by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXIV
A STAG-HUNT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Shall this be a long or a short chapter? This is a question in whichyou, gentle reader, have no vote, however much you may be interested inthe consequences; just as you may (like myself) probably have nothingto do with the imposing a new tax, excepting the trifling circumstanceof being obliged to pay it. More happy surely in the present case,since, though it lies within my arbitrary power to extend my materialsas I think proper, I cannot call you into Exchequer if you do not thinkproper to read my narrative. Let me therefore consider. It is true thatthe annals and documents in my hands say but little of this Highlandchase; but then I can find copious materials for description elsewhere.There is old Lindsay of Pitscottie ready at my elbow, with his Atholehunting, and his 'lofted and joisted palace of green timber; with allkind of drink to be had in burgh and land, as ale, beer, wine,muscadel, malvaise, hippocras, and aquavitae; with wheat-bread,main-bread, ginge-bread, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose,grice, capon, coney, crane, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake,brisselcock, pawnies, black-cock, muir-fowl, and capercailzies'; notforgetting the 'costly bedding, vaiselle, and napry,' and least of allthe 'excelling stewards, cunning baxters, excellent cooks, andpottingars, with confections and drugs for the desserts.' Besides theparticulars which may be thence gleaned for this Highland feast (thesplendour of which induced the Pope's legate to dissent from an opinionwhich he had hitherto held, that Scotland, namely, was the--the--thelatter end of the world)--besides these, might I not illuminate mypages with Taylor the Water Poet's hunting in the Braes of Mar, where,--
Through heather, mosse,'mong frogs, and bogs, and fogs, 'Mongst craggy cliffs and thunder-batter'd hills, Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs, Where two hours' hunting fourscore fat deer kills. Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat; The Highland games and minds are high and great?
But without further tyranny over my readers, or display of the extentof my own reading, I shall content myself with borrowing a singleincident from the memorable hunting at Lude, commemorated in theingenious Mr. Gunn's essay on the Caledonian Harp, and so proceed in mystory with all the brevity that my natural style of composition,partaking of what scholars call the periphrastic and ambagitory, andthe vulgar the circumbendibus, will permit me.
The solemn hunting was delayed, from various causes, for about threeweeks. The interval was spent by Waverley with great satisfaction atGlennaquoich; for the impression which Flora had made on his mind attheir first meeting grew daily stronger. She was precisely thecharacter to fascinate a youth of romantic imagination. Her manners,her language, her talents for poetry and music, gave additional andvaried influence to her eminent personal charms. Even in her hours ofgaiety she was in his fancy exalted above the ordinary daughters ofEve, and seemed only to stoop for an instant to those topics ofamusement and gallantry which others appear to live for. In theneighbourhood of this enchantress, while sport consumed the morning andmusic and the dance led on the hours of evening, Waverley became dailymore delighted with his hospitable landlord, and more enamoured of hisbewitching sister.
At length the period fixed for the grand hunting arrived, and Waverleyand the Chieftain departed for the place of rendezvous, which was aday's journey to the northward of Glennaquoich. Fergus was attended onthis occasion by about three hundred of his clan, well armed andaccoutred in their best fashion. Waverley complied so far with thecustom of the country as to adopt the trews (he could not be reconciledto the kilt), brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for theexercise in which he was to be engaged, and which least exposed him tobe stared at as a stranger when they should reach the place ofrendezvous. They found on the spot appointed several powerful Chiefs,to all of whom Waverley was formally presented, and by all cordiallyreceived. Their vassals and clansmen, a part of whose feudal duty itwas to attend on these parties, appeared in such numbers as amounted toa small army. These active assistants spread through the country farand near, forming a circle, technically called the tinchel, which,gradually closing, drove the deer in herds together towards the glenwhere the Chiefs and principal sportsmen lay in wait for them. In themeanwhile these distinguished personages bivouacked among the floweryheath, wrapped up in their plaids, a mode of passing a summer's nightwhich Waverley found by no means unpleasant.
For many hours after sunrise the mountain ridges and passes retainedtheir ordinary appearance of silence and solitude, and the Chiefs, withtheir followers, amused themselves with various pastimes, in which thejoys of the shell, as Ossian has it, were not forgotten. 'Others apartsate on a hill retired,' probably as deeply engaged in the discussionof politics and news as Milton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition.At length signals of the approach of the game were descried and heard.Distant shouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various partiesof Highlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wadingbrooks, and traversing thickets, approached more and more near to eachother, and compelled the astonished deer, with the other wild animalsthat fled before them, into a narrower circuit. Every now and then thereport of muskets was heard, repeated by a thousand echoes. The bayingof the dogs was soon added to the chorus, which grew ever louder andmore loud. At length the advanced parties of the deer began to showthemselves; and as the stragglers came bounding down the pass by two orthree at a time, the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing thefattest deer, and their dexterity in bringing them down with theirguns. Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also sofortunate as to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen.
But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of the glen,compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such a formidablephalanx that their antlers appeared at a distance, over the ridge ofthe steep pass, like a leafless grove. Their number was very great, andfrom a desperate stand which they made, with the tallest of thered-deer stags arranged in front, in a sort of battle-array, gazing onthe group which barred their passage down the glen, the moreexperienced sportsmen began to augur danger. The work of destruction,however, now commenced on all sides. Dogs and hunters were at work, andmuskets and fusees resounded from every quarter. The deer, driven todesperation, made at length a fearful charge right upon the spot wherethe more distinguished sportsmen had taken their stand. The word wasgiven in Gaelic to fling themselves upon their faces; but Waverley, onwhose English ears the signal was lost, had almost fallen a sacrificeto his ignorance of the ancient language in which it was communicated.Fergus, observing his danger, sprung up and pulled him with violence tothe ground, just as the whole herd broke down upon them. The tide beingabsolutely irresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highlydangerous, the activity of the Chieftain may be considered, on thisoccasion, as having saved his guest's life. He detained him with a firmgrasp until the whole herd of deer had fairly run over them. Waverleythen attempted to rise, but found that he had suffered several verysevere contusions, and, upon a further examination, discovered that hehad sprained his ankle violently.
[Footnote: The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the stag's hornswas accounted far more dangerous than those of the boar's tusk:--
If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal, thereof have thou no fear.]
This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders,accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had suffered noharm themselves. A wigwam was erected almost in an instant, whereEdward was deposited on a couch of heather. The surgeon, or he whoassumed the office, appeared to unite the characters of a leech and aconjuror. He was an old smoke-dried Highlander, wearing a venerablegrey beard, and having for his sole garment a tartan frock, the skirtsof which descended to the knee, and, being undivided in front, made thevestment serve at once for doublet and breeches. [Footnote: This garb,which resembled the dress often put on children in Scotland, called apolonie (i. e. polonaise), is a very ancient modification of theHighland garb.
It was, in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, onlycomposed of cloth instead of rings of armour.] He observed greatceremony in approaching Edward; and though our hero was writhing withpain, would not proceed to any operation which might assuage it untilhe had perambulated his couch three times, moving from east to west,according to the course of the sun. This, which was called making thedeasil, [Footnote: Old Highlanders will still make the deasil aroundthose whom they wish well to. To go round a person in the oppositedirection, or withershins (German wider-shins), is unlucky, and a sortof incantation.] both the leech and the assistants seemed to consideras a matter of the last importance to the accomplishment of a cure; andWaverley, whom pain rendered incapable of expostulation, and who indeedsaw no chance of its being attended to, submitted in silence.
After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius let hispatient's blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, andproceeded, muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boil on thefire certain herbs, with which he compounded an embrocation. He thenfomented the parts which had sustained injury, never failing to murmurprayers or spells, which of the two Waverley could not distinguish, ashis ear only caught the words Gaspar-Melchior-Balthazar-max-prax-fax,and similar gibberish. The fomentation had a speedy effect inalleviating the pain and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtueof the herbs or the effect of the chafing, but which was by thebystanders unanimously ascribed to the spells with which the operationhad been accompanied. Edward was given to understand that not one ofthe ingredients had been gathered except during the full moon, and thatthe herbalist had, while collecting them, uniformly recited a charm,which in English ran thus:--
Hail to thee, them holy herb, That sprung on holy ground! All in the Mount Olivet First wert thou found. Thou art boot for many a bruise, And healest many a wound; In our Lady's blessed name, I take thee from the ground.
[Footnote: This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preservedby Reginald Scott in his work on Witchcraft.]
Edward observed with some surprise that even Fergus, notwithstandinghis knowledge and education, seemed to fall in with the superstitiousideas of his countrymen, either because he deemed it impolitic toaffect scepticism on a matter of general belief, or more probablybecause, ike most men who do not think deeply or accurately on suchsubjects, he had in his mind a reserve of superstition which balancedthe freedom of his expressions and practice upon other occasions.Waverley made no commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment,but rewarded the professor of medicine with a liberality beyond theutmost conception of his wildest hopes. He uttered on the occasion somany incoherent blessings in Gaelic and English that Mac-Ivor, ratherscandalised at the excess of his acknowledgments, cut them short byexclaiming, Ceud mile mhalloich ort! i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses onyou!' and so pushed the helper of men out of the cabin.
After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain and fatigue--forthe whole day's exercise had been severe--threw him into a profound,but yet a feverish sleep, which he chiefly owed to an opiate draughtadministered by the old Highlander from some decoction of herbs in hispharmacopoeia.
Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over, andtheir sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergus and allhis friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became a question howto dispose of the disabled sportsman. This was settled by Mac-Ivor, whohad a litter prepared, of 'birch and hazel-grey,'
[FOOTNOTE:
On the morrow they made their biers Of birch and hazel grey. Chevy Chase.]
which was borne by his people with such caution and dexterity asrenders it not improbable that they may have been the ancestors of someof those sturdy Gael who have now the happiness to transport the bellesof Edinburgh in their sedan-chairs to ten routs in one evening. WhenEdward was elevated upon their shoulders he could not help beinggratified with the romantic effect produced by the breaking up of thissylvan camp. [Footnote: See Note 25.]
The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their native clan,and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who had already begunto retire, were seen winding up the hills, or descending the passeswhich led to the scene of action, the sound of their bagpipes dyingupon the ear. Others made still a moving picture upon the narrow plain,forming various changeful groups, their feathers and loose plaidswaving in the morning breeze, and their arms glittering in the risingsun. Most of the Chiefs came to take farewell of Waverley, and toexpress their anxious hope they might again, and speedily, meet; butthe care of Fergus abridged the ceremony of taking leave. At length,his own men being completely assembled and mustered, Mac-Ivor commencedhis march, but not towards the quarter from which they had come. Hegave Edward to understand that the greater part of his followers now onthe field were bound on a distant expedition, and that when he haddeposited him in the house of a gentleman, who he was sure would payhim every attention, he himself should be under the necessity ofaccompanying them the greater part of the way, but would lose no timein rejoining his friend.
Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned thisulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party; but hissituation did not admit of many interrogatories. The greater part ofthe clansmen went forward under the guidance of old Ballenkeiroch andEvan Dhu Maccombich, apparently in high spirits. A few remained for thepurpose of escorting the Chieftain, who walked by the side of Edward'slitter, and attended him with the most affectionate assiduity. Aboutnoon, after a journey which the nature of the conveyance, the pain ofhis bruises, and the roughness of the way rendered inexpressiblypainful, Waverley was hospitably received into the house of a gentlemanrelated to Fergus, who had prepared for him every accommodation whichthe simple habits of living then universal in the Highlands put in hispower. In this person, an old man about seventy, Edward admired a relicof primitive simplicity. He wore no dress but what his estate afforded;the cloth was the fleece of his own sheep, woven by his own servants,and stained into tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichensof the hills around him. His linen was spun by his daughters andmaidservants, from his own flax; nor did his table, though plentiful,and varied with game and fish, offer an article but what was of nativeproduce.
Claiming himself no rights of clanship or vassalage, he was fortunatein the alliance and protection of Vich Ian Vohr and other bold andenterprising Chieftains, who protected him in the quiet unambitiouslife he loved. It is true, the youth born on his grounds were oftenenticed to leave him for the service of his more active friends; but afew old servants and tenants used to shake their grey locks when theyheard their master censured for want of spirit, and observed, 'When thewind is still, the shower falls soft.' This good old man, whose charityand hospitality were unbounded, would have received Waverley withkindness had he been the meanest Saxon peasant, since his situationrequired assistance. But his attention to a friend and guest of VichIan Vohr was anxious and unremitted. Other embrocations were applied tothe injured limb, and new spells were put in practice. At length, aftermore solicitude than was perhaps for the advantage of his health,Fergus took farewell of Edward for a few days, when, he said, he wouldreturn to Tomanrait, and hoped by that time Waverley would be able toride one of the Highland ponies of his landlord, and in that mannerreturn to Glennaquoich.
The next day, when his good old host appeared, Edward learned that hisfriend had departed with the dawn, leaving none of his followers exceptCallum Beg, the sort of foot-page who used to attend his person, andwho had now in charge to wait upon Waverley. On asking his host if heknew where the Chieftain was gone, the old man looked fixedly at him,with something mysterious and sad in the smile which was his onlyreply. Waverley repeated his question, to which his host answered in aproverb,--
What sent the messengers to hell, Was asking what they knew full well.
[Footnote: Corresponding to the Lowland saying, 'Mony ane speirs thegate they ken fu' weel.']
He was about to proceed, but Callum Beg s
aid, rather pertly, as Edwardthought, that 'Ta Tighearnach (i.e. the Chief) did not like taSassenagh duinhe-wassel to be pingled wi' mickle speaking, as she wasna tat weel.' From this Waverley concluded he should disoblige hisfriend by inquiring of a stranger the object of a journey which hehimself had not communicated.
It is unnecessary to trace the progress of our hero's recovery. Thesixth morning had arrived, and he was able to walk about with a staff,when Fergus returned with about a score of his men. He seemed in thehighest spirits, congratulated Waverley on his progress towardsrecovery, and finding he was able to sit on horseback, proposed theirimmediate return to Glennaquoich. Waverley joyfully acceded, for theform of its fair mistress had lived in his dreams during all the timeof his confinement.
Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, O'er hill and many a glen,
Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly by hisside, or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock. Waverley'sbosom beat thick when they approached the old tower of Ian nanChaistel, and could distinguish the fair form of its mistress advancingto meet them.
Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, to exclaim,'Open your gates, incomparable princess, to the wounded Moor Abindarez,whom Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera, conveys to your castle;or open them, if you like it better, to the renowned Marquis of Mantua,the sad attendant of his half-slain friend Baldovinos of the Mountain.Ah, long rest to thy soul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, howshould I frame my language to befit romantic ears!'
Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness,expressed her regret for his accident, of which she had already heardparticulars, and her surprise that her brother should not have takenbetter care to put a stranger on his guard against the perils of thesport in which he engaged him. Edward easily exculpated the Chieftain,who, indeed, at his own personal risk, had probably saved his life.
This greeting over, Fergus said three or four words to his sister inGaelic. The tears instantly sprung to her eyes, but they seemed to betears of devotion and joy, for she looked up to heaven and folded herhands as in a solemn expression of prayer or gratitude. After the pauseof a minute, she presented to Edward some letters which had beenforwarded from Tully-Veolan during his absence, and at the same timedelivered some to her brother. To the latter she likewise gave three orfour numbers of the Caledonian Mercury, the only newspaper which wasthen published to the north of the Tweed.
Both gentlemen retired to examine their despatches, and Edward speedilyfound that those which he had received contained matters of very deepinterest.