CHAPTER XXXVII
WAVERLEY IS STILL IN DISTRESS
The velocity, and indeed violence, with which Waverley was hurriedalong nearly deprived him of sensation; for the injury he had receivedfrom his fall prevented him from aiding himself so effectually as hemight otherwise have done. When this was observed by his conductors,they called to their aid two or three others of the party, and,swathing our hero's body in one of their plaids, divided his weight bythat means among them, and transported him at the same rapid rate asbefore, without any exertion of his own. They spoke little, and that inGaelic; and did not slacken their pace till they had run nearly twomiles, when they abated their extreme rapidity, but continued still towalk very fast, relieving each other occasionally.
Our hero now endeavoured to address them, but was only answered with'Cha n'eil Beurl agam' i.e. 'I have no English,' being, as Waverleywell knew, the constant reply of a Highlander when he either does notunderstand or does not choose to reply to an Englishman or Lowlander.He then mentioned the name of Vich lan Vohr, concluding that he wasindebted to his friendship for his rescue from the clutches of GiftedGilfillan, but neither did this produce any mark of recognition fromhis escort.
The twilight had given place to moonshine when the party halted uponthe brink of a precipitous glen, which, as partly enlightened by themoonbeams, seemed full of trees and tangled brushwood. Two of theHighlanders dived into it by a small foot-path, as if to explore itsrecesses, and one of them returning in a few minutes, said something tohis companions, who instantly raised their burden and bore him, withgreat attention and care, down the narrow and abrupt descent.Notwithstanding their precautions, however, Waverley's person came morethan once into contact, rudely enough, with the projecting stumps andbranches which overhung the pathway.
At the bottom of the descent, and, as it seemed, by the side of a brook(for Waverley heard the rushing of a considerable body of water,although its stream was invisible in the darkness), the party againstopped before a small and rudely-constructed hovel. The door was open,and the inside of the premises appeared as uncomfortable and rude asits situation and exterior foreboded. There was no appearance of afloor of any kind; the roof seemed rent in several places; the wallswere composed of loose stones and turf, and the thatch of branches oftrees. The fire was in the centre, and filled the whole wigwam withsmoke, which escaped as much through the door as by means of a circularaperture in the roof. An old Highland sibyl, the only inhabitant ofthis forlorn mansion, appeared busy in the preparation of some food. Bythe light which the fire afforded Waverley could discover that hisattendants were not of the clan of Ivor, for Fergus was particularlystrict in requiring from his followers that they should wear the tartanstriped in the mode peculiar to their race; a mark of distinctionanciently general through the Highlands, and still maintained by thoseChiefs who were proud of their lineage or jealous of their separate andexclusive authority.
Edward had lived at Glennaquoich long enough to be aware of adistinction which he had repeatedly heard noticed, and now satisfiedthat he had no interest with, his attendants, he glanced a disconsolateeye around the interior of the cabin. The only furniture, excepting awashing-tub and a wooden press, called in Scotland an ambry, sorelydecayed, was a large wooden bed, planked, as is usual, all around, andopening by a sliding panel. In this recess the Highlanders depositedWaverley, after he had by signs declined any refreshment. His slumberswere broken and unrefreshing; strange visions passed before his eyes,and it required constant and reiterated efforts of mind to dispel them.Shivering, violent headache, and shooting pains in his limbs succeededthese symptoms; and in the morning it was evident to his Highlandattendants or guard, for he knew not in which light to consider them,that Waverley was quite unfit to travel.
After a long consultation among themselves, six of the party left thehut with their arms, leaving behind an old and a young man. The formeraddressed Waverley, and bathed the contusions, which swelling and lividcolour now made conspicuous. His own portmanteau, which the Highlandershad not failed to bring off, supplied him with linen, and to his greatsurprise was, with all its undiminished contents, freely resigned tohis use. The bedding of his couch seemed clean and comfortable, and hisaged attendant closed the door of the bed, for it had no curtain, aftera few words of Gaelic, from which Waverley gathered that he exhortedhim to repose. So behold our hero for a second time the patient of aHighland Esculapius, but in a situation much more uncomfortable thanwhen he was the guest of the worthy Tomanrait.
The symptomatic fever which accompanied the injuries he had sustaineddid not abate till the third day, when it gave way to the care of hisattendants and the strength of his constitution, and he could now raisehimself in his bed, though not without pain. He observed, however, thatthere was a great disinclination on the part of the old woman who actedas his nurse, as well as on that of the elderly Highlander, to permitthe door of the bed to be left open, so that he might amuse himselfwith observing their motions; and at length, after Waverley hadrepeatedly drawn open and they had as frequently shut the hatchway ofhis cage, the old gentleman put an end to the contest by securing it onthe outside with a nail so effectually that the door could not be drawntill this exterior impediment was removed.
While musing upon the cause of this contradictory spirit in personswhose conduct intimated no purpose of plunder, and who, in all otherpoints, appeared to consult his welfare and his wishes, it occurred toour hero that, during the worst crisis of his illness, a female figure,younger than his old Highland nurse, had appeared to flit around hiscouch. Of this, indeed, he had but a very indistinct recollection, buthis suspicions were confirmed when, attentively listening, he oftenheard, in the course of the day, the voice of another female conversingin whispers with his attendant. Who could it be? And why should sheapparently desire concealment? Fancy immediately aroused herself andturned to Flora Mac-Ivor. But after a short conflict between his eagerdesire to believe she was in his neighbourhood, guarding, like an angelof mercy, the couch of his sickness, Waverley was compelled to concludethat his conjecture was altogether improbable; since, to suppose shehad left her comparatively safe situation at Glennaquoich to descendinto the Low Country, now the seat of civil war, and to inhabit such alurking-place as this, was a thing hardly to be imagined. Yet his heartbounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a lightfemale step glide to or from the door of the hut, or the suppressedsounds of a female voice, of softness and delicacy, hold dialogue withthe hoarse inward croak of old Janet, for so he understood hisantiquated attendant was denominated.
Having nothing else to amuse his solitude, he employed himself incontriving some plan to gratify his curiosity, in despite of thesedulous caution of Janet and the old Highland janizary, for he hadnever seen the young fellow since the first morning. At length, uponaccurate examination, the infirm state of his wooden prison-houseappeared to supply the means of gratifying his curiosity, for out of aspot which was somewhat decayed he was able to extract a nail. Throughthis minute aperture he could perceive a female form, wrapped in aplaid, in the act of conversing with Janet. But, since the days of ourgrandmother Eve, the gratification of inordinate curiosity hasgenerally borne its penalty in disappointment. The form was not that ofFlora, nor was the face visible; and, to crown his vexation, while helaboured with the nail to enlarge the hole, that he might obtain a morecomplete view, a slight noise betrayed his purpose, and the object ofhis curiosity instantly disappeared, nor, so far as he could observe,did she again revisit the cottage.
All precautions to blockade his view were from that time abandoned, andhe was not only permitted but assisted to rise, and quit what had been,in a literal sense, his couch of confinement. But he was not allowed toleave the hut; for the young Highlander had now rejoined his senior,and one or other was constantly on the watch. Whenever Waverleyapproached the cottage dooi the sentinel upon duty civilly, butresolutely, placed himself against it and opposed his exit,accompanying his action with signs which seemed to imply there wasd
anger in the attempt and an enemy in the neighbourhood. Old Janetappeared anxious and upon the watch; and Waverley, who had not yetrecovered strength enough to attempt to take his departure in spite ofthe opposition of his hosts, was under the necessity of remainingpatient His fare was, in every point of view, better than he could haveconceived, for poultry, and even wine, were no strangers to his table.The Highlanders never presumed to eat with him, and, unless in thecircumstance of watching him, treated him with great respect. His soleamusement was gazing from the window, or rather the shapeless aperturewhich was meant to answer the purpose of a window, upon a large andrough brook, which raged and foamed through a rocky channel, closelycanopied with trees and bushes, about ten feet beneath the site of hishouse of captivity.
Upon the sixth day of his confinement Waverley found himself so wellthat he began to meditate his escape from this dull and miserableprison-house, thinking any risk which he might incur in the attemptpreferable to the stupefying and intolerable uniformity of Janet'sretirement. The question indeed occurred, whither he was to direct hiscourse when again at his own disposal. Two schemes seemed practicable,yet both attended with danger and difficulty. One was to go back toGlennaquoich and join Fergus Mac-Ivor, by whom he was sure to be kindlyreceived; and in the present state of his mind, the rigour with whichhe had been treated fully absolved him, in his own eyes, from hisallegiance to the existing government. The other project was toendeavour to attain a Scottish seaport, and thence to take shipping forEngland. His mind wavered between these plans, and probably, if he hadeffected his escape in the manner he proposed, he would have beenfinally determined by the comparative facility by which either mighthave been executed. But his fortune had settled that he was not to beleft to his option.
Upon the evening of the seventh day the door of the hut suddenlyopened, and two Highlanders entered, whom Waverley recognised as havingbeen a part of his original escort to this cottage. They conversed fora short time with the old man and his companion, and then made Waverleyunderstand, by very significant signs, that he was to prepare toaccompany them. This was a joyful communication. What had alreadypassed during his confinement made it evident that no personal injurywas designed to him; and his romantic spirit, having recovered duringhis repose much of that elasticity which anxiety, resentment,disappointment, and the mixture of unpleasant feelings excited by hislate adventures had for a time subjugated, was now wearied withinaction. His passion for the wonderful, although it is the nature ofsuch dispositions to be excited by that degree of danger which merelygives dignity to the feeling of the individual exposed to it, had sunkunder the extraordinary and apparently insurmountable evils by which heappeared environed at Cairnvreckan. In fact, this compound of intensecuriosity and exalted imagination forms a peculiar species of courage,which somewhat resembles the light usually carried by aminer--sufficiently competent, indeed, to afford him guidance andcomfort during the ordinary perils of his labour, but certain to beextinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of earthdamps or pestiferous vapours. It was now, however, once more rekindled,and with a throbbing mixture of hope, awe, and anxiety, Waverleywatched the group before him, as those who were just arrived snatched ahasty meal, and the others assumed their arms and made briefpreparations for their departure.
As he sat in the smoky hut, at some distance from the fire, aroundwhich the others were crowded, he felt a gentle pressure upon his arm.He looked round; it was Alice, the daughter of Donald Bean Lean. Sheshowed him a packet of papers in such a manner that the motion wasremarked by no one else, put her finger for a second to her lips, andpassed on, as if to assist old Janet in packing Waverley's clothes inhis portmanteau. It was obviously her wish that he should not seem torecognise her, yet she repeatedly looked back at him, as an opportunityoccurred of doing so unobserved, and when she saw that he remarked whatshe did, she folded the packet with great address and speed in one ofhis shirts, which she deposited in the portmanteau.
Here then was fresh food for conjecture. Was Alice his unknown warden,and was this maiden of the cavern the tutelar genius that watched hisbed during his sickness? Was he in the hands of her father? and if so,what was his purpose? Spoil, his usual object, seemed in this caseneglected; for not only Waverley's property was restored, but hispurse, which might have tempted this professional plunderer, had beenall along suffered to remain in his possession. All this perhaps thepacket might explain; but it was plain from Alice's manner that shedesired he should consult it in secret. Nor did she again seek his eyeafter she had satisfied herself that her manoeuvre was observed andunderstood. On the contrary, she shortly afterwards left the hut, andit was only as she tript out from the door, that, favoured by theobscurity, she gave Waverley a parting smile and nod of significanceere she vanished in the dark glen.
The young Highlander was repeatedly despatched by his comrades as if tocollect intelligence. At length, when he had returned for the third orfourth time, the whole party arose and made signs to our hero toaccompany them. Before his departure, however, he shook hands with oldJanet, who had been so sedulous in his behalf, and added substantialmarks of his gratitude for her attendance.
'God bless you! God prosper you, Captain Waverley!' said Janet, in goodLowland Scotch, though he had never hithero heard her utter a syllable,save in Gaelic. But the impatience of his attendants prohibited hisasking any explanation.