In this state of mind, he was very glad to hear a friendly voice shout in his rear, and propose to him a partner on the road. He slackened his pace, and was quickly joined by a youth well known to him, a gentleman of some fortune in that remote country, and who had been abroad on the same errand with himself. Young Earnscliff, of that ilk, had lately come of age, and succeeded to a moderate fortune, a good deal dilapidated, from the share his family had taken in the disturbances of the period. They were much and generally respected in the country; a reputation which this young gentleman seemed likely to sustain, as he was well educated, and of excellent dispositions.
Now, Earnscliff; exclaimed Hobbie, I am glad to meet your honour ony gate, and companys blithe on a bare moor like this its an unco bogilly bit Where hae ye been sporting?
Up the Carla Cleugh, Hobbie, answered Earnscliff, returning his greeting. But will our dogs keep the peace, think you?
Deil a fear o mine, said Hobbie, they hae scarce a leg to stand on. Odd! the deers fled the country, I think! I have been as far as Inger-fell-foot, and deil a horn has Hobbie seen, excepting three red-wud raes, that never let me within shot of them, though I gaed a mile round to get up the wind to them, an a. Deil o me wad care muckle, only I wanted some venison to our auld gude-dame. The carline, she sits in the neuk yonder, upbye, and cracks about the grand shooters and hunters lang syne Odd, I think they hae killed a the deer in the country, for my part.
Well, Hobbie, I have shot a fat buck, and sent him to Earnscliff this morning you shall have half of him for your grandmother.
Mony thanks to ye, Mr. Patrick, yere kend to a the country for a kind heart. It will do the auld wifes heart gude mair by token, when she kens it comes frae you and maist of a gin yell come up and take your share, for I reckon ye are lonesome now in the auld tower, and a your folk at that weary Edinburgh. I wonder what they can find to do amang a wheen ranks o stane-houses wi slate on the tap o them, that might live on their ain bonny green hills.
My education and my sisters has kept my mother much in Edinburgh for several years, said Earnscliff; but I promise you I propose to make up for lost time.
And yell rig out the auld tower a bit, said Hobbie, and live hearty and neighbour-like wi the auld family friends, as the Laird o Earnscliff should? I can tell ye, my mother my grandmother I mean but, since we lost our ain mother, we ca her sometimes the tane, and sometimes the tother but, ony gate, she conceits hersell no that distant connected wi you.
Very true, Hobbie, and I will come to the Heugh-foot to dinner to-morrow with all my heart.
Weel, thats kindly said! We are auld neighbours, an we were nae kin and my gude-dames fain to see you she clavers about your father that was killed lang syne.
Hush, hush, Hobbie not a word about that its a story better forgotten.
I dinna ken if it had chanced amang our folk, we wad hae keepit it in mind mony a day till we got some mends fort but ye ken your ain ways best, you lairds I have heard say that Ellieslaws friend stickit your sire after the laird himsell had mastered his sword.
Fie, fie, Hobbie; it was a foolish brawl, occasioned by wine and politics many swords were drawn it is impossible to say who struck the blow.
At ony rate, auld Ellieslaw was aiding and abetting; and I am sure if ye were sae disposed as to take amends on him, naebody could say it was wrang, for your fathers blood is beneath his nails and besides theres naebody else left that was concerned to take amends upon, and hes a prelatist and a jacobite into the bargain I can tell ye the country folk look for something atween ye.
O for shame, Hobbie! replied the young Laird; you, that profess religion, to stir your friend up to break the law, and take vengeance at his own hand, and in such a bogilly bit too, where we know not what beings may be listening to us!
Hush, hush! said Hobbie, drawing nearer to his companion, I was nae thinking o the like o them But I can guess a wee bit what keeps your hand up, Mr. Patrick; we a ken its no lack o courage, but the twa grey een of a bonny lass, Miss Isabel Vere, that keeps you sae sober.
I assure you, Hobbie, said his companion, rather angrily, I assure you you are mistaken; and it is extremely wrong of you, either to think of, or to utter, such an idea; I have no idea of permitting freedoms to be carried so far as to connect my name with that of any young lady.
Why, there now there now! retorted Elliot; did I not say it was nae want o spunk that made ye sae mim? Weel, weel, I meant nae offence; but theres just ae thing ye may notice frae a friend. The auld Laird of Ellieslaw has the auld riding blood far hetter at his heart than ye hae troth, he kens naething about thae newfangled notions o peace and quietness hes a for the auld-warld doings o lifting and laying on, and he has a wheen stout lads at his back too, and keeps them weel up in heart, and as fu o mischief as young colts. Where he gets the gear to dot nane can say; he lives high, and far abune his rents here; however, he pays his way Sae, if theres ony out-break in the country, hes likely to break out wi the first and weel does he mind the auld quarrels between ye, Im surmizing hell be for a touch at the auld tower at Earnscliff.
Well, Hobbie, answered the young gentleman, if he should be so ill advised, I shall try to make the old tower good against him, as it has been made good by my betters against his betters many a day ago.
Very right very right thats speaking like a man now, said the stout yeoman; and, if sae should be that this be sae, if yell just gar your servant jow out the great bell in the tower, theres me, and my twa brothers, and little Davie of the Stenhouse, will be wi you, wi a the power we can make, in the snapping of a flint.
Many thanks, Hobbie, answered Earnscliff; but I hope we shall have no war of so unnatural and unchristian a kind in our time.
Hout, sir, hout, replied Elliot; it wad be but a wee bit neighbour war, and Heaven and earth would make allowances for it in this uncultivated place its just the nature o the folk and the land we canna live quiet like Loudon folk we haena sae muckle to do. Its impossible.
Well, Hobbie, said the Laird, for one who believes so deeply as you do in supernatural appearances, I must own you take Heaven in your own hand rather audaciously, considering where we are walking.
What needs I care for the Mucklestane-Moor ony mair than ye do yoursell, Earnscliff? said Hobbie, something offended; to be sure, they do say theres a sort o worricows and lang-nebbit things about the land, but what need I care for them? I hae a good conscience, and little to answer for, unless it be about a rant amang the lasses, or a splore at a fair, and thats no muckle to speak of. Though I say it mysell, I am as quiet a lad and as peaceable
And Dick Turnbulls head that you broke, and Willie of Winton whom you shot at? said his travelling companion.
Hout, Earnscliff, ye keep a record of a mens misdoings Dicks heads healed again, and were to fight out the quarrel at Jeddart, on the Rood-day, so thats like a thing settled in a peaceable way; and then I am friends wi Willie again, puir chield it was but twa or three hail draps after a. I wad let onybody do the like ot to me for a pint o brandy. But Willies lowland bred, poor fallow, and soon frighted for himsell And, for the worricows, were we to meet ane on this very bit
And Dick Turnbulls head that you broke, and Willie of Winton whom you shot at? said his travelling companion.
Hout, Earnscliff, ye keep a record of a mens misdoings Dicks heads healed again, and were to fight out the quarrel at Jeddart, on the Rood-day, so thats like a thing settled in a peaceable way; and then I am friends wi Willie again, puir chield it was but twa or three hail draps after a. I wad let onybody do the like ot to me for a pint o brandy. But Willies lowland bred, poor fallow, and soon frighted for himsell And, for the worricows, were we to meet ane on this very bit
As is not unlikely, said young Earnscliff, for there stands your old witch, Hobbie.
I say, continued Elliot, as if indignant at this hint I say, if the auld carline hersell was to get up out o the grund just before us here, I would think nae mair But, gude preserve us, Earnscliff; what can yon, be!
CHAPTER III
Brown Dwarf, that oer the moorland strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell!
The Brown Man of the Moor, that stays
Beneath the heather-bell.
The object which alarmed the young farmer in the middle of his valorous protestations, startled for a moment even his less prejudiced companion. The moon, which had arisen during their conversation, was, in the phrase of that country, wading or struggling with clouds, and shed only a doubtful and occasional light. By one of her beams, which streamed upon the great granite column to which they now approached, they discovered a form, apparently human, but of a size much less than ordinary, which moved slowly among the large grey stones, not like a person intending to journey onward, but with the slow, irregular, flitting movement of a being who hovers around some spot of melancholy recollection, uttering also, from time to time, a sort of indistinct muttering sound. This so much resembled his idea of the motions of an apparition, that Hobbie Elliot, making a dead pause, while his hair erected itself upon his scalp, whispered to his companion, Its Auld Ailie hersell! Shall I gie her a shot, in the name of God?
For Heavens sake, no, said his companion, holding down the weapon which he was about to raise to the aim for Heavens sake, no; its some poor distracted creature.
Yere distracted yoursell, for thinking of going so near to her, said Elliot, holding his companion in his turn, as he prepared to advance. Well aye hae time to pit ower a bit prayer (an I could but mind ane) afore she comes this length God! shes in nae hurry, continued he, growing bolder from his companions confidence, and the little notice the apparition seemed to take of them. She hirples like a hen on a het girdle. I redd ye, Earnscliff (this he added in a gentle whisper), let us take a cast about, as if to draw the wind on a buck the bog is no abune knee-deep, and better a saft road as bad company. [The Scots use the epithet soft, IN MALAM PARTEM, in two cases, at least. A SOFT road is a road through quagmire and bogs; and SOFT weather signifies that which is very rainy.]
Earnscliff, however, in spite of his companions resistance and remonstrances, continued to advance on the path they had originally pursued, and soon confronted the object of their investigation.
The height of the figure, which appeared even to decrease as they approached it, seemed to be under four feet, and its form, as far as the imperfect light afforded them the means of discerning, was very nearly as broad as long, or rather of a spherical shape, which could only be occasioned by some strange personal deformity. The young sportsman hailed this extraordinary appearance twice, without receiving any answer, or attending to the pinches by which his companion endeavoured to intimate that their best course was to walk on, without giving farther disturbance to a being of such singular and preternatural exterior. To the third repeated demand of Who are you? What do you here at this hour of night? a voice replied, whose shrill, uncouth, and dissonant tones made Elliot step two paces back, and startled even his companion, Pass on your way, and ask nought at them that ask nought at you.
What do you do here so far from shelter? Are you benighted on your journey? Will you follow us home (God forbid! ejaculated Hobbie Elliot, involuntarily), and I will give you a lodging?
I would sooner lodge by mysell in the deepest of the Tarras-flow, again whispered Hobbie.
Pass on your way, rejoined the figure, the harsh tones of his voice still more exalted by passion. I want not your guidance I want not your lodging it is five years since my head was under a human roof, and I trust it was for the last time.
He is mad, said Earnscliff.
He has a look of auld Humphrey Ettercap, the tinkler, that perished in this very moss about five years syne, answered his superstitious companion; but Humphrey wasna that awfu big in the bouk.
Pass on your way, reiterated the object of their curiosity, the breath of your human bodies poisons the air around me the sound of pour human voices goes through my ears like sharp bodkins.
Lord safe us! whispered Hobbie, that the dead should bear sie fearfu ill-will to the living! his saul maun be in a puir way, Im jealous.
Come, my friend, said Earnscliff, you seem to suffer under some strong affliction; common humanity will not allow us to leave you here.
Common humanity! exclaimed the being, with a scornful laugh that sounded like a shriek, where got ye that catch-word that noose for woodcocks that common disguise for man-traps that bait which the wretched idiot who swallows, will soon find covers a hook with barbs ten times sharper than those you lay for the animals which you murder for your luxury!
I tell you, my friend, again replied Earnscliff, you are incapable of judging of your own situation you will perish in this wilderness, and we must, in compassion, force you along with us.
Ill hae neither hand nor foot int, said Hobbie; let the ghaist take his ain way, for Gods sake!
My blood be on my own head, if I perish here, said the figure; and, observing Earnscliff meditating to lay hold on him, he added, And your blood be upon yours, if you touch but the skirt of my garments, to infect me with the taint of mortality!
The moon shone more brightly as he spoke thus, and Earnscliff observed that he held out his right hand armed with some weapon of offence, which glittered in the cold ray like the blade of a long knife, or the barrel of a pistol. It would have been madness to persevere in his attempt upon a being thus armed, and holding such desperate language, especially as it was plain he would have little aid from his companion, who had fairly left him to settle matters with the apparition as he could, and had proceeded a few paces on his way homeward. Earnscliff, however, turned and followed Hobbie, after looking back towards the supposed maniac, who, as if raised to frenzy by the interview, roamed wildly around the great stone, exhausting his voice in shrieks and imprecations, that thrilled wildly along the waste heath.
The two sportsmen moved on some time in silence, until they were out of hearing of these uncouth sounds, which was not ere they had gained a considerable distance from the pillar that gave name to the moor. Each made his private comments on the scene they had witnessed, until Hobbie Elliot suddenly exclaimed, Weel, Ill uphaud that yon ghaist, if it be a ghaist, has baith done and suffered muckle evil in the flesh, that gars him rampauge in that way after he is dead and gane.