 Preface and Dedication and Disclaimer to Kidnapped. While my husband and Mr. Henley were engaged in writing plays in Bournemouth, they made a number of titles, hoping to use them in the future. Dramatic composition was not what my husband preferred, but the tort of Mr. Henley's enthusiasm swept him off his feet. However, after several plays had been finished, and his health seriously impaired by his endeavors to keep up with Mr. Henley, playwriting was abandoned forever. Then my husband returned to his legitimate vocation. Having added one of the titles, The Hanging Judge, to the list of projected plays now thrown aside, and emboldened by my husband's offer to give me any help needed, I concluded to try and write it myself. As it wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the period of 1700 for my purpose, but being shamefully ignorant of my subject and my husband confessing to little more knowledge than I possessed, a London bookseller was commissioned to send us everything he could procure bearing on Old Bailey trials. A great package came in response to our order, and very soon we were both absorbed, not so much in the trials, as in following the brilliant career of a Mr. Garrow who appeared as counsel in many of the cases. We sent for more books, and yet more, still intent on Mr. Garrow, whose subtle cross-examination of witnesses and masterly, if sometimes startling methods of arriving at the truth, seemed more thrilling to us than any novel. Occasionally other trials than those in the Old Bailey would be included in the package of books we received from London. Among these my husband found in red with avidity the trial of James Stewart in O'Carne in Durer of Appen for the murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure E. F. Q., factor for his majesty on the forfeited estate of Artfield. My husband was always interested in this period of his country's history, and had already the intention of writing a story that should turn on the Appen murder. The tale was to be of a boy, David Balfour, supposed to belong to my husband's own family, who should travel in Scotland as though it were a foreign country, meeting with various adventures and misadventures, by the way. From the trial of James Stewart my husband gleaned much valuable material for his novel, the most important being the character of Alan Brick. Aside from having described him as smallish in stature, my husband seems to have taken Alan Brick's personal appearance even to his clothing from the book. A letter from James Stewart to Mr. John McFarlane introduced as evidence in the trial says, There is one Alan Stewart, a distant friend of the late hardeals, who is in the French service, and came over in March last, as he said to some in order to settle at home, to others, that he was to go soon back, and was, as I hear, the day that the murder was committed, seen not far from the place where it happened, and is not now to be seen, by which it is believed he was the actor. He is a desperate foolish fellow, and if he is guilty, came to the country for that very purpose. He is a tall, pock-pitted lad, very black hair, and wore a blue coat and metal buttons, an old red vest, and breeches of the same color. A second witness testified to having seen him wearing a blue coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, black shag breeches, tartan hose, and a feathered hat with a big coat, done colored, a costume referred to by one of the counsel as French clothes, which were remarkable. There are many incidents given in the trial that point to Alan's fiery spirit and highland quickness to take offense. One witness declared also that the said Alan Brick threatened that he would challenge Bally Violin and his sons to fight because of his removing the declarant last year from Glenduror. On another page, Duncan Campbell, change-keeper at Annett, aged thirty-five years, married, witness-sighted, sworn, purged, and examined, at Tsupra de Pones, that in the month of April last the deponent met with Alan Brick Stewart, with whom he was not acquainted, and John Stewart, in Oknachuan, in the house of the Walkmiller of Ockelfragen, and went on with them to the house. Alan Brick Stewart said that he hated all the name of Campbell, and the deponent said he had no reason for doing so. But Alan said he had very good reason for it, that thereafter they left that house, and, after drinking a dram at another house, came to the deponent's house, where they went in and drunk some drams, and Alan Brick renewed the former conversation. And the deponent, making the same answer, Alan said that, if the deponent had any respect for his friends, he would tell them that, if they offered to turn out the possessors of Ardheel's estate, he would make black cocks of them, before they entered into possession, by which the deponent understood shooting them, it being a common phrase in the country. Some time after the publication of Kidnapped, we stopped for a short while in the Appan country, where we were surprised and interested to discover that the feeling concerning the murder of Glenure, the Red Fox, also called Cullen Roy, was almost as keen as though the tragedy had taken place the day before. For several years my husband received letters of expostulation or commendation from members of the Campbell and Stewart clans. I have in my possession a paper, yellow with age, that was sent soon after the novel appeared, containing the pedigree of the family of Apin, wherein it is said that Alan III Baron of Apin was not killed at Floodown, though there but lived to a great old age. He married Cameron's daughter to Ewan McCamron of Lockheedle. Following this is a paragraph stating that John Stewart first of Ardheel of his descendants, Alan Breck, had better be omitted, Duncan Bain Stewart in Acondirach, his father was a bastard. One day, while my husband was busily at work, I sat beside him reading an old cookery book called The Complete Housewife, an accomplished gentlewoman's companion. In the midst of receipts for rabbits and chickens mumbled, pickled semfire, skirt pie, baked tansy, and other forgotten delicacies, there were directions for the preparation of several lotions for the preservation of beauty. One of these was so charming that I interrupted my husband to read it aloud. Just what I wanted, he exclaimed, and the receipt for the lily of the valley water was instantly incorporated into kidnapped. F. V. D. E. G. S. Dedication. My dear Charles Baxter. If you ever read this tale, you will likely ask yourself more questions than I should care to answer, as, for instance, how the Apin murder has come to fall in the year 1751, how the tauren rocks have crept so nearer to air raid, or why the printed trial is silent as to all the touches David Balfour. These are nuts beyond my ability to crack. But if you tried me on the point of Allen's guilt or innocence, I think I could defend the reading of the text. To this day you will find the tradition of Apin clear in Allen's favour. If you inquire, you may even hear that the descendants of the other man who fired the shot are in the country to this day. But that other man's name inquire as you please, you shall not hear. For the Highlander values a secret for itself, and for the congenial exercise of keeping it, I might go on for long to justify one point and own another indefensible. It is more honest to confess it wants how little I am touched by the desire of accuracy. This is no furniture for the scholar's library, but a book for the winter evening schoolroom when the tasks are over and the hour for bed draws near. An honest Allen, who was a grim old fire-eater in his stay, has, in this new avatar, no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his ovid, carry him a while into the Highlands in the last century, and pack him to bed with some engaging images to mingle with his dreams. As for you, my dear Charles, I do not even ask you to like this tale, but perhaps when he is older, your son will. He may then be pleased to find his father's name on the fly-leaf, and in the meanwhile it pleases me to set it there, in memory of many days that were happy, and some, now perhaps as pleasant to remember, that were sad. It is strange for me to look back from a distance both in time and space on these bygone adventures of our youth. It must be stranger for you who tread the same streets, who may tomorrow open the door of the old speculative, where we began to rank with Scott and Robert Emmett, and the beloved and inglorious McBean, or may pass the corner of the close where that great society, the LJR, held its meetings and drank its beer, sitting in the seats of Burns and his companions. I think I see you, moving there by plain daylight, beholding with your natural eyes those places that have now become for your companion a part of the scenery of dreams. How, in the interval of present business, the past must echo in your memory, let it not echo often without some kind thoughts of your friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, signed in Scarybore, Bournemouth. Now a disclaimer. Your reader is an American. I'm sorry. I will do my absolute level best to pronounce the Scots words accurately and the names as well, but I cannot promise that they are accurate. Neither can I pretend to a Highland or a Lowland Scots accent. I will make some kind of an attempt, but please bear with me when I fall short. Thank you and good listening. CHAPTER 1 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 mats, the black birds 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 Essendine, 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, David 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 you sorry to leave Essendine? said he after a while. Why, sir, said I, if I knew where I was going, or what was likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly, Essendine is of 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 Essendine 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. I, said Mr. Campbell, very well, David, then it behooves 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 houses red up and the gear disposed of, all which David hath been done, give my boy this letter into his hand, and start him off to the house of Shaw's, not far from Kremen. 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 gore, and I doubt not he will come safe and be well liked where he goes. The house of Shaw's, I cried, what hath my poor father to do with the house of Shaw's? Nay, said Mr. Campbell, who can tell that for assurity, but the name of that family, David Boy, is the name you bear. Balfour's of Shaw's, an ancient, honest, reputable house, per adventure in these latter days, decayed. 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 dominey. But, as ye will yourself remember, I took I a pleasure to have him to the mats to meet the gentry, and those of my own house, Campbell of Kilrennit, 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, superscribed 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 Shaw's, in his house of Shaw's, 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 dominey in the forest of Ettrick. Mr. Campbell, I stammered, and if you were in my shoes, would you go? Of assurity, 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 come 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. You can but walk the two days back again and respect the man's door. But I would rather hope that you should be well received, as your poor father forecast for you, and for anything that I can, come to be a great man in time. And here, David 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, sat down upon it with a very long, serious upper lip, and the son now shining in upon us between two peaks, put his pocket handkerchief over his cocked hat to shelter him. There, then, with uplifted 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 suple, David, in things immaterial, said he, bear ye this in mind, that though gentle-born you have a country rearing. Denyshamus, David, denyshamus, in young 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 explained from the first, in the design of reselling at a profit to the incoming Domini. The other three are gifties that Mrs. Campbell and myself would be blithe of your acceptance. The first, which is round, will likely please your best at the first off-go. But, O Davey, 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 cubicle, that'll see you, as my prayerful wish, for a better land. With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a little while aloud, and in effecting 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 out of that quiet countryside and go to a great busy house among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood. Davy, Davy, I thought, was ever seen such black in gratitude. Can you forget old favors and old friends at the mere whistle of a name? Bye! Bye! 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 cubicle I had never had much doubt of. Sure enough it was a little Bible to carry in a plaid nuke. 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 Lillia the Valley water. Take the flowers of Lillia the Valley and distill them in sack, and drink a spoonful or two as there is occasion. It restores speech to those that have the dumb palsy. It is good against the gout. It comforts the heart and strengthens the memory. And the flowers put into a glass, close stopped, and set into a 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 colic a great spoonful 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 Essendine, the trees about the mants, and the big rowens in the Kirkyard, where my father and my mother lay. End of chapter. Chapter 2 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Chapter 2 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 neighborhood of Cremond, and so, from one to another, worked my way to the westward of the capital by Collinton, till I came out upon the Glasgow Road. And there, to my great pleasure and wonder, I beheld a regiment marching to the Fife's 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 popes 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 further on, and I was told I was in Cremond to perish, and began to substitute in my inquiries the name of the House of Shaw's. 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 that there was something strange about the Shaw's 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 that called the House of Shaw's. He stopped his cart and looked at me like the others. I, said he, what for? It's a great house, I asked. Doubtless, says he, the house is a big muckle-house. I, said I, but the folk that are in it? Folk! cried he. Are you daft, than they folks there to call folk? What, say I, not Mr. Ebenezer? Oh, I, says the man. There's the lad to be sure, if it's him you're wanting. What'll like be your business, Manny? 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, Manny, he added, it's none of my affairs, but you seem a decent spoken lad, and if you'll take a word from me you'll keep clear of the Shaw's. The next person I came across was a dapper little man and 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 Shaw's. Hoot, hoot, hoot! said the barber. Not kind of a man, not 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 is ill-famed should be thus current on the wayside? If an hour's walking would have brought me back to Essendine I would have left my adventure then and there and returned to Mr. Campbell's. But when I had come so far away 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. I 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 buildings standing very bare upon a green in the bottom of the next valley. The country was pleasant roundabout, running in low hills, pleasantly watered and wooded, and the crops to my eyes wonderfully good. But the house itself seemed 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 shores, 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 you see the Laird, tell him what you hear, tell him this makes the twelve-hunter in nineteen time that Yedic Cleuston has called down the curse on him and his house, buyer and stable, man, guest and master, wife, miss or baron. Black, black be their fall! And the woman, whose voice had ridden to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip and was gone. I could, where she left me, with my hair on end. In those days folks still believed in witches and trembled at a curse, and this one, falling so pat, like a waist-side omen, to arrest me air I carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs. I sat me down and stared at the house of shores. The more I looked, the pleasanter that countryside appeared, being all set with hawthorn bushes full of flowers, 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 gooding. 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, a mental 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-coat. 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 Essin 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 someone rattling with dishes 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. The 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 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 blunder-bus at one of the first story windows. "'It's loaded,' said a voice. "'I have come here with a letter,' I said. "'To Mr. Ebenezer Balfour of Shaw's. Is he here?' "'From whom is it?' asked the man with the blunder-bus. "'That is neither here nor there,' said I, for I was growing very wroth.' "'Well,' was the reply. "'You can put it down upon the doorstep and be off with you.' "'I will do no such thing,' I cried. "'I will deliver it into Mr. Balfour's hands as it was met I should. "'It is a letter of introduction.' "'A what?' cried the voice sharply. I repeated what I had said. "'Who are you, yourself?' was the next question, after a considerable pause. "'I'm not ashamed of my name,' said I. "'They call me David Balfour.' At that I made sure the man started, for I heard the blunder-bus rattle on the windowsill, 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. "'I,' the man resumed, he'll be dead no doubt, and that'll be what brings you chappin' to my door.' Another pause, and then defiantly. "'Well, man,' he said. "'I'll let you in.'" And he disappeared from the window. End of chapter. CHAPTER III This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. 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 Nethin,' 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. The fire had burned up fairly bright and showed me the barest room I think I ever put my eyes on. Half a dozen dishes stood upon the shelves. The table was laid for supper with a bowl of porridge, a horned spoon, and a cup of small beer. Besides what I have named there was not another thing in that great stone vaulted empty chamber, but lock-fast chests arranged along the wall and a corner covered with a padlock. As soon as the last chain was up the man rejoined me. He was a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature, and his age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved, but what most distressed and even daunted me, he would neither take his eyes away from me nor look me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could fathom, but he seemed most like an old, unprofitable serving man who should have been left in charge of that big house upon board wages. Are you sharp-set? he asked, glancing at about the level of my knee. You can eat that drop, Perich. I said I feared it was his own supper. Oh, said he, I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, though, for it slackens my cough. He drank the cup about half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank, and then suddenly held out his hand. Let's see the letter, said he. I told him the letter was for Mr. Balfour, not for him. And who do you think I am, says he. Give me Alexander's letter. You know my father's name? It would be strange if I did not, he returned, for he was my born brother, and little as you seem to like either me or my house or my good Perich, I'm your born uncle Davy, my man, and you my born nephew. So give us the letter and sit down and fill your kite. I had been some years younger, what with shame, weariness, and disappointment, I believe I had burst into tears. As it was I could find no words, neither black nor white, but handed him the letter and sat down to the porridge with as little appetite for me as ever a young man had. Meanwhile my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the letter over and over in his hands. Dear Ken, what's in it? he asked, suddenly. You see for yourself, sir, said I, that the seal has not been broken. I, said he, but what brought you here? To give the letter, said I. No, says he, cunningly, but you'll have some hopes, no doubt. I confess, sir, said I, when I was told that I had kinsfolk well to do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me in my life. But I am no beggar, I look for no favors at your hands, and I want none that are not freely given. For as poor as I appear I have friends of my own that will be blithe to help me. Who toot? said uncle Ebenezer. Didn't I fly up in the snuff at me? We'll agree fine yet. And, David, my man, if you're done with that bit of perich, I could just tick a sup of it myself. I, he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and spoon, there fine hails some food, their grand food, perich. He murmured a little grace to himself, and fell too. Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind. He was a hearty, if not a great eater, but as for me I could never do more than pike at food. He took a pull at the small beer which probably reminded him of hospitable duties for his next speech ran thus. If you're dry you'll find water behind the door. To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet, and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart. He, on his part, continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to throw out little darting glances now at my shoes and now at my home-spun stockings. Once only, when he had ventured to look a little higher, our eyes met, and no thief taken with a hand in a man's pocket could have shown more lively signals of distress. This set me in amuse, whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company, or whether perhaps, upon a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle changed into an altogether different man. From this I was awakened by his sharp voice. "'Your father's been long dead,' he asked. "'Three weeks, sir,' said I. "'He was a secret man, Alexander, a secret silent man.' He continued. "'He never said muckl when he was young. "'He never have spoken muckl of me?' "'I never knew, sir, till you told it me yourself that he had any brother.' "'Dear me, dear me,' said Ebenezer. "'Nor yet of Shaw's, I daresay.' "'Not so much as the name, sir,' said I. "'To think of that,' said he, a strange nature of a man. "'For all that he seemed singularly satisfied. "'But whether with himself, or me, or with this conduct of my father's "'was more than I could read. "'Certainly, however, he seemed to be outgrowing that distaste "'or ill-will that he had conceived at first against my person, "'for presently he jumped up, came across the room behind me, "'and hit me a smack upon the shoulder.' "'We'll agree fine yet,' he cried. "'I ain't just as glad I let you in. "'And now come away to your bed.' To my surprise he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth into the dark passage, groped his way, breathing deeply up a flight of steps, and paused before a door which he unlocked. I was close upon his heels having stumbled after him as best I might, and then he bade me go in, for that was my chamber. I did his e-bed, but paused after a few steps and begged the light to go to bed with. "'Who toot?' said Uncle Ebenezer. "'There's a fine moon.' "'Neither moon or star, sir, and pit-merk,' said I. "'I cannot see the bed.' "'Who toot? Who toot?' said he. "'Lights and a house is a thing I did not agree with. "'Uncle, fair to fires! "'Gnight to you, David, my man!' And before I had time to add a further protest he pulled the door to, and I heard him lock me in from the outside. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as cold as so well, and the bed, when I had found my way to it, as damp as a peat-hag, but by good fortune I had caught up my bundle in my plaid and rolling myself in the ladder. I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead and fell speedily asleep. With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself in a great chamber, hung with snapped leather, furnished with fine embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years ago, or perhaps twenty, it must have been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awaken as a man could wish. But damp, dirt, disuse, and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then. Many of the windowpains besides were broken, and indeed this was so common a feature in that house that I believe my uncle must at some time have stood a siege from his indignant neighbors, perhaps with Genek Klustin at their head. Meanwhile the sun was shining outside and, being very cold in that miserable room, I knocked and shouted till my jailer came and let me out. He carried me to the back of the house where there was a draw-well and told me to wash my face there if I wanted. And when that was done I made the best of my own way back to the kitchen where he had lit the fire and was making the porridge. The table was laid with two bowls and two hornspoons but the same single measure of small beer. Perhaps my eye rested on this particular with some surprise, and perhaps my uncle observed it, for he spoke up as if an answer to my thought, asking me if I would like to drink ale for so he called it. I told him such was my habit but not to put himself about. Nah, nah, said he. I'll deny you nothing in reason. He fetched another cup from the shelf and then to my great surprise, instead of drawing more beer, he poured an acrid half from one cup to the other. There was a kind of nobleness in this that took my breath away. If my uncle was certainly a miser he was one of that thoroughbred that goes near to make the vice respectable. When we had made an end of our meal my uncle Ebenezer unlocked a drawer and drew out of it a clay pipe and a lump of tobacco, from which he cut one fill before he locked it up again. Then he sat down in the sun at one of the windows and silently smoked. From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me and he shot me out one of his questions, once it was, And your mother? And when I had told him that she too was dead. Ah, she was a bonny lassie! Then after another long pause. Where were these friends of yours? I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell, though indeed there was only one and that the minister that had ever taken the least note of me, but I began to think my uncle made too light of my position and finding myself all alone with him I did not wish him to suppose me helpless. He seemed to turn this over in his mind and then, David my man, said he, You've come to the right bit when you come to your uncle Ebenezer. I have a great notion of the family and I mean to do the right by you but while I've taken a bit of think to myself of what's the best thing to put you to, whether the law or the ministry or maybe the army, Wilk is what boys are fondest of. I wouldn't have liked the Balfors to be humbled before a ween Eileen Campbell's and I'll ask you to keep your tongue within your teeth. No letters, no messages, no kind of work to anybody or else. There's my door. Uncle Ebenezer, said I, I've no manner of reason to suppose you mean anything but well by me. For all that I would have you to know that I have a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine that I came seeking you and if you show me your door again I'll take you at the word. He seemed grievously put out, Who toot? said he. Cacanny, man, cacanny! By the day or two I'm no warlock to find a fortune for you in the bottom of a parish-bowl but just you give me a day or two, say nothing to nobody and I'm as sure as sure I'll do the right by you. Very well, said I. Enough said. But you want to help me, there's no doubt but I'll be glad of it none but I'll be grateful. It seemed to me, too soon, I daresay, that I was getting the upper hand of my uncle and I began next to say that I must have the bed and bed-clothes aired and put to sun-dry for nothing would make me sleep in such a pickle. Is this my house or yours? said he and his keen voice and then all of a sudden broke off. Nah, nah, said he. I didn't mean that. What's mine is yours, David of a man and what's yours is mine. Blood-sticker than water and there's nobody but you and me that ought the name. Then on he rambled about the family and its ancient greatness and his father that began to enlarge the house and himself that stopped the building as a sinful waste and this put it in my head to give him Genic Cluston's message. The limmer, he cried, twelve hundred and fifteen that's every day since I had the limmer routed. Dodd, David, I'll have a roasted on red-peats before I'm by with it. A witch, a proclaimed witch, I'll often see the session-clark. With that he opened a chest and got out a very old and well-preserved blue coat and waistcoat and a good enough beaver hat, both without lace. These he threw on anyway and, taking a staff from the cupboard, locked all up again and was first setting out when a thought arrested him. I cannot leave you by yourself in the house," said he, I have to lock you out. The blood came to my face. If you lock me out, I said, it'll be the last you'll see of me in friendship. He turned very pale and sucked his mouth in. This is not the way, he said, looking wickedly at a corner of the floor, this is not the way to win my favor, David. Sir, says I, with a proper reverence for your age and our common blood, I do not value your favor at a bottle's purchase. I was brought up to have a good concede of myself, and if you were all the uncle and all the family I had in the world ten times over, I wouldn't buy your liking at such prices. Uncle Ebenezer went and looked out of the window for a while. I could see him all trembling and twitching like a man with palsy, but when he turned round he had a smile upon his face. Well, well, said he, we must bear and forebear. I'll no go, that's all to be said of it. Uncle Ebenezer, I said, take nothing out of this. You use me like a thief. You hate to have me in this house. You let me see it every word in every minute. It's not possible that you can like me, and as for me, I've spoken to you as I've never thought to speak to any man. Why do you seek to keep me then? Let me gang back, let me gang back to the friends I have that like me. Na, na, na, na, I like you fine, we'll agree fine yet, and for the honour of the house I could not let you leave the way you came. Bide here quiet, there's a good lad, just you bide here quiet a pity, and you'll find that we agree. Well, sir, said I, after I'd thought the matter out in silence, I'll stay a while. It's more just I should be helped by my own blood than strangers, I'll be through no fault of mine. End of chapter. Chapter 4 of Kidnapped This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Chapter 4 I run a great danger in the house of Shaw. For a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly well. We had the porridge cold again at noon and hot porridge at night. Porridge and small beer was my uncle's diet. He spoke but little, and that in the same way as before. Shooting a question at me, after a long silence, and when I sought to lead him to talk about my future, slipped out of it again. In a room next door to the kitchen where he suffered me to go, I found a great number of books both Latin and English in which I took great pleasure all the afternoon. Indeed, the time passed so lightly in this good company that I began to be almost reconciled to my residence at Shaw's, and nothing but the sight of my uncle and his eyes playing a hide-and-seek with mine revived the force of my distrust. One thing I discovered which put me in some doubt. There was an entry on the fly-leaf of a chap-book, one of Patrick Walker's, plainly written by my father's hand and thus conceived to my brother Ebenezer on his fifth birthday. Now what puzzled me was this, that as my father was of course the younger brother he must either have made some strange error, or he must have written, before he was yet five, an excellent, clear, manly hand of writing. I tried to get this out of my head, but though I took down many interesting authors, old and new, history, poetry and story-book, this notion of my father's hand of writing stuck to me, and when at length I went back into the kitchen and sat down once more to porridge and small beer, the first thing I said to Uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if my father had not been very quick at his book. Alexander, know him, was the reply. I was far quicker myself. I was a clever chappy when I was young. Why, I could read as soon as he could. This puzzled me yet more, and a thought coming into my head I asked if he and my father had been twins. He jumped upon his stool and the hornspoon fell out of his hand upon the floor. Look, Garje asked that, he said, and he caught me by the breast of the jacket, and looked this time straight into my eyes, his own were little and light and bright like a bird's, blinking and winking strangely. What do you mean? I asked very calmly for I was far stronger than he and not easily frightened. Take your hand for my jacket. This is no way to behave. My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself. Died man David, he said, you shouldn't have speak to me about your father. That's where the mistake is. He sat a while and shook, blinking in his plate. He was all the brother that ever I had. He added with no heart in his voice, and then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again, but still shaking. Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person of love for my dead father went so clean beyond my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. On the one hand I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous. On the other there came up into my mind, quite unbidden by me and even discouraged. A story like some ballad I had heard folks singing of a poor lad that was a rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that tried to get him from his own. But why should my uncle play a part with a relative that came almost a beggar to his door unless in his heart he had some cause to fear him? With this notion, all unacknowledged, but nevertheless getting firmly settled in my head, I now began to imitate his covert looks so that we sat at table like a cat and a mouse, each stealthily observing the other. Not another word had he to say to me, black or white, but he was busy turning something secretly over in his mind, and the longer we sat and the more I looked at him, the more certain I became that the something was unfriendly to myself. When he had cleared the platter he got out a single pipeful of tobacco, just as in the morning, turned round a stool into the chimney corner and sat a while smoking with his back to me. Davey? He sat at length. I've been thinking. Then he paused and said it again. There's a wee bit siller that I have promised you before you was born. He continued, promised it to your father. Oh, nothing legal, you understand. Just gentlemen daffin' at their wine. Well, I keep it that bit of money separate. It was a great expense, but a promise he is a promise, and it has grown by now to be a matter of just just exactly and here he paused and stumbled just exactly forty pounds. This last he wrapped out with a side-long glance over his shoulder and the next moment he added almost with a scream scots! The pound scots being the same thing as an English shilling the difference made by this second thought was considerable. I could see besides that the whole story was a lie, invented with some end which it puzzled me to guess, and I made no attempt to conceal the tone of railery in which I answered, Oh, think again, sir, pound sterling, I believe. That's what I said, returned my uncle, pound sterling, and if you'll step out by to the door a minute just to see what kind of a night it is I'll get it out to you and call you in again. Still, smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think I was so easily to be deceived, it was a dark night, with a few stars low down, and as I stood just outside the door I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off among the hills. I said to myself there was something thundery and changeful in the weather and little knew of what a vast importance that should prove to me before the evening passed. When I was called in again my uncle counted out into my hand seven and thirty golden guinea pieces. The rest was in his hand in small gold and silver, but his heart failed him there and he crammed the change into his pocket. There, said he, that'll show ya, I'm a queer man and strange with strangers, but my word is my bond and there's the proof of it. Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was so dumb by the sudden generosity and could find no words in which to thank him. No word, he said, no thanks, I want no thanks, I do my duty. I'm no saying that everybody would have done it, but for my part though I'm a careful body too, it's a pleasure to me to do the right by my brother's son and it's a pleasure to me to think that now we'll agree as such near friends should. I spoke him in return as handsomely as I was able but all the while I was wondering what would come next and why he had parted with his precious guineas for as to the reason he had given a baby would have refused it. Presently he looked towards me sideways. And see here, said he, tit for tat. I told him I was ready to prove my gratitude in any reasonable degree and then waited looking for some monstrous demand and yet when at last he plucked up courage to speak it was only to tell me very properly as I thought that he was growing old and a little broken and that he would expect me to help him with the house and the bill of garden. I answered and expressed my readiness to serve. Well, said he, let's begin. He pulled out of his pocket a rusty key. Says he, there's the key of the stair-tower at the far end of the house. You can only win into it from the outside for that part of the house is no finished. Gangya in there, and up the stairs and bring me down the chest that's at the top. There's papers in it, he added. Can I have a light, sir, said I. Nah, said he, very cunningly. No lights in my house. Very well, sir, said I. Are the stairs good? They're grand, said he. And then, as I was going, keep to the wall, he added. There's no banisters, but the stairs are grand underfoot. Out I went into the night. The wind was still moaning in the distance, though never a breath of it came near the house of Shaw's. It had fallen blacker than ever and I was glad to feel along the wall till I came the length of the stair-tower door at the far end of the unfinished wing. I had got the key into the keyhole and had just turned it when all of a sudden, without sound of wind or thunder, the whole sky lighted up with wild fire and went black again. I had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the color of the darkness and indeed I was already half-blinded when I stepped into the tower. It was so dark inside it seemed a body could scarce breathe but I pushed out with foot in hand and presently struck the wall with one and the lowermost round of the stair with the other. The wall by the touch was a fine hewn stone. The steps, too, though somewhat steep and narrow, were of polished mason work and regular and solid underfoot. Minding my uncle's word about the banisters, I kept close to the tower side and felt my weight in the pitch darkness with a beating heart. The house of Shaw's stood some five full stories high, not counting lofts. Well, as I advanced, it seemed to me the stair grew airier and a thought more lightsome and I was wondering what might be the cause of this change when a second blink of the summer lightning came and went. If I did not cry out, it was because fear had me by the throat and if I did not fall it was more by heaven's mercy than my own strength. It was not only that the flash shone in on every side through breeches and the wall so that I seemed to be clambering aloft upon an open scaffold, but the same passing brightness showed me the steps were of unequal length and that one of my feet rested that moment within two inches of the well. This was the grand stare, I thought, and with the thought a gust of angry courage came into my heart. My uncle had sent me here certainly to run great risks, perhaps to die. I swore I would settle that perhaps, if I should break my neck for it, got me down upon my hands and knees and as slowly as a snail feeling before me every inch and testing the solidity of every stone I continued to ascend the stair. The darkness, by contrast with the flash appeared to have redoubled. Nor was that all, for my ears were now troubled and my mind confounded by a great stir of bats in the top part of the tower and the foul beasts flying downwards sometimes beat about my face and body. The tower, I should have said, was square and in every corner the step was made of a great stone of a different shape to join the flights. Well, I had come close to one of these turns when feeling forward as usual my hand slipped upon an edge and found nothing but emptiness beyond it. The stair had been carried no higher. To set a stranger mounting it in the darkness was to send him straight to his death. And, although thanks to the lightning and my own precautions I was safe enough, the mere thought of the peril in which I might have stood and the dreadful hide I might have fallen from brought out the sweat upon my body and relaxed my joints. But I knew what I wanted now and turned and groped my way down again with a wonderful anger in my heart. About half way down the wind sprang up in a clap and shook the tower and died again. The rain followed and before I had reached the ground level it fell in buckets. I put out my head into the storm and looked along towards the kitchen. The door which I had shut behind me when I left now stood open and shed a little glimmer of light and I thought I could see a figure standing in the rain, quite still like a man harkening. Then there came a blinding flash which showed me my uncle plainly just where I had fancied him to stand and hard upon the heels of it a great toro of thunder. Now, whether my uncle thought the crash to be the sound of my fall or whether he heard in it God's voice a dancing murder, I will leave you to guess. Certain it is, at least, that he was seized on by a kind of panic fear and that he ran into the house and left the door open behind him. I followed as softly as I could and coming unheard into the kitchen stood and watched him. He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great case bottle of aquavite and now sat with his back towards me ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and groan aloud and carrying the bottle to his lips drink down the raw spirits by the mouthful. I stepped forward, came close behind him where he sat and suddenly clapping my two hands down upon his shoulders ah! cried I. My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep's bleat flung up his arms into the floor like a dead man. I was somewhat shocked at this but I had myself to look to first of all and I did not hesitate to let him lie as he had fallen. The keys were hanging in the cupboard and it was my design to furnish myself with arms before my uncle should come again to his senses in the power of devising evil. In the cupboard were a few bottles some apparently of medicine a great many bills and other papers which I should willingly enough have rummaged had I had the time and a few necessaries that were nothing to my purpose. Thence I turned to the chests the first was full of meal the second of money bags and papers tied into sheaves in the third with many other things and these for the most part clothes I found a rusty ugly looking Highland Dirk without the scabbard. This then I concealed inside my waistcoat and turned to my uncle. He lay as he had fallen all huddled with one knee up and one arm sprawling abroad. His face had a strange colour of blue and he seemed to have ceased breathing. Fear came on me that he was dead then I got water and dashed it in his face and with that he seemed to come a little to himself working his mouth and fluttering his eyelids. At last he looked up and saw me and there came into his eyes a horror that was not of this world. Come, come, said I, sit up. Are you alive? he sobbed. Oh man, are you alive? That am I, said I, small thanks to you. He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs. The blue file said he in the almerie the blue file was slower still. I ran to the cupboard and sure enough found there a blue file of medicine with the dose written on it on a paper and this I administered to him with what speed I might. Hits the trouble, said he, reviving a little. I have a trouble, Davey, it's the heart. I set him on a chair and looked at him. It is true I felt some pity besides of righteous anger and I numbered over before him the points on which I wanted explanation. Why he lied to me at every word. Why he feared that I should leave him. Why he disliked it to be hinted that he and my father were twins. Is that because it is true? I asked. Why he had given me money to which I was convinced I had no claim and last of all why he had tried to kill me. He heard me all through in silence and then in a broken voice begged me to let him go to bed. I'll tell you the mourn, he said, assures death I will. And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent. I locked him into his room, however, and pocketed the key and then returning to the kitchen made up such a blaze as had not shown there for many a long year and wrapping myself in my plaid lay down upon the chair my plaid lay down upon the chests and fell asleep. End of chapter Chapter 5 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 5 I go to the Queen's Ferry Much rain fell in the night and the next morning there blew a bitter wintry wind out of the Northwest driving scattered clouds. For all that, and before the sun began to peep or the last of the stars had vanished, I made my way to the side of the burn and had a plunge in a deep whirling pool. All aglow from my bath I sat down once more beside the fire which I replenished and began gravely to consider my position. There was now no doubt about my uncle's enmity, there was no doubt I carried my life in my hand and he would leave no stone unturned that he might compass my destruction. But I was young and spirited and like most lads that have been country-bred, I had a great opinion of my shrewdness. I had come to his door no better than a beggar and little more than a child. He had met me with treachery and violence. It would be of fine consummation to take the upper hand and drive him like a herd of sheep. I sat there nursing my knee and smiling at the fire and I saw myself in fancy smell out his secrets one after another and grow to be that man's king and ruler. The warlock of Essendine, they say, had made a mirror in which men could read the future. It must have been of other stuff for in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and gazed at there was never a ship, never a seaman with a hairy cap, never a big bludgeon for my silly head, or the lease sign of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me. Presently all swollen with conceit I went upstairs and gave my prisoner his liberty. He gave me good morning civilly and I gave the same to him smiling down upon him in the midst of my sufficiency. Soon we were set to breakfast as it might have been the day before. Well, sir, said I, with a jeering tone, have you nothing more to say to me? And then, as he made no articulate reply, it will be time, I think, to understand each other, I continued. You took me for a country Johnny-Raw with no more mother wit or courage than a porridge stick. I took you for a good man or no worse than others at the least. It seems we were both wrong. What cause have you to fear me, to cheat me and to attempt my life? He murmured something about a jest and that he liked a bit of fun. And then, seeing me smile, changed his tone and assured me he would make all clear as soon as we had breakfasted. I saw by his face that he had no lie ready for me, though he was hard at work preparing one. And I think I was about to tell him so, when we were interrupted by knocking at the door. Bidding my uncle's sit where he was I went to open it and found on the doorstep a half-grown boy in sea clothes. He had no sooner seen me than he began to dance some steps of the sea-hornpipe, which I had never before heard of, far less seen, snapping his fingers in the air and footing it right cleverly. He was blue with a cold and there was something in his face a look between tears and laughter that was highly pathetic and consisted ill with this gaiety of manner. What cheer, mate? says he with a cracked voice. I asked him soberly to name his pleasure. Oh, pleasure! says he and then began to sing for it's my delight of a shiny night in the season of the year. Well, says I, if you have no business at all I will even be so unmanorly as to shut you out. Stay, brother," he cried. Have you no fun about you or do you want to get me thrashed? I've brought a letter from old Hesiosi to Mr. Belflower. He showed me a letter as he spoke. And I say, mate," he added. I'm mortal hungry. Well, said I, come into the house and you shall have a bite if I go empty for it. With that I brought him in and set him down to my own place where he fell too greedily on the remains of breakfast winking to me between wiles and making many faces which I think the poor soul considered manly. Meanwhile my uncle had read the letter and sat thinking. Then suddenly he got to his feet with a great air of liveliness and pulled me apart into the farthest corner of the room. Read that," said he and put the letter in my hand. Here it is lying before me as I write. The Haws Inn at the Queen's Ferry Sir, I lie here with my hawser up and down and send my cabin-boy to inform. If you have any further commands for overseas today will be the last occasion as the wind will serve us well out of the Firth. I will not seek to deny that I have had crosses with your doer, Mr. Rancyler, of which, if not speedily read up, you may look to see some losses follow. I have drawn a bill upon you as per margin and am, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Elias Hoseason, agent. You see, Davy," resumed my uncle as soon as he saw that I had done, I have a venture with this man Hoseason, the captain of a trading brig, the Covenant of Dysart. Now, if you and me was to walk over with young Lad, I could see the captain of the Haws maybe on board the Covenant if there were papers to be signed, and so far from a loss of time we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. Rancyler's. After that's come and gone you would be swirer to believe me upon my naked word. But you'll believe Rancyler. He's factored a half the gentry in these pots, an old man, for by, highly respected, and he caned your father. I stood a while in thought. I was going to some place of shipping which was doubtless populous and where my uncle durst attempt no violence, and indeed even the society of the cabin boys so far protected me. Once there I believed I could force on the visit to the lawyer and my uncle were now insincere in proposing it, and perhaps in the bottom of my heart I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You are to remember I had lived all my life in the inland hills, and just two days before had my first sight of the Firth lying like a blue floor, and the sailed ships moving on the face of it, no bigger than toys. One thing with another I made up my mind. Very well, says I. Let us go to the ferry. My uncle got into his hat-and-coat and buckled an old rusty cutlass on, and then we trod the fire out, locked the door, and set forth upon our walk. The wind, being in that cold quarter the northwest, blew nearly in our faces as we went. It was the month of June. The grass was all white with daisies, and the trees with blossoms, but to judge by our blue nails and aching wrists the time might have been winter and the whiteness of December frost. Uncle Ebenezer trudged in the ditch, jogging from side to side like an old plowman coming home from work. He never said a word the whole way, and I was thrown for talk on the cabin boy. He told me his name was ransom, and that he had followed the sea since he was nine, but could not say how old he was as he had lost his reckoning. He showed me tattoo marks bearing his breast and the teeth of the wind and in spite of my remonstrances, for I thought it was enough to kill him. He swore horribly whenever he remembered, but more like a silly school boy than a man, and boasted of many wild and bad things that he had done. Stealthy thefts, false accusations, eye, and even murder. But all was such a dearth of likelihood in the details, and such a weak and crazy swagger in the delivery as disposed me rather to pity than to believe him. I asked him of the brig, which he declared was the finest ship that sailed, and of Captain Ho season, in whose praise as he was equally loud. He's the OC, for so he still named the skipper, was a man, by his account, that minded for nothing, either in heaven or earth, one that, as people said, would crack on all sail rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal, and all this my poor cabin boy had taught himself to admire as something seaman-like and manly. He would only admit one flaw in his idol. He ain't no seaman, he admitted. That's Mr. Schoen that navigates the bridge. He's the finest seaman in the trade, only for drink. And I tell you I believe it. Why, look here! And turning down his stocking bright, raw, red wound that made my blood run cold. He'd done that. Mr. Schoen did that. He said with a air of pride. What! I cried. Do you take such savage usage at his hands, while you're no slave to be so handled? No, said the poor moon-calf, changing his tune at once. And so he'll find, see here! And he showed me a great case knife, which he told me was stolen. Oh, says he. Let him see me. Try. I dare him to. I'll do for him. Oh, he ain't the first. And he confirmed it with a poor, silly, ugly oath. I have never felt such pity for any one in this wide world as I felt for that half-witted creature. And it began to come over me that the brig Covenant, for all her pious name, was little better than a hell upon the seas. Have you new friends? said I. He said he had a father in some English seaport. I forget which. He was a fine man, too, he said. But he's dead. In Heaven's name, cried I, can you find no reputable life on shore? Oh, no, says he, winking and looking very sly. They would put me to a trade. I know a trick worth two of that, I do. I asked him what trade could be so dreadful as the one he followed, where he ran the continual peril of his life, not alone from wind and sea, but by the hard cruelty of those who were his masters. He said it was very true and then began to praise the life and tell what a pleasure it was to get on shore with money in his pocket and spend it like a man and buy apples and swagger and surprise what he called sticking the mud-boys. And then it's not all as bad as that, says he. There's worse off than me. There's the twenty pounders. Oh, laws, you should see them taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old as you, I'd death say. To him I seemed old. Ah, and he had a beard, too. Well, and as soon as we cleared out of the river and he had the drug out of his head, how he cried and carried on. I made a fine fool of him, I tell you. But then there's littleans, too. Oh, little by me. I tell you, I keep them in order. When we carry littleans, I have a robesend of my own to wallop them. And so he ran on, until it came in on me what he meant by twenty pounders were those unhappy criminals who were sent overseas to kidnap or tripand, as the word went, for private interest or vengeance. Just then we came to the top of the hill and looked down on the ferry and the hope. The Firth of Forth, as is very well known, narrows at this point to the width of a good-sized river, which makes a convenient ferry going north and turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for all manner of ships. The town of Queen's Ferry lies further west, and the neighborhood of the inn looked pretty lonely at that time of day, for the boat had just gone north with passengers. A skiff, however, lay beside the pier with some seamstresses, and on the south shore they had built a pier for the service of the ferry, and at the end of the pier on the other side of the road lay beside the pier with some seamen sleeping on the thwarts. This, as Ransom told me, was the Briggs boat waiting for the captain, and about half a mile off and all alone in the anchorage he showed me the Covenant herself. There was a sea-going bustle on board, yards were swinging into place, and as the wind blew from that quarter I could hear the song of the sailors as they pulled upon the ropes. After all I had listened to upon the way I looked at that ship with an extreme abhorrence, and from the bottom of my heart I pitied all poor souls that were condemned to sail in her. We had all three pulled up on the brow of the hill, and now I marched across the road and addressed my uncle. I think it right to tell you, sir, says I. There's nothing that will bring me on board that Covenant. He seemed to waken from a dream. Eh! he said. What's that? I told him over again. Well, well, he said. We'll have to please you, I suppose. But what are we standing here for? It's perishing cold, and if I'm no mistake, and they're busking the Covenant for sea. End of chapter. Chapter 6 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Chapter 6 What Bevelled at the Queen's Ferry As soon as we came to the inn, ransom led us up the stair to a small room with a bed in it, and heated like an oven by a great fire of coal. At a table hard by the chimney, a tall, dark, sober-looking man sat riding. In spite of the heat of the room he wore a thick sea-jacket buttoned to the neck, and a tall hairy cap drawn down over his ears. Yet I never saw any man, not even a judge upon the bench, look cooler or more studious and self-possessed than this ship captain. He got to his feet at once, and coming forward offered his large hand to Ebenezer. I am proud to see Mr. Balfour, said he in a fine deep voice, and glad that you are here in time. The wind's fair, and the tide upon the turn, we'll see the old coal bucket burning on the Isle of May before tonight. Captain Ho season, returned my uncle, you keep your room uncle hot. It's a habit I have, Mr. Balfour, said the skipper. I'm a cold-rife man by my nature. I have a cold blood, sir. There's neither fur nor flannel. No, sir, nor hot rum will warm up what they call the temperature. Sir, it's the same with most men that have been carbonadoed, as they call it, in the tropic seas. Well, well, captain, replied my uncle, we must all be the way we're made. But a chance that's as fancy as the captain's had a great share in my misfortunes. For though I had promised myself not to let my captain go, though I had promised myself not to let my kinsmen out of sight, I was both so impatient for a nearer look of the sea and so sickened by the closeness of the room that when he told me to run downstairs and play myself a while, I was full enough to take him at his word. A way I went, therefore, leaving the two men sitting down to a bottle and a great mass of papers, and crossing the road in front of the inn, walked down upon the beach. With the wind in that quarter, only little wavelets, not much bigger than I had seen upon a lake, beat upon the shore. But the weeds were new to me, some green, some brown and long, and some with little bladders that crackled between my fingers. Even so far up the furth the smell of the sea water was exceedingly salt and stirring. The covenant besides was beginning to shake out her sails, which hung upon the yards and clusters, and the spirit of all that I beheld put me in thoughts of far voyages and foreign places. I looked, too, at the seamen with the skiff, big brown fellows, some in shirts, some with jackets, some with coloured handkerchiefs about their throats, one with a brace of pistols stuck into his pockets, two or three with knotty bludgeons and all with their case-knives. I passed the time of day with one that looked less desperate than the fellows and asked him of the sailing of the brig. He said they would get under way as soon as the ebb set and expressed his gladness to be out of a port where there were no taverns and fiddlers, but all with such horrifying oaths that I made haste to get away from him. This threw me back on ransom, who seemed the least wicked of that gang, and who soon came out of the inn and ran to me crying for a bowl of punch. I told him I would give him no such heen or I was of an age for such indulgences. But a class of ale you may have and welcome, says I. He mopped and mawed at me and called me names, but he was glad to get the ale for all that, and presently we were set down at a table in the front room of the inn and both eating and drinking with a good appetite. Here it occurred to me that, as the landlord was a man of that county, I might do well to make a friend of him. I would give him a share, as was much the custom in those days, but he was far too great a man to sit with such poor customers as ransom and myself, and he was leaving the room when I called him back to ask if he knew Mr. Rangkyler. Oh, it's I, says he, and a very honest man, and oh, by the by, says he, was it you who came in with Ebenezer? And when I told him yes, he asked, meaning in the Scottish way that I would be no relative, I told him no, none. I thought not, said he, and yet you have a kind of glyph of Mr. Alexander. I said it seemed that Ebenezer was ill-seen in the country. Nay doubt, said the landlord, he's a wicked old man, and there's many would like to see him gurning in the toe. Anymore that he is harried out a house and ham, and yet he was once a fine young fellow too, but that was before the soft gate abroad about Mr. Alexander. That was like the death of him. And what was it, I asked. Oh, just that he had killed him, said the landlord. Did you never hear that? And what would he kill him for, said I. And what for, but just to get the place, said he. The place, said I. The shaws? The other place that I can, said he. I, man, said I. Is that so? Was Alexander the eldest son? Deed he was, said the landlord. What else would he have killed him for? And with that he went away as he had been impatient to do from the beginning. Of course, I had guessed it a long while ago, but it is one thing to guess, another to know. And I sat stunned with my good fortune and could scarce grow to believe that the same poor lad who had trudged in the dust from Ettrick Forest, not two days ago, was now one of the rich of the earth and had a house and broad lands and might mount his horse to-morrow. All these pleasant things and a thousand others crowded into my mind as I sat staring before me out of the inn window and paying no heed to what I saw. Only I remember that my eye lighted on Captain Ho season down on the pier among his seamen and speaking with some authority. Presently he came marching back towards the house with no mark of a sailor's clumsiness but carrying his fine tall figure with a manly bearing and still with the same sober grave expression on his face. I wondered if it was possible that Ransom's stories could be true and half disbelieve them. They fitted so ill with the man's looks. But indeed he was neither so good as I supposed him, nor quite so bad as Ransom did, for in fact he was two men and left the better one behind as soon as he set foot on board his vessel. The next thing I heard my uncle calling me and found the pair in the road together. It was the captain who addressed me and that was an air very flattering to a young lad of grave equality. Sir, says he, Mr. Balfour tells me great things of you and for my own part I like your looks. I wish I was for longer here that we might make the better friends but we'll make the most of what we have. You shall come on board my brig for half an hour till the ebb sets and drink a bowl with me. Now I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can tell but I was not going to put myself in jeopardy and I told him my uncle and I had an appointment with a lawyer. I, I, said he. He passed me word of that. But you see, the boat will set you ashore at the town pier and that's but a penny stone cast from Rancala's house. And here he suddenly leaned down and whispered in my ear, take care of the old Todd. He means, Mr. come aboard till I can get a word with you. And then passing his arm through mine he continued aloud as he set off towards his boat. But come what can I bring you from the Carolinas? Any friend of Mr. Balfour's can command a roll of tobacco, Indian feather work, a skin of a wild beast, a stone pipe, the mockingbird that mews for all the world and no bird that it is, as red as blood, take your pick and say your pleasure. By this time we were at the boat side and he was handing me in. I did not dream of hanging back. I thought, the poor fool, that I had found a good friend and helper and I was rejoiced to see the ship. As soon as we were all set in our places the boat was thrust off from the pier and began to move over the waters and what with my pleasure in this new movement and my surprise at our low position and the appearance of the shores and the growing bigness of the brig as we drew near to it I could hardly understand what the captain said and must have answered him at random. As soon as we were alongside where I sat fairly gaping at the ship's height the strong humming of the tide against its sides and the pleasant cries of the seamen at their work Ho season, bearing that he and I must be the first to board ordered to tackle to be sent down from the main yard. In this I was whipped into the air and set down again on the deck where the captain stood ready waiting for me and instantly slipped back his arm under mine. There I stood some while a little dizzy with the unsteadiness of all around me perhaps a little afraid and yet vastly pleased with these strange sights the captain meanwhile pointing out the strangest and telling me their names and uses. But where is my uncle? said I suddenly. Hi! said Ho season with a sudden grimness. That's the point! I felt I was lost with all my strength I plucked myself clear of him and ran to the bulwarks. Sure enough there was the boat pulling for the town with my uncle sitting in the stern. I caved a piercing cry. Help! Help! Murder! So that both sides of the anchorage rang with it and my uncle turned round where he was sitting and showed me a face full of cruelty and terror. It was the last I saw. Already strong hands had been plucking me back from the ship's side and now a thunderbolt seemed to strike me. I saw a great flash of fire and fell senseless. End of chapter. Chapter 7 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Chapter 7 I go to see in the Brig Covenant of Dysart. I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, barefoot and deafened by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears a roaring of water as of a huge mill-damp, the thrashing of heavy sprays, the thundering of the sails and the shrill cries of semen. The whole world now heaved giddily up and now rushed giddily downward. And so sick and hurt was I in body and my mind so much confounded that it took me a long while chasing my thoughts up and down and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of pain, to realize that I must be lying somewhere bound in the belly of that unlucky ship and that the wind must have strengthened to a gale. With a clear perception of my plight there fell upon me a blackness of despair, a horror of remorse at my own folly and a passion of anger at my uncle that once more bereft me of my senses. When I returned again to life the same uproar, the same confused and violent movements shook and deafened me and presently to my other pains and distresses there was added the sickness of an unused landsmen on the sea. In that time of my adventurous youth I suffered many hard chips, but none that was so crushing to my mind and body were lit by so few hopes as these first hours aboard the brig. I heard a gunfire and suppose the storm had proved too strong for us and we were firing signals of distress. The thought of deliverance even by death in the deep sea was welcome to me. Yet it was no such matter, but, as I was afterwards told, a common habit of the captains which I here set down to show that even the worst man may have as kindly your side. We were then passing, it appeared, within some miles of Dysart where the brig was built and where old Mrs. Ho season, the captain's mother, had come some years before to live and whether outward or inward bound the Covenant was never suffered to go by that place by day without a gun fired and colours shown. I had no measure of time. Day and night were alike in that ill-smelling cavern of the ship's bowels where I lay and the misery of my situation drew out the hours to double. How long, therefore, I lay waiting to hear the ship split upon some rock or to feel her real head foremost into the depths of the sea I have not the means of computation. But sleep at length stole from me this consciousness of sorrow. I was awakened by the light of a hand lantern shining in my face. A small man of about thirty green eyes and a tangle of fair hair stood looking down at me. Well, said he, how goes it? I answered by a sob and my visitor then felt my pulse and temples and set himself to wash and dress the wound upon my scalp. I, said he, a sore-dunt. What, man? Cheer up! The world's no done. You've made a bad start of it, but you'll make it better. Have you had any meat? I said I could not look at it but he gave me some brandy and water in a tin panacon and left me once more to myself. The next time he came to see me I was lying between sleep and waking. My eye is wide open in the darkness. The sickness quite departed but succeeded by a horrid giddiness in swimming that were almost worse to bear. I ached besides in every limb and the cords that bound me seemed to be of fire. The smell of the hole in which I lay seemed to have become a part of me and during the long interval since his last visit I had suffered tortures of fear, now from the scurrying of the ship's rats that sometimes pattered on my very face and now from the dismal imaginings that haunt the bed of fever. The glimmer of the lantern as a trap opened shone in like the Heaven's sunlight and though it only showed me the strong dark beams of the ship that was my prison I could have cried aloud for gladness. The man with the green eyes was the first to descend the ladder and I noticed that he came somewhat unsteadily. He was followed by the captain. Neither said a word but the first set to and examined me and dressed my wound as before while Ho's season looked me in my face with an odd black look. Now, sir, you see for yourself, said the first, a high fever, no appetite, no light, no meat, you see for yourself what that means. I am no conjurer, Mr. Riach, said the captain. Give me leave, sir, said Riach, give a good head upon your shoulders and a good scotch tongue to ask with but I will leave you no manner of excuse. I want that boy taken out of this hole and put in the forecastle. What you may want, sir, as a matter of concern to nobody but yourself, return the captain but I can tell you that which is to be. Here he is, here he shall bide. Admitting that you have been paid in proportion, said the other, I will crave leave humbly to say that I have not. Paid I am and none too much to be the second officer of this old tub and you can very well if I do my best to earn it but I was paid for nothing more. If you could hold back your hand from the tin pan, Mr. Riach, I would have no complaint to make of you. Return the skipper and instead of asking riddles I make bold to say that you would hold your breath to cool your porridge. We'll be required on deck. He added in a sharper note and set one foot upon the ladder. But Mr. Riach caught him by the sleeve. Admitting that you have been paid to do a murder, he began. Hose season turned upon him with a flash. What's that?" he cried. What kind of talk is that? It seems it is the talk that you can understand, said Mr. Riach, looking him steadily in the face. Mr. Riach, I have sailed with three cruisers, replied the captain. In all that time, sir, you should have learned to know me. I'm a stiff man and a dour man but for what you say there now, thigh, thigh, it comes from a bad heart and a black conscience. If you say the lad will die. I, he will, said Mr. Riach. Well, sir, is that not enough? said Hose season. Flit him where you please. Thereupon the captain ascended the ladder, and I, who had lain silent throughout this strange conversation, beheld Mr. Riach turn after how as low as to his knees in what was plainly a spirit of derision. Even in my then state of sickness I perceived two things, that the mate was touched with liquor as the captain hinted, and that drunk or sober he was like to prove a valuable friend. Five minutes afterwards my bonds were cut, I was hoisted on a man's back, carried up to the forecastle and laid in a bunk on some sea-blankets where the first thing that I did was to lose my senses. It was a blessed thing, indeed, to open my eyes again upon the daylight and to find myself in the society of men. The forecastle was a roomy place enough, set all about with births in which the men of the watch below were seated smoking or lying down asleep. The day being calm and the wind fair, the scuttle was open and not only the good daylight but from time to time, as the ship rolled, a dusty beam of sunlight shown in I had no sooner moved moreover than one of the men brought me a drink of something healing which Mr. Riach had prepared and made me lie still and I should soon be well again. There were no bones broken, he explained. The clower on the head were nothing. Man, said he, it was me that gave it you. Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner and not only got my health again but came to know my companions. They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are. Being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life and condemned to toss together on the rough seas with masters no less cruel. There were some among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things that would be a shame even to speak of. Some were men that had run from the king's ships and went with a halter round their necks of which they made no secret and all, as the saying goes, brought a word and a blow with their best friends. Yet I had not been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first judgment when I had drawn away from them at the ferry pier as though they had been unclean beasts. No class of men is altogether bad but each has its own faults and virtues and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Sure enough and bad I suppose but they had many virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me and had some glimmerings of honesty. There was one man of maybe forty that would sit on my birth-side for hours and tell me of his wife and child. He was a fisher that had lost his boat and thus been driven to the deep sea voyaging. Well, it is years ago now but I have never forgotten him. His wife, who was young by him as he often told me, waited in vain to see her man return. He would never again make the fire for her in the morning nor yet keep the Baron when she was sick. Indeed many of these poor fellows as the event proved were upon their last cruise. The deep seas and cannibal fish receive them and it is a thankless business to speak ill of the dead. Among other good deeds that they did they returned my money which had been shared among them and though it was about a third short I was very glad to get it and hoped great good from it in the land I was going to. The ship was bound for the Carolinas and you must not suppose that I was going to that place merely as an exile. The trade was even them much depressed since that and with the rebellion of the colonies and the formation of the United States it has, of course, come to an end. But in those days of my youth white men were still sold into slavery on the plantations and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle had condemned me. The cabin boy ransom from whom I had first heard of these atrocities came in at times from the roundhouse where he birthed and served now nursing a bruised limb in silent agony and the cruelty of Mr. Shuon. It made my heart bleed but the men had a great respect for the chief mate who was, as they said, the only semen of the whole Jing Bang and none such a bad man when he was sober. Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiarity about our two mates that Mr. Riach was sullen, unkind and harsh when he was sober and Mr. Shuon would not hurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the captain but I was told Drink made no difference upon that man of iron. I did my best in the small time allowed me to make something like a man or rather I should say something like a boy of the poor creature ransom but his mind was scarce, truly human. He could remember nothing of the time before he came to see only that his father had made clocks and had a starling in the parlor which could whistle the North Country all else had been blotted out in these years of hardship and cruelties. He had a strange notion of the dry land picked up from sailor's stories that it was a place where lads were put to some kind of slavery called a trade and where apprentices were continually lashed and clapped into foul prisons. In a town he thought every second person a decoy and every third house a place in which semen would be drugged to be sure I would tell him how kindly I had myself been used upon that dry land he was so much afraid of and how well fed and carefully taught both by my friends and my parents. And if he had been recently hurt he would weep bitterly and swear to run away but if he was in his usual crack-brain humor or still more if he had had a glass of spirits in the round house he would deride the notion. It was Mr. Riyach heaven forgive him who gave the boy drink and it was doubtless kindly meant but besides that it was ruined to his health it was the pitifulest thing in life to see this unhappy unfriended creature staggering and dancing and talking he knew not what. Some of the men laughed but not all others would grow as black as thunder thinking perhaps of their own childhood or their own children to that nonsense and think what he was doing. As for me I felt ashamed to look at him and the poor child still comes about me in my dreams. All this time you should know the Covenant was meeting continual headwinds and tumbling up and down against head seas so that the scuttle was almost constantly shut and the forecastle lighted only by a swinging lantern on a beam. There was constant labour for all hands the sails had to be made and shortened every hour the strain told on the men's temper there was a growl of quarrelling all day long from birth to birth and as I was never allowed to set my foot on deck you can picture to yourselves how weary of my life I grew to be and how impatient for a change. And a change I was to get as you shall hear but in my first tell of a conversation I had with Mr. Riach which put a little heart in me to bear my troubles. Getting him in a favourable stage of drink for indeed he never looked near me when he was sober I pledged him to secrecy and told him my whole story. He declared it was like a ballad that he would do his best to help me that I should have paper, pen and ink and write one line to Mr. Campbell and another to Mr. Rankiler and that if I had told the truth ten to one he would be able with their help to pull me through and set me in my rights and in the meantime says he keep your heart up you're not the only one I'll tell you that there's many a man hoeing tobacco overseas that should be mounting his horse at his own door at home many and many and life is all a very orm at the best look at me, I'm a layered son and more than half a doctor man jacked a ho season I thought it would be civil to ask him for a story he whistled loud never had one, said he I like fun, that's all and he skipped out of the forecastle end of chapter chapter 8 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 8, The Roundhouse one night about 11 o'clock a man of Mr. Riyach's watch which was on deck came below for his jacket and instantly there began to go a whisper about the forecastle that Shu'an had done for him at last there was no need of a name we all knew who was meant but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly in our heads far less to speak of it when the scuttle was again flung open and Captain Ho season came down the ladder he looked sharply round the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern and then walking straight up to me he addressed me to my surprise in tones of kindness my man, said he we want you to serve in the roundhouse you and ransom are to change births run away aft with ya even as he spoke two seamen appeared in the scuttle carrying ransom in their arms and the ship at that moment giving a great shear into the sea and the lantern swinging the light fell direct on the boy's face it was white as wax and had a look upon it like a dreadful smile the blood in me ran cold and I drew in my breath as if I had been struck run away aft run away aft with ya cried Ho season and at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy who neither spoke nor moved and ran up the ladder on deck the brig was shearing swiftly and giddily through a long cresting swell she was on the starboard tack and on the left hand under the arch foot of the foresail I could see the sunset still quite bright this at such an hour of the night surprised me greatly but I was too ignorant to draw the true conclusion that we were going north about round Scotland and were now on the high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands having avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth for my part who had been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing of headwinds I thought we might be half way or more across the Atlantic and indeed beyond that I wandered a little at the lateness of the sunset light I gave no heed to it pushed on across the decks running between the seas catching at ropes and only saved from going overboard by one of the hands on deck who had always been kind to me the roundhouse for which I was bound and where I was now to sleep and serve stood some six feet above the decks and considering the size of the brig was of good dimensions one for the table and bench and two berths one for the captain and the other for the two mates turn and turn about was all fitted with lockers from top to bottom so as to stow away the officers' belongings in a part of the ship's stores there was a second storeroom underneath which you entered by a hatchway in the middle of the deck indeed all the best of the meat and drink and the whole of the powder the two pieces of brass ordnance were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the roundhouse the most of the cutlasses were in another place a small window with a shutter on each side and a skylight in the roof gave it light by day and after dark there was a lamp always burning it was burning when I entered not brightly but enough to show Mr. Shuan sitting at the table with the brandy bottle and a tin panicin in front of him there was a tall man strongly made and very black and he stared before him on the table like one's stupid he took no notice of my coming in nor did he move when the captain followed and leaned on the berth beside me looking darkly at the mate I stood in great fear of ho season and had my reasons for it but something told me I need not be afraid of him just then and I whispered in his ear how is he he shook his head like one that does not know and does not wish to think and his face was very stern presently Mr. Riach came in he gave the captain a glance that meant the boy was dead his plane is speaking and took his place like the rest of us so that we all three stood without a word staring down at Mr. Shuan and Mr. Shuan on his side sat without a word looking hard upon the table all of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle and at that Mr. Riach started forward and caught it away from him rather by surprise than violence crying out with an oath that there had been too much of this work altogether and that a judgment would fall upon the ship and as he spoke the weather sliding doors standing open he tossed the bottle into the sea Mr. Shuan was on his feet at a trice but he meant murder and would have done it for the second time that night had not the captain stepped in between him and his victim sit down roars the captain you sot and swine do you know what you've done you murdered the boy Mr. Shuan seemed to understand for he sat down again and put up his hand to his brow hell he said he brought me a dirty panic at that word the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked at each other for a second with a kind of frightened look and then Ho season walked up to his chief officer took him by the shoulder let him across to his bunk and made him lie down and go to sleep as you might speak to a bad child the murderer cried a little but he took off his sea boots and obeyed ha! cried Mr. Riach with the dreadful voice I've interfered long since it's too late now Mr. Riach said the captain this night's work must never be Kenton Dysart the boy went overboard sir that's what the story is and I would give five pounds out of my pocket it was true he turned to the table what made you throw the good bottle away he added there was no sense in that sir here David draw me another they're in the bottom locker and he tossed me a key you'll need a glass yourself sir he added to Riach Jan was an ugly thing to see so the pair sat down and habanobbed and while they did so the murderer who had been lying and whimpering in his birth raised himself upon his elbow and looked at them and at me that was the first night of my new duties and in the course of the next day I had got well into the run of them I had to serve at the meals which the captain took at regular hours sitting down with the officer who was off duty all the day through I would be running with a dram to one or other of my three masters and at night I slept on a blanket thrown on the deck boards at the aftermost end of the roundhouse and right in the draft of the two doors it was a hard and a cold bed nor was I suffered to sleep without interruption for someone would always be coming in from deck to get a dram and when a fresh watch was to be set two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew a bowl together how they kept their health I know not any more than how I kept my own and yet in other ways it was an easy service there was no cloth delay the meals were either of oatmeal porridge or a salt junk except twice a week when there was duffin though I was clumsy enough and not being firm on my sea legs sometimes fell with what I was bringing them both Mr. Riyach and the captain were singularly patient I could not but fancy they were making up leeway with their consciences and that they would scarce have been so good with me if they had not been worse with ransom as for Mr. Shuan the drink or his crime or the two together had certainly his mind I cannot say I ever saw him in his proper wits he never grew used to my being there stared at me continually sometimes I could have thought with terror and more than once drew back from my hand when I was serving him I was pretty sure from the first that he had no clear mind of what he had done and on my second day in the roundhouse I had the proof of it we were alone and he had been staring at me when all at once up he got his pale as death and came up close to me to my great terror but I had no cause to be afraid of him you were not here before he asked no sir said I there was another boy he asked again and when I had answered him ah says he I thought that and went and sat down with that another word and called for Brandy you may think it's strange but for all the horror I had I was still sorry for him he was a married man with a wife in Leith but whether or no he had a family I have now forgotten I hope not altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted which as you are to hear was not long I was as well fed as the best of them even their pickles which were the great dainty I was allowed my share of and had I liked I might have been drunk from morning to night like Mr. Shuwan I had company to and good company of its sort Mr. Riach who had been to the college spoke to me like a friend when he was not sulking told me many curious things and some that were informing and even the captain though he kept me at the stick's end the most part of the time would sometimes unbuckle a bit and tell me of the fine countries he had visited the shadow of poor ransom to be sure lay on all four of us and on me and Mr. Shuwan in particular most heavily and then I had another trouble of my own here I was doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon and one of whom at least should have been hung upon a gallows that was for the present and as for the future I could only see myself slaving the crows in the tobacco fields Mr. Riach perhaps from caution would never suffer me to say another word about my story the captain whom I tried to approach rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a word and as the days came and went my heart sank lower and lower till I was even glad of the work which kept me from thinking End of chapter Chapter 9 of Kidnapped is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 9 The Man with the Belt of Gold More than a week went by in which the ill luck that it hitherto pursued upon this voyage grew yet more strongly marked Some days she made a little way others she was driven actually back At last we were beaten so far to the south that we tossed intact to and fro the whole of the ninth day within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild rocky coast on either hand of it There followed on that a council of the officers and some decision which I did not rightly understand the result that we had made a fair wind of a foul one and were running south The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick, wet, white fog that hid one end of the brig from the other All afternoon when I went on deck I saw men and officers listening hard over the bulwarks For breakers, they said and though I did not so much as understand the word I felt danger in the air and was excited Maybe about ten at night I was serving Mr. Riyach and the captain at their supper When the ship struck something with a great sound and we heard voices singing out My two masters leaped to their feet She struck, said Mr. Riyach No sir, said the captain We've only run a boat down and they hurried out The captain was in the right of it We had run down a boat in the fog and she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom with all her crew but one This man, as I heard afterwards had been sitting in the stern as a passenger while the rest were on the benches rowing At the moment of the blow the stern had been thrown into the air and the man, having his hands free and for all he was encumbered with a freeze overcoat that came below his knees had leaped up and caught hold of the brig's bow-sprit It showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass and yet when the captain brought him into the roundhouse and I set eyes on him for the first time he looked as cool as I did He was smallish in stature but well-set and as nimble as a goat His face was of a good open expression but sun burnt very dark and heavily freckled and pitted with a smallpox His eyes were unusually light and had a kind of dancing madness in them that was both engaging and alarming and when he took off his greatcoat he laid a pair of fine silver-mounted pistols on the table and I saw that he was belted with a great sword His manners besides were elegant and he pledged the captain handsomely Altogether I thought of him at the first sight that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy The captain too was taking his observations but rather of the man's clothes than his person and to be sure as soon as he had taken off the greatcoat he showed forth mighty fine for the roundhouse of a merchant brig having a hat with feathers a red waistcoat breeches of black plush and a blue coat with silver buttons and handsome silver lace costly clothes though somewhat spoiled with a fog being slept in I'm vexed, sir, about the boat said the captain There are some pretty men gone to the bottom said the stranger that I would rather see on the dry land again than half a score of boats Friends of yours said Ho season You have none such friends in your country was the reply they would have died for me like dogs Well, sir said the captain, still watching him There are more men in the world than boats to put them in And that's true too cried the other and you seem to be a gentleman of great penetration I have been in France, sir says the captain so that it was plain he meant more by the words than showed upon the face of them Well, sir says the other and so as many a pretty man for the matter of that No doubt, sir says the captain and fine coats A whole, says the stranger Is that how the wind sets and he laid his hand quickly on his pistols Don't be hasty said the captain Don't do a mischief before you see the need of it You have a French soldier's coat upon your back and a scotch tongue in your head to be sure But so has many an honest fellow these days and none the worse of it So said the gentleman in the fine coat Are ye of the honest party? Meaning was he a Jacobite for each side in these sort of civil broils takes the name of honesty for its own Why, sir replied the captain I am a true blue Protestant and I thank God for it It was the first word of any religion from him but I learned afterwards he was a great churchgoer while on shore But for all that, says he I can be sorry to see another man with his back to the wall Can you so indeed asked the Jacobite Well, sir, to be quite plain with you I am one of those honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years 45 and 6 and to be still quite plain with you if I got into the hands of any of the red-coated gentry it's like it would go hard with me Now, sir, I was for France and there was a French ship cruising here to pick me up but she gave us the go-by and the fog as I wish from the heart that ye had done yourself and the best that I can say is this if you can set me a shore where I was going I have that upon me will reward you highly for your trouble In France, says the captain No, sir, that I cannot do but where ye come from we might talk of that and then, unhappily he observed me standing in my corner and packed me off to the galley to get supper for the gentleman I lost no time, I promise you and when I came back into the round-house I found the gentleman had taken a money-belt from about his waist and poured out a guinea or two upon the table the gentleman was looking at the guineas and then at the belt and then at the gentleman's face and I thought he seemed excited Half of it, he cried and I'm your man the other swept back the guineas into the belt and put it on again under his waistcoat I have told ye, sir, said he that not one deut of it belongs to me it belongs to my chieftain and here he touched his hat and while I would be but a silly messenger to grudge some of it that the rest might come safe I should show myself a hound indeed if I bought my own carcass any too dear thirty guineas on the seaside or sixty if you set me on the linear lock take it, if you will if not, you can do your worst I, said Ho season and if I give ye over to the soldiers ye would make a fool's bargain said the other my chief let me tell you, sir is forfeit like every honest man in Scotland his estates is in the hands of the man they call King George and it is his officers that collects the rents or try to collect them but for the honour of Scotland the poor tenet bodies take a thought upon their chief lying in exile and this money is a part of that very rent for which King George is looking now, sir ye seem to me to be a man that understands things bring this money within the reach of government and how much of it will come to you little enough to be sure said Ho season and then if they knew he added dryly but I think if I was to try that I could hold my tongue about it ah, but I'll be gawk you there cried the gentleman play me false and I'll play you cunning if a hand is laid upon me they shall ken what money it is well, return the captain that must be must sixty guineas and done here's my hand upon it and here's mine said the other and there upon the captain went out rather hurriedly I thought and left me alone in the round house with the stranger at that period so soon after the forty-five perils of their lives either to see their friends or to collect a little money and as for the Highland chiefs that had been forfeited it was a common matter of talk how their tenants would stint themselves to send the money and their clansmen outfaced the soldiery to get it in and run the gauntlet of our great navy to carry it across all this I had, of course, heard tell of and now I had a man under my eyes even more for he was not only a rebel and a smuggler of rents but he had taken service with King Louis of France and as if all this were not enough he had a belt full of golden guineas round his loins whatever my opinions I could not look on such a man without a lively interest and so you're a Jacobite said I as I set meet before him I said he, beginning to eat you by your long face should be a wig betwixt in between said I not to annoy him but for indeed I was as good a wig as Mr. Campbell could make me and that's nothing said he but I'm saying Mr. Betwixt in between he added this bottle of yours is dry and it's hard if I'm to pay sixty guineas and be grudged a dram upon the back of it I'll go and ask for the key said I and stepped on deck the fog was as close as ever but the swell almost down they had laid the brig too not knowing precisely where they were and the wind what little there was of it not serving well for their true course some of the hands were still hearkening for breakers but the captain and the two officers were in the waist with their heads together it struck me I don't know why that they were after no good and the first word I heard as I drew softly near more than confirm me it was Mr. Riach crying out as if upon the sudden thought couldn't we wail him out of the roundhouse he's better where he is returned Ho season he hasn't room to use his sword well that's true said Riach but he's hard to come at but said Ho season we can get the man in talk one upon each side impending by the two arms or if that'll not hold sir we can make a run by both the doors and get him under hand before he has the time to draw at this hearing I was seized with both fear and anger at these treacherous greedy bloody men that I sailed with my first mind was to run away my second was bolder captain said I taking a dram and the bottles out will you give me the key they all started and turned about why here's our chance to get the firearms Riach cried and then to me Huck you David he said do you can where the pistols are I I put in Ho season David kens David's a good lad you see David my man young wild Highland man there's a danger to the ship besides being a rank four to King George God bless him I had never been so be David since I came on board but I said yes as if all I heard were quite natural the trouble is resume the captain that all our fire locks great and little are in the roundhouse under this man's nose likewise the powder now if I or one of the officers was to go in and take them he would fall to thinking but a lad like you David might snap up a horn and a pistol or two without remark and if you can do it cleverly I'll bear it in mind when it'll be good for you to have friends and that's when we come to Carolina here Mr. Riach whispered him a little very right sir said the captain and then to myself and see here David young man has a belt full of gold and I give you my word that you shall have your fingers in it I told him I would do as he wished though indeed I had scarce breath to speak with and upon that he gave me the key of the spirit locker and I began to go slowly back to the roundhouse what was I to do they were dogs and thieves they had stolen me from my own country they had killed Port Ransom and was I to hold the candle to another murder but then upon the other hand there was the fear of death very plain before me for what could a boy and a man if they were as brave as lions against a whole ship's company I was still arguing it back and forth and getting no great clearness when I came into the roundhouse and saw the Jacobite eating his supper under the lamp and at that my mind was made up all in a moment I have no credit by it was by no choice of mine the impulse that I walked right up to the table and put my hand on his shoulder do you want to be killed? said I he sprang to his feet and looked a question at me as clear as if he had spoken oh! cried I they're all murderers here it's a ship full of them they've murdered a boy already now it's you I, I said he but they haven't got me yet they're looking at me curiously will you stand with me? that will I said I I am no thief nor yet murderer I'll stand by you why then said he what's your name David Balfour said I and then thinking that a man with so fine a coat must like fine people I added for the first time of Shaw's for a Highlander is used to see great gentle folk and great poverty but as he had no a state of his own my words nettle the very childish vanity he had my name is Stuart he said drawing himself up Alan Breck they call me the king's name is good enough for me though I bear it plain and have the name of no farm meeting to clap to the hind end of it and having administered this rebuke as though it were something of a chief importance he turned to examine our defenses the roundhouse was built very strong to support the breaching of the seas of its five apertures only the skylight and the two doors were large enough for the passage of a man the doors besides could be drawn close they were of stout oak and ran in grooves and were fitted with hooks to keep them either shut or open as the need arose the one that was already shut I secured in this fashion but when I was proceeding to slide to the other Alan stopped me David said he for I cannot bring to mind the name of your landed estate and so will make so bold as to call you David that door being open is the best part of my defenses it would be yet better shut says I not so David says he you see I have but one face long as that door is open in my face to it the best part of my enemies will be in front of me where I would I wish to find them then he gave me from the rack a cutlass of which there were a few besides the firearms choosing it with great care shaking his head and saying he had never in all his life seen poorer weapons and next he set me down to the table with a powder horn a bag of bullets and all the pistols which he bade me charge and that will be better work let me tell you said he for a gentleman of decent berth then scraping plates and raxing drums to a weaned Terry sailors therepony stood up in the midst with his face to the door and drawing his great sword made trial of the room he had to wield it in I must stick to the point he said shaking his head and that's a pity too it doesn't set my genius all for the upper guard and now said he do you keep on charging the pistols and give heed to me I told him I would listen closely my chest was tight my mouth dry the light dark to my eyes and the thought of the numbers that were soon to leap in upon us kept my heart in a flutter and the sea which I heard washing round the brig and where I thought my dead body would be cast air mourning ran in my mind strangely first of all said he I reckon them up and such was the hurry of my mind I had to cast the numbers twice 15 said I Alan whistled well said he that can't be cured and now follow me it is my part to keep this door where I look for the main battle in that you have no hand and mind identifier to this side unless they get me down for I would rather have ten foes in front of me than one friend like you cracking pistols at my back I told him indeed I was no great shot and that's very bravely said he cried in a great admiration of my candor there's many of pretty gentlemen that wouldn't dare to say it but then sir said I there is the door behind you which they may perhaps break in I said he and that is the part of your work no sooner the pistols charge then you must climb up into young bed where you handy at the window and if they lift hand against the door you're to shoot but that's not all let's make a bit of a soldier of you David what else have you to guard there's the skylight said I but indeed mr. steward I would need to have eyes upon both sides to keep the two of them for when my face is at the one my back is to the other and that's very true said Alan but have you no ears to your head to be sure cried I I must hear the bursting of the glass you have some rudiments of sense said Alan grimly end of chapter chapter ten of kidnapped Lebervox recording all Lebervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Lebervox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter ten the siege of the roundhouse but now our time of truce was come to an end those on deck had waited for my coming till they grew impatient and scarce had Alan spoken when the captain showed face in the open door stand cried Alan and pointed his sword at him the captain stood indeed but he neither went nor drew back a foot unnaked sword said he this is a strange return for hospitality do you see me said Alan I am come of kings I bear a king's name my badge is the oak do you see my sword it has slashed the heads off my wiggamores than you have toes upon your feet call up your vermin to your back sir and fall on the sooner the clash begins the sooner you'll taste this steel through your vitals the captain said nothing to Alan but he looked over at me with an ugly look David said he I'll mine this and the sound of his voice went through me with a jar that was gone and now said Alan let your hand keep your head for the grip is coming Alan drew a dirk which he held in his left hand in case they should run in under his sword I on my part clambered up into the berth with an armful of pistols and something of a heavy heart and set open the window where I was to watch it was a small part of the deck that I could overlook but enough for our purpose it had gone down and the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet so that there was a great stillness in the ship in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices a little after and there came a clash of steel upon the deck by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlaces and wanted been let fall and after that silence again I do not know if I was what you call afraid but my heart beat like a bird's and little and there was a dimness come before my eyes which I continually rubbed away and which continually returned as for hope I had none but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world that may be long to sell my life as dear as I was able I tried to pray I remember but that same hurry of my mind like a man running would not suffer me to think upon the words that my chief wish was to have the thing begin and be done with it it came all of a sudden when it did with a rush of feet and a roar and then a shout from Alan and a sound of blows and someone crying out as if hurt I looked back over my shoulder and saw Mr. Shewan in the doorway crossing blades with Alan that's him that killed the boy I cried look to your window said Alan and as I turned back to my place Alan passes sword through the mate's body it was none too soon for me to look to my own part for my head was scarce back at the window before five men carrying a spare yard for a battering ram ran past me and took post to drive the door in I had never fired with a pistol in my life and not often with a gun far less against a fellow creature but it was now or never and just as they swang the yard I cried out take that and shot into their midst I must have hit one of them for he sang out and gave back a step and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted before they had time to recover I sent another ball over their heads and at my third shot which went as wide as the second the whole party threw down the yard and ran for it then I looked round again into the deck house the whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing just as my ears seemed to be burst the noise of the shots but there was Alan standing as before only now his sword was running blood to the hilt and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine an attitude that he looked to be invincible right before him on the floor was Mr. Shu'an on his hands and knees the blood was pouring from his mouth and he was sinking slowly lower the terrible white face and just as I looked some of those from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out of the round house I believe he died as they were doing it There's one of your wigs for ya cried Alan and then turning to me he asked if I had done much execution I told him I had winged one and thought it was the captain and I have settled too says he No, there's not enough blood let they'll be back again till you watch David come before me I settled back to my place recharging the three pistols I had fired and keeping watch with both eye and ear Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck and that's so loudly that I could hear a word or two above the washing of the seas It was Shu'an buckled it I heard one say and another one answered him with a reached man he's paid the piper and after that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before only now one person spoke most of the time as though laying down a plan and first one and then another answered him briefly like men taking orders by this I made sure they were coming on again and told Alan it's what we have to pray for said he unless we can give them a good distaste of us and done with it there'll be no sleep for either you or me but this time mind they'll be in earnest by this my pistols were ready and there was nothing to do but listen and wait while the brush lasted I had not the time to think if I was frightened but now when all was still again my mind ran upon nothing else the thought of the sharp swords and the cold steel was strong in me and presently when I began to hear stealthy steps and a brushing of men's clothes all and knew they were taking their places in the dark I could have found it in my mind to cry out aloud all this was upon Alan's side and I had begun to think my share of the fight was at an end when I heard someone drop softly on the roof above me then there came a single call on the sea pipe and that was the signal a knot of them made one rush of it cutless in hand against the door and at the same moment the glass skylight was dashed in a thousand pieces and a man leaped through and landed on the floor before he got his feet I had clapped the pistol to his back and I might have shot him too only at the touch of him and him alive my whole flesh misgave me and I could no more pull the trigger than I could have flown he had dropped his cutlass as he jumped and when he felt the pistol whipped straight around and laid hold of me roaring out an oath and at that either my courage came again or I grew so much afraid as came to the same thing for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body he gave the most horrible ugly groan and fell to the floor the foot of a second fellow whose legs were dangling through the skylight struck me at the same time upon the head and at that I snatched another pistol and shot this one through the thigh so that he slipped through and tumbled in a lump on his companion's body there was no talk of missing any more than there was time to aim I clapped the muzzle to the very place and fired I might have stood and stared at them for long but I heard Alan shout as if for help that brought me to my senses he had kept the door so long but one of the seamen while he was engaged with others had run in under his guard and caught him about the body Alan was dirking him with his left hand but the fellow clung like a leech another had broken in and had his cutlass raised the door was thronged with their faces I thought we were lost and catching up my cutlass fell on them in flank but I had not time to be of help the wrestler dropped at last and Alan leaping back to get his distance ran upon the others like a bull roaring as he went they broke before him like water turning and running and falling one against another in their haste the sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of our fleeing enemies and at every flash there came the scream of a man hurt I was still thinking we were lost when low they were all gone and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheep dog chases sheep yet he was no sooner out than he was back again being as cautious as he was brave and meanwhile the seamen continued running and crying out as if he was still behind them and we heard them screaming as if he was still behind them and we heard them tumble one upon another into the forecastle and clapped to the hatch upon the top the roundhouse was like a shambles three were dead inside another lay in his death agony across the threshold and there were Alan and I victorious and unhurt he came up to me with open arms come to my arms he cried and embraced and kissed me hard upon both cheeks and said he I love you like a brother and oh man he cried in a kind of ecstasy and I know a bony fighter there upon he turned to the four enemies passed his sword clean through each of them and tumbled them out of doors one after the other as he did so he kept humming and singing and whistling to himself like a man trying to recall an air only what he was trying was to make one all the while the flush was in his face and his eyes were as bright as a five-year-old child's with a new toy and presently he sat down upon the table sword in hand the air that he was making all the time began to run a little clearer and then clearer still and then out he burst with a great voice into a Gaelic song I have translated it here not in verse of which I have no skill but at least in the king's English he sang it often afterwards and the thing became popular so that I have heard it and had explained to me many's the time this is the song of the sword of Alan the smith made it the fire set it now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck their eyes were many and bright swift were they to behold many the hands they guided the sword was alone the done deer troop over the hill they are many the hill is one the done deer vanish the hill remains come to me from the hills of Heather come from the aisles of the sea oh far beholding eagles here is your meat now this song which he made both words and music in the hour of our victory is something less than just to me who stood beside him in the tussle Mr. Shuan and five more were either killed outright or thoroughly disabled but of these two fell by my hand the two that came by the skylight four more were hurt and of that number one and he not the least important got his hurt from me so that all together I did my fair share both of the killing and the wounding it might have claimed a place in Alan's verses but poets have to think upon their rhymes and in good prose talk Alan always did me more than justice in the meanwhile I was innocent of any wrong being done me for not only I knew no word of the Gaelic but what with the long suspense of the waiting and the scurry and strain of our two spurts of fighting had more than all the horror I had of some of my own share in it the thing was no sooner over than I was glad to stagger to a seat there was that tightness on my chest that I could hardly breathe the thought of the two men I had shot sat upon me like a nightmare and all upon a sudden and before I had a guess of what was coming I began to sob and cry like any child Alan clapped my shoulder and said I was a brave lad and wanted nothing but a sleep I'll take the first watch said he you've done well by me David first and last and I wouldn't lose you for all happen no nor for Brittlebane so I made up my bed on the floor and he took the first spell pistol in hand and sword on knee three hours by the captain's watch upon the wall then he roused me up and I took my turn of three hours before the end of which it was broad day and a very quiet morning with a smooth rolling sea that tossed the ship and made the blood run to and fro on the roundhouse floor and a heavy rain that drummed upon the roof all my watch there was nothing stirring and by the banging of the helm I knew they had even no one at the tiller indeed as I learned afterwards there were so many of them hurt or dead and the rest and so ill a temper that Mr. Riyach and the captain had to take turn and turn like Alan and me or the brig might have gone ashore and nobody the wiser it was a mercy the night had fallen so still for the wind had gone down as soon as the rain began even as it was I judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls that went crying and fishing round the ship that she must have drifted pretty near the coast or one of the islands of the Hebrides and at last looking out of the door of the roundhouse I saw the great stone hills of sky on the right hand and a little more a stern a strange isle of room and a chapter 11 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 11 The Captain Knuckles Under Alan and I sat down to breakfast at about six of the clock the floor was covered with broken glass and in a horrid mess of blood which took away my hunger in all other ways we were in a situation not only agreeable but merry having ousted the officers from their own cabin and having at command all the drink in the ship both wine and spirits and all the dainty part of what was eatable such as the pickles and the fine sort of bread this of itself was enough to set us in good humour but the richest part of it was this that the two thirstiest men that ever came out of Scotland Mr. Shouan being dead were now shut in the four part of the ship and condemned to what they hated most cold water and depend upon it Alan said we shall hear more of them ere long you may keep a man from the fighting but never from his bottle we made good company for each other Alan indeed expressed himself most lovingly and taking a knife from the table cut me off one of the silver buttons from his coat I had them, says he from my father, Duncan Stewart and now I'll give you one of them to be a keepsake for last night's work and wherever you go and show that button the friends of Alan Breck will come around you he said this as if he had been Charlemagne and commanded armies and indeed much as I admired his courage I was always in danger of smiling at his vanity in danger I say for had I not kept my countenance I would be afraid to think what a quarrel might have followed as soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the captain's locker till he found a clothes brush and then taking off his coat began to visit his suit and brush away the stains with such care and labour as I suppose to have been only usual with women to be sure he had no other and besides as he said it belonged to a king and so behooved to be royally looked after for all that when I saw what care he took to pluck out the threads where the button had been cut away I put a higher value on his gift he was still so engaged when we were hailed by Mr. Riach from the deck for a parley an eye climbing through the skylight and sitting on the edge of it pistol in hand and with a bold front though inwardly in fear of broken glass hailed him back again and made him speak out he came to the edge of the round house and stood on a coil of rope so that his chin was on a level with a roof and we looked at each other a while in silence Mr. Riach as I do not think he had been very forward in the battle so he had got off with nothing worse than a blow upon the cheek but he looked out of heart and very weary having been all night afoot either standing watch or doctoring the wounded this is a bad job said he at last shaking his head it was none of our choosing said I a captain says he would like to speak with your friend they might speak at the window and how do we know what treachery he means cried I he means none David return Mr. Riach and if he did I'll tell you the honest truth we could not get the men to follow is that so said I I'll tell you more than that said he it's not only the men it's me I'm Fritch and Davey and he smiled across at me no he continued what we want is to be shot of him there upon I consulted with Alan and the parlay was agreed to and parole given upon either side but this was not the whole of Mr. Riach's business and he now begged me for a dram with such instancy and such reminders of his former kindness that at last I handed him a panic him with about half a gill of brandy he drank a part and then carried the rest down upon the deck to share it I suppose with his superior a little after the captain came as was agreed to one of the windows and stood there in the rain with his arm in a sling and looking stern and pale and so old that my heart smote me for having fired upon him Alan at once held a pistol in his face put that thing up said the captain have I not passed my word sir or do you seek to affront me captain says Alan I doubt your word is a breakable last night you haggled and argo-bargled like an apple-wife and then passed me your word and gave me your hand to back it and you can very well what was the upshot be damned to your word says he well well sir said the captain you'll get little good by swearing and truly that was a fault of which the captain was quite free but we have other things to speak he continued bitterly you've made a sore hash of my brig I haven't hands enough left to worker and my first officer whom I could ill spare has got your swords throughout his vitals and passed without speech there is nothing left me sir but to put back into the port of Glasgow after hands and there by your leave you shall find them that are better able to talk to you I said Alan and Faith I'll have a talk with them myself unless there's nobody speaks English in that town I have a bunny-tail for them fifteen tarry sailors upon the one side and a man and a halfling boy upon the other oh man it's pitiful Hoseason flushed red no continued Alan you'll do you'll just have to set me ashore as we agreed I said Hoseason but my first officer is dead you can best how there's none of the rest of us acquainted with this coast sir and it's one very dangerous to ships I give you your choice says Alan set me on dry ground in Appen or Ardgur or in Morvin or in brief where you please then thirty miles of my own country except in a country of the Campbells that's a broad target if you missed that you must be as feckless at the salering as I have found you at the fighting why my poor country people in their bit cobbles passed from island to island in all weathers I am by night too for the matter of that a cobble's not a ship sir said the captain it is no draft of water well then to Glasgow if you list says Alan we'll have the laugh of you at the least my mind runs little upon laughing said the captain but all this will cost money sir well sir says Alan I am no weather cock thirty guineas if you lad me on the seaside and sixty if you put me in the linear lock but see sir we lie we are but a few hours sail from Arden American says Ho season give me sixty and I'll set you there and I'm to wear my brogues and run jeopardy of the red coats to please you cries Alan no sir if you want sixty guineas earn them and set me in my own country it's to risk the brig sir said the captain and your own lives along with her take it or want it says Alan could you pilot us at all asked the captain who was frowning to himself well it's doubtful said Alan I'm more of a fighting man as you've seen for yourself than a sailor man but I have been often enough picked up and set down upon this coast and should ken something of the lie of it the captain shook his head still frowning if I had lost less money on this unchancey cruise says he I would see you in a rope's end before I risk my brig sir but be it as you will as soon as I get a slant of wind and there's some coming or I'm the more mistaken I'll put it in hand but there's one thing more we may meet in with the king's ship and she may lay us aboard sir with no blame of mine but the cruisers thick upon this coast you ken who for now sir if that was to befall you might leave the money captain says Alan if you see a pennant it shall be your part to run away and now as I hear your little shorter brandy in the four part I'll offer you a change a bottle of brandy against two buckets of water that was the last clause of the treaty and was duly executed on both sides so that Alan and I could at last wash out the roundhouse and be quit of the memorials of those whom we had slain and the captain and Mr. Riyach could be happy again in their own way the name of which was Drink End of chapter Chapter 12 of Kidnapped This isn't Lieberbox recording All Lieberbox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit Lieberbox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 12 I hear of the red fox Before we had done cleaning out the roundhouse a breeze sprang up from a little to the east of north this blew off the rain and brought out the sun and here I must explain and the reader would do well to look at a map Today when the fog fell and we ran down Alan's boat we had been running through the little minch at dawn after the battle we lay be calmed to the east of the Isle of Kenna or between that and Isle Irosca in the chain of the Long Island Now to get from there to the Linealock the straight course was through the narrows of the sound of mull but the captain had no chart he was afraid to trust his brig and the winds serving well he preferred to go by west of Tyree and come up under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull All day the breeze held in the same point and rather freshened than died down and towards afternoon a swell began to set in from round the outer Hebrides Our course to go round about the inner Isles was to the west of south so that at first we had the swell upon our beam and were much rolled about but after nightfall when we had turned the end of Tyree and began to head more to the east the sea came right a stern Meanwhile the early part of the day before the swell came up was very pleasant sailing as we were in a bright sunshine and with many mountainous islands upon different sides Alan and I sat in the round house open on each side the wind being straight a stern and smoked a pipe or two of the captain's fine tobacco it was at this time we heard each other's stories which was the more important to me as I gained some knowledge of that wild Highland country on which I was so soon to land In those days so close on the back of the great rebellion it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the heather it was I that showed the example telling him all my misfortune which he heard with great good nature only when I came to mention that good friend of mine Mr. Campbell the minister Alan fired up and cried out that he hated all that were of that name Why said I he is a man you should be proud to give your hand to I know nothing I would help a Campbell to says he was a leaden bullet I would hunt all of that name like black cocks if I laid dying I would crawl upon my knees to my chamber window for a shot at one why Alan I cried what ails you at the Campbell's well says he you can very well that I am an app in Stuart and the Campbell's have long harried and wasted those of my name I and got lands of us by treachery but never with the sword he cried loudly and with the word brought down his fist upon the table but I paid the less attention to this for I knew it was usually said by those who have the underhand there's more than that he continued in all in the same story lying words lying papers tricks fit for a peddler and the show of what's legal overall to make a man no more angry you are so wasteful of your buttons I can hardly think you would be a good judge of business haha says he falling again to smiling I got my wastefulness from the same man I got the buttons from and that was my poor father Duncan Stuart he was the prettiest man of his kindred and the best swordsman in the highlands David and that is the same as to say in all the world I should ken he was in the black watch when first it was mustered and like other gentlemen privates had a gillie at his back to carry his fire lock for him on the march well the king it appears was wishful to see Highland swordsmanship in my father and three more were chosen out and sent to London town to let him see it at the best so they were had into the palace and showed the whole art of the sword for two hours at a stretch before King George and Queen Carline and the butcher Cumberland and many more of whom I have no mind and when they were through the king for all he was a rank usurper spoke them fair and gave each man three guineas in his hand now as they were going out of the palace they had a porters lodge to go by and it came in on my father as he was perhaps the first private Highland gentlemen that had ever gone by that door it was right he should give the poor porter a proper notion of their quality so he gives the king's three guineas into the man's hand as if it was his common custom the three others that came behind him did the same and there they were on the street never a penny the better for their paints some say it was one that was the first to feed the king's porter and some say it was another but the truth of it is that it was Duncan Stuart as I am willing to prove with either sword or pistol and that was the father I had God rest him I think he was not the man to leave you rich said I and that's true said Dallon he left me my breeks to cover me and little besides and that was how I came to enlist which was a black spot upon my character at the best of times it was a good job for me if I fell among the red coats what? cried I were you in the English army that was I said Alan but I deserted to the right side it pressed in pants and that's some comfort I could scarcely share this view holding desertion under arms for an unpardonable fault in honour but for all I was so young I was wiser than say my thought my dear dear says I the punishment is death I said he if they got the hands on me it would be a short drift and a long tow for Alan but I have the king of France's commission in my pocket which would I be some protection I missed out it much said I I have doubts myself said Alan dryly and good heaven man cried I you that are a condemned rebel and a deserter and a man of the French kings what tempship back into this country it's a braving of providence thought says Alan I have been back every year since 46 and what brings you man cried I well you see I weary for my friends in country said he France is a broad place no doubt I weary for the heather and the deer and then I have bit things that I attend to while as I pick up a few lads to serve the king of France recruits you see and that's I a little money but the heart of the matter is the business of my chief Ardschild I thought they called your chief Appen said I I but Ardschild is the captain of the clan he that was all his life so great a man and come of the blood in bearing the name of kings is now brought down to live in a French town like a poor and private person he that had four hundred swords at his whistle I have seen with these eyes of mine buying butter in the marketplace and taking it home in a kale leaf this is not only a pain but a disgrace to us of his family in clan the barns far by the children and the hope of Appen that must be learned their letters and how to hold a sword in that far country now the tenants of Appen have to pay a rent to King George but their hearts are staunch they are true to their chief and what with love and a bit of pressure it may be a threat or two the poor folks scrape up a second rent for Ardschild well David I'm the hand that carries it and he struck the bell about his body so that the guineas rang do they pay both? cried I I David both says he what, two rents? I repeated I David said he I told a different tale to the uncapped in man but this is the truth of it and it's wonderful to me how little pressure is needed but that's the handiwork of my good kinsman and my father's friend James of the Glens James Stewart that is Ardschild's half-brother he it is that gets the money in and does the management this was the first time I heard the name of that James Stewart who was afterwards so famous at the time of his hanging but I took little heed at the moment for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of these poor Highlanders I call it noble I said he you're a wig but you're a gentleman and that's what does it now if you were one of the cursed race of Campbell you had nashed your teeth to hear tale of it if you were the red fox and at that name his teeth shut together and he ceased speaking I've seen many a grim face but never a grimmer than Alan's when he had named the red fox and who is the red fox I asked daunted but still curious who is he cried Alan well and I tell you that when the men of the clans were broken at Culloden and the good cause went down and the horses rode over the Fetlocks and the best blood of the north Ardschild had to flee like a poor deer upon the mountains he and his lady and his barons a sad job we had of it before we got him shipped and while he still lay in the heather the English rogues that couldn't come at his life were striking at his rights they stripped him of his powers they stripped them of his lands they plucked the weapons from the hands of his clansmen that had borne arms for 30 centuries I and the very clothes off their backs so that it's now a sin to wear a tartan plaid and a man may be cast into a jail if he has but a kilt about his legs one thing that couldn't kill that was the love the clansmen bore their chief these guineas are the proof of it and now in their steps a man a Campbell red-headed collin of Glenure is that him you called the red fox? said I will you bring me his brush? cried Alan fiercely I that's the man in he steps and gets papers from King George to be so called king's factor on the lands of Apen and at first he sings small in his hail-fellow well met with Seamus that's James of the Glen's my chieftain's agent but by the by that came to his ears that I have just told you how the poor commons of Apen the farmers and the crofters and the bowmen were ringing the very plaids to get a second rent it overseas for Ardschild and his poor barns what was it you called it when I told you I called it noble Alan said I I knew little better than a common wig cries Alan and when it came to Collin Roy the black Campbell blood in him ran wild he sat gnashing his teeth at the wine-table what should a steward get a bite of bread and him not be able to prevent it ha red fox if ever I hold you at a gunsend the lord have pity upon ya Alan stopped to swallow down his anger well David what does he do he declares all the farms to let and thinks he in his black heart I'll soon get other tenants that are overbid these stewards and that calls and the crubs but these are all names in my clan David and then thinks he Ardschild will have to hold his bonnet on the French roadside well said I what followed Alan laid down his pipe which he had long since suffered to go out and set his two hands upon his knees I said he you'll never guess that for these same stewards and McCalls and McCrubs that had two rents to pay one to King George by stark force and one to Ardschild by natural kindness offered him a better price than any camel in all broad Scotland and far he sent seeking them as far as to the sides of Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh seeking and fleaching and begging them to come where there was a steward to be starved and a redheaded hound of a camel to be pleasured well Alan said I that is a strange story and a fine one too and wig as I may be I am glad the man was beaten him beaten echoed Alan it's little you can of camels and less of the red fox him beaten no nor will be till his blood's on the hillside but if the day comes David man that I can find time in leisure for a bit of hunting that grows not enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vegans man Alan said I you're neither very wise nor very Christian to blow off so many words of anger they will do the man you call the fox no harm and yourself no good tell me your tale plainly out what did he next and that's a good observe David said Alan truth and indeed they will do him no harm the more is the pity worrying that about Christianity of which my opinion is quite otherwise or I would be a Christian I am much of your mind opinion here or opinion there said I it's a Kent thing that Christianity forbids revenge I said he it's well seen it was a Campbell touch you it would be a convenient world for them and their sort if there were no such thing as a lad in a gun behind a heather bush but that's nothing to the point this is what he did I said I come to that well David said he since he couldn't be rid of the loyal commons by fair means he swore he would be rid of them by foul Archill was to starve that was the thing he aimed at and since them that fed him in his exile wouldn't be brought out right or wrong he would drive them out therefore he sent for lawyers and papers and red coats to stand at his back and the kindly folk of that country must all pack and trap every father's son out of his father's house and out of the place where he was bred and fed and played when he was a calent and who are to succeed them bear legged beggars King George is to whistle for his rents he won't do with less he can spread his butter thinner what cares red Colin if he can herd Archill he has his wish if he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table and the bit toys out of his children's hands he will gang home singing to Glenure let me have a word said I be sure if they take less rents be sure government has a finger in the pie it's not this Campbell's fault man it's his orders and if he killed this Colin tomorrow what better would you be there would be another factor in his shoes as fast as spur can drive hear a good land and a fight said Alan but man you have wig blood in you he spoke kindly enough but there was so much anger under his contempt that I thought it was wise to change the conversation I expressed my wonder how with the Highlands covered with troops and guarded like a city in a siege a man in his situation could come and go without a rest it's easier than you would think said Alan a bare hillside you see is like all one road if there's a sentry at one place you just go by another and then the heathers a great help and everywhere there are friends houses and friends buyers and haystacks and besides when folk talk of a country covered with troops it's about a kind of a byword at the best a soldier covers near more of it than his boot soles I have fished the water with a sentry on the other side of the bray and killed a fine trout and I have sat in the heather bush within six feet of another and learned a real bunny tune from his whistling this was it said he and whistled me the air and then besides he continued is no say bad now as it was in 46 the Highlands are what they call pacified small wonder with never a gun or a sword left from kentire to Cape Wrath but what tenti folk have hidden in the thatch but what I would like to can David is just how long not long you would think with men like hardsheel in exile and men like the red fox sitting burling the wine and oppressing the poor at home but it's a kiddle thing to decide what folks will bear and what they will not and why would red colin be riding his horse all over my poor country of appen and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him and with this Alan fell into a muse and for a long time sat very sad and silent I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend that he was skilled in all kinds of music but principally pipe of music was a well-considered poet in its own tongue had read several books both in French and English was a dead shot a good angler and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his own particular weapon for his faults they were on his face and I now knew them all but the worst of them his childish propensity to take a fence and to pick quarrels he greedily laid aside in my case out of regard for the battle of the roundhouse but whether it was because I had done well myself or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess is more than I can tell for though he had a great taste for courage in other men yet he admired it most in Alan Brick. CHAPTER 13 OF KIDNAPPED This is the Lieber-Vox recording All Lieber-Vox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit Lieber-Vox.org The recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina KIDNAPPED by Robert Louis Stevenson CHAPTER 13 THE LOSS OF THE BRIG It was already late at night and as dark as ever would be at that season of the year and that is to say it was still pretty bright when Hoseason clapped his head into the roundhouse door Here, said he come out and see if you can pile it Is this one of your tricks? asked Alan Do I look like tricks? cries the captain I have other things to think of my Briggs in danger By the concerned look of his face and above all by the sharp tones in which he spoke of his Briggs it was plain to both of us he was in deadly earnest and so Alan and I with no great fear of treachery stepped on deck and it was bitter cold a great deal of daylight lingered and the moon which was nearly full shone brightly the Briggs was close hauled so as to round the southwest corner of the island of Mull the hills of which and Benmore above them all with a wisp of mist upon the top of it lay full upon the Larbre bow Though it was no good point of sailing for the Covenant she tore through the seas and pursued by the westerly swell Altogether it was no such ill night to keep the seas in and I had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the captain when the Briggs rising suddenly on the top of a high swell he pointed and cried to us to look away on the lee-bow a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea and immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring what do you call that?" asked the captain gloomily the sea breaking on a reef said Alan and now you can where it is and what better would you have I said Ho season if it was the only one and sure enough just as he spoke there came a second fountain farther to the south there said Ho season you see for yourself if I had Kent of these reefs and had a chart or if Shu'an had been spared it's not sixty guineas no nor six hundred would have made me risk my brig in such a stoneyard and you sir that was to pilot us have you never a word I'm thinking said Alan that these would be what they call the Torrin rocks are there many of them says the captain truly sir I am no pilot said Alan in my mind there are ten miles of them Mr. Riach and the captain looked at each other there's a way through them I suppose said the captain doubtless said Alan but where but it somehow runs in my mind once more that it is clear under the land so said Ho season we'll have to haul our wind then Mr. Riach we'll have to come as near in about the end of mall as we can take her sir and even then we'll have the land to keep the wind off us and that stoneyard on our lee well we're in for it now may as well crack on with that he gave an order to the steersmen and sent Riach to the foretop there were only five men on deck counting the officers these being all that were fit or at least both fit and willing for their work so as I said it fell to Mr. Riach to go aloft and he sat there looking out inhaling the deck with news of all he saw the sea to the south is thick he cried and then after a while it does seem clear in by the land well sir said Ho season we'll try your way of it but I think I might as well trust to a blind fiddler pray God you're right pray God I am fallen to me but where did I hear it well well it will be as it must as we got nearer to the turn of the land the reefs began to be sown here and there on our very path Mr. Riach sometimes cried down to us to change the course sometimes indeed none too soon for one reef was so close on the Briggs weather board that when a sea burst upon it the lighter sprays fell upon her deck the brightness of the night showed us these perils as clearly as by day which was perhaps the more alarming it showed me too the face of the captain as he stood by the steersman now on one foot now on the other and sometimes blowing in his hands but still listening and looking and as steady as steel neither he nor Mr. Riach had shown well in the fighting but I saw they were brave in their own trade and admired them all the more because I found Alan very white ahon David says he this is no the kind of death I fancy what Alan I cried you're not afraid no said he wetting his lips but you'll allow yourself it's a cold ending by this time now and then shearing to one side or the other to avoid a reef on the land we had got round Iona and begun to come alongside Mole the tide at the tail of the land ran very strong and threw the brig about two hands were put to the helm and Hoseism himself would sometimes lend a help and it was strange to see three strong men throw their weight upon the battiller and it like a living thing struggle against and drive them back this would have been the greater danger and for some while free of obstacles Mr. Riach besides announced from the top that he saw clear water ahead you are right said Hoseism to Alan you have saved the brig sir I'll mind that when we come to clear accounts and I believe he not only meant what he said but he would have done it so high a place to the Covenant hold in his affections but this is matter only for conjecture having gone otherwise than he forecast keep her away a point sings out Mr. Riach reef to windward and just at the same time the tide caught the brig and threw the wind out of her sails she came to round into the wind like a top and the next moment struck the reef with such a crunch as threw us all flat upon the deck and came near to shake Mr. Riach from his place upon the mast I was on my feet in a minute the reef on which we had struck was close in under the southwest end of Moe off a little isle they call Aired which lay low and black upon the larbord sometimes the swell broke clean over us sometimes it only ground the poor brig upon the reef so that we could hear her beat herself to pieces and what was the great noise of the sails and the singing of the wind and the flying of the spray in the moonlight of the river I think my head must have been partly turned for I could scarcely understand the things I saw presently I observed Mr. Riach in the seam and busy round the skiff and still in the same blank ran over to assist them and as soon as I set my hand to work my mind came clear again it was no very easy task for the skiff lay amid ships and was full of hamper and the breaking of the heavier seas to give over and hold on but we all wrought like horses while we could meanwhile such as the wounded as could move came clambering out of the force scuttle and began to help while the rest that lay helpless in their bunks harrowed me with screaming and begging to be saved the captain took no part it seemed he was struck stupid he stood holding by the shrouds talking to himself and groaning out aloud whenever the ship hammered on the rock his brig was like wife and child to him he had looked on day by day at the mishandling of poor ransom but when it came to the brig he seemed to suffer along with her all the time of our working at the boat I remember only one other thing that I asked Alan looking across at the shore what country it was and he answered it was the worst possible for him it was a land of the camels we had one of the wounded men told off to keep a watch upon the seas and cry us warning well we had the boat about ready to be launched when this man sang out pretty shrill what God's sake hold on we knew by his tone that it was something more than ordinary and sure enough there followed a sea so huge that it lifted the brig right up and candid her over on her beam whether the cry came too late it was too weak I know not but at the sudden tilting of the ship I was cast clean over the bulwarks into the sea I went down and drank my fill and then came up and got a blink of the moon and then down again say a man sinks a third time for good I cannot be made like other folk then for I would not like to write how often I went down or how often I came up again all the while I was being hurled along and beaten upon and choked and then swallowed whole and the thing was so distracting to my wits that I was neither sorry nor afraid presently I found I was holding to a spar which helped me somewhat and then all of a sudden I was in quiet water and began to come to myself it was the spare yard I had got hold of and I was amazed to see how far I had traveled from the brig I hailed her indeed she was already out of cry she was still holding together but whether or not they had yet launched the boat it was too far off and too low down to sea while I was hailing the brig I spied a tract of water lying between us where no great waves came but which yet boiled white all over and bristled in the moon with rings and bubbles sometimes the whole tract swung to one side like the tale of a live serpent sometimes for a glimpse it would all disappear and then boil up again what it was I had no guess which for the time increased my fear of it but I now know it must have been the roost or tide race which it carried me away so fast and tumbled me about so cruelly and at last as if tired of that play had flung out me in the spare yard upon its landward margin I now lay quite becalmed and began to feel that a man can die as cold as well of a drowning the shores of Herod were close in I could see in the moonlight the dots of heather and the sparkling of the mica and the rocks well, thought I to myself if I cannot get as far as that it's strange I had no skill of swimming S and water being small in our neighborhood but when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms and kicked out with both feet I soon begun to find that I was moving hard work it was and mortally slow but in about an hour of kicking and splashing I got well in between the points of a sandy bay surrounded by low hills the sea was here quite quiet there was no sound of any surf the moon shone clear and I thought in my heart I'd never seen a place so desert and desolate but it was dry land I could follow that I could leave the yard and wade ashore upon my feet I could not tell if I was more tired or more grateful both at least I was tired as I never was before that night and grateful to God as I trust I have been often though never with more cause End of chapter Chapter 14 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 14 The Islet With my stepping ashore I began the most unhappy part of my adventures it was half past twelve in the morning and it was a cold night I dare not sit down for I thought I should have frozen but I took off my shoes and walked to and fro upon the sand barefoot and beating my breast with infinite weariness there was no sound of man or cattle not a cock crew though it was about the hour of their first waking only the surf broke outside in the distance which put me in mind of my perils and those of my friend I walked by the sea at that hour of the morning and in a place so desert like and lonesome struck me with a kind of fear as soon as the day began to break I put on my shoes and climbed a hill the ruggedest scramble I ever undertook falling the whole way between big blocks of granite or leaping from one to another when I got to the top the dawn was come there was no sign of the brig which must have lifted from the reef and sunk the boat too was nowhere to be seen there was never a sail upon the ocean and in what I could see of the land was neither house nor man I was afraid to think what had befallen my shipmates and afraid to look longer it's so empty a scene but with my wet clothes and weariness and my belly that now began to ache with hunger I had enough to trouble me without that so I set off eastward along the south coast hoping to find a house where I might warm myself and perhaps get news of those I had lost and at the worst I considered the sun would soon rise and dry my clothes after a little my way was stopped by a creek or inland of the sea which seemed to run pretty deep into the land and as I had no means to get across I must needs changed my direction to go around the end of it it was still the roughest kind of walking and indeed the whole not only of Herod but of the neighbouring part of Mull which they call the Ross is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather in among at first the creek kept narrowing as I had looked to see but presently to my surprise it began to widen out again at this I scratched my head but I had still no notion of the truth until at last I came to a rising ground and it pursed upon me still in a moment that I was cast upon a little barren isle and cut off on every side by the salt seas indeed as instead of the sun rising to dry me it came on to rain with a thick mist so that my case was lamentable I stood in the rain and shivered and wondered what to do till it occurred to me that perhaps the creek was fortable back I went to the narrowest point and waded in before I plumped in head over ears and if ever I was heard of more it was rather by God's grace than my own prudence I was no wetter for that could hardly be but I was all the colder for this mishap and having lost another hope was the more unhappy and now all at once the yard came in my head what it carried me through the roost would surely serve me to cross this little quiet creek in safety and now I was off undaunted across the top of the isle to fetch and carry it back it was a weary tramp in all ways and if hope had not buoyed me up I must have cast myself down and given up whether with the sea salt or because I was growing fevered I was distressed with thirst and had to stop as I went and drink the peaty water out of the hags I came to the bay at last more dead than alive at last glance I thought the yard was something farther out than when I left it in I went for the third time into the sea the sand was smooth and firm and shelved gradually down so that I could wade out till the water was almost to my neck and little waves splashed into my face but at that depth my feet began to leave me and I durst venture in no farther as for the yard I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feet beyond I had borne up well until this last disappointment but at that I came ashore and flung myself down upon the sands and wept the time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me that I must pass it lightly over in all the books I have read of people cast away they had either their pockets full of tools or a chest of things which would be thrown upon the beach along with them as if on purpose my case was very different I had nothing in my pockets but money and Alan's silver button and being inland bred I was as much short of knowledge as of means I knew indeed that shellfish were counted good to eat and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets which at first I could hardly strike from their places not knowing quickness to be needful there were besides some of the little shells that we call I think periwinkle is the English name of these two I made my whole diet devouring them cold and raw as I found them and so hungry was I that at first they seemed to me delicious perhaps they were out of season perhaps there was something wrong in the sea about my island but at least I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was seized with giddiness and retching and lay for a long time no better than dead a second trial of the same food indeed I had no other did better with me and revived my strength but as long as I was on the island I never knew what to expect when I had eaten sometimes all was well and sometimes I was thrown into a miserable sickness nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was that hurt me all day at streamed rain the island ran like a sop there was no dry spot to be found and when I lay down that night between two boulders that made a kind of roof my feet were in a bog the second day I crossed the island to all sides there was no one part of it better than another it was all desolate and rocky nothing living on it but game birds which I lacked the means to kill and gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number but the creek or straight from the mainland of the Ross opened out on the north into a bay and the bay again opened into the sound of Iona and it was the neighborhood of this place that I chose to be my home though if I had thought upon the very name of home in such a spot I must have burst out weeping I had good reasons for my choice there was in this part of the isle a little hut of a house like a pig's hut where fishers used to sleep came there upon their business but the turf roof of it had fallen entirely in so that the hut was of no use to me and gave me less shelter than my rocks what was more important the shellfish on which I lived grew there in great plenty when the tide was out I could gather a peck at a time and this was doubtless a convenience but the other reason went deeper I had become in no way used to the horrid solitude of the isle I looked round me on all sides like a man that was hunted between fear and hope that I might see some human creature coming now from a little up the hillside over the bay I could catch a side of the great ancient church and the roofs of the people's houses in Iona and on the other hand over the low country of the Ross I saw smoke go up morning and evening as if from a homestead in the hollow of the land I used to watch this smoke when I was wet and cold and had my head half turned with loneliness and I think of the fireside and the company to my heart burned it was the same with the roofs of Iona altogether this side I had of men's homes and comfortable lives although I put a point on my own sufferings yet it kept hope alive and helped me to eat my raw shellfish which had soon grown to be a disgust and saved me from the sense of horror I had whenever I was quite alone with dead rocks and fowls and the rain and the cold sea I say it kept hope alive and indeed it seemed impossible that I should be left to die on the shores of my own country and within view of a church tower and the smoke of men's houses but the second day passed and though as long as the light lasted I kept the bright lookout for boats on the sound or men passing on the Ross no help came near me it still rained and I turned into sleep as wet as ever and with a cruel sore throat but a little comforted perhaps by having said good night to my next neighbors the people of Iona Charles II declared a man could stay outdoors more days in the year in the climate of England than in any other this was very like a king where the palace at his back and changes of dry clothes but he must have had better luck on his flight from Worcester than I had in that miserable isle it was the height of the summer yet it rained for more than 24 hours it did not clear until the afternoon of the third day this was the day of incidents in the morning I saw a red deer a buck with a fine spread of antlers standing in the rain on the top of the island but he had scarce seen me rise from my rock before he trotted off upon the other side I supposed he must have swum the straight though what should bring any creature to arid was more than I could fancy a little after as I was jumping about after my limpets I was startled by a guinea-piece which fell upon a rock in front of me and glanced off into the sea when the sailors gave me my money again they kept back not only about a third of the whole sum of my father's leather purse so that from that day out I carried my gold loose in a pocket with a button I now saw there must be a hole and clapped my hand to the place in a great hurry but this was to lock the stable door after the steed was stolen I had left the shore at Queensferry with near on fifty pounds now I found no more than two guinea-pieces and a silver shilling it is true I picked up a third guinea on a piece of turf that made a fortune of three pounds and four shillings English money for a lad the rightful heir of an estate now starving on an aisle at the extreme end of the wild highlands the state of my affairs dashed me still further and indeed my plight on that third morning was truly pitiful my clothes were beginning to rot my stockings in particular were quite worn through so that my shanks went naked my hands had grown quite soft with the continual soaking my throat was very sore my strength had much abated and my heart so turned against the hard stuff I was condemned to eat that the very sight of it came near to sicken me and yet the worse was not yet come there is a pretty high rock on the northwest of Herod which because it had a flat top and overlooked the sound I was much in the habit of frequenting not that ever I stayed in one place save when asleep my misery giving me no rest indeed I wore myself down with continual and aimless goings and comings in the rain as soon however as the sun came out I lay down on the top of that rock to dry myself the comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot tell it set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance of which I had begun to despair and I scanned the sea and the rocks with a fresh interest on the south of my rock a part of the island chutted out and hid the open ocean so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon that side and I'd be none the wiser well all of a sudden a cobble with a brown sail and a pair of fishers aboard of it came flying round that corner of the isle bound for Iona I shouted out my knees on the rock and reached up my hands and prayed to them they were near enough to hear I could even see the colour of their hair and there was no doubt but they observed me for they cried out in the Gaelic tongue and laughed but the boat never turned to side and flew on right before my eyes for Iona I could not believe such wickedness and ran along the shore from rock to rock obviously even after they were out of reach of my voice I still cried and waved to them and when they were quite gone I thought my heart would have burst all the time of my troubles I wept only twice once when I could not reach the yard and now the second time when these fishers turned a deaf ear to my cries but this time I wept and roared like a wicked child tearing up the turf with my nails I could not face in the earth if a wish would kill men those two fishers would never have seen morning and I should likely have died upon my island when I was a little over my anger I must eat again but with such loathing of the mess as I could now scarce control sure enough I should have done as well to fast for my fishes poisoned me again I had all my first pains my throat was so sore I could scarce swallow I had a fit of strong shuttering which clucked my teeth together and there came on me that dreadful sense of illness which we have no name for either in Scotch or English I thought I should have died and made my peace with God forgiving all men even my uncle and the fishers and as soon as I had thus made up my mind to the worst clearness came upon me I observed the night was falling dry my clothes were dried a good deal truly I was in a better case than ever before since I had landed on the isle and so I got to sleep at last with a thought of gratitude the next day which was the fourth of this horrible life of mine I found my bodily strength run very low but the sun shone the air was sweet and what I managed to eat of the shellfish agreed well with me and revived my courage I was scarce back on my rock where I went always the first thing after I had eaten before I observed a boat coming down the sound and with her head as I thought in my direction I began at once to hope and fear exceedingly for I thought these men might have thought better of their cruelty and becoming back to my assistance but another disappointment such as yesterday's was more than I could bear I turned my back accordingly upon the sea and did not look again till I had counted many hundreds the boat was still heading for the island the next time I counted the full thousand as slowly as I could my heart beating so as to hurt me and then it was out of all question she was coming straight to Arred I could no longer hold myself back but ran to the seaside and out from one rock to another as far as I could go it is a marvel I was not drowned for when I was brought to a stand at last my legs shook under me and my mouth was so dry I must wet it with the sea water before I was able to shout all this time the boat was coming on and now I was able to perceive it was the same boat and the same two men as yesterday this I knew by their hair which the one had of a bright yellow and the other black but now there was a third man along with them who looked to be of a better class as soon as they were come within easy speech they let down their sail and lay quiet in spite of my supplications they drew no nearer in and what frightened me most of all the new man teed with laughter as he talked and looked at me then he stood up in the boat and addressed me a long while speaking fast and with many wavings of his hand I told him I had no Gaelic and at this he became very angry and I began to suspect he thought he was talking English listening very close I caught the word whatever several times but all the rest was Gaelic and might have been Greek and Hebrew for me whatever said I to show him I had caught a word yes yes yes yes says he and then he looked at the other man as much as to say I told you I spoke English and began again as hard as ever in the Gaelic this time I picked out another word tide then I had a flash of hope I remembered he was always waving his hand towards the mainland of the Ross do you mean when the tide is out I cried and could not finish yes yes said he tide at that I turned tail upon their boat where my advisor had once more begun to teed with laughter I wiped back the way I had come from one stone to another and set off running across the Isle as I had never run before in about half an hour I came out upon the shores of the creek and sure enough it was shrunk into a little trickle of water through which I dashed not above my knees and landed with a shout on the main island a sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Arid which is only what they call a tidal islet except in the bottom of the neeps can be entered and left twice in every twenty-four hours either dry shod or at the most by waiting even I who had the tide going out and in before me in the bay and even watched for the ebbs the better to get my shellfish even I I say if I had sat down to think instead of raging at my fate must have soon guessed the secret and got free it was no wonder the fishers had not understood me the wonder was whether they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion and taken the trouble to come back I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon one hundred hours but for the fishers I might have left my bones there and pure folly and even as it was I had paid for it pretty dear not only in past sufferings but in my present case being clothed like a beggar-man scarce able to walk the pain of my sore throat I have seen wicked men and fools a great many of both and I believe they both get paid in the end but the fools first and a chapter Chapter 15 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 15 The lad with a silver button through the Isle of Mull The Ross of Mull which I had now got upon was rugged and trackless like the Isle I had just left being all bog and briar and big stone There may be roads for them that know that country well but for my part I had no better guide than my own nose and no other landmark than Ben Moore I aimed as well as I could for the smoke I had seen so often from the island and with all my great weariness and the difficulty of the way came upon the house and the bottom of a little hollow about five or six at night It was low and longish roofed with turf and build of unmortared stones and on a mound in front of it an old gentleman sat smoking his pipe in the sun With what little English he had he gave me to understand that my shipmates had got safe ashore and had broken bread in that very house on the day after Was there one? I asked Dressed like a gentleman? He said they all wore rough great coats but to be sure the first of them the one that came alone wore breeches and stockings while the rest had sailor's trousers Ah! said I and he would have a feathered hat but he told me no, that he was bareheaded like myself At first I thought Alan might have lost his hat and then the rain came in my mind and I judged it more likely he had it out of harm's way under his great coat This set me smiling partly because my friend was safe partly to think of his vanity in dress and then the old gentleman clapped his hand to his brow and cried out that I must be the lad with the silver button Why yes, said I and some wonder Well then, said the old gentleman I have a word for you that you are to follow your friend to his country by toro say He then asked me how I had fared and I told him my tale a South Country man would certainly have laughed but this old gentleman I call him so because of his manners for his clothes were dropping off his back Heard me all through nothing but gravity and pity When I had done he took me by the hand led me into his hut it was no better and presented me before his wife as if she had been the queen and I a duke The good woman set outbred before me in a cold grouse patting my shoulder and smiling to me all the time for she had no English and the old gentleman not to be behind All the while I was eating and after that when I was drinking the punch I could scarce come to believe in my good fortune and the house, though it was thick with a peat-smoke and as full of holes as a colander, seemed like a palace The punch threw me in a strong sweat and a deep slumber the good people let me lie and it was near noon of the next day before I took the road my throat already easier and my spirits quite restored by good fare and good news the old gentleman, though I pressed him hard would take no money and gave me an old bonnet for my head though I am free to own I was no sooner out of view of the house than I very jealously washed this gift of his in a wayside fountain thought I to myself if these are the wild Highlanders I could wish my own folk wilder I not only started late but I must have wandered nearly half the time true, I met plenty of people grubbing in little miserable fields that would not keep a cat or hurting little kind about the bigness of asses the Highlandress being forbidden by law since the rebellion and the people condemned to the lowland habit which they much disliked it was strange to see the variety of their array some went bare only for a hanging cloak or great coat and carried their trousers on their backs like a useless burden some had made an imitation of the tartan with little party-colored stripes patched together like an old wife's quilt others again still wore the Highland filibeg but by putting a few stitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of trousers like a Dutchman's all those makeshifts were condemned and punished for the law was harshly applied in hopes to break up the clan's spirit but in that out of the way in the sea-bound isle there were few to make remarks and fewer to tell tales they seemed a great poverty which was no doubt natural now that rapine was put down and the chiefs kept no longer an open house and the roads even such a wandering country by-track as the one I followed were infested with beggars and here again I marked a difference from my own part of the country for our lowland beggars themselves who begged by patent had a louting, flattering way with them and if you gave them a plate and asked changed would very civilly return you a bottle but these Highland beggars stood on their dignity asked alms only to buy snuff by their account and would give no change to be sure this was no concern of mine except in so far as it entertained me by the way what was much more to the purpose than I had any English and these few, unless they were the brotherhood of beggars, not very anxious to place it at my service I knew Torah say to be my destination and repeated the name to them and pointed but instead of simply pointing in reply they would give me a screed of the Gaelic that set me foolish so it was small wonder if I went out of my road as often as I stayed in it at last about eight at night and already very I came to a lone house where I asked admittance and was refused until I but thought me of the power of money in so poor a country and held up one of my guineas and my finger and thumb there upon the man of the house so it hitherto pretended to have no English and driven me from his door by signals suddenly began to speak as clearly as was needful and agreed for five shillings to give me a night's lodging and guide me the next day to Torah say I slept uneasily that night fearing I should be robbed but I might as spared myself the pain for my host was no robber only miserably poor and a great cheat he was not alone in his poverty but the next morning we must go five miles about to the house of what he called a rich man to have one of my guineas changed this was perhaps a rich man for mul he would have scarce been thought so in the south for it took all he had the whole house was turned upside down and a neighbor brought under contribution before he could scrape together twenty shillings and silver the odd shilling he kept for himself protesting he could ill afford to have so great a sum of money lying locked up for all that he was very curious and well spoken made us both sit down with his family to dinner and brood punch in a fine china bowl over which my rascal guy grew so merry that he refused to start I was forgetting angry and appealed to the rich man Hector McLean was his name who had been a witness to our bargain and to my pavement of the five shillings but McLean had taken his share of the punch and vowed that no gentleman should leave his table after the bowl was brood so there was nothing for it but to sit and hear Jacobite toast and Gaelic songs till all were tipsy and staggered off to the bed or the barn for their night's rest next day, the fourth of my travels we were up before five upon the clock but my rascal guy got to the bottle at once and it was three hours before I had him clear of the house and then as you shall hear only for a worse disappointment as long as we went down to Heathery Valley that lay before Mr. McLean's house all went well only my guide looked constantly over his shoulder and when I asked him the cause only grinned at me no sooner however had we crossed the back of the hill and got out of side of the house windows then he told me Torah say lay right in front and that a hilltop which he pointed out was my best landmark I care very little for that said I since you are going with me the impenet cheat answered me in the Gaelic that he had no English fine fellow I said I know very well your English comes and goes tell me what will bring it back is it more money you wish five shillings more said he and herself will bring you there I reflected a while and then offered him to which he accepted greedily and insisted on having in his hands at once for luck as he said but I think it was rather for my misfortune the two shillings carried him not quite as many miles at the end of which distance he sat down upon the wayside and took off his brogues from his feet like a man about to rest I was now red hot ha said I have you no more English he said impudently no at that I boiled over and lifted my hand to strike him and he drawing a knife from his rags squatted back and grinned at me like a wildcat at that forgetting everything but my anger I ran in upon him put aside his knife with my left and struck him in the mouth with the right I was a strong lad and very angry and he but a little man and he went down before me heavily by good luck his knife flew out of his hand as he fell I picked up both that and his brogues wished him a good morning and set off upon my way leaving him barefoot and disarmed I chuckled to myself as I went being sure I was done with that rogue for a variety of reasons first he knew he could have no more of my money next the brogues were worth in that country only a few pence and lastly the knife which was really a dagger it was against the law for him to carry in about half an hour of walk I overtook a great ragged man moving pretty fast but feeling before him with a staff he was quite blind and told me he was a catechist which should have put me at my ease but his face went against me it seemed dark and dangerous and secret and presently as we began to go on alongside I saw the steel butt of a pistol sticking from under the flap of his coat pocket to carry such a thing meant to find a 15 pound sterling upon a first offence and transportation to the colonies upon a second nor could I quite see why a religious teacher should go armed or what a blind man could be doing with a pistol I told him about my guide for I was proud of what I had done and my vanity for once got the heels of my prudence at the mention of the five shillings he cried out so loud that I made up my mind I should say nothing of the other two and was glad he could not see my blushes was it too much a little faltering too much, cries he why I would guide you to Torah say myself for a drama brandy and give you the great pleasure of my company me that is a man of some learning in the bargain I said I did not see how a blind man could be a guide but at that he laughed aloud and said his stick was eyes enough for an eagle in the Isle of Mull at least says he had been heather-bushed by mark of head see now he said striking right and left as if to make sure down there a burn is running and at the head of it there stands a bit of a small hill with a stone cocked upon the top of that and it's hard at the foot of the hill that the way runs by to Torah say and the way here being for droves is plainly trodden and will show grassy through the heather I had to own he was right in every feature and told my wonder ha! says he that's nothing would you believe me now that before the act came out and when there were weapons in this country I could shoot could I? cries he and then with a leer if he had such a thing as a pistol here to try with I would show you how it's done I told him I had nothing of the sort and gave him a wider berth if he had known his pistol stuck at that time quite plainly out of his pocket and I could see the sun twinkle on the steel of the butt but by the better luck for me he knew nothing thought all was covered and lied on in the dark he then began to question me cunningly where I came from whether I was rich whether I could change a five shilling piece for him which he declared he had that moment in his sporan and all the time he kept edging up to me and I avoiding him we were now upon a sort of green cattle-track which crossed the hills towards Torresay and we kept changing sides upon that like answers and a reel I had so plainly the upper hand that my spirits rose and indeed I took a pleasure in this game of blind man's bluff but the catechists grew angrier and angrier and at last began to swear in Gaelic and to strike for my legs with his staff then I told him that sure enough I had a pistol in my pocket as well as he and if he did not strike across the hill due south I would even blow his brains out he became at once very polite and after trying to soften me for some time but quite in vain he cursed me once more in Gaelic and took himself off I watched him striding along through bog and briar tapping with his stick until he turned the end of a hill appeared in the next hollow then I struck on again for Torresay much better pleased to be alone than to travel with that man of learning this was an unlucky day and these two of whom I had just rid myself one after the other were the two worst men I met with in the Highlands at Torresay on the sound of mull and looking over to the mainland of Morvan there was an inn with an innkeeper who was a McLean it appeared of a very high family for to keep an inn is thought even more genteel in the Highlands than it is with us perhaps his partaking of hospitality or perhaps because the trade is idle and drunken he spoke good English and finding me to be something of a scholar tried me first in French where he easily beat me and then in the Latin in which I don't know which of us did best this pleasant rivalry put us at once upon friendly terms I sat up and drank punch with him or to be more correct sat up and watched him drink it until he was so tipsy that he wept upon my shoulder I tried him as if by accident with the sight of Alan's button but it was plain he had never seen or heard of it indeed he bore some grudge against the family and friends of Ardschild and before he was drunk he read me a lampoon in very good Latin but with a very ill meaning which he had made in L. N. Jack verses upon a person of that house when I told him of my catechist he shook his head and said I was lucky to have got clear off that is a very dangerous man he said Duncan McKee has his name he can shoot by the ear at several yards and he has often been accused of highway robberies and once of murder the cream of it is says I that he called himself a catechist and why should he not says he when that is what he is it was McLean of Duert gave it to him before he was blind but perhaps it was a pity says my host for he's always on the road going from one place to another to hear the young folks say their religion and doubtless that is a great temptation to the poor man at last when my landlord could drink no more he showed me to a bed and I lay down in the very good spirits having traveled the greater part of that big and crooked island of Mull from Erid to Torresay fifty miles as the crow flies and with my wanderings much nearer a hundred in four days and with little fatigue indeed I was by far in better heart and health of body at the end of that long tramp than I had been at the beginning End of chapter Chapter 16 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 16 The Lad with the Silver Button Across Morven A regular ferry from Torresay to Kinlacolene on the mainland Both shores of the sound are in the country of the strong clan of the McLeans and the people that passed the ferry with me were almost all of that clan The skipper of the boat on the other hand was called Neil Roy McCrob and since McCrob was one of the names of Allen's clansmen and Allen himself had sent me to that ferry I was eager to come to private speech of Neil Roy In the crowded boat this was of course impossible and the passage was a very slow affair There was no wind and as the boat was wretchedly equipped we could pool but two oars on one side and one on the other The men gave way however with a good will the passengers taking spells to help them and the whole company giving the time in Gaelic boat songs and what were the songs and the sea air and the good nature and spirit of all concerned and the bright weather the passage was a pretty thing to have seen But there was one melancholy part In the mouth of La Colline we found a great sea-going ship at anchor and this I supposed at first to be one of the king's cruisers which were kept along that coast both summer and winter to prevent communication with the French As we got a little nearer it became plain she was a ship of merchandise and what still more puzzled me not only her decks but the sea-beach also were quite black with people and skiffs were continually plying to and fro between them yet nearer and there began to come to our ears a great sound of mourning the people on board and those on the shore crying and lamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart Then I understood this was an emigrant ship bound for the American colonies We put the ferry boat alongside and the exiles leaned over the bulwarks weeping and reaching out their hands to my fellow passengers among whom they counted some near friends How long this might have gone on I do not know for they seemed to have no sense of time but at last the captain of the ship who seemed near beside himself and no great wonder in the midst of this crying and confusion came to the side and begged us to depart Thereupon Neil sheared off and the chief singer in our boat struck into a melancholy air which was presently taken up both by the emigrants and their friends upon the beach so that it sounded from all sides like a lament for the dying I saw the tears run down the cheeks of the men and women in the boat even as they bent at the oars and the circumstances and the music of the song which is one called La Cabre No More were highly affecting even to myself At Kinlock-Aline I got Neil Roy upon one side on the beach and said I made sure he was one of Appen's men And what for no? said he I am seeking somebody said I and it comes in my mind that you will have news of him Alan Breck Stuart is his name and very foolishly instead of showing him the button I sought to pass a shilling in his hand At this he drew back I am very much affronted he said and this is not the way that one gentleman should behave to another at all the man you asked for is in France but if he were in my sporen says he and you're belly full of shillings it would not hurt a hair upon his body I saw I had gone the wrong way to work and without wasting time upon apologies showed him the button lying in the hollow of my palm a wheel a wheel said Neil and I think you might have begun with that end of the stick whatever but if you are the lad with the silver button all is well and I have the word to see that you come safe but if you will pardon me to speak plainly says he there is a name that you should never take into your mouth and that is the name of Alan Breck and there is a thing that you would never do and that is to offer your dirty money to a Helen gentleman it was not very easy to apologize for I could scarce tell him what was the truth that I had never dreamed he would set up to be a gentleman until he told me so Neil on his part had no wish to prolong his dealings with me only to fulfill his orders and be done with it and he made haste to give me my route this was to lie the night in King Lockeline and the public inn to cross Morvan the next day to Ardgur and lie the night in the house of one John of the Claymore who was warned that I might come the third day to be set across one lock at Corrin and another at Balakulish and then asked my way to the house of James of the Glens at Alcarne Endure of Appen there was a good deal of faring as you hear the sea and all this part running deep into the mountains and winding about their roots it makes the country strong to hold and difficult to travel but full of prodigious wild and dreadful prospects I had some other advice from Neil to speak with no one by the way to avoid wigs, candles and the red soldiers to leave the road and lie in a bush if I saw any of the latter coming for it was never chancey to meet in with them and in brief to conduct myself like a robber or a Jacobite agent as perhaps they all thought me the inn at Kinlacaline was the most beggarly vile place that ever pigs were stied in full of smoke, vermin and silent highlanders I was not only discontented with my lodging but with myself for my mismanagement of Neil and thought I could hardly be worse off but very wrongly as I was soon to see for I had not been half an hour at the inn standing in the door most of the time with my eyes from the peat smoke when a thunderstorm came close by the springs broke in the little hill on which the inn stood and one end of the house became a running water places of public entertainment were bad enough all over Scotland in those days yet it was a wonder to myself when I had to go from the fire side to the bed in which I slept weeding over the shoes early in my next day's journey I overtook a little stout a solemn man walking very slowly with his toes turned out sometimes reading in a book and sometimes marking the place with his finger and dressed decently and plainly in something of a clerical style this I found to be another catechist but of a different order from the blind man of Mull being indeed one of those sent out by the Edinburgh Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge to evangelize the more savage in the Highlands his name was Henderland he spoke with a broad South Country tongue which I was beginning to weary for the sound of and besides common countryship we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest for my good friend, the Minister of Essendine had translated into the Gaelic in his by-time a number of hymns and pious books which Henderland used in his work and held in great esteem it was one of these he was carrying and reading when we met we fell in company at once our ways lying together as far as to King Gaelic as we went he stopped and spoke with all the wayfarers and workers that we met were passed and though of course I could not tell what they discoursed about yet I judge Mr. Henderland must be well liked in the countryside for I observed many of them to bring out their mulls and share a pinch of snuff with him I told him as far in my affairs as I judged wise as far that is as they were none of Alans and gave Balakulish as the place I was travelling to to meet a friend for I thought Akkarn or even Durur would be too particular in my put him on the scent on his part he told me much of his work and the people he worked among the hiding priests and Jacobites the charming act the dress and many other curiosities of the time and place he seemed moderate blaming Parliament in several points and especially because they had framed the act more severely against those who wore the dress than against those who carried weapons this moderation put it in my mind to question him of the red fox and the append tenants questions which I thought would seem natural enough in the mouth of one travelling to that country he said it was a bad business it's wonderful said he where the tenants find the money for their life is mere starvation you don't carry such a thing as snuff do you Mr. Balfour no well I'm better wanting it but these tenants as I was saying are doubtless partly driven to it James Stewart in Durur that's him they call James of the Glens the father to Ardschild the captain of the clan and he is a man much looked up to and drives very hard and then this one they call Alan Breck ah I cried what of him what of the wind it bloweth where it listeth said Henderlin he's here in a way here today and gone tomorrow a fair heather cat he might be glowering at the two of us can't carry such a thing as snuff will you I told him no and that he had asked the same thing more than once it's highly possible said he's sighing but it seems strange you shouldn't carry it however I was saying this Alan Breck is a bold desperate customer and well can't to be James's right hand his life is forfeit already he would boggle it nothing and maybe if a tenant body would have hanged back put a dirk in his wame you make a poor story of it all Mr. Henderlin said I if it is all fear upon both sides I care to hear no more of it nah said Mr. Henderlin but there's love too and self-denial that should put the like of you and me to shame there's something fine about it no perhaps Christian but humanly fine even Alan Breck by all that I hear there's many a lion's snick draw sits close in Kirk in our own part of the country and stands well in the world's eye and maybe is a far worse man Mr. Balfour than yawn misguided shedder of man's blood hi hi we might take a lesson by them you'll perhaps think I've been too long in the Highlands he added smiling to me I told him not at all that I had seen much to admire in the Highlanders and if he came to that Mr. Campbell himself was a Highlander I said he that's true it's a fine blood and what is the king's agent about I asked Colin Campbell says Henderlin putting his head in a bee's bike he has to turn the tenants out by force I hear said I yes says he as folks say first James of the Glens rode to Edinburgh and got some lawyer a steward in a doubt they all hang together like bats in a steeple and had the proceedings stayed and then Colin Campbell came in again and had the upper hand before the barons of Exchequer and now they tell me the first of the tenants are to flit tomorrow it's to begin at Durer under James's very windows which doesn't seem wise by my humble way of it do you think they'll fight I asked well says Henderlin they're disarmed or supposed to be for there's still a good deal of cold iron lying by in quiet places and then Colin Campbell has the soldiers coming but for all that if I was his lady wife I wouldn't be well pleased till I got him home again they're queer customers the Appenstewards are worse than their neighbors no they and that's the worst part of it for if Colin Roy can get his business done in Appen he has it all to begin again in the next country which they call memoir and which is one of the countries of the Camerons he's king's factor upon both and from both he has to drive out the tenants and indeed Mr. Balfour to be open with you it's my belief that if he escapes the one lot he'd get his death by the other so we continued talking and walking the great part of the day until at last Mr. Henderlin after expressing his delight in my company and satisfaction at meeting with a friend of Mr. Campbell's whom, says he, I would make the bold to call that sweet singer of our coveted Zion propose that I should make a short stage and lie the night in his house a little beyond King Gerlach to say truth I was overjoyed for I had no great desire for John of the Claymore and since my double misadventure first with a guide and next with a gentleman's skipper I stood in some fear of any Highland stranger accordingly we shook hands upon the bargain and came in the afternoon to a small house standing alone by the shore of the Linnilock the sun was already gone from the desert mountains of Ardgur upon the Hitherside it was shown on those who have happened on the farther the lock lay as still as a lake only the gulls were crying around the sides of it and the whole place seemed solemn and uncouth we had no sooner come to the door of Mr. Henderlin's dwelling than to my great surprise for I was now used to the politeness of Highlanders he burst rudely past me dashed into the room caught up a jar in a small horn-spoon and began ladling off into his nose in most excessive quantities then he had a hearty fit of sneezing and looked round upon me with a rather silly smile it's a vow I took, says he I took a vow upon me that I would not carry it doubtless it's a great privation but when I think upon the martyrs not only to the Scottish Covenant but to other points of Christianity I think shame to mind it as soon as we had eaten and porridge and whey were the best of the good man's diet he took a grave face and said he had a duty to perform by Mr. Campbell and that was to inquire into my state of mind towards God I was inclined to smile at him since the business of the snuff but he had not spoken long before he brought the tears into my eyes there are two things that man should never weary of goodness and humility we get none too much of them in this world among cold proud people but Mr. Henderlin had their very speech upon his tongue and though I was a good deal puffed up with my adventures and with having come off as the saying is with flying colors yet he soon had me on my knees beside a simple poor old man and both proud and glad to be there before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my way out of a scanty store in the turf wall of his house at which excess of goodness I knew not what to do but at last he was so earnest with me that I thought it the more mannerly part to let him have his way and so left him poorer than myself End of Chapter Chapter 17 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 17 The Death of the Red Fox The next day Mr. Henderlin found for me a man who had a boat of his own and was to cross the linear lock that afternoon into Apen, fishing him he prevailed on to take me for he was one of his flock and in this way I saved a long day's travel and the price of the two public ferries I must otherwise have passed It was near noon before we set out a dark day with clouds and the sun shining upon little patches the sea was here very deep and still and had scarce a wave upon it so that I must put the water to my lips before I could believe it to be truly salt the mountains on either side were high barren very black and gloomy in the shadow of the clouds but all silver laced with little water courses where the sun shone upon them it seemed a hard country, this of Apen for people to care as much about as Alan did there was but one thing to mention a little after we had started the sun shone upon a little moving clump of scarlet close in along the water side to the north it was much of the same red as soldiers' coats every now and then too there came little sparks and lightnings as though the sun had struck upon bright steel I asked my boatman what it should be and he answered he supposed it was some of the red soldiers coming from Fort William in to Apen against the poor tenetry of the country well it was a sad sight to me and whether it was because of my thoughts of Alan or from something prophetic in my bosom although this was but the second time I had seen King George's troops I had no good will to them at last we came so near the point of land at the entering end of Lock Levin that I begged to be set on shore my boatman who was an honest fellow and mindful of his promise to the catechist would feign have carried me on to Balakulish but as this was to take me farther from my secret destination I insisted and was set on shore at last under the wood of Lettermore or Lettervor as I have heard it both ways in Alan's country of Apen this was a wood of birches growing on a steep craggy side of a mountain that overhung the lock it had many openings and ferny hows and a road or bridle track ran north and south through the midst of it by the edge of which where was a spring I sat down to eat some oat bread of Mr. Henderlin's and think upon my situation here I was not only troubled by a cloud of stinging midges but far more by the doubts of my mind what I ought to do why I was going to join myself with an outlaw and a would-be murderer like Alan whether I should not be acting more like a man of sense to tramp back to the south country direct by my own guidance and at my own charges what Mr. Campbell or even Mr. Henderlin would think of me if they should learn my folly and presumption these were the doubts that now began to come in on me stronger than ever as I was so sitting and thinking a sound of men and horses came to me through the wood and presently after at a turning of the road I saw four travelers come into view the way was in this part so rough and narrow that they came single and led their horses by the reins the first was a great red-headed gentleman of an imperious and flushed face who carried his hat in his hand and fanned himself for he was in a breathing heat the second by his decent black garb and white wig I correctly took to be a lawyer the third was a servant and wore some part of his clothes in tartan which showed that his master was of a Highland family an outlaw or else a singular good odor with a government since the wearing of tartan was against the act if I had been better versed in these things I would have known the tartan to be of the Argyle or Campbell colors this servant had a good size to Portmanteau strapped on his horse and a net of lemons to brew punch with hanging at the saddle though as was often the custom with luxurious travelers in that part of the country as for the fourth who brought up the tale I had seen his like before and knew him at once to be a sheriff's officer I had no sooner seen these people coming than I made up my mind for no reason that I can tell to go through with my adventure and when the first came alongside of me I rose up from the Bracken and asked him the way to Aucarn he stopped and looked at me as I thought a little oddly and then turning to the lawyer Bongo! said he there's many a man would think this more of a warning than two piazz here am I on my road to Durer on the job you can and here as a young land starts up out of the Bracken and spears if I'm on the way to Aucarn Glenure! said the other this is an ill subject for jesting these two had now drawn close up and were gazing at me while the two followers had halted about a stone cast in the rear and what seek ye in Aucarn said Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure him they called the Red Fox for it was he that I had stopped the man that lives there said I James of the Glen's says Glenure musingly and then to the lawyer is he gathering his people think ye anyway says the lawyer we shall do better to bide where we are and let the soldiers rally us if you are concerned for me said I I am neither of his people nor yours but an honest subject of King George owing no man and fearing no man why very well said replies the factor but if I may make so bold as ask what does this honest man so far from his country and why does he come seeking the brother of Ardschild I have power here I must tell you I am King's factor upon several of these estates and have twelve files of soldiers at my back I have heard a wave word in the country said I a little meddled that you were a hard man to drive he still kept looking at me as if in doubt well said he at last your tongue is bold but I am no unfriend to plainness if he had asked me the way to the door of James Stewart on any other day but this I would have set you right and bitten you Godspeed but today a mongo and he turned again to look at the lawyer but just as he turned there came the shot of a firelock from higher up the hill and with the very sound of it Glenyer fell upon the road oh I'm dead he cried several times over the lawyer had caught him up and held him in his arms the servant standing over and clasping his hands and now the wounded man looked from one to another with scared eyes and there was a change in his voice that went to the heart take care of your cells said he I'm dead he tried to open his clothes as if to look for the wound but his fingers slipped on the buttons with that he gave a great sigh he rolled on his shoulder and he passed away the lawyer said never a word but his face was as sharp as a pen and as white as the dead man's the servant broke out into a great noise of crying and weeping like a child had I on my side stood staring at them in a kind of horror the sheriff's officer had run back at the first sound of the shot to hasten the coming of the soldiers at last the lawyer laid down the dead man in his blood upon the road and got to his own feet with a kind of stagger I believe it was his movement that brought me to my senses for he had no sooner done so than I began to scrabble up the hill crying out the murderer the murderer so little a time had elapsed that when I got to the top of the first steepness and could see some part of the open mountain the murderer was still moving away he was a big man in a black coat with metal buttons and carried a long falling piece here I cried I see him at that the murderer gave a little quick look over his shoulder and began to run the next moment he was lost in a fringe of birches then he came out again on the upper side where I could see him climbing like a jack-o'-n-apes for that part was again very steep and then he dipped behind the shoulder and I saw him no more all this time I had been running on my side and got a good way up when a voice cried upon me to stand I was at the edge of the upper wood and so now when I halted and looked back I saw all the open part of the hill below me the lawyer and the sheriff's officer was standing just above the road crying and waving on me to come back and on their left the red coats musket in hand I struggled singly out of the lower wood why should I come back I cried come you on ten pounds if you take that lad cried the lawyer he's an accomplice he was posted here to hold us and talk at that word which I could hear quite plainly though it was to the soldiers and not to me that he was crying it my heart came in my mouth with quite a new kind of terror one thing to stand the danger of your life and quite another to run the peril of both life and character the thing besides had come so suddenly like thunder out of a clear sky that I was all amazed and helpless the soldiers began to spread some of them to run and others to put up their pieces and cover me and still I stood chuck in here among the trees said a voice close by indeed I scarce know what I was doing but I obeyed and as I did so I heard the firelocks bang in the ball's whistle in the birches just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing with a fishing rod he gave me no salutation indeed it was no time for civilities only come said he and set off running along the side of the mountain towards Balakulish and I like a sheep to follow him now we ran among the birches now stooping behind low humps upon the mountainside now crawling on all fours among the heather the pace was deadly my heart seemed bursting against my ribs and I had neither time to think nor breath to speak with only I remember seeing with wonder that Alan every now and then would straighten himself to his full height and look back and every time he did so there came a great far away cheering and crying of the soldiers quarter of an hour later Alan stopped clapped down flat in the heather and turned to me now said he it's earnest do as I do for your life and at the same speed but now with infinitely more precaution we traced back again across the mountainside by the same way that we had come only perhaps higher till at last Alan threw himself down in the upper wood of Lettermore where I had found him at the first and lay with his face in the bracken panting like a dog my own sides so ate my head so swam my tongue so hung out of my mouth with heat and dryness that I lay beside him like one dead end of chapter chapter 18 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 18 I talk with Alan in the wood of Lettermore Alan was the first to come around he rose went to the border of the wood peered out a little and then returned and sat down well said he was a hot burst David I said nothing nor so much as lifted my face I had seen murder done and a great ruddy jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment the pity of that sight was still sore within me and yet that was but a part of my concern here was murder done upon the man Alan hated here was Alan skulking in the trees and running from the troops and whether his was the hand that fired that ordered signified but little by my way of it my only friend in that wild country was blood guilty in the first degree I held him in horror I could not look upon his face I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle than in that warm wood beside a murderer are you still wearied he asked again no said I still with my face in the bracken I am not wearied now and I can speak you and me must twine I liked you very well Alan but your ways are not mine and they are not God's and the short and the long of it is just that we must twine I will hardly twine from you David without some kind of reason for the same said Alan might gravely if you can't anything against my reputation it's the least thing that you should do for old acquaintance's sake to let me hear the name of it and if you have only taken a distaste to my society it will be proper for me to judge if I am insulted Alan said I what is the sense of this you can very well young Campbell man lies in his blood upon the road he was silent for a little then says he did you ever he'll tell of the story of the man and the good people by which he meant the fairies no said I nor do I want to hear it with your permission Mr. Balfour I will tell it to you whatever says Alan the man you should can was cast upon a rock in the sea where it appears the good people were it used to come and rest as they went through to Ireland the name of this rock is called the scary bore and it's not far from where we suffered shipwreck well it seems the man cried so sore if you could just see his little barn before he died then at last the king of the good people took pity upon him and sent one flying that brought back the barn in a poke and laid it down beside the man where he lay sleeping so when the man woke there was a poke beside him and something into the inside of it that moved well it seems he was one of these gentry that think I the worst of things and for greater security he stuck his dirk throughout that poke before he opened it and there was his barn dead I am thinking to myself Mr. Balfour that you and the man are very much alike do you mean you had no hand in it cried I sitting up I will tell you first of all Mr. Balfour of Shaw's as one friend to another said Alan that if I were going to kill a gentleman it would not be in my own country to bring trouble on my clan and I would not go wanton sword and gun and with a long fishing rod upon my back well said I that's true and now continued Alan taking out his dirk and laying his hand upon it in a certain manner I swear upon the holy iron I had neither art nor part act nor thought in it I thank God for that cried I and offered him my hand he did not appear to see it and here is a great deal of work about a Campbell said he they're not so scarce that I can at least said I you cannot justly blame me for you know very well what you told me in the brig but the temptation and the act are different I thank God again for that we may all be tempted but to take a life in cold blood Alan and I could say no more for the moment and you know who did it I added do you know that man in the black coat I have near clear mind about his coat said Alan cunningly but it sticks in my head that it was blue blue or black do you know him said I I could have just conscientiously swear to him says Alan he gave very close by me to be sure but it's a strange thing that I should just have been tying my brogues can you swear that you don't know him Alan I cried half angered half in a mind to laugh at his evasions not yet says he but I have a grand memory for forgetting David and yet there was one thing I saw clearly said I and that was that you exposed yourself in me to draw the soldiers it's very likely said Alan and so would any gentleman of that transaction the better reason since we were falsely suspected that we should get clear I cried the innocent should surely come before the guilty why David said he the innocent have I a chance to get a soiled in court but for the lad that shot the bullet I think the best place for him will be the Heather them that have not dipped their hands in any little difficulty should be very mindful of the case of them and that is the good Christianity for if it was the other way round about on the lad whom I couldn't just clearly see had been in our shoes and we in his as might very well have been I think we would be a good deal obliged to him ourselves if he would draw the soldiers when it came to this I gave Alan up but he looks so innocent all the time and was in such clear good faith in what he said and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty that my mouth was closed Mr. Henderlin's words came back to me that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild Highlanders well here I had taken mine Alan's morals were all tail first but he was ready to give his life for them such as they were Alan said I I'll not say it's the good Christianity as I understand it it's good enough and here I offer you my hand for the second time whereupon he gave me both of his saying surely I had cast a spell upon him for he could forgive me anything then he grew very grave and said we had not much time to throw away but must both flee that country he because he was a deserter and the whole of Appin would now be searched like a chamber and everyone obliged to give a good account of himself and I because I was certainly involved in the murder oh says I willing to give him a little lesson I have no fear of the justice of my country as if this was your country said he or as if you would be tried here in a country of stewards it's all Scotland said I man I was wonder at ya said Alan this is a Campbell it's been killed well it'll be tried in Verrara the Campbell's head place with 15 Campbell's in the jury box and the biggest Campbell of all and that's the Duke sitting cocking on the bench justice David the same justice by all the world as Glenier found while ago at the roadside this frightened me a little I confess and would have frightened me more if I had known how nearly exact were Alan's predictions indeed it was but in one point that he exaggerated there being but 11 Campbell's on the jury though as the other four were equally in the Duke's dependence it mattered less than might appear still I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle who for all he was a wig was yet a wise and honest nobleman whoot said Alan the man's a wig no doubt but I would never deny he was a good chief into his clan and what would the clan think if there was a Campbell's shot and nobody hanged and their own chief the justice general but he have often observed said Alan that you low country bodies have no clear idea of what's right and wrong at this I did at last laugh out aloud went to my surprise Alan joined in and laughed as merrily as myself nah ha ha ha said he we in the Highlands David when I tell you to run take my word and run no doubt it's a hard thing to skulk and starve in the heather but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a red coat prison I asked him whether we should flee and as he told me to the lowlands I was a little better inclined to go with him for indeed I was growing impatient to get back and have the upper hand of my uncle besides Alan made so sure there would be no question the matter that I began to be afraid he might be right of all deaths I would truly like least to die by the gallows and the picture of that uncanny instrument came into my head with extraordinary clearness as I had once seen it engraved at the top of a peddler's ballad and took away my appetite for courts of justice I'll chance it Alan said I I'll go with you mind you said Alan it's no small thing you're mown like bear and hard and broke many an empty belly your bed should be the more cocks and your life shall be like the haunted deers and you shall sleep with your hand upon your weapons I man you should tagle many a weary foot or we get clear I tell you this at the start for it's a life that I can well but if you ask what other chance you have I answer none either take to the heather with me or else hang and that's a choice very easily made said I and we shook hands upon it and now let's take another keek at the red courts says Alan and he led me to the northeastern fringe of the wood looking out between the trees we could see a great side of mountain running down exceeding steep into the waters of the lock it was a rough part all hanging stone and heather and big skroggs of birch wood and away at the far end towards Balakulish little wee red soldiers were dipping up and down over hill and how and growing smaller every minute there was no cheering now for I think they had other uses for what breath was left them but they still stuck to the trail and doubtless thought that we were close in front of them Alan watched them smiling to himself I said he they'll be gave weary before they've got to the end of that employ and so you and me David can sit down and eat a bite and breathe a bit longer and take a dram from my bottle then we'll strike for O'Karn the house of my kinsmen James of the Glens where I must get my clothes and my arms and money to carry us along and then David we'll cry forth fortune and take a cast among the heather so we sat again and ate and drank and a place whence we could see the sun going down into a field of great wild and houseless mountains such as I was now condemned to wander in with my companion partly as we so sat and partly afterwards on the way to O'Karn each of us narrated his adventures and I shall here set down so much of Alan's as seems either curious or needful it appears he ran to the bulwarks as soon as the wave was passed I saw me and lost me and saw me again as I tumbled in the roost and at last had one glimpse of me clinging on the yard it was this that put him in some hope I would maybe get to land after all it made him leave those clues and messages which it brought me for my sins to that unlucky country of Apen in the meanwhile those still on the brig had got the skiff launched and one or two were on board of her already when there came a second wave she had struck first and heaved the brig out of her place and would certainly have sent her to the bottom had she not struck and caught on some projection of the reef when she had struck first it had been bows on so that the stern had hitherto been lowest but now her stern was thrown in the air and the bows plunged under the sea and with that the water began to pour into the force-scuttle like the pouring of a mill dam it took the color out of Alan's face to tell what followed for there were still two men lying impotent in their bunks and these seeing the water pour in and thinking the ship had foundered began to cry out aloud and that with such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after another into the skiff and fell to their oars they were not two hundred yards away when there came a third great sea and at that the brig lifted clean over the reef her canvas filled for a moment and she seemed to sail in chase of them but settling all the while and presently she drew down and down as if a hand were drawing her and the sea closed over the covenant of Dysart never a word they spoke as they pulled ashore being stunned with the horror of that screaming but they had scarce set foot upon the beach when Hoseason woke up as if out of a muse and bade them lay hands upon Alan they hung back indeed having little taste for the employment but Hoseason was like a fiend crying that Alan was alone that he had a great sum about him that he had been the means of losing the brig and drowning all their comrades and that here was both revenge and wealth upon a single cast it was seven against one in that part of the shore there was no rock that Alan could set his back to and the sailors began to spread out and come behind him and then said Alan the little man with the red head I have no mind of the name that he is called Riach I said I said Alan Riach well it was him that took up the clubs for me asked the men if they were in a fear of a judgment and says he dod I'll put my back to the Highland man's myself there's none such an entirely bad little man young little man with the red head said Alan he has some spunks of decency well said I he was kind to me in his way and so was he to Alan said he and by my troth I found his way a very good one but you see David the loss of the ship and the cries of these poor lads set very ill upon the man and I'm thinking that would be the cause of it well I would think so says I the rest at the beginning but how did Ho season take it it sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill says Alan but the little man cried to me to run and indeed I thought it was a good observe and ran the last that I saw they were all in a knot upon the beach like folk that were not agreeing very well together what do you mean by that said I well the fists were going said Alan well one man go down like a pair of breeks but I thought it would be better not to wait you see there's a strip of Campbell's in that end of mole which is no good company for a gentleman like me if it hadn't have been for that I would have waited and looked for you myself that alone given a hand to the little man it was droll how Alan dwelt on Mr. Riach's stature for to say the truth the one was not much smaller than the other so says he continuing I set my best foot forward and whenever I met in with anyone I cried out there was a wreck ashore man they didn't stop the fasc with me you should have seen them Lincoln for the beach and when they got there they found they had the pleasure of a run which is I good for a Campbell I'm thinking it was a judgment on the clan that the Brig went down in the lump and didn't break but it was a very unlucky thing for you that same sure they would have hunted high and low and would soon have found you end of chapter chapter 19 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 19 The House of Fear night fell as we were walking and the clouds which had broken up in the afternoon settled in and thickened so that it fell for the season of the year extremely dark the way we went was over rough mountains sides and though Alan pushed on with an assured manner I could by no means see how he directed himself at last about half past ten o'clock we came to the top of a bray and saw lights below us it seemed a house door stood open and let out a beam of fire and candlelight and all round the house and steadying five or six persons were moving hurriedly about each carrying a lighted brand James must have tinned his wits said Alan if this was the soldiers instead of you and me he would be in a bonny mess but I dare say he'll have a sentry on the road and he would ken well enough no soldiers would find the way that we came here upon he whistled three times in a particular manner it was strange to see how at the first sound of it all the moving torches came to a stand as if the bearers were affrighted and how at the third the bustle began again as before having thus set folks minds at rest we came down the bray and were met at the yard gate for this place was like a well-doing farm by a tall handsome man of more than fifty who cried out to Alan and the Gaelic James Stuart said Alan I will ask you to speak in scotch for here is a young gentleman with me that has none of the other this is him he added putting his arm through mine a young gentleman of the lowlands and a lad in his country too but I'm thinking that we'll be the better for his health if we give his name the go-by James of the Glens turned to me for a moment and greeted me courteously enough the next he had turned to Alan this has been a dreadful accident he cried it will be in trouble on the country and he wrung his hands whoots! said Alan you must take the sorrow with a sweet man Colin Roy is dead and be thankful for that I said James and by my trough I wish he was alive again it's all very fine to blow him both beforehand but now it's done Alan the white of it the accident fell out in Eppen mind you that Alan it's Eppen that must pay and I am a man that has a family while this was going on I looked about me at the servants some were on ladders digging in the thatch of the house or the farm buildings from which they brought out guns swords and different weapons of war others carried them away and by the sound of mattock blows they were all so busy there prevailed no kind of order in their efforts men struggled together for the same gun and ran into each other with their burning torches and James was continually turning about from his talk with Alan to cry out orders which were apparently never understood the faces in the torch like were like those of people overcome with hurry and panic and though none spoke above his breath their speech sounded both anxious and angry it was about this time that a lassie came out of the house carrying a pack or bundle and it has often made me smile to think how Alan's instinct awoke at the mere sight of it what's that the lassie has he asked we're just setting the house in order Alan said James and his frightened and somewhat fawning way they'll search up and with candles and we must have all things straight we're digging the bit guns and swords into the Mosche sea as I am thinking will be your unfrench clothes will be to bury them I believe bury my French clothes cried Alan troth no and he laid hold upon the packet and retired into the barn to shift himself recommending me in the meanwhile to his kinsmen James carried me accordingly into the kitchen and sat down with me at table smiling and talking at first in a very hospitable manner but presently the gloom returned upon him he sat frowning and biting his fingers only remembered me from time to time and then gave me but a word or two and a poor smile and back into his private terrors his wife sat by the fire and wept with her face in her hands her eldest son was crouched upon the floor running over a great mass of papers and now and again setting one alight and burning it to the bitter end all the while a servant lass with a red face was rummaging about the room in a blind hurry of fear and whimpering as she went and every now and again one of the men would thrust in his face from the yard and cry for orders at last James could keep his seat no longer and beg my permission to be so unmanly as to walk about I am but poor company altogether sir says he but I can think of nothing but this dreadful accident and the trouble it is like to bring upon quite innocent persons a little after he observed his son burning a paper which he thought should have been kept and at that his excitement burst out so that it was painful to witness he struck the lad repeatedly are you gone, gait? he cried do you wish to hang your father? and forgetful of my presence carried on at him a long time together in the Gaelic the young man answering nothing only the wife, at the name of Hanging throwing her apron over her face and sobbing out louder than before this was all wretched for a stranger like myself to hear and see and I was right glad when Alan returned looking like himself in his fine French clothes though to be sure they were now grown almost too battered and withered to deserve the name of Fine I was then taken out in my turn by another of the sons and given that change of clothing of which I had stood so long in need and a pair of Highland Brogues made of deer leather rather strange at first after a little practice very easy to defeat by the time I came back Alan must have told his story for it seemed understood that I was to fly with him and they were all busy upon our equipment they gave us each a sword and pistols though I professed my inability to use the former and with these and some ammunition a bag of oatmeal, an iron pan and a bottle of right French brandy we were ready for the heather money indeed was lacking I had about two guineas left Alan's belt having been dispatched by another hand that trusty messenger had no more than 17 pence to his whole fortune and as for James it appears he had brought himself so low with journeys to Edinburgh and legal expenses on behalf of the tenants that he could only scrape together three and five pence half-penny the most of it in coppers this'll no do said Alan you must find a safe bit somewhere nearby said James and get word sent to me you see you'll have to get this business prettily off Alan this is no time to be stayed for a guinea or two they're sure to get wind of you sure to seek you and by my way of it sure to lay on you the white of this day's accident if it falls on you it falls on me that I'm your near kinsman and harbored you while you were in the country and if it comes on me he paused and bit his fingers with a white face it would be a painful thing for our friends if I was to hang said he it would be an ill day for appen says Alan it's a day that sticks in my throat said James oh man, man, man man Alan you and me have spoken like two fools he cried striking his hand upon the wall so that the house rang again well and that's true too said Alan my friend from the lowlands here nodding at me gave me a good word upon that head if I would only listen to him but see here said James returning to his former manner if they lay me by the heels Alan it's then that you'll be needing the money for with all that I have said and that you have said it will look very black against the two of us do you mark that well, follow me out and you'll see that I'll have to get a paper out against you myself have to offer a reward for you I will I it's a sore thing to do between such near friends but if I get the dirt him of this dreadful accident I'll have to fend for myself, man do you see that he spoke with a pleading earnestness taking Alan by the breast of the coat I said Alan I see that and you'll have to be clear of the country Alan and clear of Scotland you and your friend from the Lowlands too for I'll have to paper your friend from the Lowlands you see that Alan say that you see that I thought Alan flushed a bit this is Uncle Hard on me that brought him here James said he throwing his head back it's like making me a traitor no Alan, man cried James look things in the face he'll be papered anyway Uncle Campbell will be sure to paper him what matters if I paper him too and then Alan I'm a man that has a family and then after a little pause on both sides and Alan it'll be a jury of Campbells said he there's one thing said Alan musingly that nobody can's his name nor yet they shall know Alan there's my hand on that cried James for all the world he really known my name and was foregoing some advantage but just the habit he was in and what he looked like and his age and the like I couldn't well do less I wonder at your father's son cried Alan sternly would you sell the lad with a gift would you change his clothes and then betray him no, no Alan said James no, no the habit he took off the habit Mungo saw him in and I thought he seemed crestfallen indeed he was clutching at every straw and all the time I dare say saw the faces of his hereditary foes on the bench and in the jury box and the gallows in the background well sir says Alan turning to me what say you to that you're here under the safeguard of my honour and it's my part to see nothing done but what shall please you I have but one word to say that I for to all this dispute I am a perfect stranger but the plain common sense is to set the blame where it belongs and that is on the man who fired the shot paper him as you call it set the hunt on him and let honest innocent folk show their faces in safety but at this both Alan and James cried out in horror bidding me hold my tongue for that was not to be thought of and asking me what the Camerons would think it must confirm me it must have been a Cameron from Memor that did the act and if I did not see that the lad might be caught you have not surely thought of that said they was such innocent earnestness that my hands dropped at my side and I despaired of argument very well then said I paper me if you please paper Alan paper King George we're all three innocent and that seems to be what's wanted but at least sir said I to James recovering from my little fit of annoyance I am Alan's friend and if I can be helpful to friends of his I will not stumble at the risk I thought it best to put a fair face on my consent for I saw Alan troubled and besides thanks I to myself as soon as my back is turned they will paper me as they call it whether I consent or not but in this I saw I was wrong for I had no sooner said the words than Mrs. Stewart leaped out of her chair came running over to us and wept first upon my neck and then on Alan's blessing God for our goodness to her family as for you Alan it was no more than your bound in duty she said but for this lad that has come here and seen us at a worst and seen the good man fleeting like a suitor him that by right should give his commands like any king as for you my lad she says my heart is when not to have your name but I have your face and as long as my heart beats under my bosom I will keep it and think of it and bless it and with that she kissed me and burst once more into such sobbing that I stood abashed hoot hoot said Alan looking mighty silly the day comes uncle soon in this month of July and tomorrow there'll be a fine to do and happen in writing of tragoons and crying of Krocken and running of red coats and it behooves you and me to the sooner be gone there upon we said farewell and set out again bending somewhat eastwards in a fine mild dark night and over much the same broken country as before end of chapter chapter 20 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 20 the flight in the heather, the rocks sometimes we walked, sometimes ran and as it drew on to morning walked ever the less and ran the more though upon its face that country appeared to be a desert yet there were huts and houses of the people of which we must have passed more than twenty hidden in quiet places of the hills when we came to one of these Alan would leave me in the way and go himself and wrap upon the side of the house and speak a while at the window with some sleeper awakened this was to pass the news which in that country was so much of a duty that Alan must pause to attend to it even while fleeing for his life and so well attended to by others that in more than half of the houses where we called they had already heard of the murder in the others as well as I could make out standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue the news was received with more consternation than surprise for all our hurry day began to come in while we were still far from any shelter it found us in a prodigious valley strewn with rocks and where ran a foaming river wild mountains stood around it there grew there near the grass nor trees and I have sometimes thought since then that it may have been the valley called Glenco where the massacre was in the time of King William but for the details of our itinerary I am all to seek our way lying now by shortcuts now by great detours our pace being so hurried our time of journeying usually by night and the names of such places as I asked and heard being in the Gaelic Tongue and the more easily forgotten the first peep of morning then showed us this horrible place and I could see Alan knit his brow this is no fit place for you and me he said this is the place they're bound to watch and with that he ran harder than ever down to the water side in a part where the river was split in two among three rocks it went through with a hard thundering I made my belly quake and there hung over the lin a little mist of spray Alan looked neither to the right nor to the left but jumped clean upon the middle rock and fell there on his hands and knees to check himself for that rock was small and he might have pitched over on the far side I had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril before I had followed him and he had caught and stopped me so there we stood side by side upon a small rock slippery with spray a far broader leap in front of us and the river dinning upon all sides when I saw where I was there came on me a deadly sickness of fear and I put my hand over my eyes Alan took me and shook me I saw he was speaking but the roaring of the falls and the trouble of my mind prevented me from hearing only I saw his face was red with anger and that he stamped upon the rock the same look showed me the water raging by and the mist hanging in the air and with that I covered my eyes again and shuttered the next minute Alan had set the brandy bottle to my lips and forced me to drink about a gill which sent the blood into my head again then putting his hands to his mouth and his mouth to my ear he shouted HANG OR DROWN and turning his back upon me leaped over the farther branch of the stream and lend it safe I was now alone upon the rock which gave me the more room the brandy was singing in my ears I had this good example fresh before me and just wit enough to see that if I did not leap at once I should never leap at all I bent low on my knees and flung myself forth with that kind of anger of despair that has sometimes stood me instead of courage sure enough it was but my hands that reached the full length these slipped caught again slipped again and I was slittering back into the lin when Alan seized me first by the hair then by the collar and with a great strain dragged me into safety never a word he said but set off running again for his life and I must stagger to my feet and run after him I had been weary before but now I was sick and bruised and partly drunken with the brandy I kept stumbling as I ran I had a stitch that came near to overmaster me and when at last Alan paused under a great rock that stood there among a number of others it was none too soon for David Balfour a great rock I have said but by rights it was two rocks leaning together at the top both some twenty feet high and at the first sight inaccessible even Alan though you may say he had as good as four hands failed twice in an attempt to climb them and it was only at the third trial and then by standing on my shoulders and leaping up with such force as I thought must have broken my collarbone that he secured a lodgement once there he let down his leathern girdle and with the aid of that and a pair of shallow footholds in the rock I scrambled up beside him then I saw why we had come there for the two rocks being both somewhat hollow at the top and sloping one to the other made a kind of dish or saucer where as many as three or four men might have lain hidden all this while Alan had not said a word and had run and climbed with such a savage silent frenzy of hurry that I knew that he was immortal fear of some miscarriage even now we were on the rock he said nothing nor so much as relaxed the frowning look upon his face but clapped flat down and keeping only one eye above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the compass the dawn had come quite clear we could see the stony sides of the valley and its bottom which were bestrewed with rocks and the river which went from one side to another and made white falls but nowhere the smoke of a house nor any living creature but some eagles screaming round a cliff then at last Alan smiled I said he now we have a chance and then looking at me with some amusement you know very gleg at the jumping, said he at this I suppose I collared with mortification for he added it once oh it's small blame to you to be feared of a thing and yet to do it is what makes the prettiest kind of a man and then there was water there and waters a thing that dolphins even me oh no, said Alan is no you that's to blame it's me I asked him why why, said he I approve myself a gomeral this night for first of all I take a wrong road and that in my own country have happened so that the day has caught us where we should never have been and thanks to that we lie here in some danger and murder's comfort and next, which is the worst of the two for a man that has been so much among the heather as myself I have come wanting a water bottle and here we lie for a long summer's day with nothing but neat spirit you may think that a small matter but before comes night David you give me news of it I was anxious to redeem my character and offered if he would pour out the brandy to run down and fill the bottle at the river it would not waste a good spirit either says he it's been a good friend to you this night or in my poor opinion you would still be cocking on young stone and what's more says he you may have observed you that's a matter so much penetration that Alan Breck Stewart was perhaps walking quicker than his ordinaire you I cried you were running fit to burst was I so says he well then you may depend upon it there was no time to be lost and now here is enough said gang you to a sleep lad and I'll watch accordingly I lay down to sleep a little peaty earth had drifted dim between the top of the two rocks and some bracken grew there to be a bed to me the last thing I heard was still the crying of the eagles I dare say it would be nine in the morning when I was roughly awakened and found Alan's hand pressed upon my mouth he whispered you were snoring well said I surprised at his anxious and dark face and why not he peered over the edge of the rock and signed me to do the like it was now high day cloudless and very hot the valley was as clear as in a picture about half a mile up the water was a camp of redcoats a big fire blazed in their midst at which some were cooking and nearby on the top of a rock about as high as ours there stood a sentry with the sun sparkling on his arms all the way down along the riverside were posted other sentries here near together there widely or scattered some planted like the first on places of command some on the ground level and marching and counter marching so as to meet halfway higher up the Glen where the ground was more open the chain of posts was continued by horse soldiers whom we could see in the distance riding to and fro lower down the infantry continued but as the stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerable burn they were more widely set and only watched the fords and stepping stones I took but one look at them and ducked again into my place it was strange indeed to see this valley which had lain so solitary in the hour of dawn bristling with arms and dotted with the redcoats and breeches you see said Alan this was what I was afraid of Davey that they would watch the burn side they began to come in about two hours ago and man you're a grand hand at the sleeping we're in a narrow place they get up the sides of the hill they could easy spy us with a glass but if they'll only keep in the foot of the valley we'll do yet the posts are thinner down the water and come night we'll try our hand at kitten by them and what are we to do till night I asked lie here, says he and Bursal that one good scotch word Bursal was indeed the most of the story of the day that we had now to pass you are to remember that we lay on the bare top of a rock like scones upon a girdle the sun beat upon us cruelly the rock grew so heated a man could scarce endure the touch of it and the little patch of earth and fern which kept cooler was only large enough for one at a time we took turn about to lie on the naked rock which was indeed like the position of that saint that was martyred on a gridiron and it ran in my mind how strange it was that in the same climate at it only a few days distance I should have suffered so cruelly first from cold upon my island and now from heat upon this rock all the while we had no water only raw brandy for a drink which was worse than nothing but we kept the bottle as cool as we could burying it in the earth and got some relief by bathing our breasts and temples the soldiers kept stirring all day in the bottom of the valley now changing guard now in patrolling parties hunting among the rocks these lay around in so great a number that to look for men among them was like looking for a needle in a bottle of hay and being so hopeless a task it was gone about with the less care yet we could see the soldiers poked their bayonets among the heather which set a cold thrill into my vitals and it would sometimes hang about our rock so that we scarce dared to breathe it was in this way that I first heard the right English speech one fellow as he went by actually clapping his hand upon the sunny face of the rock on which we lay and plucking it off again with an oath I'd tell you it's ought says he and I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd sing-song in which he spoke and no less at that strange trick of dropping out the letter H to be sure I had heard ransom but he had taken his ways from all sorts of people and spoke so imperfectly at the best that I set down the most of it to childishness my surprise was all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown man and indeed I have never grown used to it nor yet altogether with the English grammar as perhaps a very critical eye might hear in there spy out even in these memoirs the tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only the greater as the day went on the rock getting still the hotter and the sun fiercer there were giddiness and sickness and sharp pangs of autism to be supported I minded then and have often minded since on the lines in our scotch Psalm the moon by night these shall not smite nor yet the sun by day and indeed it was only by God's blessing that we were neither of us sonsmitten at last about two it was beyond men's bearing and there was now temptation to resist as well as pain to thaw for the sun being now got a little into the west there came a patch of shade on the east side of our rock which was the side sheltered from the soldiers as well one death as another said Alan and slipped over the edge and dropped on the ground on the shadowy side I followed him at once and instantly fell all my length so weak was I and so giddy with that long exposure here then we lay for an hour or two aching from head to foot weak as water and lying quite naked to the eye of any soldier who should have strolled that way none came however all passing by on the other side so that our rock continued to be our shield even in this new position presently we began again to get a little strength and as the soldiers were now lying closer along the river side Alan proposed that we should try a start I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the world and that was to be set back upon the rock anything else was welcome to me so we got ourselves at once in marching order and began to slip from rock to rock one after the other now crawling flat on our bellies in the shade now making a run for it hard in mouth the soldiers having searched this side of the valley after a fashion and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon had now laid by much of their vigilance and stood dozing at their posts or only kept a look out along the banks of the river so that in this way keeping down the valley and at the same time towards the mountains we drew steadily away from their neighbourhood but the business was the most wearing I have ever taken part in a man had need of a hundred eyes in every part of him to keep concealed in that uneven country and within cry of so many and scattered centuries when we must pass an open place quickness was not all but a swift judgment not only of the lie of the whole country but of the solidity of every stone on which we must set foot for the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that the rolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistol shot and would start the echo calling among the hills and cliffs by sundown we had made some distance even by our slow rate of progress though to be sure the sentry on the rock was still plainly in our view but now we came on something that put all fears out of season and that was a deep rushing burn that tore down in that part to join the Glen River at the sight of this we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in the water and I cannot tell which was the more pleasant the great shock as the cool stream went over us or the greed with which we drank of it we lay there for the banks hit us drank again and again bathed our chests let our wrist trail in the running water till they ached with the chill and at last being wonderfully renewed we got out the meal bag and make drummack in the iron pan this though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal yet makes a good enough dish for a hungry man and where there are no means of making fire or as in our case good reason for not making one it is the chief standby of those who have taken to the heather as soon as the shadow of the night had fallen we set forth again at first with the same caution but presently with more boldness standing our full height and stepping out at a good pace of walking the way was very intricate lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs clouds had come in with the sunset and the night was dark and cool so that I walked without much fatigue but in continual fear of falling and rolling down the mountains I would no guess at our direction the moon rose at last and found us still on the road it was in its last quarter and was long beset with clouds but after a while shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains and was reflected far underneath us on the narrow arm of a sea-lock at this site we both paused I struck with wonder to find myself so high and walking as it seemed to me upon clouds Alan to make sure of his direction seemingly he was well pleased and he must certainly have judged us out of earshot of all our enemies for throughout the rest of our night march he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes warlike, merry, plaintive real tunes that made the foot go faster tunes of my own south country that made me feigned to be home from my adventures in all these on the great dark desert mountains making company upon the way End of chapter Chapter 21 of Kidnapped This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 21 The Flight in the Heather The Huk of Korinaki Early as day comes in the beginning of July it was still dark when we reached our destination a cleft in the head of a great mountain with a water running through the midst and upon the one hand a shallow cave and a rock birches grew there in a thin, pretty wood which if little farther on was changed into a wood of pines the burn was full of trout the wood of Kushit doves on the open side of the mountain beyond whoops would be always whistling and cuckoos were plentiful from the mouth of the cleft we looked down upon a part of memoir and on the sea-lock that divides that country from Apen and this from so great a height as made it my continual wonder and pleasure to sit and behold them The name of the cleft was the Huk of Korinaki and although from its height and being so near upon the sea it was often beset with clouds yet it was on the whole a pleasant place and the five days we lived in it went happily we slept in the cave making our bed of heather bushes which we cut for that purpose and covering ourselves with Alan's great coat there was a low concealed place in a turning of the glen where we were so bold as to make fire so that we could warm ourselves when the clouds set in and cook hot porridge and grill the little trouts that we caught with our hands under the stones and overhanging banks of the burn this was indeed our chief pleasure in business and not only to save our meal against worse times but with a rivalry that much amused us we spent a great part of our days at the waterside stripped to the waist and groping about or as they say guddling for these fish the largest we got might have been a quarter of a pound but they were of good flesh and flavor and when broiled upon the coals lacked only a little salt to be delicious in any by-time Alan must teach me to use my sword for my ignorance had much distressed him and I think besides as I had sometimes the upper hand of him and the fishing he was not sorry to turn to an exercise where he had so much the upper hand of me he made it somewhat more of a pain than need have been for he stormed at me all through the lessons in a very violent manner of scolding and would push me so close that I made sure he must run me through the body I was often tempted to turn tail but held my ground for all that and got some profit of my lessons if it was but to stand on guard with an assured countenance which is often all that is required so though I could never in the least please my master I was not altogether displeased with myself in the meantime you are not to suppose that we neglected our chief business which was to get away it will be many a long day Alan said to me in our first morning before the redcoats think upon seeking koinakikh so now we must get word sent to James and he must find the sciller for us and how shall we send that word says I we are here in a desert place which yet we dare not leave and unless you get the fowls of the air to be your messengers I see not what we shall be able to do I said Alan you're a man of small contravence David thereupon he fell in amuse looking in the embers of the fire and presently getting a piece of wood he fashioned it in a cross the four ends of which he blackened on the coals then he looked at me a little shyly could you lend me my button says he it seems a strange thing to ask a gift again but I own I am relate to cut another I gave him the button whereupon he strung it on a strip of his great coat which he had used to bind the cross and tying in a little sprig of birch and another of fur he looked upon his work with satisfaction now said he there is a little clacken what is called a hamlet in the English not very far from Korinachich and it has the name of Colisna Cohen there there are living many friends of mine whom I could trust with my life and some that I am know just so sure of you see David there will be money set upon our heads James himself is to set money on them and as for the cambels they would never spare Siller where there was a steward to be hurt if it was otherwise I would go down to Colisna Cohen whatever and trust my life into these people's hands as lightly as I would trust another with my glove but being so said I being so said he there's bad folk everywhere and what's far worse weak ones so when it comes dark again I will steal down into that clacken and set this that I have been making in the window of a good friend of mine John Breck McCall a boomer of appends with all my heart says I and if he finds it what is he to think well says Alan I wish he was a man of more penetration for by my troth I'm afraid he will make little enough of it but this is what I have in mind this cross is something in the nature of the cross tarry or fiery cross which is the signal of gathering in our clans yet he will know well enough the clan is not to rise for there it is standing in his window and no word with it so he will say to himself the clan is not to rise but there is something and he will see my button and that was Duncan Stewart's and then he will say to himself the son of Duncan is in the Heather and has need of me well said I it may be but even supposing so there is a good deal of Heather between here and the fourth and that is a very true word says Alan but then John Breck will see the sprig of birch and the sprig of pine and he will say to himself if he is a man of any penetration at all which I missed out Alan will be lying in a wood which is both of pines and birches then he will think to himself that is not so very right fear about and then he will come and give us a look up in Korynaki and if he does not David the devil may fly away with him for what I care or he will be know what the salt to his porridge a man said I drolling with him a little you are very ingenious in black and white and that is an excellent observe Mr. Balfour of Shaw's said Alan drolling with me and it would certainly be much simpler for me to write to him but it would be a sore job for John Breck to read it he would have to go to the school for two three years and it's possible we might be weary waiting on him so that night Alan carried down his fiery cross and put it in the bowman's window he was troubled when he came back for the dogs had barked and the folk run out from their houses and he thought he had heard a clatter of arms and seen a red coat come to one of the doors on all accounts we lay the next day in the borders of the wood and kept a close look out so that if it was John Breck that came we might be ready to guide him and if it was the red coats we should have time to get away about noon a man was to be spied straggling up the open side of the mountain in the sun and looking round him as he came from under his hand no sooner had Alan seen him than he whistled the man turned and came a little towards us then Alan would give another peep and the man would come still nearer and so by the sound of whistling he was guided to the spot where we lay he was a ragged, wild, bearded man about forty grossly disfigured with a smallpox and looked both dull and savage although his English was very bad and broken yet Alan, according to his very handsome use whenever I was by would suffer him to speak no Gaelic perhaps the strange language made him appear more backward than he really was but I thought he had little good will to serve us and what he had was the child of terror Alan would have had him carry a message to James but the bowman would hear of no message she was, forget it he said in his screaming voice and would either have a letter or wash his hands of us I thought Alan would be graveled at that for we lacked the means of writing in that desert but he was a man of more resources than I knew searched the wood until he found the quill of a kushet dove which he shaped into a pen with gunpowder from his horn and water from the running stream and tearing a corner from his French military commission which he carried in his pocket like a talisman to keep him from the gallows he sat down and wrote his follows Dear kinsmen please send the money by the bearer to the place he kends of your affectionate cousin A.S. this he entrusted to the bowman who promised to make what manner and carried it off with him down the hill he was three full days gone but about five in the evening of the third we heard a whistling in the wood which Alan answered and presently the bowman came up the waterside looking for us right and left he seemed less sulky than before and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of such a dangerous commission he gave us the news of the country that it was alive with red coats that arms were being found and poor folk brought in trouble daily and that James and some of his servants were already clapped in prison at Fort William under strong suspicion of complicity it seemed it was noised on all sides that Alan Breck had fired the shot and there was a bill issued for both him and me with one hundred pounds reward this was all as bad as could be and the little note the bowman had carried us from Mississippi was of a miserable sadness in it she besought Alan not to let himself be captured assuring him if he fell in the hands of the troops both he and James were no better than dead men the money she had sent was all that she could beg or borrow and she prayed heaven we could be doing with it lastly she said she enclosed us one of the bills in which we were described this we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear partly as a man may look in a mirror partly as he might look into the barrel of an enemy's gun to judge if it be truly aimed Alan was advertised as a small pockmarked active man of 35 or thereby dressed in a feathered hat a French side coat of blue with silver buttons and lace a great deal tarnished coat and breeches of black shag and I as a tall strong lad of about 18 wearing an old blue coat very ragged an old Highland bonnet a long homespun waistcoat blue breeches, his legs bare low country shoes wanting the toes speaks like a lowlander and has no beard Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully remembered as a town only when he came to the word tarnish he looked upon his lace like one a little mortified as for myself I thought I cut a miserable figure in the bill and yet was well enough pleased to for since I had changed these rags the description had ceased to be a danger and became a source of safety Alan said I you should change your clothes not trough said Alan to others a fine sight I would be if I went back to France and upon it this put a second reflection in my mind that if I were to separate from Alan and his tell-tale clothes I should be safe against arrest and might go openly about my business nor was this all for suppose I was arrested when I was alone there was a little against me but suppose I was taken in company with a reputed murderer my case would begin to be grave for generosity's sake I dare not speak my mind upon this head but I thought of it nonetheless I thought of it all the more too when the Bowman brought out a green purse with four guineas and gold and the best part of another in small change true it was more than I had but then Alan with less than five guineas had to get as far as France I with my less than two not beyond Queensferry so that taking things in their proportion Alan's society was not only apparel to my life but a burden on my purse but there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my companion he believed he was serving helping and protecting me and what could I do but hold my peace and chafe and take my chance of it it's little enough said Alan putting the purse in his pocket but it'll do my business and now John Breck if you'll hand me over my button this gentleman and me will be for taking the road but the Bowman after feeling about in a hairy purse that hung in front of him in the Highland Manor though he wore otherwise the lowland habit with sea trousers began to roll his eyes strangely and at last said Hernanso will loss it meaning he thought he had lost it what? cried Alan you will lose my button that was my father's before me now I will tell you what is in my mind John Breck it is in my mind this is the worst day's work that ever you did since she was born and as Alan spoke he set his hands on his knees and looked at the Bowman with a smiling mouth and that dancing light in his eyes that meant mischief to his enemies perhaps the Bowman was honest enough perhaps he had meant to cheat and then finding himself alone with two of us in a desert place cast back to honesty as being safer at least and all at once he seemed to find that button and handed it to Alan well and it is a good thing for the honour of the McCalls said Alan and then to me here is my button back again and I thank you for parting with it which is of a peace with all your friendships to me then he took the warmest parting of the Bowman for says he you have done very well by me I'd set your neck at a venture and I will always give you the name of a good man lastly the Bowman took himself off by one way and Alan and I getting our chattels together struck into another to resume our flight end of chapter chapter 22 of kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 22 the flight in the Heather the Moor some seven hours incessant hard travelling to the end of a range of mountains in front of us there lay a piece of low broken desert land which we must now cross the sun was not long up and shone straight in our eyes a little thin mist went up from the face of the Moorland like a smoke so that, as Alan said there might have been twenty squadrons of dragoons there and we none the wiser we sat down therefore in a how of the hillside till the mist should have risen and made ourselves a dish of drama and held a council of war David said Alan this is a little bit shall we lie here till it comes night or shall we risk it and stave on ahead well said I, I am tired indeed but I could walk as far again if that was all I but it isn't said Alan nor yet the half of the land happens fair death to us to the south it's all camels and not to be thought of to the north well there's no muckled to be gained by going north neither for you that wants to get to Queensferry nor yet for me that wants to get to France well then we can strike east east be it says I quite cheerily but I was thinking in to myself it would only take one point of the compass and let me take any other it would be the best for both of us well then east you see we have them yours said Alan once there David it's mere pitch and toss out on yon bald naked flat place where can a body turn to let the red coats come over a hill they can spy you miles away and the sorrows and their horses heels they would soon ride you down it's no good place David and I'm free to say it's worse by daylight than by dark Alan said I hear my way of it happens death for us we have none too much money nor yet meal the longer they seek the nearer they may guess where we are it's all a risk and I give my word to go ahead until we drop Alan was delighted there are wiles said he when you're all together too canny and wiggish to be company for a gentleman like me but there come other wiles when you show yourself a metal spark and it's then David that I love you like a brother the mist rose and died away and showed us that country lying as waste as the sea only the morphal and the peewees crying upon it and far over to the east a herd of deer moving like dots much of it was red with heather much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools some had been burnt black in a heath fire and in another place there was quite a forest of dead furs standing like skeletons a wearier looking desert man never saw but at least it was clear of troops which was our point we went down accordingly into the waste and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge stops of mountains all round you are to remember from whence we might be spied at any moment so it behooved us to keep in the hollow parts of the moor and when these turned aside from our direction to move upon its naked face with infinite care sometimes for half an hour together we must crawl from one heather bush to another as hunters do when they are hard upon the deer it was a clear day again with a blazing sun water in the brandy bottle was soon gone and all together if I guessed what it would be to crawl half the time upon my belly and to walk much of the rest stooping nearly to the knees I should certainly have held back from such a killing enterprise toiling and resting and toiling again we wore away the morning and about noon lay down in a thick bush of heather to sleep Alan took the first watch in my eyes before I was shaken up to take the second we had no clock to go by and Alan stuck a sprig of heath in the ground to serve instead so that as soon as the shadow of the bush should fall so far to the east I might know to rouse him but I was by this time so weary that I could have slept 12 hours at a stretch I had the taste of sleep in my throat my joints slept even when my mind was waking and the drone of the wild bees were like posits to me and every now and again I would give a jump and find I had been dozing the last time I awoke I seemed to come back from farther away and thought the sun had taken a great start in the heavens I looked at the sprig of heath and at that I could have cried aloud for I saw I had betrayed my trust my head was nearly burned with fear and shame and at what I saw when I looked out around me on the moor my heart was like dying in my body for sure enough a body of horse soldiers had come down during my sleep and were drawing near to us from the southeast spread out in the shape of a fan and riding their horses to and fro in the deep parts of the heather when I awaked Alan he glanced first at the soldiers then at the mark in the position of the sun and knitted his brows with a sudden quick look both ugly and anxious which was all the reproach I had of him what are we to do now? I asked we'll have to play it being hairs said he do you see young mountain pointing to one on the northeastern sky I said I well then says he let us strike for that its name is Ben Alder it is a wild desert mountain with hills and hollows and if we can win to it before the moor we may do yet but Alan cried I that will take us across the very coming of the soldiers I can that fine said he but if we are driven back on Apen we are two dead men so now David man be brisk with that he began to run forward on his hands and knees with an incredible quickness as though it was his natural way of going all the time too he kept winding in and out in the lower parts of the moorland where we were the best concealed some of these had been burned or at least scathed with fire and there rose in our faces which were close to the ground a blinding choking dust as fine as smoke the water was long out and this posture of running on the hands and knees brings an over mastering weakness and weariness so that the joints a paint under your weight now and then indeed where there was a big bush of heather we lay a while and panted and putting aside the leaves looked back at the dragoons they had not spied us for they held straight on a half troop I think covering about two miles of ground and beating it mighty thoroughly as they went I had awakened just in time a little later and we must have fled in front of them instead of escaping on one side even as it was the least misfortune might betray us and now and again when a grouse rose out of the heather with a clap of wings we lay as still as the dead and were afraid to breathe the aching and faintness of my body the laboring of my heart the soreness of my hands and the smarting of my throat and eyes and the continual smoke of dust and ashes having grown to be so unbearable that I would gladly have given up nothing but the fear of Alan let me enough of a false kind of courage to continue as for himself and you are to bear in mind that he was covered with a great coat he had first turned crimson but as time went on the redness began to be mingled with patches of white his breath cried and whistled as it came and his voice and during our halts sounded like nothing human yet he seemed in no way dashed in spirits nor did he at all obeyed in his activity so that I was driven to marvel at the man's endurance at length and the first gloaming of the night we heard a trumpet sound and looking back from among the heather saw the troop beginning to collect a little after they had built a fire and camped for the night in the waste at this I begged and besought that we might lie down and sleep there shall be no sleep the night said Alan from now on these weary dragoons of yours will keep the crown of the mere land and none will get out of appen but winged fowls we got through in the nick of time and shall we jeopard what we've gained nah, nah when the day comes it shall find you and me in a fast place on Ben Alder Alan I said it's not the want of will it's the strength that I want if I could I would but as sure as I'm alive I cannot very well then said Alan I'll carry ya I looked to see if he were jesting but no the little man was in dead earnest and the sight of so much resolution shamed me away said I I'll follow he gave me one look as much as to say well done David and off he set again at his top speed it grew cooler and even a little darker but not much with the coming of the night the sky was cloudless it was still early in July and pretty far north in the darkest part of that night you would have needed pretty good eyes to read but for all that I have often seen it darker in a winter midday heavy dew fell and drenched the moor like rain and this refreshed me for a while when we stopped to breathe and I had time to see all about me the clearness and sweetness of the night the shapes of the hills like things asleep and the fire dwindling away behind us like a bright spot in the midst of the moor anger would come upon me in a clap that I must still drag myself in agony just like a worm by what I have read in books I think few that have held a pen were ever really wearied or they would write of it more strongly I had no care of my life neither past nor future and I scarce remembered there was such a lad as David Balfour I did not think of myself but just of each fresh step which I was sure would be my last with despair and a valent who was the cause of it with hatred Allam was in the right trade as a soldier this is the officers part to make men continue to do things they know not where for and when, if the choice was offered they would lie down where they were and be killed and I daresay I would have made a good enough private for in these last hours it never occurred to me that I had any choice but just to obey as long as I was able and die obeying day began to come in after years I thought and by that time we were past the greatest danger and could walk upon our feet like men instead of crawling like brutes but dear heart have mercy what a pair we must have made going double like old grandfathers stumbling like babes and as white as dead folk never a word passed between us each said his mouth and kept his eyes in front of him and lifted up his foot and set it down again like people lifting weights at a country play all the while with the more foul crying peep in the heather and the light coming slowly clearer in the east I say Alan did as I did not that ever I looked at him for I had enough ado to keep my feet but because it is plain he must have been as stupid with weariness as myself and looked as little where we were going or we should not have walked into an ambush like blind men it fell in this way we were going down a heathery bray Alan leading and I following a pace or two behind like a fiddler and his wife when upon a sudden the heather gave a rustle three or four ragged men leaped out and the next moment we were lying on our backs each with a dirk at his throat I don't think I cared the pain of this rough handling was quite swallowed up by the pains of which I was already full and I was too glad to have stopped walking to mind about a dirk I lay looking up in the face of the man that held me and I mind his face was black with a sun in his eyes very light but I was not afraid of him I heard Alan and another whispering in the Gaelic all one to me then the dirks were put up our weapons were taken away and we were set face to face sitting in the heather they are Clooney's men said Alan we couldn't have fallen better we're just to abide here with these which are his outcentries till they can get word to the chief of my arrival now Clooney McPherson the chief of the clan Vorich had been one of the leaders of the great rebellion six years before there was a price on his life and I had supposed him long ago in France with the rest of the heads of that desperate party even tired as I was the surprise of what I heard half awakened me what I cried is Clooney still here I is he so said Alan still in his own country and kept by his own clan King George can do no more I think I would have asked father but Alan gave me the put off I am rather wearied he said and I would like fine to get a sleep and without more words he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush and seemed to sleep at once there was no such thing possible for me you have heard grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer time well I had no sooner close my eyes than my body and above all my head belly and wrists seemed to be filled with worrying grasshoppers and I must open my eyes again at once and tumble and toss and sit up and lie down and look at the sky which dazzled me where Clooney's wild and dirty sentries peering out over the top of the Bray and chattering to each other in the Gaelic that was all the rest I had until the messenger returned when as it appeared that Clooney was glad to receive us we must get once more upon our feet and set forward Alan was an excellent good spirits much refreshed by his sleep very hungry and looking pleasantly forward to a dram and a dish of hot collops of which it seems the messenger had brought him word for my part it made me sick to hear of eating I had been dead heavy before and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightness that made me to walk I drifted like a gossamer the ground seemed to me a cloud the hills a featherweight the air to have a current like a running burn which carried me to and fro with all that a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind so that I could have wept at my own helplessness I saw Alan knitting his brows at me and supposed it was in anger and that gave me a kind of lightheaded fear like what a child may have I remember too that I was smiling and could not stop smiling hard as I tried for I thought it was out of place at such a time but my good companion had nothing in his mind but kindness and the next moment two of the gillies had me by the arms and I began to be carried forward with great swiftness or so it appeared to me although I dare say it was slowly enough through a labyrinth of dreary glens and hollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder end of chapter chapter 23 of Kidnapped this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson chapter 23 Clooney's Cage we came at last to the foot of an exceeding steep wood which scrambled up a craggy hillside and was crowned by a naked precipice it's here said one of the guides and we struck up hill the trees clung upon the slope like sailors on the shrouds of a ship and their trunks were like the rounds of the ladder by which we mounted quite at the top and just before the rocky face of the cliff sprang above the foliage we found that strange house which was known in the country as Clooney's Cage the trunks of several trees have been waddled across the intervals strengthened with stakes and the ground behind this barricade leveled up with earth to make the floor a tree which grew out from the hillside was the living center beam of the roof the walls were off waddle and covered with moss the whole house had something of an egg shape and it half hung half stood in that steep hillside thicket like a wasp's nest in a green hawthorne within it was large enough to shelter five or six persons with some comfort a projection of the cliff had been cunningly employed to be the fireplace and the smoke rising against the face of the rock and being not dissimilar in color readily escaped notice from below this was but one of Clooney's hiding places he had caves besides and underground chambers in several parts of his country and following the reports of his scouts he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved away by this manner of living and thanks to the affection of his clan he had not only stayed all this time in safety while so many others had fled or been taken in slain but stayed four or five years longer and only went to France at last by the express command of his master there he soon died and it is strange to reflect that he may have regretted his cage upon Ben Elder when we came to the door he was seated by his rock chimney watching a ghillie about some cookery he was mighty plainly habited with the knitted nightcap drawn over his ears and smoked a foul cutty pipe for all that he had the manners of a king and it was quite a sight to see him rise out of his place to welcome us well Mr. Stewart come away sir said he and bring in your friend that is yet identical in the name of and how is yourself Clooney said Alan I hope you do brawly sir and I am proud to see you and to present to you my friend the Lard of Shawls Mr. David Balfour Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer when we were alone but with strangers he rang the words out like a herald step in by the both of you gentlemen says Clooney I make you welcome to my house which is a queer rude place for certain but one where I have entertained a royal personage Mr. Stewart yet doubtless can the personage I have in my eye will take a dram for luck and as soon as this handless man of mine callops ready will dine and take a hand at the carts as gentlemen should my life is a bit dry he says he pouring out the brandy I see little company and sit and twirl my thumbs and mind upon a great day that is gone by hen weary for another great day that we all hope will be upon the road so here's a toast to you the restoration there upon we all touch glasses and drink I'm sure I wish no ill to King George and if he had been there himself in proper person it's like he would have done as I did no sooner had I taken out the drain than I felt hugely better and could look on and listen still a little mistily perhaps but no longer with the same groundless horror and distress of mind it was certainly a strange place and we had a strange host in his long hiding Clooney had grown to have all manner of precise habits like those of an old maid he had a particular place where no one else must sit the cage was arranged in a particular way which none must disturb Cookery was one of his chief fancies and even while he was greeting us in he kept an eye to the colaps it appears he sometimes visited or received visits from his wife and one or two of his nearest friends under the cover of night but for the more part lived quite alone and communicated only with his sentinels and the gillies that waited on him in the cage the first thing in the morning one of them who was a barber came and shaved him and gave him the news of the country of which he was immoderately greedy there was no end to his questions he put them as earnestly as a child and at some of the answers laughed out of all bounds of reason and would break out again laughing under memory hours after the barber was gone to be sure there might have been a purpose in his questions for though he was thus sequestered and like the other landed gentlemen of Scotland stripped by the late act of parliament of legal powers he still exercised a patriarchal justice in his clan disputes were brought to him in his hiding-hole to be decided and the men of his country who would have snapped their fingers laid aside revenge and paid down money at the bare word of this forfeited and hunted outlaw when he was angered which was often enough he gave his commands and breathed threats of punishment like any king and his gillies trembled and crouched away from him like children before a hasty father with each of them as he entered he ceremoniously shook hands both parties touching their bonnets at the same time in a military manner altogether I had a fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a highling clan and this with a proscribed fugitive chief his country conquered the troops riding upon all sides in quest of him sometimes within a mile of where he lay and when the least of the ragged fellows whom he raided and threatened could have made a fortune by betraying him on that first day as soon as the callops were ready Clooney gave them with his own hand a squeeze of a lemon for he was well supplied with luxuries and bait us draw into our meal they said he meaning the callops are such as I give his royal highness in this very house baiting the lemon juice for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never fast for kitchen indeed there were larger goons than lemons in my country in the year 46 I do not know if the callops were truly very good but my heart rose against the sight of them and I could eat but little all the while Clooney entertained us with stories of Prince Charlie's stay in the cage giving us the very words of the speakers and rising from his place to show us where they stood by these I gathered the prince was a gracious spirited boy like the son of a race of polite kings but not so wise as Solomon I gathered too that while he was in the cage he was often drunk so the fault that has since by all accounts made such a wreck of him had even then begun to show itself we were no sooner done eating that Clooney brought out an old thumbed greasy pack of cards such as you may find in a mean in and his eyes brightened in his face as he proposed that we should fall to playing now this was one of the things I had been brought up to a shoe like disgrace it being held by my father neither the part of a Christian nor yet of a gentleman to set his own livelihood and fish for that of others on the cast of painted passport to be sure I might have pleaded my fatigue which was excuse enough but I thought it behooved that I should bear a testimony I must have got very red in the face but I spoke steadily and told them I had no call to be a judge of others but for my own part it was a matter in which I had no clearness Clooney stopped mingling the cards what in Dell's name is this says he what kind of wiggish canting talk is this for the house of Clooney McPherson I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour says Alan I bear a king's name says he cocking his hat and I and any that I call friend or company for the best but the gentleman is tired and should sleep he has no mind to the carts it will never hinder you and me and I am fit and willing sir to play any game that you can name sir says Clooney in this poor house of mine friend that any gentleman may follow his pleasure. If your friend would like to stand on his head, he is welcome. And if either he or you or any other man is not precisely satisfied, I would be proud to step outside with him. I had no will that these two friends should cut their throats for my sake. Sir, said I, I'm very wearied, as Alan says, and what's more, as you are a man that likely has sons of your own, I may tell you it was a promise to my father. Say no more, say no more, said Clooney, and pointed me to a bed of heather in a corner of the cage. For all that he was displeased enough, looked at me a scantz, and grumbled when he looked. And indeed it must be owned that both my scruples and the words in which I declared them smacked somewhat of the coven-enter, and were little in their place among wild Highland Jacobites. What were the brandy and the venison? A strange heaviness had come over me, and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I fell into a kind of trance, in which I continued almost the whole time of our stay in the cage. Sometimes I was broad awake and understood what passed. Sometimes I only heard voices, or men snoring, like the voice of a silly river, and the plaids upon the wall dwindled down and swelled out again, like fire-light shadows on the roof. I must sometimes have spoken or cried out, for I remember I was now and then amazed at being answered, yet I was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, abiding horror, a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and the fire, and myself. The Barbara Gilley, who was a doctor too, was called in to prescribe for me, but as he spoke in the Gaelic I understood not a word of his opinion, and was too sick even to ask for a translation. I knew well enough I was ill, and that was all I cared about. I paid little heed while I lay in this poor pass, but Alan and Clooney were most of the time at the cards, and I am clear that Alan must have begun by winning, for I remember sitting up and seeing them hard at it, and a great glittering pile of as much as sixty or a hundred guineas on the table. It looked strange enough to see all this wealth in a nest upon a cliffside, waddled about growing trees, and even then I thought it seemed deep water for Alan to be riding, who had no better battle-horse than a green purse and a matter of five pounds. The luck, it seems, changed on the second day. About noon I was wakened as usual for dinner, and as usual refused to eat, and was given a dram with some bitter infusion which the Barbara had prescribed. The sun was shining in at the open door of the cage, and this dazzled and offended me. Clooney sat at the table, biting the pack of cards. Alan had stooped over the bed and had his face close to my eyes, to which, troubled as they were with the fever, it seemed of the most shocking bigness. He asked me for a loan of my money. What for? said I. Oh, just for a loan? said he. But why? I repeated. I don't see. What, David? said Alan. You wouldn't have grudged me alone. I would, though, if I had had my senses, but all I thought of then was to get his face away, and I handed him my money. On the morning of the third day, when we had been forty-eight hours in the cage, I awoke with a great relief of spirits, very weak and weary indeed, but seeing things of the right size and with their honest, everyday appearance. I had a mind to eat, moreover, rose from bed of my own movement, and as soon as we had breakfasted, stepped to the entry of the cage and sat down outside in the top of the wood. It was a gray day, with a cool, mild air, and I sat in a dream all morning, only disturbed by the passing by of Clooney's scouts and servants, coming with provisions and reports. For as the coast was at that time clear, he might almost say he held court openly. When I returned, he and Alan had laid the cards aside, and were questioning a ghillie, and the chief turned about and spoke to me in the Gaelic. I have no Gaelic, sir, said I. Now since the card-question everything I said or did had the power of annoying Clooney. Your name has more sense than yourself, then, said he angrily, for it's good Gaelic, but the point is this. My scout report's all clear in the south, and the question is, have you got the strength to go? I saw cards on the table, but no gold, only a heap of little written papers, and these all on Clooney's side. Alan, besides, had an odd look, like a man not very well content, and I began to have a strong misgiving. I do not know if I'm as well as I should be, said I, looking at Alan, but the little money we have has a long way to carry us. Alan took his underlip into his mouth, and looked upon the ground. David, says he at last, I've lost it, there's the naked truth. My money too, said I. Your money too, says Alan, with a groan. You should not have given it me. I'm daft when I get to the carts. Who toot, who toot, said Clooney. It was all daffing, it's all nonsense. Of course you'll have your money back again, and the double of it, if you'll make so free with me. It would be a singular thing for me to keep it. It's not to be supposed that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situation. That would be a singular thing, cries he, and began to pull gold out of his pocket with a mighty red face. Alan said nothing, only looked on the ground. Will you step to the door with me, sir? said I. Clooney said he would be very glad, and followed me readily enough, but he looked flustered and put out. And now, sir, says I, I must first acknowledge your generosity. Nonsenseical nonsense! cries Clooney. Where's the generosity? This is just the most unfortunate affair. But what would you have me do? Boxed up in this bee-skip of a cage of mine, but just set my friends to the carts. When can I get them? And if they lose, of course, it's not to be supposed. And here he came to a pause. Yes, said I. If they lose, you give them back their money, and if they win, they carry away yours and their pouches. I have said before that I grant your generosity, but to me, sir, it's a very painful thing to be placed in this position. There was a little silence in which Clooney seemed always as if he were about to speak. But said nothing. All the time he grew redder and redder in the face. I'm a young man, said I, and I ask your advice. Advise me as you would your son. My friend fairly lost his money after having fairly gained a far greater sum of yours. Can I accept it back again? Would that be the right part for me to play? Whatever I do you can see for yourself it must be hard upon a man of any pride. It's rather hard on me too, Mr. Balfour," said Clooney, and you give me very much the look of a man that has entrapped poor people to their hurt. I wouldn't I have my friends come to any house of mine to accept affronts? No! He cried with a sudden heat of anger, nor yet to give them. And so you see, sir, said I, there is something to be said upon my side, and this gambling is a very poor employ for gentle folks, but I am still waiting your opinion. I am sure if ever Clooney hated any man it was David Balfour. He looked me all over with a warlike eye, and I saw the challenge at his lips. But either my youth disarmed him or perhaps his own sense of justice. Certainly it was a mortifying matter for all concerned and not least Clooney, the more credit that he took it as he did. Mr. Balfour said he, I think you are too nice and covenanting, but for all that you have the spirit of a very pretty gentleman. Upon my honest word you may take this money, it's what I would tell my son, and here's my hand along with it. CHAPTER XXIV. THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER. THE QUARAL. Alan and I were put across Lak Irocht under Cloud of Night, and went down its eastern shore to another hiding-place near the head of Lak Rannach, wither we were led by one of the Gillies from the cage. This fellow carried all our luggage and Alan's great coat in the bargain, trotting along under the birthing, far less than the half of which used to weigh me to the ground, like a stout hillpony with a feather, yet he was a man that in plain contest I could have broken on my knee. Doubtless it was a great relief to walk disencumbered, and perhaps without that relief and the consequent sense of liberty and lightness I could not have walked at all. I was but new risen from a bed of sickness, and there was nothing in the state of our affairs to hearten me for much exertion, travelling as we did over the most dismal deserts in Scotland, under a cloudy heaven and with divided hearts among the travellers. For long we said nothing, marching alongside or one behind the other, each with a set countenance. I, angry and proud, and drawing what strength I had from these two violent and sinful feelings. Alan, angry and ashamed, ashamed that he had lost my money, angry that I should take it so ill. The thought of a separation ran always the stronger in my mind, and the more I approved of it, the more ashamed I grew of my approval. It would be a fine, handsome, generous thing indeed, for Alan to turn round and say to me, Go, I am in the most danger, and my company only increases yours. But for me to turn to the friend who certainly loved me and say to him, You are in great danger. I am in but little. Your friendship is a burden. Go, take your risks and bear your hardships alone. No. That was impossible, and even to think of it privily to myself made my cheeks to burn. And yet Alan had behaved like a child, and what is worse, a treacherous child. Weedling my money from me while I lay half-conscious was scarce better than theft, and yet here he was trudging by my side, without a penny to his name, and by what I could see quite blithe the sponge upon the money he had driven me to beg. True, I was ready to share it with him, but it made me rage to see him count upon my readiness. These were the two things uppermost in my mind, and I could open my mouth upon neither without black ungenerosity. So I did the next worst, and said nothing, nor so much as looked once at my companion, save with the tail of my eye. At last upon the other side of Lakh Erocht, going over a smooth, rushy place where the walking was easy, he could bear it no longer and came close to me. David, says he, This is no way for two friends to take a small accident. I have to say that I'm sorry, and so that's said. And now if you have anything, you better say it. Oh, says I, I have nothing. He seemed disconcerted, at which I was meanly pleased. No, said he, with a rather a trembling voice, but when I say I was to blame, why, of course, you were to blame, said I, Cooley, and you will bear me out that I have never reproached you. Never, says he, but you can very well that you've done worse. Are we to part? You said so once before. Are you to say it again? There's hills and heather enough between here and the two seas, David, and I will own I'm no very keen to stay where I'm no wanted. This pierced me like a sword, and seemed to lay bare my private disloyalty. Alan Breck, I cried. And then, do you think I am one to turn my back on you and your chief need? You dursant say it to my face, my whole conduct's there to give the lie to it. It's true I fell asleep upon the mirror, but that was from weariness, and you do wrong to cast it up to me. Which is what I never did, said Alan. But aside from that, I continued, what have I done that you should even meet a dogs by such a supposition. I never yet failed a friend, and it's not likely I'll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can. I will only say this to you, David, said Alan, very quietly, that I have long been owing you my life, and now I owe you money. You should try to make that burden light for me. This ought to have touched me. And in a manner it did, but the wrong manner. I felt I was behaving, badly, and was now not only angry with Alan, but angry with myself and the bargain that made me the more cruel. You asked me to speak, said I. Well then I will. You own yourself that you have done me a disservice. I have had to swallow and affront. I have never reproached you. I never name the thing till you did. And now you blame me! cried I, because I cannot laugh and sing as if I were glad to be affronted. The next thing will be that I am to go down upon my knees and thank you for it. You should think more of others, Alan Breck. If you thought more of others, you would perhaps speak less about yourself, and when a friend that likes you very well has passed over an offense without a word, you would be blithe to let it lie, instead of making it a stick to break his back with. By your own way of it it was you that was to blame, then it should not be you to seek the quarrel. I will, said Alan, say no more. And we fell back into our former silence, and came to our journey's end, and supped, and lay down to sleep, without another word. And Gilly put us across Loughrenoch in the dusk of the next day, and gave us his opinion as to our best route. This was to get us up at once into the tops of the mountains to go round by a circuit, turning the heads of Glen Lyon, Glen Loche, and Glen Ducart, and come down upon the lowlands by Kippen and the upper waters of the fourth. Alan was little pleased with a route which led us through the country of his blood foes that Glen Orchie cambels. He objected that by turning to the east we should come almost at once among the Athol Stewards, a race of his own name and lineage, although following a different chief, and come besides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we were bound. But the Gilly, who was indeed the chief man of Clooney's scouts, had good reasons to give him on all hands, naming the force of troops in every district, and alleging finally, as well as I could understand, that we should nowhere be so little troubled as in a country of the cambels. Alan gave way at last, but with only half a heart. It's one of the dowiest countries at Scotland, said he. There's nothing there that I can, but heath, and crows, and cambels. But I see that you're a man of some penetration, be it as you please. We set forth accordingly by this atinerary, and for the best part of three nights travel on eerie mountains and among the wellheads of wild rivers, often buried and missed, almost continually blown and rained upon, and not once cheered by any clips of sunshine. By day we lay and slept in the drenching heather. By night, incessantly clambered upon breakneck hills and among rude cracks, we often wandered, we were often so involved in fog that we must lie quiet till it lightened. A fire was never to be thought of. Our only food was drum-ock and a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the cage, and as for drink, heaven knows we had no want of water. This was a dreadful time rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the weather and the country. I was never warm. My teeth chattered in my head. I was troubled with a very sore throat, such as I had on the isle. I had a painful stitch in my side which never left me, and when I slept in my wet bed, with the rain beating above and the mood oozing below me, it was to live over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures, to see the tower of shaws lit by lightning ransom carry below on the men's backs, shoo on dying on the roundhouse floor, or colon Campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat. From such broken slumbers I would be aroused in the gloaming to sit up in the same puddle where I had slept, and sup cold drum-ock, the rain driving sharp in my face or running down my back in icy trickles, the mist enfolding us like as in a gloomy chamber, or perhaps if the wind blew, falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf of some dark valley where the streams were crying aloud. The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all around. In this steady rain the springs of the mountains were broken up. Every glen gushed water like a cistern, every stream was in high spate, and had filled and overflowed its channel. During a night tramps it was solemn to hear the voice of them below in the valleys, now booming like thunder, now with an angry cry. I could well understand the story of the water kelpie, that demon of the streams, who was fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of the doomed traveller. All in I saw believed it, or half believed it, and when the cry of the river rose more than usually sharp, I was little surprised, though of course I could still be shocked, to see him cross himself in the manner of the Catholics. During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity, scarcely even that of speech. The truth is that I was sickening for my grave, which is my best excuse. But besides that I was of an unforgiving disposition from my birth. Slow to take offence, slower to forget it. I now incensed both against my companion and myself. For the best part of two days he was unweariedly kind, silent indeed, but always ready to help, and always hoping, as I could very well see, that my displeasure would blow by. For the same length of time I stayed in myself, nursing my anger, roughly refusing his services, and passing him over with my eyes as if he had been a bush or a stone. The second night, or rather the peep of the third day, found us upon a very open hill, so that we could not follow our usual plan and lie down immediately to eat and sleep. Before we had reached a place of shelter, the grey had come pretty clear, but though it still rained, the clouds ran higher, and Alan, looking in my face, showed some marks of concern. "'Yet better let me take your pack,' said he, for perhaps the ninth time since we had parted from the scout beside Lakhrenok. "'I do very well. I thank you,' said I, as cold as ice. Alan flushed darkly. "'I'll not offer it again,' he said. "'I'm not a patient man, David.' "'I never said you were,' said I, which was exactly the rude, silly speech of a boy of ten.' Alan made no answer at the time, but his conduct answered for him. Henceforth, it is to be thought, he quite forgave himself for the afferent clonies, cocked his hat again, walked jauntily, whistled airs, and looked at me upon one side with a provoking smile. The third night we were to pass through the western end of the country of Valka Hitter. It came clear and cold, with a touch in the air like frost, and a northerly wind that blew the clouds away and made the stars bright. The streams were full, of course, and still made a great noise among the hills, but I observed that Alan thought no more upon the kelpie, and was in high good spirits. Hence for me the change of weather came too late. I had lain in the mire so long that, as the Bible has it, my very clothes abhorred me. I was dead weary, deadly sick, and full of pains and shiverings. The chill of the wind went through me, and the sound of it confused my ears. In this poor state I had to bear from my companion something in the nature of a persecution. He spoke a good deal, and never without a taunt. Wig was the best name he had to give me. Here, he would say, here's a dub for you to jump, my wiggie. I can, you're a fine jumper. And so on, all the time with a guibing voice in face. I knew it was my own doing and no one else's, but I was too miserable to repent. I felt I could drag myself but little farther. Pretty soon I must lie down and die on these wet mountains like a sheep or a fox, and my bones must whiten there like the bones of a beast. My head was light, perhaps, but I began to love the prospect. I began to glory in the thought of such a death, alone in the desert, with the wild eagles besieging my last moments. Alan would repent then, I thought. He would remember when I was dead how much he owed me, and the remembrance would be torture. So I went like a sick, silly, and bad-hearted schoolboy, feeding my anger against a fellow man, when I would have been better on my knees crying on God for mercy. And at each of Alan's taunts I hugged myself, ah, thinks I to myself, I have a better taunt and readiness. When I lie down and die, you will feel it like a buffet in your face, ah, whatever avenge, ah, how you will regret your ingratitude and cruelty. All the while I was growing worse and worse. Once I had fallen, my legs simply doubling under me, and this had struck Alan for the moment, but I was afoot so briskly and set off again with such a natural manner that he soon forgot the incident. Flushes of heat went over me, and then spasms of shuttering. The stitch in my side was hardly bearable. At last I began to feel that I could trail myself no farther, and with that there came on me all at once the wish to have it out with Alan, let my anger blaze, and be done with my life in a more sudden manner. He had just called me wig. I stopped. Mr. Stuart, said I, in a voice that quivered like a fiddle-string, you are older than I am, and should know your manners. Do you think it either very wise or very witty to cast my politics in my teeth? I thought where folk differed it was the part of gentlemen to differ civilly, and if I did not I may tell you I could find a better taunt than some of yours. Alan had stopped opposite to me, his hat cocked, his hands in his breeches' pockets, his head a little on one side. He listened, smiling evilly, as I could see by the starlight, and when I had done he began to whistle a Jacobite air. It was the air made in mockery of General Cope's defeat at Preston Pans. Hey, Johnny Cope, are you walking yet, and are your drums a-beaten yet? And it came in my mind that Alan, on the day of that battle, had been engaged upon the royal side. Why do you take that air, Mr. Stewart? said I. Is it to remind me you have been beaten on both sides? The air stopped on Alan's lips. David, said he. But it's time these manners ceased, I continued, and I mean you shall henceforth speak civilly of my king and my good friends, the Campbells. I am a Stewart! began Alan. Oh, says I, I can you bear a king's name, but you are to remember, since I have been in the Highlands, I've seen a good many of those that bear it, and the best I can say of them is this, that they would be none the worse of washing. Do you know that you insult me? said Alan, very low. I'm sorry for that, said I. For I am not done, and if you distaste the sermon, I doubt the pearly cue will please you as little. You have been chased in the field by the grown men of my party. It seems a poor kind of pleasure to out-face a boy. Both the Campbells and the Whigs have beaten you. You have run before them like a hare. It behooves you to speak of them as of your betters. Alan stood quite still. The tales of his great coat clapping behind him in the wind. This is a pity, he said at last. There are things said that cannot be passed over. I never asked you to, said I. I am as ready as yourself. Ready, said he. Ready, I repeated. I am no blower and boaster like some that I could name. Come on! Drawing my sword I fell on guard as Alan himself had taught me. David, he cried, are you daft? I cannot draw upon you, David. It's fair murder. That was your look out when you insulted me, said I. It's the truth, cried Alan, and he stood for a moment ringing his mouth in his hand like a man in sore perplexity. It's the bare truth, he said, and drew his sword. But before I could touch his blade with mine, he had thrown it from him and fallen to the ground. Na, na, he kept saying. Na, na, I cannot, I cannot. At this the last of my anger oozed all out of me, and I found myself only sick and sorry and blank and wondering at myself. I would have given the world to take back what I had said, but a word once spoken, who can recapture it? I minded me of all Alan's kindness and courage in the past, how he had helped and cheered and borne with me in our evil days, and then recalled my own insults, and saw that I had lost for ever that dowdy friend. At the same time, the sickness that hung upon me seemed to redouble, and the pang in my side was like a sword for sharpness, I thought I must have swooned where I stood. This it was that gave me a thought. No apology could blot out what I had said. It was needless to think of one. None could cover the offence. But where an apology was vain, a mere cry for help might bring Alan back to my side. I put my pride away from me. Alan, I said, if you cannot help me, I must just die here. He started up-sitting and looked at me. It's true, said I. I'm by with it. Oh, let me get into the build of a house. I'll can die there easier. I had no need to pretend, whether I chose or not. I spoke in a weeping voice that would have melted a heart of stone. Can you walk? asked Alan. No, said I. Not without help. This last hour my legs have been fainting under me. I have a stitch in my side, like a red-hot iron. I cannot breathe right. If I die, you can forgive me, Alan. In my heart I liked you fine, even when I was the angriest. Weeshed, weeshed, cried Alan. Didn't I say that? David, man, you can? He shut his mouth upon a sob. Let me get my arm about you, he continued. That's the way. Now lean upon me hard. Good Ken's where there's a house. We're in Balwitter, too. There should be no other houses, nor friends' houses here. Do you gang-ease yourself, Davy? I said I. I can be doing this way. I pressed his arm with my hand. Again he came near sobbing. Davy said he. I'm not a right man at all. I have neither sense nor kindness. I couldn't remember you with just a barn. I couldn't see you were dying on your feet, Davy. You have to try and forgive me. Oh, man, let's say no more about it. Said I. We're neither one of us to mend the other. That's the truth. We must just bear and forebear, man Alan. Oh, but my stitch is sore. Is there no house? I'll find a house to you, David, he said, stoutly. We'll follow down the barn where there's bound to be houses. My poor man, will you no be better on my back? Oh, Alan, says I, and me a good twelve inches taller. You're no such thing, cried Alan with a start. There may be a trifling matter of an inch or two. I'm no saying I'm just exactly what you would call a tall man, whatever. And I daresay, he added, his voice tailing off in a laughable manner. Now when I come to think of it, I daresay you'll be just about right. I, it'll be a foot or near hand, or may be even more. It was sweet and laughable to hear Alan eat his words up in the fear of some fresh quarrel. I could have laughed, had not my stitch caught me so hard. But if I had laughed, I think I must have wept, too. Alan, cried I, what makes you so good to me? What makes you care for such a thankless fellow? Deed, and I don't know, said Alan, for just precisely what I thought I liked about you was that you never quarreled. And now I like you better. End of chapter. CHAPTER XXV of KIDNAPPED. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. KIDNAPPED by Robert Louis Stevenson. CHAPTER XXV in BALCU HITTER. At the door of the first house we came to, Alan knocked, which was of no very safe enterprise in such a part of the Highlands as the braze of BALCU HITTER. No great clan held rule there. It was filled and disputed by small seps and broken remnants, and what they call chiefless folk, driven into the wild country about the springs of forth and teeth, by the advance of the camels. Here were stewards and McLarons, which came to the same thing, for the McLarons followed Alan's chief in war, and made but one clan with Apen. Here too were many of that old, proscribed, nameless, red-handed clan of the McGregors. They had always been ill-considered, and now worse than ever, having credit with no side or party in the whole country of Scotland. Their chief, McGregor of McGregor, was in exile. The more immediate leader of that part of them about BALCU HITTER, James Moore, Robroy's eldest son, lay waiting his trial in Edinburgh Castle. They were in ill blood with Highlander and Lowlander, with the Grams, the McLarons, and the Stewards, and Alan, who took up the quarrel of any friend, however distant, was extremely wishful to avoid them. Chance served us very well, for it was a household of McLarons that we found, where Alan was not only welcome for his namesake, but known by reputation. Here then I was got to bed without delay, and a doctor fetched, who found me in a sorry plight. But whether because he was a very good doctor, or I a very young, strong man, I lay bed ridden for no more than a week, and before a month I was able to take the road again with a good heart. All this time Alan would not leave me, though I often pressed him, and indeed his foolhardiness and staying was a common subject of outcry with the two or three friends that were led into the secret. He hid by day in a hole of the braze under a little wood, and at night, when the coast was clear, would come into the house to visit me. I'd need not say if I was pleased to see him. Mrs. McLaren, our hostess, thought nothing good enough for such a guest, and as Duncan Dew, which was the name of our host, had a pair of pipes in his house, and was much a lover of music, this time of my recovery was quite a festival, and we commonly turned night into day. The soldiers let us be, although once a party of two companies and some dragoons went by in the bottom of the valley, where I could see them through the window as I lay in bed. What was much more astonishing, no magistrate came near me, and there was no question put of whence I came or whither I was going, and in that time of excitement I was as free of all inquiry as though I had lain in a desert. Yet my presence was known before I left to all the people in Balcahitter and the adjacent parts, many coming about the house on visits and these, after the custom of the country, spreading the news among their neighbours. The bills, too, had now been printed. There was one pinned near the foot of my bed where I could read my own not very flattering portrait, and in larger characters the amount of the blood money that had been set upon my life. Duncan Dew and the rest that knew that I had come there in Allen's company could have entertained no doubt of who I was, and many others must have had their guess. For though I had changed my clothes I could not change my age or person, and lowland boys of 18 were not so rife in these parts of the world, and above all about that time that they could fail to put one thing with another and connect me with the bill. So it was, at least. Other folk keep a secret among two or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out, but among these clansmen it is told to a whole countryside and they will keep it for a century. There was but one thing happening worth narrating, and that is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of the notorious Rob Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge of carrying a young woman from Balfron and marrying her, as was alleged, by force, yet he stepped about balka-hitter like a gentleman in his own walled policy. It was he who had shot James McLaren at the plow-stilts, a quarrel never satisfied, yet he walked into the house of his blood enemies as a writer might into a public inn. Duncan had time to pass me word of who it was, and we had looked at one another in concern. You should understand it was then close upon the time of Allen's coming. The two were little likely to agree, and yet if we sent word or sought to make a signal, it was sure to arouse suspicion in a man under so darker cloud as the McGregor. He came in with a great show of civility, but like a man among inferiors, took off his bonnet to Mrs. McLaren, but clapped it on his head again to speak to Duncan, and leaving thus set himself, as he would have thought, in a proper light, came to my bedside and bowed. I am given to know, sir, says he, that your name is Balfour. They call me David Balfour, said I, at your service. I would give you my name in return, sir, he replied, but it's one somewhat blown upon of late days, and it'll perhaps suffice if I tell you that I am own brother to James Maud Drummond or McGregor, of whom you will scarce have failed to hear. No, sir, said I, a little alarmed, nor yet of your father, McGregor Campbell. And I sat up and bowed in bed, for I thought best to compliment him, in case he was proud of having had an outlaw to his father. He bowed in return. But what I am about to say, sir, he went on, is this. In the year forty-five, my brother raised a part of the McGregorah, and marched six companies to strike a stroke for the good side, and the surgeon that marched with our clan and cured my brother's leg when it was broken in the brush it pressed in pans, was a gentleman of the same name precisely as yourself. He was brother to Balfour of Bath, and if you are in any reasonable degree of nearness one of that gentleman's skin, I have come to put myself and my people at your command. You are to remember that I knew no more of my descent than any cadger's dog. My uncle, to be sure, had praded of some of our high connections, but nothing to the present purpose, and there was nothing left me but that bitter disgrace of owning that I could not tell. Robin told me shortly he was sorry he had put himself about, turned his back upon me without a sign of salutation, and as he went towards the door I could hear him telling Duncan that I was, say some kindness loon that he didn't know his own father. Angry as I was at these words, and ashamed of my own ignorance, I could scarce keep from smiling that a man who was under the lash of the law, and was indeed hanged some three years later, should be so nice as to the descent of his acquaintances. Just in the door he met Alan coming in, and the two drew back and looked at each other like strange dogs. They were neither of them big men, but they seemed fairly to swell out with pride. Each wore a sword, and by a movement of his haunch thrust clear the hilt of it, so that it might be the more readily grasped and the blade drawn. Mr. Stuart, I am thinking, says Robin. Truth, Mr. McGregor, it's not a name to be ashamed of, answered Alan. I did not know you were in my country, sir, says Robin. That sticks in my mind that I am in the country of my friends in McLaren's, says Alan. That's a kiddle-point, returned the other. There may be two words to say to that, but I think I will have heard that you are a mad of your sword. Unless you were born deaf, Mr. McGregor, you would have heard a great deal more than that, says Alan. I am not the only man that can draw steel in appen, and when my kinsmen and captain, Ardschild, had a talk with a gentleman of your name, not so many years back, I could never hear that the McGregor had the best of it. Do you mean my father, sir? says Robin. Well, I wouldn't have wonder, said Alan. The gentleman I had in mind had the ill taste to clap Campbell to his name. My father was an old man, returned Robin. The match was unequal. You and me would make a better pair, sir. I was thinking that, said Alan. I was half out of bed, and Duncan had been hanging at the elbow of these fighting cocks, ready to intervene upon the least occasion. But when that word was uttered, it was a case of now or never, and Duncan, with something of a white face, to be sure, thrust himself between. Gentlemen, said he, I will have been thinking of a very different matter, whatever. Here are my pipes, and here are you two gentlemen who are both acclaimed pipers. It's an old dispute, which one of you is the best. He will be a broad chance to settle it. Why, sir, said Alan, still addressing Robin, from whom, indeed, he had not so much as shifted his eyes, nor yet Robin from him. Why, sir, says Alan. I think I will have heard some soft of the sort. Have your music, as folks say. Are you a bit of a piper? I can pipe like a macrimon, cries Robin. And that is a very bold word, quotes Alan. I have made bolder words good before now, returned Robin, and that against better adversaries. It is easy to try that, says Alan. Duncan do made haste to bring out a pair of pipes that was his principal possession, and to set before his guests a mutton ham and a bottle of that drink, which they call Athol Bros., which is made of old whiskey, strained honey, and sweet cream, slowly beaten together in the right order in proportion. The two enemies were still on the very breach of a quarrel, but down they sat, one upon each side of the peat fire, with a mighty show of politeness. McLaren pressed them to taste his mutton ham and the wife's Bros., reminding them the wife was out of Athol and had a name far and wide for her skill in that confection. But Robin put aside these hospitalities as bed for the breath. I would have you to remark, sir, said Alan, that I have no broken bread for near upon ten hours, which will be worse for the breath than any Bros. in Scotland. I will take no advantages, Mr. Stewart, replied Robin. Eat and drink, I'll follow you. Each ate a small portion of the ham and drank a glass of the Bros. to Mrs. McLaren. And then after a great number of civilities, Robin took the pipes and played a little spring in a very ranting manner. Ah! You can blow! said Alan, and taking the instrument from his rival, he first played the same spring in a manner identical with Robin's, and then wandered into variations, which as he went on he decorated with a perfect flight of grace notes, such as Piper's love, and called the Warblers. I had been pleased with Robin's playing. Alan's ravished me. That's not so very bad, Mr. Stewart, said the rival, but you show a poor device in your Warblers. Me, cried Alan, the blood starting to his face, I give you the lie. Do you own yourself beaten at the pipes, then? said Robin. That you seek that changed them for the sword? And that's very well said, Mr. McGregor, returned Alan, and in the meantime, laying a strong accent on the word, I take back the lie. I appeal to Duncan. Indeed, you need appeal to nobody, said Robin. You're far better judged than any McLaren in Balki hitter, for it's a God's truth that you're a very credible pipe of horse Stewart. Hand me the pipes! Alan did, as he asked, and Robin proceeded to imitate and correct some part of Alan's variations, which it seemed that he remembered perfectly. I, you have music, said Alan gloomily. And now be the judge yourself, Mr. Stewart, said Robin, and taking up the variations from the beginning, he worked them throughout to so new a purpose, with such ingenuity and sentiment, and with so odd a fancy and so quick a knack in the grace notes that I was amazed to hear him. As for Alan, his face grew dark and hot, and he sat and gnawed his fingers like a man under some deep affront. Enough! he cried. You can blow the pipes! Make the most of that! And he made as if to rise. But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence and struck into the slow measure of a pibroch. It was a fine piece of music in itself, and nobly played, but it seems besides, it was a piece peculiar to the Appen-Stewards, and a chief favorite with Alan. The first notes were scarce out before there came a change in his face. When the time quickened, he seemed to grow restless in his seat, and long before that piece was at an end, the last signs of his anger died from him, and he had no thought but for the music. Robin Oig, he said when it was done, you are a great piper. I am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with you. Body of me! You have more music in your spore than I have in my head! And though it still sticks in my mind that I could maybe show you another of it with the cold steel, I warn you beforehand it'll not be fair. It would go against my heart to haggle a man that can blow the pipes as you can. Thereupon that quarrel was made up. All night long the bros was going, and the pipes changing hands, and the day had come pretty bright, and the three men were none the better for what they had been taking before Robin as much as thought upon the road. CHAPTER XXVI This is a Lebervox recording. All Lebervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit lebervox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. KIDNAPPED by Robert Louis Stevenson CHAPTER XXVI End of the Flight We Pass the Fourth The month as I have said was not yet out, but it was already far through August, and beautiful warm weather with every sign of an early and great harvest when I was pronounced able for my journey. Our money was now run to so low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed. For if we came not too soon to Mr. Rancillers, or if when we came there he should fail to help me, we must surely starve. In Allen's view, besides, the hunt must now have greatly slackened, and the line of the fourth, and even Stirling Bridge, which is the main pass over that river, would be watched with little interest. It's a chief principle in military affairs, said he, to go where you are least expected. Fourth is our trouble. You can, the saying, forth bridles the wild Highlandmen. Well, if we seek to creep round about the head of that river and come down by Kippen or Belfren, it's just precisely there that they'll be looking to lay hands on us. But if we stave on straight to the old brig of Stirling, I lay my sword there let us pass unchallenged. The first night, accordingly, we pushed to the house of a McLaren in Strathire, a friend of Duncan's, where we slept the twenty-first of the month, and once we set forth again about the fall of night to make another easy stage. The twenty-second we lay in a heather-bush on the hillside and Umbvar, within view of a herd of deer, the happiest ten hours of sleep in a fine, breathing sunshine and on bone-dry ground that I have ever tasted. That night we struck Allen water and followed it down, and coming to the edge of the hills saw the whole carce of Stirling underfoot, as flat as a pancake, with a town and castle on a hill in the midst of it, and the moon shining on the links of forth. Now, said Allen, I cannot if you care, but you're on your own land again. We passed the Highland line in that first hour, and now if we could but pass you on crooked water, we might cast our bonnets in the air. In Allen water, nearby where it falls into the fourth, we found a little sandy islet, overgrown with burdock, butterbur, and the like low plants, that would just cover us if we lay flat. Here it was we made our camp, within plain view of Stirling castle, whence we could hear the drums beat as some part of the garrison paraded, and we could hear the stones going on the hooks and the voices and even the words of the men talking. It behooved to lie close and keep silent, but the sand of the little isle was sun warm, the green plants gave a shelter for our heads, we had food and drink in plenty, and to crown all we were within sight of safety. As soon as the shears quit their work and the dusk began to fall, we waited ashore and struck for the bridge of Stirling, keeping to the fields and under the field fences. The bridge is close under the castle hill, an old high narrow bridge with pinnacles along the parapet, and you may conceive with how much interest I looked upon it, not only as a place famous in history, but as the very doors of salvation to Allen and myself. The moon was not yet up when we came there, a few lights shown along the front of the fortress, and lower down a few lighted windows in the town, but it was all mighty still and there seemed to be no guard upon the passage. I was for pushing straight across, but Allen was more wary. "'It looks unka quiet,' said he, but for all that will lie down here cannelly behind a dyke, and make sure.' So we lay for about a quarter of an hour, whilst whispering, whilst lying still and hearing nothing earthly but the washing of the water on the piers. At last there came by an old hobbling woman with a crutch stick, who first stopped a little, close to where we lay, and bemoaned herself in the long way she had travelled, and then set forth again up the steep spring of the bridge. The woman was so little, and the night still so dark, that we soon lost sight of her, only heard the sound of her steps and her stick, and a cough that she had by fits, draw slowly farther away. "'She's bound to be across now,' I whispered. "'Nah,' said Allen. Her foot still sounds boss upon the breach. And just then. "'Who goes?' cried a voice, and we heard the butt of a musket rattle on the stones. I must suppose the sentry had been sleeping, so that had we tried we might have passed unseen, but he was awake now, and the chance forfeited. "'This'll never do,' said Allen. "'This'll never, never do for us, David.' And without another word he began to crawl away through the fields, and a little after, being well out of eyeshot, got to his feet again, and struck along a road that led to the eastward. I could not conceive what he was doing, and indeed I was so sharply cut by the disappointment, that I was little likely to be pleased with anything. A moment back and I had seen myself knocking at Mr. Rancowler's door to claim my inheritance, like a hero in a ballad, and here was I back again, a wandering hunted blaggard on the wrong side of fourth. "'Well,' said I, "'Well,' said Allen, what would you have? There none such fools as I took them for. We have still the fourth to pass, David. We re-falled the rains that fed and the hillsides that guided it. "'And why go east?' said I. "'Oh, just upon the chance,' said he, "'if we cannot pass the river, we'll have to see what we can do for the Firth.' "'There are fords upon the river, and none upon the Firth,' said I. "'To be sure there are fords, and a bridge for by,' quote Allen, "'and of what service, when they are watched?' "'Well,' said I, "'but a river can be swum. By them that have the skill of it,' returned he, "'but I have yet to hear that either you or me is much of a hand at that exercise, and for my own part I swim like a stone.' "'I'm not up to you in talking back, Allen,' I said, "'but I can see we're making bad worse. If it's hard to pass the river, it stands to reason it must be worse to pass a sea.' "'But there's such a thing as a boat,' says Allen, or I'm the more deceived.' "'I and such a thing as money,' says I, "'but for us that have neither one nor other, they might just as well not have been invented.' "'You think so?' said Allen. "'I do that,' said I. "'David,' says he, "'you're a man of small invention and less faith. But let me set my wits upon the horn, and if I cannot beg, borrow, or yet steal a boat, I'll make one.' "'I think I see you,' said I. "'And what's more than all of that? If you pass a bridge, it can tell no tales. But if we pass the Firth, there's the boat on the wrong side. Somebody must have brought it. The countryside will all be in a buzz.' "'Man!' cried Allen. "'If I can make a boat, I'll make a body to take it back again. So leave me with no more of your nonsense, but walk, for that's what you've got to do, and let Allen think for you.' All night then we walked through the north side of the Karse, under the high line of the Orkill Mountains, and by Aloa and Clackmannan and Kulras, all of which we avoided, and about ten in the morning, mighty hungry and tired, came to the little clacken of Lime Kilns. This is a place that sits near in by the waterside and looks across the hope to the town of the Queensferry. Smoke went up from both of these, and from other villages and farms upon all hands. The fields were being reaped, two ships lay anchored, and boats were coming and going on the hope. It was altogether a right pleasant sight to me, and I could not take my fill of gazing at these comfortable green cultivated hills and the busy people both of the field and sea. For all that, there was Mr. Rancaller's house on the south shore, where I had no doubt wealth awaited me, and here was I upon the north, clad in poor enough attire of an outlandish fashion, with three silver shillings left to me of all my fortune, a price set upon my head, and an outlawed man for my sole company. Oh, Alan! said I, to think of it! Over there there's all that heart could want waiting me, and the birds go over, and the boats go over. All that please can go, but just me only. Oh, man, but it's a heartbreak! In Lime-Killns we entered a small change-house, which we only knew to be a public by the wand over the door, and bought some bread and cheese from a good-looking lass that was the servant. This we carried with us in a bundle, meaning to sit and eat it in a bush of wood on the seashore, that we saw some third part of a mile in front. As we went I kept looking across the water and sighing to myself, and though I took no heed of it, Alan had fallen into a muse. At last he stopped in the way. Do you take heed of the lass we bought this of? Says he, tapping on the bread and cheese. To be sure, said I, and a body last she was. You thought so! You thought that! Cries he. Man, David, that's good news! In the name of all that's wonderful, why so? Says I. What good can that do? Well, said Alan, with one of his droll looks, I was rather in hopes it would maybe get us that boat. If it were the other way about, it would be like her it, said I. That's all you can, you see, said Alan, I don't want the last to fall in love with you. I want her to be sorry for you, David, to which end there is no manner of need that she should take you for a beauty. Let me see, looking me curiously over. I wish you were a wee-thing paler, but apart from that you'll do fine for my purpose. You have a fine hang-dog, rag and tatter, clapper-ma-claw kind of a look to you, as if you'd stolen the coat from a potato-bogel. Come right about, and back to the change-house for that boat of hours. I followed him, laughing. David Balfour, said he, you're a very funny gentleman by your way of it, and this is a very funny employ for you, no doubt. For all that, if you have any affection for my neck, to say nothing of your own, you will perhaps be kind enough to take this matter responsibly. I am going to do a bit of play-acting, the bottom ground of which is just exactly as serious as the gallows for the pair of us. So bear it, if you please, in mind, and conduct yourself according. Well, well, said I, have it as you will. As we got near the clock-in he made me take his arm and hang upon it like one almost helpless with weariness, and by the time he pushed open the change-house door he seemed to be half-carrying me. The maid appeared surprised, as well she might be, at our speedy return, but Alan had no words to spare for her in explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a task of brandy with which he fed me and little sips, and then breaking up the bread and cheese helped me to eat it like a nursery lass, the whole with that grave concerned affectionate countenance that might have imposed upon a judge. It was small wonder if the maid were taken with the picture we presented of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and his most tender comrade. She drew quite near and stood leaning with her back on the next table. What's like wrong with him? said she at last. Alan turned upon her to my great wonder with a kind of fury. Wrong! cries he. He's walked more hundreds of miles than he has hairs upon his chin and slept oftener in wet heather than dry sheets. Wrong! quotes she. Wrong enough, I would think! Wrong, indeed! And he kept grumbling to himself as he fed me, like a man ill-pleased. He's young for the like of that, said the maid. Over young, said Alan, with his back to her. He would be better writing, said she. And where could I get a horse to him? cried Alan, turning on her with the same appearance of fury. Would you have me steal? I thought this roughness would have sent her off in dudgeon, as indeed it closed her mouth for the time. But my companion knew very well what he was doing, and for as simple as he was in some things of life had a great fund of rogishness in such affairs as these. You need not tell me, she said at last, you're gentry. Well, said Alan, softened a little, I believe against his will, by this artless comet. And suppose we were! Did ever you hear the gentrists put money in folks' pockets? She sighed at this, as if she were herself some disinherited great lady. No, says she, that's true indeed. I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue-tie between shame and merriment. But somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already. My voice stuck in my throat, for I ever hated to take part in lies. But my very embarrassment helped on the plot, for the last no doubt set down my husky voice to sickness and fatigue. Has he no friends? said she in a tearful voice. That has he saw! cried Alan. If we could but win to them! Friends and rich friends, beds to lie and food to eat, doctors to see to him, and here he must tramp in the dubs, and sleep in the heather like a beggarman. And why that? says the lass. My dear, said Alan, I cannot very safely say, but I'll tell you what I'll do instead, says he, I'll whistle you a bit toon. With that he leaned pretty far over the table, and in a mere breath of a whistle, but with a wonderful pretty sentiment, gave her a few bars of, Charlie is my darling. Reached, says she, and looked over her shoulder to the door. That's it, said Alan. Him so young, cries the lass. He's old enough to, and Alan stuck his forefinger on the back part of his neck, meaning that I was old enough to lose my head. It would be a black shame, she cried, flushing high. It's what we'll be, though, said Alan, unless we manage the better. At this the lass turned and ran out of that part of the house, leaving us alone together. Alan in high good humour at the furthering of his schemes, and I am bitter-dudgeon at being called a Jacobite and treated like a child. Alan, I cried, I can stand no more of this. You have to see it then, Davy, said he, for if you upset the pot now you may scrape your own life out of the fire, but Alan Brick is a dead man. This was so true that I could only groan, and even my groan served Alan's purpose, for it was overheard by the lass as she came flying in again with a dish of white puddings and a bottle of strong ale. Poor lamb, says she, and had no sooner set the meat before us than she touched me on the shoulder with a little friendly touch, as much as to bib me cheer up. Then she told us to fall too, and there would be no more to pay, for the inn was her own, or at least her father's, and he was gone for the day to pitting-creaf. We waited for no second bidding, for bread and cheese as but cold comfort, and the puddings smelt excellently well, and while we sat and ate she took up that same place by the next table, looking on and thinking and frowning to herself, and drawing the string of her apron through her hand. I'm thinking you have a rather long tongue, she said at last to Alan. I, said Alan, but you see I can the folk I speak to. I would never betray you, said she, if you mean that. Nor, said he, you're not that kind, but I'll tell you what you would do, you would help. I couldn't, said she, shaking your head. Nah, I couldn't. Nor, said he, but if you could. She answered him nothing. Look here, my lass, said Alan, there are boats in the kingdom of Fife, for I saw two no less upon the beach, as I came in by your town's end. Now if we could have the use of a boat to pass under cloud of night into Lothian, and some secret decent kind of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his counsel, there would be two souls saved, mine to all likelihood, his to a dead surety. If we lack that boat, we have but three shillings left in the wide world, and where to go, and how to do, and what other place there is for us, except the chains of it, give it. I give you my naked word, I cannot. Shall we go wanting lassie? Are you to lie in your warm bed and think upon us, when the wind gallows in the chimney, and the rain turtles on the roof? Are you to eat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire, and think upon this poor, sick lad of mine, biting his finger ends on a blemure for cold and hunger. Sick or sound, he must I be moving, with the death grapple at his throat he must I be trailing in the rain on the long roads, and when he gets his last on a rick of cold stones there will be enough friends near him but only me and God. At this appeal I could see the lass was in a great trouble of mind, being tempted to help us, and yet in some fear she might be helping malifactors, and so now I determined to step in myself and to allay her scruples with a portion of the truth. Do you ever hear, said I, of Mr. Rancuyler of the ferry? Rancuyler? Rancuyler the writer? said she. I darsay that. Well, said I, it's to his door that I am bound, so you may judge by that if I am an ill-doer, and I will tell you more, that though I am indeed by a dreadful error in some peril of my life, King George has no truer friend in all Scotland than myself. Her face cleared up mightily at this, although Alan's darkened. That's more than I would ask, said she. Mr. Rancuyler is a Kent man. And she bet us finish our meet, get clear of the clocking as soon as might be, and lie close in the bit wood on the sea-beach. And you can trust me, says she. I'll find some means to put you over. At this we waited for no more, but shook hands with her upon the bargain, made short work of the puddings, and set forth again from line-kilns as far as to the wood. It was a small piece of perhaps a score of elders and hawthorns and a few young ashes, not thick enough to veil us from passers-by upon the road or beach. Here we must lie, however, making the best of the brave warm weather and the good hopes we now had of a deliverance, and planning more particularly what remained for us to do. We had but one trouble all day, when a strolling piper came and sat in the same wood with us, a red-nosed, bleary-eyed, drunken dog, with a great bottle of whiskey in his pocket, and a long story of wrongs that had been done him by all sorts of persons, from the Lord President of the Court of Session, who had denied him justice, down to the Baileys of Inverkeething, who had given him more of it than he desired. It was impossible but that he should conceive some suspicion of two men lying all day concealed in a thicket, and having no business to allege. As long as he stayed there he kept us in hot water with prying questions, and after he was gone, as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue, we were in the greater impatience to be gone ourselves. The day came to an end with the same brightness, the night fell quiet and clear. Lights came out in houses and hamlets, and then, one after another, began to be put out. But it was past eleven, and we were long since strangely tortured with anxieties, before we heard the grinding of oars upon the rowing-pins. At that we looked out and saw the lass herself coming rowing to us in a boat. She had trusted no one with our affairs, not even her sweetheart if she had one, but as soon as her father was asleep, had left the house by a window, stolen the neighbor's boat, and come to our assistance single-handed. I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks, but she was no less abashed at the thought of hearing them. We begged us to lose no time and to hold our peace, saying, very properly, that the heart of our matter was in haste and silence, and so, what with one thing and another, she had set us on the Lothian shore not far from Carridan, had shaken hands with us, and was out again at sea and rowing for lime-kilns, before there was one word said either of her service or our gratitude. Even after she was gone we had nothing to say, as indeed nothing was enough for such a kindness. Only Alan stood a great while upon the shore, shaking his head. It is a very fine lass, he said at last. David, it is a very fine lass. And a matter of an hour later, as we were lying in a den on the seashore, and I had been already dozing, he broke out again in commendations of her character. For my part I could say nothing. She was so simple a creature that my heart smote me, both with remorse and fear, remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance, and fear lest we should have any way involved her in the dangers of our situation. CHAPTER 27 I COME TO MR. RANKEILER The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself till sunset, but as soon as it began to grow dark he should lie in the fields by the roadside near to new halls, and stir for naught until he heard me whistling. At first I proposed I should give him for a signal the Bonnie House of Airly, which was a favorite of mine, but he objected that as the peace was very commonly known any plowman might whistle it by accident, and taught me instead a little fragment of a highland air, which is running my head from that day to this, and will likely run in my head when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me it takes me off to that last day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up in the bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a finger, and the gray of the dawn coming on his face. I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up. It was a fairly built burg, the houses of good stone, many slated, town hall, not so fine, I thought, as that of Peoples, nor yet the street so noble, but take it all together it put me to shame for my foul tatters. As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled, and the windows to open, and the people to appear out of the houses, my concern and despondency grew ever the blacker. I saw now that I had no grounds to stand upon, and no clear proof of my rights, nor so much as of my own identity. If it was all a bubble, I was indeed sort of cheated and left in a sore pass. Even if things were as I conceived, it would in all likelihood take time to establish my contentions, and what time had I to spare with less than three shillings in my pocket, and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands to ship out of the country? Truly if my hope broke with me, it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. And as I continued to walk up and down, and saw people looking as scanset me upon the street, or out of windows, and nudging or speaking one to another with smiles, I began to take a fresh apprehension that it might be no easy matter, even to come to speech of the lawyer, far less to convince him of my story. For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address any of these reputable burgers. I thought shame even to speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt. And if I had asked for the house of such a man as Mr. Rangkyler, I suppose they would have burst out laughing in my face. So I went up and down, and through the street, and down to the harborside, like a dog that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in my inwards, and every now and then a movement of despair. He grew to be high day at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon, and I was worn with these wanderings, and chanced to have stopped in front of a very good house on the lennward side, a house with beautiful clear glass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the walls new hurled, and a chased dog sitting yawning on the step like one that was at home. Well, I was even envying this dumb brute when the door fell open and there issued forth a shrewd, ruddy, kindly, consequential man in a well-powdered wig and spectacles. I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once, but he looked at me again. And this gentleman, as it proved, was so much struck with my poor appearance that he came straight up to me and asked me what I did. I told him I was come to the queen's ferry on business, and taking heart of grace, asked him to direct me to the house of Mr. Kuyler. Why, said he, that is his house that I have just come out of, and for a rather singular chance I am that very man. Then, sir, said I, I have to beg the favour of an interview. I do not know your name, said he, nor yet your face. My name is David Balfour, said I. David Balfour! He repeated in rather a high tone, like one surprised. And where have you come from, Mr. David Balfour? He asked, looking me pretty dryly in the face. I have come from a great many strange places, sir, said I, but I think it would be as well to tell you where and how in a more private manner. He seemed amuse a while, holding his lip in his hand, and looking now at me and now upon the cause we have the street. Yes, says he, that will be the best, no doubt. And he led me back with him into his house, cried out to someone whom I could not see that he would be engaged all morning, and brought me into a little dusty chamber full of books and documents. Here he sat down, and made me be seated, though I thought he looked a little ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags. And now, says he, if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the point. Neck gemino bellum trojanum orditur avovu. Do you understand that, says he, with a keen look? I will even do as Horace says, sir," I answered, smiling, and carry you in medias res. He nodded as if he was well pleased, and indeed his scrap of Latin had been set to test me. For all that, and though I was somewhat encouraged, the blood came in my face when I added, I have reason to believe myself some rights on the estate of Shaw's. He got a paper-book out of a drawer, and said it before him, open. Well, said he, but I had shot my bolt, and sat speechless. Come, come, Mr. Balfour," said he, you must continue. Where were you born? In Essendine, sir," said I, the year 1733, the 12th of March. He seemed to follow this statement in his paper-book, but what that meant, I knew not. Your father and mother? said he. My father was Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place, said I, and my mother, Grace Pitterrow. I think her people were from Angus. Give you any papers proving your identity," asked Mr. Rancaller. No, sir, said I, but they are in the hands of Mr. Campbell, the minister, and could be readily produced. Mr. Campbell, too, would give me his word, and for that manner I do not think my uncle would deny me. Meaning, Mr. Ebenezer Balfour," says he, the same, said I. Whom have you seen? he asked. By whom I was received into his own house, I answered. Did you ever meet a man of the name of Host Season? asked Mr. Rancaller. I did so, sir, for my sins, said I, for it was by his means and the procurement of my uncle, that I was kidnapped within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck and a hundred other hardships, and stand before you today in this poor accoutrement. You say you were shipwrecked," said Rancaller. Where was that? Off the south end of the Isle of Mull, said I, the name of the Isle on which I was cast up is the Isle in Herred. Ah, says he, smiling, you are deeper than me in the geography, but so far I may tell you this agrees pretty exactly with other informations that I old, but you say you were kidnapped, in what sense? In the plain meaning of the word, sir, said I, I was on my way to your house when I was trepanned on board the brig, cruelly struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. I was destined for the plantations, a fate that in God's providence I have escaped. The brig was lost on June the 27th, says he, looking in his book, and we are now at August the 24th. Here is a considerable hiatus, Mr. Balfour, of near upon two months. It has already caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends, and I own I shall not be very well contented until it is set right. Indeed, sir, said I, these months are very easily filled up, but yet before I told my story I would be glad to know that I was talking to a friend. "'This is to argue in a circle,' said the lawyer. "'I cannot be convinced till I have heard you. I cannot be a friend till I am properly informed. If you were more trustful it would better be fit your time of life. And you know, Mr. Balfour, we have a proverb in the country that evildoers are I evil dreaders.' "'You are not to forget, sir,' said I, that I have already suffered by my trustfulness, and was shipped off to be a slave by the very man that, if I rightly understand, is your employer?' All this while I had been gaining ground with Mr. Rankiler, and in proportion as I gained ground gaining confidence. But at this sally, which I made with something of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud. "'No, no,' said he, "'it is not so bad as that. Fui non sum. I was indeed your uncle's man of business. But while you, Imerbis Juvenis Costode Romoto, were gallivanting in the west, a good deal of water has run under the bridges, and if your ears did not sing, it was not for lack of being talked about. On the very day of your sea disaster Mr. Campbell stalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds. I had never heard of your existence, but I had known your father, and from matters in my competence, to be touched upon hereafter. I was disposed to fear the worse.' Mr. Ebenezer admitted having seen you, declared, what seemed improbable, that he had given you considerable sums, and that you had started for the continent of Europe, intending to fulfill your education, which was probable and praiseworthy, interrogated how you had come to send no word to Mr. Campbell, he deponed that you had expressed a great desire to break with your past life, further interrogated where you now were, protested ignorance, but believed you were in laden. That is a close sum of his replies. I am not exactly sure that anyone believed him,' continued Mr. Rankiler with a smile, and in particular he so much disrelished me expressions of mine that, in a word, he showed me to the door. We were then at a full stand, for whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow of probation. In the very article comes Captain Ho's season with the story of your drowning, whereupon all fell through, with no consequences but concern to Mr. Campbell, injury to my pocket, and another blot upon your uncle's character, which could very ill afford it. And now, Mr. Balfour," said he, you understand the whole process of these matters, and can judge for yourself to what extent I may be trusted. Indeed he was more pedantic than I can represent him, and placed more scraps of Latin in his speech, but it was all uttered with a fine geniality of I and manner which went far to conquer my distrust. Moreover, I could see he now treated me as if I was myself beyond a doubt, so that first part of my identity seemed fully granted. Sir, said I, if I tell you my story, I must commit a friend's life to your discretion. Pass me your word, it shall be sacred, and for what touches myself I will ask no better guarantee than just your face. He passed me his word very seriously. But, said he, these are rather alarming provocations, and if there are in your story any little jostles to the law, I would beg you to bear in mind that I am a lawyer, and pass lightly. Thereupon I told him my story from the first. He listening with his spectacles thrust up, and his eyes closed, so that I sometimes feared he was asleep. But no such matter. He heard every word, as I found afterward, with such quickness of hearing and precision of memory as often surprised me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic names heard for that time only he remembered and would remind me of years after. Yet when I called Alan Breckin full, we had an odd scene. The name of Alan had of course rung through Scotland, with the news of the app and murder, and the offer of the reward, and it had no sooner escaped me than the lawyer moved in his seat and opened his eyes. I would name no unnecessary names, Mr. Balfour, said he, above all of Highlanders many of whom are obnoxious to the law. Well, it might have been better not, said I, but since I have let it slip I may as well continue. Not at all, said Mr. Rancaller. I am somewhat dull of hearing, as you may have remarked, and I am far from sure I caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if you please, Mr. Thomas, that there may be no reflections, and in future I would take some such way with any Highlander that you may have to mention, dead or alive. By this I saw he must have heard the name all too clearly, and had already guessed I might be coming to the murder. If he chose to play this part of ignorance it was no matter of mine, so I smiled, said it was no very Highland-sounding name, and consented. Through all the rest of my story Alan was Mr. Thompson, which amused me the more as it was a piece of policy after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner, was mentioned under the style of Mr. Thompson's kinsman. Colin Campbell passed as Mr. Glenn, and to Clooney when I came to that part of my tale I gave the name of Mr. Jameson, a Highland Chief. It was truly the most open farce, and I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep it up. But after all it was quite in the taste of that age, when there were two parties in the state, and quiet persons, with no very high opinions of their own, sought out every cranny to avoid offense to either. Well, well, said the lawyer when I had quite done. This is a great epic, a great odyssey of yours. You must tell it, sir, in a sound latinity when your scholarship is riper, or in English if you please, though for my part I prefer the stronger tongue. You have rolled much, quae regio in terrace. And perish in Scotland, to make a homely translation, has not been filled with your wanderings. You have shown besides a singular aptitude for getting into false positions, and yes, upon the whole, for behaving well in them. This Mr. Thompson seems to me a gentleman of some choice qualities, though perhaps a trifle bloody-minded. It would please me none the worse if, with all his merits, he were sourced in the North Sea, for the man, Mr. David, is a sore embarrassment. But you are doubtless quite right to adhere to him, indubitably he adhered to you. It comes, we may say, he was your true companion, nor less paribus curus vestigia fidget, for I daresay you would both take an aura thought upon the gallows. Well, these days are fortunately, by, and I think, speaking humanly, that you are near the end of your troubles. As he thus moralized on my adventures, he looked upon me with so much humor and benignity that I could scarce contain my satisfaction. I had been so long wandering with lawless people, and making my bed upon the hills and under the bare sky, that to sit once more in a clean, covered house, and to talk amicably with a gentleman in broadcloth, seemed mighty elevations. Even as I thought so, my eye fell on my unseemly tatters, and I was once more plunged in confusion. But the lawyer saw and understood me. He rose, called over the stair to lay another plate, for Mr. Balfour would stay to dinner, and led me into a bedroom in the upper part of the house. There he set before me water and soap, and a comb, and laid out some clothes that belonged to his son, and here, with another apposite tag, he left me to my toilet. CHAPTER XXVIII. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. KIDNAPPED. By Robert Louis Stevenson. CHAPTER XXVIII. I go in quest of my inheritance. I made what change I could in my appearance, and blithe was I to look in the glass and find the beggarman a thing of the past, and David Balfour come to life again. And yet I was ashamed of the change too, and above all of the borrowed clothes. When I had done, Mr. Rancaller caught me on the stare, made me his compliments, and had me again into the cabinet. SIT SHIT DOWN, MR. DAVID. Said he, and now you are looking a little more like yourself. Let me see if I can find you any news. You will be wondering no doubt about your father and your uncle? To be sure. It is a singular tale, and the explanation is one that I blushed to have to offer you. Mr. Balfour says he, really with embarrassment, the matter hinges on a love affair. Truly, said I, I cannot very well join that notion with my uncle. But your uncle, Mr. David, was not always old, replied the lawyer, and what may perhaps surprise you more is not always ugly. He had a fine gallant air. People stood in their doors to look after him as he went by upon a metal horse. I have seen it with these eyes, and I ingenuously confess, not altogether without envy, for I was a plain lad myself and a plain man's son, and in those days it was a case of Odie-tay K. Belles S. Sabel. It sounds like a dream, said I. I, I, said the lawyer, that is how it is with youth and age. Nor was that all, but he had a spirit of his own that seemed to promise great things in the future. In 1715 what must he do but run away to join the rebels? It was your father that pursued him, found him in a ditch, and brought him back, multum gementum, to the mirth of the whole country. However, Majora Canamus, the two lads, fell in love, and that was the same lady. Mr. Ebenezer, who was the admired and the beloved, and the spoiled one, made no doubt mighty certain of the victory, and when he found he had deceived himself, screamed like a peacock. The whole country heard of it. Now he lay sick at home, with his silly family standing round the bed in tears. Now he rode from public-house to public-house, and shouted his sorrows into the lug of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Your father, Mr. David, was a kind gentleman, but he was weak, soulfully weak, took all this folly with a long countenance, and one day, by your leave, resigned the lady. She was no such fool, however. It's from her you must inherit your excellent good sense, and she refused to be bandied from one to another. Both got upon their knees to her, and the upshot of the matter for that while was that she showed both of them the door. That was in August, dear me, the same year I came from college. The scene must have been highly farcical. I thought myself it was a silly business, but I could not forget my father had a hand in it. Surely, sir, it had some note of tragedy. Said I. Why, no, sir, not at all, returned the lawyer. For tragedy implies some ponderable matter in dispute, some stignus vandice nurus. And this piece of work was all about the petulance of a young ass that had been spoiled, and wanted nothing so much as to be tied up and soundly belted. Ha! However, that was not your father's view, and the end of it was that from concession to concession on your father's part, and from one height to another of squalling, sentimental selfishness upon your uncles, they came at last to drive a sort of bargain from whose ill results you have recently been smarting. The one man took the lady, the other the estate. Now Mr. David, they talk a great deal of charity and generosity, but in this disputable state of life I often think the happiest consequences seem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer and takes all the law allows him. Anyhow, this piece of kiyotri on your father's part, as it was unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family of injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk, you were poorly reared, and in the meanwhile what a time it has been for the tenants on the estate of Shaw's. And I might add, if it was a matter I cared much about, what a time for Mr. Ebenezer. And yet that is certainly the strangest part of all, said I, that a man's nature should thus change. True, said Mr. Rancaylor, and yet I imagine it was natural enough. He could not think that he had played a handsome part. Those who knew the story gave him the cold shoulder. Those who knew it not, seeing one brother disappear and the other succeed in the estate, raised to cry of murder, so that upon all sides he found himself evicted. Money was all he got by his bargain. Well, he came to think the more of money. He was selfish when he was young. He is selfish now that he is old, and the latter end of all these pretty manners and fine feelings you have seen for yourself. Well, sir, said I. And in all this what is my position? The state is yours beyond a doubt, replied the lawyer. It matters nothing what your father signed. You are the heir of Intel. But your uncle is a man to fight the indefensible, and it would be likely your identity that he would call in question. A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family lawsuit always scandalous. Besides which, if any of your doings with your friend Mr. Thompson were to come out, we might find that we had burned our fingers. The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a court card upon our side, if we could only prove it. But it may be difficult to prove, and my advice upon the whole is to make a very easy bargain with your uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaw's, where he has taken root for a quarter of the century, and contenting yourself in the meanwhile with a fair provision. I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry family concerns before the public was a step from which I was naturally much averse. In the meantime, thinking to myself, I began to see the outlines of that scheme on which we afterwards acted. The great affair, I asked, is to bring home to him the kidnapping? Surely, said Mr. Ankeiler, and if possible, out of court. From what you hear, Mr. David, we could no doubt find some men of the Covenant who would swear to your reclusion, but once they were in the box we could no longer check their testimony, and some word of your friend Mr. Thompson must certainly crop out. Which, from what you have let fall, I cannot think to be desirable. Well, sir, said I. Here is my way of it, and I opened my plot to him. But this would seem to involve my meeting the man Thompson, says he, when I had done. I think so, indeed, sir, said I. Dear doctor! cries he, rubbing his brow. Dear doctor! No, Mr. David, I am afraid your scheme is inadmissible. I say nothing against your friend Mr. Thompson. I know nothing about him, and if I did, mark this, Mr. David, it would be my duty to lay hands on him. Now, I put it to you. Is it wise to meet? He may have matters to his charge. He may not have told you all. His name may not be even Thompson, cries the lawyer, twinkling, for some of these fellows will pick up names by the roadside as another would gather Hawes. You must be the judge, sir, said I. But it was clear my plan had taken hold upon his fancy, for he kept musing to himself till we were called to dinner and the company of Mrs. Rancaylor, and that lady had scarce left us again to ourselves and a bottle of wine ere he was back harping on my proposal. When and where was I to meet my friend Mr. Thompson? Was I sure of Mr. T's discretion, supposing we could catch the old Fox tripping? Would I consent to such and such a term of an agreement? These and the like questions he kept asking at long intervals, while he thoughtfully rolled his wine upon his tongue. When I had answered all of them, seemingly to his contentment, he fell into a still deeper muse, even the claret being now forgotten. Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil and set to work writing and weighing every word, and at last touched a bell and had his clerk into the chamber. "'Torrents,' said he, "'I must have this written out fair against to-night. And when it is done, you'll be so kind as to put on your hat and be ready to come along with this gentleman and me, for you will probably be wanted as a witness.' "'What, sir?' cried I, as soon as the clerk was gone, "'are you to venture it?' "'Why, so it would appear,' says he, filling his glass, but let us speak no more of business. The very sight of Torrents brings in my head a little troll matter of some years ago when I had made a trist with the poor oaf at the cross of Edinburgh. Each had gone his proper errand, and when it came four o'clock Torrents had been taking a glass and did not know his master, and I, who had forgot my spectacles, was so blind without them that I give you my word I did not know my own clerk, and thereupon he laughed heartily. I said it was an odd chance and smiled out of politeness, but what held me all the afternoon in wonder he kept returning and dwelling on this story and telling it again with fresh details and laughter, so that I began at last to be quite put out of countenance and feel ashamed for my friends folly. Towards the time I had appointed with Alan we set out from the house, Mr. Rangkyler and I, arm in arm, and Torrents following behind with the deed in his pocket and a covered basket in his hand. All through the town the lawyer was bowing right and left, and continually being button-holed by gentlemen on matters of burg or private business, and I could see he was one greatly looked up to in the county. At last we were clear of the houses and began to go along the side of the haven and towards the Haws Inn and the Ferry Pier, the scene of my misfortune. I could not look upon the place without emotion, recalling how many that had been there with me that day were now no more. Ransom taken, I could hope, from the evil to come. Too unpassed where I dared not follow him, and the poor souls that had gone down with the brig in her last plunge. All these and the brig herself I had outlived, and come through these hardships and fearful perils without scathe. My only thought should have been of gratitude, and yet I could not behold the place without sorrow for others and a chill of recollected fear. I was so thinking when, upon a sudden, Mr. Rangkyler cried out, stepped his hand to his pockets, and began to laugh. Why, he cries, if this be not a farcical adventure, after all that I said I have forgot my glasses! At that, of course, I understood the purpose of his anecdote, and knew that if he had left his spectacles at home it had been done on purpose, so that he might have the benefit of Alan's help without the awkwardness of recognizing him. And indeed it was well thought upon, for now, suppose things to go the very worst. How could Rangkyler swear to my friend's identity, or how be made to bear damaging evidence against myself? For all that, he had been a long while of finding out his want, and had spoken to and recognized a good few persons as we came through the town, and I had little doubt myself that he saw reasonably well. As soon as we were past the haws, where I recognized the landlord smoking his pipe at the door, and was amazed to see him look no older, Mr. Rangkyler changed the order of march, walking behind with Torrance and sending me forward in the manner of a scout. I went up the hill, whistling from time to time my gaelic air, and at length I had the pleasure to hear it answered, and to see Alan rise from behind a bush. He was somewhat dashed in spirits, having passed a long day alone skulking in the county, and made but a poor meal in an ale-house near Dundas. But at the mere sight of my clothes he began to brighten up, and as soon as I had told him in what a forward state our matters were, and the part I looked to him to play and what remained, he sprang into a new man. And this is a very good notion of yours, said he, and I dared to say that you could lay your hands upon no better man to put it through than Alan Brick. It is not a thing, Markia, that any one could do, but takes a gentleman of penetration. But it sticks in my head your lawyer man will be somewhat wearying to see me, says Alan. Accordingly I cried and waved on Mr. Rangkyler, who came up alone and was presented to my friend Mr. Thompson. Mr. Thompson, I am pleased to meet you, said he. But I have forgotten my glasses, and our friend Mr. David here, clapping me on the shoulder, will tell you that I am little better than blind, and that you must not be surprised if I pass you by tomorrow. This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased, but the Highland man's vanity was ready to straddle at a less manner than that. Why, sir, says he, stiffly, I would say it mattered the less as we are met here for a particular end, to see just as stunned to Mr. Balfour, and by what I can see not very likely to have much else in common. But I accept your apology, which was a very proper one to make. And that is more than I could look for, Mr. Thompson, said Rangkyler heartily, and now as you and I or the chief actors in this enterprise, I think we should come into a nice agreement, to which end I propose that you should lend me your arm, for what were the dusk and the want of my glasses, I'm not very clear as to the path. And as for you, Mr. David, you will find Torrance a pleasant kind of body to speak with. Only let me remind you, it's quite needless he should hear more of your adventures, or those of Mr. Thompson. Accordingly these two went on ahead in very close talk, and Torrance and I brought up the rear. Night was quite come when we came in view of the house of Shaw's. Ten had been gone some time. It was dark and mild, with a pleasant rustling wind in the southwest that covered the sound of our approach, and as we drew near we saw no glimmer of light in any portion of the building. It seemed my uncle was already in bed, which was indeed the best thing for our arrangements. We made our last whispered consultation some fifty yards away, and then the lawyer and Torrance and I crept quietly up and crouched down beside the corner of the house, and as soon as we were in our places, Alan strode to the door without concealment and began to knock. End of chapter 29 of Kidnapped This is a Lebervox recording. All Lebervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Lebervox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped By Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter 29 I Come Into My Kingdom For some time Alan volleied upon the door and his knocking only roused the echoes of the house and neighborhood. At last, however, I could hear the noise of a window gently thrust up and knew that my uncle had come to his observatory. By what light there was he could see Alan standing like a dark shadow on the steps. The three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view, so that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house. For all that he studied his visitor a while in silence, and when he spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving. What's this? says he. This is not kind of time of night for decent folk, and I have no trokings with night-hawks. What brings you here? I have a blunderbush. Is that yourself, Mr. Balfour? returned Alan, stepping back and looking up into the darkness. Have a care of that blunderbuss, then nasty things to burst. What brings you here? And what are you? says my uncle angrily. I have no matter of inclination to rout out my name to the countryside, said Alan. But what brings me here is another story, being more of your affair than mine, and if you're sure it's what you would like, I'll set it to a tune and sing it to you. And what is it? asked my uncle. David, says Alan. What was that? cried my uncle in a mighty changed voice. Shall I give you the rest of the name, then? said Alan. There was a pause, and then— I'm thinking I'd better let you in, said my uncle, doubtfully. I dare say that, said Alan. But the point is, would I go? Now I will tell you what I am thinking. I am thinking that it is here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this business, and it shall be here or nowhere at all whatever, for I would have you to understand that I am as stiff-necked as yourself, and a gentleman of better family. This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer. He was a little wild, digesting it, and then says he— Well, well, what must be must?—and shut the window. But it took him a long time to get downstairs, and a still longer to undo the fastenings, repenting, I dare say, and taking with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar. At last, however, we heard the creak of the hinges, and it seems my uncle slipped gingerly out, and, seeing that Alan had stepped back a pace or two, set him down on the top doorstep, with a blunderbuss ready in his hands. And now, says he, mind I have my blunderbush, and if you take a step nearer you as good as deed. Very civil speech, says Alan, to be sure. Nah, says my uncle, but this is no very gently kind of a proceeding, and I'm bound to be prepared. And now that we understand each other, you can name your business. Why, says Alan, you that are a man of so much understanding, will doubtless have perceived that I am a Highland gentleman. My name is no business in my story, but the county of my friends is not so very far from the isle of Mull, of which you will have heard. It seems there was a ship lost in those parts, and the next day a gentleman of my family was seeking rec wood for his fire along the sands, when he came upon a lad that was half drowned. Well, he brought him too, and he and some other gentleman took and clapped him in an old, ruined castle, where from that day to this he has been a great expense to my friends. My friends are a wee wide like, not so particular about the law as some that I could name, and finding that the lad owned some decent folk, and was your born nephew, Mr. Balfour, that asked me to give you a bit of call and confer upon the matter. And I may tell you, at the off-go, unless we can agree upon some terms, you are little likely to set eyes upon him, for my friends, added Alan, simply, are no very well off. My uncle cleared his throat. I'm no very caring, says he. He was not good lad at the best of it, and I no call thee under fear. I, I, said Alan, I see what you would be at, pretending you don't care to make the ransom smaller. Nah, said my uncle, it's the mere truth. I take no matter interest in the lad, and I pay no ransom, and you can make a kirk and a mill of him for what I care. Who'd, sir, says Alan, blood sticketh in water in the devil's name. You cannot desert your brother's son for the fair shame of it, and if you did, and it came to be Kent, you wouldn't be very popular in your countryside, or I'm the more deceived. I know very popular the way it is. I returned Ebenezer, and I didn't see how it would come to be Kent, nor by me, anyway, nor yet by you or your friends, so let's I don't talk me, bucky, says he. Then'll have to be David that tells it, said Alan. How's that? says my uncle, sharply. Oh, just this way, says Alan. My friends would doubtless keep your nephew as long as there was any likelihood of Sillard to be made of it, but if there was none, I am clearly of opinion they would let him gang where he pleased and be damned to him. Ah, but I'm no very caring about that, either, said my uncle. I wouldn't be muckled made up with that. I was thinkin' that, said Alan. And what for, why? asked Ebenezer. Why, Mr. Balfour, replied Alan, by all that I could hear, there were two ways of it. Either you liked David and would pay to get him back, or else you had very good reasons for now wanting him and would pay for us to keep him. It seems it's not the first. Well, then it's the second, and blithe them I to Kent, for it should be a pretty penny in my pocket and the pocket of my friends. I didn't follow you there, said my uncle. No, said Alan. Well, see here, you didn't want the lad back. Well, what do you want done with him, and how much will you pay? My uncle made no answer, but shifted uneasily on his seat. Come, sir, cried Alan, I would have you to Kent that I am a gentleman. I'd bear a king's name. I am no rider to kick my shanks at your hall door. Either give me an answer in civility and that out of hand, or by the top of glenco, I will ram three feet of iron through your vitals. Amen, cried my uncle, scrambling to his feet. Give me a minute. What's like wrong with you? I'm just a plain man and no dance and master, and I'm trying to be as civil as as morally possible. As for that wild talk is fair, disreputable, vitals is you, and where would I be with my blunderbush, he snarled. Powder and your old hands are but as the snail to the swallow against the bright steel in the hands of Alan, says the other. Before your jotter-in-finger could find the trigger, the hilt would derl on your breast-bane. Amen, where's denying it, says my uncle. Hitted as you please, head your own way. I did nothing across you. Just tell me what you'll be wanting, and you'll see that we can agree fine. Trothed, sir, said Alan. I asked for nothing but plain dealing. In two words, do you want the land killed or kept? Oh, sirs, cried Ebenezer. Oh, sirs, me, that's no kind of language. Killed or kept, repeated Alan. Oh, kept it, kept it, wailed my uncle. We're heading to bloodshed, if you please. Well, said Alan. As you please, that'll be the dearer. The dearer, cries Ebenezer, would you file your hands with crime? Hoot, said Alan. They're both crime, whatever. And the killing's easier and quicker and sureer. Keepin' the lad'll be a fascist job, a fascist kiddle business. I'll have him keep to though, to return my uncle. I never had nothing to do with anything morally wrong. And I'm no going to begin to pleasure a wild highlymaned. Your uncle's groupless, sneered Alan. I'm a man of principle, said Ebenezer simply. And if I have to pay for it, I'll have to pay for it. And besides, says he, yet forgot the lads, my brother's son. Well, well, said Alan. And now about the price. There's no very easy for me to set a name upon it. I would first have to ken some small matters. I would have to ken, for instance, what you gave Ho season at the first off go. Ho season, cries my uncle, struck her back. What for? For kidnapping David, says Alan. It's a lie. It's a black lie. Cried my uncle. He was never kidnapped. He lied in his throat that he told you that. Kidnapped. He never was. That's no fault of mine, nor yet of yours, said Alan. Nor yet of Ho season, if he's a man that can be trusted. What do you mean? Cried Ebenezer. Did Ho season tell you? Why, you donnerd old runt, how else would I ken? Cried Alan. Ho season and me are partners. We gang shares. So you can see for yourself what good you can do lying. And I must plainly say you drove a fool's bug when you let a man like the sailor man so far forward in your private matters. But that's past praying for. And you must lie on your bed the way you made it. And the point in hand is just this. What did you pay him? Has he told you himself? Asked my uncle. That's my concern, said Alan. We'll, said my uncle. I didn't care what he said. He lied. And the solemn God's truth is this, that I gave him 20 pound. But I'll be perfectly honest with you. For by that, he was to have the selen of the lad in Carolina. Work would be his muckle mare, but nor from my pocket, you see. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. That will do excellently well, said the lawyer, stepping forward, and then mighty civilly. Good evening, Mr. Balfour, said he. And good evening, Uncle Abenezer, said I. And it's a bra nicht, Mr. Balfour, added Torrance. Never a word, said my uncle, neither black nor white, but just sat where he was on the top doorstep and stared upon us like a man turned to stone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss and the lawyer, taking him by the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, led him into the kitchen, whether we all followed, and set him down in a chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out and only a rush light burning. There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly in our success, but yet with a sort of pity for the man's shame. Come, come, Mr. Abenezer, said the lawyer, you must not be downhearted, for I promise you we should make easy terms. In the meanwhile, give us the cellar key, and Torrance shall draw us a bottle of your father's wine in honor of the event. Then turning to me and checking me by the hand, Mr. David, says he, I wish you all joy and your good fortune, which I believe to be deserved. And then to Alan with a spice of drollery, Mr. Thompson, I pay you my compliment. It was most artfully conducted, but in one point you somewhat outran my comprehension. Do I understand your name to be James or Charles, or is it George, perhaps? And why should it be any of the three, sir? Quoth Alan, drawing himself up like one who smelt an advance. Only, sir, that you mentioned a king's name, replied Rancaylor, and as there has never yet been a king, Thompson, or his fame, at least, has never come my way, I judged you must refer to that you had in baptism. This was just the stab that Alan would feel keenest, and I am free to confess he took it very ill. Not a word would he answer, but stepped off to the far end of the kitchen and sat down and sulked, and it was not till I stepped after him and gave him my hand and thanked him by title as this chief spring of my success that he began to smile a bit and was at last prevailed upon to join our party. By that time we had the fire lighted and a bottle of wine uncorked, a good supper came out of the basket, to which Torrance and I and Alan set ourselves down, while the lawyer and my uncle passed into the next chamber to consult. They stayed there closeted about an hour, at the end of which period they had come to a good understanding, and my uncle and I set our hands to the agreement in a formal manner. By the terms of this, my uncle bound himself to satisfy Rangkyler as to his intramissions, and to pay me two clear thirds of the yearly income of Shaw's. So the beggar in the ballot had come home, and when I lay down that night on the kitchen chests, I was a man of means and had a name in the country. Alan and Torrance and Rangkyler slept and snored on their hard beds, but for me who had lain out under heaven and upon dirt and stones, so many days and nights, and often with an empty belly and in fear of death, this good change in my case unmanned me more than any of the former evil ones, and I lay till dawn looking at the fire on the roof and planning the future. End of chapter. Chapter 30 of CHAPTER. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. CHAPTER XXX of FINAL CHAPTER. Good-bye. As far as I was concerned myself, I had come to port, I still had Alan, to whom I was so much beholden on my hands, and I felt besides a heavy charge in the matter of the murder and James of the Glens. On both these heads I unbosomed to Rancyler the next morning, walking to and fro about six o'clock before the House of Shaw's, and with nothing in view but the fields and woods that had been my ancestors, and were now mine. Even as I spoke on these grave subjects, I would take a glad bit of a run over the prospect and my heart jumped with pride. About my clear duty to my friend, the lawyer had no doubt. I must help him out of the county at whatever risk, but in the case of James he was of a different mind. Mr. Thompson, says he, is one thing. Mr. Thompson's kinsmen quite another. I know little of the facts, but I gather that a great noble, whom we will call, if you like, the D of A, has some concern and is even supposed to feel some animosity in the matter. The D of A is doubtless an excellent nobleman, but Mr. David, timio chi no cuere Dios, if you interfere to balk his vengeance, you should remember there is one way to shut your testimony out, and that is to put you in the dock. There you would be in the same pickle as Mr. Thompson's kinsmen. You will object that you are innocent. Well, what so is he? And to be tried for your life before a Highland jury, on a Highland quarrel and with a Highland judge upon the bench, would be a brief transition to the gallows. Now I had made all these reasonings before and found no very good reply to them, so I put on all the simplicity I could. In that case, sir, said I, I would just have to be hanged, would I not? My dear boy, cries he, go in God's name and do what you think is right. It is a poor thought that at my time of life I should be advising you to choose the safe and shameful, and I take it back with an apology. Go and do your duty and be hanged, if you must, like a gentleman. There are worse things in the world than to be hanged. Not many, sir, said I, smiling. Why, yes, sir, he cried very many. It would be ten times better for your uncle to go no further afield if he were dangling decently upon a jibbit. Thereupon he turned into the house, still in a great fervor of mind, so that I saw I had pleased him heartily. And there he wrote me two letters, making his comments on them as he wrote. This, says he, is to my bankers, the British living company, placing a credit to your name. Consult Mr. Thomas, he will know of ways, and you, with this credit, can supply the means. I trust you will be a good husband of your money, but in the affair of a friend like Mr. Thompson, I would be even prodigal. Then for his kinsmen, there is no better way than that you should seek the advocate, tell him your tale and offer testimony, whether he may take it or not, is quite another matter, and will turn on the D of A. Now, that you may reach the Lord Advocate well recommended, I give you here a letter to a namesake of your own, the learned Mr. Balfour of Pilrig, a man whom I esteem. It will look better that you should be presented by one of your own name, and the lard of Pilrig is much look up to in the faculty and stands well with Lord Advocate grant. I would not trouble him, if I were you, with any particulars, and, to you know, I think it would be needless to refer to Mr. Thompson. Form yourself upon the lard, he is a good model. When you deal with the advocate, be discreet, and in all these matters, may the Lord guide you, Mr. David. Thereupon he took his farewell and set out with Torrance for the ferry, while Alan and I turned our faces for the city of Edinburgh. As we went by the footpath, and beside the gateposts and the unfinished lodge, we kept looking back at the house of my fathers. It stood there, bare and great and smokeless, like a place not lived in, only in one of the top windows there was the peak of a nightcap, bobbing up and down and back and forward, like the head of a rabbit from a burrow. I had little welcome when I came, and less kindness while I stayed, but at least I was watched as I went away. Alan and I went slowly forward upon our way, having little heart either to walk or speak. The same thought was uppermost in both, that we were near the time of our parting, and remembrance of all the bygone days sat upon us sorely. We talked indeed of what should be done, and it was resolved that Alan should keep to the county, biting now here, now there, but coming once in the day to a particular place where I might be able to communicate with him, either in my own person or by messenger. In the meanwhile I was to seek out a lawyer who was an appen steward, and a man therefore to be wholly trusted, and it should be his part to find a ship and to arrange for Alan's safe embarkation. No sooner was this business done than the words seemed to leave us, and though I would seek the jest with Alan, under the name of Mr. Thompson, and he with me on my new clothes and my estate, you could feel very well that we were nearer tears than laughter. We came the byway over the hill of Corstorphine, and when we got near to the place called Rest and Be Thankful, and looked down on Corstorphine bogs and over to the city and the castle on the hill, we both stopped, and we both knew without a word said that we had come to where our ways parted. Here he repeated to me once again what had been agreed upon between us, the address of the lawyer, the daily hour at which Alan might be found, and the signals that were to be made by any that came seeking him. Then I gave what money I had, a guinea or two of rankilers, so that he should not starve in the meanwhile, and then we stood a space and looked over at Edinburgh in silence. Well, good-bye, said Alan, and held out his left hand. Good-bye, said I, and gave the hand a little grasp, and went off downhill. Neither one of us looked the other in the face, nor so long as he was in my view did I take one back glance at the friend I was leaving. But as I went on my way to the city, I felt so lost and lonesome that I could have found it in my heart to sit down by the dyke and cry and weep like any baby. It was coming near noon when I passed in by the West Kirk and the grass market into the streets of the capital. The huge height of the buildings, running up to 10 and 15 stories, the narrow arched entries that continually vomited passengers, the wares of the merchants in their windows, the hubbub and endless stir, the foul smells and the fine clothes, and a hundred other particulars, too small to mention, struck me into a kind of stupor of surprise so that I let the crowd carry me to and fro, and yet all the time what I was thinking of was Alan at rest and be thankful. And all the time, although you would think I would not choose but be delighted with these bras and novelties, there was a cold gnawing in my inside like a remorse for something wrong. The hand of Providence brought me in my drifting to the very doors of the British Lening Company's bank. End of chapter, end of book. Thank you for listening.