Kidnapped

By Robert Louis Stevenson

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 KIDNAPPED
BEING PREFACE TO THE
MEMOIRS OF THE ADVENTURES OF
DAVID BALFOUR BIOGRAPHICAL EDITION
IN THE YEAR 1751
HOW HE WAS KIDNAPPED AND CAST AWAY; HIS
SUFFERINGS IN
A DESERT ISLE; HIS JOURNEY IN THE WILD HIGH-
LANDS;
HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH ALAN BRECK STEWART
W hile my husband and Mr. Henley were engaged in
writing plays in Bournemouth they made a number
of titles, hoping to use them in the future. Dramatic compo-
AND OTHER NOTORIOUS HIGHLAND JACOBITES; sition was not what my husband preferred, but the torrent
WITH ALL THAT HE SUFFERED AT THE of Mr. Henley’s enthusiasm swept him off his feet. However,
HANDS OF HIS UNCLE, EBENEZER after several plays had been finished, and his health serious-
BALFOUR OF SHAWS, FALSELY ly impaired by his endeavours to keep up with Mr. Henley,
SO CALLED play writing was abandoned forever, and my husband re-
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF AND NOW SET FORTH BY turned to his legitimate vocation. Having added one of the
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON titles, The Hanging Judge, to the list of projected plays, now
WITH A PREFACE BY MRS. STEVENSON thrown aside, and emboldened by my husband’s offer to
give me any help needed, I concluded to try and write it
myself.
As I wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the pe-
riod of 1700 for my purpose; but being shamefully ignorant
of my subject, and my husband confessing to little more
knowledge than I possessed, a London bookseller was com-
missioned to send us everything he could procure bearing
on Old Bailey trials. A great package came in response to
our order, and very soon we were both absorbed, not so
much in the trials as in following the brilliant career of a
Mr. Garrow, who appeared as counsel in many of the cases.

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We sent for more books, and yet more, still intent on Mr. personal appearance, even to his clothing, from the book.
Garrow, whose subtle cross-examination of witnesses and A letter from James Stewart to Mr. John Macfarlane, in-
masterly, if sometimes startling, methods of arriving at the troduced as evidence in the trial, says: ‘There is one Alan
truth seemed more thrilling to us than any novel. Stewart, a distant friend of the late Ardshiel’s, who is in the
Occasionally other trials than those of the Old Bai- French service, and came over in March last, as he said to
ley would be included in the package of books we received some, in order to settle at home; to others, that he was to go
from London; among these my husband found and read soon back; and was, as I hear, the day that the murder was
with avidity:— committed, seen not far from the place where it happened,
THE and is not now to be seen; by which it is believed he was the
TRIAL actor. He is a desperate foolish fellow; and if he is guilty,
OF came to the country for that very purpose. He is a tall, pock-
JAMES STEWART pitted lad, very black hair, and wore a blue coat and metal
in Aucharn in Duror of Appin buttons, an old red vest, and breeches of the same colour.’ A
FOR THE second witness testified to having seen him wearing ‘a blue
Murder of COLIN CAMPBELL of Glenure, Efq; coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breech-
Factor for His Majefty on the forfeited es, tartan hose, and a feathered hat, with a big coat, dun
Estate of Ardfhiel. coloured,’ a costume referred to by one of the counsel as
‘French cloathes which were remarkable.’
My husband was always interested in this period of his There are many incidents given in the trial that point to
country’s history, and had already the intention of writ- Alan’s fiery spirit and Highland quickness to take offence.
ing a story that should turn on the Appin murder. The tale One witness ‘declared also That the said Alan Breck threat-
was to be of a boy, David Balfour, supposed to belong to ened that he would challenge Ballieveolan and his sons to
my husband’s own family, who should travel in Scotland fight because of his removing the declarant last year from
as though it were a foreign country, meeting with various Glenduror.’ On another page: ‘Duncan Campbell, change-
adventures and misadventures by the way. From the trial of keeper at Annat, aged thirty-five years, married, witness
James Stewart my husband gleaned much valuable mate- cited, sworn, purged and examined ut supra, depones, That,
rial for his novel, the most important being the character of in the month of April last, the deponent met with Alan
Alan Breck. Aside from having described him as ‘smallish Breck Stewart, with whom he was not acquainted, and John
in stature,’ my husband seems to have taken Alan Breck’s Stewart, in Auchnacoan, in the house of the walk miller of

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Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house: Alan better be omitted. Duncan Baan Stewart in Achindarroch
Breck Stewart said, that he hated all the name of Campbell; his father was a Bastard.’
and the deponent said, he had no reason for doing so: But One day, while my husband was busily at work, I sat be-
Alan said, he had very good reason for it: that thereafter side him reading an old cookery book called The Compleat
they left that house; and, after drinking a dram at anoth- Housewife: or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion.
er house, came to the deponent’s house, where they went In the midst of receipts for ‘Rabbits, and Chickens mum-
in, and drunk some drams, and Alan Breck renewed the bled, Pickled Samphire, Skirret Pye, Baked Tansy,’ and other
former Conversation; and the deponent, making the same forgotten delicacies, there were directions for the prepara-
answer, Alan said, that, if the deponent had any respect for tion of several lotions for the preservation of beauty. One
his friends, he would tell them, that if they offered to turn of these was so charming that I interrupted my husband to
out the possessors of Ardshiel’s estate, he would make black read it aloud. ‘Just what I wanted!’ he exclaimed; and the
cocks of them, before they entered into possession by which receipt for the ‘Lily of the Valley Water’ was instantly incor-
the deponent understood shooting them, it being a com- porated into Kidnapped.
mon phrase in the country.’ F. V. DE G. S.
Some time after the publication of Kidnapped we stopped DEDICATION
for a short while in the Appin country, where we were MY DEAR CHARLES BAXTER:
surprised and interested to discover that the feeling con- If you ever read this tale, you will likely ask yourself
cerning the murder of Glenure (the ‘Red Fox,’ also called more questions than I should care to answer: as for instance
‘Colin Roy’) was almost as keen as though the tragedy had how the Appin murder has come to fall in the year 1751,
taken place the day before. For several years my husband how the Torran rocks have crept so near to Earraid, or why
received letters of expostulation or commendation from the printed trial is silent as to all that touches David Balfour.
members of the Campbell and Stewart clans. I have in my These are nuts beyond my ability to crack. But if you tried
possession a paper, yellow with age, that was sent soon after me on the point of Alan’s guilt or innocence, I think I could
the novel appeared, containing ‘The Pedigree of the Family defend the reading of the text. To this day you will find the
of Appine,’ wherein it is said that ‘Alan 3rd Baron of Appine tradition of Appin clear in Alan’s favour. If you inquire, you
was not killed at Flowdoun, tho there, but lived to a great may even hear that the descendants of ‘the other man’ who
old age. He married Cameron Daughter to Ewen Cameron fired the shot are in the country to this day. But that other
of Lochiel.’ Following this is a paragraph stating that ‘John man’s name, inquire as you please, you shall not hear; for
Stewart 1st of Ardsheall of his descendants Alan Breck had the Highlander values a secret for itself and for the conge-

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nial exercise of keeping it I might go on for long to justify must echo in your memory! Let it not echo often without
one point and own another indefensible; it is more honest some kind thoughts of your friend,
to confess at once how little I am touched by the desire of R.L.S. SKERRYVORE, BOURNEMOUTH.
accuracy. This is no furniture for the scholar’s library, but
a book for the winter evening school-room when the tasks
are over and the hour for bed draws near; and honest Alan,
who was a grim old fire-eater in his day has in this new ava-
tar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young
gentleman’s attention from his Ovid, carry him awhile into
the Highlands and the last century, and pack him to bed
with some engaging images to mingle with his dreams.
As for you, my dear Charles, I do not even ask you to like
this tale. But perhaps when he is older, your son will; he
may then be pleased to find his father’s name on the fly-leaf;
and in the meanwhile it pleases me to set it there, in mem-
ory of many days that were happy and some (now perhaps
as pleasant to remember) that were sad. If it is strange for
me to look back from a distance both in time and space on
these bygone adventures of our youth, it must be stranger
for you who tread the same streets—who may to-morrow
open the door of the old Speculative, where we begin to
rank with Scott and Robert Emmet and the beloved and
inglorious Macbean—or may pass the corner of the close
where that great society, the L. J. R., held its meetings and
drank its beer, sitting in the seats of Burns and his com-
panions. I think I see you, moving there by plain daylight,
beholding with your natural eyes those places that have
now become for your companion a part of the scenery of
dreams. How, in the intervals of present business, the past

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CHAPTER I in silence.
‘Are ye sorry to leave Essendean?’ said he, after awhile.
‘Why, sir,’ said I, ‘if I knew where I was going, or what
was likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly. Es-
I SET OFF UPON MY sendean is a good place indeed, and I have been very happy
there; but then I have never been anywhere else. My father
JOURNEY TO THE and mother, since they are both dead, I shall be no near-
er to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of Hungary, and,
HOUSE OF SHAWS to speak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself
where I was going I would go with a good will.’
‘Ay?’ said Mr. Campbell. ‘Very well, Davie. Then it be-
hoves me to tell your fortune; or so far as I may. When your
mother was gone, and your father (the worthy, Christian

I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain

morning early in the month of June, the year of grace
1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of
man) began to sicken for his end, he gave me in charge a
certain letter, which he said was your inheritance. ‘So soon,’
says he, ‘as I am gone, and the house is redd up and the gear
my father’s house. The sun began to shine upon the summit disposed of’ (all which, Davie, hath been done), ‘give my
of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had boy this letter into his hand, and start him off to the house
come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in of Shaws, not far from Cramond. That is the place I came
the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the val- from,’ he said, ‘and it’s where it befits that my boy should re-
ley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die turn. He is a steady lad,’ your father said, ‘and a canny goer;
away. and I doubt not he will come safe, and be well lived where
Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting he goes.’’
for me by the garden gate, good man! He asked me if I had ‘The house of Shaws!’ I cried. ‘What had my poor father
breakfasted; and hearing that I lacked for nothing, he took to do with the house of Shaws?’
my hand in both of his and clapped it kindly under his ‘Nay,’ said Mr. Campbell, ‘who can tell that for a surety?
arm. But the name of that family, Davie, boy, is the name you bear
‘Well, Davie, lad,’ said he, ‘I will go with you as far as the — Balfours of Shaws: an ancient, honest, reputable house,
ford, to set you on the way.’ And we began to walk forward peradventure in these latter days decayed. Your father, too,

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was a man of learning as befitted his position; no man more conscience to improve this parting, and set you on the right
plausibly conducted school; nor had he the manner or the guard against the dangers of the world.’
speech of a common dominie; but (as ye will yourself re- Here he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a big
member) I took aye a pleasure to have him to the manse boulder under a birch by the trackside, sate down upon it
to meet the gentry; and those of my own house, Campbell with a very long, serious upper lip, and the sun now shining
of Kilrennet, Campbell of Dunswire, Campbell of Minch, in upon us between two peaks, put his pocket-handkerchief
and others, all well-kenned gentlemen, had pleasure in his over his cocked hat to shelter him. There, then, with uplifted
society. Lastly, to put all the elements of this affair before forefinger, he first put me on my guard against a consider-
you, here is the testamentary letter itself, superscrived by able number of heresies, to which I had no temptation, and
the own hand of our departed brother.’ urged upon me to be instant in my prayers and reading of
He gave me the letter, which was addressed in these the Bible. That done, he drew a picture of the great house
words: ‘To the hands of Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire, of Shaws, that I was bound to, and how I should conduct myself with
in his house of Shaws, these will be delivered by my son, its inhabitants.
David Balfour.’ My heart was beating hard at this great ‘Be soople, Davie, in things immaterial,’ said he. ‘Bear ye
prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen this in mind, that, though gentle born, ye have had a coun-
years of age, the son of a poor country dominie in the For- try rearing. Dinnae shame us, Davie, dinnae shame us! In
est of Ettrick. yon great, muckle house, with all these domestics, upper
‘Mr. Campbell,’ I stammered, ‘and if you were in my and under, show yourself as nice, as circumspect, as quick
shoes, would you go?’ at the conception, and as slow of speech as any. As for the
‘Of a surety,’ said the minister, ‘that would I, and without laird — remember he’s the laird; I say no more: honour to
pause. A pretty lad like you should get to Cramond (which whom honour. It’s a pleasure to obey a laird; or should be,
is near in by Edinburgh) in two days of walk. If the worst to the young.’
came to the worst, and your high relations (as I cannot but ‘Well, sir,’ said I, ‘it may be; and I’ll promise you I’ll try
suppose them to be somewhat of your blood) should put to make it so.’
you to the door, ye can but walk the two days back again ‘Why, very well said,’ replied Mr. Campbell, heartily.
and risp at the manse door. But I would rather hope that ye ‘And now to come to the material, or (to make a quibble) to
shall be well received, as your poor father forecast for you, the immaterial. I have here a little packet which contains
and for anything that I ken come to be a great man in time. four things.’ He tugged it, as he spoke, and with some great
And here, Davie, laddie,’ he resumed, ‘it lies near upon my difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. ‘Of these four

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things, the first is your legal due: the little pickle money for gratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends at the
your father’s books and plenishing, which I have bought (as mere whistle of a name? Fie, fie; think shame.’
I have explained from the first) in the design of re-selling at And I sat down on the boulder the good man had just
a profit to the incoming dominie. The other three are gifties left, and opened the parcel to see the nature of my gifts. That
that Mrs. Campbell and myself would be blithe of your ac- which he had called cubical, I had never had much doubt
ceptance. The first, which is round, will likely please ye best of; sure enough it was a little Bible, to carry in a plaid-neuk.
at the first off-go; but, O Davie, laddie, it’s but a drop of wa- That which he had called round, I found to be a shilling
ter in the sea; it’ll help you but a step, and vanish like the piece; and the third, which was to help me so wonderfully
morning. The second, which is flat and square and written both in health and sickness all the days of my life, was a
upon, will stand by you through life, like a good staff for the little piece of coarse yellow paper, written upon thus in red
road, and a good pillow to your head in sickness. And as for ink:
the last, which is cubical, that’ll see you, it’s my prayerful ‘TO MAKE LILLY OF THE VALLEY WATER.—Take
wish, into a better land.’ the flowers of lilly of the valley and distil them in sack, and
With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed drink a spooneful or two as there is occasion. It restores
a little while aloud, and in affecting terms, for a young man speech to those that have the dumb palsey. It is good against
setting out into the world; then suddenly took me in his the Gout; it comforts the heart and strengthens the mem-
arms and embraced me very hard; then held me at arm’s ory; and the flowers, put into a Glasse, close stopt, and set
length, looking at me with his face all working with sorrow; into ane hill of ants for a month, then take it out, and you
and then whipped about, and crying good-bye to me, set off will find a liquor which comes from the flowers, which keep
backward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging in a vial; it is good, ill or well, and whether man or woman.’
run. It might have been laughable to another; but I was in And then, in the minister’s own hand, was added:
no mind to laugh. I watched him as long as he was in sight; ‘Likewise for sprains, rub it in; and for the cholic, a great
and he never stopped hurrying, nor once looked back. Then spooneful in the hour.’
it came in upon my mind that this was all his sorrow at my To be sure, I laughed over this; but it was rather tremu-
departure; and my conscience smote me hard and fast, be- lous laughter; and I was glad to get my bundle on my staff’s
cause I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that end and set out over the ford and up the hill upon the farther
quiet country-side, and go to a great, busy house, among side; till, just as I came on the green drove-road running
rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood. wide through the heather, I took my last look of Kirk Essen-
‘Davie, Davie,’ I thought, ‘was ever seen such black in- dean, the trees about the manse, and the big rowans in the

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kirkyard where my father and my mother lay.
CHAPTER II

I COME TO MY
JOURNEY’S END

O n the forenoon of the second day, coming to the top of

a hill, I saw all the country fall away before me down
to the sea; and in the midst of this descent, on a long ridge,
the city of Edinburgh smoking like a kiln. There was a flag
upon the castle, and ships moving or lying anchored in the
firth; both of which, for as far away as they were, I could dis-
tinguish clearly; and both brought my country heart into
my mouth.
Presently after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived,
and got a rough direction for the neighbourhood of Cra-
mond; and so, from one to another, worked my way to the
westward of the capital by Colinton, till I came out upon the
Glasgow road. And there, to my great pleasure and wonder,
I beheld a regiment marching to the fifes, every foot in time;
an old red-faced general on a grey horse at the one end, and
at the other the company of Grenadiers, with their Pope’s-
hats. The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the
sight of the red coats and the hearing of that merry music.

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 A little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond par- of my affairs; but ye seem a decent-spoken lad; and if ye’ll
ish, and began to substitute in my inquiries the name of the take a word from me, ye’ll keep clear of the Shaws.’
house of Shaws. It was a word that seemed to surprise those The next person I came across was a dapper little man
of whom I sought my way. At first I thought the plainness in a beautiful white wig, whom I saw to be a barber on his
of my appearance, in my country habit, and that all dusty rounds; and knowing well that barbers were great gossips,
from the road, consorted ill with the greatness of the place I asked him plainly what sort of a man was Mr. Balfour of
to which I was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had the Shaws.
given me the same look and the same answer, I began to ‘Hoot, hoot, hoot,’ said the barber, ‘nae kind of a man,
take it in my head there was something strange about the nae kind of a man at all;’ and began to ask me very shrewdly
Shaws itself. what my business was; but I was more than a match for him
The better to set this fear at rest, I changed the form of at that, and he went on to his next customer no wiser than
my inquiries; and spying an honest fellow coming along a he came.
lane on the shaft of his cart, I asked him if he had ever heard I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions.
tell of a house they called the house of Shaws. The more indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked
He stopped his cart and looked at me, like the others. them, for they left the wider field to fancy. What kind of
‘Ay’ said he. ‘What for?’ a great house was this, that all the parish should start and
‘It’s a great house?’ I asked. stare to be asked the way to it? or what sort of a gentleman,
‘Doubtless,’ says he. ‘The house is a big, muckle house.’ that his ill-fame should be thus current on the wayside? If
‘Ay,’ said I, ‘but the folk that are in it?’ an hour’s walking would have brought me back to Essend-
‘Folk?’ cried he. ‘Are ye daft? There’s nae folk there — to ean, had left my adventure then and there, and returned to
call folk.’ Mr. Campbell’s. But when I had come so far a way already,
‘What?’ say I; ‘not Mr. Ebenezer?’ mere shame would not suffer me to desist till I had put the
‘Ou, ay’ says the man; ‘there’s the laird, to be sure, if it’s matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere self-
him you’re wanting. What’ll like be your business, man- respect, to carry it through; and little as I liked the sound of
nie?’ what I heard, and slow as I began to travel, I still kept asking
‘I was led to think that I would get a situation,’ I said, my way and still kept advancing.
looking as modest as I could. It was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout, dark,
‘What?’ cries the carter, in so sharp a note that his very sour-looking woman coming trudging down a hill; and she,
horse started; and then, ‘Well, mannie,’ he added, ‘it’s nane when I had put my usual question, turned sharp about, ac-

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 companied me back to the summit she had just left, and midst of it went sore against my fancy.
pointed to a great bulk of building standing very bare upon Country folk went by from the fields as I sat there on
a green in the bottom of the next valley. The country was the side of the ditch, but I lacked the spirit to give them a
pleasant round about, running in low hills, pleasantly wa- good-e’en. At last the sun went down, and then, right up
tered and wooded, and the crops, to my eyes, wonderfully against the yellow sky, I saw a scroll of smoke go mounting,
good; but the house itself appeared to be a kind of ruin; no not much thicker, as it seemed to me, than the smoke of a
road led up to it; no smoke arose from any of the chimneys; candle; but still there it was, and meant a fire, and warmth,
nor was there any semblance of a garden. My heart sank. and cookery, and some living inhabitant that must have lit
‘That!’ I cried. it; and this comforted my heart.
The woman’s face lit up with a malignant anger. ‘That is So I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that
the house of Shaws!’ she cried. ‘Blood built it; blood stopped led in my direction. It was very faint indeed to be the only
the building of it; blood shall bring it down. See here!’ she way to a place of habitation; yet I saw no other. Present-
cried again — ‘I spit upon the ground, and crack my thumb ly it brought me to stone uprights, with an unroofed lodge
at it! Black be its fall! If ye see the laird, tell him what ye beside them, and coats of arms upon the top. A main en-
hear; tell him this makes the twelve hunner and nineteen trance it was plainly meant to be, but never finished; instead
time that Jennet Clouston has called down the curse on him of gates of wrought iron, a pair of hurdles were tied across
and his house, byre and stable, man, guest, and master, wife, with a straw rope; and as there were no park walls, nor any
miss, or bairn — black, black be their fall!’ sign of avenue, the track that I was following passed on the
And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of el- right hand of the pillars, and went wandering on toward
dritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone. I stood the house.
where she left me, with my hair on end. In those days folk The nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It
still believed in witches and trembled at a curse; and this seemed like the one wing of a house that had never been
one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I finished. What should have been the inner end stood open
carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs. on the upper floors, and showed against the sky with steps
I sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws. The and stairs of uncompleted masonry. Many of the windows
more I looked, the pleasanter that country-side appeared; were unglazed, and bats flew in and out like doves out of a
being all set with hawthorn bushes full of flowers; the fields dove-cote.
dotted with sheep; a fine flight of rooks in the sky; and every The night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of
sign of a kind soil and climate; and yet the barrack in the the lower windows, which were very high up and narrow,

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and well barred, the changing light of a little fire began to Balfour of Shaws. Is he here?’
glimmer. Was this the palace I had been coming to? Was it ‘From whom is it?’ asked the man with the blunderbuss.
within these walls that I was to seek new friends and begin ‘That is neither here nor there,’ said I, for I was growing
great fortunes? Why, in my father’s house on Essen-Water- very wroth.
side, the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away, ‘Well,’ was the reply, ‘ye can put it down upon the door-
and the door open to a beggar’s knock! step, and be off with ye.’
I came forward cautiously, and giving ear as I came, ‘I will do no such thing,’ I cried. ‘I will deliver it into Mr.
heard some one rattling with dishes, and a little dry, eager Balfour’s hands, as it was meant I should. It is a letter of in-
cough that came in fits; but there was no sound of speech, troduction.’
and not a dog barked. ‘A what?’ cried the voice, sharply.
The door, as well as I could see it in the dim light, was a I repeated what I had said.
great piece of wood all studded with nails; and I lifted my ‘Who are ye, yourself?’ was the next question, after a con-
hand with a faint heart under my jacket, and knocked once. siderable pause.
Then I stood and waited. The house had fallen into a dead si- ‘I am not ashamed of my name,’ said I. ‘They call me Da-
lence; a whole minute passed away, and nothing stirred but vid Balfour.’
the bats overhead. I knocked again, and hearkened again. At that, I made sure the man started, for I heard the
By this time my ears had grown so accustomed to the quiet, blunderbuss rattle on the window-sill; and it was after quite
that I could hear the ticking of the clock inside as it slow- a long pause, and with a curious change of voice, that the
ly counted out the seconds; but whoever was in that house next question followed:
kept deadly still, and must have held his breath. ‘Is your father dead?’
I was in two minds whether to run away; but anger got I was so much surprised at this, that I could find no voice
the upper hand, and I began instead to rain kicks and buf- to answer, but stood staring.
fets on the door, and to shout out aloud for Mr. Balfour. I ‘Ay’ the man resumed, ‘he’ll be dead, no doubt; and that’ll
was in full career, when I heard the cough right overhead, be what brings ye chapping to my door.’ Another pause, and
and jumping back and looking up, beheld a man’s head in a then defiantly, ‘Well, man,’ he said, ‘I’ll let ye in;’ and he dis-
tall nightcap, and the bell mouth of a blunderbuss, at one of appeared from the window.
the first-storey windows.
‘It’s loaded,’ said a voice.
‘I have come here with a letter,’ I said, ‘to Mr. Ebenezer

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CHAPTER III fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of flannel, and so was
the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat,
over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved; but what most
distressed and even daunted me, he would neither take his
I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE eyes away from me nor look me fairly in the face. What
he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could
OF MY UNCLE fathom; but he seemed most like an old, unprofitable serv-
ing-man, who should have been left in charge of that big
house upon board wages.
‘Are ye sharp-set?’ he asked, glancing at about the level of
my knee. ‘Ye can eat that drop parritch?’

P resently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts,

and the door was cautiously opened and shut to again
behind me as soon as I had passed.
I said I feared it was his own supper.
‘O,’ said he, ‘I can do fine wanting it. I’ll take the ale,
though, for it slockens[1] my cough.’ He drank the cup about
‘Go into the kitchen and touch naething,’ said the voice; half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank; and then
and while the person of the house set himself to replacing suddenly held out his hand. ‘Let’s see the letter,’ said he.
the defences of the door, I groped my way forward and en- [1] Moistens.
tered the kitchen. I told him the letter was for Mr. Balfour; not for him.
The fire had burned up fairly bright, and showed me the ‘And who do ye think I am?’ says he. ‘Give me Alexan-
barest room I think I ever put my eyes on. Half-a-dozen der’s letter.’
dishes stood upon the shelves; the table was laid for supper ‘You know my father’s name?’
with a bowl of porridge, a horn spoon, and a cup of small ‘It would be strange if I didnae,’ he returned, ‘for he was
beer. Besides what I have named, there was not another my born brother; and little as ye seem to like either me or
thing in that great, stone-vaulted, empty chamber but lock- my house, or my good parritch, I’m your born uncle, Davie,
fast chests arranged along the wall and a corner cupboard my man, and you my born nephew. So give us the letter, and
with a padlock. sit down and fill your kyte.’
As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. If I had been some years younger, what with shame, wea-
He was a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced riness, and disappointment, I believe I had burst into tears.
creature; and his age might have been anything between As it was, I could find no words, neither black nor white, but

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handed him the letter, and sat down to the porridge with as To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two
little appetite for meat as ever a young man had. feet, and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry
Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the heart. He, on his part, continued to eat like a man under
letter over and over in his hands. some pressure of time, and to throw out little darting glanc-
‘Do ye ken what’s in it?’ he asked, suddenly. es now at my shoes and now at my home-spun stockings.
‘You see for yourself, sir,’ said I, ‘that the seal has not been Once only, when he had ventured to look a little higher, our
broken.’ eyes met; and no thief taken with a hand in a man’s pocket
‘Ay,’ said he, ‘but what brought you here?’ could have shown more lively signals of distress. This set
‘To give the letter,’ said I. me in a muse, whether his timidity arose from too long a
‘No,’ says he, cunningly, ‘but ye’ll have had some hopes, disuse of any human company; and whether perhaps, upon
nae doubt?’ a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle change into an
‘I confess, sir,’ said I, ‘when I was told that I had kinsfolk altogether different man. From this I was awakened by his
well-to-do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might sharp voice.
help me in my life. But I am no beggar; I look for no favours ‘Your father’s been long dead?’ he asked.
at your hands, and I want none that are not freely given. For ‘Three weeks, sir,’ said I.
as poor as I appear, I have friends of my own that will be ‘He was a secret man, Alexander — a secret, silent man,’
blithe to help me.’ he continued. ‘He never said muckle when he was young.
‘Hoot-toot!’ said Uncle Ebenezer, ‘dinnae fly up in the He’ll never have spoken muckle of me?’
snuff at me. We’ll agree fine yet. And, Davie, my man, if ‘I never knew, sir, till you told it me yourself, that he had
you’re done with that bit parritch, I could just take a sup of it any brother.’
myself. Ay,’ he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from ‘Dear me, dear me!’ said Ebenezer. ‘Nor yet of Shaws, I
the stool and spoon, ‘they’re fine, halesome food — they’re dare say?’
grand food, parritch.’ He murmured a little grace to himself ‘Not so much as the name, sir,’ said I.
and fell to. ‘Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind; ‘To think o’ that!’ said he. ‘A strange nature of a man!’ For
he was a hearty, if not a great eater; but as for me, I could all that, he seemed singularly satisfied, but whether with
never do mair than pyke at food.’ He took a pull at the small himself, or me, or with this conduct of my father’s, was
beer, which probably reminded him of hospitable duties, for more than I could read. Certainly, however, he seemed to be
his next speech ran thus: ‘If ye’re dry ye’ll find water behind outgrowing that distaste, or ill-will, that he had conceived
the door.’ at first against my person; for presently he jumped up, came

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across the room behind me, and hit me a smack upon the pleasant a room to lie down or to awake in as a man could
shoulder. ‘We’ll agree fine yet!’ he cried. ‘I’m just as glad I let wish; but damp, dirt, disuse, and the mice and spiders had
you in. And now come awa’ to your bed.’ done their worst since then. Many of the window-panes,
To my surprise, he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth besides, were broken; and indeed this was so common a
into the dark passage, groped his way, breathing deeply, up feature in that house, that I believe my uncle must at some
a flight of steps, and paused before a door, which he un- time have stood a siege from his indignant neighbours —
locked. I was close upon his heels, having stumbled after perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their head.
him as best I might; and then he bade me go in, for that was Meanwhile the sun was shining outside; and being very
my chamber. I did as he bid, but paused after a few steps, cold in that miserable room, I knocked and shouted till my
and begged a light to go to bed with. gaoler came and let me out. He carried me to the back of
‘Hoot-toot!’ said Uncle Ebenezer, ‘there’s a fine moon.’ the house, where was a draw-well, and told me to ‘wash my
‘Neither moon nor star, sir, and pit-mirk,’[2] said I. ‘I can- face there, if I wanted;’ and when that was done, I made the
nae see the bed.’ best of my own way back to the kitchen, where he had lit the
[2] Dark as the pit. fire and was making the porridge. The table was laid with
‘Hoot-toot, hoot-toot!’ said he. ‘Lights in a house is a two bowls and two horn spoons, but the same single mea-
thing I dinnae agree with. I’m unco feared of fires. Good- sure of small beer. Perhaps my eye rested on this particular
night to ye, Davie, my man.’ And before I had time to add a with some surprise, and perhaps my uncle observed it; for
further protest, he pulled the door to, and I heard him lock he spoke up as if in answer to my thought, asking me if I
me in from the outside. would like to drink ale — for so he called it.
I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as I told him such was my habit, but not to put himself
cold as a well, and the bed, when I had found my way to it, about.
as damp as a peat-hag; but by good fortune I had caught up ‘Na, na,’ said he; ‘I’ll deny you nothing in reason.’
my bundle and my plaid, and rolling myself in the latter, I He fetched another cup from the shelf; and then, to my
lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead, and great surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he poured an
fell speedily asleep. accurate half from one cup to the other. There was a kind of
With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself nobleness in this that took my breath away; if my uncle was
in a great chamber, hung with stamped leather, furnished certainly a miser, he was one of that thorough breed that
with fine embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair win- goes near to make the vice respectable.
dows. Ten years ago, or perhaps twenty, it must have been as When we had made an end of our meal, my uncle Eb-

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enezer unlocked a drawer, and drew out of it a clay pipe was by no will of mine that I came seeking you; and if you
and a lump of tobacco, from which he cut one fill before show me your door again, I’ll take you at the word.’
he locked it up again. Then he sat down in the sun at one He seemed grievously put out. ‘Hoots-toots,’ said he, ‘ca’
of the windows and silently smoked. From time to time his cannie, man — ca’ cannie! Bide a day or two. I’m nae war-
eyes came coasting round to me, and he shot out one of his lock, to find a fortune for you in the bottom of a parritch
questions. Once it was, ‘And your mother?’ and when I had bowl; but just you give me a day or two, and say naething to
told him that she, too, was dead, ‘Ay, she was a bonnie lassie!’ naebody, and as sure as sure, I’ll do the right by you.’
Then, after another long pause, ‘Whae were these friends o’ ‘Very well,’ said I, ‘enough said. If you want to help me,
yours?’ there’s no doubt but I’ll be glad of it, and none but I’ll be
I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of grateful.’
Campbell; though, indeed, there was only one, and that the It seemed to me (too soon, I dare say) that I was getting
minister, that had ever taken the least note of me; but I be- the upper hand of my uncle; and I began next to say that I
gan to think my uncle made too light of my position, and must have the bed and bedclothes aired and put to sun-dry;
finding myself all alone with him, I did not wish him to for nothing would make me sleep in such a pickle.
suppose me helpless. ‘Is this my house or yours?’ said he, in his keen voice,
He seemed to turn this over in his mind; and then, ‘Da- and then all of a sudden broke off. ‘Na, na,’ said he, ‘I did-
vie, my man,’ said he, ‘ye’ve come to the right bit when ye nae mean that. What’s mine is yours, Davie, my man, and
came to your uncle Ebenezer. I’ve a great notion of the fam- what’s yours is mine. Blood’s thicker than water; and there’s
ily, and I mean to do the right by you; but while I’m taking naebody but you and me that ought the name.’ And then on
a bit think to mysel’ of what’s the best thing to put you to — he rambled about the family, and its ancient greatness, and
whether the law, or the meenistry, or maybe the army, whilk his father that began to enlarge the house, and himself that
is what boys are fondest of — I wouldnae like the Balfours stopped the building as a sinful waste; and this put it in my
to be humbled before a wheen Hieland Campbells, and I’ll head to give him Jennet Clouston’s message.
ask you to keep your tongue within your teeth. Nae letters; ‘The limmer!’ he cried. ‘Twelve hunner and fifteen
nae messages; no kind of word to onybody; or else — there’s — that’s every day since I had the limmer rowpit![3] Dod,
my door.’ David, I’ll have her roasted on red peats before I’m by with
‘Uncle Ebenezer,’ said I, ‘I’ve no manner of reason to it! A witch — a proclaimed witch! I’ll aff and see the ses-
suppose you mean anything but well by me. For all that, I sion clerk.’
would have you to know that I have a pride of my own. It [3] Sold up.

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 And with that he opened a chest, and got out a very old as I never thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to
and well-preserved blue coat and waistcoat, and a good keep me, then? Let me gang back — let me gang back to the
enough beaver hat, both without lace. These he threw on friends I have, and that like me!’
any way, and taking a staff from the cupboard, locked all ‘Na, na; na, na,’ he said, very earnestly. ‘I like you fine;
up again, and was for setting out, when a thought arrested we’ll agree fine yet; and for the honour of the house I could-
him. nae let you leave the way ye came. Bide here quiet, there’s a
‘I cannae leave you by yoursel’ in the house,’ said he. ‘I’ll good lad; just you bide here quiet a bittie, and ye’ll find that
have to lock you out.’ we agree.’
The blood came to my face. ‘If you lock me out,’ I said, ‘Well, sir,’ said I, after I had thought the matter out in si-
‘it’ll be the last you’ll see of me in friendship.’ lence, ‘I’ll stay awhile. It’s more just I should be helped by
He turned very pale, and sucked his mouth in. my own blood than strangers; and if we don’t agree, I’ll do
‘This is no the way’ he said, looking wickedly at a corner my best it shall be through no fault of mine.’
of the floor — ‘this is no the way to win my favour, David.’
‘Sir,’ says I, ‘with a proper reverence for your age and our
common blood, I do not value your favour at a boddle’s pur-
chase. I was brought up to have a good conceit of myself;
and if you were all the uncle, and all the family, I had in
the world ten times over, I wouldn’t buy your liking at such
prices.’
Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for
awhile. I could see him all trembling and twitching, like a
man with palsy. But when he turned round, he had a smile
upon his face.
‘Well, well,’ said he, ‘we must bear and forbear. I’ll no go;
that’s all that’s to be said of it.’
‘Uncle Ebenezer,’ I said, ‘I can make nothing out of this.
You use me like a thief; you hate to have me in this house;
you let me see it, every word and every minute: it’s not pos-
sible that you can like me; and as for me, I’ve spoken to you

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CHAPTER IV course the younger brother, he must either have made some
strange error, or he must have written, before he was yet five,
an excellent, clear manly hand of writing.
I tried to get this out of my head; but though I took down
I RUN A GREAT DANGER many interesting authors, old and new, history, poetry, and
story-book, this notion of my father’s hand of writing stuck
IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS to me; and when at length I went back into the kitchen, and
sat down once more to porridge and small beer, the first
thing I said to Uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if my father
had not been very quick at his book.
‘Alexander? No him!’ was the reply. ‘I was far quicker my-

F or a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly

well. We had the porridge cold again at noon, and hot
porridge at night; porridge and small beer was my uncle’s
sel’; I was a clever chappie when I was young. Why, I could
read as soon as he could.’
This puzzled me yet more; and a thought coming into my
diet. He spoke but little, and that in the same way as before, head, I asked if he and my father had been twins.
shooting a question at me after a long silence; and when I He jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out
sought to lead him to talk about my future, slipped out of it of his hand upon the floor. ‘What gars ye ask that?’ he said,
again. In a room next door to the kitchen, where he suffered and he caught me by the breast of the jacket, and looked
me to go, I found a great number of books, both Latin and this time straight into my eyes: his own were little and light,
English, in which I took great pleasure all the afternoon. In- and bright like a bird’s, blinking and winking strangely.
deed, the time passed so lightly in this good company, that ‘What do you mean?’ I asked, very calmly, for I was far
I began to be almost reconciled to my residence at Shaws; stronger than he, and not easily frightened. ‘Take your hand
and nothing but the sight of my uncle, and his eyes playing from my jacket. This is no way to behave.’
hide and seek with mine, revived the force of my distrust. My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself.
One thing I discovered, which put me in some doubt. ‘Dod man, David,’ he said, ‘ye should-nae speak to me about
This was an entry on the fly-leaf of a chap-book (one of Pat- your father. That’s where the mistake is.’ He sat awhile and
rick Walker’s) plainly written by my father’s hand and thus shook, blinking in his plate: ‘He was all the brother that
conceived: ‘To my brother Ebenezer on his fifth birthday’ ever I had,’ he added, but with no heart in his voice; and
Now, what puzzled me was this: That, as my father was of then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again, but

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still shaking. tlemen daffing at their wine. Well, I keepit that bit money
Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my per- separate — it was a great expense, but a promise is a promise
son and sudden profession of love for my dead father, went — and it has grown by now to be a matter of just precisely —
so clean beyond my comprehension that it put me into both just exactly’ — and here he paused and stumbled — ‘of just
fear and hope. On the one hand, I began to think my uncle exactly forty pounds!’ This last he rapped out with a side-
was perhaps insane and might be dangerous; on the other, long glance over his shoulder; and the next moment added,
there came up into my mind (quite unbidden by me and almost with a scream, ‘Scots!’
even discouraged) a story like some ballad I had heard folk The pound Scots being the same thing as an English
singing, of a poor lad that was a rightful heir and a wick- shilling, the difference made by this second thought was
ed kinsman that tried to keep him from his own. For why considerable; I could see, besides, that the whole story was
should my uncle play a part with a relative that came, al- a lie, invented with some end which it puzzled me to guess;
most a beggar, to his door, unless in his heart he had some and I made no attempt to conceal the tone of raillery in
cause to fear him? which I answered —
With this notion, all unacknowledged, but nevertheless ‘O, think again, sir! Pounds sterling, I believe!’
getting firmly settled in my head, I now began to imitate his ‘That’s what I said,’ returned my uncle: ‘pounds sterling!
covert looks; so that we sat at table like a cat and a mouse, And if you’ll step out-by to the door a minute, just to see
each stealthily observing the other. Not another word had what kind of a night it is, I’ll get it out to ye and call ye in
he to say to me, black or white, but was busy turning some- again.’
thing secretly over in his mind; and the longer we sat and I did his will, smiling to myself in my contempt that he
the more I looked at him, the more certain I became that should think I was so easily to be deceived. It was a dark
the something was unfriendly to myself. night, with a few stars low down; and as I stood just out-
When he had cleared the platter, he got out a single pipe- side the door, I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off
ful of tobacco, just as in the morning, turned round a stool among the hills. I said to myself there was something thun-
into the chimney corner, and sat awhile smoking, with his dery and changeful in the weather, and little knew of what
back to me. a vast importance that should prove to me before the eve-
‘Davie,’ he said, at length, ‘I’ve been thinking;’ then he ning passed.
paused, and said it again. ‘There’s a wee bit siller that I half When I was called in again, my uncle counted out into
promised ye before ye were born,’ he continued; ‘promised my hand seven and thirty golden guinea pieces; the rest was
it to your father. O, naething legal, ye understand; just gen- in his hand, in small gold and silver; but his heart failed him

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there, and he crammed the change into his pocket. at the far end of the house. Ye can only win into it from the
‘There,’ said he, ‘that’ll show you! I’m a queer man, and outside, for that part of the house is no finished. Gang ye in
strange wi’ strangers; but my word is my bond, and there’s there, and up the stairs, and bring me down the chest that’s
the proof of it.’ at the top. There’s papers in’t,’ he added.
Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb ‘Can I have a light, sir?’ said I.
by this sudden generosity, and could find no words in which ‘Na,’ said he, very cunningly. ‘Nae lights in my house.’
to thank him. ‘Very well, sir,’ said I. ‘Are the stairs good?’
‘No a word!’ said he. ‘Nae thanks; I want nae thanks. I do ‘They’re grand,’ said he; and then, as I was going, ‘Keep
my duty. I’m no saying that everybody would have, done it; to the wall,’ he added; ‘there’s nae bannisters. But the stairs
but for my part (though I’m a careful body, too) it’s a plea- are grand underfoot.’
sure to me to do the right by my brother’s son; and it’s a Out I went into the night. The wind was still moan-
pleasure to me to think that now we’ll agree as such near ing in the distance, though never a breath of it came near
friends should.’ the house of Shaws. It had fallen blacker than ever; and I
I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able; but all was glad to feel along the wall, till I came the length of the
the while I was wondering what would come next, and why stairtower door at the far end of the unfinished wing. I had
he had parted with his precious guineas; for as to the reason got the key into the keyhole and had just turned it, when
he had given, a baby would have refused it. all upon a sudden, without sound of wind or thunder, the
Presently he looked towards me sideways. whole sky lighted up with wild fire and went black again. I
‘And see here,’ says he, ‘tit for tat.’ had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the colour of
I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any the darkness; and indeed I was already half blinded when I
reasonable degree, and then waited, looking for some mon- stepped into the tower.
strous demand. And yet, when at last he plucked up courage It was so dark inside, it seemed a body could scarce
to speak, it was only to tell me (very properly, as I thought) breathe; but I pushed out with foot and hand, and present-
that he was growing old and a little broken, and that he ly struck the wall with the one, and the lowermost round
would expect me to help him with the house and the bit of the stair with the other. The wall, by the touch, was of
garden. fine hewn stone; the steps too, though somewhat steep and
I answered, and expressed my readiness to serve. narrow, were of polished masonwork, and regular and solid
‘Well,’ he said, ‘let’s begin.’ He pulled out of his pocket a underfoot. Minding my uncle’s word about the bannisters,
rusty key. ‘There,’ says he, ‘there’s the key of the stair-tower I kept close to the tower side, and felt my way in the pitch

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darkness with a beating heart. turns, when, feeling forward as usual, my hand slipped
The house of Shaws stood some five full storeys high, upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness beyond
not counting lofts. Well, as I advanced, it seemed to me the it. The stair had been carried no higher; to set a stranger
stair grew airier and a thought more lightsome; and I was mounting it in the darkness was to send him straight to his
wondering what might be the cause of this change, when a death; and (although, thanks to the lightning and my own
second blink of the summer lightning came and went. If I precautions, I was safe enough) the mere thought of the
did not cry out, it was because fear had me by the throat; peril in which I might have stood, and the dreadful height
and if I did not fall, it was more by Heaven’s mercy than I might have fallen from, brought out the sweat upon my
my own strength. It was not only that the flash shone in on body and relaxed my joints.
every side through breaches in the wall, so that I seemed But I knew what I wanted now, and turned and groped
to be clambering aloft upon an open scaffold, but the same my way down again, with a wonderful anger in my heart.
passing brightness showed me the steps were of unequal About half-way down, the wind sprang up in a clap and
length, and that one of my feet rested that moment within shook the tower, and died again; the rain followed; and be-
two inches of the well. fore I had reached the ground level it fell in buckets. I put
This was the grand stair! I thought; and with the thought, out my head into the storm, and looked along towards the
a gust of a kind of angry courage came into my heart. My kitchen. The door, which I had shut behind me when I left,
uncle had sent me here, certainly to run great risks, perhaps now stood open, and shed a little glimmer of light; and I
to die. I swore I would settle that ‘perhaps,’ if I should break thought I could see a figure standing in the rain, quite still,
my neck for it; got me down upon my hands and knees; and like a man hearkening. And then there came a blinding
as slowly as a snail, feeling before me every inch, and test- flash, which showed me my uncle plainly, just where I had
ing the solidity of every stone, I continued to ascend the fancied him to stand; and hard upon the heels of it, a great
stair. The darkness, by contrast with the flash, appeared to tow-row of thunder.
have redoubled; nor was that all, for my ears were now trou- Now, whether my uncle thought the crash to be the
bled and my mind confounded by a great stir of bats in the sound of my fall, or whether he heard in it God’s voice de-
top part of the tower, and the foul beasts, flying downwards, nouncing murder, I will leave you to guess. Certain it is, at
sometimes beat about my face and body. least, that he was seized on by a kind of panic fear, and that
The tower, I should have said, was square; and in every he ran into the house and left the door open behind him. I
corner the step was made of a great stone of a different shape followed as softly as I could, and, coming unheard into the
to join the flights. Well, I had come close to one of these kitchen, stood and watched him.

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 He had found time to open the corner cupboard and came on me that he was dead; then I got water and dashed it
bring out a great case bottle of aqua vitae, and now sat with in his face; and with that he seemed to come a little to him-
his back towards me at the table. Ever and again he would self, working his mouth and fluttering his eyelids. At last he
be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and groan aloud, looked up and saw me, and there came into his eyes a terror
and carrying the bottle to his lips, drink down the raw spir- that was not of this world.
its by the mouthful. ‘Come, come,’ said I; ‘sit up.’
I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat, ‘Are ye alive?’ he sobbed. ‘O man, are ye alive?’
and suddenly clapping my two hands down upon his shoul- ‘That am I,’ said I. ‘Small thanks to you!’
ders — ‘Ah!’ cried I. He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. ‘The
My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep’s bleat, blue phial,’ said he — ‘in the aumry — the blue phial.’ His
flung up his arms, and tumbled to the floor like a dead man. breath came slower still.
I was somewhat shocked at this; but I had myself to look to I ran to the cupboard, and, sure enough, found there
first of all, and did not hesitate to let him lie as he had fallen. a blue phial of medicine, with the dose written on it on a
The keys were hanging in the cupboard; and it was my de- paper, and this I administered to him with what speed I
sign to furnish myself with arms before my uncle should might.
come again to his senses and the power of devising evil. In ‘It’s the trouble,’ said he, reviving a little; ‘I have a trouble,
the cupboard were a few bottles, some apparently of medi- Davie. It’s the heart.’
cine; a great many bills and other papers, which I should I set him on a chair and looked at him. It is true I felt
willingly enough have rummaged, had I had the time; and a some pity for a man that looked so sick, but I was full be-
few necessaries that were nothing to my purpose. Thence I sides of righteous anger; and I numbered over before him
turned to the chests. The first was full of meal; the second of the points on which I wanted explanation: why he lied to
moneybags and papers tied into sheaves; in the third, with me at every word; why he feared that I should leave him;
many other things (and these for the most part clothes) I why he disliked it to be hinted that he and my father were
found a rusty, ugly-looking Highland dirk without the twins — ‘Is that because it is true?’ I asked; why he had
scabbard. This, then, I concealed inside my waistcoat, and given me money to which I was convinced I had no claim;
turned to my uncle. and, last of all, why he had tried to kill me. He heard me all
He lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee up through in silence; and then, in a broken voice, begged me
and one arm sprawling abroad; his face had a strange co- to let him go to bed.
lour of blue, and he seemed to have ceased breathing. Fear ‘I’ll tell ye the morn,’ he said; ‘as sure as death I will.’

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 And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent.
I locked him into his room, however, and pocketed the, key, CHAPTER V
and then returning to the kitchen, made up such a blaze as
had not shone there for many a long year, and wrapping my-
self in my plaid, lay down upon the chests and fell asleep.
I GO TO THE
QUEEN’S FERRY

M uch rain fell in the night; and the next morning there
blew a bitter wintry wind out of the north-west, driv-
ing scattered clouds. For all that, and before the sun began
to peep or the last of the stars had vanished, I made my way
to the side of the burn, and had a plunge in a deep whirling
pool. All aglow from my bath, I sat down once more beside
the fire, which I replenished, and began gravely to consider
my position.
There was now no doubt about my uncle’s enmity; there
was no doubt I carried my life in my hand, and he would
leave no stone unturned that he might compass my de-
struction. But I was young and spirited, and like most lads
that have been country-bred, I had a great opinion of my
shrewdness. I had come to his door no better than a beggar
and little more than a child; he had met me with treachery
and violence; it would be a fine consummation to take the
upper hand, and drive him like a herd of sheep.
I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire; and

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 I saw myself in fancy smell out his secrets one after anoth- and found on the doorstep a half-grown boy in sea-clothes.
er, and grow to be that man’s king and ruler. The warlock He had no sooner seen me than he began to dance some
of Essendean, they say, had made a mirror in which men steps of the sea-hornpipe (which I had never before heard
could read the future; it must have been of other stuff than of far less seen), snapping his fingers in the air and footing
burning coal; for in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and it right cleverly. For all that, he was blue with the cold; and
gazed at, there was never a ship, never a seaman with a hairy there was something in his face, a look between tears and
cap, never a big bludgeon for my silly head, or the least sign laughter, that was highly pathetic and consisted ill with this
of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me. gaiety of manner.
Presently, all swollen with conceit, I went up-stairs and ‘What cheer, mate?’ says he, with a cracked voice.
gave my prisoner his liberty. He gave me good-morning civ- I asked him soberly to name his pleasure.
illy; and I gave the same to him, smiling down upon him, ‘O, pleasure!’ says he; and then began to sing:
from the heights of my sufficiency. Soon we were set to
breakfast, as it might have been the day before. ‘For it’s my delight, of a shiny night,
‘Well, sir,’ said I, with a jeering tone, ‘have you nothing In the season of the year.’
more to say to me?’ And then, as he made no articulate reply,
‘It will be time, I think, to understand each other,’ I contin- ‘Well,’ said I, ‘if you have no business at all, I will even be
ued. ‘You took me for a country Johnnie Raw, with no more so unmannerly as to shut you out.’
mother-wit or courage than a porridge-stick. I took you for ‘Stay, brother!’ he cried. ‘Have you no fun about you? or
a good man, or no worse than others at the least. It seems do you want to get me thrashed? I’ve brought a letter from
we were both wrong. What cause you have to fear me, to old Heasyoasy to Mr. Belflower.’ He showed me a letter as
cheat me, and to attempt my life—‘ he spoke. ‘And I say, mate,’ he added, ‘I’m mortal hungry.’
He murmured something about a jest, and that he liked ‘Well,’ said I, ‘come into the house, and you shall have a
a bit of fun; and then, seeing me smile, changed his tone, bite if I go empty for it.’
and assured me he would make all clear as soon as we had With that I brought him in and set him down to my own
breakfasted. I saw by his face that he had no lie ready for place, where he fell-to greedily on the remains of breakfast,
me, though he was hard at work preparing one; and I think winking to me between whiles, and making many faces,
I was about to tell him so, when we were interrupted by a which I think the poor soul considered manly. Meanwhile,
knocking at the door. my uncle had read the letter and sat thinking; then, sudden-
Bidding my uncle sit where he was, I went to open it, ly, he got to his feet with a great air of liveliness, and pulled

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me apart into the farthest corner of the room. shipping, which was doubtless populous, and where my un-
‘Read that,’ said he, and put the letter in my hand. cle durst attempt no violence, and, indeed, even the society
Here it is, lying before me as I write: of the cabin-boy so far protected me. Once there, I believed
I could force on the visit to the lawyer, even if my uncle were
‘The Hawes Inn, at the Queen’s Ferry. now insincere in proposing it; and, perhaps, in the bottom
of my heart, I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You
‘Sir, — I lie here with my hawser up and down, and send are to remember I had lived all my life in the inland hills,
my cabin-boy to informe. If you have any further com- and just two days before had my first sight of the firth lying
mands for over-seas, to-day will be the last occasion, as the like a blue floor, and the sailed ships moving on the face of
wind will serve us well out of the firth. I will not seek to it, no bigger than toys. One thing with another, I made up
deny that I have had crosses with your doer,[4] Mr. Rankeil- my mind.
lor; of which, if not speedily redd up, you may looke to see ‘Very well,’ says I, ‘let us go to the Ferry.’
some losses follow. I have drawn a bill upon you, as per My uncle got into his hat and coat, and buckled an old
margin, and am, sir, your most obedt., humble servant, rusty cutlass on; and then we trod the fire out, locked the
‘ELIAS HOSEASON.’ door, and set forth upon our walk.
[4] Agent. The wind, being in that cold quarter the north-west, blew
‘You see, Davie,’ resumed my uncle, as soon as he saw nearly in our faces as we went. It was the month of June; the
that I had done, ‘I have a venture with this man Hoseason, grass was all white with daisies, and the trees with blos-
the captain of a trading brig, the Covenant, of Dysart. Now, som; but, to judge by our blue nails and aching wrists, the
if you and me was to walk over with yon lad, I could see the time might have been winter and the whiteness a December
captain at the Hawes, or maybe on board the Covenant if frost.
there was papers to be signed; and so far from a loss of time, Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side
we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor’s. After a’ that’s to side like an old ploughman coming home from work. He
come and gone, ye would be swier[5] to believe me upon never said a word the whole way; and I was thrown for talk
my naked word; but ye’ll believe Rankeillor. He’s factor to on the cabin-boy. He told me his name was Ransome, and
half the gentry in these parts; an auld man, forby: highly re- that he had followed the sea since he was nine, but could
speckit, and he kenned your father.’ not say how old he was, as he had lost his reckoning. He
[5] Unwilling. showed me tattoo marks, baring his breast in the teeth of
I stood awhile and thought. I was going to some place of the wind and in spite of my remonstrances, for I thought

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 it was enough to kill him; he swore horribly whenever he I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world
remembered, but more like a silly schoolboy than a man; as I felt for that half-witted creature, and it began to come
and boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done: over me that the brig Covenant (for all her pious name) was
stealthy thefts, false accusations, ay, and even murder; but little better than a hell upon the seas.
all with such a dearth of likelihood in the details, and such ‘Have you no friends?’ said I.
a weak and crazy swagger in the delivery, as disposed me He said he had a father in some English seaport, I forget
rather to pity than to believe him. which.
I asked him of the brig (which he declared was the finest ‘He was a fine man, too,’ he said, ‘but he’s dead.’
ship that sailed) and of Captain Hoseason, in whose praises ‘In Heaven’s name,’ cried I, ‘can you find no reputable life
he was equally loud. Heasyoasy (for so he still named the on shore?’
skipper) was a man, by his account, that minded for noth- ‘O, no,’ says he, winking and looking very sly, ‘they would
ing either in heaven or earth; one that, as people said, would put me to a trade. I know a trick worth two of that, I do!’
‘crack on all sail into the day of judgment;’ rough, fierce, un- I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one
scrupulous, and brutal; and all this my poor cabin-boy had he followed, where he ran the continual peril of his life, not
taught himself to admire as something seamanlike and alone from wind and sea, but by the horrid cruelty of those
manly. He would only admit one flaw in his idol. ‘He ain’t who were his masters. He said it was very true; and then
no seaman,’ he admitted. ‘That’s Mr. Shuan that navigates began to praise the life, and tell what a pleasure it was to
the brig; he’s the finest seaman in the trade, only for drink; get on shore with money in his pocket, and spend it like
and I tell you I believe it! Why, look’ere;’ and turning down a man, and buy apples, and swagger, and surprise what he
his stocking he showed me a great, raw, red wound that called stick-in-the-mud boys. ‘And then it’s not all as bad as
made my blood run cold. ‘He done that — Mr. Shuan done that,’ says he; ‘there’s worse off than me: there’s the twen-
it,’ he said, with an air of pride. ty-pounders. O, laws! you should see them taking on. Why,
‘What!’ I cried, ‘do you take such savage usage at his I’ve seen a man as old as you, I dessay’ — (to him I seemed
hands? Why, you are no slave, to be so handled!’ old)— ‘ah, and he had a beard, too — well, and as soon as
‘No,’ said the poor moon-calf, changing his tune at once, we cleared out of the river, and he had the drug out of his
‘and so he’ll find. See’ere;’ and he showed me a great case- head — my! how he cried and carried on! I made a fine fool
knife, which he told me was stolen. ‘O,’ says he, ‘let me see of him, I tell you! And then there’s little uns, too: oh, little
him, try; I dare him to; I’ll do for him! O, he ain’t the first!’ by me! I tell you, I keep them in order. When we carry little
And he confirmed it with a poor, silly, ugly oath. uns, I have a rope’s end of my own to wollop’em.’ And so

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he ran on, until it came in on me what he meant by twen- sail in her.
ty-pounders were those unhappy criminals who were sent We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill; and
over-seas to slavery in North America, or the still more un- now I marched across the road and addressed my uncle. ‘I
happy innocents who were kidnapped or trepanned (as the think it right to tell you, sir.’ says I, ‘there’s nothing that will
word went) for private interest or vengeance. bring me on board that Covenant.’
Just then we came to the top of the hill, and looked down He seemed to waken from a dream. ‘Eh?’ he said. ‘What’s
on the Ferry and the Hope. The Firth of Forth (as is very that?’
well known) narrows at this point to the width of a good- I told him over again.
sized river, which makes a convenient ferry going north, ‘Well, well,’ he said, ‘we’ll have to please ye, I suppose.
and turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for all But what are we standing here for? It’s perishing cold; and if
manner of ships. Right in the midst of the narrows lies an I’m no mistaken, they’re busking the Covenant for sea.’
islet with some ruins; on the south shore they have built a
pier for the service of the Ferry; and at the end of the pier,
on the other side of the road, and backed against a pretty
garden of holly-trees and hawthorns, I could see the build-
ing which they called the Hawes Inn.
The town of Queensferry lies farther west, and the neigh-
bourhood of the inn looked pretty lonely at that time of day,
for the boat had just gone north with passengers. A skiff,
however, lay beside the pier, with some seamen sleeping on
the thwarts; this, as Ransome told me, was the brig’s boat
waiting for the captain; and about half a mile off, and all
alone in the anchorage, he showed me the Covenant herself.
There was a sea-going bustle on board; yards were swing-
ing into place; and as the wind blew from that quarter, I
could hear the song of the sailors as they pulled upon the
ropes. After all I had listened to upon the way, I looked at
that ship with an extreme abhorrence; and from the bottom
of my heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to

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CHAPTER VI cold-rife man by my nature; I have a cold blood, sir. There’s
neither fur, nor flannel — no, sir, nor hot rum, will warm
up what they call the temperature. Sir, it’s the same with
most men that have been carbonadoed, as they call it, in
WHAT BEFELL AT THE the tropic seas.’
‘Well, well, captain,’ replied my uncle, ‘we must all be the
QUEEN’S FERRY way we’re made.’
But it chanced that this fancy of the captain’s had a great
share in my misfortunes. For though I had promised myself
not to let my kinsman out of sight, I was both so impatient
for a nearer look of the sea, and so sickened by the close-

A s soon as we came to the inn, Ransome led us up the

stair to a small room, with a bed in it, and heated like
an oven by a great fire of coal. At a table hard by the chim-
ness of the room, that when he told me to ‘run down-stairs
and play myself awhile,’ I was fool enough to take him at
his word.
ney, a tall, dark, sober-looking man sat writing. In spite of Away I went, therefore, leaving the two men sitting down
the heat of the room, he wore a thick sea-jacket, buttoned to a bottle and a great mass of papers; and crossing the road
to the neck, and a tall hairy cap drawn down over his ears; in front of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With the
yet I never saw any man, not even a judge upon the bench, wind in that quarter, only little wavelets, not much big-
look cooler, or more studious and self-possessed, than this ger than I had seen upon a lake, beat upon the shore. But
ship-captain. the weeds were new to me — some green, some brown and
He got to his feet at once, and coming forward, offered long, and some with little bladders that crackled between
his large hand to Ebenezer. ‘I am proud to see you, Mr. Bal- my fingers. Even so far up the firth, the smell of the sea-wa-
four,’ said he, in a fine deep voice, ‘and glad that ye are here ter was exceedingly salt and stirring; the Covenant, besides,
in time. The wind’s fair, and the tide upon the turn; we’ll was beginning to shake out her sails, which hung upon the
see the old coal-bucket burning on the Isle of May before yards in clusters; and the spirit of all that I beheld put me in
to-night.’ thoughts of far voyages and foreign places.
‘Captain Hoseason,’ returned my uncle, ‘you keep your I looked, too, at the seamen with the skiff — big brown
room unco hot.’ fellows, some in shirts, some with jackets, some with co-
‘It’s a habit I have, Mr. Balfour,’ said the skipper. ‘I’m a loured handkerchiefs about their throats, one with a brace

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of pistols stuck into his pockets, two or three with knot- of Mr. Alexander.’
ty bludgeons, and all with their case-knives. I passed the [6]Look.
time of day with one that looked less desperate than his fel- I said it seemed that Ebenezer was ill-seen in the coun-
lows, and asked him of the sailing of the brig. He said they try.
would get under way as soon as the ebb set, and expressed ‘Nae doubt,’ said the landlord. ‘He’s a wicked auld man,
his gladness to be out of a port where there were no taverns and there’s many would like to see him girning in the tow[7].
and fiddlers; but all with such horrifying oaths, that I made Jennet Clouston and mony mair that he has harried out of
haste to get away from him. house and hame. And yet he was ance a fine young fellow,
This threw me back on Ransome, who seemed the least too. But that was before the sough[8] gaed abroad about Mr.
wicked of that gang, and who soon came out of the inn and Alexander, that was like the death of him.’
ran to me, crying for a bowl of punch. I told him I would [7]Rope. [8]Report.
give him no such thing, for neither he nor I was of an age for ‘And what was it?’ I asked.
such indulgences. ‘But a glass of ale you may have, and wel- ‘Ou, just that he had killed him,’ said the landlord. ‘Did
come,’ said I. He mopped and mowed at me, and called me ye never hear that?’
names; but he was glad to get the ale, for all that; and pres- ‘And what would he kill him for?’ said I.
ently we were set down at a table in the front room of the ‘And what for, but just to get the place,’ said he.
inn, and both eating and drinking with a good appetite. ‘The place?’ said I. ‘The Shaws?’
Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man ‘Nae other place that I ken,’ said he.
of that county, I might do well to make a friend of him. I ‘Ay, man?’ said I. ‘Is that so? Was my — was Alexander
offered him a share, as was much the custom in those days; the eldest son?’
but he was far too great a man to sit with such poor custom- ‘Deed was he,’ said the landlord. ‘What else would he
ers as Ransome and myself, and he was leaving the room, have killed him for?’
when I called him back to ask if he knew Mr. Rankeillor. And with that he went away, as he had been impatient to
‘Hoot, ay,’ says he, ‘and a very honest man. And, O, by-the- do from the beginning.
by,’ says he, ‘was it you that came in with Ebenezer?’ And Of course, I had guessed it a long while ago; but it is one
when I had told him yes, ‘Ye’ll be no friend of his?’ he asked, thing to guess, another to know; and I sat stunned with my
meaning, in the Scottish way, that I would be no relative. good fortune, and could scarce grow to believe that the same
I told him no, none. poor lad who had trudged in the dust from Ettrick Forest
‘I thought not,’ said he, ‘and yet ye have a kind of gliff[6] not two days ago, was now one of the rich of the earth, and

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had a house and broad lands, and might mount his horse ‘Ay, ay,’ said he, ‘he passed me word of that. But, ye see,
tomorrow. All these pleasant things, and a thousand oth- the boat’ll set ye ashore at the town pier, and that’s but a
ers, crowded into my mind, as I sat staring before me out of penny stonecast from Rankeillor’s house.’ And here he sud-
the inn window, and paying no heed to what I saw; only I denly leaned down and whispered in my ear: ‘Take care of
remember that my eye lighted on Captain Hoseason down the old tod;[9] he means mischief. Come aboard till I can
on the pier among his seamen, and speaking with some au- get a word with ye.’ And then, passing his arm through
thority. And presently he came marching back towards the mine, he continued aloud, as he set off towards his boat:
house, with no mark of a sailor’s clumsiness, but carrying ‘But, come, what can I bring ye from the Carolinas? Any
his fine, tall figure with a manly bearing, and still with the friend of Mr. Balfour’s can command. A roll of tobacco? In-
same sober, grave expression on his face. I wondered if it dian feather-work? a skin of a wild beast? a stone pipe? the
was possible that Ransome’s stories could be true, and half mocking-bird that mews for all the world like a cat? the car-
disbelieved them; they fitted so ill with the man’s looks. But dinal bird that is as red as blood? — take your pick and say
indeed, he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quite your pleasure.’
so bad as Ransome did; for, in fact, he was two men, and [9] Fox.
left the better one behind as soon as he set foot on board By this time we were at the boat-side, and he was hand-
his vessel. ing me in. I did not dream of hanging back; I thought (the
The next thing, I heard my uncle calling me, and found poor fool!) that I had found a good friend and helper, and
the pair in the road together. It was the captain who ad- I was rejoiced to see the ship. As soon as we were all set in
dressed me, and that with an air (very flattering to a young our places, the boat was thrust off from the pier and began
lad) of grave equality. to move over the waters: and what with my pleasure in this
‘Sir,’ said he, ‘Mr. Balfour tells me great things of you; new movement and my surprise at our low position, and
and for my own part, I like your looks. I wish I was for lon- the appearance of the shores, and the growing bigness of
ger here, that we might make the better friends; but we’ll the brig as we drew near to it, I could hardly understand
make the most of what we have. Ye shall come on board what the captain said, and must have answered him at ran-
my brig for half an hour, till the ebb sets, and drink a bowl dom.
with me.’ As soon as we were alongside (where I sat fairly gaping
Now, I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words at the ship’s height, the strong humming of the tide against
can tell; but I was not going to put myself in jeopardy, and I its sides, and the pleasant cries of the seamen at their work)
told him my uncle and I had an appointment with a lawyer. Hoseason, declaring that he and I must be the first aboard,

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ordered a tackle to be sent down from the main-yard. In this
I was whipped into the air and set down again on the deck, CHAPTER VII
where the captain stood ready waiting for me, and instantly
slipped back his arm under mine. There I stood some while,
a little dizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me, per-
haps a little afraid, and yet vastly pleased with these strange I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG
sights; the captain meanwhile pointing out the strangest,
and telling me their names and uses. ‘COVENANT’ OF DYSART
‘But where is my uncle?’ said I suddenly.
‘Ay,’ said Hoseason, with a sudden grimness, ‘that’s the
point.’
I felt I was lost. With all my strength, I plucked myself
clear of him and ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough, there
was the boat pulling for the town, with my uncle sitting in
I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand
and foot, and deafened by many unfamiliar noises. There
sounded in my ears a roaring of water as of a huge mill-dam,
the stern. I gave a piercing cry — ‘Help, help! Murder!’ — so the thrashing of heavy sprays, the thundering of the sails,
that both sides of the anchorage rang with it, and my uncle and the shrill cries of seamen. The whole world now heaved
turned round where he was sitting, and showed me a face giddily up, and now rushed giddily downward; and so sick
full of cruelty and terror. and hurt was I in body, and my mind so much confounded,
It was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been that it took me a long while, chasing my thoughts up and
plucking me back from the ship’s side; and now a thunder- down, and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of pain, to
bolt seemed to strike me; I saw a great flash of fire, and fell realise that I must be lying somewhere bound in the belly
senseless. of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have strength-
ened to a gale. With the clear perception of my plight, there
fell upon me a blackness of despair, a horror of remorse at
my own folly, and a passion of anger at my uncle, that once
more bereft me of my senses.
When I returned again to life, the same uproar, the same
confused and violent movements, shook and deafened me;
and presently, to my other pains and distresses, there was

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added the sickness of an unused landsman on the sea. In upon my scalp.
that time of my adventurous youth, I suffered many hard- ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘a sore dunt[10]. What, man? Cheer up! The
ships; but none that was so crushing to my mind and body, world’s no done; you’ve made a bad start of it but you’ll
or lit by so few hopes, as these first hours aboard the brig. make a better. Have you had any meat?’
I heard a gun fire, and supposed the storm had proved [10] Stroke.
too strong for us, and we were firing signals of distress. The I said I could not look at it: and thereupon he gave me
thought of deliverance, even by death in the deep sea, was some brandy and water in a tin pannikin, and left me once
welcome to me. Yet it was no such matter; but (as I was af- more to myself.
terwards told) a common habit of the captain’s, which I here The next time he came to see me, I was lying betwixt
set down to show that even the worst man may have his sleep and waking, my eyes wide open in the darkness, the
kindlier side. We were then passing, it appeared, within sickness quite departed, but succeeded by a horrid giddi-
some miles of Dysart, where the brig was built, and where ness and swimming that was almost worse to bear. I ached,
old Mrs. Hoseason, the captain’s mother, had come some besides, in every limb, and the cords that bound me seemed
years before to live; and whether outward or inward bound, to be of fire. The smell of the hole in which I lay seemed
the Covenant was never suffered to go by that place by day, to have become a part of me; and during the long interval
without a gun fired and colours shown. since his last visit I had suffered tortures of fear, now from
I had no measure of time; day and night were alike in the scurrying of the ship’s rats, that sometimes pattered on
that ill-smelling cavern of the ship’s bowels where, I lay; and my very face, and now from the dismal imaginings that
the misery of my situation drew out the hours to double. haunt the bed of fever.
How long, therefore, I lay waiting to hear the ship split upon The glimmer of the lantern, as a trap opened, shone in
some rock, or to feel her reel head foremost into the depths like the heaven’s sunlight; and though it only showed me
of the sea, I have not the means of computation. But sleep at the strong, dark beams of the ship that was my prison, I
length stole from me the consciousness of sorrow. could have cried aloud for gladness. The man with the
I was awakened by the light of a hand-lantern shining in green eyes was the first to descend the ladder, and I noticed
my face. A small man of about thirty, with green eyes and a that he came somewhat unsteadily. He was followed by the
tangle of fair hair, stood looking down at me. captain. Neither said a word; but the first set to and exam-
‘Well,’ said he, ‘how goes it?’ ined me, and dressed my wound as before, while Hoseason
I answered by a sob; and my visitor then felt my pulse looked me in my face with an odd, black look.
and temples, and set himself to wash and dress the wound ‘Now, sir, you see for yourself,’ said the first: ‘a high fe-

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ver, no appetite, no light, no meat: you see for yourself what the captain. ‘In all that time, sir, ye should have learned to
that means.’ know me: I’m a stiff man, and a dour man; but for what ye
‘I am no conjurer, Mr. Riach,’ said the captain. say the now — fie, fie! — it comes from a bad heart and a
‘Give me leave, sir’ said Riach; ‘you’ve a good head upon black conscience. If ye say the lad will die——‘
your shoulders, and a good Scotch tongue to ask with; but ‘Ay, will he!’ said Mr. Riach.
I will leave you no manner of excuse; I want that boy taken ‘Well, sir, is not that enough?’ said Hoseason. ‘Flit him
out of this hole and put in the forecastle.’ where ye please!’
‘What ye may want, sir, is a matter of concern to nobody Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder; and I, who
but yoursel’,’ returned the captain; ‘but I can tell ye that had lain silent throughout this strange conversation, beheld
which is to be. Here he is; here he shall bide.’ Mr. Riach turn after him and bow as low as to his knees
‘Admitting that you have been paid in a proportion,’ said in what was plainly a spirit of derision. Even in my then
the other, ‘I will crave leave humbly to say that I have not. state of sickness, I perceived two things: that the mate was
Paid I am, and none too much, to be the second officer of touched with liquor, as the captain hinted, and that (drunk
this old tub, and you ken very well if I do my best to earn it. or sober) he was like to prove a valuable friend.
But I was paid for nothing more.’ Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut, I was hoist-
‘If ye could hold back your hand from the tin-pan, Mr. ed on a man’s back, carried up to the forecastle, and laid in
Riach, I would have no complaint to make of ye,’ returned a bunk on some sea-blankets; where the first thing that I did
the skipper; ‘and instead of asking riddles, I make bold to was to lose my senses.
say that ye would keep your breath to cool your porridge. It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon
We’ll be required on deck,’ he added, in a sharper note, and the daylight, and to find myself in the society of men. The
set one foot upon the ladder. forecastle was a roomy place enough, set all about with
But Mr. Riach caught him by the sleeve. berths, in which the men of the watch below were seated
‘Admitting that you have been paid to do a murder ——‘ smoking, or lying down asleep. The day being calm and the
he began. wind fair, the scuttle was open, and not only the good day-
Hoseason turned upon him with a flash. light, but from time to time (as the ship rolled) a dusty beam
‘What’s that?’ he cried. ‘What kind of talk is that?’ of sunlight shone in, and dazzled and delighted me. I had
‘It seems it is the talk that you can understand,’ said Mr. no sooner moved, moreover, than one of the men brought
Riach, looking him steadily in the face. me a drink of something healing which Mr. Riach had pre-
‘Mr. Riach, I have sailed with ye three cruises,’ replied pared, and bade me lie still and I should soon be well again.

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There were no bones broken, he explained: ‘A clour[11] on he often told me) waited in vain to see her man return; he
the head was naething. Man,’ said he, ‘it was me that gave would never again make the fire for her in the morning,
it ye!’ nor yet keep the bairn when she was sick. Indeed, many of
[11] Blow. these poor fellows (as the event proved) were upon their last
Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner, cruise; the deep seas and cannibal fish received them; and it
and not only got my health again, but came to know my is a thankless business to speak ill of the dead.
companions. They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly Among other good deeds that they did, they returned my
are: being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life, and money, which had been shared among them; and though it
condemned to toss together on the rough seas, with masters was about a third short, I was very glad to get it, and hoped
no less cruel. There were some among them that had sailed great good from it in the land I was going to. The ship was
with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even bound for the Carolinas; and you must not suppose that I
to speak of; some were men that had run from the king’s was going to that place merely as an exile. The trade was
ships, and went with a halter round their necks, of which even then much depressed; since that, and with the rebel-
they made no secret; and all, as the saying goes, were ‘at a lion of the colonies and the formation of the United States,
word and a blow’ with their best friends. Yet I had not been it has, of course, come to an end; but in those days of my
many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed youth, white men were still sold into slavery on the planta-
of my first judgment, when I had drawn away from them at tions, and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle
the Ferry pier, as though they had been unclean beasts. No had condemned me.
class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults The cabin-boy Ransome (from whom I had first heard
and virtues; and these shipmates of mine were no excep- of these atrocities) came in at times from the round-house,
tion to the rule. Rough they were, sure enough; and bad, I where he berthed and served, now nursing a bruised limb
suppose; but they had many virtues. They were kind when in silent agony, now raving against the cruelty of Mr. Shuan.
it occurred to them, simple even beyond the simplicity of a It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respect
country lad like me, and had some glimmerings of honesty. for the chief mate, who was, as they said, ‘the only seaman
There was one man, of maybe forty, that would sit on my of the whole jing-bang, and none such a bad man when he
berthside for hours and tell me of his wife and child. He was sober.’ Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiar-
was a fisher that had lost his boat, and thus been driven to ity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach was sullen, unkind,
the deep-sea voyaging. Well, it is years ago now: but I have and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would not
never forgotten him. His wife (who was ‘young by him,’ as hurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the

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captain; but I was told drink made no difference upon that der (thinking, perhaps, of their own childhood or their own
man of iron. children) and bid him stop that nonsense, and think what
I did my best in the small time allowed me to make some he was doing. As for me, I felt ashamed to look at him, and
thing like a man, or rather I should say something like a boy, the poor child still comes about me in my dreams.
of the poor creature, Ransome. But his mind was scarce All this time, you should know, the Covenant was meet-
truly human. He could remember nothing of the time be- ing continual head-winds and tumbling up and down
fore he came to sea; only that his father had made clocks, against head-seas, so that the scuttle was almost constantly
and had a starling in the parlour, which could whistle ‘The shut, and the forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern
North Countrie;’ all else had been blotted out in these years on a beam. There was constant labour for all hands; the sails
of hardship and cruelties. He had a strange notion of the had to be made and shortened every hour; the strain told on
dry land, picked up from sailor’s stories: that it was a place the men’s temper; there was a growl of quarrelling all day,
where lads were put to some kind of slavery called a trade, long from berth to berth; and as I was never allowed to set
and where apprentices were continually lashed and clapped my foot on deck, you can picture to yourselves how weary
into foul prisons. In a town, he thought every second per- of my life I grew to be, and how impatient for a change.
son a decoy, and every third house a place in which seamen And a change I was to get, as you shall hear; but I must
would be drugged and murdered. To be sure, I would tell first tell of a conversation I had with Mr. Riach, which put a
him how kindly I had myself been used upon that dry land little heart in me to bear my troubles. Getting him in a fa-
he was so much afraid of, and how well fed and carefully vourable stage of drink (for indeed he never looked near me
taught both by my friends and my parents: and if he had when he was sober), I pledged him to secrecy, and told him
been recently hurt, he would weep bitterly and swear to run my whole story.
away; but if he was in his usual crackbrain humour, or (still He declared it was like a ballad; that he would do his
more) if he had had a glass of spirits in the roundhouse, he best to help me; that I should have paper, pen, and ink, and
would deride the notion. write one line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankeil-
It was Mr. Riach (Heaven forgive him!) who gave the boy lor; and that if I had told the truth, ten to one he would be
drink; and it was, doubtless, kindly meant; but besides that able (with their help) to pull me through and set me in my
it was ruin to his health, it was the pitifullest thing in life rights.
to see this unhappy, unfriended creature staggering, and ‘And in the meantime,’ says he, ‘keep your heart up.
dancing, and talking he knew not what. Some of the men You’re not the only one, I’ll tell you that. There’s many a
laughed, but not all; others would grow as black as thun- man hoeing tobacco over-seas that should be mounting his

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horse at his own door at home; many and many! And life
is all a variorum, at the best. Look at me: I’m a laird’s son CHAPTER VIII
and more than half a doctor, and here I am, man-Jack to
Hoseason!’
I thought it would be civil to ask him for his story.
He whistled loud. THE ROUND-HOUSE
‘Never had one,’ said he. ‘I like fun, that’s all.’ And he
skipped out of the forecastle.

O ne night, about eleven o’clock, a man of Mr. Riach’s

watch (which was on deck) came below for his jacket;
and instantly there began to go a whisper about the forecas-
tle that ‘Shuan had done for him at last.’ There was no need
of a name; we all knew who was meant; but we had scarce
time to get the idea rightly in our heads, far less to speak
of it, when the scuttle was again flung open, and Captain
Hoseason came down the ladder. He looked sharply round
the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern; and then, walk-
ing straight up to me, he addressed me, to my surprise, in
tones of kindness.
‘My man,’ said he, ‘we want ye to serve in the round-
house. You and Ransome are to change berths. Run away
aft with ye.’
Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scut-
tle, carrying Ransome in their arms; and the ship at that
moment giving a great sheer into the sea, and the lantern
swinging, the light fell direct on the boy’s face. It was as
white as wax, and had a look upon it like a dreadful smile.
The blood in me ran cold, and I drew in my breath as if I

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had been struck. the deck; indeed, all the best of the meat and drink and the
‘Run away aft; run away aft with ye!’ cried Hoseason. whole of the powder were collected in this place; and all the
And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy (who nei- firearms, except the two pieces of brass ordnance, were set
ther spoke nor moved), and ran up the ladder on deck. in a rack in the aftermost wall of the round-house. The most
The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, of the cutlasses were in another place.
cresting swell. She was on the starboard tack, and on the A small window with a shutter on each side, and a sky-
left hand, under the arched foot of the foresail, I could see light in the roof, gave it light by, day; and after dark there
the sunset still quite bright. This, at such an hour of the was a lamp always burning. It was burning when I entered,
night, surprised me greatly; but I was too ignorant to draw not brightly, but enough to show Mr. Shuan sitting at the
the true conclusion — that we were going north-about table, with the brandy bottle and a tin pannikin in front of
round Scotland, and were now on the high sea between the him. He was a tall man, strongly made and very black; and
Orkney and Shetland Islands, having avoided the danger- he stared before him on the table like one stupid.
ous currents of the Pentland Firth. For my part, who had He took no notice of my coming in; nor did he move
been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing of head- when the captain followed and leant on the berth beside me,
winds, I thought we might be half-way or more across the looking darkly at the mate. I stood in great fear of Hoseason,
Atlantic. And indeed (beyond that I wondered a little at the and had my reasons for it; but something told me I need not
lateness of the sunset light) I gave no heed to it, and pushed be afraid of him just then; and I whispered in his ear: ‘How
on across the decks, running between the seas, catching at is he?’ He shook his head like one that does not know and
ropes, and only saved from going overboard by one of the does not wish to think, and his face was very stern.
hands on deck, who had been always kind to me. Presently Mr. Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance
The round-house, for which I was bound, and where I that meant the boy was dead as plain as speaking, and took
was now to sleep and serve, stood some six feet above the his place like the rest of us; so that we all three stood with-
decks, and considering the size of the brig, was of good out a word, staring down at Mr. Shuan, and Mr. Shuan (on
dimensions. Inside were a fixed table and bench, and two his side) sat without a word, looking hard upon the table.
berths, one for the captain and the other for the two mates, All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle; and
turn and turn about. It was all fitted with lockers from top at that Mr. Riach started forward and caught it away from
to bottom, so as to stow away the officers’ belongings and a him, rather by surprise than violence, crying out, with an
part of the ship’s stores; there was a second store-room un- oath, that there had been too much of this work altogether,
derneath, which you entered by a hatchway in the middle of and that a judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he

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spoke (the weather sliding-doors standing open) he tossed did so, the murderer, who had been lying and whimpering
the bottle into the sea. in his berth, raised himself upon his elbow and looked at
Mr. Shuan was on his feet in a trice; he still looked dazed, them and at me.
but he meant murder, ay, and would have done it, for the That was the first night of my new duties; and in the
second time that night, had not the captain stepped in be- course of the next day I had got well into the run of them. I
tween him and his victim. had to serve at the meals, which the captain took at regu-
‘Sit down!’ roars the captain. ‘Ye sot and swine, do ye lar hours, sitting down with the officer who was off duty;
know what ye’ve done? Ye’ve murdered the boy!’ all the day through I would be running with a dram to one
Mr. Shuan seemed to understand; for he sat down again, or other of my three masters; and at night I slept on a blan-
and put up his hand to his brow. ket thrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the
‘Well,’ he said, ‘he brought me a dirty pannikin!’ round-house, and right in the draught of the two doors. It
At that word, the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked was a hard and a cold bed; nor was I suffered to sleep with-
at each other for a second with a kind of frightened look; out interruption; for some one would be always coming in
and then Hoseason walked up to his chief officer, took him from deck to get a dram, and when a fresh watch was to be
by the shoulder, led him across to his bunk, and bade him set, two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew a
lie down and go to sleep, as you might speak to a bad child. bowl together. How they kept their health, I know not, any
The murderer cried a little, but he took off his sea-boots and more than how I kept my own.
obeyed. And yet in other ways it was an easy service. There was
‘Ah!’ cried Mr. Riach, with a dreadful voice, ‘ye should no cloth to lay; the meals were either of oatmeal porridge
have interfered long syne. It’s too late now.’ or salt junk, except twice a week, when there was duff: and
‘Mr. Riach,’ said the captain, ‘this night’s work must never though I was clumsy enough and (not being firm on my
be kennt in Dysart. The boy went overboard, sir; that’s what sealegs) sometimes fell with what I was bringing them, both
the story is; and I would give five pounds out of my pocket it Mr. Riach and the captain were singularly patient. I could
was true!’ He turned to the table. ‘What made ye throw the not but fancy they were making up lee-way with their con-
good bottle away?’ he added. ‘There was nae sense in that, sciences, and that they would scarce have been so good with
sir. Here, David, draw me another. They’re in the bottom me if they had not been worse with Ransome.
locker;’ and he tossed me a key. ‘Ye’ll need a glass yourself, As for Mr. Shuan, the drink or his crime, or the two to-
sir,’ he added to Riach. ‘Yon was an ugly thing to see.’ gether, had certainly troubled his mind. I cannot say I ever
So the pair sat down and hob-a-nobbed; and while they saw him in his proper wits. He never grew used to my be-

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ing there, stared at me continually (sometimes, I could have he had visited.
thought, with terror), and more than once drew back from The shadow of poor Ransome, to be sure, lay on all four
my hand when I was serving him. I was pretty sure from of us, and on me and Mr. Shuan in particular, most heav-
the first that he had no clear mind of what he had done, and ily. And then I had another trouble of my own. Here I was,
on my second day in the round-house I had the proof of it. doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon,
We were alone, and he had been staring at me a long time, and one of whom, at least, should have hung upon a gal-
when all at once, up he got, as pale as death, and came close lows; that was for the present; and as for the future, I could
up to me, to my great terror. But I had no cause to be afraid only see myself slaving alongside of negroes in the tobacco
of him. fields. Mr. Riach, perhaps from caution, would never suffer
‘You were not here before?’ he asked. me to say another word about my story; the captain, whom
‘No, sir,’ said I.’ I tried to approach, rebuffed me like a dog and would not
‘There was another boy?’ he asked again; and when I had hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heart sank
answered him, ‘Ah!’ says he, ‘I thought that,’ and went and lower and lower, till I was even glad of the work which kept
sat down, without another word, except to call for brandy. me from thinking.
You may think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I
was still sorry for him. He was a married man, with a wife
in Leith; but whether or no he had a family, I have now for-
gotten; I hope not.
Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted,
which (as you are to hear) was not long. I was as well fed as
the best of them; even their pickles, which were the great
dainty, I was allowed my share of; and had I liked I might
have been drunk from morning to night, like Mr. Shuan. I
had company, too, and good company of its sort. Mr. Riach,
who had been to the college, spoke to me like a friend when
he was not sulking, and told me many curious things, and
some that were informing; and even the captain, though he
kept me at the stick’s end the most part of the time, would
sometimes unbuckle a bit, and tell me of the fine countries

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CHAPTER IX with a great sound, and we heard voices singing out. My
two masters leaped to their feet.
‘She’s struck!’ said Mr. Riach.
‘No, sir,’ said the captain. ‘We’ve only run a boat down.’
THE MAN WITH THE And they hurried out.
The captain was in the right of it. We had run down a
BELT OF GOLD boat in the fog, and she had parted in the midst and gone to
the bottom with all her crew but one. This man (as I heard
afterwards) had been sitting in the stern as a passenger,
while the rest were on the benches rowing. At the moment
of the blow, the stern had been thrown into the air, and the

M ore than a week went by, in which the ill-luck that had
hitherto pursued the Covenant upon this voyage grew
yet more strongly marked. Some days she made a little way;
man (having his hands free, and for all he was encumbered
with a frieze overcoat that came below his knees) had leaped
up and caught hold of the brig’s bowsprit. It showed he had
others, she was driven actually back. At last we were beaten luck and much agility and unusual strength, that he should
so far to the south that we tossed and tacked to and fro the have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet, when
whole of the ninth day, within sight of Cape Wrath and the the captain brought him into the round-house, and I set
wild, rocky coast on either hand of it. There followed on eyes on him for the first time, he looked as cool as I did.
that a council of the officers, and some decision which I did He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble
not rightly understand, seeing only the result: that we had as a goat; his face was of a good open expression, but sun-
made a fair wind of a foul one and were running south. burnt very dark, and heavily freckled and pitted with the
The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, small-pox; his eyes were unusually light and had a kind
wet, white fog that hid one end of the brig from the other. of dancing madness in them, that was both engaging and
All afternoon, when I went on deck, I saw men and officers alarming; and when he took off his great-coat, he laid a pair
listening hard over the bulwarks — ‘for breakers,’ they said; of fine silver-mounted pistols on the table, and I saw that he
and though I did not so much as understand the word, I felt was belted with a great sword. His manners, besides, were
danger in the air, and was excited. elegant, and he pledged the captain handsomely. Altogether
Maybe about ten at night, I was serving Mr. Riach and I thought of him, at the first sight, that here was a man I
the captain at their supper, when the ship struck something would rather call my friend than my enemy.

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 The captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather your back and a Scotch tongue in your head, to be sure; but
of the man’s clothes than his person. And to be sure, as soon so has many an honest fellow in these days, and I dare say
as he had taken off the great-coat, he showed forth mighty none the worse of it.’
fine for the round-house of a merchant brig: having a hat ‘So?’ said the gentleman in the fine coat: ‘are ye of the
with feathers, a red waistcoat, breeches of black plush, and honest party?’ (meaning, Was he a Jacobite? for each side,
a blue coat with silver buttons and handsome silver lace; in these sort of civil broils, takes the name of honesty for
costly clothes, though somewhat spoiled with the fog and its own).
being slept in. ‘Why, sir,’ replied the captain, ‘I am a true-blue Protes-
‘I’m vexed, sir, about the boat,’ says the captain. tant, and I thank God for it.’ (It was the first word of any
‘There are some pretty men gone to the bottom,’ said the religion I had ever heard from him, but I learnt afterwards
stranger, ‘that I would rather see on the dry land again than he was a great church-goer while on shore.) ‘But, for all that,’
half a score of boats.’ says he, ‘I can be sorry to see another man with his back to
‘Friends of yours?’ said Hoseason. the wall.’
‘You have none such friends in your country,’ was the re- ‘Can ye so, indeed?’ asked the Jacobite. ‘Well, sir, to be
ply. ‘They would have died for me like dogs.’ quite plain with ye, I am one of those honest gentlemen that
‘Well, sir,’ said the captain, still watching him, ‘there are were in trouble about the years forty-five and six; and (to be
more men in the world than boats to put them in.’ still quite plain with ye) if I got into the hands of any of the
‘And that’s true, too,’ cried the other, ‘and ye seem to be a red-coated gentry, it’s like it would go hard with me. Now,
gentleman of great penetration.’ sir, I was for France; and there was a French ship cruising
‘I have been in France, sir,’ says the captain, so that it was here to pick me up; but she gave us the go-by in the fog — as
plain he meant more by the words than showed upon the I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’! And the
face of them. best that I can say is this: If ye can set me ashore where I
‘Well, sir,’ says the other, ‘and so has many a pretty man, was going, I have that upon me will reward you highly for
for the matter of that.’ your trouble.’
‘No doubt, sir’ says the captain, ‘and fine coats.’ ‘In France?’ says the captain. ‘No, sir; that I cannot do.
‘Oho!’ says the stranger, ‘is that how the wind sets?’ And But where ye come from — we might talk of that.’
he laid his hand quickly on his pistols. And then, unhappily, he observed me standing in my
‘Don’t be hasty,’ said the captain. ‘Don’t do a mischief be- corner, and packed me off to the galley to get supper for
fore ye see the need of it. Ye’ve a French soldier’s coat upon the gentleman. I lost no time, I promise you; and when I

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 came back into the round-house, I found the gentleman ‘Ah, but I’ll begowk[12] ye there!’ cried the gentleman.
had taken a money-belt from about his waist, and poured ‘Play me false, and I’ll play you cunning. If a hand is laid
out a guinea or two upon the table. The captain was looking upon me, they shall ken what money it is.’
at the guineas, and then at the belt, and then at the gentle- [12]Befool.
man’s face; and I thought he seemed excited. ‘Well,’ returned the captain, ‘what must be must. Sixty
‘Half of it,’ he cried, ‘and I’m your man!’ guineas, and done. Here’s my hand upon it.’
The other swept back the guineas into the belt, and put ‘And here’s mine,’ said the other.
it on again under his waistcoat. ‘I have told ye’ sir’ said he, And thereupon the captain went out (rather hurriedly,
‘that not one doit of it belongs to me. It belongs to my chief- I thought), and left me alone in the round-house with the
tain,’ and here he touched his hat, ‘and while I would be but stranger.
a silly messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might At that period (so soon after the forty-five) there were
come safe, I should show myself a hound indeed if I bought many exiled gentlemen coming back at the peril of their
my own carcase any too dear. Thirty guineas on the sea- lives, either to see their friends or to collect a little mon-
side, or sixty if ye set me on the Linnhe Loch. Take it, if ye ey; and as for the Highland chiefs that had been forfeited,
will; if not, ye can do your worst.’ it was a common matter of talk how their tenants would
‘Ay,’ said Hoseason. ‘And if I give ye over to the soldiers?’ stint themselves to send them money, and their clansmen
‘Ye would make a fool’s bargain,’ said the other. ‘My outface the soldiery to get it in, and run the gauntlet of our
chief, let me tell you, sir, is forfeited, like every honest man great navy to carry it across. All this I had, of course, heard
in Scotland. His estate is in the hands of the man they call tell of; and now I had a man under my eyes whose life was
King George; and it is his officers that collect the rents, or forfeit on all these counts and upon one more, for he was
try to collect them. But for the honour of Scotland, the poor not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but had taken ser-
tenant bodies take a thought upon their chief lying in exile; vice with King Louis of France. And as if all this were not
and this money is a part of that very rent for which King enough, he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins.
George is looking. Now, sir, ye seem to me to be a man that Whatever my opinions, I could not look on such a man
understands things: bring this money within the reach of without a lively interest.
Government, and how much of it’ll come to you?’ ‘And so you’re a Jacobite?’ said I, as I set meat before
‘Little enough, to be sure,’ said Hoseason; and then, ‘if him.
they, knew’ he added, drily. ‘But I think, if I was to try, that ‘Ay,’ said he, beginning to eat. ‘And you, by your long face,
I could hold my tongue about it.’ should be a Whig?’[13]

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 [13] Whig or Whigamore was the cant name for those these treacherous, greedy, bloody men that I sailed with. My
who were loyal to King George. first mind was to run away; my second was bolder.
‘Betwixt and between,’ said I, not to annoy him; for in- ‘Captain,’ said I, ‘the gentleman is seeking a dram, and
deed I was as good a Whig as Mr. Campbell could make the bottle’s out. Will you give me the key?’
me. They all started and turned about.
‘And that’s naething,’ said he. ‘But I’m saying, Mr. Be- ‘Why, here’s our chance to get the firearms!’
twixt-and-Between,’ he added, ‘this bottle of yours is dry; Riach cried; and then to me: ‘Hark ye, David,’ he said,
and it’s hard if I’m to pay sixty guineas and be grudged a ‘do ye ken where the pistols are?’
dram upon the back of it.’ ‘Ay, ay,’ put in Hoseason. ‘David kens; David’s a good lad.
‘I’ll go and ask for the key,’ said I, and stepped on deck. Ye see, David my man, yon wild Hielandman is a danger
The fog was as close as ever, but the swell almost down. to the ship, besides being a rank foe to King George, God
They had laid the brig to, not knowing precisely where they bless him!’
were, and the wind (what little there was of it) not serving I had never been so be-Davided since I came on board:
well for their true course. Some of the hands were still hear- but I said Yes, as if all I heard were quite natural.
kening for breakers; but the captain and the two officers ‘The trouble is,’ resumed the captain, ‘that all our fire-
were in the waist with their heads together. It struck me (I locks, great and little, are in the round-house under this
don’t know why) that they were after no good; and the first man’s nose; likewise the powder. Now, if I, or one of the of-
word I heard, as I drew softly near, more than confirmed ficers, was to go in and take them, he would fall to thinking.
me. But a lad like you, David, might snap up a horn and a pistol
It was Mr. Riach, crying out as if upon a sudden thought: or two without remark. And if ye can do it cleverly, I’ll bear
‘Couldn’t we wile him out of the round-house?’ it in mind when it’ll be good for you to have friends; and
‘He’s better where he is,’ returned Hoseason; ‘he hasn’t that’s when we come to Carolina.’
room to use his sword.’ Here Mr. Riach whispered him a little.
‘Well, that’s true,’ said Riach; ‘but he’s hard to come at.’ ‘Very right, sir,’ said the captain; and then to myself: ‘And
‘Hut!’ said Hoseason. ‘We can get the man in talk, one see here, David, yon man has a beltful of gold, and I give
upon each side, and pin him by the two arms; or if that’ll you my word that you shall have your fingers in it.’
not hold, sir, we can make a run by both the doors and get I told him I would do as he wished, though indeed I had
him under hand before he has the time to draw.’ scarce breath to speak with; and upon that he gave me the
At this hearing, I was seized with both fear and anger at key of the spirit locker, and I began to go slowly back to

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the round-house. What was I to do? They were dogs and ity he had.
thieves; they had stolen me from my own country; they had ‘My name is Stewart,’ he said, drawing himself up. ‘Alan
killed poor Ransome; and was I to hold the candle to an- Breck, they call me. A king’s name is good enough for me,
other murder? But then, upon the other hand, there was the though I bear it plain and have the name of no farm-mid-
fear of death very plain before me; for what could a boy and den to clap to the hind-end of it.’
a man, if they were as brave as lions, against a whole ship’s And having administered this rebuke, as though it were
company? something of a chief importance, he turned to examine our
I was still arguing it back and forth, and getting no great defences.
clearness, when I came into the round-house and saw the The round-house was built very strong, to support the
Jacobite eating his supper under the lamp; and at that my breaching of the seas. Of its five apertures, only the skylight
mind was made up all in a moment. I have no credit by it; and the two doors were large enough for the passage of a
it was by no choice of mine, but as if by compulsion, that I man. The doors, besides, could be drawn close: they were of
walked right up to the table and put my hand on his shoul- stout oak, and ran in grooves, and were fitted with hooks to
der. keep them either shut or open, as the need arose. The one
‘Do ye want to be killed?’ said I. He sprang to his feet, and that was already shut I secured in this fashion; but when I
looked a question at me as clear as if he had spoken. was proceeding to slide to the other, Alan stopped me.
‘O!’ cried I, ‘they’re all murderers here; it’s a ship full of ‘David,’ said he — ‘for I cannae bring to mind the name
them! They’ve murdered a boy already. Now it’s you.’ of your landed estate, and so will make so bold as to call
‘Ay, ay’ said he; ‘but they have n’t got me yet.’ And then you David — that door, being open, is the best part of my
looking at me curiously, ‘Will ye stand with me?’ defences.’
‘That will I!’ said I. ‘I am no thief, nor yet murderer. I’ll ‘It would be yet better shut,’ says I.
stand by you.’ ‘Not so, David,’ says he. ‘Ye see, I have but one face; but so
‘Why, then,’ said he, ‘what’s your name?’ long as that door is open and my face to it, the best part of
‘David Balfour,’ said I; and then, thinking that a man my enemies will be in front of me, where I would aye wish
with so fine a coat must like fine people, I added for the first to find them.’
time, ‘of Shaws.’ Then he gave me from the rack a cutlass (of which there
It never occurred to him to doubt me, for a Highlander were a few besides the firearms), choosing it with great care,
is used to see great gentlefolk in great poverty; but as he had shaking his head and saying he had never in all his life seen
no estate of his own, my words nettled a very childish van- poorer weapons; and next he set me down to the table with

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a powder-horn, a bag of bullets and all the pistols, which he ‘And that, s very bravely said,’ he cried, in a great admira-
bade me charge. tion of my candour. ‘There’s many a pretty gentleman that
‘And that will be better work, let me tell you,’ said he, ‘for wouldnae dare to say it.’
a gentleman of decent birth, than scraping plates and rax- ‘But then, sir’ said I, ‘there is the door behind you’ which
ing[14] drams to a wheen tarry sailors.’ they may perhaps break in.’
[14]Reaching. ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘and that is a part of your work. No sooner the
Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the pistols charged, than ye must climb up into yon bed where
door, and drawing his great sword, made trial of the room ye’re handy at the window; and if they lift hand, against the
he had to wield it in. door, ye’re to shoot. But that’s not all. Let’s make a bit of a
‘I must stick to the point,’ he said, shaking his head; ‘and soldier of ye, David. What else have ye to guard?’
that’s a pity, too. It doesn’t set my genius, which is all for the ‘There’s the skylight,’ said I. ‘But indeed, Mr. Stewart, I
upper guard. And, now’ said he, ‘do you keep on charging would need to have eyes upon both sides to keep the two
the pistols, and give heed to me.’ of them; for when my face is at the one, my back is to the
I told him I would listen closely. My chest was tight, my other.’
mouth dry, the light dark to my eyes; the thought of the ‘And that’s very true,’ said Alan. ‘But have ye no ears to
numbers that were soon to leap in upon us kept my heart in your head?’
a flutter: and the sea, which I heard washing round the brig, ‘To be sure!’ cried I. ‘I must hear the bursting of the
and where I thought my dead body would be cast ere morn- glass!’
ing, ran in my mind strangely. ‘Ye have some rudiments of sense,’ said Alan, grimly.
‘First of all,’ said he, ‘how many are against us?’
I reckoned them up; and such was the hurry of my mind,
I had to cast the numbers twice. ‘Fifteen,’ said I.
Alan whistled. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘that can’t be cured. And
now follow me. It is my part to keep this door, where I look
for the main battle. In that, ye have no hand. And mind and
dinnae fire to this side unless they get me down; for I would
rather have ten foes in front of me than one friend like you
cracking pistols at my back.’
I told him, indeed I was no great shot.

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CHAPTER X Next moment he was gone.
‘And now,’ said Alan, ‘let your hand keep your head, for
the grip is coming.’
Alan drew a dirk, which he held in his left hand in case
THE SIEGE OF THE they should run in under his sword. I, on my part, clambered
up into the berth with an armful of pistols and something
ROUND-HOUSE of a heavy heart, and set open the window where I was to
watch. It was a small part of the deck that I could overlook,
but enough for our purpose. The sea had gone down, and
the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet; so that there
was a great stillness in the ship, in which I made sure I heard

B ut now our time of truce was come to an end. Those on

deck had waited for my coming till they grew impatient;
and scarce had Alan spoken, when the captain showed face
the sound of muttering voices. A little after, and there came
a clash of steel upon the deck, by which I knew they were
dealing out the cutlasses and one had been let fall; and after
in the open door. that, silence again.
‘Stand!’ cried Alan, and pointed his sword at him. The I do not know if I was what you call afraid; but my heart
captain stood, indeed; but he neither winced nor drew back beat like a bird’s, both quick and little; and there was a dim-
a foot. ness came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away,
‘A naked sword?’ says he. ‘This is a strange return for hos- and which continually returned. As for hope, I had none;
pitality.’ but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against
‘Do ye see me?’ said Alan. ‘I am come of kings; I bear a all the world that made me long to sell my life as dear as I
king’s name. My badge is the oak. Do ye see my sword? It was able. I tried to pray, I remember, but that same hurry of
has slashed the heads off mair Whigamores than you have my mind, like a man running, would not suffer me to think
toes upon your feet. Call up your vermin to your back, sir, upon the words; and my chief wish was to have the thing
and fall on! The sooner the clash begins, the sooner ye’ll begin and be done with it.
taste this steel throughout your vitals.’ It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet
The captain said nothing to Alan, but he looked over at and a roar, and then a shout from Alan, and a sound of
me with an ugly look. ‘David,’ said he, ‘I’ll mind this;’ and blows and some one crying out as if hurt. I looked back over
the sound of his voice went through me with a jar. my shoulder, and saw Mr. Shuan in the doorway, crossing

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blades with Alan. of the round-house. I believe he died as they were doing it.
‘That’s him that killed the boy!’ I cried. ‘There’s one of your Whigs for ye!’ cried Alan; and then
‘Look to your window!’ said Alan; and as I turned back turning to me, he asked if I had done much execution.
to my place, I saw him pass his sword through the mate’s I told him I had winged one, and thought it was the cap-
body. tain.
It was none too soon for me to look to my own part; for ‘And I’ve settled two,’ says he. ‘No, there’s not enough
my head was scarce back at the window, before five men, blood let; they’ll be back again. To your watch, David. This
carrying a spare yard for a battering-ram, ran past me and was but a dram before meat.’
took post to drive the door in. I had never fired with a pistol I settled back to my place, re-charging the three pistols I
in my life, and not often with a gun; far less against a fellow- had fired, and keeping watch with both eye and ear.
creature. But it was now or never; and just as they swang the Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck,
yard, I cried out: ‘Take that!’ and shot into their midst. and that so loudly that I could hear a word or two above the
I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave washing of the seas.
back a step, and the rest stopped as if a little disconcert- ‘It was Shuan bauchled[15] it,’ I heard one say.
ed. Before they had time to recover, I sent another ball over [15]Bungled.
their heads; and at my third shot (which went as wide as And another answered him with a ‘Wheesht, man! He’s
the second) the whole party threw down the yard and ran paid the piper.’
for it. After that the voices fell again into the same muttering
Then I looked round again into the deck-house. The as before. Only now, one person spoke most of the time, as
whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing, just though laying down a plan, and first one and then anoth-
as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of the shots. er answered him briefly, like men taking orders. By this, I
But there was Alan, standing as before; only now his sword made sure they were coming on again, and told Alan.
was running blood to the hilt, and himself so swelled with ‘It’s what we have to pray for,’ said he. ‘Unless we can give
triumph and fallen into so fine an attitude, that he looked them a good distaste of us, and done with it, there’ll be nae
to be invincible. Right before him on the floor was Mr. Sh- sleep for either you or me. But this time, mind, they’ll be
uan, on his hands and knees; the blood was pouring from in earnest.’
his mouth, and he was sinking slowly lower, with a terrible, By this, my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to
white face; and just as I looked, some of those from behind do but listen and wait. While the brush lasted, I had not the
caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out time to think if I was frighted; but now, when all was still

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again, my mind ran upon nothing else. The thought of the more than there was time to aim; I clapped the muzzle to
sharp swords and the cold steel was strong in me; and pres- the very place and fired.
ently, when I began to hear stealthy steps and a brushing of I might have stood and stared at them for long, but I
men’s clothes against the round-house wall, and knew they heard Alan shout as if for help, and that brought me to my
were taking their places in the dark, I could have found it in senses.
my mind to cry out aloud. He had kept the door so long; but one of the seamen,
All this was upon Alan’s side; and I had begun to think while he was engaged with others, had run in under his
my share of the fight was at an end, when I heard some one guard and caught him about the body. Alan was dirking
drop softly on the roof above me. him with his left hand, but the fellow clung like a leech. An-
Then there came a single call on the sea-pipe, and that other had broken in and had his cutlass raised. The door
was the signal. A knot of them made one rush of it, cut- was thronged with their faces. I thought we were lost, and
lass in hand, against the door; and at the same moment, the catching up my cutlass, fell on them in flank.
glass of the skylight was dashed in a thousand pieces, and a But I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped
man leaped through and landed on the floor. Before he got at last; and Alan, leaping back to get his distance, ran upon
his feet, I had clapped a pistol to his back, and might have the others like a bull, roaring as he went. They broke be-
shot him, too; only at the touch of him (and him alive) my fore him like water, turning, and running, and falling one
whole flesh misgave me, and I could no more pull the trig- against another in their haste. The sword in his hands
ger than I could have flown. flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of our fleeing en-
He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he emies; and at every flash there came the scream of a man
felt the pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of me, hurt. I was still thinking we were lost, when lo! they were all
roaring out an oath; and at that either my courage came gone, and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheep-
again, or I grew so much afraid as came to the same thing; dog chases sheep.
for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body. He Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again, be-
gave the most horrible, ugly groan and fell to the floor. The ing as cautious as he was brave; and meanwhile the seamen
foot of a second fellow, whose legs were dangling through continued running and crying out as if he was still behind
the skylight, struck me at the same time upon the head; and them; and we heard them tumble one upon another into the
at that I snatched another pistol and shot this one through forecastle, and clap-to the hatch upon the top.
the thigh, so that he slipped through and tumbled in a lump The round-house was like a shambles; three were dead
on his companion’s body. There was no talk of missing, any inside, another lay in his death agony across the threshold;

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 and there were Alan and I victorious and unhurt. Now this song which he made (both words and music)
He came up to me with open arms. ‘Come to my arms!’ he in the hour of our victory, is something less than just to
cried, and embraced and kissed me hard upon both cheek. me, who stood beside him in the tussle. Mr. Shuan and five
‘David,’ said he, ‘I love you like a brother. And O, man,’ he more were either killed outright or thoroughly disabled; but
cried in a kind of ecstasy, ‘am I no a bonny fighter?’ of these, two fell by my hand, the two that came by the sky-
Thereupon he turned to the four enemies, passed his light. Four more were hurt, and of that number, one (and
sword clean through each of them, and tumbled them out he not the least important) got his hurt from me. So that,
of doors one after the other. As he did so, he kept humming altogether, I did my fair share both of the killing and the
and singing and whistling to himself, like a man trying to wounding, and might have claimed a place in Alan’s vers-
recall an air; only what HE was trying was to make one. es. But poets have to think upon their rhymes; and in good
All the while, the flush was in his face, and his eyes were as prose talk, Alan always did me more than justice.
bright as a five-year-old child’s with a new toy. And pres- In the meanwhile, I was innocent of any wrong being
ently he sat down upon the table, sword in hand; the air that done me. For not only I knew no word of the Gaelic; but
he was making all the time began to run a little clearer, and what with the long suspense of the waiting, and the scurry
then clearer still; and then out he burst with a great voice and strain of our two spirts of fighting, and more than all,
into a Gaelic song. the horror I had of some of my own share in it, the thing
I have translated it here, not in verse (of which I have no was no sooner over than I was glad to stagger to a seat. There
skill) but at least in the king’s English. was that tightness on my chest that I could hardly breathe;
He sang it often afterwards, and the thing became pop- the thought of the two men I had shot sat upon me like a
ular; so that I have, heard it, and had it explained to me, nightmare; and all upon a sudden, and before I had a guess
many’s the time. of what was coming, I began to sob and cry like any child.
‘This is the song of the sword of Alan; The smith made it, Alan clapped my shoulder, and said I was a brave lad and
The fire set it; Now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck. wanted nothing but a sleep.
‘Their eyes were many and bright, Swift were they to be- ‘I’ll take the first watch,’ said he. ‘Ye’ve done well by me,
hold, Many the hands they guided: The sword was alone. David, first and last; and I wouldn’t lose you for all Appin
‘The dun deer troop over the hill, They are many, the hill — no, nor for Breadalbane.’
is one; The dun deer vanish, The hill remains. So I made up my bed on the floor; and he took the first
‘Come to me from the hills of heather, Come from the spell, pistol in hand and sword on knee, three hours by the
isles of the sea. O far-beholding eagles, Here is your meat.’ captain’s watch upon the wall. Then he roused me up, and I

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took my turn of three hours; before the end of which it was
broad day, and a very quiet morning, with a smooth, rolling CHAPTER XI
sea that tossed the ship and made the blood run to and fro
on the round-house floor, and a heavy rain that drummed
upon the roof. All my watch there was nothing stirring; and
by the banging of the helm, I knew they had even no one THE CAPTAIN
at the tiller. Indeed (as I learned afterwards) there were so
many of them hurt or dead, and the rest in so ill a temper, KNUCKLES UNDER
that Mr. Riach and the captain had to take turn and turn
like Alan and me, or the brig might have gone ashore and
nobody the wiser. It was a mercy the night had fallen so still,
for the wind had gone down as soon as the rain began. Even
as it was, I judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls
that went crying and fishing round the ship, that she must
A lan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the clock.
The floor was covered with broken glass and in a hor-
rid mess of blood, which took away my hunger. In all other
have drifted pretty near the coast or one of the islands of the ways we were in a situation not only agreeable but merry;
Hebrides; and at last, looking out of the door of the round- having ousted the officers from their own cabin, and hav-
house, I saw the great stone hills of Skye on the right hand, ing at command all the drink in the ship — both wine and
and, a little more astern, the strange isle of Rum. spirits — and all the dainty part of what was eatable, such
as the pickles and the fine sort of bread. This, of itself, was
enough to set us in good humour, but the richest part of it
was this, that the two thirstiest men that ever came out of
Scotland (Mr. Shuan being dead) were now shut in the fore-
part of the ship and condemned to what they hated most
— cold water.
‘And depend upon it,’ Alan said, ‘we shall hear more of
them ere long. Ye may keep a man from the fighting, but
never from his bottle.’
We made good company for each other. Alan, indeed,
expressed himself most lovingly; and taking a knife from

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the table, cut me off one of the silver buttons from his coat. nothing worse than a blow upon the cheek: but he looked
‘I had them,’ says he, ‘from my father, Duncan Stewart; out of heart and very weary, having been all night afoot, ei-
and now give ye one of them to be a keepsake for last night’s ther standing watch or doctoring the wounded.
work. And wherever ye go and show that button, the friends ‘This is a bad job,’ said he at last, shaking his head.
of Alan Breck will come around you.’ ‘It was none of our choosing,’ said I.
He said this as if he had been Charlemagne, and com- ‘The captain,’ says he, ‘would like to speak with your
manded armies; and indeed, much as I admired his courage, friend. They might speak at the window.’
I was always in danger of smiling at his vanity: in danger, I ‘And how do we know what treachery he means?’ cried I.
say, for had I not kept my countenance, I would be afraid to ‘He means none, David,’ returned Mr. Riach, ‘and if he
think what a quarrel might have followed. did, I’ll tell ye the honest truth, we couldnae get the men
As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged to follow.’
in the captain’s locker till he found a clothes-brush; and ‘Is that so?’ said I.
then taking off his coat, began to visit his suit and brush ‘I’ll tell ye more than that,’ said he. ‘It’s not only the men;
away the stains, with such care and labour as I supposed it’s me. I’m frich’ened, Davie.’ And he smiled across at me.
to have been only usual with women. To be sure, he had no ‘No,’ he continued, ‘what we want is to be shut of him.’
other; and, besides (as he said), it belonged to a king and so Thereupon I consulted with Alan, and the parley was
behoved to be royally looked after. agreed to and parole given upon either side; but this was
For all that, when I saw what care he took to pluck out not the whole of Mr. Riach’s business, and he now begged
the threads where the button had been cut away, I put a me for a dram with such instancy and such reminders of his
higher value on his gift. former kindness, that at last I handed him a pannikin with
He was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr. Riach about a gill of brandy. He drank a part, and then carried
from the deck, asking for a parley; and I, climbing through the rest down upon the deck, to share it (I suppose) with
the skylight and sitting on the edge of it, pistol in hand and his superior.
with a bold front, though inwardly in fear of broken glass, A little after, the captain came (as was agreed) to one of
hailed him back again and bade him speak out. He came to the windows, and stood there in the rain, with his arm in a
the edge of the round-house, and stood on a coil of rope, so sling, and looking stern and pale, and so old that my heart
that his chin was on a level with the roof; and we looked at smote me for having fired upon him.
each other awhile in silence. Mr. Riach, as I do not think he Alan at once held a pistol in his face.
had been very forward in the battle, so he had got off with ‘Put that thing up!’ said the captain. ‘Have I not passed

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my word, sir? or do ye seek to affront me?’ or, in brief, where ye please, within thirty miles of my own
‘Captain,’ says Alan, ‘I doubt your word is a breakable. country; except in a country of the Campbells. That’s a
Last night ye haggled and argle-bargled like an apple-wife; broad target. If ye miss that, ye must be as feckless at the
and then passed me your word, and gave me your hand sailoring as I have found ye at the fighting. Why, my poor
to back it; and ye ken very well what was the upshot. Be country people in their bit cobles[16] pass from island to
damned to your word!’ says he. island in all weathers, ay, and by night too, for the matter
‘Well, well, sir,’ said the captain, ‘ye’ll get little good by of that.’
swearing.’ (And truly that was a fault of which the captain [16]Coble: a small boat used in fishing.
was quite free.) ‘But we have other things to speak,’ he con- ‘A coble’s not a ship’ sir’ said the captain. ‘It has nae
tinued, bitterly. ‘Ye’ve made a sore hash of my brig; I haven’t draught of water.’
hands enough left to work her; and my first officer (whom ‘Well, then, to Glasgow if ye list!’ says Alan. ‘We’ll have
I could ill spare) has got your sword throughout his vitals, the laugh of ye at the least.’
and passed without speech. There is nothing left me, sir, but ‘My mind runs little upon laughing,’ said the captain.
to put back into the port of Glasgow after hands; and there ‘But all this will cost money, sir.’
(by your leave) ye will find them that are better able to talk ‘Well, sir’ says Alan, ‘I am nae weathercock. Thirty guin-
to you.’ eas, if ye land me on the sea-side; and sixty, if ye put me in
‘Ay?’ said Alan; ‘and faith, I’ll have a talk with them my- the Linnhe Loch.’
sel’! Unless there’s naebody speaks English in that town, I ‘But see, sir, where we lie, we are but a few hours’ sail
have a bonny tale for them. Fifteen tarry sailors upon the from Ardnamurchan,’ said Hoseason. ‘Give me sixty, and
one side, and a man and a halfling boy upon the other! O, I’ll set ye there.’
man, it’s peetiful!’ ‘ And I’m to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the
Hoseason flushed red. red-coats to please you?’ cries Alan. ‘No, sir; if ye want sixty
‘No,’ continued Alan, ‘that’ll no do. Ye’ll just have to set guineas earn them, and set me in my own country.’
me ashore as we agreed.’ ‘It’s to risk the brig, sir,’ said the captain, ‘and your own
‘Ay,’ said Hoseason, ‘but my first officer is dead — ye ken lives along with her.’
best how. There’s none of the rest of us acquaint with this ‘Take it or want it,’ says Alan.
coast, sir; and it’s one very dangerous to ships.’ ‘Could ye pilot us at all?’ asked the captain, who was
‘I give ye your choice,’ says Alan. ‘Set me on dry ground frowning to himself.
in Appin, or Ardgour, or in Morven, or Arisaig, or Morar; ‘Well, it’s doubtful,’ said Alan. ‘I’m more of a fighting

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man (as ye have seen for yoursel’) than a sailor-man. But I
have been often enough picked up and set down upon this CHAPTER XII
coast, and should ken something of the lie of it.’
The captain shook his head, still frowning.
‘If I had lost less money on this unchancy cruise,’ says
he, ‘I would see you in a rope’s end before I risked my brig, I HEAR OF THE ‘RED FOX”
sir. But be it as ye will. As soon as I get a slant of wind (and
there’s some coming, or I’m the more mistaken) I’ll put it
in hand. But there’s one thing more. We may meet in with
a king’s ship and she may lay us aboard, sir, with no blame
of mine: they keep the cruisers thick upon this coast, ye
ken who for. Now, sir, if that was to befall, ye might leave
B efore we had done cleaning out the round-house, a
breeze sprang up from a little to the east of north. This
blew off the rain and brought out the sun.
the money.’ And here I must explain; and the reader would do well to
‘Captain,’ says Alan, ‘if ye see a pennant, it shall be your look at a map. On the day when the fog fell and we ran down
part to run away. And now, as I hear you’re a little short of Alan’s boat, we had been running through the Little Minch.
brandy in the fore-part, I’ll offer ye a change: a bottle of At dawn after the battle, we lay becalmed to the east of the
brandy against two buckets of water.’ Isle of Canna or between that and Isle Eriska in the chain of
That was the last clause of the treaty, and was duly ex- the Long Island. Now to get from there to the Linnhe Loch,
ecuted on both sides; so that Alan and I could at last wash the straight course was through the narrows of the Sound
out the round-house and be quit of the memorials of those of Mull. But the captain had no chart; he was afraid to trust
whom we had slain, and the captain and Mr. Riach could his brig so deep among the islands; and the wind serving
be happy again in their own way, the name of which was well, he preferred to go by west of Tiree and come up under
drink. the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull.
All day the breeze held in the same point, and rather
freshened than died down; and towards afternoon, a swell
began to set in from round the outer Hebrides. Our course,
to go round about the inner isles, was to the west of south,
so that at first we had this swell upon our beam, and were
much rolled about. But after nightfall, when we had turned

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the end of Tiree and began to head more to the east, the sea with the sword,’ he cried loudly, and with the word brought
came right astern. down his fist upon the table. But I paid the less attention to
Meanwhile, the early part of the day, before the swell this, for I knew it was usually said by those who have the
came up, was very pleasant; sailing, as we were, in a bright underhand. ‘There’s more than that,’ he continued, ‘and all
sunshine and with many mountainous islands upon differ- in the same story: lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for
ent sides. Alan and I sat in the round-house with the doors a peddler, and the show of what’s legal over all, to make a
open on each side (the wind being straight astern), and man the more angry.’
smoked a pipe or two of the captain’s fine tobacco. It was at ‘You that are so wasteful of your buttons,’ said I, ‘I can
this time we heard each other’s stories, which was the more hardly think you would be a good judge of business.’
important to me, as I gained some knowledge of that wild ‘Ah!’ says he, falling again to smiling, ‘I got my wasteful-
Highland country on which I was so soon to land. In those ness from the same man I got the buttons from; and that
days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was need- was my poor father, Duncan Stewart, grace be to him! He
ful a man should know what he was doing when he went was the prettiest man of his kindred; and the best swords-
upon the heather. man in the Hielands, David, and that is the same as to say,
It was I that showed the example, telling him all my mis- in all the world, I should ken, for it was him that taught
fortune; which he heard with great good-nature. Only, when me. He was in the Black Watch, when first it was mustered;
I came to mention that good friend of mine, Mr. Campbell and, like other gentlemen privates, had a gillie at his back
the minister, Alan fired up and cried out that he hated all to carry his firelock for him on the march. Well, the King,
that were of that name. it appears, was wishful to see Hieland swordsmanship; and
‘Why,’ said I, ‘he is a man you should be proud to give my father and three more were chosen out and sent to Lon-
your hand to.’ don town, to let him see it at the best. So they were had into
‘I know nothing I would help a Campbell to,’ says he, ‘un- the palace and showed the whole art of the sword for two
less it was a leaden bullet. I would hunt all of that name like hours at a stretch, before King George and Queen Carline,
blackcocks. If I lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to and the Butcher Cumberland, and many more of whom I
my chamber window for a shot at one.’ havenae mind. And when they were through, the King (for
‘Why, Alan,’ I cried, ‘what ails ye at the Campbells?’ all he was a rank usurper) spoke them fair and gave each
‘Well,’ says he, ‘ye ken very well that I am an Appin Stew- man three guineas in his hand. Now, as they were going
art, and the Campbells have long harried and wasted those out of the palace, they had a porter’s lodge to go, by; and
of my name; ay, and got lands of us by treachery—but never it came in on my father, as he was perhaps the first private

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Hieland gentleman that had ever gone by that door, it was ‘And, good heaven, man,’ cried I, ‘you that are a con-
right he should give the poor porter a proper notion of their demned rebel, and a deserter, and a man of the French
quality. So he gives the King’s three guineas into the man’s King’s — what tempts ye back into this country? It’s a brav-
hand, as if it was his common custom; the three others that ing of Providence.’
came behind him did the same; and there they were on the ‘Tut!’ says Alan, ‘I have been back every year since forty-
street, never a penny the better for their pains. Some say it six!’
was one, that was the first to fee the King’s porter; and some ‘And what brings ye, man?’ cried I.
say it was another; but the truth of it is, that it was Duncan ‘Well, ye see, I weary for my friends and country,’ said he.
Stewart, as I am willing to prove with either sword or pistol. ‘France is a braw place, nae doubt; but I weary for the heath-
And that was the father that I had, God rest him!’ er and the deer. And then I have bit things that I attend to.
‘I think he was not the man to leave you rich,’ said I. Whiles I pick up a few lads to serve the King of France: re-
‘And that’s true,’ said Alan. ‘He left me my breeks to cover cruits, ye see; and that’s aye a little money. But the heart of
me, and little besides. And that was how I came to enlist, the matter is the business of my chief, Ardshiel.’
which was a black spot upon my character at the best of ‘I thought they called your chief Appin,’ said I.
times, and would still be a sore job for me if I fell among ‘Ay, but Ardshiel is the captain of the clan,’ said he, which
the red-coats.’ scarcely cleared my mind. ‘Ye see, David, he that was all
‘What,’ cried I, ‘were you in the English army?’ his life so great a man, and come of the blood and bear-
‘That was I,’ said Alan. ‘But I deserted to the right side at ing the name of kings, is now brought down to live in a
Preston Pans — and that’s some comfort.’ French town like a poor and private person. He that had
I could scarcely share this view: holding desertion under four hundred swords at his whistle, I have seen, with these
arms for an unpardonable fault in honour. But for all I was eyes of mine, buying butter in the market-place, and taking
so young, I was wiser than say my thought. ‘Dear, dear,’ says it home in a kale-leaf. This is not only a pain but a disgrace
I, ‘the punishment is death.’ to us of his family and clan. There are the bairns forby, the
‘Ay’ said he, ‘if they got hands on me, it would be a children and the hope of Appin, that must be learned their
short shrift and a lang tow for Alan! But I have the King letters and how to hold a sword, in that far country. Now,
of France’s commission in my pocket, which would aye be the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent to King George; but
some protection.’ their hearts are staunch, they are true to their chief; and
‘I misdoubt it much,’ said I. what with love and a bit of pressure, and maybe a threat
‘I have doubts mysel’,’ said Alan drily. or two, the poor folk scrape up a second rent for Ardshiel.

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Well, David, I’m the hand that carries it.’ And he struck the cause went down, and the horses rode over the fetlocks in
belt about his body, so that the guineas rang. the best blood of the north, Ardshiel had to flee like a poor
‘Do they pay both?’ cried I. deer upon the mountains — he and his lady and his bairns.
‘Ay, David, both,’ says he. A sair job we had of it before we got him shipped; and while
‘What! two rents?’ I repeated. he still lay in the heather, the English rogues, that couldnae
‘Ay, David,’ said he. ‘I told a different tale to yon captain come at his life, were striking at his rights. They stripped
man; but this is the truth of it. And it’s wonderful to me how him of his powers; they stripped him of his lands; they
little pressure is needed. But that’s the handiwork of my plucked the weapons from the hands of his clansmen, that
good kinsman and my father’s friend, James of the Glens: had borne arms for thirty centuries; ay, and the very clothes
James Stewart, that is: Ardshiel’s half-brother. He it is that off their backs — so that it’s now a sin to wear a tartan plaid,
gets the money in, and does the management.’ and a man may be cast into a gaol if he has but a kilt about
This was the first time I heard the name of that James his legs. One thing they couldnae kill. That was the love the
Stewart, who was afterwards so famous at the time of his clansmen bore their chief. These guineas are the proof of it.
hanging. But I took little heed at the moment, for all my And now, in there steps a man, a Campbell, red-headed Co-
mind was occupied with the generosity of these poor High- lin of Glenure ——‘
landers. ‘Is that him you call the Red Fox?’ said I.
‘I call it noble,’ I cried. ‘I’m a Whig, or little better; but I ‘Will ye bring me his brush?’ cries Alan, fiercely. ‘Ay,
call it noble.’ that’s the man. In he steps, and gets papers from King
‘Ay’ said he, ‘ye’re a Whig, but ye’re a gentleman; and George, to be so-called King’s factor on the lands of Appin.
that’s what does it. Now, if ye were one of the cursed race And at first he sings small, and is hail-fellow-well-met with
of Campbell, ye would gnash your teeth to hear tell of it. Sheamus — that’s James of the Glens, my chieftain’s agent.
If ye were the Red Fox...’ And at that name, his teeth shut But by-and-by, that came to his ears that I have just told you;
together, and he ceased speaking. I have seen many a grim how the poor commons of Appin, the farmers and the croft-
face, but never a grimmer than Alan’s when he had named ers and the boumen, were wringing their very plaids to get a
the Red Fox. second rent, and send it over-seas for Ardshiel and his poor
‘And who is the Red Fox?’ I asked, daunted, but still cu- bairns. What was it ye called it, when I told ye?’
rious. ‘I called it noble, Alan,’ said I.
‘Who is he?’ cried Alan. ‘Well, and I’ll tell you that. When ‘And you little better than a common Whig!’ cries Alan.
the men of the clans were broken at Culloden, and the good ‘But when it came to Colin Roy, the black Campbell blood

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in him ran wild. He sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table. from my vengeance!’
What! should a Stewart get a bite of bread, and him not be ‘Man Alan,’ said I, ‘ye are neither very wise nor very
able to prevent it? Ah! Red Fox, if ever I hold you at a gun’s Christian to blow off so many words of anger. They will do
end, the Lord have pity upon ye!’ (Alan stopped to swallow the man ye call the Fox no harm, and yourself no good. Tell
down his anger.) ‘Well, David, what does he do? He declares me your tale plainly out. What did he next?’
all the farms to let. And, thinks he, in his black heart, ‘I’ll ‘And that’s a good observe, David,’ said Alan. ‘Troth and
soon get other tenants that’ll overbid these Stewarts, and indeed, they will do him no harm; the more’s the pity! And
Maccolls, and Macrobs’ (for these are all names in my clan, barring that about Christianity (of which my opinion is
David); ‘and then,’ thinks he, ‘Ardshiel will have to hold his quite otherwise, or I would be nae Christian), I am much
bonnet on a French roadside.’’ of your mind.’
‘Well,’ said I, ‘what followed?’ ‘Opinion here or opinion there,’ said I, ‘it’s a kent thing
Alan laid down his pipe, which he had long since suf- that Christianity forbids revenge.’
fered to go out, and set his two hands upon his knees. ‘Ay’ said he, ‘it’s well seen it was a Campbell taught ye! It
‘Ay,’ said he, ‘ye’ll never guess that! For these same Stew- would be a convenient world for them and their sort, if there
arts, and Maccolls, and Macrobs (that had two rents to was no such a thing as a lad and a gun behind a heather
pay, one to King George by stark force, and one to Ard- bush! But that’s nothing to the point. This is what he did.’
shiel by natural kindness) offered him a better price than ‘Ay’ said I, ‘come to that.’
any Campbell in all broad Scotland; and far he sent seeking ‘Well, David,’ said he, ‘since he couldnae be rid of the
them — as far as to the sides of Clyde and the cross of Edin- loyal commons by fair means, he swore he would be rid of
burgh — seeking, and fleeching, and begging them to come, them by foul. Ardshiel was to starve: that was the thing he
where there was a Stewart to be starved and a red-headed aimed at. And since them that fed him in his exile would-
hound of a Campbell to be pleasured!’ nae be bought out — right or wrong, he would drive them
‘Well, Alan,’ said I, ‘that is a strange story, and a fine one, out. Therefore he sent for lawyers, and papers, and red-coats
too. And Whig as I may be, I am glad the man was beaten.’ to stand at his back. And the kindly folk of that country
‘Him beaten?’ echoed Alan. ‘It’s little ye ken of Camp- must all pack and tramp, every father’s son out of his fa-
bells, and less of the Red Fox. Him beaten? No: nor will be, ther’s house, and out of the place where he was bred and fed,
till his blood’s on the hillside! But if the day comes, David and played when he was a callant. And who are to succeed
man, that I can find time and leisure for a bit of hunting, them? Bare-leggit beggars! King George is to whistle for his
there grows not enough heather in all Scotland to hide him rents; he maun dow with less; he can spread his butter thin-

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ner: what cares Red Colin? If he can hurt Ardshiel, he has Small wonder, with never a gun or a sword left from Can-
his wish; if he can pluck the meat from my chieftain’s table, tyre to Cape Wrath, but what tenty[17] folk have hidden in
and the bit toys out of his children’s hands, he will gang their thatch! But what I would like to ken, David, is just how
hame singing to Glenure!’ long? Not long, ye would think, with men like Ardshiel in
‘Let me have a word,’ said I. ‘Be sure, if they take less exile and men like the Red Fox sitting birling the wine and
rents, be sure Government has a finger in the pie. It’s not oppressing the poor at home. But it’s a kittle thing to decide
this Campbell’s fault, man — it’s his orders. And if ye killed what folk’ll bear, and what they will not. Or why would Red
this Colin to-morrow, what better would ye be? There would Colin be riding his horse all over my poor country of Appin,
be another factor in his shoes, as fast as spur can drive.’ and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him?’
‘Ye’re a good lad in a fight,’ said Alan; ‘but, man! ye have [17] Careful.
Whig blood in ye!’ And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for a long time
He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger sate very sad and silent.
under his contempt that I thought it was wise to change the I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend,
conversation. I expressed my wonder how, with the High- that he was skilled in all kinds of music, but principally
lands covered with troops, and guarded like a city in a siege, pipe-music; was a well-considered poet in his own tongue;
a man in his situation could come and go without arrest. had read several books both in French and English; was a
‘It’s easier than ye would think,’ said Alan. ‘A bare hillside dead shot, a good angler, and an excellent fencer with the
(ye see) is like all one road; if there’s a sentry at one place, ye small sword as well as with his own particular weapon. For
just go by another. And then the heather’s a great help. And his faults, they were on his face, and I now knew them all.
everywhere there are friends’ houses and friends’ byres and But the worst of them, his childish propensity to take of-
haystacks. And besides, when folk talk of a country covered fence and to pick quarrels, he greatly laid aside in my case,
with troops, it’s but a kind of a byword at the best. A soldier out of regard for the battle of the round-house. But whether
covers nae mair of it than his boot-soles. I have fished a wa- it was because I had done well myself, or because I had been
ter with a sentry on the other side of the brae, and killed a a witness of his own much greater prowess, is more than I
fine trout; and I have sat in a heather bush within six feet of can tell. For though he had a great taste for courage in other
another, and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling. men, yet he admired it most in Alan Breck.
This was it,’ said he, and whistled me the air.
‘And then, besides,’ he continued, ‘it’s no sae bad now as
it was in forty-six. The Hielands are what they call pacified.

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CHAPTER XIII and pursued by the westerly swell.
Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in; and
I had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon
the captain, when the brig rising suddenly on the top of a
THE LOSS OF THE BRIG high swell, he pointed and cried to us to look. Away on the
lee bow, a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea,
and immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring.
‘What do ye call that?’ asked the captain, gloomily.
‘The sea breaking on a reef,’ said Alan. ‘And now ye ken

I t was already late at night, and as dark as it ever would

be at that season of the year (and that is to say, it was still
pretty bright), when Hoseason clapped his head into the
where it is; and what better would ye have?’
‘Ay,’ said Hoseason, ‘if it was the only one.’
And sure enough, just as he spoke there came a second
round-house door. fountain farther to the south.
‘Here,’ said he, ‘come out and see if ye can pilot.’ ‘There!’ said Hoseason. ‘Ye see for yourself. If I had kent
‘Is this one of your tricks?’ asked Alan. of these reefs, if I had had a chart, or if Shuan had been
‘Do I look like tricks?’ cries the captain. ‘I have other spared, it’s not sixty guineas, no, nor six hundred, would
things to think of — my brig’s in danger!’ have made me risk my brig in sic a stoneyard! But you, sir,
By the concerned look of his face, and, above all, by the that was to pilot us, have ye never a word?’
sharp tones in which he spoke of his brig, it was plain to ‘I’m thinking,’ said Alan, ‘these’ll be what they call the
both of us he was in deadly earnest; and so Alan and I, with Torran Rocks.’
no great fear of treachery, stepped on deck. ‘Are there many of them?’ says the captain.
The sky was clear; it blew hard, and was bitter cold; a ‘Truly, sir, I am nae pilot,’ said Alan; ‘but it sticks in my
great deal of daylight lingered; and the moon, which was mind there are ten miles of them.’
nearly full, shone brightly. The brig was close hauled, so Mr. Riach and the captain looked at each other.
as to round the southwest corner of the Island of Mull, the ‘There’s a way through them, I suppose?’ said the cap-
hills of which (and Ben More above them all, with a wisp tain.
of mist upon the top of it) lay full upon the lar-board bow. ‘Doubtless,’ said Alan, ‘but where? But it somehow runs
Though it was no good point of sailing for the Covenant, she in my mind once more that it is clearer under the land.’
tore through the seas at a great rate, pitching and straining, ‘So?’ said Hoseason. ‘We’ll have to haul our wind then,

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Mr. Riach; we’ll have to come as near in about the end of well in the fighting; but I saw they were brave in their own
Mull as we can take her, sir; and even then we’ll have the trade, and admired them all the more because I found Alan
land to kep the wind off us, and that stoneyard on our lee. very white.
Well, we’re in for it now, and may as well crack on.’ ‘Ochone, David,’ says he, ‘this is no the kind of death I
With that he gave an order to the steersman, and sent fancy!’
Riach to the foretop. There were only five men on deck, ‘What, Alan!’ I cried, ‘you’re not afraid?’
counting the officers; these being all that were fit (or, at least, ‘No,’ said he, wetting his lips, ‘but you’ll allow, yourself,
both fit and willing) for their work. So, as I say, it fell to Mr. it’s a cold ending.’
Riach to go aloft, and he sat there looking out and hailing By this time, now and then sheering to one side or the
the deck with news of all he saw. other to avoid a reef, but still hugging the wind and the land,
‘The sea to the south is thick,’ he cried; and then, after a we had got round Iona and begun to come alongside Mull.
while, ‘it does seem clearer in by the land.’ The tide at the tail of the land ran very strong, and threw the
‘Well, sir,’ said Hoseason to Alan, ‘we’ll try your way of brig about. Two hands were put to the helm, and Hoseason
it. But I think I might as well trust to a blind fiddler. Pray himself would sometimes lend a help; and it was strange
God you’re right.’ to see three strong men throw their weight upon the tiller,
‘Pray God I am!’ says Alan to me. ‘But where did I hear it? and it (like a living thing) struggle against and drive them
Well, well, it will be as it must.’ back. This would have been the greater danger had not the
As we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began sea been for some while free of obstacles. Mr. Riach, besides,
to be sown here and there on our very path; and Mr. Riach announced from the top that he saw clear water ahead.
sometimes cried down to us to change the course. Some- ‘Ye were right,’ said Hoseason to Alan. ‘Ye have saved
times, indeed, none too soon; for one reef was so close on the brig, sir. I’ll mind that when we come to clear accounts.’
the brig’s weather board that when a sea burst upon it the And I believe he not only meant what he said, but would
lighter sprays fell upon her deck and wetted us like rain. have done it; so high a place did the Covenant hold in his
The brightness of the night showed us these perils as affections.
clearly as by day, which was, perhaps, the more alarming. It But this is matter only for conjecture, things having gone
showed me, too, the face of the captain as he stood by the otherwise than he forecast.
steersman, now on one foot, now on the other, and some- ‘Keep her away a point,’ sings out Mr. Riach. ‘Reef to
times blowing in his hands, but still listening and looking windward!’
and as steady as steel. Neither he nor Mr. Riach had shown And just at the same time the tide caught the brig, and

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threw the wind out of her sails. She came round into the looked on, day by day, at the mishandling of poor Ransome;
wind like a top, and the next moment struck the reef with but when it came to the brig, he seemed to suffer along with
such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck, and came her.
near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast. All the time of our working at the boat, I remember
I was on my feet in a minute. The reef on which we had only one other thing: that I asked Alan, looking across at
struck was close in under the southwest end of Mull, off a the shore, what country it was; and he answered, it was the
little isle they call Earraid, which lay low and black upon worst possible for him, for it was a land of the Campbells.
the larboard. Sometimes the swell broke clean over us; We had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch
sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef, so upon the seas and cry us warning. Well, we had the boat
that we could hear her beat herself to pieces; and what with about ready to be launched, when this man sang out pretty
the great noise of the sails, and the singing of the wind, and shrill: ‘For God’s sake, hold on!’ We knew by his tone that it
the flying of the spray in the moonlight, and the sense of was something more than ordinary; and sure enough, there
danger, I think my head must have been partly turned, for I followed a sea so huge that it lifted the brig right up and
could scarcely understand the things I saw. canted her over on her beam. Whether the cry came too
Presently I observed Mr. Riach and the seamen busy late, or my hold was too weak, I know not; but at the sud-
round the skiff, and, still in the same blank, ran over to as- den tilting of the ship I was cast clean over the bulwarks
sist them; and as soon as I set my hand to work, my mind into the sea.
came clear again. It was no very easy task, for the skiff lay I went down, and drank my fill, and then came up, and
amidships and was full of hamper, and the breaking of the got a blink of the moon, and then down again. They say a
heavier seas continually forced us to give over and hold on; man sinks a third time for good. I cannot be made like oth-
but we all wrought like horses while we could. er folk, then; for I would not like to write how often I went
Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came down, or how often I came up again. All the while, I was
clambering out of the fore-scuttle and began to help; while being hurled along, and beaten upon and choked, and then
the rest that lay helpless in their bunks harrowed me with swallowed whole; and the thing was so distracting to my
screaming and begging to be saved. wits, that I was neither sorry nor afraid.
The captain took no part. It seemed he was struck stu- Presently, I found I was holding to a spar, which helped
pid. He stood holding by the shrouds, talking to himself me somewhat. And then all of a sudden I was in quiet water,
and groaning out aloud whenever the ship hammered on and began to come to myself.
the rock. His brig was like wife and child to him; he had It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed

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to see how far I had travelled from the brig. I hailed her, in- surf; the moon shone clear; and I thought in my heart I had
deed; but it was plain she was already out of cry. She was still never seen a place so desert and desolate. But it was dry
holding together; but whether or not they had yet launched land; and when at last it grew so shallow that I could leave
the boat, I was too far off and too low down to see. the yard and wade ashore upon my feet, I cannot tell if I was
While I was hailing the brig, I spied a tract of water ly- more tired or more grateful. Both, at least, I was: tired as I
ing between us where no great waves came, but which yet never was before that night; and grateful to God as I trust I
boiled white all over and bristled in the moon with rings have been often, though never with more cause.
and bubbles. Sometimes the whole tract swung to one side,
like the tail of a live serpent; sometimes, for a glimpse, it
would all disappear and then boil up again. What it was I
had no guess, which for the time increased my fear of it; but
I now know it must have been the roost or tide race, which
had carried me away so fast and tumbled me about so cru-
elly, and at last, as if tired of that play, had flung out me and
the spare yard upon its landward margin.
I now lay quite becalmed, and began to feel that a man
can die of cold as well as of drowning. The shores of Ear-
raid were close in; I could see in the moonlight the dots of
heather and the sparkling of the mica in the rocks.
‘Well,’ thought I to myself, ‘if I cannot get as far as that,
it’s strange!’
I had no skill of swimming, Essen Water being small
in our neighbourhood; but when I laid hold upon the yard
with both arms, and kicked out with both feet, I soon begun
to find that I was moving. Hard work it was, and mortally
slow; but in about an hour of kicking and splashing, I had
got well in between the points of a sandy bay surrounded
by low hills.
The sea was here quite quiet; there was no sound of any

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CHAPTER XIV I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates,
and afraid to look longer at so empty a scene. What with my
wet clothes and weariness, and my belly that now began to
ache with hunger, I had enough to trouble me without that.
THE ISLET So I set off eastward along the south coast, hoping to find
a house where I might warm myself, and perhaps get news
of those I had lost. And at the worst, I considered the sun
would soon rise and dry my clothes.
After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of

W ith my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy

part of my adventures. It was half-past twelve in the
morning, and though the wind was broken by the land, it
the sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the land; and
as I had no means to get across, I must needs change my
direction to go about the end of it. It was still the rough-
was a cold night. I dared not sit down (for I thought I should est kind of walking; indeed the whole, not only of Earraid,
have frozen), but took off my shoes and walked to and fro but of the neighbouring part of Mull (which they call the
upon the sand, bare-foot, and beating my breast with infi- Ross) is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather
nite weariness. There was no sound of man or cattle; not a in among. At first the creek kept narrowing as I had looked
cock crew, though it was about the hour of their first wak- to see; but presently to my surprise it began to widen out
ing; only the surf broke outside in the distance, which put again. At this I scratched my head, but had still no notion of
me in mind of my perils and those of my friend. To walk by the truth: until at last I came to a rising ground, and it burst
the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place so desert- upon me all in a moment that I was cast upon a little barren
like and lonesome, struck me with a kind of fear. isle, and cut off on every side by the salt seas.
As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain,
climbed a hill — the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook— with a thick mist; so that my case was lamentable.
falling, the whole way, between big blocks of granite, or I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered what to
leaping from one to another. When I got to the top the dawn do, till it occurred to me that perhaps the creek was fordable.
was come. There was no sign of the brig, which must have Back I went to the narrowest point and waded in. But not
lifted from the reef and sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere to three yards from shore, I plumped in head over ears; and if
be seen. There was never a sail upon the ocean; and in what ever I was heard of more, it was rather by God’s grace than
I could see of the land was neither house nor man. my own prudence. I was no wetter (for that could hardly be),

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but I was all the colder for this mishap; and having lost an- and Alan’s silver button; and being inland bred, I was as
other hope was the more unhappy. much short of knowledge as of means.
And now, all at once, the yard came in my head. What I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat;
had carried me through the roost would surely serve me and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of lim-
to cross this little quiet creek in safety. With that I set off, pets, which at first I could scarcely strike from their places,
undaunted, across the top of the isle, to fetch and carry it not knowing quickness to be needful. There were, besides,
back. It was a weary tramp in all ways, and if hope had not some of the little shells that we call buckies; I think peri-
buoyed me up, I must have cast myself down and given up. winkle is the English name. Of these two I made my whole
Whether with the sea salt, or because I was growing fevered, diet, devouring them cold and raw as I found them; and so
I was distressed with thirst, and had to stop, as I went, and hungry was I, that at first they seemed to me delicious.
drink the peaty water out of the hags. Perhaps they were out of season, or perhaps there was
I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive; and at the something wrong in the sea about my island. But at least
first glance, I thought the yard was something farther out I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was seized with
than when I left it. In I went, for the third time, into the sea. giddiness and retching, and lay for a long time no better
The sand was smooth and firm, and shelved gradually down, than dead. A second trial of the same food (indeed I had
so that I could wade out till the water was almost to my neck no other) did better with me, and revived my strength. But
and the little waves splashed into my face. But at that depth as long as I was on the island, I never knew what to expect
my feet began to leave me, and I durst venture in no farther. when I had eaten; sometimes all was well, and sometimes I
As for the yard, I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty was thrown into a miserable sickness; nor could I ever dis-
feet beyond. tinguish what particular fish it was that hurt me.
I had borne up well until this last disappointment; but at All day it streamed rain; the island ran like a sop, there
that I came ashore, and flung myself down upon the sands was no dry spot to be found; and when I lay down that night,
and wept. between two boulders that made a kind of roof, my feet
The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a were in a bog.
thought to me, that I must pass it lightly over. In all the The second day I crossed the island to all sides. There was
books I have read of people cast away, they had either their no one part of it better than another; it was all desolate and
pockets full of tools, or a chest of things would be thrown rocky; nothing living on it but game birds which I lacked
upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose. My case the means to kill, and the gulls which haunted the outlying
was very different. I had nothing in my pockets but money rocks in a prodigious number. But the creek, or strait, that

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cut off the isle from the main-land of the Ross, opened out to eat my raw shell-fish (which had soon grown to be a dis-
on the north into a bay, and the bay again opened into the gust), and saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever
Sound of Iona; and it was the neighbourhood of this place I was quite alone with dead rocks, and fowls, and the rain,
that I chose to be my home; though if I had thought upon and the cold sea.
the very name of home in such a spot, I must have burst out I say it kept hope alive; and indeed it seemed impossible
weeping. that I should be left to die on the shores of my own country,
I had good reasons for my choice. There was in this part and within view of a church-tower and the smoke of men’s
of the isle a little hut of a house like a pig’s hut, where fishers houses. But the second day passed; and though as long as
used to sleep when they came there upon their business; but the light lasted I kept a bright look-out for boats on the
the turf roof of it had fallen entirely in; so that the hut was of Sound or men passing on the Ross, no help came near me.
no use to me, and gave me less shelter than my rocks. What It still rained, and I turned in to sleep, as wet as ever, and
was more important, the shell-fish on which I lived grew with a cruel sore throat, but a little comforted, perhaps, by
there in great plenty; when the tide was out I could gather having said good-night to my next neighbours, the people
a peck at a time: and this was doubtless a convenience. But of Iona.
the other reason went deeper. I had become in no way used Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors
to the horrid solitude of the isle, but still looked round me more days in the year in the climate of England than in any
on all sides (like a man that was hunted), between fear and other. This was very like a king, with a palace at his back
hope that I might see some human creature coming. Now, and changes of dry clothes. But he must have had better
from a little up the hillside over the bay, I could catch a sight luck on his flight from Worcester than I had on that miser-
of the great, ancient church and the roofs of the people’s able isle. It was the height of the summer; yet it rained for
houses in Iona. And on the other hand, over the low coun- more than twenty-four hours, and did not clear until the
try of the Ross, I saw smoke go up, morning and evening, as afternoon of the third day.
if from a homestead in a hollow of the land. This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red
I used to watch this smoke, when I was wet and cold, and deer, a buck with a fine spread of antlers, standing in the
had my head half turned with loneliness; and think of the rain on the top of the island; but he had scarce seen me rise
fireside and the company, till my heart burned. It was the from under my rock, before he trotted off upon the other
same with the roofs of Iona. Altogether, this sight I had of side. I supposed he must have swum the strait; though what
men’s homes and comfortable lives, although it put a point should bring any creature to Earraid, was more than I could
on my own sufferings, yet it kept hope alive, and helped me fancy.

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 A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I Indeed, I wore myself down with continual and aimless go-
was startled by a guinea-piece, which fell upon a rock in ings and comings in the rain.
front of me and glanced off into the sea. When the sailors As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the
gave me my money again, they kept back not only about a top of that rock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine
third of the whole sum, but my father’s leather purse; so that is a thing I cannot tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my
from that day out, I carried my gold loose in a pocket with deliverance, of which I had begun to despair; and I scanned
a button. I now saw there must be a hole, and clapped my the sea and the Ross with a fresh interest. On the south of
hand to the place in a great hurry. But this was to lock the my rock, a part of the island jutted out and hid the open
stable door after the steed was stolen. I had left the shore ocean, so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon
at Queensferry with near on fifty pounds; now I found no that side, and I be none the wiser.
more than two guinea-pieces and a silver shilling. Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a
It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it pair of fishers aboard of it, came flying round that corner
lay shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of three of the isle, bound for Iona. I shouted out, and then fell on
pounds and four shillings, English money, for a lad, the my knees on the rock and reached up my hands and prayed
rightful heir of an estate, and now starving on an isle at the to them. They were near enough to hear — I could even see
extreme end of the wild Highlands. the colour of their hair; and there was no doubt but they
This state of my affairs dashed me still further; and, in- observed me, for they cried out in the Gaelic tongue, and
deed my plight on that third morning was truly pitiful. My laughed. But the boat never turned aside, and flew on, right
clothes were beginning to rot; my stockings in particular before my eyes, for Iona.
were quite worn through, so that my shanks went naked; my I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the
hands had grown quite soft with the continual soaking; my shore from rock to rock, crying on them piteously. even
throat was very sore, my strength had much abated, and my after they were out of reach of my voice, I still cried and
heart so turned against the horrid stuff I was condemned to waved to them; and when they were quite gone, I thought
eat, that the very sight of it came near to sicken me. my heart would have burst. All the time of my troubles I
And yet the worst was not yet come. wept only twice. Once, when I could not reach the yard, and
There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid, now, the second time, when these fishers turned a deaf ear
which (because it had a flat top and overlooked the Sound) I to my cries. But this time I wept and roared like a wicked
was much in the habit of frequenting; not that ever I stayed child, tearing up the turf with my nails, and grinding my
in one place, save when asleep, my misery giving me no rest. face in the earth. If a wish would kill men, those two fishers

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would never have seen morning, and I should likely have back, accordingly, upon the sea, and did not look again till
died upon my island. I had counted many hundreds. The boat was still heading
When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but for the island. The next time I counted the full thousand, as
with such loathing of the mess as I could now scarce con- slowly as I could, my heart beating so as to hurt me. And
trol. Sure enough, I should have done as well to fast, for my then it was out of all question. She was coming straight to
fishes poisoned me again. I had all my first pains; my throat Earraid!
was so sore I could scarce swallow; I had a fit of strong shud- I could no longer hold myself back, but ran to the seaside
dering, which clucked my teeth together; and there came on and out, from one rock to another, as far as I could go. It is
me that dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name a marvel I was not drowned; for when I was brought to a
for either in Scotch or English. I thought I should have died, stand at last, my legs shook under me, and my mouth was
and made my peace with God, forgiving all men, even my so dry, I must wet it with the sea-water before I was able to
uncle and the fishers; and as soon as I had thus made up shout.
my mind to the worst, clearness came upon me; I observed All this time the boat was coming on; and now I was able
the night was falling dry; my clothes were dried a good to perceive it was the same boat and the same two men as
deal; truly, I was in a better case than ever before, since I yesterday. This I knew by their hair, which the one had of a
had landed on the isle; and so I got to sleep at last, with a bright yellow and the other black. But now there was a third
thought of gratitude. man along with them, who looked to be of a better class.
The next day (which was the fourth of this horrible life of As soon as they were come within easy speech, they let
mine) I found my bodily strength run very low. But the sun down their sail and lay quiet. In spite of my supplications,
shone, the air was sweet, and what I managed to eat of the they drew no nearer in, and what frightened me most of
shell-fish agreed well with me and revived my courage. all, the new man tee-hee’d with laughter as he talked and
I was scarce back on my rock (where I went always the looked at me.
first thing after I had eaten) before I observed a boat com- Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long
ing down the Sound, and with her head, as I thought, in my while, speaking fast and with many wavings of his hand. I
direction. told him I had no Gaelic; and at this he became very angry,
I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly; for I thought and I began to suspect he thought he was talking English.
these men might have thought better of their cruelty and be Listening very close, I caught the word ‘whateffer’ several
coming back to my assistance. But another disappointment, times; but all the rest was Gaelic and might have been Greek
such as yesterday’s, was more than I could bear. I turned my and Hebrew for me.

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 ‘Whatever,’ said I, to show him I had caught a word. starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon
‘Yes, yes — yes, yes,’ says he, and then he looked at the one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might have left my
other men, as much as to say, ‘I told you I spoke English,’ bones there, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for
and began again as hard as ever in the Gaelic. it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, but in my present
This time I picked out another word, ‘tide.’ Then I had a case; being clothed like a beggar-man, scarce able to walk,
flash of hope. I remembered he was always waving his hand and in great pain of my sore throat.
towards the mainland of the Ross. I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both;
‘Do you mean when the tide is out —?’ I cried, and could and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools
not finish. first.
‘Yes, yes,’ said he. ‘Tide.’
At that I turned tail upon their boat (where my advis-
er had once more begun to tee-hee with laughter), leaped
back the way I had come, from one stone to another, and
set off running across the isle as I had never run before. In
about half an hour I came out upon the shores of the creek;
and, sure enough, it was shrunk into a little trickle of water,
through which I dashed, not above my knees, and landed
with a shout on the main island.
A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid;
which is only what they call a tidal islet, and except in the
bottom of the neaps, can be entered and left twice in every
twenty-four hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by wad-
ing. Even I, who had the tide going out and in before me in
the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to get my
shellfish — even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead
of raging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret, and
got free. It was no wonder the fishers had not understood
me. The wonder was rather that they had ever guessed my
pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble to come back. I had

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CHAPTER XV ‘Was there one,’ I asked, ‘dressed like a gentleman?’
He said they all wore rough great-coats; but to be sure,
the first of them, the one that came alone, wore breeches
and stockings, while the rest had sailors’ trousers.
THE LAD WITH THE SILVER ‘Ah,’ said I, ‘and he would have a feathered hat?’
He told me, no, that he was bareheaded like myself.
BUTTON: THROUGH At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat; and then
the rain came in my mind, and I judged it more likely he
THE ISLE OF MULL had it out of harm’s way under his great-coat. This set me
smiling, partly because my friend was safe, partly to think
of his vanity in dress.
And then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow,
and cried out that I must be the lad with the silver button.

T he Ross of Mull, which I had now got upon, was rug-

ged and trackless, like the isle I had just left; being all
bog, and brier, and big stone. There may be roads for them
‘Why, yes!’ said I, in some wonder.
‘Well, then,’ said the old gentleman, ‘I have a word for
you, that you are to follow your friend to his country, by
that know that country well; but for my part I had no bet- Torosay.’
ter guide than my own nose, and no other landmark than He then asked me how I had fared, and I told him my
Ben More. tale. A south-country man would certainly have laughed;
I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so of- but this old gentleman (I call him so because of his man-
ten from the island; and with all my great weariness and the ners, for his clothes were dropping off his back) heard me
difficulty of the way came upon the house in the bottom of all through with nothing but gravity and pity. When I had
a little hollow about five or six at night. It was low and long- done, he took me by the hand, led me into his hut (it was no
ish, roofed with turf and built of unmortared stones; and better) and presented me before his wife, as if she had been
on a mound in front of it, an old gentleman sat smoking his the Queen and I a duke.
pipe in the sun. The good woman set oat-bread before me and a cold
With what little English he had, he gave me to under- grouse, patting my shoulder and smiling to me all the time,
stand that my shipmates had got safe ashore, and had for she had no English; and the old gentleman (not to be
broken bread in that very house on the day after. behind) brewed me a strong punch out of their country

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spirit. All the while I was eating, and after that when I was trousers like a Dutchman’s. All those makeshifts were con-
drinking the punch, I could scarce come to believe in my demned and punished, for the law was harshly applied, in
good fortune; and the house, though it was thick with the hopes to break up the clan spirit; but in that out-of-the-way,
peat-smoke and as full of holes as a colander, seemed like sea-bound isle, there were few to make remarks and fewer
a palace. to tell tales.
The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slum- They seemed in great poverty; which was no doubt natu-
ber; the good people let me lie; and it was near noon of the ral, now that rapine was put down, and the chiefs kept no
next day before I took the road, my throat already easier longer an open house; and the roads (even such a wander-
and my spirits quite restored by good fare and good news. ing, country by—track as the one I followed) were infested
The old gentleman, although I pressed him hard, would with beggars. And here again I marked a difference from
take no money, and gave me an old bonnet for my head; my own part of the country. For our Lowland beggars —
though I am free to own I was no sooner out of view of the even the gownsmen themselves, who beg by patent — had
house than I very jealously washed this gift of his in a way- a louting, flattering way with them, and if you gave them
side fountain. a plaek and asked change, would very civilly return you a
Thought I to myself: ‘If these are the wild Highlanders, I boddle. But these Highland beggars stood on their dignity,
could wish my own folk wilder.’ asked alms only to buy snuff (by their account) and would
I not only started late, but I must have wandered nearly give no change.
half the time. True, I met plenty of people, grubbing in little To be sure, this was no concern of mine, except in so far
miserable fields that would not keep a cat, or herding little as it entertained me by the way. What was much more to the
kine about the bigness of asses. The Highland dress being purpose, few had any English, and these few (unless they
forbidden by law since the rebellion, and the people con- were of the brotherhood of beggars) not very anxious to
demned to the Lowland habit, which they much disliked, it place it at my service. I knew Torosay to be my destination,
was strange to see the variety of their array. Some went bare, and repeated the name to them and pointed; but instead of
only for a hanging cloak or great-coat, and carried their simply pointing in reply, they would give me a screed of the
trousers on their backs like a useless burthen: some had Gaelic that set me foolish; so it was small wonder if I went
made an imitation of the tartan with little parti-coloured out of my road as often as I stayed in it.
stripes patched together like an old wife’s quilt; others, At last, about eight at night, and already very weary, I
again, still wore the Highland philabeg, but by putting a came to a lone house, where I asked admittance, and was
few stitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of refused, until I bethought me of the power of money in

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so poor a country, and held up one of my guineas in my bed or the barn for their night’s rest.
finger and thumb. Thereupon, the man of the house, who Next day (the fourth of my travels) we were up before
had hitherto pretended to have no English, and driven me five upon the clock; but my rascal guide got to the bottle at
from his door by signals, suddenly began to speak as clearly once, and it was three hours before I had him clear of the
as was needful, and agreed for five shillings to give me a house, and then (as you shall hear) only for a worse disap-
night’s lodging and guide me the next day to Torosay. pointment.
I slept uneasily that night, fearing I should be robbed; As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay be-
but I might have spared myself the pain; for my host was fore Mr. Maclean’s house, all went well; only my guide
no robber, only miserably poor and a great cheat. He was looked constantly over his shoulder, and when I asked him
not alone in his poverty; for the next morning, we must go the cause, only grinned at me. No sooner, however, had we
five miles about to the house of what he called a rich man crossed the back of a hill, and got out of sight of the house
to have one of my guineas changed. This was perhaps a rich windows, than he told me Torosay lay right in front, and
man for Mull; he would have scarce been thought so in the that a hill-top (which he pointed out) was my best land-
south; for it took all he had — the whole house was turned mark.
upside down, and a neighbour brought under contribution, ‘I care very little for that,’ said I, ‘since you are going with
before he could scrape together twenty shillings in silver. me.’
The odd shilling he kept for himself, protesting he could ill The impudent cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he
afford to have so great a sum of money lying ‘locked up.’ For had no English.
all that he was very courteous and well spoken, made us ‘My fine fellow,’ I said, ‘I know very well your English
both sit down with his family to dinner, and brewed punch comes and goes. Tell me what will bring it back? Is it more
in a fine china bowl, over which my rascal guide grew so money you wish?’
merry that he refused to start. ‘Five shillings mair,’ said he, ‘and hersel’ will bring ye
I was for getting angry, and appealed to the rich man there.’
(Hector Maclean was his name), who had been a witness to I reflected awhile and then offered him two, which he
our bargain and to my payment of the five shillings. But Ma- accepted greedily, and insisted on having in his hands at
clean had taken his share of the punch, and vowed that no once ‘for luck,’ as he said, but I think it was rather for my
gentleman should leave his table after the bowl was brewed; misfortune.
so there was nothing for it but to sit and hear Jacobite toasts The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles;
and Gaelic songs, till all were tipsy and staggered off to the at the end of which distance, he sat down upon the wayside

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and took off his brogues from his feet, like a man about to first offence, and transportation to the colonies upon a sec-
rest. ond. Nor could I quite see why a religious teacher should go
I was now red-hot. ‘Ha!’ said I, ‘have you no more Eng- armed, or what a blind man could be doing with a pistol.
lish?’ I told him about my guide, for I was proud of what I had
He said impudently, ‘No.’ done, and my vanity for once got the heels of my prudence.
At that I boiled over, and lifted my hand to strike him; At the mention of the five shillings he cried out so loud that
and he, drawing a knife from his rags, squatted back and I made up my mind I should say nothing of the other two,
grinned at me like a wildcat. At that, forgetting everything and was glad he could not see my blushes.
but my anger, I ran in upon him, put aside his knife with ‘Was it too much?’ I asked, a little faltering.
my left, and struck him in the mouth with the right. I was ‘Too much!’ cries he. ‘Why, I will guide you to Torosay
a strong lad and very angry, and he but a little man; and he myself for a dram of brandy. And give you the great plea-
went down before me heavily. By good luck, his knife flew sure of my company (me that is a man of some learning) in
out of his hand as he fell. the bargain.’
I picked up both that and his brogues, wished him a good I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide; but
morning, and set off upon my way, leaving him barefoot at that he laughed aloud, and said his stick was eyes enough
and disarmed. I chuckled to myself as I went, being sure for an eagle.
I was done with that rogue, for a variety of reasons. First, ‘In the Isle of Mull, at least,’ says he, ‘where I know ev-
he knew he could have no more of my money; next, the ery stone and heather-bush by mark of head. See, now,’ he
brogues were worth in that country only a few pence; and, said, striking right and left, as if to make sure, ‘down there
lastly, the knife, which was really a dagger, it was against a burn is running; and at the head of it there stands a bit of
the law for him to carry. a small hill with a stone cocked upon the top of that; and it’s
In about half an hour of walk, I overtook a great, ragged hard at the foot of the hill, that the way runs by to Torosay;
man, moving pretty fast but feeling before him with a staff. and the way here, being for droves, is plainly trodden, and
He was quite blind, and told me he was a catechist, which will show grassy through the heather.’
should have put me at my ease. But his face went against me; I had to own he was right in every feature, and told my
it seemed dark and dangerous and secret; and presently, as wonder.
we began to go on alongside, I saw the steel butt of a pistol ‘Ha!’ says he, ‘that’s nothing. Would ye believe me now,
sticking from under the flap of his coat-pocket. To carry that before the Act came out, and when there were weepons
such a thing meant a fine of fifteen pounds sterling upon a in this country, I could shoot? Ay, could I!’ cries he, and

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then with a leer: ‘If ye had such a thing as a pistol here to try myself, one after the other, were the two worst men I met
with, I would show ye how it’s done.’ with in the Highlands.
I told him I had nothing of the sort, and gave him a wider At Torosay, on the Sound of Mull and looking over to the
berth. If he had known, his pistol stuck at that time quite mainland of Morven, there was an inn with an innkeeper,
plainly out of his pocket, and I could see the sun twinkle on who was a Maclean, it appeared, of a very high family; for
the steel of the butt. But by the better luck for me, he knew to keep an inn is thought even more genteel in the High-
nothing, thought all was covered, and lied on in the dark. lands than it is with us, perhaps as partaking of hospitality,
He then began to question me cunningly, where I came or perhaps because the trade is idle and drunken. He spoke
from, whether I was rich, whether I could change a five-shil- good English, and finding me to be something of a scholar,
ling piece for him (which he declared he had that moment tried me first in French, where he easily beat me, and then
in his sporran), and all the time he kept edging up to me in the Latin, in which I don’t know which of us did best.
and I avoiding him. We were now upon a sort of green cat- This pleasant rivalry put us at once upon friendly terms;
tle-track which crossed the hills towards Torosay, and we and I sat up and drank punch with him (or to be more cor-
kept changing sides upon that like ancers in a reel. I had so rect, sat up and watched him drink it), until he was so tipsy
plainly the upper-hand that my spirits rose, and indeed I that he wept upon my shoulder.
took a pleasure in this game of blindman’s buff; but the cat- I tried him, as if by accident, with a sight of Alan’s but-
echist grew angrier and angrier, and at last began to swear ton; but it was plain he had never seen or heard of it. Indeed,
in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with his staff. he bore some grudge against the family and friends of Ar-
Then I told him that, sure enough, I had a pistol in my dshiel, and before he was drunk he read me a lampoon, in
pocket as well as he, and if he did not strike across the hill very good Latin, but with a very ill meaning, which he had
due south I would even blow his brains out. made in elegiac verses upon a person of that house.
He became at once very polite, and after trying to soft- When I told him of my catechist, he shook his head, and
en me for some time, but quite in vain, he cursed me once said I was lucky to have got clear off. ‘That is a very danger-
more in Gaelic and took himself off. I watched him striding ous man,’ he said; ‘Duncan Mackiegh is his name; he can
along, through bog and brier, tapping with his stick, until shoot by the ear at several yards, and has been often ac-
he turned the end of a hill and disappeared in the next hol- cused of highway robberies, and once of murder.’
low. Then I struck on again for Torosay, much better pleased ‘The cream of it is,’ says I, ‘that he called himself a cat-
to be alone than to travel with that man of learning. This echist.’
was an unlucky day; and these two, of whom I had just rid ‘And why should he not?’ says he, ‘when that is what he is.

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It was Maclean of Duart gave it to him because he was blind.
But perhaps it was a peety,’ says my host, ‘for he is always on CHAPTER XVI
the road, going from one place to another to hear the young
folk say their religion; and, doubtless, that is a great tempta-
tion to the poor man.’
At last, when my landlord could drink no more, he THE LAD WITH THE SILVER
showed me to a bed, and I lay down in very good spirits;
having travelled the greater part of that big and crooked BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN
Island of Mull, from Earraid to Torosay, fifty miles as the
crow flies, and (with my wanderings) much nearer a hun-
dred, in four days and with little fatigue. Indeed I was by
far in better heart and health of body at the end of that long
tramp than I had been at the beginning. T here is a regular ferry from Torosay to Kinlochaline on
the mainland. Both shores of the Sound are in the coun-
try of the strong clan of the Macleans, and the people that
passed the ferry with me were almost all of that clan. The
skipper of the boat, on the other hand, was called Neil Roy
Macrob; and since Macrob was one of the names of Alan’s
clansmen, and Alan himself had sent me to that ferry, I was
eager to come to private speech of Neil Roy.
In the crowded boat this was of course impossible, and
the passage was a very slow affair. There was no wind, and
as the boat was wretchedly equipped, we could pull but two
oars on one side, and one on the other. The men gave way,
however, with a good will, the passengers taking spells to
help them, and the whole company giving the time in Gael-
ic boat-songs. And what with the songs, and the sea-air, and
the good-nature and spirit of all concerned, and the bright
weather, the passage was a pretty thing to have seen.
But there was one melancholy part. In the mouth of Loch

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Aline we found a great sea-going ship at anchor; and this I myself.
supposed at first to be one of the King’s cruisers which were At Kinlochaline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the
kept along that coast, both summer and winter, to prevent beach, and said I made sure he was one of Appin’s men.
communication with the French. As we got a little nearer, it ‘And what for no?’ said he.
became plain she was a ship of merchandise; and what still ‘I am seeking somebody,’ said I; ‘and it comes in my mind
more puzzled me, not only her decks, but the sea-beach also, that you will have news of him. Alan Breck Stewart is his
were quite black with people, and skiffs were continually name.’ And very foolishly, instead of showing him the but-
plying to and fro between them. Yet nearer, and there began ton, I sought to pass a shilling in his hand.
to come to our ears a great sound of mourning, the people At this he drew back. ‘I am very much affronted,’ he said;
on board and those on the shore crying and lamenting one ‘and this is not the way that one shentleman should behave
to another so as to pierce the heart. to another at all. The man you ask for is in France; but if he
Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for was in my sporran,’ says he, ‘and your belly full of shillings,
the American colonies. I would not hurt a hair upon his body.’
We put the ferry-boat alongside, and the exiles leaned I saw I had gone the wrong way to work, and without
over the bulwarks, weeping and reaching out their hands wasting time upon apologies, showed him the button lying
to my fellow-passengers, among whom they counted some in the hollow of my palm.
near friends. How long this might have gone on I do not ‘Aweel, aweel,’ said Neil; ‘and I think ye might have be-
know, for they seemed to have no sense of time: but at last gun with that end of the stick, whatever! But if ye are the
the captain of the ship, who seemed near beside himself lad with the silver button, all is well, and I have the word
(and no great wonder) in the midst of this crying and con- to see that ye come safe. But if ye will pardon me to speak
fusion, came to the side and begged us to depart. plainly,’ says he, ‘there is a name that you should never take
Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the chief singer in our into your mouth, and that is the name of Alan Breck; and
boat struck into a melancholy air, which was presently tak- there is a thing that ye would never do, and that is to offer
en up both by the emigrants and their friends upon the your dirty money to a Hieland shentleman.’
beach, so that it sounded from all sides like a lament for It was not very easy to apologise; for I could scarce tell
the dying. I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men him (what was the truth) that I had never dreamed he would
and women in the boat, even as they bent at the oars; and set up to be a gentleman until he told me so. Neil on his part
the circumstances and the music of the song (which is one had no wish to prolong his dealings with me, only to fulfil
called ‘Lochaber no more’) were highly affecting even to his orders and be done with it; and he made haste to give

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me my route. This was to lie the night in Kinlochaline in the go from the fireside to the bed in which I slept, wading over
public inn; to cross Morven the next day to Ardgour, and lie the shoes.
the night in the house of one John of the Claymore, who was Early in my next day’s journey I overtook a little, stout,
warned that I might come; the third day, to be set across one solemn man, walking very slowly with his toes turned out,
loch at Corran and another at Balachulish, and then ask my sometimes reading in a book and sometimes marking the
way to the house of James of the Glens, at Aucharn in Du- place with his finger, and dressed decently and plainly in
ror of Appin. There was a good deal of ferrying, as you hear; something of a clerical style.
the sea in all this part running deep into the mountains and This I found to be another catechist, but of a different or-
winding about their roots. It makes the country strong to der from the blind man of Mull: being indeed one of those
hold and difficult to travel, but full of prodigious wild and sent out by the Edinburgh Society for Propagating Chris-
dreadful prospects. tian Knowledge, to evangelise the more savage places of
I had some other advice from Neil: to speak with no the Highlands. His name was Henderland; he spoke with
one by the way, to avoid Whigs, Campbells, and the ‘red- the broad south-country tongue, which I was beginning to
soldiers;’ to leave the road and lie in a bush if I saw any of weary for the sound of; and besides common countryship,
the latter coming, ‘for it was never chancy to meet in with we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest.
them;’ and in brief, to conduct myself like a robber or a Ja- For my good friend, the minister of Essendean, had trans-
cobite agent, as perhaps Neil thought me. lated into the Gaelic in his by-time a number of hymns and
The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place pious books which Henderland used in his work, and held
that ever pigs were styed in, full of smoke, vermin, and si- in great esteem. Indeed, it was one of these he was carrying
lent Highlanders. I was not only discontented with my and reading when we met.
lodging, but with myself for my mismanagement of Neil, We fell in company at once, our ways lying together as
and thought I could hardly be worse off. But very wrong- far as to Kingairloch. As we went, he stopped and spoke
ly, as I was soon to see; for I had not been half an hour at with all the wayfarers and workers that we met or passed;
the inn (standing in the door most of the time, to ease my and though of course I could not tell what they discoursed
eyes from the peat smoke) when a thunderstorm came close about, yet I judged Mr. Henderland must be well liked in
by, the springs broke in a little hill on which the inn stood, the countryside, for I observed many of them to bring out
and one end of the house became a running water. Places their mulls and share a pinch of snuff with him.
of public entertainment were bad enough all over Scotland I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise; as far,
in those days; yet it was a wonder to myself, when I had to that is, as they were none of Alan’s; and gave Balachulish as

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 the place I was travelling to, to meet a friend; for I thought I told him no, and that he had asked the same thing more
Aucharn, or even Duror, would be too particular, and might than once.
put him on the scent. ‘It’s highly possible,’ said he, sighing. ‘But it seems strange
On his part, he told me much of his work and the peo- ye shouldnae carry it. However, as I was saying, this Alan
ple he worked among, the hiding priests and Jacobites, the Breck is a bold, desperate customer, and well kent to be
Disarming Act, the dress, and many other curiosities of the James’s right hand. His life is forfeit already; he would bog-
time and place. He seemed moderate; blaming Parliament gle at naething; and maybe, if a tenant-body was to hang
in several points, and especially because they had framed back he would get a dirk in his wame.’
the Act more severely against those who wore the dress ‘You make a poor story of it all, Mr. Henderland,’ said I.
than against those who carried weapons. ‘If it is all fear upon both sides, I care to hear no more of it.’
This moderation put it in my mind to question him of the ‘Na,’ said Mr. Henderland, ‘but there’s love too, and self-
Red Fox and the Appin tenants; questions which, I thought, denial that should put the like of you and me to shame.
would seem natural enough in the mouth of one travelling There’s something fine about it; no perhaps Christian, but
to that country. humanly fine. Even Alan Breck, by all that I hear, is a chield
He said it was a bad business. ‘It’s wonderful,’ said he, to be respected. There’s many a lying sneck-draw sits close
‘where the tenants find the money, for their life is mere in kirk in our own part of the country, and stands well in
starvation. (Ye don’t carry such a thing as snuff, do ye, Mr. the world’s eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Bal-
Balfour? No. Well, I’m better wanting it.) But these tenants four, than yon misguided shedder of man’s blood. Ay, ay,
(as I was saying) are doubtless partly driven to it. James we might take a lesson by them. — Ye’ll perhaps think I’ve
Stewart in Duror (that’s him they call James of the Glens) is been too long in the Hielands?’ he added, smiling to me.
half-brother to Ardshiel, the captain of the clan; and he is I told him not at all; that I had seen much to admire
a man much looked up to, and drives very hard. And then among the Highlanders; and if he came to that, Mr. Camp-
there’s one they call Alan Breck—‘ bell himself was a Highlander.
‘Ah!’ I cried, ‘what of him?’ ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘that’s true. It’s a fine blood.’
‘What of the wind that bloweth where it listeth?’ said ‘And what is the King’s agent about?’ I asked.
Henderland. ‘He’s here and awa; here to-day and gone to- ‘Colin Campbell?’ says Henderland. ‘Putting his head in
morrow: a fair heather-cat. He might be glowering at the a bees’ byke!’
two of us out of yon whin-bush, and I wouldnae wonder! ‘He is to turn the tenants out by force, I hear?’ said I.
Ye’ll no carry such a thing as snuff, will ye?’ ‘Yes,’ says he, ‘but the business has gone back and forth,

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as folk say. First, James of the Glens rode to Edinburgh, and that I should make a short stage, and lie the night in his
got some lawyer (a Stewart, nae doubt — they all hing to- house a little beyond Kingairloch. To say truth, I was over-
gether like bats in a steeple) and had the proceedings stayed. joyed; for I had no great desire for John of the Claymore,
And then Colin Campbell cam’ in again, and had the up- and since my double misadventure, first with the guide and
per-hand before the Barons of Exchequer. And now they tell next with the gentleman skipper, I stood in some fear of
me the first of the tenants are to flit to-morrow. It’s to begin any Highland stranger. Accordingly we shook hands upon
at Duror under James’s very windows, which doesnae seem the bargain, and came in the afternoon to a small house,
wise by my humble way of it.’ standing alone by the shore of the Linnhe Loch. The sun
‘Do you think they’ll fight?’ I asked. was already gone from the desert mountains of Ardgour
‘Well,’ says Henderland, ‘they’re disarmed — or sup- upon the hither side, but shone on those of Appin on the
posed to be — for there’s still a good deal of cold iron lying farther; the loch lay as still as a lake, only the gulls were
by in quiet places. And then Colin Campbell has the sogers crying round the sides of it; and the whole place seemed
coming. But for all that, if I was his lady wife, I wouldnae solemn and uncouth.
be well pleased till I got him home again. They’re queer cus- We had no sooner come to the door of Mr. Henderland’s
tomers, the Appin Stewarts.’ dwelling, than to my great surprise (for I was now used to the
I asked if they were worse than their neighbours. politeness of Highlanders) he burst rudely past me, dashed
‘No they,’ said he. ‘And that’s the worst part of it. For if into the room, caught up a jar and a small horn-spoon, and
Colin Roy can get his business done in Appin, he has it all began ladling snuff into his nose in most excessive quanti-
to begin again in the next country, which they call Mamore, ties. Then he had a hearty fit of sneezing, and looked round
and which is one of the countries of the Camerons. He’s upon me with a rather silly smile.
King’s Factor upon both, and from both he has to drive out ‘It’s a vow I took,’ says he. ‘I took a vow upon me that I
the tenants; and indeed, Mr. Balfour (to be open with ye), wouldnae carry it. Doubtless it’s a great privation; but when
it’s my belief that if he escapes the one lot, he’ll get his death I think upon the martyrs, not only to the Scottish Covenant
by the other.’ but to other points of Christianity, I think shame to mind
So we continued talking and walking the great part of it.’
the, day; until at last, Mr. Henderland after expressing his As soon as we had eaten (and porridge and whey was the
delight in my company, and satisfaction at meeting with a best of the good man’s diet) he took a grave face and said he
friend of Mr. Campbell’s (“whom,’ says he, ‘I will make bold had a duty to perform by Mr. Campbell, and that was to in-
to call that sweet singer of our covenanted Zion’), proposed quire into my state of mind towards God. I was inclined to

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smile at him since the business of the snuff; but he had not
spoken long before he brought the tears into my eyes. There CHAPTER XVII
are two things that men should never weary of, goodness
and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough
world among cold, proud people; but Mr. Henderland had
their very speech upon his tongue. And though I was a good THE DEATH OF
deal puffed up with my adventures and with having come
off, as the saying is, with flying colours; yet he soon had me THE RED FOX
on my knees beside a simple, poor old man, and both proud
and glad to be there.
Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me
on my way, out of a scanty store he kept in the turf wall of
his house; at which excess of goodness I knew not what to
do. But at last he was so earnest with me that I thought it the
T he next day Mr. Henderland found for me a man who
had a boat of his own and was to cross the Linnhe Loch
that afternoon into Appin, fishing. Him he prevailed on to
more mannerly part to let him have his way, and so left him take me, for he was one of his flock; and in this way I saved
poorer than myself. a long day’s travel and the price of the two public ferries I
must otherwise have passed.
It was near noon before we set out; a dark day with clouds,
and the sun shining upon little patches. The sea was here
very deep and still, and had scarce a wave upon it; so that I
must put the water to my lips before I could believe it to be
truly salt. The mountains on either side were high, rough
and barren, very black and gloomy in the shadow of the
clouds, but all silver-laced with little watercourses where
the sun shone upon them. It seemed a hard country, this of
Appin, for people to care as much about as Alan did.
There was but one thing to mention. A little after we had
started, the sun shone upon a little moving clump of scar-
let close in along the water-side to the north. It was much

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of the same red as soldiers’ coats; every now and then, too, country direct, by my own guidance and at my own charg-
there came little sparks and lightnings, as though the sun es, and what Mr. Campbell or even Mr. Henderland would
had struck upon bright steel. think of me if they should ever learn my folly and presump-
I asked my boatman what it should be, and he answered tion: these were the doubts that now began to come in on
he supposed it was some of the red soldiers coming from me stronger than ever.
Fort William into Appin, against the poor tenantry of the As I was so sitting and thinking, a sound of men and
country. Well, it was a sad sight to me; and whether it was horses came to me through the wood; and presently after, at
because of my thoughts of Alan, or from something pro- a turning of the road, I saw four travellers come into view.
phetic in my bosom, although this was but the second time I The way was in this part so rough and narrow that they
had seen King George’s troops, I had no good will to them. came single and led their horses by the reins. The first was
At last we came so near the point of land at the entering a great, red-headed gentleman, of an imperious and flushed
in of Loch Leven that I begged to be set on shore. My boat- face, who carried his hat in his hand and fanned himself, for
man (who was an honest fellow and mindful of his promise he was in a breathing heat. The second, by his decent black
to the catechist) would fain have carried me on to Bala- garb and white wig, I correctly took to be a lawyer. The third
chulish; but as this was to take me farther from my secret was a servant, and wore some part of his clothes in tartan,
destination, I insisted, and was set on shore at last under the which showed that his master was of a Highland family, and
wood of Lettermore (or Lettervore, for I have heard it both either an outlaw or else in singular good odour with the
ways) in Alan’s country of Appin. Government, since the wearing of tartan was against the
This was a wood of birches, growing on a steep, crag- Act. If I had been better versed in these things, I would have
gy side of a mountain that overhung the loch. It had many known the tartan to be of the Argyle (or Campbell) colours.
openings and ferny howes; and a road or bridle track ran This servant had a good-sized portmanteau strapped on his
north and south through the midst of it, by the edge of horse, and a net of lemons (to brew punch with) hanging at
which, where was a spring, I sat down to eat some oat-bread the saddle-bow; as was often enough the custom with luxu-
of Mr. Henderland’s and think upon my situation. rious travellers in that part of the country.
Here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midg- As for the fourth, who brought up the tail, I had seen his
es, but far more by the doubts of my mind. What I ought like before, and knew him at once to be a sheriff’s officer.
to do, why I was going to join myself with an outlaw and a I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made
would-be murderer like Alan, whether I should not be act- up my mind (for no reason that I can tell) to go through
ing more like a man of sense to tramp back to the south with my adventure; and when the first came alongside of

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me, I rose up from the bracken and asked him the way to ‘I have heard a waif word in the country,’ said I, a little
Aucharn. nettled, ‘that you were a hard man to drive.’
He stopped and looked at me, as I thought, a little oddly; He still kept looking at me, as if in doubt.
and then, turning to the lawyer, ‘Mungo,’ said he, ‘there’s ‘Well,’ said he, at last, ‘your tongue is bold; but I am no
many a man would think this more of a warning than two unfriend to plainness. If ye had asked me the way to the
pyats. Here am I on my road to Duror on the job ye ken; and door of James Stewart on any other day but this, I would
here is a young lad starts up out of the bracken, and speers if have set ye right and bidden ye God speed. But to-day — eh,
I am on the way to Aucharn.’ Mungo?’ And he turned again to look at the lawyer.
‘Glenure,’ said the other, ‘this is an ill subject for jesting.’ But just as he turned there came the shot of a firelock
These two had now drawn close up and were gazing at from higher up the hill; and with the very sound of it Glen-
me, while the two followers had halted about a stone-cast ure fell upon the road.
in the rear. ‘O, I am dead!’ he cried, several times over.
‘And what seek ye in Aucharn?’ said Colin Roy Campbell The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms,
of Glenure, him they called the Red Fox; for he it was that the servant standing over and clasping his hands. And now
I had stopped. the wounded man looked from one to another with scared
‘The man that lives there,’ said I. eyes, and there was a change in his voice, that went to the
‘James of the Glens,’ says Glenure, musingly; and then to heart.
the lawyer: ‘Is he gathering his people, think ye?’ ‘Take care of yourselves,’ says he. ‘I am dead.’
‘Anyway,’ says the lawyer, ‘we shall do better to bide He tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound,
where we are, and let the soldiers rally us.’ but his fingers slipped on the buttons. With that he gave a
‘If you are concerned for me,’ said I, ‘I am neither of his great sigh, his head rolled on his shoulder, and he passed
people nor yours, but an honest subject of King George, ow- away.
ing no man and fearing no man.’ The lawyer said never a word, but his face was as sharp as
‘Why, very well said,’ replies the Factor. ‘But if I may a pen and as white as the dead man’s; the servant broke out
make so bold as ask, what does this honest man so far from into a great noise of crying and weeping, like a child; and I,
his country? and why does he come seeking the brother of on my side, stood staring at them in a kind of horror. The
Ardshiel? I have power here, I must tell you. I am King’s sheriff’s officer had run back at the first sound of the shot, to
Factor upon several of these estates, and have twelve files of hasten the coming of the soldiers.
soldiers at my back.’ At last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood

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upon the road, and got to his own feet with a kind of stag- At that word (which I could hear quite plainly, though it
ger. was to the soldiers and not to me that he was crying it) my
I believe it was his movement that brought me to my heart came in my mouth with quite a new kind of terror.
senses; for he had no sooner done so than I began to scram- Indeed, it is one thing to stand the danger of your life, and
ble up the hill, crying out, ‘The murderer! the murderer!’ quite another to run the peril of both life and character. The
So little a time had elapsed, that when I got to the top thing, besides, had come so suddenly, like thunder out of a
of the first steepness, and could see some part of the open clear sky, that I was all amazed and helpless.
mountain, the murderer was still moving away at no great The soldiers began to spread, some of them to run, and
distance. He was a big man, in a black coat, with metal but- others to put up their pieces and cover me; and still I stood.
tons, and carried a long fowling-piece. ‘Jock[18] in here among the trees,’ said a voice close by.
‘Here!’ I cried. ‘I see him!’ [18]Duck.
At that the murderer gave a little, quick look over his Indeed, I scarce knew what I was doing, but I obeyed;
shoulder, and began to run. The next moment he was lost and as I did so, I heard the firelocks bang and the balls
in a fringe of birches; then he came out again on the upper whistle in the birches.
side, where I could see him climbing like a jackanapes, for Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck
that part was again very steep; and then he dipped behind a standing, with a fishing-rod. He gave me no salutation; in-
shoulder, and I saw him no more. deed it was no time for civilities; only ‘Come!’ says he, and
All this time I had been running on my side, and had got set off running along the side of the mountain towards Ba-
a good way up, when a voice cried upon me to stand. laehulish; and I, like a sheep, to follow him.
I was at the edge of the upper wood, and so now, when Now we ran among the birches; now stooping behind
I halted and looked back, I saw all the open part of the hill low humps upon the mountain-side; now crawling on all
below me. fours among the heather. The pace was deadly: my heart
The lawyer and the sheriff’s officer were standing just seemed bursting against my ribs; and I had neither time
above the road, crying and waving on me to come back; and to think nor breath to speak with. Only I remember seeing
on their left, the red-coats, musket in hand, were beginning with wonder, that Alan every now and then would straight-
to struggle singly out of the lower wood. en himself to his full height and look back; and every time
‘Why should I come back?’ I cried. ‘Come you on!’ he did so, there came a great far-away cheering and crying
‘Ten pounds if ye take that lad!’ cried the lawyer. ‘He’s an of the soldiers.
accomplice. He was posted here to hold us in talk.’ Quarter of an hour later, Alan stopped, clapped down

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flat in the heather, and turned to me.
‘Now,’ said he, ‘it’s earnest. Do as I do, for your life.’ CHAPTER XVIII
And at the same speed, but now with infinitely more pre-
caution, we traced back again across the mountain-side by
the same way that we had come, only perhaps higher; till at
last Alan threw himself down in the upper wood of Letter- I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE
more, where I had found him at the first, and lay, with his
face in the bracken, panting like a dog. WOOD OF LETTERMORE
My own sides so ached, my head so swam, my tongue so
hung out of my mouth with heat and dryness, that I lay be-
side him like one dead.

A lan was the first to come round. He rose, went to the

border of the wood, peered out a little, and then re-
turned and sat down.
‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was a hot burst, David.’
I said nothing, nor so much as lifted my face. I had seen
murder done, and a great, ruddy, jovial gentleman struck
out of life in a moment; the pity of that sight was still sore
within me, and yet that was but a part of my concern. Here
was murder done upon the man Alan hated; here was Alan
skulking in the trees and running from the troops; and
whether his was the hand that fired or only the head that
ordered, signified but little. By my way of it, my only friend
in that wild country was blood-guilty in the first degree; I
held him in horror; I could not look upon his face; I would
have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle, than in
that warm wood beside a murderer.
‘Are ye still wearied?’ he asked again.
‘No,’ said I, still with my face in the bracken; ‘no, I am not

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wearied now, and I can speak. You and me must twine,’[19] Well, it seems he was one of these gentry that think aye the
I said. ‘I liked you very well, Alan, but your ways are not worst of things; and for greater security, he stuck his dirk
mine, and they’re not God’s: and the short and the long of it throughout that poke before he opened it, and there was his
is just that we must twine.’ bairn dead. I am thinking to myself, Mr. Balfour, that you
[19] Part. and the man are very much alike.’
‘I will hardly twine from ye, David, without some kind [20] Bag.
of reason for the same,’ said Alan, mighty gravely. ‘If ye ken ‘Do you mean you had no hand in it?’ cried I, sitting up.
anything against my reputation, it’s the least thing that ye ‘I will tell you first of all, Mr. Balfour of Shaws, as one
should do, for old acquaintance’ sake, to let me hear the friend to another,’ said Alan, ‘that if I were going to kill a
name of it; and if ye have only taken a distaste to my society, gentleman, it would not be in my own country, to bring
it will be proper for me to judge if I’m insulted.’ trouble on my clan; and I would not go wanting sword and
‘Alan,’ said I, ‘what is the sense of this? Ye ken very well gun, and with a long fishing-rod upon my back.’
yon Campbell-man lies in his blood upon the road.’ ‘Well,’ said I, ‘that’s true!’
He was silent for a little; then says he, ‘Did ever ye hear ‘And now,’ continued Alan, taking out his dirk and lay-
tell of the story of the Man and the Good People?’ — by ing his hand upon it in a certain manner, ‘I swear upon the
which he meant the fairies. Holy Iron I had neither art nor part, act nor thought in it.’
‘No,’ said I, ‘nor do I want to hear it.’ ‘I thank God for that!’ cried I, and offered him my hand.
‘With your permission, Mr. Balfour, I will tell it you, He did not appear to see it.
whatever,’ says Alan. ‘The man, ye should ken, was cast ‘And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell!’ said
upon a rock in the sea, where it appears the Good People he. ‘They are not so scarce, that I ken!’
were in use to come and rest as they went through to Ire- ‘At least,’ said I, ‘you cannot justly blame me, for you
land. The name of this rock is called the Skerryvore, and it’s know very well what you told me in the brig. But the temp-
not far from where we suffered ship-wreck. Well, it seems tation and the act are different, I thank God again for that.
the man cried so sore, if he could just see his little bairn be- We may all be tempted; but to take a life in cold blood, Alan!’
fore he died! that at last the king of the Good People took And I could say no more for the moment. ‘And do you know
peety upon him, and sent one flying that brought back the who did it?’ I added. ‘Do you know that man in the black
bairn in a poke[20] and laid it down beside the man where coat?’
he lay sleeping. So when the man woke, there was a poke ‘I have nae clear mind about his coat,’ said Alan cunning-
beside him and something into the inside of it that moved. ly, ‘but it sticks in my head that it was blue.’

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 ‘Blue or black, did ye know him?’ said I. deemed his duty, that my mouth was closed. Mr. Hender-
‘I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him,’ says Alan. land’s words came back to me: that we ourselves might take
‘He gaed very close by me, to be sure, but it’s a strange thing a lesson by these wild Highlanders. Well, here I had taken
that I should just have been tying my brogues.’ mine. Alan’s morals were all tail-first; but he was ready to
‘Can you swear that you don’t know him, Alan?’ I cried, give his life for them, such as they were.
half angered, half in a mind to laugh at his evasions. ‘Alan,’ said I, ‘I’ll not say it’s the good Christianity as I
‘Not yet,’ says he; ‘but I’ve a grand memory for forget- understand it, but it’s good enough. And here I offer ye my
ting, David.’ hand for the second time.’
‘And yet there was one thing I saw clearly,’ said I; ‘and Whereupon he gave me both of his, saying surely I had
that was, that you exposed yourself and me to draw the sol- cast a spell upon him, for he could forgive me anything.
diers.’ Then he grew very grave, and said we had not much time
‘It’s very likely,’ said Alan; ‘and so would any gentleman. to throw away, but must both flee that country: he, because
You and me were innocent of that transaction.’ he was a deserter, and the whole of Appin would now be
‘The better reason, since we were falsely suspected, that searched like a chamber, and every one obliged to give a
we should get clear,’ I cried. ‘The innocent should surely good account of himself; and I, because I was certainly in-
come before the guilty.’ volved in the murder.
‘Why, David,’ said he, ‘the innocent have aye a chance to ‘O!’ says I, willing to give him a little lesson, ‘I have no
get assoiled in court; but for the lad that shot the bullet, I fear of the justice of my country.’
think the best place for him will be the heather. Them that ‘As if this was your country!’ said he. ‘Or as if ye would be
havenae dipped their hands in any little difficulty, should be tried here, in a country of Stewarts!’
very mindful of the case of them that have. And that is the ‘It’s all Scotland,’ said I.
good Christianity. For if it was the other way round about, ‘Man, I whiles wonder at ye,’ said Alan. ‘This is a Camp-
and the lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in bell that’s been killed. Well, it’ll be tried in Inverara, the
our shoes, and we in his (as might very well have been), I Campbells’ head place; with fifteen Campbells in the jury-
think we would be a good deal obliged to him oursel’s if he box and the biggest Campbell of all (and that’s the Duke)
would draw the soldiers.’ sitting cocking on the bench. Justice, David? The same jus-
When it came to this, I gave Alan up. But he looked so tice, by all the world, as Glenure found awhile ago at the
innocent all the time, and was in such clear good faith in roadside.’
what he said, and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he This frightened me a little, I confess, and would have

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frightened me more if I had known how nearly exact were justice.
Alan’s predictions; indeed it was but in one point that he ‘I’ll chance it, Alan,’ said I. ‘I’ll go with you.’
exaggerated, there being but eleven Campbells on the jury; ‘But mind you,’ said Alan, ‘it’s no small thing. Ye maun
though as the other four were equally in the Duke’s depen- lie bare and hard, and brook many an empty belly. Your
dence, it mattered less than might appear. Still, I cried out bed shall be the moorcock’s, and your life shall be like the
that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle, who (for all he was hunted deer’s, and ye shall sleep with your hand upon your
a Whig) was yet a wise and honest nobleman. weapons. Ay, man, ye shall taigle many a weary foot, or we
‘Hoot!’ said Alan, ‘the man’s a Whig, nae doubt; but I get clear! I tell ye this at the start, for it’s a life that I ken well.
would never deny he was a good chieftain to his clan. And But if ye ask what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Ei-
what would the clan think if there was a Campbell shot, and ther take to the heather with me, or else hang.’
naebody hanged, and their own chief the Justice General? ‘And that’s a choice very easily made,’ said I; and we
But I have often observed,’ says Alan, ‘that you Low-country shook hands upon it.
bodies have no clear idea of what’s right and wrong.’ ‘And now let’s take another keek at the red-coats,’ says
At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to my surprise, Alan, and he led me to the north-eastern fringe of the
Alan joined in, and laughed as merrily as myself. wood.
‘Na, na,’ said he, ‘we’re in the Hielands, David; and when Looking out between the trees, we could see a great side
I tell ye to run, take my word and run. Nae doubt it’s a hard of mountain, running down exceeding steep into the wa-
thing to skulk and starve in the Heather, but it’s harder yet ters of the loch. It was a rough part, all hanging stone, and
to lie shackled in a red-coat prison.’ heather, and big scrogs of birchwood; and away at the far
I asked him whither we should flee; and as he told me ‘to end towards Balachulish, little wee red soldiers were dip-
the Lowlands,’ I was a little better inclined to go with him; ping up and down over hill and howe, and growing smaller
for, indeed, I was growing impatient to get back and have every minute. There was no cheering now, for I think they
the upper-hand of my uncle. Besides, Alan made so sure had other uses for what breath was left them; but they still
there would be no question of justice in the matter, that I stuck to the trail, and doubtless thought that we were close
began to be afraid he might be right. Of all deaths, I would in front of them.
truly like least to die by the gallows; and the picture of that Alan watched them, smiling to himself.
uncanny instrument came into my head with extraordi- ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘they’ll be gey weary before they’ve got to
nary clearness (as I had once seen it engraved at the top of the end of that employ! And so you and me, David, can sit
a pedlar’s ballad) and took away my appetite for courts of down and eat a bite, and breathe a bit longer, and take a

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dram from my bottle. Then we’ll strike for Aucharn, the It took the colour out of Alan’s face, even to tell what fol-
house of my kinsman, James of the Glens, where I must lowed. For there were still two men lying impotent in their
get my clothes, and my arms, and money to carry us along; bunks; and these, seeing the water pour in and thinking the
and then, David, we’ll cry, ‘Forth, Fortune!’ and take a cast ship had foundered, began to cry out aloud, and that with
among the heather.’ such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled
So we sat again and ate and drank, in a place whence one after another into the skiff and fell to their oars. They
we could see the sun going down into a field of great, wild, were not two hundred yards away, when there came a third
and houseless mountains, such as I was now condemned great sea; and at that the brig lifted clean over the reef; her
to wander in with my companion. Partly as we so sat, and canvas filled for a moment, and she seemed to sail in chase
partly afterwards, on the way to Aucharn, each of us nar- of them, but settling all the while; and presently she drew
rated his adventures; and I shall here set down so much of down and down, as if a hand was drawing her; and the sea
Alan’s as seems either curious or needful. closed over the Covenant of Dysart.
It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was Never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore, being
passed; saw me, and lost me, and saw me again, as I tum- stunned with the horror of that screaming; but they had
bled in the roost; and at last had one glimpse of me clinging scarce set foot upon the beach when Hoseason woke up, as
on the yard. It was this that put him in some hope I would if out of a muse, and bade them lay hands upon Alan. They
maybe get to land after all, and made him leave those clues hung back indeed, having little taste for the employment;
and messages which had brought me (for my sins) to that but Hoseason was like a fiend, crying that Alan was alone,
unlucky country of Appin. that he had a great sum about him, that he had been the
In the meanwhile, those still on the brig had got the means of losing the brig and drowning all their comrades,
skiff launched, and one or two were on board of her already, and that here was both revenge and wealth upon a single
when there came a second wave greater than the first, and cast. It was seven against one; in that part of the shore there
heaved the brig out of her place, and would certainly have was no rock that Alan could set his back to; and the sailors
sent her to the bottom, had she not struck and caught on began to spread out and come behind him.
some projection of the reef. When she had struck first, it ‘And then,’ said Alan, ‘the little man with the red head
had been bows-on, so that the stern had hitherto been low- — I havenae mind of the name that he is called.’
est. But now her stern was thrown in the air, and the bows ‘Riach,’ said I.
plunged under the sea; and with that, the water began to ‘Ay’ said Alan, ‘Riach! Well, it was him that took up
pour into the fore-scuttle like the pouring of a mill-dam. the clubs for me, asked the men if they werenae feared

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of a judgment, and, says he ‘Dod, I’ll put my back to the there they found they had had the pleasure of a run, which
Hielandman’s mysel’.’ That’s none such an entirely bad little is aye good for a Campbell. I’m thinking it was a judgment
man, yon little man with the red head,’ said Alan. ‘He has on the clan that the brig went down in the lump and didnae
some spunks of decency.’ break. But it was a very unlucky thing for you, that same;
‘Well,’ said I, ‘he was kind to me in his way.’ for if any wreck had come ashore they would have hunted
‘And so he was to Alan,’ said he; ‘and by my troth, I found high and low, and would soon have found ye.’
his way a very good one! But ye see, David, the loss of the
ship and the cries of these poor lads sat very ill upon the
man; and I’m thinking that would be the cause of it.’
‘Well, I would think so,’ says I; ‘for he was as keen as any
of the rest at the beginning. But how did Hoseason take it?’
‘It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill,’ says
Alan. ‘But the little man cried to me to run, and indeed I
thought it was a good observe, and ran. The last that I saw
they were all in a knot upon the beach, like folk that were
not agreeing very well together.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ said I.
‘Well, the fists were going,’ said Alan; ‘and I saw one man
go down like a pair of breeks. But I thought it would be bet-
ter no to wait. Ye see there’s a strip of Campbells in that end
of Mull, which is no good company for a gentleman like me.
If it hadnae been for that I would have waited and looked for
ye mysel’, let alone giving a hand to the little man.’ (It was
droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach’s stature, for, to say the
truth, the one was not much smaller than the other.) ‘So,’
says he, continuing, ‘I set my best foot forward, and when-
ever I met in with any one I cried out there was a wreck
ashore. Man, they didnae sto p to fash with me! Ye should
have seen them linking for the beach! And when they got

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CHAPTER XIX before.
Having thus set folks’ minds at rest, we came down the
brae, and were met at the yard gate (for this place was like a
well-doing farm) by a tall, handsome man of more than fifty,
THE HOUSE OF FEAR who cried out to Alan in the Gaelic.
‘James Stewart,’ said Alan, ‘I will ask ye to speak in Scotch,
for here is a young gentleman with me that has nane of the
other. This is him,’ he added, putting his arm through mine,
‘a young gentleman of the Lowlands, and a laird in his coun-

N ight fell as we were walking, and the clouds, which had

broken up in the afternoon, settled in and thickened,
so that it fell, for the season of the year, extremely dark. The
try too, but I am thinking it will be the better for his health
if we give his name the go-by.’
James of the Glens turned to me for a moment, and greet-
way we went was over rough mountainsides; and though ed me courteously enough; the next he had turned to Alan.
Alan pushed on with an assured manner, I could by no ‘This has been a dreadful accident,’ he cried. ‘It will bring
means see how he directed himself. trouble on the country.’ And he wrung his hands.
At last, about half-past ten of the clock, we came to the ‘Hoots!’ said Alan, ‘ye must take the sour with the sweet,
top of a brae, and saw lights below us. It seemed a house door man. Colin Roy is dead, and be thankful for that!’
stood open and let out a beam of fire and candle-light; and ‘Ay’ said James, ‘and by my troth, I wish he was alive
all round the house and steading five or six persons were again! It’s all very fine to blow and boast beforehand; but
moving hurriedly about, each carrying a lighted brand. now it’s done, Alan; and who’s to bear the wyte[21] of it?
‘James must have tint his wits,’ said Alan. ‘If this was The accident fell out in Appin — mind ye that, Alan; it’s Ap-
the soldiers instead of you and me, he would be in a bonny pin that must pay; and I am a man that has a family.’
mess. But I dare say he’ll have a sentry on the road, and he [21]Blame.
would ken well enough no soldiers would find the way that While this was going on I looked about me at the ser-
we came.’ vants. Some were on ladders, digging in the thatch of the
Hereupon he whistled three times, in a particular man- house or the farm buildings, from which they brought out
ner. It was strange to see how, at the first sound of it, all the guns, swords, and different weapons of war; others carried
moving torches came to a stand, as if the bearers were af- them away; and by the sound of mattock blows from some-
frighted; and how, at the third, the bustle began again as where farther down the brae, I suppose they buried them.

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Though they were all so busy, there prevailed no kind of His wife sat by the fire and wept, with her face in her hands;
order in their efforts; men struggled together for the same his eldest son was crouched upon the floor, running over a
gun and ran into each other with their burning torches; great mass of papers and now and again setting one alight
and James was continually turning about from his talk with and burning it to the bitter end; all the while a servant lass
Alan, to cry out orders which were apparently never under- with a red face was rummaging about the room, in a blind
stood. The faces in the torchlight were like those of people hurry of fear, and whimpering as she went; and every now
overborne with hurry and panic; and though none spoke and again one of the men would thrust in his face from the
above his breath, their speech sounded both anxious and yard, and cry for orders.
angry. At last James could keep his seat no longer, and begged
It was about this time that a lassie came out of the house my permission to be so unmannerly as walk about. ‘I am
carrying a pack or bundle; and it has often made me smile but poor company altogether, sir,’ says he, ‘but I can think
to think how Alan’s instinct awoke at the mere sight of it. of nothing but this dreadful accident, and the trouble it is
‘What’s that the lassie has?’ he asked. like to bring upon quite innocent persons.’
‘We’re just setting the house in order, Alan,’ said James, in A little after he observed his son burning a paper which
his frightened and somewhat fawning way. ‘They’ll search he thought should have been kept; and at that his excite-
Appin with candles, and we must have all things straight. ment burst out so that it was painful to witness. He struck
We’re digging the bit guns and swords into the moss, ye see; the lad repeatedly.
and these, I am thinking, will be your ain French clothes. ‘Are you gone gyte?’[22] he cried. ‘Do you wish to hang
We’ll be to bury them, I believe.’ your father?’ and forgetful of my presence, carried on at
‘Bury my French clothes!’ cried Alan. ‘Troth, no!’ And him a long time together in the Gaelic, the young man an-
he laid hold upon the packet and retired into the barn to swering nothing; only the wife, at the name of hanging,
shift himself, recommending me in the meanwhile to his throwing her apron over her face and sobbing out louder
kinsman. than before.
James carried me accordingly into the kitchen, and sat [22] Mad.
down with me at table, smiling and talking at first in a very This was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear
hospitable manner. But presently the gloom returned upon and see; and I was right glad when Alan returned, looking
him; he sat frowning and biting his fingers; only remem- like himself in his fine French clothes, though (to be sure)
bered me from time to time; and then gave me but a word they were now grown almost too battered and withered to
or two and a poor smile, and back into his private terrors. deserve the name of fine. I was then taken out in my turn

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 by another of the sons, and given that change of clothing of ‘It would be an ill day for Appin,’ says Alan.
which I had stood so long in need, and a pair of Highland ‘It’s a day that sticks in my throat,’ said James. ‘O man,
brogues made of deer-leather, rather strange at first, but af- man, man—man Alan! you and me have spoken like two
ter a little practice very easy to the feet. fools!’ he cried, striking his hand upon the wall so that the
By the time I came back Alan must have told his story; house rang again.
for it seemed understood that I was to fly with him, and ‘Well, and that’s true, too,’ said Alan; ‘and my friend from
they were all busy upon our equipment. They gave us each the Lowlands here’ (nodding at me) ‘gave me a good word
a sword and pistols, though I professed my inability to use upon that head, if I would only have listened to him.’
the former; and with these, and some ammunition, a bag of ‘But see here,’ said James, returning to his former man-
oatmeal, an iron pan, and a bottle of right French brandy, ner, ‘if they lay me by the heels, Alan, it’s then that you’ll be
we were ready for the heather. Money, indeed, was lack- needing the money. For with all that I have said and that
ing. I had about two guineas left; Alan’s belt having been you have said, it will look very black against the two of us;
despatched by another hand, that trusty messenger had no do ye mark that? Well, follow me out, and ye’ll, I’ll see that
more than seventeen-pence to his whole fortune; and as I’ll have to get a paper out against ye mysel’; have to offer a
for James, it appears he had brought himself so low with reward for ye; ay, will I! It’s a sore thing to do between such
journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the near friends; but if I get the dirdum[23] of this dreadful ac-
tenants, that he could only scrape together three-and-five- cident, I’ll have to fend for myself, man. Do ye see that?’
pence-halfpenny, the most of it in coppers. [23] Blame.
‘This’ll no do,’ said Alan. He spoke with a pleading earnestness, taking Alan by
‘Ye must find a safe bit somewhere near by,’ said James, the breast of the coat.
‘and get word sent to me. Ye see, ye’ll have to get this busi- ‘Ay’ said Alan, ‘I see that.’
ness prettily off, Alan. This is no time to be stayed for a ‘And ye’ll have to be clear of the country, Alan — ay, and
guinea or two. They’re sure to get wind of ye, sure to seek ye, clear of Scotland — you and your friend from the Lowlands,
and by my way of it, sure to lay on ye the wyte of this day’s too. For I’ll have to paper your friend from the Lowlands.
accident. If it falls on you, it falls on me that am your near Ye see that, Alan — say that ye see that!’
kinsman and harboured ye while ye were in the country. I thought Alan flushed a bit. ‘This is unco hard on me
And if it comes on me——‘ he paused, and bit his fingers, that brought him here, James,’ said he, throwing his head
with a white face. ‘It would be a painful thing for our friends back. ‘It’s like making me a traitor!’
if I was to hang,’ said he. ‘Now, Alan, man!’ cried James. ‘Look things in the face!

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He’ll be papered anyway; Mungo Campbell’ll be sure to pa- hold my tongue, for that was not to be thought of; and ask-
per him; what matters if I paper him too? And then, Alan, I ing me what the Camerons would think? (which confirmed
am a man that has a family.’ And then, after a little pause on me, it must have been a Cameron from Mamore that did
both sides, ‘And, Alan, it’ll be a jury of Campbells,’ said he. the act) and if I did not see that the lad might be caught? ‘Ye
‘There’s one thing,’ said Alan, musingly, ‘that naebody havenae surely thought of that?’ said they, with such inno-
kens his name.’ cent earnestness, that my hands dropped at my side and I
‘Nor yet they shallnae, Alan! There’s my hand on that,’ despaired of argument.
cried James, for all the world as if he had really known my ‘Very well, then,’ said I, ‘paper me, if you please, paper
name and was foregoing some advantage. ‘But just the habit Alan, paper King George! We’re all three innocent, and that
he was in, and what he looked like, and his age, and the like? seems to be what’s wanted. But at least, sir,’ said I to James,
I couldnae well do less.’ recovering from my little fit of annoyance, ‘I am Alan’s
‘I wonder at your father’s son,’ cried Alan, sternly. ‘Would friend, and if I can be helpful to friends of his, I will not
ye sell the lad with a gift? Would ye change his clothes and stumble at the risk.’
then betray him?’ I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent, for I saw
‘No, no, Alan,’ said James. ‘No, no: the habit he took off Alan troubled; and, besides (thinks I to myself), as soon as
— the habit Mungo saw him in.’ But I thought he seemed my back is turned, they will paper me, as they call it, wheth-
crestfallen; indeed, he was clutching at every straw, and all er I consent or not. But in this I saw I was wrong; for I had
the time, I dare say, saw the faces of his hereditary foes on no sooner said the words, than Mrs. Stewart leaped out of
the bench, and in the jury-box, and the gallows in the back- her chair, came running over to us, and wept first upon my
ground. neck and then on Alan’s, blessing God for our goodness to
‘Well, sir’ says Alan, turning to me, ‘what say ye to, that? her family.
Ye are here under the safeguard of my honour; and it’s my ‘As for you, Alan, it was no more than your bounden
part to see nothing done but what shall please you.’ duty,’ she said. ‘But for this lad that has come here and seen
‘I have but one word to say,’ said I; ‘for to all this dispute us at our worst, and seen the goodman fleeching like a suit-
I am a perfect stranger. But the plain common-sense is to or, him that by rights should give his commands like any
set the blame where it belongs, and that is on the man who king — as for you, my lad,’ she says, ‘my heart is wae not
fired the shot. Paper him, as ye call it, set the hunt on him; to have your name, but I have your face; and as long as my
and let honest, innocent folk show their faces in safety.’ But heart beats under my bosom, I will keep it, and think of it,
at this both Alan and James cried out in horror; bidding me and bless it.’ And with that she kissed me, and burst once

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more into such sobbing, that I stood abashed.
‘Hoot, hoot,’ said Alan, looking mighty silly. ‘The day CHAPTER XX
comes unco soon in this month of July; and to-morrow
there’ll be a fine to-do in Appin, a fine riding of dragoons,
and crying of ‘Cruachan!’[24] and running of red-coats;
and it behoves you and me to the sooner be gone.’ THE FLIGHT IN THE
[24] The rallying-word of the Campbells.
Thereupon we said farewell, and set out again, bending HEATHER: THE ROCKS
somewhat eastwards, in a fine mild dark night, and over
much the same broken country as before.

S ometimes we walked, sometimes ran; and as it drew

on to morning, walked ever the less and ran the more.
Though, upon its face, that country appeared to be a desert,
yet there were huts and houses of the people, of which we
must have passed more than twenty, hidden in quiet plac-
es of the hills. When we came to one of these, Alan would
leave me in the way, and go himself and rap upon the side
of the house and speak awhile at the window with some
sleeper awakened. This was to pass the news; which, in that
country, was so much of a duty that Alan must pause to at-
tend to it even while fleeing for his life; and so well attended
to by others, that in more than half of the houses where we
called they had heard already of the murder. In the others,
as well as I could make out (standing back at a distance and
hearing a strange tongue), the news was received with more
of consternation than surprise.
For all our hurry, day began to come in while we were
still far from any shelter. It found us in a prodigious val-

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ley, strewn with rocks and where ran a foaming river. Wild eyes. Alan took me and shook me; I saw he was speaking,
mountains stood around it; there grew there neither grass but the roaring of the falls and the trouble of my mind pre-
nor trees; and I have sometimes thought since then, that it vented me from hearing; only I saw his face was red with
may have been the valley called Glencoe, where the massa- anger, and that he stamped upon the rock. The same look
cre was in the time of King William. But for the details of showed me the water raging by, and the mist hanging in the
our itinerary, I am all to seek; our way lying now by short air: and with that I covered my eyes again and shuddered.
cuts, now by great detours; our pace being so hurried, our The next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips,
time of journeying usually by night; and the names of such and forced me to drink about a gill, which sent the blood
places as I asked and heard being in the Gaelic tongue and into my head again. Then, putting his hands to his mouth,
the more easily forgotten. and his mouth to my ear, he shouted, ‘Hang or drown!’ and
The first peep of morning, then, showed us this horrible turning his back upon me, leaped over the farther branch of
place, and I could see Alan knit his brow. the stream, and landed safe.
‘This is no fit place for you and me,’ he said. ‘This is a I was now alone upon the rock, which gave me the more
place they’re bound to watch.’ room; the brandy was singing in my ears; I had this good
And with that he ran harder than ever down to the water- example fresh before me, and just wit enough to see that if
side, in a part where the river was split in two among three I did not leap at once, I should never leap at all. I bent low
rocks. It went through with a horrid thundering that made on my knees and flung myself forth, with that kind of anger
my belly quake; and there hung over the lynn a little mist of despair that has sometimes stood me in stead of cour-
of spray. Alan looked neither to the right nor to the left, but age. Sure enough, it was but my hands that reached the full
jumped clean upon the middle rock and fell there on his length; these slipped, caught again, slipped again; and I was
hands and knees to check himself, for that rock was small sliddering back into the lynn, when Alan seized me, first by
and he might have pitched over on the far side. I had scarce the hair, then by the collar, and with a great strain dragged
time to measure the distance or to understand the peril be- me into safety.
fore I had followed him, and he had caught and stopped Never a word he said, but set off running again for his
me. life, and I must stagger to my feet and run after him. I had
So there we stood, side by side upon a small rock slippery been weary before, but now I was sick and bruised, and
with spray, a far broader leap in front of us, and the river partly drunken with the brandy; I kept stumbling as I ran, I
dinning upon all sides. When I saw where I was, there came had a stitch that came near to overmaster me; and when at
on me a deadly sickness of fear, and I put my hand over my last Alan paused under a great rock that stood there among

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a number of others, it was none too soon for David Balfour. at me with some amusement. ‘Ye’re no very gleg[25] at the
A great rock I have said; but by rights it was two rocks jumping,’ said he.
leaning together at the top, both some twenty feet high, and [25]Brisk.
at the first sight inaccessible. Even Alan (though you may At this I suppose I coloured with mortification, for he
say he had as good as four hands) failed twice in an attempt added at once, ‘Hoots! small blame to ye! To be feared of a
to climb them; and it was only at the third trial, and then by thing and yet to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a
standing on my shoulders and leaping up with such force as man. And then there was water there, and water’s a thing
I thought must have broken my collar-bone, that he secured that dauntons even me. No, no,’ said Alan, ‘it’s no you that’s
a lodgment. Once there, he let down his leathern girdle; and to blame, it’s me.’
with the aid of that and a pair of shallow footholds in the I asked him why.
rock, I scrambled up beside him. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘I have proved myself a gomeral this night.
Then I saw why we had come there; for the two rocks, be- For first of all I take a wrong road, and that in my own
ing both somewhat hollow on the top and sloping one to the country of Appin; so that the day has caught us where we
other, made a kind of dish or saucer, where as many as three should never have been; and thanks to that, we lie here in
or four men might have lain hidden. some danger and mair discomfort. And next (which is the
All this while Alan had not said a word, and had run and worst of the two, for a man that has been so much among
climbed with such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry, that I the heather as myself) I have come wanting a water-bottle,
knew that he was in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even and here we lie for a long summer’s day with naething but
now we were on the rock he said nothing, nor so much as neat spirit. Ye may think that a small matter; but before it
relaxed the frowning look upon his face; but clapped flat comes night, David, ye’ll give me news of it.’
down, and keeping only one eye above the edge of our place I was anxious to redeem my character, and offered, if he
of shelter scouted all round the compass. The dawn had would pour out the brandy, to run down and fill the bottle
come quite, clear; we could see the stony sides of the valley, at the river.
and its bottom, which was bestrewed with rocks, and the ‘I wouldnae waste the good spirit either,’ says he. ‘It’s
river, which went from one side to another, and made white been a good friend to you this night; or in my poor opinion,
falls; but nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any living crea- ye would still be cocking on yon stone. And what’s mair,’
ture but some eagles screaming round a cliff. says he, ‘ye may have observed (you that’s a man of so much
Then at last Alan smiled. penetration) that Alan Breck Stewart was perhaps walking
‘Ay’ said he, ‘now we have a chance;’ and then looking quicker than his ordinar’.’

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 ‘You!’ I cried, ‘you were running fit to burst.’ continued; but as the stream was suddenly swelled by the
‘Was I so?’ said he. ‘Well, then, ye may depend upon it, confluence of a considerable burn, they were more widely
there was nae time to be lost. And now here is enough said; set, and only watched the fords and stepping-stones.
gang you to your sleep, lad, and I’ll watch.’ I took but one look at them, and ducked again into my
Accordingly, I lay down to sleep; a little peaty earth had place. It was strange indeed to see this valley, which had
drifted in between the top of the two rocks, and some brack- lain so solitary in the hour of dawn, bristling with arms and
en grew there, to be a bed to me; the last thing I heard was dotted with the red coats and breeches.
still the crying of the eagles. ‘Ye see,’ said Alan, ‘this was what I was afraid of, Davie:
I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was that they would watch the burn-side. They began to come
roughly awakened, and found Alan’s hand pressed upon my in about two hours ago, and, man! but ye’re a grand hand
mouth. at the sleeping! We’re in a narrow place. If they get up the
‘Wheesht!’ he whispered. ‘Ye were snoring.’ sides of the hill, they could easy spy us with a glass; but if
‘Well,’ said I, surprised at his anxious and dark face, ‘and they’ll only keep in the foot of the valley, we’ll do yet. The
why not?’ posts are thinner down the water; and, come night, we’ll try
He peered over the edge of the rock, and signed to me to our hand at getting by them.’
do the like. ‘And what are we to do till night?’ I asked.
It was now high day, cloudless, and very hot. The valley ‘Lie here,’ says he, ‘and birstle.’
was as clear as in a picture. About half a mile up the wa- That one good Scotch word, ‘birstle,’ was indeed the most
ter was a camp of red-coats; a big fire blazed in their midst, of the story of the day that we had now to pass. You are to
at which some were cooking; and near by, on the top of a remember that we lay on the bare top of a rock, like scones
rock about as high as ours, there stood a sentry, with the upon a girdle; the sun beat upon us cruelly; the rock grew
sun sparkling on his arms. All the way down along the riv- so heated, a man could scarce endure the touch of it; and
er-side were posted other sentries; here near together, there the little patch of earth and fern, which kept cooler, was
widelier scattered; some planted like the first, on places of only large enough for one at a time. We took turn about to
command, some on the ground level and marching and lie on the naked rock, which was indeed like the position
counter-marching, so as to meet half-way. Higher up the of that saint that was martyred on a gridiron; and it ran in
glen, where the ground was more open, the chain of posts my mind how strange it was, that in the same climate and
was continued by horse-soldiers, whom we could see in at only a few days’ distance, I should have suffered so cru-
the distance riding to and fro. Lower down, the infantry elly, first from cold upon my island and now from heat upon

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this rock. grew only the greater as the day went on; the rock getting
All the while we had no water, only raw brandy for a still the hotter and the sun fiercer. There were giddiness,
drink, which was worse than nothing; but we kept the bot- and sickness, and sharp pangs like rheumatism, to be sup-
tle as cool as we could, burying it in the earth, and got some ported. I minded then, and have often minded since, on the
relief by bathing our breasts and temples. lines in our Scotch psalm: —
The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the val-
ley, now changing guard, now in patrolling parties hunting ‘The moon by night thee shall not smite,
among the rocks. These lay round in so great a number, that Nor yet the sun by day;.’
to look for men among them was like looking for a needle
in a bottle of hay; and being so hopeless a task, it was gone and indeed it was only by God’s blessing that we were
about with the less care. Yet we could see the soldiers pike neither of us sun-smitten.
their bayonets among the heather, which sent a cold thrill At last, about two, it was beyond men’s bearing, and
into my vitals; and they would sometimes hang about our there was now temptation to resist, as well as pain to thole.
rock, so that we scarce dared to breathe. For the sun being now got a little into the west, there came
It was in this way that I first heard the right English a patch of shade on the east side of our rock, which was the
speech; one fellow as he went by actually clapping his hand side sheltered from the soldiers.
upon the sunny face of the rock on which we lay, and pluck- ‘As well one death as another,’ said Alan, and slipped over
ing it off again with an oath. ‘I tell you it’s ‘ot,’ says he; and the edge and dropped on the ground on the shadowy side.
I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd sing-song I followed him at once, and instantly fell all my length,
in which he spoke, and no less at that strange trick of drop- so weak was I and so giddy with that long exposure. Here,
ping out the letter ‘h.’ To be sure, I had heard Ransome; but then, we lay for an hour or two, aching from head to foot, as
he had taken his ways from all sorts of people, and spoke weak as water, and lying quite naked to the eye of any soldier
so imperfectly at the best, that I set down the most of it to who should have strolled that way. None came, however, all
childishness. My surprise was all the greater to hear that passing by on the other side; so that our rock continued to
manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown man; and in- be our shield even in this new position.
deed I have never grown used to it; nor yet altogether with Presently we began again to get a little strength; and
the English grammar, as perhaps a very critical eye might as the soldiers were now lying closer along the river-side,
here and there spy out even in these memoirs. Alan proposed that we should try a start. I was by this time
The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock afraid of but one thing in the world; and that was to be set

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back upon the rock; anything else was welcome to me; so I cannot tell which was the more pleasant, the great shock
we got ourselves at once in marching order, and began to as the cool stream went over us, or the greed with which we
slip from rock to rock one after the other, now crawling flat drank of it.
on our bellies in the shade, now making a run for it, heart We lay there (for the banks hid us), drank again and again,
in mouth. bathed our chests, let our wrists trail in the running water
The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley af- till they ached with the chill; and at last, being wonderfullv
ter a fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the renewed, we got out the meal-bag and made drammach in
sultriness of the afternoon, had now laid by much of their the iron pan. This, though it is but cold water mingled with
vigilance, and stood dozing at their posts or only kept a look- oatmeal, yet makes a good enough dish for a hungry man;
out along the banks of the river; so that in this way, keeping and where there are no means of making fire, or (as in our
down the valley and at the same time towards the moun- case) good reason for not making one, it is the chief stand-
tains, we drew steadily away from their neighbourhood. But by of those who have taken to the heather.
the business was the most wearing I had ever taken part As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set
in. A man had need of a hundred eyes in every part of him, forth again, at first with the same caution, but presently
to keep concealed in that uneven country and within cry with more boldness, standing our full height and stepping
of so many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an out at a good pace of walking. The way was very intricate,
open place, quickness was not all, but a swift judgment not lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows
only of the lie of the whole country, but of the solidity of ev- of cliffs; clouds had come in with the sunset, and the night
ery stone on which we must set foot; for the afternoon was was dark and cool; so that I walked without much fatigue,
now fallen so breathless that the rolling of a pebble sounded but in continual fear of falling and rolling down the moun-
abroad like a pistol shot, and would start the echo calling tains, and with no guess at our direction.
among the hills and cliffs. The moon rose at last and found us still on the road; it
By sundown we had made some distance, even by our was in its last quarter, and was long beset with clouds; but
slow rate of progress, though to be sure the sentry on the after awhile shone out and showed me many dark heads of
rock was still plainly in our view. But now we came on mountains, and was reflected far underneath us on the nar-
something that put all fears out of season; and that was row arm of a sea-loch.
a deep rushing burn, that tore down, in that part, to join At this sight we both paused: I struck with wonder to
the glen river. At the sight of this we cast ourselves on the find myself so high and walking (as it seemed to me) upon
ground and plunged head and shoulders in the water; and clouds; Alan to make sure of his direction.

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 Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certain-
ly have judged us out of ear-shot of all our enemies; for CHAPTER XXI
throughout the rest of our night-march he beguiled the way
with whistling of many tunes, warlike, merry, plaintive; reel
tunes that made the foot go faster; tunes of my own south
country that made me fain to be home from my adventures; THE FLIGHT IN THE
and all these, on the great, dark, desert mountains, making
company upon the way. HEATHER: THE HEUGH
OF CORRYNAKIEGH

E arly as day comes in the beginning of July, it was still

dark when we reached our destination, a cleft in the
head of a great mountain, with a water running through
the midst, and upon the one hand a shallow cave in a rock.
Birches grew there in a thin, pretty wood, which a little far-
ther on was changed into a wood of pines. The burn was
full of trout; the wood of cushat-doves; on the open side of
the mountain beyond, whaups would be always whistling,
and cuckoos were plentiful. From the mouth of the cleft
we looked down upon a part of Mamore, and on the sea-
loch that divides that country from Appin; and this from so
great a height as made it my continual wonder and pleasure
to sit and behold them.
The name of the cleft was the Heugh of Corrynakiegh;
and although from its height and being so near upon the
sea, it was often beset with clouds, yet it was on the whole a

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pleasant place, and the five days we lived in it went happily. myself.
We slept in the cave, making our bed of heather bush- In the meanwhile, you are not to suppose that we ne-
es which we cut for that purpose, and covering ourselves glected our chief business, which was to get away.
with Alan’s great-coat. There was a low concealed place, in ‘It will be many a long day,’ Alan said to me on our first
a turning of the glen, where we were so bold as to make fire: morning, ‘before the red-coats think upon seeking Cor-
so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set in, and rynakiegh; so now we must get word sent to James, and he
cook hot porridge, and grill the little trouts that we caught must find the siller for us.’
with our hands under the stones and overhanging banks ‘And how shall we send that word?’ says I. ‘We are here
of the burn. This was indeed our chief pleasure and busi- in a desert place, which yet we dare not leave; and unless ye
ness; and not only to save our meal against worse times, but get the fowls of the air to be your messengers, I see not what
with a rivalry that much amused us, we spent a great part of we shall be able to do.’
our days at the water-side, stripped to the waist and grop- ‘Ay?’ said Alan. ‘Ye’re a man of small contrivance, Da-
ing about or (as they say) guddling for these fish. The largest vid.’
we got might have been a quarter of a pound; but they were Thereupon he fell in a muse, looking in the embers of the
of good flesh and flavour, and when broiled upon the coals, fire; and presently, getting a piece of wood, he fashioned it
lacked only a little salt to be delicious. in a cross, the four ends of which he blackened on the coals.
In any by-time Alan must teach me to use my sword, for Then he looked at me a little shyly.
my ignorance had much distressed him; and I think besides, ‘Could ye lend me my button?’ says he. ‘It seems a strange
as I had sometimes the upper-hand of him in the fishing, he thing to ask a gift again, but I own I am laith to cut anoth-
was not sorry to turn to an exercise where he had so much er.’
the upper-hand of me. He made it somewhat more of a pain I gave him the button; whereupon he strung it on a strip
than need have been, for he stormed at me all through the of his great-coat which he had used to bind the cross; and
lessons in a very violent manner of scolding, and would push tying in a little sprig of birch and another of fir, he looked
me so close that I made sure he must run me through the upon his work with satisfaction.
body. I was often tempted to turn tail, but held my ground ‘Now,’ said he, ‘there is a little clachan’ (what is called
for all that, and got some profit of my lessons; if it was but a hamlet in the English) ‘not very far from Corrynakiegh,
to stand on guard with an assured countenance, which is and it has the name of Koalisnacoan. There there are living
often all that is required. So, though I could never in the many friends of mine whom I could trust with my life, and
least please my master, I was not altogether displeased with some that I am no just so sure of. Ye see, David, there will

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be money set upon our heads; James himsel’ is to set money good deal of heather between here and the Forth.’
on them; and as for the Campbells, they would never spare ‘And that is a very true word,’ says Alan. ‘But then John
siller where there was a Stewart to be hurt. If it was other- Breck will see the sprig of birch and the sprig of pine; and
wise, I would go down to Koalisnacoan whatever, and trust he will say to himsel’ (if he is a man of any penetration at all,
my life into these people’s hands as lightly as I would trust which I misdoubt), ALAN WILL BE LYING IN A WOOD
another with my glove.’ WHICH IS BOTH OF PINES AND BIRCHES. Then he will
‘But being so?’ said I. think to himsel’, THAT IS NOT SO VERY RIFE HERE-
‘Being so,’ said he, ‘I would as lief they didnae see me. ABOUT; and then he will come and give us a look up in
There’s bad folk everywhere, and what’s far worse, weak Corrynakiegh. And if he does not, David, the devil may fly
ones. So when it comes dark again, I will steal down into away with him, for what I care; for he will no be worth the
that clachan, and set this that I have been making in the salt to his porridge.’
window of a good friend of mine, John Breck Maccoll, a ‘Eh, man,’ said I, drolling with him a little, ‘you’re very
bouman[26] of Appin’s.’ ingenious! But would it not be simpler for you to write him
[26]A bouman is a tenant who takes stock from the land- a few words in black and white?’
lord and shares with him the increase. ‘And that is an excellent observe, Mr. Balfour of Shaws,’
‘With all my heart,’ says I; ‘and if he finds it, what is he says Alan, drolling with me; ‘and it would certainly be much
to think?’ simpler for me to write to him, but it would be a sore job for
‘Well,’ says Alan, ‘I wish he was a man of more penetra- John Breck to read it. He would have to go to the school for
tion, for by my troth I am afraid he will make little enough two-three years; and it’s possible we might be wearied wait-
of it! But this is what I have in my mind. This cross is some- ing on him.’
thing in the nature of the crosstarrie, or fiery cross, which So that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and set
is the signal of gathering in our clans; yet he will know well it in the bouman’s window. He was troubled when he came
enough the clan is not to rise, for there it is standing in his back; for the dogs had barked and the folk run out from
window, and no word with it. So he will say to himsel’, THE their houses; and he thought he had heard a clatter of arms
CLAN IS NOT TO RISE, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING. and seen a red-coat come to one of the doors. On all ac-
Then he will see my button, and that was Duncan Stewart’s. counts we lay the next day in the borders of the wood and
And then he will say to himsel’, THE SON OF DUNCAN IS kept a close look-out, so that if it was John Breck that came
IN THE HEATHER, AND HAS NEED OF ME.’ we might be ready to guide him, and if it was the red-coats
‘Well,’ said I, ‘it may be. But even supposing so, there is a we should have time to get away.

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 About noon a man was to be spied, straggling up the ‘DEAR KINSMAN, — Please send the money by the bearer to
open side of the mountain in the sun, and looking round the place he kens of.
him as he came, from under his hand. No sooner had Alan ‘Your affectionate cousin,
seen him than he whistled; the man turned and came a lit- ‘A. S.’
tle towards us: then Alan would give another ‘peep!’ and the
man would come still nearer; and so by the sound of whis- This he intrusted to the bouman, who promised to make
tling, he was guided to the spot where we lay. what manner of speed he best could, and carried it off with
He was a ragged, wild, bearded man, about forty, gross- him down the hill.
ly disfigured with the small pox, and looked both dull and He was three full days gone, but about five in the eve-
savage. Although his English was very bad and broken, ning of the third, we heard a whistling in the wood, which
yet Alan (according to his very handsome use, whenever I Alan answered; and presently the bouman came up the wa-
was by) would suffer him to speak no Gaelic. Perhaps the ter-side, looking for us, right and left. He seemed less sulky
strange language made him appear more backward than he than before, and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to
really was; but I thought he had little good-will to serve us, have got to the end of such a dangerous commission.
and what he had was the child of terror. He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive
Alan would have had him carry a message to James; but with red-coats; that arms were being found, and poor folk
the bouman would hear of no message. ‘She was forget it,’ brought in trouble daily; and that James and some of his ser-
he said in his screaming voice; and would either have a let- vants were already clapped in prison at Fort William, under
ter or wash his hands of us. strong suspicion of complicity. It seemed it was noised on
I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked all sides that Alan Breck had fired the shot; and there was a
the means of writing in that desert. bill issued for both him and me, with one hundred pounds
But he was a man of more resources than I knew; searched reward.
the wood until he found the quill of a cushat-dove, which This was all as bad as could be; and the little note the
he shaped into a pen; made himself a kind of ink with gun- bouman had carried us from Mrs. Stewart was of a miser-
powder from his horn and water from the running stream; able sadness. In it she besought Alan not to let himself be
and tearing a corner from his French military commission captured, assuring him, if he fell in the hands of the troops,
(which he carried in his pocket, like a talisman to keep him both he and James were no better than dead men. The mon-
from the gallows), he sat down and wrote as follows: ey she had sent was all that she could beg or borrow, and she
prayed heaven we could be doing with it. Lastly, she said,

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she enclosed us one of the bills in which we were described. grave. For generosity’s sake I dare not speak my mind upon
This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a lit- this head; but I thought of it none the less.
tle fear, partly as a man may look in a mirror, partly as he I thought of it all the more, too, when the bouman
might look into the barrel of an enemy’s gun to judge if it be brought out a green purse with four guineas in gold, and
truly aimed. Alan was advertised as ‘a small, pock-marked, the best part of another in small change. True, it was more
active man of thirty-five or thereby, dressed in a feathered than I had. But then Alan, with less than five guineas, had
hat, a French side-coat of blue with silver buttons, and lace to get as far as France; I, with my less than two, not beyond
a great deal tarnished, a red waistcoat and breeches of black, Queensferry; so that taking things in their proportion, Al-
shag;’ and I as ‘a tall strong lad of about eighteen, wearing an’s society was not only a peril to my life, but a burden on
an old blue coat, very ragged, an old Highland bonnet, a my purse.
long homespun waistcoat, blue breeches; his legs bare, low- But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head
country shoes, wanting the toes; speaks like a Lowlander, of my companion. He believed he was serving, helping, and
and has no beard.’ protecting me. And what could I do but hold my peace, and
Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so ful- chafe, and take my chance of it?
ly remembered and set down; only when he came to the ‘It’s little enough,’ said Alan, putting the purse in his
word tarnish, he looked upon his lace like one a little morti- pocket, ‘but it’ll do my business. And now, John Breck, if ye
fied. As for myself, I thought I cut a miserable figure in the will hand me over my button, this gentleman and me will
bill; and yet was well enough pleased too, for since I had be for taking the road.’
changed these rags, the description had ceased to be a dan- But the bouman, after feeling about in a hairy purse that
ger and become a source of safety. hung in front of him in the Highland manner (though he
‘Alan,’ said I, ‘you should change your clothes.’ wore otherwise the Lowland habit, with sea-trousers), be-
‘Na, troth!’ said Alan, ‘I have nae others. A fine sight I gan to roll his eyes strangely, and at last said, ‘Her nainsel
would be, if I went back to France in a bonnet!’ will loss it,’ meaning he thought he had lost it.
This put a second reflection in my mind: that if I were to ‘What!’ cried Alan, ‘you will lose my button, that was my
separate from Alan and his tell-tale clothes I should be safe father’s before me? Now I will tell you what is in my mind,
against arrest, and might go openly about my business. Nor John Breck: it is in my mind this is the worst day’s work that
was this all; for suppose I was arrested when I was alone, ever ye did since ye was born.’
there was little against me; but suppose I was taken in com- And as Alan spoke, he set his hands on his knees and
pany with the reputed murderer, my case would begin to be looked at the bouman with a smiling mouth, and that danc-

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ing light in his eyes that meant mischief to his enemies.
Perhaps the bouman was honest enough; perhaps he had CHAPTER XXII
meant to cheat and then, finding himself alone with two
of us in a desert place, cast back to honesty as being safer;
at least, and all at once, he seemed to find that button and
handed it to Alan. THE FLIGHT IN THE
‘Well, and it is a good thing for the honour of the Mac-
colls,’ said Alan, and then to me, ‘Here is my button back HEATHER: THE MOOR
again, and I thank you for parting with it, which is of a piece
with all your friendships to me.’ Then he took the warmest
parting of the bouman. ‘For,’ says he, ‘ye have done very
well by me, and set your neck at a venture, and I will always
give you the name of a good man.’
Lastly, the bouman took himself off by one way; and
S ome seven hours’ incessant, hard travelling brought us
early in the morning to the end of a range of mountains.
In front of us there lay a piece of low, broken, desert land,
Alan I (getting our chattels together) struck into another to which we must now cross. The sun was not long up, and
resume our flight. shone straight in our eyes; a little, thin mist went up from
the face of the moorland like a smoke; so that (as Alan said)
there might have been twenty squadron of dragoons there
and we none the wiser.
We sat down, therefore, in a howe of the hill-side till the
mist should have risen, and made ourselves a dish of dram-
mach, and held a council of war.
‘David,’ said Alan, ‘this is the kittle bit. Shall we lie here
till it comes night, or shall we risk it, and stave on ahead?’
‘Well,’ said I, ‘I am tired indeed, but I could walk as far
again, if that was all.’
‘Ay, but it isnae,’ said Alan, ‘nor yet the half. This is how
we stand: Appin’s fair death to us. To the south it’s all Camp-
bells, and no to be thought of. To the north; well, there’s no

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 muckle to be gained by going north; neither for you, that there was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons.
wants to get to Queensferry, nor yet for me, that wants to get A wearier-looking desert man never saw; but at least it was
to France. Well, then, we’ll can strike east.’ clear of troops, which was our point.
‘East be it!’ says I, quite cheerily; but I was thinking’ in We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to
to myself: ‘O, man, if you would only take one point of the make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern
compass and let me take any other, it would be the best for verge. There were the tops of mountains all round (you are
both of us.’ to remember) from whence we might be spied at any mo-
‘Well, then, east, ye see, we have the muirs,’ said Alan. ment; so it behoved us to keep in the hollow parts of the
‘Once there, David, it’s mere pitch-and-toss. Out on yon moor, and when these turned aside from our direction to
bald, naked, flat place, where can a body turn to? Let the move upon its naked face with infinite care. Sometimes, for
red-coats come over a hill, they can spy you miles away; half an hour together, we must crawl from one heather bush
and the sorrow’s in their horses’ heels, they would soon ride to another, as hunters do when they are hard upon the deer.
you down. It’s no good place, David; and I’m free to say, it’s It was a clear day again, with a blazing sun; the water in
worse by daylight than by dark.’ the brandy bottle was soon gone; and altogether, if I had
‘Alan,’ said I, ‘hear my way of it. Appin’s death for us; we guessed what it would be to crawl half the time upon my
have none too much money, nor yet meal; the longer they belly and to walk much of the rest stooping nearly to the
seek, the nearer they may guess where we are; it’s all a risk; knees, I should certainly have held back from such a kill-
and I give my word to go ahead until we drop.’ ing enterprise.
Alan was delighted. ‘There are whiles,’ said he, ‘when ye Toiling and resting and toiling again, we wore away the
are altogether too canny and Whiggish to be company for morning; and about noon lay down in a thick bush of heath-
a gentleman like me; but there come other whiles when ye er to sleep. Alan took the first watch; and it seemed to me I
show yoursel’ a mettle spark; and it’s then, David, that I love had scarce closed my eyes before I was shaken up to take the
ye like a brother.’ second. We had no clock to go by; and Alan stuck a sprig
The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country of heath in the ground to serve instead; so that as soon as
lying as waste as the sea; only the moorfowl and the pewees the shadow of the bush should fall so far to the east, I might
crying upon it, and far over to the east, a herd of deer, mov- know to rouse him. But I was by this time so weary that I
ing like dots. Much of it was red with heather; much of the could have slept twelve hours at a stretch; I had the taste of
rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools; some sleep in my throat; my joints slept even when my mind was
had been burnt black in a heath fire; and in another place waking; the hot smell of the heather, and the drone of the

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wild bees, were like possets to me; and every now and again knees with an incredible quickness, as though it were his
I would give a jump and find I had been dozing. natural way of going. All the time, too, he kept winding in
The last time I woke I seemed to come back from farther and out in the lower parts of the moorland where we were
away, and thought the sun had taken a great start in the the best concealed. Some of these had been burned or at
heavens. I looked at the sprig of heath, and at that I could least scathed with fire; and there rose in our faces (which
have cried aloud: for I saw I had betrayed my trust. My head were close to the ground) a blinding, choking dust as fine as
was nearly turned with fear and shame; and at what I saw, smoke. The water was long out; and this posture of running
when I looked out around me on the moor, my heart was on the hands and knees brings an overmastering weakness
like dying in my body. For sure enough, a body of horse- and weariness, so that the joints ache and the wrists faint
soldiers had come down during my sleep, and were drawing under your weight.
near to us from the south-east, spread out in the shape of a Now and then, indeed, where was a big bush of heath-
fan and riding their horses to and fro in the deep parts of er, we lay awhile, and panted, and putting aside the leaves,
the heather. looked back at the dragoons. They had not spied us, for they
When I waked Alan, he glanced first at the soldiers, then held straight on; a half-troop, I think, covering about two
at the mark and the position of the sun, and knitted his miles of ground, and beating it mighty thoroughly as they
brows with a sudden, quick look, both ugly and anxious, went. I had awakened just in time; a little later, and we must
which was all the reproach I had of him. have fled in front of them, instead of escaping on one side.
‘What are we to do now?’ I asked. Even as it was, the least misfortune might betray us; and
‘We’ll have to play at being hares,’ said he. ‘Do ye see yon now and again, when a grouse rose out of the heather with
mountain?’ pointing to one on the north-eastern sky. a clap of wings, we lay as still as the dead and were afraid
‘Ay,’ said I. to breathe.
‘Well, then,’ says he, ‘let us strike for that. Its name is Ben The aching and faintness of my body, the labouring of
Alder. it is a wild, desert mountain full of hills and hollows, my heart, the soreness of my hands, and the smarting of my
and if we can win to it before the morn, we may do yet.’ throat and eyes in the continual smoke of dust and ashes,
‘But, Alan,’ cried I, ‘that will take us across the very com- had soon grown to be so unbearable that I would gladly have
ing of the soldiers!’ given up. Nothing but the fear of Alan lent me enough of a
‘I ken that fine,’ said he; ‘but if we are driven back on Ap- false kind of courage to continue. As for himself (and you
pin, we are two dead men. So now, David man, be brisk!’ are to bear in mind that he was cumbered with a great-coat)
With that he began to run forward on his hands and he had first turned crimson, but as time went on the redness

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began to be mingled with patches of white; his breath cried It grew cooler and even a little darker (but not much)
and whistled as it came; and his voice, when he whispered with the coming of the night. The sky was cloudless; it was
his observations in my ear during our halts, sounded like still early in July, and pretty far north; in the darkest part of
nothing human. Yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits, that night, you would have needed pretty good eyes to read,
nor did he at all abate in his activity, so that I was driven, to but for all that, I have often seen it darker in a winter mid-
marvel at the man’s endurance. day. Heavy dew fell and drenched the moor like rain; and
At length, in the first gloaming of the night, we heard a this refreshed me for a while. When we stopped to breathe,
trumpet sound, and looking back from among the heather, and I had time to see all about me, the clearness and sweet-
saw the troop beginning to collect. A little after, they had ness of the night, the shapes of the hills like things asleep,
built a fire and camped for the night, about the middle of and the fire dwindling away behind us, like a bright spot
the waste. in the midst of the moor, anger would come upon me in a
At this I begged and besought that we might lie down clap that I must still drag myself in agony and eat the dust
and sleep. like a worm.
‘There shall be no sleep the night!’ said Alan. ‘From now By what I have read in books, I think few that have held
on, these weary dragoons of yours will keep the crown of a pen were ever really wearied, or they would write of it
the muirland, and none will get out of Appin but winged more strongly. I had no care of my life, neither past nor
fowls. We got through in the nick of time, and shall we jeop- future, and I scarce remembered there was such a lad as Da-
ard what we’ve gained? Na, na, when the day comes, it shall vid Balfour. I did not think of myself, but just of each fresh
find you and me in a fast place on Ben Alder.’ step which I was sure would be my last, with despair — and
‘Alan,’ I said, ‘it’s not the want of will: it’s the strength of Alan, who was the cause of it, with hatred. Alan was in
that I want. If I could, I would; but as sure as I’m alive I the right trade as a soldier; this is the officer’s part to make
cannot.’ men continue to do things, they know not wherefore, and
‘Very well, then,’ said Alan. ‘I’ll carry ye.’ when, if the choice was offered, they would lie down where
I looked to see if he were jesting; but no, the little man they were and be killed. And I dare say I would have made
was in dead earnest; and the sight of so much resolution a good enough private; for in these last hours it never oc-
shamed me. curred to me that I had any choice but just to obey as long
‘Lead away!’ said I. ‘I’ll follow.’ as I was able, and die obeying.
He gave me one look as much as to say, ‘Well done, Da- Day began to come in, after years, I thought; and by that
vid!’ and off he set again at his top speed. time we were past the greatest danger, and could walk upon

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 our feet like men, instead of crawling like brutes. But, dear Then the dirks were put up, our weapons were taken away,
heart have mercy! what a pair we must have made, going and we were set face to face, sitting in the heather.
double like old grandfathers, stumbling like babes, and as ‘They are Cluny’s men,’ said Alan. ‘We couldnae have
white as dead folk. Never a word passed between us; each fallen better. We’re just to bide here with these, which are
set his mouth and kept his eyes in front of him, and lifted up his out-sentries, till they can get word to the chief of my ar-
his foot and set it down again, like people lifting weights at rival.’
a country play;[27] all the while, with the moorfowl crying Now Cluny Macpherson, the chief of the clan Vourich,
‘peep!’ in the heather, and the light coming slowly clearer in had been one of the leaders of the great rebellion six years
the east. before; there was a price on his life; and I had supposed him
[27] Village fair. long ago in France, with the rest of the heads of that desper-
I say Alan did as I did. Not that ever I looked at him, for ate party. Even tired as I was, the surprise of what I heard
I had enough ado to keep my feet; but because it is plain half wakened me.
he must have been as stupid with weariness as myself, and ‘What,’ I cried, ‘is Cluny still here?’
looked as little where we were going, or we should not have ‘Ay, is he so!’ said Alan. ‘Still in his own country and kept
walked into an ambush like blind men. by his own clan. King George can do no more.’
It fell in this way. We were going down a heathery brae, I think I would have asked farther, but Alan gave me the
Alan leading and I following a pace or two behind, like a put-off. ‘I am rather wearied,’ he said, ‘and I would like fine
fiddler and his wife; when upon a sudden the heather gave to get a sleep.’ And without more words, he rolled on his
a rustle, three or four ragged men leaped out, and the next face in a deep heather bush, and seemed to sleep at once.
moment we were lying on our backs, each with a dirk at his There was no such thing possible for me. You have heard
throat. grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer time?
I don’t think I cared; the pain of this rough handling was Well, I had no sooner closed my eyes, than my body, and
quite swallowed up by the pains of which I was already full; above all my head, belly, and wrists, seemed to be filled with
and I was too glad to have stopped walking to mind about whirring grasshoppers; and I must open my eyes again at
a dirk. I lay looking up in the face of the man that held me; once, and tumble and toss, and sit up and lie down; and
and I mind his face was black with the sun, and his eyes look at the sky which dazzled me, or at Cluny’s wild and
very light, but I was not afraid of him. I heard Alan and an- dirty sentries, peering out over the top of the brae and chat-
other whispering in the Gaelic; and what they said was all tering to each other in the Gaelic.
one to me. That was all the rest I had, until the messenger returned;

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when, as it appeared that Cluny would be glad to receive us,
we must get once more upon our feet and set forward. Alan CHAPTER XXIII
was in excellent good spirits, much refreshed by his sleep,
very hungry, and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and
a dish of hot collops, of which, it seems, the messenger had
brought him word. For my part, it made me sick to hear of CLUNY’S CAGE
eating. I had been dead-heavy before, and now I felt a kind
of dreadful lightness, which would not suffer me to walk. I
drifted like a gossamer; the ground seemed to me a cloud,
the hills a feather-weight, the air to have a current, like a
running burn, which carried me to and fro. With all that,
a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind, so that I could
W e came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood,
which scrambled up a craggy hillside, and was
crowned by a naked precipice.
have wept at my own helplessness. ‘It’s here,’ said one of the guides, and we struck up hill.
I saw Alan knitting his brows at me, and supposed it was The trees clung upon the slope, like sailors on the shrouds
in anger; and that gave me a pang of light-headed fear, like of a ship, and their trunks were like the rounds of a ladder,
what a child may have. I remember, too, that I was smiling, by which we mounted.
and could not stop smiling, hard as I tried; for I thought it Quite at the top, and just before the rocky face of the
was out of place at such a time. But my good companion had cliff sprang above the foliage, we found that strange house
nothing in his mind but kindness; and the next moment, which was known in the country as ‘Cluny’s Cage.’ The
two of the gillies had me by the arms, and I began to be car- trunks of several trees had been wattled across, the inter-
ried forward with great swiftness (or so it appeared to me, vals strengthened with stakes, and the ground behind this
although I dare say it was slowly enough in truth), through barricade levelled up with earth to make the floor. A tree,
a labyrinth of dreary glens and hollows and into the heart which grew out from the hillside, was the living centre-
of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder. beam of the roof. The walls were of wattle and covered with
moss. The whole house had something of an egg shape; and
it half hung, half stood in that steep, hillside thicket, like a
wasp’s nest in a green hawthorn.
Within, it was large enough to shelter five or six persons
with some comfort. A projection of the cliff had been cun-

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ningly employed to be the fireplace; and the smoke rising ye welcome to my house, which is a queer, rude place for
against the face of the rock, and being not dissimilar in co- certain, but one where I have entertained a royal person-
lour, readily escaped notice from below. age, Mr. Stewart — ye doubtless ken the personage I have
This was but one of Cluny’s hiding-places; he had caves, in my eye. We’ll take a dram for luck, and as soon as this
besides, and underground chambers in several parts of his handless man of mine has the collops ready, we’ll dine and
country; and following the reports of his scouts, he moved take a hand at the cartes as gentlemen should. My life is a
from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved bit driegh,’ says he, pouring out the brandy;’ I see little com-
away. By this manner of living, and thanks to the affection pany, and sit and twirl my thumbs, and mind upon a great
of his clan, he had not only stayed all this time in safety, day that is gone by, and weary for another great day that we
while so many others had fled or been taken and slain: but all hope will be upon the road. And so here’s a toast to ye:
stayed four or five years longer, and only went to France at The Restoration!’
last by the express command of his master. There he soon Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank. I am sure
died; and it is strange to reflect that he may have regretted I wished no ill to King George; and if he had been there
his Cage upon Ben Alder. himself in proper person, it’s like he would have done as I
When we came to the door he was seated by his rock did. No sooner had I taken out the drain than I felt hugely
chimney, watching a gillie about some cookery. He was better, and could look on and listen, still a little mistily per-
mighty plainly habited, with a knitted nightcap drawn over haps, but no longer with the same groundless horror and
his ears, and smoked a foul cutty pipe. For all that he had distress of mind.
the manners of a king, and it was quite a sight to see him It was certainly a strange place, and we had a strange
rise out of his place to welcome us. host. In his long hiding, Cluny had grown to have all man-
‘Well, Mr. Stewart, come awa’, sir!’ said he, ‘and bring in ner of precise habits, like those of an old maid. He had a
your friend that as yet I dinna ken the name of.’ particular place, where no one else must sit; the Cage was
‘And how is yourself, Cluny?’ said Alan. ‘I hope ye do arranged in a particular way, which none must disturb;
brawly, sir. And I am proud to see ye, and to present to ye cookery was one of his chief fancies, and even while he was
my friend the Laird of Shaws, Mr. David Balfour.’ greeting us in, he kept an eye to the collops.
Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a It appears, he sometimes visited or received visits from
sneer, when we were alone; but with strangers, he rang the his wife and one or two of his nearest friends, under the
words out like a herald. cover of night; but for the more part lived quite alone, and
‘Step in by, the both of ye, gentlemen,’ says Cluny. ‘I make communicated only with his sentinels and the gillies that

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waited on him in the Cage. The first thing in the morning, On that first day, as soon as the collops were ready, Cluny
one of them, who was a barber, came and shaved him, and gave them with his own hand a squeeze of a lemon (for he
gave him the news of the country, of which he was immod- was well supplied with luxuries) and bade us draw in to our
erately greedy. There was no end to his questions; he put meal.
them as earnestly as a child; and at some of the answers, ‘They,’ said he, meaning the collops, ‘are such as I gave
laughed out of all bounds of reason, and would break out his Royal Highness in this very house; bating the lemon
again laughing at the mere memory, hours after the barber juice, for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never
was gone. fashed for kitchen.[28] Indeed, there were mair dragoons
To be sure, there might have been a purpose in his ques- than lemons in my country in the year forty-six.’
tions; for though he was thus sequestered, and like the other [28]Condiment.
landed gentlemen of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of I do not know if the collops were truly very good, but my
Parliament of legal powers, he still exercised a patriar- heart rose against the sight of them, and I could eat but lit-
chal justice in his clan. Disputes were brought to him in tle. All the while Cluny entertained us with stories of Prince
his hiding-hole to be decided; and the men of his country, Charlie’s stay in the Cage, giving us the very words of the
who would have snapped their fingers at the Court of Ses- speakers, and rising from his place to show us where they
sion, laid aside revenge and paid down money at the bare stood. By these, I gathered the Prince was a gracious, spir-
word of this forfeited and hunted outlaw. When he was an- ited boy, like the son of a race of polite kings, but not so
gered, which was often enough, he gave his commands and wise as Solomon. I gathered, too, that while he was in the
breathed threats of punishment like any, king; and his gillies Cage, he was often drunk; so the fault that has since, by all
trembled and crouched away from him like children before accounts, made such a wreck of him, had even then begun
a hasty father. With each of them, as he entered, he ceremo- to show itself.
niously shook hands, both parties touching their bonnets We were no sooner done eating than Cluny brought out
at the same time in a military manner. Altogether, I had a an old, thumbed, greasy pack of cards, such as you may find
fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a Highland in a mean inn; and his eyes brightened in his face as he pro-
clan; and this with a proscribed, fugitive chief; his country posed that we should fall to playing.
conquered; the troops riding upon all sides in quest of him, Now this was one of the things I had been brought up
sometimes within a mile of where he lay; and when the least to eschew like disgrace; it being held by my father neither
of the ragged fellows whom he rated and threatened, could the part of a Christian nor yet of a gentleman to set his own
have made a fortune by betraying him. livelihood and fish for that of others, on the cast of paint-

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 ed pasteboard. To be sure, I might have pleaded my fatigue, was displeased enough, looked at me askance, and grum-
which was excuse enough; but I thought it behoved that I bled when he looked. And indeed it must be owned that
should bear a testimony. I must have got very red in the both my scruples and the words in which I declared them,
face, but I spoke steadily, and told them I had no call to be smacked somewhat of the Covenanter, and were little in
a judge of others, but for my own part, it was a matter in their place among wild Highland Jacobites.
which I had no clearness. What with the brandy and the venison, a strange heavi-
Cluny stopped mingling the cards. ‘What in deil’s name ness had come over me; and I had scarce lain down upon the
is this?’ says he. ‘What kind of Whiggish, canting talk is bed before I fell into a kind of trance, in which I continued
this, for the house of Cluny Macpherson?’ almost the whole time of our stay in the Cage. Sometimes I
‘I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour,’ says Alan. was broad awake and understood what passed; sometimes
‘He is an honest and a mettle gentleman, and I would have I only heard voices, or men snoring, like the voice of a sil-
ye bear in mind who says it. I bear a king’s name,’ says he, ly river; and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and
cocking his hat; ‘and I and any that I call friend are compa- swelled out again, like firelight shadows on the roof. I must
ny for the best. But the gentleman is tired, and should sleep; sometimes have spoken or cried out, for I remember I was
if he has no mind to the cartes, it will never hinder you and now and then amazed at being answered; yet I was con-
me. And I’m fit and willing, sir, to play ye any game that ye scious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black,
can name.’ abiding horror — a horror of the place I was in, and the bed
‘Sir,’ says Cluny, ‘in this poor house of mine I would have I lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and the
you to ken that any gentleman may follow his pleasure. If fire, and myself.
your friend would like to stand on his head, he is welcome. The barber-gillie, who was a doctor too, was called in to
And if either he, or you, or any other man, is not preceesely prescribe for me; but as he spoke in the Gaelic, I understood
satisfied, I will be proud to step outside with him.’ not a word of his opinion, and was too sick even to ask for
I had no will that these two friends should cut their a translation. I knew well enough I was ill, and that was all
throats for my sake. I cared about.
‘Sir,’ said I, ‘I am very wearied, as Alan says; and what’s I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass. But Alan
more, as you are a man that likely has sons of your own, I and Cluny were most of the time at the cards, and I am clear
may tell you it was a promise to my father.’ that Alan must have begun by winning; for I remember sit-
‘Say nae mair, say nae mair,’ said Cluny, and pointed me ting up, and seeing them hard at it, and a great glittering
to a bed of heather in a corner of the Cage. For all that he pile of as much as sixty or a hundred guineas on the table. It

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looked strange enough, to see all this wealth in a nest upon the wood. It was a grey day with a cool, mild air: and I sat
a cliff-side, wattled about growing trees. And even then, I in a dream all morning, only disturbed by the passing by
thought it seemed deep water for Alan to be riding, who of Cluny’s scouts and servants coming with provisions and
had no better battle-horse than a green purse and a matter reports; for as the coast was at that time clear, you might al-
of five pounds. most say he held court openly.
The luck, it seems, changed on the second day. About When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside,
noon I was wakened as usual for dinner, and as usual re- and were questioning a gillie; and the chief turned about
fused to eat, and was given a dram with some bitter infusion and spoke to me in the Gaelic.
which the barber had prescribed. The sun was shining in at ‘I have no Gaelic, sir,’ said I.
the open door of the Cage, and this dazzled and offended Now since the card question, everything I said or did had
me. Cluny sat at the table, biting the pack of cards. Alan had the power of annoying Cluny. ‘Your name has more sense
stooped over the bed, and had his face close to my eyes; to than yourself, then,’ said he angrily. ‘for it’s good Gaelic.
which, troubled as they were with the fever, it seemed of the But the point is this. My scout reports all clear in the south,
most shocking bigness. and the question is, have ye the strength to go?’
He asked me for a loan of my money. I saw cards on the table, but no gold; only a heap of little
‘What for?’ said I. written papers, and these all on Cluny’s side. Alan, besides,
‘O, just for a loan,’ said he. had an odd look, like a man not very well content; and I be-
‘But why?’ I repeated. ‘I don’t see.’ gan to have a strong misgiving.
‘Hut, David!’ said Alan, ‘ye wouldnae grudge me a loan?’ ‘I do not know if I am as well as I should be,’ said I, look-
I would, though, if I had had my senses! But all I thought ing at Alan; ‘but the little money we have has a long way to
of then was to get his face away, and I handed him my mon- carry us.’
ey. Alan took his under-lip into his mouth, and looked upon
On the morning of the third day, when we had been for- the ground.
ty-eight hours in the Cage, I awoke with a great relief of ‘David,’ says he at last, ‘I’ve lost it; there’s the naked
spirits, very weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of truth.’
the right size and with their honest, everyday appearance. ‘My money too?’ said I.
I had a mind to eat, moreover, rose from bed of my own ‘Your money too,’ says Alan, with a groan. ‘Ye shouldnae
movement, and as soon as we had breakfasted, stepped to have given it me. I’m daft when I get to the cartes.’
the entry of the Cage and sat down outside in the top of ‘Hoot-toot! hoot-toot!’ said Cluny. ‘It was all daffing; it’s

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all nonsense. Of course you’ll have your money back again, play? Whatever I do, you can see for yourself it must be hard
and the double of it, if ye’ll make so free with me. It would upon a man of any pride.’
be a singular thing for me to keep it. It’s not to be supposed ‘It’s rather hard on me, too, Mr. Balfour,’ said Cluny, ‘and
that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situa- ye give me very much the look of a man that has entrapped
tion; that would be a singular thing!’ cries he, and began to poor people to their hurt. I wouldnae have my friends come
pull gold out of his pocket with a mighty red face. to any house of mine to accept affronts; no,’ he cried, with a
Alan said nothing, only looked on the ground. sudden heat of anger, ‘nor yet to give them!’
‘Will you step to the door with me, sir?’ said I. ‘And so you see, sir,’ said I, ‘there is something to be said
Cluny said he would be very glad, and followed me read- upon my side; and this gambling is a very poor employ for
ily enough, but he looked flustered and put out. gentlefolks. But I am still waiting your opinion.’
‘And now, sir,’ says I, ‘I must first acknowledge your gen- I am sure if ever Cluny hated any man it was David Bal-
erosity.’ four. He looked me all over with a warlike eye, and I saw the
‘Nonsensical nonsense!’ cries Cluny. ‘Where’s the gener- challenge at his lips. But either my youth disarmed him, or
osity? This is just a most unfortunate affair; but what would perhaps his own sense of justice. Certainly it was a mortify-
ye have me do — boxed up in this bee-skep of a cage of mine ing matter for all concerned, and not least Cluny; the more
— but just set my friends to the cartes, when I can get them? credit that he took it as he did.
And if they lose, of course, it’s not to be supposed ——‘ And ‘Mr. Balfour,’ said he, ‘I think you are too nice and cov-
here he came to a pause. enanting, but for all that you have the spirit of a very pretty
‘Yes,’ said I, ‘if they lose, you give them back their money; gentleman. Upon my honest word, ye may take this money
and if they win, they carry away yours in their pouches! I — it’s what I would tell my son — and here’s my hand along
have said before that I grant your generosity; but to me, sir, with it!’
it’s a very painful thing to be placed in this position.’
There was a little silence, in which Cluny seemed always
as if he was about to speak, but said nothing. All the time he
grew redder and redder in the face.
‘I am a young man,’ said I, ‘and I ask your advice. Advise
me as you would your son. My friend fairly lost his money,
after having fairly gained a far greater sum of yours; can I
accept it back again? Would that be the right part for me to

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CHAPTER XXIV hind the other, each with a set countenance: I, angry and
proud, and drawing what strength I had from these two vio-
lent and sinful feelings; Alan angry and ashamed, ashamed
that he had lost my money, angry that I should take it so ill.
THE FLIGHT IN THE The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in
my mind; and the more I approved of it, the more ashamed
HEATHER: THE QUARREL I grew of my approval. It would be a fine, handsome, gen-
erous thing, indeed, for Alan to turn round and say to
me: ‘Go, I am in the most danger, and my company only
increases yours.’ But for me to turn to the friend who cer-
tainly loved me, and say to him: ‘You are in great danger, I

A lan and I were put across Loch Errocht under cloud of

night, and went down its eastern shore to another hid-
ing-place near the head of Loch Rannoch, whither we were
am in but little; your friendship is a burden; go, take your
risks and bear your hardships alone ——‘ no, that was im-
possible; and even to think of it privily to myself, made my
led by one of the gillies from the Cage. This fellow carried cheeks to burn.
all our luggage and Alan’s great-coat in the bargain, trot- And yet Alan had behaved like a child, and (what is
ting along under the burthen, far less than the half of which worse) a treacherous child. Wheedling my money from me
used to weigh me to the ground, like a stout hill pony with a while I lay half-conscious was scarce better than theft; and
feather; yet he was a man that, in plain contest, I could have yet here he was trudging by my side, without a penny to
broken on my knee. his name, and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge
Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered; upon the money he had driven me to beg. True, I was ready
and perhaps without that relief, and the consequent sense to share it with him; but it made me rage to see him count
of liberty and lightness, I could not have walked at all. I upon my readiness.
was but new risen from a bed of sickness; and there was These were the two things uppermost in my mind; and
nothing in the state of our affairs to hearten me for much I could open my mouth upon neither without black ungen-
exertion; travelling, as we did, over the most dismal des- erosity. So I did the next worst, and said nothing, nor so
erts in Scotland, under a cloudy heaven, and with divided much as looked once at my companion, save with the tail
hearts among the travellers. of my eye.
For long, we said nothing; marching alongside or one be- At last, upon the other side of Loch Errocht, going over a

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smooth, rushy place, where the walking was easy, he could ‘I will only say this to ye, David,’ said Alan, very quietly,
bear it no longer, and came close to me. ‘that I have long been owing ye my life, and now I owe ye
‘David,’ says he, ‘this is no way for two friends to take money. Ye should try to make that burden light for me.’
a small accident. I have to say that I’m sorry; and so that’s This ought to have touched me, and in a manner it did,
said. And now if you have anything, ye’d better say it.’ but the wrong manner. I felt I was behaving, badly; and was
‘O,’ says I, ‘I have nothing.’ now not only angry with Alan, but angry with myself in the
He seemed disconcerted; at which I was meanly pleased. bargain; and it made me the more cruel.
‘No,’ said he, with rather a trembling voice, ‘but when I ‘You asked me to speak,’ said I. ‘Well, then, I will. You
say I was to blame?’ own yourself that you have done me a disservice; I have had
‘Why, of course, ye were to blame,’ said I, coolly; ‘and you to swallow an affront: I have never reproached you, I never
will bear me out that I have never reproached you.’ named the thing till you did. And now you blame me,’ cried
‘Never,’ says he; ‘but ye ken very well that ye’ve done I, ‘because I cannae laugh and sing as if I was glad to be af-
worse. Are we to part? Ye said so once before. Are ye to say fronted. The next thing will be that I’m to go down upon my
it again? There’s hills and heather enough between here and knees and thank you for it! Ye should think more of others,
the two seas, David; and I will own I’m no very keen to stay Alan Breck. If ye thought more of others, ye would perhaps
where I’m no wanted.’ speak less about yourself; and when a friend that likes you
This pierced me like a sword, and seemed to lay bare my very well has passed over an offence without a word, you
private disloyalty. would be blithe to let it lie, instead of making it a stick to
‘Alan Breck!’ I cried; and then: ‘Do you think I am one to break his back with. By your own way of it, it was you that
turn my back on you in your chief need? You dursn’t say it was to blame; then it shouldnae be you to seek the quarrel.’
to my face. My whole conduct’s there to give the lie to it. It’s ‘Aweel,’ said Alan, ‘say nae mair.’
true, I fell asleep upon the muir; but that was from weari- And we fell back into our former silence; and came to our
ness, and you do wrong to cast it up to me——‘ journey’s end, and supped, and lay down to sleep, without
‘Which is what I never did,’ said Alan. another word.
‘But aside from that,’ I continued, ‘what have I done that The gillie put us across Loch Rannoch in the dusk of the
you should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I nev- next day, and gave us his opinion as to our best route. This
er yet failed a friend, and it’s not likely I’ll begin with you. was to get us up at once into the tops of the mountains: to
There are things between us that I can never forget, even if go round by a circuit, turning the heads of Glen Lyon, Glen
you can.’ Lochay, and Glen Dochart, and come down upon the low-

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lands by Kippen and the upper waters of the Forth. Alan knows we had no want of water.
was little pleased with a route which led us through the This was a dreadful time, rendered the more dreadful by
country of his blood-foes, the Glenorchy Campbells. He the gloom of the weather and the country. I was never warm;
objected that by turning to the east, we should come almost my teeth chattered in my head; I was troubled with a very
at once among the Athole Stewarts, a race of his own name sore throat, such as I had on the isle; I had a painful stitch
and lineage, although following a different chief, and come in my side, which never left me; and when I slept in my wet
besides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whith- bed, with the rain beating above and the mud oozing be-
er we were bound. But the gillie, who was indeed the chief low me, it was to live over again in fancy the worst part of
man of Cluny’s scouts, had good reasons to give him on all my adventures — to see the tower of Shaws lit by lightning,
hands, naming the force of troops in every district, and al- Ransome carried below on the men’s backs, Shuan dying
leging finally (as well as I could understand) that we should on the round-house floor, or Colin Campbell grasping at
nowhere be so little troubled as in a country of the Camp- the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers, I would
bells. be aroused in the gloaming, to sit up in the same puddle
Alan gave way at last, but with only half a heart. ‘It’s where I had slept, and sup cold drammach; the rain driving
one of the dowiest countries in Scotland,’ said he. ‘There’s sharp in my face or running down my back in icy trickles;
naething there that I ken, but heath, and crows, and Camp- the mist enfolding us like as in a gloomy chamber — or,
bells. But I see that ye’re a man of some penetration; and be perhaps, if the wind blew, falling suddenly apart and show-
it as ye please!’ ing us the gulf of some dark valley where the streams were
We set forth accordingly by this itinerary; and for the crying aloud.
best part of three nights travelled on eerie mountains and The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from
among the well-heads of wild rivers; often buried in mist, all round. In this steady rain the springs of the mountain
almost continually blown and rained upon, and not once were broken up; every glen gushed water like a cistern; ev-
cheered by any glimpse of sunshine. By day, we lay and slept ery stream was in high spate, and had filled and overflowed
in the drenching heather; by night, incessantly clambered its channel. During our night tramps, it was solemn to hear
upon break-neck hills and among rude crags. We often the voice of them below in the valleys, now booming like
wandered; we were often so involved in fog, that we must thunder, now with an angry cry. I could well understand
lie quiet till it lightened. A fire was never to be thought of. the story of the Water Kelpie, that demon of the streams,
Our only food was drammach and a portion of cold meat who is fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until
that we had carried from the Cage; and as for drink, Heaven the coming of the doomed traveller. Alan I saw believed it,

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or half believed it; and when the cry of the river rose more ‘I never said you were,’ said I, which was exactly the rude,
than usually sharp, I was little surprised (though, of course, silly speech of a boy of ten.
I would still be shocked) to see him cross himself in the Alan made no answer at the time, but his conduct an-
manner of the Catholics. swered for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought, he quite
During all these horrid wanderings we had no famil- forgave himself for the affair at Cluny’s; cocked his hat
iarity, scarcely even that of speech. The truth is that I was again, walked jauntily, whistled airs, and looked at me upon
sickening for my grave, which is my best excuse. But besides one side with a provoking smile.
that I was of an unforgiving disposition from my birth, slow The third night we were to pass through the western end
to take offence, slower to forget it, and now incensed both of the country of Balquhidder. It came clear and cold, with
against my companion and myself. For the best part of two a touch in the air like frost, and a northerly wind that blew
days he was unweariedly kind; silent, indeed, but always the clouds away and made the stars bright. The streams were
ready to help, and always hoping (as I could very well see) full, of course, and still made a great noise among the hills;
that my displeasure would blow by. For the same length of but I observed that Alan thought no more upon the Kel-
time I stayed in myself, nursing my anger, roughly refusing pie, and was in high good spirits. As for me, the change of
his services, and passing him over with my eyes as if he had weather came too late; I had lain in the mire so long that (as
been a bush or a stone. the Bible has it) my very clothes ‘abhorred me.’ I was dead
The second night, or rather the peep of the third day, weary, deadly sick and full of pains and shiverings; the chill
found us upon a very open hill, so that we could not follow of the wind went through me, and the sound of it confused
our usual plan and lie down immediately to eat and sleep. my ears. In this poor state I had to bear from my compan-
Before we had reached a place of shelter, the grey had come ion something in the nature of a persecution. He spoke a
pretty clear, for though it still rained, the clouds ran higher; good deal, and never without a taunt. ‘Whig’ was the best
and Alan, looking in my face, showed some marks of con- name he had to give me. ‘Here,’ he would say, ‘here’s a dub
cern. for ye to jump, my Whiggie! I ken you’re a fine jumper!’ And
‘Ye had better let me take your pack,’ said he, for perhaps so on; all the time with a gibing voice and face.
the ninth time since we had parted from the scout beside I knew it was my own doing, and no one else’s; but I was
Loch Rannoch. too miserable to repent. I felt I could drag myself but lit-
‘I do very well, I thank you,’ said I, as cold as ice. tle farther; pretty soon, I must lie down and die on these
Alan flushed darkly. ‘I’ll not offer it again,’ he said. ‘I’m wet mountains like a sheep or a fox, and my bones must
not a patient man, David.’ whiten there like the bones of a beast. My head was light

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perhaps; but I began to love the prospect, I began to glory yours.’
in the thought of such a death, alone in the desert, with the Alan had stopped opposite to me, his hat cocked, his
wild eagles besieging my last moments. Alan would repent hands in his breeches pockets, his head a little on one side.
then, I thought; he would remember, when I was dead, how He listened, smiling evilly, as I could see by the starlight;
much he owed me, and the remembrance would be torture. and when I had done he began to whistle a Jacobite air. It
So I went like a sick, silly, and bad-hearted schoolboy, feed- was the air made in mockery of General Cope’s defeat at
ing my anger against a fellow-man, when I would have been Preston Pans:
better on my knees, crying on God for mercy. And at each
of Alan’s taunts, I hugged myself. ‘Ah!’ thinks I to myself, ‘I ‘Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin’ yet?
have a better taunt in readiness; when I lie down and die, And are your drums a-beatin’ yet?’
you will feel it like a buffet in your face; ah, what a revenge!
ah, how you will regret your ingratitude and cruelty!’ And it came in my mind that Alan, on the day of that
All the while, I was growing worse and worse. Once I battle, had been engaged upon the royal side.
had fallen, my leg simply doubling under me, and this had ‘Why do ye take that air, Mr. Stewart?’ said I. ‘Is that to
struck Alan for the moment; but I was afoot so briskly, and remind me you have been beaten on both sides?’
set off again with such a natural manner, that he soon forgot The air stopped on Alan’s lips. ‘David!’ said he.
the incident. Flushes of heat went over me, and then spasms ‘But it’s time these manners ceased,’ I continued; ‘and I
of shuddering. The stitch in my side was hardly bearable. At mean you shall henceforth speak civilly of my King and my
last I began to feel that I could trail myself no farther: and good friends the Campbells.’
with that, there came on me all at once the wish to have it ‘I am a Stewart —‘ began Alan.
out with Alan, let my anger blaze, and be done with my life ‘O!’ says I, ‘I ken ye bear a king’s name. But you are to
in a more sudden manner. He had just called me ‘Whig.’ I remember, since I have been in the Highlands, I have seen
stopped. a good many of those that bear it; and the best I can say of
‘Mr. Stewart,’ said I, in a voice that quivered like a fid- them is this, that they would be none the worse of wash-
dle-string, ‘you are older than I am, and should know your ing.’
manners. Do you think it either very wise or very witty to ‘Do you know that you insult me?’ said Alan, very low.
cast my politics in my teeth? I thought, where folk differed, ‘I am sorry for that,’ said I, ‘for I am not done; and if you
it was the part of gentlemen to differ civilly; and if I did distaste the sermon, I doubt the pirliecue[29] will please
not, I may tell you I could find a better taunt than some of you as little. You have been chased in the field by the grown

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 men of my party; it seems a poor kind of pleasure to out- evil days; and then recalled my own insults, and saw that I
face a boy. Both the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten had lost for ever that doughty friend. At the same time, the
you; you have run before them like a hare. It behoves you to sickness that hung upon me seemed to redouble, and the
speak of them as of your betters.’ pang in my side was like a sword for sharpness. I thought I
[29] A second sermon. must have swooned where I stood.
Alan stood quite still, the tails of his great-coat clapping This it was that gave me a thought. No apology could blot
behind him in the wind. out what I had said; it was needless to think of one, none
‘This is a pity’ he said at last. ‘There are things said that could cover the offence; but where an apology was vain, a
cannot be passed over.’ mere cry for help might bring Alan back to my side. I put
‘I never asked you to,’ said I. ‘I am as ready as yourself.’ my pride away from me. ‘Alan!’ I said; ‘if ye cannae help me,
‘Ready?’ said he. I must just die here.’
‘Ready,’ I repeated. ‘I am no blower and boaster like some He started up sitting, and looked at me.
that I could name. Come on!’ And drawing my sword, I fell ‘It’s true,’ said I. ‘I’m by with it. O, let me get into the bield
on guard as Alan himself had taught me. of a house — I’ll can die there easier.’ I had no need to pre-
‘David!’ he cried . ‘Are ye daft? I cannae draw upon ye, tend; whether I chose or not, I spoke in a weeping voice that
David. It’s fair murder.’ would have melted a heart of stone.
‘That was your look-out when you insulted me,’ said I. ‘Can ye walk?’ asked Alan.
‘It’s the truth!’ cried Alan, and he stood for a moment, ‘No,’ said I, ‘not without help. This last hour my legs have
wringing his mouth in his hand like a man in sore perplex- been fainting under me; I’ve a stitch in my side like a red-
ity. ‘It’s the bare truth,’ he said, and drew his sword. But hot iron; I cannae breathe right. If I die, ye’ll can forgive
before I could touch his blade with mine, he had thrown it me, Alan? In my heart, I liked ye fine — even when I was
from him and fallen to the ground. ‘Na, na,’ he kept saying, the angriest.’
‘na, na — I cannae, I cannae.’ ‘Wheesht, wheesht!’ cried Alan. ‘Dinna say that! David
At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me; and I man, ye ken —‘ He shut his mouth upon a sob. ‘Let me get
found myself only sick, and sorry, and blank, and wonder- my arm about ye,’ he continued; ‘that’s the way! Now lean
ing at myself. I would have given the world to take back what upon me hard. Gude kens where there’s a house! We’re in
I had said; but a word once spoken, who can recapture it? I Balwhidder, too; there should be no want of houses, no, nor
minded me of all Alan’s kindness and courage in the past, friends’ houses here. Do ye gang easier so, Davie?’
how he had helped and cheered and borne with me in our ‘Ay’ said I, ‘I can be doing this way;’ and I pressed his arm

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with my hand.
Again he came near sobbing. ‘Davie,’ said he, ‘I’m no a CHAPTER XXV
right man at all; I have neither sense nor kindness; I could
nae remember ye were just a bairn, I couldnae see ye were
dying on your feet; Davie, ye’ll have to try and forgive me.’
‘O man, let’s say no more about it!’ said I. ‘We’re neither IN BALQUHIDDER
one of us to mend the other — that’s the truth! We must
just bear and forbear, man Alan. O, but my stitch is sore! Is
there nae house?’
‘I’ll find a house to ye, David,’ he said, stoutly. ‘We’ll fol-
low down the burn, where there’s bound to be houses. My
poor man, will ye no be better on my back?’
A t the door of the first house we came to, Alan knocked,
which was of no very safe enterprise in such a part of
the Highlands as the Braes of Balquhidder. No great clan
‘O, Alan,’ says I, ‘and me a good twelve inches taller?’ held rule there; it was filled and disputed by small septs, and
‘Ye’re no such a thing,’ cried Alan, with a start. ‘There broken remnants, and what they call ‘chiefless folk,’ driven
may be a trifling matter of an inch or two; I’m no saying I’m into the wild country about the springs of Forth and Teith
just exactly what ye would call a tall man, whatever; and I by the advance of the Campbells. Here were Stewarts and
dare say,’ he added, his voice tailing off in a laughable man- Maclarens, which came to the same thing, for the Maclar-
ner, ‘now when I come to think of it, I dare say ye’ll be just ens followed Alan’s chief in war, and made but one clan with
about right. Ay, it’ll be a foot, or near hand; or may be even Appin. Here, too, were many of that old, proscribed, name-
mair!’ less, red-handed clan of the Macgregors. They had always
It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words been ill-considered, and now worse than ever, having cred-
up in the fear of some fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, it with no side or party in the whole country of Scotland.
had not my stitch caught me so hard; but if I had laughed, I Their chief, Macgregor of Macgregor, was in exile; the more
think I must have wept too. immediate leader of that part of them about Balquhidder,
‘Alan,’ cried I, ‘what makes ye so good to me? What makes James More, Rob Roy’s eldest son, lay waiting his trial in
ye care for such a thankless fellow?’ Edinburgh Castle; they were in ill-blood with Highlander
‘Deed, and I don’t, know’ said Alan. ‘For just precisely and Lowlander, with the Grahames, the Maclarens, and the
what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quar- Stewarts; and Alan, who took up the quarrel of any friend,
relled: — and now I like ye better!’ however distant, was extremely wishful to avoid them.

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 Chance served us very well; for it was a household of Ma- the house on visits and these (after the custom of the coun-
clarens that we found, where Alan was not only welcome for try) spreading the news among their neighbours. The bills,
his name’s sake but known by reputation. Here then I was too, had now been printed. There was one pinned near the
got to bed without delay, and a doctor fetched, who found foot of my bed, where I could read my own not very flat-
me in a sorry plight. But whether because he was a very tering portrait and, in larger characters, the amount of the
good doctor, or I a very young, strong man, I lay bedridden blood money that had been set upon my life. Duncan Dhu
for no more than a week, and before a month I was able to and the rest that knew that I had come there in Alan’s com-
take the road again with a good heart. pany, could have entertained no doubt of who I was; and
All this time Alan would not leave me though I often many others must have had their guess. For though I had
pressed him, and indeed his foolhardiness in staying was a changed my clothes, I could not change my age or person;
common subject of outcry with the two or three friends that and Lowland boys of eighteen were not so rife in these parts
were let into the secret. He hid by day in a hole of the braes of the world, and above all about that time, that they could
under a little wood; and at night, when the coast was clear, fail to put one thing with another, and connect me with the
would come into the house to visit me. I need not say if I bill. So it was, at least. Other folk keep a secret among two
was pleased to see him; Mrs. Maclaren, our hostess, thought or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out; but among
nothing good enough for such a guest; and as Duncan Dhu these clansmen, it is told to a whole countryside, and they
(which was the name of our host) had a pair of pipes in his will keep it for a century.
house, and was much of a lover of music, this time of my re- There was but one thing happened worth narrating; and
covery was quite a festival, and we commonly turned night that is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of the no-
into day. torious Rob Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge
The soldiers let us be; although once a party of two com- of carrying a young woman from Balfron and marrying her
panies and some dragoons went by in the bottom of the (as was alleged) by force; yet he stepped about Balquhidder
valley, where I could see them through the window as I lay like a gentleman in his own walled policy. It was he who had
in bed. What was much more astonishing, no magistrate shot James Maclaren at the plough stilts, a quarrel never
came near me, and there was no question put of whence I satisfied; yet he walked into the house of his blood enemies
came or whither I was going; and in that time of excitement, as a rider[30] might into a public inn.
I was as free of all inquiry as though I had lain in a desert. [30]Commercial traveller.
Yet my presence was known before I left to all the people Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was; and we
in Balquhidder and the adjacent parts; many coming about looked at one another in concern. You should understand,

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it was then close upon the time of Alan’s coming; the two that gentleman’s kin, I have come to put myself and my peo-
were little likely to agree; and yet if we sent word or sought ple at your command.’
to make a signal, it was sure to arouse suspicion in a man You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent
under so dark a cloud as the Macgregor. than any cadger’s dog; my uncle, to be sure, had prated of
He came in with a great show of civility, but like a man some of our high connections, but nothing to the present
among inferiors; took off his bonnet to Mrs. Maclaren, but purpose; and there was nothing left me but that bitter dis-
clapped it on his head again to speak to Duncan; and leav- grace of owning that I could not tell.
ing thus set himself (as he would have thought) in a proper Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself
light, came to my bedside and bowed. about, turned his back upon me without a sign of salutation,
‘I am given to know, sir,’ says he, ‘that your name is Bal- and as he went towards the door, I could hear him telling
four.’ Duncan that I was ‘only some kinless loon that didn’t know
‘They call me David Balfour,’ said I, ‘at your service.’ his own father.’ Angry as I was at these words, and ashamed
‘I would give ye my name in return, sir’ he replied, ‘but of my own ignorance, I could scarce keep from smiling that
it’s one somewhat blown upon of late days; and it’ll per- a man who was under the lash of the law (and was indeed
haps suffice if I tell ye that I am own brother to James More hanged some three years later) should be so nice as to the
Drummond or Macgregor, of whom ye will scarce have descent of his acquaintances.
failed to hear.’ Just in the door, he met Alan coming in; and the two
‘No, sir,’ said I, a little alarmed; ‘nor yet of your father, drew back and looked at each other like strange dogs. They
Macgregor-Campbell.’ And I sat up and bowed in bed; for were neither of them big men, but they seemed fairly to swell
I thought best to compliment him, in case he was proud of out with pride. Each wore a sword, and by a movement of
having had an outlaw to his father. his haunch, thrust clear the hilt of it, so that it might be the
He bowed in return. ‘But what I am come to say, sir,’ he more readily grasped and the blade drawn.
went on, ‘is this. In the year ‘45, my brother raised a part of ‘Mr. Stewart, I am thinking,’ says Robin.
the ‘Gregara’ and marched six companies to strike a stroke ‘Troth, Mr. Macgregor, it’s not a name to be ashamed of,’
for the good side; and the surgeon that marched with our answered Alan.
clan and cured my brother’s leg when it was broken in the ‘I did not know ye were in my country, sir,’ says Robin.
brush at Preston Pans, was a gentleman of the same name ‘It sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my
precisely as yourself. He was brother to Balfour of Baith; friends the Maclarens,’ says Alan.
and if you are in any reasonable degree of nearness one of ‘That’s a kittle point,’ returned the other. ‘There may be

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two words to say to that. But I think I will have heard that some sough[31] of the sort. Have ye music, as folk say? Are
you are a man of your sword?’ ye a bit of a piper?’
‘Unless ye were born deaf, Mr. Macgregor, ye will have [31]Rumour.
heard a good deal more than that,’ says Alan. ‘I am not the ‘I can pipe like a Macrimmon!’ cries Robin.
only man that can draw steel in Appin; and when my kins- ‘And that is a very bold word,’ quoth Alan.
man and captain, Ardshiel, had a talk with a gentleman of ‘I have made bolder words good before now,’ returned
your name, not so many years back, I could never hear that Robin, ‘and that against better adversaries.’
the Macgregor had the best of it.’ ‘It is easy to try that,’ says Alan.
‘Do ye mean my father, sir?’ says Robin. Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes
‘Well, I wouldnae wonder,’ said Alan. ‘The gentleman I that was his principal possession, and to set before his guests
have in my mind had the ill-taste to clap Campbell to his a mutton-ham and a bottle of that drink which they call
name.’ Athole brose, and which is made of old whiskey, strained
‘My father was an old man,’ returned Robin. honey and sweet cream, slowly beaten together in the right
‘The match was unequal. You and me would make a bet- order and proportion. The two enemies were still on the
ter pair, sir.’ very breach of a quarrel; but down they sat, one upon each
‘I was thinking that,’ said Alan. side of the peat fire, with a mighty show of politeness. Ma-
I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at claren pressed them to taste his mutton-ham and ‘the wife’s
the elbow of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene upon brose,’ reminding them the wife was out of Athole and had
the least occasion. But when that word was uttered, it was a name far and wide for her skill in that confection. But
a case of now or never; and Duncan, with something of a Robin put aside these hospitalities as bad for the breath.
white face to be sure, thrust himself between. ‘I would have ye to remark, sir,’ said Alan, ‘that I havenae
‘Gentlemen,’ said he, ‘I will have been thinking of a very broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will be worse
different matter, whateffer. Here are my pipes, and here are for the breath than any brose in Scotland.’
you two gentlemen who are baith acclaimed pipers. It’s an ‘I will take no advantages, Mr. Stewart,’ replied Robin.
auld dispute which one of ye’s the best. Here will be a braw ‘Eat and drink; I’ll follow you.’
chance to settle it.’ Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of
‘Why, sir,’ said Alan, still addressing Robin, from whom the brose to Mrs. Maclaren; and then after a great number
indeed he had not so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Rob- of civilities, Robin took the pipes and played a little spring
in from him, ‘why, sir,’ says Alan, ‘I think I will have heard in a very ranting manner.

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 ‘Ay, ye can, blow’ said Alan; and taking the instrument gnawed his fingers, like a man under some deep affront.
from his rival, he first played the same spring in a manner ‘Enough!’ he cried. ‘Ye can blow the pipes — make the most
identical with Robin’s; and then wandered into variations, of that.’ And he made as if to rise.
which, as he went on, he decorated with a perfect flight of But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence,
grace-notes, such as pipers love, and call the ‘warblers.’ and struck into the slow measure of a pibroch. It was a fine
I had been pleased with Robin’s playing, Alan’s ravished piece of music in itself, and nobly played; but it seems, be-
me. sides, it was a piece peculiar to the Appin Stewarts and a
‘That’s no very bad, Mr. Stewart,’ said the rival, ‘but ye chief favourite with Alan. The first notes were scarce out,
show a poor device in your warblers.’ before there came a change in his face; when the time quick-
‘Me!’ cried Alan, the blood starting to his face. ‘I give ye ened, he seemed to grow restless in his seat; and long before
the lie.’ that piece was at an end, the last signs of his anger died from
‘Do ye own yourself beaten at the pipes, then,’ said Robin, him, and he had no thought but for the music.
‘that ye seek to change them for the sword?’ ‘Robin Oig,’ he said, when it was done, ‘ye are a great pip-
‘And that’s very well said, Mr. Macgregor,’ returned Alan; er. I am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with ye. Body
‘and in the meantime’ (laying a strong accent on the word) ‘I of me! ye have mair music in your sporran than I have in
take back the lie. I appeal to Duncan.’ my head! And though it still sticks in my mind that I could
‘Indeed, ye need appeal to naebody,’ said Robin. ‘Ye’re a maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel, I warn ye
far better judge than any Maclaren in Balquhidder: for it’s a beforehand — it’ll no be fair! It would go against my heart
God’s truth that you’re a very creditable piper for a Stewart. to haggle a man that can blow the pipes as you can!’
Hand me the pipes.’ Alan did as he asked; and Robin pro- Thereupon that quarrel was made up; all night long the
ceeded to imitate and correct some part of Alan’s variations, brose was going and the pipes changing hands; and the day
which it seemed that he remembered perfectly. had come pretty bright, and the three men were none the
‘Ay, ye have music,’ said Alan, gloomily. better for what they had been taking, before Robin as much
‘And now be the judge yourself, Mr. Stewart,’ said Robin; as thought upon the road.
and taking up the variations from the beginning, he worked
them throughout to so new a purpose, with such ingenu-
ity and sentiment, and with so odd a fancy and so quick a
knack in the grace-notes, that I was amazed to hear him.
As for Alan, his face grew dark and hot, and he sat and

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CHAPTER XXVI challenged.’
The first night, accordingly, we pushed to the house of
a Maclaren in Strathire, a friend of Duncan’s, where we
slept the twenty-first of the month, and whence we set forth
END OF THE FLIGHT: again about the fall of night to make another easy stage. The
twenty-second we lay in a heather bush on the hillside in
WE PASS THE FORTH Uam Var, within view of a herd of deer, the happiest ten
hours of sleep in a fine, breathing sunshine and on bone-
dry ground, that I have ever tasted. That night we struck
Allan Water, and followed it down; and coming to the edge
of the hills saw the whole Carse of Stirling underfoot, as flat

T he month, as I have said, was not yet out, but it was al-
ready far through August, and beautiful warm weather,
with every sign of an early and great harvest, when I was
as a pancake, with the town and castle on a hill in the midst
of it, and the moon shining on the Links of Forth.
‘Now,’ said Alan, ‘I kenna if ye care, but ye’re in your own
pronounced able for my journey. Our money was now run land again. We passed the Hieland Line in the first hour;
to so low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed; for and now if we could but pass yon crooked water, we might
if we came not soon to Mr. Rankeillor’s, or if when we came cast our bonnets in the air.’
there he should fail to help me, we must surely starve. In In Allan Water, near by where it falls into the Forth, we
Alan’s view, besides, the hunt must have now greatly slack- found a little sandy islet, overgrown with burdock, butter-
ened; and the line of the Forth and even Stirling Bridge, bur and the like low plants, that would just cover us if we
which is the main pass over that river, would be watched lay flat. Here it was we made our camp, within plain view
with little interest. of Stirling Castle, whence we could hear the drums beat
‘It’s a chief principle in military affairs,’ said he, ‘to go as some part of the garrison paraded. Shearers worked all
where ye are least expected. Forth is our trouble; ye ken the day in a field on one side of the river, and we could hear
saying, ‘Forth bridles the wild Hielandman.’ Well, if we seek the stones going on the hooks and the voices and even the
to creep round about the head of that river and come down words of the men talking. It behoved to lie close and keep
by Kippen or Balfron, it’s just precisely there that they’ll be silent. But the sand of the little isle was sun-warm, the green
looking to lay hands on us. But if we stave on straight to the plants gave us shelter for our heads, we had food and drink
auld Brig of Stirling, I’ll lay my sword they let us pass un- in plenty; and to crown all, we were within sight of safety.

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 As soon as the shearers quit their work and the dusk be- [32]Hollow.
gan to fall, we waded ashore and struck for the Bridge of And just then — ‘Who goes?’ cried a voice, and we heard
Stirling, keeping to the fields and under the field fences. the butt of a musket rattle on the stones. I must suppose the
The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old, high, nar- sentry had been sleeping, so that had we tried, we might
row bridge with pinnacles along the parapet; and you may have passed unseen; but he was awake now, and the chance
conceive with how much interest I looked upon it, not only forfeited.
as a place famous in history, but as the very doors of salva- ‘This’ll never do,’ said Alan. ‘This’ll never, never do for
tion to Alan and myself. The moon was not yet up when we us, David.’
came there; a few lights shone along the front of the fortress, And without another word, he began to crawl away
and lower down a few lighted windows in the town; but it through the fields; and a little after, being well out of eye-
was all mighty still, and there seemed to be no guard upon shot, got to his feet again, and struck along a road that led to
the passage. the eastward. I could not conceive what he was doing; and
I was for pushing straight across; but Alan was more indeed I was so sharply cut by the disappointment, that I
wary. was little likely to be pleased with anything. A moment back
‘It looks unco’ quiet,’ said he; ‘but for all that we’ll lie and I had seen myself knocking at Mr. Rankeillor’s door to
down here cannily behind a dyke, and make sure.’ claim my inheritance, like a hero in a ballad; and here was I
So we lay for about a quarter of an hour, whiles whisper- back again, a wandering, hunted blackguard, on the wrong
ing, whiles lying still and hearing nothing earthly but the side of Forth.
washing of the water on the piers. At last there came by an ‘Well?’ said I.
old, hobbling woman with a crutch stick; who first stopped ‘Well,’ said Alan, ‘what would ye have? They’re none such
a little, close to where we lay, and bemoaned herself and the fools as I took them for. We have still the Forth to pass, Da-
long way she had travelled; and then set forth again up the vie — weary fall the rains that fed and the hillsides that
steep spring of the bridge. The woman was so little, and the guided it!’
night still so dark, that we soon lost sight of her; only heard ‘And why go east?’ said I.
the sound of her steps, and her stick, and a cough that she ‘Ou, just upon the chance!’ said he. ‘If we cannae pass the
had by fits, draw slowly farther away. river, we’ll have to see what we can do for the firth.’
‘She’s bound to be across now,’ I whispered. ‘There are fords upon the river, and none upon the firth,’
‘Na,’ said Alan, ‘her foot still sounds boss[32] upon the said I.
bridge.’ ‘To be sure there are fords, and a bridge forbye,’ quoth

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Alan; ‘and of what service, when they are watched?’ ed: and about ten in the morning, mighty hungry and tired,
‘Well,’ said I, ‘but a river can be swum.’ came to the little clachan of Limekilns. This is a place that
‘By them that have the skill of it,’ returned he; ‘but I have sits near in by the water-side, and looks across the Hope to
yet to hear that either you or me is much of a hand at that the town of the Queensferry. Smoke went up from both of
exercise; and for my own part, I swim like a stone.’ these, and from other villages and farms upon all hands.
‘I’m not up to you in talking back, Alan,’ I said; ‘but I can The fields were being reaped; two ships lay anchored, and
see we’re making bad worse. If it’s hard to pass a river, it boats were coming and going on the Hope. It was altogether
stands to reason it must be worse to pass a sea.’ a right pleasant sight to me; and I could not take my fill of
‘But there’s such a thing as a boat,’ says Alan, ‘or I’m the gazing at these comfortable, green, cultivated hills and the
more deceived.’ busy people both of the field and sea.
‘Ay, and such a thing as money,’ says I. ‘But for us that For all that, there was Mr. Rankeillor’s house on the
have neither one nor other, they might just as well not have south shore, where I had no doubt wealth awaited me; and
been invented.’ here was I upon the north, clad in poor enough attire of an
‘Ye think so?’ said Alan. outlandish fashion, with three silver shillings left to me of
‘I do that,’ said I. all my fortune, a price set upon my head, and an outlawed
‘David,’ says he, ‘ye’re a man of small invention and less man for my sole company.
faith. But let me set my wits upon the hone, and if I cannae ‘O, Alan!’ said I, ‘to think of it! Over there, there’s all that
beg, borrow, nor yet steal a boat, I’ll make one!’ heart could want waiting me; and the birds go over, and the
‘I think I see ye!’ said I. ‘And what’s more than all that: if boats go over — all that please can go, but just me only! O,
ye pass a bridge, it can tell no tales; but if we pass the firth, man, but it’s a heart-break!’
there’s the boat on the wrong side — somebody must have In Limekilns we entered a small change-house, which we
brought it — the country-side will all be in a bizz —-‘ only knew to be a public by the wand over the door, and
‘Man!’ cried Alan, ‘if I make a boat, I’ll make a body to bought some bread and cheese from a good-looking lass
take it back again! So deave me with no more of your non- that was the servant. This we carried with us in a bundle,
sense, but walk (for that’s what you’ve got to do) —and let meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the sea-shore,
Alan think for ye.’ that we saw some third part of a mile in front. As we went,
All night, then, we walked through the north side of the I kept looking across the water and sighing to myself; and
Carse under the high line of the Ochil mountains; and by though I took no heed of it, Alan had fallen into a muse. At
Alloa and Clackmannan and Culross, all of which we avoid- last he stopped in the way.

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 ‘Did ye take heed of the lass we bought this of?’ says he, As we got near the clachan, he made me take his arm and
tapping on the bread and cheese. hang upon it like one almost helpless with weariness; and by
‘To be sure,’ said I, ‘and a bonny lass she was.’ the time he pushed open the change-house door, he seemed
‘Ye thought that?’ cries he. ‘Man, David, that’s good to be half carrying me. The maid appeared surprised (as
news.’ well she might be) at our speedy return; but Alan had no
‘In the name of all that’s wonderful, why so?’ says I. ‘What words to spare for her in explanation, helped me to a chair,
good can that do?’ called for a tass of brandy with which he fed me in little sips,
‘Well,’ said Alan, with one of his droll looks, ‘I was rather and then breaking up the bread and cheese helped me to eat
in hopes it would maybe get us that boat.’ it like a nursery-lass; the whole with that grave, concerned,
‘If it were the other way about, it would be liker it,’ said I. affectionate countenance, that might have imposed upon a
‘That’s all that you ken, ye see,’ said Alan. ‘I don’t want judge. It was small wonder if the maid were taken with the
the lass to fall in love with ye, I want her to be sorry for ye, picture we presented, of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and
David; to which end there is no manner of need that she his most tender comrade. She drew quite near, and stood
should take you for a beauty. Let me see’ (looking me curi- leaning with her back on the next table.
ously over). ‘I wish ye were a wee thing paler; but apart from ‘What’s like wrong with him?’ said she at last.
that ye’ll do fine for my purpose — ye have a fine, hang-dog, Alan turned upon her, to my great wonder, with a kind
rag-and-tatter, clappermaclaw kind of a look to ye, as if ye of fury. ‘Wrong?’ cries he. ‘He’s walked more hundreds of
had stolen the coat from a potato-bogle. Come; right about, miles than he has hairs upon his chin, and slept oftener
and back to the change-house for that boat of ours.’ in wet heather than dry sheets. Wrong, quo’ she! Wrong
I followed him, laughing. enough, I would think! Wrong, indeed!’ and he kept grum-
‘David Balfour,’ said he, ‘ye’re a very funny gentleman by bling to himself as he fed me, like a man ill-pleased.
your way of it, and this is a very funny employ for ye, no ‘He’s young for the like of that,’ said the maid.
doubt. For all that, if ye have any affection for my neck (to ‘Ower young,’ said Alan, with his back to her.
say nothing of your own) ye will perhaps be kind enough to ‘He would be better riding,’ says she.
take this matter responsibly. I am going to do a bit of play- ‘And where could I get a horse to him?’ cried Alan, turn-
acting, the bottom ground of which is just exactly as serious ing on her with the same appearance of fury. ‘Would ye
as the gallows for the pair of us. So bear it, if ye please, in have me steal?’
mind, and conduct yourself according.’ I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dud-
‘Well, well,’ said I, ‘have it as you will.’ geon, as indeed it closed her mouth for the time. But my

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companion knew very well what he was doing; and for as ‘That’s it,’ said Alan.
simple as he was in some things of life, had a great fund of ‘And him so young!’ cries the lass.
roguishness in such affairs as these. ‘He’s old enough to——‘ and Alan struck his forefinger
‘Ye neednae tell me,’ she said at last — ‘ye’re gentry.’ on the back part of his neck, meaning that I was old enough
‘Well,’ said Alan, softened a little (I believe against his to lose my head.
will) by this artless comment, ‘and suppose we were? Did ‘It would be a black shame,’ she cried, flushing high.
ever you hear that gentrice put money in folk’s pockets?’ ‘It’s what will be, though,’ said Alan, ‘unless we manage
She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinher- the better.’
ited great lady. ‘No,’ says she, ‘that’s true indeed.’ At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the
I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting house, leaving us alone together. Alan in high good humour
tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at the furthering of his schemes, and I in bitter dudgeon at
at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, being called a Jacobite and treated like a child.
for I was better already. My voice stuck in my throat, for I ‘Alan,’ I cried, ‘I can stand no more of this.’
ever hated to take part in lies; but my very embarrassment ‘Ye’ll have to sit it then, Davie,’ said he. ‘For if ye upset
helped on the plot, for the lass no doubt set down my husky the pot now, ye may scrape your own life out of the fire, but
voice to sickness and fatigue. Alan Breck is a dead man.’
‘Has he nae friends?’ said she, in a tearful voice. This was so true that I could only groan; and even my
‘That has he so!’ cried Alan, ‘if we could but win to them! groan served Alan’s purpose, for it was overheard by the
— friends and rich friends, beds to lie in, food to eat, doctors lass as she came flying in again with a dish of white pud-
to see to him — and here he must tramp in the dubs and dings and a bottle of strong ale.
sleep in the heather like a beggarman.’ ‘Poor lamb!’ says she, and had no sooner set the meat be-
‘And why that?’ says the lass. fore us, than she touched me on the shoulder with a little
‘My dear,’ said Alan, ‘I cannae very safely say; but I’ll tell friendly touch, as much as to bid me cheer up. Then she
ye what I’ll do instead,’ says he, ‘I’ll whistle ye a bit tune.’ told us to fall to, and there would be no more to pay; for the
And with that he leaned pretty far over the table, and in a inn was her own, or at least her father’s, and he was gone
mere breath of a whistle, but with a wonderful pretty senti- for the day to Pittencrieff. We waited for no second bidding,
ment, gave her a few bars of ‘Charlie is my darling.’ for bread and cheese is but cold comfort and the puddings
‘Wheesht,’ says she, and looked over her shoulder to the smelt excellently well; and while we sat and ate, she took up
door. that same place by the next table, looking on, and think-

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ing, and frowning to herself, and drawing the string of her last on a rickle of cauld stanes, there will be nae friends near
apron through her hand. him but only me and God.’
‘I’m thinking ye have rather a long tongue,’ she said at At this appeal, I could see the lass was in great trouble
last to Alan. of mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in some fear she
‘Ay’ said Alan; ‘but ye see I ken the folk I speak to.’ might be helping malefactors; and so now I determined to
‘I would never betray ye,’ said she, ‘if ye mean that.’ step in myself and to allay her scruples with a portion of
‘No,’ said he, ‘ye’re not that kind. But I’ll tell ye what ye the truth.
would do, ye would help.’ ‘Did ever you, hear’ said I, ‘of Mr. Rankeillor of the Fer-
‘I couldnae,’ said she, shaking her head. ‘Na, I couldnae.’ ry?’
‘No,’ said he, ‘but if ye could?’ ‘Rankeillor the writer?’ said she. ‘I daur say that!’
She answered him nothing. ‘Well,’ said I, ‘it’s to his door that I am bound, so you may
‘Look here, my lass,’ said Alan, ‘there are boats in the judge by that if I am an ill-doer; and I will tell you more,
Kingdom of Fife, for I saw two (no less) upon the beach, that though I am indeed, by a dreadful error, in some peril
as I came in by your town’s end. Now if we could have the of my life, King George has no truer friend in all Scotland
use of a boat to pass under cloud of night into Lothian, and than myself.’
some secret, decent kind of a man to bring that boat back Her face cleared up mightily at this, although Alan’s
again and keep his counsel, there would be two souls saved darkened.
— mine to all likelihood — his to a dead surety. If we lack ‘That’s more than I would ask,’ said she. ‘Mr. Rankeillor
that boat, we have but three shillings left in this wide world; is a kennt man.’ And she bade us finish our meat, get clear
and where to go, and how to do, and what other place there of the clachan as soon as might be, and lie close in the bit
is for us except the chains of a gibbet — I give you my na- wood on the sea-beach. ‘And ye can trust me,’ says she, ‘I’ll
ked word, I kenna! Shall we go wanting, lassie? Are ye to find some means to put you over.’
lie in your warm bed and think upon us, when the wind At this we waited for no more, but shook hands with her
gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof? Are ye upon the bargain, made short work of the puddings, and set
to eat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire, and think upon forth again from Limekilns as far as to the wood. It was a
this poor sick lad of mine, biting his finger ends on a blae small piece of perhaps a score of elders and hawthorns and
muir for cauld and hunger? Sick or sound, he must aye be a few young ashes, not thick enough to veil us from pass-
moving; with the death grapple at his throat he must aye be ersby upon the road or beach. Here we must lie, however,
trailing in the rain on the lang roads; and when he gants his making the best of the brave warm weather and the good

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hopes we now had of a deliverance, and planing more par- (very properly) that the heart of our matter was in haste
ticularly what remained for us to do. and silence; and so, what with one thing and another, she
We had but one trouble all day; when a strolling piper had set us on the Lothian shore not far from Carriden, had
came and sat in the same wood with us; a red-nosed, blear- shaken hands with us, and was out again at sea and rowing
eyed, drunken dog, with a great bottle of whisky in his for Limekilns, before there was one word said either of her
pocket, and a long story of wrongs that had been done him service or our gratitude.
by all sorts of persons, from the Lord President of the Court Even after she was gone, we had nothing to say, as indeed
of Session, who had denied him justice, down to the Bai- nothing was enough for such a kindness. Only Alan stood a
lies of Inverkeithing who had given him more of it than he great while upon the shore shaking his head.
desired. It was impossible but he should conceive some sus- ‘It is a very fine lass,’ he said at last. ‘David, it is a very
picion of two men lying all day concealed in a thicket and fine lass.’ And a matter of an hour later, as we were lying in
having no business to allege. As long as he stayed there he a den on the sea-shore and I had been already dozing, he
kept us in hot water with prying questions; and after he was broke out again in commendations of her character. For my
gone, as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue, we part, I could say nothing, she was so simple a creature that
were in the greater impatience to be gone ourselves. my heart smote me both with remorse and fear: remorse
The day came to an end with the same brightness; the because we had traded upon her ignorance; and fear lest
night fell quiet and clear; lights came out in houses and we should have anyway involved her in the dangers of our
hamlets and then, one after another, began to be put out; situation.
but it was past eleven, and we were long since strangely tor-
tured with anxieties, before we heard the grinding of oars
upon the rowing-pins. At that, we looked out and saw the
lass herself coming rowing to us in a boat. She had trusted
no one with our affairs, not even her sweetheart, if she had
one; but as soon as her father was asleep, had left the house
by a window, stolen a neighbour’s boat, and come to our as-
sistance single-handed.
I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks; but
she was no less abashed at the thought of hearing them;
begged us to lose no time and to hold our peace, saying

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CHAPTER XXVII put me to shame for my foul tatters.
As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kin-
dled, and the windows to open, and the people to appear out
of the houses, my concern and despondency grew ever the
I COME TO MR. blacker. I saw now that I had no grounds to stand upon; and
no clear proof of my rights, nor so much as of my own iden-
RANKEILLOR tity. If it was all a bubble, I was indeed sorely cheated and left
in a sore pass. Even if things were as I conceived, it would
in all likelihood take time to establish my contentions; and
what time had I to spare with less than three shillings in
my pocket, and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands

T he next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for him-
self till sunset; but as soon as it began to grow dark, he
should lie in the fields by the roadside near to Newhalls, and
to ship out of the country? Truly, if my hope broke with
me, it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. And as
I continued to walk up and down, and saw people looking
stir for naught until he heard me whistling. At first I pro- askance at me upon the street or out of windows, and nudg-
posed I should give him for a signal the ‘Bonnie House of ing or speaking one to another with smiles, I began to take
Airlie,’ which was a favourite of mine; but he objected that a fresh apprehension: that it might be no easy matter even
as the piece was very commonly known, any ploughman to come to speech of the lawyer, far less to convince him of
might whistle it by accident; and taught me instead a little my story.
fragment of a Highland air, which has run in my head from For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to ad-
that day to this, and will likely run in my head when I lie dress any of these reputable burghers; I thought shame even
dying. Every time it comes to me, it takes me off to that last to speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt; and if
day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up in the bottom I had asked for the house of such a man as Mr. Rankeillor, I
of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a finger, suppose they would have burst out laughing in my face. So
and the grey of the dawn coming on his face. I went up and down, and through the street, and down to
I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun the harbour-side, like a dog that has lost its master, with a
was up. It was a fairly built burgh, the houses of good stone, strange gnawing in my inwards, and every now and then a
many slated; the town-hall not so fine, I thought, as that of movement of despair. It grew to be high day at last, perhaps
Peebles, nor yet the street so noble; but take it altogether, it nine in the forenoon; and I was worn with these wander-

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 ings, and chanced to have stopped in front of a very good and looking now at me and now upon the causeway of the
house on the landward side, a house with beautiful, clear street.
glass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the walls ‘Yes,’ says he, ‘that will be the best, no doubt.’ And he
new-harled[33] and a chase-dog sitting yawning on the step led me back with him into his house, cried out to some one
like one that was at home. Well, I was even envying this whom I could not see that he would be engaged all morning,
dumb brute, when the door fell open and there issued forth and brought me into a little dusty chamber full of books
a shrewd, ruddy, kindly, consequential man in a well-pow- and documents. Here he sate down, and bade me be seated;
dered wig and spectacles. I was in such a plight that no one though I thought he looked a little ruefully from his clean
set eyes on me once, but he looked at me again; and this chair to my muddy rags. ‘And now,’ says he, ‘if you have any
gentleman, as it proved, was so much struck with my poor business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the point. Nec
appearance that he came straight up to me and asked me gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo —do you under-
what I did. stand that?’ says he, with a keen look.
[33]Newly rough-cast. ‘I will even do as Horace says, sir,’ I answered, smiling,
I told him I was come to the Queensferry on business, ‘and carry you in medias res.’ He nodded as if he was well
and taking heart of grace, asked him to direct me to the pleased, and indeed his scrap of Latin had been set to test
house of Mr. Rankeillor. me. For all that, and though I was somewhat encouraged,
‘Why,’ said he, ‘that is his house that I have just come out the blood came in my face when I added: ‘I have reason to
of; and for a rather singular chance, I am that very man.’ believe myself some rights on the estate of Shaws.’
‘Then, sir,’ said I, ‘I have to beg the favour of an inter- He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him
view.’ open. ‘Well?’ said he.
‘I do not know your name,’ said he, ‘nor yet your face.’ But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless.
‘My name is David Balfour,’ said I. ‘Come, come, Mr. Balfour,’ said he, ‘you must continue.
‘David Balfour?’ he repeated, in rather a high tone, like Where were you born?’
one surprised. ‘And where have you come from, Mr. David ‘In Essendean, sir,’ said I, ‘the year 1733, the 12th of
Balfour?’ he asked, looking me pretty drily in the face. March.’
‘I have come from a great many strange places, sir,’ said I; He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book;
‘but I think it would be as well to tell you where and how in but what that meant I knew not. ‘Your father and mother?’
a more private manner.’ said he.
He seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand, ‘My father was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that

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place,’ said I, ‘and my mother Grace Pitarrow; I think her way to your house, when I was trepanned on board the brig,
people were from Angus.’ cruelly struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of
‘Have you any papers proving your identity?’ asked Mr. anything till we were far at sea. I was destined for the plan-
Rankeillor. tations; a fate that, in God’s providence, I have escaped.’
‘No, sir,’ said I, ‘but they are in the hands of Mr. Campbell, ‘The brig was lost on June the 27th,’ says he, looking in
the minister, and could be readily produced. Mr. Campbell, his book,’ and we are now at August the 24th. Here is a con-
too, would give me his word; and for that matter, I do not siderable hiatus, Mr. Balfour, of near upon two months. It
think my uncle would deny me.’ has already caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends;
‘Meaning Mr. Ebenezer Balfour?’ says he. and I own I shall not be very well contented until it is set
‘The same,’ said I. right.’
‘Whom you have seen?’ he asked. ‘Indeed, sir,’ said I, ‘these months are very easily filled up;
‘By whom I was received into his own house,’ I an- but yet before I told my story, I would be glad to know that
swered. I was talking to a friend.’
‘Did you ever meet a man of the name of Hoseason?’ ‘This is to argue in a circle,’ said the lawyer. ‘I cannot be
asked Mr. Rankeillor. convinced till I have heard you. I cannot be your friend till
‘I did so, sir, for my sins,’ said I; ‘for it was by his means I am properly informed. If you were more trustful, it would
and the procurement of my uncle, that I was kidnapped better befit your time of life. And you know, Mr. Balfour,
within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck we have a proverb in the country that evil-doers are aye evil-
and a hundred other hardships, and stand before you to- dreaders.’
day in this poor accoutrement.’ ‘You are not to forget, sir,’ said I, ‘that I have already suf-
‘You say you were shipwrecked,’ said Rankeillor; ‘where fered by my trustfulness; and was shipped off to be a slave
was that?’ by the very man that (if I rightly understand) is your em-
‘Off the south end of the Isle of Mull,’ said I. ‘The name of ployer?’
the isle on which I was cast up is the Island Earraid.’ All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr.
‘Ah!’ says he, smiling, ‘you are deeper than me in the ge- Rankeillor, and in proportion as I gained ground, gaining
ography. But so far, I may tell you, this agrees pretty exactly confidence. But at this sally, which I made with something
with other informations that I hold. But you say you were of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud.
kidnapped; in what sense?’ ‘No, no,’ said he, ‘it is not so bad as that. Fui, non sum.
‘In the plain meaning of the word, sir,’ said I. ‘I was on my I was indeed your uncle’s man of business; but while you

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 (imberbis juvenis custode remoto) were gallivanting in the Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him,
west, a good deal of water has run under the bridges; and and placed more scraps of Latin in his speech; but it was all
if your ears did not sing, it was not for lack of being talked uttered with a fine geniality of eye and manner which went
about. On the very day of your sea disaster, Mr. Campbell far to conquer my distrust. Moreover, I could see he now
stalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds. treated me as if I was myself beyond a doubt; so that first
I had never heard of your existence; but I had known your point of my identity seemed fully granted.
father; and from matters in my competence (to be touched ‘Sir,’ said I, ‘if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend’s
upon hereafter) I was disposed to fear the worst. Mr. Eb- life to your discretion. Pass me your word it shall be sacred;
enezer admitted having seen you; declared (what seemed and for what touches myself, I will ask no better guarantee
improbable) that he had given you considerable sums; and than just your face.’
that you had started for the continent of Europe, intending He passed me his word very seriously. ‘But,’ said he,
to fulfil your education, which was probable and praisewor- ‘these are rather alarming prolocutions; and if there are in
thy. Interrogated how you had come to send no word to Mr. your story any little jostles to the law, I would beg you to
Campbell, he deponed that you had expressed a great de- bear in mind that I am a lawyer, and pass lightly.’
sire to break with your past life. Further interrogated where Thereupon I told him my story from the first, he listen-
you now were, protested ignorance, but believed you were ing with his spectacles thrust up and his eyes closed, so that
in Leyden. That is a close sum of his replies. I am not exactly I sometimes feared he was asleep. But no such matter! he
sure that any one believed him,’ continued Mr. Rankeillor heard every word (as I found afterward) with such quick-
with a smile; ‘and in particular he so much disrelished me ness of hearing and precision of memory as often surprised
expressions of mine that (in a word) he showed me to the me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic names, heard for that
door. We were then at a full stand; for whatever shrewd time only, he remembered and would remind me of, years
suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow of proba- after. Yet when I called Alan Breck in full, we had an odd
tion. In the very article, comes Captain Hoseason with the scene. The name of Alan had of course rung through Scot-
story of your drowning; whereupon all fell through; with land, with the news of the Appin murder and the offer of
no consequences but concern to Mr. Campbell, injury to the reward; and it had no sooner escaped me than the law-
my pocket, and another blot upon your uncle’s character, yer moved in his seat and opened his eyes.
which could very ill afford it. And now, Mr. Balfour,’ said he, ‘I would name no unnecessary names, Mr. Balfour,’ said
‘you understand the whole process of these matters, and can he; ‘above all of Highlanders, many of whom are obnoxious
judge for yourself to what extent I may be trusted.’ to the law.’

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 ‘Well, it might have been better not,’ said I, ‘but since I parish in Scotland (to make a homely translation) has not
have let it slip, I may as well continue.’ been filled with your wanderings? You have shown, besides,
‘Not at all,’ said Mr. Rankeillor. ‘I am somewhat dull of a singular aptitude for getting into false positions; and,
hearing, as you may have remarked; and I am far from sure yes, upon the whole, for behaving well in them. This Mr.
I caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if you Thomson seems to me a gentleman of some choice qualities,
please, Mr. Thomson — that there may be no reflections. though perhaps a trifle bloody-minded. It would please me
And in future, I would take some such way with any High- none the worse, if (with all his merits) he were soused in the
lander that you may have to mention — dead or alive.’ North Sea, for the man, Mr. David, is a sore embarrassment.
By this, I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly, But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to him; indubi-
and had already guessed I might be coming to the murder. tably, he adhered to you. It comes — we may say — he was
If he chose to play this part of ignorance, it was no matter your true companion; nor less paribus curis vestigia figit,
of mine; so I smiled, said it was no very Highland-sounding for I dare say you would both take an orra thought upon
name, and consented. Through all the rest of my story Alan the gallows. Well, well, these days are fortunately, by; and I
was Mr. Thomson; which amused me the more, as it was a think (speaking humanly) that you are near the end of your
piece of policy after his own heart. James Stewart, in like troubles.’
manner, was mentioned under the style of Mr. Thomson’s As he thus moralised on my adventures, he looked upon
kinsman; Colin Campbell passed as a Mr. Glen; and to Clu- me with so much humour and benignity that I could scarce
ny, when I came to that part of my tale, I gave the name of contain my satisfaction. I had been so long wandering with
‘Mr. Jameson, a Highland chief.’ It was truly the most open lawless people, and making my bed upon the hills and un-
farce, and I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep it der the bare sky, that to sit once more in a clean, covered
up; but, after all, it was quite in the taste of that age, when house, and to talk amicably with a gentleman in broadcloth,
there were two parties in the state, and quiet persons, with seemed mighty elevations. Even as I thought so, my eye fell
no very high opinions of their own, sought out every cranny on my unseemly tatters, and I was once more plunged in
to avoid offence to either. confusion. But the lawyer saw and understood me. He rose,
‘Well, well,’ said the lawyer, when I had quite done, ‘this is called over the stair to lay another plate, for Mr. Balfour
a great epic, a great Odyssey of yours. You must tell it, sir, in would stay to dinner, and led me into a bedroom in the up-
a sound Latinity when your scholarship is riper; or in Eng- per part of the house. Here he set before me water and soap,
lish if you please, though for my part I prefer the stronger and a comb; and laid out some clothes that belonged to his
tongue. You have rolled much; quae regio in terris — what son; and here, with another apposite tag, he left me to my

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toilet.
CHAPTER XXVIII

I GO IN QUEST OF
MY INHERITANCE

I made what change I could in my appearance; and blithe

was I to look in the glass and find the beggarman a thing
of the past, and David Balfour come to life again. And yet I
was ashamed of the change too, and, above all, of the bor-
rowed clothes. When I had done, Mr. Rankeillor caught me
on the stair, made me his compliments, and had me again
into the cabinet.
‘Sit ye down, Mr. David,’ said he, ‘and now that you are
looking a little more like yourself, let me see if I can find
you any news. You will be wondering, no doubt, about your
father and your uncle? To be sure it is a singular tale; and
the explanation is one that I blush to have to offer you. For,’
says he, really with embarrassment, ‘the matter hinges on
a love affair.’
‘Truly,’ said I, ‘I cannot very well join that notion with
my uncle.’
‘But your uncle, Mr. David, was not always old,’ replied
the lawyer, ‘and what may perhaps surprise you more, not

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always ugly. He had a fine, gallant air; people stood in their That was in August; dear me! the same year I came from
doors to look after him, as he went by upon a mettle horse. I college. The scene must have been highly farcical.’
have seen it with these eyes, and I ingenuously confess, not I thought myself it was a silly business, but I could not
altogether without envy; for I was a plain lad myself and a forget my father had a hand in it. ‘Surely, sir, it had some
plain man’s son; and in those days it was a case of Odi te, note of tragedy,’ said I.
qui bellus es, Sabelle.’ ‘Why, no, sir, not at all,’ returned the lawyer. ‘For trage-
‘It sounds like a dream,’ said I. dy implies some ponderable matter in dispute, some dignus
‘Ay, ay,’ said the lawyer, ‘that is how it is with youth and vindice nodus; and this piece of work was all about the pet-
age. Nor was that all, but he had a spirit of his own that ulance of a young ass that had been spoiled, and wanted
seemed to promise great things in the future. In 1715, what nothing so much as to be tied up and soundly belted. How-
must he do but run away to join the rebels? It was your fa- ever, that was not your father’s view; and the end of it was,
ther that pursued him, found him in a ditch, and brought that from concession to concession on your father’s part,
him back multum gementem; to the mirth of the whole and from one height to another of squalling, sentimental
country. However, majora canamus — the two lads fell in selfishness upon your uncle’s, they came at last to drive a
love, and that with the same lady. Mr. Ebenezer, who was sort of bargain, from whose ill results you have recently
the admired and the beloved, and the spoiled one, made, no been smarting. The one man took the lady, the other the
doubt, mighty certain of the victory; and when he found he estate. Now, Mr. David, they talk a great deal of charity and
had deceived himself, screamed like a peacock. The whole generosity; but in this disputable state of life, I often think
country heard of it; now he lay sick at home, with his silly the happiest consequences seem to flow when a gentleman
family standing round the bed in tears; now he rode from consults his lawyer, and takes all the law allows him. Any-
public-house to public-house, and shouted his sorrows into how, this piece of Quixotry on your father’s part, as it was
the lug of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Your father, Mr. David, unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family of in-
was a kind gentleman; but he was weak, dolefully weak; justices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk;
took all this folly with a long countenance; and one day — you were poorly reared; and in the meanwhile, what a time
by your leave! — resigned the lady. She was no such fool, it has been for the tenants on the estate of Shaws! And I
however; it’s from her you must inherit your excellent good might add (if it was a matter I cared much about) what a
sense; and she refused to be bandied from one to another. time for Mr. Ebenezer!’
Both got upon their knees to her; and the upshot of the mat- ‘And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all,’ said I,
ter for that while was that she showed both of them the door. ‘that a man’s nature should thus change.’

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 ‘True,’ said Mr. Rankeillor. ‘And yet I imagine it was we afterwards acted.
natural enough. He could not think that he had played a ‘The great affair,’ I asked, ‘is to bring home to him the
handsome part. Those who knew the story gave him the kidnapping?’
cold shoulder; those who knew it not, seeing one brother ‘Surely,’ said Mr. Rankeillor, ‘and if possible, out of court.
disappear, and the other succeed in the estate, raised a cry For mark you here, Mr. David: we could no doubt find some
of murder; so that upon all sides he found himself evited. men of the Covenant who would swear to your reclusion;
Money was all he got by his bargain; well, he came to think but once they were in the box, we could no longer check
the more of money. He was selfish when he was young, he is their testimony, and some word of your friend Mr. Thom-
selfish now that he is old; and the latter end of all these pret- son must certainly crop out. Which (from what you have let
ty manners and fine feelings you have seen for yourself.’ fall) I cannot think to be desirable.’
‘Well, sir,’ said I, ‘and in all this, what is my position?’ ‘Well, sir,’ said I, ‘here is my way of it.’ And I opened my
‘The estate is yours beyond a doubt,’ replied the lawyer. plot to him.
‘It matters nothing what your father signed, you are the heir ‘But this would seem to involve my meeting the man
of entail. But your uncle is a man to fight the indefensible; Thomson?’ says he, when I had done.
and it would be likely your identity that he would call in ‘I think so, indeed, sir,’ said I.
question. A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family law- ‘Dear doctor!’ cries he, rubbing his brow. ‘Dear doctor!
suit always scandalous; besides which, if any of your doings No, Mr. David, I am afraid your scheme is inadmissible.
with your friend Mr. Thomson were to come out, we might I say nothing against your friend, Mr. Thomson: I know
find that we had burned our fingers. The kidnapping, to nothing against him; and if I did — mark this, Mr. David!
be sure, would be a court card upon our side, if we could — it would be my duty to lay hands on him. Now I put it to
only prove it. But it may be difficult to prove; and my advice you: is it wise to meet? He may have matters to his charge.
(upon the whole) is to make a very easy bargain with your He may not have told you all. His name may not be even
uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaws where he has tak- Thomson!’ cries the lawyer, twinkling; ‘for some of these
en root for a quarter of a century, and contenting yourself fellows will pick up names by the roadside as another would
in the meanwhile with a fair provision.’ gather haws.’
I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry ‘You must be the judge, sir,’ said I.
family concerns before the public was a step from which I But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy,
was naturally much averse. In the meantime (thinking to for he kept musing to himself till we were called to din-
myself) I began to see the outlines of that scheme on which ner and the company of Mrs. Rankeillor; and that lady had

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scarce left us again to ourselves and a bottle of wine, ere he turning and dwelling on this story, and telling it again with
was back harping on my proposal. When and where was fresh details and laughter; so that I began at last to be quite
I to meet my friend Mr. Thomson; was I sure of Mr. T.’s put out of countenance and feel ashamed for my friend’s
discretion; supposing we could catch the old fox tripping, folly.
would I consent to such and such a term of an agreement Towards the time I had appointed with Alan, we set out
— these and the like questions he kept asking at long inter- from the house, Mr. Rankeillor and I arm in arm, and Tor-
vals, while he thoughtfully rolled his wine upon his tongue. rance following behind with the deed in his pocket and
When I had answered all of them, seemingly to his content- a covered basket in his hand. All through the town, the
ment, he fell into a still deeper muse, even the claret being lawyer was bowing right and left, and continually being
now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil, button-holed by gentlemen on matters of burgh or private
and set to work writing and weighing every word; and at business; and I could see he was one greatly looked up to in
last touched a bell and had his clerk into the chamber. the county. At last we were clear of the houses, and began
‘Torrance,’ said he, ‘I must have this written out fair to go along the side of the haven and towards the Hawes
against to-night; and when it is done, you will be so kind as Inn and the Ferry pier, the scene of my misfortune. I could
put on your hat and be ready to come along with this gentle- not look upon the place without emotion, recalling how
man and me, for you will probably be wanted as a witness.’ many that had been there with me that day were now no
‘What, sir,’ cried I, as soon as the clerk was gone, ‘are you more: Ransome taken, I could hope, from the evil to come;
to venture it?’ Shuan passed where I dared not follow him; and the poor
‘Why, so it would appear,’ says he, filling his glass. ‘But souls that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge.
let us speak no more of business. The very sight of Torrance All these, and the brig herself, I had outlived; and come
brings in my head a little droll matter of some years ago, through these hardships and fearful perils without scath.
when I had made a tryst with the poor oaf at the cross of My only thought should have been of gratitude; and yet I
Edinburgh. Each had gone his proper errand; and when it could not behold the place without sorrow for others and a
came four o’clock, Torrance had been taking a glass and did chill of recollected fear.
not know his master, and I, who had forgot my spectacles, I was so thinking when, upon a sudden, Mr. Rankeil-
was so blind without them, that I give you my word I did not lor cried out, clapped his hand to his pockets, and began
know my own clerk.’ And thereupon he laughed heartily. to laugh.
I said it was an odd chance, and smiled out of politeness; ‘Why,’ he cries, ‘if this be not a farcical adventure! After
but what held me all the afternoon in wonder, he kept re- all that I said, I have forgot my glasses!’

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 At that, of course, I understood the purpose of his anec- penetration. But it sticks in my head your lawyer-man will
dote, and knew that if he had left his spectacles at home, it be somewhat wearying to see me,’ says Alan.
had been done on purpose, so that he might have the benefit Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr. Rankeillor, who
of Alan’s help without the awkwardness of recognising him. came up alone and was presented to my friend, Mr. Thom-
And indeed it was well thought upon; for now (suppose son.
things to go the very worst) how could Rankeillor swear to ‘Mr. Thomson, I am pleased to meet you,’ said he. ‘But I
my friend’s identity, or how be made to bear damaging evi- have forgotten my glasses; and our friend, Mr. David here’
dence against myself? For all that, he had been a long while (clapping me on the shoulder), ‘will tell you that I am little
of finding out his want, and had spoken to and recognised better than blind, and that you must not be surprised if I
a good few persons as we came through the town; and I had pass you by to-morrow.’
little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well. This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but
As soon as we were past the Hawes (where I recognised the Highlandman’s vanity was ready to startle at a less mat-
the landlord smoking his pipe in the door, and was amazed ter than that.
to see him look no older) Mr. Rankeillor changed the order ‘Why, sir,’ says he, stiffly, ‘I would say it mattered the less
of march, walking behind with Torrance and sending me as we are met here for a particular end, to see justice done
forward in the manner of a scout. I went up the hill, whis- to Mr. Balfour; and by what I can see, not very likely to have
tling from time to time my Gaelic air; and at length I had much else in common. But I accept your apology, which
the pleasure to hear it answered and to see Alan rise from was a very proper one to make.’
behind a bush. He was somewhat dashed in spirits, having ‘And that is more than I could look for, Mr. Thomson,’
passed a long day alone skulking in the county, and made said Rankeillor, heartily. ‘And now as you and I are the chief
but a poor meal in an alehouse near Dundas. But at the actors in this enterprise, I think we should come into a nice
mere sight of my clothes, he began to brighten up; and as agreement; to which end, I propose that you should lend
soon as I had told him in what a forward state our matters me your arm, for (what with the dusk and the want of my
were and the part I looked to him to play in what remained, glasses) I am not very clear as to the path; and as for you,
he sprang into a new man. Mr. David, you will find Torrance a pleasant kind of body
‘And that is a very good notion of yours,’ says he; ‘and to speak with. Only let me remind you, it’s quite needless he
I dare to say that you could lay your hands upon no bet- should hear more of your adventures or those of — ahem
ter man to put it through than Alan Breck. It is not a thing — Mr. Thomson.’
(mark ye) that any one could do, but takes a gentleman of Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk,

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and Torrance and I brought up the rear.
Night was quite come when we came in view of the house CHAPTER XXIX
of Shaws. Ten had been gone some time; it was dark and
mild, with a pleasant, rustling wind in the south-west that
covered the sound of our approach; and as we drew near we
saw no glimmer of light in any portion of the building. It I COME INTO MY
seemed my uncle was Already in bed, which was indeed the
best thing for our arrangements. We made our last whis- KINGDOM
pered consultations some fifty yards away; and then the
lawyer and Torrance and I crept quietly up and crouched
down beside the corner of the house; and as soon as we were
in our places, Alan strode to the door without concealment
and began to knock. F or some time Alan volleyed upon the door, and his
knocking only roused the echoes of the house and
neighbourhood. At last, however, I could hear the noise of a
window gently thrust up, and knew that my uncle had come
to his observatory. By what light there was, he would see
Alan standing, like a dark shadow, on the steps; the three
witnesses were hidden quite out of his view; so that there
was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house. For
all that, he studied his visitor awhile in silence, and when he
spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving.
‘What’s this?’ says he. ‘This is nae kind of time of night
for decent folk; and I hae nae trokings[34] wi’ night-hawks.
What brings ye here? I have a blunderbush.’
[34]Dealings.
‘Is that yoursel’, Mr. Balfour?’ returned Alan, stepping
back and looking up into the darkness. ‘Have a care of that
blunderbuss; they’re nasty things to burst.’
‘What brings ye here? and whae are ye?’ says my uncle,

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angrily. ‘And, now’ says he, ‘mind I have my blunderbush, and if
‘I have no manner of inclination to rowt out my name ye take a step nearer ye’re as good as deid.’
to the country-side,’ said Alan; ‘but what brings me here is ‘And a very civil speech,’ says Alan, ‘to be sure.’
another story, being more of your affair than mine; and if ‘Na,’ says my uncle, ‘but this is no a very chanty kind of
ye’re sure it’s what ye would like, I’ll set it to a tune and sing a proceeding, and I’m bound to be prepared. And now that
it to you.’ we understand each other, ye’ll can name your business.’
‘And what is’t?’ asked my uncle. ‘Why,’ says Alan, ‘you that are a man of so much under-
‘David,’ says Alan. standing, will doubtless have perceived that I am a Hieland
‘What was that?’ cried my uncle, in a mighty changed gentleman. My name has nae business in my story; but the
voice. county of my friends is no very far from the Isle of Mull, of
‘Shall I give ye the rest of the name, then?’ said Alan. which ye will have heard. It seems there was a ship lost in
There was a pause; and then, ‘I’m thinking I’ll better let those parts; and the next day a gentleman of my family was
ye in,’ says my uncle, doubtfully. seeking wreck-wood for his fire along the sands, when he
‘I dare say that,’ said Alan; ‘but the point is, Would I go? came upon a lad that was half drowned. Well, he brought
Now I will tell you what I am thinking. I am thinking that him to; and he and some other gentleman took and clapped
it is here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this him in an auld, ruined castle, where from that day to this
business; and it shall be here or nowhere at all whatever; for he has been a great expense to my friends. My friends are a
I would have you to understand that I am as stiffnecked as wee wild-like, and not so particular about the law as some
yoursel’, and a gentleman of better family.’ that I could name; and finding that the lad owned some
This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer; he was a little decent folk, and was your born nephew, Mr. Balfour, they
while digesting it, and then says he, ‘Weel, weel, what must asked me to give ye a bit call and confer upon the matter.
be must,’ and shut the window. But it took him a long time And I may tell ye at the off-go, unless we can agree upon
to get down-stairs, and a still longer to undo the fastenings, some terms, ye are little likely to set eyes upon him. For my
repenting (I dare say) and taken with fresh claps of fear at friends,’ added Alan, simply, ‘are no very well off.’
every second step and every bolt and bar. At last, however, My uncle cleared his throat. ‘I’m no very caring,’ says
we heard the creak of the hinges, and it seems my uncle he. ‘He wasnae a good lad at the best of it, and I’ve nae call
slipped gingerly out and (seeing that Alan had stepped back to interfere.’
a pace or two) sate him down on the top doorstep with the ‘Ay, ay,’ said Alan, ‘I see what ye would be at: pretending
blunderbuss ready in his hands. ye don’t care, to make the ransom smaller.’

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 ‘Na,’ said my uncle, ‘it’s the mere truth. I take nae man- pockets of my friends.’
ner of interest in the lad, and I’ll pay nae ransome, and ye ‘I dinnae follow ye there,’ said my uncle.
can make a kirk and a mill of him for what I care.’ ‘No?’ said Alan. ‘Well, see here: you dinnae want the lad
‘Hoot, sir,’ says Alan. ‘Blood’s thicker than water, in the back; well, what do ye want done with him, and how much
deil’s name! Ye cannae desert your brother’s son for the fair will ye pay?’
shame of it; and if ye did, and it came to be kennt, ye would- My uncle made no answer, but shifted uneasily on his
nae be very popular in your country-side, or I’m the more seat.
deceived.’ ‘Come, sir,’ cried Alan. ‘I would have you to ken that I am
‘I’m no just very popular the way it is,’ returned Ebene- a gentleman; I bear a king’s name; I am nae rider to kick my
zer; ‘and I dinnae see how it would come to be kennt. No by shanks at your hall door. Either give me an answer in civil-
me, onyway; nor yet by you or your friends. So that’s idle ity, and that out of hand; or by the top of Glencoe, I will ram
talk, my buckie,’ says he. three feet of iron through your vitals.’
‘Then it’ll have to be David that tells it,’ said Alan. ‘Eh, man,’ cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet, ‘give me
‘How that?’ says my uncle, sharply.’ a meenit! What’s like wrong with ye? I’m just a plain man
‘Ou, just this, way’ says Alan. ‘My friends would doubt- and nae dancing master; and I’m tryin to be as ceevil as it’s
less keep your nephew as long as there was any likelihood morally possible. As for that wild talk, it’s fair disrepitable.
of siller to be made of it, but if there was nane, I am clearly Vitals, says you! And where would I be with my blunder-
of opinion they would let him gang where he pleased, and bush?’ he snarled.
be damned to him!’ ‘Powder and your auld hands are but as the snail to the
‘Ay, but I’m no very caring about that either,’ said my un- swallow against the bright steel in the hands of Alan,’ said
cle. ‘I wouldnae be muckle made up with that.’ the other. ‘Before your jottering finger could find the trigger,
‘I was thinking that,’ said Alan. the hilt would dirl on your breast-bane.’
‘And what for why?’ asked Ebenezer. ‘Eh, man, whae’s denying it?’ said my uncle. ‘Pit it as ye
‘Why, Mr. Balfour,’ replied Alan, ‘by all that I could hear, please, hae’t your ain way; I’ll do naething to cross ye. Just
there were two ways of it: either ye liked David and would tell me what like ye’ll be wanting, and ye’ll see that we’ll
pay to get him back; or else ye had very good reasons for not can agree fine.’
wanting him, and would pay for us to keep him. It seems it’s ‘Troth, sir,’ said Alan, ‘I ask for nothing but plain dealing.
not the first; well then, it’s the second; and blythe am I to In two words: do ye want the lad killed or kept?’
ken it, for it should be a pretty penny in my pocket and the ‘O, sirs!’ cried Ebenezer. ‘O, sirs, me! that’s no kind of

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 language!’ ‘What do ye mean?’ cried Ebenezer. ‘Did Hoseason tell
‘Killed or kept!’ repeated Alan. ye?’
‘O, keepit, keepit!’ wailed my uncle. ‘We’ll have nae ‘Why, ye donnered auld runt, how else would I ken?’
bloodshed, if you please.’ cried Alan. ‘Hoseason and me are partners; we gang shares;
‘Well,’ says Alan, ‘as ye please; that’ll be the dearer.’ so ye can see for yoursel’ what good ye can do leeing. And I
‘The dearer?’ cries Ebenezer. ‘Would ye fyle your hands must plainly say ye drove a fool’s bargain when ye let a man
wi’ crime?’ like the sailor-man so far forward in your private matters.
‘Hoot!’ said Alan, ‘they’re baith crime, whatever! And the But that’s past praying for; and ye must lie on your bed the
killing’s easier, and quicker, and surer. Keeping the lad’ll be way ye made it. And the point in hand is just this: what did
a fashious[35] job, a fashious, kittle business.’ ye pay him?’
[35]Troublesome. ‘Has he tauld ye himsel’?’ asked my uncle.
‘I’ll have him keepit, though,’ returned my uncle. ‘I never ‘That’s my concern,’ said Alan.
had naething to do with onything morally wrong; and I’m ‘Weel,’ said my uncle, ‘I dinnae care what he said, he leed,
no gaun to begin to pleasure a wild Hielandman.’ and the solemn God’s truth is this, that I gave him twenty
‘Ye’re unco scrupulous,’ sneered Alan. pound. But I’ll be perfec’ly honest with ye: forby that, he
‘I’m a man o’ principle,’ said Ebenezer, simply; ‘and if I was to have the selling of the lad in Caroliny, whilk would
have to pay for it, I’ll have to pay for it. And besides,’ says he, be as muckle mair, but no from my pocket, ye see.’
‘ye forget the lad’s my brother’s son.’ ‘Thank you, Mr. Thomson. That will do excellently well,’
‘Well, well,’ said Alan, ‘and now about the price. It’s no said the lawyer, stepping forward; and then mighty civilly,
very easy for me to set a name upon it; I would first have to ‘Good-evening, Mr. Balfour,’ said he.
ken some small matters. I would have to ken, for instance, And, ‘Good-evening, Uncle Ebenezer,’ said I.
what ye gave Hoseason at the first off-go?’ And, ‘It’s a braw nicht, Mr. Balfour’ added Torrance.
‘Hoseason!’ cries my uncle, struck aback. ‘What for?’ Never a word said my uncle, neither black nor white; but
‘For kidnapping David,’ says Alan. just sat where he was on the top door-step and stared upon
‘It’s a lee, it’s a black lee!’ cried my uncle. ‘He was never us like a man turned to stone. Alan filched away his blun-
kidnapped. He leed in his throat that tauld ye that. Kid- derbuss; and the lawyer, taking him by the arm, plucked
napped? He never was!’ him up from the doorstep, led him into the kitchen, whith-
‘That’s no fault of mine nor yet of yours,’ said Alan; ‘nor er we all followed, and set him down in a chair beside the
yet of Hoseason’s, if he’s a man that can be trusted.’ hearth, where the fire was out and only a rush-light burn-

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ing. By that time we had the fire lighted, and a bottle of wine
There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting great- uncorked; a good supper came out of the basket, to which
ly in our success, but yet with a sort of pity for the man’s Torrance and I and Alan set ourselves down; while the
shame. lawyer and my uncle passed into the next chamber to con-
‘Come, come, Mr. Ebenezer,’ said the lawyer, ‘you must sult. They stayed there closeted about an hour; at the end of
not be down-hearted, for I promise you we shall make easy which period they had come to a good understanding, and
terms. In the meanwhile give us the cellar key, and Tor- my uncle and I set our hands to the agreement in a formal
rance shall draw us a bottle of your father’s wine in honour manner. By the terms of this, my uncle bound himself to
of the event.’ Then, turning to me and taking me by the satisfy Rankeillor as to his intromissions, and to pay me
hand, ‘Mr. David,’ says he, ‘I wish you all joy in your good two clear thirds of the yearly income of Shaws.
fortune, which I believe to be deserved.’ And then to Alan, So the beggar in the ballad had come home; and when
with a spice of drollery, ‘Mr. Thomson, I pay you my com- I lay down that night on the kitchen chests, I was a man of
pliment; it was most artfully conducted; but in one point means and had a name in the country. Alan and Torrance
you somewhat outran my comprehension. Do I understand and Rankeillor slept and snored on their hard beds; but
your name to be James? or Charles? or is it George, per- for me who had lain out under heaven and upon dirt and
haps?’ stones, so many days and nights, and often with an empty
‘And why should it be any of the three, sir?’ quoth Alan, belly, and in fear of death, this good change in my case un-
drawing himself up, like one who smelt an offence. manned me more than any of the former evil ones; and I
‘Only, sir, that you mentioned a king’s name,’ replied lay till dawn, looking at the fire on the roof and planning
Rankeillor; ‘and as there has never yet been a King Thom- the future.
son, or his fame at least has never come my way, I judged
you must refer to that you had in baptism.’
This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest, and
I am free to confess he took it very ill. Not a word would he
answer, but stepped off to the far end of the kitchen, and sat
down and sulked; and it was not till I stepped after him, and
gave him my hand, and thanked him by title as the chief
spring of my success, that he began to smile a bit, and was
at last prevailed upon to join our party.

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CHAPTER XXX there is one way to shut your testimony out; and that is to
put you in the dock. There, you would be in the same pickle
as Mr. Thomson’s kinsman. You will object that you are in-
nocent; well, but so is he. And to be tried for your life before
GOOD-BYE a Highland jury, on a Highland quarrel and with a High-
land Judge upon the bench, would be a brief transition to
the gallows.’
[36]The Duke of Argyle.
Now I had made all these reasonings before and found

S o far as I was concerned myself, I had come to port; but I

had still Alan, to whom I was so much beholden, on my
hands; and I felt besides a heavy charge in the matter of the
no very good reply to them; so I put on all the simplicity
I could. ‘In that case, sir,’ said I, ‘I would just have to be
hanged — would I not?’
murder and James of the Glens. On both these heads I un- ‘My dear boy,’ cries he, ‘go in God’s name, and do what
bosomed to Rankeillor the next morning, walking to and you think is right. It is a poor thought that at my time of life
fro about six of the clock before the house of Shaws, and I should be advising you to choose the safe and shameful;
with nothing in view but the fields and woods that had been and I take it back with an apology. Go and do your duty;
my ancestors’ and were now mine. Even as I spoke on these and be hanged, if you must, like a gentleman. There are
grave subjects, my eye would take a glad bit of a run over worse things in the world than to be hanged.’
the prospect, and my heart jump with pride. ‘Not many, sir,’ said I, smiling.
About my clear duty to my friend, the lawyer had no ‘Why, yes, sir,’ he cried, ‘very many. And it would be ten
doubt. I must help him out of the county at whatever risk; times better for your uncle (to go no farther afield) if he
but in the case of James, he was of a different mind. were dangling decently upon a gibbet.’
‘Mr. Thomson,’ says he, ‘is one thing, Mr. Thomson’s Thereupon he turned into the house (still in a great fer-
kinsman quite another. I know little of the facts, but I gath- vour of mind, so that I saw I had pleased him heartily) and
er that a great noble (whom we will call, if you like, the D. of there he wrote me two letters, making his comments on
A.)[36] has some concern and is even supposed to feel some them as he wrote.
animosity in the matter. The D. of A. is doubtless an excel- ‘This,’ says he, ‘is to my bankers, the British Linen Com-
lent nobleman; but, Mr. David, timeo qui nocuere deos. If pany, placing a credit to your name. Consult Mr. Thomson,
you interfere to balk his vengeance, you should remember he will know of ways; and you, with this credit, can supply

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the means. I trust you will be a good husband of your mon- little heart either to walk or speak. The same thought was
ey; but in the affair of a friend like Mr. Thompson, I would uppermost in both, that we were near the time of our part-
be even prodigal. Then for his kinsman, there is no better ing; and remembrance of all the bygone days sate upon us
way than that you should seek the Advocate, tell him your sorely. We talked indeed of what should be done; and it was
tale, and offer testimony; whether he may take it or not, is resolved that Alan should keep to the county, biding now
quite another matter, and will turn on the D. of A. Now, that here, now there, but coming once in the day to a particular
you may reach the Lord Advocate well recommended, I give place where I might be able to communicate with him, ei-
you here a letter to a namesake of your own, the learned Mr. ther in my own person or by messenger. In the meanwhile,
Balfour of Pilrig, a man whom I esteem. It will look better I was to seek out a lawyer, who was an Appin Stewart, and a
that you should be presented by one of your own name; and man therefore to be wholly trusted; and it should be his part
the laird of Pilrig is much looked up to in the Faculty and to find a ship and to arrange for Alan’s safe embarkation.
stands well with Lord Advocate Grant. I would not trouble No sooner was this business done, than the words seemed
him, if I were you, with any particulars; and (do you know?) to leave us; and though I would seek to jest with Alan un-
I think it would be needless to refer to Mr. Thomson. Form der the name of Mr. Thomson, and he with me on my new
yourself upon the laird, he is a good model; when you deal clothes and my estate, you could feel very well that we were
with the Advocate, be discreet; and in all these matters, may nearer tears than laughter.
the Lord guide you, Mr. David!’ We came the by-way over the hill of Corstorphine; and
Thereupon he took his farewell, and set out with Tor- when we got near to the place called Rest-and-be-Thank-
rance for the Ferry, while Alan and I turned our faces for ful, and looked down on Corstorphine bogs and over to the
the city of Edinburgh. As we went by the footpath and be- city and the castle on the hill, we both stopped, for we both
side the gateposts and the unfinished lodge, we kept looking knew without a word said that we had come to where our
back at the house of my fathers. It stood there, bare and ways parted. Here he repeated to me once again what had
great and smokeless, like a place not lived in; only in one of been agreed upon between us: the address of the lawyer, the
the top windows, there was the peak of a nightcap bobbing daily hour at which Alan might be found, and the signals
up and down and back and forward, like the head of a rab- that were to be made by any that came seeking him. Then I
bit from a burrow. I had little welcome when I came, and gave what money I had (a guinea or two of Rankeillor’s) so
less kindness while I stayed; but at least I was watched as I that he should not starve in the meanwhile; and then we
went away. stood a space, and looked over at Edinburgh in silence.
Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way, having ‘Well, good-bye,’ said Alan, and held out his left hand.

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 ‘Good-bye,’ said I, and gave the hand a little grasp, and
went off down hill.
Neither one of us looked the other in the face, nor so long
as he was in my view did I take one back glance at the friend
I was leaving. But as I went on my way to the city, I felt so
lost and lonesome, that I could have found it in my heart to
sit down by the dyke, and cry and weep like any baby.
It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West
Kirk and the Grassmarket into the streets of the capital. The
huge height of the buildings, running up to ten and fifteen
storeys, the narrow arched entries that continually vomited
passengers, the wares of the merchants in their windows,
the hubbub and endless stir, the foul smells and the fine
clothes, and a hundred other particulars too small to men-
tion, struck me into a kind of stupor of surprise, so that I
let the crowd carry me to and fro; and yet all the time what
I was thinking of was Alan at Rest-and-be-Thankful; and
all the time (although you would think I would not choose
but be delighted with these braws and novelties) there was
a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse for something
wrong.
The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the
very doors of the British Linen Company’s bank.

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