KIDNAPPED BEING MEMOIRS OF THE ADVENTURES OF DAVID BALFOUR IN THE YEAR 1751

 HOW HE WAS KIDNAPPED AND CAST AWAY; HIS SUFFERINGS IN A DESERT ISLE; HIS JOURNEY IN THE WILD HIGHLANDS; HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH ALAN BRECK STEWART AND OTHER NOTORIOUS HIGHLAND JACOBITES; WITH ALL THAT HE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF HIS UNCLE, EBENEZER BALFOUR OF SHAWS, FALSELY SO CALLED

 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF AND NOW SET FORTH BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON WITH A PREFACE BY MRS. STEVENSON

PREFACE TO THE BIOGRAPHICAL EDITION

While my husband and Mr. Henley were engaged in writing plays inBournemouth they made a number of titles, hoping to use them in thefuture. Dramatic composition was not what my husband preferred, butthe torrent of Mr. Henley's enthusiasm swept him off his feet. However, after several plays had been finished, and his health seriously impairedby his endeavours to keep up with Mr. Henley, play writing was abandonedforever, and my husband returned to his legitimate vocation. Havingadded one of the titles, The Hanging Judge, to the list of projectedplays, now thrown aside, and emboldened by my husband's offer to give meany help needed, I concluded to try and write it myself. 

As I wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the period of 1700for my purpose; but being shamefully ignorant of my subject, and myhusband confessing to little more knowledge than I possessed, a Londonbookseller was commissioned to send us everything he could procurebearing on Old Bailey trials. A great package came in response to ourorder, and very soon we were both absorbed, not so much in the trialsas in following the brilliant career of a Mr. Garrow, who appeared ascounsel in many of the cases. We sent for more books, and yet more, still intent on Mr. Garrow, whose subtle cross-examination of witnessesand masterly, if sometimes startling, methods of arriving at the truthseemed more thrilling to us than any novel. 

Occasionally other trials than those of the Old Bailey would be includedin the package of books we received from London; among these my husbandfound and read with avidity:--

 THE TRIAL OF JAMES STEWART in Aucharn in Duror of Appin FOR THE Murder of COLIN CAMPBELL of Glenure, Efq; Factor for His Majefty on the forfeited Estate of Ardfhiel. 

My husband was always interested in this period of his country'shistory, and had already the intention of writing a story that shouldturn on the Appin murder. The tale was to be of a boy, David Balfour, supposed to belong to my husband's own family, who should travel inScotland as though it were a foreign country, meeting with variousadventures and misadventures by the way. From the trial of James Stewartmy husband gleaned much valuable material for his novel, the mostimportant being the character of Alan Breck. Aside from having describedhim as "smallish in stature, " my husband seems to have taken AlanBreck's personal appearance, even to his clothing, from the book. 

A letter from James Stewart to Mr. John Macfarlane, introduced asevidence in the trial, says: "There is one Alan Stewart, a distantfriend of the late Ardshiel's, who is in the French service, and cameover in March last, as he said to some, in order to settle at home; toothers, that he was to go soon back; and was, as I hear, the day thatthe murder was committed, seen not far from the place where it happened, and is not now to be seen; by which it is believed he was the actor. Heis a desperate foolish fellow; and if he is guilty, came to the countryfor that very purpose. He is a tall, pock-pitted lad, very black hair, and wore a blue coat and metal buttons, an old red vest, and breeches ofthe same colour. " A second witness testified to having seen him wearing"a blue coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breeches, tartan hose, and a feathered hat, with a big coat, dun coloured, " acostume referred to by one of the counsel as "French cloathes which wereremarkable. "

There are many incidents given in the trial that point to Alan's fieryspirit and Highland quickness to take offence. One witness "declaredalso That the said Alan Breck threatened that he would challengeBallieveolan and his sons to fight because of his removing thedeclarant last year from Glenduror. " On another page: "Duncan Campbell, change-keeper at Annat, aged thirty-five years, married, witness cited, sworn, purged and examined ut supra, depones, That, in the month ofApril last, the deponent met with Alan Breck Stewart, with whom he wasnot acquainted, and John Stewart, in Auchnacoan, in the house of thewalk miller of Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house: AlanBreck Stewart said, that he hated all the name of Campbell; and thedeponent said, he had no reason for doing so: But Alan said, he had verygood reason for it: that thereafter they left that house; and, afterdrinking a dram at another house, came to the deponent's house, wherethey went in, and drunk some drams, and Alan Breck renewed the formerConversation; and the deponent, making the same answer, Alan said, that, if the deponent had any respect for his friends, he would tell them, that if they offered to turn out the possessors of Ardshiel's estate, hewould make black cocks of them, before they entered into possession bywhich the deponent understood shooting them, it being a common phrase inthe country. "

Some time after the publication of Kidnapped we stopped for a shortwhile in the Appin country, where we were surprised and interested todiscover that the feeling concerning the murder of Glenure (the "RedFox, " also called "Colin Roy") was almost as keen as though the tragedyhad taken place the day before. For several years my husband receivedletters of expostulation or commendation from members of the Campbelland Stewart clans. I have in my possession a paper, yellow with age, that was sent soon after the novel appeared, containing "The Pedigree ofthe Family of Appine, " wherein it is said that "Alan 3rd Baron of Appinewas not killed at Flowdoun, tho there, but lived to a great old age. Hemarried Cameron Daughter to Ewen Cameron of Lochiel. " Following thisis a paragraph stating that "John Stewart 1st of Ardsheall of hisdescendants Alan Breck had better be omitted. Duncan Baan Stewart inAchindarroch his father was a Bastard. "

One day, while my husband was busily at work, I sat beside him readingan old cookery book called The Compleat Housewife: or Accomplish'dGentlewoman's Companion. In the midst of receipts for "Rabbits, andChickens mumbled, Pickled Samphire, Skirret Pye, Baked Tansy, " andother forgotten delicacies, there were directions for the preparationof several lotions for the preservation of beauty. One of these was socharming that I interrupted my husband to read it aloud. "Just whatI wanted!" he exclaimed; and the receipt for the "Lily of the ValleyWater" was instantly incorporated into Kidnapped. 

F. V. DE G. S. 

DEDICATION

MY DEAR CHARLES BAXTER:

If you ever read this tale, you will likely ask yourself more questionsthan I should care to answer: as for instance how the Appin murder hascome to fall in the year 1751, how the Torran rocks have crept so nearto Earraid, or why the printed trial is silent as to all that touchesDavid Balfour. These are nuts beyond my ability to crack. But if youtried me on the point of Alan's guilt or innocence, I think I coulddefend the reading of the text. To this day you will find the traditionof Appin clear in Alan's favour. If you inquire, you may even hear thatthe descendants of "the other man" who fired the shot are in the countryto this day. But that other man's name, inquire as you please, you shallnot hear; for the Highlander values a secret for itself and for thecongenial exercise of keeping it I might go on for long to justify onepoint and own another indefensible; it is more honest to confess at oncehow little I am touched by the desire of accuracy. This is no furniturefor the scholar's library, but a book for the winter evening school-roomwhen the tasks are over and the hour for bed draws near; and honestAlan, who was a grim old fire-eater in his day has in this new avatarno more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attentionfrom his Ovid, carry him awhile into the Highlands and the last century, and pack him to bed with some engaging images to mingle with his dreams. 

As for you, my dear Charles, I do not even ask you to like this tale. But perhaps when he is older, your son will; he may then be pleased tofind his father's name on the fly-leaf; and in the meanwhile it pleasesme to set it there, in memory of many days that were happy and some (nowperhaps as pleasant to remember) that were sad. If it is strange forme to look back from a distance both in time and space on these bygoneadventures of our youth, it must be stranger for you who tread the samestreets--who may to-morrow open the door of the old Speculative, where we begin to rank with Scott and Robert Emmet and the beloved andinglorious Macbean--or may pass the corner of the close where that greatsociety, the L. J. R. , held its meetings and drank its beer, sitting inthe seats of Burns and his companions. I think I see you, moving thereby plain daylight, beholding with your natural eyes those places thathave now become for your companion a part of the scenery of dreams. How, in the intervals of present business, the past must echo in your memory!Let it not echo often without some kind thoughts of your friend, R. L. S. SKERRYVORE, BOURNEMOUTH. 

CONTENTS

 CHAPTER

 I I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS II I COME TO MY JOURNEY'S END III I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE IV I RUN A GREAT DANGER IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS V I GO TO THE QUEEN'S FERRY VI WHAT BEFELL AT THE QUEEN'S FERRY VII I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG "COVENANT" OF DYSART VIII THE ROUND-HOUSE IX THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD X THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE XI THE CAPTAIN KNUCKLES UNDER XII I HEAR OF THE "RED FOX" XIII THE LOSS OF THE BRIG XIV THE ISLET XV THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: THROUGH THE ISLE OF MULL XVI THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN XVII THE DEATH OF THE RED FOX XVIIII TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE XIX THE HOUSE OF FEAR XX THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS XXI THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH XXII THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR XXIII CLUNY'S CAGE XXIV THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE QUARREL IN BALQUHIDDER XXVI END OF THE FLIGHT: WE PASS THE FORTH XXVII I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR XXVIII I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE XXIX I COME INTO MY KINGDOM XXX GOOD-BYE

CHAPTER I

I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS

I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early inthe month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for thelast time out of the door of my father's house. The sun began to shineupon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the timeI had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in thegarden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time ofthe dawn was beginning to arise and die away. 

Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by thegarden gate, good man! He asked me if I had breakfasted; and hearingthat I lacked for nothing, he took my hand in both of his and clapped itkindly under his arm. 

"Well, Davie, lad, " said he, "I will go with you as far as the ford, toset you on the way. " And we began to walk forward in silence. 

"Are ye sorry to leave Essendean?" said he, after awhile. 

"Why, sir, " said I, "if I knew where I was going, or what was likelyto become of me, I would tell you candidly. Essendean is a good placeindeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I have never beenanywhere else. My father and mother, since they are both dead, I shallbe no nearer to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of Hungary, and, tospeak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself where I wasgoing I would go with a good will. "

"Ay?" said Mr. Campbell. "Very well, Davie. Then it behoves me to tellyour fortune; or so far as I may. When your mother was gone, and yourfather (the worthy, Christian man) began to sicken for his end, he gaveme in charge a certain letter, which he said was your inheritance. 'Sosoon, ' says he, 'as I am gone, and the house is redd up and the geardisposed of' (all which, Davie, hath been done), 'give my boy thisletter into his hand, and start him off to the house of Shaws, not farfrom Cramond. That is the place I came from, ' he said, 'and it's whereit befits that my boy should return. He is a steady lad, ' your fathersaid, 'and a canny goer; and I doubt not he will come safe, and be welllived where he goes. '"

"The house of Shaws!" I cried. "What had my poor father to do with thehouse of Shaws?"

"Nay, " said Mr. Campbell, "who can tell that for a surety? But the nameof that family, Davie, boy, is the name you bear--Balfours of Shaws:an ancient, honest, reputable house, peradventure in these latterdays decayed. Your father, too, was a man of learning as befitted hisposition; no man more plausibly conducted school; nor had he the manneror the speech of a common dominie; but (as ye will yourself remember)I took aye a pleasure to have him to the manse to meet the gentry; andthose of my own house, Campbell of Kilrennet, Campbell of Dunswire, Campbell of Minch, and others, all well-kenned gentlemen, had pleasurein his society. Lastly, to put all the elements of this affair beforeyou, here is the testamentary letter itself, superscrived by the ownhand of our departed brother. "

He gave me the letter, which was addressed in these words: "To the handsof Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire, of Shaws, in his house of Shaws, thesewill be delivered by my son, David Balfour. " My heart was beating hardat this great prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeenyears of age, the son of a poor country dominie in the Forest ofEttrick. 

"Mr. Campbell, " I stammered, "and if you were in my shoes, would yougo?"

"Of a surety, " said the minister, "that would I, and without pause. A pretty lad like you should get to Cramond (which is near in byEdinburgh) in two days of walk. If the worst came to the worst, andyour high relations (as I cannot but suppose them to be somewhat of yourblood) should put you to the door, ye can but walk the two days backagain and risp at the manse door. But I would rather hope that ye shallbe well received, as your poor father forecast for you, and for anythingthat I ken come to be a great man in time. And here, Davie, laddie, " heresumed, "it lies near upon my conscience to improve this parting, andset you on the right guard against the dangers of the world. "

Here he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a big boulderunder a birch by the trackside, sate down upon it with a very long, serious upper lip, and the sun now shining in upon us between two peaks, put his pocket-handkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter him. There, then, with uplifted forefinger, he first put me on my guard against aconsiderable number of heresies, to which I had no temptation, and urgedupon me to be instant in my prayers and reading of the Bible. That done, he drew a picture of the great house that I was bound to, and how Ishould conduct myself with its inhabitants. 

"Be soople, Davie, in things immaterial, " said he. "Bear ye this inmind, that, though gentle born, ye have had a country rearing. Dinnaeshame us, Davie, dinnae shame us! In yon great, muckle house, with allthese domestics, upper and under, show yourself as nice, as circumspect, as quick at the conception, and as slow of speech as any. As for thelaird--remember he's the laird; I say no more: honour to whom honour. It's a pleasure to obey a laird; or should be, to the young. "

"Well, sir, " said I, "it may be; and I'll promise you I'll try to makeit so. "

"Why, very well said, " replied Mr. Campbell, heartily. "And now to cometo the material, or (to make a quibble) to the immaterial. I have herea little packet which contains four things. " He tugged it, as he spoke, and with some great difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. "Ofthese four things, the first is your legal due: the little pickle moneyfor your father's books and plenishing, which I have bought (as I haveexplained from the first) in the design of re-selling at a profit tothe incoming dominie. The other three are gifties that Mrs. Campbell andmyself would be blithe of your acceptance. The first, which is round, will likely please ye best at the first off-go; but, O Davie, laddie, it's but a drop of water in the sea; it'll help you but a step, andvanish like the morning. The second, which is flat and square andwritten upon, will stand by you through life, like a good staff for theroad, and a good pillow to your head in sickness. And as for the last, which is cubical, that'll see you, it's my prayerful wish, into a betterland. "

With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a littlewhile aloud, and in affecting terms, for a young man setting out intothe world; then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard;then held me at arm's length, looking at me with his face all workingwith sorrow; and then whipped about, and crying good-bye to me, set offbackward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging run. It mighthave been laughable to another; but I was in no mind to laugh. I watchedhim as long as he was in sight; and he never stopped hurrying, nor oncelooked back. Then it came in upon my mind that this was all his sorrowat my departure; and my conscience smote me hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that quiet country-side, and go to a great, busy house, among rich and respected gentlefolk of myown name and blood. 

"Davie, Davie, " I thought, "was ever seen such black ingratitude? Canyou forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name?Fie, fie; think shame. "

And I sat down on the boulder the good man had just left, and opened theparcel to see the nature of my gifts. That which he had called cubical, I had never had much doubt of; sure enough it was a little Bible, tocarry in a plaid-neuk. That which he had called round, I found to be ashilling piece; and the third, which was to help me so wonderfully bothin health and sickness all the days of my life, was a little piece ofcoarse yellow paper, written upon thus in red ink:

"TO MAKE LILLY OF THE VALLEY WATER. --Take the flowers of lilly of thevalley and distil them in sack, and drink a spooneful or two as there isoccasion. It restores speech to those that have the dumb palsey. It isgood against the Gout; it comforts the heart and strengthens the memory;and the flowers, put into a Glasse, close stopt, and set into ane hillof ants for a month, then take it out, and you will find a liquor whichcomes from the flowers, which keep in a vial; it is good, ill or well, and whether man or woman. "

And then, in the minister's own hand, was added:

"Likewise for sprains, rub it in; and for the cholic, a great spoonefulin the hour. "

To be sure, I laughed over this; but it was rather tremulous laughter;and I was glad to get my bundle on my staff's end and set out over theford and up the hill upon the farther side; till, just as I came on thegreen drove-road running wide through the heather, I took my last lookof Kirk Essendean, the trees about the manse, and the big rowans in thekirkyard where my father and my mother lay. 

CHAPTER II

I COME TO MY JOURNEY'S END

On the forenoon of the second day, coming to the top of a hill, I sawall the country fall away before me down to the sea; and in the midstof this descent, on a long ridge, the city of Edinburgh smoking likea kiln. There was a flag upon the castle, and ships moving or lyinganchored in the firth; both of which, for as far away as they were, Icould distinguish clearly; and both brought my country heart into mymouth. 

Presently after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived, and got arough direction for the neighbourhood of Cramond; and so, from one toanother, worked my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton, tillI came out upon the Glasgow road. And there, to my great pleasure andwonder, I beheld a regiment marching to the fifes, every foot in time;an old red-faced general on a grey horse at the one end, and at theother the company of Grenadiers, with their Pope's-hats. The pride oflife seemed to mount into my brain at the sight of the red coats and thehearing of that merry music. 

A little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond parish, and beganto substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of Shaws. It was aword that seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way. At first Ithought the plainness of my appearance, in my country habit, and thatall dusty from the road, consorted ill with the greatness of the placeto which I was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had given me thesame look and the same answer, I began to take it in my head there wassomething strange about the Shaws itself. 

The better to set this fear at rest, I changed the form of my inquiries;and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the shaft of hiscart, I asked him if he had ever heard tell of a house they called thehouse of Shaws. 

He stopped his cart and looked at me, like the others. 

"Ay" said he. "What for?"

"It's a great house?" I asked. 

"Doubtless, " says he. "The house is a big, muckle house. "

"Ay, " said I, "but the folk that are in it?"

"Folk?" cried he. "Are ye daft? There's nae folk there--to call folk. "

"What?" say I; "not Mr. Ebenezer?"

"Ou, ay" says the man; "there's the laird, to be sure, if it's himyou're wanting. What'll like be your business, mannie?"

"I was led to think that I would get a situation, " I said, looking asmodest as I could. 

"What?" cries the carter, in so sharp a note that his very horsestarted; and then, "Well, mannie, " he added, "it's nane of my affairs;but ye seem a decent-spoken lad; and if ye'll take a word from me, ye'llkeep clear of the Shaws. "

The next person I came across was a dapper little man in a beautifulwhite wig, whom I saw to be a barber on his rounds; and knowing wellthat barbers were great gossips, I asked him plainly what sort of a manwas Mr. Balfour of the Shaws. 

"Hoot, hoot, hoot, " said the barber, "nae kind of a man, nae kind of aman at all;" and began to ask me very shrewdly what my business was;but I was more than a match for him at that, and he went on to his nextcustomer no wiser than he came. 

I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions. The moreindistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them, for they leftthe wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house was this, that allthe parish should start and stare to be asked the way to it? or whatsort of a gentleman, that his ill-fame should be thus current on thewayside? If an hour's walking would have brought me back to Essendean, had left my adventure then and there, and returned to Mr. Campbell's. But when I had come so far a way already, mere shame would not suffer meto desist till I had put the matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere self-respect, to carry it through; and little as I likedthe sound of what I heard, and slow as I began to travel, I still keptasking my way and still kept advancing. 

It was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout, dark, sour-lookingwoman coming trudging down a hill; and she, when I had put my usualquestion, turned sharp about, accompanied me back to the summit she hadjust left, and pointed to a great bulk of building standing very bareupon a green in the bottom of the next valley. The country was pleasantround about, running in low hills, pleasantly watered and wooded, andthe crops, to my eyes, wonderfully good; but the house itself appearedto be a kind of ruin; no road led up to it; no smoke arose from any ofthe chimneys; nor was there any semblance of a garden. My heart sank. "That!" I cried. 

The woman's face lit up with a malignant anger. "That is the house ofShaws!" she cried. "Blood built it; blood stopped the building of it;blood shall bring it down. See here!" she cried again--"I spit uponthe ground, and crack my thumb at it! Black be its fall! If ye see thelaird, tell him what ye hear; tell him this makes the twelve hunner andnineteen time that Jennet Clouston has called down the curse on himand his house, byre and stable, man, guest, and master, wife, miss, orbairn--black, black be their fall!"

And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone. I stood where she left me, with myhair on end. In those days folk still believed in witches and trembledat a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrestme ere I carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs. 

I sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws. The more I looked, the pleasanter that country-side appeared; being all set with hawthornbushes full of flowers; the fields dotted with sheep; a fine flight ofrooks in the sky; and every sign of a kind soil and climate; and yet thebarrack in the midst of it went sore against my fancy. 

Country folk went by from the fields as I sat there on the side of theditch, but I lacked the spirit to give them a good-e'en. At last the sunwent down, and then, right up against the yellow sky, I saw a scroll ofsmoke go mounting, not much thicker, as it seemed to me, than the smokeof a candle; but still there it was, and meant a fire, and warmth, andcookery, and some living inhabitant that must have lit it; and thiscomforted my heart. 

So I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that led in mydirection. It was very faint indeed to be the only way to a placeof habitation; yet I saw no other. Presently it brought me to stoneuprights, with an unroofed lodge beside them, and coats of arms uponthe top. A main entrance it was plainly meant to be, but never finished;instead of gates of wrought iron, a pair of hurdles were tied acrosswith a straw rope; and as there were no park walls, nor any sign ofavenue, the track that I was following passed on the right hand of thepillars, and went wandering on toward the house. 

The nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It seemed like theone wing of a house that had never been finished. What should have beenthe inner end stood open on the upper floors, and showed against the skywith steps and stairs of uncompleted masonry. Many of the windows wereunglazed, and bats flew in and out like doves out of a dove-cote. 

The night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of the lowerwindows, which were very high up and narrow, and well barred, thechanging light of a little fire began to glimmer. Was this the palaceI had been coming to? Was it within these walls that I was to seeknew friends and begin great fortunes? Why, in my father's house onEssen-Waterside, the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away, and the door open to a beggar's knock!

I came forward cautiously, and giving ear as I came, heard some onerattling with dishes, and a little dry, eager cough that came in fits;but there was no sound of speech, and not a dog barked. 

The door, as well as I could see it in the dim light, was a great pieceof wood all studded with nails; and I lifted my hand with a faint heartunder my jacket, and knocked once. Then I stood and waited. The househad fallen into a dead silence; a whole minute passed away, and nothingstirred but the bats overhead. I knocked again, and hearkened again. By this time my ears had grown so accustomed to the quiet, that Icould hear the ticking of the clock inside as it slowly counted out theseconds; but whoever was in that house kept deadly still, and must haveheld his breath. 

I was in two minds whether to run away; but anger got the upper hand, and I began instead to rain kicks and buffets on the door, and to shoutout aloud for Mr. Balfour. I was in full career, when I heard the coughright overhead, and jumping back and looking up, beheld a man's headin a tall nightcap, and the bell mouth of a blunderbuss, at one of thefirst-storey windows. 

"It's loaded, " said a voice. 

"I have come here with a letter, " I said, "to Mr. Ebenezer Balfour ofShaws. Is he here?"

"From whom is it?" asked the man with the blunderbuss. 

"That is neither here nor there, " said I, for I was growing very wroth. 

"Well, " was the reply, "ye can put it down upon the doorstep, and be offwith ye. "

"I will do no such thing, " I cried. "I will deliver it into Mr. Balfour's hands, as it was meant I should. It is a letter ofintroduction. "

"A what?" cried the voice, sharply. 

I repeated what I had said. 

"Who are ye, yourself?" was the next question, after a considerablepause. 

"I am not ashamed of my name, " said I. "They call me David Balfour. "

At that, I made sure the man started, for I heard the blunderbuss rattleon the window-sill; and it was after quite a long pause, and with acurious change of voice, that the next question followed:

"Is your father dead?"

I was so much surprised at this, that I could find no voice to answer, but stood staring. 

"Ay" the man resumed, "he'll be dead, no doubt; and that'll be whatbrings ye chapping to my door. " Another pause, and then defiantly, "Well, man, " he said, "I'll let ye in;" and he disappeared from thewindow. 

CHAPTER III

I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE

Presently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts, and thedoor was cautiously opened and shut to again behind me as soon as I hadpassed. 

"Go into the kitchen and touch naething, " said the voice; and while theperson of the house set himself to replacing the defences of the door, Igroped my way forward and entered the kitchen. 

The fire had burned up fairly bright, and showed me the barest room Ithink I ever put my eyes on. Half-a-dozen dishes stood upon the shelves;the table was laid for supper with a bowl of porridge, a horn spoon, anda cup of small beer. Besides what I have named, there was not anotherthing in that great, stone-vaulted, empty chamber but lockfast chestsarranged along the wall and a corner cupboard with a padlock. 

As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. He was a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature; and his age might havebeen anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat, over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved; but what most distressedand even daunted me, he would neither take his eyes away from me norlook me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, wasmore than I could fathom; but he seemed most like an old, unprofitableserving-man, who should have been left in charge of that big house uponboard wages. 

"Are ye sharp-set?" he asked, glancing at about the level of my knee. "Ye can eat that drop parritch?"

I said I feared it was his own supper. 

"O, " said he, "I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, though, forit slockens (moistens) my cough. " He drank the cup about half out, stillkeeping an eye upon me as he drank; and then suddenly held out his hand. "Let's see the letter, " said he. 

I told him the letter was for Mr. Balfour; not for him. 

"And who do ye think I am?" says he. "Give me Alexander's letter. "

"You know my father's name?"

"It would be strange if I didnae, " he returned, "for he was my bornbrother; and little as ye seem to like either me or my house, or my goodparritch, I'm your born uncle, Davie, my man, and you my born nephew. Sogive us the letter, and sit down and fill your kyte. "

If I had been some years younger, what with shame, weariness, anddisappointment, I believe I had burst into tears. As it was, I couldfind no words, neither black nor white, but handed him the letter, andsat down to the porridge with as little appetite for meat as ever ayoung man had. 

Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the letter over andover in his hands. 

"Do ye ken what's in it?" he asked, suddenly. 

"You see for yourself, sir, " said I, "that the seal has not beenbroken. "

"Ay, " said he, "but what brought you here?"

"To give the letter, " said I. 

"No, " says he, cunningly, "but ye'll have had some hopes, nae doubt?"

"I confess, sir, " said I, "when I was told that I had kinsfolkwell-to-do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me inmy life. But I am no beggar; I look for no favours at your hands, andI want none that are not freely given. For as poor as I appear, I havefriends of my own that will be blithe to help me. "

"Hoot-toot!" said Uncle Ebenezer, "dinnae fly up in the snuff at me. We'll agree fine yet. And, Davie, my man, if you're done with that bitparritch, I could just take a sup of it myself. Ay, " he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and spoon, "they're fine, halesome food--they're grand food, parritch. " He murmured a little graceto himself and fell to. "Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind;he was a hearty, if not a great eater; but as for me, I could neverdo mair than pyke at food. " He took a pull at the small beer, whichprobably reminded him of hospitable duties, for his next speech ranthus: "If ye're dry ye'll find water behind the door. "

To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet, andlooking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart. He, on his part, continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to throwout little darting glances now at my shoes and now at my home-spunstockings. Once only, when he had ventured to look a little higher, oureyes met; and no thief taken with a hand in a man's pocket could haveshown more lively signals of distress. This set me in a muse, whetherhis timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company; andwhether perhaps, upon a little trial, it might pass off, and my unclechange into an altogether different man. From this I was awakened by hissharp voice. 

"Your father's been long dead?" he asked. 

"Three weeks, sir, " said I. 

"He was a secret man, Alexander--a secret, silent man, " he continued. "He never said muckle when he was young. He'll never have spoken muckleof me?"

"I never knew, sir, till you told it me yourself, that he had anybrother. "

"Dear me, dear me!" said Ebenezer. "Nor yet of Shaws, I dare say?"

"Not so much as the name, sir, " said I. 

"To think o' that!" said he. "A strange nature of a man!" For all that, he seemed singularly satisfied, but whether with himself, or me, orwith this conduct of my father's, was more than I could read. Certainly, however, he seemed to be outgrowing that distaste, or ill-will, that hehad conceived at first against my person; for presently he jumped up, came across the room behind me, and hit me a smack upon the shoulder. "We'll agree fine yet!" he cried. "I'm just as glad I let you in. Andnow come awa' to your bed. "

To my surprise, he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth into the darkpassage, groped his way, breathing deeply, up a flight of steps, andpaused before a door, which he unlocked. I was close upon his heels, having stumbled after him as best I might; and then he bade me go in, for that was my chamber. I did as he bid, but paused after a few steps, and begged a light to go to bed with. 

"Hoot-toot!" said Uncle Ebenezer, "there's a fine moon. "

"Neither moon nor star, sir, and pit-mirk, "* said I. "I cannae see thebed. "

 * Dark as the pit. 

"Hoot-toot, hoot-toot!" said he. "Lights in a house is a thing I dinnaeagree with. I'm unco feared of fires. Good-night to ye, Davie, my man. "And before I had time to add a further protest, he pulled the door to, and I heard him lock me in from the outside. 

I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as cold as a well, and the bed, when I had found my way to it, as damp as a peat-hag; butby good fortune I had caught up my bundle and my plaid, and rollingmyself in the latter, I lay down upon the floor under lee of the bigbedstead, and fell speedily asleep. 

With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself in a greatchamber, hung with stamped leather, furnished with fine embroideredfurniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years ago, or perhapstwenty, it must have been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awake inas a man could wish; but damp, dirt, disuse, and the mice and spidershad done their worst since then. Many of the window-panes, besides, werebroken; and indeed this was so common a feature in that house, that Ibelieve my uncle must at some time have stood a siege from his indignantneighbours--perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their head. 

Meanwhile the sun was shining outside; and being very cold in thatmiserable room, I knocked and shouted till my gaoler came and let meout. He carried me to the back of the house, where was a draw-well, andtold me to "wash my face there, if I wanted;" and when that was done, I made the best of my own way back to the kitchen, where he had lit thefire and was making the porridge. The table was laid with two bowls andtwo horn spoons, but the same single measure of small beer. Perhaps myeye rested on this particular with some surprise, and perhaps my uncleobserved it; for he spoke up as if in answer to my thought, asking me ifI would like to drink ale--for so he called it. 

I told him such was my habit, but not to put himself about. 

"Na, na, " said he; "I'll deny you nothing in reason. "

He fetched another cup from the shelf; and then, to my great surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he poured an accurate half from one cupto the other. There was a kind of nobleness in this that took my breathaway; if my uncle was certainly a miser, he was one of that thoroughbreed that goes near to make the vice respectable. 

When we had made an end of our meal, my uncle Ebenezer unlocked adrawer, and drew out of it a clay pipe and a lump of tobacco, from whichhe cut one fill before he locked it up again. Then he sat down in thesun at one of the windows and silently smoked. From time to time hiseyes came coasting round to me, and he shot out one of his questions. Once it was, "And your mother?" and when I had told him that she, too, was dead, "Ay, she was a bonnie lassie!" Then, after another long pause, "Whae were these friends o' yours?"

I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell;though, indeed, there was only one, and that the minister, that had evertaken the least note of me; but I began to think my uncle made too lightof my position, and finding myself all alone with him, I did not wishhim to suppose me helpless. 

He seemed to turn this over in his mind; and then, "Davie, my man, " saidhe, "ye've come to the right bit when ye came to your uncle Ebenezer. I've a great notion of the family, and I mean to do the right by you;but while I'm taking a bit think to mysel' of what's the best thing toput you to--whether the law, or the meenistry, or maybe the army, whilkis what boys are fondest of--I wouldnae like the Balfours to be humbledbefore a wheen Hieland Campbells, and I'll ask you to keep your tonguewithin your teeth. Nae letters; nae messages; no kind of word toonybody; or else--there's my door. "

"Uncle Ebenezer, " said I, "I've no manner of reason to suppose you meananything but well by me. For all that, I would have you to know that Ihave a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine that I came seekingyou; and if you show me your door again, I'll take you at the word. "

He seemed grievously put out. "Hoots-toots, " said he, "ca' cannie, man--ca' cannie! Bide a day or two. I'm nae warlock, to find a fortunefor you in the bottom of a parritch bowl; but just you give me a day ortwo, and say naething to naebody, and as sure as sure, I'll do the rightby you. "

"Very well, " said I, "enough said. If you want to help me, there's nodoubt but I'll be glad of it, and none but I'll be grateful. "

It seemed to me (too soon, I dare say) that I was getting the upperhand of my uncle; and I began next to say that I must have the bed andbedclothes aired and put to sun-dry; for nothing would make me sleep insuch a pickle. 

"Is this my house or yours?" said he, in his keen voice, and then all ofa sudden broke off. "Na, na, " said he, "I didnae mean that. What's mineis yours, Davie, my man, and what's yours is mine. Blood's thicker thanwater; and there's naebody but you and me that ought the name. " Andthen on he rambled about the family, and its ancient greatness, and hisfather that began to enlarge the house, and himself that stopped thebuilding as a sinful waste; and this put it in my head to give himJennet Clouston's message. 

"The limmer!" he cried. "Twelve hunner and fifteen--that's every daysince I had the limmer rowpit!* Dod, David, I'll have her roasted on redpeats before I'm by with it! A witch--a proclaimed witch! I'll aff andsee the session clerk. "

 * Sold up. 

And with that he opened a chest, and got out a very old andwell-preserved blue coat and waistcoat, and a good enough beaver hat, both without lace. These he threw on any way, and taking a staff fromthe cupboard, locked all up again, and was for setting out, when athought arrested him. 

"I cannae leave you by yoursel' in the house, " said he. "I'll have tolock you out. "

The blood came to my face. "If you lock me out, " I said, "it'll be thelast you'll see of me in friendship. "

He turned very pale, and sucked his mouth in. 

"This is no the way" he said, looking wickedly at a corner of thefloor--"this is no the way to win my favour, David. "

"Sir, " says I, "with a proper reverence for your age and our commonblood, I do not value your favour at a boddle's purchase. I was broughtup to have a good conceit of myself; and if you were all the uncle, andall the family, I had in the world ten times over, I wouldn't buy yourliking at such prices. "

Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for awhile. I couldsee him all trembling and twitching, like a man with palsy. But when heturned round, he had a smile upon his face. 

"Well, well, " said he, "we must bear and forbear. I'll no go; that's allthat's to be said of it. "

"Uncle Ebenezer, " I said, "I can make nothing out of this. You use melike a thief; you hate to have me in this house; you let me see it, every word and every minute: it's not possible that you can like me; andas for me, I've spoken to you as I never thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to keep me, then? Let me gang back--let me gang back tothe friends I have, and that like me!"

"Na, na; na, na, " he said, very earnestly. "I like you fine; we'll agreefine yet; and for the honour of the house I couldnae let you leave theway ye came. Bide here quiet, there's a good lad; just you bide herequiet a bittie, and ye'll find that we agree. "

"Well, sir, " said I, after I had thought the matter out in silence, "I'll stay awhile. It's more just I should be helped by my own bloodthan strangers; and if we don't agree, I'll do my best it shall bethrough no fault of mine. "

CHAPTER IV

I RUN A GREAT DANGER IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS

For a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly well. We had theporridge cold again at noon, and hot porridge at night; porridge andsmall beer was my uncle's diet. He spoke but little, and that in thesame way as before, shooting a question at me after a long silence; andwhen I sought to lead him to talk about my future, slipped out of itagain. In a room next door to the kitchen, where he suffered me to go, I found a great number of books, both Latin and English, in which I tookgreat pleasure all the afternoon. Indeed, the time passed so lightly inthis good company, that I began to be almost reconciled to my residenceat Shaws; and nothing but the sight of my uncle, and his eyes playinghide and seek with mine, revived the force of my distrust. 

One thing I discovered, which put me in some doubt. This was an entry onthe fly-leaf of a chap-book (one of Patrick Walker's) plainly writtenby my father's hand and thus conceived: "To my brother Ebenezer on hisfifth birthday" Now, what puzzled me was this: That, as my father was ofcourse the younger brother, he must either have made some strange error, or he must have written, before he was yet five, an excellent, clearmanly hand of writing. 

I tried to get this out of my head; but though I took down manyinteresting authors, old and new, history, poetry, and story-book, thisnotion of my father's hand of writing stuck to me; and when at length Iwent back into the kitchen, and sat down once more to porridge and smallbeer, the first thing I said to Uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if myfather had not been very quick at his book. 

"Alexander? No him!" was the reply. "I was far quicker mysel'; I was aclever chappie when I was young. Why, I could read as soon as he could. "

This puzzled me yet more; and a thought coming into my head, I asked ifhe and my father had been twins. 

He jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out of his hand uponthe floor. "What gars ye ask that?" he said, and he caught me by thebreast of the jacket, and looked this time straight into my eyes:his own were little and light, and bright like a bird's, blinking andwinking strangely. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, very calmly, for I was far stronger thanhe, and not easily frightened. "Take your hand from my jacket. This isno way to behave. "

My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself. "Dod man, David, "he said, "ye should-nae speak to me about your father. That's where themistake is. " He sat awhile and shook, blinking in his plate: "He was allthe brother that ever I had, " he added, but with no heart in his voice;and then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again, but stillshaking. 

Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person andsudden profession of love for my dead father, went so clean beyond mycomprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. On the one hand, I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous;on the other, there came up into my mind (quite unbidden by me and evendiscouraged) a story like some ballad I had heard folk singing, of apoor lad that was a rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that triedto keep him from his own. For why should my uncle play a part with arelative that came, almost a beggar, to his door, unless in his heart hehad some cause to fear him?

With this notion, all unacknowledged, but nevertheless getting firmlysettled in my head, I now began to imitate his covert looks; so thatwe sat at table like a cat and a mouse, each stealthily observing theother. Not another word had he to say to me, black or white, but wasbusy turning something secretly over in his mind; and the longer wesat and the more I looked at him, the more certain I became that thesomething was unfriendly to myself. 

When he had cleared the platter, he got out a single pipeful of tobacco, just as in the morning, turned round a stool into the chimney corner, and sat awhile smoking, with his back to me. 

"Davie, " he said, at length, "I've been thinking;" then he paused, andsaid it again. "There's a wee bit siller that I half promised ye beforeye were born, " he continued; "promised it to your father. O, naethinglegal, ye understand; just gentlemen daffing at their wine. Well, Ikeepit that bit money separate--it was a great expense, but a promiseis a promise--and it has grown by now to be a matter of justprecisely--just exactly"--and here he paused and stumbled--"of justexactly forty pounds!" This last he rapped out with a sidelong glanceover his shoulder; and the next moment added, almost with a scream, "Scots!"

The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling, thedifference made by this second thought was considerable; I could see, besides, that the whole story was a lie, invented with some end whichit puzzled me to guess; and I made no attempt to conceal the tone ofraillery in which I answered--

"O, think again, sir! Pounds sterling, I believe!"

"That's what I said, " returned my uncle: "pounds sterling! And if you'llstep out-by to the door a minute, just to see what kind of a night itis, I'll get it out to ye and call ye in again. "

I did his will, smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think Iwas so easily to be deceived. It was a dark night, with a few stars lowdown; and as I stood just outside the door, I heard a hollow moaningof wind far off among the hills. I said to myself there was somethingthundery and changeful in the weather, and little knew of what a vastimportance that should prove to me before the evening passed. 

When I was called in again, my uncle counted out into my hand seven andthirty golden guinea pieces; the rest was in his hand, in small gold andsilver; but his heart failed him there, and he crammed the change intohis pocket. 

"There, " said he, "that'll show you! I'm a queer man, and strange wi'strangers; but my word is my bond, and there's the proof of it. "

Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this suddengenerosity, and could find no words in which to thank him. 

"No a word!" said he. "Nae thanks; I want nae thanks. I do my duty. I'mno saying that everybody would have, done it; but for my part (thoughI'm a careful body, too) it's a pleasure to me to do the right by mybrother's son; and it's a pleasure to me to think that now we'll agreeas such near friends should. "

I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able; but all the whileI was wondering what would come next, and why he had parted with hisprecious guineas; for as to the reason he had given, a baby would haverefused it. 

Presently he looked towards me sideways. 

"And see here, " says he, "tit for tat. "

I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any reasonable degree, and then waited, looking for some monstrous demand. And yet, whenat last he plucked up courage to speak, it was only to tell me (veryproperly, as I thought) that he was growing old and a little broken, andthat he would expect me to help him with the house and the bit garden. 

I answered, and expressed my readiness to serve. 

"Well, " he said, "let's begin. " He pulled out of his pocket a rusty key. "There, " says he, "there's the key of the stair-tower at the far end ofthe house. Ye can only win into it from the outside, for that part ofthe house is no finished. Gang ye in there, and up the stairs, and bringme down the chest that's at the top. There's papers in't, " he added. 

"Can I have a light, sir?" said I. 

"Na, " said he, very cunningly. "Nae lights in my house. "

"Very well, sir, " said I. "Are the stairs good?"

"They're grand, " said he; and then, as I was going, "Keep to the wall, "he added; "there's nae bannisters. But the stairs are grand underfoot. "

Out I went into the night. The wind was still moaning in the distance, though never a breath of it came near the house of Shaws. It had fallenblacker than ever; and I was glad to feel along the wall, till I camethe length of the stairtower door at the far end of the unfinished wing. I had got the key into the keyhole and had just turned it, when all upona sudden, without sound of wind or thunder, the whole sky lighted upwith wild fire and went black again. I had to put my hand over my eyesto get back to the colour of the darkness; and indeed I was already halfblinded when I stepped into the tower. 

It was so dark inside, it seemed a body could scarce breathe; but Ipushed out with foot and hand, and presently struck the wall with theone, and the lowermost round of the stair with the other. The wall, bythe touch, was of fine hewn stone; the steps too, though somewhat steepand narrow, were of polished masonwork, and regular and solid underfoot. Minding my uncle's word about the bannisters, I kept close to the towerside, and felt my way in the pitch darkness with a beating heart. 

The house of Shaws stood some five full storeys high, not countinglofts. Well, as I advanced, it seemed to me the stair grew airier and athought more lightsome; and I was wondering what might be the cause ofthis change, when a second blink of the summer lightning came and went. If I did not cry out, it was because fear had me by the throat; and if Idid not fall, it was more by Heaven's mercy than my own strength. It wasnot only that the flash shone in on every side through breaches in thewall, so that I seemed to be clambering aloft upon an open scaffold, butthe same passing brightness showed me the steps were of unequal length, and that one of my feet rested that moment within two inches of thewell. 

This was the grand stair! I thought; and with the thought, a gust ofa kind of angry courage came into my heart. My uncle had sent me here, certainly to run great risks, perhaps to die. I swore I would settlethat "perhaps, " if I should break my neck for it; got me down upon myhands and knees; and as slowly as a snail, feeling before me everyinch, and testing the solidity of every stone, I continued to ascendthe stair. The darkness, by contrast with the flash, appeared to haveredoubled; nor was that all, for my ears were now troubled and my mindconfounded by a great stir of bats in the top part of the tower, and thefoul beasts, flying downwards, sometimes beat about my face and body. 

The tower, I should have said, was square; and in every corner the stepwas made of a great stone of a different shape to join the flights. Well, I had come close to one of these turns, when, feeling forwardas usual, my hand slipped upon an edge and found nothing but emptinessbeyond it. The stair had been carried no higher; to set a strangermounting it in the darkness was to send him straight to his death; and(although, thanks to the lightning and my own precautions, I was safeenough) the mere thought of the peril in which I might have stood, andthe dreadful height I might have fallen from, brought out the sweat uponmy body and relaxed my joints. 

But I knew what I wanted now, and turned and groped my way down again, with a wonderful anger in my heart. About half-way down, the wind sprangup in a clap and shook the tower, and died again; the rain followed; andbefore I had reached the ground level it fell in buckets. I put out myhead into the storm, and looked along towards the kitchen. The door, which I had shut behind me when I left, now stood open, and shed alittle glimmer of light; and I thought I could see a figure standingin the rain, quite still, like a man hearkening. And then there camea blinding flash, which showed me my uncle plainly, just where I hadfancied him to stand; and hard upon the heels of it, a great tow-row ofthunder. 

Now, whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my fall, orwhether he heard in it God's voice denouncing murder, I will leave youto guess. Certain it is, at least, that he was seized on by a kind ofpanic fear, and that he ran into the house and left the door open behindhim. I followed as softly as I could, and, coming unheard into thekitchen, stood and watched him. 

He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great casebottle of aqua vitae, and now sat with his back towards me at the table. Ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering andgroan aloud, and carrying the bottle to his lips, drink down the rawspirits by the mouthful. 

I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat, and suddenlyclapping my two hands down upon his shoulders--"Ah!" cried I. 

My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep's bleat, flung up hisarms, and tumbled to the floor like a dead man. I was somewhat shockedat this; but I had myself to look to first of all, and did not hesitateto let him lie as he had fallen. The keys were hanging in the cupboard;and it was my design to furnish myself with arms before my uncle shouldcome again to his senses and the power of devising evil. In the cupboardwere a few bottles, some apparently of medicine; a great many bills andother papers, which I should willingly enough have rummaged, had I hadthe time; and a few necessaries that were nothing to my purpose. ThenceI turned to the chests. The first was full of meal; the second ofmoneybags and papers tied into sheaves; in the third, with manyother things (and these for the most part clothes) I found a rusty, ugly-looking Highland dirk without the scabbard. This, then, I concealedinside my waistcoat, and turned to my uncle. 

He lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee up and one armsprawling abroad; his face had a strange colour of blue, and he seemedto have ceased breathing. Fear came on me that he was dead; then Igot water and dashed it in his face; and with that he seemed to come alittle to himself, working his mouth and fluttering his eyelids. At lasthe looked up and saw me, and there came into his eyes a terror that wasnot of this world. 

"Come, come, " said I; "sit up. "

"Are ye alive?" he sobbed. "O man, are ye alive?"

"That am I, " said I. "Small thanks to you!"

He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. "The blue phial, "said he--"in the aumry--the blue phial. " His breath came slower still. 

I ran to the cupboard, and, sure enough, found there a blue phialof medicine, with the dose written on it on a paper, and this Iadministered to him with what speed I might. 

"It's the trouble, " said he, reviving a little; "I have a trouble, Davie. It's the heart. "

I set him on a chair and looked at him. It is true I felt some pity fora man that looked so sick, but I was full besides of righteous anger;and I numbered over before him the points on which I wanted explanation:why he lied to me at every word; why he feared that I should leave him;why he disliked it to be hinted that he and my father were twins--"Isthat because it is true?" I asked; why he had given me money to which Iwas convinced I had no claim; and, last of all, why he had tried to killme. He heard me all through in silence; and then, in a broken voice, begged me to let him go to bed. 

"I'll tell ye the morn, " he said; "as sure as death I will. "

And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent. I locked himinto his room, however, and pocketed the key, and then returning tothe kitchen, made up such a blaze as had not shone there for many a longyear, and wrapping myself in my plaid, lay down upon the chests and fellasleep. 

CHAPTER V

I GO TO THE QUEEN'S FERRY

Much rain fell in the night; and the next morning there blew a bitterwintry wind out of the north-west, driving scattered clouds. For allthat, and before the sun began to peep or the last of the stars hadvanished, I made my way to the side of the burn, and had a plunge in adeep whirling pool. All aglow from my bath, I sat down once morebeside the fire, which I replenished, and began gravely to consider myposition. 

There was now no doubt about my uncle's enmity; there was no doubt Icarried my life in my hand, and he would leave no stone unturned thathe might compass my destruction. But I was young and spirited, andlike most lads that have been country-bred, I had a great opinion of myshrewdness. I had come to his door no better than a beggar and littlemore than a child; he had met me with treachery and violence; it wouldbe a fine consummation to take the upper hand, and drive him like a herdof sheep. 

I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire; and I saw myself infancy smell out his secrets one after another, and grow to be that man'sking and ruler. The warlock of Essendean, they say, had made a mirror inwhich men could read the future; it must have been of other stuff thanburning coal; for in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and gazedat, there was never a ship, never a seaman with a hairy cap, never a bigbludgeon for my silly head, or the least sign of all those tribulationsthat were ripe to fall on me. 

Presently, all swollen with conceit, I went up-stairs and gave myprisoner his liberty. He gave me good-morning civilly; and I gave thesame to him, smiling down upon him, from the heights of my sufficiency. Soon we were set to breakfast, as it might have been the day before. 

"Well, sir, " said I, with a jeering tone, "have you nothing more to sayto me?" And then, as he made no articulate reply, "It will be time, I think, to understand each other, " I continued. "You took me fora country Johnnie Raw, with no more mother-wit or courage than aporridge-stick. I took you for a good man, or no worse than others atthe least. It seems we were both wrong. What cause you have to fear me, to cheat me, and to attempt my life--"

He murmured something about a jest, and that he liked a bit of fun; andthen, seeing me smile, changed his tone, and assured me he would makeall clear as soon as we had breakfasted. I saw by his face that he hadno lie ready for me, though he was hard at work preparing one; and Ithink I was about to tell him so, when we were interrupted by a knockingat the door. 

Bidding my uncle sit where he was, I went to open it, and found on thedoorstep a half-grown boy in sea-clothes. He had no sooner seen me thanhe began to dance some steps of the sea-hornpipe (which I had neverbefore heard of far less seen), snapping his fingers in the air andfooting it right cleverly. For all that, he was blue with the cold; andthere was something in his face, a look between tears and laughter, thatwas highly pathetic and consisted ill with this gaiety of manner. 

"What cheer, mate?" says he, with a cracked voice. 

I asked him soberly to name his pleasure. 

"O, pleasure!" says he; and then began to sing:

 "For it's my delight, of a shiny night, In the season of the year. "

"Well, " said I, "if you have no business at all, I will even be sounmannerly as to shut you out. "

"Stay, brother!" he cried. "Have you no fun about you? or do you wantto get me thrashed? I've brought a letter from old Heasyoasy to Mr. Belflower. " He showed me a letter as he spoke. "And I say, mate, " headded, "I'm mortal hungry. "

"Well, " said I, "come into the house, and you shall have a bite if I goempty for it. "

With that I brought him in and set him down to my own place, where hefell-to greedily on the remains of breakfast, winking to me betweenwhiles, and making many faces, which I think the poor soul consideredmanly. Meanwhile, my uncle had read the letter and sat thinking; then, suddenly, he got to his feet with a great air of liveliness, and pulledme apart into the farthest corner of the room. 

"Read that, " said he, and put the letter in my hand. 

Here it is, lying before me as I write:

"The Hawes Inn, at the Queen's Ferry. 

"Sir, --I lie here with my hawser up and down, and send my cabin-boy toinforme. If you have any further commands for over-seas, to-day will bethe last occasion, as the wind will serve us well out of the firth. I will not seek to deny that I have had crosses with your doer, * Mr. Rankeillor; of which, if not speedily redd up, you may looke to see somelosses follow. I have drawn a bill upon you, as per margin, and am, sir, your most obedt. , humble servant, "ELIAS HOSEASON. "* Agent. 

"You see, Davie, " resumed my uncle, as soon as he saw that I had done, "I have a venture with this man Hoseason, the captain of a trading brig, the Covenant, of Dysart. Now, if you and me was to walk over withyon lad, I could see the captain at the Hawes, or maybe on board theCovenant if there was papers to be signed; and so far from a loss oftime, we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor's. After a' that'scome and gone, ye would be swier* to believe me upon my naked word; butye'll believe Rankeillor. He's factor to half the gentry in these parts;an auld man, forby: highly respeckit, and he kenned your father. "

 * Unwilling. 

I stood awhile and thought. I was going to some place of shipping, whichwas doubtless populous, and where my uncle durst attempt no violence, and, indeed, even the society of the cabin-boy so far protected me. Oncethere, I believed I could force on the visit to the lawyer, even if myuncle were now insincere in proposing it; and, perhaps, in the bottomof my heart, I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You are toremember I had lived all my life in the inland hills, and just two daysbefore had my first sight of the firth lying like a blue floor, and thesailed ships moving on the face of it, no bigger than toys. One thingwith another, I made up my mind. 

"Very well, " says I, "let us go to the Ferry. "

My uncle got into his hat and coat, and buckled an old rusty cutlass on;and then we trod the fire out, locked the door, and set forth upon ourwalk. 

The wind, being in that cold quarter the north-west, blew nearly in ourfaces as we went. It was the month of June; the grass was all white withdaisies, and the trees with blossom; but, to judge by our blue nailsand aching wrists, the time might have been winter and the whiteness aDecember frost. 

Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side to side like anold ploughman coming home from work. He never said a word the wholeway; and I was thrown for talk on the cabin-boy. He told me his name wasRansome, and that he had followed the sea since he was nine, but couldnot say how old he was, as he had lost his reckoning. He showed metattoo marks, baring his breast in the teeth of the wind and in spiteof my remonstrances, for I thought it was enough to kill him; he sworehorribly whenever he remembered, but more like a silly schoolboy than aman; and boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done: stealthythefts, false accusations, ay, and even murder; but all with such adearth of likelihood in the details, and such a weak and crazy swaggerin the delivery, as disposed me rather to pity than to believe him. 

I asked him of the brig (which he declared was the finest ship thatsailed) and of Captain Hoseason, in whose praises he was equally loud. Heasyoasy (for so he still named the skipper) was a man, by his account, that minded for nothing either in heaven or earth; one that, as peoplesaid, would "crack on all sail into the day of judgment;" rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal; and all this my poor cabin-boy had taughthimself to admire as something seamanlike and manly. He would only admitone flaw in his idol. "He ain't no seaman, " he admitted. "That's Mr. Shuan that navigates the brig; he's the finest seaman in the trade, onlyfor drink; and I tell you I believe it! Why, look'ere;" and turning downhis stocking he showed me a great, raw, red wound that made my blood runcold. "He done that--Mr. Shuan done it, " he said, with an air of pride. 

"What!" I cried, "do you take such savage usage at his hands? Why, youare no slave, to be so handled!"

"No, " said the poor moon-calf, changing his tune at once, "and so he'llfind. See'ere;" and he showed me a great case-knife, which he told mewas stolen. "O, " says he, "let me see him, try; I dare him to; I'll dofor him! O, he ain't the first!" And he confirmed it with a poor, silly, ugly oath. 

I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I felt forthat half-witted creature, and it began to come over me that the brigCovenant (for all her pious name) was little better than a hell upon theseas. 

"Have you no friends?" said I. 

He said he had a father in some English seaport, I forget which. 

"He was a fine man, too, " he said, "but he's dead. "

"In Heaven's name, " cried I, "can you find no reputable life on shore?"

"O, no, " says he, winking and looking very sly, "they would put me to atrade. I know a trick worth two of that, I do!"

I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed, where he ran the continual peril of his life, not alone from wind andsea, but by the horrid cruelty of those who were his masters. He saidit was very true; and then began to praise the life, and tell what apleasure it was to get on shore with money in his pocket, and spend itlike a man, and buy apples, and swagger, and surprise what he calledstick-in-the-mud boys. "And then it's not all as bad as that, " says he;"there's worse off than me: there's the twenty-pounders. O, laws!you should see them taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old as you, Idessay"--(to him I seemed old)--"ah, and he had a beard, too--well, andas soon as we cleared out of the river, and he had the drug out of hishead--my! how he cried and carried on! I made a fine fool of him, I tellyou! And then there's little uns, too: oh, little by me! I tell you, Ikeep them in order. When we carry little uns, I have a rope's end ofmy own to wollop'em. " And so he ran on, until it came in on me whathe meant by twenty-pounders were those unhappy criminals who weresent over-seas to slavery in North America, or the still more unhappyinnocents who were kidnapped or trepanned (as the word went) for privateinterest or vengeance. 

Just then we came to the top of the hill, and looked down on the Ferryand the Hope. The Firth of Forth (as is very well known) narrows at thispoint to the width of a good-sized river, which makes a convenient ferrygoing north, and turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for allmanner of ships. Right in the midst of the narrows lies an islet withsome ruins; on the south shore they have built a pier for the serviceof the Ferry; and at the end of the pier, on the other side of the road, and backed against a pretty garden of holly-trees and hawthorns, I couldsee the building which they called the Hawes Inn. 

The town of Queensferry lies farther west, and the neighbourhood of theinn looked pretty lonely at that time of day, for the boat had just gonenorth with passengers. A skiff, however, lay beside the pier, with someseamen sleeping on the thwarts; this, as Ransome told me, was the brig'sboat waiting for the captain; and about half a mile off, and allalone in the anchorage, he showed me the Covenant herself. There was asea-going bustle on board; yards were swinging into place; and as thewind blew from that quarter, I could hear the song of the sailors asthey pulled upon the ropes. After all I had listened to upon the way, Ilooked at that ship with an extreme abhorrence; and from the bottom ofmy heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to sail in her. 

We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill; and now I marchedacross the road and addressed my uncle. "I think it right to tellyou, sir. " says I, "there's nothing that will bring me on board thatCovenant. "

He seemed to waken from a dream. "Eh?" he said. "What's that?"

I told him over again. 

"Well, well, " he said, "we'll have to please ye, I suppose. But whatare we standing here for? It's perishing cold; and if I'm no mistaken, they're busking the Covenant for sea. "

CHAPTER VI

WHAT BEFELL AT THE QUEEN'S FERRY

As soon as we came to the inn, Ransome led us up the stair to a smallroom, with a bed in it, and heated like an oven by a great fire of coal. At a table hard by the chimney, a tall, dark, sober-looking man satwriting. In spite of the heat of the room, he wore a thick sea-jacket, buttoned to the neck, and a tall hairy cap drawn down over his ears; yetI never saw any man, not even a judge upon the bench, look cooler, ormore studious and self-possessed, than this ship-captain. 

He got to his feet at once, and coming forward, offered his large handto Ebenezer. "I am proud to see you, Mr. Balfour, " said he, in a finedeep voice, "and glad that ye are here in time. The wind's fair, and thetide upon the turn; we'll see the old coal-bucket burning on the Isle ofMay before to-night. "

"Captain Hoseason, " returned my uncle, "you keep your room unco hot. "

"It's a habit I have, Mr. Balfour, " said the skipper. "I'm a cold-rifeman by my nature; I have a cold blood, sir. There's neither fur, nor flannel--no, sir, nor hot rum, will warm up what they callthe temperature. Sir, it's the same with most men that have beencarbonadoed, as they call it, in the tropic seas. "

"Well, well, captain, " replied my uncle, "we must all be the way we'remade. "

But it chanced that this fancy of the captain's had a great share in mymisfortunes. For though I had promised myself not to let my kinsman outof sight, I was both so impatient for a nearer look of the sea, andso sickened by the closeness of the room, that when he told me to "rundown-stairs and play myself awhile, " I was fool enough to take him athis word. 

Away I went, therefore, leaving the two men sitting down to a bottleand a great mass of papers; and crossing the road in front of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With the wind in that quarter, only littlewavelets, not much bigger than I had seen upon a lake, beat upon theshore. But the weeds were new to me--some green, some brown and long, and some with little bladders that crackled between my fingers. Even sofar up the firth, the smell of the sea-water was exceedingly salt andstirring; the Covenant, besides, was beginning to shake out her sails, which hung upon the yards in clusters; and the spirit of all that Ibeheld put me in thoughts of far voyages and foreign places. 

I looked, too, at the seamen with the skiff--big brown fellows, some inshirts, some with jackets, some with coloured handkerchiefs about theirthroats, one with a brace of pistols stuck into his pockets, two orthree with knotty bludgeons, and all with their case-knives. I passedthe time of day with one that looked less desperate than his fellows, and asked him of the sailing of the brig. He said they would get underway as soon as the ebb set, and expressed his gladness to be out ofa port where there were no taverns and fiddlers; but all with suchhorrifying oaths, that I made haste to get away from him. 

This threw me back on Ransome, who seemed the least wicked of that gang, and who soon came out of the inn and ran to me, crying for a bowl ofpunch. I told him I would give him no such thing, for neither he nor Iwas of an age for such indulgences. "But a glass of ale you may have, and welcome, " said I. He mopped and mowed at me, and called me names;but he was glad to get the ale, for all that; and presently we wereset down at a table in the front room of the inn, and both eating anddrinking with a good appetite. 

Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man of that county, I might do well to make a friend of him. I offered him a share, as wasmuch the custom in those days; but he was far too great a man to sitwith such poor customers as Ransome and myself, and he was leaving theroom, when I called him back to ask if he knew Mr. Rankeillor. 

"Hoot, ay, " says he, "and a very honest man. And, O, by-the-by, " sayshe, "was it you that came in with Ebenezer?" And when I had told himyes, "Ye'll be no friend of his?" he asked, meaning, in the Scottishway, that I would be no relative. 

I told him no, none. 

"I thought not, " said he, "and yet ye have a kind of gliff* of Mr. Alexander. "

 * Look. 

I said it seemed that Ebenezer was ill-seen in the country. 

"Nae doubt, " said the landlord. "He's a wicked auld man, and there'smany would like to see him girning in the tow*. Jennet Clouston and monymair that he has harried out of house and hame. And yet he was ancea fine young fellow, too. But that was before the sough** gaed abroadabout Mr. Alexander, that was like the death of him. "

 * Rope. 

 ** Report. 

"And what was it?" I asked. 

"Ou, just that he had killed him, " said the landlord. "Did ye never hearthat?"

"And what would he kill him for?" said I. 

"And what for, but just to get the place, " said he. 

"The place?" said I. "The Shaws?"

"Nae other place that I ken, " said he. 

"Ay, man?" said I. "Is that so? Was my--was Alexander the eldest son?"

"'Deed was he, " said the landlord. "What else would he have killed himfor?"

And with that he went away, as he had been impatient to do from thebeginning. 

Of course, I had guessed it a long while ago; but it is one thing toguess, another to know; and I sat stunned with my good fortune, andcould scarce grow to believe that the same poor lad who had trudged inthe dust from Ettrick Forest not two days ago, was now one of the richof the earth, and had a house and broad lands, and might mount his horsetomorrow. All these pleasant things, and a thousand others, crowded intomy mind, as I sat staring before me out of the inn window, and payingno heed to what I saw; only I remember that my eye lighted on CaptainHoseason down on the pier among his seamen, and speaking with someauthority. And presently he came marching back towards the house, withno mark of a sailor's clumsiness, but carrying his fine, tall figurewith a manly bearing, and still with the same sober, grave expression onhis face. I wondered if it was possible that Ransome's stories couldbe true, and half disbelieved them; they fitted so ill with the man'slooks. But indeed, he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quiteso bad as Ransome did; for, in fact, he was two men, and left the betterone behind as soon as he set foot on board his vessel. 

The next thing, I heard my uncle calling me, and found the pair in theroad together. It was the captain who addressed me, and that with an air(very flattering to a young lad) of grave equality. 

"Sir, " said he, "Mr. Balfour tells me great things of you; and for myown part, I like your looks. I wish I was for longer here, that we mightmake the better friends; but we'll make the most of what we have. Yeshall come on board my brig for half an hour, till the ebb sets, anddrink a bowl with me. "

Now, I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can tell; butI was not going to put myself in jeopardy, and I told him my uncle and Ihad an appointment with a lawyer. 

"Ay, ay, " said he, "he passed me word of that. But, ye see, the boat'llset ye ashore at the town pier, and that's but a penny stonecast fromRankeillor's house. " And here he suddenly leaned down and whispered inmy ear: "Take care of the old tod;* he means mischief. Come aboard tillI can get a word with ye. " And then, passing his arm through mine, hecontinued aloud, as he set off towards his boat: "But, come, what can Ibring ye from the Carolinas? Any friend of Mr. Balfour's can command. A roll of tobacco? Indian feather-work? a skin of a wild beast? a stonepipe? the mocking-bird that mews for all the world like a cat? thecardinal bird that is as red as blood?--take your pick and say yourpleasure. "

 * Fox. 

By this time we were at the boat-side, and he was handing me in. I didnot dream of hanging back; I thought (the poor fool!) that I had founda good friend and helper, and I was rejoiced to see the ship. As soon aswe were all set in our places, the boat was thrust off from the pierand began to move over the waters: and what with my pleasure in this newmovement and my surprise at our low position, and the appearance of theshores, and the growing bigness of the brig as we drew near to it, Icould hardly understand what the captain said, and must have answeredhim at random. 

As soon as we were alongside (where I sat fairly gaping at the ship'sheight, the strong humming of the tide against its sides, and thepleasant cries of the seamen at their work) Hoseason, declaring that heand I must be the first aboard, ordered a tackle to be sent down fromthe main-yard. In this I was whipped into the air and set down again onthe deck, where the captain stood ready waiting for me, and instantlyslipped back his arm under mine. There I stood some while, a littledizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me, perhaps a little afraid, and yet vastly pleased with these strange sights; the captain meanwhilepointing out the strangest, and telling me their names and uses. 

"But where is my uncle?" said I suddenly. 

"Ay, " said Hoseason, with a sudden grimness, "that's the point. "

I felt I was lost. With all my strength, I plucked myself clear of himand ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough, there was the boat pulling for thetown, with my uncle sitting in the stern. I gave a piercing cry--"Help, help! Murder!"--so that both sides of the anchorage rang with it, andmy uncle turned round where he was sitting, and showed me a face full ofcruelty and terror. 

It was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been plucking me backfrom the ship's side; and now a thunderbolt seemed to strike me; I saw agreat flash of fire, and fell senseless. 

CHAPTER VII

I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG "COVENANT" OF DYSART

I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot, anddeafened by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears a roaringof water as of a huge mill-dam, the thrashing of heavy sprays, thethundering of the sails, and the shrill cries of seamen. The whole worldnow heaved giddily up, and now rushed giddily downward; and so sick andhurt was I in body, and my mind so much confounded, that it took me along while, chasing my thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again bya fresh stab of pain, to realise that I must be lying somewhere bound inthe belly of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have strengthenedto a gale. With the clear perception of my plight, there fell upon me ablackness of despair, a horror of remorse at my own folly, and a passionof anger at my uncle, that once more bereft me of my senses. 

When I returned again to life, the same uproar, the same confused andviolent movements, shook and deafened me; and presently, to my otherpains and distresses, there was added the sickness of an unused landsmanon the sea. In that time of my adventurous youth, I suffered manyhardships; but none that was so crushing to my mind and body, or lit byso few hopes, as these first hours aboard the brig. 

I heard a gun fire, and supposed the storm had proved too strong for us, and we were firing signals of distress. The thought of deliverance, evenby death in the deep sea, was welcome to me. Yet it was no such matter;but (as I was afterwards told) a common habit of the captain's, whichI here set down to show that even the worst man may have his kindlierside. We were then passing, it appeared, within some miles of Dysart, where the brig was built, and where old Mrs. Hoseason, the captain'smother, had come some years before to live; and whether outward orinward bound, the Covenant was never suffered to go by that place byday, without a gun fired and colours shown. 

I had no measure of time; day and night were alike in that ill-smellingcavern of the ship's bowels where, I lay; and the misery of my situationdrew out the hours to double. How long, therefore, I lay waiting to hearthe ship split upon some rock, or to feel her reel head foremost intothe depths of the sea, I have not the means of computation. But sleep atlength stole from me the consciousness of sorrow. 

I was awakened by the light of a hand-lantern shining in my face. Asmall man of about thirty, with green eyes and a tangle of fair hair, stood looking down at me. 

"Well, " said he, "how goes it?"

I answered by a sob; and my visitor then felt my pulse and temples, andset himself to wash and dress the wound upon my scalp. 

"Ay, " said he, "a sore dunt*. What, man? Cheer up! The world's no done;you've made a bad start of it but you'll make a better. Have you had anymeat?"

 * Stroke. 

I said I could not look at it: and thereupon he gave me some brandy andwater in a tin pannikin, and left me once more to myself. 

The next time he came to see me, I was lying betwixt sleep and waking, my eyes wide open in the darkness, the sickness quite departed, butsucceeded by a horrid giddiness and swimming that was almost worseto bear. I ached, besides, in every limb, and the cords that bound meseemed to be of fire. The smell of the hole in which I lay seemed tohave become a part of me; and during the long interval since his lastvisit I had suffered tortures of fear, now from the scurrying of theship's rats, that sometimes pattered on my very face, and now from thedismal imaginings that haunt the bed of fever. 

The glimmer of the lantern, as a trap opened, shone in like the heaven'ssunlight; and though it only showed me the strong, dark beams of theship that was my prison, I could have cried aloud for gladness. The manwith the green eyes was the first to descend the ladder, and I noticedthat he came somewhat unsteadily. He was followed by the captain. Neither said a word; but the first set to and examined me, and dressedmy wound as before, while Hoseason looked me in my face with an odd, black look. 

"Now, sir, you see for yourself, " said the first: "a high fever, noappetite, no light, no meat: you see for yourself what that means. "

"I am no conjurer, Mr. Riach, " said the captain. 

"Give me leave, sir" said Riach; "you've a good head upon yourshoulders, and a good Scotch tongue to ask with; but I will leave you nomanner of excuse; I want that boy taken out of this hole and put in theforecastle. "

"What ye may want, sir, is a matter of concern to nobody but yoursel', "returned the captain; "but I can tell ye that which is to be. Here heis; here he shall bide. "

"Admitting that you have been paid in a proportion, " said the other, "Iwill crave leave humbly to say that I have not. Paid I am, and none toomuch, to be the second officer of this old tub, and you ken very well ifI do my best to earn it. But I was paid for nothing more. "

"If ye could hold back your hand from the tin-pan, Mr. Riach, I wouldhave no complaint to make of ye, " returned the skipper; "and insteadof asking riddles, I make bold to say that ye would keep your breath tocool your porridge. We'll be required on deck, " he added, in a sharpernote, and set one foot upon the ladder. 

But Mr. Riach caught him by the sleeve. 

"Admitting that you have been paid to do a murder----" he began. 

Hoseason turned upon him with a flash. 

"What's that?" he cried. "What kind of talk is that?"

"It seems it is the talk that you can understand, " said Mr. Riach, looking him steadily in the face. 

"Mr. Riach, I have sailed with ye three cruises, " replied the captain. "In all that time, sir, ye should have learned to know me: I'm a stiffman, and a dour man; but for what ye say the now--fie, fie!--it comesfrom a bad heart and a black conscience. If ye say the lad will die----"

"Ay, will he!" said Mr. Riach. 

"Well, sir, is not that enough?" said Hoseason. "Flit him where yeplease!"

Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder; and I, who had lain silentthroughout this strange conversation, beheld Mr. Riach turn after himand bow as low as to his knees in what was plainly a spirit of derision. Even in my then state of sickness, I perceived two things: that themate was touched with liquor, as the captain hinted, and that (drunk orsober) he was like to prove a valuable friend. 

Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut, I was hoisted on a man'sback, carried up to the forecastle, and laid in a bunk on somesea-blankets; where the first thing that I did was to lose my senses. 

It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon the daylight, and to find myself in the society of men. The forecastle was a roomyplace enough, set all about with berths, in which the men of the watchbelow were seated smoking, or lying down asleep. The day being calm andthe wind fair, the scuttle was open, and not only the good daylight, butfrom time to time (as the ship rolled) a dusty beam of sunlight shonein, and dazzled and delighted me. I had no sooner moved, moreover, thanone of the men brought me a drink of something healing which Mr. Riachhad prepared, and bade me lie still and I should soon be well again. There were no bones broken, he explained: "A clour* on the head wasnaething. Man, " said he, "it was me that gave it ye!"

 * Blow. 

Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner, and not only gotmy health again, but came to know my companions. They were a rough lotindeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindlyparts of life, and condemned to toss together on the rough seas, withmasters no less cruel. There were some among them that had sailed withthe pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to speak of; somewere men that had run from the king's ships, and went with a halterround their necks, of which they made no secret; and all, as the sayinggoes, were "at a word and a blow" with their best friends. Yet I hadnot been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of myfirst judgment, when I had drawn away from them at the Ferry pier, asthough they had been unclean beasts. No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; and these shipmates of minewere no exception to the rule. Rough they were, sure enough; and bad, Isuppose; but they had many virtues. They were kind when it occurred tothem, simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, andhad some glimmerings of honesty. 

There was one man, of maybe forty, that would sit on my berthside forhours and tell me of his wife and child. He was a fisher that had losthis boat, and thus been driven to the deep-sea voyaging. Well, it isyears ago now: but I have never forgotten him. His wife (who was "youngby him, " as he often told me) waited in vain to see her man return; hewould never again make the fire for her in the morning, nor yet keepthe bairn when she was sick. Indeed, many of these poor fellows (as theevent proved) were upon their last cruise; the deep seas and cannibalfish received them; and it is a thankless business to speak ill of thedead. 

Among other good deeds that they did, they returned my money, which hadbeen shared among them; and though it was about a third short, I wasvery glad to get it, and hoped great good from it in the land I wasgoing to. The ship was bound for the Carolinas; and you must not supposethat I was going to that place merely as an exile. The trade was eventhen much depressed; since that, and with the rebellion of the coloniesand the formation of the United States, it has, of course, come toan end; but in those days of my youth, white men were still sold intoslavery on the plantations, and that was the destiny to which my wickeduncle had condemned me. 

The cabin-boy Ransome (from whom I had first heard of these atrocities)came in at times from the round-house, where he berthed and served, nownursing a bruised limb in silent agony, now raving against the crueltyof Mr. Shuan. It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respectfor the chief mate, who was, as they said, "the only seaman of the wholejing-bang, and none such a bad man when he was sober. " Indeed, I foundthere was a strange peculiarity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach wassullen, unkind, and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would nothurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the captain; but Iwas told drink made no difference upon that man of iron. 

I did my best in the small time allowed me to make some thing like aman, or rather I should say something like a boy, of the poor creature, Ransome. But his mind was scarce truly human. He could remember nothingof the time before he came to sea; only that his father had made clocks, and had a starling in the parlour, which could whistle "The NorthCountrie;" all else had been blotted out in these years of hardshipand cruelties. He had a strange notion of the dry land, picked up fromsailor's stories: that it was a place where lads were put to some kindof slavery called a trade, and where apprentices were continually lashedand clapped into foul prisons. In a town, he thought every second persona decoy, and every third house a place in which seamen would be druggedand murdered. To be sure, I would tell him how kindly I had myself beenused upon that dry land he was so much afraid of, and how well fed andcarefully taught both by my friends and my parents: and if he had beenrecently hurt, he would weep bitterly and swear to run away; but ifhe was in his usual crackbrain humour, or (still more) if he had had aglass of spirits in the roundhouse, he would deride the notion. 

It was Mr. Riach (Heaven forgive him!) who gave the boy drink; andit was, doubtless, kindly meant; but besides that it was ruin to hishealth, it was the pitifullest thing in life to see this unhappy, unfriended creature staggering, and dancing, and talking he knew notwhat. Some of the men laughed, but not all; others would grow as blackas thunder (thinking, perhaps, of their own childhood or their ownchildren) and bid him stop that nonsense, and think what he was doing. As for me, I felt ashamed to look at him, and the poor child still comesabout me in my dreams. 

All this time, you should know, the Covenant was meeting continualhead-winds and tumbling up and down against head-seas, so that thescuttle was almost constantly shut, and the forecastle lighted only by aswinging lantern on a beam. There was constant labour for all hands; thesails had to be made and shortened every hour; the strain told on themen's temper; there was a growl of quarrelling all day, long from berthto berth; and as I was never allowed to set my foot on deck, youcan picture to yourselves how weary of my life I grew to be, and howimpatient for a change. 

And a change I was to get, as you shall hear; but I must first tell ofa conversation I had with Mr. Riach, which put a little heart in me tobear my troubles. Getting him in a favourable stage of drink (for indeedhe never looked near me when he was sober), I pledged him to secrecy, and told him my whole story. 

He declared it was like a ballad; that he would do his best to helpme; that I should have paper, pen, and ink, and write one line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankeillor; and that if I had told thetruth, ten to one he would be able (with their help) to pull me throughand set me in my rights. 

"And in the meantime, " says he, "keep your heart up. You're not the onlyone, I'll tell you that. There's many a man hoeing tobacco over-seasthat should be mounting his horse at his own door at home; many andmany! And life is all a variorum, at the best. Look at me: I'm a laird'sson and more than half a doctor, and here I am, man-Jack to Hoseason!"

I thought it would be civil to ask him for his story. 

He whistled loud. 

"Never had one, " said he. "I like fun, that's all. " And he skipped outof the forecastle. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE ROUND-HOUSE

One night, about eleven o'clock, a man of Mr. Riach's watch (which wason deck) came below for his jacket; and instantly there began to goa whisper about the forecastle that "Shuan had done for him at last. "There was no need of a name; we all knew who was meant; but we hadscarce time to get the idea rightly in our heads, far less to speak ofit, when the scuttle was again flung open, and Captain Hoseason camedown the ladder. He looked sharply round the bunks in the tossing lightof the lantern; and then, walking straight up to me, he addressed me, tomy surprise, in tones of kindness. 

"My man, " said he, "we want ye to serve in the round-house. You andRansome are to change berths. Run away aft with ye. "

Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carrying Ransomein their arms; and the ship at that moment giving a great sheer into thesea, and the lantern swinging, the light fell direct on the boy's face. It was as white as wax, and had a look upon it like a dreadful smile. The blood in me ran cold, and I drew in my breath as if I had beenstruck. 

"Run away aft; run away aft with ye!" cried Hoseason. 

And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy (who neither spoke normoved), and ran up the ladder on deck. 

The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, crestingswell. She was on the starboard tack, and on the left hand, under thearched foot of the foresail, I could see the sunset still quite bright. This, at such an hour of the night, surprised me greatly; but I was tooignorant to draw the true conclusion--that we were going north-aboutround Scotland, and were now on the high sea between the Orkney andShetland Islands, having avoided the dangerous currents of the PentlandFirth. For my part, who had been so long shut in the dark and knewnothing of head-winds, I thought we might be half-way or more across theAtlantic. And indeed (beyond that I wondered a little at the lateness ofthe sunset light) I gave no heed to it, and pushed on across the decks, running between the seas, catching at ropes, and only saved from goingoverboard by one of the hands on deck, who had been always kind to me. 

The round-house, for which I was bound, and where I was now to sleep andserve, stood some six feet above the decks, and considering the size ofthe brig, was of good dimensions. Inside were a fixed table and bench, and two berths, one for the captain and the other for the two mates, turn and turn about. It was all fitted with lockers from top to bottom, so as to stow away the officers' belongings and a part of the ship'sstores; there was a second store-room underneath, which you entered by ahatchway in the middle of the deck; indeed, all the best of the meat anddrink and the whole of the powder were collected in this place; and allthe firearms, except the two pieces of brass ordnance, were set in arack in the aftermost wall of the round-house. The most of the cutlasseswere in another place. 

A small window with a shutter on each side, and a skylight in the roof, gave it light by, day; and after dark there was a lamp always burning. It was burning when I entered, not brightly, but enough to show Mr. Shuan sitting at the table, with the brandy bottle and a tin pannikinin front of him. He was a tall man, strongly made and very black; and hestared before him on the table like one stupid. 

He took no notice of my coming in; nor did he move when the captainfollowed and leant on the berth beside me, looking darkly at the mate. I stood in great fear of Hoseason, and had my reasons for it; butsomething told me I need not be afraid of him just then; and I whisperedin his ear: "How is he?" He shook his head like one that does not knowand does not wish to think, and his face was very stern. 

Presently Mr. Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance that meant theboy was dead as plain as speaking, and took his place like the restof us; so that we all three stood without a word, staring down at Mr. Shuan, and Mr. Shuan (on his side) sat without a word, looking hard uponthe table. 

All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle; and at that Mr. Riach started forward and caught it away from him, rather by surprisethan violence, crying out, with an oath, that there had been too much ofthis work altogether, and that a judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke (the weather sliding-doors standing open) he tossed thebottle into the sea. 

Mr. Shuan was on his feet in a trice; he still looked dazed, but hemeant murder, ay, and would have done it, for the second time thatnight, had not the captain stepped in between him and his victim. 

"Sit down!" roars the captain. "Ye sot and swine, do ye know what ye'vedone? Ye've murdered the boy!"

Mr. Shuan seemed to understand; for he sat down again, and put up hishand to his brow. 

"Well, " he said, "he brought me a dirty pannikin!"

At that word, the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked at each otherfor a second with a kind of frightened look; and then Hoseason walkedup to his chief officer, took him by the shoulder, led him across to hisbunk, and bade him lie down and go to sleep, as you might speak to a badchild. The murderer cried a little, but he took off his sea-boots andobeyed. 

"Ah!" cried Mr. Riach, with a dreadful voice, "ye should have interferedlong syne. It's too late now. "

"Mr. Riach, " said the captain, "this night's work must never be kenntin Dysart. The boy went overboard, sir; that's what the story is; and Iwould give five pounds out of my pocket it was true!" He turned to thetable. "What made ye throw the good bottle away?" he added. "There wasnae sense in that, sir. Here, David, draw me another. They're in thebottom locker;" and he tossed me a key. "Ye'll need a glass yourself, sir, " he added to Riach. "Yon was an ugly thing to see. "

So the pair sat down and hob-a-nobbed; and while they did so, themurderer, who had been lying and whimpering in his berth, raised himselfupon his elbow and looked at them and at me. 

That was the first night of my new duties; and in the course of the nextday I had got well into the run of them. I had to serve at the meals, which the captain took at regular hours, sitting down with the officerwho was off duty; all the day through I would be running with a dramto one or other of my three masters; and at night I slept on a blanketthrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the round-house, andright in the draught of the two doors. It was a hard and a cold bed;nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption; for some one would bealways coming in from deck to get a dram, and when a fresh watch wasto be set, two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew a bowltogether. How they kept their health, I know not, any more than how Ikept my own. 

And yet in other ways it was an easy service. There was no cloth to lay;the meals were either of oatmeal porridge or salt junk, except twice aweek, when there was duff: and though I was clumsy enough and (not beingfirm on my sealegs) sometimes fell with what I was bringing them, bothMr. Riach and the captain were singularly patient. I could not but fancythey were making up lee-way with their consciences, and that theywould scarce have been so good with me if they had not been worse withRansome. 

As for Mr. Shuan, the drink or his crime, or the two together, hadcertainly troubled his mind. I cannot say I ever saw him in his properwits. He never grew used to my being there, stared at me continually(sometimes, I could have thought, with terror), and more than once drewback from my hand when I was serving him. I was pretty sure from thefirst that he had no clear mind of what he had done, and on my secondday in the round-house I had the proof of it. We were alone, and he hadbeen staring at me a long time, when all at once, up he got, as pale asdeath, and came close up to me, to my great terror. But I had no causeto be afraid of him. 

"You were not here before?" he asked. 

"No, sir, " said I. "

"There was another boy?" he asked again; and when I had answered him, "Ah!" says he, "I thought that, " and went and sat down, without anotherword, except to call for brandy. 

You may think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I was stillsorry for him. He was a married man, with a wife in Leith; but whetheror no he had a family, I have now forgotten; I hope not. 

Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted, which (asyou are to hear) was not long. I was as well fed as the best of them;even their pickles, which were the great dainty, I was allowed my shareof; and had I liked I might have been drunk from morning to night, likeMr. Shuan. I had company, too, and good company of its sort. Mr. Riach, who had been to the college, spoke to me like a friend when he was notsulking, and told me many curious things, and some that were informing;and even the captain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most partof the time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit, and tell me of the finecountries he had visited. 

The shadow of poor Ransome, to be sure, lay on all four of us, and onme and Mr. Shuan in particular, most heavily. And then I had anothertrouble of my own. Here I was, doing dirty work for three men that Ilooked down upon, and one of whom, at least, should have hung upon agallows; that was for the present; and as for the future, I could onlysee myself slaving alongside of negroes in the tobacco fields. Mr. Riach, perhaps from caution, would never suffer me to say another wordabout my story; the captain, whom I tried to approach, rebuffed me likea dog and would not hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heartsank lower and lower, till I was even glad of the work which kept mefrom thinking. 

CHAPTER IX

THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD

More than a week went by, in which the ill-luck that had hithertopursued the Covenant upon this voyage grew yet more strongly marked. Some days she made a little way; others, she was driven actually back. At last we were beaten so far to the south that we tossed and tacked toand fro the whole of the ninth day, within sight of Cape Wrath and thewild, rocky coast on either hand of it. There followed on that a councilof the officers, and some decision which I did not rightly understand, seeing only the result: that we had made a fair wind of a foul one andwere running south. 

The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet, whitefog that hid one end of the brig from the other. All afternoon, whenI went on deck, I saw men and officers listening hard over thebulwarks--"for breakers, " they said; and though I did not so much asunderstand the word, I felt danger in the air, and was excited. 

Maybe about ten at night, I was serving Mr. Riach and the captain attheir supper, when the ship struck something with a great sound, and weheard voices singing out. My two masters leaped to their feet. 

"She's struck!" said Mr. Riach. 

"No, sir, " said the captain. "We've only run a boat down. "

And they hurried out. 

The captain was in the right of it. We had run down a boat in the fog, and she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom with all her crewbut one. This man (as I heard afterwards) had been sitting in the sternas a passenger, while the rest were on the benches rowing. At the momentof the blow, the stern had been thrown into the air, and the man (havinghis hands free, and for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoatthat came below his knees) had leaped up and caught hold of the brig'sbowsprit. It showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength, that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet, whenthe captain brought him into the round-house, and I set eyes on him forthe first time, he looked as cool as I did. 

He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat; hisface was of a good open expression, but sunburnt very dark, and heavilyfreckled and pitted with the small-pox; his eyes were unusually lightand had a kind of dancing madness in them, that was both engaging andalarming; and when he took off his great-coat, he laid a pair of finesilver-mounted pistols on the table, and I saw that he was belted witha great sword. His manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged thecaptain handsomely. Altogether I thought of him, at the first sight, that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy. 

The captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather of the man'sclothes than his person. And to be sure, as soon as he had taken offthe great-coat, he showed forth mighty fine for the round-house of amerchant brig: having a hat with feathers, a red waistcoat, breechesof black plush, and a blue coat with silver buttons and handsome silverlace; costly clothes, though somewhat spoiled with the fog and beingslept in. 

"I'm vexed, sir, about the boat, " says the captain. 

"There are some pretty men gone to the bottom, " said the stranger, "thatI would rather see on the dry land again than half a score of boats. "

"Friends of yours?" said Hoseason. 

"You have none such friends in your country, " was the reply. "They wouldhave died for me like dogs. "

"Well, sir, " said the captain, still watching him, "there are more menin the world than boats to put them in. "

"And that's true, too, " cried the other, "and ye seem to be a gentlemanof great penetration. "

"I have been in France, sir, " says the captain, so that it was plain hemeant more by the words than showed upon the face of them. 

"Well, sir, " says the other, "and so has many a pretty man, for thematter of that. "

"No doubt, sir" says the captain, "and fine coats. "

"Oho!" says the stranger, "is that how the wind sets?" And he laid hishand quickly on his pistols. 

"Don't be hasty, " said the captain. "Don't do a mischief before yesee the need of it. Ye've a French soldier's coat upon your back and aScotch tongue in your head, to be sure; but so has many an honest fellowin these days, and I dare say none the worse of it. "

"So?" said the gentleman in the fine coat: "are ye of the honest party?"(meaning, Was he a Jacobite? for each side, in these sort of civilbroils, takes the name of honesty for its own). 

"Why, sir, " replied the captain, "I am a true-blue Protestant, and Ithank God for it. " (It was the first word of any religion I had everheard from him, but I learnt afterwards he was a great church-goer whileon shore. ) "But, for all that, " says he, "I can be sorry to see anotherman with his back to the wall. "

"Can ye so, indeed?" asked the Jacobite. "Well, sir, to be quite plainwith ye, I am one of those honest gentlemen that were in trouble aboutthe years forty-five and six; and (to be still quite plain with ye) ifI got into the hands of any of the red-coated gentry, it's like it wouldgo hard with me. Now, sir, I was for France; and there was a French shipcruising here to pick me up; but she gave us the go-by in the fog--as Iwish from the heart that ye had done yoursel'! And the best that I cansay is this: If ye can set me ashore where I was going, I have that uponme will reward you highly for your trouble. "

"In France?" says the captain. "No, sir; that I cannot do. But where yecome from--we might talk of that. "

And then, unhappily, he observed me standing in my corner, and packedme off to the galley to get supper for the gentleman. I lost no time, I promise you; and when I came back into the round-house, I found thegentleman had taken a money-belt from about his waist, and poured outa guinea or two upon the table. The captain was looking at the guineas, and then at the belt, and then at the gentleman's face; and I thought heseemed excited. 

"Half of it, " he cried, "and I'm your man!"

The other swept back the guineas into the belt, and put it on againunder his waistcoat. "I have told ye sir" said he, "that not one doitof it belongs to me. It belongs to my chieftain, " and here he touchedhis hat, "and while I would be but a silly messenger to grudge some ofit that the rest might come safe, I should show myself a hound indeed ifI bought my own carcase any too dear. Thirty guineas on the sea-side, orsixty if ye set me on the Linnhe Loch. Take it, if ye will; if not, yecan do your worst. "

"Ay, " said Hoseason. "And if I give ye over to the soldiers?"

"Ye would make a fool's bargain, " said the other. "My chief, let me tellyou, sir, is forfeited, like every honest man in Scotland. His estateis in the hands of the man they call King George; and it is his officersthat collect the rents, or try to collect them. But for the honour ofScotland, the poor tenant bodies take a thought upon their chief lyingin exile; and this money is a part of that very rent for which KingGeorge is looking. Now, sir, ye seem to me to be a man that understandsthings: bring this money within the reach of Government, and how much ofit'll come to you?"

"Little enough, to be sure, " said Hoseason; and then, "if they, knew" headded, drily. "But I think, if I was to try, that I could hold my tongueabout it. "

"Ah, but I'll begowk* ye there!" cried the gentleman. "Play me false, and I'll play you cunning. If a hand is laid upon me, they shall kenwhat money it is. "

 *Befool. 

"Well, " returned the captain, "what must be must. Sixty guineas, anddone. Here's my hand upon it. "

"And here's mine, " said the other. 

And thereupon the captain went out (rather hurriedly, I thought), andleft me alone in the round-house with the stranger. 

At that period (so soon after the forty-five) there were many exiledgentlemen coming back at the peril of their lives, either to see theirfriends or to collect a little money; and as for the Highland chiefsthat had been forfeited, it was a common matter of talk how theirtenants would stint themselves to send them money, and their clansmenoutface the soldiery to get it in, and run the gauntlet of our greatnavy to carry it across. All this I had, of course, heard tell of; andnow I had a man under my eyes whose life was forfeit on all these countsand upon one more, for he was not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but had taken service with King Louis of France. And as if all thiswere not enough, he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins. Whatever my opinions, I could not look on such a man without a livelyinterest. 

"And so you're a Jacobite?" said I, as I set meat before him. 

"Ay, " said he, beginning to eat. "And you, by your long face, should bea Whig?"*

 * Whig or Whigamore was the cant name for those who were loyal to King George. 

"Betwixt and between, " said I, not to annoy him; for indeed I was asgood a Whig as Mr. Campbell could make me. 

"And that's naething, " said he. "But I'm saying, Mr. Betwixt-and-Between, " he added, "this bottle of yours is dry; and it'shard if I'm to pay sixty guineas and be grudged a dram upon the back ofit. "

"I'll go and ask for the key, " said I, and stepped on deck. 

The fog was as close as ever, but the swell almost down. They had laidthe brig to, not knowing precisely where they were, and the wind (whatlittle there was of it) not serving well for their true course. Some ofthe hands were still hearkening for breakers; but the captain and thetwo officers were in the waist with their heads together. It struck me(I don't know why) that they were after no good; and the first word Iheard, as I drew softly near, more than confirmed me. 

It was Mr. Riach, crying out as if upon a sudden thought: "Couldn't wewile him out of the round-house?"

"He's better where he is, " returned Hoseason; "he hasn't room to use hissword. "

"Well, that's true, " said Riach; "but he's hard to come at. "

"Hut!" said Hoseason. "We can get the man in talk, one upon each side, and pin him by the two arms; or if that'll not hold, sir, we can make arun by both the doors and get him under hand before he has the time todraw. "

At this hearing, I was seized with both fear and anger at thesetreacherous, greedy, bloody men that I sailed with. My first mind was torun away; my second was bolder. 

"Captain, " said I, "the gentleman is seeking a dram, and the bottle'sout. Will you give me the key?"

They all started and turned about. 

"Why, here's our chance to get the firearms!"

Riach cried; and then to me: "Hark ye, David, " he said, "do ye ken wherethe pistols are?"

"Ay, ay, " put in Hoseason. "David kens; David's a good lad. Ye see, David my man, yon wild Hielandman is a danger to the ship, besides beinga rank foe to King George, God bless him!"

I had never been so be-Davided since I came on board: but I said Yes, asif all I heard were quite natural. 

"The trouble is, " resumed the captain, "that all our firelocks, greatand little, are in the round-house under this man's nose; likewise thepowder. Now, if I, or one of the officers, was to go in and take them, he would fall to thinking. But a lad like you, David, might snap up ahorn and a pistol or two without remark. And if ye can do it cleverly, I'll bear it in mind when it'll be good for you to have friends; andthat's when we come to Carolina. "

Here Mr. Riach whispered him a little. 

"Very right, sir, " said the captain; and then to myself: "And see here, David, yon man has a beltful of gold, and I give you my word that youshall have your fingers in it. "

I told him I would do as he wished, though indeed I had scarce breath tospeak with; and upon that he gave me the key of the spirit locker, and Ibegan to go slowly back to the round-house. What was I to do? Theywere dogs and thieves; they had stolen me from my own country; they hadkilled poor Ransome; and was I to hold the candle to another murder? Butthen, upon the other hand, there was the fear of death very plain beforeme; for what could a boy and a man, if they were as brave as lions, against a whole ship's company?

I was still arguing it back and forth, and getting no great clearness, when I came into the round-house and saw the Jacobite eating his supperunder the lamp; and at that my mind was made up all in a moment. I haveno credit by it; it was by no choice of mine, but as if by compulsion, that I walked right up to the table and put my hand on his shoulder. 

"Do ye want to be killed?" said I. He sprang to his feet, and looked aquestion at me as clear as if he had spoken. 

"O!" cried I, "they're all murderers here; it's a ship full of them!They've murdered a boy already. Now it's you. "

"Ay, ay" said he; "but they have n't got me yet. " And then looking at mecuriously, "Will ye stand with me?"

"That will I!" said I. "I am no thief, nor yet murderer. I'll stand byyou. "

"Why, then, " said he, "what's your name?"

"David Balfour, " said I; and then, thinking that a man with so fine acoat must like fine people, I added for the first time, "of Shaws. "

It never occurred to him to doubt me, for a Highlander is used to seegreat gentlefolk in great poverty; but as he had no estate of his own, my words nettled a very childish vanity he had. 

"My name is Stewart, " he said, drawing himself up. "Alan Breck, theycall me. A king's name is good enough for me, though I bear it plain andhave the name of no farm-midden to clap to the hind-end of it. "

And having administered this rebuke, as though it were something of achief importance, he turned to examine our defences. 

The round-house was built very strong, to support the breaching of theseas. Of its five apertures, only the skylight and the two doors werelarge enough for the passage of a man. The doors, besides, could bedrawn close: they were of stout oak, and ran in grooves, and were fittedwith hooks to keep them either shut or open, as the need arose. Theone that was already shut I secured in this fashion; but when I wasproceeding to slide to the other, Alan stopped me. 

"David, " said he--"for I cannae bring to mind the name of your landedestate, and so will make so bold as to call you David--that door, beingopen, is the best part of my defences. "

"It would be yet better shut, " says I. 

"Not so, David, " says he. "Ye see, I have but one face; but so long asthat door is open and my face to it, the best part of my enemies will bein front of me, where I would aye wish to find them. "

Then he gave me from the rack a cutlass (of which there were a fewbesides the firearms), choosing it with great care, shaking his head andsaying he had never in all his life seen poorer weapons; and next he setme down to the table with a powder-horn, a bag of bullets and all thepistols, which he bade me charge. 

"And that will be better work, let me tell you, " said he, "for agentleman of decent birth, than scraping plates and raxing* drams to awheen tarry sailors. "

 *Reaching. 

Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the door, anddrawing his great sword, made trial of the room he had to wield it in. 

"I must stick to the point, " he said, shaking his head; "and that's apity, too. It doesn't set my genius, which is all for the upper guard. And, now" said he, "do you keep on charging the pistols, and give heedto me. "

I told him I would listen closely. My chest was tight, my mouth dry, thelight dark to my eyes; the thought of the numbers that were soon toleap in upon us kept my heart in a flutter: and the sea, which I heardwashing round the brig, and where I thought my dead body would be castere morning, ran in my mind strangely. 

"First of all, " said he, "how many are against us?"

I reckoned them up; and such was the hurry of my mind, I had to cast thenumbers twice. "Fifteen, " said I. 

Alan whistled. "Well, " said he, "that can't be cured. And now follow me. It is my part to keep this door, where I look for the main battle. Inthat, ye have no hand. And mind and dinnae fire to this side unless theyget me down; for I would rather have ten foes in front of me than onefriend like you cracking pistols at my back. "

I told him, indeed I was no great shot. 

"And that's very bravely said, " he cried, in a great admiration of mycandour. "There's many a pretty gentleman that wouldnae dare to say it. "

"But then, sir" said I, "there is the door behind you" which they mayperhaps break in. "

"Ay, " said he, "and that is a part of your work. No sooner the pistolscharged, than ye must climb up into yon bed where ye're handy at thewindow; and if they lift hand, against the door, ye're to shoot. Butthat's not all. Let's make a bit of a soldier of ye, David. What elsehave ye to guard?"

"There's the skylight, " said I. "But indeed, Mr. Stewart, I would needto have eyes upon both sides to keep the two of them; for when my faceis at the one, my back is to the other. "

"And that's very true, " said Alan. "But have ye no ears to your head?"

"To be sure!" cried I. "I must hear the bursting of the glass!"

"Ye have some rudiments of sense, " said Alan, grimly. 

CHAPTER X

THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE

But now our time of truce was come to an end. Those on deck had waitedfor my coming till they grew impatient; and scarce had Alan spoken, whenthe captain showed face in the open door. 

"Stand!" cried Alan, and pointed his sword at him. The captain stood, indeed; but he neither winced nor drew back a foot. 

"A naked sword?" says he. "This is a strange return for hospitality. "

"Do ye see me?" said Alan. "I am come of kings; I bear a king's name. Mybadge is the oak. Do ye see my sword? It has slashed the heads off mairWhigamores than you have toes upon your feet. Call up your vermin toyour back, sir, and fall on! The sooner the clash begins, the soonerye'll taste this steel throughout your vitals. "

The captain said nothing to Alan, but he looked over at me with an uglylook. "David, " said he, "I'll mind this;" and the sound of his voicewent through me with a jar. 

Next moment he was gone. 

"And now, " said Alan, "let your hand keep your head, for the grip iscoming. "

Alan drew a dirk, which he held in his left hand in case they should runin under his sword. I, on my part, clambered up into the berth withan armful of pistols and something of a heavy heart, and set open thewindow where I was to watch. It was a small part of the deck that Icould overlook, but enough for our purpose. The sea had gone down, andthe wind was steady and kept the sails quiet; so that there was agreat stillness in the ship, in which I made sure I heard the sound ofmuttering voices. A little after, and there came a clash of steel uponthe deck, by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses and onehad been let fall; and after that, silence again. 

I do not know if I was what you call afraid; but my heart beat like abird's, both quick and little; and there was a dimness came before myeyes which I continually rubbed away, and which continually returned. Asfor hope, I had none; but only a darkness of despair and a sort of angeragainst all the world that made me long to sell my life as dear as I wasable. I tried to pray, I remember, but that same hurry of my mind, likea man running, would not suffer me to think upon the words; and my chiefwish was to have the thing begin and be done with it. 

It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, andthen a shout from Alan, and a sound of blows and some one crying outas if hurt. I looked back over my shoulder, and saw Mr. Shuan in thedoorway, crossing blades with Alan. 

"That's him that killed the boy!" I cried. 

"Look to your window!" said Alan; and as I turned back to my place, Isaw him pass his sword through the mate's body. 

It was none too soon for me to look to my own part; for my head wasscarce back at the window, before five men, carrying a spare yard fora battering-ram, ran past me and took post to drive the door in. I hadnever fired with a pistol in my life, and not often with a gun; far lessagainst a fellow-creature. But it was now or never; and just as theyswang the yard, I cried out: "Take that!" and shot into their midst. 

I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a step, andthe rest stopped as if a little disconcerted. Before they had time torecover, I sent another ball over their heads; and at my third shot(which went as wide as the second) the whole party threw down the yardand ran for it. 

Then I looked round again into the deck-house. The whole place was fullof the smoke of my own firing, just as my ears seemed to be burst withthe noise of the shots. But there was Alan, standing as before; onlynow his sword was running blood to the hilt, and himself so swelledwith triumph and fallen into so fine an attitude, that he looked to beinvincible. Right before him on the floor was Mr. Shuan, on his handsand knees; the blood was pouring from his mouth, and he was sinkingslowly lower, with a terrible, white face; and just as I looked, some ofthose from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodilyout of the round-house. I believe he died as they were doing it. 

"There's one of your Whigs for ye!" cried Alan; and then turning to me, he asked if I had done much execution. 

I told him I had winged one, and thought it was the captain. 

"And I've settled two, " says he. "No, there's not enough blood let;they'll be back again. To your watch, David. This was but a dram beforemeat. "

I settled back to my place, re-charging the three pistols I had fired, and keeping watch with both eye and ear. 

Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck, and that so loudlythat I could hear a word or two above the washing of the seas. 

"It was Shuan bauchled* it, " I heard one say. 

 * Bungled. 

And another answered him with a "Wheesht, man! He's paid the piper. "

After that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before. Onlynow, one person spoke most of the time, as though laying down a plan, and first one and then another answered him briefly, like men takingorders. By this, I made sure they were coming on again, and told Alan. 

"It's what we have to pray for, " said he. "Unless we can give them agood distaste of us, and done with it, there'll be nae sleep for eitheryou or me. But this time, mind, they'll be in earnest. "

By this, my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to do but listenand wait. While the brush lasted, I had not the time to think if I wasfrighted; but now, when all was still again, my mind ran upon nothingelse. The thought of the sharp swords and the cold steel was strong inme; and presently, when I began to hear stealthy steps and a brushingof men's clothes against the round-house wall, and knew they were takingtheir places in the dark, I could have found it in my mind to cry outaloud. 

All this was upon Alan's side; and I had begun to think my share of thefight was at an end, when I heard some one drop softly on the roof aboveme. 

Then there came a single call on the sea-pipe, and that was the signal. A knot of them made one rush of it, cutlass in hand, against the door;and at the same moment, the glass of the skylight was dashed in athousand pieces, and a man leaped through and landed on the floor. Before he got his feet, I had clapped a pistol to his back, and mighthave shot him, too; only at the touch of him (and him alive) my wholeflesh misgave me, and I could no more pull the trigger than I could haveflown. 

He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he felt the pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of me, roaring out an oath; and atthat either my courage came again, or I grew so much afraid as came tothe same thing; for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of thebody. He gave the most horrible, ugly groan and fell to the floor. Thefoot of a second fellow, whose legs were dangling through the skylight, struck me at the same time upon the head; and at that I snatched anotherpistol and shot this one through the thigh, so that he slipped throughand tumbled in a lump on his companion's body. There was no talk ofmissing, any more than there was time to aim; I clapped the muzzle tothe very place and fired. 

I might have stood and stared at them for long, but I heard Alan shoutas if for help, and that brought me to my senses. 

He had kept the door so long; but one of the seamen, while he wasengaged with others, had run in under his guard and caught him about thebody. Alan was dirking him with his left hand, but the fellow clung likea leech. Another had broken in and had his cutlass raised. The door wasthronged with their faces. I thought we were lost, and catching up mycutlass, fell on them in flank. 

But I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped at last; andAlan, leaping back to get his distance, ran upon the others like abull, roaring as he went. They broke before him like water, turning, andrunning, and falling one against another in their haste. The swordin his hands flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of our fleeingenemies; and at every flash there came the scream of a man hurt. I wasstill thinking we were lost, when lo! they were all gone, and Alan wasdriving them along the deck as a sheep-dog chases sheep. 

Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again, being as cautious as hewas brave; and meanwhile the seamen continued running and crying out asif he was still behind them; and we heard them tumble one upon anotherinto the forecastle, and clap-to the hatch upon the top. 

The round-house was like a shambles; three were dead inside, anotherlay in his death agony across the threshold; and there were Alan and Ivictorious and unhurt. 

He came up to me with open arms. "Come to my arms!" he cried, andembraced and kissed me hard upon both cheek. "David, " said he, "I loveyou like a brother. And O, man, " he cried in a kind of ecstasy, "am I noa bonny fighter?"

Thereupon he turned to the four enemies, passed his sword clean througheach of them, and tumbled them out of doors one after the other. As hedid so, he kept humming and singing and whistling to himself, like a mantrying to recall an air; only what HE was trying was to make one. Allthe while, the flush was in his face, and his eyes were as bright as afive-year-old child's with a new toy. And presently he sat down upon thetable, sword in hand; the air that he was making all the time began torun a little clearer, and then clearer still; and then out he burst witha great voice into a Gaelic song. 

I have translated it here, not in verse (of which I have no skill) butat least in the king's English. 

He sang it often afterwards, and the thing became popular; so that Ihave, heard it, and had it explained to me, many's the time. 

"This is the song of the sword of Alan; The smith made it, The fire setit; Now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck. 

"Their eyes were many and bright, Swift were they to behold, Many thehands they guided: The sword was alone. 

"The dun deer troop over the hill, They are many, the hill is one; Thedun deer vanish, The hill remains. 

"Come to me from the hills of heather, Come from the isles of the sea. Ofar-beholding eagles, Here is your meat. "

Now this song which he made (both words and music) in the hour of ourvictory, is something less than just to me, who stood beside him inthe tussle. Mr. Shuan and five more were either killed outright orthoroughly disabled; but of these, two fell by my hand, the two thatcame by the skylight. Four more were hurt, and of that number, one (andhe not the least important) got his hurt from me. So that, altogether, I did my fair share both of the killing and the wounding, and might haveclaimed a place in Alan's verses. But poets have to think upon theirrhymes; and in good prose talk, Alan always did me more than justice. 

In the meanwhile, I was innocent of any wrong being done me. For notonly I knew no word of the Gaelic; but what with the long suspense ofthe waiting, and the scurry and strain of our two spirts of fighting, and more than all, the horror I had of some of my own share in it, thething was no sooner over than I was glad to stagger to a seat. There wasthat tightness on my chest that I could hardly breathe; the thoughtof the two men I had shot sat upon me like a nightmare; and all upon asudden, and before I had a guess of what was coming, I began to sob andcry like any child. 

Alan clapped my shoulder, and said I was a brave lad and wanted nothingbut a sleep. 

"I'll take the first watch, " said he. "Ye've done well by me, David, first and last; and I wouldn't lose you for all Appin--no, nor forBreadalbane. "

So I made up my bed on the floor; and he took the first spell, pistolin hand and sword on knee, three hours by the captain's watch upon thewall. Then he roused me up, and I took my turn of three hours; beforethe end of which it was broad day, and a very quiet morning, with asmooth, rolling sea that tossed the ship and made the blood run to andfro on the round-house floor, and a heavy rain that drummed upon theroof. All my watch there was nothing stirring; and by the banging of thehelm, I knew they had even no one at the tiller. Indeed (as I learnedafterwards) there were so many of them hurt or dead, and the rest in soill a temper, that Mr. Riach and the captain had to take turn and turnlike Alan and me, or the brig might have gone ashore and nobody thewiser. It was a mercy the night had fallen so still, for the wind hadgone down as soon as the rain began. Even as it was, I judged by thewailing of a great number of gulls that went crying and fishing roundthe ship, that she must have drifted pretty near the coast or one ofthe islands of the Hebrides; and at last, looking out of the door of theround-house, I saw the great stone hills of Skye on the right hand, and, a little more astern, the strange isle of Rum. 

CHAPTER XI

THE CAPTAIN KNUCKLES UNDER

Alan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the clock. The floor wascovered with broken glass and in a horrid mess of blood, which took awaymy hunger. In all other ways we were in a situation not only agreeablebut merry; having ousted the officers from their own cabin, and havingat command all the drink in the ship--both wine and spirits--and all thedainty part of what was eatable, such as the pickles and the fine sortof bread. This, of itself, was enough to set us in good humour, but therichest part of it was this, that the two thirstiest men that ever cameout of Scotland (Mr. Shuan being dead) were now shut in the fore-part ofthe ship and condemned to what they hated most--cold water. 

"And depend upon it, " Alan said, "we shall hear more of them ere long. Ye may keep a man from the fighting, but never from his bottle. "

We made good company for each other. Alan, indeed, expressed himselfmost lovingly; and taking a knife from the table, cut me off one of thesilver buttons from his coat. 

"I had them, " says he, "from my father, Duncan Stewart; and now give yeone of them to be a keepsake for last night's work. And wherever ye goand show that button, the friends of Alan Breck will come around you. "

He said this as if he had been Charlemagne, and commanded armies; andindeed, much as I admired his courage, I was always in danger of smilingat his vanity: in danger, I say, for had I not kept my countenance, Iwould be afraid to think what a quarrel might have followed. 

As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the captain'slocker till he found a clothes-brush; and then taking off his coat, began to visit his suit and brush away the stains, with such care andlabour as I supposed to have been only usual with women. To be sure, hehad no other; and, besides (as he said), it belonged to a king and sobehoved to be royally looked after. 

For all that, when I saw what care he took to pluck out the threadswhere the button had been cut away, I put a higher value on his gift. 

He was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr. Riach from the deck, asking for a parley; and I, climbing through the skylight and sitting onthe edge of it, pistol in hand and with a bold front, though inwardly infear of broken glass, hailed him back again and bade him speak out. Hecame to the edge of the round-house, and stood on a coil of rope, sothat his chin was on a level with the roof; and we looked at each otherawhile in silence. Mr. Riach, as I do not think he had been very forwardin the battle, so he had got off with nothing worse than a blow upon thecheek: but he looked out of heart and very weary, having been all nightafoot, either standing watch or doctoring the wounded. 

"This is a bad job, " said he at last, shaking his head. 

"It was none of our choosing, " said I. 

"The captain, " says he, "would like to speak with your friend. Theymight speak at the window. "

"And how do we know what treachery he means?" cried I. 

"He means none, David, " returned Mr. Riach, "and if he did, I'll tell yethe honest truth, we couldnae get the men to follow. "

"Is that so?" said I. 

"I'll tell ye more than that, " said he. "It's not only the men; it's me. I'm frich'ened, Davie. " And he smiled across at me. "No, " he continued, "what we want is to be shut of him. "

Thereupon I consulted with Alan, and the parley was agreed to andparole given upon either side; but this was not the whole of Mr. Riach'sbusiness, and he now begged me for a dram with such instancy and suchreminders of his former kindness, that at last I handed him a pannikinwith about a gill of brandy. He drank a part, and then carried the restdown upon the deck, to share it (I suppose) with his superior. 

A little after, the captain came (as was agreed) to one of the windows, and stood there in the rain, with his arm in a sling, and looking sternand pale, and so old that my heart smote me for having fired upon him. 

Alan at once held a pistol in his face. 

"Put that thing up!" said the captain. "Have I not passed my word, sir?or do ye seek to affront me?"

"Captain, " says Alan, "I doubt your word is a breakable. Last night yehaggled and argle-bargled like an apple-wife; and then passed me yourword, and gave me your hand to back it; and ye ken very well what wasthe upshot. Be damned to your word!" says he. 

"Well, well, sir, " said the captain, "ye'll get little good byswearing. " (And truly that was a fault of which the captain was quitefree. ) "But we have other things to speak, " he continued, bitterly. "Ye've made a sore hash of my brig; I haven't hands enough left to workher; and my first officer (whom I could ill spare) has got your swordthroughout his vitals, and passed without speech. There is nothing leftme, sir, but to put back into the port of Glasgow after hands; and there(by your leave) ye will find them that are better able to talk to you. "

"Ay?" said Alan; "and faith, I'll have a talk with them mysel'! Unlessthere's naebody speaks English in that town, I have a bonny tale forthem. Fifteen tarry sailors upon the one side, and a man and a halflingboy upon the other! O, man, it's peetiful!"

Hoseason flushed red. 

"No, " continued Alan, "that'll no do. Ye'll just have to set me ashoreas we agreed. "

"Ay, " said Hoseason, "but my first officer is dead--ye ken best how. There's none of the rest of us acquaint with this coast, sir; and it'sone very dangerous to ships. "

"I give ye your choice, " says Alan. "Set me on dry ground in Appin, or Ardgour, or in Morven, or Arisaig, or Morar; or, in brief, where yeplease, within thirty miles of my own country; except in a country ofthe Campbells. That's a broad target. If ye miss that, ye must be asfeckless at the sailoring as I have found ye at the fighting. Why, mypoor country people in their bit cobles* pass from island to island inall weathers, ay, and by night too, for the matter of that. "

 *Coble: a small boat used in fishing. 

"A coble's not a ship, sir, " said the captain. "It has nae draught ofwater. "

"Well, then, to Glasgow if ye list!" says Alan. "We'll have the laugh ofye at the least. "

"My mind runs little upon laughing, " said the captain. "But all thiswill cost money, sir. "

"Well, sir" says Alan, "I am nae weathercock. Thirty guineas, if ye landme on the sea-side; and sixty, if ye put me in the Linnhe Loch. "

"But see, sir, where we lie, we are but a few hours' sail fromArdnamurchan, " said Hoseason. "Give me sixty, and I'll set ye there. "

"And I'm to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the red-coats to pleaseyou?" cries Alan. "No, sir; if ye want sixty guineas earn them, and setme in my own country. "

"It's to risk the brig, sir, " said the captain, "and your own livesalong with her. "

"Take it or want it, " says Alan. 

"Could ye pilot us at all?" asked the captain, who was frowning tohimself. 

"Well, it's doubtful, " said Alan. "I'm more of a fighting man (as yehave seen for yoursel') than a sailor-man. But I have been often enoughpicked up and set down upon this coast, and should ken something of thelie of it. "

The captain shook his head, still frowning. 

"If I had lost less money on this unchancy cruise, " says he, "I wouldsee you in a rope's end before I risked my brig, sir. But be it as yewill. As soon as I get a slant of wind (and there's some coming, or I'mthe more mistaken) I'll put it in hand. But there's one thing more. Wemay meet in with a king's ship and she may lay us aboard, sir, with noblame of mine: they keep the cruisers thick upon this coast, ye ken whofor. Now, sir, if that was to befall, ye might leave the money. "

"Captain, " says Alan, "if ye see a pennant, it shall be your part torun away. And now, as I hear you're a little short of brandy in thefore-part, I'll offer ye a change: a bottle of brandy against twobuckets of water. "

That was the last clause of the treaty, and was duly executed on bothsides; so that Alan and I could at last wash out the round-house and bequit of the memorials of those whom we had slain, and the captain andMr. Riach could be happy again in their own way, the name of which wasdrink. 

CHAPTER XII

I HEAR OF THE "RED FOX"

Before we had done cleaning out the round-house, a breeze sprang up froma little to the east of north. This blew off the rain and brought outthe sun. 

And here I must explain; and the reader would do well to look at a map. On the day when the fog fell and we ran down Alan's boat, we had beenrunning through the Little Minch. At dawn after the battle, we laybecalmed to the east of the Isle of Canna or between that and IsleEriska in the chain of the Long Island. Now to get from there to theLinnhe Loch, the straight course was through the narrows of the Sound ofMull. But the captain had no chart; he was afraid to trust his brig sodeep among the islands; and the wind serving well, he preferred to go bywest of Tiree and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle ofMull. 

All day the breeze held in the same point, and rather freshened thandied down; and towards afternoon, a swell began to set in from round theouter Hebrides. Our course, to go round about the inner isles, was tothe west of south, so that at first we had this swell upon our beam, andwere much rolled about. But after nightfall, when we had turned the endof Tiree and began to head more to the east, the sea came right astern. 

Meanwhile, the early part of the day, before the swell came up, wasvery pleasant; sailing, as we were, in a bright sunshine and withmany mountainous islands upon different sides. Alan and I sat in theround-house with the doors open on each side (the wind being straightastern), and smoked a pipe or two of the captain's fine tobacco. It wasat this time we heard each other's stories, which was the more importantto me, as I gained some knowledge of that wild Highland country on whichI was so soon to land. In those days, so close on the back of the greatrebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when hewent upon the heather. 

It was I that showed the example, telling him all my misfortune; whichhe heard with great good-nature. Only, when I came to mention that goodfriend of mine, Mr. Campbell the minister, Alan fired up and cried outthat he hated all that were of that name. 

"Why, " said I, "he is a man you should be proud to give your hand to. "

"I know nothing I would help a Campbell to, " says he, "unless it was aleaden bullet. I would hunt all of that name like blackcocks. If I laydying, I would crawl upon my knees to my chamber window for a shot atone. "

"Why, Alan, " I cried, "what ails ye at the Campbells?"

"Well, " says he, "ye ken very well that I am an Appin Stewart, and theCampbells have long harried and wasted those of my name; ay, and gotlands of us by treachery--but never with the sword, " he cried loudly, and with the word brought down his fist upon the table. But I paid theless attention to this, for I knew it was usually said by those who havethe underhand. "There's more than that, " he continued, "and all in thesame story: lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler, and theshow of what's legal over all, to make a man the more angry. "

"You that are so wasteful of your buttons, " said I, "I can hardly thinkyou would be a good judge of business. "

"Ah!" says he, falling again to smiling, "I got my wastefulness fromthe same man I got the buttons from; and that was my poor father, DuncanStewart, grace be to him! He was the prettiest man of his kindred; andthe best swordsman in the Hielands, David, and that is the same as tosay, in all the world, I should ken, for it was him that taught me. He was in the Black Watch, when first it was mustered; and, like othergentlemen privates, had a gillie at his back to carry his firelock forhim on the march. Well, the King, it appears, was wishful to see Hielandswordsmanship; and my father and three more were chosen out and sent toLondon town, to let him see it at the best. So they were had into thepalace and showed the whole art of the sword for two hours at a stretch, before King George and Queen Carline, and the Butcher Cumberland, andmany more of whom I havenae mind. And when they were through, the King(for all he was a rank usurper) spoke them fair and gave each man threeguineas in his hand. Now, as they were going out of the palace, theyhad a porter's lodge to go, by; and it came in on my father, as he wasperhaps the first private Hieland gentleman that had ever gone by thatdoor, it was right he should give the poor porter a proper notion oftheir quality. So he gives the King's three guineas into the man's hand, as if it was his common custom; the three others that came behind himdid the same; and there they were on the street, never a penny thebetter for their pains. Some say it was one, that was the first to feethe King's porter; and some say it was another; but the truth of it is, that it was Duncan Stewart, as I am willing to prove with either swordor pistol. And that was the father that I had, God rest him!"

"I think he was not the man to leave you rich, " said I. 

"And that's true, " said Alan. "He left me my breeks to cover me, andlittle besides. And that was how I came to enlist, which was a blackspot upon my character at the best of times, and would still be a sorejob for me if I fell among the red-coats. "

"What, " cried I, "were you in the English army?"

"That was I, " said Alan. "But I deserted to the right side at PrestonPans--and that's some comfort. "

I could scarcely share this view: holding desertion under arms for anunpardonable fault in honour. But for all I was so young, I was wiserthan say my thought. "Dear, dear, " says I, "the punishment is death. "

"Ay" said he, "if they got hands on me, it would be a short shrift anda lang tow for Alan! But I have the King of France's commission in mypocket, which would aye be some protection. "

"I misdoubt it much, " said I. 

"I have doubts mysel', " said Alan drily. 

"And, good heaven, man, " cried I, "you that are a condemned rebel, and adeserter, and a man of the French King's--what tempts ye back into thiscountry? It's a braving of Providence. "

"Tut!" says Alan, "I have been back every year since forty-six!"

"And what brings ye, man?" cried I. 

"Well, ye see, I weary for my friends and country, " said he. "France isa braw place, nae doubt; but I weary for the heather and the deer. Andthen I have bit things that I attend to. Whiles I pick up a few ladsto serve the King of France: recruits, ye see; and that's aye alittle money. But the heart of the matter is the business of my chief, Ardshiel. "

"I thought they called your chief Appin, " said I. 

"Ay, but Ardshiel is the captain of the clan, " said he, which scarcelycleared my mind. "Ye see, David, he that was all his life so great aman, and come of the blood and bearing the name of kings, is now broughtdown to live in a French town like a poor and private person. He thathad four hundred swords at his whistle, I have seen, with these eyesof mine, buying butter in the market-place, and taking it home in akale-leaf. This is not only a pain but a disgrace to us of his familyand clan. There are the bairns forby, the children and the hope ofAppin, that must be learned their letters and how to hold a sword, inthat far country. Now, the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent to KingGeorge; but their hearts are staunch, they are true to their chief; andwhat with love and a bit of pressure, and maybe a threat or two, thepoor folk scrape up a second rent for Ardshiel. Well, David, I'm thehand that carries it. " And he struck the belt about his body, so thatthe guineas rang. 

"Do they pay both?" cried I. 

"Ay, David, both, " says he. 

"What! two rents?" I repeated. 

"Ay, David, " said he. "I told a different tale to yon captain man; butthis is the truth of it. And it's wonderful to me how little pressureis needed. But that's the handiwork of my good kinsman and my father'sfriend, James of the Glens: James Stewart, that is: Ardshiel'shalf-brother. He it is that gets the money in, and does the management. "

This was the first time I heard the name of that James Stewart, who wasafterwards so famous at the time of his hanging. But I took little heedat the moment, for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of thesepoor Highlanders. 

"I call it noble, " I cried. "I'm a Whig, or little better; but I call itnoble. "

"Ay" said he, "ye're a Whig, but ye're a gentleman; and that's what doesit. Now, if ye were one of the cursed race of Campbell, ye would gnashyour teeth to hear tell of it. If ye were the Red Fox. . . " And at thatname, his teeth shut together, and he ceased speaking. I have seen manya grim face, but never a grimmer than Alan's when he had named the RedFox. 

"And who is the Red Fox?" I asked, daunted, but still curious. 

"Who is he?" cried Alan. "Well, and I'll tell you that. When the men ofthe clans were broken at Culloden, and the good cause went down, and thehorses rode over the fetlocks in the best blood of the north, Ardshielhad to flee like a poor deer upon the mountains--he and his lady and hisbairns. A sair job we had of it before we got him shipped; and while hestill lay in the heather, the English rogues, that couldnae come at hislife, were striking at his rights. They stripped him of his powers; theystripped him of his lands; they plucked the weapons from the hands ofhis clansmen, that had borne arms for thirty centuries; ay, and the veryclothes off their backs--so that it's now a sin to wear a tartan plaid, and a man may be cast into a gaol if he has but a kilt about his legs. One thing they couldnae kill. That was the love the clansmen bore theirchief. These guineas are the proof of it. And now, in there steps a man, a Campbell, red-headed Colin of Glenure----"

"Is that him you call the Red Fox?" said I. 

"Will ye bring me his brush?" cries Alan, fiercely. "Ay, that's the man. In he steps, and gets papers from King George, to be so-called King'sfactor on the lands of Appin. And at first he sings small, and ishail-fellow-well-met with Sheamus--that's James of the Glens, mychieftain's agent. But by-and-by, that came to his ears that I have justtold you; how the poor commons of Appin, the farmers and the croftersand the boumen, were wringing their very plaids to get a second rent, and send it over-seas for Ardshiel and his poor bairns. What was it yecalled it, when I told ye?"

"I called it noble, Alan, " said I. 

"And you little better than a common Whig!" cries Alan. "But when itcame to Colin Roy, the black Campbell blood in him ran wild. He satgnashing his teeth at the wine table. What! should a Stewart get a biteof bread, and him not be able to prevent it? Ah! Red Fox, if ever Ihold you at a gun's end, the Lord have pity upon ye!" (Alan stopped toswallow down his anger. ) "Well, David, what does he do? He declares allthe farms to let. And, thinks he, in his black heart, 'I'll soon getother tenants that'll overbid these Stewarts, and Maccolls, and Macrobs'(for these are all names in my clan, David); 'and then, ' thinks he, 'Ardshiel will have to hold his bonnet on a French roadside. '"

"Well, " said I, "what followed?"

Alan laid down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to go out, andset his two hands upon his knees. 

"Ay, " said he, "ye'll never guess that! For these same Stewarts, andMaccolls, and Macrobs (that had two rents to pay, one to King Georgeby stark force, and one to Ardshiel by natural kindness) offered him abetter price than any Campbell in all broad Scotland; and far hesent seeking them--as far as to the sides of Clyde and the cross ofEdinburgh--seeking, and fleeching, and begging them to come, where therewas a Stewart to be starved and a red-headed hound of a Campbell to bepleasured!"

"Well, Alan, " said I, "that is a strange story, and a fine one, too. AndWhig as I may be, I am glad the man was beaten. "

"Him beaten?" echoed Alan. "It's little ye ken of Campbells, and lessof the Red Fox. Him beaten? No: nor will be, till his blood's on thehillside! But if the day comes, David man, that I can find time andleisure for a bit of hunting, there grows not enough heather in allScotland to hide him from my vengeance!"

"Man Alan, " said I, "ye are neither very wise nor very Christian toblow off so many words of anger. They will do the man ye call the Fox noharm, and yourself no good. Tell me your tale plainly out. What did henext?"

"And that's a good observe, David, " said Alan. "Troth and indeed, they will do him no harm; the more's the pity! And barring that aboutChristianity (of which my opinion is quite otherwise, or I would be naeChristian), I am much of your mind. "

"Opinion here or opinion there, " said I, "it's a kent thing thatChristianity forbids revenge. "

"Ay" said he, "it's well seen it was a Campbell taught ye! It would bea convenient world for them and their sort, if there was no such a thingas a lad and a gun behind a heather bush! But that's nothing to thepoint. This is what he did. "

"Ay" said I, "come to that. "

"Well, David, " said he, "since he couldnae be rid of the loyal commonsby fair means, he swore he would be rid of them by foul. Ardshiel was tostarve: that was the thing he aimed at. And since them that fed him inhis exile wouldnae be bought out--right or wrong, he would drive themout. Therefore he sent for lawyers, and papers, and red-coats to standat his back. And the kindly folk of that country must all pack andtramp, every father's son out of his father's house, and out of theplace where he was bred and fed, and played when he was a callant. Andwho are to succeed them? Bare-leggit beggars! King George is to whistlefor his rents; he maun dow with less; he can spread his butter thinner:what cares Red Colin? If he can hurt Ardshiel, he has his wish; if hecan pluck the meat from my chieftain's table, and the bit toys out ofhis children's hands, he will gang hame singing to Glenure!"

"Let me have a word, " said I. "Be sure, if they take less rents, besure Government has a finger in the pie. It's not this Campbell's fault, man--it's his orders. And if ye killed this Colin to-morrow, what betterwould ye be? There would be another factor in his shoes, as fast as spurcan drive. "

"Ye're a good lad in a fight, " said Alan; "but, man! ye have Whig bloodin ye!"

He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger under his contemptthat I thought it was wise to change the conversation. I expressed mywonder how, with the Highlands covered with troops, and guarded likea city in a siege, a man in his situation could come and go withoutarrest. 

"It's easier than ye would think, " said Alan. "A bare hillside (ye see)is like all one road; if there's a sentry at one place, ye just go byanother. And then the heather's a great help. And everywhere there arefriends' houses and friends' byres and haystacks. And besides, when folktalk of a country covered with troops, it's but a kind of a byword atthe best. A soldier covers nae mair of it than his boot-soles. I havefished a water with a sentry on the other side of the brae, and killed afine trout; and I have sat in a heather bush within six feet of another, and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling. This was it, " said he, and whistled me the air. 

"And then, besides, " he continued, "it's no sae bad now as it was inforty-six. The Hielands are what they call pacified. Small wonder, withnever a gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape Wrath, but what tenty*folk have hidden in their thatch! But what I would like to ken, David, is just how long? Not long, ye would think, with men like Ardshiel inexile and men like the Red Fox sitting birling the wine and oppressingthe poor at home. But it's a kittle thing to decide what folk'll bear, and what they will not. Or why would Red Colin be riding his horse allover my poor country of Appin, and never a pretty lad to put a bullet inhim?"

 * Careful. 

And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for a long time sate very sadand silent. 

I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend, that hewas skilled in all kinds of music, but principally pipe-music; was awell-considered poet in his own tongue; had read several books both inFrench and English; was a dead shot, a good angler, and an excellentfencer with the small sword as well as with his own particular weapon. For his faults, they were on his face, and I now knew them all. Butthe worst of them, his childish propensity to take offence and to pickquarrels, he greatly laid aside in my case, out of regard for the battleof the round-house. But whether it was because I had done well myself, or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess, is morethan I can tell. For though he had a great taste for courage in othermen, yet he admired it most in Alan Breck. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE LOSS OF THE BRIG

It was already late at night, and as dark as it ever would be at thatseason of the year (and that is to say, it was still pretty bright), when Hoseason clapped his head into the round-house door. 

"Here, " said he, "come out and see if ye can pilot. "

"Is this one of your tricks?" asked Alan. 

"Do I look like tricks?" cries the captain. "I have other things tothink of--my brig's in danger!"

By the concerned look of his face, and, above all, by the sharp tones inwhich he spoke of his brig, it was plain to both of us he was in deadlyearnest; and so Alan and I, with no great fear of treachery, stepped ondeck. 

The sky was clear; it blew hard, and was bitter cold; a great deal ofdaylight lingered; and the moon, which was nearly full, shone brightly. The brig was close hauled, so as to round the southwest corner of theIsland of Mull, the hills of which (and Ben More above them all, with awisp of mist upon the top of it) lay full upon the lar-board bow. Thoughit was no good point of sailing for the Covenant, she tore throughthe seas at a great rate, pitching and straining, and pursued by thewesterly swell. 

Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in; and I had begunto wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the captain, when thebrig rising suddenly on the top of a high swell, he pointed and cried tous to look. Away on the lee bow, a thing like a fountain rose out of themoonlit sea, and immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring. 

"What do ye call that?" asked the captain, gloomily. 

"The sea breaking on a reef, " said Alan. "And now ye ken where it is;and what better would ye have?"

"Ay, " said Hoseason, "if it was the only one. "

And sure enough, just as he spoke there came a second fountain fartherto the south. 

"There!" said Hoseason. "Ye see for yourself. If I had kent of thesereefs, if I had had a chart, or if Shuan had been spared, it's not sixtyguineas, no, nor six hundred, would have made me risk my brig in sic astoneyard! But you, sir, that was to pilot us, have ye never a word?"

"I'm thinking, " said Alan, "these'll be what they call the TorranRocks. "

"Are there many of them?" says the captain. 

"Truly, sir, I am nae pilot, " said Alan; "but it sticks in my mind thereare ten miles of them. "

Mr. Riach and the captain looked at each other. 

"There's a way through them, I suppose?" said the captain. 

"Doubtless, " said Alan, "but where? But it somehow runs in my mind oncemore that it is clearer under the land. "

"So?" said Hoseason. "We'll have to haul our wind then, Mr. Riach; we'llhave to come as near in about the end of Mull as we can take her, sir;and even then we'll have the land to kep the wind off us, and thatstoneyard on our lee. Well, we're in for it now, and may as well crackon. "

With that he gave an order to the steersman, and sent Riach to theforetop. There were only five men on deck, counting the officers; thesebeing all that were fit (or, at least, both fit and willing) for theirwork. So, as I say, it fell to Mr. Riach to go aloft, and he sat therelooking out and hailing the deck with news of all he saw. 

"The sea to the south is thick, " he cried; and then, after a while, "itdoes seem clearer in by the land. "

"Well, sir, " said Hoseason to Alan, "we'll try your way of it. But Ithink I might as well trust to a blind fiddler. Pray God you're right. "

"Pray God I am!" says Alan to me. "But where did I hear it? Well, well, it will be as it must. "

As we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began to be sown hereand there on our very path; and Mr. Riach sometimes cried down to us tochange the course. Sometimes, indeed, none too soon; for one reef wasso close on the brig's weather board that when a sea burst upon it thelighter sprays fell upon her deck and wetted us like rain. 

The brightness of the night showed us these perils as clearly as by day, which was, perhaps, the more alarming. It showed me, too, the face ofthe captain as he stood by the steersman, now on one foot, now on theother, and sometimes blowing in his hands, but still listening andlooking and as steady as steel. Neither he nor Mr. Riach had shownwell in the fighting; but I saw they were brave in their own trade, andadmired them all the more because I found Alan very white. 

"Ochone, David, " says he, "this is no the kind of death I fancy!"

"What, Alan!" I cried, "you're not afraid?"

"No, " said he, wetting his lips, "but you'll allow, yourself, it's acold ending. "

By this time, now and then sheering to one side or the other to avoid areef, but still hugging the wind and the land, we had got round Iona andbegun to come alongside Mull. The tide at the tail of the land ran verystrong, and threw the brig about. Two hands were put to the helm, andHoseason himself would sometimes lend a help; and it was strange tosee three strong men throw their weight upon the tiller, and it (like aliving thing) struggle against and drive them back. This would havebeen the greater danger had not the sea been for some while free ofobstacles. Mr. Riach, besides, announced from the top that he saw clearwater ahead. 

"Ye were right, " said Hoseason to Alan. "Ye have saved the brig, sir. I'll mind that when we come to clear accounts. " And I believe he notonly meant what he said, but would have done it; so high a place did theCovenant hold in his affections. 

But this is matter only for conjecture, things having gone otherwisethan he forecast. 

"Keep her away a point, " sings out Mr. Riach. "Reef to windward!"

And just at the same time the tide caught the brig, and threw the windout of her sails. She came round into the wind like a top, and the nextmoment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon thedeck, and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast. 

I was on my feet in a minute. The reef on which we had struck was closein under the southwest end of Mull, off a little isle they call Earraid, which lay low and black upon the larboard. Sometimes the swell brokeclean over us; sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef, sothat we could hear her beat herself to pieces; and what with the greatnoise of the sails, and the singing of the wind, and the flying of thespray in the moonlight, and the sense of danger, I think my head musthave been partly turned, for I could scarcely understand the things Isaw. 

Presently I observed Mr. Riach and the seamen busy round the skiff, and, still in the same blank, ran over to assist them; and as soon as I setmy hand to work, my mind came clear again. It was no very easy task, forthe skiff lay amidships and was full of hamper, and the breaking of theheavier seas continually forced us to give over and hold on; but we allwrought like horses while we could. 

Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came clambering out of thefore-scuttle and began to help; while the rest that lay helpless intheir bunks harrowed me with screaming and begging to be saved. 

The captain took no part. It seemed he was struck stupid. He stoodholding by the shrouds, talking to himself and groaning out aloudwhenever the ship hammered on the rock. His brig was like wife andchild to him; he had looked on, day by day, at the mishandling of poorRansome; but when it came to the brig, he seemed to suffer along withher. 

All the time of our working at the boat, I remember only one otherthing: that I asked Alan, looking across at the shore, what country itwas; and he answered, it was the worst possible for him, for it was aland of the Campbells. 

We had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch upon the seas andcry us warning. Well, we had the boat about ready to be launched, whenthis man sang out pretty shrill: "For God's sake, hold on!" We knewby his tone that it was something more than ordinary; and sure enough, there followed a sea so huge that it lifted the brig right up and cantedher over on her beam. Whether the cry came too late, or my hold was tooweak, I know not; but at the sudden tilting of the ship I was cast cleanover the bulwarks into the sea. 

I went down, and drank my fill, and then came up, and got a blink of themoon, and then down again. They say a man sinks a third time for good. Icannot be made like other folk, then; for I would not like to write howoften I went down, or how often I came up again. All the while, I wasbeing hurled along, and beaten upon and choked, and then swallowedwhole; and the thing was so distracting to my wits, that I was neithersorry nor afraid. 

Presently, I found I was holding to a spar, which helped me somewhat. And then all of a sudden I was in quiet water, and began to come tomyself. 

It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed to see how farI had travelled from the brig. I hailed her, indeed; but it was plainshe was already out of cry. She was still holding together; but whetheror not they had yet launched the boat, I was too far off and too lowdown to see. 

While I was hailing the brig, I spied a tract of water lying betweenus where no great waves came, but which yet boiled white all over andbristled in the moon with rings and bubbles. Sometimes the whole tractswung to one side, like the tail of a live serpent; sometimes, for aglimpse, it would all disappear and then boil up again. What it was Ihad no guess, which for the time increased my fear of it; but I now knowit must have been the roost or tide race, which had carried me away sofast and tumbled me about so cruelly, and at last, as if tired of thatplay, had flung out me and the spare yard upon its landward margin. 

I now lay quite becalmed, and began to feel that a man can die of coldas well as of drowning. The shores of Earraid were close in; I could seein the moonlight the dots of heather and the sparkling of the mica inthe rocks. 

"Well, " thought I to myself, "if I cannot get as far as that, it'sstrange!"

I had no skill of swimming, Essen Water being small in ourneighbourhood; but when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms, andkicked out with both feet, I soon begun to find that I was moving. Hardwork it was, and mortally slow; but in about an hour of kickingand splashing, I had got well in between the points of a sandy baysurrounded by low hills. 

The sea was here quite quiet; there was no sound of any surf; the moonshone clear; and I thought in my heart I had never seen a place sodesert and desolate. But it was dry land; and when at last it grew soshallow that I could leave the yard and wade ashore upon my feet, Icannot tell if I was more tired or more grateful. Both, at least, I was:tired as I never was before that night; and grateful to God as I trust Ihave been often, though never with more cause. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE ISLET

With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my adventures. It was half-past twelve in the morning, and though the wind was brokenby the land, it was a cold night. I dared not sit down (for I thoughtI should have frozen), but took off my shoes and walked to and fro uponthe sand, bare-foot, and beating my breast with infinite weariness. There was no sound of man or cattle; not a cock crew, though it wasabout the hour of their first waking; only the surf broke outside in thedistance, which put me in mind of my perils and those of my friend. To walk by the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place sodesert-like and lonesome, struck me with a kind of fear. 

As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed ahill--the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook--falling, the whole way, between big blocks of granite, or leaping from one to another. When Igot to the top the dawn was come. There was no sign of the brig, whichmust have lifted from the reef and sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere tobe seen. There was never a sail upon the ocean; and in what I could seeof the land was neither house nor man. 

I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates, and afraid to looklonger at so empty a scene. What with my wet clothes and weariness, andmy belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had enough to troubleme without that. So I set off eastward along the south coast, hoping tofind a house where I might warm myself, and perhaps get news of those Ihad lost. And at the worst, I considered the sun would soon rise and drymy clothes. 

After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea, whichseemed to run pretty deep into the land; and as I had no means to getacross, I must needs change my direction to go about the end of it. Itwas still the roughest kind of walking; indeed the whole, not only ofEarraid, but of the neighbouring part of Mull (which they call the Ross)is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather in among. At firstthe creek kept narrowing as I had looked to see; but presently to mysurprise it began to widen out again. At this I scratched my head, but had still no notion of the truth: until at last I came to a risingground, and it burst upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon alittle barren isle, and cut off on every side by the salt seas. 

Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain, with a thickmist; so that my case was lamentable. 

I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered what to do, till itoccurred to me that perhaps the creek was fordable. Back I went to thenarrowest point and waded in. But not three yards from shore, I plumpedin head over ears; and if ever I was heard of more, it was rather byGod's grace than my own prudence. I was no wetter (for that could hardlybe), but I was all the colder for this mishap; and having lost anotherhope was the more unhappy. 

And now, all at once, the yard came in my head. What had carried methrough the roost would surely serve me to cross this little quiet creekin safety. With that I set off, undaunted, across the top of the isle, to fetch and carry it back. It was a weary tramp in all ways, and ifhope had not buoyed me up, I must have cast myself down and given up. Whether with the sea salt, or because I was growing fevered, I wasdistressed with thirst, and had to stop, as I went, and drink the peatywater out of the hags. 

I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive; and at the firstglance, I thought the yard was something farther out than when I leftit. In I went, for the third time, into the sea. The sand was smoothand firm, and shelved gradually down, so that I could wade out till thewater was almost to my neck and the little waves splashed into my face. But at that depth my feet began to leave me, and I durst venture in nofarther. As for the yard, I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feetbeyond. 

I had borne up well until this last disappointment; but at that I cameashore, and flung myself down upon the sands and wept. 

The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me, that I must pass it lightly over. In all the books I have read of peoplecast away, they had either their pockets full of tools, or a chest ofthings would be thrown upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose. My case was very different. I had nothing in my pockets but money andAlan's silver button; and being inland bred, I was as much short ofknowledge as of means. 

I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat; and among therocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at first Icould scarcely strike from their places, not knowing quickness to beneedful. There were, besides, some of the little shells that we callbuckies; I think periwinkle is the English name. Of these two I made mywhole diet, devouring them cold and raw as I found them; and so hungrywas I, that at first they seemed to me delicious. 

Perhaps they were out of season, or perhaps there was something wrongin the sea about my island. But at least I had no sooner eaten my firstmeal than I was seized with giddiness and retching, and lay for a longtime no better than dead. A second trial of the same food (indeed I hadno other) did better with me, and revived my strength. But as long asI was on the island, I never knew what to expect when I had eaten;sometimes all was well, and sometimes I was thrown into a miserablesickness; nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was thathurt me. 

All day it streamed rain; the island ran like a sop, there was no dryspot to be found; and when I lay down that night, between two bouldersthat made a kind of roof, my feet were in a bog. 

The second day I crossed the island to all sides. There was no one partof it better than another; it was all desolate and rocky; nothing livingon it but game birds which I lacked the means to kill, and the gullswhich haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. But the creek, or strait, that cut off the isle from the main-land of the Ross, openedout on the north into a bay, and the bay again opened into the Sound ofIona; and it was the neighbourhood of this place that I chose to be myhome; though if I had thought upon the very name of home in such a spot, I must have burst out weeping. 

I had good reasons for my choice. There was in this part of the isle alittle hut of a house like a pig's hut, where fishers used to sleep whenthey came there upon their business; but the turf roof of it had fallenentirely in; so that the hut was of no use to me, and gave me lessshelter than my rocks. What was more important, the shell-fish on whichI lived grew there in great plenty; when the tide was out I could gathera peck at a time: and this was doubtless a convenience. But the otherreason went deeper. I had become in no way used to the horrid solitudeof the isle, but still looked round me on all sides (like a man thatwas hunted), between fear and hope that I might see some human creaturecoming. Now, from a little up the hillside over the bay, I could catch asight of the great, ancient church and the roofs of the people's housesin Iona. And on the other hand, over the low country of the Ross, I sawsmoke go up, morning and evening, as if from a homestead in a hollow ofthe land. 

I used to watch this smoke, when I was wet and cold, and had my headhalf turned with loneliness; and think of the fireside and thecompany, till my heart burned. It was the same with the roofs of Iona. Altogether, this sight I had of men's homes and comfortable lives, although it put a point on my own sufferings, yet it kept hope alive, and helped me to eat my raw shell-fish (which had soon grown to be adisgust), and saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever I wasquite alone with dead rocks, and fowls, and the rain, and the cold sea. 

I say it kept hope alive; and indeed it seemed impossible that I shouldbe left to die on the shores of my own country, and within view of achurch-tower and the smoke of men's houses. But the second day passed;and though as long as the light lasted I kept a bright look-out forboats on the Sound or men passing on the Ross, no help came near me. Itstill rained, and I turned in to sleep, as wet as ever, and with a cruelsore throat, but a little comforted, perhaps, by having said good-nightto my next neighbours, the people of Iona. 

Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days in theyear in the climate of England than in any other. This was very like aking, with a palace at his back and changes of dry clothes. But he musthave had better luck on his flight from Worcester than I had on thatmiserable isle. It was the height of the summer; yet it rained for morethan twenty-four hours, and did not clear until the afternoon of thethird day. 

This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red deer, a buckwith a fine spread of antlers, standing in the rain on the top of theisland; but he had scarce seen me rise from under my rock, beforehe trotted off upon the other side. I supposed he must have swum thestrait; though what should bring any creature to Earraid, was more thanI could fancy. 

A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I was startledby a guinea-piece, which fell upon a rock in front of me and glanced offinto the sea. When the sailors gave me my money again, they kept backnot only about a third of the whole sum, but my father's leather purse;so that from that day out, I carried my gold loose in a pocket with abutton. I now saw there must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the placein a great hurry. But this was to lock the stable door after the steedwas stolen. I had left the shore at Queensferry with near on fiftypounds; now I found no more than two guinea-pieces and a silvershilling. 

It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it layshining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three pounds and fourshillings, English money, for a lad, the rightful heir of an estate, andnow starving on an isle at the extreme end of the wild Highlands. 

This state of my affairs dashed me still further; and, indeed my plighton that third morning was truly pitiful. My clothes were beginning torot; my stockings in particular were quite worn through, so that myshanks went naked; my hands had grown quite soft with the continualsoaking; my throat was very sore, my strength had much abated, and myheart so turned against the horrid stuff I was condemned to eat, thatthe very sight of it came near to sicken me. 

And yet the worst was not yet come. 

There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid, which (becauseit had a flat top and overlooked the Sound) I was much in the habit offrequenting; not that ever I stayed in one place, save when asleep, mymisery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down with continual andaimless goings and comings in the rain. 

As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of thatrock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannottell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, of which I hadbegun to despair; and I scanned the sea and the Ross with a freshinterest. On the south of my rock, a part of the island jutted out andhid the open ocean, so that a boat could thus come quite near me uponthat side, and I be none the wiser. 

Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a pair of fishersaboard of it, came flying round that corner of the isle, bound for Iona. I shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the rock and reached up myhands and prayed to them. They were near enough to hear--I could evensee the colour of their hair; and there was no doubt but they observedme, for they cried out in the Gaelic tongue, and laughed. But the boatnever turned aside, and flew on, right before my eyes, for Iona. 

I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from rockto rock, crying on them piteously even after they were out of reachof my voice, I still cried and waved to them; and when they were quitegone, I thought my heart would have burst. All the time of my troublesI wept only twice. Once, when I could not reach the yard, and now, thesecond time, when these fishers turned a deaf ear to my cries. But thistime I wept and roared like a wicked child, tearing up the turf withmy nails, and grinding my face in the earth. If a wish would kill men, those two fishers would never have seen morning, and I should likelyhave died upon my island. 

When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but with suchloathing of the mess as I could now scarce control. Sure enough, Ishould have done as well to fast, for my fishes poisoned me again. I hadall my first pains; my throat was so sore I could scarce swallow; I hada fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth together; and therecame on me that dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name foreither in Scotch or English. I thought I should have died, and made mypeace with God, forgiving all men, even my uncle and the fishers; and assoon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst, clearness came upon me;I observed the night was falling dry; my clothes were dried a good deal;truly, I was in a better case than ever before, since I had landed onthe isle; and so I got to sleep at last, with a thought of gratitude. 

The next day (which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine) Ifound my bodily strength run very low. But the sun shone, the air wassweet, and what I managed to eat of the shell-fish agreed well with meand revived my courage. 

I was scarce back on my rock (where I went always the first thing afterI had eaten) before I observed a boat coming down the Sound, and withher head, as I thought, in my direction. 

I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly; for I thought these menmight have thought better of their cruelty and be coming back to myassistance. But another disappointment, such as yesterday's, was morethan I could bear. I turned my back, accordingly, upon the sea, anddid not look again till I had counted many hundreds. The boat was stillheading for the island. The next time I counted the full thousand, asslowly as I could, my heart beating so as to hurt me. And then it wasout of all question. She was coming straight to Earraid!

I could no longer hold myself back, but ran to the seaside and out, from one rock to another, as far as I could go. It is a marvel I was notdrowned; for when I was brought to a stand at last, my legs shook underme, and my mouth was so dry, I must wet it with the sea-water before Iwas able to shout. 

All this time the boat was coming on; and now I was able to perceiveit was the same boat and the same two men as yesterday. This I knew bytheir hair, which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black. But now there was a third man along with them, who looked to be of abetter class. 

As soon as they were come within easy speech, they let down their sailand lay quiet. In spite of my supplications, they drew no nearer in, andwhat frightened me most of all, the new man tee-hee'd with laughter ashe talked and looked at me. 

Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while, speakingfast and with many wavings of his hand. I told him I had no Gaelic; andat this he became very angry, and I began to suspect he thought he wastalking English. Listening very close, I caught the word "whateffer"several times; but all the rest was Gaelic and might have been Greek andHebrew for me. 

"Whatever, " said I, to show him I had caught a word. 

"Yes, yes--yes, yes, " says he, and then he looked at the other men, asmuch as to say, "I told you I spoke English, " and began again as hard asever in the Gaelic. 

This time I picked out another word, "tide. " Then I had a flash of hope. I remembered he was always waving his hand towards the mainland of theRoss. 

"Do you mean when the tide is out--?" I cried, and could not finish. 

"Yes, yes, " said he. "Tide. "

At that I turned tail upon their boat (where my adviser had once morebegun to tee-hee with laughter), leaped back the way I had come, fromone stone to another, and set off running across the isle as I had neverrun before. In about half an hour I came out upon the shores of thecreek; and, sure enough, it was shrunk into a little trickle of water, through which I dashed, not above my knees, and landed with a shout onthe main island. 

A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is onlywhat they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of the neaps, canbe entered and left twice in every twenty-four hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by wading. Even I, who had the tide going out and inbefore me in the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to getmy shellfish--even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead ofraging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. Itwas no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder was ratherthat they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble tocome back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for closeupon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might have left my bonesthere, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, but in my present case; being clothed likea beggar-man, scarce able to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat. 

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believethey both get paid in the end; but the fools first. 

CHAPTER XV

THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: THROUGH THE ISLE OF MULL

The Ross of Mull, which I had now got upon, was rugged and trackless, like the isle I had just left; being all bog, and brier, and big stone. There may be roads for them that know that country well; but for my partI had no better guide than my own nose, and no other landmark than BenMore. 

I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so often from theisland; and with all my great weariness and the difficulty of the waycame upon the house in the bottom of a little hollow about five orsix at night. It was low and longish, roofed with turf and built ofunmortared stones; and on a mound in front of it, an old gentleman satsmoking his pipe in the sun. 

With what little English he had, he gave me to understand that myshipmates had got safe ashore, and had broken bread in that very houseon the day after. 

"Was there one, " I asked, "dressed like a gentleman?"

He said they all wore rough great-coats; but to be sure, the first ofthem, the one that came alone, wore breeches and stockings, while therest had sailors' trousers. 

"Ah, " said I, "and he would have a feathered hat?"

He told me, no, that he was bareheaded like myself. 

At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat; and then the rain camein my mind, and I judged it more likely he had it out of harm's wayunder his great-coat. This set me smiling, partly because my friend wassafe, partly to think of his vanity in dress. 

And then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow, and cried outthat I must be the lad with the silver button. 

"Why, yes!" said I, in some wonder. 

"Well, then, " said the old gentleman, "I have a word for you, that youare to follow your friend to his country, by Torosay. "

He then asked me how I had fared, and I told him my tale. Asouth-country man would certainly have laughed; but this old gentleman(I call him so because of his manners, for his clothes were dropping offhis back) heard me all through with nothing but gravity and pity. When Ihad done, he took me by the hand, led me into his hut (it was no better)and presented me before his wife, as if she had been the Queen and I aduke. 

The good woman set oat-bread before me and a cold grouse, patting myshoulder and smiling to me all the time, for she had no English; and theold gentleman (not to be behind) brewed me a strong punch out of theircountry spirit. All the while I was eating, and after that when I wasdrinking the punch, I could scarce come to believe in my good fortune;and the house, though it was thick with the peat-smoke and as full ofholes as a colander, seemed like a palace. 

The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slumber; the good peoplelet me lie; and it was near noon of the next day before I took the road, my throat already easier and my spirits quite restored by good fare andgood news. The old gentleman, although I pressed him hard, would take nomoney, and gave me an old bonnet for my head; though I am free to own Iwas no sooner out of view of the house than I very jealously washed thisgift of his in a wayside fountain. 

Thought I to myself: "If these are the wild Highlanders, I could wish myown folk wilder. "

I not only started late, but I must have wandered nearly half the time. True, I met plenty of people, grubbing in little miserable fields thatwould not keep a cat, or herding little kine about the bigness of asses. The Highland dress being forbidden by law since the rebellion, and thepeople condemned to the Lowland habit, which they much disliked, it wasstrange to see the variety of their array. Some went bare, only for ahanging cloak or great-coat, and carried their trousers on their backslike a useless burthen: some had made an imitation of the tartan withlittle parti-coloured stripes patched together like an old wife's quilt;others, again, still wore the Highland philabeg, but by putting a fewstitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of trousers likea Dutchman's. All those makeshifts were condemned and punished, for thelaw was harshly applied, in hopes to break up the clan spirit; but inthat out-of-the-way, sea-bound isle, there were few to make remarks andfewer to tell tales. 

They seemed in great poverty; which was no doubt natural, now thatrapine was put down, and the chiefs kept no longer an open house;and the roads (even such a wandering, country by--track as the oneI followed) were infested with beggars. And here again I markeda difference from my own part of the country. For our Lowlandbeggars--even the gownsmen themselves, who beg by patent--had a louting, flattering way with them, and if you gave them a plaek and asked change, would very civilly return you a boddle. But these Highland beggars stoodon their dignity, asked alms only to buy snuff (by their account) andwould give no change. 

To be sure, this was no concern of mine, except in so far as itentertained me by the way. What was much more to the purpose, few hadany English, and these few (unless they were of the brotherhood ofbeggars) not very anxious to place it at my service. I knew Torosayto be my destination, and repeated the name to them and pointed; butinstead of simply pointing in reply, they would give me a screed of theGaelic that set me foolish; so it was small wonder if I went out of myroad as often as I stayed in it. 

At last, about eight at night, and already very weary, I came to a lonehouse, where I asked admittance, and was refused, until I bethoughtme of the power of money in so poor a country, and held up one of myguineas in my finger and thumb. Thereupon, the man of the house, who hadhitherto pretended to have no English, and driven me from his door bysignals, suddenly began to speak as clearly as was needful, and agreedfor five shillings to give me a night's lodging and guide me the nextday to Torosay. 

I slept uneasily that night, fearing I should be robbed; but I mighthave spared myself the pain; for my host was no robber, only miserablypoor and a great cheat. He was not alone in his poverty; for the nextmorning, we must go five miles about to the house of what he called arich man to have one of my guineas changed. This was perhaps a rich manfor Mull; he would have scarce been thought so in the south; for ittook all he had--the whole house was turned upside down, and a neighbourbrought under contribution, before he could scrape together twentyshillings in silver. The odd shilling he kept for himself, protesting hecould ill afford to have so great a sum of money lying "locked up. " Forall that he was very courteous and well spoken, made us both sit downwith his family to dinner, and brewed punch in a fine china bowl, overwhich my rascal guide grew so merry that he refused to start. 

I was for getting angry, and appealed to the rich man (Hector Macleanwas his name), who had been a witness to our bargain and to my paymentof the five shillings. But Maclean had taken his share of the punch, and vowed that no gentleman should leave his table after the bowl wasbrewed; so there was nothing for it but to sit and hear Jacobite toastsand Gaelic songs, till all were tipsy and staggered off to the bed orthe barn for their night's rest. 

Next day (the fourth of my travels) we were up before five upon theclock; but my rascal guide got to the bottle at once, and it was threehours before I had him clear of the house, and then (as you shall hear)only for a worse disappointment. 

As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay before Mr. Maclean'shouse, all went well; only my guide looked constantly over his shoulder, and when I asked him the cause, only grinned at me. No sooner, however, had we crossed the back of a hill, and got out of sight of the housewindows, than he told me Torosay lay right in front, and that a hill-top(which he pointed out) was my best landmark. 

"I care very little for that, " said I, "since you are going with me. "

The impudent cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he had no English. 

"My fine fellow, " I said, "I know very well your English comes and goes. Tell me what will bring it back? Is it more money you wish?"

"Five shillings mair, " said he, "and hersel' will bring ye there. "

I reflected awhile and then offered him two, which he accepted greedily, and insisted on having in his hands at once "for luck, " as he said, butI think it was rather for my misfortune. 

The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles; at the end ofwhich distance, he sat down upon the wayside and took off his broguesfrom his feet, like a man about to rest. 

I was now red-hot. "Ha!" said I, "have you no more English?"

He said impudently, "No. "

At that I boiled over, and lifted my hand to strike him; and he, drawinga knife from his rags, squatted back and grinned at me like a wildcat. At that, forgetting everything but my anger, I ran in upon him, putaside his knife with my left, and struck him in the mouth with theright. I was a strong lad and very angry, and he but a little man; andhe went down before me heavily. By good luck, his knife flew out of hishand as he fell. 

I picked up both that and his brogues, wished him a good morning, andset off upon my way, leaving him barefoot and disarmed. I chuckled tomyself as I went, being sure I was done with that rogue, for a varietyof reasons. First, he knew he could have no more of my money; next, thebrogues were worth in that country only a few pence; and, lastly, theknife, which was really a dagger, it was against the law for him tocarry. 

In about half an hour of walk, I overtook a great, ragged man, movingpretty fast but feeling before him with a staff. He was quite blind, andtold me he was a catechist, which should have put me at my ease. Buthis face went against me; it seemed dark and dangerous and secret; andpresently, as we began to go on alongside, I saw the steel butt of apistol sticking from under the flap of his coat-pocket. To carry such athing meant a fine of fifteen pounds sterling upon a first offence, andtransportation to the colonies upon a second. Nor could I quite see whya religious teacher should go armed, or what a blind man could be doingwith a pistol. 

I told him about my guide, for I was proud of what I had done, and myvanity for once got the heels of my prudence. At the mention of thefive shillings he cried out so loud that I made up my mind I should saynothing of the other two, and was glad he could not see my blushes. 

"Was it too much?" I asked, a little faltering. 

"Too much!" cries he. "Why, I will guide you to Torosay myself for adram of brandy. And give you the great pleasure of my company (me thatis a man of some learning) in the bargain. "

I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide; but at that helaughed aloud, and said his stick was eyes enough for an eagle. 

"In the Isle of Mull, at least, " says he, "where I know every stone andheather-bush by mark of head. See, now, " he said, striking right andleft, as if to make sure, "down there a burn is running; and at the headof it there stands a bit of a small hill with a stone cocked upon thetop of that; and it's hard at the foot of the hill, that the way runs byto Torosay; and the way here, being for droves, is plainly trodden, andwill show grassy through the heather. "

I had to own he was right in every feature, and told my wonder. 

"Ha!" says he, "that's nothing. Would ye believe me now, that beforethe Act came out, and when there were weepons in this country, I couldshoot? Ay, could I!" cries he, and then with a leer: "If ye had such athing as a pistol here to try with, I would show ye how it's done. "

I told him I had nothing of the sort, and gave him a wider berth. Ifhe had known, his pistol stuck at that time quite plainly out of hispocket, and I could see the sun twinkle on the steel of the butt. Butby the better luck for me, he knew nothing, thought all was covered, andlied on in the dark. 

He then began to question me cunningly, where I came from, whether Iwas rich, whether I could change a five-shilling piece for him (whichhe declared he had that moment in his sporran), and all the time he keptedging up to me and I avoiding him. We were now upon a sort of greencattle-track which crossed the hills towards Torosay, and we keptchanging sides upon that like ancers in a reel. I had so plainly theupper-hand that my spirits rose, and indeed I took a pleasure in thisgame of blindman's buff; but the catechist grew angrier and angrier, and at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with hisstaff. 

Then I told him that, sure enough, I had a pistol in my pocket as wellas he, and if he did not strike across the hill due south I would evenblow his brains out. 

He became at once very polite, and after trying to soften me for sometime, but quite in vain, he cursed me once more in Gaelic and tookhimself off. I watched him striding along, through bog and brier, tapping with his stick, until he turned the end of a hill anddisappeared in the next hollow. Then I struck on again for Torosay, muchbetter pleased to be alone than to travel with that man of learning. This was an unlucky day; and these two, of whom I had just rid myself, one after the other, were the two worst men I met with in the Highlands. 

At Torosay, on the Sound of Mull and looking over to the mainlandof Morven, there was an inn with an innkeeper, who was a Maclean, itappeared, of a very high family; for to keep an inn is thought even moregenteel in the Highlands than it is with us, perhaps as partaking ofhospitality, or perhaps because the trade is idle and drunken. He spokegood English, and finding me to be something of a scholar, tried mefirst in French, where he easily beat me, and then in the Latin, inwhich I don't know which of us did best. This pleasant rivalry put us atonce upon friendly terms; and I sat up and drank punch with him (or tobe more correct, sat up and watched him drink it), until he was so tipsythat he wept upon my shoulder. 

I tried him, as if by accident, with a sight of Alan's button; but itwas plain he had never seen or heard of it. Indeed, he bore some grudgeagainst the family and friends of Ardshiel, and before he was drunkhe read me a lampoon, in very good Latin, but with a very ill meaning, which he had made in elegiac verses upon a person of that house. 

When I told him of my catechist, he shook his head, and said I was luckyto have got clear off. "That is a very dangerous man, " he said; "DuncanMackiegh is his name; he can shoot by the ear at several yards, and hasbeen often accused of highway robberies, and once of murder. "

"The cream of it is, " says I, "that he called himself a catechist. "

"And why should he not?" says he, "when that is what he is. It wasMaclean of Duart gave it to him because he was blind. But perhaps it wasa peety, " says my host, "for he is always on the road, going fromone place to another to hear the young folk say their religion; and, doubtless, that is a great temptation to the poor man. "

At last, when my landlord could drink no more, he showed me to a bed, and I lay down in very good spirits; having travelled the greater partof that big and crooked Island of Mull, from Earraid to Torosay, fiftymiles as the crow flies, and (with my wanderings) much nearer a hundred, in four days and with little fatigue. Indeed I was by far in betterheart and health of body at the end of that long tramp than I had beenat the beginning. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN

There is a regular ferry from Torosay to Kinlochaline on the mainland. Both shores of the Sound are in the country of the strong clan of theMacleans, and the people that passed the ferry with me were almost allof that clan. The skipper of the boat, on the other hand, was calledNeil Roy Macrob; and since Macrob was one of the names of Alan'sclansmen, and Alan himself had sent me to that ferry, I was eager tocome to private speech of Neil Roy. 

In the crowded boat this was of course impossible, and the passage wasa very slow affair. There was no wind, and as the boat was wretchedlyequipped, we could pull but two oars on one side, and one on the other. The men gave way, however, with a good will, the passengers takingspells to help them, and the whole company giving the time inGaelic boat-songs. And what with the songs, and the sea-air, and thegood-nature and spirit of all concerned, and the bright weather, thepassage was a pretty thing to have seen. 

But there was one melancholy part. In the mouth of Loch Aline we founda great sea-going ship at anchor; and this I supposed at first to be oneof the King's cruisers which were kept along that coast, both summerand winter, to prevent communication with the French. As we got a littlenearer, it became plain she was a ship of merchandise; and what stillmore puzzled me, not only her decks, but the sea-beach also, were quiteblack with people, and skiffs were continually plying to and fro betweenthem. Yet nearer, and there began to come to our ears a great soundof mourning, the people on board and those on the shore crying andlamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart. 

Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for the Americancolonies. 

We put the ferry-boat alongside, and the exiles leaned over thebulwarks, weeping and reaching out their hands to my fellow-passengers, among whom they counted some near friends. How long this might have goneon I do not know, for they seemed to have no sense of time: but at lastthe captain of the ship, who seemed near beside himself (and no greatwonder) in the midst of this crying and confusion, came to the side andbegged us to depart. 

Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the chief singer in our boat struck intoa melancholy air, which was presently taken up both by the emigrants andtheir friends upon the beach, so that it sounded from all sides like alament for the dying. I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men andwomen in the boat, even as they bent at the oars; and the circumstancesand the music of the song (which is one called "Lochaber no more") werehighly affecting even to myself. 

At Kinlochaline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the beach, and said Imade sure he was one of Appin's men. 

"And what for no?" said he. 

"I am seeking somebody, " said I; "and it comes in my mind that you willhave news of him. Alan Breck Stewart is his name. " And very foolishly, instead of showing him the button, I sought to pass a shilling in hishand. 

At this he drew back. "I am very much affronted, " he said; "and this isnot the way that one shentleman should behave to another at all. The manyou ask for is in France; but if he was in my sporran, " says he, "andyour belly full of shillings, I would not hurt a hair upon his body. "

I saw I had gone the wrong way to work, and without wasting time uponapologies, showed him the button lying in the hollow of my palm. 

"Aweel, aweel, " said Neil; "and I think ye might have begun with thatend of the stick, whatever! But if ye are the lad with the silverbutton, all is well, and I have the word to see that ye come safe. Butif ye will pardon me to speak plainly, " says he, "there is a name thatyou should never take into your mouth, and that is the name of AlanBreck; and there is a thing that ye would never do, and that is to offeryour dirty money to a Hieland shentleman. "

It was not very easy to apologise; for I could scarce tell him (what wasthe truth) that I had never dreamed he would set up to be a gentlemanuntil he told me so. Neil on his part had no wish to prolong hisdealings with me, only to fulfil his orders and be done with it; andhe made haste to give me my route. This was to lie the night inKinlochaline in the public inn; to cross Morven the next day to Ardgour, and lie the night in the house of one John of the Claymore, who waswarned that I might come; the third day, to be set across one loch atCorran and another at Balachulish, and then ask my way to the house ofJames of the Glens, at Aucharn in Duror of Appin. There was a good dealof ferrying, as you hear; the sea in all this part running deep into themountains and winding about their roots. It makes the country strong tohold and difficult to travel, but full of prodigious wild and dreadfulprospects. 

I had some other advice from Neil: to speak with no one by the way, toavoid Whigs, Campbells, and the "red-soldiers;" to leave the road andlie in a bush if I saw any of the latter coming, "for it was neverchancy to meet in with them;" and in brief, to conduct myself like arobber or a Jacobite agent, as perhaps Neil thought me. 

The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place that ever pigswere styed in, full of smoke, vermin, and silent Highlanders. I was notonly discontented with my lodging, but with myself for my mismanagementof Neil, and thought I could hardly be worse off. But very wrongly, as Iwas soon to see; for I had not been half an hour at the inn (standing inthe door most of the time, to ease my eyes from the peat smoke) when athunderstorm came close by, the springs broke in a little hill on whichthe inn stood, and one end of the house became a running water. Placesof public entertainment were bad enough all over Scotland in those days;yet it was a wonder to myself, when I had to go from the fireside to thebed in which I slept, wading over the shoes. 

Early in my next day's journey I overtook a little, stout, solemn man, walking very slowly with his toes turned out, sometimes reading ina book and sometimes marking the place with his finger, and dresseddecently and plainly in something of a clerical style. 

This I found to be another catechist, but of a different order from theblind man of Mull: being indeed one of those sent out by the EdinburghSociety for Propagating Christian Knowledge, to evangelise the moresavage places of the Highlands. His name was Henderland; he spoke withthe broad south-country tongue, which I was beginning to weary for thesound of; and besides common countryship, we soon found we had amore particular bond of interest. For my good friend, the minister ofEssendean, had translated into the Gaelic in his by-time a number ofhymns and pious books which Henderland used in his work, and held ingreat esteem. Indeed, it was one of these he was carrying and readingwhen we met. 

We fell in company at once, our ways lying together as far as toKingairloch. As we went, he stopped and spoke with all the wayfarersand workers that we met or passed; and though of course I could not tellwhat they discoursed about, yet I judged Mr. Henderland must be wellliked in the countryside, for I observed many of them to bring out theirmulls and share a pinch of snuff with him. 

I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise; as far, that is, as they were none of Alan's; and gave Balachulish as the place I wastravelling to, to meet a friend; for I thought Aucharn, or even Duror, would be too particular, and might put him on the scent. 

On his part, he told me much of his work and the people he worked among, the hiding priests and Jacobites, the Disarming Act, the dress, and manyother curiosities of the time and place. He seemed moderate; blamingParliament in several points, and especially because they had framed theAct more severely against those who wore the dress than against thosewho carried weapons. 

This moderation put it in my mind to question him of the Red Fox and theAppin tenants; questions which, I thought, would seem natural enough inthe mouth of one travelling to that country. 

He said it was a bad business. "It's wonderful, " said he, "where thetenants find the money, for their life is mere starvation. (Ye don'tcarry such a thing as snuff, do ye, Mr. Balfour? No. Well, I'm betterwanting it. ) But these tenants (as I was saying) are doubtless partlydriven to it. James Stewart in Duror (that's him they call James of theGlens) is half-brother to Ardshiel, the captain of the clan; and he isa man much looked up to, and drives very hard. And then there's one theycall Alan Breck--"

"Ah!" I cried, "what of him?"

"What of the wind that bloweth where it listeth?" said Henderland. "He'shere and awa; here to-day and gone to-morrow: a fair heather-cat. Hemight be glowering at the two of us out of yon whin-bush, and I wouldnaewonder! Ye'll no carry such a thing as snuff, will ye?"

I told him no, and that he had asked the same thing more than once. 

"It's highly possible, " said he, sighing. "But it seems strange yeshouldnae carry it. However, as I was saying, this Alan Breck is a bold, desperate customer, and well kent to be James's right hand. His lifeis forfeit already; he would boggle at naething; and maybe, if atenant-body was to hang back he would get a dirk in his wame. "

"You make a poor story of it all, Mr. Henderland, " said I. "If it is allfear upon both sides, I care to hear no more of it. "

"Na, " said Mr. Henderland, "but there's love too, and self-denial thatshould put the like of you and me to shame. There's something fine aboutit; no perhaps Christian, but humanly fine. Even Alan Breck, by all thatI hear, is a chield to be respected. There's many a lying sneck-drawsits close in kirk in our own part of the country, and stands well inthe world's eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yonmisguided shedder of man's blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson bythem. --Ye'll perhaps think I've been too long in the Hielands?" headded, smiling to me. 

I told him not at all; that I had seen much to admire among theHighlanders; and if he came to that, Mr. Campbell himself was aHighlander. 

"Ay, " said he, "that's true. It's a fine blood. "

"And what is the King's agent about?" I asked. 

"Colin Campbell?" says Henderland. "Putting his head in a bees' byke!"

"He is to turn the tenants out by force, I hear?" said I. 

"Yes, " says he, "but the business has gone back and forth, as folk say. First, James of the Glens rode to Edinburgh, and got some lawyer (aStewart, nae doubt--they all hing together like bats in a steeple) andhad the proceedings stayed. And then Colin Campbell cam' in again, andhad the upper-hand before the Barons of Exchequer. And now they tell methe first of the tenants are to flit to-morrow. It's to begin at Durorunder James's very windows, which doesnae seem wise by my humble way ofit. "

"Do you think they'll fight?" I asked. 

"Well, " says Henderland, "they're disarmed--or supposed to be--forthere's still a good deal of cold iron lying by in quiet places. Andthen Colin Campbell has the sogers coming. But for all that, if I washis lady wife, I wouldnae be well pleased till I got him home again. They're queer customers, the Appin Stewarts. "

I asked if they were worse than their neighbours. 

"No they, " said he. "And that's the worst part of it. For if Colin Roycan get his business done in Appin, he has it all to begin again in thenext country, which they call Mamore, and which is one of the countriesof the Camerons. He's King's Factor upon both, and from both he has todrive out the tenants; and indeed, Mr. Balfour (to be open with ye), it's my belief that if he escapes the one lot, he'll get his death bythe other. "

So we continued talking and walking the great part of the day; untilat last, Mr. Henderland after expressing his delight in my company, andsatisfaction at meeting with a friend of Mr. Campbell's ("whom, " sayshe, "I will make bold to call that sweet singer of our covenantedZion"), proposed that I should make a short stage, and lie the night inhis house a little beyond Kingairloch. To say truth, I was overjoyed;for I had no great desire for John of the Claymore, and since my doublemisadventure, first with the guide and next with the gentleman skipper, I stood in some fear of any Highland stranger. Accordingly we shookhands upon the bargain, and came in the afternoon to a small house, standing alone by the shore of the Linnhe Loch. The sun was already gonefrom the desert mountains of Ardgour upon the hither side, but shone onthose of Appin on the farther; the loch lay as still as a lake, onlythe gulls were crying round the sides of it; and the whole place seemedsolemn and uncouth. 

We had no sooner come to the door of Mr. Henderland's dwelling, than tomy great surprise (for I was now used to the politeness of Highlanders)he burst rudely past me, dashed into the room, caught up a jar anda small horn-spoon, and began ladling snuff into his nose in mostexcessive quantities. Then he had a hearty fit of sneezing, and lookedround upon me with a rather silly smile. 

"It's a vow I took, " says he. "I took a vow upon me that I wouldnaecarry it. Doubtless it's a great privation; but when I think uponthe martyrs, not only to the Scottish Covenant but to other points ofChristianity, I think shame to mind it. "

As soon as we had eaten (and porridge and whey was the best of the goodman's diet) he took a grave face and said he had a duty to perform byMr. Campbell, and that was to inquire into my state of mind towards God. I was inclined to smile at him since the business of the snuff; but hehad not spoken long before he brought the tears into my eyes. There aretwo things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we getnone too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people; butMr. Henderland had their very speech upon his tongue. And though I was agood deal puffed up with my adventures and with having come off, as thesaying is, with flying colours; yet he soon had me on my knees beside asimple, poor old man, and both proud and glad to be there. 

Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my way, outof a scanty store he kept in the turf wall of his house; at which excessof goodness I knew not what to do. But at last he was so earnest with methat I thought it the more mannerly part to let him have his way, and soleft him poorer than myself. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE DEATH OF THE RED FOX

The next day Mr. Henderland found for me a man who had a boat of his ownand was to cross the Linnhe Loch that afternoon into Appin, fishing. Himhe prevailed on to take me, for he was one of his flock; and in this wayI saved a long day's travel and the price of the two public ferries Imust otherwise have passed. 

It was near noon before we set out; a dark day with clouds, and the sunshining upon little patches. The sea was here very deep and still, and had scarce a wave upon it; so that I must put the water to my lipsbefore I could believe it to be truly salt. The mountains on either sidewere high, rough and barren, very black and gloomy in the shadow ofthe clouds, but all silver-laced with little watercourses where the sunshone upon them. It seemed a hard country, this of Appin, for people tocare as much about as Alan did. 

There was but one thing to mention. A little after we had started, the sun shone upon a little moving clump of scarlet close in along thewater-side to the north. It was much of the same red as soldiers' coats;every now and then, too, there came little sparks and lightnings, asthough the sun had struck upon bright steel. 

I asked my boatman what it should be, and he answered he supposed it wassome of the red soldiers coming from Fort William into Appin, againstthe poor tenantry of the country. Well, it was a sad sight to me;and whether it was because of my thoughts of Alan, or from somethingprophetic in my bosom, although this was but the second time I had seenKing George's troops, I had no good will to them. 

At last we came so near the point of land at the entering in of LochLeven that I begged to be set on shore. My boatman (who was an honestfellow and mindful of his promise to the catechist) would fain havecarried me on to Balachulish; but as this was to take me farther from mysecret destination, I insisted, and was set on shore at last under thewood of Lettermore (or Lettervore, for I have heard it both ways) inAlan's country of Appin. 

This was a wood of birches, growing on a steep, craggy side of amountain that overhung the loch. It had many openings and ferny howes;and a road or bridle track ran north and south through the midst ofit, by the edge of which, where was a spring, I sat down to eat someoat-bread of Mr. Henderland's and think upon my situation. 

Here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges, but far moreby the doubts of my mind. What I ought to do, why I was going to joinmyself with an outlaw and a would-be murderer like Alan, whether Ishould not be acting more like a man of sense to tramp back to the southcountry direct, by my own guidance and at my own charges, and what Mr. Campbell or even Mr. Henderland would think of me if they should everlearn my folly and presumption: these were the doubts that now began tocome in on me stronger than ever. 

As I was so sitting and thinking, a sound of men and horses came to methrough the wood; and presently after, at a turning of the road, I sawfour travellers come into view. The way was in this part so rough andnarrow that they came single and led their horses by the reins. Thefirst was a great, red-headed gentleman, of an imperious and flushedface, who carried his hat in his hand and fanned himself, for he was ina breathing heat. The second, by his decent black garb and white wig, I correctly took to be a lawyer. The third was a servant, and wore somepart of his clothes in tartan, which showed that his master was of aHighland family, and either an outlaw or else in singular good odourwith the Government, since the wearing of tartan was against the Act. IfI had been better versed in these things, I would have known the tartanto be of the Argyle (or Campbell) colours. This servant had a good-sizedportmanteau strapped on his horse, and a net of lemons (to brew punchwith) hanging at the saddle-bow; as was often enough the custom withluxurious travellers in that part of the country. 

As for the fourth, who brought up the tail, I had seen his like before, and knew him at once to be a sheriff's officer. 

I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up my mind (for noreason that I can tell) to go through with my adventure; and when thefirst came alongside of me, I rose up from the bracken and asked him theway to Aucharn. 

He stopped and looked at me, as I thought, a little oddly; and then, turning to the lawyer, "Mungo, " said he, "there's many a man would thinkthis more of a warning than two pyats. Here am I on my road to Duror onthe job ye ken; and here is a young lad starts up out of the bracken, and speers if I am on the way to Aucharn. "

"Glenure, " said the other, "this is an ill subject for jesting. "

These two had now drawn close up and were gazing at me, while the twofollowers had halted about a stone-cast in the rear. 

"And what seek ye in Aucharn?" said Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, himthey called the Red Fox; for he it was that I had stopped. 

"The man that lives there, " said I. 

"James of the Glens, " says Glenure, musingly; and then to the lawyer:"Is he gathering his people, think ye?"

"Anyway, " says the lawyer, "we shall do better to bide where we are, andlet the soldiers rally us. "

"If you are concerned for me, " said I, "I am neither of his people noryours, but an honest subject of King George, owing no man and fearing noman. "

"Why, very well said, " replies the Factor. "But if I may make so bold asask, what does this honest man so far from his country? and why doeshe come seeking the brother of Ardshiel? I have power here, I must tellyou. I am King's Factor upon several of these estates, and have twelvefiles of soldiers at my back. "

"I have heard a waif word in the country, " said I, a little nettled, "that you were a hard man to drive. "

He still kept looking at me, as if in doubt. 

"Well, " said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no unfriend toplainness. If ye had asked me the way to the door of James Stewart onany other day but this, I would have set ye right and bidden ye Godspeed. But to-day--eh, Mungo?" And he turned again to look at thelawyer. 

But just as he turned there came the shot of a firelock from higher upthe hill; and with the very sound of it Glenure fell upon the road. 

"O, I am dead!" he cried, several times over. 

The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms, the servantstanding over and clasping his hands. And now the wounded man lookedfrom one to another with scared eyes, and there was a change in hisvoice, that went to the heart. 

"Take care of yourselves, " says he. "I am dead. "

He tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound, but hisfingers slipped on the buttons. With that he gave a great sigh, his headrolled on his shoulder, and he passed away. 

The lawyer said never a word, but his face was as sharp as a pen andas white as the dead man's; the servant broke out into a great noise ofcrying and weeping, like a child; and I, on my side, stood staring atthem in a kind of horror. The sheriff's officer had run back at thefirst sound of the shot, to hasten the coming of the soldiers. 

At last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood upon the road, and got to his own feet with a kind of stagger. 

I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses; for he hadno sooner done so than I began to scramble up the hill, crying out, "Themurderer! the murderer!"

So little a time had elapsed, that when I got to the top of the firststeepness, and could see some part of the open mountain, the murdererwas still moving away at no great distance. He was a big man, in a blackcoat, with metal buttons, and carried a long fowling-piece. 

"Here!" I cried. "I see him!"

At that the murderer gave a little, quick look over his shoulder, andbegan to run. The next moment he was lost in a fringe of birches; thenhe came out again on the upper side, where I could see him climbing likea jackanapes, for that part was again very steep; and then he dippedbehind a shoulder, and I saw him no more. 

All this time I had been running on my side, and had got a good way up, when a voice cried upon me to stand. 

I was at the edge of the upper wood, and so now, when I halted andlooked back, I saw all the open part of the hill below me. 

The lawyer and the sheriff's officer were standing just above the road, crying and waving on me to come back; and on their left, the red-coats, musket in hand, were beginning to struggle singly out of the lower wood. 

"Why should I come back?" I cried. "Come you on!"

"Ten pounds if ye take that lad!" cried the lawyer. "He's an accomplice. He was posted here to hold us in talk. "

At that word (which I could hear quite plainly, though it was to thesoldiers and not to me that he was crying it) my heart came in my mouthwith quite a new kind of terror. Indeed, it is one thing to stand thedanger of your life, and quite another to run the peril of both life andcharacter. The thing, besides, had come so suddenly, like thunder out ofa clear sky, that I was all amazed and helpless. 

The soldiers began to spread, some of them to run, and others to put uptheir pieces and cover me; and still I stood. 

"Jock* in here among the trees, " said a voice close by. 

 * Duck. 

Indeed, I scarce knew what I was doing, but I obeyed; and as I did so, Iheard the firelocks bang and the balls whistle in the birches. 

Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing, witha fishing-rod. He gave me no salutation; indeed it was no time forcivilities; only "Come!" says he, and set off running along the side ofthe mountain towards Balaehulish; and I, like a sheep, to follow him. 

Now we ran among the birches; now stooping behind low humps upon themountain-side; now crawling on all fours among the heather. The pace wasdeadly: my heart seemed bursting against my ribs; and I had neither timeto think nor breath to speak with. Only I remember seeing with wonder, that Alan every now and then would straighten himself to his full heightand look back; and every time he did so, there came a great far-awaycheering and crying of the soldiers. 

Quarter of an hour later, Alan stopped, clapped down flat in theheather, and turned to me. 

"Now, " said he, "it's earnest. Do as I do, for your life. "

And at the same speed, but now with infinitely more precaution, wetraced back again across the mountain-side by the same way that we hadcome, only perhaps higher; till at last Alan threw himself down in theupper wood of Lettermore, where I had found him at the first, and lay, with his face in the bracken, panting like a dog. 

My own sides so ached, my head so swam, my tongue so hung out of mymouth with heat and dryness, that I lay beside him like one dead. 

CHAPTER XVIII

I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE

Alan was the first to come round. He rose, went to the border of thewood, peered out a little, and then returned and sat down. 

"Well, " said he, "yon was a hot burst, David. "

I said nothing, nor so much as lifted my face. I had seen murder done, and a great, ruddy, jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment; thepity of that sight was still sore within me, and yet that was but a partof my concern. Here was murder done upon the man Alan hated; here wasAlan skulking in the trees and running from the troops; and whether hiswas the hand that fired or only the head that ordered, signifiedbut little. By my way of it, my only friend in that wild country wasblood-guilty in the first degree; I held him in horror; I could not lookupon his face; I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my coldisle, than in that warm wood beside a murderer. 

"Are ye still wearied?" he asked again. 

"No, " said I, still with my face in the bracken; "no, I am not weariednow, and I can speak. You and me must twine, "* I said. "I liked you verywell, Alan, but your ways are not mine, and they're not God's: and theshort and the long of it is just that we must twine. "

 * Part. 

"I will hardly twine from ye, David, without some kind of reason forthe same, " said Alan, mighty gravely. "If ye ken anything againstmy reputation, it's the least thing that ye should do, for oldacquaintance' sake, to let me hear the name of it; and if ye have onlytaken a distaste to my society, it will be proper for me to judge if I'minsulted. "

"Alan, " said I, "what is the sense of this? Ye ken very well yonCampbell-man lies in his blood upon the road. "

He was silent for a little; then says he, "Did ever ye hear tell of thestory of the Man and the Good People?"--by which he meant the fairies. 

"No, " said I, "nor do I want to hear it. "

"With your permission, Mr. Balfour, I will tell it you, whatever, " saysAlan. "The man, ye should ken, was cast upon a rock in the sea, whereit appears the Good People were in use to come and rest as they wentthrough to Ireland. The name of this rock is called the Skerryvore, andit's not far from where we suffered ship-wreck. Well, it seems the mancried so sore, if he could just see his little bairn before he died!that at last the king of the Good People took peety upon him, and sentone flying that brought back the bairn in a poke* and laid it downbeside the man where he lay sleeping. So when the man woke, there was apoke beside him and something into the inside of it that moved. Well, itseems he was one of these gentry that think aye the worst of things; andfor greater security, he stuck his dirk throughout that poke before heopened it, and there was his bairn dead. I am thinking to myself, Mr. Balfour, that you and the man are very much alike. "

 * Bag. 

"Do you mean you had no hand in it?" cried I, sitting up. 

"I will tell you first of all, Mr. Balfour of Shaws, as one friend toanother, " said Alan, "that if I were going to kill a gentleman, it wouldnot be in my own country, to bring trouble on my clan; and I would notgo wanting sword and gun, and with a long fishing-rod upon my back. "

"Well, " said I, "that's true!"

"And now, " continued Alan, taking out his dirk and laying his hand uponit in a certain manner, "I swear upon the Holy Iron I had neither artnor part, act nor thought in it. "

"I thank God for that!" cried I, and offered him my hand. 

He did not appear to see it. 

"And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell!" said he. "They arenot so scarce, that I ken!"

"At least, " said I, "you cannot justly blame me, for you know verywell what you told me in the brig. But the temptation and the act aredifferent, I thank God again for that. We may all be tempted; butto take a life in cold blood, Alan!" And I could say no more for themoment. "And do you know who did it?" I added. "Do you know that man inthe black coat?"

"I have nae clear mind about his coat, " said Alan cunningly, "but itsticks in my head that it was blue. "

"Blue or black, did ye know him?" said I. 

"I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him, " says Alan. "He gaed veryclose by me, to be sure, but it's a strange thing that I should justhave been tying my brogues. "

"Can you swear that you don't know him, Alan?" I cried, half angered, half in a mind to laugh at his evasions. 

"Not yet, " says he; "but I've a grand memory for forgetting, David. "

"And yet there was one thing I saw clearly, " said I; "and that was, thatyou exposed yourself and me to draw the soldiers. "

"It's very likely, " said Alan; "and so would any gentleman. You and mewere innocent of that transaction. "

"The better reason, since we were falsely suspected, that we should getclear, " I cried. "The innocent should surely come before the guilty. "

"Why, David, " said he, "the innocent have aye a chance to get assoiledin court; but for the lad that shot the bullet, I think the best placefor him will be the heather. Them that havenae dipped their hands in anylittle difficulty, should be very mindful of the case of them that have. And that is the good Christianity. For if it was the other way roundabout, and the lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in ourshoes, and we in his (as might very well have been), I think we would bea good deal obliged to him oursel's if he would draw the soldiers. "

When it came to this, I gave Alan up. But he looked so innocent all thetime, and was in such clear good faith in what he said, and so ready tosacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty, that my mouth was closed. Mr. Henderland's words came back to me: that we ourselves might take alesson by these wild Highlanders. Well, here I had taken mine. Alan'smorals were all tail-first; but he was ready to give his life for them, such as they were. 

"Alan, " said I, "I'll not say it's the good Christianity as I understandit, but it's good enough. And here I offer ye my hand for the secondtime. "

Whereupon he gave me both of his, saying surely I had cast a spell uponhim, for he could forgive me anything. Then he grew very grave, and saidwe had not much time to throw away, but must both flee that country: he, because he was a deserter, and the whole of Appin would now be searchedlike a chamber, and every one obliged to give a good account of himself;and I, because I was certainly involved in the murder. 

"O!" says I, willing to give him a little lesson, "I have no fear of thejustice of my country. "

"As if this was your country!" said he. "Or as if ye would be triedhere, in a country of Stewarts!"

"It's all Scotland, " said I. 

"Man, I whiles wonder at ye, " said Alan. "This is a Campbell that's beenkilled. Well, it'll be tried in Inverara, the Campbells' head place;with fifteen Campbells in the jury-box and the biggest Campbell of all(and that's the Duke) sitting cocking on the bench. Justice, David?The same justice, by all the world, as Glenure found awhile ago at theroadside. "

This frightened me a little, I confess, and would have frightened memore if I had known how nearly exact were Alan's predictions; indeedit was but in one point that he exaggerated, there being but elevenCampbells on the jury; though as the other four were equally in theDuke's dependence, it mattered less than might appear. Still, I criedout that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle, who (for all he was aWhig) was yet a wise and honest nobleman. 

"Hoot!" said Alan, "the man's a Whig, nae doubt; but I would never denyhe was a good chieftain to his clan. And what would the clan think ifthere was a Campbell shot, and naebody hanged, and their own chiefthe Justice General? But I have often observed, " says Alan, "that youLow-country bodies have no clear idea of what's right and wrong. "

At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to my surprise, Alan joinedin, and laughed as merrily as myself. 

"Na, na, " said he, "we're in the Hielands, David; and when I tell yeto run, take my word and run. Nae doubt it's a hard thing to skulk andstarve in the Heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a red-coatprison. "

I asked him whither we should flee; and as he told me "to the Lowlands, "I was a little better inclined to go with him; for, indeed, I wasgrowing impatient to get back and have the upper-hand of my uncle. Besides, Alan made so sure there would be no question of justice in thematter, that I began to be afraid he might be right. Of all deaths, Iwould truly like least to die by the gallows; and the picture of thatuncanny instrument came into my head with extraordinary clearness (as Ihad once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlar's ballad) and took awaymy appetite for courts of justice. 

"I'll chance it, Alan, " said I. "I'll go with you. "

"But mind you, " said Alan, "it's no small thing. Ye maun lie bare andhard, and brook many an empty belly. Your bed shall be the moorcock's, and your life shall be like the hunted deer's, and ye shall sleep withyour hand upon your weapons. Ay, man, ye shall taigle many a weary foot, or we get clear! I tell ye this at the start, for it's a life that I kenwell. But if ye ask what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Eithertake to the heather with me, or else hang. "

"And that's a choice very easily made, " said I; and we shook hands uponit. 

"And now let's take another keek at the red-coats, " says Alan, and heled me to the north-eastern fringe of the wood. 

Looking out between the trees, we could see a great side of mountain, running down exceeding steep into the waters of the loch. It was a roughpart, all hanging stone, and heather, and big scrogs of birchwood; andaway at the far end towards Balachulish, little wee red soldiers weredipping up and down over hill and howe, and growing smaller everyminute. There was no cheering now, for I think they had other usesfor what breath was left them; but they still stuck to the trail, anddoubtless thought that we were close in front of them. 

Alan watched them, smiling to himself. 

"Ay, " said he, "they'll be gey weary before they've got to the end ofthat employ! And so you and me, David, can sit down and eat a bite, andbreathe a bit longer, and take a dram from my bottle. Then we'll strikefor Aucharn, the house of my kinsman, James of the Glens, where I mustget my clothes, and my arms, and money to carry us along; and then, David, we'll cry, 'Forth, Fortune!' and take a cast among the heather. "

So we sat again and ate and drank, in a place whence we could see thesun going down into a field of great, wild, and houseless mountains, such as I was now condemned to wander in with my companion. Partly aswe so sat, and partly afterwards, on the way to Aucharn, each of usnarrated his adventures; and I shall here set down so much of Alan's asseems either curious or needful. 

It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was passed; sawme, and lost me, and saw me again, as I tumbled in the roost; and atlast had one glimpse of me clinging on the yard. It was this that puthim in some hope I would maybe get to land after all, and made him leavethose clues and messages which had brought me (for my sins) to thatunlucky country of Appin. 

In the meanwhile, those still on the brig had got the skiff launched, and one or two were on board of her already, when there came a secondwave greater than the first, and heaved the brig out of her place, andwould certainly have sent her to the bottom, had she not struck andcaught on some projection of the reef. When she had struck first, it hadbeen bows-on, so that the stern had hitherto been lowest. But now herstern was thrown in the air, and the bows plunged under the sea; andwith that, the water began to pour into the fore-scuttle like thepouring of a mill-dam. 

It took the colour out of Alan's face, even to tell what followed. For there were still two men lying impotent in their bunks; and these, seeing the water pour in and thinking the ship had foundered, began tocry out aloud, and that with such harrowing cries that all who were ondeck tumbled one after another into the skiff and fell to their oars. They were not two hundred yards away, when there came a third great sea;and at that the brig lifted clean over the reef; her canvas filled fora moment, and she seemed to sail in chase of them, but settling all thewhile; and presently she drew down and down, as if a hand was drawingher; and the sea closed over the Covenant of Dysart. 

Never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore, being stunned with thehorror of that screaming; but they had scarce set foot upon the beachwhen Hoseason woke up, as if out of a muse, and bade them lay hands uponAlan. They hung back indeed, having little taste for the employment;but Hoseason was like a fiend, crying that Alan was alone, that he hada great sum about him, that he had been the means of losing the brig anddrowning all their comrades, and that here was both revenge and wealthupon a single cast. It was seven against one; in that part of the shorethere was no rock that Alan could set his back to; and the sailors beganto spread out and come behind him. 

"And then, " said Alan, "the little man with the red head--I havenae mindof the name that he is called. "

"Riach, " said I. 

"Ay" said Alan, "Riach! Well, it was him that took up the clubs for me, asked the men if they werenae feared of a judgment, and, says he 'Dod, I'll put my back to the Hielandman's mysel'. ' That's none such anentirely bad little man, yon little man with the red head, " said Alan. "He has some spunks of decency. "

"Well, " said I, "he was kind to me in his way. "

"And so he was to Alan, " said he; "and by my troth, I found his way avery good one! But ye see, David, the loss of the ship and the cries ofthese poor lads sat very ill upon the man; and I'm thinking that wouldbe the cause of it. "

"Well, I would think so, " says I; "for he was as keen as any of the restat the beginning. But how did Hoseason take it?"

"It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill, " says Alan. "Butthe little man cried to me to run, and indeed I thought it was a goodobserve, and ran. The last that I saw they were all in a knot upon thebeach, like folk that were not agreeing very well together. "

"What do you mean by that?" said I. 

"Well, the fists were going, " said Alan; "and I saw one man go down likea pair of breeks. But I thought it would be better no to wait. Ye seethere's a strip of Campbells in that end of Mull, which is no goodcompany for a gentleman like me. If it hadnae been for that I would havewaited and looked for ye mysel', let alone giving a hand to the littleman. " (It was droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach's stature, for, to saythe truth, the one was not much smaller than the other. ) "So, " says he, continuing, "I set my best foot forward, and whenever I met in with anyone I cried out there was a wreck ashore. Man, they didnae stop to fashwith me! Ye should have seen them linking for the beach! And when theygot there they found they had had the pleasure of a run, which is ayegood for a Campbell. I'm thinking it was a judgment on the clan that thebrig went down in the lump and didnae break. But it was a very unluckything for you, that same; for if any wreck had come ashore they wouldhave hunted high and low, and would soon have found ye. "

CHAPTER XIX

THE HOUSE OF FEAR

Night fell as we were walking, and the clouds, which had broken up inthe afternoon, settled in and thickened, so that it fell, for theseason of the year, extremely dark. The way we went was over roughmountainsides; and though Alan pushed on with an assured manner, I couldby no means see how he directed himself. 

At last, about half-past ten of the clock, we came to the top of a brae, and saw lights below us. It seemed a house door stood open and let out abeam of fire and candle-light; and all round the house and steadingfive or six persons were moving hurriedly about, each carrying a lightedbrand. 

"James must have tint his wits, " said Alan. "If this was the soldiersinstead of you and me, he would be in a bonny mess. But I dare say he'llhave a sentry on the road, and he would ken well enough no soldierswould find the way that we came. "

Hereupon he whistled three times, in a particular manner. It was strangeto see how, at the first sound of it, all the moving torches came toa stand, as if the bearers were affrighted; and how, at the third, thebustle began again as before. 

Having thus set folks' minds at rest, we came down the brae, and weremet at the yard gate (for this place was like a well-doing farm) bya tall, handsome man of more than fifty, who cried out to Alan in theGaelic. 

"James Stewart, " said Alan, "I will ask ye to speak in Scotch, for hereis a young gentleman with me that has nane of the other. This is him, "he added, putting his arm through mine, "a young gentleman of theLowlands, and a laird in his country too, but I am thinking it will bethe better for his health if we give his name the go-by. "

James of the Glens turned to me for a moment, and greeted me courteouslyenough; the next he had turned to Alan. 

"This has been a dreadful accident, " he cried. "It will bring trouble onthe country. " And he wrung his hands. 

"Hoots!" said Alan, "ye must take the sour with the sweet, man. ColinRoy is dead, and be thankful for that!"

"Ay" said James, "and by my troth, I wish he was alive again! It's allvery fine to blow and boast beforehand; but now it's done, Alan; andwho's to bear the wyte* of it? The accident fell out in Appin--mind yethat, Alan; it's Appin that must pay; and I am a man that has a family. "

 * Blame. 

While this was going on I looked about me at the servants. Some were onladders, digging in the thatch of the house or the farm buildings, from which they brought out guns, swords, and different weapons ofwar; others carried them away; and by the sound of mattock blows fromsomewhere farther down the brae, I suppose they buried them. Though theywere all so busy, there prevailed no kind of order in their efforts; menstruggled together for the same gun and ran into each other with theirburning torches; and James was continually turning about from his talkwith Alan, to cry out orders which were apparently never understood. Thefaces in the torchlight were like those of people overborne with hurryand panic; and though none spoke above his breath, their speech soundedboth anxious and angry. 

It was about this time that a lassie came out of the house carryinga pack or bundle; and it has often made me smile to think how Alan'sinstinct awoke at the mere sight of it. 

"What's that the lassie has?" he asked. 

"We're just setting the house in order, Alan, " said James, in hisfrightened and somewhat fawning way. "They'll search Appin with candles, and we must have all things straight. We're digging the bit guns andswords into the moss, ye see; and these, I am thinking, will be your ainFrench clothes. We'll be to bury them, I believe. "

"Bury my French clothes!" cried Alan. "Troth, no!" And he laid hold uponthe packet and retired into the barn to shift himself, recommending mein the meanwhile to his kinsman. 

James carried me accordingly into the kitchen, and sat down with me attable, smiling and talking at first in a very hospitable manner. Butpresently the gloom returned upon him; he sat frowning and biting hisfingers; only remembered me from time to time; and then gave me but aword or two and a poor smile, and back into his private terrors. Hiswife sat by the fire and wept, with her face in her hands; his eldestson was crouched upon the floor, running over a great mass of papers andnow and again setting one alight and burning it to the bitter end; allthe while a servant lass with a red face was rummaging about the room, in a blind hurry of fear, and whimpering as she went; and every now andagain one of the men would thrust in his face from the yard, and cry fororders. 

At last James could keep his seat no longer, and begged my permission tobe so unmannerly as walk about. "I am but poor company altogether, sir, "says he, "but I can think of nothing but this dreadful accident, and thetrouble it is like to bring upon quite innocent persons. "

A little after he observed his son burning a paper which he thoughtshould have been kept; and at that his excitement burst out so that itwas painful to witness. He struck the lad repeatedly. 

"Are you gone gyte?"* he cried. "Do you wish to hang your father?" andforgetful of my presence, carried on at him a long time together in theGaelic, the young man answering nothing; only the wife, at the name ofhanging, throwing her apron over her face and sobbing out louder thanbefore. 

 * Mad. 

This was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear and see; andI was right glad when Alan returned, looking like himself in his fineFrench clothes, though (to be sure) they were now grown almost toobattered and withered to deserve the name of fine. I was then taken outin my turn by another of the sons, and given that change of clothing ofwhich I had stood so long in need, and a pair of Highland brogues madeof deer-leather, rather strange at first, but after a little practicevery easy to the feet. 

By the time I came back Alan must have told his story; for it seemedunderstood that I was to fly with him, and they were all busy upon ourequipment. They gave us each a sword and pistols, though I professed myinability to use the former; and with these, and some ammunition, a bagof oatmeal, an iron pan, and a bottle of right French brandy, we wereready for the heather. Money, indeed, was lacking. I had about twoguineas left; Alan's belt having been despatched by another hand, thattrusty messenger had no more than seventeen-pence to his whole fortune;and as for James, it appears he had brought himself so low with journeysto Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the tenants, that he couldonly scrape together three-and-five-pence-halfpenny, the most of it incoppers. 

"This'll no do, " said Alan. 

"Ye must find a safe bit somewhere near by, " said James, "and get wordsent to me. Ye see, ye'll have to get this business prettily off, Alan. This is no time to be stayed for a guinea or two. They're sure to getwind of ye, sure to seek ye, and by my way of it, sure to lay on ye thewyte of this day's accident. If it falls on you, it falls on me that amyour near kinsman and harboured ye while ye were in the country. And ifit comes on me----" he paused, and bit his fingers, with a white face. "It would be a painful thing for our friends if I was to hang, " said he. 

"It would be an ill day for Appin, " says Alan. 

"It's a day that sticks in my throat, " said James. "O man, man, man--manAlan! you and me have spoken like two fools!" he cried, striking hishand upon the wall so that the house rang again. 

"Well, and that's true, too, " said Alan; "and my friend from theLowlands here" (nodding at me) "gave me a good word upon that head, if Iwould only have listened to him. "

"But see here, " said James, returning to his former manner, "if they layme by the heels, Alan, it's then that you'll be needing the money. Forwith all that I have said and that you have said, it will look veryblack against the two of us; do ye mark that? Well, follow me out, andye'll, I'll see that I'll have to get a paper out against ye mysel';have to offer a reward for ye; ay, will I! It's a sore thing to dobetween such near friends; but if I get the dirdum* of this dreadfulaccident, I'll have to fend for myself, man. Do ye see that?"

 * Blame. 

He spoke with a pleading earnestness, taking Alan by the breast of thecoat. 

"Ay" said Alan, "I see that. "

"And ye'll have to be clear of the country, Alan--ay, and clear ofScotland--you and your friend from the Lowlands, too. For I'll have topaper your friend from the Lowlands. Ye see that, Alan--say that ye seethat!"

I thought Alan flushed a bit. "This is unco hard on me that brought himhere, James, " said he, throwing his head back. "It's like making me atraitor!"

"Now, Alan, man!" cried James. "Look things in the face! He'll bepapered anyway; Mungo Campbell'll be sure to paper him; what mattersif I paper him too? And then, Alan, I am a man that has a family. " Andthen, after a little pause on both sides, "And, Alan, it'll be a jury ofCampbells, " said he. 

"There's one thing, " said Alan, musingly, "that naebody kens his name. "

"Nor yet they shallnae, Alan! There's my hand on that, " cried James, forall the world as if he had really known my name and was foregoing someadvantage. "But just the habit he was in, and what he looked like, andhis age, and the like? I couldnae well do less. "

"I wonder at your father's son, " cried Alan, sternly. "Would ye sell thelad with a gift? Would ye change his clothes and then betray him?"

"No, no, Alan, " said James. "No, no: the habit he took off--the habitMungo saw him in. " But I thought he seemed crestfallen; indeed, he wasclutching at every straw, and all the time, I dare say, saw the faces ofhis hereditary foes on the bench, and in the jury-box, and the gallowsin the background. 

"Well, sir" says Alan, turning to me, "what say ye to, that? Ye are hereunder the safeguard of my honour; and it's my part to see nothing donebut what shall please you. "

"I have but one word to say, " said I; "for to all this dispute I am aperfect stranger. But the plain common-sense is to set the blame whereit belongs, and that is on the man who fired the shot. Paper him, as yecall it, set the hunt on him; and let honest, innocent folk show theirfaces in safety. " But at this both Alan and James cried out in horror;bidding me hold my tongue, for that was not to be thought of; and askingme what the Camerons would think? (which confirmed me, it must have beena Cameron from Mamore that did the act) and if I did not see that thelad might be caught? "Ye havenae surely thought of that?" said they, with such innocent earnestness, that my hands dropped at my side and Idespaired of argument. 

"Very well, then, " said I, "paper me, if you please, paper Alan, paperKing George! We're all three innocent, and that seems to be what'swanted. But at least, sir, " said I to James, recovering from my littlefit of annoyance, "I am Alan's friend, and if I can be helpful tofriends of his, I will not stumble at the risk. "

I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent, for I saw Alantroubled; and, besides (thinks I to myself), as soon as my back isturned, they will paper me, as they call it, whether I consent or not. But in this I saw I was wrong; for I had no sooner said the words, thanMrs. Stewart leaped out of her chair, came running over to us, and weptfirst upon my neck and then on Alan's, blessing God for our goodness toher family. 

"As for you, Alan, it was no more than your bounden duty, " she said. "But for this lad that has come here and seen us at our worst, and seenthe goodman fleeching like a suitor, him that by rights should give hiscommands like any king--as for you, my lad, " she says, "my heart is waenot to have your name, but I have your face; and as long as my heartbeats under my bosom, I will keep it, and think of it, and bless it. "And with that she kissed me, and burst once more into such sobbing, thatI stood abashed. 

"Hoot, hoot, " said Alan, looking mighty silly. "The day comes unco soonin this month of July; and to-morrow there'll be a fine to-do in Appin, a fine riding of dragoons, and crying of 'Cruachan!'* and running ofred-coats; and it behoves you and me to the sooner be gone. "

 * The rallying-word of the Campbells. 

Thereupon we said farewell, and set out again, bending somewhateastwards, in a fine mild dark night, and over much the same brokencountry as before. 

CHAPTER XX

THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS

Sometimes we walked, sometimes ran; and as it drew on to morning, walkedever the less and ran the more. Though, upon its face, that countryappeared to be a desert, yet there were huts and houses of the people, of which we must have passed more than twenty, hidden in quiet places ofthe hills. When we came to one of these, Alan would leave me in the way, and go himself and rap upon the side of the house and speak awhile atthe window with some sleeper awakened. This was to pass the news; which, in that country, was so much of a duty that Alan must pause to attend toit even while fleeing for his life; and so well attended to by others, that in more than half of the houses where we called they had heardalready of the murder. In the others, as well as I could make out(standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue), the news wasreceived with more of consternation than surprise. 

For all our hurry, day began to come in while we were still far from anyshelter. It found us in a prodigious valley, strewn with rocks and whereran a foaming river. Wild mountains stood around it; there grew thereneither grass nor trees; and I have sometimes thought since then, thatit may have been the valley called Glencoe, where the massacre was inthe time of King William. But for the details of our itinerary, I am allto seek; our way lying now by short cuts, now by great detours; our pacebeing so hurried, our time of journeying usually by night; and the namesof such places as I asked and heard being in the Gaelic tongue and themore easily forgotten. 

The first peep of morning, then, showed us this horrible place, and Icould see Alan knit his brow. 

"This is no fit place for you and me, " he said. "This is a place they'rebound to watch. "

And with that he ran harder than ever down to the water-side, in a partwhere the river was split in two among three rocks. It went through witha horrid thundering that made my belly quake; and there hung over thelynn a little mist of spray. Alan looked neither to the right nor to theleft, but jumped clean upon the middle rock and fell there on his handsand knees to check himself, for that rock was small and he might havepitched over on the far side. I had scarce time to measure the distanceor to understand the peril before I had followed him, and he had caughtand stopped me. 

So there we stood, side by side upon a small rock slippery with spray, a far broader leap in front of us, and the river dinning upon all sides. When I saw where I was, there came on me a deadly sickness of fear, and I put my hand over my eyes. Alan took me and shook me; I saw hewas speaking, but the roaring of the falls and the trouble of my mindprevented me from hearing; only I saw his face was red with anger, andthat he stamped upon the rock. The same look showed me the water ragingby, and the mist hanging in the air: and with that I covered my eyesagain and shuddered. 

The next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips, and forcedme to drink about a gill, which sent the blood into my head again. Then, putting his hands to his mouth, and his mouth to my ear, he shouted, "Hang or drown!" and turning his back upon me, leaped over the fartherbranch of the stream, and landed safe. 

I was now alone upon the rock, which gave me the more room; the brandywas singing in my ears; I had this good example fresh before me, andjust wit enough to see that if I did not leap at once, I should neverleap at all. I bent low on my knees and flung myself forth, withthat kind of anger of despair that has sometimes stood me in stead ofcourage. Sure enough, it was but my hands that reached the full length;these slipped, caught again, slipped again; and I was sliddering backinto the lynn, when Alan seized me, first by the hair, then by thecollar, and with a great strain dragged me into safety. 

Never a word he said, but set off running again for his life, and I muststagger to my feet and run after him. I had been weary before, but nowI was sick and bruised, and partly drunken with the brandy; I keptstumbling as I ran, I had a stitch that came near to overmaster me; andwhen at last Alan paused under a great rock that stood there among anumber of others, it was none too soon for David Balfour. 

A great rock I have said; but by rights it was two rocks leaningtogether at the top, both some twenty feet high, and at the first sightinaccessible. Even Alan (though you may say he had as good as fourhands) failed twice in an attempt to climb them; and it was only at thethird trial, and then by standing on my shoulders and leaping up withsuch force as I thought must have broken my collar-bone, that he secureda lodgment. Once there, he let down his leathern girdle; and with theaid of that and a pair of shallow footholds in the rock, I scrambled upbeside him. 

Then I saw why we had come there; for the two rocks, being both somewhathollow on the top and sloping one to the other, made a kind of dish orsaucer, where as many as three or four men might have lain hidden. 

All this while Alan had not said a word, and had run and climbed withsuch a savage, silent frenzy of hurry, that I knew that he was in mortalfear of some miscarriage. Even now we were on the rock he said nothing, nor so much as relaxed the frowning look upon his face; but clapped flatdown, and keeping only one eye above the edge of our place of shelterscouted all round the compass. The dawn had come quite, clear; we couldsee the stony sides of the valley, and its bottom, which was bestrewedwith rocks, and the river, which went from one side to another, and madewhite falls; but nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any living creaturebut some eagles screaming round a cliff. 

Then at last Alan smiled. 

"Ay" said he, "now we have a chance;" and then looking at me with someamusement. "Ye're no very gleg* at the jumping, " said he. 

 * Brisk. 

At this I suppose I coloured with mortification, for he added at once, "Hoots! small blame to ye! To be feared of a thing and yet to do it, iswhat makes the prettiest kind of a man. And then there was water there, and water's a thing that dauntons even me. No, no, " said Alan, "it's noyou that's to blame, it's me. "

I asked him why. 

"Why, " said he, "I have proved myself a gomeral this night. For firstof all I take a wrong road, and that in my own country of Appin; so thatthe day has caught us where we should never have been; and thanks tothat, we lie here in some danger and mair discomfort. And next (which isthe worst of the two, for a man that has been so much among the heatheras myself) I have come wanting a water-bottle, and here we lie for along summer's day with naething but neat spirit. Ye may think that asmall matter; but before it comes night, David, ye'll give me news ofit. "

I was anxious to redeem my character, and offered, if he would pour outthe brandy, to run down and fill the bottle at the river. 

"I wouldnae waste the good spirit either, " says he. "It's been a goodfriend to you this night; or in my poor opinion, ye would still becocking on yon stone. And what's mair, " says he, "ye may have observed(you that's a man of so much penetration) that Alan Breck Stewart wasperhaps walking quicker than his ordinar'. "

"You!" I cried, "you were running fit to burst. "

"Was I so?" said he. "Well, then, ye may depend upon it, there was naetime to be lost. And now here is enough said; gang you to your sleep, lad, and I'll watch. "

Accordingly, I lay down to sleep; a little peaty earth had drifted inbetween the top of the two rocks, and some bracken grew there, to be abed to me; the last thing I heard was still the crying of the eagles. 

I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was roughly awakened, and found Alan's hand pressed upon my mouth. 

"Wheesht!" he whispered. "Ye were snoring. "

"Well, " said I, surprised at his anxious and dark face, "and why not?"

He peered over the edge of the rock, and signed to me to do the like. 

It was now high day, cloudless, and very hot. The valley was as clear asin a picture. About half a mile up the water was a camp of red-coats; abig fire blazed in their midst, at which some were cooking; and near by, on the top of a rock about as high as ours, there stood a sentry, withthe sun sparkling on his arms. All the way down along the river-sidewere posted other sentries; here near together, there widelierscattered; some planted like the first, on places of command, someon the ground level and marching and counter-marching, so as to meethalf-way. Higher up the glen, where the ground was more open, the chainof posts was continued by horse-soldiers, whom we could see in thedistance riding to and fro. Lower down, the infantry continued; butas the stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerableburn, they were more widely set, and only watched the fords andstepping-stones. 

I took but one look at them, and ducked again into my place. It wasstrange indeed to see this valley, which had lain so solitary in thehour of dawn, bristling with arms and dotted with the red coats andbreeches. 

"Ye see, " said Alan, "this was what I was afraid of, Davie: that theywould watch the burn-side. They began to come in about two hours ago, and, man! but ye're a grand hand at the sleeping! We're in a narrowplace. If they get up the sides of the hill, they could easy spy us witha glass; but if they'll only keep in the foot of the valley, we'll doyet. The posts are thinner down the water; and, come night, we'll tryour hand at getting by them. "

"And what are we to do till night?" I asked. 

"Lie here, " says he, "and birstle. "

That one good Scotch word, "birstle, " was indeed the most of the storyof the day that we had now to pass. You are to remember that we lay onthe bare top of a rock, like scones upon a girdle; the sun beat upon uscruelly; the rock grew so heated, a man could scarce endure the touch ofit; and the little patch of earth and fern, which kept cooler, was onlylarge enough for one at a time. We took turn about to lie on the nakedrock, which was indeed like the position of that saint that was martyredon a gridiron; and it ran in my mind how strange it was, that in thesame climate and at only a few days' distance, I should have sufferedso cruelly, first from cold upon my island and now from heat upon thisrock. 

All the while we had no water, only raw brandy for a drink, which wasworse than nothing; but we kept the bottle as cool as we could, buryingit in the earth, and got some relief by bathing our breasts and temples. 

The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley, nowchanging guard, now in patrolling parties hunting among the rocks. Theselay round in so great a number, that to look for men among them was likelooking for a needle in a bottle of hay; and being so hopeless a task, it was gone about with the less care. Yet we could see the soldierspike their bayonets among the heather, which sent a cold thrill into myvitals; and they would sometimes hang about our rock, so that we scarcedared to breathe. 

It was in this way that I first heard the right English speech; onefellow as he went by actually clapping his hand upon the sunny face ofthe rock on which we lay, and plucking it off again with an oath. "Itell you it's 'ot, " says he; and I was amazed at the clipping tones andthe odd sing-song in which he spoke, and no less at that strange trickof dropping out the letter "h. " To be sure, I had heard Ransome; but hehad taken his ways from all sorts of people, and spoke so imperfectlyat the best, that I set down the most of it to childishness. My surprisewas all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of agrown man; and indeed I have never grown used to it; nor yet altogetherwith the English grammar, as perhaps a very critical eye might here andthere spy out even in these memoirs. 

The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only thegreater as the day went on; the rock getting still the hotter and thesun fiercer. There were giddiness, and sickness, and sharp pangs likerheumatism, to be supported. I minded then, and have often minded since, on the lines in our Scotch psalm:--

 "The moon by night thee shall not smite, Nor yet the sun by day;"

and indeed it was only by God's blessing that we were neither of ussun-smitten. 

At last, about two, it was beyond men's bearing, and there was nowtemptation to resist, as well as pain to thole. For the sun being nowgot a little into the west, there came a patch of shade on the east sideof our rock, which was the side sheltered from the soldiers. 

"As well one death as another, " said Alan, and slipped over the edge anddropped on the ground on the shadowy side. 

I followed him at once, and instantly fell all my length, so weak was Iand so giddy with that long exposure. Here, then, we lay for an hour ortwo, aching from head to foot, as weak as water, and lying quite nakedto the eye of any soldier who should have strolled that way. None came, however, all passing by on the other side; so that our rock continued tobe our shield even in this new position. 

Presently we began again to get a little strength; and as the soldierswere now lying closer along the river-side, Alan proposed that we shouldtry a start. I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the world;and that was to be set back upon the rock; anything else was welcometo me; so we got ourselves at once in marching order, and began to slipfrom rock to rock one after the other, now crawling flat on our belliesin the shade, now making a run for it, heart in mouth. 

The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley after a fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon, had now laid by much of their vigilance, and stood dozing at their postsor only kept a look-out along the banks of the river; so that in thisway, keeping down the valley and at the same time towards the mountains, we drew steadily away from their neighbourhood. But the business was themost wearing I had ever taken part in. A man had need of a hundredeyes in every part of him, to keep concealed in that uneven country andwithin cry of so many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an openplace, quickness was not all, but a swift judgment not only of the lieof the whole country, but of the solidity of every stone on which wemust set foot; for the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that therolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistol shot, and would startthe echo calling among the hills and cliffs. 

By sundown we had made some distance, even by our slow rate of progress, though to be sure the sentry on the rock was still plainly in our view. But now we came on something that put all fears out of season; and thatwas a deep rushing burn, that tore down, in that part, to join the glenriver. At the sight of this we cast ourselves on the ground and plungedhead and shoulders in the water; and I cannot tell which was the morepleasant, the great shock as the cool stream went over us, or the greedwith which we drank of it. 

We lay there (for the banks hid us), drank again and again, bathed ourchests, let our wrists trail in the running water till they achedwith the chill; and at last, being wonderfully renewed, we got out themeal-bag and made drammach in the iron pan. This, though it is but coldwater mingled with oatmeal, yet makes a good enough dish for a hungryman; and where there are no means of making fire, or (as in our case)good reason for not making one, it is the chief stand-by of those whohave taken to the heather. 

As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set forth again, atfirst with the same caution, but presently with more boldness, standingour full height and stepping out at a good pace of walking. The waywas very intricate, lying up the steep sides of mountains and along thebrows of cliffs; clouds had come in with the sunset, and the night wasdark and cool; so that I walked without much fatigue, but in continualfear of falling and rolling down the mountains, and with no guess at ourdirection. 

The moon rose at last and found us still on the road; it was in its lastquarter, and was long beset with clouds; but after awhile shone out andshowed me many dark heads of mountains, and was reflected far underneathus on the narrow arm of a sea-loch. 

At this sight we both paused: I struck with wonder to find myself sohigh and walking (as it seemed to me) upon clouds; Alan to make sure ofhis direction. 

Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly have judged usout of ear-shot of all our enemies; for throughout the rest of ournight-march he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes, warlike, merry, plaintive; reel tunes that made the foot go faster; tunes of myown south country that made me fain to be home from my adventures; andall these, on the great, dark, desert mountains, making company upon theway. 

CHAPTER XXI

THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH

Early as day comes in the beginning of July, it was still dark when wereached our destination, a cleft in the head of a great mountain, with awater running through the midst, and upon the one hand a shallow cavein a rock. Birches grew there in a thin, pretty wood, which a littlefarther on was changed into a wood of pines. The burn was full of trout;the wood of cushat-doves; on the open side of the mountain beyond, whaups would be always whistling, and cuckoos were plentiful. From themouth of the cleft we looked down upon a part of Mamore, and on thesea-loch that divides that country from Appin; and this from so greata height as made it my continual wonder and pleasure to sit and beholdthem. 

The name of the cleft was the Heugh of Corrynakiegh; and although fromits height and being so near upon the sea, it was often beset withclouds, yet it was on the whole a pleasant place, and the five days welived in it went happily. 

We slept in the cave, making our bed of heather bushes which we cut forthat purpose, and covering ourselves with Alan's great-coat. There was alow concealed place, in a turning of the glen, where we were so bold asto make fire: so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set in, and cook hot porridge, and grill the little trouts that we caught withour hands under the stones and overhanging banks of the burn. This wasindeed our chief pleasure and business; and not only to save our mealagainst worse times, but with a rivalry that much amused us, we spenta great part of our days at the water-side, stripped to the waist andgroping about or (as they say) guddling for these fish. The largest wegot might have been a quarter of a pound; but they were of good fleshand flavour, and when broiled upon the coals, lacked only a little saltto be delicious. 

In any by-time Alan must teach me to use my sword, for my ignorancehad much distressed him; and I think besides, as I had sometimesthe upper-hand of him in the fishing, he was not sorry to turn to anexercise where he had so much the upper-hand of me. He made it somewhatmore of a pain than need have been, for he stormed at me all through thelessons in a very violent manner of scolding, and would push me so closethat I made sure he must run me through the body. I was often temptedto turn tail, but held my ground for all that, and got some profit ofmy lessons; if it was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance, which is often all that is required. So, though I could never in theleast please my master, I was not altogether displeased with myself. 

In the meanwhile, you are not to suppose that we neglected our chiefbusiness, which was to get away. 

"It will be many a long day, " Alan said to me on our first morning, "before the red-coats think upon seeking Corrynakiegh; so now we mustget word sent to James, and he must find the siller for us. "

"And how shall we send that word?" says I. "We are here in a desertplace, which yet we dare not leave; and unless ye get the fowls of theair to be your messengers, I see not what we shall be able to do. "

"Ay?" said Alan. "Ye're a man of small contrivance, David. "

Thereupon he fell in a muse, looking in the embers of the fire; andpresently, getting a piece of wood, he fashioned it in a cross, the fourends of which he blackened on the coals. Then he looked at me a littleshyly. 

"Could ye lend me my button?" says he. "It seems a strange thing to aska gift again, but I own I am laith to cut another. "

I gave him the button; whereupon he strung it on a strip of hisgreat-coat which he had used to bind the cross; and tying in a littlesprig of birch and another of fir, he looked upon his work withsatisfaction. 

"Now, " said he, "there is a little clachan" (what is called a hamletin the English) "not very far from Corrynakiegh, and it has the name ofKoalisnacoan. There there are living many friends of mine whom I couldtrust with my life, and some that I am no just so sure of. Ye see, David, there will be money set upon our heads; James himsel' is to setmoney on them; and as for the Campbells, they would never spare sillerwhere there was a Stewart to be hurt. If it was otherwise, I would godown to Koalisnacoan whatever, and trust my life into these people'shands as lightly as I would trust another with my glove. "

"But being so?" said I. 

"Being so, " said he, "I would as lief they didnae see me. There's badfolk everywhere, and what's far worse, weak ones. So when it comes darkagain, I will steal down into that clachan, and set this that I havebeen making in the window of a good friend of mine, John Breck Maccoll, a bouman* of Appin's. "

 *A bouman is a tenant who takes stock from the landlord and shares with him the increase. 

"With all my heart, " says I; "and if he finds it, what is he to think?"

"Well, " says Alan, "I wish he was a man of more penetration, for by mytroth I am afraid he will make little enough of it! But this is whatI have in my mind. This cross is something in the nature of thecrosstarrie, or fiery cross, which is the signal of gathering in ourclans; yet he will know well enough the clan is not to rise, for thereit is standing in his window, and no word with it. So he will say tohimsel', THE CLAN IS NOT TO RISE, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING. Then he willsee my button, and that was Duncan Stewart's. And then he will say tohimsel', THE SON OF DUNCAN IS IN THE HEATHER, AND HAS NEED OF ME. "

"Well, " said I, "it may be. But even supposing so, there is a good dealof heather between here and the Forth. "

"And that is a very true word, " says Alan. "But then John Breck will seethe sprig of birch and the sprig of pine; and he will say to himsel' (ifhe is a man of any penetration at all, which I misdoubt), ALAN WILL BELYING IN A WOOD WHICH IS BOTH OF PINES AND BIRCHES. Then he will thinkto himsel', THAT IS NOT SO VERY RIFE HEREABOUT; and then he will comeand give us a look up in Corrynakiegh. And if he does not, David, thedevil may fly away with him, for what I care; for he will no be worththe salt to his porridge. "

"Eh, man, " said I, drolling with him a little, "you're very ingenious!But would it not be simpler for you to write him a few words in blackand white?"

"And that is an excellent observe, Mr. Balfour of Shaws, " says Alan, drolling with me; "and it would certainly be much simpler for me towrite to him, but it would be a sore job for John Breck to read it. Hewould have to go to the school for two-three years; and it's possible wemight be wearied waiting on him. "

So that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and set it in thebouman's window. He was troubled when he came back; for the dogs hadbarked and the folk run out from their houses; and he thought he hadheard a clatter of arms and seen a red-coat come to one of the doors. Onall accounts we lay the next day in the borders of the wood and kept aclose look-out, so that if it was John Breck that came we might be readyto guide him, and if it was the red-coats we should have time to getaway. 

About noon a man was to be spied, straggling up the open side of themountain in the sun, and looking round him as he came, from under hishand. No sooner had Alan seen him than he whistled; the man turned andcame a little towards us: then Alan would give another "peep!" and theman would come still nearer; and so by the sound of whistling, he wasguided to the spot where we lay. 

He was a ragged, wild, bearded man, about forty, grossly disfigured withthe small pox, and looked both dull and savage. Although his Englishwas very bad and broken, yet Alan (according to his very handsome use, whenever I was by) would suffer him to speak no Gaelic. Perhaps thestrange language made him appear more backward than he really was; butI thought he had little good-will to serve us, and what he had was thechild of terror. 

Alan would have had him carry a message to James; but the bouman wouldhear of no message. "She was forget it, " he said in his screaming voice;and would either have a letter or wash his hands of us. 

I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked the means ofwriting in that desert. 

But he was a man of more resources than I knew; searched the wood untilhe found the quill of a cushat-dove, which he shaped into a pen; madehimself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and water from therunning stream; and tearing a corner from his French military commission(which he carried in his pocket, like a talisman to keep him from thegallows), he sat down and wrote as follows:

"DEAR KINSMAN, --Please send the money by the bearer to the place he kensof. 

"Your affectionate cousin, "A. S. "

This he intrusted to the bouman, who promised to make what manner ofspeed he best could, and carried it off with him down the hill. 

He was three full days gone, but about five in the evening of the third, we heard a whistling in the wood, which Alan answered; and presently thebouman came up the water-side, looking for us, right and left. He seemedless sulky than before, and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to havegot to the end of such a dangerous commission. 

He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive with red-coats;that arms were being found, and poor folk brought in trouble daily; andthat James and some of his servants were already clapped in prison atFort William, under strong suspicion of complicity. It seemed it wasnoised on all sides that Alan Breck had fired the shot; and there was abill issued for both him and me, with one hundred pounds reward. 

This was all as bad as could be; and the little note the bouman hadcarried us from Mrs. Stewart was of a miserable sadness. In it shebesought Alan not to let himself be captured, assuring him, if he fellin the hands of the troops, both he and James were no better than deadmen. The money she had sent was all that she could beg or borrow, andshe prayed heaven we could be doing with it. Lastly, she said, sheenclosed us one of the bills in which we were described. 

This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear, partlyas a man may look in a mirror, partly as he might look into the barrelof an enemy's gun to judge if it be truly aimed. Alan was advertised as"a small, pock-marked, active man of thirty-five or thereby, dressedin a feathered hat, a French side-coat of blue with silver buttons, and lace a great deal tarnished, a red waistcoat and breeches of black, shag;" and I as "a tall strong lad of about eighteen, wearing anold blue coat, very ragged, an old Highland bonnet, a long homespunwaistcoat, blue breeches; his legs bare, low-country shoes, wanting thetoes; speaks like a Lowlander, and has no beard. "

Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully remembered andset down; only when he came to the word tarnish, he looked upon his lacelike one a little mortified. As for myself, I thought I cut a miserablefigure in the bill; and yet was well enough pleased too, for since I hadchanged these rags, the description had ceased to be a danger and becomea source of safety. 

"Alan, " said I, "you should change your clothes. "

"Na, troth!" said Alan, "I have nae others. A fine sight I would be, ifI went back to France in a bonnet!"

This put a second reflection in my mind: that if I were to separatefrom Alan and his tell-tale clothes I should be safe against arrest, andmight go openly about my business. Nor was this all; for suppose I wasarrested when I was alone, there was little against me; but suppose Iwas taken in company with the reputed murderer, my case would begin tobe grave. For generosity's sake I dare not speak my mind upon this head;but I thought of it none the less. 

I thought of it all the more, too, when the bouman brought out a greenpurse with four guineas in gold, and the best part of another in smallchange. True, it was more than I had. But then Alan, with less thanfive guineas, had to get as far as France; I, with my less than two, notbeyond Queensferry; so that taking things in their proportion, Alan'ssociety was not only a peril to my life, but a burden on my purse. 

But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my companion. He believed he was serving, helping, and protecting me. And what could Ido but hold my peace, and chafe, and take my chance of it?

"It's little enough, " said Alan, putting the purse in his pocket, "butit'll do my business. And now, John Breck, if ye will hand me over mybutton, this gentleman and me will be for taking the road. "

But the bouman, after feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in frontof him in the Highland manner (though he wore otherwise the Lowlandhabit, with sea-trousers), began to roll his eyes strangely, and at lastsaid, "Her nainsel will loss it, " meaning he thought he had lost it. 

"What!" cried Alan, "you will lose my button, that was my father'sbefore me? Now I will tell you what is in my mind, John Breck: it isin my mind this is the worst day's work that ever ye did since ye wasborn. "

And as Alan spoke, he set his hands on his knees and looked at thebouman with a smiling mouth, and that dancing light in his eyes thatmeant mischief to his enemies. 

Perhaps the bouman was honest enough; perhaps he had meant to cheat andthen, finding himself alone with two of us in a desert place, cast backto honesty as being safer; at least, and all at once, he seemed to findthat button and handed it to Alan. 

"Well, and it is a good thing for the honour of the Maccolls, " saidAlan, and then to me, "Here is my button back again, and I thank you forparting with it, which is of a piece with all your friendships to me. "Then he took the warmest parting of the bouman. "For, " says he, "ye havedone very well by me, and set your neck at a venture, and I will alwaysgive you the name of a good man. "

Lastly, the bouman took himself off by one way; and Alan I (getting ourchattels together) struck into another to resume our flight. 

CHAPTER XXII

THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR

Some seven hours' incessant, hard travelling brought us early in themorning to the end of a range of mountains. In front of us there lay apiece of low, broken, desert land, which we must now cross. The sun wasnot long up, and shone straight in our eyes; a little, thin mist went upfrom the face of the moorland like a smoke; so that (as Alan said) theremight have been twenty squadron of dragoons there and we none the wiser. 

We sat down, therefore, in a howe of the hill-side till the mist shouldhave risen, and made ourselves a dish of drammach, and held a council ofwar. 

"David, " said Alan, "this is the kittle bit. Shall we lie here till itcomes night, or shall we risk it, and stave on ahead?"

"Well, " said I, "I am tired indeed, but I could walk as far again, ifthat was all. "

"Ay, but it isnae, " said Alan, "nor yet the half. This is how we stand:Appin's fair death to us. To the south it's all Campbells, and no to bethought of. To the north; well, there's no muckle to be gained by goingnorth; neither for you, that wants to get to Queensferry, nor yet forme, that wants to get to France. Well, then, we'll can strike east. "

"East be it!" says I, quite cheerily; but I was thinking in to myself:"O, man, if you would only take one point of the compass and let me takeany other, it would be the best for both of us. "

"Well, then, east, ye see, we have the muirs, " said Alan. "Once there, David, it's mere pitch-and-toss. Out on yon bald, naked, flat place, where can a body turn to? Let the red-coats come over a hill, they canspy you miles away; and the sorrow's in their horses' heels, they wouldsoon ride you down. It's no good place, David; and I'm free to say, it'sworse by daylight than by dark. "

"Alan, " said I, "hear my way of it. Appin's death for us; we have nonetoo much money, nor yet meal; the longer they seek, the nearer theymay guess where we are; it's all a risk; and I give my word to go aheaduntil we drop. "

Alan was delighted. "There are whiles, " said he, "when ye are altogethertoo canny and Whiggish to be company for a gentleman like me; but therecome other whiles when ye show yoursel' a mettle spark; and it's then, David, that I love ye like a brother. "

The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country lying as wasteas the sea; only the moorfowl and the pewees crying upon it, and farover to the east, a herd of deer, moving like dots. Much of it was redwith heather; much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peatypools; some had been burnt black in a heath fire; and in another placethere was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons. Awearier-looking desert man never saw; but at least it was clear oftroops, which was our point. 

We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsomeand devious travel towards the eastern verge. There were the tops ofmountains all round (you are to remember) from whence we might be spiedat any moment; so it behoved us to keep in the hollow parts of the moor, and when these turned aside from our direction to move upon its nakedface with infinite care. Sometimes, for half an hour together, we mustcrawl from one heather bush to another, as hunters do when they are hardupon the deer. It was a clear day again, with a blazing sun; the waterin the brandy bottle was soon gone; and altogether, if I had guessedwhat it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly and to walk muchof the rest stooping nearly to the knees, I should certainly have heldback from such a killing enterprise. 

Toiling and resting and toiling again, we wore away the morning; andabout noon lay down in a thick bush of heather to sleep. Alan took thefirst watch; and it seemed to me I had scarce closed my eyes before Iwas shaken up to take the second. We had no clock to go by; and Alanstuck a sprig of heath in the ground to serve instead; so that as soonas the shadow of the bush should fall so far to the east, I might knowto rouse him. But I was by this time so weary that I could have slepttwelve hours at a stretch; I had the taste of sleep in my throat; myjoints slept even when my mind was waking; the hot smell of the heather, and the drone of the wild bees, were like possets to me; and every nowand again I would give a jump and find I had been dozing. 

The last time I woke I seemed to come back from farther away, andthought the sun had taken a great start in the heavens. I looked at thesprig of heath, and at that I could have cried aloud: for I saw I hadbetrayed my trust. My head was nearly turned with fear and shame; and atwhat I saw, when I looked out around me on the moor, my heart was likedying in my body. For sure enough, a body of horse-soldiers had comedown during my sleep, and were drawing near to us from the south-east, spread out in the shape of a fan and riding their horses to and fro inthe deep parts of the heather. 

When I waked Alan, he glanced first at the soldiers, then at the markand the position of the sun, and knitted his brows with a sudden, quicklook, both ugly and anxious, which was all the reproach I had of him. 

"What are we to do now?" I asked. 

"We'll have to play at being hares, " said he. "Do ye see yon mountain?"pointing to one on the north-eastern sky. 

"Ay, " said I. 

"Well, then, " says he, "let us strike for that. Its name is Ben Alder. It is a wild, desert mountain full of hills and hollows, and if we canwin to it before the morn, we may do yet. "

"But, Alan, " cried I, "that will take us across the very coming of thesoldiers!"

"I ken that fine, " said he; "but if we are driven back on Appin, we aretwo dead men. So now, David man, be brisk!"

With that he began to run forward on his hands and knees with anincredible quickness, as though it were his natural way of going. Allthe time, too, he kept winding in and out in the lower parts of themoorland where we were the best concealed. Some of these had been burnedor at least scathed with fire; and there rose in our faces (which wereclose to the ground) a blinding, choking dust as fine as smoke. Thewater was long out; and this posture of running on the hands and kneesbrings an overmastering weakness and weariness, so that the joints acheand the wrists faint under your weight. 

Now and then, indeed, where was a big bush of heather, we lay awhile, and panted, and putting aside the leaves, looked back at the dragoons. They had not spied us, for they held straight on; a half-troop, I think, covering about two miles of ground, and beating it mighty thoroughly asthey went. I had awakened just in time; a little later, and we must havefled in front of them, instead of escaping on one side. Even as it was, the least misfortune might betray us; and now and again, when a grouserose out of the heather with a clap of wings, we lay as still as thedead and were afraid to breathe. 

The aching and faintness of my body, the labouring of my heart, thesoreness of my hands, and the smarting of my throat and eyes in thecontinual smoke of dust and ashes, had soon grown to be so unbearablethat I would gladly have given up. Nothing but the fear of Alan lent meenough of a false kind of courage to continue. As for himself (and youare to bear in mind that he was cumbered with a great-coat) he had firstturned crimson, but as time went on the redness began to be mingledwith patches of white; his breath cried and whistled as it came; and hisvoice, when he whispered his observations in my ear during our halts, sounded like nothing human. Yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits, nor did he at all abate in his activity, so that I was driven, to marvelat the man's endurance. 

At length, in the first gloaming of the night, we heard a trumpet sound, and looking back from among the heather, saw the troop beginning tocollect. A little after, they had built a fire and camped for the night, about the middle of the waste. 

At this I begged and besought that we might lie down and sleep. 

"There shall be no sleep the night!" said Alan. "From now on, theseweary dragoons of yours will keep the crown of the muirland, and nonewill get out of Appin but winged fowls. We got through in the nickof time, and shall we jeopard what we've gained? Na, na, when the daycomes, it shall find you and me in a fast place on Ben Alder. "

"Alan, " I said, "it's not the want of will: it's the strength that Iwant. If I could, I would; but as sure as I'm alive I cannot. "

"Very well, then, " said Alan. "I'll carry ye. "

I looked to see if he were jesting; but no, the little man was in deadearnest; and the sight of so much resolution shamed me. 

"Lead away!" said I. "I'll follow. "

He gave me one look as much as to say, "Well done, David!" and off heset again at his top speed. 

It grew cooler and even a little darker (but not much) with the comingof the night. The sky was cloudless; it was still early in July, andpretty far north; in the darkest part of that night, you would haveneeded pretty good eyes to read, but for all that, I have often seen itdarker in a winter mid-day. Heavy dew fell and drenched the moor likerain; and this refreshed me for a while. When we stopped to breathe, and I had time to see all about me, the clearness and sweetness ofthe night, the shapes of the hills like things asleep, and the firedwindling away behind us, like a bright spot in the midst of the moor, anger would come upon me in a clap that I must still drag myself inagony and eat the dust like a worm. 

By what I have read in books, I think few that have held a pen were everreally wearied, or they would write of it more strongly. I had no careof my life, neither past nor future, and I scarce remembered there wassuch a lad as David Balfour. I did not think of myself, but just of eachfresh step which I was sure would be my last, with despair--and of Alan, who was the cause of it, with hatred. Alan was in the right trade as asoldier; this is the officer's part to make men continue to do things, they know not wherefore, and when, if the choice was offered, they wouldlie down where they were and be killed. And I dare say I would have madea good enough private; for in these last hours it never occurred to methat I had any choice but just to obey as long as I was able, and dieobeying. 

Day began to come in, after years, I thought; and by that time we werepast the greatest danger, and could walk upon our feet like men, insteadof crawling like brutes. But, dear heart have mercy! what a pair we musthave made, going double like old grandfathers, stumbling like babes, and as white as dead folk. Never a word passed between us; each set hismouth and kept his eyes in front of him, and lifted up his foot and setit down again, like people lifting weights at a country play;* all thewhile, with the moorfowl crying "peep!" in the heather, and the lightcoming slowly clearer in the east. 

 * Village fair. 

I say Alan did as I did. Not that ever I looked at him, for I had enoughado to keep my feet; but because it is plain he must have been as stupidwith weariness as myself, and looked as little where we were going, orwe should not have walked into an ambush like blind men. 

It fell in this way. We were going down a heathery brae, Alan leadingand I following a pace or two behind, like a fiddler and his wife; whenupon a sudden the heather gave a rustle, three or four ragged men leapedout, and the next moment we were lying on our backs, each with a dirk athis throat. 

I don't think I cared; the pain of this rough handling was quiteswallowed up by the pains of which I was already full; and I was tooglad to have stopped walking to mind about a dirk. I lay looking up inthe face of the man that held me; and I mind his face was black with thesun, and his eyes very light, but I was not afraid of him. I heard Alanand another whispering in the Gaelic; and what they said was all one tome. 

Then the dirks were put up, our weapons were taken away, and we were setface to face, sitting in the heather. 

"They are Cluny's men, " said Alan. "We couldnae have fallen better. We're just to bide here with these, which are his out-sentries, tillthey can get word to the chief of my arrival. "

Now Cluny Macpherson, the chief of the clan Vourich, had been one of theleaders of the great rebellion six years before; there was a price onhis life; and I had supposed him long ago in France, with the rest ofthe heads of that desperate party. Even tired as I was, the surprise ofwhat I heard half wakened me. 

"What, " I cried, "is Cluny still here?"

"Ay, is he so!" said Alan. "Still in his own country and kept by his ownclan. King George can do no more. "

I think I would have asked farther, but Alan gave me the put-off. "I amrather wearied, " he said, "and I would like fine to get a sleep. " Andwithout more words, he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush, andseemed to sleep at once. 

There was no such thing possible for me. You have heard grasshopperswhirring in the grass in the summer time? Well, I had no sooner closedmy eyes, than my body, and above all my head, belly, and wrists, seemedto be filled with whirring grasshoppers; and I must open my eyes againat once, and tumble and toss, and sit up and lie down; and look at thesky which dazzled me, or at Cluny's wild and dirty sentries, peering outover the top of the brae and chattering to each other in the Gaelic. 

That was all the rest I had, until the messenger returned; when, as itappeared that Cluny would be glad to receive us, we must get once moreupon our feet and set forward. Alan was in excellent good spirits, muchrefreshed by his sleep, very hungry, and looking pleasantly forward toa dram and a dish of hot collops, of which, it seems, the messenger hadbrought him word. For my part, it made me sick to hear of eating. I hadbeen dead-heavy before, and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightness, which would not suffer me to walk. I drifted like a gossamer; the groundseemed to me a cloud, the hills a feather-weight, the air to have acurrent, like a running burn, which carried me to and fro. With allthat, a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind, so that I could havewept at my own helplessness. 

I saw Alan knitting his brows at me, and supposed it was in anger; andthat gave me a pang of light-headed fear, like what a child may have. Iremember, too, that I was smiling, and could not stop smiling, hard asI tried; for I thought it was out of place at such a time. But my goodcompanion had nothing in his mind but kindness; and the next moment, two of the gillies had me by the arms, and I began to be carried forwardwith great swiftness (or so it appeared to me, although I dare say itwas slowly enough in truth), through a labyrinth of dreary glens andhollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder. 

CHAPTER XXIII

CLUNY'S CAGE

We came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood, which scrambledup a craggy hillside, and was crowned by a naked precipice. 

"It's here, " said one of the guides, and we struck up hill. 

The trees clung upon the slope, like sailors on the shrouds of a ship, and their trunks were like the rounds of a ladder, by which we mounted. 

Quite at the top, and just before the rocky face of the cliff sprangabove the foliage, we found that strange house which was known in thecountry as "Cluny's Cage. " The trunks of several trees had been wattledacross, the intervals strengthened with stakes, and the ground behindthis barricade levelled up with earth to make the floor. A tree, whichgrew out from the hillside, was the living centre-beam of the roof. The walls were of wattle and covered with moss. The whole house hadsomething of an egg shape; and it half hung, half stood in that steep, hillside thicket, like a wasp's nest in a green hawthorn. 

Within, it was large enough to shelter five or six persons with somecomfort. A projection of the cliff had been cunningly employed to be thefireplace; and the smoke rising against the face of the rock, and beingnot dissimilar in colour, readily escaped notice from below. 

This was but one of Cluny's hiding-places; he had caves, besides, andunderground chambers in several parts of his country; and following thereports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiersdrew near or moved away. By this manner of living, and thanks to theaffection of his clan, he had not only stayed all this time in safety, while so many others had fled or been taken and slain: but stayed fouror five years longer, and only went to France at last by the expresscommand of his master. There he soon died; and it is strange to reflectthat he may have regretted his Cage upon Ben Alder. 

When we came to the door he was seated by his rock chimney, watching agillie about some cookery. He was mighty plainly habited, with a knittednightcap drawn over his ears, and smoked a foul cutty pipe. For all thathe had the manners of a king, and it was quite a sight to see him riseout of his place to welcome us. 

"Well, Mr. Stewart, come awa', sir!" said he, "and bring in your friendthat as yet I dinna ken the name of. "

"And how is yourself, Cluny?" said Alan. "I hope ye do brawly, sir. AndI am proud to see ye, and to present to ye my friend the Laird of Shaws, Mr. David Balfour. "

Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer, when wewere alone; but with strangers, he rang the words out like a herald. 

"Step in by, the both of ye, gentlemen, " says Cluny. "I make ye welcometo my house, which is a queer, rude place for certain, but one where Ihave entertained a royal personage, Mr. Stewart--ye doubtless ken thepersonage I have in my eye. We'll take a dram for luck, and as soon asthis handless man of mine has the collops ready, we'll dine and take ahand at the cartes as gentlemen should. My life is a bit driegh, " sayshe, pouring out the brandy; "I see little company, and sit and twirl mythumbs, and mind upon a great day that is gone by, and weary for anothergreat day that we all hope will be upon the road. And so here's a toastto ye: The Restoration!"

Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank. I am sure I wished no illto King George; and if he had been there himself in proper person, it'slike he would have done as I did. No sooner had I taken out the drainthan I felt hugely better, and could look on and listen, still a littlemistily perhaps, but no longer with the same groundless horror anddistress of mind. 

It was certainly a strange place, and we had a strange host. In his longhiding, Cluny had grown to have all manner of precise habits, like thoseof an old maid. He had a particular place, where no one else must sit;the Cage was arranged in a particular way, which none must disturb;cookery was one of his chief fancies, and even while he was greeting usin, he kept an eye to the collops. 

It appears, he sometimes visited or received visits from his wife andone or two of his nearest friends, under the cover of night; but for themore part lived quite alone, and communicated only with his sentinelsand the gillies that waited on him in the Cage. The first thing in themorning, one of them, who was a barber, came and shaved him, and gavehim the news of the country, of which he was immoderately greedy. Therewas no end to his questions; he put them as earnestly as a child; andat some of the answers, laughed out of all bounds of reason, and wouldbreak out again laughing at the mere memory, hours after the barber wasgone. 

To be sure, there might have been a purpose in his questions; forthough he was thus sequestered, and like the other landed gentlemen ofScotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament of legal powers, hestill exercised a patriarchal justice in his clan. Disputes were broughtto him in his hiding-hole to be decided; and the men of his country, who would have snapped their fingers at the Court of Session, laidaside revenge and paid down money at the bare word of this forfeited andhunted outlaw. When he was angered, which was often enough, he gavehis commands and breathed threats of punishment like any, king; and hisgillies trembled and crouched away from him like children before a hastyfather. With each of them, as he entered, he ceremoniously shook hands, both parties touching their bonnets at the same time in a militarymanner. Altogether, I had a fair chance to see some of the innerworkings of a Highland clan; and this with a proscribed, fugitive chief;his country conquered; the troops riding upon all sides in quest ofhim, sometimes within a mile of where he lay; and when the least of theragged fellows whom he rated and threatened, could have made a fortuneby betraying him. 

On that first day, as soon as the collops were ready, Cluny gave themwith his own hand a squeeze of a lemon (for he was well supplied withluxuries) and bade us draw in to our meal. 

"They, " said he, meaning the collops, "are such as I gave his RoyalHighness in this very house; bating the lemon juice, for at that time wewere glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen. * Indeed, therewere mair dragoons than lemons in my country in the year forty-six. "

 * Condiment. 

I do not know if the collops were truly very good, but my heart roseagainst the sight of them, and I could eat but little. All the whileCluny entertained us with stories of Prince Charlie's stay in the Cage, giving us the very words of the speakers, and rising from his placeto show us where they stood. By these, I gathered the Prince was agracious, spirited boy, like the son of a race of polite kings, but notso wise as Solomon. I gathered, too, that while he was in the Cage, hewas often drunk; so the fault that has since, by all accounts, made sucha wreck of him, had even then begun to show itself. 

We were no sooner done eating than Cluny brought out an old, thumbed, greasy pack of cards, such as you may find in a mean inn; and his eyesbrightened in his face as he proposed that we should fall to playing. 

Now this was one of the things I had been brought up to eschew likedisgrace; it being held by my father neither the part of a Christiannor yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and fish for that ofothers, on the cast of painted pasteboard. To be sure, I might havepleaded my fatigue, which was excuse enough; but I thought it behovedthat I should bear a testimony. I must have got very red in the face, but I spoke steadily, and told them I had no call to be a judgeof others, but for my own part, it was a matter in which I had noclearness. 

Cluny stopped mingling the cards. "What in deil's name is this?" sayshe. "What kind of Whiggish, canting talk is this, for the house of ClunyMacpherson?"

"I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour, " says Alan. "He is anhonest and a mettle gentleman, and I would have ye bear in mind who saysit. I bear a king's name, " says he, cocking his hat; "and I and any thatI call friend are company for the best. But the gentleman is tired, andshould sleep; if he has no mind to the cartes, it will never hinder youand me. And I'm fit and willing, sir, to play ye any game that ye canname. "

"Sir, " says Cluny, "in this poor house of mine I would have you to kenthat any gentleman may follow his pleasure. If your friend would like tostand on his head, he is welcome. And if either he, or you, or any otherman, is not preceesely satisfied, I will be proud to step outside withhim. "

I had no will that these two friends should cut their throats for mysake. 

"Sir, " said I, "I am very wearied, as Alan says; and what's more, asyou are a man that likely has sons of your own, I may tell you it was apromise to my father. "

"Say nae mair, say nae mair, " said Cluny, and pointed me to a bed ofheather in a corner of the Cage. For all that he was displeased enough, looked at me askance, and grumbled when he looked. And indeed it mustbe owned that both my scruples and the words in which I declared them, smacked somewhat of the Covenanter, and were little in their place amongwild Highland Jacobites. 

What with the brandy and the venison, a strange heaviness had come overme; and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I fell into a kindof trance, in which I continued almost the whole time of our stay in theCage. Sometimes I was broad awake and understood what passed; sometimesI only heard voices, or men snoring, like the voice of a silly river;and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and swelled out again, likefirelight shadows on the roof. I must sometimes have spoken or criedout, for I remember I was now and then amazed at being answered; yetI was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, abiding horror--a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and the fire, and myself. 

The barber-gillie, who was a doctor too, was called in to prescribefor me; but as he spoke in the Gaelic, I understood not a word of hisopinion, and was too sick even to ask for a translation. I knew wellenough I was ill, and that was all I cared about. 

I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass. But Alan and Clunywere most of the time at the cards, and I am clear that Alan must havebegun by winning; for I remember sitting up, and seeing them hard at it, and a great glittering pile of as much as sixty or a hundred guineas onthe table. It looked strange enough, to see all this wealth in a nestupon a cliff-side, wattled about growing trees. And even then, Ithought it seemed deep water for Alan to be riding, who had no betterbattle-horse than a green purse and a matter of five pounds. 

The luck, it seems, changed on the second day. About noon I was wakenedas usual for dinner, and as usual refused to eat, and was given a dramwith some bitter infusion which the barber had prescribed. The sun wasshining in at the open door of the Cage, and this dazzled and offendedme. Cluny sat at the table, biting the pack of cards. Alan had stoopedover the bed, and had his face close to my eyes; to which, troubled asthey were with the fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness. 

He asked me for a loan of my money. 

"What for?" said I. 

"O, just for a loan, " said he. 

"But why?" I repeated. "I don't see. "

"Hut, David!" said Alan, "ye wouldnae grudge me a loan?"

I would, though, if I had had my senses! But all I thought of then wasto get his face away, and I handed him my money. 

On the morning of the third day, when we had been forty-eight hours inthe Cage, I awoke with a great relief of spirits, very weak and wearyindeed, but seeing things of the right size and with their honest, everyday appearance. I had a mind to eat, moreover, rose from bed of myown movement, and as soon as we had breakfasted, stepped to the entry ofthe Cage and sat down outside in the top of the wood. It was a grey daywith a cool, mild air: and I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbedby the passing by of Cluny's scouts and servants coming with provisionsand reports; for as the coast was at that time clear, you might almostsay he held court openly. 

When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside, and werequestioning a gillie; and the chief turned about and spoke to me in theGaelic. 

"I have no Gaelic, sir, " said I. 

Now since the card question, everything I said or did had the power ofannoying Cluny. "Your name has more sense than yourself, then, " said heangrily, "for it's good Gaelic. But the point is this. My scout reportsall clear in the south, and the question is, have ye the strength togo?"

I saw cards on the table, but no gold; only a heap of little writtenpapers, and these all on Cluny's side. Alan, besides, had an oddlook, like a man not very well content; and I began to have a strongmisgiving. 

"I do not know if I am as well as I should be, " said I, looking at Alan;"but the little money we have has a long way to carry us. "

Alan took his under-lip into his mouth, and looked upon the ground. 

"David, " says he at last, "I've lost it; there's the naked truth. "

"My money too?" said I. 

"Your money too, " says Alan, with a groan. "Ye shouldnae have given itme. I'm daft when I get to the cartes. "

"Hoot-toot! hoot-toot!" said Cluny. "It was all daffing; it's allnonsense. Of course you'll have your money back again, and the double ofit, if ye'll make so free with me. It would be a singular thing for meto keep it. It's not to be supposed that I would be any hindrance togentlemen in your situation; that would be a singular thing!" cries he, and began to pull gold out of his pocket with a mighty red face. 

Alan said nothing, only looked on the ground. 

"Will you step to the door with me, sir?" said I. 

Cluny said he would be very glad, and followed me readily enough, but helooked flustered and put out. 

"And now, sir, " says I, "I must first acknowledge your generosity. "

"Nonsensical nonsense!" cries Cluny. "Where's the generosity? This isjust a most unfortunate affair; but what would ye have me do--boxedup in this bee-skep of a cage of mine--but just set my friends to thecartes, when I can get them? And if they lose, of course, it's not to besupposed----" And here he came to a pause. 

"Yes, " said I, "if they lose, you give them back their money; and ifthey win, they carry away yours in their pouches! I have said beforethat I grant your generosity; but to me, sir, it's a very painful thingto be placed in this position. "

There was a little silence, in which Cluny seemed always as if he wasabout to speak, but said nothing. All the time he grew redder and redderin the face. 

"I am a young man, " said I, "and I ask your advice. Advise me as youwould your son. My friend fairly lost his money, after having fairlygained a far greater sum of yours; can I accept it back again? Wouldthat be the right part for me to play? Whatever I do, you can see foryourself it must be hard upon a man of any pride. "

"It's rather hard on me, too, Mr. Balfour, " said Cluny, "and ye giveme very much the look of a man that has entrapped poor people to theirhurt. I wouldnae have my friends come to any house of mine to acceptaffronts; no, " he cried, with a sudden heat of anger, "nor yet to givethem!"

"And so you see, sir, " said I, "there is something to be said upon myside; and this gambling is a very poor employ for gentlefolks. But I amstill waiting your opinion. "

I am sure if ever Cluny hated any man it was David Balfour. He lookedme all over with a warlike eye, and I saw the challenge at his lips. But either my youth disarmed him, or perhaps his own sense of justice. Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all concerned, and not leastCluny; the more credit that he took it as he did. 

"Mr. Balfour, " said he, "I think you are too nice and covenanting, butfor all that you have the spirit of a very pretty gentleman. Upon myhonest word, ye may take this money--it's what I would tell my son--andhere's my hand along with it!"

CHAPTER XXIV

THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE QUARREL

Alan and I were put across Loch Errocht under cloud of night, and wentdown its eastern shore to another hiding-place near the head of LochRannoch, whither we were led by one of the gillies from the Cage. Thisfellow carried all our luggage and Alan's great-coat in the bargain, trotting along under the burthen, far less than the half of which usedto weigh me to the ground, like a stout hill pony with a feather; yet hewas a man that, in plain contest, I could have broken on my knee. 

Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered; and perhapswithout that relief, and the consequent sense of liberty and lightness, I could not have walked at all. I was but new risen from a bed ofsickness; and there was nothing in the state of our affairs to heartenme for much exertion; travelling, as we did, over the most dismaldeserts in Scotland, under a cloudy heaven, and with divided heartsamong the travellers. 

For long, we said nothing; marching alongside or one behind the other, each with a set countenance: I, angry and proud, and drawing whatstrength I had from these two violent and sinful feelings; Alan angryand ashamed, ashamed that he had lost my money, angry that I should takeit so ill. 

The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in my mind; and themore I approved of it, the more ashamed I grew of my approval. It wouldbe a fine, handsome, generous thing, indeed, for Alan to turn round andsay to me: "Go, I am in the most danger, and my company only increasesyours. " But for me to turn to the friend who certainly loved me, and sayto him: "You are in great danger, I am in but little; your friendshipis a burden; go, take your risks and bear your hardships alone----" no, that was impossible; and even to think of it privily to myself, made mycheeks to burn. 

And yet Alan had behaved like a child, and (what is worse) a treacherouschild. Wheedling my money from me while I lay half-conscious was scarcebetter than theft; and yet here he was trudging by my side, without apenny to his name, and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge uponthe money he had driven me to beg. True, I was ready to share it withhim; but it made me rage to see him count upon my readiness. 

These were the two things uppermost in my mind; and I could open mymouth upon neither without black ungenerosity. So I did the next worst, and said nothing, nor so much as looked once at my companion, save withthe tail of my eye. 

At last, upon the other side of Loch Errocht, going over a smooth, rushyplace, where the walking was easy, he could bear it no longer, and cameclose to me. 

"David, " says he, "this is no way for two friends to take a smallaccident. I have to say that I'm sorry; and so that's said. And now ifyou have anything, ye'd better say it. "

"O, " says I, "I have nothing. "

He seemed disconcerted; at which I was meanly pleased. 

"No, " said he, with rather a trembling voice, "but when I say I was toblame?"

"Why, of course, ye were to blame, " said I, coolly; "and you will bearme out that I have never reproached you. "

"Never, " says he; "but ye ken very well that ye've done worse. Are we topart? Ye said so once before. Are ye to say it again? There's hills andheather enough between here and the two seas, David; and I will own I'mno very keen to stay where I'm no wanted. "

This pierced me like a sword, and seemed to lay bare my privatedisloyalty. 

"Alan Breck!" I cried; and then: "Do you think I am one to turn myback on you in your chief need? You dursn't say it to my face. My wholeconduct's there to give the lie to it. It's true, I fell asleep uponthe muir; but that was from weariness, and you do wrong to cast it up tome----"

"Which is what I never did, " said Alan. 

"But aside from that, " I continued, "what have I done that you shouldeven me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed a friend, andit's not likely I'll begin with you. There are things between us that Ican never forget, even if you can. "

"I will only say this to ye, David, " said Alan, very quietly, "that Ihave long been owing ye my life, and now I owe ye money. Ye should tryto make that burden light for me. "

This ought to have touched me, and in a manner it did, but the wrongmanner. I felt I was behaving, badly; and was now not only angry withAlan, but angry with myself in the bargain; and it made me the morecruel. 

"You asked me to speak, " said I. "Well, then, I will. You own yourselfthat you have done me a disservice; I have had to swallow an affront: Ihave never reproached you, I never named the thing till you did. Andnow you blame me, " cried I, "because I cannae laugh and sing as if I wasglad to be affronted. The next thing will be that I'm to go down upon myknees and thank you for it! Ye should think more of others, AlanBreck. If ye thought more of others, ye would perhaps speak less aboutyourself; and when a friend that likes you very well has passed over anoffence without a word, you would be blithe to let it lie, instead ofmaking it a stick to break his back with. By your own way of it, it wasyou that was to blame; then it shouldnae be you to seek the quarrel. "

"Aweel, " said Alan, "say nae mair. "

And we fell back into our former silence; and came to our journey's end, and supped, and lay down to sleep, without another word. 

The gillie put us across Loch Rannoch in the dusk of the next day, andgave us his opinion as to our best route. This was to get us up at onceinto the tops of the mountains: to go round by a circuit, turning theheads of Glen Lyon, Glen Lochay, and Glen Dochart, and come down uponthe lowlands by Kippen and the upper waters of the Forth. Alan waslittle pleased with a route which led us through the country of hisblood-foes, the Glenorchy Campbells. He objected that by turning to theeast, we should come almost at once among the Athole Stewarts, a race ofhis own name and lineage, although following a different chief, and comebesides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we werebound. But the gillie, who was indeed the chief man of Cluny's scouts, had good reasons to give him on all hands, naming the force of troopsin every district, and alleging finally (as well as I could understand)that we should nowhere be so little troubled as in a country of theCampbells. 

Alan gave way at last, but with only half a heart. "It's one of thedowiest countries in Scotland, " said he. "There's naething there that Iken, but heath, and crows, and Campbells. But I see that ye're a man ofsome penetration; and be it as ye please!"

We set forth accordingly by this itinerary; and for the best part ofthree nights travelled on eerie mountains and among the well-heads ofwild rivers; often buried in mist, almost continually blown and rainedupon, and not once cheered by any glimpse of sunshine. By day, we layand slept in the drenching heather; by night, incessantly clambered uponbreak-neck hills and among rude crags. We often wandered; we were oftenso involved in fog, that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A fire wasnever to be thought of. Our only food was drammach and a portion of coldmeat that we had carried from the Cage; and as for drink, Heaven knowswe had no want of water. 

This was a dreadful time, rendered the more dreadful by the gloom ofthe weather and the country. I was never warm; my teeth chattered in myhead; I was troubled with a very sore throat, such as I had on the isle;I had a painful stitch in my side, which never left me; and when I sleptin my wet bed, with the rain beating above and the mud oozing below me, it was to live over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures--tosee the tower of Shaws lit by lightning, Ransome carried below on themen's backs, Shuan dying on the round-house floor, or Colin Campbellgrasping at the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers, I would bearoused in the gloaming, to sit up in the same puddle where I had slept, and sup cold drammach; the rain driving sharp in my face or runningdown my back in icy trickles; the mist enfolding us like as in a gloomychamber--or, perhaps, if the wind blew, falling suddenly apart andshowing us the gulf of some dark valley where the streams were cryingaloud. 

The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all round. Inthis steady rain the springs of the mountain were broken up; every glengushed water like a cistern; every stream was in high spate, and hadfilled and overflowed its channel. During our night tramps, it wassolemn to hear the voice of them below in the valleys, now booming likethunder, now with an angry cry. I could well understand the story of theWater Kelpie, that demon of the streams, who is fabled to keep wailingand roaring at the ford until the coming of the doomed traveller. Alan Isaw believed it, or half believed it; and when the cry of the river rosemore than usually sharp, I was little surprised (though, of course, Iwould still be shocked) to see him cross himself in the manner of theCatholics. 

During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity, scarcely eventhat of speech. The truth is that I was sickening for my grave, whichis my best excuse. But besides that I was of an unforgiving dispositionfrom my birth, slow to take offence, slower to forget it, and nowincensed both against my companion and myself. For the best part of twodays he was unweariedly kind; silent, indeed, but always ready to help, and always hoping (as I could very well see) that my displeasure wouldblow by. For the same length of time I stayed in myself, nursing myanger, roughly refusing his services, and passing him over with my eyesas if he had been a bush or a stone. 

The second night, or rather the peep of the third day, found us upon avery open hill, so that we could not follow our usual plan and lie downimmediately to eat and sleep. Before we had reached a place of shelter, the grey had come pretty clear, for though it still rained, the cloudsran higher; and Alan, looking in my face, showed some marks of concern. 

"Ye had better let me take your pack, " said he, for perhaps the ninthtime since we had parted from the scout beside Loch Rannoch. 

"I do very well, I thank you, " said I, as cold as ice. 

Alan flushed darkly. "I'll not offer it again, " he said. "I'm not apatient man, David. "

"I never said you were, " said I, which was exactly the rude, sillyspeech of a boy of ten. 

Alan made no answer at the time, but his conduct answered for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought, he quite forgave himself for the affairat Cluny's; cocked his hat again, walked jauntily, whistled airs, andlooked at me upon one side with a provoking smile. 

The third night we were to pass through the western end of the countryof Balquhidder. It came clear and cold, with a touch in the air likefrost, and a northerly wind that blew the clouds away and made the starsbright. The streams were full, of course, and still made a great noiseamong the hills; but I observed that Alan thought no more upon theKelpie, and was in high good spirits. As for me, the change of weathercame too late; I had lain in the mire so long that (as the Bible has it)my very clothes "abhorred me. " I was dead weary, deadly sick and fullof pains and shiverings; the chill of the wind went through me, and thesound of it confused my ears. In this poor state I had to bear frommy companion something in the nature of a persecution. He spoke a gooddeal, and never without a taunt. "Whig" was the best name he had to giveme. "Here, " he would say, "here's a dub for ye to jump, my Whiggie! Iken you're a fine jumper!" And so on; all the time with a gibing voiceand face. 

I knew it was my own doing, and no one else's; but I was too miserableto repent. I felt I could drag myself but little farther; pretty soon, Imust lie down and die on these wet mountains like a sheep or a fox, andmy bones must whiten there like the bones of a beast. My head was lightperhaps; but I began to love the prospect, I began to glory in thethought of such a death, alone in the desert, with the wild eaglesbesieging my last moments. Alan would repent then, I thought; he wouldremember, when I was dead, how much he owed me, and the remembrancewould be torture. So I went like a sick, silly, and bad-heartedschoolboy, feeding my anger against a fellow-man, when I would havebeen better on my knees, crying on God for mercy. And at each of Alan'staunts, I hugged myself. "Ah!" thinks I to myself, "I have a bettertaunt in readiness; when I lie down and die, you will feel it like abuffet in your face; ah, what a revenge! ah, how you will regret youringratitude and cruelty!"

All the while, I was growing worse and worse. Once I had fallen, my legsimply doubling under me, and this had struck Alan for the moment; but Iwas afoot so briskly, and set off again with such a natural manner, that he soon forgot the incident. Flushes of heat went over me, and thenspasms of shuddering. The stitch in my side was hardly bearable. At lastI began to feel that I could trail myself no farther: and with that, there came on me all at once the wish to have it out with Alan, let myanger blaze, and be done with my life in a more sudden manner. He hadjust called me "Whig. " I stopped. 

"Mr. Stewart, " said I, in a voice that quivered like a fiddle-string, "you are older than I am, and should know your manners. Do you thinkit either very wise or very witty to cast my politics in my teeth? Ithought, where folk differed, it was the part of gentlemen to differcivilly; and if I did not, I may tell you I could find a better tauntthan some of yours. "

Alan had stopped opposite to me, his hat cocked, his hands in hisbreeches pockets, his head a little on one side. He listened, smilingevilly, as I could see by the starlight; and when I had done he began towhistle a Jacobite air. It was the air made in mockery of General Cope'sdefeat at Preston Pans:

 "Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin' yet? And are your drums a-beatin' yet?"

And it came in my mind that Alan, on the day of that battle, had beenengaged upon the royal side. 

"Why do ye take that air, Mr. Stewart?" said I. "Is that to remind meyou have been beaten on both sides?"

The air stopped on Alan's lips. "David!" said he. 

"But it's time these manners ceased, " I continued; "and I mean you shallhenceforth speak civilly of my King and my good friends the Campbells. "

"I am a Stewart--" began Alan. 

"O!" says I, "I ken ye bear a king's name. But you are to remember, since I have been in the Highlands, I have seen a good many of thosethat bear it; and the best I can say of them is this, that they would benone the worse of washing. "

"Do you know that you insult me?" said Alan, very low. 

"I am sorry for that, " said I, "for I am not done; and if you distastethe sermon, I doubt the pirliecue* will please you as little. You havebeen chased in the field by the grown men of my party; it seems a poorkind of pleasure to out-face a boy. Both the Campbells and the Whigshave beaten you; you have run before them like a hare. It behoves you tospeak of them as of your betters. "

 * A second sermon. 

Alan stood quite still, the tails of his great-coat clapping behind himin the wind. 

"This is a pity" he said at last. "There are things said that cannot bepassed over. "

"I never asked you to, " said I. "I am as ready as yourself. "

"Ready?" said he. 

"Ready, " I repeated. "I am no blower and boaster like some that I couldname. Come on!" And drawing my sword, I fell on guard as Alan himselfhad taught me. 

"David!" he cried. "Are ye daft? I cannae draw upon ye, David. It'sfair murder. "

"That was your look-out when you insulted me, " said I. 

"It's the truth!" cried Alan, and he stood for a moment, wringing hismouth in his hand like a man in sore perplexity. "It's the bare truth, "he said, and drew his sword. But before I could touch his blade withmine, he had thrown it from him and fallen to the ground. "Na, na, " hekept saying, "na, na--I cannae, I cannae. "

At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me; and I found myselfonly sick, and sorry, and blank, and wondering at myself. I would havegiven the world to take back what I had said; but a word once spoken, who can recapture it? I minded me of all Alan's kindness and courage inthe past, how he had helped and cheered and borne with me in our evildays; and then recalled my own insults, and saw that I had lost for everthat doughty friend. At the same time, the sickness that hung uponme seemed to redouble, and the pang in my side was like a sword forsharpness. I thought I must have swooned where I stood. 

This it was that gave me a thought. No apology could blot out what I hadsaid; it was needless to think of one, none could cover the offence; butwhere an apology was vain, a mere cry for help might bring Alan back tomy side. I put my pride away from me. "Alan!" I said; "if ye cannae helpme, I must just die here. "

He started up sitting, and looked at me. 

"It's true, " said I. "I'm by with it. O, let me get into the bield of ahouse--I'll can die there easier. " I had no need to pretend; whether Ichose or not, I spoke in a weeping voice that would have melted a heartof stone. 

"Can ye walk?" asked Alan. 

"No, " said I, "not without help. This last hour my legs have beenfainting under me; I've a stitch in my side like a red-hot iron; Icannae breathe right. If I die, ye'll can forgive me, Alan? In my heart, I liked ye fine--even when I was the angriest. "

"Wheesht, wheesht!" cried Alan. "Dinna say that! David man, ye ken--" Heshut his mouth upon a sob. "Let me get my arm about ye, " he continued;"that's the way! Now lean upon me hard. Gude kens where there's a house!We're in Balwhidder, too; there should be no want of houses, no, norfriends' houses here. Do ye gang easier so, Davie?"

"Ay" said I, "I can be doing this way;" and I pressed his arm with myhand. 

Again he came near sobbing. "Davie, " said he, "I'm no a right man atall; I have neither sense nor kindness; I could nae remember ye werejust a bairn, I couldnae see ye were dying on your feet; Davie, ye'llhave to try and forgive me. "

"O man, let's say no more about it!" said I. "We're neither one of usto mend the other--that's the truth! We must just bear and forbear, manAlan. O, but my stitch is sore! Is there nae house?"

"I'll find a house to ye, David, " he said, stoutly. "We'll follow downthe burn, where there's bound to be houses. My poor man, will ye no bebetter on my back?"

"O, Alan, " says I, "and me a good twelve inches taller?"

"Ye're no such a thing, " cried Alan, with a start. "There may be atrifling matter of an inch or two; I'm no saying I'm just exactly whatye would call a tall man, whatever; and I dare say, " he added, his voicetailing off in a laughable manner, "now when I come to think of it, Idare say ye'll be just about right. Ay, it'll be a foot, or near hand;or may be even mair!"

It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the fear ofsome fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, had not my stitch caught me sohard; but if I had laughed, I think I must have wept too. 

"Alan, " cried I, "what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye care forsuch a thankless fellow?"

"'Deed, and I don't, know" said Alan. "For just precisely what I thoughtI liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled:--and now I like yebetter!"

CHAPTER XXV

IN BALQUHIDDER

At the door of the first house we came to, Alan knocked, which was ofno very safe enterprise in such a part of the Highlands as the Braes ofBalquhidder. No great clan held rule there; it was filled and disputedby small septs, and broken remnants, and what they call "chieflessfolk, " driven into the wild country about the springs of Forth and Teithby the advance of the Campbells. Here were Stewarts and Maclarens, whichcame to the same thing, for the Maclarens followed Alan's chief in war, and made but one clan with Appin. Here, too, were many of that old, proscribed, nameless, red-handed clan of the Macgregors. They had alwaysbeen ill-considered, and now worse than ever, having credit with no sideor party in the whole country of Scotland. Their chief, Macgregor ofMacgregor, was in exile; the more immediate leader of that part of themabout Balquhidder, James More, Rob Roy's eldest son, lay waiting histrial in Edinburgh Castle; they were in ill-blood with Highlander andLowlander, with the Grahames, the Maclarens, and the Stewarts; and Alan, who took up the quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremelywishful to avoid them. 

Chance served us very well; for it was a household of Maclarens that wefound, where Alan was not only welcome for his name's sake but knownby reputation. Here then I was got to bed without delay, and a doctorfetched, who found me in a sorry plight. But whether because he was avery good doctor, or I a very young, strong man, I lay bedridden for nomore than a week, and before a month I was able to take the road againwith a good heart. 

All this time Alan would not leave me though I often pressed him, andindeed his foolhardiness in staying was a common subject of outcry withthe two or three friends that were let into the secret. He hid by dayin a hole of the braes under a little wood; and at night, when the coastwas clear, would come into the house to visit me. I need not say if Iwas pleased to see him; Mrs. Maclaren, our hostess, thought nothing goodenough for such a guest; and as Duncan Dhu (which was the name of ourhost) had a pair of pipes in his house, and was much of a lover ofmusic, this time of my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonlyturned night into day. 

The soldiers let us be; although once a party of two companies and somedragoons went by in the bottom of the valley, where I could see themthrough the window as I lay in bed. What was much more astonishing, nomagistrate came near me, and there was no question put of whence I cameor whither I was going; and in that time of excitement, I was as free ofall inquiry as though I had lain in a desert. Yet my presence was knownbefore I left to all the people in Balquhidder and the adjacent parts;many coming about the house on visits and these (after the custom of thecountry) spreading the news among their neighbours. The bills, too, hadnow been printed. There was one pinned near the foot of my bed, whereI could read my own not very flattering portrait and, in largercharacters, the amount of the blood money that had been set upon mylife. Duncan Dhu and the rest that knew that I had come there in Alan'scompany, could have entertained no doubt of who I was; and many othersmust have had their guess. For though I had changed my clothes, I couldnot change my age or person; and Lowland boys of eighteen were not sorife in these parts of the world, and above all about that time, thatthey could fail to put one thing with another, and connect me with thebill. So it was, at least. Other folk keep a secret among two or threenear friends, and somehow it leaks out; but among these clansmen, it istold to a whole countryside, and they will keep it for a century. 

There was but one thing happened worth narrating; and that is the visitI had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of the notorious Rob Roy. He wassought upon all sides on a charge of carrying a young woman fromBalfron and marrying her (as was alleged) by force; yet he stepped aboutBalquhidder like a gentleman in his own walled policy. It was he who hadshot James Maclaren at the plough stilts, a quarrel never satisfied; yethe walked into the house of his blood enemies as a rider* might into a public inn. * Commercial traveller. 

Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was; and we looked at oneanother in concern. You should understand, it was then close upon thetime of Alan's coming; the two were little likely to agree; and yet ifwe sent word or sought to make a signal, it was sure to arouse suspicionin a man under so dark a cloud as the Macgregor. 

He came in with a great show of civility, but like a man amonginferiors; took off his bonnet to Mrs. Maclaren, but clapped it on hishead again to speak to Duncan; and leaving thus set himself (as he wouldhave thought) in a proper light, came to my bedside and bowed. 

"I am given to know, sir, " says he, "that your name is Balfour. "

"They call me David Balfour, " said I, "at your service. "

"I would give ye my name in return, sir" he replied, "but it's onesomewhat blown upon of late days; and it'll perhaps suffice if I tellye that I am own brother to James More Drummond or Macgregor, of whom yewill scarce have failed to hear. "

"No, sir, " said I, a little alarmed; "nor yet of your father, Macgregor-Campbell. " And I sat up and bowed in bed; for I thought bestto compliment him, in case he was proud of having had an outlaw to hisfather. 

He bowed in return. "But what I am come to say, sir, " he went on, "isthis. In the year '45, my brother raised a part of the 'Gregara' andmarched six companies to strike a stroke for the good side; and thesurgeon that marched with our clan and cured my brother's leg when itwas broken in the brush at Preston Pans, was a gentleman of the samename precisely as yourself. He was brother to Balfour of Baith; and ifyou are in any reasonable degree of nearness one of that gentleman'skin, I have come to put myself and my people at your command. "

You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent than any cadger'sdog; my uncle, to be sure, had prated of some of our high connections, but nothing to the present purpose; and there was nothing left me butthat bitter disgrace of owning that I could not tell. 

Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself about, turned hisback upon me without a sign of salutation, and as he went towards thedoor, I could hear him telling Duncan that I was "only some kinless loonthat didn't know his own father. " Angry as I was at these words, andashamed of my own ignorance, I could scarce keep from smiling that aman who was under the lash of the law (and was indeed hanged some threeyears later) should be so nice as to the descent of his acquaintances. 

Just in the door, he met Alan coming in; and the two drew back andlooked at each other like strange dogs. They were neither of them bigmen, but they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. Each wore a sword, and by a movement of his haunch, thrust clear the hilt of it, so that itmight be the more readily grasped and the blade drawn. 

"Mr. Stewart, I am thinking, " says Robin. 

"Troth, Mr. Macgregor, it's not a name to be ashamed of, " answered Alan. 

"I did not know ye were in my country, sir, " says Robin. 

"It sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my friends theMaclarens, " says Alan. 

"That's a kittle point, " returned the other. "There may be two words tosay to that. But I think I will have heard that you are a man of yoursword?"

"Unless ye were born deaf, Mr. Macgregor, ye will have heard a good dealmore than that, " says Alan. "I am not the only man that can draw steelin Appin; and when my kinsman and captain, Ardshiel, had a talk with agentleman of your name, not so many years back, I could never hear thatthe Macgregor had the best of it. "

"Do ye mean my father, sir?" says Robin. 

"Well, I wouldnae wonder, " said Alan. "The gentleman I have in my mindhad the ill-taste to clap Campbell to his name. "

"My father was an old man, " returned Robin. 

"The match was unequal. You and me would make a better pair, sir. "

"I was thinking that, " said Alan. 

I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at the elbow of thesefighting cocks, ready to intervene upon the least occasion. But whenthat word was uttered, it was a case of now or never; and Duncan, withsomething of a white face to be sure, thrust himself between. 

"Gentlemen, " said he, "I will have been thinking of a very differentmatter, whateffer. Here are my pipes, and here are you two gentlemen whoare baith acclaimed pipers. It's an auld dispute which one of ye's thebest. Here will be a braw chance to settle it. "

"Why, sir, " said Alan, still addressing Robin, from whom indeed he hadnot so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Robin from him, "why, sir, "says Alan, "I think I will have heard some sough* of the sort. Have yemusic, as folk say? Are ye a bit of a piper?"

 * Rumour. 

"I can pipe like a Macrimmon!" cries Robin. 

"And that is a very bold word, " quoth Alan. 

"I have made bolder words good before now, " returned Robin, "and thatagainst better adversaries. "

"It is easy to try that, " says Alan. 

Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was hisprincipal possession, and to set before his guests a mutton-ham and abottle of that drink which they call Athole brose, and which is made ofold whiskey, strained honey and sweet cream, slowly beaten together inthe right order and proportion. The two enemies were still on the verybreach of a quarrel; but down they sat, one upon each side of the peatfire, with a mighty show of politeness. Maclaren pressed them to tastehis mutton-ham and "the wife's brose, " reminding them the wife was outof Athole and had a name far and wide for her skill in that confection. But Robin put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath. 

"I would have ye to remark, sir, " said Alan, "that I havenae brokenbread for near upon ten hours, which will be worse for the breath thanany brose in Scotland. "

"I will take no advantages, Mr. Stewart, " replied Robin. "Eat and drink;I'll follow you. "

Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of the brose toMrs. Maclaren; and then after a great number of civilities, Robin tookthe pipes and played a little spring in a very ranting manner. 

"Ay, ye can, blow" said Alan; and taking the instrument from his rival, he first played the same spring in a manner identical with Robin's; andthen wandered into variations, which, as he went on, he decorated witha perfect flight of grace-notes, such as pipers love, and call the"warblers. "

I had been pleased with Robin's playing, Alan's ravished me. 

"That's no very bad, Mr. Stewart, " said the rival, "but ye show a poordevice in your warblers. "

"Me!" cried Alan, the blood starting to his face. "I give ye the lie. "

"Do ye own yourself beaten at the pipes, then, " said Robin, "that yeseek to change them for the sword?"

"And that's very well said, Mr. Macgregor, " returned Alan; "and in themeantime" (laying a strong accent on the word) "I take back the lie. Iappeal to Duncan. "

"Indeed, ye need appeal to naebody, " said Robin. "Ye're a far betterjudge than any Maclaren in Balquhidder: for it's a God's truth thatyou're a very creditable piper for a Stewart. Hand me the pipes. " Alandid as he asked; and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part ofAlan's variations, which it seemed that he remembered perfectly. 

"Ay, ye have music, " said Alan, gloomily. 

"And now be the judge yourself, Mr. Stewart, " said Robin; and taking upthe variations from the beginning, he worked them throughout to so new apurpose, with such ingenuity and sentiment, and with so odd a fancy andso quick a knack in the grace-notes, that I was amazed to hear him. 

As for Alan, his face grew dark and hot, and he sat and gnawed hisfingers, like a man under some deep affront. "Enough!" he cried. "Ye canblow the pipes--make the most of that. " And he made as if to rise. 

But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence, and struckinto the slow measure of a pibroch. It was a fine piece of music initself, and nobly played; but it seems, besides, it was a piece peculiarto the Appin Stewarts and a chief favourite with Alan. The first noteswere scarce out, before there came a change in his face; when the timequickened, he seemed to grow restless in his seat; and long before thatpiece was at an end, the last signs of his anger died from him, and hehad no thought but for the music. 

"Robin Oig, " he said, when it was done, "ye are a great piper. I am notfit to blow in the same kingdom with ye. Body of me! ye have mair musicin your sporran than I have in my head! And though it still sticks inmy mind that I could maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel, I warn ye beforehand--it'll no be fair! It would go against my heart tohaggle a man that can blow the pipes as you can!"

Thereupon that quarrel was made up; all night long the brose was goingand the pipes changing hands; and the day had come pretty bright, andthe three men were none the better for what they had been taking, beforeRobin as much as thought upon the road. 

CHAPTER XXVI

END OF THE FLIGHT: WE PASS THE FORTH

The month, as I have said, was not yet out, but it was already farthrough August, and beautiful warm weather, with every sign of an earlyand great harvest, when I was pronounced able for my journey. Our moneywas now run to so low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed;for if we came not soon to Mr. Rankeillor's, or if when we came there heshould fail to help me, we must surely starve. In Alan's view, besides, the hunt must have now greatly slackened; and the line of the Forth andeven Stirling Bridge, which is the main pass over that river, would bewatched with little interest. 

"It's a chief principle in military affairs, " said he, "to go whereye are least expected. Forth is our trouble; ye ken the saying, 'Forthbridles the wild Hielandman. ' Well, if we seek to creep round aboutthe head of that river and come down by Kippen or Balfron, it's justprecisely there that they'll be looking to lay hands on us. But if westave on straight to the auld Brig of Stirling, I'll lay my sword theylet us pass unchallenged. "

The first night, accordingly, we pushed to the house of a Maclaren inStrathire, a friend of Duncan's, where we slept the twenty-first of themonth, and whence we set forth again about the fall of night to makeanother easy stage. The twenty-second we lay in a heather bush on thehillside in Uam Var, within view of a herd of deer, the happiest tenhours of sleep in a fine, breathing sunshine and on bone-dry ground, that I have ever tasted. That night we struck Allan Water, and followedit down; and coming to the edge of the hills saw the whole Carse ofStirling underfoot, as flat as a pancake, with the town and castle on ahill in the midst of it, and the moon shining on the Links of Forth. 

"Now, " said Alan, "I kenna if ye care, but ye're in your own land again. We passed the Hieland Line in the first hour; and now if we could butpass yon crooked water, we might cast our bonnets in the air. "

In Allan Water, near by where it falls into the Forth, we found a littlesandy islet, overgrown with burdock, butterbur and the like low plants, that would just cover us if we lay flat. Here it was we made our camp, within plain view of Stirling Castle, whence we could hear the drumsbeat as some part of the garrison paraded. Shearers worked all day ina field on one side of the river, and we could hear the stones goingon the hooks and the voices and even the words of the men talking. Itbehoved to lie close and keep silent. But the sand of the little islewas sun-warm, the green plants gave us shelter for our heads, we hadfood and drink in plenty; and to crown all, we were within sight ofsafety. 

As soon as the shearers quit their work and the dusk began to fall, we waded ashore and struck for the Bridge of Stirling, keeping to thefields and under the field fences. 

The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old, high, narrow bridgewith pinnacles along the parapet; and you may conceive with how muchinterest I looked upon it, not only as a place famous in history, but asthe very doors of salvation to Alan and myself. The moon was not yet upwhen we came there; a few lights shone along the front of the fortress, and lower down a few lighted windows in the town; but it was all mightystill, and there seemed to be no guard upon the passage. 

I was for pushing straight across; but Alan was more wary. 

"It looks unco' quiet, " said he; "but for all that we'll lie down herecannily behind a dyke, and make sure. "

So we lay for about a quarter of an hour, whiles whispering, whileslying still and hearing nothing earthly but the washing of the water onthe piers. At last there came by an old, hobbling woman with a crutchstick; who first stopped a little, close to where we lay, and bemoanedherself and the long way she had travelled; and then set forth again upthe steep spring of the bridge. The woman was so little, and the nightstill so dark, that we soon lost sight of her; only heard the sound ofher steps, and her stick, and a cough that she had by fits, draw slowlyfarther away. 

"She's bound to be across now, " I whispered. 

"Na, " said Alan, "her foot still sounds boss* upon the bridge. "

 * Hollow. 

And just then--"Who goes?" cried a voice, and we heard the butt ofa musket rattle on the stones. I must suppose the sentry had beensleeping, so that had we tried, we might have passed unseen; but he wasawake now, and the chance forfeited. 

"This'll never do, " said Alan. "This'll never, never do for us, David. "

And without another word, he began to crawl away through the fields; anda little after, being well out of eye-shot, got to his feet again, andstruck along a road that led to the eastward. I could not conceive whathe was doing; and indeed I was so sharply cut by the disappointment, that I was little likely to be pleased with anything. A moment backand I had seen myself knocking at Mr. Rankeillor's door to claim myinheritance, like a hero in a ballad; and here was I back again, awandering, hunted blackguard, on the wrong side of Forth. 

"Well?" said I. 

"Well, " said Alan, "what would ye have? They're none such fools as Itook them for. We have still the Forth to pass, Davie--weary fall therains that fed and the hillsides that guided it!"

"And why go east?" said I. 

"Ou, just upon the chance!" said he. "If we cannae pass the river, we'llhave to see what we can do for the firth. "

"There are fords upon the river, and none upon the firth, " said I. 

"To be sure there are fords, and a bridge forbye, " quoth Alan; "and ofwhat service, when they are watched?"

"Well, " said I, "but a river can be swum. "

"By them that have the skill of it, " returned he; "but I have yet tohear that either you or me is much of a hand at that exercise; and formy own part, I swim like a stone. "

"I'm not up to you in talking back, Alan, " I said; "but I can see we'remaking bad worse. If it's hard to pass a river, it stands to reason itmust be worse to pass a sea. "

"But there's such a thing as a boat, " says Alan, "or I'm the moredeceived. "

"Ay, and such a thing as money, " says I. "But for us that have neitherone nor other, they might just as well not have been invented. "

"Ye think so?" said Alan. 

"I do that, " said I. 

"David, " says he, "ye're a man of small invention and less faith. Butlet me set my wits upon the hone, and if I cannae beg, borrow, nor yetsteal a boat, I'll make one!"

"I think I see ye!" said I. "And what's more than all that: if ye pass abridge, it can tell no tales; but if we pass the firth, there's the boaton the wrong side--somebody must have brought it--the country-side willall be in a bizz---"

"Man!" cried Alan, "if I make a boat, I'll make a body to take it backagain! So deave me with no more of your nonsense, but walk (for that'swhat you've got to do)--and let Alan think for ye. "

All night, then, we walked through the north side of the Carse underthe high line of the Ochil mountains; and by Alloa and Clackmannan andCulross, all of which we avoided: and about ten in the morning, mightyhungry and tired, came to the little clachan of Limekilns. This is aplace that sits near in by the water-side, and looks across the Hope tothe town of the Queensferry. Smoke went up from both of these, and fromother villages and farms upon all hands. The fields were being reaped;two ships lay anchored, and boats were coming and going on the Hope. It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me; and I could not takemy fill of gazing at these comfortable, green, cultivated hills and thebusy people both of the field and sea. 

For all that, there was Mr. Rankeillor's house on the south shore, whereI had no doubt wealth awaited me; and here was I upon the north, clad inpoor enough attire of an outlandish fashion, with three silver shillingsleft to me of all my fortune, a price set upon my head, and an outlawedman for my sole company. 

"O, Alan!" said I, "to think of it! Over there, there's all that heartcould want waiting me; and the birds go over, and the boats go over--allthat please can go, but just me only! O, man, but it's a heart-break!"

In Limekilns we entered a small change-house, which we only knew to be apublic by the wand over the door, and bought some bread and cheese froma good-looking lass that was the servant. This we carried with us in abundle, meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the sea-shore, that we saw some third part of a mile in front. As we went, I keptlooking across the water and sighing to myself; and though I took noheed of it, Alan had fallen into a muse. At last he stopped in the way. 

"Did ye take heed of the lass we bought this of?" says he, tapping onthe bread and cheese. 

"To be sure, " said I, "and a bonny lass she was. "

"Ye thought that?" cries he. "Man, David, that's good news. "

"In the name of all that's wonderful, why so?" says I. "What good canthat do?"

"Well, " said Alan, with one of his droll looks, "I was rather in hopesit would maybe get us that boat. "

"If it were the other way about, it would be liker it, " said I. 

"That's all that you ken, ye see, " said Alan. "I don't want the lass tofall in love with ye, I want her to be sorry for ye, David; to which endthere is no manner of need that she should take you for a beauty. Let mesee" (looking me curiously over). "I wish ye were a wee thing paler; butapart from that ye'll do fine for my purpose--ye have a fine, hang-dog, rag-and-tatter, clappermaclaw kind of a look to ye, as if ye hadstolen the coat from a potato-bogle. Come; right about, and back to thechange-house for that boat of ours. "

I followed him, laughing. 

"David Balfour, " said he, "ye're a very funny gentleman by your way ofit, and this is a very funny employ for ye, no doubt. For all that, ifye have any affection for my neck (to say nothing of your own) ye willperhaps be kind enough to take this matter responsibly. I am going todo a bit of play-acting, the bottom ground of which is just exactly asserious as the gallows for the pair of us. So bear it, if ye please, inmind, and conduct yourself according. "

"Well, well, " said I, "have it as you will. "

As we got near the clachan, he made me take his arm and hang upon itlike one almost helpless with weariness; and by the time he pushedopen the change-house door, he seemed to be half carrying me. The maidappeared surprised (as well she might be) at our speedy return; butAlan had no words to spare for her in explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a tass of brandy with which he fed me in little sips, and then breaking up the bread and cheese helped me to eat it likea nursery-lass; the whole with that grave, concerned, affectionatecountenance, that might have imposed upon a judge. It was small wonderif the maid were taken with the picture we presented, of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and his most tender comrade. She drew quite near, andstood leaning with her back on the next table. 

"What's like wrong with him?" said she at last. 

Alan turned upon her, to my great wonder, with a kind of fury. "Wrong?"cries he. "He's walked more hundreds of miles than he has hairs upon hischin, and slept oftener in wet heather than dry sheets. Wrong, quo' she!Wrong enough, I would think! Wrong, indeed!" and he kept grumbling tohimself as he fed me, like a man ill-pleased. 

"He's young for the like of that, " said the maid. 

"Ower young, " said Alan, with his back to her. 

"He would be better riding, " says she. 

"And where could I get a horse to him?" cried Alan, turning on her withthe same appearance of fury. "Would ye have me steal?"

I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon, as indeedit closed her mouth for the time. But my companion knew very well whathe was doing; and for as simple as he was in some things of life, had agreat fund of roguishness in such affairs as these. 

"Ye neednae tell me, " she said at last--"ye're gentry. "

"Well, " said Alan, softened a little (I believe against his will) bythis artless comment, "and suppose we were? Did ever you hear thatgentrice put money in folk's pockets?"

She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinherited great lady. "No, " says she, "that's true indeed. "

I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sittingtongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I couldhold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already. Myvoice stuck in my throat, for I ever hated to take part in lies; but myvery embarrassment helped on the plot, for the lass no doubt set down myhusky voice to sickness and fatigue. 

"Has he nae friends?" said she, in a tearful voice. 

"That has he so!" cried Alan, "if we could but win to them!--friends andrich friends, beds to lie in, food to eat, doctors to see to him--andhere he must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like abeggarman. "

"And why that?" says the lass. 

"My dear, " said Alan, "I cannae very safely say; but I'll tell ye whatI'll do instead, " says he, "I'll whistle ye a bit tune. " And with thathe leaned pretty far over the table, and in a mere breath of a whistle, but with a wonderful pretty sentiment, gave her a few bars of "Charlieis my darling. "

"Wheesht, " says she, and looked over her shoulder to the door. 

"That's it, " said Alan. 

"And him so young!" cries the lass. 

"He's old enough to----" and Alan struck his forefinger on the back partof his neck, meaning that I was old enough to lose my head. 

"It would be a black shame, " she cried, flushing high. 

"It's what will be, though, " said Alan, "unless we manage the better. "

At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the house, leavingus alone together. Alan in high good humour at the furthering of hisschemes, and I in bitter dudgeon at being called a Jacobite and treatedlike a child. 

"Alan, " I cried, "I can stand no more of this. "

"Ye'll have to sit it then, Davie, " said he. "For if ye upset the potnow, ye may scrape your own life out of the fire, but Alan Breck is adead man. "

This was so true that I could only groan; and even my groan servedAlan's purpose, for it was overheard by the lass as she came flying inagain with a dish of white puddings and a bottle of strong ale. 

"Poor lamb!" says she, and had no sooner set the meat before us, thanshe touched me on the shoulder with a little friendly touch, as much asto bid me cheer up. Then she told us to fall to, and there would be nomore to pay; for the inn was her own, or at least her father's, and hewas gone for the day to Pittencrieff. We waited for no second bidding, for bread and cheese is but cold comfort and the puddings smeltexcellently well; and while we sat and ate, she took up that same placeby the next table, looking on, and thinking, and frowning to herself, and drawing the string of her apron through her hand. 

"I'm thinking ye have rather a long tongue, " she said at last to Alan. 

"Ay" said Alan; "but ye see I ken the folk I speak to. "

"I would never betray ye, " said she, "if ye mean that. "

"No, " said he, "ye're not that kind. But I'll tell ye what ye would do, ye would help. "

"I couldnae, " said she, shaking her head. "Na, I couldnae. "

"No, " said he, "but if ye could?"

She answered him nothing. 

"Look here, my lass, " said Alan, "there are boats in the Kingdom ofFife, for I saw two (no less) upon the beach, as I came in by yourtown's end. Now if we could have the use of a boat to pass under cloudof night into Lothian, and some secret, decent kind of a man to bringthat boat back again and keep his counsel, there would be two soulssaved--mine to all likelihood--his to a dead surety. If we lack thatboat, we have but three shillings left in this wide world; and whereto go, and how to do, and what other place there is for us except thechains of a gibbet--I give you my naked word, I kenna! Shall we gowanting, lassie? Are ye to lie in your warm bed and think upon us, whenthe wind gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof? Are ye toeat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire, and think upon this poor sicklad of mine, biting his finger ends on a blae muir for cauld and hunger?Sick or sound, he must aye be moving; with the death grapple at histhroat he must aye be trailing in the rain on the lang roads; and whenhe gants his last on a rickle of cauld stanes, there will be nae friendsnear him but only me and God. "

At this appeal, I could see the lass was in great trouble of mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in some fear she might be helpingmalefactors; and so now I determined to step in myself and to allay herscruples with a portion of the truth. 

"Did ever you, hear" said I, "of Mr. Rankeillor of the Ferry?"

"Rankeillor the writer?" said she. "I daur say that!"

"Well, " said I, "it's to his door that I am bound, so you may judge bythat if I am an ill-doer; and I will tell you more, that though I amindeed, by a dreadful error, in some peril of my life, King George hasno truer friend in all Scotland than myself. "

Her face cleared up mightily at this, although Alan's darkened. 

"That's more than I would ask, " said she. "Mr. Rankeillor is a kenntman. " And she bade us finish our meat, get clear of the clachan as soonas might be, and lie close in the bit wood on the sea-beach. "And ye cantrust me, " says she, "I'll find some means to put you over. "

At this we waited for no more, but shook hands with her upon thebargain, made short work of the puddings, and set forth again fromLimekilns as far as to the wood. It was a small piece of perhaps a scoreof elders and hawthorns and a few young ashes, not thick enough to veilus from passersby upon the road or beach. Here we must lie, however, making the best of the brave warm weather and the good hopes we now hadof a deliverance, and planing more particularly what remained for us todo. 

We had but one trouble all day; when a strolling piper came and sat inthe same wood with us; a red-nosed, bleareyed, drunken dog, with a greatbottle of whisky in his pocket, and a long story of wrongs that had beendone him by all sorts of persons, from the Lord President of theCourt of Session, who had denied him justice, down to the Bailies ofInverkeithing who had given him more of it than he desired. It wasimpossible but he should conceive some suspicion of two men lying allday concealed in a thicket and having no business to allege. As long ashe stayed there he kept us in hot water with prying questions; and afterhe was gone, as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue, we werein the greater impatience to be gone ourselves. 

The day came to an end with the same brightness; the night fell quietand clear; lights came out in houses and hamlets and then, one afteranother, began to be put out; but it was past eleven, and we were longsince strangely tortured with anxieties, before we heard the grindingof oars upon the rowing-pins. At that, we looked out and saw the lassherself coming rowing to us in a boat. She had trusted no one with ouraffairs, not even her sweetheart, if she had one; but as soon as herfather was asleep, had left the house by a window, stolen a neighbour'sboat, and come to our assistance single-handed. 

I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks; but she was no lessabashed at the thought of hearing them; begged us to lose no time and tohold our peace, saying (very properly) that the heart of our matter wasin haste and silence; and so, what with one thing and another, she hadset us on the Lothian shore not far from Carriden, had shaken hands withus, and was out again at sea and rowing for Limekilns, before there wasone word said either of her service or our gratitude. 

Even after she was gone, we had nothing to say, as indeed nothing wasenough for such a kindness. Only Alan stood a great while upon the shoreshaking his head. 

"It is a very fine lass, " he said at last. "David, it is a very finelass. " And a matter of an hour later, as we were lying in a den onthe sea-shore and I had been already dozing, he broke out again incommendations of her character. For my part, I could say nothing, shewas so simple a creature that my heart smote me both with remorse andfear: remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance; and fear lest weshould have anyway involved her in the dangers of our situation. 

CHAPTER XXVII

I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR

The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself tillsunset; but as soon as it began to grow dark, he should lie in thefields by the roadside near to Newhalls, and stir for naught until heheard me whistling. At first I proposed I should give him for a signalthe "Bonnie House of Airlie, " which was a favourite of mine; but heobjected that as the piece was very commonly known, any ploughman mightwhistle it by accident; and taught me instead a little fragment of aHighland air, which has run in my head from that day to this, and willlikely run in my head when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me, ittakes me off to that last day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up inthe bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a finger, and the grey of the dawn coming on his face. 

I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up. It was afairly built burgh, the houses of good stone, many slated; the town-hallnot so fine, I thought, as that of Peebles, nor yet the street so noble;but take it altogether, it put me to shame for my foul tatters. 

As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled, and thewindows to open, and the people to appear out of the houses, my concernand despondency grew ever the blacker. I saw now that I had no groundsto stand upon; and no clear proof of my rights, nor so much as of my ownidentity. If it was all a bubble, I was indeed sorely cheated and leftin a sore pass. Even if things were as I conceived, it would in alllikelihood take time to establish my contentions; and what time had Ito spare with less than three shillings in my pocket, and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands to ship out of the country? Truly, if my hopebroke with me, it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. And as Icontinued to walk up and down, and saw people looking askance at me uponthe street or out of windows, and nudging or speaking one to anotherwith smiles, I began to take a fresh apprehension: that it might be noeasy matter even to come to speech of the lawyer, far less to convincehim of my story. 

For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address any ofthese reputable burghers; I thought shame even to speak with them insuch a pickle of rags and dirt; and if I had asked for the house of sucha man as Mr. Rankeillor, I suppose they would have burst out laughing inmy face. So I went up and down, and through the street, and down tothe harbour-side, like a dog that has lost its master, with a strangegnawing in my inwards, and every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be high day at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon; and I wasworn with these wanderings, and chanced to have stopped in front ofa very good house on the landward side, a house with beautiful, clearglass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the walls new-harled* anda chase-dog sitting yawning on the step like one that was at home. Well, I was even envying this dumb brute, when the door fell open andthere issued forth a shrewd, ruddy, kindly, consequential man in awell-powdered wig and spectacles. I was in such a plight that no one seteyes on me once, but he looked at me again; and this gentleman, as itproved, was so much struck with my poor appearance that he came straightup to me and asked me what I did. 

 * Newly rough-cast. 

I told him I was come to the Queensferry on business, and taking heartof grace, asked him to direct me to the house of Mr. Rankeillor. 

"Why, " said he, "that is his house that I have just come out of; and fora rather singular chance, I am that very man. "

"Then, sir, " said I, "I have to beg the favour of an interview. "

"I do not know your name, " said he, "nor yet your face. "

"My name is David Balfour, " said I. 

"David Balfour?" he repeated, in rather a high tone, like one surprised. "And where have you come from, Mr. David Balfour?" he asked, looking mepretty drily in the face. 

"I have come from a great many strange places, sir, " said I; "but Ithink it would be as well to tell you where and how in a more privatemanner. "

He seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand, and looking nowat me and now upon the causeway of the street. 

"Yes, " says he, "that will be the best, no doubt. " And he led me backwith him into his house, cried out to some one whom I could not seethat he would be engaged all morning, and brought me into a little dustychamber full of books and documents. Here he sate down, and bade mebe seated; though I thought he looked a little ruefully from his cleanchair to my muddy rags. "And now, " says he, "if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the point. Nec gemino bellum Trojanumorditur ab ovo--do you understand that?" says he, with a keen look. 

"I will even do as Horace says, sir, " I answered, smiling, "and carryyou in medias res. " He nodded as if he was well pleased, and indeed hisscrap of Latin had been set to test me. For all that, and though I wassomewhat encouraged, the blood came in my face when I added: "I havereason to believe myself some rights on the estate of Shaws. "

He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open. "Well?"said he. 

But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. 

"Come, come, Mr. Balfour, " said he, "you must continue. Where were youborn?"

"In Essendean, sir, " said I, "the year 1733, the 12th of March. "

He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book; but what thatmeant I knew not. "Your father and mother?" said he. 

"My father was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place, " said I, "and my mother Grace Pitarrow; I think her people were from Angus. "

"Have you any papers proving your identity?" asked Mr. Rankeillor. 

"No, sir, " said I, "but they are in the hands of Mr. Campbell, theminister, and could be readily produced. Mr. Campbell, too, would giveme his word; and for that matter, I do not think my uncle would denyme. "

"Meaning Mr. Ebenezer Balfour?" says he. 

"The same, " said I. 

"Whom you have seen?" he asked. 

"By whom I was received into his own house, " I answered. 

"Did you ever meet a man of the name of Hoseason?" asked Mr. Rankeillor. 

"I did so, sir, for my sins, " said I; "for it was by his means and theprocurement of my uncle, that I was kidnapped within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck and a hundred other hardships, andstand before you to-day in this poor accoutrement. "

"You say you were shipwrecked, " said Rankeillor; "where was that?"

"Off the south end of the Isle of Mull, " said I. "The name of the isleon which I was cast up is the Island Earraid. "

"Ah!" says he, smiling, "you are deeper than me in the geography. But sofar, I may tell you, this agrees pretty exactly with other informationsthat I hold. But you say you were kidnapped; in what sense?"

"In the plain meaning of the word, sir, " said I. "I was on my way toyour house, when I was trepanned on board the brig, cruelly struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. Iwas destined for the plantations; a fate that, in God's providence, Ihave escaped. "

"The brig was lost on June the 27th, " says he, looking in his book, "and we are now at August the 24th. Here is a considerable hiatus, Mr. Balfour, of near upon two months. It has already caused a vast amountof trouble to your friends; and I own I shall not be very well contenteduntil it is set right. "

"Indeed, sir, " said I, "these months are very easily filled up; but yetbefore I told my story, I would be glad to know that I was talking to afriend. "

"This is to argue in a circle, " said the lawyer. "I cannot be convincedtill I have heard you. I cannot be your friend till I am properlyinformed. If you were more trustful, it would better befit your time oflife. And you know, Mr. Balfour, we have a proverb in the country thatevil-doers are aye evil-dreaders. "

"You are not to forget, sir, " said I, "that I have already suffered bymy trustfulness; and was shipped off to be a slave by the very man that(if I rightly understand) is your employer?"

All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr. Rankeillor, and inproportion as I gained ground, gaining confidence. But at this sally, which I made with something of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud. 

"No, no, " said he, "it is not so bad as that. Fui, non sum. I was indeedyour uncle's man of business; but while you (imberbis juvenis custoderemoto) were gallivanting in the west, a good deal of water has rununder the bridges; and if your ears did not sing, it was not for lack ofbeing talked about. On the very day of your sea disaster, Mr. Campbellstalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds. I had neverheard of your existence; but I had known your father; and from mattersin my competence (to be touched upon hereafter) I was disposed to fearthe worst. Mr. Ebenezer admitted having seen you; declared (what seemedimprobable) that he had given you considerable sums; and that you hadstarted for the continent of Europe, intending to fulfil your education, which was probable and praiseworthy. Interrogated how you had come tosend no word to Mr. Campbell, he deponed that you had expressed a greatdesire to break with your past life. Further interrogated where you nowwere, protested ignorance, but believed you were in Leyden. That is aclose sum of his replies. I am not exactly sure that any one believedhim, " continued Mr. Rankeillor with a smile; "and in particular he somuch disrelished me expressions of mine that (in a word) he showed me tothe door. We were then at a full stand; for whatever shrewd suspicionswe might entertain, we had no shadow of probation. In the very article, comes Captain Hoseason with the story of your drowning; whereupon allfell through; with no consequences but concern to Mr. Campbell, injuryto my pocket, and another blot upon your uncle's character, which couldvery ill afford it. And now, Mr. Balfour, " said he, "you understandthe whole process of these matters, and can judge for yourself to whatextent I may be trusted. "

Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him, and placed morescraps of Latin in his speech; but it was all uttered with a finegeniality of eye and manner which went far to conquer my distrust. Moreover, I could see he now treated me as if I was myself beyond adoubt; so that first point of my identity seemed fully granted. 

"Sir, " said I, "if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend's lifeto your discretion. Pass me your word it shall be sacred; and for whattouches myself, I will ask no better guarantee than just your face. "

He passed me his word very seriously. "But, " said he, "these are ratheralarming prolocutions; and if there are in your story any little jostlesto the law, I would beg you to bear in mind that I am a lawyer, and passlightly. "

Thereupon I told him my story from the first, he listening with hisspectacles thrust up and his eyes closed, so that I sometimes fearedhe was asleep. But no such matter! he heard every word (as I foundafterward) with such quickness of hearing and precision of memory asoften surprised me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic names, heard for thattime only, he remembered and would remind me of, years after. Yet when Icalled Alan Breck in full, we had an odd scene. The name of Alan had ofcourse rung through Scotland, with the news of the Appin murder and theoffer of the reward; and it had no sooner escaped me than the lawyermoved in his seat and opened his eyes. 

"I would name no unnecessary names, Mr. Balfour, " said he; "above all ofHighlanders, many of whom are obnoxious to the law. "

"Well, it might have been better not, " said I, "but since I have let itslip, I may as well continue. "

"Not at all, " said Mr. Rankeillor. "I am somewhat dull of hearing, asyou may have remarked; and I am far from sure I caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if you please, Mr. Thomson--that there maybe no reflections. And in future, I would take some such way with anyHighlander that you may have to mention--dead or alive. "

By this, I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly, and hadalready guessed I might be coming to the murder. If he chose to playthis part of ignorance, it was no matter of mine; so I smiled, said itwas no very Highland-sounding name, and consented. Through all the restof my story Alan was Mr. Thomson; which amused me the more, as it was apiece of policy after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner, was mentioned under the style of Mr. Thomson's kinsman; Colin Campbellpassed as a Mr. Glen; and to Cluny, when I came to that part of my tale, I gave the name of "Mr. Jameson, a Highland chief. " It was truly themost open farce, and I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep itup; but, after all, it was quite in the taste of that age, when therewere two parties in the state, and quiet persons, with no very highopinions of their own, sought out every cranny to avoid offence toeither. 

"Well, well, " said the lawyer, when I had quite done, "this is a greatepic, a great Odyssey of yours. You must tell it, sir, in a soundLatinity when your scholarship is riper; or in English if you please, though for my part I prefer the stronger tongue. You have rolledmuch; quae regio in terris--what parish in Scotland (to make a homelytranslation) has not been filled with your wanderings? You have shown, besides, a singular aptitude for getting into false positions; and, yes, upon the whole, for behaving well in them. This Mr. Thomson seems tome a gentleman of some choice qualities, though perhaps a triflebloody-minded. It would please me none the worse, if (with all hismerits) he were soused in the North Sea, for the man, Mr. David, is asore embarrassment. But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to him;indubitably, he adhered to you. It comes--we may say--he was your truecompanion; nor less paribus curis vestigia figit, for I dare say youwould both take an orra thought upon the gallows. Well, well, these daysare fortunately, by; and I think (speaking humanly) that you are nearthe end of your troubles. "

As he thus moralised on my adventures, he looked upon me with so muchhumour and benignity that I could scarce contain my satisfaction. I hadbeen so long wandering with lawless people, and making my bed upon thehills and under the bare sky, that to sit once more in a clean, coveredhouse, and to talk amicably with a gentleman in broadcloth, seemedmighty elevations. Even as I thought so, my eye fell on my unseemlytatters, and I was once more plunged in confusion. But the lawyer sawand understood me. He rose, called over the stair to lay another plate, for Mr. Balfour would stay to dinner, and led me into a bedroom in theupper part of the house. Here he set before me water and soap, and acomb; and laid out some clothes that belonged to his son; and here, withanother apposite tag, he left me to my toilet. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE

I made what change I could in my appearance; and blithe was I to look inthe glass and find the beggarman a thing of the past, and David Balfourcome to life again. And yet I was ashamed of the change too, and, aboveall, of the borrowed clothes. When I had done, Mr. Rankeillor caughtme on the stair, made me his compliments, and had me again into thecabinet. 

"Sit ye down, Mr. David, " said he, "and now that you are looking alittle more like yourself, let me see if I can find you any news. Youwill be wondering, no doubt, about your father and your uncle? To besure it is a singular tale; and the explanation is one that I blush tohave to offer you. For, " says he, really with embarrassment, "the matterhinges on a love affair. "

"Truly, " said I, "I cannot very well join that notion with my uncle. "

"But your uncle, Mr. David, was not always old, " replied the lawyer, "and what may perhaps surprise you more, not always ugly. He had a fine, gallant air; people stood in their doors to look after him, as hewent by upon a mettle horse. I have seen it with these eyes, and Iingenuously confess, not altogether without envy; for I was a plain ladmyself and a plain man's son; and in those days it was a case of Odi te, qui bellus es, Sabelle. "

"It sounds like a dream, " said I. 

"Ay, ay, " said the lawyer, "that is how it is with youth and age. Norwas that all, but he had a spirit of his own that seemed to promisegreat things in the future. In 1715, what must he do but run away tojoin the rebels? It was your father that pursued him, found him in aditch, and brought him back multum gementem; to the mirth of the wholecountry. However, majora canamus--the two lads fell in love, and thatwith the same lady. Mr. Ebenezer, who was the admired and the beloved, and the spoiled one, made, no doubt, mighty certain of the victory;and when he found he had deceived himself, screamed like a peacock. The whole country heard of it; now he lay sick at home, with his sillyfamily standing round the bed in tears; now he rode from public-houseto public-house, and shouted his sorrows into the lug of Tom, Dick, andHarry. Your father, Mr. David, was a kind gentleman; but he was weak, dolefully weak; took all this folly with a long countenance; and oneday--by your leave!--resigned the lady. She was no such fool, however;it's from her you must inherit your excellent good sense; and sherefused to be bandied from one to another. Both got upon their kneesto her; and the upshot of the matter for that while was that she showedboth of them the door. That was in August; dear me! the same year I camefrom college. The scene must have been highly farcical. "

I thought myself it was a silly business, but I could not forget myfather had a hand in it. "Surely, sir, it had some note of tragedy, "said I. 

"Why, no, sir, not at all, " returned the lawyer. "For tragedy impliessome ponderable matter in dispute, some dignus vindice nodus; and thispiece of work was all about the petulance of a young ass that had beenspoiled, and wanted nothing so much as to be tied up and soundly belted. However, that was not your father's view; and the end of it was, thatfrom concession to concession on your father's part, and from one heightto another of squalling, sentimental selfishness upon your uncle's, theycame at last to drive a sort of bargain, from whose ill results you haverecently been smarting. The one man took the lady, the other the estate. Now, Mr. David, they talk a great deal of charity and generosity; but inthis disputable state of life, I often think the happiest consequencesseem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer, and takes all the lawallows him. Anyhow, this piece of Quixotry on your father's part, asit was unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family ofinjustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk; you werepoorly reared; and in the meanwhile, what a time it has been for thetenants on the estate of Shaws! And I might add (if it was a matter Icared much about) what a time for Mr. Ebenezer!"

"And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all, " said I, "that aman's nature should thus change. "

"True, " said Mr. Rankeillor. "And yet I imagine it was natural enough. He could not think that he had played a handsome part. Those who knewthe story gave him the cold shoulder; those who knew it not, seeing onebrother disappear, and the other succeed in the estate, raised a cry ofmurder; so that upon all sides he found himself evited. Money was allhe got by his bargain; well, he came to think the more of money. He wasselfish when he was young, he is selfish now that he is old; and thelatter end of all these pretty manners and fine feelings you have seenfor yourself. "

"Well, sir, " said I, "and in all this, what is my position?"

"The estate is yours beyond a doubt, " replied the lawyer. "It mattersnothing what your father signed, you are the heir of entail. But youruncle is a man to fight the indefensible; and it would be likely youridentity that he would call in question. A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family lawsuit always scandalous; besides which, if any of yourdoings with your friend Mr. Thomson were to come out, we might find thatwe had burned our fingers. The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a courtcard upon our side, if we could only prove it. But it may be difficultto prove; and my advice (upon the whole) is to make a very easy bargainwith your uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaws where he hastaken root for a quarter of a century, and contenting yourself in themeanwhile with a fair provision. "

I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry familyconcerns before the public was a step from which I was naturally muchaverse. In the meantime (thinking to myself) I began to see the outlinesof that scheme on which we afterwards acted. 

"The great affair, " I asked, "is to bring home to him the kidnapping?"

"Surely, " said Mr. Rankeillor, "and if possible, out of court. For markyou here, Mr. David: we could no doubt find some men of the Covenant whowould swear to your reclusion; but once they were in the box, we couldno longer check their testimony, and some word of your friend Mr. Thomson must certainly crop out. Which (from what you have let fall) Icannot think to be desirable. "

"Well, sir, " said I, "here is my way of it. " And I opened my plot tohim. 

"But this would seem to involve my meeting the man Thomson?" says he, when I had done. 

"I think so, indeed, sir, " said I. 

"Dear doctor!" cries he, rubbing his brow. "Dear doctor! No, Mr. David, I am afraid your scheme is inadmissible. I say nothing against yourfriend, Mr. Thomson: I know nothing against him; and if I did--markthis, Mr. David!--it would be my duty to lay hands on him. Now I put itto you: is it wise to meet? He may have matters to his charge. He maynot have told you all. His name may not be even Thomson!" cries thelawyer, twinkling; "for some of these fellows will pick up names by theroadside as another would gather haws. "

"You must be the judge, sir, " said I. 

But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy, for he keptmusing to himself till we were called to dinner and the company of Mrs. Rankeillor; and that lady had scarce left us again to ourselves and abottle of wine, ere he was back harping on my proposal. When and wherewas I to meet my friend Mr. Thomson; was I sure of Mr. T. 's discretion;supposing we could catch the old fox tripping, would I consent to suchand such a term of an agreement--these and the like questions he keptasking at long intervals, while he thoughtfully rolled his wine upon histongue. When I had answered all of them, seemingly to his contentment, he fell into a still deeper muse, even the claret being now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil, and set to work writing andweighing every word; and at last touched a bell and had his clerk intothe chamber. 

"Torrance, " said he, "I must have this written out fair againstto-night; and when it is done, you will be so kind as put on your hatand be ready to come along with this gentleman and me, for you willprobably be wanted as a witness. "

"What, sir, " cried I, as soon as the clerk was gone, "are you to ventureit?"

"Why, so it would appear, " says he, filling his glass. "But let us speakno more of business. The very sight of Torrance brings in my head alittle droll matter of some years ago, when I had made a tryst with thepoor oaf at the cross of Edinburgh. Each had gone his proper errand; andwhen it came four o'clock, Torrance had been taking a glass and didnot know his master, and I, who had forgot my spectacles, was so blindwithout them, that I give you my word I did not know my own clerk. " Andthereupon he laughed heartily. 

I said it was an odd chance, and smiled out of politeness; but what heldme all the afternoon in wonder, he kept returning and dwelling on thisstory, and telling it again with fresh details and laughter; so that Ibegan at last to be quite put out of countenance and feel ashamed for myfriend's folly. 

Towards the time I had appointed with Alan, we set out from the house, Mr. Rankeillor and I arm in arm, and Torrance following behind with thedeed in his pocket and a covered basket in his hand. All through thetown, the lawyer was bowing right and left, and continually beingbutton-holed by gentlemen on matters of burgh or private business; and Icould see he was one greatly looked up to in the county. At last we wereclear of the houses, and began to go along the side of the haven andtowards the Hawes Inn and the Ferry pier, the scene of my misfortune. Icould not look upon the place without emotion, recalling how many thathad been there with me that day were now no more: Ransome taken, I couldhope, from the evil to come; Shuan passed where I dared not follow him;and the poor souls that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge. All these, and the brig herself, I had outlived; and come through thesehardships and fearful perils without scath. My only thought should havebeen of gratitude; and yet I could not behold the place without sorrowfor others and a chill of recollected fear. 

I was so thinking when, upon a sudden, Mr. Rankeillor cried out, clappedhis hand to his pockets, and began to laugh. 

"Why, " he cries, "if this be not a farcical adventure! After all that Isaid, I have forgot my glasses!"

At that, of course, I understood the purpose of his anecdote, and knewthat if he had left his spectacles at home, it had been done on purpose, so that he might have the benefit of Alan's help without the awkwardnessof recognising him. And indeed it was well thought upon; for now(suppose things to go the very worst) how could Rankeillor swear tomy friend's identity, or how be made to bear damaging evidence againstmyself? For all that, he had been a long while of finding out his want, and had spoken to and recognised a good few persons as we came throughthe town; and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well. 

As soon as we were past the Hawes (where I recognised the landlordsmoking his pipe in the door, and was amazed to see him look no older)Mr. Rankeillor changed the order of march, walking behind with Torranceand sending me forward in the manner of a scout. I went up the hill, whistling from time to time my Gaelic air; and at length I had thepleasure to hear it answered and to see Alan rise from behind a bush. Hewas somewhat dashed in spirits, having passed a long day alone skulkingin the county, and made but a poor meal in an alehouse near Dundas. Butat the mere sight of my clothes, he began to brighten up; and as soon asI had told him in what a forward state our matters were and the part Ilooked to him to play in what remained, he sprang into a new man. 

"And that is a very good notion of yours, " says he; "and I dare to saythat you could lay your hands upon no better man to put it through thanAlan Breck. It is not a thing (mark ye) that any one could do, but takesa gentleman of penetration. But it sticks in my head your lawyer-manwill be somewhat wearying to see me, " says Alan. 

Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr. Rankeillor, who came up alone andwas presented to my friend, Mr. Thomson. 

"Mr. Thomson, I am pleased to meet you, " said he. "But I have forgottenmy glasses; and our friend, Mr. David here" (clapping me on theshoulder), "will tell you that I am little better than blind, and thatyou must not be surprised if I pass you by to-morrow. "

This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but the Highlandman'svanity was ready to startle at a less matter than that. 

"Why, sir, " says he, stiffly, "I would say it mattered the less as weare met here for a particular end, to see justice done to Mr. Balfour;and by what I can see, not very likely to have much else in common. ButI accept your apology, which was a very proper one to make. "

"And that is more than I could look for, Mr. Thomson, " said Rankeillor, heartily. "And now as you and I are the chief actors in this enterprise, I think we should come into a nice agreement; to which end, I proposethat you should lend me your arm, for (what with the dusk and the wantof my glasses) I am not very clear as to the path; and as for you, Mr. David, you will find Torrance a pleasant kind of body to speak with. Only let me remind you, it's quite needless he should hear more of youradventures or those of--ahem--Mr. Thomson. "

Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk, and Torrance andI brought up the rear. 

Night was quite come when we came in view of the house of Shaws. Tenhad been gone some time; it was dark and mild, with a pleasant, rustlingwind in the south-west that covered the sound of our approach; and as wedrew near we saw no glimmer of light in any portion of the building. Itseemed my uncle was already in bed, which was indeed the best thing forour arrangements. We made our last whispered consultations some fiftyyards away; and then the lawyer and Torrance and I crept quietly up andcrouched down beside the corner of the house; and as soon as we werein our places, Alan strode to the door without concealment and began toknock. 

CHAPTER XXIX

I COME INTO MY KINGDOM

For some time Alan volleyed upon the door, and his knocking only rousedthe echoes of the house and neighbourhood. At last, however, I couldhear the noise of a window gently thrust up, and knew that my unclehad come to his observatory. By what light there was, he would see Alanstanding, like a dark shadow, on the steps; the three witnesses werehidden quite out of his view; so that there was nothing to alarm anhonest man in his own house. For all that, he studied his visitor awhilein silence, and when he spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving. 

"What's this?" says he. "This is nae kind of time of night for decentfolk; and I hae nae trokings* wi' night-hawks. What brings ye here? Ihave a blunderbush. "

 * Dealings. 

"Is that yoursel', Mr. Balfour?" returned Alan, stepping back andlooking up into the darkness. "Have a care of that blunderbuss; they'renasty things to burst. "

"What brings ye here? and whae are ye?" says my uncle, angrily. 

"I have no manner of inclination to rowt out my name to thecountry-side, " said Alan; "but what brings me here is another story, being more of your affair than mine; and if ye're sure it's what yewould like, I'll set it to a tune and sing it to you. "

"And what is't?" asked my uncle. 

"David, " says Alan. 

"What was that?" cried my uncle, in a mighty changed voice. 

"Shall I give ye the rest of the name, then?" said Alan. 

There was a pause; and then, "I'm thinking I'll better let ye in, " saysmy uncle, doubtfully. 

"I dare say that, " said Alan; "but the point is, Would I go? Now I willtell you what I am thinking. I am thinking that it is here upon thisdoorstep that we must confer upon this business; and it shall be here ornowhere at all whatever; for I would have you to understand that I am asstiffnecked as yoursel', and a gentleman of better family. "

This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer; he was a little whiledigesting it, and then says he, "Weel, weel, what must be must, " andshut the window. But it took him a long time to get down-stairs, and astill longer to undo the fastenings, repenting (I dare say) and takenwith fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar. Atlast, however, we heard the creak of the hinges, and it seems my uncleslipped gingerly out and (seeing that Alan had stepped back a pace ortwo) sate him down on the top doorstep with the blunderbuss ready in hishands. 

"And, now" says he, "mind I have my blunderbush, and if ye take a stepnearer ye're as good as deid. "

"And a very civil speech, " says Alan, "to be sure. "

"Na, " says my uncle, "but this is no a very chanty kind of a proceeding, and I'm bound to be prepared. And now that we understand each other, ye'll can name your business. "

"Why, " says Alan, "you that are a man of so much understanding, willdoubtless have perceived that I am a Hieland gentleman. My name has naebusiness in my story; but the county of my friends is no very far fromthe Isle of Mull, of which ye will have heard. It seems there was aship lost in those parts; and the next day a gentleman of my family wasseeking wreck-wood for his fire along the sands, when he came upon a ladthat was half drowned. Well, he brought him to; and he and some othergentleman took and clapped him in an auld, ruined castle, where fromthat day to this he has been a great expense to my friends. My friendsare a wee wild-like, and not so particular about the law as some thatI could name; and finding that the lad owned some decent folk, and wasyour born nephew, Mr. Balfour, they asked me to give ye a bit call andconfer upon the matter. And I may tell ye at the off-go, unless we canagree upon some terms, ye are little likely to set eyes upon him. For myfriends, " added Alan, simply, "are no very well off. "

My uncle cleared his throat. "I'm no very caring, " says he. "He wasnae agood lad at the best of it, and I've nae call to interfere. "

"Ay, ay, " said Alan, "I see what ye would be at: pretending ye don'tcare, to make the ransom smaller. "

"Na, " said my uncle, "it's the mere truth. I take nae manner of interestin the lad, and I'll pay nae ransome, and ye can make a kirk and a millof him for what I care. "

"Hoot, sir, " says Alan. "Blood's thicker than water, in the deil's name!Ye cannae desert your brother's son for the fair shame of it; and ifye did, and it came to be kennt, ye wouldnae be very popular in yourcountry-side, or I'm the more deceived. "

"I'm no just very popular the way it is, " returned Ebenezer; "and Idinnae see how it would come to be kennt. No by me, onyway; nor yet byyou or your friends. So that's idle talk, my buckie, " says he. 

"Then it'll have to be David that tells it, " said Alan. 

"How that?" says my uncle, sharply. 

"Ou, just this, way" says Alan. "My friends would doubtless keep yournephew as long as there was any likelihood of siller to be made of it, but if there was nane, I am clearly of opinion they would let him gangwhere he pleased, and be damned to him!"

"Ay, but I'm no very caring about that either, " said my uncle. "Iwouldnae be muckle made up with that. "

"I was thinking that, " said Alan. 

"And what for why?" asked Ebenezer. 

"Why, Mr. Balfour, " replied Alan, "by all that I could hear, there weretwo ways of it: either ye liked David and would pay to get him back; orelse ye had very good reasons for not wanting him, and would pay for usto keep him. It seems it's not the first; well then, it's the second;and blythe am I to ken it, for it should be a pretty penny in my pocketand the pockets of my friends. "

"I dinnae follow ye there, " said my uncle. 

"No?" said Alan. "Well, see here: you dinnae want the lad back; well, what do ye want done with him, and how much will ye pay?"

My uncle made no answer, but shifted uneasily on his seat. 

"Come, sir, " cried Alan. "I would have you to ken that I am a gentleman;I bear a king's name; I am nae rider to kick my shanks at your halldoor. Either give me an answer in civility, and that out of hand; or bythe top of Glencoe, I will ram three feet of iron through your vitals. "

"Eh, man, " cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet, "give me a meenit!What's like wrong with ye? I'm just a plain man and nae dancing master;and I'm tryin to be as ceevil as it's morally possible. As for that wildtalk, it's fair disrepitable. Vitals, says you! And where would I bewith my blunderbush?" he snarled. 

"Powder and your auld hands are but as the snail to the swallow againstthe bright steel in the hands of Alan, " said the other. "Before yourjottering finger could find the trigger, the hilt would dirl on yourbreast-bane. "

"Eh, man, whae's denying it?" said my uncle. "Pit it as ye please, hae'tyour ain way; I'll do naething to cross ye. Just tell me what like ye'llbe wanting, and ye'll see that we'll can agree fine. "

"Troth, sir, " said Alan, "I ask for nothing but plain dealing. In twowords: do ye want the lad killed or kept?"

"O, sirs!" cried Ebenezer. "O, sirs, me! that's no kind of language!"

"Killed or kept!" repeated Alan. 

"O, keepit, keepit!" wailed my uncle. "We'll have nae bloodshed, if youplease. "

"Well, " says Alan, "as ye please; that'll be the dearer. "

"The dearer?" cries Ebenezer. "Would ye fyle your hands wi' crime?"

"Hoot!" said Alan, "they're baith crime, whatever! And the killing'seasier, and quicker, and surer. Keeping the lad'll be a fashious* job, afashious, kittle business. "

 * Troublesome. 

"I'll have him keepit, though, " returned my uncle. "I never had naethingto do with onything morally wrong; and I'm no gaun to begin to pleasurea wild Hielandman. "

"Ye're unco scrupulous, " sneered Alan. 

"I'm a man o' principle, " said Ebenezer, simply; "and if I have to payfor it, I'll have to pay for it. And besides, " says he, "ye forget thelad's my brother's son. "

"Well, well, " said Alan, "and now about the price. It's no very easy forme to set a name upon it; I would first have to ken some small matters. I would have to ken, for instance, what ye gave Hoseason at the firstoff-go?"

"Hoseason!" cries my uncle, struck aback. "What for?"

"For kidnapping David, " says Alan. 

"It's a lee, it's a black lee!" cried my uncle. "He was never kidnapped. He leed in his throat that tauld ye that. Kidnapped? He never was!"

"That's no fault of mine nor yet of yours, " said Alan; "nor yet ofHoseason's, if he's a man that can be trusted. "

"What do ye mean?" cried Ebenezer. "Did Hoseason tell ye?"

"Why, ye donnered auld runt, how else would I ken?" cried Alan. "Hoseason and me are partners; we gang shares; so ye can see foryoursel' what good ye can do leeing. And I must plainly say ye drove afool's bargain when ye let a man like the sailor-man so far forward inyour private matters. But that's past praying for; and ye must lie onyour bed the way ye made it. And the point in hand is just this: whatdid ye pay him?"

"Has he tauld ye himsel'?" asked my uncle. 

"That's my concern, " said Alan. 

"Weel, " said my uncle, "I dinnae care what he said, he leed, and thesolemn God's truth is this, that I gave him twenty pound. But I'll beperfec'ly honest with ye: forby that, he was to have the selling of thelad in Caroliny, whilk would be as muckle mair, but no from my pocket, ye see. "

"Thank you, Mr. Thomson. That will do excellently well, " said thelawyer, stepping forward; and then mighty civilly, "Good-evening, Mr. Balfour, " said he. 

And, "Good-evening, Uncle Ebenezer, " said I. 

And, "It's a braw nicht, Mr. Balfour" added Torrance. 

Never a word said my uncle, neither black nor white; but just sat wherehe was on the top door-step and stared upon us like a man turned tostone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss; and the lawyer, taking himby the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, led him into the kitchen, whither we all followed, and set him down in a chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out and only a rush-light burning. 

There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly in oursuccess, but yet with a sort of pity for the man's shame. 

"Come, come, Mr. Ebenezer, " said the lawyer, "you must not bedown-hearted, for I promise you we shall make easy terms. In themeanwhile give us the cellar key, and Torrance shall draw us a bottleof your father's wine in honour of the event. " Then, turning to me andtaking me by the hand, "Mr. David, " says he, "I wish you all joy in yourgood fortune, which I believe to be deserved. " And then to Alan, witha spice of drollery, "Mr. Thomson, I pay you my compliment; it wasmost artfully conducted; but in one point you somewhat outran mycomprehension. Do I understand your name to be James? or Charles? or isit George, perhaps?"

"And why should it be any of the three, sir?" quoth Alan, drawinghimself up, like one who smelt an offence. 

"Only, sir, that you mentioned a king's name, " replied Rankeillor; "andas there has never yet been a King Thomson, or his fame at least hasnever come my way, I judged you must refer to that you had in baptism. "

This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest, and I am free toconfess he took it very ill. Not a word would he answer, but stepped offto the far end of the kitchen, and sat down and sulked; and it was nottill I stepped after him, and gave him my hand, and thanked him by titleas the chief spring of my success, that he began to smile a bit, and wasat last prevailed upon to join our party. 

By that time we had the fire lighted, and a bottle of wine uncorked; agood supper came out of the basket, to which Torrance and I and Alanset ourselves down; while the lawyer and my uncle passed into the nextchamber to consult. They stayed there closeted about an hour; at the endof which period they had come to a good understanding, and my uncle andI set our hands to the agreement in a formal manner. By the termsof this, my uncle bound himself to satisfy Rankeillor as to hisintromissions, and to pay me two clear thirds of the yearly income ofShaws. 

So the beggar in the ballad had come home; and when I lay down thatnight on the kitchen chests, I was a man of means and had a name in thecountry. Alan and Torrance and Rankeillor slept and snored on their hardbeds; but for me who had lain out under heaven and upon dirt and stones, so many days and nights, and often with an empty belly, and in fearof death, this good change in my case unmanned me more than any of theformer evil ones; and I lay till dawn, looking at the fire on the roofand planning the future. 

CHAPTER XXX

GOOD-BYE

So far as I was concerned myself, I had come to port; but I had stillAlan, to whom I was so much beholden, on my hands; and I felt besides aheavy charge in the matter of the murder and James of the Glens. On boththese heads I unbosomed to Rankeillor the next morning, walking to andfro about six of the clock before the house of Shaws, and with nothingin view but the fields and woods that had been my ancestors' and werenow mine. Even as I spoke on these grave subjects, my eye would take aglad bit of a run over the prospect, and my heart jump with pride. 

About my clear duty to my friend, the lawyer had no doubt. I must helphim out of the county at whatever risk; but in the case of James, he wasof a different mind. 

"Mr. Thomson, " says he, "is one thing, Mr. Thomson's kinsman quiteanother. I know little of the facts, but I gather that a great noble(whom we will call, if you like, the D. Of A. )* has some concern andis even supposed to feel some animosity in the matter. The D. Of A. Isdoubtless an excellent nobleman; but, Mr. David, timeo qui nocuere deos. If you interfere to balk his vengeance, you should remember there isone way to shut your testimony out; and that is to put you in the dock. There, you would be in the same pickle as Mr. Thomson's kinsman. Youwill object that you are innocent; well, but so is he. And to be triedfor your life before a Highland jury, on a Highland quarrel and witha Highland Judge upon the bench, would be a brief transition to thegallows. "

 * The Duke of Argyle. 

Now I had made all these reasonings before and found no very good replyto them; so I put on all the simplicity I could. "In that case, sir, "said I, "I would just have to be hanged--would I not?"

"My dear boy, " cries he, "go in God's name, and do what you think isright. It is a poor thought that at my time of life I should be advisingyou to choose the safe and shameful; and I take it back with an apology. Go and do your duty; and be hanged, if you must, like a gentleman. Thereare worse things in the world than to be hanged. "

"Not many, sir, " said I, smiling. 

"Why, yes, sir, " he cried, "very many. And it would be ten times betterfor your uncle (to go no farther afield) if he were dangling decentlyupon a gibbet. "

Thereupon he turned into the house (still in a great fervour of mind, so that I saw I had pleased him heartily) and there he wrote me twoletters, making his comments on them as he wrote. 

"This, " says he, "is to my bankers, the British Linen Company, placing acredit to your name. Consult Mr. Thomson, he will know of ways; andyou, with this credit, can supply the means. I trust you will be a goodhusband of your money; but in the affair of a friend like Mr. Thompson, I would be even prodigal. Then for his kinsman, there is no better waythan that you should seek the Advocate, tell him your tale, and offertestimony; whether he may take it or not, is quite another matter, andwill turn on the D. Of A. Now, that you may reach the Lord Advocate wellrecommended, I give you here a letter to a namesake of your own, thelearned Mr. Balfour of Pilrig, a man whom I esteem. It will look betterthat you should be presented by one of your own name; and the laird ofPilrig is much looked up to in the Faculty and stands well with LordAdvocate Grant. I would not trouble him, if I were you, with anyparticulars; and (do you know?) I think it would be needless to refer toMr. Thomson. Form yourself upon the laird, he is a good model; when youdeal with the Advocate, be discreet; and in all these matters, may theLord guide you, Mr. David!"

Thereupon he took his farewell, and set out with Torrance for the Ferry, while Alan and I turned our faces for the city of Edinburgh. As we wentby the footpath and beside the gateposts and the unfinished lodge, wekept looking back at the house of my fathers. It stood there, bare andgreat and smokeless, like a place not lived in; only in one of the topwindows, there was the peak of a nightcap bobbing up and down and backand forward, like the head of a rabbit from a burrow. I had littlewelcome when I came, and less kindness while I stayed; but at least Iwas watched as I went away. 

Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way, having little heart eitherto walk or speak. The same thought was uppermost in both, that we werenear the time of our parting; and remembrance of all the bygone dayssate upon us sorely. We talked indeed of what should be done; and itwas resolved that Alan should keep to the county, biding now here, nowthere, but coming once in the day to a particular place where I might beable to communicate with him, either in my own person or by messenger. In the meanwhile, I was to seek out a lawyer, who was an Appin Stewart, and a man therefore to be wholly trusted; and it should be his part tofind a ship and to arrange for Alan's safe embarkation. No sooner wasthis business done, than the words seemed to leave us; and though Iwould seek to jest with Alan under the name of Mr. Thomson, and he withme on my new clothes and my estate, you could feel very well that wewere nearer tears than laughter. 

We came the by-way over the hill of Corstorphine; and when we gotnear to the place called Rest-and-be-Thankful, and looked down onCorstorphine bogs and over to the city and the castle on the hill, weboth stopped, for we both knew without a word said that we had come towhere our ways parted. Here he repeated to me once again what had beenagreed upon between us: the address of the lawyer, the daily hour atwhich Alan might be found, and the signals that were to be made by anythat came seeking him. Then I gave what money I had (a guinea or two ofRankeillor's) so that he should not starve in the meanwhile; and then westood a space, and looked over at Edinburgh in silence. 

"Well, good-bye, " said Alan, and held out his left hand. 

"Good-bye, " said I, and gave the hand a little grasp, and went off downhill. 

Neither one of us looked the other in the face, nor so long as he was inmy view did I take one back glance at the friend I was leaving. But asI went on my way to the city, I felt so lost and lonesome, that I couldhave found it in my heart to sit down by the dyke, and cry and weep likeany baby. 

It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West Kirk and theGrassmarket into the streets of the capital. The huge height of thebuildings, running up to ten and fifteen storeys, the narrow archedentries that continually vomited passengers, the wares of the merchantsin their windows, the hubbub and endless stir, the foul smells and thefine clothes, and a hundred other particulars too small to mention, struck me into a kind of stupor of surprise, so that I let the crowdcarry me to and fro; and yet all the time what I was thinking of wasAlan at Rest-and-be-Thankful; and all the time (although you would thinkI would not choose but be delighted with these braws and novelties)there was a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse for somethingwrong. 

The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the very doors ofthe British Linen Company's bank.