The Three Perils of Man Volume I Part 14

Dame Robson covered the hearth with a huge fire; and her husband bringing in a leg of beef, set it upon the table, and bade every one help himself.

"The words of thy mouth are exceeding good, and sweet unto the ear,"

said the friar, "as doubtless thy food is to the taste." With that he rose and helped himself to three nice and extensive slices of raw beef, and these he roasted on the tongs which he had just lifted to smite the poet on the head.

In good truth, though every one cooked his own supper, as was the fas.h.i.+on of that iron time, there was none did it half so nicely as the friar, nor so bunglingly as Jordan, whose supper, though long behind the others in being ready, was so unshapely a piece, and so raw on the one side, that the friar observed, "it was like Ephraim of old, as a cake unturned." Some roasted their meat on old swords, some on spindles, for their hosts took no heed how they were fitted, or in what manner they s.h.i.+fted in these respects; seemingly satisfied that they had plenty for the cooking, and leaving them to cook it or eat it raw, as they chose.

The poet made haste, and, first of all, cooked two or three nice slices for the maiden, giving her what she would take before he would taste a morsel himself. Some commended him for this, and others jeered him; but the friar, in his grave moral style, said the severest things of all. From the very commencement of the journey, a jealousy or misunderstanding began to subsist between these two, which never again subsided till they came to blows.

The poet answered him again with a song:

"Keep ye to your books and your beads, goodman, Your Ave Marias and creeds, goodman; For gin ye end as ye're begun, There will be some crack of your deeds, goodman."

At length the party retired to rest, all save Jordan and their worthy host. The latter never slept in the night; he had always some watching, walking, or work in hand that suited that season best: and as for Gibby, he determined to sit up all night to watch that the poet made no encroachments on the place of Delany's repose. Robson encouraged his purpose, joined him heartily in conversation, listened to his long-winded stories with apparent delight, and, when all the rest were asleep, wormed the whole business of the emba.s.sy out of the shallow laird, who unfortunately testified his fears that they were carrying the lovely maiden and boy to the old warlock to be a sacrifice to the devil.

Robson appeared terribly confounded at this peace of intelligence,--for from the time that he heard it he conversed no more with Jordan. About one in the morning he began to put on his snow-boots, as if preparing for a journey.

"Where are ye going at this time of night?" enquired the laird.

"I maun gang out an' see how the night wears," said Robson; "I hae sax score o' Scots queys that are outlyers. If I let the king's ellwand ower the hill, I'll hae them to seek frae the kips o' Kale."

Gibby accompanied him to the door, hoping the king's ellwand would not be over the hill, for he had no good will to part with his companion.

But as soon as Robson turned his eye to the sky, "Ha, gude faith, I maun post away!" said he, "Yonder's the king's ellwand already begun to bore the hill; ay, there's ane o' the goud k.n.o.bs out o' sight already, an' I hear the queys rowting ower the waterfa' o' the height. Gude morrow t'ye, laird, I'm ower lang here."

Gibby returned in to the blazing fire; and hearing so many persons all snoring in sleep, he caught the infection, stretched himself upon a divot seat, and joined the chorus with as much zeal as any of them.

Morning came, and our emba.s.sy made ready for proceeding on their journey; but Robson still was wanting, at which both his dame and household lads seemed to wonder, otherwise the rest would have taken no notice of it. Gibby told her about the queys that were outlyers, but she only answered him with a hem! and a slight shake of the head. Charlie, who knew his man well, began to smell a rat; and, calling Gibby to the door, he inquired if he had hinted ought of their business to their host. The laird at first denied; but Charlie questioned him till he confessed the whole, at which Charlie was exceedingly angry; and hearing that he had informed him all about the maiden, and of what family she was sprung, he called Gibby a worthless inconsiderate being, and said he had ruined their expedition, for that he knew Robson kept up a correspondence with the Halls, who were broken men, and many of them skulking about the border; that Delany had uncles, cousins, and a brother living, if she was the man's daughter she was supposed to be, and that these would without fail waylay them, and kill them every man, for the sake of rescuing her. "Robson," said he, "is altogether selfish, and has some end to serve; perhaps to get the maid into his own hands, for he seemed mightily taken with her beauty; and I calculate widely amiss if we are not watched from this house, and whether we return or proceed we shall be attacked in the first strait or lonely place that we come at." Jordan looked exceedingly out of countenance, and every feature of his face altered. "What had I ado to tell the rascal?"

exclaimed he, "or wha wad hae thought o' him playing us sic a trick?

Twa-faced dog that he is! It wad be weel done to let his liver pree the taste o' steel!"

Charlie made him promise that he would not mention the circ.u.mstance to one of the party, as it was only a surmise, and might impede their progress to no purpose; and forthwith they mounted, armed with such armour as they had, and all, save Gibby Jordan, as cheerful and as jealous of one another as they were on the preceding day. That worthy kept close by the side of muckle Charlie, and looked so sharp about him, that he perceived every shepherd, traveller, and cairn that appeared on the border fells, always testifying his alarm to his friend that perhaps yon was one of the Halls watching.

Charlie had resolved to go by Jedburgh straight for Oakwood castle; but his suspicions of Robson made him resolve to hold more to the eastward, in order to keep the open road. He knew that if they were watching him, it would be at the fords of Kale or Oxnam, on the Jedburgh road; and by taking the east path, he would not only elude them, but, in case of a pursuit, be near the outposts of the Scottish army.

For a good way they saw nothing, and began to think themselves in safety; but, in coming down Sowerhope-Middle, a little from the point of the debated land, three hors.e.m.e.n appeared to the westward of them. "His presence be about us," said Gibby,--"yonder _are_ the Halls now!"

Charlie said nothing, but kept watch. One of the yeomen vanished in a twinkling at full speed, the other two came at a brisk canter to our notable emba.s.sy.

"What do they mean?" said Jordan: "Do these two fellows propose to conquer us all?"

"It wad appear that they do," said Charlie, "for they come on us without halt or hesitation."

"I hardly think they'll succeed," added Gibby, "although they're twa dangerous looking chaps. For G.o.dsake, Yardbire, tak care o' their back strokes; if they bring you down, our chance will be the waur."

Charlie then called to the rest of his cavalcade, "Friends, here are some strangers come to join us. Tell them nothing either good or bad, but keep on at a round trot. See, we are not far from the towers of Roxburgh. Whatever these men may say to you, make them nothing the wiser."

"I will not so much as say unto them, whence comest thou, or whither art thou going?" said the friar.

"I'll sing them a ditty of beauty and love, Of the wing of the raven, the eye of the dove, And beings all purer than angels above."

said the poet.

"Sic a rhame o' nonsense is there!" said Tam Craik: "If ony o' the dogs say an impertinent thing to me I'll gar his teeth gang down his throat like bristled beans."

It was not long before the two moss-troopers joined the party. They were tall athletic men, armed at all points, and their manner had a dash of insulting impertinence in it.

"A good morning, and fair grace to you, n.o.ble and worthy gentlemen!"

said the foremost: "May we presume to be of the party?"

"You may _presume_," said the deil's Tam, "for that is what befits you; if you are willing to put up with the presumer's reward."

"You are witty, sir, I suppose," said the trooper; "and pray what may that reward be?"

"Yes, I am witty," said Tam; "and my wit is sharp when it is not in its sheath. Do you understand me? As for the reward of presumption, it is in Scotland to be crankit before and kicked behind."

"The road is at least as free to us as it is to you," said the mosstrooper; "and of that we intend to avail ourselves for the present.

We go to join the army before Roxburgh, whither are you bound?"

"We follow our noses," said Tam; "but they guide us not to the army before Roxburgh, and into your rearward they caution us not to enter.

Raw hides and rank bacon, keep your distance."

While Tam Craik and the trooper were thus jangling on before, Charlie said to Jordan, "Laird, what do think o' yoursel' now? Ye hae played us a fine pliskie wi' your ill tackit tongue! It is my thought that ere we ride a mile and a half we'll be attacked by a hale troop o' horse. That chap that disna speak is ane o' the wale o' the Ha's: I ken him weel for a' his half visor. The other horseman that left them on the height is ower to the fords of Kale, and, if I guess right, he'll appear at yon scroggy bush wi' sae mony at his back that we wad hardly be a mouthfu'

to them, an' that in less time than ane wad gang a mile."

"It is an ill business this," said Gibby: "It brings me in mind o'--o'

mair than I's name. But, gudesake, Yardbire, an ye be sure he is ane o'

the Halls, what for do nae ye rin your sword in at the tae side o' him an' out at the t.i.ther? The sooner a knave like that is put down the better."

"Fair occasion, an' face to face, Peatstacknowe, an' ye sanna see Charlie Scott slack; but ye wadna hae me stick a man, or cleave him down ahint his back, an' that without fair warning and fair arming?"

"Ay, honour an' generosity are braw things, but life's a brawer thing an' a better thing than ony o' the twa. For my part, I wad never stop.

My very heart flighters when I look at him, an' I amaist think I find his steel quivering at my midriff. I wish I had a drive at him, wi' a chance o' a hale head."--And from that time Gibby leaned himself forward on his saddle, and fixed his large grey eyes on the mosstrooper like a pointer going to fly on his game; and, in that att.i.tude, he rode several times close up to his side, or very nearly opposite to him, laying his hand now and then on his hilt; but Charlie observed that he never looked his foe in the face with threatening aspect, and, perplexed as he was, could not help laughing at Gibby.

Yardbire now putting the spurs to Corby, galloped aslant the brae to a rising ground, whence he could see if any enemy was approaching by the swire from the fords of Kale, as he suspected. He had not well gained the height before he saw a dozen hors.e.m.e.n coming at the light gallop, but one part of the cavalcade considerably behind the others, owing to their being either worse mounted or worse hors.e.m.e.n.

By this time Charlie's own friends were coming round the bottom of the hill below him, quarrelling with the strangers so loudly, that Charlie heard their voices ascending on the gale in most discordant notes. The deil's Tam and the English trooper had never since their meeting ceased the jibe and the keen retort; but Tam's words were so provokingly severe, that the moss-man was driven beyond all further forbearance.

Just when they were at the hottest, the helmets of the front men of the Northumberland cavalcade began to appear in the swire; a circ.u.mstance that was well noted by their offended kinsman, but of which Tam was perfectly unconscious.

"Well, now, thou jaundiced looking thief," said the moss-trooper, turning his horse's head towards Tam's left hand, and making him amble and curvette with his side foremost; "thou lean, nerveless, and soul-less jabberer, all tongue and nothing else--I say, what hast thou to say more?"

The alteration in the man's key of voice somewhat astounded Tam; but his perverse nature would not let him soften his reply, although he liked as well to see others fall into a mischief as himself. "Eh? what do I say?"

said he; and with that he turned his horse's head to that of the other, making their two noses to meet; and caricaturing the Englishman's capers, he laughed sneeringly and triumphantly in his face. "What do I say? Eh? what do I say? I say I thought I heard wind, and smelled it a wee too. Hagg-hiding fox that thou art! Wild tike of the moors, dost thou think Tam Craik fears thy prancing and thy carrion breath, or ony o' the bur-throated litter of which thou art the outwale? Nay, an capering and prancing show ought of a spirit, I can caper and prance as well as thou. Out on thee, thou bog-thumper, thou base-born heather-blooter, what do _you_ say? Or what _dare_ you say?"

Tam had by this time drawn his sword completely to cow the Englishman, and put him to silence;--but he saw what Tam did not see, and knew more than he.

"I dare both say and do, and that thou shalt find," said the trooper; and forthwith he attacked Tam with all his prowess, who, not quite expecting such a thing gave way, and had very nearly been unhorsed; he, however, fought stoutly, defending himself, though manifestly at the disadvantage. The brave friar, at the first clash of the swords, wheeled about his mule, and drawing out a good sword from under his frock, (for he wore the sword on the one side and the cross on the other,) he stretched it forth, pointing it as if to thrust it between them. But, addressing himself to the Englishman, he cried with a loud voice, "Put up _thy_ sword again into its place, or verily I will smite thee with the edge of _my_ sword."

The other Englishman, who had never yet opened his mouth, and who had always kept apart, as if anxious to conceal who he was, now rode briskly up to the fray; and perceiving the quick approach of his friends, and judging his party quite secure of victory, he struck up the friar's sword in apparent derision. But the inveterate laird of the Peatstacknowe had been watching him all this time, as one colley dog watches another of which he is afraid, in order to take him at an advantage, and the moment that his arm was stretched, so that his sword came in contact with the friar's, Gibby struck him behind, and that with such violence that the sword ran through his body. The wounded trooper reined up his steed furiously, in order to turn on his adversary; Gibby reined his up as quickly to make his escape, but the convulsive force of the Englishman threw his horse over, and in its fall it tumbled against the legs of Gibby's horse with such force that it struck them all four from under him, and both he and his rider fell in a reverse direction, rolling plump over the wounded warrior and his forlorn enc.u.mbered steed, that was pawing the air at a furious rate. The two horses falling thus on different sides, their iron-shod hoofs were inter-mixed, and clas.h.i.+ng and rattling away in a tremendous manner, tremendous at least to poor Gibby, whose leg and thigh being below his charger, he was unable to extricate himself. "Happ, Davie, happ!" cried he to the steed: "Up you stupid, awkward floundering thief! Happ, Davie, happ!" Davie could neither happ nor weynd, but there he lay groaning and kicking above his master, who was in a most deplorable plight.

Charlie perceiving the commencement of the fray, was all this while galloping furiously toward the combatants. But the battle was of short duration; for the English trooper, seeing his comrade fall he wist not how, and the friar and Tam having both their swords pointed at him, broke furiously through between them and fled towards his companions, Tam being only enabled to inflict a deep wound on the hinder part of the horse as he pa.s.sed by.

"I have made him to pa.s.s away as the stubble that is driven by the whirlwind," said the friar; "yea, as the chaff before the great wind, so is he fled from the arm of the mighty. Brother, I say unto thee, that thou hadst better arise!" continued he, looking upon the disconsolate Jordan; and pa.s.sing by on the other side with great _ang froid_, he rode up to Delany, the boy Elias, and the poet, the latter of whom had not been engaged, but, drawing his sword manfully, had stood as a guard to the other two.