Part 11 (1/2)
There was so in the familiarity of this introduction which ill suited the exalted state of temper of the person to who dooms of death, and warm from conquest in a perilous encounter
”What fellow are you,” she said, ”that dare to claior, and neither wear his dress nor speak his language?--What are you, that have the tongue and the habit of the hound, and yet seek to lie doith the deer?”
”I dinna ken,” said the undaunted Bailie, ”if the kindred has ever been weel redd out to you yet, cousin--but it's ken'd, and can be prov'd My mother, Elspeth MacFarlane, was the wife of my father, Deacon Nicol Jarvie--peace be wi' thehter of Parlane MacFarlane, at the Sheeling o' Loch Sloy Now, this Parlane MacFarlane, as his surviving daughter Maggy MacFarlane, alias MacNab, wha married Duncan MacNab o' Stuckavrallachan, can testify, stood as near to your guderee of kindred, for”-- The virago lopped the genealogical tree, by de water acknowledged any relation with the portion withdrawn from it for the mean domestic uses of those elt on its banks?”
”Vera true, kinswolad to hae the ain in simmer, when the chuckie-stanes are white in the sun I ken weel eneugh you Hieland folk haud us Glasgow people light and cheap for our language and our claes;--but everybody speaks their native tongue that they learned in infancy; and it would be a daft-like thing to see me wi' hs gartered below the knee, like ane o' your lang-legged gillies Mair by token, kinswoman,” he continued, in defiance of various intial seemed to recommend silence, as well as of the marks of impatience which the Amazon evinced at his loquacity, ”I wad hae ye to ate, and that, for as high as ye ht every wife should honour her husband--there's Scripture warrant for that--yet as high as ye haud hi, I hae been serviceable to Rob ere now;--forbye a set o' pearlins I sent yourself when ye was gaun to bedrover, and nane o' this unlaark, wi' fighting, and flashes, and fluff-gibs, disturbing the king's peace and disar his soldiers”
He had apparently touched on a key which his kinswoht, and betrayed the acuteness of her feelings by a laugh of led scorn and bitterness
”Yes,” she said, ”you, and such as you, ht claim a relation to us, e stooped to be the paltry wretches fit to exist under your dominion, as your hewers of wood and drawers of water--to find cattle for your banquets, and subjects for your laws to oppress and trample on But noe are free--free by the very act which left us neither house nor hearth, food nor covering--which bereaved roan when I think I must still cueance And I will carry on the work, this day has so well coor and the Lowland churls Here Allan--Dougal--bind these Sassenachs neck and heel together, and throw thehland kinsfolk”
The Bailie, alar an expostulation, which probably would have only inflamed the violent passions of the person whoal threw hie, which he spoke with a fluency and rapidity strongly contrasted by the slow, imperfect, and idiot-like lish, poured forth what I doubt not was a very ani in our behalf
His ue, by exclailish (as if determined to make us taste in anticipation the full bitterness of death)--”Base dog, and son of a dog, do you dispute ues and put them into each other's throats, to try which would there best knap Southron, or to tear out their hearts and put them into each other's breasts, to see which would there best plot treason against the MacGregor--and such things have been done of old in the day of revenge, when our fathers had wrongs to redress--Should I command you to do this, would it be your part to dispute al replied, with accents of profound submission; ”her pleasure suld be done--tat's but reason; but an it were--tat is, an it could be thought the same to her to coup the ill-faured loon of ta red-coat Captain, and hims corporal Cramp, and twa three o' the red-coats, into the loch, herself wad do't wi' reat satisfaction than to hurt ta honest civil shentlearach, and came up on the Chiefs assurance, and not to do no treason, as herself could testify”
The lady was about to reply, when a feild strains of a pibroch were heard advancing up the road from Aberfoil, the same probably which had reached the ears of Captain Thornton's rear-guard, and determined hie, on finding the pass occupied The skir of very short duration, the arh quickening their , been able to arrive in time sufficient to take any share in the rencontre The victory, therefore, was complete without them, and they now arrived only to share in the triumph of their countrymen
There was a marked difference betwixt the appearance of these new comers and that of the party by which our escort had been defeated--and it was greatly in favour of the forhlanders who surrounded the Chieftainess, if I rae, boys scarce able to bear a sword, and even woes to take up arms; and it added a shade of bitter shame to the defection which clouded Thornton's manly countenance, when he found that the numbers and position of a foe, otherwise so despicable, had enabled thehlanders who now joined the others, were all men in the prime of youth or manhood, active clean-made fellohose short hose and belted plaids set out their sinewy lie Their arms were as superior to those of the first party as their dress and appearance The followers of the female Chief had axes, scythes, and other antique weapons, in aid of their guns; and so knives But of the second party,at the pouches which they wore in front Each had a good gun in his hand, and a broadsword by his side, besides a stout round target, ht wood, covered with leather, and curiously studded with brass, and having a steel spike screwed into the centre These hung on their left shoulder during afire with the eneed with sword in hand
But it was easy to see that this chosen band had not arrived from a victory such as they found their ill-appointed companions possessed of The pibroch sent forth occasionally a feailing notes expressive of a very different sentiment from triumph; and when they appeared before the wife of their Chieftain, it was in silence, and with downcast and melancholy looks They paused when they approached her, and the pipes again sent forth the same wild and melancholy strain
Helen rushed towards theled with apprehension--”What means this, Alaster?” she said to the minstrel--”why a lament in the or?--where's your father?”
Her sons, who led the band, advanced with slow and irresolute steps towards her, andwhich she set up a shriek that ain, in which all the wo as if their lives had been expiring in the sound The mountain echoes, silent since the military sounds of battle had ceased, had now to answer these frantic and discordant shrieks of sorrohich drove the very night-birds from their haunts in the rocks, as if they were startled to hear orgies more hideous and ill-omened than their own, performed in the face of open day
”Taken!” repeated Helen, when the clamour had subsided--”Taken!-- captive!--and you live to say so?--Coward dogs! did I nurse you for this, that you should spare your blood on your father's enemies? or see him prisoner, and coor, to whom this expostulation was addressed, were youths, of whom the eldest had hardly attained his twentieth year Hamish, or James, the elder of these youths, was the tallest by a head, and ht-blue eyes, with a profusion of fair hair, which streamed from under his smart blue bonnet, made his whole appearance a er was called Robert; but, to distinguish hi, or the young Dark hair, and dark features, with a ruddy glow of health and ani and well-set beyond his years, co mountaineer
Both now stood before their rief and shame, and listened, with the most respectful subth when her resent in English, probably that he ht not be understood by their followers, endeavoured respectfully to vindicate himself and his brother from his mother's reproaches I was so near hireat consequence to e crisis, I failed not to listen as attentively as I could
”The MacGregor,” his son stated, ”had been called out upon a trysting with a Lowland hallion, who came with a token froht it sounded like or,” he said, ”accepted of the invitation, but coe to be detained, as a hostage that good faith should be observed to hily he went to the place of appointhland naus Breck and Little Rory, cous Breck caor had been surprised and made prisoner by a party of Lennox militia, under Galbraith of Garschattachin” He added, ”that Galbraith, on being threatened by MacGregor, who upon his capture e, had treated the threat with great conte the thief, and your catherans er, Rob, and the country will be rid of two dahlander and a revenue officer' Angus Breck, less carefully looked to than his master, contrived to escape fro been in their custody long enough to hear this discussion, and to bring off the news”
”And did you learn this, you false-hearted traitor,” said the wife of MacGregor, ”and not instantly rush to your father's rescue, to bring hi MacGregorthe very superior force of the ene the country, he had fallen back up the glen with the purpose of collecting a band sufficient to atteth he said, ”thehouse of Gartartan, or the old castle in the port of Monteith, or so and defensible, was nevertheless capable of being surprised, could they but get enough of men assembled for the purpose”
I understood afterwards that the rest of the freebooter's folloere divided into two strong bands, one destined to watch the rearrison of Inversnaid, a party of which, under Captain Thornton, had been defeated; and another to show front to the Highland clans who had united with the regular troops and Lowlanders in this hostile and combined invasion of thatbetween the lakes of Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine, and Loch Ard, was at this tior country Messengers were despatched in great haste, to concentrate, as I supposed, their forces, with a view to the purposed attack on the Lowlanders; and the dejection and despair, at first visible on each countenance, gave place to the hope of rescuing their leader, and to the thirst of vengeance It was under the burning influence of the latter passion that the wife of MacGregor coed for his safety should be brought into her presence I believe her sons had kept this unfortunate wretch out of her sight, for fear of the consequences; but if it was so, their hued forward at her suonised features I recognised, to my horror and astonishment, my old acquaintance Morris
He fell prostrate before the female Chief with an effort to clasp her knees, from which she drew back, as if his touch had been pollution, so that all he could do in token of the extremity of his humiliation, was to kiss the hem of her plaid I never heard entreaties for life poured forth with such agony of spirit The ecstasy of fear was such, that instead of paralysing his tongue, as on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him eloquent; and, with cheeks pale as ashes, hands co their last look of all mortal objects, he protested, with the deepest oaths, his total ignorance of any design on the person of Rob Roy, whom he swore he loved and honoured as his own soul In the inconsistency of his terror, he said he was but the agent of others, and he h He prayed but for life--for life he would give all he had in the world: it was but life he asked--life, if it were to be prolonged under tortures and privations: he asked only breath, though it should be drawn in the damps of the lowest caverns of their hills
It is i, and contearded this wretched petitioner for the poor boon of existence
”I could have bid ye live,” she said, ”had life been to you the sa burden that it is to enerous h the world unaffected by its various disgraces, its ineffablemasses of crime and sorrow: you could live and enjoy yourself, while the noble-minded are betrayed--while nameless and birthless villains tread on the neck of the brave and the long-descended: you could enjoy yourself, like a butcher's dog in the shahter of the oldest and best went on around you! This enjoyment you shall not live to partake of!--you shall die, base dog! and that before yon cloud has passed over the sun”
She gave a brief command in Gaelic to her attendants, two of whom seized upon the prostrate suppliant, and hurried hi the flood He set up theand dreadful cries that fear ever uttered--I may well term them dreadful, for they haunted my sleep for years afterwards As the ed hinised me even in that moment of horror, and exclaimed, in the last articulate words I ever heard him utter, ”Oh, Mr Osbaldistone, save me!--save me!”
I was so h inhis fate, I did atteht have been expected, arded The victie heavy stone in a plaid, tied it round his neck, and others again eagerly stripped him of some part of his dress Half-naked, and thus manacled, they hurled him into the lake, there about twelve feet deep, with a loud halloo of vindictive triumph,--above which, however, his last death-shriek, the yell of ony, was distinctly heard The heavy burden splashed in the dark-blue waters, and the Highlanders, with their pole-axes and swords, watched an instant to guard, lest, extricating hiht have struggled to regain the shore But the knot had been securely bound--the wretched man sunk without effort; the waters, which his fall had disturbed, settled calmly over him, and the unit of that life for which he had pleaded so strongly, was for ever withdrawn from the sum of human existence
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
And be he safe restored ere evening set, Or, if there's vengeance in an injured heart, And power to wreak it in an armed hand, Your land shall ache for't Old Play
I know not why it is that a single deed of violence and cruelty affects our nerves more than when these are exercised on a more extended scale I had seen that day several of my brave countrymen fall in battle: it seemed to me that they h thrilling with interest, was affected with nothing of that sickening horror hich I beheld the unfortunate Morris put to death without resistance, and in cold blood I looked at s which were painted in mine Indeed he could not so suppress his horror, but that the words escaped hiainst this deed, as a bloody and cruel e it in his due way and tio, bending on him a look of death, such as that hich a hawk looks at his prey ere he pounces
”Kinswoly wad cut short his thread of life before the end o' his pirn was fairly measured off on the yarn-winles--And I hae muckle to do, an I be spared, in this warld--public and private business, as weel that belonging to the istracy as to my ain particular; and nae doubt I hae some to depend on me, as puir Mattie, wha is an orphan--She's a far-awa' cousin o' the Laird o' Liither--skin for skin, yea all that a ive for his life”
”And were I to set you at liberty,” said the i of that Saxon dog?”
”Uh! uh!--he his throat as well as he could, ”I suld study to say as little on that score as ht be--least said is sunest mended”
”But if you were called on by the courts, as you terain demanded, ”what then would be your answer?”
The Bailie looked this way and that way, like a person who meditates an escape, and then answered in the tone of one who, seeing noa retreat, determines to stand the brunt of battle--”I see what you are driving me to the wa' about But I'll tell you't plain, kinswo to udeman, that I wish had been here for his ain sake and al, can tell ye that Nicol Jarvie can wink as hard at a friend's failings as onybody, yet I'se tell ye, kinswoht; and sooner than say that yonder puir wretch was lawfully slaughtered, I wad consent to be laid beside hih I think ye are the first Hieland woman wad mint sic a doom to her husband's kinsman but four times removed”
It is probable that the tone and firmness assumed by the Bailie in his last speech was better suited to make an impression on the hard heart of his kinswoman than the tone of supplication he had hitherto assuh they resist softer metals She commanded us both to be placed before her ”Your na, whose death you have witnessed, called you so”
”My nah, then, I suppose, is your Christian name?” she pursued
”No,--h Osbaldistone,” she continued ”He is your brother, if I mistake not,--at least your kinsman and near friend”
”He is aged together in a rencontre, ere separated by a person whom I understand to be your husband My blood is hardly yet dried on his sword, and the wound on e hier to his intrigues, you can go in safety to Garschattachin and his party without fear of being detained, and carry theor?”
I answered that I knew no reasonable cause why the entlemen should detainin their hands; and that ifon her embassy would act as a protection to my friend and servant, ere here prisoners, ”I was ready to set out directly” I took the opportunity to say, ”That I had come into this country on her husband's invitation, and his assurance that he would aid me in some important matters in which I was interested; that my companion, Mr Jarvie, had accompanied me on the same errand”
”And I wish Mr Jarvie's boots had been fu' o' boiling water when he drew them on for sic a purpose,” interrupted the Bailie
”Youto her sons, ”in what this young Saxon tells us--Wise only when the bonnet is on his head, and the sword is in his hand, he never exchanges the tartan for the broad-cloth, but he runs hiues of the Lowlanders, and becoent--their tool--their slave”