Old Mortality, Volume 1.

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XX.

  With careless gesture, mind unmoved, On rade he north the plain, His seem in thrang of fiercest strife, When winner aye the same. Hardyknute.

  Colonel Grahame of Claverhouse met the family, assembled in the hall ofthe Tower, with the same serenity and the same courtesy which had gracedhis manners in the morning. He had even had the composure to rectify inpart the derangement of his dress, to wash the signs of battle from hisface and hands, and did not appear more disordered in his exterior thanif returned from a morning ride.

  "I am grieved, Colonel Grahame," said the reverend old lady, the tearstrickling down her face, "deeply grieved."

  "And I am grieved, my dear Lady Margaret," replied Claverhouse, "thatthis misfortune may render your remaining at Tillietudlem dangerous foryou, especially considering your recent hospitality to the King's troops,and your well-known loyalty. And I came here chiefly to request MissBellenden and you to accept my escort (if you will not scorn that of apoor runaway) to Glasgow, from whence I will see you safely sent eitherto Edinburgh or to Dunbarton Castle, as you shall think best."

  "I am much obliged to you, Colonel Grahame," replied Lady Margaret; "butmy brother, Major Bellenden, has taken on him the responsibility ofholding out this house against the rebels; and, please God, they shallnever drive Margaret Bellenden from her ain hearth-stane while there's abrave man that says he can defend it."

  "And will Major Bellenden undertake this?" said Claverhouse hastily, ajoyful light glancing from his dark eye as he turned it on theveteran,--"Yet why should I question it? it is of a piece with the restof his life.--But have you the means, Major?"

  "All, but men and provisions, with which we are ill supplied," answeredthe Major.

  "As for men," said Claverhouse, "I will leave you a dozen or twentyfellows who will make good a breach against the devil. It will be of theutmost service, if you can defend the place but a week, and by that timeyou must surely be relieved."

  "I will make it good for that space, Colonel," replied the Major, "withtwenty-five good men and store of ammunition, if we should gnaw the solesof our shoes for hunger; but I trust we shall get in provisions from thecountry."

  "And, Colonel Grahame, if I might presume a request," said Lady Margaret,"I would entreat that Sergeant Francis Stewart might command theauxiliaries whom you are so good as to add to the garrison of our people;it may serve to legitimate his promotion, and I have a prejudice infavour of his noble birth."

  "The sergeant's wars are ended, madam," said Grahame, in an unalteredtone, "and he now needs no promotion that an earthly master can give."

  "Pardon me," said Major Bellenden, taking Claverhouse by the arm, andturning him away from the ladies, "but I am anxious for my friends; Ifear you have other and more important loss. I observe another officercarries your nephew's standard."

  "You are right, Major Bellenden," answered Claverhouse firmly; "my nephewis no more. He has died in his duty, as became him."

  "Great God!" exclaimed the Major, "how unhappy!--the handsome, gallant,high-spirited youth!"

  "He was indeed all you say," answered Claverhouse; "poor Richard was tome as an eldest son, the apple of my eye, and my destined heir; but hedied in his duty, and I--I--Major Bellenden"--(he wrung the Major's handhard as he spoke)--"I live to avenge him."

  "Colonel Grahame," said the affectionate veteran, his eyes filling withtears, "I am glad to see you bear this misfortune with such fortitude."

  "I am not a selfish man," replied Claverhouse, "though the world willtell you otherwise; I am not selfish either in my hopes or fears, my joysor sorrows. I have not been severe for myself, or grasping for myself, orambitious for myself. The service of my master and the good of thecountry are what I have tried to aim at. I may, perhaps, have drivenseverity into cruelty, but I acted for the best; and now I will not yieldto my own feelings a deeper sympathy than I have given to those ofothers."

  "I am astonished at your fortitude under all the unpleasant circumstancesof this affair," pursued the Major.

  "Yes," replied Claverhouse, "my enemies in the council will lay thismisfortune to my charge--I despise their accusations. They willcalumniate me to my sovereign--I can repel their charge. The public enemywill exult in my flight--I shall find a time to show them that they exulttoo early. This youth that has fallen stood betwixt a grasping kinsmanand my inheritance, for you know that my marriage-bed is barren; yet,peace be with him! the country can better spare him than your friend LordEvandale, who, after behaving very gallantly, has, I fear, also fallen."

  "What a fatal day!" ejaculated the Major. "I heard a report of this, butit was again contradicted; it was added, that the poor young nobleman'simpetuosity had occasioned the loss of this unhappy field."

  "Not so, Major," said Grahame; "let the living officers bear the blame,if there be any; and let the laurels flourish untarnished on the grave ofthe fallen. I do not, however, speak of Lord Evandale's death as certain;but killed, or prisoner, I fear he must be. Yet he was extricated fromthe tumult the last time we spoke together. We were then on the point ofleaving the field with a rear-guard of scarce twenty men; the rest of theregiment were almost dispersed."

  "They have rallied again soon," said the Major, looking from the windowon the dragoons, who were feeding their horses and refreshing themselvesbeside the brook.

  "Yes," answered Claverhouse, "my blackguards had little temptation eitherto desert, or to straggle farther than they were driven by their firstpanic. There is small friendship and scant courtesy between them and theboors of this country; every village they pass is likely to rise on them,and so the scoundrels are driven back to their colours by a wholesometerror of spits, pike-staves, hay-forks, and broomsticks.--But now let ustalk about your plans and wants, and the means of corresponding with you.To tell you the truth, I doubt being able to make a long stand atGlasgow, even when I have joined my Lord Ross; for this transient andaccidental success of the fanatics will raise the devil through all thewestern counties."

  They then discussed Major Bellenden's means of defence, and settled aplan of correspondence, in case a general insurrection took place, as wasto be expected. Claverhouse renewed his offer to escort the ladies to aplace of safety; but, all things considered, Major Bellenden thought theywould be in equal safety at Tillietudlem.

  The Colonel then took a polite leave of Lady Margaret and Miss Bellenden,assuring them, that, though he was reluctantly obliged to leave them forthe present in dangerous circumstances, yet his earliest means should beturned to the redemption of his character as a good knight and true, andthat they might speedily rely on hearing from or seeing him.

  Full of doubt and apprehension, Lady Margaret was little able to reply toa speech so much in unison with her usual expressions and feelings, butcontented herself with bidding Claverhouse farewell, and thanking him forthe succours which he had promised to leave them. Edith longed to enquirethe fate of Henry Morton, but could find no pretext for doing so, andcould only hope that it had made a subject of some part of the longprivate communication which her uncle had held with Claverhouse. On thissubject, however, she was disappointed; for the old cavalier was sodeeply immersed in the duties of his own office, that he had scarce saida single word to Claverhouse, excepting upon military matters, and mostprobably would have been equally forgetful, had the fate of his own son,instead of his friend's, lain in the balance.

  Claverhouse now descended the bank on which the castle is founded, inorder to put his troops again in motion, and Major Bellenden accompaniedhim to receive the detachment who were to be left in the tower.

  "I shall leave Inglis with you," said Claverhouse, "for, as I amsituated, I cannot spare an officer of rank; it is all we can do, by ourjoint efforts, to keep the men together. But should any of our missingofficers make their appearance, I authorize you to detain them; for myfellows can with difficulty be subjected to any other a
uthority."

  His troops being now drawn up, he picked out sixteen men by name, andcommitted them to the command of Corporal Inglis, whom he promoted to therank of sergeant on the spot.

  "And hark ye, gentlemen," was his concluding harangue, "I leave you todefend the house of a lady, and under the command of her brother, MajorBellenden, a faithful servant to the king. You are to behave bravely,soberly, regularly, and obediently, and each of you shall be handsomelyrewarded on my return to relieve the garrison. In case of mutiny,cowardice, neglect of duty, or the slightest excess in the family, theprovost-marshal and cord--you know I keep my word for good and evil."

  He touched his hat as he bade them farewell, and shook hands cordiallywith Major Bellenden.

  "Adieu," he said, "my stout-hearted old friend! Good luck be with you,and better times to us both."

  The horsemen whom he commanded had been once more reduced to tolerableorder by the exertions of Major Allan; and, though shorn of theirsplendour, and with their gilding all besmirched, made a much moreregular and military appearance on leaving, for the second time, thetower of Tillietudlem, than when they returned to it after their rout.

  Major Bellenden, now left to his own resources sent out several videttes,both to obtain supplies of provisions, and especially of meal, and to getknowledge of the motions of the enemy. All the news he could collect onthe second subject tended to prove that the insurgents meant to remain onthe field of battle for that night. But they, also, had abroad theirdetachments and advanced guards to collect supplies, and great was thedoubt and distress of those who received contrary orders, in the name ofthe King and in that of the Kirk; the one commanding them to sendprovisions to victual the Castle of Tillietudlem, and the other enjoiningthem to forward supplies to the camp of the godly professors of truereligion, now in arms for the cause of covenanted reformation, presentlypitched at Drumclog, nigh to Loudon-hill. Each summons closed with adenunciation of fire and sword if it was neglected; for neither partycould confide so far in the loyalty or zeal of those whom they addressed,as to hope they would part with their property upon other terms. So thatthe poor people knew not what hand to turn themselves to; and, to saytruth, there were some who turned themselves to more than one.

  "Thir kittle times will drive the wisest o' us daft," said Niel Blane,the prudent host of the Howff; "but I'se aye keep a calm sough.--Jenny,what meal is in the girnel?"

  "Four bows o' aitmeal, twa bows o' bear, and twa bows o' pease," wasJenny's reply.

  "Aweel, hinny," continued Niel Blane, sighing deeply, "let Bauldy drivethe pease and bear meal to the camp at Drumclog--he's a whig, and was theauld gudewife's pleughman--the mashlum bannocks will suit their muirlandstamachs weel. He maun say it's the last unce o' meal in the house, or,if he scruples to tell a lie, (as it's no likely he will when it's forthe gude o' the house,) he may wait till Duncan Glen, the auld druckentrooper, drives up the aitmeal to Tillietudlem, wi' my dutifu' service tomy Leddy and the Major, and I haena as muckle left as will mak myparritch; and if Duncan manage right, I'll gie him a tass o' whisky shallmak the blue low come out at his mouth."

  "And what are we to eat oursells then, father," asked Jenny, "when we haesent awa the haill meal in the ark and the girnel?"

  "We maun gar wheat-flour serve us for a blink," said Niel, in a tone ofresignation; "it's no that ill food, though far frae being sae hearty orkindly to a Scotchman's stamach as the curney aitmeal is; the Englisherslive amaist upon't; but, to be sure, the pock-puddings ken nae better."

  While the prudent and peaceful endeavoured, like Niel Blane, to make fairweather with both parties, those who had more public (or party) spiritbegan to take arms on all sides. The royalists in the country were notnumerous, but were respectable from their fortune and influence, beingchiefly landed proprietors of ancient descent, who, with their brothers,cousins, and dependents to the ninth generation, as well as theirdomestic servants, formed a sort of militia, capable of defending theirown peel-houses against detached bodies of the insurgents, of resistingtheir demand of supplies, and intercepting those which were sent to thepresbyterian camp by others. The news that the Tower of Tillietudlem wasto be defended against the insurgents, afforded great courage and supportto these feudal volunteers, who considered it as a stronghold to whichthey might retreat, in case it should become impossible for them tomaintain the desultory war they were now about to wage.

  On the other hand, the towns, the villages, the farm-houses, theproperties of small heritors, sent forth numerous recruits to thepresbyterian interest. These men had been the principal sufferers duringthe oppression of the time. Their minds were fretted, soured, and drivento desperation, by the various exactions and cruelties to which they hadbeen subjected; and, although by no means united among themselves, eitherconcerning the purpose of this formidable insurrection, or the means bywhich that purpose was to be obtained, most of them considered it as adoor opened by Providence to obtain the liberty of conscience of whichthey had been long deprived, and to shake themselves free of a tyranny,directed both against body and soul. Numbers of these men, therefore,took up arms; and, in the phrase of their time and party, prepared tocast in their lot with the victors of Loudon-hill.