Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since Read online

  CHAPTER XVIII

  WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY

  Then Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he was surprisedto observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisen and put his dressin some order, he looked more accurately round him; but all was stillsolitary. If it had not been for the decayed brands of the fire, nowsunk into grey ashes, and the remnants of the festival, consistingof bones half burnt and half gnawed, and an empty keg or two, thereremained no traces of Donald and his band. When Waverley sallied forthto the entrance of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, onwhich remained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible bya small path, either natural, or roughly hewn in the rock, along thelittle inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the cavern, where,as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him there the night beforewas still lying moored. When he reached the small projecting platformon which the beacon had been established, he would have believed hisfurther progress by land impossible, only that it was scarce probablebut that the inhabitants of the cavern had some mode of issuing from itotherwise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon observed three or fourshelving steps, or ledges of rock, at the very extremity of the littleplatform; and, making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by theirmeans around the projecting shoulder of the crag on which the cavernopened, and, descending with some difficulty on the other side, hegained the wild and precipitous shores of a Highland loch, about fourmiles in length, and a mile and a half across, surrounded by heathyand savage mountains, on the crests of which the morning mist was stillsleeping.

  Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not help admiringthe address which had adopted a retreat of such seclusion andsecrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he had turned by a fewimperceptible notches, that barely afforded place for the foot, seemed,in looking back upon it, a huge precipice, which barred all furtherpassage by the shores of the lake in that direction. There could beno possibility, the breadth of the lake considered, of descrying theentrance of the narrow and low-browed cave from the other side; sothat, unless the retreat had been sought for with boats, or disclosedby treachery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its garrisonas long as they were supplied with provisions. Having satisfied hiscuriosity in these particulars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu andhis attendants, who, he rightly judged, would be at no great distance,whatever might have become of Donald Bean Lean and his party, whosemode of life was, of course, liable to sudden migrations of abode.Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, he beheld aHighlander (Evan apparently) angling in the lake, with another attendinghim, whom, from the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for hisfriend with the battle-axe.

  Much nearer to the mouth of the cave, he heard the notes of a livelyGaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded by a glitteringbirch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm white sand, he found thedamsel of the cavern, whose lay had already reached him, busy, to thebest of her power, in arranging to advantage a morning repast of milk,eggs, barley-bread, fresh butter, and honeycomb. The poor girl hadalready made a circuit of four miles that morning in search of the eggs,of the meal which baked her cakes, and of the other materials of thebreakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrow fromdistant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean used little foodexcept the flesh of the animals which they drove away from the Lowlands;bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of, because hard to beobtained, and all the domestic accommodations of milk, poultry, butter,&c., were out of the question in this Scythian camp. Yet it must notbe omitted, that, although Alice had occupied a part of the morning inproviding those accommodations for her guest which the cavern did notafford, she had secured time also to arrange her own person in her besttrim. Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, anda petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these wereclean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered cloth, calledthe snood, confined her hair, which fell over it in a profusion of richdark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of her dress, was laidaside, that it might not impede her activity in attending the stranger.I should forget Alice's proudest ornament, were I to omit mentioning apair of gold ear-rings, and a golden rosary, which her father (forshe was the daughter of Donald Bean Lean) had brought from France, theplunder, probably, of some battle or storm.

  Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well proportioned,and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace, with nothing of thesheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The smiles, displaying a row ofteeth of exquisite whiteness, and the laughing eyes, with which, in dumbshow, she gave Waverley that morning greeting which she wanted Englishwords to express, might have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhapsby a young soldier, who, without being such, was conscious of a handsomeperson, as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor doI take it upon me to say, that the little wild mountaineer wouldhave welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron ofBradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which she bestowedupon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to place him by the mealwhich she had so sedulously arranged, and to which she now added a fewbunches of cranberries, gathered in an adjacent morass. Having had thesatisfaction of seeing him seated at his breakfast, she placed herselfdemurely upon a stone at a few yards' distance, and appeared to watchwith great complacency for some opportunity of serving him.

  Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the latterbearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's sport,together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward, withan easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spot whereWaverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table. After morninggreetings had passed on both sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, hadsaid something in Gaelic to Alice, which made her laugh, yet colour upto her eyes, through a complexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evanintimated his commands that the fish should be prepared for breakfast.A spark from the lock of his pistol produced a light, and a few witheredfir branches were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hotembers, on which the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown therepast, Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin, a largescallop shell, and from under the folds of his plaid, a ram's horn fullof whisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had alreadytaken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean, before his departure; heoffered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they bothdeclined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered thescallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting to beasked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan then preparedto move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. Meanwhile,Alice had made up in a small basket what she thought worth removing, andhinging her plaid around her, she advanced up to Edward, and, with theutmost simplicity, taking hold of his hand, offered her cheek to hissalute, dropping, at the same time, her little curtsy. Evan, who wasesteemed a wag among the mountain fair, advanced, as if to secure asimilar favour; but Alice, snatching up her basket, escaped up therocky bank as fleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, calledsomething out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same tone andlanguage; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed her road, andwas soon lost among the thickets, though they continued for some time tohear her lively carol, as she proceeded gaily on her solitary journey.

  They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into theboat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the morningbreeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed the helm,directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, rather higher up thelake than towards the place of his embarkation on the preceding night.As they glided along the silver mirror, Evan opened the conversationwith a panegyric upon Alice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY;and was, to the boot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey inthe whole strath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understoodthem, yet could not help regretting that she was co
ndemned to such aperilous and dismal life.

  'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire that sheneed want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot ortoo heavy.

  'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer--a common thief!'

  'Common thief!--no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED less than adrove in his life.'

  'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?'

  'No--he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from acottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, is agentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmonfrom the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, iswhat no Highlander need ever think shame upon.'

  'But what can this end in, were he taken in such an appropriation?'

  'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man has donebefore him.'

  'Die for the law!'

  'Aye; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on theKIND gallows of Crieff, [12] where his father died, and hisgoodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die himself, if he's notshot, or slashed, in a creagh.'

  'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan!'

  'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundle ofwet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?'

  'But what becomes of Alice, then?'

  'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would not needher help ony langer, I ken naught to hinder me to marry her mysell.'

  'Gallantly resolved!' said Edward;--'but, in the meanwhile, Evan, whathas your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the good fortune to behanged) done with the Baron's cattle?'

  'Oich,' answered Evan, 'they were all trudging before your lad and AllanKennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben-Lawers this morning; and they'llbe in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in their way back to theparks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that were unhappily slaughteredbefore I got last night to Uaimh an Ri.'

  'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?' saidWaverley.

  'Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's ain house ofGlennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, without gangingto see him? It would be as much as a man's life's worth,'

  'And are we far from Glennaquoich?'

  But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.'

  In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake, where,after landing Waverley, the two Highlanders drew the boat into a littlecreek among thick flags and reeds, where it lay perfectly concealed.The oars they put in another place of concealment, both for the use ofDonald Bean Lean probably, when his occasions should next bring him tothat place.

  The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into thehills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. When theyhad pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley renewed his questionsabout their host of the cavern.

  'Does he always reside in that cave?'

  'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be foundat a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in the wholecountry, that he's not acquainted with.'

  'And do others beside your master shelter him?'

  'My master?--My master is in heaven,' answered Evan haughtily; and thenimmediately assuming his usual civility of manner--'But you mean myChief;--no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor any that are likehim; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and water.'

  'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very plenty.'

  'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I mean theloch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the lairdwere to look for him wi' threescore men in the wood of Kailychat yonder;and if our boats, with a score or twa mair, were to come down the lochto Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell, or ony other pretty man.'

  'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country, wouldnot your Chief defend him?'

  'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him--if they came withthe law.'

  'And what must Donald do, then?'

  'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may be,over the mount upon Letter Scriven.'

  'And if he were pursued to that place?'

  'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.'

  'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?'

  'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell you thetruth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow the fray agun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help of the SIDIER DHU.'

  'Whom do you call so?'

  'The SIDIER DHU? the black soldier; that is what they call theindependent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in theHighlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years, and I wassergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call them SIDIER DHU, becausethey wear the tartans,--as they call your men, King George's men, SIDIERROY, or red soldiers.'

  'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you were surelyKing George's soldiers?'

  'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are for hisking, and care not much which o' them it is. At any rate, nobody cansay we are King George's men now, when we have not seen his pay thistwelvemonth.'

  This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attempt any;he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald Bean Lean. 'DoesDonald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, as you call it,anything else that comes in his way?'

  'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony thing, but mostreadily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are slow of travel,and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easy to put away forsiller in this country.'

  'But does he carry off men and women?'

  'Out, aye. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It cost thatbody five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough.--Andance Donald played a pretty sport. [13] There was to be ablythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns(she was the auld laird's widow, and no sae young as she had beenhersell), and young Gilliewhackit, who had spent his heirship andmovables, like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races,and the like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, being aware that the bridegroomwas in request, and wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook thesiller), he cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he wasriding DOVERING hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), and with thehelp of his gillies he gat him into the hills with the speed of light,and the first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh an Ri. So therewas old to do about ransoming the bridegroom; for Donald would not lowera farthing of a thousand punds'--

  The devil!'

  'Punds Scottish, ya shall understand. And the lady had not the sillerif she had pawned her gown; and they applied to the governor o' Stirlingcastle, and to the major o' the Black Watch; and the governor said, itwas ower far to the northward, and out of his district; and the majorsaid, his men were gane hame to the shearing, and he would not callthem out before the victual was got in for all the Cramfeezers inChristendom, let alane the Mearns, for that it would prejudice thecountry. And in the meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take thesmall-pox. There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look nearthe poor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggled byane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would fling the firstinto the loch that he catched beyond the Pass. However, some cailliachs(that is, old women) that were about Donald's hand, nursed Gilliewhackitsae weel, that between the free open air in the cove and the fresh whey,deil an' he did not recover maybe as weel as if he had been closed in aglazed chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with red wine and whitemeat. And Donald was sae vexed about it, that when he was stout andweel, he even sent him free home, and said he would be pleased withonything they would like to gie him for the plague and trouble whichhe had about Gilliewhackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell youprecisely how
they sorted; but they agreed sae right that Donald wasinvited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, and they saidthat there was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse eitherbefore or since. And to the boot of all that, Gilliewhackit said, that,be the evidence what it liked, if he had the luck to be on Donald'sinquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless itwere wilful arson, or murder under trust.'

  With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on, illustrating theexisting state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement ofWaverley than that of our readers. At length, after having marched overbank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though not unacquainted withthe Scottish liberality in computing distance, began to think thatEvan's five miles were nearly doubled. His observation on the largemeasure which the Scottish allowed of their land, in comparison to thecomputation of their money, was readily answered by Evan, with the oldjest, The deil take them wha have the least pint stoup.' ['The Scotchare liberal in computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pintcorresponds to two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knowsthe couplet--

  'How can the rogues pretend to sense? Their pound is only twenty pence.']

  And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen, withhis dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. 'Shough,' saidDugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.'

  'It is not,' said Evan imperiously. 'Do you think he would come to meeta Sassenach Duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?'

  But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with an appearance ofmortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; and he has not his tailon after all;--there is no living creature with him but Callum Beg.'

  In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said, as trulyas of any man in the Highlands, 'QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS,' had noidea of raising himself in the eyes of an English young man of fortune,by appearing with a retinue of idle Highlanders disproportioned to theoccasion. He was well aware that such an unnecessary attendance wouldseem to Edward rather ludicrous than respectable; and while few men weremore attached to ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, forthat very reason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity,unless at the time and in the manner when they were most likely toproduce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to receivea brother chieftain, he would probably have been attended by all thatretinue which Evan described with so much unction, he judged it morerespectable to advance to meet Waverley with a single attendant, a veryhandsome Highland boy, who carried his master's shooting-pouch and hisbroadsword, without which he seldom went abroad.

  When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with the peculiargrace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure, Above the middle size, andfinely proportioned, the Highland dress, which he wore in its simplestmode, set off his person to great advantage. He wore the trews, orclose trousers, made of tartan, chequed scarlet and white; in otherparticulars, his dress strictly resembled Evan's, excepting that he hadno weapon save a dirk, very richly mounted with silver. His page, as wehave said, carried his claymore and the fowling-piece, which he held inhis hand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the course ofhis walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME was thenunknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for the sportsman. Hiscountenance was decidedly Scottish, with all the peculiarities ofthe northern physiognomy, but yet had so little of ifs harshnessand exaggeration, that it would have been pronounced in any countryextremely handsome. The martial air of the bonnet, with a single eagle'sfeather as a distinction, added much to the manly appearance of hishead, which was besides ornamented with a far more natural and gracefulcluster of close black curls than ever were exposed to sale in BondStreet.

  An air of openness and affability increased the favourable impressionderived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yet a skilfulphysiognomist would have been less satisfied with the countenance onthe second than on the first view. The eyebrow and upper lip bespokesomething of the habit of peremptory command and decisive superiority.Even his courtesy, though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemedto indicate a sense of personal importance; and, upon any check oraccidental excitation, a sudden, though transient lour of the eye,showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be dreadedbecause it seemed much under its owner's command. In short, thecountenance of the Chieftain resembled a smiling summer's day, in which,notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, though slight signs,that it may thunder and lighten before the close of evening.

  It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had anopportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chief receivedhim as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the utmost expressionof kindness and obligation for the visit; upbraided him gently withchoosing so rude an abode as he had done the night before; and enteredinto a lively conversation with him about Donald Bean's housekeeping,but without the least hint as to his predatory habits, or the immediateoccasion of Waverley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did notintroduce it, our hero also avoided. While they walked merrily ontowards the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully intothe rear, followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony.

  We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to someparticulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which werenot completely known to Waverley till after a connexion, which, thougharising from a circumstance so casual, had for a length of time thedeepest influence upon his character, actions, and prospects. But this,being an important subject, must form the commencement of a new chapter.