Redgauntlet: A Tale Of The Eighteenth Century

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XIV

  NARRATIVE OF ALAN FAIRFORD, CONTINUED

  We left Alan Fairford on the deck of the little smuggling brig, in thatdisconsolate situation, when sickness and nausea, attack a heated andfevered frame, and an anxious mind. His share of sea-sickness, however,was not so great as to engross his sensations entirely, or altogetherto divert his attention from what was passing around. If he could notdelight in the swiftness and agility with which the 'little frigate'walked the waves, or amuse himself by noticing the beauty of thesea-views around him, where the distant Skiddaw raised his brow, as ifin defiance of the clouded eminence of Criffel, which lorded it over theScottish side of the estuary, he had spirits and composure enough to payparticular attention to the master of the vessel, on whose character hisown safety in all probability was dependent.

  Nanty Ewart had now given the helm to one of his people, a bald-pated,grizzled old fellow, whose whole life had been spent in evadingthe revenue laws, with now and then the relaxation of a few months'imprisonment, for deforcing officers, resisting seizures, and the likeoffences.

  Nanty himself sat down by Fairford, helped him to his tea, with suchother refreshments as he could think of, and seemed in his way sincerelydesirous to make his situation as comfortable as things admitted.Fairford had thus an opportunity to study his countenance and mannersmore closely.

  It was plain, Ewart, though a good seaman, had not been bred upon thatelement. He was a reasonably good scholar, and seemed fond of showing itby recurring to the subject of Sallust and Juvenal; while, on the otherhand, sea-phrases seldom chequered his conversation. He had been inperson what is called a smart little man; but the tropical sun had burnthis originally fair complexion to a dusty red; and the bile which wasdiffused through his system, had stained it with a yellowish black--whatought to have been the white part of his eyes, in particular, had a hueas deep as the topaz. He was very thin, or rather emaciated, and hiscountenance, though still indicating alertness and activity, showed aconstitution exhausted with excessive use of his favourite stimulus.

  'I see you look at me hard,' said he to Fairford. 'Had you been anofficer of the d--d customs, my terriers' backs would have been up. Heopened his breast, and showed Alan a pair of pistols disposed betweenhis waistcoat and jacket, placing his finger at the same time upon thecock of one of them. 'But come, you are an honest fellow, though you'rea close one. I dare say you think me a queer customer; but I can tellyou, they that see the ship leave harbour know little of the seas sheis to sail through. My father, honest old gentleman, never would havethought to see me master of the JUMPING JENNY.'

  Fairford said, it seemed very clear indeed that Mr. Ewart's educationwas far superior to the line he at present occupied.

  'Oh, Criffel to Solway Moss!' said the other. Why, man, I should havebeen an expounder of the word, with a wig like a snow-wreath, and astipend like--like--like a hundred pounds a year, I suppose. I can spendthrice as much as that, though, being such as I am. Here he sang a scrapof an old Northumbrian ditty, mimicking the burr of the natives of thatcounty:--

  'Willy Foster's gone to sea, Siller buckles at his knee, He'll come back and marry me-- Canny Willy Foster.'

  'I have no doubt,' said Fairford, 'your present occupation is morelucrative; 'but I should have thought the Church might have been more'--

  He stopped, recollecting that it was not his business to say anythingdisagreeable.

  'More respectable, you mean, I suppose?' said Ewart, with a sneer, andsquirting the tobacco-juice through his front teeth; then was silent fora moment, and proceeded in a tone of candour which some internal touchof conscience dictated. 'And so it would, Mr. Fairford--and happier,too, by a thousand degrees--though I have had my pleasures too. Butthere was my father (God bless the old man!) a true chip of the oldPresbyterian block, walked his parish like a captain on the quarterdeck,and was always ready to do good to rich and poor--Off went the laird'shat to the minister, as fast as the poor man's bonnet. When the eye sawhim--Pshaw! what have I to do with that now?--Yes, he was, as Virgilhath it, "VIR SAPIENTIA ET PIETATE GRAVIS." But he might have been thewiser man, had he kept me at home, when he sent me at nineteen to studyDivinity at the head of the highest stair in the Covenant Close. Itwas a cursed mistake in the old gentleman. What though Mrs. Cantrips ofKittlebasket (for she wrote herself no less) was our cousin fivetimes removed, and took me on that account to board and lodging at sixshillings instead of seven shillings a week? it was a d--d bad saving,as the case proved. Yet her very dignity might have kept me in order;for she never read a chapter excepting out of a Cambridge Bible, printedby Daniel, and bound in embroidered velvet. I think I see it at thismoment! And on Sundays, when we had a quart of twopenny ale, insteadof butter-milk, to our porridge, it was always served up in a silverposset-dish. Also she used silver-mounted spectacles, whereas even myfather's were cased in mere horn. These things had their impression atfirst, but we get used to grandeur by degrees. Well, sir!--Gad, I canscarce get on with my story--it sticks in my throat--must take a trifleto wash it down. Well, this dame had a daughter--Jess Cantrips, ablack-eyed, bouncing wench--and, as the devil would have it, there wasthe d--d five-story stair--her foot was never from it, whether I wentout or came home from the Divinity Hall. I would have eschewed her,sir--I would, on my soul; for I was as innocent a lad as ever came fromLammermuir; but there was no possibility of escape, retreat, or flight,unless I could have got a pair of wings, or made use of a ladder sevenstories high, to scale the window of my attic. It signifies littletalking--you may suppose how all this was to end--I would have marriedthe girl, and taken my chance--I would, by Heaven! for she was a prettygirl, and a good girl, till she and I met; but you know the old song,"Kirk would not let us be." A gentleman, in my case, would have settledthe matter with the kirk-treasurer for a small sum of money; but thepoor stibbler, the penniless dominie, having married his cousin ofKittlebasket, must next have proclaimed her frailty to the whole parish,by mounting the throne of Presbyterian penance, and proving, as Othellosays, "his love a whore," in face of the whole congregation.

  'In this extremity I dared not stay where I was, and so thought to gohome to my father. But first I got Jack Radaway, a lad from the sameparish, and who lived in the same infernal stair, to make some inquirieshow the old gentleman had taken the matter. I soon, by way of answer,learned, to the great increase of my comfortable reflections, that thegood old man made as much clamour as if such a thing as a man's eatinghis wedding dinner without saying grace had never happened since Adam'stime. He did nothing for six days but cry out, "Ichabod, Ichabod, theglory is departed from my house!" and on the seventh he preached asermon, in which he enlarged on this incident as illustrative of one ofthe great occasions for humiliation, and causes of national defection. Ihope the course he took comforted himself--I am sure it made me ashamedto show my nose at home. So I went down to Leith, and, exchanging myhoddin grey coat of my mother's spinning for such a jacket as this, Ientered my name at the rendezvous as an able-bodied landsman, andsailed with the tender round to Plymouth, where they were fitting outa squadron for the West Indies. There I was put aboard the FEARNOUGHT,Captain Daredevil--among whose crew I soon learned to fear Satan (theterror of my early youth) as little as the toughest Jack on board. I hadsome qualms at first, but I took the remedy' (tapping the case-bottle)'which I recommend to you, being as good for sickness of the soul as forsickness of the stomach--What, you won't?--very well, I must, then--hereis to ye.'

  'You would, I am afraid, find your education of little use in your newcondition?' said Fairford.

  'Pardon me, sir,' resumed the captain of the JUMPING JENNY; 'my handfulof Latin, and small pinch of Greek, were as useless as old junk, to besure; but my reading, writing and accompting, stood me in good stead,and brought me forward; I might have been schoolmaster--aye, and master,in time; but that valiant liquor, rum, made a conquest of me rather toooften, and so, make what sail I could, I always went to leeward. We werefour years broiling in t
hat blasted climate, and I came back at lastwith a little prize-money. I always had thoughts of putting things torights in the Covenant Close, and reconciling myself to my father. Ifound out Jack Hadaway, who was TUPTOWING away with a dozen of wretchedboys, and a fine string of stories he had ready to regale my earswithal. My father had lectured on what he called "my falling away," forseven Sabbaths, when, just as his parishioners began to hope that thecourse was at an end, he was found dead in his bed on the eighth Sundaymorning. Jack Hadaway assured me, that if I wished to atone for myerrors, by undergoing the fate of the first martyr, I had only to goto my native village, where the very stones of the street would riseup against me as my father's murderer. Here was a pretty item--well, mytongue clove to my mouth for an hour, and was only able at last toutter the name of Mrs. Cantrips. Oh, this was a new theme for my Job'scomforter. My sudden departure--my father's no less sudden death--hadprevented the payment of the arrears of my board and lodging--thelandlord was a haberdasher, with a heart as rotten as the muslinwares he dealt in. Without respect to her age or gentle kin, my LadyKittlebasket was ejected from her airy habitation--her porridge-pot,silver posset-dish, silver-mounted spectacles, and Daniel's CambridgeBible, sold, at the Cross of Edinburgh, to the caddie who would bidhighest for them, and she herself driven to the workhouse, where she gotin with difficulty, but was easily enough lifted out, at the end of themonth, as dead as her friends could desire. Merry tidings this to me,who had been the d----d' (he paused a moment) 'ORIGO MALI--Gad, I thinkmy confession would sound better in Latin than in English!

  'But the best jest was behind--I had just power to stammer out somethingabout Jess--by my faith he HAD an answer! I had taught Jess one trade,and, like a prudent girl, she had found out another for herself;unluckily, they were both contraband, and Jess Cantrips, daughter of theLady Kittlebasket, had the honour to be transported to the plantations,for street-walking and pocket-picking, about six months before I touchedshore.'

  He changed the bitter tone of affected pleasantry into an attempt tolaugh, then drew his swarthy hand across his swarthy eyes, and said in amore natural accent, 'Poor Jess!'

  There was a pause--until Fairford, pitying the poor man's state of mind,and believing he saw something in him that, but for early error andsubsequent profligacy, might have been excellent and noble, helped onthe conversation by asking, in a tone of commiseration, how he had beenable to endure such a load of calamity.

  'Why, very well,' answered the seaman; 'exceedingly well--like a tightship in a brisk gale. Let me recollect. I remember thanking Jack, verycomposedly, for the interesting and agreeable communication; I thenpulled out my canvas pouch, with my hoard of moidores, and taking outtwo pieces, I bid Jack keep the rest till I came back, as I was for acruise about Auld Reekie. The poor devil looked anxiously, but I shookhim by the hand, and ran downstairs, in such confusion of mind, thatnotwithstanding what I had heard, I expected to meet Jess at everyturning.

  It was market-day, and the usual number of rogues and fools wereassembled at the Cross. I observed everybody looked strange on me, and Ithought some laughed. I fancy I had been making queer faces enough, andperhaps talking to myself, When I saw myself used in this manner, I heldout my clenched fists straight before me, stooped my head, and, like aram when he makes his race, darted off right down the street, scatteringgroups of weatherbeaten lairds and periwigged burgesses, and bearingdown all before me. I heard the cry of "Seize the madman!" echoed, inCeltic sounds, from the City Guard, with "Ceaze ta matman!"--but pursuitand opposition were in vain. I pursued my career; the smell of the sea,I suppose, led me to Leith, where, soon after, I found myself walkingvery quietly on the shore, admiring the tough round and sound cordageof the vessels, and thinking how a loop, with a man at the end of one ofthem, would look, by way of tassel.

  'I was opposite to the rendezvous, formerly my place of refuge--inI bolted--found one or two old acquaintances, made half a dozennew ones--drank for two days--was put aboard the tender--off toPortsmouth--then landed at the Haslar hospital in a fine hissing-hotfever. Never mind--I got better--nothing can kill me--the West Indieswere my lot again, for since I did not go where I deserved in thenext world, I had something as like such quarters as can be had inthis--black devils for inhabitants--flames and earthquakes, and soforth, for your element. Well, brother, something or other I did orsaid--I can't tell what--How the devil should I, when I was as drunkas David's sow, you know? But I was punished, my lad--made to kiss thewench that never speaks but when she scolds, and that's the gunner'sdaughter, comrade. Yes, the minister's son of no matter where--has thecat's scratch on his back! This roused me, and when we were ashore withthe boat, I gave three inches of the dirk, after a stout tussle, to thefellow I blamed most, and took the bush for it. There were plenty ofwild lads then along shore--and, I don't care who knows--I went on theaccount, look you--sailed under the black flag and marrow-bones--was agood friend to the sea, and an enemy to all that sailed on it.'

  Fairford, though uneasy in his mind at finding himself, a lawyer, soclose to a character so lawless, thought it best, nevertheless, to put agood face on the matter, and asked Mr. Ewart, with as much unconcern ashe could assume, 'whether he was fortunate as a rover?'

  'No, no--d--n it, no,' replied Nanty; 'the devil a crumb of butter wasever churned that would stick upon my bread. There was no order amongus--he that was captain to-day, was swabber to-morrow; and as forplunder--they say old Avery, and one or two close hunks, made money; butin my time, all went as it came; and reason good, for if a fellow hadsaved five dollars, his throat would have been cut in his hammock. Andthen it was a cruel, bloody work.--Pah,--we'll say no more about it.I broke with them at last, for what they did on board of a bit of asnow--no matter what it was bad enough, since it frightened me--I tookFrench leave, and came in upon the proclamation, so I am free of allthat business. And here I sit, the skipper of the JUMPING JENNY--anutshell of a thing, but goes through the water like a dolphin. If itwere not for yon hypocritical scoundrel at Annan, who has the best endof the profit, and takes none of the risk, I should be well enough--aswell as I want to be. Here is no lack of my best friend,'--touching hiscase-bottle;--'but, to tell you a secret, he and I have got so used toeach other, I begin to think he is like a professed joker, that makesyour sides sore with laughing if you see him but now and then; but ifyou take up house with him, he can only make your head stupid. But Iwarrant the old fellow is doing the best he can for me, after all.'

  'And what may that be?' said Fairford.

  'He is KILLING me,' replied Nanty Ewart; 'and I am only sorry he is solong about it.'

  So saying he jumped on his feet, and, tripping up and down the deck,gave his orders with his usual clearness and decision, notwithstandingthe considerable quantity of spirits which he had contrived to swallowwhile recounting his history.

  Although far from feeling well, Fairford endeavoured to rouse himselfand walk to the head of the brig, to enjoy the beautiful prospect, aswell as to take some note of the course which the vessel held. To hisgreat surprise, instead of standing across to the opposite shorefrom which she had departed, the brig was going down the Firth, andapparently steering into the Irish Sea. He called to Nanty Ewart, andexpressed his surprise at the course they were pursuing, and askedwhy they did not stand straight across the Firth for some port inCumberland.

  'Why, this is what I call a reasonable question, now,' answered Nanty;'as if a ship could go as straight to its port as a horse to the stable,or a free-trader could sail the Solway as securely as a King's cutter!Why, I'll tell ye, brother--if I do not see a smoke on Bowness, thatis the village upon the headland yonder, I must stand out to sea fortwenty-four hours at least, for we must keep the weather-gage if thereare hawks abroad.'

  'And if you do see the signal of safety, Master Ewart, what is to bedone then?'

  'Why then, and in that case, I must keep off till night, and then runyou, with the kegs and the rest of the lumber, ashore at Skinburness,'

  'And then I am to meet
with this same laird whom I have the letter for?'continued Fairford.

  'That,' said Ewart, 'is thereafter as it may be; the ship has itscourse--the fair trader has his port--but it is not easy to say wherethe laird may be found. But he will be within twenty miles of us, off oron--and it will be my business to guide you to him.'

  Fairford could not withstand the passing impulse of terror which crossedhim, when thus reminded that he was so absolutely in the power of a man,who, by his own account, had been a pirate, and who was at present, inall probability, an outlaw as well as a contraband trader. Nanty Ewartguessed the cause of his involuntary shuddering.

  'What the devil should I gain,' he said, 'by passing so poor a card asyou are? Have I not had ace of trumps in my hand, and did I not play itfairly? Aye, I say the JUMPING JENNY can run in other ware as well askegs. Put SIGMA and TAU to Ewart, and see how that will spell--D'ye takeme now?'

  'No indeed,' said Fairford; 'I am utterly ignorant of what you alludeto.'

  'Now, by Jove!' said Nanty Ewart, 'thou art either the deepest or theshallowest fellow I ever met with--or you are not right after all. Iwonder where Summertrees could pick up such a tender along-shore. Willyou let me see his letter?'

  Fairford did not hesitate to gratify his wish, which, he was aware, hecould not easily resist. The master of the JUMPING JENNY looked atthe direction very attentively, then turned the letter to and fro, andexamined each flourish of the pen, as if he were judging of a pieceof ornamented manuscript; then handled it back to Fairford, without asingle word of remark.

  'Am I right now?' said the young lawyer.

  'Why, for that matter,' answered Nanty, 'the letter is right, sureenough; but whether you are right or not, is your own business ratherthan mine.' And, striking upon a flint with the back of a knife, hekindled a cigar as thick as his finger, and began to smoke away withgreat perseverance.

  Alan Fairford continued to regard him with a melancholy feeling, dividedbetwixt the interest he took in the unhappy man, and a not unnaturalapprehension for the issue of his own adventure.

  Ewart, notwithstanding the stupefying nature of his pastime, seemedto guess what was working in his passenger's mind; for, after they hadremained some time engaged in silently observing each other, he suddenlydashed his cigar on the deck, and said to him, 'Well then, if you aresorry for me, I am sorry for you. D--n me, if I have cared a button forman or mother's son, since two years since when I had another peep ofJack Hadaway. 'The fellow was got as fat as a Norway whale--married to agreat Dutch-built quean that had brought him six children. I believehe did not know me, and thought I was come to rob his house; however, Imade up a poor face, and told him who I was. Poor Jack would have givenme shelter and clothes, and began to tell me of the moidores that werein bank, when I wanted them. Egad, he changed his note when I told himwhat my life had been, and only wanted to pay me my cash and get ridof me. I never saw so terrified a visage. I burst out a-laughing in hisface, told him it was all a humbug, and that the moidores were all hisown, henceforth and for ever, and so ran off. I caused one of our peoplesend him a bag of tea and a keg of brandy, before I left--poor Jack!I think you are the second person these ten years, that has cared atobacco-stopper for Nanty Ewart.'

  'Perhaps, Mr. Ewart,' said Fairford, 'you live chiefly with men toodeeply interested for their own immediate safety, to think much upon thedistress of others?'

  'And with whom do you yourself consort, I pray?' replied Nanty, smartly.'Why, with plotters, that can make no plot to better purpose than theirown hanging; and incendiaries, that are snapping the flint upon wettinder. You'll as soon raise the dead as raise the Highlands--you'll assoon get a grunt from a dead sow as any comfort from Wales or Cheshire.You think because the pot is boiling, that no scum but yours can comeuppermost--I know better, by--. All these rackets and riots that youthink are trending your way have no relation at all to your interest;and the best way to make the whole kingdom friends again at once, wouldbe the alarm of such an undertaking as these mad old fellows are tryingto launch into.

  'I really am not in such secrets as you seem to allude to,' saidFairford; and, determined at the same time to avail himself as far aspossible of Nanty's communicative disposition, he added, with a smile,'And if I were, I should not hold it prudent to make them much thesubject of conversation. But I am sure, so sensible a man as Summertreesand the laird may correspond together without offence to the state.'

  'I take you, friend--I take you,' said Nanty Ewart, upon whom, atlength, the liquor and tobacco-smoke began to make considerableinnovation. 'As to what gentlemen may or may not correspond about, whywe may pretermit the question, as the old professor used to say at theHall; and as to Summertrees, I will say nothing, knowing him to be anold fox. But I say that this fellow the laird is a firebrand in thecountry; that he is stirring up all the honest fellows who should bedrinking their brandy quietly, by telling them stories about theirancestors and the Forty-five; and that he is trying to turn all watersinto his own mill-dam, and to set his sails to all winds. And becausethe London people are roaring about for some pinches of their own,he thinks to win them to his turn with a wet finger. And he getsencouragement from some, because they want a spell of money from him;and from others, because they fought for the cause once and are ashamedto go back; and others, because they have nothing to lose; and others,because they are discontented fools. But if he has brought you, or anyone, I say not whom, into this scrape, with the hope of doing any good,he's a d--d decoy-duck, and that's all I can say for him; and you aregeese, which is worse than being decoy-ducks, or lame-ducks either.And so here is to the prosperity of King George the Third, and the truePresbyterian religion, and confusion to the Pope, the Devil, and thePretender! I'll tell you what, Mr. Fairbairn, I am but tenth owner ofthis bit of a craft, the JUMPING JENNY--but tenth owner and must sailher by my owners' directions. But if I were whole owner, I would nothave the brig be made a ferry-boat for your Jacobitical, old-fashionedPopish riff-raff, Mr. Fairport--I would not, by my soul; they shouldwalk the plank, by the gods, as I have seen better men do when I sailedunder the What-d'ye-callum colours. But being contraband goods, and onboard my vessel, and I with my sailing orders in my hand, why, I am toforward them as directed--I say, John Roberts, keep her up a bit withthe helm.--and so, Mr. Fairweather, what I do is--as the d--d villainTurnpenny says--all in the way of business.'

  He had been speaking with difficulty for the last five minutes, andnow at length dropped on the deck, fairly silenced by the quantity ofspirits which he had swallowed, but without having showed any glimpse ofthe gaiety, or even of the extravagance, of intoxication.

  The old sailor stepped forward and flung a sea-cloak over theslumberer's shoulders, and added, looking at Fairford, 'Pity of him heshould have this fault; for without it, he would have been as clever afellow as ever trod a plank with ox leather.'

  'And what are we to do now?' said Fairford.

  'Stand off and on, to be sure, till we see the signal, and then obeyorders.'

  So saying, the old man turned to his duty, and left the passenger toamuse himself with his own meditations. Presently afterward a lightcolumn of smoke was seen rising from the little headland.

  'I can tell you what we are to do now, master,' said the sailor. 'We'llstand out to sea, and then run in again with the evening tide, andmake Skinburness; or, if there's not light, we can run into theWampool river, and put you ashore about Kirkbride or Leaths, with thelong-boat.'

  Fairford, unwell before, felt this destination condemned him to an agonyof many hours, which his disordered stomach and aching head were illable to endure. There was no remedy, however, but patience, and therecollection that he was suffering in the cause of friendship. As thesun rose high, he became worse; his sense of smell appeared to acquirea morbid degree of acuteness, for the mere purpose of inhaling anddistinguishing all the various odours with which he was surrounded, fromthat of pitch to all the complicated smells of the hold. His heart, too,throbbed under the heat, and he felt as if
in full progress towards ahigh fever.

  The seamen, who were civil and attentive considering their calling,observed his distress, and one contrived to make an awning out of anold sail, while another compounded some lemonade, the only liquor whichtheir passenger could be prevailed upon to touch. After drinking it off,he obtained, but could not be said to enjoy, a few hours of troubledslumber.