THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
u
B
i
4
THE RAIDERS.
By the Same Author.
THE STICKIT MINISTER
And some Common Men.
In a Utter to a friend, Robert Louis Stevenson says : —
" The whole book breathes admirably of the soil. ' The
Stickit Minister' and 'The Heather Lintie' are two that
come near to me particularly. They are drowned in Scot-
land. They have refreshed me like a visit home. 'Cleg
Kelly is a delightful fellow. I enjoyed his acquaintance
particularly. Likewise that of the Junior Partner. Gavin
Ogilvy and the Stickit Minister do not derive from one
another. They are complementary. When I read the first
page of 'The Stickit Minister' — the ploughing — I knew I
was not in Scotland, and I knew I was not with Gavin.
The Stickit Minister is out-of-doors— Barrie is within doors.
By different ways ye shall attain.''
See also Press Notices at end of book.
THE RAIDERS
BEING
Some Passages in
the Life of John
Faa, Lord and Earl
of Little Egypt:
B Y
S. R. Crockett
Qonbcftx
T FISHER UNWIN
W. POLLOCK WYLIE
PATERNOSTER SQUARE CHRISTIAN LEADER OFFICE
MDCCCXCIV
I8W
To
Alexander Whyte,
my friend,
I offer this story
of the hills of my Home land —
to me also, friends
ancient, unforgotten, ^well-beloved.
£\*J*. -
31 antes, be the grace of God, King of Scottis :
To our Scbereffis of Edinburghe, principall . . . and
to all otheris Scbereffis, Stewards, pro'veftis, aulder-
menne, and hailleis within our realme, greting.
Forsamekill as it is buimlie menit and sche<win to
us be our lou-vit Johnne Faa, Lord and Earle
of Little Egypt : / charge you to affift him in
punejjing all that rebellis againis him, and in the
execution of juftice upon bis company and folkis,
conforme to the laxves of Egypt.
Subfcri-uit -with our hand and under our Prive
Seile, at Falkland the fweteine day of Februar,
and of our r eigne the xxviij year.
Subscript, per Regem
3fame!3 &.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF . . I 3
II. JOHN HERON OF ISLE RATHAN ... 22
III. DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS . . . .28
IV. THE CAVE OF ADULLAM .... 36
V. AULD WIVES' CLAVERS . . . . -43
VI. THE STILL HUNTER . . . . . 6 1
VII. THE RED COCK CROWS AT CRAIGDARROCH . JO
VIII. NIGHT ON THE MOOR .... J J
IX. IN RAMSAY BAY . . . . . .82
X. SMUGGLER AND KINg's MAN 90
XI. THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN . . -97
XII. MORNING IN THE CAVE . . . . I06
XIII. THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE . . . . II4
XIV. THE HILL GYPSIES . . . . 1 25
XV. THE DRY CAVE . . . . . . 1 35
XVI. THE CAMP OF SILVER SAND. . . . 1 45
XVII. COUNCIL OF WAR . . . . . . I $0
XVIII. TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE . . I 59
XIX. ON THE TRACK OF THE RAIDERS . . . I 70
XX. THE GREAT FIGHT AT THE BRIDGEHEAD . I 76
XXI. SAMMLE TAMSON FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER . I 83
XXII. I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE TAMSON . 1 94
io CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
XXIII. THE FORYVANDERED BAIRN .... 205
XXIV. A MEETING WITH BILLY MARSHALL . . 21 3
XXV. THE DUNGEON OF BUCHAN .... 220
XXVI. THE WOLF'S SLOCK . . . . . 225
XXVII. BY THE BLESSING OF PROVIDENCE, I LIE BRAVELY 233
XXVIII. THE BLACK SEA-CHEST .... 245
XXIX. THE MURDER HOLE ..... 250
XXX. A WOOING NOT LONG A-DOING . . . 256
XXXI. MAY MISCHIEF PROVES HER METTLE . . 263
XXXII. I SALUTE THE LADY GRIZEL . . . 27 1
XXXIII. JEN GEDDES' SAMPLER BAG .... 276
XXXIV. SWEET CAKE AND CONSERVES . . . 283
XXXV. SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC . . . 29 1
XXXVI. THE BARRING OF THE DOOR . . . 3OO
XXXVII. THE SILVER WHISTLE BLOWS . . . 3 1 I
XXXVIII. THE SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK . 3I9
XXXIX. THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR . . . . 32&
XL. THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER . . 333
XLI. A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE . . . 342
XLII. THE FASTNESS OF UTMOST ENOCH . . 35 I
XLIII. THE AUCHTY ON THE STAR HILL . . . 363
XLIV. THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS . . . 372
XLV. ALIEN AND OUTLAW . . . . • 3&1
XLVI. THE BROWNIE ..... 3^9
XLVII. THE LAST OF THE OUTLAWS . . . 397
XLVIII. THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR ONCE MORE . 4O4
FOREWORD.
I, Patrick Heron of Isle Rathan in Galloway, begin
the writing of my book with thanks to God, the Giver
of all good, for the early and bountiful harvest which He
has been pleased to give us here in little Scotland, in this
year of His Grace, 17 — . It is not the least of the
Lord's mercies that throughout all this realm, both
hill-land and valley-land, the crops of corn, Merse wheat,
Lowden oats, and Galloway bear, should be in the
stackyards under thack and rape by the second day of
September.
So, with a long back-end before me, the mind running
easy about the corn, and prices rising, I am not likely to
get a better season of quiet to write down the things that
befell us in those strange years when the hill outlaws
collogued with the wild freetraders of the Holland
traffic, and fell upon us to the destruction of the life of
man, the carrying away of much bestial, besides the
putting of many of His Majesty's lieges in fear.
Now it will appear that there are many things in
this long story which I shall have to tell concerning
myself which are far from doing me credit, but let it not
be forgotten that it was with ?ne the time of wild oat
sowing when the blood ran warm. Also these were the
graceless, unhallowed days after the Great Killing, when
iz FOREWORD.
the saints of God had disappeared from the hills of
Galloway and Garrick, and when the fastnesses of the
utmost hills were held by a set of wild cairds — cattle
reivers and murderers, worse than the painted savages
of whom navigators to the far seas bring us word.
It was with May Mischief that all the terrible
blast of storm began (as indeed most storms among men
ever do begin with a bonny lass, like that concerning
Helen of Troy, which lasted ten year and of which
men speak to this day). The tale began with May
Mischief as you shall hear. I keep the old name still,
though the years have gone by, and though now in any
talks of the old days and of all our ancient ploys, there
are the bairns to be considered. But it is necessary that
ere the memory quite die out, some one of us who saw these
things should write them down. Some, it is true, were
deeper in than I, but none saw more or clearer, being so
to speak at both the inception and the conclusion of the
matter.
CHAPTER I.
MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF.
It was upon Rathan Head that I first heard their
bridle-reins jingling clear. It was ever my custom
to walk in the full of the moon at all times of the
year. Now the moons of the months are wondrously
different : the moon of January, serene among the
stars — that of February, wading among chill cloud-
banks of snow — of March, dun with the mist of
muirburn among the heather — of early April, clean
washen by the rains. This was now May, and the
moon of May is the loveliest in all the year, for with
its brightness comes the scent of flower-buds, and of
young green leaves breaking from the quick and
breathing earth.
So it was in the height of the moon of May, as I
said, that I heard their bridle-reins jingling clear and
saw the harness glisten on their backs.
" Keep far ben in your ain hoose at hame when the
Marshalls ride ! " said my father, nodding his head at
every third word in a way he had.
I shall never forget that night. I rowed over
towards the land in our little boat, which was com-
monly drawn up in the cove on Rathan Isle, and
lay a great time out on the clear, still flow of a
silver tide that ran inwards, drifting slowly up with
it. I was happy and at peace, and the world was
14 THE RAIDERS.
at peace with me. I shipped the oars and lay back
thinking. A lad's mind runs naturally on the young
lasses, but as yet I had none of these to occupy me.
Indeed there was but one of my own standing in
the neighbourhood — that Mary Maxwell who was
called, not without cause, May Mischief,1 a sister of
the wild Maxwells of Craigdarroch — and her I could
not abide. There was nothing in her to think about
particularly, and certainly I never liked her ; never-
theless, one's mind being contrary, my thoughts ran
upon her as the tide swirled southward by Rathan —
especially on a curious way she had of smiling when a
wicked speech was brewing behind her eyes.
My skiff lay just outside the loom of the land,
the black shadow of the Orraland shore on my left
hand ; but both boat and I as clear in the moonlight
as a fly on a sheet of white paper.
There was a brig at anchor in the bay, and it was
along the heuchs (cliffs) towards her that I saw the
horsemen ride. They were, I knew, going to run the
cargo into shelter. I was thinking of how fine they
looked, and wondering how long it would be till my
father let me have a horse from the stable and a lingtow
over my shoulder to go out to the Free Trade among
the Manxmen like a lad of spirit, when all at once I
got a sudden, horrid surprise.
I could hear the riders laughing and wagering
among themselves, but I was too far away to hear
what the game might be. Suddenly one of the fore-
most whipped a musket to his shoulder. I was so
1 May, the old Scots diminutive for Mary, was pronounced, not like
the name of the month, but Me: — the German a, a characteristic sound
which occurs also in " gye," " stey," &c.
MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF. 15
near the shore that I saw the flash of moonlight run
along the barrel as he brought it to his eye. I
wondered what he could be aiming at — a sea bird
belike.
" Clip ! Splash ! " went something past my head
and through the bow of the boat. Then on the
back of the crack of the gun came a great towrow of
laughter from the cliff edge.
" A miss ! a palpable miss ! " cried some one behind.
" Haud her nose doon, ye gowk ! "
" Noo, Gil, ye are next. See you an' mak' a better
o't."
I was somewhat dazed with the suddenness of the
cowardly assault, but I seized my oars of instinct
and rowed shorewards. I was in the black of the
shadows in three strokes, and not a moment over
soon, for another ball came singing after me. It
knocked the blade of my left oar into flinders, just
as the water dripped silver off it in the moonlight
for the last time before I was submerged in the
shadow. Again the laughter rang loud and clear, but
heartless and hard.
" Guid e'en to ye, fisherman," cried the man who
had first spoken. " The luck's wi' ye the nicht ; it's a
fine nicht for flounders."
I could have broken his head, for I was black
angry at the senseless and causeless cruelty of the
shooting. My first thought was to make for home ;
my second to draw to shore, and find out who they
might be that could speed the deadly bullet with so
little provocation at a harmless lad in his boat on the
bay. So without pausing to consider of wisdom
and folly (which indeed I have but seldom done in
16 THE RAIDERS.
this life with profit), I sculled softly to the mainland
with the unbroken oar.
Barefoot and bareleg I got into the shallow water,
taking the little cleek anchor ashore and pushing the
boat out that she might ride freely, for, as I said, the
tide was running upwards like a mill-race.
Then I struck through the underbrush till I came
to the wall of the deserted and overgrown kirkyard
of Kirk Oswald. There stands a great old tomb in
the corner from which, it ran in my mind, I might
observe the shore and the whole route of the riders,
if they were on their way to unload the brig in the
offing.
There was a broad splash of moonlight on the
rough grass between me and the tomb of the
MacLurgs. The old tombstones reeled across it
drunkenly, yet all was still and pale. I had almost
set my foot on the edge of this white patch of moon-
shine to strike across it, when, with a rustle like a
brown owl alighting swiftly and softly, some one took
me by the hand, wheeled me about, and ere I had
time to consider, carried me back again into the
thickest of the wood.
Yet I looked at my companion as I ran, you may
be sure. I saw a girl in a light dress, high-kilted
— May Mischief of Craigdarroch, what other ? But
she pointed to her lip to show that there was to
be no speech ; and so we ran together even as she
willed it to an angle of the old wall, where, stand-
ing close in the shade, we could see without being
seen.
Now this I could not understand at all, for May
Mischief never had a civil word for me as far back as
MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF. 17
I remember, but so many jibes and jeers that I never
could endure the girl. Yet here we were, jinking
hand in hand under the trees in the moonlight, for
all the world like lad and lass playing at hide-and-seek.
Soon we heard voices, and again the bits and chains
rattling as the horses, suddenly checked, tossed their
heads. Then the spurs jingled as the riders dis-
mounted, stamping their feet as they came to the
ground.
Twenty yards below us a man set his head over the
wall. He whistled low and shrill.
" All clear, Malcolm ? " he cried. I remember to
this day the odd lilt of his voice. He was a Campbell,
and gave the word Malcolm a strange twist, as if he
had turned it over with his tongue in his mouth.
And, indeed, that is to this day the mark of a
Cantyre man.
A man stepped out of the doorway of the MaoLurg
tomb with a gun in his hand. May Maxwell looked
up at me with something triumphant in her eyes,
which I took to mean, "Where had you been now, if
it had not been for me ? " And indeed the two shots
at the boat in the moonlight told me where I would
have been, and that was on the sward with a gunshot
through me.
A dozen or more men came swarmino- over the
O
broken wall. They carried a long, black coffin
among them — the coffin, as it seemed, of an extraordi-
narily large man. Straight across the moon-whitened
grass they strode, stumbling on the flat tombs and
cursing one another as they went. There was no
solemnity as at a funeral, for the jest and laughter
ran light and free.
2
1 8 THE RAIDERS.
" We are the lads," cried one. " We can lay the
spirits and we can raise the dead ! "
They went into the great tomb of the MacLurgs
with the long, black coffin, and in a trice came out
jovially, abusing one another still more loudly for use-
less dogs of peculiar pedigrees, and dealing great claps
on each other's backs. It was a wonder to me to see
these outlaws at once so cruel and so merry.
Some of them went down by the corner of the
kirkyard opposite to us. May Maxwell, who had
kept my hand, fearing, I think, that we might have to
run for it again round the circle of shade, plucked me
sharply over to see what they were doing.
They were opening a grave, singing catches as
their picks grated on the stones. I shivered a little,
and a great fear of what we were about to see came
over me. I think if May Maxwell had not gripped
me by the hand I had fairly run for it.
The man we had first seen came out of the tomb
and took a look at the sky. Another stretched him-
self till I heard his joints crack, and said "Hech How! "
as though he were sleepy. Whereat the others railed
on him, calling him "lazy vagabond."
Then all of them turned their ears towards the
moors as though they listened for something of
importance.
" Do the Maxwells ride to-night ? " asked one.
" Wheesh," said another. " Listen ! "
This he said in so awe-stricken a tone that I also
was struck with fear, and listened till my flesh crept.
From the waste came the baying of a hound — long,
fitful, and very eerie.
There was a visible, uneasy stir among the men.
MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF. 19
cc
Let us be gone," said another, making for the
wall ; " 'tis the Loathly Dogs. The Black Deil
hunts himsel' the nicht. I'm gaun hame."
" Stop ! " cried one with authority (I think the man
that was called Gil). " I'll put an ounce of lead
through your vitals gin ye dinna stand in your
tracks."
But the others stayed neither for threat nor lead.
" It'll be waur for ye gin the Ghaistly Hounds get a
grip o' your shins, Gil, my man. They draw men
quick to hell ! "
So at the word there seized the company a great
fear, and they took to their heels, every man hastening
to the wall. Then from the other side there was
a noise of mounting steeds, and a great clattering
of stirrup-irons.
May Mischief came nearer to me, and I heard her
breath come in little broken gasps, like a rabbit that
is taken in a net and lies beating its life out in your
hands. At which I felt a man for the sole time that
night.
But not for long, for I declare that what we saw in
the next moment brought us both to our knees, pray-
ing silently for mercy. Over the wall at the corner
farthest from us there came a fearsome pair. First
a great grey dog, that hunted with its head down and
bayed as it went. Behind it lumbered a still more
horrible beast, great as an ox, grim and shaggy also,
but withal clearly monstrous and not of the earth,
with broad, flat feet that made no noise, and a demon
mark in scarlet upon its side, which told that the foul
fiend himself that night followed the chase. May
Mischief clung to my arm, and I thought she had
zo THE RAIDERS.
swooned away. But the beasts passed some way
beneath us, like spirits that flit by without noise, save
for the ghostly baying which made one sweat with fear.
As the sounds broke farther from us that were in the
graveyard the horsemen dispersed in a wild access of
terror. We could hear them belabouring their horses
and riding broadcast over the fields, crying tempes-
tuouslyi to each other as they went. And down the
wind the bay of the ghostly hunters died away.
May Maxwell and I stood so a long while ere we
could loose from one another. We only held hands
and continued to look, and that strangely. I wanted
to thank her in words but could not, for something
came into my throat and dried my mouth. I dropped
her hand suddenly. Yet as I searched for words,
dividing the mind between gratitude and coltishness,
not one could I find in my time of need.
•May Maxwell stood a little while silent before me,
her hands fallen at her side, looking down as though
expecting something. I could not think what. And
then she took the skirt of her dress in her hand, dusted
and smoothed it a moment, and so began to move
slowly away. But I stood fixed like a halbert.
Then I knew by the dancing light in her eyes that
something was coming that would make me like her
worse than ever, yet I could not help 'it. What with
my lonely life on Isle Rathan I was as empty of words
as a drum of tune.
"Guid e'en to ye," she said, dropping me a curtsy;
" virtue is its ain reward, I ken. It's virtuous to do a
sheep a good turn, but a kennin' uninterestin'. Guid
e'en to ye, Sheep ! "
With that she turned and left me speechless, hold-
MOONLIGHT AND MAY MISCHIEF. 21
ing by the wall. Yet I have thought of many things
since which I might have said — clever things too.
May Mischief walked very stately and dignified
across the moonlight, and passed the open grave which
the riders had made as though she did not care a
button for it. At the gap in the wall she turned
(looking mighty pretty and sweet, I do allow,),
nodded her head three times, and said solemnly,
"Baa!"
As I rowed home in the gloaming of the morning,
when the full flood-tide of daylight was drowning the
light of the moon, I decided within myself that I
hated the girl worse than ever. Whatever she had
done for me, I could never forgive her for making a
mock of me.
" Sheep," quoth she, and again " Baa ! " It was
unbearable. Yet I remembered how she looked as she
said it, and the manner in which she nodded her head,
which, as I tell you, was vastly pretty.
CHAPTER II.
JOHN HERON OF ISLE RATHAN.
Just why my father called me Patrick I have never
yet been able to make out. His own name was John,
which, had he thought of it in time, was a good name
enough for me. It may have been part of his
humorsomeness, for indeed he used to say, " I have
little to leave you, Patrick, but this auld ramshackle
house on the Isle Rathan and your excellent name.
You will be far on in life, my boy, before you begin to
bless me for christening you Patrick Heron, but when
you begin you will not cease till the day of your death."
I am now in the thirty-seventh year of my age, yet
have I not so begun to bless my father — at least not
for the reason indicated.
My father, John Heron of Isle Rathan, on the
Solway shore, was never a strong man all the days ot
him. But he married a lass from the hills who
brought him no tocher, but, what was better, a strong
dower of sense and good health. She died, soon after
I was born, of the plague which came to Dumfries in
the Black Year, and from that day my father was
left alone with me in the old house on the Isle ot
Rathan. John Heron was the laird of a barren heri-
tage, for Rathan is but a little isle — indeed only an
JOHN HERON OF ISLE RATHAN. 23
isle when the tide is flowing. Except in the very
slackest of the neaps there is always twice a day
a long track of shells and shingle out from the tail of
its bank. This track is, moreover, somewhat dan-
gerous, for Solway tide flows swift and the sands are
shifting and treacherous. So we went and came for
the most part by boat, save when I or some of the lads
were venturesome, as afterwards when I got well
acquaint with Mary Maxwell, whom I have already
called May Mischief, in the days of a lad's first mid-
summer madness.
Here on the Isle of Rathan my father taught me
English and Latin, Euclid's science of lines and how
to reason with them for oneself. He ever loved the
mathematic, because he said even God Almighty works
by geometry. He taught me also surveying and land
measuring. " It is a good trade, and will be more in
request," he used to say, " when the lairds begin to
parcel out the commonties and hill pastures, as they
surely will. It'll be a better trade to your hand than
keepin' the blackfaced yowes afF the heuchs (cliffs) o'
Rathan."
And so it has proved ; and many is the time I have
talked over with my wife the strange far-seeing prophecy
of my father about what the lairds would do in more
settled times. Indeed, all through my tale, strange as
it is (may I be aided to tell it plainly and truly), I
have occasion to refer to my father's sayings. Many
is the time I have been the better of minding his
words ; many the time, also, that I have fallen with
an unco blafF (serious downfall) because I have neg-
lected to heed his warnings. But of this anon, and
perhaps more than enough.
24 THE RAIDERS.
It was a black day for me, Patrick Heron, when my
father lay a-dying. I remember it was a bask day in
early spring. The tide was coming up with a strong
drive of east wind wrestling against it, and making a
clattering jabble all about the rocks of Rathan;
" Lift me up, Paitrick," said my father, " till I see
again the bonny tide as it lappers again' the auld toor.
It will lapper there mony and mony a day an' me no
here to listen. Ilka time ye hear it, laddie, ye'll mind
on yer faither that loved to dream to the plashing o't,
juist because it was Solway salt water and this his ain
auld toor o' the Isle Rathan."
So I lifted him up according to his word, till
through the narrow window set in the thickness of the
ancient wall, he could look away to the Mull, which
was clear and cold slaty blue that day — for, unless it
brings the dirty white fog, the east wind clears all
things.
As he looked a great fishing gull turned its head
as it soared, making circles in the air, and fell — a
straight white streak cutting the cold blue sky of that
spring day.
"Even thus has my life been, Paitrick. I have
been most of my time but a great gull diving for
herring on an east-windy day. Whiles I hae gotten
a bit flounder for my pains, and whiles a rive o'
drooned whalp, but o' the rale herrin' — desperate few,
man, desperate few."
" I hae tried it a' ways, Paitrick, my man, ye ken,"
he would say, for in the long winter forenights when
all was snug inside and the winds were trying the
doors, he and I did little but talk. He lay many
months a-dying. But he was patient, and most
JOHN HERON OF ISLE RATHAN. 25
anxious that he should give me all his stores ot
warning and experience before he went from me and
Rathan.
" No that, at the first go off, ye'll profit muckle,
Paitrick, my man," he would say ; " me telling ye
that there are briers i' the buss (bush) will no advan-
tage ye greatly when ye hae to gae skrauchlin'
through. Ye'll hae to get berried and scartit, wham-
melt and riven, till ye learn as I hae learned. Ay, ay,
ye wull that ! "
My father was a dark man, not like me who am
fair like my mother. He had a pointed beard that he
trimmed with the shears, which in a time of shaven
men made him kenspeckle (conspicuous). He was
very particular about his person, and used to set to the
washing of his linen every second week, working like
an old campaigner himself, and me helping — a job
I had small stomach for. But at least he learned me
to be clean by nature and habit.
"We canna compass godliness," he would say often,
"try as we may, Paitrick. But cleanliness is a kindly,
common-like virtue, and it's so far on the road, at any
rate." That was one of his sayings.
My father was not what you would call a deeply
religious man ; at least, if he were, he said little about
it, though he read daily in the Scriptures, and also
expected me to read a chosen part, questioning me
sharply on the meaning. But he did not company
with the lairds of the countryside, nor with the
tenants either for the matter of that. He took no
part in the services which were held by the Society
Men who collected in the neighbourhood, and who
met statedly for their diets of worship at Springholm
z6 THE RAIDERS.
and Crocketford. Yet his sympathies were plainly
with these men and with Mr. Macmillan of Bal-
maghie who subscribed to them — not at all with the
settled ministers of the parishes. On Sabbaths he
always encouraged me to take the pony over in the
great wide-bottomed boat to the shore, and ride on
Donald to the Kirk of Dullarg or the Societies
meeting.
"Ye see, Paitrick, for mysel' I hae tried a' ways o't.
I hae been oot wi' the King's riders in the auld bad
days. Silver Sand kens where. I hae been in the
haggs o' the peat-mosses wi' the sants. I hae lain
snug an' cosy in Peden's cave wi' the auld man him-
sel' at my back. So ye see I hae tried a' ways o't.
My advice to you, Paitrick, is no to be identified wi'
ony extremes, to read yer Bible strictly, an' gin ye get
a guid minister to sit under, to listen eidently to the
word preached. It's mair than your faither ever got
for ony length o' time."
By bit and bit he grew weaker, as the days grew
longer.
" Noo, Paitrick," he said, over in the still time or
one morning, at the hour of slack tide, when a watcher
sitting up with the sick gets chill and cauldrife and
when the night lies like a solid weight on the earth
and sea, though heavier on the sea. At this time my
father called to me.
" I'm gaun, Paitrick," he said, just as though he
were going over to the Dullarg in the boat j " it's time
I was awa'. I could wish for your sake that I had
mair to leave ye. Had I been a better boy at your
time o' life, ye wad hae had mair amang your hands ;
but then maybe it's you that wad hae been the ill boy.
JOHN HERON OF ISLE RATHAN. 27
It's better that it was me. But there'll be a pickle
siller in Matthew Erskine's hands for a' that. But gin
I can leave ye the content to be doing wi' little, an'
the saving salt o' honour to be kitchen to your piece,
that's better than the lairdship o' a barony."
He was silent for a while, and then he said —
" Ye are no feared, Paitrick ? "
" Feared, father," I said, " what for would I be
feared of you ? "
" Aweel, no," he answered, very calm, " I am no a
man to mak' a to-do aboot deein'. I bid ye guid-
nicht, my son Paitrick." And so passed, as one might
fall on sleep.
He was a quiet man, a surprisingly humorsome
man, and I believe a true Christian man, though all
his deathbed testimony was no more than I have told.
CHAPTER III.
DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS.
If there be anything bonnier or sweeter in this
world than a May morning on the Isle of Rathan
by the Solway shore, I have yet to see it — except it
be the blush that comes over a young maid's face
when one that is not her lad, but who yet may be,
comes chapping at the door.
Some months after my father's death I mind me of
just such a morning. There had drawn to me in
the old house of Rathan certain other lads of my age,
of good burgher families, that did not find themselves
altogether comfortable at home. The house and
lands with all the sheep upon them and some six
thousand pounds sterling of money in the public funds
were left to me to deal with as I liked, though I was
not yet of age. Matthew Erskine, the douce Dumfries
lawyer, who was in my father's confidence, put no
barriers on my doing as I pleased ; and thus carried
out my father's intentions, which were that I should
neither be hampered in well-doing nor in ill-doing,
but do even as it seemed good to me. For this was
ever his way and custom.
" When I was a lad," he used to say, " I was sore
28
DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS. 29
hampered in coming and going, and most of the evils
of my life have come upon me because I was not
early left to choose right and wrong, nosing them for
myself like a Scent-Dog (pointer) after birds. So I
will even leave you, Paitrick, as says the Carritches, to
1 the freedom of your own will.' "
The lads who had come to bide with me on Isle
Rathan, at least for the summer season, were Andrew
Allison, that was a burgher's son at Carlinwark
(where there are but few decent people abiding, which
made his father the more remarkable) and his brother
John. Also there was a cousin of the Allisons that
came from the ancient town of Kilconquhar, high up
on the Nith Water. There was also, to our joy, one
Jerry MacWhirter, a roguish fellow that came to me
to help me with my land-surveying, but was keener to
draw with colours on paper the hues of the landskip
and the sea. But he was dearest to us because
of his continual merry heart, which did us good like
a medicine.
So the five of us lads abode in that house, and of
them I was much the biggest and oldest. Also the
house was mine and it was my duty to rule, else had
we been an unruly crew. But in truth it was also
my pleasure to rule, and that with the iron hand.
With us at times there was one Silver Sand, who
deserves a chapter to himself, and in time shall
receive it.
Now I must tell of the kind of house we had on
the Isle Rathan. It stood in a snug angle of the bay
that curved inward towards the land and looked
across some mossy, boguish ground to a range or
rugged, heathery mountains, on which there were
30 THE RAIDERS.
very many grey boulders, about which the heath
and bracken grew deep.
The ancient house of the Herons of Rathan was not
large, but it was very high, with only two little doors
to back and front — the front one set into the wall and
bolted with great bars into the solid rock beneath and
above, and into the thickness of the wall at either
side. The back door opened not directly, but entered
into a passage which led first to a covered well in a
kind of cave, where a good spring of water for ever
bubbled up with little sand grains dancing in it, and
then by a branch passage to an opening among the
heather of the isle, which you might search for a
summer's day. But unless you knew it of others'
knowledge, you would never find it of your own. The
windows were very far up the sides, and there were
very few of them, as being made for defence in
perilous times. Upon the roof there was a flagstaff
and so strong a covering of lead and stone flags that
it seemed as though another tower might have been
founded upon it. The Tower of Rathan stood alone,
with its offices, stables, byres, or other appurtenances
back under the cliff, the sea on one side of it, and on
the other the heathery and rocky isle, with its sheep
pastures on the height. Beneath the sea-holly and
dry salt plants bloomed blue and pink down near the
blatter of the sea.
Fresh air and sound appetites were more common
with us lads on the isle than the wherewithal to
appease our belly cravings. It was not our pleasure
to be served by any woman. Indeed we could not
abide the thought of it. It was not seemly that any
young one should be with us, nor did we wish to put
DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS 31
our wild doings under the observation of any much
older than ourselves. So it came that we had to
fend for ourselves, and as it drew near to term day,
when I got my little pickle money from Matthew
Erskine, the Dumfries lawyer (riding there on Donald,
my sheltie), the living was very scanty on the isle.
For when I had money, it was ever freely spent. But
at the worst of times we had a stake salmon net which
we fished every morning when the fish were clean, and
there were flounders all the year round. Thus we
lived, and, take it all in all, none so evilly, considering
that the country was a poor one and we had no
friends that bore any goodwill to help us — except
May Mischief at Craigdarroch, who, for all her jeers,
set a great tankard of milk aside for us every morning
and night.
So on this morn in May I rose long before the
light, and went out into the cool, damp air of the
night. The tide was going back quickly, and it was
this which had raised me at such untimeous hours. It
has always struck me that when the creation was, and
that justly, pronounced very good, sufficient attention
was not paid to the matter of the tides. But in a
great job like the making of the earth, small points
are apt to be mislippened (overlooked). For instance,
it would have been a great advantage if the tides at
Rathan had been regular in the morning, leaving the
nets clear at something like seven o'clock in summer
and nine in winter. But I was not consulted at the
time, and so the matter rests as at present — a trifle
inconveniently for all parties.
Now I am a man of my devotions, and render
thanks to a kind Providence every morning for the
32 THE RAIDERS.
preservation of the night. But I am well aware that
the quality of my thankfulness is not what it should
be at half-past two of a bleak and chill morning when
the nets must be looked. So I say again that both
parties suffer by the present arrangement.
But this morning of which I speak there was not a
great deal to complain of, save that I left the others
snoring in their hammocks and box-beds round the
chambers of dark oak where they were lodged. The
thought of this annoyed me as I went.
It was still dark when I went out with only my
boots over my bare feet, and the chill wind whipping
about my shanks. What of the sea one could observe
was of the colour of the inside of an oyster-shell, pearl
grey and changeful. The land loomed mistily dark,
and there was a fitful light going about the farm-
town of Craigdarroch, where the Maxwells dwelt,
which made me wonder if it could be that hellicat
(rompish) lassie, who had called me a sheep, wandering
abroad so early. For in spite of her smile she was a
lass that none of us lads of the Rathan could abide.
Still, I own that it was friendly-like to see at that
dead hour of the morning some one else astir even
across half a mile of salt water.
From Rathan Head I looked out seaward and saw
one of the fast brigs of the Freetraders from the Isle
of Man, or perhaps from Holland, manoeuvring out
with the tide. Little thinking how much she was to
cost us, against the swiftly brightening sky I watched
her draw away from the land. None of us, barring
the Preventive officers, had any ill-will at the traffic
itself, though my father had taught me never to use
any of the stuff, desiring that I should be hardy
DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS. 33
and thole (endure) wind and weather without it, as
very well may be done. Still, when it was decently
gone about, he did not see what right the Preven-
tives had to keep other folk from doing in the matter
as their fathers had done before them. King George,
decent man, that was but lately come over the water
from Germany, surely could not be much harmed by
a poor man's bit still in the lee of the peat-stack.
But indeed there were good and bad, decent and
indecent, at the traffic, as we were soon to learn.
It was cold and unkindly on the flats, and there was
nothing except lythe and saithe in the nets — save some
small red trout, which I cast over on the other side,
that they might grow large and run up the rivers in
August. So little was there that I must, with exceed-
ingly cold feet and not in the best of tempers, proceed
to the flats and tramp flounders for our breakfast.
Right sorely did I grieve now that I had not awaked
two of the others, for Andrew Allison's feet were
manifestly intended by nature for tramping flounders,
being broad and flat as the palm of my hand. More-
over, John his brother was quick and biddable at the
job — though I think chiefly because he desired much
to get back to his play about the caves and on the
sand with his ancient crony, Bob Nicoll.
But I was all my lone on the flats, and it was suffi-
ciently dreary work. Nevertheless, I soon had my
baskets full of the flapping, slippery fish, though it
was none too nice a job to feel them slide between
your toes and wriggle their tails under your instep.
That was what gave Andrew Allison so great an
advantage at the business, for he had no instep — at
least not to speak of.
3
34 THE RAIDERS.
When I got to the shore with my backload of
breakfast I knew not whether I had any feet at all,
except when I looked and saw my legs causing them
to move and in some fashion to carry me. So I came
to the house, which now stood up bright in the sun-
shine of the morning.
Going; into the still curtained chamber out of the
flooding morning sun was the strangest thing. It
vexed me wonderfully to hear the others still snoring
in their naked beds, and I so cold and weary with my
morning's work. Moreover, the air had the closeness
that comes with thick walls and many breathings.
Throwing down my fish and slipping off my dew-
damp clothes to be dried before the fire, I threw
myself into the bed which Andrew Allison and I
occupied together. He lay next the wall. Without
a moment's delay I placed my ice-chill feet where it
would do them most good. This caused my com-
panion to awake with so great a yell that the others
tumbled instantly out of bed, thinking that the Free-
traders were upon us at the least. As for Andrew, he
lay still and acted warming-pan, being fortunately
between me and the wall.
To the others I issued my orders as I grew warmer.
" You lazy slug-a-beds " — it was my way thus to
speak, ordering the youngsters about like a skipper —
" get about your work ! You, John Allison, get the
boat and go over to Craigdarroch for the milk, and be
back by breakfast-time ; and gin ye so muckle as lift
the lid of the can, I'll thrash ye till ye canna stan',
forbye, ye'll get no breakfast."
John got his cap, grumbling and shaking his head.
But he went.
DAWN ON RATHAN SANDS. 35
" You, Rab, clean the fish, and you, Jerry Mac-
Whirter, get a fire started, and hae the breakfast on
the table in an hour. Dry my clothes before the fire."
" It's Andra's day ! " said Jerry.
" Maybe it is," said I, " but for the present Andrew
has other business on hand. He was tired yestreen,
and he's the better o' a rest this morning. Get the
breakfast and be nimble. It'll be better for you."
" But, Rab says " began Jerry, who was
reluctantly putting on his clothes.
" Not another word out of the mouth o' ye ! " I
cried, imperatively.
It is wonderful what firmness does in a household.
In this way I had a good sleep before breakfast.
When I awoke Andrew was on foot. He had
stolen out of bed and taken a sea plunge from the
southernmost rocks, drying himself on the sand by
running naked in the brisk airs of the morning which
drew off the sea.
There is no finer breakfast than flounders fried in
oatmeal with a little salt butter as soon as ever they
come out of the water, with their tails jerking Flip^
flap) in the frizzle of the pan.
" Gracious," said Jerry, " but it's guid. I'm gled
I got up o' my ain free will."
Andrew and I being captain and lieutenant of the
gang, had forks ; the rest had none, by which lack for
eating flounders they were the better off. It is most
amazing the number of bones a flounder can carry,
and that without trouble. Also it is a mercy that
none of us choked on any of them, in so unseemly
a haste did we eat.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM.
Rathan Island lay in the roughest tumble of the
seas. Its southern point took the full sweep of the
Solway tides as they rushed and surged upwards to
cover the great deadly sands of Barnhourie. From
Sea Point, as we named it, the island stretched north-
ward in many rocky steeps and cliffs riddled with
caves. For just at this point the softer sandstone you
meet with on the Cumberland shore set its nose out
of the brine. So the island was more easily worn
into sea caves and strange arches, towers and hay-
stacks, all of stone, sitting by themselves out in the
tideway for all the world like bairns' playthings.
In these caves, which had many doors and entries,
I had played with the tide ever since I was a boy. I
knew them all as well as I knew our own back-yard
under the cliff. And the knowledge was before long
to stand me in better stead than the Latin grammar I
had learned from my father.
In fine weather it was a pleasant thing to go up to
the highest point of the island, which, though little
of a mountain, was called Ben Rathan, and see the
country all about one. Thence was to be seen the
36
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 37
reek of many farm-towns and villages, besides cot-
houses without number, all blowing the same way
when the wind was soft and equal. The morning
was the best time to go there. Upon Rathan, close
under the sky, the bees hummed about among the
short, crisp heather, which was springy just like our
little sheltie's mane after my father had done docking
it. There was a great silence up there — only a
soughing from the south, where the tides of the
Solway, going either up or down, kept for ever
chafing against the rocky end of our little Isle of
Rathan.
Then nearest to us, on the eastern shore of Barn-
hourie Bay, there was fair to be seen the farmhouse of
Craigdarroch, with the Boreland and the Ingleston
above it, which is always the way in Galloway.
Wherever there is a Boreland you may be sure that
there is an Ingleston not far from it. The way of
that is, as my father used to say, because the English
came to settle in their "tons," and brought their
" boors," or serfs, with them. So that near the English
towns are always to be found the boor-lands. Which
is as it may be; but the fact is at any rate sufficiently
curious. And from Ben Rathan also, looking to the
westward, just over the cliffs of our isle, you saw
White Horse Bay, much frequented of late years for
convenience of debarkation by the Freetraders of
Captain Yawkins' band, with whom, as my father used
to say quaintly, no honest smuggler hath company.
For there were, as every one knows, in this land of
Galloway two kinds of the lads who bring over the
dutiless gear from Holland and the Isle of Man.
There be the decent lads who run it for something
38 THE RAIDERS.
honest to do in the winter and for the spice of danger,
and without a thought of hurt to King George,
worthy gentleman ; and there are also the " Associ-
ated Illdoers," as my father would often call them in
his queer, daffing way — the Holland rogues who got
this isle its bye-name of Rogues' Island by running
their cargoes into our little land-locked cove which
looks towards White Horse Bay. These last were
fellows who would stick at nothing, and quite as often
as not they would trepan a lass from the Cumberland
shore, or slit the throat of a Dumfries burgher to see
the colour of his blood. But the Black Smugglers
never could have come to such a pitch of daring and
success unless they had made to themselves friends
of the disaffected of these parts. The truth of the
matter was that in the wilds of Galloway that look
toward Ayrshire, up by the springs of Doon and Dee,
there lies a wide country of surpassing wildness,
whither resorted all the evil gypsies of the hill — red-
handed men, outlaw and alien to all this realm of well-
affected men.
When a vessel came in these openly marched down
to the shore with guns, swords, and other weapons —
Marshalls, Macatericks, and Millers, often under the
leadership of Hector Faa — and escorted to their fast-
nesses the smuggled stuff and the stolen goods, for
there was as much by wicked hands reived and robbed,
as of the stuff which was only honestly smuggled.
My father had fallen out with Yawkins when he
began the robbing of man and the seizing of maids.
I can remember him coming to the Rathan, a thick-
set, dark man, with his head very low between his
shoulders. He had a black beard on his breast, and
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 39
there was a cast in his eye. He swore many strange
oaths. Being a Hollander, the most of his conversa-
tion seemed to be " dam," but between whiles he was
trying to persuade my father to something.
" It's clottered nonsense," said my father over and
over to him ; " and, more than that, it's rank black-
guardism ; and as for me, I shall have no trokings wi'
the like o' ye aboot the maitter."
From which and other things I gathered that in the
days of his wildness my father had had his hands pretty
deep in the traffic.
Away at the back yonder, across the fertile valley or
the Dee, we could see from Rathan Head the blue
shadowy hills, where, among the wild heather and the
solitudes where the whaups cried all summer long, the
hill gypsies had their fastnesses. On those blue hills,
to us so sweet and solemn, no king's man had been of
his own free will since the days of Clavers. Little
did I think, as I used to sit and watch them, with
Andrew and young Jock Allison, Rab Nicoll, and little
Jerry, on the smooth brindled heather of Ben Rathan,
that I should so often tread the way up to those fast-
nesses about the Dungeon of Buchan or all were
done.
It was after the time of dishwashing, and the most
part of us were out on the heuchs (cliffs), looking to
seaward with my father's old prospect-glass (which
was ever one of our choicest possessions) when little
Jerry, who had been drawing with pencils and colour
the shape of the coast and hills — a vanity he was very
fond of from his childhood — came up the hill in great
spangs, crying that there was a boat coming round the
point running against the tide, with two men rowing.
4° THE RAIDERS.
I turned the glass on the boat as she came, and was
soon able to pick her up.
"It's your mither, Andrew Allison," I said, "an'
yours, Jerry, my lad. They'll be gettin' anxious to
see ye ! "
" Guid save us," said Andrew ; " I'm awa' to
hide ! "
" Awa' wi' ye, then," I said ; " but dinna inform
me where, that I may not tell more lies than are
just and needful."
I was well aware that there was some business for
me to do during the next hour, for neither Mistress
Allison that was a baillie's wife, nor yet Mistress
MacWhirter, were canny women with their tongues
when they got a subject to do them justice.
But my father set me on a capital plan, having
regard to the tongue of a scolding woman. I know
not how it would work if you had her always in the
house with you. I misdoubt that in that case my
father's receipt might need application and reinforce-
ment from a hazel rod ; but against the tongues of orra
folk that you have only to stand for a while at a time,
it is altogether infallible. My father had a great
respect for Scripture, and he had Scripture warrant for
this.
" Mind ye, Paitrick," he used to say, " that the
Good Book says, c A soft answer turneth away wrath.'
Now keep your temper, laddie. Never quarrel wi'
an angry person, specially a woman. Mind ye, a soft
answer's aye best. It's commanded — and forbye, it
makes them far madder than onything else ve could
say."
As we looked the boat sped nearer, and, peering
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 41
through the prospect-glass again, I could see that it
was rowed by a pair of folk — a lassie and a man. It
was the Craigdarroch boat — white with a green stripe
about it, very genteel. So that I did not need to be a
prophet or other than my father's son to know that it
was my daft Maxwell lass, whom they call May
Mischief, that was oaring the wives across.
Now it made me vexed sore to think that she should
hear all the on-ding (turmoil) of their ill tongues.
Not that I cared for May Maxwell or any like her,
only it was galling to let a lass like that, who was for
ever gibing and jeering, get new provision of powder
and shot for her scoffs and fleers. The last time I
saw her, when I went over to Craigdarroch myself for
the milk — one day that it blew hard and I would not
send the younger ones — she had a new word for me.
She would call me no word but " Adullam." Well,
any name was better than "Sheep," and when I saw
her forming her mouth to say " Baa," I could have
run and left her in fair anger. But this she did but
seldom.
" Noo, Adullam," she cried, as soon as ever I could
get near the onstead for yowching dogs, " this is a bonny
business. I suppose ye think that ye are a great
captain, like King David in the cave ; and that a' that
are discontented and a' that are in distress wull gather
in till ye, an' ye'll be a captain ower them. A bonny-
like captain, Adullam. There's a braw big hoose up
in Enbra', I hear, that's fu' o' sic captains. They
pit strait-jackets on them there, an' tie them up wi'
rapes."
This I did not answer, remembering my father's
prescription.
42 THE RAIDERS.
«
O, ye think ye're a braw lad," said the impudent
besom. " Ye're a' braw lads, by your ain accounts,
but some knotty twigs o' the bonny birk wad fit ye
better than so mony c captains.' I'll speak to my
faither aboot that ! " she said, making believe to go
off.
Now when she spoke in this fashion I got a great
deal of comfort just from saying over and over to
myself, " Ye impudent besom ! Ye impudent be-
som ! " So before I was aware, out the words came ;
and then in a moment I was horrified at the sound of
my own voice.
I had never so spoken to a young woman before ;
indeed seldom to the breed at all. For my father and
I kept ourselves very close to ourselves in Rathan Isle
as long as he lived.
But instead of being offended the daft lassie threw
back her head and laughed. She had close curls like
a boy, and her way of laughing was strange, and
smote me as though some elf were tapping down
at the bottom of my throat with his forefinger.
There was something witching about her laughter.
"Weel dune, Adullam, ye'll be nane sic a su?nph
(stupid) some day, when ye get the calf conceit ta'en
oot o' ye and your hair cut," said she.
" Let my hair alane — my hair's no meddlin' you ! "
I said, so coltish and stupid that I fair hated the lass
for humbling me that way — me that had so good an
opinion of myself from living much alone.
So it was small wonder that the thought of her
hearing what the pair of old randy wives had to say to
me for leading their precious sons astray was like gall
and wormwood.
CHAPTER V.
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS.
The boat was coming quickly in, and I could see that
Mistress Allison, who had the steering, knew nothing
at all of the matter, so that the boat in spite of the
efforts of the rowers, was in danger of being carried
past the landing-place on the northward side where
the beautiful beaches of shell-sand are.
Now, though I wished the whole crew far enough,
yet I did not want a drowning match on the Rathan
heuchs, so I ran down alone, the better to pilot them
in. The lads had fled ; and, indeed, their room was
better than their company. Only little Jerry Mac-
Whirter sat calmly finishing his perspective drawing
on the hilltop.
" Tell my mither I'll be doon the noo ! " he cried
after me as I ran. But I thought he was joking, and
went on without reply.
At last the keel grated on the beach, and I pulled
the boat ashore. Even as I did so the daft Maxwell
lass that I was so angry with unshipped her oar, put
her hand on my shoulder, and leaped ashore like a
young goat. The two old wives were speechless with
black anger.
43
44 THE RAIDERS.
" Good-day to you, Mistress Allison and Mistress
MacWhirter, and to you, May Maxwell," I said,
lifting my bonnet to each, and speaking as I ought,
just to show that I was none so rough and landward.
" Guid-day to ye, Adullam ! " says she ; but the
two old wives said neither " Fair-guid-e'en " nor
" Fair-guid-day," but only sat and gloomed and better
gloomed. I stood at the side of the boat to offer them
a hand ; but Mistress Allison waved me away, and
asked the great stot of a farm lad that was at the oar
to jump out and help them ashore.
" No, an' I'll no, eyther ! " said that youth,
pleasantly. " Wull Maxwell said that I was to bide
by the boat — an' so I'll bide. Ye can loup ! "
So help he would not. But he was willing to give
his reasons.
" Wull is my maister, an' he's a man to be mindit,
I'm tellin' ye ! " he said, and that was all they could
get out of him.
So the old wives, who could have eaten all they
liked of me with pleasure and ease, had perforce to
accept my helping hand to get them out of the boat,
which had grounded high on the shell-sand and now
coggled upon an uneven keel.
" Think on the honour o't, Mistress Allison," cried
that randy lass May Maxwell, standing with her hands
on her sides and her elbows crooked out in a fashion of
her own. (I cannot think what made me notice these
things, for I fair hated the lass.) " Think," says she,
"on the honour of being handed oot by a laird on his
ain grund, or raither a prince in his ain kingdom, for
a' this isle will belong to his lordship. Ye're a big
woman the day, Mistress MacWhirter ! " And she
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 45
pretended to look about grandly, as though taking in
a prospect of wide dominions.
But never a word said I out loud, but in to myself
I kept saying, " Ul-tongued hizzy ! " And that I said
over and over.
But she was not yet done, and went on, " Is't
a captain or a general ye are, Adullam ? — my
memory's failin'. I think ye mentioned it the last
time ye were ower by at Craigdarroch. Or is it
nothing less than to be a king that'll serve ye ? My
faith," she added, looking round, " I'm thinkin' that
your standing airmy's a' run awa' ! "
She laughed elvishly here, though I, that am as
full of appreciation of humour as any man, could see
nothing whatever to laugh at.
" Here's the standing airmy, Mistress May Mis-
chief!" cried Jerry MacWhirter, upstanding as bold
as brass on the edge of the sea cliff which rose above
the white sands of the bay.
" Guid mornin' to ye, mither," he said, lifting his
blue bonnet politely; "and my service to you,
Mistress Allison. Your son Andrew sent his love till
ye."
" Ye impudent vaigabond ! "
At the word both of the women made a rush at
him with so angry a countenance that, though a man
grown, with (some) hair on my face, I gave back a
pace myself. But as for little Jerry, he never turned
a hair, but only sat down on the edge of the cliff,
looking now at the group and now at his drawing. It
was as pretty as a play.
" Dinna be in a hurry, mither," he said ; " it's bad
for the disjeestion ; an' this bank's ower steep for
46 THE RAIDERS.
twenty stone, Mistress Allison. Try roon to the
left. There's a bonnier road there."
His mother's tongue got vent.
" Ye sorra' and vexation," she cried, " ye disgrace to
a' oor hoose, that was aye decent grocers ! Wait till
I get ye hame. I'll wile ye hame wi' the strong hand,
my lad, and lay on ye wi' a stout stick when I get ye
there. Ye shall suffer for this if there's hazel oil in
Dumfries, gibin' an' jeerin' at your ain blood-kin."
Little Jerry had a piece of paper on his knee, and
he made marks on it with a callevine (pencil) as if he
were drawing a map. I admired greatly to see him.
" Na, mither," he said ; " nae ill word did I ever
speak to you, or aboot you. I did but advise ye for
your health no to excite or overexert yersel', for, as
ye ken, Doctor Douglas tells ye that it's ill for the
bowel complaint. But my respects to my stepfaither
the Doctor. I hope ye left him weel."
"I tell ye that as sure as my name's Sarrah
MacWhirter, ye'll get sic a lickin' as ye'll no get ower
for a month when ye come back to Dumfries. I'll
get the burgh hangman to attend to ye, gin I haena
the strength o' airm to gar ye lowp mysel'."
At this fearful threat I looked for Jerry to lower his
colours, but he seemed more than usual calm, and
turned his head sideways to look this way and that at
his map, like a wild bird on a bough when it is not
sure about you.
" Na, mither, lickin's dune noo ! It's a' by wi',"
says he ; " so it's no for me to say whether or no yer
name's properly Sarrah MacWhirter or Sarrah Douglas.
I wasna at either o' your waddin's — at least, that I
mind o' — but whether or no, strap, taws, birk, an'
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 47
hazel, are a' by wi' ; and I'll come nae mair hame till
ye promise to let me alane."
" Ye ken, richt weel, ye vaigabone, that ye wad be
let alane. Aye, an' made muckle o' gin ye wad con-
sent to be a decent grocer in the Wynd, an' succeed
yer faither in the shop."
" Na, mither, I'll never be grocer nor yet chandler.
The provision line is a guid trade, but it's no for me.
I was aye that hungrysome that I wad eat a' the
profits. I wad cadge keel first, mither, like Silver
Sand. Can ye no let me alane ? "
His mother and Mistress Allison, quite aghast at
the turn affairs were taking, had retreated, and were
for making their way up the cliff by themselves.
May Mischief had gone back again to the boat, and
was lifting something heavy out of it. I went down
to help her, for I never could abide to see a woman
do man's work, even if I had reason to dislike her, as
I had right good reason to do this lass from Craig-
darroch ; though, to tell truth, I had some better
reasons also to think well of her, as I owned to myself,
remembering the night by the tomb of the MacLurgs
in the kirkyard of Kirk Oswald.
Then I heard little Jerry say from his post on the
top of the cliff, " Might I trouble ye, Mistress Allison,
juist to stan' still till I get your figure dune ? It disna
look bonny withoot the head, especially as I hadna
aneuch paper to draw your feet."
I began to see that though Jerry might be an
exceedingly useful ally with the tongue, his answers,
though soft enough to satisfy Solomon himself, were
not such as to turn away wrath. On the contrary,
if the two ladies were angry when they came seeking
48 THE RAIDERS.
their sons on my island, Jerry had made them ten
times worse now.
All this time I was helping May Maxwell out of
the boat with something heavy, wrapped in a white
cloth. Whatever it was it gave out a rare good smell
to me, who had breakfasted some hours before on
plain flounders tramped on the flats at three in the
morning.
Overhead the two good dames were labouring
upward, Mistress Allison crying as she went —
" Andra ! Jock ! — wait till I catch ye ! "
This mode of address struck me as, to say the least
of it, unwise, and as one might say injudicious.
On the hillside Mistress MacWhirter made in-
effective swoops at her erring son, who evaded her
as easily as a swallow gets out of the way of a cow.
" And, my certes," cried the good dame, exceedingly
irate, " you are michty wasterfu', my laddie ! What
for are ye wearin' your best claes, I wad like to ken ? '
" Because I hae nae better ! " said her obedient son,
for all the answer that was requisite.
The reasoning was excellent. Had he had better
he would have had them on. He had done his best.
I came up the path in the sunlight, carrying the
Maxwell lass's packet under my arm, and mighty
weighty it seemed to be. It was very hot underfoot
with the sun reflected from the rocks. It was clear
sky overhead.
" What are ye gaun to say to them ? " May
Maxwell asked, looking across at me in a way that I
thought kindlier.
" That I do not ken," said I ; " I was thinkin' o'
Jettin' them get it a' their ain way for the sake o' peace."
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 49
"Man, Adullam, for a lad that sets up to be a
general, ye hae little contrivance aboot ye. That's
a' weel eneuch for a while, an' when there's but yin
o' them. But there's twa auld wives' tongues here,
an' it's a'thegither useless, for as sune as the breath o'
yin gaes oot, the ither yin '11 talc' up the tale, and the
deevin' (deafening) will juist be eternal."
" But what will I do then, May Maxwell ? " said I.
" Misca' their bairns to their face. Misca' them for
a' the sornin' tinklers — the lazy, ill-contrivin' loons i'
the country. Gin that disna gar their mithers change
their tunes, my name's no May Maxwell."
" Your name's May Mischief, I see that weel ! "
I said, roguishly.
" What, ho, Adullam ! " she cried, making a pretty,
mocking mouth, "this will never do. Twa o' a
trade will never agree. Dinna you set up to be
waggish, like oor dog Toss that tried to play cat's
tricks on the lip o' the boiler an' fell amang the pig's
meat. Na, na, Adullam, stick to your generalin'
and captainin'. Did ye ever hear o' the calf that tried
to be humorsome."
" No," said I, " and none of your gibes." For
indeed it was no time for tales.
" c Weel,' said the farmer body to the calf, < I ettled
ye for a keeping quey, but a coo wi' a sense o' humour
is a thing that I carina hae aboot the hoose. The last
yin ett a' the wife's half-year's washin'. I'll e'en hae
to see what kind o' veal ye'll mak.' So the humor-
some calf died suddenly. It's a lesson to ye," said
Mistress May, coming quickly to the end of her
parable.
This, as all may see, was ever the way that she
4
50 THE RAIDERS.
jeered at me, and I cannot think how it was that I
was not more angered. Maybe it was because she
was but a little supple bit thing, like the least of my
fingers with a string tied round the middle of it.
When we two got up to the house we went directly
into the kitchen. There we found the two dames
standing in the middle of the floor, and, as one might
say, each turning about on her own pivot, and sniffing
loudly on the nose of contempt. I could hardly keep
from laughing out loud. I looked to May Maxwell
to see if she was at it already. I made sure that, as
she saw humour in so many things, she would find
this vastly amusing.
But I was never more mistaken. Her little nose
was more in the air than usual. I always meant to
tell her when she was going on to me that her nose
turned up at the end. I never did, however, chiefly
because I did not believe that she would have cared a
pin if I had said it.
But her advice was worth the trying.
The kitchen, which had an oaken settle down
one side of it, had also two box-beds let into the
wall, and, in addition, two hammocks hanging for
those of us who preferred the swinging beds. Now
none of these beds were made, though the linen was
clean enough, for Silver Sand took it over to a decent
wife in the village of Orraland every three weeks to
be washed. The bachelor manners of the house of
Rathan did not admit of such a freit as bed-making.
It was to us a vain thing. We rose up, and we
heaved our coverings over the foot of the bed j or we
left them lying on the floor bdneath the hammock
where they had slipped off". When we got in we
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 51
drew them over us again. This was our bed-making.
But in the two elder women, and even in May Mis-
chief, this innocent and pleasing habit occasioned a
new and more bitter indignation.
" And this is the place that ye hae wiled my Andra
and my Johnnie to, puir lads ! " cried Mistress Allison,
her twenty stone of bulk shaking with indignation
and the difficulties of the ascent.
" Will ye please to take seats, my ladies ? " said I,
standing as politely as I could with my hat in my
hand, for I was in my own house.
The two dames looked at me, then at one another.
Finally they seemed to resolve to seat themselves. This
they did, each in her own manner. Mistress Allison
took hold of a chair on which some books and drawings
of little Jerry's were laid. As she tilted it forward these
slid to the floor. The good lady let herself drop
into it as a sack of flour drops on the ground when the
rope slips.
The thin, spare, irascible Mistress MacWhirter took
out of her swinging under-pocket a large India-red
kerchief. Then she carefully dusted the chair, turning
it bottom upward in a way which betrayed a rooted
distrust of everything in the Rathan. May Mischief
simply took a good look at the window-sill, set the
palms of her hands flat upon it at her sides, and hopped
up like a bird, but backwards.
Now the lads Andrew and Johnny Allison, with
Rab Nicoll, their cousin, were hid at the end of the
hallan, where the passage led from the back door out
upon the moor. They were therefore perfectly within
earshot.
As soon as Mrs. Allison got her breath she began,
52 THE RAIDERS.
" Noo, Maister Paitrick Heron, could ye tell me by
what richt ye keep my laddies here, that should be
serving in their father's shop and rinnin' their mither's
messages — you that caa's yersel' a laird ? A bonny
laird, quo' he, to wile awa' decent folk's bairns frae
their ain door cheek to his ramshackle hoose, an' keep
them there — a wheen puir bits o' boys to cut his
firewood, and leeve in this fearsome-like hole."
" Aye," cried the shriller voice of Mistress Mac-
Whirter, " and I'll e'en pit yin to that. It was him
an' nae ither that pat my Jerry, that was aye a guid
lad, past the grocering."
" Thank ye, mither ; your obedient servant, Jerry
MacWhirter," put in the little rascal from the outside
somewhere.
"Ye are a regairdless hound, a black sheep in my
bonny flock, a "
" Puir lad that you an' my stepfaither lickit till he
was black and blue, but that ye'll lick nae mair on
this side o' the grave ! " cried Jerry from the doorway,
showing his witty, comical face round the corner.
I thought it was time now to try May Mischiefs
advice.
" Have ye said all that ye wad like to say ? " I said,
looking from one to. the other.
Neither spoke, knitting their brows and glooming
past one another out at the window. The lassie
Maxwell, whom I gave a look at before I began, to
see how she was taking the matter, had her fingers
plaited together over her knee, holding it a little
up and dangling her foot as she listened, innocent as
pussy-bawdrons thinking on the cream-jug.
" Now, listen to me," said I, very slow and calm,
AULD WIVES' CL AVERS. 53
and speaking as English as I could ; " I have a question
or two to put to you both. In the first place, did I
ask or invite your sons to come to this my house
on the Rathan Isle ? As far as I ken they cam',
every one of them, without ever so much as a l By
your leave ! ' They hae been here, a pack of idle
vagabonds, eating me out of house and home for the
better part of two months. What the better am I of
that ? They have finished a side of pig for me
amang them. I'll be sending ye in a bonny account,
Mistress Allison, for they're braw eaters, juist like
yersel'."
At this Mistress Allison fidged in her seat as though
something was rendering her uneasy. Things were
not going so well. It was one thing for her to abuse
her jewels, but quite another to sit and hear an enemy
give her sons the rough side of his tongue. Mistress
May Maxwell looked on from her perch on the
window-sill, but said never a word. Butter would not
have melted in her mouth.
" And as for your son, Mistress MacWhirter, four
times I have had to expel him out of my house for ill-
bred conduct — - — "
" Five ! Tell the truth when ye are at it, though
ye be a laird ! " corrected little Jerry from the door.
" I stand upon my rights. Five, by Macmillan's
cup ! " 1
" And I declare that I shall no longer harbour such
a nest of rogues and vagabonds on this Isle of Rathan,"
said I ; "there has been no peace since any of the names
1 A communion cup of ancient silver belonging to Macmillan of Bal-
maghie, the first Cameronian minister, to which a special sanctity was
ju idled by the country folk.
54 THE RAIDERS.
of Allison and MacWhirter came hither. More nor
that, I am fully persuaded that they are a' hand in glove
with notorious Freetraders, such as Yawkins and Billy
Marshall. For aught that I know they may be art
and part in supplying undutied stuff to various law-
breaking, king-contemning grocers and even baillies. I
am resolved that I'll lodge informations with the officers
of His Majesty's Preventive forces and get the reward."
When I had finished I took a glint of my eye at
May Mischief to see how she was taking it. I was
rather proud of that last bit about the smuggling
myself, and I thought that she would see the humour
of it too, but instead I saw that she was both pale and
of a frowning countenance. Then I minded that the
Maxwells of Craigdarroch, all the seven big sons of
them, and even the dour Cameronian father, were said
to be deeper in the Gentle Traffic, as it was called,
than any others in the locality.
It was she who spoke first, and her words had a
little tremor in them. " I wad hae ye ken, Laird
Heron," she said, "that there are decent men who do
not allow that King George has any right to say c Ye
shallna brew yerseP a drap o' comfort or bring a barrel
from the Isle withoot my leave, according to the
ancient custom of your fathers,' and yet who have no
trokings or comradeship with Yawkins, the Marshalls,
and their like."
She still sat on her perch on the window-sill, but
she did not swing her feet any more. Indeed she
leant forward a little anxiously.
" Mistress May," says I, " I'm obligated to you for
your word. Indeed it would ill become my father's
son to think any such thing. Far be it from me to
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 55
meddle with decent folk that have their living to get.
But what I'm speakin' of is a very different maitter,
here are three or four idle loons coming and sorning
on me for months "
" Three ! " put in Jerry from the door ; " / work
hard ! " says he.
"Aye, so does the deil," said I, dryly, for all his
work was only slabbering with paint.
The two old ladies stood up together, as you have
seen the sentries of a line of geese picking worms and
gellecks (little beetles like earwigs) on the sand, stretch
their necks at a sound of alarm.
" I wad hae ye learn, you that miscaa's my sons,
Andra' and John, that they are decent lads, come of
decent people, burgher folk, and your faither's son wull
never be like them."
" God forbid ! " said I.
" Nane o' your taunts," she said. "I'm sure nane o'
my lads wull bide a day longer in this house when
I tell them what language ye put upon them, puir ill-
guided, innocent young things."
May Mischief seemed to incline her ear, tipping it
a little to the side as if to listen. I knew well what
was the matter. She was nearest to where these
rascals, Andrew, John, and Rab were hid at the back of
the hallan-end. I could distinctly hear that loon Rab
laughing myself.
"There's rats in this hoose, I'll be bound ! Ouch,
I see one ! " she cried, following something with her
eye along the dark of the passage as if terrified.
" Mistress Allison, tak' care ; I doot it's run in aboot
your coaties ! " she cried, pointing at the threatened
territory with her finger.
56 THE RAIDERS;
That good dame rose once more with greater
agility from her seat than one might have expected
from twenty stone weight.
" Dinna tell me lees, lassie," she cried, switching
her tails about with great fervour.
By mischance she whisked a ball of grey wool which
we had for darning our stockings out from under her.
It bounded away into the dark passage. The ladies
caught a waft of it with the tails of their eyes.
" Save us ! " cried both of them together, springing
upon one chair and clutching one another. " There's
a nest o' them."
May Mischief by this time was standing on the
window-sill as terrified as the rest.
" Patrick Heron, tell me the truth," she cried, with
her eyes like coals; "tell me the truth — are there
really rats in this house ? "
" Plenty of them," quoth I ; " they come on to
the table at supper-time."
Now this is a great mystery, for in all else a braver
lass never breathed. This I will say, and I should
know. She gave me a look that might have bored a
hole in an inch board, and drew her skirts very close
about her ankles. It is my belief that she started
the noise about the rats for mischief, as she does all
things ; but had gotten a glisk of the grey thing that
louped from Mistress Allison's petticoat into the
darkness of the door. Then the terrors that she had
prepared for others came home to herself. At this
moment through the dark passage at the back there
came a noise of scuiflings and squeakings such as rats
make, and a terrible white beast, with long, scaly tail
and red eyes, bounded across the floor past the two stout
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 57
dames standing on the chair, and ran beneath the
window-sill upon which the young woman was
standing. A treble-tongued and desperate scream
went up.
" Now I'll bid ye guid afternoon, ladies ! " I said.
" No, no ! " cried Mistress Allison. " I'll tak' back
every word I said, laird — I wull indeed. I spoke
hastily — I own it."
"Good-day to you, Mistress MacWhirter," I said,
quietly, lifting my cap from the table.
There was more squeaking and scuffling, and, I
fear, the sound of muffled laughter in the passage. I
was only afraid now lest the rogues should overdo the
matter, so I made haste to be going.
" Maister Heron, Maister Heron," cried Mistress
MacWhirter, "my boy can bide here for ever gin he
likes. I'se never say a word to hinder him."
"Thank ye, mither," cried that youth from the
door ; "ye micht send me half a dozen pairs o' socks
when ye gang hame, just for a keepsake."
On the window-sill May Mischief was standing, the
graven image of apprehension.
" Guid e'en to ye, Mistress Maxwell," said I.
The pet white rat, which the rascals in the passage
had let loose from its box, gave a squeak of terror under-
neath. They had pinched its tail before they let it
loose. This was more than enough for the young
Amazon on the window-sill.
" Oh, Pat Heron," she cried, " dinna gang and
leave me ! Oh, I see the horrid beast ! Dinna, Pat,
an' I'll never caa ye c Adullam ' again. Mind the
kirkvard o' Kirk Oswald."
I made as if to prove hard-hearted, and set one foot
58 THE RAIDERS.
past the other in the direction of the door. Then,
without a word or a look to forewarn me of her inten-
tion, she launched herself from the sill of the window
and caught me about the neck.
" Keep that beast off me, Patrick ! " she cried,
clasping me tight.
How we found ourselves outside in the still, silent,
rebuking sunshine after all this noisy riot I never
could tell. But before I knew where I was May
Maxwell broke out on me in anger — she that had
taken me soundly and honestly about the neck but a
moment before. There is no end to the mystery
of woman. Inside the wives were screaming both
together, and then, for a change, turn about.
" Think shame o' yersel', ye great hulk ; ye think
it clever to fley" (frighten) "a wheen silly weemenfolk.
When I get time I'll tell ye what I think o' ye.
Gang in and stop them."
Mistress Allison was crying " Murder ! " and
" Thieves ! " time about without pausing a moment.
May Maxwell looked so imperative and threatening that
I went in again at once. I had meant to remind her
that the matter was her own suggestion, and that she
herself had begun about the rats. But her anger and
her imagination were working so handsomely that
I did not dare. Besides, it is no use casting up any-
thing to a woman. She can always put ten to the
back of anything you say. My father often said so.
So I went in.
No sooner was I within the dark kitchen than
Mistress Allison, perhaps impelled by that terrible
thing example, did as the Maxwell lass had done, and
dropped upon my neck. I was under no illusions
AULD WIVES' CLAVERS. 59
whatever this time as to the manner in which I found
myself on the ground. Mistress Allison is no feather-
weight. But ultimately at the long and last I got
them out, and on the green bank outside I gave them
some refreshment. Then I went into the house and
brought the evil callants out to make their peace and
my own.
"I hae catched the rat," cried little Jerry, "but it
was at the peril of my life. See here ! " He showed
red teeth-marks on his arm.
His mother screamed in mixed fear and admiration.
" Oh, my laddie, hoo durst ye ? A ratton's bite's
poisonous ! "
" D'ye think I'm carin' for that, mither, when I
can do onything to help ye ? "
He passed the limb round for inspection impartially,
as though it belonged to some one else. There were
certainly tooth-marks upon it, but they were broad
and regular. I, who had seen many a rat bite, knew
what the young scoundrel had done as well as if I had
seen him do it. Round the corner he had set his own
teeth in his arm. Then he had rubbed the place hard
for a moment to drive away the blood from under the
skin. So the tooth marks now stood out with alarm-
ing distinctness. It would not have imposed upon a
man for a moment, but it did well enough with
women.
Thus peace was arranged.
But not one of them would venture back into the
terrible house of Rathan ; which was a most strange
and unaccountable thing, for in after days I saw with
my own eyes one of these same fearful women-folk
loading muskets for the fighters under a hot fire with
6o THE RAIDERS.
the greatest coolness, yet at the mention of a white
rat with red eyes any of them to the end of her days
would have got out upon the housetop and screamed.
The Almighty made all things very good without
doubt, but He left some mighty queer kinks in
woman. But then the whole affair of her creation
was an afterthought.
When finally they rowed away with the morose
keeper of the boat that evening all was kindliness and
amity. May Mischief undid the great white parcel
I had helped her to carry up from the boat. It was
an immense pie with most toothsome, flaky crust. To
look at it made our mouths water.
" That's no rat-pie ! " she said, for all good-bye.
And the strange thing is, that from that day,
though I was long in owning it to myself and abused
her as much as ever to other people, I liked the lass
none so ill in my heart.
CHAPTER VI.
THE STILL HUNTER.
But I promised Silver Sand a chapter to himself.
Before all be done the justice of this will be acknow-
ledged. Silver Sand was at that time and for long
after, a problem like those they give to the collegers at
Edinburgh, which the longer you look at, grow the
more difficult. To begin with, there seemed nothing
uncanny about Silver Sand more than about my clogs
with their soles of birk. But after you knew him a
while, one strange and unaccountable characteristic
after another emerged and set you to thinking. We
shall take the plain things first.
Silver Sand was a slenderish man, of middle height,
stooped in the shoulders, and with exceedingly long
arms, which he carried swinging at his sides as if they
belonged to somebody else who had hung them there
to drip. These arms were somehow malformed, but
as no one had seen Silver Sand without his coat, no
one had found out exactly what was wrong. Also he
was not chancy to ask a question of. It was curious,
however, to see him grasp everything from a spoon to
a plough-handle or a long scythe for meadow hay,
with the palm downwards.
61
62 THE RAIDERS.
Silver Sand made no secret of his calling and liveli-
hood. He had a donkey and a dog, both wonderful
beasts of their kind — the donkey, the largest and
choicest of its breed — the dog, the greatest and fiercest
of his — a wolf-hound of the race only kept by the
hill gypsies, not many removes in blood from their
hereditary enemy. This fierce brute padded softly by
his master's side as he in his turn walked by the side
of the donkey, not one of the three raising a head or
apparently looking either to the right or to the left.
I had known Silver Sand ever since I was a lad. It
so chanced that I had been over to the mainland by the
shell-causeway that was dry at every ebb tide. I went
to gather blackberries, which did not grow in any
plenty on Rogues' Island. Now in the tangle of the
copse it happened that I heard a great outcry of boys.
I made straight for them as a young dog goes to a
collieshangie of its kind — by instinct, as it were.
Here I found half a dozen laddies of my own age,
or a little older, who were torturing a donkey. There
is no doubt that the animal could have turned the
tables on its tormentors but for the fact that it was
shackled with a chain and block about its forelegs, so
that QVQiy time it turned to spread its hoofs at its
enemies, it collapsed on its side. When I got near to
it the poor beast had given up trying to defend itself,
and stood most pitifully still, sleeking back its ears
and shutting the lids down on its meek eyes to ward
off the rain of blows.
Now whatever be my own iniquities, I never could
abide ill deeds to dumb things. So I went into the
fray like a young tiger. I had no skill or science
of my hands, but with nails and teeth, with clog-shod
THE STILL HUNTER. 63
feet and plenty of wild-cat goodwill, I made pretty fair
handling of the first half-dozen, till a great lout came
behind, and with the knob of a branch laid me on the
grass. Then it had gone ill with the donkey and
worse with me — for I was far from popular with the
village lads — but for the advent of Silver Sand and his
dog, Quharrie. Then there were sore dowps and torn
breeks among the Orraland callants that night. Also
their mothers attended to them, and that soundly, for
coming home with their clothes in such a state. The
donkey, Silver Sand, and I fell on one another's necks.
Afterwards Silver Sand introduced me to Quharrie —
that terrible dog — making him tender me a great paw-
in a manner absurdly solemn, which made me kin and
blood-brother to him all the days of my life. And I
have received many a gift which I have found less
useful, as you shall hear.
In these troubled times to be a third with Silver
Sand and Quharrie, was better than to be the Pope's
nephew. So in this curious way began my friendship
with Silver Sand.
From that day to this Silver Sand came to Rogues'
Island and Rathan Tower every month. He made
journeys of three weeks' length to all the farm-towns
and herds' cothouses in the lirks of the hills, with keel
in winter and scythe-sand in summer — and it may
be a kenning of something stronger — that had never
King George's seal on it. But I asked him nothing
of this last.
At any rate he had the freedom of the hill fastness
of the gypsies up by the Cooran and the Dungeon of
Buchan, and he would make my blood run cold with
tales of their cruelty and wrong-Joing, and of the
64 THE RAIDERS.
terror which they spread through all Carrick and the
hill country of Galloway.
It was a heartsome sight to see the encampment of
Silver Sand by the little burnside, that came down from
the high spring on Rathan Isle. It was aye like a
breath of thyme to me. For one thing the place was
really green all the year round, and seemed to keep
hidden about it the genius of the spring.
So Silver Sand and Quharrie, his great wolf-dog,
appeared there with a kind of regular irregularity, so
that we grew to expect them. Some morning, looking
out of my deep-set wicket in the high old house of
Rathan, there would be a whiifof blue wood smoke
rising down upon the side of the Rathan Linn, which
made me hurry on my clothes and omit my prayers,
which indeed are not so pressing in the morning.
When I came in sight of the encampment I usually
ran, for there I would see Silver Sand pottering about
in front of his bit tent, with a frying-pan or a little
black cannikin hung above his fire from three crooked
poles in the fashion he had learned from the gypsies.
Whenever I think of Paradise, to this day my mind
runs on gypsy poles, and a clear stream birling down
among trees of birk and ash that cower in the hollow
of the glen from the south-west wind, and of Silver
Sand frying Loch Grannoch trout upon a skirling
pan. Ah, it was ever the prime of the morning and
the spring of the year when Silver Sand camped on
Rathan.
" Shure, the top av the morn in' to ye, Pathrick ' "
cried Silver Sand, as soon as he had sight of me.
He had a queer, smileless humour of his own, and
often used to pretend that I was an evergreen Paddy
THE STILL HUNTER. 65
because my father, for my future sins, had dubbed me
Patrick.
"Shure, an' the same to you, and manny av thim,
Brian Boru ! " it was my invariable custom to reply,
which pleased him much. Then I would get a red
speckled trout fresh out of the pan, which the night
before had steered his easy way through the clear
granite-filtered water of Loch Skerrow. It was
hardly food for sinful mortals. And all the time
Silver Sand told me strange tales and stirred the cold
potatoes in the pan where the trouts had been frying,
till they were burned crisp and delicious. On such
mornings there were no breakfasts for me at all in
the house. Indeed as long as Silver Sand remained
on Isle Rathan I only looked in occasionally at the
tower to see that all went well, but if the weather
were good I did not trouble the inside of it.
As for Silver Sand he never was comfortable inside
a room for more than half an hour together. The
wide lift was his house, and sun or shine, rain or fair,
made little difference to him.
The tales he told about the wild country by the
springs of Dee set me all agog to go there, and I
often asked him to take me with him.
"Ah, Pathrick, my lad, it's no for me to be leading
you there, and you with neither father nor mother.
It's a wild country and the decent folk in it are few.
Wi' man, I dinna even take Neddy into the thick of it.
'No farder than the Hoose o' the Hill for Neddy,' says
he, 'and thank you kindly.' But Quharrie and me's
another matter. Where Ouharrie and his master
canna gang, the 111 Thief himseP daurna ride. For
Silver Sand can fill his bags o' the fine, white granite
5
66 THE RAIDERS.
piles on Loch Enoch shore, watched by a dozen of
the bloody Macatericks and the wilder Marshalls, an'
no yin o' them a hair the wiser."
And this was no idle boast, as you shall hear ere
the story ends.
Here I drew a long breath. These tales made my
quiet life here on the island seem no better than that
of the green mould which grew on the " thruch "
stones in the kirkyard.
I longed for the jingle-jangle of the Freetraders'
harness or the scent of the outlaws' camp-fires among
the great granite boulders.
" No yin o' them a hair the wiser," said Silver
Sand, striking a light with his flint and steel, and
transferring the flame when it lowed up to the bowl
of his tiny elf's pipe, so small that it just let in the top
of his little finger as he settled the tobacco in it as it
began to burn.
So the days went on and the lads at the house
buzzed about and went and came to their meals — the
Allisons and Rab Nicoll. Only little Jerry came
down to us by the waterside, for Silver Sand could be
"doin' wi' him" — boys in general, and even those
under my protection, he held in utter abhorrence.
Once Jerry brought tidings.
" There's a sharp-nosed brig with high sails setting
in for Briggus Bay or Maxwell's landing. She's been
beating off and on a' day with her tops'ls reefed," said
Jerry, in a careless way which intimated that he was
of opinion that his news was important, but which
yet left him a porthole if it did not turn out so to be.
In a moment Silver Sand sprang up the side of the
bank to a favourite lookout station of his own.
THE STILL HUNTER. 67
He came down shaking his head. The news ap-
peared important enough to Silver Sand to please even
Jerry, who loved excitement of every sort.
" There's deviltry afoot ! " he said. " That's
Yawkins and his crew, an' Silver Sand kens what
they're after brawly, the ill-contriving wirricows — but
we'll diddle them yet."
Then looking down at the great dog, he cried, with
a kind of daft glee —
" Up an' waur them a', Quharrie,
Up an' waur them a', man ;
There's no a Dutchman i' the pack
That's ony guid ava, man — Hooch ! "
And Silver Sand, usually so dignified, executed a
fandango on the beach, his long arms hanging wide
of his sides and his light and limber legs twinkling.
Quharrie also lifted up his forepaws, moving them
solemnly, as though he wished to join his master in
his reel.
So it wore to evening and the stars came out.
Silver Sand seemed far from easy. He ran repeatedly
up to the lookout place, which he called Glim Point,
but ever came back unsatisfied.
" It's no dark aneuch yet to see weel ! " he said, for
his eyes seemed to be of greatest service at night when
the light was shut from the eyes of others.
" We'll hae veesitors the nicht, doon by the
Rogues' Hole, I'm thinkin'," said Silver Sand.
It was about half an hour past nine o'clock when
Silver Sand's nervousness became very apparent and
unsettling to myself. He ran about his camp and up
to the hilltop — in and out all the while, like a dog at
68 THE RAIDERS.
a fair. Quharrie also bristled up his hair and shot his
short, sharp ears forward, and under his black lips
there was a gleam of white teeth, like the foam line
on the shore on a dark, blowy night.
Ouite suddenly a light flickered out of the gloom
across the water in the direction of the farmhouse of
Craigdarroch, and then Silver Sand's agitation became
pitiful to see. He ordered me about like a dog — nay,
like a very cur, for never a word uncivil did he say to
Ouharrie that was a dog indeed. The beast seemed
to understand him without a word, watching his look
with fierce eyes that shone like untwinkling stars.
" Gae to the House of Rathan, and bid the lads bar
every door and no sleep a wink the nicht. Tell them
to loaden a' your faither's guns, but no to shoot unless
the ill-doers try to break in the door. It's little likely
that they'll meddle wi' the big hoose o' Rathan, that
has no store of nowt or horse beasts. But wha kens ?
— wha kens ? — the gleds (kites) are gatherin' frae
the north an' frae the sooth. Ootland Dutchmen an'
French Monzies — broken men frae a' the ports o'
Scotland, and the riflf-rafFo' the Dungeon o' Buchan."
I ran to the house and startled the lads with my
news. And here again was a strange thing. The
boys that had hidden from their mothers so lately
brisked up, and if any of them were downhearted
about their position, they did not let the others see
it. It had been recognised among us that we might
have some trouble with the bad crew of smugglers,
whom my father's reputation as a marksman and
past-master in the Freetrade craft, had hitherto kept
at a distance. But even I had no small conceit of
myself, and I thought that I could soon make my-
THE STILL HUNTER. 69
self as respected among any Yawkins and his crew as
ever my father had been. In which, as it happened,
I was grievously mistaken, for without Silver Sand,
I had been no better than a herring hung by the
gills in the hand of these unscrupulous men. I named
Andrew Allison captain of the stronghold of Rathan
till my return, for we did everything in military
fashion ; and gave him the key of the glazed press of
guns, which we often spent our wet days in oiling
with immense care and forethought. It gave me
pleasure only to look upon the row of them, shining
like silver on the rack.
For myself I took a pair of pistols, and was for
bringing the same out to Silver Sand, when I remem-
bered that without doubt he had his own by him.
CHAPTER VII.
THE RED COCK CROWS AT CRAIGDARROCH.
When I got back again to the shore Silver Sand was
already in the boat, Quharrie crouching in the bow.
I offered one of my pistols.
" Leave thae nesty things at hame," he said, with
unusual shortness of temper. "They'll be gaun blaffin'
aff when there's mair need to be as quiet as an ash-
leaf twirlin' to the grund in a windless frost. Talc' a
durk, man, instead ! "
He handed me a long, deadly-looking weapon in a
leather case, the look of which I did not like at all ;
yet, for the sake of peace, I stuck it in my black
belt with the brass buckle, alongside of the pistols in
their cases.
Silver Sand took the oars. He did not stick his
weapon — a dirk like mine — into his belt, but held it
gripped between his knees as he rowed. His oars
made no noise, neither on the rullocks nor yet when
he drew them into the boat to ship them when I had
got the little rag of a sail far forward to fill and draw.
Then Silver Sand steered with an oar. He made
direct for the Maxwells' landing-place. The star
before us at Craigdarroch grew larger and larger.
Flames shot up far into the sky, so that the sea was
7o
THE RED COCK CROWS. 71
lighted up for miles. Only under the shadow of the
woods, of Orraland, where the trees almost dipped
their branches in the salt water at high tide, was there
the safety of darkness.
So we kept far to the right, and skirted the shore
almost under the trees. As we came close in, we lost
the light wind which, a hundred yards from the cliff",
seemed to slant upwards and leave the shore line
breathlessly still, while from the burning onstead of
Craigdarroch the flames and smoke were tossed west-
ward in the strong breeze.
Situated as I was in the bow, I could not ask any
questions, and Silver Sand had not volunteered me any
information ; but I remembered that there was bad
blood between the lads of Craigdarroch and the evil
crew who went under the name of Captain Yawkins'
gang. It might well be that they were now taking
their revenge on the house ; and little as I cared, in
the way of love, for May Maxwell, it made my blood
run cold to think of her at the mercy of these sea
scoundrels and hill gypsies, who thought no more of
carrying away a lass from the Lowlands than of killing
one of their neighbours' sheep.
When at last we got into the shadow of the trees,
and ran the boat safely ashore in the slushy sand of the
little cove under the beeches by Orraland Gate, Silver
Sand whispered in my ear that we must " keep wide,"
which is a herd's term for keeping some distance from
the flock in order not to alarm them.
" It's likely," said he, " that ye may hae some wark
wi' your shootin' aims. Keep them handy, an' when
ye hear me cryin' like a hoolet, ye can rin in to me,
but dinna fire gin ye can help it. The seven Max-
72 THE RAIDERS.
well lads are a' awa' ower at the Isle o' Man, an' thae
vaigabones are dootless makkin' the best o't. It's the
lassie that I'm vexed for ; the rest might snore up in
reek for me" — a thing which I wondered to hear him
say.
Quharrie and Silver Sand sprang clear of the boat,
and I followed, knapping my toe on a stone as I did
so. I uttered a sharp exclamation.
" My man, it's as weel to tell ye sune as syne. In
ten minutes as muckle noise as that will get ye sax
inches o' smugglers' jockteleg in the wame o' ye.
They're no canny, thae boys, when onybody comes
across them. There's Dago thieves amang them, oot-
landish jabberers wi' the tongue, but gleg wi' the
knife as a souter wi' his elshin."
When we got up on the hillside clear of the woods
we could look down on the farmsteading of Craigdar-
roch. The ricks of corn which had been left unthrashed
from last year's harvest were in a blaze. Black figures
of men ran hither and thither about the house and
round the fires. We could see them disappearing into
the office-houses with blazing peats and torches. The
thatch of the barn was just beginning to show red.
Narrow tongues of fire and great sweeps of smoke
drove to leeward against the clear west. It was
strange that there seemed no help coming from the
other neighbouring farm-towns. We heard after-
wards that the Black Smugglers had sent a man with
a loaded gun to stand at the gate of each farm close,
and keep all within doors at the peril of life.
" It's the auld man's brass kist they're after, I'se
warrant," said Silver Sand ; " and maybes the bit lass
as weel."
THE RED COCK CROWS. 73
I had not the least conception what he meant by
the " brass kist," but it grieved me to see the bonny
corn that had grown so golden on the braes anent the
isle screeving up in fire to the heavens ; and when he
mentioned the lass my heart sank within me only to
kindle again like fire the moment after.
"Yawkins threatened that he wad gar the Red
Cock craw on Auld Man Maxwell's rooftree afore the
year was oot, an' faith, he's dune it. But the seven
bauld brithers, sirce me, but they'll be wild men when
they come hame."
We were now on a heathery eminence, dry above
and wet beneath.
" Here's a hidie hole for ye, young Rathan," said
Silver Sand, giving me even at that moment my laird's
title, which he did not do often. " Clap close and
bide till Ouharrie an' me comes for ve ! "
With that he pointed with his finger to his great
wolfhound, and away in opposite directions the two
set at top speed, the man bending nearly as low as the
dog. The east wind whipped the bent, and the
crackling of the burning rafters and blazing stacks
came most unpleasantly to my ears. I wondered at
the time why there was no noise of men crying.
That was, I knew afterwards, due to Captain Yawkins
of Sluys, a very notable man, who forbade it. When
he was hung, some time afterwards, for piracy at
Leith, there were seventeen warrants out against him
for all manner of crimes, from trepanning a lass on the
Isle of Gometra (somewhere in the Highlands), to
bloody piracy on the high seas. When I was in
Edinburgh last I saw him swing in chains on Leith
sands, very well tarred, and the flesh dried flat to the
74 THE RAIDERS.
bones with the bensillins; 1 wind off the Baltic lands.
And he is more comfortable there than he had been in
old Richard Maxwell's hands that night.
This, at least, was his doing, and even then the cup
of his iniquities was brimming perilously near the lip.
Captain Yawkins would not much oftener seek the
port of Sluys.
It behoved me, however, to lie low among the
heather, and watch warily the tarry scullions that were
making such a hash of the bien and comfortable
homestead. Only about two hundred yards from
where I lay in the sheuch (trench) of the moss-hagg,
I could see, plai'n as black on white, a sailor man
with a musket which he took over his shoulder as if he
had been one of His Majesty's red soldiers — as indeed
he was, but deserted and waiting for the tow-rope or
the ounce of lead which, in good sooth, and in the
fitting time of an all-wise Providence, he received in
due course.
The place where I lay was on the edge of the wild
country which stretches along the shore, very close in
all round Galloway, save only about the estuaries of
the rivers. From it the moors run back, in broken
moss-hagg and scattered boulder-stone, to the Screel
o' Criffel, which is the highest hill in that locality,
and as they say, stands up from Solway, watching the
tides and spinning the weather.
I was to do nothing except lie thus prone on my
forefront, with my nose cocking out of the heather,
and keep a watch till Silver Sand came back. It
grieved me to be so actionless. It would have suited
me better to be up and doing, if it were only to escape
1 A " bensil " is a cold, bask, dry east wind.
THE RED COCK CROWS. 75
that lass's tongue. But my heart grew sore for the
thought of her among all these regardless men.
Now there were a number of low, dwarfish scurrie
thorns, bent away from the sea by the wind, on this
waste place — the moor being generally very flat and
bare. I remembered that I had come over to harry
gleds' nests here in the years when yet my father was
alive, and I could think on such things.
It came to my mind also at the same time that that
was both a higher and a safer place for my watch
quite near, by reason that it stood on a little mound
that had been made by the hand of man, some say
for the purposes of baron's justice in the old time of
pit and gallows. There was also a stone dyke round
a well, which always flowed cool and clear from under
a great rock in the midst of the bit scrunts of birks
and flat-lying, ground-creeping thorns.
I did not think that Silver Sand would be disap-
pointed or angry, because the place where I designed
to go was but a few hundred yards further west, and
at the head of a glen which led up from the shore.
This would also, as I well knew, be our best road
to the boat we had left on the shingle. So, as silently
as I could, I retreated through the long trough of
the cold, black-looking moss-haggs. I had not gone
far, progressing, as the partan (crab) is said to do,
backwards, when a great rush of escaping cattle tore
over the face of the moor, and one great stot coming
my way trod upon me and "gorrochcd" me deeper
into the black peat broth. For a long while I lay
still as death, but as there seemed to be no pursuer,
more stealthily than ever I resumed my way.
Soon I was climbing, a fearsome spectacle of dirt,
y6 THE RAIDERS.
up the side of the knowe of the " scroggie thorns."
Suddenly, as I crawled, I was seized from behind in a
grasp that threatened to dislocate my neck-bone, and
a voice in my ear said, very low and deadly —
" Yae word, ye crawlin' blastie, an' I'll let the life
oot o' ye ! "
Now this was not at all a useful observation. It
was a perfect impossibility for me to utter a word had
my life depended on it, for the thumbs which were
choking me had been at the work before, and the
pressure on my windpipe threatened to shut out the
breath of life from me in a few moments. There
were flashes of fire in my eyes, and stars that fell and
burst ; a sound as of a great spate of waters roared
in my ears ; then darkness.
To all intents and purposes I died then, ror to lose
consciousness by violence is to die. What more is
there left to experience — in this life, at least ?
CHAPTER VIII.
NIGHT ON THE MOOR.
When I came to myself it was through the buzzing
of a hundred million bees, each as large as my hand.
It was a cold country I travelled through back to this
earth, so cold that I wondered how such great bees
came there and what flowers they were that they fed
on, and who hived them, and what would happen if
one of them stung me. Also many other things I saw
which it would be tiresome to write down, even if
there were a winter's forenight to do it in. But after
the bees there followed a thought of pie, and what a
pity it was that I had not got that lass Maxwell's pie
eaten before I died. It was a good pie. It was warm,
too, when she brought it, and I was so cold. Then
at the last I wondered where I might be. I said to
myself, " I know not where this place is, but it is not
heaven, at any rate, so I must e'en content myself."
Yet I remember I was not very much alarmed, nor
yet very much disappointed. It was, in fact, as I had
expected, or so like it that there was no need to make
complaints. I had a comfortable sense of being some-
how provided for.
When I came alive again there was a light on my
77
78 THE RAIDERS.
face from somewhere, and somebody's arm was round
my head, and there was a stronger suggestion of pie
in my mind than ever.
" Is he come to ? " said some one in a man's gruff
voice, but yet softly.
u No yet, faither. I think he's comin' ; but he's
gotten an unco chirt" (sudden squeeze), "puir laddie."
" It was a muckle bullock, May," said I, as hoarse
as a crow, the words whistling in my throat like the
night wind in the keyhole of the outer door. Being
awake now I was aware how it was that my thoughts
had run on pie, which, when you come to think of it,
is a sufficiently curious thing to think upon when you
are dead.
" Aye, it was my faither," she said, quietly, and
quite in earnest, transferring my head from her
shoulder to some kind of pillow made of young
bracken and a shawl — no kind of exchange at all,
to my thinking. " He thocht ye war yin o' the
robbers."
" An' weel it is for you, young Rathan, that my
dochter kenned ye ; for had ye been yin o' that
accursed crew o' Yawkins', ye wad hae suppit in hell
the nicht," said the old man of Craigdarroch, solemnly
and without heat, simply stating a fact which might
be relied upon, i wondered to hear him, for though
he had been a wild man most of his days, in his later
years he had become a great professor and a regular
attendant on the Cameronian meeting at the Nine
Mile Bar.
There was a cut on Richard Maxwell's forehead,
done, as his daughter presently told me, with a
seaman's cutlass when he broke away from them.
NIGHT ON THE MOOR. 79
They had been awakened by the herd-boy crying that
the outlaws were come down from the hills to drive
the cattle. Maxwell wakened easily, being a light
sleeper, and his daughter was soon beside him, and
that in much better order of apparel, as my own
observation told me, than might have been deemed
possible in such hasty and sudden deray.
Her father cried to her to come and help him to
carry away a chest of papers and valuables which the
robbers were coming to search for in his house at
Craigdarroch ; for this Captain Yawkins had often
threatened to do, swearing that he would harry Max-
well the Psalm-singer (for so they nominated him)
with fire and sword, with the driving of cattle, and the
hamstringing of horse. So ere the mounted smugglers
arrived, May and her father got clear of the steading
and came out here to the moss-haggs where for the
present they were safe. But it happened that her
father, not content with what he had possession of,
ran back that he might get his Bible. Then some of
the outrunners of the robber band coming or he was
aware, thrust in on him before he could win clear ;
but he broke through them, leaving one on his back
at the steading gate, which is called the White
Liggate ; it is on the way to the watering-place
where the plough-horses drink. And so he came
hither with his coat most torn off his back, a great
ragged cut on his brow, yet holding his Bible in one
hand and a naked sword in the other.
This was the substance of what I learned lying
there on the moor on May Maxwell's shawl, while
old Richard Maxwell in a low voice cursed the
destroyers of his home and plenishing with great
80 THE RAIDERS.
curses out of the Book of Psalms. It made me
admire greatly to hear him so ready with his Bible
words.
To us lying there in a little came Silver Sand and
Quharrie, breathed and " peching " with the race.
Silver Sand looked a sharp reproach when I told him
how it was that I came hither, out of the place and
duty in which he left me ; but he said no word,
neither then, nor yet afterwards. May Maxwell and
her father did not take his appearing as at all a strange
thing ; of which I now think the reason to be that all
Silver Sand's movements were so still and secret that
no one would have been much astonished at any hour
of the day or night had he appeared at their door or
suddenly vanished from their sight. Yet to me he
was always good and kind ; and, indeed, so remains
to this day — though now he is, as he says, so stricken
in years that the tether-rope is round his foot, with
rheumatism in the joints for clog and shackle to keep
him nearer home, which means near the old house of
Rathan.
" We maun quit from here and that right speedy,"
said Silver Sand, " for they are firing the heather and
bent, and it will run like February muirburn in this
dry, easterly wind."
" What is it they want ? " said I to Silver Sand, for
I could now sit up, and was feeling infinitely better.
In truth it was more the surprise of it that hurt me
than the old man's thumbs, or even the cloots (hoofs)
of that great rampaging stot which trampled me into
the moss-hole when the drove went over me.
"What is't they want ? " said Silver Sand, testily.
" The outlaws, what they can find — but Yawkins, he
NIGHT ON THE MOOR. 81
wants that bit kist " (pointing to the brass-bound box
on which old Craigdarroch was sitting), "an' anither
lad that I ken o', he's mair anxious to fa' on wi' the
lass, I'm thinkin'."
At this May Maxwell, kneeling by her father,
seemed to draw nearer to me in the darkness ; but
whether it was from curiosity to hear, or only for
company and the sense of safety, I could not at that
time rightly understand.
The old man was keeping straight on, interposing
prayers among his curses in a manner which, had the
matter been a trifle less serious, might have produced
laughter. But none of us had even a trifling sense of
humour among us that night.
" Curse them," he said, hissing his words — " curse
them root and branch ! But I maim try to be patient.
It's doubtless the Lord's will that my seven braw sons
should be awa' at the Isle o' Man when this comes
upon me in my auld age. I maun e'en try to bear this.
It's after ci the LorcVs will — but wait till they get
hame, thae seven braw lads, an' come to the blackened
waa's o' Craigdarroch, and see the grey ash on the
rick-bottoms that their ain hands laid, an' a' the bonny
sheaves gane luntin' up into the sky — there'll be a
vengeance that day so that they shall tell it to the
babe yet unborn — yea, for many days. But, after a',
it's a mercy it's nae waur, an' we maun try to be
patient. It is the Lord's will ! "
CHAPTER IX,
IN RAMSAY BAY.
How all this came about I did not learn for long after,
nor what was the pick that the Black Smugglers had
taken at the Maxwells, though I was about to put my
hands so deep in their quarrels. Nor, in truth, did I
greatly care; but it is a good tale, and necessary to
the proper understanding of the whole matter from
the beginning. It was told to me severally by
Ebenezer Hook, who on that dav steered the Van
Hoorn in action (which, at that time, was the name
of Captain Yawkins' brig), and also by Kennedy
Maxwell, the youngest of the seven brothers who had
gone for their spring cargo to the Isle of Man.
I shall try to straighten out these two tangled stories
as best I may. The motive of the Maxwells was
plain. Will, the eldest, had news of a tidy cargo of
French brandy, German perfumes, and Vallenceens
lace snug on the northern shore ot Ramsay Bay. So
his brothers and he set sail in the Spindrift^ the little
lugger of fourteen tons, which had run many cargoes
and brought much joy and sorrow to the adventurous
house of the Maxwells of Craigdarroch.
82
IN RAMSAY BAY. 83
Now it so happened that in Ramsay Bay at that
time Captain Yawkins (the head of the "Black" side
of the traffic, as the Maxwells chieftained the "White")
lay becalmed, with his boats out for towing and his
sentinels on Maungold Head lest a ship of war should
come and surprise him within the harbour.
It was the great Yawkins' custom to ask for what
he wanted, and if he did not get it — why then, with
no more words to take it with violence superadded
to revenge the ignominy of the refusal. Word was
brought to him that the Galloway Maxwells were just
about to lift a " square " cargo of the finest ever
run from the island. Some enemy no doubt took
to Yawkins this news — as might well be, for the
Maxwells were a little over-fond of the strong hand
themselves.
Forthwith came Captain Yawkins in the grey of
the morning, and from their snug hiding-place in
lee of the Red Fisherman's cottage, took the linen-
wrapped webs of the fine Vallenceens, the ankers of
French brandy, and the cases of the sweet-smelling
water of Cologne. The Red Fisherman ran to the
shore as the men from Yawkins' longboat were land-
ing, and with his fingers to his mouth gave the
"gled's whistle" — the piercing signal agreed upon
between himself and his employers, the Maxwells.
Up tumbled these seven dark-haired men from the
tiny forepeak and from under the spread sail. In the
stillness of the morning they could hear the rattle of
, their own beloved casks as they were swung into the
boat of their adversary. Now the Maxwells were no
long-suffering persons, and it had not been like them
to let their goods go without an effort.
84 THE RAIDERS.
With his sheath-knife ready at his hip, Will Max-
well cut the rope of their small anchor as it ran over
the stern.
" Away with the foresail ! " he cried.
In a trice the great brown sail, barkened with tan-
pit juice as was Galloway wont, mounted steadily aloft
and took the wind. Will Maxwell ordered his crew
to haul the sheet aft, and in a moment the dainty
little lugger was dancing over the ripples, running
straight for the robber longboat, which was now
reaching out for Captain Yawkins' ship that lay in
the offing at the mouth of the bay, just under
Maungold Head.
Will Maxwell handled his little craft well. She
came away with the breeze in her great square of sail
faster than anything else would have done in that
light wind, the ripples talking briskly under her fore-
foot, lapping and making a pleasant noise. So Kennedy
Maxwell says, and he wonders how he had time to
think on these things. He also admired much to see
a black corbie of the great sea breed chase a pirate
gull, and force it to drop a fish it had just taken
from one of the white-breasted sea-birds which were
wheeling and plunging about. Kennedy Maxwell says
that he felt himself upon a similar quest.
But the bay was so narrow and the rowing boat
came on so fast that the man in the stern sheets had
only time to cry, " Hold ofY, you lubbers, or you'll
run us down ! " before the prow of the Spindrift
crashed right along the larboard side of the ship's
longboat, carrying away the oar-blades before there
was time to ship them. Six of the Maxwells tumbled
into the longboat in a moment and were hard at it
IN RAMSAY BAY. 85
with fist and whinger, while Will stayed aboard and
made fast to the stern with his boathook.
The brothers had a great advantage in leaping from
a height, and it may be that the Black Smugglers did
not fight at all up to their reputation. Indeed, except
that peppery Welshman, Ap Evans, in the stern sheets,
no one of them had much heart in the business.
Moreover, a jollyboat did not give them fair scope
for the display of their powers. They required the
sweep of a ship's deck, and there, as we shall see, they
were no cowards.
Ap Evans gave David Maxwell a long, slashing cut
down the outer arm, which bothered him for manv a
day. But he was soon held by Kennedy, who had
never before seen the blood flow, and was therefore
the most heedless, while black-bearded Will from the
lugger kept the others quiet with a pistol. It took
no long time for the active brothers to get their cargo
on board their own boat again and sail away, feeling
themselves very big men indeed — a sentiment which,
however, did not make them any the safer.
As they cast loose Will Maxwell cried, "My com-
pliments to Captain Yawkins, and thank him kindlv
for his assistance in getting our stufF aboard. It
was freendly done. Say that I'll no forget it."
" The devil fly away with you, for an ugly Gallo-
way stot ! " cried Ap Evans, the Welshman, his
twinkling grey eyes contracted as to their pupils till
the black within them shrunk to the merest pin-points.
Kennedy says that he noticed this particularly, for it
reminded him of their grim cat Toby when he was
watching the cage-bird.
So the seven bold brothers bore awav with no
86 THE RAIDERS.
greater damage than a cutlass slash, which did not yet
bother David much, the wound not having had time
to stiffen.
All this time Captain Yawkins was not idle. He
had been awakened from his morning sleep by the
news that his attempt on the Maxwells' cargo was
likely to fall awry. So being, like all his kind, both
swift and energetic, he at once ordered his boats out,
made haste to get his anchor up, cast loose his Long
Toms, and prepared to intercept the daring lads of
Galloway as soon as they came between him and the
shore.
This he might possibly have done, but it so hap-
pened that just when Will Maxwell was bandying
compliments with old Ap Evans, the smugglers' watch
set on Maungold Head signalled that there was danger
approaching. Thrice the signal came, in a way that
could not be misunderstood. Indeed it had been
made before, but so intent were the men aboard of
the Fan Hoorn on watching the affray of the boats
that not an eye had seen the first signals.
Round the Head, beating up from the south in the
light wind, came a vessel with tall spars sweeping the
sky.
" A myriad devils," cried Skipper Yawkins, " we
have watched these landlubbers overlong. We shall
lose our ship. Here she comes. By the weathercock
of Krabbendyk, 'tis the Seahorse^ boys — sloop of war
of eighteen guns. See the jack at her mizzen. Mark
their sky scrapers. She means to have us, boys, but
then / mean that she shall not. Captain Yawkins is
not the man to be fooled twice in a morning."
The men bustled about the decks — Dago rats and
IN RAMSAY BAY. 87
broad-beamed Dutchmen, hill country gypsies taken
to smuggling — and the whole crew of outlaw men
gave a rousing cheer, for they were angry and wanted
to have it out with some one. Before the guns were
cast loose and their muzzle sheetings removed Ap
Evans came on board, and his strident voice was
to be heard setting the men to their quarters, for
Captain Yawkins fought his brig like a king's ship.
Indeed many a king's ship was less well found. Two
Long Tom stern chasers looked over the tafFrail, six
twelve-pounder carronades grinned throsgh the ports ;
and besides these there was Yawkins' pet, a fine new
twenty-four pounder on the forecastle, just shipped
and never yet fired.
Out between the heads of Ramsay Bay the Gallo-
way lugger went spinning. In ordinary times she
would have got a shot across her bows to heave her
to, but Lieutenant Mountenay of the Seahorse had
mettle more attractive than a possible score of brandy
ankers under the sheepskins and bullock-hides of the
lugger Spindrift. So the Maxwells tossed their bonnets
in an ecstasy of salutation, and bore away north for
White Horse Bay. It happened, however, that at the
Point of Ayre they saw the spars of yet another
king's man, waiting in the seaway with her topsails
backed, keeping in the clear morning a bright look-
out upon the four coasts. It was not in their mind to
run any more risks when they had once come so well
off". So Will Maxwell turned the head of the Spin-
drift southward in the direction of Derby Haven,
where for safety they landed the goods again ; and by
the time that the second king's ship, which proved to
be the preventive schooner Ariel, sent a boat aboard,
88 THE RAIDERS.
the Maxwells were once more peaceful, coast-wise
traders, with a cargo of salt, alum, barytes for the men
of Mona, and hides and sheepskins to take back in
exchange to the tanneries of Dumfries.
So the young officer who came on board was obliged
to report all right upon his return. But MacCallum,
the boatswain of the Ariel, said to Kennedy Maxwell —
"My lad, this may do yince, an' twice, an' gin ye
hae luck three times ; but at the hinder end ve'll cool
yer heels in Kirkcudbright jail. An' that's no a
bonny place, I can assure ye."
" Hoot, Rab," said Kennedy, " it's no sae lang since
ye war rinnin' the bonny faulds o' lace wi' the best o'
us. Ye canna hae muckle to say."
" Aye, Kennedy, to my shame that's ower true, but
I hae seen the error o' my ways in time ! "
" Likely that," returned Kennedy, dryly, " an' the
guid o' a pound a week and a pension at the hinder end."
"Aweel, Kennedy, say as ye like, my word was
kindly meant, lad," said the boatswain.
" An' kindly ta'en," said Kennedy, nursing his arm
with his other hand ; " but gin I war you I wad come
nae mair to yon toon. My faither's a passionate man,
in spite o' havin' seen the error o' his ways."
"What for should I keep awa' frae your hoose or
ony ither hoose ? " cried Rab MacCallum. " Ye ken
Deputy Dallas, the gauger, is there every ither nicht."
" I ken that," said Kennedy. "Ye see the way o't is
this, MacCallum — my faither can be doin' wi' preven-
tive men, an' at a pinch he can put up wi' maybe a
smuggler or twa. But the man he canna do wi' is
the man that has been yae thing an' noo is anither, an'
wha tries to keep a fit in ilka camp ! "
IN RAMSAY BAY. 89
" Naebody ever said that I gied information," said
MacCallum.
" Na," said Kennedy, " but ye come frae Rerrick
and the sted o' the gallows that hanged Henry Greg
is atween yer een." l
The boatswain flew into a passion.
" I'll catch ye yet, you Maxwells ; you an' your
prood sister. Ye a' hae the gibin' tongue an' the
pridefu' e'e that scorns honest fowk. But I'll hae ye
laid low some day yet."
" That shows," cried Kennedy, " that ye hae tried
to do it afore. A fig for your threatenings. Ye're
like daft Tammy Norie's bladder that he carries
daudin' on a stick — fu' o' wind, and maybe a pea or
two rattling i' the wame o' ye ! Nocht else ! "
1 A dark hint at a supposed local propensity for underhand work.
CHAPTER X.
SMUGGLER AND KING'S MEN.
Meanwhile there was a braver job going forward
between the Heads of Ramsay. For the account of
this I am obliged to Ebie Hook, who all that day
was at the tiller of the Fan Hoorn^ stretched whiles
across it, with a strong Dutchman to help him to
twirl it round, and whiles steering her with his finger
and thumb to sail her within a cat's jump of the orders
of Captain Yawkins.
Now there have been many things said against
that wondrous Dutchman, and no doubt he had many
a sin on his soul, forbye murder in all its different
degrees ; but there are two things that no one could
ever lay to his charge — that Yawkins was either
coward or bad sailor.
Many a time in the ward-room when retelling the
story of how the Dutchman ran athwart his hawse off
Ramsay Heads, Lieutenant Mountenay would admit —
" Tarred, wizened, sun-dried, and smoke-dried, if
you were to take down old Yawkins from the shore
end of Leith pier, you would have a better sailor than
I or any man on King George's navy roster."
Nor did any say him nay, for it was about his sixth
90
SMUGGLER AND KING'S MEN. 91
glass that he was in the habit of saying this, and he
was a stark carle in his cups.
So on the quarter-deck of the Van Hoorn, which
was kept like that of a man-of-war for whiteness,
Ebie Hook stood picking his orders from the captain
himself, and crying, " Aye, aye, sir," like clockwork.
He said that it was a pleasure to see the ship fall
into her marks like a racing cutter, and stretch away
on another tack as steady as one's married wife.
"She was the sweetest boat that ever sailed, was
the Van Hoorn, and Yawkins was the very son-of-a-
gun of a fine seaman — not an ounce of tallow about
him anywhere."
" Man, Rathan," Ebie would say, " the way he
sailed that ship in the freshening breeze that blew
between the Heads was a miracle. Every time we
wore ship I saw the wuddy " (gallows) " plain afore me,
for it wasna only smuggling, it was black piracy they
had against us had we been ta'en wi' the plunder of a
sunken Greenock barkanteen in oor hold. Man, I
tell ye I was feared. I misdooted I wad never mair
get merry at Stanykirk Sacrament, or foo at Kelton-
hill Fair. ' It's a' up wi' ye noo, Ebie,' says I ; ' I
hae telled ye mony a time it wad come to this. The
teuch tow-rape an' the weary wuddy hae gotten ye at
the hinder end.'
" But oh, man, it wasna to be at that time, what-
ever ; an' it was by clean-run seamanship that we
wan clear."
Now, being a landsman, I have not the skill of
sea-terms to tell the story as Ebie told it, but the gist
of it was as follows : —
"The way out of the brulzie" (fray) "was this,"
92
THE RAIDERS.
Ebie Hook would begin (I see him yet, though he
went to his account years ago. He sat ever by the
chimney corner and lunted away on his cutty pipe,
using tobacco of prodigious blackness and strength,
such as he had learned to smoke in foreign countries
when he was a traveller — so vile that it was evil
enough to the stomach to stand the reek of his pipe
after it had passed out of his mouth). "The bo'sun
of our ship was Abraham Anderson, from the Crae
Brig. As the king's man came nearer he piped to
quarters ; and it was a pretty sight to see, though
being at the wheel I had little enough time to be
seeing it. 'Twixt watching the binnacle and jumping
to auld Yawkins' word I had enough to do. It
wasna playing at x's and o's to be steerin' for that
crossbones of a Dutchman, whether in a chase or a
battle. He would have stuck a knife in you as quick
as get married on shore — and they say he was married
as many as sixty-seven times, the old Mahommetan !
" And it was bonny to see the boarding nets triced
up and the pikes ready, the pistols all primed and the
matches burning, ilka yin stuck in a linstock on the
deck.
"The gunners were dumping round shot on the
boards, and the grape and cannister were coming up
from below. Outside the harbour, near the entrance
of the bay, lay the king's ship, waiting to catch us as
we cam' oot, with all their guns trimmed to rake us
as we gaed by them.
" It was doubtless mighty fine, but the king's
officer was a fresh youth to think of old Captain
Yawkins stepping canny to his ain destruction like
that.
SMUGGLER AND KING'S MEN. 93
" So in the lee of the land under the great rise of
Maungold Head we lay with our topsails aback, waiting
for the enemy to come in and lay us alongside.
" Now, though the Captain was cursing the Max-
wells and their impudence, and blaming them for
sending the revenue men on us, it so happened that
it was really through them that we were preserved
frae the gallows for that time at least.
" Now there is no doubt whatever that had the
Seahorse but kenned that the preventive boat Ariel
was within as short a distance o' Ramsay as the ither
side of the Point of Ayre, she wad simply hae lain
still where she was and waited for her consort,
which wad hae compelled us to come oot and gie her
battle on her ain terms. But luckily for us the Ariel
was at that moment spanking away to the south'ard
on a wild goose chase after the lang-shanked Maxwell
lads. So we were left to fecht it oot on something
like equal terms.
" It was awesome to hear the captain. He never
stopped blasphemin'. And the curious thing about
the matter was that it wasna the king's men that he
was wild at, but the Maxwells, and more especially
auld Dick Maxwell that had been his partner and
sailed the seas with him in the days before he got the
brig Van Hoorn for himseP.
" He cursed him for a thief, and there was some-
thing aboot a brass box and a treasure, and something,
too, aboot a lass ; but the ower-word o' his sang was
juist this, 'Be the day dark or clear, the nicht star-
shine or pit-mirk, an' the Red Cock craw not on
the rooftree of Richard Maxwell by the heuchs of
Craigdarroch, may I turn for ever and ever frae side
94 THE RAIDERS.
to side between the red coal and the brimstane flaming
blue ayont the bars o' muckle hell.' A dreadfu' oath
to speak, but he spak' it often.
" It was indeed maist fearsome to hear him. He
was swearin' like that a' the time, even when we
could see the king's ship coming through the narrows
at the head o' the bay and settin' in for us wi' every
steek o' canvas set.
" Man, she was bonny as she cam', the foam reamin'
white under her forefoot. The white toorock o' her
snow-white claiths blawin' licht an' airy frae masthead
to bowsprit and jib-boom-end. Then as soon as she
cam' roon the point she began to fire the single guns,
and the shot to whustle through oor riggin'. Aboot
this time the job o' the man at the wheel is no to be
recommended as a means o' livelihood, for the sharp-
shooters they fire at him, and gin the ship gets raked
fore and aft, he's the lad that kens aboot it first, for
they hae e'en to soop a' that's left o' him owerboard
wi' a besom.
" But there was no fear of any disobeying in
Yawkins' ship. Ye micht be killed by the enemy
if you obeyed ; but ye wad be killed of a certainty
gin ye didna, so ye micht lay your accoont wi' that.
" ' Put her about,' he cried, suddenly, and wi' that
ran right across the bows of the Seahorse as she came
swiftly, swaying with the undercarry of the sea into
the harbour mouth. She brought the wind with her,
for as she closed on us we seemed to get it as weel ;
and the sudden shift in our helm, instead of landing
us becalmed, steadied us to send a broadside doon her
decks and yet draw clear before she could alter her
course.
SMUGGLER AND KING'S MEN. 95
"We were running now as if to beach the Van
Hoorn on the slushy sand of the southernmost bay ;
but in a moment, just when it seemed that we had
caught ourselves, ' All hands wear ship,' cried our
captain, and the mates gave the orders while the
Dutchman and I burst ourselves to bring the helm
sharp a-weather. Down dropped the peak, round
went the spars, the yards were braced, and away we
swung through the rising lift of the harbour bar till
the wind caught us as she passed the Heads, and, like
a sea pellock, buried her nose in the heaving smother
where the wind and the tide met.
" As we left the king's ship astern, old Father
Yawkins sprang on our taffrail, and waved his hand —
'Out-sailed, out-fought, out-witted — such a set of
kiss-my-loofs, you king's men. That's what I think
of ye ! Hae ! '
" And with that he leaped down, and snatching off
his wig and broad, flapping hat, he crammed them
into the right-hand Long Tom, and with his own
hand shot them aboard the king's man.
" Now this insult put more anger into the heart of
Lieutenant Mountenay, commander of the Seahorse
than all the men that he lost. It was in part this
that caused the great eagerness which there was among
all the king's navy men to capture Captain Yawkins —
an adventure which afterwards succeeded to admiration
in spite of many failures.
" Sae it was even in this way that the Van Hoorn
ran direct north to land her cargo at the Brigghous',
and to burn the bonny stackyaird o' Craigdarroch."
Ebie here took breath and blew upon his reeking
pipe.
96 THE RAIDERS.
"But what hindered the Seahorse from chasing
you ? " I asked him. " She could not have been
such a distance ahint you as to lose ye in a run
of less than thirty miles, and its little mair to the
Brigghouse ? "
" Weel, an' that's a funny thing too," said Ebie ;
"it is just like a play. They tell me that the verra
last shot that was fired — the yin that Captain Yawkins
fired himseP — carried awa' the halewar " (whole) "o'
their steerin' gear, and left them withoot poo'er to do
more than put down an anchor. So they tell me. I
kenna. But gin that be the reason, it wad seem that
some o' the auld man's brains had stucken to the auld
man's wig.
" Eh, sirce, but there's mony wonderfu' things in
the warld.
"An' my bacca's dune. Hae ye a fill aboot ye,
think ye ? "
CHAPTER XL
THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN.
Certes, but it was good hearing when we got under
the brow of the land and underneath the shaggy
shadows of the trees, to hearken the sough of the water
below the keel of the boat. We had Richard Maxwell
and his chest, and May with her bundle of sarks tied
in a spotted napkin. That boat was the wholesomest
place that I had found since I saw the red star of a
godless night rise over Craigdarroch.
Silver Sand rowed us back silently as we had
come. As we went I saw that he was not taking us
to the house, but down towards the sea point of
Rathan Island where the rocks were at their wildest
and the surge for ever fretted and boiled about the
perpendicular cliffs.
" What for are we no going to the House Bay ? "
I asked Silver Sand.
" Because I dinna want my throat cutted," he said.
" D'ye think Yawkins and his sea-thieves will no find
out the first thing in the grey o' the mornin' that
something heavy has been carried to the shore between
twa men, and that three men, a lassie, and a dog hae
7 97
98 THE RAIDERS.
gotten intil a boat under the trees by the White
Horse Bay ? It's so plain to be seen that even a
gamewatcher could make oot as muckle ! "
"But what then? " I asked, the project not yet
being clear to me.
" What else ? " said he. " Sorrow am I to have
ocht to do wi' sic a pack of brainless loons withoot
contrivance or gumption. Whaur wad they look for
a boat to come frae but the Rathan ? Whaur wad
they be safe in seekin' but on the Rathan ? Hae ye
a regiment o' horse and foot on the Rathan ? Do the
officers o' King George's peace pay ye a veesit ilka
day ? It was on the Rathan whaur in auld days yer
faither set ashore mony a braw cargo, and it's on the
Rathan that they'll seek for us."
" Then what for are we going there ; could we no
make for Killantringan, or even Dumfries ? " I asked,
being still unsatisfied.
" Hoot awa', Laird Heron," said Silver Sand ; " ye
haena the heid o' yer faither ava', or ye wadna need
to hae so many questions answered. Gin we gaed to
Killantringan, we wadna be a bit safer than we are
here. The hill outlawry could a' catch us or ever
we wan twa mile if we had to carry this bit boxie.
And as for Dumfries, it wad be as feasible to try the
moon. There's but twa roads that I ken to Dumfries
— yin alang the shore, and we hae nae horses bena "
(except) "my cuddy and wee Donald, and the ither
road by the channel o' the Nith Water, and it's a braw
wark we wad mak' racin' wi' the Van Hoorn, or even
wi' her pinnace, that won the race at Rotterdam frae
the crews o' a' the Dutch men-o'-war."
" Then there's nothing for it but the cave," I said.
THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN. 99
Silver Sand pretended a great admiration of my
talent and perspicuity.
" Preserve us a', Paitrick, but ye mauna pit sic a
strain on yer uptak. It's no human to understand
a' that ! Aye, as ye say, it's the cave, and nocht else
but the cave."
" But what's to come of the house of Rathan ? "
I asked, for though I was willing enough to take part
in the quarrel of the Maxwells, now that I was in for
it, I did not want all my earthly possessions burned
within half a mile of me without doing my best to
save them.
" Ye'll e'en hae to trust the hoose to me and
Quharrie," said Silver Sand, still drolling. "Ye'll
find that we are none so stupid watchers."
The night was already turning to bright yellow
low on the west, and the red glow of the dying fire
at Craigdarroch lay in a low "skarrow" of lurid light
on the water, as we began to draw near to the sea
caves at the foot of Rathan Island. There were many
tales about these caves. They were miles long,
according to the ignorant. They were inhabited by
the most terrible of sea beasts, by mermen and sea-
lions of fearsome presence and exceeding ferocity.
But of a truth they were rather pleasant places as
caves go. Of one of them especially I was fond, for
not only had it a sea entrance wide and high, which
made it safe to enter by boat, but after one had
penetrated a long way through passages and halls,
mounting ever upward, he came to a space of clear
yellow sand, from which there was an opening to the
sea, for all the world like the window in a house high
up above the doorway.
ioo THE RAIDERS.
The cave entrance beneath was, as it were, the
door of the house, and within it the tides for ever
surged and swirled, while the window at the top
looked out to sea midway down the cliff, where not
even the samphire gatherer could come nor yet the
sea eagle build her nest.
This was the Great Rathan Cave, and it was into
this cave that Silver Sand conveyed his boatload.
The wild outcry of the gulls and gannets on the
rocks struck us very strangely coming from the night
quiet of the moors. May Maxwell had been very
silent, as one might well be who has lost her all
and sees herself in the midst of blood and threatenings.
But the pleasant break of morn and the cheerful
nature of our surroundings seemed to awake a kind
of interest in her.
The lower end of Rathan Isle toward the sea is
almost separate from the rest, and is called the South
Stack.
South of this again was an isle, or rather a high
single rock, whereon the sea-birds built. We left
this isle of rock to our right hand as we passed into
the entrance of the Great Cave of Rathan. And as
we went by, the cloud of gulls rose with astonishing
clamour, their many wings making a melodious
thunder of flappings like the beating of innumerable
sails when a ship stands shivering in the eye of the
breeze.
There was a clear, brisk air, but the night dew had
left a sticky " glet " on the face and hands. A black
diver ran hither and thither and tried to make away
with his life by staying under water long enough to
drown himself; which it is indeed a wonder that I
THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN. 101
took notice of, save that I have ever minded my father's
precept — " Mind a' that ye see, but forget a' that folk
say aboot ye ! " There are not many wiser obser-
vations than that to be got for nothing.
High up among the rocks a couple of ravens looked
sneeringly and overbearingly down from the edge of
their nest, and barked hoarsely at us as we went by.
They had been watching all night with joy the burn-
ing of the decent folks' house, for that is the nature of
the corbie.
" Glock ! Glock ! Glock ! " they cried at us, as they
do in the saga tales of the Northmen when the heroes
are lying on the field of blood.
Now these caves of the Solway are in a different
rock to that which goes along the greater part of the
seaboard. There comes in here and there a softer
rock, of the nature of a freestone, which the water
makes great play to excavate.
I would that I could take you to see these wonder-
ful spurs and arches that have been cut out of the
rock by the genius of the water. There are many
sorts of caves there, and in them I used to play many
a day by the length on the Isle Rathan. There was
the Great Cave, that might have housed a thousand
men in its depths, yet which ten could have defended
against any number who knew not its ways and out-
lets. In it there was the outlook to the sea, and the
hall which I called the Hall of Ossian.
The most part of these caves are sea caverns as on
the coast of Antrim in Ireland, which is the only
other place where I have seen these resounding halls
of native rock, with the green water booming solemnly
into them, and the sough of their roaring carried far
ioz THE RAIDERS.
along the coast. Some of these are deep, dark dens,
accursed and gloomy, in which the tide sways blindly
at all times, horrible to look upon from the sea, show-
ing cruel teeth like an old wolf-dog that has drawn up
its lip so that one may see the broken fangs and the
cavernous dark behind. The dank, clammy air is
compressed by the tide. A horrible ooze clings to
every part of the rock, as though ugsome things, slimy
worms from the sea-bottom, had overcrawled it all.
Tkere were on Rathan many caves and those of all
sorts. But most I loved the tiny cavelets in the White
Sand coves, where the waves of a sheltered sea beat
all day, lisping and lapping with a pleasant sound.
There, on warm days, it was my habit to lie even
mother naked, half in and half out of the water, the
whole isle being so lonely.
We now drew quickly from under the frowning
face of the South Stack.
As Silver Sand brought the boat near to the Great
Cave, the entrance rose so high above us, and the
swaying of the waves in the mouth of it was so grand,
that I felt proud of the Isle Rathan, and as glad that
I possessed it as if I had made it myself.
Silver Sand, indeed, never glanced either aloft or
alow. But then he had no need, having a circle of
eyes all about his head. Richard Maxwell seemed to
be muttering curses on his foes ; and, by the jerking
of his eyebrows and the twitching movement of his
lips, I judged that he had fixed them severally in
a locality where they would certainly have found
pleasure in the cold salt water that sobbed and heaved
into the cavern.
But May Maxwell, out of whom the mischief had
THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN. 103
died, glanced more than once up to the frowning
portals, which opened for us like that water gate I have
read of into the White Tower in London town, by
which go in the traitors who come no more out.
But she said no word.
Now the upper arch of the cave is not less than
forty feet above the floor of uneasy water, and the
sea entrance beneath is but three times the breadth
of a boat. The cliffs rise so high above that seen from
beneath, they hold up the sky as on pillars. As we
steered our way carefully into the mouth of the cave,
we passed through floating balls of sea-spume so large
that the prow of the boat was whitened with them.
I have often taken them in my hands, chasing them,
as puppies do, along the shore when the wind comes
in off" the sea.
The rock is infinitely worn all about into a myriad
holes and crevices, in which are sea-pinks with dry,
flaky heads. I saw tansy also far above, yellow like
fire, and on the sheltered crannies, where a little earth
collects and the birds leave castings, there was some
parched sea-grass, and I think that I caught the pale-
blue glint of the sea-holly — a favourite plant of mine.
I remember that I thought it early for it to bloom,
and my mind ran on climbing to get a piece for May
Mischief. This, too, in the midst of infinitely graver
things to think about.
Ouharrie sat beside May Maxwell in the boat
with his paws on the seat, heaving his head aloft and
sniffing in an uncertain fashion, as if his experience,
though a wide one, did not include sea caves.
May Maxwell settled her shawl closer about her as
we drew away from the wholesome light of day, and
104 THE RAIDERS.
the greenish glimmer grew about us. It made my
heart waver to and fro within me like a sunbeam in
a basin of water, tingling and quivering, when she laid
a little hand on my arm. It was but that she trembled
as a maid will, for it was a cold hand, and it shook.
But it made the last remnant of my dislike flee away.
Nor do I think now, looking back, that I ever disliked
her greatly. In my heart of hearts I aye liked her —
not that ill even when she pursed her mouth and cried
« Baa ! "
It was sweetest, perhaps, when out of the depths of
the great cave burst a clamorous cloud of rock pigeons.
As we entered we could hear their voices peep-peeping
and chunnering to their young, some of the old cock-
birds meanwhile roo-hooing on the higher ledges with a
sound wonderfully varied and pleasant. There were
also at the entrance a few solitary maids and bachelors
sitting in the clefts sunning themselves with drooping
wings, like barndoor hens in the dust. Some were
preening their feathers, the sheen on their necks being
the redder because at that moment the sun was rising.
When the boat got well within the cave, where the
narrows of the passage open into the wide Hall of
Ossian (so we called it), the boat ground harshly on
the sand and shingle. At this the doves took instant
alarm, and with a startling whirr and clang they
swooped down on us in a perfect cloud, their shining
breasts extraordinarily near us, so that the wind came
in our faces as the living stream poured out of the
narrow and fetid darkness of the cave into the splendid
sunshine of the young morning.
Then it was that May Maxwell cried aloud, as a
lass well might. Indeed the clamour startled even me
THE GREAT CAVE OF ISLE RATHAN. 105
that was well accustomed to it, let alone a young lass
that had seen her home burnt over her head that
night. There was no shame or wonder in it. Nor
is there any need that I should write about it, except
that I could not just hear what name it was that she
cried out. But I had hopes that I knew.
CHAPTER XII.
MORNING IN THE CAVE.
The entrance was indeed the grandest part of our
cave. It was not very wonderful inside — a way that
caves have. There was this dark hall of sand and
pebbles, in which the water broke either at the end of
the long sea passage or half-way up the incline of the
floor, according to the state of the tide. But except
for purposes of landing or defence we never stayed
long in this dank and cold place, but climbed directly
up to the little chamber, which might have been the
cave of an anchorite, so comfortable was it in all
weathers, save only when a heavy wind blew in
straight from the south, when the large window
faced the gale. But mercifully during the time we
spent there the airs were fairly still, and we only
heard the swell sobbing and swishing along the edges
of the rocks far beneath us.
So at last we mounted through the dank and drip-
ping passages, which indeed did not seem long, I
carrying May Maxwell's parcels and guiding her. But
it was pleasant to emerge opposite the window into the
sunlight of the early morning upon the sea, coming
1 06
MORNING IN THE CAVE. 107
across from Satterness and turning the cold, white
crests of the chilly indigo waves to a rosy colour.
I took pleasure in leading her to the window, which
was of a shape nearly oblong, with sea-rockets and
stonecrop growing about it. I shall always consider
it as a special providence that, upon my looking past
the end of the ledge, I saw growing in the cleft a
little sod of heather, and in the midst of it, early for
the season and the Solway shore, a few waxen lobes of
bell-heath, perfectly white. So holding her still by
the hand, lest the sudden coming into the light might
cause a giddiness, I laid down her bundle, and, pulling
the white, waxen bells, I presented them to her with
all the courtesy of which I was the master. This she
took not amiss, for she looked at me with eyes that
were full of tears, and said, speaking not at all in her
former way —
" Thank you, Patrick ; what makes you so mindful
of me ? I dinna deserve it."
I meant here to have said something exceedingly
fine and appropriate, but all that I could get out was
just, " Aye, but ye do ! "
And even that I stammered. However, I am not
sure that I could much have bettered it after a week's
consideration.
So in the early morning we sat and looked away
over the sea. The air was still caller, but the sun
had already taken the chill off. The sea was like a
painted cloth hung up before us, so high were we
above the water — a cloth on which the ships and
boats were drawn prettily one above the other.
The natural window at which we sat was oblong,
as I have said — that is, not so high as it was broad —
io8 THE RAIDERS.
and there was a stone shelf before it, whether made
by man's hands, I know not.
" It is very quiet and peaceful here," May said j but
Richard, her father, said nothing. I think he hardly
saw where he was being taken. He had lived at
Craigdarroch all his life save when he was on the
seas, having indeed been born there. It went hard
with him to lose it all in a single night.
Thinking of what May said now, it strikes me
that to look through a high, narrow window at a
landskip framed in it gives one an impression of
surprise, as though the outlook were upon an un-
known country ; while, on the other hand, to look
upon the same scene from a broad window, as we did
now, makes one think of still Sabbath mornings and
the bees humming among the clover.
"As peaceful," May continued, "as though there
were no wicked men in the world."
This time now seems to me so strange and peaceful
— the thunder-slumber before the storm breaks and
the lightning flares.
She shuddered slightly, for I knew afterwards that at
Craigdarroch Hector Faa himself would have laid a hand
upon her, but that she had broken from him, fleeing
hot-foot into the wood. Hector Faa it was who, out-
cast with all his tribe from sweet Yethom, had sent a
message to Richard Maxwell that he was coming to
the low country for a wife, according to the custom of
his tribe. For he and his mother made it their boast
that never had a Faa bride been led home save with
her hands tied behind her back. This was Faa
custom, and that, among these wild gypsy clans, made
it sacred. The Faa blood was so high that it could
MORNING IN THE CAVE. 109
absorb and cause to return to itself all poorer fluids.
So Black Hector, who was the brother of John Faa
himself, was but doing the bidding of his mother, as
well as following his own inclination, when he sent
this message to Craigdarroch. His mother had proved
the way of the clan and become more Faa than the
Faas themselves, as they say all these abducted gypsy
wives do become.
The curse that Richard Maxwell sent back is re-
membered yet in the hill country, and his descendants
mention it with a kind of pride. It was considered
as fine a thing as the old man ever did since he dropped
profane swearing and took to anathemas from the
Psalms — which served just as well.
The answer that came back was short and sweet.
" Tell the auld carle at Craigdarroch," Black Hector
sent his message, " that I'll hae the lass in spite of
him and the seven braw brithers."
And so it is likely that he would, had it not been
for one that was no brother of May Maxwell's.
Once we were safe within the cave, Silver Sand
went away with Quharrie, taking the boat with
him, and leaving us shut in without a chance of
escape, if so be the Black Smugglers followed us
swiftly to the Stacks of the Isle Rathan. But I
had my pistols, and now looked well to the priming,
and with some ostentation also to the condition of
the locks, for indeed I took no small pride in my
marksmanship. As a boy I had set a stone on the
dyke and knocked it over with another at thirty
yards' distance, four times out of five. In later
days, since my friends came to reside on the isle with
me, I constantly used a pebble as an argument.
no THE RAIDERS.
Indeed there were few places about the Isle Rathan
from which I could not reach an erring youth with
pebble cunningly " henched." Then with pistols
Andrew Allison and I had practised a great deal since
he came, and it was with some pride I considered
that a smuggler, great or small, would have little
chance with me at twenty yards. I had also skill of
the claymore and small sword, for my father had
taught me these in the wet days of winter, keeping
me at it till my limbs ached and my back was like to
break.
It was not long before Silver Sand fetched back
his boatload of provender from the house. He
brought with him Jerry MacWhirter alone of all our
reinforcements, with the news that in the morning the
father of the Allison lads had appeared with two stout
apprentices and a very large whip, and had driven the
three boys — Andrew, John, and Rab Nicoll — before
him to his boat. Jerry had stood meanwhile on the
cliff above, and, according to his own account, had
exhorted their father to lay on them soundly. Which
I have small doubt that he did.
It was a loss, but one I was not sorry for. There
was the less responsibility were the smugglers to come,
for Jerry was of age to decide for himself as to his
movements, and, besides, he had never been under
control in his life. He would give us no anxiety, and
also make us often merry. I think we were all more
cheerful and hopeful as soon as he came among us.
But Silver Sand brought also another passenger, a
bare-footed, barearmed lass, blowsed and freckled, with
arms and legs like those of a man.
" This is a lass," he said, as soon as he came in,
MORNING IN THE CAVE. in
" that I fand chappin' at Rathan front door, which is
not a very fitting thing. So I fetched her wi' me.
She can speak for herseP. She disna' appear to be
troubled wi' blateness."
As soon as May Maxwell saw her she got up off
the stone shelf by the window and ran to her — glad-
like, as you have seen a bairn among grown folk do
when another child comes in.
" Faither," she cried, "d'ye no see this is Bell
MacTurk ? "
" Aye," said the old man, " I see that ! "
But apparently the sight did not do him much good,
for he sank again into a morose silence.
" Bell," said Mary, " shake hands wi' Maister Patrick
Heron this minute, for ye're on his Isle of Rathan — or,
rather, in it — an' gye far ben too ! "
Bell came forward and shook hands.
"Laird or no laird," said she, "ye micht hae as
muckle sense as to gie a bonny lass a salutation.
Mary Maxwell laughed.
"Oh, Bell, Bell," she said, "is this a day for your
damn ? "
" Hoot, awa' wi' ye, Mistress May. It's no ilka
day Bell MacTurk gets the chance o' a bit cheep frae
a laird ! An' what for should ye greet ? There's
some gear an' plenishin' brunt, and the thack's aff the
byre, and the stackyaird's empty ; but there's them
comin' hame that will big it a' up again, and pit
a bigger harvest than ever under thack an' rape. For
there was no end to the wickedness o' that crew o'
Black Smugglers and robbers. But noo the hale
country will rise again them, and there will be an
end to them."
ii2 THE RAIDERS.
While she was speaking thus Richard Maxwell
looked at her from under his hoary eyebrows. There
was a grey pallor about his countenance that did not
look bonny in the full light of the morning as it came
into the cave, for the sun had now worn round so that
it shone upon the face of the cliff.
" Aye, lass," he exclaimed, rising to his feet, " these
are words wise beyond your years. They shall be rooted
out, for the destruction o' the bonny onstead that has
been hame to me and that reared my bairns. This I
swear and declare before the Almighty."
" Noo, sit doon, faither," said May, anxiously,
" dinna walk aboot, ye are no minding your feet, and
ye micht faa' doon oot ower the heuch. Forbye ye
are pittin' them that's helpin' you so kindly into danger
with the loud sound of your voice."
The old man sat down without another word, and
wrapt himself again in his gloomy reflections. But all
the rest of us were visibly cheered by the advent of
Jerry and Bell, as well as by the food which they had
brought from the house. The only sore thing that lay
on my heart was the thought of my own Rathan house,
which was my all, lying vacant and open to the crew
that had burned Richard Maxwell's onstead and all his
gear.
But Silver Sand relieved some part of my anxiety
by declaring that he meant to remain outside, and be
at once scout and watchman.
" The house is perfectly safe in my hands. I'll set
Ouharrie to watch it," he said, " and the smuggler
doesna wear tarry breeks that will come near it when
Quharrie is lookin' after it."
So it was arranged that if the waterway should be
MORNING IN THE CAVE. 113
shut Silver Sand was to lower any message or package
for us over the cliff in such a manner that it would
swing opposite the window — a plan which was after-
wards carried out with complete success.
For all that I thought it strange that Silver Sand
should take no part in the real warfare against the out-
laws, while giving us other help of every kind.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE.
But our content and mirth were of short duration, for
we were to hear from the enemy in a very sudden
and surprising manner. How Yawkins got track of
us to this day remains a mystery. Not even Ebie
Hook, to whom I owe the solution of so many things,
can unravel this, for he was not present at the
attack, being one of the watch who remained on the
Van Hoorn by order of Captain Yawkins.
It is likely that one of the lookout upon the main-
land saw us go into the cave, or noted Silver Sand's
return from the house with his load.
At least, certain it is that it had not passed nine
o'clock of the morning, before the Van Hoorn, having
embarked those of her crew who had joined with the
gypsies in destroying the homestead of Craigdarroch,
bore up to the south of Isle Rathan under easy sail.
When she came abreast of the entrance of the cave
a puff of white smoke rose from her side, and a great
round shot came plumping into the mouth of the
cavern, breaking away a fragment from the cliff,
which plunged like thunder into the deep water of the
entrance. Myriads of chips flew every way, but not
"4
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE. 115
so much as a feather-weight of dust reached the great
centre hold called Ossian's Hall, where only the
echoes reverberated, and the swells raised by the round
shot and the fall of the great fragment came rolling up
to our feet in an arching wall of green water crested
with white.
From our secret watch-tower window on the face
of the cliff we could see the brig hanging in the wind
to give her stern chasers another chance. I therefore
judged it wise to send May Maxwell and Bell into
the little passage at the back, where even in the event
of a ball striking through the window of our retreat,
they might be tolerably safe.
As soon as the noise raised by the second round shot
died away — it struck the cliff without doing any harm
— we saw two boatloads of men from the brig putting
off with the evident intention of attacking us. The
Fan Hoorn, so far as appeared from her deck, had been
firing uselessly at a vast hole in the sea cliff. Even
so the men at quarters on board of her regarded it ;
and some of them muttered to one another that it had
been better to have 'bouted ship and borne away with
what plunder they had before the king's ships came up
with them. But the captain, it is said, had private
information of the chest which Richard Maxwell had
carried away, and cared for no other part of the spoil.
At any rate he resolved to try the entrance of the
cave, having little doubt that so large a force would be
able immediately to subdue our weak defence, which
must have appeared still more feeble to him who knew
not the strength of our position.
Now there was nothing very wonderful about the
cavern in which we were concealed. It consisted
u6 THE RAIDERS.
simply of a sea entrance practicable for boats, and a
cliff entrance practicable only for gulls and pigeons.
The passage between the two chambers was narrow,
but with many turns and twistings, having small
chambers and one or two side ways which returned
back upon the main one. At the bottom of this
natural winding stair there was the large hall which
we called Ossian's Hall, where was the end of the sea
passage and where the swell broke upon a beach of
shingle and sand.
Now there was no foothold for any along the cliffs
that lined the sea edge, so steep, black, and slippery
were they. You may find the cave of which I speak,
the second on the right hand in sailing along Rathan,
between the South Stack of Rathan, and the east
point that looks to Killantringan and Satterness.
Indeed, the entrance is so wide that you cannot
miss it.
The arched cliff that is called the Needle's E'e is
within fifty feet of it, and the reverse suction of the
sea pouring out of the Great Cave of Rathan sets
through the Needle's E'e in a jumping jabble at every
turn of the tide. It is thus easily found. The only
caution is that it must not be mistaken for the Calo-
man Cave, or Pit of Pigeons (as the word means in
the Pictish speech of ancient Galloway), which has its
entrance high among the rocks and allows no oppor-
tunity for the breaching of the sea waves. So that by
going to the place it is easy to prove the exact truth
of this history. This I say at length lest any should
think that the cave is some wonderful thing. For
the glosing of the common people has raised a great
number of legends in the countryside — as that when
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE. 117
we were besieged in this cave by the Black Smugglers
we escaped inland by the space of three or four miles
and came out by an underground passage at the Old
Pict's Tower of Orchardton, with other stories that
have no truth in them. Indeed the whole cavern, as
it was known to us, did not extend more than two
hundred yards in all its turns and windings, entrances
and passages. So much, then, for our situation. A
word concerning our dispositions for defence.
We had plenty of arms and ammunition, and,
speaking for myself, a kind of gladness in the fray
that I am sure I should not have had in the open
country where a hundred might fire at you from all
sides. I thought it better that Richard Maxwell,
Jerry, and myself should go down to the great hall
called Ossian's, and by getting as far out into the
passage as possible, kneeling upon ledges and jutting
rocks, be ready to beat back our assailants as they
entered.
There was, indeed, about thirty feet from the Hall
of Ossian a kind of platform on which two of us could
stand. This commanded the entrance, and from it
we could see the wide span of the outer arch and the
rock-doves flitting to and fro in the sunshine. May
Maxwell came with us to help in loading the guns —
in which she was exceedingly expert, having been
trained to the way of it by her brothers when they
went shooting at birds or at the mark, which latter
they often practised on wet days or in the dull winter
season.
Bell remained in the chamber over the gate, both
to give us intelligence of the approach of the enemy
and also to receive any message from Silver Sand on the
n8 THE RAIDERS.
cliff" above, which he might swing downwards in the
way indicated. We had hardly gone to our quarters
before one such message did reach us. It was wrapped
about a stone and tied with withes. This ball swung
clear of the cliff", so that Bell had to take the cleps (or
crooked links which were used for hanging the
porridge pot upon the wooden crossbar of our cave
fireplace), in order to draw it in — an action which,
had the smugglers been on the lookout might have
proved dangerous to herself and hurtful to our
interests.
But in a trice she had detached the stone and brought
me down Silver Sand's message, which said in correct
enough English but in a curious ancient hand and
without punctuations —
"It is the Chest they want and the Lass
the House is safe enough Fire at the Gypsies
THEY ARE THE DEYVILS THE TARRY BrEEKS HAVE
no heart in the matter your obliged
ServT Silver Sand."
With this we had to be content. Of one thing I
was well convinced, that Silver Sand would be of
greater service free and aboveground than down with
us in the sea cave. So that we were all in good
heart, and that more especially when Bell came down
with the letter and served us with a little heartening
of the Dutch sort out of a square, wide-mouthed case
bottle, scandalously overserving Jerry because he was
a favourite of her own — which she thought that I did
not notice ; as indeed I did, and that carefully ; and
besides, these things are not good for boys.
So we went to our posts to be ready, for the boats
were approaching. From the vantage ground of the
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE. 119
window in the cliff we could note their numbers and
bearing. There were about twenty of them in two
boats. The most part were no sailors, but wild
fellows from the hills, bonnetless and unkempt.
Yawkins himself was in one boat and Hector Faa
in the stern sheets of the other, monstrously fine in
a buff coat and a shirt with lace upon it, both of
which he had taken from the house of Richard
Maxwell at the burning of Craigdarroch.
When I told this to Mav Maxwell she ran her
J
ways up to take a peep at the window, and came down
main angered, saying, " That is the sark that I got
ready for my faither to gang to Staneykirk Sacrament
in, and to think that that regairdless loon should wear
it upon his back !"
"Deil scoup wi' him," cried Bell, "an' I turned it
and bleached it on the green an' sprinkled spring
water frae the well upon it."
"Load the muskets, May," said I. "It's sma' use
cavillin' aboot the man rinnin' awa' wi' yer faither's
sark, when he wants to rin awa' wi' you ycrsel'."
But she did not somehow seem to think that this
last was nearly so heinous a crime as wearing her
father's shirt on his dirty caird's back.
"It took me two hours to do the ruffles," she said.
It is a strange thing, but this kind of foolish care for
a trifle made me almost angry.
"Maybes ye wadna hae been so very vcxt gin he had
run aff wi' ye ! " I said, with as ill-natured an expression
as I could compass, for such superfine care for her
father's ruffles was beyond me at such a time.
"I wadna wonder," says she; "it's weel that some
folk in the world think something o' me."
i2o THE RAIDERS.
" Even a broken land-loupin' Cheat-the-wuddy
(gallows bird) like Hector Faa ! "
" Aye," says she, " him better than naebody ! "
At this moment came the roar of the third shot
from the brig. She was firing again into the cave,
and the shot, being aimed low, came skipping in,
rebounding from side to side of the cavern and filling
the long sea passage with dust and the clamour of
echoes. But it did no harm, for the first time it
touched the roof it rebounded and plumped to the
bottom where, without doubt, it lies to this day to
prove my story.
Upon this Jerry cried, " I am going up to see what
they are doing. I have a biscuit up there I would like
to toss them for their breakfast."
" Come back to your post, ye wull cat," I shouted
after him. " Gin ye run ony o' your rigs at sic a time
I'll break the back o' ye!"
Now I knew how he must have angered his mother
and relations, and for the first time I had some sympathy
with them and their overfree use of the birch rod.
" I'll be back the noo ! " he cried, far up the passage.
I could only girn my teeth at him and go over in
my own mind what I would give him when I got him
quietly by himself for all this. Then the first musket-
shot went off outside.
There was a crash and a loud yell.
" That will be Jerry's biscuit ! " said May Maxwell,
who knew something of his intentions, having heard
Bell and him talk together. Now there was evidently
wild work at the outer gate of the cave ; though being
in the dark far back and standing to our posts with
our muskets ready, we could see nothing. Yet we
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE. 121
could hear shoutings, cursings, blasphemings, and
multitudinous squatterings in the water as of a
thousand wounded wild ducks.
"They've sunk the boat, blood them !" cried some
one, hoarsely.
" Let us on board, Yawkins ! " cried another.
"We've ower mony here already; shift for your-
selves ! " was the answer. Then came a burst of
swearing and more of the squattering.
" Back her ! Back her ! " cried the strong voice of
Yawkins. " Keep the rascals off wi' your boathooks ;
here comes another stone."
There was another resounding splash, and a loud,
universal " Ah ! "
Then a cry of " Into the cave mouth, lads, and ye'll
be oot o' the reach of the stanes ! "
I could have bitten my thumbs that I had not
thought of this plan before. I was indeed, as Mistress
MacWhirter had said, "a bonny general."
I was also angry with Jerry for being quicker in the
wits than I. It turned out, however, that the plan
was May Mischief's, communicated first to Bell and
afterwards assisted in and carried to success by Jerry
and Bell together.
All this was indeed mighty fortunate for us, for the
first great stone descending fifty feet sheer, drove a
hole in the leading boat — that of Hector Faa — and in a
moment he and all his ragged regiment were struggling
in the water. They scrambled upon the rocks, however,
swimming with one hand and holding their matchlocks
above their heads with the other, for that is the manner
they use in swimming across the narrows of Loch
Enoch and Loch Neldricken in their home country.
122 THE RAIDERS.
But the swell and jabble of the sea water was
puzzling to them, and many of them got their tinder
wet as well as their powder ; so that their pieces were
no use to them, which was presently a most fortunate
thing for us in the cave.
In a trice we could see them against the light
climbing and crawling like wild cats of the hills, as
indeed they were, on the knobs and ragged edges or
the sea entrance.
We could also hear the grating of the oars of the
boat against the sides of the cave as they scraped along,
and the voice of Yawkins ordering his men to take
their oars out of the rullocks and push the boat along
by hand. Then came a splatter of musketry up the
passage, and May Maxwell cried out in a way that
went to my heart.
In an instant both her father and I set our Queen
Anne muskets to our shoulders and fired. This
stopped the boat, for one of the smugglers dropped
forward, and falling among the feet of the others
grievously impeded them with his moaning and catch-
ing at them as they trod upon him.
Some of them cried " Back ! " and some " Have
at them ! " So there was a great confusion among
them. I did not fire again, hoping that there might
not be need for any more bloodshed. But Richard
Maxwell was not at all of my mind, for right nimbly
he climbed down with the discharged pieces and ran
up again with the loaded ones which his daughter
had prepared for him. He took not the slightest
notice when she cried out, for as soon as he had fired
his first shot he broke out into a great rapture of
singing. This was his song : —
THE DEFENCE OF THE CAVE. 123
" There arrows of the bow He brake,
The shield, the sword, the war;
More glorious Thou than hills of prey,
More excellent art far.
" Those that were stout of heart are spoil'd,
They slept their sleep outright,
And none of those their hands did find,
That were the men of might."
It was wonderful with what vigour the old man
sang this psalm, never for a moment stopping his
musketry practice, and at the end of every verse
dropping a deadly shot among his enemies.
The boat's crew soon had their bellyfull of fighting
in the dark, and were now only anxious to get oft
with whole skins. Some of them lay down in the
bottom of the boat, while others stood up and fired
into the darkness of the cave ; but except that a
pigeon or two fell flapping and struggling into the
water no one was a penny-piece the worse, for
May Maxwell's cry was only a sudden exclamation
at the crack of the musket, though it had sounded to
me so exceedingly lamentable.
The boat backed out, narrowly escaping another or
jerry's dangerous biscuits, and in a little while we
heard the noise of shooting above us, which made me
fear that the gypsies had found means to scramble
down the cliff. It was no more, however, than Jerry
trying his hand at the gun, for in a little Bell came
flying down in a high state of excitement for more
ammunition, crying, " We dowsed them a'. Hector
Faa gat his bonny French coat drookit." And this
seemed to her somehow the cream of the jest.
Our cave, which was shaped much like a tadpole,
124
THE RAIDERS.
with a very wide head and a very long body, was full
of the white smoor of gunpowder smoke, so that we
could not see those we were firing at. But Richard
Maxwell continued to discharge his gun as often as he
could get it loaded, bitterly winging each shot with
double powder and a text of Scripture.
Presently another great gun went off from the
Van Hoorn, but there was no lead or iron in it this
time. It was the signal of recall, and in a few
minutes the single boat's crew which remained was
taken on board, and the brig stood away to the south ;
and that not a moment too soon ; for the outsailed
Seahorse and the deceived Ariel had forgathered off
the Isle of Man and were speeding north to hem the
Black Smuggler into the blind alley of the estuary of
the Solway.
Now, though Yawkins was no doubt eager for
revenge, and still more eager for the brass-bound box
which Richard Maxwell carried with him so carefully,
he had too great a respect for his neck to risk hanging
on the bare chance of either. He ran, therefore,
towards the entrance of Wigton Bay to turn the point
before the slower king's ships could trap him, whence
he held south to escape for this time. His day was
not come. But the shadow ship was following hard
after, and the Fate that grips by land and sea, but most
surely and completely by sea, waited to lay the final
arrestment upon him, and on Leith Sands she hove
him to. Where to this day he stays.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE HILL GYPSIES.
Then for some hours we had peace.
As Silver Sand had foretold, there was little heart
for the onset among the " Tarry breeks ! " They
fought best on sea. But the gypsies of the hills,
accustomed to the crags and caves, the screes and
precipices of the Dungeon, were quite other adversaries.
Since that day the countryside has settled down so
fast that it is hard to realise that but a few years
takes us back to the time when the Marshalls and
Macatericks levied mail and drave cattle from half the
land of Galloway. Many of them were gypsies pur
sang, as Faa himself, and Marshall — the Faas indeed,
though expelled from the Border country, accounting
themselves above the Stuarts or Douglases, or any
other name in ancient dignity. In which I do think
honestly that they have the right of it ; but whether
the blood be improved in quality by this long descent
through cattle-thieves and wizards is a moot point.
But Hector Faa was a little above the chicken-coop
thief, and confined himself to maids of the Lowland
and droves of cattle from anywhere ; and as for the
lost John Faa himself, did he not still hold King
125
iz6 THE RAIDERS.
James' patent of nobility, and belt himself with
justice and full heraldic right " Lord and Earl of
Little Egypt " ?
The greater part of these tribes that herded to-
gether in the upper hill country — the No Man's
Sheriffdom, on the borders of the three counties of
Kirkcudbright, Wigtoun, and Ayr, were broken men
from the Border clans and septs — wild Eliots, bystart
Beatties from the debatable land, or outlaw Scotts
fleeing from the wrath of their own chief, the Warden
of the Marches. With them there were the Maca-
tericks, a sept of cairds (sturdy rascals) from the
wilder parts of North Carrick and the Upper Ward.
All these outlaw folk used to plunder the men of the
middle hills till the Leshmahago Whigs rose into power
in the high days of Presbytery before the return of
Charles Stewart, the second of the name, weary fa'
him. Then these, being decent, God-fearing men, of
a dour and lofty spirit, and all joined very close by
the tie of a common religion and by the Covenants
(National and Solemn League), rose and made an
end of the Macatericks, driving them forth of their
country with fire and sword.
Those that escaped betook themselves to the wilds of
the moorlands, where no writ ran, no law was obeyed,
and no warrant was good unless countersigned with
a musket. In the dark days of the Killing, this
country (which seems fitted to be the great sanctuary
of the persecuted), was more unsafe for them than
any part in the wilds ; for the reason that there were
always informers there who for hire would bring
the troopers on the poor, hunted wretches, cowering
with their ragged clothes and tender consciences in
THE HILL GYPSIES. 127
the moss-haggs and among the great rocks of
granite.
Then in the times which followed, as some yet alive
are old enough to remember, all the land was swiftly
pacified save only in the " cairds' " country — the
cairds being the association of the outlaw clans that
had gathered there. It appears strange that, so long
as their depredations were within bounds, no man
interfered with their marauding, so that they took
many cattle and as many sheep as they had need of.
As to their country itself, no man had the lairdship
of it, though my Lord Stewart of Garlies have long
claimed some rights over it. For centuries the whole
of it was of the country of the Kennedies, and all the
world knows that they were no better than they
should be. As for lifting a drove of cattle from the
Lowlands, it had been done by every Macaterick for
generations, though generally from Carrick or the
Machars, where the people are less warlike than in
Gallowav itself.
J
It was therefore not of the nature of a mere bravado
that Hector Faa should send word to the Maxwells,
the strongest of all the patriarchal smuggling families
of the Solway seaboard, that their only sister was
intended for the bride of a gypsy chief.
Hector Faa had seen May Maxwell at the great
fair of Keltonhill, whither she had gone every year
since she was a girl under the guardianship of
her bodyguard of brothers. Only a year ago
Kennedy had smitten Hector on the mouth to the
effusion of his blood, and Hector had drawn his knife
on the Maxwells, who, however, at Keltonhill, were
in their own country and in overwhelming force.
128 . THE RAIDERS.
" Till another day ! " cried Hector Faa, as they
dragged him away.
The other day had come.
I have no doubt that the gypsies knew well enough
that the Maxwell brothers were at a distance or they
had been far less bold and infinitely more wary.
All this takes a long time to tell, yet the sailing away
of the smugglers, and the second attack of the gypsies
followed within a few minutes of each other.
We were yet standing in the Hall of Ossian waving
our hands before our faces to clear the cave of the
sulphurous smoke of the powder.
" Run," said Richard Maxwell to his daughter ;
" bring me my canister. I left it at the cave-head."
I myself had started to obey him, when he called
sharply to me, "Dinna leave your stance. I hear
them coming again — ah, if I could but see them ! "
A moment afterwards there came out of the smoke,
floating as it were upon the water, half a dozen heads,
black and fierce, with long hair dabbling in the tide
as their owners swam towards us.
Richard Maxwell, Jerry, and I fired, but what with
the darkness of the place, the thickness of the smoke,
and the horror of shooting at men's heads so close, I
think that no one of us except old Richard hit his
man.
In another moment they were on us with the dirk,
all except one of them who swam last and seemed to
be grievously hurt.
It was a dismal enough fight in that crowded little
cave, and I was nonewise expert at the dirk. Indeed
as it was I stood in the corner in front of the niche
where May had been loading the muskets, and swung
THE HILL GYPSIES. 129
my sword in that St. Andrew's cross which hardly
even a skilled swordsman can beat down. I felt it
strike flesh once and again, and the cave was full of
confused darkness and flashings. The oaths of the
gypsies, the shouts of old Richard whose pistols cracked
again and again, the crying of the womenfolk, all
dinned in my ears, and in the midst of all the sulphur
of the powder set me a-sneezing.
'Tis not what one would choose twice to undergo,
though indeed I had not chosen it even once. It had
come to me without seeking, ever since I saw the
twinkling star over Craigdarroch grow into a lowe
of the crudest and most cowardly fire-raising. In a
little the light grew clearer in the cave, and I could
see dimly. Richard Maxwell was in death grips with
a tall gypsy, and little Jerry was engaging another.
One lay on his face at the edge of the water, and one
at my feet. The fifth was nowhere to be seen. I
rushed to Richard Maxwell's assistance, but the man
at my feet gripped me in the act to run and I came
down over him.
Outside there was a noise of guns — an irregular
dropping fire, and the sound of a boat coming up the
passage.
"This is the end," said I, within myself, for it
would be as much as we could do to be quit of those
who had already gained access to the cave. We could
not hope to beat back another boatload. The man
who had brought me to the ground could only grip
and hold. He had apparently no weapon. Nor was
I conscious of a wound, but the horror of his face so
near my own, put me in a fever lest I should faint.
He drew me nearer and nearer to him as though he
i3o THE RAIDERS.
would bite. I had heard terrible rumours of the
ferocity and cannibalism of the folk of the hills. A
loathing came over me that was near to fascination,
like the tale of the serpent and the bird. I could not
resist with my full strength, and I verily believe that
by strength of arm the fierce wounded gypsy had
drawn me quick into his embrace and met his teeth in
my face, had not the boat we had heard coming along
the cave at that moment discharged her cargo of men,
who, springing out, soon put an end to the combat.
I must have swooned away before I knew my fate —
but more from unusual excitement than from any hurt,
and also because I was green and had not yet come to
my strength.
When I awoke Kennedy Maxwell was bending
over me. He shook me roughly.
" Where is my sister ? " he said.
What I said in answer I know not, for my head ran
round, and the darkness of the cave, together with the
turmoil of the struggle and the lashing of the sea on
the pebbles, set me in a swither.
Kennedy, seeing that I had no certain word to speak,
instantly ran from me, leaving me lying. I tried to
rise ; and in a little, holding by the rock and leaning
my shoulder against it, I stood upon my feet. Two
of the Maxwells, Will the eldest and his brother Patie,
next in years, were bending over their father where he
had fallen at the other side of the wide room where
we had fought. Silver Sand knelt on the opposite side,
and the old man appeared to speak to him earnestly
but with great difficulty. The other five of the
Maxwells— Kennedy, and young Richard, David,
Archibald, and Steenie — were nowhere to be seen.
THE HILL GYPSIES. 151
"Is he sore hurt ? " I asked, seeing them so stand
about with grave faces.
Silver Sand looked up quickly and motioned me to
be silent, moving the fingers of his right hand quickly
up and down. The old man was hurt nigh to death,
if not indeed in the act to pass.
Richard Maxwell looked around, as if seeking what
in the dusk of the cave he could not see.
" Where are the rest r " he said, speaking with
difficulty.
" They are lookin' for May ! " said Peter, in-
cautiously.
His brother Will turned on him with a frown of
fierce threat.
" They may look but they'll no find her," cried the
old man. " Alas, I am like Job, stricken in my house
and my children at once ! Bring in the lads*"
Silver Sand went and called them in. They were
scattered through all the passages, but no trace
of May Maxwell could they find. Jerry also had
vanished, and there was no way by which they might
have left the cave. Bell came reluctantly out of the
nook where in the thick of the fight she had hidden,
but could tell nothing.
The seven Maxwells stood about their father, who
sat half supported in the arms of Silver Sand. Only
Kennedy hid his face, and he was the youngest.
The rest stood stern and calm, accepting the fact
without repining.
"Me have they bereft in one day of my home, of
my daughter, and of my life. The Lord knows that
never have I done harm to those that sought my
blood. Listen, my sons t forgiveness belongs to the
*3* THE RAIDERS.
Lord, and I forgive these sons of Zeruiah. I, that
am about to pass, and shall never carry spear or pistol
more, forgive them. But see that ye meddle not with
such matters, at least till ye be as near the presence of
the Judge as I. Follow after them with a great
vengeance. Vindicate the right. Smite with the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Let the Lord
smite an He will, or hold His sword an He will ;
but see ye that ye be Gideons and spare not your
swords to strike. Let not your eye pity till that evil
tribe be rooted out — robbers of houses and murderers
of men."
He paused, his hand on his side.
"I see," continued the old man, "a time coming,
horses and men upon the green. I see the waving of
their banners. The companies are marching to the
tuck of drum. They are clattering up the Wolf's
Slock. I see them go."
" It is the second sight," whispered Silver Sand.
"List to him. No horses can go up the Wolf's
Slock."
" I see them go," he cried, turning sightless eyes
upon the roof of the cavern, in so vivid a manner that
we all turned our eyes also that way ; but we saw
nothing there save the tremulous gathering and
scattering of the light which came out of the deep
water at the cave's mouth.
" I hear the horses' cackers (shoes) ringing on the
granite. They slide and scrape the corklit x from
the stones. O Lord, let me see the brunt o' the
battle and wha is the victor afore I gang, and then
1 " Staneraw," or licheti, used for dyeing, found on the hills of the Out-
law country.
THE HILL GYPSIES. 133
I'll e'en go quiet, like a lamb. Dinna smite unless it
be justice, Lord, but gin it be, sheath not Thy sword.
Ah, I see them, I see them. Help, Lord, for Thy
servant faileth. The bloody and deceitful man shall
not live half his days. Their winding-sheet is drawn,
and is sleekit white and fair. The Lord has let down
His corpse clout upon them."
There was a long silence, very still, in which I
could hear the breathing of the strong men within,
and without the pulsing of the sea. Then the high-
pitched old man's voice, that was like the crying of an
elricht wind about the housetops, again took up the
vision.
"They hae gotten the dead stroke. Thou hast
done it ! Death and destruction are written on our
Lord's banners. The brunt of the battle is ower.
The shower is slacked. The on-ding will come nae
mair ! Loch-in-loch ! I see thee, little loch. Thou
art clear this morning. Thou art red at even, and
there is a pile of haggled heads by thee. Praise to
the God of battles. I see the end. It is a Pisgah
glimpse. For me I am in His hands. I see the
victors come riding home. There is a maid first on
a white horse."
He sat up of his own strength, Silver Sand keeping
close behind him to catch him in case that he should
fall.
Waving his hand, he cried, " It is my ain lassie.
Praise the Lord, Himself has cast the lap o' His cloak
aboot the bairn. Pure within and without, I see her
come hame, for the intent of the wicked is holden.
The Lord that is a strong Lord deals tenderly with
the young plants and waters them oft."
134 THE RAIDERS.
He fell back, but his voice went on, though the
tide was plainly on the ebb.
" But there is much to do — little time to do it in.
Up and awa' back by the east door, the dry door, that
we hadna the gumption to see. Follow them that
gate. Leave me ! leave me ! Can ye no let an auld
man dee his lane ? It's atween him and his Maker
at ony gate. Let the dead bury their dead, follow ye
the living ! Gang ye ! Gang ye ! Lord, into Thy
hands I commit my spirit."
For a moment only he rallied, opening his eyes on
the dusky cave, and seeing the light at the far end of
it which came in from the wide sunlit sea.
" Ebb tide and a dark, ?nisty ?norning ! " he said
very quietlv and wended on his way towards the
light.
So the spirit passed, battling and warring to the
last as it had lived, to where beyond the shadows
there is peace.
Richard Maxwell had gone out with the ebb tide
as the spirit of man does ever.
CHAPTER XV.
THE DRY CAVE.
The dead father lay in the cave. The living sister
had gone from it. The Maxwells stood all about
their father as Silver Sand, in whose arms he died,
laid him down softly and closed his eyes.
"And now concerning May," said Will Maxwell,
like one who passes calmly to the next subject.
" Who saw her last ? "
"She was in the corner where the puns were
O
loaded when the rush of men came," I said ; " she
passed me a gun just after we saw the black heads on
the water."
" And she was not in the cave when we entered,
neither did she pass out by the way we came," said
Will.
"There is a hope for her," I said; "Jerry is also
missing. He may be with her." For I knew the
tricks of that youth.
"You heard my father's words," continued Will
Maxwell. " It is for us to follow after. We are all
fit and able. The track is plain. Whv stand we
here ? "
»35
136 THE RAIDERS.
" Where shall we follow ? " said David Maxwell.
" Sea or land — Yawkins or Marshall ? "
" She's never with Yawkins. He was doon the
wind afore ever she was oot o' the cave. It's wi' the
outlaws we maun seek," said Kennedy.
The Maxwells made no parade of their intentions,
but forthwith settled among themselves how they
were to follow. Four were to ride the Raiders' track,
while three were to gather wide and raise the country.
And they were all to meet at the Bridge of the Black
Water of Dee.
"And you ? " said Will Maxwell, looking to Silver
Sand and myself. Silver Sand answered for both of
us.
" We are with you immediately. As soon as we
have searched the cave for Jerry we will follow after
you."
"Why will you not be of our company?" said Will.
" Because," said Silver Sand, " if the outlaws have
taken May with them, they would split, and some
would leave the cattle-trail to seek the fastest road to
the Dungeon of Buchan. We will seek the track of
the riders. Follow you the cattle as you say."
Will Maxwell still appeared not to understand. He
had little thought of any refinement of pursuit. He
desired only to come swiftly to blows with the out-
casts and have the matter over. He doubted not that
he should then find his sister, if indeed she had been
carried off.
Silver Sand, being versed in the ways of the hill
men, read deeper, and was determined to follow his
own council.
But concerning the steadfast purpose of our search
THE DRY CAVE. 137
we all made a vow, standing about the dead body of
Richard Maxwell, to seek until we found and to strike
until we made an end — all except Silver Sand, who had
gone aloft to search the higher chamber, whence Jerry,
earlier in the combat, had thrown his biscuits.
On the sandy knowe behind the cave at the
farthest end of Rathan we laid Richard Maxwell to
rest. As we came out the seagulls clanged about,
and a rock dove flew down and perched on the
prow of the boat above the dead body, which was
strange, and mightily admired, for never did any
of us see such like before. But the Maxwells took
it as a sign not of this world, so they all of them
took off their bonnets and put them in the bottom
of the boat ; for which I thought none the worse of
them, though I kept mine on (for, indeed, it was
but a pigeon and a young bird that was tired flying,
which presently was gone), and so we drew to the
shore. We buried him with haste and without
ordered preparation, but with all reverence, and Silver
Sand put up a prayer that moved me strangely, for I
knew not even that he was a man who held religion
in honour. Then I bethought me on many things I
had said to him that were no credit to me to say, and
I wished I had not said them. Yet I remembered
that he had never rebuked me as a strict professor
would have done.
So ere we departed we made a grave for Richard
Maxwell, and I went for spades and shools, which I
brought from the House of Rathan. When I was in
the house I took a hasty look round to see that all
was right. Nothing had been touched. There was
not so much as the track of a dirtv foot. But in the
138 THE RAIDERS.
kitchen I found Jerry lying in a wet pool on the floor.
I thought him dead, but as I pulled him to the
window he recovered somewhat, and said, lifting up
his hand to the light and letting the moisture drip
from it, " It is only sea water. It was a fine
morning, so I took a dook for my health."
This made me glad, but I could not wait to ask
him further, having come for the spades.
" Ye saw nocht o' May Maxwell ? " I said.
"I left her in the cave," he said, glancing quickly
up ; " she'll be there yet."
Knowing this not to be so, I left him hastily, com-
mending him to a square bottle of Hollands to recover
him from his dwam (fainting fit).
So we laid old Craigdarroch in a fine sandy grave.
We had no grave clothes, saving a sheet which I
brought from the house, but his face and wounds
were washen clean, and he had the look of one that
dies well pleased. So we left him without coffin, to
the kindly chemie of the mools (earth). For me, I
would not have silver plate or polished oak retard by
one day the solemn "dust to dust" which is the
requiem of us all.
But we could not start on our search till we had
gone back to the cave and resolved the words of the
vision concerning the unknown entrance which the
old man spoke of.
So Silver Sand and I took the boat back where I,
for one, had no desire to go because of the blood and
the keen, fetid stench of gunpowder, which was not
yet cleared away. We made a complete search,
beginning at the uppermost chamber. We went into
every cranny that would admit either of ourselves
THE DRY CAVE. 139
creeping on our knees or of Ouharrie, going forward
with his head down, and growling as though to track
out a wild beast.
But not so much as an outlet for a rat did we find
on either hand till we came down to the great cave
where the strife had been so deadly.
"'The dry door — the east door!' quoth he,"
muttered Silver Sand, musing. Suddenly he clapped
his hand on his knee like a man that solves a riddle.
" What gomerils ! " he cried, and with that he got
him into the boat as though to leave the cave. But he
put no oar into the water — only felt with it along the
dark rock above his head on the right hand, pulling the
boat along by his left hand laid on the projections of
the rock. The oar scraped and slid along the ledges,
bringing down the straws and dirt of the doves' nests
into the boat. He went two or three yards in this
fashion, pulling the boat with him. Then he came
to a sudden dark bend of the rock which looked no
more than as it were an aumry or corner cupboard to
the cave. All at once his oar, which had been
scraping and rasping along the dead wall, fell forward
till the leather that lay in the rullock rested on a
ledge of rock.
" I thought as much," cried Silver Sand; "this is
the way we lost our maid. The old man saw clearly,
as the dying ever see."
He put his hands as it had been on a breastwork
and leapt up, pushing the boat back as he did so till
she sent her stern against the opposite wall.
" Cast me a rope," he cried from above, " and
come hither and see ! "
I did so. He caught the rope deftly, and in a few
140 THE RAIDERS.
moments I was up beside him. What I saw surprised
me that I had not seen it before. For I had passed a
thousand times that way, and even taken my skiff
round, sitting in it and feeling with my hand if there
were any way or any chance of adventure ; for in those
days I expected to find a wondrous mermaid in every
sea hole. Now I discovered that the rock barrier,
which seemed continuous to the roof to one sitting in
a boat, was little more than breast high, when one was
standing erect. I called myself a fool for not having
seen it before.
" Ye're nocht to me," said Silver Sand, " that has
been here before, and that no in good company.
More than that, I have seen the very make of this
in Antrim, which is in Ireland, at a place they call
Port Coon, where much good stuff used to be run."
This, then, was the " dry door — the east door "
that the dying visionary had spoken of. Silver Sand
went back to the cave again for a candle, and indeed
I was glad to remain by the boat, for I had no stomach
any more for the Hall of Ossian. I had not gone even
for all the contents of the brass chest which lay hidden
in the sand there.
When Silver Sand came back, he lighted the candle.
Standing still in the boat and shielding it with his
hand, he looked narrowly at the rock, with his eyes
within an inch or two of the wall.
" I thocht as muckle," he said. " Hector, my man,
this is the gate ye gaed." And he pointed out to me
a series of irregular steps, not greatly larger than
notches, that went up from the water to the edge of
the rock breastwork. They were not one above
another, like steps in a ladder, but more like the steps
THE DRY CAVE. 141
over a stone dyke. Some of them might be natural,
but the best part were made. No wonder Hector
Faa knew of these, for was it not the Isle of Rogues ?
" Up, my man ! " cried Silver Sand to me. " Gin
ye want yer lass, ye hae nae time to waste. The
Faas bides na on priest nor presbyter when they marry
or gie in marriage ! "
"My lass," he said. May Maxwell was no lass
of mine, and at another time I should have said so.
But she and I had been friendly during these last days,
and I had done her a good turn according to my ability,
which always breeds kindly feeling. But " My lass,"
quoth he. " My faith, that was an over-quick word,"
I said to myself.
Yet it was no time to argie-bargie (dispute) about
words and sayings if we were to save this young maid
that was so bright and cheery, though a kenning mis-
chievous, from the grip of the wild and ungodly gypsies
of the hills. With the candle alight we looked narrowly
at this new cave, which was bone dry on the other
side of the barrier. The bottom was a smooth bed of
freestone rock, as if the water had worn it, but there
were no pebbles upon it.
" Hector Faa was rinnin' bareiit, and carrying the
lass," said Silver Sand.
" How do ye ken that ? " 1 said, for 1 could not
conceive how he knew.
" Because there's neither nail nor shod marks, but
yet the limpet fish have been started here and there,
so somebody has come by this way middlin' fast, and
that at no long time's distance."
We tracked the dry cave some way till we could
hear the wash of the waves again. Then we came to
142 THE RAIDERS.
a narrow opening very low down, through which the
tide was rippling brightly and softly. The roof of
the cave came to within three feet of the water, like
the blue hood of a packman's waggon. Silver Sand
stepped down and out. I followed him, and we found
ourselves standing in the broad sunlight in a little bay
that looks to the south-east, among the high craigs of
Rathan Island. Silver Sand was gazing all about him,
looking so extraordinarily foolish with the lighted
candle in his hand in the broad sun, that I laughed
aloud.
He looked at me cross-like. "What may it please
ye to be so merry about ? " he asked.
I said no word, but pointed to the candle in his
hand. He blew it out, and looked at me with his
eyes drawn to pin-points, like a cat's in the sun.
"Gin she were my lass, it's no laughing I would be."
This he said nettled-like, in a way that I had never
dreamed of, for it was strange to me that such a man as
Silver Sand, who could be so mysterious and uncanny,
should mind being laughed at like an ungrown girl.
Meanwhile his eyes, roving everywhere quick as
thought, landed on something that seemed to take
him greatly. He pointed with his finger to the
bottom of the water in which we stood up to our
knees. Looking, I saw a little shoe sitting on its
sole on the sand, as though it had been set afloat to
sail for sport and had softly filled and sunk. I lifted
it and held it in my hand, and from that moment all
that day I had no thought of merry-making. Silver
Sand had indeed struck the laugh out of my face. It
was May Mischief's shoe, and it looked so pretty and
simple with its little wet silver buckle glinting in the
THE DRY CAVE. 143
sun that I could not forbear weeping. It seemed
mortally affecting to me because it was the shoe
which she wore the day I called her " Impudent
Besom." I could see her as she sat on the window
seat, dangling her feet in the air, sitting on the fingers
of both hands turned with the palms down on the sill,
her hair like a boy's, and she with a very pretty mouth
piping away like a blackbird at "The Bush abune
Traquair." All this came so sore upon me that it
was a comfort to greet and make myself small before
Silver Sand, who stood looking at me, not waeful, but
as one might at a child who has broken his toy and
thinks he will never be happy any more.
But for all that I was glad now that he had said
"Your lass !"
So we waded our way to the shore, and before we
came out Silver Sand threw the old tin candle stock
into the tide, which I went and carefully picked out
again. There was no service in being wasterful that
day or any other day, for it was the candle which used
to sit on the stone shelf of the milkhouse at Rathan in
my father's time. And it stands there to this day.
When we got to the house we found Jerry Mac-
Whirter much recovered, but not able yet to move
far.
" I'll take care o' the house for ye till ye come
back," he said. " It'll be as muckle as I'm good for.
I'll be obliged to you for the loan of the cellar key,
and if ye'll reach me down that side of bacon ham, the
frying-pan, and some butter, I'll manage brawly," said
that cheerful vouth.
J
" Have any of the Maxwells been here ? " I asked of
him as I gave him what he asked for.
144 THE RAIDERS.
" Aye," said Jerry, " an' they hae ta'en muskets an'
ammunition, an' aff to follow the chase. O that I
could gang after them, but faain' bellyflaught on the
water like a paddock is no chancy for one's inwards."
This was all that Jerry had to tell, and not a word
more could we get out of him. He did not seem at all
concerned that May Maxwell should have been carried
off. He treated it as an excellent jest to laugh at.
"Weel, it's dootless a queer taste to rin aff wi' a
gypsy, but I've heard o' sic like," he said.
" I'll thraw your neck for that, Jerry MacWhirter,
when I come back ! " I cried as I went out of the
door.
" Tak' care that ye ever come back on your legs,"
he cried. " Gin ye're gaun to hie after hizzies that
rins to Gretna wi' gypsies, ye are more like to come
back wi' your feet foremost, or I'm mistaen."
The last I heard of Jerry was some words that he
cried after me as I went along the stone passage : " Ye
micht leave me a scrive o' yer pen, Laird, that wad
serve me heir to Rathan — in case like "
And I heard no more. I had, however, heard
enough to make me swear to twist his neck on my
back-coming — which, indeed, I may say in this place,
1 lived creditably to perform and like one that is a man
of his word.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CAMP OF SILVER SAND.
But fast as I might go, with my pistols new primed
and an extra powder flask at my hip, Silver Sand went
the faster. We were to take the boat over to the
Orraland Cove, where were the white shell sands.
Ouharrie was in the boat before us, and a fearsome-
looking beast he was, for he had somehow been in the
fray and had gotten a lick with a whinger on the
chops, which his master had made shift to stitch in
a neat and surgeon-like manner, doing it like one bred
to the business, as indeed he did everything to which
he set his hand.
As we went, I at the tiller, Silver Sand at the oars,
as was usual (for Silver Sand liked exercise, while I
was in no wise partial to it), I said to him, "We are
to follow the Maxwells, I suppose ? "
" Suppose here, suppose there," said Silver Sand,
who seemed a little discomposed in his temper for some
reason that I could not divine ; "gin ye want to play
follow-dick to the Maxwell lads, ye can do it. That's
the way to find the beasts, gin it's the nowt ye're
wantin'. But if ye want the bit lass, afore Hector
Faa's minnie ties him an' her up ower the tangs, ye'll
hae to try anither way o't." Being wise I said nothing,
IO 145
146 THE RAIDERS.
but waited for explanations, knowing better than to in-
terfere with Silver Sand when he was in such a mood.
Suddenly a thought made me strike my pockets.
We had no money, and though steel blades and steel
pistol barrels were imperative, some of the coin of the
realm might be useful. I mentioned my distress to
Silver Sand and he smiled.
"Tak' ye never a thocht for the siller," said he,
" there's a guid steeve purse inside this sleeved waist-
coat that is at your service every doit and boddle ! "
I must have looked very queerly at him, I daresay,
for he made answer —
" Ye needna turn up your een at me like tea-dishes.
I am neyther thief nor robber — though I bena a laird
wi' an island that I can nearly cover wi' my breeks
when I sit doon on it. Think ye I hae no siller
because I am but a packman an' a seller o' scythe sand
and keel ? " said he. " Forget na the keel ! "
"Whiles I am thinking, Silver Sand," said I, quietly,
without any show of temper, "that you are very
different from what you appear to be."
A very futile and foolish remark, as I now perceive.
" Dod, d'ye ken," said he, pleased-like, " but I'm
whiles o' that opeenion mysel'."
He quite recovered his good-humour in a moment.
I think it was that the matter of the candle still stuck
in his throat, so terribly was he set against being
laughed at.
" But hae ye really siller enough for us baith ? " I
asked, just to make sure.
Silver Sand put his hand into his pocket and poured
out of a purse a full gowpenful (double-handful) of
golden guineas, such as I had never seen before.
THE CAMP OF SILVER SAND. 147
" Keel's remarkable profitable," he said.
" 'Deed aye," I replied wistfully ; " I'd swap Rathan
for your cuddy at that rate. An' by the ribs of the
Curate o' Carsephairn, there's that same cuddy ! "
But I knew well he was but daffing about the profit
on keel.
As we landed and pulled up the boat Silver Sand's
donkey, a beautiful beast of a dun mouse colour, and
far larger than common donkeys, came frisking down
to meet us.
"It's weel," said I, "that the gypsies didna get their
fingers ower the bit cuddy or ye wad hae had to buy
anither."
"Aye," he said drily, "but I'm thinkin' that the
dourest catheran that steps atween here an' John o'
Groats will think twice afore he meddles wi' Silver
Sand his cuddy."
Then we took our ways up to the tent in the wood
which Silver Sand had pitched the morning before
opposite to the Isle Rathan. It was standing intact,
without confusion inside or out. There were, how-
ever, many footmarks about it, as of clooted (hoofed)
feet of cattle, broad pads of unshod horses, sharp steds
of horseshoes, and the slipping prints of bare human
feet over all.
The mystery was more mysterious than ever to me
now. The wild gypsies had indeed been in this quiet
nook of Orraland Glen. It was here that they had
gathered their drove to make for the hills. How
came it then that all the property, left here so openly
with only a cuddy and no other warden, was as secure
as though locked in Kirkcudbright jail ? The solution
was beyond me. I saw, however, that the answer
148 THE RAIDERS.
was bound up with the manner in which Silver Sand
undertook to keep Rathan House safe against hill
gypsy and black smuggler. The two things hung
together. But as I was the one to profit, I had
nothing to say in the matter. As we came near to
the tent (which was bell shaped, with a pole of un-
trimmed birch stuck through the roof), I saw a plain
saugh (willow) wand, peeled white, leaning against
the door flap. It was stuck deep into the ground, and
was easy to be seen by all that came near. Then on
the flap itself there were curious signs, like those they
say are to be seen in the land of Egypt, the country
out of which the children of Israel escaped. In the
centre of these was the sign which is known among
Eastern peoples as the Shield of David. This was
painted in black, but there were two bars of red across
it, a thick and a thin, the thick being topmost. Strange
letter-signs as of lions and gryphons, and many eagle-
faced things were also painted on the canvas in outline.
" What might these be," I asked of Silver Sand,
somewhat incautiously. I might have been well aware
that if there were any secret in the matter worth
knowing, it was not likely that he would be telling
me his mysteries then.
" Well," said he, " they micht be drawed to amuse
the cuddy, or they micht be made by the birds o' the
air drappin' fairings on them, or aiblins they micht be
mysel' tryin' the quality o' my tar and keel ; but ye
see, they're nane o' a' thae, an' thank ye for speerin'."
Such an answer I might have expected, but the truth
is I asked the question without thinking.
He paused a moment as though to ask himself if it
were worth while to give me any information.
THE CAMP OF SILVER SAND. 149
" They're just my lock and key," he said, drily, and
that was all I got out of him.
He went into his tent, putting aside the peeled rod,
but he did not ask me to enter ; yet, when he came
out, he brought a bottle of foreign wine with him
and some sweet cakes, of which he bade me partake.
I objected that I did not care for wine, and indeed
never used it.
" Ye'll be the better o't or ye get to your journey's
end," he said ; " them that gaes linking thorough the
moss-haggs and the muirs wi' Silver Sand and Ouharrie
has need o' some steeve belly-timber, whatever."
So I took a little, and what with me being unaccus-
tomed to it, and the rarity of the vintage, it ran
through my veins like soft liquid fire, extraordinarily
heartsome and vivid.
" That's surely by-ordinar'," said I.
"Aye," he said, " there's no the like o' that in braid
Scotland. That comes frae whaur the swallows gang
in the winter time."
" And where's that," I asked, more anxious than
ever to hear him speak of it, for indeed it was a thing
that I had often wondered at but could get no satis-
faction about.
But he did nothing but laugh and say, "Maybes at
the bottom o' Carlinwark Loch ! "
And though that was the currently reported opinion,
I knew well that he was joking, though he liked my
quip about the candle ill enough. It is a strange
thing that the folk that are aye taking their nap off"
other folks are the thinnest in the pelt themselves.
But it is a thing I have noticed particularly, and that
many times.
CHAPTER XVII.
COUNCIL OF WAR.
So we set out, travelling forward with all speed, but,
as our custom was, talking as we went. We spoke of
the daring of the outlaws. No raid for fifty years had
reached so far south as the shores of the Solway, though
the smugglers and the gypsies had a regular route by
which they conveyed their smuggled stuff* to Edinburgh
on the east, and Glasgow or Paisley on the west. So
complete was their system, and so great their daring,
that it is safe to say that there was not a farmer's grey-
beard between the Lothians and the Solway filled with
spirit that had done obeisance to King George, and
not a burgher's wife that had duty-paid lace on her
Sabbath mutch. The gaugers were few and harmless,
contenting themselves for the most part with lingering
round public-houses in towns, and bearing a measure
cup and gauging-stick about the markets — occupations
for which they were entirely suited.
The remark that I next made to Silver Sand was
that such actions as kidnapping and fire-raising ought
to be punished with hanging.
" That observe has been made before, Laird Rathan,"
he said in an ironical manner ; " but as for me, though
COUNCIL OF WAR. 151
I'm trying to get ye back your lass, it's for the love
I bear to you and the bit lass hersel' — no that I hae
ony fault to fin' wi' Hector Faa or ony o' his clan."
"But it's cruel abduction and murder," said I, "and
it breaks my heart to hear you upholding sic ongoings."
" Ye're young, ye're young, Rathan," said he, " an'
in time ye'll learn sense. Man, whaur did a' the gipsy
wives come frae that hae keepit the Faas in being for
so mony generations. They were a' liftit, yin an' a'.
There's Meggat Faa, that is the mither o' Hector and
John Faa himseP. Do ye think Meggat is a Faa by
birth ? I tell ye, not her — she's come o' decent
Border folk as ever was — Kers o' Blackshiels ower by
Yethom. But she's mair Faa this day than ony o' her
sons. Noo, what is't that brings aboot the like o'
that ? I can tell ye that ; an' in this age o' ill-doing
and ill-thinking (wi' the tales that we hear aboot the
wee, wee German lairdie an' his Dutch women — an'
maybe ithers no sae far frae hame), let me tell ye that
there's no a Faa that wadna mak' a guid man, leal and
true-hearted, kind too at the feck o' times. Faith, let
me tell ye there's mony a lass that micht be prood to
be in the place o' Mistress May Maxwell the nicht."
"Then if that be your key, I'm lang aneuch wi'
you," cried I, hotly flaming up at the way he spoke
about the man who had abducted by force the daughter
of Richard Maxwell, who lay coffinless in his shroud
under the sands of Rathan. But as I grew hot Silver
Sand grew cool.
" Na, na, laddie, I'm wi' ye to the neck, dirk and
dagger, I hae thrown awa' the scabbard ; but I'll never
say that the Faas are ill to their wives, or, 'deed, that
they are sic ill folk ava'."
152 THE RAIDERS.
"Wha does the murders, then, that they are
blamed for ? " said I.
"'Deed, there's bluid shed a plenty, and the Faas
nae doot hae their hand in't, and they shall be hangit
and headed for it, an' it's no me that shall peety them ;
but O man, I like ill to hear folk that bien and cosy,
hiveing thegither like a bee's byke, cryin' oot on them
that's lying amang the hills. Man, I've been there
mysel', an' I ken what it means never to get justice
nor the chance o' justice — to be tried by sherras and
judges that hae ye judged and condemned afore ever
ye win into the coort."
" But ye wadna condone murder and robbery, man,
surely, wad ye ? for if ye say c Aye,' muckle as I loe
ye, you an' me maun twine," said I.
" My lad," said Silver Sand, " you an' me will agree.
I'm as great on the side o' the law as it's siccar to be
in thae uncertain times, when wha kens when they
gang to their naked beds whether they'll wakken
under King or Pretender, or indeed wha's richt King
an' wha's wrang Pretender."
" As for me," said I, with a self-righteousness that
I wonder Silver Sand did not kick me for — "as for
me, I am at all times on the side of the law."
" My gracious, think o' that ! " said Silver Sand j
" they'll mak' ye a gauger ! Ye hae a rare job afore
ye wi' thae brithers-in-law o' yours, the Maxwell
callants. They're nane sae fond o' the law, that I
ken."
I declare that I could have pistolled him there and
then for saying such a thing about the kin of a poor
young lass that had lost her father, and was at that
moment in the hands of a ruffian.
COUNCIL OF WAR. 153
I said as much to him, whereupon he laughed,
having regained more than his former goodwill, and
treated me with a fine and glancing affection, which,
from one so strange in appearance and mysterious in
antecedents as he, made me wonder that I liked it so
well.
" Come noo, Paitrick," he said, " you and me has
kenned yin anither a gye while. Ye ken that I am
wi' ye to the last gasp — aye, an' ayont it, if they'll let
the like o' me through Peter's White Yetts. I'll
fecht wi' ye again' Faas and Macatericks and Marshalls,
and especially again' Marshalls ; but I'm thinkin' that
you and me had best stick thegither. Ye are a
braw lad an' a bonny bit fechter, but ye want the
judgment. Man, the great art is to keep clear o'
fechtin' till ye canna help it. An' then — why, then —
dinna mak' twa jobs o't."
He clapped me on the shoulder. " Sit ye doon.
There is a council o' war called," he said.
Having said all this so rapidly that he left me
breathless, he plumped down on an anthill, and
motioned me to do the like. But I sat on a stone
and said nothing. I watched for the ants to come
out, but the hill was empty and none came, which
vexed me.
The night was drawing down apace, and we were
in a very desert place under the fine rocky hill that is
called Screel, which rises from the Solway side, and
is visible like a great blue potato-pit against the sky
all over the southland of Galloway. We had made our
way among rocks that crumbled under our feet, and
rang with a kind of iron clang as we trod across them.
I was most exceedingly hungry, yet in this place no
154 THE RAIDERS.
victual grew, and there was no farm town within
our sight. It seemed, however, but a little way to
the clouds.
"Let us reckon the chances," said Silver Sand.
" The first thing is to make up our minds what the
enemy is likely to do, and then we can plan our own
course. First, then, there's the smugglers wi' their
casks and ankers of brandy and wine. We may let
them gang. They are far on the road to Edinburgh
wi' the Preventive men keepin' weel oot o' their
road. Then, in the second place (this is like preach-
in'), there's the cattle reivers. They had a lang start
— mair nor fifteen hours, mind ye, for they never
cam' near the Cave o' Rathan. They wad start when
the onstead o' Craigdarroch was in a bleeze. Then
there's oor freen that ye are mair particularly interested
in, Hector Faa an' his bridal company — that has, ye
may depend, the best horses and the best of advice
and assistance on the road. They'll be the hardest to
mak' up on ! "
"Silver Sand, I ask ye no to speak o' the young
lass like that."
" Aweel, aweel, Rathan, then I'll no ; but dinna
fret, I'm kind o' sib to the gypsies mysel', an' I can
tell ye that till the marriage is by at the end o' the
three days o' feastin', May Maxwell will be attended
and 'kuitled'" (made much of) "like a leddy — an'
after that mair nor ever, for she'll be a Faa hersel'."
" God forbid ! " said I, fervently.
" Amen to that ! " said Silver Sand. " We'll e'en
make her a Heron, though the Herons are but lang-
nebbit paddock-dabbers to the Faas."
All the same I was extraordinarily relieved to know
COUNCIL OF WAR. 155
that the young maid was safe from insult, and also
that we had at least three days after Hector and his
prisoner reached the outlaws' hold on Loch Enoch-
side. It was not much to be thankful for, but it was
so much better than my fear, that I almost counted
it an actual deliverance.
As Silver Sand sat on the ground, he laid his long
arms, from the elbow to the wrist on the heather
before him, as though they were actual weapons ; and
sitting there, I saw that the joints seemed to be set
the other way, either naturally or through some extra-
ordinary torture. Seeing which a great pity took hold
on my heart, and the tears came into my eyes. I
remembered all his kindness, and so without more ado
I set my arm round his neck and said to him earnestly,
" Forgie me for every ill thing I hae said to ye, for
O man, I like ye — I like ye ! "
For a moment Silver Sand glared at me as if he had
been angry, then suddenly laid his face between his
hands and sobbed as if he would tear his throat. It
was terrible. I knew not what to do in that lonely
place, but I laid my head on his shoulder to see if that
would comfort him.
" O man Paitrick ! " he cried at last, " ye hae
given me back my manhood. I have been treated
like a beast. I have been a beast. I have lived wi'
the beasts, but you are the first that has drawn to me
for thirty years. Paitrick, ye may want a friend for
you and yours, but it shallna be as lang as Silver Sand
can trail his auld twisted banes after ye. Man, I wad
gang for ye into the 111 Bit itsel', that's fu' o' brim-
stane reek, the reed lowe jookin' through the bars, and
the puir, puir craiters yammerin' ahint."
156 THE RAIDERS.
He turned away for a moment, and when he looked
up again all trace of his emotion had gone.
" But this is no what we are here for," he said, with
one of his quick changes ; " we didna come here for
oor healths, as Jerry Macwhirter jumpit oot o' the
cave-hole." He went on calmly. " The question is,
what road gang we ? I'll tell ye what I think, an'
then I'll hear your mind on't. The cattle are easily
trackit. Ye canna drive cattle withoot leaving plenty
o' marks. There's but yae road for them, and that's
the straughtest. Gin they pass the fords o' the Black
Water, an' get by Cairn Edward and the Black Craig,
the Maxwells may say, c Fare ye weel, Kilaivie,' to
every hilt an' hair o' them. Noo, second, ye may
depend that Hector, the lass, an' yin or twa mair are
doin' no cattle drovin', but killing horse beasts on the
road for the Dungeon o' Buchan and the Karnes o'
Loch Enoch. What road they wad gang, I kenna,
but I hae my ain opeenion. It'll no be the direct
road, ony way ye tak' it, for weel wad Hector ken
that the country wad be raised ahint him, an' that
the Glenkens wadna be safe for horses. Noo, a horse
is just a necessity to him. The lass wadna walk, and
they couldna carry her fast for twenty mile. I'll
guarantee that they're by the Gate House o' the Fleet
by noo, and streekin' it for the Ferrytoon o' Cree as
fast as the horses can birl. Then they'll bide for an
hour or twa up at the Herd's Hoose, or Cassencary
belike, that's a graund hauf o' smugglers and gypsies.
Mistress Ogilvy will look after the lass, an' clap her
on the back when she greets, an' tell her tales o' the
braw wives the Faas has gotten, an' hoo mony grand
lasses wad be keen, keen o' Hector."
COUNCIL OF WAR. 157
" The fause randy," quoth I, exceedingly angry ;
" I'll hae her indicate as a witch."
" Na, na," said Silver Sand ; " ye'll no do that, for
Mistress Ogilvy's a freend o'mine and a decent woman
forbye."
But I was of a very different opinion.
Silver Sand paused a while, considering and ponder-
ing till I was weary. At last he appeared to reach a
decision, for he took a piece of oaten cake out of his
pocket, halving it fairly as he did so.
"I doubt that you and me maun twine afore we
hae gane mony mae miles. I am wae to think on it,
Paitrick, but it is the best that I can think on. I
maun get there by the heather and my legs as quick
as a horse wi' six hours' start can gallop by the Cree
road. Noo that is juist possible for Ouharrie an' me,
but no possible ava' for you. What ye maun do is to
get afore the cattle, that's making for the auld Brig o'
Dee four mile on the far side o' Clachanpluck, atween
that an New Galloway."
" How do you manage to make out that, man ? " I
asked. " is it not more like that they wad tak'
straight to the hills."
Silver Sand turned on me a look of scorn.
" It's weel seen that ye are shore-bred, and no
Bloom-o'-the-Heather, or ye wadna speak o' drivin'
cattle fast through the moors. Man, to gang fast
they're mortally bound to follow a drove road. Noo
they maun keep the west side o' Ken, and the east
side o' Grenoch Loch by Clachanpluck. They darena
keep the Parton Road, for that's ower public, and
beside, Ken Brig is easy stoppit and sure to be
guarded. They canna tak' the Lochenbreck hills, as
1 58 THE RAIDERS.
I mean to do, straight from here, for the cattle wadna
drive ower the braid muir."
" Noo, ye maun get to the Dungeon o' Buchan
afore the cattle ; they'll no be expectin' rescuers afore
that, and I maun get with speed to Eschonquhan by
the Loch of Trool. Whatever yin o' us finds the
lass maun hing afF an' on till the ither comes, unless
a chance opens by-ordinar' sure."
"But how shall we find one another? " I said, for
in that wild, unknown country it seemed a madness,
especially for me who had never been there in my
life before. I saw myself already a poor lost for-
wandered lad, out on the hungry hill, and May
Maxwell the bride of the Faa.
Indeed, the thought of parting with Silver Sand,
and even from the companionship of Ouharrie, daun-
toned me so sore that I could have wept ; but I
remembered the grey hair of Richard Maxwell,
dabbled with his blood, his roof-tree blazing the
while with the red flame, and I resolved that whoever
should have mercy on the wild gypsies, I at least
should strike and spare not.
The bushel-stoup of their iniquity was nearly full
measure, heaped and running over, and it would soon
be straked with the Lord's own level and plumb line.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE.
So, as night fell on this most eventful day in my life,
Silver Sand and I, Patrick Heron, set forward over
the dreary stretch of Ingleston Moor that lies on the
hip of Screel. Though it was the May time of the
year and the green leaves were shooting out from the
branches, yet the air was shrewd as it breathed from
the north ; and I wished for my great sea-cloak, that
had been my father's before me, having with me only
a plaid, and that a small checked one, which was made
for my father to look the sheep in when he left the
sea and came to Rathan. But Silver Sand had no
cloak or plaid whatsomever ; yet he did not appear in
the least disconvenienced. Now I am reminded by
one that looks over my shoulder, without ever speering
the leave of me, that those who use to read in tales,
love to have a description of the dresses of the heroes.
But I am no hero, God wot ; and as for Silver Sand,
he was not dressed fitting to be described in print.
Yet because the old fashion is passed away with the
old lawless time, it may advantage to mention the
ancient style of dress. Silver Sand was clad in a
rough cap of badger skin with the fur out, and the
J59
160 THE RAIDERS.
ears cocked up on either side above his own, which
gave him an appearance extraordinarily alert. For
the rest he had on knee-breeches of hodden grey, and
a round coat of the same without tails. His arms
stood through his tight body-coat a great way, and
when he travelled he was wont to take off his loose
surtout and travel in his sleeved waistcoat, carrying his
coat over his arm, as is the summer fashion in Gallo-
way even to this day.
It so happened that on the day before I had put on
my best suit, having regard to seeing May Maxwell —
not that I had any desire to find favour in her eyes in
the way of love, but because she had scouted and
despised me when she came to my own house with
Mistress Alison and Mistress MacWhirter, and I was
resolved that she should do so no more.
I wore my own hair without powder, which indeed
also my father never used, nor any of our house, so
far as I know; but I had it clubbed behind in a ribbon
band. My body-coat was of the fine blue cloth,
rather light blue than dark blue, long in the waist,
with large silver buttons of pierced work, and creamy
lace at the sleeves, monstrous fine. Underneath I
wore a waistcoat that fitted me very well, as I
thought. It was cut with long flaps on the thighs,
in which were pockets, with broad mother-of-pearl
buttons. Then as for my legs, they were covered
with breeks of strong hodden grey, but of finer make
than usual, which they weave somewhere near the
Border. I wore pearl buckles at the knees. Long
knitted " rig-and-fur " stockings had I also, sharp-
pointed shoes that I bent upwards with care and
labour — silver buckles also on these. Thus was I
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE. 161
dressed in an attire more befitting the kirk of Dullarg
on a Sabbath than nights and days on the wild hills
of the Dungeon of Buchan.
In the fray of the cave, and during my adventures
of the night before, the lace had been so torn off that
I judged it better to take it all away, and so safely
stowed it in my pocket, designing to have it stitched
and put on again in due time.
Upon first setting out upon this quest I was careful
of my attire, but ere all was done I gave no thought
to it, more than if it had been a corn sack with leg
and arm-holes pierced at the four corners, which some
landward men in the remoter parts of Galloway still
use. So under the cloud of night, and with some
comfort from the little provision Silver Sand had
brought, we set out over the heather-bushes of Airie-
land Moor. We went down a little glen-side which
opened from the hill where there were trees, birks, and
oaks, I think — as near as I could tell from the sound
that their leaves made in the dry, cold north wind of
night.
We passed a row of cot-houses by a mill-dam, and
came down to the farm-town of Airieland, where is a
great steading. We heard the cows tossing their
heads and jingling their chains in the byre with a
homely and friendly sound. So I took an extra-
ordinary grooing (desire) in my inside for a drink of
warm milk, such as I was accustomed to get from
May Maxwell along with many disdainful words when
I rowed across to Craigdarroch in the morning.
So I said to Silver Sand, " Can we not waken the
people here and ask for a drink of the good new
milk ? "
ii
1 62 THE RAIDERS.
V.
Ye may," says he, " but, mind you, Hector Faa
waits na for new milk — his new milk is ayont the hill,
an' he's runnin' for it ! "
"But," said I, "unless I get something I fear that
I am done, and that I can go no further."
" If that be so, we'll sune fettle that ! " says he, and
with no more words he turned aside into the byre,
drew a milking stool down from between the thatch
and the wall, and looked about for a vessel to milk in.
In the dim light that was in the byre he could see
none ; but after looking at his own hat he said, " Gie
me haud o' your bonnet ! " which, when I had given
him, he carefully knocked in the crown, then out of
the high-peaked cock that stood upwards with a gay
air he made a tolerable drinking vessel. This he set
on his knees, and went briskly to milking a cow into
it, which I marvelled to see, having had little ex-
perience of cows myself. But Silver Sand was at no
loss, and in a few moments he handed me the full of
my hat of most excellent warm milk, which, when I
had taken, and another like it, refreshed me extra-
ordinarily.
Then I urged upon Silver Sand to take the like
himself, and to use my hat, which had twice been used
before.
" Na," he said, slily, " it's better to keep the stock
separate. It saves marking them wi' keel, and keel,
ye ken, is extraordinary expensive."
Then, having refused my hat, he showed me a
trick that I had never seen, though how he managed
it is more than I can say in the darkness of the byre.
I heard the sough, sough of the milk streaming into
some receptacle.
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE. 163
" Have you found a vessel to hold the milk ? " I
asked, thinking that he might just as lief have found
it before he spoiled my hat.
" Ay," said he, " I have found a vessel, but the mis-
chief is that there's a hole in the bottom of it, and it a1
rins out as fast as I can milk it in."
" Then," I asked, in my simplicity, " why do you
do it ? "
He laughed, but made me no answer. Then, as
my eyes became accustomed to the dusk of the byre,
and the long rows of cow's hurdies, I saw that the
madcap was making an extraordinarily wide mouth,
and milking sideways into it, which made me much
admire why the cow did not kick him. For the only
time that I had tried the milking was at Craigdarroch,
being persuaded thereto by May Maxwell with many
smooth words ; but the cow, that was a noted kicker,
spilled me and the milking -pail heels-over-body,
which caused a great laughter — at which I laughed
also, but privately thought it a poor joke to spoil my
suit of second-best clothes in the gutter of a shippen.
But this trick of Silver Sand was new to me, and
I stood and gaped till, seeing with his cat's eyes that
my mouth was open, he suddenly directed a stream of
milk therein, to my great inconvenience, for I was not
expecting it. This seemed to me also an unfitting
jest, considering the gravity of our situation. Besides,
I feared that some drops had fallen on my coat. So I
said to him, with some sharpness —
" Now, when you have quite done playing the fool,
perhaps you will tell me how you mean to pay the
goodman of his house for his hospitality."
" Hoots," he said, " wha pays for a drink o' milk ? "
1 64 THE RAIDERS.
" I do," said I, " and I shall wake up the good man
of the house and give him a penny."
" Do," said Silver Sand, " and I'll tell ye what ye'll
get, and that's twa ounce o' lead drops in aneath your
coat-tails for disturbin' the hoose at this time o' nicht.
That's what auld Airie gies to young birkies like you
that come in graund coats to play l Jook myjo'wi'
his lasses. See, that's his window," he went on, " but
just be so kind as to let me ahint the midden first, for
I'm no fond o' lead draps mysel'."
He skipped off behind the shelter of a mountainous
fastness of some dark material that was piled in the yard.
" Noo gae on wi' your penny," he cried, " I'll see
fair play. Naething like honesty."
His high spirits made me exceedingly angry.
" Come away," I cried, " let us have no more tom-
foolery. I believe ye juist want to taigle (detain) me
here till your fine friend, Hector Faa, the murderer,
gets the lass."
" Taigle ye," he said ; " far frae that, Laird Rathan ;
it's yer fine sense o' gentrice that taigles ye — that ye
canna tak' a drink o' guid sweet milk till ye hae
wakened the goodman o' the hoose frae his bed to
introduce ye to the coo ! Hoot awa', I can e'en do
that mysel'."
And with that the madcap (who had the fit upon
him) went to the door of the byre, and, lifting his
hat with the air of His Majesty's Lion-King-at-Arms,
he said —
"Mistress Crummie Cooshairn, let me mak' ye
acquainted wi' the Laird o' Rathan, that did ye the
honour to drink a drappie o' yer ain brewing to your
good health, and mony o' them, Crummie ! "
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE. 165
I turned on my heel and walked away, for I had no
words to express my indignation.
He called after me, " Paitrick, dinna sulk, man.
It's no bonny. Tak' a lesson frae this sonsy wife
Crummie. She bears nae malice. Hae, Crummie,
my lass, there's a handfu' o' girse to brew mair milk,
an' there, guidman o' Airieland, is a bawbee to pay
for the girse. An' so a's correck, an' we're honest,
honest — and gentrice to the back o' that, whilk is a
great matter ! "
Somewhere about the steading I heard a window
go up, and a bellowing of ill talk, the purport of
which was to ask what night-hawks of not doubtful
parentage we were that came crawling and troking
about his premises, that he would have the blunder-
buss on us in a moment, together with other resource-
ful amenities.
" Guid e'en to ye, Airie," said Silver Sand, crying
back from the little narrow stile that led over into a
field among trees — "Guid e'en to you, and a' your
bonnie lasses. My service to them, and tell them I
canna bide the nicht, but I'll caa again sune."
The roaring of oaths from the window became a
very thunderstorm.
As we went down the banks of a bonny bit burn
that flows through a smooth meadow beneath the
house, we heard behind us still the wrathful gollying
of the great voice yet unappeased. Silver Sand chuckled
to himself as if he had done something very clever.
" What for didna ye stop an' explain," he said.
"Ye micht possibly hae juiked (dodged) the blun-
derbush and gotten time to pit in a word to satisfy
your kittle honour afore he got time to load again."
166 THE RAIDERS.
But I scorned to say a word to him on the subject.
So we went on our journey.
Now, though these episodes on the way take a long
time to tell, and mayhap occupy overly much space,
yet they took hardly any time in the doing, so quick
was Silver Sand. I do not believe that we were a
quarter of an hour about the onstead of Airieland in
all.
Now, when I think on the matter at this distance,
I cannot sufficiently admire the wonderful foresight
and patient kindliness of Silver Sand. These halts I
should never have taken willingly, and so in a short
time, what with weariness and the want of sleep, I
should have worn myself out long before we reached
the hill country.
So we pursued our way, going over a levelish,
bo2;gy country, where there was some cultivation, and
some cattle in the field. Coming past the farm- of
Auchlane I jumped a high dyke to show my agility,
for the double draught of Crummie's milk had
quickened me very greatly. Also the night was not
yet quite set in, though the folk had gone to bed, for
it is the custom in Galloway to bed very early. So, as
I say, I leapt a stone dyke, but found one side much
higher than on the other. I alighted on my feet, but
fell forward against something that routed and rose
instantly beneath me, throwing me off and running
across the field. This gave me a great startle.
" Did ye think the bit stot was the Foul Thiet
himsel' that ye gied that skelloch ! " cried Silver Sand,
who had climbed the dyke quietly with Ouharrie.
I answered that it was not 1 but the stot that made
the noise.
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE. 167
" It was extraordinarily like you, Laird ! " he
said.
These were the sort of things that used to keep me
wondering whether Silver Sand was the best of good
company or the most insolent and forward of tinklers.
Yet five minutes after he had said such things I would
laugh at them in my heart, though I still continued to
hold down my head like the sulky dog I was.
At the poor little hamlet of Brig o' Dee we crossed
the river, which looked cold and grey, the night wind
ruffling it beneath us. Beyond this we got into a
most bleak, unkindly country, and so continued for
more than an hour. It was all of wet, marshy peat,
with black haggs ; and, what were worse, green,
deceitful "quakkin-qua's," covered with a scum that
looked like tender young grass, but in which, at the
first step, one might sink to the neck. Here and
there we came upon some sheep grazing as best they
could on the wet, sour grass. Nevertheless it was
pleasant and cheery to hear them cropping the grass
with short, quick bites, then moving on to another
clump. One of them gave a cough, mightily human,
as we passed by, just as a man does in church behind
his hand so that he may not disturb the worshippers.
In a little we were among the lochs of Bargatton
and Glentoo, dreary stretches of reedy water in the
midst of marshy ground, so that in the night it
made one shiver to look at them. But ever our feet
went onward to the lilt of Silver Sand's song or the
rise and fall of Silver Sand's voice, as he told stories of
the old Killing days, and the pallid men who had lain
in these wildernesses to which we were going before
they were utterly given up to the reivers and outlaws.
168 THE RAIDERS.
In front stalked Quharrie, never coursing about
after rabbits and hares like other dogs, even when they
popped out just under his nose, but following his
master's eye and hand. With his head very high, his
sharp ears set forward with a cock like the feather in a
Highlandman's bonnet, his legs wide apart as though
to guard against sudden surprise, he would run ahead
and then stand a moment till we came up. In this
manner he scouted in front of his master, so that there
was nothing, not even a grouse cock, that was not
indicated before we came to it. As we reached the
little steading of Drumbreck, where the moss ends in
a great flow of black peat, in which are deep and
dangerous holes half full of water from former fuel
cuttings, Ouharrie stopped and growled.
Motioning me to stand where I was, Silver Sand
passed the dog and went carefully to the dyke to look
over. Then he waved to me to come on. It was but
a tinkler and his family encamped under three great
beeches that grow in the courtyard of the little farm,
for Drumbreck has ever been a well-kenned place for
the keeping of " gaun bodies."
" It's just Tyke Lowrie an' his brood," said Silver
Sand ; " no harm in them, though a deal on them.
The mistress o' Drumbreck is well guided not to let
them in amang the sacks in the barn."
The little village of Clachanpluck, inviting enough
to weary limbs, with its whitewashed houses, and
trees growing about the little fringes of garden, lay
before us, and the curs barked as I went down the
long street. At the end, where the roads separated,
it was time for Silver Sand and me to part.
" The Lord keep us both ! " said I, and parted
TO INTRODUCE MISTRESS CRUMMIE. 169
without shaking hands, yet not so fast but that I
heard Silver Sand say " Amen ! "
I am sure he was a Christian man, but there are
many queer Christians in this land of Galloway.
Indeed I fear that I am one myself.
CHAPTER XIX.
ON THE TRACK OF THE RAIDERS.
It had darkened slowly, and now the night was at its
prime when I passed down the street of the little
clachan. The north wind met me in the face like a
wall as I made my way alone on my quest perilous
through this hamlet of sleeping folk, stilled under the
peace of their cottage eaves of thatch — too poor to be
worth the robbing, and numerous enough to render a
good account of themselves in case of an attack.
Now while the wilder spirits of the smugglers and
the gypsies attacked the cave for the purposes of which
we know, there was a much larger number of both
who devoted themselves to the easier work of driving
off the cattle of the Maxwells and others of the
country, and packing the cargo of the brig upon
horses, with the view of clearing the country before
the alarm arose.
They were the safer in this respect that in those
days news did not spread with the extraordinary
rapidity with which it does now. The dwellings ot
men were scattered sparser on the waste. A man
might ride a long day among the hills of heather and
see not one reeking house or any place where kindly
ON THE TRACK OF THE RAIDERS. 171
folk dwelt. There was a district of thirty miles square
in Carrick, in Galloway, and the moors of the Shire,
over whose border never exciseman put his nose,
except with a force of red soldiers at his tail, which
did not happen once in twenty years. Moreover, the
farmers and small proprietors of the day were better
content to pay a kind of mail to the hill raiders than
be in constant fear of them.
So long, therefore, as their own cattle were let
alone, the bonnet lairds and farmers of Balmaghie and
the Glen Kens were little likely to come to blows
with the gypsies or the smugglers in defence of other
people's flocks and herds. But murder and house-
burning were quite different counts, as the outlaws
were presently to hear. The chief desire of those
who were driving the cattle was that they might get
to the Craigencallie and Loch Dee drove-road before
the country rose behind them. And this is how they
set out from the Craigdarroch beach.
From the coves by the shore a great number of
men came running with the cargo — kegs of spirit,
Hollands boxes wrapped about with wheat-straw —
strange cases from the Indies, where the Hollanders
have many plantations — iron-lined boxes of lace, most
precious of all. As many of these as the horses were
able to carry were loaded for the northward journey.
The rest were taken to pits dug out under the scarps
of precipices, or on the sides of the glens, and covered
again with green turf.
So the long train set off", a bevy of wild loons
keeping the pack-horses moving with slender pointed
goads, cut from the nearest coppice. The horsemen of
the smuggling party clattered ahead with great barrels
172 THE RAIDERS.
slung at each side of their horses, secured under the
belly with broad leather straps, and clinched by
strength of arm and the leverage of foot against
the side of the poor beast — the worst of whose
sufferings were past, however, as soon as they were
upon the way, for the jolting of the load soon eased
the straps and fastenings.
The smugglers were the jollier of the two parties,
for the gypsies had their hands deeper in crime than
the Freetraders, having been art and part in the
house-burning and the cattle-stealing, and so rode
with their necks in danger. But the land smugglers,
many of whom had no interest in the affair save to
get the goods comfortably stowed, were more than
merry, for it was their custom that a cask should
be kept free and open for use by the way. And as
they went they sang —
" Where'er we see a bonny lass, we'll caa' as we gae by ;
Where'er we meet wi' liquor guiil, we'll drink an we be dry.
There's brandy at the Abbeyburn, there's rum at Heston Bay,
And we will go a-smuggling afore the break o' day."
Now we have no further concern with them. They
ride out of the story as soon as they cleared the cattle
and the raiders who were at the driving of them.
As they went the jingling of their horse-harness
told the country folk that the Black Riders were
abroad, and in the night many a goodwife reached
over her hand to feel if her goodman were in his
place ; for though none of them objected to the
anker of spirit which they would find at the back
of the high road dyke the next morning, nor yet
failed to place the money for it in a cup in the
ON THE TRACK OF THE RAIDERS. 173
same retired position, it was not a business that the
douce housewives wanted their own goodmen mixed
up with.
But with the cattle drovers the case was different.
They could only pick the best and speediest of
the stock, and drive it with the horses going on
before, and a regiment of half-naked loons from the
hills keeping the poor beasts on the trot. If a
Galloway cow lagged and threatened to keep back
the troop, she received a sharp lash across the nose
and was driven into the darkness. Sometimes, how-
ever, after a drink at the wayside burn, the terrors
of loneliness so pressed upon her that she would
come racing after the company, bellowing as loud as
she could, and so rejoin the herd.
As soon, then, as I had passed the little forge at the
lower end of Clachanpluck, where there are a great
number of trees planted, and beneath which a pleasant
burnie was making a singing noise, I became aware
that I must be close upon the track of the stolen
cattle. The road was deep trampled, and in the
softer places there were many signs of a large herd
having passed only an hour or two before.
It was now that I felt my lack of Silver Sand, my
companion, for he could have told the number, con-
dition, and intentions of the herd and their drivers,
and even how fast they were going from the marks on
the road. I had no such skill. But on the other hand
I have always had a considerable idea of my own luck
and resource in emergency. So that on the whole
it was with a beating heart, but with a certain sense
of elation, that I went forward along the road.
The track ran between two rows of trees — beech
174 THE RAIDERS.
for the most part, as I knew by the dry clash and
rattle of their leaves when the winds brushed them
against each other. I could see over the low hedges
into the meadows, and a bloom of the fair blonde
flower that is called Queen of the Meadow looked
over and nodded at me, which I thought to be very
early for the season, being but the end of May.
As I went on an extraordinary thought came over
me, that I had come this way before with May
Maxwell, though very well I knew that it was not so.
Yet the phantasy so took hold on me, that as I footed
it I looked from side to side, saying within myself,
" Here she and I plucked the honeysuckle and the
bindweed in the hedge. Here we sat and wove them
into crowns on this low bridge of turf. Up this
bramble-interlaced brae we wandered, our arms en-
twined." Yet all the time I knew full well that never
had my eyes seen these places before. Though there
was no reason why the thought should so pleasure me,
yet I do not deny that it did comfort me in an especial
degree ; so that I continued to walk with satisfaction
along the highway — such as it was — till I came to the
side of the long narrow loch that is called Grenoch,
which is yet not the same as the larger Loch Grannoch
that lies among the granite hills at the head end of
Girthon parish.
But soon I was meeting the backward-straying
cattle too often to make it very safe for me to pursue
my way further along the road. I mounted, therefore,
to the moorland above the loch, where, from the ridge,
I had a lookout in all directions, keeping the crown
of the heather under my feet all the way.
So now I can see myself speeding along, like a beast
ON THE TRACK OF THE RAIDERS. 175
that has had both drink and victual, pretty brisk with
the thought of coming back this way again with May
Maxwell at my side. Which, indeed, I never did — at
least, not till long years afterwards, when all things
were changed. But the feeling did me good at the
time.
I looked to the priming of my pistols more than
once, as well as the dim light would let me. There
was a beast routing (roaring) at the foot of the
Duchrae Craigs, where the road kept away to the
right straight for the old Brig of the Black Water.
The cattle were upon the road immediately before me
now. I could hear them quite plainly. A low and
continuous moaning came backward upon the north
wind, mixed with sharper noises of the shouting of
men and the barking of dogs. It was but seldom that
I heard these, and they were not, I think, the gypsies'
dogs, which are trained to hunt silently, but dogs that
had been gathered up of their own accord from the
farm-towns on the way. These did not bark long,
however, either falling behind or getting a knife in
their ribs from a gypsy driver that silenced their yelping
for ever. As at this point the drove-road took over the
Folds Hill, I desired to get upon the river side of the
herd, to escape being driven upon the moors and away
from the bridge, so that it was necessary for me to
cross the road. This I did at the little hut which I
now know to be the farm of the Clownie — a ruin of
walls only when last I went that way. I made no
haste, thinking myself safe, being so far behind, but
stood at my ease on the dusky white road with dark
patches upon it, looking both ways.
CHAPTER XX.
THE GREAT FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE-HEAD.
But I had not stood long there when a voice from the
dyke foot, by the well of excellent water that lies by
the path over to the Duchrae, cried to me to stand or
take the consequences. Though these were not con-
descended upon, I elected to take them, and so ran
whatever I could towards the loch, which I could see
of a dull red colour beneath me.
Apparently the consequences spoken of were up a
gun-barrel at the time, and consisted of two ounces of
lead, for " Crack ! " went a musket, and something
whistled like a bum-clock1 past me. Putting my hand
down, my finger encountered a hole in the flap of my
blue coat. It was warm at the edges, and appeared to
be clean cut. In a moment I was in the heart of a
saugh-bush (willow), where I sat giving thanks to
God for my escape. Now I should have been better
pleased with a preserving Providence if the bullet had
gone through my breeks, for I had more pairs of
them, and besides, they were only of hodden grey
when all was said and done. But I had only this
one coat, and that of fine blue cloth.
1 Dor-beetle.
176
GREAT FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE-HEAD. 177
The saugh-bush by the waterside was safe, but
ignominious. From its depths I could see nothing,
and I knew that every moment the dumb, hard-driven
herd of beasts was drawing away in the direction of
the bridge, and I not there to cross before them. But
for that unlucky business of standing on the road I
might have done it easily, for I was deceived by the
great turn which the way makes at Parkhill towards
the Folds of Tornorrach Wood. It is always thus
with running after short cuts and taking off of
corners to make new ways. When will I learn to
walk in the old and be content ? Possibly in the next
world, when I shall not be able — for there, as we are
told upon authority, all things shall be new.
As I went the light wind bore a strange, low, con-
tinuous moaning to my ears. From the saugh-bush I
went slowly along the waterside till I lost the track
of the cattle. Then, when the loch had narrowed
into a lane of running water, I struck up through the
tangled brush of the thick wood which is called the
Duchrae Bank, where many hazels grow, to the top
of the hill that looks toward Bennan and the valley
of the Ken. Day was just beginning to show, which
it does in early May about two hours before the sun
rises. The cold grey of the sky became the colour of
a Water of Dee pearl — silken grey shot with quivering
rays of white.
The moaning grew as I ascended into a hoarse,
tumultuous routing. There they are at last ! It is so
dark that I can only guess at their position, but I can
see that the head of the column is making for the
bridge. The riders ride before, their heads low between
their shoulders, glancing forward. The whippers-in
12
178 THE RAIDERS.
run tirelessly on the flanks, dressing the uneven files.
The moaning of the herd comes to me on the wind
like the crying of a single mighty beast in pain. It
is pitiful and heart-touching.
The Black Water looms dark — the bridge a grey
purple arch spanning blackness.
But a row of sparks flashes out at the bridge-head.
" Crack ! crack ! crack ! " go the guns. There is a
sudden turmoil in the densely packed herd. The
horsemen at the head of the column form up, and
from them too the red sparks, with the clang a little
behind them, spit angrily out.
" Hurrah ! " I cry aloud, not knowing what I did,
for my friends are there, and at that bridge-head.
They are fighting it to turn the robbers. Perhaps
Hector and May are among them. Fool that I was
that I did not hasten and get before them !
Ah, there they are at it ! Hark to the rattle of the
guns, the splutter of the pistols — how they go ! I
find myself running forward at full speed, keeping
close to the water, and alongside the Holland Isle. I
wonder as I run, if I shall ever come there when the
nuts are ripe, for I have ever heard that it is a famous
place for them. In a little I am abreast of the packed
and frightened cattle. The outlaws are playing a bold
game. Their mounted fighting men are pushing
along the front. The silent, eager dogs and the
limber gypsy laddies are dressing the sides of the
column, which, indeed, is naturally held by the very
formation of the ground — the rocky glen of the Black
Water being in front, and the deep, dark lane of
Grenoch on the other side. The unmounted men
who are without guns keep circulating along the rear.
GREAT FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE-HEAD. 179
Between them and the bridge there is a lowing,
roaring, horn-tossing sea of wild cattle, the best and
the strongest in Galloway.
I get down by the water's edge, for I am pushing
on all the time. I hear my feet crash on the shingles.
I fall on my face among the hard stones before I am
aware. That is my safety, for with the instinct of a
sea-bred boy I feel for the water. It is within ten
feet of me, roaring deep. With my belt-thong of
leather I fasten my napkin, filled with my powder-
flask and pistols, upon the top of my head. The strap
is caught in my teeth, and without a moment's delay
I push off. Though I can wade nearly all the way,
at last I am swept off my feet. Ten strokes, however,
take me over, and I stand shivering on the north side
of the Black Water.
But my powder and my pistols are dry, though I
myself am streaming wet. Crying my name, to let
the Maxwells know not to shoot, in a moment I
am at the bridge-end and among them. As I had
imagined, the defenders are my friends, with other
ten men whom they had gathered as they came along,
mostly kinsmen of their own, Maxwells and Sproats,
from the coastlands. Kennedy Maxwell, who was the
one I came nearest, had only time to say —
"Dinna throw a shot away, Patrick. We're
turning them. This is the third time they have
come at us."
Even as he spoke the mounted men did come on
again, but a storm of balls tore through their ranks,
and set the horses plunging and the cattle wild with
terror. So again they were driven back. The men
hung half over the parapet of the bridge and kneeled
180 THE RAIDERS.
with their muskets upon it, yelling with challenge in
their voices.
"We have them," cried Will Maxwell; "we'll not
let one o' the cowardly crew escape ! "
The word was ill-chosen, the rejoicing premature.
Again the mounted outlaws drew off* to the rear, and
for a space only the dogs kept the column within its
lines.
Gradually their front widened, as though to flank
the bridge and make for the water. We spread out
to meet them. The others were soon blazing away,
but the gypsies were far behind, and I saw small
service in maddening the poor dumb beasts with pistol
balls.
Yet it was an amazing sight — Dee Bridge that
night, with its high-arched span — men standing two
deep in the centre of it ; men stride-leg on the parapet
of it ; gunshots cracking, pistols spitting. Then in
front of us the white, pitiful eyes of a myriad (so they
seemed) of wild cattle — maimed and tortured they
knew not why, sending up a great routing of dumb
prayer to the God of all ill-used, over-driven beasts
that never did a sin. Beyond these the dark forms
of the mounted outlaws contriving new plots in the
rear.
I wanted the Maxwells to charge and break the
column of cattle, but Will Maxwell overruled, saying,
" No ; we will hold the bridge." So the bridge was
held.
Then suddenly a great fierce light arose in the rear.
The outlaws had kindled a fire, and the red light
burned up, filtering through the ranks of the cattle,
and projecting great horned shadows against the
GREAT FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE-HEAD. 181
clouds. For a few minutes this picture stood like a
painted show, with the Dee Water running dark
and cool beneath — a kind of Circe's Inferno where
the beasts are tortured for ever.
Two half-naked fiends ran alongside the column or
cattle, carrying what was apparently a pot of blazing
fire, which they threw in great ladlefuls on the backs
of the packed beasts that stood frantically heaving
their heads up to the sky. Then in a moment from
all sides arose deafening yells. Fire lighted and ran
along the hides of the rough red Highland and black
Galloway cattle. Desperate men sprang on their backs,
yelling. Dogs drove them forward. With one wild,
irresistible, universal rush the maddened column of
beasts drave at the bridge, and swept us aside like
chaff.
Never have I seen anything so passing strange and
uncanny as this tide of wild things, frantic with pain
and terror, whose billows surged irresistibly to the
bridge-head. It was a dance of demons. Between
me and the burning backs of the cattle there rose a
gigantic Highlander with fiery eyes and matted front.
On his back was a black devilkin that waved a torch
with his hands, scattering contagious fire over the
furious herd. The rush of the maddened beasts swept
us off" the bridge as chafF is driven before the wind.
There was no question of standing I shot off" my
pistols into the mass. I might as well have shot them
into the Black Water. I declare some of the yelling
devils were laughing as they rode, like fiends yammer-
ing and girning when Hell wins a soul. It is hard
to make any who did not see it, believe in what we
saw that night. Indeed, in this warm and heartsome
i8z THE RAIDERS.
winter room, with the storm without, and the wife in
bed crying at me to put by the writing and let her
get to sleep, it is well-nigh impossible to believe that
any of these things came to pass within the space of
a few years. Yet so it was. I who write it down
was there. These eyes saw the tossing, fiery waves
of maddened creatures that ran forward seeking death
to escape from torture, while the reek of their burning
went up to heaven.
I looked again. Beneath at the ford I saw a
thousand wild cattle with their thick hair blazing
with fire, their tails in the air, tossing wide-arched
horns. I saw the steam of their nostrils going up
like smoke as they surged through the water, a
hundred mad Faas and Marshalls on their backs
yelling like fiends of the pit. In a score of pulse
beats there was not a beast that had not forced the
bridge or crossed the ford. We who defended were
broken and scattered ; some of us swept down by
the water, powder damp, guns trampled shapeless —
dispirited, annihilated, we that had been so sure of
victory.1
1 But before I tell of other things let me add how the outlaws scattered
Greek fire over their cattle, using unwittingly a stratagem of the ancient
world. In a field by the waterside, within a hundred yards of where the
column halted, were the Duchrae Ewebuchts, and there were kept in store
pitch and oil for sheep dipping and cattle marking, of which, in some
devilish fashion of their own, the outlaws, skilled in such horrid chemistry,
made their cruel fiery brew.
CHAPTER XXL
SAMMLE TAMSON FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER.
When I came to myself (for indeed I was mad as the
beasts themselves while the turmoil lasted), I found
myself tossed out on the heather from a bull's back
that had landed me there. My hands were burned
and black where I had slapped the poor beast's fell
to put out the flames. But for all that, it had not
known me from one of its persecutors. I think the
mad impulse of the herd did not arise so much from
pain as from the sudden unreasoning fury, which at
any moment may seize a large crowd of half-wild
cattle in presence of the unknown. Once there was
a herd of cows in Parton, up Peathill way, that ate a
man — chased him and ate him bodily. Their reason
was, because the man belonged to a different denomi-
nation. But that is not my story. For that tale you
must ask one of the red Wardhaughs. It comes not
into my book, though I believe the man was a cousin
of the Mars halls.
How I came on the beast's back, unless it were to
save myself from being trampled under foot, I know
not ; but hither upon this shaggy charger I had come
so far in. safety, and now found myself between Moss-
t83
1 84 THE RAIDERS.
dale and the Stroan Loch pitched out upon the heather,
falling almost upon a grouse cock that had heard only
the blatter of a bullock's heels, and no doubt wondered
where the blundering beast was coming to. His cock-
ship got something of a surprise, I am thinking, when
the enemy of his kind was shot out upon the top of
him with pistols shining in his belt. At any rate, he
rose with a strong protest of " Geck-kek-kek-a-kek ! "
that such a deceit should be played upon him — as
quiet a self-respecting bird as ever was.
In a few minutes I was chapping (knocking) at
the door of Mossdale house, that sits all its lone on
a pleasant braeface looking to the sun rising ; and as
the sun was so engaged at the time, I thought the
long, low, whitewashed cottage a picture exceedingly
quaint. There was a man just coming to the door
with a wooden platter of hens' meat in his hands.
His eyes were red with sleep, and as he came his
jaws opened like a rat-trap, for he was gaunting
(yawning) as if he had not had nearly enough of his
bed.
" Good morning, guidman," said I.
" And ye hae brocht the tap o' the mornin' wi' you,
freen'," he said, but not at all suspiciously, passing by
me with the hens' meat. I stood at the door, not
venturing in. The man, who was built long and
thin with a stoop in the shoulders, opened a little door
in a wooden erection of boards. A hen or two with
many chickens came tumultuously out, making that
scratching noise which tells of an empty inside among
all the hen-tribe, as much as to say, " I'm as toom
(empty) as a whistle ! Are ye going to be long with
that meat ? "
SAMMLE FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER. 185
The man put down the little trencher and stood
over them with a long wand, putting back the greedy
and making room for the poor, puny, backward
ones, that could not elbow forward with their short,
callow chicken wings. The scene was one of most
exceeding peace, and affected me strangely, having yet
in my ears that wild riot at the bridge-head, and the
sound of that mighty bellowing, like the roaring of all
the bulls in Bashan.
" It's been a fine nicht ! " said he. " Whaur
travelled ye frae this mornin', freen', so early. Lay
ye a' nicht at the Duchrae ? "
"'Deed," said I, frankly — at least with more frank-
ness than I had intended when I chappit (knocked)
at the door, " I slept but little, for there were a feck
o' wild men on the road yestreen, and peacefu' folk
were better to keep a calm sough."
" I'm wi' ye there," he said, scraping up some of
the daich) or hen meat, that had fallen on the ground,
and giving it to a peeping, peevish little chicken
that came complaining and pecking about his feet.
" Neither troke nor traffic wi' the like o' them. For
me I keep oot o' their gate."
" Heard ye nocht yestreen ava' ? " I asked, eyeing
him pretty carefully, for my own back was to the sun.
"I was thinkin'," he said, "that Dee Water had
come doon in the nicht, and that I heard the falls roarin'.
I thocht I wad try the fishin' in the mornin'. I
micht get a fine fish."
" Ye micht catch a four-leggit sawmon, wi' horns,"
said I.
" Say ye sae ? " said the man. " Then Sammle
Tamson will be for bidin' close by his ain door cheek."
1 86 THE RAIDERS.
For the first time there came a shade of suspicion
over his face as he glanced at me from head to foot.
" Ye're brawly airmed, freen, to be so early astir."
He looked at my pistols and silver-mounted whinger.
" I'm an honest man," said I, reassuringly.
" Likely," said he that had called himself Samuel
Tamson, " there's a feck o' honest men gaun the road.
I never met wi' yin that gied himsel' the contrar'
name."
But nevertheless he viewed me again with a some-
what reassured look.
" Ye'll no be a Faa ? " he asked, in a sly, pawky
manner.
" Na," says I, " I'm nae Faa, thank Heaven ! "
" So I was jaloosin'," answered he. Then he added
reflectively, " The Faas are a weel-favoured race when's
a's said an' dune."
He looked at me still longer.
" Ye kind o' favour the Macatericks — lang an' flail-
jointed, but your mouth's ower big to be a Macaterick,
an' nane o' the Marshalls hae turned-up noses ! "
Which (I may remark) neither had I. Sammle
Tamson seemed reassured. But he still had native
caution.
" Ye'll hae a name o' your ain," said he ; " let us
hear it."
" My name is Patrick Heron ! " said I, a little
nettled at the man's patent suspicion, though indeed I
would never have so much as looked at any one coming
in such a case to my own door.
" Ye'll no be ony freen' to John Heron o' Rathan
Isle ? "
" I am his son," I replied, briefly.
SAMMLE FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER. 187
<c
D'ye tell me so, O man " said Sammle, yet
seemed disinclined to take any action beyond the
exclamation. He still stood with the empty trough
of hens' meat in his hand. A voice from the house
cried behind us, sharply —
" What's a' that cleckin' aboot ? Am I to wait a'
day for you to licht my fire, Sammle Tamson ? Was
it for this that I marriet you, an' me had so many
better offers ? I wish to peace I had never left
Parton ! "
The voice was sharp, but by no means unkindly.
On the contrary, it liked me well.
" There's a young man here, guidwife," said Sammle
Tamson at the door, leaning from the outside to put
his head within, as one might .set the bending top of
a fishing-rod into an upper window.
" Fetch him ben, and let us see what like he is,"
said the voice.
Sammle silently motioned to me to put down my
pistols and whinger on the window-sill without, which
indeed I would not have done on his account ; but
the voice from within was extraordinarily reassuring.
Then he stepped ben before me, and I followed.
Hardly had I got inside when I would have been out
again, for I caught sight, for the first time in my life,
of a goodwife in some disarray sitting on the edge of
the settle engaged in completing her attire. I had fled
on the instant, but the voice said, encouragingly —
" Hoot awa' ; sit ye doon, young man "
«
But, wife " began Sammle Tamson, in an ex-
postulating tone.
" Haud your tongue, guidman. I'm nane so unsonsy
yet, though I be auld eneuch to be the laddie's mither.
188 THE RAIDERS.
Ye wad think I was a quean in a cuttie sark to hear
ye. Be na so nice wi' Eppie Tamson."
" He says he's a son o' the auld laird o' Rathan's."
This came sulkily and somewhat grudgingly from
Sammle.
" Come by here an' let me look at ye, laddie ! "
commanded the dame, from the bedside.
I had been standing modestly with my face to the
window, looking over the wide moss, now bright with
the red of the sun rising. I turned at the word with
some diffidence. But the dame was already in her
drugget short-gown, which she was busy buckling at
the waist. She was a plump matron of forty-five,
with a pleasant apple-red in her cheeks, and very
bright blue eyes. Even while I turned she took her
feet, one at a time, into her hand, and shod them
with a shoe neater than I had ever seen on the foot
of a Galloway wife — one of whose wonted household
gods is the " bauchle," or shapeless slipper, often with
a "hoshen," or loose double stocking, within. Alto-
gether Eppie Tamson was a dame both douce and
sonsy — a desirable friend, as I knew from her voice.
Sammle Tamson was blowing up the fire — on his
knees, with his back extraordinarily high in the air,
and his head so close to the bars that it seemed
as though he were endeavouring to crawl between
them. And he did not seem much over stout to
succeed.
So I went biddably enough up to Mistress Tamson,
who, rising from the oak settle on which she had
been sitting, took me by the shoulders, led me across
the room to the window, and looked at me a moment
in a way which made me blush. I blushed still more
SAMMLE FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER. 189
when she took me fairly round the neck and gave me
a sound kiss, saying —
" Aye, laddie, what wad I no hae gi'en for a boy
like you ! Get up, there, affyour knees, lang Sammle
Tamson ; ye canna even licht that fire. Ye are but a
feckless lown. Lat me at it ! "
Sammle rose in a discouraged way, as one that was
not appreciated in life, and proceeded to put some
water in the porridge pot.
" Gang to the well for fresh," 'his wife flung at him
over her shoulder as she puffed and blew.
" But I brocht in fresh yestreen late," he said, com-
plainingly.
His wife rose off her knees rapidly. Like a flash
Sammle ran to the back of the door, and seized a
couple of bright water-cans. He was making out of
the door with them when his wife came at him with
the besom shank. Sammle guarded himself instinc-
tively with the cans, and the stick rattled harmlessly
on the tin. Yet he did not smile as he hurried down
the path, nor did his wife fling a single word after
him. It seemed entirely a piece of routine.
" Saw ye ever sic a man ? " queried the dame, as
she returned to the fire. " He canna do ocht but he
maun stand and talk and c argie-bargie ' as lang. And
that thochtless and unmindful that he can hardly be
lippened to do onything but feed the hens " — here she
paused ; then, as if something had been called to her
mind, she added — " if that ! "
"Just step to the door," she continued, after another
pause, and see gin he has gane to the well. He
generally gangs to the midden for worms for his
fishin' when he's sent for water," she explained.
190 THE RAIDERS.
I looked and saw Sammle Tamson standing by the
well, emptying the water out of the cans. I came
in and reported accordingly.
"Aye," said his wife, "sic a man — Lord, sic a man !
It's juist mortal like him. He wad never think o'
emptying yestreen's water at the door here. He bood
(must) carry it to the well and empty it there. It's
a mercy he did even that. The mornin' afore last, ken
ye what he did ? He took the water-cans to the well
wi' the water that had been standin' a' nicht, and he
brocht them back as they gaed awa', with the selfsame
water in them ! "
The goodwife paused.
" But he catched it for that ! " she said, righteously.
" But he canna mak' ony mistake this time," I
said.
"I dinna ken — I dinna ken ! " she said, shaking her
head. " It's barely possible ; but gin it be possible
ava' to mak' a mistak', Sammle Tamson's the man to
mak' it."
The fire was blazing up the chimney now, and the
house of Mossdale, on its sunny braeface, was very
cheerful. I saw a prospect of porridge.
My heart was opened. I began to tell, of my own
accord, all my story to the good dame. She heard me
with constant expressions of sympathy and pity, stand-
ing with the porridge spurtle in her hand in the middle
of the floor, while the water in the pot steamed away
unregarded.
I told more of my story.
" Say ye sae ! Dear sirce — to think on that ! An'
the wull cats burned the hoose "
I told still more.
SAMMLE FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER. 191
(.'.
An' ye focht them in the cave for the sake o' the
lass. My word, but she'll be a prood lass. Lovenenty
me ! but she'll hae gi'en ye anither kind o' a kiss than
an auld wife like me."
I said " Not so," but went on with my tale.
" The Almichty preserve's a'," cried Eppie. " An'
the misleared heather-cat ran aff wi' the bit lass, an'
noo ye're seekin' her. Heard ye ever the like o' that !
My man shall gang an' help you. Oh, that he war
ony guid ! Gin I had a pair o' breeks, I declare but
I wad gang wi' ye mysel' ! An' ye hae nae mither,
ye tell me. Puir laddie ! puir laddie ! "
The white apron went up to the eyes that were not
merry any more, and she took me in her arms and
kissed me again.
Then she ran to the door, and cried out loud,
" Sammle Tamson, ye muckle sloyt, come hame wi'
the water this meenit, or ye shall get ' Nickie Ben '
frae your Jo Janet ! "
Through the window I could see Samuel Tamson
standing gazing moonstruck at the well.
"Ye great moidered (dazed) nowt ye, d'ye think
that this is miracle mornin', an' that the guid well-
water is gaun to turn into wine ? "
Samuel recovered his cans in haste and started for
home.
His wife saw his legs beginning to move like com-
passes, and then, thinking all was at last well, she came
back in to the fire. She said no word of good or bad
as Samuel came within the door and set down his cans
behind it, with a look of self-righteousness which did
one good to see.
Eppie took the great tankard from the shelf and
192 THE RAIDERS.
went to get it filled with the fresh, cool water from the
well. She thrust her dish into the nearest can. It
struck the bottom with a hollow sound. In great
surprise she looked within.
The can was empty and dry.
It was too much. Iniquity such as this was far
beyond besom shanks. She gave her husband but one
look that would have speaned (weaned) a foal. Then
with great politeness, she turned to me and asked if 1
would be so kind as to fetch a rake of water from the
well.
When I was gone on my errand, my heart was wae
for the poor man within. I expected that I should
have to collect the fragments on my return.
But what really happened I know not, for when I
came back Sammle was sitting on the wooden bench
in the corner of the fireplace with an extraordinarily
subdued face, and his wife was standing, silent also, by
the inglenook.
It was Sammle who looked up first.
" It's fine caller water," he said, " and a nice heart-
some walk i' the mornin' to gie ye an appetite for yer
porritch — it's pleasant to fess in the water."
But his wife said no word j she only stirred in the
meal.
In a few minutes there was a great reeking dish of
porridge on the table — the delightsomest of scenery to
a famished man.
Then as soon as I had finished Eppie came to me
and said, " Noo, afF wi' yer claes, into my warm bed,
an' get ye a sleep for four hours, at the least."
" But," I urged, " I dare not lose a moment. I
maun tak' the hills for Loch Enoch this very instant."
SAMMLE FETCHES A RAKE OF WATER. 193
" Ye'll do no siccan thing. I ken the look o' a
laddie sickening for trouble. Ye'll do as Eppie Tarn-
son bids ye in her ain hoose of Mossdale. Better to
lose four hours than lose the lass. Ye hae had nae
sleep for twa nichts, and ye'll never see Loch Enoch
or your May if ye carry on as ye are doing."
All the while she was unbuttoning my coat and
waistcoat as if she had been my own mother, which
I thought a strange thing — but a moment after it
seemed perfectly natural to me.
" Ye see I hae nae bairns o' my ain ! " she said for
all explanation, which somehow, perhaps because I
was fair dead with sleep, seemed perfectly competent
reasoning.
I think I was asleep before I was out of her handsk
At least I have no memory of my head ever touching
the pillow. I was rising up, up — on warm, white, fleecy
clouds — up, up, till I put out my hands to keep from
being squeezed flat against the arch of the blue sky. I
saw angels. I remember what they are like. There
are two kinds of them. One pattern has merry eyes
and white teeth, with sunny curls cropped short like a
boy's. The others are about forty-five, very buxom,
and are all named Eppie. I did not hear the name of
the first sort.
13
CHAPTER XXII.
I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE TAMSON.
It is a strange thing that when you are very tired
folk will never let you sleep five minutes. You have
noticed that. So have I. As soon as you drop asleep,
in a quarter of an hour or less they are at you, saying
that it is some frankly impossible time, and that you
must get up.
As I lay asleep I heard some one say, about a million
miles away (or maybe more), that it was eleven o'clock
of the day. I turned over, for this was no concern of
mine.
Somebody said, a little nearer this time — not over a
thousand miles away, " Poor laddie ! anither half-hour
will no hurt him."
So I turned over again and went to sleep for a year.
But the contrariness of things is such that in less than
three moments (and short ones) some one had taken
me in a pair of strong arms — comfortable things too —
and was raising me gently up. Angels again ; but the
warm, fleecy clouds were better even than these strong
arms.
"My laddie, sorrow am I to wakken ye, but it's
J 94
1 GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE. 195
chappin' twal, an' the denner's ready, an' the guidman
is ready likewise to talc' ye to the Wolf's Slock, that
is your best road to Loch Dee. He kens that gin he
disna tak' ye safe, he need never more show his face
at Mossdale or caa Eppie Tamson his ain guidwife ! "
I sat up. The house was running round about in
a breathless kind of whirling silence, as if the very
plates on the dresser were waiting for me to speak,
and I had nothing to say.
Wakening from a deep sleep in a strange house is
the eeriest of things. I do not think that Lazarus
had any different feeling when he awoke after his four
days in the tomb with that big thruch stone covering
him in.
Eppie helped me on with my things as she had
helped me off, with the same air of having been my
mother in a former existence. It was so wonderful
to me, who had been a man's bairn all the days of my
life, to have some one to lift my socks and undo the
tags of my boots.
While she was bent over me in this way, once
actually tying my shoe, I saw Samuel Tamson lift his
head and give a look at her, both wistful and pitying,
though I could not for the life of me understand why
— his being the need of pity, to my thinking.
So being dressed, there on the table was dinner ;
and ere I sat down I noticed that my coat was neatly
pieced and mended where the bullet had cut through
the night before, at the Clownie dykeside, when I ran
headlong into the saugh bush by the waterside. This
pleased me as much as anything. Also that my
clothes were clean brushed and exceedingly neat and
snod.
i96 THE RAIDERS.
I was about to thank her, but she cut me short.
"Get your denner, laddie, and see and no file (dirty)
your claes. I hae had siccan a wark wi' them."
" I am sorry to pit you to so muckle inconveni-
ence," said I, politely.
" Havers ! ' inconvenience,' quo' he, the boy wants
wit. Glad and proud am I to do what little I can for
your mither's son."
" Did you ken my mither ? " I asked, for my father
had spoken but little of her, and I would gladly have
heard more.
"Na, it's a way of speaking just," said Eppie
Tamson ; " but I ken her son, and if ever there was a
laddie needin' somebody to look after him, it's that
same callant. Oh, but ye need that lass sair aboot the
auld Isle o' Rathan. Guid keep ye and help ye to
get her gin she be worthy o' ye. Gin ye win her
oot o' the gleds' claws, she's no gang hame withoot
a ring on her finger, or my name's no Eppie."
After dinner she had a great number of directions
to give to her husband, who said not a word, but only
looked at her and me time about in the same extra-
ordinary wistful and mournful way. Then she gave
me my pistols. They were cleaned and oiled, loaded
and primed.
I was about to thank her again for having put them
to rights, when she said, " Na, no me — I wadna touch
the nasty things. It was him that did them, and I
howp to your satisfaction ? " ,
I hastened to assure her.
" It's as weel," said Mistress Tamson.
Then she pressed on me a fine engraved silver flask,
which she said she had gotten from, the Laird of
I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE. 197
Parton when she married, for that she had been a
servant in the big house there.
" It's fu' o' the best. Tou carry it ! " she said,
pointedly.
Also she had scones and oatcake done up with fine
bacon ham between the slices in a toothsome manner
I had never seen before, but which she had no doubt
learned in the kitchens of the great.
As I went out she asked if I had any money. I
showed her Silver Sand's handful, and she was in a
manner satisfied.
" Aweel ! " she said, with a kind of disappointment,
that told me as plainly as large print that she had meant
to supply me also with that, had I been in need of it,
which made me grateful all the same.
Then when she bade me good-bye, after giving me a
fine hazel staff with an iron shod on it, she burst out
crying like a bairn and went indoors without speaking,
shutting to the door.
But we had not got our feet off the little green loan-
ing that goes towards the great hill of Cairn Edward,
before Eppie came after us again with something
bright in her hand.
"I brocht this," she said; "it micht be useful to ye."
It was a brass prospect glass, very short, but as
thick as my wrist. It was of many draws, all shutting
up into one, and closed with brass caps at both ends.
I did not want to take so many things from her, and
began to say so. But I saw her husband motioning
me to be silent from behind her back.
Following the direction of my eyes (for I have not
the art of looking without seeming to look that some
folk have), she caught him in the act.
198 THE RAIDERS.
" Gar him talc' it," she said.
" Ye had better " said Sammle, feebly.
So I put the glass in my tail-pocket, where, to tell
the truth, it was an extraordinary weight, and as I
feared at the time of but little use.
Then, standing there before me on the heather (that
was not yet full in bloom, but only brown and purple
black with little dots and dashes of living green among
it), this woman, whom I had never seen before that
morning, made me promise, if I were alive, to come
this way as soon as I got clear.
" Mind you," she said, " gin ye're no here by
Wednesday, I'll come amang the gypsies to look for
ye mysel' — breeks or no breeks ! " Saying which,
she went into the little cottage at Mossdale that you
may see above the Flow to this day. Only you need
not call, for Eppie Tamson is not there now.
So in the brisk noon of a fine birling day in May,
Sammle Tamson and I took the hill. At the first I mis-
doubted him, and thought myself a better mountaineer
than he. But I was soon to learn different. Samuel
Tamson walked with a strange forward stoop which
approached a right angle. He leaned heavily on his
shepherd's stafF as he went — his thin, pallid face with
its lack-lustre eyes going before him. He had the air
of a man who carries his own head for a hand lantern.
It was a tall stick which he carried, and oftentimes the
hand that grasped it was higher than his head. Yet
he could beat me on the hill without turning a hair.
His legs moved over the heather and stones as though
they could not help it, and would never stop. He
carried his left hand pressed into the "small" of his back.
And as we went the man that had been so silent
I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE. 199
and distraught began to talk without ceasing, walking
all the time and speaking as though talking on the slope
of a Galloway hill, up to the knees in heather and
shin-twisting holes, were as easy as breathing. The
matter of his discourse, its temper and drift, also
astonished me. It was all about Eppie.
"She's a maist extraordinar' woman, the wife.
There's no the like o' her in the sax pairishes.
Through-gaun, tight and clean, clever wi' hand and
tongue, and wi' a heart as kind as — weel, ye hae seen
yoursel'. It's an eternal wonder to me how she ever
took the like o' me, or how she puts up wi' me
when she has me."
"She was exceedingly kind to me," I said.
" Hoot na," said Sammle, speeding up Cairn Edward
side at a pace that made me pech (pant) like a wind-
galled nag, " man, I saw that ye had the richt side
o' her from the start."
Then he stopped for a moment, so that I thought
he was weary with the short, hot burst uphill. But
this was not the case. He only wanted to assure
himself of my attention.
"Ye mauna think she's sair on me," he said,
earnestly. " I'm aye pleased when she tak's eneuch
notice to look after me in the way o' keepin' me to
my wark. I ken I wad try a sant. I hae nae
memory ava, and the mind that I hae is no worth a
buckie. Whiles I think I maun hae hidden my talent
in my sleep, and forgotten whaur I put it, for I canna
see hilt nor hair o't. And a' folks are born wi' yin, the
minister says. He has speaking aboot that verra subject
in Kells Kirk, Sabbath was eight days. What think
ye o' that question yerseP na, Laird Heron ? '
200 THE RAIDERS.
This with the earnestness and desire of a Scot for
a theological discussion. But I had small store of
theology, and smaller desire at that moment to engage
in any debate. So I tried to keep him to his story.
"'Deed, aye, I'm a sair trial and vexation to her, I
ken, that was used to better things. Ye see the way
o't is this : I had been a widow x three years when I
began to gang aboot Parton Hoose to see her in the
forenichts. I had yae bit lassie, that was five year
auld. Weel, I asked Eppie, and I better asked her,
but she aye said me nay. In fact, she made fun o'
me to my face ; till I plucked up heart to say that I
wad come nae mair to be lichtlied afore folk. Na,
nor I didna look near for a fortnicht. Then I met
her on the Boat O'Rhone road, at the edge of the
Big Wood of Turnorrach.
" c Guid e'en to ye," says she, * hae ye lost the road
to Parton ? '
" I said, c No, I haena, but I was well aware that
I wasna wantit at Parton.'
"She made answer that she was none so sure of that.
" Now, I'm not a bright man nor a forritsome man,
but I'm no exactly a fool, so I took her round the
neck, and that you'll find a better argument wi' a
lass than ony talkin' — that is, gin she likes you ava'.
That's my advice to you, Laird Rathan."
We were now on the brow of the high, rocky hill
that is called Cairn Edward, or Cairn Ethart, which
rises bleak and grey above the rushing of the Black
Water of Dee.
"We'll keep high," said Sammle. "It'll be the
better for seein' and less kittle for being seen."
1 "Widower" is a vain word in Galloway to this day.
I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE. 201
So as we went, he took up again the burden of his
tale.
" Sae, of course, after Tornorrach Wood, there was
nae mair ado but to get married. And married we
were as soon as the cries were through, and a braw
wedding there was at the big hoose. The leddy was
awfu' ta'en on aboot her, and amang ither things that
she got awa' wi' her was the flask ye hae in your
pooch, and the object glass. Aiblins ye wadna be the
waur o' a drap the noo ? No — weel, weel !
" But there was the lassie, Marion, that was mine
an' my first wife's — a bonny wee bit lass j noo the
silly, ill-contriving folk had been tellin' her aboot a
step-mither, and when we drave up to the door, or as
near it as the laird's powny could tak' us, here's wee
Marion sitting on the doorstep (and ye could see that
her heart was like to break, though she had the
greetin' by wi' and only a begrutten face turned up
to us as peetiful like). Waes me — to mind on't !
"Then when we lichtit doon, here wee Marion
comes to meet us, wi' her bit underlip quivering and
the clear water standing in her blue e'en — O man,
man, to think on't ! And, says she, as clever as if she
had been sayin' it ower an' ower to herseP to learn it
by heart afore we cam' —
" c This hoose is yours noo, I ken,' she says to
Eppie (she was but five year past in September).
c But, maybe, ye'll let wee Marion bide in the hen-
hoose aside the calf. I'se no asturb him ava',' she says.
4 Marion will be rale quiet, and see, I hae ta'en Black
Andra' there already ! '
" Black Andra' was her bit bairn's dolly that I had
made oot o' a bit stick and pentit for her red and black.
202 THE RAIDERS.
" c See,' she said, ' Black Andra's there the noo,
waitin' amang the hay, an' him an' me will never say
cheep — wull ye let us bide in the hen-hoose ? '
" O man, O man," burst out Sammle Tamson,
sobbing to himself in a passion as he leant on his staff,
" it was like death to me to hear the bit bairn.
" And the wife, Eppie, oh, but she took it sair to
heart. She sat doon there on the doorstep and sabbit
till she took to the laughing. And then she couldna
stop. Never in my life had I seen onybody ta'en like
that. It was a maist peetifu' hamecomin'.
" Then, when she came to a wee, she took the bit
lass in her airms and kissed her ; but Marion had been
talked to by silly folk, and had gotten her mind fu'
o' the going to the hen-hoose, so she would not go
willingly to Eppie.
" But I sent Marion to bed in the spence, and saw
her snugly happit up wi' Black Andra', that was a
gruesome-like tyke pented wi' tar and cart-red, and
shrouded in an auld clout — yet she took him in her
airms and grat quately on the pillow, for she loved
him.
" So I left them.
" But in the mornin' it happened that I had to rise
early — and it ser'ed us richt for marryin' in the lambin'
time ; so it was in the very earliest blink o' day that I
took the door ahint me, an' gaed my ways unwilling
to the hill.
" Eppie was lying wide awake in the dark o' the
morning, thinkin', nae doot, and no the pleasantest o'
thochts, aboot what she wad do wi' Marion.
"When, as she has telled me fifty times, and fifty to
the back o' that, the spence door gied a bit cheep as
I GET THE RIGHT SIDE OF EPPIE. 203
gin the cat were coming ben. Then a wee white
facie lookit round the corner o' the door, and wee bare
feet paidled across the floor till they stoppit by Eppie's
bed.
" It was Marion. She looked a while afore she
spoke, but Eppie said no a word.
" c They say that ye are my mither noo,' said wee
Marion, haudin' up yae bare foot afF the cauld stane.
" ' An' what if I war your mither ? ' said Eppie
that is my wife, as kind as she could say.
" ' WY than,' says Marion, emphatically, ( gin ye
be my mither, I thocht that I wad like to creep in
aside ye a wee into your warm bed, for it's cauld,
cauld in the spence.'
" Eppie was oot o' bed in a moment, and had the
bairn in her airms, greeting ower her and rejoicing a'
at yince.
" c Can I come in, then ? ' said Marion.
" £ Aye, blessin's on ye, ye can that ! ' said Eppie,
heartily.
"'And bide ? ' continued the wee lass in white.
" £ Aye, come awa',' quo' Eppie.
" ' And pit my cauld feet on ye ? '
" ' Hoot aye, bairn, onygate ye like.'
" c Then I'se come and bring Black Andra' ! '
"When I cam' back frae the hill there was sma'
room for me, for Eppie and Marion and Black Andra'
were a' lyin' sleepin' wi' their arms aboot ither !
"And that was the beginning o't ! " said Sammle
Tamson of Mossdale.
" And where is the lassie noo ? I wad like to see
her. Is she up and married, or oot to service ? " I
said, without due caution.
204 THE RAIDERS.
Sammle shook his head. He did not sob again, but
there was a look of wae on his face that was very
touching to the heart.
" She's gane ! " he said.
" Gane ! " said I, startled. " Did she die ? "
" Na, no that ; she was lost on the hills — it's a lang
story, and we're getting ower by the Black Craig o'
Dee noo. We'll hae to be cautious."
But he went on.
" So, sir, for a year that bit lass was the very apple
o' Eppie's e'e. We never had ony bairns o' oor ain,
an' Eppie was juist wrapped up in that lass Marion.
I often spoke to her aboot it, but as ye may under-
stand, I micht as weel hae saved my breath."
I understood, and signified it with a nod.
Sammle Tamson went on, feet and tongue plying
together, till we drew towards the verge of the Black
Craig of Dee, and saw beneath us the whole of the
land backwards, with its lochs and lochans, clints and
mosses, away to the little white house of Mossdale
itself, where I doubt not there was one looking up for
us as we journeyed.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE FORWANDERED BAIRN.
And this was the further matter of his tale.
" When the wife had been nineteen months at the
Bennan, it was her custom to let Marion come oot
ower the hills wi' my dinner-piece in a napkin. It
was but seldom that I gaed so far away that she could
not see me from the doorstep ; for the most feck of my
herdin' is done within sight of the house, by reason of
the country all sloping to the Water o' Dee, where sits
the wee hoose o' Mossdale, as ye are weel aware.
" But it happened on a day that I had a job up
at the Englishman's Dub, that is at the back o' the
Bennan hill, up by the springs o' the Lowran Burn.
"I mind the day as weel as if it was yesterday. I
had an e'e on the sheep, of course ; but I was cutting
a bit birk, that was crooked, to carry it hame to mak'
a fancy c creepie ' stool for wee Marion.
" An', faith, here comes the bairnie hersel', liltin'
blithe wi' my broth in a tin can that she was carryin'
by the bool (hoop), careful no to spill — my bit piece
in a wee bag that she caa'ed her schule bag, though
there was no schule near hand for her to go to. I
can see her, happin' and juikin' ower the muir — for a'
the stanes and the deep heather that whiles cam' ower
205
206 THE RAIDERS.
her heid — linkin' alang and singin' like a laverock.
Oh, but she was a blithesome wee lass."
I will admit that I found all this extraordinarily
interesting, more perhaps than my readers may when
it is told ; but maybe to hear it from the strange,
laughable-tragic man on the great hills of heather
made all the difference.
Sammle Tamson went on. "While I was at my
denner, she sat an' talked bits of bairn's talk, and ate
scraplets that I gied to her, or that she pu'd off for
hersel', for she ever took great pleasure in sittin' by
the bakeboard and eating the crumbs.
" I mind weel she asked aboot the wee crooked
birks — gin God made them crooked. Or if it was
their ain badness that made them crooked, or whatna
way was it ? Na, an' she wadna be pitten aff wi' nae
answer ava', but pressed me so that she had me clean
oot o' my depth, and I had to say —
"cWeel, Marion, ye'll hae to speer at the minister
when he comes to catechise ye. Ye'll hae to speer
him his quastions as weel ! '
" ' 'Deed, wull I that ! ' says she.
" So when I had ta'en my fill, I buckled on the bag
and gied her the can, and the wee leddy took the road
hame as canty as a lark."
As Sammle Tamson got so far in his tale we
were in the great Corry that lies to the west of the
Black Craig of Dee, between the Hill o' the Hope
and the Rig o' Craig Gilbert. We could see the
reeking chimneys of the steading of Laggan o' Dee,
that was said to have decent folk in it, for all so near
as it lies to the outlaw country.
Sammle stopped deliberately, and faced me in order
THE FORWANDERED BAIRN. 207
to say impressively, " So I saw wee Marion gang frae
me, her white bit legs twinklin' amang the heather
aneath her short skirts. She gaed ower the knowe,
standin' on the tap juist lang eneuch to wave her can,
and cry a word that she had learned from Eppie —
" c Noo, Sammle, see an' be hame in time o' nicht.' '
" ' Ye wee besom ! ' cries I, an' she juiked doon."
Sammle looked me in the face. I had not thought
he could look so solemn.
" From that moment to this," he said, " have I
never set e'en on my bairn."
We were silent a space, Sammle Tamson looking
fixedly at me as though he had forgotten to look away,
while I was trying to keep back the water from my
face, for I cannot bear folk that are aye greet-greeting.
" But did you not seek for her ? " I asked very
foolishly, and without thinking.
" Seek for her — aye, far and near we seekit. There
was parties oot on the hills for ten days. I wasna
in my bed mysel' for near three weeks. It was then
that I got the income in my back. The wife gaed
oot o' her mind a'thegither. She was fair wild, and
sair set again me, though I could little help it. The
bairn had come hame farther nor that fifty times.
" But I gang ower fast," said Sammle ; " I'll tell ye
the tale.
"The day after Marion was lost on the moors,
Eppie is lost as weel. She had risen and ta'en the
hills afore the break o' day. My sister frae Clachan-
pluck, a married woman, was wi' her ; but Tibby
was aye a sound sleeper. So when she wakkened
Eppie was up an' awa.
"So there was another hunt.
208 THE RAIDERS.
" Up a' the Dee Water side I tracked Eppie, here
by a fit-mark, there by a screed o' her druggit goown
tangled on a blackthorn, till the next day at noon I
fand her awa' up on the links o' the Cooran Lane far
ayont Loch Dee, clean gane oot o' her mind a'the-
gither. As far as I could mak' oot the ootlaw folk
had been at her, but she had fleyed them. A' thae
kind o' folk are awfu' feared of them that's oot o'
their mind, and disna think it canny to meddle wi'
them — or itherwise, I dinna like to think what micht
hae happened.
" When I fand Eppie she was lyin' on a bank, wi'
her heid bare and the sun on her. As soon as she
saw me drawin' near, she gied a skelloch an' ran
whatever she was fit.
" Noo, it's a queer-like thing when a wife o' nine-
teen months rins like a tod (fox) frae her married
husband. That took me at the hert, but I saw there
was nocht for it but that I maun juist rin her doon.
But it was a lang chase.
" She had the strength o' six. I dinna believe I
wad hae grupped her awa', but for her lettin' some-
thing faa' she carried in her hand as she ran.
" So in a howe o' the heather I got Eppie in my
airms, and caa'ed her c my dawtie,' and spoke to her as
I used to do in the hay-neuk at Parton on the nichts
when I first gaed doon to see her.
" Bit by bit she cam to a wee, till she saw the thing
that she had fand. It was the same can that Marion
had ta'en wi' my denner broth that day her mither
sent her. Every time that her e'en fell on that can,
she wad gang afF again in a swarf (faint), and speak
wild, wild words when she cam oot o't.
THE FORWANDERED BAIRN. 209
" But at lang and last I gat her hame. That was
nae joke. It was the hardest job that ever I had.
The can was half fu' o' blackberries that the bairn
had been gathering (as we jaloosed), because Eppie had
said that she was fondest o' bramble-berry jelly o' a'
the sugar conserves that are made. So the bairn nae
doot had thocht to please Eppie and so gane to her
death.
" And the strange thing is that even when Eppie
cam to hersel', she threepit (alleged) and better
threepit, that she had seen the lassie rinnin' afore her
ower the quakkln quas and the green morasses o' the
Silver Flow o' Buchan. Oh, I ken it's a moral
impossibility, but this is what Eppie declares to this
day : She was on a hill that they caa' Craigeazle,
and doon below her she saw oor bit lass rinnin', and
she cried to her, and her heart was glad. She ran
doon the hillside amang the rocks and clatterin' slate-
stanes, but aye the wee lass ran on. It was terrible-
like grund, lairin' at every step, but the wean ran on
licht-fit ; when suddenly something like an airm shot
up oot o' the quag an' poo'ed the bairn doon, and
Eppie saw nae mair but the oily bubbles rising oot o'
the black glossy glaur o' the wall-e'e (out of the black
mud of the moss-hole).
" O man, Laird Heron, I ken brawly it's no a
faceable story ava'. It's only a distrakit woman's
dream ; but gin she mentions it to you, ye mauna
contradict her, for she believes it like her Bible. Na,
na, sir, it was a pleesure to me to see her tak' sic' an
interest in ye this day. It tak's her mind aff what
does nae guid to think upon. Mony is the time that
I'm gled when my stupidity angers her, an' it's a mortal
14
210 THE RAIDERS.
pleesure to me when she comes at me wi' the besom
shank. Whiles, maybe, I male' mysel' a kennin'
stupider than I need be, just to humour her."
Sammle Tamson finished here. What a dolt and
ass I had been to look on this man as no more than
a mockery and a laughing-stock ! Underneath that
strange outward appearance and behind his comical
relations with his wife lay, unsuspected, a whole
world of tragedy. The Lord keep me in the future
from hasty judgments. We see our neighbour's face,
but what is underneath is his own. Truly a stranger
intermeddleth not with another's heart bitterness.
We had been out from the house at Mossdale more
than two hours, when we came suddenly to the crest
of the ridge and looked over the other side ere we
were aware. As soon as Sammle got his first look he
dropped like a shot.
" Clap," he said under his breath ; " for the love o'
God, clap ! "
I was beside him in an instant. Together we
peered cautiously over the worn and water-pitted edge
of the blue whinstone rock, our bodies buried up to
the chin in the heather.
Sammle pointed with his long whaup's nose.
" There," he whispered, as though we were not a
thousand feet in the air above the drove-road, " d'ye
see yon ? "
This is what I saw. I saw the Links o' the Black
Water o' Dee shining amid the dull yellows and greys
of the grim mosses through which it slowly made its
way. I saw the untenanted onstead of Clattering Shaws
and the drove-road to the Cree Bridge wimpling
across the heather. But what I mainly saw was a
THE FORWANDERED BAIRN. 211
straggling line of black dots (as it were both upright
and long) crawling irregularly over the moor by the
waterside.
" There's the drove, and there's your Macatericks
and Marshalls, an' I doot na a Faa or twa amang
them," said the goodman of Mossdale.
I had out the prospect glass in a flash, and Sammle,
being acquaint with its ways, set it for me. But he
let me look first, for he was a thoughtful man.
I soon caught them up, and though they were but
blurs when I first got them upon the eye-piece, by
dint of a little screwing of the slides and learning how
to shut one eye, I was soon able to see quite clearly.
There were ten or twelve mounted men in the party,
riding loosely behind ; but on two of the horses
wounded men were carried, who seemed unable to
sit on themselves, and were held up by a man at each
side. Then there were a great many cattle, some
limping wearily on, and others trying to snatch a bite
of fodder by the way. It astonished me to find that
I could see all quite plainly at this distance. Never
on Solway side had I seen so notable a glass. Then
fore and aft of the herd there were raggety boys
holding the beasts in check and playing pranks among
themselves. But what I most longed for, yet feared
to see, was not to be seen, for Hector Faa and May
Maxwell were not of the party.
Silver Sand had been correct in his premises ; it
would yet be seen if he were also as faithful in his
conclusions.
" The Lord grant it," said I aloud.
It is at the Clattering Shaws that the Edinburgh
road takes a bend, and there too is a wide plain where
212 THE RAIDERS.
the country folks say that Good King Robert fought
a battle. But it was a difficult place for us to cross to
the other side of the glen ; yet cross we must, and that
speedily, for it was evident that the outlaws now con-
sidered themselves perfectly safe and would not hurry
the cattle, being in their own country.
I told Sammle as much of Silver Sand's plans as I
thought prudent — which, to be honest, was nearly as
much as I knew myself. He approved of them gene-
rally, and was able to shed a great deal of light upon
the intentions of the gypsies, the lie of the country,
and on what my own movements ought to be.
The cattle reivers would certainly, he said, taice
the easiest road, and slowly find a track by the Loch
Dee and Loch Trool, past Glenhead, and up the
narrow defile of the Gairland Burn, into that tangle
of lochs and mountains under the brow of Merrick,
which formed their robbers' fastness. There would be
better grazing by the loch shores than anywhere else,
though indeed the Faas never wanted for fodder so
long as there were hay crops on the Cree water or
corn in the Glenkens. It was easy work taking down
a bevy of horses and bringing up a supply — easier than
cutting and winning the meadow hay upon their own
sparse watersides.
It was therefore necessary for me to cross and take
to the hills on the eastern side of the Dungeon, then
make for the Wolf's Slock as fast as I could, and trust
to Providence after that. At least, so said Sammle
Tamson, evidently thinking that Providence would be
no improvement upon himself as a guide among the
hills of the Dungeon.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A MEETING WITH BILLY MARSHALL.
As we went I began to see my guide hanging back
and halting on one foot, instead of bravely striding
forward as had been his wont.
" What is the matter, Sammle ? " said I.
" We'll hae to cross the open," said Sammle Tamson,
" and I like na the job."
Yet there was no one in sight to the east or south.
We stood alone in a wide vacant world, or often rather
crawled in the heather, only our noses peeping out.
" Ye see that muckle V the road maks here," said
he ; " noo that's a king's highway, though there's few
o' the king's men ever sets fit on it noo. D'ye no
jaloose (suspect) what for it disna gang straight forrit,
like an ordinar' road. It's because that bog doon there
is no safe. They say that King Robert, that was a
Carrick man in the auld days, laired and bogged a hale
army o' the English there. Noo, my man, gin ye are
to try the Wolf's Slock, there's but twa chances for
ye an I see. To gang forrit and cross, that's mair
danger, but also a great deal mair speed. To gang
back and cross, on the ither hand, ye maun gang to
the Black Craig o' Dee afore ye hae a chance o'
213
214 THE RAIDERS.
crossin' that weary road that rins like an ether (adder)
beneath us."
Sammle looked at me to choose.
" On ! " I said briefly.
" It's as I wad hae expected, but I'll no deny that in
half an hour the baith o' us may be pechin' on the
heather like a couple o' shotten pairtricks."
Sammle began to crawl cautiously among the
boulders, keeping to leeward of every stone. The
dots of cattle and men were now so far away that
caution seemed needless ; but I did not ask the reason
of his extraordinary care, for I had great trust in the
moorman. It might be that the outlaws had watchers
on all the tops, who could discern every movement of
both beast and body on that great empty waste.
In ten minutes we were crossing the little Dee
water, which here flows sluggish and brown from the
peat mosses. It was deeper than I thought, and I had
to hold my powder and pistols high up in order that
they might get no hurt. While we were in act to
cross, we saw two decent-like men come out of the
little steading of Craignell (so Sammle called it) and
wave to us with friendly gestures. They were so near
that we could see them distinctly, to the very colour
of their hair and the pearl buttons on their coats, and
I was for turning back to see what they wanted.
Sammle Tamson, however, became a different man as
soon as he saw them.
" Rin for't," he cried, and instantly turned his nose
to the hill and went upward like a fox, turning and
twisting so quick that I could hardly follow him.
Over my shoulder I could see the men running through
the heather, and waving on us to stop. It seemed
A MEETING WITH BILLY MARSHALL. 215
a mighty silly thing to be running from men who
by their appearance should be decent moor folk, though
at least one of them wore matted unkempt hair like the
outlaws.
But since Sammle ran, I ran too ; and it was
as well, for in a little, Wang ! Crack ! came a bullet
and the sound of guns hard on the back of each other.
Sammle was going at top speed, digging his staff into
the earth as he went up the side of the hill, as if he
were running with an extra leg.
Presently we got upon what was one of the roughest
parts of the country for heather and stones that I have
ever seen. It is called, I hear, the Rig of Drumquhat,
and I do not know who is laird of it ; but one thing I
know, that he has a barren heritage and routh of
heather. If it had not been for this latter, indeed, I
fear we had been as good as dead men. As soon as we
had darned ourselves into the thickest of it, Sammle
dropped on his knees and put his hands on the ground
and panted with his head down and his tongue out.
" Keek oot," he said between his gasps, " and see
gin ye can see the ill-contriving blasties."
I made answer that I did, but they were far away,
and going very slowly, as men that were not keen
about their job.
" Na ! " he said, "Young Billy Marshall is ower
fond o' the brandy bottle and the hizzies to be a good
hill rinner, whatever."
" Billy Marshall ! " said I, looking, I am sure, very
queer at the name of the great catheran ; " Billy
Marshall's in Holland, and dare nae mair show his face
on Scots grund than Johnny Faa himsel'."
"Weel, Laird, believe me, yon chap wi' the Roman
z\6 THE RAIDERS.
nose that was the better put on, verra decent like, was
nae ither than Billy, or else I'm Billy myseP. Just
keep track o' them, will ye ? "
And he lay down flat on the bent, with his arms
wide and his hands flaccid and open.
Out of my heather bush I watched the glen. They
had turned back to go into the house of Craignell
again.
" There's mettle mair attractive inside there, ye
may depend," said Sammle. "Ye'll no be bothered
wi' Billy amang the rascals ye hae to fecht up by the
Dungeon."
Then we set off" again over two very desolate hills
that have for names, as Sammle told me, Craignell and
Darnaw. We were high up on them and keeping
the crown of the causeway, the brown moors and grey
rocks running from horizon to horizon beneath us.
So we felt ourselves safe for the present. The sun
was now beginning to sink, and a great bank of cloud
was gathering over in the west, from which pieces
were ever and anon blown off, though only the
gurgling sough of the wind came to us, even on these
mountain-tops.
"Ye'll hae a dark nicht o't in the Wolfs Slock. It'll
be as dark up there as the inside o' that beast himsel'.
But a' the better for you. Keep a guid heart and
your breast to the brae."
I had a question to ask.
" I heard ye say, guidman, that Billy Marshall could
easily come across the Channel frae Holland. Noo,
are ye of opinion that Faa himsel', wha's heid is forfeit,
micht come as weel ? "
" There's nae kennin'," said Sammle. " Faa micht
A MEETING WITH BILLY MARSHALL. 217
never hae been oot o' the country since he broke wi'
his clan. Ye ken thae Faas are gentrice ower by on
the Border side. And they say that Johnny Faa keeps
wide o' his mither and brither since they took to
cattle-liftin' and murder, but yet gets aye his share
o' a' that's gaun, that comes honestly. He tak's no
shares in the cattle ; but there's no a penny that rattles
in a beggar's wooden cup, no a boddle that is gi'en to
him at a changehouse, but Johnny Faa himsel' gets
his tenth o't. He's a kind o' pope amang them,
though the ragged clan wadna be keeped to gentrice,
nor fecht for the Pretender instead o' liftin' nowt, as
Johnny wad hae likit. Faith, they say that Billy
Marshall is feared o' the Faa himsel'. Johnny Faa is
no canny. He comes an' gangs like a wraith, or like
the wind — no man knoweth whither he goes or whence
he comes."
Soon we were on the height above Cairndarroch
Ford. Sammle did not cower now, but strode boldly
down, staff in hand, and kicking up the dust of the
heather with his feet, so that I wondered to see him.
Then I asked him the reason of his change of bearing ;
he said —
" I carena noo. Their tail's guarded by Billy
Marshall at Craignell, where he is safe in hold by
this time, birling at the wine — a doxy set by ilka
oxter. Gin ony was to see us, they wad gang on
a' the faster, thinkin' Billy was keepin' braw watch,
screevin' ower the country to keep a' safe."
And it was as he said. When we got to the ford
of the Dee Water, Sammle went plashing through, his
feet casting up the water about him in a kind of glee,
like a horse trampling into the Solway tide for a bath.
2i8 THE RAIDERS.
Far up on the hillside somebody waved something
white.
" Hae ye a napkin ? " said Sammle. " I hae lost
mine, and I'm loath to pu' aff my ither sark tail.
Eppie made sic a wark aboot the last yin. I'll tell ye
the story some ither day, when we hae less enterteenin'
things aboot us."
I handed him my handkerchief that was none so
white, but served his purpose, which was indeed no
more than to wave back to the rascal who saluted us
from the hilltop as we went through the ford. Sammle
waved the napkin twice to his right hand once to his
left, touching the heather on each occasion.
" That means £ All well,' " he said ; " three times
roon yer heid is c Danger — Rin ! ' an' haudin' the
napkin oot at airm's length frae yer left haun' is
1 Bide till I come ' ; but that last will be no muckle
use to ye."
We were now among the burnt heather, whistling
as we went, and kicking up the ashy dust of the
March muirburn with our feet. This dust or "stoor"
got in Sammle's throat and kept him coughing.
" It behoves me to be turning, Rathan," he said.
" I may hae been a help to ye so far, but ony farder
I'll be but a burden and a danger. I can do mony a
thing, but neyther in kirk or market can I keep back
the barkin' when I get that dry yeukin' in my thrapple.
I doot I'm to be hanged, for it's aye in my Adam's
aipple that I hae a pricklin' like eatin' pepper-pods."
We were now high above the misty basin of Loch
Dee, which we saw shining blue away in the hazy
south, with the burn running out of it into the Cooran
Lane. We could see with the prospect glass the
A MEETING WITH BILLY MARSHALL. 219
drovers letting the cattle stray wide, watched only by
boys on the green meadows of the two Laggans by
the loch side. A very great number of the poor beasts
were standing in the water of the loch cooling their
travel-weary feet and drinking deep draughts.
We were now on the smooth side of the furthest
spur of Millyea, the last of the Kells Range, which
pushed its wide shoulders on into the north, heave
behind heave, like a school of pellocks in the Firth.
I was astonished at their height and greenness, never
having in my life seen a green hill before, and sup-
posing that all mountains were as rugged and purple
with heather or else as grey with boulder as our own
Screel and Ben Gairn by the Balcary shore. But these
I found were speciallv granted by a kind Providence
to afford yirds and secret caves for our Solway
smugglers.
It was always counted a Divine judgment on the
people of the Glenkens that their hills are so smooth
that the comings and goings of men and horses upon
them can be seen afar, and the smoke of a still tracked
for a summer day's journey. But then, again, if the
Glenkens folk had been able to supply themselves
with whisky, the Solway farmers, like my friends the
Maxwells, would have had to go farther afield in order
to seek a market for their wares.
But things are wisely ordered, and amongst other
things it was ordained that I should now be on the
side of Millyea looking towards the great breastwork
of the Dungeon of Buchan, behind which lay the
outlaw country shrouded in dark and threatening mist.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE DUNGEON o' BUCHAN.
Now, because nothing can be more uncertain and
uncanny than the changes of the weather in the
Dungeon of Buchan, it behoved that Samuel Tamson,
that very honest man, and I should part. The thought
of the poor lass, May Maxwell, was heavy on my heart,
and I began to desire with a great desire to see her,
even if I could not come at the winning of her — which
in the disturbed state of the country, and the mountain
men having won so great a victory at the Black Water
of Dee, did not seem likely.
It was time to part, so we looked at one another
and found nothing to say. Sammle Tamson turned
on his heel. When he had gone maybe ten steps, he
looked back and said to me, still standing in the same
place —
"The God of Jacob be your rereward."
But even then I found not anything to say, and so
parted very heavy at heart. The great clouds were
topping the black and terrible ramparts opposite to
me. Along the long cliff line, scarred and broken with
the thunderbolt, the clouds lay piled, making the
Merrick, the Star, the Dungeon, and the other hills
THE DUNGEON O' BUCHAN. 221
of that centre boss of the hill country look twice their
proper height. The darkness drew swiftly down like
a curtain. The valley was filled with a steely blue
smother. From the white clouds along the top of
the Dungeon of Buchan fleecy streamers were blown
upwards, and swift gusts spirted down. Behind, the
thunder growled like a continuous roll of drums,
and little lambent flames played like devils' smiles
about the grim features of Breesha and the Snibe.
Yonder were the frowning rocks of the Dungeon
itself farthest to the north, and that great hollow-
throated pass through which still a peep of sunshine
mistily shot down, bore the grim name of the Wolf's
Slock. Thither I must climb. Yet though there was
no light in it, it was through it that I could best see
the hell-brew of elements which was going on up
there. Here on the side of the opposite brae did I lie
face down on the grass and heather and look upward.
The wind came in curious extremes — now in lown-
warm puffs and gusts, and then again in sharp, cold
bensles that froze the blood in one's veins.
Then it was that for the first and last time, a kind
of shuddering horror came over me, which now I
shame to think upon. What right had I to be there ?
— I that might have sat safe and smiling on my Isle
Rathan ? Had any meddled with me there, that I
must go and take up a stranger's quarrel ? What a
fool to bring myself so to the dagger's point — and that
for a girl who had no thought or tenderness for me,
but only scoffs and jeers ! I did not even know that
she had not been playing with me. For aught I knew
she might have gone willingly enough on the pillion
behind handsome Hector Faa, that was own brother
222 THE RAIDERS.
to John Faa; a gentleman born upon the Borders ; and
who might even, when the turmoil died down, succeed
to the dignities, such as they were. What had I,
who might have been sailing in the tall ships to see
strange lands (for so my revenues permitted) — eating
of the breadfruit and drinking of the coco brew that
is as wine and milk at once — to do here on this Hill
Perilous on such desperate quest among desperate
men ?
But, truth to tell, I believed not in my own un-
shakable logic, and in this I was even like a woman.
I believed not in my own caution, and in my heart I
only longed to meet Silver Sand and to come to
grapples with a dozen Faas on their own ground — at
least if I could get first sight of the self-same smile
that was on May Mischiefs face when I called her
" Impudent besom ! " aloud that day, when my tongue
slipped and I let the words from me unawares.
Thus I let Satan tempt me, for the sake of setting
my elbow in his face ; but he was not so easily
deceived, for he flew away out of my heart, crying,
" Fool, thou hast the desire to go only that a light girl
may lead thee to the death — one that cares naught for
thee." But I said to him, " Thou liest, Foul Thief,
and if thou didst speak truth I do not care. Go I
will ! " Whereat I felt mighty manly, and so rose and
went.
But to resolve is ever easier than to do. Between
me and the frowning ridges — now the colour
of darkest indigo, with the mists clammily creep-
ing up and down and making the rocks unwhole-
somely white, as if great slimy slugs had crawled
over them — were the links of the Cooran winding
THE DUNGEON O' BUCHAN. 223
slow, leaden, and dangerous. And there beyond them
was the Silver Flowe of Buchan, where the little Marion
had been drawn to her death either by the clinging
sand or the dread arm of the water kelpie.
As I went the ground became wetter and boggier.
My foot sank often to the ankle, and I had to shift
my weight suddenly with an effort, drawing my im-
prisoned foot out of the oozy, clinging sand with a
great "cloop," as if I had begun to decant some
mighty bottle. Green, unwholesome scum on the
edges of black pools frothed about my brogues,
which were soon wet through. Then came a
link of silver flat where the sand was firm to the
eye. My heart beat at the pleasant sight, but when
I set foot on it a shivering flash like lightning
flamed suddenly over it, and it gripped my feet like
a vice. Had I not been shore bred, and that on
Solway side, I had passed out of life even then.
But I knew the trick of it, and threw myself flat
towards the nearest bank of grass, kicking my feet
free horizontally, and so crawled an inch at a time
back to the honest peat again. Then I found a great
shepherd's stick lying on a link of the Cooran — a wide,
black, unkindly-like water, seen under that gloomy
sky, whatever it may appear in other circumstances.
It had been placed there by some shepherd who had
business on the other side, or mayhap had been cast
up by that dangerous water after it had drowned the
man who used it.
But at any rate it was a fortunate case for me, for
this " kent," or great staff, was more than two yards
long and prodigiously stout, with a pike at the farther
end, and a " clickie " handle, made closer at the lower
224 THE RAIDERS.
part for catching sheep by the leg. I took it with grati-
tude, and I hope the man who left it there has never
missed it. It was assuredly of great service to me, and,
moreover, the chances were a hundred to one that the
fellow was a Marshall, a Miller, or a Macaterick, for
on the handle was a great M very rudely cut. Yet
it was a good " kent," and served me well, so why all
this bother about who made it ? So it is also with
the making of this world. Thus in time, by the
grace of God, and by taking great pains, I crossed
both the Silver Flowe of Buchan and the Links of the
Cooran. It is ever the nature of Galloway to share
the credit of any victory with Providence, but to charge
it wholly with any disaster. "Wasna that cleverly
dune?" we say when we succeed. "We maun juist
submit," we say when we fail — a comfortable theology,
which is ever' the one for the most feck of Galloway
men, whom chiefly dourness and not fanaticism took
to the hills when Lag came riding with his mandates
and letters judicatory.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE WOLF'S SLOCK.
But I had no such reflections as I went up the side of
the Dungeon towards the Throat of the Wolf. It was
indeed dourness and not courage which took me there.
I had done no harm that I should be afraid of any Faa
that lived. But all the same there was a small cold
contracted feeling about the pit of my stomach, where
ordinarily my courage lies. Other folks may tell that
they feel bold as lions — at the heart — or have a mortal
fear — at the heart. These are differently made from
me, for it is low down, even in my stomach, that my
courage lies, though it is oftenest rather the empty
want of any that pinches.
The truth is I was most mortally afraid. To begin
with, I was wet through — not that I minded that much
in itself, for so I was usually all day at the shore ; but
there the salt in the air, and the kindliness of the sea
breeze, make it a comfortable wetness. Here, on the
other hand, the wind off" the hills had a cold nip about
it, and seemed to freeze the very clothes on one's back.
I felt also a sting of sleet on my face.
I clambered upwards through the great boulders
and loose stones.
15 225
226 THE RAIDERS.
It was no jesting now. I could see only a hundred
yards or so above me, but overhead the thunder was
moaning and rattling, coming ever closer. There
was a faint blue light, more unpleasant than darkness,
high in the lift. Then little tongues of crawling cloud
were shooting down as it seemed, to snatch at me,
curling upward like the winkers of an old man's eye as
they came near me. I hated them.
As often as they approached there was a soft
hissing, and the rocks grew dim and misty blue.
My hands pricked at the thin fine skin between the
fingers that we call the webs. I had a strange prick-
ling tightness about my brow, and my bonnet lifted.
So for all my stubborn stoutness, I liked it not,
and know not how I went through with it. Were
it to do again, I trow that I should instantly turn tail
and make for Rathan's Isle, and Patrick Heron, his
most defenced turret. But indeed I cannot tell how
I went on. Certainly it was not out of courage.
What I liked least were the little spouts of stones
that discharged themselves downward with a crash and
a rattle. I know not why, for the waterspouts in the
clouds had not broken. They came with a dry noise,
like bones rattling into a vault, as once I heard them
when they were clearing the Dullarg kirkyard to
make room for new parishioners — a most unholy
sound. I have wished many a time since that I had
bided at home and not gone to hear it — as indeed
my father had bidden me. So I was properly served.
Most of these spouts of stones fell on great tails that
spread down the mountain steep, like rubble from a
quarry toom (or dump, as they call it in the sea-coal
district). Some of these I had. to cross, and a most
THE WOLF'S SLOCK. 227
uncomfortable passage I made of it. Little sharp slate
stones came down with a whizz, spinning like wheels,
and passed quite close to the ear with a vicious clip; as
the teeth of a dog snap when he bites and misses, yet
means to do your business the next time (and you know
he will) — a most vile feeling. One went past like a
bullet of lead and clipped a piece of skin from my ear,
which came near to make me swear — a habit in which
there is no profit, and which therefore I never use.
But I ought rather to have said a prayer and given
thanks, but that I did not either.
Then I came to one very wide spout, and my feet
plunged into it quickly and eagerly, because I was
wishful to get across with all speed, for, indeed, I liked
not the place. But just when I was in the midst, the
whole began to move slowly beneath my feet, with a
feeling that sent my heart into my mouth, and made
me faint and sick at once, for nothing is so discouraging
as to lose faith in the solid earth underfoot. I stood
a moment till I felt the whole side of the hill, as
it were, moving downward. Then I minded me of
the sand, and when I felt the push of the stones
growing .quicker, slithering all along of a piece, and
heard the ominous rattling at the edges, I can
take my oath that I said my prayers at the run. More,
I flung myself out as flat on my belly as I could and
dug fingers and toes, aye and face too, into the
moving stone slide.
We went slowly and slowly, and for some years (so
it seemed, and I took careful note of the time), I could
not tell whether we were going faster to fall or slower
to stop. But I prayed heartily as I had not done for
months. I resolved that if I could onlv get out of this I
228 THE RAIDERS.
should be quite a different man. I promised as many
as sixteen promises that I would give up various sins
(which indeed I had been meaning to do for a long
time, and cared nothing about). Then when I was
sure that the slide was going quicker, I added other
sixteen sins that I really cared about. After that I
called on Providence to do so to me and more also, if I
did not give all these sins up (having no intention of
ever coming that way again, if only this once I could
win clear). Then suddenly in the midst of my
promises and petitions I minded me of the great
precipice which was below me, and how I had admired
as I lay on the brae opposite, to see the spouts of white
stones shoot over it and clatter against the rocks down,
far down at the bottom. There were ravens, too,
flitting heavily about the face of that cliff, and eagles
balancing themselves above, and I cursed my imagina-
tion that saw these things all too clearly.
Would we never stop ?
We must be near the top of the sheer fall by now —
we were still moving, slowly and bit by bit it was true,
but still moving. Would the thing never come to
an end ?
I began to long for the fall and wonder if it would
hurt much. One thing came into my mind and stuck
there strangely. I was glad I had called May Maxwell
"Impudent Besom," but I regretted that I had not
then and there kissed her where she stood. It ran in
my head that she might have liked it. And I should,
certainly. But now it was too late.
We had stopped ! No, we were moving on again.
Stopped again ! It was dark now for several years
more, and I lay as one dead with my hands dug into the
THE WOLF'S SLOCK. 229
sharp-edged flaky gravel, my arms stiff-set in it to the
armpits, my toes also covered, and all my soul and
body on the strain, as one that is ready to be broken on
the wheel and sets his teeth to bear the first wrench,
praying only that it may be soon over.
How long I lay thus I know not, daring no breath
or movement. Then with infinite softness and caution
I began to move oft*, drawing out my arms inch by
inch, and quivering with fear if a single slate stone
the size of a crown piece clicked away downwards, or
the gravel moved an inch to fill up my empty arm
holes. I did not so much mind about dying, but the
picture of that great corbie calling lustily to his mate,
and plumping on the ground within two yards of me,
sat chill in my marrow. Again I cursed my imagina-
tion— which, indeed, has been no friend to me, making
me to endure not one but many deaths by anticipation.
For as I lay there I could see the black fiend
alighting with an interrogative croak, cocking his
rough head to the side. I could note him keeping his
wings a little ofF his sides ready for flight, the purple
gloss on his black satin cloak, his beak sharp as a
chisel. He waddled a foot nearer, gave a c Craw ' to
alarm me, if I would be alarmed, then hopped to my
head, took a look round, and There was, I
declare, a horrid pain in my eye as I lay on the loose
slate heaps. Of a truth I thought for the moment
that the corbie had struck it out. And that is but
a specimen of the way my vile imagination served me.
I seemed altogether empty of all my interior and
necessary parts, as I crawled and wriggled myself ofF
that wide spout of rock. Now I would crawl a yard ;
then lie all so cold and empty within, that the stones
230 THE RAIDERS.
felt warm and soft though they were cutting my hands,
and the ice was glassing them where they had been
wet.
Then in a moment more I was clear and sat on a
solid knuckle of rock that shot up from the ribs of the
mountain, which was more comfortable to me at that
moment than the great armchair at Rathan that once
was my father's and which now is mine, in which
indeed I now sit and write.
I was trembling like a leaf. One moment I chittered
with heat, and the next shivered with cold. I was
drenched with perspiration, and then when I had time
to look I saw that my hump of rock was quite on the
edge of a deep gulf. The blue-white reek was surging
up from beneath on some reverse current and boiling
over the lip of the cauldron. The reason I had not
heard the stones falling over the edge of the slide, was
that they fell so far that they returned no noise up
here. There, too, was the raven, black against the
darkness, itting like the very devil I had dreamed of,
cocking his eye at me from a neighbouring rock.
Whereupon such is the nature of man, or at least of
me who count myself one (and, says my wife, like all
Galloway men, no ordinary one), that my spirits rose
swiftly. I taunted the raven with names. I threw
stones at him. I pulled out my silver flask and pledged
him, calling him "old Mahoun " — at which he seemed
much put out, for he rose abruptly, which he had not
done for all the stone-throwing, and sailed away, crying
as he went something that sounded like, " Till another
day ! "
Whereupon I was again full of courage, and pressed
upward into the belt of cloud. I was fairly within
THE WOLF'S SLOCK. 231
the Wolfs Slock now, and found it as dark as many a
lamb has done that was more innocent than I. The
iron pike of my staff shone with lambent light as it
touched the rocks, and I had again the prickling feeling
all over my body. But the tingling air somehow dried
me, and thus probably kept me from taking my death
of cold.
And so upward ever I went. I rested none, because
I had a kind of strength and a desire to see the thing
through, which supported me mightily so long as it
lasted.
I was in comparative quiet where I was, but the
wind shrieked and " reesled " among the teeth of the
shattered rocks above. It yelled overhead as I got
nearer to the top. Yet hardly a breath reached me,
save and except those hissing down-drives of chill
wind that were over again in a minute. I thought
that I should do well even in the darkness if I got the
bield of a rock, or the space between two that might
act as a shelter from the rain. But suddenly I had
news of that.
I came to the summit as quickly as one gets to the
edge of a wall when a comrade gives a hoist up. The
wind met me like a knife, and cut me as it were in
two — the lower part of me being warm behind the
wall of rock and the top half nearly devoid of feeling ;
also the rain drops drove level like bullets. I had on
a coat that buttoned, a waistcoat with flaps, and other
things beneath; but the rain drops played "plap" on
my naked skin, as though I had no more on me than a
dame's cambric kerchief for holding scent to her nose
in church. As for my face, I had to bend my neck
and put the crown of my hat to the blast.
232 THE RAIDERS.
Yet I could not so stick all night like a fly to a
wall, and though the discomfort was infinite, the fear
I was in of another stone spout was far greater. So
without stopping to think, I set my elbows and then
my hands upon the brink and pulled myself up.
Arrived there, I could do nought for some minutes
but lie prone among the rocks, gasping for breath like
a trout on the bank.
However, there was no advantage in that, but very
much the reverse, for it was as chill up there as it is
an hour before a March snowstorm. I got me on
my feet and went stumbling forward, feeling all the
time with my pike for the stones and hollows. Some-
times I fell over a lump of heather. Sometimes my
foot skated on a slippery granite slab and down I
came my length ; yet strange to say I felt no harm
thereby, either then nor afterwards, perhaps owing to
the quivering excitement I was in.
Thus I went forward a great way, blindly and
doggedly — so beaten deaf and dumb, dazed and stupid
by the tempest, that I knew not whether I were living
or dead — nor cared.
CHAPTER XXVII.
IN WHICH BY THE BLESSING OF PROVIDENCE I LIE
BRAVELY.
All at once my pike struck something that was
neither stone nor peat bog. It seemed strange to
me, striking through the prolonged strain of un-
accustomed things, with the surprise of something
familiar. I struck again and yet again. It was like an
outhouse or a door of wood. What good fortune, I
thought ! Some shepherd's shelter about a sheep ree,
left from the nights of the recent lambing time,
hardly yet over upon the hills.
But I heard a noise and a pother within that was
not of the storm. I struck again and louder. Like
a flash a door opened, as it were in the side of the
hill, and a great light blazed in my eyes, so that I
could not see. A number of men sprang on me all at
once, and dragged me in. The door was shut to, and
there was a knife at my throat.
Then I prayed for the stone spout of the Wolfs
Slock. I was out of the throat truly, but I was among
the wolf's teeth here. I had scouted the corbie, but I
was in the erne's claws — which neat expressions I did
not think of at the time.
234 THE RAIDERS.
But all the more that I did not observe anything
clearly then, all being a dazzle — the whole of what
I saw as they dragged me within is printed on my
memory ineffaceably vivid, white and clear as the
angry sea with a struggling ship upon it nearing the
breakers, which I once saw off Rathan Head by a
flash of lightning. So, though blurred at the time,
the outlines of all that passed have now come out
clear to my mind.
As the dark men dragged me forward I saw other
two of the same breed, curly-haired, olive-skinned
men, hastily crushing something heavy into a chest in
a little back room, on the floor of which there stood
a candle. A smooth-faced old woman with white hair
was sprinkling sand all over the floor of the kitchen,
and a great butcher's knife lay plain to see on a deal
table. A fire blazed in a wide ingle, and the roof was
hung with hams — a cheerful place on such a night,
yet somehow it liked me not.
But while I saw all this the knife was at my throat.
The point drove inward and pricked.
The old woman seemed to finish her task, and
looked up.
" Let be, Gil," she said, standing with a handful of
white sand in one hand and a foul red cloth in the
other. " Let be ; ask him first his name."
The word " first " stuck in my throat, further in
than the knife.
" Your name ? " said one of the men kneeling on
my breast.
Right gladly I would have answered, but instead I
only rooped like a rough-legged fowl.
" Your name ? " cried he of the long locks again,
IN WHICH I LIE BRAVELY. 235
setting his knee in my ribs till I thought he had sent
the immortal soul flying out of my mouth as a chewed
tow bullet is shot from a boy's popgun.
" Speak ! " he yelled, more fiercely than ever.
It was a most unreasonable request in the circum-
stances, yet as my eyes goggled I tried to speak, but
instead I only crowed like a cock. The others pulled
the man off and propped me up against the ingle
cheek.
" No hurry," said they, giving him a look that
went to my marrow more than the knife. I began to
like Gil's ways best. I was ever for getting medicine
over quickly, and there are worse ways of dying than
the knife — which indeed is nothing after the sharpness
of it, as a pin does not hurt when you put it into the
thick of your leg up to the head, after the first prick
of the skin. A ploy which you can try or take my
word for, just as you please.
"Hand him a drench," said the old woman, bending
down a face as smooth as an eggshell and as false as a
deal door painted mahogany.
They gave me something that tasted like liquid fire
and burned as it ran down. I began to pick up my
power of words.
" Now, honey, your name ? " said the old woman
softly, putting back her white locks. Her hair was
yellow white of a strange dry texture, but there was a
dirty rusty mark across it as if she had wiped some-
thing upon it — her hand or a knife, belike. They
were altogether too ready with both in this house for
me.
"Patrick Burgess," said I, telling as little of a lie as
I could. Burgess was my mother's name, and as I
236 THE RAIDERS.
was her sole heir and successor, surely that name was
mine too — if it was anybody's, which I fear it was
not.
"Aye, Paitrick Burgess," said she. " It is a bonny
name, and whaur micht ye come frae, Paitrick ? "
The dialect reassured me amazingly. No one could
speak good Galloway Scots and be a complete black-
guard. But concerning this also I had early news.
"I come from the New Aibbey," I said.
" Ye are far frae hame, bonny laddie," said Mother
Eggface, speaking softly, but with a dangerous glinting
glance in her eyes that I liked not. "What brocht
ye sae far on sic a nicht ? "
She might well ask that.
So I prayed the Almighty that I might be enabled
to lie well. For my own part I intended to do my
best, and I think I got grace.
" I am a peddler by trade," said I. " I am on my
way to Dalmellington, and I have lost my way."
This last statement comforted me mightily, for by
accident it was true. I had indeed lost my way and
had most foully sped.
"Good Master Peddler, Patrick Burgess, bound
from the New Abbey, and where might your pack
be ? Hast lost that also ? "
She had fallen back into the English, which I like
not, save in the Bible. There was also a dry and
deadly mockery in her tone, which made me dislike
this old woman worst of them all.
" Settle him first, and seek his story after," said one
of the men genially. " He'll carry it about him
somewhere."
Eggface looked at him with a glance like the light
IN WHICH I LIE BRAVELY. 237
on a new knife when the blue sky is reflected on the
untarnished blade, and he sat down and took a drink,
saying no more for a while.
But I lied on and on for my very existence, never
ceasing the praying, and I think, getting aid to lie,
though whether from above or below I cannot for the
life of me say. Yet sometimes the devil plays pranks
upon his own, and if he helped me with my fictions
that time, I do declare that I shall never speak a bad
word of him as long as I live — which indeed is little
use at the best of times, and shows neither forecast
nor service.
" I am on my way to Dalmellington to take
delivery of a new pack of goods brought by the
carrier from Glasgow," I ventured.
" What is the name of that carrier ? " put in a man
from the back.
" Richard Brown, and a decent man," said I, like a
flash.
Now either Providence or Ye-ken-wha was at my
elbow, and I answered like the carritches (Shorter
Catechism). Never was such lying since the Garden
of Eden. I did not know I could master it so well.
The man at the back grunted and began whittling
a stick.
Knives again — routh of knives.
I give thanks, not so much that Silver Sand had
told me, in one of his many stories of this Dalmelling-
ton carrier's name, as that my memory had served me
— for it plays me awkward tricks sometimes, speciallv
with strange folks' names, and that more especially of
late years.
" What said ye yer name was ? " said the old dame
238 THE RAIDERS.
again, looking at me with her gimlet eyes. What
business has a woman to have eyes with three-cornered
pupils that look at you like baggonets ?
" Patrick Burgess," said I.
And I had nearly said " Heron " berore I re-
membered, and would too but for the thought of the
knife. Iron sharpeneth iron, also my wits.
She turned round. " Ivie," she said, abruptly.
A great hulk lying in the corner grunted.
" Kick him awake somebody," she ordered, without
looking at the lout, still keeping the gimlets fixed on me.
The long-haired tyke called Gil took my piked
kent and thrust it into his ribs, which made the
giant to grunt, exactly like a great swine that lies all
abroad in the filth of the ree when you put your stick
into it.
" Rise and speak to granny," said he of the locks.
" A sweet granny," thought I, but all the same I
tried to appear happy, thawing myself serenely before
the fire, and thinking of more lies. Now lies like
mine will not be thought upon. They must come
spontaneously or not at all. I was in danger of
spilling my cup of sack by running on to show how
well I could carry it.
The hog arose.
The hog rubbed his midrib and grunted an interro-
gative. He wanted to know why he had been awaked.
Granny turned her eye on him and said, " Dost
know any of the name of Burgess at the New
Abbey ? "
The hog scratched among his bristles, grumbling.
" Give him the kent ! " she said ; " he'll be asleep
again."
IN WHICH I LIE BRAVELY. 239
Gil took up the kent and dug it in once more,
strong and good.
Whereat Hog turned like a heathercat, snarling
with a flashing of white teeth, and red murder leaping
up in his eyes like flame at the touch-hole of a musket.
" Let a man be, canna ye; I'll knife the next brute,"
he said, recognising his comrade's rank in creation.
Then he rubbed his head, and said slowly, " Man o
the name o' Burgess at the New Aibbey ? Aye,
there's Isaac Burgess, the pig dealer — a fine man, an'
a freend o' my ain."
For my sins — my uncle, brother of my mother ; as
rank a rogue as ever smelled Hollands gin.
" Here is a nefFy o' his, or says he is. Sit up an' see
if ye ken him."
It was a trying moment.
" Aye," said the hog, slowly, " ye favour him — ye'll
be the son o' John that gaed awa' and took to the
pack ! "
" A good hog i' faith ! " I thought, but yet if so be
that I favour mine uncle, it is little wonder that my
success has been small among the womenkind. For,
indeed, he was as ugly as the man of sin.
But so far I was saved. I was a pedlar, and I had
told the truth. At this there was a general relaxing
of strained attention. The men began to polish up
their guns and pistols.
As if the occupation of the others struck him, and
the subject reminded him that I was inconvenienced,
Gil — that long-haired thief — walked over to me and
said, "Your pistols are in your road. I'll take care
o' them for you."
The other men turned to see how I would take this.
240 THE RAIDERS.
I gave the weapons to him, pulling them out of my
belt, as well as my jockteleg with the horn handle,
which I also gave him in hand.
Then I lay back and stretched all my bones as
though I were glad to be rid of them. But I now
kept feeling my throat grow sorer than ever where
Gil's knife had been. I was reeking all the time like
a lime-kiln before the fire. The old woman came to
stir the pot now and again. She kept eyeing me as I
toasted first one foot and then the other, taking oft
my wet brogues to do it, and commenting on the
cleanliness of the house at my leisure. I told them
what a night it was outside, and how glad of heart
I was to have a roof over my head.
" 'Deed," said Granny Eggface, " it's no' a nicht to
set a dog oot o' doors — let alane a lad like you. But
you are far oot o' the road to Dalmellington, laddie.
What took ye up the Wolf's Slock ? Da'mellington
disna lie on the top o' a hill that ever I heard ! "
"I was striking a short cut for Loch Doon," said I,
for lying now came as easy as breathing. I toasted
my feet at the fire, setting them on the hot hearth-
stone to dry. The pot boiled and fufFed out little
puffs of steam, and gave forth a warm and comfortable
smell, full of promise. I began to feel more at home.
Eggface went to the foot of a ladder that reached
up to a room above — a mere garret it seemed to me,
under the roof. " Come doon, bairn," she said in a
more human tone than I had yet heard her use.
" Come now, we'll do yet. When a child comes
in the devil flies out at the window!" said I within
myself, as I heard a light foot on the stairs. But I
forgot that he came in again.
IN WHICH I LIE BRAVELY. 241
A little girl of six came downstairs, looking terribly
thin and pinched ; yet a well-grown girl withal, and
one that would soon fill out with due nourishment.
The old woman set her to washing the tables and
laying wooden basins round the board. I counted
them. There was none set for me. This was not
so good, for my inside cried aloud for lining and
cargo.
But I kept watching the child. She was, as I said,
pinched and haggard. Her eye was full and clear.
Yet she shrunk at the least sound, and only answered
" Yes " and " No " when she was directly spoken to.
One of the men kicked her as she passed, because that
in looking at her plates she had stumbled over his foot.
The kick was but a slight one, and did not hurt, even
if it reached her. But the girl winced and moaned,
with a look of fear that went to my heart.
Granny Eggface turned sharply with inquiry in her
look, holding a heavy potato beetle in her hand. Her
eye flushed into sudden anger as she noted the cause.
With a strength that I could not have believed to
reside in that skinny form, she delivered the fellow the
heavy end of the beetle on the side of his thick head
with a dull sound, and stretched him senseless along
the wall.
" I'll learn you to meddle the bairn," she said. " The
next time we'll see what ye hae inside ye, ye sumph ! "
The other men laughed a little at this, saying,
"Served him richt, Granny, the muckle hullion ! "
And the Good Hog laughed aloud, till the stricken
man, arousing, looked evilly at him. Gil, who, under
granny of the Eggface, seemed to be somewhat of a
leader, set a fiery brand to his tail and bade him rise.
16
242 THE RAIDERS.
This he did right sulkily, and with no pleasant expres-
sion in his face.
When the supper was served it was a fragrant stew
of all sorts of meat, boiled with vegetable to a kind
of pottage, very nutritious.
The men spoke among themselves in a language of
which I could make nothing, the old woman joining
them with a stray word.
The little girl and I sat apart. She dipped a tin
skillet in the pot and gave it to me with a whole
partridge in it, and much of the fragrant stew. I
thought it was a good opportunity to thank Eggface
for her hospitality, and to say that it was a blessing
that there was such a house in so wild a place.
" Aye," she said, dryly, " it's fortunate in mair ways
than yin. We often hae a veesitor for a nicht, but
they seldom stay muckle langer. The air's tryin' to
the health up by Loch Enoch and the Dungeon, ye
see ! "
"What kind of travellers come mostly ? " I asked,
as carelessly as I could.
" Oh, nearly every sort," said Eggface. " We had
a stranger last nicht, nae farther gane, an', indeed, we
hae hardly gotten redd up after him yet."
Gil frowned and shook his head at her. But the
old witch-wife only chunnered and laughed to herself.
" Hoots," she said to Gil, "it'll be a' the same in a
hunner year — or maybe less."
Which was thought among them to be an extra-
ordinary fine joke, and the whole table laughed at it
consumedly. For my part I saw not the fun of the
jest — nor do I yet — to make such a cackle over the
laying of it. But it's easy for the dominie to get
IN WHICH I LIE BRAVELY. 24.3
a laugh in the school, standing with the taws in his
hand.
" What kind o' guids do ye travel in ? " asked the
old lady when they were at supper, looking over her
shoulder at me.
I told her dress pieces — remnants, laces, Welsh
flannel, and other things for the good-wives and farm
maids of Galloway and Ayrshire."
" How d'ye pay for them at Da'mellington ? '
"Wi' the siller I got for the last pack," I said,
thinking myself wondrous clever. " I hae it wi' me
the noo ! "
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE BLACK SEA-CHEST.
I thought this was my best shot. It was, in fact,
my worst, and undid any good that might have
accrued to me from the lies that I had told before. It
was ever thus. 'Tis little use taking one of the
devil's farms. His tacks are so short, and there are
no compensations for disturbance.
I had barely spoken when I saw the whole party
look at one another, and the little lass steal away with
a quivering lip. She slipped quietly upstairs.
" What's that ye're takin' up the stairs r " cried the
old woman, sharply.
" Juist a basin o1 stew," said the little girl.
" Come here, and let me see it," commanded the
old ladv.
" Noo, ye'll be tired," said grannie in a little, " and
ye had better gang to yer bed, my man, for we maun
be up betimes in the mornin'. I like nae lazy banes
in my hoose."
I said this accorded well with my own wishes.
At the word she lighted a rush dip candle of the
thinnest kind, and showed me into the little back
room, the door of which had stood open all the
244
THE BLACK SEA-CHEST. 245
evening. It was furnished with a creepie stool, a
bed, and a great black sea-chest.
" And a guid e'en to ye," said the old woman, as
she shut the door.
So there I stood, with my brogues in my one hand
and my rushlight in the other, and surveyed my
narrow chamber. I turned down the bedclothes.
They were clean sheets that had never been slept in
but once or twice. But I turned down the sheet
also, for I am particular in these matters. Something
black and glutinous was clogged and hardened on the
bed. I turned up the bed. The dark, red stuff had
soaked through and dripped on the earthen floor. It
was not yet dry, though some sand had been thrown
upon it. I did not need to examine further as to the
nature of the substance. I turned sick at heart, and
gave myself up for lost. But it was necessary that I
should make the best of things, even if I were to die.
So next I lifted the lid of the great sea-chest.
Merciful Heaven ! The back of a dead man, broad
and naked, took my eye. There were two open
gashes on the right side, livid and ghastly. The rest
of the man seemed to be cut up and piled within, as a
winter bullock is pressed into a salt barrel ready for
the brine.
Now that God who had preserved me from so many
perils, and has forgiven me for the lies I told (it may
be sending some seraph to take up the attention of the
Recording Angel), helped me again in this horrid
strait.
At any rate, it is of His supreme and undeserved
mercy that I did not swarf (swoon) away then, or let
the lid of the great chest fall with a clang. Indeed, I
246 THE RAIDERS.
put it very softly down, took off my coat, and knelt
down to pray. I know not if indeed I prayed, but I
bent my knees. And as I knelt, I was aware of one
that came to the door and spied upon me through the
latch-hole, then went and reported what he saw —
whereat there was a laugh, as at one who had good
cause to say his prayers. As indeed I had.
While I knelt in the still hush after the great
guffaw of laughter, I heard the noise of a woman
sobbing above somewhere ; not the child, but the
slower, sharper sob of a woman.
Also somewhere about the house some one whetted
at a knife.
As I arose to my feet a folded piece of paper
fluttered down as from a crack in the black boards
of the ceiling. I took it in my hand as I went
shuffling bedward. There was writing upon it.
" For God's sake try the window. You are near your
end by cruel men. The Murder Hole gapes wide. A
friend writes this."
Then there was written below in smaller cha-
racters—
" If by any chance you that read are Patrick Heron,
I that write am May Maxwell. And be you who you
may, God pity you ! "
Again the Lord of Hosts was my help, else had I
died even then, so compassed with wonders and so
overladen with horrors was I.
The Murder Hole — foul and notorious was its
THE BLACK SEA-CHEST. 247
name. There had long been the tradition or such
a place in the stories that went about the countryside,
and made our flesh creep as we told tales by the fire
in the winter forenights. I had never been a be-
liever in such like, accounting it foolish clatter j but
now it seemed likely that I should learn something
very definite concerning it.
Yet I went to the bed and threw myself down,
taking first a look at the window to see what like the
fastenings of it might be. They were of thick wood,
but looked old and worm-eaten.
As I lay on my bed a whirling universe of thoughts
buzzed through my mind. Dark, tremendous clouds
tracked each other across my brain. Yet, so strange
a thing is man — or at least am I — that I was in danger
of falling asleep. Indeed I may have really done so,
for I awakened with a start of horror. The cold
sweat burst over me as I realised my position. I
sprang to the window and tried it. It was fast. I
had to kneel on the sea-chest the while, the cold
thrills chasing one another up my spine, like darning-
needles of ice.
I groped round for something to use as a lever.
By good fortune my hand touched my own " kent,"
which Gil had thrown there when he had done
exploring the Hog's ribs with its iron prod. I took
it, and inserted the point under the frame between
the stone wall and the wood. Being glazed only
with sheepskin the window made no jangling of
glass when it gave outward. I threw myself at the
little square of open space. There was a swirl just
there, and only a slight cold draught sucked in. Had
the opening been on the stormy side, the gust must
248 THE RAIDERS.
have roused the men who slept or lay on the floor in
the next room.
I was outside in a moment and had replaced the
window, that I might have the longer time without
discovery. I found myself in a narrow passage
between the rock of the hillside and the wall of the
cottage, which was all but built against the precipice.
Climbing up the rock I crept slowly along the
thatch, feeling for an opening into the room whence
the letter had fallen. With a throb of fear that
was almost delirious, my hand suddenly encountered
a hand stretched out in the darkness — a human hand
which closed upon mine. It was as startling as
though it had come up from the grave ; but it was
warm and small, and among ten millions I had sworn
to it as the hand of May Maxwell, whom my heart
called May Mischief.
I pulled the little hand up, but the little hand
pulled me down. In a moment my ear was close to
her lips. There was only a little skylight unglazed,
like the window, but far too small to let any one
through.
" Run for your life, Patrick ! Oh, they are cruel !
They show no mercy ! " she said.
" Go I never shall without you," said I. " What !
Leave you — you that I came to save ? "
" You must," she said. " They will not kill me.
And — and — I have a knife ! "
" Give me that knife ! " said I.
She leapt down like a feather and handed me up a
great knife, which was almost like a sword set in a
haft.
Readily I cut away the thatch till I felt the skylight
THE BLACK SEA-CHEST, 249
about to fall on the floor. " Catch it, May," 1 said
softly ; and the next moment the iron frame gave
way and fell into her lap, for in the darkness she was
holding out her dress, as I had told her.
This also she laid down so that there was no noise.
" But the little maid," she said ; "she is in the next
room asleep ? "
" Her they will not harm. We must get help," I
said hastily, to get May away ; for, to my shame, I
thought only of her.
She tripped down again, swung a bag about her by
a strap, and was beside me in a twinkling.
We slid off the roof and found ourselves on the
ground in a moment. Then hand in hand we stole
out of the lee of Craignairny into the wild war of
the elements. The wilder the better for us. I had
meant to try the Wolf's Slock, but two things forbade
me ; first, the murderers knew that that was the way
I had come ; and, second, there was that terrible spout
of broken stone which must be crossed.
We stood towards the west along the margin of a
loch that was lashing its waves on a rocky shore — a
wild, tormented chaos of greyness. This I now know
to have been Loch Enoch. Since then I have often
and often followed our course that night with men
of the hills who knew the ground, so that I am now
able to give the names of the localities, which I had
not been able to do then when the places were as new
to me as the city of Solyman.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE MURDER HOLE.
It seemed as though we had only gone a hundred
yards when behind us we heard a fearsome crying,
" The pedlar has escaped — the pedlar has escaped !
Loose the bloodhounds ! "
At this perilous outcry May and I instantly set off
running at the top of our speed, and by the guiding
of Providence we managed to run a long way, keeping
our feet somehow among those slippery screes that lie
between Craignairny and Craig Neldricken.
It was indeed an uncanny night. The wind shrieked
overhead, passing above us in a constant screaming
yell, that sometimes sharpened into a whistle and anon
dulled into a roar. There was no moon ; but the
storm-clouds had thinned, and anon the mist lifted.
The wind scattered the thick, white clouds and threw
a strange semi-darkness over the wild moorland.
Behind us we now heard that most terrible of
sounds — the baying of bloodhounds on the trail of
blood. May Maxwell ran steadily, with her hand in
mine.
" I have another knife ; carry you that too ! " she
said.
250
THE MURDER HOLE. 251
" But you may need it," I urged.
" Indeed I may," she said ; " but I want to carry
my skirt."
I thought I understood women. So do you. We
are both in the wrong, my good sir — we know
nothing about the matter.
Behind us on the uneven wind, high above its top
note, rose the crying of the hounds.
" How many ? " I said, with scanty breath.
" Two," she said as briefly.
We came to the bed of a little burn that trickled
down the steep sides of the Clints of Neldricken. I
went first, feeling with my " kent," striking from
side to side like a blind man because of the darkness.
Sometimes as we scrambled down I would catch
her by the waist and run with her many yards before
I set her down, then on again as though I had carried
a feather. So we ran our wild race, and I think gained
on our pursuers.
Lanterns began to dance on the slopes above us —
that frowning many buttressed table-land, the outlaw's
fortress, which we were leaving. Only the booming
of the dogs came nearer. We ran on downwards and
still down. We seemed to leave the ground beneath
us. We passed a little tarn among the rocks which
has for name Loch Arrow, and then on again among
the heather.
Suddenly in trying to lift May Maxwell I stumbled
all my length on a heap of stones, dashing myself on
the sharp corners till I felt the rough granite dint into
my flesh.
I fell with my head on a stone, and knew no more.
When I came to myself May Maxwell had me in
252 THE RATDERS.
her arms, and was trying to stagger away from the
place where I had fallen ; but it was too much ; we
dropped together on the heather.
And again I weakly fainted — I that had resolved to
do so much. Now I seemed to lie for a long time
void of speech and hearing, the blood draining from
my head and my brain reeling.
But I had a dream which was more vivid than the
yelling of the bloodhounds.
This is what I dreamed, as it were in a flash ot
great clearness. I thought that May Maxwell took
me in her arms, saying, " I will kiss him once before
I die. Only once — for I love him and he is mine.
He came all alone to find me, when my own had
forsaken me. And he did find me, and we shall die
together."
Then in my dream May Maxwell gave me not one,
but many kisses, and so laid me down. But I knew
it was a dream. It could be no other.
Then I awoke, and in the brighter light — for the
sky was now swept clear of clouds — I saw May Max-
well with a knife in either hand, and so changed was
she that I hardly knew her. She crouched as it were
like a lithe, wild cat on the spring, and there was
glinting fire in her eyes. Down the wind came the
baying very near, and the soft gallop of the feet on
the heather. Then like a bolt came a great dog out
of the darkness, with white fangs dripping froth.
Voiceless it sprang at May, but with the knife in her
hand this girl, that had held up her skirt as she ran,
thrust the steel with more force than many a man
into the open mouth of the beast, which fell roaring
and snapping upon the iron. Yet she recovered the
THE MURDER HOLE. 253
weapon and struck again and again. Then another
brute sprang past her at me as I lay helpless, for it
was my trail on which the dogs had been laid. But
my bravest girl drove sideways with her knife as the
dog came on ; yet so heavy and fierce was the beast
that it overbore the knife, and would have fallen full
upon me had she not thrown herself across my breast.
The beast seized her left arm and bit savagely before,
with her right hand free, she got home the knife that
had been fatal to the first. The brute rolled over,
and with a long whine like a puppy whipped in a
fault, it died.
Then came behind the dancing rows of lanterns,
and I knew that we were doomed indeed. But there
was the spirit of an army of men in this girl, for she
knelt over me with my bleeding head on her knee,
set her back to the rock, and waited.
It had not been good for the first man who should
come this way.
Now we were on a platform on the north side of
Loch Neldricken, but close down by the waterside.
There was a strange thing beneath us. It was a
part of this eastermost end of the loch, level as a
green where they play bowls, and in daylight of the
same smooth colour, but in the midst a black round
eye of water, oily and murky, as though it were with-
out a bottom, and the water a little arched in the
middle — a most unwholesome place to look upon.
As she knelt over me May Maxwell pointed it out
to me, with the knife which was in her hand.
"That is their Murder Hole," she said, "but if
we are to lie there we shall not lie there without
company."
254 THE RAIDERS.
The lights of the pursuers were dancing now among
the heather, and their cries came from here and there,
scattered and broken.
In a little, waiting thus together, we could see
Gil clear against the sky. He also could see us, for
he cried out to the outlaws behind him.
But in that moment of great terror, when my love
knelt beside me — who, alas ! in that time of need was
no better than a log — suddenly something vast and
terrible sprang past me — a shaggy beast infinitely
greater than the dead bloodhounds, followed by another
beast, less in size but even swifter in action. They
were the same we had seen together that first night
in the kirkyard of Kirk Oswald. These flashed out
of sight and disappeared in the direction of our pursuers.
It was the Ghost Hunters that hunted only at the
Dark of the Moon.
Gil turned in his tracks and began to flee.
" The Loathly Beasts ! " we heard them cry, " the
Witch Dogs are out ! "
Then there was a shriek of pure animal terror,
the lights darkened, and the cries reeled hither and
thither — but not now of hunters encouraging each
other, rather of men fleeing singly in the deadliest
terror and crying out as they ran.
" Oh, the Beasts — they are not of this earth," cried
May, holding my hand tightly. "Oh, Patrick, do
not faint away again and leave me all my lone."
At this appeal I sat up and looked about. The
two dead beasts were lying there. May took a
napkin out of her bag and very tenderly wiped my
face. Then she put it back and dropped, unconscious
herself, into my arms.
THE MURDER HOLE. 255
So we were lying side by side when suddenly Silver
Sand came and found us. So near were we, that the
dead bloodhounds had blown their bloody froth upon
us in their gasping. Silver Sand brought water from
Loch Neldricken to throw on May's face.
" Not from the Murder Hole," I cried in terror,
" from the burn."
So he went again and brought it and she awoke.
" What was the terrible beast ? " she said, clutching
me.
" It was no greater beast than I," said Silver Sand,
" my twisted arms are turned the wrong way about
for some good purpose. 'Twas but a matter o' a hair
coat, a little phosphorus, and Guharrie."
" But we must budge," said he. " Can ye move ? ':
he asked anxiously.
" I think so," answered I cautiously.
He tried my limbs and got me on my feet.
" Where does it hurt ? " he asked.
" In my head," I said.
" That is good," said he, " that's thick aneuch.
Try the walkin'."
I soon found that, though misty and dizzy, I could
yet walk a little. So we set off — May Maxwell and
Silver Sand supporting me.
The night wind blew on my wounded head, cooling
it, and May Maxwell's arm was about me. I could
have walked to Jericho.
"There's horses at the Gairland Burn," said Silver
Sand, encouragingly; "it was touch and go that
time, whatever, but we'll waur them yet."
CHAPTER XXX.
A WOOING NOT LONG A-DOING.
It was partly no doubt my wound, but partly also
an exaltation of all my faculties, which made me spring
forward as though I could not only have walked, but
almost flown. The stroke I had gotten on my head,
the bitter conflict I had seen, yet been utterly unable
to take part in — the sweet dream I had dreamed, all
acted on my senses like wine on an empty stomach.
There was no one like May Maxwell, and I had
seen her fight for me. This is what I kept thinking.
And was there any blame ?
We were making down the glen of the Midburn
as swiftly as we might. We could hear it hurry-
ing, quite as eager to escape out of the Accursed
Country as we ourselves. Silver Sand kept his ears
set backwards ; and Ouharrie, instead of marching
before us as was his wont, patrolled behind us, going
from side to side, and occasionally taking a scour
up over the rugged boulders on the side of Meaul
which rose immanent above us.
" I think they have gotten a bellyful," said Silver
Sand.
" The Faas ? " I returned interrogatively.
256
A WOOING NOT LONG A-DOING. 25;
" Na — no the Faas," he said, with a sudden and
strange temper, " what for need ye be aye speakin' o'
the Faas. Yon landloupers were no Faas. They
were of the Macatericks — a bad black blood."
" What matter ? " said I, mightily contented.
Faas or the devil they might be for me, if only they
would let us alone.
We passed a great sheep ree on our left. Silver
Sand pointed it out.
" Had the worst come to the worst," he said,
"we micht hae focht that place again' a dozen
Macatericks."
We saw it only dimly through the starlight, so we
could not remark the great stones of which it was
built, set firm and solid upon a breastwork of the
ancientest rocks of the world. But my heart was no
more for fighting. There was a smell of blood in
my nostrils, and the broad of that poor fellow's back
stuck yonder in the sea-chest, lay heavy on my mind.
I could not rid mvself of it.
Then awav we went again, Silver Sand, though
both twisted and slender, almost carrying me in his
arms, and May Maxwell, saying the while no word,
but helping even more than he. We were soon at
the spur of Loch Valley, and heard the crunching
of the granite sand along its margin underfoot. It
was precious to the feet after the miles of heather.
The Loch chafed behind us, crisping white on the
shore. It seemed to run an incredible way eastward,
clapping against the ledges of its rocky basin, while
the little waves seemed to applaud our haste. And,
indeed, we strove to deserve those soft-palmed
plaudits.
17
258 THE RAIDERS.
A watcher from somewhere cried out a word at
us, and in the same tone and tongue he was answered
by Silver Sand — the sudden voices sounding startling
on the chill night air. But whether he was one of
the outlaw breed, or an ally of Silver Sand I did not
then know. There was something glimmering before
us. This torrent roaring white was but the Gairland
Burn seen through the darkness, and I began to
speculate on the horses and how far it would be.
" Courage," said Silver Sand, " they are under that
star ! "
Which was a comfort — but so was Rome.
" If they be not within a mile I am sped," I said,
" I can go on farther."
" They are within half a mile," he said gently, as
though he had been speaking to a complaining child.
So we went on. May Maxwell was so quickly
and readily kind, that the tears rained down on my
cheeks to think of her and of her goodness. Even
in the starlight she seemed to feel by some hidden or
second sight of her own, whenever the red dew on my
brow which distilled from my wound, was in danger
of running down into my eyes, and she wiped it
with linen, soft as a napkin, which she carried about
with her. The touch of her hand upon me was
gentle as gossamer and cool as the night.
" Horses at the Gairland ! " said Silver Sand again,
" courage — Laird."
A poor laird, poor as his lairdship. But the pres-
sure of May Mischief's hand was more helpful than
the words of Silver Sand.
We heard a whaup crying fitfully in the night
down in the narrow darkness by the burn side.
A WOOING NOT LONG A-DOING. 259
Silver Sand paused, put his hand to his mouth like
a trumpet, and beat softly upon it with the other.
Instantly the tremulous whirr of the snipe when it
drops sidelong began in the air above us, so mar-
vellously counterfeited, that even we that saw could
hardly believe that it was possible. Yet it was a
thing I could do well myself, as you shall hear. For
sometime before this we had been descending rapidly,
and the exertion of going downward seemed to send
the blood to my head. I reeled and quivered in act
to fall.
May Maxwell slipped from my arm and went in
front of me. " Put your hands on my shoulders ! "
she said, " and lean on me as you go."
" But I shall hurt you," I said.
" Ye will hurt me far mair if ye dinna," she
replied quickly.
Still I hesitated, but Silver Sand, who walked
beside me with his arm about me, said, " Do as
the lassie tells ye. She has good sense — better than
you."
Now I thought that was rather hard on me, who
had borne the bitter with the sweet that night, before
ever Ouharrie and his master came. And the saying
grieved me a little, being at the time weak and
childish.
Yet it is strange that from the front, whence she
could not see me, May Maxwell said, " But Patrick
had good sense too, or I would not have been here by
now."
She spoke the English, being somewhat moved.
"Good ! " said Silver Sand, for all answer.
As we went it was strangely delightsome to lean
260 THE RAIDERS.
my hands on May Maxwell's little shoulders, first
one and then the other, but the ground was too
uneven to permit me to place both there at once.
But a strange warm magic — white magic — passed up
my arm and settled happily about my heart.
Suddenly we came to ground which was somewhat
more level. The terrible pressure upon my wounded
head, which came of going downhill, ceased; and some
great shapes which moved rose out of the dim star-
light.
Silver Sand ran forward and said some words. A
man stole ofF, up the waterside, jumping across it in
running skips like a dipper bird. We were on the
verge of the little island called Gale Island, and the
man ran westward along Loch Trool.
Three shelties stood patiently tethered together.
Silver Sand helped me on one.
" Can you sit ? " he said.
I could sit, indeed, but felt not so sure of riding.
Then in a minute we were steadily moving along
the edge of the Loch of Trool. The path was no
more than a peat waggon track, and rough beyond
the understanding of southern folk. Silver Sand went
first, I came next, and May Maxwell came last and
seemed to be lagging.
I turned as well as I could.
" Ride across, May," I said ; " this is a terrible road,
and no saddle."
But she did not answer a word. Now she had always
so ridden in the old days when I went for the milk
to Craigdarroch, and she tormented me. But now,
though her tongue of old had been so ready, she had
not a word to throw at me. But since it was yet the
A WOOING NOT LONG A-.DOING. 261
dim starlight, though brightening into the dawn, I
think she did as I bade her, at least till we were past
the difficult narrows of Glen Trool.
The whaup we had heard before us as we came
down the Glen of the Gairland still went on, and its
pipe out of the blackness of the fringing birchwood
was mightily cheering.
The day was breaking as we reached a great height
above the lake and paused for a moment to breathe
our sturdy shelties.
" May ! " I said, softly.
Her pony was behind me, but she did not move
forward.
" May ! " I said again.
Still she came not, yet she must have heard.
" O my head ! " I said, and she was at my side in
a moment.
" Does it hurt ? " she said ; and by the tremble of
her voice I am sure she was nigh to weeping for sweet
pity. Yet my head was no worse than it had been.
She came up close so that she could touch my brow
by leaning over. Her touch healed my head, and
after that she rode all the way alongside.
" After all," she said, " it does not matter. It is
only Patrick."
Now I shall tell you an extraordinary thing. All
this happened on the great height above Loch Trool
when the morning star was turning golden-white
in a violet sky. May Maxwell and I never said a
word of love — such as asking one another whether
we loved each other, as lovers do in books.
But as she leaned to wipe my brow, she was of
necessity very near. So I set my arm about her to
262 THE RAIDERS.
steady her, and being so near, and she looking up, I
kissed her. It can be done if the ponies are good and
move daintily. I, that tell you, know.
"I dreamed that in a dream," I said ere I let her
go j " it has come true."
Even yet I looked for her to be angry, or at least
to make believe. But for so lively and merry-hearted
a maid she took it exceedingly sedately, which I liked
best of all. Indeed, she kissed me back again fair and
frank, without shame, a good true-hearted kiss, which
I am proud of — Silver Sand having his back to us,
being busy with his pony's girths. Now I am not
of them who are for ever telling their kisses, but
that one I am proud of, and I care not who knows.
But I tell of no more. My tale is of grimmer
business.
Now I vow and declare this was all our love-
making. Which is strange, considering the coil that
is made about the affair in verse-books and ballads.
When we made love after that we did it of set
purpose, without any pretence that either of us did
not like it, which is not at all what I had expected
from May Mischief. But one never knows !
The morning broke as we rode through the shallow
water of the Trool at Fordmouth, and so came out on
the open. Then Silver Sand flung up his cap with
the shaggy ears into the air and we all cried,
" Hurrah ! " For we were clear at last, and May
Maxwell was sitting again soberly and properly on
her sheltie like a great lady on a side-saddle.
CHAPTER XXXI.
MAY MISCHIEF PROVES HER METTLE.
We all dismounted by the water-edge, and May
came and washed my face like a child's, and bound
up my head with strips of linen of the finest. It was
warm and soft. Where she carried it I know not.
I had one deep cut, ragged and sore, on the right side
of my head, and a smaller cut by the temple, which
was the one that had distilled the blood and weakened
me. These May bathed, and Silver Sand helped her
to bind them up. We drank what remained of
Mistress Eppie's cheer. Then again mounted and
rode.
It was a wide, good road now, especially after we
turned south at the House of the Hill and rode to-
wards Crec Brig. There were pleasant farmhouses
about us, where the cocks were crowing near and
far, and the blue reek went up very friendly into the
sunshine. Men came out and looked all around them
at the sky, and seemed well pleased. And so were
we. I looked often at May Maxwell, and strangely
enough at these very moments she always looked at
me, though I must have been a bonny sight with my
263
264 THE RAIDERS.
bandaged head and the bonnet cocked on the top or
the white rags.
Yet I never saw her look at me in that fashion
before. We rode alongside of one another, Silver
Sand cantering easy in front, with Ouharrie trotting
before him again.
I was at May's left hand, and as our horses
clattered along ever changing their stride, and making
rhythm on the hard road, I took her hand, saying,
" This is the hand that saved me."
" Nay, rather say this the hand that drew me out
of the House of Murders," she returned.
But she shuddered and lifted up her hand to her
face. I saw that upon it which made my blood run
cold. Three great fang-marks on her middle arm,
from which the sleeve had fallen back as she lifted
up her hand.
I was off my beast in a moment, crying out to
Silver Sand, who turned at the word.
" What a fool I was not to look," I said ; " the
dogs have bitten you, May."
Silver Sand looked grave.
" This must be burned," said he, briefly.
" Let me ride on to Cree Bridge," she said ; but he
would not hear of it.
There was a farmhouse near by, and the name of
it is Borgan. Kind folk live there, and it is not far
from a bridge where the waters come down tumbling
white.
Thither we went, and telling so much of our story
as we chose, they took us into the kitchen, and sent
out a boy to attend to our horses.
May asked for a knitting-needle, which being
MAY MISCHIEF PROVES HER METTLE. 265
brought to her, she heated white hot among the
peats, and, turning, looked at me. But it was far
beyond me to burn it for her. Which made me
ashamed, because I knew that she had done the like
for me without the tremor of a muscle — this being
the way of women when they need to help those they
love. But I was ever a coward in such matters. So
May took the needle herself, turned back her sleeve,
and with the white point hissing a little, she made a
faint blue smoke (and other things), that sent me
down in a swarf on a settle-bed, being yet weak in
my head. But she faithfully burned the fang-marks ;
and then, sitting down beside me, asked quietly for a
drink of water, and gave it to me.
The kind people of the Borgan wished us much
to stay, but May was keen to get eastward to see her
brothers and her father — for I had not had the heart,
or indeed the time, to tell her that the old man was
dead. This may be thought both wicked and selfish
of me, insomuch that I allowed her to ride merrily
with me, at times touching my hand, and at other
times singing. Yet my heart was heavy as lead for
that which I had to tell her. But I could make no
other of it, think as I would.
I solaced myself by saying that it had not been wise
to tell her when yet we were in no place of safety ;
but as soon as we sat together in the changehouse at
Cree Bridge I told her plainly and tenderly, judging
that it was better to have it over. Yet even then
she said but little — only that she had judged all the
while that something terrible must have happened,
since there was no pursuit of her after her capture
and carrying oft*.
266 THE RAIDERS.
Then after a while her tears flowed suddenly, as
though she had not at first realised the matter.
" Oh, why did they do it ? " she cried. " He was
such an old man."
Then she put her hand in mine, and looking up at
me in a way that was fair heart-breaking, said,
" Patrick, you must not think of me any more. We
are not quiet to live with, we Maxwells ; and this, I
see, will be but the beginning of trouble and blood-
shed. My brothers will never rest till my father's
murderers are destroyed."
"My lass," I said, "I did not think of marrying
your brothers."
" Aye — but," she said sadly, " we are all the same."
" God forbid ! " said 1 — in to myself.
But on the whole she bore the tidings very well,
though she looked no more at me, neither gave me
her hand any more. Yet when we went out of the
changehouse, and from among the strange people
that looked curiously at us, she walked very close to
me, as though she would nestle her shoulder against
mine ; which comforted me much, and I think her
also.
She did not weep before folk, but when we were
once more on the road, the water ran silently down
her cheeks ; and I think that she forgot altogether
about the burns on her arm, or it may be even wished
that there were more of them. But all she said was
just this, and that over and over — "He was such an
old man."
But our horses' feet fell more sadly, and though
Silver Sand rode farther ahead there was no more
love-making — which I was sorry for, and wished that
MAY MISCHIEF PROVES HER METTLE. 267
I had kissed her oftener — so unthankful and selfish
is a young man in love.
It came to me, while May thus rode sadly, to speak
to Silver Sand concerning the report that we should
give in to the Sheriff at Kirkcudbright.
To my surprise he was much opposed to this course.
" Report me nae reports," he said. " Whatna guid
wull the like o' that do ye ? "
" But I want it known that there is black murder
doing among the hills, and no man the wiser," said I.
" D'ye think the Sherra disna ken that by this
time ? " said Silver Sand.
"It's easy for you, my man," I said to him. "Ye
didna see the puir lad's bloody back in the great sea-
chest, nor hear the knives whetting on the sharping
stones to cut your ain throat."
" No this nicht, maybe," said Silver Sand ; " but
see here."
He opened his coat a little, and showed me the
blue-white scar of a great wound. " That was a
Macaterick knife," he said; "but I reported nae
reports. Only," he said, grimly, " I paid my debt."
" And what, then, shall we do ? " I said, for I was in
a genuine difficulty. I was a laird, though it was of
the smallest and poorest kind, and I was not fond of
private war, though I had fallen into a good deal of it
during the last day or two.
"This is certain," he said; "I ken the Maxwell
lads, and I ken the hill sneckdraws — the Marshalls
and the Macatericks. Neither will rest till there's
mair o' this."
"And the Faas ? " I asked, for Hector Faa had
made the deepest dint in my own reckoning, and
268 THE RAIDERS.
it was with him that I chiefly desired to square
accounts.
Silver Sand turned in one of his sudden accesses of
temper.
"I tell ye," he said, firmly, "that the Faas hae
neither airt nor pairt in the murderings."
I longed to ask him in which camp his heart lay,
but for the sake of what he had done for us that
night, I had the limited grace to refrain.
"But what, then, was the lass that Hector Faa ran
away wi' doing in a house of the Macatericks ? "
" That I cannot tell," he said ; " of this I am
certain — Hector Faa may have had his reasons. But
he is no murderer."
" What, then, was that honest man doing pickled
in that deil's kist ? Friends o' murderers are not so
much better that ever I heard."
Silver Sand made answer very quietly.
" It's not well done among friends to speak in that
fashion. Surely Silver Sand is well enough kenned by
you now, that you might trust him."
Now, I had not thought of Silver Sand at all, but
only of Hector Faa, against whom it was small
wonder that I was full of anger. I told him this,
and his anger, the cause of which I could not then
imagine, cooled in a moment.
" Ye're in love, laddie, and that excuses a'."
And from that moment he resumed his ordinarv
placid demeanour. We passed Kirkcudbright by the
sea (which seemed most like a low-lying English
town), keeping ourselves all the while upon the crown
of the causeway, and were soon within sight of Rathan
Isle. I could see the old house shining white across
MAY MISCHIEF PROVES HER METTLE. 269
the blue girdle of the sea, and my heart rose within
me. Here we met Kennedy Maxwell, and sent him
on to announce our coming.
As she went along May Maxwell kept her eyes on
the ground, being, I think, afraid of seeing the roofless
walls of Craigdarroch with the gables pointing so
hopelessly upward, all blackened on the inside.
Half an hour after, as we went by the way, a man
came across the fields toward us. He was a well-set-
up man in a kind of faded livery, but with moleskin
trousers underneath, such as labourers wear. He
went up to May Maxwell, who had not looked at
him, and with an elaborate bow said to her —
" My Lady Grizel Maxwell's compliments, and she
wad be pleased to see you at Earlstoun. She thinks
that her house is the best abiding-place for a young
leddy of the Maxwells, though but a second cousin."
May looked astonished. It was not so often that
a message had come to her from the old ladv of
Earlstoun. Silver Sand turned sharp round.
" I'll ride with you to Earlstoun yett (gate)," he
said to Mary. Then turning to the messenger, " An'
wha's dog whalpit you ? " he queried.
Now this was a distinctly uncivil question, and Silver
Sand was always well bred He told me afterwards
that he could not abide anything upsetting from
flunkies, and that (^uharrie and he always took such
matters into their own hands — sometimes, also, in
Ouharrie's own teeth.
Moleskins, however, was placable.
" Juist the bitch that was your ain dam's sister,"
said he, pleasantly.
" Served me richt," said Silver Sand j " that's nae
27° THE RAIDERS.
flunkie's answer. " What brocht ye into that
coat ? "
" Juist the same as brings ye ridin' on anither man's
beast," said the sturdy serving-man, blinking no whit
— " want o' siller to buy yin o' my ain."
Silver Sand looked him straight in the face, and the
serving-man looked straight back again, standing with
his hands on his hips.
" An' hoo do ye ken that this horse that I ride is
no my ain ? "
"Juist for the reason that that horse ye ride is
Johnny Faa's and cam' frae aff the Border side. I ken
the breed by the bonny baisoned face o' him."
Silver Sand took the word patiently, and said only,
" Does your mistress wish to keep young Mistress
Maxwell by her ? "
" I e'en believe such to be her wish and intention."
"You were in the wars, man," said Silver Sand,
quickly.
" Aye," said the man, " I rade wi' the wild Bon-
shaw. Wha rade ye wi' ? "
"Ye are a man of sense," said Silver Sand ; "and
men of sense ken when to haud their tongues."
"When it's worth their while," said the serving-
man, who had ridden with Bonshaw to the Whig
shooting.
" It'll be weel worth your while," said Silver Sand.
"I dinna mean siller," said the other, quickly.
" I never met a soldier that didna. Dinna be
blate," retorted Silver Sand.
u Weel, since ye are sae pressin'," said the other.
Something passed from hand to hand. I suspected
that it was a guinea or two out of the same bag which
had supplied me with mine.
CHAPTER XXXII.
I SALUTE THE LADY GRIZEL.
So we rode on to the great house of Earlstoun. Its
occupant was the Lady Grizel Maxwell, the daughter
of old Earl Maxwell, and a woman well kenned and
respected through all the Stewartry and farther. She
had her especial oddnesses, but she was known to be so
exceedingly hospitable that oftentimes her own table
was denuded in order that dainties might be sent to
those of her poorer neighbours.
She met us at the garden gate. She was a large
woman of masculine features, with a prominent nose
and a clear and fearless grey eye that looked unwinking
at each of us.
It was at Silver Sand she looked first.
" Preserve us, man !" she said ; "surely hemp's no
sae dear that ye can afford to risk the tow. What do
ye in this country ? "
Silver Sand was manifestly put out.
" I think your leddyship is mistaken," he said.
" Mistake here ! — mistake there ! — Grizel Maxwell
kens a "
"Wheesht, wheesht, my Leddy ! There's names
that's no for cryin' at ilka lodge-yett."
"'Deed, aye," said her ladyship, taking off the
271
2j2 THE RAIDERS.
broad, blue, man's bonnet that she wore, and showing
a beautiful head of lint-white hair rippling away from
her brow, " it's one of my name that should ken that."
"Weel than ! " said Silver Sand for all answer.
She greeted May next. Opening her arms to lift
her down, which she did as a grenadier might dismount
a drummer-boy, she said —
" My dautie, you an' me has baith lost faithers ;
it's like the kind o' folk. The Maxwell men are
never like to dee in their beds. Na, they ride gaily,
and ye hear the clatterin' o' their spurs doon the
dark valley as they gang awa' to come nae mair back.
Ye are wae for yer faither. Come to me an' we'll
bide a wee, an' get it bye. It canna be helped, my
lassie. Ye see that coat, May, lass. There was a
heid ta'en aff close to the collar o' that — ye see the
velvet's a wee rusty. That was my faither's heid.
That's the way o' the Maxwells ever since they cam'
into this Galloway, where, indeed, they had no manner
o' business."
Then she turned to me, looking at me fiercely to
see how I stood her eye.
"An' wha may ye be, young man, that rides sae
free by my cousin's side ? "
Ere I had time to speak May Maxwell began to tell
how that, when all others had hung back, I had out-
ventured and saved her from the most terrible perils,
saying nothing as she told it, about her own doings.
" Patrick Heron o' Rathan ! An auld name, though
nooadays wi' but little to the tail o't. It's nocht the
waur o' that. 'Deed, the Maxwell's took a' but the
bit barren isle, an' I wot they had ta'en that had that
been worth their while. Aye, man, I kenned not
I SALUTE THE LADY GRIZEL. 273
your faither, but your grandfather was a mettlesome
blade, an' mony a time met me at the end o' the
plantin' — just for luck and youth, ye understand ;
nocht else. He had the bonniest ankle and calf.
Aye, laddie, ye favour him aboot the leg, though
little aboot the features. Come doon and gie us a
salutation."
So I came and very respectfully gave the salute.
"'Deed, sirs, ye favour him but little aboot the
moo ; but I ettle that'll no be the way ye kiss a bonny
lass. Na, an auld cleckin' wife canna look for ocht
else at this time o' day. Aweel, aweel ! "
We stood before her meek as a flock of chickens,
and she held up her apron by the corners as if she had
corn within to feed us with.
" But it's a bonny like thing that ye hae to stand
here on the steps o' my hoose. I'm an Earl's dochter,
ye ken. Didna ye ken ? Gin ye dinna, there's Gib
Gowdie, that caa's himsel' a butler, he'll sune tell ye
— silly auld man, Gib ! Will ye come ben, man ? '
she said to Silver Sand, who stood with his hat in his
hand as the gentrice do to a lady. " It's mony a day
since I saw ye ride aff wi' — ye-ken-wha "
But Silver Sand said, " I thank your ladyship
exceedingly, but I have much business to transact."
Only us two she took within the portal, and
closed it with her own hands, shooting the bars as in
a prison. We found ourselves in an immense bare
hall with only old buff coats and black armour hanging
about, and the faint light filtering down the great
staircase.
The Lady Grizcl went to the top of the kitchen
stair, which opened downwards like a great deep well.
18
274 THE RAIDERS.
"Jen ! " she cried.
"Aye mem ; dinna be in a fyke, mem ! Canna ye
bide a wee ? I'll be there the noo."
Her ladyship stamped her foot.
" Come awa' this instant, ye impident hempie ! "
"Then your leddyship will hae to come and pook
the chucky, an' ye ken ye never were guid at the
singin' o't," said a voice from below.
"Jen!" cried Lady Grizel from the stair-head;
" this is past bearing. You an' me maun twine."
" An' what for that ? " inquired a black-a-vised,
good-natured woman of mature good looks, with very
red cheeks and dark eyebrows, who looked up at us
as we stood at the top and she at the bottom of the
kitchen stairs. She had a sheet about her and a great
pullet in her hand. " Hoot, yer leddyship, war ye
thinkin' o' leavin' Earlstoun ? "
" No, Jen, but gin ye canna come at my biddin', I'll
hae to pairt wi' you."
" Na, na, yer leddyship, ye ken brawly ye couldna
do that. Ye couldna put up that bonny heid o' hair
yersel'. Forbye, gin ye dinna ken a guid servant
when ye hae yin, I ken a guid mistress."
"Jen, gang to yer wark in the kitchen in a meenit,"
cried her ladyship, turning on her heel. " Dinna
answer me back ! I maun e'en mak' shift to show
you yer ain room myseP, May ; an' you, Laird Rathan,
can gang to the reception-room, where ye'll hae
company till I come doon."
I went towards the room indicated. The door
which admitted me was exceedingly high and opened,
like a gate, outwards. There was a great noise within
of barking, screaming, and coughing. Here in a
1 SALUTE THE LADY GRIZEL. 275
large room were a collie dog, a long-haired cat
of some foreign breed, a parrot on a stick, and a
monkey, or, as the Galloway folks say, a "puggie" —
an ugly beast all set up in a red coat, capering about
everywhere and keeping the whole room in a turmoil.
As soon as I came in there was silence, and the
monkey ran to the top of the red velvet curtains, and
there showed his head most comically in order to
observe if anyone were following me into the room.
The action was that of the bad bov of a school
looking for the dominie with his taws or birch rod.
At this moment I could not forbear laughing.
" Have some manners, ye gowk ! " shouted a great
voice which startled me, and instinctively I begged
pardon. But it was only the parrot, a strange, uncanny
bird which I had often heard about but never before
seen. So in this room I remained with these curious
companions till her ladyship came down to me.
"This lass o' mine tells me that ye saved her frae
the gled's clews at the risk o' yer ain life. Ye'll be
thinkin' muckle o' that. Hoot, it's naethin' ava.
Yer grandfather had dune as muckle for a kiss
and gang-yer-ways frae a bonny lass ; but I guess,
indeed I ken, that ye hae bespoke the farm and
want to life-rent it. Aweel, ye are a decent lad I
doot not, though ye haena muckle siller. We'll see,
we'll see, Paitrick. A Maxwell's no to be picked up
ilka day as a hen picks corn. Ye may get her, an' yc
may no. What's that ye say, that ve hae gotten her
already ? Na, my bonny man ; gin there had no been
slips atween the cup an' the lip, it's no here I wad hae
been the day, writin' my name as Papa Priest gied it
to me — we'll no say hoo mony year syne ! "
CHAPTER XXXIII.
JEN GEDDES SAMPLER BAG.
Jen Geddes appeared at the door. She had dressed
herself in a black gown of silk, very thick, and her
grey hair was over her ears in most elaborate
wimples.
" Did I ever see sic a silly auld woman," said Lady
Grizel, "at your time o' life, Jen, to dress up for a
young man j I'm black affrontit."
Jen said, without turning a hair, " Be my age what
it may, it's weel kenned that your ladyship was woman
muckle when I was christened."
" Hoot na, Jen, I was but a lassie. I dinna mind
on't ava' ! " said her ladyship, firmly.
" Na, na, Leddy Girzie, ye ken brawly that it's
in your hand o' write that the name o' Janet Geddes
stands in the big ha' Bible." This with an air of
triumph.
But I went forward, seeing that Jen was a privileged
person, and waited for Lady Grizel to introduce me.
"Ye'll ken Laird Heron o' the Rathan, Jen — a
mettle spark. He taks after his gran'faither aboot the
leg ; think ye na, Jen ? "
" That your leddyship should ken. I hae heard my
.276
JEN GEDDES' SAMPLER BAG. 277
faither say he cam' a heap aboot ye. As for me, I'm a
deal ower young to mind."
" Hoot na, Jen, ye ken fine that it was you that
used to let him in when he cam' tirlin' at the pin, an'
that hoised him oot o' the wicket that nicht when his
lordship, my faither, cam' on us ower quick."
Jen kindled at the recollection, and was caught.
"Aye, my leddy, an' wasna it bonnv to see him
ding the sparks frae the iron jackets o' the watchers.
Ave, but he was a free lad, and kenned a bonny
lass."
"You an' him were ower pack for me, Jen," said
her ladyship, craftily. " I like no a man that comes
after baith mistress and maid."
"Hoot," said Jen, "there's nae hairm dune, for a
gallant lad to tak a bit cheeper frae the maid on his
way ben to the mistress ; an' what for no ? D'ye
think the maid is no as guid a judge o' sic like as the
leddy ; forby whiles a deal bonnier ? She canna help
bein' whiles mair temptation."
And Jen tossed her stately ringlets before her well-
preserved apple cheeks.
"'Deed, Jen, noo that ye hae gi'en in that you an'
me is aboot an age, I'll never deny that in the days o'
yer youth ye war a weel-faured lass."
Jen held her head high.
" Aiblins I'm nae that ill-lookin' yet," she said.
" An opinion in which I heartilv :ugree," said I,
taking her hand in mine, while I held my hat in the
other. " Let me claim the privilege of my grand-
father, who, I perceive, had excellent taste ! "
Whereupon I bowed to mistress and then to maid,
who dropped me a curtsy apiece — that of Lady Grizel
278 THE RAIDERS.
graceful and sweeping, that of Jen Geddes ample and
hearty, as of a tub that rises and falls in a mill-pond.
" Weel bobbit ! ye're a plant o' grace," said the
Lady Grizel, very much pleased, "an' a lad o' mettle
takes the heart o' auld wives mair nor looks."
" But he's weel faured for a' that," said Jen ; " I
think he's e'en as bonny as ever his gran'faither was."
" An' that was aye your way, Jen ; an' a comfort-
able one it is. The apple ye bad was aye the best
apple, the bonniest, the reedest-cheekit. That's what
it is to be happy."
She sighed.
" As for me," she went on, " the lad I liked best
was aye the lad that I couldna get, an' that's maybe
the reason that I lie my lane the nicht, wi' only
anither auld limmer like mvsel' atween me an' the
J
stock."
"Ye micht hae had the Laird o' Rathan," said Jen
to her mistress, " and then yer Billie.Wattie had never
rogueit him oot o' Orraland and Rascarrel an' the bonny
Nitwud. But ye war an earl's dochter, an' couldna
think to sit in the auld toor o' Rathan and even
voursel' to a commoner."
"'Deed, Jen," said Lady Grizel, tossing her head
in a way which reminded me exceedingly of May
Maxwell when she is roguish, " it wasna me that was
unwillin'. I wad hae gien a' my shapin' claes to sit
there ; but it wasna to be."
She paused for a moment of thought ; then she
spoke, waving her hand sideways as though to drive
all these things away.
" But they are a' but auld wives' clavers, an' it's
Paitrick Heron that's come to my door wi' a bonny
JEN GEDDES' SAMPLER BAG. 279
lass in his hand, ridin' croose and canty — him wi' a
three-cornered dunt on his broo, an' her wi' a scart on
her airm that they hae gotten, ilka yin fechtin' to get
the ither. Jen ! we'll e'en hae a waddin'. I'se get
doon Mass John, an' Jen, ye can air the sheets."
"Great havers," said Jen, "ye were aye for suppin'
yer porritch afore they were weel boiled a' the days o'
ye. They're Whigs and no o' the religion, and mair
nor that the young lass's faither is no lang under the
sod."
" Aweel, aweel, Jen," said her ladyship, " it's maybe
as weel, but I hae garred this young man's heart gang
clinkum-clank this nicht, I wat. Let me hearken ! "
And the abominable old woman put her hand on
my heart, which was in good sooth thumping with
great spontaniety and surprising quickness at the
thought.
" A good honest heart," she said, " that hasna been
weared on ither lasses. Ye shall no hae lang to wait,
my laddie, and I'se butter your bread for ye that day,
my man."
And well said. None such a bad old lady was the
Lady Grizel.
"D'ye mind," said Jen, "hoo ye used to come
gatherin' the bramble-berries, an' then the mistress wad
cry ye into the hoose for a bit piece ? "
I minded fine, and said so with such an expression
of happiness, that Jen was moved to other recollec-
tions, while her mistress went out from us.
" She's a wonderfu' woman, the mistress ; no the
like o' her in the three counties. She micht hae had
the wale o' the men — like mvsel' indeed ; but when-
ever yin o' them tried ower sair to please her, she
280
THE RAIDERS.
turned camsteery wi' him, an' gang in harnass she
wadna ; and even your gran'faither only pleased her
by pretendin' no to care a preen for her."
" She has been very kind to me already," I said.
" Aye, an' she'll be kinder, for she likes you, I can
see. My name's no Jen Geddes o' the Parton gin
she's no kind to you, far by your thinkin'. But be
aff-stan'in' an' contradictious, hot as the mustard, an'
flee oot wi' your hat in your hand an' your heid in
the air at a word. That's the way to please the
mistress ; aye, an' the feck o' women. They like
nane o' your men that peep and mutter — bena (except)
my sister Eppie," she added.
"Your sister Eppie?" I said, a strange thought
coming into my head.
" Aye, an' that minds me, my laddie, whaur got ye
that bag wi' the bluidy knives intil't lying on the table.
I wuss ye haena been at some terrible ploy, you an'
the Maxwell lass."
I told her as well as I could our great and wonderful
story between her exclamations. Before I had done
with the broad back of the carle in the sea-chest, she
had to sit down ; the two gashes in it finished her, as
they had nearly done for me ; but she wanted to hear
more.
" But the bag ; whaur gat ye the bag ? " she cried.
Of that I knew nothing. It was one that May
Maxwell had brought from the House of Death by
Loch Enoch side.
" That's my sister's bag, I can sweer til't," she said.
" She's marriet on saft Sammle Tamson o' the Moss-
dale. It was me that made it an' gied it to her afore
she left Parton Hoose. See here ! " she cried suddenly.
JEN GEDDES' SAMPLER BAG. 281
She ripped away a part of the lining. "Janet
Geddes ; her sampler work," was cross-stitched
on the inside of the lining.
Then I remembered the story of Marion, and the
little lass that we had left with Mistress Eggface and
the evil men in the terrible house on the hill of Craig-
nairny.
"The wee bit lass," I said again and again; "an'
we left her in that hoose amang the fiends."
My heart smote me sore, as indeed it had no need
to do, for of a surety we had all died by torture had
we tried to take her with us then. I told myself this,
but it did not do a bit of good. Of all the useless,
contrary things in the world, conscience is the worst.
The preachers say that it cannot do wrong or speak
wrong. This is far from being so ; for many is
the time that I have done something I knew to be
right — indeed in which I had no choice but to do
as I did ; therefore conscience ought to have been
satisfied. But was it ? Far from that ; it kept up
such a coil and pother that very often, just to ease it,
I went and did something infinitely worse to drown
its noise, or in some round-the-corner way cause it
to be quiet. This I did now. I could in no wise
help leaving the little lass ; it was certain that we
had only got ourselves all murdered if we had tried
to bring her with us ; but conscience would have
none of it, and I had a sore heart for many days about
her. Often have I wished that I had no conscience
whatever, and that not for evil's sake.
The Lady Grizel now came in.
" I mind," said she, " when you cam' to Earlstoun a
wee bit laddie, that ye liked a bit piece wi' butter and
282
THE RAIDERS.
the sweet conserves upon it. Noo, ye'll hae to tak
the road soon, for the sake o' Jen's character an' mine.
It will no do for a handsome young man to be his
lane in the hoose wi' three bonny lasses. Ye war in
the Wolf's Slock at dead o' nicht wi' the bonniest,
says you ; my certes, but ye are no blate to say that
to my face. Ye'se no come into my hoose gin ye
dinna learn to be ceevil. But it was the bit o' sweet-
cake wi' conserves that ye likit. See noo, boy, there's
a bit o' the like set oot for ye ben in the room there.
Gang ben and get it."
So saying, she took me by the shoulders and fairly
pushed me out. I entered in at the door, and there
before me, standing alone by the window, was my
May. I shut the door behind me and looked about
for Lady Grizel's sweet cake and conserves.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SWEET CAKE AND CONSERVES.
" May ! " I said softly.
She turned and came near to me and stood very
close against me in a way that was sweet to me, but
I knew that she did not wish me to touch her then,
but only to stand so. Thus we remained a considerable
while, till my heart became very full, aching within
me to comfort her. Which at last I did with satis-
faction to both of us, and the time sped.
I told her how that I must go to the old Tower of
Rathan, and see what matters were like there in the
hands of Jerry. I told her, too, about little Marion,
who she was ; and she cheered me by telling me that
the wild and murderous folk were not all unkind to
the little child, but that she was treated in that rough
and poor place like the daughter of the old woman
— as indeed I had seen even while I remained in the
kitchen. Also she was not old enough to know their
enormities. All which, being the words of my love,
eased my heart amazingly, because I did not wish to
have a second journey thrust upon me just at that
time.
So then we looked about for a place to sit down,
283
284 THE RAIDERS.
for it behoved us to talk together as it were for the
last time (for at least a night and a day). There was
but one great chair in all that room, though there was
much tapestry and some high tables and corner
aumries. So we sat down on it with great content,
and in good sooth I wist not how I should be able to
go from her — so soon does one use to the sight and
touch of a dear young lass.
But I knew well that she would be true to me, and
she promised to think on me every hour ; and asked
the same from me again, which made me laugh, for I
knew that I should think of nought else the hour by
the length and every hour. So I asked her when she
would come to the Rathan and stay.
" It is a poor place," I said, " but there is no reason
why, with service and good farming, it should not be
the bieldiest and happiest of homes for us. We
Herons have lived sparely for two generations, and we
can afford to spend a little out of the Dumfries
lawyer's hands when a bonnv bride comes home to
Rathan."
I urged her sore, and at last she admitted she would
come just when I was ready, for she said, " I have no
heart to go back to Craigdarroch, for I ken my
brithers, and they are not the men to let byganes lie.
There'll be mair and waur red wark or a' be dune ! "
" Had she indeed the heart to come to the
Rathan ? " I asked, to try her ; for indeed I knew it
before, yet it was so passing sweet to hear that I
could not forego a word.
" Deed that I have, Patrick, heart an' body an' a' —
juist your ain, when it fits you to call for them."
« Then," said I, « I'll e'en tak' them noo,"
SWEET CAKE AND CONSERVES. 285
At which she cried off, but she was none ill-pleased.
" Hae ye a' the conserves lickit aff the sweetcake
yet ? " cried a voice from the door, which opened just
a little ajar.
We were surprised and answered nothing, and the
door closed again as softly as it had opened.
May laughed May Mischiefs laugh for, I think,
the first time since the beginning of the troubles.
" Have you ? " said she, looking at me.
Now we sat in one chair, and though I do not con-
sider myself a clever fellow, and I had no experience,
that was good enough for me.
There is nothing to report of the next half hour.
" It's my turn, May," said Lady Grizel, who had
been coughing at the door for five minutes ; " I'm
whiles ta'en wi' the hoast, but I like a bit quiet hour
at e'en wi a blythe lad as weel as ony."
" His grandfather, was it no ? " asked my witch
archly.
" 'Deed but ye're nocht but a couple o' birkies that
needs turnin' up and skelpin' — and for a word I wad
send ye baith to the door. Hear ye that ? " said the
old lady, greatly pleased.
Then she turned to me.
" Noo awa' wi' ye, Patrick, an' tell thac Maxwell
lads that they are welcome to the onstead o' Earlstoun
farm to stow their goods and bestial in when they get
ony. An' say that there's guid sleepin' in the granary
an' stable laft. But there's to be nae fechtin' near the
hoose," she added, having, no doubt, in mind the
manners and customs of the Maxwell brothers.
" An' anithcr thing — they maun find their ain
caves and hidie-holes for the Hollands an' the lace.
286 THE RAIDERS.
I'm no gaun to hae the king's men rampagin'
through my hoose, herrying and berryin', at my time
o' life. A keg ower the back o' the dyke is yae thing
an' cellars full o' brandy is anither."
So I bade them good-bye, kissing them both, and
Jen Geddes too at the door, who boxed me on the ear
for an "impudent loon, that canna leave a decent
woman's kep straucht on her heid."
And this was all the magic I ever used to win three
women's hearts.
The Maxwells had heard the whole story of their
sister's safety already from Silver Sand, and that much
to my credit. So they came about me like bees from
where they were working, putting new roofs on their
barns and byres. They would have me stay and take
the good cheer of the occasion with them, but I was
eager to be at the Rathan ; so I took their boat and
rowed over across the rippling tide that came flowing
in as I knew it of old, swirling in the smooth places
with an oily underbubble and jabbling along the side
of the boat, with the pleasant sound which is always
heartsome to me to hear.
I beached the Maxwells' boat at the Shell Cove, at
the back of the house, and went up the path, looking
as a man looks that has come back from foreign parts
and tries to make out the changes about his home.
Rathan House looked better than ever I saw it.
There was a platform out of one of the windows,
which I could by no means tell the use of, and a dark
vessel sitting upon it. It was a very silent place, but
I heard the hens cackling and pecking at meat newly
laid out, so I knew that there was a living soul about
it somewhere.
SWEET CAKE AND CONSERVES. 287.
I went quietly about the house till I came to the
main door, which was deep set in the wall. It was
wide open, and there sat Jerry Macwhirter, peeling
potatoes and piping as he worked, " Awa', Whigs
awa'," and other unhallowed tunes.
"The Whig is no sae far awa', my lad ! — and how
do ye like it ? " said I.
Wherewith I took him by the back of the neck to
shake him, but he twisted himself round, and would
have set a dirk in me with exceeding quickness had
not he recognised me and dropped it with a hearty
cry of joy.
But I still shook him, whereat he kicked my shins.
This brought us back to the point of friendliness,
for I had paid him his kane for his insolence at
parting. Then I had to tell him all the long story,
which made him marvel greatly. There had been, it
seemed, a great quietness about Rathan and all the
countryside. It was said, however, that the sheriff
was organising a party to go against the outlaws, but
no one believed it.
On the other hand, the Maxwells were surely
setting themselves to prepare for a great raid among
the hills. Many had given in their names to Will
and Kennedy Maxwell, and it was said that a large
body of men exercised every night during the clear
of the moon on the farm of Craigdarroch. This
much was true at all events, that a party of preven-
tive men from Kirkcudbright had come on a body of
fifty horse by the holms of the Darroch, and fled
without firing a shot. But these might only be the
ordinary Freetraders. The Maxwells had sworn
never to run another cargo till the evil beasts were
288 THE RAIDERS.
destroyed, root and branch, from off the face of
Galloway.
I wondered what the evil beasts had to say to this.
Within doors everything was in such beautiful
order that I hardly knew it for the same place. Jerry
(to pass the time he said) had so painted and cleaned,
that in my heart I thought that the bride might have
come home that night — and indeed I wished she had.
When I told him concerning May he looked sulkier
than ever I saw him. The further my story went on,
the gloomier got he. At last he broke out —
" Then I suppose naething will serve you but you
must get this lass ower to the Rathan, set up hoose
like a grocer, and tak' the Buik nicht an' mornin' ? "
I said that these things were far away.
" But they are comin', I see, an' no sae far away
neither — nearder than I like."
" It'll never make any difference to you, Jerry," I
said with the innocence of inexperience.
" Whustle on my thoomb ! " said he irreverently ;
"I'm bye wi't ; I ken my jug's been ower often at
the well. I'll e'en tak' to a tent, like Silver Sand.
Him an' me'll gang the kintry. That's what we'll
do. I can at least pent a door. I tell ye what.
Jerry'll no mix yer saps an' nurse yer scraichin' brats.
I canna bide them."
Whereupon he took me round about, and in a
mournful, valedictory manner (which amused me
much) he showed me all his improvements. He had
really wonderfully brightened up the old house. But
of course his doings, such as they were, showed me
how much must be done before a young bride could
come home. I resolved, thereupon, to go to Dumfries
SWEET CAKE AND CONSERVES. 289
the very next day to see the lawyer that had my little
property in his hand ; but all this time I burned hot
and cold in flashes and my head buzzed strangely.
" 'Deed ye'll no do that," he said, " I hae a bit sma'
job to do myseP, an' gin I kept house for you, ye
maun e'en bide for me."
I nodded, asking only when he would be back
again.
I told him about the matter of the bag and the
little Marion.
" I'll call at the Mossdale on my road to New
Galloway, and tell them. It's a thing they should
ken, and it'll maybe be better for your health to keep
wide o' the Macaterick's country for a wee. I'm but
a hirple Dick, an' it maitters little aboot me. There's
nocht but the eel's skin on Jerry MacWhirter."
So he sped on his way, with a message that all was
right, to Earlstoun, where I asked May to let him
have the bag in which the knives had been.
To ease my head I strolled down to where Silver
Sand had made his camp by the side of the little
Rathan burn. His donkey was there, having been
brought to the isle from the other side. Silver
Sand looked a little queerly at me as I came up,
thinking mayhap that I had asked the Lady Grizel
more of his history, which I was far from doing, so
long as he did not wish to tell me himself. All about
the camp was very fresh and pleasant, and made me
very glad, but for the queer humming machinery
which was working in my head.
But Silver Sand, as soon as he saw me (for I had
wholly forgotten my battered head, being with May
and then coming home), ordered me in a loud tone
19
290 THE RAIDERS.
to my bed, calling himself ill-names for not having
thought thereon sooner.
So he sent me to bed and himself helped me off
with my clothes, and took them away. Then he laid
cool, wet cloths on my head, and gave me a draught.
Whereat I slept a great sleep of many hours, and when
I awakened I could not tell what day or hour of the
day it might be. But I was unhappy in my mind,
because I had not sent a message to Earlstoun,
whereat he went out himself and left me. Outside
the salt water sounded cool and pleasant as though it
were breaking in spray on my hot head. So I lay, with
many earnest thoughts of the goodness of God, as it
were between sleeping and waking. Indeed I re-
proached myself very sore that I had so seldom
thought upon the Maker and the Giver of all good.
My nature is not to be unthankful, but only of late
things had happened so close the one on the other,
that I had forgotten and passed my thanksgivings by.
For this now, it may be, I was lying upon my back.
CHAPTER XXXV.
SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC.
It was the broad light of some unknown day when I
came again to myself, for Silver Sand, by his white
magic, had put that in the draught which caused me to
sleep. But I was marvellously refreshed and my head
was cool.
" Give me my sark ! " I cried, for I could hear him
at the hag-clog where we cut the branches and wood
into billets to go into the great fireplace.
"Eppie will bring it from the store-room," said the
voice, not of Silver Sand as I had apprehended, but of
that sprite Jerry, who sat at the bed-foot and smirked
at my surprise.
" Whatna Eppie ? " said I.
"Hear till him," said Jerry, scratching his bare foot,
" the hound ! Hoo mony Eppies do ye ken ? Are
the Eppies tumblin' ower yin anither i' this hoose o'
the Isle o' Rathan ? "
But I let the ill-guided loon run on, for there in
the doorway stood my kind friend Eppie Tamson of
Mossdale, with her comely person and apple cheeks,
and she was drying her hands.
291
292 THE RAIDERS.
" Wi' laddie," she said, " this is blithe seem' — you
clothed and in your richt mind. Ye hae had a teuch
battle for't on the grey tide where the seeven waters
meet, but ye hae won through."
"I want a dish o' porridge," I said, for I was
hungry.
She went to the door and cried, "Jen, he's wakkin' ;
fess the porridge ! "
And with that who should put her head in at the
door but my own dear May Mischief, who came
quietly and sat at the head of my bed and put her
head down beside mine on the pillow — which, though
a slight thing, went to my heart mightily, so that I
thought on it long after she was gone.
Then she told me how that I had been near to ten
days unconscious, and had raved on about many things,
concerning some of which she said, " I would not have
desired any but myself to hear." But she smiled as
she said it.
" And I heard more o' your ill-deeds than I am
likely to hear about for the rest o' my life," she
said.
Seeing me look a little anxious, she said, " There
was nothing to cause me any anxiety, Patrick ; for,
though I heard everything, you never spoke of any
lass but one."
She smiled and waited for me to speak. So, to
please her, I asked who that might be.
" It was just daft May Maxwell," she said, looking
down at her lap, and then up at me all very simply
and sweetly, as indeed was all she did.
" Hoot," said I, " was that a' ? I thocht it had
been eyther Jen Geddes or Eppie Tamson."
SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC. 293
"You're gettin' better," says she, "an' we maun
talc' a stap oot o' yer bicker, my lad ! "
And in my weak state this seemed to me such a
rare witty conceit that I laughed till May, frowning
and looking anxious, bade me stop. Then I said that
I would get up ; but she put her hand on mine and
said, "Look, laddie, there'll need to be some days
afore that."
And indeed she was right, for my arm was wasted
to the flat bone.
"My boy," she said, and I loved to hear her so
speak, " thou looks but ill fit to climb the Wolf's
Slock this nicht."
Then I asked her of the Lady Grizel and how she
did, and she told me that she sent over every day to
see how the lad was, and to know when they were
coming back, for that the time was long at the
Earlstoun without both Jen and May, and with only
a common puggy and a common parrot to keep her
company. The Lady Grizel was an impolite old
woman, I thought.
Also she told me that Mossdale, being on the verge
of the outlaw country, was no longer safe ; for it was
known to the Macatericks that Sammle Tamson had
been with me on the links of the Cooran that day,
and the gypsies had vowed vengeance against him.
So getting the loan of two carts from Clachanpluck,
Sammle and Eppie had brought all their belongings
to the Earlstoun. Sammle was now with the Max-
wells, her brothers, busy making plans for vengeance
on the catherans of the hills.
" And Eppie cam' here to nurse you," she said,
" but I have done most of it myself, since they let me
294 THE RAIDERS.
come," she said, with some little pride that was pretty
to see.
All this was news to me, and it took me some time
to understand that so much should come to pass in so
short a time.
The next day May and Jen went back to Earls-
toun, with the promise that Sammle Tamson should
bring her (meaning May) over to see me one day in
each week till I should be able to go to Earlstoun
myself.
Then came Sammle himself to transport the chattels
of May and Jen, and with him Kennedy Maxwell,
who had a less serious face than the others.
Then I arranged with Sammle Tamson what had been
in my mind, that he should come to the Rathan with all
his goods, and that the lodge that was by the stable
should be his whenever it liked him to go into it ;
but in the meantime (at least, till the bride that was
coming should arrive) Eppie and he were to remain in
the house of Rathan itself and look after both me
and it. And it pleased me much to have a man of
my own.
" To think that you and our May have made it
up ! " said Kennedy ; " that beats a'."
I told him tartly that it beat him at any rate, with
his night-hawk traikings and trokings with a dozen
hizzies — whereat, rather pleased than rebuked, he did
but laugh.
And so it was settled. I was to give Samuel all
that he required of bread and meat and ale, four rigs
of potatoes, half an acre of barley and an acre of oats,
also twelve pounds sterling in the year for the ser-
vices of himself and of his wife. All which I think very
SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC. 295
liberal, considering that many a hind is glad to hire
himself for two pound and his meat. But I love that
in a home which Mary and I looked forward to with so
much content, the others who dwell there shall also
be content. Besides, with my father's savings I could
well afford it.
Kennedy Maxwell told me that the hill folk, mean-
ing the outlaw gypsies, were all agog to revenge the
retaking of May and the discovery of their villainy.
He told me also that near to a hundred of stout and
brave lads had sworn to go in the back end of the
year, and root them out of their fastnesses with a great
destruction. These men came from all the parishes,
from Minnigaff to Rerrick, and from Carsphairn to
the edge of Kells. Samuel Tamson had been up
raising the men of the head end of the Stewartry, and
there were many, even to the Doon Water and the
Shalloch-on-Minnoch, sturdy men of Carrick, who
would gladly join, having been sore harried by the
outlaws in time past.
So the days went by and the weeks brought the
harvest, and the reaping of the scanty fields that I had
taken so small an interest in. Yet the Maxwells came
with others of their company and did it for me ; and
I wished to divide fair with them, because I needed
not so great a store of corn, while they, who were re-
stocking their farm, sorely required it. For I had no
beasts to speak of save only sheep ; and all the corn
I had had been wrought by horse that had been
hired from the farmers about, which gave me the less
trouble, though also of necessity the less profit. But
indeed I cared not much, save that I might grow what
was needed for the house of Rathan, having money to
296 THE RAIDERS.
get what I wanted in funds and property in the hands
of Mr. Erskine, that well-kenned and most honest
lawyer in Dumfries.
But all the same I purposed to keep horse in future
years, and drain and plough, which should be both for
the improvement of Rathan and for its greater useful-
ness. Also there came into my head a plan whereby
the sea being shut out of the narrow gulf where it
ran, there might be gained to my estate a great extent
of fertile land. All which I have since done, and I
mention these things to show that the days of enforced
idleness were very fruitful in thoughts for the future.
Also, as I said, I had heart-searchings about my own
state of soul, concerning which I perceived that I
had thought too little. I intended to go and open
my mind to Mr. Macmillan of Balmaghie, who was a
leading man among the Societies and a man of great
holiness and fearlessness. This also in time I did,
becoming a member in good standing, but not till
all this brulzie was ended and peace had once more
come where now there was only danger and the tuck
of drum.
Then, when I could sit up, Silver Sand came and
told me tales, teaching me all the lore of the woods,
and strange old sayings among the gypsies that made
me wonder where he had learned them ; but that
he seemed to be well learned in everything. He
had set up his tent again, and, though I paid him
all his tale of guineas, he went back to his trade of
selling the scythe sand, all made out of the hardest
white grit of the granite where it is ground down and
sifted by the rain and the wearing of the rocks on the
edges of the lochs in the granite districts.
SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC. 297
Three kinds of sand he brought me to see, but not
being a scytheman I could not tell the difference.
Then, very willingly, Silver Sand instructed me.
" This," he said, running his hand through the fine,
white, sandlike meal that he had in one bag, "is the
sand which I gather from the edge of the little Loch of
Skerrow near to Mossdale that Sammle Tamson kens
so weel. This is the commonest kind, yet good for
coarse work, such as mowing ordinary grass, or the
weeds and girse about a field's edges. This sort also
is the cheapest ; but this," he said, showing me another
very fine sand, "is the sand from Loch Valley, which,
when last we passed, I had not time to show you."
(It was not indeed likely.) "It is fine, and sticks
smoothly on the strake, and is used for corn on the
braes, and for short hay that is easy won.
" But this," he said, taking up a smaller bag as if it
had been the fine gold, " is the sand from Loch Enoch
itself. It is the best, the keenest, and lies closest to
the blade of the scythe. It is used for the mowing of
meadow hay, which is hard to win, because it has to
be cut about the Lammas time, when the floods come.
Then it is sore work to mow for a long summer's
day, and the great swing of the scythe is indeed needed.
At that time of year you can hear the ' strake, strake '
of the mower in the shade as he puts an edge on his
tool, and nothing else is used for this purpose through all
Galloway, Carrick, and the Upper Ward of Lanerick-
shire than the Loch Enoch sand — that is, when they
can get it."
He passed it over to me in a canvas bag. It was
certainly very beautiful, and I let it trickle through
my fingers.
298 THE RAIDERS.
" But how did you get this, Silver Sand ? " I said ;
" have you been back again since "
" No," he said ; " but I have them that can gang
for me."
The sand ran through my fingers, clean and dry, till
they encountered something like a coin. I brought it
out on my palm. It looked very like a token that the
ministers give to those who are judged fit to come to
the Communion table. But there was no text on it ;
only some markings which it was beyond me to make
anything of. Yet Silver Sand snatched it from me
with great instancy, and I fancied that I saw him
change colour as he did so.
" God 'forgive me ! How could I have missed it ? "
he said. Then, having looked at it, he muttered, "So
soon ! " and was silent.
Now but that Silver Sand had approven himself
well, and that I knew him for trusty to the heart's
core, I had certainly suspected him of double dealing.
Yet he was to me utterly beyond reproach and
above suspicion. It was simply not possible that he
could be playing "booty," with a foot in either camp.
But most certainly he was a man with more secrets
of his own, and dangerous ones to boot, than I had
cared to carry about without a steel jacket over.
Soon after this he walked away over in the direction
of Earlstoun, taking the boat with him to that White
Horse Bay which lay nearest to the house in which
May dwelt.
When I was well enough to sit again at the high
window of my room, for all the windows in Rathan
were high, the prospect glass was a great comfort to
me. I could see the camp of Silver Sand, with grey
SILVER SAND'S WHITE MAGIC. 299
Ouharrie on guard by the stream, and the flash of the
white-peeled sauch wand against the black opening of
the tent. That was part of Silver Sand's magic.
Indeed I often told him that he would be burned for a
wizard yet, and that (as they did to Major Weir)
they would cast in Ouharrie and the peeled wand to
keep him company.
" Then there's some o' them wad get sair bitten,
whatever ! " was all his answer.
Yet true it is that when he wanted water to feed
the cattle on several parts of Rathan in after-days,
it was with this very peeled wand that Silver Sand
found the spring, but whether by foreknowledge or
some science that was hid from the rest of us, I
make not bold to say, for indeed I know not.
Then beyond, over the tide which I watched come
and go twice a day, I could see the onstead of Craig-
darroch, with the Maxwells busy at their thatching
or working in the fields with their guns standing
cocked at the end of the rig, which was a strange
thing to see in Scotland at that time of the dav.
But what caused me to look oftenest, and that till
my eye ached and I had to take it from the eye-piece,
was the topmost turret of Earlstoun, and a little bit of
the terrace of the Italian garden at the corner beneath,
where there was a smooth piece of turf on which
May Maxwell often walked and (having so arranged
with me) waved a white handkerchief to me for
comfort.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR.
So it was no long season before I waxed as strong as
ever, and could take my way over to Earlstoun to see
my lass. Eppie and Samuel remained in the house,
and Samuel occupied much of his time in going
over to Craigdarroch to hear the latest plans for the
great raid that the Maxwells were to make as soon
as the winter frosts came to bind the upland waters ;
for it was no use to go thither when the bogs and
lochs were unfrozen. Boats could not be dragged up to
the summits of these wild mountains, and even if the
Lowlanders came in force and defeated the outlaws,
they would all escape among the haggs, because of their
knowledge of the ground.
Now this had been a wild year in Galloway, for His
Majesty King George, having so recently come to the
throne, many of the evilly disposed seized the occasion
to plunder their neighbours. Agnew of Lochnaw took
out letters from the Privy Council, and, as the warrant
runs, "bought commission of justiciary to pursue and
slay the red-handed clans of gypsies and broken men,
living in the fastnesses of Carrick and Galloway, who do
300
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR. 301
continually plunder, slay, and put in fear His Majesty's
lieges." These clans were the Millers, Baillies, Macate-
ricks, and Marshalls — the Faas not being nominated
in the warrandice.
But of this there was no outcome. Agnew stayed
in Lochnaw, along with his warrant of justiciary,
and the plundering of the Lowland parishes and the
terrorism of the upper districts went on as before.
Said William Maxwell of Craigdarroch, when he
heard of it, " Lochnaw may scart his fit, his act is but
a flaf o' wind. Them that's ower far awa' to bear
the brunt, are ower far awa' to bring the remead."
By that he meant that Agnew, the King's Sheriff,
was too distant to be attacked, and therefore did not
feel the need of action. But the Maxwells were not
the men to let their burnt rooftree, their lifted cattle,
and the splashed red on the white hairs of their father
lie unavenged. Yet their scouts, sprinkled here and
there on the edges of the wild lands, brought news
of the extraordinary activity and boldness of the out-
laws— these "wolves and limmers," as in the acts of
Council they were denominated.
In these secret councils of the Maxwells my serving-
man, Samuel Tamson, was of course deep, having in
the business a greater living stake than most. Yet it
was through Silver Sand, who took no part in this
battle of preparations, that Eppie heard that so far all
was well with Marion. The silence of Silver Sand in
all this din of war was remarkable. He abode generally
very quietly on the lands of Rathan, making only
short journeys to sell his sand through the other
parishes that lay on the south of the disturbed country.
Notwithstanding, it was ever by his means that we
502 THE RAIDERS.
heard of the acts of stouthrief and spulzie (raiding and
fighting) with which the "wolves of the hills" were
charged.
But soon after my recovery a notable day arrived.
I mind it like yesterday, nor is it likely that I shall
ever forget it.
It was the plashing wet evening of a September day,
towards six of the clock, when Silver Sand rode up to
the House of Rathan. He came in and shook the
raindrops from his coat, standing and warming him-
self silently with his back to the fire in the hall, for
the evening was cold and a fire grateful. The time
of the summer fruits was past, and the day of storms
was approaching. It had been to me a year of years,
in spite of all the pain and the difficulty, for it had
brought me a great and continual joy ; and, more than
all, the hope of May coming to the House of Rathan
before the new year, was like sunshine in the gathering
night.
Silver Sand stood and looked at me awhile without
speaking.
At last he said, " Ye had better hie yerseF awa' ower
bye to the House of Earlstoun. It's like ye'll be
needed there afore the mornin.'
Then I asked him why. But he gave me no
answer, saying that he and Eppie were quite suffi-
cient to keep the House of Rathan against all comers.
" But," he added, " there will be no comers here,
so tak' your musket and pistolets an' gang your
ways. Them that bearded the lion can fecht wi'
Grimalkin."
But this last I could not understand. So in some
fear I took my arms and the boat, and went over in
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR. 303
the direction of Craigdarroch. There were no cattle
about it, nor any sign of habitation ; but some one
whistled to me as I went by in such a way that
I knew David Maxwell to be on watch there. So I
kept on, hearing nothing but this single whistle
coming out of the scattered buildings of the onstead,
the new thatch of which shone yellow through the
gloaming.
The House of Earlstoun had erstwhile been a baron's
castle with a high wall around it and a centre keep ;
but within the outer wall there were many buildings
of stone and lime, roofed with red tiles, which had
been built in more settled times, so that now there was
only one great open space in the courtyard, in front
of the gate. That gate used in ancient days to be
shut nightly, but had not been so for many years ; and
now it stood open, a mass of useless iron, which the
Lady Grizel had often threatened to sell for old metal
if the smith would give her sixpence for it to make
plough coulters out of.
Lady Grizel had the name of being very rich, yet,
though she lived very plainly, and went about the
house like one of her own servants, listening to all the
clash of the country from Jen and the ccachman-
butler, she never got the name of a miser. On the
contrary, rather the credit of being "juist as free an'
hamely as ony plain body." But her father's gold plate
(which he had got from Charles the Second for his
services to the cause of ridding the country of Whigs)
was a favourite theme of conversation over all Gallowav,
and the House of Earlstoun, having never been broken,
was ever counted one of the richest in the country-
side.
304 THE RAIDERS.
To me it was the richer because that my lass was
there. As I went towards the dark and silent house I
looked up at the windows for her but saw no one.
There was not a gleam of light about the whole
great hulk of the tower. This made me more
nervous (anxious), lest I had come too late. So I
knocked, with some inward quaking, at the door, and
one from within asked me who I was, and what
I did. When I told there was a noise of voices con-
sulting, and I got my pistols ready in my hands, while
my gun swung at my back. For, indeed, I knew not
what might have happened.
But I heard the voice of my beloved bidding them
open the door, for that it was indeed I, and she could
not be mistaken.
So presently, with many creakings and noises of
chains and bolts, very rusty, the door swung a little
way, and my sweet love's hand came without to draw
me quickly in. Then the door went to with a clang,
and the bolts were made fast and a great barracado
set up again at the back of it.
I was a little bewildered coming out of the windless
silence of the night into the bustle of so many men,
for I soon saw that the House of Earlstoun was held
by no fewer than thirty stout fellows, every one of
whom owned William Maxwell for his captain. Yet
I could not perceive the cause nor the need of such
warlike preparations.
But May took me through many passages till we
came to the keep ; then up a narrow winding stair,
which was so dark that it made it difficult for us to
ascend (where only a moment we lagged as lovers
use), and so up into a well-lighted room wherein there
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR. 305
was a fire, but of which the windows were all barred
and bolted and the curtains closely drawn.
Here was the Lady Grizel, sitting with her feet in
a great pair of slippers, and toasting them before the
fire. Jen Geddes was also here, and May went and
sat down by the ingle cheek with a stocking she was
knitting.
" Ye are welcome, Patrick. This is an unco-like
ploy. Heard ye ever the like o' it ? " said Lady Grizel,
after I had saluted her.
I answered that I had heard nothing of the purpose
of our coming together, save that Silver Sand had sent
me, telling me that I should be of use.
" Silver Sand ? " said she. " What's Johnny — ah —
hum — ah — hum "
Here she suddenly stopped, and remained a long
while in a muse.
" I suppose it's the pairings o' gentrice that's
aboot the craitur that gars him to do it, but it's a
strange-like thing to stand again yin's ain flesh and
blood."
Concerning which Delphic utterance I knew better
than to attempt any question.
" Who are here ? " I said. " And what can I do,
Lady Grizel ? "
" There's a' the Maxwell clan here, besides Taits o'
the Torr, Maclellans o' Colin, Lennoxes o' Millhoose,
Cairnses frae Hardhills, lads frae Balmaghie, Sproats,
and Charterses — siccan a crew to eat — but a' men o'
mettle, wi' some judgment in guiding a Queen Anne
musket half fu' o' slugs."
" And what is all the gathering for ? " I asked.
"Jen ! " said Lady Grizel.
20
3°6
THE RAIDERS.
" Aye, mem," says Jen, who was making a shift for
herself and had a pin in her mouth.
" What for are ye speakin' sae mim ? Tell Paitrick
aboot your lad that cam' to see you this afternoon."
"Bide a wee," says Janet.
Then she carefully stuck pins all over her seam,
looking critically at it as she did so, and all of us
waited on her time.
" Ye see," she said at last, " I had my wark dune,
and had my kitchen sooped up. Then I was e'en
makkin' mysel' tidy "
" Makkin' yoursel' spruce for the lads, Jen," said
her ladyship, swaying in her chair and laughing till
the floor shook. She ever laughed at but little.
" An' what for no ? " said Jen.
" He may come yet, Jen," said her mistress ; " ye
haena waited lang yet — only forty year to my know-
ledge ! "
" Hoot, I haena lost hope yet, ony mair nor yer
leddyship," said Jen, very much unabashed.
" Weel, as I was sayin,' I had juist pitten on my
kep an' was tyin' the strings whan up cam' a loon
to the kitchen door. He had a tarry look aboot him
that made me ken him for a sailor.
" c Guid-day to ye, mistress ! D'ye want ony sea
coal ? ' says he.
" Noo 'sea coal' has but yae meanin' in Gallowa', an'
it's the coal that warms ye in the inside. So I gaed
up the stair to see the mistress, for I kenned na but
what she micht want a kennin', pitten ower the dyke
as the Freetraders gaed by afore the mornie-mornin'.
"Whan I cam' doon again, I took the ither stair
that enters by the aumrie.
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR. 307
"My bauchles made nae noise. I juist lookit ben,
an' what was my braw lad at but tryin' a' the bars o'
the wundows and keekin' in at the spences. He had
a fitrule in his hand as weel, but what he was
measurin' is mair than I can tell.
" So I gaed back a kennin', an' gied a bit hoast i' my
throat and syne cam ben.
" My man was sittin' on a chair by the kitchen
table as mim as pussy bawdrons when she has half
a pund o' fresh butter in her wame.
" ' Ye hae a gran' view,' he says, lookin' oot o' the
window, as though he hadna stirred.
" ' It's a fine nicht for sowens,' says I. ' Your back
gaun doon the loaning wad be a far finer view.
Tramp, my lad, I want nae spies and keek-roon-
corners in my hoose ! "
"Sae he gaed his ways. But afore he gaed he gied
me a black look an' a black word.
" ' I'll be seein' you again,' says he.
" < Verra like,' says I. < I gang to a' the hangings.
Ye're a braw lad, but ye'll dance the dance withoot
steps some mornin' yet — and a bonny tassel at the tail
o' a tow ye'll mak' ! '
" Then he tell'd me whaur to gang for a witch.
'" Na,' says I, * there I'll no gang, gin it were only
to keep oot o' your gait.'
" Then in cam' Silver Sand wi' a tale o' raid,
murder, an' stouthrief, an' in a wee the Maxwells
cam' here wi' a' their band, an' I had my leddy's
orders to let them in. That's a' I ken, save and
except that we are just three puir women that's to
be murdered."
There was silence after Jen's tale, and May set
308 THE RAIDERS.
me something to eat and drink, the which I swiftly
despatched, and went out — for it was not meet that on
such a night I should taigle with the women, even
though one of them was my own dear May. She
came to the door with me, and told me as all women
do when their men go out to weir or danger, to be
sure to take good care of myself for her sake.
" I wad come wi' you," she said, " an' help, as I did
on the Gairy o' Neldricken, but my lady says I'm to
bide wi' her in the keep."
So with some little pain but a great eagerness,
I bade her for that night farewell.
Then I sought Kennedy Maxwell, who was my
chiefest friend among all the brothers of my maid.
He was on watch at a window opposite to the great
iron gate that stood open. I said I should covet to
be near him through what was coming. So he told
me to go and speak to his brother Will, who was
the captain and originator of the band. Accordingly
I did so, and in a little was at my window within
a couple of yards of Kennedy, whence I could see
down into the courtyard, and also over the main wall
of the castle out upon the fields. I could even see the
gravelled walk sweeping away through the trees of the
avenue.
It was nearly pit-mirk, for the stars were dimmed
and forwandered in the thin cloud overhead. As we
stood to our posts, steadily and clearly in a gallery
behind a clock struck the hours.
Once I thought that I heard horses, as though an
iron shod had slipped on a stone ; but again it might
only have been in the stables of Earlstoun, the noise
of a horse rising to its feet.
THE BARRING OF THE DOOR. 309
" What think ye they can want ? " said I to
Kennedy, " It canna be Hector Faa seekin' May
again ? "
" Hector Faa — my fit ! " he said, in a contemp-
tuous whisper; "this is a bigger job than the liftin'
o' your jo," he said. " They're after the auld wife's rents
an' mails, and maybe they jaloose that my faither's
brass kist is here as weel."
I was at once relieved and disappointed to hear that
Hector Faa had nothing to do with the raid.
" Mind you there's them in this business," con-
tinued Maxwell, " that hauds their heids high. This
is nae Macaterick's ploy — though of coorse there'll be
baith Macatericks and Marshalls there. But the wale
o' the Solway Freetraders will be ridin' through that
door afore the mornin', an' you an' me wull eyther
be suppin' oor parritch in Earlstoun kitchen or
gettin' oor kale het in anither place, according to
circumstances an' upbringin'."
"What set them on her? " said I, for the Lady of
Earlstoun had always been well thought of as one of
the old stock, and never forward in setting on the
dogs of justice.
" Guid kens," said Kennedy, " mostlv greed an' ill
bluid. Forbye they hae a pick at us, an' they ken
she has gi'en shelter to May. So they think, nae
doot, that she is airt an' pairt wi' us."
"I kenned brawlv how it wad be," continued
Kennedy, in a discontented tone. " Oor Wull is
aye sae fond o' keepin' within the law, an' he craved
permits frae Sir Andrew Agnew to pursue an' mak' an
end o' the outlaws o' the hill country. So of course
he got it for the askin', an' thank ye kindlv — for the
310 THE RAIDERS.
Government o' King George has aneuch to do in
the north no to be pleased to get ony jobs like this aff
its hand. But the warrant was posted in Edinburgh,
an' as soon as word o't cam' to Carrick an' Gallowa',
I kenned they wad be a' doon on us, bizzin' like a
bees' bike."
CHAPTER XXXV IF.
THE SILVER WHISTLE BLOWS.
"Guid guide us ! D'ye hear that ? " said Kennedy.
A clear jingling came over the moor.
" That's a horse beast shakin' its bridle reins,"
said I.
Indeed I cannot say that I liked the business at all.
It was eery to sit by the unglazed narrow window
with one's ears on the strain, and every bird that cried
on the moors making the heart jump. A corncrake
among the long grass cried "Crake — crake!" But
there was something in the tone of it which told
me that that bird wore a buff jacket and steel cap, or
I was the more mistaken. An owl flew by with
a soft waft of the wing, and if I had not seen it, I
should not have believed in the hoot it gave from the
centre tower where Neil Cochrane stood on guard.
He was an Ayrshireman, and I heard him say, "Shoo,
you beast ! " below his breath.
My nerves were tugging at my arms, and had a cat
crossed the courtyard I declare that I should have
loosed off my musket at it. It was but little that
I could see from mv window, save the blackness of
3"
312 THE RAIDERS.
the courtyard, and the glimmering grey space of the
great open doorway where, if anywhere, danger would
come.
Suddenly something black, like a four-footed beast,
appeared in that grey space. I had my gun at my
shoulder to fire, but a familiar aspect took me, and I
dropped it. I recognised the spread of the hind legs.
It was Quharrie, and I am sure it was his master that
stole like a shadow across the grass plot behind him.
Whither could he be going ? Was he warning the
enemy or acting as our advanced guard ? The ques-
tions which had tormented me ever since Silver Sand
took our matters in hand came up again with new and
overwhelming force.
Was it still possible that Silver Sand was playing
booty ? Could it be that he was, through all his
twistings and secrecies, working for the interests of
our cruel and revengeful enemies ?
I had indeed good cause to think so, but then again
I simply could not believe it. Once and again Silver
Sand had had the whole of us in his power. Had he
wished to destroy us on this present occasion, all that he
needed to do was simply to lie in his camp and the
stroke had inevitably fallen. Yet he had saved us. But
why did he for ever hang about the skirts of the fray ?
How was it that whenever it came to a tulzie and
the swords were sharpened for weir, Silver Sand dis-
appeared and was no more to be found, reappearing
only to cover the retreat of the foe ? I found no
answer, and, indeed, none was possible for me to find
at that time. The matter was far beyond me at the
moment, depending on something which I never
suspected. So I need not have troubled myself that
\
THE SILVER WHISTLE BLOWS. 313
night by the open wicket of the tower of Earlstoun
as to the solving of the problem.
Yet I knew that the enemy could not be far off, for
Silver Sand was ever a stormy petrel of danger. But
the night shut down again, and I grew deadly weary
of inaction. I heard Kennedy softly cursing the
universe, and particularly his brother Will, because
he was numb with cold and had been forbidden to
smoke or so much as to spit — a dire prohibition to the
untamed Galloway man who spits in his sleep, and
still more especially in church, regurgitating all
through the sermon like Solway tide in the narrows
of Rathan.
Outside the corncrake cried as though it were
beneath the wall. There was more of the steel cap
in the sound than ever. The fellow was near by,
under the wall mayhap. Then farther off a heather-
bleat, whose note is the clan call of the wolves of
Buchan, whinnied as though to it once had been given
a soul, now lost without hope, which nevertheless it
continued to seek over the breast of the moorland.
Now I had imitated all the moorland sounds and
those of the sea fowl for many a day as I lay on the
smooth green turf of Rathan, and there was no
bird that I could not summon to me, save the snipe
(which is called the heatherbleat) alone. So, as a
lad will, I practised the cry night and day, till the
bird itself would come nearer and fall beside me like a
falling star, or (as I thought) a cherub with a broken
wing. So proud was I that I never made soup or
him, but sent him off, a very astonished bird, to bleat
again after his lost soul upon the waste. At this busi-
ness I thought that I could beat even Silver Sand.
314 THE RAIDERS.
So utter weary did I grow of this time of tension
that I put my head out of the window to look about
me, thereby inviting a shot had any enemy been near
enough ; for, indeed, I never put risk against pleasure
all the days of me but I chose without hesitation the
pleasure. For some long moments I drank in the
night air, and it was sweet to my soul. Again the
bird whinnied in the air. I looked narrowly for him,
for it was yet early for the snipe to be astir, even in
the nesting time of the year.
Before I knew it my pride came upon me. With
my tongue vibrating upon my palate, and my hand
directing my voice upward, I let the weird sound float
out three times on the night air. So exactly did I give
it, that even I was touched with the pathos of it, and
tears stood in my eyes for the lonely bird seeking its
soul. That is the way I thought of it, and that is
the reason I was able to do it so truly. First there was
the sough in the air as the bird mounted, then the
quiver of the stoop, and the sharpening crescendo as
the bird caught itself up again and began to ascend.
Never had I done it better. Indeed I did it overwell,
and had Will Maxwell known then what he will know
now, if any one takes the trouble to read this tale
to him, he had come near to taking my life. But
even Kennedy at my elbow was deceived, and cursed
heartily at the noisy bird, which pleased me more
than keeping all the commandments.
But what happened thereafter still more astonished
me. The crake I had heard before immediately cried
three times beneath the wall with a human sound.
That fellow deserved a bullet in him for doing it so
poorly. Yet the quality of steel cap in the corn-
THE SILVER WHISTLE BLOWS. 315
crake's tones gave a jar to the nerves that went down
one's back, and I shuddered in spite of the poorness of
the performance. Only the heatherbleat which I had
answered went on crying. Again I sent my voice up
into the dark lift, and again steel cap cried " Crake ! "
I called once more with drowsy whimpering wing —
the true nesting sound, and then all soft and mellow
out on the waste, clear as a flute, a silver whistle blew.
Then knew I that at last the fat was in the fire, and
I looked carefully to the lock of my piece.
I heard Will Maxwell speak behind me.
" Fire when the gate darkens ! " he said, and passed
on, a keen soldier with the eye of the Duke of Ramillies
himself.
Then suddenly was the Great House of Earlstoun
with all its entrances and approaches belted in a ring
of noise. Hoofs clattered up the pebbled avenue,
feet stirred about the wall, and from the other side,
where the office-houses were, came the sound of a
forehammer thundering on a gate.
A deep voice cried, "Open !" But from the dark
of the wall upon the hither side no voice came back.
The hammer again thundered upon the wood some-
where with hideous clamour. Then with a crash
the gate gave, and there came a rush of trampling
feet.
Horse iron clanged on the hard pavement beneath
the gate. A man on a gigantic horse filled up the
doorway.
" Hector Faa, as I'm a living soul," said I within
me, and so fired. The echo from the little wicket
through which I had set my gun deafened me. I did
not hear the noise of any other shots, but I am told
3i 6 THE RAIDERS.
that as soon as my piece had given the signal, there
came from all about the house a dropping and irregular
fire, first from our side at the ports and wickets, and
then a return from the enemy without.
I saw that the man in the doorway had fallen, and
lay across. Then those without the gate drew the
horse away, and in the darkness I could see the man
trying to crawl clear as though to lie down in the
shelter of the wall.
But now, riding two abreast, a crowd of men drave
right into the quadrangle of the court from the
entrance. They had been astonished by their recep-
tion, never dreaming that the tower was garrisoned.
Yet they were not the men to be dauntoned. So they
rode in. Why they came on horseback, when it had
been better generalship to come on foot, I know not ;
but so they did. For one thing the outlawry men
never cared to trust themselves far off their horses
while they raided into the low country, and every
Lingtowman upon the shore kept a swift beast as the
main tool of his craft.
At all events they trampled in upon their garrons
till the courtyard was nearly full, and on the strong
main door by which I had entered the sledges began
to thunder.
" Fire ! " cried Will Maxwell at last, and almost as
one the guns went off, and men tumbled right and
left among the horses' feet.
" Load with lead drops ! " cried the voice of Will
Maxwell, high up on the tower.
" Let me do it for you as I did in the cave ! " said a
voice in my ear, softly. It was May Maxwell, stand-
ing with shawl over her head in the stone passage.
THE SILVER WHISTLE BLOWS. 317
Without a word I handed her my piece, and the
flask and lead lay on the stone sill. Was she not a
soldier's daughter — a Maxwell — and about to become
the Lady of Rathan ?
What right had I to forbid ? Her kind had stood
behind father and husband for many a day, with the
powder-flask in recent years and before that with the
dirk. May was good with either, as I had reason to
know.
The next volley came irregularly, according as the
Maxwells and their men had facilities for loading.
The drops scattered wide among the animals, and
the whole courtyard became a leaping and plunging
hell of maddened horses. They blocked the gate.
They fought with each other, biting and kicking.
The breaching blows upon the great door ceased.
The strikers with the sledge hammer were swept
away, likely under the feet of the horses, for I heard
confused cries and groans as the turmoil swept beneath
me. It was pitiful, but I thought on the beef in the
sea-chest, for that broad, cold, white expanse with the
two red gashes in it had ridden my memory ever
since. So I hardened my heart again and fired (as it
were) into the brown, May handing me my piece the
while as deftly and calmly as a man-at-arms.
The tide now set through the gate, and though the
men had seemed a long time in getting within, the rush
of the maddened horses carried them out swiftly, and
the courtyard emptied itself like the White Horse
Sands when the ebb surges back through the gut of
Solway.
But there were three men and a horse that lay still
oji the red flas;s to rise no more. One of the men was
318
THE RAIDERS.
groaning, but I thanked God that the horse was dead.
Dumb brutes in pain I never could bear.
"Gin that wasna the Miller o' Barnboard that I
pat a shot intil, my name's no Kennedy Maxwell,"
said a voice,
kye ! "
" The foul thief — he owes us for fower
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK.
May had silently stolen away from my side during
the outlaws' retreat, without doubt to carrv the news
to the Lady Grizel. Again there was a time of
waiting, and it was weary, as in the heart of action
such times ever are. But the next that we knew of
the attack was from the side which I could not see.
First there came a thick smoke drifting and eddying
round the tower, and then the uncertain flicker of
flames, casting red reflections upon the already
crimson-splashed courtyard. The ghastly men lay
there with black masks across their brows ; but one,
in the corner beneath us, had in his agony torn off his,
and revealed the features of Gil Macaterick, whom I
had seen last by the " Murder Hole " on the side of
Craig Neldricken.
We were waiting thus when Will Maxwell cried
from the top of the battlements for ten men to come
from the north side to the high tower wall. I sprang
away to get before Kennedy, for I knew that one of
us would surely be sent back. Now it seemed that
Kennedy was certain to get before me, being able to
reach the stair first, so I said, " Kennedy, hae ye your
319
320 THE RAIDERS.
ramrod? " which made him search, whereupon I sprang
before him, setting my hand on his breast and giving
him a push ; and so left him using, as was his custom,
the language for which our soldiers were noted in
Flanders. For this may I be forgiven.
From the tower top there was a sight worthy to be
seen. Men were hurrying about the outhouses with
bundles of faggots, and half a dozen of our picked
marksmen were shooting at them as at running deer —
mighty pretty to see, as one and another dropped his
man.
So here, on the top of the keep, I stood still in wonder,
till Will Maxwell came and gave me a great clap on
the back, ordering me to cower behind the wall, and
do some good shooting for my board and lodging.
He kept marching up and down, and must have made
a conspicuous mark to those below, for just as I
dropped behind the stepped battlements a bullet came
" spat " against the wall by which I had been standing,
driving most viciously, and fell flattened and frayed
at my feet. It was quite warm. Will Maxwell was
rolling up one arm with a napkin, using the other
hand and his teeth, but looking all the time mighty
coolly at the men running round the office-houses with
firebrands. The ball had just nicked him and gone
its way.
The burning sticks crackled and a great smoor of
reek arose, especially from the back of the stables,
where we could hear the poor horses plunging. But
the enemy now kept carefully under cover, and though
we continued shooting at them I could see no manner
of good being done.
"This is the second time I hae heard the Red Cock
SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK. 321
craw," said Will Maxwell; " the third I'll be chanticleer
mysel'."
He stood on the tower top looking abroad as calmly
as though he had been setting out a day's work at
bigging dykes, and then said —
" This will no do, boys ; we'll hae to get oot by at
them ! " So with that he took twenty of us (of whom,
alas ! I was not one), and set them ten and ten to go
out by opposite doors, with orders to run round the
back of the byre and stables to slay all who opposed
them, while himself and other three active men
scattered and put out the fires already kindled.
So this they did, while two of the Maxwells kept
the gates.
I was not on the roster of those who were to sally
forth from the walls, but nevertheless I slipped out
after them from the lesser door on the south side at
which the outlaw men had first come. It was great
Nick Haining of Dalsleuth who was leading our sally,
and the men scoured away to the corner of the barn,
dropping on their knees to take aim when they rounded
it — no doubt raking the enemy sheltering there with
a severe cross fire, for at that moment Will Max-
well's party began to shoot from the corner by the
carriage house. I did not trouble my head with either
party, having no arms with me save my pistols, but
ran at once to the stables, where I loosened the plunging
horses and turned them out, for I could not bear to
see the poor beasts burnt and hear their crying. They
were driven fairly wild with the noise, the flickering
lights of the torches, and the smoke. Being strange
to me, they would on no account let me come near
them, but almost knocked out my brains against the
21
322 THE RAIDERS.
wall with their flying heels. However, from the ancient
corn-crib that stood in the corner and had a good high
lid, I swung myself up among the rough joists ; and
so with my great jockteleg knife I leaned down and
cut their halters one by one, scrambling perilously the
while among the rafters. Whereat each turned and
made for the door, I giving them a sound scud on
the hip as they went past for the peck of trouble they
had cost me. So in a trice the stable was emptied and
I went on to see after the cows.
The smoor of reek was thicker in the byre, but
luckily all the cows were out and only one little
late-dropped calf was in its stall, bleating most
piteously. It also I loosed and turned to the door.
But no sooner had I done so than I saw our men,
with Will Maxwell at the head of them, drive like
stour across the yard and in at the open gate, which
clashed in the face of the crowd of men that hung upon
their tails. It was so quickly done that I could not see
well, and in the uncertain light of coming dawn and
the flickering of the dying fires I could not clearly
make out their numbers. But it seemed to me that
there were only eight of them. Several, therefore,
must be dead or taken.
As I thought upon my position it seemed to me
exceedingly likely that there might be still more
missing at roll-call, and that one of them would be
myself.
The men who had rushed after Will Maxwell's
small band to the sally port turned as quickly and
ran back whence they came ; for a gun or two cracked
from the walls, and a man stumbled and came down
on his hands and knees, crawling away painfully on
SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK. 323
all fours. For me, I lay a long time stretched out on
a beam in the byre, and as the beam was untrimmed
and of rough tree, it galled me exceedingly. I thought
every moment that I must drop for very pain, half of
me on either side of the wretched contrivance. I
forgot that byre joists are not meant for places of
concealment.
Suddenly there was a noise without. A man came
and looked every way about the byre, standing fair in
the doorway. I could easily have shot him from where
I lay, for I saw the whites of his eyes. He walked
stealthily, and the dancing lights without glinted on
the blade of the long knife which he carried. He
glided within with a bowing slouch that was most
unwholesome to see. These things I did not distaste
so greatly, but I hated the red gleam of the fired stack
which shone in the man's eyes through a narrow wicket
of the byre as he looked about. A man has been
hanged only for showing a face like that in broad day ;
but in the dark of a cowshed, and with the whites of his
eyes flickering red, and his upper lip pulled high over
his gleaming teeth, I thought it had been the devil
himself looking for me. I think that if Hector Faa
had come into the byre just then I should have fallen
upon his neck.
There came again the tread of a light foot at
the door, and mv gentleman of the red eyes leapt
swiftly under me with his knife point down, and
sprang into the darkness of the hay-mow at the end
of the byre. Then there was stillness. But what a
stillness ! My heart beat against the beam like a
hammer of wood. I listened till I could hear the
spiders spinning their webs. I heard the mice creep,
324 THE RAIDERS.
and the slaters and little beasties running among the
thatch. I almost heard my own flesh crawl on my
bones — as indeed I well might, for I think it must
nearly have got down by itself, leaving my skeleton
hanging there on the joist.
How long this suspense might have continued I
cannot tell, for the light noise at the door went on.
Something bellowed outside, but weakly ; and I could
hear my gentleman of the eyes and teeth quake among
the hay.
At last the grey oblong of the door was filled up
with a living shape.
" Patrick ! " said a voice I well knew, in a whisper.
Gracious Providence above be merciful ! It was
May Maxwell!
With a quick snarl like a wild beast, the creeping
rascal sprang from the hay-mow at the end of the barn.
As he sped underneath me I could see his knife gleam
when he turned the blade upwards to strike. But he
never reached the door, for one of my pistols went ofF
in my hand, more by instinct than of intention. He
staggered a moment, and then fell forward, all standing
as he was, and so lay, spread abroad on his face in the
gutter of the byre. His knife flew ringing to May
Maxwell's feet. Down I leapt, and taking her right
hand with my left as she stood amazed, and with my
undischarged pistol in the other, we ran to the little
postern door swift as ghosts and hammered thereon.
The keeper of it was no doubt at his wicket, for it
was some moments before we were spied and could
make them understand who was without. Inside I
heard Jen raging like one possessed for some man to
come and help her to turn the key. It had been
SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK. 325
jammed with a bar to keep any from turning it with
nippers from the outside. For the keyholes at the
Great House of Earlstoun one might put his fist into,
and one key was a back-burden for a sturdy lad.
It was only a moment or two that we stood there
in all, but it seemed to us an eternity. For even as we
waited, quaking, for the opening of the door, certain
men ran in front of the byre to find what the shot
was, and as the first man crossed the threshold he
cried aloud flinging up his hands. Then one turned
and observed us at the postern, for he levelled his
piece at us. I saw the straight gleam of the gun
barrel drop to a black dot, and with all my force I
thrust May behind me. A horrid burning pain in
my leg and a jerk to every nerve and muscle that
threw me back, told me that I was hit somewhere.
I never heard any report at all, but I knew that May
had caught me and dragged me within even as the door
opened.
Jen was there with a candle, and with all haste they
ripped away my stocking and saw the wound. It
was a mere nothing. A shot had gone clean through
the fleshy part of my calf, happily without injuring
either bone or great muscle.
The wound was not serious, as even May saw.
So they washed it and bound it up, and I insisted on
going back to my wicket with my gun again.
But the great raid was over. The Red Cock
would crow no more. The day was dawning, and
the outlaws and their friends drew themselves away
like the grey night- wolves that they were. But as
May and I looked down we saw a strange thing.
Each dead man seemed to rise of his own accord and
326 THE RAIDERS.
crawl backward towards the gate. We remained
stiff with terror, rooted to the spot with fear, and in
a little nothing remained in the courtyard but the red
splashes and the broad, shallow pools of blood. How
they managed it I know not, but probably, under the
cover of a cloud, they sent some of their smaller and
more dextrous thieves to carry off the dead for fear
of discovery. These, getting beneath, may have
glided off with the body, which in the darkness was
at once a protective shield and a terror to the on-
looker. However it be, I know that not a shot was
fired. For me, I would as soon have fired at the
corpse at a funeral as at these dead men come to life
again, who went crawling off, trailing their blood
behind them on the slippery flags of the courtyard.
The silver whistle blew time and again, farther and
farther away. Then the morning came and the sun
rose. There was a great silence about the uncanny
house till we heard the cocks crowing upon the
midden-stead at the byre end. It was passing strange
that they had slept safely through all the clamour of
the Red Cock crowing. To these answered the cocks
of Craigdarroch in distant whoopings, and from the
Rathan Isle methought I heard my own noble rooster
crowing tinily and airily, like a cock in fairyland
when the bells are ringing for the little folk to come
home.
Then we went out in a body to see what we could
find.
In the courtyard there were only the stiffening
pools of blood, scarlet splashes blackening rapidly to
crimson and puce — unwholesome and horrible. The
marks of the forehammers were on the spiked and
SECOND CROWING OF THE RED COCK. 327
plated doors all about the handles and keyholes.
The windows in the inner dwellings were all
broken with bullets, the sashes being splintered. On
the roof the flagstaff had been hit and hung by a
shaving in a very sad and melancholy manner. The
dead horse in the corner, with its eyes wide open,
lay on its side. It was well caparisoned, and the
mounting of the harness was of silver, both plain and
good but wholly without crest or motto.
" That's no hill-country horse ! " said Will Maxwell.
" I think I hae seen the like aboot Barnboard,"
said Kennedy, lifting up the head ; " an' I'm thinkin'
that gin we opened the beast's wame we wad find some
o' oor ain meal."
And true it is that the Miller of Barnboard was
never more seen on the countryside — neither at kirk
or market, holy fair or cock-fighting.
On the threshold of the byre door lay the knife
of the man with the teeth, which I secured and still
have on the wall above me as I write here at Rathan.
My wife took it down from over the mantelpiece
and put it in the aumrie of the spence where she
never goes ; but I found it and brought it back
again. That is the difference between her and
me. I had almost said between men and women,
but that might not be wholly true. For she likes
not to think on these old dangerous black days now
when all is peace, and Galloway is once more a
sober place to live in. But, contrariwise, I love to
think on every old memory, except only on the white
beef in the great sea-chest. That scunners me.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR.
It was six weeks before I was myself again, though
I lay up at the Great House of Earlstoun under the
eyes of Jen Geddes and the Lady Grizel. It was
wild weather and the winter was setting in earlier
than usual, as it ever does when we have a summer
season by ordinary good — " two summers in a year,"
as the folk say.
There was indeed nothing to take me over to the
Rathan, for the Dumfries masons and joiners were in,
putting such improvements upon it as the age of the
house and its ancient construction would allow. Eppie
was on their backs all day long (so Silver Sand told
me), fly ting and raging at them for useless, handless
loons. I imagined I could hear her, and thought
myself well out of the stour and the noise, especially
as May Maxwell with her own hands bandaged and
bathed my leg each day. She had got back much of
her gay spirits, and it was an entirely pleasant thing to
have her look in upon me with a smile and a bright
word as she went up and down the stairs with a
duster or feather switch in her hand.
3^8
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR. 329
Then I would call to her to come to me for a
moment. Whereupon it was her custom if it were
morning and she had her house business to do, to
tiptoe round and kiss the top of my crown where the
parting of the hair is. Now as I have little parting
but only a wiry wisp of bristles, any one may judge
if this mode of kissing is not a mightily unsatisfying
thing. But it was no use to complain. There I
sat in a great black oak armchair, which was not
a whit the more comfortable because of the fact
(of which Lady Grizel and Gib Gowdie reminded
me twice a day) that three Earls had died in it. It
was a monstrously cumbersome article of furniture,
and there was no mode of getting round to the
back of it which I could compass with my leg on a
stool ; so that May Mischief was kissing her hand
to me at the door before ever I could move, and
saying in a tantalising way, as she imitated my tones,
" Wasna it nice ? "
The wretch !
But it was not always so, for I played fox several
times, pretending to be in pain, which with one
harder-hearted than May was a game which would
soon have spoiled itself. But she never quite knew
whether I might not be suffering in earnest, and so
(perhaps desiring a little to yield) ventured at long
and last within reach. Whereupon she retired for
a time and a time and half a time into the depths of
the Earl's chair.
" There's a difference in folk," she once said, merrily.
"Jen says that three Earls hae sat here ; but I'm thinkin'
gin twa o' them sat thegither at yince in it, they had
hardly agreed so weel as we."
33°
THE RAIDERS.
Which made us agree yet more and better.
So I abode in the snug shelter of the great house,
and in the forenights Kennedy Maxwell would slip
over and tell me tales of how the great raid on the
outlaws was progressing. He told of mighty doings.
There were preparations being made on the skirts of
the Kells. Bands of men from MinnigafF and the
edge of the Shire were to be led by one of the
MacKies of Glencaird. They were all to move as
soon as the hard weather set in, for the only time
to hunt the broken men out of their fastnesses was in
the days of a black frost and in the bright time of the
moon.
Now it was into November before I could get out
at all, and I was still a little lame in the middle of the
month. Yet by the first week in December I could
run with any of them up the Rathan Hill. However,
I still stayed on in the great house by the command
of Lady Grizel, who now openly assured us of her
intention of leaving her whole estate to May Maxwell
and her heirs for ever.
" So it will depend on how you behave yoursel',
Patrick my man, whether you an' yours gets ony
benefit. Men are no to lippin to, an' I'll get Rab
MacMonnies the lawyer to fettle it doon sae that gin
ye are no a guid wean, May can set ye to the door
wi' a bare c Guid-e'en to ye ! ' That's the lilt o't,
May, my lass."
But May, being of Scots bluid and far from reckless,
said to this no word of bad or good.
Whereupon the old lady would say, " Ye're a' alike,
you women, afore ye get marriet ; your ain lad
is aye c the wee white hen that never lays away ' ;
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR. 331
but after — my certes, ye never quat dabbin' at his
kame." 1
But for all Lady Grizel's kindness I do not think
that either May or I thought anything would come
out of her good will and even her promises. For me,
I have never been desirous of great possessions, and
the old house at Rathan has quite contented me, and
to this day I hold that there is no place in the world
like it. For I have the warm feeling for the soil
which nurtured and upheld me in my youth very
close round my heart. And May thinks so too.
But during these weeks there was ever a shade
on May's brow, and I knew what was causing
it. She was acquainted with the preparations for
the great raid on the den of the Wolves ; and
she, that was the daughter of Richard Maxwell, did
not dare to say a word to dissuade me from taking
part in it. Yet I felt that she was anxious for me.
I knew it from the way that she would hang on the
words of Kennedy when he came in the evening
and we all sat by the fire.
On the other hand Kennedy and the rest of the
Maxwells anticipated this raid as the great pleasure
and excitement of their lives. They had taken out a
Privy Council warranty for the extirpation of the out-
laws as one might take out a license to shoot game
in these present peaceful times, and they cleaned their
guns joyously and jested upon probable sport. Yet with
William Maxwell and some of the elder hands there
was a deep and even a kind of perverted religious
earnestness in the ploy. They had black scores of
death and burning against the outlaws. They had a
1 Pecking his comb.
332 THE RAIDERS.
deeper, keener, even a religious hatred also, for the Faas
and the Marshalls had been recruited by the remnants
of the wild Highland Host that ravaged the Lowlands
a generation before, carrying away all that it could
carry and burning whatever would not lift. It was
always believed that in the gypsies' country there
were hoards of the rich plunder of halls and the poor
heirlooms of cots, reft away in the terrible years that
preceded the unforgotten and unforgiven " Killing
Time."
There was once a minister in Balmaghie who used
to add a rider to the prayer, " Forgive us our tres-
passes as we forgive them that trespass against us,"
by saying as often as he used this petition, " But for
Thy glory talc' the Laird o' Lag an' a' the lave o' the
Malignants in Thine ain hand, lest they repent and it
be forgiven them ! "
So the great raid was in train by the 17th of
December. From all sides the men of the Lowland
parishes were to close in upon the outlaw country.
There was mustering and accoutring along the
Solway, and there was no doubt that the Marshalls,
Millers, Macatericks, and all the hideous crew that
gathered about them knew what was in store for
them, for the most part of their women were sent
into Ayrshire, and out along the Freetrade routes
to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Many of these were put
in hold by the Sheriffs of Ayr and Lanark as sorners
and limmers, and were safe gaoled when the blow fell
on the men whose worthy mates they were. Only a
few of the most indurated and cruel, like my friend
Eggface, remained to bide the brunt of the storm.
I
CHAPTER XL.
THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER.
It was a chill morning in the shortest days when I
took my fighting harness on my back, girt my sword
by my side, kissed my lass, and swung into stirrup with
a sinking heart within me and wet eyes behind me.
Right often did I vow that if only I were once safe
home again in the old tower of Rathan (from the
chimney of whose kitchen I could see the blue reek
go up so homely and friendly yet so far away), I
would never wear leather jerkin more, nor yet belt
the weary broadsword on again.
Never did soldier more unwillingly ride to battle
than I for the first three miles. But when I met
with long Samuel Tamson, accoutred with sword and
pistol like the best — unmounted, but moving his
legs as fast as a horse could trot, I somehow changed
my mind. I saw a strange glint in his eye, and I
thought of the little Marion whom only I had seen,
and only May Maxwell had spoken to, since she was
lost on the Silver Flow of Buchan so long ago. I
was mustered into Will Maxwell's company, and fell
in behind him in the front rank with Kennedy. Three
or four young lads, pretty fellows with good horses
333
334 THE RAIDERS.
that were brisk jumpers at fences, went on before as
vedettes.
It was a cold, dim, raw day, with a thick yellow
haze in the air, and a grim grip of black frost under-
foot. The horses' feet fell on the hard road as on a
pavement, and sounds carried far. There was a sough
of snow in the air. The wind came in little gusts and
swirls, flicking the blood into our cheeks as though
they had been switched with the ravelled lash of a
whip.
I had risen late after a long night's rest, for none
knew when we might sleep again, with so much wild
work before us ; and now, when I was fairly on the
road, I found strapped to my saddle-bow, within a
soldier's blue military cloak that an Earl had worn,
many things good and pleasant, which proved com-
fortable to a hungry man in a winter campaign.
It was mighty touching to me to think of one of
the very last things May said to me through her
tears —
" See an' keep your feet dry. There's a pair of
socks in your left pistol holster."
And that was as precious to me as many endear-
ments.
We were now riding westward to meet the men of
Lower Minnigaff at the bridge of Cree. As we went
the air became extraordinarily bitter. The wind
indeed dropped as we passed Cassencary, where in
the estuary the tide rolled full — a turbid yellowish
brown. As we rode clanking into Cree Bridge the
small snow began to swirl about us. I believed that
we were in for a great fall, and gave my word like a
faint heart to turn back, or at least to shelter for the
THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER. 335
night. But the movements had all been concerted,
and to pause meant nothing less than putting off the
attack indefinitely. Moreover, Will argued very
truly that it was a question whether we should ever
be able to get so many men and horses to come
together for the same purpose again.
So we went on, and after a little I was not so very
sorry, for the thought of having to go through the
parting with May (and also the screwing up of
my courage) all over again, lay very heavy on my
heart, so that I became as eager as any to go through
with it at once.
It was arranged that we were to leave our horses at
the Lodge of Eschonchan near Loch Trool, where
my Lord Galloway had a post, and kept his men at
all times of the year — paying, of course, mail to the
Marshalls to escape skaith, and in name of protection.
Here we would leave a guard and push northward to
cast the die once and for all.
We counted upon having the young moon, but it
now seemed that a moon we should certainly not
have to light us on our way, though she ought to have
been in the sky by seven o'clock.
The snow flew thicker but in a curious, uncertain
way, as though little breezes were blowing it back
from the ground. A flake would fall softly down
till it neared the earth, then suddenly reel and swirl,
rising again with a tossing motion as when a child
blows a feather into the air.
As we went along the pale purple branches of the
trees grew fuzzy with rime, which thickened till
every tree was a wintry image of itself carved in
whitest marble.
336 THE RAIDERS.
In truth I liked not the day, and I liked it ever the
worse as we went on, though I had said all that I
could say with honour. For the yellow mist packed
itself dense and clammy about us as we advanced. It
had a wersh (raw), unkindly feel about it, and as we
rose higher up the water of Trool it hung in fleecy
waves and drifts against the brows of the hills. But
what I liked least was the awesome darkness of the
sky. The mist was almost white against it wherever
there was a break, yet itself was dark and lowering.
A dismal, uncanny light that I cared not to look upon
pursued us and just enabled us to see. I cannot say
that it cheered us.
The feelings of most of us were expressed by old
Rab MacQuhirr who had long been herd on the
Merrick and was now our guide.
" Guid save us an' sain us ! " said Rab ; " I like
not this day. This is a de'il's day ! Nae day o'
God's makkin' was ever like this ! "
Which indeed may seem a foolish if not unreverent
thing to say, but then had you been there and under
the skarrow of that ugsome cloud, maybe a belief in
the all-ordering Providence would not have served
you quite so well either. It is easy to thole the boots
when your neighbour is put to the question.
The Glen of Trool was dark and narrow as we
went down into it along the waterside, and the loch
itself lay black as night at the bottom of its precipices.
It might have been the mouth of the pit of black-
ness itself. The faintly falling snow had not lain on
its surface, which made me wish that I could unbind
my father's Dutch ice-runners from the saddle-bow.
He had brought them home with him from the Low
THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER. 337
Countries as curious things for folk to wonder at ;
and with them I used many a day to disport myself
on the White Loch o' the Clonyard, or upon the
Orraland mill-dam when I cared not to go so far from
home.
I fetched them with me, knowing that when we
had to storm the fortress of the isle in Loch Enoch,
my life might depend on my speed. Moreover, ice-
running was an accomplishment seldom tried in Gallo-
way at that time, and I hoped to come back having
gained not a little honour and reputation thereby.
After a long and weary plod up hill and down dale
the Lodge of Eschonchan rose before us close by the
waterside, a place which the Lords of Galloway had
used for a hunting lodge ever since they came to be
overlords of that part of the Forest of Buchan — for of
old only Cassillis and the Kennedies bore the rule there.
It is not a large, but it is a strong-built house — though
with hardly any articles of furniture, except bowls and
platters of the roughest, because it is not wise to trust
aught of value to the gypsies, even under the protec-
tion of the payment of mail. So my Lord the Earl
keeps not his muniment boxes and treasure chests at
the Lodge of Eschonchan by the water of Trool.
Here, therefore, we had some refreshment, and rested
an hour. Then, leaving a guard with the horses
just sufficient to protect them in case of attack, we
pressed on with most of the younger men.
Our way lay up the same Gairland Burn by which
May, Silver Sand, and I came down in such pain that
morning long ago. Yet I think I was heavier of
heart to go up it under that gloomy winter sky, for
now every step took me farther away from all I loved.
22
338
THE RAIDERS.
I tried to think that it must be for the best, which was
no doubt true ; but somehow the thought did not seem
to affect the state of my courage, which had (as usual)
sunk down into the pit of my stomach. It was, in
truth, cold comfort.
We marched in close array with skirmishers flung
far up the slope to touch any hidden enemy, while the
rest came by the narrow path by the waterside, where
the burn roared and swirled about the great gray
stones.
We were soon deep among the hills, and yet not a
shot had been fired at us. Not a dry red bracken had
waved. The rime lay close and thick, and the brown
heather kept the feet quiet. Only a scabbard rang now
and then on a jutting point of granite, or a nail in some
brogan screamed stridently against a stone, harsh and
slippery with frost. No whaup or peewit cried. Only
on a rock high on the Glints of the Nether Hill of
Buchan, a black corbie croaked his dismal anticipative
son g.
It was not cheering, all this, yet I felt some real
elevation to think that we were soon to come to grips.
We were just at the corner of the burn where,
under a great black face of rock it is hemmed in a
deep defile, when our scouts on the hillside set up a
great crying, the cause of which we could not at the
time understand.
" Come up ! " they cried. " The water's broken
lowse ! "
Our herd guide and I took the hill at once, and so
did many who were acquainted with the wild lochs
and precipices about us, and with the nature of the
wilder men whose lives were forfeit to the law.
THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER. 339
Suddenly we heard before and above us a tremendous
roaring noise, as though the bowels of creation were
gushing out in some great convulsion. The hills gave
back the echoes on every side. I found myself climbing
the brae with some considerable verve and activity till I
was fairly among the higher rocks. So active was I
that I ran straightway into the embraces of a hairy
savage with matted locks, whose weapon was in his
hand — the long dirk of the Highlander. But he had
not expected any one to come at him over a rock in
so remarkable a manner. He took my inroad as a
dangerous assault, conceiving that I must have men
behind me to be so bold, for he instantly threw down
his knife and up with his hands in an attitude of
supplication.
" HurseP be a puir Gregor lad, an' no doin' ony
harm ! " was his statement.
Behind me came our guide, Rab MacQuhirr and
Kennedy Maxwell, at sight of whom my captive,
taking heart of grace, plunged upwards weaponless
among the rocks, and as it was a rough place, with
many yirdsy or hiding-places between the boulders, he
was out of sight in a moment. Of which I was glad,
for had Will Maxwell come upon him and his dirk,
that hour had been the last of " hurseP the puir
Gregor lad."
But the MacGregor dirk I set in my belt as a
trophy.
The great roaring noise still continued. Indeed
the whole of the foregoing since I took the hill
passed in a brief tale of seconds. Suddenly we that
were up on the side of the Gairy saw a wondrous
sight. A great wall of water, glassy black, tinged at
34°
THE RAIDERS.
the top with brown and crowned with a surging crest
of white with many dancing overlapping folds, sped
down the glen. Our array was pent in the narrow
passage — all those, that is, who had not taken the hill
at the first alarm. As the wave came down upon
them there was the wildest confusion. Men threw
away their guns and took blindly to the hillside,
running upward like rabbits that have been feeding
in a bottom of old grass. From where we stood the
water seemed to travel with great deliberation, but
nevertheless not a few of our men were caught in the
wash of it and spun downwards like corks in the
inrush of the Solway tide.
The black, white-crested wave being passed, the
great flood ran red again in a moment, with only a
creamy froth over it, and we could hear the boulders
grinding and plunging at the bottom of the burn.
Then upon us, scattered as we were in confusion
over the brae face, there broke a storm of bullets from
behind the rocks higher up the Gairy. It was the
first sign of the enemy we had found, and we re-
sented it exceedingly.
A strange sense of the unfairness of the proceeding
took hold of me. We had come prepared to give
battle and to deliver an assault ; but we wanted to do
it in our own way and on our own terms. We felt
that it was most perfidious (indeed unfair and scoun-
drelly) thus to scatter us over a great area of ground,
and then have at us when we were least prepared.
But Will Maxwell had some of the spirit of a
general. Standing on a rock, he sounded his pipe,
calling all down from the bare hillside, where each
man was a mark for the guns of the outlaws into the
THE BREAKING OF THE BARRIER. 341
closer cover of the burnside, thick sown with boulders.
The flood was still running, but was evidently past
its strength. The great roaring sped farther and
farther down the valley. We gathered off" the hill,
running like foxes about the stones, and taking
advantage of the chance cover as we went. Bullets
spatted uncomfortably among the rocks, but the fire
of the hill men was not good, and the light was be-
coming uncertain, so that very few of our men were
wounded.
As soon as he had us all collected in the valley, our
captain began moving in loose skirmishing formation
along the side of the burn towards the loch. The
outlaws above us also kept parallel with our march,
shots cracked, and on the hillside there was a noise of
cheering. But we held on our way, and so far no one
was seriously hurt, which showed that the aim of the
enemy had been bad. But we knew not if our own
were much better.
CHAPTER XLI.
A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE.
When we came to the southern side of Loch Valley,
whence the Gairland Burn issues, we saw a strange
and surprising sight. There was a deep trench,
the upper part of which had been cut through recently
by the hands of man, for the rubbish lay all about
where the spades had been at work. The ends of a
weir across the outlet of the loch were yet to be
seen jutting into the rushing waters. This had evi-
dently been constructed with considerable care and
certainly with immense labour. But now it was cut
clean through, and we could see where their sappers
had first set their picks ; the power of the flood had
done the rest. So great had been the force of the
water that the passage was clean cut as with a knife
down to the bed rock. The deep knoll of sand and
jingling stones, which lies like a barrier across the
mouth of the loch, had been severed as one cuts
sweet-milk cheese, and the black waters were yet
pouring out from under the arch of ice that spanned
the loch as out of a cave in some frozen Tartarus.
But as we looked over the black and glistering
expanse of hollow ice which swept away to our left,
342
A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE. 343
bright cracks began to play like forked lightning across
its whole surface. The water had been sucked from
beneath it, and it held up only by its own weight.
The hills echoed the deep-voiced roaring as the cracks
and rendings ran across and across. Gradually the
play of this flashing and thundering turmoil centred at
a point beneath our eyes, and fair in the middle of the
loch. An intensely black spot began to yawn there,
from which the white, roaring cracks rayed out like the
spokes of a wheel from the hub. On the edge of the
loch we stood as it were on the rim of a whirlpool,
for the ice sloped down from our feet every way into
the black centre. Had any one set foot upon the verge
of it they had been carried down to the yawning hole,
for the entire ice of the loch was giving way as the
roof of a great cavern slopes and sways before it falls in.
Then with a crash that shook the ground the ice
cave fell in upon the water in a thousand pieces,
sending the white foam mixed with dark lumps of ice
high into the air, while underneath the broken frag-
ments tumbled and crunched against one another like
bergs in a heavy sea (such as I have heard the whalers
tell of). Then little by little, groaning and wheezing,
the turmoil settled down ; and Loch Valley, with its
shivered covering of broken ice, went to sleep ten feet
beneath its level of the morning.
Hardly elsewhere in Scotland had such a thing been
possible ; but the outlaws took advantage of the higher
barrier of sand and shingle which had so long dammed
back the waters of the deep rock-bound lake. It was
a true stroke of generalship, and showed us that we
had others than ignorant red-handed Marshalls and
bloody Macatericks to deal with. It was so well
344 THE RAIDERS.
thought on that it did not seem like the rough-and-
ready knife-and-bullet method of the common
catheran.
And, indeed, nothing more calculated to shake one's
nerve could well be conceived. We were glad to draw
together our scattered force, but there is no doubt that
by this time most wished themselves well out of it.
For me, at least, that six-foot breast of black water
and the shining whirlpool of rending ice had taken
away any desire for revenge.
Nevertheless, as the darkness settled deeper, we
drew down to the old sheep rees by the Midburn,
which are solidly built of great granite stones like
a fortress, based upon the unshaken ribs of the hills.
There was room for us all here. By nature the place
was strongly protected — on the one side by the roaring
and dangerous Midburn, and on the other it is fenced
in by a morass. Here we hoped to abide in some sort
of peace, if little enough comfort, through the long
winter night. We had all our plaids wrapped about
us ; and my friend Kennedy had carried strapped about
him, half for the warmth and half for the good things
of my Lady Grizel which it contained, the Earl's
great military mantle. Both cloak and comforts we
had agreed to share together.
But this consummation was not at all what I had
expected. My chances of glory were few, and the
raid seemed likely to end in disaster. To run uphill
and take prisoner a shaggy catheran (who immediately
escaped again), to be penned like one of a score of hogs
in a granite sheep-ree, were not at all to my mind.
But how could I better it ?
The outlaws on the hill had given us no further
A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE. 345
trouble, and indeed their demonstration against us had
been confined to the moment when the rush of the
escaping waters of Loch Valley made us give back
and scatter.
" The Carrick men should be coming on by now,"
said Will Maxwell. " Oh, if only we had some one
to go up and see what they are doing ! "
The old shepherd of the Merrick knew the country
best, but he was stiff and old ; and, besides, cared little
about the matter. About as little cared I, save to
burn the Shieling of Craignairny and get that accursed
sea-chest out of my dreams. But I think the devil
must have tempted me suddenly and successfully, for I
called out among them all that I would put on my
ice-runners and go. At which they cried admira-
tion and astonishment. Yet I was grieved the next
moment and silently called myself a fool for my pains,
and that many times over ; but my accursed pride
would not let me take back the spoken word.
May Maxwell says now that that was the wickedest
thing I ever did, because I forgot my plighted word
and promise to her — I might have let one of the others
go. All which I own is true, but then no one of the
others would have offered, and so we had all come
home with our fingers in our mouths.
But all the lads of the raid cried out upon me, and
said that I was the bravest of the brave, and other
things which please a young man. So I took my ice-
runners in my hand — which, as I have said, my father
had brought from Holland. Kennedy Maxwell and
four others, all proper young men with well-grown
beards on their faces, whom for this cause I often envied,
came to see me safely off, for I proposed first to circle
346 THE RAIDERS.
Loch Neldricken on the ice, that I might be sure there
were no enemies lurking about it. This I did, not
because I thought that the outlaw men would encamp
there, but that these young men, especially Colin Screel
and Kennedy Maxwell, who had formerly despised me,
might see me start off alone into the night. Such a
thick-skull was I, and so void of common understand-
ing ! For I ever loved to be admired and to be
exclaimed upon for doing that from which others held
back. And this same quaint kind of cowardice, for I
had little real courage, has often carried me through
with credit. I am of the faction of the old soldier who
said, when complimented on his bravery in battle,
" We are all black afraid, only — we do not all show
it!"
So I had enough sense to keep my fears to myself at
that time. Now it does not matter, for I am a man
of middle years, and such is the power of reputation
that I cannot do away with this repute myself, so
that even this plain confession of weakness will not be
believed ; which is perhaps, after all, the reason why I
make it here. So apt is man at deceiving others — and
himself.
But sally forth I did, binding my ice-runners of
curved iron to my feet at the little inlet where the
Midburn issues — too strong and fierce ever to freeze,
save only at the edges where the frost and spray hung
in fringes, reaching down cold fingers to clasp the
rapid waters.
Away to the left stretched Loch Neldricken, the
midmost of the three lochs of that wild high region
— Valley, Neldricken and topmost Enoch. I set foot
gingerly on the smooth black ice, with hardly even
A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE. 347
a sprinkling of snow upon it, for the winds had
swept away the little feathery fall, and the surface was
smooth as glass beneath my feet. Each of the young
men shook me silently by the hand. I suppose they
thought me at once brave and mad, for I had lost no
cattle and had a sweetheart at home to make a bride
of. Yet there was I, setting off into the black night
in the face of dangers unknown — dangers to which the
close-packed well-fenced camp in the sheep-ree was as
one's own fireside.
I struck out from the edge with great strokes,
moving my hands with each sway of my body as my
father had taught me. In a moment the four lads
sank behind me and I was alone on the black ice ;
yet I had that feeling of high defiance which all swift
motion gives. The ice whirled behind. Following
the southern edge, I was between the narrows in a
minute. Here a jutting promontory of land — a mere
tongue of sand and boulder — cut the loch almost in two.
There was a fire kindled on the south shore nearest
our camp, and on the opposite side as I sped by I
seemed to see two men standing with muskets in their
hands ; but so dark was it that of this I could not be
sure. If they saw me (which with the fire on the
shore opposite to them and the passage through which
I went not more than twenty yards wide, they could
hardly fail to do) they must have thought me the evil
one himself, flitting by as it were on the wings of the
wind.
I sped away with the irons on my feet, cutting
crisply through the thin-sprinkled snow, the immanent
mass of the Black Gairy casting a gloomy shadow
overhead. An odd flake or two of snow came into
348
THE RAIDERS.
my face as I bent low to look sideways up the hill. I
went slowly, moving only my body and hardly making
a sound, as the night parted before and closed behind
me.
It took but little time to make the circuit of the loch
and come back to the narrows ; but as I passed I put
on speed, for I knew that it was dead earnest this time.
The watchers would now be on the alert and might
very properly bethink themselves that the devil did not
use iron runners, but wings like the bat. So I bent
low and scudded through the strait with the dying fire
on one side and the land closing in to trip me upon
the other. I was just in the middle and running my
best, when a couple of shots went off, and the bullets
tore past behind me screaming like plovers whistling
down the wind.
I was so excited with my escape and proud of my
daring that I shouted as I flew ; but I had better have
held my tongue, for a moment after I saw that the
force of my impulse was taking me out of the region
of sprinkled ice among a low forest of dense green
reeds. As swift as thought I turned, but my impetus
was too great. I was carried among them, and there,
not twenty yards before me, like a hideous black
demon's eye looking up at me, lay the unplumbed
depths of the Murder Hole, in which for the second
time I came nigh to being my own victim. I remem-
bered the tales told of it. It never froze; it was never
whitened with snow. With open mouth it lay ever
waiting like an insatiable beast for its tribute of human
life ; it never gave up a body committed to its depths,
or broke a murderer's trust.
The thin ice swayed beneath me, but did not crack
A RACE FOR LIFE UPON THE ICE. 349
— which was the worse sign, for it was brittle and
weakened by the reeds. The lip of the horrid place
seemed to shoot out at me, and the reeds opened to
show me the way. I had let myself down on all fours
as I came among the rushes ; now I laid hold of them
as I swept along, and so came to a standstill but a
little way from that black verge. Here I hardly dared
to move, till, by slow degrees, pulling myself forward
and pushing backward, I got once more upon safe
ice ; then I made directly for the shore, for the Murder
Hole was more dreadful to me than a tribe of Faas
armed to the teeth.
In a few moments I had unshipped my runners,
gained the heather, and was making the best of my
way over the Ewe Rig towards the great barrier of
Craig Neldricken, behind which Loch Enoch lay.
As I went I heard the moor-birds cry — the wild whirl
of the whaup and the croak of the raven. Now I
knew well that most of these must be the signals of
my foes answering one another, because the gypsies
can imitate any bird that flies ; besides which, the
whaup is but seldom seen on these moors in winter
and the snipe never. A thought struck me. I set my
hands to my mouth in the way, that I have already
described, and made the whinny of the heatherbleat
palpitate across the moor.
Instantly, as on the night of the blowing of the
silver whistle, I was answered from either hand j my
summons had aroused a whole colony. Only towards
Loch Arrow, lying straight in front of me, there was
not a single sound. So I called again more persistently
and, as it were, querulously ; and immediately set off
running headlong upward in the direction of Loch
35°
THE RAIDERS.
Arrow, which I judged to be my best chance of
safety.
More than once I had to crouch among the rocks
to let a man run past me, so efficacious and imperative
had my second call been. It was a blessing that
almost everywhere over all that country there is a
capable hiding-place within each half-dozen yards ;
else had I been ten times a dead man.
I skirted Loch Arrow without putting on my ice-
runners, because it is little more than a mountain tarn,
and I knew that if there were any guards in the direc-
tion I was travelling they would be up at the Nicks
of Neldricken, or at the Slock of the Dungeon — the
passes which are the usual roads to the tableland of
Enoch. Without a moment's hesitation, therefore, I
set my feet upon the rugged Glints, hoary with rime
and slippery with frost.
Born by the shore of the Solway, with heuchs
(cliffs) at my door, and gulls' eggs for my playthings,
I was at home wherever there was a chance of holding
by my arms. Dark or light did not make any great
difference to me, and but that my fingers thrilled with
cold as they caught the rocks, I cannot say that I
was agitated by the perils of climbing the Clints of
Neldricken.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH.
Yet there was that in me as I went, which told me
I should never again see the day fair and the sun
shining on my own house at home. I had not so much
hope of success as a kind of anger against the pride
that had carried me up here among the hills where I
had no business. I might well have bided in my
walled dwelling of Rathan, and, with the credit I had,
have taken my wife into my bosom. But I must
needs, for the pride of being spoken about, be climbing
here on the rigging of creation like a tom-cat on the
tiles. And for what ? Just that the young men
might wonder and wait, and the message flee athwart
the country that none was so brave as Patrick Heron !
Which, indeed, was no truth ; for even now the heart
within me loathed my own deed, and I had a most
cowardly spirit — the spirit of a mouse, and even of a
poor mean mouse.
Yet must I go on, because the hunters were behind
me as well as before. I gripped the icy clints of the
granite rock tighter, and set my face to the thick-
sown bank of stars above me, for the night had blown
clear. Or perhaps, since the cliff was so high, I may
351
352 THE RAIDERS.
have risen above the frosty mist. At any rate it was
a place of deadly cold, and my ringers became numb.
Then they seemed to swell and thrill with heat so
that I thought they were dropping off.
Presently I was on the topmost ledge of all, and
crawling a few paces I looked down upon the desolate
waste of Loch Enoch under the pale light of the stars.
It is not possible that I should be able to tell what I
saw, yet I shall try.
I saw a weird wide world, new and strange, not
yet out of chaos — nor yet approven of God ; but such
a scene as there may be on the farther side of the
moon, which no man hath seen nor can see. I
thought with some woe and pity on the poor souls
condemned, though it were by their own crimes, to
sojourn there. I thought also that, had I been a
dweller so far from ordinances and the cheerful faces of
men, it might be that I had been no better than the out-
law men ; and I blamed myself that I had been so slack
and careless in my attendance on religion, promising
(for the comfort of my soul as I lay thus breathing
and looking) that when I should be back in Rathan,
May and I should ride each day to church upon a
good horse, she behind me upon a pillion — and the
thought put marrow into me. But whether grace or
propinquity was in my mind, who shall say ? At
any rate I bethought me that God could not destroy a
youth of such excellent intentions.
But this is what I saw, as clearly as the light per-
mitted— a huge, conical hill in front, the Hill of the
Star, glimmering snow-sprinkled, as it rose above the
desolations of Loch Enoch and the depths of Buchan's
Dungeon. To the right the great steeps of the
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH. 353
Merrick, bounding upward to heaven like the lowest
steps of Jacob's ladder. Loch Enoch beneath, very
black, set in a grey whiteness of sparse snow and
sheeted granite. Then I saw in the midst of all the
Island of Outlaws, and on it, methought, a glimmering
light.
So I set me to crawl downward. I went now as
though I had left fear behind me sticking to the frosty
Clints of Neldricken. The space between me and the
loch was hardly a bowshot, and I found myself putting
on my runners on the edge of the ice behind a great
logan-stone, or ever my heart had time to beat faster.
Then I was not at all afraid, thinking that on the ice
so black and polished I could distance all pursuers, for
none had that art in Galloway save myself.
The ice sloped away from the edge, and there was
a little quiver within me as I slid downwards, lest I
should be slipping into such another chasm as I had
seen open for me at the Murder Hole of Loch Nel-
dricken.
But only the great flat met me, and I struck out
softly. It was beautiful ice, smoother than I had ever
seen, having frozen early, and by the first intention,
as it were, being close up under the sky — with a skin
on it like fine bottle glass. But withal so clear and
still was now the air that, do as I would, I could not
hinder the ringing of my ice-runners, and the whole
loch twanged like a fiddle-string when one hooks it
with the forefinger and then lets go. Yet as I swept
along, swinging my arms nearly to the ice, and taking
the sweeping strides of the Low Countrymen, I had
a sense of pride that nothing in Galloway could come
near me for speed.
23
354 THE RAIDERS.
So sure was I, that with a sweep like an albatross
(as I told myself) I circled about to the island whereon
was the dying fire. As near as I could observe it the
light was in a kind of turf-covered shelter — not a clay-
built house with windows like that in which I had
spent a night of terror on the slopes of Craignairny.
There were men crouching around the fire, all looking
out to the loch, from which no doubt there came the
strange ringing of my ice-runners, the like of which
was never heard there before. Suddenly these men
seemed to take alarm, and like a brood of partridges
dispersing when one sets random foot among them,
they sped every way into the cover. I laughed within
myself. But I laughed not long, for as I went
I had that sense of being hunted, which comes so
quickly and is so unnerving. I heard not, saw not my
pursuer. I knew not whether the thing were man or
beast, ghost or devil. But I was being followed, and
that swiftly, silently. There was that behind me —
I knew not what — something that my nature feared,
perhaps just because it knew not what. In wild terror
I clenched my hands and flew. My runners cut the
smooth ice in long, crisp whistlings. The black
shores sped backward. On my track I heard ever
the patter of feet galloping as a horse gallops, yet
noiselessly, as though shod in velvet. As I turned at
the eastern end of the loch something grey and fierce
and horribly bristling sprang past open-mouthed,
straining to take me ; but overshooting the mark
with the impulse of extreme speed, the beast shot
past with all four feet hissing taut on the glistening
ice, yet looking back with fangs gleaming white.
So to and fro there was the rushing on the glassy
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH. 355
ice of Enoch — the beast that hunted me gaining ever
on the straight, and I at the turnings. After a time
or two I regained my composure in some degree. It
was a boy's game this, and I had played it before on
the ice, though not with such a fearsome playmate ;
nor yet with savage men scrambling and watching
among the stones at the edge, dirks in their hands and
murder in their hearts.
But I clearly saw that I had only the advantage so
long as I could keep up my speed. Did I slacken or
trip but once, the fangs were at my throat.
Likewise, though the nights were long, the morning
must come at last, and then I would be but a poor
hare waiting for the shot of the huntsmen, driven by
the hounds to die. Yet this I did not mind so much,
had there only been some one there to tell May Max-
well and the people of my country how I took my
fate.
But very suddenly the end came, even as 1 darted
between two isles that stand out of the middle of the
loch — my runner scraped the edge of a long ridge of
granite, and I pitched over on my face. In a moment
I felt the horrible breath of the beast on my face, as it
came rushing after and drove headlong upon me.
I had my knife out in a moment, and struck wildly
again and again at nothing till my arm was seized as
in a vice.
Then I heard the sound of men's voices, but faint
and far away, as though I were hearing in a dream
The light of a lantern shone upon me, and a band of
men came clattering over the ice to me. But there
was something that stood between me and the stars,
something black and large and panting, which faced
356 THE RAIDERS.
towards the men who came, standing across me like a
lion that guards its prey. Yet had the beast done me
no harm, so far as I could feel, saving (it might be)
that my arm was a little stiff".
As the men came nearer the beast emitted many
short, hoarse growls from deep within. Its body
seemed to quiver with rage, but whether with rage
at being interfered with in the disposition of its prey,
I could not tell.
" Ouharrie, good Ouharrie, come here ! ,! said a
voice from the group which halted three yards
away.
" ghiharrie at Loch Enoch ! " I thought, and it all
came clear to me. If Ouharrie were at Enoch, Silver
Sand was also there, and I was betrayed ! That was
my thought. Yet I was not the more afraid. On the
contrary, the conviction put into my heart a certain
dumb and proud anger, and I began at once to compose,
even as I lay on the ice, the speech that I would make
when I met my false friend face to face. For this was
my nature. It was a good speech and cutting, and it
made me feel that it was a fine thing to die. I was
ready to be a martyr, but I was resolved that every
one should know how I had been brought to the
death — and more especially Silver Sand, who had
been my friend. I was determined not to be dumb.
I should speak my mind once.
The men about me kept calling to Quharrie — now
threateningly, now as one that fleeches, coaxing with
promises. But the great wolf-dog only growled the
fiercer, standing across my body with a wide-arched
stride.
One of the men wished, I think, to do the dog a
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH. 357
mischief, but the others withheld him, putting their
hands upon him to deprive him of his pistol. Then
two came from opposite sides to snatch at me as I lay,
a little stunned with my fall ; but this so excited the
fierce beast that he wheeled this way and that, roaring
and snapping, and made such dangerous swift charges
that they were compelled to desist.
Then two men came by themselves over the ice
towards us from the island. As they entered within
the shining circle of the lantern light I saw it was
Silver Sand and another. The men made way for
them. Silver Sand strode through them, and I
thought he had never seemed so large and strong.
I saw him coming long before he knew me, and I
hugged myself at the thought of what I should say to
him.
" Give me the lantern," he said.
As he came, Ouharrie left me and fell in behind
his master. His work was done. I looked around and
regained my knife. But not to strike. Silver Sand
came up and shone the light of the lantern on my
face, where I was now sitting up.
I took the dagger by the point, and offered it to
him, saying, " Silver Sand, true friend, here is a knife ;
strike quickly at my heart, and make a swift end.
Thou knowest where to strike, for thou hast lain
against it many a time."
This I thought mighty fine at the time, and
original ; but now I know that I had heard my
father read somewhat like it out of an old book of
stage plays.
Silver Sand looked at me, coolly and cruelly as I
then thought, nobly and gently as I know now.
35§
THE RAIDERS.
" Patrick ! " was all he said.
" Aye," said I, " the same — Patrick Heron of
Rathan — where the tent of Silver Sand has stood
any time these seventeen years — and stands now
ready for him — after — " (I said, nodding my head)
_« after "
" Can you walk ? " he said, briefly.
I took ofF my ice-runners and stood ready.
So without word spoken we went back to the
famous island on which I set foot for the first time.
There on the grey-green grass were many turf huts
and shelters. Into these we did not go, but only
into the wider sod-built shelter, open to the sky,
where the fire I had seen was yet smouldering.
As we went Silver Sand said to me neither good or
bad. I thought I knew that his conscience was busy
within him, and I rejoiced like a chidden child who
says he will die, and then his mother will be sorry.
The dusky followers crouched around, talking to-
gether in whispers, casting meantime deadly enough
looks at me. I sat on a stone and warmed my fingers
at the embers. I was so full of getting, as I thought,
the upper hand of Silver Sand who had been my
friend, that (though I knew that I was as good as
dead) I acted a part at that fire among the outlaws
as willingly as in a stage play.
Then one sprang up and made a speech, pointing
often at me, and as I imagined denouncing me. I
knew not what he was saying, much of the talk being
gypsy gibberish. But I knew that the gist was that
it was I who had been in the Hut of Craignairny —
I who had been their undoing.
Another and another spoke their minds, and Silver
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH. 359
Sand was yet silent. The dark man who had come
with him over the ice whispered to him.
Then the outlaw that had spoken first, the lout of
the kitchen, took his knife and came over to me as if
to make an end. Suddenly the fashion of the coun-
tenance of Silver Sand was changed. He sprang to
his feet, and stood before them straight and proud as
I had never seen him stand.
" To me, Faas ! " he cried. " Back, or I will
blast you with the black curse of Little Egypt,
Roderick Macaterick ! "
The man slunk back ; but, as it seemed, dourly and
unconvinced before the threatening finger.
Of the men that stood by, some ten gathered them-
selves about Silver Sand. The others clubbed the
closer together, crouching with their heads forward
in a bunch.
" Who are you," said their spokesmen, " to come
among us after these years, when you have taken no
part in the danger, and to think to lord it over us
now ? "
" Silence, hound ! " said Silver Sand, with con-
suming vehemence. " Well vou know who I am.
I am John Faa, of the blood royal of Egypt. Well you
remember why I left you : because I am not of them
that do murder. Well you know that I have kept
free not from the danger, but from the plunder. Now
that the plunder is done with, and the danger come,
I am here. Is it not so ? "
There was no answer, but his own followers gathered
closer about him.
" I am here," he cried again, "and here is this lad —
Patrick Heron of the Rathan. It is true what he
36°
THE RAIDERS.
says, that I have eaten his bread for seventeen years,
and my tent stands now with the peeled rod before it
by the side of the water on Rathan Isle."
" And you would break the clan to save this lad
that comes to spy on us and destroy us ! " cried
another voice from the thick of the adverse crowd,
with great bitterness, and, I am bound to admit, with
some measure of reason.
But Silver Sand had this of the royal blood in him,
that he took the true attitude of the man of action.
He commanded ; he never explained.
" Down, dog ! " he cried ; " who dares to thwart
John Faa — by the king's belting, Lord and Earl of
Little Egypt ? Not you that are no Egyptians, but
scattermouches and unwashed ruffians from the four
seas ? I will hunt you with the Loathly Beasts. I will
press on you with the Faa's curse. I will dwine your
flesh on your bones, for I am your king, John Faa,
and the power is mine, alone and without bound
among this people of Egypt."
The man who had hitherto faced him would have
uttered something, but the power was not given to
him. His words withered on his lips.
" Roderick Macaterick," said Silver Sand, solemnly,
" on the grave of him that ye slew by the Loch of
Neldricken when he was forwandered in the moss,
stand the white wraith that curses and the Grey Dog
that waits. I deliver your soul to them ! "
The man fell moaning on the ground.
Then Silver Sand took to speaking in the language
which I could not understand, but chiefly, as it
seemed, to his own people. Me he took by the arm
and drew me away. So in a body those that clave
THE FASTNESSES OF UTMOST ENOCH. 361
to him moved off from the island and out upon the
ice. Some of the others started up to follow.
Silver Sand turned and faced them.
" Him that sets his feet on the ice to follow us
shall be blasted quick and sure. He shall never see
good days more. You had best scatter and save your-
selves, for a heavier hand than the Lowlanders' shall
fall before to-morrow upon you for your murders and
iniquities."
The men stood still, hesitating and afraid, and we
went our way.
It was towards the Hill of the Star that we went,
Silver Sand leading. When we came to the verge of
the loch Silver Sand turned to his followers.
" Faas," said he, "and you, Hector, bide not here.
There shall no assault be delivered by your enemies,
but one more sure and terrible by the Almighty.
The judgment for murder and crime comes swiftly.
Go not back to take part in it, for I foresee that no
one shall escape. Haste ye up Doon Water. Stay
not for pursuer nor turn aside for foe, but scatter
over the country as soon as ye have passed the
marches ! "
The men stood silent and irresolute.
" I know that ye obey me only because I am your
master, John Faa, and your chief. Ye obey without
question, like Egyptians of the pure blood. Ye have
done well. Go now and be honest, or as honest as
ye can, for never more shall you or I dwell in the
dens of the Dungeon of Buchan. Fare ye well ! "
" And who is to be chief ? " said Hector Faa.
" I that speak am chief. As long as I live I cannot
be other than chief, but I give to you my hand and
362
THE RAIDERS.
my authority, Hector ; " and he added, " It is a poor
throne, that of Little Egypt, and no wise man would
covet it, but such as it is you stand next to it."
So on the side of the Star Hill they parted from us,
diving into the black night, and we were left standing
alone — Silver Sand, who was John Faa, King of the
Gypsies, Patrick Heron of the Rathan, and Quharrie,
that had hunted me like vermin an hour agone, and
afterwards fought for me like a blood brother.
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE AUGHTY ON THE STAR HILL.
We clasped hands in the darkness.
" Now we shall go to the Aughty ! " he said.
I knew not where that might be, but I was content
to go there, being dazed and quite deprived of speech.
Quharrie as ever went before.
" And the Maxwells ? " I said. " I must get back
to them."
" They waited not for you," he said ; " they are all
back at the house of Eschonchan by this."
" But they were to attack to-night," I said ; "they
waited only for my return."
"Well, Patrick, I tell you they are waiting at
the house at Eschonchan, but with tankards of ale
before them. Be at ease about them. They will be
glad to see you when you come, but they thought it
better to bide warm at the Lodge of Eschonchan
than cauldrife in the snow in the ree of the Mid-
burn. In which they showed their judgment."
So saying he put aside a matted covering of heather,
which drooped down the face of a rock, and a light
for a moment flashed through the opening, and fell on
the bleached grey-yellow bent.
363
364
THE RAIDERS.
" An' it's as weel ! " said he, dropping into the
Lowland Scotch, " for there's sic a storm brewing as
has never been seen in your days nor mine."
The air was chill and damp, but gusts of warmish
wind blew at times, and in the south there was a
luminous brightness. Just before I entered the cave
I looked over the hip of the Merrick, and there,
through a cleft of a cloud, I saw the stars and the
flickering brightness of the northern lights. They
shone with a strange green that I had never seen
before.
" This," said Silver Sand, " is the Aughty of the
Star. Ye have heard o' it, but few have seen it
since the Killing Time. It is the best hiding-place in
all broad Scotland."
I looked about at the famous cave which had shel-
tered nearly all the wanderers, from Cargill to Ren-
wick — which had been safe haven in many a storm,
for which both Clavers and Lag sought in vain. My
father had told me also how he and Patrick Walker
the pedlar (he that scribes the stories of the sufferers
and has had them printed), went to seek for the
Aughty ; but, though Patrick Walker had lain in it
for four nights in the days of the Highland Host, he
could never find it again.
" And how came you here, and what came you
to do, Silver Sand ? " I asked, as we stood in the
flickering light of the wood fire.
" Will ye hae it bit by bit or a' at a meal ? " said
Silver Sand.
« I'll wait," said I.
" An' that's best," he answered, curtly.
The Aughty was a commodious shelter, most part
THE AUGHTY ON THE STAR HILL. 365
of which had been fashioned by the hand of man. It
had a little platform before it, twelve feet wide, in the
summer green with grass; but (save for this) from the
very door the precipice, scarred and sheer, fell away
both above and below. It was, in fact, set on the face
of the hill that looked towards the Dungeon, and one
turned into it by a sudden and unexpected twist among
the rocks. Within it had been roughly floored with
small logs, and arched above with the same, so that,
though only about five feet in height in the highest
part, it yet resembled the inside of a very small clay-
bigging, or ordinary cottar's house, more than I had
thought possible in a mere hill shelter. There was a
fire at one end, the smoke of which found its way up
through the matted heather in such a manner that
but little of it appeared at the outside, seeking out
unnoticed along the face of the cliff. It was the
custom of the wanderers, however, to half-burn their
wood at night, and then when cooking was needed
during the day to make a clear fire of the charcoal
— a very excellent plan, and one I should never have
thought on myself.
I had not been long in the Aughty before Silver
Sand gave me something to eat and drink, which,
indeed, stood ready in a goblet, only needing to be set
on the grieshocb l — a kind of stew, very like that which
Eggface had made on Craignairny, but richer.
" Hoo hae ye keepit the secret o' this place sac
lang ? " I asked of Silver Sand.
" Verra simple," he said. " I never telled a woman.
But it'll no keep lang noo, for ye'll tell yer May, a?
sure as shootin'."
* Red embers.
366
THE RAIDERS.
I had a retort at my tongue tip, but it was struck
away by a thought, which made me feel myself a
heartless brute.
"What's come o' the bit lass?" I asked, for
speaking of my own lass had minded me of her.
"What's come o' Marion Tamson ? "
"Save us ! " said Silver Sand. "I'm but a gomeral
to forget the bit thing."
Outside the storm burst at this moment with
exceeding fury. We had to draw nearer to hear our-
selves speaking above the roar of the elements.
" It's a peety that we didna think on't suner.
We'll hae an ill job noo, I doubt," said Silver
Sand.
I asked where she was.
" She's in the clay hoose o' Craignairny," said Silver
Sand.
That I liked least of all — to turn from the Aughty
warm and safe, to face that terrible storm at the
house of Black Murder, which I had such good cause
to mind.
"An' the suner the better," said Silver Sand, "for
lang afore the mornin' we shall be corked up as tight
as if we were in a sealed bottle."
Through the matted covering which formed a
door I thrust my naked hand, and so close and fierce
was the storm driving, that it seemed to me as if I had
thrust my arm into a solid wreath of snow.
" Is there no other way of it ? " I said, for indeed
I had had enough.
" No," said Silver Sand ; " the morning will be ower
late. She's no wi' guid or provident folk, an' the
Lord's arm reaches far."
THE AUGHTY ON THE STAR HILL. 367
Which seemed to me at the time an inadequate
way of putting the character of the inhabitants of
the House of Craignairny.
In a moment we were out facing it. In a step we
had lost one another. We were blinded, deafened,
blown away. I stood and shouted my loudest. When
I got my eyes open I saw a fearsome sight. The
darkness was white — above, around, beneath — all was
a livid, solid, white darkness. So fierce were the
flakes, driven by the wind, that neither the black of
the earth nor the dun of the sky shone through. I
shouted my best, standing with outstretched arms.
My cry was shut in my mouth. It never reached my
own ears. So standing, I was neither able to go back or
forward. A hand came across me out of the white
smother. Stooping low, Silver Sand and I went down
the hill, Ouharrie no doubt in front, though it was
all impossible to see him. I heard afterwards that as
soon as Silver Sand had stepped out he had fallen
headlong into a great drift of snow which had risen
like magic before the door in a few minutes.
We went blindly forward through the storm — yet
with judgment, for after descending into the valley
we saw, as through a partial break, the eastern end
of Loch Enoch with the snowdrift hurtling across
it. The black ice, swept clean by the fierce wind,
showed dark in bars and streaks. We came to sleeked
hollows which we crawled over on our faces, for we
knew not how far down they went. We stumbled
blindly into great wreaths, and rolled through them.
In a little we were breasting the ridge of Craignairny.
"We're on it now," yelled Silver Sand, putting
hand to my ear.
368 THE RAIDERS.
I had set myself against a great heap of snow, and
was cowering for the leap upon it when Silver Sand
stopped me. We stood against the cot of Craignairny
— the House of Death itself. Eggface and all her
crew lay within — under my hand, as it were.
Leaving me where I was, Silver Sand went round
the house to reconnoitre. I stood, rather sheltered in
the snow, on the side at which the shieling was
built against the rock. There was a swirl in the
wind, the place was bieldy, and I had time to think.
In a little while Silver Sand came back. He signed
to me to give him a lift upon the roof. Up he went
till he reached the window from which I had leapt
that terrible night in the summer of the year. Above
it was the skylight through which May had followed.
We had come now for the little one who had been
left behind — the thought of whom had lain heavy
on my heart many a time.
The skylight was barred with snow, but Silver
Sand cautiously cleaned it away, pulled it open, and
again came sliding down.
"If there's onybody sleepin' there, they'll think it's
blawn open an' rise to shut it," I could hear him
say in my ear.
The window was not shut. We could hear the
wind whistling on the iron edge of it, as though it
were playing a tune.
Again Silver Sand mounted. This time he put a
knife between his teeth, and, raising himself on his
hands, dropped lightly within. Then a few terrible
minutes ensued in which I waited. The wind was
so loud that had Silver Sand been murdered within I
could not have heard a sound. I only leant against
THE AUGHTY ON THE STAR HILL. 369
the end of the clay hut and thought what a fool I
was and of how many various sorts.
In a little Silver Sand put his head out again and
beckoned me up. I mounted upon the roof, my knee
sinking among the waterlogged, evil-smelling thatch.
When I reached the skylight Silver Sand suddenly
thrust out something to me wrapped in a plaid. It
was heavy, warm, and soft. The child, Marion
Tamson herself, lay in my arm, but wasted and thin.
She was no great weight for all her seven years. We
were out and down in a trice. The skylight was
again shut behind us, and the snowstorm blinding
and shrieking about us. Quharrie I saw now. He
had been sitting on the rigging of the house, looking
into the skylight all the time that Silver Sand was
within, a statue graven in the granite of the hills, his
wild wolfish front shaggy with driven and frozen
snow.
Down among the drifts we stumbled — up again
over the hill, not a word spoken all the time, leading
time about, the hindmost man carrying the little
lamb that was too frightened to cry in the wild roar
of the storm and the darkness of the plaid neuk. But
loving arms held her, and I think she knew it.
Ouharrie led us straight to the mouth of the
Aughty. Without ceremony he shoved his sharp
nose under the covering of matted heather and sprang
in. Before we could cast a plaid, loose a button,
or even take our little stolen lamb out of her bieldv
nook, Ouharrie had curled himseif about upon the
hearth and gone to sleep, as though it were a fine
night and he had just come in from a friendly turn on
the hill after the rabbits.
24
3JO THE RAIDERS.
Then, all wrapped in her shawls, clean as every-
thing about Eggface was clean (to give the devil his
dues), we got little Marion out. I took her on my knee
and talked to her, for I had ever a way with children,
as even May allows. At first the child watched with
eyes full of terror ; yet it was not long before I won
her heart, and she was cheerily talking of brighter
days. But in the midst of it all, even whilst she was
laughing merrily, her head would fall on my shoulder
and she take to crying as though her little heart
would break.
Now this I could not understand, for I thought
the worst was past, yet I had sense enough not to ask
any questions, but only to rock her on my knee and
hush her to sleep. Silver Sand made up a bed of
warm blankets for her before the fire, and she rested
there very simply and sweetly, though her hands
twitched and pulled at the coverings, and once or
twice she waked out of her sleep with a sharp cry.
Then I cursed them that had caused the innocent
bairn to do the like and said to myself, "Wait till we
hae ye a year at the Rathan, Marion, we'll gar ye
forget a' this o't."
This also came to pass, by the blessing of God.
On the morrow the great storm was in no way
abated, but nevertheless we abode here in the Aughty
with much content. We had plenty of good bacon-
ham and meal, tons of water outside for the melting,
loads of peat fuel from Kirreoch moss. We were in no
wise unhappy — though I had the grace to be con-
tinually thinking about them that must be anxious
concerning me. But yet I was over young to think
much even of that. Hardly any man is thoughtful
THE AUGHTY ON THE STAR HILL. 371
for others till he is well past thirty. May Maxwell
says " Not then ! "
That night, while the maid slept, Silver Sand began
to tell me all his story which J marvelled much to
hear.
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS.
Without, the hurricane drove ever from the south.
It was the first of the famous Sixteen Drifty Days
which are yet remembered over all the face of the hill
country, when of sheep and cattle the dead far out-
numbered the living. The snow drove hissing round
the corner of the Aughty and faced against the
entrance in a forty foot wreath. Looking down in
the breaks of the storm we could see only the wild
whirl of drifting whiteness in the gulf of the Dungeon
of Buchan.
But it was warm and pleasant within. The fire
drew peacefully with a gentle draught up the side of the
rock, and the heather couches on the floor were dry
and pleasant. Even the House of Rathan had hardly
been more homelike than the cave called the Aughty,
on the eastern face of the precipice of the Star which
overlooks the Dungeon.
It was here that Silver Sand, that was John Faa,
belted Earl and Gypsy, told his story.
" There was never," he said, " I think, any man so
strangely driven as I of the gypsy blood, who am
yet an earl of this realm of Scotland j I who am of
V2
THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS. 373
the reiver kin have ridden with the king's men and
worn the dragoon's coat ; I that have looked on at
many a killing of the poor Whig folk, have lain at
Peden's hip in the caves by the Crichope Water — a
true-blue Whig mysel' !
" I that was Richard Cameron's man and proscrivit
by the Government of the Stuarts, have likewise lain
under ban by the Government of the Whigs for the
riding and reiving of my clan. King's man or Hill
Whig, Society man or Lag's rider — the Faa has ever
been at the tow's end ; and never, save as puir Silver
Sand that maks his living by the keel and the scythe
sand, has he ever rested sound in his bed.
" I was but a young lad when the riding time
began, an' there was screevin' and chasm' over a'
the Westland after the Whigs. All this to a gypsy
of the blood royal was but the squattering and
quackin' of ducks upon a mill-dam — a matter for
themselves. But I was in Dumfries on a day, and
standin' on the brig-end o' Devorgill, wha should
come bv up the Vennel but the red-wud Laird
o' Lag.
"'There's a proper lad that should be nae Whig,'
he cried, as soon as ever he saw me standing there ;
' I ken by the cock o' his beaver bonnet and the
gawsy feather intil't.'
" The troop that was riding with him, three files
of King's troopers, and some young blades o' the
country lairds that cam' themselves wi' twa-three led
horses to ride wi' Lag — maistly lads that hated the
Kirk for meddlin' wi' their gentrice richt o' free
fornication, cried oot for me to mount an' ride wi'
them.
374 THE RAIDERS.
" ' Wull ye talc' service wi' the King, His Excellent
Majesty, an' wull ye curse the Whigs ? ' they
said.
" That last I was fain to do ; indeed I loved
them little, for they had held my father's sept down
wi' an iron hand all through the thirty years of their
greatness. But to ride wi' the trooping men and
bite bread wi' them, was just as little to the stomach
of a Faa.
" But needs must when the devil drives.
" c Fess him on till the bonny braes o' Max-
welltoon ! ' cried the laird ; ' he can mount an' hunt,
or he can bide an' blood when we get him there.'
" So they carried me across till we came to a wide
grassy place where the broom was growing and the
wind blowing. It was fresh and free, and the
innocent birds were singing.
" Lag halted his troop.
"' Noo, bonny lad,' says he, 'we hae little time to
pit aff wi' the likes o' you, but ye can hae the free
choice. Here's a silver merle, for the King's arles,
and here's Sergeant Armstrong's file wi' twal unce o'
the best lead bullets. Three meenites to tell us
whatna yin ye'll hae.'
"The birdies whistled on the yellow whins, and
the wind waved the branches they sat on. The
summer airs blew soft. The green leaves laughed
drily. They were beech-leaves, and their talk is aye
a wee malicious.
" In three minutes I was mounted on a grey horse
o' the wild laird's, and that nicht they drank me
fu' in the auld Lag's Too'er, where to this day that
same laird, that has his hand black with blood,
THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS. 375
sleeps in his silken bed under the safe conduct o' the
Government — while I that have been under a dozen
Governments nor done ill to yin o' them, am a
broken man and the King's enemy to this day. But
then I am but John Faa and an Egyptian.
" But sae we rade an' better rade at the tail o' the
wicked laird, an' as for his ill-doin' and ill-speakin'
there was nayther beginnin' or end to it.
" He wad ride up to a farmhoose an' chap on the
door wi' the basket hilt o' his broadsword.
" ' Is the guidman in ? ' says he.
" ' 'Deed, he is that ! ' says the mistress ; ' he's gcttin'
his parritch.'
"'Haste him fast, then,' says , Lag, c for the Arch-
angel Gawbriel' (nae less) 'is waitin' to tak' his
fower-'oors1 wi' him, an' it's a kittle thing to keep
the likes o' him waitin' ! '
"Then in ten minutes that wife's a weedow, an'
gatherin' up her man's harns in a napkin !
" Ridin' under the cloud o' nicht to droon the psalm
wi' the rattle o' the musket shot ; oot on the wide
uplands, where there are but the bumbees an' the
heatherbleats, stelling up a raw o' five or six decent
muirland men on their knees, as yince I saw at
Kirkconnel, some wi' the white napkins roond their
broos, an' some lookin' intil the gun muzzle, it was
waesome wark — waesome wark ! An' the curse o'
God Almichty has lain on a' that had a hand in it
— savin' that de'il's knight, Sir Robert himsel', wha's
iniquities the Almichty is most surely reckoning at
compound interest, for he sits snug an' hearty to this
day in his hoose at Lag's Too'er, while in muckle
1 A meal taken at four o'clock in the afternoon.
376 THE RAIDERS.
Hell the de'il banks his fires and heats his irons for
him.
" B ut there was yae mornin' that I gat my fill —
heathen gypsy though I was. We had lain a' nicht at
Morton Castle, an' it was daybreak or we set hip to
saddle leather. There was a bairn that we cam' on by
the gully o' the Crichope — a laddie o' ten. He was
sittin' by his lane in a bit bouroch when we cam' up
till him, whistlin' like a Untie. He had a can o' the
guid sweet milk an' a basketfu' o' bannocks. He was
close by the mouth o' the Linn. It behoved, then,
that he was takkin' them to some cave whaur the out-
lawed minister was hiding.
" It was just like the laird to get the lad to inform.
It was sic a bit o' de'il's wark that pleasured him weel
an' also David Graham that they had made Sherra o'
Gallowa' in the place o' the Agnews o' Lochnaw.
They war a bonny pair. They feared the bit boy,
half damn, half in earnest, till the wean was blae wi'
fricht.
" Lag gruppit him by the collar and shook him by
the coat-neck ower the Linn, like a bit whaulpie that
ye micht lift by the cuff* o' the neck.
" ' Tell,' he says, ' whaur lies auld Tarn Glen, or
ower ye gang.'
" The bit laddie lookit doon, an' — O Paitrick ! me
that is an auld man can see the terror glint in the e'e
o' him as he saw the great trees nae bigger than berry
busses at the bottom. Syne he lookit up at us that
sat oor horses ahint the laird and the sherra.
" ' Hae nane o' ye ony wee laddies at hame that ye
should let a bairn dee ? '
" He had a voice like a wean I yince kenned, and at
THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS. 377
the word o' him, I that was but a youngster, an' no
lang frae the mither's milk mysel', burst out in a kin
o' gowl o' anger.
" Lag turned quick, the de'il's dead-white thumb
marks on ilka side o' his nose.
" ' What cursed Whig's that r ' says he, in his death
voice.
" Then I canna tell whether the bairn's bit coatie
rave oot o' his hand, or whether Lag let him drap; but
when we lookit again there was Lag's hand empty, an'
up the Linn cam' a soun' like a bairn greetin' in the
dark his lane.
" Lag stood maybes three heart-loups in a swither.
I think he hadna juist bargained for that, but he turns
an' cries wi' a wave o' his ruffled lace band —
" ' The corbies will hae sweet pickin' afF that whalp's
bones ! '
" But I had had aneuch an' mair — a bellyfu' to settle
me for yince an' a'.
" I was afF my horse an' doon amang the busses on
the Linn side wi' a great clatter o' stanes.
" ' Wha's that ? ' cries Lag, ower his shoother, for he
was turned to ride awa'.
" c Gypsy Jock,' says yin, 'deserted '
" ' Give him a volley, lads. I never thocht the loon
a true man ! ' cried Lag.
" But the riders had little stomach for the shootin'.
The wee bit laddie lay on their hearts, and in especial
his words, for most o' them had bairns o' their ain,
though some no juist owned wi'. So but few shot
after me, an' them mostly Hielan' men that kenned no
English except ' Present! Fire!'' whilk they had heard
often aneuch in a' conscience since they rade wi' Lag.
378 THE RAIDERS.
" I was doon atkhe laddie afore the troop had ridden
away. But he was bye wi't. A bonny bit laddie as
ever ye saw. I carried him till his mither, strippin' aff
the regimentals as I gaed, but keepin' the sword, the
musket, an' the brass mounted pistols. His mither
met us at the gable end. The bairn had the empty
can claspit in his wee bit hand. O sirce me ! sirce
me ! Paitrick ! gin I could forget it "
And Silver Sand set down his head on the rude shelf
in the Aughty and sobbed till I feared he might do
himself a hurt.
" An' his mither took him oot o' my airms, that am
but a rude man ; an' she said never word, neither did
the tear rin doon her cheek, but bade me come ben as
ceevil as gin I had been a minister. She set before me
to eat, but ye may ken what heart I had for victual.
I juist roared an' grat, but she pat her hand on my
shoother, an' hushed me as gin I had been the mourner.
Syne she laid him on the bed.
" ' My wee Willie,' says she, as she smoothed his
bonny broo an' kaimed his hair that was lang and
yellow an' fell on the sheet in wavy ringlets.
" ' Even so,' she said, * Lord, I had thocht ye
micht hae spared this bit boy to me for company,
seein' he was the last. But it's no to be. Yin at
Drumclog, yin at Kirkconnel, an' yin by the bonny
links o' the Cluden. I thocht the Lord wad hae
spared the widow's yae bit hindmost lamb. The wull
o' the Lord be dune.'
" She turned sharp to me.
" * Hoo died he ? ' she asked, as calm as ' What's-o'-
the clock ? '
" I tried to tell her, between the sabs — her waitin'
THE SIXTEEN DRIFTY DAYS. 379
till I cam' to mysel' an' giein' me a bit clap on my
shoother — me that am but a sinfu' man, as if I had
been her ain bairn himsel'.
" ' Noo na — noo na,' says she, aye fleechin' like.
" O wae's me ! wae's me ! " Silver Sand cried,
sinking his head on the table board. " The Lord
forgie the sins o' my youth."
I was weeping too by this time, and I think the
King himself had wept as well to hear the tale.
Silver Sand went on.
" She stood ower him a gye while, sortin' him an'
touchin' him an' straikin' him.
" c He was a carefu' boy,' she said, c an' that guid to
his mither, my bit boy Willie ! Ye helpit her ilka
day, an' ye sleepit in her bosom ever since her ain
guid man won awa'. Aye, Willie, my wean, ye sail
sleep this yae nicht in yer mither's airms, for they
shall never meet aboot onything that is the desire o'
her heart in this world mair. Even this yae nicht ye
shall lie in the airms o' her that bore ye, an' that close
again her side, where she carried ye the black year she
lost her man.'
" She turned to me with a kind o' anger.
" 4 An' what for no ? ' she said, as if I had forbidden
her. ' An' what for no, I wad like to ken ? Pit your
hand on him, man ; he's warm an' bonny — no a mark
on him that the yellow lint locks canna cover, an' that
I can wash. What for shouldna he sleep by his ain
mither ? He will sleep sae soond. I'll no wakkin' him
gin he be tired. This mornin' I raise on my bare
feet that he should get a langer lie and a soond sleep
— aye, an' a soond sleep he's got, my laddie, O my
laddie !
38o
THE RAIDERS.
"'An' ye were a kind boy to your mither, Willie
— a kind, kind boy — an' I hae nae mair ; it's a sin
to mourn for them that the Lord has ta'en. But
O he was a carefu' boy Willie, an' the maist thochtfu'
for his mither. See man, see — he has brocht his
mither's bit can safe hame in his hand '
" O, waes me ! waes me ! " wailed Silver Sand,
rocking himself to and fro, so that little Marion woke,
and seeing us weeping, wept too, like a young child
that knows not why.
Then there was a long pause, and the fire flickered
and the wild storm raved outside the Aughty. And
the storm within our bosoms sobbed itself out, and we
watched little Marion silently till she slept again, our
right hands being clasped each in the other.
CHAPTER XLV.
ALIEN AND OUTLAW.
" So that day," continued Silver Sand, " made me a
believing man — that is, so far as a gypsy and a Faa
may be a believing man.
" But it was a long time before I was trusted by
the moormen, because I was known for a gypsy and a
red-hand follower of the chief persecutor. I was even
as Paul at Damascus to them ; yet in time they
believed, and treated me not as a spy but as a brand
plucked from the burning. Yet it was my lot to be
cast among the extremer sect, who were the followers
of Richard Cameron.
" As you may have heard, these received but scant
justice at the Revolution, so that when all was over,
and I went to what home I had, I found that they of
my own clan had been attainted, and were under worse
condemnation than ever, for their lawless deeds whilst
I had been away from them.
"It was not likely that I could take part with
them now, for the order of the King's council caused
them to become worse outlaws and reivers than ever —
though, I think, no murderers.
" Yet I could not live with them ; nor, being a
38i
382 THE RAIDERS.
Faa, and the chief, could I betray them. Nor yet, for
my father's sake and my name's sake, would I claim
any indulgence that might not be extended to them.
So I took to the hills and to the trade of selling the
bonny scythe sand and the red keel for the sheep.
And though I have not where to lay my head, I am
a better and happier man, than the man who witnessed
that sight by the Linn of Crichope ever deserved to
be. But I have dwelt with my Maker and humbled
myself before Him in secret wood and lonely fell.
The men of the hills ceased their hiding in the mosses
and moors near forty years agone — all but one, and he
a persecutor, a heathen man, and one whose hand had
been dyed in the blood of God's saints. For forty
years I have dwelt where God's folk dwelt, and
striven with the devil and the flesh in many a strange
place — often not sure whether indeed I had gotten
me the victory.
" And I fear me that in these later troubles I have
taken too much to do with carnal things, for which
I must be constant in prayer that the Lord will forgive
me — an unworthy man and an aged. But I have not
steeped my hands in taking of blood ; and, so far as
I may, I have both been faithful to my friends and
to my name. But the task has not been light, and
sometimes I have suffered from the unbelief of
both."
I stretched out my hand, and humbly asked him to
forgive me my unjust words and unworthy suspicions.
" And I cannot call you aught but Silver Sand, and
you will come and camp by the Water of Rathan ? "
I said.
Silver Sand assented with a sweet smile, and took
ALIEN AND OUTLAW. 383
my hands and kissed them ; for a gypsy has strange
ways.
But there were many things that I desired to have
explained.
"Why did you, being the man you are," I said,
" threaten warlock threats to the men down there the
other night ? "
Silver Sand smiled.
" In Rome I must do as the Romans," he said ;
which, however, I did not think a very sound exposi-
tion or deduction.
" But could you indeed perform these things ? " I
asked, still doubtfully.
" They believed I could, which is the same thing.
You see," he went on, " I have been forced to practise
simple stratagems to keep myself safe between a wild
clan and an unjust law, and there are many things
that are easy to do and hard to make others under-
stand. My arms which were twisted in the torture
of the Star Chamber before James, Duke of York,
have served me in that I can run like a beast, and
when we hunt as the Loathly Dogs, Quharrie and I
fear the foolish folk out of their wits."
" Indeed, I think you are no that canny mysel'," I
said, with a kind of awe on my face.
" Weel," said Silver Sand, " I doubt not that gin
some o' the landward presbyteries got me, I micht
burn even at this day, as did Major Weir. Yet is all
my magic of the simplest and most childish — even as
simple as keel and scythe sand."
I asked, had he ever applied for grace from Govern-
ment.
He told me no ; for that there were none in any
384 THE RAIDERS.
Government who would believe that a Faa could be
other than a sorner and a limmer. That grapes do
not grow on thorns nor figs on thistles is good
Government doctrine.
"An' to tell the truth," said John Faa, "I was
none that anxious, for I am a man that has been so
long at the horn, that I could not lie happy were I
hand in glove wi' King's men and baron baillies. I
love best the fowl o' the air that cackle and cry on
the moorland, the spotted eggs o' the pee-wees an' the
great marled eggs o' the whaup, the fish frae the burn
an' the haddock frae the salt sea flats. All these and
the taking o' them are marrow to the bones o' Silver
Sand."
I asked him again (but not continuously, for we
had plenty of time for our converse, during the sixteen
days and nights of the great storm) among other
things, what he thought of the Freetraders. He gave
me a queer look.
" I think verra much what your faither thocht,"
said he, " in his latter days. I dinna meddle wi' the
stuff" mysel', but I lay no informations on them that
hold otherwise. I hae nocht, for instance, to say
aboot your freends the Maxwells — only (a word in
your lug) gin I war you I wad pit my fit doon again
them using the cellars o' Rathan for their caves o'
storage."
He nodded significantly.
" Ye dinna mean that they hae dune that ! " I said,
with indignation.
" An' what else ? " said Silver Sand. " They are as
fu' as they can stick o' French brandy, and Vallen-
ceens ; an' gin ony o' Agnew's men were gaun snowkin'
ALIEN AND OUTLAW. 385
roond, it micht cause misunderstandings atween them
that's in poo'er an' you that's sic a grand King's
man."
" And are you quite content as you are, Silver
Sand ? " I said to him again, to pass the time. Little
Marion, to whom the quiet of the cave was heaven,
sat at our feet and played with the quaint toys which
Silver Sand had made her.
" Content ! " said Silver Sand ; " what for shouldna
I be content ? I ken nane that has mair cause to be.
I look on the buik o' God a' the day under His wide,
high lift for a rooftree, an' often a' nicht forbye gin
the storms keep aff. I hae God's Word in my oxter
forbye — see here ! "
He pulled out two dumpy little red-covered Bibles,
with the Old Testament divided at Isaiah, and the
Psalms of David in metre, very clean, but thumbed
yellowish like a banknote at the end.
" What mair could a man want ? " he said.
" But sellin' the sand an' the keel can only tak' a
sma' part o' your time — what do ye do wi' the rest
when ye are awa' frae the Rathan ? "
Silver Sand smiled and made a curious little noise
in his throat, as May does when she calls the hens for
their " daich."
" I play at bogle wi' the lasses," he said, " aboot the
cornstacks."
I looked at him, and was silent with surprise. He
had just been telling me that his aim was to be a
godly man according to his possible.
" Did ye never hear o' the Brownie ? " he said,
seeing my surprise.
" Aye," said I ; u but I believe nothing in freets.
25
386 THE RAIDERS.
There's nae siccan thing." For being young I knew
no better.
" The first starlicht nicht after we are back at the
Rathan I'll show ye," said he.
" Tell me noo," I said, " Guid kens there's plenty
o' time in this auld Aughty."
" Tell on," said Marion, who was awaking quickly
from her daze, and beginning to take an interest in
many things.
If I could have forgotten the great rambling house
where the women-folk waited — May and Eppie and
the Lady Grizel — these days in the Aughty, with the
wild men and the wild nature alike shut out, with the
peril past (or so I thought) had been as happy and
memorable as any in my life. I have often noticed
that an unexpected experience of bodily comfort, as
coming to a house wet and weary and finding a
welcome, a warm fire and dry socks, clings to the
heart longer than anything else, and is oftener re-
called than many greater kindnesses.
So the Aughty comes to me whenever the winds
howl and the shutters clatter. I think we were all
happy in the Aughty, and certainly little Marion
gained in beauty and fearlessness every day. At first
it was sad to see her shrinking when any one moved
suddenly near her. But this also gradually ceased.
To this day I can hear the soft whish of the snow
against the flap of heather curtain, the roaring of the
wind above, the crackle of the heather roots and broom
branches on the fire. I can see the red loom of the
peats at the back — indeed all things precisely as they
were on these days of storm when the winds drifted
the snow for sixteen days, till in many of the hollows
ALIEN AND OUTLAW. 387
the wreaths lay a hundred feet deep, and over half of
Scotland one sheep out of every two died — as well as
many men that were shepherds and wanderers. Once
we heard a great roar as though the mountains were
falling, and we all instinctively cowered and prayed
that the Destroying Angel might pass over our heads.
" That's a most michty hurl of stanes somewhere,"
said Silver Sand.
" I wish the Star Hill bena comin' doon on our
heids," said I. But it was not the Star Hill. It was
further off, somewhere about the Hill of the Dun-
geon.
We waited for a long time, but we could hear no
more of it, and from the doorway we could only see
the great tide of snow-flakes running steadily up the
Dungeon o' Buchan far below, and occasional swirls
entering into the sheltered bend in which the mouth
of the Aughty lay. The snow was not falling now,
but blowing uninterruptedly north with the mighty
wind, as level as ruled lines on a copybook.
So we let fall the flap, after having taken Marion
to the door that she might wonder at the white driving
world of snow.
" I think I could float in it like a feather," she
said — a feeling which I had myself.
It is but little to read the gypsy's strange relations,
or for the matter of that to write them, in the bien
comfort of one's own dwelling ; but it was quite
other to hear them told in the slow, level voice of
Silver Sand himself, who was Johnny Faa, the bloody
persecutor and Cameronian gypsy — for such things
were never heard of before in broad Scotland. All
this, too, while the greatest storm of the century
388 THE RAIDERS.
raved without, and the winds of the Sixteen Drifty
Days sped past outside like fiends that rode to the
yelling of the damned.
It was comfortable too at meal-times to hear the
bacon skirling in the pan, and smell the canty smell of
the oatmeal fried among it. Sometimes Quharrie would
rise from one side of the fireplace and walk solemnly
round to the other, whither Marion would presently
follow him, and lie down beside him with her head
on his mighty flank. Then he would lift his head
and look at her like a great benignant wolf (the first
of that race) ; and because he loved her down in his
rough-husked heart somewhere, he licked her on the
point of her nose, which seemed to turn up a little on
purpose.
Then at night it was pleasant to draw about the
fire while Silver Sand read out of his book — often
from John's Gospel, oftenest from the Apocalypse,
which somehow appealed strongly to him. Then all
kneeling upon the hearth, he poured out his soul in
prayer — such a prayer as he had heard from Renwick
and Shields in the last days of the sufferings when
John Faa was yet on his probation. He would often
fleech on me to take part in the exercises, but though
my heart was very much attuned to do it, I never
could come at the performance of it till I was in a
house of my own.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE BROWNIE.
" Ye want to hear mair aboot the Brownie ? " said
Silver Sand. " Aweel, ye are gye far ben wi' me, an'
I'm gettin' ower auld to play sic tricks an' pliskies.
Ye think, nae doot, that my life hasna been a verra
usefu' life. I am o' a different opeenion."
I had no such thought, and'said so.
" Aweel, ye mind the year afore last. Wha was't,
do ye think, that cut an' stookit the feck o' the Max-
well's corn in the short days so far in the year, when
the lads had to gang awa' to the Isle o' Man for the
first cargo for my Lord Stair ? "
" I heard some word o' its bein' the fairies," said I.
" And there ye show your penetration, Paitrick,
but maybes ye didna discern, you that was so far-
seein', that it was Silver Sand wi' his bit scythe an'
his lang shauchelt airms. An' wha was't that gathered
a' yer sheep intil the buchts the nicht afore the great
storm o' February-was-a-year ? "
" I aye jaloosed it was the Maxwells, but they never
wad own wi't, but I thocht little o' that, for Kennedy
thinks no more o' tellin' a whud (lie) than o' slappin'
a cleg that nips him on the hench bane."
389
39° THE RAIDERS.
" That he disna ! " said Silver Sand, with conviction.
" But," he continued, " he tell'd the truth that
time by accident whatever, for it was juist me an'
Quharrie that buchtit the Rathan yowes, an' the
neist nicht dippit them, rubbin' tar an' butter amang
the oo' to male' it grow flossy an' lang."
And Silver Sand went on to tell us of nights out on
the fells and in the green parks about the farm-towns.
How he delved the old wives' kail-yards, as he said,
for the pleasure of going round the next morning to
hear their wonderings.
" c Ye'll no be wantin' ony sand for yer heuk,
Betty ? " he would say to some old dame at her
cottage door.
" Na, no the day, Silver Sand," says Betty.
" Ony news, Betty ? " he would say.
" News ! " quo' she—" News ! What think ye o'
the gentle people bein' in my garden yestreen, nae
farder gane, an' left it a' delved, an' no as muckle as
the dent o' their feet ! "
" And that," said Silver Sand, " was likely, seeing
the trouble I was at to tak' the footmarks oot wi' an
iron-teethed rake."
" It's maist wonderful indeed, Betty ; but what wad
Maister Forbes, honest man, say to yer hae'in' sic
dealin's wi' the fairies ? Think ye that's canny,
Betty, my woman ? "
" Canny here, canny there, as lang as I get my
garden delved an' my tawties howkit for nocht, I'se
seek nae Maister Forbes ! Maister Forbes, indeed !
it wad be a lang time or ever he howkit a dreel o' my
tawties. He's fitter at eatin' them, great fushionless
hoshen that he is ! ' "
THE BROWNIE. 391
Thus Silver Sand carried us over the storm with
wealth of tales. I listened eagerly, my toes cocked
to the comfortable fire on the hearthstone (for there
was a good hearthstone in the Aughty), and one ear
bent to the outer moil of the storm as I nestled down
with my right and left side time about to the fire.
" Then," continued the story-teller, " there were
nichts on the corn rigs when the shearin' was at
its height, and the farms lay sleepin' under the cool,
clean air — nichts when it was juist heaven to work
amang the sheaves, and hear the crap, crap ! of the
short-bladed reaping-hook driving through the corn.
Every sheaf was like a friend. Every stook added
another to the weel-buskit army that made glad the
heart and exercised the brain of the bit farmer body,
when he cam' oot in the mornin' an' gaed dodderin'
aboot the oothooses, an' syne cam' dawnerin' doon the
field to plan the wark for the day.
" c Hi, Rab ! ' he would cry to the cotman, as he
saw my handiwork, c come ye here.'
" Then Rab would come oot, dichting his neb frae
the byre, belike whaur he had been preein' the sweet
milk-can, or else the moo' o' the byre lass, wha kens —
gye sheepish and shamefaced whatever.
" i Rab ! d'ye see that ? ' his maister wad say (me up
in the muckle tree a' the time).
" Rab looks. Rab better looks. The fashion of
his countenance changes.
" ' The Lord preserve's,' he cries, as he catches sicht
o' a dizzen mair rigs cut, past the mark whaur he had
finished at the gloamin' o' the nicht afore — i the mid-
nicht fairies hae been here. I'se gang hame. I'se no
work wi' Broonie.'
392 THE RAIDERS.
" c Ye muckle nowt,' says his master, c be thankfu'
that Broonie thinks so weel o' the place as to work on
it. A licht heart an' an untired leg has the lads aboot
the bit whaur Broonie works. Heartsome be his meal
o' meat, puir falla' ! '
" So the neist day at e'en there's a basin o' parritch
an' a great bowl o' milk set oot at the barn-end. Then
I tak' my great sheepskin coat aboot me, that keeps
me warm on the cauldest nicht in a hedge-root, if need
be, an' up the loanin' I gang my ways. There'll be
some muckle gomerel o' a half-grown loon that wants
to get credit wi' the lasses. He's watchin' for Broonie.
I can hear his knees playin' knoit thegether at the back
o' the hedge.
" ' Boo-hoo ! ' says I, billying like a bullock.
" Up gets Hobbledehoy, an' rins wi' skelloch on
rairin' skelloch to the farmhoose, where the lasses are
biggit in threes about the back o' the door, fair wat
wi' fear.
" ' Never was there sic a thing ! ' Gomerel threeps.
He has seen Broonie. He can describe him. He is
as big as the barn, an' beltit wi' a curly hide. He has
horns as lang as my leg. Then on the morn whatna
bizz there is in a' the kintraside. Frae far an' near
they come to hear Rob Gomerel tell aboot the Broonie
that billied at him in the hedge. Rab tells the tale,
and tells it ower again. An' every time he tells it
there's twa yairds on till the length o' the beast, an' at
least yin to the horns. It's a fearsome beast afore a's
dune."
Silver Sand laughed his silent chuckling laugh, and
went on.
" Then there are the trysts o' the lasses an' the
THE BROWNIE. 393
lads. There was an ill speldron o' a loon that had
mistrysted wi' twa lasses already, an' he cam' to the
kirk-stile to speak to wee Margaret Lauder that is
as innocent as a lamb. I saw the colour come an'
gang, an' the bit heart loup. And my bauld birkie
saw it too, for he eined wi' the denty wee lass to meet
him at the Myrestane black-yetts at the back o' the
wood. But he never gat there to this day. Brownie
met him as he cam' steppin' sae gawsy across the dry
stanes at Sandy's Ford. There Brownie stood an'
shook his horns at the great scoundrel frae side to side
like a govin' beast, wi' a kind o' elricht yammer that
near feared mysel' as I made it.
" Flat doon fell the speldron, for ill-doers are a' ill-
dreaders. Syne Broonie comin' a wee nearer, he gat
him on his feet an' ran hame to his stable-laft wi' the
cauld ice water drappin' aff him.
" Then wha but Silver Sand an' no Broonie ava' saw
hame the bit lass to her mither, an' took the chance
o' reddin' up the loon's character on the road. Fse
warrant he gets a flea in his lug the neist time he
gangs to yon toon ! " said Silver Sand, triumphantly.
" Dod, man, Silver Sand, but that was guid ! " cried
I, hitting my thigh in my delight. For he made us
see the whole business by his manner of telling it.
"But there's better than that," says he, blinkin'
kindly at me across the red glow of the Aughty fire.
" Mony is the time," he went on, " in the auld days
when Craigdarroch ingle-cheek lowed bonny, an' the
lads o' the countryside forgathered in the gloamin',
I hae played bogle there an' seen strange things.
There was a lass (Fse no tell ye her name, so dinna
ask) that I hae seen wi' thae^e'en o' mine, comin'
394 THE RAIDERS.
slippin' sae denty to the door, an' gaun doon by the
soughin' grey willows that turned their white under-
sides to look at her in the gloom of the gloamin'
as she gaed by the three thorns, hastening as though
she were gangin' to a love tryst."
I began to understand, yet I so loved my lass that I
had no fear of what I might hear from this recording
angel of the night and the fields.
" An' wha, think ye, cam' to see her — this bonny
lass that left the braw wooers ahint, speakin' about the
nowt to her daddy ? "
I shook my head.
" She stood by the side o' the Solway, wi' the tide
washin' up to her feet, and she lookit ower at the
auld Hoose o' Rathan, where there was a licht at the
high window, and whiles a bit fire doon on the shore.
That was the camp o' Silver Sand. Maybe it was at
the camp she lookit, an' maybe it was for the sake o'
Silver Sand that she gaed doon there by hersel' — an'
maybe no !
" At ony gate it wasna juist the safest to be gaun
there, wi' Freetraders an' Yawkins an' sic like cattle
aboot ; so Quharrie an' me we made it our business
like to see that she wasna disturbit.
"But whatna cuif was the lad she likit to bide in
the Rathan when the bonniest lass in the country-
side cam' doon to keep tryst wi' nocht but the bit
fardin' candle in the Hoose o' Rathan ? "
"But I never jaloosed — hoo was I to ken ? " I say,
for I am indeed ashamed.
" Hoot awa', man ! Ye surely wore your e'en in
the tail o' your coat ! Ye micht hae kenned by the
way she flyted (scolded) on ye ! "
THE BROWNIE. 395
"O man, Silver Sand, ye should hae telled me,"
says I.
" Na, na, Laird Rathan, Silver Sand is nae tale-pyet.
A bonny-like thing gin a young lass trusted me an'
the stars wi' the innocence o' her heart's chamber, an'
I should rin clashin' to a great hulk that hadna the
gumption to find the road in for himsel'."
Silver Sand shook his head at the thought, but I
took no offence for all the ill names he gave me.
Contrariwise, I was exceeding glad; because I wanted
to believe that her heart was mine before the night
of the Dungeon and the fight by the Murder Hole.
" There's yae thing mair," said he, " that for your
peace I may tell ye, though ye but little deserve it.
It was the day ye waur sae ill wi' the brain heat when
it turned to a raging fever, frae the cloor ye got up
by the Neldricken. The doctor that had been ridden
for to Dumfries, had gien ye up an' gaen awa' to
order your coffin, belike. It was waefu' to hear ye.
They say that they could hear the cryin' o' ye at the
Orraland through the open windows that terrible
nicht.
" Weel, man, I was there by the water edge, and
what think ye I saw ? I saw a bit lassie that had
been wearin' hersel' oot to help ye, come awa' oot
into the nicht air, an' afore I had time to rin, doon
she clapped on her knees close by me, an' by chance
(because I couldna help it) I heard the prayer for you
she thocht only the Almichty listened to. She prayed
lang and sair for ye, Paitrick, my lad. Ye ill deserve
the like o' her. She asked that the Lord micht tak'
her an' leave ye a wee bit langer, ' for he's but young,'
she said, c an' hasna had time to bethink himsel'.' "
396
THE RAIDERS.
" The God of Jacob bless her ! " I said, solemnly,
for I could hardly speak. And small wonder.
Silver Sand said " Amen ! "
But a thought struck me.
" An' what," I said, " micht ye be doin' doon by
the shore at that time o' nicht ? Were you no at
the prayin' too ? "
" O," said Silver Sand, lightly, <c I was juist throwin'
chuckie-stanes in the water ! "
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE LAST OF THE OUTLAWS.
On the morning of the seventeenth day, when we
were becoming anxious for those whose anxiety for us
we dared not think upon, we looked out, and lo ! the
great blast — the greatest of a century — had blown
itself out. We gazed abroad on the face of the world,
and the sight made us both fear and quake, and that
exceedingly.
It was a clear, bright morning when we put aside
the mat and looked out. The brightness was like the
kingdom of heaven. There was a chill thin air
blowing, and the snow was already hard bound with
frost. We looked down into the Dungeon of Buchan.
Its mighty cauldron that had the three lochs at the
bottom, was nearly full of snow. The lochs were not.
The Wolf's Slock was not. The night before we
had only seen a whirling chaos of hurrying flakes of
infinite deepness. The morning showed us the great
valley almost levelled up with snow, from Breesha and
the Snibe to the Range of Kells.
We stepped from the door upon the first wreath.
It rose in a grand sweep which curved round the angle
of the hill. We set foot on it, and it was strong
397
398 THE RAIDERS.
enough to bear us. So closely had the particles been
driven by the force of the wind, that as soon as the
pressure was taken off, the frost bound the whole mass
together firm as ice and smooth as ivory.
Then as we stood on the top there was a wonderful
sight to be seen. A wide world of wreathed snow.
There was no Loch Enoch to be discerned. The
dazzling curve of the blown snow ran clear up the
side of the great Merrick Hill. There was no
Loch-in-loch. There was no Outlaws' Island. The
same frost-bound whiteness had covered all. The old
world was drowned in snow and there was no Bow of
Promise to be seen. Perhaps because we had offered
no sacrifice.
" God help them that are under that ! " said Silver
Sand.
But indeed we saw at a glance that all who had been
without rooftree during the great storm were long
past our help.
Only on the Dungeon Hill opposite, under the
hanging brow of Craignaimy there was a great pit
mark like a stone quarry, in colour red and grey — the
granite showing its unhealed edges, set about with
the white snow. This landslip we had not seen
before.
Bidding Marion abide in the Aughty till we re-
turned, we set out to explore. We bound kerchiefs
about our brogues to keep the loose particles from bal-
ling ; but, both of us being light on our feet, we sank
only a very inconsiderable way. And Quharrie did not
sink at all, but lightly passed over, and so went before.
He was a thoughtful but not a morose dog. Only
this morning the snow seemed to get into his sedate
THE LAST OF THE OUTLAWS. 399
brain, and he whirled about after the stump of a tail
so short, that as he turned, he only saw it rounding
the uttermost curve of a very far away turn. A stern
chase in his case, was not only a long one but a
perfectly hopeless one. Yet he spun round never-
theless. He overturned himself in the snow. He
slid on his back down the great snow wreaths — in fact
did everything except bark. Then suddenly he took
himself up, as one may see a dignified baillie or
magistrate surprised in a game of romps, look about
to see whether any one has observed him, and then
walk off* with an air as though he were mightily
surprised at the lightness of the walk and conver-
sation of the man next to him. So Ouharrie on the
great snow wreaths that filled up the valley of the
Star Hill.
Before going out we looked to our arms, although
Silver Sand sighed and said, " 1 misdoot me that all
the arms we shall need the day are picks and shovels."
The wreaths of the snow were bewildering and of
exquisite beauty, rosy where the sun touched them —
a pale faint blue in the shadow, and with such a
delicious play of wavering light where the sun and
shade met that it was like the sun shining through
deep leaves and throbbing in the clearness of a shaded
mountain pool.
As we went we sounded each step with our great
poles tipped with iron. Silver Sand went foremost,
because I knew but little about snow ; for by the sea
edge of Solway it lies but seldom and that never deep.
Sometimes we set foot on a snow bridge between two
stones — so fell in and had to pull one another out.
Sometimes we would start a rush of snow sliding
400 THE RAIDERS.
downhill, which always made Silver Sand very grave,
knowing the danger of it.
First we went towards the Isle of Enoch, from
which we had set out the night we came to the
Aughty. So level was the buried loch that it was
only by very carefully observing the landmarks that
we could tell when the frozen water lay beneath us.
But the side of the Merrick above us was clear in
patches, where it rises too steeply to hold the snow.
Soon we came to where we thought the Isle of
Loch-in-loch to lie, but nothing told us that any
abodes of human beings could be beneath. Looking
westward to the side of the Merrick from the highest
part of the snow, we saw what seemed to be an ex-
cavation of an oval form.
" There ! " said Silver Sand, pointing with his iron-
shod « kent."
So he went upward and I followed him, till we
came to the edge. I shall never forget what I saw,
though I must hasten to tell it briefly. It was a
great pit in the snow, nearly circular, built up high
on all sides, but specially towards the south. The
lower tiers of it were constructed of the dead bodies
of a great multitude of sheep piled one on top of the
other, forming frozen fleecy ramparts. But the snow
had swept over and blown in, so that there was a way
down to the bottom by walking along the edge of a
wreath. Looking in, we saw protruding from the
snow — here the arm of a man and there the horn of a
bullock.
I understood at once. We were standing above
the white grave of the outlaws of the Dungeon.
They had died in their hillside shelter. With our
THE LAST OF THE OUTLAWS. 401
" kents " we could do little to unbury them, and give
them permanent sepulture. It was better that they
should lie till the snow melted off the hill. But we
uncovered many of the faces, for so much of the work
was not difficult. As each white frozen face came in
view Silver Sand said briefly, " Miller ! " or " Macate-
rick ! " or " Marshall ! " as soon as he looked upon
them.
But there were no Faas among them.
" The Faas have done my bidding," he said, " and
they have at least a chance for their lives."
Quharrie marked the spots where the dead were to
be found by digging with his forepaws, throwing the
snow through the wide space between his hind legs,
and blowing through his nose as a terrier does at a
rabbit hole.
But we found seventeen and no more, all under the
great south wall of sheep, which the starving wretches
had built to keep them from the icy bensil of the snow
wind. I wondered why they had not abode in their
little cots and clay biggings ; but Silver Sand said that
to gather into great camps with their cattle, and
collect materials for a vast fire in the midst was ever
their custom in time of storm. But the Sixteen
Drifty Days had been too much for them.
It was a mighty storm, and the like has never been
seen in Galloway to this day. Afterwards when men
came to bury the dead, they found good proof that
they had warred it out till the tenth day, when their
food and their fire alike gave out. Then here and
there they had laid them down to sleep, and so
awoke no more. Thus we found them, and thus,
poor wretches, we left them.
26
402 THE RAIDERS.
They looked strangely happy, for the whiteness of
the snow set their faces as in a frame. I saw the
rascal that would have killed me in the cot of
Craignairny. He looked quite a respectable man.
Which made me think that some ill devil had,
mayhap, long hirsled and harried an innocent body
against its will. So may it be. The good God
knows. The Day of Judgment is not my business.
Then we went towards the House of Craignairny
itself. But when we got there we found not the
house, and we found not the landmarks. The great
gash on the Dungeon brow, which we had seen
from the Aughty, had been made by an inconceivable
quantity of rock, which had fallen, crushing its way
down the hillside and followed by a multitude of
smaller stones mixed with snow. The lirk of the
hill in which the ill-omened House of Death once
stood, was covered fathoms deep in rock, as though
the very mountain had hanged itself, Judas-like, so
that all its bowels gushed out. Thus was the sur-
prising judgment of God made plain and manifest.
It was the roar of that great downthrow which we
had heard when we were in the Aughty, and
thought that the Star Hill was about to fall upon
our heads.
No man ever saw hilt or hair of Eggface or her
sons, nor of any that had been seen in that ill house,
save only the man that would have knifed me, whom
I saw in the great Pit of Sheep under the lee of the
Merrick. The place is now all overgrown with
heather and the brown bent grass ; but it is still
plain to be seen, and the shepherds call it the Land-
fall of Craignairny. They say that no- sheep'; will
THE LAST OF THE OUTLAWS. 403
feed there to this day, but I know not the truth of
that.
We had, however, seen enough. So we went back
to the Aughty till night, for the sun was rendering
the snow too soft even on that keen December day to
make travelling easy.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR ONCE MORE.
After taking council together we decided that we
should wait till the night fell and the young moon
rose. Then when the frost had bound the snow
we should march. We found Marion very content,
playing with a doll which she had made out of a
piece of wood and some rags which lay in a corner.
It was quaint to watch her hushing it to sleep.
Silver Sand spent the most part of that day in
putting the Aughty to rights, stacking what of the
fuel was not yet consumed, and making the abode as
habitable and tidy as when we entered it. "Other-
wise," he said, " I should have no heart in coming
back to it."
It was nearly six in the evening before we started
upon our way. Silver Sand said that we would go by
the Wolf's Slock and the Links of the Cooran, but I
liked not the name of either.
" The Wolf's Slock is a made coach road the
nicht," he said. But till we came to the edge of
it, I knew not what he meant ; then I saw and
understood.
The gale from the south had swept the snow into
404
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR ONCE MORE. 405
the wide Wolf's Throat of Buchan, and from top to
bottom all those many hundreds of feet a smooth and
equal slope extended, most beautiful to see in the
faint moonlight which glinted and sifted into it from
the east. We had little Marion with us, carrying her
most of the way, but letting her run at other times
when it was level and there was good going for the feet.
Yet I sighed and was afraid, for I knew not how
we were to win down that great precipice, taking the
bairn with us. But my companion soon showed me
how little I knew about the matter. He let me see
a trick the outlaws used in the times of snow among-
the hills.
Silver Sand took a rope from his shoulder and
bound it round my middle — afterwards about his
own. Then he took out his great red kerchief
and spread it on the snow. Whereupon he sat down
on it with the corner fastened to his hempen waist-
band. He bade me to do the like, with my legs
forked on either side of him. Between us he set
little Marion, telling her to fasten her hands in his belt
and hold tight. Then, with my arms one on either
side of her and clasping Silver Sand, we softly slid
over the edge. It was a wild ride in the moonlight
— slow at first, then quickening with a rush. The
snow streamed on either side of us, driving past with
a whish like the spray from a boat's nose when she
has much sea-way. There was a strange feeling
somewhere low down within me as if I had left all
my vital parts sticking to the snow where we set
out, and I feared that I might be inconvenienced for
the lack of them when we stopped. But withal
there was a wild exhilaration j so that when we
4-o6 THE RAIDERS.
were but half-way down little Marion laughed out
a rippling, girlish laugh which did us good to hear.
We slid almost instantly down the steep place and
glided out upon the long, sweeping, downward curve,
beneath which the Cooran lane lay buried. At last,
far out on the plain, we stopped, and Silver Sand stood
up and shook himself.
"What think ye o' that, you that's a shoreman
and kens everything ? " he said, with a calmness that
struck me with fresh admiration, as he dusted the
snow from about little Marion and then from his
own legs.
That was the end of all worth writing; about — at
least, all that I have room to write of in this place ;
for the carrier has forgotten to fetch me my new
supply of paper to the Orraland, and I have been
writing for the last twenty pages on empty sugar-
bags ; but my wife is losing patience, for she keeps
her garden seeds in them.
But indeed there is little more to say.
We got horses at the Clattering Shaws, and when we
reached the Great House of Earlstoun it was gloam-
ing of the next day. I hope never to be so tired
again till I lie down and die. It was, by the marvel-
lous providence of God, Eppie Tamson and not my
May Maxwell that opened the door to us. Her sister
Jen was over at the Rathan, where her tongue could
keep the joiners and masons in better order. There
is always a wild set of such men about Dumfries.
Once they put out a legend on a shop door in
Maxwelltown : " Coorse meal for Dumfries masons."
Whereat the masons crossed Devorgill's bridge and
broke many windows.
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR ONCE MORE. 407
I had little Marion in my arms at the time when
Eppie opened the door, and I had thought it a mighty
fine thing just to hand her into Eppie's arms ; but
Silver Sand thrust me back with his strong elbow,
setting it so suddenly in my wind that I had enough
to do only to gasp and recover myself.
" Eppie," he said, " be verra quiet. Can ye break
the news to May — Paitrick's bit lassie here ? ,:
" Aye," said Eppie ; " are ye risen frae the deed ? ':
" Safe an' soond," said Silver Sand ; " no a ghaist
amang us."
" Come ben ! " says she.
" Is Sammle in, Eppie ? " says he, in a whisper.
" He's in the kitchen wi' Kennedy an' a' the
Maxwell loons."
" Is he weel ? Can ye tak' some news to him ?
D'ye think he can bear it ? " said Silver Sand,
cunningly.
" What is't ? " cried Eppie, gripping him by the
lapels of his coat and shaking him so that Silver Sand
vows that she hurt him. But not grievously, I think.
" 77;/j / " said I, stepping past him and putting
Marion into Eppie's arms, sound asleep, just as we
had taken her from before Silver Sand on the horse.
" Hush, woman ; dinna wakken' her ! " said I,
holding up my finger.
Eppie gave me a look of mingled adoration and
scorn. I had brought back her life to her — but that
1 should think that she would waken her treasure !
Silver Sand afterwards said that it was one of the
happiest inspirations of my life.
I wanted much to ask concerning May and where
she was j but, of course, there was so much fuss made
4°8 THE RAIDERS.
about the bairn that I had to go and look for her
myself.
I went up to the great room in the tower which
the Lady Grizel made so comfortable in the winter
months. I knocked very gently. The strong voice
of My Lady bade me enter. I came into the bright
glow of the great wood fire.
The old lady threw up her hands. "The Lord
preserve us, Paitrick ! " she said.
She rose from the chair and came towards me.
She took my hand, and I declare but she kissed both
it and me, though she was an Earl's daughter. Then
she minded something, seeing me look around.
"Aye, laddie," she said, "what am I thinkin' on —
ye hae nae use for auld wives like me."
She stepped to the foot of the stair that went up
the tower. " May ! " she cried, quickly.
There was a stirring above, and then a light foot
on the stair which made my pulses dance. Lady
Grizel slipped out, shutting the outer door with a
clang so that I might know that she had gone. She
was ever a considerate woman — few like her.
The stair door opened, and the flicker of the fire
shone on a fair lassie, pale as the lily flower is pale,
who stood framed against the darkness of the turret.
I held out my arms towards her. " May ! " I cried,
even as the Lady Grizel had done, but in another
fashion.
She put her hand to her breast and came toward
me slowly, as though dazed and uncertain for two or
three steps. Then suddenly crying out, and the light
fairly leaping in her eyes, she broke and ran to me.
So I gathered my love within my arms.
THE EARL'S GREAT CHAIR ONCE MORE. 409
And now a " Fair-guid-e'en " to you all that have
come so far with us. There is no more that I have
to say, and no more that you need to hear. Mistress
May Mischief and I love you for your kind courtesy,
and we pray you that, like the dear Lady Grizel, you
will take the door with you as far as it will go, and
leave us thus in the firelight, with only the Earl's
great chair for company.
THE END.
By the mercy of God this account of our many trials
and their happy end is finished at our house of the
Rathan, on the first day of Aprile, 17 — , being the
second anniversary of the birth of my son "John Fa a
Heron, my daughter Grizel Maxwell being now in her
seventh year, and my dear wife entering her thirty-
third — but, as I think, bonnier than ever.
The Stickit Minister,
AND SOME COMMON MEN.
By S. R. CROCKETT.
SIXTH EDITION. CLOTH EXTRA S]
Some Press Opinions.
THE SPEAKER.
" Mr. Crockett has given us a book that is full of strength and
charms. Humour and pathos mingle with delightful effect. . . .
It is hard to imagine that any lover of literature could be altogether
wanting in appreciation of their quaint homeliness and pleasant
realism. To come across a volume like this is indeed refreshing.
No wailing pessimism mars our enjoyment with its dreary disbelief
in humanity ; every page exhibits a robust faith in the higher
possibilities of our nature, and the result is distinctly successful.
Amongst the gems of the collection we may indicate ' The Heather
Lintie,' a simple sketch, instinct with quiet penetrating pathos ;
whilst as a specimen of acute and kindly humour, 'A Knight- Errant
of the Streets,' with its sequel, 'The Progress of Cleg Kelly,' would
be hard to surpass. . . . The author has constructed stories full of
grace and charm. Those to whom humanity in its most primitive
and least complex aspect is interesting will find real pleasure in
studying Mr. Crockett's strong and sympathetic presentment of
Scottish peasant life."
The Stickit Minister.
THE SATURDAY REVIEW.
" Racy of the soil, told with a masterly command of dialect and
national characteristics, powerful, at times almost too powerful for
their tiny dimensions ; for in a tale of only a few pages it is
impossible to do full justice to the tremendous passions which
actuate some of Mr. Crockett's characters."
THE DAILY NEWS.
"The author is a man of keen observation and considerable
powers of description. These sketches will afford very enter-
taining reading."
THE DAILY TELEGRAPa
" Mr. Crockett shows himself a sufficiently capable narrator, with
some idea of humour and still more of pathos."
THE DAILY CHRONICLE.
" Excellent, with a somewhat exceptional kind of excellence—
' by-ordinar' good.' Mr. Crockett's handling of the themes has a
vigour, a veracity, and a freshness—an artlessly artistic fidelity to
the homely truth of things, which gives his work the power to
arrest as well as the power to charm."
ATHENiEUM.
" Few readers will find the collection dull."
BRITISH WEEKLY.
" A book of extraordinary merit. It is a series of swift, bright
sketches, ... and they are done with such ease, spirit, and fidelity,
as to give Mr. Crockett a very high place among his fellow artists.
English readers may be assured that they will find this book enter-
taining and racy beyond almost any other of its kind."
GLASGOW HERALD.
Sl This is a pleasant book to dip into."
The Stickit Minister.
GLASGOW MAIL.
" The Scottish sketches are, though slight in character, of high
literary merit. . . . They reproduce with photographic accuracy
certain phases of Scottish rural life which, under the influence of a
more cosmopolitan civilisation, are rapidly passing away. He is
most successful in humorous themes. No one acquainted with
Scottish rural life will fail to recognise the truthfulness of these
humorous presentations, alike as regards the mental attitude and
mode of expression common among our Scottish peasantry. ' The
Stickit Minister ' is a work of genuine ability, and will be warmly
cherished by all who love to dwell on the byways of Scottish
rural life."
DUNDEE ADVERTISER.
" Alike as a faithful record of life, as a literary performance, and
as a book to enjoy, ' The Stickit Minister ' is entitled to high
praise."
SCOTTISH LEADER.
" Eminently readable. . . . Are distinctly valuable as photo-
graphs of rustic thought and speech. They vividly reproduce the
manners and the language of the Scottish rustic and the country
clergy. There is not one of them but will be read with interest and
admiration."
GUARDIAN.
" The great charm of the book is its thorough and unaffected
naturalness ; it sparkles through its pages like a Scotch mountain
burn, in a perpetual change, sometimes in bright sunshine, some-
times in deep shadow, sometimes babbling merrily over shadows,
sometimes lying silently in deep dark pools, but always fresh and
clear and pleasant, and running its own course according to its own
sweet will."
The SHckit Minister.
LITERARY WORLD.
" Mr. Crockett's is a new name in literature, but it has come to
stay. He has the making of a great writer in him — fire, pathos,
humour, wide sympathies, keen insight into character, a touch at
once light and masterly, and a style nervous and flexible."
TRUTH.
"A series of striking papers."
THE BOOKMAN.
*' All are vigorously written ; indeed, where fault is to be found
it is rather on the ground that restraint than that force is wanting."
THE CHRISTIAN LEADER.
" There is breeziness as of the heather moors all through
this book ; in such atmosphere it is no wonder that there are
muscular vigour, swift strokes, and refined beauty both in words
and lives."
YORKSHIRE POST.
" It is not everybody who likes a book so thoroughly Scotch ; but
the humour, the pathos, and the actuality of the whole thing make
that of comparatively small importance,"
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
" Mr. R. L. Stevenson's recent ' informal talk ' to the members of
the Scottish Thistle Club at Honolulu contained a touching reference
to Mr. S. R. Crockett's dedication to him of the ' Stickit Minister,'
a book which, he said, ' affected me strangely, so that I could not
read it without a gulp.' In a letter since received by a friend Mr.
Stevenson returns to the subject. ' The whole book,' he says,
' breathes admirably of the soil. The ' Stickit Minister ' and the
' Heather Lintie' are two that come near me particularly. They are
drowned in Scotland. They have refreshed me like a visit home I "
Londom ; T. FISHER UNWIN, Paternoster Square, E.C.
Glasgow : W. POLLOCK WYLIE, Christian Leader Office.
€fce ©tenant Pre**,
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of it." —Saturday Revi
AMERICAN ILLUSTRATORS.
By F. Hopkixson Smith. Fifteen Plates, printed in Colour on Japan
paper, and 100 Sketches, Portraits and Drawings in the text. The text
is printed on heavy-coated paper. The cover is from a design by W. L.
Metcalf. In handsome portfolio, with etched design on cover, price
£2, 125. 6d. nett. 100 copies only for sale in England, each being numbered.
American illustrators occupy a distinguished place in the art world. In quality of
draughtsmanship they are unsurpassed, while in humour and vigour they stand alone.
Amongst the artists represented are E. A. Abbey, Frost, Remington, Gibson, Cox, etc ,
and the plates are in colours, heliotype, albertype, photogravure, etc., while Mr. Smith's
critical article is lavishly illustrated by engravings.
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THEOBALD WOLFE
TONE:
A Chapter from Irish History, 1790- 1798. Edited, with an Introduction,
by R. Barry O'Brien, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law,
Author of " Fifty Years of Concessions to Ireland,'" " Thomas Drumtnond,"
&*c. 2 vols., with Photogravure Frontispiece to each, 4 Steel-Plates,
and a Letter in facsimile. Royal 8vo, cloth, 32s.
The following letter was received by the editor from the Prime Minister: — Hawarden Castle,
Chester, Oct. 12. — My dear Sir, — I have received to-day the beautiful copy of your
edition of Wolfe Tone's life, which I imagine will open to the British public a mass of
interesting information hitherto practically shut out from their knowledge. I for one
have never been able to obtain a copy of what is known as the American edition of the
life. My means of reading are now much cut down from more than one cause, but I
have at once read your luminous introduction, and I am of opinion that in its score of
pages you convey more light on what is, perhaps, the most interesting period in Irish
history than is to be found in many volumes relating to it. You, I think, first gave a true
exposition of that most significant history of the Irish land question, and I congratulate
you on the new service you have now rendered to historic truth. — I remain, faithfull y
yours, W. E. Gladstone."
GREEK VASE PAINTINGS: Select Examples.
With an Introduction and Notes by J. E. Harrison and D. S. MacColl.
Size of the book, 18 by 14 inches, bound in strong cloth, price 315. 6d.
Also, a fine Edition on Japan Paper, limited to 30 copies, 10 of which contain
Coloured Plates. Prices on application.
Previous to the epoch of the Parthenon marbles, Greek vase painting was the
most exquisite of the arts. The human passions were portrayed in this manner with
unexampled grace and realism. The precious relics of this phase of art are however
scattered over the museums of England and the Continent, and the knowledge of them
is practically inaccessible to art-students. This difficulty will be obviated by the work
described above. It has been undertaken by ripe scholars — Miss Jane Harrison, the
well-known lecturer, and Mr. D. S. MacColl, the artist and art-critic, — and they have
secured reproductions of over 50 of the finest specimens of Vase Painting.
AMABEL:
A Military Romance. By Cathal Macguire. 3 vols., cloth, 315. 6d.
" A piece of clever and careful realism." — Daily Chronicle.
" A very dramatic story .... true, realistic, in no way coarse, and very capably
written. The background of country and barrack life is good."— Army and Navy Gazette.
MARKHAM HOWARD:
A Novel. By J. Heale. 3 vols., cloth, 31s. 6d.
This is a powerfully written novel, describing the career of an ultimately famous
musician.
BIANCA :
A Novel. By Mrs. Bagot Harte. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, cloth, 21s.
" The story has a distinct charm cf its own, the characterisation especially being
good."— Star.
" Some of the action is wholly unexpected— startling." — Literary World.
New Publications, 1893 — 94.
MILLIARA:
An Australian Romance. By Noel Hope. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, cloth, 21s.
"There is a healthy freshness about its treatment which disarms criticism. . . .
The heroine [is] a delightful and artistic study." — Daily Chronicle.
" There are scenes of happy humour, of pathos, of heroic action ; there is no lack of
various and stirring incidents ; and the tale is admirable from a literary and artistic
point of view." — Scotsman.
THE ROMANCE OF A COUNTRY:
A Masque. By M. A. Curtois, Author of " Jenny," " My Best Pupil;'
&>c. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, cloth, 21s.
" There is a good deal of Oriental imagery worked up in ' The Romance of a Country.'
Founded on the legends of a people who are influenced largely by faith in signs and
symbols, it shows how these are supposed to affect the destiny ot those brought under
their spell." — Scotsman
THE REVOLUTION AND THE EMPIRE:
Being the Memoir of Chancellor Pasqitier. In 3 vols. With Portraits.
Demy Svo, cloth, 16s. per vol. Vol. I., 17S9 to 1S10.
The Memoirs of Chancellor Pasquier, edited by the Due d'Audiffret-Pasquier and
translated by C. E. Roche, are the most important French publication of the day.
They are a narrative from the inside, with the comments of a particularly liberal and
broadminded stateman, who had peculiar opportunities for observing the events in
which he was himself an important actor during the most interesting period of modern
history — The Revolution, Consulate and Empire. His portraits of the leading figures
and pictures of the prominent events of this period have both graphic power and piquancy.
ANNIE BESANT:
An Autobiography. With Twelve Illustrations, three being PJwtogravttre
Portraits. Demy Svo, cloth, 16s.
Sincerest among iconoclasts is Mrs. Besant. Atheism and Theosophy are poles
asunder, but she has fearlessly made the journey in pursuit of Truth. Her life has been
brimful of excitement, and she tells her story with lucidity and verve, dwelling, as she
proceeds, on the interesting people she has known, from Bradlaugh to Blavatsky.
DAYS SPENT ON A DOGE'S FARM.
By Margaret Symonds. Photogravure Frontispiece and 50 other
Illustrations. Demy Svo, cloth, 125.
Contents. Preface— Introduction — Chapter i. Rise of the Pisanis and Purchase
of Vescovana — ii. The Making of the Doge's Farm — hi. First Impressions — iv. Second
Thoughts— v. May Wanderings — vi. In Early June — vii. The Melancholy of the Plain —
viii. Flowers of the Plain— ix. The Stables and the People— x. A Gromboolian
Serenade— xi. Old Houses in Gromboolia— xii. Fishing on the Lombard Plain -
xiii. The Festa of St. Antonio at Padua — xiv. The Harvest— xv. Gleaning -
xvi. Thrashing— xvii. A Day at Trissino — xviii. On the Banks of the Odige— xix. In
the Enganean Hills — xx. Last Days — Epilogue.
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
CATHARINE FURZE:
A Novel by Mark Rutherford. In 2 vols. Crown 8vo, 12s.
In " Catharine Furze " the author of " Mark Rutherford " has given us a pathetic
and interesting study of a modern woman. His great power of vividly tracing the
motives of actions, his keen analysis of small sins, and his humour in the portraiture of
common types, are as much in evidence as ever in this romance of middle class
life in a provincial town.
THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
A Retrospect and a Forecast. By Thomas Alfred Spalding, LL.B.,
Barrister-al-Laiv. Small demy 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.
This examination of the history, precedents, and powers of the House of Lords is,
of course, a work of permanent value to the student of governments ; but at the present
moment the subject is of the keenest, and should receive a large measure of popularity.
HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS.
By Mrs. Schuyler van Rennselaer. Fully Illustrated. Crown Svo.
cloth, 1 os. 6d.
" Mrs. Rennselaer's eminently popular ' Handbook of English Cathedrals' is repub-
lished by Mr. Fisher Unwin in one volume. It has been revised for the occasion by
the author, and is illustrated, as before, by Mr. Joseph Pennell's numerous drawings,
together with plans and diagrams." — Daily News.
THE LIFE OF EDWIN BOOTH.
By William Winter. In 1 vol. With Illustrations. Demy Svo,
cloth, 10s. 6d.
This biography, by one who is intimately acquainted with the inner life of the
American drama, is brimful of Booth personalia and piquant anecdote. Apart from the
historical significance in the name of " Booth," this actor had for a long time before his
death typified the American tragic stage to English playgoers, just as Jefferson typified
American comedy.
Conway & Goolibge's Climbers' (Suibes,
— IRew Dolumcs.
Edited by W. M. Conway and W. A. B. Coolidge. 321110, limp, cloth,
gilt lettered, with pocket, flap, and pencil, price 10s. each.
(6) THE ADULA ALPS OF
THE LEPONTINE
RANGE.
By W. A. B. Coolidge.
" Indispensable to the public to which
it appeals." — Westminster Gazette.
(7) THE MOUNTAINS OF
COGNE.
By Geo. Yeld and W. A. B.
Coolidge. With Map.
" The present volume is fully worthy
of its companions and predecessors, being
founded on the personal experience of its
very competent authors and on a thorough
study of the literature of the subject."
Times.
New Publications, 1893 — 94.
IN A CORNISH TOWNSHIP WITH OLD VOGUE FOLK.
By Dolly Pentreath. Photogravure Frontispiece and 18 other Illus-
trations by Percy B. Craft. Large crown Svo, cloth, ys. 6d.
This is a delightful book with a farmer in it who is Humour's own self. The
pictures are wonderfully apt, for they were drawn under the author's eye by a man who
knows Cornwall like a book.
RANDOM ROAMINGS IN TIME AND SPACE.
By Rev. Augustus Jessopp, D.D. Crown 8vo, ys. 6d.
Contents. Chapter i. Random Roaming — ii. Castle Acre — iii. Hill-Digging and
Magic — iv. A Fourteenth-Century Parson— v. A Rustic Retrospect. 1799 — vi. A
Scheme for Clergy Pensions — vii. Something about Village Almshouses.
SPINOZA'S ETHIC.
Translated into English by Amelia H. Stirling and W. Hale White.
Second Edition, revised and corrected, with New Preface. Demy 8vo,
cloth, 10s. 6d.
Mr. Hale White has contributed a new and able introduction to this standard
translation of Spinoza. The work is, as students are aware, an indispensable exposition
of the principles of abstract morality.
MORE ABOUT NAMES.
By Leopold Wagner, Author of " Names and their Meanings.'''' Large
crown 8vo, cloth, ys. 6d.
" A work of extraordinary interest." — Sun.
" A curious and interesting compilation." — School Board Chronicle.
TTbe Hbventure Series -mew 3$sue,
Each Illustrated. Large crown Svo, cloth, gold lettered, ys. 6d.
" A library that can be sincerely welcomed." — Globe.
" May be cordially recommended both to the student and the school-boy." —
Vanity Fair.
THE LIFE AND ADVEN- THE MEMOIRS AND
TURES OF JAMES P.
BECKWOURTH.
Mountaineer, Scout, Pioneer, and
Chief of the Crow Nation of
Indians. Written from his own
dictation by T. D. Bonner.
New Edition, Edited, and with
Preface, by Charles G.
Leland (uHansBreitmai;n,'J.
TRAVELS OF MAURI-
TIUS AUGUSTUS
COUNT DE BENYOW-
SKY
In Siberia, Kamtchaika, Japan,
the Linkiti Islands, and Formosa.
From the Translation of his
Original Manuscript (1741-
1771), by William Nichol-
son, F.R.S., 1790. Edited
Captain Pasfield Oliver,
K.A.
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
THE SUNNY DAYS OF YOUTH:
A Book for Boys and Young Men. By the Rev. E. J. Hardy, M.A.,
Author of " Hoiv to be Happy though Married,'' '■'Manners Makyth
Man," etc. Sq. imp. i6mo, cloth, 6s.
Also, a fine Edition, elegantly bound, bevelled boards, gilt edges, js. 6d.
" At once edifying and attractive by pertinent anecdote and telling illustration. . . .
The writer is a cheery preacher of a cheery gospel, who . . . generally manages to hit
what he aims at." — Times.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE NORSE GODS.
By Ruth J. Pitt. Illustrated by G. P. Jacomb-Hood and J. A. J.
Brindley. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.
" A connected narrative which will . . . give many who have never read them
before an idea of the great epics of the North, and, perhaps, tempt some few to study
more closely a religion which teaches the fundamental truths of all religions with
singular force and purity." — Daily Telegraph.
THE BROWNIES AT HOME.
By Palmer Cox. Medium <\to, cloth, 6s.
This is a new volume of the " Brownie " books. If possible, this is the best and
funniest. The Author's delightful pictures are a treat in themselves.
TO GIPSYLAND.
By Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell. Illustrated by Joseph
Pennell. i2mo, cloth, 6s.
Beautifully illustrated and brightly written, this volume, like all that proceed from
the Pennells' pen, brings vividly before us the picturesque in nature and the delightful life
of Bohemians. Mrs. Pennell, from her relationship to that Prince of Gipsy-lorists,
Mr. C. G. Leland, has a peculiar authority to write on this subject.
SOME COUNTRY SIGHTS AND SOUNDS.
By Phil Robinson. Crown Svo, cloth, bevelled boards, gilt edges, 6s.
" Whatever he writes about he is uniformly quaint, original, and delightful, with
his keen power of observation, his strange quips, and his unexpected inversions." —
'Times.
JEANIE o' BIGGERSDALE, and other Yorkshire Stones.
By Katharine Simpson. With Preface by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson,
Canon of York and Vicar of Danby-in-Clev eland. Large crown Svo,
cloth, 6s.
" A group of vigorous stories. The breezy air of the heather-clad moors sweeps
through their pages. ... In the telling of them there is no striving after effect, but
a directness of narrative which scorns artifice." — Daily Chronicle.
LEAVES FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TOMMASO
SALVINI.
With eight Illustrations. Demy Svo, cloth, 6s.
Salvini, greatest of Italian tragedians, is a name to conjure with. Honesty and wit
walk hand in hand in this volume, v.hich is a mine of anecdote and incident.
New Publications, 1S93 — 94.
BRIGHT CELESTIALS:
The Chinaman at Home and Abroad. By John Coming Chinaman.
Crown Svo, cloth, 6s.
While cast in the form of fiction, this "work, written from the Chinese point of
view, will be found to throw valuable light on a curious and much misunderstood
people.
THE HEBREW TWINS:
A Vindication of God's Ways with Jacob and Esau. By the late Rev.
Samuel Cox, ~D.T)., Author of "Expositions," &>c. With Prefatory
Memoir by his Wife. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s.
A pathetic interest attaches to this last production of the pen of Dr. Cox. This
learned exposition of the Divine wisdom, as manifested in the story of Jacob and Esau,
is written with a charm which never fails to captivate the reader.
THE MARQUIS d'ARGENSON :
A Study in Criticism. Being the Stanhope Essay for 1893. By
Arthur Ogle, Exhibitioner of Magdalen College. 256 pages, crown
Svo, cloth, 6s.
"They are of opinion that the competition was unusually good." — Award of the
Examiners, Professor J. A. Froude, E. Armstrong, Esq., and A. Hassell, Esq.,
May 8th, 1893.
A BOOK OF THOUGHTS,
Linked with Memories of the late John Bright. Selected and Edited by
Mary B. Curry. 24.W0, cloth, 6s.
John Bright's sound and classic tastes in literature are well remembered. Mrs.
Curry in this book has identified her choice with what her father's would have been.
There are readings given for every day in the year, and a more suitable gift-book cannot
well be imagined.
SWEET BELLS OUT OF TUNE.
By Mrs. Burton Harrison, Author of "The Anglo-maniacs" &*c.
Crown Svo, cloth, 6s.
This study of a honeymoon couple, gives an exceedingly clever picture of
fashionable American Society. There are touches of pathos which render its charm
superior to that of " The Anglo-maniacs."
BALCONY STORIES.
By Grace King, A uthorof" Tales of a Time and Place." With illustrations.
Crown Svo, 245 pages, cloth, 6s.
THE WHITE CAVE.
By William O. Stoddard, Author of "Crowded Out o' Crofield," etc.
Fully illustrated. Crown Svo, 253 pages, cloth, 6s.
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
THE QUEEN AT BALMORAL:
By Frank Pope Humphrey, Author of "A New England Cactus" &c.
12 full-page Illustrations, and a Photogravure. Large crown 8vo, cloth
gilt, 5*-
When Charles II. used to walk in St. James's Park the Sovereign was a familiar
enough figure. Now, royalty is more aloof from us, and, therefore, has an added
fascination. Mr. Humphrey gives us a graphic picture of the private life of the
Queen in Scotland.
THE BOY GOD: Troublesome and Vengeful.
An Ethical Romance. By E. M. Lynch. Illustrated. 121110, cloth, $s.
The girls of Camelot College used to arraign Cupid with wonderfully apt citations
in three languages, but he was revenged, and found husbands for most of them. It is a
bright little satire, with piquant illustrations.
RAYMOND'S FOLLY.
By B. Paul Neuman. Crown Svo, 5s.
The author of " The Interpreter's House " has, in " Raymond's Folly," pictured a
philanthropic scheme of great interest. All those who have followed the Toynbee Hall
movement will be fascinated by this tender and practical story. As to the general
acceptance of such books, Besant's creation in " All Sorts and Conditions of Men " is a
sufficing witness.
THE BUNNY STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
By John Howard Jewett. 78 Illustrations by Culmer Barnes.
Small \to, cloth, 5s.
All children love the Bunnies, and the funny little creatures have always been pets
of the fairy-lorist. This little book is just the thing for the town-children, to whom
the beautiiul homes where the Bunnies live are enchanted palaces.
THE TEMPLE:
Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations by George Herbert. Fifth
Edition, with Introductory Essay by J. Henry Shorthouse,
being a facsimile reprint of the extremely scarce original edition of 1633.
Small crown 8vo, half-bound, old style, paper boards, 5s.; or, real sheep
sprinkled, red edges, 55.
" This charming reprint." — Academy.
" The style of Mr. Shorthou&e's dainty little preface is, we should say, nearly
perfect in its kind." — Spectator.
THE NEW EGYPT:
A Social Sketch. By Francis Adams, Author of " The Australians," S-c.
With an Introduction by J. W. Longsdon. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.
Contents. Editor's Preface — Preface — Introduction. Part I. On the Surface —
i — Alexandria — ii. The Alexandrians — iii. Narrative — iv. Cairo — v. The Cairenes — vi.
Narrative— vii. The Nile— viii. The Nilots. Part II. The Earth Opens — i. Narrative —
ii. The Interview with Lord Cromer — iii. The Interview with the Khedive — iv. Narra-
tive— v. The Interview with Riaz Pasha — vi. The Interview wiih Tigrane Pasha —
vii. Narrative. Part III. The New Egypt — i. The Real Story of the Crisis — ii. The
Glory of England — iii. The Pledged Honour of England — iv. The Apology for Egypt.
Appendix — Extract from Blue Book.
New Publications, 1893 — 94-
THE MERRY MONTH, and other Prose Pieces.
By Henry Bellyse Baildon, Author of '• The Spirit of Nature," &c.
8vo, cloth, $s.
" Let us do justice to so pleasant a paper as the ' Naming of June,' nor fail to utter
a word of thanks for 'Spring's Unpacking' and 'Flower Faces,' with their subtle
suggestiveness and delicate imaginative charm. There is also a generous ' Defence of
the Dog,' for which all friends of the most companiable, loyal, and sagacious four-footed
creature on earth ought to feel grateful. . . . Mr. Baildon is readable and entertaining."
— The Speaker.
SIDE LIGHTS.
By James Runciman, With Memoir by Grant Allen, and an Intro-
duction by W. T. Stead. Edited by John F. Runciman. Large
crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.
Contents. A Note on the Author, by Grant Allen — An Introductory Word about
the Book, by W. T. Stead — i. Letter-writers — ii. On writing oneself out — iii. The
Decline of Literature — iv. Colour-blindness in Literature — v. The Surfeit of Books —
vi People who are " down " — vii. Ill-assorted Marriages — viii. Happy Marriages —
ix. Shrews — x. Are we wealthy — xi. The values of Labour — xii. The Hopeless Poor —
xiii. Waifs and Strays — xiv. Stage-children— xv. Public and Private Morality; Past and
Present — xvi. " Raising the Level of Amusements "— xvii. A little Sermon on Failures
— xviii. "Vanity of Vanities" — xix. Gamblers — xx. Scoundrels — xxi. Quiet old towns —
xxii. The Sea — xxiii. Sorrow — xxiv. Death — xxv. Journalism.
" MADE IN FRANCE : " French Tales Retold, with a United
States Twist.
By H. C. Bunner, Author of " Short Sixes," " The Runaway Browns,'"
etc., etc. With illustrations by C. J. Taylor, Crown 8vo, cloth, 55.
The genial poet and editor of Puck (the Punch of America.) has hit on the idea of
making an artistic paraphase rather than a translation of ten of Guy de Maupassant's
brightest stories. The intention has been to impress the spirit of these stories on the
English letter which is the more warrantable since de Maupassant is well nigh untrans-
lateable. The artist's vignettes have the delicacy of drawings by Montegut.
THE STICKIT MINISTER, and Some Common Men.
By S. R. Crockett. Third Edition. 8vo, cloth extra, 55.
" Striking sketches of Scotch life and character."— Truth.
PERFECT FREEDOM.
Addresses by Phillips Brooks, with an Introduction by Rev. Julius H.
Ward, and an Etched Portrait Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.
" The addresses in this volume illustrate some of the highest and best phases in the
mental and spiritual life of Phillips Brooks. We learn to love them at once for their
beauty, strength, and purity ; more than all we love them for their absolute truth and
sincerity."
ART OUT OF DOORS:
Hints on Good Taste in Gardening. By Mrs. Schuyler van Rennsselaer,
Author of " English Cathedrals." 8vo, cloth, 5s.
"This is a charming book, both in literary style and make-up, with the additional
merit that the author treats her subject both with good taste and enthusiasm." — Builder.
IO
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
Zhe £tov\> of tbe IRations -mew Doiumes.
Each with Maps, Illustrations and Index. Large crown Svo, fancy cloth,
gold lettered, 55.
" Such a universal history as the series will present us with in its completion will
be a possession such as no country but our own can boast of." — The Daily Chronicle.
(34) PARTHIA.
By Prof. Geo. Rawlinson,
A uthor of "A ncient Egypt, ' ' &°c.
(35) THE AUSTRALIAN
COMMONWEALTH.
(New South Wales, Tasmania,
Western Australia, South Aus-
tralia, Victoria, Queensland, New
Zealand.) By Greville
Tregarthen.
(36) SPAIN (711-1492):
From the Moorish Conquest to the
Fall of Granada. By H. E.
Watts.
(37) SOUTH AFRICA.
By George M. Theal.
(38) THE CRUSADES:
The Story of the Latin Kingdom
of Jerusalem.
Revised and enlarged
TWO SPHERES ;
Or, Mind v. Instinct. By " T. E. S. T.'
throughout. Demy 8vo, cloth, 5s.
This is a new and revised edition of a work which has evoked praise from several
eminent authorities. It is packed with unhackneyed illustrations from numerous authors.
WILD NATURE WON BY KINDNESS.
By Mrs. Brightwen. Fifth and Revised Edition, with additional
Illustrations reproduced from those in the German translation. Crown 8vo,
imitation leather, gilt lettered, gilt edges, in box, $s.
The Sun says of the new edition : — " Mrs. Brightwen's volume is a delightful
example of a class of work which one fears may grow rarer as the life of commerce
extends into our villages. It is a book made for the pure pleasure of its record, and
from first page to last it is just charming."
TOPSYS AND TURVYS.
An Amusing Book for the Nursery.
(9 in. x 7 in.) Paper boards, 55.
Coloured Illustrations, oblong size
"As ingenious as diverting." — National Observer.
"Very ludicrous effects are produced by turning the pictures upside down." —
Manchester Examiner.
AN EMBASSY TO PROVENCE.
By Thos. A. Janvier. With a Portrait of Mistral. i2mo, cloth, 45. 6d.
This work is a pleasant resume of a visit to the Land of the Troubadours, with
sketches of its contemporary poets.
New Publications, 1893—94. IX
THE WORK OF JOHN RUSKIN.
By Charles Waldstein. With Frontispiece. 121110, parchment gilt,
45. 6d.
Dr. Charles Waldstein, the well known author of " Essays on the Art of Pheidias,"
and Reader of Classical Archaeology in the University of Cambridge, has been
prominently associated with recent exploration. His study of the great art-teacher is,
therefore, supported by sympathy and great knowledge. The book itself will be a joy to
bibliophiles.
THE WHITE ISLANDER.
By Mary Hartwell Catherwood, Author of "The Romance of
Dollard," &*c. Illustrated by Francis Day. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
In this story Mrs. Catherwood reverts to the Indians, whom she loves so well, and
produces a story giving fine contrasts in character, and affording many exciting
situations.
OUT OF IT:
A Story for Children. By A. F. Radcliffe. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
The scene of this book is a Highland castle, and a delightful story for boys and
girls is wrought out amid this picturesque environment.
THE HEART OF MONTROSE, and other Stories.
By Esther Carr (Mrs. William Hartopp), Author of " The Secret
of Wrexford" " Fleur de Lis," &>c. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6d.
" They have a quaint, old-world prettiness that is far from being without charm.
The author no doubt writes her semi-historical tales with a pen dipped in rosewater, but
the effect of the whole is decidedly graceful and pleasing." — Morning Post.
THE BOY AND THE ANGEL:
Discourses for Children. By Rev. John Byles, Author of " Spring
Blossoms and Summer Fruit." Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Mr. Byles's charming sermonettes for children are already widely appreciated
The present volume is the pleasantest initiation into religion that a child could have.
THUMB-NAIL SKETCHES IN HOLLAND.
By Geo. Wharton Edwardes. i2»io, bound in sheep, 3s. 6d.
Contents. Maglashen — The Clavecin, Bruges — The Coffee House, Maarken —
" Strange to Say" — A Fete Day and Evening in a Dutch Town,
RETROSPECT, and other Poems.
By A. Mary F. Robinson (Madame Darmesteter), Author of '• An
Italian Garden," &-c. Frontispiece. Foolscap 8vo, half-bound paper
boards, 35. 6d.
" There are not many contemporary books of verse with so much that is genuine
and beautiful in them as ' Retrospect.' " — Bookman.
12
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
THE RESCUE, and other Poems.
By Henry Bellyse Baildon. Foolscap 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
Mr. Baildon, the well-known Scottish lecturer, is a poet of remarkable ingenuity,
and the novelty of some of his rhythms is decidedly piquant. Besides this quality,
there is genuine feeling and felicity in the lyrics, epodes, sonnets, etc., which make up
the volume.
Zbe IReformer's Book=Sbelf.
Large crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
(2) THE LABOUR MOVE-
MENT.
By L. T. Hobhouse, M.A.
Preface by R. B. Haldane,
M.P.
"A valuable book." — Athenaum.
" Interesting and really significant." —
Daily Chronicle.
(3) SIXTY YEARS OF AN
AGITATOR'S LIFE:
The Third and Cheaper Edition of
Geo. Jacob Holyoake's
Autobiography. 2 vols. With
Portrait by Walter Sickert.
' ' Mr. Holyoake has those qualities of
head and heart and that power of style
of expression which would make de-
lightful the story of an ' industrial school
for infants of arrested intellectual de-
velopment.' His power of imagination,
his sympathy, his gentleness, his sincerity,
and his ability make his volumes a
valuable contribution to personal litera-
ture."— Guardian.
(4) BAM FORD'S PASSAGES
IN THE LIFE OF A
RADICAL.
Edited, and with an Introduction
by Henry Dunckley
("Verax.") 2 vols.
Bamford was a poet and literary
radical whose epoch was in the thirties
and forties. The part he played in that
season of agitation and re-crudescence
was a picturesque one, and his auto-
biography has been wisely included in a
library which should be in the possession
of all students of socialism.
WHAT ONE WOMAN THINKS.
Essays by Haryot Holt Cahon. Edited by Cynthia M. Westover,
Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
A woman's thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects, written in a distinctly
clever manner.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE COUNTESS THERESE OF
BRUNSWICK.
By Mariam Tenger. Translated by the Hon. Mrs. Russell. Two
Portraits. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte has been a mystery only less tantalising than the
man in the iron mask. Mariam Tenger's pages throw a flash-light upon it, and there is
a sincerity in her account of the beautiful Therese which is very agreeable. The
translation, which is specially authorised, contains two excellent portraits of the Countess,
showing her in the prime of her beauty and in a picturesque old age.
New Publication's, 1893 — 94.
Zhc Jnfcepcnbent IRovel Series— mew
Dolumes.
Demy 121110, cloth, price 3s. 6d. each.
" A very pretty book in good Drint aud
Gazette.
"The publisher's part is faultless." — Recoi
(6) STORIES FROM ,
GARSHIN.
Translated by Alice Voynich,
and with Critical Introduction
by Sergius Stepniak.
"The first of the four stories is a
masterpiece 'A Coward ' and
' Private Ivanov ' form together a com-
plete representation of the personal side
of war, and again the simplicity and
delicacy of expression give the work real
greatness." — National Observer.
(7) TIARI :
A Tahitian Romance. By Dora
Hort, Author of " Tahiti:
The Garden of the Pacific" &>c.
The vigour and dash of Mrs. Hort's
style carry her readers along with her.
Her intimate knowledge of Tahiti has
aesthetic grey-blue cover." — St, James's
d.
already contributed toher literary success,
but her racy humour and womanly wit
will perhaps be best appreciated in the
novel before us.
(8) HUGH DARVILLE.
By E. L. St. Germaine.
" Hugh Darville" is a domestic love
story. The quiet environment of the
heroine is well described, and the pathos
of the telling renders the happy denoue-
ment all the pleasanter.
(9) THEORIES.
By A. N. T. A. P. Demy n\mo,
cloth, 3s. 6d.
" Theories " is a work altogether out
of the common. The author is an acute
critic of motive, and there is nothing aim-
less in her incidents, and nothing dry in
her expositions.
flIMss jf ranees power Cobbe's Wovfes.
—popular reissue.
Each Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.
RELIGIOUS DUTY.
PEAK IN DARIEN.
DAWNING LIGHTS.
ALONE.
* * Mr.
HOPES OF THE HUMAN
RACE.
DUTIES OF WOMEN.
FAITHLESS WORLD.
Fisher Unwin holds a stock of all Miss Cobbe's other Publications.
Lists on application.
LOVE SONGS OF CONNACHT.
Bein^ the Fourth Chapter of the "Songs of Connacht." Now for the first
lime Collected, Edited and Translated. By Douglas Hyde, LL.D.,
M.R.I. A., Author of " Beside the Fire," &>c. Croxvn 8vo, paper,
sewed, 25. 6d. nett.
" The love-songs in Mr. Hyde's translation keep their true character. And very
wonderful that character is. They are not, no doubt, great poetry ; but there is some-
thing in them which kindles the imagination, and haunts the memory."— Spectator.
14 Mr. T. Fisher Unwin's
XLbe flftermaib Series.
"The most sensible and serviceable of all the literary series." — St. James's Gazette.
(17) THE BEST PLAYS OF BEN JONSON. (Vol. I.)
Edited, with Introduction and Notes by Brinsley Nicholson and C. H.
Herford. Post 8vo, cloth, with frontispiece, price 2s. 6d. each.
( Vols. 2 and 3 in preparation.)
" Jonson's plays are here presented in very readable and agreeable from." — Globe.
" Such a half-crown's worth as is offered by no other publisher in town." — Star.
Zhe Children's 2Librar\\-mcw Doiumes.
Each Illustrated, post 8vo, pinafore cloth binding, floral edges, 2s. 6d.
"The child who discovers a moral or two in this library is not filled with a rich
anger and a righteous wrath: the moral has no air of apologising for the story, and the
story does not seem to fade away before its moral. The reconciliation of good morals
and good art is prettily done The books are all excellent." — Speaker.
" Happy children who are to own books as pretty and portable as this is." —
Saturday Review.
(16) THE POPE'S MULE,
and other Stories by
Alphonse Daudet.
Translated by A. D. Beavington-
AtkinsoncS-D. Havers. Illus-
trated by Ethel K. Martyn.
BALDUR:
(17) THE LITTLE GLASS
MAN, and other Stories.
From the German of Wilhelm
Hauff. Illustrated by James
Pryde.
A Lyrical Drama. ByH. Orsmond Anderton. Demy 8vo, paper, 25.
" Mr. Anderton's version of the Baldur myth is a spirited performance, and is in
the main true to the old legend." — Glasgow Herald.
MY POOR NIECE, and other Stories:
By Rosaline Masson. Square 8vo, paper, is. 6d.
" These stories . . . are as clever as they are unpretentious. . . . Her style is good,
there are no lapses into slipshod English or dull barbarities of phrase, her insight is
keen, and her heart is in the right place." — Daily Chronicle.
THE LAST DAY OF THE CARNIVAL.
By T. Kostromitin. Translated from the Russian. 121110, paper, is. 6d.
This is a vivid and striking story, by a little-known Russian writer.
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