Then Mrs Fenwicke, one of the smartest of women and the best of hostesses, whom everyone called Connie, shook me warmly by the hand, expressed her pleasure at our coming, and next moment we found ourselves in the centre of perhaps one of the merriest house parties in the whole of Scotland. Many of the people I had met before in that same big, well-furnished hall, with its splendid trophies of the chase and of Indian frontier wars. Fred Fenwicke and his wife, the merriest and most easy-going pair of any I knew, usually had the same party for the shooting, many of them being Anglo-Indians. In addition to Sammy Waldron, a well set up, fair-haired officer, tough as nails, who for over twenty years had been engaged on and off fighting the Indian frontier tribes, and who was usually the life and soul of the party, there was Jack Handsworth, or Major John Handsworth, C.I.E., owner of wide estates within sight of the Himalayas, who was never seen without a cigar except at meals; his son G.o.dfrey, a smartly groomed fellow of whom everyone held golden opinions; Miss Handsworth, Jack"s sister; Mrs Payling, an exceedingly pleasant and very good-looking widow of middle age, who lived in summer in England and in winter in India, whose manner of speech was very deliberate, who was possessed of a keen sense of humour, and who always wore exquisite gowns, and wore them well. She was, indeed, one of those few women whose clothes seem part of them. In addition, there were two brothers named Sale, well-known solicitors in London, a merry pair, full of humour; and several other men and women whom I knew more or less intimately.
Certainly Fred Fenwicke never made a mistake in the arrangement of his house parties. His guests were never ill-a.s.sorted. Sometimes he had a quiet set of visitors, but this was seldom. Indeed, the fun and merriment at Crailloch was always a continuous round, for everyone did just as he liked; shot, cycled, fished for salmon or trout, went excursions, or wandered over the heather-clad hills. There was no restraint, and everyone came there for thorough enjoyment.
"Well," exclaimed Fred, as we stood with him in the dining-room having a "peg" before dressing, "nice lot of boys I"ve got this time, aren"t they?"
"Too keen a crowd for me, I fear!" I laughed, for I knew from experience that when the shooters who were my fellow-guests foregathered, the fun was fast and furious.
For answer, my old friend only raised his gla.s.s in welcome and laughed across it merrily.
About thirty-eight, tall and dark, with a distinctly military bearing, and dressed in a smart tweed and gaiters, he looked the very pink of condition. Living that healthy, open-air life on the Scotch estate had tanned his face and neck, and had brought him to a perfection of "fitness" seldom seen in a man. His vitality was marvellous. From the moment he came down in the morning to open the letter-bag until the small hours when the last billiard players drained their final "pegs,"
he was constantly active. He loved the country, he loved Scotland, he loved shooting, of which he had plenty, and above all loved the companionship of the few men who were his intimate friends--the men who now formed the house party.
Connie Fenwicke was just as happy, just as fond of country life, and just as generous in her hospitality as her husband. Wife and husband thoroughly understood each other, and such was their independent position that, when tired of life at Crailloch, they took a voyage to Australia, where Fred Fenwicke was interested in certain companies.
Though fond of Scotland, and living there even through the town season, they were nevertheless essentially cosmopolitan, well known in Monte Carlo, in Florence, and in Rome. More, indeed, need not be said save that they were a pair such as one seldom met, whose house was hospitality itself.
Walter was not so intimate a friend as myself; but before that night was out Fred Fenwicke had admitted him to that charmed circle of close acquaintances, and he declared himself absolutely at home.
Dinner was always the solemn function at Crailloch, as it is in most country houses, for the shooters were then clean, the ladies in pretty frocks, and amusing, and Fred"s _chef_ was acknowledged to be one of the best in Scotland. After the ladies had left the table and coffee had been served in the big, old dining-room, with its splendid family portraits, I took Fred aside, for I had detected in him an anxiety to know the reason I had so suddenly come up to visit him. He knew that it was not on account of sport, for near-sightedness prevented my shooting, and I had heard him pa.s.s a remark _sotto voce_ at table with Sammy Waldron that it must be on account of some love affair.
In order to set my old friend"s mind at rest I took him along to his study, the only sanctum private from guests, and told him that the reason of the suddenness of my visit was because I wanted to study on the spot the history of Threave Castle.
"Oh! that"s it!" he cried, removing his cigar from his lips. "Well, I suppose you"ve got some book or other in view, eh?"
"H"m, yes," I answered after a moment"s hesitation. "I"m studying the history of the place. Perhaps I may write a book about it. I want you to help me. Have you any books dealing with the subject?"
"I fear I haven"t," was his response. "Threave is about fourteen miles from here, on a solitary and un-get-at-able island in the Dee. I"ve never been there myself; but I know a man, Mr Batten, the archaeologist, who lives in Castle-Douglas, who has the finest collection of works dealing with Galloway and the neighbourhood, and who has written a book regarding those parts. I"ll write to him. He"ll lend you a lot of books, no doubt, and perhaps he"ll go over to Threave with you. He"s an excellent fellow, and a great friend of mine. But,"
he added, "Walter is helping you, I suppose?"
"Yes. We are making certain investigations," was my cautious reply.
"At present we can"t say anything definite, except that I may possibly lay the scene of my new book there."
"Well, I"ll a.s.sist you, Allan, old chap, if you"ll promise to be silent upon Crailloch and all the boys here." And he laughed merrily. "When I told them you were coming they all wanted to know if you were going to write a book. They haven"t forgotten those articles last season about Nice and Monte."
"I"ll let them down lightly, I promise you," was my reply. "Only I tell you my object in confidence. I don"t wish the whole crowd to know."
"Of course not, my dear fellow," he responded. "I"ll help you. I"ll write to Batten, and we"ll arrange a little picnic over to Threave. You needn"t tell anyone your real reason for going there."
And so I left the arrangements in his hands. After three days of merriment and nights of music, billiard playing, and practical joking, Fred received a note from Mr Batten saying that he had obtained permission from the laird for us to visit Threave, and that he would be pleased not only to accompany us, but also to lend me the several rare and out-of-print works in his collection that dealt with the history of the famous stronghold.
To us this was good news indeed, and two mornings later, in a party of ten, including several others on cycles, we drove in a pair-horse brake away along the bank of Loch Ken, through the long, whitewashed villages of Parton and Crossmichael, down to a spot beside the winding Dee, where at a lonely farmhouse we were met by Mr Batten, who proved a most affable and valuable guide.
The party was an extremely merry one, and being compelled to leave the brake some half-mile from the river, each of us carried part of the provisions off which we were to lunch on arrival on the island.
The day was superb for August, one of those brilliant mornings seldom experienced in Scotland so late in the season, and much good-humoured banter was exchanged as the whole party trudged through the wide fields of corn just falling to the sickle.
Presently, on coming up the brae-face, we suddenly obtained a view of the broad, winding river sparkling in the sunshine below; and beyond, upon its solitary island, given over to the rooks and waterfowl, rose the stern, grim keep of what was once the home of the Black Douglas, which even today stands out grey and forbidding in the autumn sunlight.
Wyman was walking beside me, carrying a basketful of bottles of soda water, and as the view burst upon me I turned to him and said:
"Can it be possible that the casket of which old G.o.dfrey speaks is hidden upon that island?"
"Maybe," was his reply. "It certainly looks just the sort of outlandish place to hold a mystery. But we must say nothing to anyone. Let"s take our observation in silence. They"ll enjoy their picnic while we will refer to that memorandum you made of the parchment record."
At that moment Sammy Waldron, ruddy and sun-tanned, in a rough cycling suit, came up and began to chaff Walter regarding the soda--he himself being the bearer of a quant.i.ty of that spirit very precious with men on such occasions, being a.s.sisted in its transport by the ever humorous Mrs Payling, well turned-out as usual, and br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with good humour. Being a widow, with a son in the Indian service, she was essentially a man"s companion as well as being a _chic_ woman. She was chatting with Mr Batten, while Fred Fenwicke was walking with Connie and two ladies of the party a little in advance.
At last we all gained the water"s edge, and, depositing our loads, proceeded to examine the laird"s boat, a key of which Mr Batten had obtained. It was half-full of water, and there were no oars.
After some search a labourer was discovered who knew the spot where the oars were concealed, and he having pointed them out under a hedge, we discovered that they were so badly rotted by the weather that there was scarcely any blade left, and, further, that there were no rowlocks.
Sammy, G.o.dfrey Handsworth, and the two Sales commenced to bale out the water with drinking-gla.s.ses, while the rest of the party, now being very hungry and thirsty, sat impatiently on the bank watching, and pa.s.sing sarcastic remarks upon the slow progress of the work.
At length, however, it was concluded, and some of the provisions were taken aboard: Sammy being elected c.o.xswain, with the two Sales as rowers. Then they took in a male volunteer on the trial trip.
"The husbands" boat for Margate!"
"Nice day for a sail!" and "Man the lifeboat!" were among the derisive shouts and jeers amid which the venturous party put off into the stormy and rather dangerous waters of the Dee. The course of the boat with such oars and without rowlocks was necessarily erratic, and the absurd antics of the rowers and of Sammy as c.o.xswain convulsed us on sh.o.r.e.
Amid-stream the rowers, affecting fatigue, commenced to refresh themselves upon the provisions which we had sent across, and calmly lunched, leaving us hungry and empty.
After a long and tempestuous voyage they landed their first freight; then returned and took a second and a third. In the fourth Wyman and myself were included, and after running on a mud-bank and having a very exciting and ludicrous time of it, we at last, laughing merrily, sprang ash.o.r.e on that wild, unvisited island, where, according to The Closed Book, the wonderful emeralds of Lucrezia Borgia had, through centuries, lain hidden.
Mr Batten a.s.sured us that no one had landed there for at least a year or more; but the instant we gained the sh.o.r.e we turned our first attention to discovering any traces of those whom we knew were aware of the old monk"s secret in common with ourselves.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
UNDER THE GALLOWS k.n.o.b.
The low-lying island upon which we found ourselves was certainly a dismal, out-of-the-world place, covered by rank gra.s.s and nettles, and yellow with St John"s wort. Ruined walls were scattered around the castle of Threave itself, a square, roofless tower, which in the bleakness of its gaunt and terrible majesty suggested the idea of an armed skeleton, in the facial apertures of which lay the darkness of death and decay.
This was the monument of the Douglases" pride and the engine of their oppression during their galling ascendancy, when Archibald rode with his retinue of two thousand armed retainers, many of them the most noted desperadoes, and ravaged the Border. The huge fourteenth-century fortress, once the pride of kings, was still a ma.s.sive pile, with walls nearly seventy feet high, built of common grey moor stone.
As we wandered through it, the wind howling through the narrow slits where archers had sent forth their shafts, our friend Mr Batten pointed out in the lowest story the dungeon, a.r.s.enal, and larder; the barracks on the first floor; and, above, the apartments of state, where the Black Douglas lodged his friends or feasted his va.s.sals, the walls of all ma.s.sive, but now crumbling to decay.
Around the castle were the remains of a strong barbican, flanked at each angle by a circular tower, which had been secured in front by a deep fosse and vallum, both water and walls of the latter having long since disappeared.
Then, standing outside--while the rest of the party, seated on the gra.s.s, were eating their luncheon, laughing merrily and thoroughly enjoying the novelty of reaching such a place--Mr Batten pointed to a large granite bracket projecting from the front of the castle, high up near the roof: the far-famed "Gallows k.n.o.b" or "Hanging Stone," which the Black Douglas was wont to boast was never without a "ta.s.sel," either in the shape of a malefactor, or, if none such were in custody, some unoffending va.s.sal!
When the Douglases maintained their power in Galloway the deeds committed within that grim, grey fortress were such as invest it with fearful interest. I recollected having read of its sinister memories, and some of them were now recalled to me by Mr Batten, who made a deep study of the subject. Indeed, as I stood there with Walter Wyman, apart from the gay Crailloch house party, gazing up at the high grey walls that had once sheltered the old soldier monk and chronicler, G.o.dfrey Lovel, I recollected how well the weirdlike halo that, to the present day, surrounds the place is expressed in those plaintive lines of the unfortunate Inglis of Torsonce:
Threave"s Castle looms as dark by day, With its walls of moorland grey, And the sad and sullen stream Which, like some dank, unwholesome dream, Creeps on its stagnant way, In mossy pool and quagmire pent Around the island battlement.
Dismal is the granite pile With barbican and flanking tower, That frown beneath the merry smile Of laughing noontide hour.
Dismal is the island when, With herbage rank and stunted thorn That clothe the blood-besprinkled fen In leaf and bough forlorn, Some evil spirit haunts it yet.
The dreary annals of the past Athwart the meadow wan and wet Their spectral shadows cast; No feathered minstrel tunes his throat On lowly bush or lofty spray; No skylark pipes his dulcet note In the sun"s yellow ray; And still the prisoned oxen low To reach the farther sh.o.r.e, Like captives of the spear and bow In Douglas raids of yore; No rural lover comes to hide The stolen tryst at eventide; And the otter seeks his prey, And the wild duck leads her brood, And desolation and decay Sleep in the ghastly solitude.
Mr Batten was called over to the luncheon party by Connie Fenwicke, who cried, "I say, Mr Batten, leave the author to meditate, and come and have something to eat. And you also, Captain Wyman. Allan will come when he"s hungry; he"s feasting on ruins at present."
Wyman excused himself for a moment, but Mr Batten succ.u.mbed to the temptation of cold partridge and claret.
With Walter, I walked behind one of the round flanking towers, scrambling over the fallen masonry, and when out of sight of the others we commenced to search carefully for any traces of previous visitors there. The rank gra.s.s and weeds were trodden down here and there by recent footsteps; but we concluded that it had been done by some of our party who had wandered about the place prior to our own landing. We wondered whether Lord Glenelg or his companions had already been there; but the absence of any evidence that the laird"s boat had been used for months convinced us that they had not.