The Pirate

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XVII.

  Over the mountains and under the waves, Over the fountains and under the graves, Over floods that are deepest, Which Neptune obey, Over rocks that are steepest, Love will find out the way.

  _Old Song._

  The parting of Fletcher from Claud Halcro and the sisters ofBurgh-Westra, on the spot where it took place, was partly occasioned bya small party of armed men being seen at a distance in the act ofadvancing from Kirkwall, an apparition hidden from the Udaller'sspy-glass by the swell of the ground, but quite visible to the pirate,whom it determined to consult his own safety by a speedy return to hisboat. He was just turning away, when Minna occasioned the short delaywhich her father had observed.

  "Stop," she said; "I command you!--Tell your leader from me, thatwhatever the answer may be from Kirkwall, he shall carry his vessel,nevertheless, round to Stromness; and, being anchored there, let himsend a boat ashore for Captain Cleveland when he shall see a smoke onthe Bridge of Broisgar."

  Fletcher had thought, like his messmate Bunce of asking a kiss, atleast, for the trouble of escorting these beautiful young women; andperhaps, neither the terror of the approaching Kirkwall men, nor ofMinna's weapon, might have prevented his being insolent. But the name ofhis Captain, and, still more, the unappalled, dignified, and commandingmanner of Minna Troil, overawed him. He made a sea bow,--promised tokeep a sharp look-out, and, returning to his boat, went on board withhis message.

  As Halcro and the sisters advanced towards the party whom they saw onthe Kirkwall road, and who, on their part, had halted as if to observethem, Brenda, relieved from the fears of Fletcher's presence, which hadhitherto kept her silent, exclaimed, "Merciful Heaven!--Minna, in whathands have we left our dear father?"

  "In the hands of brave men," said Minna, steadily--"I fear not for him."

  "As brave as you please," said Claud Halcro, "but very dangerous roguesfor all that.--I know that fellow Altamont, as he calls himself, thoughthat is not his right name neither, as deboshed a dog as ever made abarn ring with blood and blank verse. He began with Barnwell, and everybody thought he would end with the gallows, like the last scene inVenice Preserved."

  "It matters not," said Minna--"the wilder the waves, the more powerfulis the voice that rules them. The name alone of Cleveland ruled the moodof the fiercest amongst them."

  "I am sorry for Cleveland," said Brenda, "if such are hiscompanions,--but I care little for him in comparison to my father."

  "Reserve your compassion for those who need it," said Minna, "and fearnothing for our father.--God knows, every silver hair on his head is tome worth the treasure of an unsummed mine; but I know that he is safewhile in yonder vessel, and I know that he will be soon safe on shore."

  "I would I could see it," said Claud Halcro; "but I fear the Kirkwallpeople, supposing Cleveland to be such as I dread, will not dare toexchange him against the Udaller. The Scots have very severe lawsagainst theft-boot, as they call it."

  "But who are those on the road before us?" said Brenda; "and why do theyhalt there so jealously?"

  "They are a patrol of the militia," answered Halcro. "Glorious Johntouches them off a little sharply,--but then John was a Jacobite,--(_e_)

  'Mouths without hands, maintain'd at vast expense, In peace a charge, in war a weak defence; Stout once a-month, they march, a blustering band, And ever, but in time of need, at hand.'

  I fancy they halted just now, taking us, as they saw us on the brow ofthe hill, for a party of the sloop's men, and now they can distinguishthat you wear petticoats, they are moving on again."

  They came on accordingly, and proved to be, as Claud Halcro hadsuggested, a patrol sent out to watch the motions of the pirates, and toprevent their attempting descents to damage the country.

  They heartily congratulated Claud Halcro, who was well known to morethan one of them, upon his escape from captivity; and the commander ofthe party, while offering every assistance to the ladies, could not helpcondoling with them on the circumstances in which their father stood,hinting, though in a delicate and doubtful manner, the difficultieswhich might be in the way of his liberation.

  When they arrived at Kirkwall, and obtained an audience of the Provost,and one or two of the Magistrates, these difficulties were more plainlyinsisted upon.--"The Halcyon frigate is upon the coast," said theProvost; "she was seen off Duncansbay-head; and, though I have thedeepest respect for Mr. Troil of Burgh-Westra, yet I shall be answerableto law if I release from prison the Captain of this suspicious vessel,on account of the safety of any individual who may be unhappilyendangered by his detention. This man is now known to be the heart andsoul of these buccaniers, and am I at liberty to send him aboard, thathe may plunder the country, or perhaps go fight the King's ship?--for hehas impudence enough for any thing."

  "_Courage_ enough for any thing, you mean, Mr. Provost," said Minna,unable to restrain her displeasure.

  "Why, you may call it as you please, Miss Troil," said the worthyMagistrate; "but, in my opinion, that sort of courage which proposes tofight singly against two, is little better than a kind of practicalimpudence."

  "But our father?" said Brenda, in a tone of the most earnestentreaty--"our father--the friend, I may say the father, of hiscountry--to whom so many look for kindness, and so many for actualsupport--whose loss would be the extinction of a beacon in a storm--willyou indeed weigh the risk which he runs, against such a trifling thingas letting an unfortunate man from prison, to seek his unhappy fateelsewhere?"

  "Miss Brenda is right," said Claud Halcro; "I am for let-a-be forlet-a-be, as the boys say; and never fash about a warrant ofliberation, Provost, but just take a fool's counsel, and let the goodmanof the jail forget to draw his bolt on the wicket, or leave a chink of awindow open, or the like, and we shall be rid of the rover, and have theone best honest fellow in Orkney or Zetland on the lee-side of a bowl ofpunch with us in five hours."

  The Provost replied in nearly the same terms as before, that he had thehighest respect for Mr. Magnus Troil of Burgh-Westra, but that he couldnot suffer his consideration for any individual, however respectable, tointerfere with the discharge of his duty.

  Minna then addressed her sister in a tone of calm and sarcasticdispleasure.--"You forget," she said, "Brenda, that you are talking ofthe safety of a poor insignificant Udaller of Zetland, to no less aperson than the Chief Magistrate of the metropolis of Orkney--can youexpect so great a person to condescend to such a trifling subject ofconsideration? It will be time enough for the Provost to think ofcomplying with the terms sent to him--for comply with them at length heboth must and will--when the Church of Saint Magnus is beat down abouthis ears."

  "You may be angry with me, my pretty young lady," said the good-humouredProvost Torfe, "but I cannot be offended with you. The Church of SaintMagnus has stood many a day, and, I think, will outlive both you and me,much more yonder pack of unhanged dogs. And besides that your father ishalf an Orkneyman, and has both estate and friends among us, I would, Igive you my word, do as much for a Zetlander in distress as I would forany one, excepting one of our own native Kirkwallers, who are doubtlessto be preferred. And if you will take up your lodgings here with my wifeand myself, we will endeavour to show you," continued he, "that you areas welcome in Kirkwall, as ever you could be in Lerwick or Scalloway."

  Minna deigned no reply to this good-humoured invitation, but Brendadeclined it in civil terms, pleading the necessity of taking up theirabode with a wealthy widow of Kirkwall, a relation, who already expectedthem.

  Halcro made another attempt to move the Provost, but found himinexorable.--"The Collector of the Customs had already threatened," hesaid, "to inform against him for entering into treaty, or, as he calledit, packing and peeling with those strangers, even when it seemed theonly means of preventing a bloody affray in the town; and, should he nowforego the advantage afforded by the imprisonment of Cleveland and theescape of the Factor, he might i
ncur something worse than censure." Theburden of the whole was, "that he was sorry for the Udaller, he wassorry even for the lad Cleveland, who had some sparks of honour abouthim; but his duty was imperious, and must be obeyed." The Provost thenprecluded farther argument, by observing, that another affair fromZetland called for his immediate attention. A gentleman named Mertoun,residing at Jarlshof, had made complaint against Snailsfoot the Jagger,for having assisted a domestic of his in embezzling some valuablearticles which had been deposited in his custody, and he was about totake examinations on the subject, and cause them to be restored to Mr.Mertoun, who was accountable for them to the right owner.

  In all this information, there was nothing which seemed interesting tothe sisters excepting the word Mertoun, which went like a dagger to theheart of Minna, when she recollected the circumstances under whichMordaunt Mertoun had disappeared, and which, with an emotion lesspainful, though still of a melancholy nature, called a faint blush intoBrenda's cheek, and a slight degree of moisture into her eye. But it wassoon evident that the Magistrate spoke not of Mordaunt, but of hisfather; and the daughters of Magnus, little interested in his detail,took leave of the Provost to go to their own lodgings.

  When they arrived at their relation's, Minna made it her business tolearn, by such enquiries as she could make without exciting suspicion,what was the situation of the unfortunate Cleveland, which she soondiscovered to be exceedingly precarious. The Provost had not, indeed,committed him to close custody, as Claud Halcro had anticipated,recollecting, perhaps, the favourable circumstances under which he hadsurrendered himself, and loath, till the moment of the last necessity,altogether to break faith with him. But although left apparently atlarge, he was strictly watched by persons well armed and appointed forthe purpose, who had directions to detain him by force, if he attemptedto pass certain narrow precincts which were allotted to him. He wasquartered in a strong room within what is called the King's Castle, andat night his chamber door was locked on the outside, and a sufficientguard mounted to prevent his escape. He therefore enjoyed only thedegree of liberty which the cat, in her cruel sport, is sometimespleased to permit to the mouse which she has clutched; and yet, such wasthe terror of the resources, the courage, and ferocity of the pirateCaptain, that the Provost was blamed by the Collector, and many othersage citizens of Kirkwall, for permitting him to be at large upon anyconditions.

  It may be well believed, that, under such circumstances, Cleveland hadno desire to seek any place of public resort, conscious that he was theobject of a mixed feeling of curiosity and terror. His favourite placeof exercise, therefore, was the external aisles of the Cathedral ofSaint Magnus, of which the eastern end alone is fitted up for publicworship. This solemn old edifice, having escaped the ravage whichattended the first convulsions of the Reformation, still retains someappearance of episcopal dignity. This place of worship is separated by ascreen from the nave and western limb of the cross, and the whole ispreserved in a state of cleanliness and decency, which might be wellproposed as an example to the proud piles of Westminster and St. Paul's.

  It was in this exterior part of the Cathedral that Cleveland waspermitted to walk, the rather that his guards, by watching the singleopen entrance, had the means, with very little inconvenience tothemselves, of preventing any possible attempt at escape. The placeitself was well suited to his melancholy circumstances. The lofty andvaulted roof rises upon ranges of Saxon pillars, of massive size, fourof which, still larger than the rest, once supported the lofty spire,which, long since destroyed by accident, has been rebuilt upon adisproportioned and truncated plan. The light is admitted at the easternend through a lofty, well-proportioned, and richly-ornamented Gothicwindow; and the pavement is covered with inscriptions, in differentlanguages, distinguishing the graves of noble Orcadians, who have atdifferent times been deposited within the sacred precincts.

  Here walked Cleveland, musing over the events of a misspent life, which,it seemed probable, might be brought to a violent and shameful close,while he was yet in the prime of youth.--"With these dead," he said,looking on the pavement, "shall I soon be numbered--but no holy man willspeak a blessing; no friendly hand register an inscription no prouddescendant sculpture armorial bearings over the grave of the pirateCleveland. My whitening bones will swing in the gibbet-irons, on somewild beach or lonely cape, that will be esteemed fatal and accursed formy sake. The old mariner, as he passes the Sound, will shake his head,and tell of my name and actions, as a warning to his youngercomrades.--But, Minna! Minna!--what will be thy thoughts when the newsreaches thee?--Would to God the tidings were drowned in the deepestwhirlpool betwixt Kirkwall and Burgh-Westra, ere they came to herear!--and O! would to Heaven that we had never met, since we never canmeet again!"

  He lifted up his eyes as he spoke, and Minna Troil stood before him. Herface was pale, and her hair dishevelled; but her look was composed andfirm, with its usual expression of high-minded melancholy. She was stillshrouded in the large mantle which she had assumed on leaving thevessel. Cleveland's first emotion was astonishment; his next was joy,not unmixed with awe. He would have exclaimed--he would have thrownhimself at her feet--but she imposed at once silence and composure onhim, by raising her finger, and saying, in a low but commandingaccent,--"Be cautious--we are observed--there are men without--they letme enter with difficulty. I dare not remain long--they would think--theymight believe--O, Cleveland! I have hazarded every thing to save you!"

  "To save me?--Alas! poor Minna!" answered Cleveland, "to save me isimpossible.--Enough that I have seen you once more, were it but to say,for ever farewell!"

  "We must indeed say farewell," said Minna; "for fate, and your guilt,have divided us for ever.--Cleveland, I have seen your associates--needI tell you more--need I say, that I know now what a pirate is?"

  "You have been in the ruffians' power!" said Cleveland, with a start ofagony--"Did they presume"----

  "Cleveland," replied Minna, "they presumed nothing--your name was aspell over them. By the power of that spell over these ferociousbanditti, and by that alone, I was reminded of the qualities I oncethought my Cleveland's!"

  "Yes," said Cleveland, proudly, "my name has and shall have power overthem, when they are at the wildest; and, had they harmed you by one rudeword, they should have found--Yet what do I rave about--I am aprisoner!"

  "You shall be so no longer," said Minna--"Your safety--the safety of mydear father--all demand your instant freedom. I have formed a scheme foryour liberty, which, boldly executed, cannot fail. The light is fadingwithout--muffle yourself in my cloak, and you will easily pass theguards--I have given them the means of carousing, and they are deeplyengaged. Haste to the Loch of Stennis, and hide yourself till day dawns;then make a smoke on the point, where the land, stretching into thelake on each side, divides it nearly in two at the Bridge of Broisgar.Your vessel, which lies not far distant, will send a boat ashore.--Donot hesitate an instant!"

  "But you, Minna!--Should this wild scheme succeed," said Cleveland,"what is to become of you?"

  "For my share in your escape," answered the maiden, "the honesty of myown intention will vindicate me in the sight of Heaven; and the safetyof my father, whose fate depends on yours, will be my excuse to man."

  In a few words, she gave him the history of their capture, and itsconsequences. Cleveland cast up his eyes and raised his hands to Heaven,in thankfulness for the escape of the sisters from his evil companions,and then hastily added,--"But you are right, Minna; I must fly at allrates--for your father's sake I must fly.--Here, then, we part--yet not,I trust, for ever."

  "For ever!" answered a voice, that sounded as from a sepulchral vault.

  They started, looked around them, and then gazed on each other. Itseemed as if the echoes of the building had returned Cleveland's lastwords, but the pronunciation was too emphatically accented.

  "Yes, for ever!" said Norna of the Fitful-head, stepping forward frombehind one of the massive Saxon pillars which support the roof of theCathedral. "Here meet the crims
on foot and the crimson hand. Well forboth that the wound is healed whence that crimson was derived--well forboth, but best, for him who shed it.--Here, then, you meet--and meet forthe last time!"

  "Not so," said Cleveland, as if about to take Minna's hand; "toseparate me from Minna, while I have life, must be the work of herselfalone."

  "Away!" said Norna, stepping betwixt them,--"away with such idlefolly!--Nourish no vain dreams of future meetings--you part here, andyou part for ever. The hawk pairs not with the dove; guilt matches notwith innocence.--Minna Troil, you look for the last time on this boldand criminal man--Cleveland, you behold Minna for the last time!"

  "And dream you," said Cleveland, indignantly, "that your mummery imposeson me, and that I am among the fools who see more than trick in yourpretended art?"

  "Forbear, Cleveland, forbear!" said Minna, her hereditary awe of Nornaaugmented by the circumstance of her sudden appearance. "O,forbear!--she is powerful--she is but too powerful.--And do you, ONorna, remember my father's safety is linked with Cleveland's."

  "And it is well for Cleveland that I do remember it," replied thePythoness--"and that, for the sake of one, I am here to aid both. You,with your childish purpose, of passing one of his bulk and stature underthe disguise of a few paltry folds of wadmaal--what would your devicehave procured him but instant restraint with bolt and shackle?--I willsave him--I will place him in security on board his bark. But let himrenounce these shores for ever, and carry elsewhere the terrors of hissable flag, and his yet blacker name; for if the sun rises twice, andfinds him still at anchor, his blood be on his own head.--Ay, look toeach other--look the last look that I permit to frail affection,--andsay, if ye _can_ say it, Farewell for ever!"

  "Obey her," stammered Minna; "remonstrate not, but obey her."

  Cleveland, grasping her hand, and kissing it ardently, said, but so lowthat she only could hear it, "Farewell, Minna, but _not_ for ever."

  "And now, maiden, begone," said Norna, "and leave the rest to theReimkennar."

  "One word more," said Minna, "and I obey you. Tell me but if I havecaught aright your meaning--Is Mordaunt Mertoun safe and recovered?"

  "Recovered, and safe," said Norna; "else woe to the hand that shed hisblood!"

  Minna slowly sought the door of the Cathedral, and turned back from timeto time to look at the shadowy form of Norna, and the stately andmilitary figure of Cleveland, as they stood together in the deepeninggloom of the ancient Cathedral. When she looked back a second time theywere in motion, and Cleveland followed the matron, as, with a slow andsolemn step, she glided towards one of the side aisles. When Minnalooked back a third time, their figures were no longer visible. Shecollected herself, and walked on to the eastern door by which she hadentered, and listened for an instant to the guard, who talked togetheron the outside.

  "The Zetland girl stays a long time with this pirate fellow," said one."I wish they have not more to speak about than the ransom of herfather."

  "Ay, truly," answered another, "the wenches will have more sympathy witha handsome young pirate, than an old bed-ridden burgher."

  Their discourse was here interrupted by her of whom they were speaking;and, as if taken in the manner, they pulled off their hats, made theirawkward obeisances, and looked not a little embarrassed and confused.

  Minna returned to the house where she lodged, much affected, yet, on thewhole, pleased with the result of her expedition, which seemed to puther father out of danger, and assured her at once of the escape ofCleveland, and of the safety of young Mordaunt. She hastened tocommunicate both pieces of intelligence to Brenda, who joined her inthankfulness to Heaven, and was herself wellnigh persuaded to believe inNorna's supernatural pretensions, so much was she pleased with themanner in which they had been employed. Some time was spent inexchanging their mutual congratulations, and mingling tears of hope,mixed with apprehension when, at a late hour in the evening, they wereinterrupted by Claud Halcro, who, full of a fidgeting sort ofimportance, not unmingled with fear, came to acquaint them, that theprisoner, Cleveland, had disappeared from the Cathedral, in which he hadbeen permitted to walk, and that the Provost, having been informed thatMinna was accessary to his flight, was coming, in a mighty quandary, tomake enquiry into the circumstances.

  When the worthy Magistrate arrived, Minna did not conceal from him herown wish that Cleveland should make his escape, as the only means whichshe saw of redeeming her father from imminent danger. But that she hadany actual accession to his flight, she positively denied; and stated,"that she had parted from Cleveland in the Cathedral, more than twohours since, and then left him in company with a third person, whosename she did not conceive herself obliged to communicate."

  "It is not needful, Miss Minna Troil," answered Provost Torfe; "for,although no person but this Captain Cleveland and yourself was seen toenter the Kirk of St. Magnus this day, we know well enough that yourcousin, old Ulla Troil, whom you Zetlanders call Norna of Fitful-head,has been cruising up and down, upon sea and land, and air, for what Iknow, in boats and on ponies, and it may be on broomsticks; and here hasbeen her dumb Drow, too, coming and going, and playing the spy on everyone--and a good spy he is, for he can hear every thing, and tellsnothing again, unless to his mistress. And we know, besides, that shecan enter the Kirk when all the doors are fast, and has been seen theremore than once, God save us from the Evil One!--and so, without fartherquestions asked, I conclude it was old Norna whom you left in the Kirkwith this slashing blade--and, if so, they may catch them again thatcan.--I cannot but say, however, pretty Mistress Minna, that you Zetlandfolks seem to forget both law and gospel, when you use the help ofwitchcraft to fetch delinquents out of a legal prison and the leastthat you, or your cousin, or your father, can do, is to use influencewith this wild fellow to go away as soon as possible, without hurtingthe town or trade, and then there will be little harm in what haschanced; for, Heaven knows, I did not seek the poor lad's life, so Icould get my hands free of him without blame; and far less did I wish,that, through his imprisonment, any harm should come to worthy MagnusTroil of Burgh-Westra."

  "I see where the shoe pinches you, Mr. Provost," said Claud Halcro, "andI am sure I can answer for my friend Mr. Troil, as well as for myself,that we will say and do all in our power with this man, CaptainCleveland, to make him leave the coast directly."

  "And I," said Minna, "am so convinced that what you recommend is bestfor all parties, that my sister and I will set off early to-morrowmorning to the House of Stennis, if Mr. Halcro will give us his escort,to receive my father when he comes ashore, that we may acquaint him withyour wish, and to use every influence to induce this unhappy man toleave the country."

  Provost Torfe looked upon her with some surprise. "It is not every youngwoman," he said, "would wish to move eight miles nearer to a band ofpirates."

  "We run no risk," said Claud Halcro, interfering. "The House of Stennisis strong; and my cousin, whom it belongs to, has men and arms withinit. The young ladies are as safe there as in Kirkwall; and much good mayarise from an early communication between Magnus Troil and hisdaughters. And happy am I to see, that in your case, my good oldfriend,--as glorious John says,--

  ----'After much debate, The man prevails above the magistrate.'"

  The Provost smiled, nodded his head, and indicated, as far as he thoughthe could do so with decency, how happy he should be if the Fortune'sFavourite, and her disorderly crew, would leave Orkney without furtherinterference, or violence on either side. He could not authorize theirbeing supplied from the shore, he said; but, either for fear or favour,they were certain to get provisions at Stromness. This pacificmagistrate then took leave of Halcro and the two ladies, who proposedthe next morning, to transfer their residence to the House of Stennis,situated upon the banks of the salt-water lake of the same name, andabout four miles by water from the Road of Stromness, where the Rover'svessel was lying.