CHAPTER XXXVIII
A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE
There was a moment's pause when the whole party had got out of thehut; and the Highlander who assumed the command, and who, in Waverley'sawakened recollection, seemed to be the same tall figure who had actedas Donald Bean Lean's lieutenant, by whispers and signs imposed thestrictest silence. He delivered to Edward a sword and steel pistol, and,pointing up the tract, laid his hand on the hilt of his own claymore,as if to make him sensible they might have occasion to use force to makegood their passage. He then placed himself at the head of the party,who moved up the pathway in single or Indian file, Waverley being placednearest to their leader. He moved with great precaution, as if to avoidgiving any alarm, and halted as soon as he came to the verge of theascent. Waverley was soon sensible of the reason, for he heard at nogreat distance an English sentinel call out 'All's well.' The heavysound sank on the night-wind down the woody glen, and was answered bythe echoes of its banks. A second, third, and fourth time, the signalwas repeated, fainter and fainter, as if at a greater and greaterdistance. It was obvious that a party of soldiers were near, and upontheir guard, though not sufficiently so to detect men skilful in everyart of predatory warfare, like those with whom he now watched theirineffectual precautions.
When these sounds had died upon the silence of the night, theHighlanders began their march swiftly, yet with the most cautioussilence. Waverley had little time, or indeed disposition, forobservation, and could only discern that; they passed at some distancefrom a large building, in the windows of which a light or two yet seemedto twinkle. A little farther on, the leading Highlander snuffed the windlike a setting spaniel, and then made a signal to his party again tohalt. He stooped down upon all-fours, wrapped up in his plaid, so as tobe scarce distinguishable from the heathy ground on which he moved, andadvanced in this posture to reconnoitre. In a short time he returned,and dismissed his attendants excepting one; and, intimating to Waverleythat he must imitate his cautious mode of proceeding, all three creptforward on hands and knees.
After proceeding a greater way in this inconvenient manner than was atall comfortable to his knees and shins, Waverley perceived the smellof smoke, which probably had been much sooner distinguished by the moreacute nasal organs of his guide. It proceeded from the corner of a lowand ruinous sheepfold, the walls of which were made of loose stones,as is usual in Scotland. Close by this low wall the Highlander guidedWaverley, and, in order probably to make him sensible of his danger, orperhaps to obtain the full credit of his own dexterity, he intimatedto him, by sign and example, that he might raise his head so as to peepinto the sheepfold. Waverley did so, and beheld an outpost of four orfive soldiers lying by their watch-fire. They were all asleep, exceptthe sentinel, who paced backwards and forwards with his firelock on hisshoulder, which glanced red in the light of the fire as he crossed andrecrossed before it in his short walk, casting his eye frequently tothat part of the heavens from which the moon, hitherto obscured by mist,seemed now about to make her appearance,
In the course of a minute or two, by one of those sudden changes ofatmosphere incident to a mountainous country, a breeze arose, and sweptbefore it the clouds which had covered the horizon, and the night planetpoured her full effulgence upon a wide and blighted heath, skirtedindeed with copsewood and stunted trees in the quarter from which theyhad come, but open and bare to the observation of the sentinel inthat to which their course tended. The wall of the sheepfold, indeed,concealed them as they lay, but any advance beyond its shelter seemedimpossible without certain discovery.
The Highlander eyed the blue vault, but far from blessing the usefullight with Homer's, or rather Pope's, benighted peasant, he muttered aGaelic curse upon the unseasonable splendour of MAC-FARLANE'S BUAT(i. e. lantern). [See Note 21.] He looked anxiously around for a fewminutes, and then apparently took his resolution. Leaving his attendantwith Waverley, after motioning to Edward to remain quiet, and givinghis comrade directions in a brief whisper, he retreated, favoured by theirregularity of the ground, in the same direction and in the same manneras they had advanced. Edward, turning his head after him, could perceivehim crawling on all-fours with the dexterity of an Indian, availinghimself of every bush and inequality to escape observation, and neverpassing over the more exposed parts of his track until the sentinel'sback was turned from him. At length he reached the thickets andunderwood which partly covered the moor in that direction, and probablyextended to the verge of the glen where Waverley had been so longan inhabitant. The Highlander disappeared, but it was only for a fewminutes, for he suddenly issued forth from a different part of thethicket, and advancing boldly upon the open heath, as if to invitediscovery, he levelled his piece, and fired at the sentinel. A woundin the arm proved a disagreeable interruption to the poor fellow'smeteorological observations, as well as to the tune of 'Nancy Dawson,'which he was whistling. He returned the fire ineffectually, and hiscomrades, starting up at the alarm, advanced alertly towards the spotfrom which the first shot had issued. The Highlander, after giving thema full view of his person, dived among the thickets, for his RUSE DEGUERRE had now perfectly succeeded.
While the soldiers pursued the cause of their disturbance in onedirection, Waverley, adopting the hint of his remaining attendant, madethe best of his speed in that which his guide originally intended topursue, and which now (the attention of the soldiers being drawn to adifferent quarter) was unobserved and unguarded. When they had runabout a quarter of a mile, the brow of a rising ground, which they hadsurmounted, concealed them from further risk of observation. Theystill heard, however, at a distance, the shouts of the soldiers as theyhallooed to each other upon the heath, and they could also hear thedistant roll of a drum beating to arms in the same direction. But thesehostile sounds were now far in their rear, and died away upon the breezeas they rapidly proceeded.
When they had walked about half an hour, still along open and wasteground of the same description, they came to the stump of an ancientoak, which, from its relics, appeared to have been at one time a tree ofvery large size. In an adjacent hollow they found several Highlanders,with a horse or two. They had not joined them above a few minutes, whichWaverley's attendant employed, in all probability, in communicatingthe cause of their delay (for the words 'Duncan Duroch' were oftenrepeated), when Duncan himself appeared, out of breath indeed, and withall the symptoms of having run for his life, but laughing, and in highspirits at the success of the stratagem by which he had baffled hispursuers. This, indeed, Waverley could easily conceive might be a matterof no great difficulty to the active mountaineer, who was perfectlyacquainted with the ground, and traced his course with a firmness andconfidence to which his pursuers must have been strangers. The alarmwhich he excited seemed still to continue, for a dropping shot or twowere heard at a great distance, which seemed to serve as an addition tothe mirth of Duncan and his comrades.
The mountaineer now resumed the arms with which he had entrusted ourhero, giving him to understand that the dangers of the journey werehappily surmounted. Waverley was then mounted upon one of the horses,a change which the fatigue of the night and his recent illness renderedexceedingly acceptable. His portmanteau was placed on anotherpony, Duncan mounted a third, and they set forward at a round pace,accompanied by their escort. No other incident marked the course of thatnight's journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of arapid river. The country around was at once fertile and romantic. Steepbanks of wood were broken by cornfields, which this year presented anabundant harvest, already in a great measure cut down.
On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a winding ofits stream, stood a large and massive castle, the half-ruined turretsof which were already glittering in the first rays of the sun. [See Note22.] It was in form an oblong square, of size sufficient to contain alarge court in the centre. The towers at each angle of the square rosehigher than the walls of the building, and were in their turn surmountedby turrets, differing in height, and irregular in shape. Upo
n one ofthese a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in the wind,declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white ensign, whichfloated from another tower, announced that the garrison was held by theinsurgent adherents of the House of Stuart.
Passing hastily through a small and mean town, where their appearanceexcited neither surprise nor curiosity in the few peasants whom thelabours of the harvest began to summon from their repose, the partycrossed an ancient and narrow bridge of several arches, and turning tothe left, up an avenue of huge old sycamores, Waverley found himself infront of the gloomy yet picturesque structure which he had admired at adistance. A huge iron-grated door, which formed the exterior defenceof the gateway, was already thrown back to receive them; and a second,heavily constructed of oak, and studded thickly with iron nails, beingnext opened, admitted them into the interior courtyard. A gentleman,dressed in the Highland garb, and having a white cockade in his bonnet,assisted Waverley to dismount from his horse, and with much courtesy bidhim welcome to the castle.
The governor for so we must term him, having conducted Waverley to ahalf-ruinous apartment, where, however, there was a small camp-bed, andhaving offered him any refreshment which he desired, was then about toleave him.
'Will you not add to your civilities,' said Waverley, after having madethe usual acknowledgement, 'by having the kindness to inform me where Iam, and whether or not I am to consider myself as a prisoner?'
'I am not at liberty to be so explicit upon this subject as I couldwish. Briefly, however, you are in the Castle of Doune, in the districtof Menteith, and in no danger whatever.'
'And how am I assured of that?'
'By the honour of Donald Stewart, governor of the garrison, andlieutenant-colonel in the service of his Royal Highness Prince CharlesEdward.' So saying, he hastily left the apartment, as if to avoidfurther discussion.
Exhausted by the fatigues of the night, our hero now threw himself uponthe bed, and was in a few minutes fast asleep.