"I wish I had seen you, sir, before taking on with him," said Dalgetty, appearing to meditate.
"On the contrary, I can afford you more advantageous terms now," said the Campbell; "always supposing that you are faithful."
"Faithful, that is, to you, and a traitor to Montrose," answered the Captain.
"Faithful to the cause of religion and good order," answered Murdoch, "which sanctifies any deception you may employ to serve it."
"And the Marquis of Argyle-should I incline to enter his service, is he a kind master?" demanded Dalgetty.
"Never man kinder," quoth Campbell.
"And bountiful to his officers?" pursued the Captain.
"The most open hand in Scotland," replied Murdoch.
"True and faithful to his engagements?" continued Dalgetty.
"As honourable a n.o.bleman as breathes," said the clansman.
"I never heard so much good of him before," said Dalgetty; "you must know the Marquis well,-or rather you must be the Marquis himself!-Lord of Argyle," he added, throwing himself suddenly on the disguised n.o.bleman, "I arrest you in the name of King Charles, as a traitor. If you venture to call for a.s.sistance, I will wrench round your neck."
The attack which Dalgetty made upon Argyle"s person was so sudden and unexpected, that he easily prostrated him on the floor of the dungeon, and held him down with one hand, while his right, grasping the Marquis"s throat, was ready to strangle him on the slightest attempt to call for a.s.sistance.
"Lord of Argyle," he said, "it is now my turn to lay down the terms of capitulation. If you list to show me the private way by which you entered the dungeon, you shall escape, on condition of being my LOc.u.m TENENS, as we said at the Mareschal-College, until your warder visits his prisoners. But if not, I will first strangle you-I learned the art from a Polonian heyduck, who had been a slave in the Ottoman seraglio-and then seek out a mode of retreat."
"Villain! you would not murder me for my kindness," murmured Argyle.
"Not for your kindness, my lord," replied Dalgetty: "but first, to teach your lordship the JUS GENTIUM towards cavaliers who come to you under safe-conduct; and secondly, to warn you of the danger of proposing dishonourable terms to any worthy soldado, in order to tempt him to become false to his standard during the term of his service."
"Spare my life," said Argyle, "and I will do as you require."
Dalgetty maintained his gripe upon the Marquis"s throat, compressing it a little while he asked questions, and relaxing it so far as to give him the power of answering them.
"Where is the secret door into the dungeon?" he demanded.
"Hold up the lantern to the corner on your right hand, you will discern the iron which covers the spring," replied the Marquis.
"So far so good.-Where does the pa.s.sage lead to?"
"To my private apartment behind the tapestry," answered the prostrate n.o.bleman.
"From thence how shall I reach the gateway?"
"Through the grand gallery, the anteroom, the lackeys" waiting hall, the grand guardroom-"
"All crowded with soldiers, factionaries, and attendants?-that will never do for me, my lord;-have you no secret pa.s.sage to the gate, as you have to your dungeons? I have seen such in Germany."
"There is a pa.s.sage through the chapel," said the Marquis, "opening from my apartment."
"And what is the pa.s.s-word at the gate?"
"The sword of Levi," replied the Marquis; "but if you will receive my pledge of honour, I will go with you, escort you through every guard, and set you at full liberty with a pa.s.sport."
"I might trust you, my lord, were your throat not already black with the grasp of my fingers-as it is, BESO LOS MANOS A USTED, as the Spaniard says. Yet you may grant me a pa.s.sport;-are there writing materials in your apartment?"
"Surely; and blank pa.s.sports ready to be signed. I will attend you there," said the Marquis, "instantly."
"It were too much honour for the like of me," said Dalgetty; "your lordship shall remain under charge of mine honest friend Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh; therefore, prithee let me drag you within reach of his chain.-Honest Ra.n.a.ld, you see how matters stand with us. I shall find the means, I doubt not, of setting you at freedom. Meantime, do as you see me do; clap your hand thus on the weasand of this high and mighty prince, under his ruff, and if he offer to struggle or cry out, fail not, my worthy Ra.n.a.ld, to squeeze doughtily; and if it be AD DELIQUIUM, Ra.n.a.ld, that is, till he swoon, there is no great matter, seeing he designed your gullet and mine to still harder usage."
"If he offer at speech or struggle," said Ra.n.a.ld, "he dies by my hand."
"That is right, Ra.n.a.ld-very spirited:-A thorough-going friend that understands a hint is worth a million!"
Thus resigning the charge of the Marquis to his new confederate, Dalgetty pressed the spring, by which the secret door flew open, though so well were its hinges polished and oiled, that it made not the slightest noise in revolving. The opposite side of the door was secured by very strong bolts and bars, beside which hung one or two keys, designed apparently to undo fetterlocks. A narrow staircase, ascending up through the thickness of the castle-wall, landed, as the Marquis had truly informed him, behind the tapestry of his private apartment. Such communications were frequent in old feudal castles, as they gave the lord of the fortress, like a second Dionysius, the means of hearing the conversation of his prisoners, or, if he pleased, of visiting them in disguise, an experiment which had terminated so unpleasantly on the present occasion for Gillespie Grumach. Having examined previously whether there was any one in the apartment, and finding the coast clear, the Captain entered, and hastily possessing himself of a blank pa.s.sport, several of which lay on the table, and of writing materials, securing, at the same time, the Marquis"s dagger, and a silk cord from the hangings, he again descended into the cavern, where, listening a moment at the door, he could hear the half-stifled voice of the Marquis making great proffers to MacEagh, on condition he would suffer him to give an alarm.
"Not for a forest of deer-not for a thousand head of cattle," answered the freebooter; "not for all the lands that ever called a son of Diarmid master, will I break the troth I have plighted to him of the iron-garment!"
"He of the iron-garment," said Dalgetty, entering, "is bounden unto you, MacEagh, and this n.o.ble lord shall be bounden also; but first he must fill up this pa.s.sport with the names of Major Dugald Dalgetty and his guide, or he is like to have a pa.s.sport to another world."
The Marquis subscribed, and wrote, by the light of the dark lantern, as the soldier prescribed to him.
"And now, Ra.n.a.ld," said Dalgetty, "strip thy upper garment-thy plaid I mean, Ra.n.a.ld, and in it will I m.u.f.fle the M"Callum More, and make of him, for the time, a Child of the Mist;-Nay, I must bring it over your head, my lord, so as to secure us against your mistimed clamour.-So, now he is sufficiently m.u.f.fled;-hold down your hands, or, by Heaven, I will stab you to the heart with your own dagger!-nay, you shall be bound with nothing less than silk, as your quality deserves.-So, now he is secure till some one comes to relieve him. If he ordered us a late dinner, Ra.n.a.ld, he is like to be the sufferer;-at what hour, my good Ra.n.a.ld, did the jailor usually appear?"
"Never till the sun was beneath the western wave," said MacEagh. "Then, my friend, we shall have three hours good," said the cautious Captain. "In the meantime, let us labour for your liberation."
To examine Ra.n.a.ld"s chain was the next occupation. It was undone by means of one of the keys which hung behind the private door, probably deposited there, that the Marquis might, if he pleased, dismiss a prisoner, or remove him elsewhere without the necessity of summoning the warden. The outlaw stretched his benumbed arms, and bounded from the floor of the dungeon in all the ecstasy of recovered freedom.
"Take the livery-coat of that n.o.ble prisoner," said Captain Dalgetty; "put it on, and follow close at my heels."
The outlaw obeyed. They ascended the private stair, having first secured the door behind them, and thus safely reached the apartment of the Marquis.
[The precarious state of the feudal n.o.bles introduced a great deal of espionage into their castles. Sir Robert Carey mentions his having put on the cloak of one of his own wardens to obtain a confession from the mouth of Geordie Bourne, his prisoner, whom he caused presently to be hanged in return for the frankness of his communication. The fine old Border castle of Naworth contains a private stair from the apartment of the Lord William Howard, by which he could visit the dungeon, as is alleged in the preceding chapter to have been practised by the Marquis of Argyle.]
CHAPTER XIV.
This was the entry then, these stairs-but whither after?
Yet he that"s sure to perish on the land May quit the nicety of card and compa.s.s, And trust the open sea without a pilot.-TRAGEDY OF BENNOVALT.
"Look out for the private way through the chapel, Ra.n.a.ld," said the Captain, "while I give a hasty regard to these matters."
Thus speaking, he seized with one hand a bundle of Argyle"s most private papers, and with the other a purse of gold, both of which lay in a drawer of a rich cabinet, which stood invitingly open. Neither did he neglect to possess himself of a sword and pistols, with powder-flask and b.a.l.l.s, which hung in the apartment. "Intelligence and booty," said the veteran, as he pouched the spoils, "each honourable cavalier should look to, the one on his general"s behalf, and the other on his own. This sword is an Andrew Ferrara, and the pistols better than mine own. But a fair exchange is no robbery. Soldados are not to be endangered, and endangered gratuitously, my Lord of Argyle.-But soft, soft, Ra.n.a.ld; wise Man of the Mist, whither art thou bound?"
It was indeed full time to stop MacEagh"s proceedings; for, not finding the private pa.s.sage readily, and impatient, it would seem, of farther delay, he had caught down a sword and target, and was about to enter the great gallery, with the purpose, doubtless, of fighting his way through all opposition.
"Hold, while you live," whispered Dalgetty, laying hold on him. "We must be perdue, if possible. So bar we this door, that it may be thought M"Callum More would be private-and now let me make a reconnaissance for the private pa.s.sage."
By looking behind the tapestry in various places, the Captain at length discovered a private door, and behind that a winding pa.s.sage, terminated by another door, which doubtless entered the chapel. But what was his disagreeable surprise to hear, on the other side of this second door, the sonorous voice of a divine in the act of preaching.
"This made the villain," he said, "recommend this to us as a private pa.s.sage. I am strongly tempted to return and cut his throat."
He then opened very gently the door, which led into a latticed gallery used by the Marquis himself, the curtains of which were drawn, perhaps with the purpose of having it supposed that he was engaged in attendance upon divine worship, when, in fact, he was absent upon his secular affairs. There was no other person in the seat; for the family of the Marquis,-such was the high state maintained in those days,-sate during service in another gallery, placed somewhat lower than that of the great man himself. This being the case, Captain Dalgetty ventured to ensconce himself in the gallery, of which he carefully secured the door.
Never (although the expression be a bold one) was a sermon listened to with more impatience, and less edification, on the part of one, at least, of the audience. The Captain heard SIXTEENTHLY-SEVENTEENTHLY-EIGHTEENTHLY and TO CONCLUDE, with a sort of feeling like protracted despair. But no man can lecture (for the service was called a lecture) for ever; and the discourse was at length closed, the clergyman not failing to make a profound bow towards the latticed gallery, little suspecting whom he honoured by that reverence. To judge from the haste with which they dispersed, the domestics of the Marquis were scarce more pleased with their late occupation than the anxious Captain Dalgetty; indeed, many of them being Highlandmen, had the excuse of not understanding a single word which the clergyman spoke, although they gave their attendance on his doctrine by the special order of M"Callum More, and would have done so had the preacher been a Turkish Imaum.
But although the congregation dispersed thus rapidly, the divine remained behind in the chapel, and, walking up and down its Gothic precincts, seemed either to be meditating on what he had just been delivering, or preparing a fresh discourse for the next opportunity. Bold as he was, Dalgetty hesitated what he ought to do. Time, however, pressed, and every moment increased the chance of their escape being discovered by the jailor visiting the dungeon perhaps before his wonted time, and discovering the exchange which had been made there. At length, whispering Ra.n.a.ld, who watched all his motions, to follow him and preserve his countenance, Captain Dalgetty, with a very composed air, descended a flight of steps which led from the gallery into the body of the chapel. A less experienced adventurer would have endeavoured to pa.s.s the worthy clergyman rapidly, in hopes to escape unnoticed. But the Captain, who foresaw the manifest danger of failing in such an attempt, walked gravely to meet the divine upon his walk in the midst of the chancel, and, pulling off his cap, was about to pa.s.s him after a formal reverence. But what was his surprise to view in the preacher the very same person with whom he had dined in the castle of Ardenvohr! Yet he speedily recovered his composure; and ere the clergyman could speak, was the first to address him. "I could not," he said, "leave this mansion without bequeathing to you, my very reverend sir, my humble thanks for the homily with which you have this evening favoured us."
"I did not observe, sir," said the clergyman, "that you were in the chapel."
"It pleased the honourable Marquis," said Dalgetty, modestly, "to grace me with a seat in his own gallery." The divine bowed low at this intimation, knowing that such an honour was only vouchsafed to persons of very high rank. "It has been my fate, sir," said the Captain, "in the sort of wandering life which I have led, to have heard different preachers of different religions-as for example, Lutheran, Evangelical, Reformed, Calvinistical, and so forth, but never have I listened to such a homily as yours."
"Call it a lecture, worthy sir," said the divine, "such is the phrase of our church."
"Lecture or homily," said Dalgetty, "it was, as the High Germans say, GANZ FORTRE FLICH; and I could not leave this place without testifying unto you what inward emotions I have undergone during your edifying prelection; and how I am touched to the quick, that I should yesterday, during the refection, have seemed to infringe on the respect due to such a person as yourself."
"Alas! my worthy sir," said the clergyman, "we meet in this world as in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, not knowing against whom we may chance to encounter. In truth, it is no matter of marvel, if we sometimes jostle those, to whom, if known, we would yield all respect. Surely, sir, I would rather have taken you for a profane malignant than for such a devout person as you prove, who reverences the great Master even in the meanest of his servants."
"It is always my custom to do so, learned sir," answered Dalgetty; "for in the service of the immortal Gustavus-but I detain you from your meditations,"-his desire to speak of the King of Sweden being for once overpowered by the necessity of his circ.u.mstances.
"By no means, my worthy sir," said the clergyman. "What was, I pray you, the order of that great Prince, whose memory is so dear to every Protestant bosom?"
"Sir, the drums beat to prayers morning and evening, as regularly as for parade; and if a soldier pa.s.sed without saluting the chaplain, he had an hour"s ride on the wooden mare for his pains. Sir, I wish you a very good evening-I am obliged to depart the castle under M"Callum More"s pa.s.sport."
"Stay one instant, sir," said the preacher; "is there nothing I can do to testify my respect for the pupil of the great Gustavus, and so admirable a judge of preaching?"
"Nothing, sir," said the Captain, "but to shew me the nearest way to the gate-and if you would have the kindness," he added, with great effrontery, "to let a servant bring my horse with him, the dark grey gelding-call him Gustavus, and he will p.r.i.c.k up his ears-for I know not where the castle-stables are situated, and my guide," he added, looking at Ra.n.a.ld, "speaks no English."
"I hasten to accommodate you," said the clergyman; "your way lies through that cloistered pa.s.sage."
"Now, Heaven"s blessing upon your vanity!" said the Captain to himself. "I was afraid I would have had to march off without Gustavus."
In fact, so effectually did the chaplain exert himself in behalf of so excellent a judge of composition, that while Dalgetty was parleying with the sentinels at the drawbridge, showing his pa.s.sport, and giving the watchword, a servant brought him his horse, ready saddled for the journey. In another place, the Captain"s sudden appearance at large after having been publicly sent to prison, might have excited suspicion and enquiry; but the officers and domestics of the Marquis were accustomed to the mysterious policy of their master, and never supposed aught else than that he had been liberated and intrusted with some private commission by their master. In this belief, and having received the parole, they gave him free pa.s.sage.
Dalgetty rode slowly through the town of Inverary, the outlaw attending upon him like a foot-page at his horse"s shoulder. As they pa.s.sed the gibbet, the old man looked on the bodies and wrung his hands. The look and gesture was momentary, but expressive of indescribable anguish. Instantly recovering himself, Ra.n.a.ld, in pa.s.sing, whispered somewhat to one of the females, who, like Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, seemed engaged in watching and mourning the victims of feudal injustice and cruelty. The woman started at his voice, but immediately collected herself and returned for answer a slight inclination of the head.
Dalgetty continued his way out of the town, uncertain whether he should try to seize or hire a boat and cross the lake, or plunge into the woods, and there conceal himself from pursuit. In the former event he was liable to be instantly pursued by the galleys of the Marquis, which lay ready for sailing, their long yard-arms pointing to the wind, and what hope could he have in an ordinary Highland fishing-boat to escape from them? If he made the latter choice, his chance either of supporting or concealing himself in those waste and unknown wildernesses, was in the highest degree precarious. The town lay now behind him, yet what hand to turn to for safety he was unable to determine, and began to be sensible, that in escaping from the dungeon at Inverary, desperate as the matter seemed, he had only accomplished the easiest part of a difficult task. If retaken, his fate was now certain; for the personal injury he had offered to a man so powerful and so vindictive, could be atoned for only by instant death. While he pondered these distressing reflections, and looked around with a countenance which plainly expressed indecision, Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh suddenly asked him, "which way he intended to journey?"
"And that, honest comrade," answered Dalgetty, "is precisely the question which I cannot answer you. Truly I begin to hold the opinion, Ra.n.a.ld, that we had better have stuck by the brown loaf and water-pitcher until Sir Duncan arrived, who, for his own honour, must have made some fight for me."
"Saxon," answered MacEagh, "do not regret having exchanged the foul breath of yonder dungeon for the free air of heaven. Above all, repent not that you have served a Son of the Mist. Put yourself under my guidance, and I will warrant your safety with my head."
"Can you guide me safe through these mountains, and back to the army of Montrose?" said Dalgetty.
"I can," answered MacEagh; "there lives not a man to whom the mountain pa.s.ses, the caverns, the glens, the thickets, and the corries are known, as they are to the Children of the Mist. While others crawl on the level ground, by the sides of lakes and streams, ours are the steep hollows of the inaccessible mountains, the birth-place of the desert springs. Not all the bloodhounds of Argyle can trace the fastnesses through which I can guide you."
"Say"st thou so, honest Ra.n.a.ld?" replied Dalgetty; "then have on with thee; for of a surety I shall never save the ship by my own pilotage."
The outlaw accordingly led the way into the wood, by which the castle is surrounded for several miles, walking with so much dispatch as kept Gustavus at a round trot, and taking such a number of cross cuts and turns, that Captain Dalgetty speedily lost all idea where he might be, and all knowledge of the points of the compa.s.s. At length, the path, which had gradually become more difficult, altogether ended among thickets and underwood. The roaring of a torrent was heard in the neighbourhood, the ground became in some places broken, in others boggy, and everywhere unfit for riding.
"What the foul fiend," said Dalgetty, "is to be done here? I must part with Gustavus, I fear."
"Take no care for your horse," said the outlaw; "he shall soon be restored to you."
As he spoke, he whistled in a low tune, and a lad, half-dressed in tartan, half naked, having only his own s.h.a.ggy hair, tied with a thong of leather, to protect his head and face from sun and weather, lean, and half-starved in aspect, his wild grey eyes appearing to fill up ten times the proportion usually allotted to them in the human face, crept out, as a wild beast might have done, from a thicket of brambles and briars.
"Give your horse to the gillie," said Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh; "your life depends upon it."
"Och! och!" exclaimed the despairing veteran; "Eheu! as we used to say at Mareschal-College, must I leave Gustavus in such grooming!"
"Are you frantic, to lose time thus!" said his guide; "do we stand on friends" ground, that you should part with your horse as if he were your brother? I tell you, you shall have him again; but if you never saw the animal, is not life better than the best colt ever mare foaled?"
"And that is true too, mine honest friend," sighed Dalgetty; "yet if you knew but the value of Gustavus, and the things we two have done and suffered together-See, he turns back to look at me!-Be kind to him, my good breechless friend, and I will requite you well." So saying, and withal sniffling a little to swallow his grief, he turned from the heart-rending spectacle in order to follow his guide.
To follow his guide was no easy matter, and soon required more agility than Captain Dalgetty could master. The very first plunge after he had parted from his charger, carried him, with little a.s.sistance from a few overhanging boughs, or projecting roots of trees, eight foot sheer down into the course of a torrent, up which the Son of the Mist led the way. Huge stones, over which they scrambled,-thickets of them and brambles, through which they had to drag themselves,-rocks which were to be climbed on the one side with much labour and pain, for the purpose of an equally precarious descent upon the other; all these, and many such interruptions, were surmounted by the light-footed and half-naked mountaineer with an ease and velocity which excited the surprise and envy of Captain Dalgetty, who, enc.u.mbered by his head-piece, corslet, and other armour, not to mention his ponderous jack-boots, found himself at length so much exhausted by fatigue, and the difficulties of the road, that he sate down upon a stone in order to recover his breath, while he explained to Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh the difference betwixt travelling EXPEDITUS and IMPEDITUS, as these two military phrases were understood at Mareschal-College, Aberdeen. The sole answer of the mountaineer was to lay his hand on the soldier"s arm, and point backward in the direction of the wind. Dalgetty could spy nothing, for evening was closing fast, and they were at the bottom of a dark ravine. But at length he could distinctly hear at a distance the sullen toll of a large bell.
"That," said he, "must be the alarm-the storm-clock, as the Germans call it."
"It strikes the hour of your death," answered Ra.n.a.ld, "unless you can accompany me a little farther. For every toll of that bell a brave man has yielded up his soul."
"Truly, Ra.n.a.ld, my trusty friend," said Dalgetty, "I will not deny that the case may be soon my own; for I am so forfoughen (being, as I explained to you, IMPEDITUS, for had I been EXPEDITUS, I mind not pedestrian exercise the flourish of a fife), that I think I had better ensconce myself in one of these bushes, and even lie quiet there to abide what fortune G.o.d shall send me. I entreat you, mine honest friend Ra.n.a.ld, to shift for yourself, and leave me to my fortune, as the Lion of the North, the immortal Gustavus Adolphus, my never-to-be-forgotten master (whom you must surely have heard of, Ra.n.a.ld, though you may have heard of no one else), said to Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburgh, when he was mortally wounded on the plains of Lutzen. Neither despair altogether of my safety, Ra.n.a.ld, seeing I have been in as great pinches as this in Germany-more especially, I remember me, that at the fatal battle of Nerlingen-after which I changed service-"
"If you would save your father"s son"s breath to help his child out of trouble, instead of wasting it upon the tales of Seannachies," said Ra.n.a.ld, who now grew impatient of the Captain"s loquacity, "or if your feet could travel as fast as your tongue, you might yet lay your head on an unb.l.o.o.d.y pillow to-night."
"Something there is like military skill in that," replied the Captain, "although wantonly and irreverently spoken to an officer of rank. But I hold it good to pardon such freedoms on a march, in respect of the Saturnalian license indulged in such cases to the troops of all nations. And now, resume thine office, friend Ra.n.a.ld, in respect I am well-breathed; or, to be more plain, I PRAE, SEQUAR, as we used to say at Mareschal-College."
Comprehending his meaning rather from his motions than his language, the Son of the Mist again led the way, with an unerring precision that looked like instinct, through a variety of ground the most difficult and broken that could well be imagined. Dragging along his ponderous boots, enc.u.mbered with thigh-pieces, gauntlets, corslet, and back-piece, not to mention the buff jerkin which he wore under all these arms, talking of his former exploits the whole way, though Ra.n.a.ld paid not the slightest attention to him, Captain Dalgetty contrived to follow his guide a considerable s.p.a.ce farther, when the deep-mouthed baying of a hound was heard coming down the wind, as if opening on the scent of its prey.
"Black hound," said Ra.n.a.ld, "whose throat never boded good to a Child of the Mist, ill fortune to her who littered thee! hast thou already found our trace? But thou art too late, swart hound of darkness, and the deer has gained the herd."
So saying, he whistled very softly, and was answered in a tone equally low from the top of a pa.s.s, up which they had for some time been ascending. Mending their pace, they reached the top, where the moon, which had now risen bright and clear, showed to Dalgetty a party of ten or twelve Highlanders, and about as many women and children, by whom Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh was received with such transports of joy, as made his companion easily sensible that those by whom he was surrounded, must of course be Children of the Mist. The place which they occupied well suited their name and habits. It was a beetling crag, round which winded a very narrow and broken footpath, commanded in various places by the position which they held.
Ra.n.a.ld spoke anxiously and hastily to the children of his tribe, and the men came one by one to shake hands with Dalgetty, while the women, clamorous in their grat.i.tude, pressed round to kiss even the hem of his garment. "They plight their faith to you," said Ra.n.a.ld MacEagh, "for requital of the good deed you have done to the tribe this day."
"Enough said, Ra.n.a.ld," answered the soldier, "enough said-tell them I love not this shaking of hands-it confuses ranks and degrees in military service; and as to kissing of gauntlets, puldrons, and the like, I remember that the immortal Gustavus, as he rode through the streets of Nuremberg, being thus worshipped by the poulace (being doubtless far more worthy of it than a poor though honourable cavalier like myself), did say unto them, in the way of rebuke, "If you idolize me thus like a G.o.d, who shall a.s.sure you that the vengeance of Heaven will not soon prove me to be a mortal?"-And so here, I suppose you intend to make a stand against your followers, Ra.n.a.ld-VOTO A DIOS, as the Spaniard says?-a very pretty position-as pretty a position for a small peloton of men as I have seen in my service-no enemy can come towards it by the road without being at the mercy of cannon and musket.-But then, Ra.n.a.ld, my trusty comrade, you have no cannon, I dare to aver, and I do not see that any of these fellows have muskets either. So with what artillery you propose making good the pa.s.s, before you come to hand blows, truly, Ra.n.a.ld, it pa.s.seth my apprehension."
"With the weapons and with the courage of our fathers," said MacEagh; and made the Captain observe, that the men of his party were armed with bows and arrows.
"Bows and arrows!" exclaimed Dalgetty; "ha! ha! ha! have we Robin Hood and Little John back again? Bows and arrows! why, the sight has not been seen in civilized war for a hundred years. Bows and arrows! and why not weavers" beams, as in the days of Goliah? Ah! that Dugald Dalgetty, of Drumthwacket, should live to see men fight with bows and arrows!-The immortal Gustavus would never have believed it-nor Wallenstein-nor Butler-nor old Tilly,-Well, Ra.n.a.ld, a cat can have but its claws-since bows and arrows are the word, e"en let us make the best of it. Only, as I do not understand the scope and range of such old-fashioned artillery, you must make the best disposition you can out of your own head for MY taking the command, whilk I would have gladly done had you been to fight with any Christian weapons, is out of the question, when you are to combat like quivered Numidians. I will, however, play my part with my pistols in the approaching melley, in respect my carabine unhappily remains at Gustavus"s saddle.-My service and thanks to you," he continued, addressing a mountaineer who offered him a bow; "Dugald Dalgetty may say of himself, as he learned at Mareschal-College, "Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque arcu, Nec venenatis gravida sagittis, Fusce, pharetra; whilk is to say-"