by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIV.
This was the entry then, these stairs--but whither after? Yet he that's sure to perish on the land May quit the nicety of card and compass, And trust the open sea without a pilot.--TRAGEDY OF BENNOVALT.
"Look out for the private way through the chapel, Ranald," said theCaptain, "while I give a hasty regard to these matters."
Thus speaking, he seized with one hand a bundle of Argyle's most privatepapers, and with the other a purse of gold, both of which lay in adrawer of a rich cabinet, which stood invitingly open. Neither did heneglect to possess himself of a sword and pistols, with powder-flask andballs, which hung in the apartment. "Intelligence and booty," said theveteran, as he pouched the spoils, "each honourable cavalier shouldlook to, the one on his general's behalf, and the other on his own. Thissword is an Andrew Ferrara, and the pistols better than mine own. Buta fair exchange is no robbery. Soldados are not to be endangered, andendangered gratuitously, my Lord of Argyle.--But soft, soft, Ranald;wise Man of the Mist, whither art thou bound?"
It was indeed full time to stop MacEagh's proceedings; for, not findingthe private passage readily, and impatient, it would seem, of fartherdelay, he had caught down a sword and target, and was about to enter thegreat gallery, with the purpose, doubtless, of fighting his way throughall opposition.
"Hold, while you live," whispered Dalgetty, laying hold on him. "Wemust be perdue, if possible. So bar we this door, that it may be thoughtM'Callum More would be private--and now let me make a reconnaissance forthe private passage."
By looking behind the tapestry in various places, the Captain at lengthdiscovered a private door, and behind that a winding passage, terminatedby another door, which doubtless entered the chapel. But what was hisdisagreeable surprise to hear, on the other side of this second door,the sonorous voice of a divine in the act of preaching.
"This made the villain," he said, "recommend this to us as a privatepassage. I am strongly tempted to return and cut his throat."
He then opened very gently the door, which led into a latticed galleryused by the Marquis himself, the curtains of which were drawn, perhapswith the purpose of having it supposed that he was engaged in attendanceupon divine worship, when, in fact, he was absent upon his secularaffairs. There was no other person in the seat; for the family of theMarquis,--such was the high state maintained in those days,--sate duringservice in another gallery, placed somewhat lower than that of the greatman himself. This being the case, Captain Dalgetty ventured to ensconcehimself in the gallery, of which he carefully secured the door.
Never (although the expression be a bold one) was a sermonlistened to with more impatience, and less edification,on the part of one, at least, of the audience. The Captain heardSIXTEENTHLY-SEVENTEENTHLY-EIGHTEENTHLY and TO CONCLUDE, with a sort offeeling like protracted despair. But no man can lecture (for the servicewas called a lecture) for ever; and the discourse was at length closed,the clergyman not failing to make a profound bow towards the latticedgallery, little suspecting whom he honoured by that reverence. To judgefrom the haste with which they dispersed, the domestics of the Marquiswere scarce more pleased with their late occupation than the anxiousCaptain Dalgetty; indeed, many of them being Highlandmen, had the excuseof not understanding a single word which the clergyman spoke, althoughthey gave their attendance on his doctrine by the special order ofM'Callum More, and would have done so had the preacher been a TurkishImaum.
But although the congregation dispersed thus rapidly, the divineremained behind in the chapel, and, walking up and down its Gothicprecincts, seemed either to be meditating on what he had just beendelivering, or preparing a fresh discourse for the next opportunity.Bold as he was, Dalgetty hesitated what he ought to do. Time, however,pressed, and every moment increased the chance of their escape beingdiscovered by the jailor visiting the dungeon perhaps before his wontedtime, and discovering the exchange which had been made there. At length,whispering Ranald, who watched all his motions, to follow him andpreserve his countenance, Captain Dalgetty, with a very composed air,descended a flight of steps which led from the gallery into the body ofthe chapel. A less experienced adventurer would have endeavoured topass the worthy clergyman rapidly, in hopes to escape unnoticed. But theCaptain, who foresaw the manifest danger of failing in such an attempt,walked gravely to meet the divine upon his walk in the midst of thechancel, and, pulling off his cap, was about to pass him after a formalreverence. But what was his surprise to view in the preacher the verysame person with whom he had dined in the castle of Ardenvohr! Yet hespeedily recovered his composure; and ere the clergyman could speak, wasthe first to address him. "I could not," he said, "leave this mansionwithout bequeathing to you, my very reverend sir, my humble thanks forthe homily with which you have this evening favoured us."
"I did not observe, sir," said the clergyman, "that you were in thechapel."
"It pleased the honourable Marquis," said Dalgetty, modestly, "tograce me with a seat in his own gallery." The divine bowed low at thisintimation, knowing that such an honour was only vouchsafed to personsof very high rank. "It has been my fate, sir," said the Captain, "inthe sort of wandering life which I have led, to have heard differentpreachers of different religions--as for example, Lutheran, Evangelical,Reformed, Calvinistical, and so forth, but never have I listened to sucha homily as yours."
"Call it a lecture, worthy sir," said the divine, "such is the phrase ofour church."
"Lecture or homily," said Dalgetty, "it was, as the High Germans say,GANZ FORTRE FLICH; and I could not leave this place without testifyingunto you what inward emotions I have undergone during your edifyingprelection; and how I am touched to the quick, that I should yesterday,during the refection, have seemed to infringe on the respect due to sucha person as yourself."
"Alas! my worthy sir," said the clergyman, "we meet in this world asin the Valley of the Shadow of Death, not knowing against whom wemay chance to encounter. In truth, it is no matter of marvel, if wesometimes jostle those, to whom, if known, we would yield all respect.Surely, sir, I would rather have taken you for a profane malignant thanfor such a devout person as you prove, who reverences the great Mastereven in the meanest of his servants."
"It is always my custom to do so, learned sir," answered Dalgetty; "forin the service of the immortal Gustavus--but I detain you from yourmeditations,"--his desire to speak of the King of Sweden being for onceoverpowered by the necessity of his circumstances.
"By no means, my worthy sir," said the clergyman. "What was, I prayyou, the order of that great Prince, whose memory is so dear to everyProtestant bosom?"
"Sir, the drums beat to prayers morning and evening, as regularly as forparade; and if a soldier passed without saluting the chaplain, he hadan hour's ride on the wooden mare for his pains. Sir, I wish you a verygood evening--I am obliged to depart the castle under M'Callum More'spassport."
"Stay one instant, sir," said the preacher; "is there nothing I cando to testify my respect for the pupil of the great Gustavus, and soadmirable a judge of preaching?"
"Nothing, sir," said the Captain, "but to shew me the nearest way tothe gate--and if you would have the kindness," he added, with greateffrontery, "to let a servant bring my horse with him, the dark greygelding--call him Gustavus, and he will prick up his ears--for I knownot where the castle-stables are situated, and my guide," he added,looking at Ranald, "speaks no English."
"I hasten to accommodate you," said the clergyman; "your way liesthrough that cloistered passage."
"Now, Heaven's blessing upon your vanity!" said the Captain to himself."I was afraid I would have had to march off without Gustavus."
In fact, so effectually did the chaplain exert himself in behalf of soexcellent a judge of composition, that while Dalgetty was parleying withthe sentinels at the drawbridge, showing his passport, and givingthe watchword, a servant brought him his horse, ready saddled for thejourney. In another place, the Captain's sudden appearance at largeafter having been publicly sent to prison, mig
ht have excited suspicionand enquiry; but the officers and domestics of the Marquis wereaccustomed to the mysterious policy of their master, and never supposedaught else than that he had been liberated and intrusted with someprivate commission by their master. In this belief, and having receivedthe parole, they gave him free passage.
Dalgetty rode slowly through the town of Inverary, the outlaw attendingupon him like a foot-page at his horse's shoulder. As they passed thegibbet, the old man looked on the bodies and wrung his hands. The lookand gesture was momentary, but expressive of indescribable anguish.Instantly recovering himself, Ranald, in passing, whispered somewhatto one of the females, who, like Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, seemedengaged in watching and mourning the victims of feudal injustice andcruelty. The woman started at his voice, but immediately collectedherself and returned for answer a slight inclination of the head.
Dalgetty continued his way out of the town, uncertain whether he shouldtry to seize or hire a boat and cross the lake, or plunge into thewoods, and there conceal himself from pursuit. In the former event hewas liable to be instantly pursued by the galleys of the Marquis, whichlay ready for sailing, their long yard-arms pointing to the wind, andwhat hope could he have in an ordinary Highland fishing-boat to escapefrom them? If he made the latter choice, his chance either of supportingor concealing himself in those waste and unknown wildernesses, was inthe highest degree precarious. The town lay now behind him, yet whathand to turn to for safety he was unable to determine, and began to besensible, that in escaping from the dungeon at Inverary, desperateas the matter seemed, he had only accomplished the easiest part of adifficult task. If retaken, his fate was now certain; for the personalinjury he had offered to a man so powerful and so vindictive, could beatoned for only by instant death. While he pondered these distressingreflections, and looked around with a countenance which plainlyexpressed indecision, Ranald MacEagh suddenly asked him, "which way heintended to journey?"
"And that, honest comrade," answered Dalgetty, "is precisely thequestion which I cannot answer you. Truly I begin to hold theopinion, Ranald, that we had better have stuck by the brown loaf andwater-pitcher until Sir Duncan arrived, who, for his own honour, musthave made some fight for me."
"Saxon," answered MacEagh, "do not regret having exchanged the foulbreath of yonder dungeon for the free air of heaven. Above all, repentnot that you have served a Son of the Mist. Put yourself under myguidance, and I will warrant your safety with my head."
"Can you guide me safe through these mountains, and back to the army ofMontrose?" said Dalgetty.
"I can," answered MacEagh; "there lives not a man to whom the mountainpasses, the caverns, the glens, the thickets, and the corries are known,as they are to the Children of the Mist. While others crawl on the levelground, by the sides of lakes and streams, ours are the steep hollows ofthe inaccessible mountains, the birth-place of the desert springs. Notall the bloodhounds of Argyle can trace the fastnesses through which Ican guide you."
"Say'st thou so, honest Ranald?" replied Dalgetty; "then have on withthee; for of a surety I shall never save the ship by my own pilotage."
The outlaw accordingly led the way into the wood, by which the castleis surrounded for several miles, walking with so much dispatch as keptGustavus at a round trot, and taking such a number of cross cuts andturns, that Captain Dalgetty speedily lost all idea where he might be,and all knowledge of the points of the compass. At length, the path,which had gradually become more difficult, altogether ended amongthickets and underwood. The roaring of a torrent was heard in theneighbourhood, the ground became in some places broken, in others boggy,and everywhere unfit for riding.
"What the foul fiend," said Dalgetty, "is to be done here? I must partwith Gustavus, I fear."
"Take no care for your horse," said the outlaw; "he shall soon berestored to you."
As he spoke, he whistled in a low tune, and a lad, half-dressed intartan, half naked, having only his own shaggy hair, tied with a thongof leather, to protect his head and face from sun and weather, lean,and half-starved in aspect, his wild grey eyes appearing to fill up tentimes the proportion usually allotted to them in the human face, creptout, as a wild beast might have done, from a thicket of brambles andbriars.
"Give your horse to the gillie," said Ranald MacEagh; "your life dependsupon it."
"Och! och!" exclaimed the despairing veteran; "Eheu! as we used to sayat Mareschal-College, must I leave Gustavus in such grooming!"
"Are you frantic, to lose time thus!" said his guide; "do we stand onfriends' ground, that you should part with your horse as if he were yourbrother? I tell you, you shall have him again; but if you never saw theanimal, is not life better than the best colt ever mare foaled?"
"And that is true too, mine honest friend," sighed Dalgetty; "yet ifyou knew but the value of Gustavus, and the things we two have done andsuffered together--See, he turns back to look at me!--Be kind to him,my good breechless friend, and I will requite you well." So saying,and withal sniffling a little to swallow his grief, he turned from theheart-rending spectacle in order to follow his guide.
To follow his guide was no easy matter, and soon required more agilitythan Captain Dalgetty could master. The very first plunge after he hadparted from his charger, carried him, with little assistance from a fewoverhanging boughs, or projecting roots of trees, eight foot sheer downinto the course of a torrent, up which the Son of the Mist led the way.Huge stones, over which they scrambled,--thickets of them and brambles,through which they had to drag themselves,--rocks which were to beclimbed on the one side with much labour and pain, for the purpose ofan equally precarious descent upon the other; all these, and manysuch interruptions, were surmounted by the light-footed and half-nakedmountaineer with an ease and velocity which excited the surprise andenvy of Captain Dalgetty, who, encumbered by his head-piece, corslet,and other armour, not to mention his ponderous jack-boots, found himselfat length so much exhausted by fatigue, and the difficulties of theroad, that he sate down upon a stone in order to recover his breath,while he explained to Ranald MacEagh the difference betwixt travellingEXPEDITUS and IMPEDITUS, as these two military phrases were understoodat Mareschal-College, Aberdeen. The sole answer of the mountaineerwas to lay his hand on the soldier's arm, and point backward in thedirection of the wind. Dalgetty could spy nothing, for evening wasclosing fast, and they were at the bottom of a dark ravine. But atlength he could distinctly hear at a distance the sullen toll of a largebell.
"That," said he, "must be the alarm--the storm-clock, as the Germanscall it."
"It strikes the hour of your death," answered Ranald, "unless you canaccompany me a little farther. For every toll of that bell a brave manhas yielded up his soul."
"Truly, Ranald, my trusty friend," said Dalgetty, "I will not denythat the case may be soon my own; for I am so forfoughen (being, asI explained to you, IMPEDITUS, for had I been EXPEDITUS, I mind notpedestrian exercise the flourish of a fife), that I think I had betterensconce myself in one of these bushes, and even lie quiet there toabide what fortune God shall send me. I entreat you, mine honest friendRanald, to shift for yourself, and leave me to my fortune, as the Lionof the North, the immortal Gustavus Adolphus, my never-to-be-forgottenmaster (whom you must surely have heard of, Ranald, though you may haveheard of no one else), said to Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburgh,when he was mortally wounded on the plains of Lutzen. Neither despairaltogether of my safety, Ranald, seeing I have been in as great pinchesas this in Germany--more especially, I remember me, that at the fatalbattle of Nerlingen--after which I changed service--"
"If you would save your father's son's breath to help his child outof trouble, instead of wasting it upon the tales of Seannachies," saidRanald, who now grew impatient of the Captain's loquacity, "or if yourfeet could travel as fast as your tongue, you might yet lay your head onan unbloody pillow to-night."
"Something there is like military skill in that," replied the Captain,"although wantonly and irreverently spoken to an officer of rank.
ButI hold it good to pardon such freedoms on a march, in respect of theSaturnalian license indulged in such cases to the troops of allnations. And now, resume thine office, friend Ranald, in respect I amwell-breathed; or, to be more plain, I PRAE, SEQUAR, as we used to sayat Mareschal-College."
Comprehending his meaning rather from his motions than his language,the Son of the Mist again led the way, with an unerring precision thatlooked like instinct, through a variety of ground the most difficult andbroken that could well be imagined. Dragging along his ponderous boots,encumbered with thigh-pieces, gauntlets, corslet, and back-piece, not tomention the buff jerkin which he wore under all these arms, talking ofhis former exploits the whole way, though Ranald paid not the slightestattention to him, Captain Dalgetty contrived to follow his guide aconsiderable space farther, when the deep-mouthed baying of a hound washeard coming down the wind, as if opening on the scent of its prey.
"Black hound," said Ranald, "whose throat never boded good to a Child ofthe Mist, ill fortune to her who littered thee! hast thou already foundour trace? But thou art too late, swart hound of darkness, and the deerhas gained the herd."
So saying, he whistled very softly, and was answered in a tone equallylow from the top of a pass, up which they had for some time beenascending. Mending their pace, they reached the top, where the moon,which had now risen bright and clear, showed to Dalgetty a party of tenor twelve Highlanders, and about as many women and children, by whomRanald MacEagh was received with such transports of joy, as made hiscompanion easily sensible that those by whom he was surrounded, mustof course be Children of the Mist. The place which they occupied wellsuited their name and habits. It was a beetling crag, round which windeda very narrow and broken footpath, commanded in various places by theposition which they held.
Ranald spoke anxiously and hastily to the children of his tribe, andthe men came one by one to shake hands with Dalgetty, while the women,clamorous in their gratitude, pressed round to kiss even the hem of hisgarment. "They plight their faith to you," said Ranald MacEagh, "forrequital of the good deed you have done to the tribe this day."
"Enough said, Ranald," answered the soldier, "enough said--tell themI love not this shaking of hands--it confuses ranks and degrees inmilitary service; and as to kissing of gauntlets, puldrons, and thelike, I remember that the immortal Gustavus, as he rode through thestreets of Nuremberg, being thus worshipped by the poulace (beingdoubtless far more worthy of it than a poor though honourable cavalierlike myself), did say unto them, in the way of rebuke, 'If you idolizeme thus like a god, who shall assure you that the vengeance of Heavenwill not soon prove me to be a mortal?'--And so here, I suppose youintend to make a stand against your followers, Ranald--VOTO A DIOS, asthe Spaniard says?--a very pretty position--as pretty a position fora small peloton of men as I have seen in my service--no enemy cancome towards it by the road without being at the mercy of cannon andmusket.--But then, Ranald, my trusty comrade, you have no cannon, I dareto aver, and I do not see that any of these fellows have muskets either.So with what artillery you propose making good the pass, before you cometo hand blows, truly, Ranald, it passeth my apprehension."
"With the weapons and with the courage of our fathers," said MacEagh;and made the Captain observe, that the men of his party were armed withbows and arrows.
"Bows and arrows!" exclaimed Dalgetty; "ha! ha! ha! have we Robin Hoodand Little John back again? Bows and arrows! why, the sight has not beenseen in civilized war for a hundred years. Bows and arrows! and why notweavers' beams, as in the days of Goliah? Ah! that Dugald Dalgetty, ofDrumthwacket, should live to see men fight with bows and arrows!--Theimmortal Gustavus would never have believed it--nor Wallenstein--norButler--nor old Tilly,--Well, Ranald, a cat can have but itsclaws--since bows and arrows are the word, e'en let us make the bestof it. Only, as I do not understand the scope and range of suchold-fashioned artillery, you must make the best disposition you can outof your own head for MY taking the command, whilk I would have gladlydone had you been to fight with any Christian weapons, is out of thequestion, when you are to combat like quivered Numidians. I will,however, play my part with my pistols in the approaching melley, inrespect my carabine unhappily remains at Gustavus's saddle.--My serviceand thanks to you," he continued, addressing a mountaineer who offeredhim a bow; "Dugald Dalgetty may say of himself, as he learned atMareschal-College,
"Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque arcu, Nec venenatis gravida sagittis, Fusce, pharetra;
whilk is to say--"
Ranald MacEagh a second time imposed silence on the talkative commanderas before, by pulling his sleeve, and pointing down the pass. The bayof the bloodhound was now approaching nearer and nearer, and they couldhear the voices of several persons who accompanied the animal, andhallooed to each other as they dispersed occasionally, either in thehurry of their advance, or in order to search more accurately thethickets as they came along. They were obviously drawing nearer andnearer every moment. MacEagh, in the meantime, proposed to CaptainDalgetty to disencumber himself of his armour, and gave him tounderstand that the women should transport it to a place of safety.
"I crave your pardon, sir," said Dalgetty, "such is not the rule ofour foreign service in respect I remember the regiment of Finlandcuirassiers reprimanded, and their kettle-drums taken from them, bythe immortal Gustavus, because they had assumed the permission to marchwithout their corslets, and to leave them with the baggage. Neither didthey strike kettle-drums again at the head of that famous regiment untilthey behaved themselves so notably at the field of Leipsic; a lessonwhilk is not to be forgotten, any more than that exclamation of theimmortal Gustavus, 'Now shall I know if my officers love me, by theirputting on their armour; since, if my officers are slain, who shall leadmy soldiers into victory?' Nevertheless, friend Ranald, this is withoutprejudice to my being rid of these somewhat heavy boots, providing Ican obtain any other succedaneum; for I presume not to say that my baresoles are fortified so as to endure the flints and thorns, as seems tobe the case with your followers."
To rid the Captain of his cumbrous greaves, and case his feet in a pairof brogues made out of deerskin, which a Highlander stripped off for hisaccommodation, was the work of a minute, and Dalgetty found himself muchlightened by the exchange. He was in the act of recommending to RanaldMacEagh, to send two or three of his followers a little lower toreconnoitre the pass, and, at the same time, somewhat to extend hisfront, placing two detached archers at each flank by way of posts ofobservation, when the near cry of the hound apprised them that thepursuers were at the bottom of the pass. All was then dead silence; for,loquacious as he was on other occasions, Captain Dalgetty knew well thenecessity of an ambush keeping itself under covert.
The moon gleamed on the broken pathway, and on the projecting cliffs ofrock round which it winded, its light intercepted here and there by thebranches of bushes and dwarf-trees, which, finding nourishment in thecrevices of the rocks, in some places overshadowed the brow and ledgeof the precipice. Below, a thick copse-wood lay in deep and dark shadow,somewhat resembling the billows of a half-seen ocean. From the bosom ofthat darkness, and close to the bottom of the precipice, the hound washeard at intervals baying fearfully, sounds which were redoubled by theechoes of the woods and rocks around. At intervals, these sunk into deepsilence, interrupted only by the plashing noise of a small runnel ofwater, which partly fell from the rock, partly found a more silentpassage to the bottom along its projecting surface. Voices of men werealso heard in stifled converse below; it seemed as if the pursuers hadnot discovered the narrow path which led to the top of the rock, orthat, having discovered it, the peril of the ascent, joined to theimperfect light, and the uncertainty whether it might not be defended,made them hesitate to attempt it.
At length a shadowy figure was seen, which raised itself up from theabyss of darkness below, and, emerging into the pale moonlight, begancautiously and slowly to ascend the rocky path. The outline was sodistinctly marked, that Captain Dalgetty could discover not only thepers
on of a Highlander, but the long gun which he carried in his hand,and the plume of feathers which decorated his bonnet. "TAUSEND TEIFLEN!that I should say so, and so like to be near my latter end!" ejaculatedthe Captain, but under his breath, "what will become of us, now theyhave brought musketry to encounter our archers?"
But just as the pursuer had attained a projecting piece of rock abouthalf way up the ascent, and, pausing, made a signal for those who werestill at the bottom to follow him, an arrow whistled from the bow of oneof the Children of the Mist, and transfixed him with so fatal a wound,that, without a single effort to save himself, he lost his balance, andfell headlong from the cliff on which he stood, into the darkness below.The crash of the boughs which received him, and the heavy sound of hisfall from thence to the ground, was followed by a cry of horror andsurprise, which burst from his followers. The Children of the Mist,encouraged in proportion to the alarm this first success had causedamong the pursuers, echoed back the clamour with a loud and shrill yellof exultation, and, showing themselves on the brow of the precipice,with wild cries and vindictive gestures, endeavoured to impress on theirenemies a sense at once of their courage, their numbers, and their stateof defence. Even Captain Dalgetty's military prudence did not preventhis rising up, and calling out to Ranald, more loud than prudencewarranted, "CAROCCO, comrade, as the Spaniard says! The long-bow forever! In my poor apprehension now, were you to order a file to advanceand take position--"
"The Sassenach!" cried a voice from beneath, "mark the Sassenach sidier!I see the glitter of his breastplate." At the same time three musketswere discharged; and while one ball rattled against the corslet ofproof, to the strength of which our valiant Captain had been more thanonce indebted for his life, another penetrated the armour which coveredthe front of his left thigh, and stretched him on the ground. Ranaldinstantly seized him in his arms, and bore him back from the edge of theprecipice, while he dolefully ejaculated, "I always told the immortalGustavus, Wallenstein, Tilly, and other men of the sword, that, in mypoor mind, taslets ought to be made musket-proof."
With two or three earnest words in Gaelic, MacEagh commended the woundedman to the charge of the females, who were in the rear of his littleparty, and was then about to return to the contest. But Dalgettydetained him, grasping a firm hold of his plaid.--"I know not how thismatter may end--but I request you will inform Montrose, that I died likea follower of the immortal Gustavus--and I pray you, take heed how youquit your present strength, even for the purpose of pursuing the enemy,if you gain any advantage--and--and--"
Here Dalgetty's breath and eyesight began to fail him through loss ofblood, and MacEagh, availing himself of this circumstance, extricatedfrom his grasp the end of his own mantle, and substituted that of afemale, by which the Captain held stoutly, thereby securing, as heconceived, the outlaw's attention to the military instructions which hecontinued to pour forth while he had any breath to utter them, thoughthey became gradually more and more incoherent--"And, comrade, youwill be sure to keep your musketeers in advance of your stand of pikes,Lochaber-axes, and two-handed swords--Stand fast, dragoons, on the leftflank!--where was I?--Ay, and, Ranald, if ye be minded to retreat, leavesome lighted matches burning on the branches of the trees--it shows asif they were lined with shot--But I forget--ye have no match-locks norhabergeons--only bows and arrows--bows and arrows! ha! ha! ha!"
Here the Captain sunk back in an exhausted condition, altogether unableto resist the sense of the ludicrous which, as a modern man-at-arms, heconnected with the idea of these ancient weapons of war. It was a longtime ere he recovered his senses; and, in the meantime, we leave him inthe care of the Daughters of the Mist; nurses as kind and attentive, inreality, as they were wild and uncouth in outward appearance.
