WHOM HAVE WE HERE?
Ronald had an opportunity of being dignified towards Mr. Callum long
before the rent-day came round. The steward’s curiosity led him to visit
the tenants and see how they were attempting to improve their croft; and
one day in October his boat was seen rounding the Storr, and making for
the landing-place. Archie happened to be amusing himself on his island
at the time, and Mr. Callum was observed by Ella to turn round as if
watching the boy’s proceedings up to the moment of landing. He looked by
no means in his pleasantest mood.
“Good morning,” said he, as Ella awaited him at the door of the cottage.
“Where are your brothers? I want your brothers.”
“Ronald is in the field. I will call him, if you will please to sit
down. He will not detain you.”
“Let him alone, pray. The other lads will do as well.”
“Fergus is gone a trip to-day to sell his peat; we do not expect him
till night.”
“To sell his peat! He had better take care of his own supply first, I
think. You will want to use all you can get before the winter is over.”
Ella replied by opening a boarded window on one side of the cottage,
through which was seen, at a little distance, a large well-built stack
of peat. She next added some to her fire, that Mr. Callum might not have
to complain that she grudged fuel in her hospitality.
“And pray how does Fergus manage to get peat enough for everybody? He
keeps within his boundary, I hope.”
Ella was too much offended to answer otherwise than by pointing the way
to the peat-land, where, however, the steward showed no inclination to
go.
“I would have him take care what he is about,” continued Callum. “I have
the laird’s strict orders that the live turf is to be replaced over
every inch from which peat is dug.”
Ella observed that it was for Fergus’s interest to observe this rule on
a land which he hoped to hold for a long time, since the peat could not
otherwise be renewed.
“No need to tell me that, Ella; but these youngsters are in such a hurry
to cut, especially when they can sell, that they forget the law.
Remember, if I find a foot bare, the peat-land is forfeited.”
“Your threat is harsh, sir, and if you should act upon it, I should be
obliged to appeal to the laird; but let us see whether Fergus has put
himself in your power.” And she moved on.
“What is all this?” cried the irritable steward, as they walked up the
little sloping beach towards the back of the tenement. “Your brothers
get the fairies to help them, I think. Who ever saw barley growing out
of a round shingle,—clean shingle without any soil?”
“My father saw it, as he used to tell us, in rocky places where soil was
scarce; and when we found we could do little with our field this season,
Ronald bethought himself of this plan; and it answers very well, you
see. We laid down sea-weed pretty thick, and dropped our seed into it,
and now the manure is changed into food for us.”
“Poor grain enough,” said Callum.
“Not so good as we hope to raise in our field, but good enough to be
acceptable to those who would otherwise have none.”
“And pray how long do you mean to let it stand? The wind will soon make
it shed its grain, and then much good, may the straw do you!”
Ella observed that it had been late sown, so that they were glad to let
it stand to the last moment. The autumn was particularly serene and
warm, so that the grain was still uninjured; but it was to be cut the
next day but one, when she should have sold her fish and made room for
her humble harvest.—What fish? and where was she going to sell it?—She
had salted a cask of herrings, and was about to make a trip to the sloop
from Glasgow now in the Sound to dispose of the produce of her fishing.
Callum muttered something about their taking good care of themselves;
and the too great kindness of the laird not to ask rent for all they
held. It should be done soon, he could promise them.—Whenever they had a
neighbour who should follow the same occupations, Ella quietly observed,
they should be willing to pay rent for the field, and the waters, and
the peat-ground, and the kelping-shore.
“And why not sooner, if I chose to ask it?”
“Because it would answer better to us to move to some place in equal
condition, where no rent would be asked.”
“And where will you find such an one, my lass?”
Ella mounted the rock near, and pointed to one island and another and
another where situations as good as this had not yet been taken
possession of, and which the laird would be glad to see improved,
provided he received the interest of the capital he laid out. Callum
observed that she seemed to think herself very knowing, and asked where
she got all this wisdom. When he found that the matter had been talked
over and settled with the laird himself, he had nothing more to say on
that subject.
He was not more fortunate on the next topic. He asked who it was on the
Storr that was screaming like a sea-gull, and throwing his arms about as
if he was going to fly across the Sound? Ella paused a moment before she
replied that it was her brother Archibald; and then underwent a
cross-questioning about the lad, and the reasons why he had not been
introduced with the rest into Mr. Callum’s august presence. An obvious
mode of venting his spleen now presented itself. He insisted upon what
Ella did not attempt to deny, that the Storr did not come within her
boundaries, and followed this up by a prohibition to every one of the
family to set foot on the rock. Ella was now truly glad that she had
obtained the laird’s special permission for Archie to haunt the rock as
much as he pleased. Mr. Callum’s temper was not improved by learning the
fact. He did not pretend to doubt it; for, in the first place, he knew
Ella to be remarkable for strict honour; and, in the next, she seemed so
guarded on all points, that he began to think it prudent not to expose
his authority to more mortifications.
Ronald now appeared, ready to show Mr. Callum what had been done in his
department, as well as in Fergus’s. Ella cautioned her brother by a look
which he well understood, to keep his temper and restrain his tongue,
and then returned to her occupations in the cottage. Callum resumed the
subject of Archie, but could make little out of Ronald about him; for,
besides that the tender respect in which they held the poor lad made
them unwilling to speak of his peculiarities to strangers, Ronald knew
his sister’s desire to keep Archie out of Callum’s notice. He was now
rather more discreet than was necessary, and left an impression on the
steward’s mind that there was some mystery about the boy,—a mystery
which must be penetrated.
He did not accept Ella’s proffered hospitality, having already ordered
his dinner at the farm; but he sauntered down again in the evening to
see Fergus come home, and hear whether he had made a good bargain of his
peat. A fit of superstition about the fairies came upon him again when
he heard that not only was the present cargo sold among the inhabitants
of a sandy island near, but so much more was wanted, that Ronald must
borrow Murdoch’s boat, the first convenient day, and accompany Fergus in
their own in another trip to the same market. Callum laughed when Fergus
said he had taken no money, his customers not being possessed of any
coin; but he brought oatmeal, salt, and a light basket, or rather pouch,
made of birch twigs and oatstraw, for Archie to carry eggs in. He was
offered oil, but thought they had obtained enough from their fish to
last the season. Ella approved his bargain, and said that oatmeal and
salt, being both wanted, were more to her than money just now, and would
save her a voyage. So Fergus was happy, and nothing remained to be
wished but that Mr. Callum would go away. He paced the little beach as
if he was waiting for something, and at last asked impatiently when the
younger lad would come home.
“When the tide is low enough for him to cross; maybe in two hours.”
This was too long for a cross person’s patience; so the steward departed
without seeing Archie this time.
The morrow was to be a busy day,—the day of the first sale of salted
herrings. As the cask was to be carried on board the sloop, Ella wished
her brothers to go with her. She wanted their help, and also desired
that they should gain such experience in that kind of traffic as would
fit them for going without her on a future occasion: for she did not
much like the idea of boarding the vessel and making her bargain among
the sailors.
The lads embarked their cask, fitted, for the first time, the wooden key
to the wooden lock of their door, carried Archie high and dry through
the surf, and deposited him, laughing, beside his sister, and pulled
stoutly round the point in the teeth of a strong and chilling wind.
Archie was in one of his merry moods this day, which made his sister the
less unwilling to leave him with the Murdochs at the farm till evening,
which she was about to do. He laughed when the wind drove the spray in
their faces, and mimicked the creaking of the oars in their sockets as
they strained against the force of a rough sea. He made some resistance
to being landed when they reached the cove below the farm, but took his
sister’s hand and ascended the cliff with her while repeating that he
wanted to go on the sea again.
The Murdochs were good-natured people, when nothing happened to make
them otherwise, and they declared themselves delighted to see Archie,
and promised to take all possible care of him. Ella reminded them that
the only care necessary was to give him his dinner, and see that he did
not stray beyond the farm.
When the rowers got fairly out to sea, they were dismayed to find that
the sloop had disappeared during the night. There was every reason to
fear that they were a day too late for the market, and that the last
vessel to be seen that season was now sailing away from them.
“If it be,” said Ronald, “we must take a voyage to the Clyde islands, or
perhaps to Greenock; and I should not much mind that: Ella could do
without us for a few days.”
“We must prevent such a waste of time,” said Ella; “so pull away
southwards, and let us see if we cannot overtake the sloop. She cannot
have gone far with this wind. The first of you that wearies, give me the
oar.”
The boys continued their rowing in silence till Ella desired Ronald to
make for a boat some way off and hail it. He did so.
“Holla! Which way lies the Jean Campbell?”
“Gone northwards before the wind.”
Northwards! Then she could not have completed her cargo yet; “but would
she return through the same Sounds?” they asked the people in the other
boat.
“Hardly likely,” was the answer; “but there is another coming up, the
Mary of Port Glasgow. If ye clear the point, ye’ll see her with all her
sails set, unless she has stopped to take in kelp or herrings.”
Away went the boat again, and eager were the rowers to learn whether the
market was yet open to them. In half an hour they came in sight of the
Mary, not sailing before the wind as they expected; but rolling idly on
the rough sea, while boats were making towards her from various points
of the shores within sight.
When they came alongside, Ella spoke her errand; and on receiving an
encouraging answer, would willingly have sent her brothers on board to
manage their bargain, while she remained in the boat. But it was too
important an affair for them to conduct, inexperienced as they were in
traffic; and it was necessary for her to go on deck of the Mary. While
talking with the master, and observing no one else, she did not
perceive, as Ronald did, that a man on deck who looked like a passenger,
was watching her closely, and drawing nearer to listen to what she said.
Ronald placed himself beside his sister, and then the stranger looked
down into the boat where Fergus remained.
“Will you make room for me, Fergus?” he asked. “Will you take me home
with you to see your father and Archie?”
Fergus reddened all over; and when he made his reply, the stranger was
moved also.
“Your father dead!” he exclaimed. “I never heard it. Let me come to you
that you may tell me all.”
“You must ask Ella if there’s room for you,” said Fergus; “besides, I
don’t know who you are.”
“Do you ever think of one Angus that you once knew?”
“Aye, often enough, and wonder if he be dead. Why, I do believe you are
Angus, sir! Ronald, Ronald! See if this be not Angus back again.”
It was Angus; but so changed, that it was no wonder his younger friends
did not know him after five years of absence. Ella knew him at a glance,
when the sound of his name made her turn her head. She looked steadily
in his face, and asked, with a calm voice, what brought him among the
islands again?—but her cheek was pale as ashes, and her hands trembled
so that she could hardly hold the money which the impatient master was
in a hurry to pay her. Angus, as agitated as herself, made no reply to
her question, but leapt into her boat in order to assist her down. She
drew back immediately.
“Ella! you will let me go home with you. We must not part almost before
we have met. I am bound for Garveloch, and you must let me row you
home.”
“You do not know our present home, Angus. If you choose to seek us
there, you will find a welcome; but I cannot take you.”
Angus now grew pale. He turned quickly round upon Fergus,—
“Is Ella married?”
“No.”
With a light step he sprang back into the Mary, whispering to Ella as he
handed her down,
“I have much to say, and am eager to say it. For whatever reasons you
refuse to let me go with you, you cannot prevent my following. Farewell
now. You will soon see me.”
Ella turned back as she was departing to tell him that she had removed,
and to describe where she might be found. Encouraged by this
circumstance, Angus smiled, and Ella’s stern countenance relaxed.—Never
had she frowned as Angus did when he heard the seamen jesting on the
fishwoman who carried herself as high as a princess to the master. “It
is not the way of fishwomen,” quoth they, “even when they bring half a
cargo, instead of one poor cask like that.”
Angus thought to himself that she was a princess,—the princess of
fishwomen. He knew her well,—all her thoughts and all her feelings, in
former days, and he saw already that she had lost none of her dignity
under the pressure of her cares. He presently arranged with the master
to meet the Mary at a certain point among the islands, within a few
days, for the purpose of removing his luggage; and obtained a seat in a
boat whose crew engaged to set him on shore in Garveloch.
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