"_AND ALL BUT HE DEPARTED_"
The little inn seemed to have no guests except the traveller from beyond
the sea. But no such tavern is ever long deserted, for the Scotch
nature, while it may be dry, is ever loyal. Michael Blake had read but a
line or two of the _Edinburgh Scotsman_, ten days of age, when a man
walked solemnly in and sat down beside him. His face, his breath, and
especially his nose, bore eloquent testimony to the aforesaid loyalty of
his nature. He bade Mr. Blake a cheerful good-morning, glancing at the
same time towards the counter beneath which the liquid necessities were
stored.
"It's a fine mornin'," he began.
"A beautiful day," assented Mr. Blake.
"Ye'll no' live aboot these pairts?" inquired the other.
"No, I live far from here."
"Ye'll mebbe be frae Ameriky?" ventured his interrogator, closing in
upon him.
"Yes, I live in Canada," was the response.
"Canady," said the man. "We're gey prood o' Canady the noo. I ken't a
man once wha went to Canady. I had a drink wi' him afore he went," he
continued, his eye lighting with the dewy memory, "ye'll likely ken him?
Oliver was his name, Wattie Oliver, a bow-leggit wee body."
"I cannot say I ever met with him," replied Mr. Blake. "Canada is larger
than you think over here."
"Mebbe so," said the friendly stranger, "mair nor likely he's deid noo;
one o' thae red Indians micht hae killed him, like eneuch."
"Yes, or perhaps a bear," Mr. Blake replied gravely.
There was a pause. A bell was ringing, its notes floating in clear and
sweet upon them.
"What bell is that?" inquired Mr. Blake.
"That's oor bell i' the parish kirk; there's no ither ane."
"What is it ringing for? To-day is Thursday," asked Mr. Blake.
"Aye," responded the other, "this is the fast day. Sabbath's the
sacrament, ye ken, and they're maist awfu' strict aboot the fast day.
They wadna work that day, nae mair than on the Sabbath. They willna even
whustle. Ae mornin' I met Davie Drewry, an' 'twas the fast day. Noo, of
course, it was juist an or'nary day in Dr. Cameron's parish across the
burn--the burn divides the twa, ye ken. Weel, Davie was a lad for
whustlin'--he cudna leeve withoot whustlin'--but he was gey religious
too. Weel, I met Davie that mornin', walkin' awfu' fast, maist
rinnin'--an' his face was red.
"'Whaur micht ye be gaun, Davie?' says I, 'naebody ailin'?'
"'Na, na,' says Davie, 'but it's the fast day, an' I canna stand it ony
longer. I'm gaun ower the burn to hae a whustle.' Wasna that fair
redeek'lus!"
"Quite ingenious," answered Mr. Blake. "You go to that church, I
suppose?"
"Na, I dinna. I quit it when they brocht the kist o' whustles intill't.
I wadna stand it. There's nae real Presbyterians there, forbye me an'
Jock Campbell--an' I'm sair feart aboot Jock. I doot he's weakenin'.
They tell me he speaks to the minister on the street, an' if that's
true, there's no' muckle o' the auld religion aboot Jock, I'm fearin'."
"Do you not speak to the minister?"
"Na, I dinna. There's naething o' the hypocrite aboot me, I'm tellin'
ye. I settled the minister fine the last word I spoke to him. He came to
see me; an' he thocht he could wheedle me aboot the organ i' the hoose
o' God.
"'Div ye no' ken,' he says to me, 'aboot Dauvit, the sweet singer o'
Israel--how he played a' kinds o' instruments i' the Lord's hoose?' He
thocht he had me. But I gied him as guid as he brocht. What think ye I
answered him?"
"I really have no idea," said Mr. Blake. "What was it?"
"'Div ye think,' says I, lookin' fair at him, 'div ye think I tak Dauvit
for a paittern?'--and it did for him. 'I'll hae to be gaein',' says he,
'I hae a funeral.' 'Aye,' says I, 'ye'd better hae a funeral'--an' we
haena spoken to ane anither since."
"That's a pity," said Mr. Blake, "it seems too bad that the soul's
interests should suffer because of a matter of that kind. Of course," he
continued, "I don't say that a man may not be religious because he
doesn't go to church. Men may scorn the bridge and still get across the
river, but they would have got along better by the bridge."
"I dinna ken aboot the brig," said the other, "that isna to the
point,"--for he was not of a metaphorical turn of mind--"but I've nae
doot aboot bein' religious. A man in my walk o' life, in my business, ye
ken, canna weel help bein' religious. He's the same as the Apostle
Paul."
"What?" said Mr. Blake, "are you a tent-maker?"
"Na, na, certainly not; there's nane o' them nowadays. A man in my
callin' doesna _do_ the same as Paul, but he can _say_ the same, ye see.
I can say wi' Paul: 'Death to me is great gain'--I'm an undertaker, ye
ken."
"An undertaker," exclaimed his listener, unconsciously pushing back his
chair, shocked at the gruesome humour. Besides, the man was looking at
him with something like a professional eye, as if making an estimate of
time, and space.
"Aye," responded he of the apostolic claim, "I'm an undertaker--but
times is dull. I was an undertaker ten year in Lockerby, but I left
there lang syne. I had ae fine customer, the bailie; he had eleven o' a
family. But I lost his trade. The bailie was sick--an' my laddie, wee
Sandy, was aye plaguin' me for a sled. I tell't him I'd get him ane when
I had mair siller. Weel, wee Sandy was aye rinnin' ower to the hoose an'
askin' aboot the bailie. 'Twas nat'ral eneuch; the laddie meant nae
harm, but he wanted his sled afore the snaw was gone. Ony way, they tuk
offense."
"Did he get his sled?" asked Mr. Blake mechanically, staring at the man.
"Na, poor wee Sandy never got his sled. I had juist ae ither customer ye
micht ca' guid. He was deein' o' consumption, an' I took guid care o'
Sandy's sympathy. There was no askin' aboot him, mind ye. But there was
a mean man i' the business, wha was never meant to be an undertaker. His
name was Creighton, Tom Creighton, an' what dae ye think Tom did, to get
his trade?"
"I don't know," said Mr. Blake, rising to depart.
"Weel, I'll tell ye. Twa days afore he died, Tom Creighton tuk him oot
for a drive--he was awfu' fair to his face an' he got around him; tell't
him at the gate that he hoped to gie him anither drive later on. Of
course, he got his trade--he had to gie him his trade after that. But I
wadna stoop to sic like tricks for nae man's trade. So I left Lockerby
an' came here--I'm the only yin here."
Mr. Blake was glad to escape his garrulous acquaintance, and had heard
enough of his sombre annals. He walked out, and wandered far--o'er moor
and fen, o'er hill and valley, by many an unforgotten path, he
wandered--past his boyhood's school, where he heard again the laughing
shout that seemed scarcely to have died away from lips now silent long.
He loitered again by the babbling stream which had been the
fishing-ground of boyhood, and lay once more on mossy beds, and bathed
his face in the same friendly tide. He gazed far up into the leafy trees
and saw the very nooks where boyhood's form had rested; again he saw the
sun gleam on the happy heads of those who gambolled far beneath.
He drank his fill of the long yesterday, thirsty still. No familiar
face, no voice of long ago, had he seen or heard; and he tasted that
unreasoning pain which comes to the man who knows, and is wounded by
the truth, that his native heath is reconciled to his exile, careless
of his loneliness, indifferent to bid it cease.
When he returned to the hospitable inn, he was as one seeking rest, and
finding none. He sat, reflective, while memory bathed the soul of love
with tears. Presently the sound of voices floated out from an adjoining
room. He listened eagerly, for one was evidently the voice of a returned
wanderer like himself. The other was that of a man who had never
wandered from his native spot. The home-keeper's tongue had still its
mother-Scotch, but his companion had been cured.
"I know I shouldn't do it, Gavin," he heard the latter say, "I'm really
a teetotaler in Australia. Used to take a drop or two before I
emigrated; but I'm an elder now, and I haven't tasted for years. However
this is a special occasion."
Mr. Blake moved his chair to where he could catch a glimpse of the men.
They were advanced in years, both about sixty-five, and their heads were
gray. Their dress betokened plainness of nature, though that of the
Australian might indicate prosperity. Both would seem uncultured, except
in heart.
"A speecial occasion!" cried the one addressed as Gavin, "a speecial
occasion! I should say it is--verra speecial! It's twa an' forty years
sin we claspit ane anither's hand--man, Andra, friendship's sweet, an'
God's guid! It wad be fair sinfu' no' ta tak a drop at sic a time as
this. The minister himsel' wad taste, gin an auld schulemate came back
after forty year. Sae wad the Apostle Paul--the stomach's sake was
naethin' compared wi' this. What'll ye hae, Andra?"
"Let this be mine, Gavin," answered Andrew, reaching for his pocketbook.
When it appeared, it was fat and full, and Gavin stole a wistful glance;
for, in Scotland, colonial pocketbooks are proverbially plump. "What
shall it be?" he added.
"Whatever ye say, Andra," answered Gavin. He glanced again at the
disappearing purse and heaved a little sigh. Patriotism is not good for
pocketbooks, thought Gavin.
"Well," said his old schoolmate, holding a sovereign between his thumb
and finger as fondly as though he had lived in Scotland all his life;
"well," said he, "I say champagne--here, waiter!"
But Gavin interrupted: "Na, na, Andra, dinna get champagne. I took it
ance when the young Duke came o' age, an' I cudna hae tell't I had
onything, half an hour later. I dinna care for ony o' thae _aeryated_
waters. Forbye, it's awfu' dear, an' we can hae far mair o' the ither,"
he concluded, smiling tenderly at Andrew.
"The other" was produced; and it justified the trust reposed in it. Well
it knew its duty, and well it played its part; for it burnished memory
bright, stirred emotion from its hiding place, and even led tears out by
long deserted paths.
The lonely man in the outer room watched, and envied, and secretly
absolved his brother elder--the latter was giving abundant proof of his
freedom from all narrow bigotry. Like himself, his old prowess had come
back. He was confidential now:
"She wouldn't have me, Gavin. I told her I was rich, and that I loved
her ever since I left. But she wouldn't listen to me. Then I told her I
owned ten thousand sheep, and that I dreamed about her every night. But
it never moved her. I told her I had twenty thousand pounds in the bank,
and her picture next my heart besides--but she wouldn't. She said she
was promised to another. Did you ever hear of Janet Strachan caring for
any one else?"
"Na," said Gavin, absently, "she'll no' hae nocht to dae wi' onybody in
the way o' love--hae anither, Andra. Dinna droon the miller. Wad we no'
hae been fules to tak champagne? It wad hae been a' dune by noo."
Then Gavin stood erect, motioning to Andrew to do the same. Andrew rose;
one on each side of the little table they stood, a glass in the left
hand of each, for they were about to enact one of Scotland's great
scenes. Far scattered are her sons, but they have the homing heart, and
unforgetting cronies wait to welcome them.
Gavin's hand is outstretched and Andrew's goes forth to meet it. They
clasp, the same hands as fought and played together in the golden
boyhood days.
"Andra," said Gavin, "I'll repeat to you the twa best lines o' rhyme i'
the language: An' div ye ken hoo true they are?
"'We twa hae paidl't i' the burn
Frae mornin' sun till dine'
--mind ye that, we twa hae paidl't i' the burn--an' it's flowin' yet,
an' God's gey guid--here's to ye, Andra," and the men drank together,
the elder and the unordained, but the past was sacred to them both--and
childhood's tears came back to make that past complete.
About an hour later, Andrew and Gavin passed out through the adjoining
room. They came upon Mr. Blake, whereupon they immediately sat down,
neither being in the mood for walking far. Both greeted him with warmth,
and invited him to try for himself the process which they had undergone
in the adjoining room. Mr. Blake gratefully declined.
"Ye'll have travelled far?" said Gavin, avoiding the direct
interrogative.
"A long way, indeed," said Mr. Blake.
"Come from America, stranger?" said Andrew.
"Yes, from Canada."
"Shake, I'm a fellow colonial--I'm from Australia--delightful this, to
come back to the old homestead and meet a brother you never saw before."
"Maist wonderfu', is't no'?" interjected Gavin--then the
responsibilities of a host began to weigh upon him, and he urged Mr.
Blake to reconsider his decision about the process; but Mr. Blake was
firm.
"I ken't fine there was somebody frae Ameriky i' these pairts," said
Gavin. "Brownie Telfer tell't me there was a saxpence i' the plate last
Sabbath day. It'll be yir ain?"
"No, I'm afraid I cannot claim it," said Mr. Blake. "I only landed
yesterday."
"Ye'll be rinnin' aboot at a graun rate," said Gavin, trying a new vein;
"came ower a sicht seein', did ye?"
"No," said Mr. Blake, "not particularly."
"Took a little run over on business, I suppose?" amended the Australian.
"Yes," assented Mr. Blake.
"You said you were born in Scotland; have you any old friends still
about? Kind of lonely business if you haven't," continued Andrew.
"I really cannot say I have," said Mr. Blake, moving towards the door.
"I'm a fish out of its accustomed waters, even in its old
hunting-ground, if you will excuse mixed metaphors. Good-evening to you
both; I'm glad to have met with you."
"Good-evening to you," cried the men.
The Canadian was gone, but the two old cronies sat smoking; and the
twilight, that great gleaner of the past, crept about them, bringing
tender memories that mistrusted the garish day. In the very midst of
them, Gavin said:
"What did the cratur mean when he spoke aboot 'mixed metaphors'? I never
heard tell o' them before."
"I'm not very sure," answered Andrew, cautiously; "he must have meant
something."
"'Mixed metaphors,'" mused Gavin, "an' the body wadna tak onythin';
it'll be somethin' they tak in Ameriky--I'll ask Ronnie."
Now Ronnie was the bartender!