To say that our heroes, Ralph and Rory, were not a little impatient to
know something about the scheme McBain was to propose for the purpose of
giving them pleasure, would be equivalent to saying that they were not
boys, or that they had men's heads upon boys' shoulders. So I willingly
confess that it was the very first thing they thought about next
morning, immediately after they had drawn up the blinds, to peep out and
see what kind of a day it was going to be.
But this peeping out to ascertain the state of the weather was not so
easily accomplished, as it would have been in the south of England. For
fairy fingers seemed to have been at work during the night, and the
panes were covered with a frost-work of ferns and leaves, more
beautifully traced, more artistically finished, than the work of any
human designer that ever lived. The whole seemed floured over with
powdered snow. It was a pity, so thought Rory, to spoil the pattern on
even one of the panes, but it had to be done, so by breathing on it for
quite half a minute, a round, clear space was obtained; and gazing
through this he could see that it was a glorious morning, that the
clouds had all fled, that the sky was bluer than ever he had seen a sky
before, that the wind was hushed, and the sun shining brightly over
hills of dazzling white. The stems of the leafless trees looked like
pillars of frosted silver, while their branches were more lovely by far
than the coral that lies beneath the blue waves of the Indian Ocean.
"How different this is," said Rory, "from anything we ever see in
England! Ah! sure, it was a good idea our coming here in winter."
"I wonder where McBain is this morning?" said Ralph.
"And I know right well," said Rory, "what you're thinking about."
"Perhaps you do," Ralph replied.
"Ay, that I do," said Rory; "but don't be an old wife, Ralph--never
evince undue curiosity, never exhibit impatience. In other words, don't
be a squaw."
"Oho!" cried Ralph, "now I see where the land lies. `Don't be a squaw,'
eh? You've been reading Fenimore Cooper, you old rogue, you! The
centre of a great forest in the Far West of America--midnight--a council
of war--chiefs squatting around the camp fire--smoking the calumet--
enter Eagle-eye--scats himself in silence--everybody burning to hear
what he has to say, but no one dares ask for the world--ugh! and all
that sort of thing. Am I right, Rory?"
"Indeed you are," said the other, laughing; "you've bowled me out, I
confess. But, after all, you know, it will be just as well not to seem
impatient, and so I move that we never speak a word to McBain about what
he said last night until he is pleased to open the conversation."
"Right," said Ralph; "and now let us go down to breakfast."
Both Mrs McGregor and Allan's sister Helen were very different from
what Ralph and Rory had expected to find them. They had taken their
notions of Highland ladies from the novels of Walter Scott and other
literary worthies. Before they had come to Glentroom they had pictured
to themselves Mrs McGregor as a kind of Spartan mother--tall, stately,
dark, and proud, with a most exalted idea of her own importance, with an
inexorable hatred of all the Saxon race, and an inordinate love of
spinning. Her daughter, they had thought, must also be tall, and, if
beautiful, of a kind of majestic and stately beauty, repellent more than
attractive, and one more to be feared than loved. And they felt sure
that Mrs McGregor would be almost constantly bending over her
spinning-wheel, while Helen, if ever she condescended to bend over
anything, which they had deemed a matter of doubt, would be bending over
a very ancient piece of goods in the shape of a harp.
These were their imaginings prior to their arrival at the castle, but
these ideas were all wrong, and very delighted were the young men to
find them so. Here in Mrs McGregor was no stiff fastidious lady; she
was a very _woman_ and a very _mother_, loving her children tenderly,
and devoted to their interests, and rejoiced to hold out the hand of
welcome to her children's friends. On the sunny side of fifty, she was
slightly inclined to _embonpoint_, extremely pleasant both in voice and
manner as well as in face. Rory first, and Ralph soon afterwards, felt
as much at home in her presence and company as if they had known her all
their lives.
As to Helen Edith, I do not think that any one would have been able to
guess her nationality had they met her in society in town. She had been
educated principally abroad, and could speak both the Italian and French
languages, not only fluently, but, if I may be allowed the expression,
mellifluently, for she possessed perfection of accent as well as
exceeding sweetness of voice. She was rather small in stature, with
pretty and shapely hands, and a nice figure.
Was she beautiful? you may ask me. Well, had you asked her brother he
would have said, "Indeed, I never gave the matter a thought," but Rory
and Ralph would have told you that she _was_ beautiful, and they would
have added the words, "and sisterly." I do not know whether or not
Helen was a better or a worse musician than most young girls of her
age--she was just turned seventeen. She sang sweetly, though not
loudly; she never screamed, but sang with expression, as if she felt
what she sang; and she accompanied herself on the harp. But as for Mrs
McGregor's spinning-wheel, why, our young heroes cast their eyes about
in vain for it.
The portion of the castle now occupied by the McGregors was furnished in
a far more luxurious style than probably accorded with their fallen
fortunes, but everywhere there was evidence of refinement of taste. The
old hall and the picture gallery delighted Rory most; he could fit a
romance into every rusty coat of mail, and fix a poem to every spear and
helmet.
"What a grand thing," he said to Allan, "it is to have had ancestors!
Never one had I, that I know of--leastways, none of them ever troubled
themselves to sit for their portraits. More by token, perhaps, they
couldn't afford it."
If Ralph enjoyed himself at the castle--and I might say that he
undoubtedly did--he did not say a very great deal about it. To give
vocal expression to his pleasure was not much in Ralph's line, but it
was in Rory's, who, by the way, although nearly as old as his companion,
was far more of a boy.
The feelings of the young chief of the McGregors, while showing his
friends over the old castle, the ancient home of his fathers, were those
of sadness, mingled with a very little touch of pride. Every room had
its story, every chamber its tale--often one of sorrow; and these were
listened to by Ralph and Rory with rapt attention, although every now
and then some curious or quaint remark from the lips of the latter would
set the other two laughing, and often materially damage some relation of
events that bordered closely on the romantic.
"If ever I'm rich enough," said Allan, leading the way into the ancient
banqueting-hall, "I mean to re-roof and re-furnish the whole of the
older portion of the castle."
"But wherever has the roof gone to?" asked Rory, looking upwards at the
sky above them.
"Fire would explain that," replied Allan; "the whole of this wing of the
building was burned by Cumberland in '45--he who was surnamed the Bloody
Duke, you know."
"Were your people `out,' as you call it, in '45?" asked Ralph.
Allan nodded, and bit his lips; the memory of that terrible time was not
a pleasant one to this Highland chief.
The little turret chambers were a source of both interest and curiosity
to Allan's companions.
"Bedrooms and watch-towers, are they?" said Ralph, viewing them
critically. "Well, you catch a beautiful glimpse of the glen, and the
hills, and woods, and lake from that little narrow window, with its
solitary iron stanchion; but I say, Allan--bedrooms, eh? Aren't you
joking, old man? Fancy a great tall lanky fellow like me in a bedroom
this size; why, I'd have to double up like a jack-knife!"
"Oh! look, Ralph, at these dark, mysterious stains on the oaken floor,"
cried Rory--"blood, of course? Do you know, Allan, my boy, what
particular deed of darkness was committed in this turret chamber?"
"I do, precisely," replied Allan.
"Och! tell us, then--tell us!" said Rory.
"Ay, do," said Ralph. "I shall lean against the window here and look
out, for the view is delightful, but I'll be listening all the same."
"Well, then," said Allan, "I made this little room my study for a few
months last summer, and I spilt some ink there."
"Now, indeed, indeed," cried romantic Rory, "that is a shame to put us
off like that. Never mind, Ralph; _we_ know it is a blood-stain, and if
Allan won't tell us the story, then, we'll invent one. Sure, now," he
continued, "I'd like to sleep here."
"You'd catch your death of cold from the damp," said Allan.
Rory wheeled him right round to the light, and gazed at him funnily from
top to toe, and from toe to top.
"You're a greater curiosity than the fine old castle itself," said Rory;
"and I don't believe there is an ounce of romance in the whole big body
of you. Now, if the place was mine, there isn't a room--why, what is
that?"
"That's the gong," said Allan, "and it says plainly enough, `Get
r-r-r-r-ready for dinner.'"
"Well, but," persisted Rory, "just before we go down below show us the
corridor where the ghost walks at midnight, and the door through which
it disappears."
"A ghost!" said Allan; "indeed, I never knew there was one."
"Ah! but," Rory continued, "you never knew there _wasn't_. Well, then,
say _probably_ there is a ghost, because you know, old fellow, in an
ancient family like yours there must be a ghost. There must be some old
fogey or another who didn't think he was very well done by in this
world, and feels bound to come back and walk about at midnight, and all
that sort of thing. Pray, Allan, don't break the spell. You're welcome
to the stains if you please, but 'deed and indeed, I mean to stick to
the ghost."
The first few days of their stay in Glentroom were spent in what Allan
called "doing nothing," for unless he left the castle for the hill, the
river, or the lake, he did not consider he was doing anything. Within
the castle walls, however, Rory for one was not idle. There was, in his
opinion, a deal to be seen and a deal to be done: he had to make
acquaintance with every living thing about the place--ponies and dogs,
cattle and pigs, ducks, geese, fowl, and pigeons.
Old Janet averred that she had never seen such a boy in all her born
days--that he turned the castle upside down, and kept all the "beasties"
in an uproar; but at the same time she added that he was the prettiest
boy ever she'd seen, and "Heaven bless his bonnie face," which put her
in mind of her dear dead boy Donald, and she couldn't be angry with him,
for even when he was doing mischief he made her laugh.
The parish in which Glentroom lies is a very wide one indeed, and
contained at the time our tale opens many families of distinction.
Nearly all of these were on visiting terms with the McGregors, and many
a beautifully-fitted sledge used to drive over the drawbridge of
Arrandoon Castle during the winter months--wheels, of course, were out
of the question when the snow lay thick on the ground--so that life in
Allan's family, although it did not partake of the gaiety of the London
season, was by no means a dull one, and both Ralph and Rory thought the
evenings spent in the drawing-room were very enjoyable indeed. Ralph
was a good conversationalist and a good listener: he delighted in
hearing music, while Rory delighted to play, and, for his years, he was
a violinist of no mean order. He had never been known to go anywhere--
not even on the shortest of holiday tours--without the long black case
that contained his pet instrument.
Now, as none of "the resident gentry," as they were called, who visited
at the castle have anything at all to do with our story, I shall not
fatigue my readers by introducing them.
And why, it may be asked, should I trouble myself about describing life
at the castle at all? And where is the _Snowbird_?--for doubtless you
have guessed already that it is a ship of some kind. The _Snowbird_ ere
very long will sail majestically up that Highland lake before you, and
in her, along with our heroes, you and I, reader, will embark, and
together we will journey afar over the ocean wave, to regions hitherto
but little known to man. Our adventures there will be many, wild, and
varied, and some of them, too, so far from pleasant, that while exiled
in the frozen seas of the far North, our thoughts will oftentimes turn
fondly homewards, and we will think with a joy borrowed from the past of
the quiet and peaceful days we spent in bonnie Arrandoon.
Ralph and Rory had kept the promise they had made to each other on the
morning succeeding their arrival at Arrandoon; they left McBain to dream
over his "idea" in peace. They did not behave like squaws, and I think
it was the third or fourth evening before Allan's foster-father said
another word about it. They were then all around the fire, as they had
been before; the ladies had retired, and the dogs were making themselves
as snug and comfortable as dogs know how to whenever they get a chance.
"Well," said McBain, after there had been a lull in the conversation for
some little time, "we've been all so happy and jolly here for the last
few days, that we haven't had time to think much or to look ahead
either; but now, if you don't mind, young gentlemen, I will tell you
what I should propose in the way of spending a few of the incoming
spring and summer months, in what I should call a very pleasant
fashion."
"Yes," cried Rory, "do tell us, we are burning to hear about it, and if
it be anything new it is sure to be nice."
"Very well," said McBain. "Allan there tells me he means to stick to
you both for a time--to keep you prisoners in Glentroom. He will trot
you about for all that; you'll be on parole, and roam about wherever you
like; and you can fish and shoot and sketch just as much as ever you
have a mind to. Meanwhile, buy a boat; I know where there is one to
sell that will suit us in every way--a grand, big, strong, open boat.
She belongs to Duncan Forbes, of Fort Augustus, and can be bought for an
old song. We can have her round into the loch here. I'm a bit of a
sailor, as Allan knows, and I'll show you how to deck her over, set up
rigging and mast, and make her complete, and I'll make bold to say that
before we have done with her she will be as neat and pretty a little
craft as ever hauled the wind."
"I say, boys," said Rory, "I think the idea is a glorious one."
"I must say, I like it immensely," said Ralph.
"And so do I," said Allan, "if--if we can all afford it."
"Oh! but stop a little," said McBain, "you haven't heard all my proposal
yet; the best of it is to come. Your cruising ground will be all up and
down among the Western Islands, where the wildest and finest scenery in
Europe exists. You'll get any amount of fishing and shooting too, for
wherever you three smart-looking young yachtsmen land on the coast,
people will vie with each other in offering you Highland hospitality.
And all the while you can make your pleasure pay you."
"How--how--tell us how?"
"Why," continued McBain, "around the rocky and rugged islands where you
will be cruising are the finest lobsters in the world. You have only to
sink a few cages every night when at anchor; you will draw them up full
in the morning, and place them in a well in your hold. As soon as you
have enough to make a paying voyage, round you will run to Greenock,
where is always a ready market and good prices."
Here Ralph jumped up and rubbed his hands; and Rory, forgetting his
bruised shoulder and still bandaged head, hopped off the sofa to cry
"Hurrah!" and this made Kooran bark, and of course Bran chimed in for
company's sake, and McBain wagged his beard and laughed with delight at
the pleasure his suggestion seemed to afford the three young men; and,
indeed, for the time being he felt quite as youthful as either of them.
"And I'll be the crew of the craft," said McBain. "Allan ought to be
captain, and you others naval cadets."
"Yes," said Rory, "that will suit us excellently, and we can take
lessons from you and Allan in seamanship, and by-and-bye be just as
clever sailors as either of you."
"Ay, that you can," said McBain.
Allan laid his hand on Ralph's shoulder, for the latter was gazing
quietly and dreamily firewards.
"What are you thinking about?" said Allan.
Ralph smiled as he made reply.
"I was thinking," he said, "that our adventures as amateur yachtsmen
will not begin and end with cruising among the Western Isles of
Scotland, pleasant and romantic enough though that may be. Listen to
me, boys. It has been the one dream of my life to be able to be master
of a beautiful yacht, and to sail away to far countries, and to see the
world in earnest. Now I know I shall have an opportunity of doing so.
My good, kind old father will baulk me in nothing that is reasonable;
and if, after a few months' cruising in this boat, I can convince him
that I have mastered the rudiments of seamanship, he will, I believe,
let me have a real yacht, capable of voyaging to any part of the world!"
"Ah! that would indeed be glorious, boys," cried Rory, with enthusiasm.
"If we could only arrange it," said Allan, "so as to all go together."
"Of course," said Ralph; "there would not be half the pleasure else.
And we would sail to some country, if possible, where Englishmen had
never been, or never lived before."
"To the countries and islands around the Pole, for example," suggested
McBain.
"Yes," Ralph said; "from all I have read of the Sea of Ice, it seems to
me the most fascinating place in the world."
"Ay," said McBain; "to me it possesses a strange charm; for everything
connected with the countries and seas beyond the Arctic circle is as
different from anything one sees elsewhere as though it belonged to some
other planet."
For hours before retiring to rest they talked about Greenland; and
McBain told them of many a wild adventure in which he himself had been
the principal hero. And among other things he told them of the mammoth
caves of Alba Isle, where an untold wealth of ivory lay buried.
For hours _after_ they had retired Allan lay awake, thinking only of
that buried treasure. Then he slept, and dreamt he had returned from
the far north a wealthy man--that Arrandoon was re-furnished and
re-roofed, that he had regained all the proud acres which his fathers
had squandered, and that his dear mother and sister were reinstated in
the rank of life they were born to adorn, and which was the right of
birth of the chiefs of Glentroom.
Do dreams ever come true? At times.