CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH.
A hopeless darkness settles o'er my fate; I've seen the last look of her heavenly eyes,-- I've heard the last sound of her blessed voice,-- I've seen her fair form from my sight depart; My doom is closed. Count Basil.
"I ken not what to make of you, Mr. Osbaldistone," said MacGregor, as hepushed the flask towards me. "You eat not, you show no wish for rest; andyet you drink not, though that flask of Bourdeaux might have come out ofSir Hildebrand's ain cellar. Had you been always as abstinent, you wouldhave escaped the deadly hatred of your cousin Rashleigh."
"Had I been always prudent," said I, blushing at the scene he recalled tomy recollection, "I should have escaped a worse evil--the reproach of myown conscience."
MacGregor cast a keen and somewhat fierce glance on me, as if to readwhether the reproof, which he evidently felt, had been intentionallyconveyed. He saw that I was thinking of myself, not of him, and turnedhis face towards the fire with a deep sigh. I followed his example, andeach remained for a few minutes wrapt in his own painful reverie. All inthe hut were now asleep, or at least silent, excepting ourselves.
MacGregor first broke silence, in the tone of one who takes up hisdetermination to enter on a painful subject. "My cousin Nicol Jarviemeans well," he said, "but he presses ower hard on the temper andsituation of a man like me, considering what I have been--what I havebeen forced to become--and, above all, that which has forced me to becomewhat I am."
He paused; and, though feeling the delicate nature of the discussion inwhich the conversation was likely to engage me, I could not helpreplying, that I did not doubt his present situation had much which mustbe most unpleasant to his feelings.
"I should be happy to learn," I added, "that there is an honourablechance of your escaping from it."
"You speak like a boy," returned MacGregor, in a low tone that growledlike distant thunder--"like a boy, who thinks the auld gnarled oak can betwisted as easily as the young sapling. Can I forget that I have beenbranded as an outlaw--stigmatised as a traitor--a price set on my head asif I had been a wolf--my family treated as the dam and cubs of thehill-fox, whom all may torment, vilify, degrade, and insult--the veryname which came to me from a long and noble line of martial ancestors,denounced, as if it were a spell to conjure up the devil with?"
As he went on in this manner, I could plainly see, that, by theenumeration of his wrongs, he was lashing himself up into a rage, inorder to justify in his own eyes the errors they had led him into. Inthis he perfectly succeeded; his light grey eyes contracting alternatelyand dilating their pupils, until they seemed actually to flash withflame, while he thrust forward and drew back his foot, grasped the hiltof his dirk, extended his arm, clenched his fist, and finally rose fromhis seat.
"And they _shall_ find," he said, in the same muttered but deep tone ofstifled passion, "that the name they have dared to proscribe--that thename of MacGregor--_is_ a spell to raise the wild devil withal. _They_shall hear of my vengeance, that would scorn to listen to the story of mywrongs--The miserable Highland drover, bankrupt, barefooted,--stripped ofall, dishonoured and hunted down, because the avarice of others graspedat more than that poor all could pay, shall burst on them in an awfulchange. They that scoffed at the grovelling worm, and trode upon him, maycry and howl when they see the stoop of the flying and fiery-moutheddragon.--But why do I speak of all this?" he said, sitting down again,and in a calmer tone--"Only ye may opine it frets my patience, Mr.Osbaldistone, to be hunted like an otter, or a sealgh, or a salmon uponthe shallows, and that by my very friends and neighbours; and to have asmany sword-cuts made, and pistols flashed at me, as I had this day in theford of Avondow, would try a saint's temper, much more a Highlander's,who are not famous for that gude gift, as ye may hae heard, Mr.Osbaldistone.--But as thing bides wi' me o' what Nicol said;--I'm vexedfor the bairns--I'm vexed when I think o' Hamish and Robert living theirfather's life." And yielding to despondence on account of his sons, whichhe felt not upon his own, the father rested his head upon his hand.
I was much affected, Will. All my life long I have been more melted bythe distress under which a strong, proud, and powerful mind is compelledto give way, than by the more easily excited sorrows of softerdispositions. The desire of aiding him rushed strongly on my mind,notwithstanding the apparent difficulty, and even impossibility, of thetask.
"We have extensive connections abroad," said I: "might not your sons,with some assistance--and they are well entitled to what my father'shouse can give--find an honourable resource in foreign service?"
I believe my countenance showed signs of sincere emotion; but mycompanion, taking me by the hand, as I was going to speak farther,said--"I thank--I thank ye--but let us say nae mair o' this. I did notthink the eye of man would again have seen a tear on MacGregor'seye-lash." He dashed the moisture from his long gray eye-lash and shaggyred eye-brow with the back of his hand. "To-morrow morning," he said,"we'll talk of this, and we will talk, too, of your affairs--for we areearly starters in the dawn, even when we have the luck to have good bedsto sleep in. Will ye not pledge me in a grace cup?" I declined theinvitation.
"Then, by the soul of St. Maronoch! I must pledge myself," and he pouredout and swallowed at least half-a-quart of wine.
I laid myself down to repose, resolving to delay my own inquiries untilhis mind should be in a more composed state. Indeed, so much had thissingular man possessed himself of my imagination, that I felt itimpossible to avoid watching him for some minutes after I had flungmyself on my heath mattress to seeming rest. He walked up and down thehut, crossed himself from time to time, muttering over some Latin prayerof the Catholic church; then wrapped himself in his plaid, with his nakedsword on one side, and his pistol on the other, so disposing the folds ofhis mantle that he could start up at a moment's warning, with a weapon ineither hand, ready for instant combat. In a few minutes his heavybreathing announced that he was fast asleep. Overpowered by fatigue, andstunned by the various unexpected and extraordinary scenes of the day, I,in my turn, was soon overpowered by a slumber deep and overwhelming, fromwhich, notwithstanding every cause for watchfulness, I did not awakeuntil the next morning.
When I opened my eyes, and recollected my situation, I found thatMacGregor had already left the hut. I awakened the Bailie, who, aftermany a snort and groan, and some heavy complaints of the soreness of hisbones, in consequence of the unwonted exertions of the preceding day, wasat length able to comprehend the joyful intelligence, that the assetscarried off by Rashleigh Osbaldistone had been safely recovered. Theinstant he understood my meaning, he forgot all his grievances, and,bustling up in a great hurry, proceeded to compare the contents of thepacket which I put into his hands, with Mr. Owen's memorandums,muttering, as he went on, "Right, right--the real thing--Bailie andWhittington--where's Bailie and Whittington?--seven hundred, six, andeight--exact to a fraction--Pollock and Peelman--twenty-eight,seven--exact--Praise be blest!--Grub and Grinder--better men cannotbe--three hundred and seventy--Gliblad--twenty; I doubt Gliblad'sganging--Slipprytongue; Slipprytongue's gaen--but they aresma'sums--sma'sums--the rest's a'right--Praise be blest! we have got thestuff, and may leave this doleful country. I shall never think onLoch-Ard but the thought will gar me grew again."
"I am sorry, cousin," said MacGregor, who entered the hut during the lastobservation, "I have not been altogether in the circumstances to makeyour reception sic as I could have desired--natheless, if you wouldcondescend to visit my puir dwelling"--
"Muckle obliged, muckle obliged," answered Mr. Jarvie, very hastily--"Butwe maun be ganging--we maun be jogging, Mr. Osbaldistone and me--businesscanna wait."
"Aweel, kinsman," replied the Highlander, "ye ken our fashion--foster theguest that comes--further him that maun gang. But ye cannot return byDrymen--I must set you on Loch Lomond, and boat ye down to the Ferry o'Balloch, and send your nags round to meet ye there. It's a maxim of aw
ise man never to return by the same road he came, providing another'sfree to him."
"Ay, ay, Rob," said the Bailie, "that's ane o' the maxims ye learned whenye were a drover;--ye caredna to face the tenants where your beasts hadbeen taking a rug of their moorland grass in the by-ganging, and I doubtyour road's waur marked now than it was then."
"The mair need not to travel it ower often, kinsman," replied Rob; "butI'se send round your nags to the ferry wi' Dougal Gregor, wha isconverted for that purpose into the Bailie's man, coming--not, as ye maybelieve, from Aberfoil or Rob Roy's country, but on a quiet jaunt fromStirling. See, here he is."
"I wadna hae ken'd the creature," said Mr. Jarvie; nor indeed was it easyto recognise the wild Highlander, when he appeared before the door of thecottage, attired in a hat, periwig, and riding-coat, which had oncecalled Andrew Fairservice master, and mounted on the Bailie's horse, andleading mine. He received his last orders from his master to avoidcertain places where he might be exposed to suspicion--to collect whatintelligence he could in the course of his journey, and to await ourcoming at an appointed place, near the Ferry of Balloch.
At the same time, MacGregor invited us to accompany him upon our ownroad, assuring us that we must necessarily march a few miles beforebreakfast, and recommending a dram of brandy as a proper introduction tothe journey, in which he was pledged by the Bailie, who pronounced it "anunlawful and perilous habit to begin the day wi' spirituous liquors,except to defend the stomach (whilk was a tender part) against themorning mist; in whilk case his father the deacon had recommended a dram,by precept and example."
"Very true, kinsman," replied Rob, "for which reason we, who are Childrenof the Mist, have a right to drink brandy from morning till night."
The Bailie, thus refreshed, was mounted on a small Highland pony; anotherwas offered for my use, which, however, I declined; and we resumed, undervery different guidance and auspices, our journey of the preceding day.
Our escort consisted of MacGregor, and five or six of the handsomest,best armed, and most athletic mountaineers of his band, and whom he hadgenerally in immediate attendance upon his own person.
When we approached the pass, the scene of the skirmish of the precedingday, and of the still more direful deed which followed it, MacGregorhastened to speak, as if it were rather to what he knew must benecessarily passing in my mind, than to any thing I had said--he spoke,in short, to my thoughts, and not to my words.
"You must think hardly of us, Mr. Osbaldistone, and it is not naturalthat it should be otherwise. But remember, at least, we have not beenunprovoked. We are a rude and an ignorant, and it may be a violent andpassionate, but we are not a cruel people. The land might be at peace andin law for us, did they allow us to enjoy the blessings of peaceful law.But we have been a persecuted generation."
"And persecution," said the Bailie, "maketh wise men mad."
"What must it do then to men like us, living as our fathers did athousand years since, and possessing scarce more lights than they did?Can we view their bluidy edicts against us--their hanging, heading,hounding, and hunting down an ancient and honourable name--as deservingbetter treatment than that which enemies give to enemies?--Here I stand,have been in twenty frays, and never hurt man but when I was in hetbluid; and yet they wad betray me and hang me like a masterless dog, atthe gate of ony great man that has an ill will at me."
I replied, "that the proscription of his name and family sounded inEnglish ears as a very cruel and arbitrary law;" and having thus farsoothed him, I resumed my propositions of obtaining military employmentfor himself, if he chose it, and his sons, in foreign parts. MacGregorshook me very cordially by the hand, and detaining me, so as to permitMr. Jarvie to precede us, a manoeuvre for which the narrowness of theroad served as an excuse, he said to me--"You are a kind-hearted and anhonourable youth, and understand, doubtless, that which is due to thefeelings of a man of honour. But the heather that I have trode upon whenliving, must bloom ower me when I am dead--my heart would sink, and myarm would shrink and wither like fern in the frost, were I to lose sightof my native hills; nor has the world a scene that would console me forthe loss of the rocks and cairns, wild as they are, that you see aroundus.--And Helen--what could become of her, were I to leave her the subjectof new insult and atrocity?--or how could she bear to be removed fromthese scenes, where the remembrance of her wrongs is aye sweetened by therecollection of her revenge?--I was once so hard put at by my Greatenemy, as I may well ca' him, that I was forced e'en to gie way to thetide, and removed myself and my people and family from our dwellings inour native land, and to withdraw for a time into MacCallum More'scountry--and Helen made a Lament on our departure, as weel as MacRimmon*himsell could hae framed it--and so piteously sad and waesome, that ourhearts amaist broke as we sate and listened to her--it was like thewailing of one that mourns for the mother that bore him--the tears camedown the rough faces of our gillies as they hearkened; and I wad not havethe same touch of heartbreak again, no, not to have all the lands thatever were owned by MacGregor."
* The MacRimmons or MacCrimonds were hereditary pipers to the chiefs ofMacLeod, and celebrated for their talents. The pibroch said to have beencomposed by Helen MacGregor is still in existence. See the Introductionto this Novel.