. He declared it
• 1:47:34
  was like a ballad, that he would do his best to help me.
• 1:47:39
  That I should have paper, pen and ink and write one line to mister
• 1:47:42
  Campbell and another to mister Rangkeyler, And that if I had told the truth
• 1:47:46
  ten to one. He would be able, with their help to pull me
• 1:47:49
  through and set me in my rights. And in the meantime says he keep
• 1:47:56
  your heart up. You're not the only one. I'll tell you that there's
• 1:48:00
  many a man hoeing tobacco overseas that should be mounting his horse at his own
• 1:48:03
  door at home, many and many, and life is all a very orum
• 1:48:09
  at the best. Look at me. I'm a laird's son and more than
• 1:48:13
  half a doctor, and here I am man Jack the host season. I
• 1:48:17
  thought it would be civil to ask him for a story. He whistled loud,
• 1:48:24
  never had one, said he I like fun, that's all, And
• 1:48:28
  he skipped out of the forecastle. End of chapter chapter eight, the round
• 1:48:34
  House. One night, about eleven o'clock, a man of mister Riach's watch,
• 1:48:43
  which was on deck, came below for his jacket, and instantly there
• 1:48:46
  began to go a whisper about the forecastle that Shuan had done for him.
• 1:48:50
  At last, there was no need of a name. We all knew who
• 1:48:55
  was meant, but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly in our
• 1:48:59
  heads, far less to speak of it. When the scuttle was again flung
• 1:49:02
  open, and Captain hose Sieson came down the ladder. He looked sharply round
• 1:49:08
  the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern, and then walking straight up
• 1:49:12
  to me, he addressed me, to my surprise, in tones of kindness.
• 1:49:16
  By man said he, I want ye to serve in the round house.
• 1:49:21
  You and Ransom are to change berths. Run away aft with ye.
• 1:49:26
  Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carrying Ransom in
• 1:49:30
  their arms, and the ship at that moment giving a great sheer into the
• 1:49:34
  sea, and the lantern swinging. The light fell direct on the boy's face.
• 1:49:40
  It was white as wax and had a look upon it like a dreadful
• 1:49:44
  smile. The blood in me ran cold, and I drew in my breath
• 1:49:47
  as if I had been struck. Run Away aft, run away aft with
• 1:49:53
  ye, cried Hoseason, And at that I brushed by the sailors and the
• 1:49:57
  boy, who neither spoke nor moved, and ran up the ladder. On
• 1:50:01
  deck, the brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, cresting swell.
• 1:50:08
  She was on the starboard tack and on the left hand under the arched
• 1:50:12
  foot of the foresail, I could see the sunset still quite bright. This
• 1:50:16
  at such an hour of the night surprised me greatly, but I was too
• 1:50:20
  ignorant to draw the true conclusion that we were going north about round Scotland,
• 1:50:26
  and were now on the high Sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands, having
• 1:50:30
  avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth. For my part, who had
• 1:50:34
  been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing of head winds, I
• 1:50:39
  thought we might be half way or more across the Atlantic, And indeed beyond
• 1:50:44
  that I wandered a little at the lateness of the sunset light, I gave
• 1:50:47
  no heed to it, pushed on across the decks, running between the seas,
• 1:50:53
  catching at ropes, and only saved from going overboard by one of the
• 1:50:56
  hands on deck, who had always been kind to me. The round house
• 1:51:01
  for which I was bound, and where I was now to sleep and serve,
• 1:51:05
  stood some six feet above the decks, and, considering the size of
• 1:51:10
  the brig, was of good dimensions. Inside was a fixed table and bench,
• 1:51:15
  and two berths, one for the captain and the other for the two
• 1:51:17
  mates. Turn and turn about It was all fitted with lockers from top to
• 1:51:23
  bottom, so as to stow away the officer's belongings, and a part of
• 1:51:27
  the ship's stores. There was the second store room, underneath which you entered
• 1:51:31
  by a hatchway in the middle of the deck. Indeed, all the best
• 1:51:34
  of the meat and drink, and the whole of the powder were collected in
• 1:51:38
  this place, and all the firearms except the two pieces of brass ordnance,
• 1:51:44
  were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the round house. The
• 1:51:47
  most of the cutlasses were in another place. A small window with a shutter
• 1:51:51
  on each side, and a skylight in the roof gave it light by day
• 1:51:57
  and after dark. There was a lamp always burning. It was burning when
• 1:52:00
  I entered, not brightly, but enough to show mister Chuan sitting at the
• 1:52:04
  table with the brandy bottle and a tin pannikin in front of him. He
• 1:52:10
  was a tall man, strongly made, and very black, and he stared
• 1:52:14
  before him on the table like one stupid. He took no notice of my
• 1:52:18
  coming in, nor did he move when the captain followed, and leanked on
• 1:52:21
  the berth beside me, looking darkly at the mate. I stood in great
• 1:52:27
  fear of hose season, and had my reasons for it. But something told
• 1:52:31
  me I need not be afraid of him just then, and I whispered in
• 1:52:34
  his ear, how is he? He shook his head like one that does
• 1:52:40
  not know and does not wish to think, and his face was very stern.
• 1:52:45
  Presently mister Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance that meant
• 1:52:49
  the boy was dead, as plain as speaking, and took his place like
• 1:52:54
  the rest of us, so that we all three stood without a word,
• 1:52:58
  staring down at mister Chuan, and mister Chuan on his side, sat without
• 1:53:02
  a word, looking hard upon the table. All of a sudden he put
• 1:53:06
  out his hand to take the bottle, and at that mister Ryach started forward
• 1:53:12
  and caught it away from him, rather by surprise than violence, crying out
• 1:53:16
  with an oath that there had been too much of this work altogether, and
• 1:53:19
  that a judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke, the
• 1:53:25
  weather sliding doors standing open, he tossed the bottle into the sea. Mister
• 1:53:30
  Chuan was on his feet at a trice. He still looked dazed, but
• 1:53:33
  he meant murder aye, and would have done it for the second time that
• 1:53:38
  night, had not. The captain stepped in between him and his victim.
• 1:53:42
  Sit down, roars the captain. Yes, sot and swine, d'ye know
• 1:53:46
  what you've done. You've murdered the boy. Mister Chuan seemed to understand,
• 1:53:51
  for he sat down again and put up his hand to his brow all he
• 1:53:58
  said, hey, brought me a dirty pannikin. At that word, the
• 1:54:02
  Captain and I and mister Riach all looked at each other for a second with
• 1:54:06
  a kind of frightened look, and then Hose Susan walked up to his chief
• 1:54:11
  officer, took him by the shoulder, led him across to his bunk,
• 1:54:15
  and bade him lie down and go to sleep, as you might speak to
• 1:54:18
  a bad child. The murderer cried a little, but he took off his
• 1:54:23
  sea boots and obeyed. Ah, cried mister Riach with a dreadful voice.
• 1:54:29
  You should have interfered long since it's too late now, mister Riach, said
• 1:54:35
  the captain. This night's work must never be kent in dysart. The boy
• 1:54:40
  went overboard, sir, that's what the story is, and I would give
• 1:54:45
  five pounds out of my pocket. It was true he turned to the table.
• 1:54:49
  What made you throw the good bottle away? He added, there was
• 1:54:54
  no sense in that, sir. Here David draw me another. They're in
• 1:54:58
  the bottom locker, and he tossed me a key. You'll need a glass
• 1:55:02
  yourself, sir, he added, De ryach Yan was an ugly thing to
• 1:55:06
  see. So the pair sat down and habanabed. And while they did so,
• 1:55:13
  the murderer, who had been lying and whimpering in his berth, raised
• 1:55:16
  himself upon his elbow and looked at them and at me. That was the
• 1:55:21
  first night of my new duties, and in the course of the next day
• 1:55:26
  I had got well into the run of them. I had to serve at
• 1:55:29
  the meals which the captain took at regular hours, sitting down with the officer
• 1:55:33
  who was off duty. All the day through I would be running with a
• 1:55:38
  dram to one or other of my three masters. And at night I slept
• 1:55:42
  on a blanket thrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the round
• 1:55:45
  house, and right in the draft of the two doors. It was a
• 1:55:49
  hard and a cold bed. Nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption,
• 1:55:55
  for some one would always be coming in from deck to get a dram and
• 1:55:59
  when a fresh watch was to be set, two when sometimes all three would
• 1:56:02
  sit down and brew a bowl together. How they kept their health I know
• 1:56:06
  not any more than how I kept my own. And yet in other ways
• 1:56:12
  it was an easy service. There was no cloth delay. The meals were
• 1:56:15
  either of oatmeal, porridge, or salt junk, except twice a week when
• 1:56:20
  there was duff, and though I was clumsy enough and not being firm on
• 1:56:26
  my sea legs, sometimes fell with what I was bringing them. Both mister
• 1:56:30
  Reac and the Captain were singularly patient. I could not but fancy they were
• 1:56:34
  making up leeway with their consciences, and that they would scarce have been so
• 1:56:39
  good with me if they had not been worse with ransom. As for mister
• 1:56:45
  Chuan, the drink or his crime, or the two together had certainly troubled
• 1:56:49
  his mind. I cannot say I ever saw him in his proper wits.
• 1:56:54
  He never grew used to my being there, stared at me continually, sometimes
• 1:57:00
  I could have thought with terror, and more than once drew back from my
• 1:57:03
  hand. When I was serving him. I was pretty sure from the first
• 1:57:06
  that he had no clear mind of what he had done, and on my
• 1:57:11
  second day in the round house, I had the proof of it. We
• 1:57:14
  were alone, and he had been staring at me a long time, when
• 1:57:17
  all at once up he got as pale as death and came up close to
• 1:57:21
  me, to my great terror, but I had no cause to be afraid
• 1:57:25
  of him. You were not here before, he asked, No, Sir,
• 1:57:30
  said I. There was another boy. He asked again, And when
• 1:57:36
  I had answered him, ah, says he. I thought that and went
• 1:57:43
  and sat down without another word, except to call for Brandy. You may
• 1:57:47
  think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I was still
• 1:57:51
  sorry for him. He was a married man with a wife in Leith.
• 1:57:57
  But whether or no he had a family I have now forgot, I hope
• 1:58:00
  not. Altogether was no very hard life. For the time it lasted,
• 1:58:05
  which, as you are to hear, was not long. I was as
• 1:58:10
  well fed as the best of them. Even their pickles, which were the
• 1:58:13
  great dainty, I was allowed my share of, and had I liked,
• 1:58:16
  I might have been drunk from morning to night. Like mister Chuan, I
• 1:58:20
  had company to and good company of its sort. Mister Riach, who had
• 1:58:25
  been to the college, spoke to me like a friend when he was not
• 1:58:29
  sulking, told me many curious things and some that were informing. And even
• 1:58:33
  the Captain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most part of
• 1:58:36
  the time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit and tell me of the fine countries
• 1:58:42
  he had visited. The shadow of poor Ransom, to be sure, lay
• 1:58:45
  on all four of us, and on me and mister Chuan in particular most
• 1:58:50
  heavily. And then I had another trouble of my own. Here I was
• 1:58:56
  doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon, and one of
• 1:59:00
  whom at least should have been hung upon a gallows. That was for the
• 1:59:03
  present, and as for the future, I could only see myself slaving alongside
• 1:59:09
  of negroes in the tobacco fields. Mister Riach, perhaps from caution, would
• 1:59:15
  never suffer me to say another word about my story. The captain, whom
• 1:59:18
  I tried to approach, rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a
• 1:59:23
  word. And as the days came and went, my heart sank lower and
• 1:59:28
  lower till I was even glad of the work which kept me from thinking.
• 1:59:33
  And a chapter chapter nine, The Man with the Belt of Gold, more
• 1:59:42
  than a week went by in which the ill luck that had hitherto pursued the
• 1:59:45
  Covenant, upon this voyage grew yet more strongly marked. Some days she made
• 1:59:50
  a little way, others she was driven actually back. At last we were
• 1:59:56
  beaten so far to the south that we tossed intact to and fro the whole
• 2:00:00
  of the ninth day, within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild rocky coast
• 2:00:04
  on either hand of it. There followed on that a council of the officers,
• 2:00:10
  and some decision which I did not rightly understand, seeing only the result
• 2:00:15
  that we had made a fair wind of a foul one, and were running
• 2:00:17
  south. The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet,
• 2:00:23
  white fog that hid one end of the brig from the other all afternoon.
• 2:00:28
  When I went on deck, I saw men and officers listening hard over
• 2:00:31
  the bulwarks. For breakers, they said, and though I did not so
• 2:00:36
  much as understand the word, I felt danger in the air and was excited.
• 2:00:43
  Maybe about ten at night, I was serving mister Riach and the captain
• 2:00:46
  at their supper when the ship struck something with a great sound, and we
• 2:00:50
  heard voices singing out. My two masters leaped to their feet. She struck,
• 2:00:57
  said mister riach. No, Sir, said the captain, We've only
• 2:01:01
  run a boat down, and they hurried out. The captain was in the
• 2:01:06
  right of it. We had run down a boat in the fog, and
• 2:01:10
  she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom with all her crew,
• 2:01:13
  but won. This man, as I heard afterwards, had been sitting
• 2:01:17
  in the stern as a passenger, while the rest were on the benches rowing.
• 2:01:23
  At the moment of the blow, the stern had been thrown into the
• 2:01:26
  air, and the man, having his hands free and for all he was
• 2:01:30
  encumbered with a frieze overcoat that came below his knees, had leaped up and
• 2:01:34
  caught hold of the brig's bowsprit It showed he had luck and much agility and
• 2:01:40
  unusual strength that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass And yet
• 2:01:45
  when the captain brought him into the round house and I set eyes on him
• 2:01:49
  for the first time, he looked as cool as I did. He was
• 2:01:55
  smallish in stature, but well set, and as nimble as a goat.
• 2:01:59
  His face was of a good open expression, but sun burnt, very dark
• 2:02:03
  and heavily freckled and pitted with a smallpox. His eyes were unusually light and
• 2:02:09
  had a kind of dancing madness in them that was both engaging in alarming.
• 2:02:14
  And when he took off his greatcoat, he laid a pair of fine silver
• 2:02:17
  mounted pistols on the table, and I saw that he was belted with a
• 2:02:21
  great sword. His manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the
• 2:02:26
  captain handsomely. Altogether, I thought of him at the first sight, that
• 2:02:31
  here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy. The
• 2:02:35
  captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather of the man's clothes
• 2:02:41
  than his person. And to be sure, as soon as he had taken
• 2:02:45
  off the greatcoat, he showed forth mighty fine for the round house of a
• 2:02:47
  merchant brig having a hat with feathers, a red waistcoat, breeches of black
• 2:02:54
  plush, and a blue coat with silver buttons, and handsome silver lace clothes.
• 2:03:00
  Though somewhat spoiled with a fog and being slept in, I'm vexed,
• 2:03:05
  sir about the boat, said the captain. There are some pretty men gone
• 2:03:12
  to the bottom, said the stranger, that they would rather see on the
• 2:03:15
  dry land again. Than half a score of boats friends of yours, said,
• 2:03:20
  O season, you have none such friends in your country, was the
• 2:03:26
  reply. They would have died for me like dogs, Well, sir,
• 2:03:31
  said the captain, still watching him. There are more men in the world
• 2:03:34
  than boats to put them in. Eh. And that's true too, cried
• 2:03:40
  the other. And you seem to be a gentleman of great penetration. I
• 2:03:45
  have been in France, sir, says the captain, so that it was
• 2:03:48
  plain he meant more by the words than showed upon the face of them.
• 2:03:53
  Well, sir, says the other. And so is many a pretty man
• 2:03:57
  for the matter of that, no doubt, sir, says the captain.
• 2:04:01
  And fine coats a hole, says the stranger. Is that how the wind
• 2:04:08
  sets? And he laid his hand quickly on his pistols. Don't be hasty,
• 2:04:14
  said the captain. Don't do a mischief before you see the need of
• 2:04:16
  it. Ye've a French soldier's coat upon your back and a Scotch tongue in
• 2:04:20
  your head, to be sure. But so has many an honest fellow these
• 2:04:25
  days. And I dare say none the worse of it, so said the
• 2:04:30
  gentleman in the fine coat. Are ye of the honest party, meaning was
• 2:04:36
  he a Jacobite? For each side in these sort of civil broils takes the
• 2:04:42
  name of honesty for its own. Why, Sir, replied the captain,
• 2:04:46
  I am a true blue Protestant, and I thank God for it. It
• 2:04:51
  was the first word of any religion I had ever heard from him. But
• 2:04:56
  I learned afterwards he was a great church goer while on shore. But for
• 2:05:00
  all that says he, I can be sorry to see another man with his
• 2:05:03
  back to the wall, can ye sew indeed asked the Jacobite. Well,
• 2:05:11
  sir, to be quite plain with ye. I am one of those er
• 2:05:15
  honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years forty five and six. And
• 2:05:20
  to be still quite plain with ye. If I got into the hands of
• 2:05:25
  any of the red coated gentry, it's like it would go hard with me.
• 2:05:29
  Now, Sir, I was for France, and there was a French
• 2:05:32
  ship cruising here to pick me up. But she gave us the go by
• 2:05:36
  and the fog as I wish from the heart that YE had done yourself.
• 2:05:41
  And the best that I can say is this, if ye can set me
• 2:05:45
  ashore where I was going, I have that upon me. We'll reward you
• 2:05:48
  highly for your trouble in France, says the captain. No, sir,
• 2:05:55
  that I cannot do. But where ye come from we might talk o that.
• 2:06:00
  And then unhappily he observed me standing in my corner and packed me off
• 2:06:04
  to the galley to get supper for the gentleman. I lost no time,
• 2:06:08
  I promise you, And when I came back into the round house, I
• 2:06:12
  found the gentleman had taken a money belt from about his waist and poured out
• 2:06:15
  a guinea or two upon the table. The captain was looking at the guineas,
• 2:06:19
  and then at the belt, and then at the gentleman's face, and
• 2:06:24
  I thought he seemed excited. Half of it, he cried, and I'm
• 2:06:28
  your man. The other swept back the guineas into the belt and put it
• 2:06:33
  on again under his waistcoat. I have told you, sir, said he
• 2:06:39
  that not one doit of it belongs to me. It belongs to my chieftain.
• 2:06:44
  And here he touched his hat. And while I would be but a
• 2:06:46
  silly messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come safe, I
• 2:06:50
  should show myself a hound. Indeed, if I bought my own carcass any
• 2:06:55
  to deer thirty guineas on the sea side, or sixty if you set me
• 2:07:00
  on the Lineloch take it if you will. If not, you can do
• 2:07:03
  your worst, I said Hoseason. And if I give you over to the
• 2:07:09
  soldiers, you would make a fool's pargain, said the other. My chief.
• 2:07:15
  Let me tell you, sir, is forfeited. Like every honest man
• 2:07:18
  in Scotland. His estates is in the hands of the man they call King
• 2:07:23
  George. And it is his officers that collects the rents, or try to
• 2:07:27
  collect them. But for the honor of Scotland, the poor tenant bodies take
• 2:07:31
  a thought upon their chief lying in exile, and this money is a part
• 2:07:35
  of that very rent for which King George is looking. Now, sir,
• 2:07:41
  you seem to me to be a man that understands things. Bring this money
• 2:07:45
  within the reach of government, and how much of it'll come to you?
• 2:07:49
  Little enough, to be sure, said Hoseason. And then if they knew,
• 2:07:57
  he added dryly. But I think if I was to try that,
• 2:08:01
  I could hold my tongue about it. Ah, But I'll begaut you there,
• 2:08:05
  cried the gentleman. Play me false and i'll play you cutting. If
• 2:08:11
  a hand is laid upon me, they shall ken what money it is well,
• 2:08:16
  returned the captain. That must be must sixty guineas. And done,
• 2:08:20
  here's my hand upon it, and here's mine, said the other. And
• 2:08:26
  thereupon the captain went out rather hurriedly, I thought, and left me alone
• 2:08:30
  in the roundhouse with the stranger. At that period, so soon after the
• 2:08:35
  forty five, there were many exiled gentlemen coming back at the peril of their
• 2:08:39
  lives, either to see their friends or to collect a little money. And
• 2:08:43
  as for the highland chiefs that had been forfeited, it was a common matter
• 2:08:48
  of talk how their tenants would stint themselves to send them money, and their
• 2:08:52
  clansmen outfaced the soldiery to get it in and run the gauntlet of our great
• 2:08:56
  navy to carry it across. All this I had, of course heard tell
• 2:09:01
  of. And now I had a man under my eyes whose life was forfeit
• 2:09:05
  on all these counts, and upon one more. For he was not only
• 2:09:07
  a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but he had taken service with King
• 2:09:13
  Louis of France. And as if all this were not enough, he had
• 2:09:16
  a belt full of golden guineas around his loins. Whatever my opinions, I
• 2:09:22
  could not look on such a man without a lively interest. And so you're
• 2:09:26
  a jacobite, said I, as I set meat before him. Aye,
• 2:09:31
  said he beginning to eat, and you, by your long face, should
• 2:09:37
  be a wig betwixt stem between, said I, not to annoy him,
• 2:09:41
  but for indeed I was as good a wig as mister Campbell could make me.
• 2:09:46
  And that's nothing, said he. But I'm saying, mister betwixt stem
• 2:09:52
  between. He added, this bottle of yours is dry, and it's hard
• 2:09:56
  if I'm to pay sixty guineas and begrudge a drama upon the back of it.
• 2:10:01
  I'll go and ask for the key, said I, and stepped on
• 2:10:05
  deck. The fog was as close as ever, but the swell almost down.
• 2:10:09
  They had laid the brig to, not knowing precisely where they were,
• 2:10:13
  and the wind, what little there was of it, not serving well for
• 2:10:18
  their true course. Some of the hands were still hearkening for breakers, but
• 2:10:22
  the captain and the two officers were in the waist with their heads together.
• 2:10:26
  It struck me, I don't know why, that they were after no good,
• 2:10:31
  and the first word I heard as I drew softly near more than confirmed
• 2:10:35
  me. It was mister Riach, crying out, as if upon a sudden
• 2:10:41
  thought, couldn't we will him out of the roundhouse. He's better where he
• 2:10:46
  is, returned, hose season. He hasn't room to use his sword.
• 2:10:52
  Well, that's true, said Riach. But he's hard to come at.
• 2:10:56
  But said hose season. We can get the man in talk, one upon
• 2:11:01
  each side and pinning him by the two arms. Or if that'll not hold,
• 2:11:05
  sir, we can make a run by both the doors and get him
• 2:11:09
  under hand before he has the time to draw. At this hearing, I
• 2:11:13
  was seized with both fear and anger at these treacherous, greedy, bloody men
• 2:11:16
  that I sailed with. My first mind was to run away. My second
• 2:11:22
  was bolder. Captain said I the gentleman is seeking a dram and the bottles
• 2:11:28
  out. Will you give me the key? They all started and turned about.
• 2:11:33
  Why here's our chance to get the firearms, Riach cried, And then
• 2:11:37
  to me, hark ye, David, he said, do you can where
• 2:11:41
  the pistols are? Aye? Aye? Put in host season, David kens,
• 2:11:48
  David's a good lad, you see, David A man janwild Heilnemann is
• 2:11:52
  a danger to the ship, besides being a rank foe to King George,
• 2:11:56
  God bless him. I had never been so be davided since I came on
• 2:12:01
  board. But I said, yes, as if all I heard were quite
• 2:12:05
  natural. The trouble is resumed the Captain that all our firelocks, great and
• 2:12:11
  little, are in the round house under this man's nose. Likewise the powder.
• 2:12:16
  Now, if I or one of the officers was to go in and
• 2:12:20
  take them, he would fall to thinking. But a lad like you,
• 2:12:24
  David, might snap up a horn and a pistol or two without remark.
• 2:12:28
  And if you can do it cleverly, I'll bear it in mine when it'll
• 2:12:31
  be good for you to have friends. And that's when we come to Carolina.
• 2:12:37
  Here, mister Riach, whispered him. A little very right, sir,
• 2:12:43
  said the captain. And then to myself. And see here, David
• 2:12:46
  yon Man has a beltful of gold, and I give you my word that
• 2:12:50
  you shall have your fingers in it. I told him I would do as
• 2:12:54
  he wished, though indeed I had scarce breath to speak with. And upon
• 2:12:58
  that he gave me the key of the spirit locker. And I began to
• 2:13:01
  go slowly back to the round house. What was I to do? They
• 2:13:07
  were dogs and thieves. They had stolen me from my own country, they
• 2:13:11
  had killed Poort ransom, and was I to hold the candle to another murder?
• 2:13:16
  But then, on the other hand, there was the fear of death
• 2:13:20
  very plain before me. For what could a boy and a man if they
• 2:13:24
  were as brave as lions against the whole ship's company. I was still arguing
• 2:13:31
  it back and forth and getting no great clearness when I came into the round
• 2:13:33
  house and saw the Jacobite eating his supper under the lamp. And at that
• 2:13:39
  my mind was made up all in a moment. I have no credit by
• 2:13:43
  it. It was by no choice of mine, but as if by compulsion
• 2:13:46
  that I walked right up to the table and put my hand on his shoulder.
• 2:13:52
  Do you want to be killed? Said I. He sprang to his
• 2:13:56
  feet and looked a question at me, as clear as if he had spoken.
• 2:14:01
  Oh, cried I. They're all murderers here. It's a ship full
• 2:14:03
  of them. They've murdered a boy already. Now it's you, I ay,
• 2:14:11
  said he. But they haven't got me yet, and then looking at
• 2:14:15
  me, curiously. Will ye stand with me? That? Will? I
• 2:14:20
  said? I. I am no thief, nor yet murderer. I'll stand
• 2:14:24
  by you. Why, then said he, what's your name? David Balfour,
• 2:14:31
  said I, And then, thinking that a man with so fine a
• 2:14:33
  coat must like fine people, I added, for the first time of shaws,
• 2:14:41
  it ever occurred to him to doubt me, For a highlander is used
• 2:14:43
  to see great gentlefolk and great poverty. But as he had no estate of
• 2:14:48
  his own, my words nettled the very childish vanity he had. My name
• 2:14:54
  is Stuart, he said, drawing himself up alan breck. They call me
• 2:15:00
  the King's name is good enough for me, though I bear it plain,
• 2:15:03
  And how the name of no farm midden to clap to the hind end of
• 2:15:07
  it. And having administered this rebuke as though it were something of a chief
• 2:15:11
  importance, he turned to examine our defenses. The roundhouse was built very strong
• 2:15:18
  to support the breaching of the seas. Of its five apertures, only the
• 2:15:22
  skylight and the two doors were large enough for the passage of a man.
• 2:15:26
  The doors, besides, could be drawn close. They were of stout oak
• 2:15:31
  and ran in grooves, and were fitted with hooks to keep them either shut
• 2:15:35
  or open. As the need arose. The one that was already shut I
• 2:15:39
  secured in this fashion, But when I was proceeding to slide too, the
• 2:15:43
  other Alan stopped me. David said he, for I cannot bring to mind
• 2:15:48
  the name of your landed estate, and so will make so bold as to
• 2:15:52
  call you David. That door being open is the best part of my defenses.
• 2:15:56
  It would be yet better shut as I not so, David, says
• 2:16:03
  he. You see I have but one face. But so long as that
• 2:16:07
  door is open and my face to it, the best part of my enemies
• 2:16:11
  will be in front of me, where I would I wish to find them.
• 2:16:15
  Then he gave me from the wrack a cutlass, of which there were
• 2:16:18
  a few besides the firearms, choosing it with great care, shaking his head
• 2:16:22
  and saying he had never in all his life seen poorer weapons. And next
• 2:16:28
  he set me down to the table with a powder horn, a bag of
• 2:16:31
  bullets, and all the pistols which he bade me charge. And that will
• 2:16:35
  be better work, let me tell you, said he for a gentleman of
• 2:16:39
  decent birth, than scraping plates and raxing drums to a ween terry sailor's.
• 2:16:46
  Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the door, and
• 2:16:50
  drawing his great sword, made trial of the room. He had to wield
• 2:16:54
  it in. I must stick to the point, he said, shaking his
• 2:16:58
  head. And that's a pity too. It doesn't set my genius, which
• 2:17:01
  is all for the upper guard. And now said he, do you keep
• 2:17:07
  on charging the pistols and give heed to me? I told him I would
• 2:17:11
  listen closely. My chest was tight, my mouth dry, the light dark
• 2:17:16
  to my eyes, and the thought of the numbers that were soon to leap
• 2:17:20
  in upon us kept my heart in a flutter. And the sea, which
• 2:17:24
  I heard washing round the brig and where I thought my dead body would be
• 2:17:28
  cast ere morning, ran in my mind strangely. First of all, said
• 2:17:35
  he, how many are against us? I reckon them up? And such
• 2:17:39
  was the hurry of my mind. I had to cast the numbers twice fifteen,
• 2:17:45
  said I Alan whistled. Whew well, said he that can't be cured.
• 2:17:54
  That now follow me. It is my part to keep this door where
• 2:17:58
  I look for the main battle, And that you have no hand and mind
• 2:18:01
  and identifire to this side unless they get me down, for I would rather
• 2:18:05
  have ten foes in front of me than one friend like you, cracking pistols
• 2:18:09
  at my back. I told him, indeed I was no great shot.
• 2:18:15
  And that's very bravely, said he cried, in a great admiration of my
• 2:18:18
  candor. There's many a pretty gentleman that wouldn't dare to say it. But
• 2:18:24
  then, sir, said I, there is the door behind you, which
• 2:18:28
  they may perhaps break in, Aye, said he, And that is the
• 2:18:33
  part of your work. No sooner the pistols charge, than you must climb
• 2:18:37
  up and be yond bed where you handy at the window. And if they
• 2:18:39
  lift hand against the door, you're to shoot. But that's not all.
• 2:18:45
  Let's make a bit of a soldier of you, David. What else have
• 2:18:48
  you to guard? There's the skylight, said I. But indeed, mister
• 2:18:54
  Stewart, I would need to have eyes upon both sides to keep the two
• 2:18:58
  of them, for when my face is at the one, my back is
• 2:19:01
  to the other. And that's very true, said Alan. But have you
• 2:19:05
  no ears to your head? To be sure? Cried I. I must
• 2:19:09
  hear the bursting of the glass. You have some rudiments of sense, said
• 2:19:16
  Allan grimly, end of chapter chapter ten, the siege of the Roundhouse.
• 2:19:26
  But now our time of truce was come to an end. Those on deck
• 2:19:31
  had waited for my coming till they grew impatient and scarce had Alan spoken.
• 2:19:35
  When the captain showed face in the open door, stand, cried Alan,
• 2:19:41
  and pointed his sword at him. The captain stood indeed, but he neither
• 2:19:45
  winced nor drew back a foot. A naked sword, said he. This
• 2:19:50
  is a strange return for hospitality. Do ye see me? Said Alan,
• 2:19:56
  I am come of kings. I bear a king's name. My badge is
• 2:20:00
  the oak. Do you see my sword? It has slashed the heads off
• 2:20:03
  murr Wigamores than you have toes upon your feet, call up your vermin to
• 2:20:09
  your back, sir, and fall on the sooner the clash begins, So
• 2:20:13
  sooner you'll taste this steel through your vitals. The captain said nothing to Alan,
• 2:20:18
  but he looked over at me with an ugly look. David said he
• 2:20:22
  I'll mind this, and the sound of his voice went through me with a
• 2:20:26
  jar. Next moment he was gone, and now said Alan, Let your
• 2:20:33
  hand keep your head, for the grip is coming. Alan drew a dirk,
• 2:20:39
  which he held in his left hand, in case they should run in
• 2:20:41
  under his sword. I, on my part, clambered up into the berth
• 2:20:45
  with an armful of pistols and something of a heavy heart, and set open
• 2:20:48
  the window where I was to watch. It was a small part of the
• 2:20:54
  deck that I could overlook, but enough for our purpose. The sea had
• 2:20:58
  gone down, and the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet, so
• 2:21:01
  that there was a great stillness in the ship, in which I made sure.
• 2:21:05
  I heard the sound of muttering voices a little after, and there came
• 2:21:09
  a clash of steel upon the deck, by which I knew they were dealing
• 2:21:13
  out the cutlasses, and one had been let fall. After that silence again,
• 2:21:20
  I do not know if I was what you call afraid, but my
• 2:21:22
  heart beat like a bird's, both quick and little, and there was a
• 2:21:26
  dimness come before my eyes, which I continually rubbed away, and which continually
• 2:21:31
  returned. As for hope, I had none, but only a darkness of
• 2:21:37
  despair, and a sort of anger against all the world that may be long
• 2:21:41
  to sell my life. As dear as I was able, I tried to
• 2:21:45
  pray, I remember, but that same hurry of my mind, like a
• 2:21:50
  man running would not suffer me to think upon the words, and my chief
• 2:21:54
  wish was to have the thing begin and be done with it. It came
• 2:21:58
  all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a
• 2:22:01
  roar, and then a shout from Alan, and a sound of blows,
• 2:22:05
  and someone crying out as if hurt. I looked back over my shoulder and
• 2:22:09
  saw mister Chuan in the doorway, crossing blades with Alan. That's him that
• 2:22:13
  killed the boy, I cried, Look to your window, said Alan,
• 2:22:18
  And as I turned back to my place, I saw him pass his sword
• 2:22:22
  through the mate's body. It was none too soon for me to look to
• 2:22:26
  my own part, for my head was scarce back at the window before five
• 2:22:30
  men carrying a spare yard for a battering ram ran past me and took post
• 2:22:35
  to drive the door in. I had never fired with a pistol in my
• 2:22:39
  life, and not often with a gun, far less against a fellow creature.
• 2:22:45
  But it was now or never, and just as they swang the yard,
• 2:22:48
  I cried out, take that, and shot into their midst. I
• 2:22:52
  must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a
• 2:22:54
  step, and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted. Before they had
• 2:23:00
  time to recover, I sent another ball over their heads, and at my
• 2:23:03
  third shot, which went as wide as the second, the whole party threw
• 2:23:07
  down the yard and ran for it. Then I looked round again into the
• 2:23:11
  deck house. The whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing,
• 2:23:16
  just as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of the shots.
• 2:23:18
  But there was Alan standing as before, only now his sword was running
• 2:23:22
  blood to the hilt, and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so
• 2:23:28
  fine an attitude that he looked to be invincible. Right before him, on
• 2:23:33
  the floor was mister Chuan, on his hands and knees. The blood was
• 2:23:37
  pouring from his mouth, and he was sinking slowly lower with a terrible white
• 2:23:41
  face. And just as I looked, some of those from behind caught hold
• 2:23:46
  of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out of the round house.
• 2:23:50
  I believe he died as they were doing it. There's one of your wigs
• 2:23:54
  for you, cried Alan, and then turning to me, he asked if
• 2:23:58
  I had done much execution, and I told him I had winged one and
• 2:24:03
  thought it was the captain, and I have settled too, says he.
• 2:24:07
  No, there's not enough blood. Let then'll be back again till you watch,
• 2:24:11
  David. This was but a dram before meat. I settled back to
• 2:24:16
  my place, recharging the three pistols I had fired, and keeping watch with
• 2:24:20
  both eye and ear. Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck,
• 2:24:26
  and that so loudly that I could hear a word or two above the
• 2:24:30
  washing of the seas. It was shoe unbackled it, I heard one say,
• 2:24:35
  and another one answered him with a hushed man, he's paid the piper.
• 2:24:41
  And after that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before,
• 2:24:46
  only now one person spoke most of the time, as though laying down a
• 2:24:50
  plan. At first one and then another answered him briefly, like men taking
• 2:24:54
  orders. By this, I made sure they were coming on again and told
• 2:24:58
  Alan, it's what we have to pray for, said he, unless we
• 2:25:03
  can give them a good distaste of us and done with it. They've been
• 2:25:07
  asleep for either you or me, But this time, mind, they'll be
• 2:25:11
  in earnest. By this my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to
• 2:25:16
  do but listen and wait while the brush lasted. I had not the time
• 2:25:20
  to think if I was frighted. But now, when all was still again,
• 2:25:26
  my mind ran upon nothing else. The thought of the sharp swords and
• 2:25:30
  the cold steel was strong in me. And presently, when I began to
• 2:25:33
  hear stealthy steps and a brushing of men's clothes against the round house wall,
• 2:25:37
  and knew they were taking their places in the dark, I could have found
• 2:25:41
  it in my mind to cry out aloud. All this was upon Allan's side,
• 2:25:46
  and I had begun to think my share of the fight was at an
• 2:25:50
  end when I heard some one drop softly on the roof above me. Then
• 2:25:54
  there came a single call on the sea pipe, and that was the signal.
• 2:26:00
  Not of them made one rush of it, cutlass in hand against the
• 2:26:03
  door, and at the same moment the glass of the skylight was dashed in
• 2:26:07
  a thousand pieces, and a man leaped through and landed on the floor.
• 2:26:11
  Before he got his feet, I had clapped the pistol to his back,
• 2:26:15
  and I might have shot him too, only at the touch of him and
• 2:26:18
  him alive, my whole flesh misgave me, and I could no more pull
• 2:26:22
  the trigger than I could have flown. He had dropped his cutlass as he
• 2:26:26
  jumped, and when he felt the pistol, whipped straight around and laid hold
• 2:26:31
  of me, roaring out an oath. And at that either my courage came
• 2:26:35
  again, or I grew so much afraid as came to the same thing.
• 2:26:39
  For I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body.
• 2:26:43
  He gave the most horrible, ugly groan and fell to the floor. The
• 2:26:48
  foot of a second fellow, whose legs were dangling through the skylight, struck
• 2:26:52
  me at the same time upon the head. And at that I snatched another
• 2:26:56
  pistol and shot this one through the thigh, so that he slipped through and
• 2:27:00
  tumbled in a lump on his companion's body. There was no talk of missing
• 2:27:05
  any more than there was time to aim. I clapped the muzzle to the
• 2:27:07
  very place and fired. I might have stood and stared at them for long,
• 2:27:13
  but I heard Alan shout as if for help. That brought me to
• 2:27:16
  my senses. He had kept the door so long, but one of the
• 2:27:20
  seamen, while he was engaged with others, had run in under his guard
• 2:27:24
  and caught him about the body. Alan was dirking him with his left hand,
• 2:27:28
  but the fellow clung like a leech. Another had broken in and had
• 2:27:31
  his cutlass raised. The door was thronged with their faces. I thought we
• 2:27:37
  were lost, and catching up my cutlass fell on them in flank, but
• 2:27:41
  I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped at last,
• 2:27:46
  and Alan, leaping back to get his distance, ran upon the others like
• 2:27:48
  a bull, roaring as he went. They broke before him like water,
• 2:27:54
  turning and running and falling one against another in their haste. The sword in
• 2:27:58
  his hands flashed like silver into the huddle of our fleeing enemies, and in
• 2:28:03
  every flash there came the scream of a man hurt. I was still thinking
• 2:28:07
  we were lost, when lo, they were all gone, and Alan was
• 2:28:11
  driving them along the deck as a sheep dog chases sheep. Yet he was
• 2:28:16
  no sooner out than he was back again, being as cautious as he was
• 2:28:20
  brave. And meanwhile the seaman continued running and crying out as if he was
• 2:28:26
  still behind them, And we heard them tumble one upon another into the forecastle
• 2:28:31
  and clap to the hatch upon the top. The roundhouse was like a shamble's.
• 2:28:37
  Three were dead inside, another lay in his death agony across the threshold,
• 2:28:41
  and there were Alan and I victorious and unhurt. He came up to
• 2:28:46
  me with open arms. Come to my arms. He cried, and embraced
• 2:28:52
  and kissed me hard upon both cheeks. David said, he I love you
• 2:28:56
  like a brother, and oh man, he in a kind of ecstasy.
• 2:29:01
  Am I no a bony fighter? Thereupon he turned to the four enemies,
• 2:29:07
  passed his sword clean through each of them, and tumbled them out of doors,
• 2:29:11
  one after the other. As he did so, he kept humming and
• 2:29:15
  singing and whistling to himself, like a man trying to recall an air.
• 2:29:20
  Only what he was trying was to make one. All the while, the
• 2:29:24
  flush was in his face, and his eyes were as bright as a five
• 2:29:28
  year old child's with a new toy. And presently he sat down upon the
• 2:29:31
  table, sword in hand. The air that he was making all the time
• 2:29:35
  began to run a little clearer, and then clearer still, and then out
• 2:29:41
  he burst, with a great voice into a Gaelic song. I have translated
• 2:29:46
  it here, not in verse of which I have no skill, but at
• 2:29:50
  least in the King's English. He sang it often afterwards, and the thing
• 2:29:54
  became popular, so that I have heard it and had explained to me many's
• 2:30:00
  the time. This is the song of the sword of Alan. The smith
• 2:30:05
  made it, the fire set it. Now it shines in the hand of
• 2:30:09
  Alan Breck. Their eyes were many and bright swift were they to behold many
• 2:30:15
  the hands they guided. The sword was alone. The dun deer troop over
• 2:30:20
  the hill. They are many. The hill is one. The dun deer
• 2:30:24
  vanish the hill remains. Come to me from the hills of heather. Come
• 2:30:31
  from the isles of the sea. Oh, far beholding eagles. Here is
• 2:30:35
  your meat. Now this song, which he made both words and music,
• 2:30:41
  in the hour of our victory, is something less than just to me,
• 2:30:46
  who stood beside him in the tussle, mister schuonn In five more were either
• 2:30:50
  killed outright or thoroughly disabled. But of these two fell by my hand,
• 2:30:54
  the two that came by the skylight. Four more were hurt. And of
• 2:30:58
  that number, one, and he not the least important, got his hurt
• 2:31:03
  from me, So that altogether I did my fair share both of the killing
• 2:31:07
  and the wounding, and might have claimed a place in Allan's verses. But
• 2:31:11
  poets have to think upon their rhymes and in good prose talk. Alan always
• 2:31:16
  did me more than justice. In the meanwhile, I was innocent of any
• 2:31:22
  wrong being done me, for not only I knew no word of the Gaelic,
• 2:31:26
  but what with the long suspense of the waiting and the scurry and strain
• 2:31:30
  of our two spurts of fighting, had more than all the horror I had
• 2:31:33
  of some of my own share in it. The thing was no sooner over
• 2:31:37
  than I was glad to stagger to a seat. There was that tightness on
• 2:31:43
  my chest that I could hardly breathe. The thought of the two men I
• 2:31:46
  had shot sat upon me like a nightmare, and all upon a sudden before
• 2:31:50
  I had a guess of what was coming, I began to sob and cry
• 2:31:56
  like any child. Alan clapped my shoulder and staid, I was a brave
• 2:32:01
  lad and wanted nothing but a sleep. I'll take the first watch, said
• 2:32:07
  he You've done well by me, David, first and last, and they
• 2:32:09
  wouldn't lose you for all appen no nor for Bridlebaine. So I made up
• 2:32:16
  my bed on the floor, and he took the first spell, pistol in
• 2:32:20
  hand and sword on knee. Three hours by the captain's watch upon the wall.
• 2:32:24
  Then he roused me up, and I took my turn of three hours
• 2:32:28
  before the end of which it was broad day, that very quiet morning,
• 2:32:33
  with a smooth, rolling sea that tossed the ship and made the blood run
• 2:32:37
  to and fro on the round house floor, and a heavy rain that drummed
• 2:32:41
  upon the roof. All my watch, there was nothing stirring, and by
• 2:32:46
  the banging of the helm I knew they had even no one at the tiller.
• 2:32:50
  Indeed, as I learned afterwards, there were so many of them hurt
• 2:32:54
  or dead, and the rest in so ill a temper that mister Riach and
• 2:32:58
  the Captain had had to take turn and turn like Alan and me, or
• 2:33:03
  the brig might have gone ashore, and nobody the wiser. It was a
• 2:33:07
  mercy the night had fallen so still, for the wind had gone down as
• 2:33:11
  soon as the rain began. Even as it was, I judged by the
• 2:33:16
  wailing of a great number of gulls that went crying and fishing round the ship,
• 2:33:20
  that she must have drifted pretty near the coast or one of the islands
• 2:33:24
  of the Hebrides. And at last, looking out of the door of the
• 2:33:26
  roundhouse, I saw the great stone hills of sky on the right hand,
• 2:33:31
  and a little more astern the strange isle of room and chapter chapter eleven,
• 2:33:41
  the captain knuckles under Allan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the
• 2:33:48
  clock. The floor was covered with broken glass and in a horrid mess of
• 2:33:52
  blood, which took away my hunger. In all other ways, we were
• 2:33:56
  in a situation not only agreeable, but Mary having ousted the officers from their
• 2:34:03
  own cabin, and having at command all the drink in the ship, both
• 2:34:07
  wine and spirits, and all the dainty part of what was eatable, such
• 2:34:11
  as the pickles and the fine sort of bread. This of itself was enough
• 2:34:16
  to set us in good humor. But the richest part of it was this
• 2:34:20
  that the two thirstiest men that ever came out of Scotland, mister Chuan being
• 2:34:24
  dead, were now shut in the fore part of the ship and condemned to
• 2:34:28
  what they hated, most cold water and depend upon it. Alan said,
• 2:34:35
  we shall hear more of them ere long. You may keep a man from
• 2:34:39
  the fighting, but never from his bottle. We made good cumpany for each
• 2:34:43
  other. Alan indeed expressed himself most lovingly, and taking a knife from the
• 2:34:48
  table cut me off one of the silver buttons from his coat. I had
• 2:34:54
  them, says he, from my father Duncan Stuart, and now I'll give
• 2:34:58
  you one of them to be a keepsake for last night's work. And wherever
• 2:35:03
  you go and show that button, the friends of Alan Breck will come around
• 2:35:07
  you. He said this as if he had been Charlemagne and commanded armies.
• 2:35:13
  And indeed, much as I admired his courage, I was always in danger
• 2:35:16
  of smiling at his vanity. In danger, I say, for had I
• 2:35:20
  not kept my countenance, I would be afraid to think what a quarrel might
• 2:35:26
  have followed. As soon as we were through with our meal, he rummaged
• 2:35:30
  in the captain's locker till he found a clothes brush, and then, taking
• 2:35:33
  off his coat, began to visit his suit and brush away the stains with
• 2:35:39
  such care and labor as I supposed to have been only usual with women.
• 2:35:43
  To be sure, he had no other. And besides, as he said,
• 2:35:48
  it belonged to a king, and so behooved to be royally looked after.
• 2:35:54
  For all that, when I saw what care he took to pluck out
• 2:35:56
  the threads where the button had been cut away, I put a higher value
• 2:36:01
  on his gift. He was still so engaged when we were hailed by mister
• 2:36:05
  Riach from the deck asking for a parley, and I, climbing through the
• 2:36:11
  skylight and sitting on the edge of it, pistol in hand, and with
• 2:36:15
  a bold front, though inwardly in fear of broken glass, hailed him back
• 2:36:20
  again and bade him speak out. He came to the edge of the round
• 2:36:24
  house and stood on a coil of rope, so that his chin was on
• 2:36:26
  a level with a roof, and we looked at each other a while in
• 2:36:31
  silence. Mister Riach, as I do not think he had been very forward
• 2:36:35
  in the battle, so he had got off with nothing worse than a blow
• 2:36:37
  upon the cheek. But he looked out of heart and very weary, having
• 2:36:43
  been all night afoot, either standing watch or doctoring the wounded. This is
• 2:36:48
  a bad job, said he at last, shaking his head. It was
• 2:36:54
  none of our choosing, said I that captain says he would like to speak
• 2:37:01
  with your friend. They might speak at the window. And how do we
• 2:37:07
  know what treachery he means? Cried I, he means none. David returned
• 2:37:13
  mister Riach, and if he did, I'll tell you the honest truth.
• 2:37:16
  We couldn't get the men to follow. Is that so? Said I.
• 2:37:22
  I'll tell you more than that, said he. It's not only the men,
• 2:37:28
  it's me. I'm fritchened davy, and he smiled across at me.
• 2:37:35
  No, he continued, what we want is to be shut of him.
• 2:37:39
  Thereupon I consulted with Alan, and the parley was agreed to, and parole
• 2:37:43
  given upon either side. But this was not the whole of mister Riach's business,
• 2:37:48
  and he now begged me for a dram with such instancy and such reminders
• 2:37:52
  of his former kindness, that at last I handed him a pannicin with about
• 2:37:56
  half a gill of brandy. He drank apart, and then carried the rest
• 2:38:00
  down upon the deck to share it, I suppose, with his superior.
• 2:38:05
  A little after the captain came as was agreed to one of the windows,
• 2:38:11
  and stood there in the rain, with his arm in a sling, and
• 2:38:13
  looking stern and pale and so old that my heart smote me for having fired
• 2:38:18
  upon him. Alan at once held a pistol in his face. Put that
• 2:38:24
  thing up, said the captain. Have I not passed my word? Sir?
• 2:38:28
  Or do you seek to affront me? Captain, says Alan, I
• 2:38:33
  doubt your word is a breakable. Last night you haggled and argo bargled like
• 2:38:39
  an apple wife, and then passed me your word and gave me your hand
• 2:38:43
  to back it. And you can very well what was the upshot? Be
• 2:38:46
  damned to your word, says he. Well well, sir, said the
• 2:38:52
  captain. You'll get little good by swearing, And truly that was a fault
• 2:38:58
  of which the Captain was quite free. But we have other things to speak,
• 2:39:03
  he continued bitterly. You've made a sore hash of my brig. I
• 2:39:07
  haven't hands enough left to work her, and my first officer, whom I
• 2:39:13
  could ill spare, has got your swords throughout his vitals and passed without speech.
• 2:39:18
  There is nothing left me, sir, but to put back into the
• 2:39:22
  port of Glasgow after hands, and there by your leave you shall find them
• 2:39:28
  that are better able to talk to you, I said Alan, And faith
• 2:39:33
  I'll have a talk with them myself. Unless there's nobody speaks English in that
• 2:39:37
  town. I have a bunny tale for them. Fifteen tarry sailors upon the
• 2:39:43
  one side, and a man and a halfling boy upon the other, oh
• 2:39:46
  man, it's pitiful hot season flushed red. No, continued Alan, that'll
• 2:39:54
  not do. You'll just have to set me ashore, as we agreed,
• 2:39:58
  I said, But my first officer is dead, ye ken best how there's
• 2:40:05
  none of the rest of us acquainted with this coast, sir, and it's
• 2:40:09
  one very dangerous to ships. I give ye yer choice, says Alan.
• 2:40:15
  Set me on dry ground in Appen or Ardgour, or in Morven, or
• 2:40:20
  ariseg or morar or in brief where you please, within thirty miles of my
• 2:40:24
  own country, except in a country of the campbells. That's a broad target.
• 2:40:31
  If you miss that, you must be as feckless at the sailoring as
• 2:40:33
  I have found ye at the fighting. Why my poor country people in their
• 2:40:37
  bit cobbles passed from island to island in all weathers I am by night too.
• 2:40:43
  For the matter of that, a cobble's not a ship, sir,
• 2:40:48
  said the captain. It is no draft of water. Well, then to
• 2:40:52
  Glasgow if you list, says Alan, we'll have the laugh of y at
• 2:40:56
  the least my mine runs little upon laughing, said the captain. But all
• 2:41:03
  this will cost money, sir, Well, sir, says Alan, I
• 2:41:09
  am no weather cock. Thirty guineas if you lad me on the seaside,
• 2:41:13
  and sixty if you put me into Linnylock. But see, sir, where
• 2:41:18
  we lie. We are but a few hours sail from Arden. American,
• 2:41:22
  says hot Season. Give me sixty and I'll set you there, and I'm
• 2:41:28
  to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the redcoats to please you, cries
• 2:41:33
  Alan. No, sir, if you want sixty guineas, earn them and
• 2:41:37
  set me in my own country. It's to risk the brig sir, said
• 2:41:41
  the captain, and your own lives along with her. Take it or want
• 2:41:46
  it, says Alan. Could you pilot us at all? Asked the captain,
• 2:41:52
  who was frowning to himself. Well, it's doubtful, said Alan.
• 2:41:58
  I'm more of a fighting man, as you have seen for yourself, than
• 2:42:01
  a sailor man. But I have been often enough picked up and set down
• 2:42:05
  upon this coast, and should ken something of the lie of it. The
• 2:42:09
  captain shook his head, still frowning. If I had lost less money on
• 2:42:15
  this unchancy cruise, says he, I would see you in a rope's end
• 2:42:20
  before I risk my brig sir, But be it as you will. As
• 2:42:24
  soon as I get a slant, win an't there some coming, or I'm
• 2:42:28
  the more mistaken, I'll put it in hand. But there's one thing more.
• 2:42:33
  We may meet in with a king's ship, and she may lay us
• 2:42:35
  aboard, sir, with no blame of mine. They keep the cruisers thick
• 2:42:41
  upon this coast, you ken who for now? Sir? If that was
• 2:42:45
  to befall you might leave the money, captain, says Allan. If you
• 2:42:50
  see a pennant, it shall be your part to run away. And now,
• 2:42:54
  as I hear you are a little short of brandy in the forepart,
• 2:42:58
  I'll offer you a change a bottle of brandy against two buckets of water.
• 2:43:03
  That was the last clause of the treaty, and was duly executed on both
• 2:43:07
  sides, so that Alan and I could at last wash out the round house
• 2:43:11
  and be quit of the memorials of those whom we had slain, and the
• 2:43:16
  captain of mister Riach could be happy again in their own way, the name
• 2:43:18
  of which was drink. End of chapter chapter twelve, I hear of the
• 2:43:28
  red Fox. Before we had done cleaning out the roundhouse, a breeze sprang
• 2:43:35
  up from a little to the east of north. This blew off the rain
• 2:43:39
  and brought out the sun. And here I must explain, and the reader
• 2:43:43
  would do well to look at a map. On the day when the fog
• 2:43:46
  fell and we ran down Allan's boat, we had been running through the little
• 2:43:50
  Minch, and dawn after the battle we lay calm to the east of the
• 2:43:56
  Isle of Kenna, or between that and Isle Eras in the chain of the
• 2:44:01
  long Island. Now to get from there to the liney Lock, the straight
• 2:44:05
  course was to the narrows of the Sound of Mull, but the captain had
• 2:44:09
  no chart. He was afraid to trust his brig so deep among the islands,
• 2:44:15
  and the wind serving well, he preferred to go by west of Tyree
• 2:44:18
  and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull. All
• 2:44:24
  day the breeze held in the same point, and rather freshened than died down,
• 2:44:30
  and towards afternoon a swell began to set in from round the outer Hebrides.
• 2:44:35
  Our course to go round about the inner aisles was to the west of
• 2:44:39
  south, so that at first we had the swell upon our beam, and
• 2:44:45
  were much rolled about. But after nightfall, when we had turned the end
• 2:44:50
  of Tyree and began to head more to the east, the sea came right
• 2:44:54
  astern. Meanwhile, the early part of the day before the swell came up
• 2:45:00
  was very pleasant sailing, as we were in a bright sunshine and with many
• 2:45:05
  mountainous islands upon different sides. Alan and I sat in the round house with
• 2:45:09
  the doors open on each side, the wind being straight astern, and smoked
• 2:45:15
  a pipe or two of the captain's fine tobacco. It was at this time
• 2:45:18
  we heard each other's stories, which was the more important to me, as
• 2:45:24
  I gained some knowledge of that wild highland country on which I was so soon
• 2:45:28
  to land. In those days, so close on the back of the great
• 2:45:31
  rebellion. It was needful a man should know what he was doing when he
• 2:45:37
  went upon the heather. It was I that showed the example, telling him
• 2:45:41
  all my misfortune, which he heard with great good nature. Only when I
• 2:45:46
  came to mention that good friend of mine, mister Campbell, the minister Alan
• 2:45:52
  fired up and cried out that he hated all that were of that name.
• 2:45:56
  Why, said I, he is a man you should be proud to give
• 2:46:00
  your hand to. I know nothing I would help a Campbell too, says
• 2:46:05
  he, unless it was a leaden bullet. I would hunt all of that
• 2:46:09
  name like black Cock's. If I lay dying, I would crawl upon my
• 2:46:13
  knees to my chamber window for a shot at one. Why Allan, I
• 2:46:18
  cried, what ails ye at the Campbells? Well, says he, Ye,
• 2:46:24
  ken very well that I am an appen Stuart, and the Campbells have
• 2:46:28
  long harried and wasted those of my name, Aye, and got lands of
• 2:46:31
  us by treachery, But never with the sword. He cried loudly, and
• 2:46:37
  with the word brought down his fist upon the table. But I've paid the
• 2:46:41
  less attention to this, for I knew it was usually said by those who
• 2:46:45
  have the underhand. There's more than that, he continued, In all in
• 2:46:50
  the same story, lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a padler,
• 2:46:56
  and the show of what's legal overall to make a man the more angry.
• 2:47:01
  You are so wasteful of your buttons, said I. I can hardly
• 2:47:05
  think you would be a good judge of business. Ah, says he,
• 2:47:09
  falling again the smiling. I got my wastefulness from the same man I got
• 2:47:15
  the buttons from, and that was my poor father, Duncan Stuart. Grace
• 2:47:20
  be to him. He was the prettiest man of his kindred, and the
• 2:47:22
  best swordsmen in the Highlands, David. And that is the same as to
• 2:47:26
  say, in all the world I should ken, for it was him that
• 2:47:31
  taught me. He was in the Black Watch when first it was mustered,
• 2:47:35
  and like other gentlemen privates, had a gillie at his back to carry his
• 2:47:39
  firelock for him on the march well. The King, it appears, was
• 2:47:43
  wishful to see Highland's swordsmanship, and my father and three more were chosen out
• 2:47:48
  and sent to London Town to let him see it at the best. So
• 2:47:54
  they were hat into the palace and showed the whole art of the sword for
• 2:47:58
  two hours at a stretch before King George and Queen Carline, and the Butcher
• 2:48:03
  Cumberland, and many more of whom I have no mind. And when they
• 2:48:07
  were through, the King, for all he was a rank usurper, spoke
• 2:48:11
  them fair and gave each man three guineas in his hand. Now, as
• 2:48:16
  they were going out of the palace, they had a porter's lodge to go
• 2:48:20
  by, and it came in or my father as he was perhaps the first
• 2:48:24
  private Highland gentleman that had ever gone by that door. It was right he
• 2:48:28
  should give the poor porter a proper notion of their quality. So he gives
• 2:48:33
  the kings three guineas into the man's hand, as if it was his common
• 2:48:37
  custom. The three others that came behind him did the same, and there
• 2:48:41
  they were on the street, never a penny, the better for their pains.
• 2:48:46
  Some say it was one that was the first to feed the king's porter,
• 2:48:50
  and some say it was another. What the truth of it is that
• 2:48:54
  it was Duncan Stuart, as I am willing to prove with either sword or
• 2:48:58
  pistol, and that was the father I had God rest him. I think
• 2:49:05
  he was not the man to leave you rich, said I, And that's
• 2:49:09
  true, said Allan. He left me my breeks to cover me and little
• 2:49:13
  besides. And that was how I came to Enlist, which was a black
• 2:49:18
  spot upon my character at the best of times, and would still be a
• 2:49:22
  sword job for me if I fell among the red coats. What cried I
• 2:49:28
  were you in the English Army? That was I, said Allan. But
• 2:49:33
  I deserted to the right side. It pressed in pants, and that's some
• 2:49:37
  comfort. I could scarcely share this view, holding desertion under arms for an
• 2:49:43
  unpardonable fault in honor. But for all I was so young, I was
• 2:49:48
  wiser than say my thought. Dear, dear, says I. The punishment
• 2:49:52
  is death, aye, said he. If they got the hands on me,
• 2:49:58
  it would be as sure shrift and a long tow for Alan. But
• 2:50:03
  I have the King of France's commission in my pocket, which would I be
• 2:50:05
  some protection? I misdoubt it much, said I. I have doubts myself,
• 2:50:13
  said Alan dryly. And good heaven, man, cried I. You
• 2:50:20
  that are a condemned rebel and a deserter and a man of the French kings.
• 2:50:24
  What temptship back into this country? It's a braving of providence, not,
• 2:50:30
  says Alan. I have been back every year since forty six. And
• 2:50:35
  what brings you? Man? Cried I? Well, you see, I
• 2:50:39
  weary for my friends and country, said he. Franz is a broad place,
• 2:50:46
  no doubt. But I weary for the heather and the deer. And
• 2:50:50
  then I have bit things that I attend to whilst I pick up a few
• 2:50:54
  lads to serve the King of France recruits. You see, that's I a
• 2:50:58
  little money. But the heart of the matter is the business of my chief,
• 2:51:03
  Ardshield. I thought they called your chief Appen, said I aye.
• 2:51:09
  But Ardshiel is a captain of the clan, said he which scarcely cleared my
• 2:51:13
  mind. Yes, say David, he that was all his life so great
• 2:51:18
  a man, and come of the blood in bearing the name of kings,
• 2:51:22
  is now brought down to live in a French town like a boar in private
• 2:51:26
  person. He that had four hundred swords at his whistle. I have seen
• 2:51:31
  with these eighes of mine buying butter in the market place and taking it home
• 2:51:35
  in a keil leaf. This is not only a pain, but a disgrace
• 2:51:41
  to us of his family and clan. There are the barons foreby the children
• 2:51:46
  and the hope of Appen, that must be learned their letters and how to
• 2:51:48
  hold a sword in that far country. Now the tenants of Appin have to
• 2:51:54
  pay a rent to King George. But their hearts are staunch, they are
• 2:51:58
  true to their chief, and what with love and a bit of pressure,
• 2:52:03
  it may be a thread or two. The poor folks scrape up a second
• 2:52:07
  rent for Ardshield. Well, David, I'm the hand that carries it,
• 2:52:11
  and he struck the belt about his body, so that the guineas rang.
• 2:52:16
  Do they pay? Both cried I, I David, Both says he what
• 2:52:24
  two rents? I repeated, Hi, David said he. I told a
• 2:52:30
  different tale, the young captain man. But this is the truth of it,
• 2:52:33
  and it's wonderful to me how little pressure is needed. But that's the
• 2:52:37
  handiwork of my good kinsman and my father's friend, James of the Glens,
• 2:52:41
  James Stewart, that is Ardshield's half brother. He it is that gets the
• 2:52:48
  money in and does the management. This was the first time I heard the
• 2:52:52
  name of that James Stuart, who was afterwards so famous at the time of
• 2:52:56
  his hanging. But I took little heed at the moment, For all my
• 2:53:01
  mind was occupied with the generosity of these poor highlanders. I call it noble,
• 2:53:07
  I cried, I'm a wig or a little better, but I call
• 2:53:11
  it noble. Ay said he, you're a wig, but you're a gentleman.
• 2:53:16
  And that's what does it now. If you were one of the cursed
• 2:53:20
  race of Campbell, you had nashhut teeth to hear tell of it. If
• 2:53:24
  you were the red Fox, and at that name his teeth shut together,
• 2:53:30
  and he ceased speaking. I've seen many a grim face, but never a
• 2:53:35
  grimmer than Alan's when he had named the red Fox. And who is the
• 2:53:41
  red Fox? I asked, daunted but still curious, who is? He
• 2:53:46
  cried Alan, Well, and I tell you that when the men of the
• 2:53:50
  clans were broken at Clodden, and the good cause went down, and the
• 2:53:54
  horses rode over the fetlocks, and the best blood of the north Guardshield had
• 2:53:58
  to flee like a poor deer upon the mountains. He and his lady and
• 2:54:03
  his bairns. A sad job we had of it before we got him shipped.
• 2:54:07
  And while he still lay in the heather, the English rogues that couldn't
• 2:54:11
  come at his life were striking at his rights. They stripped him of his
• 2:54:16
  powers, they stripped him of his lands. They plucked the weapons from the
• 2:54:20
  hands of his klansmen that had borne arms for thirty centuries aye, and the
• 2:54:26
  very clothes off their backs, so that it's now a sin to wear a
• 2:54:30
  tartan plaid. And a man may be cast into a jail if he has
• 2:54:33
  but a kilt about his legs. One thing that couldn't kill that was the
• 2:54:37
  love the klansmen bore their chief. These guineas are the proof of it.
• 2:54:43
  And now in their steps a man, a campbell, red headed colon of
• 2:54:48
  Glenure. Is that him you called the red fox? Said I, oh,
• 2:54:54
  you bring me his brush? Cried Allan fiercely. Aye. That's the
• 2:54:58
  man in he steps and gets papers from King George to be so called King's
• 2:55:05
  factor on the lands of Appen. And at first he sings small and his
• 2:55:09
  hail fellow, well met with Seamus. That's James of the Glens, my
• 2:55:13
  chieftain's agent. But by the bye that came to his ears that I have
• 2:55:18
  just told you how the poor commons of Appin, the farmers and the crofters
• 2:55:22
  and the bowmen were ringing the very plaids to get a second rent and send
• 2:55:28
  it overseas for Ardshiel and his poor barons. What was it you called it?
• 2:55:31
  When I told you, I called it noble, Allan said, I
• 2:55:37
  I knew little better than a common wig, cries Allan. And when it
• 2:55:43
  came to Colin Roy, the black campbell blood in him ran wild. He
• 2:55:46
  sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table. What should a steward get a
• 2:55:52
  bite of bread, and him not be able to prevent it. Ha red
• 2:55:58
  fox. If ever I hold you again, runs and the Lord have pity
• 2:56:01
  upon ya. Allan stopped to swallow down his anger. Well, David,
• 2:56:09
  what does he do? He declares all the farms to let, and thinks
• 2:56:13
  he and his black heart, I'll soon get other tenants that are over bid
• 2:56:18
  these Stuarts and mac calls and mac Crubbs, for these are all names in
• 2:56:22
  my clan, David, and then thinks he Ardshield will have to hold his
• 2:56:26
  bonnet on the French road side. Well said I what followed? Allan laid
• 2:56:35
  down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to go out, and
• 2:56:37
  set his two hands upon his knees. Aye said he ye, never guess
• 2:56:43
  that for these same Stuarts and mac calls and mac Crubbs that had two grants
• 2:56:48
  to pay, one to King George by stark force and one to Ardshield by
• 2:56:54
  natural kindness, offered him a better price than any campbell in all broad Scotland.
• 2:57:00
  And far He's scent seeking them, as far as to the sides of
• 2:57:03
  Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh, seeking and fleeching and begging them to come
• 2:57:09
  where there was a steward to be starved and a red headed hound of a
• 2:57:13
  camble to be pleasured. Well, Allan said, I that is a strange
• 2:57:18
  story, and a fine one too, And whig as I may be,
• 2:57:22
  I am glad the man was beaten, him beaten, echoed Allan. It's
• 2:57:28
  little you ken of Camble's and less of the red fox. Him beaten,
• 2:57:33
  no, nor will be till his blood's on the hillside. But if the
• 2:57:39
  day comes, David, man that I can find time and leisure for a
• 2:57:43
  bit of hunting that grows not enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from
• 2:57:46
  my vegeance Man Allan said, I you are neither very wise nor very Christian
• 2:57:54
  to blow off so many words of anger. They will do the man you
• 2:57:58
  call the fox no harm, and yourself no good. Tell me your tale
• 2:58:03
  plainly out what did he next? And that's a good, observed David,
• 2:58:09
  said Allan. Troth and indeed they will do him no harm. The more's
• 2:58:13
  the pity in borring that about Christianity, on which my opinion is quite otherwise,
• 2:58:20
  or I would be a Christian. I am much of your mind opinion
• 2:58:26
  here or or opinion there, said I it's a kent thing that Christianity forbids
• 2:58:31
  revenge, Aye said he. It's well seen. It was a campbell toatya.
• 2:58:37
  It would be a convenient world for them and their sort if there were
• 2:58:41
  no such thing as a lad in a gun behind a heather bush. But
• 2:58:45
  that's nothing to the point. This is what he did, Ay said,
• 2:58:50
  I come to that well, David said he. Since he couldn't be read
• 2:58:56
  of the loyal commons by fair means, he's swore he will be rid of
• 2:59:00
  them by foul Ardshield was the star. That was the thing he aimed at.
• 2:59:05
  And since them that fed him in his exile wouldn't be brought out right
• 2:59:11
  or wrong, he would drive them out. Therefore he sent for lawyers,
• 2:59:15
  papers and redcoats to stand at his back. And the kindly folk of that
• 2:59:20
  country must all pack and trap every father's son out of his father's house and
• 2:59:24
  out of the place where he was bred and fed and played when he was
• 2:59:28
  a callant, and who ought to succeed them bear legged beggars. King George's
• 2:59:35
  to whistle for his rents. He mon't do with less he can spread his
• 2:59:39
  butter thinner. What cares red Colin. If he can hurt Ardshield, he
• 2:59:45
  has his wish. If he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table and
• 2:59:50
  the bit toys out of his children's hands, he will gang home singing to
• 2:59:54
  Glenueur. Let me have a word, said I. Be sure if they
• 3:00:00
  take less rents, be sure government has a finger in the pie. It's
• 3:00:03
  not this Campbell's fault, man, it's his orders. And if he killed
• 3:00:09
  this column tomorrow, what better would you be? There would be another factor
• 3:00:13
  in his shoes as fast as spur can drive. Here a good land at
• 3:00:18
  a fight, said Alan. But man, you have wig blood in ye.
• 3:00:24
  He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger under his contempt
• 3:00:28
  that I thought it was wise to change the conversation. I expressed my wonder
• 3:00:33
  how with the highlands covered with troops and guarded like a city in a siege,
• 3:00:37
  a man in his situation could come and go without arrest. It's easier
• 3:00:43
  than you would think, said Alan. A bare hill side, you see,
• 3:00:48
  is like all one road. If there's a sentry at one place,
• 3:00:50
  you'd just go by another. And then the heather's a great hill, and
• 3:00:54
  everywhere there are friends, houses and friends, buyers and haystacks. And besides,
• 3:01:01
  when folk talk of a country covered with troops, is but a kind
• 3:01:05
  of a byword. At the best. A soldier covers no more of it
• 3:01:07
  than his boot soles. I have fished the water with a sentry on the
• 3:01:11
  other side of the bray, and killed a fine trout. And I have
• 3:01:16
  sat in a heather bush within six feet of another and learned a real bunny
• 3:01:20
  tune from his whistling. This was it, said he, and whistled me
• 3:01:24
  the air. And then besides, he continued, is no sa bad now
• 3:01:31
  as it was in forty six? The highlands are what they call pacified,
• 3:01:35
  small wonder, with never a gun or a sword left from Cantire to Cape
• 3:01:39
  Wrath. But what tentefolk have hidden in the thatch. But what I would
• 3:01:45
  like to ken David, is just how long not long? You would think,
• 3:01:50
  with men like hardshiel in exile, and men like the red flocks sitting
• 3:01:54
  burling the wine and oppressing the poor at home. But it's a kittle thing
• 3:01:58
  to decide what folks will bear and what they will not. And why would
• 3:02:01
  Red Colinby ride in his horse all over my poor country of appin, and
• 3:02:05
  never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him. And with this Alan
• 3:02:11
  fell into a muse, and for a long time sat very sad and silent.
• 3:02:16
  I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend,
• 3:02:20
  that he was skilled in all kinds of music, but principally pipe music.
• 3:02:24
  Was a well considered poet in his own tongue, had read several books,
• 3:02:28
  both in French and English, was a dead shot, a good angler,
• 3:02:33
  and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his own
• 3:02:37
  particular weapon. For his faults, they were on his face, and I
• 3:02:41
  now knew them all but the worst of them, his childish propensity to take
• 3:02:46
  offence and to pick quarrels. He greatly laid aside, in my case,
• 3:02:50
  out of regard for the Battle of the round House. But whether it was
• 3:02:54
  because I had done well myself, or because I had been a witness of
• 3:02:58
  his own much greater prowess, is more than I can tell. For though
• 3:03:01
  he had a great taste for courage and other men, yet he admired it
• 3:03:07
  most in Alan Brick. End of chapter chapter thirteen, the Loss of the
• 3:03:15
  brig. It was already late at night, and as dark as ever would
• 3:03:20
  be at that season of the year, and that is to say, it
• 3:03:24
  was still pretty bright when hose Seson clapped his head into the round house door
• 3:03:30
  here, said he come out and see if ye can pile it is this
• 3:03:33
  one of ya tricks, asked Allan. Do I look like tricks? Cries
• 3:03:39
  the captain, I have other things to think of my brig's in danger.
• 3:03:43
  By the concerned look of his face, and above all by the sharp tones
• 3:03:48
  in which he spoke of his brig, it was plain to both of us
• 3:03:50
  he was in deadly earnest, and so Alan and I, with no great
• 3:03:54
  fear of treachery, stepped on deck. The sky was clear, it blew
• 3:04:01
  hard, and it was bitter cold. A great deal of daylight lingered,
• 3:04:05
  and the moon, which was nearly full, shone brightly. The brig was
• 3:04:09
  close hauled so as to round the southwest corner of the island of Mull,
• 3:04:13
  the hills of which and ben More above them, all with a wisp of
• 3:04:18
  mist upon the top of it, lay full upon the larboard bow. Though
• 3:04:22
  it was no good point of sailing for the Covenant, she tore through the
• 3:04:26
  seas at a great rate, pitching and straining and pursued by the westerly swell.
• 3:04:31
  Altogether, it was no such ill night to keep the seas in.
• 3:04:35
  And I had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the
• 3:04:39
  captain. When the brig rising suddenly on the top of a high swell,
• 3:04:45
  he pointed and cried to us to look away. On the lee bow,
• 3:04:48
  a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea. And immediately after
• 3:04:54
  we heard a low sound of roaring. What do you call that? Asked
• 3:04:58
  the case ating bloomily. The sea breakin' on a reef, said Alan,
• 3:05:05
  And now ye ken where it is? And what better would ye have?
• 3:05:09
  Aye, said hose season if it was the only one, And sure enough,
• 3:05:15
  just as he spoke, there came a second fountain farther to the south,
• 3:05:18
  there, said hose season. Ya see for yourself. If I had
• 3:05:22
  kent of these reefs, if I had had a chart, or if shoe
• 3:05:26
  on had been spared, it's not sixty guineas, no, nor six hundred
• 3:05:31
  would have made me risk my brig in such a stone yard. And you,
• 3:05:35
  sir, that was to pilot us. Have yo never a word I'm
• 3:05:39
  thinkin, said Alan that these are you what they call the torn rocks?
• 3:05:46
  Are there many of them? Says the captain. Truly, sir, I
• 3:05:50
  am no pilot, said Alan, but it sticks in my mind. There
• 3:05:54
  are ten miles of them. Mister Riach and the Captain looked at each other.
• 3:06:00
  There's a way through them, I suppose, said the captain, doubtless,
• 3:06:05
  said Allan. But where? But it somehow runs in my mind once
• 3:06:09
  more, that is clearer under the land, So said ho, season we'll
• 3:06:15
  have to haul our wind, then, mister Riach. We'll have to come
• 3:06:18
  as near in about the end of mall as we can take her, sir.
• 3:06:22
  And even then we'll have the land to keep the wind off us,
• 3:06:24
  and that stone yard on our lee. Well, we're in for it now,
• 3:06:31
  and may as well crack on. But that, he gave an order
• 3:06:33
  to the steersman and sent Riach to the foretop. There were only five men
• 3:06:39
  on deck, counting the officers, these being all that were fit, or
• 3:06:43
  at least both fit and willing for their work. So, as I said,
• 3:06:48
  it fell to mister Riach to go aloft. And he sat there,
• 3:06:50
  looking out and hailing the deck with news of all he saw. The sea
• 3:06:56
  to the south is thick, he cried. And then after a while it
• 3:07:01
  does seem clearer in by the land, well, sir said, ho seesaned
• 3:07:07
  Allan, We'll try your way of it, but I think I might as
• 3:07:11
  well trust to a blind fiddler. Pray God, you're right, Bey God,
• 3:07:16
  I am, said Alan to me. But where did I hear it?
• 3:07:20
  Well, well, it will be as it must. As we got
• 3:07:24
  nearer to the turn of the land, the reefs began to be sown here
• 3:07:28
  and there on our very path. Mister Riach sometimes cried down to us to
• 3:07:33
  change the course, sometimes indeed none too soon. For one reef was so
• 3:07:37
  close on the brig's weatherboard that when a sea burst upon it, the lighter
• 3:07:41
  sprays fell upon her deck and wetted us like rain. The brightness of the
• 3:07:46
  night showed us these perils as clearly as by day, which was perhaps the
• 3:07:52
  more alarming. It showed me too, the face of the captain as he
• 3:07:56
  stood by the steersman, now on one foot, now on the other,
• 3:08:00
  and sometimes blowing in his hands, but still listening and looking, and as
• 3:08:05
  steady as steel. Neither he nor mister Reaction had shone well in the fighting.
• 3:08:09
  But I saw they were brave in their own trade, and admired them
• 3:08:13
  all the more because I found Alan very white. Ahon, David says he.
• 3:08:20
  This is no the kind of death I fancy what Alan, I cried.
• 3:08:24
  You're not afraid, no, said he, wetting his lips. But
• 3:08:31
  you'll allow yourself. It's a cold ending by this time now and then sheering
• 3:08:37
  to one side or the other to avoid a reef, but still hugging the
• 3:08:41
  wind and the land. We had got round Iona and begun to come alongside
• 3:08:46
  Mull. The tide at the tail of the land ran very strong and threw
• 3:08:50
  the brig about. Two hands were put to the helm, and ho Seson
• 3:08:54
  himself would sometimes learn to help. And it was strange to see three strong
• 3:08:58
  men and throw their weight upon the tiller, and it like a living thing,
• 3:09:03
  struggle against and drive them back. This would have been the greater danger
• 3:09:07
  had not the sea been for some while free of obstacles. Mister Riach besides,
• 3:09:13
  announced from the top that he saw clear water ahead. You are right,
• 3:09:18
  said Hoe Season to Allan. You have saved the brig. Sir.
• 3:09:22
  I'll mind that when we come to clear accounts. And I believe he not
• 3:09:26
  only meant what he said, but he would have done it so high a
• 3:09:31
  place did the covenant hold in his affections. But this is matter only for
• 3:09:35
  conjecture. Things having gone otherwise than he forecast, heap her away a point
• 3:09:43
  sings out mister Riach reef to windward, and just at the same time the
• 3:09:48
  tide caught the brig and threw the wind out of her sails. She came
• 3:09:52
  around into the wind like a top, and the next moment struck the reef
• 3:09:56
  with such a crunch as threw us all flat upon the and came near to
• 3:10:01
  shake mister Riach from his place upon the mast. I was on my feet
• 3:10:05
  in a minute. The reef on which we had struck was close in under
• 3:10:09
  the southwest end of mull Off, a little aisle they called Hreid, which
• 3:10:13
  lay low and black upon the larboard. Sometimes the swell broke clean over us.
• 3:10:20
  Sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef, so that we
• 3:10:22
  could hear her beat herself to pieces. And what with the great noise of
• 3:10:26
  the sails, and the singing of the wind, and the flying of the
• 3:10:31
  spray in the moonlight, and the sense of danger, I think my head
• 3:10:35
  must have been partly turned for I could scarcely understand the things I saw.
• 3:10:41
  Presently I observed mister Riach and the seamen busy round the skiff, and still
• 3:10:46
  in the same blank, ran over to assist them, And as soon as
• 3:10:48
  I set my hand to work, my mind came clear again. It was
• 3:10:54
  no very easy task, for the skiff lay amidships and was full of hamper,
• 3:10:58
  and the breaking of the heavy seas continually forced us to give over and
• 3:11:01
  hold on, But we all wrought like horses while we could. Meanwhile,
• 3:11:07
  such of the wounded as could move came clambering out of the force scuttle and
• 3:11:11
  began to help, while the rest that lay helpless in their bunks harrowed me
• 3:11:16
  with screaming and begging to be saved. The captain took no part. It
• 3:11:20
  seemed he was struck stupid. He stood holding by the shrouds, talking to
• 3:11:26
  himself and groaning out aloud whenever the ship hammered on the rock. His brig
• 3:11:31
  was like wife and child to him. He had looked on day by day
• 3:11:35
  at the mishandling of poor ransom, but when it came to the brig,
• 3:11:39
  he seemed to suffer along with her. All the time of our working at
• 3:11:43
  the boat. I remember only one other thing. That I asked Alan,
• 3:11:48
  looking across at the shore, what country it was, and he answered it
• 3:11:52
  was the worst possible for him. It was a land of the campbells.
• 3:11:58
  We had one of the wounded men off to keep a watch upon the seas
• 3:12:01
  and cry us warning. Well. We had the boat about ready to be
• 3:12:05
  launched, when this man sang out pretty shrill. For God's sake, hold
• 3:12:09
  on. We knew by his tone that it was something more than ordinary.
• 3:12:15
  And sure enough there followed a seas so huge that it lifted the brig right
• 3:12:20
  up and candied her rover on her beam. Whether the cry came too late,
• 3:12:24
  or my hold was too weak, I know not. But at the
• 3:12:28
  sudden tilting of the ship I was cast clean over the bulwarks into the sea.
• 3:12:33
  I went down and drank my fill, and then came up and got
• 3:12:37
  a blink of the moon, and then down again. They say a man
• 3:12:41
  sinks the third time for good. I cannot be made like other folk then,
• 3:12:46
  for I would not like to write how often I went down or how
• 3:12:48
  often I came up again. All the while I was being hurled along and
• 3:12:54
  beaten upon, and choked and then swallowed whole, and the thing was so
• 3:12:58
  distracting to my wits that I would neither sorry nor afraid. Presently I found
• 3:13:03
  I was holding to a spar, which helped me somewhat. And then all
• 3:13:07
  of a sudden I was in quiet water and began to come to myself.
• 3:13:13
  It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed
• 3:13:16
  to see how far I had traveled from the brig. I hailed her,
• 3:13:20
  indeed, but it was plain she was already out of cry. She was
• 3:13:24
  still holding together. But whether or not they had yet launched the boat,
• 3:13:28
  it was too far off and too low down to see. While I was
• 3:13:33
  hailing the brig, I spied a tract of water lying between us, where
• 3:13:35
  no great waves came, but which yet boiled white all over and bristled in
• 3:13:41
  the moon with rings and bubbles. Sometimes the whole tract swung to one side
• 3:13:46
  like the tail of a live serpent. Sometimes for a glimpse, it would
• 3:13:50
  all disappear and then boil up again. What it was I had no guess,
• 3:13:56
  which for the time increased my fear of it. But I now know
• 3:13:58
  it must to been the roost or tide race, which had carried me away
• 3:14:03
  so fast and tumbled me about so cruelly, and at last, as if
• 3:14:07
  tired of that play, had flung out me in the spare yard upon its
• 3:14:11
  landward margin. I now lay quite the calmed, and began to feel that
• 3:14:16
  a man can die of cold as well of a drowning. The shores of
• 3:14:20
  Varriage were close in. I could see in the moonlight the dots of heather,
• 3:14:24
  and the sparkling of the mica and the rocks. Well, thought I
• 3:14:28
  to myself, if I cannot get as far as that, it's strange.
• 3:14:33
  I had no skill of swimming essen water, being small in our neighborhood.
• 3:14:39
  But when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms and kicked out with
• 3:14:43
  both feet, I soon begun to find that I was moving hard work it
• 3:14:48
  was, and mortally slow. But in about an hour of kicking and splashing
• 3:14:52
  I had got well in between the points of a sandy bay, surrounded by
• 3:14:56
  low hills. The sea was here quite quiet. There was no sound of
• 3:15:01
  any surf. The moon shone clear, and I thought in my heart I
• 3:15:05
  had never seen a place so desert and desolate. But it was dry land,
• 3:15:11
  And when at last it grew so shallow that I could leave the yard
• 3:15:15
  and wade ashore upon my feet. I cannot tell if I was more tired
• 3:15:18
  or more grateful both. At least I was tired as I never was before
• 3:15:24
  that night, and grateful to God, as I trust I have been often,
• 3:15:28
  though never with more cause. End of chapter Chapter fourteen the islet.
• 3:15:39
  With my stepping ashore, I began the most unhappy part of my adventures.
• 3:15:45
  It was half past twelve in the morning, and though the wind was broken
• 3:15:48
  by the land, it was a cold night. I dared not sit down,
• 3:15:52
  for I thought I should have frozen, But I took off my shoes
• 3:15:56
  and walked to and fro upon the sand, barefoot and beating my breast with
• 3:16:01
  infinite weariness. There was no sound of man or cattle, not a cock
• 3:16:05
  crew, though it was about the hour of their first waking. Only the
• 3:16:11
  surf broke outside in the distance, which put me in mind of my perils
• 3:16:15
  and those of my friend, who walked by the sea at that hour of
• 3:16:18
  the morning, and in a place so desert like and lonesome, struck me
• 3:16:22
  with a kind of fear. As soon as the day began to break,
• 3:16:26
  I put on my shoes and climbed a hill, the ruggedest scramble I ever
• 3:16:31
  undertook, falling the whole way between big blocks of granite, or leaping from
• 3:16:35
  one to another. When I got to the top, the dawn was come.
• 3:16:41
  There was no sign of the brig which must have lifted from the reef
• 3:16:45
  and sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere to be seen. There
• 3:16:50
  was never a sail upon the ocean, and in what I could see of
• 3:16:52
  the land was neither house nor man. I was afraid to think what had
• 3:16:58
  befallen my shipmates, and afraid to look longer at so empty a scene.
• 3:17:03
  What with my wet clothes and weariness, and my belly that now began to
• 3:17:07
  ache with hunger, I had enough to trouble me without that. So I
• 3:17:11
  set off eastward along the south coast, hoping to find a house where I
• 3:17:15
  might warm myself and perhaps get news of those I had lost. And at
• 3:17:20
  the worst I considered the sun would soon rise and dry my clothes. After
• 3:17:24
  a little my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea,
• 3:17:28
  which seemed to run pretty deep into the land, And as I had no
• 3:17:33
  means to get across, I must needs change my direction to go around the
• 3:17:37
  end of it. It was still the roughest kind of walking. Indeed,
• 3:17:41
  the hole not only of Herid, but of the neighboring part of Mull,
• 3:17:45
  which they called the Ross, is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with
• 3:17:50
  heatherin among. At first the creek kept narrowing, as I had looked to
• 3:17:54
  see, but presently, to my surprise, it began to widen out again.
• 3:17:58
  At this I scratched my head, but had still no notion of the
• 3:18:03
  truth, until at last I came to a rising ground, and it pursed
• 3:18:07
  upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon a little barren isle
• 3:18:11
  and cut off on every side by the salt seas. Indeed, as instead
• 3:18:16
  of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain with a
• 3:18:20
  thick mist, so that my case was lamentable. I stood in the rain
• 3:18:26
  and shivered and wondered what to do, till it occurred to me that perhaps
• 3:18:30
  the creek was fordable back. I went to the narrowest point and waded in,
• 3:18:35
  but not three yards from shore. I plumped in head over ears,
• 3:18:39
  and if ever I was heard of more, it was rather by God's grace
• 3:18:43
  than my own prudence. I was no wetter, for that could hardly be.
• 3:18:48
  But I was all the colder for this mishap, and having lost another
• 3:18:50
  hope, was the more unhappy. And now all at once the yard came
• 3:18:56
  in my head. What had carried me through the roost would surely served me
• 3:19:00
  to cross this little quiet creek in safety. But that I set off,
• 3:19:05
  undaunted across the top of the aisle to fetch and carry it back. It
• 3:19:09
  was a weary tramp in all ways, and if Hope had not buoyed me
• 3:19:13
  up, I must have cast myself down and given up, whether with the
• 3:19:18
  sea salt or because I was growing fevered. I was distressed with thirst,
• 3:19:24
  had to stop as I went and drink the peaty water out of the hags.
• 3:19:28
  I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive, and
• 3:19:31
  at the first glance I thought the yard was something farther out than when I
• 3:19:35
  left it in. I went for the third time into the sea. The
• 3:19:41
  sand was smooth and firm, and shelved gradually down so that I could wade
• 3:19:46
  out till the water was almost to my neck, and little waves splashed into
• 3:19:50
  my face. But at that depth my feet began to leave me, and
• 3:19:54
  I durst venture in no farther as for the yard, I saw it bobbing
• 3:19:58
  very quietly, some twenty feet beyond. I had borne up well until this
• 3:20:03
  last disappointment, But at that I came ashore and flung myself down upon the
• 3:20:09
  sands and wept. The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible
• 3:20:15
  a thought to me that I must pass it lightly over. In all the
• 3:20:18
  books I have read of people cast away, they had either their pockets full
• 3:20:22
  of tools, or a chest of things, which would be thrown upon the
• 3:20:24
  beach along with them, as if on purpose. My case was very different.
• 3:20:31
  I had nothing in my pockets but money and Allan's silver button, And
• 3:20:35
  being inland bred, I was as much short of knowledge as of means.
• 3:20:39
  I knew indeed that shell fish were counted good to eat, And among the
• 3:20:43
  rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at first
• 3:20:48
  I could hardly strike from their places, not knowing quickness to be needful.
• 3:20:52
  There were, besides, some of the little shells that we call BUCkies.
• 3:20:56
  I think periwinkle is the English name of these two. I made my whole
• 3:21:01
  diet devouring them cold and raw as I found them, And so hungry was
• 3:21:05
  I that at first they seemed to me delicious. Perhaps they were out of
• 3:21:11
  season, Perhaps there was something wrong in the sea about my island. But
• 3:21:15
  at least I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was seized with
• 3:21:18
  giddiness and wretching, and lay for a long time no better than dead.
• 3:21:24
  A second trial of the same food, indeed I had no other, did
• 3:21:28
  better with me and revived my strength. But as long as I was on
• 3:21:33
  the island, I never knew what to expect when I had eaten. Sometimes
• 3:21:37
  all was well, but sometimes I was thrown into a miserable sickness. Nor
• 3:21:41
  could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was that hurt me. All day,
• 3:21:48
  its streamed rain the island ran like a sop. There was no dry
• 3:21:52
  spot to be found, And when I lay down that night between two boulders
• 3:21:56
  that made a kind of roof, my feet were in a The second day
• 3:22:01
  I crossed the island to all sides. There was no one part of it
• 3:22:05
  better than another. It was all desolate and rocky, nothing living on it
• 3:22:11
  but game birds, which I lacked the means to kill. And gulls which
• 3:22:15
  haunted the outlying rocks, and a prodigious number. But the creek or strait
• 3:22:20
  that cut off the Isle from the mainland of the Ross opened out on the
• 3:22:24
  north into a bay, and the bay again opened into the sound of Iona.
• 3:22:28
  And it was the neighborhood of this place that I chose to be my
• 3:22:31
  home. Though if I had thought upon the very name of home in such
• 3:22:35
  a spot, I must have burst out weeping. I had good reasons for
• 3:22:41
  my choice. There was in this part of the isle a little hut of
• 3:22:45
  a house, like a pig's hut, where fishers used to sleep when they
• 3:22:48
  came there upon their business. But the turf roof of it had fallen entirely
• 3:22:52
  in, so that the hut was of no use to me, and gave
• 3:22:56
  me less shelter than my rocks. What was more important, the shell fish
• 3:23:01
  on which I lived grew there in great plenty. When the tide was out,
• 3:23:05
  I could gather a peck at a time, and this was doubtless a
• 3:23:09
  convenience. But the other reason went deeper. I had become in no way
• 3:23:13
  use to the horrid solitude of the isle, but still looked round me on
• 3:23:18
  all sides, like a man that was hunted between fear and hope that I
• 3:23:22
  might see some human creature coming. Now from a little up the hillside over
• 3:23:26
  the bay, I could catch a sight of the great ancient church and the
• 3:23:31
  roofs of the people's houses in Iona. And on the other hand, over
• 3:23:35
  the low country of the Ross, I saw smoke go up morning and evening,
• 3:23:41
  as if from a homestead in the hollow of the land. I used
• 3:23:45
  to watch this smoke when I was wet and cold and had my head half
• 3:23:48
  turned with loneliness, and I think of the fireside and the company till my
• 3:23:54
  heart burned. It was the same with the roofs of Iona. Altogether,
• 3:23:58
  the sight I had of men's homes and comfortable lives. Although it put a
• 3:24:03
  point on my own sufferings, yet it kept hope alive, helped me to
• 3:24:07
  eat my raw shellfish, which had soon grown to be a disgust, and
• 3:24:13
  saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever I was quite alone with
• 3:24:16
  dead rocks and fowls, and the rain and the cold sea. I say
• 3:24:22
  it kept hope alive, and indeed it seemed impossible that I should be left
• 3:24:26
  to die on the shores of my own country, and within view of a
• 3:24:31
  church tower and the smoke of men's houses. But the second day passed,
• 3:24:37
  and though as long as the light lasted, I kept the bright lookout for
• 3:24:39
  boats on the sound or men passing on the ross, no help came near
• 3:24:45
  me. It still rained, and I turned into sleep, as wet as
• 3:24:48
  ever, and with a cruel sore throat, but a little comforted, perhaps
• 3:24:54
  by having said good night to my next neighbors, the people of Iona.
• 3:24:58
  Charles the second declared a man could stay outdoors more days than the year in
• 3:25:03
  the climate of England than in any other. This was very like a king
• 3:25:07
  with a palace at his back and changes of dry clothes. But he must
• 3:25:11
  have had better luck on his flight from Worcester than I had in that miserable
• 3:25:16
  isle. It was the height of the summer, yet it rained for more
• 3:25:20
  than twenty four hours and did not clear until the afternoon of the third day.
• 3:25:24
  This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red
• 3:25:28
  deer, a buck with a fine spread of antlers, standing in the rain
• 3:25:33
  on the top of the island. He had scarce seen me rise from my
• 3:25:37
  rock before he trotted off upon the other side. I supposed he must have
• 3:25:43
  swum the strait, though what should bring any creature to arid was more than
• 3:25:48
  I could fancy. A little after, as I was jumping about after my
• 3:25:52
  limpets, I was startled by a guinea piece which fell upon a rock in
• 3:25:56
  front of me and glanced off into the sea. When the sailors gave me
• 3:26:01
  my money again, they kept back not only about a third of the whole
• 3:26:05
  sum, but my father's leather purse, so that from that day out I
• 3:26:09
  carried my gold loose in a pocket with a button. I now saw there
• 3:26:13
  must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place in a great
• 3:26:16
  hurry. But this was to lock the stable door. After the steed was
• 3:26:20
  stolen. I had left the shore at Queen's Ferry with near on fifty pounds.
• 3:26:26
  Now I found no more than two guinea pieces and a silver shilling.
• 3:26:30
  It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it
• 3:26:33
  lay shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three pounds
• 3:26:37
  and four shillings English money for a lad the rightful air of an estate.
• 3:26:41
  And now starving on an aisle at the extreme end of the wild highlands.
• 3:26:46
  The state of my affairs dashed me still further, and indeed my plight on
• 3:26:52
  that third morning was truly pitiful. My clothes were beginning to rot. My
• 3:26:56
  stockings, in particular, were quite worn through, so that my shanks went
• 3:27:01
  naked. My hands had grown quite soft with a continual soaking. My throat
• 3:27:05
  was very sore, My strength had much abated, and my heart so turned
• 3:27:11
  against the hard stuff I was condemned to eat, that the very sight of
• 3:27:15
  it came near to sicken me. And yet the worst was not yet come.
• 3:27:22
  There was a pretty high rock on the northwest of Rid, which,
• 3:27:24
  because it had a flat top and overlooked the sound, I was much in
• 3:27:28
  the habit of frequenting. Not that ever I stayed in one place save when
• 3:27:33
  asleep, my misery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down
• 3:27:39
  with continual and aimless goings and comings in the rain. As soon, however,
• 3:27:45
  as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of that
• 3:27:46
  rock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot
• 3:27:52
  tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, of which I had
• 3:27:56
  begun to despair, and I scanned the and the ross with a fresh interest.
• 3:28:03
  On the south of my rock, a part of the island jutted out
• 3:28:05
  and hid the open ocean, so that a boat could thus come quite near
• 3:28:09
  me upon that side, and I benun the wiser well. All of a
• 3:28:15
  sudden a cobble with a brown sail and a pair of fissures aboard of it,
• 3:28:18
  came flying round that corner of the aisle, bound for Iona. I
• 3:28:24
  shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the rock, and reached
• 3:28:28
  up my hands and prayed to them. They were near enough to hear.
• 3:28:31
  I could even see the color of their hair, and there was no doubt
• 3:28:35
  but they observed me, for they cried out in the gallic tongue and laughed.
• 3:28:41
  But the boat never turned aside, and flew on right before my eyes.
• 3:28:46
  For Iona. I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the
• 3:28:50
  shore from rock to rock, crying on them piteously. Even after they were
• 3:28:56
  out of reach of my voice, I still cried and waved to them,
• 3:29:00
  And when they were quite gone, I thought my heart would have burst.
• 3:29:03
  All the time of my troubles, I wept only twice, once, when
• 3:29:07
  I could not reach the yard. And now second time when these fissures turned
• 3:29:13
  a deaf ear to my cries. But this time I wept and roared like
• 3:29:18
  a wicked child, tearing up the turf with my nails and grinding my face
• 3:29:22
  in the earth. If a wish would kill men, those two fishers would
• 3:29:26
  never have seen mourning, and I should likely have died upon my island.
• 3:29:31
  When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but
• 3:29:35
  with such loathing of the mess as I could now scarce control. Sure enough
• 3:29:39
  I should have done as well to fast, for my fishes poisoned me again.
• 3:29:45
  I had all my first pains. My throat was so sore I could
• 3:29:48
  scarce swallow. I had a fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth
• 3:29:54
  together. And there came on me that dreadful sense of illness, which we
• 3:29:58
  have no name for, either in Scotch or English. I thought I should
• 3:30:03
  have died and made my peace with God, forgiving all men, even my
• 3:30:07
  uncle and the fishers. And as soon as I had thus made up my
• 3:30:11
  mind to the worst clearness came upon me. I observed the night was falling
• 3:30:16
  dry. My clothes were dried a good deal. Truly, I was in
• 3:30:20
  a better case than ever before since I had landed on the isle, and
• 3:30:24
  so I got to sleep at last for the thought of gratitude. The next
• 3:30:30
  day, which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine, I found
• 3:30:33
  my bodily strength run very low, but the sun shone, the air was
• 3:30:39
  sweet, and what I managed to eat of the shell fish agreed well with
• 3:30:43
  me and revived my courage. I was scarce back on my rock, where
• 3:30:48
  I went always the first thing after I had eaten before I observed a boat
• 3:30:52
  coming down the sound, and with her head, as I thought, in
• 3:30:56
  my direction. I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly, for I
• 3:31:01
  thought these men might have thought better of their cruelty and be coming back to
• 3:31:05
  my assistance. But another disappointment such as yesterday's, was more than I could
• 3:31:09
  bear. I turned my back accordingly upon the sea and did not look again
• 3:31:15
  till I had counted many hundreds. The boat was still heading for the island.
• 3:31:20
  The next time, I counted the full thousand as slowly as I could,
• 3:31:24
  my heart beating so as to hurt me, And then it was out
• 3:31:28
  of all question. She was coming straight to arid. I could no longer
• 3:31:33
  hold myself back, but ran to the seaside and out from one rock to
• 3:31:37
  another as far as I could go. It is a marvel I was not
• 3:31:41
  drowned, for when I was brought to a stand at last, my legs
• 3:31:46
  shook under me, and my mouth was so dry I must wet it with
• 3:31:48
  the sea water before I was able to shout. All this time the boat
• 3:31:54
  was coming on, and now I was able to perceive it was the same
• 3:31:58
  boat and the same two men as yesterday. This I knew by their hair,
• 3:32:01
  which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black. But
• 3:32:05
  now there was a third man along with them, who looked to be of
• 3:32:09
  a better class. As soon as they were come within easy speech, they
• 3:32:13
  let down their sail and lay quiet. In spite of my supplications, they
• 3:32:18
  drew no nearer in And what frightened me most of all the new man Tea,
• 3:32:22
  heeded with laughter as he talked and looked at me. Then he stood
• 3:32:28
  up in the boat and addressed me a long while, speaking fast and with
• 3:32:31
  many wavings of his hand. I told him I had no Gaelic, and
• 3:32:35
  at this he became very angry, and I began to suspect he thought he
• 3:32:39
  was talking English, listing very close. I caught the word what heifer several
• 3:32:46
  times, but all the rest was Gaelic, and might have been Greek and
• 3:32:50
  Hebrew. For me whatever, said I to show him I had caught a
• 3:32:54
  word. Yes, yes, yes, yes, says he. And then
• 3:33:00
  he looked at the other men as much as to say, I told you,
• 3:33:03
  I spoke English, and began again, as hard as ever in the
• 3:33:07
  Gaelic. This time I picked out another word, tide. Then I had
• 3:33:11
  a flash of hope. I remembered he was always waving his hand towards the
• 3:33:16
  mainland of the ross. Do you mean when the tide is out? I
• 3:33:22
  cried, and could not finish. Yes, yes, said he tide.
• 3:33:26
  At that I turned tail upon their boat, where my adviser had once more
• 3:33:31
  begun to tee hee with laughter, leaped back the way I had come from
• 3:33:35
  one stone to another, and set off running across the aisle as I had
• 3:33:39
  never run before. In about half an hour I came out upon the shores
• 3:33:45
  of the creek, and sure enough it was shrunk into a little trickle of
• 3:33:48
  water, through which I dashed not above my knees, and landed with a
• 3:33:52
  shout on the main island. A sea bred boy would not have stayed a
• 3:33:58
  day on Errand, which is only what they call a tidal islet, and
• 3:34:01
  except in the bottom of the neaps, can be entered and left twice in
• 3:34:05
  every twenty four hours, either dry shod, or at the most by waiting.
• 3:34:11
  Even I, who had the tide going out and in before me in
• 3:34:13
  the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to get my
• 3:34:18
  shellfish. Even I, I say, if I had sat down to think
• 3:34:22
  instead of raging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret and got
• 3:34:26
  free. It was no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder
• 3:34:31
  was whether they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion and taken the trouble to come
• 3:34:35
  back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon
• 3:34:41
  one hundred hours. But for the fishers I might have left my bones there
• 3:34:46
  and pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it
• 3:34:50
  pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, but in my present case,
• 3:34:54
  being clothed like a beggar man, scarce able to walk, and in great
• 3:34:58
  pain of my life sore throat. I have seen wicked men and fools,
• 3:35:03
  a great many of both. Now I believe they both get paid in the
• 3:35:07
  end. But the fools first, and of chapter chapter fifteen, the lad
• 3:35:15
  with a silver button through the Isle of Mull. The Ross of Mull,
• 3:35:20
  which I had now got upon, was rugged and trackless, like the isle
• 3:35:24
  I had just left, being all bog and briar and big stone. There
• 3:35:31
  may be roads for them that know that country well, But for my part
• 3:35:33
  I had no better guide than my own nose, and no other landmark than
• 3:35:37
  ben More. I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had
• 3:35:41
  seen so often from the island, and with all my great weariness and the
• 3:35:46
  difficulty of the way, came upon the house in the bottom of a little
• 3:35:50
  hollow, about five or six at night. It was low and longish,
• 3:35:54
  roofed with turf and built of unmortared stones, and on a mound in front
• 3:35:58
  of it, an old gentleman sat smoking his pipe in the sun. With
• 3:36:03
  what little English he had, he gave me to understand that my shipmates had
• 3:36:07
  got safe ashore and had broken bread in that very house on the day after.
• 3:36:13
  Was there one, I asked? Dressed like a gentleman, he said,
• 3:36:18
  they all wore rough greatcoats, but to be sure, the first of
• 3:36:20
  them, the one that came alone, wore breeches and stockings, while the
• 3:36:26
  rest had sailor's trousers. Ah, said I, and he would have a
• 3:36:30
  feathered hat. He told me no, that he was bareheaded, like myself.
• 3:36:35
  At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat, and then the
• 3:36:39
  rain came in my mind, and I judged it more likely he had it
• 3:36:43
  out of harm's way under his greatcoat. This set me smiling, partly because
• 3:36:48
  my friend was safe, partly to think of his vanity in dress. And
• 3:36:52
  then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow and cried out that I
• 3:36:56
  must be the lad with a silver button. Why, yes, said I,
• 3:37:01
  in some wonder Well, then said the old gentleman, I have a
• 3:37:05
  word for you, that you are to follow your friend to his country by
• 3:37:11
  torosay. He then asked me how I had fared, and I told him
• 3:37:16
  my tale. A south countryman would certainly have laughed. But this old gentleman,
• 3:37:20
  I call him so because of his manners, for his clothes were dropping
• 3:37:24
  off his back, heard me all through with nothing but gravity and pity.
• 3:37:30
  When I had done, he took me by the hand led me into his
• 3:37:33
  hut it was no better, and presented me before his wife as if she
• 3:37:39
  had been the queen and I a duke. The good woman set oat bread
• 3:37:43
  before me in a cold grouse, hatting my shoulder and smiling to me all
• 3:37:46
  the time, for she had no English, and the old gentleman, not
• 3:37:52
  to be behind, brewed me a strong punch out of their country spirit.
• 3:37:56
  All the while I was eating, and after that, when I was drinking
• 3:38:00
  the punch, I could scarce come to believe in my good fortune, and
• 3:38:03
  the house, though it was thick with a peat smoke and as full of
• 3:38:07
  holes as a colander, seemed like a palace. The punch threw me in
• 3:38:11
  a strong sweat and a deep slumber. The good people let me lie,
• 3:38:16
  and it was near noon of the next day before I took the road,
• 3:38:20
  my throat already easier, and my spirits quite restored by good fare and good
• 3:38:24
  news. The old gentleman, though I pressed him hard, would take no
• 3:38:28
  money, and gave me an old bonnet for my head. Though I am
• 3:38:33
  free to own, I was no sooner out of view of the house than
• 3:38:35
  I very jealously washed this gift of his and a wayside fountain, thought I
• 3:38:41
  to myself, if these are the wild Highlanders, I could wish my own
• 3:38:46
  folk wilder. I not only started late, but I must have wandered nearly
• 3:38:50
  half the time. True, I met plenty of people grubbing in little,
• 3:38:56
  miserable fields that would not keep a cat, or hurting little about the bigness
• 3:39:01
  of asses. The Highland dress being forbidden by law since the rebellion, and
• 3:39:05
  the people condemned to the Lowland habit, which they much disliked, it was
• 3:39:11
  strange to see the variety of their array. Some went bare only for a
• 3:39:16
  hanging cloak or greatcoat, and carried their trousers on their backs like an useless
• 3:39:20
  burden. Some have made an imitation of the tartan, with little parti colored
• 3:39:26
  stripes patched together like an old wife's quilt. Others, again, still wore
• 3:39:31
  the Highland filameg, but by putting a few stitches between the legs, transformed
• 3:39:35
  it into a pair of trousers like a dutchman's. All those makeshifts were condemned
• 3:39:41
  and punished for the law was harshly applied in hopes to break up the clan's
• 3:39:46
  spirit. But in that out of the way sea bound dial. There were
• 3:39:48
  few to make remarks, and fewer to tell tales. They seemed a great
• 3:39:54
  poverty, which was no doubt natural now that Raypine was put down, and
• 3:40:00
  chiefs kept no longer an open house. And the roads, even such a
• 3:40:03
  wandering country by track as the one I followed, were infested with beggars.
• 3:40:09
  And here again I marked a difference from my own part of the country.
• 3:40:13
  For our lowland beggars. Even the gownsmen themselves, who begged by patent,
• 3:40:18
  had a louting, flattering way with them, And if you gave them a
• 3:40:22
  plaque and asked changed, would very civilly return you a bottle. But these
• 3:40:26
  highland beggars stood on their dignity, asked alms only to buy snuff by their
• 3:40:31
  account, and would give no change. To be sure, this was no
• 3:40:35
  concern of mine, except in so far as it entertained me. By the
• 3:40:39
  way. What was much more to the purpose. Few had any English,
• 3:40:45
  and these few, unless they were the brotherhood of beggars, not very anxious
• 3:40:50
  to place it at my service. I knew Torres Say to be my destination,
• 3:40:54
  and repeated the name to them and pointed, But instead of simply pointing
• 3:40:58
  in reply, they would give me a screed of the Gaelic that set me
• 3:41:03
  foolish. So it was small wonder if I went out of my road as
• 3:41:05
  often as I stayed in it. At last, about eight at night,
• 3:41:11
  and already very weary, I came to a lone house, where I asked
• 3:41:15
  admittance, and was refused until he bethought me of the power of money in
• 3:41:20
  so poor a country, and held up one of my guineas in my finger
• 3:41:22
  and thumb. Thereupon, the man of the house, who had hitherto pretended
• 3:41:28
  to have no English, and driven me from his door by signals, suddenly
• 3:41:31
  began to speak as clearly as was needful, and agreed for five shillings to
• 3:41:37
  give me a night's lodging and guide me the next day to Torressay. I
• 3:41:41
  slept uneasily that night, fearing I should be robbed, But I might have
• 3:41:46
  spared myself the pain, for my host was no robber, only miserably poor
• 3:41:50
  and a great cheat. He was not alone in his poverty, for the
• 3:41:54
  next morning we must go five miles about to the house of what he called
• 3:41:58
  a rich man, to have one of my guineas changed. This was perhaps
• 3:42:03
  a rich man. For mull he would have scarce, been thought so in
• 3:42:07
  the South, for it took all he had. The whole house was turned
• 3:42:11
  upside down, and a neighbor brought under contribution before he could scrape together twenty
• 3:42:16
  shillings in silver, the odd shilling he kept for himself, protesting he could
• 3:42:22
  ill afford to have so great a sum of money lying locked up. For
• 3:42:26
  all that, he was very curious and well spoken, made us both sit
• 3:42:31
  down with his family to dinner, and brewed punch in a fine china bowl,
• 3:42:35
  over which my rascal guide grew so merry that he refused to start.
• 3:42:39
  I was forgetting angry, and appealed to the rich man, Hector McLean was
• 3:42:45
  his name, who had been a witness to our bargain and to my pavement
• 3:42:48
  of the five shillings. But McLean had taken his share of the punch and
• 3:42:52
  vowed that no gentleman should leave his table after the bowl was brewed. So
• 3:42:56
  there was nothing for it but to sit and hear jakebite toast and Gaelic songs
• 3:43:01
  till all were tipsy and staggered off to the bed or the barn for the
• 3:43:05
  night's rest. Next day, the fourth of my travels, we were up
• 3:43:11
  before five upon the clock, but my rascal guide got to the bottle at
• 3:43:15
  once, and it was three hours before I had him clear of the house.
• 3:43:20
  And then, as you shall hear, only for a worse disappointment.
• 3:43:24
  As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay before mister mc lean's
• 3:43:28
  house, all went well. Only my guide looked constantly over his shoulder,
• 3:43:33
  and when I asked him the cause, only grinned at me. No sooner,
• 3:43:37
  however, have we crossed the back of the hill and got out of
• 3:43:39
  sight of the house windows, than he told me torosay lay right in front,
• 3:43:45
  and that a hilltop, which he pointed out, was my best landmark.
• 3:43:50
  I care very little for that, said I, since you are going
• 3:43:54
  with me. The infinite cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he had no
• 3:43:58
  English. My fine fellow, I said, I know very well your English,
• 3:44:03
  comes and goes, tell me what we'll bring it back? Is it
• 3:44:07
  more money you wish? Five shillings? Now, said he and herself will
• 3:44:13
  bring you there. I reflected a while, and then offered him two,
• 3:44:18
  which he accepted greedily and insisted on having in his hands at once for luck,
• 3:44:22
  as he said, But I think it was rather for my misfortune.
• 3:44:28
  The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles, at the end of
• 3:44:31
  which distance he sat down upon the wayside and took off his brogues from his
• 3:44:35
  feet, like a man about to rest. I was now red hot,
• 3:44:41
  HA said, I have you no more English, He said, impudently no
• 3:44:48
  at that. I boiled over and lifted my hand to strike him, and
• 3:44:52
  he, drawing a knife from his rags, squatted back and grinned at me
• 3:44:56
  like a wildcat. At that forgetting everything but my anger, I ran in
• 3:45:01
  upon him, put aside his knife with my left, and struck him in
• 3:45:05
  the mouth with the right. I was a strong lad and very angry,
• 3:45:09
  and he but a little man. And he went down before me heavily.
• 3:45:13
  By good luck, his knife flew out of his hand as he fell.
• 3:45:16
  I picked up both that and his brogues, wished him a good morning,
• 3:45:20
  and set off upon my way, leaving him barefoot and disarmed. I chuckled
• 3:45:24
  to myself as I went, being sure I was done with that rogue for
• 3:45:30
  a variety of reasons. First, he knew he could have no more of
• 3:45:33
  my money. Next, the brogues were worth in that country only a few
• 3:45:37
  pence. And lastly the knife, which was really a dagger it was against
• 3:45:41
  the law for him to carry. In about half an hour of walk,
• 3:45:46
  I overtook a great ragged man, moving pretty fast, but feeling before him
• 3:45:50
  with a staff. He was quite blind, and told me he was a
• 3:45:54
  catechist, which should have put me at my ease, but his face went
• 3:45:58
  again against me. It seemed dark and dangerous and secret. And presently,
• 3:46:03
  as we began to go on alongside, I saw the steel butt of a
• 3:46:07
  pistol sticking from under the flap of his coat pocket. Carry such a thing
• 3:46:13
  meant to find a fifteen pounds sterling upon a first offense, and transportation to
• 3:46:18
  the colonies upon a second. Nor could I quite see why a religious teacher
• 3:46:22
  should go armed, or what a blind man could be doing with a pistol.
• 3:46:28
  I told him about my guide, for I was proud of what I
• 3:46:31
  had done, and my vanity for once got the heels of my prudence.
• 3:46:35
  At the mention of the five shillings, he cried out so loud that I
• 3:46:39
  made up my mind I should say nothing of the other two, and was
• 3:46:41
  glad he could not see my blushes. Was it too much? I asked,
• 3:46:48
  a little faltering too much, cries he? Why I would guide you
• 3:46:52
  to torosay myself for a drama, brandy, and't give you the great pleasure
• 3:46:56
  of my company. Me that is a man of some learning. In the
• 3:47:01
  bargain, I said, I did not see how a blind man could be
• 3:47:05
  a guide. But at that he laughed aloud and said his stick was eyes
• 3:47:09
  enough for an eagle. In the isle of Mull at least, says he,
• 3:47:13
  where I know every stone and heather bush by mark of head. See
• 3:47:18
  now, he said, striking right and left, as if to make sure.
• 3:47:24
  Down there a burn is running, and at the head of it there
• 3:47:26
  stands a bit of a small hill with a stone cocked upon the top of
• 3:47:31
  that. And it's hard at the foot of the hill that the way runs
• 3:47:35
  by to Taurus, say, And the way here, being for droves,
• 3:47:37
  is plainly trodden and will show grassy through the heather. I had to own
• 3:47:43
  he was right in every feature, and told my wonder ha, says he
• 3:47:48
  that's nothing. Would you believe me now that before the act came out,
• 3:47:54
  and when there were weapons in this country, I could shoot, I could,
• 3:47:58
  I cries he, and then with a leer, if he had such
• 3:48:01
  a thing as a pistol here to try with, I would show you how
• 3:48:05
  it's done. I told him I had nothing of the sort, and gave
• 3:48:09
  him a wider berth. If he had known, his pistol stuck at that
• 3:48:13
  time quite plainly out of his pocket, and I could see the sun twinkle
• 3:48:16
  on the steel of the butt. But by the better luck for me,
• 3:48:20
  he knew nothing, thought all was covered and lied on in the dark.
• 3:48:26
  He then began to question me cunningly where I came from, whether I was
• 3:48:30
  rich, whether I could change a five shilling piece for him, which he
• 3:48:35
  declared he had that moment in his sporran And all the time he kept edging
• 3:48:39
  up to me, and I avoiding him. We were now upon a sort
• 3:48:43
  of green cattle track which crossed the hills towards Torosay, and we kept changing
• 3:48:48
  sides upon that, like answers and a reel. I had so plainly the
• 3:48:52
  upper hand that my spirits rose, and indeed I took a pleasure in this
• 3:48:58
  game of blind man's bluff. But the Catechists grew angrier and angrier, and
• 3:49:03
  at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike from my legs with his
• 3:49:05
  staff. Then I told him that sure enough I had a pistol in my
• 3:49:11
  pocket as well as he, and if he did not strike across the hill
• 3:49:13
  due south, I would even blow his brains out. He became at once
• 3:49:20
  very polite, and after trying to soften me for some time, but quite
• 3:49:24
  in vain, he cursed me once more in Gaelic and took himself off.
• 3:49:28
  I watched him striding along through bog and briar, tapping with his stick,
• 3:49:33
  until he turned the end of a hill and disappeared in the next hollow.
• 3:49:37
  Then I struck on again for Torrossay, much better pleased to be alone than
• 3:49:41
  to travel with that man of learning. This was an unlucky day, and
• 3:49:46
  these two of whom I had just rid myself one after the other, were
• 3:49:50
  the two worst men I met with in the highlands. At Torrossay, on
• 3:49:56
  the sound of Mull and looking over to the mainland of there was an inn
• 3:50:01
  with an innkeeper who was a McLean. It appeared of a very high family,
• 3:50:05
  for to keep an inn is thought even more genteel in the Highlands than
• 3:50:09
  it is with us, perhaps his partaking of hospitality, or perhaps because the
• 3:50:13
  trade is idle and drunken. He spoke good English, and, finding me
• 3:50:18
  to be something of a scholar, tried me first in French, where he
• 3:50:22
  easily beat me, and then in the Latin, in which I don't know
• 3:50:26
  which of us did best. This pleasant rivalry put us at once upon friendly
• 3:50:31
  terms, and I sat up and drank punch with him, or to be
• 3:50:35
  more correct, sat up and watched him drink it until he was so tipsy
• 3:50:39
  that he wept upon my shoulder. I tried him as if by accident with
• 3:50:45
  the sight of Allan's button, but it was plain he had never seen or
• 3:50:48
  heard of it. Indeed, he bore some grudge against the family and friends
• 3:50:52
  of Ardshield, And before he was drunk he read me a lampoon in very
• 3:50:56
  good Latin, but with a very ill meaning, which he had made in
• 3:51:01
  elegiac verses upon a person of that house. When I told him of my
• 3:51:05
  catechist, he shook his head and said, I was lucky to have got
• 3:51:09
  clear off. But that is a very dangerous man, he said. Duncan
• 3:51:15
  mc kee is his name. He can shoot by the ear at several yards,
• 3:51:18
  and he has often been accused of highway robberies at once of murder.
• 3:51:26
  The cream of it is, says I, that he called himself a catechist,
• 3:51:31
  And why should he not, says he, when that is what he
• 3:51:35
  is. It was mc lean of Doert gave it to him before he was
• 3:51:37
  blind. But perhaps it was a pity, says my host, for he
• 3:51:43
  is always on the road, going from one place to another, to hear
• 3:51:46
  the young folks say their religion, and doubtless that is a great temptation to
• 3:51:50
  the poor man. At last, when my landlord could drink no more,
• 3:51:56
  he showed me to a bed, and I lay down in a very good
• 3:51:58
  spirit, having traveled the greater part of that big and crooked island of Mull,
• 3:52:03
  from Arid to torressy fifty miles as the crow flies, and with my
• 3:52:09
  wanderings much nearer a hundred in four days, and with little fatigue. Indeed,
• 3:52:15
  I was by far in better heart and health of body at the end
• 3:52:18
  of that long tramp than I had been at the beginning end of chapter chapter
• 3:52:24
  sixteen the lad with the Silver Button. Across Morven there is a regular ferry
• 3:52:33
  from Torresy to Kinloch Aleen on the mainland. Both shores of the sound are
• 3:52:37
  in the country of the strong clan of the mc Leans, and the people
• 3:52:41
  that passed the ferry with me were almost all of that clan. The skipper
• 3:52:46
  of the boat, on the other hand, was called nil Roy Macrob,
• 3:52:50
  And since Macrob was one of the names of Allan's clansmen, and Allan himself
• 3:52:54
  had sent me to that ferry, I was eager to come to private speech
• 3:52:58
  of nil Roy in the crowded boat. This was, of course impossible,
• 3:53:03
  and the passage was a very slow affair. There was no wind, and
• 3:53:07
  as the boat was wretchedly equipped, we could pull but two oars on one
• 3:53:11
  side and one on the other. The men gave way, however, with
• 3:53:15
  a good will, the passengers taking spells to help them, and the whole
• 3:53:20
  company giving the time in Gaelic boat's songs. And what were the songs,
• 3:53:24
  and the sea air, and the good nature and spirit of all concern,
• 3:53:28
  and the bright weather. The passage was a pretty thing to have seen.
• 3:53:33
  But there was one melancholy part. In the mouth of lach Aline, we
• 3:53:37
  found a great sea going ship at anchor, and this I supposed at first
• 3:53:41
  to be one of the King's cruisers, which were kept along that coast both
• 3:53:45
  summer and winter to prevent communication with the French. As we got a little
• 3:53:50
  nearer, it became plain she was a ship of merchandise. And what still
• 3:53:54
  more puzzled me. Not only her decks, but the sea beach also were
• 3:54:00
  white, black with people and skiffs were continually plying to and fro between them.
• 3:54:05
  Yet nearer, and there began to come to our ears a great sound
• 3:54:09
  of mourning, the people on board and those on the shore, crying and
• 3:54:13
  lamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart. Then I understood this
• 3:54:18
  was an emigrant ship bound for the American colonies. We put the ferryboat alongside,
• 3:54:24
  and the exiles leaned over the bulwarks, weeping and reaching out their hands
• 3:54:28
  to my fellow passengers, among whom they counted some near friends. How long
• 3:54:33
  this might have gone on, I do not know, for they seemed to
• 3:54:37
  have no sense of time. But at last the captain of the ship,
• 3:54:41
  who seemed near beside himself and no great wonder in the midst of this crying
• 3:54:46
  and confusion, came to the side and begged us to depart. Thereupon,
• 3:54:52
  Neil sheered off, and the chief singer in our boat struck into a melancholy
• 3:54:56
  air, which was presently taken up both by the emigrants and their friends upon
• 3:55:00
  the beach, so that it sounded from all sides like a lament for the
• 3:55:05
  dying. I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men and women
• 3:55:09
  in the boat even as they bent at the oars. And the circumstances and
• 3:55:13
  the music of the song, which is one called lach Aber no More,
• 3:55:18
  were highly affecting even to myself. At Kinloch Aleen, I got Neil Roy
• 3:55:24
  upon one side on the beach and said, I made sure he was one
• 3:55:28
  of Appen's men. And what for? No, said he. I am
• 3:55:33
  seeking somebody, said I, and it comes in my mind that you will
• 3:55:37
  have news of him. Alan breck Stewart is his name, And very foolishly,
• 3:55:43
  instead of showing him the button, I sought to pass a shilling in
• 3:55:46
  his hand. At this he drew back. I am very much affronted,
• 3:55:52
  he said, and this is not the way that one shettleman should behave to
• 3:55:56
  another at all. The man you asked for is an But if he were
• 3:56:01
  in my sporn, says he, and your belly full of shillings that would
• 3:56:05
  not hurt a hair upon his body. I saw I had gone the wrong
• 3:56:09
  way to work, and without wasting time upon apologies, showed him the button
• 3:56:13
  lying in the hollow of my palm. Hahuil Wuil said, Neil, and
• 3:56:20
  I think you might have begun with that end of the stick whatever. But
• 3:56:22
  if you are the lad with the silver button, all is well, and
• 3:56:26
  I have the word to see that you come safe. But if you will
• 3:56:31
  pardon me to speak plainly, says he, there is a name that you
• 3:56:35
  should never take into your mouth, and that is the name of Alan Breck.
• 3:56:39
  And there is a thing that you would never do, and that is
• 3:56:43
  to offer your dirty money to a heilen gentleman. It was not very easy
• 3:56:48
  to apologize, for I could scarce tell him what was the truth that I
• 3:56:52
  had never dreamed he would set up to be a gentleman until he told me
• 3:56:56
  so. Neil, on his part, had no wish to pray long his
• 3:57:00
  dealings with me, only to fulfill his orders and be done with it.
• 3:57:03
  And he made haste to give me my route. This was to lie the
• 3:57:07
  night in King Lachalen and the public inn, to cross Morven the next day
• 3:57:11
  to Ardgour and lie the night in the house of one John of the Claymore,
• 3:57:16
  who was warned that I might come the third day to be set across
• 3:57:22
  one loch at Korn and another at Balacoulish, and then asked my way to
• 3:57:26
  the house of James of the Glens at Alkharn Endure of Appen. There was
• 3:57:31
  a good deal of faring, as you hear the sea in all this part,
• 3:57:35
  running deep into the mountains and winding about their roots. It makes the
• 3:57:41
  country strong to hold and difficult to travel, but full of prodigious, wild
• 3:57:45
  and dreadful prospects. I had some other advice from Neil to speak with no
• 3:57:50
  one by the way, to avoid Whigs, Campbell's and the Red soldiers.
• 3:57:56
  To leave the road and lie in a bush if I saw any any of
• 3:58:00
  the latter coming, for it was never chancy to meet in with them,
• 3:58:03
  and in brief to conduct myself like a robber or a Jacobite agent, as
• 3:58:09
  perhaps Neil thought me. The inn at Kinloch Aleen was the most beggarly vile
• 3:58:15
  place that ever. Pigs were stied in, full of smoke, vermin,
• 3:58:20
  and silent highlanders I was not only discontented with my lodging, but with myself
• 3:58:24
  for my mismanagement of Neil, and thought I could hardly be worse off,
• 3:58:30
  but very wrongly, as I was soon to see, for I had not
• 3:58:33
  been half an hour at the inn, standing in the door most of the
• 3:58:37
  time to ease my eyes from the peat smoke. When a thunder storm came
• 3:58:41
  close by, the springs broke in the little hill on which the inn stood,
• 3:58:46
  and one into the house became a running water. Places of public entertainment
• 3:58:50
  were bad enough all over Scotland in those days, Yet it was a wonder
• 3:58:54
  to myself when I had to go from the fireside to the bed in which
• 3:58:58
  I slept, eating over the shoes. Early in my next day's journey I
• 3:59:03
  overtook a little stout solemn man, walking very slowly, with his toes turned
• 3:59:09
  out, sometimes reading in a book and sometimes marking the place with his finger,
• 3:59:15
  and dressed decently and plainly in something of a clerical style. This I
• 3:59:20
  found to be another catechist, but of a different order from the blind Man
• 3:59:24
  of Mull, being indeed one of those sent out by the Edinburgh Society for
• 3:59:28
  propagating Christian knowledge. To evangelize the more savage places of the highlands. His
• 3:59:35
  name was Henderlund. He spoke with a broad south country tongue, which I
• 3:59:41
  was beginning to weary for the sound of. And besides common countryship, we
• 3:59:46
  soon found we had a more particular bond of interest. For my good friend,
• 3:59:50
  the Minister of Essendean had translated into the Gaelic in his by time a
• 3:59:54
  number of hymns and pious books, which Henderlun used in his work and held
• 4:00:00
  great esteem. Indeed, it was one of these he was carrying and reading
• 4:00:05
  when we met. We fell in company at once, our ways, lying
• 4:00:09
  together as far as to Kingerloch. As we went, he stopped and spoke
• 4:00:13
  with all the wayfarers and workers that we met or passed. And though of
• 4:00:18
  course I could not tell what they discoursed about, yet I judged mister Handelin
• 4:00:22
  must be well liked in the countryside, for I observed many of them to
• 4:00:26
  bring out their mulls and share a pinch of snuff with him. I told
• 4:00:31
  him as far in my affairs as I judge wise, as far that is,
• 4:00:37
  as they were none of Allan's, and gave balaicoulish as the place I
• 4:00:41
  was traveling to to meet a friend, for I thought Akharan or even Duror
• 4:00:46
  would be too particular and might put him on the scent. On his part,
• 4:00:50
  he told me much of his work and the people he worked among,
• 4:00:54
  the hiding priests and Jacobites, the Disarming Act, the dress, and many
• 4:01:00
  other curiosities of the time and place. He seemed moderate, blaming Parliament in
• 4:01:05
  several points, and especially because they had framed the act more severely against those
• 4:01:11
  who wore the dress than against those who carried weapons. This moderation put it
• 4:01:16
  in my mind to question him of the Red Fox and the appen tenants,
• 4:01:20
  questions which I thought would seem natural enough in the mouth of one traveling to
• 4:01:24
  that country. He said it was a bad business. It's wonderful, said
• 4:01:31
  he. Where the tenants find the money for their life is mere starvation.
• 4:01:37
  You don't carry such a thing as snuff, do you, mister Balfour.
• 4:01:39
  No, Well, I'm better wanting it. But these tenants, as I
• 4:01:45
  was saying, are doubtless partly driven to it. James Stewart Endure, that's
• 4:01:50
  him they call James of the Glens, is half brother to Ardshield. The
• 4:01:54
  captain of the clan, and he is a man much looked up to,
• 4:01:58
  and drives very hard. And then there's one they call Alan Breck. Ah,
• 4:02:03
  I cried, what of him? What of the wind that bloweth where
• 4:02:09
  it listeth? Said Henderlen. He's here in a way, here today and
• 4:02:13
  gone tomorrow, a fair heather cat. He might be glowering at the two
• 4:02:18
  of us out of yon wind bush. And I wouldn't have wonder. You'll
• 4:02:22
  not carry such a thing a snuff, will you? I told him now,
• 4:02:26
  and that he had asked the same thing more than once. It's highly
• 4:02:30
  possible, said he sighing. But it seems strange you shouldn't carry it,
• 4:02:35
  however, I was saying this. Alan Breck is a bold, desperate customer,
• 4:02:39
  and well kent to be James's right hand. His life is forefoot already.
• 4:02:45
  He would boggle it nehing, and maybe if a tenant body were to
• 4:02:48
  hang back, he would get a dirk in his way. You make a
• 4:02:52
  poor story of it all, mister Hendelen, said I. If it is
• 4:02:56
  all fear upon both sides, I care to hear no more more of it.
• 4:03:01
  Nah, said mister Henderlen. But there's love too, and self denial.
• 4:03:05
  That should put the like of you and meet a shame. There's something
• 4:03:09
  fine about it. No, perhaps Christian, but humanly fine. Even Alan
• 4:03:13
  breck by all that I hear, is a chield to be respected. There's
• 4:03:18
  many a lion's s neck draw sits close in kirk, in our own part
• 4:03:22
  of the country, and stands well in the world's eye. And maybe is
• 4:03:26
  a far worse man, mister Balfour, than Yon, misguided shadder of man's
• 4:03:31
  blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson by them. You'll
• 4:03:37
  perhaps think I've been too long in the highlands, he added, smiling to
• 4:03:41
  me. I told him not at all, that I had seen much to
• 4:03:45
  admire among the Highlanders. And if he came to that, mister Campbell himself
• 4:03:50
  was a Highlander, I said, he that's true. It's a fine blood.
• 4:03:56
  And what is the King's agent about, I asked Colin Campbell says Henderland,
• 4:04:01
  putting his head in a bees bike. He is to turn the tenants
• 4:04:07
  out by force, I hear, said, I yes, says he.
• 4:04:11
  But the business is gone back and forth, as folks say. First James
• 4:04:16
  of the Glens rode to Edinburgh and got some lawyer, a Stewart. In
• 4:04:20
  no doubt they all hang together like bats and a steeple, and had the
• 4:04:24
  proceedings stayed. And then Colin Campbell came in again and had the upper hand
• 4:04:28
  before the barons of's chequer. And now they tell me the first of
• 4:04:33
  the tenants are to flit tomorrow. It's to begin at Durer under James's very
• 4:04:37
  windows, which doesnas seem wise by my humble way of it. Do you
• 4:04:43
  think they'll fight? I asked, Well, says Henderland. They're disarmed,
• 4:04:50
  or supposed to be, for there's still a good deal of cold iron lying
• 4:04:54
  by in quiet places. And then Colin Campbell has the soldiers coming. But
• 4:04:58
  for all that, if I was his lady wife, I wouldn't be well
• 4:05:03
  pleased till I got him home again. They're queer customers, the eppen Stuarts.
• 4:05:09
  I asked if they were worse than their neighbors. No, they said
• 4:05:13
  he And that's the worst part of it. For if Colin Roy can get
• 4:05:16
  his business done and appen, he has it all to begin again in the
• 4:05:20
  next country, which they call Memoir, and which is one of the countries
• 4:05:24
  of the Camerons. He's King's factor upon both and from both he has to
• 4:05:30
  drive out the tenants. And indeed, mister Balfour, to be open with
• 4:05:33
  you, it's my belief that if he escapes the one lot, he'd get
• 4:05:39
  his death by the other. So we continued talking and walking the great part
• 4:05:43
  of the day, until at last mister Handelan, after expressing his delight in
• 4:05:48
  my company and satisfaction at meeting with a friend of mister Campbell's, whom says
• 4:05:54
  he and would make the bold to call that sweet singer of our confident in
• 4:05:58
  Zion, proposed that I should make a short stage and lie the night in
• 4:06:03
  his house a little beyond Kingerloch. To say truth, I was overjoyed,
• 4:06:09
  for I had no great desire for John of the claymore, and since my
• 4:06:11
  double misadventure first with a guide and next with the gentleman's skipper, I stood
• 4:06:16
  in some fear of any highland stranger. Accordingly, we shook hands upon the
• 4:06:22
  bargain, and came in the afternoon to a small house standing alone by the
• 4:06:26
  shore of the line Loch. The sun was already gone from the desert mountains
• 4:06:31
  of Ardgour upon the hither side, but shone on those of append on the
• 4:06:35
  farther the loch lay as still as a lake. Only the gulls were crying
• 4:06:39
  round the sides of it, and the whole place seemed solemn and uncouth.
• 4:06:46
  We had no sooner come to the door of mister Henderlen's dwelling than to my
• 4:06:48
  great surprise, for I was now used to the politeness of Highlanders. He
• 4:06:54
  burst rudely past me, dashed into the room, bought up a jar in
• 4:06:58
  a small horn spoon, and began ladling snuff into his nose in most excessive
• 4:07:03
  quantities. Then he had a hearty fit of sneezing, and looked round upon
• 4:07:07
  me with a rather silly smile. It's a vow I took, says he.
• 4:07:13
  I took a vow upon me that I would not carry it. Doubtless
• 4:07:16
  it's a great privation. But when I think upon the martyrs, not only
• 4:07:20
  to the Scottish Covenant, but to other points of Christianity, I think shame
• 4:07:26
  to mind it. As soon as we had eaten, and porridge and whey
• 4:07:31
  were the best of the good Man's diet, he took a grave face and
• 4:07:35
  said he had a duty to perform by mister Campbell, and that was to
• 4:07:39
  inquire into my state of mind towards God. I was inclined to smile at
• 4:07:43
  him since the business of the snuff, but he had not spoken long before
• 4:07:48
  he brought the tears into my eyes. There are two things that men should
• 4:07:52
  never weary of goodness and humility. We get none too much of them in
• 4:07:56
  this rough world among cold, proud lines people. But mister Henderland had their
• 4:08:01
  very speech upon his tongue. And though I was a good deal puffed up
• 4:08:05
  with my adventures and with having come off, as the saying is, with
• 4:08:11
  flying colors, yet he soon had me on my knees beside, a simple,
• 4:08:15
  poor old man, and both proud and glad to be there. Before
• 4:08:20
  we went to bed, he offered me sixpence to help me on my way
• 4:08:24
  out of a scanty store he kept in the turf wall of his house,
• 4:08:28
  at which excess of goodness I knew not what to do. But at last
• 4:08:31
  he was so earnest with me that I thought it the more mannerly part to
• 4:08:35
  let him have his way, and so left him poorer than myself. End
• 4:08:41
  of chapter Chapter seventeen, The Death of the Red Fox. The next day,
• 4:08:50
  mister Henderlen found for me a man who had a boat of his own,
• 4:08:52
  and was to cross the liney lock that afternoon into appen fishing him.
• 4:08:58
  He prevailed on to take me, for he was one of his flock,
• 4:09:01
  and in this way I saved a long day's travel and the price of the
• 4:09:05
  two public ferries I must otherwise have passed. It was near noon before we
• 4:09:11
  set out, a dark day, with clouds and the sun shining upon little
• 4:09:15
  patches. The sea was here very deep and still, and had scarce a
• 4:09:20
  wave upon it, so that I must put the water to my lips before
• 4:09:22
  I could believe it to be truly salt. The mountains on either side were
• 4:09:28
  high, rough and barren, very black and gloomy in the shadow of the
• 4:09:31
  clouds, but all silver laced with little water courses where the sun shone upon
• 4:09:37
  them. It seemed a hard country, this Avapen, for people to care
• 4:09:41
  as much about as Alan did. There was but one thing to mention.
• 4:09:46
  A little after we had started, the sun shone upon a little moving clump
• 4:09:50
  of scarlet close in along the water side to the north. It was much
• 4:09:54
  of the same red as soldier's coats. Every now and then, too,
• 4:10:00
  there came little sparks and lightnings, as though the sun had struck upon bright
• 4:10:03
  steel. I asked my boatman what it should be, and he answered he
• 4:10:09
  supposed it was some of the Red soldiers coming from Fort William in d'appen against
• 4:10:13
  the poor tenantry of the country. Well, it was a sad sight to
• 4:10:18
  me, and whether it was because of my thoughts of Allan or from something
• 4:10:24
  prophetic in my bosom. Although this was but the second time I had seen
• 4:10:28
  King George's troops, I had no good will to them. At last we
• 4:10:35
  came so near the point of land at the entering end of Loch Leven,
• 4:10:39
  that I begged to be set on shore. My boatman, who was an
• 4:10:43
  honest fellow and mindful of his promise to the Catechist, would fain have carried
• 4:10:46
  me on to Balacoolish, But as this was to take me farther from my
• 4:10:50
  secret destination, I insisted and was set on shore at last under the wood
• 4:10:56
  of Lettermore or Letter Vore, as I have heard it both ways in Allan's
• 4:11:01
  country of Appen. This was a wood of birches growing on a steep,
• 4:11:05
  craggy side of a mountain that overhung the lock. It had many openings in
• 4:11:11
  Ferny Howes, and a road or bridle track ran north and south through the
• 4:11:16
  midst of it, by the edge of which where was a spring. I
• 4:11:20
  sat down to eat some oat bread of mister Henderland's and think upon my situation
• 4:11:24
  here. I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges, but
• 4:11:28
  far more by the doubts of my mind. What I ought to do.
• 4:11:33
  Why I was going to join myself with an outlaw and a would be murderer
• 4:11:37
  like Allan, Whether I should not be acting more like a man of sense
• 4:11:43
  to tramp back to the south country direct by my own guidance and at my
• 4:11:46
  own charges. And what mister Campbell, or even mister Henderland would think of
• 4:11:52
  me, if they should learn my folly and presumption. These were the doubts
• 4:11:56
  that now began to come in on me stronger than that. As I was
• 4:12:01
  so sitting and thinking, a sound of men and horses came to me through
• 4:12:05
  the wood, And presently after, at a turning of the road, I
• 4:12:09
  saw four travelers come into view. The way was in this part so rough
• 4:12:15
  and narrow that they came single and led their horses by the reins The first
• 4:12:20
  was a great red headed gentleman of an imperious and flushed face, who carried
• 4:12:24
  his hat in his hand and fanned himself, for he was in a breathing
• 4:12:28
  heat. The second, by his decent black garb and white wig, I
• 4:12:33
  correctly took to be a lawyer. The third was a servant and wore some
• 4:12:39
  part of his clothes in tartan, which showed that his master was of a
• 4:12:43
  highland family and either an outlaw or Elson's singular good odor with the government,
• 4:12:48
  since the wearing of tartan was against the act. If I had been better
• 4:12:52
  versed in these things, I would have known the Tartan to be of the
• 4:12:56
  Argyle or Campbell colors. This servant had a good sight, eyes to portmanteau
• 4:13:01
  strapped on his horse, and a net of lemons to brew punch with hanging
• 4:13:05
  at the saddle bow, as was often the custom with luxurious travelers in that
• 4:13:11
  part of the country. As for the fourth who brought up the tale,
• 4:13:15
  I had seen his like before, and knew him at once to be a
• 4:13:18
  sheriff's officer. I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up
• 4:13:22
  my mind. For no reason that I can tell to go through with my
• 4:13:26
  adventure. And when the first came alongside of me, I rose up from
• 4:13:31
  the bracken and asked him the way to Akrn. He stopped and looked at
• 4:13:35
  me as I thought a little oddly, And then turning to the lawyer,
• 4:13:41
  Mungo said he there's many a man would think this more of a warning than
• 4:13:46
  two piats. Here am I on my road to Duror on the job,
• 4:13:50
  ye ken, And here as a young land starts up out of the bracken
• 4:13:54
  and spears if I'm on the way to Akarn, Gleneur said the other,
• 4:13:58
  this is an ill subject for jesting. These two had now drawn close up
• 4:14:05
  and were gazing at me, while the two followers had halted about a stonecast
• 4:14:09
  in the rear. And what seek yea in Okarn, said Colin Roy Campbell
• 4:14:15
  of Gleneur him they called the red Fox, for it was he that I
• 4:14:18
  had stopped. The man that lives there, said I James of the glens,
• 4:14:26
  says Gleneur, musingly. And then to the lawyer, is he gathering
• 4:14:31
  his people? Think? Ye? Anyway, says the lawyer. We shall
• 4:14:35
  do better to bide where we are and let the soldiers rally us. If
• 4:14:41
  you are concerned for me, said I. I am neither of his people
• 4:14:46
  nor yours, but an honest subject of King George, owing no man and
• 4:14:50
  fearing no man. Why, very well, said replies the Factor. But
• 4:14:56
  if I may make so bold as ask, what does this honest man so
• 4:15:00
  far from his country? And why does he come seeking the brother of Ardshield,
• 4:15:05
  I have power here. I must tell you I am King's factor upon
• 4:15:09
  several of these estates, and have twelve files of soldiers at my back.
• 4:15:13
  I have heard a waif word in the country, said I, a little
• 4:15:18
  nettled that you were a hard man to drive. He still kept looking at
• 4:15:22
  me as if in doubt, well, said he. At last, your
• 4:15:28
  tongue is bold. But I am no unfriend to plainness. If ye had
• 4:15:33
  asked me the way to the door of James Stewart on any other day,
• 4:15:37
  but this, I would have set you right and bidden ye. God's speed.
• 4:15:41
  But to day, eh Mungo. And he turned again to look at
• 4:15:45
  the lawyer. But just as he turned, there came the shot of a
• 4:15:48
  firelock from higher up the hill, and with the very sound of it,
• 4:15:52
  Glenyear fell upon the road. Oh I'm dead, he cried several times over.
• 4:16:00
  The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms, the
• 4:16:03
  servants standing over and clasping his hands. And now the wounded man looked from
• 4:16:07
  one to another with scared eyes, and there was a change in his voice
• 4:16:11
  that went to the heart. Take care of yourselves, said he, I
• 4:16:18
  am dead. He tried to open his clothes, as if to look for
• 4:16:22
  the wound, but his fingers slipped on the buttons. With that he gave
• 4:16:26
  a great sigh. His head rolled on his shoulder, and he passed away.
• 4:16:33
  The lawyer said never a word, but his face was as sharp as
• 4:16:37
  a pen and as white as the dead man's. The servant broke out into
• 4:16:41
  a great noise of crying and weeping like a child, and I on my
• 4:16:45
  side, stood staring at them in a kind of horror. The sheriff's officer
• 4:16:51
  had run back at the first sound of the shot to hasten the coming of
• 4:16:53
  the soldiers. At last, the lawyer laid down the dead man in his
• 4:16:59
  blood upon on the road, and got to his own feet with a kind
• 4:17:02
  of stagger. I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses.
• 4:17:07
  For he had no sooner done so than I began to scramble up the
• 4:17:11
  hill, crying out the murderer, the murderer. So little a time had
• 4:17:17
  elapsed that when I got to the top of the first steepness and could see
• 4:17:22
  some part of the open mountain, the murderer was still moving away at no
• 4:17:26
  great distance. He was a big man in a black coat with metal buttons,
• 4:17:30
  and carried a long fowling piece. Here, I cried, I see
• 4:17:34
  him. At that the murderer gave a little quick look over his shoulder and
• 4:17:40
  began to run. The next moment he was lost in a fringe of birches.
• 4:17:44
  Then he came out again on the upper side, where I could see
• 4:17:47
  him climbing like a jackanapes, for that part was again very steep, And
• 4:17:52
  then he dipped behind the shoulder, and I saw him no more. All
• 4:17:56
  this time I had been running on my side and got a good way up
• 4:18:00
  when a voice cried upon me to stand. I was at the edge of
• 4:18:04
  the upper wood, and so now when I halted and looked back, I
• 4:18:08
  saw all the open part of the hill below me. The lawyer and the
• 4:18:12
  sheriff's officer were standing just above the road, crying and waving on me to
• 4:18:17
  come back, and on their left the Redcoats, musket in hand, were
• 4:18:22
  beginning to struggle singly out of the lower wood. Why should I come back,
• 4:18:26
  I cried, Come you on ten pounds if you take that lad,
• 4:18:33
  cried the lawyer. He's an accomplice. He was posted here to hold us
• 4:18:37
  and talk. At that word, which I could hear quite plainly, though
• 4:18:41
  it was to the soldiers and not to me that he was crying it,
• 4:18:45
  my heart came in my mouth with quite a new kind of terror. Indeed,
• 4:18:49
  it is one thing to stand the danger of your life, and quite
• 4:18:52
  another to run the peril of both life and character. The thing, besides,
• 4:18:57
  had come so suddenly, like thunder out of a clear sky, that
• 4:19:02
  I was all amazed and helpless. Soldiers began to spread, some of them
• 4:19:07
  to run, and others to put up their pieces and cover me. And
• 4:19:10
  still I stood juck in here among the trees, said a voice close by.
• 4:19:17
  Indeed, I scarce know what I was doing, but I obeyed,
• 4:19:21
  And as I did so, I heard the firelocks bang and the ball's whistle
• 4:19:23
  in the birches. Just inside the shelter of the trees. I found Alan
• 4:19:29
  Breck standing with a fishing rod. He gave me no salutation. Indeed,
• 4:19:33
  it was no time for civilities. Only come, says he, and set
• 4:19:37
  off running along the side of the mountain towards Ballacoulish, and I, like
• 4:19:42
  a sheep to follow him. Now we ran among the birches, now stooping
• 4:19:48
  behind low humps upon the mountain side, Now crawling on all fours among the
• 4:19:52
  heather. Pace was deadly. My heart seemed bursting against my ribs, and
• 4:19:57
  I had neither time to think nor bre to speak with. Only I remember
• 4:20:02
  seeing with wonder that Allan, every now and then would straighten himself to his
• 4:20:07
  full height and look back, And every time he did so there came a
• 4:20:11
  great faraway cheering and crying of the soldiers. Quarter of an hour later Alan
• 4:20:17
  stopped, clapped down flat in the heather, and turned to me. Now
• 4:20:22
  said he, it's earnest do as I do for your life. And at
• 4:20:26
  the same speed, but now with infinitely more precaution. We traced back again
• 4:20:32
  across the mountain side by the same way that we had come, only perhaps
• 4:20:37
  higher, till at last Alan threw himself down in the upper wood of Lettermore,
• 4:20:41
  where I had found him at the first, and lay with his face
• 4:20:45
  in the bracken, panting like a dog. My own sides so ached my
• 4:20:51
  head, so swam my tongue, so hung out of my mouth with heat
• 4:20:55
  and dryness, that I lay beside him like one dead end of chapter Chapter
• 4:21:03
  eighteen. I talked with Allan in the wood of Lettermore. Allan was the
• 4:21:08
  first to come round. He rose, went to the border of the wood,
• 4:21:12
  peered out a little, and then returned and sat down. Well,
• 4:21:18
  said he Yon was a hot burst. David. I said nothing, nor
• 4:21:22
  so much as lifted my face. I had seen murder done, and a
• 4:21:27
  great ruddy, jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment. The pity
• 4:21:32
  of that sight was still sore within me. And yet that was but a
• 4:21:36
  part of my concern. Here was murder done upon the man Allan hated.
• 4:21:41
  Here was Allan skulking in the trees and running from the troops. And whether
• 4:21:45
  his was the hand that fired or only the head that ordered, signified But
• 4:21:49
  little, by my way of it, My only friend in that wild country
• 4:21:53
  was blood guilty. In the first degree. I held him in horror.
• 4:21:57
  I could not look upon his face. I would have rather lain alone in
• 4:22:02
  the rain on my cold isle than in that warm wood beside a murderer.
• 4:22:07
  Are you still wearied, he asked again. No, said I still with
• 4:22:12
  my face in the bracken. No, I'm not wearied now, and I
• 4:22:17
  can speak. You and me must twine, I said. I liked you
• 4:22:22
  very well, Alan, but your ways are not mine, and they're not
• 4:22:26
  God's. And the short and the long of it is just that we must
• 4:22:30
  twine. I will hardly twine from you, David, without some kind of
• 4:22:37
  reason for the same, said Alan mighty gravely. If you can anything against
• 4:22:42
  my reputation, it's the least thing that you should do for old acquaintance sake
• 4:22:48
  to let me hear the name of it. And if you have only taken
• 4:22:49
  a distaste to my society, it will be proper for me to judge if
• 4:22:53
  I'm insulted, Alan said I, what is the sense of this? You
• 4:23:00
  can very well, young Campbell man lies in his blood upon the road.
• 4:23:04
  He was silent for a little, then says he did. Ye. Ever,
• 4:23:10
  he'll tell of the story of the man and the good people, by
• 4:23:12
  which he meant the fairies. No, said I, nor do I want
• 4:23:18
  to hear it? With your permission, mister Balfour, I will tell it
• 4:23:22
  you whatever says Alan. The man, Yesha Ken was cast upon a rock
• 4:23:27
  in the sea where it appears the Good people were in use to come and
• 4:23:32
  rest as they went through to Ireland. The name of this rock is called
• 4:23:36
  the Scary Boar. That's not far from where we suffered shipwreck. Well,
• 4:23:41
  it seems the man cried so sore if you could just see his little baron
• 4:23:45
  before he died. Then at last the King of the good People took peety
• 4:23:48
  upon him and sent one flying that brought back the baron in a poke and
• 4:23:53
  laid it down beside the man where he lay sleeping. So when the man
• 4:23:57
  woke there was a poke beside him, and something into the inside of it
• 4:24:00
  that moved. Well, it seems he was one of these gentry that think
• 4:24:06
  I the worst of things, and for greater security, he stuck his dirk
• 4:24:10
  throughout that poke before he opened it, and there was a barren dead.
• 4:24:15
  I am thinking to myself, mister Balfour, that you and the man are
• 4:24:18
  very much alike. Do you mean you had no hand in it? Cried
• 4:24:23
  I, sitting up. I will tell you, first of all, mister
• 4:24:27
  Balfour of Shaws, as one friend to another, said Alan that if I
• 4:24:33
  were going to kill a gentleman, it would not be in my own country
• 4:24:37
  to bring trouble on my clan, and I would not go want and sword
• 4:24:41
  and gun, and with a long fishing rod upon my back. Well,
• 4:24:45
  said I, that's true, And now continued Alan, taking out his dirk
• 4:24:51
  and laying his hand upon it in a certain manner. I swear upon the
• 4:24:56
  holy iron. I had neither art, nor part, act nor thought in
• 4:25:00
  it. I thank God for that, cried I, and offered him my
• 4:25:04
  hand. He did not appear to see it. And here is a great
• 4:25:10
  deal of work about a campbell, said he. They are not so scarce
• 4:25:14
  that I can at least, said I. You cannot justly blame me,
• 4:25:18
  for you know very well what you told me in the brig But the temptation
• 4:25:22
  and the act are different. I thank God again for that. We may
• 4:25:26
  all be tempted, but to take a life in cold blood, Allan,
• 4:25:32
  and I could say no more for the moment. And do you know who
• 4:25:34
  did it? I added, do you know that man in the black coat?
• 4:25:40
  I have neck clear mind about his coat, said Alan cunningly. But
• 4:25:45
  it sticks in my head that it was blue, blue or black? Do
• 4:25:49
  you know him? Said I. I couldn't just conscientiously swear to him,
• 4:25:55
  says Alan. He gained very close by me, to be sure. But
• 4:25:59
  it's a strange that I should just have been tying my brogues. Can you
• 4:26:03
  swear that you don't know him? Allan, I cried, half angered,
• 4:26:07
  half in a mind to laugh at his evasions. Not yet, says he.
• 4:26:12
  But I have a grand memory for forgetting David. And yet there was
• 4:26:17
  one thing I saw clearly, said I. And that was that you exposed
• 4:26:22
  yourself and me to draw the soldiers. It's very likely, said Alan,
• 4:26:27
  And so would any gentleman. You and me were innocent of that transaction.
• 4:26:33
  The better reason, since we were falsely suspected, that we should get clear,
• 4:26:37
  I cried. The innocent should surely come before the guilty, why,
• 4:26:42
  David, said he. The innocent have I a chance to get a soiled
• 4:26:47
  in court. But for the lad that shot the bullet, I think the
• 4:26:49
  best place for him will be the heather. Them that heaven not dipped their
• 4:26:55
  hands in any little difficulty should be very mindful of the case of them that
• 4:26:59
  have, and that is the good Christianity. For if it was the other
• 4:27:03
  way round about, and the lad whom I couldn't just clearly see, had
• 4:27:07
  been in our shoes, and we in his as might very well have been,
• 4:27:11
  I think we would be a good deal obliged to him ourselves if he
• 4:27:15
  would draw the soldiers. When it came to this, I gave Allan up.
• 4:27:21
  But he looked so innocent all the time, and was in such clear
• 4:27:25
  good faith in what he said, and so ready to sacrifice himself for what
• 4:27:29
  he deemed his duty, that my mouth was closed. Mister Henderlen's words came
• 4:27:34
  back to me that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild highlanders.
• 4:27:40
  Well, here I had taken mine. Allan's morals were all tail first,
• 4:27:45
  but he was ready to give his life for them, such as they were.
• 4:27:48
  Allan said, I I'll not say it's the good Christianity as I understand
• 4:27:53
  it, but it's good enough. And here I offer you my hand for
• 4:27:57
  the second time. Whereupon he gave me both of his saying, surely I
• 4:28:03
  had cast a spell upon him, for he could forgive me anything. Then
• 4:28:07
  he grew very grave and said we had not much time to throw away,
• 4:28:12
  but must both flee that country. He because he was a deserter, and
• 4:28:17
  the whole of Appen would now be searched like a chamber, and every one
• 4:28:21
  obliged to give a good account of himself. And I because I was certainly
• 4:28:25
  involved in the murder, oh says I willing to give him a little lesson.
• 4:28:30
  I have no fear of the justice of my country. As if this
• 4:28:36
  was your country, said he, Or as if you would be tried here
• 4:28:40
  in a country of Stuarts. It's all Scotland, said I man. I
• 4:28:47
  was wonder at you, said Allan, this is a Campbell that's been killed.
• 4:28:52
  Well, it'll be tried in Verara, the Campbell's head place with fifteen
• 4:28:56
  campbells in the jury bucks and the biggest campbell, and that's the Duke sitting
• 4:29:02
  Cocking on the bench, just as David. The same justice by all the
• 4:29:07
  world, as Glenyear found while ago at the roadside. This frightened me a
• 4:29:11
  little, I confess, and would have frightened me more if I had known
• 4:29:15
  how nearly exact were Allan's predictions. Indeed it was but in one point that
• 4:29:21
  he exaggerated, there being but eleven Campbells on the jury, though as the
• 4:29:26
  other four were equally in the Duke's dependence, it mattered less than might appear.
• 4:29:30
  Still, I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle,
• 4:29:34
  who, for all he was a Whig, was yet a wise and
• 4:29:37
  honest nobleman. Hoot said Alan. The man's a whig, no doubt.
• 4:29:44
  But I would never deny he was a good chief and to his clan.
• 4:29:47
  And what would the clan think if there was a Campbell shot and nobody hanged,
• 4:29:52
  and their own chief the justice general. But I have often observed,
• 4:29:56
  said Allan, that you low country bodies have no clear idea of what's right
• 4:30:00
  and wrong. At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to
• 4:30:06
  my surprise Alan joined in and laughed as merrily as myself. Nah Na said,
• 4:30:11
  he ue in the highlands, David, And when I tell you to
• 4:30:15
  run, take my wood and run. No doubt. It's a hard thing
• 4:30:19
  to skulk and starve in the heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled
• 4:30:23
  in a redcoat prison. I asked him whither we should flee, And as
• 4:30:29
  he told me to the lowlands, I was a little better inclined to go
• 4:30:33
  with him, for indeed I was growing impatient to get back and have the
• 4:30:37
  upper hand of my uncle. Besides, Allan made so sure there would be
• 4:30:41
  no question of justice in the matter that I began to be afraid he might
• 4:30:45
  be right. Of all deaths. I would truly like least to die by
• 4:30:51
  the gallows. And the picture of that uncanny instrument came into my head with
• 4:30:56
  extraordinary clearness, as I had once seen it engraved at the top of a
• 4:31:00
  peddlar's ballad, and took away my appetite for courts of justice. I'll chance,
• 4:31:07
  said Allan, said I I'll go with you. But mind you,
• 4:31:11
  said Alan, it's no small thing. You monlight, bear and hard,
• 4:31:17
  and brook many an empty belly. Your bed shall be the moor cocks,
• 4:31:21
  and your life shall be like the haunted deers, and you shall sleep with
• 4:31:25
  your hand upon your weapons. I a man. You should taggle many a
• 4:31:27
  weary foot, or we get clear. I tell you this at the start,
• 4:31:33
  for it's a life that I can well. But if you ask what
• 4:31:36
  other chance you have, I answer, Nane, either take to the heather
• 4:31:41
  with me, or else hang. And that's a choice. Very easily made,
• 4:31:45
  said I, and we shook hands upon it. And now let's take
• 4:31:49
  another keek at the red coats, says Alan, and he led me to
• 4:31:53
  the northeastern fringe of the wood. Looking out between the trees, we could
• 4:31:57
  see a great side of mountain running down, exceeding steep into the waters of
• 4:32:03
  the loch. It was a rough part, all hanging stone and heather and
• 4:32:07
  big scrogs of birch wood, and away at the far end, towards Ballacoolish
• 4:32:12
  little wee red soldiers were dipping up and down over hill and howe, and
• 4:32:17
  growing smaller every minute. There was no cheering now, for I think they
• 4:32:21
  had other uses for what breath was left them. But they still stuck to
• 4:32:26
  the trail, and doubtless thought that we were close in front of them.
• 4:32:30
  Alan watched them, smiling to himself, Aye said he. They'll be gay
• 4:32:36
  weary before they've got to the end of that employ And so you and me,
• 4:32:40
  David, can sit down and eat a bite and breathe a bit longer,
• 4:32:44
  and take a dram from my bottle. Then we'll strike for Okharn,
• 4:32:48
  the house of my kinsman James of the Glens, where I must get my
• 4:32:52
  clothes and my arms and money to carry us along. And then David,
• 4:32:56
  we'll cry forth fortune and take a cast of along the heather. So we
• 4:33:03
  sat again and ate and drank in a place whence we could see the sun
• 4:33:06
  going down into a field of great, wild and houseless mountains, such as
• 4:33:11
  I was now condemned to wander in with my companion. Partly as we so
• 4:33:15
  sat, and partly afterwards on the way to Accard, each of us narrated
• 4:33:21
  his adventures, and I shall here set down so much of Allan's as seems
• 4:33:25
  either curious or needful. It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as
• 4:33:30
  the wave was passed, saw me, and lost me, and saw me
• 4:33:33
  again as I tumbled in the roost, and at last had one glimpse of
• 4:33:37
  me clinging on the yard. It was this that put him in some hope
• 4:33:41
  I would maybe get to land after all, and made him leave those clues
• 4:33:45
  and messages which had brought me from my sins to that unlucky country of appen
• 4:33:52
  in the Meanwhile, those still on the brig had got the skiff launched,
• 4:33:55
  and one or two were on board of her already, when there came a
• 4:33:59
  second wave greater than the first, and heaved the brig out of her place,
• 4:34:03
  and would certainly have sent her to the bottom, had she not struck
• 4:34:06
  and caught on some projection of the reef. When she had struck first,
• 4:34:11
  it had been bows on, so that the stern had hitherto been lowest.
• 4:34:15
  But now her stern was thrown in the air, and the bows plunged under
• 4:34:18
  the sea. And with that the water began to pour into the force scuttle,
• 4:34:22
  like the pouring of a mill damp. It took the color out of
• 4:34:26
  Alan's face even to tell what followed, for there were still two men lying
• 4:34:32
  impotent in their bunks, and these, seeing the water pour in, and
• 4:34:36
  thinking the ship had foundered, began to cry out aloud, and that with
• 4:34:41
  such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after another into the
• 4:34:45
  skiff and fell to their oars. They were not two hundred yards away when
• 4:34:49
  there came a third great sea, and at that the brig lifted clean over
• 4:34:55
  the reef. Her canvas filled for a moment, and she seemed to sail
• 4:34:59
  in chase of them, but settling all the while, And presently she drew
• 4:35:03
  down and down, as if a hand were drawing her, and the sea
• 4:35:07
  closed over the covenant of Dysart. Never a word they spoke as they pulled
• 4:35:12
  ashore, being stunned with the horror of that screaming. But they had scarce
• 4:35:18
  set foot upon the beach when Ho Seson woke up, as if out of
• 4:35:21
  a muse, and bade them lay hands upon Alan. They hung back,
• 4:35:26
  indeed, having little taste for the employment. But Ho Sieson was like a
• 4:35:30
  fiend, crying that Allan was alone, that he had a great sum about
• 4:35:33
  him, that he had been the means of losing the brig and drowning all
• 4:35:37
  their comrades, and that here was both revenge and wealth upon a single cast.
• 4:35:42
  It was seven against one in that part of the shore. There was
• 4:35:47
  no rock that Alan could set his back to, and the sailors began to
• 4:35:49
  spread out and come behind him. And then said Alan, the little man
• 4:35:56
  with the red head, I have in the mind of the name that he
• 4:35:57
  is called Riach. I said aye, said Allan reach well, it was
• 4:36:04
  him that took up the clubs for me. Asked the men if they were
• 4:36:07
  afeared of a judgment, And says he dawd, I'll put my back to
• 4:36:12
  the Hellenmans myself. There's none such an entirely bad little man. Yon,
• 4:36:18
  little man with the red head, said Allan. He has some spunks of
• 4:36:22
  decency, Well, said I. He was kind to me in his way,
• 4:36:27
  And so was he to Allan, said he, And by my troth
• 4:36:32
  I found his way a very good one. But you see, David,
• 4:36:36
  the loss of the ship and the cries of these poor lads set very ill
• 4:36:40
  upon the man, And I'm thinking that would be the cause of it.
• 4:36:44
  Well, I would think so, says I, for he was as keen
• 4:36:48
  as any the rest at the beginning. But how did ho Seson take it?
• 4:36:52
  It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill, says
• 4:36:56
  Allan. But the little man cried to me to run, And indeed I
• 4:37:00
  thought it was a good observe, and ran. The last that I saw.
• 4:37:03
  They were all in a knot upon the beach, like folk that were
• 4:37:07
  not agreeing very well together. What do you mean by that? Said I?
• 4:37:12
  Well, the fists were going, said Alan. I saw one man
• 4:37:17
  go down like a pair of breeks. But I thought it would be better
• 4:37:19
  no to wait. You see, there's a strip of Campbell's in that end
• 4:37:23
  of mow, which is no good company for a gentleman like me. If
• 4:37:27
  it hadn't been for that, I would have waited and looked for you myself.
• 4:37:32
  That alone given a hand to the little man. It was droll,
• 4:37:34
  how Alan dwelt on mister Riach's stature. For to say the truth, the
• 4:37:40
  one was not much smaller than the other, so says he, continuing,
• 4:37:45
  I set my best foot forward, and whenever I met in with any one,
• 4:37:48
  I cried out, there was a wreck ashore. Man, They didn't
• 4:37:52
  stop the fash with me. You should have seen them linking for the beach,
• 4:37:56
  and when they got there they found they had the pleasure of a which
• 4:38:00
  is I good for a campbell. I'm thinking it was a judgment on the
• 4:38:03
  clan that the brig went down in the lump and didn't break. But it
• 4:38:07
  was a very unlucky thing for you. That's same for if any wreck had
• 4:38:11
  come ashore, they would have hunted high and low and would soon have found
• 4:38:15
  you. End of chapter Chapter nineteen. The House of Fear night fell as
• 4:38:26
  we were walking, and the clouds, which had broken up in the afternoon,
• 4:38:30
  settled in and thickened, so that it fell for the season of the
• 4:38:33
  year extremely dark. The way we went was over rough mountain sides, and
• 4:38:38
  though Alan pushed on with an assured manner, I could by no means see
• 4:38:42
  how he directed himself. At last, about half past ten of the clock,
• 4:38:48
  we came to the top of a bray and saw lights below us.
• 4:38:52
  It seemed a house door stood open and let out a beam of fire and
• 4:38:55
  candle light, and all round the house and steading five or six persons were
• 4:38:59
  moved, moving hurriedly about, each carrying a lighted brand. James must have
• 4:39:04
  tint his wits, said Alan. If this was the soldiers instead of you
• 4:39:08
  and me, he would be in a bonny mess. But I dare say
• 4:39:11
  he'll have a sentry on the road, and he would ken well enough no
• 4:39:15
  soldiers would find the way that we came Hereupon he whistled three times in a
• 4:39:21
  particular manner. It was strange to see how at the first sound of it
• 4:39:25
  all the moving torches came to a stand, as if the bearers were affrighted,
• 4:39:30
  and how at the third the bustle began again as before. Having thus
• 4:39:34
  set folks minds at rest, we came down the bray and were met at
• 4:39:38
  the yard gate, for this place was like a well doing farm by a
• 4:39:44
  tall, handsome man of more than fifty, who cried out to Allan and
• 4:39:48
  the Gaelic James Stewart said, Allan, I will ask you to speak in
• 4:39:52
  Scotch, for here is a young gentleman with me that has none of the
• 4:39:56
  other. This is him, he added, putting his arm through mine,
• 4:40:00
  a young gentleman of the lowlands, and a laird in his country too.
• 4:40:04
  But I am thinking that will be the better for his health if we give
• 4:40:07
  his name to go by. James of the Glens turned to me for a
• 4:40:11
  moment and greeted me courteously enough. The next he had turned to Alan.
• 4:40:17
  This has been a dreadful accident, he cried. It will be trouble on
• 4:40:21
  the country, and he wrung his hands oots said Alan, you must take
• 4:40:26
  the sour with the sweet man. Paulin Roy is dead, and be thankful
• 4:40:30
  for that, Hi, said James, hen by my troth, I wish
• 4:40:34
  he was alive again. It's all very fine to blow him boasts beforehand,
• 4:40:40
  but now it's done, Allan, and who's to bear the white of it?
• 4:40:42
  The accident fell out and appened, mind you, that Allan, it's
• 4:40:45
  happened that must pay, And I am a man that has a family.
• 4:40:51
  While this was going on, I looked about me at the servants. Some
• 4:40:53
  were on ladders digging in the thatch of the house or the farm buildings,
• 4:40:57
  from which they brought out guns, sods, and different weapons of war.
• 4:41:02
  Others carried them away, and by the sound of mattic blows from somewhere farther
• 4:41:06
  down the bray, I suppose they buried them. Though they were all so
• 4:41:11
  busy, there prevailed no kind of order in their efforts. Men struggled together
• 4:41:15
  for the same gun and ran into each other with their burning torches, and
• 4:41:18
  James was continually turning about from his talk with Alan to cry out orders which
• 4:41:23
  were apparently never understood. The faces in the torchlight were like those of people
• 4:41:30
  overcome with hurry and panic, and though none spoke above his breath, their
• 4:41:33
  speech sounded both anxious and angry. It was about this time that a lassie
• 4:41:40
  came out of the house carrying a pack or bundle, and it has often
• 4:41:44
  made me smile to think how Allan's instinct awoke at the mere sight of it.
• 4:41:48
  What's that the lassie has? He asked. We're just setting the house
• 4:41:52
  and order, allen, said James, in his frightened and somewhat fawning way.
• 4:41:57
  They'll searched up and with camdals, and we must have all things straight.
• 4:42:02
  We're digging the bit guns and swords into the most you see. And
• 4:42:06
  these, I am thinking will be your un French clothes, will be to
• 4:42:08
  bury them. I believe, bury my French clothes, cried Alan Troth.
• 4:42:15
  No. He laid hold upon the packet and retired into the barn to shift
• 4:42:18
  himself, recommending me in the meanwhile to his kinsman. James carried me accordingly
• 4:42:25
  into the kitchen and sat down with me at table, smiling and talking at
• 4:42:29
  first in a very hospitable manner, but presently the gloom returned upon him.
• 4:42:34
  He sat frowning and biting his fingers, only remembered me from time to time,
• 4:42:38
  and then gave me but a word or two and a poor smile,
• 4:42:42
  and back into his private terrors. His wife sat by the fire and wept
• 4:42:48
  with her face in her hands. Her eldest son was crouched upon the floor,
• 4:42:52
  running over a great mass of papers, and now and again setting one
• 4:42:56
  alight and burning it to the bitter end. All the while the servant lass
• 4:43:00
  with a red face, was rummaging about the room in a blind hurry of
• 4:43:03
  fear, and whimpering as she went, And every now and again one of
• 4:43:07
  the men would thrust in his face from the yard and cry for orders.
• 4:43:12
  At last, James could keep his seat no longer, and begged my permission
• 4:43:17
  to be so unmannerly as walk about. I am but poor company altogether,
• 4:43:21
  sir, says he. But I can think of nothing but this dreadful accident,
• 4:43:26
  and the trouble it is like to bring upon quite innocent persons. A
• 4:43:30
  little after, he observed his son burning a paper which he thought should have
• 4:43:33
  been kept, and at that his excitement burst out, so that it was
• 4:43:37
  painful to witness. He struck the lad repeatedly. Are you Gondite? He
• 4:43:42
  cried? Do you wish to hang your father? And forgetful of my presence
• 4:43:48
  carried on at him a long time together in the Gaelic, the young man
• 4:43:52
  answering nothing, only the wife at the name of hanging, throwing her apron
• 4:43:56
  over her face, and sobbing out louder than before. This was all wretched
• 4:44:02
  for a stranger like myself, to hear and see, and I was right
• 4:44:04
  glad when Alan returned, looking like himself in his fine French clothes, though
• 4:44:10
  to be sure, they were now grown almost too battered and withered to deserve
• 4:44:14
  the name of fine. I was then taken out in my turn by another
• 4:44:18
  of the sons, and given that change of clothing of which I had stood
• 4:44:22
  so long in need, and a pair of Highland brogues made of deer leather,
• 4:44:26
  rather strange at first, but after a little practice, very easy to
• 4:44:30
  the feet. By the time I came back. Alan must have told his
• 4:44:33
  story, for it seemed understood that I was to fly with him, and
• 4:44:37
  they were all busy upon our equipment. They gave us each a sword and
• 4:44:41
  pistols, though I professed my inability to use the former, And with these
• 4:44:45
  and some ammunition, a bag of oatmeal, an iron pan, and a
• 4:44:49
  bottle of bright French brandy, we were ready for the heather. Money indeed
• 4:44:55
  was lacking. I had about two guineas left Alan's belt, having dispatch by
• 4:45:00
  another hand that trusty messenger had no more than seventeen pence to his whole fortune.
• 4:45:06
  And as for James, it appears he had brought himself so low with
• 4:45:08
  journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the tenants that he could only
• 4:45:14
  scrape together three and fivepence halfpenny, the most of it in coppers. This'll
• 4:45:19
  no do, said Allan. You must find a safe bit somewhere near by,
• 4:45:25
  said James, and get words sent to me. You see, you'll
• 4:45:29
  have to get this business prettily off, Allan. This is no time to
• 4:45:33
  be stayed for a guinea or two. They're sure to get wind of ye,
• 4:45:36
  sure to seek ya, and by my way of it, sure to
• 4:45:40
  lay on ya the white of this day's accident. If it falls on you,
• 4:45:44
  it falls on me, that am your near kinsman and harbored you while
• 4:45:48
  you were in the country. And if it comes on me, he paused,
• 4:45:52
  and bit his fingers with a white face. It would be a painful
• 4:45:56
  thing for our friends. If I was to hang, said he. It
• 4:46:00
  would be an ill day for appin, says Allan. It's a day that
• 4:46:06
  sticks in my throat, said James. Oh man, man, man,
• 4:46:11
  man, Allan, you and me have spoken like two fools, he cried,
• 4:46:15
  striking his hand upon the wall so that the house rang again. Well,
• 4:46:19
  and that's true too, said Alan. And my friend from the Lowlands
• 4:46:23
  here, nodding at me, gave me a good word upon that head if
• 4:46:29
  I would only listened to him. But see here, said James, returning
• 4:46:33
  to his former manner. If they lay me by the heels, Alan,
• 4:46:37
  it's then that you'll be needin the money, for with all that I have
• 4:46:41
  said and that you have said, it will look very black against the two
• 4:46:45
  of us. Do ye mark that? Well? Follow me out and ye'll
• 4:46:49
  I'll see that. I'll have to get a paper out against ye mysel have
• 4:46:53
  to offer a reward for ye, ay, will I? It's a sore
• 4:46:59
  thing to do betwe queen such near friends. But if I get the dirham
• 4:47:03
  of this dreadful accident, I'll have to fend for myself. Man, do
• 4:47:07
  you see that? He spoke with a pleading earnestness, Taking Allan by the
• 4:47:11
  breast of the coat, I said, Alan, I see that, and
• 4:47:18
  you'll have to be clear of the country, Allan, ay, and clear
• 4:47:21
  of Scotland. You and your friend from the Lowlands too, for I'll have
• 4:47:25
  to paper your friend from the Lowlands. You'll see that Allan say that you
• 4:47:29
  see that? I thought Allan flushed a bit. This is uncle hard on
• 4:47:34
  me that brought him here, James said, he throwing his head back.
• 4:47:38
  It's like making me a traitor. No, Allan, man, cried James,
• 4:47:45
  look things in the face. He'll be papered anyway, Mungo Campbell'll be
• 4:47:49
  sure to paper him. What matters if I paper him too, And then,
• 4:47:53
  Allan, I'm a man that has a family. And then, after
• 4:47:57
  a little pause on both sides, and Alan it'll be a jury of Campbell's
• 4:48:03
  said he. There's one thing, said Allan, musingly, that nobody kens
• 4:48:08
  his name, nor yet they shall na Allan, there's my hand on that,
• 4:48:15
  cried James, for all the world, as if he had really known
• 4:48:18
  my name and was foregoing some advantage. But just the habit he was in,
• 4:48:22
  and what he looked like, and his age and the like, I
• 4:48:25
  couldna well do less. I wonder at your father's son, cried Alan sternly.
• 4:48:30
  Would you sell the lad with a gift? Would you change his clothes
• 4:48:34
  and then betray him? No, no, Allan, said James. No.
• 4:48:41
  No, the habit he took off, the habit Mungo saw him in.
• 4:48:45
  But I thought he seemed crestfallen. Indeed, he was clutching at every
• 4:48:48
  straw, and all the time, I dare say, saw the faces of
• 4:48:52
  his hereditary foes on the bench and in the jury box, and the gallows
• 4:48:56
  in the background. Well, sir, says Allan, turning to me,
• 4:49:02
  what say ye to that? Ye're here under the safeguard of my honor,
• 4:49:07
  and it's my part to see nothing done. But what shall please you?
• 4:49:11
  I have but one word to say, said I, For to all this
• 4:49:15
  dispute I am a perfect stranger. But the plain common sense is to set
• 4:49:18
  the blame where it belongs, and that is on the man who fired the
• 4:49:22
  shot, paper him, as you call it, set the hunt on him,
• 4:49:26
  and let honest, innocent folks show their faces in safety. But at
• 4:49:30
  this both Allan and James cried out in horror, bidding me hold my tongue,
• 4:49:36
  for that was not to be thought of, and asking me what the
• 4:49:38
  camerons would think, which confirmed me it must have been a cameron from Memour
• 4:49:44
  that did the act. And if I did not see that the lad might
• 4:49:47
  be caught, you have not surely thought of that, said they, with
• 4:49:51
  such innocent earnestness, that my hands dropped at my side, and I despaired
• 4:49:56
  of argument very well, then said I paper me, if you please paper
• 4:50:03
  Allan paper King George. We're all three innocent, and that seems to be
• 4:50:08
  what's wanted. But at least, sir, said I to James, recovering
• 4:50:14
  from my little fit of annoyance. I am Alan's friend, and if I
• 4:50:18
  can be helpful to friends of his, I will not stumble at the risk.
• 4:50:22
  I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent, for
• 4:50:26
  I saw allan trouble, And besides, thinks I to myself, as soon
• 4:50:30
  as my back is turned, they will paper me as they call it,
• 4:50:34
  whether I consent or not. But in this I saw I was wrong,
• 4:50:38
  for I had no sooner said the words than missus Stewart leaped out of her
• 4:50:41
  chair, came running over to us, and wept first upon my neck and
• 4:50:45
  then on Allan's blessing God for our goodness to her family. As for you,
• 4:50:52
  Ellen, it was no more than your bound in duty, she said,
• 4:50:56
  But for this lad that has come here and seen us at a word
• 4:51:00
  first, and seeing the good man fleeching like a suitor, him that by
• 4:51:03
  right should give his commands like any king. As for you, my lad,
• 4:51:07
  she says, my heart is well not to have your name, but
• 4:51:11
  I have your face, and as long as my heart beats under my bosom,
• 4:51:15
  I will keep it and think of it and bless it. And with
• 4:51:19
  that she kissed me and burst once more into such sobbing that I stood abashed.
• 4:51:26
  Hoot, Hoot, said Alan, looking mighty silly. The day comes
• 4:51:30
  uncle soon, in this month of July, and tomorrow there'll be a fine
• 4:51:33
  to do and happen, a fine writing of dragoons, and crying of Krakhan,
• 4:51:38
  and running of redcoats, and it behooves you and me to the sooner
• 4:51:42
  be gone. Thereupon we said farewell, and set out again, bending somewhat
• 4:51:48
  eastwards in a fine, mild, dark night, and over much the same
• 4:51:52
  broken country as before end of chapter Chapter two twenty the flight in the heather,
• 4:52:02
  the rocks, sometimes we walked, sometimes ran, and as it drew
• 4:52:08
  on to morning, walked evertheless, and ran the more. Though upon its
• 4:52:14
  face that country appeared to be a desert. Yet there were huts and houses
• 4:52:18
  of the people, of which we must have passed more than twenty, hidden
• 4:52:22
  in quiet places of the hills. When we came to one of these,
• 4:52:26
  Alan would leave me in the way, and go himself and rap upon the
• 4:52:29
  side of the house, and speak a while at the window with some sleeper
• 4:52:33
  awakened. This was to pass the news, which in that country was so
• 4:52:37
  much of a duty that allan must pause to attend to it, even while
• 4:52:41
  fleeing for his life, And so well attended to by others that in more
• 4:52:45
  than half of the houses where we called they had already heard of the murder.
• 4:52:49
  In the others as well as I could make out, standing back at
• 4:52:53
  a distance, and hearing a strange tongue, the news was received with more
• 4:52:57
  consternation than surprise. For all our hurry day began to come in while we
• 4:53:03
  were still far from any shelter. It found us in a prodigious valley,
• 4:53:07
  strewn with rocks, and where ran a foaming river. Wild mountains stood around
• 4:53:12
  it. There grew there neither grass nor trees, And I have sometimes thought
• 4:53:18
  since then that it may have been the valley called Glencoe, where the massacre
• 4:53:22
  was in the time of King William. But for the details of our itinerary,
• 4:53:26
  I am all to seek our way, lying now by short cuts,
• 4:53:30
  now by great detours, our pace, being so hurried our time of journeying,
• 4:53:36
  usually by night, and the names of such places, as I asked
• 4:53:40
  and heard, being in the Gaelic tongue, and the more easily forgotten.
• 4:53:45
  The first peep of morning then showed us this horrible place, and I could
• 4:53:48
  see Alan knit his brow. This is no fit place for you and me,
• 4:53:53
  he said, this is the place they're bound to watch. And with
• 4:53:57
  that he ran harder than ever down to the water side, in a part
• 4:54:02
  where the river was split in two among three rocks. It went through with
• 4:54:06
  a horrid thundering that made my belly quake, and there hung over the line
• 4:54:11
  a little mist of spray. Alan looked neither to the right nor to the
• 4:54:15
  left, but jumped clean upon the middle rock, and fell there on his
• 4:54:18
  hands and knees to check himself, For that rock was small, and he
• 4:54:22
  might have pitched over on the far side. I had scarce time to measure
• 4:54:26
  the distance or to understand the peril before I had followed him, and he
• 4:54:30
  had caught and stopped me. So there we stood side by side upon a
• 4:54:36
  small rock, slippery with spray, a far broader leap in front of us,
• 4:54:41
  and the river dinning upon all sides. When I saw where I was.
• 4:54:45
  There came on me a deadly sickness of fear, and I put my
• 4:54:48
  hand over my eyes. Alan took me and shook me. I saw he
• 4:54:52
  was speaking, but the roaring of the falls and the trouble of my mind
• 4:54:56
  prevented me from hearing. Only I saw his face was red with anger,
• 4:55:02
  and that he stamped upon the rock. The same look showed me the water
• 4:55:06
  raging by, and the mist hanging in the air, And with that I
• 4:55:10
  covered my eyes again and shuddered. The next minute Alan had set the brandy
• 4:55:15
  bottle to my lips and forced me to drink about a gill, which sent
• 4:55:18
  the blood into my head again. Then, putting his hands to his mouth
• 4:55:22
  and his mouth to my ear, he shouted, hang or drown, and,
• 4:55:27
  turning his back upon me, leaped over the farther branch of the stream
• 4:55:32
  and landed safe. I was now alone upon the rock, which gave me
• 4:55:37
  the more room. The brandy was singing in my ears. I had this
• 4:55:41
  good example fresh before me, and just wit enough to see that if I
• 4:55:45
  did not leap at once, I should never leap at all. I bent
• 4:55:48
  low on my knees and flung myself forth with that kind of anger of despair
• 4:55:53
  that has sometimes stood me instead of courage. Sure enough, it was but
• 4:55:57
  my hands that reached full length. These slipped, but again slipped again,
• 4:56:03
  and I was slittering back into the linn when Alan seized me, first by
• 4:56:08
  the hair, then by the collar, and with a great strain, dragged
• 4:56:11
  me into safety. Never a word, he said, but set off running
• 4:56:17
  again for his life, and I must stagger to my feet and run after
• 4:56:21
  him. I had been weary before, but now I was sick and bruised,
• 4:56:26
  and partly drunken with a brandy. I kept stumbling as I ran.
• 4:56:30
  I had a stitch that came near to overmaster me. And when at last
• 4:56:34
  Alan paused under a great rock that stood there among a number of others,
• 4:56:38
  it was none too soon for David Balfour. A great rock, I have
• 4:56:44
  said, But by rights it was two rocks leaning together at the top,
• 4:56:48
  both some twenty feet high, and at the first sight inaccessible. Even Allan,
• 4:56:55
  though you may say he had as good as four hands, failed twice
• 4:56:57
  in an attempt to climb them. And it was only at the third trial,
• 4:57:02
  and then by standing on my shoulders and leaping up with such force as
• 4:57:04
  I thought must have broken my collar bone, that he secured a lodgment.
• 4:57:10
  Once there, he let down his leathern girdle, and with the aid of
• 4:57:14
  that and a pair of shallow footholds in the rock, I scrambled up beside
• 4:57:18
  him. Then I saw why we had come there, For the two rocks,
• 4:57:22
  being both somewhat hollow at the top and sloping one to the other,
• 4:57:26
  made a kind of dish or saucer, where as many as three or four
• 4:57:30
  men might have lain hidden. All this while Allan had not said a word,
• 4:57:34
  and had run and climbed with such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry,
• 4:57:40
  that I knew that he was in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even
• 4:57:44
  now we were on the rock, he said nothing, nor so much as
• 4:57:47
  relaxed the frowning look upon his face, but clapped flat down, and,
• 4:57:52
  keeping only one eye above the edge of our place of shelter, scouted all
• 4:57:56
  round the compass. The dawn had come quite clear. We could see the
• 4:58:00
  stony sides of the valley and its bottom, which was bestrewed with rocks,
• 4:58:06
  and the river which went from one side to another and made white falls.
• 4:58:10
  But nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any living creature, but some
• 4:58:14
  eagles screaming round a cliff. Then at last Alan smiled, Aye said he
• 4:58:22
  now we have a chance. And then, looking at me with some amusement,
• 4:58:26
  you're no very gleg at the jumping, said he. At this,
• 4:58:30
  I suppose I colored with mortification, for he added at once, Oh,
• 4:58:36
  it's small blame to you to be feared of a thing, and yet to
• 4:58:38
  do it is what makes the prettiest kind of a man. And then there
• 4:58:42
  was water there, and water's a thing that daunthan's even me. No,
• 4:58:48
  no, said Allan, is no youth a's to blame. It's me.
• 4:58:52
  I asked him. Why, why, said he, I have proved myself
• 4:58:57
  a gomerol this night. For first of all, I take a wrong road,
• 4:59:03
  and that of my own country have appened so that the day has caught
• 4:59:06
  us where we should never have been, and thanks to that we lie here
• 4:59:08
  in some danger and mere discomfort. And next, which is the worst of
• 4:59:14
  the two, For a man that has been so much among the heather as
• 4:59:17
  myself, I have come want in the water bottle. And here we lie
• 4:59:21
  for a long summer's day with nothing but neat spirit ye may think that a
• 4:59:25
  small matter. But before comes night, David, you'd give me news of
• 4:59:30
  it. I was anxious to redeem my character, and offered if he would
• 4:59:34
  pour out the brandy to run down and fill the bottle at the river.
• 4:59:38
  It would not waste a good spirit either, says he, it's been a
• 4:59:42
  good friend to you this night, or in my poor opinion, you would
• 4:59:45
  still be cocking on yon Stone. And what's more, says he, you
• 4:59:51
  may have observed you. That's a matter so much penetration that Alan breck Stewart
• 4:59:56
  was perhaps walking quicker than his ordinair. You, who I cried, you
• 5:00:00
  were running fit to burst. It was that, so, says he.
• 5:00:07
  Well then you may depend upon it. There was no time to be lost.
• 5:00:11
  And now Hugh is enough, said, gang you to your sleep,
• 5:00:14
  lad, and I'll watch accordingly. I lay down to sleep. A little
• 5:00:18
  peaty earth had drifted dim between the top of the two rocks, and some
• 5:00:22
  bracken grew there to be a bed to me. The last thing I heard
• 5:00:26
  was still the crying of the eagles. I dare say it would be nine
• 5:00:30
  in the morning when I was roughly awakened and found Allan's hand pressed upon my
• 5:00:34
  mouth wisht He whispered, you were snoring, Well, said I, surprised
• 5:00:42
  at his anxious and dark face, and why not? He peered over the
• 5:00:48
  edge of the rock and signed me to do the like. It was now
• 5:00:52
  high day, cloudless, and very hot. The valley was as clear as
• 5:00:56
  in a picture. About half a mile up the water was a camp of
• 5:01:00
  red coats, a big fire blazed in their midst, at which some were
• 5:01:04
  cooking. And near by, on the top of a rock about as high
• 5:01:07
  as ours, there stood a sentry with the sun sparkling on his arms.
• 5:01:12
  All the way down along the river side were posted other sentries here near together
• 5:01:18
  there widel or scattered, some planted like the first on places of command,
• 5:01:23
  some on the ground level and marching, and countermarching so as to meet half
• 5:01:29
  way higher up the glen, where the ground was more open. The chain
• 5:01:33
  of posts was continued by horse soldiers, whom we could see in the distance,
• 5:01:37
  riding to and fro Lower down, the infantry continued, but as the
• 5:01:42
  stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerable burn, they were more
• 5:01:48
  widely set and only watched the fords and stepping stones. I took but one
• 5:01:53
  look at them, and ducked again into my place. It was strange,
• 5:01:57
  indeed, to see this valley which had led so solitary in the hour of
• 5:02:02
  dawn, bristling with arms, and dotted with the redcoats and breeches. You
• 5:02:07
  see, said Alan, This was what I was afraid of, Davy,
• 5:02:11
  that they would watch the burn side. They began to come in about two
• 5:02:15
  hours ago. And man, you're a grand hand at the sleepin'. We're
• 5:02:18
  in a narrow place. If they get up the sides of the hill,
• 5:02:22
  they could easy spy us with a glass. But if they'll only keep in
• 5:02:26
  the foot of the valley, we'll do. Yet posts are thinner down the
• 5:02:30
  water, and come night we'll try our hand to kitt and buy them.
• 5:02:36
  And what are we to do till night? I asked lie here, says
• 5:02:40
  he, and bursle that one good Scotch word, bursil was indeed the most
• 5:02:47
  of the story of the day that we had now to pass. You are
• 5:02:51
  to remember that we lay on the bare top of a rock, like scones
• 5:02:55
  upon a girdle. The sun beat upon us cruelly. The rock grew so
• 5:02:59
  heated a man could scarce endure the touch of it, and the little patch
• 5:03:03
  of earth and fern which kept cooler, was only large enough for one at
• 5:03:07
  a time. We took turn about to lie on the naked rock, which
• 5:03:11
  was indeed like the position of that saint that was martyred on a gridiron.
• 5:03:15
  And it ran in my mind how strange it was that, in the same
• 5:03:19
  climate, and at only a few days distance, I should have suffered so
• 5:03:23
  cruelly, first from cold upon my island, and now from heat upon this
• 5:03:29
  rock. All the while we had no water, only raw brandy for a
• 5:03:33
  drink, which was worse than nothing. But we kept the bottle as cool
• 5:03:37
  as we could, burying it in the earth, and got some relief by
• 5:03:41
  bathing our breasts and temples. The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom
• 5:03:47
  of the valley, now changing guard, now in patrolling parties, hunting among
• 5:03:52
  the rocks. These lay around in so great a number that to look for
• 5:03:56
  men among them was like looking for a needle in a bottle of hay,
• 5:04:00
  And being so hopeless a task, it was gone about with the less care.
• 5:04:04
  Yet we could see the soldiers poked their bayonets among the heather, which
• 5:04:08
  sent a cold thrill into my vitals, and they would sometimes hang about our
• 5:04:12
  rock, so that we scarce dared to breathe. It was in this way
• 5:04:18
  that I first heard the right English speech one fellow as he went by,
• 5:04:22
  actually clapping his hand upon the sunny face of the rock on which we lay,
• 5:04:26
  and plucking it off again with an oath. I tell you it's aught,
• 5:04:32
  says he. And I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd
• 5:04:34
  sing song in which he spoke, and no less at that strange trick of
• 5:04:38
  dropping out the letter. H be sure I had heard ransom, but he
• 5:04:44
  had taken his ways from all sorts of people, and spoke so imperfectly at
• 5:04:48
  the best that I set down the most of it to childishness. My surprise
• 5:04:53
  was all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of a
• 5:04:56
  grown man. And indeed I have never grown used to to it, nor
• 5:05:00
  yet altogether with the English grammar, as perhaps a very critical eye might here
• 5:05:04
  and there spy out. Even in these memoirs. The tediousness and pain of
• 5:05:11
  these hours upon the rock grew only the greater as the day went on,
• 5:05:15
  the rock getting still the hotter, and the sun fiercer. There were giddiness
• 5:05:19
  and sickness, and sharp hangs like rheumatism to be supported. I minded then,
• 5:05:25
  and have often minded since, on the lines in our Scotch psalm.
• 5:05:30
  The moon by night, these shall not smite, nor yet the sun by
• 5:05:33
  day. And indeed it was only by God's blessing that we were neither of
• 5:05:37
  us sun smitten. At last, about two it was beyond men's bearing,
• 5:05:44
  and there was now temptation to resist as well as pain the thull, for
• 5:05:48
  the sun being now got a little into the west. There came a patch
• 5:05:52
  of shade on the east side of our rock, which was the side sheltered
• 5:05:56
  from the soldiers as well. One death as another, said Alan, and
• 5:06:00
  slipped over the edge and dropped on the ground on the shadowy side. I
• 5:06:07
  followed him at once, and instantly fell all my length, So weak was
• 5:06:11
  I and so giddy with that long exposure. Here then we lay for an
• 5:06:15
  hour or two, aching from head to foot, as weak as water,
• 5:06:19
  and lying quite naked to the eye of any soldier who should have strolled that
• 5:06:22
  way. None came, however, all passing by on the other side,
• 5:06:27
  so that our rock continued to be our shield. Even in this new position.
• 5:06:33
  Presently we began again to get a little strength, and as the soldiers
• 5:06:37
  were now lying closer along the river side, Alan proposed that we should try
• 5:06:41
  a start. I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the
• 5:06:45
  world, and that was to be set back upon the rock. Anything else
• 5:06:49
  was welcome to me. So we got ourselves at once in marching order,
• 5:06:53
  and began to slip from rock to rock, one after the other, now
• 5:06:57
  crawling flat on our bell in the shade, now making a run for it,
• 5:07:03
  heart in mouth. The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley
• 5:07:07
  after a fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon,
• 5:07:11
  had now laid by much of their vigilance and stood dozing at their posts,
• 5:07:17
  or only kept a lookout along the banks of the river, so that
• 5:07:19
  in this way, keeping down the valley and at the same time towards the
• 5:07:23
  mountains, we drew steadily away from their neighborhood. But the business was the
• 5:07:29
  most wearing I have ever taken part in. A man had need of a
• 5:07:33
  hundred eyes in every part of him to keep concealed in that uneven country,
• 5:07:37
  and within cry of so many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an
• 5:07:42
  open place, quickness was not all, but a swift judgment not only of
• 5:07:47
  the lie of the whole country, but of the solidity of every stone on
• 5:07:51
  which we must set foot. For the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that
• 5:07:56
  the rolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistol shot would start the echo
• 5:08:00
  calling among the hills and cliffs. By sundown we had made some distance,
• 5:08:07
  even by our slow rate of progress, though to be sure, the sentry
• 5:08:11
  on the rock was still plainly in our view. But now we came on
• 5:08:15
  something that put all fears out of season, and that was a deep,
• 5:08:18
  rushing burn that tore down in that part to join the Glen River. At
• 5:08:25
  the sight of this, we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and
• 5:08:27
  shoulders in the water. And I cannot tell which was the more pleasant,
• 5:08:32
  the great shock as the cool stream went over us, or the greed with
• 5:08:37
  which we drank of it. We lay there, for the banks hit us,
• 5:08:41
  drank again and again, bathed our chests, let our wrists trail in
• 5:08:45
  the running water till they ached with the chill, and at last being wonderfully
• 5:08:51
  renewed. We got out the meal bag and make drummach in the iron Pand
• 5:08:56
  this, though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal, yet makes a
• 5:08:59
  good ad enough dish for a hungry man. And whe there are no means
• 5:09:03
  of making fire, or as in our case, good reason for not making
• 5:09:07
  one, it is the chief stand by of those who have taken to the
• 5:09:11
  heather. As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set
• 5:09:15
  forth again, at first with the same caution, but presently with more boldness,
• 5:09:19
  standing our full height and stepping out at a good pace of walking.
• 5:09:23
  The way was very intricate, lying up the steep sides of mountains and along
• 5:09:29
  the brows of cliffs. Clouds had come in with the sunset, and the
• 5:09:33
  night was dark and cool, so that I walked without much fatigue, but
• 5:09:37
  in continual appear of falling and rolling down the mountains, and with no guess
• 5:09:41
  at our direction. The moon rose at last and found us still on the
• 5:09:45
  road. It was in its last quarter and was long beset with clouds,
• 5:09:51
  but after a while shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains,
• 5:09:55
  and was reflected far underneath us on the narrow arm of a sea lock.
• 5:10:00
  At this sight we both paused. I struck with wonder to find myself so
• 5:10:03
  high and walking, as it seemed to me upon clouds, Allan to make
• 5:10:10
  sure of his direction. Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly
• 5:10:15
  have judged us out of earshot of all our enemies, for throughout the rest
• 5:10:18
  of our night march, he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes,
• 5:10:22
  warlike, merry, plaintive, real tunes that made the foot go faster,
• 5:10:27
  tunes of my own south country, that made me feign to be home from
• 5:10:30
  my adventures in all these on the great dark desert mountains, making company upon
• 5:10:37
  the way end of chapter Chapter twenty one, the flight in the heather the
• 5:10:45
  hue of Kornaki. Early as day comes in the beginning of July, it
• 5:10:52
  was still dark when we reached our destination, a cleft in the head of
• 5:10:56
  a great mountain with a water running through the midst and upon the one hand
• 5:11:02
  a shallow cave in a rock. Birches grew there in a thin, pretty
• 5:11:06
  wood, which, if little farther on, was changed into a wood of
• 5:11:10
  pines. The burn was full of trout, the wood of cushat doves on
• 5:11:15
  the open side of the mountain. Beyond WAPs would be always whistling, and
• 5:11:19
  cuckoos were plentiful. From the mouth of the cleft we looked down upon a
• 5:11:23
  part of Mamour and on the sea lock that divides that country from Appen,
• 5:11:30
  And this, from so great a height as made it my continual wonder and
• 5:11:33
  pleasure to sit and behold them. The name of the cleft was the Hue
• 5:11:38
  of Kornakich, And although from its height, and being so near upon the
• 5:11:42
  sea, it was often beset with clouds, yet it was on the whole
• 5:11:48
  a pleasant place, and the five days we lived in it went happily.
• 5:11:52
  We slept in the cave, making our bed of heather bushes which we cut
• 5:11:56
  for that purpose, and covering ourselves with Allan's greatcoat. There was a low,
• 5:12:00
  concealed place in a turning of the glen, where we were so bold
• 5:12:04
  as to make fire, so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set
• 5:12:08
  in, and cook hot porridge and grill the little trouts that we caught with
• 5:12:14
  our hands under the stones and overhanging banks of the bern. This was indeed
• 5:12:18
  our chief pleasure in business, and not only to save our meal against worse
• 5:12:22
  times, but with a rivalry that much amused us. We spent a great
• 5:12:27
  part of our days at the water side, stripped to the waist and groping
• 5:12:30
  about, or as they say, bedling for these fish. The largest we
• 5:12:37
  got might have been a quarter of a pound, but they were of good
• 5:12:40
  flesh and flavor, and when broiled upon the coals, lacked only a little
• 5:12:44
  salt to be delicious in any by time, Alan must teach me to use
• 5:12:48
  my sword, for my ignorance had much distressed him, and I think besides,
• 5:12:53
  as I had sometimes the upper hand of him and the fishing, he
• 5:12:57
  was not sorry to turn to a exercise where he had so much the apprehend
• 5:13:02
  of me. He made it somewhat more of a pain than need have been,
• 5:13:07
  for he stormed at me all through the lessons in a very violent manner
• 5:13:10
  of scolding, and would push me so close that I made sure he must
• 5:13:14
  run me through the body. I was often tempted to turn tail, but
• 5:13:18
  held my ground for all that, and got some profit of my lessons,
• 5:13:22
  if it was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance, which is
• 5:13:26
  often all that is required. So though I could never in the least please
• 5:13:32
  my master, I was not altogether displeased with myself. In the meantime,
• 5:13:37
  you were not to suppose that we neglected our chief business, which was to
• 5:13:41
  get away. It will be many a long day, Alan said to me
• 5:13:47
  in our first morning before the raincoats, think upon seeking Korynakich. So now
• 5:13:52
  he must get words sent to James. He must find the Siller force.
• 5:13:56
  And how shall we send that word? I we are here in a desert
• 5:14:02
  place which yet we dare not leave. And unless you get the fowls of
• 5:14:06
  the air to be your messengers, I see not what we shall be able
• 5:14:10
  to do, I said Allan, you're a man of small contrivance. David.
• 5:14:17
  Thereupon he fell in a muse, looking in the embers of the fire,
• 5:14:21
  and presently, getting a piece of wood, he fashioned it in a
• 5:14:25
  cross, the four ends of which he blackened on the coals. Then he
• 5:14:29
  looked at me a little shyly. Could you lend me my button? Says
• 5:14:34
  he? It seems a strange thing to ask a gift again, But I
• 5:14:38
  own I am lathe to cut another. I gave him the button, whereupon
• 5:14:44
  he strung it on a strip of his greatcoat which he had used to bind
• 5:14:48
  the cross, and tying in a little sprig of birch and another of fir.
• 5:14:52
  He looked upon his work with satisfaction. Now said he. There is
• 5:14:57
  a little clackin what is called a hamlet in the English, not very far
• 5:15:03
  from Kornakchich, and it has the name of Koalisnikhan. There there are living
• 5:15:08
  many friends of mine whom I could trust with my life, and some that
• 5:15:12
  I am no just so sure of you, see, David, there would
• 5:15:17
  be money set upon our heads. James himself had to set money on them.
• 5:15:22
  And as for the campbells, they would never spare siller where there was
• 5:15:25
  a steward to be hurt. If it was otherwise, I would go down
• 5:15:29
  to Koalisnicoran whatever, and trust my life into these people's hands as lightly as
• 5:15:33
  I would trust another with my glove. But being so said I, being
• 5:15:41
  so said he, I would as lief they did not see me. There's
• 5:15:45
  bad folk everywhere, and what's far worse, weak ones. So when it
• 5:15:51
  comes dark again, I will steal down into that Clockhan and set this that
• 5:15:55
  I have been making in the window of a good friend of mine. John
• 5:15:59
  breckmac Co, a booman of appens with all my heart, says I.
• 5:16:04
  And if he finds it, what is he to think? Well, says
• 5:16:10
  Alan, I wish he was a man of more penetration, for by my
• 5:16:14
  troth, I'm afraid he will make little enough of it. But this is
• 5:16:18
  what I have in mind. This cross is something in the nature of the
• 5:16:22
  cross tari or fiery cross, which is the signal of gathering in our clans.
• 5:16:27
  Yet he will know well enough the clan is not to rise, for
• 5:16:30
  there it is standing in his window, and no word with it. So
• 5:16:34
  he will say to himself that klan is not to rise, But there is
• 5:16:40
  something. Then he will see my button, and that was Duncan Stewart's.
• 5:16:45
  And then he will say to himself, the son of Duncan is in the
• 5:16:48
  heather and has need of me. Well said I, it may be.
• 5:16:55
  But even supposing so, there is a good deal of heather between here and
• 5:16:59
  the fourth. And that is a very true word, says Allan. But
• 5:17:03
  then John Breck will see the sprig of birch and the sprig of pine,
• 5:17:07
  and he will say to himself, if he is a man of any penetration
• 5:17:11
  at all, which I missed out. Allan will be lying in a wood
• 5:17:15
  which is both of pines and birches. Then he will think to hisself,
• 5:17:19
  that is not so very right hereabout? And then he will come and give
• 5:17:23
  us a look up in Kornaki. And if he does not, David the
• 5:17:27
  devil may fly away with him. For what I care for he will be
• 5:17:32
  know what the salt to his porridge. Amen, said I drolling with him
• 5:17:37
  a little. You are very ingenious, but would it not be simpler for
• 5:17:41
  you to write him a few words in black and white? And that is
• 5:17:47
  an excellent observe. Mister Balfour of Shaws, said, Allan drolling with me,
• 5:17:52
  And it would certainly be much simpler for me to write to him.
• 5:17:56
  But it would be a sore job for John Breck to read it. He
• 5:18:00
  would have to go to the school for two three years. And it's possible
• 5:18:04
  we might be wearied waiting on him. So that night Alan carried down his
• 5:18:10
  fiery cross and set it in the bowman's window. He was troubled when he
• 5:18:15
  came back, for the dogs had barked, and the folk run out from
• 5:18:18
  their houses, and he thought he had heard a clatter of arms and seen
• 5:18:22
  a Redcoat come to one of the doors. On all accounts, we lay
• 5:18:26
  the next day in the borders of the wood, and kept a close look
• 5:18:29
  out, so that if it was John Breck that came, we might be
• 5:18:32
  ready to guide him, and if it was the Redcoats, we should have
• 5:18:36
  time to get away. About noon a man was to be spied straggling up
• 5:18:41
  the open side of the mountain in the sun, and looking round him as
• 5:18:45
  he came from under his hand. No sooner had Allan seen him than he
• 5:18:49
  whistled. The man turned and came a little towards us, than Alan would
• 5:18:53
  give another peep, and the man would come still nearer, And so by
• 5:18:59
  the sound of whistling he was guided to the spot where we lay. He
• 5:19:03
  was a ragged, wild bearded man about forty, grossly disfigured with a smallpox,
• 5:19:10
  and looked both dull and savage. Although his English was very bad and
• 5:19:15
  broken. Yet Alan, according to his very handsome use, whenever I was
• 5:19:19
  by, would suffer him to speak no Gaelic. Perhaps the strange language made
• 5:19:25
  him appear more backward than he really was, but I thought he had little
• 5:19:29
  good will to serve us, and what he had was the child of terror.
• 5:19:33
  Alan would have had him carry a message to James, but the bowman
• 5:19:37
  would hear of no message. She was forget it, he said in his
• 5:19:41
  screaming voice, and would either have a letter or wash his hands of us.
• 5:19:48
  I thought Alan would be graveled at that, for we lacked the means
• 5:19:51
  of writing in that desert. But he was a man of more resources than
• 5:19:55
  I knew. Searched the wood until he found the quill of a cushiet dove,
• 5:20:00
  which he shaped into a pen, made himself a kind of ink.
• 5:20:03
  With gunpowder from his horn and water from the running stream, and tearing a
• 5:20:07
  corner from his French military commission, which he carried in his pocket like a
• 5:20:12
  talisman to keep him from the gallows, he sat down and wrote as follows,
• 5:20:18
  Dear Kinsman, please send the money by the bearer to the place he
• 5:20:22
  cans of your affectionate cousin a s. This he intrusted to the bowman,
• 5:20:29
  who promised to make what manner of speed he best could, and carried it
• 5:20:32
  off with him down the hill. He was three full days gone, but
• 5:20:37
  about five in the evening of the third we heard a whistling in the wood,
• 5:20:41
  which Alan answered, and presently the bowman came up the water side,
• 5:20:45
  looking for us right and left. He seemed less sulky than before, and
• 5:20:51
  indeed he was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of such
• 5:20:53
  a dangerous commission. He gave us the news of the country, that it
• 5:20:59
  was all live with redcoats, that arms were being found and poor folk brought
• 5:21:04
  in trouble daily, and that James and some of his servants were already clapped
• 5:21:08
  in prison at Fort William under strong suspicion of complicity. It seemed it was
• 5:21:15
  noised on all sides that Alan Breck had fired the shot, and there was
• 5:21:18
  a bill issued for both him and me with one hundred pounds reward. This
• 5:21:25
  was all as bad as could be, and the little note the bowman had
• 5:21:29
  carried us from Missus Stewart was of a miserable sadness. In it. She
• 5:21:33
  besought Allan not to let himself be captured, assuring him if he fell in
• 5:21:37
  the hands of the troops, both he and James were no better than dead
• 5:21:41
  men. The money she had sent was all that she could beg or borrow,
• 5:21:47
  and she prayed heaven we could be doing with it Lastly, she said,
• 5:21:52
  she enclosed us one of the bills in which we were described. This
• 5:21:56
  we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear, partly as a
• 5:22:00
  man may look in a mirror, partly as he might look into the barrel
• 5:22:03
  of an enemy's gun, to judge if it be truly aimed. Allan was
• 5:22:08
  advertised as a small hawk marked active man of thirty five or thereby dressed in
• 5:22:15
  a feathered hat, a French side coat of blue, with silver buttons and
• 5:22:21
  lace, a great deal tarnished, a red waistcoat and breeches of black shag.
• 5:22:26
  I as a tall, strong lad of about eighteen, wearing an old
• 5:22:30
  blue coat, very ragged, an old Highland bonnet, a long homespun waistcoat,
• 5:22:37
  blue breeches, his legs bare, low country shoes, wanting the toes,
• 5:22:42
  speaks like a lowlander, and has no beard. Alan was well enough
• 5:22:48
  pleased to see his finery so fully remembered and set down. Only when he
• 5:22:52
  came to the word tarnish, he looked upon his lace like one a little
• 5:22:56
  mortified. As for myself, well, I thought I cut a miserable figure
• 5:23:02
  in the bill, And yet was well enough pleased to for since I had
• 5:23:06
  changed these rags, the description had ceased to be a danger and became a
• 5:23:10
  source of safety. Allan said I, you should change your clothes, na
• 5:23:17
  troth, said Allan. I aDNA others a fine sight it would be if
• 5:23:22
  I went back to France and a bonnet. This put a second reflection in
• 5:23:26
  my mind, that if I were to separate from Allan and his telltale clothes,
• 5:23:30
  I should be safe against arrest and might go openly about my business.
• 5:23:36
  Nor was this all for suppose I was arrested when I was alone, there
• 5:23:41
  was a little against me. But suppose I was taken in company with the
• 5:23:45
  reputed murderer, my case would begin to be grave. For generosity's sake,
• 5:23:49
  I dare not speak my mind upon this head, but I thought of it
• 5:23:53
  none the less. I thought of it all the more too, when the
• 5:23:57
  bowman brought out a green purse with four guineas in gold and the best part
• 5:24:03
  of another in small change. True it was more than I had, But
• 5:24:07
  then Alan, with less than five guineas, had to get as far as
• 5:24:11
  France, I with my less than two, not beyond Queen's ferry, So
• 5:24:17
  that taking things in their proportion Alan's society was not only a parel to my
• 5:24:22
  life, but a burden on my purse. But there was no thought of
• 5:24:26
  the sort in the honest head of my companion. He believed he was serving,
• 5:24:32
  helping and protecting me. And what could I do but hold my peace
• 5:24:36
  and chafe and take my chance of it. It's little enough, said Allan,
• 5:24:41
  putting the purse in his pocket. But it'll do my business. And
• 5:24:45
  now, John Breck, if you will hand me over my button, this
• 5:24:49
  gentleman and me wolf be for taking the road. But the bowman, after
• 5:24:55
  feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in front of him in the highland
• 5:24:57
  manner, though he wore otherwise the lowland habit with sea trousers, began to
• 5:25:03
  roll his eyes strangely, and at last said PERNANSO will loss it, meaning
• 5:25:11
  he thought he had lost it. What cried Allan, You will lose my
• 5:25:15
  button that was my father's before me. Now I will tell you what is
• 5:25:19
  in my mind, John Breck, It is in my mind. This is
• 5:25:22
  the worst day's work that ever you did since she was born. And as
• 5:25:27
  Alan spoke, he set his hands on his knees and looked at the bowman
• 5:25:32
  with a smiling mouth and that dancing light in his eyes that meant mischief to
• 5:25:36
  his enemies. Perhaps the bowman was honest enough, perhaps he had meant to
• 5:25:41
  cheat, and then, finding himself alone with two of us in a desert
• 5:25:45
  place, cast back to honesty as being safer at least, And all at
• 5:25:51
  once he seemed to find that button and handed it to allan well. And
• 5:25:56
  it is a good thing for the honor of the maccalls, said Alan.
• 5:26:00
  And then to me, here is my button back again, and I thank
• 5:26:04
  you for parting with it, which is of a piece with all your friendships
• 5:26:07
  to me. Then he took the warmest parting of the bowmen, for says
• 5:26:14
  he, you have done very well by me, and set your neck at
• 5:26:18
  a venture, and I will always give you the name of a good man.
• 5:26:22
  Lastly, the bowman took himself off by one way, and Alan and
• 5:26:26
  I, getting our chattels together, struck into another to resume our flight.
• 5:26:33
  End of chapter Chapter twenty two. The flight in the heather the more some
• 5:26:41
  seven hours incessant hard traveling brought us early in the morning to the end of
• 5:26:45
  a range of mountains. In front of us, there lay a piece of
• 5:26:49
  low, broken desert land which we must now cross. The sun was not
• 5:26:55
  long up and shone straight in our eyes. A little thin mist went up
• 5:27:00
  from the face of the moorland like a smoke, so that, as Alan
• 5:27:03
  said, there might have been twenty squadrons of dragoons there, and we none
• 5:27:07
  the wiser. We sat down therefore in a howl of the hillside, till
• 5:27:12
  the mist should have risen, and made ourselves a dish of dramach, and
• 5:27:17
  held a council of war. David said Alan, this is a kittle bit.
• 5:27:22
  Shall we lie here till it comes night? Or shall we risk it
• 5:27:26
  and stave on ahead? Well, said I I am tired, indeed,
• 5:27:32
  but I could walk as far again if that was all aye. But it
• 5:27:37
  isn't, said Alan, Nor yet the half this is how we stand appens
• 5:27:42
  fair death to us. To the south, it's all Campbell's and not to
• 5:27:47
  be thought of. To the north, well, there's no muckle to be
• 5:27:51
  gained by going north, neither for you that wants to get the Queen's ferry,
• 5:27:56
  nor yet for me that wants to get to France. Well, then
• 5:28:00
  we can strike east east, be it, says I, quite cheerily,
• 5:28:06
  but I was thinking in to myself, Oh man, if you would only
• 5:28:10
  take one point of the compass and let me take any other, it would
• 5:28:14
  be the best for both of us. Well, then east, ye see
• 5:28:18
  we have the mers, said Allan once, Dear David, it's mere pitchin
• 5:28:25
  doss out on yon, bald, naked flat place where can a body turn
• 5:28:29
  to let the red coats come over a hill they can spy you miles away,
• 5:28:33
  and the sorrows in their horses heels they would soon ride you down.
• 5:28:38
  It's no good place, David, And I'm free to say it's worse by
• 5:28:42
  daylight than by dark. Allan said, I hear my way. Of it
• 5:28:48
  appens death for us. We have none too much money, nor yet meal.
• 5:28:52
  The longer they seek, the nearer they may guess where we are.
• 5:28:56
  It's all a risk, and I give my word to go ahead until we
• 5:29:00
  drop. Hellen was delighted. There are wiles, said he, when you
• 5:29:06
  are altogether too canny and whiggish to be company for a gentleman like me.
• 5:29:11
  But there come other whiles when you show yourself a metal spark. And it's
• 5:29:15
  then, David, that I love you like a brother. The mist rose
• 5:29:18
  and died away and showed us that country lying as waste as the sea,
• 5:29:25
  only the moor fowl and the peewee's crying upon it, and far over to
• 5:29:29
  the east a herd of deer moving like dots. Much of it was red
• 5:29:33
  with heather, much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty
• 5:29:37
  pools. Some had been burnt black in a heath fire. And in another
• 5:29:42
  place there was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons a wearier
• 5:29:48
  looking desert man never saw. But at least it was clear of troops,
• 5:29:52
  which was our point. We went down accordingly into the waste and began to
• 5:29:57
  make our toilsome andvious travel towards the eastern verge. There were the tops of
• 5:30:03
  mountains all round, you are to remember, from whence we might be spied
• 5:30:07
  at any moment. So it behooved us to keep in the hollow parts of
• 5:30:11
  the moor, and when these turned aside from our direction, to move upon
• 5:30:15
  its naked face with infinite care, sometimes for half an hour together we must
• 5:30:22
  crawl from one heather bush to another, as hunters do when they are hard
• 5:30:26
  upon the deer. It was a clear day again, with a blazing sun.
• 5:30:30
  The water in the brandy bottle was soon gone, and altogether, if
• 5:30:34
  I had guessed what it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly,
• 5:30:38
  and to walk much of the rest stooping nearly to the knees, I
• 5:30:42
  should certainly have held back from such a killing enterprise. Toiling and resting and
• 5:30:48
  toiling again, we wore away the morning, and about noon lay down in
• 5:30:52
  a thick bush of heather to sleep. Alan took the first watch, and
• 5:30:57
  it seemed to me I had scarce closed my eyes before I was shaken up
• 5:31:00
  to take the second. We had no clock to go by, and Alan
• 5:31:04
  stuck a sprig of heath in the ground to serve instead, so that as
• 5:31:08
  soon as the shadow of the bush should fall so far to the east,
• 5:31:12
  I might not to rouse him. But I was by this time so weary
• 5:31:17
  that I could have slept twelve hours at a stretch. I had the taste
• 5:31:21
  of sleep in my throat, my joints, slept even when my mind was
• 5:31:25
  waking. The hot smell of the heather and the drone of the wild bees
• 5:31:30
  were like possets to me, and every now and again I would give a
• 5:31:33
  jump find I had been dozing. The last time I awoke, I seemed
• 5:31:38
  to come back from farther away, and thought the sun had taken a great
• 5:31:42
  start in the heavens. I looked at the sprig of heath, and at
• 5:31:47
  that I could have cried aloud, for I saw I had betrayed my trust.
• 5:31:52
  My head was nearly burned with fear and shame. And at what I
• 5:31:55
  saw when I looked out around me on the moor, my heart was like
• 5:31:59
  dying, and my body for sure enough a body of horse soldiers had come
• 5:32:03
  down during my sleep and were drawing near to us from the southeast, spread
• 5:32:08
  out in the shape of a fan, and riding their horses to and fro
• 5:32:11
  in the deep parts of the heather. When I waked Allen, he glanced
• 5:32:17
  first at the soldiers, then at the mark and the position of the sun,
• 5:32:21
  and knitted his brows with a sudden, quick look, both ugly and
• 5:32:25
  anxious, which was all the reproach I had of him. What are we
• 5:32:30
  to do now, I asked, We'll have to play it being Hares said
• 5:32:34
  he do ye see young mountain, pointing to one on the northeastern sky.
• 5:32:41
  I said, I well, Then says he, let us strike for that.
• 5:32:47
  Its name is Ben Alder. It is a wild desert mountain, full
• 5:32:51
  of hills and hollows, and if we can win to it before the morn,
• 5:32:55
  we may do. Yet, but Alan cried, I that take us
• 5:33:00
  across the very coming of the soldiers. I ken that fine, said he.
• 5:33:06
  But if we are driven back on appin, we are two dead men.
• 5:33:10
  So now David man be brisk with that. He began to run forward
• 5:33:14
  on his hands and knees with an incredible quickness, as though it was his
• 5:33:18
  natural way of going. All the time too. He kept winding in and
• 5:33:22
  out in the lower parts of the moorland, where we were the best concealed.
• 5:33:26
  Some of these have been burned, or at least scathed with fire,
• 5:33:30
  And there rose in our faces, which were close to the ground, a
• 5:33:34
  blinding, choking dust as fine as smoke. The water was long out.
• 5:33:40
  And this posture of running on the hands and knees brings an overmastering weakness and
• 5:33:44
  weariness, so that the joints ache and the wrists faint under your weight.
• 5:33:49
  Now and then, indeed, where there was a big bush of heather,
• 5:33:53
  we lay awhile and panted, and putting aside the leaves looked back at the
• 5:33:57
  dragoons. They had not spied us, for they held straight on a half
• 5:34:03
  troop, I think, covering about two miles aground, and beating it mighty
• 5:34:07
  thoroughly as they went. I had awakened just in time a little later,
• 5:34:14
  and we must have fled in front of them instead of escaping on one side,
• 5:34:18
  even as it was the least misfortune might betray us. And now and
• 5:34:22
  again, when a grouse rose out of the heather with a clap of wings,
• 5:34:26
  we lay as still as the dead, and were afraid to breathe.
• 5:34:32
  The aching and faintness of my body, the laboring of my heart, the
• 5:34:36
  soreness of my hands, and the smarting of my throat and eyes, and
• 5:34:40
  the continual smoke of dust and ashes had soon grown to be so unbearable that
• 5:34:45
  I would gladly have given up nothing. But the fear of Alan lent me
• 5:34:48
  enough of a false kind of courage to continue. As for himself, and
• 5:34:55
  you are to bear in mind that he was cumbered with a greatcoat. He
• 5:34:57
  had first turned crimson, but as time went on the redness began to be
• 5:35:03
  mingled with patches of white. His breath cried and whistled as it came,
• 5:35:07
  and his voice, when he whispered his observations in my ear during our halts,
• 5:35:12
  sounded like nothing human. Yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits,
• 5:35:18
  nor did he at all abate in his activity, so that I was
• 5:35:22
  driven to marvel at the man's endurance. At length, in the first gloaming
• 5:35:27
  of the night, we heard a trumpet sound, and looking back from among
• 5:35:30
  the heather, saw the troop beginning to collect A little after they had built
• 5:35:36
  a fire and camped for the night about the middle of the waste. At
• 5:35:41
  this I begged and besought that we might lie down in sleep. There shall
• 5:35:45
  be no sleep the night, said Allan. From now on, these weary
• 5:35:49
  dragoons of yours will keep the crown of the meure land, and none will
• 5:35:53
  get out of appen but winged fowls. We got through in the nick of
• 5:35:57
  time, And shall we jeopard what we've gained? Nah? Nah, When
• 5:36:03
  the day comes, it shall find you and me in a fast place on
• 5:36:07
  ben Alder. Allan, I said, it's not the want of will,
• 5:36:12
  it's the strength that I want. If I could, I would, But
• 5:36:17
  as sure as I'm alive, I cannot very well, then said Allan,
• 5:36:22
  I'll carry you. I look to see if he were jesting, but no,
• 5:36:27
  The little man was in dead earnest, and the sight of so much
• 5:36:32
  resolution shamed me. Lead away, said I I'll follow. He gave me
• 5:36:40
  one look as much as to say well done, David, and off he
• 5:36:44
  set again at his top speed. It grew cooler and even a little darker,
• 5:36:49
  but not much with the coming of the night. The sky was cloudless.
• 5:36:53
  It was still early in July, and pretty far north. In the
• 5:36:57
  darkest part of that night, you would have needed pretty good eyes to read.
• 5:37:02
  But for all that, I have often seen it darker in a winter
• 5:37:04
  midday, heavy dew fell and drenched the moor like rain, and this refreshed
• 5:37:10
  me for a while, when we stopped to breathe and I had time to
• 5:37:14
  see all about me, the clearness and sweetness of the night, the shapes
• 5:37:18
  of the hills like things asleep, and the fire dwindling away behind us like
• 5:37:23
  a bright spot in the midst of the moor. Anger would come upon me
• 5:37:26
  in a clap that I must still drag myself in agony and eat the dust
• 5:37:32
  like a worm. By what I have read in books, I think few
• 5:37:37
  that have held a pen were ever really wearied, or they would write a
• 5:37:40
  bit more strongly. I had no care of my life, neither past nor
• 5:37:45
  future, and I scarce remembered there was such a lad as David Balfour.
• 5:37:49
  I did not think of myself, but just of each fresh step, which
• 5:37:53
  I was sure would be my last, with despair, and of Alan,
• 5:37:59
  who was the cause of it, with hatred. Allan was in the right
• 5:38:03
  trade as a soldier. This is the officer's part, to make men continue
• 5:38:07
  to do things they know not where for, and when, if the choice
• 5:38:11
  was offered, they would lie down where they were and be killed. And
• 5:38:18
  I dare say I would have made a good enough private for in these last
• 5:38:22
  hours. It never occurred to me that I had any choice but just to
• 5:38:26
  obey as long as I was able, and die obeying. Day began to
• 5:38:30
  come in after years, I thought, and by that time we were past
• 5:38:36
  the greatest danger and could walk upon our feet like men, instead of crawling
• 5:38:41
  like brutes. But dear heart, have mercy, what a pair we must
• 5:38:45
  have made, going double like old grandfathers, stumbling like babes, and as
• 5:38:52
  white as dead folk. Never a word passed between us, each set his
• 5:38:56
  mouth and kept his eyes in front of him, and lifted up his foot
• 5:39:00
  and set it down again, like people lifting weights at a country play,
• 5:39:06
  all the while with a more foul crying peep in the heather, and the
• 5:39:10
  light coming slowly clearer in the east. I say Alan did as I did.
• 5:39:17
  Not that ever, I looked at him, for I had enough ado
• 5:39:19
  to keep my feet. But because it is plain, he must have been
• 5:39:22
  as stupid with weariness as myself and looked as little where we were going,
• 5:39:27
  or we should not have walked into an ambush like blind men. It fell
• 5:39:33
  in this way. We were going down a heathery bray, Alan leading and
• 5:39:38
  I following a pace or two behind, like a fiddler and his wife.
• 5:39:42
  When upon a sudden the heather gave a rustle. Three or four ragged men
• 5:39:47
  leaped out, and the next moment we were lying on our backs, each
• 5:39:51
  with a dirk at his throat. I don't think I cared. The pain
• 5:39:55
  of this rough handling was quite swallowed up by the pains of which I was
• 5:39:59
  all already full, and I was too glad to have stopped walking to mind
• 5:40:03
  about a dirk. I lay looking up in the face of the man that
• 5:40:07
  held me, and I mind his face was black with the sun, and
• 5:40:11
  his eyes very light, but I was not afraid of him. I heard
• 5:40:15
  Allan and another whispering in the Gaelic, and what they said was all one
• 5:40:19
  to me. Then the dirks were put up, our weapons were taken away,
• 5:40:26
  and we were set face to face, sitting in the heather. They
• 5:40:30
  are Clooney's men, said Alan, But couldn't have fallen better, or just
• 5:40:36
  abide here with these which are his out sentries, till they can get word
• 5:40:40
  to the chief of my arrival. Now, Clooney Macpherson, the chief of
• 5:40:45
  the Clan Vourich, had been one of the leaders of the Great Rebellion six
• 5:40:48
  years before. There was a price on his life, and I had supposed
• 5:40:52
  him long ago in France with the rest of the heads of that desperate party.
• 5:40:57
  Even tired as I was, the surprise of what I heard half wakened
• 5:41:02
  me. What I cried, is Clooney still here? I is? He?
• 5:41:07
  So said Allan, still in his own country and kept by his own
• 5:41:12
  clan. King George can do no more. I think I would have asked
• 5:41:18
  farther, but Alan gave me the put off. I am rather wearied,
• 5:41:22
  he said, and I would like find to get asleep. And without more
• 5:41:26
  words, he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush and seemed to
• 5:41:30
  sleep at once. There was no such thing possible for me. You have
• 5:41:36
  heard grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer time. Well, I had
• 5:41:41
  no sooner closed my eyes than my body, and above all my head,
• 5:41:45
  belly, and wrists seemed to be filled with whirring grasshoppers. And I must
• 5:41:49
  open my eyes again at once, and tumble and toss, and sit up
• 5:41:53
  and lie down and look at the sky which dazzled me. Where at Clooney's
• 5:41:57
  wild and dirty centry, trees peering out over the top of the bray and
• 5:42:02
  chattering to each other in the Gaelic. That was all the rest I had
• 5:42:07
  until the messenger returned. When, as it appeared that Clooney would be glad
• 5:42:11
  to receive us, we must get once more upon our feet and set forward.
• 5:42:17
  Alan was in excellent good spirits, much refreshed by his sleep, very
• 5:42:22
  hungry, and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and a dish of hot collops,
• 5:42:26
  of which it seems the messenger had brought him. Word for my part
• 5:42:30
  it made me sick to hear of eating. I had been dead heavy before,
• 5:42:36
  and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightness which would not suffer me
• 5:42:40
  to walk. I drifted like a gossamer. The ground seemed to me a
• 5:42:45
  cloud, the hills a featherweight, the air to have a current like a
• 5:42:49
  running burn, which carried me to and fro. With all that, a
• 5:42:55
  sort of horror of despair sat on my mind, so that I could have
• 5:42:59
  wept at my own health helplessness. I saw Alan knitting his brows at me,
• 5:43:03
  and supposed it was in anger, and that gave me a pang of
• 5:43:07
  light headed fear, like what a child may have. I remember too,
• 5:43:12
  that I was smiling and could not stop smiling, hard as I tried,
• 5:43:18
  for I thought it was out of place at such a time. But my
• 5:43:21
  good companion had nothing in his mind but kindness. And the next moment two
• 5:43:26
  of the gillies had me by the arms, and I began to be carried
• 5:43:29
  forward with great swiftness, or so it appeared to me, although I dare
• 5:43:33
  say it was slowly enough. In truth, threw a labyrinth of dreary glens
• 5:43:37
  and hollows, and into the heart of that dismal mountain of ben Alder end
• 5:43:45
  of chapter chapter twenty three, Clooney's Cage. We came at last to the
• 5:43:53
  foot of an exceeding steep wood, which scrambled up a craggy hillside and was
• 5:43:57
  crowned by a naked recipice. It's here, said one of the guides,
• 5:44:03
  and we struck up hill. The trees clung upon the slope like sailors on
• 5:44:07
  the shrouds of a ship, and their trunks were like the rounds of the
• 5:44:11
  ladder by which we mounted. Quite at the top, and just before the
• 5:44:17
  rocky face of the cliffs sprang above the foliage, we found that strange house,
• 5:44:21
  which was known in the country as Cluney's Cage. The trunks of several
• 5:44:26
  trees had been waddled across the intervals, strengthened with stakes, and the ground
• 5:44:32
  behind this barricade leveled up with earth to make the floor. A tree which
• 5:44:36
  grew out from the hillside was the living center beam of the roof. The
• 5:44:41
  walls were of wattle and covered with moss. The whole house had something of
• 5:44:45
  an egg shape, and it half hung, half stood in that steep hillside
• 5:44:49
  thicket like a wasp's nest in a green hawthorn. Within it was large enough
• 5:44:56
  to shelter five or six persons with some comfort. The projection of the cliff
• 5:45:00
  had been cunningly employed to be the fireplace, and the smoke, rising against
• 5:45:04
  the face of the rock, and being not dissimilar in color, readily escaped
• 5:45:10
  notice from below. This was but one of Clooney's hiding places. He had
• 5:45:15
  caves besides and underground chambers in several parts of his country, and following the
• 5:45:22
  reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew
• 5:45:26
  near or moved away. By this manner of living, and thanks to the
• 5:45:30
  affection of his clan, he had not only stayed all this time in safety,
• 5:45:34
  while so many others had fled or been taken and slain, but stayed
• 5:45:38
  four or five years longer, and only went to France at last by the
• 5:45:42
  express command of his master. There he soon died, and it is strange
• 5:45:48
  to reflect that he may have regretted his cage upon ben Alder. When we
• 5:45:53
  came to the door, he was seated by his rock chimney, watching a
• 5:45:56
  gilly about some cookery. He was mighty plainly habited with the knitted nightcap drawn
• 5:46:03
  over his ears, and smoked a foul cutty pipe. For all that he
• 5:46:07
  had the manners of a king, and it was quite a sight to see
• 5:46:11
  him rise out of his place to welcome us. Well, mister Stuart,
• 5:46:15
  come away, sir, said he, and bringing your friend that as yet
• 5:46:19
  I dinna ken the name of. And how is yourself? Plooney, said
• 5:46:23
  Allan. I hope you do brawly, sir, and I am proud to
• 5:46:27
  see ye and to present to you my friend the lard of Shaw's mister David
• 5:46:33
  Balfour. Allan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer when
• 5:46:38
  we were alone, but with strangers he rang the words out like a herald.
• 5:46:44
  Step in by the both of you, gentlemen, says Colooney, I
• 5:46:48
  make you welcome to my house, which is a queer rude place, for
• 5:46:52
  certain, but one where I have entertained a royal personage. Mister Stuart,
• 5:46:56
  yet doubtless ken the personage I have in my eye. We'll take a dram
• 5:47:00
  for luck, and as soon as this handless man of mine has the collops
• 5:47:04
  ready, we'll dine and take a hand at the carts. As gentlemen should.
• 5:47:10
  My life is a bit dry, he says, he pouring out the
• 5:47:14
  brandy. I see little company, and sit and twirl my thumbs, and
• 5:47:18
  mind upon a great day that is gone by, and weary for another great
• 5:47:22
  day that we all hope will be upon the road. So here's a toast
• 5:47:26
  to ye the restoration. Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank. I am
• 5:47:33
  sure I wished no ill to King George, And if he had been there
• 5:47:37
  himself in proper person, it's like he would have done as I did.
• 5:47:41
  No sooner had I taken out the drain than I felt hugely better, and
• 5:47:45
  could look on and listen still a little mistily, perhaps, but no longer
• 5:47:51
  were the same groundless horror and distress of mine. It was certainly a strange
• 5:47:56
  place, and we had a strange host. In his long hiding huon,
• 5:48:00
  he had grown to have all manner of precise habits, like those of an
• 5:48:03
  old maid. He had a particular place where no one else must sit.
• 5:48:08
  The cage was arranged in a particular way which none must disturb. Cookery was
• 5:48:14
  one of his chief fancies, and even while he was greeting us in,
• 5:48:17
  he kept an eye to the colypse. It appears he sometimes visited or received
• 5:48:22
  visits from his wife and one or two of his nearest friends under the cover
• 5:48:26
  of night, but for the more part lived quite alone, and communicated only
• 5:48:32
  with his sentinels and the gillies that waited on him in the cage. The
• 5:48:37
  first thing in the morning, one of them, who was a barber,
• 5:48:40
  came and shaved him and gave him the news of the country, of which
• 5:48:44
  he was immoderately greedy. There was no end to his questions. He put
• 5:48:48
  them as earnestly as a child, and at some of the answers laughed out
• 5:48:52
  of all bounds of reason, and would break out again laughing at the mere
• 5:48:56
  memory hours after the barber was gone. To be sure, there might have
• 5:49:00
  been a purpose in his questions, for though he was thus sequestered, and
• 5:49:06
  like the other landed gentlemen of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament
• 5:49:10
  of legal powers, he still exercised a patriarchal justice in his clan. Disputes
• 5:49:15
  were brought to him in his hiding hole to be decided, and the men
• 5:49:19
  of his country, who would have snapped their fingers at the court of Session
• 5:49:23
  laid aside revenge and paid down money at the bare word of this, forfeited
• 5:49:29
  and hunted outlaw. When he was angered, which was often enough, he
• 5:49:33
  gave his commands and breathed threats of punishment like any king, and his gillies
• 5:49:38
  trembled and crouched away from him like children before a hasty father. With each
• 5:49:45
  of them, as he entered, he ceremoniously shook hands, both parties,
• 5:49:49
  touching their bonnets at the same time, in a military manner. Altogether,
• 5:49:53
  I had a fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a highling
• 5:49:57
  clan. And this with a proscribed fugitive chief his country conquered, the troops
• 5:50:03
  riding upon all sides in quest of him, sometimes within a mile of where
• 5:50:08
  he lay, and when the least of the ragged fellows whom he rated and
• 5:50:12
  threatened, could have made a fortune by betraying him. On that first day,
• 5:50:18
  as soon as the collops were ready, Clooney gave them with his own
• 5:50:22
  hand a squeeze of a lemon, for he was well supplied with luxuries,
• 5:50:26
  and bade us draw in to our meal. They said, he, meaning,
• 5:50:30
  the collops are such as I give his royal Highness in this very house,
• 5:50:36
  baiting the lemon juice, for at that time we were glad to get
• 5:50:40
  the meat, and never fashed for kitchen. Indeed, there were more dragoons
• 5:50:44
  than lemons in my country in the year forty six. I do not know
• 5:50:48
  if the collops were truly very good, but my heart rose against the side
• 5:50:52
  of them, and I could eat but little. All the while Clooney entertained
• 5:50:57
  us with stories of Prince Charlie stay in the cage, giving us the very
• 5:51:02
  words of the speakers, and rising from his place to show us where they
• 5:51:06
  stood. By these I gathered the Prince was a gracious, spirited boy,
• 5:51:11
  like the son of a race of polite kings, but not so wise as
• 5:51:15
  Solomon. I gathered too, that while he was in the cage he was
• 5:51:19
  often drunk. So the fault that has since, by all accounts, made
• 5:51:25
  such a wreck of him had even then begun to show itself. We were
• 5:51:30
  no sooner done eating that Clooty brought out an old, thumbed, greasy pack
• 5:51:33
  of cards, such as you may find in a mean inn, and his
• 5:51:37
  eyes brightened in his face as he proposed that we should fall to playing.
• 5:51:42
  Now this was one of the things I had been brought up to a shoe
• 5:51:45
  like disgrace, it being held by my father neither the part of a Christian,
• 5:51:51
  nor yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and fish for that
• 5:51:55
  of others on the cast of painted pasteboard. To be sure, I might
• 5:52:00
  have pleaded my fatigue, which was excuse enough, but I thought it behooved
• 5:52:06
  that I should bear a testimony. I must have got very red in the
• 5:52:10
  face. But I spoke steadily and told them I had no call to be
• 5:52:14
  a judge of others, but for my own part it was a matter in
• 5:52:18
  which I had no clearness. Colooney stopped mingling the cards. What in Derrel's
• 5:52:23
  name is this, says he? What kind of whiggish canting talk is this?
• 5:52:29
  For the house of Clooney mac Pherson. I will put my hand in
• 5:52:33
  the fire for mister Balfour, says Allan. He is an honest and a
• 5:52:38
  metal gentleman. And I would have you bear in mine. Who says it
• 5:52:41
  I bear a king's name, says he, cocking his hat. And I
• 5:52:47
  and any that I call friend or company for the best. But the gentleman
• 5:52:51
  is tired and should sleep. He has no mind to the carts. It
• 5:52:56
  will never hinder you and me. And I'm fittin' willin, sir, to
• 5:52:59
  play any game that you can name, Sir, says Clooney, in this
• 5:53:03
  poor house of mine, I would have you to ken that any gentleman may
• 5:53:07
  follow his pleasure. If your friend would like to stand on his head,
• 5:53:11
  he is welcome. And if either he or you, or any other man
• 5:53:15
  is not precisely satisfied, I would be proud to step outside with him.
• 5:53:22
  I had no will that these two friends should cut their throats for my sake,
• 5:53:26
  Sir said I. I'm very wearied, as Alan says, And what's
• 5:53:32
  more, as you are a man that likely has sons of your own,
• 5:53:34
  I may tell you it was a promise to my father. Say no more.
• 5:53:40
  Say no more, said Clooney, and pointed me to a bed of
• 5:53:44
  heather in a corner of the cage. For all that he was displeased,
• 5:53:48
  enough looked at me askance, and grumbled when he looked. And indeed it
• 5:53:52
  must be owned that both my scruples and the words in which I declared them
• 5:53:57
  smacked somewhat of the covenanter, and were little in their place among wild highland
• 5:54:03
  jacobites. What were the brandy and the venison? A strange heaviness had come
• 5:54:07
  over me, and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I fell
• 5:54:11
  into a kind of trance in which I continued almost the whole time of our
• 5:54:17
  stay in the cage. Sometimes I was brought awake and understood what passed.
• 5:54:22
  Sometimes I only heard voices or men snoring, like the voice of a silly
• 5:54:26
  river, and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and swelled out again like
• 5:54:32
  firelight shadows on the roof. I must sometimes have spoken or cried out,
• 5:54:37
  for I remember I was now and then amazed at being answered. Yet I
• 5:54:41
  was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, abiding
• 5:54:47
  horror, a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I
• 5:54:51
  lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and
• 5:54:55
  the fire, and myself. The barber, who was a doctor too,
• 5:55:00
  was called in to prescribe for me, But as he spoke in the Gaelic,
• 5:55:04
  I understood not a word of his opinion, and was too sick even
• 5:55:08
  to ask for a translation. I knew well enough I was ill, and
• 5:55:12
  that was all I cared about. I paid little heed while I lay in
• 5:55:18
  this poor pass, but Alan and Clooney were most of the time at the
• 5:55:22
  cards, and I am clear that Allan must have begun by winning, for
• 5:55:26
  I remember sitting up and seeing them hard at it, and a great glittering
• 5:55:30
  pile of as much as sixty or one hundred guineas on the table. It
• 5:55:34
  looked strange enough to see all this wealth in a nest upon a cliff side
• 5:55:40
  waddled about growing trees, and even then I thought it seemed deep water for
• 5:55:45
  Allan to be riding, who had no better battle horse than a green purse
• 5:55:48
  and a matter of five pounds. The luck, it seems, changed,
• 5:55:53
  on the second day, about noon, I was wakened as usual for dinner,
• 5:55:59
  and as usual, refused to eat, and was given a dram with
• 5:56:03
  some bitter infusion, which the barber had prescribed. The sun was shining in
• 5:56:07
  at the open door of the cage, and this dazzled and offended Meloney sat
• 5:56:12
  at the table, biting the pack of cards. Alan had stooped over the
• 5:56:17
  bed and had his face close to my eyes, to which, troubled as
• 5:56:21
  they were with the fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness. He
• 5:56:26
  asked me for a loan of my money. What for, said I,
• 5:56:32
  Oh, just for a loan, said he. But why, I repeated,
• 5:56:37
  I don't see put, David said Alan. You wouldn't have grudge me
• 5:56:42
  alone. I would, though, if I'd had my senses. But all
• 5:56:48
  I thought of then was to get his face away, and I handed him
• 5:56:52
  my money. On the morning of the third day, when we had been
• 5:56:56
  forty eight hours in the cage, I awoke with a great leaf of spirits,
• 5:57:00
  very weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of the right size and
• 5:57:06
  with their honest everyday appearance, I had a mind to eat moreover, rose
• 5:57:11
  from bed of my own movement, and as soon as we had breakfasted,
• 5:57:15
  stepped to the entry of the cage and sat down outside in the top of
• 5:57:18
  the wood. It was a gray day with a cool mild air, and
• 5:57:23
  I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbed by the passing by of
• 5:57:27
  Clooney's scouts and servants coming with provisions and reports. For as the coast was
• 5:57:33
  at that time clear, he might almost say he held court openly. When
• 5:57:38
  I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside and were questioning a
• 5:57:42
  gillie, and the chief turned about and spoke to me in the Gaelic.
• 5:57:48
  I have no Gaelic, sir, said I. Now, since the card
• 5:57:52
  question, everything I said or did had the power of annoying Clooney. Your
• 5:57:57
  name has more sense than yourself, said he angrily. For it's good Gaelic.
• 5:58:03
  But the point is this, my scout reports all clear in the south,
• 5:58:08
  and the question is have you got the strength to go? I saw
• 5:58:14
  cards on the table, but no gold, only a heap of little written
• 5:58:18
  papers, and these all on Clooney's side. Alan, besides had an odd
• 5:58:23
  look, like a man not very well content, and I began to have
• 5:58:27
  a strong misgiving. I do not know if I'm as well as I should
• 5:58:33
  be, said I, looking at Alan. But the little money we have
• 5:58:37
  has a long way to carry us. Alan took his underlip into his mouth
• 5:58:41
  and looked upon the ground. David says he at last, I've lost it.
• 5:58:48
  There's the naked truth. My money too, said I. Your money
• 5:58:55
  too, says Alan, with a groan. You shouldn't have given it me.
• 5:59:00
  I'm daft When I get to the carts. Whutut hoo tute, said
• 5:59:06
  Clooney. It was all daffing. It's all nonsense. Of course, you'll
• 5:59:10
  have your money back again, and the double of it. If you'll make
• 5:59:14
  so free with me, it would be a singular thing for me to keep
• 5:59:17
  it. It's not to be supposed that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen
• 5:59:21
  in your situation. That would be a singular thing, cries he, and
• 5:59:26
  began to pull gold out of his pocket. With a mighty red face,
• 5:59:30
  Alan said nothing, only looked on the ground. Will you step to the
• 5:59:36
  door with me, sir, said I. Clooney said he would be very
• 5:59:40
  glad, and followed me readily enough. But he looked flustered and put out.
• 5:59:45
  And now, sir says I, I must first acknowledge your generosity.
• 5:59:51
  Nonsensical nonsense, cries Clooney. Where's the generosity? This is just a most
• 5:59:56
  unfortunate affair. But what would ya have me do? Boxed up in this
• 6:00:02
  beast skip of a cage of mine? But you'll set my friends through the
• 6:00:04
  carts? When can I get them? And if they lose, of course
• 6:00:08
  it's not to be supposed. And here he came to a pause. Yes,
• 6:00:15
  said I. If they lose, you give them back their money and
• 6:00:18
  If they win, they carry away yours and their pouches. I've said before
• 6:00:22
  that I grant your generosity, But to me, sir, it's a very
• 6:00:26
  painful thing to be placed in this position. There was a little silence in
• 6:00:32
  which Clooney seemed always as if he were about to speak, but said nothing.
• 6:00:37
  All the time he grew redder and redder in the face. I am
• 6:00:42
  a young man, said I, and I ask your advice. Advise me
• 6:00:47
  as you would your son. My friend fairly lost his money after having fairly
• 6:00:52
  gained a far greater sum of yours. Can I accept it back again?
• 6:00:56
  Would that be the right part for me to play? Whatever I do?
• 6:01:00
  You can see for yourself it must be hard upon a man of any pride.
• 6:01:06
  It's rather hard on me too, mister Balfour, said Cloony, And
• 6:01:10
  you give me very much the look of a man that has entrapped poor people
• 6:01:14
  to their hurt. I wouldn't have my friends come to any house of mind
• 6:01:18
  to accept affronts. No, he cried, with a sudden heat of anger,
• 6:01:22
  nor yet to give them. And so you see, sir, said
• 6:01:27
  I. There is something to be said upon my side. And this gambling
• 6:01:32
  is a very poor employ for gentle folks. But I am still waiting your
• 6:01:36
  opinion. I am sure if ever Cloony hated any man, it was David
• 6:01:41
  Balfour. He looked me all over with a warlike eye, and I saw
• 6:01:45
  the challenge at his lips. But either my youth disarmed him, or perhaps
• 6:01:51
  his own sense of justice. Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all concerned,
• 6:01:56
  and not least Clooney more credit than he took it. As he did.
• 6:02:00
  Mister Balfour said he I think you are too nice and covenanting, but
• 6:02:06
  for all that, you have the spirit of a very pretty gentleman. Upon
• 6:02:10
  my honest word, you may take this money. It's what I would tell
• 6:02:14
  my son, and here's my hand along with it. End of chapter the
• 6:02:19
  Quarrel. Alan and I were put across Loch Eiracht under cloud of night,
• 6:02:27
  and went down its eastern shore to another hiding place near the head of Loch
• 6:02:32
  Rannach, whither we were led by one of the Gillies from the cage.
• 6:02:36
  This fellow carried all our luggage and Alan's greatcoat in the bargain, trotting along
• 6:02:41
  under the burthen, far less than the half of which used to weigh me
• 6:02:45
  to the ground like a stout hill pony with a feather. Yet he was
• 6:02:48
  a man that in plain contest I could have broken on my knee. Doubtless
• 6:02:55
  it was a great relief to walk disencumbered, And perhaps without that relief and
• 6:03:00
  the consequent sense of liberty and lightness, I could not have walked at all.
• 6:03:03
  I was but new, risen from a bed of sickness, and there
• 6:03:07
  was nothing in the state of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion.
• 6:03:11
  Traveling as we did over the most dismal deserts in Scotland, under a cloudy
• 6:03:17
  heaven, and with divided hearts among the travelers, for long we said nothing,
• 6:03:22
  marching alongside or one behind the other, each with a set countenance.
• 6:03:27
  I angry and proud, and drawing what strength I had from these two violent
• 6:03:33
  and sinful feelings, allan angry and ashamed, ashamed that he had lost my
• 6:03:37
  money, angry that I should take it so ill. The thought of a
• 6:03:42
  separation ran always the stronger in my mind, and the more I approved of
• 6:03:47
  it, the more ashamed I grew of my approval. It would be a
• 6:03:52
  fine, handsome, generous thing. Indeed, for Allan to turn round and
• 6:03:56
  say to me, go, I am in the most danger of my compan
• 6:04:00
  only increases yours. But for me to turn to the friend who certainly loved
• 6:04:04
  me and say to him, you are in great danger. I am in,
• 6:04:08
  but little your friendship is a burden. Go take your risks and bear
• 6:04:14
  your hardships alone. No, that was impossible, and even to think of
• 6:04:19
  it privily to myself made my cheeks to burn. And yet Allan had behaved
• 6:04:26
  like a child, And what is worse, a treacherous child. Wheedling my
• 6:04:32
  money from me while I lay half conscious was scarce better than theft. And
• 6:04:36
  yet here he was, trudging by my side without a penny to his name,
• 6:04:41
  and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge upon the money
• 6:04:44
  he had driven me to beg true, I was ready to share it with
• 6:04:48
  him, but it made me rage to see him count upon my readiness.
• 6:04:52
  These were the two things uppermost in my mind, and I could open my
• 6:04:56
  mouth upon neither without black ungeneral. So I did the next worst and said
• 6:05:03
  nothing, nor so much as looked once at my companion, save with the
• 6:05:07
  tail of my eye. At last, upon the other side of Loch eh
• 6:05:11
  Rocht going over a smooth, rushy place where the walking was easy. He
• 6:05:18
  could bear it no longer and came close to me. David says he.
• 6:05:22
  This is no way for two friends to take a small accident. I have
• 6:05:26
  to say that I'm sorry, And so that's said. And now if you
• 6:05:32
  have anything, you'd better say it, Oh, says I. I have
• 6:05:37
  nothing. He seemed disconcerted, at which I was meanly pleased. No,
• 6:05:45
  said he, with rather a trembling voice. But when I say I was
• 6:05:49
  to blame, why of course you were to blame, said I coolly.
• 6:05:56
  And you will bear me out that I have never reproached you never, says
• 6:06:00
  he. But you can very well that you've done worse. Are we to
• 6:06:04
  part? Is said? So once before? Are ye to say it again?
• 6:06:10
  There's hills and heather enough between here and the two seas, David,
• 6:06:14
  and I will own I'm no very keen to stay where I'm no wanted.
• 6:06:18
  This pierced me like a sword and seemed to lay bare my private disloyalty,
• 6:06:23
  Alan Breck, I cried, And then do you think I am one to
• 6:06:29
  turn my back on you and your chief? Need you durstn't say it to
• 6:06:33
  my face. My whole conduct's there to give the lie to it. It's
• 6:06:37
  true I fell asleep upon the mirror, but that was from weariness, and
• 6:06:41
  you do wrong to cast it up to me, which is what I never
• 6:06:45
  did, said Allan. But aside from that, I continued, what have
• 6:06:52
  I done that you should even meet at dogs by such a supposition. I
• 6:06:56
  never yet failed a friend, and it's not likely i'll begin with you.
• 6:07:00
  There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can.
• 6:07:06
  I will only say this to you, David, said Alan, very
• 6:07:10
  quietly, that I have long been owing you my life, and now I
• 6:07:14
  owe you money. I should try to make that burden light for me.
• 6:07:18
  This ought to have touched me, and in the manner it did, but
• 6:07:22
  the wrong manner. I felt I was behaving badly, and was now not
• 6:07:27
  only angry with Alan, but angry with myself and the bargain, and it
• 6:07:32
  made me the more cruel. You asked me to speak, said I,
• 6:07:37
  Well, then, I will you own yourself that you have done me a
• 6:07:41
  disservice. I have had to swallow an affront. I have never reproached you.
• 6:07:47
  I never named the thing till you did, and now you blame me,
• 6:07:52
  cried I, because I cannot laugh and sing as if I were glad
• 6:07:55
  to be affronted. The next thing will be that I am to go down
• 6:07:59
  upon my knees and thank you for it. You should think more of others,
• 6:08:02
  Alan Brick. If you thought more of others, you would perhaps speak
• 6:08:06
  less about yourself. And when a friend that likes you very well has passed
• 6:08:10
  over an offense without a word, you would be blithe to let it lie
• 6:08:15
  instead of making it a stick to break his back with. By your own
• 6:08:18
  way of it, it was you that was to blame. Then it shouldn't
• 6:08:22
  be you to seek the quarrel a wi you said, Allan, say no
• 6:08:27
  mare. And we fell back into our former silence, and came to our
• 6:08:33
  journey's end, and supped and lay down to sleep without another word. The
• 6:08:40
  Gilly put us across Loch Rennoch in the dusk of the next day and gave
• 6:08:44
  us his opinion as to our best route. This was to get us up
• 6:08:48
  at once into the tops of the mountains, to go round by a circuit,
• 6:08:52
  turning the heads of Glen Lyon, Glen Lockey and Glenn Dukhardt, and
• 6:08:56
  come down upon the Lowlands by Kippen and the upper of the fourth. Alan
• 6:09:02
  was little pleased with a route which led us through the country of his blood
• 6:09:04
  foes, like Glenorchy Campbell's. He objected that by turning to the east we
• 6:09:11
  should come almost at once among the athol Stuarts, a race of his own
• 6:09:15
  name and lineage, although following a different chief, and come besides by a
• 6:09:21
  far easier and swifter way to the place whither we were bound. But the
• 6:09:25
  Gilly, who was indeed the chief man of Clooney's scouts, had good reasons
• 6:09:30
  to give him on all hands, naming the force of troops in every district,
• 6:09:33
  and alleging, finally, as well as I could understand that we should
• 6:09:38
  nowhere be so little troubled as in a country of the Campbells, Allan gave
• 6:09:44
  way at last, but with only half a heart. It's one of the
• 6:09:48
  dowiest countries in Scotland, said he. There's nothing there that I can but
• 6:09:52
  heath and crows and Campbell's. But I see that you're a man of some
• 6:09:57
  penetration, and be it as you p We set forth accordingly by this itinerary,
• 6:10:03
  and for the best part of three nights traveled on eerie mountains and among
• 6:10:07
  the well heads of wild rivers, often buried in mist, almost continually blown
• 6:10:14
  and rained upon, and not once cheered by any glimpse of sunshine. By
• 6:10:18
  day we lay and slept in the drenching heather. By night incessantly clambered upon
• 6:10:25
  breakneck hills and among rude cracks. We often wandered. We were often so
• 6:10:30
  involved in fog that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A fire was
• 6:10:36
  never to be thought of. Our only food was drumach and a portion of
• 6:10:40
  cold meat that we had carried from the cage. And as for drink,
• 6:10:45
  heaven knows, we had no want of water. This was a dreadful time,
• 6:10:49
  rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the weather and the country.
• 6:10:52
  I was never warm, my teeth chattered in my head, I was troubled
• 6:10:57
  with a very sore throat, which, as I had on the aisle,
• 6:11:00
  I had a painful stitch in my side which never left me. And when
• 6:11:04
  I slept in my wet bed, with the rain beating above and the mood
• 6:11:08
  oozing below me, it was to live over again in fancy. The worst
• 6:11:14
  part of my adventures to see the tower of shawls lit by lightning, ransom
• 6:11:18
  carried below on the men's backs, Chuan dying on the round house floor,
• 6:11:23
  or coulling campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers,
• 6:11:30
  I would be aroused in the gloaming to sit up in the same puddle
• 6:11:33
  where I had slept, and sup cold dramak, the rain driving sharp in
• 6:11:38
  my face, or running down my back in icy trickles, the mist enfolding
• 6:11:42
  us like as in a gloomy chamber. Or perhaps if the wind blew,
• 6:11:48
  falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf of some dark valley, where the
• 6:11:52
  streams were crying aloud. The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up
• 6:11:57
  from all around. In this steady rain. The springs of the mountains were
• 6:12:02
  broken up. Every glen gushed water like a cistern. Every stream was in
• 6:12:07
  high spate, and had filled and overflowed its channel. During our night tramps.
• 6:12:12
  It was solemn to hear the voice of them below in the valleys,
• 6:12:15
  now booming like thunder, now with an angry cry. I could well understand
• 6:12:22
  the story of the water Kelpie, that demon of the streams, who was
• 6:12:25
  fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of the doomed
• 6:12:30
  traveler. Allan I saw believed it, or half believed it, And when
• 6:12:34
  the cry of the river rose more than usually sharp, I was little surprised,
• 6:12:40
  though of course I could still be shocked to see him cross himself in
• 6:12:44
  the manner of the Catholics. During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity,
• 6:12:49
  scarcely even that of speech. The truth is that I was sickening for
• 6:12:55
  my grave, which is my best excuse. But besides that, I was
• 6:13:00
  of an unforgiving disposition from my birth, slow to take offense, slower to
• 6:13:06
  forget it, and now incensed both against my companion and myself. For the
• 6:13:11
  best part of two days, he was unweariedly, kind, silent, indeed,
• 6:13:15
  but always ready to help, and always hoping, as I could very
• 6:13:19
  well see, that my displeasure would blow by. For the same length of
• 6:13:25
  time I stayed in myself, nursing my anger, roughly refusing his services,
• 6:13:32
  and passing him over with my eyes as if he had been a bush or
• 6:13:34
  a stone. The second night, or rather the peep of the third day,
• 6:13:40
  found us upon a very open hill, so that we could not follow
• 6:13:44
  our usual plan and lie down immediately to eat and sleep. Before we had
• 6:13:48
  reached a place of shelter, the gray had come pretty clear, but though
• 6:13:52
  it still rained, the clouds ran higher and Allan, looking in my face,
• 6:13:57
  showed some marks of concern. You had better let me take your pack,
• 6:14:03
  said he, for perhaps the ninth time since we had parted from the
• 6:14:07
  scout beside loche Rannoch. I do very well. I thank you, said
• 6:14:11
  I, as cold as ice, Alan flushed darkly. I'll not offer it
• 6:14:18
  again, he said. I'm not a patient man, David. I never
• 6:14:22
  said you were, said I, which was exactly the rude, silly speech
• 6:14:27
  of a boy of ten. Alan made no answer at the time, but
• 6:14:32
  his conduct answered for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought he quite
• 6:14:37
  forgave himself for the affair at Cloonies, cocked his hat again, walked jauntily,
• 6:14:42
  whistled airs, and looked at me upon one side with a provoking smile.
• 6:14:48
  The third night we were to pass through the western end of the country
• 6:14:51
  of Falcahitter. It came clear and cold, with a touch in the air
• 6:14:56
  like frost, and a northerly wind that blew the clouds away and made the
• 6:15:00
  stars bright. The streams were full, of course, and still made a
• 6:15:04
  great noise among the hills. But I observed that Alan thought no more upon
• 6:15:08
  the kelpie, and was in high good spirits. As for me, the
• 6:15:14
  change of weather came too late. I had lain in the mire so long
• 6:15:18
  that, as the Bible has it, my very clothes abhorred me. I
• 6:15:23
  was dead, weary, deadly, sick, and full of pains and shiverings.
• 6:15:27
  The chill of the wind went through me, and the sound of it
• 6:15:30
  confused my ears. In this poor state, I had to bear from my
• 6:15:36
  companion something in the nature of a persecution. He spoke a good deal,
• 6:15:41
  and never without a taut Whig was the best name he had to give me.
• 6:15:45
  Here. He would say, here's a dub for you to jump my
• 6:15:49
  WIGGI I ken, you're a fine jumper, and so on, all the
• 6:15:53
  time, with a guibing voice and face. I knew it was my own
• 6:15:59
  doing and no one else's, but I was too miserable to repent. I
• 6:16:03
  felt I could drag myself but little farther. Pretty soon I must lie down
• 6:16:07
  and die on these wet mountains like a sheep or a fox, and my
• 6:16:11
  bones must whiten there like the bones of a beast. My head was light,
• 6:16:17
  perhaps, but I began to love the prospect. I began to glory
• 6:16:21
  in the thought of such a death alone in the desert, with the wild
• 6:16:25
  eagles besieging my last moments. Alan would repent, then, I thought he
• 6:16:30
  would remember when I was dead how much he owed me, and the remembrance
• 6:16:34
  would be torture. So I went like a sick, silly and bad hearted
• 6:16:40
  schoolboy, feeding my anger against a fellow man, when I would have been
• 6:16:45
  better on my knees, crying on God for mercy. And at each of
• 6:16:48
  Alan's taunts, I hugged myself. Ah, thinks I to myself, I
• 6:16:53
  have a better taunt in readiness. When I lie down and die, you
• 6:16:57
  will feel it like a buffet in your face. Ah what a revenge.
• 6:17:03
  Ah, how you will regret your ingratitude and cruelty. All the while I
• 6:17:08
  was growing worse and worse. Once I had fallen my legs simply doubling under
• 6:17:15
  me, and this had struck Alan for the moment. But I was afoot
• 6:17:18
  so briskly and set off again with such a natural manner that he soon forgot
• 6:17:22
  the incident. Flushes of heat went over me, and then spasms of shuddering.
• 6:17:29
  The stitch in my side was hardly bearable. At last I began to
• 6:17:33
  feel that I could trail myself no farther. And with that there came on
• 6:17:37
  me all at once the wish to have it out with Alan, let my
• 6:17:41
  anger blaze, and be done with my life. In a more sudden manner,
• 6:17:45
  he had just called me whig. I stopped. Mister Stewart, said
• 6:17:52
  I, in a voice that quivered like a fiddle string. You are older
• 6:17:56
  than I am and should know your manners. Do you think it either very
• 6:18:00
  wise or very witty? To cast my politics in my teeth? I thought,
• 6:18:06
  where folk differed, it was the part of gentlemen to differ civilly.
• 6:18:11
  And if I did not, I may tell you I could find a better
• 6:18:14
  talk than some of yours. Allan had stopped opposite to me, his hat,
• 6:18:19
  cocked, his hands in his breeches, pockets his head a little on
• 6:18:23
  one side. He listened, smiling evilly as I could see by the starlight.
• 6:18:30
  And when I had done, he began to whistle at jacobite air.
• 6:18:33
  It was the air made in mockery of General Cope's defeat at Preston pans Hey,
• 6:18:38
  Johnny Cope, are you walking yet? And are your drums a beaten
• 6:18:42
  yet? And it came in my mind that Allan, on the day of
• 6:18:48
  that battle, had been engaged upon the royal side. Why do you take
• 6:18:52
  that air, mister Stewart said, I is it to remind me you have
• 6:18:56
  been beaten on both sides. The heir stopped on Alan's lips. David said
• 6:19:04
  he but it's time these manners ceased, I continued, and I mean you
• 6:19:10
  shall henceforth speak civilly of my king and my good friends the campbells. I
• 6:19:15
  am a Stewart began. Allan, oh says I. I can you bear
• 6:19:22
  a king's name? But you are to remember, since I have been in
• 6:19:25
  the Highlands, I have seen a good many of those that bear it,
• 6:19:29
  and the best I can say of them is this that they would be none
• 6:19:33
  the worse of washing. Do you know that you insult me? Said Allan
• 6:19:38
  very low. I'm sorry for that, said I, for I am not
• 6:19:44
  done. And if you distaste the sermon, I doubt the pearlicue will please
• 6:19:48
  you, as little you have been chased in the field by the grown men
• 6:19:52
  of my party. It seems a poor kind of pleasure to outface a boy.
• 6:19:57
  Both the Campbells and the whigs have been and you, you have run
• 6:20:00
  before them like a hare. It behooves you to speak of them as of
• 6:20:04
  your betters. Alan stood quite still, the tails of his greatcoat clapping behind
• 6:20:11
  him in the wind. This is a pity, he said, at last.
• 6:20:18
  There are things said that cannot be passed over. I never asked you
• 6:20:22
  to, said I. I am as ready as yourself. Ready, said
• 6:20:27
  he ready, I repeated, I am no blower and boaster like some that
• 6:20:33
  I could name. Come on and drawing my sword. I fell on guard,
• 6:20:38
  as Allan himself had taught me. David, he cried, are you
• 6:20:44
  daft? I cannot draw upon you. David. It's fair murder. That
• 6:20:48
  was your look out when you insulted me, said I. It's the truth,
• 6:20:55
  cried Alan, and he stood for a moment, wringing his mouth in
• 6:20:57
  his hand like a man in sore perplexity. It's the bare truth, he
• 6:21:03
  said, and drew his sword. But before I could touch his blade with
• 6:21:07
  mine, he had thrown it from him and fallen to the ground. Nah
• 6:21:11
  Na he kept saying, nah, na, I canna, I cannot at
• 6:21:18
  this. The last of my anger oozed all out of me, and I
• 6:21:22
  found myself only sick and sorry and blank and wondering at myself. I would
• 6:21:27
  have given the world to take back what I had said, But a word,
• 6:21:30
  once spoken, who can recapture it. I minded me of all Allan's
• 6:21:37
  kindness and courage in the past, how he had helped and cheered and borne
• 6:21:41
  with me in our evil days, and then recalled my own insults, and
• 6:21:45
  saw that I had lost for ever that doughty friend. At the same time,
• 6:21:51
  the sickness that hung upon me seemed to redouble, and the pang in
• 6:21:55
  my side was like a sword for sharpness. I thought I must have swooned
• 6:22:00
  where I stood. This it was that gave me a thought. No apology
• 6:22:04
  could blot out what I had said. It was needless to think of one.
• 6:22:10
  None could cover the offense. But where an apology was vain, a
• 6:22:14
  mere cry for help might bring Alan back to my side. I put my
• 6:22:18
  pride away from me Allan, I said, if you cannot help me,
• 6:22:23
  I must just die here. He started up, sitting and looked at me.
• 6:22:30
  It's true, said I I'm by with it. Oh, let me
• 6:22:36
  get into the build of a house. I can die there easier. I
• 6:22:41
  had no need to pretend whether I chose or not. I spoke in a
• 6:22:45
  weeping voice that would have melted a heart of stone. And you walk,
• 6:22:51
  asked Allan. No, said I not without help. This last hour my
• 6:22:57
  legs had been fainting under me. I was stitch in my side like a
• 6:23:00
  red hot iron. I cannot breathe right if I die, you can forgive
• 6:23:07
  me Alan in my heart. I liked you fine, even when I was
• 6:23:11
  the angriest wished, wished, cried Alan Dinna, say that, David man,
• 6:23:18
  you can He shut his mouth upon a sob Let me get my arm
• 6:23:22
  about you, he continued, that's the way. Now lean upon me,
• 6:23:27
  hard, good kens. Where there's a house. We're in bald Winder too.
• 6:23:33
  That should be no one of houses, no nor friend's houses here.
• 6:23:37
  Do you ganges you so Davy? I said, I I can be doing
• 6:23:42
  this way. I pressed his arm with my hand again. He came near
• 6:23:48
  sobbing. Davy said he I'm not a right man at all. I have
• 6:23:53
  neither sense nor kindness. I couldn't I remember you with just a barn.
• 6:23:59
  I couldn't see you were dying on your feet. Davy, you have to
• 6:24:02
  try and forgive me. Oh man, let's say no more about it,
• 6:24:07
  said I. We're neither one of us to men the other. That's the
• 6:24:11
  truth. We must just bear and forbear man, Alan, Oh, but
• 6:24:17
  my stitch is sore. Is there no house? I'll find a house to
• 6:24:22
  you, David, he said stoutly. We'll follow down the burn where there's
• 6:24:27
  bound Toby houses. My poor men, will you no be better on my
• 6:24:32
  back? Oh, Alan, says I and me a good twelve inches taller.
• 6:24:38
  You're no such thing, cried Alan with a start. There may be
• 6:24:42
  a trifling matter of an inch or two. I'm not saying. I'm just
• 6:24:45
  exactly what you would call a tall man whatever. And I dare say,
• 6:24:49
  he added, his voice tailing off in a laughable manner. Now, when
• 6:24:55
  I come to think of it, I dare say, you'll be just about
• 6:24:57
  right. I. It'll be a foot or near hand, or maybe even
• 6:25:02
  mar It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the
• 6:25:07
  fear of some fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, had not my stitch
• 6:25:11
  caught me so hard. But if I had laughed, I think I must
• 6:25:15
  have wept too, Alan cried I what makes you so good to me?
• 6:25:22
  What makes you care for such a thankless fellow? Indeed, and I don't
• 6:25:26
  know, said Alan, but just precisely what I thought I liked about you
• 6:25:32
  was that you never quarrel. And now I like you better. End of
• 6:25:37
  chapter Chapter twenty five. In balcu Hitter, At the door of the first
• 6:25:45
  house we came to Alan knocked, which was of no very safe enterprise.
• 6:25:51
  In such a part of the highlands as the braves of balcu Hitter, no
• 6:25:55
  great clan held rule. There was filled and disputed by small steps and broken
• 6:26:00
  remnants, and what they call chiefless folk, driven into the wild country about
• 6:26:04
  the springs of forth and teeth by the advance of the Campbells. Here were
• 6:26:10
  Stuart's and McLarens, which came to the same thing. For the McLarens followed
• 6:26:15
  Allan's chief in war and made but one clan with appen. Here too were
• 6:26:19
  many of that old, proscribed, nameless, red handed clan of the Macgregors.
• 6:26:26
  They had always been ill considered, and now worse than ever, having
• 6:26:30
  credit with no side or party in the whole country of Scotland. Their chief
• 6:26:34
  MacGregor of MacGregor was in exile. The more immediate leader of that part of
• 6:26:40
  them about balcou hitter, James Moore, rob Roy's eldest son, lay waiting
• 6:26:45
  his trial in Edinburgh Castle. They were in ill blood with highlander and lowlander,
• 6:26:52
  with the Grahams, the McLarens, and the Stuarts, and Allan,
• 6:26:56
  who took up the quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremely wishful
• 6:27:00
  to avoid them. Chance served us very well, for it was a household
• 6:27:06
  of McLaren's that we found, where Allan was not only welcome for his name's
• 6:27:10
  sake, but known by reputation here. Then I was got to bed without
• 6:27:15
  delay, and a doctor fetched who found me in a sorry plight. But
• 6:27:19
  whether because he was a very good doctor or I a very young strong man,
• 6:27:25
  I lay bed ridden for no more than a week, and before a
• 6:27:27
  month I was able to take the road again with a good heart. All
• 6:27:33
  this time Allan would not leave me, though I often pressed him, and
• 6:27:37
  indeed his full heartiness in staying was a common subject of outcry. With the
• 6:27:41
  two or three friends that were let into the secret. He hid by day
• 6:27:45
  in a hole of the braves under a little wood, and at night,
• 6:27:48
  when the coast was clear, would come into the house to visit me.
• 6:27:53
  I need not say if I was pleased to see him. Missus mc laren,
• 6:27:57
  our hostess thought nothing good enough for such a guest, And as Duncan
• 6:28:02
  Dew, which was the name of our host, had a pair of pipes
• 6:28:06
  in his house, and was much a lover of music, this time of
• 6:28:10
  my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly turned night into day.
• 6:28:15
  The soldiers let us be, although once a party of two companies and some
• 6:28:19
  dragoons went by in the bottom of the valley, where I could see them
• 6:28:23
  through the window as I lay in bed. But was much more astonishing.
• 6:28:29
  No magistrate came near me, and there was no question put of whence I
• 6:28:33
  came or whither I was going. And in that time of excitement, I
• 6:28:37
  was as free of all inquiry as though I had lain in a desert.
• 6:28:41
  Yet my presence was known before I left to all the people in Balcy Hitter
• 6:28:47
  and the adjacent parts, many coming about the house on visits, and these,
• 6:28:52
  after the custom of the country, spreading the news among their neighbors the
• 6:28:56
  bills too, had now been printed. There was one unpinned near the foot
• 6:29:00
  of my bed, where I could read my own, not very flattering portrait,
• 6:29:04
  and in larger characters, the amount of the blood money that had been
• 6:29:08
  set upon my life duncan dew, and the rest that knew that I had
• 6:29:12
  come there. In Allan's company could have entertained no doubt of who I was,
• 6:29:18
  and many others must have had their guests, for though I had changed
• 6:29:22
  my clothes, I could not change my age or person. And Loland boys
• 6:29:26
  of eighteen were not so rife in these parts of the world, and above
• 6:29:30
  all about that time, that they could fail to put one thing with another
• 6:29:34
  and connect me with the bill. So it was at least other folk keep
• 6:29:40
  a secret among two or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out.
• 6:29:45
  But among these clansmen it is told to a whole countryside, and they will
• 6:29:49
  keep it for a century. There was but one thing happening worth narrating,
• 6:29:56
  and that is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the suns
• 6:30:00
  of the notorious rob Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge
• 6:30:04
  of carrying a young woman from Balfron and marrying her, as was alleged by
• 6:30:10
  force. Yet he stepped about balky hit her like a gentleman in his own
• 6:30:14
  walled policy. It was he who had shot James McLaren at the plow Stilts,
• 6:30:19
  a quarrel never satisfied. Yet he walked into the house of his blood
• 6:30:23
  enemies as a writer might into a public inn. Duncan had time to pass
• 6:30:30
  me word of who it was, and we looked at one another in concern.
• 6:30:33
  You should understand. It was then close upon the time of Allan's coming.
• 6:30:38
  The two were little likely to agree, and yet if we sent word
• 6:30:42
  or sought to make a signal, it was sure to arouse suspicion in a
• 6:30:45
  man under so dark a cloud as the MacGregor. He came in with a
• 6:30:51
  great show of civility, but like a man among inferiors, took off his
• 6:30:56
  bonnet to missus McLaren, but clapped it on his head again to speak to
• 6:31:00
  Duncan, and, leaving thus set himself as he would have thought in a
• 6:31:04
  proper light, came to my bedside and bowed. I am given to know,
• 6:31:10
  sir, says he that your name is Balfour. They call me David
• 6:31:15
  Balfour, said I at your service, I would give ye my name in
• 6:31:21
  return, Sir, he replied, but it's one somewhat blown upon of late
• 6:31:26
  days, and it'll perhaps suffice if I tell you that I am own brother
• 6:31:30
  to James more Drummond or MacGregor, of whom you will scarce have failed to
• 6:31:34
  hear. No, sir, said I a little alarmed, nor yet of
• 6:31:40
  your father mac Gregor Campbell. And I sat up and bowed in bed,
• 6:31:45
  for I thought best to compliment him in case he was proud of having had
• 6:31:48
  an outlaw to his father. He bowed in return. But what I am
• 6:31:53
  about to say, sir, he went on, is this. In the
• 6:31:59
  year forty five, my brother raised a part of the Gregara and marched six
• 6:32:03
  companies to strike a stroke for the good side. And the surgeon that marched
• 6:32:08
  with our clan and cured my brother's leg when it was broken in the brush
• 6:32:11
  it pressed in pans, was a gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself.
• 6:32:18
  He was Brother de Balfour of baith And if you are in any reasonable
• 6:32:22
  degree of nearness one of that gentleman's skin, I have come to put myself
• 6:32:26
  in my people at your command. You are to remember that I knew no
• 6:32:32
  more of my descent than any cadger's dog. My uncle, to be sure,
• 6:32:36
  had prayed of some of her high connections, but nothing to the present
• 6:32:40
  purpose. And there was nothing left me but that bitter disgrace of owning that
• 6:32:44
  I could not tell. Robin told me shortly he was sorry, he had
• 6:32:48
  put himself about, turned his back upon me without a sign of salutation,
• 6:32:53
  and as he went towards the door, I could hear him telling Duncan that
• 6:32:57
  I was only some kind, this loon, that he didn't know his own
• 6:33:00
  father. Angry as I was at these words, and ashamed of my own
• 6:33:07
  ignorance, I could scarce keep from smiling that a man who was under the
• 6:33:11
  lash of the law, and was indeed hanged some three years later, should
• 6:33:15
  be so nice as to the descent of his acquaintances. Just in the door,
• 6:33:21
  he met Allan coming in, and the two drew back and looked at
• 6:33:23
  each other like strange dogs. They were neither of them big men, but
• 6:33:29
  they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. Each wore a sword, and
• 6:33:33
  by a movement of his haunch, thrust clear the hilt of it, so
• 6:33:37
  that it might be the more readily grasped and the blade drawn. Mister Stuart,
• 6:33:41
  I am thinking, says Robin. Truth, mister mac gregor, it's
• 6:33:45
  not a mean to be ashamed of, answered Allan. I did not know
• 6:33:51
  you are in my country, sir, says Robin. It sticks in my
• 6:33:56
  mind that I am in the country of my friends. Mac Laurence, says
• 6:34:00
  Allan. That's a kittle, point, returned the other. There may be
• 6:34:04
  two words to say to that, but I think I will have heard that
• 6:34:07
  you are mad of your sword. Unless you were born deaf, mister MacGregor,
• 6:34:14
  you would have heard a great deal more than that, says Alan.
• 6:34:18
  I am not the only man that can draw steel and appen. And when
• 6:34:21
  my kinsman and Captain Ardshield had a talk with a gentleman of your name not
• 6:34:26
  so many years back, I could never hear that the MacGregor had the best
• 6:34:30
  of it. Do you mean my father, sir, says Robin. Well,
• 6:34:36
  I would no wonder, said Alan, the gentleman I have in mind
• 6:34:40
  had the ill taste to clap camble to his name. My father was an
• 6:34:45
  old man, returned Robin. The match was unequal. You and me would
• 6:34:51
  make him better. Pyre. Sir, I was thinking that, said Alan.
• 6:34:56
  I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at the
• 6:34:59
  elbow of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene upon the least occasion. But
• 6:35:03
  when that word was uttered, it was a case of now or never.
• 6:35:07
  And Duncan, with something of a white face to be sure, thrust himself
• 6:35:11
  between gentlemen, said he. I will have been thinking of a very different
• 6:35:18
  matter. Whatever, here are my pipes, and here are you, two
• 6:35:21
  gentlemen who are both acclaimed pipers. It's in all dispute which one of you
• 6:35:26
  is the best. Here will be a broad chance to settle it, Why,
• 6:35:30
  sir, said Allan, still addressing Robin, from whom indeed he had
• 6:35:34
  not so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Robin from him. Why,
• 6:35:40
  Sir, says Alan, I think I will have heard some soft of
• 6:35:44
  the sort. Have ye music, as folks say? Are ye a bit
• 6:35:48
  of a piper? I can pipe like a mac crimond, cries Robin.
• 6:35:53
  And that is a very bold word, quoth Allan. I have made bolder
• 6:35:59
  words good before. Now, returned Robin, and that against better adversaries,
• 6:36:04
  it is easy to try that says Allan Duncan Dew made haste to bring out
• 6:36:10
  a pair of pipes that was his principal possession, and to set before his
• 6:36:15
  guests a mutton ham and a bottle of that drink which they call Athol bros,
• 6:36:19
  which is made of old whiskey, strained honey and sweet green, slowly
• 6:36:23
  beaten together in the right order and proportion. The two enemies were still on
• 6:36:29
  the very breach of a quarrel, but down they sat, one upon each
• 6:36:33
  side of the peat fire. With a mighty show of politeness, MacLaren pressed
• 6:36:37
  them to taste his mutton ham and the wife's bros, reminding them the wife
• 6:36:42
  was out of Athol and had a name far and wide for her skill in
• 6:36:45
  that confection. But Robin put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath.
• 6:36:52
  I would have you to remark, sir, said Allan, that I have
• 6:36:56
  no broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will be worse for the
• 6:37:00
  breath than any bros in Scotland. I will take no advantages, mister Stuart
• 6:37:06
  replied Robin, Eat and drink. I'll follow you. He JdE a small
• 6:37:10
  portion of the ham and drank a glass of the bros to missus mc lauren,
• 6:37:15
  and then, after a great number of civilities, Robin took the pipes
• 6:37:18
  and played a little spring in a very ranting manner. I you can blow,
• 6:37:23
  said Alan, and taking the instrument from his rival, he first played
• 6:37:27
  the same spring in a manner identical with Robin's, and then wandered into variations,
• 6:37:33
  which, as he went on he decorated with a perfect flight of grace,
• 6:37:37
  notes such as Piper's Love and call the Warblers. I had been pleased
• 6:37:44
  with Robin's playing Allan's ravished me. That's not so very bad, mister Stewart,
• 6:37:49
  said the rival. But you show a poor device in you warblers me,
• 6:37:55
  cried Alan, the blood starting to his face. I give you the
• 6:37:59
  lie. Do you own yourself beaten at the pipes? Then said Robin,
• 6:38:03
  that you seek that changed them for the sword. And that's very well,
• 6:38:08
  said mister mac gregor, returned Alan, and in the meantime, laying a
• 6:38:14
  strong accent on the word, I take back the lie. I appealed to
• 6:38:18
  Duncan. Indeed you need appeal to nobody, said Robin. You're far better
• 6:38:23
  judge than any mc laren in balk Hitter for it's a god's truth that you're
• 6:38:27
  a very credible piper for Stuart and me the pipes. Allan did as he
• 6:38:33
  asked, and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part of Allan's variations,
• 6:38:38
  which it seemed that he remembered perfectly. I you have music, said Allan
• 6:38:45
  gloomily. And now be the judge yourself, mister Stuart, said Robin,
• 6:38:51
  and taking up the variations from the beginning, he worked them throughout his so
• 6:38:56
  new a purpose, with such ingenuity and sentiment, and when so odd a
• 6:39:00
  fancy and so quick a knack in the grace, notes that I was amazed
• 6:39:04
  to hear him. As for Allan, his face grew dark and hot,
• 6:39:08
  and he sat and gnawed his fingers like a man under some deep affront.
• 6:39:14
  Enough, he cried, yet can blow the pipes? Make the most of
• 6:39:18
  that, And he made as if to rise, But Robin only held out
• 6:39:22
  his hand as if to ask for silence, and struck into the slow measure
• 6:39:26
  of a pibroch. It was a fine piece of music in itself, and
• 6:39:30
  nobly played, But it seems besides it was a piece peculiar to the appens
• 6:39:36
  Stuarts, and a chief favored with Alan. The first notes were scarce out
• 6:39:41
  before there came a change in his face. When the time quickened, he
• 6:39:45
  seemed to grow restless in his seat, And long before that piece was at
• 6:39:49
  an end, the last signs of his anger died from him, and he
• 6:39:53
  had no thought but for the music. Robin ugg he said, when it
• 6:39:59
  was done, ye are a great piper. I am not fit to blow
• 6:40:03
  in the same kingdom with ye body of me. Ye have more music in
• 6:40:07
  yo sporin than I have in my head. And though it still sticks in
• 6:40:11
  my mind that I could maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel,
• 6:40:15
  I warn you beforehand it'll no be fair. It would go against my
• 6:40:18
  heart to haggle a man that can blow the pipes as you can. Thereupon,
• 6:40:22
  that quarrel was made up all night long, the broughs was going and
• 6:40:26
  the pipes changing hands, and the day had come pretty bright, and the
• 6:40:30
  three men were none the better for what they had been taking before. Robin
• 6:40:34
  as much as thought upon the road end of chapter Chapter twenty six, end
• 6:40:41
  of the flight we passed the fourth The month, as I have said,
• 6:40:48
  was not yet out, but it was already far through August, and beautiful
• 6:40:52
  warm weather, with every sign of an early and great harvest. When I
• 6:40:56
  was pronounced able for my journey, our money was now run to so low
• 6:41:02
  an ebb, that we must think first of all on speed. For if
• 6:41:06
  we came not too soon to mister Wrangcaller's, or if when we came there
• 6:41:10
  he should fail to help me, we must surely starve in Allan's view.
• 6:41:15
  Besides, the hunt must now have greatly slackened, and the line of the
• 6:41:18
  fourth and even Sterling Bridge, which is the main pass over that river,
• 6:41:23
  would be watched with little interest. It's a chief principle in military affairs,
• 6:41:29
  said he to go where ye are least expected. Forth is our trouble,
• 6:41:33
  ye ken, The saying forth bridles the wild highliament. Well, if we
• 6:41:38
  seek to creep round about the head of that river and come down by Kippen
• 6:41:41
  or Belfrum, is just precisely there that they'll be lookin' to lay hands on
• 6:41:47
  us. But if we stave on straight to the old brig of Stirling,
• 6:41:51
  I lay my sword, they let us pass unchallenged. The first night,
• 6:41:55
  accordingly, we pushed to the house of a mac Laren in strathire A,
• 6:42:00
  and of Duncan's where we slept the twenty first of the month, and once
• 6:42:03
  we set forth again about the fall of night to make another easy stage.
• 6:42:08
  The twenty second, we lay in a heather bush on the hillside and um
• 6:42:11
  var within view of a herd of deer. The happiest ten hours of sleep,
• 6:42:17
  in a fine, breathing sunshine, and on bone dry ground that I
• 6:42:22
  have ever tasted. That night we struck Allan Water and followed it down,
• 6:42:26
  and coming to the edge of the hills, saw the whole carse of sterling
• 6:42:30
  underfoot, as flat as a pancake, with a town and castle on a
• 6:42:34
  hill in the midst of it, and the moon shining on the lynks of
• 6:42:38
  forth. Now said Allan, I canna if you care, but you're on
• 6:42:44
  your own land again. We passed the highland line in that first hour,
• 6:42:48
  and now if we could but passy on crooked water, we might cast our
• 6:42:52
  bonnets in the air. In Allan Water, near by where it falls into
• 6:42:56
  the fourth we found a little sandy islet overgrown with burdock, butterbur and the
• 6:43:03
  like low plants that would just cover us if we lay flat. Here it
• 6:43:07
  was we made our camp within plain view of Sterling Castle. Whence we could
• 6:43:11
  hear the drums beat as some part of the garrison paraded, and we could
• 6:43:17
  hear the stones going on the hooks, and the voices, and even the
• 6:43:19
  words of the men talking. It behooved to lie close and keep silent.
• 6:43:25
  But the sand of the little isle was sun warm. The green plants gave
• 6:43:29
  a shelter for our heads. We had food and drink in plenty, and
• 6:43:33
  to crown all we were within sight of safety. As soon as the shearers
• 6:43:38
  quit their work and the dusk began to fall, we waded ashore and struck
• 6:43:42
  for the bridge of Sterling, keeping to the fields and under the field fences.
• 6:43:48
  The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old, high,
• 6:43:52
  narrow bridge with pinnacles along the parapet, and you may conceive with how much
• 6:43:56
  interest I looked upon it, not only as a place famous in history,
• 6:44:00
  but as the very doors of salvation to allan and myself. The moon was
• 6:44:06
  not yet up when we came there. A few lights shone along the front
• 6:44:10
  of the fortress, and lowered down a few lighted windows in the town,
• 6:44:15
  But it was all mighty still, and there seemed to be no guard upon
• 6:44:18
  the passage. I was for pushing straight across, but Alan was more wary.
• 6:44:25
  It looks unco quiet, said he, But for all that will lie
• 6:44:29
  down here cannily behind a dike and make sure. So we lay for about
• 6:44:33
  a quarter of an hour, whilst whispering, whilst lying still, and hearing
• 6:44:37
  nothing earthly but the washing of the water on the piers. At last there
• 6:44:42
  came by an old, hobbling woman with a crutch stick, who first stopped
• 6:44:47
  a little close to where we lay, and bemoaned herself and the long way
• 6:44:52
  she had traveled, and then set forth again up the steep spring of the
• 6:44:56
  bridge. The woman was so little and the nights so dark, that we
• 6:45:00
  soon lost sight of her, only heard the sound of her steps and her
• 6:45:04
  stick, and a cough that she had by fits draws slowly farther away.
• 6:45:11
  She's bound to be across now, I whispered, Nah, said Allan.
• 6:45:15
  Her foot still sounds boss upon the breach, And just then who goes?
• 6:45:22
  Cried a voice, and we heard the butt of a musket rattle on the
• 6:45:26
  stones. I must suppose the sentry had been sleeping, so that had we
• 6:45:30
  tried, we might have passed unseen. But he was awake now, and
• 6:45:33
  the chance forfeited. This'll never do, said Alan, This'll never never do
• 6:45:40
  for us David, And without another word, he began to crawl away through
• 6:45:45
  the fields, and a little after being well out of eyeshot, got to
• 6:45:48
  his feet again and struck along a road that led to the eastward. I
• 6:45:53
  could not conceive what he was doing, And indeed I was so sharply cut
• 6:45:57
  by the disappointment that I was little likely to be pleased with anything. A
• 6:46:03
  moment back, and I had seen myself knocking at mister Wrangcawer's door to claim
• 6:46:07
  my inheritance, like a hero in a ballad. And here was I back
• 6:46:11
  again, a wandering, hunted blagguard on the wrong side of forth Well,
• 6:46:18
  said I. Well, said, Allan, what would you have? They're
• 6:46:22
  none such fools as I took em for. We have still the fourth to
• 6:46:26
  pass, Davy. We revolve the rains that fed and the hillsides that guided
• 6:46:32
  it. And why go east? Said I, Oh, just upon the
• 6:46:37
  chance, said he. If we cannot pass the river, we'll have to
• 6:46:41
  see what we can do for the firth. There are fords upon the river,
• 6:46:45
  and none upon the firth, said I. To be sure there are
• 6:46:49
  fords and a bridge for by quoth alan, and of what service when they
• 6:46:53
  are watched? Well? Said I. But a river can be swum by
• 6:47:00
  them that have the skill of it, returned he. But I've yet to
• 6:47:03
  hear that either you or me is much of a hand at that exercise.
• 6:47:07
  And for my own part, I swim like a stone. I'm not up
• 6:47:12
  to you in talking back, Allan, I said, but I can see
• 6:47:15
  we're making bad worse. If it's hard to pass the river, it stands
• 6:47:21
  to reason it must be worse to pass a sea. But there's such a
• 6:47:25
  thing as a boat, says Allan. Or I'm the more deceived, aye,
• 6:47:30
  And such a thing as money, says I. But for us that
• 6:47:33
  have neither one nor other, they might just as well not have been invented.
• 6:47:38
  You think so, said Allan. I do that, said I.
• 6:47:45
  David says he. You're a man of small invention and less faith. But
• 6:47:49
  let me set my wits upon the hone. And if I cannot beg,
• 6:47:52
  borrow, or yet steal a boat, I'll make one, I think I
• 6:47:57
  see, eh, said I. And what's more than all of that?
• 6:48:02
  If you pass the bridge, it can tell no tales but if we pass
• 6:48:06
  the firth, there's the boat on the wrong side. Somebody must have brought
• 6:48:10
  it the country side. Will all be in a buzz man, cried Alan.
• 6:48:15
  If I can make a boat, I'll make a body to take it
• 6:48:18
  back again. So deave me with no more of your nonsense, but walk,
• 6:48:23
  for that's what you've got to do. And let Alan think for ye
• 6:48:29
  all night. Then we walked through the north side of the Kars, under
• 6:48:32
  the high line of the Oorkill Mountains, and by Aloa and Klachmannon and Kolras,
• 6:48:37
  all of which we avoided, And about ten in the morning, mighty
• 6:48:41
  hungry and tired, came to the little clockin of Lime Kilns. This is
• 6:48:47
  a place that sits near in by the water side, and looks across the
• 6:48:49
  Hope to the town of the Queen's Ferry. Smoke went up from both of
• 6:48:55
  these, and from other villages and farms upon all hands. The fields were
• 6:48:59
  being reaped, two ships lay anchored, and boats were coming and going on
• 6:49:03
  the Hope. It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me, and I
• 6:49:07
  could not take my fill of gazing at these comfortable, green cultivated hills,
• 6:49:12
  and the busy people both of the field and sea. For all that,
• 6:49:17
  there was mister Rankeller's house on the south shore, where I had no doubt
• 6:49:22
  wealth awaited me. And here was I upon the north glad, in poor
• 6:49:26
  enough attire of an outlandish fashion, with three silver shillings left to me,
• 6:49:30
  of all my fortune, a price set upon my head, an outlawed man
• 6:49:34
  for my soul. Company, Oh Allan said I to think of it.
• 6:49:41
  Over there, there's all that heart could want waiting me. And the birds
• 6:49:45
  go over, and the boats go over all dick, please can go,
• 6:49:49
  but just me only, oh man, But it's a heartbreak in limekilns.
• 6:49:56
  We entered a small change house, which we only knew to be public by
• 6:50:00
  the wand over the door, and bought some bread and cheese from a good
• 6:50:03
  looking lass that was the servant. This we carried with us in a bundle,
• 6:50:08
  meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the seashore
• 6:50:11
  that we saw some third part of a mile in front. As we went,
• 6:50:15
  I kept looking across the water and sighing to myself, And though I
• 6:50:19
  took no heed of it, Alan had fallen into a muse. At last
• 6:50:25
  he stopped in the way, do you take heed of the last. We
• 6:50:29
  bought this out, says he, tapping on the bread and cheese to be
• 6:50:33
  sure, said I and a bonny lass. She was your thought, sir,
• 6:50:38
  you thought that, cries he man David. That's good news in the
• 6:50:45
  name of all that's wonderful. Why so, says I? What good can
• 6:50:49
  that do? Well, said Alan, with one of his droll looks.
• 6:50:53
  I is rather in hopes it would maybe get us that boat. If it
• 6:50:59
  were the other way about, it would be like her, it, said
• 6:51:02
  I. That's all you can, you see, said Alan. I don't
• 6:51:07
  want the last to fall in love with you. I want her to be
• 6:51:10
  sorry for you, David, which end there is no manner of need that
• 6:51:12
  she should take you for a beauty. Let me see, looking me curiously
• 6:51:18
  over, I wish you were a wee thing paler, But apart from that
• 6:51:22
  you'll do fine for my purpose. You have a fine hang dog rag and
• 6:51:26
  tatter clapper mc claw kind of a look to you, as if you had
• 6:51:30
  stolen the coat from a potato bogel. Come right about and back to the
• 6:51:34
  change house for that boat of ours. I followed him, laughing. David
• 6:51:41
  Balfour said he you're a very funny gentleman, by your way of it,
• 6:51:45
  And this is a very funny employ for you, no doubt for all that
• 6:51:49
  if you have any affection for my neck, to say nothing of your own,
• 6:51:53
  you will perhaps be kind enough to take this matter responsibly. I'm going
• 6:51:57
  to do a bit of play acting, the bottom ground of which is just
• 6:52:02
  exactly as serious as the gallows for the pair of us. So bear it
• 6:52:07
  if you please in mind, and conduct yourself according well well said, I
• 6:52:12
  have it as you will. As we got near the clachan, he made
• 6:52:18
  me take his arm and hang upon it like one almost helpless with weariness,
• 6:52:22
  And by the time he pushed open the change house to her, he seemed
• 6:52:25
  to be half carrying me. The maid appeared surprised as well, she might
• 6:52:30
  be at our speedy return, but Alan had no words to spare for her.
• 6:52:34
  An explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a task of
• 6:52:38
  brandy, with which he fed me in little SIPs, and then breaking up
• 6:52:42
  the bread and cheese, helped me to eat it like a nursery lass.
• 6:52:45
  The whole with that grave concerned, affectionate countenance that might have imposed upon a
• 6:52:51
  judge. It was small wonder if the maid were taken with the picture we
• 6:52:55
  presented of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and his mother tender comrade.
• 6:53:00
  She drew quite near and stood leaning with her back on the next table.
• 6:53:06
  What's like wrong with him? Said she? At last Alan turned upon her,
• 6:53:11
  to my great wonder, with a kind of fury. Wrong, cries
• 6:53:15
  he. He's walked more hundreds of miles than he has hairs upon his chin,
• 6:53:18
  and slept offen her in wet heather than dry sheets. Wrong, quoth
• 6:53:22
  she? Wrong enough, I would think wrong. Indeed, he kept grumbling
• 6:53:27
  to himself as he fed me like a man ill pleased. He's young,
• 6:53:33
  for the like of that, said the maid. Oh we're young, said
• 6:53:37
  Alan, with his back to her. He would be better riding, said
• 6:53:42
  she. And where could I get a horse to him? Cried Alan,
• 6:53:47
  turning on her with the same appearance of fury. Would you have me steal?
• 6:53:52
  I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon, as indeed
• 6:53:56
  it closed her mouth for the time. But my companion knew very well what
• 6:54:00
  he was doing, and for as simple as he was in some things of
• 6:54:03
  life, had a great fund of roguishness in such affairs as these, you
• 6:54:08
  needna tell me, she said, At last, you're gentry, well,
• 6:54:15
  said Allan, softened a little. I believe against his will by this artless
• 6:54:19
  comment. And suppose we were did ever you hear the gentriest put money in
• 6:54:25
  folks pockets? She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinherited
• 6:54:30
  great lady. No, says she, that's true. Indeed I was all
• 6:54:37
  this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue tied between shame
• 6:54:41
  and merriment. But somehow, at this I could hold in no longer and
• 6:54:45
  bade Alan let me be, for I was better already, my voice stuck
• 6:54:51
  in my throat, for I ever hated to take part in lies, but
• 6:54:55
  my very embarrassment helped on the plot for the last, No doubt set down
• 6:54:59
  my husky voice to sickness and fatigue. Has he no friends, said she,
• 6:55:04
  in a tearful voice. That has he, so cried Alan, if
• 6:55:10
  we could but win to them friends and rich friends, beds to lie in,
• 6:55:15
  food to eat, doctors to see to him, And hear he must
• 6:55:18
  tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like a beggar man. And
• 6:55:22
  why that says the lass, my dear, said Alan. I cannot very
• 6:55:29
  safely say, but I'll tell you what I'll do instead, says he,
• 6:55:33
  I wizit ye a bit tune. And with that he leaned pretty far over
• 6:55:37
  the table, and in a mere breath of a whistle, with a wonderful,
• 6:55:41
  pretty sentiment, gave her a few bars of Charlie is my darling,
• 6:55:48
  wished, says she, and looked over her shoulder to the door. That's
• 6:55:52
  it, said Alan, And him so young, cries the lass. He's
• 6:55:57
  old enough to And Alan stuck his forefinger on the back part of his neck,
• 6:56:03
  meaning that I was old enough to lose my head. It would be
• 6:56:07
  a black shame, she cried, flushing high. It's what will be,
• 6:56:11
  though, said Allan, unless we manage the better. At this, the
• 6:56:17
  last turned and ran out of that part of the house, leaving us alone
• 6:56:21
  together. Alan in high good humor at the furthering of his schemes, and
• 6:56:26
  I am bitter dudgeon at being called a jacobite and treated like a child,
• 6:56:30
  Allen, I cried, I can stand no more of this. You have
• 6:56:34
  to sit it, then, Davy, said he, For if you upset
• 6:56:37
  the pot now, you may scrape your own life out of the fire.
• 6:56:41
  But Alan Brick is a dead man. This was so true that I could
• 6:56:45
  only groan, And even my groan served Alan's purpose, for it was overheard
• 6:56:51
  by the last as she came flying in again with a dish of white puddings
• 6:56:55
  and a bottle of strong ale, poor Lamb says, and had no sooner
• 6:57:00
  set the meat before us than she touched me on the shoulder with a little
• 6:57:04
  friendly touch, as much as to bid me cheer up. Then she told
• 6:57:08
  us to fall too, and there would be no more to pay. For
• 6:57:11
  the inn was her own, or at least her father's, and he was
• 6:57:15
  gone for the day. To pittingcrief, we waited for no second bidding for
• 6:57:21
  bread and cheese is but cold comfort, and the puddings smelt excellently well.
• 6:57:25
  And while we sat and ate, she took up that same place by the
• 6:57:29
  next table, looking on and thinking, and frowning to herself, and drawing
• 6:57:33
  the string of her apron through her hand. I'm thinking you have a rather
• 6:57:38
  long tongue, she said at last to Allan. Aye said Allan, But
• 6:57:44
  you see I ken the folk I speak to. I would never betray you,
• 6:57:49
  said she, If you mean that, no, said he, You're
• 6:57:53
  not that kind. But I'd tell you what you would do, you would
• 6:57:57
  help. I couldna, said she, shaking her head. Nah I couldna,
• 6:58:04
  no, said he. But if you could, she answered him nothing.
• 6:58:11
  Look here, my lass, said Alan, there are boats in the
• 6:58:15
  Kingdom of Fife. For I saw too no less upon the beach as I
• 6:58:18
  came in by your town's end. Now, if we could have the use
• 6:58:22
  of a boat to pass under cloud of night into Lothian, and some secret,
• 6:58:27
  decent kind of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his
• 6:58:30
  counsel, there would be two souls saved, mine to all likelihood, his
• 6:58:37
  to a dead surety. If we lack that boat, we have but three
• 6:58:41
  shillings left in the wide world. And where to go, and how to
• 6:58:45
  do? And what other place there is for us except the chains of a
• 6:58:48
  gibbet. I give you my naked word. I cannot. Shall we go
• 6:58:52
  wanting? Lassie? Are you to lie in your warm bed and think upon
• 6:58:56
  us when the wind gallops in the chimney and the rain turtles on the roof.
• 6:59:02
  Are you to each your meat by the cheeks of a red fire,
• 6:59:04
  and think upon this poor sick lad of mine, biting his finger ends on
• 6:59:10
  a blameeur for cold and hunger, sick or sound. He must I be
• 6:59:15
  moving with the death grapple at his throat. He must I be trailing in
• 6:59:18
  the rain on the long roads, And when he gants his last on a
• 6:59:22
  rickle of cold stones, there will be enough friends near him, but only
• 6:59:26
  me and God. At this appeal, I could see the Last was in
• 6:59:30
  a great trouble of mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in
• 6:59:34
  some fear she might be helping malefactors. And so now I determined to step
• 6:59:40
  in myself and to allay her scruples with a portion of the truth. Do
• 6:59:45
  you ever hear, said I of mister wrenkeyler of the fairy Rainconne rang Coller,
• 6:59:52
  the writer said, she I dar say that? Well, said I.
• 6:59:59
  It's to his door that I am bound. So you may judge by
• 7:00:03
  that if I am an ill doer. And I will tell you more that
• 7:00:06
  though I am indeed by a dreadful error in some peril of my life,
• 7:00:11
  King George has no truer friend in all Scotland than myself. Her face cleared
• 7:00:17
  up mightily at this, although Allan's darkened that's more than I would ask,
• 7:00:22
  said she. Mister Rangcotler is a kentman, and she bade us finish our
• 7:00:27
  meat yet clear of the clockin as soon as might be, and lie close
• 7:00:32
  in the bit wood on the sea beach. And you can trust me,
• 7:00:36
  says she, I'll find some means to put you over. At this we
• 7:00:40
  waited for no more, but shook hands with her upon the bargain, made
• 7:00:44
  short work of the puddings, and set forth again from limekilns as far as
• 7:00:48
  to the wood. It was a small piece of perhaps a score of elders
• 7:00:52
  and hawthorns, and a few young ashes, not thick enough to veil us
• 7:00:56
  from passers by upon the road or beach. Here we must lie, however,
• 7:01:00
  making the best of the brave warm weather and the good hopes we now
• 7:01:04
  had of a deliverance, and planning more particularly what remained for us to do.
• 7:01:11
  We had but one trouble all day, when a strolling piper came and
• 7:01:15
  sat in the same wood with us, a red nosed, bleary eyed,
• 7:01:18
  drunken dog with a great bottle of whiskey in his pocket, and a long
• 7:01:22
  story of wrongs that had been done him by all sorts of persons, from
• 7:01:26
  the Lord President of the Court of Session, who had denied him justice,
• 7:01:32
  down to the Baileys of Verkeithing, who had given him more of it than
• 7:01:36
  he desired. It was impossible but that he should conceive some suspicion of two
• 7:01:41
  men lying all day concealed in a thicket and having no business to allege.
• 7:01:47
  As long as he stayed there, he kept us in hot water with prying
• 7:01:49
  questions. And after he was gone, as he was a man not very
• 7:01:53
  likely to hold his tongue, we were in the greater impatience to be gone
• 7:01:57
  ourselves. The day came to an end with the same brightness. The night
• 7:02:03
  fell quiet, and clear lights came out in houses and hamlets, and then
• 7:02:07
  one after another began to be put out. But it was past eleven,
• 7:02:12
  and we were long since strangely tortured with anxieties before we heard the grinding of
• 7:02:18
  oars upon the rowing pins. At that we looked out and saw the lass
• 7:02:22
  herself coming rowing to us in a boat. She had trusted no one with
• 7:02:26
  our affairs, not even her sweetheart, if she had one, But as
• 7:02:30
  soon as her father was asleep, had left the house by a window,
• 7:02:34
  stolen the neighbor's boat and come to our assistance single handed. I was abashed
• 7:02:41
  how to find expression for my thanks. But she was no less abashed at
• 7:02:45
  the thought of hearing them. Begged us to lose no time and to hold
• 7:02:48
  our peace, saying very properly that the heart of our matter was in haste
• 7:02:53
  and silence, and so what with one thing and another. She had set
• 7:02:59
  us on the look the in shore, not far from Caradin, had shaken
• 7:03:03
  hands with us, and was out again at sea and rowing for lime kilns.
• 7:03:06
  Before there was one word said either of her service or our gratitude.
• 7:03:11
  Even after she was gone, we had nothing to say, as indeed nothing
• 7:03:15
  was enough for such a kindness. Only Alan stood a great while upon the
• 7:03:21
  shore, shaking his head. It is a very fine lass, he said
• 7:03:26
  at last, David, it is a very fine lass. And a matter
• 7:03:32
  of an hour later, as we were lying in a den on the sea
• 7:03:34
  shore, and I had been already dozing, he broke out again in commendations
• 7:03:38
  of her character. For my part, I could say nothing. She was
• 7:03:44
  so simple a creature that my heart smote me both with remorse and fear.
• 7:03:48
  Remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance, and fear lest we should have
• 7:03:53
  any way involved her in the dangers of our situation. End of chapter Chapter
• 7:04:00
  twenty seven. I come to mister Rankeiler the next day. It was agreed
• 7:04:07
  that Allan should fend for himself till sunset, but as soon as it began
• 7:04:11
  to grow dark, he should lie in the fields by the roadside, near
• 7:04:15
  to New Halls, and stir for naught until he heard me whistling. At
• 7:04:18
  first I proposed I should give him for a signal the bonny house of Erly,
• 7:04:23
  which was a favorite of mine, but he objected that, as the
• 7:04:27
  piece was very commonly known, any plowman might whistle it by accident, and
• 7:04:33
  taught me instead a little fragment of a Highland air, which is run in
• 7:04:36
  my head from that day to this, and will likely run in my head
• 7:04:40
  when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me. It takes me
• 7:04:44
  off to that last day of my uncertainty, with Allan sitting up in the
• 7:04:48
  bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a finger, and
• 7:04:52
  the gray of the dawn coming on his face. I was in the long
• 7:04:56
  street of Queen's Ferry before the sun was up. It was a fairly built
• 7:05:00
  burg. The houses of good stone many slated. The town hall not so
• 7:05:06
  fine, I thought, as that of Peebles, nor yet the streets so
• 7:05:10
  noble. But take it altogether. It put me to shame for my foul
• 7:05:14
  tatters. As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled,
• 7:05:18
  and the windows to open, and the people to appear out of the
• 7:05:22
  houses, my concern and despondency grew. Ever, the blacker I saw now
• 7:05:27
  that I had no grounds to stand upon, and no clear proof of my
• 7:05:32
  rights, nor so much as of my own identity. If it was all
• 7:05:37
  a bubble, I was indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass.
• 7:05:41
  Even if things were as I conceived, it would in all likelihood take time
• 7:05:45
  to establish my contentions. And what time had I to spare, with less
• 7:05:49
  than three shillings in my pocket and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands
• 7:05:53
  to ship out of the country. Truly, if my hope broke with me,
• 7:05:59
  it might come to the gallows, yet for both of us. And
• 7:06:03
  as I continued to walk up and down and saw people looking askance at me
• 7:06:07
  upon the street or out of windows, and nudging or speaking one to another
• 7:06:11
  with smiles. I began to take a fresh apprehension that it might be no
• 7:06:17
  easy matter even to come to speech of the lawyer, far less to convince
• 7:06:21
  him of my story. For the life of me, I could not muster
• 7:06:25
  up the courage to address any of these reputable burghers. I thought shame even
• 7:06:30
  to speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt. And if
• 7:06:33
  I had asked for the house of such a man as mister Rangkeiler, I
• 7:06:37
  suppose they would have burst out laughing in my face. So I went up
• 7:06:41
  and down, and through the street and down to the harbor side, like
• 7:06:45
  a dog that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in my inwards,
• 7:06:51
  and every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be
• 7:06:53
  high day at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon, and I was worn
• 7:06:59
  with these wanderings, and chance to have stopped in front of a very good
• 7:07:02
  house on the landward side, a house with beautiful clear glass windows, flowering
• 7:07:07
  knots upon the sills, the walls new harled, and a chaise dog sitting
• 7:07:12
  yawning on the step, like one that was at home. Well, I
• 7:07:17
  was even envying this dumb brute. When the door fell open, and there
• 7:07:21
  issued forth the shrewd, ruddy, kindly consequential man in a well powdered wig
• 7:07:26
  and spectacles. I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on
• 7:07:30
  me once. But he looked at me again. And this gentleman, as
• 7:07:36
  it proved, was so much struck with my poor appearance, that it came
• 7:07:38
  straight up to me and asked me what I did. I told him I
• 7:07:42
  was come to the Queen's Ferry on business, and taking heart of grace,
• 7:07:48
  asked him to direct me to the house of mister Wrenkeuyler. Why, said
• 7:07:52
  he. That is his house that I have just come out of, And
• 7:07:56
  for a rather singular chance, I am that very man. Then, sir
• 7:08:02
  said I, I have to beg the favor of an interview. I do
• 7:08:07
  not know your name, said he, nor yet your face. My name
• 7:08:11
  is David Balfour, said I, David Balfour, he repeated, in rather
• 7:08:18
  a high tone, like one surprised. And where have you come from,
• 7:08:22
  mister David Balfour, he asked, looking pretty dryly in the face. I
• 7:08:29
  have come from a great many strange places, Sir said I. But I
• 7:08:33
  think it would be as well to tell you where and how in a more
• 7:08:36
  private manner. He seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand
• 7:08:41
  and looking now at me, and now upon the cause we of the street.
• 7:08:45
  Yes, says he, that will be the best, no doubt.
• 7:08:51
  And he led me back with him into his house, cried out to some
• 7:08:53
  one whom I could not see that he would be engaged all morning, and
• 7:08:57
  brought me into a little dusty chair chamber full of books and documents. Here
• 7:09:02
  he sat down and bade me be seated, though I thought he looked a
• 7:09:06
  little ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags. And now says he,
• 7:09:11
  if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the
• 7:09:15
  point. Nick jemino bellum trojanum orditur ab vovou. Do you understand that?
• 7:09:22
  Says he, with a keen look. I will even do as horace,
• 7:09:26
  says sir, I answered, smiling, and carry you in medias rests.
• 7:09:33
  He nodded as if he was well pleased, And indeed his scrap of Latin
• 7:09:37
  had been set to test me for all that, And though I was somewhat
• 7:09:41
  encouraged, the blood came in my face when I added, I have reason
• 7:09:45
  to believe myself some rights on the estate of Shaws. He got a paper
• 7:09:51
  book out of a drawer and set it before him open well, said he.
• 7:09:56
  But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. Come come, mister
• 7:10:02
  Balfour, said he. You must continue. Where were you born in Essendean,
• 7:10:08
  Sir, said I the year seventeen thirty three, the twelfth of March.
• 7:10:15
  He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book. But what that
• 7:10:18
  meant I knew. Not your father and mother, said he. My father
• 7:10:25
  was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place, said I, and my mother
• 7:10:30
  Grace Peterow. I think her people were from Angus. Have you any papers
• 7:10:36
  proving your identity, asked mister Raincydler. No, Sir, said I,
• 7:10:41
  but they are in the hands of mister Campbell, the Minister, and could
• 7:10:45
  be readily produced. Mister Campbell too would give me his word, and for
• 7:10:49
  that manner, I do not think my uncle would deny me. Meaning mister
• 7:10:55
  Ebenezer Balfour says he the same, said I whom have you seen? He
• 7:11:03
  asked by whom I was received into his own house? I answered, did
• 7:11:10
  you ever meet a man of the name of hose Season, asked mister Rangkeyler.
• 7:11:15
  I did so, sir, for my sins, said I. For
• 7:11:19
  it was by his means and the procurement of my uncle, that I was
• 7:11:22
  kidnapped within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck, and
• 7:11:27
  a hundred other hardships, and stand before you to day in this poor accouterment.
• 7:11:33
  You say you were shipwrecked, said Rancyler. Where was that off the
• 7:11:40
  south end of the Isle of Mull? Said I. The name of the
• 7:11:44
  isle on which I was cast up is the island ehred Ah, says he,
• 7:11:49
  smiling. You are deeper than me in the geography. But so far
• 7:11:53
  I may tell you this agrees pretty exactly with other informations that I owed.
• 7:12:00
  But you say you were kidnapped in what sense? In the plain meaning of
• 7:12:04
  the words, sir? Said I. I was on my way to your
• 7:12:08
  house when I was trepanned on board the brig cruelly struck down, thrown below,
• 7:12:14
  and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. I
• 7:12:18
  was destined for the plantations, a fate that, in God's providence I have
• 7:12:22
  escaped. The brig was lost on June the twenty seventh, says he looking
• 7:12:29
  in his book, and we are now at August the twenty fourth. Here
• 7:12:33
  is a considerable hiatus, mister Balfour, of near upon two months. It
• 7:12:37
  has already caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends, and I own
• 7:12:41
  I shall not be very well contented until it is set right. Indeed,
• 7:12:47
  sir said I, these months are very easily filled up. But yet before
• 7:12:52
  I told my story, I would be glad to know that I was talking
• 7:12:56
  to a friend. This is to argue in a circle, said the lawyer.
• 7:13:02
  I cannot be convinced till I have heard you. I cannot be your
• 7:13:06
  friend till I am properly informed. If you were more trustful, it would
• 7:13:11
  better befit your time of life. And you know, mister Balfour, we
• 7:13:15
  have a proverb in the country that evil doers are I evil dreaders. You
• 7:13:21
  are not to forget, sir, said I, that I have already suffered
• 7:13:25
  by my trustfulness, and was shipped off to be a slave by the very
• 7:13:29
  man that, if I rightly understand, is your employer. All this while
• 7:13:34
  I have been gaining ground with mister Rankeiler, and in proportion as I gained
• 7:13:40
  ground, gaining confidence. But at this sally, which I made with something
• 7:13:45
  of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud. No, no, said
• 7:13:49
  he. It is not so bad as that fued nonsoom. I was indeed
• 7:13:55
  your uncle's man of business. But while you Emerby's juven and his costore Romoto
• 7:14:02
  were gallivanting in the west, a good deal of water as run under the
• 7:14:06
  bridges. And if your ears did not sing, it was not for lack
• 7:14:10
  of being talked about. On the very day of your sea disaster, mister
• 7:14:15
  Campbell stalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds. I had
• 7:14:21
  never heard of your existence, but I had known your father, and from
• 7:14:25
  matters in my competence to be touched upon hereafter, I was disposed to fear
• 7:14:30
  the worse. Mister Ebenezer admitted, having seen you, declared what seemed improbable,
• 7:14:37
  that he had given you considerable sums, and that you had started for
• 7:14:41
  the continent of Europe intending to fulfill your education, which was probable and praiseworthy.
• 7:14:48
  Interrogated how you had come to send no word to mister Campbell. He
• 7:14:52
  deponed that you had expressed a great desire to break with your past life.
• 7:14:57
  Further interrogated where you now were protested ignorance, but believed you were in Leyden.
• 7:15:03
  That is a close sum of his replies. I am not exactly sure
• 7:15:07
  that any one believed him, continued mister Raankeyler, with a smile. And
• 7:15:12
  in particular he so much disrelished me expressions of mind, that in a word,
• 7:15:18
  he showed me to the door. We were then at a full stand.
• 7:15:23
  For whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow of probation.
• 7:15:30
  In the very article comes Captain hose Season with the story of your drowning.
• 7:15:34
  Whereupon all fell through with no consequences, but concerned mister Campbell, injury
• 7:15:41
  to my pocket and another blot upon your uncle's character, which could very ill
• 7:15:45
  afford it. And now mister Balfour said he you understand the whole process of
• 7:15:52
  these matters, and can judge for yourself to what extent I may be trusted.
• 7:15:57
  Indeed he was more than I can represent him, and place more scraps
• 7:16:03
  of Latin in his speech. But it was all uttered with a fine geniality
• 7:16:07
  of eye and manner, which went far to conquer my distrust. Moreover,
• 7:16:11
  I could see he now treated me as if I was myself beyond a doubt,
• 7:16:15
  so that first part of my identity seemed fully granted. Sir said I,
• 7:16:22
  if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend's life to
• 7:16:26
  your discretion. Pass me your word. It shall be sacred, and for
• 7:16:30
  what touches myself, I will ask no better guarantee than just your face.
• 7:16:36
  He passed me his word very seriously, but said he these are rather alarming
• 7:16:41
  prolocutions. And if there are in your story any little jostles to the law,
• 7:16:47
  I would beg you to bear in mind that I am a lawyer,
• 7:16:51
  and pass lightly. Thereupon I told him my story from the first. He
• 7:16:56
  listening with his spectacles thrust up in his eyes closed, so that I sometimes
• 7:17:02
  feared he was asleep. But no such matter. He heard every word,
• 7:17:07
  as I found afterward, with such quickness of hearing and precision of memory as
• 7:17:11
  often surprised me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic names heard for that time, only
• 7:17:18
  he remembered and would remind me of years after. Yet when I called Alan
• 7:17:22
  breckin full, we had an odd scene. The name of Alan had of
• 7:17:26
  course rung through Scotland with the news of the appen murder and the offer of
• 7:17:33
  the reward, And it had no sooner escaped me than the lawyer moved in
• 7:17:37
  his seat and opened his eyes. I would name no unnecessary names, mister
• 7:17:41
  Balfour, said, he above all of Highlanders, many of whom are obnoxious
• 7:17:47
  to the law. Well, it might have been better not said I.
• 7:17:52
  But since I have let it slip, I may as well continue. Not
• 7:17:56
  at all, said mister rankeyler. I am so somewhat dull of hearing,
• 7:18:00
  as you may have remarked, and I am far from sure I caught the
• 7:18:03
  name exactly. We will call your friend, if you please, mister Thomas,
• 7:18:10
  that there may be no reflections, And in future I would take some
• 7:18:14
  such way with any Highlander that you may have to mention dead or alive.
• 7:18:19
  By this, I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly,
• 7:18:23
  and had already guessed I might be coming to the murder. If he chose
• 7:18:27
  to play this part of ignorance, it was no matter of mine. So
• 7:18:32
  I smiled, said it was no very highland sounding name, and consented.
• 7:18:37
  Through all the rest of my story, allan was mister Thompson, which amused
• 7:18:41
  me the more as it was a piece of policy after his own heart.
• 7:18:47
  James Stewart, in like manner, was mentioned under the style of mister Thompson's
• 7:18:51
  kinsman, Colin Campbell passed as mister Glenn and to Clooney. When I came
• 7:18:56
  to that part of my tale, I gave the name of mister jamieson a
• 7:19:00
  highland chief. It was truly the most open farce, and I wondered that
• 7:19:06
  the lawyer should care to keep it up. But after all, it was
• 7:19:08
  quite in the taste of that age, when there were two parties in the
• 7:19:12
  state, and quiet persons with no very high opinions of their own sought out
• 7:19:18
  every cranny to avoid offense to either. Well, well said the lawyer,
• 7:19:23
  when I had quite done. This is a great epoch, a great odyssey
• 7:19:29
  of yours. You must tell it, sir, in a sound latinity,
• 7:19:32
  when your scholarship is riper, or in English, if you please, though
• 7:19:37
  for my part I prefer the stronger tongue. You have rolled much quie reggio
• 7:19:42
  in Terrace. What perish in Scotland to make a homely translation has not been
• 7:19:48
  filled with your wanderings. You have shown besides a singular aptitude for getting into
• 7:19:53
  false positions, and yes upon the whole, for behaving well in them.
• 7:20:00
  This, mister Thompson seems to me a gentleman of some choice qualities, though
• 7:20:04
  perhaps a trifle bloody minded. It would please me none the worse if,
• 7:20:11
  with all his merits he were soust in the North Sea. For the man
• 7:20:15
  mister David is a sore embarrassment. But you are doubtless quite right to adhere
• 7:20:19
  to him. Indubitably he adhered to you. It comes we may say he
• 7:20:26
  was your true companion, nor less paribus curis vestigia figit. For I dare
• 7:20:33
  say you would both take an ora a thought upon the gallows. Well,
• 7:20:37
  well, these days are fortunately by, and I think, speaking humanly,
• 7:20:44
  that you are near the end of your troubles. As he thus moralized on
• 7:20:49
  my adventures, he looked upon me with so much humor and benignity that I
• 7:20:53
  could scarce contain my satisfaction. I had been so long wandering with lawless and
• 7:21:00
  making my bed upon the hills and under the bare sky, that to sit
• 7:21:04
  once more in a clean, covered house, and to talk amicably with a
• 7:21:08
  gentleman in broadcloth, seemed mighty elevations. Even as I thought so, my
• 7:21:15
  eye fell on my unseemly tatters, and I was once more plunged in confusion.
• 7:21:19
  But the lawyer saw and understood me. He rose, called over the
• 7:21:25
  stair to lay another plate for mister Balfour would stayed to dinner, and led
• 7:21:30
  me into a bedroom in the upper part of the house. Here he set
• 7:21:33
  before me water and soap and a comb, and laid out some clothes that
• 7:21:37
  belonged to his son. And here with another opposite tag, he left me
• 7:21:42
  to my toilet. End of chapter Chapter twenty eight. I go in quest
• 7:21:49
  of my inheritance. I made what change I could in my appearance, and
• 7:21:57
  blithe was I to look in the glass and find the beggar man a thing
• 7:22:00
  of the past, and David Balfour come to life again. And yet I
• 7:22:06
  was ashamed of the change too, and above all of the borrowed clothes.
• 7:22:11
  When I had done, mister raan caller caught me on the stair, made
• 7:22:15
  me his compliments, and had me again into the cabinet. Sit it down,
• 7:22:19
  mister David, said he. And now you are looking a little more
• 7:22:23
  like yourself. Let me see if I can find you any news you will
• 7:22:27
  be wondering no doubt about your father and your uncle. To be sure,
• 7:22:33
  it is a singular tale, and the explanation is one that I blushed to
• 7:22:37
  have to offer you, For says he really, with embarrassment, the matter
• 7:22:41
  hinges on a love affair, truly, said I. I cannot very well
• 7:22:48
  join that notion with my uncle. But your uncle, mister David, was
• 7:22:53
  not always old, replied the lawyer. And what may perhaps surprise you more,
• 7:23:00
  not always ugly. He had a fine, gallant air. People stood
• 7:23:03
  in their doors to look after him as he went by upon a metal horse.
• 7:23:07
  I have seen it with these eyes, and I ingenuously confess not altogether
• 7:23:14
  without envy, For I was a plain lad myself, and a plain man's
• 7:23:18
  son. And in those days it was a case of Odi ta k bells
• 7:23:22
  s Sabel. It sounds like a dream, said I. Ay ay,
• 7:23:30
  said the lawyer. That is how it is with youth and age. Nor
• 7:23:34
  was that all, but he had a spirit of his own that seemed to
• 7:23:37
  promise great things in the future. In seventeen fifteen, what must he do
• 7:23:42
  but run away to join the rebels. It was your father that pursued him,
• 7:23:48
  found him in a ditch and brought him back moltum dementum, to the
• 7:23:52
  mirth of the whole country. However, majora Kanamus, the two lads fell
• 7:23:59
  in love, and that with the same lady. Mister Ebenezer, who was
• 7:24:03
  the admired and the beloved and the spoiled one, made no doubt, mighty
• 7:24:08
  certain of the victory, And when he found he had deceived himself, screamed
• 7:24:14
  like a peacock. The whole country heard of it. Now he lay sick
• 7:24:18
  at home, with his silly family standing round the bed in tears. Now
• 7:24:22
  he rode from public house to public house and shouted his sorrows into the lug
• 7:24:27
  of Tom Dick and Harry, your father, mister David was a kind gentleman,
• 7:24:33
  but he was weak, dolefully weak. Took all this folly with a
• 7:24:37
  long countenance, and one day, by your leave, resigned the lady.
• 7:24:45
  She was no such fool. However, it's from her you must inherit your
• 7:24:48
  excellent good sense, and she refused to be bandied from one to another.
• 7:24:55
  Both got upon their knees to her, And the upshot of the matter for
• 7:24:59
  that while was that she showed both of them the door that wasn't August,
• 7:25:03
  dear me, the same year I came from college. The scene must have
• 7:25:08
  been highly farcical. I thought myself it was a silly business, but I
• 7:25:14
  could not forget my father had a hand in it. Surely, sir,
• 7:25:18
  it had some note of tragedy, said I. Why no, sir,
• 7:25:22
  not at all, returned the lawyer. For tragedy implies some ponderable matter in
• 7:25:29
  dispute, some dignus vendiche nodus. And this piece of work was all about
• 7:25:36
  the petulance of a young ass that had been spoiled and wanted nothing so much
• 7:25:41
  as to be tied up and soundly belted. However, that was not your
• 7:25:45
  father's view. And the end of it was that from concession to concession on
• 7:25:51
  your father's part, and from one height to another of squalling sentimental selfishness upon
• 7:25:56
  your uncle's, they came at last to drive a sort of bargain from whose
• 7:26:02
  ill results you have recently been smarting. The one man took the lady,
• 7:26:07
  the other the estate. Now, mister David, they talk a great deal
• 7:26:12
  of charity and generosity, But in this disputable state of life, I often
• 7:26:18
  think the happiest consequences seem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer and takes
• 7:26:23
  all the law allows him. Anyhow, this piece of quixotry on your father's
• 7:26:30
  part, as it was unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family
• 7:26:36
  of injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk. You were
• 7:26:41
  poorly reared. And in the meanwhile, what a time it has been for
• 7:26:45
  the tenants on the estate of Shaws. And I might add, if it
• 7:26:49
  was a matter, I cared much about what a time for mister Ebenezer.
• 7:26:56
  And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all, that a man's nature
• 7:27:00
  should thus change, True, said mister Rankeyler. And yet I imagine it
• 7:27:07
  was natural enough. He could not think that he had played a handsome part.
• 7:27:12
  Those who knew the story gave him the cold shoulder. Those who knew
• 7:27:17
  it not, seeing one brother disappear and the other succeed in the estate,
• 7:27:22
  raised a cry of murder, so that upon all sides he found himself evited.
• 7:27:27
  Money was all he got by his bargain. Well, he came to
• 7:27:33
  think the more of money. He was selfish when he was young, he
• 7:27:37
  is selfish now that he is old. And the latter end of all these
• 7:27:41
  pretty manners and fine feelings you have seen for yourself, well, sir,
• 7:27:47
  said I. And in all this, what is my position? The state
• 7:27:52
  is yours beyond a doubt, replied the lawyer. It matters nothing what your
• 7:27:56
  father signed. You are the air of entail. But your uncle is a
• 7:28:02
  man to fight the indefensible, and it would be likely your identity that he
• 7:28:07
  would call in question. A lawsuit is always expensive, and have family lawsuit
• 7:28:12
  always scandalous. Besides which, if any of your doings with your friend mister
• 7:28:18
  Thompson were to come out, we might find that we had burned our fingers.
• 7:28:23
  The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a court card upon our
• 7:28:27
  side if we could only prove it. But it made me difficult to prove.
• 7:28:33
  And my advice upon the whole is to make a very easy bargain with
• 7:28:37
  your uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaw's where he has taken root for
• 7:28:41
  a quarter of a century, and contenting yourself in the meanwhile with a fair
• 7:28:47
  provision. I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that
• 7:28:52
  to carry family concerns before the public was a step from which I was naturally
• 7:28:56
  much averse. In the meantime, thinking to myself, I began to see
• 7:29:00
  the outlines of that scheme on which we afterwards acted the great affair. I
• 7:29:07
  asked is to bring home to him the kidnapping, surely, said mister Rankeyler.
• 7:29:14
  And if possible, out of court for mark you here, mister David,
• 7:29:18
  we could no doubt find some men of the Covenant who would swear to
• 7:29:22
  your reclusion. But once they were in the box, we could no longer
• 7:29:26
  check their testimony. And some word of your friend mister Thompson must certainly crop
• 7:29:30
  out, which from what you have let fall I cannot think to be desirable.
• 7:29:37
  Well, Sir said I, here is my way of it, and
• 7:29:41
  I opened my plot to him. But this would seem to involve my meeting
• 7:29:48
  the men Thompson, says he. When I had done, I think so,
• 7:29:52
  indeed, Sir said, I, dear doctor, cries he rubbing his
• 7:29:59
  brow. Dear doctor, No, mister David, I am afraid your scheme
• 7:30:04
  is it admissible. I say nothing against your friend mister Thomson. I know
• 7:30:10
  nothing about him, and if I did mark this, mister David, it
• 7:30:14
  would be my duty to lay hands on him. Now, I put it
• 7:30:18
  to you, is it wise to meet? He may have matters to his
• 7:30:22
  charge. He may not have told you all. His name may not be
• 7:30:27
  even Thomson, cries the lawyer, twinkling, For some of these fellows will
• 7:30:33
  pick up names by the roadside, as another would gather haws. You must
• 7:30:37
  be the judge, Sir, said I. But it was clear my plan
• 7:30:41
  had taken hold upon his fancy, for he kept musing to himself till we
• 7:30:45
  were called to dinner, and the company of missus Rankeyler and that lady had
• 7:30:51
  scarce left us again to ourselves and a bottle of wine. Ere he was
• 7:30:55
  back harping on my proposal. When and where was I to meet my friend?
• 7:31:00
  Mister Thompson was as sure of mister T's discretion. Supposing we could catch
• 7:31:04
  the old fox tripping, would I consent to such and such a term of
• 7:31:10
  an agreement? These and the like questions he kept asking at long intervals,
• 7:31:15
  while he thoughtfully rolled his wine upon his tongue. When I had answered all
• 7:31:19
  of them, seemingly to his contentment, he fell into a still deeper muse,
• 7:31:25
  even the claret being now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper
• 7:31:29
  and a pencil, and set to work, writing and weighing every word,
• 7:31:33
  and at last touched a bell and had his clerk into the chamber. Torrance
• 7:31:38
  said he, I must have this written out fair against to night, and
• 7:31:42
  when it is done, you will be so kind as to put on your
• 7:31:45
  hat and be ready to come along with this gentleman and me, for you
• 7:31:49
  will probably be wanted as a witness. What sir, cried I, as
• 7:31:56
  soon as the clerk was gone, are you to venture it? Why so
• 7:32:00
  it would appear, says he, filling his glass. But let us speak
• 7:32:06
  no more of business. The very sight of Torrance brings in my head a
• 7:32:10
  little troll matter of some years ago, when I had made a tryst with
• 7:32:14
  the poor oaf at the cross of Edinburgh. Each had gone his proper errand,
• 7:32:19
  and when it came four o'clock Torrance had been taking a glass and did
• 7:32:23
  not know his master. And I, who had forgot my spectacles, was
• 7:32:29
  so blind without them, that I give you my word, I did not
• 7:32:32
  know my own clerk. And thereupon he laughed heartily. I said it was
• 7:32:37
  an odd chance, and smiled out of politeness. But what held me all
• 7:32:41
  the afternoon in wonder? He kept returning and dwelling on this story and telling
• 7:32:47
  it again with fresh details and laughter, so that I began at last to
• 7:32:51
  be quite put out of countenance and feel ashamed for my friend's folly. Towards
• 7:32:56
  the time I had appointed with Allan set out from the house, Mister Rangkiler
• 7:33:02
  and I arm in arm, and Torrents following behind, with the deed in
• 7:33:06
  his pocket and a covered basket in his hand. All through the town the
• 7:33:11
  lawyer was bowing right and left, and continually being buttonholed by gentlemen on matters
• 7:33:17
  of burgh or private business, and I could see he was one greatly looked
• 7:33:21
  up to in the county. At last we were clear of the houses and
• 7:33:25
  began to go along the side of the haven and towards the Haw's Inn and
• 7:33:29
  the Fairy Pier, the scene of my misfortune. I could not look upon
• 7:33:33
  the place without emotion, recalling how many that had been there with me that
• 7:33:37
  day were now no more ransom taken. I could hope from the evil to
• 7:33:42
  come. Shuan passed where I dared not follow him, and the poor souls
• 7:33:48
  that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge. All these and
• 7:33:52
  the brig herself, I had outlived and come through these hardships and fearful perils
• 7:33:57
  without scathe. My only thought should have been of gratitude. And yet I
• 7:34:03
  could not behold the place without sorrow for others and a chill of recollected fear.
• 7:34:08
  I was so thinking when upon a sudden mister Wrangkeeler cried out, clapped
• 7:34:15
  his hand to his pockets, and began to laugh. Why he cries,
• 7:34:21
  if this be not a forcical adventure? After all that I said, I
• 7:34:25
  have forgot my glasses. At that, of course, I understood the purpose
• 7:34:30
  of his anecdote, and knew that if he had left his spectacles at home,
• 7:34:34
  it had been done on purpose, so that he might have the benefit
• 7:34:37
  of Allan's help without the awkwardness of recognizing him. And indeed it was well
• 7:34:44
  thought upon, for now supposed things to go the very worst. How could
• 7:34:48
  Raankeller swear to my friend's identity, or how be made to bear damaging evidence
• 7:34:53
  against myself? For all that he had been a long while of finding out
• 7:34:59
  his wont and had spoken to and recognized a good few persons as we came
• 7:35:03
  through the town, and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well.
• 7:35:10
  As soon as we were past the haws, where I recognized the landlord
• 7:35:14
  smoking his pipe at the door, and was amazed to see him look no
• 7:35:18
  older, mister Rangkeeler changed the order of march, walking behind with torrents and
• 7:35:23
  sending me forward in the manner of a scout. I went up the hill,
• 7:35:27
  whistling from time to time my gallic air, and at length I had
• 7:35:32
  the pleasure to hear it answered, and to see Alan rise from behind a
• 7:35:36
  bush. He was somewhat dashed in spirits, having passed a long day alone
• 7:35:41
  skulking in the county, and made but a poor meal in an ale house
• 7:35:45
  near Dundas. But at the mere sight of my clothes he began to brighten
• 7:35:49
  up. And as soon as I had told him in what a forward state
• 7:35:52
  our manners were, and the part I looked to him to play in what
• 7:35:56
  remained, he sprang into a new man. And this is a very good
• 7:36:02
  notion of yours, said he. And I dared to say that you could
• 7:36:06
  lay your hands upon no better man to put it through than Alan Brick.
• 7:36:11
  It is not a thing, Markya, that any one could do, but
• 7:36:14
  takes a gentleman of penetration, but it sticks in my head. Your lawyer
• 7:36:18
  man will be somewhat wearying to see me, says Allan. Accordingly, I
• 7:36:25
  cried and waved on mister Rangkeler, who came up alone and was presented to
• 7:36:29
  my friend mister Thompson. Mister Thompson, I am pleased to meet you,
• 7:36:34
  said he, But I have forgotten my glasses, and our friend mister David
• 7:36:40
  here, clapping me on the shoulder, will tell you that I am little
• 7:36:44
  better than blind, and that you must not be surprised if I pass you
• 7:36:48
  by tomorrow. This he said, thinking that Allan would be pleased. But
• 7:36:52
  the Highlandman's vanity was ready to straddle at a less manner than that. Why,
• 7:36:57
  sir, says he stiffly, I would say it mattered the less,
• 7:37:02
  as we are met here for a particular end, to see just ae stunned
• 7:37:07
  to mister Balfour, and by what I can see, not very likely to
• 7:37:11
  have much else in common. But I accept your apology, which was a
• 7:37:15
  very proper one to make, and that is more than I could look for,
• 7:37:21
  mister Thompson, said Rancadler heartily. And now as you and I are
• 7:37:26
  the chief actors, in this enterprise. I think we should come into a
• 7:37:29
  nice agreement, to which end I propose that you should lend me your arm.
• 7:37:33
  For what were the dusk and the want of my glasses. I'm not
• 7:37:37
  very clear as to the path. And as for you, mister David,
• 7:37:41
  you will find Torrents a pleasant kind of body to speak with. Only let
• 7:37:45
  me remind you it's quite needless he should hear more of your adventures or those
• 7:37:52
  of ahem, mister Thompson. Accordingly, these two went on ahead in very
• 7:37:57
  close talk, and Torre and I brought up the rear. Night was quite
• 7:38:03
  come when we came in view of the House of Shaws. Ten had been
• 7:38:07
  gone some time. It was dark and mild, with a pleasant rustling wind
• 7:38:11
  in the southwest that covered the sound of our approach, And as we drew
• 7:38:15
  near we saw no glimmer of light in any portion of the building. It
• 7:38:19
  seemed my uncle was already in bed, which was indeed the best thing for
• 7:38:23
  our arrangements. We made our last whispered consultation some fifty yards away, and
• 7:38:29
  then the lawyer and Torrents and I crept quietly up and crouched down beside the
• 7:38:33
  corner of the house, and as soon as we were in our places,
• 7:38:37
  Alan strode to the door without concealment, and began to knock. End of
• 7:38:44
  chapter Chapter twenty nine. I come into my kingdom. For some time Alan
• 7:38:52
  volleyed upon the door, and his knocking only roused the echoes of the house
• 7:38:56
  and neighborhood. At last, however, I could hear the noise of a
• 7:39:00
  window gently thrust up, and knew that my uncle had come to his observatory.
• 7:39:06
  By what light there was, he could see Allan standing like a dark
• 7:39:08
  shadow on the steps. The three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view,
• 7:39:14
  so that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house.
• 7:39:18
  For all that he studied his visitor awhile in silence, and when he
• 7:39:22
  spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving. What's this? Says he?
• 7:39:27
  This is no kind of time of night for decent folk, and I have
• 7:39:32
  no trackings with nighthawks. What brings ye hair? I have a blunderbush?
• 7:39:38
  Is that yourself? Mister Balfour, returned Alan, stepping back and looking up
• 7:39:42
  into the darkness, Have a care of that blunderbuss. They're nasty things to
• 7:39:47
  burst what brings ye hair? And what are yeh? Says my uncle angrily.
• 7:39:53
  I have no matter of inclination to rout out my name to the countryside,
• 7:39:57
  said Alan. But what brings me here is another story, being more
• 7:40:03
  of your affair than mine. And if you're sure it's what you would like,
• 7:40:07
  I'll set it to a tune and sing it to you. And what
• 7:40:11
  is it, asked my uncle David, says Alan. What was that?
• 7:40:18
  Cried my uncle in a mighty changed voice. Shall I give you the rest
• 7:40:22
  of the name, then said Alan. There was a pause, and then
• 7:40:27
  I'm thinking I better let you in, said my uncle. Doubtfully I dare
• 7:40:34
  say that, said Alan. But the point is, would I go now?
• 7:40:40
  I will tell you what I am thinking. I am thinking that it
• 7:40:42
  is here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this business, and it
• 7:40:47
  shall be here or nowhere at all whatever. For I would have you to
• 7:40:51
  understand that I am as stiff necked as yourself, and a gentleman of better
• 7:40:55
  family. This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer. He was a little wild digesting
• 7:41:00
  it, and then says he will will what must be must and shut the
• 7:41:08
  window. But it took him a long time to get downstairs, and a
• 7:41:12
  still longer to undo the fastenings, repenting, I dare say, and taking
• 7:41:18
  with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar.
• 7:41:22
  At last, however, we heard the creak of the hinges, and seems
• 7:41:26
  my uncle slipped gingerly out, and, seeing that Alan had stepped back a
• 7:41:32
  pace or two, set him down on the top doorstep, with the blunderbuss
• 7:41:36
  ready in his hands. And now says he, mind, I have my
• 7:41:41
  blunderbush, and if you take a step nearer, you're as good as deed.
• 7:41:47
  That very civil speech, says Alan. To be sure, Nah,
• 7:41:52
  says my uncle, but this is no very chanty kind of a proceeding,
• 7:41:56
  and then bound to be prepared. And now that if we understand each other,
• 7:42:02
  you can name your business, Why says Alan, You that are a
• 7:42:07
  man of so much understanding, will doubtless have perceived that I am a highland
• 7:42:11
  gentleman. My name is no business in my story. But the county of
• 7:42:15
  my friends is not so very far from the Isle of Mull, of which
• 7:42:21
  you will have heard. It seems there was a ship lost in those parts,
• 7:42:25
  and the next day a gentleman of my family was seeking wreck wood for
• 7:42:29
  his fire along the sands when he came upon a lad that was half drowned.
• 7:42:34
  Well, he brought him too, and he and some other gentleman took
• 7:42:38
  and clapped him in an old, ruined castle, where from that day to
• 7:42:42
  this he has been a great expense to my friends. My friends are a
• 7:42:47
  wee wildlike, not so particular about the law as some that I could name,
• 7:42:52
  and finding that the lad owned some decent folk, and was your born
• 7:42:56
  nephew, mister Balfour, they asked me to give you a bit to call
• 7:43:00
  and confer upon the matter. And I may tell ya at the off go
• 7:43:04
  unless we can agree upon some terms, you are little likely to set eyes
• 7:43:08
  upon him. For my friends added Allan, simply, I'm no very well
• 7:43:14
  off. My uncle cleared his throat. I'm no very caring, says he.
• 7:43:22
  He wasn't a good lad at the best of it, and i'dn called
• 7:43:25
  interfear. Ay, Ay, said Alan, I see what you would be
• 7:43:30
  at pretending you don't care to make the ransom smaller, Nah, said my
• 7:43:36
  uncle. It's the mere truth. I take no matter interest in the lad,
• 7:43:41
  and I pay no ransom, and you can make a kirk and a
• 7:43:45
  mill of him for what I care. Hoot, sir, says Allan.
• 7:43:49
  Bloodsticker than water in the devil's name. You cannot desert your brother's son for
• 7:43:56
  the fair shame of it. And if you did and it came to be
• 7:43:59
  Kent, you wouldn't be very popular in your countryside, or I'm the more
• 7:44:03
  deceived, I know, very popular the way it is returned ebb Aezer.
• 7:44:10
  And I didnast see how it would come to be Kent. No by me
• 7:44:14
  anyway, nor yet by you or your friends. So that's idle talk me,
• 7:44:18
  Bucky says. He then'll have to be David, that tells it,
• 7:44:23
  said Allan. How's that? Says my uncle sharply? Oh just this way,
• 7:44:32
  says Allan. My friends would doubtless keep your nephew as long as there
• 7:44:36
  was any likelihood of silly to be made of it. But if there was
• 7:44:40
  none, I am clearly of opinion they would let him gang where he pleased
• 7:44:44
  and be damned to him. Aye. But I'm no very caring about that
• 7:44:48
  either, said my uncle. I wouldn't be muckle made up with that.
• 7:44:55
  I was thinkin that, said Allan. And what for why? Asked Ebenezer.
• 7:45:03
  Why mister Balfour, replied Alan, by all that I could hear there
• 7:45:07
  were two ways of it. Either you liked David and would pay to get
• 7:45:11
  him back, or else she had very good reasons for not wanting him and
• 7:45:15
  would pay for us to keep him. It seems as not the first.
• 7:45:21
  Well, then it's the second, and blithem I to Kennet, for it
• 7:45:25
  should be a pretty penny in my pocket and the pocket of my friends.
• 7:45:29
  I didn't follow you there, said my uncle. No, said Allan,
• 7:45:36
  Well see here you didn't want the lad back. Well, what do you
• 7:45:41
  want done with him? And how much will ye pay? My uncle made
• 7:45:45
  no answer, but shifted uneasily on his seat. Come, sir, cried
• 7:45:51
  Alan, I would have you to ken that I am a gentleman, I
• 7:45:55
  bear a king's name. I am no frighter to kick my shanks at your
• 7:45:59
  hall door. Either give me an answer in civility and that out of hand,
• 7:46:03
  or by the top of Glencoe, I will ram three feet of iron
• 7:46:07
  through your vitals. Amen, cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet.
• 7:46:14
  Give me a minute. What's like wrong with ye? I'm just a plain
• 7:46:18
  man and no dancing manster and I'm trying to be as civil as as morally
• 7:46:22
  possible. As for that wild talk is fair disreputable vitals as you. And
• 7:46:30
  where would I be with my blunderbush? He snarled, powder, and your
• 7:46:34
  old hands are but as the snail to the swallow against the bright steel in
• 7:46:38
  the hands of Allan, says the other. Before your dotterin finger could find
• 7:46:44
  the trigger, the hilt would dirl on your Breastbane. Amen, where's denying
• 7:46:49
  it? Says my uncle? Pitied as ye, please hat your own way.
• 7:46:56
  I do nothing to cross ye. Just tell me what you'll be want
• 7:47:00
  and you'll see that we can agree. Fine troth, sir, said Alan.
• 7:47:06
  I ask for nothin' but plain dealin in two words? Do you want
• 7:47:11
  the land killed or kept? Oh? Sirs, cried Ebenezer. Oh,
• 7:47:18
  sirs me, that's no kind of language killed or kept, repeated Allan.
• 7:47:23
  Oh keep it, keep it, wailed my uncle. We'll headn' no bloodshed
• 7:47:30
  if you please, well, said Allan. As you please, that'll be
• 7:47:34
  the dearer. The dearer, cries Ebenezer. Would yer file your hands with
• 7:47:41
  crime, hoot, said Alan. They're both crime whatever, and the killing's
• 7:47:48
  easier and quicker and surer. Keeping the laddle be a fascist job, a
• 7:47:52
  fascist kittle business. I'll have him keep to Thoe, returned my uncle.
• 7:47:59
  I never had nothing to do with anything morally wrong, and I'm not going
• 7:48:03
  to begin to pleasure a wild hyglaman. You're uncle scrupulous, sneered Alan.
• 7:48:10
  I'm a man of principle, said Ebenezer, simply. And if I have
• 7:48:15
  to pay for it, I'll have to pay for it. And besides,
• 7:48:18
  says he, ye forgot the lad's my brother's son. Well well, said
• 7:48:25
  Alan. And now about the price, there's no very easy for me to
• 7:48:29
  set a name upon it. I would first have to ken some small matters.
• 7:48:33
  I would have to ken, for instance, what you gave Hose season
• 7:48:36
  at the first off go ho season? Cries my uncle struck back. What
• 7:48:42
  for for kidnapping? David, says Allan, it's a lie, It's a
• 7:48:49
  black lie, cried my uncle. He was never kidnapped. He light in
• 7:48:55
  his throat that he told you that kidnapped. He never was. That's no
• 7:49:00
  fault of mine, nor yet of yours, said Alan, nor yet of
• 7:49:04
  Hose seasons. If he's a man that can be trusted, what do you
• 7:49:08
  mean cried Ebeneezer, did hose Season, tell ye why you dunnered old Romt
• 7:49:15
  how else? Wou I can cried Alan host Season and me are partners,
• 7:49:21
  We gang shares. So you can see for yourself what good you can do
• 7:49:25
  lyon. And I must plainly say you drove a fool's bargain when you let
• 7:49:29
  a man like the sailorman so far forward in your private matters. But that's
• 7:49:33
  past praying for. And you must lie on your bed the way you made
• 7:49:37
  it. And the point in hand is just this. What did ye pay
• 7:49:41
  him? Has he told ye himself? Asked my uncle? That's my concern,
• 7:49:49
  said Alan, Well, said my uncle, I didn't care what he
• 7:49:55
  said. He lied, And the solemn God's truth is this that I gave
• 7:49:59
  him twe But I'll be perfectly honest with ye, for by that he was
• 7:50:04
  to have the sellin of the lad in Kierlini wilk would be his mucklemare,
• 7:50:10
  but nor from my pocket, ye see, Thank you, mister Thompson.
• 7:50:15
  That will do excellently well, said the lawyer, stepping forward. And then
• 7:50:19
  mighty civilly good evening, mister Balfour, said he, And good evening,
• 7:50:26
  Uncle Ebenezer said, I, and it's te braun Nick. Mister Balfour added
• 7:50:32
  Torrance never a word, said my uncle, neither black nor white, but
• 7:50:37
  just sat where he was on the top doorstep and stared upon us like a
• 7:50:41
  man turned to stone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss, and the lawyer,
• 7:50:45
  taking him by the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, led him
• 7:50:49
  into the kitchen, whither we all followed, and set him down in a
• 7:50:53
  chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out, and only a rush
• 7:50:56
  light burning there. We all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly
• 7:51:03
  in our success, but yet with a sort of pity for the man's shame.
• 7:51:08
  Come, Come, mister Ebeneezer, said the lawyer. You must not
• 7:51:12
  be downhearted, for I promise you we shall make easy terms. In the
• 7:51:18
  meanwhile, give us the cellar key, and Torrance shall draw us a bottle
• 7:51:22
  of your father's wine in honor of the event. Then, turning to me
• 7:51:26
  and taking me by the hand, mister David says he I wish you all
• 7:51:32
  joy in your good fortune, which I believed to be deserved. And then
• 7:51:37
  to allan with a spice of drollery, mister Thompson, I'd pay you my
• 7:51:41
  compliment. It was most artfully conducted, but in one point you somewhat outran
• 7:51:47
  my comprehension. Do I understand your name to be James or Charles? Or
• 7:51:52
  is it George perhaps? And why should it be any of the three?
• 7:51:57
  Sir, quoth Allan, drawing himself up like one who smelt an efence.
• 7:52:03
  Only, Sir, that you mentioned a king's name, replied Renkeiler. And
• 7:52:08
  as there has never yet been a king Thomson, or his fame at least
• 7:52:14
  has never come my way, I judged you must refer to that you had
• 7:52:18
  in baptism. This was just the stab that Allan would feel keenest, and
• 7:52:22
  I am free to confess. He took it very ill. Not a word
• 7:52:26
  would he answer, but stepped off to the far end of the kitchen and
• 7:52:30
  sat down and sulked. And it was not till I stepped after him and
• 7:52:34
  gave him my hand and thanked him by title as the chief spring of my
• 7:52:38
  success, that he began to smile a bit, and was at last prevailed
• 7:52:42
  upon to join our party. By that time we had the fire lighted and
• 7:52:48
  a bottle of wine uncorked. A good supper came out of the basket,
• 7:52:52
  to which Torrance and I and Alan set ourselves down, while the lawyer and
• 7:52:56
  my uncle passed into the next chamber to consult. They stayed there closeted about
• 7:53:00
  an hour, at the end of which period they had come to a good
• 7:53:04
  understanding, and my uncle and I set our hands to the agreement in a
• 7:53:08
  formal manner. By the terms of this, my uncle bound himself to satisfy
• 7:53:14
  Rahnkyler as to his intermissions, and to pay me two clear thirds of the
• 7:53:18
  yearly income of shawls. So the beggar in the ballot had come home.
• 7:53:23
  And when I had laid down that night on the kitchen chests, I was
• 7:53:27
  a man of means and had a name in the country. Allan and Torrance
• 7:53:32
  and Wren Kyler slept and snored on their hard beds. But for me,
• 7:53:36
  who had lain out under heaven and upon dirt and stones, so many days
• 7:53:41
  and nights, and often with an empty belly, and in fear of death,
• 7:53:45
  this good change of my case unmanned me more than any of the former
• 7:53:48
  evil ones. And I lay till dawn, looking at the fire on the
• 7:53:52
  roof, and planning the future end of chapter