[_MAGA._ APRIL 1832.]
It was in the autumn of 1798, when the North of Ireland had settled
down into comparative tranquillity, that I took up my quarters at
Knowehead, the grazing farm of a substantial relative, in the remote
pastoral valley of Glen---- in Antrim.
The second morning of my stay I had fished a considerable distance up
the river; but having broken my top in an unlucky leap, was sitting in
impatient bustle, lapping the fracture, and lamenting my ill fortune,
as ever and anon I would raise my eyes and see the fresh curl running
past my feet; when I perceived by the sudden blackening of the water,
and by an ominous but indescribable sensation of the air, that
something unusual was brewing overhead. I looked up: there it was, a
cloud, low-hung and lurid, and stretching across the whole northern
side of the horizon. I had scarce time to gather my clews and bobbins
into a hurried wisp, and take shelter under an overhanging bank hard
by, when down it came, heavy, hissing, and pelting the whole surface
of the river into spray. I drew myself close to the back of the
hollow, where I lay in a congratulatory sort of reverie, watching the
veins of muddy red, as they slowly at first, and then impetuously,
flowed through and finally displaced the dark spring water--the
efforts of the beaten rushes and waterflags, as they quivered and
flapped about under the shower's battery--the gradual increase of
swell and turbulence in the river opposite; and lower down, the war
which was already tossing and raging at the conflux, where
"Tumbling brown, the burn came down,
And roar'd frae bank to brae."
But why do I dilate upon an aspect thus wild and desolate, when I
could so much more pleasantly employ my reader's and my own mind's eye
with that which next presented itself? I confess, so pleasant was the
contrast then, that I still, in recalling that scene to memory,
prepare myself, by the renewed vision of its dreariness and
desolation, for the more grateful reception of an image than which
earth contains none lovelier--it was a lovely girl. She fled thither
for shelter: I did not see her until she was close by me; but never
surely did man's eyes rest on a fairer apparition. I have, at this
instant, every lineament of the startled beauty, as, drawing back
with a suppressed cry and gesture of alarm, she shrank from the
unexpected companion who stood by her side; for I had started from my
reverie, and now presented myself, baring my head in the rain with
involuntary respectfulness of gallantry, and half unconsciously
leading her by the hand into my retreat. She yielded, blushing and
confused, while I, apologising, imploring, and gazing with new
admiration at every look, unstrapped my basket, placed it in the least
exposed corner, spread over it my outside coat, and having thus
arranged a seat (which, however, she did not yet accept), retired to
the opposite side, and reluctantly ceasing to gaze, gave up my whole
faculties to wonder--who could she be? Her rich dress--velvet habit,
hat and feathers--her patrician elegance of beauty and manner, at once
proclaimed her rank; but who could there be in Glen---- above the
homely class to which my host belonged? And his daughter, Miss Janet,
was certainly a brilliant of a very different water. But, heavens! how
the water is running down from my companion's rich hair, and
glistening upon her neck with what a breathing lustre!--"Oh, madam,
let me entreat you, as you value your safety, use my handkerchief (and
I pulled a muffler from my neck) to bind up and dry your hair. Wrap, I
beseech you, your feet in my greatcoat; and withdraw farther from the
wind and rain."
One by one, notwithstanding her gracious refusals, I carefully
fulfilled my prescriptions; and now knelt before her, lapping the
skirts and sleeves of my envied coat about the little feet and
delicate ankles. Yet it seemed to me that she received my services
rather with a grateful condescension, than, as I desired, with frank
enjoyment of them. So, pausing a moment to account for such a manner,
I recollected--and the recollection covered me with confusion--that I
must have been, to say the least, as rough a comrade as any one need
wish to meet with under a hedge; for, purposing to leave Ireland in
another month for Germany, I had, during the last week, allowed my
beard to grow all round--putting off from day to day the forming of
the moustache, to which I meant to reduce it--and so had my face, at
no time very smooth, now covered from ear to ear with a stubble, long,
strong, and black as a shoe-brush. My broad-brimmed hat was battered
and dinted into strangely uncouth cavities, and the leaf hung flapping
over my brows like a broken umbrella; my jacket was tinselled indeed,
but it was with the ancient scales of trout; my leathern overalls were
black-glazed and greasy; and my whole equipment bore, I must confess,
the evident signs of an unexceptionable rascal.
Indignant at my unworthy appearance, I put myself upon my mettle; and
after drawing my fair companion from her intrenchments of shyness and
hauteur, succeeded in engaging her in the fair field of a
conversation the most animated and interesting, in which it was ever
my good fortune and credit to bear a part. She had at first, indeed,
when I began by running a parallel between our positions, explained
the circumstances of her being driven thither alone, in a manner so
general, and with such evident painfulness of hesitation, that I had
hardly expected a few slow commonplaces at the most. Such wit, then,
and vivacity, tempered with such dignified discretion, as she evinced,
when I turned the conversation from what I perceived to be perplexing,
were by their unexpectedness doubly delightful.
Time and the tempest swept on equally unheeded; topic induced topic,
smile challenged smile, and when at last, in obedience to her wishes,
I looked towards the north, to see whether the sky were clearing, I
only prayed that it might rain on till sunset, when I might accompany
her to her home, which, to my surprise, I learned was within a few
miles, although I did not ascertain exactly where. My prayers were
likely enough to be fulfilled; the sky was still one rush of
rain--but, heaven and earth! the river had overflowed its banks above:
a broad sheet of water was sailing down the hollow behind; and there
we were, no human habitation within sight, in the midst of a tempest,
between two rapid rivers, with no better shelter, during the
continuance of a Lammas flood, than the hollow of a bank which might
be ten feet under water in an hour.
I ran down the back of the hill to the edge of the interposing flood;
a stunted tree was in the middle, the fork of which I knew was as high
as my shoulder; a mass of weeds and briars was already gathered
against it; the water had raised them within a foot of the first
branch; then I might still ford a passage; no moment was to be lost; I
ran back for the lady, but met her half-way in wild alarm, her head
bare, her beautiful hair shaken out into the blast, her hands clasped,
and her figure just sinking. I caught her in my arms, and bore her
forward with all my speed; but before I again reached the sweeping
inundation, insensibility had released her from the terrors of our
passage.
I dashed in, holding her across my body, with her head resting on my
shoulder; the first step took me to the knee. I raised my burden and
plunged forward; the water rose to my haunches. I lifted her again
across my breast, rushed on, and sank to the waist. I felt that I
could not long support a dead weight in that position; so lowering her
limbs into the water, I profited by that relief, and reached the tree.
The flood had now covered me to the breast, and the lady's neck and
bosom were all that remained unimmersed. I leaned against the old
trunk, and breathed myself. I raised her drooping head on my
shoulder, and pressed my cheek to her forehead; but neither lip nor
eyelid moved. I could not but gaze upon her face; it lay among the
long floating tresses and turbulent eddies, fair as the water's own
lily, and as unconscious. My heart warmed to the lovely being, and I
bent over her, kissing her lips, and pressing her bosom to mine, with
an affection so strangely strong, that I might have stood thus till
escape had been impossible, but that the rustling of the rubbish, as
it crept up the rugged stump with the rise of the waters, caught my
ear. A thunderbolt smouldering at my feet could not have sounded so
horrible. All my fresh affections rushed back to my heart in
multiplied alarm for the safety of their new-found treasure. I started
from my resting-place, and swinging back the long hair from my eyes,
once more breasted the stream with clenched teeth and dripping brows.
But still, as farther I advanced, the water grew deeper and deeper,
and the current split upon my shoulder, and twisted through my legs,
still stronger and stronger. Lumps of black moss, dried peats, and
heavy sods, now struck me, and tumbled on; while wisps of yellow grass
and long straws doubled across my body and entangled me. My limbs
wavered at every step as I strained and writhed them through the
current. I gave way--I was half lifted--the river and the burn met not
a hundred yards below. Had I had the strength of ten men, I could not
have supported her through that tumult. Every step swerved towards the
conclusion of at least her existence; yet with love tenfold did I now
press her to my heart, and with tenfold energy struggle to make good
her rescue. Her eyes opened--I murmured prayers, comforts, and
endearments--she saw the red torrent around, the tawny breakers
before, the black storm overhead; but she saw love in my eye, she
heard it in my words; and there, within her probable deathbed, and in
the embrace of her probable companion in death, she was wooed among
the waters, and was won. Another effort--but the eddy swung me round,
and I had given up all as lost, save my interest in that perishing
girl; when suddenly I heard, through the dashing of waves and the
hissing of rain, the hoarse cry of a man, "Courage--hold up, sir--this
way, halloo!" I turned, half thinking it imagination, but there I
really saw a man up to the breast in the flood, supporting with arms
and shoulders a powerful black horse, which he urged across the
current. Another minute, and I stood firm behind the breakwater they
formed at my side. My dear charge had again fainted; he assisted me to
raise her to the saddle; but suddenly, as he looked at her, he uttered
a wild cry of astonishment, and kissing and embracing her, exclaimed,
"My Madeline, my daughter, my dear child!--Why, sir, how is this?"
"Oh, sir, the river is rising a foot a-minute--take the bridle, I
beseech you, and let me support the lady and the horse's flank--I will
explain all when she is out of danger." So saying, I laid my shoulder
to the work and urged him on; we had an easier task, and in another
minute succeeded in getting safe out of that perilous passage.
I now looked at our preserver; he was a handsome, tall, and vigorous
man, about forty--evidently a soldier and gentleman. He lifted his
daughter from the saddle; and while I recounted the particulars of her
adventure, unclasped her habit and chafed her forehead; but all was of
no avail. He looked distractedly, first at his daughter and then at
me; and after a pause of contending emotions, rose, laid her across
the pommel, placed his foot in the stirrup, and turning to me said, "I
am embarrassed by many circumstances--take my blessings for this day's
help--and forget us."
"I can never forget."
"Then take this trifling remembrance." He pulled a ring from his
finger and handed it to me; threw himself into the saddle; placed his
daughter across his body, and crying, ere I could say a word for sheer
amazement, "Farewell, farewell!" and once more, with some emotion,
"Farewell, sir, and may God bless you!" put spurs to his horse, and
dashed off at full speed for a pass which leads into the wild country
of the Misty Braes.
Till they disappeared among the hills, I stood watching them from the
bank where they had left me, bare-headed, numbed, and indignant; with
the rain still pelting on me, and the ring between my fingers. It was
a costly diamond; I pitched it after him with a curse, and bent my
weary way towards Knowehead, a distance of full five miles, in a maze
of uncertainty and speculation. She had not told her name, and she
seemed to desire a concealment of her residence; her father's conduct
more plainly evinced the same motive; many of the heads of the
rebellion were still lurking with their families among the mountains
of Ulster; the only house in the direction they had taken, at all
likely to be the retreat of respectable persons, was the old Grange of
Moyabel; and it was the property of a gentleman then abroad, but
connected with all the chief Catholic rebels in the North. All this
made me naturally conclude that these were some of that unhappy party;
and when I considered that both daughter and father had been riding
from different quarters to the same destination--for, as well as I
could surmise from her vague account of herself, she had left the
servant, behind whom she had come so far, to wait the arrival of her
father, who had promised to join them there--I was able to satisfy
myself of their being only on their way to Moyabel; and I therefore
determined not to create suspicion by making useless inquiries as to
the present family there, but to take the first opportunity of
judging for myself of the new comers. But how, after such a dismissal,
introduce myself? Here lay the difficulty, and beyond this I could fix
on nothing; so with a heavy heart I climbed the hill before my
kinsman's house, and presented myself at the wide door of the kitchen,
just as the twilight was darkening down into night.
I found my host sitting as was his wont--his nightcap on his head, his
long staff in his hand, and two greyhounds at his feet--behind the
fire upon his oaken settle. "I'm thinkin', Willie," he began as he saw
me enter--"I'm thinkin' ye hae catched a wet sark. Janet, lass, fetch
your cusin a dram. Nane o' your piperly smellin' bottles," cried he,
as she produced some cordials in an ancient liquor-stand--"Nane o'
your auld wife's jaups for ane o' my name--fetch something
purpose-like; for when my nevoy has changed himsell, we'll hae a stoup
o' whisky, and a crack thegither." In a few minutes I was seated in
dry clothes, before a bowl of punch and a blazing fire, beside the old
gentleman on his oaken sofa. At any other time I would have enjoyed
the scene with infinite satisfaction; for the national tipple, in my
mind, drinks nowhere so pleasantly as on a bench behind the broad
hearthstone of such a kitchen-hall as my friend's. Our smaller gentry
had, it is true, long since betaken themselves to their parlours and
their drawing-rooms; and the steams of whisky-punch had already risen
with the odours of bohea, and the smoke of sea-borne coals, to the
damask hangings and alabaster cornices of many high-ceiled and stately
apartments. Yet there were still some of the old school, who, like my
good friend, continued to make their headquarters, after the ancient
fashion, among their own domestics, and behind their own hearthstone;
for in all old houses the fire is six feet at least from the gable,
and the space between is set apart for the homely owner.
It was strange then, that I, who hitherto had so intensely relished
such a scene, should be so absent now that it was spread round me in
its perfection. The peat and bog-fir fire before me, and the merry
faces glistening through the white smoke beyond; the chimney overhead,
like some great minster bell (the huge hanging pot for the clapper);
the antlers, broadsword, and sporting tackle on the wall behind; the
goodly show of fat flitches and briskets around me and above, and that
merry and wise old fellow, glass in hand, with endless store of good
stories, pithy sayings, and choice points of humour, by my side; yet
with all I sat melancholy and ill at ease. In vain did the rare old
man tell me his best marvels; how he once fought with Tom Hughes, a
wild Welshman, whom he met in a perilous journey through the forests
of Cheshire; how Tom would not let go his grip when he had him down
("whilk was a foul villany"); and how he had to roll into a running
water before he could get loose ("whilk showed the savage natur of
thae menseless barbarians"). In vain he told me that pleasant jest,
how my grandfather "ance wiled the six excisemen into a lone house,
and then gaed in himsell and pyed them through the windows, whilk
cleared the country-side o' that vermin as lang as auld Redrigs was to
the fore." In vain he told me how his old dog Stretcher hunted the
black hare from Dunmoss to Skyboe. I left him in the subtlest of the
doubles, and in another minute was in the penthouse of clay, the river
boiling at my feet, and the rain rushing round my head; but before me
were the rich delighted eyes and quickening features of my unknown
beauty. Again I bore her through the flood; again I bent over her, and
pressed her to my breast, and once more in fancy I had felt the thrill
of her returned embrace; once more I had kissed her lips, and once
more we had vowed to live or die together, when I was startled from my
reverie by a question which the unsuspecting old man was now repeating
for the third time. I stammered an excuse, and roused myself to the
hearing of another excellent jest; but what it might have been I know
not, for the entrance of a young labourer, an old acquaintance of my
own, with whom he had business, cut it short. "Aleck," he said, "get
ready to set out for the fair upon the morn's e'en; and, Aleck, my
man, keep yoursell out o' drink and fechtin'--and, my bonny man, I'm
saying, the neist time ye gang a-courtin' to the Grange (I pricked up
my ears all at once), see that ye're no ta'en for ane o' thae rebel
chiels, wha, they say, are burrowin' e'en noo about the auld wa's as
thick as mice in a meal-ark."--"But Aleck," crooned old Mause from the
corner, "whilk ane o' the lasses are you for?" This was enough. I
watched my opportunity, slipped out to the stable, found Aleck, who
had retreated thither in his confusion, and point-blank proposed that
he should take me with him that very night, and introduce me to one of
the girls at Moyabel, as I longed to have an hour's courting after the
old fashion before I left the country. I concluded by offering him a
handsome consideration, which, however, he refused; but, sitting
down in the manger, began to consider my proposal, with such
head-scratching and nail-biting, as confirmed me in my opinion that
there was something mysterious about the family of the Grange. "Master
William," said he at last, "I canna refuse ye, and you gaun awa',
maybe never to see a lass o' your ain country again; but ye maun
promise never to speak o' whatever ye may see strange aboot the hoose;
for, atween oursells, there are anes expeckit there this verra night
wha's names wadna cannily bear tellin'; and Jeanie trusts me, and I
maunna beguile her. But the waters are out, and we will hae a lang
and cauld tramp through the bogs, sae get a drap o' somethin' for the
road, and I'll hae Tam Herron's Sunday suit ready for you after
bed-time. Saul! ye'll mak a braw weaver wi' the beard; and wi' a' your
Englified discoorsin' ye can talk as like a Christian as ever when ye
like. Nanny will think hersell fitted at last; but ye maunna be ower
crouse wi' Nanny, Master William." I promised everything; waited
impatiently till the family had gone to rest; found Aleck true to his
engagement; put on the clothes he had prepared, and we stole out about
midnight.
It was pitch dark, but fair and calm; so, with the hopes of getting to
our journey's end not wet above the knee, we commenced stumbling and
bolting along the great stones and ruts of the causeway; this we
cleared without any accident, farther than my slipping once into the
ditch, and now found ourselves upon the open hill-side, splashing
freely over the soaked turf and slippery pathway. I was in high
spirits, and though squirting the black puddle to my knees at every
step, and seeing no more of the road I was to travel on than another
one in advance, yet faced onward with great gaiety and good humour.
After some time, however, Aleck began snuffing the air, and, with
evident concern, announced the approach of a mist, which soon
thickened into perceptibility to me also. Our path, which hitherto had
swept across sheep-grazing uplands and grassy knolls, now began to
thread deep rushy bottoms, with here and there a quaking spot of
quagmire, or a mantled stream, which I knew by the cold water running
sharp below, and by the thick, dull gathering of the weeds about my
legs--for the mist made all so dark, that I can only give a blind
man's description. The way now became more intricate and broken, but
still I followed Aleck cheerily, pushing through all obstacles, and
thinking only of the best measures to be taken when we should arrive
at Moyabel, when I suddenly perceived that my footsteps were treading
down the long wet grass and heavy sedge itself, and that any distinct
pathway no longer remained to guide us. I began to doubt Aleck's
knowledge of the road, which he still maintained to be unshaken; but
the next two steps settled the matter, by bringing us both up to the
middle in a running river. We scrambled out without saying a word,
Aleck being silent from confusion, and I fearing to increase it by
reproaches. He began to grope about for the path we had come by; and
finding what he thought our track, pursued it a few steps to the
right. I thought I had it to the left, and began to explore in that
direction. "Hallo! where are you now?" I cried, as I missed him from
my side. He answered, "Here," from a considerable distance lower down.
"Where?" I repeated.--"Hereawa," he answered.--"Hereawa, thereawa,
wandering Willie," I hummed in bitter jollity, as I proceeded in the
direction of the voice, "Hereawa, thereawa, haud your way hame,"
when--squash, crash, bolt, heels over head--plump I went over a brow
into a very Devil's Punch-Bowl; for bottom I found none, though shot
from the bank with the impetus of an arrow. Down I went, the water
closing over me in strata and substrata, each one colder than the
other, till I expected to find my head at last clashing against the
young ice wedges of a preternatural frost below. I sank at least
fifteen feet before I could collect my energies and turn. I thought I
would never reach the top. To it at last I came, sputtering, blown,
and fairly frightened. I never waited to consider my course, but
striking desperately out, swam straight forward till I came bump
against the bank. I clambered up, and listened. The first sound I
could distinguish, after the bubbling and hissing left my ears, was
Aleck's voice nearly before me, on the opposite side. He was singing
out something between a howl and a halloo; for he also had got into
the water, and could not find bottom anywhere but on the spot he
occupied. He could not swim a stroke. There was nothing for it but to
go back and rescue him. The unexpectedness alone of my first dip had
caused my confusion. That was gone off, and I again plunged resolutely
into the river, which I now could discern grey in the clearing mist.
A few strokes brought me to where the poor fellow stood, with his arms
extended upon the water, and his neck stretched to the utmost to keep
it out of his mouth. I knew the danger of taking an alarmed man of
greater weight and strength than myself upon my back; and therefore,
comforting him with assurances of safety, I tried in all directions
for bottom, which at last I found; and having sounded the bed of the
river to the opposite side, returned, and with some difficulty
succeeded in guiding and supporting him across.
The mist was now rapidly thinning away, and I could distinguish the
high bank black against the sky. It was a joyful sight, and induced,
by a natural association, the pleasant thought of the comforter in my
pocket. I took a mighty dram; then feeling for Aleck's head (he had
lain down, streaming like Father Nile in the pictures, among the
rushes, at my feet), I directed the bottle's mouth to his. He had been
making his moan in an under-whine ever since I first heard him
lamenting his condition on the opposite side; but no sooner did his
lips feel the smooth insinuator's presence, than (his tongue being put
out of the way) they closed with instinctive affection, and went
together when the long embrace was past, with a smack quite cheering.
Then slowly rising, and fetching a deep sigh as he gathered himself
together, "Lord, Lord," said he "I'm nane the waur o' that. But,
Master William, to tell God's truth, I dinna ken whaur we are. That we
hae crossed Glen---- water, or the Hill-head burn, or the Marcher's
dyke, I'm positive sure; but whilk I'm no just equal to say--but
there's somethin' black atween us and the lift; I judge it to be
Dunmoss Cairn: let's haud on to it, and we maun soon come to biggit
wa's." So saying, he led me forward in the direction of what seemed to
me also a distant hill; but being occupied in placing my footsteps I
had ceased to look at it, when all at once there was a crush of leaves
about my head, and I found myself under a green tree. "When will this
weary night of error have an end?" I mentally exclaimed; but was
surprised by Aleck taking my hand, rubbing the palm along the rough
stem, and asking in an elate tone what I felt? "A damnably rough
bark," growled I; "what do you mean?" He cut a caper full three feet
into the air. "Here is a pleasant occurrence now--this rascal is
drunk--he will roll into the next ditch and suffocate--I shall be the
death of the poor fellow--I shall lose"--here he broke my agreeable
meditations. "I'll tell you how it was, Master William; Jeanie and I
were partners at the shearin' ("Evidently drunk," thought I), and I
canna tell how it was ("I well believe you--you can not--but 'twas all
my own folly," I muttered), but I found the maid in a sair fluster
that e'en when we parted: ("You'll be in sorer fluster presently if I
begin to you--you drunken idiot!" was my running commentary,) and sae
just as I came by this auld thorn"--"Then you _do_ know where you
are--do you?" I cried aloud.--"Sure enough," said he, "for didn't I
carve my heart wi' Jeanie's heuk stuck out through it that very night;
and isna it here to this minute?"--"Oh, ho, lead on then, in God's
name; but tell me where we are, and how far we have to go."--"Why,"
said he, "the bridge is just a step overby that we ought to hae
crossed; and troth, I wonner a dishfu' at mysell for no kennin' the
black moss and the dolochan's hole that we hae just come through; for
I hae cut turf in the ane, and weshed in the ither, since I was the
bouk o' a peat--but here we are at the end o' the causey that will
take us to the Grange." We entered on a raised and moated bank, which
crossed a mossy flat to the old house; but ere we had advanced a dozen
steps, there suddenly appeared a light moving about, and giving
occasional glimpses of the white walls and thick trees at the further
end; it then came steadily and swiftly towards us; I could presently
distinguish the dull beat of hoofs on the greensward, and soon after,
the figures of two mounted men.
The sides of the old moat were overgrown with furze and brambles, and
we stole into this cover as they approached. The foremost bore the
light, was armed at all points, and mounted on a fresh horse. I
started with exultation where I lay--he was _her_ father. His
companion's black breeches and canting seat proclaimed a priest. They
were conversing as they passed. "Another month, good father, and we
will be behind the bastions of Belle Isle; were it not for my
Madeline's sake, I would make it six; but this bloodhound having been
slipped upon us."--The sounds were here lost in the trampling of their
horses; I heard the man of masses mumble something in reply, and they
wheeled out of hearing up the rugged pathway to the bridge. "Now, mind
your promise, Master William," said Aleck, as we rose and proceeded to
the house. We soon arrived there; and he led me to a low wing,
repeating his cautions, and, in answer to my questions, denying all
knowledge of the strangers. Placing me behind a low wall, he now stole
forward and tapped at a window, and presently I heard the inmates
moving and whispering. The door was soon opened, and a parley took
place, in which I heard my assumed name made honourable mention of by
my intruder. He led me forward, pushed me gently before him, and I
found myself in a dark passage, soft hands welcoming me, and warm
breath playing on my cheek.
The door was closed, and we were led into a wide rude apartment, dim
in the low glow of a heap of embers. A splinter of bogwood was soon
kindled, and by its light I saw that we had been conducted by two
girls. One, whom from her attention to Aleck I concluded to be her of
the reaping-hook, was a pretty interesting soft maiden. The other,
however, had attractions of a very different class: fine-featured,
dark-eyed, coal-black-haired and tall; as she stood--her right hand
holding the rude torch over her head, while the left gathered the
folds of a long cloak under her bosom, with her eyes of coy
expectation and merry amazement--she seemed more the ideal of a
robber's daughter in some old romance, than a menial in a moorland
farm-house. I attempted to salute her, but she held me at bay with her
hand. "Hech, lad! ye're no blate--is it knievin' troots[A] ye think
ye are? But, my stars, ye _are_ as droukit as if ye had been through
a' the pools o' the burn! Sit down, my jo, till we dry ye; and be
qu'et till I get a fire." Peats and bogwood were now heaped upon the
hearth; and, kneeling down upon the broad stone, she began puffing
away with her pretty puckered mouth; partly, I suppose, because there
are no bellows in Glen----; and partly, I took it for granted, to
afford me an opportunity of kneeling beside and preeing it. The smoke
now rose before me in thick volumes, and for a while I lost sight of
Aleck and his Jeanie. By and by, however, on raising my head, I
started back at seeing a figure the most extraordinary standing at the
further end of the apartment. A blanket covered the shoulders; the
feet and legs were bare; a red handkerchief was tied about the head;
and, strangest of all, although the hairy neck and whiskers argued him
a man, yet was he from the waist to the knees clad in a petticoat!
[Footnote A: "Knieving trouts" (they call it tickling in England) is
good sport. You go to a stony shallow at night, a companion bearing a
torch; then, stripping to the thighs and shoulders, wade in; grope
with your hands under the stones, sods, and other harbourage, till you
find your game, then gripe him in your "knieve" and toss him ashore.
I remember, when a boy, carrying the splits for a servant of the
family, called Sam Wham. Now Sam was an able young fellow, well-boned
and willing; a hard-headed cudgel-player, and a marvellous tough
wrestler, for he had a backbone like a sea-serpent; this gained him
the name of the Twister and Twiner. He had got into the river, and
with his back to me, was stooping over a broad stone, when something
bolted from under the bank on which I stood, right through his legs.
Sam fell with a great splash upon his face, but in falling jammed
whatever it was against the stone. "Let go, Twister," shouted I, "'tis
an otter, he will nip a finger off you."--"Whisht," sputtered he, as
he slid his hand under the water; "may I never read a text again, if
he isna a sawmont wi' a shouther like a hog!"--"Grip him by the gills,
Twister," cried I.--"Saul will I!" cried the Twiner; but just then
there was a heave, a roll, a splash, a slap like a pistol-shot; down
went Sam, and up went the salmon, spun like a shilling at pitch and
toss, six feet into the air. I leaped in just as he came to the water;
but my foot caught between two stones, and the more I pulled the
firmer it stuck. The fish fell in a spot shallower than that from
which he had leaped. Sam saw the chance, and tackled to again; while
I, sitting down in the stream as best I might, held up my torch, and
cried fair play, as shoulder to shoulder, throughout and about, up and
down, roll and tumble, to it they went, Sam and the salmon. The
Twister was never so twined before. Yet through crossbuttocks and
capsizes innumerable, he still held on; now haled through a pool; now
haling up a bank; now heels over head; now head over heels; now head
and heels together; doubled up in a corner; but at last stretched
fairly on his back, and foaming for rage and disappointment; while the
victorious salmon, slapping the stones with his tail, and whirling the
spray from his shoulders at every roll, came boring and snoring up the
ford. I tugged and strained to no purpose; he flashed by me with a
snort, and slid into the deep water. Sam now staggered forward with
battered bones and peeled elbows, blowing like a grampus, and cursing
like nothing but himself. He extricated me, and we limped home.
Neither rose for a week; for I had a dislocated ankle, and the Twister
was troubled with a broken rib. Poor Sam! he had his brains discovered
at last by a poker in a row, and was worm's meat within three months;
yet, ere he died, he had the satisfaction of feasting on his old
antagonist, who was man's meat next morning. They caught him in a net.
Sam knew him by the twist in his tail.]
I started to my feet, visions of sleepwalkers and lunatics thronging
through my imagination, but was caught hold of by Nanny, who, shaking
with suppressed laughter, whispered me, while the tears ran out and
danced upon her long lashes for very fun, that it was only precious
Aleck, "wham Jeanie had cled in her bit wyliecoat, since she dauredna
wake the house to look for aught else;" then, laying her hand upon my
shoulder (and the wet oozed from between her fingers), she proposed,
with a maidenly mixture of kindliness and hesitation, that I should go
and do so likewise. Who knows how I might have stood the temptation,
had she not in time perceived my error, and, blushing deeply,
explained, that as Aleck had done--undressed himself alone--so should
I. Under these stipulations, I declined parting with more than my
coat, for which she substituted a curiously quilted coverlet; then
bringing me warm water, insisted on my bathing my feet. I gladly
consented; but hardly had I pulled off the coarse stockings, and
washed the black soil from my hands, when there began a grievous
coughing and grumbling in the room from which the girls had come.
"Lord haud a grip o' us!" cried Aleck; "it's auld _Peg_
hoastin'--De'il wauken her, the cankered rush! she'll breed a bonny
splore gin she finds me here."
"Whisht, whisht," whispered Nanny, "she's as keen as colly i' the
lugs; and glegger than baudrons i' the dark."
The libelled Mistress Margaret gave no further time for calumniation;
slamming open the door, she came down upon us, gaunt, grim, and
unescapable--"Ye menseless tawpies! ye bauld cutties! ye wanton
limmers! ye--_wha's this_?" She snatched the light from Nannie's hand,
and poked it close to my face--"Wha's this? I say, wha's this?"
"Hoots, woman!" cried Nanny, spiritedly, yet with an air of
conciliation, "I'se bail ye mony a boy has come over the moss to crack
wi' yoursell when ye were a lassie."
"_When_ I was a lassie!"
I thought she would have choked; but her indignation at last made its
way up in thunder upon my devoted head.
"Wha are ye? what are ye? what fetches ye sornin' here? ye----"
Nanny again interposed. "He's just a weaver lad, I tell ye, that Aleck
Lowther fetched frae the Langslap Moss to keep him company."
"A weaver lad!" (I had raised my foot to the rim of the tub, and sat
with my chin upon my hand, and my elbow on my knee, laughing, to the
great aggravation of her anger). "A weaver lad!--there's ne'er a
wabster o' the Langslap Moss wi' siccan a leg as that!--there's ne'er
a ane o' a' the creeshy clan wha's shins arena bristled as red as a
belly rasher!--there's ne'er a wabster o' the Langslap Moss wi' the
track o' a ring upon his wee finger!--there's ne'er a wabster o' the
Langslap Moss wi' aughteen hunner linen in his sark-frill!--Jamie,
hoi! Jamie Steenson, here's a spy!"
So sudden and overpowering was her examination and judgment, and her
voice had risen to such a pitch of clamour, that all my attempts at
interruption and explanation were lost; while the screams which the
girls could not control when they heard her call in assistance,
prevented a reply. One after another, five ruffianly-looking fellows
rushed in at her call; and ere I could free myself from the
importunate exculpations of poor Nanny, they were crowding and cursing
round me; while one, apparently their leader, held a lantern to my
face, a pike to my throat, and demanded my name and business. That
these were one unhappy remnant of the rebel party I could not doubt;
if I declared my real name, I might expect all that exasperation could
prompt and desperation execute against a disguised enemy in the camp
(for the only one from whom I could expect protection was, as I had
seen, beyond my appeal). Again, to give a fictitious name, and keep up
the character of a country weaver, was revolting to my pride, and in
all likelihood beyond my ability. Which horn of this dilemma I might
have impaled myself on, I cannot tell; for a sudden interruption
prevented my answer.
Aleck, who had with difficulty been hitherto restrained by the united
exertions of the three women, here burst from their arms, tossed off
his blanket, and leaped with a whoop into the middle of the
floor;--except the short petticoat about his loins he was stark naked.
"I'm twal stane wecht--my name's Aleck Lawther--I'll slap ony man o'
ye for four-an'-twenty tens!" As he uttered this challenge, tossing
his long arms about his head, bouncing upright, and cutting like a
posture-master at the end of every clause, while the scanty kilt
fluttered and flapped about his sinewy hams, the men fell back in a
panic, as if from a spectre; but their astonishment soon gave place to
indignation, and my questioner, clubbing his pike, stepped forward,
and making the shaft rattle off the white array of ribs, which poor
Aleck's flourish had left unprotected, reduced his proposals to
practice in a trice. He, wisely making up for disparity of forces by
superiority of weapon, started back, and adroitly unhooking the long
iron chain and pot-hooks from the chimney, set them flying round his
head like a slinger of old; and meeting his antagonist with a clash,
shot him rocketwise into the corner: then giving another whirl to his
stretcher, and leaping out with the full swing of his long body, he
brought it to bear upon the next. There was another clattering crash,
and the man went down; but pitching with his shoulder into the tub,
upset it, and sent a flood of water into the fire. Smoke, steam, and
white ashes, whirled up in clouds; the lantern was trampled out, and
the battle became general: for one rascal, lifting his fallen
comrade's pike (there was luckily but one among them), advanced upon
me. I had just light to see the thrust and parry it. Another second,
and we had closed in the midst of that strange atmosphere, striking
and sneezing at each other across the pike shaft, as we each strove to
wrest it to himself. My antagonist was a lusty fellow, and tugged me
stoutly, while I kept him between me and the main fight, now raging
through the water and the fire: this I could just distinguish among
the vapour and smoke, dashed about in red showers of embers, as each
new tramp and whirl of the combatants swept it from the hearthstone.
How Aleck fought his two opponents I could not imagine; yet once,
during a minute's relaxation on our parts, when, having got the pike
jammed between a table and the wall, we were reduced to the by-play of
kicking one another's shin-bones, I could hear, every now and again,
above the medley of curses and screams (for the women were all busy)
his lusty "Hah!" as he put in each successive blow; and then the bolt
and thud of some one gone down, far away in the distance; or the rush
of a capsize among the loose lumber at my feet. But I had no longer an
opportunity of noting his prowess; for my antagonist, getting the
weapon disentangled, hauled me after him into the open floor, and then
began upon the swinging system. So away we went, sweeping down chairs
and stools, and rolling fallen bodies over in our course; till tired
and dizzy, I suddenly planted myself, let go both holds, and dashing
in right and left together, sent him whirling like a comet, impetuous
and hot, into the void beyond. But my own head here fell heavily upon
my breast; and the whole scene, smoke, fire, and shifting shapes, with
all their mingled hissing, and battering, oaths, shrieks, and
imprecations, shut upon my senses.
A Babel of dull sound, chiming and sawing within my head, announced
my returned consciousness. This is no dream, thought I; I have been
hurt, but I am afraid to ask myself where. If my skull should be
fractured now, and I should be an idiot all my life, or if my arm
should be broken--farewell to the river! But can I be still doubled up
among those pots and pans which I crushed beneath me in my fall?
No,--dark as it is, I feel that I am laid straight and soft. I must be
in bed, but where? where? It was some time before I had courage to
confirm my doubts of my head's condition: it was carefully bandaged,
and doubtless much shattered: I could feel that I was in a
close-panelled bedstead, such as are usual in old houses; but had too
much discretion to attempt the hazardous experiment of rising without
knowing either my strength or situation. So I lay, fancying all sorts
of means to account for my preservation: need I say that the main
agent in all was the fair Madeline?
My curiosity was at length relieved; a rude folding-door opened
opposite, and showed a low dim sitting-room beyond, from which there
rose a few steps to the entrance of my chamber. On these appeared,
not, alas! the fancied visitant who was to flit about my bedside, and
mix her bright presence with my dreams, but stately and severe, with a
pale cheek and compressed lip, her father--my aversion.
I lay silent, sick at the thoughts of my own meanness in his eyes;
while he advanced, shading the light of the candle from my face, and
in a low cold tone, asked if I desired anything?
I shall never forget him as he stood, the light thrown full upon his
strong features and broad chest, and shining purple through the
fingers of his large hand. "I asked, sir, did you require any
assistance?" he repeated. "Are you in pain?" he went on. I now replied
that my chief pain was caused by my own unworthy appearance; made a
confused apology for my misconduct, and offered my acknowledgments for
the protection I had received. "You have saved the life of my child,"
he said, turning slightly from me, "and protection is a debt which
must be paid; for your follower, he must thank the same circumstance
for what little life his own mad conduct has left him." Without
another word, he took a phial from the table, and, pouring out a
draught, handed it to me; I mechanically drunk it off; but ere I had
taken it from my lips, he was gone. I heard the doors close and the
bolts shoot after him with strange forebodings; and when the sound of
his footsteps had died away in the long passage beyond, fell back in a
wild maze of apprehension and self-censure, till I again sank into a
heavy sleep.
When I awoke, there was a yellow twilight in my little cabin, from the
scattering of a red ray of the sunset which streamed through a
crevice in the door. I had therefore slept a whole day; my fever was
abated; the gnawing pain had left my head, and I longed to eat. I
knocked upon the boards, and the door was presently opened; but it was
some time ere my eyes could endure the flood of light which then burst
in. The figure which at length became visible amid it, was little
worthy so goodly a birth. The lank, slack, ill-hinged anatomy of Peg,
with a bottle in one hand, and a long horn spoon in the other,
advanced, and in no gracious tone demanded what was my will. I turned
and lay silent; for I never felt an awkward situation so embarrassing
as then. My gorge rose at the malignant cause of all my disasters; but
interest and discretion told me to be civil if I spoke at all. I gave
no answer; she was in no humour to suffer such trifling with her time.
"Hear till him, Jamie!" she exclaimed to some one behind her, "hear
till him, the fashious scunner! he dunts folk frae their wark as if he
was the laird o' the Lang Marches himsell, and then----" "Good
Mistress Margaret----" "Mistress me nae mistresses! there's ne'er a
wife i' the parish has a right to be mistressed, since she deeit wha's
wean ye wad betray! Deil hae me gin I can keep my knieves aff ye, ye
ill-faured bluid-seller!"--"Ill-faured _what_?" shouted I. "No just
ill-faured neither, blest be the Maker, and mair's the pity; ye're a
clean boy eneugh, as I weel may say, wha had the strippin' and
streekin' o' ye; but I say that ye're just a bluid-seller, a reformer,
a spy, gin ye like it better!" She backed down the steps, and holding
a leaf of the door at each side, stretched in her neck, and went on,
"Ay, spy, Willie Macdonnell, spy to your teeth.--Isna your name upon
your sark breast? and arena the arms that ye disgrace upon your seal,
and daur ye deny them? daur ye deny that ye're the swearer away o' the
innocent bluid o' puir Hughy Morrison, wham ye hangit like a doug upon
the lamp-posts o' Doonpatrick? Daur ye hae the face to deny that ye
come here e'en noo to reform upon Square O'More and his bonny wean?
Daur ye hae the impurence to deny it?" Here I was relieved by the
entrance of Mr O'More himself. I addressed him in a tone as cool and
conciliatory as I could command. "I am much relieved to find, sir,
that any harshness I may have to complain of, has originated in a
mistake. I am Mr Macdonnell of Redrigs. It was only last week that I
returned from England. I have not been in this part of the country for
many years; and can only say, that if any person bearing my name
deserves the character you seem to impute to me, I detest him as
cordially as you do." He eyed me with visibly increased disgust. "It
will not pass, sir, it will not pass. I have had notice of your
intentions. Mr Macdonnell of Redrigs is in Oxford."--"I tell you, sir,
he is here!" I cried, starting up in bed. "Back, back!" he exclaimed
to the servants who were pressing round; they fell back, and he came
up to me. "Hark ye, sir, instead of assuming a name to which you have
no right----" The passion which had been burning within me all along,
blazed out in uncontrollable fury. I started with a sudden energy out
into the floor; dashed backwards and forwards through the room,
stamping with indignation, while I asserted my honour, and demanded
satisfaction; but the fire which had for a minute animated me failed;
my tongue became confused and feeble; the whole scene whirled and
flickered round me, and I sank exhausted, and in a burning fever, on a
seat.
Every one who has suffered fever knows what a fiery trance it is. How
long mine had continued I could not guess; when the crisis came, it
was favourable, and I awoke, cool and delighted, from a long sweet
sleep. That scene I had already witnessed, of sunset through the room
beyond, was again before me; the same grey and purple haze hung over
the mountain, and the same rich sky from above lit up the
river-reaches; the dim old room was warm in the mellow light; the
folding-doors stood wide open, but on the steps where the marrer of
the whole had stood before, lo! the radiance revelling through her
hair; the rich light flushing warm through the outline of her face and
neck; the sweet repose of satisfaction and conscious care beaming
over her whole countenance; benign and beautiful stood Madeline
O'More, her finger on her lips. "She, too, thinks me a spy," I
muttered, in the bitterness of my heart, and hid my face upon
the pillow. But who can describe my delight when I heard her
well-remembered accents murmur beside me, "Oh no, believe me, indeed
I do not!" I looked up. She was covered with blushes--I felt them
reflected on my own cheek--there was a conscious pause. "Then you do
believe that I am what I have told you?" I said at last. "O yes! but
indeed you must forgive the error," she replied; and readily did I
admit its justifiableness, when she went on to tell me that a friend
had ridden a long journey to warn them against a person bearing my
name, and answering to my appearance--an apostate from their own
cause, and a noted spy, who, upon some vague information of their
retreat, had set out with the intention of discovering and betraying
them; and that their friend (in whom I at once recognised the priest I
had seen her father conduct from the house) had left them but a few
minutes before I arrived.
It was now my turn to apologise and explain. She listened, with many
pleas of palliation for the indignities I had endured, to my account
of my business in Ireland, and the circumstances which had led me to
Glen----; but when I came to account for my appearance at Moyabel,
her confusion satisfied me that the motive was already known. I felt
suddenly conscious of having been dreaming about her; and I knew that
a fevered man's dream is his nurse's perquisite: dissimulation, after
what I knew and suspected to have passed, would have been as
impossible as repugnant. So then and there, among that mellow sunset
in the sick chamber, I confessed to her how my whole thoughts had been
haunted by her image, since the time when her father had hurried her
from the scene of our meeting; how I could not rest while any scheme,
how wild soever, promised me even a chance of again beholding her; how
this had induced me to snatch at the first opportunity of discovering
her, and had brought on that disastrous adventure which had ended in
my wound; but that I still endured another, which I feared would prove
incurable, if I might not live upon the hope (and I took her hand) of
gaining her to be my heart's physician constantly.
Footsteps suddenly sounded in the passage. I released her hand, and
she hid her confusion, in a hasty escape through a side-door, just
before her father made his appearance at that of the hall. He advanced
with a frank expression of pleasure and concern; took his seat by my
bedside; congratulated me on the favourable issue of my illness, and
repeated those apologies and explanations which his daughter had
already made; adding that his first intention had been to detain me
prisoner, so that I could have no opportunity of betraying them until
their departure for France; but that the moment he had heard my
undisguised ravings, he perceived the injustice of which he had been
guilty; that Aleck's speech having returned soon after, (for the poor
fellow was so beaten that he could not say a word for three days--but
I have taken good care of him), another evidence, however unnecessary,
was afforded by his declaration; and that, therefore, a messenger was
immediately despatched to Knowehead, with private letters, explaining
our situation and its causes, and resting on the honour of my friend
for the security of all. The trust had been well reposed: Aleck, who
was able to go home in a few days, had come the night before (although
returned that morning) with the intelligence of the real spy having
applied for information to the old gentleman; but that, loyal subject
and zealous Protestant as he was, he had given him no more than a
civil indication of his door. All this he told with a gratified and
grateful air, and left me to a night of happy dreams.
Next morning, however, he came to me, and in a serious, nay severe
manner, told me, that as I had divulged the motive which brought me
thither in my ravings, he felt it a duty to himself and to me, now
that I was established in my recovery, to inform me that, while he
forgave my intrusion on a privacy he had already begged me not to
break, he must desire that there should be no recurrence of attentions
to his daughter, which might distract a heart destined either for the
service of a free Catholic in regenerated Ireland, or for that of
Heaven in a nunnery.
He had laid his hand upon the table, and it unconsciously rested upon
the seals of my watch. "Look," said I, "at these trinkets; I shall
tell you what they are, and let them be my answer. That rude silver
seal, with the arms and initials, was dug from my father's orchard,
along with the bones of his ancestor, who fell there beneath the
knives of free Catholics in --41, a greyhaired man, among the seven
bodies of his murdered wife and children. Look again at that curious
ring; it was worn by his son, the sole survivor of all that ancient
family who escaped, a maimed and famished spectre, out of Derry, after
the same party had driven him to eat his sword-belt for hunger. Look
once again at this more antique locket; it contains the hair of a
maternal ancestor, who perished for the faith among the fagots of
Smithfield; and look, here, at my own arm--that wound I received when
a child, from the chief of a 'Heart of Steel' banditti, who, under the
same banner, lighted our family's escape from rape and massacre, by
the flames of their own burning roof-tree; and yet I--I, every drop of
whose blood might well cry out for vengeance, when I see these
remembrancers of my wrongs in the hands of my wrongs' defender, do yet
take that hand, and long to call him father."
I was here interrupted by the sudden entrance of a splashed and
wearied messenger: advancing with a military salute, he presented a
letter to Mr O'More. "Pardon me," he said, hastily tearing it open,
"this is on a matter of life and death." He read it in great
agitation; led the messenger aside; gave some hurried orders; took
down his arms from the mantelpiece; and drawing his belt, and fixing
in his pistols while he spoke, addressed me:--"Notwithstanding what
you have urged, my determination remains unaltered. I must leave
Moyabel, for I cannot now say how long: you shall be taken care of in
my absence: farewell, sir, farewell." He shook me by the hand, and
hurried away. I heard confusion in the house, and thought I could
distinguish the sweet voice of Madeline, broken by sobs at his
departure. A considerable party seemed to leave the house; for there
was a great trampling of horses in the courtyard, and two or three
mounted men passed by the windows. At length they were out of hearing,
and I determined not to lose another minute of the precious
opportunity. My clothes had been brought from Knowehead, and I was so
much recovered that I found myself able to rise, and set about
dressing immediately. My continental visions of beard were more than
realised; and if I failed to produce a shapely moustache, 'twas not
for lack of material. With fluttering expectation, I selected the most
graceful of the pantaloons; drew on my rings; arrayed myself in the
purple velvet slippers, cap, and brocade dressing-gown; took one
lingering last look at the little mirror, and descended into the
parlour. I drew a writing-table to me, and penned a long letter to
Knowehead, another to Redrigs, and had half-finished a sonnet to
Madeline. The day was nearly past, and she had not yet made her
appearance.
For the first time the thought struck me, and that with a pang which
made me leap to my feet, that she had accompanied her father, and was
gone! gone, perhaps, to a nunnery in France! gone, and lost to me for
ever! "Hilloa, Peg!" and I thumped the floor with the poker, "Peg, I
say! as you would not have me in another fever, come here!" She came
to the door: the poor old creature's eyes were swollen and blood-shot:
she made a frightened curtsy to me as I stood, the papers crumpled up
in one hand, and the poker in the other.--"Peggy; oh, Peggy! where is
your young mistress?"
"Save us, your honour! Ye are na weel; sall I fetch you a drap
cordial?"
"Your mistress? your mistress? where is your young mistress?"
"Oh, sir, dear! take anither posset, and gang to your bed."
"To the devil I pitch your posset! where is your young mistress? where
is Madeline O'More?"
She turned to escape: I leaped forward, and caught her by the
shoulder--"Since ye maun ken, then," she screamed, "by God's
providence, she's on the saut water wi' the Square, her father"--I
sank back upon the sofa--"wha," she continued in a soothing strain,
"has left me to take charge o' your honour's head till ye can gang
your lane: A' the ithers are awa, but wee Jeanie and mysell; and ye
wadna, surely your honour wadna gang to frichten twa lane weemen, by
dwamin' awa that gait, and deein' amang their hands? But save us, if
there's no auld Knowehead himsell, wi' that bauld sorner, Aleck
Lawther, on a sheltie at his heels, trottin' doon the causey!--Jeanie,
hoi, Jeanie, rin and open the yett."
I lay back--sick--sick--sick. The old man, booted and spurred, strode
in--
"I'm thinkin', Willie, ye hae catched a cloured head?"
"If I do not catch a strait-waistcoat, sir, it will be the less
matter."
"Willie, man," said he, without noticing my comment, "she's weel awa,
and you are weel redd--but toss off thae wylie-coats and nightcaps,
and lap yoursell up in mensefu' braid-claith; for, donsie as you are,
you maun come alang wi' me to Knowehead--there's a troop o' dragoons
e'en now on Skyboe side, wi' your creditable namesake at their head,
and they'll herry Moyabel frae hearthstane to riggin' before sax hours
are gane--best keep frae under a lowin' king-post, and on the outside
o' the four wa's o' a prevost.--You're no fit to ride, man; and you
couldna thole the jolting o' a wheel-car--but never fear, we'll slip
you hame upon a feather-bed.--Nae denial, Willie--here, draw on your
coat: now, that's something purpose-like--cram thae flim-flams into a
poke, my bonny Jean, and fetch me a handkerchief to tie about his
head: Come, Willie, take my arm--come awa, come awa."
I was passive in his hands, for I felt as weak as an infant. They
wrapped me up in greatcoats and blankets, and supported me to the
courtyard. I had hardly strength to speak to Aleck, whom I now saw for
the first time since the night of his disaster; the poor fellow's face
still bore the livid marks of his punishment, but he was active and
assiduous as ever. A slide car or slipe--a vehicle something like a
Lapland sledge--was covered with bedding in the middle of the square:
a cart was just being hurried off, full of loose furniture, with Peggy
and Jenny in front. I was placed upon my hurdle, apparently as little
for this world as if Tyburn had been its destination: Knowehead and
Aleck mounted their horses, took the reins of that which drew me at
either side, and hauled me off at a smart trot along the smooth turf
of the grass-grown causeway. The motion was sliding and agreeable,
except on one occasion, when we had to take a few perches of the
highway in crossing the river; but when we struck off into the green
horse-track again, and began to rise and sink upon the ridges of the
broad lea, I could have compared my humble litter to the knight's
horses, which felt like proud seas under them. From the sample I had
had of that part of the country on the night of the flood, I had
anticipated a "confused march forlorn, through bogs, caves, fens,
lakes, dens, and shades of death," but was agreeably surprised to see
the Longslap Moss a simple stripe along the water's edge, lying dark
in the deepening twilight, a full furlong from our path, which,
instead of weltering through the soaked and spungy flats that I had
expected, wound dry and mossy up the gentle slope of a smooth green
hill; so that, although the night closed in upon us ere half our
journey was completed, we arrived at Knowehead without farther
accident than one capsize (the beauty of slipping consists in the
impossibility of breaks down), and so far from being the worse of my
"sail," I felt actually stronger than on leaving the Grange;
nevertheless I was put to bed, where I continued for a week.
Next day brought intelligence of the wrecking of Moyabel in the
search for the rebel general and the sick Frenchman: our measures had
been so well taken, however, that no suspicion attached itself to
Knowehead. I learned from Peggy, so soon as her lamentations subsided,
that Mr O'More was a south country gentleman, who had married her
master's sister, and that Madeline was his only child; that this had
been his first visit to the north since the death of his lady, which
had taken place at her brother's house, but that Moyabel had long been
the resort of his friends and emissaries. The old woman left Knowehead
that night, and I learned no more; for Jenny (who remained with Miss
Janet) had been so busy with her care of Aleck during his illness, and
afterwards so unwell herself, that she knew nothing more than I.
Another week completely re-established me in my strength; but the
craving that had never left me since the last sight of Madeline, kept
me still restless and impatient. Meanwhile Aleck's courtship had
ripened in the golden sun of matrimony, and the wedding took place on
the next Monday morning. He was a favourite with all at Knowehead, and
the event was celebrated by a dance of all the young neighbours. After
witnessing the leaping and flinging in the barn for half an hour, I
retired to Miss Janet's parlour, where I was lolling away the evening
on her high-backed sofa, along with the old gentleman, who, driven
from his capitol in the kitchen by the bustle of the day, had
installed himself in the unwonted state of an embroidered arm-chair
beside me. We were projecting a grand coursing campaign before I
should leave the country, and listening to the frequent bursts of
merriment from the barn and kitchen, when little Davie came in to tell
his master that "Paul Ingram was speerin' gain he wad need ony tey, or
brendy, or prime pigtail, or Virginney leaf."
"I do not just approve of Paul's line of trade," observed the old man,
turning to me; "for I'm thinking his commodities come oftener frae the
smuggler's cave than the king's store; but he's a merry deevil, Paul,
and has picked up a braw hantle o' mad ballads ae place and another;
some frae Glen---- here, some frae Galloway, some frae the Isle o'
Man, and some queer lingos he can sing, that he says he learned frae
the Frenchmen."
A sudden thought struck me. "I will go out and get him to sing some to
me, sir."--"Is Rab Halliday there, Davie?" inquired he.
"Oh aye, sir," said Davie; "it's rantin' Rab that ye hear roarin' e'en
noo."
"Weel, tell him, Davie, that here's Mr William, wha has learned to
speel Parnassus by a step-ladder, has come to hear the sang he made
about my grandmither's wooin'."
Accordingly Davie ushered me to the kitchen. I could distinguish
through the reaming fumes of liquor and tobacco about half a dozen of
carousers; they were chorusing at the full stretch of their lungs the
song of a jolly fellow in one corner, who, nodding, winking, and
flourishing his palms, in that state of perfect bliss "that good ale
brings men to," was lilting up
"Till the house be rinnin' round about,
It's time enough to flit;
When we fell, we aye gat up again,
And sae will we yet!"
This was ranting Rab Halliday--they all rose at my entrance; but being
able to make myself at home in all companies, I had little difficulty
in soon restoring them to their seats and jollity; while Davie
signified what was to him intelligible of his master's wishes to the
tuneful ranter. Rab, after praying law for any lack of skill that
might be detected by my learning, sang with great humour the following
verses, which he entitled