CHAPTER VI. A MESSAGE
While Forester slept soundly and without a dream, his long, lightbreathing scarce audible within the quiet chamber, a glance within theroom of Bagenal Daly would have shown that, whatever the consequencesof the past night's troubles, he, at least, was not likely to be takenunprepared. On the table in the middle of the apartment two wax candlesburned, two others, as yet unlighted, stood ready on the chimney-piece,a pistol case lay open, displaying the weapons, whose trim and orderlyappearance denoted recent care, a fact attested by certain clothsand flannels which lay about; a mould for bullets, and about a dozennewly-cast balls most carefully filed and rubbed smooth with sandpaper,were flanked by a small case of surgical instruments, with an amplesupply of lint and ligatures such as are used to secure bleedingvessels, in the use of which few unprofessional persons could vie withBagenal Daly. A few sheets of paper lay also there, on which appearedsome recent writing; and in a large, deep armchair, ready dressed forthe day, sat Daly himself, sound asleep; one arm hung listlessly overthe chair, the other was supported in the breast of his waistcoat. Thestrong, stern features, unrelaxed by repose, had the same impassiveexpression of cold defiance as when awake, and if his lips muttered,the accents were not less determined and firm than in his moments ofself-possession. He awoke from time to time and looked at his watch, andonce threw open the sash, and held out his hand to ascertain if it wereraining; but these interruptions did not interfere with his rest, for,the minute after, he slept as soundly as before. Nor was he the only onewithin that house who counted the hours thus anxiously. A lantern in thestable beamed brightly, showing three horses ready saddled, the bridleson the neck of each, and ready at a moment's notice to be bitted; whilepacing slowly to and fro, like a sentinel on his post, was the tallfigure of Sandy M'Grane, wrapped in a long cloth cloak, and his headcovered by a cap, whose shape and material spoke of a far-off landand wild companionship; for it was the skin of a black fox, and theworkmanship the product of a squaw's fair fingers.
Sandy's patrol was occasionally extended to the gateway, where heusually halted for a few seconds to listen, and then resumed his path asleisurely as before. At last, he remained somewhat longer at the gate,and bent his head more cautiously to hear; then, noiselessly unbarringand unlocking the door, he leaned out. To an ear less practised thanhis own the silence would have been complete. Not so with Sandy, whoseperceptions had received the last finish of an Indian education. Heretired hastily, and, approaching that part of the court beneath hismaster's window, gave a long, low whistle. The next moment the casementwas opened, and Daly's head appeared.
"What now, Sandy? It is but a quarter past five."
"It may be so; but there 's a horse coming fast up the lower road."
"Listen again, and try if you hear it still."
Sandy did so, and was back in a few moments. "He's crossing the bridgeat 'the elms' now, and will be here in less than three minutes more."
"Watch the gate, then--let there be no noise--and come up by the backstairs." With these words Daly closed the sash, and Sandy returned tohis post.
Ere many minutes elapsed, the door of Mr. Daly's chamber was opened, andSandy announced Major Hackett of Brough. As Bagenal Daly rose to meethim, an expression of more than ordinary sternness was stamped upon hisbold features.
"Your servant informed me that I should find you in readiness to receiveme, Mr. Bagenal Daly," said the Major, a coarse-looking, carbuncled-faceman of about forty; "but perhaps the object of my visit would be betteraccomplished if I could have a few minutes' conversation with a CaptainForester who is here."
"If you can show me no sufficient cause to the contrary, sir," repliedDaly, proudly, "I shall act for him on this occasion."
"I beg pardon," said Hackett, smiling dubiously. "The business I cameupon induced me to suspect that, at your time of life--"
"Go on, sir,--finish your speech," said Daly, with' a fixed and steadystare which, very far from reassuring, seemed only to increase theMajor's confusion.
"After all, Mr. Daly," resumed he, more hurriedly, "I have nothingwhatever to do with that. My duty is to convey a message from Mr.Alexander MacDonough to a gentleman named Forester, here. If you willaccept the proposition, and assist in the necessary arrangements--"
"We are ready, sir,--quite ready. One of the consequences of admittingdubious acquaintances to the intimacy of the table is such a case as thepresent. I was guilty of one fault in this respect, but I shall show youI was not unprepared for what might follow it." And as he spoke hethrew open the window and called out, "Sandy! awaken Captain Forester. Isuppose you are ready, Major Hackett, with your friend?"
"Yes, sir. Mr. MacDonough expects us at Cluan Point."
"And bridle the horses, Sandy," continued Daly, speaking from thewindow.
"I conclude, from what I see," said Hackett, "that your friend is notonly decided against offering an apology for his offence, but desirousof a meeting."
"Who said so, sir?--or what right have you to suppose that any gentlemanof good family and good prospects should indulge such an unnaturalcaprice as to wish to risk character and life in a quarrel with Mr.Alexander MacDonough?"
"Circumstanced as that gentleman is at this moment, your observationsare unsuitable, sir," replied the Major.
"So they are," said Daly, hastily; "or, rather, so they would have been,if not provoked by your remark. But, hang me! if I think it signifiesmuch; if it were not that some of our country neighbors weregood-natured enough to treat this same Mr. MacDonough on terms ofequality before, I 'd have advised Captain Forester not to mind him._My_ maxim is, there are always low fellows enough to shoot one another,and never come trespassing among the manors of their betters."
"I must confess myself unprepared, sir, to hear language like this,"said Hackett, sternly.
"Not a whit more than I feel at seeing myself negotiating a meeting witha man turned out of the army with disgrace," said Daly, as his face grewpurple with anger. "Were it not that I would not risk a hint of dishonoron this young Englishman's fame, I 'd never interchange three words withMajor Hackett."
"You shall answer for this, sir, and speedily too, by G----d!" saidHackett, moving towards the door.
Daly burst into an insolent laugh, and said, "Your friend waits us atCluan?" The other bowed. "Well, within an hour we'll be there also,"continued the old man; and Hackett retired without adding a syllable.
"We 've about five miles to ride, Captain Forester," said Daly, as theyissued forth beneath the deeply arched gate of the abbey; "but the roadis a mountain one, and will not admit of fast riding. A fine old placeit is," said he, as, halting his horse, he bestowed a gaze of admirationon the venerable building, now dimly visible in the gray of the breakingdawn. "The pious founders little dreamt of men leaving its portals onsuch an errand as ours." Then, suddenly, with a changed voice, he added,"Men are the same in every age and country; what our ancestors did insteel breastplates, we do now in broadcloth; the law, as they call it,must always be subservient to human passions, and the judge and the jurycome too late, since their function is penalty, and not prevention."
"But surely you do not think the world was better in the times whenmight was right?" said Forester.
"The system worked better than we suspect," said the old man, gravely;"there was such a thing as public opinion among men in those days,although its exponents were neither pamphlets nor scurrilous newspapers.The unjust and the cruel were held in reprobation, and the good and thecharitable had a fame as pure, although their deeds were not trumpetedaloud or graven on marble. Believe me, sir, we are not by any means somuch wiser or better than those who went before us, and even if we wereboth, we certainly are not happier. This eternal warfare, this hand tohand and foot to foot straggle for rank, apd wealth, and power, thatgoes on amongst us now, had no existence then, when a man's destiny wascarved out for him, and he was all but powerless to alter or controlit."
"That alone was no small evil," said Forester, interrupting him; "t
hehumbly born and the lowly were debarred from all the prizes of life, nomatter how great their deserts or how shining their abilities."
"Every rank and class had wherewithal to supply its own requirements,"answered Daly, proudly, "and the menial had more time to indulgeaffection for his master, when removed from the temptation to rival him.That strong bond of attachment has all but disappeared from amongst us."As he spoke, he turned in his saddle and called out, "Can we cross thesands now, or is the tide making, Sandy?"
"It's no just making yet," said the servant, cautiously; "but when thebreakers are so heavy off the Point, it's aye safer to keep the road."
"The road be it, then," muttered Daly to himself; "men never are sochary of life as when about to risk it."
The observation, although not intended, reached Forester's ears, andhe smiled and said, "Naturally enough, perhaps we ought not to be tooexacting with fortune."
Daly turned suddenly round, and, after a brief pause, asked, "What skillhave you with the pistol?"
"When the mark is a shilling I can hit it, three times out of four, attwenty paces; but I never fired at a man."
"That does make a difference," said Daly, musingly; "nothing short of anarrant coward could look calmly on a fellow-creature while he pointed aloaded pistol at his heart. A brave man will always have self-possessionenough to feel the misery of his position. Had the feat been one ofvengeance, and not of love, Tell had never hit the apple, sir. Butthere,--is not that a fire yonder?"
"Yes, I see a red glare through the mist."
"There's a fire on Cluan Point," said Sandy, riding up to his master'sside; "I trow it's a signal."
"Ah! meant to quicken us, perhaps; some fear of being surprised," saidDaly, hastily; "let us move on faster." And they spurred their horses toa sharp trot as they descended the gentle slope, which, projecting farout to sea, formed the promontory of Cluan.
It was at this moment the glorious panorama of Clue Bay broke forthbefore Forester's astonished eyes. He looked with rapture on thatspacious sheet of water, which, in all the majesty of the great ocean,came heaving and swelling against the rocky coast, or pouring its floodof foam through the narrow channels between the islands. Of these, thediversity seemed endless, some rich and verdant, teeming with abundanceand dotted with cottages; others, less fertile, were covered with sheepor goats; while some, rugged and barren, frowned gloomily amid thewatery waste, and one, far out to sea, a bold and lofty cliff, showeda faint twinkling star upon its side, the light for the homeward-boundships over the Atlantic.
"That's Clare Island yonder," said Bagenal Daly, as he observed thedirection of Forester's gaze; "I must show you the great cliff there.What say you if we go to-morrow?"
"To-morrow!" repeated Forester, smiling faintly; "perhaps so."