At this moment he beheld a man advancing slowly and cautiously along the beach. He was in hopes, at first, it was his father, but instantly recollected that he had not had time to come round by the circuitous descent, to which he must necessarily have recourse, and besides, he saw that the man who approached him was shorter in stature.
As he came nearer, Mordaunt was at no loss to recognise the pedlar whom the day before he had met with at Harfra, and who was known to him before upon many occasions. He shouted as loud as he could, "Bryce, hollo! Bryce, come hither!" But the merchant, intent upon picking up some of the spoils of the wreck, and upon dragging them out of reach of the tide, paid for some time little attention to his shouts.
When he did at length approach Mordaunt, it was not to lend him his aid, but to remonstrate with him on his rashness in undertaking the charitable office. "Are you mad?" said he; "you that have lived sae lang in Zetland, to risk the saving of a drowning man? Wot ye not, if you bring him to life again, he will be sure to do you some capital injury?[31]--Come, Master Mordaunt, bear a hand to what"s mair to the purpose. Help me to get ane or twa of these kists ash.o.r.e before any body else comes, and we shall share, like good Christians, what G.o.d sends us, and be thankful."
Mordaunt was indeed no stranger to this inhuman superst.i.tion, current at a former period among the lower orders of the Zetlanders, and the more generally adopted, perhaps, that it served as an apology for refusing a.s.sistance to the unfortunate victims of shipwreck, while they made plunder of their goods. At any rate, the opinion, that to save a drowning man was to run the risk of future injury from him, formed a strange contradiction in the character of these islanders; who, hospitable, generous, and disinterested, on all other occasions, were sometimes, nevertheless, induced by this superst.i.tion, to refuse their aid in those mortal emergencies, which were so common upon their rocky and stormy coasts. We are happy to add, that the exhortation and example of the proprietors have eradicated even the traces of this inhuman belief, of which there might be some observed within the memory of those now alive. It is strange that the minds of men should have ever been hardened towards those involved in a distress to which they themselves were so constantly exposed; but perhaps the frequent sight and consciousness of such danger tends to blunt the feelings to its consequences, whether affecting ourselves or others.
Bryce was remarkably tenacious of this ancient belief; the more so, perhaps, that the mounting of his pack depended less upon the warehouses of Lerwick or Kirkwall, than on the consequences of such a north-western gale as that of the day preceding; for which (being a man who, in his own way, professed great devotion) he seldom failed to express his grateful thanks to Heaven. It was indeed said of him, that if he had spent the same time in a.s.sisting the wrecked seamen, which he had employed in rifling their bales and boxes, he would have saved many lives, and lost much linen. He paid no sort of attention to the repeated entreaties of Mordaunt, although he was now upon the same slip of sand with him. It was well known to Bryce as a place on which the eddy was likely to land such spoils as the ocean disgorged; and to improve the favourable moment, he occupied himself exclusively in securing and appropriating whatever seemed most portable and of greatest value. At length Mordaunt saw the honest pedlar fix his views upon a strong sea-chest, framed of some Indian wood, well secured by bra.s.s plates, and seeming to be of a foreign construction. The stout lock resisted all Bryce"s efforts to open it, until, with great composure, he plucked from his pocket a very neat hammer and chisel, and began forcing the hinges.
Incensed beyond patience at his a.s.surance, Mordaunt caught up a wooden stretcher which lay near him, and laying his charge softly on the sand, approached Bryce with a menacing gesture, and exclaimed, "You cold-blooded, inhuman rascal! either get up instantly and lend me your a.s.sistance to recover this man, and bear him out of danger from the surf, or I will not only beat you to a mummy on the spot, but inform Magnus Troil of your thievery, that he may have you flogged till your bones are bare, and then banish you from the Mainland!"
The lid of the chest had just sprung open as this rough address saluted Bryce"s ears, and the inside presented a tempting view of wearing apparel for sea and land; shirts, plain and with lace ruffles, a silver compa.s.s, a silver-hilted sword, and other valuable articles, which the pedlar well knew to be such as stir in the trade. He was half-disposed to start up, draw the sword, which was a cut-and-thrust, and "darraign battaile," as Spenser says, rather than quit his prize, or brook interruption. Being, though short, a stout square-made personage, and not much past the prime of life, having besides the better weapon, he might have given Mordaunt more trouble than his benevolent knight-errantry deserved.
Already, as with vehemence he repeated his injunctions that Bryce should forbear his plunder, and come to the a.s.sistance of the dying man, the pedlar retorted with a voice of defiance, "Dinna swear, sir; dinna swear, sir--I will endure no swearing in my presence; and if you lay a finger on me, that am taking the lawful spoil of the Egyptians, I will give ye a lesson ye shall remember from this day to Yule!"
Mordaunt would speedily have put the pedlar"s courage to the test, but a voice behind him suddenly said, "Forbear!" It was the voice of Norna of the Fitful-head, who, during the heat of their altercation, had approached them un.o.bserved. "Forbear!" she repeated; "and, Bryce, do thou render Mordaunt the a.s.sistance he requires. It shall avail thee more, and it is I who say the word, than all that you could earn to-day besides."
"It is se"enteen hundred linen," said the pedlar, giving a tweak to one of the shirts, in that knowing manner with which matrons and judges ascertain the texture of the loom;--"it"s se"enteen hundred linen, and as strong as an it were dowlas. Nevertheless, mother, your bidding is to be done; and I would have done Mr. Mordaunt"s bidding too," he added, relaxing from his note of defiance into the deferential whining tone with which he cajoled his customers, "if he hadna made use of profane oaths, which made my very flesh grew, and caused me, in some sort, to forget myself." He then took a flask from his pocket, and approached the shipwrecked man. "It"s the best of brandy," he said; "and if that doesna cure him, I ken nought that will." So saying, he took a preliminary gulp himself, as if to show the quality of the liquor, and was about to put it to the man"s mouth, when, suddenly withholding his hand, he looked at Norna--"You ensure me against all risk of evil from him, if I am to render him my help?--Ye ken yoursell what folk say, mother."
For all other answer, Norna took the bottle from the pedlar"s hand, and began to chafe the temples and throat of the shipwrecked man; directing Mordaunt how to hold his head, so as to afford him the means of disgorging the sea-water which he had swallowed during his immersion.
The pedlar looked on inactive for a moment, and then said, "To be sure, there is not the same risk in helping him, now he is out of the water, and lying high and dry on the beach; and, to be sure, the princ.i.p.al danger is to those that first touch him; and, to be sure, it is a world"s pity to see how these rings are pinching the puir creature"s swalled fingers--they make his hand as blue as a partan"s back before boiling." So saying, he seized one of the man"s cold hands, which had just, by a tremulous motion, indicated the return of life, and began his charitable work of removing the rings, which seemed to be of some value.
"As you love your life, forbear," said Norna, sternly, "or I will lay that on you which shall spoil your travels through the isles."
"Now, for mercy"s sake, mother, say nae mair about it," said the pedlar, "and I"ll e"en do your pleasure in your ain way! I _did_ feel a rheumatize in my back-spauld yestreen; and it wad be a sair thing for the like of me to be debarred my quiet walk round the country, in the way of trade--making the honest penny, and helping myself with what Providence sends on our coasts."
"Peace, then," said the woman--"Peace, as thou wouldst not rue it; and take this man on thy broad shoulders. His life is of value, and you will be rewarded."
"I had muckle need," said the pedlar, pensively looking at the lidless chest, and the other matters which strewed the sand; "for he has come between me and as muckle spreacherie as wad hae made a man of me for the rest of my life; and now it maun lie here till the next tide sweep it a"
doun the Roost, after them that aught it yesterday morning."
"Fear not," said Norna, "it will come to man"s use. See, there come carrion-crows, of scent as keen as thine own."
She spoke truly; for several of the people from the hamlet of Jarlshof were now hastening along the beach, to have their share in the spoil.
The pedlar beheld them approach with a deep groan. "Ay, ay," he said, "the folk of Jarlshof, they will make clean wark; they are kend for that far and wide; they winna leave the value of a rotten ratlin; and what"s waur, there isna ane o" them has mense or sense eneugh to give thanks for the mercies when they have gotten them. There is the auld Ranzelman, Neil Ronaldson, that canna walk a mile to hear the minister, but he will hirple ten if he hears of a ship embayed."
Norna, however, seemed to possess over him so complete an ascendency, that he no longer hesitated to take the man, who now gave strong symptoms of reviving existence, upon his shoulders; and, a.s.sisted by Mordaunt, trudged along the sea-beach with his burden, without farther remonstrance. Ere he was borne off, the stranger pointed to the chest, and attempted to mutter something, to which Norna replied, "Enough. It shall be secured."
Advancing towards the pa.s.sage called Erick"s Steps, by which they were to ascend the cliffs, they met the people from Jarlshof hastening in the opposite direction. Man and woman, as they pa.s.sed, reverently made room for Norna, and saluted her--not without an expression of fear upon some of their faces. She pa.s.sed them a few paces, and then turning back, called aloud to the Ranzelman, who (though the practice was more common than legal) was attending the rest of the hamlet upon this plundering expedition. "Neil Ronaldson," she said, "mark my words. There stands yonder a chest, from which the lid has been just prized off. Look it be brought down to your own house at Jarlshof, just as it now is. Beware of moving or touching the slightest article. He were better in his grave that so much as looks at the contents. I speak not for nought, nor in aught will I be disobeyed."
"Your pleasure shall be done, mother," said Ronaldson. "I warrant we will not break bulk, since sic is your bidding."
Far behind the rest of the villagers, followed an old woman, talking to herself, and cursing her own decrepitude, which kept her the last of the party, yet pressing forward with all her might to get her share of the spoil.
When they met her, Mordaunt was astonished to recognise his father"s old housekeeper. "How now," he said, "Swertha, what make you so far from home?"
"Just e"en daikering out to look after my auld master and your honour,"
replied Swertha, who felt like a criminal caught in the manner; for on more occasions than one, Mr. Mertoun had intimated his high disapprobation of such excursions as she was at present engaged in.
But Mordaunt was too much engaged with his own thoughts to take much notice of her delinquency. "Have you seen my father?" he said.
"And that I have," replied Swertha--"The gude gentleman was ganging to hirsel himsell doun Erick"s Steps, whilk would have been the ending of him, that is in no way a cragsman. Sae I e"en gat him wiled away hame--and I was just seeking you that you may gang after him to the hall-house, for to my thought he is far frae weel."
"My father unwell?" said Mordaunt, remembering the faintness he had exhibited at the commencement of that morning"s walk.
"Far frae weel--far frae weel," groaned out Swertha, with a piteous shake of the head--"white o" the gills--white o" the gills--and him to think of coming down the riva!"
"Return home, Mordaunt," said Norna, who was listening to what had pa.s.sed. "I will see all that is necessary done for this man"s relief, and you will find him at the Ranzelman"s, when you list to enquire. You cannot help him more than you already have done."
Mordaunt felt this was true, and, commanding Swertha to follow him instantly, betook himself to the path homeward.
Swertha hobbled reluctantly after her young master in the same direction, until she lost sight of him on his entering the cleft of the rock; then instantly turned about, muttering to herself, "Haste home, in good sooth?--haste home, and lose the best chance of getting a new rokelay and owerlay that I have had these ten years? by my certie, na--It"s seldom sic rich G.o.dsends come on our sh.o.r.e--no since the Jenny and James came ash.o.r.e in King Charlie"s time."
So saying, she mended her pace as well as she could, and, a willing mind making amends for frail limbs, posted on with wonderful dispatch to put in for her share of the spoil. She soon reached the beach, where the Ranzelman, stuffing his own pouches all the while, was exhorting the rest to part things fair, and be neighbourly, and to give to the auld and helpless a share of what was going, which, he charitably remarked, would bring a blessing on the sh.o.r.e, and send them "mair wrecks ere winter."[32]
FOOTNOTES:
[30] Note III.--Sale of Winds.
[31] Note IV.--Reluctance to Save Drowning Men.
[32] Note V.--Mair Wrecks ere Winter.
CHAPTER VIII.
He was a lovely youth, I guess; The panther in the wilderness Was not so fair as he; And when he chose to sport and play, No dolphin ever was so gay, Upon the tropic sea.
WORDSWORTH.
The light foot of Mordaunt Mertoun was not long of bearing him to Jarlshof. He entered the house hastily, for what he himself had observed that morning, corresponded in some degree with the ideas which Swertha"s tale was calculated to excite. He found his father, however, in the inner apartment, reposing himself after his fatigue; and his first question satisfied him that the good dame had practised a little imposition to get rid of them both.
"Where is this dying man, whom you have so wisely ventured your own neck to relieve?" said the elder Mertoun to the younger.
"Norna, sir," replied Mordaunt, "has taken him under her charge; she understands such matters."
"And is quack as well as witch?" said the elder Mertoun. "With all my heart--it is a trouble saved. But I hasted home, on Swertha"s hint, to look out for lint and bandages; for her speech was of broken bones."
Mordaunt kept silence, well knowing his father would not persevere in his enquiries upon such a matter, and not willing either to prejudice the old governante, or to excite his father to one of those excesses of pa.s.sion into which he was apt to burst, when, contrary to his wont, he thought proper to correct the conduct of his domestic.
It was late in the day ere old Swertha returned from her expedition, heartily fatigued, and bearing with her a bundle of some bulk, containing, it would seem, her share of the spoil. Mordaunt instantly sought her out, to charge her with the deceits she had practised on both his father and himself; but the accused matron lacked not her reply.
"By her troth;" she said, "she thought it was time to bid Mr. Mertoun gang hame and get bandages, when she had seen, with her ain twa een, Mordaunt ganging down the cliff like a wild-cat--it was to be thought broken bones would be the end, and lucky if bandages wad do any good;--and, by her troth, she might weel tell Mordaunt his father was puirly, and him looking sae white in the gills, (whilk, she wad die upon it, was the very word she used,) and it was a thing that couldna be denied by man at this very moment."