第17章 A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.(10)

"Do so,Captain,"said Lord Menteith;"you will have the night to think of it,for we are now near the house,where I hope to ensure you a hospitable reception."

"And that is what will be very welcome,"said the Captain,"for I have tasted no food since daybreak but a farl of oatcake,which I divided with my horse.So I have been fain to draw my sword-belt three bores tighter for very extenuation,lest hunger and heavy iron should make the gird slip."

CHAPTER IV.

Once on a time,no matter when,Some Glunimies met in a glen;

As deft and tight as ever wore A durk,a targe,and a claymore,Short hose,and belted plaid or trews,In Uist,Lochaber,Skye,or Lewes,Or cover'd hard head with his bonnet;

Had you but known them,you would own it.MESTON.

A hill was now before the travellers,covered with an ancient forest of Scottish firs,the topmost of which,flinging their scathed branches across the western horizon,gleamed ruddy in the setting sun.In the centre of this wood rose the towers,or rather the chimneys,of the house,or castle,as it was called,destined for the end of their journey.

As usual at that period,one or two high-ridged narrow buildings,intersecting and crossing each other,formed the CORPS DE LOGIS.

A protecting bartizan or two,with the addition of small turrets at the angles,much resembling pepper-boxes,had procured for Darnlinvarach the dignified appellation of a castle.It was surrounded by a low court-yard wall,within which were the usual offices.

As the travellers approached more nearly,they discovered marks of recent additions to the defences of the place,which had been suggested,doubtless,by the insecurity of those troublesome times.Additional loop-holes for musketry were struck out in different parts of the building,and of its surrounding wall.

The windows had just been carefully secured by stancheons of iron,crossing each other athwart and end-long,like the grates of a prison.The door of the court-yard was shut;and it was only after cautious challenge that one of its leaves was opened by two domestics,both strong Highlanders,and both under arms,like Bitias and Pandarus in the AEneid,ready to defend the entrance if aught hostile had ventured an intrusion.

When the travellers were admitted into the court,they found additional preparations for defence.The walls were scaffolded for the use of fire-arms,and one or two of the small guns,called sackers,or falcons,were mounted at the angles and flanking turrets.

More domestics,both in the Highland and Lowland dress,instantly rushed from the anterior of the mansion,and some hastened to take the horses of the strangers,while others waited to marshal them a way into the dwelling-house.But Captain Dalgetty refused the proffered assistance of those who wished to relieve him of the charge of his horse."It is my custom,my friends,to see Gustavus (for so I have called him,after my invincible master)accommodated myself;we are old friends and fellow-travellers,and as I often need the use of his legs,I always lend him in my turn the service of my tongue,to call for whatever he has occasion for;"and accordingly he strode into the stable after his steed without farther apology.

Neither Lord Menteith nor his attendants paid the same attention to their horses,but,leaving them to the proffered care of the servants of the place,walked forward into the house,where a sort of dark vaulted vestibule displayed,among other miscellaneous articles,a huge barrel of two-penny ale,beside which were ranged two or three wooden queichs,or bickers,ready,it would appear,for the service of whoever thought proper to employ them.Lord Menteith applied himself to the spigot,drank without ceremony,and then handed the stoup to Anderson,who followed his master's example,but not until he had flung out the drop of ale which remained,and slightly rinsed the wooden cup.

"What the deil,man,"said an old Highland servant belonging to the family,"can she no drink after her ain master without washing the cup and spilling the ale,and be tamned to her!"

"I was bred in France,"answered Anderson,"where nobody drinks after another out of the same cup,unless it be after a young lady."

"The teil's in their nicety!"said Donald;"and if the ale be gude,fat the waur is't that another man's beard's been in the queich before ye?"

Anderson's companion drank without observing the ceremony which had given Donald so much offence,and both of them followed their master into the low-arched stone hall,which was the common rendezvous of a Highland family.A large fire of peats in the huge chimney at the upper end shed a dim light through the apartment,and was rendered necessary by the damp,by which,even during the summer,the apartment was rendered uncomfortable.

Twenty or thirty targets,as many claymores,with dirks,and plaids,and guns,both match-lock and fire-lock,and long-bows,and cross-bows,and Lochaber axes,and coats of plate armour,and steel bonnets,and headpieces,and the more ancient haborgeons,or shirts of reticulated mail,with hood and sleeves corresponding to it,all hung in confusion about the walls,and would have formed a month's amusement to a member of a modern antiquarian society.But such things were too familiar,to attract much observation on the part of the present spectators.

There was a large clumsy oaken table,which the hasty hospitality of the domestic who had before spoken,immediately spread with milk,butter,goat-milk cheese,a flagon of beer,and a flask of usquebae,designed for the refreshment of Lord Menteith;while an inferior servant made similar preparations at the bottom of the table for the benefit of his attendants.The space which intervened between them was,according to the manners of the times,sufficient distinction between master and servant,even though the former was,as in the present instance,of high rank.