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Table of contents
CHAPTER I I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS
CHAPTER II I COME TO MY JOURNEY’S END
CHAPTER III I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE
CHAPTER IV I RUN A GREAT DANGER IN THE HOUSE OF SHAWS
CHAPTER V I GO TO THE QUEEN’S FERRY
CHAPTER VI WHAT BEFELL AT THE QUEEN’S FERRY
CHAPTER VII I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG “COVENANT” OF DYSART
CHAPTER VIII THE ROUND-HOUSE
CHAPTER IX THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD
CHAPTER X THE SIEGE OF THE ROUND-HOUSE
CHAPTER XI THE CAPTAIN KNUCKLES UNDER
CHAPTER XII I HEAR OF THE “RED FOX”
CHAPTER XIII THE LOSS OF THE BRIG
CHAPTER XIV THE ISLET
CHAPTER XV THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: THROUGH THE ISLE OF MULL
CHAPTER XVI THE LAD WITH THE SILVER BUTTON: ACROSS MORVEN
CHAPTER XVII THE DEATH OF THE RED FOX
CHAPTER XVIII I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE
CHAPTER XIX THE HOUSE OF FEAR
CHAPTER XX THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE ROCKS
CHAPTER XXI THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE HEUGH OF CORRYNAKIEGH
CHAPTER XXII THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE MOOR
CHAPTER XXIII CLUNY’S CAGE
CHAPTER XXIV THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER: THE QUARREL
CHAPTER XXV IN BALQUHIDDER
CHAPTER XXVI END OF THE FLIGHT: WE PASS THE FORTH
CHAPTER XXVII I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR
CHAPTER XXVIII I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE
CHAPTER XXIX I COME INTO MY KINGDOM
CHAPTER XXX GOOD-BYE
FOOTNOTES
CHAPTER I I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS
I
WILL begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early
in
the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for
the last time out of the door of my father’s house. The sun began
to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and
by
the time I had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were
whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the
valley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die
away.Mr.
Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by the
garden
gate, good man! He asked me if I had breakfasted; and hearing that
I
lacked for nothing, he took my hand in both of his and clapped it
kindly under his arm.
“
Well,
Davie, lad,” said he, “I will go with you as far as the ford, to
set you on the way.”And
we began to walk forward in silence.
“
Are
ye sorry to leave Essendean?” said he, after awhile.
“
Why,
sir,” said I, “if I knew where I was going, or what was likely to
become of me, I would tell you candidly Essendean is a good place
indeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I have never
been
anywhere else. My father and mother, since they are both dead, I
shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of
Hungary;
and, to speak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself
where I was going I would go with a good will.”
“
Ay?”
said Mr. Campbell. “Very well, Davie. Then it behoves me to tell
your fortune; or so far as I may. When your mother was gone, and
your
father (the worthy, Christian man) began to sicken for his end,
he
gave me in charge a certain letter, which he said was your
inheritance. ‘So soon,’ says he, ‘as I am gone, and the house
is redd up and the gear disposed of’ (all which, Davie, hath been
done), ‘give my boy this letter into his hand, and start him off
to
the house of Shaws, not far from Cramond. That is the place I
came
from,’ he said, ‘and it’s where it befits that my boy should
return. He is a steady lad,’ your father said, ‘and a canny goer;
and I doubt not he will come safe, and be well liked where he
goes.’”
“
The
house of Shaws!” I cried. “What had my poor father to do with the
house of Shaws?”
“
Nay,”
said Mr. Campbell, “who can tell that for a surety? But the name
of
that family, Davie, boy, is the name you bear—Balfours of Shaws:
an
ancient, honest, reputable house, peradventure in these latter
days
decayed. Your father, too, was a man of learning as befitted his
position; no man more plausibly conducted school; nor had he the
manner or the speech of a common dominie; but (as ye will
yourself
remember) I took aye a pleasure to have him to the manse to meet
the
gentry; and those of my own house, Campbell of Kilrennet,
Campbell of
Dunswire, Campbell of Minch, and others, all well-kenned
gentlemen,
had pleasure in his society. Lastly, to put all the elements of
this
affair before you, here is the testamentary letter itself,
superscrived by the own hand of our departed brother.”He
gave me the letter, which was addressed in these words: “To the
hands of Ebenezer Balfour, Esquire, of Shaws, in his house of
Shaws,
these will be delivered by my son, David Balfour.” My heart was
beating hard at this great prospect now suddenly opening before a
lad
of seventeen years of age, the son of a poor country dominie in the
Forest of Ettrick.
“
Mr.
Campbell,” I stammered, “and if you were in my shoes, would you
go?”
“
Of
a surety,” said the minister, “that would I, and without pause. A
pretty lad like you should get to Cramond (which is near in by
Edinburgh) in two days of walk. If the worst came to the worst,
and
your high relations (as I cannot but suppose them to be somewhat
of
your blood) should put you to the door, ye can but walk the two
days
back again and risp at the manse door. But I would rather hope
that
ye shall be well received, as your poor father forecast for you,
and
for anything that I ken come to be a great man in time. And here,
Davie, laddie,” he resumed, “it lies near upon my conscience to
improve this parting, and set you on the right guard against the
dangers of the world.”Here
he cast about for a comfortable seat, lighted on a big boulder
under
a birch by the trackside, sate down upon it with a very long,
serious
upper lip, and the sun now shining in upon us between two peaks,
put
his pocket-handkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter him. There,
then, with up-lifted forefinger, he first put me on my guard
against
a considerable number of heresies, to which I had no temptation,
and
urged upon me to be instant in my prayers and reading of the Bible.
That done, he drew a picture of the great house that I was bound
to,
and how I should conduct myself with its inhabitants.
“
Be
soople, Davie, in things immaterial,” said he. “Bear ye this in
mind, that, though gentle born, ye have had a country rearing.
Dinnae
shame us, Davie, dinnae shame us! In yon great, muckle house,
with
all these domestics, upper and under, show yourself as nice, as
circumspect, as quick at the conception, and as slow of speech as
any. As for the laird—remember he’s the laird; I say no more:
honour to whom honour. It’s a pleasure to obey a laird; or should
be, to the young.”
“
Well,
sir,” said I, “it may be; and I’ll promise you I’ll try to
make it so.”
“
Why,
very well said,” replied Mr. Campbell, heartily. “And now to come
to the material, or (to make a quibble) to the immaterial. I have
here a little packet which contains four things.” He tugged it,
as
he spoke, and with some great difficulty, from the skirt pocket
of
his coat. “Of these four things, the first is your legal due: the
little pickle money for your father’s books and plenishing, which
I
have bought (as I have explained from the first) in the design of
re-selling at a profit to the incoming dominie. The other three
are
gifties that Mrs. Campbell and myself would be blithe of your
acceptance. The first, which is round, will likely please ye best
at
the first off-go; but, O Davie, laddie, it’s but a drop of water
in
the sea; it’ll help you but a step, and vanish like the morning.
The second, which is flat and square and written upon, will stand
by
you through life, like a good staff for the road, and a good
pillow
to your head in sickness. And as for the last, which is cubical,
that’ll see you, it’s my prayerful wish, into a better
land.”With
that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a little
while aloud, and in affecting terms, for a young man setting out
into
the world; then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very
hard; then held me at arm’s length, looking at me with his face all
working with sorrow; and then whipped about, and crying good-bye to
me, set off backward by the way that we had come at a sort of
jogging
run. It might have been laughable to another; but I was in no mind
to
laugh. I watched him as long as he was in sight; and he never
stopped
hurrying, nor once looked back. Then it came in upon my mind that
this was all his sorrow at my departure; and my conscience smote me
hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away
out
of that quiet country-side, and go to a great, busy house, among
rich
and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood.
“
Davie,
Davie,” I thought, “was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you
forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name?
Fie, fie; think shame!”And
I sat down on the boulder the good man had just left, and opened
the
parcel to see the nature of my gifts. That which he had called
cubical, I had never had much doubt of; sure enough it was a little
Bible, to carry in a plaid-neuk. That which he had called round, I
found to be a shilling piece; and the third, which was to help me
so
wonderfully both in health and sickness all the days of my life,
was
a little piece of coarse yellow paper, written upon thus in red
ink:
“
To
Make Lilly of the Valley Water.—Take the flowers of lilly of the
valley and distil them in sack, and drink a spooneful or two as
there
is occasion. It restores speech to those that have the dumb
palsey.
It is good against the Gout; it comforts the heart and
strengthens
the memory; and the flowers, put into a Glasse, close stopt, and
set
into ane hill of ants for a month, then take it out, and you will
find a liquor which comes from the flowers, which keep in a vial;
it
is good, ill or well, and whether man or woman.”And
then, in the minister’s own hand, was added:
“
Likewise
for sprains, rub it in; and for the cholic, a great spooneful in
the
hour.”To
be sure, I laughed over this; but it was rather tremulous laughter;
and I was glad to get my bundle on my staff’s end and set out over
the ford and up the hill upon the farther side; till, just as I
came
on the green drove-road running wide through the heather, I took my
last look of Kirk Essendean, the trees about the manse, and the big
rowans in the kirkyard where my father and my mother lay.
CHAPTER II I COME TO MY JOURNEY’S END
ON
the forenoon of the second day, coming to the top of a hill, I saw
all the country fall away before me down to the sea; and in the
midst
of this descent, on a long ridge, the city of Edinburgh smoking
like
a kiln. There was a flag upon the castle, and ships moving or lying
anchored in the firth; both of which, for as far away as they were,
I
could distinguish clearly; and both brought my country heart into
my
mouth.Presently
after, I came by a house where a shepherd lived, and got a rough
direction for the neighbourhood of Cramond; and so, from one to
another, worked my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton,
till I came out upon the Glasgow road. And there, to my great
pleasure and wonder, I beheld a regiment marching to the fifes,
every
foot in time; an old red-faced general on a grey horse at the one
end, and at the other the company of Grenadiers, with their
Pope’s-hats. The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the
sight of the red coats and the hearing of that merry music.A
little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond parish, and
began
to substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of Shaws. It
was
a word that seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way. At
first I thought the plainness of my appearance, in my country
habit,
and that all dusty from the road, consorted ill with the greatness
of
the place to which I was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had
given me the same look and the same answer, I began to take it in
my
head there was something strange about the Shaws itself.The
better to set this fear at rest, I changed the form of my
inquiries;
and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the shaft of his
cart, I asked him if he had ever heard tell of a house they called
the house of Shaws.He
stopped his cart and looked at me, like the others.
“
Ay,”
said he. “What for?”
“
It’s
a great house?” I asked.
“
Doubtless,”
says he. “The house is a big, muckle house.”
“
Ay,”
said I, “but the folk that are in it?”
“
Folk?”
cried he. “Are ye daft? There’s nae folk there—to call
folk.”
“
What?”
say I; “not Mr. Ebenezer?”
“
Ou,
ay,” says the man; “there’s the laird, to be sure, if it’s
him you ’re wanting. What’ll like be your business,
mannie?”
“
I
was led to think that I would get a situation,” I said, looking
as
modest as I could.
“
What?”
cries the carter, in so sharp a note that his very horse started;
and
then, “Well, mannie,” he added, “it’s nane of my affairs; but
ye seem a decent-spoken lad; and if ye’ll take a word from me,
ye’ll keep clear of the Shaws.”The
next person I came across was a dapper little man in a beautiful
white wig, whom I saw to be a barber on his rounds; and knowing
well
that barbers were great gossips, I asked him plainly what sort of a
man was Mr. Balfour of the Shaws.
“
Hoot,
hoot, hoot,” said the barber, “nae kind of a man, nae kind of a
man at all”; and began to ask me very shrewdly what my business
was; but I was more than a match for him at that, and he went on
to
his next customer no wiser than he came.I
cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions. The more
indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them, for they
left
the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house was this, that
all the parish should start and stare to be asked the way to it? or
what sort of a gentleman, that his ill-fame should be thus current
on
the wayside? If an hour’s walking would have brought me back to
Essendean, I had left my adventure then and there, and returned to
Mr. Campbell’s. But when I had come so far a way already, mere
shame would not suffer me to desist till I had put the matter to
the
touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere self-respect, to carry it
through; and little as I liked the sound of what I heard, and slow
as
I began to travel, I still kept asking my way and still kept
advancing.It
was drawing on to sundown when I met a stout, dark, sour-looking
woman coming trudging down a hill; and she, when I had put my usual
question, turned sharp about, accompanied me back to the summit she
had just left, and pointed to a great bulk of building standing
very
bare upon a green in the bottom of the next valley. The country was
pleasant round about, running in low hills, pleasantly watered and
wooded, and the crops, to my eyes, wonderfully good; but the house
itself appeared to be a kind of ruin; no road led up to it; no
smoke
arose from any of the chimneys; nor was there any semblance of a
garden. My heart sank. “That!” I cried.The
woman’s face lit up with a malignant anger. “That is the house of
Shaws!” she cried. “Blood built it; blood stopped the building of
it; blood shall bring it down. See here!” she cried again—“I
spit upon the ground, and crack my thumb at it! Black be its fall!
If
ye see the laird, tell him what ye hear; tell him this makes the
twelve hunner and nineteen time that Jennet Clouston has called
down
the curse on him and his house, byre and stable, man, guest, and
master, wife, miss, or bairn—black, black be their fall!”And
the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song,
turned with a skip, and was gone. I stood where she left me, with
my
hair on end. In those days folk still believed in witches and
trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside
omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took the pith out
of
my legs.I
sat me down and stared at the house of Shaws. The more I looked,
the
pleasanter that country-side appeared; being all set with hawthorn
bushes full of flowers; the fields dotted with sheep; a fine flight
of rooks in the sky; and every sign of a kind soil and climate; and
yet the barrack in the midst of it went sore against my
fancy.Country
folk went by from the fields as I sat there on the side of the
ditch,
but I lacked the spirit to give them a good-e’en. At last the sun
went down, and then, right up against the yellow sky, I saw a
scroll
of smoke go mounting, not much thicker, as it seemed to me, than
the
smoke of a candle; but still there it was, and meant a fire, and
warmth, and cookery, and some living inhabitant that must have lit
it; and this comforted my heart.So
I set forward by a little faint track in the grass that led in my
direction. It was very faint indeed to be the only way to a place
of
habitation; yet I saw no other. Presently it brought me to stone
uprights, with an unroofed lodge beside them, and coats of arms
upon
the top. A main entrance it was plainly meant to be, but never
finished; instead of gates of wrought iron, a pair of hurdles were
tied across with a straw rope; and as there were no park walls, nor
any sign of avenue, the track that I was following passed on the
right hand of the pillars, and went wandering on toward the
house.The
nearer I got to that, the drearier it appeared. It seemed like the
one wing of a house that had never been finished. What should have
been the inner end stood open on the upper floors, and showed
against
the sky with steps and stairs of uncompleted masonry. Many of the
windows were unglazed, and bats flew in and out like doves out of a
dove-cote.The
night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of the lower
windows, which were very high up and narrow, and well barred, the
changing light of a little fire began to glimmer.Was
this the palace I had been coming to? Was it within these walls
that
I was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes? Why, in my
father’s house on Essen-Waterside, the fire and the bright lights
would show a mile away, and the door open to a beggar’s
knock!I
came forward cautiously, and giving ear as I came, heard some one
rattling with dishes, and a little dry, eager cough that came in
fits; but there was no sound of speech, and not a dog
barked.The
door, as well as I could see it in the dim light, was a great piece
of wood all studded with nails; and I lifted my hand with a faint
heart under my jacket, and knocked once. Then I stood and waited.
The
house had fallen into a dead silence; a whole minute passed away,
and
nothing stirred but the bats overhead. I knocked again, and
hearkened
again. By this time my ears had grown so accustomed to the quiet,
that I could hear the ticking of the clock inside as it slowly
counted out the seconds; but whoever was in that house kept deadly
still, and must have held his breath.I
was in two minds whether to run away; but anger got the upper hand,
and I began instead to rain kicks and buffets on the door, and to
shout out aloud for Mr. Balfour. I was in full career, when I heard
the cough right overhead, and jumping back and looking up, beheld a
man’s head in a tall nightcap, and the bell mouth of a blunderbuss,
at one of the first-storey windows.
“
It’s
loaded,” said a voice.
“
I
have come here with a letter,” I said, “to Mr. Ebenezer Balfour
of Shaws. Is he here?”
“
From
whom is it?” asked the man with the blunderbuss.
“
That
is neither here nor there,” said I, for I was growing very
wroth.
“
Well,”
was the reply, “ye can put it down upon the doorstep, and be off
with ye.”
“
I
will do no such thing,” I cried. “I will deliver it into Mr.
Balfour’s hands, as it was meant I should. It is a letter of
introduction.”
“
A
what?” cried the voice, sharply.I
repeated what I had said.
“
Who
are ye, yourself?” was the next question, after a considerable
pause.
“
I
am not ashamed of my name,” said I. “They call me David
Balfour.”At
that, I made sure the man started, for I heard the blunderbuss
rattle
on the window-sill; and it was after quite a long pause, and with a
curious change of voice, that the next question followed:
“
Is
your father dead?”I
was so much surprised at this, that I could find no voice to
answer,
but stood staring.
“
Ay,”
the man resumed, “he’ll be dead, no doubt; and that’ll be what
brings ye chapping to my door.” Another pause, and then
defiantly,
“Well, man,” he said, “I’ll let ye in”; and he disappeared
from the window.
CHAPTER III I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE
PRESENTLY
there came a great rattling of chains and bolts, and the door was
cautiously opened and shut to again behind me as soon as I had
passed.
“
Go
into the kitchen and touch naething,” said the voice; and while
the
person of the house set himself to replacing the defences of the
door, I groped my way forward and entered the kitchen.
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Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!