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20 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Adventure Books Library

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Chapter twenty. The flight in the heather the rocks. Sometimes we walked,
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sometimes ran, and as it drew on to morning, walked ever the less,
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and ran the more. Though upon its face that country appeared to be
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a desert, yet there were huts and houses of the people, of which
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we must have passed more than twenty, hidden in quiet places of the hills.
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When we came to one of these, Alan would leave me in the
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way and go himself and rap upon the side of the house, and speak
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awhile at the window, with some sleeper awakened. This was to pass the
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news, which in that country was so much of a duty that allan must
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pause to attend to it, even while fleeing for his life, and so
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well attended to by others that in more than half of the houses where we
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called they had already heard of the murder. In the others as well as
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I could make out, standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue,
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the news was received with more consternation then surprise. For all our hurry
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day began to come in while we were still far from any shelter. It
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found us in a prodigious valley strewn with rocks, and where ran a foaming
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river. Wild mountains stood around it. There grew there neither grass nor trees,
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And I have sometimes thought since then that it may have been the valley
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called Glencoe, where the massacre was in the time of King William. But
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for the details of our itinerary, I am all to seek our way,
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lying now by short cuts, now by great detours, our pace being so
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hurried our time of journeying, usually by night, and the names of such
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places, as I asked and heard, being in the Gaelic tongue, and
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the more easily forgotten. The first peep of morning then showed us this horrible
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place, and I could see Allan knit his brow. This is no fit
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place for you and me, he said, this is the place they're bound
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to watch. And with that he ran harder than ever down to the water
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side, in a part where the river was split in two among three rocks.
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It went through with a horrid thundering that made my belly quake, and
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there hung over the line a little mist of spray. Alan looked neither to
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the right nor to the left, but jumped clean upon the middle rock,
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and fell there on his hands and knees to check himself, for that rock
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was small, and he might have pitched over on the far side. I
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had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril before I had
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followed him, and he had caught and stopped me. So there we stood
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side by side upon a small rock, slippery with spray, a far broader
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leap in front of us, and the river dinning upon all sides. When
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I saw where I was, there came on me a deadly sickness of fear,
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and I put my hand over my eyes. Alan took me and shook
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me. I saw he was speaking, but the roaring of the falls and
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the trouble of my mind prevented me from hearing. Only I saw his face
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was red with anger, and that he stamped upon the rock. The same
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look showed me the water raging by, and the mist hanging in the air,
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And with that I covered my eyes again and shuddered. The next minute
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Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips and forced me to drink about
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a gill, which sent the blood into my head again. Then, putting
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his hands to his mouth and his mouth to my ear, he shouted,
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hang or drown, and, turning his back upon me, leaped over the
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farther branch of the stream and landed safe. I was now alone upon the
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rock, which gave me the more room. The brandy was singing in my
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ears. I had this good example fresh before me, and just wit enough
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to see that if I did not leap at once, I should never leap
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at all. I bent low on my knees and flung myself forth with that
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kind of anger of despair that has sometimes stood me instead of courage. Sure
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enough, it was but my hand ends that reached the full length. These
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slipped, but again slipped again, and I was slittering back into the linn
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when Alan seized me, first by the hair, then by the collar,
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and with a great strain, dragged me into safety. Never a word,
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he said, but set off running again for his life, and I must
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stagger to my feet and run after him. I had been weary before,
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but now I was sick and bruised, and partly drunken with the brandy.
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I kept stumbling as I ran. I had a stitch that came near to
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overmaster me. And when at last Alan paused under a great rock that stood
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there among a number of others. It was none too soon for David Balfour.
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A great rock, I have said, But by rights it was two
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rocks, leaning together at the top, both some twenty feet high, and
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at the first sight inaccessible. Even Allan, though you may say he had
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as good as four hands, failed twice in an attack empt to climb them.
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And it was only at the third trial, and then by standing on
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my shoulders and leaping up with such force as I thought must have broken my
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collar bone, that he secured a lodgment. Once there he let down his
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leathern girdle, and with the aid of that and a pair of shallow footholds
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in the rock, I scrambled up beside him. Then I saw why we
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had come there, For the two rocks, being both somewhat hollow at the
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top and sloping one to the other, made a kind of dish or saucer,
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where as many as three or four men might have lain hidden. All
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this while Allan had not said a word, and had run and climbed with
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such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry, that I knew that he was
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in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even now we were on the rock.
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He said nothing, nor so much as relaxed the frowning look upon his face,
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but clapped flat down, and, keeping only one eye above the edge
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of our place of shelter, scouted all round the compass. The dawn had
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come quiet clear. We could see the stony sides of the valley and its
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bottom, which was bestrewed with rocks, and the river, which went from
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one side to another and made white falls. But nowhere the smoke of a
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house, nor any living creature, but some eagles screaming round a cliff.
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Then at last Allan smiled, Aye said he now we have a chance,
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And then, looking at me with some amusement, you're no very gleg at
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the jumping, said he. At this I suppose I colored with mortification,
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for he added at once oots small blame to ye. To be feared of
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a thing, and yet to do it is what makes the prettiest kind of
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a man. And then there was water there, and water's a thing that
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Daunton's even me. No, no, said Allan, is no youth.
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That's to blame. It's me. I asked him. Why, why,
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said he? I have proved myself a gum or all this night? For
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first of all, I take a wrong road, and that in my own
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country have appened so that the day has caught us where we should never have
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been. And thanks to that we lie here in some danger and mere discomfort.
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And next, which is the worst of the two, For a man
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that has been so much among the heather as myself, I have come want
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in a water bottle, and here we lie for a long summer's day with
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nothing but neat spirit. Ye may think that a small matter, But before
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comes night, David, y give me news of it. I was anxious
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to redeem my character, and offered if he would pour out the brandy to
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run down and fill the bottle at the river. It would not waste a
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good spirit either, says he, it's been a good friend to you this
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night, or in my poor opinion, you would still be cocking on yon
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Stone. And what's more, says he, you may have observed you.
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That's a matter so much penetration that Alan breck Stewart was perhaps walking quicker than
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his ordinair. You, I cried, you were running fit to burst.
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It was eh so, says he, Well, then you may depend upon
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it. There was no time to be lost, and now here is enough,
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said, Gang you to your sleep, lad, and I'll watch accordingly.
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I lay down to sleep. A little peaty earth had drifted dim between
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the top of the two rocks, and some bracken grew there to be a
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bed to me. The last thing I heard was still the crying of the
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eagles. I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was
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roughly awakened and found Allan's hand pressed upon my mouth. Wished He whispered,
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you are snoring, well, said I, surprised at his anxious and dark
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face, And why not? He peered over the edge of the rock and
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signed me to do the like. It was now high day, cloudless,
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and very hot. The valley was as clear as in a picture. About
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half a mile up the water was a camp of red coats, A big
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fire blazed in their midst, at which some were cooking, And near by,
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on the top of a rock about as high as ours, there stood
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a sentry with the sun sparkling on his arms. All the way down along
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the river side were posted other sentries here near together there widel or scattered,
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some planted like the first on places of command, some on the ground level,
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and marching and countermarching so as to meet half way higher up the glen,
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where the ground was more open. The chain of posts was continued by
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horse soldiers, whom we could see in the distance, riding to and fro
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Lower down, the infantry continued, but as the stream was suddenly swelled by
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the confluence of a considerable burn, they were more widely set and only watched
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the fords and stepping stones. I took but one look at them, and
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ducked again into my place. It was strange, indeed, to see this
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valley, which had lain so solitary in the hour of dawn, bristling with
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arms, and dotted with the redcoats and breeches. You see, said Alan,
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This was what I was afraid of, Davy, that they would watch
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the burn side. They began to come in about two hours ago. And
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man, you're a grand hand at the sleepin'. We're in a narrow place.
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If they get up the sides of the hill, they could easy spy
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us with a glass. But if they'll only keep in the foot of the
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valley, we'll do. Yet posts are thinner down the water, and come
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night we'll try our hand to kitten buy them. And what are we to
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do till night. I asked, lie here, says he, and burstle
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that one good Scotch word bursil, was indeed the most of the story of
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the day that we had now to pass. You are to remember that we
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lay on the bare top of a rock like scones upon a girdle. The
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sun beat upon us cruelly, the rock grus so heated a man could scarce
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endure the touch of it, and the little patch of earth and fern which
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kept cooler was only large enough for one at a time. We took turn
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about to lie on the naked rock, which was indeed like the position of
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that saint that was martyred on a gridiron. And it ran in my mind
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how strange it was that, in the same climate, and at only a
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few days distance, I should have suffered so cruelly, first from cold upon
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my island, and now from heat upon this rock. All the while we
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had no water, only raw brandy for a drink, which was worse than
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nothing. But we kept the bottle as cool as we could, burying it
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in the earth, and got some relief by bathing our breasts and temples.
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The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley, now changing
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guard, now in patrolling parties, hunting among the rocks. These lay around
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in so great a number that to look for men among them was like looking
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for a needle in am bottle of hay, and being so hopeless a task,
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it was gone about with the less care. Yet we could see the
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soldiers poked their bayonets among the heather, which sent a cold thrill into my
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vitals, and they would sometimes hang about our rock, so that we scarce
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dared to breathe. It was in this way that I first heard the right
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English speech one fellow as he went by, actually clapping his hand upon the
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sunny face of the rock on which we lay, and plucking it off again
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with an oath. I tell you it's aught, says he. And I
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was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd sing song in which he spoke,
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and no less at that strange trick of dropping out the letter H.
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Be sure I had heard ransom, but he had taken his ways from all
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sorts of people, and spoke so imperfectly at the best that I set down
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the most of it to childishness. My surprise was all the greater to hear
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that manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown man, and indeed I
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have never grown used to it, nor yet altogether with the English grammar,
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as perhaps a very critical eye might here and there spy out. Even in
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these memoirs. The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only
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the greater as the day went on, the rock getting still the hotter,
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and the sun fiercer. There were giddiness and sickness, and sharp hangs like
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rheumatism to be supported. I minded then, and have often minded since,
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on the lines in our Scotch Psalm. The moon by night thee shall not
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smite, nor yet the sun by day. And indeed it was only by
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God's blessing that we were neither of us sun smitten. At last, about
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two it was beyond men's bearing, and there was now temptation to resist,
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as well as pain to thull. For the sun being now got a little
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into the west. There came a patch of shade on the east side of
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our rock, which was the side sheltered from the soldiers as well. One
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day, Yeah, as another said Alan, and slipped over the edge and
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dropped on the ground on the shadowy side. I followed him at once and
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instantly fell all my length. So weak was I and so giddy with that
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long exposure. Here then we lay for an hour or two, aching from
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head to foot, as weak as water, and lying quite naked to the
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eye of any soldier who should have strolled that way. None came, however,
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all passing by on the other side, so that our rock continued to
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be our shield even in this new position. Presently we began again to get
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a little strength, and as the soldiers were now lying closer along the river
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side, Alan proposed that we should try a start. I was by this
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time afraid of but one thing in the world, and that was to be
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set back upon the rock. Anything else was welcome to me. So we
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got ourselves at once in marching order, and began to slip from rock to
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rock, one after the other, now crawling for flat on our bellies in
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the shade, now making a run for it, heart in mouth. The
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soldiers, having searched this side of the valley after a fashion, and being
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perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon, had now laid by much
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of their vigilance, and stood dozing at their posts, or only kept a
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lookout along the banks of the river, so that in this way, keeping
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down the valley and at the same time towards the mountains, we drew steadily
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away from their neighborhood. But the business was the most wearing I have ever
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taken part in. A man had need of a hundred eyes in every part
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of him to keep concealed in that uneven country, and within cry of so
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many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an open place, quickness was
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not all but a swift judgment not only of the lie of the whole country,
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but of the solidity of every stone on which we must set foot.
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For the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that the rolling of a pebble sounded
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abroad like a pistol shot, and would start the echo calling among the hills
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and cliffs. By sundown we had made some distance, even by our slow
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rate of progress, though to be sure, the sentry on the rock was
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still plainly in our view. But now we came on something that put all
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fears out of season, and that was a deep, rushing burn that tore
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down in that part to join the Glen River. At the sight of this
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we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in the water.
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And I cannot tell which was the more pleasant, the great shock as the
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cool stream went over us, or the greed with which we drank of it.
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We lay there, for the banks hid us, drank again, and
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again, bathed our chests, let our wrists trail in the running water till
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they ached with the chill, And at last, being wonderfully renewed, we
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got out the meal bag and make drummach in the iron Pand this, though
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it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal, yet makes a good enough dish
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for a hungry man. And whe there are no means of making fire,
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or as in our case, good reason for not making one, It is
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the chief stand by of those who have taken to the heather. As soon
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as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set forth again, at
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first with the same caution, but presently with more boldness, standing our full
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height and stepping out at a good pace of walking. The way was very
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intricate, lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs.
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Clouds had come in with the sunset, and the night was dark and
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cool, so that I walked without much fatigue, but in continual appear of
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falling and rolling down the mountains, and with no guess at our direction.
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The moon rose at last and found us still on the road. It was
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in its last quarter and was long beset with clouds, but after a while
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shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains, and was reflected far
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underneath us on the narrow arm of a sea lock. At this sight we
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both paused. I struck with wonder to find myself so high and walking,
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as it seemed to me, upon clouds, allan to make sure of his
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direction. Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly have judged us
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out of earshot of all our enemies, for throughout the rest of our night
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march, he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes, warlike, merry,
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plaintive, real tunes that made the foot go faster, tunes of my
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own south country that made me feign to be home from my adventures in all
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these on the great dark desert mountains, making company upon the way. End of chapter