In the meantime, Captain Dalgetty had entered the apartment, and walking up to the seat placed next Lord Menteith, was leaning on the back of it with his arms folded. Anderson and his companion waited at the bottom of the table, in a respectful att.i.tude, until they should receive permission to seat themselves; while three or four Highlanders, under the direction of old Donald, ran hither and thither to bring additional articles of food, or stood still to give attendance upon the guests.
In the midst of these preparations, Allan suddenly started up, and s.n.a.t.c.hing a lamp from the hand of an attendant, held it close to Dalgetty"s face, while he perused his features with the most heedful and grave attention.
"By my honour," said Dalgetty, half displeased, as, mysteriously shaking his head, Allan gave up the scrutiny-"I trow that lad and I will ken each other when we meet again."
Meanwhile Allan strode to the bottom of the table, and having, by the aid of his lamp, subjected Anderson and his companion to the same investigation, stood a moment as if in deep reflection; then, touching his forehead, suddenly seized Anderson by the arm, and before he could offer any effectual resistance, half led and half dragged him to the vacant seat at the upper end, and having made a mute intimation that he should there place himself, he hurried the soldado with the same unceremonious precipitation to the bottom of the table. The Captain, exceedingly incensed at this freedom, endeavoured to shake Allan from him with violence; but, powerful as he was, he proved in the struggle inferior to the gigantic mountaineer, who threw him off with such violence, that after reeling a few paces, he fell at full length, and the vaulted hall rang with the clash of his armour. When he arose, his first action was to draw his sword and to fly at Allan, who, with folded arms, seemed to await his onset with the most scornful indifference. Lord Menteith and his attendants interposed to preserve peace, while the Highlanders, s.n.a.t.c.hing weapons from the wall, seemed prompt to increase the broil.
"He is mad," whispered Lord Menteith, "he is perfectly mad; there is no purpose in quarrelling with him."
"If your lordship is a.s.sured that he is NON COMPOS MENTIS," said Captain Dalgetty, "the whilk his breeding and behaviour seem to testify, the matter must end here, seeing that a madman can neither give an affront, nor render honourable satisfaction. But, by my saul, if I had my provstnt and a bottle of Rhenish under my belt, I should hive stood otherways up to him. And yet it"s a pity he should be sae weak in the intellectuals, being a strong proper man of body, fit to handle pike, morgenstern, or any other military implement whatsoever." [This was a sort of club or mace, used in the earlier part of the seventeenth century in the defence of breaches and walls. When the Germans insulted a Scotch regiment then besieged in Trailsund, saying they heard there was a ship come from Denmark to them laden with tobacco pipes, "One of our soldiers," says Colonel Robert Munro, "showing them over the work a morgenstern, made of a large stock banded with iron, like the shaft of a halberd, with a round globe at the end with cross iron pikes, saith, "Here is one of the tobacco pipes, wherewith we will beat out your brains when you intend to storm us.""]
Peace was thus restored, and the party seated themselves agreeably to their former arrangement, with which Allan, who had now returned to his settle by the fire, and seemed once more immersed in meditation, did not again interfere. Lord Menteith, addressing the princ.i.p.al domestic, hastened to start some theme of conversation which might obliterate all recollection of the fray that had taken place. "The laird is at the hill then, Donald, I understand, and some English strangers with him?"
"At the hill he is, an it like your honour, and two Saxon calabaleros are with him sure eneugh; and that is Sir Miles Musgrave and Christopher Hall, both from the c.u.mraik, as I think they call their country."
"Hall and Musgrave?" said Lord Menteith, looking at his attendants, "the very men that we wished to see."
"Troth," said Donald, "an" I wish I had never seen them between the een, for they"re come to herry us out o" house and ha"."
"Why, Donald," said Lord Menteith, "you did not use to be so churlish of your beef and ale; southland though they be, they"ll scarce eat up all the cattle that"s going on the castle mains."
"Teil care an they did," said Donald, "an that were the warst o"t, for we have a wheen canny trewsmen here that wadna let us want if there was a horned beast atween this and Perth. But this is a wa.r.s.e job-it"s nae less than a wager."
"A wager!" repeated Lord Menteith, with some surprise.
"Troth," continued Donald, to the full as eager to tell his news as Lord Menteith was curious to hear them, "as your lordship is a friend and kinsman o" the house, an" as ye"ll hear eneugh o"t in less than an hour, I may as weel tell ye mysell. Ye sall be pleased then to know, that when our Laird was up in England where he gangs oftener than his friends can wish, he was biding at the house o" this Sir Miles Musgrave, an" there was putten on the table six candlesticks, that they tell me were twice as muckle as the candlesticks in Dunblane kirk, and neither airn, bra.s.s, nor tin, but a" solid silver, nae less;-up wi" their English pride, has sae muckle, and kens sae little how to guide it! Sae they began to jeer the Laird, that he saw nae sic graith in his ain poor country; and the Laird, scorning to hae his country put down without a word for its credit, swore, like a gude Scotsman, that he had mair candlesticks, and better candlesticks, in his ain castle at hame, than were ever lighted in a hall in c.u.mberland, an c.u.mberland be the name o" the country."
"That was patriotically said," observed Lord Menteith.
"Fary true," said Donald; "but her honour had better hae hauden her tongue: for if ye say ony thing amang the Saxons that"s a wee by ordinar, they clink ye down for a wager as fast as a Lowland smith would hammer shoon on a Highland shelty. An" so the Laird behoved either to gae back o" his word, or wager twa hunder merks; and sa he e"en tock the wager, rather than be shamed wi" the like o" them. And now he"s like to get it to pay, and I"m thinking that"s what makes him sae swear to come hame at e"en."
"Indeed," said Lord Menteith, "from my idea of your family plate, Donald, your master is certain to lose such a wager."
"Your honour may swear that; an" where he"s to get the siller I kenna, although he borrowed out o" twenty purses. I advised him to pit the twa Saxon gentlemen and their servants cannily into the pit o" the tower till they gae up the bagain o" free gude-will, but the Laird winna hear reason."
Allan here started up, strode forward, and interrupted the conversation, saying to the domestic in a voice like thunder, "And how dared you to give my brother such dishonourable advice? or how dare you to say he will lose this or any other wager which it is his pleasure to lay?"
"Troth, Allan M"Aulay," answered the old man, "it"s no for my father"s son to gainsay what your father"s son thinks fit to say, an" so the Laird may no doubt win his wager. A" that I ken against it is, that the teil a candlestick, or ony thing like it, is in the house, except the auld airn branches that has been here since Laird Kenneth"s time, and the tin sconces that your father gard be made by auld Willie Winkie the tinkler, mair be token that deil an unce of siller plate is about the house at a", forby the lady"s auld posset dish, that wants the cover and ane o" the lugs."
"Peace, old man!" said Allan, fiercely; "and do you, gentlemen, if your refection is finished, leave this apartment clear; I must prepare it for the reception of these southern guests."
"Come away," said the domestic, pulling Lord Menteith by the sleeve; "his hour is on him," said he, looking towards Allan, "and he will not be controlled."
They left the hall accordingly, Lord Menteith and the Captain being ushered one way by old Donald, and the two attendants conducted elsewhere by another Highlander. The former had scarcely reached a sort of withdrawing apartment ere they were joined by the lord of the mansion, Angus M"Aulay by name, and his English guests. Great joy was expressed by all parties, for Lord Menteith and the English gentlemen were well known to each other; and on Lord Menteith"s introduction, Captain Dalgetty was well received by the Laird. But after the first burst of hospitable congratulation was over, Lord Menteith could observe that there was a shade of sadness on the brow of his Highland friend.
"You must have heard," said Sir Christopher Hall, "that our fine undertaking in c.u.mberland is all blown up. The militia would not march into Scotland, and your p.r.i.c.k-ear"d Covenanters have been too hard for our friends in the southern shires. And so, understanding there is some stirring work here, Musgrave and I, rather than sit idle at home, are come to have a campaign among your kilts and plaids."
"I hope you have brought arms, men, and money with you," said Lord Menteith, smiling.
"Only some dozen or two of troopers, whom we left at the last Lowland village," said Musgrave, "and trouble enough we had to get them so far."
"As for money," said his companion, "We expect a small supply from our friend and host here."
The Laird now, colouring highly, took Menteith a little apart, and expressed to him his regret that he had fallen into a foolish blunder.
"I heard it from Donald," said Lord Menteith, scarce able to suppress a smile.
"Devil take that old man," said M"Aulay, "he would tell every thing, were it to cost one"s life; but it"s no jesting matter to you neither, my lord, for I reckon on your friendly and fraternal benevolence, as a near kinsman of our house, to help me out with the money due to these pock-puddings; or else, to be plain wi" ye, the deil a M"Aulay will there be at the muster, for curse me if I do not turn Covenanter rather than face these fellows without paying them; and, at the best, I shall be ill enough off, getting both the scaith and the scorn."
"You may suppose, cousin," said Lord Menteith, "I am not too well equipt just now; but you may be a.s.sured I shall endeavour to help you as well as I can, for the sake of old kindred, neighbourhood, and alliance."
"Thank ye-thank ye-thank ye," reiterated M"Aulay; "and as they are to spend the money in the King"s service, what signifies whether you, they, or I pay it?-we are a" one man"s bairns, I hope? But you must help me out too with some reasonable excuse, or else I shall be for taking to Andrew Ferrara; for I like not to be treated like a liar or a braggart at my own board-end, when, G.o.d knows, I only meant to support my honour, and that of my family and country."
Donald, as they were speaking, entered, with rather a blither face than he might have been expected to wear, considering the impending fate of his master"s purse and credit. "Gentlemens, her dinner is ready, and HER CANDLES ARE LIGHTED TOO," said Donald, with a strong guttural emphasis on the last clause of his speech.
"What the devil can he mean?" said Musgrave, looking to his countryman.
Lord Menteith put the same question with his eyes to the Laird, which M"Aulay answered by shaking his head.
A short dispute about precedence somewhat delayed their leaving the apartment. Lord Menteith insisted upon yielding up that which belonged to his rank, on consideration of his being in his own country, and of his near connexion with the family in which they found themselves. The two English strangers, therefore, were first ushered into the hall, where an unexpected display awaited them. The large oaken table was spread with substantial joints of meat, and seats were placed in order for the guests. Behind every seat stood a gigantic Highlander, completely dressed and armed after the fashion of his country, holding in his right hand his drawn sword, with the point turned downwards, and in the left a blazing torch made of the bog-pine. This wood, found in the mora.s.ses, is so full of turpentine, that, when split and dried, it is frequently used in the Highlands instead of candles. The unexpected and somewhat startling apparition was seen by the red glare of the torches, which displayed the wild features, unusual dress, and glittering arms of those who bore them, while the smoke, eddying up to the roof of the hall, over-canopied them with a volume of vapour. Ere the strangers had recovered from their surprise, Allan stept forward, and pointing with his sheathed broadsword to the torch-bearers, said, in a deep and stern tone of voice, "Behold, gentlemen cavaliers, the chandeliers of my brother"s house, the ancient fashion of our ancient name; not one of these men knows any law but their Chiefs command-Would you dare to compare to THEM in value the richest ore that ever was dug out of the mine? How say you, cavaliers?-is your wager won or lost?"
"Lost; lost," said Musgrave, gaily-"my own silver candlesticks are all melted and riding on horseback by this time, and I wish the fellows that enlisted were half as trusty as these.-Here, sir," he added to the Chief, "is your money; it impairs Hall"s finances and mine somewhat, but debts of honour must be settled."
"My father"s curse upon my father"s son," said Allan, interrupting him, "if he receive from you one penny! It is enough that you claim no right to exact from him what is his own."
Lord Menteith eagerly supported Allan"s opinion, and the elder M"Aulay readily joined, declaring the whole to be a fool"s business, and not worth speaking more about. The Englishmen, after some courteous opposition, were persuaded to regard the whole as a joke.
"And now, Allan," said the Laird, "please to remove your candles; for, since the Saxon gentlemen have seen them, they will eat their dinner as comfortably by the light of the old tin sconces, without scomfishing them with so much smoke."
Accordingly, at a sign from Allan, the living chandeliers, recovering their broadswords, and holding the point erect, marched out of the hall, and left the guests to enjoy their refreshment. [Such a bet as that mentioned in the text is said to have been taken by MacDonald of Keppoch, who extricated himself in the manner there narrated.]
CHAPTER V.
Thareby so fearlesse and so fell he grew, That his own syre and maister of his guise Did often tremble at his horrid view; And if for dread of hurt would him advise, The angry beastes not rashly to despise, Nor too much to provoke; for he would learne The lion stoup to him in lowly wise, (A lesson hard,) and make the libbard sterne Leave roaring, when in rage he for revenge did earne.-SPENSER.
Notwithstanding the proverbial epicurism of the English,-proverbial, that is to say, in Scotland at the period,-the English visitors made no figure whatever at the entertainment, compared with the portentous voracity of Captain Dalgetty, although that gallant soldier had already displayed much steadiness and pertinacity in his attack upon the lighter refreshment set before them at their entrance, by way of forlorn hope. He spoke to no one during the time of his meal; and it was not until the victuals were nearly withdrawn from the table, that he gratified the rest of the company, who had watched him with some surprise, with an account of the reasons why he ate so very fast and so very long.
"The former quality," he said, "he had acquired, while he filled a place at the bursar"s table at the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen; when," said he; "if you did not move your jaws as fast as a pair of castanets, you were very unlikely to get any thing to put between them. And as for the quant.i.ty of my food, be it known to this honourable company," continued the Captain, "that it"s the duty of every commander of a fortress, on all occasions which offer, to secure as much munition and vivers as their magazines can possibly hold, not knowing when they may have to sustain a siege or a blockade. Upon which principle, gentlemen," said he, "when a cavalier finds that provant is good and abundant, he will, in my estimation, do wisely to victual himself for at least three days, as there is no knowing when he may come by another meal."
The Laird expressed his acquiescence in the prudence of this principle, and recommended to the veteran to add a ta.s.s of brandy and a flagon of claret to the substantial provisions he had already laid in, to which proposal the Captain readily agreed.
When dinner was removed, and the servants had withdrawn, excepting the Laird"s page, or henchman, who remained in the apartment to call for or bring whatever was wanted, or, in a word, to answer the purposes of a modern bell-wire, the conversation began to turn upon politics, and the state of the country; and Lord Menteith enquired anxiously and particularly what clans were expected to join the proposed muster of the King"s friends.
"That depends much, my lord, on the person who lifts the banner," said the Laird; "for you know we Highlanders, when a few clans are a.s.sembled, are not easily commanded by one of our own Chiefs, or, to say the truth, by any other body. We have heard a rumour, indeed, that Colkitto-that is, young Colkitto, or Alaster M"Donald, is come over the Kyle from Ireland, with a body of the Earl of Antrim"s people, and that they had got as far as Ardnamurchan. They might have been here before now, but, I suppose, they loitered to plunder the country as they came along."
"Will Colkitto not serve you for a leader, then?" said Lord Menteith.
"Colkitto?" said Allan M"Aulay, scornfully; "who talks of Colkitto?-There lives but one man whom we will follow, and that is Montrose."
"But Montrose, sir," said Sir Christopher Hall, "has not been heard of since our ineffectual attempt to rise in the north of England. It is thought he has returned to the King at Oxford for farther instructions."
"Returned!" said Allan, with a scornful laugh; "I could tell ye, but it is not worth my while; ye will know soon enough."
"By my honour, Allan," said Lord Menteith, "you will weary out your friends with this intolerable, froward, and sullen humour-But I know the reason," added he, laughing; "you have not seen Annot Lyle to-day."
"Whom did you say I had not seen?" said Allan, sternly.
"Annot Lyle, the fairy queen of song and minstrelsy," said Lord Menteith.
"Would to G.o.d I were never to see her again," said Allan, sighing, "On condition the same weird were laid on you!"
"And why on me?" said Lord Menteith, carelessly.
"Because," said Allan, "it is written on your forehead, that you are to be the ruin of each other." So saying, he rose up and left the room.
"Has he been long in this way?" asked Lord Menteith, addressing his brother.
"About three days," answered Angus; "the fit is wellnigh over, he will be better to-morrow.-But come, gentlemen, don"t let the tappit-hen scraugh to be emptied. The King"s health, King Charles"s health! and may the covenanting dog that refuses it, go to Heaven by the road of the Gra.s.smarket!"
The health was quickly pledged, and as fast succeeded by another, and another, and another, all of a party cast, and enforced in an earnest manner. Captain Dalgetty, however, thought it necessary to enter a protest.
"Gentlemen cavaliers," he said, "I drink these healths, PRIMO, both out of respect to this honourable and hospitable roof-tree, and, SECUNDO, because I hold it not good to be preceese in such matters, INTER POCULA; but I protest, agreeable to the warrandice granted by this honourable lord, that it shall be free to me, notwithstanding my present complaisance, to take service with the Covenanters to-morrow, providing I shall be so minded."
M"Aulay and his English guests stared at this declaration, which would have certainly bred new disturbance, if Lord Menteith had not taken up the affair, and explained the circ.u.mstances and conditions. "I trust," he concluded, "we shall be able to secure Captain Dalgetty"s a.s.sistance to our own party."
"And if not," said the Laird, "I protest, as the Captain says, that nothing that has pa.s.sed this evening, not even his having eaten my bread and salt, and pledged me in brandy, Bourdeaux, or usquebaugh, shall prejudice my cleaving him to the neck-bone."
"You shall be heartily welcome," said the Captain, "providing my sword cannot keep my head, which it has done in worse dangers than your fend is likely to make for me."
Here Lord Menteith again interposed, and the concord of the company being with no small difficulty restored, was cemented by some deep carouses. Lord Menteith, however, contrived to break up the party earlier than was the usage of the Castle, under pretence of fatigue and indisposition. This was somewhat to the disappointment of the valiant Captain, who, among other habits acquired in the Low countries, had acquired both a disposition to drink, and a capacity to bear, an exorbitant quant.i.ty of strong liquors.
Their landlord ushered them in person to a sort of sleeping gallery, in which there was a four-post bed, with tartan curtains, and a number of cribs, or long hampers, placed along the wall, three of which, well stuffed with blooming heather, were prepared for the reception of guests.
"I need not tell your lordship," said M"Aulay to Lord Menteith, a little apart, "our Highland mode of quartering. Only that, not liking you should sleep in the room alone with this German land-louper, I have caused your servants" beds to be made here in the gallery. By G-d, my lord, these are times when men go to bed with a throat hale and sound as ever swallowed brandy, and before next morning it may be gaping like an oyster-sh.e.l.l."
Lord Menteith thanked him sincerely, saying, "It was just the arrangement he would have requested; for, although he had not the least apprehension of violence from Captain Dalgetty, yet Anderson was a better kind of person, a sort of gentleman, whom he always liked to have near his person."
"I have not seen this Anderson," said M"Aulay; "did you hire him in England?"
"I did so," said Lord Menteith; "you will see the man to-morrow; in the meantime I wish you good-night."
His host left the apartment after the evening salutation, and was about to pay the same compliment to Captain Dalgetty, but observing him deeply engaged in the discussion of a huge pitcher filled with brandy posset, he thought it a pity to disturb him in so laudable an employment, and took his leave without farther ceremony.
Lord Menteith"s two attendants entered the apartment almost immediately after his departure. The good Captain, who was now somewhat enc.u.mbered with his good cheer, began to find the undoing of the clasps of his armour a task somewhat difficult, and addressed Anderson in these words, interrupted by a slight hiccup,-"Anderson, my good friend, you may read in Scripture, that he that putteth off his armour should not boast himself like he that putteth it on-I believe that is not the right word of command; but the plain truth of it is, I am like to sleep in my corslet, like many an honest fellow that never waked again, unless you unloose this buckle."
"Undo his armour, Sibbald," said Anderson to the other servant.
"By St. Andrew!" exclaimed the Captain, turning round in great astonishment, "here"s a common fellow-a stipendiary with four pounds a-year and a livery cloak, thinks himself too good to serve Ritt-master Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket, who has studied humanity at the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, and served half the princes of Europe!"
"Captain Dalgetty," said Lord Menteith, whose lot it was to stand peacemaker throughout the evening, "please to understand that Anderson waits upon no one but myself; but I will help Sibbald to undo your corslet with much pleasure."
"Too much trouble for you, my lord," said Dalgetty; "and yet it would do you no harm to practise how a handsome harness is put on and put off. I can step in and out of mine like a glove; only to-night, although not EBRIUS, I am, in the cla.s.sic phrase, VINO CIBOQUE GRAVATUS."
By this time he was unsh.e.l.led, and stood before the fire musing with a face of drunken wisdom on the events of the evening. What seemed chiefly to interest him, was the character of Allan M"Aulay. "To come over the Englishmen so cleverly with his Highland torch-bearers-eight bare-breeched Rories for six silver candlesticks!-it was a master-piece-a TOUR DE Pa.s.sE-it was perfect legerdemain-and to be a madman after all!-I doubt greatly, my lord" (shaking his head), "that I must allow him, notwithstanding his relationship to your lordship, the privileges of a rational person, and either batoon him sufficiently to expiate the violence offered to my person, or else bring it to a matter of mortal arbitrement, as becometh an insulted cavalier."
"If you care to hear a long story," said Lord Menteith, "at this time of night, I can tell you how the circ.u.mstances of Allan"s birth account so well for his singular character, as to put such satisfaction entirely out of the question."
"A long story, my lord," said Captain Dalgetty, "is, next to a good evening draught and a warm nightcap, the best shoeinghorn for drawing on a sound sleep. And since your lordship is pleased to take the trouble to tell it, I shall rest your patient and obliged auditor."
"Anderson," said Lord Menteith, "and you, Sibbald, are dying to hear, I suppose, of this strange man too! and I believe I must indulge your curiosity, that you may know how to behave to him in time of need. You had better step to the fire then."
Having thus a.s.sembled an audience about him, Lord Menteith sat down upon the edge of the four-post bed, while Captain Dalgetty, wiping the relics of the posset from his beard and mustachoes, and repeating the first verse of the Lutheran psalm, ALLE GUTER GEISTER LOBEN DEN HERRN, etc. rolled himself into one of the places of repose, and thrusting his shock pate from between the blankets, listened to Lord Menteith"s relation in a most luxurious state, between sleeping and waking.
"The father," said Lord Menteith, "of the two brothers, Angus and Allan M"Aulay, was a gentleman of consideration and family, being the chief of a Highland clan, of good account, though not numerous; his lady, the mother of these young men, was a gentlewoman of good family, if I may be permitted to say so of one nearly connected with my own. Her brother, an honourable and spirited young man, obtained from James the Sixth a grant of forestry, and other privileges, over a royal chase adjacent to this castle; and, in exercising and defending these rights, he was so unfortunate as to involve himself in a quarrel with some of our Highland freebooters or caterans, of whom I think, Captain Dalgetty, you must have heard."
"And that I have," said the Captain, exerting himself to answer the appeal. "Before I left the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, Dugald Garr was playing the devil in the Garioch, and the Farquharsons on Dee-side, and the Clan Chattan on the Gordons" lands, and the Grants and Camerons in Moray-land. And since that, I have seen the Cravats and Pandours in Pannonia and Transylvania, and the Cossacks from the Polish frontier, and robbers, banditti, and barbarians of all countries besides, so that I have a distinct idea of your broken Highlandmen."
"The clan," said Lord Menteith, "with whom the maternal uncle of the M"Aulays had been placed in feud, was a small sept of banditti, called, from their houseless state, and their incessantly wandering among the mountains and glens, the Children of the Mist. They are a fierce and hardy people, with all the irritability, and wild and vengeful pa.s.sions, proper to men who have never known the restraint of civilized society. A party of them lay in wait for the unfortunate Warden of the Forest, surprised him while hunting alone and unattended, and slew him with every circ.u.mstance of inventive cruelty. They cut off his head, and resolved, in a bravado, to exhibit it at the castle of his brother-in-law. The laird was absent, and the lady reluctantly received as guests, men against whom, perhaps, she was afraid to shut her gates. Refreshments were placed before the Children of the Mist, who took an opportunity to take the head of their victim from the plaid in which it was wrapt, placed it on the table, put a piece of bread between the lifeless jaws, bidding them do their office now, since many a good meal they had eaten at that table. The lady, who had been absent for some household purpose, entered at this moment, and, upon beholding her brother"s head, fled like an arrow out of the house into the woods, uttering shriek upon shriek. The ruffians, satisfied with this savage triumph, withdrew. The terrified menials, after overcoming the alarm to which they had been subjected, sought their unfortunate mistress in every direction, but she was nowhere to be found. The miserable husband returned next day, and, with the a.s.sistance of his people, undertook a more anxious and distant search, but to equally little purpose. It was believed universally, that, in the ecstasy of her terror, she must either have thrown herself over one of the numerous precipices which overhang the river, or into a deep lake about a mile from the castle. Her loss was the more lamented, as she was six months advanced in her pregnancy; Angus M"Aulay, her eldest son, having been born about eighteen months before.-But I tire you, Captain Dalgetty, and you seem inclined to sleep."
"By no means," answered the soldier; "I am no whit somnolent; I always hear best with my eyes shut. It is a fashion I learned when I stood sentinel."
"And I daresay," said Lord Menteith, aside to Anderson, "the weight of the halberd of the sergeant of the rounds often made him open them."
Being apparently, however, in the humour of story-telling, the young n.o.bleman went on, addressing himself chiefly to his servants, without minding the slumbering veteran.
"Every baron in the country," said he, "now swore revenge for this dreadful crime. They took arms with the relations and brother-in-law of the murdered person, and the Children of the Mist were hunted down, I believe, with as little mercy as they had themselves manifested. Seventeen heads, the b.l.o.o.d.y trophies of their vengeance, were distributed among the allies, and fed the crows upon the gates of their castles. The survivors sought out more distant wildernesses, to which they retreated."
"To your right hand, counter-march and retreat to your former ground," said Captain Dalgetty; the military phrase having produced the correspondent word of command; and then starting up, professed he had been profoundly atttentive to every word that had been spoken.
"It is the custom in summer," said Lord Menteith, without attending to his apology, "to send the cows to the upland pastures to have the benefit of the gra.s.s; and the maids of the village, and of the family, go there to milk them in the morning and evening. While thus employed, the females of this family, to their great terror, perceived that their motions were watched at a distance by a pale, thin, meagre figure, bearing a strong resemblance to their deceased mistress, and pa.s.sing, of course, for her apparition. When some of the boldest resolved to approach this faded form, it fled from them into the woods with a wild shriek. The husband, informed of this circ.u.mstance, came up to the glen with some attendants, and took his measures so well as to intercept the retreat of the unhappy fugitive, and to secure the person of his unfortunate lady, though her intellect proved to be totally deranged. How she supported herself during her wandering in the woods could not be known-some supposed she lived upon roots and wild-berries, with which the woods at that season abounded; but the greater part of the vulgar were satisfied that she must have subsisted upon the milk of the wild does, or been nourished by the fairies, or supported in some manner equally marvellous. Her re-appearance was more easily accounted for. She had seen from the thicket the milking of the cows, to superintend which had been her favourite domestic employment, and the habit had prevailed even in her deranged state of mind.
"In due season the unfortunate lady was delivered of a boy, who not only showed no appearance of having suffered from his mother"s calamities, but appeared to be an infant of uncommon health and strength. The unhappy mother, after her confinement, recovered her reason-at least in a great measure, but never her health and spirits. Allan was her only joy. Her attention to him was unremitting; and unquestionably she must have impressed upon his early mind many of those superst.i.tious ideas to which his moody and enthusiastic temper gave so ready a reception. She died when he was about ten years old. Her last words were spoken to him in private; but there is little doubt that they conveyed an injunction of vengeance upon the Children of the Mist, with which he has since amply complied.
"From this moment, the habits of Allan M"Aulay were totally changed. He had hitherto been his mother"s constant companion, listening to her dreams, and repeating his own, and feeding his imagination, which, probably from the circ.u.mstances preceding his birth, was const.i.tutionally deranged, with all the wild and terrible superst.i.tions so common to the mountaineers, to which his unfortunate mother had become much addicted since her brother"s death. By living in this manner, the boy had gotten a timid, wild, startled look, loved to seek out solitary places in the woods, and was never so much terrified, as by the approach of children of the same age. I remember, although some years younger, being brought up here by my father upon a visit, nor can I forget the astonishment with which I saw this infant-hermit shun every attempt I made to engage him in the sports natural to our age. I can remember his father bewailing his disposition to mine, and alleging, at the same time, that it was impossible for him to take from his wife the company of the boy, as he seemed to be the only consolation that remained to her in this world, and as the amus.e.m.e.nt which Allan"s society afforded her seemed to prevent the recurrence, at least in its full force, of that fearful malady by which she had been visited. But, after the death of his mother, the habits and manners of the boy seemed at once to change. It is true he remained as thoughtful and serious as before; and long fits of silence and abstraction showed plainly that his disposition, in this respect, was in no degree altered. But at other times, he sought out the rendezvous of the youth of the clan, which he had hitherto seemed anxious to avoid. He took share in all their exercises; and, from his very extraordinary personal strength, soon excelled his brother and other youths, whose age considerably exceeded his own. They who had hitherto held him in contempt, now feared, if they did not love him; and, instead of Allan"s being esteemed a dreaming, womanish, and feeble-minded boy, those who encountered him in sports or military exercise, now complained that, when heated by the strife, he was too apt to turn game into earnest, and to forget that he was only engaged in a friendly trial of strength.-But I speak to regardless ears," said Lord Menteith, interrupting himself, for the Captain"s nose now gave the most indisputable signs that he was fast locked in the arms of oblivion.
"If you mean the ears of that snorting swine, my lord," said Anderson, "they are, indeed, shut to anything that you can say; nevertheless, this place being unfit for more private conference, I hope you will have the goodness to proceed, for Sibbald"s benefit and for mine. The history of this poor young fellow has a deep and wild interest in it."
"You must know, then," proceeded Lord Menteith, "that Allan continued to increase in strength and activity, till his fifteenth year, about which time he a.s.sumed a total independence of character, and impatience of control, which much alarmed his surviving parent. He was absent in the woods for whole days and nights, under pretence of hunting, though he did not always bring home game. His father was the more alarmed, because several of the Children of the Mist, encouraged by the increasing troubles of the state, had ventured back to their old haunts, nor did he think it altogether safe to renew any attack upon them. The risk of Allan, in his wanderings, sustaining injury from these vindictive freebooters, was a perpetual source of apprehension.