CHAPTER XLVIII
Wi' coulters and wi' forehammers We garr'd the bars bang merrily, Until we came to the inner prison, Where Willie o' Kinmont he did lie.
Old Border Ballad.
We return to Portanferry, and to Bertram and his honest-hearted friend,whom we left most innocent inhabitants of a place built for the guilty.The slumbers of the farmer were as sound as it was possible.
But Bertram's first heavy sleep passed away long before midnight, norcould he again recover that state of oblivion. Added to the uncertainand uncomfortable state of his mind, his body felt feverish andoppressed. This was chiefly owing to the close and confined air of thesmall apartment in which they slept. After enduring for some time thebroiling and suffocating feeling attendant upon such an atmosphere, herose to endeavour to open the window of the apartment, and thus toprocure a change of air. Alas! the first trial reminded him that he wasin jail, and that the building being contrived for security, notcomfort, the means of procuring fresh air were not left at the disposalof the wretched inhabitants.
Disappointed in this attempt, he stood by the unmanageable window forsome time. Little Wasp, though oppressed with the fatigue of hisjourney on the preceding day, crept out of bed after his master, andstood by him rubbing his shaggy coat against his legs, and expressingby a murmuring sound the delight which he felt at being restored tohim. Thus accompanied, and waiting until the feverish feeling which atpresent agitated his blood should subside into a desire for warmth andslumber, Bertram remained for some time looking out upon the sea.
The tide was now nearly full, and dashed hoarse and near below the baseof the building. Now and then a large wave reached even the barrier orbulwark which defended the foundation of the house, and was flung up onit with greater force and noise than those which only broke upon thesand. Far in the distance, under the indistinct light of a hazy andoften overclouded moon, the ocean rolled its multitudinous complicationof waves, crossing, bursting, and mingling with each other.
'A wild and dim spectacle,' said Bertram to himself, 'like thosecrossing tides of fate which have tossed me about the world from myinfancy upwards. When will this uncertainty cease, and how soon shall Ibe permitted to look out for a tranquil home, where I may cultivate inquiet, and without dread and perplexity, those arts of peace from whichmy cares have been hitherto so forcibly diverted? The ear of Fancy, itis said, can discover the voice of sea-nymphs and tritons amid thebursting murmurs of the ocean; would that I could do so, and that somesiren or Proteus would arise from these billows to unriddle for me thestrange maze of fate in which I am so deeply entangled! Happy friend!'he said, looking at the bed where Dinmont had deposited his bulkyperson, 'thy cares are confined to the narrow round of a healthy andthriving occupation! Thou canst lay them aside at pleasure, and enjoythe deep repose of body and mind which wholesome labour has preparedfor thee!'
At this moment his reflections were broken by little Wasp, who,attempting to spring up against the window, began to yelp and bark mostfuriously. The sounds reached Dinmont's ears, but without dissipatingthe illusion which had transported him from this wretched apartment tothe free air of his own green hills. 'Hoy, Yarrow, man! far yaud, faryaud!' he muttered between his teeth, imagining, doubtless, that he wascalling to his sheep-dog, and hounding him in shepherds' phrase againstsome intruders on the grazing. The continued barking of the terrierwithin was answered by the angry challenge of the mastiff in thecourtyard, which had for a long time been silent, excepting only anoccasional short and deep note, uttered when the moon shone suddenlyfrom among the clouds. Now his clamour was continued and furious, andseemed to be excited by some disturbance distinct from the barking ofWasp, which had first given him the alarm, and which, with muchtrouble, his master had contrived to still into an angry note of lowgrowling.
At last Bertram, whose attention was now fully awakened, conceived thathe saw a boat upon the sea, and heard in good earnest the sound of oarsand of human voices mingling with the dash of the billows. 'Somebenighted fishermen,' he thought, 'or perhaps some of the desperatetraders from the Isle of Man. They are very hardy, however, to approachso near to the custom-house, where there must be sentinels. It is alarge boat, like a long-boat, and full of people; perhaps it belongs tothe revenue service.' Bertram was confirmed in this last opinion byobserving that the boat made for a little quay which ran into the seabehind the custom-house, and, jumping ashore one after another, thecrew, to the number of twenty hands, glided secretly up a small lanewhich divided the custom-house from the bridewell, and disappeared fromhis sight, leaving only two persons to take care of the boat.
The dash of these men's oars at first, and latterly the suppressedsounds of their voices, had excited the wrath of the wakeful sentinelin the courtyard, who now exalted his deep voice into such a horrid andcontinuous din that it awakened his brute master, as savage a ban-dogas himself. His cry from a window, of 'How now, Tearum, what's thematter, sir? down, d--n ye, down!' produced no abatement of Tearum'svociferation, which in part prevented his master from hearing thesounds of alarm which his ferocious vigilance was in the act ofchallenging. But the mate of the two-legged Cerberus was gifted withsharper ears than her husband. She also was now at the window. 'B--tye, gae down and let loose the dog,' she said; 'they're sporting thedoor of the custom-house, and the auld sap at Hazlewood House hasordered off the guard. But ye hae nae mair heart than a cat.' And downthe Amazon sallied to perform the task herself, while her helpmate,more jealous of insurrection within doors than of storm from without,went from cell to cell to see that the inhabitants of each werecarefully secured.
These latter sounds with which we have made the reader acquainted hadtheir origin in front of the house, and were consequently imperfectlyheard by Bertram, whose apartment, as we have already noticed, lookedfrom the back part of the building upon the sea. He heard, however, astir and tumult in the house, which did not seem to accord with thestern seclusion of a prison at the hour of midnight, and, connectingthem with the arrival of an armed boat at that dead hour, could not butsuppose that something extraordinary was about to take place. In thisbelief he shook Dinmont by the shoulder. 'Eh! Ay! Oh! Ailie, woman,it's no time to get up yet,' groaned the sleeping man of the mountains.More roughly shaken, however, he gathered himself up, shook his ears,and asked, 'In the name of Providence what's the matter?'
'That I can't tell you,' replied Bertram; 'but either the place is onfire or some extraordinary thing is about to happen. Are you notsensible of a smell of fire? Do you not hear what a noise there is ofclashing doors within the house and of hoarse voices, murmurs, anddistant shouts on the outside? Upon my word, I believe something veryextraordinary has taken place. Get up, for the love of Heaven, and letus be on our guard.'
Dinmont rose at the idea of danger, as intrepid and undismayed as anyof his ancestors when the beacon-light was kindled. 'Od, Captain, thisis a queer place! they winna let ye out in the day, and they winna letye sleep in the night. Deil, but it wad break my heart in a fortnight.But, Lordsake, what a racket they're making now! Od, I wish we had somelight. Wasp, Wasp, whisht, hinny; whisht, my bonnie man, and let's hearwhat they're doing. Deil's in ye, will ye whisht?'
They sought in vain among the embers the means of lighting theircandle, and the noise without still continued. Dinmont in his turn hadrecourse to the window--'Lordsake, Captain! come here. Od, they haebroken the custom-house!'
Bertram hastened to the window, and plainly saw a miscellaneous crowdof smugglers, and blackguards of different descriptions, some carryinglighted torches, others bearing packages and barrels down the lane tothe boat that was lying at the quay, to which two or three otherfisher-boats were now brought round. They were loading each of these intheir turn, and one or two had already put off to seaward. 'This speaksfor itself,' said Bertram; 'but I fear something worse has happened. Doyou perceive a strong smell of smoke, or is it my fancy?'
'Fancy?' answered Dinmont, 'there's a reek like a killogie. Od, if theyburn th
e custom-house it will catch here, and we'll lunt like atar-barrel a' thegither. Eh! it wad be fearsome to be burnt alive fornaething, like as if ane had been a warlock! Mac-Guffog, hear ye!'roaring at the top of his voice; 'an ye wad ever hae a haill bane inyour skin, let's out, man, let's out!'
The fire began now to rise high, and thick clouds of smoke rolled pastthe window at which Bertram and Dinmont were stationed. Sometimes, asthe wind pleased, the dim shroud of vapour hid everything from theirsight; sometimes a red glare illuminated both land and sea, and shonefull on the stern and fierce figures who, wild with ferocious activity,were engaged in loading the boats. The fire was at length triumphant,and spouted in jets of flame out at each window of the burningbuilding, while huge flakes of flaming materials came driving on thewind against the adjoining prison, and rolling a dark canopy of smokeover all the neighbourhood. The shouts of a furious mob resounded farand wide; for the smugglers in their triumph were joined by all therabble of the little town and neighbourhood, now aroused and incomplete agitation, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, some frominterest in the free trade, and most from the general love of mischiefand tumult natural to a vulgar populace.
Bertram began to be seriously anxious for their fate. There was no stirin the house; it seemed as if the jailor had deserted his charge, andleft the prison with its wretched inhabitants to the mercy of theconflagration which was spreading towards them. In the meantime a newand fierce attack was heard upon the outer gate of the correctionhouse, which, battered with sledge-hammers and crows, was soon forced.The keeper, as great a coward as a bully, with his more ferocious wife,had fled; their servants readily surrendered the keys. The liberatedprisoners, celebrating their deliverance with the wildest yells of joy,mingled among the mob which had given them freedom.
In the midst of the confusion that ensued three or four of theprincipal smugglers hurried to the apartment of Bertram with lightedtorches, and armed with cutlasses and pistols. 'Der deyvil,' said theleader, 'here's our mark!' and two of them seized on Bertram; but onewhispered in his ear,' Make no resistance till you are in the street.'The same individual found an instant to say to Dinmont--'Follow yourfriend, and help when you see the time come.'
In the hurry of the moment Dinmont obeyed and followed close. The twosmugglers dragged Bertram along the passage, downstairs, through thecourtyard, now illuminated by the glare of fire, and into the narrowstreet to which the gate opened, where in the confusion the gang werenecessarily in some degree separated from each other. A rapid noise, asof a body of horse advancing, seemed to add to the disturbance. 'Hageland wetter, what is that?' said the leader; 'keep together, kinder;look to the prisoner.' But in spite of his charge the two who heldBertram were the last of the party.
The sounds and signs of violence were heard in front. The press becamefuriously agitated, while some endeavoured to defend themselves, othersto escape; shots were fired, and the glittering broadswords of thedragoons began to appear flashing above the heads of the rioters.'Now,' said the warning whisper of the man who held Bertram's left arm,the same who had spoken before, 'shake off that fellow and follow me.'
Bertram, exerting his strength suddenly and effectually, easily burstfrom the grasp of the man who held his collar on the right side. Thefellow attempted to draw a pistol, but was prostrated by a blow ofDinmont's fist, which an ox could hardly have received without the samehumiliation. 'Follow me quick,' said the friendly partizan, and divedthrough a very narrow and dirty lane which led from the main street.
No pursuit took place. The attention of the smugglers had beenotherwise and very disagreeably engaged by the sudden appearance ofMac-Morlan and the party of horse. The loud, manly voice of theprovincial magistrate was heard proclaiming the Riot Act, and charging'all those unlawfully assembled to disperse at their own proper peril.'This interruption would, indeed, have happened in time sufficient tohave prevented the attempt, had not the magistrate received upon theroad some false information which led him to think that the smugglerswere to land at the bay of Ellangowan. Nearly two hours were lost inconsequence of this false intelligence, which it may be no lack ofcharity to suppose that Glossin, so deeply interested in the issue ofthat night's daring attempt, had contrived to throw in Mac-Morlan'sway, availing himself of the knowledge that the soldiers had leftHazlewood House, which would soon reach an ear so anxious as his.
In the meantime, Bertram followed his guide, and was in his turnfollowed by Dinmont. The shouts of the mob, the trampling of thehorses, the dropping pistol-shots, sunk more and more faintly upontheir ears, when at the end of the dark lane they found a post-chaisewith four horses. 'Are you here, in God's name?' said the guide to thepostilion who drove the leaders.
'Ay, troth am I,' answered Jock Jabos, 'and I wish I were ony gateelse.'
'Open the carriage then. You, gentlemen, get into it; in a short timeyou'll be in a place of safety, and (to Bertram) remember your promiseto the gipsy wife!'
Bertram, resolving to be passive in the hands of a person who had justrendered him such a distinguished piece of service, got into the chaiseas directed. Dinmont followed; Wasp, who had kept close by them, sprungin at the same time, and the carriage drove off very fast. 'Have a careo' me,' said Dinmont, 'but this is the queerest thing yet! Od, I trustthey'll no coup us. And then what's to come o' Dumple? I would ratherbe on his back than in the Deuke's coach, God bless him.'
Bertram observed, that they could not go at that rapid rate to any verygreat distance without changing horses, and that they might insist uponremaining till daylight at the first inn they stopped at, or at leastupon being made acquainted with the purpose and termination of theirjourney, and Mr. Dinmont might there give directions about his faithfulhorse, which would probably be safe at the stables where he had lefthim. 'Aweel, aweel, e'en sae be it for Dandie. Od, if we were ance outo' this trindling kist o' a thing, I am thinking they wad find it hardwark to gar us gang ony gate but where we liked oursells.'
While he thus spoke the carriage, making a sudden turn, showed themthrough the left window the village at some distance, still widelybeaconed by the fire, which, having reached a store-house whereinspirits were deposited, now rose high into the air, a wavering columnof brilliant light. They had not long time to admire this spectacle,for another turn of the road carried them into a close lane betweenplantations, through which the chaise proceeded in nearly totaldarkness, but with unabated speed.