Grassmarket!"
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 circumstances and conditions. "I trust,"
he concluded, "we shall be able to secure Captain Dalgetty's assistance
to our own party."
"And if not," said the Laird, "I protest, as the Captain says, that
nothing that has passed 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 quantity 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-shell."
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 encumbered
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 classic phrase, VINO CIBOQUE GRAVATUS."
By this time he was unshelled, 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 PASSE - 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 circumstances 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 assembled 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 passions,
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 circumstance 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 assistance 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
nobleman 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 bloody 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 grass; 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 passing,
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 circumstance, 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 superstitious 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 circumstances preceding his birth, was
constitutionally deranged, with all the wild and terrible superstitions
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 amusement 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 assumed 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.
"I was myself upon a visit to the castle when this matter was brought
to a crisis. Allan had been absent since day-break in the woods, where
I had sought for him in vain; it was a dark stormy night, and he did not
return. His father expressed the utmost anxiety, and spoke of detaching
a party at the dawn of morning in quest of him; when, as we were sitting
at the supper-table, the door suddenly opened, and Allan entered the
room with a proud, firm, and confident air. His intractability of
temper, as well as the unsettled state of his mind, had such an
influence over his father, that he suppressed all other tokens of
displeasure, excepting the observation that I had killed a fat buck, and
had returned before sunset, while he supposed Allan, who had been on
the hill till midnight, had returned with empty hands. 'Are you sure of
that?' said Allan, fiercely; 'here is something will tell you another
tale.'
"We now observed his hands were bloody, and that there were spots of
blood on his face, and waited the issue with impatience; when suddenly,
undoing the corner of his plaid, he rolled down on the table a human
head, bloody and new severed, saying at the same time, 'Lie thou where
the head of a better man lay before ye.' From the haggard features,
and matted red hair and beard, partly grizzled with age, his father and
others present recognised the head of Hector of the Mist, a well-known
leader among the outlaws, redoubted for strength and ferocity, who had
been active in the murder of the unfortunate Forester, uncle to Allan,
and had escaped by a desperate defence and extraordinary agility,
when so many of his companions were destroyed. We were all, it may
be believed, struck with surprise, but Allan refused to gratify our
curiosity; and we only conjectured that he must have overcome the outlaw
after a desperate struggle, because we discovered that he had sustained
several wounds from the contest. All measures were now taken to ensure
him against the vengeance of the freebooters; but neither his wounds,
nor the positive command of his father, nor even the locking of the
gates of the castle and the doors of his apartment, were precautions
adequate to prevent Allan from seeking out the very persons to whom he
was peculiarly obnoxious. He made his escape by night from the window of
the apartment, and laughing at his father's vain care, produced on one
occasion the head of one, and upon another those of two, of the Children
of the Mist. At length these men, fierce as they were, became appalled
by the inveterate animosity and audacity with which Allan sought out
their recesses. As he never hesitated to encounter any odds, they
concluded that he must bear a charmed life, or fight under the
guardianship of some supernatural influence. Neither gun, dirk, nor
dourlach [DOURLACH - quiver; literally, satchel - of arrows.], they
said, availed aught against him. They imputed this to the remarkable
circumstances under which he was born; and at length five or six of the
stoutest caterans of the Highlands would have fled at Allan's halloo, or
the blast of his horn.
"In the meanwhile, however, the Children of the Mist carried on their
old trade, and did the M'Aulays, as well as their kinsmen and allies,
as much mischief as they could. This provoked another expedition against
the tribe, in which I had my share; we surprised them effectually, by
besetting at once the upper and under passes of the country, and made
such clean work as is usual on these occasions, burning and slaying
right before us. In this terrible species of war, even the females and
the helpless do not always escape. One little maiden alone, who smiled
upon Allan's drawn dirk, escaped his vengeance upon my earnest entreaty.
She was brought to the castle, and here bred up under the name of Annot
Lyle, the most beautiful little fairy certainly that ever danced upon a
heath by moonlight. It was long ere Allan could endure the presence
of the child, until it occurred to his imagination, from her features
perhaps, that she did not belong to the hated blood of his enemies, but
had become their captive in some of their incursions; a circumstance
not in itself impossible, but in which he believes as firmly as in holy
writ. He is particularly delighted by her skill in music, which is so
exquisite, that she far exceeds the best performers in this country in
playing on the clairshach, or harp. It was discovered that this produced
upon the disturbed spirits of Allan, in his gloomiest moods, beneficial
effects, similar to those experienced by the Jewish monarch of old; and
so engaging is the temper of Annot Lyle, so fascinating the innocence
and gaiety of her disposition, that she is considered and treated in the
castle rather as the sister of the proprietor, than as a dependent upon
his charity. Indeed, it is impossible for any one to see her without
being deeply interested by the ingenuity, liveliness, and sweetness of
her disposition."
"Take care, my lord," said Anderson, smiling; "there is danger in such
violent commendations. Allan M'Aulay, as your lordship describes him,
would prove no very safe rival."
"Pooh! pooh!" said Lord Menteith, laughing, yet blushing at the same
time; "Allan is not accessible to the passion of love; and for myself,"
said he, more gravely; "Annot's unknown birth is a sufficient reason
against serious designs, and her unprotected state precludes every
other."
"It is spoken like yourself, my lord," said Anderson. - "But I trust you
will proceed with your interesting story."
"It is wellnigh finished," said Lord Menteith; "I have only to add, that
from the great strength and courage of Allan M'Aulay, from his
energetic and uncontrollable disposition, and from an opinion generally
entertained and encouraged by himself that he holds communion with
supernatural beings, and can predict future events, the clan pay a much
greater degree of deference to him than even to his brother, who is a
bold-hearted rattling Highlander, but with nothing which can possibly
rival the extraordinary character of his younger brother."
"Such a character," said Anderson, "cannot but have the deepest effect
on the minds of a Highland host. We must secure Allan, my lord, at all
events. What between his bravery and his second sight - "
"Hush!" said Lord Menteith, "that owl is awaking."
"Do you talk of the second sight, or DEUTERO-SCOPIA?" said the soldier;
"I remember memorable Major Munro telling me how Murdoch Mackenzie,
born in Assint, a private gentleman in a company, and a pretty soldier,
foretold the death of Donald Tough, a Lochaber man, and certain other
persons, as well as the hurt of the major himself at a sudden onfall at
the siege of Trailsund."
"I have often heard of this faculty," observed Anderson, "but I have
always thought those pretending to it were either enthusiasts or
impostors."
"I should be loath," said Lord Menteith, "to apply either character
to my kinsman, Allan M'Aulay. He has shown on many occasions too much
acuteness and sense, of which you this night had an instance, for the
character of an enthusiast; and his high sense of honour, and manliness
of disposition, free him from the charge of imposture."
"Your lordship, then," said Anderson, "is a believer in his supernatural
attributes?"
"By no means," said the young nobleman; "I think that he persuades
himself that the predictions which are, in reality, the result of
judgment and reflection, are supernatural impressions on his mind, just
as fanatics conceive the workings of their own imagination to be divine
inspiration - at least, if this will not serve you, Anderson, I have no
better explanation to give; and it is time we were all asleep after the
toilsome journey of the day."
CHAPTER VI.
Coming events cast their shadows before. - CAMPBELL.
At an early hour in the morning the guests of the castle sprung from
their repose; and, after a moment's private conversation with his
attendants, Lord Menteith addressed the soldier, who was seated in a
corner burnishing his corslet with rot-stone and chamois-leather, while
he hummed the old song in honour of the victorious Gustavus Adolphus: -
When cannons are roaring, and bullets are flying,
The lad that would have honour, boys, must never fear dying.
"Captain Dalgetty," said Lord Menteith, "the time is come that we must
part, or become comrades in service."
"Not before breakfast, I hope?" said Captain Dalgetty.
"I should have thought," replied his lordship, "that your garrison was
victualled for three days at least."
"I have still some stowage left for beef and bannocks," said the
Captain; "and I never miss a favourable opportunity of renewing my
supplies."
"But," said Lord Menteith, "no judicious commander allows either flags
of truce or neutrals to remain in his camp longer than is prudent; and
therefore we must know your mind exactly, according to which you shall
either have a safe-conduct to depart in peace, or be welcome to remain
with us."
"Truly," said the Captain, "that being the case, I will not attempt
to protract the capitulation by a counterfeited parley, (a thing
excellently practised by Sir James Ramsay at the siege of Hannau, in the
year of God 1636,) but I will frankly own, that if I like your pay as
well as your provant and your company, I care not how soon I take the
oath to your colours."
"Our pay," said Lord Menteith, "must at present be small, since it
is paid out of the common stock raised by the few amongst us who can
command some funds - As major and adjutant, I dare not promise Captain
Dalgetty more than half a dollar a-day."
"The devil take all halves and quarters!" said the Captain; "were it in
my option, I could no more consent to the halving of that dollar, than
the woman in the Judgment of Solomon to the disseverment of the child of
her bowels."
"The parallel will scarce hold, Captain Dalgetty, for I think you would
rather consent to the dividing of the dollar, than give it up entire to
your competitor. However, in the way of arrears, I may promise you the
other half-dollar at the end of the campaign."
"Ah! these arrearages!" said Captain Dalgetty, "that are always
promised, and always go for nothing! Spain, Austria, and Sweden,
all sing one song. Oh! long life to the Hoganmogans! if they were no
officers of soldiers, they were good paymasters. - And yet, my lord, if
I could but be made certiorate that my natural hereditament of
Drumthwacket had fallen into possession of any of these loons of
Covenanters, who could be, in the event of our success, conveniently
made a traitor of, I have so much value for that fertile and pleasant
spot, that I would e'en take on with you for the campaign."
"I can resolve Captain Dalgetty's question," said Sibbald, Lord
Menteith's second attendant; "for if his estate of Drumthwacket be, as
I conceive, the long waste moor so called, that lies five miles south of
Aberdeen, I can tell him it was lately purchased by Elias Strachan, as
rank a rebel as ever swore the Covenant."
"The crop-eared hound!" said Captain Dalgetty, in a rage; "What the
devil gave him the assurance to purchase the inheritance of a family of
four hundred years standing? - CYNTHIUS AUREM VELLET, as we used to say
at Mareschal-College; that is to say, I will pull him out of my father's
house by the ears. And so, my Lord Menteith, I am yours, hand and
sword, body and soul, till death do us part, or to the end of the next
campaign, whichever event shall first come to pass."
"And I," said the young nobleman, "rivet the bargain with a month's pay
in advance."
"That is more than necessary," said Dalgetty, pocketing the money
however. "But now I must go down, look after my war-saddle and
abuilziements, and see that Gustavus has his morning, and tell him we
have taken new service."
"There goes your precious recruit," said Lord Menteith to Anderson, as
the Captain left the room; "I fear we shall have little credit of him."
"He is a man of the times, however," said Anderson; "and without such we
should hardly be able to carry on our enterprise."
"Let us go down," answered Lord Menteith, "and see how our muster is
likely to thrive, for I hear a good deal of bustle in the castle."
When they entered the hall, the domestics keeping modestly in the
background, morning greetings passed between Lord Menteith, Angus
M'Aulay, and his English guests, while Allan, occupying the same settle
which he had filled the preceding evening, paid no attention whatever to
any one. Old Donald hastily rushed into the apartment. "A message from
Vich Alister More; [The patronymic of MacDonell of Glengarry.] he is
coming up in the evening."
"With how many attendants?" said M'Aulay.
"Some five-and-twenty or thirty," said Donald, "his ordinary retinue."
"Shake down plenty of straw in the great barn," said the Laird.
Another servant here stumbled hastily in, announcing the expected
approach of Sir Hector M'Lean, "who is arriving with a large following."
"Put them in the malt-kiln," said M'Aulay; "and keep the breadth of the
middenstead between them and the M'Donalds; they are but unfriends to
each other."
Donald now re-entered, his visage considerably lengthened - "The tell's
i' the folk," he said; "the haill Hielands are asteer, I think. Evan
Dhu, of Lochiel, will be here in an hour, with Lord kens how many
gillies."
"Into the great barn with them beside the M'Donalds," said the Laird.
More and more chiefs were announced, the least of whom would have
accounted it derogatory to his dignity to stir without a retinue of six
or seven persons. To every new annunciation, Angus M'Aulay answered
by naming some place of accommodation, - the stables, the loft, the
cow-house, the sheds, every domestic office, were destined for the night
to some hospitable purpose or other. At length the arrival of M'Dougal
of Lorn, after all his means of accommodation were exhausted, reduced
him to some perplexity. "What the devil is to be done, Donald?" said
he; "the great barn would hold fifty more, if they would lie heads
and thraws; but there would be drawn dirks amang them which should lie
upper-most, and so we should have bloody puddings before morning!"
"What needs all this?" said Allan, starting up, and coming forward with
the stern abruptness of his usual manner; "are the Gael to-day of softer
flesh or whiter blood than their fathers were? Knock the head out of
a cask of usquebae; let that be their night-gear - their plaids
their bed-clothes - the blue sky their canopy, and the heather their
couch. - Come a thousand more, and they would not quarrel on the broad
heath for want of room!"
"Allan is right," said his brother; "it is very odd how Allan, who,
between ourselves," said he to Musgrave, "is a little wowf, [WOWF, i.e.
crazed.] seems at times to have more sense than us all put together.
Observe him now."
"Yes," continued Allan, fixing his eyes with a ghastly stare upon the
opposite side of the hall, "they may well begin as they are to end; many
a man will sleep this night upon the heath, that when the Martinmas wind
shalt blow shall lie there stark enough, and reck little of cold or lack
of covering."
"Do not forespeak us, brother," said Angus; "that is not lucky."
"And what luck is it then that you expect?" said Allan; and straining
his eyes until they almost started from their sockets, he fell with a
convulsive shudder into the arms of Donald and his brother, who, knowing
the nature of his fits, had come near to prevent his fall. They seated
him upon a bench, and supported him until he came to himself, and was
about to speak.
"For God's sake, Allan," said his brother, who knew the impression his
mystical words were likely to make on many of the guests, "say nothing
to discourage us."
"Am I he who discourages you?" said Allan; "let every man face his world
as I shall face mine. That which must come, will come; and we shall
stride gallantly over many a field of victory, ere we reach yon fatal
slaughter-place, or tread yon sable scaffolds."
"What slaughter-place? what scaffolds?" exclaimed several voices; for
Allan's renown as a seer was generally established in the Highlands.
"You will know that but too soon," answered Allan. "Speak to me no more,
I am weary of your questions." He then pressed his hand against his
brow, rested his elbow upon his knee, and sunk into a deep reverie.
"Send for Annot Lyle, and the harp," said Angus, in a whisper, to his
servant; "and let those gentlemen follow me who do not fear a Highland
breakfast."
All accompanied their hospitable landlord excepting only Lord Menteith,
who lingered in one of the deep embrasures formed by the windows of the
hall. Annot Lyle shortly after glided into the room, not ill described
by Lord Menteith as being the lightest and most fairy figure that ever
trode the turf by moonlight. Her stature, considerably less than the
ordinary size of women, gave her the appearance of extreme youth,
insomuch, that although she was near eighteen, she might have passed
for four years younger. Her figure, hands, and feet, were formed upon a
model of exquisite symmetry with the size and lightness of her
person, so that Titania herself could scarce have found a more fitting
representative. Her hair was a dark shade of the colour usually termed
flaxen, whose clustering ringlets suited admirably with her fair
complexion, and with the playful, yet simple, expression of her
features. When we add to these charms, that Annot, in her orphan state,
seemed the gayest and happiest of maidens, the reader must allow us to
claim for her the interest of almost all who looked on her. In fact, it
was impossible to find a more universal favourite, and she often
came among the rude inhabitants of the castle, as Allan himself, in
a poetical mood, expressed it, "like a sunbeam on a sullen sea,"
communicating to all others the cheerfulness that filled her own mind.
Annot, such as we have described her, smiled and blushed, when, on
entering the apartment, Lord Menteith came from his place of retirement,
and kindly wished her good-morning.
"And good-morning to you, my lord," returned she, extending her hand to
her friend; "we have seldom seen you of late at the castle, and now I
fear it is with no peaceful purpose."
"At least, let me not interrupt your harmony, Annot," said Lord
Menteith, "though my arrival may breed discord elsewhere. My cousin
Allan needs the assistance of your voice and music."
"My preserver," said Annot Lyle, "has a right to my poor exertions; and
you, too, my lord, - you, too, are my preserver, and were the most
active to save a life that is worthless enough, unless it can benefit my
protectors."
So saying, she sate down at a little distance upon the bench on which
Allan M'Aulay was placed, and tuning her clairshach, a small harp, about
thirty inches in height, she accompanied it with her voice. The air was
an ancient Gaelic melody, and the words, which were supposed to be very
old, were in the same language; but we subjoin a translation of them,
by Secundus Macpherson, Esq. of Glenforgen, which, although submitted to
the fetters of English rhythm, we trust will be found nearly as genuine
as the version of Ossian by his celebrated namesake.
"Birds of omen dark and foul,
Night-crow, raven, bat, and owl,
Leave the sick man to his dream -
All night long he heard your scream -
Haste to cave and ruin'd tower,
Ivy, tod, or dingled bower,
There to wink and mope, for, hark!
In the mid air sings the lark.
"Hie to moorish gills and rocks,
Prowling wolf and wily fox, -
Hie you fast, nor turn your view,
Though the lamb bleats to the ewe.
Couch your trains, and speed your flight,
Safety parts with parting night;
And on distant echo borne,
Comes the hunter's early horn.
"The moon's wan crescent scarcely gleams,
Ghost-like she fades in morning beams;
Hie hence each peevish imp and fay,
That scare the pilgrim on his way: -
Quench, kelpy! quench, in bog and fen,
Thy torch that cheats benighted men;
Thy dance is o'er, thy reign is done,
For Benyieglo hath seen the sun.
"Wild thoughts, that, sinful, dark, and deep,
O'erpower the passive mind in sleep,
Pass from the slumberer's soul away,
Like night-mists from the brow of day:
Foul hag, whose blasted visage grim
Smothers the pulse, unnerves the limb,
Spur thy dark palfrey, and begone!
Thou darest not face the godlike sun."
As the strain proceeded, Allan M'Aulay gradually gave signs of
recovering his presence of mind, and attention to the objects around
him. The deep-knit furrows of his brow relaxed and smoothed themselves;
and the rest of his features, which had seemed contorted with internal
agony, relapsed into a more natural state. When he raised his head
and sat upright, his countenance, though still deeply melancholy,
was divested of its wildness and ferocity; and in its composed state,
although by no means handsome, the expression of his features was
striking, manly, and even noble. His thick, brown eyebrows, which had
hitherto been drawn close together, were now slightly separated, as in
the natural state; and his grey eyes, which had rolled and flashed
from under them with an unnatural and portentous gleam, now recovered a
steady and determined expression.
"Thank God!" he said, after sitting silent for about a minute, until
the very last sounds of the harp had ceased to vibrate, "my soul is no
longer darkened - the mist hath passed from my spirit."
"You owe thanks, cousin Allan," said Lord Menteith, coming forward,