Old Mortality, Complete

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XVII.

  But see! through the fast-flashing lightnings of war, What steed to the desert flies frantic and far? Campbell.

  During the severe skirmish of which we have given the details, Morton,together with Cuddie and his mother, and the Reverend GabrielKettledrummle, remained on the brow of the hill, near to the small cairn,or barrow, beside which Claverhouse had held his preliminary council ofwar, so that they had a commanding view of the action which took place inthe bottom. They were guarded by Corporal Inglis and four soldiers, who,as may readily be supposed, were much more intent on watching thefluctuating fortunes of the battle, than in attending to what passedamong their prisoners.

  "If you lads stand to their tackle," said Cuddie, "we'll hae some chanceo' getting our necks out o' the brecham again; but I misdoubt them--theyhae little skeel o' arms."

  "Much is not necessary, Cuddie," answered Morton; "they have a strongposition, and weapons in their hands, and are more than three times thenumber of their assailants. If they cannot fight for their freedom now,they and theirs deserve to lose it for ever."

  "O, sirs," exclaimed Mause, "here's a goodly spectacle indeed! My spiritis like that of the blessed Elihu, it burns within me--my bowels are aswine which lacketh vent--they are ready to burst like new bottles. O,that He may look after His ain people in this day of judgment anddeliverance!--And now, what ailest thou, precious Mr GabrielKettledrummle? I say, what ailest thou, that wert a Nazarite purer thansnow, whiter than milk, more ruddy than sulphur," (meaning, perhaps,sapphires,)--"I say, what ails thee now, that thou art blacker than acoal, that thy beauty is departed, and thy loveliness withered like a drypotsherd? Surely it is time to be up and be doing, to cry loudly and tospare not, and to wrestle for the puir lads that are yonder testifyingwith their ain blude and that of their enemies."

  This expostulation implied a reproach on Mr Kettledrummle, who, though anabsolute Boanerges, or son of thunder, in the pulpit, when the enemy wereafar, and indeed sufficiently contumacious, as we have seen, when intheir power, had been struck dumb by the firing, shouts, and shrieks,which now arose from the valley, and--as many an honest man might havebeen, in a situation where he could neither fight nor fly--was too muchdismayed to take so favourable an opportunity to preach the terrors ofpresbytery, as the courageous Mause had expected at his hand, or even topray for the successful event of the battle. His presence of mind wasnot, however, entirely lost, any more than his jealous respect for hisreputation as a pure and powerful preacher of the word.

  "Hold your peace, woman!" he said, "and do not perturb my inwardmeditations and the wrestlings wherewith I wrestle.--But of a verity theshooting of the foemen doth begin to increase! peradventure, some pelletmay attain unto us even here. Lo! I will ensconce me behind the cairn, asbehind a strong wall of defence."

  "He's but a coward body after a'," said Cuddie, who was himself by nomeans deficient in that sort of courage which consists in insensibilityto danger; "he's but a daidling coward body. He'll never fillRumbleberry's bonnet.--Odd! Rumbleberry fought and flyted like a fleeingdragon. It was a great pity, puir man, he couldna cheat the woodie. Butthey say he gaed singing and rejoicing till't, just as I wad gang to abicker o' brose, supposing me hungry, as I stand a gude chance to be.--Eh, sirs! yon's an awfu' sight, and yet ane canna keep their een aff fraeit!"

  Accordingly, strong curiosity on the part of Morton and Cuddie, togetherwith the heated enthusiasm of old Mause, detained them on the spot fromwhich they could best hear and see the issue of the action, leaving toKettledrummle to occupy alone his place of security. The vicissitudes ofcombat, which we have already described, were witnessed by our spectatorsfrom the top of the eminence, but without their being able positively todetermine to what they tended. That the presbyterians defended themselvesstoutly was evident from the heavy smoke, which, illumined by frequentflashes of fire, now eddied along the valley, and hid the contendingparties in its sulphureous shade. On the other hand, the continued firingfrom the nearer side of the morass indicated that the enemy persevered intheir attack, that the affair was fiercely disputed, and that every thingwas to be apprehended from a continued contest in which undisciplinedrustics had to repel the assaults of regular troops, so completelyofficered and armed.

  At length horses, whose caparisons showed that they belonged to theLife-Guards, began to fly masterless out of the confusion. Dismountedsoldiers next appeared, forsaking the conflict, and straggling over theside of the hill, in order to escape from the scene of action. As thenumbers of these fugitives increased, the fate of the day seemed nolonger doubtful. A large body was then seen emerging from the smoke,forming irregularly on the hill-side, and with difficulty kept stationaryby their officers, until Evandale's corps also appeared in full retreat.The result of the conflict was then apparent, and the joy of theprisoners was corresponding to their approaching deliverance.

  "They hae dune the job for anes," said Cuddie, "an they ne'er do'tagain."

  "They flee!--they flee!" exclaimed Mause, in ecstasy. "O, the truculenttyrants! they are riding now as they never rode before. O, the falseEgyptians--the proud Assyrians--the Philistines--the Moabites--theEdomites--the Ishmaelites!--The Lord has brought sharp swords upon them,to make them food for the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field.See how the clouds roll, and the fire flashes ahint them, and goes forthbefore the chosen of the Covenant, e'en like the pillar o' cloud and thepillar o' flame that led the people of Israel out o' the land of Egypt!This is indeed a day of deliverance to the righteous, a day of pouringout of wrath to the persecutors and the ungodly!"

  "Lord save us, mither," said Cuddie, "haud the clavering tongue o' ye,and lie down ahint the cairn, like Kettledrummle, honest man! Thewhigamore bullets ken unco little discretion, and will just as sune knockout the harns o' a psalm-singing auld wife as a swearing dragoon."

  "Fear naething for me, Cuddie," said the old dame, transported to ecstasyby the success of her party; "fear naething for me! I will stand, likeDeborah, on the tap o' the cairn, and tak up my sang o' reproach againstthese men of Harosheth of the Gentiles, whose horse-hoofs are broken bytheir prancing."

  The enthusiastic old woman would, in fact, have accomplished her purpose,of mounting on the cairn, and becoming, as she said, a sign and a bannerto the people, had not Cuddie, with more filial tenderness than respect,detained her by such force as his shackled arms would permit him toexert.

  "Eh, sirs!" he said, having accomplished this task, "look out yonder,Milnwood; saw ye ever mortal fight like the deevil Claver'se?--Yonderhe's been thrice doun amang them, and thrice cam free aff.--But I thinkwe'll soon be free oursells, Milnwood. Inglis and his troopers look owertheir shouthers very aften, as if they liked the road ahint them betterthan the road afore."

  Cuddie was not mistaken; for, when the main tide of fugitives passed at alittle distance from the spot where they were stationed, the corporal andhis party fired their carabines at random upon the advancing insurgents,and, abandoning all charge of their prisoners, joined the retreat oftheir comrades. Morton and the old woman, whose hands were at liberty,lost no time in undoing the bonds of Cuddie and of the clergyman, both ofwhom had been secured by a cord tied round their arms above the elbows.By the time this was accomplished, the rear-guard of the dragoons, whichstill preserved some order, passed beneath the hillock or rising groundwhich was surmounted by the cairn already repeatedly mentioned. Theyexhibited all the hurry and confusion incident to a forced retreat, butstill continued in a body. Claverhouse led the van, his naked sworddeeply dyed with blood, as were his face and clothes. His horse was allcovered with gore, and now reeled with weakness. Lord Evandale, in notmuch better plight, brought up the rear, still exhorting the soldiers tokeep together and fear nothing. Several of the men were wounded, and oneor two dropped from their horses as they surmounted the hill.

  Mause's zeal broke forth once more at this spectacle, while she stood onthe heath with her head unco
vered, and her grey hairs streaming in thewind, no bad representation of a superannuated bacchante, or Thessalianwitch in the agonies of incantation. She soon discovered Claverhouse atthe head of the fugitive party, and exclaimed with bitter irony, "Tarry,tarry, ye wha were aye sae blithe to be at the meetings of the saints,and wad ride every muir in Scotland to find a conventicle! Wilt thou nottarry, now thou hast found ane? Wilt thou not stay for one word mair?Wilt thou na bide the afternoon preaching?--Wae betide ye!" she said,suddenly changing her tone, "and cut the houghs of the creature whasefleetness ye trust in!--Sheugh--sheugh!--awa wi'ye, that hae spilled saemuckle blude, and now wad save your ain--awa wi'ye for a railingRabshakeh, a cursing Shimei, a bloodthirsty Doeg!--The swords drawn nowthat winna be lang o' o'ertaking ye, ride as fast as ye will."

  Claverhouse, it may be easily supposed, was too busy to attend to herreproaches, but hastened over the hill, anxious to get the remnant of hismen out of gun-shot, in hopes of again collecting the fugitives round hisstandard. But as the rear of his followers rode over the ridge, a shotstruck Lord Evandale's horse, which instantly sunk down dead beneath him.Two of the whig horsemen, who were the foremost in the pursuit, hastenedup with the purpose of killing him, for hitherto there had been noquarter given. Morton, on the other hand, rushed forward to save hislife, if possible, in order at once to indulge his natural generosity,and to requite the obligation which Lord Evandale had conferred on himthat morning, and under which circumstances had made him wince soacutely. Just as he had assisted Evandale, who was much wounded, toextricate himself from his dying horse, and to gain his feet, the twohorsemen came up, and one of them exclaiming, "Have at the red-coatedtyrant!" made a blow at the young nobleman, which Morton parried withdifficulty, exclaiming to the rider, who was no other than Burleyhimself, "Give quarter to this gentleman, for my sake--for the sake," headded, observing that Burley did not immediately recognise him, "of HenryMorton, who so lately sheltered you."

  "Henry Morton?" replied Burley, wiping his bloody brow with his bloodierhand; "did I not say that the son of Silas Morton would come forth out ofthe land of bondage, nor be long an indweller in the tents of Ham? Thouart a brand snatched out of the burning--But for this booted apostle ofprelacy, he shall die the death!--We must smite them hip and thigh, evenfrom the rising to the going down of the sun. It is our commission toslay them like Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, and spareneither man nor woman, infant nor suckling; therefore, hinder me not," hecontinued, endeavouring again to cut down Lord Evandale, "for this workmust not be wrought negligently."

  "You must not, and you shall not, slay him, more especially whileincapable of defence," said Morton, planting himself before Lord Evandaleso as to intercept any blow that should be aimed at him; "I owed my lifeto him this morning--my life, which was endangered solely by my havingsheltered you; and to shed his blood when he can offer no effectualresistance, were not only a cruelty abhorrent to God and man, butdetestable ingratitude both to him and to me."

  Burley paused.--"Thou art yet," he said, "in the court of the Gentiles,and I compassionate thy human blindness and frailty. Strong meat is notfit for babes, nor the mighty and grinding dispensation under which Idraw my sword, for those whose hearts are yet dwelling in huts of clay,whose footsteps are tangled in the mesh of mortal sympathies, and whoclothe themselves in the righteousness that is as filthy rags. But togain a soul to the truth is better than to send one to Tophet; thereforeI give quarter to this youth, providing the grant is confirmed by thegeneral council of God's army, whom he hath this day blessed with sosignal a deliverance.--Thou art unarmed--Abide my return here. I must yetpursue these sinners, the Amalekites, and destroy them till they beutterly consumed from the face of the land, even from Havilah unto Shur."

  So saying, he set spurs to his horse, and continued to pursue the chase.

  "Cuddie," said Morton, "for God's sake catch a horse as quickly as youcan. I will not trust Lord Evandale's life with these obdurate men.--Youare wounded, my lord.--Are you able to continue your retreat?" hecontinued, addressing himself to his prisoner, who, half-stunned by thefall, was but beginning to recover himself.

  "I think so," replied Lord Evandale. "But is it possible?--Do I owe mylife to Mr Morton?"

  "My interference would have been the same from common humanity," repliedMorton; "to your lordship it was a sacred debt of gratitude."

  Cuddie at this instant returned with a horse.

  "God-sake, munt--munt, and ride like a fleeing hawk, my lord," said thegood-natured fellow, "for ne'er be in me, if they arena killing every aneo' the wounded and prisoners!"

  Lord Evandale mounted the horse, while Cuddie officiously held thestirrup.

  "Stand off, good fellow, thy courtesy may cost thy life.--Mr Morton," hecontinued, addressing Henry, "this makes us more than even--rely on it, Iwill never forget your generosity--Farewell."

  He turned his horse, and rode swiftly away in the direction which seemedleast exposed to pursuit.

  Lord Evandale had just rode off, when several of the insurgents, who werein the front of the pursuit, came up, denouncing vengeance on HenryMorton and Cuddie for having aided the escape of a Philistine, as theycalled the young nobleman.

  "What wad ye hae had us to do?" cried Cuddie. "Had we aught to stop a manwi' that had twa pistols and a sword? Sudna ye hae come faster upyoursells, instead of flyting at huz?"

  This excuse would hardly have passed current; but Kettledrummle, who nowawoke from his trance of terror, and was known to, and reverenced by,most of the wanderers, together with Mause, who possessed theirappropriate language as well as the preacher himself, proved active andeffectual intercessors.

  "Touch them not, harm them not," exclaimed Kettledrummle, in his verybest double-bass tones; "this is the son of the famous Silas Morton, bywhom the Lord wrought great things in this land at the breaking forth ofthe reformation from prelacy, when there was a plentiful pouring forth ofthe Word and a renewing of the Covenant; a hero and champion of thoseblessed days, when there was power and efficacy, and convincing andconverting of sinners, and heart-exercises, and fellowships of saints,and a plentiful flowing forth of the spices of the garden of Eden."

  "And this is my son Cuddie," exclaimed Mause, in her turn, "the son ofhis father, Judden Headrigg, wha was a douce honest man, and of me, MauseMiddlemas, an unworthy professor and follower of the pure gospel, and aneo' your ain folk. Is it not written, 'Cut ye not off the tribe of thefamilies of the Kohathites from among the Levites?' Numbers, fourth andaughteenth--O! sirs! dinna be standing here prattling wi' honest folk,when ye suld be following forth your victory with which Providence hasblessed ye."

  This party having passed on, they were immediately beset by another, towhom it was necessary to give the same explanation. Kettledrummle, whosefear was much dissipated since the firing had ceased, again took upon himto be intercessor, and grown bold, as he felt his good word necessary forthe protection of his late fellow-captives, he laid claim to no smallshare of the merit of the victory, appealing to Morton and Cuddie,whether the tide of battle had not turned while he prayed on the Mount ofJehovah-Nissi, like Moses, that Israel might prevail over Amalek; butgranting them, at the same time, the credit of holding up his hands whenthey waxed heavy, as those of the prophet were supported by Aaron andHur. It seems probable that Kettledrummle allotted this part in thesuccess to his companions in adversity, lest they should be tempted todisclose his carnal self-seeking and falling away, in regarding tooclosely his own personal safety. These strong testimonies in favour ofthe liberated captives quickly flew abroad, with many exaggerations,among the victorious army. The reports on the subject were various; butit was universally agreed, that young Morton of Milnwood, the son of thestout soldier of the Covenant, Silas Morton, together with the preciousGabriel Kettledrummle, and a singular devout Christian woman, whom manythought as good as himself at extracting a doctrine or an use, whether ofterror or consolation, had arrived to support the good old cause, with areinforcement of a hundred well-ar
med men from the Middle Ward.

  [Note: Skirmish at Drumclog. This affair, the only one in which Claverhouse was defeated, or the insurgent Cameronians successful, was fought pretty much in the manner mentioned in the text. The Royalists lost about thirty or forty men. The commander of the Presbyterian, or rather Convenanting party, was Mr Robert Hamilton, of the honourable House of Preston, brother of Sir William Hamilton, to whose title and estate he afterwards succeeded; but, according to his biographer, Howie of Lochgoin, he never took possession of either, as he could not do so without acknowledging the right of King William (an uncovenanted monarch) to the crown. Hamilton had been bred by Bishop Burnet, while the latter lived at Glasgow; his brother, Sir Thomas, having married a sister of that historian. "He was then," says the Bishop, "a lively, hopeful young man; but getting into that company, and into their notions, he became a crack-brained enthusiast."

  Several well-meaning persons have been much scandalized at the manner in which the victors are said to have conducted themselves towards the prisoners at Drumclog. But the principle of these poor fanatics, (I mean the high-flying, or Cameronian party,) was to obtain not merely toleration for their church, but the same supremacy which Presbytery had acquired in Scotland after the treaty of Rippon, betwixt Charles I. and his Scottish subjects, in 1640.

  The fact is, that they conceived themselves a chosen people, sent forth to extirpate the heathen, like the Jews of old, and under a similar charge to show no quarter.

  The historian of the Insurrection of Bothwell makes the following explicit avowal of the principles on which their General acted:--

  "Mr Hamilton discovered a great deal of bravery and valour, both in the conflict with, and pursuit of, the enemy; but when he and some other were pursuing the enemy, others flew too greedily upon the spoil, small as it was, instead of pursuing the victory; and some, without Mr Hamilton's knowledge, and directly contrary to his express command, gave five of those bloody enemies quarter, and then let them go; this greatly grieved Mr Hamilton when he saw some of Babel's brats spared, after that the Lord had delivered them into their hands, that they might dash them against the stones. Psalm cxxxvii., 9. In his own account of this, he reckons the sparing of these enemies, and letting them go, to be among their first steppings aside, for which he feared that the Lord would not honour them to do much more for him; and says, that he was neither for taking favours from, nor giving favours to, the Lord's enemies." See A true and impartial Account of the persecuted Presbyterians in Scotland, their being in arms, and defeat at Bothwell Brigg, in 1679, by William Wilson, late Schoolmaster in the parish of Douglas. The reader who would authenticate the quotation, must not consult any other edition than that of 1697; for somehow or other the publisher of the last edition has omitted this remarkable part of the narrative.

  Sir Robert Hamilton himself felt neither remorse nor shame for having put to death one of the prisoners after the battle with his own hand, which appears to have been a charge against him, by some whose fanaticism was less exalted than his own.

  "As for that accusation they bring against me of killing that poor man (as they call him) at Drumclog, I may easily guess that my accusers can be no other but some of the house of Saul or Shimei, or some such risen again to espouse that poor gentleman (Saul) his quarrel against honest Samuel, for his offering to kill that poor man Agag, after the king's giving him quarter. But I, being to command that day, gave out the word that no quarter should be given; and returning from pursuing Claverhouse, one or two of these fellows were standing in the midst of a company of our friends, and some were debating for quarter, others against it. None could blame me to decide the controversy, and I bless the Lord for it to this day. There were five more that without my knowledge got quarter, who were brought to me after we were a mile from the place as having got quarter, which I reckoned among the first steppings aside; and seeing that spirit amongst us at that time, I then told it to some that were with me, (to my best remembrance, it was honest old John Nisbet,) that I feared the Lord would not honour us to do much more for him. I shall only say this,--I desire to bless his holy name, that since ever he helped me to set my face to his work, I never had, nor would take, a favour from enemies, either on right or left hand, and desired to give as few."

  The preceding passage is extracted from a long vindication of his own conduct, sent by Sir Robert Hamilton, 7th December, 1685, addressed to the anti-Popish, anti-Prelatic, anti-Erastian, anti-sectarian true Presbyterian remnant of the Church of Scotland; and the substance is to be found in the work or collection, called, "Faithful Contendings Displayed, collected and transcribed by John Howie."

  As the skirmish of Drumclog has been of late the subject of some enquiry, the reader may be curious to see Claverhouse's own account of the affair, in a letter to the Earl of Linlithgow, written immediately after the action. This gazette, as it may be called, occurs in the volume called Dundee's Letters, printed by Mr Smythe of Methven, as a contribution to the Bannatyne Club. The original is in the library of the Duke of Buckingham. Claverhouse, it may be observed, spells like a chambermaid.

  "FOR THE EARLE OF LINLITHGOW. [COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF KING CHARLES II.'s FORCES IN SCOTLAND.]

  "Glaskow, Jun. the 1, 1679.

  "My Lord,--Upon Saturday's night, when my Lord Rosse came into this place, I marched out, and because of the insolency that had been done tue nights before at Ruglen, I went thither and inquyred for the names. So soon as I got them, I sent our partys to sease on them, and found not only three of those rogues, but also ane intercomend minister called King. We had them at Strevan about six in the morning yesterday, and resolving to convey them to this, I thought that we might make a little tour to see if we could fall upon a conventicle; which we did, little to our advantage; for when we came in sight of them, we found them drawn up in batell, upon a most adventageous ground, to which there was no coming but through mosses and lakes. They wer not preaching, and had got away all there women and shildring. They consisted of four battaillons of foot, and all well armed with fusils and pitchforks, and three squadrons of horse. We sent both partys to skirmish, they of foot and we of dragoons; they run for it, and sent down a battaillon of foot against them; we sent threescore of dragoons, who made them run again shamfully; but in end they percaiving that we had the better of them in skirmish, they resolved a generall engadgment, and imediately advanced with there foot, the horse folowing; they came throght the lotche; the greatest body of all made up against my troupe; we keeped our fyre till they wer within ten pace of us: they recaived our fyr, and advanced to shok; the first they gave us broght down the Coronet Mr Crafford and Captain Bleith, besides that with a pitchfork they made such an openeing in my rone horse's belly, that his guts hung out half an elle, and yet he caryed me af an myl; which so discoraged our men, that they sustained not the shok, but fell into disorder. There horse took the occasion of this, and purseued us so hotly that we had no tym to rayly. I saved the standarts, but lost on the place about aight or ten men, besides wounded; but he dragoons lost many mor. They ar not com esily af on the other side, for I sawe severall of them fall befor we cam to the shok. I mad the best retraite the confusion of our people would suffer, and I am now laying with my Lord Rosse. The toun of Streven drew up as we was making our retrait, and thoght of a pass to cut us off, but we took courage and fell to them, made them run, leaving a dousain on the place. What these rogues will dou yet I know not, but the contry was flocking to them from all hands. This may be counted the begining of the rebellion, in my opin
ion.

  "I am, my lord,

  "Your lordship's most humble servant,

  "J. Grahame.

  "My lord, I am so wearied, and so sleapy, that I have wryton this very confusedly."]