Waverley

S >> Sir Walter Scott >> Waverley


Edward's views were very different. He could not but observe, that in
those towns in which they proclaimed James the Third, 'no man cried, God
bless him.' The mob stared and listened, heartless, stupefied, and dull,
but gave few signs even of that boisterous spirit which induces them
to shout upon all occasions, for the mere exercise of their most sweet
voices. The Jacobites had been taught to believe that the north-western
counties abounded with wealthy squires and hardy yeomen, devoted to the
cause of the White Rose. But of the wealthier Tories they saw little.
Some fled from their houses, some feigned themselves sick, some
surrendered themselves to the Government as suspected persons. Of such
as remained, the ignorant gazed with astonishment, mixed with horror and
aversion, at the wild appearance, unknown language, and singular garb,
of the Scottish clans. And to the more prudent, their scanty numbers,
apparent deficiency in discipline; and poverty of equipment, seemed
certain tokens of the calamitous termination of their rash undertaking.
Thus the few who joined them were such as bigotry of political principle
blinded to consequences, or whose broken fortunes induced them to hazard
all on a risk so desperate.

The Baron of Bradwardine being asked what he thought of these recruits,
took a long pinch of snuff, and answered drily, 'that he could not but
have an excellent opinion of them, since they resembled precisely the
followers who attached themselves to the good King David at the cave of
Adullam; VIDELICET, every one that was in distress, and every one that
was in debt, and every one that was discontented, which the Vulgate
renders bitter of soul; and doubtless,' he said 'they will prove mighty
men of their hands, and there is much need that they should, for I have
seen many a sour look cast upon us.'

But none of these considerations moved Fergus. He admired the luxuriant
beauty of the country, and the situation of many of the seats which they
passed. 'Is Waverley-Honour like that house, Edward?'

'It is one half larger.'

'Is your uncle's park as fine a one as that?'

'It is three times; as extensive, and rather resembles a forest than a
mere park.'

'Flora, will be a happy woman.'

'I hope Miss Mac-Ivor will have much reason for happiness, unconnected
with Waverley-Honour.'

'I hope so too; but, to be mistress of such a place, will be a pretty
addition to the sum total.'

'An addition, the want of which, I trust, will be amply supplied by some
other means.'

'How,' said Fergus, stopping short, and turning upon Waverley--'How am
I to understand that, Mr. Waverley?--Had I the pleasure to hear you
aright?'

'Perfectly right, Fergus.'

'And I am to understand that you no longer desire my alliance, and my
sister's hand?'

'Your sister has refused mine,' said Waverley, 'both directly, and by
all the usual means by which ladies repress undesired attentions.'

'I have no idea,' answered the Chieftain, 'of a lady dismissing or a
gentleman withdrawing his suit, after it has been approved of by her
legal guardian, without giving him an opportunity of talking the matter
over with the lady. You did not, I suppose, expect my sister to drop
into your mouth like a ripe plum, the first moment you chose to open
it?'

'As to the lady's title to dismiss her lover, Colonel replied Edward,
'it is a point which you must argue with her, as I am ignorant of the
customs of the Highlands in that particular. But as to my title to
acquiesce in a rejection from her without an appeal to your interest,
I will tell you plainly, without meaning to undervalue Miss Mac-Ivor's
admitted beauty and accomplishments, that I would not take the hand of
an angel, with an empire for her dowry, if her consent were extorted by
the importunity of friends and guardians, and did not flow from her own
free inclination.'

'An angel, with the dowry of an empire,' repeated Fergus, in a tone
of bitter irony, 'is not very likely to be pressed upon a--shire
squire.--But sir,' changing his tone, 'if Flora Mac-Ivor have not the
dowry of an empire, she is my sister; and that is sufficient at least to
secure her against being treated with anything approaching to levity.'

She is Flora Mac-Ivor, sir,' said Waverley, with firmness, 'which to
me, were I capable of treating any woman with levity, would be a more
effectual protection.'

The brow of the Chieftain was now fully clouded, but Edward felt too
indignant at the unreasonable tone which he had adopted, to avert the
storm by the least concession. They both stood still while this short
dialogue passed, and Fergus seemed half disposed to say something more
violent, but, by a strong effort, suppressed his passion, and, turning
his face forward, walked sullenly on. As they had always hitherto walked
together, and almost constantly side by side; Waverley pursued his
course silently in the same direction, determined to let the Chief take
his own time in recovering the good humour which he had so unreasonably
discarded, and firm in his resolution not to bate him an inch of
dignity.

After they had marched on in this sullen manner about a mile, Fergus
resumed the discourse in a different tone. 'I believe I was warm, my
dear Edward, but you provoke me with your want of knowledge of the
world. You have taken pet at some of Flora's prudery, or high-flying
notions of loyalty, and now, like a child, you quarrel with the
plaything you have been crying for, and beat me, your faithful keeper,
because my arm cannot reach to Edinburgh to hand it to you. I am sure,
if I was passionate, the mortification of losing the alliance of such a
friend, after your arrangement had been the talk of both Highlands and
Lowlands, and that without so much as knowing why or wherefore, might
well provoke calmer blood than mine. I shall write to Edinburgh, and
put all to rights; that is, if you desire I should do so,--as indeed
I cannot suppose that your good opinion of Flora, it being such as you
have often expressed to me, can be at once laid aside.'

'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Edward, who had no mind to be hurried farther
or faster than he chose, in a matter which he had already considered as
broken off, 'I am fully sensible of the value of your good offices; and
certainly, by your zeal on my behalf in such an affair, you do me no
small honour. But as Miss Mac-Ivor has made her election freely and
voluntarily, and as all my attentions in Edinburgh were received with
more than coldness, I cannot, in justice either to her or myself,
consent that she should again be harassed upon this topic. I would have
mentioned this to you some time since;--but you saw the footing upon
which we stood together, and must have understood it. Had I thought
otherwise, I would have earlier spoken; but I had a natural reluctance
to enter upon a subject so painful to us both.'

'Oh, very well, Mr. Waverley,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the thing is at
an end. I have no occasion to press my sister upon any man.'

'Nor have I any occasion to court repeated rejection from the same young
lady,' answered Edward, in the same tone.

'I shall make due inquiry, however,' said the Chieftain, without
noticing the interruption, 'and learn what my sister thinks of all this:
we will then see whether it is to end here.'

'Respecting such inquiries, you will of course be guided by your own
judgement,' said Waverley. 'It is, I am aware, impossible Miss Mac-Ivor
can change her mind; and were such an unsupposable case to happen, it
is certain I will not change mine. I only mention this to prevent any
possibility of future misconstruction.'

Gladly at this moment would Mac-Ivor have put their quarrel to a
personal arbitrament;--his eye flashed fire, and he measured Edward as
if to choose where he might best plant a mortal wound. But although
we do not now quarrel according to the modes and figures of Caranza or
Vincent Saviola, no one knew better than Fergus that there must be some
decent pretext for a mortal duel. For instance, you may challenge a man
for treading on your corn in a crowd, or for pushing you up to the wall,
or for taking your seat in the theatre; but the modern code of honour
will not permit you to found a quarrel upon your right of compelling a
man to continue addresses to a female relative, which the fair lady has
already refused. So that Fergus was compelled to stomach this supposed
affront, until the whirligig of time, whose motion he promised himself
he would watch most sedulously, should bring about an opportunity of
revenge.

Waverley's servant always led a saddle-horse for him in the rear of the
battalion to which he was attached, though his master seldom rode. But
now, incensed at the domineering and unreasonable conduct of his late
friend, he fell behind the column, and mounted his horse, resolving to
seek the Baron of Bradwardine, and request permission to volunteer in
his troop, instead of the Mac-Ivor regiment.

'A happy time of it I should have had,' thought he, after he was
mounted, 'to have been so closely allied to this superb specimen of
pride and self-opinion and passion. A colonel! why, he should have been
a generalissimo. A petty chief of three or four hundred men!--his pride
might suffice for the Cham of Tartary--the Grand Seignior--the Great
Mogul! I am well free of him. Were Flora an angel, she would bring with
her a second Lucifer of ambition and wrath for a brother-in-law.

The Baron, whose learning (like Sancho's jests while in the Sierra
Morena) seemed to grow mouldy for want of exercise, joyfully embraced
the opportunity of Waverley's offering his service in his regiment, to
bring it into some exertion. The good-natured old gentleman, however,
laboured to effect a reconciliation between the two quondam friends.
Fergus turned a cold ear to his remonstrances, though he gave them a
respectful hearing; and as for Waverley, he saw no reason why he should
be the first in courting a renewal of the intimacy which the Chieftain
had so unreasonably disturbed. The Baron then mentioned the matter
to the Prince, who, anxious to prevent quarrels in his little army,
declared he would himself remonstrate with Colonel Mac-Ivor on the
unreasonableness of his conduct. But, in the hurry of their march, it
was a day or two before he had an opportunity to exert his influence in
the manner proposed.

In the meanwhile, Waverley turned the instructions he had received while
in Gardiner's dragoons to some account, and assisted the Baron in his
command as a sort of adjutant. 'PARMI LES AVEUGLES UN BORGNE EST ROI,'
says the French proverb; and the cavalry, which consisted chiefly of
Lowland gentlemen, their tenants and servants, formed a high opinion of
Waverley's skill, and a great attachment to his person. This was indeed
partly owing to the satisfaction which they felt at the distinguished
English volunteer's leaving the Highlanders to rank among them; for
there was a latent grudge between the horse and foot, not only owing
to the difference of the services, but because most of the gentlemen,
living near the Highlands, had at one time or other had quarrels with
the tribes in their vicinity, and all of them looked with a jealous eye
on the Highlanders' avowed pretensions to superior valour, and utility
in the Prince's service.



CHAPTER LVIII

THE CONFUSION OF KING AGRAMANT'S CAMP

It was Waverley's custom sometimes to ride a little apart from the main
body, to look at any object of curiosity which occurred on the march.
They were now in Lancashire, when, attracted by a castellated old hall,
he left the squadron for half an hour, to take a survey and slight
sketch of it. As he returned down the avenue, he was met by Ensign
Maccombich. This man had contracted a sort of regard for Edward since
the day of his first seeing him at Tully-Veolan, and introducing him to
the Highlands. He seemed to loiter, as if on purpose to meet with
our hero. Yet, as he passed him, he only approached his stirrup, and
pronounced the single word, 'Beware!' and then walked swiftly on,
shunning all further communication.

Edward, somewhat surprised at this hint, followed with his eyes the
course of Evan, who speedily disappeared among the trees. His servant,
Alick Polwarth, who was in attendance, also looked after the Highlander,
and then riding up close to his master, said,

'The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe amang thae Highland
rintherouts.'

'What do you mean, Alick?' said Waverley.

'The Mac-Ivors, sir, hae gotten it into their heads, that ye hae
affronted their young leddy, Miss Flora; and I hae heard mae than ane
say, they wadna, tak muckle to make a black-cock o' ye; and ye ken
weel eneugh there's mony o' them wadna mind a bawbee the weising a ball
through the Prince himsell, an the Chief gae them the wink--or whether
he did or no,--if they thought it a thing that would please him when it
was dune.'

Waverley, though confident that Fergus Mac-Ivor was incapable of such
treachery, was by no means equally sure of the forbearance of his
followers. He knew, that where the honour of the Chief or his family was
supposed to be touched, the happiest man would be he that could first
avenge the stigma; and he had often heard them quote a proverb, 'That
the best revenge was the most speedy and most safe.' Coupling this with
the hint of Evan, he judged it most prudent to set spurs to his horse,
and ride briskly back to the squadron. Ere he reached the end of the
long avenue, however, a ball whistled past him, and the report of a
pistol was heard.

'It was that deevil's buckie, Callum Beg,' said Alick; I saw him whisk
away through amang the reises.'

Edward, justly incensed at this act of treachery, galloped out of the
avenue, and observed the battalion of Mac-Ivor at some distance moving
along the common, in which it terminated. He also saw an individual
running very fast to join the party; this he concluded was the intended
assassin, who, by leaping an enclosure, might easily make a much shorter
path to the main body than he could find on horseback. Unable to contain
himself, he commanded Alick to go to the Baron of Bradwardine, who was
at the head of his regiment about half a mile in front, and acquaint
him with what had happened. He himself immediately rode up to Fergus's
regiment. The Chief himself was in the act of joining them. He was on
horseback, having returned from waiting on the Prince. On perceiving
Edward approaching, he put his horse in motion towards him.

'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Waverley, without any further salutation, 'I
have to inform you that one of your people has this instant fired at me
from a lurking-place.

'As that,' answered Mac-Ivor, 'excepting the circumstance of a
lurking-place, is a pleasure which I presently propose to myself, I
should be glad to know which of my clansmen dared to anticipate me.'

'I shall certainly be at your command whenever you please;--the
gentleman who took your office upon himself is your page there, Callum
Beg.'

'Stand forth from the ranks, Callum! Did you fire at Mr. Waverley?'

'No,' answered the unblushing Callum.

'You did,' said Alick Polwarth, who was already returned, having met a
trooper by whom he dispatched an account of what was going forward to
the Baron of Bradwardine, while he himself returned to his master at
full gallop, neither sparing the rowels of his spurs, nor the sides of
his horse. 'You did; I saw you as plainly as I ever saw the auld kirk at
Coudingham.'

'You lie,' replied Callum, with his usual impenetrable obstinacy. The
combat between the knights would certainly, as in the days of chivalry,
have been preceded by an encounter between the squires (for Alick was
a stout-hearted Merseman, and feared the bow of Cupid far more than
a Highlander's dirk or claymore), but Fergus, with his usual tone of
decision, demanded Callum's pistol. The cock was down, the pan and
muzzle were black with the smoke; it had been that instant fired.

'Take that,' said Fergus, striking the boy upon the head with the heavy
pistol-butt with his whole force, 'take that for acting without orders,
and lying to disguise it.' Callum received the blow without appearing to
flinch from it, and fell without sign of life. 'Stand still, upon your
lives!' said Fergus to the rest of the clan; 'I blow out the brains of
the first man who interferes between Mr. Waverley and me.' They stood
motionless; Evan Dhu alone showed symptoms of vexation and anxiety.
Callum lay on the ground bleeding copiously, but no one ventured to give
him any assistance. It seemed as if he had gotten his death-blow.

'And now for you, Mr. Waverley; please to turn your horse twenty yards
with me upon the common.' Waverley complied; and Fergus, confronting
him when they were a little way from the line of march, said, with great
affected coolness, 'I could not but wonder, sir, at the fickleness of
taste which you were pleased to express the other day. But it was not
an angel, as you justly observed, who had charms for you, unless she
brought an empire for her fortune. I have now an excellent commentary
upon that obscure text.'

'I am at a loss even to guess at your meaning, Colonel Mac-Ivor, unless
it seems plain that you intend to fasten a quarrel upon me.'

'Your affected ignorance shall not serve you, sir. The Prince,--the
Prince himself, has acquainted me with your manoeuvres, I little thought
that your engagements with Miss Bradwardine were the reason of
your breaking off your intended match with my sister. I suppose the
information that the Baron had altered the destination of his estate,
was quite a sufficient reason for slighting your friend's sister, and
carrying off your friend's mistress.'

'Did the Prince tell you I was engaged to Miss Bradwardine?' said
Waverley. 'Impossible.'

'He did, sir,' answered Mac-Ivor; 'so, either draw and defend yourself,
or resign your pretensions to the lady.'

'This is absolute madness,' exclaimed Waverley, 'or some strange
mistake!'

'Oh! no evasion! draw your sword!' said the infuriated Chieftain,--his
own already unsheathed.

'Must I fight in a madman's quarrel?'

'Then give up now, and for ever, all pretensions to Miss Bradwardine's
hand.'

'What title have you,' cried Waverley, utterly losing command of
himself,--'What title have you, or any man living, to dictate such terms
to me?' And he also drew his sword.

At this moment the Baron of Bradwardine, followed by several of his
troop, came up on the spur, some from curiosity, others to take part in
the quarrel, which they indistinctly understood had broken out between
the Mac-Ivors and their corps. The clan, seeing them approach, put
themselves in motion to support their Chieftain, and a scene of
confusion commenced, which seemed likely to terminate in bloodshed.
A hundred tongues were in motion at once. The Baron lectured, the
Chieftain stormed, the Highlanders screamed in Gaelic, the horsemen
cursed and swore in Lowland Scotch. At length matters came to such a
pass, that the Baron threatened to charge the Mac-Ivors unless they
resumed their ranks, and many of them, in return, presented their
fire-arms at him and the other troopers. The confusion was privately
fostered by old Ballenkeiroch, who made no doubt that his own day
of vengeance was arrived, when, behold! a cry arose of 'Room! make
way!--PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR! PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR!' This announced the
approach of the Prince, who came up with a party of Fitz-James's foreign
dragoons that acted as his bodyguard. His arrival produced some degree
of order. The Highlanders re-assumed their ranks, the cavalry fell in
and formed squadron, and the Baron and Chieftain were silent.

The Prince called them and Waverley before him. Having heard the
original cause of the quarrel through the villany of Callum Beg, he
ordered him into custody of the provost-marshal for immediate execution,
in the event of his surviving the chastisement inflicted by his
Chieftain. Fergus, however, in a tone betwixt claiming a right and
asking a favour, requested he might be left to his disposal, and
promised his punishment should be exemplary. To deny this, might have
seemed to encroach on the patriarchal authority of the Chieftains,
of which they were very jealous, and they were not persons to be
disobliged. Callum was therefore left to the justice of his own tribe.

The Prince next demanded to know the new cause of quarrel between
Colonel Mac-Ivor and Waverley. There was a pause. Both gentlemen found
the presence of the Baron of Bradwardine (for by this time all three
had approached the Chevalier by his command) an insurmountable barrier
against entering upon a subject where the name of his daughter must
unavoidably be mentioned. They turned their eyes on the ground, with
looks in which shame and embarrassment were mingled with displeasure.
The Prince, who had been educated amongst the discontented and mutinous
spirits of the court of St. Germains, where feuds of every kind were the
daily subject of solicitude to the dethroned sovereign, had served his
apprenticeship, as old Frederick of Prussia would have said, to the
trade of royalty. To promote or restore concord among his followers was
indispensable. Accordingly he took his measures.

'Monsieur de Beaujeu!'

'Monseigneur!' said a very handsome French cavalry officer, who was in
attendance.

'Ayez la bonte d'alligner ces montagnards la, ainsi que la cavalerie,
s'il vous plait, et de les remettre a la marche. Vous parlez si bien
l'Anglois, cela ne vous donneroit pas beaucoup de peine.'

'Ah! pas de tout, Monseigneur,' replied Mons. le Comte de Beaujeu, his
head bending down to the neck of his little prancing highly-managed
charger. Accordingly he PIAFFED away, in high spirits and confidence,
to the head of Fergus's regiment, although understanding not a word of
Gaelic, and very little English.

'Messieurs les sauvages Ecossois--dat is--gentilmans savages, have the
goodness d'arranger vous.'

The clan, comprehending the order more from the gesture than the words,
and seeing the Prince himself present, hastened to dress their ranks.

'Ah! ver well! dat is fort bien!' said the Count de Beaujeu. 'Gentilmans
sauvages--mais tres bien--Eh bien!--Qu'est-ce que vous appellez visage,
Monsieur?' (to a lounging trooper who stood by him). 'Ah, oui! FACE--Je
vous remercie, Monsieur.--Gentilshommes, have de goodness to make
de face to de right par file, dat is, by files.--Marsh!--Mais tres
bien--encore, Messieurs; il faut vous mettre a la marche...Marchez donc,
au nom de Dieu, parceque j'ai oublie le mot Anglois--mais vous etes des
braves gens, et me comprenez tres bien.'

The Count next hastened to put the cavalry in motion. 'Gentilmans
cavalry, you must fall in--Ah! par ma foi, I did not say fall off! I am
a fear de little gross fat gentilman is moche hurt. Ah, mon Dieu! c'est
le Commissaire qui nous a apporte les premieres nouvelles de ce maudit
fracas. Je suis trop fache, Monsieur!'

But poor Macwheeble, who, with a sword stuck across him, and a white
cockade as large as a pancake, now figured in the character of a
commissary, being overturned in the bustle occasioned by the troopers
hastening to get themselves in order in the Prince's presence, before
he could rally his galloway, slunk to the rear amid the unrestrained
laughter of the spectators.

'Eh bien, Messieurs, wheel to de right--Ah! dat is it!--Eh, Monsieur de
Bradwardine, ayez la bonte de vous mettre a la tete de votre regiment,
car, par Dieu, je n'en puis plus!'

The Baron of Bradwardine was obliged to go to the assistance of Monsieur
de Beaujeu, after he had fairly expended his few English military
phrases. One purpose of the Chevalier was thus answered. The other he
proposed was, that in the eagerness to hear and comprehend commands
issued through such an indistinct medium in his own presence, the
thoughts of the soldiers in both corps might get a current different
from the angry channel in which they were flowing at the time.

Charles Edward was no sooner left with the Chieftain and Waverley, the
rest of his attendants being at some distance, than he said, 'If I owed
less to your disinterested friendship, I could be most seriously angry
with both of you for this very extraordinary and causeless broil, at a
moment when my father's service so decidedly demands the most perfect
unanimity. But the worst of my situation is, that my very best friends
hold they have liberty to ruin themselves, as well as the cause they are
engaged in, upon the slightest caprice.'

Both the young men protested their resolution to submit every difference
to his arbitration. 'Indeed,' said Edward, 'I hardly know of what I am
accused. I sought Colonel Mac-Ivor merely to mention to him that I had
narrowly escaped assassination at the hand of his immediate dependent--a
dastardly revenge, which I knew him to be incapable of authorizing. As
to the cause for which he is disposed to fasten a quarrel upon me, I
am ignorant of it, unless it be that he accuses me, most unjustly,
of having engaged the affections of a young lady in prejudice of his
pretensions.'