by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIII.
Whatever stranger visits here, We pity his sad case, Unless to worship he draw near The King of Kings--his Grace. --BURNS'S EPIGRAM ON A VISIT TO INVERARY.
The Captain, finding himself deprived of light in the manner we havedescribed, and placed in a very uncertain situation, proceeded todescend the narrow and broken stair with all the caution in his power,hoping that he might find at the bottom some place to repose himself.But with all his care he could not finally avoid making a false step,which brought him down the four or five last steps too hastily topreserve his equilibrium. At the bottom he stumbled over a bundle ofsomething soft, which stirred and uttered a groan, so deranging theCaptain's descent, that he floundered forward, and finally fell upon hishands and knees on the floor of a damp and stone-paved dungeon.
When Dalgetty had recovered, his first demand was to know over whom hehad stumbled.
"He was a man a month since," answered a hollow and broken voice.
"And what is he now, then," said Dalgetty, "that he thinks it fittingto lie upon the lowest step of the stairs, and clew'd up like a hurchin,that honourable cavaliers, who chance to be in trouble, may break theirnoses over him?"
"What is he now?" replied the same voice; "he is a wretched trunk,from which the boughs have one by one been lopped away, and which careslittle how soon it is torn up and hewed into billets for the furnace."
"Friend," said Dalgetty, "I am sorry for you; but PATIENZA, as theSpaniard says. If you had but been as quiet as a log, as you callyourself, I should have saved some excoriations on my hands and knees."
"You are a soldier," replied his fellow-prisoner; "do you complain onaccount of a fall for which a boy would not bemoan himself?"
"A soldier?" said the Captain; "and how do you know, in this cursed darkcavern, that I am a soldier?"
"I heard your armour clash as you fell," replied the prisoner, "and nowI see it glimmer. When you have remained as long as I in this darkness,your eyes will distinguish the smallest eft that crawls on the floor."
"I had rather the devil picked them out!" said Dalgetty; "if this be thecase, I shall wish for a short turn of the rope, a soldier's prayer, anda leap from a ladder. But what sort of provant have you got here--whatfood, I mean, brother in affliction?"
"Bread and water once a day," replied the voice.
"Prithee, friend, let me taste your loaf," said Dalgetty; "I hope weshall play good comrades while we dwell together in this abominablepit."
"The loaf and jar of water," answered the other prisoner, "stand inthe corner, two steps to your right hand. Take them, and welcome. Withearthly food I have wellnigh done."
Dalgetty did not wait for a second invitation, but, groping out theprovisions, began to munch at the stale black oaten loaf with as muchheartiness as we have seen him play his part at better viands.
"This bread," he said, muttering (with his mouth full at the same time),"is not very savoury; nevertheless, it is not much worse than that whichwe ate at the famous leaguer at Werben, where the valorous Gustavusfoiled all the efforts of the celebrated Tilly, that terrible old hero,who had driven two kings out of the field--namely, Ferdinand of Bohemiaand Christian of Denmark. And anent this water, which is none of themost sweet, I drink in the same to your speedy deliverance, comrade,not forgetting mine own, and devoutly wishing it were Rhenish wine, orhumming Lubeck beer, at the least, were it but in honour of the pledge."
While Dalgetty ran on in this way, his teeth kept time with his tongue,and he speedily finished the provisions which the benevolence orindifference of his companion in misfortune had abandoned to hisvoracity. When this task was accomplished, he wrapped himself in hiscloak, and seating himself in a corner of the dungeon in which he couldobtain a support on each side (for he had always been an admirer ofelbow-chairs, he remarked, even from his youth upward), he began toquestion his fellow-captive.
"Mine honest friend," said he, "you and I, being comrades at bedand board, should be better acquainted. I am Dugald Dalgetty ofDrumthwacket, and so forth, Major in a regiment of loyal Irishes,and Envoy Extraordinary of a High and Mighty Lord, James Earl ofMontrose.--Pray, what may your name be?"
"It will avail you little to know," replied his more taciturn companion.
"Let me judge of that matter," answered the soldier.
"Well, then--Ranald MacEagh is my name--that is, Ranald Son of theMist."
"Son of the Mist!" ejaculated Dalgetty. "Son of utter darkness, say I.But, Ranald, since that is your name, how came you in possession of theprovost's court of guard? what the devil brought you here, that is tosay?"
"My misfortunes and my crimes," answered Ranald. "Know ye the Knight ofArdenvohr?"
"I do know that honourable person," replied Dalgetty.
"But know ye where he now is?" replied Ranald.
"Fasting this day at Ardenvohr," answered the Envoy, "that he may feastto-morrow at Inverary; in which last purpose if he chance to fail, mylease of human service will be something precarious."
"Then let him know, one claims his intercession, who is his worst foeand his best friend," answered Ranald.
"Truly I shall desire to carry a less questionable message," answeredDalgetty, "Sir Duncan is not a person to play at reading riddles with."
"Craven Saxon," said the prisoner, "tell him I am the raven that,fifteen years since, stooped on his tower of strength and the pledgeshe had left there--I am the hunter that found out the wolfs den on therock, and destroyed his offspring--I am the leader of the band whichsurprised Ardenvohr yesterday was fifteen years, and gave his fourchildren to the sword."
"Truly, my honest friend," said Dalgetty, "if that is your bestrecommendation to Sir Duncan's favour, I would pretermit my pleadingthereupon, in respect I have observed that even the animal creation areincensed against those who intromit with their offspring forcibly, muchmore any rational and Christian creatures, who have had violence doneupon their small family. But I pray you in courtesy to tell me, whetheryou assailed the castle from the hillock called Drumsnab, whilk I upholdto be the true point of attack, unless it were to be protected by asconce."
"We ascended the cliff by ladders of withies or saplings," said theprisoner, "drawn up by an accomplice and clansman, who had served sixmonths in the castle to enjoy that one night of unlimited vengeance.The owl whooped around us as we hung betwixt heaven and earth; the tideroared against the foot of the rock, and dashed asunder our skiff, yetno man's heart failed him. In the morning there was blood and ashes,where there had been peace and joy at the sunset."
"It was a pretty camisade, I doubt not, Ranald MacEagh, a verysufficient onslaught, and not unworthily discharged. Nevertheless, Iwould have pressed the house from that little hillock called Drumsnab.But yours is a pretty irregular Scythian fashion of warfare, Ranald,much resembling that of Turks, Tartars, and other Asiatic people.--Butthe reason, my friend, the cause of this war--the TETERRIMA CAUSA, as Imay say? Deliver me that, Ranald."
"We had been pushed at by the M'Aulays, and other western tribes," saidRanald, "till our possessions became unsafe for us."
"Ah ha!" said Dalgetty; "I have faint remembrance of having heard ofthat matter. Did you not put bread and cheese into a man's mouth, whenhe had never a stomach whereunto to transmit the same?"
"You have heard, then," said Ranald, "the tale of our revenge on thehaughty forester?"
"I bethink me that I have," said Dalgetty, "and that not of an old date.It was a merry jest that, of cramming the bread into the dead man'smouth, but somewhat too wild and salvage for civilized acceptation,besides wasting the good victuals. I have seen when at a siege or aleaguer, Ranald, a living soldier would have been the better, Ranald,for that crust of bread, whilk you threw away on a dead pow."
"We were attacked by Sir Duncan," continued MacEagh, "and my brotherwas slain--his head was withering on the battlements which we scaled--Ivowed revenge, and it is a vow I have never broken."
"It may be so," said Dalgetty; "and
every thorough-bred soldier willconfess that revenge is a sweet morsel; but in what manner this storywill interest Sir Duncan in your justification, unless it should movehim to intercede with the Marquis to change the manner thereof fromhanging, or simple suspension, to breaking your limbs on the roue orwheel, with the coulter of a plough, or otherwise putting you to deathby torture, surpasses my comprehension. Were I you, Ranald, I would befor miskenning Sir Duncan, keeping my own secret, and departing quietlyby suffocation, like your ancestors before you."
"Yet hearken, stranger," said the Highlander. "Sir Duncan of Ardenvohrhad four children. Three died under our dirks, but the fourth survives;and more would he give to dandle on his knee the fourth child whichremains, than to rack these old bones, which care little for the utmostindulgence of his wrath. One word, if I list to speak it, could turn hisday of humiliation and fasting into a day of thankfulness and rejoicing,and breaking of bread. O, I know it by my own heart? Dearer to me is thechild Kenneth, who chaseth the butterfly on the banks of the Aven, thanten sons who are mouldering in earth, or are preyed on by the fowls ofthe air."
"I presume, Ranald," continued Dalgetty, "that the three pretty fellowswhom I saw yonder in the market-place, strung up by the head likerizzer'd haddocks, claimed some interest in you?"
There was a brief pause ere the Highlander replied, in a tone of strongemotion,--"They were my sons, stranger--they were my sons!--blood of myblood--bone of my bone!--fleet of foot--unerring in aim--unvanquished byfoemen till the sons of Diarmid overcame them by numbers! Why do I wishto survive them? The old trunk will less feel the rending up of itsroots, than it has felt the lopping off of its graceful boughs. ButKenneth must be trained to revenge--the young eagle must learn from theold how to stoop on his foes. I will purchase for his sake my life andmy freedom, by discovering my secret to the Knight of Ardenvohr."
"You may attain your end more easily," said a third voice, mingling inthe conference, "by entrusting it to me."
All Highlanders are superstitious. "The Enemy of Mankind is among us!"said Ranald MacEagh, springing to his feet. His chains clattered as herose, while he drew himself as far as they permitted from thequarter whence the voice appeared to proceed. His fear in some degreecommunicated itself to Captain Dalgetty, who began to repeat, in a sortof polyglot gibberish, all the exorcisms he had ever heard of, withoutbeing able to remember more than a word or two of each.
"IN NOMINE DOMINI, as we said at Mareschal-College--SANTISSMA MADRE DIDIOS, as the Spaniard has it--ALLE GUTEN GEISTER LOBEN DEN HERRN, saiththe blessed Psalmist, in Dr. Luther's translation--"
"A truce with your exorcisms," said the voice they had heard before;"though I come strangely among you, I am mortal like yourselves, and myassistance may avail you in your present streight, if you are not tooproud to be counselled."
While the stranger thus spoke, he withdrew the shade of a dark lantern,by whose feeble light Dalgetty could only discern that the speaker whohad thus mysteriously united himself to their company, and mixed intheir conversation, was a tall man, dressed in a livery cloak of theMarquis. His first glance was to his feet, but he saw neither the clovenfoot which Scottish legends assign to the foul fiend, nor the horse'shoof by which he is distinguished in Germany. His first enquiry was, howthe stranger had come among them?
"For," said he, "the creak of these rusty bars would have been heard hadthe door been made patent; and if you passed through the keyhole, truly,sir, put what face you will on it, you are not fit to be enrolled in aregiment of living men."
"I reserve my secret," answered the stranger, "until you shall merit thediscovery by communicating to me some of yours. It may be that I shallbe moved to let you out where I myself came in."
"It cannot be through the keyhole, then," said Captain Dalgetty, "for mycorslet would stick in the passage, were it possible that my head-piececould get through. As for secrets, I have none of my own, and but fewappertaining to others. But impart to us what secrets you desireto know; or, as Professor Snufflegreek used to say at theMareschal-College, Aberdeen, speak that I may know thee."
"It is not with you I have first to do," replied the stranger, turninghis light full on the mild and wasted features, and the large limbs ofthe Highlander, Ranald MacEagh, who, close drawn up against the walls ofthe dungeon, seemed yet uncertain whether his guest was a living being.
"I have brought you something, my friend," said the stranger, in a moresoothing tone, "to mend your fare; if you are to die to-morrow, it is noreason wherefore you should not live to-night."
"None at all--no reason in the creation," replied the ready CaptainDalgetty, who forthwith began to unpack the contents of a small basketwhich the stranger had brought under his cloak, while the Highlander,either in suspicion or disdain, paid no attention to the good cheer.
"Here's to thee, my friend," said the Captain, who, having alreadydispatched a huge piece of roasted kid, was now taking a pull at thewine-flask. "What is thy name, my good friend?"
"Murdoch Campbell, sir," answered the servant, "a lackey of the Marquisof Argyle, and occasionally acting as under-warden."
"Then here is to thee once more, Murdoch," said Dalgetty, "drinking toyou by your proper name for the better luck sake. This wine I take to beCalcavella. Well, honest Murdoch, I take it on me to say, thou deservestto be upper-warden, since thou showest thyself twenty times betteracquainted with the way of victualling honest gentlemen that are undermisfortune, than thy principal. Bread and water? out upon him! It wasenough, Murdoch, to destroy the credit of the Marquis's dungeon. But Isee you would converse with my friend, Ranald MacEagh here. Never mindmy presence; I'll get me into this corner with the basket, and I willwarrant my jaws make noise enough to prevent my ears from hearing you."
Notwithstanding this promise, however, the veteran listened with allthe attention he could to gather their discourse, or, as he described ithimself, "laid his ears back in his neck, like Gustavus, when he heardthe key turn in the girnell-kist." He could, therefore, owing to thenarrowness of the dungeon, easily overhear the following dialogue.
"Are you aware, Son of the Mist," said the Campbell, "that you willnever leave this place excepting for the gibbet?"
"Those who are dearest to me," answered MacEagh, "have trode that pathbefore me."
"Then you would do nothing," asked the visitor, "to shun followingthem?"
The prisoner writhed himself in his chains before returning an answer.
"I would do much," at length he said; "not for my own life, but for thesake of the pledge in the glen of Strath-Aven."
"And what would you do to turn away the bitterness of the hour?" againdemanded Murdoch; "I care not for what cause ye mean to shun it."
"I would do what a man might do, and still call himself a man."
"Do you call yourself a man," said the interrogator, "who have done thedeeds of a wolf?"
"I do," answered the outlaw; "I am a man like my forefathers--whilewrapt in the mantle of peace, we were lambs--it was rent from us, and yenow call us wolves. Give us the huts ye have burned, our children whomye have murdered, our widows whom ye have starved--collect from thegibbet and the pole the mangled carcasses, and whitened skulls of ourkinsmen--bid them live and bless us, and we will be your vassals andbrothers--till then, let death, and blood, and mutual wrong, draw a darkveil of division between us."
"You will then do nothing for your liberty," said the Campbell.
"Anything--but call myself the friend of your tribe," answered MacEagh.
"We scorn the friendship of banditti and caterans," retorted Murdoch,"and would not stoop to accept it.--What I demand to know from you, inexchange for your liberty, is, where the daughter and heiress of theKnight of Ardenvohr is now to be found?"
"That you may wed her to some beggarly kinsman of your great master,"said Ranald, "after the fashion of the Children of Diarmid! Does notthe valley of Glenorquhy, to this very hour, cry shame on the violenceoffered to a helpless infant whom her kinsmen were conveying to thecourt of the
Sovereign? Were not her escort compelled to hide herbeneath a cauldron, round which they fought till not one remained totell the tale? and was not the girl brought to this fatal castle, andafterwards wedded to the brother of M'Callum More, and all for the sakeof her broad lands?" [Such a story is told of the heiress of the clanof Calder, who was made prisoner in the manner described, and afterwardswedded to Sir Duncan Campbell, from which union the Campbells of Cawdorhave their descent.]
"And if the tale be true," said Murdoch, "she had a preferment beyondwhat the King of Scots would have conferred on her. But this is farfrom the purpose. The daughter of Sir Duncan of Ardenvohr is of our ownblood, not a stranger; and who has so good a right to know her fate asM'Callum More, the chief of her clan?"
"It is on his part, then, that you demand it!" said the outlaw. Thedomestic of the Marquis assented.
"And you will practise no evil against the maiden?--I have done herwrong enough already."
"No evil, upon the word of a Christian man," replied Murdoch.
"And my guerdon is to be life and liberty?" said the Child of the Mist.
"Such is our paction," replied the Campbell.
"Then know, that the child whom I saved our of compassion at thespoiling of her father's tower of strength, was bred as an adopteddaughter of our tribe, until we were worsted at the pass ofBallenduthil, by the fiend incarnate and mortal enemy of our tribe,Allan M'Aulay of the Bloody hand, and by the horsemen of Lennox, underthe heir of Menteith."
"Fell she into the power of Allan of the Bloody hand," said Murdoch,"and she a reputed daughter of thy tribe? Then her blood has gilded thedirk, and thou hast said nothing to rescue thine own forfeited life."
"If my life rest on hers," answered the outlaw, "it is secure, for shestill survives; but it has a more insecure reliance--the frail promiseof a son of Diarmid."
"That promise shall not fail you," said the Campbell, "if you can assureme that she survives, and where she is to be found."
"In the Castle of Darlinvarach," said Ranald MacEagh, "under the nameof Annot Lyle. I have often heard of her from my kinsmen, who have againapproached their native woods, and it is not long since mine old eyesbeheld her."
"You!" said Murdoch, in astonishment, "you, a chief among the Childrenof the Mist, and ventured so near your mortal foe?"
"Son of Diarmid, I did more," replied the outlaw; "I was in the hall ofthe castle, disguised as a harper from the wild shores of Skianach. Mypurpose was to have plunged my dirk in the body of the M'Aulay with theBloody hand, before whom our race trembles, and to have taken thereafterwhat fate God should send me. But I saw Annot Lyle, even when my handwas on the hilt of my dagger. She touched her clairshach [Harp] toa song of the Children of the Mist, which she had learned when herdwelling was amongst us. The woods in which we had dwelt pleasantly,rustled their green leaves in the song, and our streams were there withthe sound of all their waters. My hand forsook the dagger; the fountainsof mine eyes were opened, and the hour of revenge passed away.--And now,Son of Diarmid, have I not paid the ransom of my head?"
"Ay," replied Murdoch, "if your tale be true; but what proof can youassign for it?"
"Bear witness, heaven and earth," exclaimed the outlaw, "he alreadylooks how he may step over his word!"
"Not so," replied Murdoch; "every promise shall be kept to you when I amassured you have told me the truth.--But I must speak a few words withyour companion in captivity."
"Fair and false--ever fair and false," muttered the prisoner, as hethrew himself once more on the floor of his dungeon.
Meanwhile, Captain Dalgetty, who had attended to every word of thisdialogue, was making his own remarks on it in private. "What the HENKERcan this sly fellow have to say to me? I have no child, either of myown, so far as I know, or of any other person, to tell him a tale about.But let him come on--he will have some manoeuvring ere he turn the flankof the old soldier."
Accordingly, as if he had stood pike in hand to defend a breach, hewaited with caution, but without fear, the commencement of the attack.
"You are a citizen of the world, Captain Dalgetty," said MurdochCampbell, "and cannot be ignorant of our old Scotch proverb, GIF-GAF,[In old English, KA ME KA THEE, i.e. mutually serving each other.] whichgoes through all nations and all services."
"Then I should know something of it," said Dalgetty; "for, except theTurks, there are few powers in Europe whom I have not served; and I havesometimes thought of taking a turn either with Bethlem Gabor, or withthe Janizaries."
"A man of your experience and unprejudiced ideas, then, will understandme at once," said Murdoch, "when I say, I mean that your freedom shalldepend on your true and up right answer to a few trifling questionsrespecting the gentlemen you have left; their state of preparation; thenumber of their men, and nature of their appointments; and as much asyou chance to know about their plan of operations."
"Just to satisfy your curiosity," said Dalgetty, "and without anyfarther purpose?"
"None in the world," replied Murdoch; "what interest should a poor devillike me take in their operations?"
"Make your interrogations, then," said the Captain, "and I will answerthem PREREMTORIE."
"How many Irish may be on their march to join James Graham thedelinquent?"
"Probably ten thousand," said Captain Dalgetty.
"Ten thousand!" replied Murdoch angrily; "we know that scarce twothousand landed at Ardnamurchan."
"Then you know more about them than I do," answered Captain Dalgetty,with great composure. "I never saw them mustered yet, or even underarms."
"And how many men of the clans may be expected?" demanded Murdoch.
"As many as they can make," replied the Captain.
"You are answering from the purpose, sir," said Murdoch "speak plainly,will there be five thousand men?"
"There and thereabouts," answered Dalgetty.
"You are playing with your life, sir, if you trifle with me," repliedthe catechist; "one whistle of mine, and in less than ten minutes yourhead hangs on the drawbridge."
"But to speak candidly, Mr. Murdoch," replied the Captain "do you thinkit is a reasonable thing to ask me after the secrets of our army, and Iengaged to serve for the whole campaign? If I taught you how to defeatMontrose, what becomes of my pay, arrears, and chance of booty?"
"I tell you," said Campbell, "that if you be stubborn, your campaignshall begin and end in a march to the block at the castle-gate, whichstands ready for such land-laufers; but if you answer my questionsfaithfully, I will receive you into my--into the service of M'CallumMore."
"Does the service afford good pay?" said Captain Dalgetty.
"He will double yours, if you will return to Montrose and act under hisdirection."
"I wish I had seen you, sir, before taking on with him," said Dalgetty,appearing to meditate.
"On the contrary, I can afford you more advantageous terms now," saidthe Campbell; "always supposing that you are faithful."
"Faithful, that is, to you, and a traitor to Montrose," answered theCaptain.
"Faithful to the cause of religion and good order," answered Murdoch,"which sanctifies any deception you may employ to serve it."
"And the Marquis of Argyle--should I incline to enter his service, is hea kind master?" demanded Dalgetty.
"Never man kinder," quoth Campbell.
"And bountiful to his officers?" pursued the Captain.
"The most open hand in Scotland," replied Murdoch.
"True and faithful to his engagements?" continued Dalgetty.
"As honourable a nobleman as breathes," said the clansman.
"I never heard so much good of him before," said Dalgetty; "you mustknow the Marquis well,--or rather you must be the Marquis himself!--Lordof Argyle," he added, throwing himself suddenly on the disguisednobleman, "I arrest you in the name of King Charles, as a traitor. Ifyou venture to call for assistance, I will wrench round your neck."
The attack which Dalgetty made upon Argyle's person was so sudden andunexpected,
that he easily prostrated him on the floor of the dungeon,and held him down with one hand, while his right, grasping the Marquis'sthroat, was ready to strangle him on the slightest attempt to call forassistance.
"Lord of Argyle," he said, "it is now my turn to lay down the termsof capitulation. If you list to show me the private way by which youentered the dungeon, you shall escape, on condition of being my LOCUMTENENS, as we said at the Mareschal-College, until your warder visitshis prisoners. But if not, I will first strangle you--I learned theart from a Polonian heyduck, who had been a slave in the Ottomanseraglio--and then seek out a mode of retreat."
"Villain! you would not murder me for my kindness," murmured Argyle.
"Not for your kindness, my lord," replied Dalgetty: "but first, to teachyour lordship the JUS GENTIUM towards cavaliers who come to you undersafe-conduct; and secondly, to warn you of the danger of proposingdishonourable terms to any worthy soldado, in order to tempt him tobecome false to his standard during the term of his service."
"Spare my life," said Argyle, "and I will do as you require."
Dalgetty maintained his gripe upon the Marquis's throat, compressing ita little while he asked questions, and relaxing it so far as to give himthe power of answering them.
"Where is the secret door into the dungeon?" he demanded.
"Hold up the lantern to the corner on your right hand, you will discernthe iron which covers the spring," replied the Marquis.
"So far so good.--Where does the passage lead to?"
"To my private apartment behind the tapestry," answered the prostratenobleman.
"From thence how shall I reach the gateway?"
"Through the grand gallery, the anteroom, the lackeys' waiting hall, thegrand guardroom--"
"All crowded with soldiers, factionaries, and attendants?--that willnever do for me, my lord;--have you no secret passage to the gate, asyou have to your dungeons? I have seen such in Germany."
"There is a passage through the chapel," said the Marquis, "opening frommy apartment."
"And what is the pass-word at the gate?"
"The sword of Levi," replied the Marquis; "but if you will receive mypledge of honour, I will go with you, escort you through every guard,and set you at full liberty with a passport."
"I might trust you, my lord, were your throat not already black with thegrasp of my fingers--as it is, BESO LOS MANOS A USTED, as the Spaniardsays. Yet you may grant me a passport;--are there writing materials inyour apartment?"
"Surely; and blank passports ready to be signed. I will attend youthere," said the Marquis, "instantly."
"It were too much honour for the like of me," said Dalgetty; "yourlordship shall remain under charge of mine honest friend Ranald MacEagh;therefore, prithee let me drag you within reach of his chain.--HonestRanald, you see how matters stand with us. I shall find the means, Idoubt not, of setting you at freedom. Meantime, do as you see me do;clap your hand thus on the weasand of this high and mighty prince, underhis ruff, and if he offer to struggle or cry out, fail not, my worthyRanald, to squeeze doughtily; and if it be AD DELIQUIUM, Ranald, thatis, till he swoon, there is no great matter, seeing he designed yourgullet and mine to still harder usage."
"If he offer at speech or struggle," said Ranald, "he dies by my hand."
"That is right, Ranald--very spirited:--A thorough-going friend thatunderstands a hint is worth a million!"
Thus resigning the charge of the Marquis to his new confederate,Dalgetty pressed the spring, by which the secret door flew open,though so well were its hinges polished and oiled, that it made not theslightest noise in revolving. The opposite side of the door was securedby very strong bolts and bars, beside which hung one or two keys,designed apparently to undo fetterlocks. A narrow staircase, ascendingup through the thickness of the castle-wall, landed, as the Marquis hadtruly informed him, behind the tapestry of his private apartment. Suchcommunications were frequent in old feudal castles, as they gave thelord of the fortress, like a second Dionysius, the means of hearing theconversation of his prisoners, or, if he pleased, of visiting them indisguise, an experiment which had terminated so unpleasantly on thepresent occasion for Gillespie Grumach. Having examined previouslywhether there was any one in the apartment, and finding the coast clear,the Captain entered, and hastily possessing himself of a blank passport,several of which lay on the table, and of writing materials, securing,at the same time, the Marquis's dagger, and a silk cord from thehangings, he again descended into the cavern, where, listening a momentat the door, he could hear the half-stifled voice of the Marquis makinggreat proffers to MacEagh, on condition he would suffer him to give analarm.
"Not for a forest of deer--not for a thousand head of cattle," answeredthe freebooter; "not for all the lands that ever called a son ofDiarmid master, will I break the troth I have plighted to him of theiron-garment!"
"He of the iron-garment," said Dalgetty, entering, "is bounden unto you,MacEagh, and this noble lord shall be bounden also; but first he mustfill up this passport with the names of Major Dugald Dalgetty and hisguide, or he is like to have a passport to another world."
The Marquis subscribed, and wrote, by the light of the dark lantern, asthe soldier prescribed to him.
"And now, Ranald," said Dalgetty, "strip thy upper garment--thy plaidI mean, Ranald, and in it will I muffle the M'Callum More, and make ofhim, for the time, a Child of the Mist;--Nay, I must bring it over yourhead, my lord, so as to secure us against your mistimed clamour.--So,now he is sufficiently muffled;--hold down your hands, or, by Heaven,I will stab you to the heart with your own dagger!--nay, you shall bebound with nothing less than silk, as your quality deserves.--So, nowhe is secure till some one comes to relieve him. If he ordered us a latedinner, Ranald, he is like to be the sufferer;--at what hour, my goodRanald, did the jailor usually appear?"
"Never till the sun was beneath the western wave," said MacEagh. "Then,my friend, we shall have three hours good," said the cautious Captain."In the meantime, let us labour for your liberation."
To examine Ranald's chain was the next occupation. It was undone bymeans of one of the keys which hung behind the private door, probablydeposited there, that the Marquis might, if he pleased, dismiss aprisoner, or remove him elsewhere without the necessity of summoningthe warden. The outlaw stretched his benumbed arms, and bounded from thefloor of the dungeon in all the ecstasy of recovered freedom.
"Take the livery-coat of that noble prisoner," said Captain Dalgetty;"put it on, and follow close at my heels."
The outlaw obeyed. They ascended the private stair, having first securedthe door behind them, and thus safely reached the apartment of theMarquis.
[The precarious state of the feudal nobles introduced a great deal ofespionage into their castles. Sir Robert Carey mentions his having puton the cloak of one of his own wardens to obtain a confession from themouth of Geordie Bourne, his prisoner, whom he caused presently to behanged in return for the frankness of his communication. The fine oldBorder castle of Naworth contains a private stair from the apartmentof the Lord William Howard, by which he could visit the dungeon, as isalleged in the preceding chapter to have been practised by the Marquisof Argyle.]
