CHAPTER XVIII
WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY
When Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he wassurprised to observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisenand put his dress in some order, he looked more accurately roundhim; but all was still solitary. If it had not been for thedecayed brands of the fire, now sunk into grey ashes, and theremnants of the festival, consisting of bones half burnt and halfgnawed, and an empty keg or two, there remained no traces ofDonald and his band. When Waverley sallied forth to the entranceof the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on whichremained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible by asmall path, either natural or roughly hewn in the rock, along thelittle inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the cavern,where, as in a wetdock, the skiff which brought him there thenight before was still lying moored. When he reached the smallprojecting platform on which the beacon had been established, hewould have believed his further progress by land impossible, onlythat it was scarce probable but what the inhabitants of the cavernhad some mode of issuing from it otherwise than by the lake.Accordingly, he soon observed three or four shelving steps, orledges of rock, at the very extremity of the little platform; and,making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by their meansaround the projecting shoulder of the crag on which the cavernopened, and, descending with some difficulty on the other side, hegained the wild and precipitous shores of a Highland loch, aboutfour miles in length and a mile and a half across, surrounded byheathy and savage mountains, on the crests of which the morningmist was still sleeping.
Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not helpadmiring the address which had adopted a retreat of such seclusionand secrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he had turnedby a few imperceptible notches, that barely afforded place for thefoot, seemed, in looking back upon it, a huge precipice, whichbarred all further passage by the shores of the lake in thatdirection. There could be no possibility, the breadth of the lakeconsidered, of descrying the entrance of the narrow and low-browedcave from the other side; so that, unless the retreat had beensought for with boats, or disclosed by treachery, it might be asafe and secret residence to its garrison as long as they weresupplied with provisions. Having satisfied his curiosity in theseparticulars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu and hisattendants, who, he rightly judged, would be at no great distance,whatever might have become of Donald Bean Lean and his party,whose mode of life was, of course, liable to sudden migrations ofabode. Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, hebeheld a Highlander (Evan apparently) angling in the lake, withanother attending him, whom, from the weapon which he shouldered,he recognised for his friend with the battle-axe.
Much nearer to the mouth of the cave he heard the notes of alively Gaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded bya glittering birch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm whitesand, he found the damsel of the cavern, whose lay had alreadyreached him, busy, to the best of her power, in arranging toadvantage a morning repast of milk, eggs, barley-bread, freshbutter, and honey-comb. The poor girl had already made a circuitof four miles that morning in search of the eggs, of the mealwhich baked her cakes, and of the other materials of thebreakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrowfrom distant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean usedlittle food except the flesh of the animals which they drove awayfrom the Lowlands; bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of,because hard to be obtained, and all the domestic accommodationsof milk, poultry, butter, etc., were out of the question in thisScythian camp. Yet it must not be omitted that, although Alice hadoccupied a part of the morning in providing those accommodationsfor her guest which the cavern did not afford, she had securedtime also to arrange her own person in her best trim. Her finerywas very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket and a petticoat ofscanty longitude was her whole dress; but these were clean, andneatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered cloth, called thesnood, confined her hair, which fell over it in a profusion ofrich dark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of herdress, was laid aside, that it might not impede her activity inattending the stranger. I should forget Alice's proudest ornamentwere I to omit mentioning a pair of gold ear-rings and a, goldenrosary, which her father (for she was the daughter of Donald BeanLean) had brought from France, the plunder, probably, of somebattle or storm.
Her form, though rather large for her years, was very wellproportioned, and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace,with nothing of the sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. Thesmiles, displaying a row of teeth of exquisite whiteness, and thelaughing eyes, with which, in dumb show, she gave Waverley thatmorning greeting which she wanted English words to express, mighthave been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps by a young soldierwho, without being such, was conscious of a handsome person, asmeant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor do Itake it upon me to say that the little wild mountaineer would havewelcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron ofBradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which shebestowed upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to placehim by the meal which she had so sedulously arranged, and to whichshe now added a few bunches of cranberries, gathered in anadjacent morass. Having had the satisfaction of seeing him seatedat his breakfast, she placed herself demurely upon a stone at afew yards' distance, and appeared to watch with great complacencyfor some opportunity of serving him.
Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, thelatter bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning'ssport, together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward,with an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spotwhere Waverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table.After morning greetings had passed on both sides, and Evan,looking at Waverley, had said something in Gaelic to Alice, whichmade her laugh, yet colour up to her eyes, through a complexionwell en-browned by sun and wind, Evan intimated his commands thatthe fish should be prepared for breakfast. A spark from the lockof his pistol produced a light, and a few withered fir brancheswere quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot embers, onwhich the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown the repast,Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin a large scallopshell, and from under the folds of his plaid a ram's horn full ofwhisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had alreadytaken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean before his departure; heoffered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they bothdeclined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then profferedthe scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waitingto be asked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evanthen prepared to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley toattend him. Meanwhile, Alice had made up in a small basket whatshe thought worth removing, and flinging her plaid around her, sheadvanced up to Edward, and with the utmost simplicity, taking holdof his hand, offered her cheek to his salute, dropping at the sametime her little curtsy. Evan, who was esteemed a wag among themountain fair, advanced as if to secure a similar favour; butAlice, snatching up her basket, escaped up the rocky bank asfleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, calledsomething out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same toneand language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed herroad, and was soon lost among the thickets, though they continuedfor some time to hear her lively carol, as she proceeded gaily onher solitary journey.
They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping intothe boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of themorning breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumedthe helm, directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley,rather higher up the lake than towards the place of hisembarkation on the preceding night. As they glided along thesilver mirror, Evan opened the conversation with a panegyric uponAlice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY; and was, to theboot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey in the wholestrath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understoodthem, yet could not help regretting that she was condemned to sucha perilous
and dismal life.
'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire thatshe need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be toohot or too heavy.'
'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer--a common thief!''Common thief!--no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED lessthan a drove in his life.'
'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?'
'No; he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from acotter, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach lairdis a gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from theforest, a salmon from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cowfrom a Lowland strath, is what no Highlander need ever think shameupon.'
'But what can this end in, were he taken in such anappropriation?'
'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man hasdone before him.'
'Die for the law!'
'Ay; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on theKIND gallows of Crieff, [Footnote: See Note 16.] where his fatherdied, and his goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to diehimsell, if he's not shot, or slashed, in a creagh.'
'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan?'
'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundleof wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?'
'But what becomes of Alice, then?'
'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father wouldnot need her help ony langer, I ken nought to hinder me to marryher mysell.'
'Gallantly resolved,' said Edward; 'but, in the meanwhile, Evan,what has your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the goodfortune to be hanged) done with the Baron's cattle?'
'Oich,' answered Evan,'they were all trudging before your lad andAllan Kennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben Lawers this morning;and they'll be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in theirway back to the parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that wereunhappily slaughtered before I got last night to Uaimh an Ri.'
'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?'said Waverley.
'Where would you be ganging, but to the Laird's ain house ofGlennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, withoutganging to see him? It would be as much as a man's life's worth.'
'And are we far from Glennaquoich?'
'But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.'
In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake,where, after landing Waverley, the two Highanders drew the boatinto a little creek among thick flags and reeds, where it layperfectly concealed. The oars they put in another place ofconcealment, both for the use of Donald Bean Lean probably, whenhis occasions should next bring him to that place.
The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening intothe hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake.When they had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverleyrenewed his questions about their host of the cavern.
'Does he always reside in that cave?'
'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to befound at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corrie, inthe whole country that he's not acquainted with.'
'And do others beside your master shelter him?'
'My master? MY master is in Heaven,' answered Evan, haughtily; andthen immediately assuming his usual civility of manner, 'but youmean my Chief;--no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor anythat are like him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood andwater.'
'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be veryplenty.'
'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, Imean the loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the Laird were to look for him wi' threescore men in thewood of Kailychat yonder; and if our boats, with a score or twamair, were to come down the loch to Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell,or ony other pretty man.'
'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country,would not your Chief defend him?'
'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him--if they camewith the law.'
'And what must Donald do, then?'
'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it maybe, over the mount upon Letter Scriven.'
'And if he were pursued to that place?'
'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.'
'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?'
'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tellyou the truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland followthe fray a gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the helpof the Sidier Dhu.'
'Whom do you call so?'
'The Sidier Dhu? the black soldier; that is what they call theindependent companies that were raised to keep peace and law inthe Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years,and I was sergeant mysell, I shall warrant ye. They call themSidier Dhu because they wear the tartans, as they call your men--King George's men--Sidier Roy, or red soldiers.'
'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you weresurely King George's soldiers?'
'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are forhis king, and care not much which o' them it is. At ony rate,nobody can say we are King George's men now, when we have not seenhis pay this twelve-month.'
This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attemptany; he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald BeanLean. 'Does Donald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, asyou call it, anything else that comes in his way?'
'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak onything, but mostreadily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are slow oftravel, and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easyto put away for siller in this country.'
'But does he carry off men and women?'
'Out, ay. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It costthat body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough. And ance Donald played a pretty sport. [Footnote: See Note17.] There was to be a blythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer,in the howe o' the Mearns (she was the auld laird's widow, and nosae young as she had been hersell), and young Gilliewhackit, whohad spent his heirship and movables, like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races, and the like. Now, DonaldBean Lean, being aware that the bridegroom was in request, andwanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the siller), hecannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he was ridingdovering hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), and with thehelp of his gillies he gat him into the hills with the speed oflight, and the first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh anRi. So there was old to do about ransoming the bridegroom; forDonald would not lower a farthing of a thousand punds--'
'The devil!'
'Punds Scottish, ye shall understand. And the lady had not thesiller if she had pawned her gown; and they applied to thegovernor o' Stirling castle, and to the major o' the Black Watch;and the governor said it was ower far to the northward, and out ofhis district; and the major said his men were gane hame to theshearing, and he would not call them out before the victual wasgot in for all the Cramfeezers in Christendom, let alane theMearns, for that it would prejudice the country. And in themeanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the small-pox.There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look near thepoor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggledby ane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would flingthe first into the loch that he catched beyond the pass. Howeversome cailliachs (that is, old women) that were about Donald's handnursed Gilliewhackit sae weel that, between the free open air inthe cove and the fresh whey, deil an he did not recover maybe asweel as if he had been closed in a glazed chamber and a bed withcurtains, and fed with red wine and white meat. And Donald was saevexed about it that, when he was stout and weel, he even sent himfree home, and said he would be pleased with onything they wouldlike to gie him for the plague and trouble which he had aboutGilliewhackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell youprecisely how they sorted; but they a
greed sae right that Donaldwas invited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, andthey said that there was never sae meikle siller clinked in hispurse either before or since. And to the boot of all that,Gilliewhackit said that, be the evidence what it liked, if he hadthe luck to be on Donald's inquest, he would bring him in guiltyof nothing whatever, unless it were wilful arson or murder undertrust.'
With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on illustrating theexisting state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement ofWaverley than that of our readers. At length, after having marchedover bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though notunacquainted with the Scottish liberality in computing distance,began to think that Evan's five miles were nearly doubled. Hisobservation on the large measure which the Scottish allowed oftheir land, in comparison to the computation of their money, wasreadily answered by Evan with the old jest, 'The deil take themwha have the least pint stoup.'
[Footnote: The Scotch are liberal in computing their land andliquor; the Scottish pint corresponds to two English quarts. Asfor their coin, every one knows the couplet--
How can the rogues pretend to sense? Their pound is only twenty pence.]
And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen,with his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen.'Shough,' said Dugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.'
'It is not,' said Evan, imperiously. 'Do you think he would cometo meet a Sassenach duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?'
But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with anappearance of mortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; andhe has not his tail on after all; there is no living creature withhim but Callum Beg.'
In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said astruly as of any man in the Highlands, 'Qu'il connoit bien sesgens' had no idea of raising himself in the eyes of an Englishyoung man of fortune by appearing with a retinue of idleHighlanders disproportioned to the occasion. He was well awarethat such an unnecessary attendance would seem to Edward ratherludicrous than respectable; and, while few men were more attachedto ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for that veryreason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity, unlessat the time and in the manner when they were most likely toproduce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been toreceive a brother chieftain, he would probably have been attendedby all that retinue which Evan described with so much unction, hejudged it more respectable to advance to meet Waverley with asingle attendant, a very handsome Highland boy, who carried hismaster's shooting-pouch and his broadsword, without which heseldom went abroad.
When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with thepeculiar grace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure. Above themiddle size and finely proportioned, the Highland dress, which hewore in its simplest mode, set off his person to great advantage.He wore the trews, or close trowsers, made of tartan, chequedscarlet and white; in other particulars his dress strictlyresembled Evan's, excepting that he had no weapon save a dirk,very richly mounted with silver. His page, as we have said,carried his claymore; and the fowling-piece, which he held in hishand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the course ofhis walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME was thenunknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for thesportsman. His countenance was decidedly Scottish, with all thepeculiarities of the northern physiognomy, but yet had so littleof its harshness and exaggeration that it would have beenpronounced in any country extremely handsome. The martial air ofthe bonnet, with a single eagle's feather as a distinction, addedmuch to the manly appearance of his head, which was besidesornamented with a far more natural and graceful cluster of closeblack curls than ever were exposed to sale in Bond Street.
An air of openness and affability increased the favorableimpression derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yeta skilful physiognomist would have been less satisfied with thecountenance on the second than on the first view. The eyebrow andupper lip bespoke something of the habit of peremptory command anddecisive superiority. Even his courtesy, though open, frank, andunconstrained, seemed to indicate a sense of personal importance;and, upon any check or accidental excitation, a sudden, thoughtransient lour of the eye showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictivetemper, not less to be dreaded because it seemed much under itsowner's command. In short, the countenance of the Chieftainresembled a smiling summer's day, in which, notwithstanding, weare made sensible by certain, though slight signs that it maythunder and lighten before the close of evening.
It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had anopportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chiefreceived him as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with theutmost expression of kindness and obligation for the visit;upbraided him gently with choosing so rude an abode as he had donethe night before; and entered into a lively conversation with himabout Donald Bean's housekeeping, but without the least hint as tohis predatory habits, or the immediate occasion of Waverley'svisit, a topic which, as the Chief did not introduce it, our heroalso avoided. While they walked merrily on towards the house ofGlennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully into the rear,followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony.
We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to someparticulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which werenot completely known to Waverley till after a connection which,though arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a length oftime the deepest influence upon his character, actions, andprospects. But this, being an important subject, must form thecommencement of a new chapter.