The Pirate Page 14

  CHAPTER XI.

  ----All your ancient customs, And long-descended usages, I'll change. Ye shall not eat, nor drink, nor speak, nor move, Think, look, or walk, as ye were wont to do. Even your marriage-beds shall know mutation The bride shall have the stock, the groom the wall; For all old practice will I turn and change, And call it reformation--marry will I!

  _'Tis Even that we're at Odds._

  The festal day approached, and still no invitation arrived for thatguest, without whom, but a little space since, no feast could have beenheld in the island; while, on the other hand, such reports as reachedthem on every side spoke highly of the favour which Captain Clevelandenjoyed in the good graces of the old Udaller of Burgh-Westra. Swerthaand the Ranzelman shook their heads at these mutations, and remindedMordaunt, by many a half-hint and innuendo, that he had incurred thiseclipse by being so imprudently active to secure the safety of thestranger, when he lay at the mercy of the next wave beneath the cliffsof Sumburgh-head. "It is best to let saut water take its gate," saidSwertha; "luck never came of crossing it."

  "In troth," said the Ranzelman, "they are wise folks that let wave andwithy haud their ain--luck never came of a half-drowned man, or ahalf-hanged ane either. Who was't shot Will Paterson off the Noss?--theDutchman that he saved from sinking, I trow. To fling a drowning man aplank or a tow, may be the part of a Christian; but I say, keep handsaff him, if ye wad live and thrive free frae his danger."

  "Ye are a wise man, Ranzelman, and a worthy," echoed Swertha, with agroan, "and ken how and whan to help a neighbour, as well as ony manthat ever drew a net."

  "In troth, I have seen length of days," answered the Ranzelman, "and Ihave heard what the auld folk said to each other anent sic matters; andnae man in Zetland shall go farther than I will in any Christian serviceto a man on firm land; but if he cry 'Help!' out of the saut waves,that's another story."

  "And yet, to think of this lad Cleveland standing in our MaisterMordaunt's light," said Swertha, "and with Magnus Troil, that thoughthim the flower of the island but on Whitsunday last, and Magnus, too,that's both held (when he's fresh, honest man) the wisest and wealthiestof Zetland!"

  "He canna win by it," said the Ranzelman, with a look of the deepestsagacity. "There's whiles, Swertha, that the wisest of us (as I am sureI humbly confess mysell not to be) may be little better than gulls, andcan no more win by doing deeds of folly than I can step overSumburgh-head. It has been my own case once or twice in my life. But weshall see soon what ill is to come of all this, for good there cannotcome."

  And Swertha answered, with the same tone of prophetic wisdom, "Na, na,gude can never come on it, and that is ower truly said."

  These doleful predictions, repeated from time to time, had some effectupon Mordaunt. He did not indeed suppose, that the charitable action ofrelieving a drowning man had subjected him, as a necessary and fatalconsequence, to the unpleasant circumstances in which he was placed; yethe felt as if a sort of spell were drawn around him, of which he neitherunderstood the nature nor the extent;--that some power, in short, beyondhis own control, was acting upon his destiny, and, as it seemed, with nofriendly influence. His curiosity, as well as his anxiety, was highlyexcited, and he continued determined, at all events, to make hisappearance at the approaching festival, when he was impressed with thebelief that something uncommon was necessarily to take place, whichshould determine his future views and prospects in life.

  As the elder Mertoun was at this time in his ordinary state of health,it became necessary that his son should intimate to him his intendedvisit to Burgh-Westra. He did so; and his father desired to know theespecial reason of his going thither at this particular time.

  "It is a time of merry-making," replied the youth, "and all the countryare assembled."

  "And you are doubtless impatient to add another fool to thenumber.--Go--but beware how you walk in the path which you are about totread--a fall from the cliffs of Foulah were not more fatal."

  "May I ask the reason of your caution, sir?" replied Mordaunt, breakingthrough the reserve which ordinarily subsisted betwixt him and hissingular parent.

  "Magnus Troil," said the elder Mertoun, "has two daughters--you are ofthe age when men look upon such gauds with eyes of affection, that theymay afterwards learn to curse the day that first opened their eyes uponheaven! I bid you beware of them; for, as sure as that death and sincame into the world by woman, so sure are their soft words, and softerlooks, the utter destruction and ruin of all who put faith in them."

  Mordaunt had sometimes observed his father's marked dislike to thefemale sex, but had never before heard him give vent to it in terms sodetermined and precise. He replied, that the daughters of Magnus Troilwere no more to him than any other females in the islands; "they wereeven of less importance," he said, "for they had broken off theirfriendship with him, without assigning any cause."

  "And you go to seek the renewal of it?" answered his father. "Sillymoth, that hast once escaped the taper without singeing thy wings, areyou not contented with the safe obscurity of these wilds, but musthasten back to the flame, which is sure at length to consume thee? Butwhy should I waste arguments in deterring thee from thy inevitablefate?--Go where thy destiny calls thee."

  On the succeeding day, which was the eve of the great festival, Mordauntset forth on his road to Burgh-Westra, pondering alternately on theinjunctions of Norna--on the ominous words of his father--on theinauspicious auguries of Swertha and the Ranzelman of Jarlshof--and notwithout experiencing that gloom with which so many concurringcircumstances of ill omen combined to oppress his mind.

  "It bodes me but a cold reception at Burgh-Westra," said he; "but mystay shall be the shorter. I will but find out whether they have beendeceived by this seafaring stranger, or whether they have acted out ofpure caprice of temper, and love of change of company. If the first bethe case, I will vindicate my character, and let Captain Cleveland lookto himself;--if the latter, why, then, good-night to Burgh-Westra andall its inmates."

  As he mentally meditated this last alternative, hurt pride, and a returnof fondness for those to whom he supposed he was bidding farewell forever, brought a tear into his eye, which he dashed off hastily andindignantly, as, mending his pace, he continued on his journey.

  The weather being now serene and undisturbed, Mordaunt made his way withan ease that formed a striking contrast to the difficulties which he hadencountered when he last travelled the same route; yet there was a lesspleasing subject for comparison, within his own mind.

  "My breast," he said to himself, "was then against the wind, but myheart within was serene and happy. I would I had now the same carelessfeelings, were they to be bought by battling with the severest stormthat ever blew across these lonely hills!"

  With such thoughts, he arrived about noon at Harfra, the habitation, asthe reader may remember, of the ingenious Mr. Yellowley. Our travellerhad, upon the present occasion, taken care to be quite independent ofthe niggardly hospitality of this mansion, which was now become infamouson that account through the whole island, by bringing with him, in hissmall knapsack, such provisions as might have sufficed for a longerjourney. In courtesy, however, or rather, perhaps, to get rid of his owndisquieting thoughts, Mordaunt did not fail to call at the mansion,which he found in singular commotion. Triptolemus himself, investedwith a pair of large jack-boots, went clattering up and down stairs,screaming out questions to his sister and his serving-woman Tronda, whoreplied with shriller and more complicated screeches. At length, Mrs.Baby herself made her appearance, her venerable person endued with whatwas then called a joseph, an ample garment, which had once been green,but now, betwixt stains and patches, had become like the vesture of thepatriarch whose name it bore--a garment of divers colours. Asteeple-crowned hat, the purchase of some long-past moment, in whichvanity had got the better of avarice, with a feather which had stood asmuch wind and rain as if it had been part of a seamew's wing, made upher equipment, save that in her hand she
held a silver-mounted whip ofantique fashion. This attire, as well as an air of determined bustle inthe gait and appearance of Mrs. Barbara Yellowley, seemed to bespeakthat she was prepared to take a journey, and cared not, as the sayinggoes, who knew that such was her determination.

  She was the first that observed Mordaunt on his arrival, and she greetedhim with a degree of mingled emotion. "Be good to us!" she exclaimed,"if here is not the canty callant that wears yon thing about his neck,and that snapped up our goose as light as if it had been asandie-lavrock!" The admiration of the gold chain, which had formerlymade so deep an impression on her mind, was marked in the first part ofher speech, the recollection of the untimely fate of the smoked goosewas commemorated in the second clause. "I will lay the burden of mylife," she instantly added, "that he is ganging our gate."

  "I am bound for Burgh-Westra, Mrs. Yellowley," said Mordaunt.

  "And blithe will we be of your company," she added--"it's early day toeat; but if you liked a barley scone and a drink of bland--natheless, itis ill travelling on a full stomach, besides quelling your appetite forthe feast that is biding you this day; for all sort of prodigality therewill doubtless be."

  Mordaunt produced his own stores, and, explaining that he did not loveto be burdensome to them on this second occasion, invited them topartake of the provisions he had to offer. Poor Triptolemus, who seldomsaw half so good a dinner as his guest's luncheon, threw himself uponthe good cheer, like Sancho on the scum of Camacho's kettle, and eventhe lady herself could not resist the temptation, though she gave way toit with more moderation, and with something like a sense of shame. "Shehad let the fire out," she said, "for it was a pity wasting fuel in socold a country, and so she had not thought of getting any thing ready,as they were to set out so soon and so she could not but say, that theyoung gentleman's _nacket_ looked very good; and besides, she had somecuriosity to see whether the folks in that country cured their beef inthe same way they did in the north of Scotland." Under which combinedconsiderations, Dame Baby made a hearty experiment on the refreshmentswhich thus unexpectedly presented themselves.

  When their extemporary repast was finished, the factor became solicitousto take the road; and now Mordaunt discovered, that the alacrity withwhich he had been received by Mistress Baby was not altogetherdisinterested. Neither she nor the learned Triptolemus felt muchdisposed to commit themselves to the wilds of Zetland, without theassistance of a guide; and although they could have commanded the aid ofone of their own labouring folks, yet the cautious agriculturistobserved, that it would be losing at least one day's work; and hissister multiplied his apprehensions by echoing back, "One day'swork?--ye may weel say twenty--for, set ane of their noses within thesmell of a kail-pot, and their lugs within the sound of a fiddle, andwhistle them back if ye can!"

  Now the fortunate arrival of Mordaunt, in the very nick of time, not tomention the good cheer which he brought with him, made him as welcome asany one could possibly be to a threshold, which, on all ordinaryoccasions, abhorred the passage of a guest; nor was Mr. Yellowleyaltogether insensible of the pleasure he promised himself in detailinghis plans of improvement to his young companion, and enjoying what hisfate seldom assigned him--the company of a patient and admiringlistener.

  As the factor and his sister were to prosecute their journey onhorseback, it only remained to mount their guide and companion a thingeasily accomplished, where there are such numbers of shaggy,long-backed, short-legged ponies, running wild upon the extensive moors,which are the common pasturage for the cattle of every township, whereshelties, geese, swine, goats, sheep, and little Zetland cows, areturned out promiscuously, and often in numbers which can obtain butprecarious subsistence from the niggard vegetation. There is, indeed, aright of individual property in all these animals, which are branded ortattooed by each owner with his own peculiar mark; but when anypassenger has occasional use for a pony, he never scruples to lay holdof the first which he can catch, puts on a halter, and, having rode himas far as he finds convenient, turns the animal loose to find his wayback again as he best can--a matter in which the ponies are sufficientlysagacious.

  Although this general exercise of property was one of the enormitieswhich in due time the factor intended to abolish, yet, like a wise man,he scrupled not, in the meantime, to avail himself of so general apractice, which, he condescended to allow, was particularly convenientfor those who (as chanced to be his own present case) had no ponies oftheir own on which their neighbours could retaliate. Three shelties,therefore, were procured from the hill--little shagged animals, moreresembling wild bears than any thing of the horse tribe, yet possessedof no small degree of strength and spirit, and able to endure as muchfatigue and indifferent usage as any creatures in the world.

  Two of these horses were already provided and fully accoutred for thejourney. One of them, destined to bear the fair person of Mistress Baby,was decorated with a huge side-saddle of venerable antiquity--a mass, asit were, of cushion and padding, from which depended, on all sides, ahousing of ancient tapestry, which, having been originally intended fora horse of ordinary size, covered up the diminutive palfrey over whichit was spread, from the ears to the tail, and from the shoulder to thefetlock, leaving nothing visible but its head, which looked fiercely outfrom these enfoldments, like the heraldic representation of a lionlooking out of a bush. Mordaunt gallantly lifted up the fair MistressYellowley, and at the expense of very slight exertion, placed her uponthe summit of her mountainous saddle. It is probable, that, on feelingherself thus squired and attended upon, and experiencing the longunwonted consciousness that she was attired in her best array, somethoughts dawned upon Mistress Baby's mind, which checkered, for aninstant, those habitual ideas about thrift, that formed the daily andall-engrossing occupation of her soul. She glanced her eye upon herfaded joseph, and on the long housings of her saddle, as she observed,with a smile, to Mordaunt, that "travelling was a pleasant thing in fineweather and agreeable company, if," she added, glancing a look at aplace where the embroidery was somewhat frayed and tattered, "it was notsae wasteful to ane's horse-furniture."

  Meanwhile, her brother stepped stoutly to his steed; and as he chose,notwithstanding the serenity of the weather, to throw a long red cloakover his other garments, his pony was even more completely enveloped indrapery than that of his sister. It happened, moreover, to be an animalof an high and contumacious spirit, bouncing and curvetting occasionallyunder the weight of Triptolemus, with a vivacity which, notwithstandinghis Yorkshire descent, rather deranged him in the saddle; gambols which,as the palfrey itself was not visible, except upon the strictestinspection, had, at a little distance, an effect as if they were thevoluntary movements of the cloaked cavalier, without the assistance ofany other legs than those with which nature had provided him; and, toany who had viewed Triptolemus under such a persuasion, the gravity, andeven distress, announced in his countenance, must have made a ridiculouscontrast to the vivacious caprioles with which he piaffed along themoor.

  Mordaunt kept up with this worthy couple, mounted, according to thesimplicity of the time and country, on the first and readiest pony whichthey had been able to press into the service, with no other accoutrementof any kind than the halter which served to guide him; while Mr.Yellowley, seeing with pleasure his guide thus readily provided with asteed, privately resolved, that this rude custom of helping travellersto horses, without leave of the proprietor, should not be abated inZetland, until he came to possess a herd of ponies belonging in propertyto himself, and exposed to suffer in the way of retaliation.

  But to other uses or abuses of the country, Triptolemus Yellowley showedhimself less tolerant. Long and wearisome were the discourses he heldwith Mordaunt, or (to speak much more correctly) the harangues which heinflicted upon him, concerning the changes which his own advent in theseisles was about to occasion. Unskilled as he was in the modern arts bywhich an estate may be improved to such a high degree that it shallaltogether slip through the proprietor's fingers, Triptolemus had atleast the ze
al, if not the knowledge, of a whole agricultural society inhis own person nor was he surpassed by any who has followed him, inthat noble spirit which scorns to balance profit against outlay, butholds the glory of effecting a great change on the face of the land, tobe, like virtue, in a great degree its own reward.

  No part of the wild and mountainous region over which Mordaunt guidedhim, but what suggested to his active imagination some scheme ofimprovement and alteration. He would make a road through yon scarcepassable glen, where at present nothing but the sure-footed creatures onwhich they were mounted could tread with any safety. He would substitutebetter houses for the skeoes, or sheds built of dry stones, in which theinhabitants cured or manufactured their fish--they should brew good aleinstead of bland--they should plant forests where tree never grew, andfind mines of treasure where a Danish skilling was accounted a coin of amost respectable denomination. All these mutations, with many others,did the worthy factor resolve upon, speaking at the same time with theutmost confidence of the countenance and assistance which he was toreceive from the higher classes, and especially from Magnus Troil.

  "I will impart some of my ideas to the poor man," he said, "before weare both many hours older; and you will mark how grateful he will be tothe instructor who brings him knowledge, which is better than wealth."

  "I would not have you build too strongly on that," said Mordaunt, by wayof caution "Magnus Troil's boat is kittle to trim--he likes his ownways, and his country-ways, and you will as soon teach your sheltie todive like a sealgh, as bring Magnus to take a Scottish fashion in theplace of a Norse one; and yet, if he is steady to his old customs, hemay perhaps be as changeable as another in his old friendships."

  "_Heus, tu inepte!_" said the scholar of Saint Andrews, "steady orunsteady, what can it matter?--am not I here in point of trust, and inpoint of power? and shall a Fowd, by which barbarous appellative thisMagnus Troil still calls himself, presume to measure judgment and weighreasons with me, who represent the full dignity of the Chamberlain ofthe islands of Orkney and Zetland?"

  "Still," said Mordaunt, "I would advise you not to advance too rashlyupon his prejudices. Magnus Troil, from the hour of his birth to thisday, never saw a greater man than himself, and it is difficult to bridlean old horse for the first time. Besides, he has at no time in his lifebeen a patient listener to long explanations, so it is possible that hemay quarrel with your purposed reformation, before you can convince himof its advantages."

  "How mean you, young man?" said the factor. "Is there one who dwells inthese islands, who is so wretchedly blind as not to be sensible of theirdeplorable defects? Can a man," he added, rising into enthusiasm as hespoke, "or even a beast, look at that thing there, which they have theimpudence to call a corn-mill,[38] without trembling to think that cornshould be intrusted to such a miserable molendinary? The wretches areobliged to have at least fifty in each parish, each trundling away uponits paltry mill-stone, under the thatch of a roof no bigger than abee-skep, instead of a noble and seemly baron's mill, of which you wouldhear the clack through the haill country, and that casts the mealthrough the mill-eye by forpits at a time!"

  "Ay, ay, brother," said his sister, "that's spoken like your wise sell.The mair cost the mair honour--that's your word ever mair. Can it nocreep into your wise head, man, that ilka body grinds their ain nievefu'of meal in this country, without plaguing themsells about barons' mills,and thirls, and sucken, and the like trade? How mony a time have Iheard you bell-the-cat with auld Edie Netherstane, the miller atGrindleburn, and wi' his very knave too, about in-town and out-townmultures--lock, gowpen, and knaveship,(_i_) and a' the lave o't; and nownaething less will serve you than to bring in the very same fashery on awheen puir bodies, that big ilk ane a mill for themselves, sic as itis?"

  "Dinna tell me of gowpen and knaveship!" exclaimed the indignantagriculturist; "better pay the half of the grist to the miller, to havethe rest grund in a Christian manner, than put good grain into a bairn'swhirligig. Look at it for a moment, Baby--Bide still, ye cursed imp!"This interjection was applied to his pony, which began to be extremelyimpatient, while its rider interrupted his journey, to point outall the weak points of the Zetland mill--"Look at it, I say--it'sjust one degree better than a hand-quern--it has neither wheel nortrindle--neither cog nor happer--Bide still, there's a cannybeast--it canna grind a bickerfu' of meal in a quarter of an hour,and that will be mair like a mash for horse than a meltith for man'suse--Wherefore--Bide still, I say--wherefore--wherefore--The deil's inthe beast, and nae good, I think!"

  As he uttered the last words, the shelty, which had pranced andcurvetted for some time with much impatience, at length got its headbetwixt its legs, and at once canted its rider into the little rivulet,which served to drive the depreciated engine he was surveying; thenemancipating itself from the folds of the cloak, fled back towards itsown wilderness, neighing in scorn, and flinging out its heels at everyfive yards.

  Laughing heartily at his disaster, Mordaunt helped the old man to arise;while his sister sarcastically congratulated him on having fallen ratherinto the shallows of a Zetland rivulet than the depths of a Scottishmill-pond. Disdaining to reply to this sarcasm, Triptolemus, so soon ashe had recovered his legs, shaken his ears, and found that the folds ofhis cloak had saved him from being much wet in the scanty streamlet,exclaimed aloud, "I will have cussers from Lanarkshire--brood mares fromAyrshire--I will not have one of these cursed abortions left on theislands, to break honest folk's necks--I say, Baby, I will rid the landof them."

  "Ye had better wring your ain cloak, Triptolemus," answered Baby.

  Mordaunt meanwhile was employed in catching another pony, from a herdwhich strayed at some distance; and, having made a halter out of twistedrushes, he seated the dismayed agriculturist in safety upon a morequiet, though less active steed, than that which he had at firstbestrode.

  But Mr. Yellowley's fall had operated as a considerable sedative uponhis spirits, and, for the full space of five miles' travel, he saidscarce a word, leaving full course to the melancholy aspirations andlamentations which his sister Baby bestowed on the old bridle, which thepony had carried off in its flight, and which, she observed, afterhaving lasted for eighteen years come Martinmas, might now be consideredas a castaway thing. Finding she had thus the field to herself, the oldlady launched forth into a lecture upon economy, according to her ownidea of that virtue, which seemed to include a system of privations,which, though observed with the sole purpose of saving money, might, ifundertaken upon other principles, have ranked high in the history of areligious ascetic.

  She was but little interrupted by Mordaunt, who, conscious he was now onthe eve of approaching Burgh-Westra, employed himself rather in the taskof anticipating the nature of the reception he was about to meet withthere from two beautiful young women, than with the prosing of an oldone, however wisely she might prove that small-beer was more wholesomethan strong ale, and that if her brother had bruised his ankle bone inhis tumble, cumfrey and butter was better to bring him round again, thanall the doctor's drugs in the world.

  But now the dreary moorlands, over which their path had hitherto lain,were exchanged for a more pleasant prospect, opening on a salt-waterlake, or arm of the sea, which ran up far inland, and was surrounded byflat and fertile ground, producing crops better than the experienced eyeof Triptolemus Yellowley had as yet witnessed in Zetland. In the midstof this Goshen stood the mansion of Burgh-Westra, screened from thenorth and east by a ridge of heathy hills which lay behind it, andcommanding an interesting prospect of the lake and its parent ocean, aswell as the islands, and more distant mountains. From the mansionitself, as well as from almost every cottage in the adjacent hamlet,arose such a rich cloud of vapoury smoke, as showed, that thepreparations for the festival were not confined to the principalresidence of Magnus himself, but extended through the whole vicinage.

  "My certie," said Mrs. Baby Yellowley, "ane wad think the haill town wason fire! The very hill-side smells of their wastefulness, and a hungryhear
t wad scarce seek better kitchen[39] to a barley scone, than justto waft it in the reek that's rising out of yon lums."

  FOOTNOTES:

  [38] Note VI.--Zetland Corn-mills.

  [39] What is eat by way of relish to dry bread is called _kitchen_ inScotland, as cheese, dried fish, or the like relishing morsels.