CHAPTER XXV Die, prophet! in thy speech; For this, among the rest, was I ordained.
Henry VI. Part III.
The progress of the Borderer, who, as we have said, was the last of theparty, was fearfully arrested by a hand, which caught hold of his leg ashe dragged his long limbs after him in silence and perturbation throughthe low and narrow entrance of the subterranean passage. The steel heartof the bold yeoman had well-nigh given way, and he suppressed withdifficulty a shout, which, in the defenceless posture and situation whichthey then occupied, might have cost all their lives. He contentedhimself, however, with extricating his foot from the grasp of thisunexpected follower. 'Be still,' said a voice behind him, releasing him;'I am a friend--Charles Hazlewood.'
These words were uttered in a very low voice, but they produced soundenough to startle Meg Merrilies, who led the van, and who, having alreadygained the place where the cavern expanded, had risen upon her feet. Shebegan, as if to confound any listening ear, to growl, to mutter, and tosing aloud, and at the same time to make a bustle among some brushwoodwhich was now heaped in the cave.
'Here, beldam, deyvil's kind,' growled the harsh voice of Dirk Hatteraickfrom the inside of his den, 'what makest thou there?'
'Laying the roughies to keep the cauld wind frae you, ye desperatedo-nae-good. Ye're e'en ower weel off, and wotsna; it will be otherwisesoon.'
'Have you brought me the brandy, and any news of my people?' said DirkHatteraick.
'There's the flask for ye. Your people--dispersed, broken, gone, or cutto ribbands by the redcoats.'
'Der deyvil! this coast is fatal to me.'
'Ye may hae mair reason to say sae.'
While this dialogue went forward, Bertram and Dinmont had both gained theinterior of the cave and assumed an erect position. The only light whichilluminated its rugged and sable precincts was a quantity of wood burntto charcoal in an iron grate, such as they use in spearing salmon bynight. On these red embers Hatteraick from time to time threw a handfulof twigs or splintered wood; but these, even when they blazed up,afforded a light much disproportioned to the extent of the cavern; and,as its principal inhabitant lay upon the side of the grate most remotefrom the entrance, it was not easy for him to discover distinctly objectswhich lay in that direction. The intruders, therefore, whose number wasnow augmented unexpectedly to three, stood behind the loosely-piledbranches with little risk of discovery. Dinmont had the sense to keepback Hazlewood with one hand till he whispered to Bertram, 'Afriend--young Hazlewood.'
It was no time for following up the introduction, and they all stood asstill as the rocks around them, obscured behind the pile of brushwood,which had been probably placed there to break the cold wind from the sea,without totally intercepting the supply of air. The branches were laid soloosely above each other that, looking through them towards the light ofthe fire-grate, they could easily discover what passed in its vicinity,although a much stronger degree of illumination than it afforded wouldnot have enabled the persons placed near the bottom of the cave to havedescried them in the position which they occupied.
The scene, independent of the peculiar moral interest and personal dangerwhich attended it, had, from the effect of the light and shade on theuncommon objects which it exhibited, an appearance emphatically dismal.The light in the fire-grate was the dark-red glare of charcoal in a stateof ignition, relieved from time to time by a transient flame of a morevivid or duskier light, as the fuel with which Dirk Hatteraick fed hisfire was better or worse fitted for his purpose. Now a dark cloud ofstifling smoke rose up to the roof of the cavern, and then lighted into areluctant and sullen blaze, which flashed wavering up the pillar ofsmoke, and was suddenly rendered brighter and more lively by some drierfuel, or perhaps some splintered fir-timber, which at once converted thesmoke into flame. By such fitful irradiation they could see, more or lessdistinctly, the form of Hatteraick, whose savage and rugged cast offeatures, now rendered yet more ferocious by the circumstances of hissituation and the deep gloom of his mind, assorted well with the ruggedand broken vault, which rose in a rude arch over and around him. The formof Meg Merrilies, which stalked about him, sometimes in the light,sometimes partially obscured in the smoke or darkness, contrastedstrongly with the sitting figure of Hatteraick as he bent over the flame,and from his stationary posture was constantly visible to the spectator,while that of the female flitted around, appearing or disappearing like aspectre.
Bertram felt his blood boil at the sight of Hatteraick. He remembered himwell under the name of Jansen, which the smuggler had adopted after thedeath of Kennedy; and he remembered also that this Jansen, and his mateBrown, the same who was shot at Woodbourne, had been the brutal tyrantsof his infancy. Bertram knew farther, from piecing his own imperfectrecollections with the narratives of Mannering and Pleydell, that thisman was the prime agent in the act of violence which tore him from hisfamily and country, and had exposed him to so many distresses anddangers. A thousand exasperating reflections rose within his bosom; andhe could hardly refrain from rushing upon Hatteraick and blowing hisbrains out.
At the same time this would have been no safe adventure. The flame, as itrose and fell, while it displayed the strong, muscular, and broad-chestedframe of the ruffian, glanced also upon two brace of pistols in his belt,and upon the hilt of his cutlass: it was not to be doubted that hisdesperation was commensurate with his personal strength and means ofresistance. Both, indeed, were inadequate to encounter the combined powerof two such men as Bertram himself and his friend Dinmont, withoutreckoning their unexpected assistant Hazlewood, who was unarmed, and of aslighter make; but Bertram felt, on a moment's reflection, that therewould be neither sense nor valour in anticipating the hangman's office,and he considered the importance of making Hatteraick prisoner alive. Hetherefore repressed his indignation, and awaited what should pass betweenthe ruffian and his gipsy guide.
'And how are ye now?' said the harsh and discordant tones of his femaleattendant.' Said I not, it would come upon you--ay, and in this verycave, where ye harboured after the deed?'
'Wetter and sturm, ye hag!' replied Hatteraick, 'keep your deyvil'smatins till they're wanted. Have you seen Glossin?'
'No,' replied Meg Merrilies; 'you've missed your blow, ye blood-spiller!and ye have nothing to expect from the tempter.'
'Hagel!' exclaimed the ruffian, 'if I had him but by the throat! And whatam I to do then?'
'Do?' answered the gipsy; 'die like a man, or be hanged like a dog!'
'Hanged, ye hag of Satan! The hemp's not sown that shall hang me.'
'It's sown, and it's grown, and it's heckled, and it's twisted. Did I nottell ye, when ye wad take away the boy Harry Bertram, in spite of myprayers,--did I not say he would come back when he had dree'd his weirdin foreign land till his twenty-first year? Did I not say the auld firewould burn down to a spark, but wad kindle again?'
'Well, mother, you did say so,' said Hatteraick, in a tone that hadsomething of despair in its accents; 'and, donner and blitzen! I believeyou spoke the truth. That younker of Ellangowan has been a rock ahead tome all my life! And now, with Glossin's cursed contrivance, my crew havebeen cut off, my boats destroyed, and I daresay the lugger's taken; therewere not men enough left on board to work her, far less to fight her--adredge-boat might have taken her. And what will the owners say? Hagel andsturm! I shall never dare go back again to Flushing.'
'You'll never need,' said the gipsy.
'What are you doing there,' said her companion; 'and what makes you saythat?'
During this dialogue Meg was heaping some flax loosely together. Beforeanswer to this question she dropped a firebrand upon the flax, which hadbeen previously steeped in some spirituous liquor, for it instantlycaught fire and rose in a vivid pyramid of the most brilliant light up tothe very top of the vault. As it ascended Meg answered the ruffian'squestion in a firm and steady voice: 'BECAUSE THE HOUR'S COME, AND THEMAN.'