John Burnet of Barns: A Romance
Page 18
CHAPTER IX
AN ACCOUNT OF MY HOME-COMING
Captain Steen met me on deck and greeted me heartily. "There's a briskwind from the sou'-east," said he, "which should speed us well;" andsoon, amid creaking of cordage and flapping of sails, we dropped downthe estuary and set our face sea-wards. There was something of a squallof rain which beat on us till we were fairly beyond the Dutch coast; butafter that it drew down to the west, and when I awoke the next morn, thesky was blue and sunshiny, and the soft south wind whistled gaily in therigging.
Of my voyage home I do not purpose to tell at length. On it I met withnone of the mishaps which I had encountered before, so the brandy waswholly needless. Indeed, I found the greatest pleasure in the journey;the motion of the ship gave me delight; and it was fine to watch thegreat, heaving deserts before and behind, when the sun beat on them atmid-day, or lay along them in lines of gold and crimson at thedarkening. The captain I found a friendly, talkative man, and from himI had much news of the state of the land whither I was returning. Norwas it of such a sort as to elate me, for it seemed as if, in the shorttime I had been away, things had taken many steps to the devil. Thetruth of the matter, I fancy, was that when I left Tweeddale I waslittle more than a boy, with a boy's interests, but that now I had grownto some measure of manhood and serious reflection.
But my time during the days of our sailing was in the main taken up withthoughts of Marjory. The word I had got still rankled in my mind, and Ipuzzled my brain with a thousand guesses as to its purport. But as thehours passed this thought grew less vexatious, for was not I on my wayhome, to see my love once more, to help her in perplexity, and, by God'shelp, to leave her side never again? So anxiety was changed by degreesto delight at the expectation of meeting her, and, as I leaned over thevessel's edge and looked at the foam curling back from the prow, I hadmany pleasing images in my fancy. I would soon be in Tweeddale again,and have Scrape and Dollar Law and Caerdon before my eyes, and hear thesing-song of Tweed running through the meadows. I thought of goldenafternoons in the woods of Dawyck, or the holms of Lyne, of how theyellow light used to make the pools glow, and the humming of bees wasmingled with the cry of snipe and the song of linnet. As I walked thedeck there were many pictures of like nature before me. I thought ofthe winter expeditions at Barns, when I went out in the early morning tothe snow-clad hills with my gun, with Jean Morran's dinner of cakes andbeef tightly packed in my pocket; and how I was wont to come in at theevening, numb and frozen, with maybe a dozen white hares and duck overmy shoulder, to the great fire-lit hall and supper. Every thought ofhome made it doubly dear to me. And more than all else, there was mylady awaiting me, looking for the sight of my horse's head at the longavenue of Dawyck. An old catch, which wandering packmen used to sing,and which they called "The North Countree," ran in my head; and, as Ilooked over the vessel's bowsprit, I found myself humming:
"There's an eye that ever weeps, and a fair face will be fain When I ride through Annan Water wi' my bonny bands again."
Then I fell to thinking of the house of Barns, and of the many thingswhich I should do were I home. There was much need of change in therooms, which had scarce been touched for years. Also I figured tomyself the study I should make, and the books which were to fill it.Then out of doors there was need of planting on the hillsides andthinning in the haughlands; and I swore I should have a new cauld madein Tweed, above the island, for the sake of the fishing. All this andmore should I do "when I rode through Annan Water wi' my bonny bandsagain."
We left Rotterdam on the evening of one day, and sailed throughout theday following; and since we had a fair wind and a stout ship, about noonon the next we rounded the Bass and entered the Forth. I was filledwith great gladness to see my native land once more, and as for myservant, I could scarce prevail upon him to keep from flinging his hatinto the sea or climbing to the masthead in the excess of his delight.The blue Lomonds of Fife, the long ridge of the Lammermoors, and thegreat battlements of the Pentlands were to me like honey in the mouth,so long had I been used to flat lands. And beyond them I saw the lineof the Moorfoots, ending in Dundreich, which is a hill not five milesfrom the town of Peebles.
About three of the clock we entered Leith Roads and awaited the signalsfor admission. "The Seamaw lies at the wast harbour for usual," saidthe captain, "but there's something wrong thereaways the day, so we maune'en run into the east." So, soon amid a throng of barques at anchorand small boats moving to and fro among them, we steered our course, andin a very little lay against the grey, sea-washed walls of the eastquay. There we landed, after bidding farewell to the captain; and as myfeet touched the well-worn cobblestones, and I smelt the smell of tarand herrings, I knew my own land. The broad twang of the fishermen, theshrill yatter of the fishwives, the look of the black, red-tiled houses,and the spires of the kirks--all was so Scots that it went straight tomy heart, and it was with a cheerful spirit that, followed by myservant, I made for the inn of _The Three Herrings_, where I purposed tosleep the night ere I rode to Tweeddale on the morrow. So much forman's devices: this was to be to me the last day of quiet life for manymonths. But as I briskly strode along the Harbour Walk, little Iforesaw of the dangers and troubles which awaited my coming.
BOOK III--THE HILLMEN