CHAPTER LVIII
THE CONFUSION OF KING AGRAMANT'S CAMP
Itwas Waverley's custom sometimes to ride a little apart from themain body, to look at any object of curiosity which occurred onthe march. They were now in Lancashire, when, attracted by acastellated old hall, he left the squadron for half an hour totake a survey and slight sketch of it. As he returned down theavenue he was met by Ensign Maccombich. This man had contracted asort of regard for Edward since the day of his first seeing him atTully-Veolan and introducing him to the Highlands. He seemed toloiter, as if on purpose to meet with our hero. Yet, as he passedhim, he only approached his stirrup and pronounced the single word'Beware!' and then walked swiftly on, shunning all furthercommunication.
Edward, somewhat surprised at this hint, followed with his eyesthe course of Evan, who speedily disappeared among the trees. Hisservant, Alick Polwarth, who was in attendance, also looked afterthe Highlander, and then riding up close to his master, said,--
'The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe amang thaeHighland rinthereouts.'
'What do you mean, Alick?' said Waverley.
'The Mac-Ivors, sir, hae gotten it into their heads that ye haeaffronted their young leddy, Miss Flora; and I hae heard mae thanane say, they wadna tak muckle to mak a black-cock o' ye; and yeken weel eneugh there's mony o' them wadna mind a bawbee theweising a ball through the Prince himsell, an the Chief gae themthe wink, or whether he did or no, if they thought it a thing thatwould please him when it was dune.'
Waverley, though confident that Fergus Mac-Ivor was incapable ofsuch treachery, was by no means equally sure of the forbearance ofhis followers. He knew that, where the honour of the Chief or hisfamily was supposed to be touched, the happiest man would be hethat could first avenge the stigma; and he had often heard themquote a proverb, 'That the best revenge was the most speedy andmost safe.' Coupling this with the hint of Evan, he judged it mostprudent to set spurs to his horse and ride briskly back to thesquadron. Ere he reached the end of the long avenue, however, aball whistled past him, and the report of a pistol was heard.
'It was that deevil's buckle, Callum Beg,' said Alick; 'I saw himwhisk away through amang the reises.'
Edward, justly incensed at this act of treachery, galloped out ofthe avenue, and observed the battalion of Mac-Ivor at somedistance moving along the common in which it terminated. He alsosaw an individual running very fast to join the party; this heconcluded was the intended assassin, who, by leaping an enclosure,might easily make a much shorter path to the main body than hecould find on horseback. Unable to contain himself, he commandedAlick to go to the Baron of Bradwardine, who was at the head ofhis regiment about half a mile in front, and acquaint him withwhat had happened. He himself immediately rode up to Fergus'sregiment. The Chief himself was in the act of joining them. He wason horseback, having returned from waiting on the Prince. Onperceiving Edward approaching, he put his horse in motion towardshim.
'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Waverley, without any farther salutation,'I have to inform you that one of your people has this instantfired at me from a lurking-place.'
'As that,' answered Mac-Ivor, 'excepting the circumstance of alurking-place, is a pleasure which I presently propose to myself,I should be glad to know which of my clansmen dared to anticipateme.'
'I shall certainly be at your command whenever you please; thegentleman who took your office upon himself is your page there,Callum Beg.'
'Stand forth from the ranks, Callum! Did you fire at Mr.Waverley?'
'No,' answered the unblushing Callum.
'You did,' said Alick Polwarth, who was already returned, havingmet a trooper by whom he despatched an account of what was goingforward to the Baron of Bradwardine, while he himself returned tohis master at full gallop, neither sparing the rowels of his spursnor the sides of his horse. 'You did; I saw you as plainly as Iever saw the auld kirk at Coudingham.'
'You lie,' replied Callum, with his usual impenetrable obstinacy.The combat between the knights would certainly, as in the days ofchivalry, have been preceded by an encounter between the squires(for Alick was a stout-hearted Merseman, and feared the bow ofCupid far more than a Highlander's dirk or claymore), but Fergus,with his usual tone of decision, demanded Callum's pistol. Thecock was down, the pan and muzzle were black with the smoke; ithad been that instant fired.
'Take that,' said Fergus, striking the boy upon the head with theheavy pistol-butt with his whole force--'take that for actingwithout orders, and lying to disguise it.' Callum received theblow without appearing to flinch from it, and fell without sign oflife. 'Stand still, upon your lives!' said Fergus to the rest ofthe clan; 'I blow out the brains of the first man who interferesbetween Mr. Waverley and me.' They stood motionless; Evan Dhualone showed symptoms of vexation and anxiety. Callum lay on theground bleeding copiously, but no one ventured to give him anyassistance. It seemed as if he had gotten his death-blow.
'And now for you, Mr. Waverley; please to turn your horse twentyyards with me upon the common.' Waverley complied; and Fergus,confronting him when they were a little way from the line ofmarch, said, with great affected coolness, 'I could not butwonder, sir, at the fickleness of taste which you were pleased toexpress the other day. But it was not an angel, as you justlyobserved, who had charms for you, unless she brought an empire forher fortune. I have now an excellent commentary upon that obscuretext.'
'I am at a loss even to guess at your meaning, Colonel Mac-Ivor,unless it seems plain that you intend to fasten a quarrel uponme.'
'Your affected ignorance shall not serve you, sir. The Prince--thePrince himself has acquainted me with your manoeuvres. I littlethought that your engagements with Miss Bradwardine were thereason of your breaking off your intended match with my sister. Isuppose the information that the Baron had altered the destinationof his estate was quite a sufficient reason for slighting yourfriend's sister and carrying off your friend's mistress.'
'Did the Prince tell you I was engaged to Miss Bradwardine?' saidWaverley. 'Impossible.'
'He did, sir,' answered Mac-Ivor; 'so, either draw and defendyourself or resign your pretensions to the lady.' 'This isabsolute madness,' exclaimed Waverley, 'or some strange mistake!'
'O! no evasion! draw your sword!' said the infuriated Chieftain,his own already unsheathed.
'Must I fight in a madman's quarrel?'
'Then give up now, and forever, all pretensions to MissBradwardine's hand.'
'What title have you,' cried Waverley, utterly losing command ofhimself--'what title have you, or any man living, to dictate suchterms to me?' And he also drew his sword.
At this moment the Baron of Bradwardine, followed by several ofhis troop, came up on the spur, some from curiosity, others totake part in the quarrel which they indistinctly understood hadbroken out between the Mac-Ivors and their corps. The clan, seeingthem approach, put themselves in motion to support theirChieftain, and a scene of confusion commenced which seamed likelyto terminate in bloodshed. A hundred tongues were in motion atonce. The Baron lectured, the Chieftain stormed, the Highlandersscreamed in Gaelic, the horsemen cursed and swore in LowlandScotch. At length matters came to such a pass that the Baronthreatened to charge the Mac-Ivors unless they resumed theirranks, and many of them, in return, presented their firearms athim and the other troopers. The confusion was privately fosteredby old Ballenkeiroch, who made no doubt that his own day ofvengeance was arrived, when, behold! a cry arose of 'Room! makeway! place a Monseigneur! place a Monseigneur!' This announced theapproach of the Prince, who came up with a party of Fitz-James'sforeign dragoons that acted as his body-guard. His arrivalproduced some degree of order. The Highlanders reassumed theirranks, the cavalry fell in and formed squadron, and the Baron andChieftain were silent.
The Prince called them and Waverley before him. Having heard theoriginal cause of the quarrel through the villainy of Callum Beg,he ordered him into custody of the provost-marshal for immediateexecution, in the event of his surviving the chastisementinflicte
d by his Chieftain. Fergus, however, in a tone betwixtclaiming a right and asking a favour, requested he might be leftto his disposal, and promised his punishment should be exemplary.To deny this might have seemed to encroach on the patriarchalauthority of the Chieftains, of which they were very jealous, andthey were not persons to be disobliged. Callum was therefore leftto the justice of his own tribe.
The Prince next demanded to know the new cause of quarrel betweenColonel Mac-Ivor and Waverley. There was a pause. Both gentlemenfound the presence of the Baron of Bradwardine (for by this timeall three had approached the Chevalier by his command) aninsurmountable barrier against entering upon a subject where thename of his daughter must unavoidably be mentioned. They turnedtheir eyes on the ground, with looks in which shame andembarrassment were mingled with displeasure. The Prince, who hadbeen educated amongst the discontented and mutinous spirits of thecourt of St. Germains, where feuds of every kind were the dailysubject of solicitude to the dethroned sovereign, had served hisapprenticeship, as old Frederick of Prussia would have said, tothe trade of royalty. To promote or restore concord among hisfollowers was indispensable. Accordingly he took his measures.
'Monsieur de Beaujeu!'
'Monseigneur!' said a very handsome French cavalry officer who wasin attendance.
'Ayez la bonte d'aligner ces montagnards la, ainsi que lacavalerie, s'il vous plait, et de les remettre a la marche. Vousparlez si bien l'Anglois, cela ne vous donneroit pas beaucoup depeine.'
'Ah! pas du tout, Monseigneur,' replied Mons. le Comte de Beaujeu,his head bending down to the neck of his little prancing highly-managed charger. Accordingly he piaffed away, in high spirits andconfidence, to the head of Fergus's regiment, althoughunderstanding not a word of Gaelic and very little English.
'Messieurs les sauvages Ecossois--dat is, gentilmans savages, havethe goodness d'arranger vous.'
The clan, comprehending the order more from the gesture than thewords, and seeing the Prince himself present, hastened to dresstheir ranks.
'Ah! ver well! dat is fort bien!' said the Count de Beaujeu.'Gentilmans sauvages! mais, tres bien. Eh bien! Qu'est ce que vousappelez visage, Monsieur?' (to a lounging trooper who stood byhim). 'Ah, oui! face. Je vous remercie, Monsieur. Gentilshommes,have de goodness to make de face to de right par file, dat is, byfiles. Marsh! Mais, tres bien; encore, Messieurs; il faut vousmettre a la marche. ... Marchez done, au nom de Dieu, parcequej'ai oublie le mot Anglois; mais vous etes des braves gens, et mecomprenez tres bien.'
The Count next hastened to put the cavalry in motion. 'Gentilmanscavalry, you must fall in. Ah! par ma foi, I did not say fall off!I am a fear de little gross fat gentilman is moche hurt. Ah, monDieu! c'est le Commissaire qui nous a apporte les premieresnouvelles de ce maudit fracas. Je suis trop fache, Monsieur!'
But poor Macwheeble, who, with a sword stuck across him, and awhite cockade as large as a pancake, now figured in the characterof a commissary, being overturned in the bustle occasioned by thetroopers hastening to get themselves in order in the Prince'spresence, before he could rally his galloway, slunk to the rearamid the unrestrained laughter of the spectators.
'Eh bien, Messieurs, wheel to de right. Ah! dat is it! Eh,Monsieur de Bradwardine, ayez la bonte de vous mettre a la tete devotre regiment, car, par Dieu, je n'en puis plus!'
The Baron of Bradwardine was obliged to go to the assistance ofMonsieur de Beaujeu, after he had fairly expended his few Englishmilitary phrases. One purpose of the Chevalier was thus answered.The other he proposed was, that in the eagerness to hear andcomprehend commands issued through such an indistinct medium inhis own presence, the thoughts of the soldiers in both corps mightget a current different from the angry channel in which they wereflowing at the time.
Charles Edward was no sooner left with the Chieftain and Waverley,the rest of his attendants being at some distance, than he said,'If I owed less to your disinterested friendship, I could be mostseriously angry with both of you for this very extraordinary andcauseless broil, at a moment when my father's service so decidedlydemands the most perfect unanimity. But the worst of my situationis, that my very best friends hold they have liberty to ruinthemselves, as well as the cause they are engaged in, upon theslightest caprice.'
Both the young men protested their resolution to submit everydifference to his arbitration. 'Indeed,' said Edward, 'I hardlyknow of what I am accused. I sought Colonel Mac-Ivor merely tomention to him that I had narrowly escaped assassination at thehand of his immediate dependent, a dastardly revenge which I knewhim to be incapable of authorising. As to the cause for which heis disposed to fasten a quarrel upon me, I am ignorant of it,unless it be that he accuses me, most unjustly, of having engagedthe affections of a young lady in prejudice of his pretensions.'
'If there is an error,' said the Chieftain, 'it arises from aconversation which I held this morning with his Royal Highnesshimself.'
'With me?' said the Chevalier; 'how can Colonel Mac-Ivor have sofar misunderstood me?'
He then led Fergus aside, and, after five minutes' earnestconversation, spurred his horse towards Edward. 'Is it possible--nay, ride up, Colonel, for I desire no secrets--is it possible,Mr. Waverley, that I am mistaken in supposing that you are anaccepted lover of Miss Bradwardine? a fact of which I was bycircumstances, though not by communication from you, so absolutelyconvinced that I alleged it to Vich Ian Vohr this morning as areason why, without offence to him, you might not continue to beambitious of an alliance which, to an unengaged person, eventhough once repulsed, holds out too many charms to be lightly laidaside.'
'Your Royal Highness,' said Waverley,'must have founded oncircumstances altogether unknown to me, when you did me thedistinguished honour of supposing me an accepted lover of MissBradwardine. I feel the distinction implied in the supposition,but I have no title to it. For the rest, my confidence in my ownmerit is too justly slight to admit of my hoping for success inany quarter after positive rejection.'
The Chevalier was silent for a moment, looking steadily at themboth, and then said, 'Upon my word, Mr. Waverley, you are a lesshappy man than I conceived I had very good reason to believe you.But now, gentlemen, allow me to be umpire in this matter, not asPrince Regent but as Charles Stuart, a brother adventurer with youin the same gallant cause. Lay my pretensions to be obeyed by youentirely out of view, and consider your own honour, and how far itis well or becoming to give our enemies the advantage and ourfriends the scandal of showing that, few as we are, we are notunited. And forgive me if I add, that the names of the ladies whohave been mentioned crave more respect from us all than to be madethemes of discord.'
He took Fergus a little apart and spoke to him very earnestly fortwo or three minutes, and then returning to Waverley, said, 'Ibelieve I have satisfied Colonel Mac-Ivor that his resentment wasfounded upon a misconception, to which, indeed, I myself gaverise; and I trust Mr. Waverley is too generous to harbour anyrecollection of what is past when I assure him that such is thecase. You must state this matter properly to your clan, Vich IanVohr, to prevent a recurrence of their precipitate violence.'Fergus bowed. 'And now, gentlemen, let me have the pleasure to seeyou shake hands.'
They advanced coldly, and with measured steps, each apparentlyreluctant to appear most forward in concession. They did, however,shake hands, and parted, taking a respectful leave of theChevalier.
Charles Edward [Footnote: See Note 12.] then rode to the head ofthe MacIvors, threw himself from his horse, begged a drink out ofold Ballenkeiroch's cantine, and marched about half a mile alongwith them, inquiring into the history and connexions of Sliochdnan Ivor, adroitly using the few words of Gaelic he possessed, andaffecting a great desire to learn it more thoroughly. He thenmounted his horse once more, and galloped to the Baron's cavalry,which was in front, halted them, and examined their accoutrementsand state of discipline; took notice of the principal gentlemen,and even of the cadets; inquired after their ladies, and commendedtheir horses; rode about an hour with the Baron of Bradwardine,and endured three long sto
ries about Field-Marshal the Duke ofBerwick.
'Ah, Beaujeu, mon cher ami,' said he, as he returned to his usualplace in the line of march, 'que mon metier de prince errant estennuyant, par fois. Mais, courage! c'est le grand jeu, aprestout.'