Volume Ii Part 5 (2/2)
”Aih! L--d be here!” cried Charlie in a trumpet voice, and threw himself flat down behind the rest. Hearing that some of them laughed at the fright he had got, he ventured to speak and expostulate a little; but no curiosity could induce him to raise his face from the floor, or open his eyes again while the friar's exhibition continued. ”Lair him, lair him, friar!” cried he,--”or, od, I's be about your lugs some day for this.
Lair him, lair him, in the name of St Michael! and if that winna do, try him wi' Peter--he'll send him ower the battlements like a shot. O good friar, whatever ye do, lair him!”
The friar went on with his phantasmagoria. The figure, after giving a s.h.i.+ver or two, was parted into three, all of the same form and size, but all making different motions, and different contortions of feature.
The three were afterwards parted into six, which, among other grotesque feats, danced a reel, and, on running thro' it, every one threw itself heels-over-head. The group of onlookers laughed outright at this, notwithstanding their astonishment, and called to Charlie to look. But he would not move his face from the earth, and only asked, in a half-suffocated voice, ”Is he no laired yet? Od I shall be about wi'
that cursed body for his tricks.”
When the friar had concluded this feat, he put out his small lanthorn, took the machinery out of it, concealing it beneath his ample frock, and again opened all the windows.
Charlie got up, and running to one of the loop-holes, ”Gude be thankit, I'll get a cooke o' the air o' heaven again!” said he, ”for I hae been breathing fire and brimstone this while byegane. Foul befa' me gin ever I saw the like o' yon; I was sair dumfoundered,--but wha could stand afore the face of a fiery giant?”
The friar's a.s.sociates looked at the lanthorn, examining it with curious eyes, but perceived nothing about it which could in any way account for the apparition they had seen. Master Michael Scott did not deign to ask a sight of it, but paced over the floor in sullen and thoughtful mood.
The seneschal stood fixed to the spot on which he had witnessed the phenomenon, with his heavy unmoving eyes turned towards his master. He seemed dubious whether he was vanquished or not. The Master at length spoke, addressing the friar:--
”I hope, right wors.h.i.+pful Primate, this is not the extent of your knowledge and power in the sublime art of divination? The whole is only a delusion,--a shadow,--a phantom, calculated to astonish women or children. I acknowledge it to be ingenious; still it is nothing. You multiplied your shadows, turning three into six; now, if I turn three men into six living, breathing, substantial beings, will you acknowledge yourself outdone?”
”Certes, I will,” said the friar.
”Away, then, with deception,” said the Master: ”What I do, I do in the open eye of day.--Stand forth three of you.”
”Master Michael Scott, I'll tell you what it is,” said Charlie, ”I solemnly protest against being parted into twa.”
”You shall neither suffer nor feel the least inconvenience by the change, brave yeoman,” said the Master; ”therefore be not afraid, but stand forth.”
Charlie hung his head to one side in a deep reverie, till at length his countenance lightened up by degrees, his features opening into a broad smile.
”I'll tell you what it is, Sir Knight,” said he, ”if you will a.s.sure me that baith o' us shall be as stout and as wight chaps as I am mysel e'en now, gude faith, I dinna care though ye mak me into twa, for my master the warden's sake. If you could double an army that gate, it wad be a great matter. I doubt sair I'll cast out wi' my t.i.ther half about something that I ken o', and that's Corby; but I'll run the risk. Nane o' your cutfing and cleaving, however, Sir Knight. Nane o' your imps wi'
their lang-kail gully knives again.”
Charlie stepped up the floor, and took his stand with his back at the wall, to await doggedly this multiplication of himself. Tam soon joined him: but there was a hard contest between Gibbie and the poet, both of whom were rather personal cowards, and both alike averse to such experiments. The former was at length obliged to yield, for Carol clung so close to the maid, that nothing could induce him to part from her; and, ever since the friar gave him the grievous overthrow, he had lost all confidence in his personal prowess.
Michael stamped thrice with his heel, and spoke some words in an unknown tongue, in a low muttering tone; but some of them heard the sounds of Prig, Prim, and p.r.i.c.ker. There was a momentary confusion in the apartment. A darkening haze flashed over it, and blinded the eyes of men for a short s.p.a.ce; the floor gave a shake, as if it had sunk down a little,--and there stood two of each of the three friends, so completely alike that no one knew who was who.
No scene could be more truly ludicrous than the one which now ensued; each man turned to his prototype, and the looks of confusion and astonishment in both being the same, the beholders were seized with irrepressible laughter.
Charlie felt his legs, thighs, and ribs, if they remained the same as before. The other boardly personage in the same shape followed his example, and added, ”Gude faith, the like o' this I saw never!”
”You may weel say't,” said the other; ”But let me see if you can draw that lang sword as weel an' as cleverly as I can do.”
”Gude Lord, hear til him!” said the first: ”He's speaking as he were the true Charlie Scott himsel! Speak ye, friend: Were you me before this!
That, is, did you ride with the warden over the border?”
”I am sure if you were there, I never saw you before,” said the second speaker; ”But I dinna ken what I am saying; for the truth is I dinna comprehend this.”
With that they again gazed at each other, and looked over their shoulders, as if they would not have cared to have fled from one another's presence.
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