Waverley

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It issued in a narrow glen, between two mountains, both very lofty, and
covered with heath. The brook continued to be their companion, and they
advanced up its mazes, crossing them now and then, on which occasions
Even Dhu uniformly offered the assistance of his attendants to carry
over Edward; but our hero, who had been always a tolerable pedestrian,
declined the accommodation, and obviously rose in his guide's opinion by
showing that he did not fear wetting his feet. Indeed he was anxious,
so far as he could without affectation, to remove the opinion which
Evan seemed to entertain of the effeminacy of the Lowlanders, and
particularly of the English.

Through the gorge of this glen they found access to a black bog, of
tremendous extent, full of large pit-holes, which they traversed
with great difficulty and some danger, by tracks which no one but a
Highlander could have followed. The path itself, or rather the portion
of more solid ground on which the travellers half walked, half waded,
was rough, broken, and in many places quaggy and unsound. Sometimes the
ground was so completely unsafe, that it was necessary to spring from
one hillock to another, the space between being incapable of bearing
the human weight. This was an easy matter to the Highlanders, who
wore thin-soled brogues fit for the purpose, and moved with a peculiar
springing step; but Edward began to find the exercise, to which he was
unaccustomed, more fatiguing than he expected. The lingering twilight
served to show them through this Serbonian bog, but deserted them almost
totally at the bottom of a steep and very stony hill, which it was
the travellers' next toilsome task to ascend. The night, however,
was pleasant, and not dark; and Waverley, calling up mental energy to
support personal fatigue, held on his march gallantly, though envying in
his heart his Highland attendants, who continued, without a symptom
of abated vigour, the rapid and swinging pace, or rather trot, which,
according to his computation, had already brought them fifteen miles
upon their journey.

After crossing this mountain, and descending on the other side towards a
thick wood, Evan Dhu held some conference with his Highland attendants,
in consequence of which Edward's baggage was shifted from the shoulders
of the gamekeeper to those of one of the gillies, and the former was
sent off with the other mountaineer in a direction different from
that of the three remaining travellers. On asking the meaning of this
separation, Waverley was told that the Lowlander must go to a hamlet
about three miles off for the night; for unless it was some very
particular friend, Donald Bean Lean, the worthy person whom they
supposed to be possessed of the cattle, did not much approve of
strangers approaching his retreat. This seemed reasonable, and silenced
a qualm of suspicion which came across Edward's mind, when he saw
himself, at such a place and such an hour, deprived of his only Lowland
companion. And Evan immediately afterwards added, 'that indeed he
himself had better get forward, and announce their approach to Donald
Bean Lean, as the arrival of a SIDIER ROY (red soldier) might otherwise
be a disagreeable surprise.' And without waiting for an answer, in
jockey phrase, he trotted out, and putting himself to a very round pace,
was out of sight in an instant.

Waverley was now left to his own meditations, for his attendant with the
battle-axe spoke very little English. They were traversing a thick, and,
as it seemed, an endless wood of pines, and consequently the path was
altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them.
The Highlander, however, seemed to trace it by instinct, without the
hesitation of a moment, and Edward followed his footsteps as close as he
could.

After journeying a considerable time in silence, he could not help
asking, 'Was it far to the end of their journey?'

'Ta cove was tree, four mile; but as Duinhe-wassel was a wee taiglit,
Donald could, tat is, might--would--should send ta curragh.'

This conveyed no information. The CURRAGH which was promised might be a
man, a horse, a cart, or chaise; and no more could be got from the man
with the battle-axe, but a repetition of 'Aich ay! ta curragh.'

But in a short time Edward began to conceive his meaning, when, issuing
from the wood, he found himself on the banks of a large river or lake,
where his conductor gave him to understand they must sit down for a
little while. The moon, which now began to rise, showed obscurely
the expanse of water which spread before them, and the shapeless and
indistinct forms of mountains with which it seemed to be surrounded. The
cool and yet mild air of the summer night refreshed Waverley after
his rapid and toilsome walk; and the perfume which it wafted from the
birch-trees, bathed in the evening dew, was exquisitely fragrant. [It is
not the weeping birch, the most common species in the Highlands, but the
woolly-leaved Lowland birch, that is distinguished by this fragrance.]

He had now time to give himself up to the full romance of his situation.
Here he saw on the banks of an unknown lake, under the guidance of a
wild native, whose language was unknown to him, on a visit to the den of
some renowned outlaw, a second Robin Hood, perhaps, or Adam o' Gordon,
and that at deep midnight, through scenes of difficulty and toil,
separated from his attendant, left by his guide.--What a variety of
incidents for the exercise of a romantic imagination, and all enhanced
by the solemn feeling of uncertainty, at least, if not of danger! The
only circumstance which assorted ill with the rest, was the cause of his
journey--the Baron's milk-cows! This degrading incident he kept in the
background.

While wrapped in these dreams of imagination, his companion gently
touched him, and pointing in a direction nearly straight across the
lake, said 'Yon's ta cove.' A small point of light was seen to twinkle
in the direction in which he pointed, and gradually increasing in
size and lustre, seemed to flicker like a meteor upon the verge of the
horizon. While Edward watched this phenomenon, the distant dash of
oars was heard. The measured sound approached near and more near, and
presently a loud whistle was heard in the same direction. His friend
with the battle-axe immediately whistled clear and shrill, in reply to
the signal, and a boat, manned with four or five Highlanders, pushed for
a little inlet, near which Edward was sitting. He advanced to meet
them with his attendant, was immediately assisted into the boat by the
officious attention of two stout mountaineers, and had no sooner seated
himself than they resumed their oars, and began to row across the lake
with great rapidity.



CHAPTER XVII

THE HOLD OF A HIGHLAND ROBBER

The party preserved silence, interrupted only by the monotonous and
murmured chant of a Gaelic song, sung in a kind of low recitative by
the steersman, and by the dash of the oars, which the notes seemed to
regulate, as they dipped to them in cadence. The light, which they now
approached more nearly, assumed a broader, redder, and more irregular
splendour. It appeared plainly to be a large fire, but whether kindled
upon an island or the main land, Edward could not determine. As he saw
it, the red glaring orb seemed to rest on the very surface of the lake
itself, and resembled the fiery vehicle in which the Evil Genius of an
Oriental tale traverses land and sea. They approached nearer, and the
light of the fire sufficed to show that it was kindled at the bottom
of a huge dark crag or rock, rising abruptly from the very edge of
the water; its front changed by the reflection to dusky red, formed a
strange and even awful contrast to the banks around, which were from
time to time faintly and partially illuminated by pallid moonlight.

The boat now neared the shore, and Edward could discover that this large
fire, amply supplied with branches of pine-wood by two figures, who, in
the red reflection of its light, appeared like demons, was kindled in
the jaws of a lofty cavern, into which an inlet from the lake seemed to
advance; and he conjectured, which was indeed true, that the fire had
been lighted as a beacon to the boatmen on their return. They rowed
right for the mouth of the cave, and then, shipping their oars,
permitted the boat to enter in obedience to the impulse which it had
received.

The skiff passed the little point or platform of rock on which the fire
was blazing, and running about two boats' length farther, stopped where
the cavern (for it was already arched overhead) ascended from the water
by five or six broad ledges of rocks, so easy and regular that they
might be termed natural steps. At this moment a quantity of water was
suddenly flung upon the fire, which sank with a hissing noise, and with
it disappeared the light it had hitherto afforded. Four or five active
arms lifted Waverley out of the boat, placed him on his feet, and
almost carried him into the recesses of the cave. He made a few paces in
darkness, guided in this manner; and advancing towards a hum of voices,
which seemed to sound from the centre of the rock, at an acute turn
Donald Bean Lean and his whole establishment were before his eyes.

The interior of the cave, which here rose very high, was illuminated by
torches made of pine-tree, which emitted a bright and bickering light,
attended by a strong though not unpleasant odour. Their light was
assisted by the red glare of a large charcoal fire, round which were
seated five or six armed Highlanders, while others were indistinctly
seen couched on their plaids, in the more remote recesses of the cavern.
In one large aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence
(or pantry), there hung by the heels the carcasses of a sheep, or
ewe, and two cows lately slaughtered. The principal inhabitant of this
singular mansion, attended by Evan Dhu as master of the ceremonies, came
forward to meet his guest, totally different in appearance and manner
from what his imagination had anticipated. The profession which he
followed--the wilderness in which he dwelt--the wild warrior-forms
that surrounded him, were all calculated to inspire terror. From such
accompaniments, Waverley prepared himself to meet a stern, gigantic,
ferocious figure, such as Salvator would have chosen to be the central
object of a group of banditti. [11]

Donald Bean Lean was the very reverse of all these. He was thin in
person and low in stature, with light sandy-coloured hair, and small
pale features, from which he derived his agnomen of BEAN, or white; and
although his form was light, well-proportioned, and active, he appeared,
on the whole, rather a diminutive and insignificant figure. He had
served in some inferior capacity in the French army, and in order to
receive his English visitor in great form, and probably meaning, in his
way, to pay him a compliment, he had laid aside the Highland dress for
the time, to put on an old blue and red uniform, and a feathered hat,
in which he was far from showing to advantage, and indeed looked so
incongruous, compared with all around him, that Waverley would have been
tempted to laugh, had laughter been either civil or safe. The robber
received Captain Waverley with a profusion of French politeness and
Scottish hospitality, seemed perfectly to know his name and connexions,
and to be particularly acquainted with his uncle's political principles.
On these he bestowed great applause, to which Waverley judged it prudent
to make a very general reply.

Being placed at a convenient distance from the charcoal fire, the heat
of which the season rendered oppressive, a strapping Highland damsel
placed before Waverley, Evan, and Donald Bean, three cogues, or wooden
vessels, composed of staves and hoops, containing EANARUICH, [This was
the regale presented by Rob Roy to the Laird of Tullibody.] a sort of
strong soup, made out of a particular part of the inside of the beeves.
After this refreshment, which, though coarse, fatigue and hunger
rendered palatable, steaks, roasted on the coals, were supplied in
liberal abundance, and disappeared before Even Dhu and their host with
a promptitude that seemed like magic, and astonished Waverley, who was
much puzzled to reconcile their voracity with what he had heard of the
abstemiousness of the Highlanders. He was ignorant that this abstinence
was with the lower ranks wholly compulsory, and that, like some animals
of prey, those who practise it were usually gifted with the power of
indemnifying themselves to good purpose, when chance threw plenty in
their way. The whisky came forth in abundance to crown the cheer. The
Highlanders drank it copiously and undiluted; but Edward, having mixed
a little with water, did not find it so palatable as to invite him to
repeat the draught. Their host bewailed himself exceedingly that he
could offer him no wine: 'Had he but known four-and-twenty hours before,
he would have had some, had it been within the circle of forty miles
round him. But no gentleman could do more to show his sense of the
honour of a visit from another, than to offer him the best cheer his
house afforded. Where there are no bushes there can be no nuts, and the
way of those you live with is that you must follow.'

He went on regretting to Evan Dhu the death of an aged man, Donnacha an
Amrigh, or Duncan with the Cap, 'a gifted seer,' who foretold, through
the second sight, visitors of every description who haunted their
dwelling, whether as friends or foes.

'Is not his son Malcolm TAISHATR?' (a second-sighted person), asked
Evan.

'Nothing equal to his father,' replied Donald Bean. He told us the other
day we were to see a great gentleman riding on a horse, and there came
nobody that whole day but Shemus Beg, the blind harper, with his dog.
Another time he advertised us of a wedding, and behold it proved a
funeral; and on the creagh, when he foretold to us we should bring home
a hundred head of horned cattle, we gripped nothing but a fat bailie of
Perth.'

From this discourse he passed to the political and military state of the
country; and Waverley was astonished, and even alarmed, to find a person
of this description so accurately acquainted with the strength of the
various garrisons and regiments quartered north of the Tay. He even
mentioned the exact number of recruits who had joined Waverley's troop
from his uncle's estate, and observed they were pretty men, meaning, not
handsome, but stout warlike fellows. He put Waverley in mind of one or
two minute circumstances which had happened at a general review of the
regiment, which satisfied him that the robber had been an eye-witness of
it; and Evan Dhu having by this time retired from the conversation,
and wrapped himself up in his plaid to take some repose, Donald asked
Edward, in a very significant manner, whether he had nothing particular
to say to him.

Waverley, surprised and somewhat startled at this question from such a
character, answered he had no motive in visiting him but curiosity to
see his extraordinary place of residence. Donald Bean Lean looked him
steadily in the face for an instant, and then said, with a significant
nod, 'You might as well have confided in me; I am as much worthy of
trust as either the Baron of Bradwardine, or Vich Ian Vohr:--but you are
equally welcome to my house.'

Waverley felt an involuntary shudder creep over him at the mysterious
language held by this outlawed and lawless bandit, which, in despite of
his attempts to master it, deprived him of the proper to ask the meaning
of his insinuations. A heath pallet, with the flowers stuck uppermost,
had been prepared for him in a recess of the cave, and here, covered
with such spare plaids as could be mustered, he lay for some time
matching the motions of the other inhabitants of the cavern. Small
parties of two or three entered or left the place without any other
ceremony than a few words in Gaelic to the principal outlaw, and, when
he fell asleep, to a tall Highlander who acted as his lieutenant, and
seemed to keep watch during his repose. Those who entered, seemed to
have returned from some excursion, of which they reported the success,
and went without further ceremony to the larder, where, cutting with
their dirks their rations from the carcasses which were there suspended,
they proceeded to broil and eat them at their own pleasure and leisure.
The liquor was under strict regulation, being served out either
by Donald himself, his lieutenant, or the strapping Highland girl
aforesaid, who was the only female that appeared. The allowance of
whisky, however, would have appeared prodigal to any but Highlanders,
who, living entirely in the open air, and in a very moist climate, can
consume great quantities of ardent spirits without the usual baneful
effects either upon the brain or constitution.

At length the fluctuating groups began to swim before the eyes of our
hero as they gradually closed; nor did he re-open them till the morning
sun was high on the lake without, though there was but a faint and
glimmering twilight in the recesses of Uaimh an Ri, or the King's
Cavern, as the abode of Donald Bean Lean was proudly denominated.



CHAPTER XVIII

WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY

Then Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he was surprised
to observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisen and put his dress
in some order, he looked more accurately round him; but all was still
solitary. If it had not been for the decayed brands of the fire, now
sunk into grey ashes, and the remnants of the festival, consisting
of bones half burnt and half gnawed, and an empty keg or two, there
remained no traces of Donald and his band. When Waverley sallied forth
to the entrance of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on
which remained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible by
a small path, either natural, or roughly hewn in the rock, along the
little inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the cavern, where,
as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him there the night before
was still lying moored. When he reached the small projecting platform
on which the beacon had been established, he would have believed his
further progress by land impossible, only that it was scarce probable
but that the inhabitants of the cavern had some mode of issuing from it
otherwise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon observed three or four
shelving steps, or ledges of rock, at the very extremity of the little
platform; and, making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by their
means around the projecting shoulder of the crag on which the cavern
opened, and, descending with some difficulty on the other side, he
gained the wild and precipitous shores of a Highland loch, about four
miles in length, and a mile and a half across, surrounded by heathy
and savage mountains, on the crests of which the morning mist was still
sleeping.

Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not help admiring
the address which had adopted a retreat of such seclusion and
secrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he had turned by a few
imperceptible notches, that barely afforded place for the foot, seemed,
in looking back upon it, a huge precipice, which barred all further
passage by the shores of the lake in that direction. There could be
no possibility, the breadth of the lake considered, of descrying the
entrance of the narrow and low-browed cave from the other side; so
that, unless the retreat had been sought for with boats, or disclosed
by treachery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its garrison
as long as they were supplied with provisions. Having satisfied his
curiosity in these particulars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu and
his attendants, who, he rightly judged, would be at no great distance,
whatever might have become of Donald Bean Lean and his party, whose
mode of life was, of course, liable to sudden migrations of abode.
Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, he beheld a
Highlander (Evan apparently) angling in the lake, with another attending
him, whom, from the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for his
friend with the battle-axe.

Much nearer to the mouth of the cave, he heard the notes of a lively
Gaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded by a glittering
birch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm white sand, he found the
damsel of the cavern, whose lay had already reached him, busy, to the
best of her power, in arranging to advantage a morning repast of milk,
eggs, barley-bread, fresh butter, and honeycomb. The poor girl had
already made a circuit of four miles that morning in search of the eggs,
of the meal which baked her cakes, and of the other materials of the
breakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrow from
distant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean used little food
except the flesh of the animals which they drove away from the Lowlands;
bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of, because hard to be
obtained, and all the domestic accommodations of milk, poultry, butter,
&c., were out of the question in this Scythian camp. Yet it must not
be omitted, that, although Alice had occupied a part of the morning in
providing those accommodations for her guest which the cavern did not
afford, she had secured time also to arrange her own person in her best
trim. Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, and
a petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these were
clean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered cloth, called
the snood, confined her hair, which fell over it in a profusion of rich
dark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of her dress, was laid
aside, that it might not impede her activity in attending the stranger.
I should forget Alice's proudest ornament, were I to omit mentioning a
pair of gold ear-rings, and a golden rosary, which her father (for
she was the daughter of Donald Bean Lean) had brought from France, the
plunder, probably, of some battle or storm.

Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well proportioned,
and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace, with nothing of the
sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The smiles, displaying a row of
teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the laughing eyes, with which, in dumb
show, she gave Waverley that morning greeting which she wanted English
words to express, might have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps
by a young soldier, who, without being such, was conscious of a handsome
person, as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor do
I take it upon me to say, that the little wild mountaineer would
have welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron of
Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which she bestowed
upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to place him by the meal
which she had so sedulously arranged, and to which she now added a few
bunches of cranberries, gathered in an adjacent morass. Having had the
satisfaction of seeing him seated at his breakfast, she placed herself
demurely upon a stone at a few yards' distance, and appeared to watch
with great complacency for some opportunity of serving him.

Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the latter
bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's sport,
together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward, with
an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spot where
Waverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table. After morning
greetings had passed on both sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, had
said something in Gaelic to Alice, which made her laugh, yet colour up
to her eyes, through a complexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evan
intimated his commands that the fish should be prepared for breakfast.
A spark from the lock of his pistol produced a light, and a few withered
fir branches were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot
embers, on which the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown the
repast, Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin, a large
scallop shell, and from under the folds of his plaid, a ram's horn full
of whisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had already
taken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean, before his departure; he
offered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they both
declined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered the
scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting to be
asked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan then prepared
to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. Meanwhile,
Alice had made up in a small basket what she thought worth removing, and
hinging her plaid around her, she advanced up to Edward, and, with the
utmost simplicity, taking hold of his hand, offered her cheek to his
salute, dropping, at the same time, her little curtsy. Evan, who was
esteemed a wag among the mountain fair, advanced, as if to secure a
similar favour; but Alice, snatching up her basket, escaped up the
rocky bank as fleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, called
something out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same tone and
language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed her road, and
was soon lost among the thickets, though they continued for some time to
hear her lively carol, as she proceeded gaily on her solitary journey.