Waverley

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They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into the
boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the morning
breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed the helm,
directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, rather higher up the
lake than towards the place of his embarkation on the preceding night.
As they glided along the silver mirror, Evan opened the conversation
with a panegyric upon Alice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY;
and was, to the boot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey in
the whole strath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understood
them, yet could not help regretting that she was condemned to such a
perilous and dismal life.

'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire that she
need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot or
too heavy.

'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer--a common thief!'

'Common thief!--no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED less than a
drove in his life.'

'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?'

'No--he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from a
cottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, is a
gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmon
from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, is
what no Highlander need ever think shame upon.'

'But what can this end in, were he taken in such an appropriation?'

'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man has done
before him.'

'Die for the law!'

'Aye; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on the
KIND gallows of Crieff, [12] where his father died, and his
goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die himself, if he's not
shot, or slashed, in a creagh.'

'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan!'

'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundle of
wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?'

'But what becomes of Alice, then?'

'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would not need
her help ony langer, I ken naught to hinder me to marry her mysell.'

'Gallantly resolved!' said Edward;--'but, in the meanwhile, Evan, what
has your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the good fortune to be
hanged) done with the Baron's cattle?'

'Oich,' answered Evan, 'they were all trudging before your lad and Allan
Kennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben-Lawers this morning; and they'll
be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in their way back to the
parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that were unhappily slaughtered
before I got last night to Uaimh an Ri.'

'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?' said
Waverley.

'Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's ain house of
Glennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, without ganging
to see him? It would be as much as a man's life's worth,'

'And are we far from Glennaquoich?'

But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.'

In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake, where,
after landing Waverley, the two Highlanders drew the boat into a little
creek among thick flags and reeds, where it lay perfectly concealed.
The oars they put in another place of concealment, both for the use of
Donald Bean Lean probably, when his occasions should next bring him to
that place.

The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into the
hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. When they
had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley renewed his questions
about their host of the cavern.

'Does he always reside in that cave?'

'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be found
at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in the whole
country, that he's not acquainted with.'

'And do others beside your master shelter him?'

'My master?--My master is in heaven,' answered Evan haughtily; and then
immediately assuming his usual civility of manner--'But you mean my
Chief;--no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor any that are like
him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and water.'

'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very plenty.'

'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I mean the
loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the laird
were to look for him wi' threescore men in the wood of Kailychat yonder;
and if our boats, with a score or twa mair, were to come down the loch
to Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell, or ony other pretty man.'

'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country, would
not your Chief defend him?'

'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him--if they came with
the law.'

'And what must Donald do, then?'

'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may be,
over the mount upon Letter Scriven.'

'And if he were pursued to that place?'

'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.'

'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?'

'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell you the
truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow the fray a
gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help of the SIDIER DHU.'

'Whom do you call so?'

'The SIDIER DHU? the black soldier; that is what they call the
independent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in the
Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years, and I was
sergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call them SIDIER DHU, because
they wear the tartans,--as they call your men, King George's men, SIDIER
ROY, or red soldiers.'

'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you were surely
King George's soldiers?'

'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are for his
king, and care not much which o' them it is. At any rate, nobody can
say we are King George's men now, when we have not seen his pay this
twelvemonth.'

This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attempt any;
he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald Bean Lean. 'Does
Donald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, as you call it,
anything else that comes in his way?'

'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony thing, but most
readily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are slow of travel,
and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easy to put away for
siller in this country.'

'But does he carry off men and women?'

'Out, aye. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It cost that
body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough.--And
ance Donald played a pretty sport. [13] There was to be a
blythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns
(she was the auld laird's widow, and no sae young as she had been
hersell), and young Gilliewhackit, who had spent his heirship and
movables, like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races,
and the like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, being aware that the bridegroom
was in request, and wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the
siller), he cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he was
riding DOVERING hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), and with the
help of his gillies he gat him into the hills with the speed of light,
and the first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh an Ri. So there
was old to do about ransoming the bridegroom; for Donald would not lower
a farthing of a thousand punds'--

The devil!'

'Punds Scottish, ya shall understand. And the lady had not the siller
if she had pawned her gown; and they applied to the governor o' Stirling
castle, and to the major o' the Black Watch; and the governor said, it
was ower far to the northward, and out of his district; and the major
said, his men were gane hame to the shearing, and he would not call
them out before the victual was got in for all the Cramfeezers in
Christendom, let alane the Mearns, for that it would prejudice the
country. And in the meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the
small-pox. There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look near
the poor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggled by
ane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would fling the first
into the loch that he catched beyond the Pass. However, some cailliachs
(that is, old women) that were about Donald's hand, nursed Gilliewhackit
sae weel, that between the free open air in the cove and the fresh whey,
deil an' he did not recover maybe as weel as if he had been closed in a
glazed chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with red wine and white
meat. And Donald was sae vexed about it, that when he was stout and
weel, he even sent him free home, and said he would be pleased with
onything they would like to gie him for the plague and trouble which
he had about Gilliewhackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell you
precisely how they sorted; but they agreed sae right that Donald was
invited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, and they said
that there was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either
before or since. And to the boot of all that, Gilliewhackit said, that,
be the evidence what it liked, if he had the luck to be on Donald's
inquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless it
were wilful arson, or murder under trust.'

With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on, illustrating the
existing state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement of
Waverley than that of our readers. At length, after having marched over
bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though not unacquainted with
the Scottish liberality in computing distance, began to think that
Evan's five miles were nearly doubled. His observation on the large
measure which the Scottish allowed of their land, in comparison to the
computation of their money, was readily answered by Evan, with the old
jest, The deil take them wha have the least pint stoup.' ['The Scotch
are liberal in computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pint
corresponds to two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knows
the couplet--

'How can the rogues pretend to sense?
Their pound is only twenty pence.']

And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen, with
his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. 'Shough,' said
Dugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.'

'It is not,' said Evan imperiously. 'Do you think he would come to meet
a Sassenach Duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?'

But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with an appearance of
mortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; and he has not his tail
on after all;--there is no living creature with him but Callum Beg.'

In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said, as truly
as of any man in the Highlands, 'QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS,' had no
idea of raising himself in the eyes of an English young man of fortune,
by appearing with a retinue of idle Highlanders disproportioned to the
occasion. He was well aware that such an unnecessary attendance would
seem to Edward rather ludicrous than respectable; and while few men were
more attached to ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for
that very reason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity,
unless at the time and in the manner when they were most likely to
produce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to receive
a brother chieftain, he would probably have been attended by all that
retinue which Evan described with so much unction, he judged it more
respectable to advance to meet Waverley with a single attendant, a very
handsome Highland boy, who carried his master's shooting-pouch and his
broadsword, without which he seldom went abroad.

When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with the peculiar
grace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure, Above the middle size, and
finely proportioned, the Highland dress, which he wore in its simplest
mode, set off his person to great advantage. He wore the trews, or
close trousers, made of tartan, chequed scarlet and white; in other
particulars, his dress strictly resembled Evan's, excepting that he had
no weapon save a dirk, very richly mounted with silver. His page, as we
have said, carried his claymore and the fowling-piece, which he held in
his hand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the course of
his walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME was then
unknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for the sportsman. His
countenance was decidedly Scottish, with all the peculiarities of
the northern physiognomy, but yet had so little of ifs harshness
and exaggeration, that it would have been pronounced in any country
extremely handsome. The martial air of the bonnet, with a single eagle's
feather as a distinction, added much to the manly appearance of his
head, which was besides ornamented with a far more natural and graceful
cluster of close black curls than ever were exposed to sale in Bond
Street.

An air of openness and affability increased the favourable impression
derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yet a skilful
physiognomist would have been less satisfied with the countenance on
the second than on the first view. The eyebrow and upper lip bespoke
something of the habit of peremptory command and decisive superiority.
Even his courtesy, though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemed
to indicate a sense of personal importance; and, upon any check or
accidental excitation, a sudden, though transient lour of the eye,
showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be dreaded
because it seemed much under its owner's command. In short, the
countenance of the Chieftain resembled a smiling summer's day, in which,
notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, though slight signs,
that it may thunder and lighten before the close of evening.

It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had an
opportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chief received
him as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the utmost expression
of kindness and obligation for the visit; upbraided him gently with
choosing so rude an abode as he had done the night before; and entered
into a lively conversation with him about Donald Bean's housekeeping,
but without the least hint as to his predatory habits, or the immediate
occasion of Waverley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did not
introduce it, our hero also avoided. While they walked merrily on
towards the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully into
the rear, followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony.

We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to some
particulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which were
not completely known to Waverley till after a connexion, which, though
arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a length of time the
deepest influence upon his character, actions, and prospects. But this,
being an important subject, must form the commencement of a new chapter.



CHAPTER XIX

THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION

The ingenious licentiate, Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced his
history of La Picara Justina Diez,--which, by the way, is one of the
most rare books of Spanish literature,--complained of his pen having
caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more eloquence than
common sense, an affectionate expostulation with that useful implement,
upbraiding it with being the quill of a goose,--a bird inconstant by
nature, as frequenting the three elements of water, earth, and air,
indifferently, and being, of course, 'to one thing constant never.' Now
I protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco
de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen,
that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description and
dialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill display no
other properties of its mother-goose than her mutability, truly I shall
be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthy friend, will have
no occasion for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland
gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. It is an important
examination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom.

The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, had set
up a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and powerful clan
to which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention.
Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least more
force, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him,
in quest of new settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of the
Perthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that country
had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name of our
adventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by the king
to chastise him, and did such good service, that he obtained a grant
of the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. He
followed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England, where
he employed his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among the
boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled
to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependants
and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or
John the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song and
genealogy, by the high title of IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower.
The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him, that the reigning
chief always bore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of
John the Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that
from which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, the race
of Ivor.

The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of the
Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and was
forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of the
Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other fugitives, he
obtained employment in the French service, and married a lady of rank in
that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora.
The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but was
re-purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, who
in consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [14] It
was soon perceived that he possessed a character of uncommon acuteness,
fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted with the state of the
country, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar tone, that could only
have been acquired Sixty Years since.

Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he would, in
all probability, have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of the
world which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, his
ambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his situation
now afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as perfect a
politician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied himself with
great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which often
arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became
a frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power he
strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and indeed
stretched his means to the uttermost, to maintain the rude and plentiful
hospitality, which was the most valued attribute of a chieftain. For the
same reason, he crowded his estate with a tenantry, hardy indeed, and
fit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering what the soil was
calculated to maintain. These consisted chiefly of his own clan, not one
of whom he suffered to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it.
But he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the mother sept, who
deserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief, to do homage to
Fergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not even that apology,
were nevertheless received into his allegiance, which indeed was refused
to none who were, like Poins, proper men of their hands, and were
willing to assume the name of Mac-Ivor.

He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained command
of one of the independent companies raised by Government to preserve the
peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he acted with vigour and
spirit, and preserved great order in the country under his charge. He
caused his vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and serve for
a certain space of time, which gave them all in turn a general notion
of military discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it was
observed that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discretionary
power, which, while the law had no free course in the Highlands, was
conceived to belong to the military parties who were called in to
support it. He acted, for example, with great and suspicious lenity
to those freebooters who made restitution on his summons, and
offered personal submission to himself, while he rigorously pursued,
apprehended, and sacrificed to justice, all such interlopers as dared to
despise his admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any officers
of justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue thieves or
marauders through his territories, and without applying for his consent
and concurrence, nothing was more certain than that they would meet with
some notable foil or defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor
was the first to condole with them, and, after gently blaming their
rashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state of the
country. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and matters were
so represented to Government, that our Chieftain was deprived of his
military command. [15]

Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art of
entirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a short time
the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects from his disgrace.
Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whose depredations had
hitherto been confined to other districts, appeared from thenceforward
to have made a settlement on this devoted border; and their ravages were
carried on with little opposition, as the Lowland gentry were chiefly
Jacobites, and disarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants into
contracts of blackmail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not only
established him their protector, and gave him great weight in all their
consultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of his feudal
hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might have otherwise
essentially diminished.

In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object than
merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling despotically
over a small clan. From his infancy upward, he had devoted himself to
the cause of the exiled family, and had persuaded himself, not only
that their restoration to the crown of Britain would be speedy, but that
those who assisted them would be raised to honour and rank. It was
with this view that he laboured to reconcile the Highlanders among
themselves, and augmented his own force to the utmost, to be prepared
for the first favourable opportunity of rising. With this purpose also
he conciliated the favour of such Lowland gentlemen in the vicinity
as were friends to the good cause; and for the same reason, having
incautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, notwithstanding his
peculiarities, was much respected in the country, he took advantage of
the foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder up the dispute in the manner we
have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise to
be suggested to Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation,
which, supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two
good milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaid
with a considerable share of their confidence, an occasional supply of
louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a huge waxen
seal appended, purporting to be an Earl's patent, granted by no less
a person than James the Third King of England, and Eighth King of
Scotland, to his right leal, trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of
Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland.

With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged
deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and,
like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to going
certain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and pride
would have deterred him, had his sole object been the direct advancement
of his own personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious,
and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we resume the broken
thread of our narrative.