THE STONE OF STRENGTH.
Having many of my own adventures to relate, I will confine my
narrative chiefly to the achievements of those in whom I am most
interested--the men of Glen Ora; and even in that I must be brief.
In all those athletic sports, which in time of peace were of old, and
are still the principal amusements of the Gael, there were many stout
and hardy competitors; but Callum's known fame for strength and
agility, together with his cool and confident air and graceful
bearing, made them all dubious of victory, yet there were on the
ground the flower of that poor remnant, who now represent the once
powerful clans of the West.
Young Ewen Oig, the most handsome lad in our glen, elicited a burst
of applause, and won the first prize for the sword dance, a species
of Pyrrhic measure, performed over the crossed blades of two
claymores; and he was also the victor of the dangerous Geal-ruith or
race up hill, when nearly twenty strong and active Celts, hardy and
swift as mountain deer, flung their belts, bonnets, and plaids on the
ground, and with their kilts girdled tightly about them, started in a
line at full speed up the steep slope of the Craig-na-tuirc, for the
goal, a rough misshapen block that marked the scene of some forgotten
conflict.
In the broadsword and target exercise the old men bore away the palm,
for these warlike accomplishments are disused by the young; but, for
the dangerous feat of swinging the sledge-hammer and tossing a long
iron bar fairly over-end-long, by one turn of the foot, the silver
medals were bestowed on Gillespie Ruadh; while the victor of the
Clach-neart, or _stone of strength_,--one of which in the days of old
usually lay at the door of every chief, that he might test the muscle
of his followers, was Callum Dhu, who flung it a full yard and more,
beyond the most powerful champions of the adjacent glens and clans.
Then came the play with the Clach-cuid-fir, a more serious test of
strength.
In the centre of that great arena, formed by the circle of wondering
and excited spectators, lay two stones, one of which was a square
block about four feet high; the other was smaller and weighed two
hundred and fifty pounds in weight. This was the _clach_. In the
Highlands, he who could lift the lesser and place it on the larger
block was esteemed _a man_, and entitled from thenceforward to wear a
bonnet. Though much disused in general, this severe Celtic feat had
still been remembered and practised by the men who dwelt in our
remote districts; but as most of those who came with me were youths
whose energies were scarcely developed, or old men whose strength was
beginning to fail, Callum Dhu alone advanced to the clach-cuid-fir,
and, taking off his bonnet, bowed to the people, in token that he
challenged all men present to the essay.
His air, his garb, his bare muscular limbs, his stately port, erected
head and ample chest, gave him the aspect of one of the athletæ of
the Roman games. Thrice he waved his bonnet in token of challenge to
the people, and though a murmur of admiration greeted him, there was
no other response. At his neck hung a brass miraculous medal and
little crucifix, for Callum had been reared a Catholic, and these he
carefully adjusted before he began. Every eye and opera-glass were
fixed upon him, while grasping the ponderous clach, and with a
simple, but scarcely perceptible effort, he raised and placed it
gently on the summit of the greater block.
For a moment the people paused as if they had each and all held in
their breath, and then a loud, long and hearty plaudit made the sunny
welkin ring: and my breast expanded with honest pride in Callum's
strength and prowess.
'Heavens--such a love of a man!' exclaimed Fanny Clavering, with
astonishment and delight sparkling in her beautiful eyes.
'Regulaw brick--aw!' added her cavalier, Mr. Snobleigh, whose glass
was wedged in his right eye.
'Egad!' exclaimed Captain Clavering, with honest English warmth and
admiration; 'this is the mettle of which the Scots make their
Highland regiments.'
'Such were our men, sir,' said I, bowing; 'but there are few now
between Lochness and Lochaber, who could perform a feat like this.'
'The greater is the cause of regret.'
'Now, Callum,' said I, 'let us have no more of this. You have tasked
your strength enough for one day--and remember you have long been
weak and ailing.'
'I have been struggling to give pride and pleasure to Minnie, and if
I conquer, 'tis as much for her sake as for yours, Mac Innon. She
pinned this cockade on my bonnet when I left her, and reminding me of
the former prizes I had won, smiled on me, as she alone can smile;
for Minnie is the fairest flower on the banks of the Ora. But what
seeks this red-legged partridge here?' he continued, in Gaelic.
This was applied to the valet of Sir Horace, Mr. Jeames Toodles, who,
notwithstanding the splendour of his livery, his red plush nether
habiliments, laced hat and heraldic buttons, approached timidly to
say, that 'Sir 'Orace vished that ere thingumbob lifted again, if the
gentlemen had no objections.'
Callum gave the liveryman a withering glance, and touching his bonnet
to the ladies, pushed the clach off the lower block with one hand.
'Oh, papa,' exclaimed Miss Everingham, 'how can you be so cruel as to
ask this? Don't you see that the poor man looks quite faint, after
all he has done already?'
'Never mind,' said the baronet, from his well-stuffed carriage; 'up
with it again, my man, and here is a sovereign for you!'
While something like an emotion of rage and humiliation made the eyes
of my fosterer flash fire, he snatched up the ponderous clach, and
after poising it aloft for a moment, while he trembled in every limb,
while every muscle and fibre strained and stood like cords and wires
of iron, and while the perspiration oozed from every opening pore, he
dashed it down upon the lower block, and shivered it into fifty
fragments.
I saw that he was deathly pale, when Mr. Jeames Toodles approached
him with the sovereign, but whether in anger, or that his strength
had been wantonly overtasked, I know not--probably both. Disdaining
to touch the coin, the poor half-starved fox-hunter said to the
valet, with a glance of quiet contempt--
'Put that in your pocket, my friend, and thank your master for me.
Dioul!' he added, in Gaelic, 'does this man think to pay us like
English rope-dancers, or the fellow who squeaks in Punch's box at the
fair? Air Dhia! we have not yet come to that!'
'You are a noble fellow,' exclaimed Fanny Clavering, patting his
brawny shoulder with her pretty hand, while her fine eyes sparkled;
'I shall never--never forget you.'
'Miss Clavering,' said Sir Horace, coldly; 'you forget yourself.'
Then came the tossing of the caber--a tree which is cut short off by
the roots, and must be balanced by a man in the palms of his hands,
and which he must toss completely round in the air, so that it may
fall endlong in a direct line from him. In this feat, none ever
excelled a little tribe named the Mac Ellars, who for more than a
thousand years had resided in Glen-tuirc; but about twelve months
before this time, they had been expelled with great cruelty by
Snaggs. Their huts were burned down, and several persons who were
old and bedridden, were wounded--three mortally--by the soldiers from
Fort Augustus. These had been ordered to fire through the thatched
roofs to force the people out, after which the whole were driven at
the bayonet's point to the sea-shore, where they were ironed and
embarked on board the famous evicting ship, the _Duchess_, which
awaited them at Isle Ornsay, to convey the whole tribe to the nearest
port of the American coast; so, when the caber was carried to-day,
the strong hands that were wont to toss it high aloft, amid the
honest shouts that woke the rocky echoes of Ben Ora, were now
assisting to clear the vast forests of that Far West, where the sun
of the clans is sinking.