CHAPTER XXVI.
Hail, land of bowmen! seed of those who scorn'd To stoop the neck to wide imperial Rome-- Oh, dearest half of Albion sea walled!
Albania (1737).
"I have been devising a mode," said the well meaning provost, "by whichI may make you both secure for a week or two from the malice of yourenemies, when I have little doubt I may see a changed world at court.But that I may the better judge what is to be done, tell me frankly,Simon, the nature of your connexion with Gilchrist MacIan, which leadsyou to repose such implicit confidence in him. You are a close observerof the rules of the city, and are aware of the severe penalties whichthey denounce against such burghers as have covine and alliance with theHighland clans."
"True, my lord; but it is also known to you that our craft, working inskins of cattle, stags, and every other description of hides, have aprivilege, and are allowed to transact with those Highlanders, as withthe men who can most readily supply us with the means of conducting ourtrade, to the great profit of the burgh. Thus it hath chanced with me tohave great dealings with these men; and I can take it on my salvation,that you nowhere find more just and honourable traffickers, or by whom aman may more easily make an honest penny. I have made in my day severaldistant journeys into the far Highlands, upon the faith of their chiefs;nor did I ever meet with a people more true to their word, when youcan once prevail upon them to plight it in your behalf. And as for theHighland chief, Gilchrist MacIan, saving that he is hasty in homicideand fire raising towards those with whom he hath deadly feud, I havenowhere seen a man who walketh a more just and upright path."
"It is more than ever I heard before," said Sir Patrick Charteris. "YetI have known something of the Highland runagates too."
"They show another favour, and a very different one, to their friendsthan to their enemies, as your lordship shall understand," said theglover. "However, be that as it may, it chanced me to serve GilchristMacIan in a high matter. It is now about eighteen years since, that itchanced, the Clan Quhele and Clan Chattan being at feud, as indeed theyare seldom at peace, the former sustained such a defeat as well nighextirpated the family of their chief MacIan. Seven of his sons wereslain in battle and after it, himself put to flight, and his castletaken and given to the flames. His wife, then near the time of givingbirth to an infant, fled into the forest, attended by one faithfulservant and his daughter. Here, in sorrow and care enough, she gavebirth to a boy; and as the misery of the mother's condition rendered herlittle able to suckle the infant, he was nursed with the milk of a doe,which the forester who attended her contrived to take alive in a snare.It was not many months afterwards that, in a second encounter of thesefierce clans, MacIan defeated his enemies in his turn, and regainedpossession of the district which he had lost. It was with unexpectedrapture that he found his wife and child were in existence, having neverexpected to see more of them than the bleached bones, from which thewolves and wildcats had eaten the flesh.
"But a strong and prevailing prejudice, such as is often entertainedby these wild people, prevented their chief from enjoying the fullhappiness arising from having thus regained his only son in safety. Anancient prophecy was current among them, that the power of the tribeshould fall by means of a boy born under a bush of holly and suckledby a white doe. The circumstance, unfortunately for the chief, talliedexactly with the birth of the only child which remained to him, and itwas demanded of him by the elders of the clan, that the boy should beeither put to death or at least removed from the dominions of the tribeand brought up in obscurity. Gilchrist MacIan was obliged to consent andhaving made choice of the latter proposal, the child, under the name ofConachar, was brought up in my family, with the purpose, as was at firstintended, of concealing from him all knowledge who or what he was, or ofhis pretensions to authority over a numerous and warlike people. But,as years rolled on, the elders of the tribe, who had exerted so muchauthority, were removed by death, or rendered incapable of interferingin the public affairs by age; while, on the other hand, the influence ofGilchrist MacIan was increased by his successful struggles againstthe Clan Chattan, in which he restored the equality betwixt the twocontending confederacies, which had existed before the calamitous defeatof which I told your honour. Feeling himself thus firmly seated, henaturally became desirous to bring home his only son to his bosom andfamily; and for that purpose caused me to send the young Conachar, ashe was called, more than once to the Highlands. He was a youth expresslymade, by his form and gallantry of bearing, to gain a father's heart.At length, I suppose the lad either guessed the secret of his birthor something of it was communicated to him; and the disgust which thepaughty Hieland varlet had always shown for my honest trade became moremanifest; so that I dared not so much as lay my staff over his costard,for fear of receiving a stab with a dirk, as an answer in Gaelic toa Saxon remark. It was then that I wished to be well rid of him, therather that he showed so much devotion to Catharine, who, forsooth, setherself up to wash the Ethiopian, and teach a wild Hielandmnan mercy andmorals. She knows herself how it ended."
"Nay, my father," said Catharine, "it was surely but a point of charityto snatch the brand from the burning."
"But a small point of wisdom," said her father, "to risk the burning ofyour own fingers for such an end. What says my lord to the matter?"
"My lord would not offend the Fair Maid of Perth," said Sir Patrick;"and he knows well the purity and truth of her mind. And yet I mustneeds say that, had this nursling of the doe been shrivelled, haggard,cross made, and red haired, like some Highlanders I have known, Iquestion if the Fair Maiden of Perth would have bestowed so much zealupon his conversion; and if Catharine had been as aged, wrinkled, andbent by years as the old woman that opened the door for me this morning,I would wager my gold spurs against a pair of Highland brogues that thiswild roebuck would never have listened to a second lecture. You laugh,glover, and Catharine blushes a blush of anger. Let it pass, it is theway of the world."
"The way in which the men of the world esteem their neighbours, mylord," answered Catharine, with some spirit.
"Nay, fair saint, forgive a jest," said the knight; "and thou, Simon,tell us how this tale ended--with Conachar's escape to the Highlands, Isuppose?"
"With his return thither," said the glover. "There was, for some twoor three years, a fellow about Perth, a sort of messenger, who cameand went under divers pretences, but was, in fact, the means ofcommunication between Gilchrist MacIan and his son, young Conachar, or,as he is now called, Hector. From this gillie I learned, in general,that the banishment of the dault an neigh dheil, or foster child ofthe white doe, was again brought under consideration of the tribe. Hisfoster father, Torquil of the Oak, the old forester, appeared witheight sons, the finest men of the clan, and demanded that the doom ofbanishment should be revoked. He spoke with the greater authority, ashe was himself taishatar, or a seer, and supposed to have communicationwith the invisible world. He affirmed that he had performed a magicalceremony, termed tine egan, by which he evoked a fiend, from whom heextorted a confession that Conachar, now called Eachin, or Hector,MacIan, was the only man in the approaching combat between the twohostile clans who should come off without blood or blemish. HenceTorquil of the Oak argued that the presence of the fated person wasnecessary to ensure the victory. 'So much I am possessed of this,' saidthe forester, 'that, unless Eachin fight in his place in the ranks ofthe Clan Quhele, neither I, his foster father, nor any of my eight sonswill lift a weapon in the quarrel.'
"This speech was received with much alarm; for the defection ofnine men, the stoutest of their tribe, would be a serious blow, moreespecially if the combat, as begins to be rumoured, should be decided bya small number from each side. The ancient superstition concerningthe foster son of the white doe was counterbalanced by a new and laterprejudice, and the father took the opportunity of presenting to theclan his long hidden son, whose youthful, but handsome and animated,countenance, haughty carriage, and active limbs excited the admirationof the clansmen, w
ho joyfully received him as the heir and descendant oftheir chief, notwithstanding the ominous presage attending his birth andnurture.
"From this tale, my lord," continued Simon Glover, "your lordship mayeasily conceive why I myself should be secure of a good reception amongthe Clan Quhele; and you may also have reason to judge that it would bevery rash in me to carry Catharine thither. And this, noble lord, is theheaviest of my troubles."
"We shall lighten the load, then," said Sir Patrick; "and, good glover,I will take risk for thee and this damsel. My alliance with the Douglasgives me some interest with Marjory, Duchess of Rothsay, his daughter,the neglected wife of our wilful Prince. Rely on it, good glover, thatin her retinue thy daughter will be as secure as in a fenced castle. TheDuchess keeps house now at Falkland, a castle which the Duke of Albany,to whom it belongs, has lent to her for her accommodation. I cannotpromise you pleasure, Fair Maiden; for the Duchess Marjory of Rothsayis unfortunate, and therefore splenetic, haughty, and overbearing;conscious of the want of attractive qualities, therefore jealous ofthose women who possess them. But she is firm in faith and noble inspirit, and would fling Pope or prelate into the ditch of her castle whoshould come to arrest any one under her protection. You will thereforehave absolute safety, though you may lack comfort."
"I have no title to more," said Catharine; "and deeply do I feel thekindness that is willing to secure me such honourable protection. If shebe haughty, I will remember she is a Douglas, and hath right, as beingsuch, to entertain as much pride as may become a mortal; if she befretful, I will recollect that she is unfortunate, and if she beunreasonably captious, I will not forget that she is my protectress.Heed no longer for me, my lord, when you have placed me under the noblelady's charge. But my poor father, to be exposed amongst these wild anddangerous people!"
"Think not of that, Catharine," said the glover: "I am as familiar withbrogues and bracken as if I had worn them myself. I have only to fearthat the decisive battle may be fought before I can leave this country;and if the clan Quhele lose the combat, I may suffer by the ruin of myprotectors."
"We must have that cared for," said Sir Patrick: "rely on my looking outfor your safety. But which party will carry the day, think you?"
"Frankly, my Lord Provost, I believe the Clan Chattan will have theworse: these nine children of the forest form a third nearly of the bandsurrounding the chief of Clan Quhele, and are redoubted champions."
"And your apprentice, will he stand to it, thinkest thou?"
"He is hot as fire, Sir Patrick," answered the glover; "but he is alsounstable as water. Nevertheless, if he is spared, he seems likely to beone day a brave man."
"But, as now, he has some of the white doe's milk still lurking abouthis liver, ha, Simon?"
"He has little experience, my lord," said the glover, "and I need nottell an honoured warrior like yourself that danger must be familiar tous ere we can dally with it like a mistress."
This conversation brought them speedily to the Castle of Kinfauns,where, after a short refreshment, it was necessary that the father andthe daughter should part, in order to seek their respective places ofrefuge. It was then first, as she saw that her father's anxiety on heraccount had drowned all recollections of his friend, that Catharinedropped, as if in a dream, the name of "Henry Gow."
"True--most true," continued her father; "we must possess him of ourpurposes."
"Leave that to me," said Sir Patrick. "I will not trust to a messenger,nor will I send a letter, because, if I could write one, I think hecould not read it. He will suffer anxiety in the mean while, but I willride to Perth tomorrow by times and acquaint him with your designs."
The time of separation now approached. It was a bitter moment, butthe manly character of the old burgher, and the devout resignation ofCatharine to the will of Providence made it lighter than might have beenexpected. The good knight hurried the departure of the burgess, butin the kindest manner; and even went so far as to offer him some goldpieces in loan, which might, where specie was so scarce, be consideredas the ne plus ultra of regard. The glover, however, assured him hewas amply provided, and departed on his journey in a northwesterlydirection. The hospitable protection of Sir Patrick Charteris was noless manifested towards his fair guest. She was placed under the chargeof a duenna who managed the good knight's household, and was compelledto remain several days in Kinfauns, owing to the obstacles and delaysinterposed by a Tay boatman, named Kitt Henshaw, to whose charge she wasto be committed, and whom the provost highly trusted.
Thus were severed the child and parent in a moment of great danger anddifficulty, much augmented by circumstances of which they were thenignorant, and which seemed greatly to diminish any chance of safety thatremained for them.