*CHAPTER XXIV*
*BAFFLED*
My meal over I went to the loch-side, and dropping on my hands and kneestook a long draught of the cool water. Then, raising myself, I utteredthe whaup call, but I did not expect any answer and I received none. Ilooked across the loch to the little cairn that stood sentinel above thesainted dead, and then I turned and made for home and Mary.
I climbed up the slope to my left and scanned the moor. For miles andmiles it spread before me, but far as the eye could reach there was noone to be seen. Then the spell of the solitude fell upon me, and I beganto understand how, in the dawn of the world, the dim-seeing soul of manhad stretched out aching hands in the lone places of the earth if haplyit might find God.
The mood passed, and I prepared to haste me on my journey. Taking mybearings carefully, I decided to make straight for Daldowie. The achein my injured limb had abated and I found that I could make fair speed.My heart was light; I was going back to Mary, and I should find Andrewsafe. The larks above me were storming the heavens with their song; myheart was singing too; and soon my lips were singing as well. I sang alove-song--one of Mary's songs--and as I sang I smiled to think that Iwas practising the art of what Andrew had called "speaking like aceevilised body."
Midday came, as the sun above me proclaimed, and I judged that already Iwas half-way home, when suddenly, in the distance, I saw some movingfigures. The wariness of a hill-man flung me at once upon my face, andpeering through a tuft of sheltering heather, I looked anxiously towardsthem.
They were mounted men, and I saw that they were troopers. I countedthem anxiously. They were searching the moor in open order and I wasable to make out a dozen of them. They were between me and Daldowie.Had they seen me? Were they coming in my direction? Breathless Iwatched. I knew that if they had seen me, they would put spurs to theirhorses and come galloping towards me. They made no sign--I had not beennoticed. I was lying in the open with nothing to hide me but the tuftof heather through which I peered. There was not enough cover there tohide a moor fowl, but close at hand was a bush of broom, and wormingmyself towards it, I crawled under it and lay hidden.
To the unskilled eye, the distance across the rolling face of a moor ishard to measure, but I judged the dragoons were at least a mile from me.
As I watched I saw them gather together in a cluster. Had they foundAndrew, or might it be the poor demented lad whom Andrew had risked hislife to hide, or was it some other hunted hill-man? My ears were tautwith expectation as I waited for the rattle of muskets; but I was wrong.I saw the troopers fling themselves from the saddles and in a moment alittle column of smoke began to steal into the air, and I knew that theyhad off-saddled to make their mid-day meal. That gave me a respite, andI thought hurriedly what I had best do. Should I endeavour to worm myway further afield until I might with safety rise to my feet and raceback to my old hiding-place beside the loch?
Almost I felt persuaded to do so, then I remembered that this wouldplace a greater distance between myself and Mary, and she herself mightbe in danger. A chilling fear seized me. What was it I had heard ofLag? Was it not that he and his dragoons had gone further west, andwere quartered again at Wigtown? If that were so, then possibly thedragoons before me were Winram's men, and the promise of protectiongiven by Lag to the good folk of Daldowie would no longer hold. Thehorror of it! What could I do? My fears had taken such hold on me thatmy strength ebbed, and I was as water poured out upon the ground. It wasnot fear for myself that unmanned me, but a torturing anxiety for Mary'ssafety. The hour of their midday meal seemed endless. So long as theyrested I was safe, and yet, with a strange perversity, I longed for themoment when once again they should mount their horses and continue theirquest. Anxiously I looked up at the sun. Already he was past themeridian and I breathed a sigh of relief. In his haste lay my safety,for the close of day would bring the search to an end, for a time atleast, and then I could return to my loved one.
At last I saw the troopers climb into their saddles. Was it fancy, ordid my eyes deceive me? They seemed to have altered the direction oftheir search. Spreading out across the moor, trampling every bit ofheather under foot, they searched eagerly, but their backs were towardsme. I breathed again, for if they did not change their course oncemore, I should remain undiscovered.
The moments went by on leaden feet, but the sun marched steadily onthrough the sky. Still the troopers quartered and requartered the sametract of moor, and still, to all seeming, their quest was fruitless. Ifound myself wondering what they were looking for. Was it a quest at aventure, or were they searching for the boy who, two days ago, had foundshelter at Daldowie? Two days ago! Was that all? It seemed farlonger. What was Mary doing now? It was drawing near the time of themilking. Perhaps at this very moment she was out on the hill-sidebringing in the cows. Dear little Mary: I could hear her call themhome: see her tripping winsomely along the hill-side. My heart criedout to her.
The sound of a whistle cut the air and the dragoons turned their horses.It was the signal for their home-going, and a strange voice which I didnot know for mine, though it issued from my lips, said "Thank God."
I watched till the last scarlet coat had disappeared before I venturedto bestir myself and it was not until nearly an hour had elapsed that Iventured to resume my journey. With all wariness, I hurried through thegathering dusk. Ere long I came to the place where the black remnantsof the dragoons' fire still lay like an ugly splash upon the moor. Ipassed it by and hurried on. Only a few short miles now separated mefrom Daldowie. Before me lay a little hill. Bravely I breasted it,full of hope that once over it I should be within eye-range of home, butwhen I reached its summit I saw a sight that once again made me flingmyself flat on my face. Some two miles away a fire was burning, andclearcut against its light I could see the dark shadows of men andhorses. Danger still confronted me. For some reason the troopers werebivouacking upon the moor, right upon the path which I must follow if Iwould reach Daldowie, There was nothing for it but to steal down thehill-side and seek a resting-place. As I stole away, I bethought myselfthat in all likelihood they were camping there in order to continuetheir search on the morrow. With this in mind, it seemed to me that mychief hope of safety lay in hiding myself somewhere on that portion ofthe waste which they had examined with such care already. So I made forthe place where their fire had been, and, using it as a landmark, Istruck off at a right angle. A mile away, where the trampled heatherproclaimed that it had been well searched, I found a resting-place andlay down to sleep.
Soon after dawn I was awake again. I turned over and peered outcautiously. Nowhere could I see any trace of the troopers, but themorning was yet young, and I judged that it was too early for them to befar afield. I had little doubt that ere long they would come again andI dared not stir from my place lest I should be seen. The morning hoursdragged wearily by. The moor was still, save for a trailing wind, andall was silent but for the song of the lark, the cry of the peewit andthe melancholy wail of the whaup.
At last the sun reached the meridian, and I ventured forth from myhiding-place. Stealthily I crept along until I reached the crest of thehill, from which I had descried the bivouac of the dragoons. Istretched myself flat upon its summit, and looked anxiously down. Thebivouac fire was quenched; there was no sign of horse or trooper. Ilooked to every point of the compass, but all was vacant moor. Whitherthe troopers had gone I could not tell, nor did I care so long as theyhad gone from the path that led me to my Mary.
So, with heart uplifted, I proceeded on my way, slowly at first andcautiously, but gradually gaining speed. By and by I came to the placewhere they had bivouacked and found close at hand a rush-grown deep poolof water. On hands and knees I lapped the cool liquid, and then I lavedmy face and hands and felt refreshed and clean. In less than an hournow, Mary would be in my arms. The thought lent new strength to mylimbs. Almost I ventured to burst into song a
gain, but I knew thatwould be madness. So, though my heart was singing a madrigal, my lipskept silence.
At last I came within sight of the hill where the sheep were pastured.I looked at it lovingly. It was the first thing to welcome me home; butas I looked I saw no sheep upon it. But what of that? Probably duringthe three days of my absence, Andrew had taken them to some otherhill-side. I hastened on. Before me lay the green slope from which manya time I had helped Mary to gather in the cows. I scanned it eagerly,half expecting to see her, sweet as a flower, but she was not there.Mayhap at this moment she was busy at the milking. In fancy I heard hersinging at her task. Only a few more steps and I should see the kindlythatched roof of that little moorland farm that sheltered her I loved.O Mary mine!