A CREAGH, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES [A CREAGH was an incursion for plunder,
termed on the Borders a raid.]
When Edward had been a guest at Tully-Veolan nearly six weeks,
he descried one morning, as he took his usual walk before the
breakfast-hour, signs of uncommon perturbation in the family. Four
bare-legged dairymaids, with each an empty milk-pail in her hand, ran
about with frantic gestures, and uttering loud exclamations of surprise,
grief, and resentment. From their appearance, a pagan might have
conceived them a detachment of the celebrated Belides, just come from
their baling penance. As nothing was to be got from this distracted
chorus, excepting 'Lord guide us!' and 'Eh, sirs!' ejaculations which
threw no light upon the cause of their dismay, Waverley repaired to the
forecourt, as it was called, where he beheld Bailie Macwheeble cantering
his white pony down the avenue with all the speed it could muster. He
had arrived, it would seem, upon a hasty summons and was followed by
half a score of peasants from the village, who had no great difficulty
in keeping pace with him.
The Bailie, greatly too busy, and too important, to enter into
explanations with Edward, summoned forth Mr. Saunderson, who appeared
with a countenance in which dismay was mingled with solemnity, and they
immediately entered into close conference. Davie Gellatley was also
seen in the group, idle as Diogenes at Sinope, while his countrymen were
preparing for a siege. His spirits always rose with anything, good
or bad, which occasioned tumult, and he continued frisking, hopping,
dancing, and singing the burden of an old ballad,
Our gear's a' gane,
until, happening to pass too near the Bailie, he received an admonitory
hint from his horsewhip, which converted his songs into lamentation.
Passing from thence towards the garden, Waverley beheld the Baron in
person, measuring and re-measuring, with swift and tremendous strides,
the length of the terrace; his countenance clouded with offended pride
and indignation, and the whole of his demeanour such as seemed to
indicate, that any inquiry concerning the cause of his discomposure
would give pain at least, if not offence. Waverley therefore glided into
the house, without addressing him, and took his way to the breakfast
parlour, where he found his young friend Rose, who, though she neither
exhibited the resentment of her father, the turbid importance of Bailie
Macwheeble, nor the despair of the hand-maidens, seemed vexed and
thoughtful. A single word explained the mystery. 'Your breakfast will
be a disturbed one, Captain Waverley, A party of Caterans have come down
upon us, last night, and have driven off all our milch cows.'
'A party of Caterans?'
'Yes; robbers from the neighbouring Highlands. We used to be quite free
from them while we paid blackmail to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr;
but my father thought it unworthy of his rank and birth to pay it any
longer, and so this disaster has happened. It is not the value of the
cattle, Captain Waverley, that vexes me; but my father is so much hurt
at the affront, and is so bold and hot, that I fear he will try to
recover them by the strong hand; and if he is not hurt himself, he will
hurt some of these wild people, and then there will be no peace between
them and us perhaps for our lifetime; and we cannot defend ourselves as
is old times, for the government have taken all our arms; and my dear
father is so rash--Oh, what will become of us!'--Here poor Rose lost
heart altogether, and burst into a flood of tears.
The Baron entered at this moment, and rebuked her with more asperity
than Waverley had ever heard him use to any one. 'Was it not a shame,'
he said, 'that she should exhibit herself before any gentleman in such
a light, as if she shed tears for a drove of horned nolt and milch kine,
like the daughter of a Cheshire yeoman! Captain Waverley, I must request
your favourable construction of her grief, which may, or ought to
proceed, solely from seeing her father's estate exposed to spulzie and
depredation from common thieves and sornars, [Sornars may be translated
sturdy beggars, more especially indicating those unwelcome visitors who
exact lodgings and victuals by force, or something approaching to it.]
while we are not allowed to keep half a score of muskets, whether for
defence or rescue.'
Bailie Macwheeble entered immediately afterwards, and by his report of
arms and ammunition confirmed this statement, informing the Baron, in
a melancholy voice, that though the people would certainly obey his
honour's orders, yet there was no chance of their following the gear to
ony guid purpose, in respect there were only his honour's body servants
who had swords and pistols, and the depredators were twelve Highlanders,
completely armed after the manner of their country.--Having delivered
this doleful annunciation, he assumed a posture of silent dejection,
shaking his head slowly with the motion of a pendulum when it is ceasing
to vibrate, and then remained stationary, his body stooping at a more
acute angle than usual, and the latter part of his person projecting in
proportion.
The Baron, meanwhile, paced the room in silent indignation, and at
length fixing his eye upon an old portrait, whose person was clad in
armour, and whose features glared grimly out of a huge bush of hair,
part of which descended from his head to his shoulders, and part from
his chin and upper-lip to his breastplate,--'That gentleman, Captain
Waverley, my grandsire,' he said, 'with two hundred horse, whom he
levied within his own bounds, discomfited and put to the rout more
than five hundred of these Highland reivers, who have been ever LAPIS
OFFENSIONIS, ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stumbling-block and a rock of offence
to the Lowland vicinage--he discomfited them, I say, when they had the
temerity to descend to harry this country, in the time of the civil
dissensions, in the year of grace sixteen hundred forty and two. And
now, sir, I, his grandson, am thus used at such unworthy hands!'
Here there was an awful pause; after which all the company, as is usual
in cases of difficulty, began to give separate and inconsistent counsel.
Alexander ab Alexandro proposed they should send some one to compound
with the Caterans, who would readily, he said, give up their prey for a
dollar a head. The Bailie opined that this transaction would amount to
theft-boot, or composition of felony; and he recommended that some CANNY
HAND should be sent up to the glens to make the best bargain he could,
as it were for himself, so that the laird might not be seen in such a
transaction. Edward proposed to send off to the nearest garrison for a
party of soldiers and a magistrate's warrant; and Rose, as far as she
dared, endeavoured to insinuate the course of paying the arrears of
tribute money to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, who, they all knew,
could easily procure restoration of the cattle, if he were properly
propitiated.
None of these proposals met the Baron's approbation. The idea of
composition, direct or implied, was absolutely ignominious; that
of Waverley only showed that he did not understand the state of the
country, and of the political parties which divided it; and, standing
matters as they did with Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, the Baron would
make no concession to him, were it, he said, to procure restitution IN
INTEGRUM of every stirk and stot that the chief, his forefathers, and
his clan, had stolen since the days of Malcolm Canmore.'
In fact, his voice was still for war, and he proposed to send expresses
to Balmawhapple, Killancureit, Tulliellum, and other lairds, who were
exposed to similar depredations, inviting them to join in the pursuit;
'and then, sir, shall these NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, as Leslaeus calls
them, be brought to the fate of their predecessor Cacus,
Elisos oculos, et siccum sanguine guttur.'
The Bailie, who by no means relished these warlike counsels, here pulled
forth an immense watch, of the colour, and nearly of the size, of a
pewter warming-pan, and observed it was now past noon, and that the
Caterans had been seen in the pass of Bally-Brough soon after sunrise;
so that before the allied forces could assemble, they and their prey
would be far beyond the reach of the most active pursuit, and sheltered
in those pathless deserts where it was neither advisable to follow, nor
indeed possible to trace them.
This proposition was undeniable. The council therefore broke up
without coming to any conclusion, as has occurred to councils of more
importance; only it was determined that the Bailie should send his own
three milk-cows down to the Mains for the use of the Baron's family,
and brew small ale, as a substitute for milk, in his own. To this
arrangement, which was suggested by Saunderson, the Bailie readily
assented, both from habitual deference to the family, and an internal
consciousness that his courtesy would, in some mode or other, be repaid
tenfold.
The Baron having also retired to give some necessary directions,
Waverley seized the opportunity to ask, whether this Fergus, with the
unpronounceable name, was the chief thief-taker of the district.
'Thief-taker!' answered Rose, laughing; 'he is a gentleman of great
honour and consequence; the chieftain of an independent branch of a
powerful Highland clan, and is much respected, both for his own power,
and that of his kith, kin, and allies.'
'And what has he to do with the thieves, then? is he a magistrate, or in
the commission of the peace?' asked Waverley.
The commission of war rather, if there be such a thing,' said Rose; 'for
he is a very unquiet neighbour to his un-friends, and keeps a greater
FOLLOWING on foot than many that have thrice his estates. As to his
connexion with the thieves, that I cannot well explain; but the boldest
of them will never steal a hoof from any one that pays blackmail to Vich
Ian Vohr.'
'And what is blackmail?'
'A sort of protection-money that Low-country gentlemen and heritors,
lying near the Highlands, pay to some Highland chief, that he may
neither do them harm himself, nor suffer it to be done to them by
others; and then, if your cattle are stolen, you have only to send him
word, and he will recover them; or it may be, he will drive away cows
from some distant place, where he has a quarrel, and give them to you to
make up your loss.'
'And is this sort of Highland Jonathan Wild admitted into society, and
called a gentleman?'
'So much so,' said Rose, 'that the quarrel between my father and Fergus
Mac-Ivor began at a county meeting, where he wanted to take precedence
of all the Lowland gentlemen then present, only my father would not
suffer it. And then he upbraided my father that he was under his banner,
and paid him tribute; and my father was in a towering passion, for
Bailie Macwheeble, who manages such things his own way, had contrived to
keep this blackmail a secret from him, and passed it in his account for
cess-money. And they would have fought; but Fergus Mac-Ivor said, very
gallantly, he would never raise his hand against a grey head that was
so much respected as my father's. Oh, I wish, I wish they had continued
friends!'
'And did you ever see this Mr. Mac-Ivor, if that be his name, Miss
Bradwardine?'
'No, that is not his name; and he would consider MASTER as a sort of
affront, only that you are an Englishman, and know no better. But the
Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of his estate,
Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian Vohr, that is, the
son of John the Great; and we upon the braes here call him by both names
indifferently.'
I am afraid I shall never bring my English tongue to call him by either
one or other.'
'But he is a very polite, handsome man,' continued Rose; 'and his sister
Flora is one of the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies in this
country: she was bred in a convent in France, and was a great friend
of mine before this unhappy dispute. Dear Captain Waverley, try your
influence with my father to make matters up. I am sure this is but the
beginning of our troubles; for Tully-Veolan has never been a safe or
quiet residence when we have been at feud with the Highlanders. When
I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought between a party of
twenty of them, and my father and his servants, behind the Mains; and
the bullets broke several panes in the north windows, they were so near.
Three of the Highlanders were killed, and they brought them in, wrapped
in their plaids, and laid them on the stone floor of the hall; and
next morning, their wives and daughters came, clapping their hands, and
crying the coronach, and shrieking, and carried away the dead bodies,
with the pipes playing before them. I could not sleep for six weeks
without starting, and thinking I heard these terrible cries, and saw
the bodies lying on the steps, all stiff and swathed up in their bloody
tartans. But since that time there came a party from the garrison at
Stirling, with a warrant from the Lord Justice-Clerk, or some such
great man, and took away all our arms; and now, how are we to protect
ourselves if they come down in any strength?'
Waverley could not help starting at a story which bore so much
resemblance to one of his own day-dreams. Here was a girl scarce
seventeen, the gentlest of her sex, both in temper and appearance, who
had witnessed with her own eyes such a scene as he had used to conjure
up in his imagination, as only occurring in ancient times, and spoke of
it coolly, as one very likely to recur. He felt at once the impulse of
curiosity, and that slight sense of danger which only serves to heighten
its interest. He might have said with Malvolio, '"I do not now fool
myself, to let imagination jade me!" I am actually in the land of
military and romantic adventures, and it only remains to be seen what
will be my own share in them.'
The whole circumstances now detailed concerning the state of the
country, seemed equally novel and extraordinary. He had indeed often
heard of Highland thieves, but had no idea of the systematic mode in
which their depredations were conducted; and that the practice was
connived at, and even encouraged, by many of the Highland chieftains,
who not only found the creaghs, or forays, useful for the purpose of
training individuals of their clan to the practice of arms, but also
of maintaining a wholesome terror among their Lowland neighbours,
and levying, as we have seen, a tribute from them, under colour of
protection-money.
Bailie Macwheeble, who soon afterwards entered, expatiated still more at
length upon the same topic. This honest gentleman's conversation was so
formed upon his professional practice, that Davie Gellatley once said
his discourse was like 'a charge of horning.' He assured our hero, that
'from the maist ancient times of record, the lawless thieves, limmers,
and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by
reason of their surnames, for the committing of divers thefts, reifs,
and herships upon the honest men of the Low Country, when they not only
intromitted with their whole goods and gear, corn, cattle, horse, nolt,
sheep, outsight and insight plenishing, at their wicked pleasure, but
moreover made prisoners, ransomed them, or concussed them into giving
borrows (pledges) to enter into captivity again: all which was directly
prohibited in divers parts of the Statute Book, both by the act one
thousand five hundred and sixty-seven, and various others; the whilk
statutes, with all that had followed and might follow thereupon, were
shamefully broken and vilipended by the said sornars, limmers, and
broken men, associated into fellowships, for the aforesaid purposes of
theft, stouthreef, fire-raising, murther, RAPTUS MULIERUM, or forcible
abduction of women, and such like as aforesaid.'
It seemed like a dream to Waverley that these deeds of violence should
be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as falling within
the common order of things, and happening daily in the immediate
vicinity, without his having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in
the otherwise well-ordered island of Great Britain. [10]