The Black Dwarf Page 10

  CHAPTER VIII.

  Now horse and hattock, cried the Laird,-- Now horse and hattock, speedilie; They that winna ride for Telfer's kye, Let them never look in the face o' me.--Border Ballad.

  "Horse! horse! and spear!" exclaimed Hobbie to his kinsmen. Many a readyfoot was in the stirrup; and, while Elliot hastily collected arms andaccoutrements, no easy matter in such a confusion, the glen resoundedwith the approbation of his younger friends.

  "Ay, ay!" exclaimed Simon of Hackburn, "that's the gate to take it,Hobbie. Let women sit and greet at hame, men must do as they have beendone by; it's the Scripture says't."

  "Haud your tongue, sir," said one of the seniors, sternly; "dinna abusethe Word that gate, ye dinna ken what ye speak about."

  "Hae ye ony tidings?--Hae ye ony speerings, Hobbie?--O, callants, dinnabe ower hasty," said old Dick of the Dingle.

  "What signifies preaching to us, e'enow?" said Simon; "if ye canna makehelp yoursell, dinna keep back them that can."

  "Whisht, sir; wad ye take vengeance or ye ken wha has wrang'd ye?"

  "D'ye think we dinna ken the road to England as weel as our fathersbefore us?--All evil comes out o' thereaway--it's an auld saying and atrue; and we'll e'en away there, as if the devil was blawing us south."

  "We'll follow the track o' Earnscliff's horses ower the waste," criedone Elliot.

  "I'll prick them out through the blindest moor in the Border, an therehad been a fair held there the day before," said Hugh, the blacksmith ofRingleburn, "for I aye shoe his horse wi' my ain hand."

  "Lay on the deer-hounds," cried another "where are they?"

  "Hout, man, the sun's been lang up, and the dew is aff the grund--thescent will never lie."

  Hobbie instantly whistled on his hounds, which were roving about theruins of their old habitation, and filling the air with their dolefulhowls.

  "Now, Killbuck," said Hobbie, "try thy skill this day," and then, as if alight had suddenly broke on him,--"that ill-faur'd goblin spak somethingo' this! He may ken mair o't, either by villains on earth, or devilsbelow--I'll hae it frae him, if I should cut it out o' his mis-shapenbouk wi' my whinger." He then hastily gave directions to his comrades:"Four o' ye, wi' Simon, haud right forward to Graeme's-gap. If they'reEnglish, they'll be for being back that way. The rest disperseby twasome and threesome through the waste, and meet me at theTrysting-pool. Tell my brothers, when they come up, to follow and meetus there. Poor lads, they will hae hearts weelnigh as sair as mine;little think they what a sorrowful house they are bringing their venisonto! I'll ride ower Mucklestane-Moor mysell."

  "And if I were you," said Dick of the Dingle, "I would speak to CannyElshie. He can tell you whatever betides in this land, if he's saeminded."

  "He SHALL tell me," said Hobbie, who was busy putting his arms in order,"what he kens o' this night's job, or I shall right weel ken whereforehe does not."

  "Ay, but speak him fair, my bonny man--speak him fair Hobbie; thelike o' him will no bear thrawing. They converse sae muckle wi' thaefractious ghaists and evil spirits, that it clean spoils their temper."

  "Let me alane to guide him," answered Hobbie; "there's that in my breastthis day, that would ower-maister a' the warlocks on earth, and a' thedevils in hell."

  And being now fully equipped, he threw himself on his horse, and spurredhim at a rapid pace against the steep ascent.

  Elliot speedily surmounted the hill, rode down the other side at thesame rate, crossed a wood, and traversed a long glen, ere he at lengthregained Mucklestane-Moor. As he was obliged, in the course of hisjourney, to relax his speed in consideration of the labour which hishorse might still have to undergo, he had time to consider maturely inwhat manner he should address the Dwarf, in order to extract from himthe knowledge which he supposed him to be in possession of concerningthe authors of his misfortunes. Hobbie, though blunt, plain of speech,and hot of disposition, like most of his countrymen, was by no meansdeficient in the shrewdness which is also their characteristic. Hereflected, that from what he had observed on the memorable night whenthe Dwarf was first seen, and from the conduct of that mysterious beingever since, he was likely to be rendered even more obstinate in hissullenness by threats and violence.

  "I'll speak him fair," he said, "as auld Dickon advised me. Though folksay he has a league wi' Satan, he canna be sic an incarnate devil as noto take some pity in a case like mine; and folk threep he'll whiles dogood, charitable sort o' things. I'll keep my heart doun as weel as Ican, and stroke him wi' the hair; and if the warst come to the warst,it's but wringing the head o' him about at last."

  In this disposition of accommodation he approached the hut of theSolitary.

  The old man was not upon his seat of audience, nor could Hobbie perceivehim in his garden, or enclosures.

  "He's gotten into his very keep," said Hobbie, "maybe to be out o'the gate; but I'se pu' it doun about his lugs, if I canna win at himotherwise."

  Having thus communed with himself, he raised his voice, and invokedElshie in a tone as supplicating as his conflicting feelings wouldpermit. "Elshie, my gude friend!" No reply. "Elshie, canny FatherElshie!" The Dwarf remained mute. "Sorrow be in the crooked carcass ofthee!" said the Borderer between his teeth; and then again attempting asoothing tone,--"Good Father Elshie, a most miserable creature desiressome counsel of your wisdom."

  "The better!" answered the shrill and discordant voice of the Dwarfthrough a very small window, resembling an arrow slit, which he hadconstructed near the door of his dwelling, and through which he couldsee any one who approached it, without the possibility of their lookingin upon him.

  "The better!" said Hobbie impatiently; "what is the better, Elshie? Doyou not hear me tell you I am the most miserable wretch living?"

  "And do you not hear me tell you it is so much the better! and did Inot tell you this morning, when you thought yourself so happy, what anevening was coming upon you?"

  "That ye did e'en," replied Hobbie, "and that gars me come to you foradvice now; they that foresaw the trouble maun ken the cure."

  "I know no cure for earthly trouble," returned the Dwarf "or, if Idid, why should I help others, when none hath aided me? Have I not lostwealth, that would have bought all thy barren hills a hundred timesover? rank, to which thine is as that of a peasant? society, wherethere was an interchange of all that was amiable--of all that wasintellectual? Have I not lost all this? Am I not residing here, theveriest outcast on the face of Nature, in the most hideous and mostsolitary of her retreats, myself more hideous than all that is aroundme? And why should other worms complain to me when they are trodden on,since I am myself lying crushed and writhing under the chariot-wheel?"

  "Ye may have lost all this," answered Hobbie, in the bitterness ofemotion; "land and friends, goods and gear; ye may hae lost thema',--but ye ne'er can hae sae sair a heart as mine, for ye ne'er lostnae Grace Armstrong. And now my last hopes are gane, and I shall ne'ersee her mair."

  This he said in the tone of deepest emotion--and there followed a longpause, for the mention of his bride's name had overcome the more angryand irritable feelings of poor Hobbie. Ere he had again addressed theSolitary, the bony hand and long fingers of the latter, holding a largeleathern bag, was thrust forth at the small window, and as it unclutchedthe burden, and let it drop with a clang upon the ground, his harshvoice again addressed Elliot.

  "There--there lies a salve for every human ill; so, at least, each humanwretch readily thinks.--Begone; return twice as wealthy as thou wertbefore yesterday, and torment me no more with questions, complaints, orthanks; they are alike odious to me."

  "It is a' gowd, by Heaven!" said Elliot, having glanced at the contents;and then again addressing the Hermit, "Muckle obliged for your goodwill;and I wad blithely gie you a bond for some o' the siller, or a wadsetower the lands o' Wideopen. But I dinna ken, Elshie; to be free wi' you,I dinna like to use siller unless I kend it was decently come by; andmaybe it might turn into sclate-stanes, and cheat some poor man."

 
; "Ignorant idiot!" retorted the Dwarf; "the trash is as genuine poison asever was dug out of the bowels of the earth. Take it--use it, and may itthrive with you as it hath done with me!"

  "But I tell you," said Elliot, "it wasna about the gear that I wasconsulting you,--it was a braw barn-yard, doubtless, and thirty head offiner cattle there werena on this side of the Catrail; but let thegear gang,--if ye could but gie me speerings o' puir Grace, I wouldbe content to be your slave for life, in onything that didna touch mysalvation. O, Elshie, speak, man, speak!"

  "Well, then," answered the Dwarf, as if worn out by his importunity,"since thou hast not enough of woes of thine own, but must needs seek toburden thyself with those of a partner, seek her whom thou hast lost inthe WEST."

  "In the WEST? That's a wide word."

  "It is the last," said the Dwarf, "which I design to utter;" and he drewthe shutters of his window, leaving Hobbie to make the most of the hinthe had given.

  The west! the west!--thought Elliot; the country is pretty quiet downthat way, unless it were Jock o' the Todholes; and he's ower auld nowfor the like o' thae jobs.--West!--By My life, it must be Westburnflat."Elshie, just tell me one word. Am I right? Is it Westburnflat? If Iam wrang, say sae. I wadna like to wyte an innocent neighbour wi'violence--No answer?--It must be the Red Reiver--I didna think he wadhae ventured on me, neither, and sae mony kin as there's o' us--Iam thinking he'll hae some better backing than his Cumberlandfriends.--Fareweel to you, Elshie, and mony thanks--I downa be fashedwi' the siller e'en now, for I maun awa' to meet my friends at theTrysting-place--Sae, if ye carena to open the window, ye can fetch it inafter I'm awa'."

  Still there was no reply.

  "He's deaf, or he's daft, or he's baith; but I hae nae time to stay toclaver wi' him."

  And off rode Hobbie Elliot towards the place of rendezvous which he hadnamed to his friends.

  Four or five riders were already gathered at the Trysting pool. Theystood in close consultation together, while their horses were permittedto graze among the poplars which overhung the broad still pool. A morenumerous party were seen coming from the southward. It proved to beEarnscliff and his party, who had followed the track of the cattle asfar as the English border, but had halted on the information thata considerable force was drawn together under some of the Jacobitegentlemen in that district, and there were tidings of insurrection indifferent parts of Scotland. This took away from the act which had beenperpetrated the appearance of private animosity, or love of plunder; andEarnscliff was now disposed to regard it as a symptom of civil war.The young gentleman greeted Hobbie with the most sincere sympathy, andinformed him of the news he had received.

  "Then, may I never stir frae the bit," said Elliot, "if auld Ellieslawis not at the bottom o' the haill villainy! Ye see he's leagued wi' theCumberland Catholics; and that agrees weel wi' what Elshie hinted aboutWestburnflat, for Ellieslaw aye protected him, and he will want to harryand disarm the country about his ain hand before he breaks out."

  Some now remembered that the party of ruffians had been heard to saythey were acting for James VIII., and were charged to disarm all rebels.Others had heard Westburnflat boast, in drinking parties, that Ellieslawwould soon be in arms for the Jacobite cause, and that he himself wasto hold a command under him, and that they would be bad neighbours foryoung Earnscliff; and all that stood out for the established government.The result was a strong belief that Westburnflat had headed the partyunder Ellieslaw's orders; and they resolved to proceed instantly to thehouse of the former, and, if possible, to secure his person. They wereby this time joined by so many of their dispersed friends, that theirnumber amounted to upwards of twenty horsemen, well mounted, andtolerably, though variously, armed.

  A brook, which issued from a narrow glen among the hills, entered, atWestburnflat, upon the open marshy level, which, expanding about halfa mile in every direction, gives name to the spot. In this place thecharacter of the stream becomes changed, and, from being a livelybrisk-running mountain-torrent, it stagnates, like a blue swollen snake,in dull deep windings, through the swampy level. On the side of thestream, and nearly about the centre of the plain, arose the tower ofWestburnflat, one of the few remaining strongholds formerly so numerousupon the Borders. The ground upon which it stood was gently elevatedabove the marsh for the space of about a hundred yards, affordingan esplanade of dry turf, which extended itself in the immediateneighbourhood of the tower; but, beyond which, the surface presented tostrangers was that of an impassable and dangerous bog. The owner of thetower and his inmates alone knew the winding and intricate paths, which,leading over ground that was comparatively sound, admitted visitorsto his residence. But among the party which were assembled underEarnscliff's directions, there was more than one person qualified to actas a guide. For although the owner's character and habits of life weregenerally known, yet the laxity of feeling with respect to propertyprevented his being looked on with the abhorrence with which he musthave been regarded in a more civilized country. He was considered, amonghis more peaceable neighbours, pretty much as a gambler, cock-fighter,or horse-jockey would be regarded at the present day; a person, ofcourse, whose habits were to be condemned, and his society, in general,avoided, yet who could not be considered as marked with the indelibleinfamy attached to his profession, where laws have been habituallyobserved. And their indignation was awakened against him uponthis occasion, not so much on account of the general nature of thetransaction, which was just such as was to be expected from thismarauder, as that the violence had been perpetrated upon a neighbouragainst whom he had no cause of quarrel,--against a friend of theirown,--above all, against one of the name of Elliot, to which clan mostof them belonged. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that there shouldbe several in the band pretty well acquainted with the locality of hishabitation, and capable of giving such directions and guidance as soonplaced the whole party on the open space of firm ground in front of theTower of Westburnflat.