Old Mortality, Volume 1.

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XIX.

  Why, then, say an old man can do somewhat. Henry IV. Part II.

  We must now return to the tower of Tillietudlem, which the march of theLife-Guards, on the morning of this eventful day, had left to silence andanxiety. The assurances of Lord Evandale had not succeeded in quellingthe apprehensions of Edith. She knew him generous, and faithful to hisword; but it seemed too plain that he suspected the object of herintercession to be a successful rival; and was it not expecting from himan effort above human nature, to suppose that he was to watch overMorton's safety, and rescue him from all the dangers to which his stateof imprisonment, and the suspicions which he had incurred, mustrepeatedly expose him? She therefore resigned herself to the mostheart-rending apprehensions, without admitting, and indeed almost withoutlistening to, the multifarious grounds of consolation which JennyDennison brought forward, one after another, like a skilful general whocharges with the several divisions of his troops in regular succession.

  First, Jenny was morally positive that young Milnwood would come to noharm--then, if he did, there was consolation in the reflection, that LordEvandale was the better and more appropriate match of the two--then,there was every chance of a battle, in which the said Lord Evandale mightbe killed, and there wad be nae mair fash about that job--then, if thewhigs gat the better, Milnwood and Cuddie might come to the Castle, andcarry off the beloved of their hearts by the strong hand.

  "For I forgot to tell ye, madam," continued the damsel, putting herhandkerchief to her eyes, "that puir Cuddie's in the hands of thePhilistines as weel as young Milnwood, and he was brought here a prisonerthis morning, and I was fain to speak Tam Halliday fair, and fleech himto let me near the puir creature; but Cuddie wasna sae thankfu' as heneeded till hae been neither," she added, and at the same time changedher tone, and briskly withdrew the handkerchief from her face; "so I willne'er waste my een wi' greeting about the matter. There wad be aye enowo' young men left, if they were to hang the tae half o' them."

  The other inhabitants of the Castle were also in a state ofdissatisfaction and anxiety. Lady Margaret thought that Colonel Grahame,in commanding an execution at the door of her house, and refusing togrant a reprieve at her request, had fallen short of the deference due toher rank, and had even encroached on her seignorial rights.

  "The Colonel," she said, "ought to have remembered, brother, that thebarony of Tillietudlem has the baronial privilege of pit and gallows; andtherefore, if the lad was to be executed on my estate, (which I consideras an unhandsome thing, seeing it is in the possession of females, towhom such tragedies cannot be acceptable,) he ought, at common law, tohave been delivered up to my bailie, and justified at his sight."

  "Martial law, sister," answered Major Bellenden, "supersedes every other.But I must own I think Colonel Grahame rather deficient in attention toyou; and I am not over and above pre-eminently flattered by his grantingto young Evandale (I suppose because he is a lord, and has interest withthe privy-council) a request which he refused to so old a servant of theking as I am. But so long as the poor young fellow's life is saved, I cancomfort myself with the fag-end of a ditty as old as myself." Andtherewithal, he hummed a stanza:

  'And what though winter will pinch severe Through locks of grey and acloak that's old? Yet keep up thy heart, bold cavalier, For a cup of sackshall fence the cold.'

  "I must be your guest here to-day, sister. I wish to hear the issue ofthis gathering on Loudon-hill, though I cannot conceive their standing abody of horse appointed like our guests this morning.--Woe's me, the timehas been that I would have liked ill to have sate in biggit wa's waitingfor the news of a skirmish to be fought within ten miles of me! But, asthe old song goes,

  'For time will rust the brightest blade, And years will break the strongest bow; Was ever wight so starkly made, But time and years would overthrow?'"

  "We are well pleased you will stay, brother," said Lady Margaret; "I willtake my old privilege to look after my household, whom this collation hasthrown into some disorder, although it is uncivil to leave you alone."

  "O, I hate ceremony as I hate a stumbling horse," replied the Major."Besides, your person would be with me, and your mind with the cold meatand reversionary pasties.--Where is Edith?"

  "Gone to her room a little evil-disposed, I am informed, and laid down inher bed for a gliff," said her grandmother; "as soon as she wakes, sheshall take some drops."

  "Pooh! pooh! she's only sick of the soldiers," answered Major Bellenden."She's not accustomed to see one acquaintance led out to be shot, andanother marching off to actual service, with some chance of not findinghis way back again. She would soon be used to it, if the civil war wereto break out again."

  "God forbid, brother!" said Lady Margaret.

  "Ay, Heaven forbid, as you say--and, in the meantime, I'll take a hit attrick-track with Harrison."

  "He has ridden out, sir," said Gudyill, "to try if he can hear anytidings of the battle."

  "D--n the battle," said the Major; "it puts this family as much out oforder as if there had never been such a thing in the country before--andyet there was such a place as Kilsythe, John."

  "Ay, and as Tippermuir, your honour," replied Gudyill, "where I was hishonour my late master's rear-rank man."

  "And Alford, John," pursued the Major, "where I commanded the horse; andInnerlochy, where I was the Great Marquis's aid-de-camp; and Auld Earn,and Brig o' Dee."

  "And Philiphaugh, your honour," said John.

  "Umph!" replied the Major; "the less, John, we say about that matter, thebetter."

  However, being once fairly embarked on the subject of Montrose'scampaigns, the Major and John Gudyill carried on the war so stoutly, asfor a considerable time to keep at bay the formidable enemy called Time,with whom retired veterans, during the quiet close of a bustling life,usually wage an unceasing hostility.

  It has been frequently remarked, that the tidings of important events flywith a celerity almost beyond the power of credibility, and that reports,correct in the general point, though inaccurate in details, precede thecertain intelligence, as if carried by the birds of the air. Such rumoursanticipate the reality, not unlike to the "shadows of coming events,"which occupy the imagination of the Highland Seer. Harrison, in his ride,encountered some such report concerning the event of the battle, andturned his horse back to Tillietudlem in great dismay. He made it hisfirst business to seek out the Major, and interrupted him in the midst ofa prolix account of the siege and storm of Dundee, with the ejaculation,"Heaven send, Major, that we do not see a siege of Tillietudlem before weare many days older!"

  "How is that, Harrison?--what the devil do you mean?" exclaimed theastonished veteran.

  "Troth, sir, there is strong and increasing belief that Claver'se isclean broken, some say killed; that the soldiers are all dispersed, andthat the rebels are hastening this way, threatening death and devastationto a' that will not take the Covenant."

  "I will never believe that," said the Major, starting on his feet--"Iwill never believe that the Life-Guards would retreat before rebels;--andyet why need I say that," he continued, checking himself, "when I haveseen such sights myself?--Send out Pike, and one or two of the servants,for intelligence, and let all the men in the Castle and in the villagethat can be trusted take up arms. This old tower may hold them play abit, if it were but victualled and garrisoned, and it commands the passbetween the high and low countries.--It's lucky I chanced to behere.--Go, muster men, Harrison.--You, Gudyill, look what provisions youhave, or can get brought in, and be ready, if the news be confirmed, toknock down as many bullocks as you have salt for.--The well never goesdry.--There are some old-fashioned guns on the battlements; if we hadbut ammunition, we should do well enough."

  "The soldiers left some casks of ammunition at the Grange this morning,to bide their return," said Harrison.

  "Hasten, then," said the Major, "and bring it i
nto the Castle, with everypike, sword, pistol, or gun, that is within our reach; don't leave somuch as a bodkin--Lucky that I was here!--I will speak to my sisterinstantly."

  Lady Margaret Bellenden was astounded at intelligence so unexpected andso alarming. It had seemed to her that the imposing force which had thatmorning left her walls, was sufficient to have routed all the disaffectedin Scotland, if collected in a body; and now her first reflection wasupon the inadequacy of their own means of resistance, to an army strongenough to have defeated Claverhouse and such select troops. "Woe's me!woe's me!" said she; "what will all that we can do avail us, brother?--What will resistance do but bring sure destruction on the house, and onthe bairn Edith! for, God knows, I thinkna on my ain auld life."

  "Come, sister," said the Major, "you must not be cast down; the place isstrong, the rebels ignorant and ill-provided: my brother's house shallnot be made a den of thieves and rebels while old Miles Bellenden is init. My hand is weaker than it was, but I thank my old grey hairs that Ihave some knowledge of war yet. Here comes Pike with intelligence.--Whatnews, Pike? Another Philiphaugh job, eh?"

  "Ay, ay," said Pike, composedly; "a total scattering.--I thought thismorning little gude would come of their newfangled gate of slinging theircarabines."

  "Whom did you see?--Who gave you the news?" asked the Major.

  "O, mair than half-a-dozen dragoon fellows that are a' on the spur whilkto get first to Hamilton. They'll win the race, I warrant them, win thebattle wha like."

  "Continue your preparations, Harrison," said the alert veteran; "get yourammunition in, and the cattle killed. Send down to the borough-town forwhat meal you can gather. We must not lose an instant.--Had not Edith andyou, sister, better return to Charnwood, while we have the means ofsending you there?"

  "No, brother," said Lady Margaret, looking very pale, but speaking withthe greatest composure; "since the auld house is to be held out, I willtake my chance in it. I have fled twice from it in my days, and I haveaye found it desolate of its bravest and its bonniest when I returned;sae that I will e'en abide now, and end my pilgrimage in it."

  "It may, on the whole, be the safest course both for Edith and you," saidthe Major; "for the whigs will rise all the way between this and Glasgow,and make your travelling there, or your dwelling at Charnwood, veryunsafe."

  "So be it then," said Lady Margaret; "and, dear brother, as the nearestblood-relation of my deceased husband, I deliver to you, by thissymbol,"--(here she gave into his hand the venerable goldheaded staff ofthe deceased Earl of Torwood,)--"the keeping and government andseneschalship of my Tower of Tillietudlem, and the appurtenances thereof,with full power to kill, slay, and damage those who shall assail thesame, as freely as I might do myself. And I trust you will so defend it,as becomes a house in which his most sacred majesty has not disdained"--

  "Pshaw! sister," interrupted the Major, "we have no time to speak aboutthe king and his breakfast just now."

  And, hastily leaving the room, he hurried, with all the alertness of ayoung man of twenty-five, to examine the state of his garrison, andsuperintend the measures which were necessary for defending the place.

  The Tower of Tillietudlem, having very thick walls, and very narrowwindows, having also a very strong court-yard wall, with flanking turretson the only accessible side, and rising on the other from the very vergeof a precipice, was fully capable of defence against any thing but atrain of heavy artillery.

  Famine or escalade was what the garrison had chiefly to fear. Forartillery, the top of the Tower was mounted with some antiquatedwall-pieces, and small cannons, which bore the old-fashioned names ofculverins, sakers, demi-sakers, falcons, and falconets. These, the Major,with the assistance of John Gudyill, caused to be scaled and loaded, andpointed them so as to command the road over the brow of the opposite hillby which the rebels must advance, causing, at the same time, two or threetrees to be cut down, which would have impeded the effect of theartillery when it should be necessary to use it. With the trunks of thesetrees, and other materials, he directed barricades to be constructed uponthe winding avenue which rose to the Tower along the high-road, takingcare that each should command the other. The large gate of the court-yardhe barricadoed yet more strongly, leaving only a wicket open for theconvenience of passage. What he had most to apprehend, was theslenderness of his garrison; for all the efforts of the steward wereunable to get more than nine men under arms, himself and Gudyillincluded, so much more popular was the cause of the insurgents than thatof the government Major Bellenden, and his trusty servant Pike, made thegarrison eleven in number, of whom one-half were old men. The round dozenmight indeed have been made up, would Lady Margaret have consented thatGoose Gibbie should again take up arms. But she recoiled from theproposal, when moved by Gudyill, with such abhorrent recollection of theformer achievements of that luckless cavalier, that she declared shewould rather the Castle were lost than that he were to be enrolled in thedefence of it. With eleven men, however, himself included, MajorBellenden determined to hold out the place to the uttermost.

  The arrangements for defence were not made without the degree of fracasincidental to such occasions. Women shrieked, cattle bellowed, dogshowled, men ran to and fro, cursing and swearing without intermission,the lumbering of the old guns backwards and forwards shook thebattlements, the court resounded with the hasty gallop of messengers whowent and returned upon errands of importance, and the din of warlikepreparation was mingled with the sound of female laments.

  Such a Babel of discord might have awakened the slumbers of the verydead, and, therefore, was not long ere it dispelled the abstractedreveries of Edith Bellenden. She sent out Jenny to bring her the cause ofthe tumult which shook the castle to its very basis; but Jenny, onceengaged in the bustling tide, found so much to ask and to hear, that sheforgot the state of anxious uncertainty in which she had left her youngmistress. Having no pigeon to dismiss in pursuit of information when herraven messenger had failed to return with it, Edith was compelled toventure in quest of it out of the ark of her own chamber into the delugeof confusion which overflowed the rest of the Castle. Six voices speakingat once, informed her, in reply to her first enquiry, that Claver'se andall his men were killed, and that ten thousand whigs were marching tobesiege the castle, headed by John Balfour of Burley, young Milnwood, andCuddie Headrigg. This strange association of persons seemed to infer thefalsehood of the whole story, and yet the general bustle in the Castleintimated that danger was certainly apprehended.

  "Where is Lady Margaret?" was Edith's second question.

  "In her oratory," was the reply: a cell adjoining to the chapel, in whichthe good old lady was wont to spend the greater part of the days destinedby the rules of the Episcopal Church to devotional observances, as alsothe anniversaries of those on which she had lost her husband and herchildren, and, finally, those hours, in which a deeper and more solemnaddress to Heaven was called for, by national or domestic calamity.

  "Where, then," said Edith, much alarmed, "is Major Bellenden?"

  "On the battlements of the Tower, madam, pointing the cannon," was thereply.

  To the battlements, therefore, she made her way, impeded by a thousandobstacles, and found the old gentleman in the midst of his naturalmilitary element, commanding, rebuking, encouraging, instructing, andexercising all the numerous duties of a good governor.

  "In the name of God, what is the matter, uncle?" exclaimed Edith.

  "The matter, my love?" answered the Major coolly, as, with spectacles onhis nose, he examined the position of a gun--"The matter? Why,--raise herbreech a thought more, John Gudyill--the matter? Why, Claver'se isrouted, my dear, and the whigs are coming down upon us in force, that'sall the matter."

  "Gracious powers!" said Edith, whose eye at that instant caught a glanceof the road which ran up the river, "and yonder they come!"

  "Yonder? where?" said the veteran; and, his eyes taking the samedirection, he beheld a large body of horsemen coming down the path."Stand to your guns, my lads!" was th
e first exclamation; "we'll makethem pay toll as they pass the heugh.--But stay, stay, these arecertainly the Life-Guards."

  "O no, uncle, no," replied Edith; "see how disorderly they ride, and howill they keep their ranks; these cannot be the fine soldiers who left usthis morning."

  "Ah, my dear girl!" answered the Major, "you do not know the differencebetween men before a battle and after a defeat; but the Life-Guards itis, for I see the red and blue and the King's colours. I am glad theyhave brought them off, however."

  His opinion was confirmed as the troopers approached nearer, and finallyhalted on the road beneath the Tower; while their commanding officer,leaving them to breathe and refresh their horses, hastily rode up thehill.

  "It is Claverhouse, sure enough," said the Major; "I am glad he hasescaped, but he has lost his famous black horse. Let Lady Margaret know,John Gudyill; order some refreshments; get oats for the soldiers' horses;and let us to the hall, Edith, to meet him. I surmise we shall hear butindifferent news."