AN INCIDENT GIVES RISE TO UNAVAILING REFLECTIONS
When Waverley reached that part of the column which was filled by
the clan of Mac-Ivor, they halted, formed, and received him with a
triumphant flourish upon the bagpipes, and a loud shout of the men, most
of whom knew him personally, and were delighted to see him in the dress
of their country and of their sept. 'You shout,' said a Highlander of
a neighbouring clan to Evan Dhu, 'as if the Chieftain were just come to
your head.'
MAR E BRAN IS E BRATHAIR, If it be not Bran, it is Bran's brother,' was
the proverbial reply of Maccombich. [Bran, the well-known dog of Fingal,
is often the theme of Highland proverb as well as song.]
'Oh, then, it is the handsome Sassenach Duinhe-wassel, that is to be
married to Lady Flora?'
'That may be, or it may not be; and it is neither your matter nor mine,
Gregor.'
Fergus advanced to embrace the volunteer, and afford him a warm and
hearty welcome; but he thought it necessary to apologize for the
diminished numbers of his battalion (which did not exceed three hundred
men), by observing, he had sent a good many out upon parties.
The real fact, however, was, that the defection of Donald Bean Lean had
deprived him of at least thirty hardy fellows, whose services he had
fully reckoned upon, and that many of his occasional adherents had been
recalled by their several chiefs to the standards to which they most
properly owed their allegiance. The rival chief of the great northern
branch also of his own clan, had mustered his people, although he had
not yet declared either for the Government or for the Chevalier, and by
his intrigues had in some degree diminished the force with which
Fergus took the field. To make amends for these disappointments, it was
universally admitted that the followers of Vich Ian Vohr, in point of
appearance, equipment, arms, and dexterity in using them, equalled the
most choice troops which followed the standard of Charles Edward. Old
Ballenkeiroch acted as his major; and, with the other officers who had
known Waverley when at Glennaquoich, gave our hero a cordial reception,
as the sharer of their future dangers and expected honours.
The route pursued by the Highland army, after leaving the village of
Duddingston, was for some time the common post-road betwixt Edinburgh
and Haddington, until they crossed the Esk at Musselburgh, when, instead
of keeping the low grounds towards the sea, they turned more inland, and
occupied the brow of the eminence called Carberry hill, a place already
distinguished in Scottish history as the spot where the lovely Mary
surrendered herself to her insurgent subjects. This direction was
chosen, because the Chevalier had received notice that the army of the
Government, arriving by sea from Aberdeen, had landed at Dunbar, and
quartered the night before to the west of Haddington, with the intention
of falling down towards the sea-side, and approaching Edinburgh by the
lower coast-road. By keeping the height, which overhung that road in
many places, it was hoped the Highlanders might find an opportunity of
attacking them to advantage. The army therefore halted upon the ridge of
Carberry hill, both to refresh the soldiers, and as a central situation,
from which their march could be directed to any point that the motions
of the enemy might render most advisable. While they remained in this
position, a messenger arrived in haste to desire Mac-Ivor to come to the
Prince, adding, that their advanced post had had a skirmish with some of
the enemy's cavalry, and that the Baron of Bradwardine had sent in a few
prisoners.
Waverley walked forward out of the line to satisfy his curiosity, and
soon observed five or six of the troopers, who, covered with dust, had
galloped in to announce that the enemy were in full march westward along
the coast. Passing still a little further on, he was struck with a groan
which issued from a hovel. He approached the spot, and heard a voice, in
the provincial English of his native county, which endeavoured, though
frequently interrupted by pain, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The voice
of distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom. He entered
the hovel, which seemed to be intended for what is called, in the
pastoral counties of Scotland, a smearing-house; and in its obscurity
Edward could only at first discern a sort of red bundle; for those who
had stripped the wounded man of his arms, and part of his clothes, had
left him the dragoon-cloak in which he was enveloped.
'For the love of God,' said the wounded man, as he heard Waverley's
step, 'give me a single drop of water!'
'You shall have it,' answered Waverley, at the same time raising him in
his arms, bearing him to the door of the hut, and giving him some drink
from his flask.
'I should know that voice,' said the man; but, looking on Waverley's
dress with a bewildered look,--'no, this is not the young squire!'
This was the common phrase by which Edward was distinguished on the
estate of Waverley-Honour, and the sound now thrilled to his heart with
the thousand recollections which the well-known accents of his native
country had already contributed to awaken. 'Houghton!' he said, gazing
on the ghastly features which death was fast disfiguring, 'can this be
you?'
'I never thought to hear an English voice again,' said the wounded man;
'they left me to live or die here as I could, when they found I would
say nothing about the strength of the regiment. But, oh, squire! how
could you stay from us so long, and let us be tempted by that fiend of
the pit, Ruffin?--we should have followed you through flood and fire, to
be sure.'
'Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed upon.'
'I often thought so,' said Houghton, 'though they showed us your very
seal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the ranks.'
'Do not exhaust your strength in speaking,' said Edward; 'I will get you
a surgeon presently.'
He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head-quarters,
where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to meet him. 'Brave
news!' shouted the Chief; 'we shall be at it in less than two hours. The
Prince has put himself at the head of the advance, and as he drew his
sword, called out, "My friends, I have thrown away the scabbard." Come,
Waverley, we move instantly.'
'A moment,--a moment; this poor prisoner is dying where shall I find a
surgeon?'
'Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three French
fellows, who, I believe, are little better than GARCONS APOTHICAIRES.'
'But the man will bleed to death.'
'Poor fellow!' said Fergus, in a momentary fit of compassion; then
instantly added, 'But it will be a thousand men's fate before night; so
come along.'
'I cannot; I tell you he is a son of a tenant of my uncle's.'
'Oh, if he's a follower of yours, he must be looked to;
'I'll send Callum to you. But DIAOUL!-CAEDE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART!'
continued the impatient Chieftain,--'what made an old soldier, like
Bradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?'
Callum came with his usual alertness; and, indeed, Waverley rather
gained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his anxiety about
the wounded man. They would not have understood the general philanthropy
which rendered it almost impossible for Waverley to have passed any
person in such distress; but, as apprehending that the sufferer was one
of his following, [SCOTTICE for followers.] they unanimously allowed
that Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain,
who merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of an
hour poor Humphry breathed his last, praying his young master, when
he returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job Houghton and
his dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these wild petticoat-men
against old England.
When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with sincere
sorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies of mortality,
now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum to remove the body
into the hut. This the young Highlander performed, not without examining
the pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had been
pretty well spung'd. He took the cloak, however, and proceeding with the
provident caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among some
furze, and carefully marked the spot, observing that, if he chanced to
return that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for his auld mother
Elspat.
It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place in the
marching column, which was now moving rapidly forward to occupy the high
grounds above the village of Tranent, between which and the sea, lay the
purposed march of the opposite army.
This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many unavailing
and painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was clear, from the
confession of the man, that Colonel Gardiner's proceedings had been
strictly warranted, and even rendered indispensable, by the steps taken
in Edward's name to induce the soldiers of his troop to mutiny. The
circumstance of the seal, he now, for the first time, recollected, and
that he had lost it in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That the
artful villain had secured it, and used it as the means of carrying
on an intrigue in the regiment, for his own purposes, was sufficiently
evident, and Edward had now little doubt that in the packet placed in
his portmanteau by his daughter, he should find further light upon
his proceedings. In the meanwhile, the repeated expostulation of
Houghton,--'Ah, squire, why did you leave us?' rang like a knell in his
ears.
'Yes,' he said, 'I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtless
cruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the protection of
a generous and kind landlord, and when I had subjected you to all the
rigour of military discipline, I shunned to bear my own share of the
burden, and wandered from the duties I had undertaken, leaving alike
those whom it was my business to protect, and my own reputation, to
suffer under the artifices of villany. O indolence and indecision of
mind! if not in yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery and
mischief do you frequently prepare the way!'