Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume VIII Part 29

"Perhaps it may, sir; but let me look at the plans, &c., if you please."

They were immediately produced, and, in a few minutes, the stranger and Mr M'Ausline were up to the elbows in papers; the former examining every doc.u.ment connected with the property, and the latter explaining and enlarging on each as it came under investigation.

At the conclusion of this scrutiny, the stranger rose to depart, saying, at the same time, to Mr M'Ausline, that he would hear from him in a day or two.

Just as he was going away, the latter asked, with some hesitation of manner, as if he feared the question might be thought rude, if he would have the goodness to favour him with his name.

"Dear me," replied the stranger, "how stupid that I did not think of mentioning that of my own accord! It is one of the first things I should have communicated to you. My name, sir, is M'Arthur--Duncan M'Arthur, late of the Island of Jamaica."

Mr M'Ausline bowed low at the name; for, although he did not know Mr M'Arthur personally, it was one with which he was familiar, and which he knew was that of one of the wealthiest men in the West Indies. Need we add, that this Mr M'Arthur was no other than the little kilted, barelegged Highland boy whom we introduced to the reader at the outset of our story.

How he arrived at the high degree of prosperity which he now enjoyed, we shall make known before we have done; but, in the meantime, we shall conduct his transaction with M'Ausline to a close.

Agreeably to his promise, Mr M'Arthur again called on that gentleman, at the expiry of about a week, and having previously satisfied himself of the value of the property in dependence, concluded the purchase, and paid down the money.

On the very same day, he went down again to Bellevue, which was now his, the identical house which had so much struck his fancy when a boy.

On this occasion, he was again attended by the old man of whom we have already spoken.

"Well," said Mr M'Arthur, on the latter approaching him, "I have concluded the purchase for this place. The money is paid, and it is now mine."

"I'm glad to hear it, sir, and long may you live to enjoy it!" replied the old man.

"Thank you, my friend--thank you. What's your name?"

"James Moffat, sir."

"Ay, well, James," continued Mr M'Arthur, "do you recollect of chasing a little barelegged Highland boy out of these grounds one day, about--let me see--ay, I daresay it will be about thirty years since? See, there,"

he added, pointing to a particular piece of ground--"there is the very spot on which he stood when you discovered him; and there" (pointing to a particular part of the fence which enclosed the grounds) "is precisely the place where he escaped you. Do you recollect of this, James?"

The old man thought for a moment; then looking in Mr M'Arthur's face, and smiling, "Yes, sir, now that you remind me of it, I do recollect the circ.u.mstance, and very distinctly. The little fellow had come, I thought, to carry off some of our hens and chickens, as we were then, and are yet, very much annoyed by young depredators of that description.

But may I ask your honour how your honour happens to know so well about that affair?"

"Troth, James," replied Mr M'Arthur, laughing, "I have good cause to know well about it; for that boy was no other than myself, James."

James looked unutterable things on this announcement being made to him, and could only come out with the words--"Impossible, sir! It canna be."

"Nothing at all impossible in it, my honest friend," replied Mr M'Arthur, again laughing. "It was indeed I, James; but I deny having had any felonious intentions on your hens and chickens, or anything whatever belonging to you. It was curiosity alone that prompted me. I was struck, boy as I was, with the beauties of the place, and had just taken the liberty of coming in to enjoy them a little."

"Aweel, sir, the like o' this I never heard o', or met wi', or onybody else, I daresay. Wha wad ever hae thocht or dreamt o' such a thing?"

"It is certainty rather odd, my friend," said Mr M'Arthur; "but you know it has been often said, and truly, that more strange things have happened in real life than ever were invented by story-tellers."

"I've often heard that, sir," replied the old man; "and I consider this a very remarkable proof o't."

"Yes, James," continued Mr M'Arthur, "at the moment when you discovered me, a barefooted and barelegged boy, trespa.s.sing on your premises, I had just formed the resolution which I have this day, at the distance of thirty years, carried into effect. I had then determined that I should purchase this property, if ever I became rich enough to do so. But,"

added Mr M'Arthur, smiling, "every dog has his day, James. You turned me off the grounds when you had the power, and you will not think it unreasonable, now that I have it, if I turn you off--eh?"

The poor old man looked a little disconcerted at this speech; not being quite sure whether it was spoken in jest or earnest.

"I canna say, sir," he said, looking at the querist doubtingly, and with a forced smile, "but what it wad be but fair."

Mr M'Arthur saw the uneasiness which his joke had created, and hastened to relieve the old man's fears, by a.s.suring him that he was welcome to remain on the property, rent free, as long as he chose; and not only that, but that he should have every indulgence and accommodation which he might require.

Having brought our story to this point, we now return to trace the course of those events which raised Mr M'Arthur from the humble station in which he began life, to be one of the wealthiest of our colonial merchants.

Some time after his arrival in the West Indies, the junior clerk in Mr M'Donald's counting-house died; and the latter, having found Duncan an active, smart, and scrupulously honest lad, and, moreover, possessing the qualification of writing a fair hand, together with that of a pretty competent knowledge of figures, he at once proposed to him to take the place of the deceased clerk.

Duncan readily closed with the proposal, threw off his livery, laid down his towel, and mounted the stool, quill in hand. In this situation, he remained for three years, discharging his duties greatly to the satisfaction of his employer. At the end of the period above named, the clerk immediately above him also died, and Duncan, as a matter of course, stepped into his place, in which he continued to distinguish himself by his steadiness and abilities, and by the general excellence of his moral character--virtues which eventually raised him, step by step, to the responsible situation of head clerk of the firm.

Two or three years after he had attained this promotion, however, an event occurred that gave him a much more rapid lift than was likely to proceed from the ordinary course of events.

Having, about the end of the period alluded to, gone into the interior of the island on some business of his employer, an insurrection of the negroes had in the meantime occurred, and involved the whole country in terror and alarm. When Mr M'Arthur left home, all was quiet, and nothing of the kind suspected; nor indeed did he know anything of it, until some ruinous sugar-mills and deserted plantations, which he pa.s.sed on his way homewards, informed him of the fearful event. As yet, he had seen none of the insurgents themselves--a fortunate circ.u.mstance for him; for, if they had fallen in with him, they would, to a certainty, have murdered him. Aware of this, and also guessing at the general state of the country, Mr M'Arthur hastened homewards with all speed; but his journey was considerably lengthened by the necessity he was under of taking by-paths and circuitous routes, to avoid any straggling parties of the insurgents who might be wandering about. Notwithstanding all the haste he could make, therefore, and though well mounted, night overtook him long before he could reach Kingston, the place of his destination; and, to make matters worse, he was benighted in a wild and remote woody strath, at the base of the Blue Mountains, which had long been famous as the haunt of runaway negroes, and where, from the inaccessible nature of the surrounding heights, they were enabled to defy all the force that could be brought against them.

It was now pitch dark, and Mr M'Arthur, not well knowing his way, was guiding his horse slowly and cautiously through the intricacies of the place, when a wild whooping and yelling, which he knew to proceed from an a.s.semblage of negroes, suddenly struck on his ear, and filled him with apprehensions for his safety, as he was totally unarmed--although this was, perhaps, a matter of no great importance, for resistance would have been vain against such odds as he had no doubt the number of the negroes presented.

On hearing the cries alluded to, and which seemed to proceed from persons at no great distance, Mr M'Arthur reined in his horse, and advanced still more warily than before. His progress, however, slow as it was, brought him round the base of the high projecting rock that covered the entrance to an extensive green hollow, from the upper end of which again rose a precipitous wall of rock, on whose summit, a kind of natural platform, were a.s.sembled the negroes whose cries he had heard.

They had kindled a large fire, and around this they were capering and dancing with a wildness of glee, to which--as Mr M'Arthur judged, from the outrageous and unsteady manner of most of them--rum had largely contributed.

The sight was an alarming one to a person in Mr M'Arthur's situation; but he was a man of strong nerve and singular resolution, and he therefore determined to ascertain precisely what the negroes were about, and, if possible, whose they were. That they were a party of the insurrectionists he had no doubt; and he therefore thought it not unlikely that, if he could approach them without being perceived, he might gather some information regarding their intended future proceedings, or regarding what they had already done, that might be turned to good account.

Having come to this resolution, he dismounted, secured his horse to a tree, and advanced cautiously on foot to the bottom of the rocks on the summit of which the negroes were a.s.sembled. On reaching the position, he looked upward, and saw that the ascent was both a difficult and a dangerous one; but not having yet forgot the practice he had had in such feats in the Highlands, he determined on attempting it; and this he did with such success, that he, in a very short time, found himself--his head, at any rate--on a level with the ground occupied by the negroes, and within a very few yards of them. On obtaining a view over the edge of the cliff, the first thing that attracted Mr M'Arthur's attention was a naked cutla.s.s lying on the gra.s.s, and fully within his reach. Of this weapon he determined to possess himself; and, by watching a fitting opportunity, he succeeded in getting hold of it un.o.bserved, when he drew it gently towards him, and found his confidence greatly increased by the timeous acquisition. The most remarkable object that presented itself to the daring adventurer's notice, was a slender female figure, wrapped up in a large, light-coloured cashmere shawl, and who was wildly but vainly struggling to free herself from the grasp of a stout, ferocious-looking negro, who had thrown his arms around her, and was evidently forcing himself on her as a lover, grinning hideously in her face, as he sputtered away at the gibberish which he intended for the language of love.

Mr M'Arthur saw at once that the lady--for such she had every appearance of being--was a captive in the hands of the ruffians; probably, he thought, the daughter of some of their masters, whose property they had laid waste; and his blood boiled within him at witnessing the indignities to which the unfortunate girl was exposed; and he determined on making a desperate effort to save her.

Grasping his cutla.s.s firmly in his hand, he leaped, with one spring, on the level ground occupied by the negroes; and waving on high his weapon, which flashed in the ruddy light of the fire, shouted out, as if he were supported by others--"Here they are!--down with the villains! Shoot them! shoot them!" And he dashed into the middle of the band, and with one blow of his cutla.s.s struck the ruffian whose arm was round the female to the earth, a dead man.

The ruse of M'Arthur, in the meantime, took completely. The negroes, believing that a large force was coming on them, fled with the utmost precipitation in all directions, leaving the gallant adventurer, with the captive lady, sole possessors of the field. But the former, judging that they would soon return on finding that he was alone, ran up to the terrified girl, and taking her hurriedly by the hand, without waiting to put any questions to her, or even to look at her, urged her to fly with him instantly.

Aware of the propriety of this measure, the latter instantly obeyed; and taking her deliverer by the arm, both hastened away from the spot. But M'Arthur, being wholly unacquainted with the locality of the place, knew no other way of escaping but that by which he had come; and by this way it was impossible the fragile, timorous creature he supported could go.

But M'Arthur was a stout, as well as courageous man; and in this dilemma he did not hesitate an instant in adopting the only course which presented itself.

He suddenly flung his left arm around the slender waist of his fair companion, and, raising her from the ground, proceeded to descend the rocks with her; holding on, from time to time, with his right hand, as he pa.s.sed from one stepping place to another.

Steady of step, stout of heart, and quick of eye, M'Arthur descended in safety with his precious burden; when, having placed her on her feet, he, with one single word, urged her further flight till they arrived at the spot where his horse was secured.

Nor had the flight of the fugitives been a whit more expeditious than was necessary; for ere they had gained the bottom of the descent, the negroes, as M'Arthur conjectured they would do, had returned; and seemingly now a.s.sured that they had been deceived, began to search around, whooping and yelling in the most frightful manner, for their deceiver and his companion.

Indeed, they appeared at one time to have discovered them, or at least to have conjectured which route they had taken; for several shots were fired in the direction in which they were--a fact which the fugitives ascertained by two or three bullets striking within a few yards of them.

On reaching his horse, M'Arthur unloosed him, sprung on his back, and quick as thought, lifted the lady behind him; and having secured her to himself, by pa.s.sing a silk neck-cloth around both, continued his flight--at first cautiously, till he cleared the loose stones and brushwood with which the place was enc.u.mbered; and then at full speed for the distance of eight or ten miles, when, being aware of his near approach to Kingston, and, consequently, to a situation of comparative safety, he reined in the exhausted animal; and it was now that an extraordinary denouement connected with the fate and fortunes of the fugitives took place. It was now, and not till now--for circ.u.mstances had hitherto permitted no conversation between them--that M'Arthur learned who the lady was whom he had so gallantly rescued from the brutality of the rebel negroes.

Having checked the speed of his horse, M'Arthur turned round to his fair companion, and said, "May I now ask, madam, to whom I have had the honour of doing this little piece of service to-night?"

"Don't you know me, Mr M'Arthur?" was the reply, in a soft and gentle tone, not unmingled with surprise that, as the speaker had recognised her deliverer, she had not been recognised by him.

"No, indeed, madam," said M'Arthur, turning again round, but now with a look of intense curiosity; for, although his answer had been in the negative, the tones of the voice were familiar to him.

"Don't you know Miss M'Donald--Flora M'Donald--Mr M'Arthur?" rejoined the lady, smiling.