The Bride of Lammermoor Page 10

  CHAPTER IX.

  Ay, and when huntsmen wind the merry horn, And from its covert starts the fearful prey, Who, warm'd with youth's blood in his swelling veins, Would, like a lifeless clod, outstretched lie, Shut out from all the fair creation offers?

  Ethwald, Act I. Scene 1.

  LIGHT meals procure light slumbers; and therefore it is not surprisingthat, considering the fare which Caleb's conscience, or his necessity,assuming, as will sometimes happen, that disguise, had assigned to theguests of Wolf's Crag, their slumbers should have been short.

  In the morning Bucklaw rushed into his host's apartment with a loudhalloo, which might have awaked the dead.

  "Up! up! in the name of Heaven! The hunters are out, the only piece ofsport I have seen this month; and you lie here, Master, on a bed thathas little to recommend it, except that it may be something softer thanthe stone floor of your ancestor's vault."

  "I wish," said Ravenswood, raising his head peevishly, "you had forborneso early a jest, Mr. Hayston it is really no pleasure to lose the veryshort repose which I had just begun to enjoy, after a night spent inthoughts upon fortune far harder than my couch, Bucklaw."

  "Pschaw, pshaw!" replied his guest; "get up--get up; the hounds areabroad. I have saddled the horses myself, for old Caleb was calling forgrooms and lackeys, and would never have proceeded without two hours'apology for the absence of men that were a hundred miles off. Get up,Master; I say the hounds are out--get up, I say; the hunt is up." Andoff ran Bucklaw.

  "And I say," said the Master, rising slowly, "that nothing can concernme less. Whose hounds come so near to us?"

  "The Honourable Lord Brittlebrains's," answered Caleb, who had followedthe impatient Laird of Bucklaw into his master's bedroom, "and truly Iken nae title they have to be yowling and howling within the freedomsand immunities of your lordship's right of free forestry."

  "Nor I, Caleb," replied Ravenswood, "excepting that they have boughtboth the lands and the right of forestry, and may think themselvesentitled to exercise the rights they have paid their money for."

  "It may be sae, my lord," replied Caleb; "but it's no gentleman's deedof them to come here and exercise such-like right, and your lordshipliving at your ain castle of Wolf's Crag. Lord Brittlebrains would weelto remember what his folk have been."

  "And what we now are," said the Master, with suppressed bitterness offeeling. "But reach me my cloak, Caleb, and I will indulge Bucklaw witha sight of this chase. It is selfish to sacrifice my guest's pleasure tomy own."

  "Sacrifice!" echoed Caleb, in a tone which seemed to imply the totalabsurdity of his master making the least concession in deference to anyone--"sacrifice, indeed!--but I crave your honour's pardon, and whilkdoublet is it your pleasure to wear?"

  "Any one you will, Caleb; my wardrobe, I suppose, is not veryextensive."

  "Not extensive!" echoed his assistant; "when there is the grey andsilver that your lordship bestowed on Hew Hildebrand, your outrider;and the French velvet that went with my lord your father--be graciousto him!--my lord your father's auld wardrobe to the puir friends of thefamily; and the drap-de-Berry----"

  "Which I gave to you, Caleb, and which, I suppose, is the only dress wehave any chance to come at, except that I wore yesterday; pray, hand methat, and say no more about it."

  "If your honour has a fancy," replied Caleb, "and doubtless it's asad-coloured suit, and you are in mourning; nevertheless, I have nevertried on the drap-de-Berry--ill wad it become me--and your honour havingno change of claiths at this present--and it's weel brushed, and asthere are leddies down yonder----"

  "Ladies!" said Ravenswood; "and what ladies, pray?"

  "What do I ken, your lordship? Looking down at them from the Warden'sTower, I could but see them glent by wi' their bridles ringing and theirfeathers fluttering, like the court of Elfland."

  "Well, well, Caleb," replied the Master, "help me on with my cloak, andhand me my sword-belt. What clatter is that in the courtyard?"

  "Just Bucklaw bringing out the horses," said Caleb, after a glancethrough the window, "as if there werena men eneugh in the castle, or asif I couldna serve the turn of ony o' them that are out o' the gate."

  "Alas! Caleb, we should want little if your ability were equal to yourwill," replied the Master.

  "And I hope your lordship disna want that muckle," said Caleb; "for,considering a' things, I trust we support the credit of the family asweel as things will permit of,--only Bucklaw is aye sae frank and saeforward. And there he has brought out your lordship's palfrey, withoutthe saddle being decored wi' the broidered sumpter-cloth! and I couldhave brushed it in a minute."

  "It is all very well," said his master, escaping from him and descendingthe narrow and steep winding staircase which led to the courtyard.

  "It MAY be a' very weel," said Caleb, somewhat peevishly; "but if yourlordship wad tarry a bit, I will tell you what will NOT be very weel."

  "And what is that?" said Ravenswood, impatiently, but stopping at thesame time.

  "Why, just that ye suld speer ony gentleman hame to dinner; for I cannamak anither fast on a feast day, as when I cam ower Bucklaw wi' QueenMargaret; and, to speak truth, if your lordship wad but please to castyoursell in the way of dining wi' Lord Bittlebrains, I'se warrand I wadcast about brawly for the morn; or if, stead o' that, ye wad but dinewi' them at the change-house, ye might mak your shift for the awing: yemight say ye had forgot your purse, or that the carline awed ye rent,and that ye wad allow it in the settlement."

  "Or any other lie that cam uppermost, I suppose?" said his master."Good-bye, Caleb; I commend your care for the honour of the family."And, throwing himself on his horse, he followed Bucklaw, who, at themanifest risk of his neck, had begun to gallop down the steep path whichled from the Tower as soon as he saw Ravenswood have his foot in thestirrup.

  Caleb Balderstone looked anxiously after them, and shook his thin greylocks: "And I trust they will come to no evil; but they have reachedthe plain, and folk cannot say but that the horse are hearty and inspirits." Animated by the natural impetuosity and fire of his temper,young Bucklaw rushed on with the careless speed of a whirlwind.Ravenswood was scarce more moderate in his pace, for his was a mindunwillingly roused from contemplative inactivity, but which, when onceput into motion, acquired a spirit of forcible and violent progression.Neither was his eagerness proportioned in all cases to the motive ofimpulse, but might be compared to the sped of a stone, which rushes withlike fury down the hill whether it was first put in motion by the arm ofa giant or the hand of a boy. He felt, therefore, in no ordinary degree,the headlong impulse of the chase, a pastime so natural to youth ofall ranks, that it seems rather to be an inherent passion in our animalnature, which levels all differences of rank and education, than anacquired habit of rapid exercise.

  The repeated bursts of the French horn, which was then always used forthe encouragement and direction of the hounds; the deep, though distantbaying of the pack; the half-heard cries of the huntsmen; the half-seenforms which were discovered, now emerging from glens which crossed themoor, now sweeping over its surface, now picking their way where itwas impeded by morasses; and, above all, the feeling of his own rapidmotion, animated the Master of Ravenswood, at last for the moment, abovethe recollections of a more painful nature by which he was surrounded.The first thing which recalled him to those unpleasing circumstanceswas feeling that his horse, notwithstanding all the advantages which hereceived from his rider's knowledge of the country, was unable to keepup with the chase. As he drew his bridle up with the bitter feelingthat his poverty excluded him from the favourite recreation of hisforefathers, and indeed their sole employment when not engaged inmilitary pursuits, he was accosted by a well-mounted stranger, who,unobserved, had kept near him during the earlier part of his career.

  "Your horse is blown," said the man, with a complaisance seldom used ina hunting-field. "Might I crave your honour to make use of mine?"

  "Sir," said Ravenswood, more surprised th
an pleased at such a proposal."I really do not know how I have merited such a favour at a stranger'shands."

  "Never ask a question about it, Master," said Bucklaw, who, with greatunwillingness, had hitherto reined in his own gallant steed, not tooutride his host and entertainer. "Take the goods the gods provide you,as the great John Dryden says; or stay--here, my friend, lend me thathorse; I see you have been puzzled to rein him up this half-hour. I'lltake the devil out of him for you. Now, Master, do you ride mine, whichwill carry you like an eagle."

  And throwing the rein of his own horse to the Master of Ravenswood, hesprung upon that which the stranger resigned to him, and continuedhis career at full speed. "Was ever so thoughtless a being!" said theMaster; "and you, my friend, how could you trust him with your horse?"

  "The horse," said the man, "belongs to a person who will make yourhonour, or any of your honourable friends, most welcome to him, fleshand fell."

  "And the owner's name is----?" asked Ravenswood.

  "Your honour must excuse me, you will learn that from himself. If youplease to take your friend's horse, and leave me your galloway, I willmeet you after the fall of the stag, for I hear they are blowing him atbay."

  "I believe, my friend, it will be the best way to recover your goodhorse for you," answered Ravenswood; and mounting the nag of his friendBucklaw, he made all the haste in his power to the spot where the blastof the horn announced that the stag's career was nearly terminated.

  These jovial sounds were intermixed with the huntsmen's shouts of "Hykea Talbot! Hyke a Teviot! now, boys, now!" and similar cheering halloosof the olden hunting-field, to which the impatient yelling of thehounds, now close of the object of their pursuit, gave a lively andunremitting chorus. The straggling riders began now to rally towards thescene of action, collecting from different points as to a common centre.

  Bucklaw kept the start which he had gotten, and arrived first at thespot, where the stag, incapable of sustaining a more prolonged flight,had turned upon the hounds, and, in the hunter's phrase, was at bay.With his stately head bent down, his sides white with foam, his eyesstrained betwixt rage and terror, the hunted animal had now in his turnbecome an object of intimidation to his pursuers. The hunters cameup one by one, and watched an opportunity to assail him with someadvantage, which, in such circumstances, can only be done with caution.The dogs stood aloof and bayed loudly, intimating at once eagerness andfear, and each of the sportsmen seemed to expect that his comrade wouldtake upon him the perilous task of assaulting and disabling the animal.The ground, which was a hollow in the common or moor, afforded littleadvantage for approaching the stag unobserved; and general was the shoutof triumph when Bucklaw, with the dexterity proper to an accomplishedcavalier of the day, sprang from his horse, and dashing suddenly andswiftly at the stag, brought him to the ground by a cut on the hind legwith his short hunting-sword. The pack, rushing in upon their disabledenemy, soon ended his painful struggles, and solemnised his fall withtheir clamour; the hunters, with their horns and voices, whooping andblowing a mort, or death-note, which resounded far over the billows ofthe adjacent ocean.

  The huntsman then withdrew the hounds from the throttled stag, and onhis knee presented his knife to a fair female form, on a white palfrey,whose terror, or perhaps her compassion, had till then kept her at somedistance. She wore a black silk riding-mask, which was then a commonfashion, as well for preserving the complexion from the sun and rain, asfrom an idea of decorum, which did not permit a lady to appear barefacedwhile engaged in a boisterous sport, and attended by a promiscuouscompany. The richness of her dress, however, as well as the mettle andform of her palfrey, together with the silvan compliment paid to her bythe huntsman, pointed her out to Bucklaw as the principal person inthe field. It was not without a feeling of pity, approaching evento contempt, that this enthusiastic hunter observed her refuse thehuntsman's knife, presented to her for the purpose of making the firstincision in the stag's breast, and thereby discovering the venison. Hefelt more than half inclined to pay his compliments to her; but it hadbeen Bucklaw's misfortune, that his habits of life had not renderedhim familiarly acquainted with the higher and better classes of femalesociety, so that, with all his natural audacity, he felt sheepish andbashful when it became necessary to address a lady of distinction.

  Taking unto himself heart of grace (to use his own phrase), he did atlength summon up resolution enough to give the fair huntress good timeof the day, and trust that her sport had answered her expectation. Heranswer was very courteously and modestly expressed, and testified somegratitude to the gallant cavalier, whose exploit had terminated thechase so adroitly, when the hounds and huntsmen seemed somewhat at astand.

  "Uds daggers and scabbard, madam," said Bucklaw, whom this observationbrought at once upon his own ground, "there is no difficulty or merit inthat matter at all, so that a fellow is not too much afraid of having apair of antlers in his guts. I have hunted at force five hundred times,madam; and I never yet saw the stag at bay, by land or water, but Idurst have gone roundly in on him. It is all use and wont, madam; andI'll tell you, madam, for all that, it must be done with good heed andcaution and you will do well, madam, to have your hunting-sword rightsharp and double-edged, that you may strike either fore-handed orback-handed, as you see reason, for a hurt with a buck's horn is aperilous ad somewhat venomous matter."

  "I am afraid, sir," said the young lady, and her smile was scarceconcealed by her vizard, "I shall have little use for such carefulpreparation."

  "But the gentleman says very right for all that, my lady," said anold huntsman, who had listened to Bucklaw's harangue with no smalledification "and I have heard my father say, who was a forester at theCabrach, that a wild boar's gaunch is more easily healed than a hurtfrom the deer's horn, for so says the old woodman's rhyme--

  If thou be hurt with horn of hart, it brings thee to they bier; But tusk of boar shall leeches heal, thereof have lesser fear."

  "An I might advise," continued Bucklaw, who was now in his element, anddesirous of assuming the whole management, "as the hounds are surbatedand weary, the head of the stag should be cabaged in order to rewardthem; and if I may presume to speak, the huntsman, who is to break upthe stag, ought to drink to your good ladyship's health a good lustybicker of ale, or a tass of brandy; for if he breaks him up withoutdrinking, the venison will not keep well."

  This very agreeable prescription received, as will be readily believed,all acceptation from the huntsman, who, in requital, offered to bucklawthe compliment of his knife, which the young lady had declined.

  This polite proffer was seconded by his mistress. "I believe, sir," shesaid, withdrawing herself from the circle, "that my father, for whoseamusement Lord Bittlebrain's hounds have been out to-day, will readilysurrender all care of these matters to a gentleman of your experience."

  Then, bending gracefully from her horse, she wished him good morning,and, attended by one or two domestics, who seemed immediately attachedto her service, retired from the scene of action, to which Bucklaw, toomuch delighted with an opportunity of displaying his woodcraft to careabout man or woman either, paid little attention but was soon stript tohis doublet, with tucked-up sleeves, and naked arms up to the elbowsin blood and grease, slashing, cutting, hacking, and hewing, with theprecision of Sir Tristrem himself, and wrangling and disputing with allaround him concerning nombles, briskets, flankards, and raven-bones,then usual terms of the art of hunting, or of butchery, whichever thereader chooses to call it, which are now probably antiquated.

  When Ravenswood, who followed a short pace behind his friend, saw thatthe stag had fallen, his temporary ardour for the chase gave way to thatfeeling of reluctance which he endured at encountering in his fallenfortunes the gaze whether of equals or inferiors. He reined up his horseon the top of a gentle eminence, from which he observed the busy and gayscene beneath him, and heard the whoops of the huntsmen, gaily mingledwith the cry of the dogs, and the neighing and trampling of the horses.But these jovial sounds
fell sadly on the ear of the ruined nobleman.The chase, with all its train of excitations, has ever since feudaltimes been accounted the almost exclusive privilege of the aristocracy,and was anciently their chief employment in times of peace. The sensethat he was excluded by his situation from enjoying the silvan sport,which his rank assigned to him as a special prerogative, and the feelingthat new men were now exercising it over the downs which had beenjealously reserved by his ancestors for their own amusement, while he,the heir of the domain, was fain to hold himself at a distance fromtheir party, awakened reflections calculated to depress deeply a mindlike Ravenswood's, which was naturally contemplative and melancholy. Hispride, however, soon shook off this feeling of dejection, and it gaveway to impatience upon finding that his volatile friend Bucklaw seemedin no hurry to return with his borrowed steed, which Ravenswood, beforeleaving the field, wished to see restored to the obliging owner. As hewas about to move towards the group of assembled huntsmen, he was joinedby a horseman, who, like himself, had kept aloof during the fall of thedeer.

  This personage seemed stricken in years. He wore a scarlet cloak,buttoning high upon his face, and his hat was unlooped and slouched,probably by way of defence against the weather. His horse, a strong andsteady palfrey, was calculated for a rider who proposed to witness thesport of the day rather than to share it. An attendant waited at somedistance, and the whole equipment was that of an elderly gentleman ofrank and fashion. He accosted Ravenswood very politely, but not withoutsome embarrassment.

  "You seem a gallant young gentleman, sir," he said, "and yet appear asindifferent to this brave sport as if you had my load of years on yourshoulders."

  "I have followed the sport with more spirit on other occasions," repliedthe Master; "at present, late events in my family must be my apology;and besides," he added, "I was but indifferently mounted at thebeginning of the sport."

  "I think," said the stranger, "one of my attendants had the sense toaccommodate your friend with a horse."

  "I was much indebted to his politeness and yours," replied Ravenswood."My friend is Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw, whom I dare say you will besure to find in the thick of the keenest sportsmen. He will returnyour servant's horse, and take my pony in exchange; and will add,"he concluded, turning his horse's head from the stranger, "his bestacknowledgments to mine for the accommodation."

  The Master of Ravenswood, having thus expressed himself, began to movehomeward, with the manner of one who has taken leave of his company.But the stranger was not so to be shaken off. He turned his horse at thesame time, and rode in the same direction, so near to the Master that,without outriding him, which the formal civility of the time, andthe respect due to the stranger's age and recent civility, would haverendered improper, he could not easily escape from his company.

  The stranger did not long remain silent. "This, then," he said, "is theancient Castle of Wolf's Crag, often mentioned in the Scottish records,"looking to the old tower, then darkening under the influence of a stormycloud, that formed its background; for at the distance of a short mile,the chase, having been circuitous, had brought the hunters nearly backto the point which they had attained when Ravenswood and Bucklaw had setforward to join them.

  Ravenswood answered this observation with a cold and distant assent."It was, as I have heard," continued the stranger, unabashed by hiscoldness, "one of the most early possessions of the honourable family ofRavenswood."

  "Their earliest possession," answered the Master, "and probably theirlatest."

  "I--I--I should hope not, sir," answered the stranger, clearing hisvoice with more than one cough, and making an effort to overcome acertain degree of hesitation "Scotland knows what she owes tothis ancient family, and remembers their frequent and honourableachievements. I have little doubt that, were it properly representedto her Majesty that so ancient and noble a family were subjected todilapidation--I mean to decay--means might be found, ad re-aedificandumantiquam domum----"

  "I will save you the trouble, sir, of discussing this point farther,"interrupted the Master, haughtily. "I am the heir of that unfortunatehouse--I am the Master of Ravenswood. And you, sir, who seem to bea gentleman of fashion and education, must be sensible that the nextmortification after being unhappy is the being loaded with undesiredcommiseration."

  "I beg your pardon, sir," said the elder horseman; "I did not know--I amsensible I ought not to have mentioned--nothing could be farther from mythoughts than to suppose----"

  "There are no apologies necessary, sir," answered Ravenswood, "for here,I suppose, our roads separate, and I assure you that we part in perfectequanimity on my side."

  As speaking these words, he directed his horse's head towards a narrowcauseway, the ancient approach to Wolf's Crag, of which it might betruly said, in the words of the Bard of Hope, that

  Frequented by few was the grass-cover'd road, Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trode, To his hills that encircle the sea.

  But, ere he could disengage himself from his companion, the young ladywe have already mentioned came up to join the stranger, followed by herservants.

  "Daughter," said the stranger to the unmasked damsel, "this is theMaster of Ravenswood."

  It would have been natural that the gentleman should have replied tothis introduction but there was something in the graceful form andretiring modesty of the female to whom he was thus presented, which notonly prevented him from inquiring to whom, and by whom, the annunciationhad been made, but which even for the time struck him absolutely mute.At this moment the cloud which had long lowered above the height onwhich Wolf's Crag is situated, and which now, as it advanced, spreaditself in darker and denser folds both over land and sea, hiding thedistant objects and obscuring those which were nearer, turning the seato a leaden complexion and the heath to a darker brown, began now, byone or two distant peals, to announce the thunders with which it wasfraught; while two flashes of lightning, following each other veryclosely, showed in the distance the grey turrets of Wolf's Crag, and,more nearly, the rollowing billows of the ocean, crested suddenly withred and dazzling light.

  The horse of the fair huntress showed symptoms of impatience andrestiveness, and it became impossible for Ravenswood, as a man or agentleman, to leave her abruptly to the case of an aged father or hermenial attendants. He was, or believed himself, obliged in courtesy totake hold of her bridle, and assist her in managing the unruly animal.While he was thus engaged, the old gentleman observed that the stormseemed to increase; that they were far from Lord Bittlebrains's, whoseguests they were for the present; and that he would be obliged to theMaster of Ravenswood to point him the way to the nearest place of refugefrom the storm. At the same time he cast a wistful and embarrassedlook towards the Tower of Wolf's Crag, which seemed to render it almostimpossible for the owner to avoid offering an old man and a lady, insuch an emergency, the temporary use of his house. Indeed, the conditionof the young huntress made this courtesy indispensable; for, in thecourse of the services which he rendered, he could not but perceive thatshe trembled much, and was extremely agitated, from her apprehensions,doubtless, of the coming storm.

  I know not if the Master of Ravenswood shared her terrors, but he wasnot entirely free from something like a similar disorder of nerves, ashe observed, "The Tower of Wolf's Crag has nothing to offer beyond theshelter of its roof, but if that can be acceptable at such a moment----"he paused, as if the rest of the invitation stuck in his throat. Butthe old gentleman, his self-constituted companion, did not allow him torecede from the invitation, which he had rather suffered to be impliedthan directly expressed.

  "The storm," said the stranger, "must be an apology for waivingceremony; his daughter's health was weak, she had suffered much from arecent alarm; he trusted their intrusion on the Master of Ravenswood'shospitality would not be altogether unpardonable in the circumstances ofthe case: his child's safety must be dearer to him than ceremony."

  There was no room to retreat. The Master of Ravenswood led the way,continuing to keep
hold of the lady's bridle to prevent her horsefrom starting at some unexpected explosion of thunder. He was not sobewildered in his own hurried reflections but that he remarked, that thedeadly paleness which had occupied her neck and temples, and such of herfeatures as the riding-mask left exposed, gave place to a deep and rosysuffusion and he felt with embarrassment that a flush was by tacitsympathy excited in his own cheeks. The stranger, with watchfulnesswhich he disguised under apprehensions of the safety of his daughter,continued to observe the expression of the Master's countenance asthey ascended the hill to Wolf's Crag. When they stood in front ofthat ancient fortress, Ravenswood's emotions were of a very complicateddescription and as he led the way into the rude courtyard, and hallooedto Caleb to give attendance, there was a tone of sternness, almost offierceness, which seemed somewhat alien from the courtesies of one whois receiving honoured guests.

  Caleb came; and not the paleness of the fair stranger at the firstapproach of the thunder, nor the paleness of any other person, in anyother circumstances whatever, equalled that which overcame the thincheeks of the disconsolate seneschal when he beheld this accessionof guests to the castle, and reflected that the dinner hour was fastapproaching. "Is he daft?" he muttered to himself;--"is he clean dafta'thegither, to bring lords and leddies, and a host of folk behint them,and twal o'clock chappit?" Then approaching the Master, he craved pardonfor having permitted the rest of his people to go out to see the hunt,observing, that "They wad never think of his lordship coming back tillmirk night, and that he dreaded they might play the truant."

  "Silence, Balderstone!" said Ravenswood, sternly; "your folly isunseasonable. Sir and madam," he said, turning to his guests, "this oldman, and a yet older and more imbecile female domestic, form my wholeretinue. Our means of refreshing you are more scanty than even somiserable a retinue, and a dwelling so dilapidated, might seem topromise you; but, such as they may chance to be, you may command them."

  The elder stranger, struck with the ruined and even savage appearance ofthe Tower, rendered still more disconsolate by the lowering and gloomysky, and perhaps not altogether unmoved by the grave and determinedvoice in which their host addressed them, looked round him anxiously, asif he half repented the readiness with which he had accepted the offeredhospitality. But there was now no opportunity of receding from thesituation in which he had placed himself.

  As for Caleb, he was so utterly stunned by his master's public andunqualified acknowledgment of the nakedness of the land, that for twominutes he could only mutter within his hebdomadal beard, which had notfelt the razor for six days, "He's daft--clean daft--red wud, and awa'wit! But deil hae Caleb Balderstone," said he, collecting his powers ofinvention and resource, "if the family shall lose credit, if he were asmad as the seven wise masters!" He then boldly advanced, and in spiteof his master's frowns and impatience, gravely asked, "If he shouldnot serve up some slight refection for the young leddy, and a glass oftokay, or old sack--or----"

  "Truce to this ill-timed foolery," said the Master, sternly; "put thehorses into the stable, and interrupt us no more with your absurdities."

  "Your honour's pleasure is to be obeyed aboon a' things," said Caleb;"nevertheless, as for the sack and tokay which it is not your nobleguests' pleasure to accept----"

  But here the voice of Bucklaw, heard even above the clattering ofhoofs and braying of horns with which it mingled, announced that he wasscaling the pathway to the Tower at the head of the greater part of thegallant hunting train.

  "The deil be in me," said Caleb, taking heart in spite of this newinvasion of Philistines, "if they shall beat me yet! The hellicatne'er-do-weel! to bring such a crew here, that will expect to findbrandy as plenty as ditch-water, and he kenning sae absolutely the casein whilk we stand for the present! But I trow, could I get rid of thaegaping gowks of flunkies that hae won into the courtyard at the backof their betters, as mony a man gets preferment, I could make a' rightyet."

  The measures which he took to execute this dauntless resolution, thereader shall learn in the next chapter.