CHAPTER XLV
AN INCIDENT GIVES RISE TO UNAVAILING REFLECTIONS
When Waverley reached that part of the column which was filled bythe clan of Mac-Ivor, they halted, formed, and received him with atriumphant flourish upon the bagpipes, and a loud shout of the men, mostof whom knew him personally, and were delighted to see him in the dressof their country and of their sept. 'You shout,' said a Highlander ofa neighbouring clan to Evan Dhu, 'as if the Chieftain were just come toyour head.'
MAR E BRAN IS E BRATHAIR, If it be not Bran, it is Bran's brother,' wasthe proverbial reply of Maccombich. [Bran, the well-known dog of Fingal,is often the theme of Highland proverb as well as song.]
'Oh, then, it is the handsome Sassenach Duinhe-wassel, that is to bemarried to Lady Flora?'
'That may be, or it may not be; and it is neither your matter nor mine,Gregor.'
Fergus advanced to embrace the volunteer, and afford him a warm andhearty welcome; but he thought it necessary to apologize for thediminished numbers of his battalion (which did not exceed three hundredmen), by observing, he had sent a good many out upon parties.
The real fact, however, was, that the defection of Donald Bean Lean haddeprived him of at least thirty hardy fellows, whose services he hadfully reckoned upon, and that many of his occasional adherents had beenrecalled by their several chiefs to the standards to which they mostproperly owed their allegiance. The rival chief of the great northernbranch also of his own clan, had mustered his people, although he hadnot yet declared either for the Government or for the Chevalier, and byhis intrigues had in some degree diminished the force with whichFergus took the field. To make amends for these disappointments, it wasuniversally admitted that the followers of Vich Ian Vohr, in point ofappearance, equipment, arms, and dexterity in using them, equalled themost choice troops which followed the standard of Charles Edward. OldBallenkeiroch acted as his major; and, with the other officers who hadknown Waverley when at Glennaquoich, gave our hero a cordial reception,as the sharer of their future dangers and expected honours.
The route pursued by the Highland army, after leaving the village ofDuddingston, was for some time the common post-road betwixt Edinburghand Haddington, until they crossed the Esk at Musselburgh, when, insteadof keeping the low grounds towards the sea, they turned more inland, andoccupied the brow of the eminence called Carberry hill, a place alreadydistinguished in Scottish history as the spot where the lovely Marysurrendered herself to her insurgent subjects. This direction waschosen, because the Chevalier had received notice that the army of theGovernment, arriving by sea from Aberdeen, had landed at Dunbar, andquartered the night before to the west of Haddington, with the intentionof falling down towards the sea-side, and approaching Edinburgh by thelower coast-road. By keeping the height, which overhung that road inmany places, it was hoped the Highlanders might find an opportunity ofattacking them to advantage. The army therefore halted upon the ridge ofCarberry hill, both to refresh the soldiers, and as a central situation,from which their march could be directed to any point that the motionsof the enemy might render most advisable. While they remained in thisposition, a messenger arrived in haste to desire Mac-Ivor to come to thePrince, adding, that their advanced post had had a skirmish with some ofthe enemy's cavalry, and that the Baron of Bradwardine had sent in a fewprisoners.
Waverley walked forward out of the line to satisfy his curiosity, andsoon observed five or six of the troopers, who, covered with dust, hadgalloped in to announce that the enemy were in full march westward alongthe coast. Passing still a little further on, he was struck with a groanwhich issued from a hovel. He approached the spot, and heard a voice, inthe provincial English of his native county, which endeavoured, thoughfrequently interrupted by pain, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The voiceof distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom. He enteredthe hovel, which seemed to be intended for what is called, in thepastoral counties of Scotland, a smearing-house; and in its obscurityEdward could only at first discern a sort of red bundle; for those whohad stripped the wounded man of his arms, and part of his clothes, hadleft him the dragoon-cloak in which he was enveloped.
'For the love of God,' said the wounded man, as he heard Waverley'sstep, 'give me a single drop of water!'
'You shall have it,' answered Waverley, at the same time raising him inhis arms, bearing him to the door of the hut, and giving him some drinkfrom his flask.
'I should know that voice,' said the man; but, looking on Waverley'sdress with a bewildered look,--'no, this is not the young squire!'
This was the common phrase by which Edward was distinguished on theestate of Waverley-Honour, and the sound now thrilled to his heart withthe thousand recollections which the well-known accents of his nativecountry had already contributed to awaken. 'Houghton!' he said, gazingon the ghastly features which death was fast disfiguring, 'can this beyou?'
'I never thought to hear an English voice again,' said the wounded man;'they left me to live or die here as I could, when they found I wouldsay nothing about the strength of the regiment. But, oh, squire! howcould you stay from us so long, and let us be tempted by that fiend ofthe pit, Ruffin?--we should have followed you through flood and fire, tobe sure.'
'Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed upon.'
'I often thought so,' said Houghton, 'though they showed us your veryseal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the ranks.'
'Do not exhaust your strength in speaking,' said Edward; 'I will get youa surgeon presently.'
He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head-quarters,where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to meet him. 'Bravenews!' shouted the Chief; 'we shall be at it in less than two hours. ThePrince has put himself at the head of the advance, and as he drew hissword, called out, "My friends, I have thrown away the scabbard." Come,Waverley, we move instantly.'
'A moment,--a moment; this poor prisoner is dying where shall I find asurgeon?'
'Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three Frenchfellows, who, I believe, are little better than GARCONS APOTHICAIRES.'
'But the man will bleed to death.'
'Poor fellow!' said Fergus, in a momentary fit of compassion; theninstantly added, 'But it will be a thousand men's fate before night; socome along.'
'I cannot; I tell you he is a son of a tenant of my uncle's.'
'Oh, if he's a follower of yours, he must be looked to;
'I'll send Callum to you. But DIAOUL!-CAEDE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART!'continued the impatient Chieftain,--'what made an old soldier, likeBradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?'
Callum came with his usual alertness; and, indeed, Waverley rathergained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his anxiety aboutthe wounded man. They would not have understood the general philanthropywhich rendered it almost impossible for Waverley to have passed anyperson in such distress; but, as apprehending that the sufferer was oneof his following, [SCOTTICE for followers.] they unanimously allowedthat Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain,who merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of anhour poor Humphry breathed his last, praying his young master, whenhe returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job Houghton andhis dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these wild petticoat-menagainst old England.
When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with sinceresorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies of mortality,now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum to remove the bodyinto the hut. This the young Highlander performed, not without examiningthe pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had beenpretty well spung'd. He took the cloak, however, and proceeding with theprovident caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among somefurze, and carefully marked the spot, observing that, if he chanced toreturn that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for his auld motherElspat.
It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place in themarching colu
mn, which was now moving rapidly forward to occupy the highgrounds above the village of Tranent, between which and the sea, lay thepurposed march of the opposite army.
This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many unavailingand painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was clear, from theconfession of the man, that Colonel Gardiner's proceedings had beenstrictly warranted, and even rendered indispensable, by the steps takenin Edward's name to induce the soldiers of his troop to mutiny. Thecircumstance of the seal, he now, for the first time, recollected, andthat he had lost it in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That theartful villain had secured it, and used it as the means of carryingon an intrigue in the regiment, for his own purposes, was sufficientlyevident, and Edward had now little doubt that in the packet placed inhis portmanteau by his daughter, he should find further light uponhis proceedings. In the meanwhile, the repeated expostulation ofHoughton,--'Ah, squire, why did you leave us?' rang like a knell in hisears.
'Yes,' he said, 'I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtlesscruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the protection ofa generous and kind landlord, and when I had subjected you to all therigour of military discipline, I shunned to bear my own share of theburden, and wandered from the duties I had undertaken, leaving alikethose whom it was my business to protect, and my own reputation, tosuffer under the artifices of villany. O indolence and indecision ofmind! if not in yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery andmischief do you frequently prepare the way!'