Kidnapped...........................................................................................................................................................1

Robert Louis Stevenson...........................................................................................................................1

While my husband and Mr. Henley were engaged in writing plays in Bournemouth they made a number of

titles, hoping to use them in the future. Dramatic composition was not what my husband preferred, but the

torrent of Mr. Henley's enthusiasm swept him off his feet. However, after several plays had been finished,

and his health seriously impaired by his endeavours to keep up with Mr. Henley, play writing was abandoned

forever, and my husband returned to his legitimate vocation. Having added one of the titles, The Hanging

Judge, to the list of projected plays, now thrown aside, and emboldened by my husband's offer to give me any

As I wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the period of 1700 for my purpose; but being shamefully

ignorant of my subject, and my husband confessing to little more knowledge than I possessed, a London

bookseller was commissioned to send us everything he could procure bearing on Old Bailey trials. A great

package came in response to our order, and very soon we were both absorbed, not so much in the trials as in

following the brilliant career of a Mr. Garrow, who appeared as counsel in many of the cases. We sent for

more books, and yet more, still intent on Mr. Garrow, whose subtle crossexamination of witnesses and

masterly, if sometimes startling, methods of arriving at the truth seemed more thrilling to us than any novel.

Occasionally other trials than those of the Old Bailey would be included in the package of books we received

My husband was always interested in this period of his country's history, and had already the intention of

writing a story that should turn on the Appin murder. The tale was to be of a boy, David Balfour, supposed to

belong to my husband's own family, who should travel in Scotland as though it were a foreign country,

meeting with various adventures and misadventures by the way. From the trial of James Stewart my husband

gleaned much valuable material for his novel, the most important being the character of Alan Breck. Aside

from having described him as "smallish in stature," my husband seems to have taken Alan Breck's personal

A letter from James Stewart to Mr. John Macfarlane, introduced as evidence in the trial, says: "There is one

Alan Stewart, a distant friend of the late Ardshiel's, who is in the French service, and came over in March

last, as he said to some, in order to settle at home; to others, that he was to go soon back; and was, as I hear,

the day that the murder was committed, seen not far from the place where it happened, and is not now to be

seen; by which it is believed he was the actor. He is a desperate foolish fellow; and if he is guilty, came to the

country for that very purpose. He is a tall, pockpitted lad, very black hair, and wore a blue coat and metal

buttons, an old red vest, and breeches of the same colour." A second witness testified to having seen him

wearing "a blue coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breeches, tartan hose, and a feathered

hat, with a big coat, dun coloured," a costume referred to by one of the counsel as "French cloathes which

There are many incidents given in the trial that point to Alan's fiery spirit and Highland quickness to take

offence. One witness "declared also That the said Alan Breck threatened that he would challenge

Ballieveolan and his sons to fight because of his removing the declarant last year from Glenduror." On

another page: "Duncan Campbell, changekeeper at Annat, aged thirtyfive years, married, witness cited,

sworn, purged and examined ut supra, depones, That, in the month of April last, the deponent met with Alan

Breck Stewart, with whom he was not acquainted, and John Stewart, in Auchnacoan, in the house of the walk

miller of Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house: Alan Breck Stewart said, that he hated all the

name of Campbell; and the deponent said, he had no reason for doing so: But Alan said, he had very good

reason for it: that thereafter they left that house; and, after drinking a dram at another house, came to the

deponent's house, where they went in, and drunk some drams, and Alan Breck renewed the former

Conversation; and the deponent, making the same answer, Alan said, that, if the deponent had any respect for

his friends, he would tell them, that if they offered to turn out the possessors of Ardshiel's estate, he would

make black cocks of them, before they entered into possession by which the deponent understood shooting

Some time after the publication of Kidnapped we stopped for a short while in the Appin country, where we

were surprised and interested to discover that the feeling concerning the murder of Glenure (the "Red Fox,"

also called "Colin Roy") was almost as keen as though the tragedy had taken place the day before. For several

years my husband received letters of expostulation or commendation from members of the Campbell and

Stewart clans. I have in my possession a paper, yellow with age, that was sent soon after the novel appeared,

containing "The Pedigree of the Family of Appine," wherein it is said that "Alan 3rd Baron of Appine was

not killed at Flowdoun, tho there, but lived to a great old age. He married Cameron Daughter to Ewen

Cameron of Lochiel." Following this is a paragraph stating that "John Stewart 1st of Ardsheall of his

descendants Alan Breck had better be omitted. Duncan Baan Stewart in Achindarroch his father was a

One day, while my husband was busily at work, I sat beside him reading an old cookery book called The

Compleat Housewife: or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion. In the midst of receipts for "Rabbits, and

Chickens mumbled, Pickled Samphire, Skirret Pye, Baked Tansy," and other forgotten delicacies, there were

directions for the preparation of several lotions for the preservation of beauty. One of these was so charming

that I interrupted my husband to read it aloud. "Just what I wanted!" he exclaimed; and the receipt for the

If you ever read this tale, you will likely ask yourself more questions than I should care to answer: as for

instance how the Appin murder has come to fall in the year 1751, how the Torran rocks have crept so near to

Earraid, or why the printed trial is silent as to all that touches David Balfour. These are nuts beyond my

ability to crack. But if you tried me on the point of Alan's guilt or innocence, I think I could defend the

reading of the text. To this day you will find the tradition of Appin clear in Alan's favour. If you inquire, you

may even hear that the descendants of "the other man" who fired the shot are in the country to this day. But

that other man's name, inquire as you please, you shall not hear; for the Highlander values a secret for itself

and for the congenial exercise of keeping it I might go on for long to justify one point and own another

indefensible; it is more honest to confess at once how little I am touched by the desire of accuracy. This is no

furniture for the scholar's library, but a book for the winter evening schoolroom when the tasks are over and

the hour for bed draws near; and honest Alan, who was a grim old fireeater in his day has in this new avatar

no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his Ovid, carry him awhile

into the Highlands and the last century, and pack him to bed with some engaging images to mingle with his

As for you, my dear Charles, I do not even ask you to like this tale. But perhaps when he is older, your son

will; he may then be pleased to find his father's name on the flyleaf; and in the meanwhile it pleases me to

set it there, in memory of many days that were happy and some (now perhaps as pleasant to remember) that

were sad. If it is strange for me to look back from a distance both in time and space on these bygone

adventures of our youth, it must be stranger for you who tread the same streetswho may tomorrow open

the door of the old Speculative, where we begin to rank with Scott and Robert Emmet and the beloved and

inglorious Macbeanor may pass the corner of the close where that great society, the L. J. R., held its

meetings and drank its beer, sitting in the seats of Burns and his companions. I think I see you, moving there

by plain daylight, beholding with your natural eyes those places that have now become for your companion a

part of the scenery of dreams. How, in the intervals of present business, the past must echo in your memory!

I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace

1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house. The sun began to shine upon

the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the

blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time of the

Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by the garden gate, good man! He asked me if I

had breakfasted; and hearing that I lacked for nothing, he took my hand in both of his and clapped it kindly

"Well, Davie, lad," said he, "I will go with you as far as the ford, to set you on the way." And we began to

"Why, sir," said I, "if I knew where I was going, or what was likely to become of me, I would tell you

candidly. Essendean is a good place indeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I have never been

anywhere else. My father and mother, since they are both dead, I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in

the Kingdom of Hungary, and, to speak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself where I was going I

"Ay?" said Mr. Campbell. "Very well, Davie. Then it behoves me to tell your fortune; or so far as I may.

When your mother was gone, and your father (the worthy, Christian man) began to sicken for his end, he

gave me in charge a certain letter, which he said was your inheritance. 'So soon,' says he, 'as I am gone, and

the house is redd up and the gear disposed of' (all which, Davie, hath been done), 'give my boy this letter into

his hand, and start him off to the house of Shaws, not far from Cramond. That is the place I came from,' he

said, 'and it's where it befits that my boy should return. He is a steady lad,' your father said, 'and a canny goer;

"The house of Shaws!" I cried. "What had my poor father to do with the house of Shaws?"

"Nay," said Mr. Campbell, "who can tell that for a surety? But the name of that family, Davie, boy, is the

name you bear Balfours of Shaws: an ancient, honest, reputable house, peradventure in these latter days

decayed. Your father, too, was a man of learning as befitted his position; no man more plausibly conducted

school; nor had he the manner or the speech of a common dominie; but (as ye will yourself remember) I took

aye a pleasure to have him to the manse to meet the gentry; and those of my own house, Campbell of

Kilrennet, Campbell of Dunswire, Campbell of Minch, and others, all wellkenned gentlemen, had pleasure

in his society. Lastly, to put all the elements of this affair before you, here is the testamentary letter itself,

He gave me the letter, which was addressed in these words: "To the hands of Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire, of

Shaws, in his house of Shaws, these will be delivered by my son, David Balfour." My heart was beating hard

at this great prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen years of age, the son of a poor country

"Of a surety," said the minister, "that would I, and without pause. A pretty lad like you should get to

Cramond (which is near in by Edinburgh) in two days of walk. If the worst came to the worst, and your high

relations (as I cannot but suppose them to be somewhat of your blood) should put you to the door, ye can but

walk the two days back again and risp at the manse door. But I would rather hope that ye shall be well

received, as your poor father forecast for you, and for anything that I ken come to be a great man in time. And

here, Davie, laddie," he resumed, "it lies near upon my conscience to improve this parting, and set you on the

Here he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a big boulder under a birch by the trackside, sate down

upon it with a very long, serious upper lip, and the sun now shining in upon us between two peaks, put his

pockethandkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter him. There, then, with uplifted forefinger, he first put me

on my guard against a considerable number of heresies, to which I had no temptation, and urged upon me to

be instant in my prayers and reading of the Bible. That done, he drew a picture of the great house that I was

"Be soople, Davie, in things immaterial," said he. "Bear ye this in mind, that, though gentle born, ye have had

a country rearing. Dinnae shame us, Davie, dinnae shame us! In yon great, muckle house, with all these

domestics, upper and under, show yourself as nice, as circumspect, as quick at the conception, and as slow of

speech as any. As for the laird remember he's the laird; I say no more: honour to whom honour. It's a

"Why, very well said," replied Mr. Campbell, heartily. "And now to come to the material, or (to make a

quibble) to the immaterial. I have here a little packet which contains four things." He tugged it, as he spoke,

and with some great difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. "Of these four things, the first is your legal

due: the little pickle money for your father's books and plenishing, which I have bought (as I have explained

from the first) in the design of reselling at a profit to the incoming dominie. The other three are gifties that

Mrs. Campbell and myself would be blithe of your acceptance. The first, which is round, will likely please ye

best at the first offgo; but, O Davie, laddie, it's but a drop of water in the sea; it'll help you but a step, and

vanish like the morning. The second, which is flat and square and written upon, will stand by you through

life, like a good staff for the road, and a good pillow to your head in sickness. And as for the last, which is

With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a little while aloud, and in affecting terms, for a

young man setting out into the world; then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard; then

held me at arm's length, looking at me with his face all working with sorrow; and then whipped about, and

crying goodbye to me, set off backward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging run. It might have

been laughable to another; but I was in no mind to laugh. I watched him as long as he was in sight; and he

never stopped hurrying, nor once looked back. Then it came in upon my mind that this was all his sorrow at

my departure; and my conscience smote me hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away

out of that quiet countryside, and go to a great, busy house, among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own

"Davie, Davie," I thought, "was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends

And I sat down on the boulder the good man had just left, and opened the parcel to see the nature of my gifts.

That which he had called cubical, I had never had much doubt of; sure enough it was a little Bible, to carry in

a plaidneuk. That which he had called round, I found to be a shilling piece; and the third, which was to help

me so wonderfully both in health and sickness all the days of my life, was a little piece of coarse yellow

"TO MAKE LILLY OF THE VALLEY WATER.Take the flowers of lilly of the valley and distil them in

sack, and drink a spooneful or two as there is occasion. It restores speech to those that have the dumb palsey.

It is good against the Gout; it comforts the heart and strengthens the memory; and the flowers, put into a

Glasse, close stopt, and set into ane hill of ants for a month, then take it out, and you will find a liquor which

comes from the flowers, which keep in a vial; it is good, ill or well, and whether man or woman."

"Likewise for sprains, rub it in; and for the cholic, a great spooneful in the hour."

To be sure, I laughed over this; but it was rather tremulous laughter; and I was glad to get my bundle on my

staff's end and set out over the ford and up the hill upon the farther side; till, just as I came on the green

droveroad running wide through the heather, I took my last look of Kirk Essendean, the trees about the

On the forenoon of the second day, coming to the top of a hill, I saw all the country fall away before me

down to the sea; and in the midst of this descent, on a long ridge, the city of Edinburgh smoking like a kiln.

There was a flag upon the castle, and ships moving or lying anchored in the firth; both of which, for as far

away as they were, I could distinguish clearly; and both brought my country heart into my mouth.

Presently after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived, and got a rough direction for the neighbourhood of

Cramond; and so, from one to another, worked my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton, till I came

out upon the Glasgow road. And there, to my great pleasure and wonder, I beheld a regiment marching to the

fifes, every foot in time; an old redfaced general on a grey horse at the one end, and at the other the

company of Grenadiers, with their Pope'shats. The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the sight

A little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond parish, and began to substitute in my inquiries the name

of the house of Shaws. It was a word that seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way. At first I

thought the plainness of my appearance, in my country habit, and that all dusty from the road, consorted ill

with the greatness of the place to which I was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had given me the same

look and the same answer, I began to take it in my head there was something strange about the Shaws itself.

The better to set this fear at rest, I changed the form of my inquiries; and spying an honest fellow coming

along a lane on the shaft of his cart, I asked him if he had ever heard tell of a house they called the house of

"Ou, ay" says the man; "there's the laird, to be sure, if it's him you're wanting. What'll like be your business,

"I was led to think that I would get a situation," I said, looking as modest as I could.

"What?" cries the carter, in so sharp a note that his very horse started; and then, "Well, mannie," he added,

"it's nane of my affairs; but ye seem a decentspoken lad; and if ye'll take a word from me, ye'll keep clear of

The next person I came across was a dapper little man in a beautiful white wig, whom I saw to be a barber on

his rounds; and knowing well that barbers were great gossips, I asked him plainly what sort of a man was Mr.

"Hoot, hoot, hoot," said the barber, "nae kind of a man, nae kind of a man at all;" and began to ask me very

shrewdly what my business was; but I was more than a match for him at that, and he went on to his next

I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions. The more indistinct the accusations were, the less I

liked them, for they left the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house was this, that all the parish

should start and stare to be asked the way to it? or what sort of a gentleman, that his illfame should be thus

current on the wayside? If an hour's walking would have brought me back to Essendean, had left my

adventure then and there, and returned to Mr. Campbell's. But when I had come so far a way already, mere

shame would not suffer me to desist till I had put the matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere

selfrespect, to carry it through; and little as I liked the sound of what I heard, and slow as I began to travel, I

It was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout, dark, sourlooking woman coming trudging down a hill;

and she, when I had put my usual question, turned sharp about, accompanied me back to the summit she had

just left, and pointed to a great bulk of building standing very bare upon a green in the bottom of the next

valley. The country was pleasant round about, running in low hills, pleasantly watered and wooded, and the

crops, to my eyes, wonderfully good; but the house itself appeared to be a kind of ruin; no road led up to it;

no smoke arose from any of the chimneys; nor was there any semblance of a garden. My heart sank. "That!" I

The woman's face lit up with a malignant anger. "That is the house of Shaws!" she cried. "Blood built it;

blood stopped the building of it; blood shall bring it down. See here!" she cried again "I spit upon the

ground, and crack my thumb at it! Black be its fall! If ye see the laird, tell him what ye hear; tell him this

makes the twelve hunner and nineteen time that Jennet Clouston has called down the curse on him and his

house, byre and stable, man, guest, and master, wife, miss, or bairn black, black be their fall!"

And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch singsong, turned with a skip, and was gone. I

stood where she left me, with my hair on end. In those days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a

curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took the

I sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws. The more I looked, the pleasanter that countryside

appeared; being all set with hawthorn bushes full of flowers; the fields dotted with sheep; a fine flight of

rooks in the sky; and every sign of a kind soil and climate; and yet the barrack in the midst of it went sore

Country folk went by from the fields as I sat there on the side of the ditch, but I lacked the spirit to give them

a goode'en. At last the sun went down, and then, right up against the yellow sky, I saw a scroll of smoke go

mounting, not much thicker, as it seemed to me, than the smoke of a candle; but still there it was, and meant a

fire, and warmth, and cookery, and some living inhabitant that must have lit it; and this comforted my heart.

So I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that led in my direction. It was very faint indeed to be the

only way to a place of habitation; yet I saw no other. Presently it brought me to stone uprights, with an

unroofed lodge beside them, and coats of arms upon the top. A main entrance it was plainly meant to be, but

never finished; instead of gates of wrought iron, a pair of hurdles were tied across with a straw rope; and as

there were no park walls, nor any sign of avenue, the track that I was following passed on the right hand of

The nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It seemed like the one wing of a house that had never been

finished. What should have been the inner end stood open on the upper floors, and showed against the sky

with steps and stairs of uncompleted masonry. Many of the windows were unglazed, and bats flew in and out

The night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of the lower windows, which were very high up and

narrow, and well barred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer. Was this the palace I had been

coming to? Was it within these walls that I was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes? Why, in my

father's house on EssenWaterside, the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away, and the door open

I came forward cautiously, and giving ear as I came, heard some one rattling with dishes, and a little dry,

eager cough that came in fits; but there was no sound of speech, and not a dog barked.

The door, as well as I could see it in the dim light, was a great piece of wood all studded with nails; and I

lifted my hand with a faint heart under my jacket, and knocked once. Then I stood and waited. The house had

fallen into a dead silence; a whole minute passed away, and nothing stirred but the bats overhead. I knocked

again, and hearkened again. By this time my ears had grown so accustomed to the quiet, that I could hear the

ticking of the clock inside as it slowly counted out the seconds; but whoever was in that house kept deadly

I was in two minds whether to run away; but anger got the upper hand, and I began instead to rain kicks and

buffets on the door, and to shout out aloud for Mr. Balfour. I was in full career, when I heard the cough right

overhead, and jumping back and looking up, beheld a man's head in a tall nightcap, and the bell mouth of a

"I have come here with a letter," I said, "to Mr. Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws. Is he here?"

"Well," was the reply, "ye can put it down upon the doorstep, and be off with ye."

"I will do no such thing," I cried. "I will deliver it into Mr. Balfour's hands, as it was meant I should. It is a

At that, I made sure the man started, for I heard the blunderbuss rattle on the windowsill; and it was after

quite a long pause, and with a curious change of voice, that the next question followed:

I was so much surprised at this, that I could find no voice to answer, but stood staring.

"Ay" the man resumed, "he'll be dead, no doubt; and that'll be what brings ye chapping to my door." Another

pause, and then defiantly, "Well, man," he said, "I'll let ye in;" and he disappeared from the window.

Presently there came a great rattling of chains and bolts, and the door was cautiously opened and shut to

"Go into the kitchen and touch naething," said the voice; and while the person of the house set himself to

replacing the defences of the door, I groped my way forward and entered the kitchen.

The fire had burned up fairly bright, and showed me the barest room I think I ever put my eyes on.

Halfadozen dishes stood upon the shelves; the table was laid for supper with a bowl of porridge, a horn

spoon, and a cup of small beer. Besides what I have named, there was not another thing in that great,

stonevaulted, empty chamber but lockfast chests arranged along the wall and a corner cupboard with a

As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. He was a mean, stooping, narrowshouldered,

clayfaced creature; and his age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of

flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat, over his ragged shirt. He was

long unshaved; but what most distressed and even daunted me, he would neither take his eyes away from me

nor look me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could fathom; but he

seemed most like an old, unprofitable servingman, who should have been left in charge of that big house

"Are ye sharpset?" he asked, glancing at about the level of my knee. "Ye can eat that drop parritch?"

"O," said he, "I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, though, for it slockens[1] my cough." He drank the

cup about half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank; and then suddenly held out his hand. "Let's see

"It would be strange if I didnae," he returned, "for he was my born brother; and little as ye seem to like either

me or my house, or my good parritch, I'm your born uncle, Davie, my man, and you my born nephew. So

If I had been some years younger, what with shame, weariness, and disappointment, I believe I had burst into

tears. As it was, I could find no words, neither black nor white, but handed him the letter, and sat down to the

Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the letter over and over in his hands.

"I confess, sir," said I, "when I was told that I had kinsfolk welltodo, I did indeed indulge the hope that

they might help me in my life. But I am no beggar; I look for no favours at your hands, and I want none that

are not freely given. For as poor as I appear, I have friends of my own that will be blithe to help me."

"Hoottoot!" said Uncle Ebenezer, "dinnae fly up in the snuff at me. We'll agree fine yet. And, Davie, my

man, if you're done with that bit parritch, I could just take a sup of it myself. Ay," he continued, as soon as he

had ousted me from the stool and spoon, "they're fine, halesome food they're grand food, parritch." He

murmured a little grace to himself and fell to. "Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind; he was a

hearty, if not a great eater; but as for me, I could never do mair than pyke at food." He took a pull at the small

beer, which probably reminded him of hospitable duties, for his next speech ran thus: "If ye're dry ye'll find

To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet, and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty

angry heart. He, on his part, continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to throw out little

darting glances now at my shoes and now at my homespun stockings. Once only, when he had ventured to

look a little higher, our eyes met; and no thief taken with a hand in a man's pocket could have shown more

lively signals of distress. This set me in a muse, whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any

human company; and whether perhaps, upon a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle change into an

"He was a secret man, Alexander a secret, silent man," he continued. "He never said muckle when he was

"To think o' that!" said he. "A strange nature of a man!" For all that, he seemed singularly satisfied, but

whether with himself, or me, or with this conduct of my father's, was more than I could read. Certainly,

however, he seemed to be outgrowing that distaste, or illwill, that he had conceived at first against my

person; for presently he jumped up, came across the room behind me, and hit me a smack upon the shoulder.

"We'll agree fine yet!" he cried. "I'm just as glad I let you in. And now come awa' to your bed."

To my surprise, he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth into the dark passage, groped his way, breathing

deeply, up a flight of steps, and paused before a door, which he unlocked. I was close upon his heels, having

stumbled after him as best I might; and then he bade me go in, for that was my chamber. I did as he bid, but

"Hoottoot, hoottoot!" said he. "Lights in a house is a thing I dinnae agree with. I'm unco feared of fires.

Goodnight to ye, Davie, my man." And before I had time to add a further protest, he pulled the door to, and

I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as cold as a well, and the bed, when I had found my

way to it, as damp as a peathag; but by good fortune I had caught up my bundle and my plaid, and rolling

myself in the latter, I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead, and fell speedily asleep.

With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself in a great chamber, hung with stamped leather,

furnished with fine embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years ago, or perhaps twenty, it

must have been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awake in as a man could wish; but damp, dirt, disuse,

and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then. Many of the windowpanes, besides, were broken;

and indeed this was so common a feature in that house, that I believe my uncle must at some time have stood

a siege from his indignant neighbours perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their head.

Meanwhile the sun was shining outside; and being very cold in that miserable room, I knocked and shouted

till my gaoler came and let me out. He carried me to the back of the house, where was a drawwell, and told

me to "wash my face there, if I wanted;" and when that was done, I made the best of my own way back to the

kitchen, where he had lit the fire and was making the porridge. The table was laid with two bowls and two

horn spoons, but the same single measure of small beer. Perhaps my eye rested on this particular with some

surprise, and perhaps my uncle observed it; for he spoke up as if in answer to my thought, asking me if I

He fetched another cup from the shelf; and then, to my great surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he

poured an accurate half from one cup to the other. There was a kind of nobleness in this that took my breath

away; if my uncle was certainly a miser, he was one of that thorough breed that goes near to make the vice

When we had made an end of our meal, my uncle Ebenezer unlocked a drawer, and drew out of it a clay pipe

and a lump of tobacco, from which he cut one fill before he locked it up again. Then he sat down in the sun at

one of the windows and silently smoked. From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me, and he shot

out one of his questions. Once it was, "And your mother?" and when I had told him that she, too, was dead,

"Ay, she was a bonnie lassie!" Then, after another long pause, "Whae were these friends o' yours?"

I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell; though, indeed, there was only one, and

that the minister, that had ever taken the least note of me; but I began to think my uncle made too light of my

position, and finding myself all alone with him, I did not wish him to suppose me helpless.

He seemed to turn this over in his mind; and then, "Davie, my man," said he, "ye've come to the right bit

when ye came to your uncle Ebenezer. I've a great notion of the family, and I mean to do the right by you; but

while I'm taking a bit think to mysel' of what's the best thing to put you to whether the law, or the

meenistry, or maybe the army, whilk is what boys are fondest of I wouldnae like the Balfours to be

humbled before a wheen Hieland Campbells, and I'll ask you to keep your tongue within your teeth. Nae

"Uncle Ebenezer," said I, "I've no manner of reason to suppose you mean anything but well by me. For all

that, I would have you to know that I have a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine that I came seeking

He seemed grievously put out. "Hootstoots," said he, "ca' cannie, man ca' cannie! Bide a day or two. I'm

nae warlock, to find a fortune for you in the bottom of a parritch bowl; but just you give me a day or two, and

"Very well," said I, "enough said. If you want to help me, there's no doubt but I'll be glad of it, and none but

It seemed to me (too soon, I dare say) that I was getting the upper hand of my uncle; and I began next to say

that I must have the bed and bedclothes aired and put to sundry; for nothing would make me sleep in such a

"Is this my house or yours?" said he, in his keen voice, and then all of a sudden broke off. "Na, na," said he,

"I didnae mean that. What's mine is yours, Davie, my man, and what's yours is mine. Blood's thicker than

water; and there's naebody but you and me that ought the name." And then on he rambled about the family,

and its ancient greatness, and his father that began to enlarge the house, and himself that stopped the building

as a sinful waste; and this put it in my head to give him Jennet Clouston's message.

"The limmer!" he cried. "Twelve hunner and fifteen that's every day since I had the limmer rowpit![3]

Dod, David, I'll have her roasted on red peats before I'm by with it! A witch a proclaimed witch! I'll aff

And with that he opened a chest, and got out a very old and wellpreserved blue coat and waistcoat, and a

good enough beaver hat, both without lace. These he threw on any way, and taking a staff from the cupboard,

"I cannae leave you by yoursel' in the house," said he. "I'll have to lock you out."

The blood came to my face. "If you lock me out," I said, "it'll be the last you'll see of me in friendship."

"This is no the way" he said, looking wickedly at a corner of the floor "this is no the way to win my

"Sir," says I, "with a proper reverence for your age and our common blood, I do not value your favour at a

boddle's purchase. I was brought up to have a good conceit of myself; and if you were all the uncle, and all

the family, I had in the world ten times over, I wouldn't buy your liking at such prices."

Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for awhile. I could see him all trembling and twitching,

"Well, well," said he, "we must bear and forbear. I'll no go; that's all that's to be said of it."

"Uncle Ebenezer," I said, "I can make nothing out of this. You use me like a thief; you hate to have me in this

house; you let me see it, every word and every minute: it's not possible that you can like me; and as for me,

I've spoken to you as I never thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to keep me, then? Let me gang

"Na, na; na, na," he said, very earnestly. "I like you fine; we'll agree fine yet; and for the honour of the house

I couldnae let you leave the way ye came. Bide here quiet, there's a good lad; just you bide here quiet a bittie,

"Well, sir," said I, after I had thought the matter out in silence, "I'll stay awhile. It's more just I should be

helped by my own blood than strangers; and if we don't agree, I'll do my best it shall be through no fault of

For a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly well. We had the porridge cold again at noon, and hot

porridge at night; porridge and small beer was my uncle's diet. He spoke but little, and that in the same way

as before, shooting a question at me after a long silence; and when I sought to lead him to talk about my

future, slipped out of it again. In a room next door to the kitchen, where he suffered me to go, I found a great

number of books, both Latin and English, in which I took great pleasure all the afternoon. Indeed, the time

passed so lightly in this good company, that I began to be almost reconciled to my residence at Shaws; and

nothing but the sight of my uncle, and his eyes playing hide and seek with mine, revived the force of my

One thing I discovered, which put me in some doubt. This was an entry on the flyleaf of a chapbook (one

of Patrick Walker's) plainly written by my father's hand and thus conceived: "To my brother Ebenezer on his

fifth birthday" Now, what puzzled me was this: That, as my father was of course the younger brother, he must

either have made some strange error, or he must have written, before he was yet five, an excellent, clear

I tried to get this out of my head; but though I took down many interesting authors, old and new, history,

poetry, and storybook, this notion of my father's hand of writing stuck to me; and when at length I went

back into the kitchen, and sat down once more to porridge and small beer, the first thing I said to Uncle

"Alexander? No him!" was the reply. "I was far quicker mysel'; I was a clever chappie when I was young.

This puzzled me yet more; and a thought coming into my head, I asked if he and my father had been twins.

He jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out of his hand upon the floor. "What gars ye ask that?" he

said, and he caught me by the breast of the jacket, and looked this time straight into my eyes: his own were

"What do you mean?" I asked, very calmly, for I was far stronger than he, and not easily frightened. "Take

My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself. "Dod man, David," he said, "ye shouldnae speak to

me about your father. That's where the mistake is." He sat awhile and shook, blinking in his plate: "He was all

the brother that ever I had," he added, but with no heart in his voice; and then he caught up his spoon and fell

Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person and sudden profession of love for my dead father,

went so clean beyond my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. On the one hand, I began to

think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous; on the other, there came up into my mind (quite

unbidden by me and even discouraged) a story like some ballad I had heard folk singing, of a poor lad that

was a rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that tried to keep him from his own. For why should my uncle play

a part with a relative that came, almost a beggar, to his door, unless in his heart he had some cause to fear

With this notion, all unacknowledged, but nevertheless getting firmly settled in my head, I now began to

imitate his covert looks; so that we sat at table like a cat and a mouse, each stealthily observing the other. Not

another word had he to say to me, black or white, but was busy turning something secretly over in his mind;

and the longer we sat and the more I looked at him, the more certain I became that the something was

When he had cleared the platter, he got out a single pipeful of tobacco, just as in the morning, turned round a

"Davie," he said, at length, "I've been thinking;" then he paused, and said it again. "There's a wee bit siller

that I half promised ye before ye were born," he continued; "promised it to your father. O, naething legal, ye

understand; just gentlemen daffing at their wine. Well, I keepit that bit money separate it was a great

expense, but a promise is a promise and it has grown by now to be a matter of just precisely just

exactly" and here he paused and stumbled "of just exactly forty pounds!" This last he rapped out with

a sidelong glance over his shoulder; and the next moment added, almost with a scream, "Scots!"

The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling, the difference made by this second thought was

considerable; I could see, besides, that the whole story was a lie, invented with some end which it puzzled me

to guess; and I made no attempt to conceal the tone of raillery in which I answered

"That's what I said," returned my uncle: "pounds sterling! And if you'll step outby to the door a minute, just

I did his will, smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think I was so easily to be deceived. It was a

dark night, with a few stars low down; and as I stood just outside the door, I heard a hollow moaning of wind

far off among the hills. I said to myself there was something thundery and changeful in the weather, and little

knew of what a vast importance that should prove to me before the evening passed.

When I was called in again, my uncle counted out into my hand seven and thirty golden guinea pieces; the

rest was in his hand, in small gold and silver; but his heart failed him there, and he crammed the change into

"There," said he, "that'll show you! I'm a queer man, and strange wi' strangers; but my word is my bond, and

Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this sudden generosity, and could find no words

"No a word!" said he. "Nae thanks; I want nae thanks. I do my duty. I'm no saying that everybody would

have, done it; but for my part (though I'm a careful body, too) it's a pleasure to me to do the right by my

brother's son; and it's a pleasure to me to think that now we'll agree as such near friends should."

I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able; but all the while I was wondering what would come next,

and why he had parted with his precious guineas; for as to the reason he had given, a baby would have

I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any reasonable degree, and then waited, looking for some

monstrous demand. And yet, when at last he plucked up courage to speak, it was only to tell me (very

properly, as I thought) that he was growing old and a little broken, and that he would expect me to help him

"Well," he said, "let's begin." He pulled out of his pocket a rusty key. "There," says he, "there's the key of the

stairtower at the far end of the house. Ye can only win into it from the outside, for that part of the house is

no finished. Gang ye in there, and up the stairs, and bring me down the chest that's at the top. There's papers

"They're grand," said he; and then, as I was going, "Keep to the wall," he added; "there's nae bannisters. But

Out I went into the night. The wind was still moaning in the distance, though never a breath of it came near

the house of Shaws. It had fallen blacker than ever; and I was glad to feel along the wall, till I came the length

of the stairtower door at the far end of the unfinished wing. I had got the key into the keyhole and had just

turned it, when all upon a sudden, without sound of wind or thunder, the whole sky lighted up with wild fire

and went black again. I had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the colour of the darkness; and indeed

It was so dark inside, it seemed a body could scarce breathe; but I pushed out with foot and hand, and

presently struck the wall with the one, and the lowermost round of the stair with the other. The wall, by the

touch, was of fine hewn stone; the steps too, though somewhat steep and narrow, were of polished

masonwork, and regular and solid underfoot. Minding my uncle's word about the bannisters, I kept close to

The house of Shaws stood some five full storeys high, not counting lofts. Well, as I advanced, it seemed to

me the stair grew airier and a thought more lightsome; and I was wondering what might be the cause of this

change, when a second blink of the summer lightning came and went. If I did not cry out, it was because fear

had me by the throat; and if I did not fall, it was more by Heaven's mercy than my own strength. It was not

only that the flash shone in on every side through breaches in the wall, so that I seemed to be clambering aloft

upon an open scaffold, but the same passing brightness showed me the steps were of unequal length, and that

This was the grand stair! I thought; and with the thought, a gust of a kind of angry courage came into my

heart. My uncle had sent me here, certainly to run great risks, perhaps to die. I swore I would settle that

"perhaps," if I should break my neck for it; got me down upon my hands and knees; and as slowly as a snail,

feeling before me every inch, and testing the solidity of every stone, I continued to ascend the stair. The

darkness, by contrast with the flash, appeared to have redoubled; nor was that all, for my ears were now

troubled and my mind confounded by a great stir of bats in the top part of the tower, and the foul beasts,

The tower, I should have said, was square; and in every corner the step was made of a great stone of a

different shape to join the flights. Well, I had come close to one of these turns, when, feeling forward as

usual, my hand slipped upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness beyond it. The stair had been carried

no higher; to set a stranger mounting it in the darkness was to send him straight to his death; and (although,

thanks to the lightning and my own precautions, I was safe enough) the mere thought of the peril in which I

might have stood, and the dreadful height I might have fallen from, brought out the sweat upon my body and

But I knew what I wanted now, and turned and groped my way down again, with a wonderful anger in my

heart. About halfway down, the wind sprang up in a clap and shook the tower, and died again; the rain

followed; and before I had reached the ground level it fell in buckets. I put out my head into the storm, and

looked along towards the kitchen. The door, which I had shut behind me when I left, now stood open, and

shed a little glimmer of light; and I thought I could see a figure standing in the rain, quite still, like a man

hearkening. And then there came a blinding flash, which showed me my uncle plainly, just where I had

Now, whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my fall, or whether he heard in it God's voice

denouncing murder, I will leave you to guess. Certain it is, at least, that he was seized on by a kind of panic

fear, and that he ran into the house and left the door open behind him. I followed as softly as I could, and,

He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great case bottle of aqua vitae, and now sat

with his back towards me at the table. Ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and

groan aloud, and carrying the bottle to his lips, drink down the raw spirits by the mouthful.

I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat, and suddenly clapping my two hands down upon his

My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep's bleat, flung up his arms, and tumbled to the floor like a

dead man. I was somewhat shocked at this; but I had myself to look to first of all, and did not hesitate to let

him lie as he had fallen. The keys were hanging in the cupboard; and it was my design to furnish myself with

arms before my uncle should come again to his senses and the power of devising evil. In the cupboard were a

few bottles, some apparently of medicine; a great many bills and other papers, which I should willingly

enough have rummaged, had I had the time; and a few necessaries that were nothing to my purpose. Thence I

turned to the chests. The first was full of meal; the second of moneybags and papers tied into sheaves; in the

third, with many other things (and these for the most part clothes) I found a rusty, uglylooking Highland

dirk without the scabbard. This, then, I concealed inside my waistcoat, and turned to my uncle.

He lay as he had fallen, all huddled, with one knee up and one arm sprawling abroad; his face had a strange

colour of blue, and he seemed to have ceased breathing. Fear came on me that he was dead; then I got water

and dashed it in his face; and with that he seemed to come a little to himself, working his mouth and

fluttering his eyelids. At last he looked up and saw me, and there came into his eyes a terror that was not of

He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. "The blue phial," said he "in the aumry the blue

I ran to the cupboard, and, sure enough, found there a blue phial of medicine, with the dose written on it on a

"It's the trouble," said he, reviving a little; "I have a trouble, Davie. It's the heart."

I set him on a chair and looked at him. It is true I felt some pity for a man that looked so sick, but I was full

besides of righteous anger; and I numbered over before him the points on which I wanted explanation: why

he lied to me at every word; why he feared that I should leave him; why he disliked it to be hinted that he and

my father were twins "Is that because it is true?" I asked; why he had given me money to which I was

convinced I had no claim; and, last of all, why he had tried to kill me. He heard me all through in silence; and

And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent. I locked him into his room, however, and pocketed

the, key, and then returning to the kitchen, made up such a blaze as had not shone there for many a long year,

Much rain fell in the night; and the next morning there blew a bitter wintry wind out of the northwest,

driving scattered clouds. For all that, and before the sun began to peep or the last of the stars had vanished, I

made my way to the side of the burn, and had a plunge in a deep whirling pool. All aglow from my bath, I sat

down once more beside the fire, which I replenished, and began gravely to consider my position.

There was now no doubt about my uncle's enmity; there was no doubt I carried my life in my hand, and he

would leave no stone unturned that he might compass my destruction. But I was young and spirited, and like

most lads that have been countrybred, I had a great opinion of my shrewdness. I had come to his door no

better than a beggar and little more than a child; he had met me with treachery and violence; it would be a

I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire; and I saw myself in fancy smell out his secrets one after

another, and grow to be that man's king and ruler. The warlock of Essendean, they say, had made a mirror in

which men could read the future; it must have been of other stuff than burning coal; for in all the shapes and

pictures that I sat and gazed at, there was never a ship, never a seaman with a hairy cap, never a big bludgeon

for my silly head, or the least sign of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me.

Presently, all swollen with conceit, I went upstairs and gave my prisoner his liberty. He gave me

goodmorning civilly; and I gave the same to him, smiling down upon him, from the heights of my

sufficiency. Soon we were set to breakfast, as it might have been the day before.

"Well, sir," said I, with a jeering tone, "have you nothing more to say to me?" And then, as he made no

articulate reply, "It will be time, I think, to understand each other," I continued. "You took me for a country

Johnnie Raw, with no more motherwit or courage than a porridgestick. I took you for a good man, or no

worse than others at the least. It seems we were both wrong. What cause you have to fear me, to cheat me,

He murmured something about a jest, and that he liked a bit of fun; and then, seeing me smile, changed his

tone, and assured me he would make all clear as soon as we had breakfasted. I saw by his face that he had no

lie ready for me, though he was hard at work preparing one; and I think I was about to tell him so, when we

Bidding my uncle sit where he was, I went to open it, and found on the doorstep a halfgrown boy in

seaclothes. He had no sooner seen me than he began to dance some steps of the seahornpipe (which I had

never before heard of far less seen), snapping his fingers in the air and footing it right cleverly. For all that, he

was blue with the cold; and there was something in his face, a look between tears and laughter, that was

"Well," said I, "if you have no business at all, I will even be so unmannerly as to shut you out."

"Stay, brother!" he cried. "Have you no fun about you? or do you want to get me thrashed? I've brought a

letter from old Heasyoasy to Mr. Belflower." He showed me a letter as he spoke. "And I say, mate," he

"Well," said I, "come into the house, and you shall have a bite if I go empty for it."

With that I brought him in and set him down to my own place, where he fellto greedily on the remains of

breakfast, winking to me between whiles, and making many faces, which I think the poor soul considered

manly. Meanwhile, my uncle had read the letter and sat thinking; then, suddenly, he got to his feet with a

great air of liveliness, and pulled me apart into the farthest corner of the room.

"Sir, I lie here with my hawser up and down, and send my cabinboy to informe. If you have any further

commands for overseas, today will be the last occasion, as the wind will serve us well out of the firth. I

will not seek to deny that I have had crosses with your doer,[4] Mr. Rankeillor; of which, if not speedily redd

up, you may looke to see some losses follow. I have drawn a bill upon you, as per margin, and am, sir, your

"You see, Davie," resumed my uncle, as soon as he saw that I had done, "I have a venture with this man

Hoseason, the captain of a trading brig, the Covenant, of Dysart. Now, if you and me was to walk over with

yon lad, I could see the captain at the Hawes, or maybe on board the Covenant if there was papers to be

signed; and so far from a loss of time, we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor's. After a' that's come and

gone, ye would be swier[5] to believe me upon my naked word; but ye'll believe Rankeillor. He's factor to

half the gentry in these parts; an auld man, forby: highly respeckit, and he kenned your father."

I stood awhile and thought. I was going to some place of shipping, which was doubtless populous, and where

my uncle durst attempt no violence, and, indeed, even the society of the cabinboy so far protected me. Once

there, I believed I could force on the visit to the lawyer, even if my uncle were now insincere in proposing it;

and, perhaps, in the bottom of my heart, I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You are to remember I

had lived all my life in the inland hills, and just two days before had my first sight of the firth lying like a

blue floor, and the sailed ships moving on the face of it, no bigger than toys. One thing with another, I made

My uncle got into his hat and coat, and buckled an old rusty cutlass on; and then we trod the fire out, locked

The wind, being in that cold quarter the northwest, blew nearly in our faces as we went. It was the month of

June; the grass was all white with daisies, and the trees with blossom; but, to judge by our blue nails and

aching wrists, the time might have been winter and the whiteness a December frost.

Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side to side like an old ploughman coming home from

work. He never said a word the whole way; and I was thrown for talk on the cabinboy. He told me his name

was Ransome, and that he had followed the sea since he was nine, but could not say how old he was, as he

had lost his reckoning. He showed me tattoo marks, baring his breast in the teeth of the wind and in spite of

my remonstrances, for I thought it was enough to kill him; he swore horribly whenever he remembered, but

more like a silly schoolboy than a man; and boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done: stealthy

thefts, false accusations, ay, and even murder; but all with such a dearth of likelihood in the details, and such

a weak and crazy swagger in the delivery, as disposed me rather to pity than to believe him.

I asked him of the brig (which he declared was the finest ship that sailed) and of Captain Hoseason, in whose

praises he was equally loud. Heasyoasy (for so he still named the skipper) was a man, by his account, that

minded for nothing either in heaven or earth; one that, as people said, would "crack on all sail into the day of

judgment;" rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal; and all this my poor cabinboy had taught himself to

admire as something seamanlike and manly. He would only admit one flaw in his idol. "He ain't no seaman,"

he admitted. "That's Mr. Shuan that navigates the brig; he's the finest seaman in the trade, only for drink; and

I tell you I believe it! Why, look'ere;" and turning down his stocking he showed me a great, raw, red wound

that made my blood run cold. "He done that Mr. Shuan done it," he said, with an air of pride.

"What!" I cried, "do you take such savage usage at his hands? Why, you are no slave, to be so handled!"

"No," said the poor mooncalf, changing his tune at once, "and so he'll find. See'ere;" and he showed me a

great caseknife, which he told me was stolen. "O," says he, "let me see him, try; I dare him to; I'll do for

I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I felt for that halfwitted creature, and it began to

come over me that the brig Covenant (for all her pious name) was little better than a hell upon the seas.

"O, no," says he, winking and looking very sly, "they would put me to a trade. I know a trick worth two of

I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed, where he ran the continual peril of his

life, not alone from wind and sea, but by the horrid cruelty of those who were his masters. He said it was very

true; and then began to praise the life, and tell what a pleasure it was to get on shore with money in his

pocket, and spend it like a man, and buy apples, and swagger, and surprise what he called stickinthemud

boys. "And then it's not all as bad as that," says he; "there's worse off than me: there's the twentypounders.

O, laws! you should see them taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old as you, I dessay" (to him I seemed

old) "ah, and he had a beard, too well, and as soon as we cleared out of the river, and he had the drug

out of his head my! how he cried and carried on! I made a fine fool of him, I tell you! And then there's

little uns, too: oh, little by me! I tell you, I keep them in order. When we carry little uns, I have a rope's end of

my own to wollop'em." And so he ran on, until it came in on me what he meant by twentypounders were

those unhappy criminals who were sent overseas to slavery in North America, or the still more unhappy

innocents who were kidnapped or trepanned (as the word went) for private interest or vengeance.

Just then we came to the top of the hill, and looked down on the Ferry and the Hope. The Firth of Forth (as is

very well known) narrows at this point to the width of a goodsized river, which makes a convenient ferry

going north, and turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for all manner of ships. Right in the midst of

the narrows lies an islet with some ruins; on the south shore they have built a pier for the service of the Ferry;

and at the end of the pier, on the other side of the road, and backed against a pretty garden of hollytrees and

The town of Queensferry lies farther west, and the neighbourhood of the inn looked pretty lonely at that time

of day, for the boat had just gone north with passengers. A skiff, however, lay beside the pier, with some

seamen sleeping on the thwarts; this, as Ransome told me, was the brig's boat waiting for the captain; and

about half a mile off, and all alone in the anchorage, he showed me the Covenant herself. There was a

seagoing bustle on board; yards were swinging into place; and as the wind blew from that quarter, I could

hear the song of the sailors as they pulled upon the ropes. After all I had listened to upon the way, I looked at

that ship with an extreme abhorrence; and from the bottom of my heart I pitied all poor souls that were

We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill; and now I marched across the road and addressed my

uncle. "I think it right to tell you, sir." says I, "there's nothing that will bring me on board that Covenant."

"Well, well," he said, "we'll have to please ye, I suppose. But what are we standing here for? It's perishing

As soon as we came to the inn, Ransome led us up the stair to a small room, with a bed in it, and heated like

an oven by a great fire of coal. At a table hard by the chimney, a tall, dark, soberlooking man sat writing. In

spite of the heat of the room, he wore a thick seajacket, buttoned to the neck, and a tall hairy cap drawn

down over his ears; yet I never saw any man, not even a judge upon the bench, look cooler, or more studious

He got to his feet at once, and coming forward, offered his large hand to Ebenezer. "I am proud to see you,

Mr. Balfour," said he, in a fine deep voice, "and glad that ye are here in time. The wind's fair, and the tide

upon the turn; we'll see the old coalbucket burning on the Isle of May before tonight."

"It's a habit I have, Mr. Balfour," said the skipper. "I'm a coldrife man by my nature; I have a cold blood, sir.

There's neither fur, nor flannel no, sir, nor hot rum, will warm up what they call the temperature. Sir, it's

the same with most men that have been carbonadoed, as they call it, in the tropic seas."

But it chanced that this fancy of the captain's had a great share in my misfortunes. For though I had promised

myself not to let my kinsman out of sight, I was both so impatient for a nearer look of the sea, and so

sickened by the closeness of the room, that when he told me to "run downstairs and play myself awhile," I

Away I went, therefore, leaving the two men sitting down to a bottle and a great mass of papers; and crossing

the road in front of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With the wind in that quarter, only little wavelets,

not much bigger than I had seen upon a lake, beat upon the shore. But the weeds were new to me some

green, some brown and long, and some with little bladders that crackled between my fingers. Even so far up

the firth, the smell of the seawater was exceedingly salt and stirring; the Covenant, besides, was beginning

to shake out her sails, which hung upon the yards in clusters; and the spirit of all that I beheld put me in

I looked, too, at the seamen with the skiff big brown fellows, some in shirts, some with jackets, some with

coloured handkerchiefs about their throats, one with a brace of pistols stuck into his pockets, two or three

with knotty bludgeons, and all with their caseknives. I passed the time of day with one that looked less

desperate than his fellows, and asked him of the sailing of the brig. He said they would get under way as soon

as the ebb set, and expressed his gladness to be out of a port where there were no taverns and fiddlers; but all

This threw me back on Ransome, who seemed the least wicked of that gang, and who soon came out of the

inn and ran to me, crying for a bowl of punch. I told him I would give him no such thing, for neither he nor I

was of an age for such indulgences. "But a glass of ale you may have, and welcome," said I. He mopped and

mowed at me, and called me names; but he was glad to get the ale, for all that; and presently we were set

down at a table in the front room of the inn, and both eating and drinking with a good appetite.

Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man of that county, I might do well to make a friend of him.

I offered him a share, as was much the custom in those days; but he was far too great a man to sit with such

poor customers as Ransome and myself, and he was leaving the room, when I called him back to ask if he

"Hoot, ay," says he, "and a very honest man. And, O, bytheby," says he, "was it you that came in with

Ebenezer?" And when I had told him yes, "Ye'll be no friend of his?" he asked, meaning, in the Scottish way,

"I thought not," said he, "and yet ye have a kind of gliff[6] of Mr. Alexander."

"Nae doubt," said the landlord. "He's a wicked auld man, and there's many would like to see him girning in

the tow[7]. Jennet Clouston and mony mair that he has harried out of house and hame. And yet he was ance a

fine young fellow, too. But that was before the sough[8] gaed abroad about Mr. Alexander, that was like the

Of course, I had guessed it a long while ago; but it is one thing to guess, another to know; and I sat stunned

with my good fortune, and could scarce grow to believe that the same poor lad who had trudged in the dust

from Ettrick Forest not two days ago, was now one of the rich of the earth, and had a house and broad lands,

and might mount his horse tomorrow. All these pleasant things, and a thousand others, crowded into my

mind, as I sat staring before me out of the inn window, and paying no heed to what I saw; only I remember

that my eye lighted on Captain Hoseason down on the pier among his seamen, and speaking with some

authority. And presently he came marching back towards the house, with no mark of a sailor's clumsiness, but

carrying his fine, tall figure with a manly bearing, and still with the same sober, grave expression on his face.

I wondered if it was possible that Ransome's stories could be true, and half disbelieved them; they fitted so ill

with the man's looks. But indeed, he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quite so bad as Ransome did;

for, in fact, he was two men, and left the better one behind as soon as he set foot on board his vessel.

The next thing, I heard my uncle calling me, and found the pair in the road together. It was the captain who

addressed me, and that with an air (very flattering to a young lad) of grave equality.

"Sir," said he, "Mr. Balfour tells me great things of you; and for my own part, I like your looks. I wish I was

for longer here, that we might make the better friends; but we'll make the most of what we have. Ye shall

come on board my brig for half an hour, till the ebb sets, and drink a bowl with me."

Now, I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can tell; but I was not going to put myself in

"Ay, ay," said he, "he passed me word of that. But, ye see, the boat'll set ye ashore at the town pier, and that's

but a penny stonecast from Rankeillor's house." And here he suddenly leaned down and whispered in my ear:

"Take care of the old tod;[9] he means mischief. Come aboard till I can get a word with ye." And then,

passing his arm through mine, he continued aloud, as he set off towards his boat: "But, come, what can I

bring ye from the Carolinas? Any friend of Mr. Balfour's can command. A roll of tobacco? Indian

featherwork? a skin of a wild beast? a stone pipe? the mockingbird that mews for all the world like a cat?

the cardinal bird that is as red as blood? take your pick and say your pleasure."

By this time we were at the boatside, and he was handing me in. I did not dream of hanging back; I thought

(the poor fool!) that I had found a good friend and helper, and I was rejoiced to see the ship. As soon as we

were all set in our places, the boat was thrust off from the pier and began to move over the waters: and what

with my pleasure in this new movement and my surprise at our low position, and the appearance of the

shores, and the growing bigness of the brig as we drew near to it, I could hardly understand what the captain

As soon as we were alongside (where I sat fairly gaping at the ship's height, the strong humming of the tide

against its sides, and the pleasant cries of the seamen at their work) Hoseason, declaring that he and I must be

the first aboard, ordered a tackle to be sent down from the mainyard. In this I was whipped into the air and

set down again on the deck, where the captain stood ready waiting for me, and instantly slipped back his arm

under mine. There I stood some while, a little dizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me, perhaps a little

afraid, and yet vastly pleased with these strange sights; the captain meanwhile pointing out the strangest, and

I felt I was lost. With all my strength, I plucked myself clear of him and ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough,

there was the boat pulling for the town, with my uncle sitting in the stern. I gave a piercing cry "Help,

help! Murder!" so that both sides of the anchorage rang with it, and my uncle turned round where he was

It was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been plucking me back from the ship's side; and now a

thunderbolt seemed to strike me; I saw a great flash of fire, and fell senseless.

I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot, and deafened by many unfamiliar noises.

There sounded in my ears a roaring of water as of a huge milldam, the thrashing of heavy sprays, the

thundering of the sails, and the shrill cries of seamen. The whole world now heaved giddily up, and now

rushed giddily downward; and so sick and hurt was I in body, and my mind so much confounded, that it took

me a long while, chasing my thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of pain, to realise

that I must be lying somewhere bound in the belly of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have

strengthened to a gale. With the clear perception of my plight, there fell upon me a blackness of despair, a

horror of remorse at my own folly, and a passion of anger at my uncle, that once more bereft me of my

When I returned again to life, the same uproar, the same confused and violent movements, shook and

deafened me; and presently, to my other pains and distresses, there was added the sickness of an unused

landsman on the sea. In that time of my adventurous youth, I suffered many hardships; but none that was so

crushing to my mind and body, or lit by so few hopes, as these first hours aboard the brig.

I heard a gun fire, and supposed the storm had proved too strong for us, and we were firing signals of distress.

The thought of deliverance, even by death in the deep sea, was welcome to me. Yet it was no such matter; but

(as I was afterwards told) a common habit of the captain's, which I here set down to show that even the worst

man may have his kindlier side. We were then passing, it appeared, within some miles of Dysart, where the

brig was built, and where old Mrs. Hoseason, the captain's mother, had come some years before to live; and

whether outward or inward bound, the Covenant was never suffered to go by that place by day, without a gun

I had no measure of time; day and night were alike in that illsmelling cavern of the ship's bowels where, I

lay; and the misery of my situation drew out the hours to double. How long, therefore, I lay waiting to hear

the ship split upon some rock, or to feel her reel head foremost into the depths of the sea, I have not the

means of computation. But sleep at length stole from me the consciousness of sorrow.

I was awakened by the light of a handlantern shining in my face. A small man of about thirty, with green

I answered by a sob; and my visitor then felt my pulse and temples, and set himself to wash and dress the

"Ay," said he, "a sore dunt[10]. What, man? Cheer up! The world's no done; you've made a bad start of it but

I said I could not look at it: and thereupon he gave me some brandy and water in a tin pannikin, and left me

The next time he came to see me, I was lying betwixt sleep and waking, my eyes wide open in the darkness,

the sickness quite departed, but succeeded by a horrid giddiness and swimming that was almost worse to

bear. I ached, besides, in every limb, and the cords that bound me seemed to be of fire. The smell of the hole

in which I lay seemed to have become a part of me; and during the long interval since his last visit I had

suffered tortures of fear, now from the scurrying of the ship's rats, that sometimes pattered on my very face,

The glimmer of the lantern, as a trap opened, shone in like the heaven's sunlight; and though it only showed

me the strong, dark beams of the ship that was my prison, I could have cried aloud for gladness. The man

with the green eyes was the first to descend the ladder, and I noticed that he came somewhat unsteadily. He

was followed by the captain. Neither said a word; but the first set to and examined me, and dressed my

"Now, sir, you see for yourself," said the first: "a high fever, no appetite, no light, no meat: you see for

"Give me leave, sir" said Riach; "you've a good head upon your shoulders, and a good Scotch tongue to ask

with; but I will leave you no manner of excuse; I want that boy taken out of this hole and put in the

"What ye may want, sir, is a matter of concern to nobody but yoursel'," returned the captain; "but I can tell ye

"Admitting that you have been paid in a proportion," said the other, "I will crave leave humbly to say that I

have not. Paid I am, and none too much, to be the second officer of this old tub, and you ken very well if I do

"If ye could hold back your hand from the tinpan, Mr. Riach, I would have no complaint to make of ye,"

returned the skipper; "and instead of asking riddles, I make bold to say that ye would keep your breath to cool

your porridge. We'll be required on deck," he added, in a sharper note, and set one foot upon the ladder.

"It seems it is the talk that you can understand," said Mr. Riach, looking him steadily in the face.

"Mr. Riach, I have sailed with ye three cruises," replied the captain. "In all that time, sir, ye should have

learned to know me: I'm a stiff man, and a dour man; but for what ye say the now fie, fie! it comes

Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder; and I, who had lain silent throughout this strange conversation,

beheld Mr. Riach turn after him and bow as low as to his knees in what was plainly a spirit of derision. Even

in my then state of sickness, I perceived two things: that the mate was touched with liquor, as the captain

Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut, I was hoisted on a man's back, carried up to the forecastle, and

laid in a bunk on some seablankets; where the first thing that I did was to lose my senses.

It was a blessed thing indeed to open my eyes again upon the daylight, and to find myself in the society of

men. The forecastle was a roomy place enough, set all about with berths, in which the men of the watch

below were seated smoking, or lying down asleep. The day being calm and the wind fair, the scuttle was

open, and not only the good daylight, but from time to time (as the ship rolled) a dusty beam of sunlight

shone in, and dazzled and delighted me. I had no sooner moved, moreover, than one of the men brought me a

drink of something healing which Mr. Riach had prepared, and bade me lie still and I should soon be well

again. There were no bones broken, he explained: "A clour[11] on the head was naething. Man," said he, "it

Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner, and not only got my health again, but came to know

my companions. They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindly

parts of life, and condemned to toss together on the rough seas, with masters no less cruel. There were some

among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to speak of; some were

men that had run from the king's ships, and went with a halter round their necks, of which they made no

secret; and all, as the saying goes, were "at a word and a blow" with their best friends. Yet I had not been

many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first judgment, when I had drawn away

from them at the Ferry pier, as though they had been unclean beasts. No class of man is altogether bad, but

each has its own faults and virtues; and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough they

were, sure enough; and bad, I suppose; but they had many virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them,

simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, and had some glimmerings of honesty.

There was one man, of maybe forty, that would sit on my berthside for hours and tell me of his wife and

child. He was a fisher that had lost his boat, and thus been driven to the deepsea voyaging. Well, it is years

ago now: but I have never forgotten him. His wife (who was "young by him," as he often told me) waited in

vain to see her man return; he would never again make the fire for her in the morning, nor yet keep the bairn

when she was sick. Indeed, many of these poor fellows (as the event proved) were upon their last cruise; the

deep seas and cannibal fish received them; and it is a thankless business to speak ill of the dead.

Among other good deeds that they did, they returned my money, which had been shared among them; and

though it was about a third short, I was very glad to get it, and hoped great good from it in the land I was

going to. The ship was bound for the Carolinas; and you must not suppose that I was going to that place

merely as an exile. The trade was even then much depressed; since that, and with the rebellion of the colonies

and the formation of the United States, it has, of course, come to an end; but in those days of my youth, white

men were still sold into slavery on the plantations, and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle had

The cabinboy Ransome (from whom I had first heard of these atrocities) came in at times from the

roundhouse, where he berthed and served, now nursing a bruised limb in silent agony, now raving against

the cruelty of Mr. Shuan. It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respect for the chief mate, who

was, as they said, "the only seaman of the whole jingbang, and none such a bad man when he was sober."

Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiarity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach was sullen, unkind, and

harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would not hurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the

I did my best in the small time allowed me to make some thing like a man, or rather I should say something

like a boy, of the poor creature, Ransome. But his mind was scarce truly human. He could remember nothing

of the time before he came to sea; only that his father had made clocks, and had a starling in the parlour,

which could whistle "The North Countrie;" all else had been blotted out in these years of hardship and

cruelties. He had a strange notion of the dry land, picked up from sailor's stories: that it was a place where

lads were put to some kind of slavery called a trade, and where apprentices were continually lashed and

clapped into foul prisons. In a town, he thought every second person a decoy, and every third house a place in

which seamen would be drugged and murdered. To be sure, I would tell him how kindly I had myself been

used upon that dry land he was so much afraid of, and how well fed and carefully taught both by my friends

and my parents: and if he had been recently hurt, he would weep bitterly and swear to run away; but if he was

in his usual crackbrain humour, or (still more) if he had had a glass of spirits in the roundhouse, he would

It was Mr. Riach (Heaven forgive him!) who gave the boy drink; and it was, doubtless, kindly meant; but

besides that it was ruin to his health, it was the pitifullest thing in life to see this unhappy, unfriended creature

staggering, and dancing, and talking he knew not what. Some of the men laughed, but not all; others would

grow as black as thunder (thinking, perhaps, of their own childhood or their own children) and bid him stop

that nonsense, and think what he was doing. As for me, I felt ashamed to look at him, and the poor child still

All this time, you should know, the Covenant was meeting continual headwinds and tumbling up and down

against headseas, so that the scuttle was almost constantly shut, and the forecastle lighted only by a

swinging lantern on a beam. There was constant labour for all hands; the sails had to be made and shortened

every hour; the strain told on the men's temper; there was a growl of quarrelling all day, long from berth to

berth; and as I was never allowed to set my foot on deck, you can picture to yourselves how weary of my life

And a change I was to get, as you shall hear; but I must first tell of a conversation I had with Mr. Riach,

which put a little heart in me to bear my troubles. Getting him in a favourable stage of drink (for indeed he

never looked near me when he was sober), I pledged him to secrecy, and told him my whole story.

He declared it was like a ballad; that he would do his best to help me; that I should have paper, pen, and ink,

and write one line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankeillor; and that if I had told the truth, ten to one

"And in the meantime," says he, "keep your heart up. You're not the only one, I'll tell you that. There's many

a man hoeing tobacco overseas that should be mounting his horse at his own door at home; many and many!

And life is all a variorum, at the best. Look at me: I'm a laird's son and more than half a doctor, and here I am,

"Never had one," said he. "I like fun, that's all." And he skipped out of the forecastle.

One night, about eleven o'clock, a man of Mr. Riach's watch (which was on deck) came below for his jacket;

and instantly there began to go a whisper about the forecastle that "Shuan had done for him at last." There

was no need of a name; we all knew who was meant; but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly in our

heads, far less to speak of it, when the scuttle was again flung open, and Captain Hoseason came down the

ladder. He looked sharply round the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern; and then, walking straight up to

"My man," said he, "we want ye to serve in the roundhouse. You and Ransome are to change berths. Run

Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carrying Ransome in their arms; and the ship at that

moment giving a great sheer into the sea, and the lantern swinging, the light fell direct on the boy's face. It

was as white as wax, and had a look upon it like a dreadful smile. The blood in me ran cold, and I drew in my

And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy (who neither spoke nor moved), and ran up the ladder on

The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, cresting swell. She was on the starboard tack, and

on the left hand, under the arched foot of the foresail, I could see the sunset still quite bright. This, at such an

hour of the night, surprised me greatly; but I was too ignorant to draw the true conclusion that we were

going northabout round Scotland, and were now on the high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands,

having avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth. For my part, who had been so long shut in the

dark and knew nothing of headwinds, I thought we might be halfway or more across the Atlantic. And

indeed (beyond that I wondered a little at the lateness of the sunset light) I gave no heed to it, and pushed on

across the decks, running between the seas, catching at ropes, and only saved from going overboard by one of

The roundhouse, for which I was bound, and where I was now to sleep and serve, stood some six feet above

the decks, and considering the size of the brig, was of good dimensions. Inside were a fixed table and bench,

and two berths, one for the captain and the other for the two mates, turn and turn about. It was all fitted with

lockers from top to bottom, so as to stow away the officers' belongings and a part of the ship's stores; there

was a second storeroom underneath, which you entered by a hatchway in the middle of the deck; indeed, all

the best of the meat and drink and the whole of the powder were collected in this place; and all the firearms,

except the two pieces of brass ordnance, were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the roundhouse. The

A small window with a shutter on each side, and a skylight in the roof, gave it light by, day; and after dark

there was a lamp always burning. It was burning when I entered, not brightly, but enough to show Mr. Shuan

sitting at the table, with the brandy bottle and a tin pannikin in front of him. He was a tall man, strongly made

He took no notice of my coming in; nor did he move when the captain followed and leant on the berth beside

me, looking darkly at the mate. I stood in great fear of Hoseason, and had my reasons for it; but something

told me I need not be afraid of him just then; and I whispered in his ear: "How is he?" He shook his head like

Presently Mr. Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance that meant the boy was dead as plain as speaking,

and took his place like the rest of us; so that we all three stood without a word, staring down at Mr. Shuan,

All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle; and at that Mr. Riach started forward and caught it

away from him, rather by surprise than violence, crying out, with an oath, that there had been too much of

this work altogether, and that a judgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke (the weather

Mr. Shuan was on his feet in a trice; he still looked dazed, but he meant murder, ay, and would have done it,

for the second time that night, had not the captain stepped in between him and his victim.

"Sit down!" roars the captain. "Ye sot and swine, do ye know what ye've done? Ye've murdered the boy!"

Mr. Shuan seemed to understand; for he sat down again, and put up his hand to his brow.

At that word, the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked at each other for a second with a kind of frightened

look; and then Hoseason walked up to his chief officer, took him by the shoulder, led him across to his bunk,

and bade him lie down and go to sleep, as you might speak to a bad child. The murderer cried a little, but he

"Ah!" cried Mr. Riach, with a dreadful voice, "ye should have interfered long syne. It's too late now."

"Mr. Riach," said the captain, "this night's work must never be kennt in Dysart. The boy went overboard, sir;

that's what the story is; and I would give five pounds out of my pocket it was true!" He turned to the table.

"What made ye throw the good bottle away?" he added. "There was nae sense in that, sir. Here, David, draw

me another. They're in the bottom locker;" and he tossed me a key. "Ye'll need a glass yourself, sir," he added

So the pair sat down and hobanobbed; and while they did so, the murderer, who had been lying and

whimpering in his berth, raised himself upon his elbow and looked at them and at me.

That was the first night of my new duties; and in the course of the next day I had got well into the run of

them. I had to serve at the meals, which the captain took at regular hours, sitting down with the officer who

was off duty; all the day through I would be running with a dram to one or other of my three masters; and at

night I slept on a blanket thrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the roundhouse, and right in the

draught of the two doors. It was a hard and a cold bed; nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption; for

some one would be always coming in from deck to get a dram, and when a fresh watch was to be set, two and

sometimes all three would sit down and brew a bowl together. How they kept their health, I know not, any

And yet in other ways it was an easy service. There was no cloth to lay; the meals were either of oatmeal

porridge or salt junk, except twice a week, when there was duff: and though I was clumsy enough and (not

being firm on my sealegs) sometimes fell with what I was bringing them, both Mr. Riach and the captain

were singularly patient. I could not but fancy they were making up leeway with their consciences, and that

they would scarce have been so good with me if they had not been worse with Ransome.

As for Mr. Shuan, the drink or his crime, or the two together, had certainly troubled his mind. I cannot say I

ever saw him in his proper wits. He never grew used to my being there, stared at me continually (sometimes,

I could have thought, with terror), and more than once drew back from my hand when I was serving him. I

was pretty sure from the first that he had no clear mind of what he had done, and on my second day in the

roundhouse I had the proof of it. We were alone, and he had been staring at me a long time, when all at

once, up he got, as pale as death, and came close up to me, to my great terror. But I had no cause to be afraid

"There was another boy?" he asked again; and when I had answered him, "Ah!" says he, "I thought that," and

You may think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I was still sorry for him. He was a married man, with a

wife in Leith; but whether or no he had a family, I have now forgotten; I hope not.

Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted, which (as you are to hear) was not long. I was as

well fed as the best of them; even their pickles, which were the great dainty, I was allowed my share of; and

had I liked I might have been drunk from morning to night, like Mr. Shuan. I had company, too, and good

company of its sort. Mr. Riach, who had been to the college, spoke to me like a friend when he was not

sulking, and told me many curious things, and some that were informing; and even the captain, though he

kept me at the stick's end the most part of the time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit, and tell me of the fine

The shadow of poor Ransome, to be sure, lay on all four of us, and on me and Mr. Shuan in particular, most

heavily. And then I had another trouble of my own. Here I was, doing dirty work for three men that I looked

down upon, and one of whom, at least, should have hung upon a gallows; that was for the present; and as for

the future, I could only see myself slaving alongside of negroes in the tobacco fields. Mr. Riach, perhaps

from caution, would never suffer me to say another word about my story; the captain, whom I tried to

approach, rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heart sank

More than a week went by, in which the illluck that had hitherto pursued the Covenant upon this voyage

grew yet more strongly marked. Some days she made a little way; others, she was driven actually back. At

last we were beaten so far to the south that we tossed and tacked to and fro the whole of the ninth day, within

sight of Cape Wrath and the wild, rocky coast on either hand of it. There followed on that a council of the

officers, and some decision which I did not rightly understand, seeing only the result: that we had made a fair

The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet, white fog that hid one end of the brig from the

other. All afternoon, when I went on deck, I saw men and officers listening hard over the bulwarks "for

breakers," they said; and though I did not so much as understand the word, I felt danger in the air, and was

Maybe about ten at night, I was serving Mr. Riach and the captain at their supper, when the ship struck

something with a great sound, and we heard voices singing out. My two masters leaped to their feet.

The captain was in the right of it. We had run down a boat in the fog, and she had parted in the midst and

gone to the bottom with all her crew but one. This man (as I heard afterwards) had been sitting in the stern as

a passenger, while the rest were on the benches rowing. At the moment of the blow, the stern had been

thrown into the air, and the man (having his hands free, and for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoat

that came below his knees) had leaped up and caught hold of the brig's bowsprit. It showed he had luck and

much agility and unusual strength, that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet, when

the captain brought him into the roundhouse, and I set eyes on him for the first time, he looked as cool as I

He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat; his face was of a good open expression, but

sunburnt very dark, and heavily freckled and pitted with the smallpox; his eyes were unusually light and had

a kind of dancing madness in them, that was both engaging and alarming; and when he took off his

greatcoat, he laid a pair of fine silvermounted pistols on the table, and I saw that he was belted with a great

sword. His manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the captain handsomely. Altogether I thought of

him, at the first sight, that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy.

The captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather of the man's clothes than his person. And to be sure,

as soon as he had taken off the greatcoat, he showed forth mighty fine for the roundhouse of a merchant

brig: having a hat with feathers, a red waistcoat, breeches of black plush, and a blue coat with silver buttons

and handsome silver lace; costly clothes, though somewhat spoiled with the fog and being slept in.

"There are some pretty men gone to the bottom," said the stranger, "that I would rather see on the dry land

"You have none such friends in your country," was the reply. "They would have died for me like dogs."

"Well, sir," said the captain, still watching him, "there are more men in the world than boats to put them in."

"And that's true, too," cried the other, "and ye seem to be a gentleman of great penetration."

"I have been in France, sir," says the captain, so that it was plain he meant more by the words than showed

"Well, sir," says the other, "and so has many a pretty man, for the matter of that."

"Oho!" says the stranger, "is that how the wind sets?" And he laid his hand quickly on his pistols.

"Don't be hasty," said the captain. "Don't do a mischief before ye see the need of it. Ye've a French soldier's

coat upon your back and a Scotch tongue in your head, to be sure; but so has many an honest fellow in these

"So?" said the gentleman in the fine coat: "are ye of the honest party?" (meaning, Was he a Jacobite? for each

"Why, sir," replied the captain, "I am a trueblue Protestant, and I thank God for it." (It was the first word of

any religion I had ever heard from him, but I learnt afterwards he was a great churchgoer while on shore.)

"But, for all that," says he, "I can be sorry to see another man with his back to the wall."

"Can ye so, indeed?" asked the Jacobite. "Well, sir, to be quite plain with ye, I am one of those honest

gentlemen that were in trouble about the years fortyfive and six; and (to be still quite plain with ye) if I got

into the hands of any of the redcoated gentry, it's like it would go hard with me. Now, sir, I was for France;

and there was a French ship cruising here to pick me up; but she gave us the goby in the fog as I wish

from the heart that ye had done yoursel'! And the best that I can say is this: If ye can set me ashore where I

"In France?" says the captain. "No, sir; that I cannot do. But where ye come from we might talk of that."

And then, unhappily, he observed me standing in my corner, and packed me off to the galley to get supper for

the gentleman. I lost no time, I promise you; and when I came back into the roundhouse, I found the

gentleman had taken a moneybelt from about his waist, and poured out a guinea or two upon the table. The

captain was looking at the guineas, and then at the belt, and then at the gentleman's face; and I thought he

The other swept back the guineas into the belt, and put it on again under his waistcoat. "I have told ye" sir"

said he, "that not one doit of it belongs to me. It belongs to my chieftain," and here he touched his hat, "and

while I would be but a silly messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come safe, I should show

myself a hound indeed if I bought my own carcase any too dear. Thirty guineas on the seaside, or sixty if ye

"Ye would make a fool's bargain," said the other. "My chief, let me tell you, sir, is forfeited, like every honest

man in Scotland. His estate is in the hands of the man they call King George; and it is his officers that collect

the rents, or try to collect them. But for the honour of Scotland, the poor tenant bodies take a thought upon

their chief lying in exile; and this money is a part of that very rent for which King George is looking. Now,

sir, ye seem to me to be a man that understands things: bring this money within the reach of Government, and

"Little enough, to be sure," said Hoseason; and then, "if they, knew" he added, drily. "But I think, if I was to

"Ah, but I'll begowk[12] ye there!" cried the gentleman. "Play me false, and I'll play you cunning. If a hand is

"Well," returned the captain, "what must be must. Sixty guineas, and done. Here's my hand upon it."

And thereupon the captain went out (rather hurriedly, I thought), and left me alone in the roundhouse with

At that period (so soon after the fortyfive) there were many exiled gentlemen coming back at the peril of

their lives, either to see their friends or to collect a little money; and as for the Highland chiefs that had been

forfeited, it was a common matter of talk how their tenants would stint themselves to send them money, and

their clansmen outface the soldiery to get it in, and run the gauntlet of our great navy to carry it across. All

this I had, of course, heard tell of; and now I had a man under my eyes whose life was forfeit on all these

counts and upon one more, for he was not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents, but had taken service with

King Louis of France. And as if all this were not enough, he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins.

"Ay," said he, beginning to eat. "And you, by your long face, should be a Whig?"[13]

[13] Whig or Whigamore was the cant name for those who were loyal to King George.

"Betwixt and between," said I, not to annoy him; for indeed I was as good a Whig as Mr. Campbell could

"And that's naething," said he. "But I'm saying, Mr. BetwixtandBetween," he added, "this bottle of yours is

dry; and it's hard if I'm to pay sixty guineas and be grudged a dram upon the back of it."

The fog was as close as ever, but the swell almost down. They had laid the brig to, not knowing precisely

where they were, and the wind (what little there was of it) not serving well for their true course. Some of the

hands were still hearkening for breakers; but the captain and the two officers were in the waist with their

heads together. It struck me (I don't know why) that they were after no good; and the first word I heard, as I

It was Mr. Riach, crying out as if upon a sudden thought: "Couldn't we wile him out of the roundhouse?"

"He's better where he is," returned Hoseason; "he hasn't room to use his sword."

"Hut!" said Hoseason. "We can get the man in talk, one upon each side, and pin him by the two arms; or if

that'll not hold, sir, we can make a run by both the doors and get him under hand before he has the time to

At this hearing, I was seized with both fear and anger at these treacherous, greedy, bloody men that I sailed

"Captain," said I, "the gentleman is seeking a dram, and the bottle's out. Will you give me the key?"

Riach cried; and then to me: "Hark ye, David," he said, "do ye ken where the pistols are?"

"Ay, ay," put in Hoseason. "David kens; David's a good lad. Ye see, David my man, yon wild Hielandman is

I had never been so beDavided since I came on board: but I said Yes, as if all I heard were quite natural.

"The trouble is," resumed the captain, "that all our firelocks, great and little, are in the roundhouse under

this man's nose; likewise the powder. Now, if I, or one of the officers, was to go in and take them, he would

fall to thinking. But a lad like you, David, might snap up a horn and a pistol or two without remark. And if ye

can do it cleverly, I'll bear it in mind when it'll be good for you to have friends; and that's when we come to

"Very right, sir," said the captain; and then to myself: "And see here, David, yon man has a beltful of gold,

I told him I would do as he wished, though indeed I had scarce breath to speak with; and upon that he gave

me the key of the spirit locker, and I began to go slowly back to the roundhouse. What was I to do? They

were dogs and thieves; they had stolen me from my own country; they had killed poor Ransome; and was I to

hold the candle to another murder? But then, upon the other hand, there was the fear of death very plain

before me; for what could a boy and a man, if they were as brave as lions, against a whole ship's company?

I was still arguing it back and forth, and getting no great clearness, when I came into the roundhouse and

saw the Jacobite eating his supper under the lamp; and at that my mind was made up all in a moment. I have

no credit by it; it was by no choice of mine, but as if by compulsion, that I walked right up to the table and

"Do ye want to be killed?" said I. He sprang to his feet, and looked a question at me as clear as if he had

"O!" cried I, "they're all murderers here; it's a ship full of them! They've murdered a boy already. Now it's

"Ay, ay" said he; "but they have n't got me yet." And then looking at me curiously, "Will ye stand with me?"

"David Balfour," said I; and then, thinking that a man with so fine a coat must like fine people, I added for

It never occurred to him to doubt me, for a Highlander is used to see great gentlefolk in great poverty; but as

"My name is Stewart," he said, drawing himself up. "Alan Breck, they call me. A king's name is good enough

for me, though I bear it plain and have the name of no farmmidden to clap to the hindend of it."

And having administered this rebuke, as though it were something of a chief importance, he turned to

The roundhouse was built very strong, to support the breaching of the seas. Of its five apertures, only the

skylight and the two doors were large enough for the passage of a man. The doors, besides, could be drawn

close: they were of stout oak, and ran in grooves, and were fitted with hooks to keep them either shut or open,

as the need arose. The one that was already shut I secured in this fashion; but when I was proceeding to slide

"David," said he "for I cannae bring to mind the name of your landed estate, and so will make so bold as

"Not so, David," says he. "Ye see, I have but one face; but so long as that door is open and my face to it, the

best part of my enemies will be in front of me, where I would aye wish to find them."

Then he gave me from the rack a cutlass (of which there were a few besides the firearms), choosing it with

great care, shaking his head and saying he had never in all his life seen poorer weapons; and next he set me

down to the table with a powderhorn, a bag of bullets and all the pistols, which he bade me charge.

"And that will be better work, let me tell you," said he, "for a gentleman of decent birth, than scraping plates

Thereupon he stood up in the midst with his face to the door, and drawing his great sword, made trial of the

"I must stick to the point," he said, shaking his head; "and that's a pity, too. It doesn't set my genius, which is

all for the upper guard. And, now" said he, "do you keep on charging the pistols, and give heed to me."

I told him I would listen closely. My chest was tight, my mouth dry, the light dark to my eyes; the thought of

the numbers that were soon to leap in upon us kept my heart in a flutter: and the sea, which I heard washing

round the brig, and where I thought my dead body would be cast ere morning, ran in my mind strangely.

I reckoned them up; and such was the hurry of my mind, I had to cast the numbers twice. "Fifteen," said I.

Alan whistled. "Well," said he, "that can't be cured. And now follow me. It is my part to keep this door,

where I look for the main battle. In that, ye have no hand. And mind and dinnae fire to this side unless they

get me down; for I would rather have ten foes in front of me than one friend like you cracking pistols at my

"And that, s very bravely said," he cried, in a great admiration of my candour. "There's many a pretty

"But then, sir" said I, "there is the door behind you" which they may perhaps break in."

"Ay," said he, "and that is a part of your work. No sooner the pistols charged, than ye must climb up into yon

bed where ye're handy at the window; and if they lift hand, against the door, ye're to shoot. But that's not all.

"There's the skylight," said I. "But indeed, Mr. Stewart, I would need to have eyes upon both sides to keep the

But now our time of truce was come to an end. Those on deck had waited for my coming till they grew

impatient; and scarce had Alan spoken, when the captain showed face in the open door.

"Stand!" cried Alan, and pointed his sword at him. The captain stood, indeed; but he neither winced nor drew

"Do ye see me?" said Alan. "I am come of kings; I bear a king's name. My badge is the oak. Do ye see my

sword? It has slashed the heads off mair Whigamores than you have toes upon your feet. Call up your vermin

to your back, sir, and fall on! The sooner the clash begins, the sooner ye'll taste this steel throughout your

The captain said nothing to Alan, but he looked over at me with an ugly look. "David," said he, "I'll mind

Alan drew a dirk, which he held in his left hand in case they should run in under his sword. I, on my part,

clambered up into the berth with an armful of pistols and something of a heavy heart, and set open the

window where I was to watch. It was a small part of the deck that I could overlook, but enough for our

purpose. The sea had gone down, and the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet; so that there was a great

stillness in the ship, in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices. A little after, and there came

a clash of steel upon the deck, by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses and one had been let fall;

I do not know if I was what you call afraid; but my heart beat like a bird's, both quick and little; and there was

a dimness came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away, and which continually returned. As for

hope, I had none; but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world that made me long to

sell my life as dear as I was able. I tried to pray, I remember, but that same hurry of my mind, like a man

running, would not suffer me to think upon the words; and my chief wish was to have the thing begin and be

It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan, and a sound of

blows and some one crying out as if hurt. I looked back over my shoulder, and saw Mr. Shuan in the

"Look to your window!" said Alan; and as I turned back to my place, I saw him pass his sword through the

It was none too soon for me to look to my own part; for my head was scarce back at the window, before five

men, carrying a spare yard for a batteringram, ran past me and took post to drive the door in. I had never

fired with a pistol in my life, and not often with a gun; far less against a fellowcreature. But it was now or

never; and just as they swang the yard, I cried out: "Take that!" and shot into their midst.

I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a step, and the rest stopped as if a little

disconcerted. Before they had time to recover, I sent another ball over their heads; and at my third shot

(which went as wide as the second) the whole party threw down the yard and ran for it.

Then I looked round again into the deckhouse. The whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing, just

as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of the shots. But there was Alan, standing as before; only now

his sword was running blood to the hilt, and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine an

attitude, that he looked to be invincible. Right before him on the floor was Mr. Shuan, on his hands and

knees; the blood was pouring from his mouth, and he was sinking slowly lower, with a terrible, white face;

and just as I looked, some of those from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out

"There's one of your Whigs for ye!" cried Alan; and then turning to me, he asked if I had done much

"And I've settled two," says he. "No, there's not enough blood let; they'll be back again. To your watch,

I settled back to my place, recharging the three pistols I had fired, and keeping watch with both eye and ear.

Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck, and that so loudly that I could hear a word or two

After that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before. Only now, one person spoke most of the

time, as though laying down a plan, and first one and then another answered him briefly, like men taking

"It's what we have to pray for," said he. "Unless we can give them a good distaste of us, and done with it,

there'll be nae sleep for either you or me. But this time, mind, they'll be in earnest."

By this, my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to do but listen and wait. While the brush lasted, I had

not the time to think if I was frighted; but now, when all was still again, my mind ran upon nothing else. The

thought of the sharp swords and the cold steel was strong in me; and presently, when I began to hear stealthy

steps and a brushing of men's clothes against the roundhouse wall, and knew they were taking their places in

All this was upon Alan's side; and I had begun to think my share of the fight was at an end, when I heard

Then there came a single call on the seapipe, and that was the signal. A knot of them made one rush of it,

cutlass in hand, against the door; and at the same moment, the glass of the skylight was dashed in a thousand

pieces, and a man leaped through and landed on the floor. Before he got his feet, I had clapped a pistol to his

back, and might have shot him, too; only at the touch of him (and him alive) my whole flesh misgave me, and

He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he felt the pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of

me, roaring out an oath; and at that either my courage came again, or I grew so much afraid as came to the

same thing; for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body. He gave the most horrible, ugly groan

and fell to the floor. The foot of a second fellow, whose legs were dangling through the skylight, struck me at

the same time upon the head; and at that I snatched another pistol and shot this one through the thigh, so that

he slipped through and tumbled in a lump on his companion's body. There was no talk of missing, any more

I might have stood and stared at them for long, but I heard Alan shout as if for help, and that brought me to

He had kept the door so long; but one of the seamen, while he was engaged with others, had run in under his

guard and caught him about the body. Alan was dirking him with his left hand, but the fellow clung like a

leech. Another had broken in and had his cutlass raised. The door was thronged with their faces. I thought we

But I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped at last; and Alan, leaping back to get his distance, ran

upon the others like a bull, roaring as he went. They broke before him like water, turning, and running, and

falling one against another in their haste. The sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of

our fleeing enemies; and at every flash there came the scream of a man hurt. I was still thinking we were lost,

when lo! they were all gone, and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheepdog chases sheep.

Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again, being as cautious as he was brave; and meanwhile the

seamen continued running and crying out as if he was still behind them; and we heard them tumble one upon

The roundhouse was like a shambles; three were dead inside, another lay in his death agony across the

He came up to me with open arms. "Come to my arms!" he cried, and embraced and kissed me hard upon

both cheek. "David," said he, "I love you like a brother. And O, man," he cried in a kind of ecstasy, "am I no

Thereupon he turned to the four enemies, passed his sword clean through each of them, and tumbled them out

of doors one after the other. As he did so, he kept humming and singing and whistling to himself, like a man

trying to recall an air; only what HE was trying was to make one. All the while, the flush was in his face, and

his eyes were as bright as a fiveyearold child's with a new toy. And presently he sat down upon the table,

sword in hand; the air that he was making all the time began to run a little clearer, and then clearer still; and

I have translated it here, not in verse (of which I have no skill) but at least in the king's English.

He sang it often afterwards, and the thing became popular; so that I have, heard it, and had it explained to me,

Now this song which he made (both words and music) in the hour of our victory, is something less than just

to me, who stood beside him in the tussle. Mr. Shuan and five more were either killed outright or thoroughly

disabled; but of these, two fell by my hand, the two that came by the skylight. Four more were hurt, and of

that number, one (and he not the least important) got his hurt from me. So that, altogether, I did my fair share

both of the killing and the wounding, and might have claimed a place in Alan's verses. But poets have to

think upon their rhymes; and in good prose talk, Alan always did me more than justice.

In the meanwhile, I was innocent of any wrong being done me. For not only I knew no word of the Gaelic;

but what with the long suspense of the waiting, and the scurry and strain of our two spirts of fighting, and

more than all, the horror I had of some of my own share in it, the thing was no sooner over than I was glad to

stagger to a seat. There was that tightness on my chest that I could hardly breathe; the thought of the two men

I had shot sat upon me like a nightmare; and all upon a sudden, and before I had a guess of what was coming,

Alan clapped my shoulder, and said I was a brave lad and wanted nothing but a sleep.

"I'll take the first watch," said he. "Ye've done well by me, David, first and last; and I wouldn't lose you for

So I made up my bed on the floor; and he took the first spell, pistol in hand and sword on knee, three hours

by the captain's watch upon the wall. Then he roused me up, and I took my turn of three hours; before the end

of which it was broad day, and a very quiet morning, with a smooth, rolling sea that tossed the ship and made

the blood run to and fro on the roundhouse floor, and a heavy rain that drummed upon the roof. All my

watch there was nothing stirring; and by the banging of the helm, I knew they had even no one at the tiller.

Indeed (as I learned afterwards) there were so many of them hurt or dead, and the rest in so ill a temper, that

Mr. Riach and the captain had to take turn and turn like Alan and me, or the brig might have gone ashore and

nobody the wiser. It was a mercy the night had fallen so still, for the wind had gone down as soon as the rain

began. Even as it was, I judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls that went crying and fishing round

the ship, that she must have drifted pretty near the coast or one of the islands of the Hebrides; and at last,

looking out of the door of the roundhouse, I saw the great stone hills of Skye on the right hand, and, a little

Alan and I sat down to breakfast about six of the clock. The floor was covered with broken glass and in a

horrid mess of blood, which took away my hunger. In all other ways we were in a situation not only

agreeable but merry; having ousted the officers from their own cabin, and having at command all the drink in

the ship both wine and spirits and all the dainty part of what was eatable, such as the pickles and the

fine sort of bread. This, of itself, was enough to set us in good humour, but the richest part of it was this, that

the two thirstiest men that ever came out of Scotland (Mr. Shuan being dead) were now shut in the forepart

"And depend upon it," Alan said, "we shall hear more of them ere long. Ye may keep a man from the

We made good company for each other. Alan, indeed, expressed himself most lovingly; and taking a knife

"I had them," says he, "from my father, Duncan Stewart; and now give ye one of them to be a keepsake for

last night's work. And wherever ye go and show that button, the friends of Alan Breck will come around

He said this as if he had been Charlemagne, and commanded armies; and indeed, much as I admired his

courage, I was always in danger of smiling at his vanity: in danger, I say, for had I not kept my countenance,

As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the captain's locker till he found a clothesbrush;

and then taking off his coat, began to visit his suit and brush away the stains, with such care and labour as I

supposed to have been only usual with women. To be sure, he had no other; and, besides (as he said), it

For all that, when I saw what care he took to pluck out the threads where the button had been cut away, I put

He was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr. Riach from the deck, asking for a parley; and I,

climbing through the skylight and sitting on the edge of it, pistol in hand and with a bold front, though

inwardly in fear of broken glass, hailed him back again and bade him speak out. He came to the edge of the

roundhouse, and stood on a coil of rope, so that his chin was on a level with the roof; and we looked at each

other awhile in silence. Mr. Riach, as I do not think he had been very forward in the battle, so he had got off

with nothing worse than a blow upon the cheek: but he looked out of heart and very weary, having been all

"The captain," says he, "would like to speak with your friend. They might speak at the window."

"He means none, David," returned Mr. Riach, "and if he did, I'll tell ye the honest truth, we couldnae get the

"I'll tell ye more than that," said he. "It's not only the men; it's me. I'm frich'ened, Davie." And he smiled

Thereupon I consulted with Alan, and the parley was agreed to and parole given upon either side; but this was

not the whole of Mr. Riach's business, and he now begged me for a dram with such instancy and such

reminders of his former kindness, that at last I handed him a pannikin with about a gill of brandy. He drank a

part, and then carried the rest down upon the deck, to share it (I suppose) with his superior.

A little after, the captain came (as was agreed) to one of the windows, and stood there in the rain, with his

arm in a sling, and looking stern and pale, and so old that my heart smote me for having fired upon him.

"Put that thing up!" said the captain. "Have I not passed my word, sir? or do ye seek to affront me?"

"Captain," says Alan, "I doubt your word is a breakable. Last night ye haggled and arglebargled like an

applewife; and then passed me your word, and gave me your hand to back it; and ye ken very well what was

"Well, well, sir," said the captain, "ye'll get little good by swearing." (And truly that was a fault of which the

captain was quite free.) "But we have other things to speak," he continued, bitterly. "Ye've made a sore hash

of my brig; I haven't hands enough left to work her; and my first officer (whom I could ill spare) has got your

sword throughout his vitals, and passed without speech. There is nothing left me, sir, but to put back into the

port of Glasgow after hands; and there (by your leave) ye will find them that are better able to talk to you."

"Ay?" said Alan; "and faith, I'll have a talk with them mysel'! Unless there's naebody speaks English in that

town, I have a bonny tale for them. Fifteen tarry sailors upon the one side, and a man and a halfling boy upon

"No," continued Alan, "that'll no do. Ye'll just have to set me ashore as we agreed."

"Ay," said Hoseason, "but my first officer is dead ye ken best how. There's none of the rest of us acquaint

"I give ye your choice," says Alan. "Set me on dry ground in Appin, or Ardgour, or in Morven, or Arisaig, or

Morar; or, in brief, where ye please, within thirty miles of my own country; except in a country of the

Campbells. That's a broad target. If ye miss that, ye must be as feckless at the sailoring as I have found ye at

the fighting. Why, my poor country people in their bit cobles[16] pass from island to island in all weathers,

"Well, then, to Glasgow if ye list!" says Alan. "We'll have the laugh of ye at the least."

"My mind runs little upon laughing," said the captain. "But all this will cost money, sir."

"Well, sir" says Alan, "I am nae weathercock. Thirty guineas, if ye land me on the seaside; and sixty, if ye

"But see, sir, where we lie, we are but a few hours' sail from Ardnamurchan," said Hoseason. "Give me sixty,

" And I'm to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the redcoats to please you?" cries Alan. "No, sir; if ye

"It's to risk the brig, sir," said the captain, "and your own lives along with her."

"Well, it's doubtful," said Alan. "I'm more of a fighting man (as ye have seen for yoursel') than a sailorman.

But I have been often enough picked up and set down upon this coast, and should ken something of the lie of

"If I had lost less money on this unchancy cruise," says he, "I would see you in a rope's end before I risked

my brig, sir. But be it as ye will. As soon as I get a slant of wind (and there's some coming, or I'm the more

mistaken) I'll put it in hand. But there's one thing more. We may meet in with a king's ship and she may lay

us aboard, sir, with no blame of mine: they keep the cruisers thick upon this coast, ye ken who for. Now, sir,

"Captain," says Alan, "if ye see a pennant, it shall be your part to run away. And now, as I hear you're a little

short of brandy in the forepart, I'll offer ye a change: a bottle of brandy against two buckets of water."

That was the last clause of the treaty, and was duly executed on both sides; so that Alan and I could at last

wash out the roundhouse and be quit of the memorials of those whom we had slain, and the captain and Mr.

Before we had done cleaning out the roundhouse, a breeze sprang up from a little to the east of north. This

And here I must explain; and the reader would do well to look at a map. On the day when the fog fell and we

ran down Alan's boat, we had been running through the Little Minch. At dawn after the battle, we lay

becalmed to the east of the Isle of Canna or between that and Isle Eriska in the chain of the Long Island. Now

to get from there to the Linnhe Loch, the straight course was through the narrows of the Sound of Mull. But

the captain had no chart; he was afraid to trust his brig so deep among the islands; and the wind serving well,

he preferred to go by west of Tiree and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull.

All day the breeze held in the same point, and rather freshened than died down; and towards afternoon, a

swell began to set in from round the outer Hebrides. Our course, to go round about the inner isles, was to the

west of south, so that at first we had this swell upon our beam, and were much rolled about. But after

nightfall, when we had turned the end of Tiree and began to head more to the east, the sea came right astern.

Meanwhile, the early part of the day, before the swell came up, was very pleasant; sailing, as we were, in a

bright sunshine and with many mountainous islands upon different sides. Alan and I sat in the roundhouse

with the doors open on each side (the wind being straight astern), and smoked a pipe or two of the captain's

fine tobacco. It was at this time we heard each other's stories, which was the more important to me, as I

gained some knowledge of that wild Highland country on which I was so soon to land. In those days, so close

on the back of the great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon

It was I that showed the example, telling him all my misfortune; which he heard with great goodnature.

Only, when I came to mention that good friend of mine, Mr. Campbell the minister, Alan fired up and cried

"I know nothing I would help a Campbell to," says he, "unless it was a leaden bullet. I would hunt all of that

name like blackcocks. If I lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to my chamber window for a shot at one."

"Well," says he, "ye ken very well that I am an Appin Stewart, and the Campbells have long harried and

wasted those of my name; ay, and got lands of us by treacherybut never with the sword," he cried loudly,

and with the word brought down his fist upon the table. But I paid the less attention to this, for I knew it was

usually said by those who have the underhand. "There's more than that," he continued, "and all in the same

story: lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler, and the show of what's legal over all, to make a man

"You that are so wasteful of your buttons," said I, "I can hardly think you would be a good judge of

"Ah!" says he, falling again to smiling, "I got my wastefulness from the same man I got the buttons from; and

that was my poor father, Duncan Stewart, grace be to him! He was the prettiest man of his kindred; and the

best swordsman in the Hielands, David, and that is the same as to say, in all the world, I should ken, for it

was him that taught me. He was in the Black Watch, when first it was mustered; and, like other gentlemen

privates, had a gillie at his back to carry his firelock for him on the march. Well, the King, it appears, was

wishful to see Hieland swordsmanship; and my father and three more were chosen out and sent to London

town, to let him see it at the best. So they were had into the palace and showed the whole art of the sword for

two hours at a stretch, before King George and Queen Carline, and the Butcher Cumberland, and many more

of whom I havenae mind. And when they were through, the King (for all he was a rank usurper) spoke them

fair and gave each man three guineas in his hand. Now, as they were going out of the palace, they had a

porter's lodge to go, by; and it came in on my father, as he was perhaps the first private Hieland gentleman

that had ever gone by that door, it was right he should give the poor porter a proper notion of their quality. So

he gives the King's three guineas into the man's hand, as if it was his common custom; the three others that

came behind him did the same; and there they were on the street, never a penny the better for their pains.

Some say it was one, that was the first to fee the King's porter; and some say it was another; but the truth of it

is, that it was Duncan Stewart, as I am willing to prove with either sword or pistol. And that was the father

"And that's true," said Alan. "He left me my breeks to cover me, and little besides. And that was how I came

to enlist, which was a black spot upon my character at the best of times, and would still be a sore job for me if

"That was I," said Alan. "But I deserted to the right side at Preston Pans and that's some comfort."

I could scarcely share this view: holding desertion under arms for an unpardonable fault in honour. But for all

I was so young, I was wiser than say my thought. "Dear, dear," says I, "the punishment is death."

"Ay" said he, "if they got hands on me, it would be a short shrift and a lang tow for Alan! But I have the King

"And, good heaven, man," cried I, "you that are a condemned rebel, and a deserter, and a man of the French

"Well, ye see, I weary for my friends and country," said he. "France is a braw place, nae doubt; but I weary

for the heather and the deer. And then I have bit things that I attend to. Whiles I pick up a few lads to serve

the King of France: recruits, ye see; and that's aye a little money. But the heart of the matter is the business of

"Ay, but Ardshiel is the captain of the clan," said he, which scarcely cleared my mind. "Ye see, David, he that

was all his life so great a man, and come of the blood and bearing the name of kings, is now brought down to

live in a French town like a poor and private person. He that had four hundred swords at his whistle, I have

seen, with these eyes of mine, buying butter in the marketplace, and taking it home in a kaleleaf. This is

not only a pain but a disgrace to us of his family and clan. There are the bairns forby, the children and the

hope of Appin, that must be learned their letters and how to hold a sword, in that far country. Now, the

tenants of Appin have to pay a rent to King George; but their hearts are staunch, they are true to their chief;

and what with love and a bit of pressure, and maybe a threat or two, the poor folk scrape up a second rent for

Ardshiel. Well, David, I'm the hand that carries it." And he struck the belt about his body, so that the guineas

"Ay, David," said he. "I told a different tale to yon captain man; but this is the truth of it. And it's wonderful

to me how little pressure is needed. But that's the handiwork of my good kinsman and my father's friend,

James of the Glens: James Stewart, that is: Ardshiel's halfbrother. He it is that gets the money in, and does

This was the first time I heard the name of that James Stewart, who was afterwards so famous at the time of

his hanging. But I took little heed at the moment, for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of these

"I call it noble," I cried. "I'm a Whig, or little better; but I call it noble."

"Ay" said he, "ye're a Whig, but ye're a gentleman; and that's what does it. Now, if ye were one of the cursed

race of Campbell, ye would gnash your teeth to hear tell of it. If ye were the Red Fox..." And at that name, his

teeth shut together, and he ceased speaking. I have seen many a grim face, but never a grimmer than Alan's

"Who is he?" cried Alan. "Well, and I'll tell you that. When the men of the clans were broken at Culloden,

and the good cause went down, and the horses rode over the fetlocks in the best blood of the north, Ardshiel

had to flee like a poor deer upon the mountains he and his lady and his bairns. A sair job we had of it

before we got him shipped; and while he still lay in the heather, the English rogues, that couldnae come at his

life, were striking at his rights. They stripped him of his powers; they stripped him of his lands; they plucked

the weapons from the hands of his clansmen, that had borne arms for thirty centuries; ay, and the very clothes

off their backs so that it's now a sin to wear a tartan plaid, and a man may be cast into a gaol if he has but

a kilt about his legs. One thing they couldnae kill. That was the love the clansmen bore their chief. These

guineas are the proof of it. And now, in there steps a man, a Campbell, redheaded Colin of Glenure "

"Will ye bring me his brush?" cries Alan, fiercely. "Ay, that's the man. In he steps, and gets papers from King

George, to be socalled King's factor on the lands of Appin. And at first he sings small, and is

hailfellowwellmet with Sheamus that's James of the Glens, my chieftain's agent. But byandby, that

came to his ears that I have just told you; how the poor commons of Appin, the farmers and the crofters and

the boumen, were wringing their very plaids to get a second rent, and send it overseas for Ardshiel and his

"And you little better than a common Whig!" cries Alan. "But when it came to Colin Roy, the black

Campbell blood in him ran wild. He sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table. What! should a Stewart get a bite

of bread, and him not be able to prevent it? Ah! Red Fox, if ever I hold you at a gun's end, the Lord have pity

upon ye!" (Alan stopped to swallow down his anger.) "Well, David, what does he do? He declares all the

farms to let. And, thinks he, in his black heart, 'I'll soon get other tenants that'll overbid these Stewarts, and

Maccolls, and Macrobs' (for these are all names in my clan, David); 'and then,' thinks he, 'Ardshiel will have

Alan laid down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to go out, and set his two hands upon his knees.

"Ay," said he, "ye'll never guess that! For these same Stewarts, and Maccolls, and Macrobs (that had two

rents to pay, one to King George by stark force, and one to Ardshiel by natural kindness) offered him a better

price than any Campbell in all broad Scotland; and far he sent seeking them as far as to the sides of Clyde

and the cross of Edinburgh seeking, and fleeching, and begging them to come, where there was a Stewart

"Well, Alan," said I, "that is a strange story, and a fine one, too. And Whig as I may be, I am glad the man

"Him beaten?" echoed Alan. "It's little ye ken of Campbells, and less of the Red Fox. Him beaten? No: nor

will be, till his blood's on the hillside! But if the day comes, David man, that I can find time and leisure for a

bit of hunting, there grows not enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance!"

"Man Alan," said I, "ye are neither very wise nor very Christian to blow off so many words of anger. They

will do the man ye call the Fox no harm, and yourself no good. Tell me your tale plainly out. What did he

"And that's a good observe, David," said Alan. "Troth and indeed, they will do him no harm; the more's the

pity! And barring that about Christianity (of which my opinion is quite otherwise, or I would be nae

"Opinion here or opinion there," said I, "it's a kent thing that Christianity forbids revenge."

"Ay" said he, "it's well seen it was a Campbell taught ye! It would be a convenient world for them and their

sort, if there was no such a thing as a lad and a gun behind a heather bush! But that's nothing to the point.

"Well, David," said he, "since he couldnae be rid of the loyal commons by fair means, he swore he would be

rid of them by foul. Ardshiel was to starve: that was the thing he aimed at. And since them that fed him in his

exile wouldnae be bought out right or wrong, he would drive them out. Therefore he sent for lawyers, and

papers, and redcoats to stand at his back. And the kindly folk of that country must all pack and tramp, every

father's son out of his father's house, and out of the place where he was bred and fed, and played when he was

a callant. And who are to succeed them? Bareleggit beggars! King George is to whistle for his rents; he

maun dow with less; he can spread his butter thinner: what cares Red Colin? If he can hurt Ardshiel, he has

his wish; if he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table, and the bit toys out of his children's hands, he

"Let me have a word," said I. "Be sure, if they take less rents, be sure Government has a finger in the pie. It's

not this Campbell's fault, man it's his orders. And if ye killed this Colin tomorrow, what better would ye

He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger under his contempt that I thought it was wise to change

the conversation. I expressed my wonder how, with the Highlands covered with troops, and guarded like a

"It's easier than ye would think," said Alan. "A bare hillside (ye see) is like all one road; if there's a sentry at

one place, ye just go by another. And then the heather's a great help. And everywhere there are friends'

houses and friends' byres and haystacks. And besides, when folk talk of a country covered with troops, it's but

a kind of a byword at the best. A soldier covers nae mair of it than his bootsoles. I have fished a water with

a sentry on the other side of the brae, and killed a fine trout; and I have sat in a heather bush within six feet of

another, and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling. This was it," said he, and whistled me the air.

"And then, besides," he continued, "it's no sae bad now as it was in fortysix. The Hielands are what they call

pacified. Small wonder, with never a gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape Wrath, but what tenty[17] folk

have hidden in their thatch! But what I would like to ken, David, is just how long? Not long, ye would think,

with men like Ardshiel in exile and men like the Red Fox sitting birling the wine and oppressing the poor at

home. But it's a kittle thing to decide what folk'll bear, and what they will not. Or why would Red Colin be

riding his horse all over my poor country of Appin, and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him?"

And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for a long time sate very sad and silent.

I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend, that he was skilled in all kinds of music, but

principally pipemusic; was a wellconsidered poet in his own tongue; had read several books both in French

and English; was a dead shot, a good angler, and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his

own particular weapon. For his faults, they were on his face, and I now knew them all. But the worst of them,

his childish propensity to take offence and to pick quarrels, he greatly laid aside in my case, out of regard for

the battle of the roundhouse. But whether it was because I had done well myself, or because I had been a

witness of his own much greater prowess, is more than I can tell. For though he had a great taste for courage

It was already late at night, and as dark as it ever would be at that season of the year (and that is to say, it was

"Do I look like tricks?" cries the captain. "I have other things to think of my brig's in danger!"

By the concerned look of his face, and, above all, by the sharp tones in which he spoke of his brig, it was

plain to both of us he was in deadly earnest; and so Alan and I, with no great fear of treachery, stepped on

The sky was clear; it blew hard, and was bitter cold; a great deal of daylight lingered; and the moon, which

was nearly full, shone brightly. The brig was close hauled, so as to round the southwest corner of the Island

of Mull, the hills of which (and Ben More above them all, with a wisp of mist upon the top of it) lay full upon

the larboard bow. Though it was no good point of sailing for the Covenant, she tore through the seas at a

Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in; and I had begun to wonder what it was that sat so

heavily upon the captain, when the brig rising suddenly on the top of a high swell, he pointed and cried to us

to look. Away on the lee bow, a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea, and immediately after we

"The sea breaking on a reef," said Alan. "And now ye ken where it is; and what better would ye have?"

And sure enough, just as he spoke there came a second fountain farther to the south.

"There!" said Hoseason. "Ye see for yourself. If I had kent of these reefs, if I had had a chart, or if Shuan had

been spared, it's not sixty guineas, no, nor six hundred, would have made me risk my brig in sic a stoneyard!

"Truly, sir, I am nae pilot," said Alan; "but it sticks in my mind there are ten miles of them."

"Doubtless," said Alan, "but where? But it somehow runs in my mind once more that it is clearer under the

"So?" said Hoseason. "We'll have to haul our wind then, Mr. Riach; we'll have to come as near in about the

end of Mull as we can take her, sir; and even then we'll have the land to kep the wind off us, and that

With that he gave an order to the steersman, and sent Riach to the foretop. There were only five men on deck,

counting the officers; these being all that were fit (or, at least, both fit and willing) for their work. So, as I say,

it fell to Mr. Riach to go aloft, and he sat there looking out and hailing the deck with news of all he saw.

"The sea to the south is thick," he cried; and then, after a while, "it does seem clearer in by the land."

"Well, sir," said Hoseason to Alan, "we'll try your way of it. But I think I might as well trust to a blind

"Pray God I am!" says Alan to me. "But where did I hear it? Well, well, it will be as it must."

As we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began to be sown here and there on our very path; and Mr.

Riach sometimes cried down to us to change the course. Sometimes, indeed, none too soon; for one reef was

so close on the brig's weather board that when a sea burst upon it the lighter sprays fell upon her deck and

The brightness of the night showed us these perils as clearly as by day, which was, perhaps, the more

alarming. It showed me, too, the face of the captain as he stood by the steersman, now on one foot, now on

the other, and sometimes blowing in his hands, but still listening and looking and as steady as steel. Neither

he nor Mr. Riach had shown well in the fighting; but I saw they were brave in their own trade, and admired

"No," said he, wetting his lips, "but you'll allow, yourself, it's a cold ending."

By this time, now and then sheering to one side or the other to avoid a reef, but still hugging the wind and the

land, we had got round Iona and begun to come alongside Mull. The tide at the tail of the land ran very

strong, and threw the brig about. Two hands were put to the helm, and Hoseason himself would sometimes

lend a help; and it was strange to see three strong men throw their weight upon the tiller, and it (like a living

thing) struggle against and drive them back. This would have been the greater danger had not the sea been for

some while free of obstacles. Mr. Riach, besides, announced from the top that he saw clear water ahead.

"Ye were right," said Hoseason to Alan. "Ye have saved the brig, sir. I'll mind that when we come to clear

accounts." And I believe he not only meant what he said, but would have done it; so high a place did the

But this is matter only for conjecture, things having gone otherwise than he forecast.

And just at the same time the tide caught the brig, and threw the wind out of her sails. She came round into

the wind like a top, and the next moment struck the reef with such a dunch as threw us all flat upon the deck,

I was on my feet in a minute. The reef on which we had struck was close in under the southwest end of Mull,

off a little isle they call Earraid, which lay low and black upon the larboard. Sometimes the swell broke clean

over us; sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef, so that we could hear her beat herself to

pieces; and what with the great noise of the sails, and the singing of the wind, and the flying of the spray in

the moonlight, and the sense of danger, I think my head must have been partly turned, for I could scarcely

Presently I observed Mr. Riach and the seamen busy round the skiff, and, still in the same blank, ran over to

assist them; and as soon as I set my hand to work, my mind came clear again. It was no very easy task, for the

skiff lay amidships and was full of hamper, and the breaking of the heavier seas continually forced us to give

Meanwhile such of the wounded as could move came clambering out of the forescuttle and began to help;

while the rest that lay helpless in their bunks harrowed me with screaming and begging to be saved.

The captain took no part. It seemed he was struck stupid. He stood holding by the shrouds, talking to himself

and groaning out aloud whenever the ship hammered on the rock. His brig was like wife and child to him; he

had looked on, day by day, at the mishandling of poor Ransome; but when it came to the brig, he seemed to

All the time of our working at the boat, I remember only one other thing: that I asked Alan, looking across at

the shore, what country it was; and he answered, it was the worst possible for him, for it was a land of the

We had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch upon the seas and cry us warning. Well, we had the

boat about ready to be launched, when this man sang out pretty shrill: "For God's sake, hold on!" We knew

by his tone that it was something more than ordinary; and sure enough, there followed a sea so huge that it

lifted the brig right up and canted her over on her beam. Whether the cry came too late, or my hold was too

weak, I know not; but at the sudden tilting of the ship I was cast clean over the bulwarks into the sea.

I went down, and drank my fill, and then came up, and got a blink of the moon, and then down again. They

say a man sinks a third time for good. I cannot be made like other folk, then; for I would not like to write how

often I went down, or how often I came up again. All the while, I was being hurled along, and beaten upon

and choked, and then swallowed whole; and the thing was so distracting to my wits, that I was neither sorry

Presently, I found I was holding to a spar, which helped me somewhat. And then all of a sudden I was in

It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed to see how far I had travelled from the brig. I hailed

her, indeed; but it was plain she was already out of cry. She was still holding together; but whether or not

While I was hailing the brig, I spied a tract of water lying between us where no great waves came, but which

yet boiled white all over and bristled in the moon with rings and bubbles. Sometimes the whole tract swung

to one side, like the tail of a live serpent; sometimes, for a glimpse, it would all disappear and then boil up

again. What it was I had no guess, which for the time increased my fear of it; but I now know it must have

been the roost or tide race, which had carried me away so fast and tumbled me about so cruelly, and at last, as

if tired of that play, had flung out me and the spare yard upon its landward margin.

I now lay quite becalmed, and began to feel that a man can die of cold as well as of drowning. The shores of

Earraid were close in; I could see in the moonlight the dots of heather and the sparkling of the mica in the

I had no skill of swimming, Essen Water being small in our neighbourhood; but when I laid hold upon the

yard with both arms, and kicked out with both feet, I soon begun to find that I was moving. Hard work it was,

and mortally slow; but in about an hour of kicking and splashing, I had got well in between the points of a

The sea was here quite quiet; there was no sound of any surf; the moon shone clear; and I thought in my heart

I had never seen a place so desert and desolate. But it was dry land; and when at last it grew so shallow that I

could leave the yard and wade ashore upon my feet, I cannot tell if I was more tired or more grateful. Both, at

least, I was: tired as I never was before that night; and grateful to God as I trust I have been often, though

With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my adventures. It was halfpast twelve in the

morning, and though the wind was broken by the land, it was a cold night. I dared not sit down (for I thought

I should have frozen), but took off my shoes and walked to and fro upon the sand, barefoot, and beating my

breast with infinite weariness. There was no sound of man or cattle; not a cock crew, though it was about the

hour of their first waking; only the surf broke outside in the distance, which put me in mind of my perils and

those of my friend. To walk by the sea at that hour of the morning, and in a place so desertlike and

As soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed a hill the ruggedest scramble I ever

undertook falling, the whole way, between big blocks of granite, or leaping from one to another. When I

got to the top the dawn was come. There was no sign of the brig, which must have lifted from the reef and

sunk. The boat, too, was nowhere to be seen. There was never a sail upon the ocean; and in what I could see

I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates, and afraid to look longer at so empty a scene. What

with my wet clothes and weariness, and my belly that now began to ache with hunger, I had enough to

trouble me without that. So I set off eastward along the south coast, hoping to find a house where I might

warm myself, and perhaps get news of those I had lost. And at the worst, I considered the sun would soon rise

After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the

land; and as I had no means to get across, I must needs change my direction to go about the end of it. It was

still the roughest kind of walking; indeed the whole, not only of Earraid, but of the neighbouring part of Mull

(which they call the Ross) is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather in among. At first the creek

kept narrowing as I had looked to see; but presently to my surprise it began to widen out again. At this I

scratched my head, but had still no notion of the truth: until at last I came to a rising ground, and it burst upon

me all in a moment that I was cast upon a little barren isle, and cut off on every side by the salt seas.

Instead of the sun rising to dry me, it came on to rain, with a thick mist; so that my case was lamentable.

I stood in the rain, and shivered, and wondered what to do, till it occurred to me that perhaps the creek was

fordable. Back I went to the narrowest point and waded in. But not three yards from shore, I plumped in head

over ears; and if ever I was heard of more, it was rather by God's grace than my own prudence. I was no

wetter (for that could hardly be), but I was all the colder for this mishap; and having lost another hope was

And now, all at once, the yard came in my head. What had carried me through the roost would surely serve

me to cross this little quiet creek in safety. With that I set off, undaunted, across the top of the isle, to fetch

and carry it back. It was a weary tramp in all ways, and if hope had not buoyed me up, I must have cast

myself down and given up. Whether with the sea salt, or because I was growing fevered, I was distressed

with thirst, and had to stop, as I went, and drink the peaty water out of the hags.

I came to the bay at last, more dead than alive; and at the first glance, I thought the yard was something

farther out than when I left it. In I went, for the third time, into the sea. The sand was smooth and firm, and

shelved gradually down, so that I could wade out till the water was almost to my neck and the little waves

splashed into my face. But at that depth my feet began to leave me, and I durst venture in no farther. As for

I had borne up well until this last disappointment; but at that I came ashore, and flung myself down upon the

The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me, that I must pass it lightly over. In all the

books I have read of people cast away, they had either their pockets full of tools, or a chest of things would

be thrown upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose. My case was very different. I had nothing in my

pockets but money and Alan's silver button; and being inland bred, I was as much short of knowledge as of

I knew indeed that shellfish were counted good to eat; and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty

of limpets, which at first I could scarcely strike from their places, not knowing quickness to be needful. There

were, besides, some of the little shells that we call buckies; I think periwinkle is the English name. Of these

two I made my whole diet, devouring them cold and raw as I found them; and so hungry was I, that at first

Perhaps they were out of season, or perhaps there was something wrong in the sea about my island. But at

least I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was seized with giddiness and retching, and lay for a long

time no better than dead. A second trial of the same food (indeed I had no other) did better with me, and

revived my strength. But as long as I was on the island, I never knew what to expect when I had eaten;

sometimes all was well, and sometimes I was thrown into a miserable sickness; nor could I ever distinguish

All day it streamed rain; the island ran like a sop, there was no dry spot to be found; and when I lay down that

The second day I crossed the island to all sides. There was no one part of it better than another; it was all

desolate and rocky; nothing living on it but game birds which I lacked the means to kill, and the gulls which

haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. But the creek, or strait, that cut off the isle from the

mainland of the Ross, opened out on the north into a bay, and the bay again opened into the Sound of Iona;

and it was the neighbourhood of this place that I chose to be my home; though if I had thought upon the very

I had good reasons for my choice. There was in this part of the isle a little hut of a house like a pig's hut,

where fishers used to sleep when they came there upon their business; but the turf roof of it had fallen

entirely in; so that the hut was of no use to me, and gave me less shelter than my rocks. What was more

important, the shellfish on which I lived grew there in great plenty; when the tide was out I could gather a

peck at a time: and this was doubtless a convenience. But the other reason went deeper. I had become in no

way used to the horrid solitude of the isle, but still looked round me on all sides (like a man that was hunted),

between fear and hope that I might see some human creature coming. Now, from a little up the hillside over

the bay, I could catch a sight of the great, ancient church and the roofs of the people's houses in Iona. And on

the other hand, over the low country of the Ross, I saw smoke go up, morning and evening, as if from a

I used to watch this smoke, when I was wet and cold, and had my head half turned with loneliness; and think

of the fireside and the company, till my heart burned. It was the same with the roofs of Iona. Altogether, this

sight I had of men's homes and comfortable lives, although it put a point on my own sufferings, yet it kept

hope alive, and helped me to eat my raw shellfish (which had soon grown to be a disgust), and saved me

from the sense of horror I had whenever I was quite alone with dead rocks, and fowls, and the rain, and the

I say it kept hope alive; and indeed it seemed impossible that I should be left to die on the shores of my own

country, and within view of a churchtower and the smoke of men's houses. But the second day passed; and

though as long as the light lasted I kept a bright lookout for boats on the Sound or men passing on the Ross,

no help came near me. It still rained, and I turned in to sleep, as wet as ever, and with a cruel sore throat, but

a little comforted, perhaps, by having said goodnight to my next neighbours, the people of Iona.

Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days in the year in the climate of England than

in any other. This was very like a king, with a palace at his back and changes of dry clothes. But he must

have had better luck on his flight from Worcester than I had on that miserable isle. It was the height of the

summer; yet it rained for more than twentyfour hours, and did not clear until the afternoon of the third day.

This was the day of incidents. In the morning I saw a red deer, a buck with a fine spread of antlers, standing

in the rain on the top of the island; but he had scarce seen me rise from under my rock, before he trotted off

upon the other side. I supposed he must have swum the strait; though what should bring any creature to

A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I was startled by a guineapiece, which fell upon a

rock in front of me and glanced off into the sea. When the sailors gave me my money again, they kept back

not only about a third of the whole sum, but my father's leather purse; so that from that day out, I carried my

gold loose in a pocket with a button. I now saw there must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place in a

great hurry. But this was to lock the stable door after the steed was stolen. I had left the shore at Queensferry

with near on fifty pounds; now I found no more than two guineapieces and a silver shilling.

It is true I picked up a third guinea a little after, where it lay shining on a piece of turf. That made a fortune of

three pounds and four shillings, English money, for a lad, the rightful heir of an estate, and now starving on

This state of my affairs dashed me still further; and, indeed my plight on that third morning was truly pitiful.

My clothes were beginning to rot; my stockings in particular were quite worn through, so that my shanks

went naked; my hands had grown quite soft with the continual soaking; my throat was very sore, my strength

had much abated, and my heart so turned against the horrid stuff I was condemned to eat, that the very sight

There is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Earraid, which (because it had a flat top and overlooked the

Sound) I was much in the habit of frequenting; not that ever I stayed in one place, save when asleep, my

misery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down with continual and aimless goings and comings in the

As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of that rock to dry myself. The comfort of the

sunshine is a thing I cannot tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, of which I had begun to

despair; and I scanned the sea and the Ross with a fresh interest. On the south of my rock, a part of the island

jutted out and hid the open ocean, so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon that side, and I be none

Well, all of a sudden, a coble with a brown sail and a pair of fishers aboard of it, came flying round that

corner of the isle, bound for Iona. I shouted out, and then fell on my knees on the rock and reached up my

hands and prayed to them. They were near enough to hear I could even see the colour of their hair; and

there was no doubt but they observed me, for they cried out in the Gaelic tongue, and laughed. But the boat

I could not believe such wickedness, and ran along the shore from rock to rock, crying on them piteously.

even after they were out of reach of my voice, I still cried and waved to them; and when they were quite

gone, I thought my heart would have burst. All the time of my troubles I wept only twice. Once, when I could

not reach the yard, and now, the second time, when these fishers turned a deaf ear to my cries. But this time I

wept and roared like a wicked child, tearing up the turf with my nails, and grinding my face in the earth. If a

wish would kill men, those two fishers would never have seen morning, and I should likely have died upon

When I was a little over my anger, I must eat again, but with such loathing of the mess as I could now scarce

control. Sure enough, I should have done as well to fast, for my fishes poisoned me again. I had all my first

pains; my throat was so sore I could scarce swallow; I had a fit of strong shuddering, which clucked my teeth

together; and there came on me that dreadful sense of illness, which we have no name for either in Scotch or

English. I thought I should have died, and made my peace with God, forgiving all men, even my uncle and

the fishers; and as soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst, clearness came upon me; I observed the

night was falling dry; my clothes were dried a good deal; truly, I was in a better case than ever before, since I

had landed on the isle; and so I got to sleep at last, with a thought of gratitude.

The next day (which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine) I found my bodily strength run very low. But

the sun shone, the air was sweet, and what I managed to eat of the shellfish agreed well with me and revived

I was scarce back on my rock (where I went always the first thing after I had eaten) before I observed a boat

I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly; for I thought these men might have thought better of their

cruelty and be coming back to my assistance. But another disappointment, such as yesterday's, was more than

I could bear. I turned my back, accordingly, upon the sea, and did not look again till I had counted many

hundreds. The boat was still heading for the island. The next time I counted the full thousand, as slowly as I

could, my heart beating so as to hurt me. And then it was out of all question. She was coming straight to

I could no longer hold myself back, but ran to the seaside and out, from one rock to another, as far as I could

go. It is a marvel I was not drowned; for when I was brought to a stand at last, my legs shook under me, and

my mouth was so dry, I must wet it with the seawater before I was able to shout.

All this time the boat was coming on; and now I was able to perceive it was the same boat and the same two

men as yesterday. This I knew by their hair, which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black. But

As soon as they were come within easy speech, they let down their sail and lay quiet. In spite of my

supplications, they drew no nearer in, and what frightened me most of all, the new man teehee'd with

Then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while, speaking fast and with many wavings of his

hand. I told him I had no Gaelic; and at this he became very angry, and I began to suspect he thought he was

talking English. Listening very close, I caught the word "whateffer" several times; but all the rest was Gaelic

"Yes, yes yes, yes," says he, and then he looked at the other men, as much as to say, "I told you I spoke

This time I picked out another word, "tide." Then I had a flash of hope. I remembered he was always waving

At that I turned tail upon their boat (where my adviser had once more begun to teehee with laughter), leaped

back the way I had come, from one stone to another, and set off running across the isle as I had never run

before. In about half an hour I came out upon the shores of the creek; and, sure enough, it was shrunk into a

little trickle of water, through which I dashed, not above my knees, and landed with a shout on the main

A seabred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is only what they call a tidal islet, and except

in the bottom of the neaps, can be entered and left twice in every twentyfour hours, either dryshod, or at

the most by wading. Even I, who had the tide going out and in before me in the bay, and even watched for the

ebbs, the better to get my shellfish even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead of raging at my fate,

must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. It was no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The

wonder was rather that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble to come back. I had

starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might

have left my bones there, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past

sufferings, but in my present case; being clothed like a beggarman, scarce able to walk, and in great pain of

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the

The Ross of Mull, which I had now got upon, was rugged and trackless, like the isle I had just left; being all

bog, and brier, and big stone. There may be roads for them that know that country well; but for my part I had

I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so often from the island; and with all my great weariness

and the difficulty of the way came upon the house in the bottom of a little hollow about five or six at night. It

was low and longish, roofed with turf and built of unmortared stones; and on a mound in front of it, an old

With what little English he had, he gave me to understand that my shipmates had got safe ashore, and had

He said they all wore rough greatcoats; but to be sure, the first of them, the one that came alone, wore

At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat; and then the rain came in my mind, and I judged it more likely

he had it out of harm's way under his greatcoat. This set me smiling, partly because my friend was safe,

And then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow, and cried out that I must be the lad with the silver

"Well, then," said the old gentleman, "I have a word for you, that you are to follow your friend to his country,

He then asked me how I had fared, and I told him my tale. A southcountry man would certainly have

laughed; but this old gentleman (I call him so because of his manners, for his clothes were dropping off his

back) heard me all through with nothing but gravity and pity. When I had done, he took me by the hand, led

me into his hut (it was no better) and presented me before his wife, as if she had been the Queen and I a duke.

The good woman set oatbread before me and a cold grouse, patting my shoulder and smiling to me all the

time, for she had no English; and the old gentleman (not to be behind) brewed me a strong punch out of their

country spirit. All the while I was eating, and after that when I was drinking the punch, I could scarce come

to believe in my good fortune; and the house, though it was thick with the peatsmoke and as full of holes as

The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slumber; the good people let me lie; and it was near noon of

the next day before I took the road, my throat already easier and my spirits quite restored by good fare and

good news. The old gentleman, although I pressed him hard, would take no money, and gave me an old

bonnet for my head; though I am free to own I was no sooner out of view of the house than I very jealously

Thought I to myself: "If these are the wild Highlanders, I could wish my own folk wilder."

I not only started late, but I must have wandered nearly half the time. True, I met plenty of people, grubbing

in little miserable fields that would not keep a cat, or herding little kine about the bigness of asses. The

Highland dress being forbidden by law since the rebellion, and the people condemned to the Lowland habit,

which they much disliked, it was strange to see the variety of their array. Some went bare, only for a hanging

cloak or greatcoat, and carried their trousers on their backs like a useless burthen: some had made an

imitation of the tartan with little particoloured stripes patched together like an old wife's quilt; others, again,

still wore the Highland philabeg, but by putting a few stitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of

trousers like a Dutchman's. All those makeshifts were condemned and punished, for the law was harshly

applied, in hopes to break up the clan spirit; but in that outoftheway, seabound isle, there were few to

They seemed in great poverty; which was no doubt natural, now that rapine was put down, and the chiefs kept

no longer an open house; and the roads (even such a wandering, country bytrack as the one I followed)

were infested with beggars. And here again I marked a difference from my own part of the country. For our

Lowland beggars even the gownsmen themselves, who beg by patent had a louting, flattering way with

them, and if you gave them a plaek and asked change, would very civilly return you a boddle. But these

Highland beggars stood on their dignity, asked alms only to buy snuff (by their account) and would give no

To be sure, this was no concern of mine, except in so far as it entertained me by the way. What was much

more to the purpose, few had any English, and these few (unless they were of the brotherhood of beggars) not

very anxious to place it at my service. I knew Torosay to be my destination, and repeated the name to them

and pointed; but instead of simply pointing in reply, they would give me a screed of the Gaelic that set me

foolish; so it was small wonder if I went out of my road as often as I stayed in it.

At last, about eight at night, and already very weary, I came to a lone house, where I asked admittance, and

was refused, until I bethought me of the power of money in so poor a country, and held up one of my guineas

in my finger and thumb. Thereupon, the man of the house, who had hitherto pretended to have no English,

and driven me from his door by signals, suddenly began to speak as clearly as was needful, and agreed for

five shillings to give me a night's lodging and guide me the next day to Torosay.

I slept uneasily that night, fearing I should be robbed; but I might have spared myself the pain; for my host

was no robber, only miserably poor and a great cheat. He was not alone in his poverty; for the next morning,

we must go five miles about to the house of what he called a rich man to have one of my guineas changed.

This was perhaps a rich man for Mull; he would have scarce been thought so in the south; for it took all he

had the whole house was turned upside down, and a neighbour brought under contribution, before he

could scrape together twenty shillings in silver. The odd shilling he kept for himself, protesting he could ill

afford to have so great a sum of money lying "locked up." For all that he was very courteous and well spoken,

made us both sit down with his family to dinner, and brewed punch in a fine china bowl, over which my

I was for getting angry, and appealed to the rich man (Hector Maclean was his name), who had been a

witness to our bargain and to my payment of the five shillings. But Maclean had taken his share of the punch,

and vowed that no gentleman should leave his table after the bowl was brewed; so there was nothing for it but

to sit and hear Jacobite toasts and Gaelic songs, till all were tipsy and staggered off to the bed or the barn for

Next day (the fourth of my travels) we were up before five upon the clock; but my rascal guide got to the

bottle at once, and it was three hours before I had him clear of the house, and then (as you shall hear) only for

As long as we went down a heathery valley that lay before Mr. Maclean's house, all went well; only my guide

looked constantly over his shoulder, and when I asked him the cause, only grinned at me. No sooner,

however, had we crossed the back of a hill, and got out of sight of the house windows, than he told me

Torosay lay right in front, and that a hilltop (which he pointed out) was my best landmark.

"My fine fellow," I said, "I know very well your English comes and goes. Tell me what will bring it back? Is

I reflected awhile and then offered him two, which he accepted greedily, and insisted on having in his hands

The two shillings carried him not quite as many miles; at the end of which distance, he sat down upon the

At that I boiled over, and lifted my hand to strike him; and he, drawing a knife from his rags, squatted back

and grinned at me like a wildcat. At that, forgetting everything but my anger, I ran in upon him, put aside his

knife with my left, and struck him in the mouth with the right. I was a strong lad and very angry, and he but a

little man; and he went down before me heavily. By good luck, his knife flew out of his hand as he fell.

I picked up both that and his brogues, wished him a good morning, and set off upon my way, leaving him

barefoot and disarmed. I chuckled to myself as I went, being sure I was done with that rogue, for a variety of

reasons. First, he knew he could have no more of my money; next, the brogues were worth in that country

only a few pence; and, lastly, the knife, which was really a dagger, it was against the law for him to carry.

In about half an hour of walk, I overtook a great, ragged man, moving pretty fast but feeling before him with

a staff. He was quite blind, and told me he was a catechist, which should have put me at my ease. But his face

went against me; it seemed dark and dangerous and secret; and presently, as we began to go on alongside, I

saw the steel butt of a pistol sticking from under the flap of his coatpocket. To carry such a thing meant a

fine of fifteen pounds sterling upon a first offence, and transportation to the colonies upon a second. Nor

could I quite see why a religious teacher should go armed, or what a blind man could be doing with a pistol.

I told him about my guide, for I was proud of what I had done, and my vanity for once got the heels of my

prudence. At the mention of the five shillings he cried out so loud that I made up my mind I should say

"Too much!" cries he. "Why, I will guide you to Torosay myself for a dram of brandy. And give you the great

I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide; but at that he laughed aloud, and said his stick was eyes

"In the Isle of Mull, at least," says he, "where I know every stone and heatherbush by mark of head. See,

now," he said, striking right and left, as if to make sure, "down there a burn is running; and at the head of it

there stands a bit of a small hill with a stone cocked upon the top of that; and it's hard at the foot of the hill,

that the way runs by to Torosay; and the way here, being for droves, is plainly trodden, and will show grassy

"Ha!" says he, "that's nothing. Would ye believe me now, that before the Act came out, and when there were

weepons in this country, I could shoot? Ay, could I!" cries he, and then with a leer: "If ye had such a thing as

I told him I had nothing of the sort, and gave him a wider berth. If he had known, his pistol stuck at that time

quite plainly out of his pocket, and I could see the sun twinkle on the steel of the butt. But by the better luck

He then began to question me cunningly, where I came from, whether I was rich, whether I could change a

fiveshilling piece for him (which he declared he had that moment in his sporran), and all the time he kept

edging up to me and I avoiding him. We were now upon a sort of green cattletrack which crossed the hills

towards Torosay, and we kept changing sides upon that like ancers in a reel. I had so plainly the upperhand

that my spirits rose, and indeed I took a pleasure in this game of blindman's buff; but the catechist grew

angrier and angrier, and at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with his staff.

Then I told him that, sure enough, I had a pistol in my pocket as well as he, and if he did not strike across the

He became at once very polite, and after trying to soften me for some time, but quite in vain, he cursed me

once more in Gaelic and took himself off. I watched him striding along, through bog and brier, tapping with

his stick, until he turned the end of a hill and disappeared in the next hollow. Then I struck on again for

Torosay, much better pleased to be alone than to travel with that man of learning. This was an unlucky day;

and these two, of whom I had just rid myself, one after the other, were the two worst men I met with in the

At Torosay, on the Sound of Mull and looking over to the mainland of Morven, there was an inn with an

innkeeper, who was a Maclean, it appeared, of a very high family; for to keep an inn is thought even more

genteel in the Highlands than it is with us, perhaps as partaking of hospitality, or perhaps because the trade is

idle and drunken. He spoke good English, and finding me to be something of a scholar, tried me first in

French, where he easily beat me, and then in the Latin, in which I don't know which of us did best. This

pleasant rivalry put us at once upon friendly terms; and I sat up and drank punch with him (or to be more

correct, sat up and watched him drink it), until he was so tipsy that he wept upon my shoulder.

I tried him, as if by accident, with a sight of Alan's button; but it was plain he had never seen or heard of it.

Indeed, he bore some grudge against the family and friends of Ardshiel, and before he was drunk he read me

a lampoon, in very good Latin, but with a very ill meaning, which he had made in elegiac verses upon a

When I told him of my catechist, he shook his head, and said I was lucky to have got clear off. "That is a very

dangerous man," he said; "Duncan Mackiegh is his name; he can shoot by the ear at several yards, and has

"And why should he not?" says he, "when that is what he is. It was Maclean of Duart gave it to him because

he was blind. But perhaps it was a peety," says my host, "for he is always on the road, going from one place

to another to hear the young folk say their religion; and, doubtless, that is a great temptation to the poor man."

At last, when my landlord could drink no more, he showed me to a bed, and I lay down in very good spirits;

having travelled the greater part of that big and crooked Island of Mull, from Earraid to Torosay, fifty miles

as the crow flies, and (with my wanderings) much nearer a hundred, in four days and with little fatigue.

Indeed I was by far in better heart and health of body at the end of that long tramp than I had been at the

There is a regular ferry from Torosay to Kinlochaline on the mainland. Both shores of the Sound are in the

country of the strong clan of the Macleans, and the people that passed the ferry with me were almost all of

that clan. The skipper of the boat, on the other hand, was called Neil Roy Macrob; and since Macrob was one

of the names of Alan's clansmen, and Alan himself had sent me to that ferry, I was eager to come to private

In the crowded boat this was of course impossible, and the passage was a very slow affair. There was no

wind, and as the boat was wretchedly equipped, we could pull but two oars on one side, and one on the other.

The men gave way, however, with a good will, the passengers taking spells to help them, and the whole

company giving the time in Gaelic boatsongs. And what with the songs, and the seaair, and the

goodnature and spirit of all concerned, and the bright weather, the passage was a pretty thing to have seen.

But there was one melancholy part. In the mouth of Loch Aline we found a great seagoing ship at anchor;

and this I supposed at first to be one of the King's cruisers which were kept along that coast, both summer and

winter, to prevent communication with the French. As we got a little nearer, it became plain she was a ship of

merchandise; and what still more puzzled me, not only her decks, but the seabeach also, were quite black

with people, and skiffs were continually plying to and fro between them. Yet nearer, and there began to come

to our ears a great sound of mourning, the people on board and those on the shore crying and lamenting one

We put the ferryboat alongside, and the exiles leaned over the bulwarks, weeping and reaching out their

hands to my fellowpassengers, among whom they counted some near friends. How long this might have

gone on I do not know, for they seemed to have no sense of time: but at last the captain of the ship, who

seemed near beside himself (and no great wonder) in the midst of this crying and confusion, came to the side

Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the chief singer in our boat struck into a melancholy air, which was

presently taken up both by the emigrants and their friends upon the beach, so that it sounded from all sides

like a lament for the dying. I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men and women in the boat, even as

they bent at the oars; and the circumstances and the music of the song (which is one called "Lochaber no

At Kinlochaline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the beach, and said I made sure he was one of Appin's men.

"I am seeking somebody," said I; "and it comes in my mind that you will have news of him. Alan Breck

Stewart is his name." And very foolishly, instead of showing him the button, I sought to pass a shilling in his

At this he drew back. "I am very much affronted," he said; "and this is not the way that one shentleman

should behave to another at all. The man you ask for is in France; but if he was in my sporran," says he, "and

I saw I had gone the wrong way to work, and without wasting time upon apologies, showed him the button

"Aweel, aweel," said Neil; "and I think ye might have begun with that end of the stick, whatever! But if ye

are the lad with the silver button, all is well, and I have the word to see that ye come safe. But if ye will

pardon me to speak plainly," says he, "there is a name that you should never take into your mouth, and that is

the name of Alan Breck; and there is a thing that ye would never do, and that is to offer your dirty money to a

It was not very easy to apologise; for I could scarce tell him (what was the truth) that I had never dreamed he

would set up to be a gentleman until he told me so. Neil on his part had no wish to prolong his dealings with

me, only to fulfil his orders and be done with it; and he made haste to give me my route. This was to lie the

night in Kinlochaline in the public inn; to cross Morven the next day to Ardgour, and lie the night in the

house of one John of the Claymore, who was warned that I might come; the third day, to be set across one

loch at Corran and another at Balachulish, and then ask my way to the house of James of the Glens, at

Aucharn in Duror of Appin. There was a good deal of ferrying, as you hear; the sea in all this part running

deep into the mountains and winding about their roots. It makes the country strong to hold and difficult to

I had some other advice from Neil: to speak with no one by the way, to avoid Whigs, Campbells, and the

"redsoldiers;" to leave the road and lie in a bush if I saw any of the latter coming, "for it was never chancy

to meet in with them;" and in brief, to conduct myself like a robber or a Jacobite agent, as perhaps Neil

The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place that ever pigs were styed in, full of smoke, vermin,

and silent Highlanders. I was not only discontented with my lodging, but with myself for my mismanagement

of Neil, and thought I could hardly be worse off. But very wrongly, as I was soon to see; for I had not been

half an hour at the inn (standing in the door most of the time, to ease my eyes from the peat smoke) when a

thunderstorm came close by, the springs broke in a little hill on which the inn stood, and one end of the house

became a running water. Places of public entertainment were bad enough all over Scotland in those days; yet

it was a wonder to myself, when I had to go from the fireside to the bed in which I slept, wading over the

Early in my next day's journey I overtook a little, stout, solemn man, walking very slowly with his toes turned

out, sometimes reading in a book and sometimes marking the place with his finger, and dressed decently and

This I found to be another catechist, but of a different order from the blind man of Mull: being indeed one of

those sent out by the Edinburgh Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, to evangelise the more savage

places of the Highlands. His name was Henderland; he spoke with the broad southcountry tongue, which I

was beginning to weary for the sound of; and besides common countryship, we soon found we had a more

particular bond of interest. For my good friend, the minister of Essendean, had translated into the Gaelic in

his bytime a number of hymns and pious books which Henderland used in his work, and held in great

We fell in company at once, our ways lying together as far as to Kingairloch. As we went, he stopped and

spoke with all the wayfarers and workers that we met or passed; and though of course I could not tell what

they discoursed about, yet I judged Mr. Henderland must be well liked in the countryside, for I observed

I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise; as far, that is, as they were none of Alan's; and gave

Balachulish as the place I was travelling to, to meet a friend; for I thought Aucharn, or even Duror, would be

On his part, he told me much of his work and the people he worked among, the hiding priests and Jacobites,

the Disarming Act, the dress, and many other curiosities of the time and place. He seemed moderate; blaming

Parliament in several points, and especially because they had framed the Act more severely against those who

This moderation put it in my mind to question him of the Red Fox and the Appin tenants; questions which, I

thought, would seem natural enough in the mouth of one travelling to that country.

He said it was a bad business. "It's wonderful," said he, "where the tenants find the money, for their life is

mere starvation. (Ye don't carry such a thing as snuff, do ye, Mr. Balfour? No. Well, I'm better wanting it.)

But these tenants (as I was saying) are doubtless partly driven to it. James Stewart in Duror (that's him they

call James of the Glens) is halfbrother to Ardshiel, the captain of the clan; and he is a man much looked up

"What of the wind that bloweth where it listeth?" said Henderland. "He's here and awa; here today and gone

tomorrow: a fair heathercat. He might be glowering at the two of us out of yon whinbush, and I wouldnae

"It's highly possible," said he, sighing. "But it seems strange ye shouldnae carry it. However, as I was saying,

this Alan Breck is a bold, desperate customer, and well kent to be James's right hand. His life is forfeit

already; he would boggle at naething; and maybe, if a tenantbody was to hang back he would get a dirk in

"You make a poor story of it all, Mr. Henderland," said I. "If it is all fear upon both sides, I care to hear no

"Na," said Mr. Henderland, "but there's love too, and selfdenial that should put the like of you and me to

shame. There's something fine about it; no perhaps Christian, but humanly fine. Even Alan Breck, by all that

I hear, is a chield to be respected. There's many a lying sneckdraw sits close in kirk in our own part of the

country, and stands well in the world's eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yon misguided

shedder of man's blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson by them. Ye'll perhaps think I've been too long in

I told him not at all; that I had seen much to admire among the Highlanders; and if he came to that, Mr.

"Yes," says he, "but the business has gone back and forth, as folk say. First, James of the Glens rode to

Edinburgh, and got some lawyer (a Stewart, nae doubt they all hing together like bats in a steeple) and had

the proceedings stayed. And then Colin Campbell cam' in again, and had the upperhand before the Barons

of Exchequer. And now they tell me the first of the tenants are to flit tomorrow. It's to begin at Duror under

"Well," says Henderland, "they're disarmed or supposed to be for there's still a good deal of cold iron

lying by in quiet places. And then Colin Campbell has the sogers coming. But for all that, if I was his lady

wife, I wouldnae be well pleased till I got him home again. They're queer customers, the Appin Stewarts."

"No they," said he. "And that's the worst part of it. For if Colin Roy can get his business done in Appin, he

has it all to begin again in the next country, which they call Mamore, and which is one of the countries of the

Camerons. He's King's Factor upon both, and from both he has to drive out the tenants; and indeed, Mr.

Balfour (to be open with ye), it's my belief that if he escapes the one lot, he'll get his death by the other."

So we continued talking and walking the great part of the, day; until at last, Mr. Henderland after expressing

his delight in my company, and satisfaction at meeting with a friend of Mr. Campbell's ("whom," says he, "I

will make bold to call that sweet singer of our covenanted Zion"), proposed that I should make a short stage,

and lie the night in his house a little beyond Kingairloch. To say truth, I was overjoyed; for I had no great

desire for John of the Claymore, and since my double misadventure, first with the guide and next with the

gentleman skipper, I stood in some fear of any Highland stranger. Accordingly we shook hands upon the

bargain, and came in the afternoon to a small house, standing alone by the shore of the Linnhe Loch. The sun

was already gone from the desert mountains of Ardgour upon the hither side, but shone on those of Appin on

the farther; the loch lay as still as a lake, only the gulls were crying round the sides of it; and the whole place

We had no sooner come to the door of Mr. Henderland's dwelling, than to my great surprise (for I was now

used to the politeness of Highlanders) he burst rudely past me, dashed into the room, caught up a jar and a

small hornspoon, and began ladling snuff into his nose in most excessive quantities. Then he had a hearty fit

"It's a vow I took," says he. "I took a vow upon me that I wouldnae carry it. Doubtless it's a great privation;

but when I think upon the martyrs, not only to the Scottish Covenant but to other points of Christianity, I

As soon as we had eaten (and porridge and whey was the best of the good man's diet) he took a grave face

and said he had a duty to perform by Mr. Campbell, and that was to inquire into my state of mind towards

God. I was inclined to smile at him since the business of the snuff; but he had not spoken long before he

brought the tears into my eyes. There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility;

we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people; but Mr. Henderland had their

very speech upon his tongue. And though I was a good deal puffed up with my adventures and with having

come off, as the saying is, with flying colours; yet he soon had me on my knees beside a simple, poor old

Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my way, out of a scanty store he kept in the turf

wall of his house; at which excess of goodness I knew not what to do. But at last he was so earnest with me

that I thought it the more mannerly part to let him have his way, and so left him poorer than myself.

The next day Mr. Henderland found for me a man who had a boat of his own and was to cross the Linnhe

Loch that afternoon into Appin, fishing. Him he prevailed on to take me, for he was one of his flock; and in

this way I saved a long day's travel and the price of the two public ferries I must otherwise have passed.

It was near noon before we set out; a dark day with clouds, and the sun shining upon little patches. The sea

was here very deep and still, and had scarce a wave upon it; so that I must put the water to my lips before I

could believe it to be truly salt. The mountains on either side were high, rough and barren, very black and

gloomy in the shadow of the clouds, but all silverlaced with little watercourses where the sun shone upon

them. It seemed a hard country, this of Appin, for people to care as much about as Alan did.

There was but one thing to mention. A little after we had started, the sun shone upon a little moving clump of

scarlet close in along the waterside to the north. It was much of the same red as soldiers' coats; every now

and then, too, there came little sparks and lightnings, as though the sun had struck upon bright steel.

I asked my boatman what it should be, and he answered he supposed it was some of the red soldiers coming

from Fort William into Appin, against the poor tenantry of the country. Well, it was a sad sight to me; and

whether it was because of my thoughts of Alan, or from something prophetic in my bosom, although this was

but the second time I had seen King George's troops, I had no good will to them.

At last we came so near the point of land at the entering in of Loch Leven that I begged to be set on shore.

My boatman (who was an honest fellow and mindful of his promise to the catechist) would fain have carried

me on to Balachulish; but as this was to take me farther from my secret destination, I insisted, and was set on

shore at last under the wood of Lettermore (or Lettervore, for I have heard it both ways) in Alan's country of

This was a wood of birches, growing on a steep, craggy side of a mountain that overhung the loch. It had

many openings and ferny howes; and a road or bridle track ran north and south through the midst of it, by the

edge of which, where was a spring, I sat down to eat some oatbread of Mr. Henderland's and think upon my

Here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges, but far more by the doubts of my mind. What I

ought to do, why I was going to join myself with an outlaw and a wouldbe murderer like Alan, whether I

should not be acting more like a man of sense to tramp back to the south country direct, by my own guidance

and at my own charges, and what Mr. Campbell or even Mr. Henderland would think of me if they should

ever learn my folly and presumption: these were the doubts that now began to come in on me stronger than

As I was so sitting and thinking, a sound of men and horses came to me through the wood; and presently

after, at a turning of the road, I saw four travellers come into view. The way was in this part so rough and

narrow that they came single and led their horses by the reins. The first was a great, redheaded gentleman,

of an imperious and flushed face, who carried his hat in his hand and fanned himself, for he was in a

breathing heat. The second, by his decent black garb and white wig, I correctly took to be a lawyer. The third

was a servant, and wore some part of his clothes in tartan, which showed that his master was of a Highland

family, and either an outlaw or else in singular good odour with the Government, since the wearing of tartan

was against the Act. If I had been better versed in these things, I would have known the tartan to be of the

Argyle (or Campbell) colours. This servant had a goodsized portmanteau strapped on his horse, and a net of

lemons (to brew punch with) hanging at the saddlebow; as was often enough the custom with luxurious

As for the fourth, who brought up the tail, I had seen his like before, and knew him at once to be a sheriff's

I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up my mind (for no reason that I can tell) to go

through with my adventure; and when the first came alongside of me, I rose up from the bracken and asked

He stopped and looked at me, as I thought, a little oddly; and then, turning to the lawyer, "Mungo," said he,

"there's many a man would think this more of a warning than two pyats. Here am I on my road to Duror on

the job ye ken; and here is a young lad starts up out of the bracken, and speers if I am on the way to

These two had now drawn close up and were gazing at me, while the two followers had halted about a

"And what seek ye in Aucharn?" said Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, him they called the Red Fox; for he it

"James of the Glens," says Glenure, musingly; and then to the lawyer: "Is he gathering his people, think ye?"

"Anyway," says the lawyer, "we shall do better to bide where we are, and let the soldiers rally us."

"If you are concerned for me," said I, "I am neither of his people nor yours, but an honest subject of King

"Why, very well said," replies the Factor. "But if I may make so bold as ask, what does this honest man so far

from his country? and why does he come seeking the brother of Ardshiel? I have power here, I must tell you.

I am King's Factor upon several of these estates, and have twelve files of soldiers at my back."

"I have heard a waif word in the country," said I, a little nettled, "that you were a hard man to drive."

"Well," said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no unfriend to plainness. If ye had asked me the way to

the door of James Stewart on any other day but this, I would have set ye right and bidden ye God speed. But

But just as he turned there came the shot of a firelock from higher up the hill; and with the very sound of it

The lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms, the servant standing over and clasping his hands.

And now the wounded man looked from one to another with scared eyes, and there was a change in his voice,

He tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound, but his fingers slipped on the buttons. With that he

The lawyer said never a word, but his face was as sharp as a pen and as white as the dead man's; the servant

broke out into a great noise of crying and weeping, like a child; and I, on my side, stood staring at them in a

kind of horror. The sheriff's officer had run back at the first sound of the shot, to hasten the coming of the

At last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood upon the road, and got to his own feet with a kind of

I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses; for he had no sooner done so than I began to

So little a time had elapsed, that when I got to the top of the first steepness, and could see some part of the

open mountain, the murderer was still moving away at no great distance. He was a big man, in a black coat,

At that the murderer gave a little, quick look over his shoulder, and began to run. The next moment he was

lost in a fringe of birches; then he came out again on the upper side, where I could see him climbing like a

jackanapes, for that part was again very steep; and then he dipped behind a shoulder, and I saw him no more.

All this time I had been running on my side, and had got a good way up, when a voice cried upon me to

I was at the edge of the upper wood, and so now, when I halted and looked back, I saw all the open part of the

The lawyer and the sheriff's officer were standing just above the road, crying and waving on me to come

back; and on their left, the redcoats, musket in hand, were beginning to struggle singly out of the lower

"Ten pounds if ye take that lad!" cried the lawyer. "He's an accomplice. He was posted here to hold us in

At that word (which I could hear quite plainly, though it was to the soldiers and not to me that he was crying

it) my heart came in my mouth with quite a new kind of terror. Indeed, it is one thing to stand the danger of

your life, and quite another to run the peril of both life and character. The thing, besides, had come so

The soldiers began to spread, some of them to run, and others to put up their pieces and cover me; and still I

Indeed, I scarce knew what I was doing, but I obeyed; and as I did so, I heard the firelocks bang and the balls

Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing, with a fishingrod. He gave me no salutation;

indeed it was no time for civilities; only "Come!" says he, and set off running along the side of the mountain

Now we ran among the birches; now stooping behind low humps upon the mountainside; now crawling on

all fours among the heather. The pace was deadly: my heart seemed bursting against my ribs; and I had

neither time to think nor breath to speak with. Only I remember seeing with wonder, that Alan every now and

then would straighten himself to his full height and look back; and every time he did so, there came a great

Quarter of an hour later, Alan stopped, clapped down flat in the heather, and turned to me.

And at the same speed, but now with infinitely more precaution, we traced back again across the

mountainside by the same way that we had come, only perhaps higher; till at last Alan threw himself down

in the upper wood of Lettermore, where I had found him at the first, and lay, with his face in the bracken,

My own sides so ached, my head so swam, my tongue so hung out of my mouth with heat and dryness, that I

Alan was the first to come round. He rose, went to the border of the wood, peered out a little, and then

I said nothing, nor so much as lifted my face. I had seen murder done, and a great, ruddy, jovial gentleman

struck out of life in a moment; the pity of that sight was still sore within me, and yet that was but a part of my

concern. Here was murder done upon the man Alan hated; here was Alan skulking in the trees and running

from the troops; and whether his was the hand that fired or only the head that ordered, signified but little. By

my way of it, my only friend in that wild country was bloodguilty in the first degree; I held him in horror; I

could not look upon his face; I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle, than in that warm

"No," said I, still with my face in the bracken; "no, I am not wearied now, and I can speak. You and me must

twine,"[19] I said. "I liked you very well, Alan, but your ways are not mine, and they're not God's: and the

"I will hardly twine from ye, David, without some kind of reason for the same," said Alan, mighty gravely.

"If ye ken anything against my reputation, it's the least thing that ye should do, for old acquaintance' sake, to

let me hear the name of it; and if ye have only taken a distaste to my society, it will be proper for me to judge

"Alan," said I, "what is the sense of this? Ye ken very well yon Campbellman lies in his blood upon the

He was silent for a little; then says he, "Did ever ye hear tell of the story of the Man and the Good People?"

"With your permission, Mr. Balfour, I will tell it you, whatever," says Alan. "The man, ye should ken, was

cast upon a rock in the sea, where it appears the Good People were in use to come and rest as they went

through to Ireland. The name of this rock is called the Skerryvore, and it's not far from where we suffered

shipwreck. Well, it seems the man cried so sore, if he could just see his little bairn before he died! that at

last the king of the Good People took peety upon him, and sent one flying that brought back the bairn in a

poke[20] and laid it down beside the man where he lay sleeping. So when the man woke, there was a poke

beside him and something into the inside of it that moved. Well, it seems he was one of these gentry that

think aye the worst of things; and for greater security, he stuck his dirk throughout that poke before he

opened it, and there was his bairn dead. I am thinking to myself, Mr. Balfour, that you and the man are very

"I will tell you first of all, Mr. Balfour of Shaws, as one friend to another," said Alan, "that if I were going to

kill a gentleman, it would not be in my own country, to bring trouble on my clan; and I would not go wanting

"And now," continued Alan, taking out his dirk and laying his hand upon it in a certain manner, "I swear

"And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell!" said he. "They are not so scarce, that I ken!"

"At least," said I, "you cannot justly blame me, for you know very well what you told me in the brig. But the

temptation and the act are different, I thank God again for that. We may all be tempted; but to take a life in

cold blood, Alan!" And I could say no more for the moment. "And do you know who did it?" I added. "Do

"I have nae clear mind about his coat," said Alan cunningly, "but it sticks in my head that it was blue."

"I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him," says Alan. "He gaed very close by me, to be sure, but it's a

"Can you swear that you don't know him, Alan?" I cried, half angered, half in a mind to laugh at his evasions.

"And yet there was one thing I saw clearly," said I; "and that was, that you exposed yourself and me to draw

"It's very likely," said Alan; "and so would any gentleman. You and me were innocent of that transaction."

"The better reason, since we were falsely suspected, that we should get clear," I cried. "The innocent should

"Why, David," said he, "the innocent have aye a chance to get assoiled in court; but for the lad that shot the

bullet, I think the best place for him will be the heather. Them that havenae dipped their hands in any little

difficulty, should be very mindful of the case of them that have. And that is the good Christianity. For if it

was the other way round about, and the lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in our shoes, and we in

his (as might very well have been), I think we would be a good deal obliged to him oursel's if he would draw

When it came to this, I gave Alan up. But he looked so innocent all the time, and was in such clear good faith

in what he said, and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty, that my mouth was closed. Mr.

Henderland's words came back to me: that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild Highlanders. Well,

here I had taken mine. Alan's morals were all tailfirst; but he was ready to give his life for them, such as

"Alan," said I, "I'll not say it's the good Christianity as I understand it, but it's good enough. And here I offer

Whereupon he gave me both of his, saying surely I had cast a spell upon him, for he could forgive me

anything. Then he grew very grave, and said we had not much time to throw away, but must both flee that

country: he, because he was a deserter, and the whole of Appin would now be searched like a chamber, and

every one obliged to give a good account of himself; and I, because I was certainly involved in the murder.

"O!" says I, willing to give him a little lesson, "I have no fear of the justice of my country."

"As if this was your country!" said he. "Or as if ye would be tried here, in a country of Stewarts!"

"Man, I whiles wonder at ye," said Alan. "This is a Campbell that's been killed. Well, it'll be tried in Inverara,

the Campbells' head place; with fifteen Campbells in the jurybox and the biggest Campbell of all (and that's

the Duke) sitting cocking on the bench. Justice, David? The same justice, by all the world, as Glenure found

This frightened me a little, I confess, and would have frightened me more if I had known how nearly exact

were Alan's predictions; indeed it was but in one point that he exaggerated, there being but eleven Campbells

on the jury; though as the other four were equally in the Duke's dependence, it mattered less than might

appear. Still, I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle, who (for all he was a Whig) was yet a wise

"Hoot!" said Alan, "the man's a Whig, nae doubt; but I would never deny he was a good chieftain to his clan.

And what would the clan think if there was a Campbell shot, and naebody hanged, and their own chief the

Justice General? But I have often observed," says Alan, "that you Lowcountry bodies have no clear idea of

At this I did at last laugh out aloud, when to my surprise, Alan joined in, and laughed as merrily as myself.

"Na, na," said he, "we're in the Hielands, David; and when I tell ye to run, take my word and run. Nae doubt

it's a hard thing to skulk and starve in the Heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a redcoat prison."

I asked him whither we should flee; and as he told me "to the Lowlands," I was a little better inclined to go

with him; for, indeed, I was growing impatient to get back and have the upperhand of my uncle. Besides,

Alan made so sure there would be no question of justice in the matter, that I began to be afraid he might be

right. Of all deaths, I would truly like least to die by the gallows; and the picture of that uncanny instrument

came into my head with extraordinary clearness (as I had once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlar's ballad)

"But mind you," said Alan, "it's no small thing. Ye maun lie bare and hard, and brook many an empty belly.

Your bed shall be the moorcock's, and your life shall be like the hunted deer's, and ye shall sleep with your

hand upon your weapons. Ay, man, ye shall taigle many a weary foot, or we get clear! I tell ye this at the

start, for it's a life that I ken well. But if ye ask what other chance ye have, I answer: Nane. Either take to the

"And now let's take another keek at the redcoats," says Alan, and he led me to the northeastern fringe of

Looking out between the trees, we could see a great side of mountain, running down exceeding steep into the

waters of the loch. It was a rough part, all hanging stone, and heather, and big scrogs of birchwood; and away

at the far end towards Balachulish, little wee red soldiers were dipping up and down over hill and howe, and

growing smaller every minute. There was no cheering now, for I think they had other uses for what breath

was left them; but they still stuck to the trail, and doubtless thought that we were close in front of them.

"Ay," said he, "they'll be gey weary before they've got to the end of that employ! And so you and me, David,

can sit down and eat a bite, and breathe a bit longer, and take a dram from my bottle. Then we'll strike for

Aucharn, the house of my kinsman, James of the Glens, where I must get my clothes, and my arms, and

money to carry us along; and then, David, we'll cry, 'Forth, Fortune!' and take a cast among the heather."

So we sat again and ate and drank, in a place whence we could see the sun going down into a field of great,

wild, and houseless mountains, such as I was now condemned to wander in with my companion. Partly as we

so sat, and partly afterwards, on the way to Aucharn, each of us narrated his adventures; and I shall here set

It appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was passed; saw me, and lost me, and saw me again, as

I tumbled in the roost; and at last had one glimpse of me clinging on the yard. It was this that put him in some

hope I would maybe get to land after all, and made him leave those clues and messages which had brought

In the meanwhile, those still on the brig had got the skiff launched, and one or two were on board of her

already, when there came a second wave greater than the first, and heaved the brig out of her place, and

would certainly have sent her to the bottom, had she not struck and caught on some projection of the reef.

When she had struck first, it had been bowson, so that the stern had hitherto been lowest. But now her stern

was thrown in the air, and the bows plunged under the sea; and with that, the water began to pour into the

It took the colour out of Alan's face, even to tell what followed. For there were still two men lying impotent

in their bunks; and these, seeing the water pour in and thinking the ship had foundered, began to cry out

aloud, and that with such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after another into the skiff

and fell to their oars. They were not two hundred yards away, when there came a third great sea; and at that

the brig lifted clean over the reef; her canvas filled for a moment, and she seemed to sail in chase of them, but

settling all the while; and presently she drew down and down, as if a hand was drawing her; and the sea

Never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore, being stunned with the horror of that screaming; but they had

scarce set foot upon the beach when Hoseason woke up, as if out of a muse, and bade them lay hands upon

Alan. They hung back indeed, having little taste for the employment; but Hoseason was like a fiend, crying

that Alan was alone, that he had a great sum about him, that he had been the means of losing the brig and

drowning all their comrades, and that here was both revenge and wealth upon a single cast. It was seven

against one; in that part of the shore there was no rock that Alan could set his back to; and the sailors began to

"And then," said Alan, "the little man with the red head I havenae mind of the name that he is called."

"Ay" said Alan, "Riach! Well, it was him that took up the clubs for me, asked the men if they werenae feared

of a judgment, and, says he 'Dod, I'll put my back to the Hielandman's mysel'.' That's none such an entirely

bad little man, yon little man with the red head," said Alan. "He has some spunks of decency."

"And so he was to Alan," said he; "and by my troth, I found his way a very good one! But ye see, David, the

loss of the ship and the cries of these poor lads sat very ill upon the man; and I'm thinking that would be the

"Well, I would think so," says I; "for he was as keen as any of the rest at the beginning. But how did

"It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill," says Alan. "But the little man cried to me to run, and

indeed I thought it was a good observe, and ran. The last that I saw they were all in a knot upon the beach,

"Well, the fists were going," said Alan; "and I saw one man go down like a pair of breeks. But I thought it

would be better no to wait. Ye see there's a strip of Campbells in that end of Mull, which is no good company

for a gentleman like me. If it hadnae been for that I would have waited and looked for ye mysel', let alone

giving a hand to the little man." (It was droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach's stature, for, to say the truth, the

one was not much smaller than the other.) "So," says he, continuing, "I set my best foot forward, and

whenever I met in with any one I cried out there was a wreck ashore. Man, they didnae sto p to fash with me!

Ye should have seen them linking for the beach! And when they got there they found they had had the

pleasure of a run, which is aye good for a Campbell. I'm thinking it was a judgment on the clan that the brig

went down in the lump and didnae break. But it was a very unlucky thing for you, that same; for if any wreck

had come ashore they would have hunted high and low, and would soon have found ye."

Night fell as we were walking, and the clouds, which had broken up in the afternoon, settled in and thickened,

so that it fell, for the season of the year, extremely dark. The way we went was over rough mountainsides;

and though Alan pushed on with an assured manner, I could by no means see how he directed himself.

At last, about halfpast ten of the clock, we came to the top of a brae, and saw lights below us. It seemed a

house door stood open and let out a beam of fire and candlelight; and all round the house and steading five

"James must have tint his wits," said Alan. "If this was the soldiers instead of you and me, he would be in a

bonny mess. But I dare say he'll have a sentry on the road, and he would ken well enough no soldiers would

Hereupon he whistled three times, in a particular manner. It was strange to see how, at the first sound of it, all

the moving torches came to a stand, as if the bearers were affrighted; and how, at the third, the bustle began

Having thus set folks' minds at rest, we came down the brae, and were met at the yard gate (for this place was

like a welldoing farm) by a tall, handsome man of more than fifty, who cried out to Alan in the Gaelic.

"James Stewart," said Alan, "I will ask ye to speak in Scotch, for here is a young gentleman with me that has

nane of the other. This is him," he added, putting his arm through mine, "a young gentleman of the Lowlands,

and a laird in his country too, but I am thinking it will be the better for his health if we give his name the

James of the Glens turned to me for a moment, and greeted me courteously enough; the next he had turned to

"This has been a dreadful accident," he cried. "It will bring trouble on the country." And he wrung his hands.

"Hoots!" said Alan, "ye must take the sour with the sweet, man. Colin Roy is dead, and be thankful for that!"

"Ay" said James, "and by my troth, I wish he was alive again! It's all very fine to blow and boast beforehand;

but now it's done, Alan; and who's to bear the wyte[21] of it? The accident fell out in Appin mind ye that,

While this was going on I looked about me at the servants. Some were on ladders, digging in the thatch of the

house or the farm buildings, from which they brought out guns, swords, and different weapons of war; others

carried them away; and by the sound of mattock blows from somewhere farther down the brae, I suppose they

buried them. Though they were all so busy, there prevailed no kind of order in their efforts; men struggled

together for the same gun and ran into each other with their burning torches; and James was continually

turning about from his talk with Alan, to cry out orders which were apparently never understood. The faces in

the torchlight were like those of people overborne with hurry and panic; and though none spoke above his

It was about this time that a lassie came out of the house carrying a pack or bundle; and it has often made me

"We're just setting the house in order, Alan," said James, in his frightened and somewhat fawning way.

"They'll search Appin with candles, and we must have all things straight. We're digging the bit guns and

swords into the moss, ye see; and these, I am thinking, will be your ain French clothes. We'll be to bury them,

"Bury my French clothes!" cried Alan. "Troth, no!" And he laid hold upon the packet and retired into the barn

James carried me accordingly into the kitchen, and sat down with me at table, smiling and talking at first in a

very hospitable manner. But presently the gloom returned upon him; he sat frowning and biting his fingers;

only remembered me from time to time; and then gave me but a word or two and a poor smile, and back into

his private terrors. His wife sat by the fire and wept, with her face in her hands; his eldest son was crouched

upon the floor, running over a great mass of papers and now and again setting one alight and burning it to the

bitter end; all the while a servant lass with a red face was rummaging about the room, in a blind hurry of fear,

and whimpering as she went; and every now and again one of the men would thrust in his face from the yard,

At last James could keep his seat no longer, and begged my permission to be so unmannerly as walk about. "I

am but poor company altogether, sir," says he, "but I can think of nothing but this dreadful accident, and the

A little after he observed his son burning a paper which he thought should have been kept; and at that his

excitement burst out so that it was painful to witness. He struck the lad repeatedly.

"Are you gone gyte?"[22] he cried. "Do you wish to hang your father?" and forgetful of my presence, carried

on at him a long time together in the Gaelic, the young man answering nothing; only the wife, at the name of

This was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear and see; and I was right glad when Alan returned,

looking like himself in his fine French clothes, though (to be sure) they were now grown almost too battered

and withered to deserve the name of fine. I was then taken out in my turn by another of the sons, and given

that change of clothing of which I had stood so long in need, and a pair of Highland brogues made of

deerleather, rather strange at first, but after a little practice very easy to the feet.

By the time I came back Alan must have told his story; for it seemed understood that I was to fly with him,

and they were all busy upon our equipment. They gave us each a sword and pistols, though I professed my

inability to use the former; and with these, and some ammunition, a bag of oatmeal, an iron pan, and a bottle

of right French brandy, we were ready for the heather. Money, indeed, was lacking. I had about two guineas

left; Alan's belt having been despatched by another hand, that trusty messenger had no more than

seventeenpence to his whole fortune; and as for James, it appears he had brought himself so low with

journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the tenants, that he could only scrape together

"Ye must find a safe bit somewhere near by," said James, "and get word sent to me. Ye see, ye'll have to get

this business prettily off, Alan. This is no time to be stayed for a guinea or two. They're sure to get wind of

ye, sure to seek ye, and by my way of it, sure to lay on ye the wyte of this day's accident. If it falls on you, it

falls on me that am your near kinsman and harboured ye while ye were in the country. And if it comes on

me" he paused, and bit his fingers, with a white face. "It would be a painful thing for our friends if I was

"It's a day that sticks in my throat," said James. "O man, man, manman Alan! you and me have spoken like

two fools!" he cried, striking his hand upon the wall so that the house rang again.

"Well, and that's true, too," said Alan; "and my friend from the Lowlands here" (nodding at me) "gave me a

"But see here," said James, returning to his former manner, "if they lay me by the heels, Alan, it's then that

you'll be needing the money. For with all that I have said and that you have said, it will look very black

against the two of us; do ye mark that? Well, follow me out, and ye'll, I'll see that I'll have to get a paper out

against ye mysel'; have to offer a reward for ye; ay, will I! It's a sore thing to do between such near friends;

but if I get the dirdum[23] of this dreadful accident, I'll have to fend for myself, man. Do ye see that?"

"And ye'll have to be clear of the country, Alan ay, and clear of Scotland you and your friend from the

Lowlands, too. For I'll have to paper your friend from the Lowlands. Ye see that, Alan say that ye see

I thought Alan flushed a bit. "This is unco hard on me that brought him here, James," said he, throwing his

"Now, Alan, man!" cried James. "Look things in the face! He'll be papered anyway; Mungo Campbell'll be

sure to paper him; what matters if I paper him too? And then, Alan, I am a man that has a family." And then,

after a little pause on both sides, "And, Alan, it'll be a jury of Campbells," said he.

"Nor yet they shallnae, Alan! There's my hand on that," cried James, for all the world as if he had really

known my name and was foregoing some advantage. "But just the habit he was in, and what he looked like,

"I wonder at your father's son," cried Alan, sternly. "Would ye sell the lad with a gift? Would ye change his

"No, no, Alan," said James. "No, no: the habit he took off the habit Mungo saw him in." But I thought he

seemed crestfallen; indeed, he was clutching at every straw, and all the time, I dare say, saw the faces of his

hereditary foes on the bench, and in the jurybox, and the gallows in the background.

"Well, sir" says Alan, turning to me, "what say ye to, that? Ye are here under the safeguard of my honour;

"I have but one word to say," said I; "for to all this dispute I am a perfect stranger. But the plain

commonsense is to set the blame where it belongs, and that is on the man who fired the shot. Paper him, as

ye call it, set the hunt on him; and let honest, innocent folk show their faces in safety." But at this both Alan

and James cried out in horror; bidding me hold my tongue, for that was not to be thought of; and asking me

what the Camerons would think? (which confirmed me, it must have been a Cameron from Mamore that did

the act) and if I did not see that the lad might be caught? "Ye havenae surely thought of that?" said they, with

such innocent earnestness, that my hands dropped at my side and I despaired of argument.

"Very well, then," said I, "paper me, if you please, paper Alan, paper King George! We're all three innocent,

and that seems to be what's wanted. But at least, sir," said I to James, recovering from my little fit of

annoyance, "I am Alan's friend, and if I can be helpful to friends of his, I will not stumble at the risk."

I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent, for I saw Alan troubled; and, besides (thinks I to myself), as

soon as my back is turned, they will paper me, as they call it, whether I consent or not. But in this I saw I was

wrong; for I had no sooner said the words, than Mrs. Stewart leaped out of her chair, came running over to us,

and wept first upon my neck and then on Alan's, blessing God for our goodness to her family.

"As for you, Alan, it was no more than your bounden duty," she said. "But for this lad that has come here and

seen us at our worst, and seen the goodman fleeching like a suitor, him that by rights should give his

commands like any king as for you, my lad," she says, "my heart is wae not to have your name, but I have

your face; and as long as my heart beats under my bosom, I will keep it, and think of it, and bless it." And

with that she kissed me, and burst once more into such sobbing, that I stood abashed.

"Hoot, hoot," said Alan, looking mighty silly. "The day comes unco soon in this month of July; and

tomorrow there'll be a fine todo in Appin, a fine riding of dragoons, and crying of 'Cruachan!'[24] and

Thereupon we said farewell, and set out again, bending somewhat eastwards, in a fine mild dark night, and

Sometimes we walked, sometimes ran; and as it drew on to morning, walked ever the less and ran the more.

Though, upon its face, that country appeared to be a desert, yet there were huts and houses of the people, of

which we must have passed more than twenty, hidden in quiet places of the hills. When we came to one of

these, Alan would leave me in the way, and go himself and rap upon the side of the house and speak awhile at

the window with some sleeper awakened. This was to pass the news; which, in that country, was so much of a

duty that Alan must pause to attend to it even while fleeing for his life; and so well attended to by others, that

in more than half of the houses where we called they had heard already of the murder. In the others, as well

as I could make out (standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue), the news was received with

For all our hurry, day began to come in while we were still far from any shelter. It found us in a prodigious

valley, strewn with rocks and where ran a foaming river. Wild mountains stood around it; there grew there

neither grass nor trees; and I have sometimes thought since then, that it may have been the valley called

Glencoe, where the massacre was in the time of King William. But for the details of our itinerary, I am all to

seek; our way lying now by short cuts, now by great detours; our pace being so hurried, our time of

journeying usually by night; and the names of such places as I asked and heard being in the Gaelic tongue

The first peep of morning, then, showed us this horrible place, and I could see Alan knit his brow.

"This is no fit place for you and me," he said. "This is a place they're bound to watch."

And with that he ran harder than ever down to the waterside, in a part where the river was split in two

among three rocks. It went through with a horrid thundering that made my belly quake; and there hung over

the lynn a little mist of spray. Alan looked neither to the right nor to the left, but jumped clean upon the

middle rock and fell there on his hands and knees to check himself, for that rock was small and he might have

pitched over on the far side. I had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril before I had

So there we stood, side by side upon a small rock slippery with spray, a far broader leap in front of us, and

the river dinning upon all sides. When I saw where I was, there came on me a deadly sickness of fear, and I

put my hand over my eyes. Alan took me and shook me; I saw he was speaking, but the roaring of the falls

and the trouble of my mind prevented me from hearing; only I saw his face was red with anger, and that he

stamped upon the rock. The same look showed me the water raging by, and the mist hanging in the air: and

The next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips, and forced me to drink about a gill, which sent the

blood into my head again. Then, putting his hands to his mouth, and his mouth to my ear, he shouted, "Hang

or drown!" and turning his back upon me, leaped over the farther branch of the stream, and landed safe.

I was now alone upon the rock, which gave me the more room; the brandy was singing in my ears; I had this

good example fresh before me, and just wit enough to see that if I did not leap at once, I should never leap at

all. I bent low on my knees and flung myself forth, with that kind of anger of despair that has sometimes

stood me in stead of courage. Sure enough, it was but my hands that reached the full length; these slipped,

caught again, slipped again; and I was sliddering back into the lynn, when Alan seized me, first by the hair,

Never a word he said, but set off running again for his life, and I must stagger to my feet and run after him. I

had been weary before, but now I was sick and bruised, and partly drunken with the brandy; I kept stumbling

as I ran, I had a stitch that came near to overmaster me; and when at last Alan paused under a great rock that

A great rock I have said; but by rights it was two rocks leaning together at the top, both some twenty feet

high, and at the first sight inaccessible. Even Alan (though you may say he had as good as four hands) failed

twice in an attempt to climb them; and it was only at the third trial, and then by standing on my shoulders and

leaping up with such force as I thought must have broken my collarbone, that he secured a lodgment. Once

there, he let down his leathern girdle; and with the aid of that and a pair of shallow footholds in the rock, I

Then I saw why we had come there; for the two rocks, being both somewhat hollow on the top and sloping

one to the other, made a kind of dish or saucer, where as many as three or four men might have lain hidden.

All this while Alan had not said a word, and had run and climbed with such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry,

that I knew that he was in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even now we were on the rock he said nothing,

nor so much as relaxed the frowning look upon his face; but clapped flat down, and keeping only one eye

above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the compass. The dawn had come quite, clear; we

could see the stony sides of the valley, and its bottom, which was bestrewed with rocks, and the river, which

went from one side to another, and made white falls; but nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any living

"Ay" said he, "now we have a chance;" and then looking at me with some amusement. "Ye're no very

At this I suppose I coloured with mortification, for he added at once, "Hoots! small blame to ye! To be feared

of a thing and yet to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a man. And then there was water there, and

water's a thing that dauntons even me. No, no," said Alan, "it's no you that's to blame, it's me."

"Why," said he, "I have proved myself a gomeral this night. For first of all I take a wrong road, and that in

my own country of Appin; so that the day has caught us where we should never have been; and thanks to that,

we lie here in some danger and mair discomfort. And next (which is the worst of the two, for a man that has

been so much among the heather as myself) I have come wanting a waterbottle, and here we lie for a long

summer's day with naething but neat spirit. Ye may think that a small matter; but before it comes night,

I was anxious to redeem my character, and offered, if he would pour out the brandy, to run down and fill the

"I wouldnae waste the good spirit either," says he. "It's been a good friend to you this night; or in my poor

opinion, ye would still be cocking on yon stone. And what's mair," says he, "ye may have observed (you

that's a man of so much penetration) that Alan Breck Stewart was perhaps walking quicker than his ordinar'."

"Was I so?" said he. "Well, then, ye may depend upon it, there was nae time to be lost. And now here is

Accordingly, I lay down to sleep; a little peaty earth had drifted in between the top of the two rocks, and

some bracken grew there, to be a bed to me; the last thing I heard was still the crying of the eagles.

I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was roughly awakened, and found Alan's hand pressed

It was now high day, cloudless, and very hot. The valley was as clear as in a picture. About half a mile up the

water was a camp of redcoats; a big fire blazed in their midst, at which some were cooking; and near by, on

the top of a rock about as high as ours, there stood a sentry, with the sun sparkling on his arms. All the way

down along the riverside were posted other sentries; here near together, there widelier scattered; some

planted like the first, on places of command, some on the ground level and marching and countermarching,

so as to meet halfway. Higher up the glen, where the ground was more open, the chain of posts was

continued by horsesoldiers, whom we could see in the distance riding to and fro. Lower down, the infantry

continued; but as the stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerable burn, they were more

I took but one look at them, and ducked again into my place. It was strange indeed to see this valley, which

had lain so solitary in the hour of dawn, bristling with arms and dotted with the red coats and breeches.

"Ye see," said Alan, "this was what I was afraid of, Davie: that they would watch the burnside. They began

to come in about two hours ago, and, man! but ye're a grand hand at the sleeping! We're in a narrow place. If

they get up the sides of the hill, they could easy spy us with a glass; but if they'll only keep in the foot of the

valley, we'll do yet. The posts are thinner down the water; and, come night, we'll try our hand at getting by

That one good Scotch word, "birstle," was indeed the most of the story of the day that we had now to pass.

You are to remember that we lay on the bare top of a rock, like scones upon a girdle; the sun beat upon us

cruelly; the rock grew so heated, a man could scarce endure the touch of it; and the little patch of earth and

fern, which kept cooler, was only large enough for one at a time. We took turn about to lie on the naked rock,

which was indeed like the position of that saint that was martyred on a gridiron; and it ran in my mind how

strange it was, that in the same climate and at only a few days' distance, I should have suffered so cruelly,

All the while we had no water, only raw brandy for a drink, which was worse than nothing; but we kept the

bottle as cool as we could, burying it in the earth, and got some relief by bathing our breasts and temples.

The soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley, now changing guard, now in patrolling parties

hunting among the rocks. These lay round in so great a number, that to look for men among them was like

looking for a needle in a bottle of hay; and being so hopeless a task, it was gone about with the less care. Yet

we could see the soldiers pike their bayonets among the heather, which sent a cold thrill into my vitals; and

It was in this way that I first heard the right English speech; one fellow as he went by actually clapping his

hand upon the sunny face of the rock on which we lay, and plucking it off again with an oath. "I tell you it's

'ot," says he; and I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd singsong in which he spoke, and no less at

that strange trick of dropping out the letter "h." To be sure, I had heard Ransome; but he had taken his ways

from all sorts of people, and spoke so imperfectly at the best, that I set down the most of it to childishness.

My surprise was all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown man; and indeed I

have never grown used to it; nor yet altogether with the English grammar, as perhaps a very critical eye might

The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only the greater as the day went on; the rock

getting still the hotter and the sun fiercer. There were giddiness, and sickness, and sharp pangs like

rheumatism, to be supported. I minded then, and have often minded since, on the lines in our Scotch psalm:

At last, about two, it was beyond men's bearing, and there was now temptation to resist, as well as pain to

thole. For the sun being now got a little into the west, there came a patch of shade on the east side of our rock,

"As well one death as another," said Alan, and slipped over the edge and dropped on the ground on the

I followed him at once, and instantly fell all my length, so weak was I and so giddy with that long exposure.

Here, then, we lay for an hour or two, aching from head to foot, as weak as water, and lying quite naked to

the eye of any soldier who should have strolled that way. None came, however, all passing by on the other

Presently we began again to get a little strength; and as the soldiers were now lying closer along the

riverside, Alan proposed that we should try a start. I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the world;

and that was to be set back upon the rock; anything else was welcome to me; so we got ourselves at once in

marching order, and began to slip from rock to rock one after the other, now crawling flat on our bellies in the

The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley after a fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with

the sultriness of the afternoon, had now laid by much of their vigilance, and stood dozing at their posts or

only kept a lookout along the banks of the river; so that in this way, keeping down the valley and at the

same time towards the mountains, we drew steadily away from their neighbourhood. But the business was the

most wearing I had ever taken part in. A man had need of a hundred eyes in every part of him, to keep

concealed in that uneven country and within cry of so many and scattered sentries. When we must pass an

open place, quickness was not all, but a swift judgment not only of the lie of the whole country, but of the

solidity of every stone on which we must set foot; for the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that the

rolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistol shot, and would start the echo calling among the hills and

By sundown we had made some distance, even by our slow rate of progress, though to be sure the sentry on

the rock was still plainly in our view. But now we came on something that put all fears out of season; and that

was a deep rushing burn, that tore down, in that part, to join the glen river. At the sight of this we cast

ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in the water; and I cannot tell which was the more

pleasant, the great shock as the cool stream went over us, or the greed with which we drank of it.

We lay there (for the banks hid us), drank again and again, bathed our chests, let our wrists trail in the

running water till they ached with the chill; and at last, being wonderfullv renewed, we got out the mealbag

and made drammach in the iron pan. This, though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal, yet makes a

good enough dish for a hungry man; and where there are no means of making fire, or (as in our case) good

reason for not making one, it is the chief standby of those who have taken to the heather.

As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen, we set forth again, at first with the same caution, but presently

with more boldness, standing our full height and stepping out at a good pace of walking. The way was very

intricate, lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs; clouds had come in with the

sunset, and the night was dark and cool; so that I walked without much fatigue, but in continual fear of falling

The moon rose at last and found us still on the road; it was in its last quarter, and was long beset with clouds;

but after awhile shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains, and was reflected far underneath

At this sight we both paused: I struck with wonder to find myself so high and walking (as it seemed to me)

Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly have judged us out of earshot of all our enemies; for

throughout the rest of our nightmarch he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes, warlike, merry,

plaintive; reel tunes that made the foot go faster; tunes of my own south country that made me fain to be

home from my adventures; and all these, on the great, dark, desert mountains, making company upon the

Early as day comes in the beginning of July, it was still dark when we reached our destination, a cleft in the

head of a great mountain, with a water running through the midst, and upon the one hand a shallow cave in a

rock. Birches grew there in a thin, pretty wood, which a little farther on was changed into a wood of pines.

The burn was full of trout; the wood of cushatdoves; on the open side of the mountain beyond, whaups

would be always whistling, and cuckoos were plentiful. From the mouth of the cleft we looked down upon a

part of Mamore, and on the sealoch that divides that country from Appin; and this from so great a height as

The name of the cleft was the Heugh of Corrynakiegh; and although from its height and being so near upon

the sea, it was often beset with clouds, yet it was on the whole a pleasant place, and the five days we lived in

We slept in the cave, making our bed of heather bushes which we cut for that purpose, and covering ourselves

with Alan's greatcoat. There was a low concealed place, in a turning of the glen, where we were so bold as

to make fire: so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set in, and cook hot porridge, and grill the

little trouts that we caught with our hands under the stones and overhanging banks of the burn. This was

indeed our chief pleasure and business; and not only to save our meal against worse times, but with a rivalry

that much amused us, we spent a great part of our days at the waterside, stripped to the waist and groping

about or (as they say) guddling for these fish. The largest we got might have been a quarter of a pound; but

they were of good flesh and flavour, and when broiled upon the coals, lacked only a little salt to be delicious.

In any bytime Alan must teach me to use my sword, for my ignorance had much distressed him; and I think

besides, as I had sometimes the upperhand of him in the fishing, he was not sorry to turn to an exercise

where he had so much the upperhand of me. He made it somewhat more of a pain than need have been, for

he stormed at me all through the lessons in a very violent manner of scolding, and would push me so close

that I made sure he must run me through the body. I was often tempted to turn tail, but held my ground for all

that, and got some profit of my lessons; if it was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance, which is

often all that is required. So, though I could never in the least please my master, I was not altogether

In the meanwhile, you are not to suppose that we neglected our chief business, which was to get away.

"It will be many a long day," Alan said to me on our first morning, "before the redcoats think upon seeking

Corrynakiegh; so now we must get word sent to James, and he must find the siller for us."

"And how shall we send that word?" says I. "We are here in a desert place, which yet we dare not leave; and

unless ye get the fowls of the air to be your messengers, I see not what we shall be able to do."

Thereupon he fell in a muse, looking in the embers of the fire; and presently, getting a piece of wood, he

fashioned it in a cross, the four ends of which he blackened on the coals. Then he looked at me a little shyly.

"Could ye lend me my button?" says he. "It seems a strange thing to ask a gift again, but I own I am laith to

I gave him the button; whereupon he strung it on a strip of his greatcoat which he had used to bind the cross;

and tying in a little sprig of birch and another of fir, he looked upon his work with satisfaction.

"Now," said he, "there is a little clachan" (what is called a hamlet in the English) "not very far from

Corrynakiegh, and it has the name of Koalisnacoan. There there are living many friends of mine whom I

could trust with my life, and some that I am no just so sure of. Ye see, David, there will be money set upon

our heads; James himsel' is to set money on them; and as for the Campbells, they would never spare siller

where there was a Stewart to be hurt. If it was otherwise, I would go down to Koalisnacoan whatever, and

trust my life into these people's hands as lightly as I would trust another with my glove."

"Being so," said he, "I would as lief they didnae see me. There's bad folk everywhere, and what's far worse,

weak ones. So when it comes dark again, I will steal down into that clachan, and set this that I have been

making in the window of a good friend of mine, John Breck Maccoll, a bouman[26] of Appin's."

[26]A bouman is a tenant who takes stock from the landlord and shares with him the increase.

"Well," says Alan, "I wish he was a man of more penetration, for by my troth I am afraid he will make little

enough of it! But this is what I have in my mind. This cross is something in the nature of the crosstarrie, or

fiery cross, which is the signal of gathering in our clans; yet he will know well enough the clan is not to rise,

for there it is standing in his window, and no word with it. So he will say to himsel', THE CLAN IS NOT TO

RISE, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING. Then he will see my button, and that was Duncan Stewart's. And then

he will say to himsel', THE SON OF DUNCAN IS IN THE HEATHER, AND HAS NEED OF ME."

"Well," said I, "it may be. But even supposing so, there is a good deal of heather between here and the Forth."

"And that is a very true word," says Alan. "But then John Breck will see the sprig of birch and the sprig of

pine; and he will say to himsel' (if he is a man of any penetration at all, which I misdoubt), ALAN WILL BE

LYING IN A WOOD WHICH IS BOTH OF PINES AND BIRCHES. Then he will think to himsel', THAT

IS NOT SO VERY RIFE HEREABOUT; and then he will come and give us a look up in Corrynakiegh. And

if he does not, David, the devil may fly away with him, for what I care; for he will no be worth the salt to his

"Eh, man," said I, drolling with him a little, "you're very ingenious! But would it not be simpler for you to

"And that is an excellent observe, Mr. Balfour of Shaws," says Alan, drolling with me; "and it would

certainly be much simpler for me to write to him, but it would be a sore job for John Breck to read it. He

would have to go to the school for twothree years; and it's possible we might be wearied waiting on him."

So that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and set it in the bouman's window. He was troubled when he

came back; for the dogs had barked and the folk run out from their houses; and he thought he had heard a

clatter of arms and seen a redcoat come to one of the doors. On all accounts we lay the next day in the

borders of the wood and kept a close lookout, so that if it was John Breck that came we might be ready to

About noon a man was to be spied, straggling up the open side of the mountain in the sun, and looking round

him as he came, from under his hand. No sooner had Alan seen him than he whistled; the man turned and

came a little towards us: then Alan would give another "peep!" and the man would come still nearer; and so

He was a ragged, wild, bearded man, about forty, grossly disfigured with the small pox, and looked both dull

and savage. Although his English was very bad and broken, yet Alan (according to his very handsome use,

whenever I was by) would suffer him to speak no Gaelic. Perhaps the strange language made him appear

more backward than he really was; but I thought he had little goodwill to serve us, and what he had was the

Alan would have had him carry a message to James; but the bouman would hear of no message. "She was

forget it," he said in his screaming voice; and would either have a letter or wash his hands of us.

I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.

But he was a man of more resources than I knew; searched the wood until he found the quill of a

cushatdove, which he shaped into a pen; made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and

water from the running stream; and tearing a corner from his French military commission (which he carried

in his pocket, like a talisman to keep him from the gallows), he sat down and wrote as follows:

This he intrusted to the bouman, who promised to make what manner of speed he best could, and carried it

He was three full days gone, but about five in the evening of the third, we heard a whistling in the wood,

which Alan answered; and presently the bouman came up the waterside, looking for us, right and left. He

seemed less sulky than before, and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of such a

He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive with redcoats; that arms were being found, and poor

folk brought in trouble daily; and that James and some of his servants were already clapped in prison at Fort

William, under strong suspicion of complicity. It seemed it was noised on all sides that Alan Breck had fired

the shot; and there was a bill issued for both him and me, with one hundred pounds reward.

This was all as bad as could be; and the little note the bouman had carried us from Mrs. Stewart was of a

miserable sadness. In it she besought Alan not to let himself be captured, assuring him, if he fell in the hands

of the troops, both he and James were no better than dead men. The money she had sent was all that she could

beg or borrow, and she prayed heaven we could be doing with it. Lastly, she said, she enclosed us one of the

This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear, partly as a man may look in a mirror, partly as

he might look into the barrel of an enemy's gun to judge if it be truly aimed. Alan was advertised as "a small,

pockmarked, active man of thirtyfive or thereby, dressed in a feathered hat, a French sidecoat of blue

with silver buttons, and lace a great deal tarnished, a red waistcoat and breeches of black, shag;" and I as "a

tall strong lad of about eighteen, wearing an old blue coat, very ragged, an old Highland bonnet, a long

homespun waistcoat, blue breeches; his legs bare, lowcountry shoes, wanting the toes; speaks like a

Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully remembered and set down; only when he came to the

word tarnish, he looked upon his lace like one a little mortified. As for myself, I thought I cut a miserable

figure in the bill; and yet was well enough pleased too, for since I had changed these rags, the description had

"Na, troth!" said Alan, "I have nae others. A fine sight I would be, if I went back to France in a bonnet!"

This put a second reflection in my mind: that if I were to separate from Alan and his telltale clothes I should

be safe against arrest, and might go openly about my business. Nor was this all; for suppose I was arrested

when I was alone, there was little against me; but suppose I was taken in company with the reputed murderer,

my case would begin to be grave. For generosity's sake I dare not speak my mind upon this head; but I

I thought of it all the more, too, when the bouman brought out a green purse with four guineas in gold, and

the best part of another in small change. True, it was more than I had. But then Alan, with less than five

guineas, had to get as far as France; I, with my less than two, not beyond Queensferry; so that taking things in

their proportion, Alan's society was not only a peril to my life, but a burden on my purse.

But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my companion. He believed he was serving,

helping, and protecting me. And what could I do but hold my peace, and chafe, and take my chance of it?

"It's little enough," said Alan, putting the purse in his pocket, "but it'll do my business. And now, John Breck,

if ye will hand me over my button, this gentleman and me will be for taking the road."

But the bouman, after feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in front of him in the Highland manner (though

he wore otherwise the Lowland habit, with seatrousers), began to roll his eyes strangely, and at last said,

"What!" cried Alan, "you will lose my button, that was my father's before me? Now I will tell you what is in

my mind, John Breck: it is in my mind this is the worst day's work that ever ye did since ye was born."

And as Alan spoke, he set his hands on his knees and looked at the bouman with a smiling mouth, and that

Perhaps the bouman was honest enough; perhaps he had meant to cheat and then, finding himself alone with

two of us in a desert place, cast back to honesty as being safer; at least, and all at once, he seemed to find that

"Well, and it is a good thing for the honour of the Maccolls," said Alan, and then to me, "Here is my button

back again, and I thank you for parting with it, which is of a piece with all your friendships to me." Then he

took the warmest parting of the bouman. "For," says he, "ye have done very well by me, and set your neck at

Lastly, the bouman took himself off by one way; and Alan I (getting our chattels together) struck into another

Some seven hours' incessant, hard travelling brought us early in the morning to the end of a range of

mountains. In front of us there lay a piece of low, broken, desert land, which we must now cross. The sun was

not long up, and shone straight in our eyes; a little, thin mist went up from the face of the moorland like a

smoke; so that (as Alan said) there might have been twenty squadron of dragoons there and we none the

We sat down, therefore, in a howe of the hillside till the mist should have risen, and made ourselves a dish

"David," said Alan, "this is the kittle bit. Shall we lie here till it comes night, or shall we risk it, and stave on

"Well," said I, "I am tired indeed, but I could walk as far again, if that was all."

"Ay, but it isnae," said Alan, "nor yet the half. This is how we stand: Appin's fair death to us. To the south it's

all Campbells, and no to be thought of. To the north; well, there's no muckle to be gained by going north;

neither for you, that wants to get to Queensferry, nor yet for me, that wants to get to France. Well, then, we'll

"East be it!" says I, quite cheerily; but I was thinking" in to myself: "O, man, if you would only take one

point of the compass and let me take any other, it would be the best for both of us."

"Well, then, east, ye see, we have the muirs," said Alan. "Once there, David, it's mere pitchandtoss. Out on

yon bald, naked, flat place, where can a body turn to? Let the redcoats come over a hill, they can spy you

miles away; and the sorrow's in their horses' heels, they would soon ride you down. It's no good place, David;

"Alan," said I, "hear my way of it. Appin's death for us; we have none too much money, nor yet meal; the

longer they seek, the nearer they may guess where we are; it's all a risk; and I give my word to go ahead until

Alan was delighted. "There are whiles," said he, "when ye are altogether too canny and Whiggish to be

company for a gentleman like me; but there come other whiles when ye show yoursel' a mettle spark; and it's

The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country lying as waste as the sea; only the moorfowl and

the pewees crying upon it, and far over to the east, a herd of deer, moving like dots. Much of it was red with

heather; much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools; some had been burnt black in a

heath fire; and in another place there was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons. A

wearierlooking desert man never saw; but at least it was clear of troops, which was our point.

We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the

eastern verge. There were the tops of mountains all round (you are to remember) from whence we might be

spied at any moment; so it behoved us to keep in the hollow parts of the moor, and when these turned aside

from our direction to move upon its naked face with infinite care. Sometimes, for half an hour together, we

must crawl from one heather bush to another, as hunters do when they are hard upon the deer. It was a clear

day again, with a blazing sun; the water in the brandy bottle was soon gone; and altogether, if I had guessed

what it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly and to walk much of the rest stooping nearly to the

Toiling and resting and toiling again, we wore away the morning; and about noon lay down in a thick bush of

heather to sleep. Alan took the first watch; and it seemed to me I had scarce closed my eyes before I was

shaken up to take the second. We had no clock to go by; and Alan stuck a sprig of heath in the ground to

serve instead; so that as soon as the shadow of the bush should fall so far to the east, I might know to rouse

him. But I was by this time so weary that I could have slept twelve hours at a stretch; I had the taste of sleep

in my throat; my joints slept even when my mind was waking; the hot smell of the heather, and the drone of

the wild bees, were like possets to me; and every now and again I would give a jump and find I had been

The last time I woke I seemed to come back from farther away, and thought the sun had taken a great start in

the heavens. I looked at the sprig of heath, and at that I could have cried aloud: for I saw I had betrayed my

trust. My head was nearly turned with fear and shame; and at what I saw, when I looked out around me on the

moor, my heart was like dying in my body. For sure enough, a body of horsesoldiers had come down during

my sleep, and were drawing near to us from the southeast, spread out in the shape of a fan and riding their

When I waked Alan, he glanced first at the soldiers, then at the mark and the position of the sun, and knitted

his brows with a sudden, quick look, both ugly and anxious, which was all the reproach I had of him.

"We'll have to play at being hares," said he. "Do ye see yon mountain?" pointing to one on the northeastern

"Well, then," says he, "let us strike for that. Its name is Ben Alder. it is a wild, desert mountain full of hills

"But, Alan," cried I, "that will take us across the very coming of the soldiers!"

"I ken that fine," said he; "but if we are driven back on Appin, we are two dead men. So now, David man, be

With that he began to run forward on his hands and knees with an incredible quickness, as though it were his

natural way of going. All the time, too, he kept winding in and out in the lower parts of the moorland where

we were the best concealed. Some of these had been burned or at least scathed with fire; and there rose in our

faces (which were close to the ground) a blinding, choking dust as fine as smoke. The water was long out;

and this posture of running on the hands and knees brings an overmastering weakness and weariness, so that

Now and then, indeed, where was a big bush of heather, we lay awhile, and panted, and putting aside the

leaves, looked back at the dragoons. They had not spied us, for they held straight on; a halftroop, I think,

covering about two miles of ground, and beating it mighty thoroughly as they went. I had awakened just in

time; a little later, and we must have fled in front of them, instead of escaping on one side. Even as it was, the

least misfortune might betray us; and now and again, when a grouse rose out of the heather with a clap of

The aching and faintness of my body, the labouring of my heart, the soreness of my hands, and the smarting

of my throat and eyes in the continual smoke of dust and ashes, had soon grown to be so unbearable that I

would gladly have given up. Nothing but the fear of Alan lent me enough of a false kind of courage to

continue. As for himself (and you are to bear in mind that he was cumbered with a greatcoat) he had first

turned crimson, but as time went on the redness began to be mingled with patches of white; his breath cried

and whistled as it came; and his voice, when he whispered his observations in my ear during our halts,

sounded like nothing human. Yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits, nor did he at all abate in his activity,

At length, in the first gloaming of the night, we heard a trumpet sound, and looking back from among the

heather, saw the troop beginning to collect. A little after, they had built a fire and camped for the night, about

"There shall be no sleep the night!" said Alan. "From now on, these weary dragoons of yours will keep the

crown of the muirland, and none will get out of Appin but winged fowls. We got through in the nick of time,

and shall we jeopard what we've gained? Na, na, when the day comes, it shall find you and me in a fast place

"Alan," I said, "it's not the want of will: it's the strength that I want. If I could, I would; but as sure as I'm

I looked to see if he were jesting; but no, the little man was in dead earnest; and the sight of so much

He gave me one look as much as to say, "Well done, David!" and off he set again at his top speed.

It grew cooler and even a little darker (but not much) with the coming of the night. The sky was cloudless; it

was still early in July, and pretty far north; in the darkest part of that night, you would have needed pretty

good eyes to read, but for all that, I have often seen it darker in a winter midday. Heavy dew fell and

drenched the moor like rain; and this refreshed me for a while. When we stopped to breathe, and I had time to

see all about me, the clearness and sweetness of the night, the shapes of the hills like things asleep, and the

fire dwindling away behind us, like a bright spot in the midst of the moor, anger would come upon me in a

By what I have read in books, I think few that have held a pen were ever really wearied, or they would write

of it more strongly. I had no care of my life, neither past nor future, and I scarce remembered there was such

a lad as David Balfour. I did not think of myself, but just of each fresh step which I was sure would be my

last, with despair and of Alan, who was the cause of it, with hatred. Alan was in the right trade as a

soldier; this is the officer's part to make men continue to do things, they know not wherefore, and when, if the

choice was offered, they would lie down where they were and be killed. And I dare say I would have made a

good enough private; for in these last hours it never occurred to me that I had any choice but just to obey as

Day began to come in, after years, I thought; and by that time we were past the greatest danger, and could

walk upon our feet like men, instead of crawling like brutes. But, dear heart have mercy! what a pair we must

have made, going double like old grandfathers, stumbling like babes, and as white as dead folk. Never a word

passed between us; each set his mouth and kept his eyes in front of him, and lifted up his foot and set it down

again, like people lifting weights at a country play;[27] all the while, with the moorfowl crying "peep!" in the

I say Alan did as I did. Not that ever I looked at him, for I had enough ado to keep my feet; but because it is

plain he must have been as stupid with weariness as myself, and looked as little where we were going, or we

It fell in this way. We were going down a heathery brae, Alan leading and I following a pace or two behind,

like a fiddler and his wife; when upon a sudden the heather gave a rustle, three or four ragged men leaped out,

I don't think I cared; the pain of this rough handling was quite swallowed up by the pains of which I was

already full; and I was too glad to have stopped walking to mind about a dirk. I lay looking up in the face of

the man that held me; and I mind his face was black with the sun, and his eyes very light, but I was not afraid

of him. I heard Alan and another whispering in the Gaelic; and what they said was all one to me.

Then the dirks were put up, our weapons were taken away, and we were set face to face, sitting in the heather.

"They are Cluny's men," said Alan. "We couldnae have fallen better. We're just to bide here with these, which

Now Cluny Macpherson, the chief of the clan Vourich, had been one of the leaders of the great rebellion six

years before; there was a price on his life; and I had supposed him long ago in France, with the rest of the

heads of that desperate party. Even tired as I was, the surprise of what I heard half wakened me.

"Ay, is he so!" said Alan. "Still in his own country and kept by his own clan. King George can do no more."

I think I would have asked farther, but Alan gave me the putoff. "I am rather wearied," he said, "and I would

like fine to get a sleep." And without more words, he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush, and seemed to

There was no such thing possible for me. You have heard grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer

time? Well, I had no sooner closed my eyes, than my body, and above all my head, belly, and wrists, seemed

to be filled with whirring grasshoppers; and I must open my eyes again at once, and tumble and toss, and sit

up and lie down; and look at the sky which dazzled me, or at Cluny's wild and dirty sentries, peering out over

That was all the rest I had, until the messenger returned; when, as it appeared that Cluny would be glad to

receive us, we must get once more upon our feet and set forward. Alan was in excellent good spirits, much

refreshed by his sleep, very hungry, and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and a dish of hot collops, of

which, it seems, the messenger had brought him word. For my part, it made me sick to hear of eating. I had

been deadheavy before, and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightness, which would not suffer me to walk. I

drifted like a gossamer; the ground seemed to me a cloud, the hills a featherweight, the air to have a current,

like a running burn, which carried me to and fro. With all that, a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind, so

I saw Alan knitting his brows at me, and supposed it was in anger; and that gave me a pang of lightheaded

fear, like what a child may have. I remember, too, that I was smiling, and could not stop smiling, hard as I

tried; for I thought it was out of place at such a time. But my good companion had nothing in his mind but

kindness; and the next moment, two of the gillies had me by the arms, and I began to be carried forward with

great swiftness (or so it appeared to me, although I dare say it was slowly enough in truth), through a

labyrinth of dreary glens and hollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder.

We came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood, which scrambled up a craggy hillside, and was

The trees clung upon the slope, like sailors on the shrouds of a ship, and their trunks were like the rounds of a

Quite at the top, and just before the rocky face of the cliff sprang above the foliage, we found that strange

house which was known in the country as "Cluny's Cage." The trunks of several trees had been wattled

across, the intervals strengthened with stakes, and the ground behind this barricade levelled up with earth to

make the floor. A tree, which grew out from the hillside, was the living centrebeam of the roof. The walls

were of wattle and covered with moss. The whole house had something of an egg shape; and it half hung, half

Within, it was large enough to shelter five or six persons with some comfort. A projection of the cliff had

been cunningly employed to be the fireplace; and the smoke rising against the face of the rock, and being not

This was but one of Cluny's hidingplaces; he had caves, besides, and underground chambers in several parts

of his country; and following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew

near or moved away. By this manner of living, and thanks to the affection of his clan, he had not only stayed

all this time in safety, while so many others had fled or been taken and slain: but stayed four or five years

longer, and only went to France at last by the express command of his master. There he soon died; and it is

When we came to the door he was seated by his rock chimney, watching a gillie about some cookery. He was

mighty plainly habited, with a knitted nightcap drawn over his ears, and smoked a foul cutty pipe. For all that

he had the manners of a king, and it was quite a sight to see him rise out of his place to welcome us.

"Well, Mr. Stewart, come awa', sir!" said he, "and bring in your friend that as yet I dinna ken the name of."

"And how is yourself, Cluny?" said Alan. "I hope ye do brawly, sir. And I am proud to see ye, and to present

Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer, when we were alone; but with strangers, he rang

"Step in by, the both of ye, gentlemen," says Cluny. "I make ye welcome to my house, which is a queer, rude

place for certain, but one where I have entertained a royal personage, Mr. Stewart ye doubtless ken the

personage I have in my eye. We'll take a dram for luck, and as soon as this handless man of mine has the

collops ready, we'll dine and take a hand at the cartes as gentlemen should. My life is a bit driegh," says he,

pouring out the brandy;" I see little company, and sit and twirl my thumbs, and mind upon a great day that is

gone by, and weary for another great day that we all hope will be upon the road. And so here's a toast to ye:

Thereupon we all touched glasses and drank. I am sure I wished no ill to King George; and if he had been

there himself in proper person, it's like he would have done as I did. No sooner had I taken out the drain than

I felt hugely better, and could look on and listen, still a little mistily perhaps, but no longer with the same

It was certainly a strange place, and we had a strange host. In his long hiding, Cluny had grown to have all

manner of precise habits, like those of an old maid. He had a particular place, where no one else must sit; the

Cage was arranged in a particular way, which none must disturb; cookery was one of his chief fancies, and

It appears, he sometimes visited or received visits from his wife and one or two of his nearest friends, under

the cover of night; but for the more part lived quite alone, and communicated only with his sentinels and the

gillies that waited on him in the Cage. The first thing in the morning, one of them, who was a barber, came

and shaved him, and gave him the news of the country, of which he was immoderately greedy. There was no

end to his questions; he put them as earnestly as a child; and at some of the answers, laughed out of all

bounds of reason, and would break out again laughing at the mere memory, hours after the barber was gone.

To be sure, there might have been a purpose in his questions; for though he was thus sequestered, and like the

other landed gentlemen of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament of legal powers, he still exercised

a patriarchal justice in his clan. Disputes were brought to him in his hidinghole to be decided; and the men

of his country, who would have snapped their fingers at the Court of Session, laid aside revenge and paid

down money at the bare word of this forfeited and hunted outlaw. When he was angered, which was often

enough, he gave his commands and breathed threats of punishment like any, king; and his gillies trembled

and crouched away from him like children before a hasty father. With each of them, as he entered, he

ceremoniously shook hands, both parties touching their bonnets at the same time in a military manner.

Altogether, I had a fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a Highland clan; and this with a

proscribed, fugitive chief; his country conquered; the troops riding upon all sides in quest of him, sometimes

within a mile of where he lay; and when the least of the ragged fellows whom he rated and threatened, could

On that first day, as soon as the collops were ready, Cluny gave them with his own hand a squeeze of a lemon

"They," said he, meaning the collops, "are such as I gave his Royal Highness in this very house; bating the

lemon juice, for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen.[28] Indeed, there

I do not know if the collops were truly very good, but my heart rose against the sight of them, and I could eat

but little. All the while Cluny entertained us with stories of Prince Charlie's stay in the Cage, giving us the

very words of the speakers, and rising from his place to show us where they stood. By these, I gathered the

Prince was a gracious, spirited boy, like the son of a race of polite kings, but not so wise as Solomon. I

gathered, too, that while he was in the Cage, he was often drunk; so the fault that has since, by all accounts,

We were no sooner done eating than Cluny brought out an old, thumbed, greasy pack of cards, such as you

may find in a mean inn; and his eyes brightened in his face as he proposed that we should fall to playing.

Now this was one of the things I had been brought up to eschew like disgrace; it being held by my father

neither the part of a Christian nor yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and fish for that of others, on

the cast of painted pasteboard. To be sure, I might have pleaded my fatigue, which was excuse enough; but I

thought it behoved that I should bear a testimony. I must have got very red in the face, but I spoke steadily,

and told them I had no call to be a judge of others, but for my own part, it was a matter in which I had no

Cluny stopped mingling the cards. "What in deil's name is this?" says he. "What kind of Whiggish, canting

"I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour," says Alan. "He is an honest and a mettle gentleman, and I

would have ye bear in mind who says it. I bear a king's name," says he, cocking his hat; "and I and any that I

call friend are company for the best. But the gentleman is tired, and should sleep; if he has no mind to the

cartes, it will never hinder you and me. And I'm fit and willing, sir, to play ye any game that ye can name."

"Sir," says Cluny, "in this poor house of mine I would have you to ken that any gentleman may follow his

pleasure. If your friend would like to stand on his head, he is welcome. And if either he, or you, or any other

"Sir," said I, "I am very wearied, as Alan says; and what's more, as you are a man that likely has sons of your

"Say nae mair, say nae mair," said Cluny, and pointed me to a bed of heather in a corner of the Cage. For all

that he was displeased enough, looked at me askance, and grumbled when he looked. And indeed it must be

owned that both my scruples and the words in which I declared them, smacked somewhat of the Covenanter,

What with the brandy and the venison, a strange heaviness had come over me; and I had scarce lain down

upon the bed before I fell into a kind of trance, in which I continued almost the whole time of our stay in the

Cage. Sometimes I was broad awake and understood what passed; sometimes I only heard voices, or men

snoring, like the voice of a silly river; and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and swelled out again, like

firelight shadows on the roof. I must sometimes have spoken or cried out, for I remember I was now and then

amazed at being answered; yet I was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, abiding

horror a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and

The barbergillie, who was a doctor too, was called in to prescribe for me; but as he spoke in the Gaelic, I

understood not a word of his opinion, and was too sick even to ask for a translation. I knew well enough I

I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass. But Alan and Cluny were most of the time at the cards, and I

am clear that Alan must have begun by winning; for I remember sitting up, and seeing them hard at it, and a

great glittering pile of as much as sixty or a hundred guineas on the table. It looked strange enough, to see all

this wealth in a nest upon a cliffside, wattled about growing trees. And even then, I thought it seemed deep

water for Alan to be riding, who had no better battlehorse than a green purse and a matter of five pounds.

The luck, it seems, changed on the second day. About noon I was wakened as usual for dinner, and as usual

refused to eat, and was given a dram with some bitter infusion which the barber had prescribed. The sun was

shining in at the open door of the Cage, and this dazzled and offended me. Cluny sat at the table, biting the

pack of cards. Alan had stooped over the bed, and had his face close to my eyes; to which, troubled as they

I would, though, if I had had my senses! But all I thought of then was to get his face away, and I handed him

On the morning of the third day, when we had been fortyeight hours in the Cage, I awoke with a great relief

of spirits, very weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of the right size and with their honest, everyday

appearance. I had a mind to eat, moreover, rose from bed of my own movement, and as soon as we had

breakfasted, stepped to the entry of the Cage and sat down outside in the top of the wood. It was a grey day

with a cool, mild air: and I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbed by the passing by of Cluny's scouts and

servants coming with provisions and reports; for as the coast was at that time clear, you might almost say he

When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside, and were questioning a gillie; and the chief turned

Now since the card question, everything I said or did had the power of annoying Cluny. "Your name has

more sense than yourself, then," said he angrily. "for it's good Gaelic. But the point is this. My scout reports

I saw cards on the table, but no gold; only a heap of little written papers, and these all on Cluny's side. Alan,

besides, had an odd look, like a man not very well content; and I began to have a strong misgiving.

"I do not know if I am as well as I should be," said I, looking at Alan; "but the little money we have has a

"Your money too," says Alan, with a groan. "Ye shouldnae have given it me. I'm daft when I get to the

"Hoottoot! hoottoot!" said Cluny. "It was all daffing; it's all nonsense. Of course you'll have your money

back again, and the double of it, if ye'll make so free with me. It would be a singular thing for me to keep it.

It's not to be supposed that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situation; that would be a singular

thing!" cries he, and began to pull gold out of his pocket with a mighty red face.

Cluny said he would be very glad, and followed me readily enough, but he looked flustered and put out.

"Nonsensical nonsense!" cries Cluny. "Where's the generosity? This is just a most unfortunate affair; but

what would ye have me do boxed up in this beeskep of a cage of mine but just set my friends to the

cartes, when I can get them? And if they lose, of course, it's not to be supposed " And here he came to a

"Yes," said I, "if they lose, you give them back their money; and if they win, they carry away yours in their

pouches! I have said before that I grant your generosity; but to me, sir, it's a very painful thing to be placed in

There was a little silence, in which Cluny seemed always as if he was about to speak, but said nothing. All

"I am a young man," said I, "and I ask your advice. Advise me as you would your son. My friend fairly lost

his money, after having fairly gained a far greater sum of yours; can I accept it back again? Would that be the

right part for me to play? Whatever I do, you can see for yourself it must be hard upon a man of any pride."

"It's rather hard on me, too, Mr. Balfour," said Cluny, "and ye give me very much the look of a man that has

entrapped poor people to their hurt. I wouldnae have my friends come to any house of mine to accept

"And so you see, sir," said I, "there is something to be said upon my side; and this gambling is a very poor

I am sure if ever Cluny hated any man it was David Balfour. He looked me all over with a warlike eye, and I

saw the challenge at his lips. But either my youth disarmed him, or perhaps his own sense of justice.

Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all concerned, and not least Cluny; the more credit that he took it as

"Mr. Balfour," said he, "I think you are too nice and covenanting, but for all that you have the spirit of a very

pretty gentleman. Upon my honest word, ye may take this money it's what I would tell my son and

Alan and I were put across Loch Errocht under cloud of night, and went down its eastern shore to another

hidingplace near the head of Loch Rannoch, whither we were led by one of the gillies from the Cage. This

fellow carried all our luggage and Alan's greatcoat in the bargain, trotting along under the burthen, far less

than the half of which used to weigh me to the ground, like a stout hill pony with a feather; yet he was a man

Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered; and perhaps without that relief, and the consequent

sense of liberty and lightness, I could not have walked at all. I was but new risen from a bed of sickness; and

there was nothing in the state of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion; travelling, as we did, over the

most dismal deserts in Scotland, under a cloudy heaven, and with divided hearts among the travellers.

For long, we said nothing; marching alongside or one behind the other, each with a set countenance: I, angry

and proud, and drawing what strength I had from these two violent and sinful feelings; Alan angry and

The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in my mind; and the more I approved of it, the more

ashamed I grew of my approval. It would be a fine, handsome, generous thing, indeed, for Alan to turn round

and say to me: "Go, I am in the most danger, and my company only increases yours." But for me to turn to

the friend who certainly loved me, and say to him: "You are in great danger, I am in but little; your friendship

is a burden; go, take your risks and bear your hardships alone " no, that was impossible; and even to

And yet Alan had behaved like a child, and (what is worse) a treacherous child. Wheedling my money from

me while I lay halfconscious was scarce better than theft; and yet here he was trudging by my side, without

a penny to his name, and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge upon the money he had driven me to beg.

True, I was ready to share it with him; but it made me rage to see him count upon my readiness.

These were the two things uppermost in my mind; and I could open my mouth upon neither without black

ungenerosity. So I did the next worst, and said nothing, nor so much as looked once at my companion, save

At last, upon the other side of Loch Errocht, going over a smooth, rushy place, where the walking was easy,

"David," says he, "this is no way for two friends to take a small accident. I have to say that I'm sorry; and so

"Why, of course, ye were to blame," said I, coolly; "and you will bear me out that I have never reproached

"Never," says he; "but ye ken very well that ye've done worse. Are we to part? Ye said so once before. Are ye

to say it again? There's hills and heather enough between here and the two seas, David; and I will own I'm no

"Alan Breck!" I cried; and then: "Do you think I am one to turn my back on you in your chief need? You

dursn't say it to my face. My whole conduct's there to give the lie to it. It's true, I fell asleep upon the muir;

"But aside from that," I continued, "what have I done that you should even me to dogs by such a supposition?

I never yet failed a friend, and it's not likely I'll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never

"I will only say this to ye, David," said Alan, very quietly, "that I have long been owing ye my life, and now I

This ought to have touched me, and in a manner it did, but the wrong manner. I felt I was behaving, badly;

and was now not only angry with Alan, but angry with myself in the bargain; and it made me the more cruel.

"You asked me to speak," said I. "Well, then, I will. You own yourself that you have done me a disservice; I

have had to swallow an affront: I have never reproached you, I never named the thing till you did. And now

you blame me," cried I, "because I cannae laugh and sing as if I was glad to be affronted. The next thing will

be that I'm to go down upon my knees and thank you for it! Ye should think more of others, Alan Breck. If ye

thought more of others, ye would perhaps speak less about yourself; and when a friend that likes you very

well has passed over an offence without a word, you would be blithe to let it lie, instead of making it a stick

to break his back with. By your own way of it, it was you that was to blame; then it shouldnae be you to seek

And we fell back into our former silence; and came to our journey's end, and supped, and lay down to sleep,

The gillie put us across Loch Rannoch in the dusk of the next day, and gave us his opinion as to our best

route. This was to get us up at once into the tops of the mountains: to go round by a circuit, turning the heads

of Glen Lyon, Glen Lochay, and Glen Dochart, and come down upon the lowlands by Kippen and the upper

waters of the Forth. Alan was little pleased with a route which led us through the country of his bloodfoes,

the Glenorchy Campbells. He objected that by turning to the east, we should come almost at once among the

Athole Stewarts, a race of his own name and lineage, although following a different chief, and come besides

by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we were bound. But the gillie, who was indeed the chief

man of Cluny's scouts, had good reasons to give him on all hands, naming the force of troops in every

district, and alleging finally (as well as I could understand) that we should nowhere be so little troubled as in

Alan gave way at last, but with only half a heart. "It's one of the dowiest countries in Scotland," said he.

"There's naething there that I ken, but heath, and crows, and Campbells. But I see that ye're a man of some

We set forth accordingly by this itinerary; and for the best part of three nights travelled on eerie mountains

and among the wellheads of wild rivers; often buried in mist, almost continually blown and rained upon,

and not once cheered by any glimpse of sunshine. By day, we lay and slept in the drenching heather; by night,

incessantly clambered upon breakneck hills and among rude crags. We often wandered; we were often so

involved in fog, that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A fire was never to be thought of. Our only food was

drammach and a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the Cage; and as for drink, Heaven knows we

This was a dreadful time, rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the weather and the country. I was

never warm; my teeth chattered in my head; I was troubled with a very sore throat, such as I had on the isle; I

had a painful stitch in my side, which never left me; and when I slept in my wet bed, with the rain beating

above and the mud oozing below me, it was to live over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures to

see the tower of Shaws lit by lightning, Ransome carried below on the men's backs, Shuan dying on the

roundhouse floor, or Colin Campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers, I

would be aroused in the gloaming, to sit up in the same puddle where I had slept, and sup cold drammach; the

rain driving sharp in my face or running down my back in icy trickles; the mist enfolding us like as in a

gloomy chamber or, perhaps, if the wind blew, falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf of some

The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all round. In this steady rain the springs of the

mountain were broken up; every glen gushed water like a cistern; every stream was in high spate, and had

filled and overflowed its channel. During our night tramps, it was solemn to hear the voice of them below in

the valleys, now booming like thunder, now with an angry cry. I could well understand the story of the Water

Kelpie, that demon of the streams, who is fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of

the doomed traveller. Alan I saw believed it, or half believed it; and when the cry of the river rose more than

usually sharp, I was little surprised (though, of course, I would still be shocked) to see him cross himself in

During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity, scarcely even that of speech. The truth is that I was

sickening for my grave, which is my best excuse. But besides that I was of an unforgiving disposition from

my birth, slow to take offence, slower to forget it, and now incensed both against my companion and myself.

For the best part of two days he was unweariedly kind; silent, indeed, but always ready to help, and always

hoping (as I could very well see) that my displeasure would blow by. For the same length of time I stayed in

myself, nursing my anger, roughly refusing his services, and passing him over with my eyes as if he had been

The second night, or rather the peep of the third day, found us upon a very open hill, so that we could not

follow our usual plan and lie down immediately to eat and sleep. Before we had reached a place of shelter,

the grey had come pretty clear, for though it still rained, the clouds ran higher; and Alan, looking in my face,

"Ye had better let me take your pack," said he, for perhaps the ninth time since we had parted from the scout

Alan flushed darkly. "I'll not offer it again," he said. "I'm not a patient man, David."

"I never said you were," said I, which was exactly the rude, silly speech of a boy of ten.

Alan made no answer at the time, but his conduct answered for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought, he quite

forgave himself for the affair at Cluny's; cocked his hat again, walked jauntily, whistled airs, and looked at

The third night we were to pass through the western end of the country of Balquhidder. It came clear and

cold, with a touch in the air like frost, and a northerly wind that blew the clouds away and made the stars

bright. The streams were full, of course, and still made a great noise among the hills; but I observed that Alan

thought no more upon the Kelpie, and was in high good spirits. As for me, the change of weather came too

late; I had lain in the mire so long that (as the Bible has it) my very clothes "abhorred me." I was dead weary,

deadly sick and full of pains and shiverings; the chill of the wind went through me, and the sound of it

confused my ears. In this poor state I had to bear from my companion something in the nature of a

persecution. He spoke a good deal, and never without a taunt. "Whig" was the best name he had to give me.

"Here," he would say, "here's a dub for ye to jump, my Whiggie! I ken you're a fine jumper!" And so on; all

I knew it was my own doing, and no one else's; but I was too miserable to repent. I felt I could drag myself

but little farther; pretty soon, I must lie down and die on these wet mountains like a sheep or a fox, and my

bones must whiten there like the bones of a beast. My head was light perhaps; but I began to love the

prospect, I began to glory in the thought of such a death, alone in the desert, with the wild eagles besieging

my last moments. Alan would repent then, I thought; he would remember, when I was dead, how much he

owed me, and the remembrance would be torture. So I went like a sick, silly, and badhearted schoolboy,

feeding my anger against a fellowman, when I would have been better on my knees, crying on God for

mercy. And at each of Alan's taunts, I hugged myself. "Ah!" thinks I to myself, "I have a better taunt in

readiness; when I lie down and die, you will feel it like a buffet in your face; ah, what a revenge! ah, how you

All the while, I was growing worse and worse. Once I had fallen, my leg simply doubling under me, and this

had struck Alan for the moment; but I was afoot so briskly, and set off again with such a natural manner, that

he soon forgot the incident. Flushes of heat went over me, and then spasms of shuddering. The stitch in my

side was hardly bearable. At last I began to feel that I could trail myself no farther: and with that, there came

on me all at once the wish to have it out with Alan, let my anger blaze, and be done with my life in a more

"Mr. Stewart," said I, in a voice that quivered like a fiddlestring, "you are older than I am, and should know

your manners. Do you think it either very wise or very witty to cast my politics in my teeth? I thought, where

folk differed, it was the part of gentlemen to differ civilly; and if I did not, I may tell you I could find a better

Alan had stopped opposite to me, his hat cocked, his hands in his breeches pockets, his head a little on one

side. He listened, smiling evilly, as I could see by the starlight; and when I had done he began to whistle a

Jacobite air. It was the air made in mockery of General Cope's defeat at Preston Pans:

And it came in my mind that Alan, on the day of that battle, had been engaged upon the royal side.

"Why do ye take that air, Mr. Stewart?" said I. "Is that to remind me you have been beaten on both sides?"

"But it's time these manners ceased," I continued; "and I mean you shall henceforth speak civilly of my King

"O!" says I, "I ken ye bear a king's name. But you are to remember, since I have been in the Highlands, I have

seen a good many of those that bear it; and the best I can say of them is this, that they would be none the

"I am sorry for that," said I, "for I am not done; and if you distaste the sermon, I doubt the pirliecue[29] will

please you as little. You have been chased in the field by the grown men of my party; it seems a poor kind of

pleasure to outface a boy. Both the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten you; you have run before them

Alan stood quite still, the tails of his greatcoat clapping behind him in the wind.

"This is a pity" he said at last. "There are things said that cannot be passed over."

"Ready," I repeated. "I am no blower and boaster like some that I could name. Come on!" And drawing my

"David!" he cried . "Are ye daft? I cannae draw upon ye, David. It's fair murder."

"It's the truth!" cried Alan, and he stood for a moment, wringing his mouth in his hand like a man in sore

perplexity. "It's the bare truth," he said, and drew his sword. But before I could touch his blade with mine, he

had thrown it from him and fallen to the ground. "Na, na," he kept saying, "na, na I cannae, I cannae."

At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me; and I found myself only sick, and sorry, and blank, and

wondering at myself. I would have given the world to take back what I had said; but a word once spoken,

who can recapture it? I minded me of all Alan's kindness and courage in the past, how he had helped and

cheered and borne with me in our evil days; and then recalled my own insults, and saw that I had lost for ever

that doughty friend. At the same time, the sickness that hung upon me seemed to redouble, and the pang in

my side was like a sword for sharpness. I thought I must have swooned where I stood.

This it was that gave me a thought. No apology could blot out what I had said; it was needless to think of one,

none could cover the offence; but where an apology was vain, a mere cry for help might bring Alan back to

my side. I put my pride away from me. "Alan!" I said; "if ye cannae help me, I must just die here."

"It's true," said I. "I'm by with it. O, let me get into the bield of a house I'll can die there easier." I had no

need to pretend; whether I chose or not, I spoke in a weeping voice that would have melted a heart of stone.

"No," said I, "not without help. This last hour my legs have been fainting under me; I've a stitch in my side

like a redhot iron; I cannae breathe right. If I die, ye'll can forgive me, Alan? In my heart, I liked ye fine

"Wheesht, wheesht!" cried Alan. "Dinna say that! David man, ye ken " He shut his mouth upon a sob. "Let

me get my arm about ye," he continued; "that's the way! Now lean upon me hard. Gude kens where there's a

house! We're in Balwhidder, too; there should be no want of houses, no, nor friends' houses here. Do ye gang

Again he came near sobbing. "Davie," said he, "I'm no a right man at all; I have neither sense nor kindness; I

could nae remember ye were just a bairn, I couldnae see ye were dying on your feet; Davie, ye'll have to try

"O man, let's say no more about it!" said I. "We're neither one of us to mend the other that's the truth! We

must just bear and forbear, man Alan. O, but my stitch is sore! Is there nae house?"

"I'll find a house to ye, David," he said, stoutly. "We'll follow down the burn, where there's bound to be

"Ye're no such a thing," cried Alan, with a start. "There may be a trifling matter of an inch or two; I'm no

saying I'm just exactly what ye would call a tall man, whatever; and I dare say," he added, his voice tailing

off in a laughable manner, "now when I come to think of it, I dare say ye'll be just about right. Ay, it'll be a

It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the fear of some fresh quarrel. I could have

laughed, had not my stitch caught me so hard; but if I had laughed, I think I must have wept too.

"Alan," cried I, "what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye care for such a thankless fellow?"

"'Deed, and I don't, know" said Alan. "For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never

At the door of the first house we came to, Alan knocked, which was of no very safe enterprise in such a part

of the Highlands as the Braes of Balquhidder. No great clan held rule there; it was filled and disputed by

small septs, and broken remnants, and what they call "chiefless folk," driven into the wild country about the

springs of Forth and Teith by the advance of the Campbells. Here were Stewarts and Maclarens, which came

to the same thing, for the Maclarens followed Alan's chief in war, and made but one clan with Appin. Here,

too, were many of that old, proscribed, nameless, redhanded clan of the Macgregors. They had always been

illconsidered, and now worse than ever, having credit with no side or party in the whole country of

Scotland. Their chief, Macgregor of Macgregor, was in exile; the more immediate leader of that part of them

about Balquhidder, James More, Rob Roy's eldest son, lay waiting his trial in Edinburgh Castle; they were in

illblood with Highlander and Lowlander, with the Grahames, the Maclarens, and the Stewarts; and Alan,

who took up the quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremely wishful to avoid them.

Chance served us very well; for it was a household of Maclarens that we found, where Alan was not only

welcome for his name's sake but known by reputation. Here then I was got to bed without delay, and a doctor

fetched, who found me in a sorry plight. But whether because he was a very good doctor, or I a very young,

strong man, I lay bedridden for no more than a week, and before a month I was able to take the road again

All this time Alan would not leave me though I often pressed him, and indeed his foolhardiness in staying

was a common subject of outcry with the two or three friends that were let into the secret. He hid by day in a

hole of the braes under a little wood; and at night, when the coast was clear, would come into the house to

visit me. I need not say if I was pleased to see him; Mrs. Maclaren, our hostess, thought nothing good enough

for such a guest; and as Duncan Dhu (which was the name of our host) had a pair of pipes in his house, and

was much of a lover of music, this time of my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly turned night

The soldiers let us be; although once a party of two companies and some dragoons went by in the bottom of

the valley, where I could see them through the window as I lay in bed. What was much more astonishing, no

magistrate came near me, and there was no question put of whence I came or whither I was going; and in that

time of excitement, I was as free of all inquiry as though I had lain in a desert. Yet my presence was known

before I left to all the people in Balquhidder and the adjacent parts; many coming about the house on visits

and these (after the custom of the country) spreading the news among their neighbours. The bills, too, had

now been printed. There was one pinned near the foot of my bed, where I could read my own not very

flattering portrait and, in larger characters, the amount of the blood money that had been set upon my life.

Duncan Dhu and the rest that knew that I had come there in Alan's company, could have entertained no doubt

of who I was; and many others must have had their guess. For though I had changed my clothes, I could not

change my age or person; and Lowland boys of eighteen were not so rife in these parts of the world, and

above all about that time, that they could fail to put one thing with another, and connect me with the bill. So it

was, at least. Other folk keep a secret among two or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out; but among

these clansmen, it is told to a whole countryside, and they will keep it for a century.

There was but one thing happened worth narrating; and that is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of

the notorious Rob Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge of carrying a young woman from Balfron

and marrying her (as was alleged) by force; yet he stepped about Balquhidder like a gentleman in his own

walled policy. It was he who had shot James Maclaren at the plough stilts, a quarrel never satisfied; yet he

walked into the house of his blood enemies as a rider[30] might into a public inn.

Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was; and we looked at one another in concern. You should

understand, it was then close upon the time of Alan's coming; the two were little likely to agree; and yet if we

sent word or sought to make a signal, it was sure to arouse suspicion in a man under so dark a cloud as the

He came in with a great show of civility, but like a man among inferiors; took off his bonnet to Mrs.

Maclaren, but clapped it on his head again to speak to Duncan; and leaving thus set himself (as he would

"I would give ye my name in return, sir" he replied, "but it's one somewhat blown upon of late days; and it'll

perhaps suffice if I tell ye that I am own brother to James More Drummond or Macgregor, of whom ye will

"No, sir," said I, a little alarmed; "nor yet of your father, MacgregorCampbell." And I sat up and bowed in

bed; for I thought best to compliment him, in case he was proud of having had an outlaw to his father.

He bowed in return. "But what I am come to say, sir," he went on, "is this. In the year '45, my brother raised a

part of the 'Gregara' and marched six companies to strike a stroke for the good side; and the surgeon that

marched with our clan and cured my brother's leg when it was broken in the brush at Preston Pans, was a

gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself. He was brother to Balfour of Baith; and if you are in any

reasonable degree of nearness one of that gentleman's kin, I have come to put myself and my people at your

You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent than any cadger's dog; my uncle, to be sure, had

prated of some of our high connections, but nothing to the present purpose; and there was nothing left me but

Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself about, turned his back upon me without a sign of

salutation, and as he went towards the door, I could hear him telling Duncan that I was "only some kinless

loon that didn't know his own father." Angry as I was at these words, and ashamed of my own ignorance, I

could scarce keep from smiling that a man who was under the lash of the law (and was indeed hanged some

Just in the door, he met Alan coming in; and the two drew back and looked at each other like strange dogs.

They were neither of them big men, but they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. Each wore a sword, and

by a movement of his haunch, thrust clear the hilt of it, so that it might be the more readily grasped and the

"It sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my friends the Maclarens," says Alan.

"That's a kittle point," returned the other. "There may be two words to say to that. But I think I will have

"Unless ye were born deaf, Mr. Macgregor, ye will have heard a good deal more than that," says Alan. "I am

not the only man that can draw steel in Appin; and when my kinsman and captain, Ardshiel, had a talk with a

gentleman of your name, not so many years back, I could never hear that the Macgregor had the best of it."

"Well, I wouldnae wonder," said Alan. "The gentleman I have in my mind had the illtaste to clap Campbell

I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at the elbow of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene

upon the least occasion. But when that word was uttered, it was a case of now or never; and Duncan, with

"Gentlemen," said he, "I will have been thinking of a very different matter, whateffer. Here are my pipes, and

here are you two gentlemen who are baith acclaimed pipers. It's an auld dispute which one of ye's the best.

"Why, sir," said Alan, still addressing Robin, from whom indeed he had not so much as shifted his eyes, nor

yet Robin from him, "why, sir," says Alan, "I think I will have heard some sough[31] of the sort. Have ye

"I have made bolder words good before now," returned Robin, "and that against better adversaries."

Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was his principal possession, and to set before his

guests a muttonham and a bottle of that drink which they call Athole brose, and which is made of old

whiskey, strained honey and sweet cream, slowly beaten together in the right order and proportion. The two

enemies were still on the very breach of a quarrel; but down they sat, one upon each side of the peat fire, with

a mighty show of politeness. Maclaren pressed them to taste his muttonham and "the wife's brose,"

reminding them the wife was out of Athole and had a name far and wide for her skill in that confection. But

"I would have ye to remark, sir," said Alan, "that I havenae broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will

"I will take no advantages, Mr. Stewart," replied Robin. "Eat and drink; I'll follow you."

Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of the brose to Mrs. Maclaren; and then after a great

number of civilities, Robin took the pipes and played a little spring in a very ranting manner.

"Ay, ye can, blow" said Alan; and taking the instrument from his rival, he first played the same spring in a

manner identical with Robin's; and then wandered into variations, which, as he went on, he decorated with a

"That's no very bad, Mr. Stewart," said the rival, "but ye show a poor device in your warblers."

"Do ye own yourself beaten at the pipes, then," said Robin, "that ye seek to change them for the sword?"

"And that's very well said, Mr. Macgregor," returned Alan; "and in the meantime" (laying a strong accent on

"Indeed, ye need appeal to naebody," said Robin. "Ye're a far better judge than any Maclaren in Balquhidder:

for it's a God's truth that you're a very creditable piper for a Stewart. Hand me the pipes." Alan did as he

asked; and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part of Alan's variations, which it seemed that he

"And now be the judge yourself, Mr. Stewart," said Robin; and taking up the variations from the beginning,

he worked them throughout to so new a purpose, with such ingenuity and sentiment, and with so odd a fancy

As for Alan, his face grew dark and hot, and he sat and gnawed his fingers, like a man under some deep

affront. "Enough!" he cried. "Ye can blow the pipes make the most of that." And he made as if to rise.

But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence, and struck into the slow measure of a pibroch. It was

a fine piece of music in itself, and nobly played; but it seems, besides, it was a piece peculiar to the Appin

Stewarts and a chief favourite with Alan. The first notes were scarce out, before there came a change in his

face; when the time quickened, he seemed to grow restless in his seat; and long before that piece was at an

end, the last signs of his anger died from him, and he had no thought but for the music.

"Robin Oig," he said, when it was done, "ye are a great piper. I am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with

ye. Body of me! ye have mair music in your sporran than I have in my head! And though it still sticks in my

mind that I could maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel, I warn ye beforehand it'll no be fair! It

Thereupon that quarrel was made up; all night long the brose was going and the pipes changing hands; and

the day had come pretty bright, and the three men were none the better for what they had been taking, before

The month, as I have said, was not yet out, but it was already far through August, and beautiful warm

weather, with every sign of an early and great harvest, when I was pronounced able for my journey. Our

money was now run to so low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed; for if we came not soon to Mr.

Rankeillor's, or if when we came there he should fail to help me, we must surely starve. In Alan's view,

besides, the hunt must have now greatly slackened; and the line of the Forth and even Stirling Bridge, which

"It's a chief principle in military affairs," said he, "to go where ye are least expected. Forth is our trouble; ye

ken the saying, 'Forth bridles the wild Hielandman.' Well, if we seek to creep round about the head of that

river and come down by Kippen or Balfron, it's just precisely there that they'll be looking to lay hands on us.

But if we stave on straight to the auld Brig of Stirling, I'll lay my sword they let us pass unchallenged."

The first night, accordingly, we pushed to the house of a Maclaren in Strathire, a friend of Duncan's, where

we slept the twentyfirst of the month, and whence we set forth again about the fall of night to make another

easy stage. The twentysecond we lay in a heather bush on the hillside in Uam Var, within view of a herd of

deer, the happiest ten hours of sleep in a fine, breathing sunshine and on bonedry ground, that I have ever

tasted. That night we struck Allan Water, and followed it down; and coming to the edge of the hills saw the

whole Carse of Stirling underfoot, as flat as a pancake, with the town and castle on a hill in the midst of it,

"Now," said Alan, "I kenna if ye care, but ye're in your own land again. We passed the Hieland Line in the

first hour; and now if we could but pass yon crooked water, we might cast our bonnets in the air."

In Allan Water, near by where it falls into the Forth, we found a little sandy islet, overgrown with burdock,

butterbur and the like low plants, that would just cover us if we lay flat. Here it was we made our camp,

within plain view of Stirling Castle, whence we could hear the drums beat as some part of the garrison

paraded. Shearers worked all day in a field on one side of the river, and we could hear the stones going on the

hooks and the voices and even the words of the men talking. It behoved to lie close and keep silent. But the

sand of the little isle was sunwarm, the green plants gave us shelter for our heads, we had food and drink in

As soon as the shearers quit their work and the dusk began to fall, we waded ashore and struck for the Bridge

The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old, high, narrow bridge with pinnacles along the parapet; and you

may conceive with how much interest I looked upon it, not only as a place famous in history, but as the very

doors of salvation to Alan and myself. The moon was not yet up when we came there; a few lights shone

along the front of the fortress, and lower down a few lighted windows in the town; but it was all mighty still,

"It looks unco' quiet," said he; "but for all that we'll lie down here cannily behind a dyke, and make sure."

So we lay for about a quarter of an hour, whiles whispering, whiles lying still and hearing nothing earthly but

the washing of the water on the piers. At last there came by an old, hobbling woman with a crutch stick; who

first stopped a little, close to where we lay, and bemoaned herself and the long way she had travelled; and

then set forth again up the steep spring of the bridge. The woman was so little, and the night still so dark, that

we soon lost sight of her; only heard the sound of her steps, and her stick, and a cough that she had by fits,

And just then "Who goes?" cried a voice, and we heard the butt of a musket rattle on the stones. I must

suppose the sentry had been sleeping, so that had we tried, we might have passed unseen; but he was awake

And without another word, he began to crawl away through the fields; and a little after, being well out of

eyeshot, got to his feet again, and struck along a road that led to the eastward. I could not conceive what he

was doing; and indeed I was so sharply cut by the disappointment, that I was little likely to be pleased with

anything. A moment back and I had seen myself knocking at Mr. Rankeillor's door to claim my inheritance,

like a hero in a ballad; and here was I back again, a wandering, hunted blackguard, on the wrong side of

"Well," said Alan, "what would ye have? They're none such fools as I took them for. We have still the Forth

"Ou, just upon the chance!" said he. "If we cannae pass the river, we'll have to see what we can do for the

"To be sure there are fords, and a bridge forbye," quoth Alan; "and of what service, when they are watched?"

"By them that have the skill of it," returned he; "but I have yet to hear that either you or me is much of a hand

"I'm not up to you in talking back, Alan," I said; "but I can see we're making bad worse. If it's hard to pass a

"Ay, and such a thing as money," says I. "But for us that have neither one nor other, they might just as well

"David," says he, "ye're a man of small invention and less faith. But let me set my wits upon the hone, and if I

"I think I see ye!" said I. "And what's more than all that: if ye pass a bridge, it can tell no tales; but if we pass

the firth, there's the boat on the wrong side somebody must have brought it the countryside will all be

"Man!" cried Alan, "if I make a boat, I'll make a body to take it back again! So deave me with no more of

your nonsense, but walk (for that's what you've got to do) and let Alan think for ye."

All night, then, we walked through the north side of the Carse under the high line of the Ochil mountains; and

by Alloa and Clackmannan and Culross, all of which we avoided: and about ten in the morning, mighty

hungry and tired, came to the little clachan of Limekilns. This is a place that sits near in by the waterside,

and looks across the Hope to the town of the Queensferry. Smoke went up from both of these, and from other

villages and farms upon all hands. The fields were being reaped; two ships lay anchored, and boats were

coming and going on the Hope. It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me; and I could not take my fill of

gazing at these comfortable, green, cultivated hills and the busy people both of the field and sea.

For all that, there was Mr. Rankeillor's house on the south shore, where I had no doubt wealth awaited me;

and here was I upon the north, clad in poor enough attire of an outlandish fashion, with three silver shillings

left to me of all my fortune, a price set upon my head, and an outlawed man for my sole company.

"O, Alan!" said I, "to think of it! Over there, there's all that heart could want waiting me; and the birds go

over, and the boats go over all that please can go, but just me only! O, man, but it's a heartbreak!"

In Limekilns we entered a small changehouse, which we only knew to be a public by the wand over the

door, and bought some bread and cheese from a goodlooking lass that was the servant. This we carried with

us in a bundle, meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the seashore, that we saw some third part of a

mile in front. As we went, I kept looking across the water and sighing to myself; and though I took no heed of

"Did ye take heed of the lass we bought this of?" says he, tapping on the bread and cheese.

"Well," said Alan, with one of his droll looks, "I was rather in hopes it would maybe get us that boat."

"That's all that you ken, ye see," said Alan. "I don't want the lass to fall in love with ye, I want her to be sorry

for ye, David; to which end there is no manner of need that she should take you for a beauty. Let me see"

(looking me curiously over). "I wish ye were a wee thing paler; but apart from that ye'll do fine for my

purpose ye have a fine, hangdog, ragandtatter, clappermaclaw kind of a look to ye, as if ye had stolen

the coat from a potatobogle. Come; right about, and back to the changehouse for that boat of ours."

"David Balfour," said he, "ye're a very funny gentleman by your way of it, and this is a very funny employ

for ye, no doubt. For all that, if ye have any affection for my neck (to say nothing of your own) ye will

perhaps be kind enough to take this matter responsibly. I am going to do a bit of playacting, the bottom

ground of which is just exactly as serious as the gallows for the pair of us. So bear it, if ye please, in mind,

As we got near the clachan, he made me take his arm and hang upon it like one almost helpless with

weariness; and by the time he pushed open the changehouse door, he seemed to be half carrying me. The

maid appeared surprised (as well she might be) at our speedy return; but Alan had no words to spare for her

in explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a tass of brandy with which he fed me in little sips, and then

breaking up the bread and cheese helped me to eat it like a nurserylass; the whole with that grave,

concerned, affectionate countenance, that might have imposed upon a judge. It was small wonder if the maid

were taken with the picture we presented, of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and his most tender comrade. She

Alan turned upon her, to my great wonder, with a kind of fury. "Wrong?" cries he. "He's walked more

hundreds of miles than he has hairs upon his chin, and slept oftener in wet heather than dry sheets. Wrong,

quo' she! Wrong enough, I would think! Wrong, indeed!" and he kept grumbling to himself as he fed me, like

"And where could I get a horse to him?" cried Alan, turning on her with the same appearance of fury. "Would

I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon, as indeed it closed her mouth for the time. But

my companion knew very well what he was doing; and for as simple as he was in some things of life, had a

"Well," said Alan, softened a little (I believe against his will) by this artless comment, "and suppose we

She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinherited great lady. "No," says she, "that's true indeed."

I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tonguetied between shame and merriment; but

somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already. My voice stuck

in my throat, for I ever hated to take part in lies; but my very embarrassment helped on the plot, for the lass

"That has he so!" cried Alan, "if we could but win to them! friends and rich friends, beds to lie in, food to

eat, doctors to see to him and here he must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like a beggarman."

"My dear," said Alan, "I cannae very safely say; but I'll tell ye what I'll do instead," says he, "I'll whistle ye a

bit tune." And with that he leaned pretty far over the table, and in a mere breath of a whistle, but with a

"He's old enough to" and Alan struck his forefinger on the back part of his neck, meaning that I was old

At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the house, leaving us alone together. Alan in high good

humour at the furthering of his schemes, and I in bitter dudgeon at being called a Jacobite and treated like a

"Ye'll have to sit it then, Davie," said he. "For if ye upset the pot now, ye may scrape your own life out of the

This was so true that I could only groan; and even my groan served Alan's purpose, for it was overheard by

the lass as she came flying in again with a dish of white puddings and a bottle of strong ale.

"Poor lamb!" says she, and had no sooner set the meat before us, than she touched me on the shoulder with a

little friendly touch, as much as to bid me cheer up. Then she told us to fall to, and there would be no more to

pay; for the inn was her own, or at least her father's, and he was gone for the day to Pittencrieff. We waited

for no second bidding, for bread and cheese is but cold comfort and the puddings smelt excellently well; and

while we sat and ate, she took up that same place by the next table, looking on, and thinking, and frowning to

"No," said he, "ye're not that kind. But I'll tell ye what ye would do, ye would help."

"Look here, my lass," said Alan, "there are boats in the Kingdom of Fife, for I saw two (no less) upon the

beach, as I came in by your town's end. Now if we could have the use of a boat to pass under cloud of night

into Lothian, and some secret, decent kind of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his counsel, there

would be two souls saved mine to all likelihood his to a dead surety. If we lack that boat, we have but

three shillings left in this wide world; and where to go, and how to do, and what other place there is for us

except the chains of a gibbet I give you my naked word, I kenna! Shall we go wanting, lassie? Are ye to

lie in your warm bed and think upon us, when the wind gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof?

Are ye to eat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire, and think upon this poor sick lad of mine, biting his finger

ends on a blae muir for cauld and hunger? Sick or sound, he must aye be moving; with the death grapple at

his throat he must aye be trailing in the rain on the lang roads; and when he gants his last on a rickle of cauld

At this appeal, I could see the lass was in great trouble of mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in some

fear she might be helping malefactors; and so now I determined to step in myself and to allay her scruples

"Well," said I, "it's to his door that I am bound, so you may judge by that if I am an illdoer; and I will tell

you more, that though I am indeed, by a dreadful error, in some peril of my life, King George has no truer

"That's more than I would ask," said she. "Mr. Rankeillor is a kennt man." And she bade us finish our meat,

get clear of the clachan as soon as might be, and lie close in the bit wood on the seabeach. "And ye can trust

At this we waited for no more, but shook hands with her upon the bargain, made short work of the puddings,

and set forth again from Limekilns as far as to the wood. It was a small piece of perhaps a score of elders and

hawthorns and a few young ashes, not thick enough to veil us from passersby upon the road or beach. Here

we must lie, however, making the best of the brave warm weather and the good hopes we now had of a

We had but one trouble all day; when a strolling piper came and sat in the same wood with us; a rednosed,

bleareyed, drunken dog, with a great bottle of whisky in his pocket, and a long story of wrongs that had been

done him by all sorts of persons, from the Lord President of the Court of Session, who had denied him

justice, down to the Bailies of Inverkeithing who had given him more of it than he desired. It was impossible

but he should conceive some suspicion of two men lying all day concealed in a thicket and having no

business to allege. As long as he stayed there he kept us in hot water with prying questions; and after he was

gone, as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue, we were in the greater impatience to be gone

The day came to an end with the same brightness; the night fell quiet and clear; lights came out in houses and

hamlets and then, one after another, began to be put out; but it was past eleven, and we were long since

strangely tortured with anxieties, before we heard the grinding of oars upon the rowingpins. At that, we

looked out and saw the lass herself coming rowing to us in a boat. She had trusted no one with our affairs, not

even her sweetheart, if she had one; but as soon as her father was asleep, had left the house by a window,

I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks; but she was no less abashed at the thought of hearing

them; begged us to lose no time and to hold our peace, saying (very properly) that the heart of our matter was

in haste and silence; and so, what with one thing and another, she had set us on the Lothian shore not far from

Carriden, had shaken hands with us, and was out again at sea and rowing for Limekilns, before there was one

Even after she was gone, we had nothing to say, as indeed nothing was enough for such a kindness. Only

"It is a very fine lass," he said at last. "David, it is a very fine lass." And a matter of an hour later, as we were

lying in a den on the seashore and I had been already dozing, he broke out again in commendations of her

character. For my part, I could say nothing, she was so simple a creature that my heart smote me both with

remorse and fear: remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance; and fear lest we should have anyway

The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself till sunset; but as soon as it began to grow dark,

he should lie in the fields by the roadside near to Newhalls, and stir for naught until he heard me whistling.

At first I proposed I should give him for a signal the "Bonnie House of Airlie," which was a favourite of

mine; but he objected that as the piece was very commonly known, any ploughman might whistle it by

accident; and taught me instead a little fragment of a Highland air, which has run in my head from that day to

this, and will likely run in my head when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me, it takes me off to that last

day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up in the bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a

I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up. It was a fairly built burgh, the houses of good

stone, many slated; the townhall not so fine, I thought, as that of Peebles, nor yet the street so noble; but

As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled, and the windows to open, and the people to appear

out of the houses, my concern and despondency grew ever the blacker. I saw now that I had no grounds to

stand upon; and no clear proof of my rights, nor so much as of my own identity. If it was all a bubble, I was

indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass. Even if things were as I conceived, it would in all likelihood

take time to establish my contentions; and what time had I to spare with less than three shillings in my

pocket, and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands to ship out of the country? Truly, if my hope broke

with me, it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. And as I continued to walk up and down, and saw

people looking askance at me upon the street or out of windows, and nudging or speaking one to another with

smiles, I began to take a fresh apprehension: that it might be no easy matter even to come to speech of the

For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address any of these reputable burghers; I thought

shame even to speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt; and if I had asked for the house of such a

man as Mr. Rankeillor, I suppose they would have burst out laughing in my face. So I went up and down, and

through the street, and down to the harbourside, like a dog that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in

my inwards, and every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be high day at last, perhaps nine in

the forenoon; and I was worn with these wanderings, and chanced to have stopped in front of a very good

house on the landward side, a house with beautiful, clear glass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the

walls newharled[33] and a chasedog sitting yawning on the step like one that was at home. Well, I was

even envying this dumb brute, when the door fell open and there issued forth a shrewd, ruddy, kindly,

consequential man in a wellpowdered wig and spectacles. I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me

once, but he looked at me again; and this gentleman, as it proved, was so much struck with my poor

I told him I was come to the Queensferry on business, and taking heart of grace, asked him to direct me to the

"Why," said he, "that is his house that I have just come out of; and for a rather singular chance, I am that very

"David Balfour?" he repeated, in rather a high tone, like one surprised. "And where have you come from, Mr.

"I have come from a great many strange places, sir," said I; "but I think it would be as well to tell you where

He seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand, and looking now at me and now upon the causeway of

"Yes," says he, "that will be the best, no doubt." And he led me back with him into his house, cried out to

some one whom I could not see that he would be engaged all morning, and brought me into a little dusty

chamber full of books and documents. Here he sate down, and bade me be seated; though I thought he looked

a little ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags. "And now," says he, "if you have any business, pray

be brief and come swiftly to the point. Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo do you understand

"I will even do as Horace says, sir," I answered, smiling, "and carry you in medias res." He nodded as if he

was well pleased, and indeed his scrap of Latin had been set to test me. For all that, and though I was

somewhat encouraged, the blood came in my face when I added: "I have reason to believe myself some rights

He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open. "Well?" said he.

He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book; but what that meant I knew not. "Your father and

"My father was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place," said I, "and my mother Grace Pitarrow; I

"No, sir," said I, "but they are in the hands of Mr. Campbell, the minister, and could be readily produced. Mr.

Campbell, too, would give me his word; and for that matter, I do not think my uncle would deny me."

"I did so, sir, for my sins," said I; "for it was by his means and the procurement of my uncle, that I was

kidnapped within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck and a hundred other hardships, and

"Off the south end of the Isle of Mull," said I. "The name of the isle on which I was cast up is the Island

"Ah!" says he, smiling, "you are deeper than me in the geography. But so far, I may tell you, this agrees

pretty exactly with other informations that I hold. But you say you were kidnapped; in what sense?"

"In the plain meaning of the word, sir," said I. "I was on my way to your house, when I was trepanned on

board the brig, cruelly struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. I

was destined for the plantations; a fate that, in God's providence, I have escaped."

"The brig was lost on June the 27th," says he, looking in his book," and we are now at August the 24th. Here

is a considerable hiatus, Mr. Balfour, of near upon two months. It has already caused a vast amount of trouble

to your friends; and I own I shall not be very well contented until it is set right."

"Indeed, sir," said I, "these months are very easily filled up; but yet before I told my story, I would be glad to

"This is to argue in a circle," said the lawyer. "I cannot be convinced till I have heard you. I cannot be your

friend till I am properly informed. If you were more trustful, it would better befit your time of life. And you

know, Mr. Balfour, we have a proverb in the country that evildoers are aye evildreaders."

"You are not to forget, sir," said I, "that I have already suffered by my trustfulness; and was shipped off to be

All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr. Rankeillor, and in proportion as I gained ground, gaining

confidence. But at this sally, which I made with something of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud.

"No, no," said he, "it is not so bad as that. Fui, non sum. I was indeed your uncle's man of business; but while

you (imberbis juvenis custode remoto) were gallivanting in the west, a good deal of water has run under the

bridges; and if your ears did not sing, it was not for lack of being talked about. On the very day of your sea

disaster, Mr. Campbell stalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds. I had never heard of your

existence; but I had known your father; and from matters in my competence (to be touched upon hereafter) I

was disposed to fear the worst. Mr. Ebenezer admitted having seen you; declared (what seemed improbable)

that he had given you considerable sums; and that you had started for the continent of Europe, intending to

fulfil your education, which was probable and praiseworthy. Interrogated how you had come to send no word

to Mr. Campbell, he deponed that you had expressed a great desire to break with your past life. Further

interrogated where you now were, protested ignorance, but believed you were in Leyden. That is a close sum

of his replies. I am not exactly sure that any one believed him," continued Mr. Rankeillor with a smile; "and

in particular he so much disrelished me expressions of mine that (in a word) he showed me to the door. We

were then at a full stand; for whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow of probation.

In the very article, comes Captain Hoseason with the story of your drowning; whereupon all fell through;

with no consequences but concern to Mr. Campbell, injury to my pocket, and another blot upon your uncle's

character, which could very ill afford it. And now, Mr. Balfour," said he, "you understand the whole process

Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him, and placed more scraps of Latin in his speech; but it

was all uttered with a fine geniality of eye and manner which went far to conquer my distrust. Moreover, I

could see he now treated me as if I was myself beyond a doubt; so that first point of my identity seemed fully

"Sir," said I, "if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend's life to your discretion. Pass me your word it

shall be sacred; and for what touches myself, I will ask no better guarantee than just your face."

He passed me his word very seriously. "But," said he, "these are rather alarming prolocutions; and if there are

in your story any little jostles to the law, I would beg you to bear in mind that I am a lawyer, and pass

Thereupon I told him my story from the first, he listening with his spectacles thrust up and his eyes closed, so

that I sometimes feared he was asleep. But no such matter! he heard every word (as I found afterward) with

such quickness of hearing and precision of memory as often surprised me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic

names, heard for that time only, he remembered and would remind me of, years after. Yet when I called Alan

Breck in full, we had an odd scene. The name of Alan had of course rung through Scotland, with the news of

the Appin murder and the offer of the reward; and it had no sooner escaped me than the lawyer moved in his

"I would name no unnecessary names, Mr. Balfour," said he; "above all of Highlanders, many of whom are

"Well, it might have been better not," said I, "but since I have let it slip, I may as well continue."

"Not at all," said Mr. Rankeillor. "I am somewhat dull of hearing, as you may have remarked; and I am far

from sure I caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if you please, Mr. Thomson that there may

be no reflections. And in future, I would take some such way with any Highlander that you may have to

By this, I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly, and had already guessed I might be coming to the

murder. If he chose to play this part of ignorance, it was no matter of mine; so I smiled, said it was no very

Highlandsounding name, and consented. Through all the rest of my story Alan was Mr. Thomson; which

amused me the more, as it was a piece of policy after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner, was

mentioned under the style of Mr. Thomson's kinsman; Colin Campbell passed as a Mr. Glen; and to Cluny,

when I came to that part of my tale, I gave the name of "Mr. Jameson, a Highland chief." It was truly the

most open farce, and I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep it up; but, after all, it was quite in the

taste of that age, when there were two parties in the state, and quiet persons, with no very high opinions of

"Well, well," said the lawyer, when I had quite done, "this is a great epic, a great Odyssey of yours. You must

tell it, sir, in a sound Latinity when your scholarship is riper; or in English if you please, though for my part I

prefer the stronger tongue. You have rolled much; quae regio in terris what parish in Scotland (to make a

homely translation) has not been filled with your wanderings? You have shown, besides, a singular aptitude

for getting into false positions; and, yes, upon the whole, for behaving well in them. This Mr. Thomson

seems to me a gentleman of some choice qualities, though perhaps a trifle bloodyminded. It would please

me none the worse, if (with all his merits) he were soused in the North Sea, for the man, Mr. David, is a sore

embarrassment. But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to him; indubitably, he adhered to you. It comes

we may say he was your true companion; nor less paribus curis vestigia figit, for I dare say you would

both take an orra thought upon the gallows. Well, well, these days are fortunately, by; and I think (speaking

As he thus moralised on my adventures, he looked upon me with so much humour and benignity that I could

scarce contain my satisfaction. I had been so long wandering with lawless people, and making my bed upon

the hills and under the bare sky, that to sit once more in a clean, covered house, and to talk amicably with a

gentleman in broadcloth, seemed mighty elevations. Even as I thought so, my eye fell on my unseemly

tatters, and I was once more plunged in confusion. But the lawyer saw and understood me. He rose, called

over the stair to lay another plate, for Mr. Balfour would stay to dinner, and led me into a bedroom in the

upper part of the house. Here he set before me water and soap, and a comb; and laid out some clothes that

belonged to his son; and here, with another apposite tag, he left me to my toilet.

I made what change I could in my appearance; and blithe was I to look in the glass and find the beggarman a

thing of the past, and David Balfour come to life again. And yet I was ashamed of the change too, and, above

all, of the borrowed clothes. When I had done, Mr. Rankeillor caught me on the stair, made me his

"Sit ye down, Mr. David," said he, "and now that you are looking a little more like yourself, let me see if I

can find you any news. You will be wondering, no doubt, about your father and your uncle? To be sure it is a

singular tale; and the explanation is one that I blush to have to offer you. For," says he, really with

"But your uncle, Mr. David, was not always old," replied the lawyer, "and what may perhaps surprise you

more, not always ugly. He had a fine, gallant air; people stood in their doors to look after him, as he went by

upon a mettle horse. I have seen it with these eyes, and I ingenuously confess, not altogether without envy;

for I was a plain lad myself and a plain man's son; and in those days it was a case of Odi te, qui bellus es,

"Ay, ay," said the lawyer, "that is how it is with youth and age. Nor was that all, but he had a spirit of his own

that seemed to promise great things in the future. In 1715, what must he do but run away to join the rebels? It

was your father that pursued him, found him in a ditch, and brought him back multum gementem; to the

mirth of the whole country. However, majora canamus the two lads fell in love, and that with the same

lady. Mr. Ebenezer, who was the admired and the beloved, and the spoiled one, made, no doubt, mighty

certain of the victory; and when he found he had deceived himself, screamed like a peacock. The whole

country heard of it; now he lay sick at home, with his silly family standing round the bed in tears; now he

rode from publichouse to publichouse, and shouted his sorrows into the lug of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Your

father, Mr. David, was a kind gentleman; but he was weak, dolefully weak; took all this folly with a long

countenance; and one day by your leave! resigned the lady. She was no such fool, however; it's from

her you must inherit your excellent good sense; and she refused to be bandied from one to another. Both got

upon their knees to her; and the upshot of the matter for that while was that she showed both of them the

door. That was in August; dear me! the same year I came from college. The scene must have been highly

I thought myself it was a silly business, but I could not forget my father had a hand in it. "Surely, sir, it had

"Why, no, sir, not at all," returned the lawyer. "For tragedy implies some ponderable matter in dispute, some

dignus vindice nodus; and this piece of work was all about the petulance of a young ass that had been spoiled,

and wanted nothing so much as to be tied up and soundly belted. However, that was not your father's view;

and the end of it was, that from concession to concession on your father's part, and from one height to another

of squalling, sentimental selfishness upon your uncle's, they came at last to drive a sort of bargain, from

whose ill results you have recently been smarting. The one man took the lady, the other the estate. Now, Mr.

David, they talk a great deal of charity and generosity; but in this disputable state of life, I often think the

happiest consequences seem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer, and takes all the law allows him.

Anyhow, this piece of Quixotry on your father's part, as it was unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous

family of injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk; you were poorly reared; and in the

meanwhile, what a time it has been for the tenants on the estate of Shaws! And I might add (if it was a matter

"And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all," said I, "that a man's nature should thus change."

"True," said Mr. Rankeillor. "And yet I imagine it was natural enough. He could not think that he had played

a handsome part. Those who knew the story gave him the cold shoulder; those who knew it not, seeing one

brother disappear, and the other succeed in the estate, raised a cry of murder; so that upon all sides he found

himself evited. Money was all he got by his bargain; well, he came to think the more of money. He was

selfish when he was young, he is selfish now that he is old; and the latter end of all these pretty manners and

"The estate is yours beyond a doubt," replied the lawyer. "It matters nothing what your father signed, you are

the heir of entail. But your uncle is a man to fight the indefensible; and it would be likely your identity that he

would call in question. A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family lawsuit always scandalous; besides

which, if any of your doings with your friend Mr. Thomson were to come out, we might find that we had

burned our fingers. The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a court card upon our side, if we could only prove

it. But it may be difficult to prove; and my advice (upon the whole) is to make a very easy bargain with your

uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaws where he has taken root for a quarter of a century, and contenting

I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry family concerns before the public was a step from

which I was naturally much averse. In the meantime (thinking to myself) I began to see the outlines of that

"Surely," said Mr. Rankeillor, "and if possible, out of court. For mark you here, Mr. David: we could no

doubt find some men of the Covenant who would swear to your reclusion; but once they were in the box, we

could no longer check their testimony, and some word of your friend Mr. Thomson must certainly crop out.

"But this would seem to involve my meeting the man Thomson?" says he, when I had done.

"Dear doctor!" cries he, rubbing his brow. "Dear doctor! No, Mr. David, I am afraid your scheme is

inadmissible. I say nothing against your friend, Mr. Thomson: I know nothing against him; and if I did

mark this, Mr. David! it would be my duty to lay hands on him. Now I put it to you: is it wise to meet? He

may have matters to his charge. He may not have told you all. His name may not be even Thomson!" cries

the lawyer, twinkling; "for some of these fellows will pick up names by the roadside as another would gather

But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy, for he kept musing to himself till we were called to

dinner and the company of Mrs. Rankeillor; and that lady had scarce left us again to ourselves and a bottle of

wine, ere he was back harping on my proposal. When and where was I to meet my friend Mr. Thomson; was

I sure of Mr. T.'s discretion; supposing we could catch the old fox tripping, would I consent to such and such

a term of an agreement these and the like questions he kept asking at long intervals, while he thoughtfully

rolled his wine upon his tongue. When I had answered all of them, seemingly to his contentment, he fell into

a still deeper muse, even the claret being now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil, and set to

work writing and weighing every word; and at last touched a bell and had his clerk into the chamber.

"Torrance," said he, "I must have this written out fair against tonight; and when it is done, you will be so

kind as put on your hat and be ready to come along with this gentleman and me, for you will probably be

"Why, so it would appear," says he, filling his glass. "But let us speak no more of business. The very sight of

Torrance brings in my head a little droll matter of some years ago, when I had made a tryst with the poor oaf

at the cross of Edinburgh. Each had gone his proper errand; and when it came four o'clock, Torrance had

been taking a glass and did not know his master, and I, who had forgot my spectacles, was so blind without

them, that I give you my word I did not know my own clerk." And thereupon he laughed heartily.

I said it was an odd chance, and smiled out of politeness; but what held me all the afternoon in wonder, he

kept returning and dwelling on this story, and telling it again with fresh details and laughter; so that I began at

Towards the time I had appointed with Alan, we set out from the house, Mr. Rankeillor and I arm in arm, and

Torrance following behind with the deed in his pocket and a covered basket in his hand. All through the

town, the lawyer was bowing right and left, and continually being buttonholed by gentlemen on matters of

burgh or private business; and I could see he was one greatly looked up to in the county. At last we were clear

of the houses, and began to go along the side of the haven and towards the Hawes Inn and the Ferry pier, the

scene of my misfortune. I could not look upon the place without emotion, recalling how many that had been

there with me that day were now no more: Ransome taken, I could hope, from the evil to come; Shuan passed

where I dared not follow him; and the poor souls that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge. All

these, and the brig herself, I had outlived; and come through these hardships and fearful perils without scath.

My only thought should have been of gratitude; and yet I could not behold the place without sorrow for

I was so thinking when, upon a sudden, Mr. Rankeillor cried out, clapped his hand to his pockets, and began

"Why," he cries, "if this be not a farcical adventure! After all that I said, I have forgot my glasses!"

At that, of course, I understood the purpose of his anecdote, and knew that if he had left his spectacles at

home, it had been done on purpose, so that he might have the benefit of Alan's help without the awkwardness

of recognising him. And indeed it was well thought upon; for now (suppose things to go the very worst) how

could Rankeillor swear to my friend's identity, or how be made to bear damaging evidence against myself?

For all that, he had been a long while of finding out his want, and had spoken to and recognised a good few

persons as we came through the town; and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well.

As soon as we were past the Hawes (where I recognised the landlord smoking his pipe in the door, and was

amazed to see him look no older) Mr. Rankeillor changed the order of march, walking behind with Torrance

and sending me forward in the manner of a scout. I went up the hill, whistling from time to time my Gaelic

air; and at length I had the pleasure to hear it answered and to see Alan rise from behind a bush. He was

somewhat dashed in spirits, having passed a long day alone skulking in the county, and made but a poor meal

in an alehouse near Dundas. But at the mere sight of my clothes, he began to brighten up; and as soon as I had

told him in what a forward state our matters were and the part I looked to him to play in what remained, he

"And that is a very good notion of yours," says he; "and I dare to say that you could lay your hands upon no

better man to put it through than Alan Breck. It is not a thing (mark ye) that any one could do, but takes a

gentleman of penetration. But it sticks in my head your lawyerman will be somewhat wearying to see me,"

Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr. Rankeillor, who came up alone and was presented to my friend, Mr.

"Mr. Thomson, I am pleased to meet you," said he. "But I have forgotten my glasses; and our friend, Mr.

David here" (clapping me on the shoulder), "will tell you that I am little better than blind, and that you must

This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but the Highlandman's vanity was ready to startle at a less

"Why, sir," says he, stiffly, "I would say it mattered the less as we are met here for a particular end, to see

justice done to Mr. Balfour; and by what I can see, not very likely to have much else in common. But I accept

"And that is more than I could look for, Mr. Thomson," said Rankeillor, heartily. "And now as you and I are

the chief actors in this enterprise, I think we should come into a nice agreement; to which end, I propose that

you should lend me your arm, for (what with the dusk and the want of my glasses) I am not very clear as to

the path; and as for you, Mr. David, you will find Torrance a pleasant kind of body to speak with. Only let me

remind you, it's quite needless he should hear more of your adventures or those of ahem Mr.

Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk, and Torrance and I brought up the rear.

Night was quite come when we came in view of the house of Shaws. Ten had been gone some time; it was

dark and mild, with a pleasant, rustling wind in the southwest that covered the sound of our approach; and

as we drew near we saw no glimmer of light in any portion of the building. It seemed my uncle was Already

in bed, which was indeed the best thing for our arrangements. We made our last whispered consultations

some fifty yards away; and then the lawyer and Torrance and I crept quietly up and crouched down beside the

corner of the house; and as soon as we were in our places, Alan strode to the door without concealment and

For some time Alan volleyed upon the door, and his knocking only roused the echoes of the house and

neighbourhood. At last, however, I could hear the noise of a window gently thrust up, and knew that my

uncle had come to his observatory. By what light there was, he would see Alan standing, like a dark shadow,

on the steps; the three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view; so that there was nothing to alarm an

honest man in his own house. For all that, he studied his visitor awhile in silence, and when he spoke his

"What's this?" says he. "This is nae kind of time of night for decent folk; and I hae nae trokings[34] wi'

"Is that yoursel', Mr. Balfour?" returned Alan, stepping back and looking up into the darkness. "Have a care

"I have no manner of inclination to rowt out my name to the countryside," said Alan; "but what brings me

here is another story, being more of your affair than mine; and if ye're sure it's what ye would like, I'll set it to

There was a pause; and then, "I'm thinking I'll better let ye in," says my uncle, doubtfully.

"I dare say that," said Alan; "but the point is, Would I go? Now I will tell you what I am thinking. I am

thinking that it is here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this business; and it shall be here or

nowhere at all whatever; for I would have you to understand that I am as stiffnecked as yoursel', and a

This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer; he was a little while digesting it, and then says he, "Weel, weel,

what must be must," and shut the window. But it took him a long time to get downstairs, and a still longer to

undo the fastenings, repenting (I dare say) and taken with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every

bolt and bar. At last, however, we heard the creak of the hinges, and it seems my uncle slipped gingerly out

and (seeing that Alan had stepped back a pace or two) sate him down on the top doorstep with the

"And, now" says he, "mind I have my blunderbush, and if ye take a step nearer ye're as good as deid."

"Na," says my uncle, "but this is no a very chanty kind of a proceeding, and I'm bound to be prepared. And

"Why," says Alan, "you that are a man of so much understanding, will doubtless have perceived that I am a

Hieland gentleman. My name has nae business in my story; but the county of my friends is no very far from

the Isle of Mull, of which ye will have heard. It seems there was a ship lost in those parts; and the next day a

gentleman of my family was seeking wreckwood for his fire along the sands, when he came upon a lad that

was half drowned. Well, he brought him to; and he and some other gentleman took and clapped him in an

auld, ruined castle, where from that day to this he has been a great expense to my friends. My friends are a

wee wildlike, and not so particular about the law as some that I could name; and finding that the lad owned

some decent folk, and was your born nephew, Mr. Balfour, they asked me to give ye a bit call and confer

upon the matter. And I may tell ye at the offgo, unless we can agree upon some terms, ye are little likely to

My uncle cleared his throat. "I'm no very caring," says he. "He wasnae a good lad at the best of it, and I've

"Ay, ay," said Alan, "I see what ye would be at: pretending ye don't care, to make the ransom smaller."

"Na," said my uncle, "it's the mere truth. I take nae manner of interest in the lad, and I'll pay nae ransome, and

"Hoot, sir," says Alan. "Blood's thicker than water, in the deil's name! Ye cannae desert your brother's son for

the fair shame of it; and if ye did, and it came to be kennt, ye wouldnae be very popular in your countryside,

"I'm no just very popular the way it is," returned Ebenezer; "and I dinnae see how it would come to be kennt.

No by me, onyway; nor yet by you or your friends. So that's idle talk, my buckie," says he.

"Ou, just this, way" says Alan. "My friends would doubtless keep your nephew as long as there was any

likelihood of siller to be made of it, but if there was nane, I am clearly of opinion they would let him gang

"Ay, but I'm no very caring about that either," said my uncle. "I wouldnae be muckle made up with that."

"Why, Mr. Balfour," replied Alan, "by all that I could hear, there were two ways of it: either ye liked David

and would pay to get him back; or else ye had very good reasons for not wanting him, and would pay for us

to keep him. It seems it's not the first; well then, it's the second; and blythe am I to ken it, for it should be a

"No?" said Alan. "Well, see here: you dinnae want the lad back; well, what do ye want done with him, and

"Come, sir," cried Alan. "I would have you to ken that I am a gentleman; I bear a king's name; I am nae rider

to kick my shanks at your hall door. Either give me an answer in civility, and that out of hand; or by the top

"Eh, man," cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet, "give me a meenit! What's like wrong with ye? I'm just a

plain man and nae dancing master; and I'm tryin to be as ceevil as it's morally possible. As for that wild talk,

it's fair disrepitable. Vitals, says you! And where would I be with my blunderbush?" he snarled.

"Powder and your auld hands are but as the snail to the swallow against the bright steel in the hands of Alan,"

said the other. "Before your jottering finger could find the trigger, the hilt would dirl on your breastbane."

"Eh, man, whae's denying it?" said my uncle. "Pit it as ye please, hae't your ain way; I'll do naething to cross

ye. Just tell me what like ye'll be wanting, and ye'll see that we'll can agree fine."

"Troth, sir," said Alan, "I ask for nothing but plain dealing. In two words: do ye want the lad killed or kept?"

"O, keepit, keepit!" wailed my uncle. "We'll have nae bloodshed, if you please."

"Hoot!" said Alan, "they're baith crime, whatever! And the killing's easier, and quicker, and surer. Keeping

"I'll have him keepit, though," returned my uncle. "I never had naething to do with onything morally wrong;

"I'm a man o' principle," said Ebenezer, simply; "and if I have to pay for it, I'll have to pay for it. And

"Well, well," said Alan, "and now about the price. It's no very easy for me to set a name upon it; I would first

have to ken some small matters. I would have to ken, for instance, what ye gave Hoseason at the first

"It's a lee, it's a black lee!" cried my uncle. "He was never kidnapped. He leed in his throat that tauld ye that.

"That's no fault of mine nor yet of yours," said Alan; "nor yet of Hoseason's, if he's a man that can be

"Why, ye donnered auld runt, how else would I ken?" cried Alan. "Hoseason and me are partners; we gang

shares; so ye can see for yoursel' what good ye can do leeing. And I must plainly say ye drove a fool's bargain

when ye let a man like the sailorman so far forward in your private matters. But that's past praying for; and

ye must lie on your bed the way ye made it. And the point in hand is just this: what did ye pay him?"

"Weel," said my uncle, "I dinnae care what he said, he leed, and the solemn God's truth is this, that I gave

him twenty pound. But I'll be perfec'ly honest with ye: forby that, he was to have the selling of the lad in

"Thank you, Mr. Thomson. That will do excellently well," said the lawyer, stepping forward; and then mighty

Never a word said my uncle, neither black nor white; but just sat where he was on the top doorstep and

stared upon us like a man turned to stone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss; and the lawyer, taking him by

the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, led him into the kitchen, whither we all followed, and set him

down in a chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out and only a rushlight burning.

There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly in our success, but yet with a sort of pity for the

"Come, come, Mr. Ebenezer," said the lawyer, "you must not be downhearted, for I promise you we shall

make easy terms. In the meanwhile give us the cellar key, and Torrance shall draw us a bottle of your father's

wine in honour of the event." Then, turning to me and taking me by the hand, "Mr. David," says he, "I wish

you all joy in your good fortune, which I believe to be deserved." And then to Alan, with a spice of drollery,

"Mr. Thomson, I pay you my compliment; it was most artfully conducted; but in one point you somewhat

outran my comprehension. Do I understand your name to be James? or Charles? or is it George, perhaps?"

"And why should it be any of the three, sir?" quoth Alan, drawing himself up, like one who smelt an offence.

"Only, sir, that you mentioned a king's name," replied Rankeillor; "and as there has never yet been a King

Thomson, or his fame at least has never come my way, I judged you must refer to that you had in baptism."

This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest, and I am free to confess he took it very ill. Not a word

would he answer, but stepped off to the far end of the kitchen, and sat down and sulked; and it was not till I

stepped after him, and gave him my hand, and thanked him by title as the chief spring of my success, that he

By that time we had the fire lighted, and a bottle of wine uncorked; a good supper came out of the basket, to

which Torrance and I and Alan set ourselves down; while the lawyer and my uncle passed into the next

chamber to consult. They stayed there closeted about an hour; at the end of which period they had come to a

good understanding, and my uncle and I set our hands to the agreement in a formal manner. By the terms of

this, my uncle bound himself to satisfy Rankeillor as to his intromissions, and to pay me two clear thirds of

So the beggar in the ballad had come home; and when I lay down that night on the kitchen chests, I was a

man of means and had a name in the country. Alan and Torrance and Rankeillor slept and snored on their

hard beds; but for me who had lain out under heaven and upon dirt and stones, so many days and nights, and

often with an empty belly, and in fear of death, this good change in my case unmanned me more than any of

the former evil ones; and I lay till dawn, looking at the fire on the roof and planning the future.

So far as I was concerned myself, I had come to port; but I had still Alan, to whom I was so much beholden,

on my hands; and I felt besides a heavy charge in the matter of the murder and James of the Glens. On both

these heads I unbosomed to Rankeillor the next morning, walking to and fro about six of the clock before the

house of Shaws, and with nothing in view but the fields and woods that had been my ancestors' and were now

mine. Even as I spoke on these grave subjects, my eye would take a glad bit of a run over the prospect, and

About my clear duty to my friend, the lawyer had no doubt. I must help him out of the county at whatever

"Mr. Thomson," says he, "is one thing, Mr. Thomson's kinsman quite another. I know little of the facts, but I

gather that a great noble (whom we will call, if you like, the D. of A.)[36] has some concern and is even

supposed to feel some animosity in the matter. The D. of A. is doubtless an excellent nobleman; but, Mr.

David, timeo qui nocuere deos. If you interfere to balk his vengeance, you should remember there is one way

to shut your testimony out; and that is to put you in the dock. There, you would be in the same pickle as Mr.

Thomson's kinsman. You will object that you are innocent; well, but so is he. And to be tried for your life

before a Highland jury, on a Highland quarrel and with a Highland Judge upon the bench, would be a brief

Now I had made all these reasonings before and found no very good reply to them; so I put on all the

simplicity I could. "In that case, sir," said I, "I would just have to be hanged would I not?"

"My dear boy," cries he, "go in God's name, and do what you think is right. It is a poor thought that at my

time of life I should be advising you to choose the safe and shameful; and I take it back with an apology. Go

and do your duty; and be hanged, if you must, like a gentleman. There are worse things in the world than to

"Why, yes, sir," he cried, "very many. And it would be ten times better for your uncle (to go no farther afield)

Thereupon he turned into the house (still in a great fervour of mind, so that I saw I had pleased him heartily)

"This," says he, "is to my bankers, the British Linen Company, placing a credit to your name. Consult Mr.

Thomson, he will know of ways; and you, with this credit, can supply the means. I trust you will be a good

husband of your money; but in the affair of a friend like Mr. Thompson, I would be even prodigal. Then for

his kinsman, there is no better way than that you should seek the Advocate, tell him your tale, and offer

testimony; whether he may take it or not, is quite another matter, and will turn on the D. of A. Now, that you

may reach the Lord Advocate well recommended, I give you here a letter to a namesake of your own, the

learned Mr. Balfour of Pilrig, a man whom I esteem. It will look better that you should be presented by one of

your own name; and the laird of Pilrig is much looked up to in the Faculty and stands well with Lord

Advocate Grant. I would not trouble him, if I were you, with any particulars; and (do you know?) I think it

would be needless to refer to Mr. Thomson. Form yourself upon the laird, he is a good model; when you deal

with the Advocate, be discreet; and in all these matters, may the Lord guide you, Mr. David!"

Thereupon he took his farewell, and set out with Torrance for the Ferry, while Alan and I turned our faces for

the city of Edinburgh. As we went by the footpath and beside the gateposts and the unfinished lodge, we kept

looking back at the house of my fathers. It stood there, bare and great and smokeless, like a place not lived in;

only in one of the top windows, there was the peak of a nightcap bobbing up and down and back and forward,

like the head of a rabbit from a burrow. I had little welcome when I came, and less kindness while I stayed;

Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way, having little heart either to walk or speak. The same thought

was uppermost in both, that we were near the time of our parting; and remembrance of all the bygone days

sate upon us sorely. We talked indeed of what should be done; and it was resolved that Alan should keep to

the county, biding now here, now there, but coming once in the day to a particular place where I might be

able to communicate with him, either in my own person or by messenger. In the meanwhile, I was to seek out

a lawyer, who was an Appin Stewart, and a man therefore to be wholly trusted; and it should be his part to

find a ship and to arrange for Alan's safe embarkation. No sooner was this business done, than the words

seemed to leave us; and though I would seek to jest with Alan under the name of Mr. Thomson, and he with

me on my new clothes and my estate, you could feel very well that we were nearer tears than laughter.

We came the byway over the hill of Corstorphine; and when we got near to the place called

RestandbeThankful, and looked down on Corstorphine bogs and over to the city and the castle on the hill,

we both stopped, for we both knew without a word said that we had come to where our ways parted. Here he

repeated to me once again what had been agreed upon between us: the address of the lawyer, the daily hour at

which Alan might be found, and the signals that were to be made by any that came seeking him. Then I gave

what money I had (a guinea or two of Rankeillor's) so that he should not starve in the meanwhile; and then

Neither one of us looked the other in the face, nor so long as he was in my view did I take one back glance at

the friend I was leaving. But as I went on my way to the city, I felt so lost and lonesome, that I could have

It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West Kirk and the Grassmarket into the streets of the

capital. The huge height of the buildings, running up to ten and fifteen storeys, the narrow arched entries that

continually vomited passengers, the wares of the merchants in their windows, the hubbub and endless stir, the

foul smells and the fine clothes, and a hundred other particulars too small to mention, struck me into a kind of

stupor of surprise, so that I let the crowd carry me to and fro; and yet all the time what I was thinking of was

Alan at RestandbeThankful; and all the time (although you would think I would not choose but be

delighted with these braws and novelties) there was a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse for something

The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the very doors of the British Linen Company's bank.